SCISSION

Thousands to March in DC Calling for the Abolition of Mountaintop Removal
Press Conference June 15 in Charleston, WV Announces Mass Mobilization Appalachia Rising
WHEN: June 15, 10:00 AM
WHERE: WV State Capitol Back Steps Near Fountain, Charleston, WV
CONTACTS:
West Virginia
Bo Webb – 304-237-2688 or 304-854-7104
Chuck Nelson – 304-923-5854 or 304-934-0399
Maria Gunnoe – 304-989-9581 or 304-245-8481
Virginia
Jessie Dodson – 571-274-1115

Kentucky
Martin Mudd – 859-963-5574
Julia Peckinpaugh – 502-417-5753

Washington DC
Kate Rooth – 704-516-0092
WHAT: On June 15 at the capital in Charleston, WV, coalfield residents and allies from across Appalachia will announce Appalachia Rising a mass mobilization set for September 27 in Washington DC. They are calling for thousands to join them in demanding the Obama Administration abolish surface mining and invest in sustainable economic diversification in Appalachia. Groups aim to mobilize thousands from across the country for a dignified day of action in DC to increase public pressure on elected officials and regulators to ban surface mining.
Speakers at the press conference will include:
Vernon Haltom, Coal River Mountain Watch
Bo Webb, Naoma, WV, Veteran
Chuck Nelson, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, retired UMWA coal miner
Maria Gunnoe, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Goldman Environmental Prize Winner
Gordon Simmons, West Virginia Labor History Association
Lorelei Scarbro, Coal River Wind Project
Mickey McCoy, Inez, KY
Laura Steepleton, Climate Ground Zero
Andrew Munn, Mountain Justice
Amber Whittington, Colcord, WV Student Environmental Action Coalition
Reverend Edington, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charleston
Larry Gibson, Kayford Mountain, Mountain Keepers
WHY: The movement to abolish surface mining, in particular mountaintop removal coal mining, has grown tremendously in the last year with hundreds of thousands of advocacy emails, dozens of nonviolent protests resulting in hundreds of arrests, and growing national media attention from the New York Times to the Colbert Report. Recently, the EPA passed strict new guidelines for coal operators practicing mountaintop removal, and even Senator Byrd has recognized national opposition to the practice and voiced concerns about its impact on communities. Despite this progress, mountaintop removal continues to damage and displace coalfield communities throughout southern and central Appalachia
Many see 2010 as the defining moment in the effort to abolish mountaintop removal. With upcoming hearings for the Clean Water Protection Act and the Appalachian Restoration Act as well as midterm elections, coalfield residents and their allies are mobilizing a national call to stop surface mining once and for all.
Every day, across Appalachia, MTR coal companies are literally blowing the tops off the mountains: clear-cutting forests, wiping out natural habitats, poisoning rivers and drinking water, and eliminating entire ecosystems. Not only are these mountains lost forever, but the heritage and the health of families across the region are being sacrificed for a mere 7 percent of the nation’s coal.
Coal companies use MTR mining methods because it allows for almost complete recovery of coal seams while significantly reducing the number of workers required. Appalachia has a wealth of clean energy resources that can be developed to provide new jobs and tax revenues, including wind, solar, low-impact hydro and sustainable biomass. This development can especially support rural areas, which are the hardest hit by the declining economy.
Appalachia Rising is calling for the abolition of surface mining, a just transition for coalfield communities, and renewed investment in a prosperous and just economy in Appalachia.
www.appalachiarising.org
Statements

Bo Webb:
“It is very obvious that a Massey Energy controlled legislature here in WV is not going to protect our state nor our citizens from mountaintop removal plundering for profit. We have worked long and hard to raise America’s awareness of this injustice, this insane crime that continues to eliminate our mountains, our communities, and our people. Now it is time for Congress to hear the voices of the victims of mountaintop removal!”
Lorelei Scarbro:
The time has come when we all must ask what is the price of a ton of coal. If you use coal fired electricity, then you should know. If you ask the mountain community resident in Appalachia who lives with the atrocities of mountaintop removal coal extraction, I am sure the price will be higher than if you ask a coal executive. All that we have is being sacrificed for thirst for electricity, including the people we love.
Vernon Haltom:
“Mountaintop removal threatens real human lives, communities, and local economies in Appalachia, but our state regulators and politicians have turned their back on us. The federal government has only taken half measures and tentative steps. We are going to Washington, DC, to demand justice for the people and to let them know that we are not merely expendable populations.”
Mountain Party
Appalachia is rising to defend our communities that are being systematically decimated, rising to oust those who divide us by turning brother against brother and sister against sister while they fleece us of our labor and of our birthright to a better family life and to a better community life where we can live without fear of the mountains being pushed down upon us, while the creeks and rivers, filled with what were once majestic mountains, flow with the poisons of reckless de-construction of the earth.
The Mountain Party of West Virginia challenges the leaders of the Democratic Party and of the Republican Party to join us in serving the people of West Virginia, rather than playing their historical roles of absolutely enabling the enslavement of the people and the theft and destruction of the environmental life support system the people must depend on to sustain them. The Mountain Party of West Virginia challenges the other two political parties to stop serving the economic and environmental rapists who hide behind the veil of corrupt politics- driven by dirty money and dirty elections- and to help bring forth a new kind of politics in the new Appalachia that is rising around us.

Posted in Press Release, press | No Comments »

Vision Statement

June 20th, 2010

Appalachia Rising:
Mobilize to End Mountaintop Removal!
September 25 – 27, 2010, Washington DC
Appalachia Rising is a mass mobilization in Washington DC on September 27, 2010 calling for the abolition of mountaintop removal and surface mining. It is a culmination of the national movement against surface mining and a foundation upon which to build a pan-Appalachian movement for prosperity and justice. Coalfield citizens and organizers envision a vibrant mobilization of thousands – coalfield residents, students & youth, Christians & people of all faiths, families, celebrities, underground miners, activists, artists, and all who yearn for justice – to converge on Washington DC for a day of non-violent action and dignified civil disobedience targeting the politicians and agencies who could abolish surface mining with the stroke of a pen.
Appalachia Rising declares that we are not a national sacrifice zone. We will not stand idly by as we see our past and future blasted to rubble, our communities and mountains eliminated, and our neighbors poisoned as coal executives and their shareholders grow rich. Appalachians are not, and never will be, collateral damage. We are proud of our coal mining fathers, hard-working neighbors, and Appalachian past, present and future!
Appalachia is endowed with abundant resources too long plundered by outside interests. We call for the abolition of surface mining, a just transition for coalfield communities, and renewed investment in a prosperous and just economy in Appalachia.
We invite all who share our vision to join with us on September 27, 2010 in our nation’s capitol for an end to mountaintop removal, surface mining, and a renewed vision of Appalachia.
Bo Webb, Naoma, Coal River Valley, WV
Judy Bonds, Rock Creek, Coal River Valley, WV
Junior Walk, Whitesville, Coal River Valley, WV
Andrew Munn, Rock Creek, Coal River Valley, WV
Danny Chiotos, Charleston, WV
Jessie Dodson, Richmond, VA
Vernon Haltom, Princeton, WV
Chuck Nelson, Sylvester, WV
Lorelei Scarbro, Rock Creek, WV
Joe Gorman, Morgantown, WV

DYING FOR COKE

In Pakistan a a struggle between the local Coca Cola franchise and their worker has come to the point where several international unions have called for a worldwide protest for Coca Cola’s nasty attacks against the trade movement and their unionized workforce in Pakistan. Pakistani laborers have had to put up with constant assaults upon their union’s basic rights in Karachi and elsewhere. According to the Muslim Observer, "Union-busting is almost a tradition at Pak Coke: It is a gut reflex."

In Multan, Pakistan workers are battling against blackmail, extortion, violence, abductions and death threats to win their basic rights.

The following is from The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF).

The Pause That Represses

By peter

Created 18/06/2010 - 15:15

514

The Coca-Cola factory in Multan, Pakistan, where workers are determined to resist management repression and fight for their rights.
Since forming a union at Coca-Cola's bottling plant in the southern Pakistan city of Multan in June 2009, members have met with death threats, abduction, firings, extortion, forgery and fraud. Management's vicious response to the workers' fight for a union is a story drenched with violence, corruption, sleaze and escalating criminality.
CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO WORLD CUP SPONSOR COCA-COLA: STOP FOUL PLAY IN PAKISTAN! [1]
The Multan plant is part of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited. (CCBPL), jointly owned by Turkish bottler Coca-Cola Icecek (CCI) and The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) based in Atlanta. TCCC, which sits atop the global Coca-Cola system, has been informed of every illegal action by the Multan management, at every stage. What is Coca-Cola, upright and socially responsible corporate citizen, doing in a dive like this? Workers throughout the Coca-Cola worldwide system are demanding answers - and want the company to clean up the operation and respect worker rights. The story begins with…
Extortion and Blackmail
The Employees’ Union Coca-Cola Beverages grew out of the organizing efforts of the IUF-affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Workers (NFFBTW), whose membership includes 3 other Coca-Cola Pakistan plants.
Management's response to union organizing in Multan was immediately hostile. As the union prepared for its founding congress on June 19, 2009, management began a campaign of blackmail and extortion targeting the 36 sales and merchandizing officers (SMOs) at the plant identified as active union supporters. On June 8 all SMOs were ordered to sign stamped, blank legal documents (the type used for affidavits or confessions) and to hand over signed blank personal checks. Those who refused this clearly illegal order were ordered to stay in the plant and barred from their sales routes – resulting in lost sales commissions amounting to a third of their monthly income. For 20 days SMOs were harassed into handing over these checks illegally. Four who refused were ultimately dismissed, together with three "temporary" workers directly employed at the plant, all of them strong union supporters.
When the NFFBTW and IUF informed both the national management of CCBPL and TCCC in Atlanta of the new union’s formation on June 25, when it filed for registration with the District Labour Officer, management responded with escalating attacks on union officers in an attempt to force the union to disband.
Faced with threats and intimidation even before the union’s registration, union officers took pre-emptive action by filing a petition on June 26 in the Punjab Labour Court for a “stay order” that prohibits management from taking action against them. Coca-Cola Multan management promptly violated the stay order through forced transfers and dismissals. Four union officers were sent home and told not to report to work. On June 27 union president Ghulam Rasool, who has worked at the plant for 18 years, was transferred to work a long-distance truck route to the northern province of Balochistan in order to eliminate direct contact with the Multan workers. Although this transfer violated the court order, the plant general manager dismissed the law as "irrelevant”: The union has filed contempt of court charges against management for violating the stay order – a procedure that involves criminal charges against management.
Abduction…
Attempted registration was followed by “night visits” to the private homes of union officers on June 27 and 28; eight Coca-Cola Multan managers tried to force union officers to quit the union or sign a letter withdrawing the union’s application for registration. On the morning of June 28, union joint secretary Riaz Hussain was abducted by managers, held in an unknown location and threatened until released later that day.
Through its intervention with TCCC, the IUF secured the reinstatement of the dismissed officers and the withdrawal of the union president's transfer, coupled with guarantees against any further harassment and intimidation. Local management promptly violated these guarantees. When the union officers returned to work on July 9 they were followed by security guards and management staff throughout the entire shift, generating a climate of fear in which union members were not able to communicate with their representatives.
Political manipulation
Management used their political connections to exert pressure on the trade union registrar to reject the union’s registration. On July 10, the District Labour Officer finally succumbed. To avoid a lengthy legal wrangle, the union decided to submit a second registration application for the same union, renamed People's Employees Union CC Multan. The application is still awaiting approval...
Death threats…
Local management became more desperate as the IUF and the NFFBTW increased pressure on TCCC and CCBPL to respect trade union rights in Multan, resorting to death threats against union officers and their families. Unknown men began visiting the homes of the union officers, including general secretary Muhammad Ashiq Bhutta, who is also national information secretary of the NFFBTW. They delivered a clear message from Coca-Cola Multan management: withdraw from the union or you or your family members could have “an accident” and be injured or killed.
With support from the IUF and the assistance of the NFFBTW the union officers' families were quickly moved into hiding, some as far as 300 km away.

Women Workers' Federation rally in support of the Multan Coke workers.
Creation of a management union
To further block any possibility of the workers winning legal recognition of their union, management set up its own 'union', called the “Workers Welfare (Mazdoor) Union”. Through a combination of bribery and threats, CCBPL Multan management secured registration of their fake union on August 13.
How fake is fake? When the People's Employees Union, the workers organization Coke Multan is trying to destroy, challenged management's attempt to register their organization, Muhammad Shafi, identified by Multan management as the Mazdoor Union's President, submitted a statement to the labour department on October 23 testifying that he was not the president of this organization, had never submitted an application for registration, had not attended a so-called founding meeting and that any signature of thumbprint was a fake. CCBPL Multan management ordered Muhammad Shafi to withdraw his statement. He refused and faced pressure and threats. In January 2010 management approached his family and friends to pressure him to withdraw his statement or face dismissal.
From fake union to fake labour contractor…
In addition to the 7 union members dismissed in the early stages of the union struggle, management last year dismissed 20 other direct Multan employees who were active union members. The termination letters were issued by 'Muhammad Saeed Awan Labour Contractor' despite the fact that these workers were directly recruited by CCBPL, and had never received payment from, heard of or ever seen Saeed Awan or any representative at any time during their employment at CCBPL Multan.
The dismissal letters contain no address letterhead for the shadowy 'Saeed Awan Labour Contractor'. The official government database on employers paying into the mandatory pension scheme contains no such entity on record as supplying labour to Coca-Cola or any other business in Pakistan. In response to three different addresses provided by the company, the hunt for Saeed Awan ended in a meeting at an office where the person who claimed to be Saeed Awan was not allowed to speak by his “minders” sent by CCBPL senior management. Tracing the source of the registered termination letters from the hastily constructed Saeed Awan Labour Contractor disclosed that were in fact mailed from the home address of a Multan 'gate officer' who has stated that they were written not by him but by senior management, who ordered him to sign them.
The union has since documented the massive alteration of Multan union members' social security cards. Union members have been ordered to turn in their cards, which are returned with “Saeed Awan contractor” added in different ink after "Coca-Cola factory".
Through crude forgery of official documents and massive fraud, management is attempting to establish the fiction that union members at CCBPL are not in fact employed by the company where they have many years of service. This of course would exclude them from any collective bargaining relationship with Coca-Cola …if Saeed Awan Labour Contractor really existed. However, if it did then CCB PL would be guilty of even more crimes under Pakistan law, since there is no legal provision for a "recruitment agency" which leaves workers with the status of "contract worker" not directly employed by the user enterprise.
CCBPL now claims a total of 283 workers at Multan are employed by 'Saeed Awan Labour Contractor'!
Not content with extortion, fraud, abduction, illegal dismissals, contempt of court and interference in the judicial process (blocking union registration), Multan management has recently opened the use of the Multan facilities to Moeen Qureshi, a well-connected politician, former Punjab state minister of sport and the cousin and brother-in-law of Amir Qureshi, Director of the CCBPL Southern Business Unit. Moeen Qureshi has on several occasions installed himself in the factor HR manager's office and summoned union members for meetings, threatening them and warning them to stop their involvement with the union.

May 20 union rally calls for labour laws to be implemented and respected by management.
Coke's Multan management is as unprincipled as they are desperate to block workers from exercising their rights. Yet despite all these illegal acts and the relentless anti-union hostility of management for nearly a year, the union officers and their supporters remain steadfast in their determination to win union recognition and become the IUF’s newest members in the Coca-Cola system.
The IUF holds TCCC in Atlanta responsible for what happens at its bottlers' operations worldwide. Violence, dismissals and pressure on workers to prevent trade union rights and recognition are criminal acts.
CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE [1] TO THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND THEIR BOTTLER COCA-COLA ICECEK (CCI), telling them exactly that!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

SMASHING NAZI BANDS...EAST COAST STYLE

One People's Project is calling out the band "Call the Paramedics." The band has a long association is nazi skinheads, despite their efforts to play it down. I'm right with them. Nazi, racist, white supremacist bands may claim, as this one oft does, that they're merely in it for the "shock value," but that's a load of crap. And even if it were true, so what. Hate speech, hate music is hate whether you want to call it shock or aryan solidarity.

These bands exist all across the US and Europe. They are dangerous. They are especially dangerous when they start showing up in "un nazi like venues."

While almost none of them ever reach big band status, they still play to crowds of youth all over the damn place.

Let me just leave you with this lovely post from someone calling himself robbie hate found on a forum at Stormfront's web page. "there used to be a large nazi punk movement in the u.s., with many different groups, when i was around 12 i myself was a nazi punk and there were alot of us, im 35 now. it is important to show our support to the many different typs of w.p. music, if we dont give the youth something to listen to, the red filth will."

On behalf of the red filth, Mr. hate, I sure hope we do give youth something to listen to...The white supremacist garbage you give them may in some strange way be music, but mostly it's just the same crap your type have been defecating out into the world for far too long.

SUPPORT THOSE WHO TAKE ON THIS TRASH!
SUPPORT ANTIFASCISTS!
SUPPORT ANTIFA!

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM ONE PEOPLE'S PROJECT.

CALLING OUT CALL THE PARAMEDICS: ANTIFA OPPOSES BONEHEAD-ASSOCIATED BAND

Every now and then, someone from the Atlantic City area emails (not calls, not approaches us in the street, emails) us with trash talk, usually daring us to come out to a show or something where they can mix it up with us. The latest one came from this character out of Lakewood, NJ named Dave who runs something he called ARS (we assume the "A" is for Aryan), who kept trying to get us to come to a Call the Paramedics show. This is a band that because of their associations with the boneheads in the Philly/Atlantic City scene, has been pretty much regulated to playing venues that have no problem with Nazis in the joint. So it was rather curious that the show that we were being dared to come out to was one of the more traveled venues in Philly. Apparently Call the Paramendics have kind of expanded their reach a little, and we are not the only ones to take notice of this. The band is doing what they can to downplay their neo-Nazi leanings and because of that they have been playing better venues. That's not going over well with the rest of the scene, and antifa have been doing whatever they can to let people know what kind of band they are so they are not accommodated. This call came out this weekend, a week after the band was supposed to play a punk festival in New York City. That was the last straw, and it was a sign that the scene needed to be cleaned up a bit. Hopefully each one of the shows listed with this call will be taken away from CTP, but if not, at least it will be that much harder for them to book anything. If anyone feels like sending us emails over this talking smack, feel free. Something tells us you are going to be pretty damned entertaining.

Philly Antifascists

Call the Paramedics, a band based in Atlantic City with ties to neo-Nazi groups in the area, are now getting larger shows and playing with national acts. This is a call to alert show attendees, promoters and venues as to what this group and their members are about and urge all not to patronize or book them.

Call the Paramedics has been around for a number of years but they had stayed particularly underground until recently. They downplay their racist leanings significantly, painting themselves as merely a group that, likes to shock and be offensive. One could make the argument that a tattoo on your behind of a unicorn with a Nazi swastika and the words “White Power” may cross the shock value line, but the drummer Mike Beer has given the standard disclaimer for that in an interview last year: “For the record, I am not a Nazi — I just like to make fun of everything. People need to lighten up, and if they don’t like what I’m about? That’s fine with me. Join the rest of the crowd.”

That however does not excuse the real connections the band, and especially the lead singer Shlak, has with the crew Atlantic City “Skinheads” (ACS). The crew has been around since the 80s, and they saw a bit of press last year, when an ACS associate named Walter Dille was convicted of killing an African-American woman during a botched carjacking in a Hamilton Twp., NJ shopping center. The core of Call the Paramedics’ fan base comes from ACS, and the band has even played a benefit show for ACS member Chris Arlen, who is suffering from Chron’s Disease.

A number of shows from New Jersey to North Carolina have been announced for the band over the summer. On July 23, they were originally scheduled to play Khyber in Philadelphia, a venue that just recently saw the assault of two neo-Nazis at a Murphy’s Law show. That show has unexplainably been moved to the North Star Bar. Whether or not the politics of Call the Paramedics were an issue in the move of the show, the fact remains is that in a multiracial scene that neo-Nazis attempt to take over and drive people out, Call the Paramedics should be unwelcome. Again we call on everyone to take issue with this band in our scene.

In case anyone tries to play that "Call the Paramedics are not Nazis" routine, here's some pics ya might want to show them...

Shlak from Call the Paramedics, second from right, with other associates of Atlantic City "Skinheads". Left to right is Drew Logan, Cody, some ACS idiot who's name we don't know but we believe might be in Philly these days (if you do, let us know here ), a guy we believe is someone named Tommy Turner (you can also help us confirm), Chris Arlen, who suffers from Chron's Disease and had a benefit for himself with Call the Paramedics playing, and on the other side of Shlak is Scott Huston.

Shlak with ACS members Warren Meickle, who is also the lead singer of the white power band Aggravated Assault, and Jimmy Keating, who died of a drug overdose in 2004, happily not leaving any children to carry on his BS.

This pic leaves no question. Shlak and Cody sieg heiling for the camera. We don't know who the grey-haired guy with them is though.

It's funny. All these white power groups are all about "trying to do something" about black crime, and one of those groups that are on that kick is Keystone United who hangs out with Call the Paramedics. This is one of CTP's shirts. Hypocritical much? We are not too surprised that anyone associated with Atlantic City Skins or Keystone United has this particular misogynistic attitude since ACS and KU do not accept women as members, nor are we surprised about the violence that comes with it considering all the domestic violence against women in these circles, but they should be surprised if anyone outside those circles accepts it.

Upcoming Shows (according to the Call the Paramedics MySpace Page)

Jul 21 2010
Sidebar Baltimore, Maryland

Jul 22 2010
Dingbats Clifton, NJ w/ WITHOUT REMORSE, INFERNAL REVULSION

Jul 23 2010
North Star Bar, Philadelphia, PA w/ NECKTIE, HESSIAN, LETHEAN, +1

Jul 24 2010
Retro w/ WAITING MORTUARY, MACERATED, and more Virginia Beach, VA

Aug 27 2010
Hostle City Deathfest, Philadelphia, PA w/ EXODUS, HATE ETERNAL, ORIGIN, MORTICIAN

HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER: THE MUSICAL

In high schools across the USA you can learn about the nine amendments to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights.

It is the first one that is often forgotten.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in the 1988 decision in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, ruled that public high schools can control, even censor, the content in student publications if the action is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.”

And those zany principals and superintendents take that ruling to heart. Hell, I can't even imagine my old HS principal Mr. Carl Ison ever thought to bother himself with such things as the Constitution.

Anyway, out in the land of everlasting sunshine some West Covina High School students and alumni are saying, "come on already" to Superintendent Lilliam Leis-Castillo who decided it was time for their student newspaper advisor to go...not long after the paper published an article which included an unhappy remark from Leis-Castillo.

The following is from the Student Press Law Center.

High school students, alumni protest removal of newspaper adviser
© 2010 Student Press Law Center

June 27, 2010

CALIFORNIA -- Some West Covina High School students and alumni are protesting the decision to replace the long-time adviser of their newspaper, Newsbytes.

Students say they fear the decision is an effort to exercise greater control over the newspaper, but Alex Ruvalcaba, starting his first year as principal at West Covina, insists that is not the case.

Ruvalcaba recently named Lisa Maggiore, a geometry teacher at Hollencrest Middle School, as the new adviser to Newsbytes, replacing Ted Moser, who has advised the newspaper for 13 years.

Current and former Newsbytes staff members spoke at the June 22 West Covina Unified School District Board of Education in support of Moser. They also created flyers and a Facebook group and have asked community members to write letters and e-mails to board members.

Newsbytes Editor-in-Chief Victor Valle said he questions the timing of the decision to remove Moser as adviser because it follows some tension between the student newspaper and Superintendent Liliam Leis-Castillo over comments she made about West Covina. Castillo said at a previous board meeting that she had visited some of the high school's classes, "and I'm not sure, if I was a student, I'd want to be in some of those classrooms."

Those comments were reported in the Feb. 19 issue of Newsbytes and were also the subject of an editorial by the students, which Valle said increased friction between the newspaper staff and Castillo.

Ruvalcaba said Castillo was not involved in the decision to remove Moser as adviser.

"The decision to change advisers was no one else's decision but mine," he said. "Other than she appointed me as principal, that's her only involvement."

Ruvalcaba said Maggiore, who advises the middle school yearbook, asked for the opportunity and he felt it was a good time for a change in the position. Maggiore already has some new ideas for the newspaper, Ruvalcaba said.

"I firmly believe that all stakeholders in a learning community should have the opportunity to take their turn at leadership opportunities," he said. "Mr. Moser had it for 13 years, and I think it's only fair that someone else takes their turn."

But Valle said it would be "hard to replicate" the success that Moser has had as adviser.

"There's a stability factor that goes along with a newspaper," he said. "He makes it so that it's easy to work and get things done. By removing things so abruptly, it kind of kills the flow of the entire paper."

Shaina Woodcock, a 2007 graduate and former Newsbytes opinion editor, said she thinks the editorial is linked to Moser losing his job.

"It's suspicious to me that a couple months after this incident, he no longer has his title," she said.

The newspaper was placed under prior review about a year ago following the publication of a controversial editorial. Valle said that he believes the school has been trying to gain more control of the newspaper since then.

"I highly believe that this is another form of censorship," he said.

Ruvalcaba said he understands the students' concern over change but that the newspaper would continue to be student-run.

"I believe that the paper is always going to be the voice of the students and the voice of their perception of what's happening on campus," he said. "It's absolutely going to be as student-led as it has been in the past. Nothing's going to change."

Valle said he is optimistic that their efforts will get Moser reinstated as adviser.

"I have a good feeling that we will," he said. "If we continue what we're doing, if we continue to get people to write letters and support us."

The students and alumni will speak at the next Board of Education meeting on July 14.

Moser and Castillo were not available for comment by press time.

By Josh Moore, SPLC staff writer

REMEMBER THAT NIGHT ON THE BEACH, WELL THANKS TO YOU THE GULF IS FULL OF OIL

In case you were wondering, The gulf oil gusher is partly the result of greed, debauchery on the beaches, poor environmental stewardship and a lack of U.S. support for Israel. Huh?

Okay, maybe not, but there are those who believe it is so with all their hearts and all their souls. And they know that only God can make it right and God will only do that if we pray and repent of our evil ways.

Whatever....

The following is from BuzzFlash but was written by my friend Bill Berkotiwtz.

Praying Away the Oil, BP’s Oil-Spewing Disaster: It's God’s Message to America, Conservative Christian Evangelicals Say

BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH

The oil spill is ‘partly the result of greed, debauchery on the beaches, poor environmental stewardship and a lack of U.S. support for Israel,’ says traveling "prophet" Cindy Jones.

People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch recently pointed out that amongst some conservative evangelical Christians the notion that “the BP oil spill is God's punishment for our failure to properly support Israel is becoming an increasingly accepted explanation.”* Others claim that “debauchery on the beaches,” is one possible cause of the oil spill. And many think of it as a warning from on high. As unhinged as any of this might sound – especially the logical extension that God is working his grace through the boardroom at BP – in these times it is not an uncommon religious thread. After all, we are not that far removed from the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s post-911 diatribe blaming all things liberal for the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and Pastor John Hagee’s claim that Hurricane Katrina was God’s retribution for the Big Easy’s easiness.

For some, the only way out of this mess and the only thing that will stop BP’s oil from continuing to gush into the Gulf of Mexico is prayer. That’s why on Sunday, June 27, people in the Gulf States came together for “a day of prayer for the regions affected by the oil spill that has sent millions of gallons of crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico,” Charismamag.com reported during the run-up to Sunday’s events.

Last week, the governors of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and the Lt. Governor of Florida “Issued proclamations … calling their citizens to pray for a solution that stops the leak and for the recovery of the coastline and the fish and wildlife industries devastated by the April 20 BP oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers.”

"Throughout our history, Alabamians have humbly turned to God to ask for His blessings and to hold us steady during times of struggle," Alabama Gov. Bob Riley stated in a proclamation issued Wednesday. "This is certainly one of those times."

While Sunday’s day of prayer was not a full-blown national effort, the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC), and the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council urged their supporters to participate.

FFPC’s president John Stemberger said that he wanted to “encourage the church to not knee-jerk and think about this as some kind of environmental issue that they should not have any interest in." He then maintained that the oil spill, the most massive in American history, “is clearly a stewardship issue. All Christians need to be concerned about this. We need to be praying for the families of the men who were killed in the explosion, be praying for the government and the private sector initiatives trying to stop this [leak]."

Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of the U.S. Reformation Prayer Network, told Charismamag.com that her network has been praying since the spill occurred in April: "Our prayer network all along the Gulf is fervently praying.”

In an earlier online message Jacobs wrote that she believed only God could stop the leak. "There is no help for this nation apart from God," Jones wrote on June 3. "We must cry out for God to plug the oil well in the Gulf for He's the only one that can do it! And He'll only do it when the church cries out."

According to Jacobs’ Generals International (originally founded as Generals of Intercession) website [1] – “Achieving Social Transformation Through Intercession and the Prophetic” – she “is a respected prophet who travels the world ministering not only to crowds of people, but to heads of nations.” Jacobs is the author of a number of books including Deliver Us From Evil, her 2001 book that “explores how Occult influences march freely across the American landscape today. From Pokemon cards and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Marilyn Manson and psychic hotlines, this nation is under siege.”

Right Wing Watch recently pointed out that Jacobs’ group, Generals International, “is not some fringe group, but is actually a member of the Freedom Federation, the right-wing super-coalition that includes the Family Research Council, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Liberty Counsel, Traditional Values Coalition, Wallbuilders and dozens of others.”

In the money graph of Charismamag.com’s piece -- quite reminiscent of Jerry Falwell’s blaming the gays, the pro-choice community, ACLU and a host of other liberal entities for the 911 attack – the evangelical magazine reported that “Jacobs believes the oil spill is more than a natural disaster [my italics] but partly the result of greed, debauchery on the beaches, poor environmental stewardship and a lack of U.S. support for Israel [my italics] — all issues her network has been repenting of since the leak began.”

"Whenever there's violent weather or some things like this, you have to ask if it's just a natural disaster or if you're reaping something that's been sown," she said. "We feel this is a cumulative thing."

As many Jacobs watchers have pointed out, she is no stranger to both conservative political stands – she opposes the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court – and personal wackiness. According to the Herescope blog, “On June 16, 2010 Cindy Jacobs … issued a political statement, an ‘Urgent Call to Prayer Concerning California's Proposition 8 and Defense Of Marriage Act.’ Written on the letterhead of her ‘United States Reformation Prayer Network’ it has all of the hallmarks of a political action alert. This is a major first for the woman who has been associated with all sorts of strange doctrines and wacky practices. By taking a political position on these high-profile issues Jacobs is obviously attempting to enter the Christian Right mainstream as an ally.”

Charismamag.com also reported that in a recent conference call, prophetic minister Chuck Pierce of Glory of Zion Ministries agreed with Jacobs’ assessment. "I really cannot see how we're going to move in and contain what's happening right now. Something's got to come deeper and stir the waters to cleanse the waters," he continued. "And I think God is saying that same word to us: You're going to have to have a deeper move in you as My people to cleanse in places that you have allowed an unclean spirit to come in and overtake you."

According to Charismamag.com, “Jacobs points particularly to President Obama's treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited the White House in March. Netanyahu reportedly was scolded for proceeding with plans to build in disputed areas of east Jerusalem and denied a photo op, press conference and other trappings of visits from heads of state.”

"We can't say that's all the reason why, but certainly I believe we need to come into some repentance," she said. Jacobs notes that the last point of Second Chronicles 7:14 is that if God's people pray, He will heal the land. "This is the same God that caused all the plagues of Egypt to go in a night," Jacobs said. "He's no different today. He can do what we cannot do in miraculous ways."

When did the BP oil catastrophe – a monumental oil spill that apparently came about because BP, and by extension federal regulatory agencies, did not pay enough attention to putting thorough safety procedures in place before they started deep-water drilling – go from a man-made disaster to a natural disaster? When did the horrifically short-sighted decision-making by BP executives – mostly very wealthy men concerned about the “small people” – became as natural a disaster as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes? And when did President Obama go from someone, who, while perhaps not taking the correct trajectory to dealing with this crisis, to someone who caused the crisis by supposedly chillying the relationship with Netanyahu and Israel?

What do conservative evangelical Christians mean by stewardship over the earth? And why do they oh so often side with big corporations over the “small people?”

And what, in heaven’s name does Cindy Jacobs mean by “debauchery on the beaches?” Thanks to BP there will be a lot less “debauchery on the beaches” – not to mention kids playing and folks just plain hanging out – on Gulf beaches for quite some time to come.

Evidently, according to Charismamag.com, it was WallBuilders’ founder David Barton “who drafted the prayer day proclamations for the governors to adapt,” Charismamag.com reported.

* For more on this, see “Is oil catastrophe fulfillment of Genesis prophecy?: Video suggests biblical tie with U.S. treatment of Israel, rig explosion at WorldNetDaily [2].”

Monday, June 28, 2010

BEING A MONKEY IN OREGON IS NOT SUCH A GOOD LIFE

The Oregon National Primate Research Center is one of eight National Primate Research Centers in the United States. Part of their mission is to conduct basic and applied research for which animal models, especially monkeys, are uniquely suited for the solution of human and animal health problems and to train others to do likewise.

Many believe that while this may be swell for the humans it's not such a hot deal for the "animal models, especially monkeys."

Some of those were on the streets today in front of the lab.

According to a 2007 PETA press release, the primate center did not provide its monkeys with adequate veterinary care or pain relief and monkeys were forced to eat food from waste trays. The PETA report also said monkeys suffer such severe psychological trauma that one monkey resorted to self-mutilation.

In fact, Oregon Health Science University has been cited for numerous USDA violations at its Oregon National Primate Research Center. These include unqualified personnel, inadequate
veterinary care, and improper housing, as well as providing unapproved drugs to rhesus macaque monkeys resluting in their deaths.

The lab is listed by PETA as one of the ten worst.

According to critics, ONPRC has produced no significant benefits to human health in over forty years, billions of tax dollars and countless animals used and killed in experiments.

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM THE OREGONIAN.

FIVE PROTESTERS ARRESTED AT OREGON NATIONAL PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER IN HILLSBORO

Kate Mather, The Oregonian

Five people were arrested this afternoon after blocking a road at an animal-rights protest at Oregon Health & Science University in Hillsboro.

About 50 activists descended upon the Oregon National Primate Research Center this morning to protest the facility's experimentation on monkeys.

While others carried signs and chanted, five people blocked the entrance to the center by laying in the street with plastic pipes on their arms. They were arrested at about 12:30 p.m. for obstructing traffic, a misdemeanor. Their names have not been released, but police said they were lodged in Washington County Jail.

Police said the five were arrested without incident, and the demonstration was not violent.

The protest, organized by the Portland Animal Defense League and the Ohio-based group Stop Animal Exploitation Now, focuses on the research conducted at the primate center. Michael Budkie, executive director of SAEN, said the goal of today's protest is to force the university into negotiations regarding the center's experimentation policy. He said the groups would like to see the center reduce and eventually eliminate using monkeys in experiments.

The center has most recently drawn criticism from activists after a November 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed that two rhesus macaque monkeys died during a cancer study conducted at the center in April 2009. The animals were given RCA-120, a drug used to identify new blood vessels associated with transplanted ovarian tissue. The drug was not approved for use in monkeys.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week that the facility passed its most recent inspection on June 15 and that it was in "full compliance" with the Animal Welfare Act, a federal law that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition and transport.

- Kate Mather

KURDISH WOMEN ARE FIGHTING BACK AGAINST RAPE IN TURKEY

For years the rape of Kurdish women living in Turkey both in custody and during village raids has been a scandal. Many of the victims of sexual torture dare not speak of their experiences, because of the dishonor associated with rape and sexual violation in traditional communities. As RAWA wrote way back in 2002, "Given the social and legal penalties for speaking out, it is a reasonable assumption that the documented cases of rape and sexual torture of Kurdish women represent the tip of the iceberg. Even so, they reveal that sexual torture is routinely used against women in custody, and frequently involves their children and other family members."

The Democratic Free Women’s Movement (DOKH), a loose amalgamation of mostly Kurdish women’s organisations and activists, has now launched a year-long campaign under the banner “Let’s create a free and democratic society and overcome the culture of rape.”

The following is from IPS.

KURD WOMEN FIGHT THE 'CULTURE OF RAPE'
Jake R. Hess

Women in Diyarbaki protest against the Turkish government. Credit Jake R. Hess

SIRNAK (Turkey): In one of the more prominent of a series of recent rape scandals in Kurdish dominated southeastern Turkey, at least four girls aged between 12 and 14 were found to have been sexually exploited by state officials, including an assistant headmaster at a school and an employee of a local police department, over a period of two years in Siirt, a town located in a province plagued by fighting between the Kurdish insurgency and Turkish army. Schoolboys and shopkeepers were also involved.

Lawyer Meral Danis-Bestas, who is involved in prosecuting the case, argues that the rape scandal is fundamentally rooted in political conflict. “This incident is connected to the Kurdish issue, domestic violence, and the social and political situation in the region,” Danis-Bestas, a senior figure in the leftist and pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) tells IPS in an interview at her office in Diyarbakir, the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan and main hub of Kurdish political activism in Turkey. “They all must be dealt with together.”

Local Kurds see the scandal as another example of the Turkish state attacking Kurdish society. “It’s not possible that the police and public authorities didn’t know about it,” says Danis-Bestas. “The Siirt provincial governor, police chief, and local director of education are the ones responsible.”

The Turkish government often uses violence, threats, and other forms of repression against female Kurdish activists. In July last year, a member of the Democratic Free Women’s Movement (DOKH), a loose amalgamation of mostly Kurdish women’s organisations and activists, was raped by plainclothes police at a private residence in Diyarbakir. “Go tell your friends that we’re going to do this to all of you,” the policemen reportedly said after carrying out the rape.

The victim later filed a complaint with public authorities, and said she could identify the perpetrators. “We asked for pictures of police who were on duty that day and who had received search warrants,” Danis-Bestas tells IPS. “They presented some 5,000 pictures, and of course the victim wasn’t able to identify the perpetrator.” A year later, the investigation is said to be continuing.

Besides taking up such campaigns, DOKH has played an important role in institutional politics, primarily through the leftist and pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). There’s no formal relationship between the two organisations, although their demands and membership heavily overlap.

Under pressure from DOKH members and other women’s rights advocates within the party, the BDP and its predecessors have historically adopted gender quotas for women. This has helped bring Kurdish women to positions of senior leadership both in politics and the party, a fact of great psychological importance for the women of the region. Out of all political parties in Turkey, the BDP claims the highest percentage of female members of parliament and mayors.

“For a feudal place like Sirnak, it’s revolutionary to have female members of parliament, mayors, and party administrators,” Silan Botan, a DOKH organiser based in the southeastern town Sirnak tells IPS. “However, neither the state nor society has accepted this revolution.”

DOKH has now launched a year-long campaign under the banner “Let’s create a free and democratic society and overcome the culture of rape.”

“The goal of the campaign is to broaden a struggle against social problems experienced by all social segments and to construct a democratic society,” DOKH activist Azize Yagiz tells IPS.

According to UN statistics, 42 percent of women in Turkey are subjected to violence by their spouses. In a study published in 2000, two percent of women in southeastern Turkey reported that they had suffered sexual violence at the hands of security forces. This is likely a conservative figure, given the cultural taboos attached to reporting such matters.

“We’re forced to wage a struggle on two fronts - against male dominance, and the political system,” says Botan, who was one of the first woman members of Sirnak city council. “Cultural norms in the region are very severe, and the state’s tyranny and oppression are out in the open.” There are some 40 lawsuits pending against Botan.

DOKH activist Azize Yagiz, 23, has been to prison for her political activities three times, staying for three months on each occasion. She was first incarcerated when she was 17, and she’s currently facing roughly 20 lawsuits because of her work.

Yagiz estimates that roughly 300 DOKH members have been imprisoned in the last year, among them the most talented and experienced of the organisation’s leaders, and that roughly half the organisation’s activists have been detained or imprisoned at least once.

DOKH activists make no secret of their reverence for the imprisoned leader of the socialist insurgency, Abdullah Ocalan. “DOKH is a structure that grew out of the Kurdish freedom movement, which is both a democratic and socialist movement,” Yagiz tells IPS. “We see Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish people, as a big influence. He’s helped women locate their own history and acquire self-respect.”