Sunday, September 28, 2008
Paul Newman, R.I.P.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/2008/09/27/2008-09-27_matinee_idol_handsome_paul_newman_prefer.html
Rest in peace, Paul Newman. You are surely missed!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Palin's Email Habits Echo Worst Practices of Bush Administration Says Expert
Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mail habit of using a private account to
communicate with aides echos the worst practices of the Bush
administration, says one expert.
It's not a great idea to run a government using Yahoo! e-mail accounts.
That's the word from experts, anyway, reacting to news that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo! e-mail had been hacked earlier this week. McCain's vice-presidential pick apparently used the accounts to communicate with key aides about government business.
The practice is dangerous, said experts, and can run counter to laws
ensuring government is open and accountable -- a tough point for Palin,
who has made "open government" a catchphrase of her political identity.
By using non-governmental email systems, "Your information is out
there available, beyond the official mechanisms there to protect it,"
said Amit Yoran, the nation's first cybersecurity chief. Yoran is now
CEO of Netwitness Corp., a computer security firm for government and
private entities.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From LegitGov.org
Sarah
Palin Yahoo account 2008 (Wikileaks) 16 Sep 2008 Circa
midnight Tuesday the 16th of September (EST) activists loosely affiliated
with the group 'anonymous' gained access to U.S. Republican Party Vice-presidential
candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account gov.palin@yahoo.com
and passed information to Wikileaks. Governor Palin has come under
criticism for using private email accounts to conduct government business
and in the process avoid transparency laws. The zip archive made available
by Wikileaks contains screen shots of Palin's inbox, two example emails,
address book and a couple of family photos.
AP
refuses Secret Service request in Palin email leak 17 Sep 2008
Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential
candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor,
revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has
received since John McCain selected her as his running mate. "This is
a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law.
The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we
hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the
McCain campaign said in a statement. The Secret Service contacted The
Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails,
which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Homeland Security Sets up Suspicionless Checkpoints Along Roads in Washington State
Homeland security has setup up 3 internal checkpoints on the Olympic Peninsula. These checkpoints are in addition to checkpoints at Washington Ferry docks and highway border crossings. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, it has a jurisdiction of about 100 miles from the border. This puts most of Washington state in an area where border checkpoints are authorized, including Seattle.
In August and again in the beginning of September, the Department of Homeland Security has set up suspicion-less checkpoints on the Washington peninsula. The checkpoints are in the town of Forks, at the west side of the Hood Canal bridge going east bound, and at the third near Discovery Bay on US 101. Forks is a timber town of 3,200 people that is 56 miles from the nearest ferry terminal connecting Washington to Canada. At the road checkpoints there and elsewhere, the border patrol ask drivers different types of questions to gauge their status in the U.S., including questions about citizenship. Please review this video to understand how to deal with this illegal check points:
You don't have to answer Border Patrol's questions. Ask if you are being detained.
At the end of August, about 60 people demonstrated against the
Forks Border Patrol checkpoint. Edgar Ayala, a Forks High School
athlete who graduated with honors in June, was arrested on August 20th
at the Border Patrol checkpoint and deported to Mexico. Tanya Ward, one
of the organizers of the protest, is a member of the Hoh tribe and told
a reporter from the Penninsula Daily News that she felt that
immigrants are treated with the same unfairness shown to Native
Americans. She said, "I don't think it's right for them to be taken out
of their homes when their children are here and they're not doing
anything wrong."
If you are interested in protesting these illegal road blocks please contact me: ceakins at gmail dot com
I live in the Peninsula, in Kitsap county.
Hurricane Ike Houston Part 2
This is the aftermath of hurricane ike in houston driving around. Check out all the trees that were just snapped in half
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A Tour Of Poor Dayton - A State of Emergency
This video will describe the aftermath from the Hurricane Ike. The storm's remains came through the Dayton metro area leaving thousands of residents out of power, gas prices soar to $3.999 or $4.099. One gas station was selling gas at $4.299. I will elaborate on the costly clean-up for not only this area but the state of Ohio.
The reasons why I called this A Tour Of Poor Dayton is pretty simple. Our economy is hit hard by the recent manufacturing crisis. Our city is facing turmoil. Population decreasing, crime on the rise, and homes being foreclosed at rapid rates in not only Dayton, Ohio but the Midwest in general! I make these videos to inform and inspire others to show concern for our communities. I also help reignite those who previously lived and reside in the Dayton area with memories of their once beloved hometown.
So once again, I will put to rest all the criticism by stating that I am in no way disrespecting Dayton, Ohio. I am putting a retrospective of living in the Rust Belt. If you have any questions or want to correct me on the record. Please do not hesitate to message me and/or make video responses. I am not perfect and I am not trying to be a know-it-all. All I am doing is taking a camera and making a difference. You cant stop me from doing that, right? Thanks to everyone who views these videos.
See previous videos here on my YouTube Page or the original page at http://youtube.com/LILVOKA.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Conference on Prosecuting High Level American War Criminals
Live from Andover, Massachusetts
This was a Live Broadcast -- 2 Day Conference -- All Day Saturday & Sunday, Sept. 13-14th, 2008
Find partial archive here. See WarCrimes Video Clips Section.
A two-day conference on obtaining prosecutions of high level American war criminals will open September 13th, in Andover, Mass. The conference will explore the legal grounds for, and plan for, obtaining prosecutions of President Bush and top officials of his Administration for war crimes. In the tradition of America's Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials after World War II, Justice Robert Jackson, the Conference's purpose is to hold high U.S. officials accountable in courts of law and, if guilt is found, to obtain appropriate punishments. Otherwise, said the Conference's convener, Lawrence Velvel, the future will be threatened by additional examples of Executive lawlessness by leaders who need fear no personal consequences for their actions, leading to the possibility of more Viet Nams, more Iraqs, and more repression. Velvel emphasized: This is intended to be a planning conference, one at which plans will be laid, and necessary organizational structures will be set up, to seek prosecutions to determine guilt and, if guilt is found, appropriate punishments. Attendees will hear from prominent authorities on international law, criminal prosecutions, and constitutional rights who are determined to give meaning to Justice Jackson's words: The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched.
The conference video and audio feed is a production of War-Crimes.info. Any questions or concerns should be directed to same. For more information click here.
Topics to be discussed, Velvel said, include:
* What international and domestic crimes were committed, which facts show crimes under which laws, and what punishments are possible.
* Which high level Executive officials and Federal judges and legislators as well, if any are chargeable with crimes.
* Which international tribunals, foreign tribunals and domestic tribunals (if any) can be used and how to begin cases and/or obtain prosecutions before them.
* The possibility of establishing a Chief Prosecutor's Office such as the one at Nuremburg.
* An examination of cases already brought and their outcomes.
* Creating an umbrella Coordinating Committee with representatives from the increasing number of organizations involved in war crimes cases.
* Creating a Center to keep track of and organize compilations of relevant briefs, articles, books, opinions, and facts, etc., on war crimes and prosecutions of war criminals.
Scheduled to address the Conference include:
* Famed former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, author of the best-selling "The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder"(Vanguard).
* Phillippe Sands, Professor of Law and Director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at University College, London . He is the author of "Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values" (Penguin/Palgrave Macmillan), among other works.
* Jordan Paust, Professor of Law at the University of Houston and author of "Beyond The Law."
* Ann Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel and U.S. Foreign Service official who holds a State Department Award for Heroism and who taught the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Land Warfare at the Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg, N.C. She is the coauthor of "Dissent: Voices of Conscience."
* Peter Weiss, Vice President of the Center For Constitutional Rights, which was recently involved with war crimes complaints filed in Germany and France against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others.
* Benjamin Davis, Associate Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law and former American Legal Counsel for the Secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration.
* David Lindorff, journalist and co-author with Barbara Olshansky of "The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office"(St. Martin 's Press).
* Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, responsible for drafting the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, and the U.S. implementing legislation for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.
* Lawrence Velvel, a leader in the field of law school education reform, has written numerous internet articles on issues relevant to the conference.
war crimes, bush adminstration, world news, international law
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Conservative Bigot Eruption: Obama Parodied As Aunt Jemima
Can’t help themselves.
A conservative political forum on Saturday sold boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.
The product, Obama Waffles, was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix and sold it for $10 a box from a booth at the Values Voter Summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.
Republican Party stalwarts Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney were among speakers at the forum, which officials said drew 2,100 activists from 44 states.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Black women face higher rates of domestic violence
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html
Monday, September 8, 2008
Adverts which use sex to sell or promote gender stereotypes could be banned by the EU.
MEPs want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes.
This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY.
Such classic adverts as the Diet Coke commercial featuring the bare-chested builder, or Wonderbra's "Hello Boys" featuring model Eva Herzigova would have been banned.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sarah Palin: Good for the Jews?
By Michelle Boorstein
American Jewish organizations and Jewish bloggers are lit up over Gov. Sarah Palin's little-known record on Israel and other key Jewish issues.
Online, much of the chatter has focused on the fact that, a few weeks ago, Palin sat in her Alaska church as her minister glowingly introduced the head of Jews for Jesus, a group of mostly evangelical Christians who aim to convert Jews to Christianity. In the talk, group Executive Director David Brickner blamed Middle East violence in part on Israeli Jews who didn't accept Jesus.
A spokesman for the McCain campaign said earlier this week that Palin did not know Brickner would be speaking that day and did not share his views. "Governor Palin does not share the views he expressed, and she and her family would not have been sitting in the pews of this church for the last seven years if his remarks were even remotely typical," Michael Goldfarb wrote in an e-mail to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
But that didn't stop the National Jewish Democratic Council from slamming Palin as "a poor choice" in a statement yesterday.
"We in the Jewish community have to question McCain's judgment for choosing a right-wing religious conservative with absolutely no foreign policy experience and a brewing scandal which is being investigated by the Alaska state legislature," the group said, calling Palin "totally out of step with Jewish public opinion" on everything from abortion to climate change to creationism, which she says should be taught in school along with evolution.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Indianz.com plays along with Right-Wing media pumping of John, "Gook" McCain
Indianz.Com > News > McCain cites tribes in GOP acceptance speech
---------------------------------------------
McCain cited his record as an opponent of corruption in his speech at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. "I've fought lobbyists who stole from Indian tribes," he said. McCain served two terms as chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. In his second term, he focused on convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was sentenced on Thursday for four years in prison for defrauding his tribal clients out of millions of dollars.
--------------------------------------------
First off, John McCain had little, if anything to do with defending Aboriginals against federal exploitation. Abramoff was a republican. A republican with a long reach in the Washington D.C. old-boy network, including people POW McCain calls his "friends", my friends. Indianz.com of course has been hyping this version of McCain, the War Hero as opposed to the reality of John McCain's true record of incompetent military service, his dropping of his first wife after she lost her looks for a former model and his horrible record of cutting funds for other veterans who have earned their benefits fighting an oil war republicans and their coroporative fascist sponsors purposefully started in a mad bid to monopolise Western Asian petroleum sources. West Africa is next on this list as evidenced by U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice's odd visit to Libya, a former high-level target of American abuse (President Ronald Reagan ordered an attack on the Libyan leader's private residence that missed him but succeeded in killing his young son) and the quiet creation of AFRICOM on the heels of former U.S. President Bill Clinton's first photo-jaunt through Africa talking of plans to create an Western-based African version of GATT for the Dark Continent.
Now, if the reader takes into account recent events in Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia, Kosovo and the juvenile sword-rattling towards Iran, Hugo Chavez and a curious little aborted venture in Africa with Mark Thatcher & Simon Mann, it would be elemental to state that oil is at the root of this contemporary geo-political evil. It points to a series of logical fallacies justifying the end goal of implementing a total proto-European military power canopy over the entire world's supply and trafficking of petroleum. Demonising the Arab people as backward anti-Christians and purposefully mis-representing the Muslim world in particular as an "evil" force serves the propaganistic purpose of engendering an atmosphere of a perpetual war psychology, a tactical socio-political necessity for the Western oil industry.
With Aboriginal peoples around the world threatened by this, including Indigenous communities in the United States, Indianz.com sees fit to ignore this data in favour of Republican-positive "news" that flies in the face of of what is really going on.
One of the main things that disturbs me is that Indianz.com does not see a responsibility to report the damage John McCain has inflicted on Native people:
". John McCain sponsored PL104-301 in 1994 whereby John McCain dispossessed the Natives of their Right to own their own property. A liberal Supreme Court upheld challenges to this law in bad guidance claiming that Navajo don't own their property, their tribe does, so therefore they individually can not protest relocation. Since there is no mechanism in the law for participation by the whole tribe, this fait acomplis does clearly represent a corrupted Supreme Court process in the 1995/6 time frame, a Court stacked by Bill Clinton, who also signed the McCain bills into law.
John McCain sponsored S1973 in 1996 whereby John McCain (read copy) implemented the partitioned land initiative to make it feasible for the land occupied by the Native American's to be considered "public lands" after Natives were (false characterization:) "voluntarily resettled". (Bill History) .
John McCain's sponsored the "Settlement Act" in 1998 which attempts to force (under PL 104-301) the Native Navajo to SIGN illegal laws of a non-existent Hopi Nation created by the Partitioned Land Act (also enforced by McCain and his peers on the Senate Committee on IA), thereby making the lands (false characterization) "voluntarily resettled" per S1973 after the forgery of Dineh-Navajo signatures is brought before the Senate by opposing Senators.
John McCain organizes the "Rapid Resettlement" Enforcement Action which was sponsored by John McCain in 1999, citing Bill Clinton's support, asking the secretary of the Interior and the Attorney General to force the Natives to hurry up and sign the land over. "
VANISHING PRAYER - Media Player - Part 1 (Click here..>) | VANISHING PRAYER - Media Player - Part 2 (Click here..>).
If you have reviewed this documentary and still think that John McCain or his new running mate give a damn about First Nations people, I question your Indianness. I really do. Especially those of you who like McCain enjoy throwing their military service in the faces of those in Indian Country who do not tow the party-line that the BIA (Bureau for Intimidating Aboriginals) feeds them through the likes of Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Tell me the truth, while you were struggling to extend democracy overseas, did you or your people have freedom stateside? If you say yes to that, please explain the information above as evidence of America's love for the Indian. I would really like to hear what you have to say. I want to understand how an Indian could support such a person poltically knowing full well that placing them in that sort of power potentially spells doom for your own community.
See: Gregg Wager: Some things never change, including the government's
attitude toward Native American real estate...
I also expect Native people who think the U.S. is the best thing since commodity-box cheese will support the McCain-Palin ticket based on the allegation that her husband is a White Indian. According to Indianz.com, who made a point of parting with this bit:
McCain's running mate is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), whose husband, Todd Palin, is Alaska Native.
So what, right? Not really. The "Indian", i.e, "minority connection" has recently flooded the airwaves in defense of Gov. Palin's use of political weight to get a law officer terminated from his position following his seperation from her sibling. She claims that the officer, her former brother-in-law, made an derogatory comment towards Alaskan Natives and that her insistence on his firing was based on her deep respect for First Nations peoples.
So she and her handlers say, but if she is so pro-Indian, why is she running alongside someone so anti-Indian? Why is she pro-Indian but ready to drill on Indian land without regard to the impact it will have on those communities and the environment? And so what if her husband is of partial Indigenous descent? Does that mean that Palin will check the "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." McCain that peeks out from behind his crude jokes about rape and bombing nations that have not threatened the United States? What is her opinion on the way McCain has used White angst to whip up racial resentment towards Barack Obama? Is she preparded to expose the congenital anti-Indian, Anti-African and anti-Arab racism that drives the neo-conservative rabble?
I doubt it. And so should you. Especially since her church thinks that Jews deserve the animosity they experience. So, she is a Creationist Judeophobe. And this is who Indianz.com, National Public Radio and FOX NEWS favour over someone like Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney? Doesn't make sense that a "Indian" news agency would overlook these facts when they tout the McCain the mainstream corporate disinformation machine illusion of a capable leader who just also happens to not know what country he is talking about in his speeches to his ditto-heads. And worse, he flat-out lies about his commitment to Indian rights when he is directly responsible for committing genocide against the Dine' people.
Indian media, or White Man's Indian media? You decide.
- The Angryindian
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Education: Black Caribbean children held back by institutional racism in schools, says study
Teachers have been accused of underestimating the abilities of black Caribbean students.
Black Caribbean pupils are being subjected to institutional racism in English schools which can dramatically undermine their chances of academic success, according to a new study.
Researchers have uncovered evidence that teachers are routinely under-estimating the abilities of some black pupils, suggesting that assumptions about behavioural problems are overshadowing their academic talents.
The findings, based on a survey which tracked 15,000 pupils through their education, add weight to the theory that low achievement among some black students is made worse because teachers don't expect them to succeed.
Black education groups welcomed the evidence, calling for urgent measures to be taken to stamp out any covert racism in schools. But other experts said the study was evidence that there needed to be new efforts to tackle behavioural problems among young black Caribbean pupils.
Florida man nabbed for violating city's new baggy trouser ordinance
SEPTEMBER 3--Meet Kenneth Smith. The Florida man, 29, was arrested yesterday for wearing baggy pants. Smith was busted by Riviera Beach cops for violating a city ordinance governing low-slung trousers (or, legally speaking, "exposure of undergarment in public"). According to a Riviera Beach Police Department affidavit, cops were investigating a report of a man selling drugs from a parked Chevy Impala when they spotted Smith standing beside the vehicle. As Officer B. Jackson noted in the report, Smith's brown and white plaid shorts "were so low that it exposed his blue and white boxer shorts approximately two inches below his waist."
Smith, who was also charged with disorderly conduct, could be fined up to $150 on the pants charge. In a bid to criminalize a fashion style popularized by urban youth and hip-hop fans, Riviera Beach voters approved the new ordinance earlier this year. While first offenders like Smith only face a monetary hit, if a baggy pants devotee gets nabbed more than once, he/she could face up to 30 days in jail. (3 pages)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview
Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God.
Her speech in June provides as much insight into her policy leanings as anything uncovered since she was asked to be John McCain's running mate.
Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin's foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
Alan Maass looks at the Religious Right zealot who the Republicans are nominating for vice president.
"A LADY who's a leader," gushed the Weekly Standard's William Kristol. "I would pull that lever," declared James Dobson of Focus on the Family. "[P]icking Sarah Palin may go down in political history as a masterful stroke of genius by John McCain," predicted the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody.
After months of grumbling about their party's nominee and even threatening to sit out the election, leaders of the Republican right were over the moon about John McCain's choice for a running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
The pick was evidence of the hold that the Christian Right still has over the Republicans, in spite of McCain, who is viewed as dangerously "liberal" by conservatives, winning the presidential nomination. "The two constituencies who are most energized by Palin," wrote Jonathan Martin in the D.C.-based Politico newspaper, "just happen to be the twin grassroots pillars of the GOP: anti-abortion activists and pro-Second Amendment enthusiasts and sportsmen."
Boot Print on the Back of a Teenager
According to an article by his mother in the Minnesota Independent, Keith Smith (17) wasn't allowed to call her while in police custody, was beaten, and was denied medical treatment for the injuries you see in this photo. Excerpt:
To our horror, despite his medical
needs, he was released from the Juvenile Detention Center, into the
darkness of night, alone, without a parent ever having been contacted,
to a city that was unfamiliar to him, by the Ramsey County Juvenile
Division. He was forced to borrow a stranger’s cell phone to call
home. After much confusion about his location, his father found him and
brought him into our hometown hospital for medical treatment. They
treated his multiple wounds, bruises and scrapes, took pictures, wound
measurements and after hearing the story, stated that they would record
the incident as a criminal assault.
Levi Johnston: Bristol Palin's Baby Daddy is a self-defined "Redneck"
People magazine is reporting that Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin's boyfriend, will be attending the GOP convention to be with the Palin family.Levi Johnston, the boyfriend of Sarah Palin's 17-year-old pregnant
daughter Bristol, is going to join the Palin family at the Republican
National Convention, according to his mother. Sherry Johnston told reporters that Levi left Alaska on Tuesday to fly to St. Paul, Minn., according to the Associated Press.
The New York Post has excerpts from Johnston's MySpace page:
On his MySpace page, Johnston boasts, "I'm a f - - -in' redneck" who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes."But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with
the boys, do some fishing, shoot some s- - - and just f - - -in'
chillin' I guess.""Ya f - - - with me I'll kick [your] ass," he added.
He also claims to be "in a relationship," but states, "I don't want kids."
PALIN MEETS WITH AIPAC
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger
MINNEAPOLIS -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin today met with the board of directors of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, NBC/NJ has confirmed.
The meeting took place inside Palin's hotel, sources said.
A campaign official would not say who asked for the meeting, but said it was geared towards putting the American Jewish community at ease over her understanding of US-Middle East relations.
"That's obviously going to be an issue," the aide said. "It's not like being the senator from New York, obviously. But these aren't issues that are off her radar."
Palin, joined by Sen. Joe Lieberman, expressed her "heartfelt support for Israel" and spoke of the threats it faces from Iran and others, the campaign official said.
Why did the FBI raid Long Haul Infoshop?
On August 27, the FBI, Alameda Country sheriff's department and University of California (UC) police raided the Long Haul Infoshop, a community center and anarchist meeting place in south Berkeley. With guns drawn, the officers broke doors, cut locks, searched the lending library logs and seized a dozen computers and other equipment. The FBI and police claim they were looking for evidence of threatening e-mails sent to animal researchers at UC-Berkeley.
Sid Patel spoke to Paul B., a member of the Long Haul, about the significance of the raid.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Come to a demonstration to protest the
raid on the Long Haul Infoshop on September 4, at 11 a.m., in Sproul
Plaza on the campus of UC-Berkeley.
Check out the Long Haul Infoshop Web site
for updates and more information about what you can do to help, or to
send messages of solidarity. Long Haul is requesting donations to help
with legal expenses. Send checks, payable to "Long Haul," to: Long
Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705.
Obama support climbs to 50% in poll
Barack Obama has reached the 50% mark in polling of US voting intentions, giving him a clear lead in the race for the presidency.
A well-received acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in Denver last week, coupled with the fallout from John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as running mate, helped Obama gain five percentage points in yesterday's Gallup tracking poll.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The invisible pregnancies of presidential daughters.
Is Sarah Palin the first nominee on a major-party presidential ticket whose daughter got pregnant out of wedlock? Or is she just the first whose daughter didn't get an abortion?
The reason you're reading about Bristol Palin's pregnancy is that she's taking it to term. If she had aborted it, you'd never have known. Which raises the question: How many other daughters of nominees have gotten knocked up without your knowledge?
None of us is safe from police raids
Prince George's County case offers a window into the brutal reality of paramilitary-style no-knock drug invasions
By Vera Leone
Imagine you're Cheye Calvo, the white mayor of Berwyn Heights, an affluent part of Prince George's County. Coming home one night in late July, you find on your front porch a large package that, unbeknownst to you, happens to contain a lot of marijuana. As it turns out, your spouse is the victim of a drug-smuggling scheme that targets innocent customers in the UPS system. You bring the box inside; moments later, the SWAT officers standing by break in and shoot your two beautiful Labradors. As the dogs lie there bleeding to death, you're held in the same room, handcuffed for hours. Nearly a month later, you have yet to receive an apology.
Because of who he is, the nation knows what happened to Mr. Calvo a few weeks ago. Here's what most Americans don't know: There are perhaps 40,000 such raids each year, according to a Cato Institute report, "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America."
Now try to imagine that instead of a middle-class white man in the Maryland suburbs, you're a young Latino boy in Modesto, Calif. Shortly before dawn, in early September 2000, a SWAT team forces its way into your house. Thirty seconds later, although you comply with police orders to lie face down on the floor, you are dead from a shotgun blast to the back. The officer responsible is later cleared of wrongdoing in what is concluded an accidental shooting - though it was not the first time his weapon had "accidentally" discharged during a raid. Alberto Sepulveda had just begun the seventh grade.
Lawyer and advocacy groups gathered in front of the Hennepin County Government Center this afternoon to request temporary restraining orders against police before the Republican National Convention kicks off on Monday. The request is due to a concern over increased incidences of unlawful seizure of media equipment being utilized by independent media groups and journalists. The legal order is aimed at preventing police to seize equipment such as video and still cameras, audio recording devices, and cell phones that may have these features.
Monday, September 1, 2008
VP Nominee Says Teen Daughter Is Pregnant
Day to Day, September 1, 2008 · John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin says that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months' pregnant. Palin says her daughter Bristol will keep the baby and marry the baby's father.
Did a Mississippi Raid Protect Rightwing Politicians?
Laurel, Mississippi - On August 25, immigration agents swooped down on Howard Industries, a Mississippi electrical equipment factory, taking 481 workers to a privately-run detention center in Jena, Louisiana. A hundred and six women were also arrested at the plant, and released wearing electronic monitoring devices on their ankles if they had children, or without them if they were pregnant. Eight workers were taken to Federal court in Hattiesburg, where they were charged with aggravated identity theft.
Afterwards Barbara Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated the raid took place because of a tip by a "union member" two years before. Other media accounts focused on an incident in which plant workers allegedly cheered as their coworkers were led away by ICE agents. The articles claim the plant was torn by tension between immigrant and non-immigrant workers, and that unions in Mississippi are hostile to immigrants.