*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—June 29, 2011
Pelican Bay Prisoners Go On Hunger Strike to Protest Grave Conditions
Lawyers, Advocates, Organizations Hold Press Conference, Voice Prisoner Demand
Press Contact: Isaac Ontiveros
Communications Director, Critical Resistance
Office: 510 444 0484; Cell: 510 517 6612
What: Press Conference
When: Thursday, June 30, 2011, 11:00am
Where: Elihu M. Harris State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland, CA
Oakland—Prisoners at the notorious Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, CA will initiate an indefinite hunger strike on July 1st, 2011 to protest condition in the prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU). Lawyers and advocates who have been in contact with the prisoners will hold a press conference Thusday June 30th at the Oakland Federal Building, at 11am to rally support for the strike and put pressure on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to respond to the prisoners’ demands. Prisoners have delivered their demands to Pelican Bay warden Greg Lewis, the CDCR, and to Governor Jerry Brown. Their demands include an end to long-term solitary confinement, collective punishment, and forced interrogation on gang affiliation. The prisoners have also stated that they are willing to give up their lives unless their demands are met.
"The prisoners inside the SHU at Pelican Bay know the risk that they are taking going on hunger strike,” says Manuel LaFontaine, of All of Us or None, an organization that supports former prisoners and part of a Bay Area-based Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition supporting Pelican Bay’s prisoners. La Fontaine continues, “The CDCR must recognize that the SHU produces conditions of grave violence, such that people lose their lives in there all the time." U.S. and international human rights organizations have condemned Security Housing Units as having cruel, inhumane, and torturous conditions. SHU prisoners are kept in windowless, 6 by 10 foot cells, 23½ hours a day, for years at a time. The CDCR operates four Security Housing Units in its system at Corcoran,California Correctional Institution, Valley State Prison for Women as well as Pelican Bay.
Recent work and hunger strikes in Georgia and Ohio prisons were successful in both winning some concessions and alerting the public to the conditions inside US prisons. "People who are in prison are already being punished. They are still human beings and should not have to lose their civil and human rights" says Karen Shain, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.
Pelican Bay’s hunger strike begins amidst the recent landmark Supreme Court ruling condemning California’s prison overcrowding and order the reduction of its population by at least 33,000 people. At the center of the overcrowding ruling were dozens of prisoner deaths a year due to the lack of basic medical and other healthcare. Thursday’s Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity press conference will touch off several events happening in cities across North America in the coming weeks.
Legal workers, advocates, and experts on the California prison system will be available for comment and interviews.
###
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
June 30 solidarity call out: Support the strike! Stop the cuts! UK Uncut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucQ48ScFH1E&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
OFD Paramedic Whistleblower Announces Community Action Meeting, Wednesday, June 29, 6PM
by Phil Horne, Esq.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/06/25/18682848.php
OFD Paramedic Whistleblower Sean Gillis announces a community action meeting on Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 at 6 p.m. at Peets Coffee in downtown Oakland (Broadway at 12th) to plan action to pressure Mayor Quan and the City Council to authorize Gillis to re-start his investigation of OFD misconduct against Oscar Grant and to address other issues presented in Gillis' civil suit.
OFD Paramedic Whistleblower Sean Gillis' story became public this week and was widely covered--by mainstream and independent media. Gillis' hour-long interview with Labor Activist Steve Zeltzer has been watched by nearly 500 Bay Area residents in just a few days.
Gillis and his attorney, Phil Horne, Esq., want to turn this attention into ACTION now while the budget and contracts are being negotiated. A letter will be presented to Mayor Quan on Monday demanding:
1. AUTHORIZE Gillis to re-start his investigation of OFD misconduct against Oscar Grant in OFD's response to the Grant 9-1-1 call,
2. PUBLICLY SUPPORT a criminal investigation of the destruction of evidence (Grant paper file and computer archive of Grant Patient Care Report) by OFD,
3. IMMEDIATELY ORDER further investigation of the Station 13 alleged rape and related training,
4. CONSIDER substantial managerial personnel changes at OFD and corrective hiring for people of color and women (including the two Latino people we identified as wrongfully denied employment),
5. SUSPEND the $4,000,000.00 in annual Measure Y payments to OFD until OFD initiates and maintains an at-risk youth mentoring program at every fire station as required by Measure Y,
6. REVERSE the privatization of the OFD/Merritt College joint venture (now, OFD/NCTI) which disparately impacts black people and women while financially rewarding certain OFD managers,
7. REVERSE Gillis' demotion and suspension, return Gillis' office and mailbox, and mediate the remaining issues.
Our first meeting will be at Peets. We are looking for another downtown, BART-friendly location. Anyone with a space to offer for the next meeting?
http://justiceforseanatoaklandfire@googleg...
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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!
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
CAMPAIGN TO END THE DEATH PENALTY SPECIAL CIRCULAR: PELICAN BAY HUNGER STRIKE BEGINS JULY 1
(Please post widely)
CONTENTS:
-- Introduction
-- Campaign to End the Death Penalty Solidarity Statement
-- CEDP Statement of Solidarity with Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers
-- Solidarity Statement from Corcoran State Prisoners
-- Take Action!
INTRODUCTION
Prisoners in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) of California's Pelican Bay state prison have announced that they will begin an indefinite hunger strike on July 1. Although prison officials aim to keep prisoners silenced and divided, the hunger strike has shown solidarity across racial, ethnic and religious lines and demands improvements in cruel and inhumane prison conditions.
In his statement "Why Prisoners are Protesting", prisoner Mutop DuGuya states, "Effective July 1st we are initiating a peaceful protest by way of an indefinite hunger strike in which we will not eat until our core demands are met.....we have decided to put our fate in our own hands. Some of us have already suffered a slow, agonizing death in which the state has shown no compassion toward these dying prisoners. Rather than compassion they turn up their ruthlessness. No one wants to die. Yet under this current system of what amounts to intense torture, what choice do we have? If one is to die, it will be on our own terms."
Prisons in this country stand as silent tombs. Millions are warehoused in "correctional" facilities that serve only to punish and dehumanize. These prisoners in Pelican Bay are standing bravely against tortuous conditions and those of us on the outside must stand with them and shine a light into the dark cages that politicians want us to forget.
CAMPAIGN TO END THE DEATH PENALTY SOLIDARITY STATEMENT
The Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP) stands in solidarity with the prisoners of Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) who will be engaged in a hunger strike on July 1 in protest of their deplorable conditions.
The prisoners at Pelican Bay prison in California live in a world in which collective punishment is common, sunlight is rare, and food is used as a tool of coercion. They live in a world that is so unlike the world that most of us take for granted that it strains our comprehension. The world of the prisoners has one goal, to create passive, compliant prisoners; prisoners who will not clamor for more; prisoners who will not rock the boat; prisoners who will not threaten to expose just how rotten the prison system is.
This world has failed. While these demands show us a world turned upside down, they also show us a prison population that is fighting back against their appalling conditions. The prisoners have stated that their hunger strike will be indefinite until their demands are met. This means they could face serious health issues or even death. For them, a fighting death is preferable to the hell they are living.
The Campaign to End the Death Penalty supports the Pelican Bay hunger strikers and stand with all prisoners who seek to better their lives. We stand in solidarity with these brave fighters in their quest for justice and humanity.
The demands of the prisoners clearly show the capricious and dehumanizing conditions in which they the prisoners are calling for:
1. Eliminate group punishments. Instead, practice individual accountability. When an individual prisoner breaks a rule, the prison often punishes a whole group of prisoners of the same race. This policy has been applied to keep prisoners in the SHU indefinitely and to make conditions increasingly harsh.
2. Abolish the debriefing policy and modify active/inactive gang status criteria.
Debriefing produces false information - wrongly landing other prisoners in SHU, and can endanger the lives of debriefing prisoners and their families.
3. End long-term solitary confinement. Segregation should be used as a last resort and prisoners require access to adequate healthcare and natural sunlight.
4. Provide wholesome, nutritious meals and access to vitamins.
5. Expand and provide constructive programming such as photos of loved ones, weekly phone calls, extension of visitation time, calendars, and radios, etc.
You can read the prisoner's full text of their demands here: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/take-action/
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT FROM CORCORAN STATE PRISONERS
Statement of Solidarity with the Pelican Bay Collective Hunger Strike on July 1st.
From: the N.C.T.T. Corcoran SHU
Greetings to all who support freedom, justice, and equality. We here of the N.C.T.T. SHU stand in solidarity with, and in full support of the July 1st hunger strike and the 5 major action points and sub-points as laid out by the Pelican Bay Collective in the Policy Statements (See, "Archives", P.B.S.P.-SHU-D corridor hunger strike).
What many are unaware of is that facility 4B here in Corcoran SHU is designated to house validated prisoners in indefinite SHU confinement and have an identical ultra-super max isolation unit short corridor modeled after corridor D in Pelican Bay, complete with blacked out windows a mirror tinted glass on the towers so no one but the gun tower can see in [into our cells], and none of us can see out; flaps welded to the base of the doors and sandbags on the tiers to prevent "fishing" [a means of passing notes, etc. between cells using lengths of string]; IGI [Institutional Gang Investigators] transports us all to A.C.H. [?] medical appointments and we have no contact with any prisoners or staff outside of this section here in 4B/1C C Section the "short corridor" of the Corcoran SHU. All of the deprivations (save access to sunlight); outlines in the 5-point hunger strike statement are mirrored, and in some instances intensified here in the Corcoran SHU 4B/1C C Section isolation gang unit.
Medical care here, in a facility allegedly designed to house chronic care and prisoners with psychological problems, is so woefully inadequate that it borders on intentional disdain for the health of prisoners, especially where diabetics and cancer are an issue. Access to the law library is denied for the most mundane reasons, or, most often, no reason at all. Yet these things and more are outlined in the P.B.S.P.-SHU five core demands.
What is of note here, and something that should concern all U.S. citizens, is the increasing use of behavioral control (torture units) and human experimental techniques against prisoners not only in California but across the nation. Indefinite confinement, sensory deprivation, withholding food, constant illumination, use of unsubstantiated lies from informants are the psychological billy clubs being used in these torture units. The purpose of this "treatment" is to stop prisoners from standing in opposition to inhumane prison conditions and prevent them from exercising their basic human rights.
Many lawsuits have been filed in opposition to the conditions in these conditions ... [unreadable] yet the courts have repeatedly re-interpreted and misinterpreted their own constitutional law ... [unreadable] to support the state's continued use of these torture units. When approved means of protest and redress of rights are prove meaningless and are fully exhausted, then the pursuit of those ends through other means is necessary.
It is important for all to know the Pelican Bay Collective is not (emphasis in original) alone in this struggle and the broader the participation and support for this hunger strike, the other such efforts, the greater the potential that our sacrifice now will mean a more humane world for us in the future. We urge all who reads these words to support us in this effort with your participation or your voices call your local news agencies, notify your friends on social networks, contact your legislators, tell your fellow faithful at church, mosques, temple or synagogues. Decades before Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Pelican Bay and Corcoran SHUs were described by Congressman Ralph Metcalfe as "the control unit treatment program is long-term punishment under the guise of what is, in fact, pseudo-scientific experimentation."
Our indefinite isolation here is both inhumane and illegal and the proponents of the prison industrial complex are hoping that their campaign to dehumanize us has succeeded to the degree that you don't care and will allow the torture to continue in your name. It is our belief that they have woefully underestimated the decency, principles, and humanity of the people. Join us in opposing this injustice without end. Thank you for your time and support.
In Solidarity,
N.C.T.T. Corcoran - SHU
4B/1C - C Section
Super-max isolation Unit
TAKE ACTION!
The Hunger Strikers need support from outside of prison bars. Here are a few things you can do:
Sign the Petition. http://www.change.org/petitions/support-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-at-pelican-bay-state-prison
Get the word out about the hunger strike and the prisoner's demands to your family, friends, church, community groups, and over social networking sites.
Attend protests in solidarity. Rallies planned in San Francisco, Eureka, CA, Montreal, Toronto and New York. Send protest info to: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/take-action/ to be listed!
Stay informed. Check the blog regularly for updates http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Carlos Montes' Court Date is July 6. Call AG Holder that day!
(202) 514-2001
Support Carlos Montes!
National Call-in Day to
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Please call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
at (202) 514-2001
Suggested text: "My name is __________, I am from _______(city), in ______(state). I am calling to tell Attorney General Holder:
1. Drop the charges! Hands off Carlos Montes!
2. Stop the FBI raids and Grand Jury repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists.
3. Return all property to Carlos Montes and the other activists raided by the FBI.
On Wednesday, July 6, Carlos Montes will go to a Los Angeles court to face six felony charges and enter a plea. The charges all deal with firearms, ammunition and permits. Like millions of other Americans, Carlos has for years held legal permits for guns. The fact is that the charges against Carlos carry a total penalty of up to 18 years, and are aimed at his effective political organizing against war and for people's civil rights.
Carlos is a longtime Chicano activist known for his leadership during the 1968 L.A. high school reform walkouts (see HBO film "Walkout!") and the immigrants' rights mega-marches of 2006. More recently in September 2010, Carlos Montes' name appeared on the FBI search warrant left in the Anti-War Committee office in Minneapolis, where the protests against the 2008 Republican National Convention were centered. The attack on Carlos Montes is part of a sweeping campaign tied to 23 Midwest activists whose homes the FBI raided or who were subpoenaed to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's Grand Jury in Chicago, as the Washington Post reported.
In addition, when the LA Sheriffs broke down Carlos' door and ransacked his home, they took political documents, a computer, cell phones and meeting notes having nothing to do with the legal charges. Later, the FBI approached Carlos to ask him questions about the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the target of this new McCarthyism. Those who know the history of Martin Luther King Jr. and the American civil rights movement understand the repression Montes now faces.
When Carlos went to court on June 16, he demanded police and court documents. Not surprisingly, the District Attorney grew angry, at first refusing, and eventually relenting. There is the not-so-hidden hand of the FBI at work here and its goal is to disrupt and criminalize activists and movements for social justice.
Make no mistake: The U.S. government trial of Carlos Montes is an attack on the immigrants' rights and anti-war movements. So please call July 6 and let Attorney General Holder know we are building a movement that will not bow down to dirty tricks and political repression.
In addition, the Los Angeles Committee to Stop FBI Repression
is mobilizing to pack the courtroom at
8:30a.m. on July 6 when Carlos Montes appears at
Alhambra Courthouse,
150 W Common Wealth, Alhambra, CA 91801. See map.
We invite others to organize solidarity protests, events, or participate in the CSFR Call In Day on July 6, as you see fit.
Please sign the petition for Carlos on the International Action Center website.
Visit www.StopFBI.net or write StopFBI@gmail.com or call 612-379-3585.
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 55414
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
STOP BOMBING LIBYA!
Sat. July 9, 12 noon
Protest at Powell and Market Sts., SF
Please bring your friends, family members, neighbors and co-workers to the San Francisco protest on Saturday July 9, 2011, to demand "Stop the Bombing of Libya!" There will be a joint action that day in Washington, D.C. in front of the White House.
Contrary to the absurd argument that the bombing of Libya does not constitute a "hostility," this is fierce and illegal war aimed at carrying out regime change in the country that possesses the largest oil reserves in Africa and the ninth largest in the world.
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Tripoli on June 17 against the U.S./NATO bombing and the terrible toll it has taken on the people, economy and infrastructure of Libya. Of course, you didn't see any coverage of this huge demonstration in the corporate media. That massive outpouring of humanity undoubtedly included many people who have grievances against the current Libyan government. But the people of Tripoli, like people everywhere, stand together against bombing by foreign powers in pursuit of an imperial agenda. Libyans want peace and they must be free to determine their own destiny.
The people of the United States are adding their voice of opposition on Saturday, July 9 in San Francisco and at the White House. By a margin of 2-to-1, the American people oppose this illegal and criminal war. There is no such thing as a "humanitarian" cruise missile. The U.S. government is spending $10 million a day bombing Libya while it bombs Afghanistan and still occupies Iraq with 47,000 troops.
In the name of "protecting civilians" NATO is killing civilians-and describing them as "legitimate military targets."
On June 20, for instance, NATO and the Pentagon pummeled the birthday party of a four-year-old boy with heavy missiles. They killed 16 civilians, including the four-year-old and his mom, as well as other children and their parents. The four-year-old was the grandson of Khweldi el-Hamedi, an associate of Colonel Gaddafi who participated in the 1969 coup that overthrew the old monarchy.
NATO is killing the civilian family members of the Libyan government in an attempt to break the will of those they have targeted for destruction and overthrow. The Pentagon used the same type of tactic in the 1991 Iraq war.
At a time when the U.S. government says that it is broke and that tens of thousands of teachers and nurses and other workers are being fired because of the "budget crisis," there seems to be limitless funds for war, bombing, invasion and occupation.
Please join us Saturday, July 9!
Three ways that you can help:
1. Endorse.
2. Download the flyer or poster and help spread the word.
3. Make a donation.
Call 415-821-6545 or visit www.ANSWERsf.org for more info or to volunteer.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org
http://www.AnswerSF.org
Answer@AnswerSF.org
2969 Mission St.
415-821-6545
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
FREEDOM FROM VIOLENCE AND POLICE STATE TERROR
Saturday, August 20 at 2:00pm
Location: In front of SF City Hall, Polk Street side, between Grove & McAllister
On the 34th Birthday of Idriss Stelley, Killed by SFPD on 6-12-01 at the Sony Metreon Complex,
The event is meant to launch a citywide police accountability and transparency COLLECTIVE comprised of socially mindful grassroots entities , social/racial Justice activists, and "progressive "city officials, as well as mayoral candidates, HOLD THEM TO THEIR PROMISES !
Performances, music, spoken word, and speakers.
If you would like to speak or perform,
please contact Jeremy Miller at 415-595-2894, djasik87.9@gmail.com,
or mesha Monge-Irizarry at 415-595-8251
Please join our facebook group at
Idriss Stelley Foundation !
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
(Please forward widely)
Save the dates of October 6, 15 to protest wars; and May 15-22, 2012--Northern California UNAC will be discussing plans for solidarity actions around the Chicago G-8 here.
United National Antiwar Committee
UNACpeace@gmain.com or UNAC at P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054
518-227-6947
www.UNACpeace.org
UNITED NATIONAL ANTIWAR COMMITTEE (UNAC) CALLS FOR ACTIONS IN OCTOBER
TO MARK 10 YEARS OF WAR ON AFGHANISTAN
On June 22, the White House defied the majority of Americans who want an end to the war in Afghanistan. Instead of announcing the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops, contractors, bases, and war dollars, Obama committed to removing only one twentieth of the US forces on the ground in Afghanistan over the next eight months. Another 23,000 will supposedly be withdrawn just in time to influence the 2012 elections. Even if the President follows thru on this plan, nearly 170,000 US soldiers and contractors will remain in Afghanistan. All veterans and soldiers will be raising the question, "Who will be the last U.S. combatant to die in Afghanistan?"
In truth, the President's plan is not a plan to end the war in Afghanistan. It was, instead, an announcement that the U.S. was changing strategy. As the New York Times reported, the US will be replacing the "counterinsurgency strategy" adopted 18 months ago with the kind of campaign of drone attacks, assassinations, and covert actions that the US has employed in Pakistan.
At a meeting of the United National Antiwar Committee's National Coordinating Committee, held in NYC on June 18, representatives of 47 groups voted to endorse the nonviolent civil resistance activities beginning on October 6 in Washington, D.C. and to call for nationally coordinated local actions on October 15 to protest the tenth anniversary of the US war in Afghanistan. UNAC urges activists in as many cities as possible to hold marches, picket lines, teach-ins, and other events to say:
· Withdraw ALL US/NATO Military Forces, Contractors, and Bases out of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya NOW!
· End drone attacks on defenseless populations in Pakistan and Yemen!
· End US Aid to Israel! Hands Off Iran!
· Bring Our War Dollars Home Now! Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Incarceration!
Note these dates of upcoming significant events:
· November 11-13 UNAC National Conference - a gathering of all movement activists to learn, share, plan future actions.
· May 15-22, 2012 International Protest Actions against war criminals attending NATO meeting and G-8 summit in Chicago.
Challenge the NATO War Makers in Chicago May 15-22, 2012
NATO and the G8 are coming to Chicago - so are we!
The White House has just announced that the U.S. will host a major international meeting of NATO, the US-commanded and financed 28-nation military alliance, in Chicago from May 15 to May 22, 2012. It was further announced that at the same time and place, there will be a summit of the G-8 world powers. The meetings are expected to draw heads of state, generals and countless others.
At a day-long meeting in New York City on Saturday, June 18, the United National Antiwar Committee's national coordinating committee of 69 participants, representing, 47 organizations, unanimously passed a resolution to call for action at the upcoming NATO meeting.
UNAC is determined to mount a massive united outpouring in Chicago during the NATO gathering to put forth demands opposing endless wars and calling for billions spent on war and destruction be spent instead on people's needs for jobs, health care, housing and education.
CHALLENGE THE NATO WAR MAKERS
Whereas, the U.S. is the major and pre-eminent military, economic and political power behind NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and
Whereas, the U.S. will be hosting a major NATO gathering in the spring of 2012, and
Whereas, U.S. and NATO-allied forces are actively engaged in the monstrous wars, occupations and military attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, the Middle East and elsewhere,
Be it resolved that:
1) UNAC, in conjunction with a broad range of groups and organizations that share general agreement with the major demands adopted at our 2010 Albany, NY national conference, initiate a mass demonstration at the site of the NATO gathering, and
2) UNAC welcomes and encourages the participation of all groups interested in mobilizing against war and for social justice in planning a broad range of other NATO meeting protests including teach-ins, alternative conferences and activities organized on the basis of direct action/civil resistance, and
3) UNAC will seek to make the NATO conference the occasion for internationally coordinated protests, and
4) UNAC will convene a meeting of all of the above forces to discuss and prepare initial plans to begin work on this spring action.
Resolution passed unanimously by the National Coordinating Committee of UNAC on Saturday, June 18, 2011
click here to donate to UNAC:
https://nationalpeaceconference.org/Donate.html
Click here for the Facebook UNAC group.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_157059221012587&ap=1
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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]
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Gundersen: Intake Structure that cools reactor and spent fuel pool is probably most vulnerable part of Ft. Calhoun nuke plan - Critical that it stays dry (VIDEO)
June 28th, 2011 at 06:26 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ESVDI2OQZ4&feature=player_embedded
Arnie Gundersen on Five O'clock Shadow with Robert Knight, WBAI, June 28, 2011 at 5:00 pm EDT:
* Intake structure probably the most vulnerable, not auxiliary and containment buildings...
* Intake structure draws in river water that cools reactor and spent fuel pool... critical that it stay dry...
* If gets water in it and emergency service water pumps fail then you've got a case where you're going to cause fuel damage...
* Probably the most vulnerable at Ft Calhoun...
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Black Agenda Report Morning Shot 6.21.2011: Defying The Tomb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LKj0RFjZ9Q&feature=player_embeddedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LKj0RFjZ9Q&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Labor Beat: Give It Back!
http://blip.tv/labor-beat/give_it_back-5315509
The Executive Summit of CEOs and CFOs at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago on June 14, 2011 was the target of a broad coalition of community and labor organizations, put together by Stand Up! Chicago. Several thousand protesters successfully pulled off 3 coordinated feeder marches (housing, jobs, education) that transformed the hub of corporate Chicago at Michigan and Wacker into protest central. We begin with the small band of movement artists (teachers, students and activists) as they plan the visuals and create the huge puppets (Kings of Corporate Welfare) which became the visual rallying points of the Give It Back march and rally. We show the process of how the big march came together and how working people were able to appropriate Chicago's showplace of big business and convert it into a movement theatrical backdrop. The CEOs at the Hyatt went on with their meeting, and a city-wide movement gained confidence in its organizing skills. Rod Wilson of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization observed: "This is definitely the beginning, not the end, not the culminating, but the beginning." Length - 18:33. Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit Google Video, YouTube, or blip.tv and search "Labor Beat". Labor Beat has regular cable slots in Chicago, Evanston, Rockford, Urbana, IL; St. Louis, MO; Philadelphia, PA; Princeton, NJ; and Rochester, NY. For more detailed information, send us a request at mail@laborbeat.org
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Japanese Anti-Nuc Song Gone Viral
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AylBxsiUSws&feature=related
Kazuyoshi Saito On Ustream 2011/04/08
Song and Lyrics: Kazuyoshi Saito
"You have been telling a lie"
When we walk around this country,
we can find 54 Nuke power plants
My text book and CM always told me,
"It's SAFE"
You have been telling a lie,
then your excuse is just "UNEXPECTED"
I remember the clear sky,
but now, it turns black rain
You've been telling a lie,
it was exposed after all, I know
Yeah, it was a lie, "Nuke is completely safe"
You've been telling a lie,
I just wanna eat such a delicious spinach once again.
Yeah, it was a lie,
You should have noticed this ball game
We can't stop the contaminated wind anymore
Do you accept if you find it about how many people would be exposed by the radiation?
How do you think? I'm asking you, Jap Gov.
When you leave this town,
Could you find delicious water?
Tell me, whatever, there's no way to hide
They are all suck, Tepco, Hepco, Chuden and Kanden
We never dream a dream anymore
But they are all suck
They still keep going
They are truely suck
I wanna take action, how could I handle this feeling?
They are telling a lie....
We are all suck....
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Flood Alert: Brownsville,NE Levee Breach- Cooper Nuclear Plant
Jun 20, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcIrqrKLIyM
Brownsville NE levee is breaching at Brownsville Bridge -
Brownsville is where the Cooper Nuclear Plant is located
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Dr Helen Caldicott - Fukushima Nuclear Disaster- You won't hear this on the Main Stream News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4ITrXVJMKeQ
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Choosing a Profession
An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young Men his age, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it. One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table four objects...
1. A Bible.....?
2. A silver dollar.....?
3. A bottle of whisky......?
4. And a Playboy magazine.....?
'I'll just hide behind the door,' the old preacher said to himself. 'When he comes home from school today, I'll see which object he picks up.
If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be!
If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a business man, and that would be okay, too.
But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunken bum, and Lord, what a shame that would be.
And worst of all if he picks up that magazine he's going to be a
skirt-chasing womanizer.'
The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's foot-steps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room.
The boy tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table..
With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink, while he admired this month's centerfold.
'Lord have mercy,' the old preacher disgustedly whispered.
'He's gonna run for Congress.'
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Stop Police Brutality: Justice for Eric Radcliff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB8GpiXuSV4&NR=1
22 year old Eric Radcliff was shot and killed by police officers from the 35th district on the morning of Saturday May 21st, 2011. According to witnesses he was unarmed. The incident took place on the 5800 Block of Mascher Street in the 5th and Olney Section.
OUR COMMUNITY DEMANDS JUSTICE
WE THE FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF ERIC RADCLIFF ARE CONCERNED THAT JUSTICE HAS NOT BEEN SERVED. WE BELIEVE THAT THE POLICE OFFICERS USED EXCESSIVE FORCE. ERIC DID NOT HAVE TO DIE.
OUR DEMANDS
1. Open An Investigation Into the May 21st Shooting Death of 22 year old Eric Radcliff by officers of the Philadelphia Police Department's 35th District.
2. End Police Brutality! Serve and Protect, Not Disrespect and Victimize!
3. LETS GET OUR HOUSE IN ORDER. Let's Unite for Real Security and To Build a Better Future for Ourselves
Please come Join in UNITY AND LOVE! God is Good, We ARE winning!
JusticeforEricRadcliff@gmail.com
215-954-2272 for more information
VIA Justice for Eric Radcliff
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Stop Police Brutality: Justice for Albert Pernell Jr.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGyR9Y2LPss
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*High Alert* - Fire -Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant near Omaha Nebraska- Flooding Missouri River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHZdub3n0mI&feature=player_embedded
\Five O'Clock Shadow" with Robert Knight and Arnie Gundersen from Fairewinds Associates
Fire knocks out spent fuel cooling pool at nuclear plant near Omaha - Operating under heightened alert level because of nearby flooding on Missouri River.
On June 6, 2011, the Fort Calhoun pressurized water nuclear reactor 20 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska entered emergency status due to imminent flooding from the Missouri River. A day later, there was an electrical fire requiring plant evacuation. Then, on June 8th, NRC event reports confirmed the fire resulted in the loss of cooling for the reactor's spent fuel pool.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Empty Chairs
AFLCIONow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3juhx3GJQQ
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
'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.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
I Wanna Be A Pirate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppynM1lcst8
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Arrested for Filming Police in MD?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18ew29IFVHw&NR=1
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Woman 'detained' for filming police search launches high court challenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2MtGCp5scM&NR=1
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Adam Kokesh body slammed, choked, police brutality at Jefferson Memorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUU3yCy3uI&feature=player_embedded#at=575
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Operation Empire State Rebellion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJvBlQcaaaU&feature=player_embedded#at=10
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
THE AUDACITY OF HOPE
ustogaza1's Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/ustogaza1
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Licensed to Kill Video
http://nirs.org/multimedia/video/l2k.htm
Gundersen Gives Testimony to NRC ACRS from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Guy on wheelchair taken down by officers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdkJxw1mPoM
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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/
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Tier Systems Cripple Middle Class Dreams for Young Workers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09pQW6TW8m4&feature=youtu.be
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Union Town by Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ZT71DxLuM&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Max Romeo - Socialism Is Love
http://youtu.be/eTvUs4rY4to
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
B. D. S. [Boycott, Divest, Sanction against Israel]
(Jackson 5) Chicago Flashmob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tXe2HKqqs&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
BP Oil Spill Scientist Bob Naman: Seafood Still Not Safe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VdxvMnDls
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Exclusive: Flow Rate Scientist : How Much Oil Is Really Out There?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsHl3kn63ZA&NR=1
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Oil Spill Commission Final Report: Catfish Responds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZRdsccMsM
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Domestic Espionage Alert - Houston PD to use surveillance drone in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpstrc15Ogg
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
"Don't F*** With Our Activists" - Mobilizing Against FBI Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyG3dIUGQvQ
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Supporter of Leak Suspect Is Called Before Grand Jury
By SCOTT SHANE
June 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/us/politics/16brfs-Washington.html?ref=world
A supporter of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, who is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks, was called before a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., on Wednesday, but he said he declined to answer any questions. The supporter, David M. House, a freelance computer scientist, said he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, because he believes the Justice Department is "creating a climate of fear around WikiLeaks and the Bradley Manning support network." The grand jury inquiry is separate from the military prosecution of Private Manning and is believed to be exploring whether the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, or others in the group violated the law by acquiring and publishing military and State Department documents.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Justice for Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace: Decades of isolation in Louisiana state prisons must end
Take Action -- Sign Petition Here:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/justice-for-albert-woodfox-and-herman-wallace
For nearly four decades, 64-year-old Albert Woodfox and 69-year-old Herman Wallace have been held in solitary confinement, mostly in the Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola prison). Throughout their prolonged incarceration in Closed Cell Restriction (CCR) Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace have endured very restrictive conditions including 23 hour cellular confinement. They have limited access to books, newspapers and TV and throughout the years of imprisonment they have been deprived of opportunities for mental stimulation and access to work and education. Social interaction has been restricted to occasional visits from friends and family and limited telephone calls.
Louisiana prison authorities have over the course of 39 years failed to provide a meaningful review of the men's continued isolation as they continue to rubberstamp the original decision to confine the men in CCR. Decades of solitary confinement have had a clear psychological effect on the men. Lawyers report that they are both suffering from serious health problems caused or exacerbated by their years of close confinement.
After being held together in the same prison for nearly 40 years, the men are now held in seperate institutions where they continue to be subjected to conditions that can only be described as cruel, inhuman and degrading.
Take action now to demand that Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace be immediately removed from solitary confinement
Sign our petition which will be sent to the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, calling on him to:
* take immediate steps to remove Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace from close confinement
* ensure that their treatment complies with the USA's obligations under international standards and the US Constitution.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
WITNESS GAZA
http://www.witnessgaza.com/
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Stop Coal Companies From Erasing Labor Union History
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-coal-companies-from-erasing-labor-union-history
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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!
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/
Contact the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
at stopfbi.net
stopfbi@gmail.com
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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!
Take Action! Tweet for Troy!
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
"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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
In earnest support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
http://readersupportednews.org/julian-assange-petition
rsn:Petition
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
"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!
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Courage to Resist needs your support
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
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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!
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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/
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
D. ARTICLES IN FULL (Unless otherwise noted)
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Staff Criticize Nuclear Regulator for Halting Evaluation
By MATTHEW L. WALD
June 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/science/earth/25nrc.html?ref=us
2) All of His Crops Flourished. Too Bad They Were in a Park.
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
June 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/nyregion/all-his-crops-thrived-too-bad-they-were-in-a-park.html?ref=nyregion
3) New Exposé Reveals Nuclear Regulatory Commission Colluded with Industry to Weaken Safety Standards
Democracy Now!
June 24, 2011
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/6/24/new_expos_reveals_nuclear_regulatory_commission
4) Flood berm collapsed at Nebraska nuclear plant
Associated Press
June 26, 2011
http://www.kmtv.com/story/14978101/flood-berm-collapsed-at-nebraska-nuclear-plant
5) Two-Day Strike in Greece Ahead of Austerity Vote
By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS
June 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/world/europe/29greece.html?hp
6) New Drugs Fight Prostate Cancer, but at High Cost
[Why we need universal, single-payer healthcare NOW!...bw]
By ANDREW POLLACK
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/health/28prostate.html?hp
7) Tokyo Electric Power Defeats Shareholders' Efforts to Exit Nuclear Business
"'I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the trouble and fear that we have brought to our shareholders, and to society,' the chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, said at the shareholders' meeting at a tightly guarded Tokyo hotel. 'We will do our utmost to bring the accident to a resolution and to work toward our mission of providing a stable source of electricity,' he said. Some investors refused to be placated. 'Go jump into a reactor and die!' one elderly man shouted at the row of executives who were present, before being escorted out by attendants."
By HIROKO TABUCHI
June 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/business/global/29tepco.html?hp
8) No Trash, No Crash
By JAMES E. HALL
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/opinion/28hall.html
9) Pakistan: Fatal Attacks by Drones
[Killing "suspects" is now routien U.S. operating proceedure under Obama...bw]
By REUTERS
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/asia/28brief-pakistan.html?ref=world
10) Trial of New Orleans Police Begins in the 2005 Killings of Unarmed Civilians
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28orleans.html?ref=us
11) Nuclear Plant's Vital Equipment Dry, Officials Say
"At Fort Calhoun, where the river has risen gradually, the water seeps in through sandbag walls, electrical conduits and other places that workers had not thought much about before. There are so many small water pumps running to keep up with the leaks that keeping them supplied with gasoline and diesel requires something akin to a bucket brigade."
By MATTHEW L. WALD
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28nuke.html?ref=us
12) Los Alamos Laboratory Is on Alert for a Wildfire
By KIRK JOHNSON
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28losalamos.html?ref=us
13) Police Sergeant to Get Jail Term for Perjury and Illegal Searches
By JOHN ELIGON
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/nyregion/nyc-police-sergeant-admits-illegal-searches-and-perjury.html?ref=nyregion
14) Guess How Much More Wall St. Spends on Bonuses Than on Penalties for Torpedoing the Economy?
By Nomi Prins, AlterNet
Posted on June 27, 2011, Printed on June 29, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151434/guess_how_much_more_wall_st._spends_on_bonuses_than_on_penalties_for_torpedoing_the_economy
15) Thank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for Slam-Dunking Israeli Apartheid!
End the Occupation
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/
16) Staying Human: Preparing to Sail to Gaza
By Kathy Kelly
Published on Monday, June 27, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/27
17) Radioactive water leaks from Japan's damaged plant
Photo
Tue, Jun 28 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE75Q1EV20110628
18) Welfare for Dictators
A NEWSWEEK investigation reveals how Pentagon billions are flowing to strongmen in the Middle East.
"...a NEWSWEEK investigation of Pentagon contracting practices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Bahrain has uncovered more than $14 billion paid mostly in sole-source contracts to companies controlled by ruling families across the Persian Gulf. The revelation raises a fundamental question: are U.S. taxpayer dollars enriching the ruling potentates of friendly regimes just as the youthful protesters and the Arab Spring have brought a new push for democracy across the region?"
by Aram Roston
June 26, 2011
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/26/pentagon-billions-are-flowing-to-middle-east-dictators.html
19) Trial Begins: Did New Orleans Media Contribute to Police Violence After Hurricane Katrina?
By Jordan Flaherty
Truthout | News Analysis
Friday 24 June 2011
http://www.truth-out.org/new-orleans-police-violence-trial-begins-today/1308853109
20) France Admits to Arming Libyan Rebels
By DAVID JOLLY and MAÏA DE LA BAUME
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/europe/30france.html?hp
21) Intense Clashes Ease in Cairo
"Many of those who rushed to Tahrir Square on Tuesday expressed disbelief at the intensity of the fighting. 'This is not what we called for when we took to the streets on January 25th,' said Salma Samer, 23. 'This is not the revolution we imagined.' ...Protest groups called for an open sit-in in Tahrir Square to start on Wednesday, earlier than originally planned, and are demanding an immediate end to emergency law and the removal of several top officials, including the interior minister, the finance minister and the prosecutor general. By late afternoon thousands were still in the square and the surrounding streets. It was unclear how many planned to spend the night. 'I will bring my tent and camp out in Tahrir until Tantawi leaves,' said Mohammed Abdel Moti, 47. 'There won't be any true justice while the military is in power.'"
By DINA SALAH AMER
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/middleeast/30egypt.html?hp
22) Feds Show Fake Safety Records in W.Va. Mine Blast
"Federal investigators first revealed they had found two sets of books - one focused on safety, the other on production - during a private meeting with the victims' families Tuesday night. It's one of the few revelations to come from the ninth briefing since the investigation began last summer into the deadliest U.S. coalfield disaster in four decades."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06/29/us/AP-US-Mine-Explosion-Families.html?ref=us
23) Hackers Release More Data From Arizona Police
By RIVA RICHMOND
June 29, 2011, 1:51 pm
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/hackers-release-more-data-from-arizona-police/?src=busln
24) Unemployment Rises in More Than Half of US Metros
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06/29/business/AP-US-Metro-Unemployment.html?src=busln
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Staff Criticize Nuclear Regulator for Halting Evaluation
By MATTHEW L. WALD
June 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/science/earth/25nrc.html?ref=us
WASHINGTON - In an unusual public dissent, staff members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a House subcommittee on Friday that they were frustrated by a boss's decision to halt their evaluation of a site in Nevada as a future repository for the nation's nuclear waste.
Four staff members told the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy that they disagreed with instructions from the regulatory commission's chairman, Gregory B. Jaczko, to suspend their work on an Energy Department application involving the site, which followed a decision by top officials in the Obama administration to kill the project.
"Staff would have willingly followed any outcome from a faithfully executed legitimate process," one staff member, Lawrence E. Kokajko, the acting deputy office director of the commission's Office of Nuclear Materials, Safety and Safeguards, told the subcommittee. "The nation paid for this review, and the nation should get it."
Another witness, N. Kingman Stablein, chief of the project management branch in the high-level waste division, said staff members, some of whom had worked for 20 years on the project, went through "agony" upon seeing it killed. And Janet P. Kotra, senior project manager, said she was instructed to follow "a highly irregular process" in closing out the evaluation.
The proposed waste storage site, at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert, was approved by Congress in the 1980s. But Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, vowed in recent years to block the project, and President Obama pledged in 2008 to shelve it if elected. Mr. Jaczko, a political appointee, is a former aide to Mr. Reid.
Friday's hearing was a rare instance of career civil servants' challenging a move by the head of a federal agency who was appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Some of the testimony was sharply bitter. "Apparently, the N.R.C.'s senior leadership is ineffective in upholding the integrity of this agency," said Aby Mohseni, acting director of the commission's division for high-level waste repository safety.
He suggested that Mr. Jaczko, the commission's chairman, had broken the law by not keeping the other four commissioners regularly informed, although a report this month by the agency's inspector general said no law had been broken.
The inspector general's report said that Mr. Jaczko's decision to halt the Yucca review was based on politics, however, not on a consideration of the acceptability of the site for long-term storage. It also criticized Mr. Jaczko's management style, saying he had used his powers to carry out the president's wishes while running roughshod over his fellow commissioners.
A memo sent by Mr. Mohseni to the commission members, released by the House subcommittee on Friday, said that top staff members at the commission were suppressing information that should have gone to the commission, and that there was "a pattern of rewarding senior managers for supporting and contributing to politicized decisions."
In a statement issued after the hearing, the regulatory commission defended Mr. Jaczko's decision to halt the commission's work on Yucca Mountain. "One of the hallmarks of the N.R.C. is its open work environment, where employees are empowered to raise issues they consider important," it said. "The chairman listened to a wide range of views, made the proper decision and has moved on to focus on the many important safety issues before the agency."
Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, argued Friday that Mr. Jaczko had no choice in shutting down the commission's evaluation.
The Energy Department had applied for a license to build and operate the repository but then withdrew the application, he noted. And Congress approved a budget with no money for evaluating the application, only $10 million to shut down the investigation.
"N.R.C.'s options are limited," Mr. Waxman said. "Continuing its review risks squandering millions of taxpayer dollars."
Representative John Shimkus, Republican of Illinois, chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy, which held the hearing Friday, said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff had "labored tirelessly, outside the public spotlight, in good faith." He asserted that the commission was "dysfunctional" as a result of its leadership, however, and was squandering public trust.
Many members of Congress, mostly Republicans, are trying hard to maintain the political consensus established in the 1980s to eventually place the waste at Yucca, a volcanic structure about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The site became a candidate partly because it was already owned by the government, and it became the lead candidate because the other possible sites, in Washington State and Texas, had more powerful delegations in Congress.
The question before the regulatory commission was never whether Yucca was the best place to bury the waste. Several staff members said what they had wanted was publication of their work.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: June 24, 2011
A previous version of this article misidentified Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, as a senator.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) All of His Crops Flourished. Too Bad They Were in a Park.
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
June 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/nyregion/all-his-crops-thrived-too-bad-they-were-in-a-park.html?ref=nyregion
If they squint, neighbors say, the farm tilled by David Abreu begins to look a little like home - his cilantro is as green, his bean supply as tidy. And then there is the man himself: clutching his machete handle, pant legs stained black, surveying the soil like any farmer who takes pride in his land. "He could be my father," said one neighbor, José Rodríguez, 52, originally from Santiago, Dominican Republic.
But Mr. Abreu is not home, and his farm, alas, is on public property - namely Highbridge Park in Upper Manhattan.
Or rather, it was.
In a city that is thinking more and more about being green, Mr. Abreu, 65, is one of a small number of immigrant gardeners who have plunged their shovels into what little surface soil there is. For about three years, Mr. Abreu says, his vegetable garden has thrived behind a playground on two plots near 193rd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights.
Last week, a parks department crew uprooted Mr. Abreu's crops, piling the leafy detritus in the back of a green garbage truck. A district supervisor, according to William T. Castro, the Manhattan borough commissioner for parks, stumbled upon the garden about three weeks ago. "It's an illegal farm," Mr. Castro said. "Most people have common sense and know you don't plant your own vegetable garden in a public park."
Though Mr. Abreu has tended roughly a half-acre of land, it represents a small fraction of the soil lined with beans, corn and, occasionally, tomatoes, that has been tilled in Highbridge Park by area residents. When a visitor stopped by several times in recent days, however, the other farmers were nowhere to be found.
The parks department is aware of the additional gardens, Mr. Castro said - and some of Mr. Abreu's less visible beans and cilantro were spared. Park employees may soon remove what is left, Mr. Castro added.
"I don't see the problem," Mr. Abreu said through an interpreter. "I clean it. I take care of it."
Before digging up Mr. Abreu's plots, parks department officials informed Ydanis Rodriguez, the local councilman, that years of herbicide spraying in the area had exposed the soil to contamination, the councilman said. But the soil has never been tested, Mr. Castro said, and the absence of a permit, not health concerns, was the primary reason the crops were torn out.
Mr. Abreu insisted neither he nor any friends or family members had ever gotten sick from eating the crops.
"Try it," Mr. Abreu suggested Monday, raising a fistful of cilantro. Mr. Abreu, like many in the neighborhood, immigrated from the Dominican Republic. Both Mr. Abreu and Councilman Rodriguez were raised on family farms, they say, in Santo Domingo and Santiago, respectively. Like many in the community, they have come to see the local gardens as extensions of their former homes.
"Look how beautiful this is," said Councilman Rodriguez, swatting away a tree limb as he cradled a bean pod. "It brings me back."
Before the loss of his plants, Mr. Abreu spent as many as six hours a day looking after his plots. He and the other farmers share their crops with one another, Mr. Abreu said, and often offer some of their harvests to community members who request a taste. While he describes his motivation as "somewhat economic," Mr. Abreu says his main interest is sustaining a lifelong hobby. His fight with the city was first reported on the Web site, DNA.info.
Dragging his leather satchel of tools down Fort George Avenue, grinning through his wrinkles, Mr. Abreu is known endearingly in the neighborhood as el viejo: the old man.
"Agriculture is the main thing in our culture," José Rodríguez said, shouting over a fiercely argued game of dominoes outside the park. "I can bring my little girls to come water the plants. At school, they learn American history. But this is their background, their culture."
Parks department employees who pulled up the crops last week noted the precision with which the plot was arranged. "It was all lined up, very neat, one row after another," said one of the workers, Clifford Motley.
The councilman's office said it had arranged a meeting between Mr. Abreu and parks department officials, and hoped the sides would meet soon to discuss alternative farming sites.
"If he had come to us, we would have found a location for him that made sense," Mr. Castro said. "We have hundreds of free community gardens exactly for this purpose."
According to Mr. Castro, members of his staff last year confronted a man they believe may have been Mr. Abreu about his garden.
Mr. Abreu says a park employee did approach him last year, but only to request he remove the wooden fence he had built around his beans. When he first decided to plant seeds three years ago, he said, he told a department official of his plans.
"All they told me was I couldn't cut down any trees."
Since the uprooting, Mr. Abreu said, he has lost the desire to keep his regular farming hours, though he does maintain another garden in the courtyard of his apartment building, across the street from Highbridge Park.
The circumstances have also produced consequences on the home front with his wife, Irene.
"She loves it when I garden," Mr. Abreu said, holstering his machete. "It keeps me out of the house."
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) New Exposé Reveals Nuclear Regulatory Commission Colluded with Industry to Weaken Safety Standards
Democracy Now!
June 24, 2011
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/6/24/new_expos_reveals_nuclear_regulatory_commission
Three U.S. senators have called for a congressional probe on safety issues at the nation's aging nuclear plants following a pair of new exposés. In a special series called "Aging Nukes," the Associated Press revealed that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear power industry have been working in tandem to weaken safety standards to keep aging reactors within the rules. Just last year, the NRC weakened the safety margin for acceptable radiation damage to reactor vessels. The AP report also revealed radioactive tritium has leaked from 48 of the 65 U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping. Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard-sometimes at hundreds of times the limit. We speak with AP investigative journalist Jeff Donn.
Jeff Donn, national writer for the Associated Press and member of its investigative team.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Three U.S. senators called for a congressional probe on Thursday on safety issues at the nation's aging nuclear plants. The request from Democratic senators Barbara Boxer of California, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont comes following a pair of new exposés by the Associated Press. In a special series called "Aging Nukes," the AP revealed that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear power industry have been working in tandem to weaken safety standards to keep aging reactors within the rules. Just last year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission weakened the safety margin for acceptable radiation damage to reactor vessels.
AMY GOODMAN: The AP report also revealed radioactive tritium has leaked from 48 of the 65 U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping. Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard, sometimes hundreds of times the limit.
We're joined now from Boston by Jeff Donn, who wrote the exposés for the Associated Press, the national writer for the AP and member of the AP investigative team.
Jeff, welcome to Democracy Now! Why don't you lay out your exposés one at a time, what you found in light of what happened in Fukushima, what we're dealing with here in this country?
JEFF DONN: Well, there are two big ideas. One is that, as you summarized, the nuclear industry and their government regulators have been working together to lower safety standards as aging nuclear systems and parts and plants come close to violating those standards and those rules. And that's been a pattern for decades now, and we're seeing a lot of it as these plants get older and older.
The other big idea here is that the plants have had piping buried underneath, underground, covered underground for so long the piping can't be properly inspected. It's rarely looked at carefully, visually. It's rarely dug up. And it's been so long now that a lot of that is corroding, and you have leaks, that we've documented, at three-quarters of the sites. And in fact, a Government Accountability Office, the congressional investigative arm, released-had a report released a day or two ago after our series, and in that they say the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal regulators say, you know what? There have been either leaks or spills-presumably many related to aging, some not, but radioactive leaks or spills-of tritium and other radionuclides at all the plants.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Jeff, the picture that you paint here, especially when you describe what's happening at some of these plants, is really-it's amazing, the extent of, in essence, the cracks, the corrosion. How exactly do they weaken the standards when they discover some of these problems at particular plants?
JEFF DONN: Well, what they do first is that the industry comes to government, typically-this is the pattern you see-or sometimes government comes to industry and says, "We've got all these parts or systems that are coming close to the standard, even sometimes violating the standard. What do we do about it?" And so, they set off on a round of research-and the government does some of the research, the industry does some of the research-and they find, again and again, that the standards can be lowered. The operative phrase that you hear and you read again and again is that "the standards were overly conservative." So then they find justification to lower those standards, and suddenly a group of parts or systems that were coming close to violating rules, or do violate the rules, are back within the rules. The other half of it is that the regulators sometimes can't get the systems and parts back within the rules, so then they begin issuing waivers or amendments or special exceptions that still allow the nuclear plants to keep running.
AMY GOODMAN: I just want to go back to the tritium water. Explain the dangers of this and how this is possible all over this country and what exactly it means and what can be done to stem the leaks. I mean, you have Vermont. They are poised to shut down their plant.
JEFF DONN: Yeah, that's a very good question, and it's a little bit confusing to people, I think. Tritium itself, at the levels that it's been released, is probably not a great health threat. It doesn't penetrate the skin very well. It's not like the gamma radiation that people were talking about in Japan. The main danger from tritium, the main health danger, is if you were to drink it. The EPA sets a limit for how much can be in drinking water. None of the leaks have entered drinking water in amounts that would violate the EPA limit so far.
Part of the problem-and the GAO report I was just talking about points this out-part of the problem is that the industry and the regulators don't really have a good handle on what's happening in those pipes and vaults and all that equipment under the ground, that they don't have technologies that really allow them to see that very well. So, the GAO report says we don't really know about how bad the leaks are. That's one part of the problem. Another part-that's a part that bears on public health.
Another part is that it raises questions about the integrity of the plants, about the integrity of their cooling systems. Some, not all, but some of this piping carries water that's used to cool the reactors. And in an emergency, as we saw in Japan, you desperately need that water to cool the reactors, because the radiation produces a lot of heat, and you've got to keep it cool. So, that's the other half of the problem: what do all these leaks say about the integrity of that piping and, even in a broader sense, about the integrity of a lot of parts that can't easily be seen in nuclear power plants, like all those miles of electrical cable underneath the power plants that are needed by the operators to see what's going on in the plant?
JUAN GONZALEZ: And Jeff-
JEFF DONN: So it raises a lot of questions that trouble engineers.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Jeff, doesn't the presence of tritium also indicate that probably other radioactive materials like strontium or cesium might also be getting-leaking from these plants?
JEFF DONN: It does, because tritium-that's a radioactive form of hydrogen, by the way, and that's why it gets into water, H20. It does. Tritium moves through the soil more readily than some of those other radioactive substances, so it's often-you often see it first. And then, there are lots of cases where you see other more powerful radioactive substances that do more health harm, in equal amounts, after you see the tritium. That's-you're right. That's part of why the tritium is a concern.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you name names of plants? For example, let's talk New York. What's outside of New York City, of tens of millions of people, the plant and where it stands today?
JEFF DONN: Well, they've had-there are so many problems that it's hard to enumerate them all. But, for example, they've had radioactive leaks from the spent fuel pools at Indian Point-the spent fuel pool. The spent fuel pool is where they keep the radioactive fuel after they've used it in the reactor, and that fuel remains thermally hot and radioactive for years to come, so you have to keep it cool, just like the fuel in the reactor. And they've had leakage from that spent fuel pool at Indian Point, which is about 25 miles north of New York City. And we know how important the spent fuel pools are in a different context in Japan, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, because a lot of the radioactive-radioactivity that was released in the air there was from the spent fuel pool. So, there's been a lot of focus on the spent fuel pools recently. And even the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, has hinted recently that maybe we do need to look at the spent fuel pools in the United States and how securely we're keeping the spent fuel.
AMY GOODMAN: And what about evacuation plans, I mean, at places like Indian Point? And you can go around the country.
JEFF DONN: Well, that's something that we'll be saying more about on Monday, in a story that's coming out on Monday. And I don't want to get ahead of my employer, but I can tell you that we'll be-we'll have a lot to say about how much population growth there has been around the 65 nuclear-commercial nuclear power sites in the United States over last 30 years-we did a historical mapping analysis with mapping software-and where the evacuation plans that communities must make for evacuation, if it's necessary around the plants, where they have weaknesses and where they haven't kept up to date with the population growth.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Jeff, your articles also talk about the problems with the reactor vessels that enclose the reactors and that you found major problems, as well, there, in the documents that you obtained, the monitoring documents that you obtained from the government?
JEFF DONN: Yeah, it's real interesting. One of the biggest areas of aging difficulties has been in so-called embrittlement of the steel around the reactors. And what that means is that if you bombard something with neutrons from a chain reaction, like the one that goes on inside these reactors, if you bombard steel with neutrons for years and years, it gets more brittle. And as it gets more brittle, like, say, a reed from the beach that maybe you brought home and it gets brittle, when it undergoes a force, it's more likely to suddenly shatter, to break. And the reactor vessels are like that. The vessels are these gigantic steel tubs that surround the chain reaction, the radioactive fuel, and they provide a shield from it, and they hold it. They keep the area around it safe. And so, over the years, they've got increasingly brittle. There was even one reactor in the early 1990s, the Yankee Rowe reactor in western Massachusetts, that had to be closed largely because of concerns about its vessel getting brittle.
And as-fairly early on, actually, in the industry's history, government and regulators started to notice that reactors were approaching the embrittlement standard for the vessels, and in some cases even violating that standard. And instead of saying, "OK, what can we do to get the reactors back within the standard? Is it possible to do a process called annealing, that would make them less brittle? Is it possible to replace them?" what the industry and the government did is they launched another round of research and decided, "You know what? We can back off a little bit on the standard and allow the vessels to become more brittle." And that's continued. There was a second round of this, that's taken years, that just culminated in the last year or two, where they raised that safety standard again. Again, the same pattern, saying, "We didn't need to be so strict." In other words, "We didn't need to be so safe. It's safe enough." Because the government and industry argue that, for all the changes, the reactors still remain safe-maybe not as safe as they were before, but plenty safe. That would be their argument.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we're going to leave it there, Jeff Donn, national writer for the Associated Press, member of the AP investigative team, has done this series, "Aging Nukes." We will continue to report on what you're doing. Thanks so much, Jeff, for reporting to us from Boston.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Flood berm collapsed at Nebraska nuclear plant
Associated Press
June 26, 2011
http://www.kmtv.com/story/14978101/flood-berm-collapsed-at-nebraska-nuclear-plant
FORT CALHOUN, Neb. (AP) - A berm holding back floodwater at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station has collapsed.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it's monitoring the Missouri River flooding at the plant, which has been shut down since early April for refueling.
The 2,000-foot berm collapsed about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, allowing the swollen river to surround two buildings at the plant. The NRC says those buildings are designed to handle flooding up to 1014 feet above sea level. The river is at 1006.3 feet and isn't forecast to exceed 1008 feet.
The NRC says its inspectors were at the plant when the berm failed and have confirmed that the flooding has had no impact on the reactor shutdown cooling or the spent fuel pool cooling.
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko will visit the plant Monday.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Two-Day Strike in Greece Ahead of Austerity Vote
By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS
June 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/world/europe/29greece.html?hp
ATHENS - Police fired tear gas on demonstrators in front of Parliament here on Tuesday as Greeks began a 48-hour general strike ahead of a crucial vote by lawmakers on measures deemed critical to unlocking international financial support for the debt-ridden country. A police spokeswoman said 23 people were detained, with five of them later arrested, and 21 police were injured, none seriously. There were no official figures for the number of injured demonstrators, but local news media said several people were hurt.
The strike, organized by the country's two main labor unions, is the latest in a series of walkouts and the longest strike in more than 30 years, as public outrage has grown over the Socialist government's relentless austerity drive.
As the strike began, Olli Rehn, the European Union's top economic and monetary affairs official, urged the Greek Parliament to approve the measures in votes expected on Wednesday and Thursday, so that its foreign lenders could release the aid Greece needs to stave off default.
"The only way to avoid immediate default is for Parliament to endorse the revised economic program," Mr. Rehn said. "Let me say this clearly: There is no Plan B to avoid default."
Parliamentary debate on the measures began Monday evening ahead of the vote, one of the most important in recent Greek history. Greece's euro-zone partners - and, indeed, governments and investors around the world - are keenly watching the proceedings out of fear that a failure to straighten out the country's financial problems could have repercussions throughout the world financial system.
As recently as last week, it appeared as if the Socialist prime minister, George A. Papandreou, would manage to push the measures through Parliament, where he has a narrow five-vote majority. That was true even after the center-right New Democracy opposition party announced that it would vote against them, saying the measures involved too much austerity and not enough stimulus spending.
But in recent days, a series of dissenters within the Socialist Party and a growing feeling that this government may be short-lived have complicated the picture.
So has the general strike - the first time Greek unions had walked out for more than 24 hours since democracy was restored in 1974.
The strike was aimed at halting all public transportation for two days except the Athens subway, which was running to allow Greeks to attend the demonstrations.
The strike also hit the tourism sector, as air traffic controllers called two work stoppages on Tuesday morning and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday. At the country's main port of Piraeus protesting dockworkers formed a blockade on Tuesday morning, leaving tourists unable to board ferries to the Aegean islands.
After a peaceful start, in which thousands of demonstrators converged without incident on Syntagma Square in front of Parliament in the early afternoon the situation changed suddenly, with groups of youths on the fringes of a rally throwing rocks, firebombs and firecrackers.
Security forces fired multiple rounds of tear gas to thin out the crowds, sending the youths and other demonstrators fleeing into side streets. A police spokesman said it was too early to estimate the size of the demonstration and had no information about injuries.
In the city center, hundreds of police officers in riot gear were mobilized to avert violence of the kind that broke out during the last strike on June 15 and to protect the entrance to Parliament.
Tuesday's demonstration was one of the first I which labor unions joined with the younger demonstrators who have been gathering in downtown Athens every night for the past month and who have less clear party affiliations.
As she stood in the square near the other so-called "indignados," or "indignant ones," named after the Spanish youth who protested in Madrid earlier this spring, Kyriaki Kokkini, 23, a psychology student, said she had mixed feelings about the unions. "On the one hand, we oppose all political parties, but at the same time we need the unions because they're full of people whose participation we need."
Inside Parliament, the future of Greece - and even the stability of the European financial system and the euro - seemed to be hanging on the decisions of a few wavering Greek politicians in a tense climate of political maneuvering.
A growing number of economists have criticized the measures for forcing Greece to cut spending amid a deep recession, but most analysts still contend that the proposals will pass, if only because the alternatives are at least as dire and in all likelihood more so.
"Anything can happen, but I think it will be a yes," said Babis Papadimitriou, a political analyst for Skai television and Kathimerini, a daily newspaper.
If Parliament does not approve the measures, including wage cuts, tax increases and the privatization of $70 billion in state assets, the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund have said they will not release $17 billion that Greece needs to pay its expenses through the summer.
Opening a parliamentary debate on the changes on Monday evening, Mr. Papandreou urged politicians to place "the good of the nation above narrow party interest" and approve the measures, which he said were the only way to save Greece from default and set it on the road to economic recovery.
By approving them, "we guarantee the stability of our country in the medium term so that we can pay salaries and pensions," the prime minister said, adding that their approval "will bring to an end a chapter of uncertainty and open the door to a new, healthy beginning."
On Monday, Greece's new finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, said it was important that Greece negotiate a new agreement with its foreign lenders to avoid the painful negotiations ahead of each installment of foreign aid.
"Between now and the end of the summer at the latest, we must seriously negotiate the new program with our partner and guarantee viability of the national debt with the participation of private investors internationally," Mr. Venizelos told Parliament.
Stephen Castle contributed reporting from Brussels.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) New Drugs Fight Prostate Cancer, but at High Cost
[Why we need universal, single-payer healthcare NOW!...bw]
By ANDREW POLLACK
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/health/28prostate.html?hp
A group of new drugs is promising to prolong the lives and relieve the symptoms of men with advanced prostate cancer, but could also add billions of dollars to the nation's medical bills.
In the last 15 months, three new drugs that extended the lives of prostate cancer patients in clinical trials have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and several other promising medicines are in clinical trials. Before last year, only one drug had been shown to improve survival - docetaxel, which was approved in 2004.
"What a great time it is in prostate cancer," Dr. Daniel J. George of the Duke Cancer Institute proclaimed earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
And it's a great time for the drug makers, with several drugs competing to fill a niche for longer-term survival. Analysts estimate that some of the new drugs, particularly Dendreon's Provenge and Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga, could reach annual sales of $1 billion or even much more.
The recently approved drugs and most of those in development are for cases in which the disease has spread beyond the prostate gland and is no longer held in check by hormone therapy.
Men with that late-stage cancer had a median survival of about a year and a half using docetaxel. The new drugs each added two to five months to median survival when tested in clinical trials. Doctors say that men taking more than one of the drugs in succession would be expected to live more than two years.
But the price of these drugs has already stirred concerns about the costs of care among patients, providers and insurers. For example, Provenge costs $93,000 for a course of treatment, while Zytiga costs about $5,000 a month. Another of the new drugs, Sanofi's Jevtana, costs about $8,000 every three weeks.
With other pricey drugs on the way, said Joel Sendek, an analyst at Lazard, "We could be talking easily $500,000 per patient or more over the course of therapy, which I don't think the system can afford, especially since 80 percent of the patients are on Medicare."
Medicare has already fired what some analysts interpret as a warning shot over prices, conducting a yearlong inquiry into whether to pay for Provenge. In its final decision, due Thursday, Medicare is expected to pay for the drug when used according to the label.
Medicare officials denied that price was the reason for the review. But some patient advocates and politicians portrayed the review as a step toward rationing.
Private insurers are also paying only if drugs are used according to the label, according to doctors and patient advocates.
"The reality is, there's pushback," said Dr. Oliver Sartor of Tulane University.
Still, for now, one company's price is prompting the next one to follow suit.
"The pricing environment is encouraging and getting better for us," Andrew Kay, the chief executive of Algeta, told securities analysts earlier this month, after announcing that his company's experimental drug had extended median survival nearly three months in a clinical trial.
Mr. Kay said he had initially thought that his company, which is based in Norway, would charge about $25,000 for a typical course of treatment with the drug, Alpharadin. But with the rival drug Jevtana costing about $50,000, Algeta and its partner, Bayer, are considering a higher price.
About 218,000 men in the United States get prostate cancer each year and about 32,000 die, according to the American Cancer Society.
In many cases, the cancer is caught before it has spread beyond the prostate gland and can be cured with surgery or radiation therapy.
If the cancer has spread, men usually are given drugs, particularly Abbott Laboratories' Lupron, that suppress the body's production of the hormone testosterone, which can fuel tumor growth.
The new drugs, for now at least, are for use when this hormone-deprivation therapy has stopped working.
"This is a small subset of people with prostate cancer," said Dr. Charles Myers, a prostate cancer specialist in private practice in Charlottesville, Va., who is a survivor of the disease himself. However, he noted, "It's the group of people who are dying."
Provenge was approved in April 2010 for patients whose cancer was late-stage but not yet causing many symptoms.
Once symptoms, mainly bone pain, have appeared, men are likely to receive docetaxel, a generic drug also sold by Sanofi as Taxotere .
Two other new drugs are approved for use only after docetaxel has been tried. One, Sanofi's Jevtana, is a chemotherapy drug in the same class as docetaxel; it was approved in June 2010. The other is Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga, approved this April.
Many patients and doctors are most enthusiastic about Zytiga and Provenge because they are alternatives to chemotherapy, which many men want to avoid because of side effects. Provenge works by training the body's immune system to fight the tumor.
Zytiga is a new form of hormone therapy. While Lupron mainly blocks production of testosterone by the testes, there is still some hormone produced by the adrenal gland or even by the tumor itself. Zytiga, by inhibiting an enzyme called CYP17, clamps down on testosterone production.
Doctors and patients say the new drugs can offer some men a decent quality of life, although they are not free of side effects. For instance, Zytiga, also known as abiraterone, can cause hypertension and liver damage and must be taken with the steroid prednisone.
Many men are likely to try several of the drugs. Mark Maldonado, a retired postal worker in Omaha, said that Jevtana had helped keep his cancer in check without debilitating side effects. But knowing that the drug would eventually stop working, he and his doctor "talked about abiraterone being the next step in our progress through the drugs."
More competition is coming. Takeda Pharmaceutical and Medivation, a San Francisco company, are separately developing other drugs that block testosterone's production or its effects.
Some of the most exciting advances, doctors say, are in the area of fighting the spread of prostate cancer to the bone. Such bone metastases are very common in men with advanced prostate cancer and account for most of the death and disability from the disease.
Cabozantinib, an experimental drug being developed by Exelixis, seems to be able to virtually eradicate bone metastases in some patients, at least as measured by bone scans, something no other drug has done.
Amgen won F.D.A. approval in November for Xgeva, a drug that reduces the risk of fractures and other problems caused by cancer in the bones. The drug can also delay the spread of cancer to the bones, according to the results of a more recent trial.
Dr. Christopher J. Logothetis, of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, predicted further progress.
"It's beyond the individual drugs," he said. "One sees a manual now on how to go forward."
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Tokyo Electric Power Defeats Shareholders' Efforts to Exit Nuclear Business
"'I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the trouble and fear that we have brought to our shareholders, and to society,' the chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, said at the shareholders' meeting at a tightly guarded Tokyo hotel. 'We will do our utmost to bring the accident to a resolution and to work toward our mission of providing a stable source of electricity,' he said. Some investors refused to be placated. 'Go jump into a reactor and die!' one elderly man shouted at the row of executives who were present, before being escorted out by attendants."
By HIROKO TABUCHI
June 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/business/global/29tepco.html?hp
TOKYO - The operator of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant met with angry shareholders Tuesday, offering profuse apologies as hecklers shouted abuse from a rowdy floor. But a motion that would have forced the company to abandon its nuclear program was defeated.
The management of the operating company, Tokyo Electric Power, also pushed through the appointment of 17 board members, including the reappointment of its 71-year-old chairman, raising questions about the extent of the overhaul that the company promised after the nuclear disaster.
"I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the trouble and fear that we have brought to our shareholders, and to society," the chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, said at the shareholders' meeting at a tightly guarded Tokyo hotel.
"We will do our utmost to bring the accident to a resolution and to work toward our mission of providing a stable source of electricity," he said.
Some investors refused to be placated. "Go jump into a reactor and die!" one elderly man shouted at the row of executives who were present, before being escorted out by attendants.
At one point, when Mr. Katsumata tried to wrap up a question-and-answer session, angry shareholders rushed toward the stage. The session continued.
With her voice shaking, a woman told board members that they were unfit to lead the company. She said the company had ignored warnings about the dangers of nuclear power. "Shame on you!" she cried. "You should all be sacked."
Tokyo Electric has been fighting for its survival since the March 11 quake and tsunami ravaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, about 225 kilometers, or 140 miles, north of Tokyo, leading to hydrogen explosions and releases of radioactive material in the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
At least 80,000 people in northeastern Japan have fled their homes, and farmers and fishermen in the area have had to abandon their livelihoods. Factories within a 20-kilometer evacuation zone have had to relocate or close.
Tokyo Electric could face as much as ¥11 trillion, or $136 billion, in compensation claims, analysts have estimated. The cost of dismantling the Fukushima Daiichi plant could reach an additional ¥20 trillion, according to the Japan Center for Economic Research.
The dismal forecasts have cast a dark cloud on the financial health of Japan's largest utility, a company with strong links to government that has dominated the country's power industry for decades. Last week, Moody's cut Tokyo Electric's credit rating to junk status, after a similar move by Standard & Poor's last month. Tokyo Electric shares have plunged more than 80 percent since the earthquake.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said that the government should provide a safety net for Tokyo Electric, to keep the company afloat while it pays damage claims. Japan is considering setting aside about ¥230 billion from a planned ¥2 trillion supplementary budget to help Tokyo Electric, according to Bloomberg News.
Mr. Kan has been eager to hold Tokyo Electric accountable and to avoid having to dip into public funds. But he also wants the company to avoid bankruptcy, which would bring chaos to the stock and credit markets.
The company had about 933,000 shareholders at the end of March. At that time, financial institutions held about 30 percent of Tokyo Electric shares, while other corporations had 5 percent. Individual investors held about 44 percent, while overseas investors held 17 percent.
Nevertheless, many analysts have underscored the need for change at Tokyo Electric. "A fundamental structural overhaul is needed at the board level to enable Tepco to rebuild its reputation and recover financially," Glass Lewis, a U.S. company that advises institutional investors, said in a report before the shareholder meeting.
Individual investors at the meeting Tuesday aired similar demands.
About 9,300 investors attended the meeting, the most in Tokyo Electric's history, forming long lines at the hotel venue. Anti-nuclear demonstrators also gathered at a nearby park to urge the company to abandon nuclear power.
But even as Tokyo Electric's board faced a rowdy, hostile crowd Tuesday, the company management, which has institutional investors and some individual investors on its side, was never in any real danger of defeat.
Tokyo Electric won the approval for the appointment of 17 board members, including Mr. Katsumata, the chairman, and Toshio Nishizawa, a longtime company executive, as president. All but one of the directors are company executives, according to company records.
A more contentious motion was brought by 402 shareholders who asked Tokyo Electric to shut down its existing nuclear power plants and to stop building new ones. A similar motion had been rejected at each annual shareholders' meeting for the past two decades. "Do you really want to go down in history as rejecting this motion?" asked an investor who identified himself as Masaki Kito, a lawyer. "Are you prepared to be responsible for the next big accident?"
But the motion was voted down, ending the six-hour meeting.
Still, the shareholders' demands mirror a growing anti-nuclear sentiment among the Japanese public. On June 11, tens of thousands marched across the country, calling for an end to nuclear power in Japan. In a poll published by the Nikkei business newspaper on Monday, 47 percent of respondents said they wanted fewer nuclear power plants in Japan, an increase of 5 percent from a month earlier.
Most experts agree that it would be difficult for Japan to permanently close all of its 54 plants without substantial fuel costs, as well as a large increase in carbon emissions. Before the Fukushima crisis, nuclear power provided 30 percent of the electricity needs of Japan, a resource-poor country with few domestic sources of energy to draw on. Still, 35 of Japan's 54 rectors are already closed for maintenance or safety checks, and others are scheduled to follow, which could leave the country without any nuclear power by next April. To make up for the shortfall, power companies around Japan have increased their purchases of natural gas.
At the stricken plant, meanwhile, recovery efforts have been slow and perilous. A circulation system that would allow the plant's reactors to re-use cooling water - which officials have called an important step toward resolving the crisis - was started up Monday but shut down just 1.5 hours later. The system was restarted on Tuesday afternoon.
The system was designed to reduce the amount of contaminated runoff from the reactors, which are being kept cool with water. Tokyo Electric officials have said that 110,000 tons of radioactive water has already accumulated under the reactors, and that there is a danger that the water will overflow if water cannot be safely removed or recirculated.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) No Trash, No Crash
By JAMES E. HALL
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/opinion/28hall.html
Washington
TWO years ago the world was amazed when US Airways Flight 1549 landed safely in the Hudson River after striking a flock of geese upon takeoff from La Guardia Airport. Through the heroic actions of Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III and his crew, and more than a little luck, all 155 people aboard survived in what was called the Miracle on the Hudson.
Incredibly, the Federal Aviation Administration has ignored the lesson from that episode and approved construction of a garbage transfer facility, known as the North Shore Marine Transfer Station, in College Point, Queens, less than half a mile east of La Guardia. Even though the facility is to be enclosed, the sight and smells of garbage passing through it will be irresistible to birds, as a possible food source, and are likely to draw birds into the path of approaching and departing aircraft, endangering the lives of passengers and people on the ground.
The Bloomberg administration and the New York City Department of Sanitation should never have proposed putting a bird-drawing garbage transfer station so close to an airport. But even more clearly, the F.A.A. never should have allowed the project to go forward.
F.A.A. guidelines normally call for a minimum of 10,000 feet between a "bird attractant" like this garbage-transfer station and an airport runway, yet the proposed station is being built about 2,200 feet from Runway 13/31 at La Guardia.
Moreover, each runway has an F.A.A.-mandated protection zone, a safety buffer that must be kept clear of aviation hazards, including structures. Given plans drawn up by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs La Guardia, that zone should be set at 2,500 feet for that runway - which would place the trash station squarely within it - rather than the 1,700 feet currently used.
Rather than follow its own regulations, the F.A.A. seemingly went out of its way to approve this facility. Initially, it failed to even consider the facility's potential to increase catastrophic bird strikes to aircraft at one of the world's busiest airports. Only under Congressional pressure did it finally conduct a bird-strike threat assessment.
Usually, such studies examine a five-mile radius around the facility over a full year to assess all factors relating to weather, migration, available food and bird species diversity. But the official report of the study, submitted to the United States Department of Transportation by the F.A.A., presented data on bird activity only within a quarter-mile radius of the garbage facility, and indicated that the study was conducted over only two months, in the dead of winter.
The project's defenders have offered arguments that do not stand up to scrutiny.
The city formerly operated a garbage transfer station at the same location, without incident. But the margin of safety for aviation is necessarily small; the fact that no one was killed because of a bird strike there before is no more persuasive than an uneventful car trip in which no one wore a seat belt.
While the F.A.A. panel recommended mitigation measures like a plan to reduce the hazards associated with wildlife - an implicit acknowledgement of the potential dangers - bird strikes around La Guardia have been increasing for years despite such steps.
The proposed station is designed to be "enclosed." But a recent F.A.A.-sponsored study found that transfer stations that were fully enclosed were just as attractive to birds as those that were not.
It's true that the birds that brought down Flight 1549 were migratory geese, not birds residing in Flushing Bay, which surrounds La Guardia. But the Flushing Bay area is a haven for geese and other bird species, and in any event, the birds that brought down Flight 1549 could just as easily have been resident gulls, which can weigh three pounds, more than large enough to disable an aircraft engine.
This garbage facility is not just a safety hazard. Its proximity and height would prevent the Port Authority from using new navigation equipment when clouds are low in the sky and visibility is poor. That equipment is vital to reducing delays and increasing capacity; La Guardia is among the worst airports in delays and cancellations, with huge costs.
Those who know firsthand just how deadly this facility may prove to be have not been fooled. That's why Captain Sullenberger and his co-pilot, Jeffrey B. Skiles, both oppose this project. (Full disclosure: My consulting firm does work for Kenneth D. Paskar, a pilot and Manhattan resident who opposes construction of the station and has challenged the project in court.)
The F.A.A. and the Port Authority should prevent the construction of this threat to public safety and economic well-being. If they don't, Govs. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey need to step in. If not, we will be left praying for another miracle on the Hudson.
James E. Hall, a safety and crisis management consultant, was chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1994 to 2001.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Pakistan: Fatal Attacks by Drones
By REUTERS
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/asia/28brief-pakistan.html?ref=world
Missile strikes from two American drones killed at least 21 people suspected of being militants in South Waziristan on Monday, Pakistani officials said, part of an intensified American assault in the tribal belt this month. In the first strike, a missile hit a moving vehicle in Ghalmandi Panga Village on the Afghan border, killing 8. A few hours later, another drone fired three missiles into a militant training center in Mantoi town, about 18 miles north of Wana, killing 13.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Trial of New Orleans Police Begins in the 2005 Killings of Unarmed Civilians
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28orleans.html?ref=us
NEW ORLEANS - On the sunny morning of Sept 4, 2005, five days after Hurricane Katrina, a team of police officers rushed to Danziger Bridge in the eastern part of this city in response to a report of shots fired.
Minutes later, two civilians lay dead on the bridge and four others were severely wounded, all from police bullets.
On Monday, nearly six years later, federal prosecutors and defense lawyers stood in federal court here and gave fundamentally different accounts of what happened that day.
By late afternoon, opening arguments had concluded in the trial of five current and former members of the New Orleans Police Department who are charged with firing on two groups of unarmed civilians, killing James Brissette, 17, and Ronald Madison, 40. The defendants also are charged with concocting an extensive cover-up that started immediately after the shootings and ran for years.
Defense lawyers are arguing, as they did in a previous trial involving a killing by the police in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, that the actions of the officers must be seen in the context of the extraordinary circumstances of the time, when the city was largely underwater, swirling with rumors and cut off from the outside world.
"You can't judge them by today's standards," said Eric Hessler, the lawyer who represents Sgt. Robert Gisevius. "You have to go back to Aug. 29."
The trial has been long in coming.
In 2006, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office indicted seven officers in connection with the shootings, but the case was thrown out by a judge two years later on the ground that it was tainted by prosecutorial missteps.
Later in 2008, the case was picked up by federal prosecutors, becoming the highest profile of numerous federal investigations into the Police Department.
There have been at least nine such criminal investigations, including one into the killing of a civilian and the subsequent burning of his body by officers in another part of the city. Three officers were convicted in connection with that case in December.
In March, the Justice Department issued a blistering report after a nearly yearlong civil investigation into the Police Department's practices. This is expected to lead to a judicial consent decree, which would order fundamental changes in the way the police force does its work.
But this summer, the focus in New Orleans is on what happened on the Danziger Bridge nearly six years ago.
"Shoot first and ask questions later," an assistant United States attorney, Bobbi Bernstein, said in her opening statement. "That's how this whole case got started."
Ms. Bernstein said the police had been genuinely mistaken in thinking that the civilians on the bridge were dangerous assailants, having been called to the area by another officer reporting gunfire. But she argued that the mistake turned into a crime when, without warning, they opened fire on the unarmed civilians, a family with some friends on one end of the bridge and Mr. Madison and his brother on the other.
Once the shots were fired, Ms. Bernstein said, the crime compounded in horror: some officers leaned over a railing and strafed members of a family as they lay wounded and cowering on the ground, another officer shot Mr. Madison in the back as he was running away and another stomped on Mr. Madison, who was mentally disabled, as he lay dying on the bridge.
Immediately realizing this was a "bad shoot," Ms. Bernstein said, the officers began to concoct their story, arresting two civilians on false pretenses, conjuring up fake witnesses and, eventually, planting a gun at the scene.
Among the government witnesses will be people who survived the shootings that day - the first witness on Monday was Susan Bartholomew, a 44-year-old mother whose arm was shot off by the police on the bridge - and officers who were with the team and involved in the subsequent police investigation. Five officers have pleaded guilty in connection with the Danziger case.
Defense lawyers dismissed parts of the government's account and tried to instill doubts in the jury about the reliability of coming witnesses.
But the defense also described in detail the life of a police officer in the chaotic days after the hurricane. In many cases, their own residences and their headquarters were flooded, leaving police leadership scattered if not absent altogether.
Information was dangerously unreliable given the atmosphere of threat in those days: the defense emphasized that on the morning of Sept. 4 there were several reports of shootings and armed civilians around the bridge, and that the initial distress call had reported, erroneously as it turned out, that two officers had been hit.
In this context, the defense lawyers argued that the officers on trial should be looked upon as heroes.
"These five had one thing in common: they stayed," said Paul Fleming, the lawyer who represents former Officer Robert Faulcon. "They stayed here and did their jobs, and they did their jobs the best they could under horrible, horrible circumstances."
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Nuclear Plant's Vital Equipment Dry, Officials Say
"At Fort Calhoun, where the river has risen gradually, the water seeps in through sandbag walls, electrical conduits and other places that workers had not thought much about before. There are so many small water pumps running to keep up with the leaks that keeping them supplied with gasoline and diesel requires something akin to a bucket brigade."
By MATTHEW L. WALD
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28nuke.html?ref=us
FORT CALHOUN, Neb. - When safety regulators arrive for a tour of a nuclear plant, the operators usually give the visitors a helmet, safety glasses and earplugs. When Gregory B. Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, got to the Fort Calhoun plant on Monday morning, the Omaha Public Power District offered him a life jacket.
Technically, what the plant is undergoing is not a flood but a "water event," as the regulatory commission classifies it. But Fort Calhoun has clearly been outflanked by the Missouri River, first at its front door and now at its back door as well. The only access route to the plant is over a sinuous path of catwalks built over the submerged parking lot and walkways in recent weeks.
Vital equipment like generators, pumps and controls are dry, according to the power company and to Mr. Jaczko, who spent a couple of hours clambering over walls of sandbags and inspecting waterproof barriers, some of which were added in recent months at the commission's insistence.
In the control room, the commission chairman stopped to look at a display that said, in huge numerals, "1006.46," referring to how far in feet the Missouri stands above sea level. Another display, in red, showed a squiggly history of the river's rise.
The Army Corps of Engineers and other experts say the plant is safe for up to 1,014 feet above sea level, which is higher than they expect the water to get. Despite the alarming sight of a plant surrounded by sandbag walls and a dozen pumps sucking in and spitting out water, Mr. Jaczko said later at a news conference that the operators had the situation in hand.
Among the more striking scenery at this plant a few miles north of Omaha was the floating carcass of a 2,000-foot-long rubber berm that was supposed to help protect the plant. A plant worker driving a small earth mover called a Bobcat accidentally sideswiped it early Sunday morning, pulling it open like a zipper.
"That was a huge morale dump for us," said the plant's manager, Timothy Nellenbach. But the barrier was not required by the regulatory commission's rules, and its chief purpose was solely to keep water away from the barriers that the safety agency does require, he said.
N.R.C. inspectors agreed. "Sometimes visually you'll see things at the site, see changes at the site, but those don't always have an impact on the safety aspect of facilities," Mr. Jaczko said at the news conference.
The chairman's tour, after a stop on Sunday at another nuclear plant threatened by the flooding, was partly an effort to reassure the public. In a room at the Fort Calhoun plant crammed with television monitors showing vital equipment in radioactive areas, Mr. Nellenbach showed safety pumps that are in the basement but remain dry. So is the plant's pool of radioactive spent fuel, which is at 1,035.5 feet above sea level.
"There are Internet reports that river water had risen to the level of the spent fuel pool, but that is obviously impossible," Mr. Nellenbach said.
If all cooling of the plant's nuclear fuel ceased - considered an unlikely prospect because the plant is connected to the power grid and has also shown that it can also operate its emergency diesel generators - water would begin boiling in the nuclear reactor after 36 hours, plant officials said. Yet it would take weeks for the water to fall to a level at which the reactor core would be damaged, they added.
The spent fuel pool would begin to boil in 80 hours. In both cases, the solution would be to pour in more water, and diverse pumps are available for that job, plant officials said. The plant has been shut since early April, and heat production in the core is down to half a megawatt, compared with 1,500 megawatts when the plant is running normally, they said.
If the plant did lose outside power, "it would be nothing like Fukushima, where they lost all of their infrastructure," Mr. Nellenbach declared. At the Fukushima plant in Japan, an earthquake set off a tsunami that wiped out the diesel generators, and the quake itself shut off the grid and key electrical switches.
At Fort Calhoun, where the river has risen gradually, the water seeps in through sandbag walls, electrical conduits and other places that workers had not thought much about before. There are so many small water pumps running to keep up with the leaks that keeping them supplied with gasoline and diesel requires something akin to a bucket brigade.
Orange plastic fuel cans are rolled on a cart over the catwalks and then handed off to employees who are headed deeper into the plant. Climbing over the sandbags at the entrances, they carry them in, and workers on their way out pick up a few empties and carry them out for refilling.
As the river still flows silently past, at perhaps 15 miles an hour instead of the normal 7 or 8, the drone of pumps is punctuated by the trill of birdsong. Birds seem more plentiful, some say, because of the bumper crop of mosquitoes that the flooding has produced. Speed-limit signs in the neighborhood poke out of enormous ponds of water, and there are so many "Road Closed" signs that it is a wonder that Nebraska has not run out of them.
"We've had water at nuclear plants before, but this is the only time we can recall it to this extent or duration," said Jeffrey Clark, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff member from the regional office in Arlington, Tex., who arrived here on June 9 for a quick look around but then stayed on.
The river is not expected to get substantially higher, but it may not get lower anytime soon, either. On Monday morning, Mr. Jaczko met with the Army Corps of Engineers but did not get a great deal of encouragement.
"We don't like to give worst-case scenarios anymore because every time it rains, we get a new worst case," said Col. Robert J. Ruch, commander of the Omaha District.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) Los Alamos Laboratory Is on Alert for a Wildfire
By KIRK JOHNSON
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28losalamos.html?ref=us
DENVER - A wildfire that roared out of nowhere on Sunday in northern New Mexico prompted an evacuation of Los Alamos County on Monday, and by midafternoon had spread to the boundary of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the highly sensitive headquarters for United States military nuclear research.
A laboratory spokesman, Kevin Roark, said the blaze, at the facility's southern edge, was still several miles from any essential structures on the 25,600-acre property. Mr. Roark said that nuclear and other hazardous materials had been placed in safe storage as a precaution.
Los Alamos Laboratory was created in World War II as cornerstone of the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb, and it has continued to operate over the decades since as a storied and mystery-shrouded center of military science. Its primary mission still, Mr. Roark said, is the "safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent."
The fire destroyed about 30 homes and outbuildings in the county, mostly on Sunday, but so far had not made it into the town of Los Alamos itself, said the fire chief for Los Alamos County, Doug Tucker. Chief Tucker said in a telephone interview that the encroachment onto laboratory land was also fairly quickly extinguished, and that calmer winds on Monday afternoon had given firefighters a break as well.
"We were able to get in front of it and build some lines," he said, thus slowing the growth and the threat to the communities. But Chief Tucker emphasized that the blaze - 44,000 acres had burned as of Monday morning - was still entirely uncontained and highly unpredictable. Smoke drifted through Santa Fe, which was preparing to receive evacuated residents, and further north into Colorado.
Nearly 19,000 people live in the county, mostly in the communities of Los Alamos and White Rock. The laboratory itself employs about 12,000 people.
The fire immediately evoked memories of the Cerro Grande fire in 2000, which devastated the town of Los Alamos and changed firefighting policies and strategies all across the West. That fire exploded into conflagration - destroying several hundred homes in Los Alamos - after a planned burn on a national monument site got out of control.
In the aftermath of that blaze, in New Mexico and elsewhere, the United States Forest Service, along with communities and states, undertook efforts to encourage fire defense in vulnerable areas on the edges of wildlands, including thinning of trees and reduction of flammable materials in proximity to structures.
Mr. Roark said laboratory managers had significantly altered the heavily wooded property after the 2000 fire, aiming to improve defensive fire tactics and reduce so-called fuel-loads of trees.
"We have experience with wildfire," he said, "and we feel very confident in our ability to protect lab materials and other resources."
Dennis J. Carroll contributed reporting from Los Alamos, N.M.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Police Sergeant to Get Jail Term for Perjury and Illegal Searches
By JOHN ELIGON
June 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/nyregion/nyc-police-sergeant-admits-illegal-searches-and-perjury.html?ref=nyregion
A police sergeant pleaded guilty on Monday to performing illegal searches of the cars and an apartment of people he had stopped, and then lying in court about his justification for the searches.
The sergeant, William Eiseman, a 12-year veteran of the force, accepted a deal that calls for him to serve weekends in jail for three months. Sergeant Eiseman lost his job with the Police Department on Monday afternoon because he pleaded guilty to a felony.
He and a second policeman, Officer Michael Carsey, were indicted last year. Officer Carsey, who is also charged with lying in court about a search, elected to take his case to trial, which is scheduled for Aug. 29.
According to the indictment, Sergeant Eiseman testified during a hearing in May 2008 that he saw smoke and smelled marijuana coming from Antoine Melville's illegally parked van. Sergeant Eiseman also testified that he and Officer Carsey saw pictures of contraband on Mr. Melville's iPhone and that when they questioned him about it, he said he knew his rights and "You can't get those in my apartment."
That statement was used to search Mr. Melville's apartment, where drugs and a gun were found. But Mr. Melville, who was charged with gun and drug possession, never told Sergeant Eiseman there was contraband in his apartment, according to the indictment, a point the sergeant conceded on Monday before Justice Juan Merchan in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
After the judge read aloud the allegations, Sergeant Eiseman admitted to one count of first-degree perjury, which carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence, and three counts of official misconduct. He also admitted illegally searching the cars of two men he had stopped in July 2008.
Sergeant Eiseman's lawyer, Andrew Quinn, had asked Justice Merchan to spare his client jail time because he bent the rules in an overzealous effort to keep the streets clean, not to help himself.
"He never once arrested an individual who was guilty of no crime," Mr. Quinn said in court. "He was trying to get guns and drugs off the streets."
Mr. Quinn said Sergeant Eiseman, who will forfeit his pension, had been a sergeant for four years. He also had served in the military.
Although the prosecution made no recommendation for a sentence, Julio A. Cuevas Jr., an assistant district attorney, said Sergeant Eiseman had committed perjury, falsified paperwork and trained subordinates to do the same.
His conduct, Mr. Cuevas said, "really attacks the heart of the system, undermines the integrity of the system."
Formal sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 6.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) Guess How Much More Wall St. Spends on Bonuses Than on Penalties for Torpedoing the Economy?
By Nomi Prins, AlterNet
Posted on June 27, 2011, Printed on June 29, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151434/guess_how_much_more_wall_st._spends_on_bonuses_than_on_penalties_for_torpedoing_the_economy
Are you enraged about JPM Chase's puny $156.3 million fine? The fine was part of an SEC settlement in which the firm "neither admits nor denies" any wrong-doing. Translation: Stuffing assets with carefully selected crap is not wrong. Creating the crap loans to begin with: Also, not wrong.
Of course you're pissed off. I know I am.
There aren't enough synonyms for the word "tiny" to adequately describe the size and impact of this settlement. It's a fleabite on the hand of the nation's second largest bank in punitive pain terms, and meaningless in stopping the creation of toxic assets, or reducing the criminal complexity of our banking system.
This JPM Chase settlement isn't the first wrist slap for a financial firm's role in killing our economy and making off with the money and the bailouts, while our political leaders scratch their heads and wonder where all the debt came from. This hush money is part of the SEC's two-year program to address, in its own words, the "misconduct that led to or arose from the financial crisis."
So far, the SEC has charged four firms with CDO (one of the many types of toxic assets) related fraud, including Wachovia, Goldman Sachs and JPM Chase, which settled for $11 million, $550 million (plus a civil court fine of $10 million earlier this month), and $156 million respectively. Its case against ICP Asset management remains open.
The commission also charged five firms with making misleading disclosures to investors about mortgage risks, including American Home Mortgage, whose former CEO settled for a paltry $2.45 million fine and was barred from taking a director position on any board for five years; Citigroup, which settled for a $75 million penalty; and Bank of America's Countrywide, whose former CEO, Angelo Mozilo agreed to a $22.5 million penalty and was permanently barred from being a paid director of a public company (it was a fraction of his pre-crisis $470 million take). Additionally, New Century executives were fined $1.5 million and barred from sitting on corporate boards for five years. There is an ongoing case against IndyMac Bancorp.
In addition, the SEC charged six firms with concealing the extent of risky mortgage assets dumped into mutual funds. Charles Schwab settled for a $118 million fine - it is running an expensive TV ad campaign that doesn't mention this. Evergreen, TD Ameritrade and State Street settled for $40 million, $10 million and $300 million fines respectively.
Separately, Bank of America agreed to a $150 million settlement for misleading its investors (read: the people who own stock in Bank of America) about bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives, and for not disclosing Merrill Lynch's mounting losses, before taking the firm over in September 2008. This didn't stop the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department from ardently pushing the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch merger. Neither entity has said word one about the irony of making a big bank (notably one that required the SEC investigation to begin with) bigger.
The trivial JPM Chase settlement appears even smaller when compared to the financial goodies the bank received in the wake of its financial crisis. Despite CEO Jamie Dimon's disingenuous, though fervently delivered, remarks to the contrary (he didn't need a bailout, he took it for the "team" so no bank would be singled out, with a scarlet B of bailout shame), JPM Chase, at the height of the federal bank subsidization program, got nearly $100 BILLION dollars worth of -- help.
That figure included: $25 billion from the TARP fund, which has since been repaid, $40.5 billion of backing from the FDIC's Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), which has since been retired, about $6 billion through the TARP HAMP program which aided a fraction of underwater borrowers, and $28.8 billion of Fed-backed, Treasury-pushed money to cushion any potential losses that could result from its takeover of Bear Stearns. Not to mention, JPM Chase got lots of government support when it took over Washington Mutual.
Then, there's the matter of Dimon's 2010 $17 million stock bonus.
There are those who perpetuate the myth that the bailout program was a success. They dogmatically equate the entire multi-trillion-dollar bailout, to just the $700 billion TARP part, as if the trillions of dollars of extra securities still bloating the Fed's balance sheet, among other items, don't exist. These people tend to either run the Fed, Treasury Department, any Administration, work for the Wall Street Journal, or are Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Yes, most banks repaid that TARP money -- with interest. But, that's pretty easy to do when you get to borrow from the Fed at zero percent.
Banks want us to believe that this widespread, prolonged economic depression has nothing to do with them, that they were innocent participants in an unforeseen situation that spiraled out of control. A perfect storm. Many mainstream economists concur. Sure, banks made some mistakes, but who didn't? It's not like banks had access to more information and shady techniques than regular people. What about that guy in Vegas who took out a double mortgage on his devalued home? - it was his fault, too.
Leaving aside the tepid characterization implied by the term "misconduct" instead of say, "racketeering," these fines don't, and won't, change the banking landscape. They won't halt the manufacturing of potentially toxic securities crafter from the droppings on the dirty floor of banks' books. They don't stop banks from legally taking multiple sides of any trade in the name of "market making."
The SEC seems fine with that. The SEC was founded in conjunction with the Glass-Steagall Act that separated banks that dealt with the public's deposit and financing needs, from those that created and traded speculative securities for profit. It would be prudent to suggest a modern equivalent of that act. It might help the SEC do its job of protecting the public before devastation, or at the very least, untangle the web of fraud and debt at the core of these complex giants.
But, that won't happen. Not as long as small fines, absent any attached probation, stringent monitoring or cease-and-desist requirements, can slowly make the issue go away. It takes longer to argue a traffic ticket than the three months it took Goldman Sachs to "agree" to a $550 million settlement on July 15, 2010. People caught with minor amounts of pot undergo stricter punishments.
In total, the SEC charged 66 entities and individuals with misconduct, imposed bans to becoming a board or company director on 19 people, and levied $1.5 billion of fines. Millions of homes and jobs lost. An economy in shambles. And that's it.
Put that in perspective with the $28 billion in bonuses that JPM Chase scooped up for just 2010, or the $424 billion in total bonuses the top six banks bagged between the crisis book-end years of 2007-2009, or the $128 billion of bonuses Wall Street got last year. Now, consider that not only is the penalty amount a pittance, but the impact of these fines is even smaller. This, amongst a host of regulatory misfires, including the tepid Dodd-Frank "reform" act, leaves us worse off from a stability perspective, than we were before the crisis.
And no one, from any party, said a damn thing about it.
Nomi Prins is a senior fellow at the public policy center Demos and author of It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) Thank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for Slam-Dunking Israeli Apartheid!
End the Occupation
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/
Two months ago, YNet News reported that legendary basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was planning to visit Israel in coordination with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Consulate of New York. NBA Sporting News reported that Abdul-Jabbar would be competing for the "Spirit of Freedom Award" at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
In private correspondence, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has confirmed that the former Los Angeles Lakers star has decided not to visit Israel due to concerns arising "after the Nakba Day violence." This year's commemoration of the Nakba, left 12 unarmed Palestinians dead after Israeli forces opened fire on refugees attempting to exercise their internationally recognized right of return.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, thank you for calling Israel's foul! Israeli cultural institutions like the Jerusalem Film Festival are used cynically to brand Israel as a beacon of cultural and technological progress, diverting attention away from its occupation and apartheid policies. For this reason, cultural boycott of Israel is a key component of the growing Palestinian-led movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law. You can read the Palestinian guidelines for cultural boycott here.
100 organizations signed a thank-you letter to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, urging him to hold fast to his decision not to lend his good name or an air of legitimacy to Israeli human rights violations. In addition to the US Campaign, signatories include the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israel), the Organization for Black Struggle, six Islamic-American organizations, four Jewish organizations, fourteen campus groups, and dozens of other US Campaign member organizations.
The letter points out to Abdul-Jabbar:
Your film, "On the Shoulders of Giants," documents the policies of segregation and racism that characterized the world of basketball in the 1930s. Ironically, the majority of Muslim and Christian Palestinians could not even have attended such a screening because they are excluded from entering Jerusalem on the basis of their ethnicity and religion.
Click here to thank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for slam dunking apartheid!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/641/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7161
Meg Ryan and Dustin Hoffman similarly declined an invitation to the Jerusalem Film Festival last year following the deadly attacks on the first Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The second Freedom Flotilla is set to sail to Gaza this month.
Join 100 organizations in showing support for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's decision and urging him to consider the Palestinian call for BDS!
Anna Baltzer
National Organizer
P.S. -- The US Campaign's ability to build cultural boycott campaigns like this is a result of the generous support we receive from people like you. Please donate today to the US Campaign to make our BDS work even stronger.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
16) Staying Human: Preparing to Sail to Gaza
By Kathy Kelly
Published on Monday, June 27, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/27
Last week, newly-arrived in Athens as part of the US Boat to Gaza project, our team of activists gathered for nonviolence training. We are here to sail to Gaza, in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, on our ship, "The Audacity of Hope." Our team, and nine other ships' crews from countries around the world, want Israel to end its lethal blockade of Gaza by letting our crews through to shore to meet with Gazans. The US ship will bring over 3,000 letters of support to a population suffering its fifth continuous decade of de facto occupation, now in the form of a military blockade controlling Gaza's sea and sky, punctuated by frequent deadly military incursions, that has starved Gaza's economy and people to the exact level of cruelty considered acceptable to the domestic population of our own United States, Israel's staunchest ally.
The international flotilla last year was brutally attacked and the Turkish ship fired on from the air, with a cherrypicked video clip of the resulting panic presented to the world to justify nine deaths, one of a United States citizen, most of them execution-style killings. So it's essential, albeit a bit bizarre, to plan for how we will respond to military assaults. Israeli news reports say that their naval commandos are preparing to use attack dogs and snipers to board the boats. In the past, they have used water cannons, taser guns, stink bombs, sound bombs, stun guns, tear gas, and pepper spray against flotilla passengers. I've tried to make a mental list of plausible responses: remove glasses, don life jacket, affix clip line which might prevent sliding off the deck, carry a half onion to offset effect of tear gas, remember to breathe.
Israel Defense Forces are reportedly training for a fierce assault intended to "secure" each boat in the flotilla, the "Freedom Flotilla 2". As passengers specifically on the U.S. boat, we may be spared the most violent responses, although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has not ruled out such violent responses and has preemptively certified any response we may "provoke" (in sailing from international waters to a coastline that is not part of Israel) is an expression of Israel's "right to defend themselves" (http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/hillary-clinton-gives-green-light-israeli-attack-gaza-flotilla). Israel says it is prepared for a number of scenarios, ranging "from no violence" (which it knows full well to expect) to "extreme violence" (http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=226655). We are preparing ourselves not to panic, and to practice disciplined nonviolence whatever scenario Israel decides to enact.
If they overcome our boat swiftly, they will presumably handcuff us and possibly hood us, before commandeering our ship toward an Israeli port, removing us from the ship, jailing us and (judging from their past actions) deporting us. I don't know what country I would be deported to, but I would eventually return to the U.S. and to my home city of Chicago, and to a safety I cannot share with the desperate people of Gaza, or friends from throughout this region so troubled by war, much of it instigated by my own country.
The slogan of our flotilla is "Stay Human." It's advice that exposure to violence, real or imagined, always tempts us to forget. Young friends I have met in Afghanistan, faced with pervasive everyday precarity I cannot easily imagine, have expressed this idea in a YouTube video which utterly takes my breath away: They ask Gazan youth to hold on to hope and to the capacity for childlike joy: "To friends in Gaza: don't stay angry for too long, Stay together, and love from us in Afghanistan!"
My fellow passenger John Barber recently visited Gaza, and this morning he told me a harrowing story of a Gazan family, that of a farmer named Nasr, living near the Gazan-Israeli buffer zone. The first attack took place in June of 2010. To quote John's website: "...the Israeli army attacked the family home while the children were playing outside...Nasr's wife, Naama, was in the front yard when a tank 500 meters from the home fired shells packed with nails at the home. Nasr's wife, torn to ribbons, bled to death in the yard when ambulances were not permitted down the narrow dirt road to his home." Ambulance stoppages are a frequent punitive measure used against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza."
"After the second attack," which occurred in April 2011, "Nasr's family moved to a house in the village, near to the cemetery where his wife was buried. One night, around midnight, Nasr woke to find his children gone. He went outside and found them at their mother's grave." The next day he took them away from that village and back to their land, to try and put the past behind them, and await a future they can barely hope will be kind.
I hope that our ship will make it to Gaza. I hope Johnny Barber can again visit Nasr, and that I can visit the family and the trapped young men who sheltered me during the final days of the crushing December 2008 "Operation Cast Lead" bombardment. I hope that our ship will make it out of dock - acting on an "anonymous complaint," the government here has demanded an inspection of several days before they will allow our (entirely seaworthy) ship to sail. With its world-headline-producing economic troubles, Greece seems incredibly vulnerable to the intense pressure that the Israeli and U.S. governments seem openly prepared to exert: we hope that neither economic nor political blackmail will succeed at stopping our ship from leaving the spot near Athens where it is waiting to receive us.
"Please don't lose the human capacity for happiness." My Afghan friends in the video urge us to stay human. Ali, who speaks in the video, has been harassed by Afghan security forces since becoming active with the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers. So has his family. Others of his companions have faced death threats, interrogation, arson and theft. Their persistence encourages and guides me, and I struggle to let their persistence urge me on, because staying human is also about doing what is right.
I think of Nasr's children watching their mother die, and I think that if they're going to stay human then I and my countrymen and women ought to help. We have to become more human than we've so far managed to be: We have to make sacrifices to stop the crimes that are ultimately being committed in our names. In different ways, we have to risk the consequences of being where we need to be when we need to be there. We have to stand up to injustice and with the victims of injustice, and rely on our opponents to find their humanity in time, given enough examples of what it can look like. When we find ourselves, against all odds, staying human, that example surprises us and helps sustain us in hope for the power of humanity. We hope we will be allowed through to Gaza, we hope that the siege will be lifted, and that in this time when humankind can so little afford the nightmares of greed and ignorance that rend the Middle East and that render our leaders incapable of uniting to address ever-more desperate, ever-more-frightening global crises, we as a species, one with no assurance of its perpetual survival, will somehow find some way to stay human.
Kathy Kelly is a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Kathy Kelly's email is kathy@vcnv.org
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
17) Radioactive water leaks from Japan's damaged plant
Photo
Tue, Jun 28 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE75Q1EV20110628
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tons of radioactive water were discovered on Tuesday to have leaked into the ground from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the latest in a series of leaks at the plant damaged in a March earthquake and tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog said.
More than three months after the disaster, authorities are struggling to bring under control damaged reactors at the power plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
About 15 metric tons of water with a low level of radiation leaked from a storage tank at the plant on the Pacific coast, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it was investigating the cause of the leak which was later repaired.
Vast amounts of water contaminated with varying levels of radiation have accumulated in storage tanks at the plant after being used to cool reactors damaged when their original cooling systems were knocked out by the March 11 disaster.
Dealing with that radioactive water has been a major problem for Tepco, which is trying to use a decontamination system that cleans water so it can be recycled to cool the reactors.
But the system has encountered technical glitches and officials have said the water could spill into the Pacific Ocean unless the system was operating properly.
The system was halted an hour and a half after it started on Monday because of a water leakage.
Tepco fixed the problem and restarted the system on Tuesday afternoon, said Junichi Matsumoto, an official at the utility.
(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Michael Watson and Robert Birsel)
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
18) Welfare for Dictators
A NEWSWEEK investigation reveals how Pentagon billions are flowing to strongmen in the Middle East.
"...a NEWSWEEK investigation of Pentagon contracting practices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Bahrain has uncovered more than $14 billion paid mostly in sole-source contracts to companies controlled by ruling families across the Persian Gulf. The revelation raises a fundamental question: are U.S. taxpayer dollars enriching the ruling potentates of friendly regimes just as the youthful protesters and the Arab Spring have brought a new push for democracy across the region?"
by Aram Roston
June 26, 2011
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/26/pentagon-billions-are-flowing-to-middle-east-dictators.html
Officially, the U.S. does not pay other governments for rights to military bases. The logic is straightforward: funneling money to the treasuries of foreign dictators cannot form the foundation of genuine strategic alliances. Yet, to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while staring down the mullahs in Iran, over the last decade the Pentagon has come to rely in an unprecedented way on a web of bases across the Middle East. And a NEWSWEEK investigation of Pentagon contracting practices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Bahrain has uncovered more than $14 billion paid mostly in sole-source contracts to companies controlled by ruling families across the Persian Gulf. The revelation raises a fundamental question: are U.S. taxpayer dollars enriching the ruling potentates of friendly regimes just as the youthful protesters and the Arab Spring have brought a new push for democracy across the region?
Take a look at Abu Dhabi. The wealthiest of the United Arab Emirates, it hosts a U.S. Air Force base at Al Dhafra, which is a vital refueling hub in the region. As is the case in most Gulf states, Abu Dhabi is ruled by a single family that dominates both government and business. Here it is the Nahyan family, and the emir is 63-year-old Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is known for his interest in camel racing, is worth $15 billion, and controls the country's national oil company, ADNOC. As it turns out, every drop of fuel America buys for its planes at Al Dhafra-more than 200 million gallons a year, costing $5.2 billion since 2005-is purchased from the Al Nahyan--controlled ADNOC.
Yet, according to contract documents, that money has bypassed the competitive bidding process that is supposed to accompany any -purchase-of firearms, flak jackets, or fuel-by the Pentagon.
In Abu Dhabi, "we may be essentially buying our presence," says Alexander Cooley, a professor at Barnard College who studies U.S. basing strategy. The U.S. regularly pays rents to foreign landowners, but those payments are separate from base rights, which are government-to-government agreements. On bases, Cooley says, "there is a quid pro quo that is tacit."
Nearly three decades ago, after a spree of spending scandals-there was a $436 hammer and a toilet seat that cost $640-Congress passed the 1984 Competition in Contracting Act requiring competitive bidding. The principle is simple: competition drives down prices and increases quality. According to Charles Tiefer, a member of the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting, "The law mandates competition with very limited exceptions."
Abu Dhabi has exploited one of those exemptions brilliantly. Five years ago, at the height of the Iraq War, an American fuel contractor based in Florida called IOTC challenged a $500 million sole-source contract teed up for ADNOC. The award "must be open to full competition," a contract lawyer, Ronald Uscher, wrote in a protest letter to the federal Government Accountability Office. The Pentagon fought back, citing what it said was U.A.E. law, but IOTC's lawyer says the military "was unable to produce any such law or decree."
Internal Pentagon emails obtained by NEWSWEEK under the Freedom of Information Act show confusion even inside the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which handles procurement for the military. After a colonel questioned the sole-source process with ADNOC in 2008, the acting division chief of the agency responded, "Basically, it's the only company we are allowed to source fuel from as per the local gov't." Later, a U.S. contracting officer asked, "Is there any documentation or history" about the Abu Dhabi law? Even the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said that it could not actually find a copy of the law. Only a few months later, the Pentagon issued another $918 million sole-source contract to ADNOC. In Tiefer's estimation, "you are turning the keys to the treasury over to the sheikdom."
The Pentagon says it did what it had to. "We have an option," a DLA official told NEWSWEEK. "Do you want to be in that country and fly out of the airfield and use the fuel they provide, or not?" (ADNOC would not comment.) As Ronald Neumann, a former ambassador in the Middle East, says, the dilemma is "a potential effect of doing business in nondemocratic countries."
Ruling families hosting other U.S. bases in the Gulf seem to be profiting in the same way. Consider Kuwait, where Arifjan, the major U.S. base, serves as the chief military supply route to Iraq. Like the Al Nahyan family in Abu Dhabi, the al-Sabah clan runs Kuwait, as well as its national oil concern, Kuwait Petroleum Co., which has received some $4 billion in Pentagon contracts since 2005, much of it in sole-source contracts. The DLA explains, "Contracts providing fuel destined for Iraq are sole source due to Kuwaiti restrictions."
Or look at the kingdom of Bahrain, where Arab Spring protests have raged this past month. It's also home to the 60-acre headquarters of the U.S.'s Fifth Fleet. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa rules the country, and as it happens, Bahrain is also host to the regional headquarters for the DLA's energy operations-the office that buys all fuel for the U.S. military in the first place. Every year Bahrain's national oil company routinely wins a chunk of a huge Pentagon contract, called WestPac, to provide fuel to U.S. military operations in the western Pacific. Bahrain's national fuel company has achieved a rare status: the kingdom, which has a population of barely more than 1 million people, has became one of the American military's chief fuel suppliers, taking in billions. The DLA points out that Bahrain's fuel sales are not a sole-source contract like the ones in Abu Dhabi. Instead, the Pentagon says, Bahrain always wins because its bid is low; it offers vast quantities of fuel; and it has few, if any, competitors among the "traditional suppliers" in the region. David Kirsh, a director at the oil--consulting firm PFC Energy, says, "The Bahrain Petroleum Co. probably would not be winning these contracts if not for the base." The official at the DLA says the agency does its best to provide fuel at low cost to U.S. forces around the world.
The question remains whether these strategic alliances are floating on more than a fast-flowing river of taxpayer money.
Roston is an investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
19) Trial Begins: Did New Orleans Media Contribute to Police Violence After Hurricane Katrina?
By Jordan Flaherty
Truthout | News Analysis
Friday 24 June 2011
http://www.truth-out.org/new-orleans-police-violence-trial-begins-today/1308853109
Jury selection began June 22 in what observers have called the most important trial New Orleans has seen in a generation. It concerns a shocking case of police brutality that has already redefined this city's relationship to its police department, and radically rewritten the official narrative of what happened in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina. Five police officers are facing charges of shooting unarmed African-Americans in cold blood, killing two and wounding four, and then conspiring to hide evidence. Five officers who participated in the conspiracy have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against their fellow officers.
The shootings occurred on September 4, 2005, as two families were fleeing Katrina's floodwaters, crossing New Orleans' Danziger Bridge to get to dry land. Officers, who apparently heard a radio report about shootings in the area, drove up, leapt out of their vehicle and began firing. Ronald Madison, a mentally challenged man, was shot in the back at least six times, then reportedly stomped and kicked by an officer until he was dead. His brother Lance Madison was arrested on false charges. James Brissette, a high school student, was shot seven times and died at the scene. Susan Bartholomew, 38, was wounded so badly her arm was shot off of her body. Jose Holmes Jr. was shot several times, then, as he lay bleeding, an officer stood over him and fired point blank at his stomach. Two other relatives of Bartholomew were also badly wounded.
Do you like this? Click here to get Truthout stories sent to your inbox every day - free.
Danziger is one of at least nine recent incidents involving the New Orleans Police Department being investigated by the US Justice Department, several of which took place in the days after the city was flooded. Officers have recently been convicted by federal prosecutors in two other high-profile trials. In April, two officers were found guilty in the beating of death of Raymond Robair, a handyman from the Treme neighborhood. In December, a jury convicted three officers and acquitted two in killing Henry Glover, a 31-year-old from New Orleans' West Bank neighborhood, and burning his body.
From Survivors to Looters
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, people around the world felt sympathy for New Orleans. They saw images of residents trapped on rooftops by floodwaters, needing rescue by boat and helicopter. But then stories began to come out about looters and gangs among the survivors and the official response shifted from humanitarian aid to military operation. Then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco sent in National Guard troops, announcing. "They have M-16s and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." Warren Riley - at that time the second in charge of the police department - reportedly ordered officers to "take the city back and shoot looters."
In the following days, several civilians - almost all of them African-American - were killed under suspicious circumstances in incidents involving police and white vigilantes. For years, family members and advocates called for official investigations and were rebuffed. "Right after the hurricane there were individuals and organizations trying to talk about what happened on Danziger," says Dana Kaplan, executive director of Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL), a legal and advocacy organization based in New Orleans. "But their voices were marginalized."
There is evidence that local media could have done a better job. Alex Brandon, a photographer for New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper, who later went on to work for Associated Press, testified in the Glover trial that he knew details about the police killings that he didn't reveal. "He saw things and heard things that proved to be useful in a criminal investigation. He didn't report them as news," wrote Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry after the Glover trial concluded.
Former Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who led an initial investigation of the Danziger officers, believes an indifferent local media bears partial responsibility for the years of cover-up. "They were looking for heroes," he says. "They had a cozy relationship with the police. They got tips from the police; they were in bed with the police. It was an atmosphere of tolerance for atrocities from the police. They abdicated their responsibility to be critical in their reporting. If a few people got killed that was a small price to pay."
Family members and advocates tried to get the stories of police violence out through protests, press conferences, and other means. Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund, an organization dedicated to justice in reconstruction, held a tribunal in 2006 where they presented accusations of police violence - among other charges - to a panel of international judges, including members of Parliament from seven countries. Activists even brought charges to the United Nations, filing a shadow report in February 2008 with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva. But it was not until late 2008 that a journalist named AC Thompson did what the local media failed to do and investigated these stories in detail. "It's unfortunate that it took a national publication to really dig to the root," says Kaplan, referring to Thompson's work. "In New Orleans, the criminal justice system has been so corrupt for so long, that things that should be shocking didn't seem to be raising the kind of broad community outrage that they should have."
In 2009, after years of pressure from activists and the national attention brought on by Thompson's reporting, the US Justice Department decided to look into the accusations of police violence. This has led to one of the most wide-ranging investigations of a police department in recent US history. Dozens of officers are facing lengthy prison terms and corruption charges have reached to the very top of the department.
The Danziger trial is expected to last two months. Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon, the officers involved in the shooting, could receive life sentences if convicted. Sgt. Arthur Kaufman, who was not on the bridge, is charged only in the conspiracy and could receive a maximum of 120 years. Justice Department investigations of other incidents are continuing and it is likely that some form of federal oversight of the department will be announced in the coming months.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
20) France Admits to Arming Libyan Rebels
By DAVID JOLLY and MAÏA DE LA BAUME
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/europe/30france.html?hp
PARIS - France confirmed on Wednesday that it has provided weapons to the Libyan rebels, the first instance of a NATO country providing direct military aid to the forces seeking to oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
Col. Thierry Burkhard, a spokesman for the French military, said France responded in early June to a United Nations request, made in May, for a "humanitarian pause" to allow the delivery of essential medical supplies and other relief items to Libyan civilians in the besieged city of Misurata and in the towns and cities of the western mountain region, also under attack from loyalist forces.
"The U.N. request never actually took effect," he said. "So we airdropped water, food and medical supplies" to Misurata and to the Nafusah Mountains south of Tripoli.
"During this operation troops also airdropped arms and ammunition several times, including assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades and launchers," he said.
The French military assistance was first reported by Le Figaro, which cited unidentified government officials as saying the military assistance was meant to help break the stalemate in Libya. The rebels were under sustained attack from loyalist forces until roughly the period in June that seems to coincide with the weapons drop. In what was seen as something of a mystery, they suddenly turned the tide on the Qaddafi forces and established control over most of the Nafusah Mountains region.
They have continued to gain ground. On Tuesday, the western rebels overran an enormous government weapons depot, though the most valuable arms seemed to have been destroyed or removed before they took control.
France, like the United States and Britain, is wary of the political and financial cost of an extended Libyan campaign and is eager for a decisive blow to bring down the Qadaffi government.
The thinking in Paris, Le Figaro reported, was that the rebels operating in the Nafusah Mountains currently have the best chance of breaking through to Tripoli and routing the government forces.
Colonel Burkhard denied Le Figaro's report that the French had furnished the rebels with Milan antitank missiles, and declined to comment on the strategic implications of the assistance.
"The civilian population was in a critical humanitarian situation and was threatened by the pro-Qaddafi forces," he said.
NATO officials in Brussels did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
21) Intense Clashes Ease in Cairo
"Many of those who rushed to Tahrir Square on Tuesday expressed disbelief at the intensity of the fighting. 'This is not what we called for when we took to the streets on January 25th,' said Salma Samer, 23. 'This is not the revolution we imagined.' ...Protest groups called for an open sit-in in Tahrir Square to start on Wednesday, earlier than originally planned, and are demanding an immediate end to emergency law and the removal of several top officials, including the interior minister, the finance minister and the prosecutor general. By late afternoon thousands were still in the square and the surrounding streets. It was unclear how many planned to spend the night. 'I will bring my tent and camp out in Tahrir until Tantawi leaves,' said Mohammed Abdel Moti, 47. 'There won't be any true justice while the military is in power.'"
By DINA SALAH AMER
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/middleeast/30egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - Clashes between Cairo residents and security forces eased Wednesday afternoon after deepening into pitched street battles, the first since the revolution that toppled Egypt's government five months ago.
The clashes began Tuesday evening when the police refused to allow a crowd of people to enter a central theater for an event commemorating protesters killed during the 18-day revolution in January. Many in the crowd said they were relatives of those who died and fought with the police to gain entry. The police responded by attacking the crowd, until they reached the square. There, thousands of people, outraged at hearing of the harsh police action, joined in the clashes, which lasted into the night.
On Wednesday morning, tear gas hung over the streets around the debris-strewn central Tahrir Square as the police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, who responded with stones and homemade firebombs. At least 75 civilians were hospitalized and an additional 500 were treated at the scene, said the health minister, Hatem Ashraf Shehata. At least 32 police officers were also injured, he said.
The crowds chanted against the country's transitional government, which took power in January after the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, was forced out of office. "Down with Field Marshal Tantawi!" they shouted, in reference to the leader of the transitional government. "Down with the regime!" Many called for the removal of top officials and for trials of former senior members of the Mubarak government to move forward faster.
The street battles wound down by Wednesday afternoon, and the army deployed around the Interior Ministry building, which had been the site of intense fighting. In a statement posted on Facebook, the cabinet of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said the clashes were part of an organized effort to generate chaos in the country and urged all young Egyptians to protect the revolution. The Interior Ministry called the crowds armed thugs.
Many of those who rushed to Tahrir Square on Tuesday expressed disbelief at the intensity of the fighting. "This is not what we called for when we took to the streets on January 25th," said Salma Samer, 23. "This is not the revolution we imagined."
The prime minister said Wednesday on state television that the police only used violence in self-defense and to protect public property. He added that Egypt was slowly moving toward stability before the clashes and that a police reform program was under way.
Protest groups called for an open sit-in in Tahrir Square to start on Wednesday, earlier than originally planned, and are demanding an immediate end to emergency law and the removal of several top officials, including the interior minister, the finance minister and the prosecutor general.
By late afternoon thousands were still in the square and the surrounding streets. It was unclear how many planned to spend the night. "I will bring my tent and camp out in Tahrir until Tantawi leaves," said Mohammed Abdel Moti, 47. "There won't be any true justice while the military is in power."
Lara El Gibaly contributed reporting.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
22) Feds Show Fake Safety Records in W.Va. Mine Blast
"Federal investigators first revealed they had found two sets of books - one focused on safety, the other on production - during a private meeting with the victims' families Tuesday night. It's one of the few revelations to come from the ninth briefing since the investigation began last summer into the deadliest U.S. coalfield disaster in four decades."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06/29/us/AP-US-Mine-Explosion-Families.html?ref=us
BEAVER, W.Va. (AP) - Coal company managers pressured miners to generate a second set of reports omitting chronic safety problems to mislead inspectors before an underground explosion killed 29 men last year, federal regulators said Tuesday.
Kevin Stricklin, coal administrator for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said top management at the Upper Big Branch mine was required to countersign safety inspection books that collect miners' daily reports on conditions. The mine was owned by Massey Energy until Alpha Natural Resources bought its rival this month.
"The investigation team concluded that the managers were aware that chronic hazardous conditions were not recorded," he said during a briefing on the federal investigation. Testimony from some of the 266 witnesses MSHA has interviewed also "indicated that management pressured examiners to not record hazards in the books."
Federal investigators first revealed they had found two sets of books - one focused on safety, the other on production - during a private meeting with the victims' families Tuesday night. It's one of the few revelations to come from the ninth briefing since the investigation began last summer into the deadliest U.S. coalfield disaster in four decades.
Alpha Natural Resources spokesman Ted Pile said Wednesday the company was hearing about the faked reports for the first time.
"It's a claim I'm sure we'll look into as we conduct our own review of what happened," Pile said in an email to The Associated Press.
In a public briefing Wednesday, Stricklin showed side-by-side comparisons of records that purported to document the same shift on three different dates in the month before the accident. In each case, the official book that inspectors would have seen showed few, if any, hazards, while the production reports indicated various problems with faulty machinery, explosive methane gas and bad roof conditions.
"If a coal mine wants to keep two sets of books, that's their own business," Stricklin said. "They can keep five sets of books if they want. But what they're required to do is list all the hazards in the official book.
"This is the book that not only MSHA looks at ... but it should be the book that miners and other people who are going into the mine should look at so they would be aware of any conditions in the mine before they go in," Stricklin said.
On April 5, 2010, the day of the blast, a pre-shift inspection report identified very few hazards. But Stricklin says other documents showed six of 10 conveyor belts needed to be coated with pulverized limestone to prevent coal dust from exploding, and five belts needed cleaning.
Bobbie Pauley, the only woman who worked underground at Upper Big Branch, said she was not surprised by MSHA's revelation.
"You put in an inspection report what you wanted the inspectors to see," said Pauley, who lost fiance Howard "Boone" Payne in the blast.
"Zero, zero, zero deters MSHA from coming back. If they see a potential problem recorded in a book, then they're going to come back and investigate it time after time after time," she said. "Well, no coal operator wants to be pounded by MSHA every day.
Pauley returned to Upper Big Branch only briefly after the explosion and now works aboveground at another former Massey operation bought out by Alpha. She was among some 200 people attending Wednesday's briefing.
MSHA has drafted its final report but told victims' families it likely won't be delivered until October.
The explosion also remains the subject of a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, and MSHA has said it won't release some information to avoid hindering that probe. It largely reiterated its past public statements, offering more detail but no new theories.
So far, only one Massey employee has been indicted. Security chief Hughie Stover is charged with three federal crimes for allegedly lying to the FBI and MSHA and obstructing justice by ordering a subordinate to throw away thousands of pages of security documents from the mine.
MSHA contends the explosion started with a small, naturally occurring release of methane or natural gas that was then fueled by coal dust into a devastating inferno that tore through the mine in a series of explosions over a few minutes. The agency has blamed a poorly maintained cutting head on a piece of mining equipment for sparking the blast and a malfunctioning water sprayer for failing to douse it.
An independent investigation commissioned by former Gov. Joe Manchin reached the same conclusion last month.
That study accused Massey of ignoring the most basic safety practices in the industry, allowing highly explosive coal dust and methane gas to accumulate, and failing to provide either enough fresh air flow or enough pulverized limestone on the mine's walls to render coal dust inert.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
23) Hackers Release More Data From Arizona Police
By RIVA RICHMOND
June 29, 2011, 1:51 pm
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/hackers-release-more-data-from-arizona-police/?src=busln
Hackers on Wednesday publicly exposed for the second time information they claimed to have stolen from the computer systems and personnel of the Arizona state police, in a continuation of a nearly two-month hacking spree.
A hacker group known as Lulz Security last week leaked case files, phone numbers and addresses of officers from the department in what it said was a response to the state's tough laws aimed at illegal immigrants. The latest cache contained material from officers' personal e-mail accounts, including "humiliating dirt," according to a statement from the hackers posted on The Pirate Bay, a site for users of the file-sharing tool BitTorrent, which the hackers used to distribute the data.
A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety said it was looking into the hackers' claims and whether its systems had been breached.
The hackers no longer call themselves Lulz Security, or LulzSec for short, after disbanding last weekend and rejoining the larger hacker collective Anonymous. They are now working under a new banner they call "AntiSec," protesting corruption and censorship.
One of the police department's spokesmen was singled out for attack in the latest data release for "bragging" about the department's security upgrades, promising the hackers would be caught and calling them "a cyber terrorism group."
"The same fate will meet anyone else who tries to paint us as terrorists in an Orwellian attempt to pass more pro-censorship or racial-profiling police state laws," the group warned in its statement.
It also said it had spared one former officer from having his personal information exposed because it learned that he was a Navajo and planned on suing the department for racial discrimination.
The disclosure followed the release on Tuesday of a pile of stolen content tied to the governments of Brazil, Australia, Anguilla and Zimbabwe; a right-wing Columbian police unit; and to Universal Music and Viacom. In a statement, the group said the action was retaliation "against corrupt Governments (in our world this is all Governments) and corrupt companies."
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
24) Unemployment Rises in More Than Half of US Metros
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 29, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06/29/business/AP-US-Metro-Unemployment.html?src=busln
WASHINGTON (AP) - Unemployment rates rose last month in more than half of the nation's largest metro areas, driven higher by weak private-sector hiring and natural disasters.
The unemployment rate increased in 210 metro areas in May, the Labor Department said Wednesday. It fell in 131 cities and remained unchanged in 37. That's a sharp reversal from April, when unemployment rates dropped in more than 90 percent of metro areas.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate ticked up in May to 9.1 percent and employers added just 54,000 net jobs. Employers added an average of 220,000 jobs per month in the previous three months.
Tornadoes and flooding shut some companies down in the South in late April and May. And a parts shortage stemming from the March 11 earthquake in Japan affected U.S. auto production. The metro employment data isn't seasonally adjusted and as a result can be volatile from month to month.
One of the biggest increases was in Tuscaloosa, Ala., which was struck a deadly tornado that killed 41 people in late April. The unemployment rate there rose from 8.1 percent in April to 9.3 percent in May.
Toyota, Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Chrysler were all forced to shut down some or all of their North American factories because of the parts shortage. At least 13 metro areas in South Carolina and Louisiana, where many factories are located, saw significant gains in their unemployment rates. Detroit, Ann Arbor and Battle Creek, Mich., also saw big increases.
The sharpest increase in unemployment was in Yuma Ariz. The unemployment rate there rose from 25.3 percent in April to 27.9 percent in May. Competition from farmers in neighboring Mexico has left some cotton, wheat and lettuce growers out of work. Agriculture drives about 40 percent of Yuma's economy.
Many of the areas with the steepest declines are tourist destinations. Hotels and tourist attractions add workers for the summer season. Ocean City, N.J., reported the sharpest decline. The unemployment there fell from 13.3 percent in April to 11.6 percent in May.
Other steep drops were in three California metro areas: Madera-Chowchilla, Santa Cruz-Watsonville and Salinas. All three cities are big farming communities that demand more seasonal workers at this time of year.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
No comments:
Post a Comment