30.3.09

Soybean Leaders Join Fight Against Animal Rights

From Change.org (thanks for posting the link, Melissa!).

Those whose direct business is raising and killing animals aren't the only ones in agriculture with less-than-loving feelings toward animal rights advocates. Organizations representing crop farmers are preparing to take on animal rights (and animal welfare) activists and organizations too, alongside animal ag interest groups. Is this just a matter of those in the broader business of agriculture sticking together? Not quite. The interest is a selfish one. How so? I'm so glad you asked.

A frequent jab thrown at vegans has to do with the environmental problems that accompany modern soybean farming, the erroneous assumptions being (1) that all vegans eat massive amounts of soy (no, not all do) and (2) that most soy being grown goes to make vegan foods. And this second assumption couldn't be further off-base: 90-some percent of the soy crop goes to feed livestock. Really.

-Continue after the jump-

All that soybean meal is going toward "production" of the flesh, dairy, and eggs eaten by most humans. And the primary cause of Amazon deforestation is cattle ranching, with the soybean farming that supports animal ag contributing too--in other words, the Amazon is being destroyed on behalf of omnivores, not because of vegans' ethical dietary choices. And most of the corn crop serves the same animal-feed purpose.

As if to drive this point home, the soybean industry is now standing firmly beside its animal agriculture comrades in their battle against scary vegans and animal rights advocates. The American Soybean Association is getting into the fray because, of course, not all soy is grown in the Amazon. We're growing loads of it--and supplying it to animal ag--right here in the United States too. So to protect its own interests (to make sure there are still as many animals as possible being fed its product), the American Soybean Association is developing anti-animal rights plans too and has designated a leader for those plans. Following are the fun details from an ag news piece (including, as has come to be expected, agribusiness's portrayal of HSUS as a radical animal rights group, of course):

The president of the Nebraska Soybean Association—Debbie Borg of Allen—says she is encouraged by how the ag industry is responding to the animal rights movement.

At last month’s Commodity Classic conference in Texas, the American Soybean Association asked Borg to lead its efforts in the area of animal rights. Since then, she has been talking to ag leaders, government officials and others. Borg says she wants them to understand the seriousness of the threat posed by the Humane Society of the United States and other animal rights groups. . . .

“Yes, I got to meet with the governor and he is very interested and concerned about this movement,” says Borg, “and he wants to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to get the truth out.”

Borg has also launched her own “letter to the editor” campaign and encourages other farmers and ranchers to do the same. In a letter sent to the Lincoln newspaper, she encourages consumers to reconsider their support of HSUS, PETA and other groups which she calls “vegan animal rights activists.”

27.3.09

Native American/Native Alaska Women Suffer Epidemic Rapes

A Congressional subcommittee held a hearing earlier in the week featuring testimony by a leading expert on sexual violence against Indigenous women in the U.S. Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center addressed a disturbing epidemic of sexual violence affecting one out of three Native American and Alaska Native women and stressed the need to create Sexual assault Nurse Examiner programs in all Indian Health Service hospitals. According to the US Dept. of Justice’s own statistics, Native American and Alaska Native women are nearly three times more likely to be raped than women in the US in general. Too often Native American victims of rape have to go through a maze of federal, state, tribal and local laws to achieve any justice at all, while the agencies responsible for seeking justice on their behalf are severely underfunded and inadequate. Federal law limits the criminal sentences that tribal courts can impose and prohibits tribal courts from trying non-Indian suspects – even though data collected by the Department of Justice shows that up to 86% of perpetrators are non-Indian.

GUEST: Charon Asetoyer, Executive Director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center.

Read Amnesty International’s Report, Maze of Injustice here: http://www.amnestyusa.org/women/maze/report.pdf.

Email messages to Senator Dianne Feinstein can be sent here: http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe. Or call Senator Feinstein at (202) 224-3841.


Listen to it here.

25.3.09

AALDEF Demands Justice for Iowa Student Disciplined for Protesting English Proficiency Testing

This press release was found at Angry Asian Man, I learned about the story via the Addicted to Race podcast.

Honor student deemed an English Language Learner for declaring Lao as her home language

New York, NY - The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), which is representing Iowa honors student Lori Phanachone, has called for the removal of all references to disciplinary action from her school record after she refused to take an English Language Learner (ELL) test. Ms. Phanachone was mislabeled an English Language Learner (ELL) after naming Lao as her home language.

Khin Mai Aung, the AALDEF staff attorney representing the student, said: "Lori Phanachone is an honor student who has excelled in mainstream classes throughout her life, and happens to speak Lao as her home language. Storm Lake has improperly conflated my client's knowledge of Lao with lack of fluency in English."

The Storm Lake School District, which did not assess Ms. Phanachone's English level when she enrolled two years ago, has since subjected her to a yearly test for ELLs. The 3.98 GPA senior did not receive English as a Second Language or other ELL services before moving to Storm Lake as a sophomore. Since matriculating in Storm Lake, Ms. Phanachone has excelled in advanced courses–all of which were taught in English. This year, she boycotted the yearly ELL test in protest. As a result, Ms. Phanachone was suspended for 3 days and threatened with the loss of National Honor Society membership, exclusion from school activities including the track team, prom and other extracurricular activities, as well as further disciplinary action.

Lori Phanachone said: "Storm Lake labeled me an English Language Learner when I enrolled without even bothering to test me. All I want is to continue my education without the school labeling me unfairly."

Among other things, AALDEF demands that the Storm Lake School District:

* Remove all references to Lori Phanachone's suspension and other disciplinary action from her school records;
* Assure in writing that it will not impose further disciplinary action on her;
* Clarify Storm Lake's procedures for classifying students as ELL upon enrollment;
* Explain how and why Lori Phanachone was classified as an ELL under Storm Lake's classification procedures; and
* Reclassify Lori Phanachone, and other affected students if appropriate under Iowa and federal law, as English proficient.

17.3.09

Breaking the Silence: On Living Pro-Lifers' Choice for Women

From Shakesville:

Hey, Shakers, Liss has graciously allowed me to yell in her forum. Many thanks, Liss. I have no other outlet for what I'm about to say. I want to tell you first: at least one of you knows me in person. What I'm about to say is something you do not know about me. If it's not you, then one of your friends might be like me.

I'm the birth mother of an adopted child, vehemently pro-choice, non-Christian, very unsuited to motherhood, and after over a decade, have got some things to tell the world about adoption. It's been stewing since I heard about the recent rash of pre-abortion ultrasound legislation. While I am touched that so many men in such various states are so deeply worried about women possibly being all sad from having an abortion, I wish to point out to these compassionately bleeding hearts that the alternatives are not exactly without their own emotional consequences.

...

I have given a baby up for adoption, and I have had an abortion, and while anecdotes are not evidence, I can assert that abortions may or may not cause depression - it certainly did not in me, apart from briefly mourning the path not taken - but adoption? That is an entirely different matter. I don't doubt that there are women who were fine after adoption, and there is emphatically nothing wrong with that or with them; but I want to point out that if we're going to have a seemingly neverending discussion about the sorrow and remorse caused by abortion, then it is about goddamn time that we hear from birth mothers too.


Read the rest of the amazing piece here.

10.3.09

A message from the team at MomsRising

This came to me via the Anti-Racist Parenting blog:

At MomsRising we’re always looking out to make sure that mothers and families are treated fairly in our nation. The other day I saw a video that shocked me: Two young children crying, alone in a car, reaching out for their mother who’d been taken away by deputies wearing ski masks after being stopped for a minor traffic violation.[1] The images haven’t left me. A nightmare, right? Never in America? Wrong.

A local NBC news report described the incident through the eyes of a witness, “…the deputies were wearing ski masks and detained the children’s mother for about an hour while her children watched, crying.”[2]
Who’s in charge of these deputies!?

It turns out that the person in charge knew exactly what was going on. Sheriff Arpaio has been cited repeatedly for gross civil rights violations and racial profiling of both citizens and non-citizens in the name of immigration enforcement, and when questioned about his tactics, he said that under his jurisdiction, “it was not unusual for law enforcement officers to wear ski masks while on duty.”[2,3]

In the video the young girl is asked, “What did the sheriff tell you?” The little girl said, “To be quiet, but I couldn’t ’cause I wanted to go with my mommy.” [2] And here’s what Mary, a MomsRising team member said after seeing the video, “We may not all be on the same page about immigration policy, but we do all agree that children and mothers shouldn’t be treated this way.”

Regardless of where immigration policy stands, no one should be treated that way. We’ve all got to stand up against this inhumane treatment of families. This type of treatment of women and families simply isn’t acceptable.

*Watch the video and join us in urging the Department of Justice to investigate Sheriff Arpaio’s tactics at: http://www.momsrisingaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26817

-Please forward this [post] to friends and family now so they too can take action too. We need to put a spotlight on this inhumane treatment with as many people paying attention as possible in order to get an investigation.

Together we can do something about this. Sheriff Arpaio is out of control in Maricopa County, Arizona, and it’s going to take all of us, and then some, standing up to say that this type of treatment has got to stop.
With over 2,700 lawsuits against him, a history of virulently anti-Latino and anti-immigrant tactics, and 40,000 felony warrants outstanding in his jurisdiction, Sheriff Arpaio has fostered a climate in which real criminals roam free while his deputies cross the line by using tactics that violate civil rights in the name of immigration enforcement.[4]

The voices of mothers are needed right now to say clearly that all mothers and children need to be treated with respect and fairness.

*Don’t forget to watch the video and sign on now to urge the U.S. Department of Justice investigate Sheriff Arpaio at: http://www.momsrisingaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26817

Mothers taken away from young children by men in ski masks, and people being marched in shackles through town to electric fenced “tent cities” in the desert [5] crosses the line of humane treatment. Let’s help put a stop to this.

Thank you - Kristin, Joan, Katie, Dionna, Mary, Ariana, Anita, Ashley, Donna, Roz, Julia, and the MomsRising Team

[1] See the video and take action: http://www.momsrisingaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26817

[2] February 5th, 2009: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2009/02/05/20090205motherarrested02052009-CR.html

[3] From “Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children”: Approximately five million children have an undocumented parent; however, the vast majority of these children are U.S. citizens and under the age of ten. Despite efforts to mitigate harm to children by changing the manner in which raids and other immigration enforcement actions are conducted, children continue to be placed in harm’s way.
[4] http://www.americasvoiceonline.org/page/content/sheriff
[5] February 5th, 2009: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2009/02/05/20090205motherarrested02052009-CR.html, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/opinion/04wed2.html , http://vivirlatino.com/2009/03/04/thousands-protest-racist-sheriff-joe-arpaio-in-arizona.php

p.s. MomsRising joins the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (http://www.ndlon.org), National Council of La Raza (http://www.nclr.org), America’s Voice (http://americasvoiceonline.org/page/content/sheriff), and many others in calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to begin a federal investigation into Sheriff Arpaio’s tactics.