Orlando Police Arrest, then Turn Over to ICE

23-year old Rita Cole will likely be deported and not see her three US-born children again, after she is sent back to Honduras. Is that what we are about - separating families?

clipped from www.orlandosentinel.com Robert Cote with 2 of his 3 children -- Tyler, 2, and Ricky, 4. He says he just wants his wife back because she has not committed any crimes. (TOM BENITEZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL / February 24, 2009)

A Story of Redemption - Jeff Hill Receives Clemency

Good story all round

clipped from www.citybeat.com Jeffrey Hill was set to be executed on March 3 for murdering his mother in Cincinnati. But Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland followed the recommendation of the Adult Parole Board, as he’s done with all other death penalty cases during his tenure, and now Hill won’t be killed. The parole board voted unanimously to commute Hill’s death sentence to life in prison with eligibility for parole in 25 years, meaning Hill could be released as early as 2016 given the 18 years he’s already served on Death Row. The board went out of its way to detail its unusual reasoning.

House committee approves bill banning death penalty - The Denver Post

House committee approves bill banning death penalty - The Denver Post

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US still using Agent Orange type sprays in "drug war"

Still paying off the chemical companies and using Agent Orange type land killers to control drugs rather than support economic development and democracy in Columbia and USA!

clipped from org2.democracyinaction.org Between 2000 and 2007, the U.S. government spent over half a billion dollars for the chemical spraying of approximately 2.6 million acres of land in Colombia--the world's second most bio-diverse country. Due to U.S. government pressure, Colombia is the only country in the world that allows this spraying--known as fumigation--as an anti-drug practice. Yet this practice has been a complete failure in its stated goal. Coca production--the raw material for cocaine and the "target" of fumigation--has actually increased by 36 percent since U.S.-backed fumigation began in earnest.

President is "very committed" to immigration reform

Obama told Sotelo he would call on immigration leaders in the next few months to begin preparing “a draft” proposal for comprehensive immigration reform.

Obama said it is necessary to start working on reform now, because getting it passed will take time. But he said he was “very committed” to making it a reality.

clipped from feetin2worlds.wordpress.com Obama on the line. (Photo: White House) Between signing the stimulus bill into law and traveling to Canada, President Barack Obama found time Wednesday to fulfill a campaign promise: he went back on the air with the nation’s most popular Spanish-language radio host, Los Angeles-based Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo.

Woodsman Spare that Tree!!!

Analysis of these 250,000 tree records reveals that, on average, remaining undisturbed forests are trapping carbon, showing that they are a globally significant carbon sink.

clipped from www.hindu.com Tropical forests absorb 5 bn tonnes of CO2 emissions yearly London (IANS): Tropical rain forests are absorbing nearly five billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide from the air, released yearly by burning fossil fuels. This includes a previously unknown carbon sink in Africa, mopping up 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 each year, according to the latest research.

Tunes 4 Peace

Playing for change will release a new CD/DVD this month!

Add President Obama to promotional team!?

clipped from www.usatoday.com
Enlarge	Playing for Change
Natural studio: Playing for Change founder Mark Johnson, left, records an Indian musician for the album.

World Health Day 2009

Support your local hospital and their emergency services.

clipped from www.who.int WHO China World Health Day 2009 focuses on the safety of health facilities and the readiness of health workers who treat those affected by emergencies. Health centres and staff are critical life-lines for vulnerable people in disasters - treating injuries, preventing illnesses and caring for people's health needs. They are cornerstones for primary health care in communities – meeting everyday needs, such as safe childbirth services, immunizations and chronic disease care that must continue in emergencies. Often, already fragile health systems are unable to keep functioning through a disaster, with immediate and future public health consequences.

Montana Moving Forward on Ending Death Penalty

clipped from www.missoulian.com Legislature 2009: Death penalty proposal endorsed By MIKE DENNISON Missoulian State Bureau HELENA - After a 90-minute emotionally charged debate, the Republican-controlled state Senate Monday endorsed a bill to abolish the death penalty in Montana. Supporters of Senate Bill 236 said the death penalty is a costly, imperfect punishment that doesn't deter crime and does more harm than good for the families of those who are horribly murdered.

Time for US to get back on peace, freedom and leader track

clipped from www.commondreams.org Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded. "Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit.

Go Facebook! Go Finland!

All politics is changing and fast because of Facebook and other Internet features. Faxes in China during their late 1990's dash for democracy was just the beginning as were the Finn's cell phones!

clipped from www.yle.fi Facebook Becoming Lifeline for Finnish Politicians published today 07:18 AM, updated today 07:42 AM Image: YLE Political party campaign offices around Finland are turning to the social networking site Facebook to boost their support bases. Parties on the left and right say Facebook is not a passing online trend, but a tool for engaging voters.

Factory Farmed Poultry Give Flu to Wild Birds and then Wild Birds Give Flu to Finnish Chickens

It's pretty clear now that factory farming methods of poultry for live sale in Asia provides the perfect breeding ground for regular flu as well as avian flu. The use of untreated manure from those birds is used on fields that wild birds then feed from and the pandemic cycle is begun - yes?

clipped from www.yle.fi Poultry Stays Indoors During Birds' Spring Migration published Sun 02:57 PM, updated Sun 08:26 PM Image: YLE An outdoor ban on poultry comes into force on Sunday, which marks the start of birds' spring migration. The ban, which lasts through the end of May, aims to prevent contact between poultry and wild birds that may carry avian influenza.

We deported 100,000 and left their kids behind?

Unbelievable but true - read and find out sahmeful our government has been to children.

clipped from seattletimes.nwsource.com Report: Over 100,000 deportees had children in US Immigration officials are reviewing whether to gather more information about parents they deport whose children may be U.S. citizens and are left behind.

Bush Drone/Predator Missile Attacks Continue - President Obama Heads Up!

These drone attacks create more support for al-Qaida and Taliban, than they help to bring peace - and they amount to political assassination which Presidential Executive orders forbid - it's a bush League tactic that like their water boarding torture creates more enemies, not fewer!

clipped from www.voanews.com A suspected U.S. missile strike by an unmanned plane has destroyed an al-Qaida hideout in a remote Pakistani border region, killing at least 20 people and wounding many others.   The early morning missile attack took place in the hostile South Waziristan tribal region, which borders Afghanistan and is known for harboring al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

Jeffrey Hill gets Clemency from Ohio's Governor Strickland

Yes!

clipped from blog.cleveland.com COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland spared a death row inmate whose entire family -- which is also the family of his victim -- opposed his execution. Strickland commuted the sentence of Jeffrey D. Hill, who was convicted by a jury of aggravated murder in the slaying of his mother, Emma Hill. Jeffrey Hill will now serve 25 years to life in prison. The Ohio Parole Board recommended unanimously last week that Strickland grant clemency to Hill. Hill, 44, was scheduled to be executed on March 3.

Bjork - 2 Save Iceland & Planet!

Outstanding!

clipped from www.radionetherlands.nl She's quirky, she's tuneful and she's renowned for her eccentric dress sense. But there's more to Björk than meets the eye. Could this Icelandic singer help solve the country's economic crisis - and save the planet at the same time? With its economy in tatters, Iceland is keen to earn money anyway it can. And the aluminium industry has been growing in the country due to cheap electricity. But that electricity has a high price when it comes to the environment. Last summer, the singer Björk and the band Sigur Rós organised a concert to raise awareness about the damage two new hydroelectric projects - meant to power aluminium smelters - would cause to Iceland's pristine fjörds.

Anne Frank Helper Turns 100

Happy Birthday!

clipped from www.radionetherlands.nl Miep Gies (photo: Anne Frank Museum)  Miep has declined interviews and plans to celebrate her birthday quietly with family and friends, the Anne Frank museum announced in a statement this week. Born Hermine Santrouschitz in Vienna, Austria, Miep was transported to Leiden in the Netherlands from Vienna in December 1920 to escape the food shortages prevailing in Austria after World War I. In 1922 she moved with her foster family to Amsterdam. There, in 1933, she met Otto Frank when she applied for the post of temporary secretary in his spice company, Opekta. Whole family in hiding

Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit

clipped from www.commondreams.org Hillary Transue was sentenced to three months in juvenile detention for a spoof Web page mocking an assistant principal. (Niko J. Kallianiotis for The New York Times) Instead, the judge sentenced her to three months at a juvenile detention center on a charge of harassment. She was handcuffed and taken away as her stunned parents stood by. "I felt like I had been thrown into some surreal sort of nightmare," said Hillary, 17, who was sentenced in 2007. "All I wanted to know was how this could be fair and why the judge would do such a thing." The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care.

Nuclear subsidies cut from economic recovery bill!

Yes!

clipped from us.oneworld.net WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (OneWorld.net) - U.S. Congress eliminated billions of dollars for nuclear weapons and nuclear energy from the economic stimulus bill Wednesday. A nuclear explosion. © Nuclear Age Peace FoundationOf the billions struck from the plan, $1 billion was set aside for nuclear weapons and $50 was reserved for loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants, said the arms control group Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF)

Jeffrey Hill Given Clemency by Ohio's Governor Strickland

Good on you Governor Strickland!

clipped from www.middletownjournal.com "Our family's prayers have finally been answered, and we are so grateful to Gov. Strickland, the parole board and all of Jeffrey's supporters for giving him a second chance at life," Eddie Sanders of Cincinnati said in a statement. "The governor's actions today not only respect our wishes, but they also honor the memory of my beloved sister and Jeffrey's mother, Emma Dee Hill, who believed in the power of redemption and the value of all life."

The end of the death penalty is afoot across the land!

clipped from blog.amnestyusa.org Death Penalty Debate in States Heats Up Death Penalty, United States | Posted by: Brian Evans, February 11, 2009 at 2:46 PM UPDATE:  The New Mexico House of Representatives passed the death penalty repeal bill, by a vote of 40-28. Today the New Mexico House of Representatives will be debating and possibly voting on a bill to abolish the death penalty (HB285).   This is but one of a stream of bills to repeal or limit the death penalty under consideration across the country.