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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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Rally for Healthcare
Medicare for All
End Private Insurance
Thursday, June 16
9 am to 11 am
Moscone Center West
Howard St at 4th St - SF
(Powell St. BART/MUNI Stop)
Join us on June 16th at the convention of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), San Francisco at 9am for a rally in support of Medicare for All and against the insurance industry.
From June 15 to 17, the America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) will be meeting at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. These are the corporations who insure the healthy and avoid the sick. Their Thursday, June 16 program features Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty and Senator Tom Daschle. These speakers oppose proposals that remove the health insurance industry from our healthcare.
Rally endorsed by ANSWER, California Alliance for Retired Americans, California Health Professional Student Alliance, California Nurses Assn., Democracy for America-SF, Gray Panthers, Healthcare for All, Older Women's League, OPEIU Local 3, Physicians for a National Health Program, San Francisco Labor Council, Unitarian Universalists for Peace-SF, Wellstone Democratic Club, & Single Payer Now
For more information visit: www.singlepayernow.net or call 415-695-7891
Don't Buy the Snake Oil of Private Insurance
labor donated Posted June 7, 2011
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BAY AREA SOLIDARITY RALLY: Stop FBI Attacks on Political Activists
Thursday June 16, 4-6pm
OAKLAND FEDERAL BUILDING
1301 Clay Street, Oakland
Downtown Oakland near 12th Street BART
On May 17, 2011 at 5:00 AM the SWAT Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and members of the FBI raided the home of Carlos Montes, a long time Chicano activist and active member of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Carlos has his first court date scheduled for June 16 in Los Angeles.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Arab Resource and Organizing Center, 415.861.7444 or info@araborganizing.org
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Save the Date!
NATIONAL LABOR-COMMUNITY CONFERENCE TO DEFEAT THE CORPORATE AGENDA AND FIGHT FOR A WORKING PEOPLE'S AGENDA
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio
June 24-26, 2011
Working people across the country -- from Wisconsin and Ohio to New York, Oregon, and California -- are facing unprecedented attacks by corporations and the rich with the help of the federal, state and local politicians that they fund.
The corporate agenda is clear: It is to bust unions and cut workers' pay and benefits -- both in the private and public sectors. It is to erode and privatize Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It is to dismantle the public sector and social services by denying funds for job creation, education, health care, environmental protection, and rebuilding the infrastructure. It is to ensure that taxes on the wealthy are constantly lowered while the bite on workers and the poor is constantly increased. It is to perpetuate U.S. wars and occupations whenever it serves the interests of the multinationals. It is to divide the working class by race, gender, national origin, religion, and sexual orientation. It is also to limit and restrict constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties. The list goes on.
In state capitals, communities and workplaces across the country, workers are fighting back. But if we're going to be successful in pushing back the attacks on collective bargaining, stopping the budget cuts and concessions, creating jobs, and defending social services and education, we need to build unity within our movement, including forging stronger ties with labor's allies: communities of color, students and youth, single-payer advocates, environmentalists, antiwar activists, immigrant rights supporters, and other progressive forces.
Relying on politicians to defend us -- the so-called "friends of labor" -- has proven to be disastrous. During the past three decades, working people have suffered a dramatic decline in their standard of living while the rich have amassed an unprecedented amount of wealth at the top, regardless of which of the major parties was running the government. We have had every combination imaginable: Republicans occupying the White House with a majority in Congress, Democrats occupying the White House with a majority in Congress, or some kind of "divided government." But in each case the result for working people has been the same: conditions got worse for workers while the corporations prospered even more. Why should we continue this vicious cycle?
The working class has the power to put an end to this situation. And as the debate over the debt and the deficit intensifies, the need has never been greater for an organized campaign to demand "No Cuts, No Concessions!" whether in regard to social programs or workers' wages and benefits. We say place the burden for solving the financial crises squarely where it belongs: on the rich. They caused the crisis, let them pay for it!
The Emergency Labor Network (ELN) was initiated earlier this year at a historic meeting of 100 union leaders and activists from around the country. Join us June 24-26, 2011 at Kent State University in Ohio for a national labor-community conference to spur the campaign to build a more militant fight-back movement and to launch a national campaign for an alternative agenda for working people. Together we can move forward on both fronts.
This conference is open to all who agree with its purpose, as explained in this Call. To register for the conference, please go to our website at www.laborfightback.org. If you prefer to register offline, write emergencylabor@aol.com or call 216-736-4715 for a registration form.
For more information, e-mail emergencylabor@aol.com or call 216-736-4715.
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Cultures of Resistance
Thursday June 30 -- 7pm, Berkeley City College, 2050 Center Street, 1/2 block from downtown Berkeley
The Middle East Children's Alliance & the Arab Film Festival present the Berkeley premiere of bay area filmmaker & activist Iara Lee's new feature film Cultures of Resistance.
The film won Best Documentary at the Tiburon International Film Festival and is showing around the globe, from Portugal to China to Ethiopia. Journeying through five continents, it captures creative change-makers using art and activism to turn our upside-down world right-side-up, for peace with justice. Their personal stories and strategies, told in many tongues, broaden our understanding of the geopolitical fault-lines behind modern day conflicts -- inspiring audiences to further engagement and action. Filmmaker Iara Lee will introduce the film and answer questions afterwards.
Tickets $10 general, $8 students. Benefit for clean water for children in Gaza. No one turned away for lack of funds. Wheelchair accessible.
For info: 510-548-0542, www.mecaforpeace.org, events@mecaforpeace.org
Cosponsored by: Global Studies Department/Berkeley City College and more!
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Cuba Caravan Send Off Party!!
-come help send the Cuba Caravan to Cuba
Saturday, July 9, 2011
4pm- snacks and music
5pm- program
6pm- Tamale dinner and more music
Eastside Arts Alliance,C
2277 International, Oakland ( AC #1 or 1R )
Donation requested to help support the Caravan (no one turned away)
Video- "People to People" about the Caravan
Speakers- Including Graduate from the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba
Come learn about the Caravan and help send it to Cuba.
For More Info: baypeace@baypeace.org 510-863-1737
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Physicians for a National Health Program California is having our 2nd annual California Single-Payer Health Care Summer Conference at USC's Tutor Campus Center Ballroom on Saturday, July 16th, 2011 from 9am - 5pm.
Summer Conference 2011 is designed to teach attendees about just, guaranteed, comprehensive health care for ALL who live in California. We are gearing this conference toward professionals working in health, policy, advocacy, education, and organizing arenas.
This year's conference will feature Dr. Carmen Rita Nevarez, Immediate Past President, American Public Health Association as our keynote speaker, plus three Leadership Institutes that will help you develop your skills to build the movement through public speaking, coalition building or grassroots advocacy.
Ticket prices are on a sliding scale, and people who are "new to the movement" receive a discount.
For more information and to register, go to healthisahumanright.eventbrite.com. Please also download our flyer here. Please help us spread the word!
If your organization would like to sponsor this event, you can download our sponsorship form here.
Hope you can join us this summer in Los Angeles. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Molly Tavella, MPH
Shearer Student Fellow
Physicians for a National Health Program California
2344 6th Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 665-8523 office
(408) 892-1255 mobile
(510) 665-6027 fax
molly@pnhpcalifornia.org
www.cahpsa.org
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Protest, March & Die-In on 10th Anniversary of Afghanistan War
Friday, Oct. 7, 2011, 4:30-6:30pm
New Federal Building, 7th & Mission Sts, SF
End All the Wars & Occupations-Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Haiti . . .
Money for Jobs, Healthcare & Schools-Not for the Pentagon
Friday, October 7, 2011 will be the exact 10th anniversary of the U.S./NATO war on the people of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghani people have been killed, wounded and displaced, and thousands of U.S. and NATO forces killed and wounded. The war costs more than $126 billion per year at a time when social programs are being slashed.
The true and brutal character of the U.S. strategy to "win hearts and minds" of the Afghani population was described by a Marine officer, quoted in a recent ANSWER Coalition statement:
"You can't just convince them [Afghani people] through projects and goodwill," another Marine officer said. "You have to show up at their door with two companies of Marines and start killing people. That's how you start convincing them." (To read the entire ANSWER statement, click here)
Mark your calendar now and help organize for the October 7 march and die-in in downtown San Francisco. There are several things you can do:
1. Reply to this email to endorse the protest and die-in.
2. Spread the word and help organize in your community, union, workplace and campus.
3. Make a donation to help with organizing expenses.
Only the people can stop the war!
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org
http://www.AnswerSF.org
Answer@AnswerSF.org
2969 Mission St.
415-821-6545
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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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Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle Virtually Undetectable when Inhaled or Swallowed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBEipg81uLw&feature=player_embedded
Original estimates of xenon and krypton releases remain the same, but a TEPCO recalculation shows dramatic increases in the release of hot particles. This confirms the results of air filter monitoring by independent scientists. Fairewinds' Arnie Gundersen explains how hot particles may react in mammals while escaping traditional detection. Reports of a metallic taste in the mouth, such as those now being reported in Japan and on the west coast, are a telltale sign of radiation exposure.
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'Fukushima media cover-up - PR success, public health disaster'
June 11, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_rAX9TzY2A&feature=player_embedded
Residents of the Fukushima district, and those who lived near-by have not only faced radiation exposure but also social exclusion... That's according to Dr. Robert Jacobs, Professor of nuclear history, at the Hiroshima Peace Institute.
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QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from Taggart Siegel, director of THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN. Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, this engaging and ultimately uplifting film weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heartfelt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.
Official Film Website: http://www.queenofthesun.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekoeQodrVoM
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Cops arrest journalists in Wisconsin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=568lF6C--og&feature=player_embedded
Uploaded by RTAmerica on Jun 8, 2011
Wisconsin police are filmed arresting members of the press that were covering a demonstration at the state's Capitol Building this week. A cuffed reporter is dragged to the ground as an irate cop goes after another journalist.
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Autopsy Released in Police Shooting of Man Holding Nozzle
Douglas Zerby was shot 12 times, in the chest, arms and lower legs.
Watch Mary Beth McDade's report
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-long-beach-belmont-shore-shooting,0,2471345.story
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I Wanna Be A Pirate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppynM1lcst8
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Detained for photography in Baltimore Parts 1 and 2:
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iMr76atjUA
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JOFwbiI8fQ
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Arrested for Filming Police in MD?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18ew29IFVHw&NR=1
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Woman 'detained' for filming police search launches high court challenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2MtGCp5scM&NR=1
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Adam Kokesh body slammed, choked, police brutality at Jefferson Memorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUU3yCy3uI&feature=player_embedded#at=575
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Kim Ives & Dan Coughlin on WikiLeaks Cables that Reveal "Secret History" of U.S. Bullying in Haiti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL0Dk21dC-M
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Operation Empire State Rebellion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJvBlQcaaaU&feature=player_embedded#at=10
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20 Facts About U.S. Inequality that Everyone Should Know
Click an image to learn more about a fact!
http://www.stanford.edu/group/scspi/cgi-bin/facts.php
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Just Released! ANONYMOUS declares war on the system! JOIN THE RESISTANCE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET4Ki5Tr_CQ&feature=player_embedded
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Andy Griffith Vs the Patriot Act
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZF_oZEvybw
In this episode, Sheriff Andy locks up a "Mister Blake," a suspected bank robber, and Opie, and his friend Arnold, bug a conversation between the prisoner and his lawyer with Arnold's new tape recorder.
Opie, bursts in, agitated and breathless, saying, "Paw! Paw! We hid it near the cell window..." and hands Sheriff Andy the tape recorder. "Wait, wait, what is it, Opie? What are you taking about?" asks Andy. "We bugged Mr. Blakes cell!" exclaims Opie. "You what?" responds Sheriff Andy. "We bugged the cell with Arnold's tape recorder, just listen to this, Paw!" Opie says. "I can't listen to that!" exclaims Andy. "But Paw..." says Opie, again. Interrupting Opie Andy says, "I can't listen to that, I'm not permitted!" "But, Paw, you don't understand..." pleads Opie. "Now, I can't listen to this. Now, I told you about eavesdropping..." says Andy. "But Paw, this is different..." says Opie. "Yes, its worse! You overheard a conversation that was supposed to be private. Now I can't be a party to that!" says the good Sheriff Taylor. "But Paw, if you just listen to this..." And at that moment Andy pushes the erase button. "Paw, you're erasing the tape!" cries Opie. "That what I mean to do! You bugged a conversation between a lawyer and his client. Now that's violating one of the most sacred rights of privacy," explains Andy. "But Paw..." cries Opie. "No buts!" says Andy. "But if it helps the law? ...." asks Opie. "Opie, the law can't use this kind of help...because whether a man is guilty or innocent, we have to find that out by due process of law."
Unfortunately, and predictably, at the end of the show, the tape recording proved to be useful, after all, to garner a "confession" from the prisoner.
Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZF_oZEvybw
Full Episode: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwPt6JZ9izc
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gYCDawN3yk&NR=1
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THE AUDACITY OF HOPE
ustogaza1's Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/ustogaza1
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Licensed to Kill Video
http://nirs.org/multimedia/video/l2k.htm
Gundersen Gives Testimony to NRC ACRS from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
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Gundersen Gives Testimony to NRC ACRS
http://fairewinds.com/updates
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) held a special ACRS meeting Thursday May 26, 2011 on the current status of Fukushima. Arnie Gundersen was invited to speak for 5 minutes concerning the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident as it pertains to the 23 Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors (BWR's) in the US and containment integrity. Mr. Gundersen was the first engineer to brief the NRC on the implication of Main Steam Isolation Valve (MSIV) Leakage in 1974, and he has been studying containment integrity since 1972. The NRC has constantly maintained in all of its calculations and reviews that there is zero probability of a containment leaking. For more than six years, in testimony and in correspondence with the NRC, Mr. Gundersen has disputed the NRC's stand that containment systems simply do not and cannot leak. The events at Fukushima have proven that Gundersen was correct. The explosions at Fukushima show that Mark 1 containments will lose their integrity and release huge amounts of radiation, as Mr. Gundersen has been telling the NRC for many years.
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Guy on wheelchair taken down by officers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdkJxw1mPoM
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The Last Mountain': Appalachia vs. Big Coal
Janet Donovan
http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/60-60/6063-qthe-last-mountainq
Actor Woody Harrelson was a surprise guest at D.C. premiere of "The Last Mountain" at E Street Cinema, also attended by Sens. Dennis Kucinich and Barbara Boxer, Director Bill Haney, and Bobby Kennedy Jr. who speaks out on West Virginia's struggle.
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RSA Animate - Crises of Capitalism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0&feature=player_embedded
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Paradise Gray Speaks At Jordan Miles Emergency Rally 05/06/2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJOLz1EYDYE&feature=player_embedded
Police Reassigned While CAPA Student's Beatdown Investigated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK-6IsP3dUg&NR=1&feature=fvwp
Pittsburgh Student Claims Police Brutality; Shows Hospital Photos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_j_AVsTXZc&feature=relmfu
Justice For Jordan Miles
By jasiri x
http://justiceforjordanmiles.com/
Monday, May 9, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Even though Pittsburgh Police beat Jordan Miles until he looked like this: (Photo at website)
And even though Jordan Miles, an honor student who plays the viola, broke no laws and committed no crimes, the Federal Government decided not to prosecute the 3 undercover Pittsburgh Police officers who savagely beat him.
To add insult to injury, Pittsburgh's Mayor and Police Chief immediately reinstated the 3 officers without so much as a apology. An outraged Pittsburgh community called for an emergency protest to pressure the local District Attorney to prosecute these officers to the fullest extent of the law.
Below is my good friend, and fellow One Hood founding member Paradise Gray (also a founding member of the Blackwatch Movement and the legendary rap group X-Clan) passionately demanding Justice for Jordan Miles and speaking on the futility of a war of terror overseas while black men are terrorized in their own neighborhoods.
For more information on how you can help get Justice For Jordan Miles go to http://justiceforjordanmiles.com/
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Tier Systems Cripple Middle Class Dreams for Young Workers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09pQW6TW8m4&feature=youtu.be
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Epidemiologist, Dr. Steven Wing, Discusses Global Radiation Exposures and Consequences with Gundersen
Epidemiologist, Dr. Steven Wing and nuclear engineer, Arnie Gundersen, discuss the consequences of the Fukushima radioactive fallout on Japan, the USA, and the world. What are the long-term health effects? What should the government(s) do to protect citizens?
http://vimeo.com/22706805
Epidemiologist, Dr. Steven Wing, Discusses Global Radiation Exposures and Consequences with Gundersen from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
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New Video - Lupe Fiasco ft. Skylar Grey - 'Words I Never Said'
Thu, Apr 28 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22l1sf5JZD0
Lupe Fiasco addresses some heavy issues in the latest video for his new single, 'Words I Never Said,' featuring Skylar Grey. In the 5 minute and 45 second dose of reality, Lupe tackles issues such as the war on terrorism, devastation, conspiracy theories, 9/11 and genocide. From the opening lyrics of "I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullsh*t", Lupe doesn't hold back as he voices his socio-political concerns.
"If you turn on TV all you see's a bunch of what the f-ks'
Dude is dating so and so blabbering bout such and such
And that ain't Jersey Shore, homie that's the news
And these the same people that supposed to be telling us the truth
Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist
Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say s-t
That's why I ain't vote for him, next one either
I'm a part of the problem, my problem is I'm peaceful."
Skylar Grey (who also lends her vocals to Dirty money's 'Coming Home' and Eminem's 'I Need A Doctor') does an excellent job of complementing the Alex Da Kid produced track.
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BREAKING ALERT: Mass Arrests, Tear Gas, Sound Weapons used Against WIU Students
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufKv-5t0t4E
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Union Town by Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ZT71DxLuM&feature=player_embedded
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BRADLEY MANNING "BROKE THE LAW" SAYS OBAMA!
"He broke the law!" says Obama about Bradley Manning who has yet to even be charged, let alone, gone to trial and found guilty. How horrendous is it for the President to declare someone guilty before going to trial or being charged with a crime! Justice in the U.S.A.!
Obama on FREE BRADLEY MANNING protest... San Francisco, CA. April 21, 2011-Presidential remarks on interrupt/interaction/performance art happening at fundraiser. Logan Price queries Barack after org. FRESH JUICE PARTY political action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmtUpd4id0&feature=youtu.be
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W.E. A.L.L. B.E.: Miss. Medical Examiner Dr. Adel Shaker On Frederick Carter Hanging (4/19/2011)
http://blip.tv/file/5057532
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Max Romeo - Socialism Is Love
http://youtu.be/eTvUs4rY4to
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Cuba: The Accidental Eden
http://video.pbs.org/video/1598230084/
[This is a stunningly beautiful portrait of the Cuban natural environment as it is today. However, several times throughout, the narrator tends to imply that if it werent for the U.S. embargo against Cuba, Cuba's natural environment would be destroyed by the influx of tourism, ergo, the embargo is saving nature. But the Cuban scientists and naturalists tell a slightly different story. But I don't want to spoil the delightfully surprising ending. It's a beautiful film of a beautiful country full of beautiful, articulate and well-educated people....bw]
Watch the full episode. See more Nature.
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VIDEO: SWAT Team Evicts Grandmother
Take Back the Land- Rochester Eviction Defense March 28, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2axN1zsZno&feature=player_embedded
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B. D. S. [Boycott, Divest, Sanction against Israel]
(Jackson 5) Chicago Flashmob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tXe2HKqqs&feature=player_embedded
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Afghans for Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ror0qPcasM&NR=1
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The Kill Team
How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses - and how their officers failed to stop them. Plus: An exclusive look at the war crime photos censored by the Pentagon
Rolling Stone
March 27, 3011
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327
Afghans respond to "Kill Team"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guxWIorhdA
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END THE U.S./UN/NATO KILL TEAM NOW!
WARNING: THESE ARE HORRIFIC, DISGUSTING, VIOLENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE U.S. MILITARY MAKING THE UPCOMING APRIL 10 [APRIL 9 IN NEW YORK] MARCH AND RALLY AGAINST THE WARS A FIRST PRIORITY FOR WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE U.S. WE DEMAND OUT NOW! END THE WARS AGAINST WORKING PEOPLE HERE AND EVERYWHERE! BRING ALL THE TROOPS, UN/NATO/US/ and CONTRACTORS HOME NOW!
The Kill Team Photos More war crime images the Pentagon doesn't want you to see
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/the-kill-team-photos-20110327
'Death Zone' How U.S. soldiers turned a night-time airstrike into a chilling 'music video'
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/death-zone-20110327
'Motorcycle Kill' Footage of an Army patrol gunning down two men in Afghanistan
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/motorcyle-kill-20110327
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LOWKEY - TERRORIST? (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU
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BP Oil Spill Scientist Bob Naman: Seafood Still Not Safe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VdxvMnDls
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Exclusive: Flow Rate Scientist : How Much Oil Is Really Out There?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsHl3kn63ZA&NR=1
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WikiLeaks Mirrors
Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack.
In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of Wikileaks website and CableGate pages.
Go to
http://wikileaks.ch/Mirrors.html
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Labor Beat: Labor Stands with Subpoenaed Activists Against FBI Raids and Grand Jury Investigation of antiwar and social justice activists.
"If trouble is not at your door. It's on it's way, or it just left."
"Investigate the Billionaires...Full investigation into Wall Street..." Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNUSIGZCMQ
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Oil Spill Commission Final Report: Catfish Responds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZRdsccMsM
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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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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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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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Support a documentary film about the war on Afghanistan.
Between July 1 and 12, Brazilian ecologist, anthropologist and documentary filmmaker Rodrigo Guim will be in the Bay Area to meet potential funders of a documentary featuring antiwar and human rights activist from Afghanistan, Malalai Joya. If you have any leads to send the filmmaker, or would like to schedule a meeting to know how you could contribute to the project, please write him directly at rodrigoguim@hotmail.com.
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WITNESS GAZA
http://www.witnessgaza.com/
Hello friends
This is to inform you that we have launched our new WitnessGaza.com website, and we invite you to BE A WITNESS: access it, contribute to it, and join us as we work to break Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza.
Last year, millions accessed WG.com to get up-to-the-minute information, news and videos.
Freedom Flotilla 2 will sail the end of June, and we need your support.
Please send this to your lists. If possible, please post our logo and link on your website.
We hope that you will find this all of help -- and we look forward to your ideas and participation.
All the very best,
in Peace,
Witness Gaza Team
David Rubinson
http://witnessgaza.com/
Twitter: @witnessgaza
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/WitnessGazacom/149995568385688
Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freegaza/
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/gazafriends
This is what the new WitnessGaza does:
1- WG aggregates everything published on the websites of the individual national Flotilla Initiatives, and makes it all accessible in one place, instantly and automatically. Plus, there is a NEWS section, where this information is expanded, and many other sources of news and information can be instantly accessed as well.
2- WG enables everyone everywhere, to Be a Witness - and post videos, text, breaking news, photos, or any similar content--
Anyone with internet access -- anywhere -- can post videos or photographs or content.
We will also run live streaming video of events that are happening locally, or on the ground anywhere.
Our goal is to have the whole world watch and know and then --- act.
3- WG posts links to one or two big news headlines.
4- WG enables all of this to be instantly distributed and shared via social networking sites- Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube.
5- WG publishes all the newest Twitter postings and connects instantly to Twitter for re-Tweets, or comments.
Please -- try to include our links and logos on ALL your postings, emails, letters, releases. Anything you put out.
Please include:
http://witnessgaza.com/
Twitter: @witnessgaza
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/WitnessGazacom/149995568385688
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/gazafriends
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Stop Coal Companies From Erasing Labor Union History
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-coal-companies-from-erasing-labor-union-history
In just a few hours, this petition has gained more than 17,000 signatures.
Here's some text from the petition page:
OVERVIEW
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War and the largest labor confrontation ever. It erupted when more than 10,000 West Virginia coal miners confronted an industry-backed army for a week in 1921. The miners were fighting to gain collective bargaining rights, to escape the domination of coal operators, and for the basic right to live and work in decent, safe conditions.
The history of Blair Mountain is that of all Americans.
The coal miners who worked and struggled during the West Virginia Mine Wars formed a rock-hard union solidarity that diffused to the rest of the nation through the Appalachian outmigration that has occurred from the 1930s until today. They went to steel foundries in Pittsburgh, the car factories in Detroit, and the mills in Ohio. They carried with them the memory and heritage of the labor struggles in central Appalachia, and they were a major force in building the labor unions that in themselves helped build the prosperous middle class of the 20th century.
Blair Mountain stands at the heart of American prosperity, and the coal miners who fought and died there did so for the basic freedom of living and working in decent, safe conditions.
But most people have never heard of Blair Mountain. That's because West Virginia has, for years, resisted preserving or commemorating the site. Nowadays, major coal companies Arch Coal and Massey Energy (the one responsible for the deadly explosion last April) own a lot of the land and hold permits to blast away the landscape for the most devastating of all coal mining practices: Mountaintop removal mining. They literally want to erase history here.
This can be stopped. If only the National Register of Historic Places would list the site, then its preservation would be required. Except that federal official ultimately turned down a listing this year -- amid objections of 57 "landowners" filed by the state. According to activists, however, this list is flawed and some of these people are even dead. And, already, Friends of Blair Mountain has documented the disturbance of five locations on the 1,700 acre site.
Tell Interior Department officials and the state of West Virginia to save the site of the Battle of Blair Mountain without delay. It's time to stop the destruction of West Virginia and preserve this one small example of rebellion from the grip of Big Coal.
P.S. From June 4th-11th, supporters will unite for a weeklong solidarity march on Blair Mountain.The March on Blair Mountain is a peaceful, unifying rally involving environmental justice organizations, workers, scholars, artists, and other citizens and groups. The march commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain. It will start in Charleston, West Virginia and end 50 miles later with a rally at Blair Mountain. Please consider attending if you can!
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best wishes,
richard myers
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One year after Bradley's detainment, we need your support more than ever.
Dear Friends,
One year ago, on May 26, 2010, the U.S. government quietly arrested a humble young American intelligence analyst in Iraq and imprisoned him in a military camp in Kuwait. Over the coming weeks, the facts of the arrest and charges against this shy soldier would come to light. And across the world, people like you and I would step forward to help defend him.
Bradley Manning, now 23 years old, has never been to court but has already served a year in prison- including 10 months in conditions of confinement that were clear violation of the international conventions against torture. Bradley has been informally charged with releasing to the world documents that have revealed corruption by world leaders, widespread civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. forces, the true face of Guantanamo, an unvarnished view of the U.S.'s imperialistic foreign negotiations, and the murder of two employees of Reuters News Agency by American soldiers. These documents released by WikiLeaks have spurred democratic revolutions across the Arab world and have changed the face of journalism forever.
For his act of courage, Bradley Manning now faces life in prison-or even death.
But you can help save him-and we've already seen our collective power. Working together with concerned citizens around the world, the Bradley Manning Support Network has helped raise worldwide awareness about Manning's torturous confinement conditions. Through the collective actions of well over a half million people and scores of organizations, we successfully pressured the U.S. government to end the tortuous conditions of pre-trial confinement that Bradley was subjected to at the Marine Base at Quantico, Virginia. Today, Bradley is being treated humanely at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. T hanks to your support, Bradley is given leeway to interact with other pre-trial prisoners, read books, write letters, and even has a window in his cell.
Of course we didn't mount this campaign to just improve Bradley's conditions in jail. Our goal is to ensure that he can receive a fair and open trial. Our goal is to win Bradley's freedom so that he can be reunited with his family and fulfill his dream of going to college. Today, to commemorate Bradley's one year anniversary in prison, will you join me in making a donation to help support Bradley's defense?
http://bradleymanning.org/donate
We'll be facing incredible challenges in the coming months, and your tax-deductible donation today will help pay for Bradley's civilian legal counsel and the growing international grassroots campaign on his behalf. The U.S. government has already spent a year building its case against Bradley, and is now calling its witnesses to Virginia to testify before a grand jury.
What happens to Bradley may ripple through history - he is already considered by many to be the single most important person of his generation. Please show your commitment to Bradley and your support for whistle-blowers and the truth by making a donation today.
With your help, I hope we will come to remember May 26th as a day to commemorate all those who risk their lives and freedom to promote informed democracy - and as the birth of a movement that successfully defended one courageous whistle-blower against the full fury of the U.S. government.
Donate now: bradleymanning.org/donate
In solidarity,
Jeff Paterson and Loraine Reitman,
On behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee
www.bradleymanning.org
P.S. After you have donated, please help us by forwarding this email to your closest friends. Ask them to stand with you to support Bradley Manning, and the rights of all whistleblowers.
View the new 90 second "I am Bradley Manning" video:
I am Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-P3OXML00s
Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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Drop the Charges Against Carlos Montes, Stop the FBI Attack on the Chicano and Immigrant Rights Movement, and Stop FBI Repression of Anti-War Activists NOW!Call Off the Expanding Grand Jury Witchhunt and FBI Repression of Anti-War Activists NOW!
Cancel the Subpoenas! Cancel the Grand Juries!
Condemn the FBI Raids and Harassment of Chicano, Immigrant Rights, Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists!
Tell US Attorney Fitzgerald, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, DOJ Inspector General Fine, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secy Gen Ban, and members of the media to STOP THE FBI CAMPAIGN OF REPRESSION AGAINST CHICANO, IMMIGRANT RIGHTS, ANTI-WAR AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY ACTIVISTS NOW!
Initiated by the Committee to Stop FBI Repression stopfbi.net stopfbi@gmail.com
http://iacenter.org/stopfbi/
Petition Text:
To: U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, President Barack Obama, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder,
cc: Vice President Biden, DOJ Inspector General Fine, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, the Congressional Black Caucus, U.N. Secy Gen Ban, and members of the media
** Drop All Charges against Carlos Montes, and immediately return all of his property!
** Stop the attack on the Chicano and Immigrant Rights Movements!
** Call Off the Chicago Grand Jury and Stop the Expanding Witchhunt against Anti-war and International Solidarity Activists!
** Hands Off Palestine Solidarity Activists!
** Throw Out the reactiviated subpoenas against Tracy Molm, Ann Pham and Sarah Martin in Minneapolis, and ALL of the 14 subpoenas from the September 24 FBI raids of homes of anti-war and international solidarity activists.
**Immediately return all confiscated materials: computers, cell phones, papers, documents, etc.
**End the grand jury proceedings against anti-war activists.
I am writing to oppose the continuation and expansion of the FBI campaign of harassment of immigrant rights, anti-war and Palestine and other International Solidarity Activists, including the raid on the home of Carlos Montes and his arrest and the confiscation of his property, the 9 added subpoenas in the Chicago area, and reactivation of 3 of the original 14 subpoenas from the September 24 FBI raids of anti-war and international solidarity activists' homes.
These activists are guilty of no crime but opposition to U.S. foreign policy. On Friday, September 24, 2010 the FBI raided seven houses and an office in Chicago and Minneapolis. The FBI served subpoenas to testify before a federal grand jury to 13 activists in Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan. The FBI also attempted to intimidate activists in California, Wisconsin and North Carolina. This is not the action of a lone prosecutor. The raids were coordinated nationally, spanned several cities, and many other activists have been visited and personally threatened by the FBI.
The FBI confiscated computers, email and mailing lists, cell phones , cameras, videos, books, and passports. This is a dangerous attack on the constitutional rights of free speech of every social justice, antiwar and human rights activist and organization in the U.S. today. The right to speak, meet and write opinions is guaranteed under the constitution.
This suppression of civil rights is aimed at those who dedicate their time and energy to supporting the struggles of the Palestinian and Colombian peoples against U.S. funded occupation and war. Grand Jury subpoenas investigating material support of terrorism are being used to silence highly respected and well known human rights activists. This is a dangerous national effort to shut down growing opposition to U.S. wars. It cannot be allowed.
The FBI and the Grand Jury are threatening courageous individuals who have written and spoken publicly to broaden understanding of social justice issues of war and occupation. The activists are involved with many groups, including: the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee, the Palestine Solidarity Group, the Colombia Action Network, Students for a Democratic Society, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. These activists came together with many others to organize the 2008 anti-war marches on the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
The FBI and the U.S. government must end this campaign of intimidation against anti-war and international solidarity activists. I am outraged at this disrespect of democratic rights. I ask that you intervene immediately to:
**Stop the Grand Jury Witchhunt!
**Stop the expanded repression against anti-war and international solidarity activists.
**Immediately return all confiscated materials: computers, cell phones, papers, documents, etc.
**End the grand jury proceedings against anti-war activists.
Sincerely,
(Your signature will be appended here based on the contact information you enter in the form above)
You can also call the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at 202-353-1555 and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300 or write an email to: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov demanding an end to the FBI raids, return of all confiscated materials and an end to the Grand Jury witchhunt. Fitzgerald is in charge of the Northern District of Illinois and responsible for the FBI raids and Grand Jury investigation.
Contact the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
at stopfbi.net
stopfbi@gmail.com
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Mumia Wins Decision Against Re-Imposition Of Death Sentence, But...
The Battle Is Still On To
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222 • Oakland CA 94610
www.laboractionmumia.org
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U.S. Attorney Escalates Attacks on Civil Liberties of Anti-War,
Palestinian Human Rights Activists
Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald first thing Monday morning! (contact info at bottom of this email)
On Friday, May 6, the U.S. government froze the bank accounts of Hatem Abudayyeh and his wife, Naima. This unwarranted attack on a leading member of the Palestinian community in Chicago is the latest escalation of the repression of anti-war and Palestinian community organizers by the FBI, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Hatem Abudayyeh is one of 23 activists from Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in Chicago, and his home was raided by the FBI in September of last year. Neither Hatem Abudayyeh nor Naima Abudayyeh have been charged with any crime.
One of the bank accounts frozen was exclusively in Naima Abudayyeh's name. Leaders of the national Committee to Stop FBI Repression, as well as Chicago's Coalition to Protect People's Rights are appalled at the government's attempt to restrict the family's access to its finances, especially so soon before Mothers' Day. Not only does the government's action seriously disrupt the lives of the Abudayyehs and their five-year-old daughter, but it represents an attack on Chicago's Arab community and activist community and the fundamental rights of Americans to freedom of speech.
The persecution of the Abudayyeh family is another example of the criminalization of Palestinians, their supporters, and their movement for justice and liberation. There has been widespread criticism of the FBI and local law enforcement for their racial profiling and scapegoating of Arab and Muslim Americans. These repressive tactics include infiltration of community centers and mosques, entrapment of young men, and the prominent case of 11 students from the University of California campuses at Irvine and Riverside who have been subpoenaed to a grand jury and persecuted for disrupting a speech by Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the US. The government's attempt to conflate the anti-war and human rights movements with terrorism is a cynical attempt to capitalize on the current political climate in order to silence Palestinians and other people of conscience who exercise their First Amendment rights in a manner which does not conform to the administration's foreign policy agenda in the Middle East.
The issuance of subpoenas against the 23 activists has been met with widespread opposition and criticism across the country. Six members of the U.S. Congress, including five in the past month, have sent letters to either Holder or President Obama, expressing grave concern for the violations of the civil liberties and rights of the 23 activists whose freedom is on the line. Three additional U.S. representatives have also promised letters, as thousands of constituents and other people of conscience across the U.S. have demanded an end to this assault on legitimate political activism and dissent. Over 60 Minnesota state legislators also issued a resolution condemning the subpoenas.
The Midwest activists have been expecting indictments for some time. The freezing of the Abudayyeh family's bank accounts suggests that the danger of indictments is imminent.
Take action:
Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300.
Then dial 0 (zero) for the operator and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk.
Demand Fitzgerald
-- Unfreeze the bank accounts of the Abudayyeh family and
-- Stop repression against Palestinian, anti-war and international solidarity activists.
In solidarity,
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression and
The Coalition to Protect People's Rights
For more info go to StopFBI.net
follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend
Copyright (c) 2011 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights reserved.
Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists!
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55415
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Abolish the Death Penalty Blog
http://www.ncadp.org/blog.cfm?postID=165
Abolish the Death Penalty is a blog dedicated to...well, you know. The purpose of Abolish is to tell the personal stories of crime victims and their loved ones, people on death row and their loved ones and those activists who are working toward abolition. You may, from time to time, see news articles or press releases here, but that is not the primary mission of Abolish the Death Penalty. Our mission is to put a human face on the debate over capital punishment.
You can also follow death penalty news by reading our News page and by following us on Facebook and Twitter.
1 Million Tweets for Troy! April 12, 2011
Take Action! Tweet for Troy!
The state of Georgia is seeking to change the drugs they use to carry out executions so they can resume scheduling execution dates, including that of Troy Davis, a man with a strong claim of innocence. Doubts in the case persist, including the fact that no physical evidence links him to the murder, most of the witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony and newer testimony implicates a different person (including an eyewitness account).
The Davis case has already generated hundreds of thousands of emails, calls, and letters in support of clemency, including from leaders such as the Pope, Jimmy Carter and former FBI chief Bill Sessions. We need to continue to amass petitions in support of clemency, demonstrating the widespread concern about this case and what it represents.
Please help us send a message to Georgia officials that they can do the right thing - they can intervene as the final failsafe by commuting Davis' sentence. Please help us generate 1 million tweets for Troy Davis!
Share this tweet alert with your friends and family that care about justice and life as soon as you can.
More information about the case is available at www.justicefortroy.org
Here are some sample tweets:
When in doubt, don't execute!! Sign the petition for #TroyDavis! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Too much doubt! Stop the execution! #TroyDavis needs us! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No room for doubt! Stop the execution of #TroyDavis . Retweet, sign petition www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Case not "ironclad", yet Georgiacould execute #TroyDavis ! Not on our watch! Petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No murder weapon. No physical evidence. Stop the execution! #TroyDavis petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
7 out of 9 eyewitnesses recanted. No physical evidence. Stop the execution of Troy Davis www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition #TroyDavis
Thanks!
Exonerated Death Row Survivors Urge Georgia to:
Stop the Execution of Troy Davis
Chairman James E. Donald
Georgia State Board of Pardons & Paroles
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SE
Suite 458, Balcony Level, East Tower
Atlanta, GA 30334
May 1, 2011
Dear Chairperson Donald and Members of the Board:
We, the undersigned, are alive today because some individual or small group of individuals decided that our insistent and persistent proclamations of innocence warranted one more look before we were sent to our death by execution. We are among the 138 individuals who have been legally exonerated and released from death rows in the United States since 1973. We are alive because a few thoughtful persons-attorneys, journalists, judges, jurists, etc.-had lingering doubts about our cases that caused them to say "stop" at a critical moment and halt the march to the execution chamber. When our innocence was ultimately revealed, when our lives were saved, and when our freedom was won, we thanked God and those individuals of conscience who took actions that allowed the truth to eventually come to light.
We are America's exonerated death row survivors. We are living proof that a system operated by human beings is capable of making an irreversible mistake. And while we have had our wrongful convictions overturned and have been freed from death row, we know that we are extremely fortunate to have been able to establish our innocence. We also know that many innocent people who have been executed or who face execution have not been so fortunate. Not all those with innocence claims have had access to the kinds of physical evidence, like DNA, that our courts accept as most reliable. However, we strongly believe that the examples of our cases are reason enough for those with power over life and death to choose life. We also believe that those in authority have a unique moral consideration when encountering individuals with cases where doubt still lingers about innocence or guilt.
One such case is the case of Troy Anthony Davis, whose 1991 conviction for killing Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail rested almost solely on witness testimony. We know that today, 20 years later, witness evidence is considered much less reliable than it was then. This has meant that, even though most of the witnesses who testified against him have now recanted, Troy Davis has been unable to convince the courts to overturn his conviction, or even his death sentence.
Troy Davis has been able to raise serious doubts about his guilt, however. Several witnesses testified at the evidentiary hearing last summer that they had been coerced by police into making false statements against Troy Davis. This courtroom testimony reinforced previous statements in sworn affidavits. Also at this hearing, one witness testified for the first time that he saw an alternative suspect, and not Troy Davis, commit the crime. We don't know if Troy Davis is in fact innocent, but, as people who were wrongfully sentenced to death (and in some cases scheduled for execution), we believe it is vitally important that no execution go forward when there are doubts about guilt. It is absolutely essential to ensuring that the innocent are not executed.
When you issued a temporary stay for Troy Davis in 2007, you stated that the Board "will not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused." This standard is a welcome development, and we urge you to apply it again now. Doubts persist in the case of Troy Davis, and commuting his sentence will reassure the people of Georgia that you will never permit an innocent person to be put to death in their name.
Freddie Lee Pitts, an exonerated death row survivor who faced execution by the state of Florida for a crime he didn't commit, once said, "You can release an innocent man from prison, but you can't release him from the grave."
Thank you for considering our request.
Respectfully,
Kirk Bloodsworth, Exonerated and freed from death row Maryland; Clarence Brandley, Exonerated and freed from death row in Texas; Dan Bright, Exonerated and freed from death row in Louisiana; Albert Burrell, Exonerated and freed from death row in Louisiana; Perry Cobb, Exonerated and freed from death row in Illinois; Gary Drinkard, Exonerated and freed from death row in Alabama; Nathson Fields, Exonerated and freed from death row in Illinois; Gary Gauger, Exonerated and freed from death row in Illinois; Michael Graham, Exonerated and freed from death row in Louisiana; Shujaa Graham, Exonerated and freed from death row in California; Paul House, Exonerated and freed from death row in Tennessee; Derrick Jamison, Exonerated and freed from death row in Ohio; Dale Johnston, Exonerated and freed from death row in Ohio; Ron Keine, Exonerated and freed from death row in New Mexico; Ron Kitchen, Exonerated and freed from death row in Illinois; Ray Krone, Exonerated and freed from death row in Arizona; Herman Lindsey, Exonerated and freed from death row in Florida; Juan Melendez, Exonerated and freed from death row in Florida; Randal Padgett, Exonerated and freed from death row in Alabama; Freddie Lee Pitts, Exonerated and freed from death row in Florida; Randy Steidl, Exonerated and freed from death row in Illinois; John Thompson, Exonerated and freed from death row in Louisiana; Delbert Tibbs, Exonerated and freed from death row in Florida; David Keaton, Exonerated and freed from death row in Florida; Greg Wilhoit, Exonerated and freed from death row in Oklahoma; Harold Wilson, Exonerated and freed from death row in Pennsylvania.
-Witness to Innocence, May 11, 2011
http://www.witnesstoinnocence.com/view_news.php?Exonerated-Death-Row-Survivors-Urge-George-to-Stop-the-Execution-of-Troy-Davis-181
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FREE BRADLEY MANNING! HANDS OFF JULIAN ASSANGE!
In a recent New York Daily News Poll the question was asked:
Should Army pfc Bradley Manning face charges for allegedly stealing classified documents and providing them for WikiLeaks?
New York Daily News Poll Results:
Yes, he's a traitor for selling out his country! ...... 28%
No, he's a hero for standing up for what's right! ..... 62%
We need to see more evidence before passing judgment.. 10%
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/03/05/2011-03-05_wikileaks_private_loses_his_underwear.html?r=news
Sign the Petition:
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
Stand with Bradley!
A 23-year-old Army intelligence analyst, Pfc. Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking a video of a US helicopter attack that killed at least eleven Iraqi civilians to the website Wikileaks. Among the dead were two working Reuters reporters. Two children were also severely wounded in the attack.
In addition to this "Collateral Murder" video, Pfc. Manning is suspected of leaking the "Afghan War Diaries" - tens of thousands of battlefield reports that explicitly describe civilian deaths and cover-ups, corrupt officials, collusion with warlords, and a failing US/NATO war effort.
"We only know these crimes took place because insiders blew the whistle at great personal risk ... Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal," noted Barack Obama while on the campaign trail in 2008. While the President was referring to the Bush Administration's use of phone companies to illegally spy on Americans, Pfc. Manning's alleged actions are just as noteworthy. If the military charges against him are accurate, they show that he had a reasonable belief that war crimes were being covered up, and that he took action based on a crisis of conscience.
After nearly a decade of war and occupation waged in our name, it is odd that it apparently fell on a young Army private to provide critical answers to the questions, "What have we purchased with well over a trillion tax dollars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan?" However, history is replete with unlikely heroes.
If Bradley Manning is indeed the source of these materials, the nation owes him our gratitude. We ask Secretary of the Army, the Honorable John M. McHugh, and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General George W. Casey, Jr., to release Pfc. Manning from pre-trial confinement and drop the charges against him.
http://standwithbrad.org/
Bulletin from the cause: Bradley Manning Support Network
Go to Cause
Posted By: Tom Baxter
To: Members in Bradley Manning Support Network
A Good Address for Bradley!!!
We have a good address for Bradley,
"A Fort Leavenworth mailing address has been released for Bradley Manning:
Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027
The receptionist at the military barracks confirmed that if someone sends Bradley Manning a letter to that address, it will be delivered to him."
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-42811
This is also a Facebook event
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207100509321891#!/event.php?eid=207100509321891
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY -- ANY DAY
to Fitzgerald, Holder and Obama
The Grand Jury is still on its witch hunt and the FBI is still
harassing activists. This must stop.
Please make these calls:
1. Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300 . Then dial 0
(zero) for operator and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk.
2. Call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder 202-353-1555
3. Call President Obama at 202-456-1111
Suggested text: "My name is __________, I am from _______(city), in
______(state). I am calling _____ to demand he call off the Grand Jury
and stop FBI repression against the anti-war and Palestine solidarity
movements. I oppose U.S. government political repression and support
the right to free speech and the right to assembly of the 23 activists
subpoenaed. We will not be criminalized. Tell him to stop this
McCarthy-type witch hunt against international solidarity activists!"
If your call doesn't go through, try again later.
Update: 800 anti-war and international solidarity activists
participated in four regional conferences, in Chicago, IL; Oakland,
CA; Chapel Hill, NC and New York City to stop U.S. Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald's Grand Jury repression.
Still, in the last few weeks, the FBI has continued to call and harass
anti-war organizers, repressing free speech and the right to organize.
However, all of their intimidation tactics are bringing a movement
closer together to stop war and demand peace.
We demand:
-- Call Off the Grand Jury Witch-hunt Against International Solidarity
Activists!
-- Support Free Speech!
-- Support the Right to Organize!
-- Stop FBI Repression!
-- International Solidarity Is Not a Crime!
-- Stop the Criminalization of Arab and Muslim Communities!
Background: Fitzgerald ordered FBI raids on anti-war and solidarity
activists' homes and subpoenaed fourteen activists in Chicago,
Minneapolis, and Michigan on September 24, 2010. All 14 refused to
speak before the Grand Jury in October. Then, 9 more Palestine
solidarity activists, most Arab-Americans, were subpoenaed to appear
at the Grand Jury on January 25, 2011, launching renewed protests.
There are now 23 who assert their right to not participate in
Fitzgerald's witch-hunt.
The Grand Jury is a secret and closed inquisition, with no judge, and
no press. The U.S. Attorney controls the entire proceedings and hand
picks the jurors, and the solidarity activists are not allowed a
lawyer. Even the date when the Grand Jury ends is a secret.
So please make these calls to those in charge of the repression aimed
against anti-war leaders and the growing Palestine solidarity
movement.
Email us to let us know your results. Send to info@StopFBI.net
**Please sign and circulate our 2011 petition at http://www.stopfbi.net/petition
In Struggle,
Tom Burke,
for the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
FFI: Visit www.StopFBI.net or email info@StopFBI.net or call
612-379-3585 .
Copyright (c) 2011 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights
reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55415
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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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DEFEND LYNNE STEWART!
http://lynnestewart.org/
Write to Lynne Stewart at:
Lynne Stewart #53504 - 054
Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
Visiting Lynne:
Visiting is very liberal but first she has to get people on her visiting list; wait til she 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.
Commissary Money:
Commissary Money is always welcome It is how Lynne pay for the phone and for email. Also 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 !)
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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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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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT! FREE KEVIN COOPER!
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!
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
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
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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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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
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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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) Too Big to Fail, or Too Trifling for Oversight?
By ERIC DASH and JULIE CRESWELL
June 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/business/economy/12big.html?hp
2) Deadly Bus Crashes Shine a Light on Drivers Struggling With Fatigue
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"It is not uncommon for companies to juggle schedules up until the last minute, calling drivers into work with as little as an hour's notice. Even if a driver feels short on sleep, there is strong incentive to make the trip - drivers who do not take a assignments go to the bottom of the call list, Mr. Hanley said, and most drivers are paid only for trips they make. It is also common for drivers to work second and third jobs because the pay is so low, Mr. Hanley said."
June 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/us/12bus.html?ref=us
3) Apple Store Employee Seeks to Plant Union Seed
"Union members as a percentage of U.S. wage and salary workers declined from 20.1 percent in 1983 to 11.9 percent last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."
By REUTERS
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/06/12/technology/tech-us-apple.html?src=busln
4) Ninety Percent of Petraeus's Captured "Taliban" Were Civilians
By Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON, Jun 12, 2011 (IPS)
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56038
5) F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds
"Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of investigations, called an 'assessment.' The category, created in December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations 'proactively' and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity. Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such databases without making a record about their decision. ...The new rules will also relax a restriction on administering lie-detector tests and searching people's trash. Under current rules, agents cannot use such techniques until they open a 'preliminary investigation,' which - unlike an assessment - requires a factual basis for suspecting someone of wrongdoing. But soon agents will be allowed to use those techniques for one kind of assessment, too: when they are evaluating a target as a potential informant. Agents have asked for that power in part because they want the ability to use information found in a subject's trash to put pressure on that person to assist the government in the investigation of others. But Ms. Caproni said information gathered that way could also be useful for other reasons, like determining whether the subject might pose a threat to agents."
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/us/13fbi.html?hp
6) Medicare Saves Money
By PAUL KRUGMAN
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/opinion/13krugman.html?hp
7) In Nuclear Crisis, Crippling Mistrust
By NORIMITSU ONISHI and MARTIN FACKLER
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/world/asia/13japan.html?ref=world
8) Workers at Four Macy's Stores OK Right to Strike
[Does anyone remember this:
"I'll never go to Macy's any more, more, more
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door
He will grab you by the collar
And he'll make you pay a dollar
So I'll never go to Macy's any more, more, more."
I was told it became popular during a strike at Macy's during the '30s. In order to keep the riff-raff (i.e., union supporters} out of the store (since many union supporters went into the store and made a scene in in support of the union), Macy's decided to post cops at the door and charge $1.00 to get in to shop, thereby, allowing only the most wealthy customers into the store. ...bw]
By REUTERS
June 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/06/13/business/business-us-macys.html?src=busln
9) Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say
U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq's reconstruction after the start of the war.
By Paul Richter, Reporting from Washington, Los Angeles Times
June 13, 2011
latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missing-billions-20110613,0,4414060.story
latimes.com
10) California Wants Justice for Oscar Grant
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
www.ellabakercenter.org | 510.428.3939
1970 Broadway, Suite 450 | Oakland, CA | 94612
https://secure3.convio.net/ebc/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=183&utm_campaign=ebc_justice_for_grant&utm_source=email-action&utm_medium=email&s_src=ebc_justice_for_grant&s_subsrc=email-action&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=rt0b7la2v2.app332b
11) Activists cry foul over FBI probe
By Peter Wallsten, Published: June 13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/activists-cry-foul-over-fbi-probe/2011/06/09/AGPRskTH_print.html
12) Japan: Six More Nuclear Plant Workers May Have Exceeded Radiation Limits
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/world/asia/14briefs-Japan.html?_r=1&ref=world
13) Poland and U.S. Sign Agreement to Station Air Force Personnel in Poland
By REUTERS
June 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/world/europe/14briefs-Poland.html?ref=world
14) Greeks Walk Off the Job in Austerity Protest
By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS
June 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/world/europe/16greece.html?hp
15) C.I.A. Building Base for Strikes in Yemen
By MARK MAZZETTI
June 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/world/middleeast/15yemen.html?ref=world
16) U.N. Charts High Jobless Rate in Gaza, Despite Israel's Easing of Blockade
By ETHAN BRONNER
June 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/world/middleeast/15gaza.html?ref=world
17) Wisconsin Court Reinstates Law on Union Rights
By MONICA DAVEY
June 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/us/politics/15wisconsin.html?ref=us
18) Oakland Whistle Blower OFD Paramedic Sean Gillis Needs Your Help Now
Help Him Expose the Mistreatment of Oscar Grant and the Cover Up
For docs related to Sean's fight go to JusticeForSeanAtOaklandFire at www.groups.google.com
You can contact those that are helping Sean at justiceforseanatoaklandfire@gmail.com
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1) Too Big to Fail, or Too Trifling for Oversight?
By ERIC DASH and JULIE CRESWELL
June 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/business/economy/12big.html?hp
It is not very often that business people head to Washington to explain how unimportant they are.
But over the last several months, executives from more than two dozen financial companies and their trade groups have paraded into the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and other government agencies to try to persuade top regulators that they are not large or risky enough to threaten the financial system if they should ever collapse.
Big insurers like the Mass Mutual Financial Group and Zurich Financial Services; hedge funds like Citadel and Paulson & Company; and mutual-fund companies like BlackRock, Fidelity Investments and Pacific Investment Management Company have all been making the rounds, according to documents filed by the regulatory agencies.
What they are all hoping to avoid is being designated "systemically important" by a council of financial regulators. That would require them to face stricter federal oversight and keep more cash on hand, which they fear would erode profits.
Jeffrey A. Goldstein, the Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, finds the arguments so familiar that he has opened some meetings by asking the firms if they would like to designate themselves as systemically important. "I can't recall a firm that came in and said yes," he said.
Hedge fund managers, for example, normally pride themselves on being Masters of the Universe. But armed with PowerPoint presentations and financial studies, representatives from some of Wall Street's most powerful funds, including D.E. Shaw and Company, Elliott Management and Caxton Associates, met with Federal Reserve staff members earlier this year to make one point: We're too small to matter.
The hedge funds insisted their activities would not threaten the financial system because they control $1.7 trillion in assets, a drop in the bucket next to the $21.4 trillion overseen by the global mutual fund industry, according to documents they filed with regulators that cited figures from 2010.
Two insurance giants took even stronger steps. They unloaded savings banks they owned as a preemptive strike against tougher federal supervision.
Regulators involved in the determination process say they are skeptical. "It is as if they are the Sisters of the Charity," said one government official who has participated in meetings with financial companies. "They present themselves as if they don't do anything complicated. They are playing a very interesting strategy game that nobody believes."
It's no secret that big banks with more than $50 billion in assets - Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, among others - are automatically part of the club. But a wide variety of financial companies that are not banks are trying to avoid membership - or at least reduce their burdens. Besides the big insurers, hedge funds and mutual fund companies, major commercial lenders like General Electric have revved up their lobbying efforts.
There have also been a few surprises, like Boeing, I.B.M. and Caterpillar, which operate large finance businesses for their customers. Student lenders like Sallie Mae, auto finance companies like Ford Motor Credit and even quasi-government enterprises like the Federal Home Loan Banks have raised concerns about the designation process.
Deciding which firms should be deemed "systemically important" is at the heart of a package of new financial rules that aim to prevent a repeat of the recent financial crisis. But the lack of specific criteria from regulators so far has created uncertainty about who will get tagged.
More clarity may come later this summer when regulators are expected to put out a more detailed proposal. Criteria like size, how connected the firms are to each other, and overall risk levels will be more carefully defined.
Then, after regulators analyze the data, the designated companies will be notified and given a chance to argue why they do not pose a major financial threat. This means final determinations will not be made until the middle of 2012, at the earliest. That, of course, is just fine with many of the companies involved.
Insurers are feeling the most heat right now. In meetings, they go to great lengths to distance themselves from the speculative activities of the American International Group, whose losses from insuring troubled mortgages were so huge that it needed to be rescued by the government in the fall of 2008.
Instead, the insurers insist they are already well supervised by state authorities, and express concern about being shoehorned into a regulatory regime that they claim is designed mainly for banks. Some have hired consulting firms to buttress their arguments with 100-plus page reports featuring their own (favorable) criteria for determining what poses a serious financial threat.
"We don't want to be lumped into the same box with banks," said Robert Gordon of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
A few big insurers have sheared off businesses that would land them under the Federal Reserve's thumb.
In May, the Hartford Financial Services Group sold off a thrift it bought in 2009 to secure billions of dollars of bailout funds designated for banks. In February, the Allstate Corporation sold a similar bank that had made it eligible for aid, though it decided not to accept the cash.
Now, both Hartford and Allstate are arguing that they should not be deemed systemically important - a claim raising eyebrows in financial policymaking circles.
"You would want to be particularly attentive to firms that got themselves into trouble during the crisis, needed government assistance, and now that they are subject to real supervision at the federal level, are hoping to escape additional regulation," said Michael S. Barr, who recently stepped down as the assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions to return to the University of Michigan law school.
A Hartford Financial spokesman, David Snowden, said the sale was part of a broader strategy of "focusing our resources on our core business and insurance operations." Allstate, in a statement, said its decision was partly due to concerns that the new financial legislation would impose rules that the company "did not consider beneficial given the limited role of the Allstate Bank in our overall strategic plans."
Other financial giants have made their own arguments to regulators. In their comment letters, big asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity claim that since they manage money on behalf of individual investors, the firms pose little risk to the system. General Electric, a huge lender to businesses and consumers, told Treasury officials that it should not be put in the same category as Goldman Sachs since it does not engage in risky derivatives trading or make other speculative bets with its own money, according to a person close to the discussions.
Meanwhile, several large financial companies are finding sympathetic ears in Washington. Barney Frank, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee and one of the chief architects of the new rules, said he did not believe life insurers and mutual-fund companies were risky enough to require heightened supervision.
"If you look at it, they weren't the causes of the problems," said Mr. Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat whose political region is home to many mutual fund and insurance companies.
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2) Deadly Bus Crashes Shine a Light on Drivers Struggling With Fatigue
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"It is not uncommon for companies to juggle schedules up until the last minute, calling drivers into work with as little as an hour's notice. Even if a driver feels short on sleep, there is strong incentive to make the trip - drivers who do not take a assignments go to the bottom of the call list, Mr. Hanley said, and most drivers are paid only for trips they make. It is also common for drivers to work second and third jobs because the pay is so low, Mr. Hanley said."
June 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/us/12bus.html?ref=us
BOWLING GREEN, Va. (AP) - Energy drinks, coffee and even talking on his cellphone were not enough to keep awake the driver of a bus that crashed last month on Interstate 95, killing four people.
About an hour before dawn, the driver, Kin Yiu Cheung, was nearly seven hours into his shift when he dozed off as his bus, carrying 59 passengers, barreled north through Virginia, according to court documents.
The bus veered off the highway. When Mr. Cheung tried to swerve back onto the road, the bus hit an embankment and overturned, the authorities say. In addition to the four passengers killed, dozens more were injured.
Lawyers for Mr. Cheung, who is being held without bail, have called the wreck a "tragic accident."
Prosecutors have charged Mr. Cheung, 37, of New York City, with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. But sleep scientists, safety advocates and labor leaders say the roots of the accident lie with an industry whose economic model often results in drivers on the road with too little rest and at hours when their bodies naturally crave sleep.
"The consequence is an entire industry populated by people not getting enough sleep," said Larry Hanley, the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents drivers at Greyhound and other companies.
Studies show that 13 percent to 31 percent of commercial vehicle crashes are due to driver fatigue, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Recent deadly crashes involving large buses that travel between cities have heightened concern about driver fatigue. In March, a bus returning passengers to Chinatown in New York after a night of gambling ran off an elevated highway and hit a utility pole, shearing off its roof. Fifteen passengers were killed and many more were injured. The driver has said he was awake and alert, but passengers told the police the bus was swerving. A lawsuit filed by one passenger claims the driver was asleep.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the nation's estimated 4,000 passenger bus companies, had flagged the bus company in the New York crash, World Wide Travel, for possible extra scrutiny because of violations involving driver fatigue.
Sky Express Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., which employed Mr. Cheung to drive from North Carolina to New York, had been cited for 46 violations involving driver fatigue rules over two years, ranking it in the bottom 14 percent of carriers. Passengers on the bus that crashed overheard Mr. Cheung complaining in a cellphone call that he was tired and did not have much time between trips, according to a court affidavit.
Federal officials were in the process of shutting down the company at the time of the crash. A timeline released by the Department of Transportation showed that Sky Express would have stopped operations the weekend before the May 31 crash if regulators had not extended their review an extra 10 days.
Industry officials say buses have a good safety record. Their popularity has soared over the last decade, partly because they are relatively inexpensive. The industry transports an estimated 750 million passengers annually in the United States, roughly equivalent to the domestic airline industry.
Peter J. Pantuso, the president of the American Bus Association, said fatalities are primarily the fault of a handful of small operators who ignore safety regulations to cut costs. When the government orders them to shut down, they reopen under new names or in new locations. The problem is so common that they are known in the industry as reincarnated or chameleon carriers.
That is what federal officials say Sky Express did after the crash. Regulators ordered the company to shut down hours after the accident. But Sky Express continued to operate using two other names, 108 Tours and 108 Bus, officials said, and the department issued a cease-and-desist order.
Last Thursday, federal inspectors shut down a company in East Point, Ga., that was operating its three buses under two different names from the same location. The company, JCT Motor Coach, also known as JT's Travel & Charter, made no effort to comply with regulations limiting drivers' hours and had accumulated a raft of other safety violations, according to the order shutting the carrier. The company did not even have a system for recording drivers' hours, the order said.
James Turner, the company's manager, did not return a message left Friday.
Mr. Hanley, with the drivers' union, blamed the problem on the deregulation of the bus industry in the early 1980s. The result, he said, has been a phenomenal growth in cut-rate bus companies, driving down ticket prices. As a result, bus companies have slashed driver pay and benefits to stay competitive.
It is not uncommon for companies to juggle schedules up until the last minute, calling drivers into work with as little as an hour's notice. Even if a driver feels short on sleep, there is strong incentive to make the trip - drivers who do not take a assignments go to the bottom of the call list, Mr. Hanley said, and most drivers are paid only for trips they make. It is also common for drivers to work second and third jobs because the pay is so low, Mr. Hanley said.
Even bus companies that want to abide by rules on rest breaks and driving hours may find it hard to ensure that their drivers are taking advantage of their time off to sleep.
"There's a lot of pressure for them to keep to their schedules, and sometimes those schedules are hard to meet," said Henry Jasny, general counsel for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a safety and consumer group supported by the insurance industry.
Fatigue can be a problem for any driver on the road overnight, especially between the hours of 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., when the human body's circadian rhythms are telling the brain to sleep, sleep experts say.
Mr. Cheung's driving log said he finished a shift at 5:45 a.m. on May 30, awoke at 6 p.m. and started his next shift at 10 p.m., the police said. The bus left Greensboro, N.C., at 10:30 p.m. and made several stops before crashing around 5 a.m. the next day.
"No matter how much sleep you have had, no matter how young you are, that time of day is extremely dangerous to drive a motor vehicle," said Darrel Drobnich, an expert on driver fatigue and a transportation and public safety consultant.
One of the National Transportation Saftey Board's top safety recommendations has been to equip bus and trucks with devices that keep track of how many hours drivers are on the road. The recorders, which would replace paper driving logs, are a way to enforce limits on work hours. A proposed Transportation Department rule would require companies to equip vehicles with the recorders, but the rule is not final.
More frequent rest stops so drivers can grab short naps might help, Dr. Belenky said, but that would also lengthen bus trips and possibly cost companies customers.
Putting a second driver on the bus to share the driving may also help if bus companies do not balk at the cost. But there is no guarantee a second driver would be able to stay awake, either.
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3) Apple Store Employee Seeks to Plant Union Seed
"Union members as a percentage of U.S. wage and salary workers declined from 20.1 percent in 1983 to 11.9 percent last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."
By REUTERS
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/06/12/technology/tech-us-apple.html?src=busln
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Apple Inc store employee has started a union in a rare move at a company known for its near-fanatical following and cutting-edge mystique.
Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is working to form a union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices in the company's glass-and-steel retail showrooms.
"The core issues definitely involve compensation, pay, benefits," Moll said, adding that he decided to go public with the union to encourage other employees to come forward.
While unions are strong in industries like trucking and autos, they are largely unheard of in Silicon Valley companies, which pride themselves on being quick-footed and having the flexibility to hire and fire.
Moll's budding campaign is also unusual given Apple's reputation for fierce employee loyalty.
Apple has more than 30,000 retail employees in its 325 stores around the world.
Moll, who has been working at Apple for four years, said he makes $14 an hour at the San Francisco Apple store. The minimum wage for 2011 in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the United States, is $9.92 an hour.
The 30-year-old employee primarily communicates with other Apple store employees through Twitter, Facebook and the "Apple Retail Workers Union" website, which he created in May, without disclosing his name.
Moll has received little public support from employees so far, though he said he has emails expressing support.
An Apple representative confirmed Moll is an employee, but declined to comment on the union effort.
"It's kind of a feeling of David versus Goliath," Moll said of trying to start a union movement in a $320 billion company run by its iconic co-founder, Steve Jobs.
The would-be Apple union's website is sparse, but states: "At Apple, our most important resource, our soul, is our people. Our Time Has Come."
Union members as a percentage of U.S. wage and salary workers declined from 20.1 percent in 1983 to 11.9 percent last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Moll said the movement is only in its infancy.
"There's definitely no call to action yet," he said. "Right now what I hope to gain is to get people to start talking about it and get comfortable with it."
(Reporting by Poornima Gupta and Alexei Oreskovic, editing by Matthew Lewis and Marguerita Choy)
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4) Ninety Percent of Petraeus's Captured "Taliban" Were Civilians
By Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON, Jun 12, 2011 (IPS)
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56038
During his intensive initial round of media interviews as commander in Afghanistan in August 2010, Gen. David Petraeus released figures to the news media that claimed spectacular success for raids by Special Operations Forces: in a 90-day period from May through July, SOF units had captured 1,355 rank and file Taliban, killed another 1,031, and killed or captured 365 middle or high-ranking Taliban.
The claims of huge numbers of Taliban captured and killed continued through the rest of 2010. In December, Petraeus's command said a total of 4,100 Taliban rank and file had been captured in the previous six months and 2,000 had been killed.
Those figures were critical to creating a new media narrative hailing the success of SOF operations as reversing what had been a losing U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.
But it turns out that more than 80 percent of those called captured Taliban fighters were released within days of having been picked up, because they were found to have been innocent civilians, according to official U.S. military data.
Even more were later released from the main U.S. detention facility at Bagram airbase called the Detention Facility in Parwan after having their files reviewed by a panel of military officers.
The timing of Petraeus's claim of Taliban fighters captured or killed, moreover, indicates that he knew that four out of five of those he was claiming as "captured Taliban rank and file" were not Taliban fighters at all.
Checking on the claims of the number of Taliban commanders and rank and file killed is impossible, but the claims of Taliban captured could be checked against official data on admission of detainees added to Parwan.
An Afghan detained by U.S. or NATO forces can only be held in a Forward Operating Base for a maximum of 14 days before a decision must be made about whether to release the individual or send him to Parwan for longer-term detention.
IPS has now obtained an unclassified graph by Task Force 435, the military command responsible for detainee affairs, on Parwan's monthly intake and release totals for 2010, which shows that only 270 detainees were admitted to that facility during the 90-day period from May through July 2010.
That figure also includes alleged Taliban commanders who were sent to Parwan and whom Petraeus counted separately from the rank and file figure. Thus more than four out of every five Afghans said to have been Taliban fighters captured during that period had been released within two weeks as innocent civilians.
When Petraeus decided in mid-August to release the figure of 1,355 Taliban rank and file allegedly captured during the 90-day period, he already knew that 80 percent or more of that total had already been released.
Major Sunset R. Belinsky, the ISAF press officer for SOF operations, conceded to IPS last September that the 1,355 figure applied only to "initial detentions".
Task Force 435 commander Adm. Robert Harward confirmed in a press briefing for Journalists Nov. 30, 2010 that 80 percent of the Afghans detained by the U.S. military during the entire year to that point had been released within two weeks.
"This year, in this battlespace, approximately 5,500 individuals have been detained," Harward said, adding the crucial fact that "about 1,100 have come to the detention facility in Parwan."
Harward did not explain the discrepancy between the two figures, however, and no journalist attending the Pentagon briefing asked for such an explanation.
Petraeus continued to exploit media ignorance of the discrepancy between the number of Taliban rank and file said to have been "captured" and the number actually sent to the FDIP.
In early December, ISAF gave Bill Roggio, a blogger for "The Long War Journal" website, the figure of more than 4,100 "enemy fighters" captured from Jun. 1 through Nov. 30, along with 2,000 rank and file Taliban killed.
But during those six months, only 690 individuals were sent to Parwan, according to the Task Force 435 data - 17 percent of the 4,100 Taliban rank and file claimed captured as "Taliban".
The total of 690 detainees also includes an unknown number of commanders counted separately by Petraeus and a large number of detainees who were later released from Parwan. Considering those two factors, the actual proportion of those claimed as captured Taliban who were found not to be part of the Taliban organisation rises to 90 percent or even higher.
Three hundred forty-five detainees, or 20 percent of the 1,686 total number of those who were detained in Parwan from June through November, were released upon review of their cases, according to the same Feb. 5, 2011 Task Force document obtained by IPS. The vast majority of those released from the facility had been sent to Parwan in June or later.
Detainees are released from Parwan only when the evidence against them is so obviously weak or nonexistent that U.S officers cannot justify continuing to hold them, despite the fact that the detainees lack normal procedural rights in the "non-adversarial" hearing by the Task Force's Detainee Review.
The deliberate confusion sowed by Petraeus by referring to anyone picked up for interrogation as a captured rank and file Taliban was a key element of a carefully considered strategy for creating a more favourable image of the war.
As Associated Press reporter Kimberly Dozier wrote in a Sep. 3, 2010 news analysis after an interview with Petraeus, he was very conscious that "demonstrating progress is difficult in a war fought in hundreds of small, scattered engagements, where frontlines do not move and where cities do not fall."
SOF raids, however, could be turned into a dramatic story line. "The mystique of elite, highly trained commandos swooping down on an unsuspecting Taliban leader in the dead of night plays well back home," wrote Dozier, "especially at a time when much of the news from Afghanistan focuses on rising American deaths and frustration with the Afghan government."
Petraeus made sure the impact of the new SOF narrative would be maximised by presenting the total of Afghans swept up in SOF raids as actual Taliban fighters.
The deceptive nature of those statistics, as now revealed by U.S. military data, raises anew the question of whether the statistics released by Petraeus on killing of alleged Taliban were similarly skewed.
*Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in 2006.
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5) F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds
"Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of investigations, called an 'assessment.' The category, created in December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations 'proactively' and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity. Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such databases without making a record about their decision. ...The new rules will also relax a restriction on administering lie-detector tests and searching people's trash. Under current rules, agents cannot use such techniques until they open a 'preliminary investigation,' which - unlike an assessment - requires a factual basis for suspecting someone of wrongdoing. But soon agents will be allowed to use those techniques for one kind of assessment, too: when they are evaluating a target as a potential informant. Agents have asked for that power in part because they want the ability to use information found in a subject's trash to put pressure on that person to assist the government in the investigation of others. But Ms. Caproni said information gathered that way could also be useful for other reasons, like determining whether the subject might pose a threat to agents."
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/us/13fbi.html?hp
WASHINGTON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.
The F.B.I. soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an official who has worked on the draft document and several others who have been briefed on its contents. The new rules add to several measures taken over the past decade to give agents more latitude as they search for signs of criminal or terrorist activity.
The F.B.I. recently briefed several privacy advocates about the coming changes. Among them, Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent who is now a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that it was unwise to further ease restrictions on agents' power to use potentially intrusive techniques, especially if they lacked a firm reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing.
"Claiming additional authorities to investigate people only further raises the potential for abuse," Mr. German said, pointing to complaints about the bureau's surveillance of domestic political advocacy groups and mosques and to an inspector general's findings in 2007 that the F.B.I. had frequently misused "national security letters," which allow agents to obtain information like phone records without a court order.
Valerie E. Caproni, the F.B.I. general counsel, said the bureau had fixed the problems with the national security letters and had taken steps to make sure they would not recur. She also said the bureau, which does not need permission to alter its manual so long as the rules fit within broad guidelines issued by the attorney general, had carefully weighed the risks and the benefits of each change.
"Every one of these has been carefully looked at and considered against the backdrop of why do the employees need to be able to do it, what are the possible risks and what are the controls," she said, portraying the modifications to the rules as "more like fine-tuning than major changes."
Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of investigations, called an "assessment." The category, created in December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations "proactively" and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.
Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such databases without making a record about their decision.
Mr. German said the change would make it harder to detect and deter inappropriate use of databases for personal purposes. But Ms. Caproni said it was too cumbersome to require agents to open formal inquiries before running quick checks. She also said agents could not put information uncovered from such searches into F.B.I. files unless they later opened an assessment.
The new rules will also relax a restriction on administering lie-detector tests and searching people's trash. Under current rules, agents cannot use such techniques until they open a "preliminary investigation," which - unlike an assessment - requires a factual basis for suspecting someone of wrongdoing. But soon agents will be allowed to use those techniques for one kind of assessment, too: when they are evaluating a target as a potential informant.
Agents have asked for that power in part because they want the ability to use information found in a subject's trash to put pressure on that person to assist the government in the investigation of others. But Ms. Caproni said information gathered that way could also be useful for other reasons, like determining whether the subject might pose a threat to agents.
The new manual will also remove a limitation on the use of surveillance squads, which are trained to surreptitiously follow targets. Under current rules, the squads can be used only once during an assessment, but the new rules will allow agents to use them repeatedly. Ms. Caproni said restrictions on the duration of physical surveillance would still apply, and argued that because of limited resources, supervisors would use the squads only rarely during such a low-level investigation.
The revisions also clarify what constitutes "undisclosed participation" in an organization by an F.B.I. agent or informant, which is subject to special rules - most of which have not been made public. The new manual says an agent or an informant may surreptitiously attend up to five meetings of a group before those rules would apply - unless the goal is to join the group, in which case the rules apply immediately.
At least one change would tighten, rather than relax, the rules. Currently, a special agent in charge of a field office can delegate the authority to approve sending an informant to a religious service. The new manual will require such officials to handle those decisions personally.
In addition, the manual clarifies a description of what qualifies as a "sensitive investigative matter" - investigations, at any level, that require greater oversight from supervisors because they involve public officials, members of the news media or academic scholars.
The new rules make clear, for example, that if the person with such a role is a victim or a witness rather than a target of an investigation, extra supervision is not necessary. Also excluded from extra supervision will be investigations of low- and midlevel officials for activities unrelated to their position - like drug cases as opposed to corruption, for example.
The manual clarifies the definition of who qualifies for extra protection as a legitimate member of the news media in the Internet era: prominent bloggers would count, but not people who have low-profile blogs. And it will limit academic protections only to scholars who work for institutions based in the United States.
Since the release of the 2008 manual, the assessment category has drawn scrutiny because it sets a low bar to examine a person or a group. The F.B.I. has opened thousands of such low-level investigations each month, and a vast majority has not generated information that justified opening more intensive investigations.
Ms. Caproni said the new manual would adjust the definition of assessments to make clear that they must be based on leads. But she rejected arguments that the F.B.I. should focus only on investigations that begin with a firm reason for suspecting wrongdoing.
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6) Medicare Saves Money
By PAUL KRUGMAN
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/opinion/13krugman.html?hp
Every once in a while a politician comes up with an idea that's so bad, so wrongheaded, that you're almost grateful. For really bad ideas can help illustrate the extent to which policy discourse has gone off the rails.
And so it was with Senator Joseph Lieberman's proposal, released last week, to raise the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67.
Like Republicans who want to end Medicare as we know it and replace it with (grossly inadequate) insurance vouchers, Mr. Lieberman describes his proposal as a way to save Medicare. It wouldn't actually do that. But more to the point, our goal shouldn't be to "save Medicare," whatever that means. It should be to ensure that Americans get the health care they need, at a cost the nation can afford.
And here's what you need to know: Medicare actually saves money - a lot of money - compared with relying on private insurance companies. And this in turn means that pushing people out of Medicare, in addition to depriving many Americans of needed care, would almost surely end up increasing total health care costs.
The idea of Medicare as a money-saving program may seem hard to grasp. After all, hasn't Medicare spending risen dramatically over time? Yes, it has: adjusting for overall inflation, Medicare spending per beneficiary rose more than 400 percent from 1969 to 2009.
But inflation-adjusted premiums on private health insurance rose more than 700 percent over the same period. So while it's true that Medicare has done an inadequate job of controlling costs, the private sector has done much worse. And if we deny Medicare to 65- and 66-year-olds, we'll be forcing them to get private insurance - if they can - that will cost much more than it would have cost to provide the same coverage through Medicare.
By the way, we have direct evidence about the higher costs of private insurance via the Medicare Advantage program, which allows Medicare beneficiaries to get their coverage through the private sector. This was supposed to save money; in fact, the program costs taxpayers substantially more per beneficiary than traditional Medicare.
And then there's the international evidence. The United States has the most privatized health care system in the advanced world; it also has, by far, the most expensive care, without gaining any clear advantage in quality for all that spending. Health is one area in which the public sector consistently does a better job than the private sector at controlling costs.
Indeed, as the economist (and former Reagan adviser) Bruce Bartlett points out, high U.S. private spending on health care, compared with spending in other advanced countries, just about wipes out any benefit we might receive from our relatively low tax burden. So where's the gain from pushing seniors out of an admittedly expensive system, Medicare, into even more expensive private health insurance?
Wait, it gets worse. Not every 65- or 66-year-old denied Medicare would be able to get private coverage - in fact, many would find themselves uninsured. So what would these seniors do?
Well, as the health economists Austin Frakt and Aaron Carroll document, right now Americans in their early 60s without health insurance routinely delay needed care, only to become very expensive Medicare recipients once they reach 65. This pattern would be even stronger and more destructive if Medicare eligibility were delayed. As a result, Mr. Frakt and Mr. Carroll suggest, Medicare spending might actually go up, not down, under Mr. Lieberman's proposal.
O.K., the obvious question: If Medicare is so much better than private insurance, why didn't the Affordable Care Act simply extend Medicare to cover everyone? The answer, of course, was interest-group politics: realistically, given the insurance industry's power, Medicare for all wasn't going to pass, so advocates of universal coverage, myself included, were willing to settle for half a loaf. But the fact that it seemed politically necessary to accept a second-best solution for younger Americans is no reason to start dismantling the superior system we already have for those 65 and over.
Now, none of what I have said should be taken as a reason to be complacent about rising health care costs. Both Medicare and private insurance will be unsustainable unless there are major cost-control efforts - the kinds of efforts that are actually in the Affordable Care Act, and which Republicans demagogued with cries of "death panels."
The point, however, is that privatizing health insurance for seniors, which is what Mr. Lieberman is in effect proposing - and which is the essence of the G.O.P. plan - hurts rather than helps the cause of cost control. If we really want to hold down costs, we should be seeking to offer Medicare-type programs to as many Americans as possible.
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7) In Nuclear Crisis, Crippling Mistrust
By NORIMITSU ONISHI and MARTIN FACKLER
June 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/world/asia/13japan.html?ref=world
TOKYO - On the evening of March 12, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's oldest reactor had suffered a hydrogen explosion and risked a complete meltdown. Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked aides to weigh the risks of injecting seawater into the reactor to cool it down.
At this crucial moment, it became clear that a prime minister who had built his career on suspicion of the collusive ties between Japan's industry and bureaucracy was acting nearly in the dark. He had received a confusing risk analysis from the chief nuclear regulator, a fervently pro-nuclear academic whom aides said Mr. Kan did not trust. He was also wary of the company that operated the plant, given its history of trying to cover up troubles.
Mr. Kan did not know that the plant manager had already begun using seawater. Based on a guess of the mood at the prime minister's office, the company ordered the plant manager to stop.
But the manager did something unthinkable in corporate Japan: he disobeyed the order and secretly continued using seawater, a decision that experts say almost certainly prevented a more serious meltdown and has made him an unlikely hero.
The convoluted drama has exposed the underlying rifts behind Japan's handling of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, which eventually resulted in explosions at four of the plant's six reactors. Mutually suspicious relations between the prime minister's aides, government bureaucrats and company officials obstructed smooth decision-making.
At the drama's heart was an outsider prime minister who saw the need for quick action but whose well-founded mistrust of a system of alliances between powerful plant operators, compliant bureaucrats and sympathetic politicians deprived him of resources he could have used to make better-informed decisions.
A onetime grass-roots activist, Mr. Kan struggled to manage the nuclear crisis because he felt he could not rely on the very mechanisms established by his predecessors to respond to such a crisis.
Instead, he turned at the beginning only to a handful of close, overwhelmed advisers who knew little about nuclear plants and who barely exchanged information with the plant's operator and nuclear regulators. Struggling to manage a humanitarian disaster caused by the tsunami, Mr. Kan improvised his government's response to the worsening nuclear crisis, seeming to vacillate between personally intervening at the plant and leaving it to the operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as Tepco.
"There were delays. First of all, we weren't getting accurate information from Tepco," said Kenichi Matsumoto, an adviser to Mr. Kan. But Mr. Matsumoto added that the prime minister's distrust of Tepco and bureaucrats "interfered" with the overall response.
The early disarray alarmed the United States government enough that it increasingly urged the Japanese to take more decisive action, and to be more forthcoming in sharing information. Making matters worse was Mr. Kan's initial reluctance to accept the help of the United States, which offered pump trucks, unmanned drones and the advice of American nuclear crisis experts.
"We found ourselves in a downward spiral, which hurt relations with the United States," said Manabu Terada, a lawmaker who served as an aide to Mr. Kan at that time. "We lost credibility with America, and Tepco lost credibility with us."
Lack of Experience
Even some supporters say that Mr. Kan could have moved faster and more decisively if he had used Japan's existing crisis management system.
The system was created in 1986 and subsequently strengthened by Japanese leaders who had sought more power for the prime minister. Modeled on crisis management in the White House - even down to the Situation Room under the prime minister's office - the system brought together bureaucrats from various ministries under the direct command of the prime minister, said Atsuyuki Sassa, the head of the Cabinet Security Affairs Office in the late 1980s.
Critics and supporters alike said Mr. Kan's decision to bypass this system, choosing instead to rely on a small circle of trusted advisers with little experience in handling a crisis of this scale, blocked him from grasping the severity of the disaster sooner. Sometimes those advisers did not even know all the resources available to them.
This includes the existence of a nationwide system of radiation detectors known as the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, or Speedi. Mr. Terada and other advisers said they did not learn of the system's existence until March 16, five days into the crisis.
If they had known earlier, they would have seen Speedi's early projections that radiation from the Fukushima plant would be blown northwest, said one critic, Hiroshi Kawauchi, a lawmaker in Mr. Kan's own party. Mr. Kawauchi said that many of the residents around the plant who evacuated went north, on the assumption that winds blew south during winter in that area. That took them directly into the radioactive plume, he said - exposing them to the very radiation that they were fleeing.
Mr. Kawauchi said that when he asked officials at the Ministry of Education, which administers Speedi, why they did not make the information available to the prime minister in those first crucial days, they replied that the prime minister's office had not asked them for it.
"It's more of an emotional thing," Mr. Matsumoto said of Mr. Kan. "He never trusts bureaucrats."
That is a legacy from Mr. Kan's stint as health minister in the mid-1990s, when he became wildly popular after exposing his own ministry's use of blood tainted with H.I.V., which led to hundreds of hemophiliacs dying of AIDS. Mr. Kan found that bureaucrats and pharmaceutical company officials had long known of the tainted blood.
To Mr. Kan, the nuclear establishment - with politically connected utilities abetted by bureaucrats in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and compliant academics - represented the worst example of this kind of collusion, Mr. Matsumoto said.
Ignoring Orders
The seawater example is telling.
In testimony in Parliament in late May, Mr. Kan said that he asked advisers to weigh the risks that the seawater injection could cause "recriticality," a phenomenon in which nuclear fission resumes in melted nuclear fuel lying on the floor of a storage pool or reactor core. Mr. Kan's aides said they grew worried after Haruki Madarame, the chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission, a nuclear regulator in the prime minister's office, warned that the chances of this happening were "not zero."
On March 12, about 28 hours after the tsunami struck, Tepco executives had ordered workers to start injecting seawater into Reactor No. 1. But 21 minutes later, they ordered the plant's manager, Masao Yoshida, to suspend the operation. They were relying on an account by the Tepco liaison to the prime minister, who reported back that he seemed to be against it.
"Well, he said that was the atmosphere or the mood," Sakae Muto, Tepco's executive vice president, explained at a news conference.
Mr. Sassa, the former head of the Cabinet Security Affairs Office, said: "Mood? Is this a joke? Making decisions based on mood?" But Mr. Yoshida chose to ignore the order. The injections were the only way left to cool the reactor, and halting them would mean possibly causing an even more severe meltdown and release of radiation, experts said.
Mr. Yoshida had the authority as the plant manager to make the decision, said Junichi Matsumoto, a senior official at Tepco. And indeed, guidelines from the International Atomic Energy Agency specify that technical decisions should be left to plant managers because a timely response is critical, said Sung Key-yong, a nuclear accident expert who participated in the agency's recent fact-finding mission to Japan.
After revealing in May that he had ignored the order, Mr. Yoshida explained himself to a television reporter by saying that "suspending the seawater could have meant death" for those at the plant.
Mr. Yoshida, 56, according to friends, is a square-jawed, hard-drinking and sometimes rough-talking man who is a straight shooter. A practitioner of kendo in his youth, he also quotes from Raymond Chandler and enjoys cooking Italian food.
"In class, if a teacher didn't explain something properly, he'd push for an explanation that satisfied him," said Masanori Baba, a childhood friend.
His candor impressed Mr. Kan, who met him the day after the tsunami when he took a trip on a military helicopter to the plant. They shared a willingness to buck the system, as Mr. Kan had when he uncovered the tainted blood scandal. And, in a country where alumni ties are extremely important, they found they had attended the same college, the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
"One or two days later, Mr. Kan said Mr. Yoshida was the only one he could trust inside Tepco," Mr. Matsumoto, the adviser to Mr. Kan, said.
Last week, Tepco gave Mr. Yoshida its lightest punishment of a verbal reprimand for defying the order.
Distrust and Distraction
Mr. Kan's critics and supporters alike say his suspicions of Tepco were well-founded. In the early days after the March 11 disaster, Tepco shared only limited information with the prime minister's office, trying instead to play down the risks at the plant, they said.
Tepco declined to make senior executives available for this article. Mr. Matsumoto, the Tepco senior official, said at a news conference that the company had provided information as best as it could. He declined to comment on Mr. Kan's reported lack of trust of Tepco.
Yet the Kan government essentially left the handling of the nuclear crisis in the crucial first three days to Tepco, focusing instead on relief efforts for the hundreds of thousands left homeless, Mr. Terada and other aides said. Then on March 14, the gravity of the plant's situation was revealed by a second explosion, this time at Reactor No. 3, and a startling request that night from Tepco's president, Masataka Shimizu: that Tepco be allowed to withdraw its employees from the plant because it had become too dangerous to remain.
When he heard this, Mr. Kan flew into a rage, said aides and advisers who were present. Abandoning the plant would mean losing control of the four stricken reactors; the next day, explosions occurred at the two remaining active reactors, No. 2 and No. 4.
"This is not a joke," the prime minister yelled, according to the aides.
They said Mr. Kan convened an emergency meeting early on March 15, asking advisers what more could be done to save the reactors. Then he gave Tepco barely two hours' warning that he planned to visit the company.
At 5:30 a.m., Mr. Kan marched into Tepco headquarters and stationed one of his most trusted aides, Goshi Hosono, there to keep tabs on the company.
Mr. Kan gave a five-minute impromptu pep talk, said his aide, Mr. Terada.
"Withdrawing from the plant is out of the question," Mr. Kan told them.
Advisers said the placement of Mr. Hosono in Tepco was a turning point, helping the prime minister to take direct control of damage-control efforts at the plant. "For the first time, we knew what Tepco was debating, and what they knew," said one adviser, who asked not to be identified.
However, even Mr. Kan's supporters acknowledge that the move came too late.
"We should have moved faster," said Masanori Aritomi, a nuclear engineer at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and an adviser to Mr. Kan. Mr. Aritomi said that even with Mr. Hosono stationed inside Tepco, the company still did not disclose crucial information until mid-May, including final confirmation that three of the plant's four active reactors had melted down.
Strains With an Ally
The poor flow of information and ad hoc decision-making also strained Japan's relationship with the United States, which has about 50,000 military personnel stationed in Japan.
While Japan was quick to accept the American military's offers to help victims of the tsunami, the perception in Washington in the early days, that it was being rebuffed and misled in the unfolding nuclear disaster, had created "a crisis in the United States-Japan alliance," said Akihisa Nagashima, a former vice minister of defense.
Within 48 hours of the earthquake, officials from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission arrived in Tokyo, but they were unable to get information or even arrange meetings with Japanese counterparts. Meanwhile, Washington became convinced that Tokyo was understating the damage at the plant, based on readings that the Americans were getting around the plant from aircraft and satellites normally used to monitor North Korean nuclear tests, said one American official, who asked not to be named.
According to this official, the Obama administration made a decision "to lean on the Kan government" to share more information. On March 16, American officials, including the ambassador to Japan, John V. Roos, informed their Japanese counterparts that the United States would advise its citizens to evacuate an area 50 miles around the plant - much larger than the 18-mile voluntary evacuation zone then established by Japan.
The Americans also began voluntary evacuations of nonessential personnel at their bases, and hinted at more drastic steps, even pulling out some essential military personnel, if Tokyo did not share more information, said this American official and Japanese officials, including Mr. Terada.
To show Washington and an increasingly anxious Japanese public that utmost efforts were being made, Mr. Kan deployed military helicopters to drop water into the reactors, Mr. Terada and other Japanese advisers said, adding they knew this would have only a limited effect on cooling them. On March 17, on live television, the helicopters dropped water from the air, though strong winds clearly blew much of the water off course.
Still, Mr. Terada said that Mr. Kan personally called President Obama to tell him the operation was a success. Later that day in Washington, Mr. Obama paid a visit to the Japanese Embassy to sign a book of condolences - a gesture seen in the prime minister's office as a nod of approval by the American president.
Mr. Nagashima said the American demands to be better informed ultimately improved Japan's own response. On March 20, he brought a proposal to Mr. Kan for a daily meeting between American and Japanese officials to coordinate information and discuss responses to the nuclear accident.
The first such meeting was held a day later at the prime minister's office. Mr. Nagashima said the meetings lasted an hour and a half, and usually involved about 50 people, including officials from the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the United States Embassy and the military, as well as a far larger Japanese group made of political leaders, people from five ministries, from nuclear agencies and from Tepco. The meeting was led by Mr. Hosono, who by then had become the prime minister's point man on the nuclear response.
Mr. Nagashima said that even more important was what happened before the Americans arrived: the Japanese met an hour beforehand to discuss developments and to work out what they were going to tell the Americans. Mr. Nagashima said the meeting brought together the various ministries and Tepco, with politicians setting the agenda, for the first time since the crisis began.
"The Japanese side needed to gather everybody in the same room," Mr. Nagashima said. "U.S. irritation became a chance for Japan to improve its disaster management."
Kantaro Suzuki contributed reporting.
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8) Workers at Four Macy's Stores OK Right to Strike
[Does anyone remember this:
"I'll never go to Macy's any more, more, more
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door
He will grab you by the collar
And he'll make you pay a dollar
So I'll never go to Macy's any more, more, more."
I was told it became popular during a strike at Macy's during the '30s. In order to keep the riff-raff (i.e., union supporters} out of the store (since many union supporters went into the store and made a scene in in support of the union), Macy's decided to post cops at the door and charge $1.00 to get in to shop, thereby, allowing only the most wealthy customers into the store. ...bw]
By REUTERS
June 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/06/13/business/business-us-macys.html?src=busln
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Workers at four Macy's Inc stores in the New York City area, including the flagship Manhattan location, voted on Monday to be able to call a strike if agreement on a new contract is not reached by late Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is representing the 4,000 Macy's workers, mostly sales staff, said the issues in dispute include pension benefits and health insurance costs.
The current contract, signed in 2006, expires at midnight June 15, and negotiations for a new pact began in April, the union spokesman, Dan Morris, told Reuters. Union members say Macy's should offer better terms, given its strong performance of late, he said.
A Macy's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. Macy's took an ad in Sunday's New York Times looking for temporary sales staff "in anticipation of a possible labor dispute."
The stores involved in the dispute include the flagship store in Manhattan as well as locations in the Bronx, Queens and suburban Westchester County.
Earlier this month, Macy's reported another month of better-than-expected sales gains.
(Reporting by Phil Wahba; editing by John Wallace)
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9) Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say
U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq's reconstruction after the start of the war.
By Paul Richter, Reporting from Washington, Los Angeles Times
June 13, 2011
latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missing-billions-20110613,0,4414060.story
latimes.com
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash - enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things.
For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be "the largest theft of funds in national history."
The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington's relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program.
It's fair to say that Congress, which has already shelled out $61 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for similar reconstruction and development projects in Iraq, is none too thrilled either.
"Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money to make up for billions of their money that we can't account for, and can't seem to find," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), who presided over hearings on waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq six years ago when he headed the House Government Reform Committee.
Theft of such a staggering sum might seem unlikely, but U.S. officials aren't ruling it out. Some U.S. contractors were accused of siphoning off tens of millions in kickbacks and graft during the post-invasion period, especially in its chaotic early days. But Iraqi officials were viewed as prime offenders.
The U.S. cash airlift was a desperation measure, organized when the Bush administration was eager to restore government services and a shattered economy to give Iraqis confidence that the new order would be a drastic improvement on Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
The White House decided to use the money in the so-called Development Fund for Iraq, which was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to hold money amassed during the years when Hussein's regime was under crippling economic and trade sanctions.
The cash was carried by tractor-trailer trucks from the fortress-like Federal Reserve currency repository in East Rutherford, N.J., to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, then flown to Baghdad. U.S. officials there stored the hoard in a basement vault at one of Hussein's former palaces, and at U.S. military bases, and eventually distributed the money to Iraqi ministries and contractors.
But U.S. officials often didn't have time or staff to keep strict financial controls. Millions of dollars were stuffed in gunnysacks and hauled on pickups to Iraqi agencies or contractors, officials have testified.
House Government Reform Committee investigators charged in 2005 that U.S. officials "used virtually no financial controls to account for these enormous cash withdrawals once they arrived in Iraq, and there is evidence of substantial waste, fraud and abuse in the actual spending and disbursement of the Iraqi funds."
Pentagon officials have contended for the last six years that they could account for the money if given enough time to track down the records. But repeated attempts to find the documentation, or better yet the cash, were fruitless.
Iraqi officials argue that the U.S. government was supposed to safeguard the stash under a 2004 legal agreement it signed with Iraq. That makes Washington responsible, they say.
Abdul Basit Turki Saeed, Iraq's chief auditor and president of the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, has warned U.S. officials that his government will go to court if necessary to recoup the missing money.
"Clearly Iraq has an interest in looking after its assets and protecting them," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.
paul.richter@latimes.com
Copyright (c) 2011, Los Angeles Times
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10) California Wants Justice for Oscar Grant
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
www.ellabakercenter.org | 510.428.3939
1970 Broadway, Suite 450 | Oakland, CA | 94612
https://secure3.convio.net/ebc/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=183&utm_campaign=ebc_justice_for_grant&utm_source=email-action&utm_medium=email&s_src=ebc_justice_for_grant&s_subsrc=email-action&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=rt0b7la2v2.app332b
Early yesterday morning, Johannes Mehserle was released from prison after serving just 11 months for killing Oscar Grant. Now, we must escalate our demands for justice via federal intervention in this case.
Almost a full year has passed since the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it would launch an independent review into the death of Oscar Grant. They also committed to review Mehserle's trial, verdict and sentence.
Now, Mehserle has been released, yet the DOJ still hasn't announced their findings. There is video footage and many witnesses to the murder. However, the other BART officers, Tony Pirone and Jon Woffinden, served zero jail time for their involvement in Grant's murder. And there have been no State or Federal efforts to ensure accountability in the BART Police system.
We know the DOJ responds to pressure from Capitol Hill. So we're asking Senators Boxer and Feinstein, California's representation in Washington, to advocate on our behalf. Please call on them to pressure the DOJ to action.
The community is waiting for action from the Federal Government to prosecute the officers involved in Oscar Grant's death and to ensure greater accountability from BART Police in the future. We won't stop putting pressure on the DOJ until they have helped secure justice for Oscar Grant and his family. Justice for Oscar, Justice for Oakland!
Forward ever,
Jakada Imani
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
The Petition:
California Wants Justice for Oscar Grant
On July 8th, 2010 the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it would launch an investigation into the death of Oscar Grant, the unarmed, young Black man shot on New Year's Day 2009. The DOJ also committed to review the trial of Johannes Mehserle, the former BART Police Officer who killed him.
It's been nearly 12 months but the DOJ still hasn't released their findings or given any updates.
It's time to turn up the heat to show that we want justice for Oscar Grant.
There is ample footage and many witnesses to the murder. Mehserle served merely 11 months of his 2-year sentence. The other BART Officers on the platform, Tony Pirone and Jon Woffinden, were never prosecuted for their involvement in Grant's murder. And there still isn't the accountability and oversight at BART to ensure that violence like this doesn't happen again. It's time the DOJ steps up and does its job.
Call on California Senators Boxer and Feinstein to help push the investigation forward.
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11) Activists cry foul over FBI probe
By Peter Wallsten, Published: June 13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/activists-cry-foul-over-fbi-probe/2011/06/09/AGPRskTH_print.html
CHICAGO - FBI agents took box after box of address books, family calendars, artwork and personal letters in their 10-hour raid in September of the century-old house shared by Stephanie Weiner and her husband.
The agents seemed keenly interested in Weiner's home-based business, the Revolutionary Lemonade Stand, which sells silkscreened infant bodysuits and other clothes with socialist slogans, phrases like "Help Wanted: Revolutionaries."
The search was part of a mysterious, ongoing nationwide terrorism investigation with an unusual target: prominent peace activists and politically active labor organizers.
The probe - involving subpoenas to 23 people and raids of seven homes last fall - has triggered a high-powered protest against the Department of Justice and, in the process, could create some political discomfort for President Obama with his union supporters as he gears up for his reelection campaign.
The apparent targets are concentrated in the Midwest, including Chicagoans who crossed paths with Obama when he was a young state senator and some who have been active in labor unions that supported his political rise.
Investigators, according to search warrants, documents and interviews, are examining possible "material support" for Colombian and Palestinian groups designated by the U.S. government as terrorists.
The apparent targets, all vocal and visible critics of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South America, deny any ties to terrorism. They say the government, using its post-9/11 focus on terrorism as a pretext, is targeting them for their political views.
They are "public non-violent activists with long, distinguished careers in public service, including teachers, union organizers and antiwar and community leaders," said Michael Deutsch, a Chicago lawyer and part of a legal team defending those who believe they are being targeted by the investigation.
Several activists and their lawyers said they believe indictments could come anytime, so they have turned their organizing skills toward a counteroffensive, decrying the inquiry as a threat to their First Amendment rights.
Those who have been subpoenaed, most of them non-Muslim, include clerical workers, educators and in one case a stay-at-home dad. Some are lesbian couples with young children - a point apparently noted by investigators, who infiltrated the activists' circle with an undercover officer presenting herself as a lesbian mother.
All 23 of the activists invoked their right not to testify before a grand jury, defying U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office is spearheading the investigation.
A spokesman for Fitzgerald, the Chicago prosecutor whose past work has sometimes riled both political parties, declined to comment.
It is uncertain whether Obama is aware of the investigation. A White House official referred questions to the Justice Department, where spokesman Matthew Miller said the agency will not comment on an investigation, but he disputed any assertion that people would be targeted for political activities.
"Whenever we open an investigation, it is solely because we have a reason to do so based on the facts, evidence and the law,"Miller said.
The activists have formed the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, organized phone banks to flood Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s office and the White House with protest calls, solicited letters from labor unions and faith-based groups and sent delegations to Capitol Hill to gin up support from lawmakers.
Labor backers include local and statewide affiliates representing the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, two of the most influential unions in the liberal movement. So far, nine members of Congress have written letters to the administration asking questions.
The major national labor organizations have not gotten involved in the case and are considered likely to support Obama's reelection next year.
But some state and local union organizations are expressing alarm about the case, saying that the government appears to be scrutinizing efforts by workers to build ties with trade unionists in other countries.
"I am so disgusted when I see that so many union people have been targeted in this," said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, which represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, including four members who are possible targets.
The union's statewide group, which says it represents 46,000 workers, called on Obama to investigate and passed a resolution expressing "grave concern" about the raids. Similar resolutions have been approved by statewide AFSCME and SEIU affiliates in Illinois.
If there are indictments, the case could test a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that found the ban on material support for designated foreign terrorist groups does not necessarily violate the First Amendment - even if the aid was intended for peaceful or humanitarian uses. The ruling held that any type of support could ultimately help a terrorist group's pursuit of violence.
The probe appears to date from 2008, as a number of activists began planning for massive antiwar demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
After the convention, the FBI's interest continued, apparently focused on the international work pursued by many of the participants. Several activists said they had traveled to Colombia or the Palestinian territories on "fact-finding" trips designed to bolster their case back home against U.S. military support for the Israeli and Colombian governments.
In 2009, a group raised money to travel and deliver about $1,000 to a Palestinian women's group, but the delegation was turned back by officials at the airport in Israel, organizers said.
Search warrants, subpoenas and documents show that the FBI has been interested in links between the activists and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah.
In the early morning of Sept. 24, 2010, agents raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, issued subpoenas to 14 activists, and tried to question others around the country, including prominent antiwar organizers in North Carolina and California.
At 7 a.m., according to documents and interviews, about a dozen armed federal agents used a battering ram to force their way into Mick Kelly's second-floor apartment, which sits over an all-night coffee shop in a working-class neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Kelly, 53, a cook in a University of Minnesota dormitory and a member of the Teamsters, said he was at work and his nightgown-clad wife, Linden Gawboy, was slow to answer the door.
Apparently by accident, the agents left something behind: a packet of secret documents headlined "Operation Order," laying out detailed instructions for the FBI SWAT team to find clues of Kelly's activism, including personal finances or those of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a far-left group he works with. The documents point to the FBI's interest in Kelly's foreign travel.
"We've done absolutely nothing wrong," Kelly said. "We don't know what this is about, but we know that our rights to organize and speak out are being violated."
In Chicago, the raid at the home of Weiner, 49, also targeted her husband, Joe Iosbaker, 52, a University of Illinois-Chicago office worker and a union steward for his SEIU local. The couple are among the grassroots activists close to the world once inhabited by Barack Obama who have been caught up in the investigation.
Like others, Weiner and Iosbacker have been fixtures on the local liberal political scene, protesting police actions, attending antiwar rallies, leading pay equity fights and even doing some volunteer work for Obama's past campaigns.
Tom Burke, who received a subpoena Sept. 24, had in 2004 discussed the plight of murdered Colombian trade unionists with then-state senator Obama.
"He was a sympathetic ear," Burke said, recalling that Obama told him the murders were a "human rights problem."
Hatem Abudayyeh, one of seven Palestinians to be subpoenaed in the investigation, recalls encountering Obama in the community during his years as a state legislator. Abudayyeh, 40, is executive director of the Arab American Action Network, a Chicago advocacy group that hosted then-state senator Obama for at least two events.
The role of the undercover officer, which defense lawyers said was confirmed in their talks with prosecutors, became clear in the weeks following the raids. She had joined a Minneapolis antiwar group, then joined demonstrations at the School of the Americas military training site in Fort Benning, Georgia, and at one point flying with a group to Israel on the trip that was thwarted at the airport.
"They were smart sending a 40-year-old lesbian," said Meredith Aby, 38, a high school civics teacher and longtime organizer. "A good match," added Jess Sundin, a university clerical worker.
Aby and Sundin, whose homes were raided and who received subpoenas, had helped lead a group called the Anti-War Committee that had coordinated with antiwar activists across the country to plan the demonstrations at the Republican convention.
Civil libertarians and other critics say the investigation fits a pattern for the FBI, pointing to a Justice Department inspector general's report - issued three days before the raids - chiding the agency for monitoring the domestic political activities of Greenpeace, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups in the name of combating terrorism.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee and a close Obama ally, wrote Holder in April conveying the activists' concerns that the probe was infringing on their rights.
"Clearly we need to have a bright line where people can exercise their civil rights, their civil liberties, to peacefully protest," Schakowsky said in an interview.
Holder experienced the activists' anger first hand last month, when Tracy Molm, 30, an AFSCME organizer whose apartment was raided, stood to interrupt a speech he was giving at the University of Minnesota. Holder, unaware that she was a possible investigation target, agreed to meet with her after the speech.
In a small room off the auditorium, with the attorney general flanked by aides and security, Molm demanded to know why the administration was pursuing the inquiry, she recalled later in an interview.
"He said they had a predicate for the investigation," Molm said. "I said, 'The predicates after 9/11 are nothing.'"
"We're going to have to agree to disagree," Holder replied, according to Molm.
At that point, Molm revealed that her apartment had been raided as part of the investigation. Holder and Justice Department officials abruptly ended the discussion.
(c) The Washington Post Company
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12) Japan: Six More Nuclear Plant Workers May Have Exceeded Radiation Limits
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/world/asia/14briefs-Japan.html?_r=1&ref=world
Six more workers at the tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant have exceeded the radiation exposure limit, according to the preliminary results of tests announced by the Health and Labor Ministry on Monday. The new cases bring the total to eight. Three of the men were control room operators at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and five worked to restore power that was knocked out by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, said none of them were showing immediate health problems but they would require long-term monitoring as they had an increased risk of cancer. All eight have been transferred to desk jobs.
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13) Poland and U.S. Sign Agreement to Station Air Force Personnel in Poland
By REUTERS
June 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/world/europe/14briefs-Poland.html?ref=world
Poland and the United States signed a deal on Monday to allow the United States Air Force to station personnel in Poland. The agreement, endorsed by President Obama during his visit to Warsaw late last month, provides for a small air detachment to be in place by 2013 to train Polish pilots in use of F-16 warplanes and C-130 transport planes.
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14) Greeks Walk Off the Job in Austerity Protest
By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS
June 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/world/europe/16greece.html?hp
ATHENS - Thousands of Greeks joined a nationwide strike on Wednesday against sharp cuts to government spending as Parliament debated another round of painful austerity measures intended to secure more international aid and avert a financial crisis.
The police fired tear gas and scuffled with protesters in the central Syntagma Square in Athens, and some in the crowd tried to prevent legislators from entering Parliament. Police officials said they had detained 10 people.
A year after Greece received its first international bailout, the Socialist prime minister, George Papandreou, is facing his greatest challenge yet as he tries to balance the demands of the International Monetary Fund and the markets with those of his electorate.
Schools, tax offices and other public services were closed, and hospitals operated at sharply reduced staffing levels. But air traffic controllers did not join the general strike and flights were little affected.
The government's credibility is at a low among Greeks, who feel they are unfairly footing the bill for their government's mistakes. Opinion polls show the Socialists slipping behind the center-right opposition for the first time since the current government was elected in 2009.
"We had the first set of measures, that's over, now they want a second," said Angeliki Kolandretsou, 63, a retired private nurse, as she stood in the protest holding a large Greek flag. "But what will we see from this? Nothing at all. It will just go to the banks."
"Last year we said, 'O.K., they'll cut our salaries, they'll cut our pensions, let's see what happens,' " she added. "But absolutely nothing has been achieved and now we're back to square one."
A mother of two, Ms. Kolandretsou said that her monthly pension had been cut to 640 euros a month from 700, or to about $915 from $1,000, and that her 42-year-old son, unemployed for five years, had moved back home to live with her. "I never used to come to demonstrations," she said, with tears in her eyes. "But I'm worried about my children and my grandchildren."
The new austerity measures aim to raise about $9.1 billion this year through additional tax increases and cuts to public sector spending. They include a "solidarity tax," ranging from 1 to 4 percent according to income, and an additional 3 percent tax on the incomes of civil servants - whose salaries have already been cut by up to 20 percent over the past year.
The government is expected to vote on the new measures later this month.
An emergency tax will also be imposed on owners of large properties, yachts and swimming pools. The new austerity drive also aims to slash the Greek civil service, which employs about 700,000 people, by a quarter over the next few years.
Mr. Papandreou, who has a five-seat majority in Parliament, is expected to face an uphill battle to get his government fully behind the measures amid growing rifts within his party. The center-right opposition is opposed to his austerity measures.
Critics accuse the government of saddling Greeks with deeply unpopular wage and pension cuts while failing to adequately address rampant tax evasion or take on the powerful labor unions that remain a pillar of the Socialist Party's power base.
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15) C.I.A. Building Base for Strikes in Yemen
By MARK MAZZETTI
June 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/world/middleeast/15yemen.html?ref=world
WASHINGTON - The Central Intelligence Agency is building a secret air base in the Middle East to serve as a launching pad for strikes in Yemen using armed drones, an American official said Tuesday.
The construction of the base is a sign that the Obama administration is planning an extended war in Yemen against an affiliate of Al Qaeda that has repeatedly tried to carry out terrorist plots against the United States.
The clandestine American operations in Yemen are currently being run by the military's Joint Special Operations Command, with the C.I.A.'s assistance and with the approval of Yemen's fragile authoritarian government.
But with Yemen's embattled government on the brink of collapse, Obama administration officials are concerned that a future government might not support American operations. By putting the operations under C.I.A. control, they could be carried out as a "covert action," which can be undertaken without the support of the host government.
The construction of the base, first reported by The Associated Press, is further evidence that the administration sees armed drones as the weapon of choice to hunt and kill militants in countries where a large American military presence is untenable. Since he took office, President Obama has drastically escalated the C.I.A.'s bombing campaign in Pakistan using armed drones, and the spy agency has carried out more than 25 strikes there this year.
The American official would not disclose the country where the C.I.A. base was being built, but the official said that it would most likely be completed by the end of the year. Discussions about the C.I.A.'s taking over operations in Yemen began last year, the official said, before the political uprising and violence that broke out in the country in recent months.
Last month, the military renewed its campaign of airstrikes in Yemen, using drone aircraft and fighter jets to attack Qaeda militants. One of the attacks was aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who is one of the most prominent members of the Qaeda affiliate group, which is called Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
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16) U.N. Charts High Jobless Rate in Gaza, Despite Israel's Easing of Blockade
By ETHAN BRONNER
June 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/world/middleeast/15gaza.html?ref=world
JERUSALEM - A report issued Tuesday shows unemployment in Gaza standing at 45.2 percent for the second half of 2010, one of the highest rates in the world, even though Israel eased its blockade of the Palestinian coastal strip in that period.
The report, by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which aids registered Palestinian refugees and their descendants, shows the jobless rate up over the first half of the year, with a loss of some 8,000 jobs.
But it also compared the second half of 2010 with the same period in 2009, a common approach for economies where many jobs are seasonal. That number shows that unemployment fell 1.09 percent, a figure more in keeping with other international analyses of the Gazan economy.
One of the goals of Israel's economic embargo on Gaza, which began four years ago, was to weaken Hamas and its grip on Gaza. But most of the new jobs last year were accounted for by the public sector, meaning the Hamas government; there was only a slight increase in private commerce.
Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations agency, said, "The hope was for a growth in the private sector, but exports are at a standstill."
"Hamas has been able to increase public employment by at least one-fifth," Mr. Gunness said. "The policy of weakening Hamas seems to have failed, but the policy has been highly successful at punishing the people of Gaza."
He said that the number of Gazans coming to the agency because of special hardship, defined as earnings of $1.60 a day or less, had increased to 300,000 from 100,000 in the past four years. "The very poorest of the poor are the hardest hit," Mr. Gunness said.
The biggest source of regular income in Gaza is the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank and dominated by Fatah, the movement that is rival to Hamas. The Authority pays some 65,000 people not to work to protest Hamas's violent ouster of Fatah from Gaza in 2007, after Hamas won parliamentary elections the year before.
Hamas is the next largest source of jobs, and it is growing the fastest, with some 25,000 people on its payroll.
Recent reports by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have generally shown Gaza's economy to be growing. The data put out by the United Nations agency show 2008 to have had higher unemployment than the full year of 2010 - 44.9 percent versus 43.6 percent.
Israeli officials said that the report seemed intended to paint as bleak a picture as possible. They also criticized the use of the so-called broad employment figures, which include the underemployed and those who have stopped looking for work - over the more commonly used number of those recently looking for work. The narrower number for Gaza unemployment in 2010, according to the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics, is 37.8 percent.
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17) Wisconsin Court Reinstates Law on Union Rights
By MONICA DAVEY
June 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/us/politics/15wisconsin.html?ref=us
The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for significant cuts to collective bargaining rights for public workers in the state, undoing a lower court's decision that Wisconsin's controversial law had been passed improperly.
The Supreme Court's ruling, issued at the close of the business day, spared lawmakers in the Republican-dominated Capitol from having to do what some of them strongly hoped to avoid: calling for a new vote on the polarizing collective bargaining measure, which had drawn tens of thousands of protesters to Madison this year and led Democratic lawmakers to flee the city in an effort to block the bill.
Republican leaders had warned on Monday that if the Supreme Court did not rule by Tuesday, they would feel compelled to attach the same measure to the state's budget bill, which is expected to be approved this week.
Four months after the fight began, the decision ended, at least for now, lingering questions about when and whether the cuts would take effect, but it also underscored the state's partisan divide, which seems to grow wider by the day. The ruling was 4 to 3, split along what many viewed as the court's predictable conservative-liberal line. One of the dissenting justices even raised the specter of a "partisan slant" by the other side.
The majority of the justices concluded that a lower court was wrong when it found that the Legislature had forced through the cuts in collective bargaining without giving sufficient notice - 24 hours - under the state's open-meetings requirements. The measure passed in early March, three weeks after the State Senate's Democrats fled to Illinois to block the vote from occurring.
In its written decision, the court cited the importance of the separation of powers, and said the Legislature had not violated the state's Constitution when it relied on its "interpretation of its own rules of proceeding" and gave slightly less than two hours' notice before meeting and voting. In the end, the provision passed without the attendance of any of the Senate's 14 Democrats.
Justice David T. Prosser, whose re-election bid was threatened this year because he was seen as a conservative who would cast the deciding vote on the collective bargaining measure if it came before the court, voted to overturn the lower court ruling. He issued his own opinion concurring with the majority.
Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, who is viewed by many as leading the court's liberal wing, wrote a scathing opinion that accused the majority of a "hasty judgment."
"It is long on rhetoric and long on story-telling that appears to have a partisan slant," Chief Justice Abrahamson wrote of Justice Prosser's opinion, later adding, "This kind of order seems to open the court unnecessarily to the charge that the majority has reached a pre-determined conclusion not based on the facts and the law, which undermines the majority's ultimate decision."
Republicans, who won control of both legislative chambers and the governor's office in last November's elections, praised the ruling, and said they could now move forward with what some of them describe as a fiscally wise budget.
"The Supreme Court's ruling provides our state the opportunity to move forward together and focus on getting Wisconsin working again," Gov. Scott Walker said.
Scott and Jeff Fitzgerald - brothers and Republican leaders in the Legislature - issued a statement describing the ruling as unsurprising. "We followed the law when the bill was passed, simple as that," they said.
Democrats said the court's decision was unsurprising given a battle that has turned so fierce. Protesters, again, were mounting at the Capitol. Democratic leaders said they planned to remind voters of the collective bargaining bill in the weeks before Senate recall elections that grew out of the fight.
"I guarantee you, some Republicans are breathing a sigh of relief about not having to take this up again," said Senator Christopher Larson, a Democrat. "On the other hand, these justices just sent a reminder to voters of what has happened here."
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18) Oakland Whistle Blower OFD Paramedic Sean Gillis Needs Your Help Now
Help Him Expose the Mistreatment of Oscar Grant and the Cover Up
For docs related to Sean's fight go to JusticeForSeanAtOaklandFire at www.groups.google.com
You can contact those that are helping Sean at justiceforseanatoaklandfire@gmail.com .
Sean Gillis (SG) is a paramedic's teacher for the Oakland Fire Department (OFD). SG ran the Merritt College EMT training program until he was forced to quit Merritt.
SG and the OFD Medical Director blew the whistle on the OFD for misconduct committed by Fire personnel treating Oscar Grant on the BART platform on January 1st, 2009. Grant was only bandaged on one side of his body even though he had wounds on both his front and back.
To cover up the mistreatment, the file for Oscar Grant was destroyed and the computer archive of his Patient Care Report deleted.
The Medical Director ordered a review. Even though the Medical Director is technically the highest medical authority at OFD, his order was ignored. OFD stopped the Medical Director's paychecks, and he worked for six (6) months without pay. When he finally left, the Medical Director turned to SG and said, "You're next."
The Medical Director was right. OFD targeted SG for harassment, forced him to quit Merritt College, took away his office, work vehicle and mailbox, wrote a letter of resignation for SG to sign and tried to force him to sign it without reading it, eliminated SG's lunch break, began monthly performance reviews, suspended him, and, now, seeks a special review for the purpose of terminating him.
SG is defending himself before the State Personnel Board. OFD is refusing to provide SG documents he needs to defend himself.
SG made a public records request for the Grant file and staff meeting audio tapes with racist comments from the boss and inappropriate statements about Oscar Grant. The Fire Department refuses to confirm or deny the destruction of the Grant file and falsely claims the recordings don't exist while top brass review (and destroy?) the tapes.
Support from the Oscar Grant Community is urgently needed. So far, OFD has been able to suppress the story of what happened to Oscar Grant after he was shot, what OFD failed to do, and what OFD has done to people that stood up for Oscar Grant. Help us:
1. Spread the word about what happened to Oscar Grant.
2. Call the District Attorney. Demand the DA investigate mistreatment of Oscar Grant, destruction of his file, retaliation against Michaels and Gillis, concealment of the tapes.
3. Call the City Attorney handling the public records requests. Demand the City admit that the Grant documents were destroyed or produce them and release the tapes.
For docs related to Sean's fight go to JusticeForSeanAtOaklandFire at www.groups.google.com
You can contact those that are helping Sean at justiceforseanatoaklandfire@gmail.com .
Support from the Oscar Grant Community is urgently needed. So far, OFD has been able to suppress the story of what happened to Oscar Grant after he was shot, what OFD failed to do, and what OFD has done to people that stood up for Oscar Grant. Help us:
For docs related to Sean's fight go to JusticeForSeanAtOaklandFire at www.groups.google.com
You can contact those that are helping Sean at justiceforseanatoaklandfire@gmail.com .
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