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Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream...to Go to War?!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahI8o9-U7Z0&feature=player_embedded%23
"War is an enemy of the poor!...I don't know about you, but I ain't gonna study war no more!...MLK"
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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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TODAY! January 18, 2011, Tuesday, 11am-6pm
THE HYATT HOTEL CORPORATION IS
ANTI-IMMIGRANT!
RALLY AND PICKET
GRAND HYATT HOTEL
(Post and Stockton Streets, by Union Square)
Local 2's Health and Welfare Fund Union Trustees moved 2 cents per hour (paid by the hotels in the current contract) out of the Child and Elder Care Fund into the Legal Fund. This allowed Local 2's Legal Fund to remain fully funded and keep providing critical legal services to members: evictions and foreclosures stopped, etc.
Most of the time, our Union's Legal Fund is used by our members to make legal immigration happen: citizenship, work permits, family reunification, green cards. With the assistance of Legal Fund lawyers, Local 2 members are able to reunite their families through legal sponsored immigration. For many years, this has been the heart of the Union's Legal Fund work, helping hundreds of immigrant Local 2 members and their families.
HYATT SAYS NO!
Hyatt is the only San Francisco hotel corporation which has objected to moving 2 cents per hour into the Legal Fund. Hyatt has sued Local 2, trying to cripple the Union's Legal Fund. Hyatt fully understands that the Legal Fund is used overwhelmingly by our immigrant members to pursue the dream of re-uniting their families. Hyatt is trying to punish their immigrant workers and their families. SHAME ON HYATT!
GET DAILY UPDATES ABOUT THE
HOTEL BOYCOTTS, ACTIONS, AND NEWS FROM LOCAL 2!
Check out our new blog!
www.onedaylongersf.org
For more information, please contact Rev. Israel Alvaran at
415-863-1142 or by email at ialvaran@clueca.org
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INVITATION TO PLANNING MEETING FOR JAN. 25 ACTION
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 19 @ 6:30 pm
522 Valencia St. @ 16th Street)
Mission District, San Francisco
Thanks to those who came out to help plan the Jan. 25th action and movement to organize against the FBI's targeting of peace activists and ever-expanding web of political repression, Tuesday night. We had a very productive meeting and now we need your help: the planned action will take place at the Federal Building in San Francisco, in less than two weeks!
Calling all students, religious leaders and community groups and all those committed to peace, justice and equality: if your community group or organization would like to sponsor the growing local committee, please email: stop.political.repression@gmail.com asap, and let us know.
Also, join us next Wed. Jan. 19th @6:30pm, to hear from local activists who are working directly with the national organizers who put out the call, and growing committee of groups fighting to defend your rights!
The meeting will take place at:
522 Valencia, Auditorium
Between 16th and 17th streets
Ring buzzer for 3rd Floor Auditorium to be let in
Space is not wheelchair accessible --
For more information see: www.stopfbi.net
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Join the National Day of Action:
January 25, 2011 -- from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Protest FBI and Grand Jury Repression!
US Federal Building
90 - 7th Street
San Francisco
On September 24, the FBI raided seven Chicago and Minneapolis homes of anti-war and international solidarity activists, and 14 activists were subpoenaed to appear before the Grand Jury. All 14 refused to participate.
In December, nine more Palestine solidarity and anti-war activists were subpoenaed to appear before the Grand Jury on January 25, 2011.
Fight U.S. Government Criminalization of Anti-War Activism!
JOIN organizations and individuals around the country to Protest in San Francisco on January 25.
Bay Area Committee to Stop Political Repression
stop.political.repression@gmail.com
www.stopfbi.net
Endorsers (partial):
Asian Law Caucus, Arab Resource & Organizing Center, National Lawyers Guild SF, Council on American-Islamic Relations SFBA, Arab American Union Members Council, USPCN, American Friends Service Committee, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Palestine Youth Network, ANSWER Coalition, San Francisco Labor Council, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, American Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International Solidarity Movement, United National Anti-War Committee, Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley
Thank you for your support. Together we can overcome these unjust policies targeting our communities and join the global movement rising for justice. All for one, one for all.
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Next meeting of UNAC Sunday, January 30, 1:00 P.M.
U.C. Berkeley Campus
Room to be announced
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Bay Area Supporters of International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum invite you to:
"Honoring Revolutionary Continuity: An Afternoon Public Forum & Fundraiser for the Leon Trotsky Museum in Mexico City"
Sunday, February 13 @ 2:30 p.m.
Alameda Public Library
1550 Oak Street (@ Lincoln Ave.)
Alameda, Calif.
Featuring:
Presentation by ESTEBAN VOLKOV, Leon Trotsky's grandson and president of the Leon Trotsky Museum Foundation, and
Preview of "A Planet Without A Visa: The Movie" -- a film by DAVID WEISS, with presentations by LINDY LAUB, director of the documentary film, and SUZI WEISSMAN, historian of the revolutionary and socialist movements
Also: Honoring founding members of the American Trotskyist movement ESTAR BAUR, ERWIN BAUR & RUTH HARER
Sliding Scale $10 to $20
For more information, call Frank Fried at 510-459-0328
[If you are not able to make the event but would like to make a tax-deductible donation to International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum, please send your check, payable to Global Exchange (our fiscal sponsor), to International Friends, PO Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.]
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Saturday, March 19, 2011:
Day of Action to Resist the War Machine!
8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
Scores of organizations coming together for worldwide protests
In San Francisco, the theme of the March 19 march and rally will be "No to War & Colonial Occupation - Fund Jobs, Healthcare & Education - Solidarity with SF Hotel Workers!" 12,000 SF hotel workers, members of UNITE-HERE Local 2, have been fighting for a new contract that protects their healthcare, wages and working conditions. The SF action will include a march to boycotted hotels in solidarity with the Lo. 2 workers. The first organizing meeting for the SF March 19 march and rally will be on Sunday, Jan. 16 at 2pm at the Local 2 union hall, 209 Golden Gate Ave.
In Los Angeles, the March 19 rally and march will gather at 12 noon at Hollywood and Vine.
March 19 is the 8th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Iraq today remains occupied by 50,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of foreign mercenaries.
The war in Afghanistan is raging. The U.S. is invading and bombing Pakistan. The U.S. is financing endless atrocities against the people of Palestine, relentlessly threatening Iran and bringing Korea to the brink of a new war.
While the United States will spend $1 trillion for war, occupation and weapons in 2011, 30 million people in the United States remain unemployed or severely underemployed, and cuts in education, housing and healthcare are imposing a huge toll on the people.
Actions of civil resistance are spreading.
On Dec. 16, 2010, a veterans-led civil resistance at the White House played an important role in bringing the anti-war movement from protest to resistance. Enduring hours of heavy snow, 131 veterans and other anti-war activists lined the White House fence and were arrested. Some of those arrested will be going to trial, which will be scheduled soon in Washington, D.C.
Saturday, March 19, 2011, the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, will be an international day of action against the war machine.
Protest and resistance actions will take place in cities and towns across the United States. Scores of organizations are coming together. Demonstrations are scheduled for San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and more.
Click this link to endorse the March 19, 2011, Call to Action:
http://www2.answercoalition.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=8062&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org/
info@AnswerCoalition.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-265-1948
Boston: 857-334-5084 | New York City: 212-694-8720 | Chicago: 773-463-0311
San Francisco: 415-821-6545| Los Angeles: 213-251-1025 | Albuquerque: 505-268-2488
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Are you joining us on April 8 at the Pentagon in a climate chaos protest codenamed "Operation Disarmageddon?" It has been decided that affinity groups will engage in nonviolent autonomous actions. Do you have an affinity group? Do you have an idea for an action?
So far these are some of the suggested actions:
Send a letter to Sec. of War Robert Gates demanding a meeting to disclose the Pentagon's role in destroying the planet. He will ignore the letter, so a delegation would then go to the Metro Entrance to demand a meeting.
Use crime tape around some area of the Pentagon. The idea of crime/danger taping off the building could be done just outside the main Pentagon reservation entrance (intersection of Army/Navy) making the Alexandria PD the arresting authority (if needed) and where there is no ban on photography. Hazmat suits, a 'converted' truck (or other vehicle) could be part of the street theater. The area where I am thinking is also almost directly below I-95 and there is a bridge over the intersection - making a banner drop possible. Perhaps with the hazmat/street closure at ground level with a banner from above. If possible a coordinated action could be done at other Pentagon entrances and / or other war making institutions.
A procession onto the Pentagon reservation, without reservations, and set up a camp on one of the lawns surrounding The Pentagon. This contingent would reclaim the space in the name of peace and Mother Earth. This contingent would plan to stay there until The Pentagon is turned into a 100% green building using sustainable energy employing people who work for peace and the abolishment of war and life-affirming endeavors.
Bring a potted tree to be placed on the Pentagon's property to symbolize the need to radically reduce its environmental destructiveness.
Since the Pentagon is failing to return to the taxpayers the money it has misappropriated, "Foreclose on the Pentagon."
Banner hanging from a bridge.
Hand out copies of David Swanson's book WAR IS A LIE. Try to deliver a copy to Secretary of War Robert Gates.
Have short speeches in park between Pentagon and river; nice photo with Pentagon in background.
Die-in and chalk or paint outlines of victim's bodies everywhere that remain after the arrest to point to where real crimes are really being committed.
Establish command center, Peacecom? Paxcom? Put several people in white shirts and ties plus a few generals directing their armies for "Operation Disarmageddon."
Make the linkage between the tax dollars going to the Pentagon and war tax resistance. Use the WRL pie chart and carry banners "foreclose on war" and "money for green jobs not war jobs."
Hold a rally with representative speakers before going to the Pentagon Reservation. This would be an opportunity to speak out against warmongering and the Pentagon's role in destroying the environment.
As part of "Operation Disarmageddon," we will take a tree and plant it on the reservation. Our sign reads, "Plant trees not landmines."
Use crime tape on Army/Navy Drive to declare the Pentagon a crime scene. Do street theater there as well. Other affinity groups could go to selected entrances.
Establish a Peace Command Center at the Pentagon. Hold solidarity actions at federal buildings and corporate offices.
What groups have you contacted to suggest joining us at the Pentagon? See below for those who plan to be at the Pentagon on April 8 and for what groups have been contacted.
Kagiso,
Max
April 8, 2011 participants
Beth Adams
Ellen Barfield
Tim Chadwick
Joy First
Jeffrey Halperin
Malachy Kilbride
Max Obuszewski
David Swanson
April 8 Outreach
Beth Adams -- Earth First, Puppet Underground, Emma's Revolution, Joe Gerson-AFSC Cambridge, Code Pink(national via Lisa Savage in Maine), Vets for Peace, FOR, UCC Justice & Witness Ministries, Traprock, Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order, (National-INt'l) Vets for Peace and WILPF, Pace e Bene, Christian Peace Witness & UCC Justice & Witness (Cleveland).
Tim Chadwick -- Brandywine, Lepoco, Witness against Torture, Vets for Peace (Thomas Paine Chapter Lehigh Valley PA), and Witness for Peace DC.
Jeffrey Halperin -- peace groups in Saratoga Spring, NY
Jack Lombardo - UNAC will add April 8 2011 to the Future Actions page on our blog, and make note in upcoming E-bulletins, but would appreciate a bit of descriptive text from the organizers and contact point to include when we do - so please advise ASAP! Also, we'll want to have such an announcement for our next print newsletter, which will be coming out in mid-December.
Max Obuszewski - Jonah House & Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore
Bonnie Urfer notified 351 individuals and groups on the Nukewatch list
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Endorse the call to action from the United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
Bring the Troops Home Now!
March and Rally
April 9th, 2011
New York City (Union Sq. at noon)and San Francisco (Time and place to be announced)
--Bring U.S. Troops Now: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza!
--Trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for all, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad.
--End FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and international solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders.
--Immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings and death squads
To add your group's name to the endorser list, local, state or national, please contact:
United National Antiwar Committee
P.O. Box 123 Delmar, New York 12054
518-227-6947 UNACpeace.org unacpeace@gmail.com
email you endorsement to:
jmackler@lmi.net and cc: unacpeace@gmail.com
Initial List of Endorsers (List in formation)
* = For Identification only
Endorsers:
United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
Center for Constitutional Rights
Muslim Peace Coalition, USA
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Veterans for Peace
International Action Center
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Black Agenda Report
Code Pink
National Assembly to End U.S. Wars and Occupations
World Can't Wait
Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Project Salam
Canadian Peace Alliance
BAYAN USA
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Office of the Americas
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Middle East Children's Alliance
Tariq Ali
Dr. Margaret Flowers PNHP *
Ramsey Clark
Ambassador Syed Ahsani, Former Ambassador from Pakistan
Ahmed Shawki, editor, International Socialist Review
Ali Abunimah, Palestinian American Journalist
Alice Sturn Sutter, Washington Heights Women in Black *
Al-Awda NY: the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
American Iranian Friendship Committee
American Muslim Task Force, Dallas/Ft. Worth
Ana Edwards, Chair, Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project - Richmond, Va.
Anthony Arnove, Author, "Iraq: The logic of Withdrawal"
Andy Griggs, Co-chair, California Teachers Association, Peace and Justice Caucus/UTLA-retired*
B. Ross Ashley, NDP Socialist Caucus, Canada *
Bail Out the People Movement
Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Barrio Unido, San Francisco
Bashir Abu-Manneh
Baltimore Job Is a Right Campaign
Baltimore-Washington Area Peace Council, US Peace Council Chapter
Battered Mother's Custody Conference
Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace
Blanca Misse, Student Worker Action Team/UC Berkeley, Academic Workers for Democratic Union - UAW 2865 *
Blauvelt Dominican sisters Social Justice Ministry
Bob Hernandez, Chapter President, SEIU Local 1021*
Bonnie Weinstein - Bay Area United Against Wars Newsletter
Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights
Boston UNAC
Boston University Anti-War Coalition
Café Intifada - Los Angeles
Camilo E. Mejia, Iraq war veteran and resister
Campaign for a Mass Party of Labor
Carole Seligman - Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal *
Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War
Chesapeake Citizens
Howard Terry Adcock, Colombia Support Network, Austin (TX) , Center for Peace and Justice *
Coalition for Justice - Blacksburg, Va.
Colombian Front for Socialism (FECOPES)
Columbus Campaign for Arms Control
Committee for Justice to Defend the Los Angeles 8
Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council
David Swanson, WarIsACrime.org
David Keil - Metro West Peace Action (MWPA) *
Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality - Virginia
Derrick O'Keefe, Co-chair StopWar.ca (Vancouver)
Detroit Committee to Stop FBI/Grand Jury Repression.
Doug Bullock, Albany County Legislator
Dr. Andy Coates PNHP *
DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) - New York
Elaine Brower - national steering committee of World Can't Wait and anti-war military mom
Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST)
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Freedom Socialist Party
Gilbert Achcar - Lebanese academic and writer
Guilderland Neighbors for Peace
Haiti Action Committee
Haiti Liberte
Hands off Venezuela
Howie Hawkins, Co-Chair, Green Party of New York State *
IIan Pappe, Director Exeter University, European Centre for Palestine Studies
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
International Socialist Organization
International support Haiti Network (ISHN)
Iraq Peace Action Coalition - Minneapolis
Italo-American Progressive Fraternal Society
Janata Dal (United), India
Jersey City Peace Movement
Jimmy Massey, Founding member of IVAW
John Pilger, Journalist and Documentary film maker
Journal Square Homeless Coalition
Justice for Fallujah Project
Kclabor.org
Karen Schieve, United Educators of San Francisco *
Kim Nguyen, Metrowest Peace Action (MWPA)*
Kwame Binta, The November Coalition
Larry Pinkvey, Black Activist Writers Guild
Lillie "Ms. K" Branch-Kennedy - Director, Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged (R.I.H.D.), Virginia
Lisa Savage, CODEPINK Maine, Bring Our War $$ Home Coalition *
Los Angeles - Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee
Maggie Zhou - ClimateSOS *
Maine Veterans for Peace
Malu Aina, Hawaii
Maria Cristina Gutierrez, Exec. Director, Companeros del Barrio
Mark Roman, Waterville Area Bridges for Peace & Justice
Marlena Santoyo, Germantown Friends Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Mary Flanagan, United Teachers of Richmond *
Masjid As-Salam Mosque, Albany, NY
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Michigan Emergency Committee Against Wars and Injustice
Mike Alewitz, Central Ct. State University *
Middle East Crisis Committee
Mobilization Against War and Occupation - Vancouver, Canada
Mobilization to Free Mumia
Moratorium NOW Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs
Muslim Solidarity Committee
Nancy Murray, Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights*
Nancy Parten, Witness For Peace *
Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council *
New Abolitionist Movement
New England United
New Jersey Labor Against War
New Socialist Project
New York City Labor Against the War
New York Collective of Radical Educators
No More Victims
Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
Northeast Peace and Justice Action Coalition
Northern California Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
Northwest Greens
NotMyPriorities.org
Nuestro Norte Es El Sur ((NUNO-SUR) Our North is the South
Omar Barghouti, Human rights activist (Palestine)
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Pakistani Trade Union Defense Campaign
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People
Peace Action Maine
Peace Action Montgomery
Peacemakers of Schoharie County, New York
Peace and Freedom Party
People of Faith, Connecticut
Peninsula Peace & Justice, Blue Hill, Maine
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center - Palo Alto, Ca.
Peoples Video Network
Phil Wilayto, Editor, The Virginia Defender
Philadelphia Against War
Progressive Peace Coalition, Columbus Ohio
Protestobama.org
Queen Zakia Shabazz - Director, United Parents Against Lead National, Inc.
Radio Free Maine
Ralph Poynter, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Revolutionary Workers Group
Rhode Island Mobilization Committee
Roland Sheppard, Retired Business Agent Painters Local #4, San Francisco *
Rochester Against War
Ron Jacobs, writer
Saladin Muhammad - Founding Member, Black Workers for Justice
Sarah Roche-Mahdi, Code Pink Boston*
Saratoga Peace Alliance
Senior Action Network
Seth Farber, PhD., Institute of Mind and Behavior *
Sherry Wolf - International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Author Sexuality and Socialism
Siege Busters Working Group
Socialist Action
Socialist Organizer
Socialist Viewpoint
Solidarity
Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
Staten Island Council for Peace & Justice
Steve Scher, Breen Party of NYC 26 AD *
Stewart Robinson, Stop Targeting Ohio Poor *
Stop the Wars Coalition, Boston
Tarak Kauff, Veterans for Peace
The Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran
The Thomas Merton Center Antiwar Committee
Twin Cities Peace Campaign
Upper Hudson Peace Action
Virginia Defender
West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice
WESPAC Foundation
Women against Military Madness
Women in Black, Westchester
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Pittsburgh
Workers International League
Workers World Party
Youth for International Socialism
To add yourself to the UNAC listserv, please send an email to:
UNAC-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
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B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
[Some of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:
http://bauaw.blogspot.com/ or bauaw.org ...bw]
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You might enjoy a bit of history:
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates
http://vimeo.com/18611069
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates from asi somburu on Vimeo.
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'CIA-created Frankenstein': US turns blind eye on terrorist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gW6Dyr1qBU
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Cathie Black Meets With Downtown Parents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHHhLCF0t88&feature=player_embedded
Solution to Crowded Schools? How About Birth Control?
By FERNANDA SANTOS
January 14, 2011, 4:55 pm
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/solution-to-crowded-schools-how-about-birth-control/?ref=nyregion
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Wall Street Fat-Cats Flip Public Service Workers the Bird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcSOygSBBM
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Free Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eNzokgRIw&feature=player_embedded
Song for Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_eood7DUwI
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Supermax Prison Cell Extraction - Maine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jUfK5i_lQs&feature=player_embedded
Warning, this is an extremely brutal video. What do you think? Is this torture?
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Rachel Maddow- New GOP scapegoat- public workers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ5byLyKPRI
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Did You Know?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
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These videos refer to what happened at the G-20 Summit in Toronto June 26-27 of this year. The importance of this is that police were caught on tape and later confirmed that they sent police into the demonstration dressed as "rioting" protesters. One cop was caught with a large rock in his hand. Clearly, this is proof of police acting as agent provocatours. And we should expect this to continue and escalate. That's why everyone should be aware of these facts...bw
police accused of attempting to incite violence at G20 summ
Protestors at Montebello are accusing police of trying to incite violence. Video on YouTube shows union officials confronting three men that were police officers dressing up as demonstrators. The union is demanding to know if the Prime Minister's Office was involved in trying to discredit the demonstrators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbgnyUCC7M
quebec police admit going undercover at montebello protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg&feature=related
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The Wars in "Vietnamistan!" (The name Daniel Ellsberg gave to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as quoted from the video...bw)
Veterans for Peace White House Civil Disobedience to End War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOde31QYbI0&feature=player_embedded
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John Pilger: Global Support for WikiLeaks is "Rebellion" Against U.S. Militarism, Secrecy
December 15, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzaclKj2B8M
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WikiLeaks founder concern for Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrShC8qx4k&feature=player_embedded
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Newsnight: Bailed Julian Assange live interview (16Dec10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NouXB5JACCw&feature=player_embedded
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Julian Assange: 'ongoing attempts to extradite me'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C30UhZDOO9A&feature=player_embedded
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Published on Thursday, December 16, 2010 by Countdown With Keith Olbermann
Quantico, the New Gitmo
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/12/16-0
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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#
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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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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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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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Video of massive French protest -- inspiring!
http://www.dailymotion.com/Talenceagauchevraiment
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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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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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Lucasville Hunger Strike Ended, Some Demands Met
From: Freedom Archives
Denis O'Hearn 4:33pm Jan 15
www.Freedomarchives.org Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
Folks, I have a short report on today's rally at OSP in support of the three men on hunger strike. But, first, I can now report to you the wonderful news that all three have resumed eating because they achieved a victory. The prison authorities have provided, in writing, a set of conditions that virtually meets the demands set out by Bomani Shakur in his letter to Warden Bobby, provided elsewhere on this site.
The hunger strikers send you all thanks for your support and state that they couldn‚t have won their demands without support from people from around the world. But they add to their statement the following: this time they were fighting about their conditions of confinement but now they begin the fight for their lives. They were wrongfully convicted of complicity in 1993 murders in Lucasville prison and have faced retribution because they refused to provide snitch testimony against others who actually committed those murders. Now, because of Ohio's (and other states') application of the death penalty, they still face execution at a future date. Ohio is today exceeded only by Texas in its enthusiasm for applying the death penalty. We need to take some of this energy that was created around the hunger strike to help these men fight for their lives.
So, we may celebrate a great victory for now. Common sense has prevailed in a dark place where there appeared to be no light. But watch this space for further news on their ongoing campaign.
I hope to share a copy of the Ohio prison authorities' written statement that ended this hunger strike in a short time.
As Bomani has told me many times,
It ain't over...
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
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Call for EMERGENCY RESPONSE Action if Assange Indicted,
Dear Friends:
We write in haste, trying to reach as many of you as possible although the holiday break has begun.......This plan for an urgent "The Day After" demonstration is one we hope you and many, many more organizations will take up as your own, and mobilize for. World Can't Wait asks you to do all you can to spread it through list serves, Facebook, twitter, holiday gatherings.
Our proposal is very very simple, and you can use the following announcement to mobilize - or write your own....
ANY DAY NOW . . . IN THE EVENT THAT THE U.S. INDICTS JULIAN ASSANGE
An emergency public demonstration THE DAY AFTER any U.S. criminal indictment is announced against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Spread the word and call people to come out, across the whole range of movements and groups: anti-war, human rights, freedom of information/freedom of the press, peace, anti-torture, environmental, students and youth, radicals and revolutionaries, religious, civil liberties, teachers and educators, journalists, anti-imperialists, anti-censorship, anti-police state......
At the Federal Building in San Francisco, we'll form ourselves into a human chain "surrounding" the government that meets the Wikileaked truth with repression and wants to imprison and silence leakers, whistleblowers and truthtellers - when, in fact, these people are heroes. We'll say:
HANDS OFF WIKILEAKS! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!
Join the HUMAN CHAIN AROUND THE FEDERAL BUILDING!
New Federal Building, 7th and Mission, San Francisco (nearest BART: Civic Center)
4:00-6:00 PM on The Day FOLLOWING U.S. indictment of Assange
Bring all your friends - signs and banners - bullhorns.
Those who dare at great risk to themselves to put the truth in the hands of the people - and others who might at this moment be thinking about doing more of this themselves -- need to see how much they are supported, and that despite harsh repression from the government and total spin by the mainstream media, the people do want the truth told.
Brad Manning's Christmas Eve statement was just released by his lawyer: "Pvt. Bradley Manning, the lone soldier who stands accused of stealing millions of pages secret US government documents and handing them over to secrets outlet WikiLeaks, wants his supporters to know that they've meant a lot to him. 'I greatly appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this time,' he said in a Christmas Eve statement released by his lawyer...." Read more here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mannings-message-christmas-eve-i-gr/
Demonstrations defending Wikileaks and Assange, and Brad Manning, have already been flowering around the world. Make it happen here too.
Especially here . . .
To join into this action plan, or with questions, contact World Can't Wait or whichever organization or listserve you received this message from.
World Can't Wait, SF Bay
415-864-5153
sf@worldcantwait.org
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Email received from Lynne Stewart:
12/19/10; 12:03pm
Dear Folks:
Some nuts and bolts and trivia,
1. New Address
Lynne Stewart
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
53504 - 054
Unit 2N
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
2. Visiting is very liberal but first I have to get people on my visiting list Wait til I or the lawyers let you know. The visits are FRI, SAT, SUN AND MON for 4 hours and on weekends 8 to 3. Bring clear plastic change purse with lots of change to buy from the machines. Brief Kiss upon arrival and departure, no touching or holding during visit (!!) On visiting forms it may be required that you knew me before I came to prison. Not a problem for most of you.
3. One hour time difference
4. Commissary Money is always welcome It is how I pay for the phone and for email. Also need it for a lot that prison doesn't supply in terms of food and "sundries" (pens!) A very big list that includes Raisins, Salad Dressing , ankle sox, mozzarella (definitely not from Antonys--more like a white cheddar, Sanitas Corn Chips but no Salsa etc. To add money, you do this by using Western Union and a credit card by phone or you can send a USPO money order or Business or Govt Check. The negotiable instruments (PAPER!) need to be sent to Federal Bureau of Prisons , 53504-054, Lynne Stewart, PO Box 474701, Des Moines Iowa 50947-001 (Payable to Lynne Stewart, 53504-054) They hold the mo or checks for 15 days. Western Union costs $10 but is within 2 hours. If you mail, your return address must be on the envelope. Unnecessarily complicated ? Of course, it's the BOP !)
5. Food is vastly improved. Just had Sunday Brunch real scrambled eggs, PORK sausage, Baked or home fried potatoes, Butter(sweet whipped M'God !!) Grapefruit juice Toast , orange. I will probably regain the weight I lost at MCC! Weighing against that is the fact that to eat we need to walk to another building (about at far as from my house to the F Train) Also included is 3 flights of stairs up and down. May try to get an elevator pass and try NOT to use it.
6. In a room with 4 bunks(small) about two tiers of rooms with same with "atrium" in middle with tv sets and tables and chairs. Estimate about 500 on Unit 2N and there are 4 units. Population Black, Mexicano and other spanish speaking (all of whom iron their underwear, Marta), White, Native Americans (few), no orientals or foreign speaking caucasians--lots are doing long bits, victims of drugs (meth etc) and boyfriends. We wear army style (khaki) pants with pockets tee shirts and dress shirts long sleeved and short sleeved. When one of the women heard that I hadn't ironed in 40 years, they offered to do the shirts for me. (This is typical of the help I get--escorted to meals and every other protection, explanations, supplies, etc. Mostly from white women.) One drawback is not having a bathroom in the room---have to go about 75 yards at all hours of the day and night --clean though.
7. Final Note--the sunsets and sunrises are gorgeous, the place is very open and outdoors there are pecan trees and birds galore (I need books for trees and birds (west) The full moon last night gladdened my heart as I realized it was shining on all of you I hold dear.
Love Struggle
Lynne
The address of her Defense Committee is:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information:
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Please make a generous contribution to her defense.
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Help end the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning!
Bradley Manning Support Network. December 22, 2010
The Marine Brig at Quantico, Virginia is using "injury prevention" as a vehicle to inflict extreme pre-trial punishment on accused Wikileaks whistleblower Army PFC Bradley Manning (photo right). These "maximum conditions" are not unheard-of during an inmate's first week at a military confinement facility, but when applied continuously for months and with no end in sight they amount to a form of torture. Bradley, who just turned 23-years-old last week, has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest in late May. We're now turning to Bradley's supporters worldwide to directly protest, and help bring a halt to, the extremely punitive conditions of Bradley's pre-trial detention.
We need your help in pressing the following demands:
End the inhumane, degrading conditions of pre-trial confinement and respect Bradley's human rights. Specifically, lift the "Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order". This would allow Bradley meaningful physical exercise, uninterrupted sleep during the night, and a release from isolation. We are not asking for "special treatment". In fact, we are demanding an immediate end to the special treatment.
Quantico Base Commander
Colonel Daniel Choike
3250 Catlin Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-2707 (phone)
Quantico Brig Commanding Officer
CWO4 James Averhart
3247 Elrod Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-4242 (fax)
Background
In the wake of an investigative report last week by Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com giving evidence that Bradley Manning was subject to "detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries", Bradley's attorney, David Coombs, published an article at his website on Saturday entitled "A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning". Mr. Coombs details the maximum custody conditions that Bradley is subject to at the Quantico Confinement Facility and highlights an additional set of restrictions imposed upon him under a Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order.
Usually enforced only through a detainee's first week at a confinement facility, or in cases of violent and/or suicidal inmates, the standing POI order has severely limited Manning's access to exercise, daylight and human contact for the past five months. The military's own psychologists assigned to Quantico have recommended that the POI order and the extra restrictions imposed on Bradley be lifted.
Despite not having been convicted of any crime or even yet formally indicted, the confinement regime Bradley lives under includes pronounced social isolation and a complete lack of opportunities for meaningful exercise. Additionally, Bradley's sleep is regularly interrupted. Coombs writes: "The guards are required to check on Manning every five minutes [...] At night, if the guards cannot see PFC Manning clearly, because he has a blanket over his head or is curled up towards the wall, they will wake him in order to ensure he is okay."
Denver Nicks writes in The Daily Beast that "[Bradley Manning's] attorney [...] says the extended isolation - now more than seven months of solitary confinement - is weighing on his client's psyche. [...] Both Coombs and Manning's psychologist, Coombs says, are sure Manning is mentally healthy, that there is no evidence he's a threat to himself, and shouldn't be held in such severe conditions under the artifice of his own protection."
In an article to be published at Firedoglake.com later today, David House, a friend of Bradley's who visits him regularly at Quantico, says that Bradley "has not been outside or into the brig yard for either recreation or exercise in four full weeks. He related that visits to the outdoors have been infrequent and sporadic for the past several months."
In an average military court martial situation, a defense attorney would be able to bring these issues of pre-trial punishment to the military judge assigned to the case (known as an Article 13 hearing). However, the military is unlikely to assign a judge to Bradley's case until the pre-trial Article 32 hearing is held (similar to an arraignment in civilian court), and that is not expected until February, March, or later-followed by the actual court martial trial months after that. In short, you are Bradley's best and most immediate hope.
What can you do?
Contact the Marine Corps officers above and respectfully, but firmly, ask that they lift the extreme pre-trial confinement conditions against Army PFC Bradley Manning.
Forward this urgent appeal for action widely.
Sign the "Stand with Brad" public petition and letter campaign at www.standwithbrad.org - Sign online, and we'll mail out two letters on your behalf to Army officials.
Donate to Bradley's defense fund at www.couragetoresist.org/bradley
References:
"The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention", by Glenn Greenwald for Salon.com, 15 December 2010
"A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning", by attorney David E. Coombs, 18 December 2010
"Bradley Manning's Life Behind Bars", by Denver Nicks for the Daily Beast, 17 December 2010
Bradley Manning Support Network
Courage To Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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KOREA: Emergency Response Actions Needed
The United National Antiwar Committee urges the antiwar movement to begin to plan now for Emergency 5pm Day-of or Day-after demonstrations, should fighting break out on the Korean Peninsula or its surrounding waters.
As in past war crisis and U.S. attacks we propose:
NYC -- Times Square, Washington, D.C. -- the White House
In Many Cities - Federal Buildings
Many tens of thousands of U.S., Japanese and South Korean troops are mobilized on land and on hundreds of warships and aircraft carriers. The danger of a general war in Asia is acute.
China and Russia have made it clear that the scheduled military maneuvers and live-fire war "exercises" from an island right off the coast of north Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) by South Korea are very dangerous. The DPRK has made it clear that they consider these live-fire war exercises to be an act of war and they will again respond if they are again fired on.
The U.S. deployment of thousands of troops, ships, and aircraft in the area while South Korea is firing thousands of rounds of live ammunition and missiles is an enormously dangerous provocation, not only to the DPRK but to China. The Yellow Sea also borders China. The island and the waters where the war maneuvers are taking place are north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone and only eight miles from the coast of the DPRK.
On Sunday, December 19 in a day-long emergency session, the U.S. blocked in the UN Security Council any actions to resolve the crisis.
UNAC action program passed in Albany at the United National Antiwar Conference, July 2010 of over 800 antiwar, social justice and community organizations included the following Resolution on Korea:
15. In solidarity with the antiwar movements of Japan and Korea, each calling for U.S. Troops to Get Out Now, and given the great increase in U.S. military preparations against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, National Peace Conference participants will organize immediate protests following any attack by the U.S. on Korea. U.S. war preparations include stockpiling hundreds of bunker-busters and conducting major war games near the territorial waters of China and Korea. In keeping with our stand for the right of self-determination and our demand of Out Now, the National Peace Conference calls for Bringing All U.S. Troops Home Now!
UNAC urges the whole antiwar movement to begin to circulate messages alerts now in preparation. Together let's join together and demand: Bring all U.S. Troops Home Now! Stop the Wars and the Threats of War.
The United National Antiwar Committee, www.UNACpeace.org
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In earnest support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
http://readersupportednews.org/julian-assange-petition
rsn:Petition
We here undersigned express our support for the work and integrity of Julian Assange. We express concern that the charges against the WikiLeaks founder appear too convenient both in terms of timing and the novelty of their nature.
We call for this modern media innovator, and fighter for human rights extraordinaire, to be afforded the same rights to defend himself before Swedish justice that all others similarly charged might expect, and that his liberty not be compromised as a courtesy to those governments whose truths he has revealed have embarrassed.
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GAP Inc: End Your Relationship with Supplier that Allows Workers to be Burned Alive
http://humanrights.change.org/blog/view/workers_burned_alive_making_clothes_for_the_gap
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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.
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
Death penalty -- Kevin Cooper is Innocent! Help save his life from San Quentin's death row!
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
17 December 2010
Click here to take action online:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15084
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa25910.pdf
Kevin Cooper, who has been on death row in California for 25 years, is asking the outgoing state governor to commute his death sentence before leaving office on 2 January 2011. Kevin Cooper has consistently maintained his innocence of the four murders for which he was sentenced to death. Since 2004, a dozen federal appellate judges have indicated their doubts about his guilt.
On the night of 4 June 1983, Douglas and Peggy Ryen were hacked and stabbed to death in their home in Chino Hills, California, along with their 10-year-old daughter Jessica and 11-year-old houseguest Christopher Hughes. The couple's eight-year-old son, Joshua Ryen, was seriously wounded, but survived. He told investigators that the attackers were three or four white men. In hospital, he saw a picture of Kevin Cooper on television and said that Cooper, who is black, was not the attacker. However, the boy's later testimony - that he only saw one attacker - was introduced at the 1985 trial. The case has many other troubling aspects which call into question the reliability of the state's case and its conduct in obtaining this conviction (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/013/2004/en).
Kevin Cooper was less than eight hours from execution in 2004 when the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a stay and sent the case back to the District Court for testing on blood and hair evidence, including to establish if the police had planted evidence. The District Court ruled in 2005 that the testing had not proved Kevin Cooper's innocence - his lawyers (and five Ninth Circuit judges) maintain that it did not do the testing as ordered. Nevertheless, in 2007, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court's ruling. One of the judges described the result as "wholly discomforting" because of evidence tampering and destruction, but noted that she was constrained by US law, which places substantial obstacles in the way of successful appeals.
In 2009, the Ninth Circuit refused to have the whole court rehear the case. Eleven of its judges dissented. One of the dissenting opinions, running to more than 80 pages and signed by five judges, warned that "the State of California may be about to execute an innocent man". On the question of the evidence testing, they said: "There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing and...imposed unreasonable conditions on the testing" ordered by the Ninth Circuit. They pointed to a test result that, if valid, indicated that evidence had been planted, and they asserted that the district court had blocked further scrutiny of this issue.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had already denied clemency in 2004 when the Ninth Circuit issued its stay. At the time, he had said that the "courts have reviewed this case for more than eighteen years. Evidence establishing his guilt is overwhelming". Clearly, a notable number of federal judges disagree. The five judges in the Ninth Circuit's lengthy dissent in 2009 stated that the evidence of Kevin Cooper's guilt at his trial was "quite weak" and concluded that he "is probably innocent of the crimes for which the State of California is about to execute him".
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 2 June 1983, two days before the Chino Hills murders, Kevin Cooper had escaped from a minimum security prison, where he was serving a four-year term for burglary, and had hidden in an empty house near the Ryen home for two nights. After his arrest, he became the focus of public hatred. Outside the venue of his preliminary hearing, for example, people hung an effigy of a monkey in a noose with a sign reading "Hang the Nigger!!" At the time of the trial, jurors were confronted by graffiti declaring "Die Kevin Cooper" and "Kevin Cooper Must Be Hanged". Kevin Cooper pleaded not guilty - the jury deliberated for seven days before convicting him - and he has maintained his innocence since then. Since Governor Schwarzenegger denied clemency in 2004, more evidence supporting Kevin Cooper's claim of innocence has emerged, including for example, testimony from three witnesses who say they saw three white men near the crime scene on the night of the murders with blood on them.
In 2007, Judge Margaret McKeown was the member of the Ninth Circuit's three-judge panel who indicated that she was upholding the District Court's 2005 ruling despite her serious concerns. She wrote: "Significant evidence bearing on Cooper's guilt has been lost, destroyed or left unpursued, including, for example, blood-covered coveralls belonging to a potential suspect who was a convicted murderer, and a bloody t-shirt, discovered alongside the road near the crime scene. The managing criminologist in charge of the evidence used to establish Cooper's guilt at trial was, as it turns out, a heroin addict, and was fired for stealing drugs seized by the police. Countless other alleged problems with the handling and disclosure of evidence and the integrity of the forensic testing and investigation undermine confidence in the evidence". She continued that "despite the presence of serious questions as to the integrity of the investigation and evidence supporting the conviction, we are constrained by the requirements of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)". Judge McKeown wrote that "the habeas process does not account for lingering doubt or new evidence that cannot leap the clear and convincing hurdle of AEDPA. Instead, we are left with a situation in which confidence in the blood sample is murky at best, and lost, destroyed or tampered evidence cannot be factored into the final analysis of doubt. The result is wholly discomforting, but one that the law demands".
Even if it is correct that the AEDPA demands this result, the power of executive clemency is not so confined. Last September, for example, the governor of Ohio commuted Kevin Keith's death sentence because of doubts about his guilt even though his death sentence had been upheld on appeal (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/079/2010/en). Governor Ted Strickland said that despite circumstantial evidence linking the condemned man to the crime, "many legitimate questions have been raised regarding the evidence in support of the conviction and the investigation which led to it. In particular, Mr Keith's conviction relied upon the linking of certain eyewitness testimony with certain forensic evidence about which important questions have been raised. I also find the absence of a full investigation of other credible suspects troubling." The same could be said in the case of Kevin Cooper, whose lawyer is asking Governor Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence before he leaves office on 2 January 2011. While Kevin Cooper does not yet have an execution date, it is likely that one will be set, perhaps early in 2011.
More than 130 people have been released from death rows on grounds of innocence in the USA since 1976. At the original trial in each case, the defendant had been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is clear beyond any dispute that the USA's criminal justice system is capable of making mistakes. International safeguards require that the death penalty not be imposed if guilt is not "based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts". Amnesty International opposes all executions regardless of the seriousness of the crime or the guilt or innocence of the condemned.
California has the largest death row in the USA, with more than 700 prisoners under sentence of death out of a national total of some 3,200. California accounts for 13 of the 1,234 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977. There have been 46 executions in the USA this year. The last execution in California was in January 2006.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Kevin Cooper was sentenced to death;
- Urging Governor Schwarzenegger to take account of the continuing doubts about Kevin Cooper's guilt, including as expressed by more than 10 federal judges since 2004, when executive clemency was last requested;
- Urging the Governor to commute Kevin Cooper's death sentence.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA
Fax: 1 916-558-3160
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov or via http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
Salutation : Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 2 January 2011.
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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Free the Children of Palestine!
Sign Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
Published by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition on Dec 16, 2010
Category: Children's Rights
Region: GLOBAL
Target: President Obama
Web site: http://www.al-awda.org
Background (Preamble):
According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old.
Children and teen-agers were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have been arrested by Israel, and reports of mistreatment are commonplace.
Further, based on sworn affidavits collected in 2009 from 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand.
Minors were often asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is a violation international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
We, the undersigned call on US President Obama to direct Israel to
1. Stop all the night raids and arrests of Palestinian Children forthwith.
2. Immediately release all Palestinian children detained in its prisons and detention centers.
3. End all forms of systematic and institutionalized abuse against all Palestinian children.
4. Implement the full restoration of Palestinian children's rights in accordance with international law including, but not limited to, their right to return to their homes of origin, to education, to medical and psychological care, and to freedom of movement and expression.
The US government, which supports Israel to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars a year while most ordinary Americans are suffering in a very bad economy, is bound by its laws and international conventions to cut off all aid to Israel until it ends all of its violations of human rights and basic freedoms in a verifiable manner.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 (Unless otherwise noted)
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1) U.S. Bills States $1.3 Billion in Interest Amid Tight Budgets
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/politics/15stimulus.html?hp
2) Restrictions on Travel to Cuba Are Eased
By GINGER THOMPSON
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/world/americas/15cuba.html?ref=world
3) Homeland Security Cancels 'Virtual Fence' After $1 Billion Is Spent
By JULIA PRESTON
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/politics/15fence.html?ref=us
4) Sheriff Charged in Texas Whistle-Blowing Case
By KEVIN SACK
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/15nurses.html?ref=us
5) Groups Demand Withdrawal of Medicaid Fraud Lawsuit
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/nyregion/15medicaid.html?ref=nyregion
6) Acquittal After Reporting Black Doll Head on Police Car
By JOHN ELIGON
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/nyregion/15doll.html?ref=nyregion
7) Solution to Crowded Schools? How About Birth Control?
By FERNANDA SANTOS
Tribeca Trib via Youtube [See end of this article to watch video...bw]
January 14, 2011, 4:55 pm
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/solution-to-crowded-schools-how-about-birth-control/?ref=nyregion
8) Germany Bans 934 More Farms in Dioxin Scare
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/01/15/business/AP-EU-Germany-Dioxin-Scandal.html?src=busln
9) Bradley Manning Support Network Supporters Newsletter
Exposing War Crimes Is Not A Crime!
January 15, 2010
Issue: 2.2
The Bradley Manning Support Network is an ad hoc, international grassroots effort to help accused whistle blower Pfc. Bradley Manning.
www.bradleymanning.org
VIA Email
10) Why does health care in Cuba cost 96% less than in the US?
By Don Fitz
Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
January 5, 2011
http://links.org.au/node/2082\
11) Reaching Out to the Cuban People
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 14, 2011
Reaching Out to the Cuban People
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/14/reaching-out-cuban-people
12) What Does WikiLeaks Have on Bank of America?
Mary Bottari
Thursday 13 January 2011
http://www.truth-out.org/what-does-wikileaks-have-bank-america66889
13) Tonight we are all Tunisians
By Yvonne Ridley
January 15, 2011
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/01/15/tonight-we-are-all-tunisians/
14) Tunisia: The 9 Points of the WCPT [Workers Communist Party of Tunisia]
By Hamma Hammami, Workers Communist Party of Tunisia
Tunisia Solidarity Campaign
January 17, 2011
http://tunisiasolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/tunisia-the-9-points-of-the-wcpt/
15) An Assassination's Long Shadow
[The U.S. assassination of Patrice Lumumba, January 17, 1061]
By Adam Hochschild
New York Times
January 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17hochschild.html?hp
16) Ex-Swiss Banker Gives Data to WikiLeaks
By RAVI SOMAIYA and JULIA WERDIGIER
January 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/business/global/18baer.html?hp
17) Violence: From Tucson to Datta Khel
By Cindy Sheehan
Sunday, January 9, 2011
http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2011/01/violence-from-tucson-to-datta-khel-by.html
18) Tunisia Unity Government Fractures
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
January 18, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/world/africa/19tunis.html?hp
19) In Florida, Virtual Classrooms With No Teachers
[One thing I learned while studying math from a good teacher (I wasn't very talented in math) is that every question another student asks is a real learning experience for all in the classroom. The way another student sees things often uncovers areas you were not sure of yourself--and you didn't even know it. What is happening to real classrooms; real games instead of virtual ones? Our kids need to live in the real world not a virtual one!...bw]
By LAURA HERRERA
January 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/education/18classrooms.html?ref=education
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1) U.S. Bills States $1.3 Billion in Interest Amid Tight Budgets
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/politics/15stimulus.html?hp
As if states did not have enough on their plates getting their shaky finances in order, a new bill is coming due - from the federal government, which will charge them $1.3 billion in interest this fall on the billions they have borrowed from Washington to pay unemployment benefits during the downturn.
The interest cost, which has been looming in plain sight without attracting much attention, represents only a sliver of the huge deficits most states will have to grapple with this year But it comes as states are already cutting services, laying off employees and raising taxes. And it heralds a larger reckoning that many states will have to face before long: what to do about the $41 billion they have borrowed from the federal government to help them pay benefits to millions of unemployed people, a debt that federal officials say could rise to $80 billion.
The states, when they borrowed the money, hoped that the economy would have turned around by the time the first interest payments came due, or that future Congresses might loosen the terms. But the economy did not turn around in time and the new Congress, dominated by Republicans determined to shrink the size of government, shows little appetite for deepening the federal deficit by bailing out the states.
The problem is not only the staggering number of people who have lost their jobs, but the fact that many states entered the downturn with too little money salted away in the trust funds they use to pay unemployment benefits, which they are supposed to build up in good times by taxing employers.
Those anemic trust funds ran dry quickly in many states as millions of newly jobless Americans began collecting benefits. So many states borrowed money from the federal government, helped by the stimulus act, which gave them a break on interest for nearly two years. But that grace period ended Dec. 31, and states will owe the first interest on those loans in September.
Michigan, which owes Washington $3.7 billion, is supposed to pay $117 million in interest by September - just about what it pays each year to run Western Michigan University. California, which owes $362 million in interest on a total debt of $9.7 billion, the highest in the nation, plans to juggle its accounts, borrowing from a trust fund for disabled workers to pay interest to the federal government.
In New York, which owes $115 million in interest on $3.2 billion, the cost will be passed on to employers in the form of a tax surcharge. Texas went to the bond market and borrowed $2 billion to pay back all the money it borrowed from the federal government, judging that the interest on the bonds, which are backed by a tax on employers, would cost less.
Some states are planning to follow the lead of Texas, and borrow the money to repay the federal government. Others are asking for more time.
"During this time of extreme economic stress not only on the citizens of our states, but also on state budgets, state loan interest payments that will come due in September 2011 place further hardship on states' finances and could slow economic recovery," a group of 14 governors from both parties wrote to Congressional leaders last month. Their letter added: "Extending the interest-free loans would allow states to avoid increasing payroll taxes, reducing benefits, or both, while the economic recovery continues."
Many advocates believe that the new Republican majority in Congress, which has said it plans to focus on deficit reduction, may be hesitant to postpone collecting the interest. But they could face pressure from newly elected Republican governors in states like Michigan, Ohio, which owes $2.3 billion, and Florida, which owes $2 billion.
The effects of the problem are already being felt. While states are generally loath to increase taxes on businesses during a recession, for fear that it can discourage much-needed hiring, 35 states were forced to raise their state unemployment taxes on employers in 2010, according to a survey by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.
If states are unable to repay their outstanding federal loans by November - which will prove difficult for many - nearly half the states could be forced to effectively raise federal taxes on employers by about $21 per worker, under a provision of federal law that automatically reduces the tax credits given to businesses in states that carry loans two years in a row. Businesses in Michigan, Indiana and South Carolina are already paying the higher federal tax.
But even with those effective federal tax increases, which would continue to rise each year the loan is not repaid, it could take years for some states to repay what they have borrowed.
"This is a problem that's going to persist because of the structural imbalances in the way this system is financed," said Patrick T. Beaty, a deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, who explained that Pennsylvania's unemployment tax base had not kept up with the rising cost of the benefits, leading to a chronic insolvency.
"Unless that's corrected, these loans are going to go on for years, even if the economy improves," he said.
Pennsylvania, one of a handful of states that make both workers and employers pay into its unemployment program, is activating a dormant state "interest tax" to pay the $102 million it expects to owe the federal government this year. It owes Washington $3.1 billion, and officials expect the debt to grow to $3.7 billion by the end of the year. Even with the rising federal tax on employers each year, Mr. Beaty said, Pennsylvania could end up owing the federal government $4.3 billion eight years from now.
The state debts are the highest they have been in the 75-year history of the nation's unemployment program. They are unrelated to the extra weeks of unemployment benefits that Congress agreed to pay for in the stimulus, and then extended late last year as part of the tax cut compromise - those extended weeks are paid for with federal money. The borrowing that many states were forced to do was in order to simply continue paying their basic unemployment benefits, which generally last up to 26 weeks.
The last time state borrowing even approached this level was after the recession of the early 1980s. It took years for many states to repay the debts then, and sparked states to raise taxes on businesses, reduce benefits for the unemployed and borrow money on the bond market - a range of unappealing options for distressed states during a downturn.
Right now, 30 states owe money to the federal government for their unemployment programs. Many of them tried to keep their unemployment taxes low in recent decades as states have competed with one another to lure companies and jobs. Now, although unemployment taxes are low by historic standards, the states face the strong possibility that they will have to take action at the worst possible time, raising taxes on employers at a time of low hiring, and cutting benefits when they are most needed.
States are beginning to try to deal with the short-term problem.
In West Virginia, which has not had to borrow unemployment money from the federal government, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, a Democrat, used his state of the state speech last week to call for propping up the state's unemployment reserves with $20 million from its rainy day fund. And a bill was introduced in Arizona this month that would temporarily raise taxes on employers to repay both the principal and interest of the $258 million the state has had to borrow so far. One of the bill's sponsors, State Representative Bob Robson, a Republican representing Chandler, said that many businesses understand the need to take action.
"They recognize that this needs to be done," he said in an interview, "or the cost would be more prohibitive in the future."
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2) Restrictions on Travel to Cuba Are Eased
By GINGER THOMPSON
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/world/americas/15cuba.html?ref=world
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Friday eased restrictions on Americans' travel to Cuba in an effort to encourage more contact between people in both countries, while leaving intact the decades-old embargo against the island's Communist government.
White House officials said they were lifting travel restrictions imposed by President George W. Bush and expanding the so-called people-to-people provisions created under President Bill Clinton. The changes provide broad opportunities for travel to Cuba by academic, religious and cultural groups and allow charter flights from more American airports.
The new measures also permit Americans to send money to Cuban citizens - except for members of the Castro government and the Communist Party - and to religious organizations to support "private economic activity."
The administration had been expected to announce these measures months ago, but Congressional and administration officials said they were delayed because of White House concerns about their possible impact on the 2010 midterm elections.
There were also worries about the effect the move could have on the detention of a contractor for the United States Agency for International Development who was arrested in Cuba more than a year ago after he was discovered distributing satellite communication equipment to religious groups.
State Department officials visited the contractor, Alan Gross, in Havana this week. The Associated Press reported Friday that the State Department was "cautiously optimistic" that Mr. Gross, 60, who has had health problems, would be tried and then allowed to return to the United States.
Still, the fact that the White House announced the new measures late on a Friday afternoon when most Republican members of Congress were away on retreat and Democrats had left their offices for the long holiday weekend, indicated that the administration hoped to enact the changes with as little fanfare - and backlash - as possible.
The White House announcement also comes as the Cuban government is carrying out a sweeping economic overhaul, including layoffs of hundreds of thousands of state workers. Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, said the increased flow of money from American citizens would help Cubans cope with the changes.
Asked whether the administration was concerned that the measure might inadvertently strengthen the Cuban government by providing its economy with a new source of hard currency, a senior administration official said, "What we know is that it will put money into the hands of the Cuban people and allow them to have more independence from the Cuban state."
Still, a handful of supporters and opponents of the measures took time to make their feelings known.
"Loosening these regulations will not help foster a pro-democracy environment in Cuba," said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, the new chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, applauded the measures as "an important step," saying that they "open the way for the good will of citizens of both countries to forge deeper ties that are in our national interest today and in the future."
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3) Homeland Security Cancels 'Virtual Fence' After $1 Billion Is Spent
By JULIA PRESTON
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/politics/15fence.html?ref=us
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday canceled a project to build a technology-based "virtual fence" across the Southwest border, saying that the effort - on which $1 billion has already been spent - was ineffective and too costly.
Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, said she had decided to end the five-year-old project, known as SBI-Net, because it "does not meet current standards for viability and cost effectiveness." In a statement, Ms. Napolitano said border agents would instead use less expensive technology that is already part of their surveillance equipment, tailoring it to the specific terrain where they will be scouting for illegal border crossers and drug traffickers.
Ms. Napolitano's decision brought a long-expected close to a project carried out by the Boeing Corporation under a contract first signed in 2005 under President George W. Bush, which had been plagued by delays and cost overruns. Originally estimated to cost more than $7 billion to cover the 2,000-mile length of the border, it was the subject of more than a dozen scathing reports by the Government Accountability Office.
In a pilot program in Arizona, it cost about $1 billion to build the system across 53 miles of the state's border. Officials said the new approach, using mobile surveillance systems and unmanned drones already in the Border Patrol's arsenal, would cost less than $750 million to cover the remaining 323 miles of Arizona's border.
Ms. Napolitano suspended financing for the project in March and ordered a review, which was just completed.
But officials moved slowly to cancel the project because it had been ensnared in the contentious debate over border security. Many Republican lawmakers have accused the Obama administration of being lax on enforcement, and they have said they would not consider an overhaul of immigration laws that President Obama supports until the border is tighter.
Anticipating criticism, homeland security officials released documents on Friday showing big increases in the Border Patrol - to 20,500 today from 10,000 in 2004 - and other border agents, and a steep decline in the number of immigrants detained at the border, indicating fewer illegal crossings. About 463,000 illegal crossers were detained last year, compared with 724,000 in 2008, according to the figures.
Ms. Napolitano said she had concluded that the original concept of the project, to develop a single technology that could be used across the entire border, was not viable. Boeing had built a complex system of sensors, radars and cameras mounted on towers that was supposed to lead border agents to the exact location of illegal crossers. But the system functioned inconsistently in the rough terrain along much of the border.
"There is no one-size-fits-all solution to meet our border technology needs," Ms. Napolitano said.
The announcement came in advance of the expiration of the Boeing contract next Tuesday, a homeland security official said.
In a statement, Boeing noted that officials said they would continue to use equipment it had designed. "We appreciate that they recognize the value of the integrated fixed towers Boeing has built, tested and delivered so far," the company said.
Representative Peter T. King, the New York Republican who is the new chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, criticized the administration for being slow to end the program. "I continue to have very serious concerns about the Obama administration's lack of urgency to secure the border," he said.
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4) Sheriff Charged in Texas Whistle-Blowing Case
By KEVIN SACK
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/15nurses.html?ref=us
A state grand jury in Winkler County, Tex., has indicted the sheriff, the county attorney and a hospital administrator for their roles in orchestrating the prosecution of two whistle-blowing nurses after they had reported allegations of malpractice.
The sheriff, Robert L. Roberts Jr., and county attorney, Scott M. Tidwell, each face six counts, including misuse of official information and retaliation, which are third-degree felonies. Stan Wiley, the administrator of Winkler County Memorial Hospital, in the dusty West Texas town of Kermit, was indicted on two counts of retaliation.
The case was investigated by the state attorney general after a jury last year acquitted one of the nurses of charges that she had misused official information by providing patient case numbers to the Texas Medical Board. In 2009, the nurse, Anne Mitchell, and a colleague, Vickilyn Galle, included the case numbers in an anonymous letter to the board about the practices of Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., who had recently joined the small hospital in Kermit.
The case against Ms. Galle was dropped before trial. Dr. Arafiles, who was arrested last month, faces four criminal counts, and has been charged civilly by the medical board with a variety of practice violations.
The charges issued by the grand jury on Thursday stem from Dr. Arafiles's approach to Sheriff Roberts after the doctor learned the medical board was investigating him. The sheriff, who was a patient and friend of the doctor, opened an investigation and, according to the indictment, used deceptive means to obtain the anonymous letter from the medical board.
The letter included details that implicated the nurses. Mr. Wiley fired the two women, who had a combined 47 years at the hospital, and Mr. Tidwell handled their prosecution.
The nurses sued the county and settled last year for a shared $750,000.
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5) Groups Demand Withdrawal of Medicaid Fraud Lawsuit
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/nyregion/15medicaid.html?ref=nyregion
The Legal Aid Society and scores of other organizations representing the elderly and disabled banded together on Friday to demand that the United States attorney in Manhattan withdraw a lawsuit charging New York City with Medicaid fraud through its personal care program.
In a strongly worded letter to Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, the advocates said that the lawsuit directly conflicted with federal policy and with a Supreme Court decision requiring states to try to keep those with disabilities in their homes rather than sending them to institutions.
The letter contended that the lawsuit would have a chilling effect on city government's willingness to authorize personal care in the home to people "who desperately need it."
"New York City should be commended - not penalized - for its successful efforts to further this federal goal," said the letter, which had been signed by representatives of more than 200 disability-rights, legal and community organizations.
The letter was a response to a civil fraud complaint filed on Tuesday, in which Mr. Bharara charged that the city's Human Resources Administration had overbilled the federal Medicaid program tens of millions of dollars by improperly approving 24-hour home care for thousands of patients.
In some cases, the complaint said, patients were receiving too little care and needed to be institutionalized; in other cases, they were receiving too much. The complaint insinuated that city officials made treatment decisions about personal care to shift the costs of caring for elderly people, many with dementia, to the state and federal government.
Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the United States attorney's office for the Southern District in New York, said on Friday, "We are and always have been committed to aggressive enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act," which the letter accused the government of defying.
Also on Friday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg disputed the lawsuit's contention that New York City had "unjustly enriched" itself by manipulating the personal care program. "We don't receive one cent from this practice," Mr. Bloomberg said on his radio show. "It's done by service organizations. They're paid directly by the state."
The state's Medicaid spending is the highest in the country, at more than twice the national average for its population.
Javier C. Hernandez contributed reporting.
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6) Acquittal After Reporting Black Doll Head on Police Car
By JOHN ELIGON
January 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/nyregion/15doll.html?ref=nyregion
A record producer who complained that he saw the head of a black baby doll on the antenna of an unmarked police car in Harlem was acquitted on Friday of charges that he had later obstructed the police and resisted arrest.
Before reaching their decision in less than 45 minutes, jurors heard the producer, Clarence Jones, testify that police officers from the 25th Precinct had harassed him more than two years ago, in the days after he complained to State Senator Bill Perkins and others about seeing the doll head. Mr. Jones said that when he confronted the white detectives about the doll's head, "they just laughed it off."
Mr. Jones's complaint stoked already tense race relations between community members and the Police Department. The police did not deny that there was a doll's head on the car's rear antenna, but they said that a review found no evidence that officers had placed it there. After he complained, Mr. Jones testified, officers pulled him over frequently and would drive by his building and wave their camera phones at him as if they were trying to photograph or film him.
Mr. Jones, 30, said he believed that the harassment culminated five days later, on July 27, 2008, when officers arrested him on East 116th Street and accused him of driving off while they were trying to issue him a parking ticket and of resisting their efforts to arrest him. Mr. Jones and his supporters said the charges were trumped-up and retaliation for his complaint.
On Friday, an elated Mr. Jones, who bowed his head and cried after the verdict was read, slightly backed away from that assertion.
"I don't want to blame it on the black doll head," he said outside the courtroom as he stood beside his lawyer, Roger S. Wareham. "But it was something."
On the day he was arrested, Mr. Jones testified, he was in a store across the street when he heard the police announce on a loudspeaker that all double-parked cars needed to be moved. He jogged out to his car, he said, and a police car was alongside his, preventing him from moving. He said he knocked on the passenger window of the police car and told the officers that he did not want any trouble and just wanted to move his car. The officers did not say anything, Mr. Jones said, and the police car simply backed up.
Mr. Jones said he got into his car and drove away. But that account differed from the testimony of Josip Sovulj, one of the arresting officers, on Thursday. Officer Sovulj said they had told Mr. Jones that they were giving him a ticket and to stay put.
Mr. Jones testified that he drove up the block after the officers said nothing to him and parallel parked in front of his apartment building on East 116th Street. But Ryan Hayward, an assistant district attorney, said in his closing statement that the officers pulled Mr. Jones over because he had disobeyed their order not to move.
Mr. Jones said that as he began to step out of his car after parking, the police officers immediately grabbed him.
"They put some move on my wrist," Mr. Jones said, raising one hand and bending it at the wrist and twisting it with the other. "I'm getting kneed and elbowed. What made me start screaming for my mother is they started putting extra pressure on me - knees, elbows."
The confrontation left him with pain in his shoulder and jaw, and with a cracked tooth that had to be pulled, he said. "I put up no resistance," he said.
The prosecution contended that Mr. Jones had gotten out of his car and approached the officers after they pulled him over. When they tried to handcuff him, he struggled with them, the prosecution said.
Both of the charges against Mr. Jones were misdemeanors. Before taking the case to trial, the prosecution offered to let Mr. Jones plead guilty in exchange for no jail time. He refused.
"We just went with the truth," Mr. Jones said outside the courtroom. "That's why I took it to trial. I didn't just want to take a deal on something I had nothing to do with."
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7) Solution to Crowded Schools? How About Birth Control?
By FERNANDA SANTOS
January 14, 2011, 4:55 pm
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/solution-to-crowded-schools-how-about-birth-control/?ref=nyregion
[See end of this article to watch video. Also, for those who may not know, Cathie Black, media executive and head of Hearst Magazines (Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Popular Mechanics, and O, The Oprah Magazine) has been appointed New York City Schools Chancellor by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "...she is respectfully known among those who have worked with her as unsentimental, cutthroat and unafraid of confrontation."*...bw]
And for your further information:
*Who is Cathie Black
By Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
November 9, 2010
http://www.dnainfo.com/20101109/manhattan/mayor-picks-media-powerhouse-cathie-black-as-his-next-schools-chief
The solution to school overcrowding? According to New York City Schools Chancellor Cathleen P. Black, it might just be birth control.
During a meeting Thursday evening with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his school overcrowding task force, Ms. Black - Aquinas Dominican High School in Chicago, Class of '62 - suggested just that to the parents, community leaders and school principals who had gathered to share their concerns about the lack of school seats in Lower Manhattan.
The comment came after Eric Greenleaf, who has a child at P.S. 234 on Greenwich Street in TriBeCa, cited demographic projections that predicted a shortage of 1,000 school seats by 2015 in the area, which has seen a baby boom of sorts since the city doled out incentives for people who moved Downtown after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"These are kids who are already born," Mr. Greenleaf, a New York University professor, told Ms. Black, referring to the number of Downtown children who may not get a seat in their neighborhood school in coming years.
"Couldn't we just have some birth control for a while?" Ms. Black asked. "It would really help us."
She laughed, and the audience laughed with her. But not everyone found it funny.
City Council member Julissa Ferreras, chairwoman of the Council's committee on women's issues, berated Ms. Black in a statement, saying, "The job of the chancellor is to ensure that our city's children are being educated and have the tools to learn - not judge the reproductive choices of women in our city."
In an e-mail, Ms. Black's spokeswoman, Natalie Ravitz, characterized the comment as an "off-handed joke" and offered an apology: "Chancellor Black takes the issue of overcrowding very seriously, which is why she was engaged in a discussion with Lower Manhattan parents on the subject. She regrets if she left a different impression by making an off-handed joke in the course of that conversation."
Ms. Black's comments were first reported inThe Tribeca Trib.
To be fair, Ms. Black did seem to listen to their concerns and, in the end, conceded that "perhaps we haven't done as good a job" planning for the growth in the community. Though she said that crowded schools are a problem "all over the city," she added, "It's clear that your needs are great and we'll try to deal with them as well as we possibly can."
The Video:
Cathie Black Meets With Downtown Parents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHHhLCF0t88&feature=player_embedded
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8) Germany Bans 934 More Farms in Dioxin Scare
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/01/15/business/AP-EU-Germany-Dioxin-Scandal.html?src=busln
Filed at 9:12 a.m. EST
BERLIN (AP) - Germany's dioxin-tainted food scandal widened Saturday, as authorities banned another 934 farms from selling eggs, poultry and pork after finding out that one company had hidden its deliveries of contaminated livestock feed.
Prosecutors in Lower Saxony state have opened an investigation after finding out about the tainted feed deliveries to those farms, Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said.
"This is a scandal within the scandal," she said.
Lower Saxony's agriculture ministry said products from those farms have likely been sold over the past ten days, "mostly eggs." But it reiterated its assessment that "consumption of these goods does not pose a health risk" given the low contamination level.
The scandal broke last week when investigators found excessive levels of dioxin in eggs and chickens, leading authorities to slaughter hundreds of animals and freeze sales from more than 5,000 farms. Excessive dioxin levels were also found in some pork.
As of Friday, all but 400 farms had been cleared and allowed to resume selling their products, but South Korea and China kept their bans on imports of German pork and poultry.
Aigner, who met with officials in Lower Saxony to discuss the dioxin scandal, appeared outraged by the state authorities' surprise announcement Saturday morning and urged Gov. David McAllister to immediately reprimand those responsible for failing to properly oversee the feed producer.
But a spokesman for the state's agriculture ministry, Gert Hahne, rejected Aigner's comments, saying authorities did their work properly and discovered the feed producer's wrongdoing. The firm itself was not named.
Authorities have traced the infected feed to Harles & Jentzsch GmbH, which is under investigation by prosecutors. The company, which filed for bankruptcy this week, is suspected of using tainted fat to make pellets that were then sold as livestock feed.
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9) Bradley Manning Support Network Supporters Newsletter
Exposing War Crimes Is Not A Crime!
January 15, 2010
Issue: 2.2
The Bradley Manning Support Network is an ad hoc, international grassroots effort to help accused whistle blower Pfc. Bradley Manning.
www.bradleymanning.org
VIA Email
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/savebradley
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/savebradley
Media: +1 (202) 640-4388 or Press@bradleymanning.org
Bradley Manning Speaks About His Conditions
Friend and supporter David House recounts a visit to see Bradley at the Quantico brig, where it became clear that the Pentagon's public spin sharply contradicts the reality of Bradley Manning's detainment
http://my.firedoglake.com/blog/2010/12/23/bradley-manning-speaks-about-his-conditions/
Bradley Manning and the Rule of Law
The evidence shows Manning, if guilty of what he is accused, is a patriot and not a traitor. He did not give the documents to a foreign adversary, he is accused of giving them to the media to spur debate and create a more perfect union that did not routinely violate the law and lie to its people.
http://www.bradleymanning.org/15963/bradley-manning-and-the-rule-of-law/
Psychologists for Social Responsibility open letter to Robert Gates on Manning's confinement
"Psychologists for Social Responsibility calls upon [Secretary of Defense Gates] to rectify the inhumane, harmful, and counterproductive treatment of PFC Bradley Manning immediately."
http://www.bradleymanning.org/15952/psychologists-for-social-responsibility-open-letter-to-robert-gates-on-mannings-confinement/
Confinement Conditions Update
A brief blog post by Bradley Manning's lawyer, David E. Coombs, regarding the ongoing process to improve P.F.C. Manning's conditions.
http://www.armycourtmartialdefense.info/2011/01/confinement-conditions-update.html
Assange: Manning "a Political Prisoner"
Julian Assange boldly covers a range of topics, including Bradley Manning, in an interview with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC.
http://www.bradleymanning.org/15884/assange-manning-a-political-prisoner/
Bradley Manning: One Soldier Who Really Did "Defend Our Freedom"
While wars are fought for the sole benefit of the moneyed elite, Bradley Manning chose to fight for and defend the basic principles of a functioning democracy.
http://www.bradleymanning.org/15918/bradley-manning-one-soldier-who-really-did-defend-our-freedom/
Song for Bradley Manning
David Rovics wrote a catchy tune in support of Bradley Manning!
http://www.youtube.com/user/drovics?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/z_eood7DUwI
What Can I Do?
Join the fray! Learn ten simple ways we've come up with for you to help Bradley Manning (plus one more written in the comments section by a very helpful supporter). Together we can!
http://www.bradleymanning.org/what-can-i-do/
The Bradley Manning Support Network is an ad hoc, international grassroots effort to help accused whistle blower Pfc. Bradley Manning.
www.bradleymanning.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/savebradley
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/savebradley
Media: +1 (202) 640-4388 or Press@bradleymanning.org
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10) Why does health care in Cuba cost 96% less than in the US?
By Don Fitz
Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
January 5, 2011
http://links.org.au/node/2082
When Americans spend $100 on health care, is it possible that only $4 goes to keeping them well and $96 goes somewhere else? Single payer health care [government-funded universal health insurance] advocates compare US health care to that in Western Europe or Canada and come up with figures of 20-30% waste in the US.
But there is one country with very low level of economic activity yet with a level of health care equal to the West: Cuba.
Life expectancy of about 78 years of age in Cuba is equivalent to the US. Yet, in 2005, Cuba was spending US$193 per person on health care, only 4% of the $4540 being spent in the US. Where could the other 96% of US health care dollars be going?
1. A fragmented system
Explaining why health care is 16% of the US gross domestic product while it is less than half that in the UK, a 2008 article in Dollars and Sense pointed out that:
... the US has the most bureaucratic health care system in the world, including over 1500 different companies, each offering multiple plans, each with its own marketing program and enrollment procedures, its own paperwork and policies, its CEO salaries, sales commissions, and other non-clinical costs-and, of course, if it is a for-profit company, its profits.
An article widely cited during the debate on single payer health care calculated that administration eats up 31% of health-care costs. Insurance companies that compete in the market have duplicative claims-processing facilities and must keep track of a variety of approval and co-payment requirements.
Several Canadian physicians who peeked at US hospitals found that for-profit ones paid executive bonuses that were up to 20% higher, were more likely to up-code diagnoses in order to receive more reimbursement, and overwhelmingly had more lawsuits against them for performing unnecessary surgeries and billing for services not provided.
2. Over treatment
One of the most readable accounts of profit-motivated over treatment is Stan Cox's Sick Planet (2008). He describes how the Parker Hughes Cancer Center in Roseville, Minnesota, went bankrupt after the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that it "had been subjecting cancer patients to excessive testing and treating".
When doctors install magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines in their office, they tend to use them 23% more than if they refer out for a scan. After the purchase price is covered by the first 2000-3000 scans, additional ones generate almost pure profit.
Are these a few bad apples, or do they reflect a broader trend? A study in Australia reported that if "100 patients are each subjected to 10 random diagnostic tests, around 40 of them will be 'found' to have a problem that really isn't there".
3. Expansion of illness
The pharmaceutical industry has become especially adept at transforming what can be a serious problem into an artificial sickness. It has redefined and expanded "a host of medical conditions-erectile dysfunction, female sexual dysfunction, restless legs, sleeplessness, bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, social anxiety disorder, and irritable bowel syndrome".
Take the osteoporosis hype. It is a genuine medical issue. But the industry pressures women to have bone scans and take anti-osteoporosis drugs even though the scans do a poor job of predicting hip fracture, the major threat of fragile bones.
Between 1987 and 2007, the rate of problems classified as mental illness in the US more than doubled (from 1/184 to 1/76). In the same time period, the use of drugs like Ritalin for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children (mostly boys) shot up 30 fold.
4. Sickness looping
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), each year 2 million Americans get infectious diseases in hospitals. The massive over treatment endemic to health care in the United States increases costs in two ways: (1) the cost of the unnecessary treatment itself; and, (2) the cost of treating the sickness which results from the original treatment. We could say that "sickness looping" is when treatment loops back on itself and requires yet more treatment.
This is a major medical expense, responsible for about a third of all medical care. The second best-selling category is heartburn drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPI), which accounted for $14 billion in the US in 2008. But 60% of PPI prescriptions for hospitalized patients may be unnecessary. Since the drugs inhibit calcium absorption, those taking high-dose PPIs long-term are 2.65 times more likely to have hip fractures. They are twice as likely to develop pneumonia and almost three times as likely to get a potentially deadly infection. Most disturbing, they may cause heartburn and acid reflux, which they are supposedly treating.
Too much radiation can be very unhealthy. From 1980 to 2010, the average lifetime dose of non-therapeutic diagnostic radiation increased sevenfold, increasing the risk for cancer. As much as 2% of cancers could be due to CT scan radiation.
Did you think that the value of hormone therapy (HT) for menopausal women was thoroughly debunked? After all, it does not improve either memory or cognition. But it is associated with increased dementia, stroke, blood clots and heart attacks. After 50 million women stopped using HT, estrogen positive breast cancer dropped by 15%. So, when Martha Rosenberg saw a 2010 article describing industry's efforts to began pushing it again, she thought it was like "seeing an article suggesting cigarettes may be good for you after all."
5. Insurance looping
In addition to the 47 million uninsured Americans, there are over 60 million who are underinsured. We could say that "insurance looping" occurs when failure to provide treatment loops back into medical costs, making them higher rather than lower.
A Health Affairs article confirmed that the uninsured are more likely to be untreated, resulting in illnesses progressing and their treatments being more expensive. According to lead author Dr Andrew Wilper, "they're not getting care that would prevent strokes, heart attacks, amputations and kidney failure."
Those without adequate treatment also receive more hurried care when they do get it. They often have no alternative but use the emergency room, making the ER more crowded for everyone.
6. Doctors' fees
The US has some of the highest paid doctors in the world. Even though there is no difference in patient survival rates for coronary bypass operations in the US and Canada, US heart surgeons bill at least twice as much.
The six- and seven-digit income figures for US physicians often stem from practices that are not particularly helpful to patients. A California study in the 1960s "showed that when physicians owned X-ray facilities, their patients ended up being X-rayed twice as often as patients whose physicians referred them to outside labs". Illinois brought legal actions "against 20 MRI operators in the Chicago area for allegedly paying kickbacks to doctors who helped keep their machines supplied with patients".
7. What needs to be researched?
Over half of the world's spending on medical research is in the US. This has resulted in some amazing new techniques; but the increase in life expectancy gets smaller each decade. Focusing on increasingly rare disorders is likely to benefit the wealthiest half of families who spend 92% of US health care dollars.
The $3 billion Human Genome Project would supposedly revolutionise the treatment of most human diseases. But Stephen Hall writes in Scientific American that it is failing to produce medical miracles, largely because of its emphasis on genetic rather than environmental causes of disease. Many more people would be benefited by research on how to get already-known treatments to those who are not currently receiving them.
8. Costs not counted
Scrutinising dollar figures leaves out the unnecessary irritation, pain, suffering and death from profit-oriented health care. In 2008, reduced access to care resulting from lack of health insurance caused the death of 2200 veterans over the age of 65.
A review of pooled data from studies of 26,000 hospitals with 38,000,000 patients found that private for-profit ownership of hospitals is associated with a higher risk of death for patients. The authors noted that for-profit hospitals have extra costs which leads them to skimp on patient care, often by hiring fewer highly skilled personnel.
One study of health care plans concluded that "if all 23.7 million American women between ages 50 and 69 years were enrolled in investor-owned, rather than not-for-profit plans, an estimated 5925 additional breast cancer deaths would be expected".
Another source of human suffering is prescription drug overdoses, which are now the second-leading cause of accidental deaths in the US. According to the CDC, they cause more overdose deaths than heroin and codeine combined.
As for-profit health care causes needless suffering, its cost feedback loops flow into each other, creating yet more illness and sending costs spiraling. The growth of the sickness industry reflects little growth in human wellbeing.
Revolutionary medicine in Cuba: health care as a human right
The Cuban approach to health care is so different that it cannot be described using the concepts that are so problematic in the US. It goes beyond taking profit out of medicine. Cuba stands alone in constructing an advanced health-care system with extremely limited resources.
What it has accomplished is remarkable. Life expectancy climbed from 58.8 years at the time of the 1959 revolution to 73.5 years by 1983, and 78 years currently. Cuba has eradicated polio, controlled malaria and dengue fever, and decreased infant, child and maternal mortality to be roughly equal to rates in the US. Cuban medicine is widely recognised by international health groups such as UNICEF as surpassing that of developing countries and being comparable to developed ones.
The foundation for the transformation is a commitment to health care as a human right. There is a strong connection between poverty and sickness. Better care is understood as interwoven with improvements in housing, education and employment.
One of the most revolutionary developments in Cuban medicine was the "idea that physicians are responsible for all those people living in a geographical area rather than just a number of patients". What is now known as the primary health care (PHC) model in Cuba is based on targeting at-risk groups, including pregnant women, children and the elderly.
The 1989 fall of the Soviet Union and disappearance of most of its oil and markets for Cuban products dealt the economy a severe blow. By 1998-2000, 13% of Cubans were undernourished. Nevertheless, the new medical approach was so effective and had become so much a part of Cuban life that infant mortality continued to decline throughout the "special period" of exceptional hardship.
Consultorios
During a May 2010 visit to Cuba, I spoke with Ivan Angulo Torres, who was then finishing his final, sixth year of medical school. Though the PHC model has gone through several modifications, he outlined the form as it is practiced in Cuba today.
The most basic level of health care is the neighborhood consultorio, which provides coverage for 99% of Cubans. It is often a former home converted into a medical office on the first floor with the doctor and nurse each living on another floor, or nearby. Though the consultorio is often described as serving the surrounding area of about 150 families or 600 people, when I visited Consultorio No. 5 in Havana, Dr Alejandro Fradraga Fernandez explained that their team of three doctors and two nurses provided care to about 500 families or 1800 patients. As typical for a consultorio, it had posters listing docente, or staff of medical students from their first through sixth year who worked there.
Dr Fradraga works at the consultorio from 8 am until 2 pm and then does home visits from 2-4 pm. A healthy person is expected to visit the consultorio three times per year, if there are risk factors, four times per year. Family doctors are required to visit patients in their homes one to four times per year, depending on whether they are healthy, sick, at-risk or have special needs (i.e., an amputee or mentally ill).
While in a patient's home, the doctor may see five or six people and get information that only a home observation can reveal. Physicians compile information into summary data for the neighborhood. Wall posters in Consultorio No. 5 report the number of residents who smoke, are overweight, have high cholesterol, are alcoholic, take drugs or have a lifestyle of sedentarismo-sedentary lifestyle. Sitting around doing nothing is as important to report as other risk factors.
Though the consultorio deals with health needs of everyone, much of the work is OB/GYN and pediatrics. Women are expected to visit the consultorio 12 times during pregnancy. Breast feeding is the norm in Cuba. Posters in Consultorio No. 5 describe the basics of breast feeding, explain how to overcome common problems and demonstrate how to nurse twins.
Polyclínicos
Cuba has 492 polyclinics (polyclínicos), with 83 in Havana. Each polyclinic develops programs for 30 to 40 consultorios. They have more specialised treatments than consultorios and are open when family doctors are off work. They are critical in the coordination of teaching, research and community preventive health programs.
For example, polyclinics help control dengue fever, a mosquito-borne illness that frequently breaks out in Cuba. Polyclinics arrange for teams of medical students to go door-to-door to take samples of standing water and tell people to drain them.
This illustrates a critical connection between health care, poverty and housing. Health-care campaigns work in Cuba because health workers can find people at home, neighbourhoods are stable, and people do not show the high mobility patterns of many low income communities in the US.
Polyclinics are thoroughly integrated into Cuban communities, in part, because they blend Western techniques with "natural and traditional medicine" of Caribbean culture. When Teresa Frías took me on a tour of Havana's Polyclínico Universitario, I saw rooms for admission, observation, autoclaves, laboratory, vaccination, X-ray, optometry, ophthalmology, OB/GYN, family planning, ultrasound, menstrual regulation (largely for teenagers), mouth diseases, podiatry, psychology, social work, bone specialties, speech therapy, physical therapy, adult gym, children's gym, acupuncture, massage therapy, heat therapy, reflex therapy, electromagnetic therapy and mud therapy. Cuban doctors often try low-tech traditional medicine that patients may be more comfortable with before using a more expensive high-tech option. Of course, the US embargo ensures that many high-tech machines are in short supply.
The Cuban medical system aims to deal with 80% of problems at the level of consultorios and polyclinics and only 20% at the higher levels of hospitals, specialty hospitals and long-term care facilities such as nursing homes. In fact, 74% of all outpatient consultations are with family doctors. According to some estimates, 97% of medical care in Cuba is from family doctors.
The most striking difference about Cuban hospitals is their lack of luxury. Cuban hospitals remind me of the US in the 1950s-they are clean, very plain and are not full of TV sets and electronic gadgets.
Two visions of health care
Cuba shows that a quality health-care system does not have to be based on unending expansion of expensive medical technology. Removing profit from medical care lowers administrative costs, reduces over treatment, tempers the expansion of diagnoses, stops making people sicker by denying them preventive treatment, controls exorbitant incomes of doctors and helps focus research in needed areas.
In Primary Health Care in Cuba (2008), Linda Whitehead and Laurence Branch describe how a Cuban shocked a visiting Canadian doctor by saying that virtually none of his patients with hypertension were on medication. While corporate medicine uses "diet and exercise" as a catchy phrase, in Cuba it is the way that medicine is actually practiced.
The hallmark of Cuban medicine has been designing and putting into effect a system of primary and preventive health care which is little more than sloganeering in other countries. Only 2-3% of US health-care expenditures are for preventive care.
After World War II, the myth arose in the US that better health was associated with more specialists. But Cuba realised that successful health care is closely linked to the prevalence of family doctors. While a majority of Cuban doctors are family physicians, this is the case for only 11% of those in the US. Additionally, Cuba has a higher rate of doctors in the population: one doctor per 180 inhabitants while the ratio is one doctor per 480 inhabitants in the US.
This is one reason why Cuba has virtually no difference in health care indicators among sectors of society. The US, in contrast, has enormous disparities in measures such as infant mortality among ethnic and geographic groups. The lack of commitment to ending inequality in the United States is demonstrated by the parades of empty rhetoric with little to no lasting effect, which are known in the US as "educational campaigns". In contrast, Cuba has "mobilisation campaigns" that use the enthusiasm of medical students, Committees for the Defence of the Revolution and the general population to combat illiteracy, polio, dengue fever and infant mortality.
When talking with family doctor Alejandro Fragadas, I told him, "Please do not laugh when I ask you this; but when your patients come to see you, how do they get to your office, and, when you make home visits, how do you get to them?"
Looking at me as if I were from another world, he said, "They walk to see me and I walk to see them." How many Americans walk to their family doctor, if they even have one? The same drive that deprives people of physical activity so necessary to good health simultaneously pours pollutants into the lungs of everyone along the way. This is just one of the infinitely expanding sickness cost loops that spiral into each other in Western culture.
Stark contrasts
It is not possible to create good medicine separately from everything else in society that makes people sick. Revamping the US medical system would be far more valuable than demanding a universal right to bad health care controlled by insurance companies.
The US is one of the worst perpetrators of medical "brain drain", or wooing doctors, with vastly higher salaries, from India, Africa and Latin America. This leaves some of the most desperate communities on Earth with even fewer doctors. The medical brain drain is so bad in Ghana that the country is left with one doctor for every 45,000 residents.
Cuba, on the other hand, sends a massive number of doctors to other countries. At the same time that the US had 550 medical personnel in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, there were 1500 from Cuba. Almost a quarter of Cuba's 70,000 doctors are now working abroad.
In addition, Cuba brings thousands of students from 100 countries to study medicine at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) at no cost. After six years of training at ELAM, graduating doctors bring the model of primary and preventive health care to distressed communities that need it the most. They help turn the "brain drain" into a "brain gain".
[Don Fitz is editor of Synthesis/Regeneration: A Magazine of Green Social Thought, which is published for members of the Greens/Green Party USA. He continues to listen to stories, contemplate over treatment and peek into hospital rooms to try to find where 96% of US health-care costs are squandered. If you know where he might look, contact him at fitzdon@aol.com.]
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11) Reaching Out to the Cuban People
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 14, 2011
Reaching Out to the Cuban People
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/14/reaching-out-cuban-people
Today, President Obama has directed the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security to take a series of steps to continue efforts to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country's future.
The President has directed that changes be made to regulations and policies governing: (1) purposeful travel; (2) non-family remittances; and (3) U.S. airports supporting licensed charter flights to and from Cuba. These measures will increase people-to-people contact; support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities.
The President believes these actions, combined with the continuation of the embargo, are important steps in reaching the widely shared goal of a Cuba that respects the basic rights of all its citizens. These steps build upon the President's April 2009 actions to help reunite divided Cuban families; to facilitate greater telecommunications with the Cuban people; and to increase humanitarian flows to Cuba.
The directed changes described below will be enacted through modifications to existing Cuban Assets Control and Customs and Border Protection regulations and policies and will take effect upon publication of modified regulations in the Federal Register within 2 weeks.
Purposeful Travel. To enhance contact with the Cuban people and support civil society through purposeful travel, including religious, cultural, and educational travel, the President has directed that regulations and policies governing purposeful travel be modified to:
· Allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba under a general license.
· Facilitate educational exchanges by: allowing accredited institutions of higher education to sponsor travel to Cuba for course work for academic credit under a general license; allowing students to participate through academic institutions other than their own; and facilitating instructor support to include support from adjunct and part-time staff.
· Restore specific licensing of educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program under the auspices of an organization that sponsors and organizes people-to-people programs.
· Modify requirements for licensing academic exchanges to require that the proposed course of study be accepted for academic credit toward their undergraduate or graduate degree (rather than regulating the length of the academic exchange in Cuba).
· Allow specifically licensed academic institutions to sponsor or cosponsor academic seminars, conferences, and workshops related to Cuba and allow faculty, staff, and students to attend.
· Allow specific licensing to organize or conduct non-academic clinics and workshops in Cuba for the Cuban people.
· Allow specific licensing for a greater scope of journalistic activities.
Remittances. To help expand the economic independence of the Cuban people and to support a more vibrant Cuban civil society, the President has directed the regulations governing non-family remittances be modified to:
· Restore a general license category for any U.S. person to send remittances (up to $500 per quarter) to non-family members in Cuba to support private economic activity, among other purposes, subject to the limitation that they cannot be provided to senior Cuban government officials or senior members of the Cuban Communist Party.
· Create a general license for remittances to religious institutions in Cuba in support of religious activities.
No change will be made to the general license for family remittances.
U.S. Airports. To better serve those who seek to visit family in Cuba and engage in other licensed purposeful travel, the President has directed that regulations governing the eligibility of U.S. airports to serve as points of embarkation and return for licensed flights to Cuba be modified to:
· Allow all U.S. international airports to apply to provide services to licensed charters, provided such airports have adequate customs and immigration capabilities and a licensed travel service provider has expressed an interest in providing service to and from Cuba from that airport.
The modifications will not change the designation of airports in Cuba that are eligible to send or receive licensed charter flights to and from the United States.
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12) What Does WikiLeaks Have on Bank of America?
Mary Bottari
Thursday 13 January 2011
http://www.truth-out.org/what-does-wikileaks-have-bank-america66889
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is promising to unleash a cache of secret documents from the hard drive of a U.S. megabank executive. In 2009, he told Computer World that the bank was Bank of America (BofA). In 2010, he told Forbes that the information was significant enough to "take down a bank or two," but that he needed time to lay out the information in a more user-friendly format.
Recent new reports suggest that BofA is now moving into high gear on damage control, creating a "war room" and buying up hundreds of derogatory Internet domain names including BankofAmericaSucks.com and BrianMoynihanblows.com (BofA's CEO).
Before the big banks start calling for Assange's internment at Guantanamo, the question worth considering is what does Wikileaks have on America's largest bank?
Legal Liability for Toxic Mortgages
BofA is already under the gun, defending itself from multiple lawsuits from private investors as well as Fannie and Freddie demanding that the bank buy back billions worth of toxic mortgages-backed securities. The firm stopped issuing subprime mortgages in 2001, but it kept underwriting subprime mortgage-backed securities for many years. In September 2009, for example, BofA underwrote $239 million worth of securities backed by subprime loans. BofA has reserved $4.4 billion for these "put back" lawsuits. If Assange has emails showing that top executives at BofA knew they were peddling toxic dreck to investors, it would rock the firm and give tremendous ammunition to the army of lawyers already knocking on BofA's door.
Reckless and Illegal Foreclosures
BofA is at the heart of the robo-signing scandal and has wrongfully foreclosed on countless American families. One poor woman returned to a vacation home to find it locked, all her possessions gone -- including the ashes of her late husband. How could such a mistake be made? A BofA employee deposed in February 2010 said that she signed as many as 8,000 foreclosure documents a month without reviewing them, in violation of the law. Mounting questions about the fraudulent and illegal foreclosure practices at the big banks and mortgage service companies prompted BofA to temporarily halt foreclosures nationwide in October 2010. If Wikileaks can document that top BofA officials have a callous disregard for legal processes and constitutionally protected property rights, BofA's mounting legal liability may not be sustainable.
Countrywide Headaches
In 2008, BofA acquired Countrywide, one of the most aggressive and fraudulent lenders during the housing bubble. The result has been a trainwreck of liability and lawsuits for the megabank that now has over 1.3 million customers in foreclosure. To settle the lawsuits with Illinois, California and eight other states over predatory lending, BofA came up with an $8.4 billion loan relief plan for those holding Countrywide mortgages. In June, 2010 BofA paid $108 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission case that charged Countrywide with having extracted excessive fees out of borrowers facing foreclosure. BofA paid $600 million in August 2010 to settle shareholder claims that Countrywide had concealed the riskiness of its lending standards. There is no end in sight for these suits. In June 2010 the State of Illinois sued Countrywide again, this time over racial discrimination in its lending practices. Wikileaks could have further documentation of Countrywide's illegal and reckless underwriting practices or ongoing fraud at BofA.
Taxpayer Paid Bonuses
BofA acquired the brokerage firm Merrill Lynch for $50 billion in January 2009. The U.S. government blessed the merger with a $20 billion bailout loan to aid BofA. After the acquisition went through, it was revealed that Merrill Lynch had lost $15.8 billion in the last quarter of 2008 and that $3.6 billion in bonuses were paid ahead of schedule to top executives at Merrill. Among beneficiaries of the bonus bonanza was Merrill's CEO John Thain, who famously spent a million redecorating his office at the height of the crisis. About the deal New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said: "One disturbing question that must be answered is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding." If Wikileaks has emails showing top executives knowingly used bailout bucks for bonuses, this ugly chapter in history could be reopened, prompting Congressional investigations and further bailout backlash.
Still Too Big To Fail
In addition to the $25 billion in TARP bailout money and the $20 billion for purchasing Merrill, America recently learned of the extraordinary actions taken by the Federal Reserve to prop up BofA at the height of the crisis, details that were kept secret from the public. When the Fed was forced to release data about its emergency loan programs in December 2010, we found that BofA tapped an estimated $931 billion from the Fed in short term loans and government subsidies. If Wikileaks has information showing that America's biggest bank is only being kept alive by accounting tricks and ongoing government subsidies, the result could be another government bailout. Or is it possible we might see the first orderly dissolution of a of a "too big to fail" under the new Wall Street reform law?
"We Don't Suck"
BofA doesn't just want you to know that their CEO Brian Moynihan doesn't suck, they want you to know that their top staff does not suck either. The bank has started buying damaging domain names for a long list of executives, prompting many to wonder: just what have those executives been up to over there at BofA?
Hopefully Wikileaks and Julian Assange will soon let us know.
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13) Tonight we are all Tunisians
By Yvonne Ridley
January 15, 2011
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/01/15/tonight-we-are-all-tunisians/
Over the last few days we have seen some of the bravest people facing down some of the worst.
Armed with nothing more than a revolutionary heart and hopes of a better future they gathered and protested as government forces aimed their weapons and fired live rounds in to the crowds.
But the ammunition and the underlying threats of arrest and torture meant absolutely nothing to the masses - for they had simply lost their fear.
It was the final testament to the brutality of a dictator who has had the support of European leaders and various presidents of the United States.
And that the Tunisian President Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali fled from his country like a rat up a drainpipe after 23 brutal years spoke volumes about the character of the man himself.
If he had one ounce of the courage his own people displayed, he too would have stayed but most of these tyrants are gutless with the moral fiber of a dung beetle.
The demise of Ben Ali came when police prevented an unemployed 26-year-old graduate from selling fruit without a license. Mohammad Bouazizi turned himself in to a human torch on December 17 and died of the horrific burns in Sidi Bouzid, in central Tunisia.
It was the final straw, a defining moment which ignited rallies, marches and demonstrations across Tunisia.
And revelations from Wikileaks cables exposing the corrupt and extravagant lifestyle of Ben Ali and his grasping wife fanned the flames of unbridled anger from a people who were also in the grip of poverty.
I knew it was coming. I saw the burning desire for freedom in the eyes of the courageous people of Ghafsa when the Viva Palestina Convoy entered the country in February 2009 on its way to Gaza.
Our convoy witnessed the menacing secret police intimidate the crowds to stop them from gathering to cheer us on.
This vast army of spies, thugs and enforcers even tried to stop us from praying in a local mosque
That they stood their ground to cheer us on prompted me to leave my vehicle and hug all the women who had turned out. We exchanged cards and small gifts and then, to my horror, I discovered 24 hours later that every woman I had embraced in the streets of Gafsa had been taken away and questioned.
Human rights organizations have constantly condemned and exposed the brutality of the Ben Ali regime but that has not led America and European leaders to intervene or put pressure on the regime to stop the brutality.
Sadly, it serves western interests to have a people brutalized and subjugated.
Now Tunisia is minus one dictator but it is still in a state of emergency. The next few days and weeks are going to be crucial for the Tunisian people who deserve freedom and liberty. My God, they've paid for it with their own blood and we must always remember their martyrs.
None of the politicians, secret police or other odious government forces will emerge from this period with any honor and quite a few are already cowering in the shadows.
But perhaps the biggest show of cowardice in this whole sorry episode has come from The White House.
Not one word of condemnation, not one word of criticism, not one word urging restraint came from Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton as live ammunition was fired into crowds of unarmed men, women and children in recent weeks.
And news of the corrupt, mafia-like regime would not have come as a surprise to either of them. We know this thanks to the Wikileakscables written by US Ambassador Robert Godec who revealed in one memo: "Corruption in the inner circle is growing."
But, as the injustices and atrocities continued there was not one squeak from the most powerful nation on earth ... until America's dear friend, Ben Ali had scuttled from the country.
The reality is the US Administration likes dealing with tyrants and even encourages despotic behavior. Egypt is one of the biggest testaments to this with its prisons full of political opposition leaders. Hosni Mubarak is Uncle Sam's enforcer and biggest recipient of aid next to the Zionist State.
Pakistan's treatment of its own people is little better. Remember when US Ambassador Anne Patterson in Islamabad wrote in one Wikileaks cable about the human rights abuses carried out by the Pakistan military? Patterson then went on to advise Washington to avoid comment on these incidents.
But now the US has made a comment on the situation in Tunisia ... but only when Ben Ali was 30,000 feet in the air did White House spokesman Mike Hammer issue a statement which read: "We condemn the ongoing violence against civilians in Tunisia, and call on the Tunisian authorities to fulfill the important commitments ... including respect for basic human rights and a process of much-needed political reform."
Unbelievable. Too little, too late, Mr President. Actually that statement could have been uttered any time during the last US presidencies since Ronald Reagan.
But as I say, America couldn't give a stuff about the human rights of the people of the Maghreb, Pakistan, Egypt and Palestine to name but a few.
When US condemnation finally came through the tyrant had fled leaving behind more than 60 civilian martyrs and countless more injured.
Tomorrow I will go to the Tunisian Embassy in London as I have done previously and stand shoulder to shoulder with my Tunisian brothers and sisters and their supporters. We will remember the dead, we will pay tribute to the brave and courageous many who are still in the process of seizing back their country and we will pray that no tyrant will sleep easy in his bed from this moment on.
Tonight we are all Tunisians.
British journalist Yvonne Ridley is the European President of the International Muslim Women's Union as well as being a patron of Cageprisoners at http://www.cageprisoners.com/. Read more articles by Yvonne Ridley at: http://yvonneridley.org/
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14) Tunisia: The 9 Points of the WCPT [Workers Communist Party of Tunisia]
By Hamma Hammami, Workers Communist Party of Tunisia
Tunisia Solidarity Campaign
January 17, 2011
http://tunisiasolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/tunisia-the-9-points-of-the-wcpt/
1. The success achieved so far is only half of the way and the other half is achieving the wanted democratic change and implementing it on the ground.
2. The democratic change cannot spring from the same party, the figures, the institutions, the apparatuses and the legislations that maintained the dictatorship and deprived the people from basic rights for more than half a century, 23 years of which under Ben Ali.
3. The interim president is one of Ben Ali's clique and a president of an appointed body which does not represent the people in any aspect whatsover, and the plan to hold presidential elections in a 60-day time has no purpose but to maintain the continuation of the dictatorial regime through one of its former leaders.
4. The most dangerous of what could happen now is robbing the Tunisian people of their victory and their legitimate ambitions for freedom and a diginified existence and sacrifices through preserving Ben Ali's regime without Ben Ali and through forming a democratic decor around it.
5. The democratice change, with its political, economical, social and cultural dimensions, requires a real end of the repressive regime by taking a direct step which consists of forming a provisional government or any other body that has excecutive powers and undertakes the task of organising free elections for a Constitutional Assembly which would establish the bases of a real democratic republic in which people would enjoy freedom, social equality and national dignity.
6. All the forces, whether they are political organisations, unions, human rights groups, cultural organisations, organised or non-organised, and the people, that have played an effective and decisive role in toppling the dictator, have the task to decide on Tunisia's future, and no one could replace them in their negotiations or contatcs with the authority.
7. It is of a high urgency that the democratic forces form a national and unified body to carry out the democratic change and has the tasks to protect the gains of the revolting Tunisian people and to negociate with the authorities to yield power to the people in a peaceful way
8. All the democratic forces all over the coutry have to unite in organisations, committees, or local, regional and sectorial councils in organising the popular movement and to undermine the manoeuvre of reaction and the acts of looting and vandalism perpetrated by hidden groups aiming at spreading fear among the citizens, threatening their safety and scaring them of a democratic change to compel the people to surrender to the repressive apparatuses.
9. The armed forces, which consists in the main of the sons and daughters of the people are required to provide safety for the people and the motherland and respect people's aspirations towards freedom, social jutice and national dignity, which requires lifting the state of emergency as soon as possible so that it doesn't become an excuse that prevents the Tunisian people from continuing their struggle and achieving their goals.
For a provisitional government
For a constitutional assembly
For a democratic republic
15 January 2011
Translated from Arabic by Nadim Mahjoub
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15) An Assassination's Long Shadow
[The U.S. assassination of Patrice Lumumba, January 17, 1061]
By Adam Hochschild
New York Times
January 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17hochschild.html?hp
Today, millions of people on another continent are observing the 50th anniversary of an event few Americans remember, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. A slight, goateed man with black, half-framed glasses, the 35-year-old Lumumba was the first democratically chosen leader of the vast country, nearly as large as the United States east of the Mississippi, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This treasure house of natural resources had been a colony of Belgium, which for decades had made no plans for independence. But after clashes with Congolese nationalists, the Belgians hastily arranged the first national election in 1960, and in June of that year King Baudouin arrived to formally give the territory its freedom.
"It is now up to you, gentlemen," he arrogantly told Congolese dignitaries, "to show that you are worthy of our confidence."
The Belgians, and their European and American fellow investors, expected to continue collecting profits from Congo's factories, plantations and lucrative mines, which produced diamonds, gold, uranium, copper and more. But they had not planned on Lumumba.
A dramatic, angry speech he gave in reply to Baudouin brought Congolese legislators to their feet cheering, left the king startled and frowning and caught the world's attention. Lumumba spoke forcefully of the violence and humiliations of colonialism, from the ruthless theft of African land to the way that French-speaking colonists talked to Africans as adults do to children, using the familiar "tu" instead of the formal "vous." Political independence was not enough, he said; Africans had to also benefit from the great wealth in their soil.
With no experience of self-rule and an empty treasury, his huge country was soon in turmoil. After failing to get aid from the United States, Lumumba declared he would turn to the Soviet Union. Thousands of Belgian officials who lingered on did their best to sabotage things: their code word for Lumumba in military radio transmissions was "Satan." Shortly after he took office as prime minister, the C.I.A., with White House approval, ordered his assassination and dispatched an undercover agent with poison.
The would-be poisoners could not get close enough to Lumumba to do the job, so instead the United States and Belgium covertly funneled cash and aid to rival politicians who seized power and arrested the prime minister. Fearful of revolt by Lumumba's supporters if he died in their hands, the new Congolese leaders ordered him flown to the copper-rich Katanga region in the country's south, whose secession Belgium had just helped orchestrate. There, on Jan. 17, 1961, after being beaten and tortured, he was shot. It was a chilling moment that set off street demonstrations in many countries.
As a college student traveling through Africa on summer break, I was in Léopoldville (today's Kinshasa), Congo's capital, for a few days some six months after Lumumba's murder. There was an air of tension and gloom in the city, jeeps full of soldiers were on patrol, and the streets quickly emptied at night. Above all, I remember the triumphant, macho satisfaction with which two young American Embassy officials - much later identified as C.I.A. men - talked with me over drinks about the death of someone they regarded not as an elected leader but as an upstart enemy of the United States.
Some weeks before his death, Lumumba had briefly escaped from house arrest and, with a small group of supporters, tried to flee to the eastern Congo, where a counter-government of his sympathizers had formed. The travelers had to traverse the Sankuru River, after which friendly territory began. Lumumba and several companions crossed the river in a dugout canoe to commandeer a ferry to go back and fetch the rest of the group, including his wife and son.
But by the time they returned to the other bank, government troops pursuing them had arrived. According to one survivor, Lumumba's famous eloquence almost persuaded the soldiers to let them go. Events like this are often burnished in retrospect, but however the encounter happened, Lumumba seems to have risked his life to try to rescue the others, and the episode has found its way into film and fiction.
His legend has only become deeper because there is painful newsreel footage of him in captivity, soon after this moment, bound tightly with rope and trying to retain his dignity while being roughed up by his guards.
Patrice Lumumba had only a few short months in office and we have no way of knowing what would have happened had he lived. Would he have stuck to his ideals or, like too many African independence leaders, abandoned them for the temptations of wealth and power? In any event, leading his nation to the full economic autonomy he dreamed of would have been an almost impossible task. The Western governments and corporations arrayed against him were too powerful, and the resources in his control too weak: at independence his new country had fewer than three dozen university graduates among a black population of more than 15 million, and only three of some 5,000 senior positions in the civil service were filled by Congolese.
A half-century later, we should surely look back on the death of Lumumba with shame, for we helped install the men who deposed and killed him. In the scholarly journal Intelligence and National Security, Stephen R. Weissman, a former staff director of the House Subcommittee on Africa, recently pointed out that Lumumba's violent end foreshadowed today's American practice of "extraordinary rendition." The Congolese politicians who planned Lumumba's murder checked all their major moves with their Belgian and American backers, and the local C.I.A. station chief made no objection when they told him they were going to turn Lumumba over - render him, in today's parlance - to the breakaway government of Katanga, which, everyone knew, could be counted on to kill him.
Still more fateful was what was to come. Four years later, one of Lumumba's captors, an army officer named Joseph Mobutu, again with enthusiastic American support, staged a coup and began a disastrous, 32-year dictatorship. Just as geopolitics and a thirst for oil have today brought us unsavory allies like Saudi Arabia, so the cold war and a similar lust for natural resources did then. Mobutu was showered with more than $1 billion in American aid and enthusiastically welcomed to the White House by a succession of presidents; George H. W. Bush called him "one of our most valued friends."
This valued friend bled his country dry, amassed a fortune estimated at $4 billion, jetted the world by rented Concorde and bought himself an array of grand villas in Europe and multiple palaces and a yacht at home. He let public services shrivel to nothing and roads and railways be swallowed by the rain forest. By 1997, when he was overthrown and died, his country was in a state of wreckage from which it has not yet recovered.
Since that time the fatal combination of enormous natural riches and the dysfunctional government Mobutu left has ignited a long, multisided war that has killed huge numbers of Congolese or forced them from their homes. Many factors cause a war, of course, especially one as bewilderingly complex as this one. But when visiting eastern Congo some months ago, I could not help but think that one thread leading to the human suffering I saw begins with the assassination of Lumumba.
We will never know the full death toll of the current conflict, but many believe it to be in the millions. Some of that blood is on our hands. Both ordering the murders of apparent enemies and then embracing their enemies as "valued friends" come with profound, long-term consequences - a lesson worth pondering on this anniversary.
Adam Hochschild is the author of "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa" and the forthcoming "To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918."
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16) Ex-Swiss Banker Gives Data to WikiLeaks
By RAVI SOMAIYA and JULIA WERDIGIER
January 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/business/global/18baer.html?hp
LONDON - A former senior Swiss bank executive said on Monday that he had given the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, details of more than 2,000 prominent individuals and companies that he contends engaged in tax evasion and other possible criminal activity.
Rudolf M. Elmer, who ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, refused to identify any of the individuals or companies, but he told reporters at a news conference that about 40 politicians and "pillars of society" were among them.
He told The Observer newspaper over the weekend that those named in the documents come from "the U.S., Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia - from all over," and include "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates - from both sides of the Atlantic."
Mr. Elmer handed two computer disks to Mr. Assange at the news conference, the first significant public event the WikiLeaks founder has held since he was arrested in London in early December after Swedish prosecutors sought to have him extradited on allegations of sexual crimes there. He has denied the allegations but was briefly jailed last year before bail was granted.
Wearing the same dark blue suit he has worn through his legal battles, Mr. Assange said that WikiLeaks would verify and release the information, including the names, in as little as two weeks. He mentioned possible partnerships with financial news organizations and suggested he would consider turning the information over to Britain's Serious Fraud Office, which investigates financial corruption.
Mr. Elmer, who has previously provided documents from his former employer to national tax authorities including the Internal Revenue Service in the United States, said he had turned to WikiLeaks to "educate society" about what he considers an unfair system designed to serve the rich and aid those who seek to launder money. His recent offers to provide further data to universities and governments were spurned, he said, and he felt that the Swiss media failed to cover the substance of his allegations. "The man in the street needs to know how this system works," he said, referring to the offshore trusts that many "high net worth individuals" around the world use to evade taxes.
Bank Julius Baer, a 120-year-old institution that is usually noted for its intense privacy, said in a statement that it denied all wrongdoing and suggested that Mr. Elmer is pursuing a "vendetta" to "discredit Julius Baer as well as clients in the eyes of the public." It accused him of using falsified documents, spreading baseless accusations and passing on "unlawfully acquired, respectively retained, documents to the media, and later also to WikiLeaks."
On Monday, Mr. Elmer declined to say how he had obtained the documents. He was detained for 30 days in 2005 in connection with allegations that he falsified documents, violated Swiss banking secrecy laws and tried to coerce his former employers by threatening to disclose information. He faces trial in Switzerland on Wednesday, said his Swiss lawyer, Ganden Tethong Blattner, for the latter two charges and faces a possible sentence of eight months' probation and a fine of $8,200.
WikiLeaks and Bank Julius Baer had previously clashed in early 2008 when the anti-secrecy organization published hundreds of documents pertaining to its offshore activities. The bank succeeded, briefly, in gaining a court order to shut down the WikiLeaks.org Web site. The injunction was subsequently overturned and the case was dropped.
The offshore banking industry has come under increasing pressure in recent years amid allegations that places like the Caribbean, with looser financial laws, allowed investors to avoid taxes and that some banks helped to create complex webs of companies and trust funds there to confuse tax authorities abroad.
In 2009, Bradley Birkenfeld, a former private banker for UBS, disclosed some of the industry's illegal tactics and forced the bank to turn over details of several thousand client accounts to the Internal Revenue Service as part of a legal settlement. UBS agreed to pay a $780 million fine and admitted criminal wrongdoing.
Still, Mr. Assange said in London on Monday, financial institutions usually "operate outside the rule of law" because of their economic power. WikiLeaks itself has been "economically censored," he said, by companies like Visa and MasterCard, which stopped processing donations to it late last year in response to its release of hundreds of thousands of classified United States documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and thousands of State Department cables.
WikiLeaks, perhaps signaling a new focus, has also said it would release information from an American bank, thought to be the contents of a Bank of America executive's hard drive, early this year. But, Mr. Assange said, the site is not fully "open for public business" owing to the weight of the existing leaks it is struggling to process.
At the news conference, Mr. Assange declined to comment on the allegations of sexual abuse, brought by two women in Sweden, which have occupied so much of his time in recent months. But he has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has described the proceedings as "a smear campaign" designed to discredit him. He will appear in a British court for a comprehensive hearing on the matter on Feb. 7.
The United States is also widely thought to be conducting an investigation into Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks, in connection with the release of the classified United States government and military information.
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17) Violence: From Tucson to Datta Khel
By Cindy Sheehan
Sunday, January 9, 2011
http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2011/01/violence-from-tucson-to-datta-khel-by.html
"Violence is a part of America. I don't want to single out rap music. Let's be honest. America's the most violent country in the history of the world, that's just the way it is. We're all affected by it. "
Spike Lee
"I do not know a method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people."
Edmund Burke
January 8, 2011 was a tough day-six people were killed and many more wounded in a cowardly act of unspeakable violence.
These people awakened on that day, ate their breakfasts, played with their children/grandchildren/parents/friends, made love, brushed their teeth, used the toilet, and any number of other "normal" activities we do every day, and they probably didn't even imagine that it would be their last day on earth-beating hearts silenced by hatred, ignorance and bigotry. Lives cut short and futures canceled by a murderous and unconscionable massacre.
I hope for the sake of the victim's families and for international justice that those responsible for this massacre will be held accountable, but unfortunately, they are not even in custody-or even "persons of interest" in this despicable crime.
Oh, did you think I was talking about the "massacre in Tucson" that has been in all the news? Although, that was also a horrible, unspeakable act of violence, I am actually talking about the fact that at least six people were killed in North Waziristan by a Hellfire missile dropped from one of Obama's drones.
Since Obama is Commander in Chief, I want him arrested for these, and other murders. Not only has Obama tripled troop strength to Afghanistan, he has quadrupled bombings in Pakistan by un-manned aerial vehicles since he ordered his first drone strike on January 23, 2009. Being an over-achiever and Nobel Peace Laureate, I guess he didn't want to be outdone by his predecessor in the senseless carnage department. Obama is targeting whomever he wants to target with his Presidential Execution Program and has been indiscriminately using drones in Yemen. The serial-imperial killer Barack Obama had this to say about the tragedy in Tucson on January 8: "Such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society." First of all, I wonder what country Obama lives in and, secondly, he presides as president of the Empire over much of these "terrible acts of violence."
While we're at it, throw Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates into the brig at Quantico with no possibility of bail and treat him the same way PFC Bradley Manning has been treated: 23 1/2 hours per day of solitary confinement with no books, no TV, no exercise, no variation of lighting, no communication with fellow prisoners, etc.
Since the CIA is the institution that facilitates the drone-bombing crimes in Pakistan-I want Leon Panetta arrested. Since the CIA is also responsible for torture and false imprisonment in many "black sites" around the world, I want him incarcerated in Guantanamo or Bagram and detained indefinitely until or if his military commission is ready.
Not forgetting the Bush administration that set these programs in motion, I would like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Yoo, etc, arrested and incarcerated until their kangaroo courts are convened-the same kind of ridiculous trial that was afforded to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. Being "kangaroo courts," when they are found inevitably guilty, I hope they are each given 86 years, plus life, in prison, like Dr. Siddiqui was.
The drones that carry out these despicable attacks on "suspected terrorists" and their neighborhoods and families are piloted from Air Force bases in the U.S. -the pilot who followed an illegal order (condemned by the U.N., among others) should be court-martialed and tried for his part in the war crime that occurred on January 8. In our top-down, violent society, though, people that kill civilians in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are usually given commendations; but people that shoot "raunchy videos' are relieved of duty.
Vietnam war criminal, John McCain, who dropped bombs on innocent civilians during his stint and was responsible for "wet-starting" his jet while "hot dogging" on his aircraft carrier, the USS Forrestal, and incinerating 134 of his fellow crewman, called the Tucson shooter: "a disgrace." How ironic that such a criminal (who also crashed five jets and graduated very near the bottom of his class at Annapolis) would call anyone else a "disgrace."
We live in a society where we are taught that violence solves everything, indeed, scoundrels like McCain rise to the very top. Those of us who strive and advocate for non-violent, creative solutions to problems are perceived as being "crazy, weak and traitorous," while history bears out that those using guns, tanks, planes, and drones are the weak ones.
Although top-down violence is oftentimes rewarded, bottom-up violence is usually vigorously prosecuted, even though, it's possible, that if the same amount of resources and commitment were devoted to education, mental health care, and our communities, many of these bottom-up crimes could be prevented. You know the old saying: Prevention is the best medicine.
Whether it was the tragic massacre in North Waziristan, or the tragic massacre in Arizona, the same rotten imperial system is to blame-but only those of us on the bottom of the so-called food chain are required to pay for our crimes.
Bombs are dropped on real people by real people who basically want the same things out of life: love, happiness, security and prosperity. Violence is also perpetrated by individuals--like some sort of Palinesque sicko that snuffs out the life of a nine-year old (and others) because of some manufactured psychosis perpetuated by the collaborators in the US media.
What did young Christina Greene ever do to the demented shooter in Arizona that deserved her unnecessary death at the too young age of nine? Christina was tragically collateral damage and my heart breaks for her family. Similarly, what did the hundreds of thousands of the nameless and uncounted youngsters in our war-torn countries ever do to us? They are tragically just collateral damage, too, and my heart is torn apart for their families. Twenty-two year old white men and women kill nine-year old people in our war torn countries every single day and I hear few politicians or news commentators crying over their mangled bodies. The disproportionate outcry over the attempted murder of a US Congressperson over the murders of innocent people by our wars is the elitist way of saying: "Our lives count more than theirs or yours."
The only people who are our enemies and the enemies of universal love, happiness, security, and prosperity are sitting happily in their comfy and opulent homes (in Wasilla or DC) while at least one-dozen families are in profound mourning right now.
There is only one solution to this acute problem-whether the pilot who killed six in North Waziristan, or the shooter that killed six in Tucson-we have to stop killing each other to satisfy the blood lust and greed of the Robber Class.
We lose, they win.
My heart goes out to the people in Tucson, Datta Khel and everywhere who are the victims or survivors of violence.
As an American, the shame I feel for my country is profound.
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18) Tunisia Unity Government Fractures
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
January 18, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/world/africa/19tunis.html?hp
TUNIS - Five or more ministers from opposition parties resigned from Tunisia's unity government on Tuesday, bowing to a wave of street protests against the cabinet's domination by members of the ousted president's ruling party and putting mounting pressure on his prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, to resign as well.
As the leaders of the established opposition parties renounced the unity government, the revolutionary passions unleashed across the region continued to reverberate, as two more men in Egypt set themselves ablaze on Tuesday and a third was stopped before he could do so. Those self-immolations followed six others, all in apparent imitation of the one that set off the Tunisian uprising a month ago.
The new unity government was showing strains practically from the moment it was sworn in on Monday, with new protests focused on its links to the former president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Mr. Ghannouchi insisted that ministers in the new government carried over from the former regime "have clean hands and great competence."
Protesters - previously focused on ousting President Ben Ali - marched on the headquarters of the Progressive Democratic Party, the biggest legal opposition party, demanding that it pull out of the unity government. Inside, party leaders struggled to mollify their members. "You sympathize with the current government," one woman shouted. "How are you supposed to represent the people?"
Elsewhere, protesters focused their anger on the police, in a series of confrontations that left the city littered with tear gas canisters and debris. As hundreds of people marched on Boulevard Bourguiba and in the surrounding streets, police officers surged toward them on motorcycles wielding truncheons and beat several protesters.
In interviews, many of the protesters said they were independents who marched to preserve the ideals of the uprising that caused Mr. Ben Ali to flee the country. Some had come from outside of Tunis to demand deeper change in the government.
"I came because Mohammed Ghannouchi cannot reflect the reality of the revolution," said Zaafourny Adel, a 23-year-old student. Calling himself "anti-Islamist," Mr. Adel said it was important that Islamists, along with Communists and other excluded groups, join any governing slate.
Those who resigned on Tuesday reportedly included opposition members of a labor union, along with the culture minister, the film director Moufida Tlalti, according to a colleague of hers.
The political turmoil in Tunisia emerged against a backdrop of gruesome protests around the region. On Monday, an Egyptian and a Mauritanian became the fifth and sixth North Africans to burn themselves.
On Tuesday, security officials in Cairo said another man, seemingly inspired by events in Tunisia, set himself on fire outside the prime minister's office in Cairo, while another Egyptian, 25 years old and unemployed, did the same on the roof of his building in Alexandria. The Alexandria man, Ahmed Hashem El Sayyid, died of his burns after being rushed to a hospital in critical condition, security officials said.
Reuters said the man in Cairo was a 40-year-old lawyer named Mohamed Farouk Hassan who shouted slogans against rising prices before setting himself alight. He was hospitalized and his medical condition remains unclear. A third man, a retired government employee, was arrested in front of the Egyptian Parliament carrying two canisters of gasoline with which he was thought to be planning to set himself on fire.
Outside the Parliament building in downtown Cairo on Monday, Abdo Abdel Moneim, a 50-year-old restaurant owner, poured a gallon of gasoline over his head and set himself ablaze.
In Mauritania around the same time, Yacoub Ould Dahoud was setting fire to himself in his parked car near Parliament in Nouakchott.
And on Sunday, Senouci Touat of Mostaganem, Algeria, 34 and unemployed, set himself on fire in his hometown, the fourth attempted self-immolation in his country since the Tunisian street revolt exploded in furious demonstrations in recent days.
In Tunis, the fight was far from over.
Anger over the newly formed unity government has been building. On Monday, more than 1,000 protesters swarmed once again onto the city's main artery, Bourguiba Boulevard, in what they described as an effort to sustain their revolution. They raged against the domination of the new cabinet by members of the ousted president's ruling party. "Citizens and martyrs, the government is still the same," they chanted. "We will protest, we will protest, until the government collapses!"
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ghannouchi, speaking to the French Europe 1 broadcaster while struggling to convince protesters in the streets that the unity cabinet would oversee a real transition after the bloodshed of the uprising, promised that "all those who initiated this massacre, this carnage, will be brought to justice."
He insisted that the army had not fired live rounds since a state of emergency was declared shortly before Mr. Ben Ali fled into exile in Saudi Arabia on Friday. "My first instruction to the security forces was to not fire on the population," Mr. Ghannouchi said. "You can use tear gas or rubber bullets. It is better to pay with our lives rather than create carnage."
"Today," he said, "there is a new era of liberty, which you can see on the television, in the street, a new spirit completely different from what prevailed in the past."
But he declined to say whether the new government would seek to bring Mr. Ben Ali to trial, deflecting the question by blaming the self-enrichment of his entourage - an apparent reference to the former president's wife and her relatives. "They will have a fair trial," Mr. Ghannouchi said. "And if they are guilty, they will be brought to justice."
On the streets Monday, protesters called for the complete eradication of the old ruling party, while complaining that outlawed parties like the once powerful Islamist groups or the Tunisian Communists - battle-scarred stalwarts of the long dissident fight against Mr. Ben Ali's 23-year-rule - were still barred from participating.
"Nothing has changed," said Mohamed Cherni, 47, a teacher who said he had been tortured by Mr. Ben Ali's police force. "It is still the same regime as before, and so we are going to keep fighting."
But it was not clear exactly who spoke for the street protesters, and the old guard of the opposition struggled to convince protesters that the new government would implant democracy while maintaining basic order and governance. It was not going to be an easy task in a new government in which Mr. Ghannouchi and the newly named ministers of interior, foreign affairs, defense and finance were all members of the ruling party.
Around folding tables in a run-down office a few flights up from the throngs in the streets, Ahmed Najib Chebbi, leader of the largest and most credible legal opposition party, the Progressive Democratic Party, tried to his sell his members on the unity government. Like other opposition leaders, Mr. Chebbi had received a relatively minor post, secretary of regional economic development.
As he urged patience, an angry party veteran wearing a suit and tie shouted Mr. Chebbi down. "The people, who bled and died for us and our children, need to decide!" the man said, accusing Mr. Chebbi of settling too cheaply for a partnership with a prime minister whom he accused of complicity in murder under Mr. Ben Ali.
"How can the murderer be our leader today?" Several around the room cried, while Mr. Chebbi sat solemnly resting his chin in his hand.
Opposition leaders included in the new government said the revolution had collided with reality. After 23 years of Mr. Ben Ali's one-party dictatorship, it was impossible to find qualified officials outside the party who could take the reins of government quickly enough to stabilize the country and hold free elections.
The government, meanwhile, scrambled for credibility. Mr. Ghannouchi declared the end of Tunisia's suffocating propaganda and censorship machine. He pledged to release all political prisoners and to recognize the banned Communist and Islamic parties, as well as hold free, internationally monitored elections within six months.
Separately, in an extraordinary televised plea for calm - in the Ben Ali government, officials never explained themselves - the interior minister offered a public accounting of the death toll so far in the month of protests, including 78 demonstrators dead and nearly 100 wounded, along with unspecified additional police casualties. He said the unrest had cost the Tunisian economy more than $2 billion.
The Tunisian revolution began in the hard-pressed provinces with demands for more jobs, especially for Tunisia's soaring number of young college graduates, nearly a third of whom are estimated to be unemployed or seriously underemployed. It spread to the workers, small business owners and the coastal professional class as a revolt mainly against the flagrant corruption associated with Mr. Ben Ali's family.
But on Monday, the protesters in the streets appeared more working-class, including some hardened, veteran dissenters abused by Mr. Ben Ali's government.
As exiled leaders of the once thriving Islamic political party here raced home, Tunisians debated what to do with the Islamist parties. But the prime minister, Mr. Ghannouchi, suggested in a radio interview that an amnesty law would be needed to void life prison sentences against prominent Islamists before the exiles could return.
Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo, and Alan Cowell from London.
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19) In Florida, Virtual Classrooms With No Teachers
[One thing I learned while studying math from a good teacher (I wasn't very talented in math) is that every question another student asks is a real learning experience for all in the classroom. The way another student sees things often uncovers areas you were not sure of yourself--and you didn't even know it. What is happening to real classrooms; real games instead of virtual ones? Our kids need to live in the real world not a virtual one!...bw]
By LAURA HERRERA
January 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/education/18classrooms.html?ref=education
MIAMI - On the first day of her senior year at North Miami Beach Senior High School, Naomi Baptiste expected to be greeted by a teacher when she walked into her precalculus class.
"All there were were computers in the class," said Naomi, who walked into a room of confused students. "We found out that over the summer they signed us up for these courses."
Naomi is one of over 7,000 students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrolled in a program in which core subjects are taken using computers in a classroom with no teacher. A "facilitator" is in the room to make sure students progress. That person also deals with any technical problems.
These virtual classrooms, called e-learning labs, were put in place last August as a result of Florida's Class Size Reduction Amendment, passed in 2002. The amendment limits the number of students allowed in classrooms, but not in virtual labs.
While most schools held an orientation about the program, some students and parents said they were not informed of the new class structure. Others said they were not given the option to choose whether they wanted this type of instruction, and they voiced concern over the program's effectiveness.
The online courses are provided by Florida Virtual School, which has been an option in the state's public schools. The virtual school has provided online classes for home-schooled and traditional students who want to take extra courses. Students log on to a Web site to gain access to lessons, which consist mostly of text with some graphics, and they can call, e-mail or text online instructors for help.
The 54 participating schools in the Miami-Dade County system's e-learning lab program integrate the online classes differently. A representative from the district said in an e-mail that the system "provided lab facilitators, training for those facilitators and coordination" between the district schools and the virtual school.
Theresa Sutter, a member of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Miami Beach Senior High School, said she thought her daughter, Kelly, was done with virtual classes after she finished Spanish the previous year at home.
When Kelly said that she had been placed in a virtual lab, Ms. Sutter recalled her "jaws dropped." Neither of them had been told that Kelly would be in one.
"It's totally different from what classroom teaching is like, so it's a completely different animal," Ms. Sutter said.
Under the state's class-reduction amendment, high school classrooms cannot surpass a 25-student limit in core subjects, like English or math. Fourth- through eighth-grade classrooms can have no more than 22 students, and prekindergarten through third grade can have no more than 18.
Alix Braun, 15, a sophomore at Miami Beach High, takes Advanced Placement macroeconomics in an e-learning lab with 35 to 40 other students. There are 445 students enrolled in the online courses at her school, and while Alix chose to be placed in the lab, she said most of her lab mates did not.
"None of them want to be there," Alix said, "and for virtual education you have to be really self-motivated. This was not something they chose to do, and it's a really bad situation to be put in because it is not your choice."
School administrators said that they had to find a way to meet class-size limits. Jodi Robins, the assistant principal of curriculum at Miami Beach High, said that even if students struggled in certain subjects, the virtual labs were necessary because "there's no way to beat the class-size mandate without it."
In response to parental confusion about virtual classes, the Miami Beach High parent-teacher association created a committee on virtual labs. The panel works with the school toward "getting issues on the table and working proactively," said Patricia Kaine, the association's president.
Some teachers are skeptical of how well the program can help students learn.
"The way our state is dealing with class size is nearly criminal," said Chris Kirchner, an English teacher at Coral Reef Senior High School in Miami. "They're standardizing in the worst possible way, which is evident in virtual classes."
While Ms. Kirchner questions the instructional effectiveness of online courses, she said there was a place for them at some level.
"I think there should be learning on the computer," Ms. Kirchner said. "That part is from 2:30 p.m. on. The first part of the day should be for learning with people."
But Michael G. Moore, a professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, said programs that combine virtual education and face-to-face instruction could be effective. This is called the "blended learning concept."
"There is no doubt that blended learning can be as effective and often more effective than a classroom," said Mr. Moore, who is also editor of The American Journal of Distance Education. He said, however, that research and his experiences had shown that proper design and teacher instruction within the classroom were necessary. A facilitator who only monitors student progress and technical issues within virtual labs would not be categorized as part of a blended-learning model, he said. Other variables include "the maturity and sophistication of the student," he said.
Despite some complaints about the virtual teaching method, administrators said e-learning labs were here to stay. And nationally, blending learning has already caught on in some areas.
In Chicago Public Schools, high schools have "credit recovery" programs that let students take online classes they previously failed so they can graduate. Omaha Public Schools also have similar programs that require physical attendance at certain locations.
Julie Durrand, manager of the e-learning lab program, said the virtual school planned to work more closely with district schools to ensure success. She said virtual school officials wanted orientations to be mandatory in schools with labs. Ms. Durrand also predicted that labs would expand to middle schools and would include more grade levels in schools that currently limited the labs to juniors and seniors.
There are six middle and K-8 schools using virtual labs in Miami, including Cutler Ridge Middle School and Frank C. Martin K-8 Center.
"I truly believe this will be an option for many districts across the state," Ms. Durrand said. "I think we just hit the tip of the iceberg."
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