Issues & News From STSSA Friends & Family 10/22/2010
Scientists Under AttackPhotograph by: Courtesy of Festival du nouveau cinémaTHE PERFECT STORM by UC Berkeley Professor Robert Reich
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Published on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 by Robert Reich's Blog The Perfect Storm by Robert Reich It’s a perfect storm. And I’m not talking about the impending dangers facing Democrats. I’m talking about the dangers facing our democracy. First, income in America is now more concentrated in fewer hands than it’s been in 80 years. Almost a quarter of total income generated in the United States is going to the top 1 percent of Americans. The top one-tenth of one percent of Americans now earn as much as the bottom 120 million of us. Who are these people? With the exception of a few entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, they’re top executives of big corporations and Wall Street, hedge-fund managers, and private equity managers. They include the Koch brothers, whose wealth increased by billions last year, and who are now funding tea party candidates across the nation. Which gets us to the second part of the perfect storm. A relatively few Americans are buying our democracy as never before. And they’re doing it completely in secret. Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into advertisements for and against candidates — without a trace of where the dollars are coming from. They’re laundered through a handful of groups. Fred Malek, whom you may remember as deputy director of Richard Nixon’s notorious Committee to Reelect the President (dubbed Creep in the Watergate scandal), is running one of them. Republican operative Karl Rove runs another. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a third. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission made it possible. The Federal Election Commission says only 32 percent of groups paying for election ads are disclosing the names of their donors. By comparison, in the 2006 midterm, 97 percent disclosed; in 2008, almost half disclosed. We’re back to the late 19th century when the lackeys of robber barons literally deposited sacks of cash on the desks of friendly legislators. The public never knew who was bribing whom. Just before it recessed the House passed a bill that would require that the names of all such donors be publicly disclosed. But it couldn’t get through the Senate. Every Republican voted against it. (To see how far the GOP has come, nearly ten years ago campaign disclosure was supported by 48 of 54 Republican senators.) Here’s the third part of the perfect storm. Most Americans are in trouble. Their jobs, incomes, savings, and even homes are on the line. They need a government that’s working for them, not for the privileged and the powerful. Yet their state and local taxes are rising. And their services are being cut. Teachers and firefighters are being laid off. The roads and bridges they count on are crumbling, pipelines are leaking, schools are dilapidated, and public libraries are being shut. There’s no jobs bill to speak of. No WPA to hire those who can’t find jobs in the private sector. Unemployment insurance doesn’t reach half of the unemployed. Washington says nothing can be done. There’s no money left. No money? The marginal income tax rate on the very rich is the lowest it’s been in more than 80 years. Under President Dwight Eisenhower (who no one would have accused of being a radical) it was 91 percent. Now it’s 36 percent. Congress is even fighting over whether to end the temporary Bush tax cut for the rich and return them to the Clinton top tax of 39 percent. Much of the income of the highest earners is treated as capital gains, anyway — subject to a 15 percent tax. The typical hedge-fund and private-equity manager paid only 17 percent last year. Their earnings were not exactly modest. The top 15 hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion. Congress won’t even return to the estate tax in place during the Clinton administration – which applied only to those in the top 2 percent of incomes. It won’t limit the tax deductions of the very rich, which include interest payments on multi-million dollar mortgages. (Yet Wall Street refuses to allow homeowners who can’t meet mortgage payments to include their primary residence in personal bankruptcy.) There’s plenty of money to help stranded Americans, just not the political will to raise it. And at the rate secret money is flooding our political system, even less political will in the future. The perfect storm: An unprecedented concentration of income and wealth at the top; a record amount of secret money flooding our democracy; and a public becoming increasingly angry and cynical about a government that’s raising its taxes, reducing its services, and unable to get it back to work. We’re losing our democracy to a different system. It’s called plutocracy. © 2010 Robert Reich Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations [1], Locked in the Cabinet [2], and his most recent book, Supercapitalism [3]. His "Marketplace" commentaries can be found on publicradio.com [4] and iTu Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org URL to article: http://www. Firefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog) Tawo Seed Carrier POB 1456 South Pasadena, CA 91031 |
Sponsor NARF's 40 Years of Defending Native RightsThe Native American Rights Fund (NARF) sends a big thank you of appreciation to the following tribes, organizations and individuals for their generous sponsorships of NARF's 40th Anniversary Celebration: the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Wayne and Nancy Starling Ross, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Seven Cedars Casino, Bridget K. Stroud, Barbara Bastle, Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, Americans for Indian Opportunity, D. Michael McBride and Crowe & Dunlevy, Rev. William Wantland, Lyle A. Dethlefsen, and Ada Deer.NARF's 40th Anniversary Celebration is being hosted by the Chickasaw Nation on October 29, 2010, at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. This unique gathering will include NARF's 40 Years of Indian Law Forum and NARF's 40th Anniversary Dinner.Hotel registration, which includes the discounted rates on rooms, has been extended until October 20. Registration for the NARF's 40 Years of Indian Law Forum and 40th Anniversary Dinner is $125.00. NARF is also offering a limited number of registration fee waivers. For more information, please go onto our website for a registration fee waiver form.To learn more about sponsorship opportunities or registration information, contact Jennifer Redbone at (303) 447-8760 orjennifer@narf.org.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@JUSTICE DENIED>>>Fw: Update on Oglala Indian Marc Wisecarver, Oct. 20, 2010Firefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog) Tawo Seed Carrier POB 1456 South Pasadena, CA 91031 --- On Wed, 10/20/10, C WHITE FACE <bhdefenders@msn.com>
|
Help Keep SPLC Safe
"Torch SPLC after sealing all the exits and
covering them with riflemen. Screw Morris
Dees and the rest of those lying Jews!"
― March 8, 2010, Internet posting
covering them with riflemen. Screw Morris
Dees and the rest of those lying Jews!"
― March 8, 2010, Internet posting
Dear Friend,
I'm writing you today about a very serious matter ― the safety of the Southern Poverty Law Center staff, particularly that of our founder, Morris Dees.The Web posting above is just one of many threats we've detected since we alerted law enforcement officials and the country to the explosive growth of militias and other radical, antigovernment groups. We're committed to the fight against hate and will never back down.But as SPLC president, I have an obligation to ensure that Morris and the staff are protected against those who would do them harm. That's why I'm asking you today to make a special contribution to help us pay for critical security measures. Our work and our safety depend on the generosity of people like you.Earlier this year, we documented an astounding rise in the number of antigovernment "patriot" groups. Many of these groups ― among the 1,700 extremist organizations we're now tracking ― are arming themselves and training their members in paramilitary maneuvers.We're targeted because, with your help, we've done more than any private organization in America to stand up to the radical right. Morris, in particular, has been in the crosshairs of hate because of his pioneering work. In all, more than 30 people have been convicted of crimes in connection with plots to kill Morris or harm SPLC or its staff.Morris long ago accepted the danger to himself and his family. So did everyone else here who has joined our cause. But we need the moral and financial support of people like you. If you can, please send a special gift today to help cover the cost of our necessary security measures and our important work fighting hate.It's important that we stand strong in the face of the threat that extremists pose to our country. Together, let's speak out for justice and tolerance. We can't let the voices of the radical right drown us out.J. Richard Cohen
President, Southern Poverty Law Center
P.S. We've exposed the phenomenal growth of antigovernment forces, including armed militias. The last time we saw this kind of activity, militiamen plotted to attack SPLC with a bomb like the one used to kill 168 people in Oklahoma City. An extra gift right now would go a long way toward helping us meet our security needs and continue our vital work for justice and tolerance.
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A Caledonia Tale of "Terror" by Paul Legall
A nightmare of fear and anarcy
CALEDONIA It was a bizarre display of self-congratulation for an OPP commander whose elite squad had been publicly humiliated by a group of crudely armed native protesters only eight days before.
Instead of removing protesters from Douglas Creek Estates (DCE), members of the OPP tactical team were themselves pelted with rocks, attacked with clubs and other makeshift weapons and driven off the occupation site as television cameras rolled.
But on Feb. 28, 2006, two months after the protesters took over the subdivision, Inspector Mel Getty held a meeting to praise his troops for their handling of the volatile situation.
He declared the operation a smashing success and defied anybody to disagree with him.
“If anyone doesn’t agree, you can leave the door right now,” he stated while pointing to the exits.
According to Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford’s new book, Helpless, Getty then said something even more astonishing.
The new mission, he stated, was for the OPP to protect “natives from non-natives.”
It was the first time a superior officer had told them they should be treating people differently because of their racial background. In the months to come, they would learn that Caledonia was to be treated as a land-claim dispute, rather than a criminal matter, and they shouldn’t do anything to antagonize or provoke the occupiers.
According to Blatchford’s book — subtitled Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How The Law Failed All of Us — nobody made a move for the door after Getty’s edict.
But the grumbling among the rank-and-file had already started to percolate. Most of the complaints were directed to Ontario Provincial Police Association boss Karl Walsh, who later coined the phrase “two-tiered justice system.”
Walsh was alarmed by the scant number of charges that had been laid against the protesters, who had blocked public highways, knocked out a hydro substation, torched a rail bridge, hijacked a police vehicle and thrown a van over a bridge. They had also looted houses in full view of the police and media.
After the abortive April 20, 2006, raid, the protesters had set up checkpoints around the 40-hectare residential subdivision, issued passports to residents and imposed curfews.
Debbie Thompson, who was forced to go through the checkpoints, told Blatchford the protesters had even threatened to body search her. But they backed off when she told them to get lost.
Like a number of residents quoted in the book, Thompson said she had seen camouflage-clad protesters with rifles patrolling the area and heard gunshots at night emanating from a bridge near her home. She had considered buying a gun and taking shooting lessons to protect herself. She had already lost confidence in the OPP’s ability or willingness to protect her.
“Because the police aren’t coming and I’m not calling them. Someone comes up here and threatens me, I’ll blow them away,” she told Blatchford. Her husband talked her out of getting the gun.
Dave Hartless, a Hamilton police officer and former soldier whose house backs onto the subdivision, became one of the biggest critics of the OPP after being subjected to constant taunts, harassment and death threats. On two occasions, somebody loosened the wheel nuts on his wife’s minivan, creating a potentially fatal situation.
Frustrated by the OPP’s tepid response to resident complaints, he organized a kind of mutual assistance program in the neighbourhood. When somebody’s home was under threat, the residents would rally to their side to offer moral support and record the incident.
In her book, Blatchford describes a clash between Hartless’s neighbours and the protesters that became known as the Night of the Rocks.
The incident started at the home of 90-year-old war veteran Jack Dancey, whose unfenced back yard had been invaded a group of natives on all-terrain vehicles.
When neighbours came to help, an angry mob on DCE property pelted them with fist-sized rocks hurled with lacrosse sticks. In a Monty Python-esque response, a resident started driving golf balls back at them.
A band of OPP officers arrived in full riot gear, but refused to do anything.
Their sergeant suggested: “If you guys just leave, they’ll get bored and go away.”
As a police officer, Hartless believes in the broken window theory of policing.
“When you allow things to occur, broken windows in your neighbourhood, you end up taking a few steps back and, before you know it, you’ve got a complete (mess) that you’re living in, and that’s what the OPP did here,” he was quoted as saying in Helpless.
Or in Blatchford’s own words, “The police, by their inaction, were enabling and encouraging the occupiers into increasingly extreme behaviour.”
The 258-page work — published by Doubleday Canada — will be officially launched and available in bookstores Oct. 26.
Special to The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/267910--a-nightmare-of-fear-and-anarchy#Comments
CALEDONIA It was a bizarre display of self-congratulation for an OPP commander whose elite squad had been publicly humiliated by a group of crudely armed native protesters only eight days before.
Instead of removing protesters from Douglas Creek Estates (DCE), members of the OPP tactical team were themselves pelted with rocks, attacked with clubs and other makeshift weapons and driven off the occupation site as television cameras rolled.
But on Feb. 28, 2006, two months after the protesters took over the subdivision, Inspector Mel Getty held a meeting to praise his troops for their handling of the volatile situation.
He declared the operation a smashing success and defied anybody to disagree with him.
“If anyone doesn’t agree, you can leave the door right now,” he stated while pointing to the exits.
According to Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford’s new book, Helpless, Getty then said something even more astonishing.
The new mission, he stated, was for the OPP to protect “natives from non-natives.”
It was the first time a superior officer had told them they should be treating people differently because of their racial background. In the months to come, they would learn that Caledonia was to be treated as a land-claim dispute, rather than a criminal matter, and they shouldn’t do anything to antagonize or provoke the occupiers.
According to Blatchford’s book — subtitled Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How The Law Failed All of Us — nobody made a move for the door after Getty’s edict.
But the grumbling among the rank-and-file had already started to percolate. Most of the complaints were directed to Ontario Provincial Police Association boss Karl Walsh, who later coined the phrase “two-tiered justice system.”
Walsh was alarmed by the scant number of charges that had been laid against the protesters, who had blocked public highways, knocked out a hydro substation, torched a rail bridge, hijacked a police vehicle and thrown a van over a bridge. They had also looted houses in full view of the police and media.
After the abortive April 20, 2006, raid, the protesters had set up checkpoints around the 40-hectare residential subdivision, issued passports to residents and imposed curfews.
Debbie Thompson, who was forced to go through the checkpoints, told Blatchford the protesters had even threatened to body search her. But they backed off when she told them to get lost.
Like a number of residents quoted in the book, Thompson said she had seen camouflage-clad protesters with rifles patrolling the area and heard gunshots at night emanating from a bridge near her home. She had considered buying a gun and taking shooting lessons to protect herself. She had already lost confidence in the OPP’s ability or willingness to protect her.
“Because the police aren’t coming and I’m not calling them. Someone comes up here and threatens me, I’ll blow them away,” she told Blatchford. Her husband talked her out of getting the gun.
Dave Hartless, a Hamilton police officer and former soldier whose house backs onto the subdivision, became one of the biggest critics of the OPP after being subjected to constant taunts, harassment and death threats. On two occasions, somebody loosened the wheel nuts on his wife’s minivan, creating a potentially fatal situation.
Frustrated by the OPP’s tepid response to resident complaints, he organized a kind of mutual assistance program in the neighbourhood. When somebody’s home was under threat, the residents would rally to their side to offer moral support and record the incident.
In her book, Blatchford describes a clash between Hartless’s neighbours and the protesters that became known as the Night of the Rocks.
The incident started at the home of 90-year-old war veteran Jack Dancey, whose unfenced back yard had been invaded a group of natives on all-terrain vehicles.
When neighbours came to help, an angry mob on DCE property pelted them with fist-sized rocks hurled with lacrosse sticks. In a Monty Python-esque response, a resident started driving golf balls back at them.
A band of OPP officers arrived in full riot gear, but refused to do anything.
Their sergeant suggested: “If you guys just leave, they’ll get bored and go away.”
As a police officer, Hartless believes in the broken window theory of policing.
“When you allow things to occur, broken windows in your neighbourhood, you end up taking a few steps back and, before you know it, you’ve got a complete (mess) that you’re living in, and that’s what the OPP did here,” he was quoted as saying in Helpless.
Or in Blatchford’s own words, “The police, by their inaction, were enabling and encouraging the occupiers into increasingly extreme behaviour.”
The 258-page work — published by Doubleday Canada — will be officially launched and available in bookstores Oct. 26.
Special to The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/news/
Posted By: TjMaxx Henhawk
To: Members in First Nations & Aboriginal Rights@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Home Again, BFC's Unique Perspectives, Calendars Nearly Sold Out!
Buffalo Field CampaignYellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
October 21, 2010
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
------------------------------
------------------------------
* Update from the Field
* Almost Sold Out! Wild Bison 2011 Calendars
* Last Words - Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
* By the Numbers
* Helpful Links
------------------------------
* Update from the Field
Impressive close-up of a bull buffalo. Photo by BFC supporter Kim Kaiser. Click here for larger image. After a long and wonderful journey talking with buffalo advocates, sharing stories, music, and video footage; seeing old friends and making new ones; Mike and Noah have returned safely to BFC headquarters. Many thanks to everyone who made our 2010 West Coast Road Show such a great success and welcomed us to your communities. Our buffalo family continues to grow!
BFC's cabins, tipis and yurt will soon be buzzing with activity as volunteers return or arrive for the first time to join us with the buffalo. BFC's unique front lines presence brings us face to face and heart to heart with the massive mammals we are working to protect. We have the honor of learning about the buffalo from the buffalo on their terms. Daily field patrols enable us to garner an up-close and personal understanding of the buffalo and the dynamic relationships they have with each other and the landscape, offering volunteers an intimate perspective into the lives of wild buffalo.
By closely observing their natural behaviors, monitoring their migration, and bearing eye-witness to state and federal management actions that fatally disrupt the buffalo's world, BFC enters into a unique relationship which enables us to be a strong voice for wild buffalo. Like no other group, the dedicated volunteers of BFC literally stand with the buffalo.
We welcome you to join us on the front lines. If you are unable to volunteer in person, your support from wherever you are makes it possible for us to continue defending the buffalo.There are many ways you can help no matter where you live, including:
Grant BFC a wish from our Wish List
Make a tax-deductible monetary donation
Write Letters to the Editor of your favorite media
Write, call and mail your members of Congress and other decision-makers involved with bison management
Urge land managers to make land use decisions that help wild buffalo regain their native habitat
Write President Obama and urge him to take action now
Organize gatherings in your community to show BFC's video footage. Contact us for more information
Spread the word to save these herds by sharing the buffalo's story on blogs, FaceBook, and other email lists
Buffalo Field Campaign is everyone, everywhere who cares about the last wild buffalo. Thank you all for being with us for the buffalo.
ROAM FREE!
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* 2011 Wild Bison Calendars
You, your friends, family, and colleagues can celebrate wild bison 365 days a year with this breathtaking calendar featuring the photos of BFC supporters and volunteers. We are nearly sold out, so get your 2011 Wild Bison calendar today!------------------------------
* Last Words ~ Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
"There are people who just don't want the buffalo to compete with cattle for the grass."
"No governor in Montana history has sent more bison to slaughter than this governor."
~ Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. The first quote is from the new film "Facing the Storm: Story of the American Bison." The second quote is from a speech Schweitzer gave,on December 11, 2009, at the Montana Stockgrowers Association's annual convention.
Do you have submissions for Last Words? Send them to bfc-media@wildrockies.org. Thank you all for the poems, songs and stories you have been sending; you'll see them here!
------------------------------
* By the Numbers
AMERICAN BUFFALO ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S.
2009-2010 Total: 7
2009-2010 Slaughter: 0
2009-2010 Hunt: 4
2009-2010 Quarantine: 0
2009-2010 Shot by Agents: 3*
2009-2010 Highway Mortality: 0
*Two bulls that were drugged by APHIS on 5/4/10 were shot by DOL
later that evening. One was shot by DOL on 7/13/10 for trying to free his imprisoned relatives at the Corwin Springs quarantine facility.
2008-2009 Total: 22
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,709*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts, highway mortality
-----------------------------
Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY
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-- <p>
"When crazy people call you crazy,
"When crazy people call you crazy,
you know you're sane.
When evil people call you evil, you
know that you are a good person.
When lairs call you a liar, you
know that you are truthful.
Know who you are and don't let
others tell you who you are."
- Dave Kitchen<p>
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