One Monster, Many Heads

Behind Bars for Being Pregnant and HIV-Positive

2009-06-16T21:35:00.001-05:00

From RH Reality Check, by Margo Kaplan

In May, 2009, U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced Quinta Layin Tuleh, who was about five months pregnant, for the crime of having fake immigration documents. While both the federal prosecutor and defense attorney urged the judge to sentence Tuleh to 114 days, which would allow her to leave prison with time served, Judge Woodcock doubled the recommended sentence and exceeded federal sentencing guideline recommendations for the sole purpose of keeping Tuleh in prison until she gave birth. Judge Woodcock's sole justification for the extended sentence is that Tuleh is HIV-positive. The judge felt that - despite the fact that Tuleh had arranged for care outside the prison - keeping her in prison would best ensure that she would take anti-retroviral medication to reduce the chances of transmitting HIV to her child in utero. In issuing this decision, Judge Woodcock has created disturbing precedent that could allow the state to keep people in jail based solely on the fact that they have HIV or are pregnant.

To understand how misled Judge Woodcock's decision was, it is useful to understand a little about how HIV can be transmitted from mother to child, or "vertically." HIV can be transmitted during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. While all babies born to women living with HIV will have HIV antibodies when they are born, 75% of those babies will "serorevert" and will not develop HIV infection. Thus, without any medical intervention, the rate of transmission is, on average, 25%. Taking antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy and birth or opting to have a cesarean section can reduce the rate of transmission to less than 2%. The best course of treatment to ensure the health of the mother and her child always depends on the individual woman's medical history and circumstances, and should be a decision she makes after consulting with her physician.

Judge Woodcock's decision ignores the complex factors involved in a pregnant woman's medical treatment decisions - as through being HIV positive makes one incapable of reasonable decision-making - and glibly equates being HIV-positive and pregnant with committing a crime. When reading the sentence, he makes clear that his sole reason for keeping Tuleh in prison was that she was HIV-positive and pregnant, and that, had she been pregnant and not HIV-positive, he would release her with time served. He reasons that he could keep Tuleh in jail "to protect the public from [her] further crimes."

Judge Woodcock bends himself into bizarre logical contortions to justify his decision. He states, "I don't think the transfer of HIV to an unborn child is technically a crime under the law, but it is as direct and as likely as an ongoing assault." Frustrated with what the law actually forbids, Judge Woodcock invents a new category of actions that, while not "technically" crimes "under the law," he still has the authority to punish with imprisonment. However, if judges could hold people in prison for any "direct" and "likely" action they found morally reprehensible, they would have unlimited discretion. This is precisely what the rule of law is intended to prevent.

While some states do, indeed, criminalize HIV exposure, Judge Woodcock does more than this - he imprisons a woman for the mere possibility that she might transmit HIV in the future. His reasoning essentially criminalizes being HIV-positive and allows the state to jail anyone with HIV simply because they have HIV and are capable of transmitting it to another. It classifies anyone with HIV as a threat to society who can be incarcerated at the whim of the state to protect public health. As Regan Hofmann eloquently explained in her May blog, criminalizing HIV transmission contributes to the stigmatization of HIV and actually harms prevention efforts. The imprisonment of those with HIV based on the mere fact that they might transmit it to others is even more abhorrent as a matter of law and policy.

Some might be tempted to think that the judge in fact is helping Tuleh by ensuring she at least has access to medications. This argument might have some merit if Tuleh were asking the judge to keep her in jail because she was concerned about deportation or her ability to access care. But the fact is-and Judge Woodcock recognized-Tuleh did not want to remain in prison, much less give birth in prison. Her attorney stressed that Tuleh had arranged for medical treatment outside of prison at a facility-unlike the prison system-specifically equipped to meet her medical needs.

Whatever Judge Woodcock's protective intentions, using imprisonment to coerce pregnant women to make the medical care choices we think best is an outrageous abuse of the system. By keeping her in prison because he felt it would be best for the fetus, Judge Woodcock was unable to see and treat Tuleh as a competent adult with the ability and the right to make her own medical decisions. Instead, he reduced her to a fetal container-an obstacle to providing the care he wanted for the child she was carrying. Not once in the transcript of the sentencing proceeding does Judge Woodcock consider Tuleh's own medical care or her health interests. She is guilty of being HIV positive, while her fetus is, in his view, "a wholly innocent person."

Judge Woodcock's decision perpetuates the myth that people with HIV are somehow "other"-more reprehensible, less responsible, and deserving of whatever state intervention helps protect the "innocent" remainder of society. It also furthers the view that pregnant women lose their autonomy and their rights by virtue of their pregnancy, and that pregnancy should enable the state to detain a woman if the state disagrees with the care she is choosing for her own body. While Tuleh may have had counterfeit immigration documents, having HIV and being pregnant does not make her any less "innocent" or any more deserving of punishment.

Does Abortion Prevent Child Abuse?

2009-06-11T20:41:00.001-05:00

“Does abortion prevent child abuse? In 1973, when abortion was first legalized, the United States child abuse cases were estimated at 167,000 annually. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 903,000 children were victims of abuse during 2001, a number more than 5 times greater.”

-from Life Report Podcast

Correlation is NOT causation. The population of the US increased from 211,909,000 in 1973 to 285,669,915. While those numbers are not enough to explain the difference, perhaps a shift in social attitudes can. Even just a generation or two ago, it was common to use more negative force and excessive discipline on children (for example, how common was spanking while you were growing up vs. now?). Mandated reporters (people who, due to their close work with children, are legally obligated to report suspected abuse) were not established until 1974 when the Child Abuse and Treatment Act passed. This act also begun federal funding to all 50 states to prevent, investigate and assess child abuse cases.

Further, it would be interesting to see how these statistics define “child abuse.” Unfortunately, some children deemed victims of child abuse are ultimately victims of poverty. Stories come to my mind of families torn apart due to unsafe living conditions that were a direct result of landlord neglect and the ghetto-ization of low-income people or parents who were working but poor and couldn’t afford all their bills and to put food on their table.

Lastly, any person who would claim “abortion prevents child abuse” is not clearly thinking through their pro-choice logic. Yes, in some select cases a continued pregnancy would have resulted in the child being abused, but ultimately this claim is anti-woman, assuming there are some women who just shouldn’t be parents- almost mandating abortion in certain cases. Hard to prove tangents just take away from our message. If we are to ever have a truly united force for reproductive justice, we must squarely keep the focus for abortion on the woman and what she wants for herself, her family (if applicable) and her future.

" 'Pro-Life', that's a lie."

2009-05-31T16:09:00.001-05:00

Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the USA who performed late abortions, was shot and killed while attending church this morning.

"The chilling fact of Dr. Tiller's death comes after years of being terrorized: he'd been shot before (in both arms); had his clinic bombed, flooded and vandalized; received decades of death threats; wild lawsuits; and was the unfortunate target of conservative media that hounded him. He'd also been stabbed--and went back to work the next day." -Anna Clark for RH Reality Check

Personally, I just want to say condolences to Mrs. Tiller, Dr. Tiller's family and friends with hope and love for the people affected by and organizing for reproductive justice and abortion rights.

We may be entering scary times. Much love to all you out there.

Starbucks

2009-05-30T00:34:00.000-05:00

Deadly Intersections- by pattrice jones

2009-04-29T20:29:00.000-05:00

From the blog, superweed.

The Huffington Post reports that Glen Beck and other conservative media personalities are blaming undocumented immigrants from Mexico for the spread of swine flu into the United States. Given that the true vector — tourists returning from Mexican vacations — has been widely publicized, there’s no way to read this other than as racism and jingoism.

It’s easy to laugh off Glen Beck tearfully portraying flu-weakened residents of Mexico City rushing to cross a border hundreds of miles away, but the potential repercussions are not so funny. What if people in the U.S. do start dying of swine flu and Glen Beck fans swarm out to beat up Mexicans in retaliation?

Here’s another problem: As long as people are fired up about allegedly infectious “illegal immigrants,” they’re not looking at the true source of the problem: factory farming.

This is an example of what feminist scholars call the “intersection of oppressions.” When different kinds of oppression intersect, they tend to compound and fortify each other, sometimes leading to hybrid forms of oppression, just as different strains of flu virus can comingle and mutate to create a more virulent and intractable disease.

In this case, racism and national chauvinism are shields for speciesism and environmental despoliation. Even if this particular pandemic panic fizzles out, the problem of virus mutation on factory farms will remain. Many virologists and public health experts believe it’s a matter of “not if but when” an influenza pandemic will strike. By not looking at factory farms, we not only leave literally billions of animals in anguish but also neglect a public health crisis that, when it hits, will fall most heavily on people living in poverty. Which, because people of color represent a disproportionate share of people living in poverty, brings us back to racism.

See how it works?

We’ve seen this before with disease, most notably with HIV/AIDS. First, prejudice against low-income injection drug users kept public health officials from investigating the epidemic of “junkie pneumonia” in the 1970s. As I wrote back in 1992:

Here’s how I imagine things would have been different if such an investigation had occurred back in the 1970s: (1) researchers would have discovered the HIV virus and its routes of transmission many years before they did, and (2) this earlier discovery would have saved many lives now lost; (3) no one would have wasted energy on inane and homophobic concepts such as GRID (Gay-Related Immuno-Deficiency - the first name given to the syndrome now called AIDS); (4) otherwise rational researchers would not have investigated “the gay lifestyle” as a potential causal factor; (5) the media would not have been able to label AIDS as “the gay disease;” and (6) increased anti-gay violence would not have resulted.

And, of course, besides inhibiting scientific research and sparking gay-bashing, the homophobic designation of AIDS as a “gay disease” made straight people, including the sexual partners of injection drug users, initially resistant to AIDS-prevention education. While HIV transmission rates declined among gay men, they shot up among people living in poverty and especially among heterosexual women of color.

See how it works? Gay men of all races were hurt by the racism that led doctors to ignore junkie pneumonia. Then straight women of color were hurt by the homophobia that branded AIDS as a “gay disease.”

It gets deeper. We now know that HIV (human immodeficiency virus) evolved from SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) in much the same way that the flu virus now sickening people evolved from swine and bird viruses, initially making the jump to people in Africa. But, given the same kind of invective we’re seeing now about swine flu, anti-racist activists were understandably skeptical of and justifiably worried about the repercussions of an African origin of AIDS. Thus racism made the quest to understand the evolution of a virus a political powder keg.

It gets deeper. Stereotyped associations of Africans and monkeys combined with the taint of sexual perversity attached to AIDS by virtue of its imagined association with homosexuality, leading to truly sick racist depictions of AIDS originating in bestiality. This made many of us even more unwilling to even consider the possibility that HIV evolved from SIV in Africa. I’ll admit that, at the time, I was one of the ones arguing that we ought to just quit trying to figure out where HIV came from and concentrate on arresting its spread.

Let’s break it down. In fact, what happened was that SIV got into human bloodstreams easily and regularly because people who hunt and butcher primates for what’s known as “bush meat” get scratched and cut in the process. The blood of the butchered animal gets into the cuts and scratches, setting the stage for the comingling of viruses. This is just one more instance of animal diseases making the jump to people because of our penchant for killing and eating members of other species. But we couldn’t see that because of the psychedelic kaleidescope of racist-speciesist and homophobic imagery swirling around HIV/AIDS.

Sweep that away, and we could look, perhaps productively, at how the exploitation of animals always turns back to bite us. We could look not only at zoonoses (animal-based diseases) but also at how the construction of the category “animal” as an inferior creature without rights creates the circumstances that allow us to “dehumanize” people in order to exploit them. We could look, perhaps productively, at the poverty and environmental despoliation that lead people to go into the bush looking for chimps to butcher for meat.

To solve big problems, we have to be able to look dispassionately at all of the facts. But intersecting oppressions makes it difficult to look at some connections.

More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops

2009-04-26T20:38:00.001-05:00

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN for The New York Times

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two months after the local atheist organization here put up a billboard saying “Don’t Believe in God? You Are Not Alone,” the group’s 13 board members met in Laura and Alex Kasman’s living room to grapple with the fallout.

Loretta Haskell, a board member of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, is also a church musician. “I am not one of the humanists who feels that religion is a bad thing,” she said.

The problem was not that the group, the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, had attracted an outpouring of hostility. It was the opposite. An overflow audience of more than 100 had showed up for their most recent public symposium, and the board members discussed whether it was time to find a larger place.

And now parents were coming out of the woodwork asking for family-oriented programs where they could meet like-minded nonbelievers.

“Is everyone in favor of sponsoring a picnic for humanists with families?” asked the board president, Jonathan Lamb, a 27-year-old meteorologist, eliciting a chorus of “ayes.”

More than ever, America’s atheists are linking up and speaking out — even here in South Carolina, home to Bob Jones University, blue laws and a legislature that last year unanimously approved a Christian license plate embossed with a cross, a stained glass window and the words “I Believe” (a move blocked by a judge and now headed for trial).

They are connecting on the Internet, holding meet-ups in bars, advertising on billboards and buses, volunteering at food pantries and picking up roadside trash, earning atheist groups recognition on adopt-a-highway signs.

They liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.

“It’s not about carrying banners or protesting,” said Herb Silverman, a math professor at the College of Charleston who founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which has about 150 members on the coast of the Carolinas. “The most important thing is coming out of the closet.”

Polls show that the ranks of atheists are growing. The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released last month, found that those who claimed “no religion” were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years.

Nationally, the “nones” in the population nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent. Not all the “nones” are necessarily committed atheists or agnostics, but they make up a pool of potential supporters.

Local and national atheist organizations have flourished in recent years, fed by outrage over the Bush administration’s embrace of the religious right. A spate of best-selling books on atheism also popularized the notion that nonbelief is not just an argument but a cause, like environmentalism or muscular dystrophy.

Ten national organizations that variously identify themselves as atheists, humanists, freethinkers and others who go without God have recently united to form the Secular Coalition for America, of which Mr. Silverman is president. These groups, once rivals, are now pooling resources to lobby in Washington for separation of church and state.

A wave of donations, some in the millions of dollars, has enabled the hiring of more paid professional organizers, said Fred Edwords, a longtime atheist leader who directs an umbrella group, the United Coalition of Reason, which plans to spawn 20 local groups around the country in the next year.

Despite changing attitudes, polls continue to show that atheists are ranked lower than any other minority or religious group when Americans are asked whether they would vote for or approve of their child marrying a member of that group.

Over lunch with some new atheist joiners at a downtown Charleston restaurant serving shrimp and grits, one young mother said that her husband was afraid to allow her to go public as an atheist because employers would refuse to hire him.

But another member, Beverly Long, a retired school administrator who now teaches education at the Citadel, said that when she first moved to Charleston from Toronto in 2001, “the first question people asked me was, What church do you belong to?” Ms. Long attended Wednesday dinners at a Methodist church, for the social interaction, but never felt at home. Since her youth, she had doubted the existence of God but did not discuss her views with others.

Ms. Long found the secular humanists through a newspaper advertisement and attended a meeting. Now, she is ready to go public, she said, especially after doing some genealogical research recently. “I had ancestors who fought in the American Revolution so I could speak my mind,” she said.

Until recent years, the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry were local pariahs. Mr. Silverman — whose specialty license plate, one of many offered by the state, says “In Reason We Trust” — was invited to give the invocation at the Charleston City Council once, but half the council members walked out. The local chapter of Habitat for Humanity would not let the Secular Humanists volunteer to build houses wearing T-shirts that said “Non Prophet Organization,” he said.

When their billboard went up in January, with their Web site address displayed prominently, they expected hate mail.

“But most of the e-mails were grateful,” said Laura Kasman, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina.

The board members meeting in the Kasmans’ living room were an unlikely mix that included a gift store owner, a builder, a grandmother, a retired nursing professor, a retired Navy officer, an administrator at a primate sanctuary and a church musician. They are also diverse in their attitudes toward religion.

Loretta Haskell, the church musician, said: “I did struggle at one point as to whether or not I should be making music in churches, given my position on things. But at the same time I like using my music to move people, to give them comfort. And what I’ve found is, I am not one of the humanists who feels that religion is a bad thing.”

The group has had mixed reactions to President Obama, who acknowledged nonbelievers in his inauguration speech. “I sent him a thank-you note,” Ms. Kasman said. But Sharon Fratepietro, who is married to Mr. Silverman, said, “It seemed like one long religious ceremony, with a moment of lip service.”

Part of what is giving the movement momentum is the proliferation of groups on college campuses. The Secular Student Alliance now has 146 chapters, up from 42 in 2003.

At the University of South Carolina, in Columbia, 19 students showed up for a recent evening meeting of the “Pastafarians,” named for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster — a popular spoof on religion dreamed up by an opponent of intelligent design, the idea that living organisms are so complex that the best explanation is that a higher intelligence designed them.

Andrew Cederdahl, the group’s co-founder, asked for volunteers for the local food bank and for a coming debate with a nearby Christian college. Then Mr. Cederdahl opened the floor to members to tell their “coming out stories.”

Andrew Morency, who attended a Christian high school, said that when he got to college and studied evolutionary biology he decided that “creationists lie.”

Josh Streetman, who once attended the very Christian college that the Pastafarians were about to debate, said he knew the Bible too well to be sure that Scripture is true. Like Mr. Streetman, many of the other students at the meeting were highly literate in the Bible and religious history.

In keeping with the new generation of atheist evangelists, the Pastafarian leaders say that their goal is not confrontation, or even winning converts, but changing the public’s stereotype of atheists. A favorite Pastafarian activity is to gather at a busy crossroads on campus with a sign offering “Free Hugs” from “Your Friendly Neighborhood Atheist.”

Edward Abbey quote

2009-04-23T20:52:00.000-05:00

"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul."

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T12:57:00.000-05:00

"Earth Day is the first completely international and universal holiday that the world has ever known. Every other holiday was tied to one place, or some political or special event. This day is tied to Earth itself, and to the place Earth in the whole solar system."

-Margaret Mead

Helping Women Reach Their Potential in Math

2009-04-19T23:44:00.000-05:00

This New York Times Article is now member-only, so here's the full text! By Tanya Mohn

THE explanations vary, but the fact remains: Many women are not reaching their full potential in math, and that can hold them back in the job market. Allannah Thomas is working to change that through Helicon, a nonprofit group in New York specializing in math instruction for low-income women.

“You’ll get better jobs, better pay, more interesting work and have a future” by improving math skills, Ms. Thomas recently told a group of two dozen women. She was about to review fractions, mixed numbers and other basics to help them with tests for job training programs. The class was part of a program at Nontraditional Employment for Women, which trains women for skilled jobs in construction and other industries.

Ms. Thomas formed Helicon in 1999 to address a lack of math proficiency among low-income women. As the sole instructor, she has taught more than 5,000 women (and many men, too) about basics of bookkeeping and has helped them prepare for G.E.D. tests. She has instructed prospective retail workers about percentages, for example, and offered other industry-specific math for job seekers who hope to work as bank tellers or in health care.

Her clients include trade unions, job training and placement organizations, social service agencies and hospitals. She also teaches many classes pro bono.

Nationwide, women are underrepresented in many jobs that require strong math skills. Women comprise only 13.5 percent of workers in architecture and engineering occupations, and only 2.5 percent in construction-related occupations, according to 2008 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Beth Casey, professor of applied developmental and educational psychology at Boston College, who studies gender differences in math, says research suggests that boys start to gain a small advantage in math in middle-school years, and that the advantage increases in high school, though by smaller amounts in recent years.

Gender differences are greater in math that depends more on spatial reasoning, such as geometry, measurement and calculus, Dr. Casey said. This may affect job choice, with men more likely than women to enter fields like engineering and carpentry.

The reason that men and women differ in math skills is a matter of debate. It is not a clear-cut issue, as biological and environmental factors interact, Dr. Casey said. “Women are not universally worse than males in math,” she said.

What often holds girls back is self-confidence; it drops sharply in middle school and is considered a reason that so many women don’t choose math-related fields, she said. [Emphasis mine]But “many girls and women have the potential to improve their spatial skills to the point of being very successful" in fields that require those abilities, she said.

Ms. Thomas first observed these issues as a high school math teacher two decades ago. And when she worked in a variety of social service jobs in the 1990s, she came into contact with many women who struggled with math, which prompted her to start Helicon.

While working in social services, she met women who wanted to start or expand businesses; some who could breeze through the verbal part of business plans were stymied by the math sections in market research and fiscal analyses. Other women — nurses’ aides and home health care workers who hoped to become nurses — often had their dreams dashed by an inability to do the math required for training entrance exams. (Test takers might be asked to convert adult doses of medicine to various doses for children, based on their weight, for example.) And she saw women who had difficulty with the math section of the G.E.D. test compared with the other sections. In New York, women’s failure rate on the math section is consistently higher than men’s, according to data from the state Department of Education.

In her current work, she says she has found that while individual abilities vary, almost everyone can improve. She recounted how several years ago, a woman whose math skills were at a fourth-grade level came to one of her classes. After taking an eight-week intensive review of basic math and several other math prep classes, she got a score of 98 percent on the entrance test for Carpenters’ Union, Local 608 — the highest in the class, Ms. Thomas said.

Ms. Thomas’s style of teaching has been called math boot camp because it emphasizes traditional basics: memorization of multiplication tables, for example, and the use of timed quizzes and tests. By mastering fundamentals in rote learning, she said, math becomes second nature and inspires confidence.

One former student, Roselyn Colón, 31, of the Bronx, said: “If her first attempt doesn’t work, she tries other strategies until you learn it.” Another former student, Heather McHale, 36, of Queens, said, “She’s old school. You do it again and again until it sticks.”

Both women took several of Ms. Thomas’s classes last year and in September became apprentices in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3, making $11 an hour with yearly raises. After a five-and-a-half-year apprenticeship, they will earn about $47 an hour, they said. .

SOME women who take the classes have strong math skills that may just need polishing. One of Ms. Thomas’s former students, Matilde Santana, 45, of Queens, said, “I was pretty strong in math,” but hadn’t used some of the skills for about 20 years. She worked in the fashion industry for 13 years, but was unemployed for two before taking Ms. Thomas’s classes a few years ago.

She has worked at Consolidated Edison since September 2006 as a general utility worker and was promoted in March. “I strongly believe if I had not taken her course,” the situation would have been completely different, Ms. Santana said.

New Hope to End Genocide

2009-04-18T13:28:00.002-05:00

From Huffington Post, by Andrew Slack

Andrew Slack is Executive Director of the the Harry Potter Alliance, which takes a creative approach to activism by mobilizing thousands of kids to spread love and fight for justice in the spirit of the Harry Potter novels. The HP Alliance has been featured in over 200 US publications including Time Magazine, the LA Times, and the front covers of both the Chicago Tribune Business Section and Politico Newspaper.

In the 1977 classic Star Wars: A New Hope, Obi Wan Kenobi shudders just moments after Darth Vader destroys the planet of Alderaan. When Luke asks his mentor what's wrong, Obi Wan replies, "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

A real world disturbance happened in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed the lives of over 800,000 innocent people. In the last week we have reached the fifteenth anniversary of this horror when Bill Clinton and his administration did hear those "millions of voices crying out in terror" and allowed them to be silenced.

These calculated decisions by our leaders in Washington coupled by a media obsessed with OJ Simpson led to the perverse reality that a good friend of mine from Rwanda lived through. At the time, her one source of news for what was happening in her country was phone calls from family members saying goodbye and asking why the international community had abandoned them. Some of them were murdered while they were on the phone with her.

While 1994 was the summer after Schindler's List won best movie, the Clinton administration and our allies showed great disregard to the memory of those killed in the Holocaust by failing to protect the millions at dire risk and the more than 800,000 that were killed in Rwanda.

On this fifteenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, will the Obama administration show similar disregard to those killed in Rwanda by failing to protect the millions at imminent risk in Darfur? In short, does the Obama administration plan to commemorate the Rwandan genocide by letting another innocent 1,000,000 Africans die?

When I read the testimony of Rwandan survivorsat this site, such as the story of a young Rwandan woman who was infected with HIV after being gang raped at the age of five, of young men who as children laid next to their parents' corpses pretending to be dead, I am reminded that none of these people are mere statistics. Their tales of horror and their ongoing courage to rebuild their nation is a humbling reminder to prevent these stories of brutality from continuing in Darfur while honoring these brave survivors of genocide in Rwanda.

In order to show Rwandans the world over that the international community of young people will not forget what happened while sharing their hope for their nations future,
the Harry Potter Alliance partnered with a pretty interesting group called the Nerdfighters, and in one week our members made over 300 videos in which they lit a "candle of hope" for Rwanda. Through Candles For Rwanda, these videos will be shown alongside a video of celebrities, world leaders, and leading activists (their video can be seen here) lighting candles of hope as well. Rwandans the world over will see these videos and the best of them will be shown on July 16, during the closing ceremony of the fifteenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide in Rwanda's capital of Kigali.

Through these videos and thousands of book donations meant for a youth village in Rwanda I have seen first hand young people across our world taking the small steps within their power to commemorate the genocide in Rwanda and support the survivors. President Obama can do much more. Putting forward a comprehensive plan to work with our allies to apprehend the killers from the genocide who are hiding in the US, UK, France, and who continue their killing spree in Congo with plans to return to Rwanda to 'finish what they started' is an essential step. But another essential step is that the President authenticate his April 7 statement on the fifteen year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide where he says "the memory of these events also deepens our commitment to act when faced with genocide and to work with partners around the world to prevent future atrocities." As of now, John Prendergast and Jim Wallis have noted that the US policy towards Darfur leaves a great deal to be desired:

What has been missing is America's leadership in forging a coalition that can both negotiate with and pressure Sudan to seek peace in Darfur as well as implement the existing peace agreement for the South. Building this coalition for peace should be Mr. Obama's objective.

In the last month, the genocide in Darfur has shifted to a new phase of horror for the Darfuri people. Over 13 aid groups have been evacuated and over 1,000,0000 lives hang in the balance. Further, as Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir continues his current attempt at mass murder, he is once more rallying the support of radical terrorists, meaning that Sudan could easily become a hotbed of terrorist recruitment as it housed Osama bin Laden in the nineties. So to those isolationists who can stomach watching innocent children die under the pretense that we need to care about our own country first, acting now on Darfur is not only a moral imperative, it is a strategic one as well.

But as we look to the fifteenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, there is also a historical imperative. To his credit, President Obama has acknowledged activists for their work on Darfur, finally appointed a special envoy to Sudan, and now Senator John Kerry has arrived in Darfur. But with the exception of Kerry, these were all steps that George Bush took for years. An occasional statement here and there about how "Darfur is in a crisis" is not going to get them out of this new stage of genocide with 1,000,000 lives in imminent danger. The people of Darfur need the US to not forget them as they had Rwandans. In the face of this fifteenth anniversary, the US needs to show what we have learned by leading a coalition of allies to do whatever it takes to get the aid workers back into Darfur and find a point of leverage for peace in all of Sudan. As Prendergast and Wallis note, while this is a moment of potential horror, it is also a moment of great opportunity should the President decide to show that he cares enough, not just to talk, but to act.

The Harry Potter Alliance is working to wake up the President to ending the genocide in Darfur the way Dumbledore's Army woke the world up to Voldemort's return in the Harry Potter novels. Thankfully we are part of a growing worldwide movement. You can join this movement by signing up with us, with the Genocide Intervention Network, and the Save Darfur Coalition. Hopefully the actions of these groups will influence action from advocacy organizations like MoveOn.org as well as attention from the blogosphere -- it's time that some of this country's most politically engaged public health activists and intellectuals start prodding our President to take leadership on a public health crisis of over one 1,000,000 innocent people.

Here are some more simple steps that you can take toward showing our president that he has the political capital to take necessary leadership on this matter of great urgency:

1- Call 1-800-GENOCIDE

2- Text 90822 to send a message about Darfur to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton! Create your own message or text "Take immediate action to restore aid to Darfur!" Send a text every day.

Further, each of us today can help Rwandan survivors with their homes and medical expenses by donating at candlesforrwanda.org where you can also upload a video of yourself lighting a candle of hope.

In order to honor these heroic individuals who survived the Rwandan genocide and that part of humanity itself that was lost as we watched yet another genocide and did nothing to counter it, it is time for us to find appropriate ways to commemorate the fifteen year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide by allowing "the millions of voices [that had] suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced" to finally be heard.

I imagine that if we continued to listen to the whispers of those voices that were silenced in 1994, we may be reminded that people's spirit and love cannot be done away with by machete or starvation -- and that we will allow their spirits to guide us in love toward working towards a world where each of us is revered, not forgotten and left to die needlessly.

As Prendergast and Wallis say:

"When the dust clears and the bodies are buried, burned or left to rot in forsaken camps, the world will mourn for what it did not do. What Darfur needs is not a future apology, but steps today that offer hope."

Hope, a New Hope, is what Obama promised our country and our world. He has until July 16 to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide by showing the world that there will no longer be millions of voices suddenly crying out in terror and then suddenly silenced. The "force" of our world must be restored by listening deeply and acting for the millions of voices crying out in Darfuri refugee camps.

While "Change We Can Believe" includes Obama's wish to change humanity's twentieth century style relationship with the environment and nuclear weapons, it must include changing the twentieth century's pattern of inaction toward the mass murder of civilians and toward a reverence of life and love that speaks to all of our most deeply held values.

Time is of the essence Mr. President. Despite all the problems at home and abroad that you and the leaders of both parties are grappling with, now is the time to look to the people of Rwanda and the people of Darfur and say, Yes We Can. Yes We Can Honor the memory and rebuilding of Rwanda. Yes We Can End Genocide in Darfur.

2009-04-17T00:25:00.000-05:00

Writing About Values Boosts Grades for Middle Schoolers

2009-04-16T13:24:00.002-05:00

Interesting study.... article by Serena Gordon

When children write about their values, these self-affirmation exercises can help boost grades, new research suggests.

However, the positive effect seems to only translate into higher marks for black students, according to the study, which appears in the April 17 issue of Science.

"This psychological intervention can have a long-term positive impact on children's academic performance and help to close the racial achievement gap," said study author Geoffrey Cohen, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

But, added Cohen, "This is not a silver bullet. The improvements came from the psychological interventions paired with good resources and good teachers."

For this study, Cohen and his colleagues had three groups of seventh-graders: European-American children, high-performing black children and low-performing black children. Each group was split into two, with half receiving the intervention and the other half serving as a control. Each group had between 65 and 75 children.

The intervention was a series of structured writing assignments where the kids were asked to select a value and then write about that value. Each writing assignment took about 15 minutes to complete, and was repeated between three and five times throughout a year.

"What we found is that African-Americans who received the intervention did better academically over the two-year study. Grades improved almost a half a grade point for low-performing African-Americans. The intervention consistently closed the racial achievement gap," said Cohen.

For blacks, the rate of remediation or grade repetition dropped from 18 percent to 5 percent for those children who received the intervention.

One of the ways this type of intervention helps children, according to Cohen, is by reducing stress. "If I have a moment to think about my family, to reflect on what matters to me during an important performance situation -- such as before a test -- the stressful performance situation becomes less stressful, and I think of myself as capable and good," he said.

This type of change in thinking might be especially important for minority students, he said, because they may feel that they'll be judged in a stereotypical way.

"African-Americans might have more stress in school, because they have the extra burden of a stereotype threat. They may worry that they'll be seen by teachers or peers through the negative lens of stereotyping," said Cohen.

And, more good news from this study was that the benefits of the intervention persisted for at least two years. Cohen said that's likely because the intervention breaks the negative downward spiral that's often seen in middle school.

"Because it's a recursive cycle, early outcomes make a huge difference. Recursive cycles are sensitive to initial outcomes, and early experiences have a lasting impact," he said.

Dr. Debra Hollander, chief of psychiatry at Providence Hospital in Southfield, Mich., wasn't surprised that the intervention helped some children improve their grades. "The kids were being asked to be more reflective, to think about what's important to them and what they value. This can help reset where they want to be, and it can empower them," she said.

But, Hollander said she was surprised that the positive effects were only seen in black children, and added that it's something that should be explored further in research.

What's important for parents and educators to take away from this study, she said, is that, "how we interact with one another, and the subtle messages we send, can have a huge impact on children."

For example, Hollander said, when children are struggling in school and their parents just sign them up for tutoring, the kids may interpret that to mean that they can't do well on their own. A better way, she suggested, is to ask your children what they want to accomplish and how you can help them get there.

"You Can Be Good Without God"

2009-04-15T12:33:00.003-05:00

http://inatheistbus.org/

Fighting Sexism, part 2

2009-04-12T12:56:00.001-05:00

Former Seattle Police Chief Organizes for Marijuana Legalization (and talks a little bit about the Seattle '99)

2009-03-31T00:39:00.002-05:00

Soybean Leaders Join Fight Against Animal Rights

2009-03-30T18:09:00.001-05:00

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.”

Native American/Native Alaska Women Suffer Epidemic Rapes

2009-03-27T00:43:00.001-05:00

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.

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

2009-03-25T00:20:00.000-05:00

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.

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

2009-03-17T14:23:00.003-05:00

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.

A message from the team at MomsRising

2009-03-10T02:01:00.000-05:00

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.

DN! Video: Decades of Disparity: New Study Underscores Severity of Racial Bias in Drug-Related Law Enforcement

2009-03-04T19:25:00.000-06:00

DN! Video: New York Legislature to Vote on Overhauling Draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws

2009-03-03T19:19:00.003-06:00

Living while being a man of color

2009-02-09T12:38:00.000-06:00

According to the Department of Justice:

Black and brown men are 2 to 3 times more likely then white men to have their cars stopped and searched for drugs or other illegal contraband but white men, when searched, were 4 times more likely to have the illegal goods in their car.

paraphrased from Free Speech Radio News.

Valentines Day Tips

2009-02-04T12:32:00.001-06:00

Obama lifts Global Gag rule against abortion-2/2

2009-01-28T15:45:00.001-06:00

Obama lifts Global Gag rule against abortion-1/2

2009-01-27T15:43:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately, the sound is a bit off.

It's the End of the World as We Know It & I Feel Fine- "Ohhhhhhhh bama"

2009-01-25T12:49:00.004-06:00

Frustrating comments from the abortion wars

2009-01-24T16:11:00.002-06:00

There are so many frustrating comments flung back and forth between the pro-choice and anti-choice movement.

Part of the reason I love my work at CAF is, we cut out that crap (at least, most of the time ;) ). On our show, we just cut off the anti-choice callers. We don't engage too much with the "other side." We're too busy protecting and helping the women that call us in their desperate, vulnerable moments and who are willing to contact us to help them empower themselves and improve their lives.

Recently, while reading the comments of an article in the Washington Post about a medical student's weighing of whether or not to become an abortion doctor, I wasn't surprised about the slinging of insults, facts, and fantasy back and forth between people. Quite frankly, both sides annoyed me. But the most ridiculous argument was:

"By that line of reasoning, shall we wonder why pro-choicers only start caring about children when they leave the womb?"

(in response to "[anti-choicers] only care about fetuses, not children")

Some judgmental pro-choice people might follow that line of thinking, but no reproductive justice activist (of which I am) would ever not care about the health of a pregnancy. Us reproductive justice activists care about the first environment (the womb) and fight for reproductive health and environmental health (a major reason women and reproductive organs are unhealthy). We are often the ones fighting for more (FREE) pre-natal care, access to alternative birthing means*, better food in neighborhoods, etc. etc. From what I've read, states with the most liberal abortion laws often have the healthiest children and most programs that improve the lives of families, especially women and children.

At CAF, we place a series of follow-up calls with the women who use our services. Sometimes women decide to go through with their pregnancies or are forced too because they were too far along (both outcomes have many reasons behind them). We offer to send them an informational package with many resources (helpline numbers, programs, informational brochures)- on parenting, pre-natal health, birthing options, breastfeeding, newborn and infant care, support groups and more.

I care about and fight for the rights of women and children. The only difference for me, however, is I don't consider a pregnancy a child unless the woman does. I am sensitive enough to use whatever language the woman and/or would-be mother wants to use to pull myself up to her level. Because I'm not in her situation. This is a sensitivity- nay, a conviction- anti-choice people seem to lack.

*Doulas, for instance, consistently improve parental-newborn bonding and with all parties'- mother(s), child(ren), father(s), etc.- overall health and satisfaction with the birth.

3 Prisoners' Birthdays coming up- write!

2009-01-23T12:20:00.000-06:00

Josh Harper (SHAC 7) and Jonathan Paul (Green Scare) both have birthdays coming up on January 31st. Jake Conroy (SHAC 7) has a birthday on Feb. 3rd. Please take a few minutes to send them a card, letter, or photos!

Joshua Harper
#29429-086
FCI Sheridan
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 5000
Sheridan, OR 97378
http://www.JoshHarper.org

JACOB CONROY
#93501-011
FCI TERMINAL ISLAND
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
PO BOX 3007
SAN PEDRO, CA 90731
http://www.SupportJake.org

Jonathan Paul
#07167-085
FCI Phoenix
Federal Correctional Institution
37910 N. 45th Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85086
http://www.SupportJonathan.org

Celebrating Coretta, Who Celebrated Nonviolence--and Stopped Eating Animals

2009-01-19T17:38:00.001-06:00

by Stephanie Ernst

This is the day when we annually celebrate the life, spirit, contributions, and philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. But I'm not going to write about MLK today. I'm going to write, just briefly, about Coretta. Those opposed to the idea of animal rights, those who consider the fight for animal rights to be distinct from and lesser than other social justice movements, and--most clearly--those who consider veganism extreme could learn something from Coretta Scott King.

For more than the last decade of her extraordinary, compassionate, and passionate life, Coretta Scott King was a vegan. Really. Not an "extremist," not a "fanatic," not a "one-note," "single-issue" zealot--just a vegan.

In addition to fighting against racial injustices, Coretta Scott King fought openly and loudly for LGBT rights. She opposed war and violence and championed peace. And for the last 15 years of her life, she improved her own health and life and saved hundreds of animals' lives by refusing to eat their bodies or what came from their bodies.

On her health, she said in Ebony in 2003, "I feel blessed that I was introduced to this lifestyle more than 12 years ago by Dexter. I prefer to eat mostly raw or 'living' foods. The benefits for me are increased energy, a slowing of the aging process, and I have none of the diseases like hypertension, heart disease and diabetes that many people my age seem to get." And Coretta and Martin Luther King's son Dexter, also a vegan and, as noted, the one who introduced his mother to the lifestyle, considers veg*nism the "logical extension" of his father's philosophy of nonviolence, reported Vegetarian Times in 1995 in the write-up of the magazine's interview with him.

Every time someone remarks or implies that vegans are nothing but animal rights "fanatics" or health-obsessed neurotics who care about nothing else, who are vegans to the exclusion of caring about or fighting against any other injustices, one of the many people who comes to mind as proving this wrong is Coretta Scott King. So today I remember and honor not only Martin Luther King Jr. but Coretta Scott King as well. If I must be an extremist or a fanatic simply because I am a vegan, then I am at least happy with the company.

From here.

Martin Luther King taught us all nonviolence. I was told to extend nonviolence to the mother and her calf. -Dick Gregory

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love. -Martin Luther King Jr.

Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?"
Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?"
Vanity asks the question, "Is it popular?"
But conscience asks the question, "Is it right?"
And there comes a point when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right. -Martin Luther King Jr.

Palm oil frenzy threatens to wipe out orangutans

2009-01-18T13:08:00.005-06:00

From Yahoo! News.

TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK, Indonesia – Hoping to unravel the mysteries of human origin, anthropologist Louis Leakey sent three young women to Africa and Asia to study our closest relatives: It was chimpanzees for Jane Goodall, mountain gorillas for Dian Fossey and the elusive, solitary orangutans for Birute Mary Galdikas.

Nearly four decades later, 62-year-old Galdikas, the least famous of his "angels," is the only one still at it. And the red apes she studies in Indonesia are on the verge of extinction because forests are being clear-cut and burned to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations.

Galdikas worries many questions may never be answered. How long do orangutans live in the wild? How far do the males roam? And how many mates do they have in their lifetime?

"I try not to get depressed, I try not to get burned out," says the Canadian scientist, pulling a wide-rimmed jungle hat over her shoulder-length gray hair in Tanjung Puting National Park. She gently leans over to pick up a tiny orangutan, orphaned when his mother was caught raiding crops.

"But when you get up in the air you start gasping in horror; there's nothing but palm oil in an area that used to be plush rain forest. Elsewhere, there's burned-out land, which now extends even within the borders of the park."

The demand for palm oil is rising in the U.S. and Europe because it is touted as a "clean" alternative to fuel. Indonesia is the world's top producer of palm oil, and prices have jumped by almost 70 percent in the last year.

But palm oil plantations devastate the forest and create a monoculture on the land, in which orangutans cannot survive. Over the years, Galdikas has fought off loggers, poachers and miners, but nothing has posed as great a threat to her "babies" as palm oil.

There are only an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 90 percent of them in Indonesia, said Serge Wich, a scientist at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa. Most live in small, scattered populations that cannot take the onslaught on the forests much longer.

Trees are being cut at a rate of 300 football fields every hour. And massive land-clearing fires have turned the country into one of the top emitters of carbon.

Tanjung Puting, which has 1,600 square miles, clings precariously to the southern tip of Borneo island. Its 6,000 orangutans — one of the two largest populations on the planet, together with the nearby Sebangau National Park — are less vulnerable to diseases and fires.

That has allowed them, to a degree, to live and evolve as they have for millions of years.

"I am not an alarmist," says Galdikas, speaking calmly but deliberately, her brow slightly furrowed. "But I would say, if nothing is done, orangutan populations outside of national parks have less than 10 years left."

Even Tanjung Puting is not safe, in part because of a border dispute between the central government, which argues in favor of a 1996 map, and provincial officials, who are pushing for a much smaller 1977 map. If local officials win, the park could be slashed by up to 25 percent.

Galdikas, of Lithuanian descent, was an anthropology student at the University of California in Los Angeles when she approached Leakey, a visiting lecturer, in 1969. She follows on the heels of Goodall, who today devotes virtually all of her time to advocacy for chimps, and Fossey, who was brutally murdered in her Rwandan hut in 1985.

Two and a half years later, she and her then husband, Rod Brindamour, arrived in Tanjung Puting and settled into a primitive thatch hut in the heart of one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, with millions of plant and animal species.

Twice featured on the cover of National Geographic Magazine, she wrote an autobiography, "Reflections of Eden," describing how she fell in love with the sound of cicadas, and marveled at the sudden shifts of light that in an instant transformed drab greens and browns into translucent shades of emerald.

Her first challenge was simply finding the well-camouflaged orangutans in 100-foot-high trees. But eventually she was able to track them, sometimes for several weeks at a time.

She discovered that female orangutans give birth when they are around 15 and then only once every eight or nine years, making them especially vulnerable to extinction. They also have one of the most intense maternal-offspring relationships of all mammals, remaining inseparable for the first seven or eight years.

While orangutans are at first very gregarious, as adults they live largely solitary lives, foraging for fruit or sleeping. Orangutan" means "man of the forest."

One of her main projects today is her rehabilitation center in a village outside Tanjung Puting, overflowing with more than 300 animals orphaned when their mothers were killed by palm oil plantation workers.

With forests disappearing, the red apes raid crops, grabbing freshly planted shoots from the fields.

"Many come in very badly wounded, suffering from malnutrition, psychological and emotional and even physical trauma," says Galdikas, as she watches members of her staff prepare six young orangutans for release one overcast Saturday afternoon.

It is a three-hour journey along bumpy roads to the release site. By the time they arrive, it is raining and the last gray light is feebly pushing its way through the deep canopy of trees.

After years of being cared for, fed and taught the ways of the woods, the young orangutans scramble nimbly to the tops of trees. Branches snap as they make their nests for the night.

"It is getting harder and harder to find good, safe forest in which to free them," says Galdikas, who today spends half her time in Indonesia and most of the rest teaching at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

Forestry Minister Malem Kaban says the government is committed to protecting Indonesia's dense, primary forests and that no permit should be granted within a half-mile of a national park. Even so, one palm oil company has started clearing trees within Tanjung Puting's northern perimeter, leaving a wasteland of churned-up peat and charred trunks. Four others are seeking concessions along its eastern edge.

Derom Bangun, executive chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, says while his 300 members have vowed to stay clear of national parks, others have been known to operate within areas that should be off-limits. Sometimes it is not their fault, he notes, pointing to the need for better coordination between central and local government on border issues.

Galdikas, a passionate field researcher, says one of her great regrets is that she does not share Goodall's skills in raising awareness and funds for the great apes. But she is happy Tanjung Puting has over the years grown into a popular tourist destination. She says there's no better advertisement for conservation than being in a rain forest.

Some visitors are even lucky enough to come face to face with an orangutan on a slippery jungle trail.

"As he passes you, you nod and he nods back to you and continues on his way," she says, adding that looking in the eyes of a great ape, it instantly becomes clear that there is no separation between humans and nature.

"If they go extinct, we will have one less kin to call our own in this world," says Galdikas, who is also president of the Los Angeles-based Orangutan Foundation International. "And do we really want to be alone on this planet?"

In addition, much palm oil is produced under slave labor like conditions, forces traditional people out of their homes and cultivated in a environmentally unstable fashion. What does this mean for us vegans? Check out the Vegans of Color blog entry about Earth Balance, a popular substitute for animal-based-butter.

On Huey P. Newton and Martin Luther King, Jr.

2009-01-15T20:25:00.003-06:00

On this, the would-be 80th birthday of Martin Luther King, I would like to link you to a 3 minute speech by Mumia Abu Jamal.

Listen to it here.

TVA Disaster Spreads Far and Wide

2009-01-13T15:14:00.000-06:00

From Huffington Post, by Erin Brockovich and Robin Greenwald

As a result of a 1.1 billion gallon spill of contaminated fly ash, there has been discussion, press reportage and blogging about the environmental disaster in eastern Tennessee Most of us have seen the pictures -- a 300+ acre area strewn with black and brown muck as far as the eye can see. Houses lifted off their foundations and thrown across the road, yards filled so high with ash that people can't leave their homes without stepping in it, roadways littered with the ash from trucks going to and from the site, and an eerie still where active life once existed. While this story continues to unfold -- as more samples are taken that delineate the true toxicity of this mess, as TVA makes plans to contain and abate the disaster -- there is a story that has not been told. It is a story that must be told. And that story is the lives of innocent bystanders that have been turned upside down by this avoidable disaster.

I learned of this disaster on the news just as we all did. Usually I receive an email from someone in the community where there has been an environmental problem. At first, it was all quiet. About 10 days after the tragedy I got the first email, then another one and another one and another one, and they kept coming. I also started receiving anonymous tips. It occurred to me that maybe more was going on than what I could gather from the news. With an invitation from the community, I decided to make the trip.

Let's be honest. Usually when I am called into an environmental disaster, I anticipate that industry isn't going to step up to the plate and do what's right by the people. Lawsuits almost always ensue; it would be foolish for me to walk into a situation like this without an attorney. Besides, I consult with two law firms in the United States: Girardi & Keese in Los Angeles and Weitz & Luxenberg in New York. I traveled to the area with an attorney, Robin Greenwald from Weitz and Luxenberg, along with some experts. In many instances such as this disaster, government agencies are absent due to lack of funds and can only rely on the information that industry gives them; and industry generally operates under concealment.

When I first arrived on the site, I was pretty quiet. It took a while to absorb what I was looking at. I knew there was a lake but an entire area was gone. I kept wondering "Where did the water go?" I couldn't decide if it looked more like a tornado had gone through, a mudslide, landslide, maybe a volcano erupted or a tidal wave. It is now a "moonscape." The landscape has completely changed. It is almost unidentifiable.

Watching TV never gives you an idea of the extent of damage. It's only when you stand there that you can actually feel the magnitude.

It struck me that I had an unusual taste on my lips and in my mouth. I asked others if they noticed that, and they did. Some experienced scratchy throats, respiratory problems, itchy and burning eyes and tasted what one expert believed to be sulfuric acid. If we were experiencing this much discomfort after a few minutes, what on earth are the people who live here feeling?

The other thing that stood out in my mind was how fortunate it was that this event took place when it did.

What would it have been like had this occurred in the summer during the middle of the day? Hundreds of people boat on this lake. Children swim and play in these waters. I was struck by the number of deaths that might have occurred but didn't.

This corner of Roane County Tennessee is off the beaten path. It is remote, distant from any main street and city noise. It is easy to see the beauty of rolling mountains, lakes, rivers, comfortable family homes. It is serene, a piece of heaven on earth. This was a safe place to raise kids, to teach them to fish and swim, to enjoy family and have barbecues or sit quietly to watch the sunset on warm summer nights. I could see why people live there. Over the past couple of weeks we have had the opportunity to speak with people about life both before December 22. Life in the Kingston/Harriman area was idyllic. It was a place people chose as their home. It was a place that, even if jobs took people away in their youth, they awaited the day they could return and did so as soon as possible. It is a beautiful place, with water bodies everywhere. There are green meadows laced among the waters. These shared memories come to life in the "before" photographs that residents showed us. The pictures show children diving from docks into the lake, people canoeing along the rivers, families tubing in the hot summer sun and children and their dogs walking along the shore. A favorite scene of many residents is the sunset over the water, with the soft nighttime colors glistening on the lake. It went from pristine to profaned overnight.

The "after" picture is nothing but a sludge-filled lake, dead fish and miles and miles of contamination flowing out of control. And what cannot be captured by photographs is the human toll of this disaster. The child who wakes up nightly with nightmares; the woman whose cough is so severe she can hardly speak and has been diagnosed with acute asthma from the ash spill; the tri-athlete who can no longer train in his environs; the families scared to death to go outside for fear they breathe in the toxic ash in the air; people realizing that TVA's recommendation to boil their water before drinking it in the wake of the disaster was a false comfort and bottled water, at their own expense, is the only solution for drinking; and the couple who lives downwind of the disaster who, following walking their dog on a hilltop on a windy night, suffered severe nose bleeds. This is a very frightening time for the people of this community. This community is incredibly brave, but it is also rightfully fearful -- they love their community, their homes, their environment and they don't want to leave, but they also don't want to stay at the risk of their health. They want answers and they can't get them. Many people have the same tale: they call the TVA hotline for answers and help but no one answers or returns their calls. Why does this happen? What did they do to deserve such treatment? I can only imagine the sadness of the families. The whole area looks like a wound on the land. To heal it, it's going to take more than a band-aid and a squirt of Bactine.

The next day of my visit we did a fly over of the site, which showed the big picture. Extending for at least 5 to 6 miles downstream, we could see a plume of this toxic ash floating down the river, resting on the banks. We saw the remaining refrigerator and patch of roof where the now demolished house once stood. We saw a child's trampoline, once in someone's backyard, now buried in TVA's toxic sludge. We saw miles of ash, still traveling down river, contaminating riverbanks along the way. In truth, there are no words to describe the scenes of devastation from this disaster. The pictures are powerful, but they simply cannot capture the panorama of devastation. This was a sludge tsunami -- but one caused by corporate neglect, not natural occurrences. And what it left behind from this tsunami are mounds of toxic rubble where a lake once existed, where rivers flow and where children used to play.

We all wonder what will happen to the ecosystem: the fish and wildlife. The human life. How far reaching is this event? What does the future hold for the public health and safety? Overnight a whole community's lifestyle is gone.

It is bad enough that TVA mismanaged this 50+ year old waste pile of coal ash. But to put salt in the wounds of its neighbors by failing to provide critically important answers and aid is incomprehensible. TVA should have mobilized hundreds of medical experts to go to peoples' homes and answer their questions. They need to be honest and transparent about their knowledge of the make-up of the sludge, what they plan to do with it and how they intend to return life to what it used to be, if that is even possible. TVA should have a hotline that is manned sufficiently so that no one is ever put on hold or, worse yet, not answered at all. The residents of this community deserve to be treated with honesty and respect, and that is not happening. Even local elected officials are letting residents down, spending their time telling residents not to work with attorneys instead of camping outside TVA's doors demanding honest and fast answers to critically important health questions. As you know, we work on the legal side. While we cannot fully appreciate the pain and fear of those who are living the fall out of this disaster on a daily basis, we saw and heard enough to understand that our presence and our voice is critically important to ensure that this community is treated fairly and provided the truth about the present situation and their future. We will continue to aid this community as it struggles through the haze that TVA has created and continues to fuel.

So many questions come to mind but there aren't any answers. My motto has become "Prevention rather than Rescue."

Hindsight always shows how these tragedies could have been prevented. If history teaches us anything, it shows us that yesterday is our "crystal ball." In the now famous case, Pacific Gas and Electric knew that their contamination was affecting innocent people yet did nothing but try to convince people that the poison was good for them.

If TVA knew of leaks years before this disaster and sat and waited, is "oops" we're sorry" going to be enough?

The infrastructure handling coal fly ash in the U.S. is old and needs to be replaced. Can we worry about the cost of replacing the old with the new when health and safety and the environment depends on it? We can see that contamination moves through air, land and water. Can we sit back and wait for communities to get sick when we can prevent it now?

Science usually lags behind the law. But in this case, law lags behind science because coal fly ash handling is not regulated as it should be. And we have a pretty good grasp on the fact that Coal Fly Ash is not healthy.

A poison is a poison. It certainly can't be good for you. Does anyone believe that the arsenic in the fly ash along with other heavy metals won't leech into the groundwater? 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic compounds unleashed into the garden. We don't need a crystal ball to see the rough road ahead.

10,000 Gallons of Slurry Spills Out at Coal Plant in Alabama

2009-01-12T14:02:00.001-06:00

In environmental news, there has been another accident at a coal plant run by the Tennessee Valley Authority. 10,000 gallons of slurry have spilled from a retention pond at the Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Alabama. Some of the waste escaped into the Tennessee River. The spill comes less than a month after more than a billion gallons of toxic coal ash leaked out from a retention pond at a TVA plant in Tennessee.

Reported today on Democracy Now!

It's the End of the World As We Know It & I Feel Fine- "Greece os the Word"

2009-01-10T12:38:00.004-06:00

Honoring Your Menses

2009-01-09T18:22:00.005-06:00

This was sent to me via the Sistah Vegan Project

Here are some EASY ways to start:

1. Self-awareness is the first step toward HONORING our blood. We must explore our beliefs, views and feelings about menstruation. How do you feel about your blood? Explore where your beliefs came from and why do you feel or believe what you do. Are your views positive, neutral, negative? Do you need to release some beliefs?

2. Next we have to learn our cycles (whether we have a 25, 28 or 31 day cycle). It is important to know approximately know when you should expect your menses. Mark the first day of your bleeding on a calendar with a distinct mark (maybe use a red mark to mark the day). Noting the day allows us to calculate our ovulation, the following menstruation day, and schedule activities according to our physical and emotional state. During menstruation we have less physical energy but heightened intuition but if we are running around DOING instead of just BEING we will likely miss the enlightenment. I don't plan big activities during my menses. I consciously pull back from the world.

3. Absorption matters! Every woman might be ready for the menstrual cup also known as the Diva cup, but we can easily switch to chemical free pads or tampons (I'm not a advocate of tampons but I know that change is a process). Cloth pads are the bomb, we get to collect the blood thru soaking the pads, we save money and support the planet thru reducing our use of disposable products. Going GREEN ain't really optional sistahs, we gotta get better at taking care of the mother (earth) that takes care of us.

4. Tell your Menarche story - When did you get your period? Who was there? Where were you? How did you feel? Let's tell the stories of our first menses. Call up a homegirl or find a young sistah and share your story (No matter what the story is). As we tell our menarche stories we bring validity back to menstruation, we both normalize and
honor our blood and womanhood!

5. Rest & Solitude. We must make rest and solitude a priority during our menses. Our energy level is at its lowest during this time. Rest feels good. As we better learn our cycles we can schedule rest more strategically and not over schedule ten million things the week we are bleeding. Time alone allows to hear our spirits, minds, and
bodies. Whether we are the mother of five, single or a wife we have to make solitude a part of life. Even if its just a hour to two.

Honoring our BLOOD is a process but everything begins with one step... Happy Bleeding!

Green Revolution: Farm to Food Bank Project in Washington State

2009-01-07T14:55:00.001-06:00

Despite dire news about the economy, a positive development in the "green revolution" is taking place across the country. Many cities and states have begun contracting with local farmers to grow produce for food banks. FSRN's Martha Baskin has this report on Washington State's "Farm to Food Bank" project.

Click this link to hear the 4 minute broadcast.

BBC acts over light-skinned doll

2009-01-06T17:26:00.000-06:00

The doll (right) differs from how Upsy Daisy appears in the show (left).

The BBC is to replace a doll based on the Upsy Daisy character from CBeebies TV show In the Night Garden following complaints it is too light-skinned.

Full article here.

Typical white-washing of culture and aiming it at children. Because, they're just kids, yaknow? They're not gonna notice.

Watch A Girl Like Me if you think young girls don't internalize the messages society send them every day. It's only 7 minutes long, but a big damn eye opener if you've never though of it before.

The video can be seen for free here.

Five Things White Activists Should Never Say

2009-01-05T17:19:00.000-06:00

What do people think of this write-up? I got it from a livejournal post via facebook.

If I'm to be a white ally, I figure I should take some of the burden off people of color to explain what's wrong with some of the things white people say. With that in mind I've decided to compile a list of things that white people -- specifically, white activists -- should never say.

While reading this list, keep in mind that I'm drawing heavily from my own experience. There are plenty of fucked up things white people can say. However, with one exception I've decided to focus on blatantly racist comments that I've heard first hand. Also, I tend to mention anarchists a lot, because I used to be an anarchist, so I organized with other anarchists. This does not mean that white anarchists have a monopoly on racism. In many cases one could substitute the term social liberal or socialist for anarchist, and the point would still be applicable.

1. "They belong to that religion."

I have yet to visit an activist group with religious homogeneity. That said, in my experience certain religious views are more acceptable among activists than others. If a disproportionate number of the people who hold a religious stance are European or of European descent, the stance is acceptable. So it's okay to be an atheist, a pagan, or a Quaker. If a religious stance doesn't meet this criterion, it tends to be viewed with suspicion.

In the US white activists reserve scorn for the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) that they have for few other religious institutions. It would be outside the scope of this piece to argue that the RCC is good or bad. But I will point out that it's folly to treat Catholics as a monolithic, univocal group that stands opposite of everything activists believe in. Individual Catholics have differences of opinion on pretty much everything, and often membership to the church (as is the case with so many other religious institutions) has more to do with wanting to preserve family or community ties than with adhering to a certain set of doctrines. If white people don't want to alienate people of color from their organizing, they're going to have to learn to show more tolerance for the religions they adhere to.

2. "All nationalism is bad."

The idea that all nationalism, including ethnic nationalism, is bad is often rooted in anarchism, an ideology that was first propounded by European men in the nineteenth century and which since then has drawn more than its fair share of white thinkers. Even if we set this aside, white people who raise the "all nationalism is bad" objection often miss the point that the essence of ethnic nationalism has nothing to do with what anarchists mean by state and everything to do with racial or ethnic identity.

It's important to keep in mind that some people link themselves to a nation in order to express racial or ethnic identity rather than allegiance to a state. If white people can avoid doing this, this doesn't mean that they're all awesome anti-statists; rather it means that they have the privilege of being part of the group that is seen as the default racial or ethnic group. When white activists forget this, it's a disaster in the making. For example, I once saw an activist remove a poster from a wall, simply because it said (when translated), "I am as Puerto Rican as the coquí." The message, which should be obvious to anyone who claims to be anti-racist, has nothing to do with a particular state; it is that one's ethnic identity is something to be proud of.

3. "I know what it's like to face racist oppression; I face oppression too."

No, unless you've experienced racism you do not know what it's like to experience racism.

I used to find this response somewhat confusing. Surely, racist oppression isn't completely disanalogous to other kinds of oppression, right? After all, don't we use much the same vocabulary -- words like privilege, oppression, and intersectionality -- while discussing all kinds of oppression? And can't someone who faces one sort of opression gain insight into another by making a comparison? I think the answer to all these questions is a very cautious yes -- cautious because there's a danger lurking just around the corner. If comparing racist oppression to your oppression helps you realize that something you said or did was racist, then it's probably a good thing that you made the comparison. Even so, before you share your insight with the world you should run it by someone who faces both kinds of oppression, because no matter how oppressed or well-intentioned you may be, you're still coming from a perspective of white privilege and you may be wrong about something crucial. Better yet, start reading the works of people who face multiple kinds of oppression and let them guide you into appropriate analogies.

The danger of white people's comparisons is that often the only "insight" gained from analogy is that because the white people making it are oppressed, they can never be racist. This denies one of the central components of anti-oppression work which is that the oppressed have unique insight into their oppression by virtue of having experienced the oppression, including the ways in which it is disanalogous to other kinds of oppression. This is important, because it may be that it was just these disanalogous elements were at play when you said what you did five minutes ago and that what you said is therefore racist for reasons you don't understand. Not incidentally, the unique knowledge that an oppressed group has is known as the epistemic privilege of the oppressed. If your goal is to eliminate inequality, you don't want to appropriate one of the few kinds of privilege that oppressed people have, do you?

Though many examples of analogies gone wrong could be listed, I'll give only one here -- one that's limited to activist circles. Some activists are inclined to make statements like, "I know what it's like to be black; I'm an anarchist." I think what often happens is that white activists identify one sort of oppression, such as state oppression, as the Big Evil. They don't see that other oppressive forces besides the Big Evil are at work and therefore they fail to see that some people face oppression that they don't comprehend. If you're white and have gone to jail for political reasons, that is unfortunate, but this does not mean you know what it's like to be a person of color. As a white person, you have the privilege of choosing whether or not to engage in political activities that may land you in jail; people of color can abstain from such activities and still end up in jail simply for being people of color. As a white person, you will probably be treated better in jail than a person of color who is your counterpart. As a white person, you don't know what it's like to experience the racist oppression people of color experience outside of jail. As a white person, you don't know what it's like to be a person of color in white activists' space, hearing white people say that they know exactly what it's like to experience racist oppression. In short it is incredibly myopic to think that one point of (apparent) commonality gives white people insight into what it's like to be people of color.

4. "If we focus on this other kind of oppression, racism will disappear."

In the previous section I noted a tendency of white people to fail to see any oppression outside of the oppression they consider the Big Evil. In a related phenomenon white people will, while perhaps acknowledging that orther kinds oppression exist, argue that without the Big Evil other forms of oppression would not exist. Therefore anyone who confronts other kinds of oppression is only treating symptoms; the only cure for society's ills is to fight the Big Evil. The Big Evil could be statism, sexism, or any number of other things, but I'd like to focus on classism, because in my experience it's named as the Big Evil in activist circles more than anything else.

If this piece were about the oppressions I face, you'd see I have a lot to say against classism. However, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to focus on it here. All too often white activists derail conversations about racism by bringing up classism. The problem with white activists' saying that racism reduces to classism is that it is an attempt to keep people of color from directly confronting their oppression so that they will instead confront an oppression that directly affects white people.

To support the claim that racism reduces to classism some white activists point out that in the US at least racist institutions were established as a part of divide-and-conquer scheme to keep the working class from rising up against the upper class. Setting aside the fact that this gives an account of only some racist insitutions (the expansion that drove Native Americans west, for example, was already well underway), the argument presupposes that if working class white people had not bought into the view that they were superior to their black counterparts, they may have succeeded in revolting against the upper class. In other words white people's racism prevented the demise of classism. I do not mean to say that we should make a reversal and say that generally speaking classism is reducible to racism. However, I do mean to say that racism is a problem in its own right.

5. "There are no people of color in our activist group; let's go to a meeting of people of color and invite them to join our group."

Many white activists have the impression that they have arrived. They think they no longer have any racist bullshit they need to work on. Therefore if people of a particular racial or ethnic group don't want to work with them, it must be because they have yet to be informed the awesomeness that is their group of white activists.

There's a reason I'm putting this remark last. I hope that after even a small sampling of racist comments white activists make -- there are many others that aren't included here -- it's apparent just how ridiculous it is to think that the only matter keeping people of various ethnic and racial minorities out of a given activist group is a lack of information. If an organization has disproportionately few people of color as members, it's often because people of color don't see how it benefits them, and that is often because the organization has racist tendencies that it has yet to address.

Perhaps the bigger problem with this remark is that it's blatantly tokenizing. The people who make it aren't primarily interested in forming a diverse coalition to confront the problems that people of color face; if they were, they'd visit the meeting of the people of color regularly and ask them how they could help without expecting glory for themselves or their organization. Instead they want to use people of color to make their activist group more diverse. They are making one more thing -- segregation itself! -- the responsibility of people of color.

Want to organize for the New Year?

2009-01-04T19:07:00.000-06:00

Here are two articles for organizing your closet and making sure your closet keeps you healthy...

7 Ways to Organize Your Closet, the Eco-Way (hint: it's doesn't involve buying stuff, because consumerism is anti-"green"!)

Healthy Green Closet

"That's so gay"

2009-01-03T02:32:00.003-06:00

Ha. New ad council campaign. Personally, I also wish people would stop saying retarded and lame. Both words are insensitive to the disabled community. Anyway.

Here's the website, if you're interested.

New year, new you: Go vegan!

2009-01-02T21:17:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year! Day one of Animal Defense League's Top Ten New Years Resolutions!

For the first day of the new year, we're asking you to go vegan! Stay vegan! Talk about veganism to your family, friends- everyone!

If you’re not vegan, you’re not doing the single most powerful action you can to boycott animal cruelty. Think about it- every time you sit down to eat (or grab something to go), you can make a difference!

Do you still eat or use animal products, and/or participate in animal exploitation in other ways? We suggest you educate yourself about what you’re doing. Here are some very introductory resources.

ARTICLES, Specific-Focus

What About Fish?

What’s Wrong With Cheese?

What’s Wrong With Honey?

What About Humane or Organic Animal Products?

BOOKS, General

Generation V: The Complete Guide to Going, Being, and Staying Vegan as a Teenager by Claire Askew

Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World by Drs. Jenna and Bob Torres.

(both books can be ordered here for 15% off the cover price)

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet by Brenda Davis & Vesanto Melina

Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? by Gary L. Francione

Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America by Nathan J. Winograd

FILMS, General

Earthlings (sometimes it is available on Google Video or You Tube, but please, support this amazing documentary!)

A Life Connected (free to watch!)

WEBSITES, General

Go Vegan Now

Peaceful Prairie Blog

(both of the above websites are run by Peaceful Prairie Animal Sanctuary)

An Animal Friendly Life

Animal Emancipation

Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach

Vegan Frequently Asked Questions

Vegans of Color

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T01:00:00.001-06:00

I've been listening to this song compulsively. So, as the first post of the new year, I revert to being a 15 year old and, thus, post song lyrics!

"Prayer of the Refugee" by Rise Against

Warm yourself by the fire, son,
And the morning will come soon.
I’ll tell you stories of a better time,
In a place that we once knew.

Before we packed our bags
And left all this behind us in the dust,
We had a place that we could call home,
And a life no one could touch.

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You wont let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You wont let me down, down, down!

Down!

We are the angry and the desperate,
The hungry, and the cold,
We are the ones who kept quiet,
And always did what we were told.

But we’ve been sweating while you slept so calm,
In the safety of your home.
We’ve been pulling out the nails that hold up
Everything you’ve known.

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You wont let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You wont let me down, down, down!

So open your eyes child,
Let’s be on our way.
Broken windows and ashes
Are guiding the way.

Keep quiet no longer,
We’ll sing through the day,
Of the lives that we’ve lost,
And the lives we’ve reclaimed.

Go!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You wont let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You wont let me down, down, down!

Don’t hold me up…
(I don’t need your help, I’ll stand my ground)
Don’t hold me up…
(I don’t need your help)
No! No! No!
Don’t hold me up!
(I don’t need your help, I’ll stand my ground)
Don’t hold me up!
(I don’t need your help)
Don’t let me down, down, down, down, down!

Barriers on the Border

2008-12-31T19:01:00.001-06:00

The US Department of Homeland Security has been rushing to complete 670 miles of border barriers by the end of 2008. DHS plans to install nearly 110 miles of 18 foot high concrete and steel structures along the Texas/Mexico border, but something has put construction behind schedule: local opposition. In this exclusive FSRN documentary, we travel with Shannon Young to the Texas-Mexico border to hear from locals about their take on the physical barrier slated to divide the region's sister cities.

Listen to it here.

F/U on Micheal Vick's Dogs...

2008-12-30T18:56:00.000-06:00

Quite possibly the only time you'll see me link to a Sports Illustrated article in a good way...

THE DOG approaches the outstretched hand. Her name is Sweet Jasmine, and she is 35 pounds of twitchy curiosity with a coat the color of fried chicken, a pink nose and brown eyes. She had spent a full 20 seconds studying this five-fingered offering before advancing. Now, as she moves forward, her tail points straight down, her butt is hunched toward the ground, her head is bowed, her ears pinned back. She stands at maybe three quarters of her height.

She gets within a foot of the hand and stops. She licks her snout, a sign of nervousness, and looks up at the stranger, seeking assurance. She looks back to the hand, licks her snout again and begins to extend her neck. Her nose is six inches away from the hand, one inch, half an inch. She sniffs once. She sniffs again. At this point almost any other dog in the world would offer up a gentle lick, a sweet hello, an invitation to be scratched or petted. She's come so far. She's so close.

But Jasmine pulls away.

Read the rest here.

Feeding The Hungry Without Exploiting Animals

2008-12-29T13:30:00.003-06:00

A friend was looking for vegan food charity, and after checking a few promising groups, we seem to have found one!

Check it out and donate!

Veg Fam Charity (yeah, they need to work on that name).

No Olympics for Chicago!

2008-12-28T23:32:00.007-06:00

Condoms Behind the Counter - But Only in Black Neighborhoods

2008-12-27T18:09:00.000-06:00

The NAACP and partner organizations are taking on drugstore chain CVS for consistently providing less service and quality to customers in African American neighborhoods. Among the ways CVS discriminates against its African American customers? Keeping condoms locked up in predominantly black neighborhoods, but not predominantly white neighborhoods.

Keeping condoms behind the counter or otherwise locked up creates a barrier to access and unnecessarily draws attention to the person purchasing condoms - which may inhibit them from making the purchase. In cities across the United States African Americans continue to become infected with HIV at rates vastly higher than those among white people. Our country cannot afford for CVS's policies to keep anyone from getting the condoms they need.

Check out the Cure CVS Now website for information and how you can take action.

"More Queer People Murdered. Lesbian and Gay Organizations Seem to Care Less"

2008-12-26T17:53:00.003-06:00

By Beau Vyne of BB! News/ BB! Chicago
Bash Back Blog

New Orleans Police discovered the bodies of three young, Black, Queer people in a 7th ward house Saturday. The three people, one of whom was gender variant, were all shot to death in the house sometime around 3 or 4am Thursday. Mainstream media and the Police are as of now ignoring the fact that the three people were queer and possibly trans. However, Facebook groups devoted to the three and comments on news sites, are raising interesting questions by Queer people of color as to why large Lesbian and Gay organizations are ignoring this. Many people have wondered as to whether there would be an LGBT organizational black out on such violence had the three been wealthy and white Gay businessmen.

The Lesbian and Gay movement is currently so focused on begging the state for a marriage license that they seem to have forgotten everyone who is not well off and white. On Wednesday Morning Jennifer Gale, a homeless TransWoman, froze to death because no shelters would take her in. On Thursday 3 Queer People in New Orleans were shot and killed. And on Friday, Join The Impact held silent candlelight vigils for their “Right” to Marry.

Needless to say that in this latest “struggle” for gay marriage, white people have consistently demonized communities of color for their role in passing Prop 8. To many in the marriage movement, Queer People of Color and Trans people do not even exist. It is typical for White people in the marriage movement to claim that Trans people should wait until Gays and Lesbians get their rights. When violence is perpetuated against Queers of Color, HRC and other marriage oriented organizations are typically silent.

(See Duanna Johnson, The New Jersey Four, The 4 people just killed in New Orleans, Jennifer Gale and virtually every other trans person or queer/trans person or color.)

If we put all of the energy and money that is being wasted on the marriage movement into other projects, think of what we could do. We could easily open queer/trans friendly spaces for the homeless throughout the country. We could successfully demand, or better yet, provide free and quality healthcare to all people. Instead of collecting food and giving it to institutions that are notoriously corrupt, and yes, homophobic; we could collect food and distribute it ourselves. We could actively confront classism, racism, sexism, and transphobia amongst LGBTQ people. All the while militantly raising hell in the streets and disrupting business as usual, as every generation of Queers has since 1968. If we did all of these things and more, we would see more change than Barrack Obama has ever offered us.

What’s more important: a marriage certificate or housing for people who are freezing on the street? A slip of paper or the guarantee that when multiple people in our community are shot at point blank range we stand up and bash the fuck back?! Why are we not focusing on the plague that is HIV/AIDS? Shouldn’t we be making a big fucking deal seeing that in the last week alone 4 queer/trans people that we know of have been murdered?

It is long passed the time that queer and trans people got their shit together. We have been fighting since birth, by now you’d think we would now how to do it in an inclusive and effective manner.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T19:26:00.000-06:00

New Jersey 7

2008-12-24T23:21:00.000-06:00

From Free Speech Radio News.

What happens when our country's preoccupations with race, gender, and sexuality combine in one legal case? This holiday, we bring you an in-depth look at the New Jersey Seven, a group of women who went out for a night on the town, and wound up spending months in jail.

On August 18, 2006, seven young, Black, queer women went to the Christopher Street pier, a place known for being queer-friendly. That may be why 20-year-old Patreese Johnson didn't blink when a male stranger asked her, "Can I get some of that?"

Patreese handed him her coffee cup. Then she realized he was pointing at her crotch.

The man, Dwayne Buckle, shouted homophobic remarks. He made violent threats. And then he followed the women as they walked away.

Then there was a scuffle.

The women say that Buckle punched three of them in the face, threw a lit cigarette, and yanked out one woman's hair extension. During the fray, Buckle also got stabbed.

Initially, Buckle claimed that he was stabbed by two men – onlookers who got involved in the fight. But Patreece Johnson had a small steak knife on her, and police didn't investigate Buckle's claim.

The media reports that followed said "savage lesbian gangs" were "attacking men" on the street. Buckle himself was never charged with any crime, but Patreece Johnson is serving an 8-year prison sentence, and her companions have all spent at least six months in jail. Today, Puck Lo brings us the story of the New Jersey 7.

Listen to the audio by clicking this link.

Lesbian's brutal gang rape investigated in Calif.

2008-12-23T23:23:00.002-06:00

From Yahoo News.

SAN FRANCISCO – A woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building, authorities said Monday.

Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan.

"It just pushes it beyond fathomable," he said. "The level of trauma — physical and emotional — this victim has suffered is extreme."

Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.

The 45-minute attack began when one of the men approached the woman as she crossed the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her with the help of the other men.

When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped again inside and outside the vehicle. The assailants took her wallet and drove off in her car. Officers found the car abandoned two days later.

The woman sought help from a nearby resident, and she was examined at a hospital. Although the victim said she did not know her attackers, detectives hope someone in the community knows them. One of the men went by the nickname "Blue" and another was called "Pato," according to authorities.

Richmond police are offering a $10,000 award for information leading to the arrest of the attackers.

Gay rights advocates note that hate crimes based on sexual orientation have increased nationwide as of late. There were 1,415 such crimes in 2006 and 1,460 in 2007, both times making up about 16 percent of the total, according to the FBI.

Avy Skolnik, a coordinator with the New York-based National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, noted that gay, lesbian and transgender crime victims may be more reluctant than heterosexual victims to contact police.

"Assailants target LGBT people of all gender identities with sexual assault," he said. "Such targeting is one of the most cruel, dehumanizing and violent forms of hate violence that our communities experience."

Skolnik said the group plans to analyze hate crime data to see whether fluctuations may be related to the gay marriage bans that appeared on ballots this year in California, Arizona and Florida.

"Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks," he said. "People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice."

Take Back The Land!

2008-12-22T12:30:00.001-06:00

Democracy Now! interviewing Max Rameau, author of the book, Take Back The Land, and organizer of the group by the same name, which rehouses homeless people in foreclosed houses.

TBtL's website.

Happy Solstice!

2008-12-21T23:39:00.001-06:00

Katrina's Hidden Race War, part 2

2008-12-20T23:19:00.000-06:00

Katrina's Hidden Race War, part 1

2008-12-19T23:15:00.000-06:00

F/U about Republic Windows

2008-12-18T17:43:00.000-06:00

A friend sent this out on a mailing list, noting:

This adds another layer to the Republic story that supporters of the strike would be wise to consider. It fleshes out a broader local power structure that needs to be understood.

From the Reader

Out the Window
Republic Windows & Doors will make good on what it owes workers. Now what about our $10 million?

By Ben Joravsky

December 18, 2008

When their six-day sit-in at Republic Windows & Doors ended last week, a crowd of jubilant workers and union activists cheered in triumph.

Yes, they had lost their jobs when Republic closed its north-side factory on December 5, but at least they had forced Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to lend the company $1.75 million so it could make good on its obligation to cover their vacation and severance pay.

But there was some unfinished business lost in the workers' celebration—the little matter of nearly $10 million in public money Republic received from the city in 1996 and 2000 in exchange for promising to keep 610 workers on the payroll through 2019.

In recent years it's become commonplace for cities across the country to offer tax breaks or subsidies to private, for-profit businesses that agree to set up shop in town. But it's not always apparent whether they get a return on their investment—or even whether they try to hold these firms to their end of the bargain. As the nation prepares to shell out hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts, it might be a good idea to make sure that someone—anyone—is checking the fine print.

Based on what city officials tell me, it's very unlikely the city of Chicago will ever recoup any of its money from Republic because under its contract the company has been exempt from potential penalties since June 2006. "I'm not sure there's much that we can do," says Pete Scales, spokesman for the city's Department of Planning.

But alderman Manny Flores, whose First Ward borders Goose Island, told me at press time Tuesday that he was planning to introduce an order to the City Council on Wednesday that would require the city to look into whether it can recover any of the money given to Republic. (See our blog Clout City for an update after the meeting.) "I'm not necessarily convinced we can't go after some of that money," Flores says. "I also believe that this may result in further analysis and review of how we undertake to use TIF money as incentives, and making sure we have mechanisms in place to see that it's used appropriately. These subsidies are not meant to be freebies—they're meant to keep jobs in the city of Chicago."

Yes, the Republic subsidy, like most such handouts in Chicago, came out of a tax increment financing account. As you may already know, TIF districts take property tax dollars that would have gone to the schools, parks, county, and other taxing bodies and set them aside, theoretically to fund development in communities too blighted to attract it on their own.

Goose Island, where Republic was located, actually fits this profile—unlike many areas that are part of TIF districts in the Loop or on the near south and west sides. For years the island, in the Chicago River from about Chicago to North avenues, was dominated by heavy industry, but by the late 1980s it was largely a wasteland drawing almost no interest from manufacturers, who were moving to the suburbs, the south, or overseas when they weren't closing shop. The future of the island became a subject of intense debate. Some developers argued that the city should try to extend River North and Lincoln Park and turn the island into a residential area. There was even talk of a casino.

None of that came to pass, partly due to the efforts of the Local Economic and Employment Development Council, a Chicago nonprofit whose mission is to create and preserve industrial development. Working with the city—even while acting as something of a watchdog over it—LEED helped bring in an impressive infusion of state, local, and federal monies to tear down a stretch of Ogden Avenue, rebuild the Division Street Bridge, and fortify the Chicago River seawall, among other projects. And that all took place even before TIF money really started flowing anywhere in the mid 1990s.

"There is a lot of capital investment that needs to happen," says Mike Holzer, director of economic development for the LEED Council. "I'm totally with you on the abuse of TIFs. But I think in industrial areas, where you're dealing with complicated sites, dealing with old bridges, crappy streets, viaducts that are so low they prevent trucks from going under them, TIF is an important tool."

The Goose Island TIF was created in 1996, and since then funding from it has been used to help develop facilities for about a dozen different industrial operations on Goose Island—including Republic. In 1996 the City Council, at Mayor Daley's urging, approved $6,525,000 in TIF money to help Republic build a $20 million factory on the island. Four years later Republic returned to the council asking it to increase the subsidy by more than $3 million.

"Among other things, the developer [Republic] constructed a larger manufacturing facility than originally planned," according to the TIF agreement approved by the council in 2000. Also, the actual cost of public infrastructure rose from $1.5 million to $3.070 million. In other words—big surprise—there were cost overruns on the project, which eventually totaled about $39 million, nearly double the initial estimate.

Republic got the extra public money it asked for. As it does with most TIF-funded deals, the city paid for the subsidy to Republic by borrowing the money, then repaying the loan with the property taxes collected in the TIF account. The city is still making payments on the Republic loan today. Including interest, the city has spent $10.4 million on the deal to date, according to Scales.

Has it been worth the money? Absolutely, says LEED's Mike Holzer. "I want to hammer this point. To develop a groundswell of change in this area, you have to take extraordinary steps. People say industrial will never come back—industrial is dead. People said Goose Island will be the next River North—put a casino there. Instead it has become a valuable industrial site. Republic was an important part of that. It's an example of what TIFs can be doing. It's not a misuse."

But it didn't work exactly the way it was supposed to, either. The city handed over the TIF money so Republic could build a factory that would actually employ somebody. In fact, the TIF deal between the city and Republic is quite specific on this point: "The developer [Republic] shall use commercially reasonable best efforts to insure that not less than . . . a total of 610 full-time equivalent, permanent jobs to be retained by the developer [Republic] at the Facility through the Term of the Agreement." And that term, documents show, ends July 10, 2019.

Ah, but what a TIF deal gives in one paragraph it can take away in another. In this case, the contract goes on to specify that Republic will have to pay a penalty only if it falls below its job commitment before or on June 5, 2006. In other words, the clause that protects Republic's interests takes precedence over the clause intended to protect the workers and the taxpayers.

According to Leah Fried of the United Electrical Workers Local 1100, which organized the sit-in, Republic employed 500 people when the union first started organizing there in 2004. When the plant closed earlier this month, it employed fewer than 300. So clearly no one at the city was holding Republic accountable for meeting its job obligations, even though the agreement guarantees that "the number of jobs at the facility will be certified to the city on an annual basis."

But it's all moot anyway, according to the city. The company president at the time of the agreement left Republic in 2006. The company doesn't even own the factory building anymore—also in 2006, it was sold for $31 million to the William Wrigley Jr. Company, which also owns another large factory on Goose Island. Meanwhile Republic's owners have purchased a window and door factory in Red Oak, Iowa, which, according to a recent article in the New York Times, employed 102 nonunionized workers.

Well, at least the factory was built, Holzer says, even if it doesn't employ anyone at the moment. He figures it eventually will again. "It's a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility," he says. "I think it has reuse potential. Whether it will be expanded for Wrigley or a new company, I don't know. But I don't think it will sit vacant."

Whoever moves there, you can bet they'll leverage some more TIF money out of the deal.

Today in International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers

2008-12-17T02:46:00.000-06:00

Video recap of International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

Why an International Day To End Violence Towards Sex Workers? (12/17)

2008-12-16T02:50:00.001-06:00

WHY AN INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END VIOLENCE TOWARDS SEX WORKERS?
By Annie Sprinkle

In 2003, “Green River Killer” Gary Ridgeway confessed to having strangled ninety women to death and having “sex” with their dead bodies. He stated, “I picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.”

Sadly some Seattle area prostitutes, their boyfriends or pimps, knew the Green River Killer was Gary Ridgeway for years. But they were either afraid to come forward for fear of being arrested themselves, or when they did come forward the police didn’t believe them over the “upstanding family man” Gary Ridgeway. It seemed as though the police weren’t working very hard to find the Green River Killer. If the victims had been teachers, nurses or secretaries or other women, I suspect--as Ridgeway did-- that the killer would have been caught much sooner. Ridgeway remained at large for twenty years.

From working as a prostitute myself for two decades I know that violent crimes against sex workers often go unreported, unaddressed and unpunished. Also there are people who really don’t care when prostitutes are victims of hate crimes, beaten, raped and murdered. They will say: “They got what they deserved.” “They were trash.” “They asked for it” “What do they expect?” “The world is better off without those whores.”

No matter how people feel about sex workers and the politics surrounding them, sex workers are a part of our neighborhoods, communities and our families and always will be. Sex workers are women, trans people and men of all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, classes and backgrounds who are working in the sex industry for a wide range of reasons.
When Ridgeway got a plea bargain in 2003, he received a life sentence in exchange for revealing where his victim’s bodies were thrown or buried. As the names of the (mostly seventeen to nineteen year old) victims were disclosed, I felt a need to remember and honor them. I cared, and I knew other people cared, too.

So I contacted Robyn Few, the founder of the Sex Worker Outreach Project based in San Francisco and we made December 17th as the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. We invited people everywhere to create and attend memorials and vigils in their countries and cities. Robyn co-produced an open mic vigil on the lawn of San Francisco’s City Hall. Since then (2003) each year hundreds of people in dozens of cities around the world have participated in this day to end violence-- from Montreal (they marched with red umbrellas), to Hong Kong (protested police brutality), to Vancouver (they did a candlelight vigil) to Sydney (held a memorial ritual), to East Godavery, India (a dance was organized to overcome pain and trauma.) More events are planned for this, the sixth year.

The concept for the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers is simple. Anyone can choose a place and time to gather, invite others to gather and share their stories, writings, thoughts, poems, and memories of victims, related news and performances. Read lists of names of those who have been murdered. Or people can do something personal alone at home, such as lighting a candle or taking a ritual memorial bath. We encourage discussions among friends, by email, on blogs.

People are encouraged to list their events at the SWOP web site http://www.swopusa. org/dec17/http://www.aim- med.org/. so people that want to can attend them, and to share the power of their actions. People can also participate by making a donation to a group that helps sex workers by teaching them about dangers and how to best survive. Two such non-profits are St. James Infirmary and AIM Healthcare.

This December 17, 2008 many sex workers will converge in Washington, D.C. on for a National March for Sex Worker Rights where marchers “will take a stand for justice, and the freedom to do sex work safely. We are calling for an end to unjust laws, policing, the shaming and stigma that oppress our communities and make us targets for violence.” People are encouraged to join SWOP and other activists in Washington and to endorse this March. Email dec17@swopusa. org to support or attend this event.

Every year when I create or attend a gathering on December 17, it is a deeply moving experience. I take some moments to feel grateful that I worked as a prostitute for so many years and came out alive. I remember those who didn’t survive and I fear for those who won't unless real changes are made—namely safer working conditions and the same police protection other citizens get without recrimination.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
ANNIE M. SPRINKLE, Ph.D.
Artist • Sexologist • Author • Teacher • Student
Post Porn Modernist • Faculty Wife • Feminist
Pioneering Film Director/Producer/ Performer
Utopian Entrepreneur • Thespian • College Lecturer
Former Porn Star/Stripper/ Pin-Up/Prostitut e/Dom
Performance Artist • Photographer • Tantrica
annie@anniesprinkle .org
http://anniesprinkl e.org
http://loveartlab. org

FBI Taps Cell Phone Mic As Eavesdropping Tool

2008-12-15T17:24:00.003-06:00

By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache
Staff Writers, CNET News
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1029_3-6140191.html

The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.

Nextel cell phones owned by two alleged mobsters, John Ardito and his attorney Peter Peluso, were used by the FBI to listen in on nearby conversations. The FBI views Ardito as one of the most powerful men in the Genovese family, a major part of the national Mafia.

The surveillance technique came to light in an opinion published this week by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. He ruled that the "roving bug" was legal because federal wiretapping law is broad enough to permit eavesdropping even of conversations that take place near a suspect's cell phone.

Kaplan's opinion said that the eavesdropping technique "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off." Some handsets can't be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set.

While the Genovese crime family prosecution appears to be the first time a remote-eavesdropping mechanism has been used in a criminal case, the technique has been discussed in security circles for years.

The U.S. Commerce Department's security office warns that "a cellular telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone." An article in the Financial Times last year said mobile providers can "remotely install a piece of software on to any handset, without the owner's knowledge, which will activate the microphone even when its owner is not making a call."

Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. "They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time," he said. "You can do that without having physical access to the phone."

Because modern handsets are miniature computers, downloaded software could modify the usual interface that always displays when a call is in progress. The spyware could then place a call to the FBI and activate the microphone--all without the owner knowing it happened. (The FBI declined to comment on Friday.)

"If a phone has in fact been modified to act as a bug, the only way to counteract that is to either have a bugsweeper follow you around 24-7, which is not practical, or to peel the battery off the phone," Atkinson said. Security-conscious corporate executives routinely remove the batteries from their cell phones, he added.

FBI's physical bugs discovered The FBI's Joint Organized Crime Task Force, which includes members of the New York police department, had little luck with conventional surveillance of the Genovese family. They did have a confidential source who reported
the suspects met at restaurants including Brunello Trattoria in New Rochelle, N.Y., which the FBI then bugged.

But in July 2003, Ardito and his crew discovered bugs in three restaurants, and the FBI quietly removed the rest. Conversations recounted in FBI affidavits show the men were also highly suspicious of being tailed by police and avoided conversations on cell phones whenever possible.

That led the FBI to resort to "roving bugs," first of Ardito's Nextel handset and then of Peluso's. U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones approved them in a series of orders in 2003 and 2004, and said she expected to "be advised of the locations" of the suspects when their conversations were recorded.

Details of how the Nextel bugs worked are sketchy. Court documents, including an affidavit (p1) and (p2) prepared by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kolodner in September 2003, refer to them as a "listening device placed in the cellular telephone." That phrase could refer to software or hardware.

One private investigator interviewed by CNET News.com, Skipp Porteous of Sherlock Investigations in New York, said he believed the FBI planted a physical bug somewhere in the Nextel handset and did not remotely activate the microphone.

"They had to have physical possession of the phone to do it," Porteous said. "There are several ways that they could have gotten physical possession. Then they monitored the bug from fairly near by."

But other experts thought microphone activation is the more likely scenario, mostly because the battery in a tiny bug would not have lasted a year and because court documents say the bug works anywhere "within the United States"--in other words, outside the range of a nearby FBI agent armed with a radio receiver.

In addition, a paranoid Mafioso likely would be suspicious of any ploy to get him to hand over a cell phone so a bug could be planted. And Kolodner's affidavit seeking a court order lists Ardito's phone number, his 15-digit International Mobile Subscriber Identifier, and lists Nextel Communications as the service provider, all of which would be unnecessary if a physical bug were being planted.

A BBC article from 2004 reported that intelligence agencies routinely employ the remote-activiation method. "A mobile sitting on the desk of a politician or businessman can act as a powerful, undetectable bug," the article said, "enabling them to be activated at a later date to pick up sounds even when the receiver is down."

For its part, Nextel said through spokesman Travis Sowders: "We're not aware of this investigation, and we weren't asked to participate."

Other mobile providers were reluctant to talk about this kind of surveillance. Verizon Wireless said only that it "works closely with law enforcement and public safety officials. When presented with legally authorized orders, we assist law enforcement in every way possible."

A Motorola representative said that "your best source in this case would be the FBI itself." Cingular, T-Mobile, and the CTIA trade association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mobsters: The surveillance vanguard

This isn't the first time the federal government has pushed at the limits of electronic surveillance when investigating reputed mobsters.

In one case involving Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the alleged mastermind of a loan shark operation in New Jersey, the FBI found itself thwarted when Scarfo used Pretty Good Privacy software (PGP) to encode confidential business data.

So with a judge's approval, FBI agents repeatedly snuck into Scarfo's business to plant a keystroke logger and monitor its output.

Like Ardito's lawyers, Scarfo's defense attorneys argued that the then-novel technique was not legal and that the information gleaned through it could not be used. Also like Ardito, Scarfo's lawyers lost when a judge ruled in January 2002 that the evidence was admissible.

This week, Judge Kaplan in the southern district of New York concluded that the "roving bugs" were legally permitted to capture hundreds of hours of conversations because the FBI had obtained a court order and alternatives probably wouldn't work.

The FBI's "applications made a sufficient case for electronic surveillance," Kaplan wrote. "They indicated that alternative methods of investigation either had failed or were unlikely to produce results, in part because the subjects deliberately avoided government surveillance."

Bill Stollhans, president of the Private Investigators Association of Virginia, said such a technique would be legally reserved for police armed with court orders, not private investigators.

There is "no law that would allow me as a private investigator to use that type of technique," he said. "That is exclusively for law enforcement. It is not allowable or not legal in the private sector. No client of mine can ask me to overhear telephone or strictly oral conversations."

Surreptitious activation of built-in microphones by the FBI has been done before. A 2003 lawsuit revealed that the FBI was able to surreptitiously turn on the built-in microphones in automotive systems like General Motors' OnStar to snoop on passengers' conversations.

When FBI agents remotely activated the system and were listening in,passengers in the vehicle could not tell that their conversations were being monitored.

Malicious hackers have followed suit. A report last year said Spanish authorities had detained a man who write a Trojan horse that secretly activated a computer's video camera and forwarded him the recordings.

Girl rescues tortured puppy

2008-12-14T14:58:00.004-06:00

By the time Calli Vanderaa discovered the seven-week-old puppies in the garbage dumpster stationed behind her house, the fourth grader had spent two years soaking up ample evidence of society’s dark underbelly. She’d already seen more than most people witness in a lifetime.

The little girl was tossing away grass clippings with her dad last summer when they turned to walk away. She stopped in her tracks, ears instinctively tuned to the pleading cries coming from the big brown bin. The sounds were faint but unmistakably alive.

“I asked him, ‘Did you hear that?’”

“No,” he said.

“Well, come here.”

Her father Corey found a stool to boost himself up into the tall steel structure. Thankfully Calli stayed behind.

“He said I didn’t want to see what was inside there,” she told me.

The incident of cruelty made an impression on Calli. Last month, she wrote a letter to her local newspaper, the Winnipeg Free Press, detailing what had happened. A poem she had composed was also enclosed.

Dear Sir
My name is Calli Vanderaa.
I’m 9 years old and I live with my daddy.
One day we found a little puppy in the BFI bin in our lane. Somebody had put 3 puppies in there and set them on fire.
Two of the puppies died but daddy and I saved one that was sitting in the corner crying.
We took her home and named her Jessie. She is happy and growing bigger every day.

Full article here, with pictures

Starbucks Union: Texts and Calls Needed!!

2008-12-13T11:24:00.001-06:00

First, we would like to extend thanks to all of you that have been calling and texting store manager Gwen Krueger this past week and demanding she pay Anna what is owed.

Yesterday, Anna was called into a meeting with Krueger and her District Manager, Mark Ormsbee. Krueger used this meeting as an opportunity to lie about the facts in order to cover her hide. Ormsbee, expectantly, sided with Krueger and made the mistake of refusing to pay Anna her money.

We need to let Mark Ormsbee to know that this is not over until Anna receives every penny that Starbucks owes her so she can care for her family in the holiday season.

Call and/or Text District Manager, Mark Ormsbee, at 1-917-841-4198 and continue to call and text Store Manager, Gwen Krueger, at 1-551-497-0127. This action for justice will take place from December 11th - December 19th.

BACKGROUND
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Anna's Story:

Anna Hurst is a New York City barista, Starbucks Union member, and a single mother of two.

In August, Anna went home ill from work. In retaliation, her Store Manager - abruptly and without notice - completely removed her from the schedule for two weeks.

Starbucks wrongfully denied Anna work for two weeks. Anna needs the money she's owed to put food on the table, pay her bills, and provide Christmas presents for her children.

Thank you for your solidarity.

The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization of over 200 current and former employees at the world's largest coffee chain united for secure work hours and a living wage. The union has members throughout the United States fighting for systemic change at the company and remedying individual grievances with management. http://www.StarbucksUnion.org

Noam Chomsky on Anarchism (interview quote)

2008-12-05T12:03:00.000-06:00

Sonali Kolhatkar, host and producer of Uprising Radio, interviewing Noam Chomsky.

SK: Professor Chomsky, you have identified with anarchist politics throughout your political career. How have your views on anarchism evolved over the years- do you see it as a viable worldview on a mass scale in terms of achieving social justice to solve the problems of the type we were just discussing [nuclear war and environmental destruction, specifically- ed.]?

NC: Well I’ve, since childhood, when I was haunting anarchist bookstores and anarchist offices in New York since- from then until today. I’ve essentially understood anarchism to be not a specific recipe for how the world should work, although it has principles. But rather, as a kind of tendency in human affairs towards trying to identify structures of hierarchy, oppression, domination- where ever they may be from the family, to international affairs. Identifying them, insisting they justify themselves- they are not self-justifying- and if they can’t make that burden of justification, moving to dismantle them. Hence, move towards a more free world. Exactly where it’ll lead, I don’t know. I’m certainly not smart enough to say and I don’t think anyone is. Political activism, I think, is a little bit like mountain climbing. You work hard, you climb a peak and you discover to your surprise that there’s another peak, back there, that’s even higher that you hadn’t even known about and you start to work on that one. Well, yeah, that’s what things are like. There’s lots of peaks around there that have not entered into our consciousness and I hope we get to them, but there’s a lot of work to get to until we do. As this proceeds, we get closer to a kind of anarchist vision.

Behind Nebraska’s Abandoned Kids, A National Shortage of Mental Health Care

2008-12-01T14:44:00.001-06:00

by Lynda Waddington, for RH Reality Check

The state of Nebraska has faced a situation most parents can't comprehend.

At last count 36 children, ranging in age from 20 months to 17 years, were left at Nebraska hospitals under the auspices of a vaguely written and short-lived "Safe Haven" law.

The Nebraska law, which was signed in February and became effective in July, was to be the last, given that all other states had already enacted similar legislation. During debate, however, Nebraska lawmakers took a unique slant.Instead of attaching an age to the law - ages that some lawmakers deemed "arbitrary" - the legislators opted to write the law so that any "child" could be handed over to the state at designated drop-off points, such as hospitals, without any legal recourse against the child's guardian.

As a result, parents drove several hundred miles - from as far away as Miami-Dade County in Florida and Pima County in Arizona - in order to leave their children with state officials in Nebraska. Although Nebraska lawmakers have since re-written the law so that only infants 30-days-old or less are covered, the legislative gaff has potentially shined a light on a national crisis.

According to statistical information on 34 of the children released by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the children left in Nebraska come from various socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Twenty-two are considered white, 11 are considered black and one is Native American. Twenty of the 34 children are between the ages of 13 and 17.

They have three things in common.

1) Thirty-two of the children resided in or near an urban area.

2) Thirty of the children were living in a single-parent home.

3) Thirty of the children had previously received mental health services,
with 11 of those receiving treatment above an outpatient level.

This last statistic does not surprise George Estle, executive director of Tanager Place, a private nonprofit organization in Cedar Rapids that provides services to children and families experiencing social and psychological needs.

"If we would have had this same law in Iowa, the same thing would have happened here," Estle said. "I suspect that if we really look at the kids
who are being dropped off in Nebraska - particularly the adolescents - many of those will be young people who have serious emotional problems. My hunch is that parents are utterly frustrated at not being able to access services. So, they are using that law as an act of desperation because they can't get services."

Such was definitely the case for former Iowa resident Carrisa Gatley, a single parent who has an 11-year-old son with severe mental disabilities. She hasn't left her kid in Nebraska but she admits she could imagine it.

"Shortly after [our son] turned 3, my husband left," Gatley said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I didn't blame him. I actually envied him - that he could escape the hell that came with trying to deal with everything."

Gatley said it wasn't just her son's violent episodes, which have become increasingly dangerous as he's grown older, but the constant and often depressing task of fighting with the insurance company, medication changes, food restrictions and trying to locate service providers.
"We left Iowa about six years ago because there were no doctors available in our area," she said. "Now we live in an urban area where services aren't plentiful, but adequate. At least I know that when there is a really bad day, I'll have someone to turn to - someone who helps us through the rough spots. Without that support, I might very well have also made the drive into Nebraska."

Estle, who does not know the Gatley family, said he can understand the frustrations of parents who live with children afflicted with mental illness. He said he sees parents every day who are frustrated and desperate to find help for their children.

And that frustration doesn't end with parents. Care providers - the few that remain - have difficulty placing the children who graduate from acute-care facilities, such as the handful available in hospital psychiatric wards or in the Tanager Place long-term care program.

"Years ago, when the state of Iowa decided to carve out the mental health care portion of Medicaid, they gave it to a for-profit-based care company," Estle explained. "What happened immediately after that was the reduction of the number of acute-care beds available. So, what you saw was a very rapid decline in the hospital-based beds for kids in the state."

Estle said that while such changes have resulted in fewer psychiatric beds for patients of all ages, the cuts in the number of psychiatric beds for children has been most severe.

"Those [programs] that are left struggle," he said. "For example, St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids has inpatient beds for children, but they often struggle with kids they can't move to another level of care because those needed services don't exist."

When that happens, the children often leave the hospital in their parents'care - whether or not the parents are in a position or have the resources to continue the child's treatment.

"It's the same problem we have with our long-term psychiatric medical institution," Estle said. "We can treat kids, but then we need to be able to move them to lesser levels of care. Those lesser levels of care really just aren't available. Because of this the whole system gets kind of jammed up, if you will."

Parents who hope their children will have access to outpatient services once they've left an acute-care facility may find that such services are limited, if available at all.

"For those who live in Cedar Rapids, we have a full-time child psychiatrist on staff here at Tanager Place to do outpatient care," said Estle. "I think one of the private psychiatric groups has a couple as well. But that's it.
If you want a child psychiatrist, those are the only ones available. Across the entire state, there are only a handful of child psychiatrists available. It's just a real problem of shortage of services and shortages of professionals."

Iowa isn't the only state that is coming up short when dealing with mental health issues for children, according to Estle.

"I really do think that what has happened in Nebraska is symptomatic of a bigger problem," he says. "It's a problem that we have in Iowa and a problem that is in many other areas of the country. If you look at what is available to those suffering with mental illness in our state, it basically comes down to some traditional outpatient care that varies sporadically across the state. There are a few inpatient and acute-care beds left, but not many.

There are far fewer than there used to be. There are some programs like Tanager across the state, but that's about it. There's nothing else out there."

The situation is especially dire in the Midwest, where the population is less dense and there are fewer opportunities both for care and for training.

"In the state of Iowa you have one residency program available at the University of Iowa. That's it. One program with limited slots," Estle said.
"And then, quite frankly, the reimbursement in Iowa for those professionals is really low. So there is really no incentive for those folks to stay here or come here."

Although the state Legislature has acknowledged Iowa has a crisis in relation to the availability of psychiatrists and psychologists, Estle isn't seeing much movement at a state level to correct the system's deficiencies. The reimbursement given to the Tanager Place psychiatric medical institution for children - a total of $167 a day - is the lowest in the nation. Estle does believe the mental health system in Iowa can be fixed, but it will take actions by a state Legislature that has previously been unwilling to act and now has the added pressures of flood recovery and budget shortfalls.

"We've not done much in the state to develop a good system of care for kids with mental illness," he said. "I think that's what we have to do first. We have to design and fund a good system of care in Iowa, and we've got to figure out a way to attract professionals to staff it."

Fur Free Friday Recap!

2008-11-28T23:09:00.000-06:00

Massive Layoffs at Focus on the Family After Prop 8 Win

2008-11-19T14:08:00.000-06:00

Serves them right

by Cara DeGette fro RH Reality Check

Focus on the Family announced major layoffs to its Colorado Springs-based ministry and media empire yesterday, totaling 202 jobs cut companywide. The cutbacks come just weeks after the group pumped more than half a million dollars into the successful effort to pass a gay-marriage ban in California. Initial reports bring the total number of remaining employees to around 950.

Critics are holding up the layoffs, which come just two months after the organization's last round of dismissals, as a sad commentary on the true priorities of the ministry.

"If I were their membership I would be appalled," said Mark Lewis, a longtime Colorado Springs activist who helped organize a Proposition 8 protest in Colorado Springs on Saturday. "That [Focus on the Family] would spend any money on anything that's obviously going to get blocked in the courts is just sad. [Prop. 8] is guaranteed to lose, in the long run it doesn't have a chance - it's just a waste of money."

In all, Focus pumped $539,000 in cash and another $83,000 worth of non-monetary support into the measure to overturn a California Supreme Court ruling that allowed gays and lesbians to marry in that state. The group was the seventh-largest donor to the effort in the country. The cash contributions are equal to the salaries of 19 Coloradans earning the 2008 per capita income of $29,133.

In addition Elsa Prince, the auto parts heiress and longtime funder of conservative social causes who sits on the Focus on the Family board, contributed another $450,000 to Prop. 8.

"They should do more with their half-million dollars than spending it to collect signatures to take the rights away from a class of people," said Fred Karger, the founder of the anti-Prop 8 group Californians Against Hate. "I think it's wrong and it's hurtful to so many Americans."

In addition to promoting socially conservative issues such opposition to abortion and gay rights, and supporting abstinence-only education, the evangelical Christian ministry is a purveyor of Christian books, CDs and DVDs. Two months ago, citing Wal-Mart and online retailers as having cut into its product market, Focus announced that 46 employees would be laid off from its distribution department. Late Friday, Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger confirmed that more layoffs are in store, but said the ministry will not release details until Monday afternoon. Schneeberger hinted that some programs may be eliminated entirely, but declined to elaborate.

"We're going to need to talk to our own family first," he said. "We need to respect the people who are affected."

Schneeberger also refused to discuss the funding priorities that Focus made this fall, including pumping money and in-kind contributions into Proposition 8.

This is the third year that Focus has laid off employees due to budget cuts. In its heyday, the ministry, which relocated to Colorado Springs from Arcadia, Calif., in 1991, employed more than 1,500 people. Many of those employees worked in mailroom and line assembly jobs, processing so much incoming and outgoing correspondences that the U.S. Postal Service gave Focus its own ZIP code.

In September 2005, nearly 80 employees were reassigned or laid off in an effort to trim millions of dollars from its 2006 budget. In addition, 83 open positions were not filled in the layoff, which included eliminating some of the ministry's programs. At the time, Focus employed 1,342 full-time employees.

"To the extent that we can place them within the ministry, we will try to do that," said then-spokesman Paul Hetrick. "Most of them will not be able to be placed."

In September 2007, amid a reported $8 million in budget shortfalls, Focus on the Family laid off another 30 employees; 15 more were reassigned within the company. Most of the layoffs were from Focus' constituent response services department (i.e. the mailroom).

At the time, Schneeberger, who had replaced Hetrick, said that giving was actually up by $1 million during the fiscal year. However, a very "aggressive" budget goal of $150 million did not materialize.

In a statement issued this September, marking the end of the ministry's fiscal year, Chief Operating Officer Glenn Williams weighed in on the additional layoffs of 46 people.

"It is certainly heartbreaking that in this case fulfilling that duty means having to say goodbye to some members of our Focus family, but industry realities really leave us no alternative," he note in his statement. "We are accountable to our donors to spend their money in the most cost-effective and productive manner possible."

But Lewis, the Colorado Springs activist, wonders whether the families who donate to the nonprofit ministry, realize where their funds really end up.

"Seriously, I would imagine their supporters have got to be asking the question about whether their church is really practicing their theology."

For Lewis, who is straight, the issue boils down to the significance of targeting a class of citizens for exclusion, at the expense of the families that the ministry could be helping - in this case their own employees.

Lewis likened Proposition 8 to Colorado's Amendment 2, the 1992 anti-gay measure that was designed to prohibit gays and lesbians from seeking legal protections. Colorado voters approved the measure, which was marketed by proponents, including Focus on the Family, as an effort to prohibit gays and lesbians from seeking "special rights." The U.S. Supreme Court stuck down the measure as unconstitutional four years later.

"You can't make homosexuals second class citizens - we've learned that already," Lewis said. "People will look back on this and see how absurd it is."

Days before this year's election, Focus founder James Dobson appeared at a closing rally at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego to rally the anti-gay troops.

Karger of Californians Against Hate, termed the rally a "big bust." Organizers promised that more than 70,000 supporters would show up; the final tally was close to 10,000, he said.

Yet three days later, California voters approved the measure with 52 percent of the vote. While the measure will certainly head back to court, California has become the 31st state in the country to pass measures that define marriage as being between a man and woman only. In all, Proposition 8 has proven to be the most expensive social issue in the country, with more than $73 million pumped into the cause from both sides. One of the larger contributors to the anti-Prop. 8 efforts was Colorado gay philanthropist Tim Gill, who contributed $720,000 to oppose the measure.

"I'm very disturbed by organizations from out of state like Focus on the Family," Karger said. "They came in early to make sure the measure got on ballot; they've got muscle and they are out to hurt a lot of people and destroy a lot of lives."

Transgender woman murdered, police beating caught on tape

2008-11-14T18:43:00.001-06:00

From PrideSource.

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

A transgender woman who was in the process of suing the city for police brutality, was found murdered in an alley Sunday night.

Duanna Johnson was found shot to death in North Memphis. Witnesses reported hearing gunfire and seeing three men run away. Police said they have no suspects in the murder.

Johnson was the subject of an alleged video taped beating that happened in June of 2008. Johnson, who had been arrested on a prostitution charge, said former Memphis Police Officer Bridges McRae beat her after making derogatory remarks about her sexuality. Johnson said another man, Officer J. Swain, held her down during the beating. Both officers were fired from the department.

At the time, Johnson said before the beating began the officer called her a "he/she" and a "faggot."

Johnson was suing the city for $1.3 million. To view the videotape of the June incident go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N1Bvlbh_ws

Fake New York Times Declares Iraq War Over!

2008-11-12T19:21:00.004-06:00

The full picture isn't showing unfortunately, so check out the links below.

Check out the website.

Gawker exposes the hoax.

Ground Noise and Static, part 3: a video about protests at the DNC & RNC

2008-11-11T13:14:00.000-06:00

Ground Noise and Static, part 2: a video about protests at the DNC & RNC

2008-11-10T13:14:00.000-06:00

Ground Noise and Static, part 1: a video about protests at the DNC & RNC

2008-11-09T13:12:00.002-06:00

A Martin Luther King quote

2008-11-08T20:32:00.000-06:00

"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."

- Letter From a Birmingham Jail, 1963

On "humane" animal products

2008-11-07T18:39:00.000-06:00

Window weatherization and a few other energy efficient household tips.

2008-11-06T14:09:00.000-06:00

All articles from Care2:

Eight Steps for Window Weatherizing

Cold Weather Window Solutions

Window Quilts

Weatherizing Caulk

Winterizing your home.

2008-11-05T13:47:00.001-06:00

You can check out the Alliance to Save Energy, and at this link they even have state-by-state info!

On Election Day

2008-11-04T20:17:00.001-06:00

...at the height of the primary campaign, then-Senator Obama was asked, “Who would Martin Luther King support? Would you support you or Senator Clinton?” And without his frequent pauses in thinking, he said, “He wouldn’t support either of us. He’d be out in the street building an independent social justice movement.”

Bad Medicine: AMA Seeks To Outlaw Home Births

2008-11-03T12:40:00.001-06:00

See the original blog and comments at this link.

Bad Medicine: AMA Seeks To Outlaw Home Births
Amie Newman on June 16, 2008

In an unmistakably insecure and aggressive move, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a resolution at its annual meeting last weekend to introduce legislation outlawing home birth - according to The Big Push for Midwives.

According to the hard-working women of The Big Push for Midwives campaign, faced with the sisyphean task of convincing the American mainstream medical establishment that midwifery is a viable option for birthing women:

"It's unclear what penalties the AMA will seek to impose on women who choose to give birth at home, either for religious, cultural or financial reasons-or just because they didn't make it to the hospital in time," said Susan Jenkins, Legal Counsel for The Big Push for Midwives 2008 campaign. "What we do know, however, is that any state that enacts such a law will immediately find itself in court, since a law dictating where a woman must give birth would be a clear violation of fundamental rights to privacy and other freedoms currently protected by the U.S. Constitution."

In other words, advocating for legislation of this kind has the eery ring of familiarity. Legislative attempts at "criminalizing motherhood" have at their core coercive control over pregnancy and childbirth. Regina McKnight was recently released from jail after a judge overturned her homicide conviction for giving birth to a stillborn baby.

Likewise, Colorado's ballot initiative in support of a "personhood amendment" would have untold consequences for pregnant women who accidentally or otherwise miscarry a pregnancy. If a fertilized egg is conferred "personhood" status why would a miscarriage not be investigated as potential murder?

The legal issues surrounding "fundamental rights to privacy" also, of course, reverberate throughout the discussions around Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to have an abortion in this country. Those who fight rigorously to strip away womens' legal right to an abortion somehow seem to skirt the issue of what might happen to a woman if she does choose to access an illegal abortion.

What the AMA's resolution and these other kinds of potential and actual legislation do is to open the door to penalizing motherhood, in effect. Because most of these legislative attempts do not directly address the issue, they leave the door dangerously open to criminalizing women for making the decisions they feel are best for themselves, their fetuses and their families.

Proposing this kind of legislation would also force women to birth in government-approved settings, a scenario that seems almost unbelievable. According to the Big Push for Midwives:

Until the AMA proposed ‘Resolution 205 on Home Deliveries,' no state had considered legislation forcing women to deliver their babies in the hospital or limiting the choice of birth setting. Instead, states have regulated the types of midwives that may legally provide care. Currently, 22 states already license and regulate CPMs, who specialize in out-of-hospital maternity care and have received extensive training to qualify as experts in the types of risk assessment and preventive care necessary for safe and high-quality care for women who choose give birth at home. Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs), who are trained primarily as hospital-based providers, are licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The resolution did not offer any science-based information for the AMA's anti-midwife or anti-home birth position.

Steff Hedenkamp, Communications Coordinator for The Big Push for Midwives says, "Maternity care is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. So it's no surprise to see the AMA join the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in its ongoing fight to corner the market and ensure that the only midwives able to practice legally are hospital-based midwives forced to practice under physician control. I will say, though, that I'm shocked to learn that the AMA is taking this turf battle to the next level by setting the stage for outlawing home birth itself-a direct attack on those families who choose home birth, who could be subject to criminal prosecution if the AMA has its way."

If you'd like to help The Big Push for Midwives fight this please visit their web site and push back against attempts to "deny American families access to safe and legal midwifery care."

Update, 2:45pm, EDT: Wanted - Ricki Lake! Apparently the AMA has issued Resolution 205 partially in response to none other than Ricki Lake and her campaign to promote midwifery and natural childbirth as a safe option for healthy women via her documentary, The Business of Being Born. Safe Birth Ohio notes that, in Britain, mainstream medical associations like the Royal College of Gynecologists have come to very different conclusions about the safety of home birth as an option for healthy, laboring women. And, yet, the AMA has swung the pendulum in the opposite direction deciding homebirth should be outlawed and that Ricki Lake is dangerous to mamas everywhere.

Say NO to the Olympics being in Chicago!

2008-11-02T12:11:00.001-06:00

Capitalism Gives Us The Creeps video

2008-11-01T18:33:00.001-05:00

Take Back the Halloween!

2008-10-31T18:53:00.001-05:00

From Racialicious. Check it out for pictures, links, comments and the rest of the article.

Mainstream North American culture likes to define itself as cultureless, but Halloween is a very cultural practice. Not only is it a little weird (Just look at it from the point of view of an outsider. Send your kids out to strangers’ houses and tell them to ask for candy? Decorate your house like a graveyard? Dress up like a sexy version of a public health worker?) it is also based on difference - the point of Halloween is to dress up as “something different.” So how do people who are often made to feel visually different - you know, like people of colour - experience Halloween? The average Halloween costume tells us a lot about what we culturally consider to be abnormal.

It tells us that dressing up in an overtly sexy way is taboo - in other words, that we’re a pretty sex-negative people. It tells us that we are obsessed with strict gender categories - because most little boys and girls have to choose very gender-coded costumes, but also because for many young people Halloween is the one time they can experiment with gender in a socially sanctioned way.

And if dressing up as “something different” can typically involve wearing geisha make-up, a Native headdress, bling, or a turban, Halloween tells us that our cultural norm is a middle-class, North American, white person.

The US Constitution-Free Zone

2008-10-30T20:19:00.002-05:00

The American Civil Liberties Union http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsays that border patrol has created a "constitution-free zone" over much of the United States. US Customs and Border Protection considers all land within a hundred miles of a border to be an extension of the border – and an extension of their powers. Tanya Snyder has more.

Listen to Free Speech Radio's 4 minute news segment.

ACLU highlights 'Constitution-Free Zone' 100 miles from border.

RNC Aftermath

2008-10-29T20:20:00.001-05:00

Republican National Convention Protests Aftermath

Female Anatomy 101: The Clit

2008-10-28T20:16:00.002-05:00

Restoration

2008-10-27T19:55:00.002-05:00

It's like the pitter-patter of rain, the sound of their small feet rhythmically tapping, patting, stamping the ground, stirring up dirt in their enthusiastic rush to greet you and follow you around – a soothing, rustling, living sound. They follow you excitedly, flapping their wings, fluffing their feathers, craning their necks the better to behold you.

If you stop, they stop too and, with them, the sound. They surround you in expectant silence, their befeathered selves all aflutter with curiosity and excitement, billowing around you like a cloud – a radiant cloud of waking minds, throbbing hearts, hankering souls, living memories, passionately lived lives – riveting you at the center of their focused attention, lifted on almost tiptoes by the sheer force of their fascination with this new, rich feast of scents, sounds, shapes, colors, textures, thoughts, rhythms, and inner weather that you are to them.

It's hard to believe that these vibrant birds, crackling with life and wonder, are the same "free-range" hens who arrived at the sanctuary one year ago, bruised, battered, bewildered, disconnected from the world around them and from their own selves, unable or unwilling to inhabit their own lives (what was there to inhabit?).

Read the rest.

An Intersectional, Reproductive Justice Feminist Response to LaBruzzo's Sterilization Plan . . .

2008-10-26T19:28:00.005-05:00

For those who are not aware, on Tuesday, September 23rd, Rep. LaBruzzo of Metarie, Louisiana (a suburb of New Orleans) made the statement that, so that Louisiana wouldn't be in an economic crisis, he's looking to propose a bill to "voluntarily" sterilize the number of people he feels are dependent on the government as a way to decrease the state burden.

The Women's Health & Justice Initiative[1] and the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic[2] condemn Representative John LaBruzzo's recent legislative plans to pay poor women to get sterilized and reward rich, educated people to have children. The sterilization policy currently being advocated by Representative LaBruzzo is a blatant form of reproductive violence and population control policies of blame and disenfranchisement, rooted in this country's long and continual history of eugenics. The legislation and criminalization of black and poor women's bodies, sexuality, fertility, and motherhood are being used as regulatory tools for economic and ideological justification for eugenics. If Mr. LaBruzzo is really concerned about ending poverty and reducing social burdens on the state, he would not be advocating punitive social polices that restrict women's reproductive autonomy, but instead would be focusing his attention on ending corporate welfare and holding the corporate giants of Wall Street accountable for the disastrous state of the country's economy. Stigmatizing and blaming the bodies and reproductive capabilities of black and poor women, and other marginalized communities, as the cause of poverty, mask Representative LaBruzzo's unwillingness to fully examine the complex structural causes of poverty and inequality in our society. Reproductive violence and sterilization abuse at the hands of elected officials should be challenged and condemned. Women receiving public assistance and housing subsidies have RIGHT to have or not have children, as well as the RIGHT to parent the children they do have and control their birthing options[3] without punitive racial discrimination and economic exploitation policies designed to denied their RIGHT to exist and achieve full protection of their human rights. All women, regardless of their race, sexuality, ability, household size, economic, housing, and citizenship status, have the right to live whole healthy lives free of control, violence, regulation, and coercive social policies designed to exploit their economic vulnerability for sterilization and contraception abuse.

Social justice organizations, activists, organizers, and advocates are encouraged to use the following as talking points challenging Representative John LaBruzzo's eugenic agenda.

Eugenics, Reproductive Violence, Population Control, and Sterilization Abuse

The sterilization policy currently being advocated by Representative John LaBruzzo is a blatant form of reproductive violence and population control policies of blame and disenfranchisement, rooted in this country's long and continual history of eugenics.

These reproductive modification tactics of Representative LaBruzzo are reminiscent, if not the same, of eugenics policies of the early twentieth century to forcibly sterilize thousands of people thought to be socially undesirable to procreate, particularly immigrants, the poor, people of color, people incarcerated, people with disabilities, and those with mental illnesses.

Eugenicists, like LaBruzzo, opposed social programs designed to improve the living conditions of the poor, arguing that adequate medical care, better working conditions, and minimum wages all harmed society because those measures enabled people with inferior heredity to live longer and produce more children[4]. These sentiments are directly related to LaBruzzo's statements that "mainstream strategies for attacking poverty, such as education reform and family planning program have failed to solve the problem," yet he wants to create incentives for college-educated, higher income people to have more children.

The measures Representative LaBruzzo are currently proposing is an example of controlled consent. There's nothing voluntary about using monetary incentives to exploit women's economic vulnerability.

The reproductive autonomy of women of color and poor women should not be compromised to support Representative LaBruzzo's eugenic policy to sterilize, blame, disenfranchise, and restrict the rights of women to control and care for their bodies, reproduction, and sexuality.

Mandating sterilization as a condition or punishment for receiving public assistance and housing subsidies is racist, sexist, and politically idiotic!

It is disturbing that reproductive modification policies and practices that disempower women because of their family size and economic status can receive such widespread support. It truly shows that eugenics lies at the heart of LaBruzzo's plans.

This is a direct reflection of the reproductive violence and sterilization abuse that women of color and poor women continue to face at the hands of the state.

Criminalization of Black Women's Sexuality, Fertility, & Motherhood

Policies that promote the control and criminalization of black motherhood have no place in our society.

As a result of punitive welfare reforms instituted during the Clinton Administration in the mid 1990s, the attacks and criminalization of women of color and poor women's reproduction and sexuality has continued unabated despite the fact that TANF/FITAP assistance has been steadily decreasing over the past decade in Louisiana.

Mr. LaBruzzo is reinforcing racial and gender stereotypes by using the bodies of poor black women and other vulnerable communities as a scapegoat to bolster his political career to win the hearts and minds of a conservative base that continues to restrict women's reproductive rights.

Mr. LaBruzzo and his conservative base advocate abstinence-only sex education in schools that don't work. Their refusal to support resources needed for comprehensive preventative reproductive health services, including abortion and safe birth control methods, makes it clear that they have no concern for poor women's economic health and well-being. Rather, their interest is in the control and criminalization of poor women's reproduction and motherhood.

Economic Myths - Falsehoods LaBruzzo's idea is based on

What he's basically proposing is an economic stimulus plan attacking poor black women. So, if you're a woman, poor, and black, get in line- you're about to be sterilized!

The aggressive promotion of sterilization as a condition and punishment for receiving public assistance, and the use of coercive social policies that threaten women's health and well-being like those currently being advocated by LaBruzzo have nothing to do with eradicating poverty in our society.

According to LaBruzzo, the solution to ending poverty in our society is to control and regulate the fertility and sexuality of black women – not the creation of comprehensive programs to improve health care access, our education system, housing affordability, and employment opportunities in the state. His plan pathologizes the reproductive capabilities of Black and poor women by proposing legislation to exploit the economic vulnerability of those who are socially stereotyped as burdens on the state.

Even if sterilization is voluntary, POVERTY IS NOT! Poverty, economic insecurity, and lack of sustainable livelihood can cause a woman to consider this aggressive sterilization incentive a viable option.

LaBruzzo talks about poverty as though it were an infectious disease—a though poor people will eventually make everyone poor—rather than a condition people are condemned to by Louisiana's lack of investment in education, employment, affordable housing, and quality health care programs, services, and resources.

LaBruzzo uses a myth of scarcity to argue that if economic resources are shared with everyone, no one will have enough. The reality is that if the lion's share of our economic resources stopped being used for unnecessary military spending and corporate welfare, such as the Wall Street bailout, then all our communities would have access to the resources and opportunities they need to survive and thrive!

Despite the reality of who's on welfare and the total number of families receiving FITAP benefits in Louisiana, welfare assistance is socially and politically associated with Black mothers who are, unfortunately, already negatively stereotyped in mainstream media as "lazy," "irresponsible," "overly fertile," and "welfare queens." Because of these stereotypes, LaBruzzo has been able to gain support for his aggressive eugenic sterilization initiative using monetary incentives.

The exploitation and regulation of Black women's bodies and our reproductive capabilities to solve the social problems of poverty and the financial instability of the county's economy through legislation designed to sterilize poor and working class women of color is a barbaric attempt on the part of Representative John LaBruzzo to increase his popularly among conservatives, and to create a distraction from the real problems associated with the country's current economic crisis.

Economic Realities – What really creates the conditions LaBruzzo is "concerned" about

When we let the numbers of people who are on welfare speak for themselves, it becomes clear that this is not about welfare at all – it's about politicians like LaBruzzo who are committed to controlling the reproduction of communities of color and poor people by attacking the bodies and reproductive decisions of Black and poor women.

We are basically witnessing a two front war against poor and working class black communities right now. On one hand, we have the Bush administration fighting to push an economic corporate welfare bailout plan to save Wall Street, and on the other, we have an elected official blaming the bodies and reproductive decisions of poor black women for the social conditions caused by corporate greed.

Advocating for the sterilization of poor black women, and publicly demonizing their motherhood under the cloak of reducing the number of people on welfare, masks the complex causes of poverty and inequality that permeate our society. If Mr. LaBruzzo is really serious about addressing the problems plaguing our communities right now, he would be focusing his attention on creating legislation to end corporate greed, end the War in Iraq, holding corporations accountable for the toxins that they continue to put into the environment, funding our failing education system, providing people the health care they need now, and supporting affordable housing initiatives in the city.

The current punitive welfare policies Representative LaBruzzo is considering will render women of color, poor women, and women with disabilities vulnerable to sterilization and contraceptive abuse because of racial and class assumptions that their fertility is out of control. In reality, the average number of children women on welfare have in the state of Louisiana is two – but the image of the over-breeding "welfare queen" is fixed in the minds of many Americans, including Representative LaBruzzo.

Over the past decade, the number of women receiving welfare assistance in the state of Louisiana has been decreasing. In the past three years, we have seen a 74.24 percent drop in women receiving welfare. According to the Louisiana Department of Social Services, families receiving assistance through the Louisiana Families Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) was down from 5764 recipients in July 2005 to 1485 as of July 2008.

This is a sexist, racist, and elitist attempt to distract the public from those who are really creating social burdens on society – the corporate welfare giants of Wall Street, the war in Iraq, the over production of unnecessary commodities that negatively impact our environment, and the wasteful spending of public resources on programs--such as abstinence only sex education in schools-- that don't work!

The low-income women of color LaBruzzo feels so comfortable scapegoating for Louisiana's economic conditions are those who support Louisiana's economy by doing its low-wage work. When LaBruzzo goes to his office, these women clean it; when he goes to a restaurant, they wash the dishes; and when he stays at a hotel, they turn down his sheets. Rather than this mean-spirited attack, he should call for an increase in the minimum wage that would make it feasible for poor women to survive economically.

What We Need - Strategies & Social Programs for Moving Forward

Instead of mandating punitive measures to modify and pathologize poor women's reproductive decisions, we need legislation to increase women's access to high quality, non-coercive, voluntary reproductive health services and information including access to safe birth control, comprehensive sexual health education, and abortion services that are unbiased, age-appropriate and culturally competent.

The misguided priorities of legislator's like Mr. LaBruzzo to create monetary incentives for poor women to become sterilized fails to acknowledge how our state should be funding initiatives that support preventative health care programs and social services that work to strengthen and build the health of our communities, not blame them for reflecting the social problems of this country.

All women, regardless of their race, sexuality, ability, household size, economic, housing, and citizen status, have the right to live whole healthy lives free of control, violence, regulation, and coercive social policies designed to exploit their economic vulnerability for sterilization and contraception abuse at the hands of elected officials.

All women, regardless of their race, sexuality, ability, household size, economic, housing, and citizen status, have the right to live whole healthy lives free of control, violence, regulation, and coercive social policies designed to exploit their economic vulnerability for sterilization and contraception abuse at the hands of elected officials.

We need legislators who are committed to supporting responsible, accessible, and affordable public services and resources such as safe and quality health care, schools, childcare resources, non-punitive reproductive health services, affordable housing, family treatment programs, mental health services, and non-discriminatory employment opportunities.

[1] The New Orleans Women's Health & Justice Initiative is a multi-dimensional community-based organizing project centered on (1) improving low income and uninsured women of color access to quality, affordable, and safe health care services; and (2) organizing women for sexual health and reproductive justice through community-based strategies to equip those most disenfranchised by the medical industry with the means to control and care for their own bodies, sexuality, and reproduction. WHJI is a local affiliate of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence – a national activist organization of radical feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color and our communities through direct action, critical dialogue and grassroots organizing.

[2] The New Orleans Women's Health Clinic (NOWHC) is a grassroots community-based non-profit women's health clinic – operated by a radical, women of color-led, feminist health collective. The mission of the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic is to equip marginalized and underserved women with the means to control and care for their own bodies, sexuality, reproduction, health through a holistic, community-centered well women approach to health care which integrates sexual health and reproductive justice. NOWHC is a local affiliate of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence.

Are sharks really that dangerous?

2008-10-25T18:48:00.000-05:00

On An Inconvenient Truth.

2008-10-24T13:20:00.001-05:00

"If everybody in the Unites States did everything that Al Gore... suggested in that movie [An Inconvenient Truth -ed.], then that would reduce emissions by about 21%. The consensus these days is that for further disaster to be averted, emissions need to be reduced by 80%"- Derrick Jensen

Naomi Klein's speech at the National Conference for Media Reform

2008-10-23T12:40:00.000-05:00

Who was Jon Burge?

2008-10-22T13:18:00.000-05:00

Check out the page for him on Chicago Cop Watch.

FINALLY! Ex-Chicago cop Burge arrested in torture cases

2008-10-21T13:09:00.001-05:00

Former Police Cmdr. Jon Burge - who has cast a long shadow over the Chicago Police Department because of accusations he tortured suspects for two decades - was arrested this morning on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Rest of the article from the Sun Times.

I find it interesting that they arrested him today, the day before National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. I wonder how the rally will go tomorrow. I will, unfortunately, be at work.

This has got me thinking. I'm glad they arrested him, hopefully he will be punished- not enough for the pain he's caused, I'm sure. I'm amused by the cop in the video linked above goes one about not blaming cops now, this happened soooo long ago. I don't trust cops and I certainly don't believe that this was just a "bad apple." You put people in power, and they abuse that power.

However, in the past 2 months, my partner and I have had a few instances with the police. One where I was beaten up trying to protect a dog and one where he was beaten up on the street. Unfortunately, the people that beat me up (and the dog) plead not guilty twice so now it's possible jail time for them when we see each other next, in front of a jury. But I really don't think jail will solve anything. If the world was decent, I would have been able to make them volunteer at a dog shelter, take anger management and anti-domestic violence classes along with job training. I finally got anger management classes in the last court date plea, but they didn't take it. When my partner went to the cops, they just randomly rounded up some black kids and started spewing racist shit about the neighbor they were in (which is odd, because my partner is also of color).

There's also someone really close to me that, in my mind, needed to be punished for something they did several years ago. But they weren't, not by the government, they were punished by the scene they were in- and they actually changed. A lot from what I can gather. I plan on interviewing them at some point, but haven't yet.

Anyway, thoughts.

Historic “St. Paul Principles” Agreed upon by Key Twin Cities Groups

2008-10-20T12:36:00.000-05:00

Very old news, but I was reading up on these principles, and I feel like it's a damn good page to read. From the RNC Welcoming Committee website.

At an anti-RNC conference held over the weekend of February 9th and 10th, a broad spectrum of groups revealed what are being called the “St. Paul Principles” of unity for resisting the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC). Key organizations including the RNC Welcoming Committee and The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War are signed onto the principles which seek to unite and strengthen the partnerships amongst those planning to confront the RNC. This is a departure from the sectarian squabbles that have plagued past years’ anti-convention organizing. Pitting groups of differing political beliefs against each other has been a frequent tactic of state repression since the days of COINTELPRO.

By drafting the principles together, the co-signing organizations are taking historic steps to actively extinguish divisiveness from their respective groups. The principles will ensure respect for the soon-to-be-permitted march on September 1 by people planning non-permitted activities, and in turn, participants in the September 1 march will adhere to the principles and do nothing to sow division among the many activists coming to the Twin Cities to protest the RNC.

The principles are:

1. Our solidarity will be based on respect for a diversity of tactics and the plans of other groups.
2. The actions and tactics used will be organized to maintain a separation of time or space.
3. Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.
4. We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption and violence. We agree not to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others.

The RNC Welcoming Committee, The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, The Anti-war Committee, SDS-U of MN, Communities United Against Police Brutality, The Welfare Rights Committee, and Unconventional Action – Chicago were among the first to sign on to these principles. As other groups sign on to these principles, a unified, effective, and radical front will form.

Against Backdrop of Sexual Violence, Ads, Too, Exploit Young Teens

2008-10-19T12:32:00.001-05:00

From RH Reality.

The latest face of fashion in Jamaica is that of an innocent looking thirteen year old girl. Heavily made up and suggestively sporting a bikini, this pubescent girl was recently featured in local newspapers, touting her as the latest winner in the Pulse Jamaican fashion model contest. While it holds true that the fashion industry has long been centered on the bodies of under-aged girls, what is startling about this latest face of the Jamaican fashion industry is its'obvious youth. This youth, when combined with the not-so-subtle sexualization of the girl, paints a frightening picture of our society. No matter the justification, how does it become okay to feature a child, not even fully physically developed, in a bikini and wearing make-up?

As should be expected, the image of the girl has been met by some degree of public outrage. Interestingly enough, the moderate level of outrage seems to me to be in sharp contrast with the wide-scale public reaction, some months ago, to the proposed introduction of a school textbook that made passing mention of homosexual families. At that time, the collective national sentiment towards the text, which in defining family types made mention of those with same-sex parents, can be summed up as "Not in Jamaica!" The thinking and feeling seems to have been that condoning, even if implicitly, the normalcy of homosexuality would be a very un-Jamaican thing to do. Yet, this same level of nationalism does not surface when we see the body of a young girl being portrayed in such a manner.

The lack of collective outrage is an indictment on our society.

Against a wider backdrop of sexual violence being committed against, and perpetrated by, children and adolescents, the sexualization of an under-aged teenager is extremely problematic and potentially dangerous.

We live in a sexualized world. Companies use sex to sell the most random of products, from jump drives to cars. Rapid advancements in the media have made images and information accessible to almost everyone, easily bringing music and home videos, photos and advertisements directly into our homes, our phones, and our computers. The music we listen to; the movies we watch; the advertisements which inundate us; and the newspapers that we read are typically filled with references to, or explicit mention of sex.

Sex is not a bad thing; but by fostering societies in which it is encouraged to become a driving force, almost an entity of its own, we are engaging in a dangerous game of Russian roulette. We are paving the way for misplaced desire, in which desire becomes the be-all and end-all, and humanity in general, and the protection of our children in particular become secondary issues.

Calls have been made for local authorities to band together to tackle the growing wave of sexual violence that is threatening the lives of our children. While it cannot be stated that images such as that of the 13-year old model automatically trigger sexual violence against children, with burgeoning evidence of such abuse, it just seems like a risk we can no longer afford to take. As the saying goes, if we are not choosing to be a part of the solution, we must therefore be a part of the problem.

Any move, subtle or otherwise, which not only encourages us to look at under-aged girls as sexual objects; but by extension creates misplaced ideas amongst young girls of what it means to be sexy, is dangerous, and ultimately, our children are paying the price.

The Military Industrial Complex- clips from "Why We Fight"

2008-10-18T13:06:00.001-05:00

A Vegan Parent’s Survival Guide to Halloween!

2008-10-17T15:32:00.003-05:00

From Ganymeder:

It’s that time of year again. Time to put up cobwebs instead of sweeping them away. Time to stay up late watching scary movies instead of going to bed at a sensible hour. And, of course, time to Trick or Treat!

Now, speaking as a rabid raving Halloween lover, I have to tell you that I’ve given this quite a bit of thought. At first, you might think that it’s nearly impossible for vegan kids to get (let’s face it) butt loads of candy and treats that they can actually consume - Not to mention what the beleaguered vegan can give to greedy little Trick or Treaters that come a knockin’ October 31st. But never fear, it’s not really hard. It just requires a little foresight and planning.

For one thing, if you want to try to avoid the whole “getting non vegan treats” from well meaning omni friends and family, you can always have a party in your home. That way you control the games and the types of treats the kids are given. One year we had a costume party for my son’s birthday, and it ran along the same lines as Halloween. For starters, I put out a large box full of dress up items like funny hats and plastic googley eyed glasses (which was a big hit)! To get their goody bags, they had to go on a scavenger hunt with lots of clues sending them all over the house.

It’s not expensive to create vegan goody bags filled with vegan jelly beans, assorted non chocolate candies and a few inexpensive toys. At party stores you can usually buy bags of toys to give away such as spider rings, bouncy balls, marbles, and mini card games. If you’re feeling especially generous, you could maybe buy a slave free chocolate bar (such as Newman’s Dark Orange Chocolate) for each child. Another time tested idea is to have your little ones Trick or Treat for a charity like UNICEF. Again, as long as they get goodies at home from you, they shouldn’t be disappointed.

The party idea might work for younger children, but once those vegan tykes are old enough to go to school I’m fairly confident they’re going to be besieged with treats that you wouldn’t want in your home. How do you deal with this tactfully? Do you make a point of returning the candy? That’s really up to you. Personally, I’d at least explain why the child can not have the intended treats, if possible before hand so as to avoid any hurt feelings.

Let’s just cut to the chase and say that, despite your best efforts, you’re child comes home with a bag full of non vegan candy and slave chocolate. What do you do? How do you handle this without the child being disappointed? I assure you, I’ve given this quite a bit of thought.

From my own experience and also that of some other vegan parents, the ol’ switcheroo seems to work nicely. Basically, your child brings home their “goodies” but you offer (give) them in exchange a much better bag of vegan ethical goodies that no kid in their right mind would refuse. The trick is to make YOUR goody bag much more appealing than anything they would bring home. So far this year, my son’s exchange-bag-o-goodies includes 3 of his favorite candy bars, some snack bars, a mini notebook (a guaranteed favorite as he loves to draw constantly), and a monster hand puppet. I plan on getting a few more things here and there over the next few weeks; Maybe some little bags of chips and some vegan jelly beans. I might even throw in a pack of Chaotic cards and a Tech Deck (he collects them). Whatever your child is interested in or collects that isn’t too pricey would be a good choice. And, of course, I will let him keep any vegan candies he does happen to collect. The exchange only applies to the non vegan ones.

So enjoy your Halloween without taking a “holiday” from your ethics. And, of course, have a BOO-tiful Holiday!

***
Some links for Fair Trade vegan chocolates and jelly beans.

**In the interest of full disclosure, the past Halloweens my son was vegetarian but not vegan. So he was able to “keep” a greater percentage of the candies he was given. This Halloween will be his first completely Vegan Halloween. I asked him about the exchange bag though,and he’s very excited about it! Also, the other vegan parents I’ve communicated with tell me this method works well for their own children. :)

Happy Feral Cat Day!

2008-10-16T23:51:00.006-05:00

Feral Cats
Feral cats are the same species as companion cats—but they have no desire to snuggle with you on your couch. Feral cats aren’t socialized to people, and so they are fearful of humans and are not adoptable. They live healthy, natural lives on their own, content in their outdoor home. Well-intentioned citizens might think they should call animal control when they spot a feral cat.

Here’s the catch: In the current animal control system, the only happy ending for animals is adoption. So what happens to animals who aren’t adopted? In today’s system, animals who are not placed in homes are killed. This includes feral cats – and they don’t even belong in the shelter system.

Feral cats live outside, but are killed in pounds and shelters. Think twice before you call your local animal control.

The Reality of the Animal Control System
Over 70% of cats who enter our nation’s animal control pounds and shelters are killed—feral, stray, and companion cats. That number jumps to virtually 100% for feral cats.

Talking the Talk
Animal control pounds and shelters might call it “euthanasia.”

But an animal is euthanized when she is hopelessly sick or injured. A healthy animal is not euthanized. She is killed. For feral cats, its called “catch and kill”—and your tax dollars and donations are funding it. Catch and kill is an endless, costly, and cruel cycle.

The Vacuum Effect
Feral cats choose to reside in locations for a reason: there is a food source (intended or not) and shelter. When a portion of the cats are removed from a location, survivors breed to capacity. When all of the cats are removed, new cats move in to take advantage of the available resources. It’s a documented phenomenon called the vacuum effect, and it’s one reason that catch and kill is so ineffective.

Trap-Neuter-Return
Trap-Neuter-Return is a humane approach for feral cats. Through this program, outdoor cats are humanely trapped, brought to a veterinarian to be evaluated, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and eartipped. Cats that are friendly to humans and kittens are adopted into homes. Healthy adult feral cats are returned to their outdoor home.

Want more information? Read up here.

Sunday's C-Span Opportunity: 3rd-Party Candidates Debate

2008-10-15T18:52:00.002-05:00

From Common Dreams.

WASHINGTON - Third-party presidential candidates finally will have their own debate: at 8 p.m. Sunday at Columbia University in New York.

The debate, which will be announced Wednesday, will include at least three of the four third-party candidates - independent Ralph Nader, the Green Party's Cynthia McKinney and the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin. Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr said he has a scheduling conflict, but debate organizers say he wanted to appear only with Nader. (Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain are also invited.)

Nader and Barr are on the ballot in 45 states, while the Green Party is on 31 state ballots and the Constitution Party is on the ballot in 37 states. Nader and McKinney also are on the District of Columbia ballot.

Organizers say the debate is an important exercise in democracy, especially because the debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates (the last of which is Wednesday night) exclude candidates scoring below 15 percent in national polls. Nader, the best known of the candidates, has an average of 2.5 percent in recent national polls, according to realclearpolitics.com, while Barr averages 1.5 percent.

Nader maintains that if he could get into the debates run by the Commission on Presidential Debates, his numbers would immediately climb because "two-thirds of the people don't know we're running."

"It's a Catch-22."

Nader describes the debate commission as "a two-party dictatorial company that doesn't want anybody else on the stage." The commission, created in 1987, is a corporation headed by two former chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties.

But third-party critics of the system recently got some traction: the second of the presidential debates prompted a chorus of criticism of the "boring" format and the lack of follow-up questions.

Nader also will give the issue more visibility at a rally to open the debates Wednesday night at New York's historic Cooper Union Great Hall, where presidential candidates back to Abraham Lincoln have spoken.

The format for Sunday's third-party debate is still being finalized. It will be moderated by Pacifica radio host Amy Goodman. The issues promoted by the candidates strike a different chord from the major party standard-bearers - all four are against the $700 billion economic bailout and all oppose the Iraq war.

In addition, each has his or her own agenda: Nader rails against corporate greed while McKinney promotes environmental causes. The Libertarian Party is a critic of monetary policy and likes to invoke a return to the gold standard. Baldwin of the Constitution Party represents a conservative, small government, anti-abortion party that wants to "restore the government to its biblical foundations."

The third-party debate will be streamed at www.thirdpartyticket.com and will be shown on C-Span.

Terrorists and Terrorism.

2008-10-14T13:35:00.000-05:00

Everything today is from Green Is The New Red. Thanks, Will.

Follow up articles:

Nuns put on "Domestic Terrorist" list

Homeland Security Says Timothy McVeigh Isn’t a Terrorist, But Peace Activists Are

Will Allen: urban farmer, 'genius'

2008-10-13T14:01:00.005-05:00

From Grist.

Fifteen years ago, a former professional basketball player named Will Allen made a most unlikely career move: he decided to launch a farm in a low-income neighborhood in Milwaukee. His farmhands would be un- or ill-employed neighborhood teens.

At the time, brutal economic conditions were pushing the nation's few remaining African-American farmers into bankruptcy; and the concept of "urban farming" seemed more like an oxymoron than an answer to the inner city's economic and public-health problems.

Since that time, Allen's organization Growing Power has established itself as a model for how urban resources can be used to grow delicious, healthy food and revitalize neighborhoods at the same time. Growing Power's model was so successful in Milwaukee that Allen's daughter Erika has established an equally innovative offshoot in Chicago (which I wrote about recently here.)

Today, the MacArthur Foundation announced it has awarded Allen one of its prestigious "genius" fellowships. I hope this award helps Allen spread his vital message: food need not be a vehicle for spreading poor health and sucking resources out of low-wealth communities. It can also simultaneously build health and wealth. Congratulations to the Allen family on this much-deserved honor.

More articles:

Chicago Sun Times
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MacArthur Foundation

Financial crisis fallout.

2008-10-12T13:50:00.003-05:00

"Across the country, authorities are becoming concerned that the nation's financial woes could turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help. In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are full.

"I've had a number of people say that this is the thing most reminiscent of 9/11 that's happened here since then," said the Rev. Canon Ann Malonee, vicar at Trinity Church in the heart of New York's financial district. "It's that sense of having the rug pulled out from under them."

With nowhere else to turn, many people are calling suicide-prevention hot lines. The Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise more than 16 percent in the past year, many of them money-related. The Switchboard of Miami has recorded more than 500 foreclosure-related calls this year.

"A lot of people are telling us they are losing everything. They're losing their homes, they're going into foreclosure, they've lost their jobs," said Virginia Cervasio, executive director of a suicide resource enter in southwest Florida's Lee County."

Full article here.

Immigrant Women, Seeking Status Adjustment, Face Forced Vaccination

2008-10-11T13:44:00.002-05:00

From RH Reality Check by Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and Emily Alexander.

This July, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced new requirements, including five new vaccinations for individuals seeking adjustment of immigration status. One of these vaccinations is Gardasil, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Gardasil, manufactured by Merck, is the only HPV vaccine in the U.S.--also the most expensive vaccine on the market and the only vaccine to be approved for use in only one sex. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is the only federal body that makes recommendations about immunizations; the committee's recommendations serve as the template that USCIS uses to determine immunization requirements for immigration procedures. These new requirements put increased barriers and additional burdens on women's access to adjustment of immigration status and applications for visas to enter the U.S. and stoke the already reverberating anxieties among communities of color about the HPV vaccine.

Most immigration applicants are currently required to undergo a medical exam by a certified "civil surgeon." These civil surgeons complete an I-693 medical examination and vaccination record. The new regulations that require the HPV vaccine apply to female applicants between the ages of 11 to 26. This is the only sex-specific vaccination requirement, putting particular burden on immigrant women applying for a visa or adjustment of status, further marginalizing a group that already has reduced access to health information and services that are affordable, accessible and culturally and linguistically competent.

According to the Census, there are approximately 17.5 million immigrant women in the United States today, 3 million of whom are undocumented, and 16 percent that live in poverty. These women encounter obstacles to employment and health access; they also face violence and discrimination. Immigrant rights and reproductive justice are intrinsically linked because the reproductive health of immigrant women is profoundly affected by immigration policy. For women seeking adjustment of status, the USCIS' additional vaccine requirements create tremendous barriers to one of the many steps towards a pathway to citizenship.

While women of color, many who are immigrants, face disproportionate rates of cervical cancer in the U.S. (Latina women get cervical cancer at twice the rate of white women; and Vietnamese women get cervical cancer at five-times the rate of white women), efforts should be made to increase access and education about HPV and the vaccine, rather than creating further impediments to the already onerous immigration process. The HPV vaccine is out of reach for many women with its high price tag: at a minimum, it costs $360 for the three shot regimen. Publicly-funded access to the HPV vaccine varies state-to-state, although all low-income adolescents between the ages of 9 through 19 who are either uninsured, Medicaid-eligible, American Indian, or Alaska Native, have access to the vaccine through the federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. Immigrant women over the age of 19 may have greater challenges in obtaining the vaccine. According to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and Uninsured and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), between 45% and 51% of immigrants lack health coverage in the US. The lack of health insurance, coupled with the high cost of the vaccine, limits access to the vaccine for low-income immigrant women. In addition, for immigration visa applicants abroad, the global availability and accessibility of the vaccine is questionable.

States also use the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations when developing their own vaccine requirements for school entry. Calls for state school mandate bills for this vaccine seem to have calmed down, allowing advocates the opportunity to provide much-needed education and advocacy around HPV and cervical cancer prevention. Now this new requirement threatens that critical work.

Instead of mandating vaccines for immigrant women's bodies, the U.S. government should increase access to health information and services that are unbiased, age-appropriate, culturally-competent and non-coercive. Mandating a vaccine that specifically targets young non-citizen women is both sexist and xenophobic. It will only add to the current anxieties among many communities of color about the vaccine and the government's interest in vaccinating a particular community, in this case, immigrant women.