Friday, October 31, 2008

Rally near jail calls for immigration reform

Thursday, October 30, 2008

George Calin's Forbidden Words to Be Judged Again by Supremes

An outburst from pain, disgust, or politically protected free speech, will be judged once again in the Supreme Court. FCC wants to protect viewers or listeners from a single use of an F word or an S word. And they are not even sure they will allow the use of the words in talking about them. Our Bush League President appointed the Chief Supreme but might be censored by him?

clipped from www.scotusblog.com

The case to be heard first on Tuesday is, in fact, about profanity — what two widely used, vulgar words mean, at least in legal terms, and what the government can do about punishing their use, at least on radio and television in daytime and prime time. The case is Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations (07-582); the FCC is asking the Court to restore its authority to ban the single, fleeting utterance on the air of two words — “fuck” and “shit.”

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Indonesia passes anti-porn bill

It's not the USS Minnow, It's the SS Dignity!

You never know when your effort to help bring peace might strike the right chord - but this one seems to be riding a wave of good will and may well help to realize peace.

clipped from www.presstv.ir

SS Dignity breaks Israeli siege on Gaza

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:14:31 GMT

The SS Dignity

Human right activists from the Free Gaza Movement aboard the SS Dignity have arrived in Gaza in spite of Israeli threats to stop them.

"Whatever risks we face are nothing compared to the daily violence, brutality and suffering imposed against Palestinians," Irish human rights activist Caoimhe Butterly told Press TV correspondent Ashraf Shannon upon arrival in the coastal strip on Wednesday.

American Civil Liberties Union : Former U.S. Attorney General, Senior Justice Officials And Top Military Officers Urge Supreme Court To Review Indefinite Detention Case

Immigration officials held U.S. citizen for two weeks - Los Angeles Times

Homeland Security launches program to find illegal immigrants in jails (10/27/08) -- www.GovernmentExecutive.com

Legalize LA - Read it and See

Good on You American Apparel!

clipped from www.reuters.com

1 of 7Full Size

By Alexandria Sage

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Atop its pink factory in downtown Los Angeles, a sprawling banner declares American Apparel a "Compania Rebelde" (rebel company) and all over town, benches and billboards sponsored by the company shout "Legalize LA."

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Support growing for new arms sales treaty

It is time to end the slaughter now!

clipped from us.oneworld.net

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 (OneWorld) - From Nobel laureates to human rights activists to former military commanders, calls are on the rise for the international community to stand up against those who are making billions of dollars by selling illicit arms around the world.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. © Amnesty International USA"It is time to end the slaughter," said Desmond Tutu, the Noble Peace Prize winning archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, in a statement urging the 192-member UN General Assembly to adopt the proposed Arms Trade Treaty.

Support growing for new arms sales treaty

It is time to end the slaughter now!

clipped from us.oneworld.net

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 (OneWorld) - From Nobel laureates to human rights activists to former military commanders, calls are on the rise for the international community to stand up against those who are making billions of dollars by selling illicit arms around the world.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. © Amnesty International USA"It is time to end the slaughter," said Desmond Tutu, the Noble Peace Prize winning archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, in a statement urging the 192-member UN General Assembly to adopt the proposed Arms Trade Treaty.

The Newest Bush League Doctrine

If we can do it, we will - no matter the later consequences that we do not consider or pretend do not exist.

clipped from www.commondreams.org

uesday, October 28, 2008 by The Nation
The End of International Law?

by Robert Dreyfuss

A parallel new Bush doctrine is emerging, in the last days of the
soon-to-be-ancien regime, and it needs to be strangled in its crib.
Like the original Bush doctrine -- the one that Sarah Palin couldn't
name, which called for preventive military action against emerging
threats -- this one also casts international law aside by insisting
that the United States has an inherent right to cross international
borders in "hot pursuit" of anyone it doesn't like.

Voting Rights and State Voting Laws: Time off to Vote, Voting Location, Voter Registration, Online Voting, Voting System and more - 2008 voting

Vlad and Boris Send a Song to Sarah P

Sorry just too funny to resist - grin.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Monday, October 27, 2008

Improving NAFTA to Reduce Tide of Economic Immigrants

If worker's rights were better protected as they were to have been under NAFTA and CAFTA, and we would have fewer workers fleeing to US to make a living. Read and see if you agree.

clipped from hrw.org

“A Way Forward for Workers’ Rights in US Free Trade Accords,” provides a roadmap for a new US administration to strengthen the requirements for workers’ rights in these agreements and to improve their enforcement.

“The US approach to labor rights in its free trade agreements, beginning with NAFTA, has failed,” said Carol Pier, senior researcher on labor rights and trade at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to make dramatic changes in its strategy.”

One cent, Two Cents for Peace

Not a bad idea - a very good one actually - to aid education in Afghanistan and Pakistan where many families do not have the money for basic secular education

clipped from www.baltimoresun.com

Kids join school mission

Benefit concert, penny project aid education overseas

By Cassandra A. Fortin Special to The Baltimore Sun

October 26, 2008

Angela Jones, North Harford Middle choral director, and Sydney Billings, 12, of Whiteford,
count donated coins.
(Photo by Cassandra A Fortin / Special to The Baltimore Sun / October 23, 2008)

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Palo Alto to ICE: Don't trample immigrants' rights - San Jose Mercury News

Friday, October 24, 2008

The Daily Bruin - Students participate in political fast

Science News / Book Review: Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault On Our Children By Philip Shabecoff And Alice Shabecoff

Think and speak in disagreement and whap! You're a terrorist in Maryland!

Deja vu all over again for those who remember the Nixon enemy and J. Edgar Hoover lists!

clipped from www.commondreams.org

Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, released yesterday an Oct. 6 letter from the state police superintendent informing him that he was a target of surveillance in 2005 and 2006 and was entered into a multistate database as a suspected terrorist. Two of his former colleagues - including former Deputy Director Josh Tulkin - received similar letters, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland says that more people are expected to come forward in coming weeks to show the scope of the spying.
Maryland State Police officials, who declined to comment on Tidwell's case, have sent letters to 53 people to inform them that they had been spied upon.

Old but good news - Patch Adams & Healthcare Justice

If you are not familiar with the Gesundheit Institute and the work of Patch Adams beyond the movie about him - visit and read about him here.

clipped from www.patchadams.org

HEALTH CARE JUSTICE RETREAT • January 2-5, 2008: Update. Thirty medical students involved gathered on the Gesundheit land in West Virginia to start the New Year with new ideas for the health care relationship. This retreat was organized by students involved in the American Medical Students Association

Doctor Laments Brush-Off of Iraqi War Dead | CommonDreams.org

Dumb Move by UK - Icelanders Attack with Humor!

You had to know it would come to this misusing anti-terror laws instead of say... making a phone call and saying let's talk.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Icelanders protest UK terror move

Icelanders protesting against use of terror legislation

Iceland has a population of 300,000, about 40,000 people have signed

Thousands of Icelanders are sending a message to Gordon Brown that they are not terrorists after the UK used terror laws to freeze their assets.

An online petition was launched this week following the UK government's attempt to protect British savings in Iceland's failed Landsbanki.

The petition has been signed by about 40,000 people and shows Icelanders with signs saying they are not terrorists.

The Treasury said Iceland was in no way considered to be a terrorist regime.

Talk is Talk; Where's the Action for Darfur?

Does the world have no shame or courage to stick with helping the people in Darfur?

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Trapped in Darfur refugee camp

By Amber Henshaw

BBC News, Fasher, Darfur

I first met 28-year-old Khaled Abdel Muti Ali a year ago in Abu Shouk camp on the outskirts of Fasher in North Darfur.

Laptop link-up 2007

Sitting around in a small mud hut in the huge, sandy settlement, he and a group of other Darfuris described the grim conditions there and answered questions from people around the world as part of a BBC laptop link-up.

I went back to see how their lives had changed, and they said the violence and insecurity had only got worse.

Exonerated death row inmate embodies gaps in justice system | JackCentral - Your online Northern Arizona news source

Exonerated death row inmate embodies gaps in justice system | JackCentral - Your online Northern Arizona news सोर्स

10/23/2008 - The Death Penalty Isn't Working - Opinion - Chattanoogan.com

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Not the best of news for Bird Flu and Pandemic Watchers

clipped from www.smartbrief.com

Hong Kong reports H5N1 bird flu virus

AABB SmartBrief | 10/20/2008

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department today said that a house crow found dead in a crowded district last week has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus. Officials are closely monitoring cases of the bird flu virus in the region as it may reflect the virus's level of activity in China, which has a poultry population of 13 billion. Reuters (10/20)

Robert Reich's Blog

Robert Reich's Blog If They are Too Big to Let Fail, Maybe They are Too Big and Should Be Allowed to Fail!

Feds Rush To Ease Endangered Species Rules | CommonDreams.org

Gmail - Support the Fasters. Help us reach 1 million pledges to vote for change. - nedhamson@gmail.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Georgia: Commute Death Sentence of Troy Davis (Human Rights Watch, 20-10-2008)

No Matter How You Cut It - Migrants Getting Shaft Too

Good on You Court! Migrant workers have always been exploited, that's why many US employers say that "American" workers won't do the work - so they can legally employ guest workers or migrant workers and then not pay them or otherwise exploit them as they could not locals.

clipped from www.csmonitor.com

Exploited? A crew of migrant workers in the forests near Franklin, Ga. A federal court found guest workers known as pineros
to be grossly underpaid.
Josh McDaniel/file

Guest workers win in court over low pay

Too Close for Comfort? Hide Them from View!

Ironic that the new "Cold War" wall is not between US and Russia but US and that Super Power Threat to the US - Mexico. Or maybe it is more like the Great Wall of China that did not succeed in keeping foreigners out either.

clipped from www.commondreams.org

Wendy Castro of Tijuana, Mexico, showed her 9-month-old son, Aaron, to family members at Border Field State Park in California. Such meetings will soon be halted by a fortified barrier. (Ashley Surdin/ Washington Post)

Green Policies in California Generated Jobs, Study Finds | CommonDreams.org

Can You See the Ice Gov. Palin?

Picture this - our climate without any ice in the Arctic - may not be long - eh?

clipped from www.commondreams.org

Arctic sea-ice in September 1979 and 2007, showing the biggest reduction since satellite surveillance began. (Photo: Fugro NPA Ltd)

Must read for this political season!

Must read for this political season! If you can't win it; steal it!

clipped from www.reformelections.org

This Election: Deceptive Practices 2.0?

10/20/2008

Washington – Amid daily reports of voter suppression and dirty tricks in the 2008 Presidential election, major civil rights organizations today released a report exposing a worrying new generation of online deceptive practices designed to mislead and intimidate voters. The report, released by Common Cause, The Century Foundation and The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is entitled Deceptive Practices 2.0: Legal And Policy Responses and describes potential online dirty tricks to disseminate false or misleading information over the Internet

Thomas Wenski - Hitting a Wall on Immigration - washingtonpost.com

The death penalty nun - News

Two Justices Clash Over Race and Death Penalty - washingtonpost.com

Friday, October 17, 2008

Reason Wins! Supremes Say No to GOP!

US Supreme Court said - GOP does not have standing to make an objection in Federal court on Help America Vote Act - grin.

clipped from www.google.com

Court blocks Ohio voter match order
from SCOTUSblog by Lyle Denniston
The Supreme Court on Friday lifted a federal judge’s order that would have required Ohio election officials to set up new procedures to verify voter registration across the state in the weeks before the Nov. 4 balloting. The unsigned (”Per Curiam”) order is here. The order blunts an effort by the Ohio Republican Party to gain access to registration data that would enable it to challenge voters’ eligibility at polling places.

SPLCenter.org: SPLC Sues Tennessee Cheese Company After Latino Workers Seeking Pay are Arrested, Threatened with Deportation

One Stays, One Goes No Consistency!

A woman in California is going to be deported and won't be able to take care of her husband and thankfully this man will be able to care for his wife but where is the consistency in rulings and humanity?!

clipped from www.poconorecord.com

Photo 1 of 2 | Zoom Photo +

Darlene Rhoden sits with her two children, Brandon 15, and Quincy, 9, in their home in Bushkill on Friday, two days prior to Rhoden going into the hospital.ADAM RICHINS/Pocono Record

Deportation Rules Can Make You Sick!

Deportation and rules can make you sick and sometimes they split up families in ways that can make you sick and crazy!

clipped from www.mercedsunstar.com

Fresno Bee

In their small Madera apartment, Lucila Huerta tends to her bedridden husband, Guadalupe, on Monday afternoon. She faces deportation, and worries he will die if she is forced to leave.

Tennessee to review Death Penalty?

Major newspaper in Tennessee calls for a review of whether justice is being served in the state.

clipped from www.tennessean.com

After a number of years in which Tennessee has seen legal twists and turns, costly confusion and probable miscarriages of justice in capital murder cases, there is a sliver of hope for improvement.
It is tragic that it took lives being lost in the process, but for the sake of people on Tennessee's death row; members of the legal system; elected officials; and the public at large, we look to the legislative study committee on the death penalty for a more just system in the future.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

ACLU Investigation Reveals Grossly Inadequate Conditions on Federal Death Row | CommonDreams.org

Hunger Strike for immigrant Rights

Give up a few meals to support human rights of immigrants!

clipped from lacatholicworker.org

The “Fast For Our Future” campaign will begin in Los Angeles on October 15th, 2008, three weeks before the November 4th presidential election. Over 100 people will go on a hunger strike in order to mobilize our community to vote for immigrant rights.
Be in solidarity with the fasters including the LACW’s Margaret Johnson. We must get 1,000,000 people to sign the pledge to vote for immigrant rights. Check out the website of the Rise Movement for more information and other ways to help.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Better Late than Never but 12 Years for Justice?

Even though, this was not a criminal prosecution - you would think that a speedy trail and determination is something that our founders thought was essential for justice for the accused and victims alonke. Justice delayed, is not justice.

Amendment 6: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

clipped from www.ipsnews.net

RIGHTS-US: Abused Woman Waits 12 Years for Asylum
By William Fisher

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (IPS) - In what some government critics are citing as an egregious example of public foot-dragging and bureaucratic inefficiency in immigration rule-making, the woman at the centre of one of the United States' longest-running asylum disputes may now be in further jeopardy.

The case involves the asylum claim of Rodi Alvarado, who fled Guatemala in 1996 after suffering more than a decade of brutal domestic violence in a situation where neither the police nor the courts responded to her pleas for protection.

MASH Star Agianst Death Penalty

clipped from www.claremont-courier.com

Activist Mike Farrell criticized “state-sponsored killing” under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an address at Pitzer College Wednesday night. Calling the governor “a coward” for “refusing to stand on principle”, the former star of the television series M*A*S*H spoke to an audience of roughly 200 students and community members on behalf of the newly formed Inland Valley Death Penalty Focus.

Mr. Farrell said that the justice system is inherently flawed and occasionally condemns innocent people. “Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1979, 130 death row inmates have been exonerated,” he said. “Of course, we don’t know how many innocent people have been killed in the history of the US under this system.”

Marriage offers no guarantee: Illegal immigrant set to be deported | Kansas.com

The Politics of Tearing Families Apart

Say it is not so Bush League President - your folks seem to be trying intentionally to rip families apart - what does that have to do with family value?

clipped from www.kansas.com

Fernando Salazar/The Wichita Eag

DeWayne Gregg holds a picture of his family which has been torn apart after his wife Lydia Rosana DeLeon Velasquez was deported back to Guatemala leaving behind her children Tony, 6, Elvis, 4, and Joshua, 2, left to right.

Most who Testified have recanted - so?

clipped from www.scotusblog.com

Court clears way for Davis execution

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 10:06 am | Lyle Denniston | Print This Post

Refusing to decide whether the death penalty is barred for an individual with a strong claim of innocence, the Supreme Court on Tuesday turned aside the appeal of Georgia death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. The order clears the way for the state to set a new execution date; a Supreme Court stay of the execution expired with the denial of review. The case is Davis v. Georgia (08-66).

100 Found Innocent After Death Sentance!

Makes you think and wonder - how equal is our justice for those accused and for the victims, as well.

clipped from www.guardianweekly.co.uk

Monday October 13th 2008

In 1992 Ray Krone, a former sergeant in the US Air Force, was sentenced to death row for the murder of Kimberly Ancona, a bar manager found stabbed to death in a restaurant near his home in Arizona. Ten years later, after running newly developed DNA tests on the victim's clothes, he was found innocent and freed. Krone was the 100th prisoner in the US to be exonerated from death row. Now a campaigner against the death penalty, he describes the long fight to clear his name

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Last Lynching

clipped from webmail.cinci.rr.com

Koppel on Discovery:
The Last Lynching
Discovery Channel
Tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Important Show on Race and Election tonight!

clipped from www.splcenter.org

SPLC Featured in Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel Programs

A Discovery Channel program hosted by veteran journalist Ted Koppel examines an historic Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit that destroyed one of the nation's most violent Klan groups.

"Koppel on Discovery: The Last Lynching" examines the 1981 lynching of Michael Donald in Mobile, Ala. The program, a one-hour special on race in America, features interviews with SPLC founder Morris Dees and Alabama Congressman Artur Davis, who was an SPLC intern during the case.

War for Oil Proof - Say iIt Is Not So, George

Iraqis of the next generation will rue the day they "sold" out for peace instead of a piece of the action.

clipped from www.commondreams.org

A Shell service station seen on September 20 in Manassas, Virginia. The biggest ever sale of oil assets will take place today, when the Iraqi government puts 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves up for offer in London. BP, Shell and ExxonMobil are all expected to attend a meeting at the Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair with the Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani.
(AFP/File/Karen Bleier)

Texas Final Step - 12 Executions Scheduled

clipped from www.itemonline.com

Executions near for 12 on death row
Associated Press

The crowd on A-Wing A-Section at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Polunsky Unit at Livingston is about to get thinned.

A dozen condemned inmates in the so-called “death watch” cells on Texas death row are set for lethal injection over the next six weeks.

Two are scheduled for this week. Two next week. And two more the week after that. Then six more in November, adding to Texas’ standing as the nation’s most active death penalty state.

“It’s just the way of Texas,” Alvin Kelly, who on Tuesday is the first of the 12 set to die, said last week from a tiny visiting cage at the prison.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Feeling Down? Land of 1000 Dances

Nothing like Wilson Pickett to pick you up if you are feeling down. From a 1971 concert in Africa

clipped from www.youtube.com

2 Nuns Listed as Terrorists by Baltimore Cops

Who would have thought that efforts to legitimately protect ourselves result in return of enemies lists and labeling anyone who you disagree with as a "red and a commie", oops, I mean "terrorist. Guess that's what made and still does make the Bill of Rights an important part of US Democracy.

clipped from afp.google.com

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AFP) — Two Roman Catholic nuns whose non-violent action against nuclear weapons landed them with prison sentences returned home to Baltimore to learn they had been listed as terrorists, they said Friday.
Sister Ardeth Platte, 72, and Sister Carol Gilbert, 60, came back from two weeks out of town to find letters from the Maryland State Police saying they had been wrongfully listed as suspected terrorists in a federal database in 2005-2006.

Cheated Migrant Workers to Get Paid - Finally

No more double dose of "getting away with it" for US firms who first, avoid hiring Americans to use cheaper migrant workers and then, second, cheat those workers! Thanks Souther Poverty Law Center!

clipped from www.splcenter.org

Thousands of Cheated Guestworkers to Recover Lost Wages in SPLC Forestry Case

A federal judge's ruling this week means that thousands of foreign guestworkers represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center will recover wages owed to them by one of the nation's largest forestry contractors.

U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper found that SPLC lawyers can seek unreimbursed expenses incurred by guestworkers employed by Eller and Sons Trees Inc. of Franklin, Ga. The summary judgment also found that actual damages sought by these workers can exceed $500,000. The employer had sought to cap the damages.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Survivors of 1918 Flu Pandemic Still Immune

Interesting, survivors of the 1918 flu could provide a source of vaccine to protect us from a similar flu getting ready to break out of Asia in the next year or so.

clipped from www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Antibodies from survivors of the 1918 flu pandemic, the worst in human memory, still protect against the highly deadly virus, researchers reported on Sunday.

The findings by a team of influenza and immune system experts suggest new and better ways to fight viruses -- especially new pandemic strains that emerge and spread before a vaccine can be formulated.

These survivors, now aged 91 to 101, all lived through the pandemic as children.

Their immune systems still carry a memory of that virus and can produce proteins called antibodies that kill the 1918 flu strain with surprising efficiency, the researchers report in the journal Nature.

Air Pollution Pollutes Brains as Well!?

Heavy air pollution has and is endangering the future of your children and our society as well as others.

clipped from www.sciencenews.org

Mexico City’s air pollution may be undermining neural and mental functioning in some children

Mexico City wears a thick coat of air pollution that clogs lungs and takes a toll on hearts and blood vessels. But that’s just the beginning — the metropolis’s dirty air may have contributed to brain inflammation and intellectual deficits in at least some school-age children, a new study suggests.
Among healthy children aged 7 to 18, lifelong Mexico City residents scored lower than their peers from Polotitlán — a Mexican city with low levels of air pollution — on tests of memory, flexible thinking, novel problem-solving skill and the ability to monitor and change one’s behavior during challenging tasks, scientists report in an upcoming Brain and Cognition. These tests make up part of standard IQ measures for school children.

Bird Flu - Germany Closing Barn Door After Horse is Gone

Slaughtering all poultry after H5N1 - avian flu - is always presented as a solution to problem... until the next outbreak. Different thinking is needed than closing the door after the problem has already gotten out.

clipped from www.iht.com

DRESDEN, Germany: A health official says 1,400 birds have been slaughtered at a poultry farm in eastern Germany after a duck tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

Saxony state health ministry spokesman Ralph Schreiber said Friday that the farm's entire stock of ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens was slaughtered overnight.

The farm near Goerlitz on the Polish border has been sealed off to prevent the spread of the virus. Birds at other poultry farms in the region are being checked.

Friday, October 10, 2008

A little good news for some Americans amid all this financial meltdown and new evil empire talk

clipped from www.reuters.com

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage on Friday in a victory for gay-rights advocates that will allow couples to marry in the New England state.

The court found that the state's law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

Connecticut is now the third state in the country to allow gay marriage, following neighboring Massachusetts, the first state to allow it, and California.

What's This? Comments by Candidates on Possible us of US Troops agains those who disagree?

This is a little scary, I'd be more than a little interested in an explanation

clipped from www.commondreams.org

Veterans Group Opposes Combat Brigade's Permanent US Assignment

"It is a sad day for America when government prepares to protect itself by using the military on its own citizens."

WASHINGTON - October 9 - A national
veterans' organization sent a letter to the House and Senate leadership
today expressing "grave concern" that an active duty combat brigade has
been permanently assigned to a post on U.S. soil.

Citing
a little-noticed article posted September 30 on the Army Times website,
Veterans For Peace said the Pentagon's unprecedented move assigned the
3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team to NorthCom, a joint
command established in 2002, for a 12-month assignment.

IUCN - Sumatra’s historic agreement in Barcelona

Some Good; No - Great News for World Forests!

You go Indonesia! Hope you stand behind it!

clipped from cms.iucn.org

Sumatra’s historic agreement in Barcelona

09 October 2008 | News - News story

The Indonesian government and WWF today announced a bold commitment to protect the remaining forests and critical ecosystems of Sumatra today at IUCN’s World Conservation Congress.

Sumatra is an Indonesian island that holds some of the world’s most diverse – and endangered – forests.

The commitment announced today has been endorsed by governors of all provinces across Sumatra, and by four Ministers.

Hermien Roosita, Deputy Minister of Environment, says this is the first island wide commitment. “This agreement commits all the Governors of Sumatra’s 10 provinces, along with the Indonesian Ministries of Forestry, Environment, Interior and Public World, to restore critical ecosystems in Sumatra and protect areas with high conservation values,” he said.

Obama in Ault Park Cincinnati

Bail outs? No way!

clipped from www.youtube.com

Climate Change and Chipmonks in California

It's real and we can pretend it isn't

clipped from www.sciencenews.org

From California to Costa Rica, rising temperatures could be driving species to higher elevations

TIME TRAVELPlumper pine trees suggest that growing conditions turned milder at the north end of Vogelsang Lake in Yosemite National Park between the early 20th century (above) and 2004 (below). With climate warming, some of Yosemite's small mammals have edged up slopes to more familiar temperatures. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, UC Berkeley
Chipmunks, mice and other small mammals pretty much moved up
in the world as Yosemite
National Park’s climate warmed
during the last century.
As temperatures rose, these species tended to edge upward to
higher and cooler ground, says Craig Moritz, director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
in Berkeley, Calif.

Why McCain selected Palin for VP!

Because he's a natural born craps shooter! Snake Eyes on Nov. 4th, John!

clipped from www.commondreams.org

In July, Time
reported that over the past decade, Sen. McCain has gambled on
Mississippi riverboats, on Indian land, in Caribbean craps pits and on
the Las Vegas strip, allegedly playing "for a few thousand dollars at a
time." In 2005, The New Yorker reported that while in New Orleans in the spring of that year, Sen. McCain gambled at Harrah's Casino.

ICE Raids in Election Swing States in Full Swing!

Wonder what happens to the families? Just like in the days of slavery, they are split up - see the story!

clipped from www.ice.gov

Of the 331 arrested yesterday, 11 (2 females, 9 males), including one plant supervisor, face criminal charges for various crimes including re-entry after deportation, aggravated identity theft, counterfeit documents and false statements. All have been transferred into the U.S. Marshal's custody.

All of those administratively arrested have been interviewed, fingerprinted, and photographed by ICE agents and processed for removal from the United States. The females arrested were transferred to the Atlanta City Detention Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the males were transferred to the Stuart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.

Clueless in DC and NYC: Something to remember when you VOTE!

Those currently in power don't seem to have a clue and those running Wall Street and pension funds driving current Lost on Wall Street reality show are similarly clueless. So send a message!

clipped from www.ipsnews.net

ECONOMY-US: Shelters and Soup Kitchens Hold Crisis Front Lines
By Heike Barkawitz

Volunteers help prepare a meal at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen.

Credit:Heike Barkawitz/IPS

NEW YORK, Oct 9 (IPS) - Wall Street may be in the throes of agony, but business is booming at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen a bit farther north in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea.

And that's not particularly good news.

Fast for Human Rights of Immigrants

The fear mongering against Latinos and Muslims is reaching new heights as some try to hijack all of or rights in the upcoming election. Act now for our future!

clipped from org2.democracyinaction.org

End Death Penalty Worldwide

clipped from www.worldcoalition.org

On 10 October 2008, World Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty calls on all citizens around the world to take action to end executions in Asia.(2008/8/4)

Thursday, October 09, 2008

This can't be the kind of news that we wanted to hear - maybe an unemployment fund crash!

Brother, Sister, Can You Spare a $10 (used to be a dime but with inflation, now it's at least 10 bucks.) Holly molly things are getting bad all over and the only ones being handled with soft gloves are the well connected. So, who's watching out for the common man and woman?

clipped from www.cnn.com

Some state unemployment funds drying up
Story Highlights
Ten states operating on reserves of less than six months of unemployment benefits

Unemployment expected to rise after reaching 6.1 percent nationwide in August

Funds generated by taxes on employers based on number of employees

Economists say states need to restructure tax base to generate more funding

Unabomber Brother Speaks Out on Death Penalty

clipped from www.missoulian.com

Unabomber's brother, others say death penalty unfair
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian

“If there was one thing that could have deterred me from turning in my brother, it would have been the death penalty,” says David Kaczynski, who tipped law enforcement off that he suspected the Unabomber was his brother Ted and now is executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty.
Photo by KURT WILSON/Missoulian

David Kaczynski says his efforts to abolish the death penalty were born of the same moral sense he had 12 years ago, when he first suspected his brother might be the person law enforcement called the Unabomber.

“My objective today is the same objective I had the day I turned my brother in,” Kaczynski said. “I don’t want there to be any more victims.”

Enemies List Deja Vu!

The spirit of Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon must both be laughing up a storm

clipped from blog.wired.com

Maryland State police placed the names of 53 left-leaning political activists into federal and state databases, labeling them as terrorists, the state's police chief admitted Tuesday.

Evidence that the state police had been infiltrating anti-war and anti-death penalty groups first came to light in July following a government sunshine lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of a prominent peace activist named Max Obuszewski.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Hear no evil, see no evil, but keep them imprisoned anyway!

Sometimes, the only explanation for inane and seemingly insane actions by the Bush League is that they want to outdo Michael Moore in preparing their own script on world class stupidity and cruelty all rolled into one - read this story!

clipped from www.ccrjustice.org

Court Orders Release of 17 Innocent Guantanamo Detainees into U.S.
October 7, 2008, New York – Today, for the first time, a federal court ordered the release into the United States of 17 innocent Uighur men who have been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay for nearly seven years.

I.C.E Supporting McCain Election bid with Increase in raids.

I'll check this tomorrow but I am betting that the most recent raids are in states that Senator McCain hopes will turn to him if arresting undocumented migrants is in the news.

clipped from www.startribune.com

GREENVILLE, S.C.
- Federal agents swept through a chicken processing plant Tuesday, detaining more than 300 suspected illegal immigrants, sending panicked workers running and screaming through the hallways. Worried relatives collected outside, fearful their loved ones would be deported.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Legislation on migrants better shake at state level

clipped from www.cqpolitics.com

CQ HOMELAND SECURITY

Oct. 6, 2008 – 6:52 p.m.

Analysis Shows Immigrant-Friendly Legislation Fares Better at State Level

By Caitlin Webber, CQ Staff

State legislation aimed at expanding immigrant rights have a higher passage rate than those intended to crack down on illegal immigration, according to a new Migration Policy Institute analysis of state legislative data.

Greed and Inhumanity Shame Us All

clipped from www.splcenter.org

Forestry Company Held in Contempt for Misconduct in SPLC Lawsuit

COLUMBIA, Tenn. — An Arkansas forestry company accused of cheating its foreign guestworkers out of their wages has been held in contempt of court for allowing supervisors to threaten workers and spread misinformation about a class action lawsuit filed on the workers' behalf by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes Jr. ordered Superior Forestry Service Inc. to pay for television and radio announcements informing workers of their right to join the case without suffering any retaliation from their employer.

Whoa! Wait a Minute; People are Mammals Too!

If a fifth to a third of "wild" mammals are threatened, then what does that say for the future of we "tame" mammals?

clipped from www.sciencenews.org

Biggest review of the decade finds substantial portion of mammal species under threat

BIG ANIMAL, SMALL ENCOURAGMENTA speck of encouraging news: African elephants have moved from the vulnerable category to the less worrisome nearly threatened category in the latest IUCN review of mammals.A. Wirz

Between a fifth and a generous third of the world’s mammal
species now face the threat of extinction, according to the first comprehensive
review since 1996.
Now 1,139 species rank in the most imperiled categories, the
conservation monitoring organization IUCN reported October 6 at its World
Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Confusing - This Economic Crises - Isn't It?

I f documented and undocumented migrant workers in US send less money back to their families and relatives at home, then their relatives can't buy exported US goods and the American economic crisis gets worse.

So, we need a bailout plan or economic stimulus plan to get more money into migrant workers' hands so they can send more money home, so they can buy US exports?

And all this time, fright mongers were telling us that migrant workers were costing us?

See it's confusing and not as simple as the simple minded have been telling us - eh?

clipped from www.radionetherlands.nl

Sharp drop in migrants’ money transfers from the US

by Martijn van Tol*

06-10-2008

The US credit crisis is also claiming victims far away from home. Latin American migrants in the US are sending far less money home than expected. The migrants and their families in their countries of origin are the victims of a faltering US economy. The double threat of job insecurity and inflation means that poverty is now a serious risk.

El Paso Mayor Sings Opposition to Death Penalty

clipped from www.elpasotimes.com

Mayor Cook on guitar against Texas' death penalty
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Mayor John Cook performed during the Music for Life Tour on Wednesday at Scholz Garten in Austin. (Brandi Grissom / El Paso Times)
AUSTIN -- In a dark blue pin-striped suit, crisp white dress shirt, snug red tie and shiny brown dress shoes, El Paso Mayor John Cook sure didn't look like any folk singer.
But he slung one knee over the other, braced his guitar and belted out a couple songs Wednesday night in Austin just as he has in five other cities across the state, playing with a variety of musicians promoting abolition of the death penalty in Texas.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Viva La Causa! The Grape Strike Story

Get it: show it to your students!

clipped from www.splcenter.org

New SPLC Documentary Premieres in Los Angeles

Nearly 1,500 people filled the historic Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills yesterday to attend the premiere of the SPLC's new documentary, Viva la Causa, which depicts one of the seminal events in the march for human rights — the grape strike and boycott led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta in the 1960s.

Like all of the SPLC's Teaching Tolerance products, it will be distributed free to classrooms across the nation. An estimated 50,000 teaching kits, which include the film and lesson plans, will be distributed to educators over the next two years.

"Wolf" Named to head $700 billion oversite buy out!

With apologies to four-legged wolves - why Wolf? If it looks like a wolf, walks like a wolf, then the sheep - us - better look out.
Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Mr. Kashkari was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in San Francisco, where he led Goldman's IT Security Investment Banking practice, advising public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions and financial transactions.

If being in charge of advising public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions and financial transactions is a qualification, then maybe he needs someone who specialized in selling bad mortgages as his aide!!

clipped from www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury on Monday named Assistant Secretary for International Economics and Development, Neel Kashkari, as head of the $700 billion government program that will buy soured investments to help restore the financial markets to health.

Death of Detained Immigrant Inspires Online Game With Goal of Educating Players

clipped from www.nytimes.com

The death last year of Boubacar Bah, a Guinean tailor held in a New Jersey jail for overstaying his visa, showed immigration detention to be one of the most secretive corners of American life. But now Mr. Bah’s story is being retold in an unusually public way: in an online video game.

Ever Been Shipped, Strip Searched and Abused from "Jail" to jail

That's what's being done in "for profit" contractor "Detaninee Centers" - aka Jails for people "accused" of being undocumented migrants. Just who is committing the crime here?

clipped from homelandgitmo.com

Detainee Stories

No action on Georgia capital case - Troy Anthony Davis’

clipped from www.scotusblog.com

No action on Georgia capital case

Monday, October 6th, 2008 10:11 am | Lyle Denniston | Print This Post
Email this • Share on Facebook • Share on LinkedIn • Digg This!

The Supreme Court, opening a new Term Monday, took no action on an appeal testing whether it is unconstitutional to execute a death-row inmate who has a significant claim of innocence. The Court’s 82-page list of orders on pending cases contained no word on Troy Anthony Davis’ appeal, Davis v. Georgia (08-66).

Friday, October 03, 2008

Department of Defense Usurps Department of State Power!

I am not saying that that having the Department of State or Department of Defense "paying" a contractor to write and print good news about USA for Iraqi's is a good thing or a bad thing just that WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO FREEDOM OF THE PRESS?!

Isn't this the job of the free press of the world?

I guess Haliburton must have a marketing department that has figured out a new way to make money off of this Bush League War

clipped from www.commondreams.org

ublished on Friday, October 3, 2008 by The Washington Post
US to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media

by Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus

The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.

Afraid of Immigrants? Lock 'em up! No way

Shameful!

clipped from www.reuters.com

"The great majority of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are not criminals and therefore should not be confined in detention centers like criminals," Pillay said.

Do Executions Make US Safer?

Former Warden of San Quentin says no.

clipped from www.latimes.com

Death row realism

Do executions make us safer? San Quentin's former warden says no.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Fast for Human RIghts!

No time like the present to help nation focus on solving its inhumanity to migrant workers than when ICE is stepping up its raids to make Republicans look good before the election.

clipped from www.mercurynews.com

Immigrant rights advocates plan to fast over raids
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/01/2008 11:02:26 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES—Immigrant rights advocates say they will camp out in downtown Los Angeles and fast to demand an end to raids they say are tearing apart families.
Organizer Kai Newkirk said on Wednesday about 100 people are expected to join the fast, which will start on Oct. 15 and last until immigrant rights advocates garner a million signatures for a pledge to support immigrant rights.
Newkirk says tents will be set up at La Placita Olvera in Los Angeles for fasters, who will drink only water.
Several Los Angeles-based immigrant rights groups will help circulate the pledge. Some fasters plan to join for several days, others for longer.
The medically supervised fast was planned by a group of immigrant rights activists who say they are committed to non-violent protest.

Sad to Say... It's the Money Honey - Our Share - and Not the Land or Environment!

When you read about indigenous people standing in the way of an an oil pipeline, you expect, hope perhaps, that it is to save the land, the environment - right? But, no our profit-first based culture has, I suppose, diluted their people and land first culture

clipped from www.commondreams.org

Red Pheasant Chief Sheldon Wuttunee was among the protesters, as Native leaders set up camp on the Enbridge Pipelines Inc. pipeline near Kerrobert to make it known they want a share in the construction and revenues. (Photograph by : Richard Marjan/The StarPhoenix)

Friday, October 31, 2008

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The End of International Law?

Monday, October 27, 2008

Kids join school mission

Benefit concert, penny project aid education overseas

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Friday, October 24, 2008

Icelanders protest UK terror move

Trapped in Darfur refugee camp

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hong Kong reports H5N1 bird flu virus

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Guest workers win in court over low pay

Friday, October 17, 2008

Fresno Bee

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Monday, October 13, 2008

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Friday, October 10, 2008

Veterans Group Opposes Combat Brigade's Permanent US Assignment

"It is a sad day for America when government prepares to protect itself by using the military on its own citizens."

Sumatra’s historic agreement in Barcelona

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Some state unemployment funds drying up

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

CQ HOMELAND SECURITY Oct. 6, 2008 – 6:52 p.m.

Analysis Shows Immigrant-Friendly Legislation Fares Better at State Level

Sharp drop in migrants’ money transfers from the US

Mayor Cook on guitar against Texas' death penalty

Monday, October 06, 2008

Detainee Stories

Friday, October 03, 2008

US to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media

Death row realism

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Immigrant rights advocates plan to fast over raids

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Oct. 6, 2008 – 6:52 p.m.