Saturday, January 30, 2010

Detained in Oaxaca: Human Rights Violations

Please send press enquiries to Jen Lawhorne at the following email:

j_law@riseup.net


Press Release

Oaxaca January 30, 2010


On Thursday January 28, at around 9 p.m. Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe

Rodriguez Lopez, James Wells and Jennifer Lawhorne were eating ice cream

in the zocalo of Oaxaca. At that time, one of us recognized the face of

the governor of Oaxaca who was about nine feet away from us. As a friend

of Brad Will, a U.S. journalist who was killed in Oaxaca in 2006, one of

us took advantage of the governor's presence to ask him about the case of

Mr. Will, which to this day remains unresolved. We didn't receive a

response from the governor who continued walking and we continued

strolling in the zocalo with our ice creams. Five minutes later, between

six and eight police agents, some in official uniform and others dressed

in plainclothes, surrounded us, demanding to see our identifications and

made us walk with them to a municipal police truck. While the police

forced us to get into the back of the truck, we asked them why they were

taking us away and to where they were going to take us. The police refused

to give us any information. We were actually very afraid and worried for

our safety.



After traveling for half an hour, we arrived at the police headquarters of

Santa Maria Coyotepec, located outside of the Oaxaca city limits.. Once we

entered, the police took photographs of us and asked us questions. We

demanded the presence of an attorney, which was denied by the police

officials. We spent an hour there surrounded by police, faces covered with

ski masks, who humiliated and threatened us. Later, the police put us once

again in the police truck and without telling us to where we were going,

we left the headquarters. The truck stopped about half a block away from

the state General Procuradaria of Justice (PGJO in its letters in

Spanish), the police ordered us to leave our belongings in the darkness of

the street and when we refused to do that, they insisted by threatening us

for half an hour while recording us with video. After entering the offices

of the PGJO, the police ordered us to leave our belongings with them and

that we make a declaration one by one without the presence of an attorney.

We remained firm that we weren't going to do anything until our attorney

arrived.



After waiting for more than an hour, we were taken to a room where we

supposedly were going to make a call to our lawyer. While in the room, a

police officer read to us a document explaining our charges and to our

surprise we were accused of scuffling and causing harm to two police

agents. In that document, our arrest was ordered and without making the

call to our lawyer, we were pushed and dragged out of the room, while

twisting the wrist of one of us. That's how we were taken to the jail

cells at 12:30 in the morning. At 1:30, we were allowed to see a lawyer,

Jesus Alfredo Lopez Garcia, who we agreed to be our legal representative.

From then on we knew that were going to spend the night in jail.

Throughout the night, the police continued to intimidate us, asking us why

we were there. We continued to state that we didn't do anything to cause

our incarceration because we never committed any crime. Confused, we did

our best to sleep on the cold jail floor.



The next day, Friday January 29, we learned that the gravity of charges

that had been filed against us had increased. One of us was taken to make

a statement when she learned that we were being accused of assaulting two

police officers and damaging a police radio valued at about $3000 (USD).

We continued to demand our right to not make a statement. At around 4

p.m., our attorney informed us that for a lack of evidence, we were going

to be set free without charges and without having to pay bail, under the

provision of passing through a review with officials from National

Immigration Institute. Upon arrival at the federal immigration offices

located in the center of the city, we presented our passports and visas

and shortly we were allowed to walk free.



After learning about the situation, the U.S. consul, Mark Leyes, invited

us to visit him at his office the same evening and told us that he was

sorry for what had happened to us. We would like to thank the attorney

Jesus Alfredo Lopez Garcia from the Mexican Protectorate for Human Rights,

our friends and family members for all of their support and care.



Sincerely,

Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez Jennifer Lawhorne and Jimmy Wells









Oaxaca, Sábado 30 de enero de 2010



Comunicado de prensa



El día jueves 28 de enero como alrededor de las 9:00 de la noche, Andrea

Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez, James Wells y Jennifer Lawhorne, nos

encontrábamos en el zócalo de Oaxaca comiendo un helado. En ese momento,

uno de nosotros reconoció al gobernador que estaba a menos de 3 metros de

nosotros. Siendo un amigo de Brad Will un periodista estadounidense

asesinado en el 2006, uno de nosotros aprovechó del momento en que el

gobernador estaba cerca para preguntarle sobre el caso de Brad Will que

hasta la fecha no ha tenido solución. No recibimos una respuesta el

gobernador siguió su camino y seguimos de paseo con nuestros helados en el

zócalo. Cinco minutos después, entre seis y ocho policías, algunos

oficiales vestidos de civil y otros uniformados, nos rodearon y nos

solicitaron nuestras identificaciones y nos hicieron acompañarles a una

patrulla camioneta de la policía municipal. Nos forzaron a subir en la

patrulla, preguntábamos porque y adonde nos estaban llevando. Se negaron

en todo momento a informados porque nos detenían y adonde nos llevaban.

Realmente estábamos muy asustados y preocupados por nuestra seguridad.



Luego de viajar durante media hora llegamos al cuartel de policía en Santa

María Coyotepec a las afueras de Oaxaca. Entramos, nos tomaron fotografías

y nos hicieron preguntas. Exigimos la presencia de un abogado a lo cual

nos fue negado. Pasamos una hora ahí rodeados por policías encapuchados

que nos humillaron y amenazaron. Luego nos subieron otra vez a la

patrulla y sin decirnos adonde íbamos, salimos del cuartel. Pararon a una

media cuadra de la Procuraduría General de Justicia estatal, nos ordenaban

dejar nuestras pertenencias en la oscuridad de la calle y cuando negamos

hacer eso, nos insistían mientras que nos grabaron con una pequeña cámara

de video. Nos llevaron adentro de las oficinas de la PGJ ordenando que

dejáramos nuestras pertenencias con ellos y que declaráramos uno a uno aun

sin la presencia de nuestro abogado. Nosotros seguimos firmes en que no

haríamos nada hasta que nuestro abogado llegara. Luego de esperar mas de

una hora nos condujeron a una habitación donde supuestamente nos iban a

permitir hablar con nuestro abogado, en ese mostraron nos leyeron donde

decía nuestros cargos y para nuestro asombro estábamos acusados de golpes

y daños a dos agentes de la policía. En ese documento se ordenaba nuestro

arresto y sin hacer la llamada a nuestro abogado nos empujaron y

arrastraron torciendo la muñeca de una de las mujeres. Así fuimos llevados

a las celdas, siendo en ese momento las 12:30 de la noche.



Recién siendo la 1:30 am pudimos ver al abogado Jesús Alfredo López García

a quien reconocimos como nuestro defensor. A partir de ese momento supimos

que ahí pasaríamos la noche. Todo el tiempo nos seguían intimidando y

preguntando que habíamos echo para estar ahí, nosotros continuábamos

diciendo que no hicimos nada para estar presos porque no cometimos ningún

delito. Confundidos intentamos dormir en el frío suelo de la celda.

Al día siguiente, viernes 29 de enero, el expediente había crecido y los

supuestos hechos habían incrementado, a una de nosotras la llevaron a

declarar y conoció que los acusaban de agredir a 2 policías y dañar un

equipo de radio de valor $35000.



Nosotros nos reservamos el derecho a no declarar. Alrededor de las 4 de la

tarde nuestro abogado nos informo que por desvanecimiento de pruebas nos

dejarían libres, sin pagar fianzas y sin cargos pero pasaríamos a

disposición de las autoridades de migración. Al llegar a las oficinas de

migración ubicadas en el centro de la capital, mostramos nuestros

pasaportes y visado por lo cual sin contratiempos quedamos en libertad.

El cónsul de los Estados Unidos, Mark Leyes al enterarse de lo sucedido

nos invitó a visitarlo a su oficina el mismo día y nos manifestó que

lamenta que nos hallan sucedido este tipo de cosas.

Queremos agradecer al abogado Jesús Alfredo López García, Presidente del

Protectorado Mexicano para los Derechos Humanos, a nuestros amigos y

familiares por todo su apoyo y cariño manifestado.



Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodríguez López Jennifer Lawhorne y Jimmy Wells.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Emergency in Dakotas: Take Action Today!

ONLINE ACTION FOR PINE RIDGE RESERVATION TODAY


FROM AUTUMN TWOBULLS:

Friends, Relative and supports of the Lakota Nations- Support us in this efforts to bring change. Show your support and callShare

Today at 12:36

To all my Relations, friends and supporters:

I have been told that your area news and the National news will not carry the story for my people unless and until CNN carries it. Each day someone has told me they have gone to CNN on Facebook, their website, or called into report our story, since the 12/20/09 State of Emergency was issued.

I am asking that we all come together TODAY, Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 6pm Atlantic; 5pm Eastern time, 4pm Central, etc. pick up your phone and call the direct line to the CNN News Room at 404-827-2658. Someone needs to post here all phone numbers into CNN. We want to inundate CNN with the voices of people who care and you must be relentless in your call. At the same time we want you to handle an email campaign listed below.

When you call, they will try to attempt to move your call to a computerized public info line.

First - tell them what state you are calling from and your name. Then ask them, When are you going to be reporting on the situation of the American Indians of North and South Dakota?

Second, do not let them try to forward you, let them know that you know that the National Guard and the Red Cross have been called into certain Reservations.

Lastly, when you hang up, pick up the phone and call again. The people of this country needs to let CNN know that while you empathize with the situation in Haiti and we know that many of you have rightfully done as the children on Pine Ridge had been doing and collecting food and money to be sent, that you are wondering why money is leaving this country while the only reporting on the AP wires has been from within the states of North and South Dakota AP Presses.

At the same time that those of you who can afford to call CNN are calling, to those of you who can multi-task or be online, please go now to cnn . com and click on the iReport button and register. If you are on or near one of the Reservations in South & North Dakota, please upload your pictures - but wait - lets all do this together for three full hours.

Do not worry about your grammar, do not worry about your spelling, simply tell the truth of the situation from your heart.

Wopila Tanka

Autumn Two Bulls

Lets Work Together!

Red Nation Film Festival Winners 2010

January 28, 2010 For Media Inquiries Contact:


Red Nation Media / Public Relations
info@rednation.com

media@rednation.com

818.854.6202


NEW MOON AND THE WOLF PACK WINS AWARDS FOR BEST FILM, BEST ACTOR, BEST


ACTRESS + 6th ANNUAL RED NATION FILM FESTIVAL + EXPERIENCE AMERICAN INDIAN


CINEMA + CELEBRATES ITS WINNERS & HONOREES.

Photo: In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman by Camille Manybeads Tso, Navajo youth, Best Documentary Short. Tso interviews family about the Longest Walk.


Los Angeles, CA - Red Nation Film Festival (RNFF) announces festival

winners & honorees for the 6th Annual Red Nation Film Festival of November

2009.



RNFF honorees were presented at the Red is Green Carpet Gala A Night of

Tribute Awards Ceremony on November 12, 2009 at Raleigh Studios. RNFF

filmmakers’ awards were presented online January 28, 2010 at

www.rednationfilmfestival.com. RNFF had five L.A. Premičres, three Red is

Green Carpet Galas, 20th Anniversary of George Harrison critically

acclaimed Sundance Award-winning feature film “Pow Wow Highway” and a

Exclusive Premiere of The Twilight Saga “New Moon.”



Red Nation Film Festival is the largest and most prestigious celebration

of the American Indian motion picture art form in Los Angeles and has

positioned itself worldwide as the best venue for marketing American

Indian & Indigenous Independent Films, including Native Women in Film &

Television.



RNFF Award Winners:



Best Film

The Twilight Saga

NEW MOON

Director: Chris Weitz



Best Director

The Ghost Riders

Director: V. Blackhawk Aamodt



Best Actor

Chaske Spencer

New Moon /The Twilight Saga



Best Actress

Tinsel Korey

New Moon /The Twilight Saga



Best Documentary Feature

Crude

Director: Joe Berlinger



Best Woman Documentary Feature

For The Next 7 Generation /The 13 Grandmothers

Director: Carole Hart



Best Documentary Short

In The Footsteps of Yellow Woman

Director: Camille Manybeads Tso



Best Editor

Red Nation Film Festival Short

Montano Rain



Best Music Video

Michael Jackson

Black or White



Red Nation Student Women Film Project Winners:

Lumbini Park - Directed by Eve LaFountain (Turtle Mountain Chippewa)

A Thousand Unsaid Words - Directed by Katrina Montoya (Sault St. Marie

Tribe of Chippewa Indians)

The Hand Drum - Directed by Stephanie Painter (Shoshone/Washoe/Oneida)



A NIGHT OF TRIBUTE AWARDS CEREMONY recipients were:

• "Red Nation Vision Award” – In Loving Memory to Michael Jackson “Black

or White”

• “Edward Albert Jr Indigenous Film Award” – Edward James Olmos, Actor

• “Brando Award” – Joe Berlinger, director of Crude

• “Lifetime Achievement Award” – Graham Greene, Actor

• “Best Network Award” – CBS Corporation

• “Television Heritage Media Award” – James Ramos, San Manuel Tribe

• “Red Nation Theatre Playwright Award” – Richard Montoya, Culture Clash

• “Red Nation Humanartian Award” – Leonard Peltier, Activist

• “Red Nation Activists Award” – Atossa Soltani, Director of Amazon Watch

• “Red Nation Community Award” – Christine Padilla, Community Volunteer

Lakota Nation



In attendance were: Edward James Olmos (actor), Josie Thomas-Head of

Diversity-Senior VP (CBS Corporation), Jo Berlinger, director of Crude,

Atossa Soltani, (Amazon Watch) accepting on her behalf Mitchell Anderson,

Leonard Peltier (activist) accepting on his behalf RJ Joseph, Christine

Padilla (community volunteer), Disney ABC Television Group Frank B.

Gonzalez, Chaske Spencer (actor/New Moon), Tinsel Korey (actor/New Moon),

Alex Meraz (actor/New Moon), Rene Heyes (casting director), Zahn McClarnon

(actor/Into The West), Gil Birmingham (actor/New Moon), Jackie Jacobs

(Talent Group), Kimberly Norris Guerrero (Dreamkeeper), Elijah De Jesus

(actor/Pearl), V. Blackhawk Aamodt (director/The Ghost Riders), Camille

Manybeads Tso (director/In The Footsteps of Yellow Woman) to name a few.



Vicangelo Bulluck - Executive Director Hollywood Bureau of the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) gave opening

remarks.



Keynote Address: Joanelle Romero – RNFF Founder/Community

Organizer/Executive Director/Producer and Montano Rain - Youth

Environmentalist-founder of "Help the Earth”



RNFF included American Indian Traditional performances for opening &

closing night Red is Green Carpet Galas and were performed by:



Mati Waiya Ceremonial Elder– Chumash Nation;

Hershel Dayzie - Dine Nation;

Pierson Nunez – Acjachemen Nation;

Moses Brings Plenty - Cheyenne River/Sioux Nations;

Clayson Benally of Blackfire - Dine Nation;

Montano Rain - Apache/Cheyenne Nations



PAST RNFF Honorees have included:

President Barak Obama, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Marlon Brando,

George Burdeau - Director, TNT Network, Pechanga Tribe, President Joe

Garcia of National Congress of American Indian, Alvin Warren-Secretary of

Department of Indian Affairs, Lisa Strout-Director of New Mexico Film

Office.



Every year Red Nation Film Festival & Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles CA,

held during American Indian Heritage Month in November, honors

accomplishments of Independent Motion Pictures and Documentaries, which

are produced, directed, written, and starring American Indians. Honorees

include individuals who have made advancements in film, radio, television,

media, environment, social justice, human rights, career accomplishments

in the arts, volunteerism, and cultural affairs including Red Nation

Student Women Film Project Competition.





*************************************************************************************



To View RNFF 2009 Television/Internet Interviews:



http://cbs2.com/video/?id=119908@kcbs.dayport.com



http://www.reelzchannel.com/trailer-clips/43861/twilight-saga-new-moon-red-nation-premiere



http://dipapproved.dipdive.com/media/87646



Photos of 2009 RNFF:

http://www.facebook.com/people/Joanelle-Romero/1353885657



Everyday new photos are being up-loaded for “On the Red is Green Carpet

2009 Red Nation Film Festival” …. Stay Connected …..



*******************************************************************************************************



Red Nation Film Festival

9420 Reseda Blvd - 352

Northridge, CA 91324

Fax: 818.854.6202

email: info@rednation.com



To learn more visit: www.rednation.com



RNFF 2010 sponsorship opportunities are now available upon request.



Red Nation Film Festival initiatives break the barrier of racism by

successfully replacing American Indian stereotypes with recognition, new

vision, arts, culture and economic prosperity.



###

Thursday, January 28, 2010

False Flag Attack Foiled

Navy vet caught with grenade launcher, maps of military base and Arab headdress

Potential False Flag Attack To Be Blamed On Muslims Foiled

Paul Joseph Watson

Prison Planet.com [1]

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

http://www.prisonplanet.com/potential-false-flag-attack-to-be-blamed-on-muslims-foiled.html



A possible false flag terror attack to be blamed on Muslims has been foiled after a Navy vet was busted with a grenade launcher, assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, as well as Arab headdress, in New Jersey yesterday. Initial media reports speculated that the man was planning a terrorist attack on a U.S. military base in the area.



"Lloyd Woodson, 43, whose last known address was Reston, Va., today faces multiple offenses, including second-degree unlawful weapons possession and fourth-degree possession of prohibited weapons, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said," reports the New Jersey Star Ledger [2].



"Branchburg police confronted Woodson at 3:55 a.m. at the Quick Chek convenience store on Route 28 after receiving a call reporting a suspicious person. Branchburg Patrolman Steven Cronce noticed a large bulge beneath the green, military-style jacket that Woodson was wearing, which was later determined to be the assault rifle with a defaced serial number, Forrest said."



After searching his hotel room, police found a grenade launcher, hundreds .50-caliber and .308-caliber rounds, a police scanner, as well as "Middle Eastern red and white traditional headdress".



"The man may have had plans to attack a U.S. military base," reported Fox New Jersey, adding that the amount of weapons he had led police to suspect he was a terrorist.



The FBI were remarkably swift in distancing the man from any link with terrorists, despite the fact that his deadly arsenal was accompanied by maps of a military facility.



"The FBI said a man charged with multiple weapons offenses after a cache of weapons and maps of a military facility were found in his New Jersey motel room has no known terrorism link," reported the Associated Press [3] this morning.



Imagine if a Muslim had been busted with grenade launchers, assault rifles, and maps of military facilities. Authorities and the media would instantly claim he was part of an Al-Qaeda conspiracy and launch all kinds of fearmongering about the inevitability of getting hit again by terrorists unless we give up our rights – just as they did in the aftermath of the failed underwear bombing incident.



Within days, the ghost of Osama Bin Laden would once again be manufactured to claim involvement and members of the military-industrial complex would be pimping their latest hi-tech tools of enslavement.



However, because this was probably a false flag operation gone awry, it will be buried and you'll never hear anything of it again.



This is not the first time that military personnel have been apparently caught in the preparation of a terrorist attack to be blamed on Arabs as part of a false flag.



As we reported in September 2005 [5], two individuals wearing Arab clothes, wigs and headdress shooting at police in Basra were later discovered to be British SAS soldiers. According to the Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili, one policeman was shot dead and another was injured during an attack that was patently a set up to be blamed on insurgents.



Early media reports about the incident also stated that the men were carrying explosives, but this detail vanished from subsequent coverage.



The soldiers were arrested and taken to a nearby jail where they were confronted and interrogated by an Iraqi judge.



The initial demand from the puppet authorities that the soldiers be released was rejected by the Basra government. At that point tanks were sent in to "rescue" the SAS men amidst chaos that resulted in around 150 prisoners escaping from the jail.

The only outlet to ask any serious questions was Australian TV news which according to one viewer gave, "credibility to the conspiracy theorists who have long claimed many terrorist acts in Iraq are, in fact, being initiated and carried out by US, British and Israeli forces."



URLs in this post:

[1] Prison Planet.com: http://www.prisonplanet.com/

[2] reports the New Jersey Star Ledger: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/branchburg_police_arrests_virg.html

[3] reported the Associated Press: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/virginia_man_with_weapons_cach.html

[4] Image: http://www.prisonplanet.tv/

[5] As we reported in September 2005: http://www.prisonplanet.com../articles/september2005/200905stagedterror.htm




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Let Us Prey: A Tale of Two Clergymen

Let Us Prey: A Tale of Two Clergymen
By Hidden from History
http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/

Reverend Russell Crossley raped women and even young girls for over thirty years before he was arrested. The truth is he was caught right away, in the mid 1960’s, when as a young clergyman in the United Church of Canada he was named as a rapist by one of the parishioners whom he had assaulted.

The church lawyers gathered and convinced the victim not to press charges against Russell. Then they had him moved to another unsuspecting parish in Ontario, where he started raping all over again.

That went on for decades. Each time, after the latest rape, someone would come forward and spill the beans, and she would be silenced and Russell was shielded by the church and quietly shuffled to another group of innocent lambs. The rapes and cover up went on, and on.

The rapist was nearing retirement years when his past finally caught him, thanks to the persistence of one of his victims, who wouldn’t be silenced. She pressed charges, along with others Russell had assaulted, including an (at the time) under age minor. The RCMP threatened and cajoled these latest victims, but they wouldn’t stop. And so reluctantly, in the spring of 1998, the cops arrested Russell and he faced trial in Victoria, BC, where he enjoyed a “prospering ministry” at Metropolitan United Church.

His trial revealed the kind of friends Russell had, Including former United Church Moderators, RCMP Superintendents, and other prominent men who stepped forward to give character references for the rapist. Church people poured out their empathy for Crossley, not for those innocents he had violated. And so, dutifully, the judge slapped Russell’s wrist with a six month prison term, most of which he didn’t serve.

After he walked free from prison, Russell resumed his ministry; indeed, he had remained on salary with the church even after having been convicted of rape and assault. Elated, his congregation and the B.C. Conference of the United Church lauded him with testimonial dinners and awards for “thirty five years of successful ministry”. And Russell continued in the pulpit until the fall of 2008, when he finally retired, on full pension.

By way of a contrast: During exactly the same time, and in the same church body, where Russell Crossley was being exonerated for his crime, Kevin Annett faced ostracism, persecution, expulsion and professional ruination for having named some of the United Church’s dirty secrets involving stolen native land and murdered Indian kids.

Kevin Annett too was a United Church minister, although with none of the institutional pull of Russell. He had never sat on the church’s national governing body or written the church’s books and faith statement documents, as had Russell. Nor did he number as his friends RCMP Commissioners or politicians.

Kevin is not a convicted rapist, as is Russell. But now Kevin is an officially defrocked United Church minister and Russell is not. Kevin faces daily slandering and defamation from the church and its allies, and Russell does not.

Kevin is still a “man to be avoided” by respectable church society, and Russell is officially admired, and honored.

A cynical or perhaps clear-seeing man might conclude that it pays to do the wrong thing, not the right, in the
church of Jesus Christ – or at least, in the United Church of Canada.

Perhaps Kevin’s main mistake was not knowing what he part of. Nothing that his Sunday school teacher or seminary instructors taught him prepared him for the fact that rape, murder and most other beastly crimes go on with impunity in the Christian churches, and even in the all-Canadian, liberal- seeming United Church: and that these crimes seem to be valued, and certainly not punished.

Yet experience is a cruel teacher, and Kevin certainly received enough clues along the way about the actual nature of official Christianity, one of the most memorable being when a United Church lawyer named Paul Mills, when told by Kevin of drug dealing and prostitution going on in the Toronto Fred Victor Mission where he worked, said simply, “I know about all that. The only problem here is that you wrote a letter about it.”

Perhaps the real problem all goes back to Genesis, and the odd Christian notion of “fallen innocence”, of how there is something suspect in anything that is good, untouched, and seemingly unblemished. There can’t be, after all, in a “cursed” world like ours. And so wherever it manifests, innocence is a mockery to Christianity’s entire faith and weltanschaung, whether that’s the untouched splendor of an unlogged rain forest, or the unalloyed integrity of one man, or the happy cries of a child who isn’t like us. And so that purity must be crushed.

God did exactly that, after all, to his own Son Jesus: the most pure and perfect being ever created, so says the church’s Bible. This radiant being was offered up, tortured and killed by his own Dad. The fact that the obligatory justification of all abusers, that something good came out of the crime, is tacked onto the Biblical story as a sort of redemption for the rest of us, doesn’t detract from the basic message: don’t be good and innocent – it will get you nailed.

So is it surprising, at all, that a clergyman can rape and violate at will for decades, and be encouraged in his crime, by the Christian church and its top leaders? Or, that another clergyman can be destroyed and sacrificed publicly by the same leaders for simply asking why such things can happen?

Lawsuit to Protect Endangered Species from Pesticides


For Immediate Release, January 28, 2010

Contact: Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 499-9185
Photo Snowgeese/NJ state

Lawsuit Initiated to Protect Hundreds of Endangered Species From Pesticide Impacts

San Francisco— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed notice of intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to adequately evaluate and regulate nearly 400 pesticides harmful to hundreds of endangered species throughout the nation, which also threaten human health. The EPA has violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with wildlife regulatory agencies about the impacts of pesticides on hundreds of protected species that are threatened by pesticide use. The agency has also violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by registering pesticides that are known to kill and harm migratory birds.

“It’s time for the Environmental Protection Agency to finally reform pesticide use to protect both wildlife and people,” said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Many endangered species most affected by toxic pesticides are already struggling to cope with habitat loss and rapid climate changes. For too long this agency’s oversight has been abysmal, allowing the pesticide industry to unleash a virtual plague of toxic chemicals into our environment.”

More than a billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the United States, and the Environmental Protection Agency has registered more than 18,000 different pesticides for use. Extensive scientific studies have shown that pesticide contamination is widespread and pervasive in groundwater, drinking water, and aquatic habitat for fish and wildlife throughout the country. Through pesticide drift and runoff, pesticides often travel far from the areas where they’re applied and into sensitive wildlife habitats. Some contaminated waterways are regularly subjected to toxic pulses of combinations of pesticides deadly to fish. Pesticides have played a major role in the collapse of many native fish populations and are a leading cause of the loss of native amphibians.

Today’s notice letter references 887 endangered and threatened species that may be hurt by pesticides Some examples include the Florida panther, coho salmon, California condor, Everglade snail kite, northern Aplomado falcon, mountain yellow-legged frog, California tiger salamander, arroyo toad, Indiana bat, and green sturgeon. Thousands of non-target animals such as mountain lions, bobcats, hawks, and owls are killed or harmed each year by poisoned baits approved by the EPA, as are endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox, Utah prairie dog, giant kangaroo rat, and black-footed ferret. Application of pesticides such as carbofuran to crops can result in as many as 17 bird kills for every five acres treated.

“Millions of pounds of toxic and poisonous chemicals, including known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, find their way into our waterways each year, causing significant and unnecessary threats to endangered wildlife and to human health,” said Miller. “The Environmental Protection Agency needs to analyze the effects of pesticides across the board on hundreds of imperiled species.”

Numerous pesticides act as endocrine disruptors, chemicals that alter the structure or function of the body’s endocrine system, which uses hormones to regulate growth, metabolism, and tissue function. Endocrine disruptors interfere with natural hormone functions, damaging reproductive function and offspring, and cause developmental, neurological, and immune problems in wildlife and humans. Pesticides have caused sexual deformities such as intersex fish (with male and female reproductive parts) that cannot reproduce, and the herbicide atrazine chemically castrates male frogs at extremely low concentrations.

In 2004 the Center published Silent Spring Revisited: Pesticide Use and Endangered Species, detailing the Environmental Protection Agency’s dismal record in protecting endangered species from pesticides. The Center’s Pesticides Reduction Campaign has so far forced the Environmental Protection Agency to begin evaluating the harmful effects of scores of pesticides on a dozen endangered species in California.

Regulatory Background

The EPA is required by the Endangered Species Act to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service over registration, re-registration, and approved uses of pesticides that may endanger listed species or adversely affect their designated critical habitat. Formal consultations are designed to ensure that the agency avoids authorizing pesticide uses that jeopardize endangered species. For decades the agency has consistently failed to evaluate or adequately regulate pesticides it registers that are harmful to the species.

A series of lawsuits by the Center and other conservation groups have forced consultations with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the impacts of scores of pesticides on some endangered species, primarily in California, and interim restrictions on use of these pesticides in and adjacent to endangered species habitats. In 2006 the EPA agreed to interim restrictions on applying 66 pesticides throughout California and began analyzing their effects on the California red-legged frog. In 2010 the agency proposed a settlement agreement to formally evaluate the harmful effects of 75 pesticides that may affect 11 imperiled San Francisco Bay Area species.

At the completion of consultation, the federal wildlife agency issues a biological opinion that determines if the agency action is likely to jeopardize listed species. The opinion may specify reasonable and prudent alternatives that will avoid jeopardy and may also suggest modifications to avoid adverse effects. The EPA has failed to implement previous biological opinions on pesticides to meet “no jeopardy” obligations.

The EPA has violated Section 2 of the Endangered Species Act, which requires that federal agencies “seek to conserve endangered species and threatened species,” and Section 7 of the Act, which requires it to engage in consultation with the federal wildlife agencies Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure that pesticide registrations are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or result in the adverse modification of designated critical habitat. The agency has failed to enter into consultation regarding the vast majority of pesticides and to re-consult on species and pesticides previously addressed in consultations for which there is new information. It has also violated Section 9 of the Act through registration of pesticide uses that have resulted in the illegal “take” of listed species. The agency is violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by registering pesticide uses that cause take of migratory birds.

Maps of U.S.endangered species habitat affected by pesticides and herbicides: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/maps/US_map.html

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 255,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

***************************************

Jeff Miller

Conservation Advocate

Center for Biological Diversity

351 California Street, Suite 600

San Francisco, CA 94104

Phone: (415) 436-9682 x303

Fax: (415) 436-9683

Web site: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/




At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild plants and animals. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive. We want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Venezuela cancels Haiti debt; CITGO ships 120 tons of aid

From Alaska Inter-Tribal Council

Greetings AI-TC Newsletter Subscribers,




(ALASKA) This is a very heartwarming and compelling story, that we felt should

be shared. The Citgo / Venezuela heating oil relief program has

literally saved lives here in Alaska, and the generosity of the

Venezuelan people has provided great social change.



The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez

announced on Monday, January 25, that the Venezuelan government will

forgive any Venezuelan debts held by Haiti.



During a meeting of the Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance

for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Venezuelan president said

that in view of the tragedy suffered by the Caribbean nation, its debt

will be not only be forgiven, but the Venezuelan oil supply to the

country will continue.



President Chavez Proposes ALBA countries to Create Humanitarian Fund

for Haiti



Likewise, the Venezuelan head of state proposed the creation of a

$100 million Humanitarian Fund to strengthen the aid offered by the

ALBA countries to Haiti.



President Chavez explained that the fund will be financed by the

governments, peoples and companies that integrate the Latin American

organization.



As a complement to the Venezuelan Aid, CITGO Petroleum Corporation,

and its charitable organization, the Simón Bolívar Foundation, have

started the shipment to Port-Au-Prince of 120 tons of humanitarian

aid, in coordination with the Embassies of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela and the Republic of Haiti in the United States. This effort

complements the contributions of the Venezuelan people through their

government, led by President Hugo Chávez, with the goal of

alleviating the suffering of the thousands of people left homeless

following the earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation on Jan. 12.



“In alignment with the solidarity principle of our shareholder,

PDVSA, the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela, we at CITGO are working very hard to offer additional

assistance to the Haitian people at this time of need. Because of

this, I am very pleased to witness today the sendoff of this first

20-ton shipment, out of 120-tons of aid to be shipped to

Port-A-Prince,” said Alejandro Granado, president and CEO of CITGO,

an affiliate of PDVSA.



The high ranking oil executive explained that CITGO allocated one

million dollars for the purchase of aid to Haiti which will help

between 8,000 and 10,000 people. The funds were invested in the

purchase of tents, cots, and non battery-operated AM/FM radios, which

recharge using a manual system, as required by the Embassy of the

Republic of Haiti in the United States.



Additionally, CITGO is conducting a fund-raising campaign, aimed at

increasing the help to the people of Haiti. This campaign involves

CITGO’s 3,600 employees and more than a thousand energy companies,

suppliers, marketers and owners of CITGO branded service stations, as

well as non-governmental/non-profit organizations, especially those

with which CITGO is partnering in different social development

initiatives. Furthermore, the Simón Bolívar Foundation is also

matching dollar-for-dollar, up to $600,000 in monetary donations by

CITGO employees, which could add $1.2 million to the total aid being

provided.



“Not only are we shipping aid items to Port-Au-Prince, we are also

sending CITGO representatives to accompany a member of the Venezuelan

embassy in the United States, in order to guarantee the arrival and

distribution of the aid among the Haitian population, in support of

the Haitian authorities and the Simón Bolívar International Brigade,

sent by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” Granado said.



During the preparations to send this first shipment, the CITGO

president was accompanied by the Minister Counselor of the Embassy of

the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the United States, Ángelo

Rivero.



“Venezuela in good part owes its independence to Haiti, and because

of this, as President Hugo Chávez has pointed out, we will continue

to do everything we can to help this sister nation recover from this

tragedy,” Rivero said.



CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of

transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial

products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect

wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national

oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.



For more information visit www.citgo.com



Best Regards,



AI-TC Tribal Newsletter Team

Monday, January 25, 2010

Haiti is Bleeding… so too is Afghanistan, Iraq & the Arizona Desert

Column of the Americas



Jan 25, 2010


Haiti is Bleeding… so too is Afghanistan, Iraq & the Arizona Desert


By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez



The images from Haiti compel us to look at the mirror and ask

ourselves, if we have a heart and a face? What we see compels us to

ask if we are the human beings that we profess to be. The answer moves

us to act.



As Haiti bleeds, we don’t ask for proof of their humanity; we feel it.

We do not ask if we are related; we know it. As Haiti bleeds, we do

not ask for their citizenship nor do we ask their religion. We… we

realize that the world is we and we have become one. And so their

children are our children and their elders are our elders. And all

nations open up their borders.



As Haiti bleeds, we all open up our hearts. Celebrities freely lend

their names, their words, their music and songs and we respond by

sending ten dollars via a text message. Is that enough? Can we do more

than simply send some bucks for a tax-break? Can we give of ourselves?

Can we give blood? Indeed, some do more.



Yet, deep down, we all know that no matter how much is raised, it

won’t be enough. On the disaster scale, Haiti is 100 times Katrina.



Haiti is in danger of becoming one gigantic and permanent undignified

Sally Struthers plea for assistance. Haiti does not need pity; it

needs to be rebuilt. $100 million from the U.S. government and

assorted charities will not suffice (This is 1,000 times less than the

U.S. has spent on its current wars). Beyond that, Haiti needs to be

brought into the family of nations, with dignity and a clear path to

self-determination and self-reliance.



Haiti’s tragedy was not borne of a natural disaster; it was a tragedy

before the quake. The U.S. imperial footprint is all over Haiti’s

corridors of power and thus it cannot return to what it was. But

that’s a narrative that will have to be written by Haitians, which may

include the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide – Haiti’s first

democratically elected president that has been ousted several times by

U.S.-supported forces.



The other narrative that Haiti has already changed is that mirror that

the rest of the world now wakes up to each morning.



We now know that when Haiti bleeds, we too bleed. Perhaps people will

come to understand that about Afghanistan and Iraq too. The people

there daily bleed, not because of earthquakes or hurricanes, but

because something has happened to dull U.S. minds and eyes. Something

has prevented us from seeing our true hearts and our true faces. It is

a smoking mirror. It is what has permitted illegal, immoral,

senseless, costly and bloody wars to be waged in our names to the tune

of over $1 trillion. And that’s but the short-term financial cost.



For at least a decade, U.S. bombs have been dropped all over those two

nations with our names inscribed upon them. Our silence permits the

carnage. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and maimed and

millions have been displaced. Yet, we don’t have an actual count

because the U.S. government doesn’t even bother; this is the meaning

of dehumanization. As far as this government is concerned, everyone

there is a potential enemy, a terrorist or collateral damage. And we

all accept their deaths and this generalized and permanent war as

necessary to maintain “our freedoms” and “our safety.”



Most of us know better, yet we’ve grown accustomed to looking the

other way. Perhaps it is war fatigue. Most assuredly, there is no

urgency, nor are there mass appeals to stop this destruction. If we

protest the illegality and immorality of these wars, we are told that

they are yesterday’s wars or yesterday’s news. But they are being

fought today and tomorrow. But already, today and tomorrow is Yemen

and Pakistan, Somalia and the Sudan. Possibly even Cuba and Venezuela.



We have found our collective humanity in Haiti and it now compels us

to remove that smoke from our mirrors. It compels us to act, not just

in Haiti and not just abroad, but even at home.



Perhaps we are not far off from the day when people will also feel

compelled to demand from the U.S. government to put a halt to its

draconian, anti-immigrant policies that contribute to the killing

fields along the U.S. Mexico border. In this decade, more than five

thousand corpses have turned up in the mountains and desert, yet where

are the mass appeals? Where is our humanity?



Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, can be

reached at: XColumn@gmail.com

Thursday, January 21, 2010

BBC VIDEO: Sex Crimes and the Vatican

From Kevin Annett

http://catholicsexabuse.com/


SEX CRIMES and THE VATICAN - 2006 Documentary

[go to link to view trailers of the film]

This BBC video in four parts is excellent. It has subtitles in Italian, but the soundtrack narration is all in English. It connects the current Pope's control over the system for “managing” the priest abuse scandal with the Church's policy of hiding, protecting, and thereby aiding child sex abusers. In a shocking revelation, the BBC discovered that eight American sex fugitives are living in Rome near the Vatican, on the Church's tab! There are interview with victims of priest abuse, their family members, and a former Church lawyer who “changed sides.” An Arizona prosecutor who put eight cassocked pedophiles in prison, former Phoenix DA Rick Romley, states in Part 4 of the video:


The secrecy, the obstruction that I saw during my investigation was unparallelled in my entire career here as a prosecutor in Phoenix, Arizona. It was so difficult to obtain any information from the Church at all. In fact, we knew of certain meetings that had taken place, and yet no documentation was ever produced to be able to show that that meeting had even occurred. You know, when we started looking at it, it was really interesting. We came across in the Canons for the Church there are supposed to be secret archives where this information is to be kept, and not given to the civil authorities, no matter what the circumstances. There was an instruction from the Nunzio, because of his ambassador status, to shift all of this incriminating information to him, because under the law we could not subpoena that information from him, because of his ambassador status. I think that is really the story — the Church's failure to acknowledge such a problem, but not just a passiveness, it was in an openly obstructive way of not allowing civil authorities to stop the abuse within the Church. They fought us every step of the way.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

International Criminal Court: Complaint filed against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al

ICC: Complaint Filed Against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al


2010-01-20
International Arrest Warrants Requested
http://www.unobserver.com/

Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “Accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings. This term is really their euphemism for the enforced disappearance of persons and their consequent torture. This criminal policy and practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the I.C.C.



The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute. Nevertheless the Accused have ordered and been responsible for the commission of I.C.C. statutory crimes within the respective territories of many I.C.C. member states, including several in Europe. Consequently, the I.C.C. has jurisdiction to prosecute the Accused for their I.C.C. statutory crimes under Rome Statute article 12(2)(a) that affords the I.C.C. jurisdiction to prosecute for I.C.C. statutory crimes committed in I.C.C. member states. MORE http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24447.htm


Please also see:

International Criminal Court

http://www.icc-cpi.int/

“War on terror” as a cover for US terrorism

By Paul J. Balles

http://www.redress.cc/americas/pjballes20100120

Ahmadinejad: West Seeks to Occupy Mideast under Democracy Banner

http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=119913&language=en

Row over 'Biblical' rifle sights for UK troops

By Beverley Rouse, Press Association

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/row-over-biblical-rifle-sights-for-uk-troops-1873876.html

Canadian Customs Wants Your Laptop

Sovereign: Canadian Customs Wants Your Laptop, Too…


Mark Nestmann

January 18, 2010

http://sovereignsociety.com/2010/01/18/sovereign-canadian-customs-wants-your-laptop-too%E2%80%A6/


U.S. customs authorities have assigned themselves the authority to copy all data on your laptop or other electronic device when you cross a U.S. border. I wrote about this policy last year.



Now, customs authorities in Canada (and other countries, especially the U.K.) are getting into the act. I've received reports from several sources (among them from J. J. Luna, author of the classic How to be Invisible) describing intimidating encounters at the Canadian border. Luna reports that after being routed into a secondary inspection queue, customs officials forced him to reveal the passwords to his two laptops and USB flash drives. Then, they disappeared with these devices in hand for nearly an hour, presumably to copy and inspect them.



Your smart phone may be subject to the same type of inspection, and all your photos, text messages, online searches, and calling records copied onto a customs database.



To avoid a border inquisition, the best precaution is not to carry any electronic device across an international border. For most people, this isn't practical, so the next-best strategy is to carry only "sanitized" devices.



For instance, I have a laptop I use only for international travel. There's nothing on it except for the operating system and program files. I also have an "unlocked" cell phone I use only for international travel. When I arrive in a new country I purchase a domestic SIM card from a local phone dealer. This not only protects your privacy at the border, but also insures your domestic carrier has no record of your international calls. And, it eliminates roaming charges.



If you do carry your cell phone across the border, delete any photos or text messages you feel to be even remotely controversial, and then reset it to factory settings. You can find instructions for doing so at http://www.master-reset.com.



What if you need access to confidential data while traveling internationally? One option is to upload a zip file containing your data to a commercial backup service, such as Carbonite ( http://www.carbonite.com). Be sure to encrypt the data before uploading it, using a product such as PGP Whole Disk Encryption ( http://www.pgp.com) or True-Crypt ( http://www.truecrypt.org).



Another option is to send an encrypted USB flash drive to your destination via courier, and send it back via courier when you're ready to return home. I've done this several times without any problems.



If you must travel with confidential data across a border, you should encrypt all the data on your laptop or USB flash drive, including the hard disk itself, again using a program like PGP Whole Disk Encryption or True-Crypt. However, customs officials may demand that you decrypt any encrypted files before they allow you to proceed. If you refuse, you might be detained until you agree to decrypt the laptop for inspection. You could even be placed on a blacklist and denied re-entry to that country.



*********************************************************************



WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE



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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Homeland Security Harass Haiti Relief Delegates

Exclusive: Homeland Security Harass Haiti Relief Delegates

14 Jan 2010

Delegates from a non-profit organization returned to the U.S. after spending a few days in Port-au-Prince, to only face the United States Homeland Security and serious scrutiny.


by Anai Rhoads
DC INDYMEDIA

http://www.anairhoads.org/ -- Delegates from a non-profit organization returned to the U.S. after spending a few days in Port-au-Prince, to only face the United States Homeland Security and serious scrutiny.

James Jordan and Chuck Kaufman, from the Alliance for Global Justice, were invited to Haiti on a delegation to investigate the situation of Human Rights in Haiti. The trip was said to be sponsored by the Latin America Solidarity Coalition.

Jordan arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Spirit Airlines, while Kaufman traveled on Delta flight 436 to New York Kennedy International Airport. Both men had connector flights to their office in Washington, D.C. on 07 January.

James Jordan

Passengers were given the okay to release their seatbelts and begin pulling out their bags from the overhead storage. As the passengers lined up to wait for the doors to open to disembark on their way to customs, a flight attendant suddenly ordered everyone to return to their seats.

The attendant called out "James Patrick Jordan" and asked him to come to the front of the plane. (Note: He flew as James Jordan, not by his full name).

Two agents from Homeland Security waited for Jordan and quietly escorted him through the doorway to the plane. It was there that he was ordered to put his hands up against the wall and spread his legs.

"They then kicked my legs apart farther and proceeded to pat me down. They asked me if I was willing to cooperate and walk with them without any problems. I said I was, and they then escorted me to the holding/processing facility of Homeland Security. On the way, I asked them what was going on and they just said I would find out soon,” Jordan told AnaiRhoads.org.

At the detention area, Jordan was ordered to wait. After approximately 30 minutes, two individuals (one in uniform, the other without) arrived to escort him to yet another room. They men began searching Jordan's carry-on bag and asked if he had other luggage.

Once Jordan's entire luggage was present, the men sifted through his belongings.

"The search was very thorough," said Jordan. "I was carrying a notebook and several folders regarding Haiti and one folder regarding a project I am working on regarding prisons in Colombia and the situation of Colombian political prisoners and prisoners of war.

"They also looked at my camera and my cell phone and went through all the contents of my wallet. Actually, they went through everything, looking at each of my books, my clothes, a bag of trail mix and so on."

The initial questions revolved around Jordan's delegation in Haiti. Jordan explained that the focus of delegation was to investigate the situation of Human Rights in Haiti, and that it was sponsored by the Latin America Solidarity Coalition.

"They wanted to know about my work, and I told them that two of us [Chuck Kaufman] were there representing the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGI) and that, specifically, I worked with the Campaign for Labor Rights, a part of AFGJ," said Jordan.

The men questioned Jordan about his co-worker, Chuck Kaufman, asking about his flight. Jordan said he did not have that information. After being asked to give names and other information regarding the other delegates, and not getting the information they sought for, the topic was dropped.

During this time, the officials made it clear to Jordan that he wasn't at risk of being arrested, that it was all part of a random search. However, these officials knew to call Jordan by his full name.

"Certainly we were traveling at a time when there was heightened security and tension due to the recent bombing attempt on a flight that happened on 25 December," said Jordan. "However, I also note that they called me out off the plane by my full name, rather than pulling me randomly from the line going through customs. Also, no others, coming back from the delegation, encountered problems, except for Kaufman."

Jordan was asked several times how often he went to Washington, D.C. Jordan explained that he went there randomly, when there was some sort of special event or when there would be a board meeting for the AFGJ.

"They were very interested in the folder I had about the situation with the Colombian prisons. I am working on a project to advocate for better conditions at La Tramacua prison in Valledupar, Colombia - a prison that is very overcrowded, rife with violence and intimidation aimed at the political prisoners and imprisoned guerrillas, where inmates do not have access to sanitary toilet facilities and have access to drinkable water only 10 minutes a day," said Jordan.

The officials read through Jordan's notes, where he had information about the relationship the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has in advising and restructuring this and other maximum security prisons in Colombia.

Jordan was asked about his work with Colombia and he explained that we worked with Colombian farmers and political prisoners, but that he did not directly work with the farm animals. They sought after every minute detail - how many times he visited Colombia. Jordan told them that it was part of his job, aside from two trips to visit family there.

"They wanted to know where I had been and how often I had gone other places or met with farmers. I told them we mainly visited in Bogotá and that I had visited Cali and had visited two cooperative farms and some tourist attractions outside Bogotá," said Jordan.

Everything Jordan had, was searched, questioned, photographed and scanned. He says he was reluctant to seek legal counsel, for fear of appearing guilty of crimes he did not commit.

"One major concern I have, having never gone through this experience before, is that I really did not know what my rights were. They said they were not arresting me and that they were going to question me and get me back in time to make my flight. I did not know, then, if I could ask to be released immediately and I did not know if I needed to or could request the presence of a lawyer."

Although Jordan states that the interrogators were, for the most part, polite, he considered the process intrusive, uncalled for and intimidating.

"I am assuming that I'm wearing a big target these days and that any information contained in my emails and so on is no longer private. That said, I can say quite honestly and forcefully that neither myself, Chuck or the AFGJ are involved in anything illegal."

The whole process for Jordan’s interrogation lasted nearly four hours.

Chuck Kaufman

Kaufman returned from a delegation to Haiti 07 January on Delta flight 436 to New York Kennedy International Airport.

"After running my passport, an Immigration officer directed me to another official who escorted me to the Secondary Passport Control office. There, I was directed to take a seat," said Kaufman.

After a wait of approximately a half an hour, an officer called Kaufman's name and searched his belongings, examining page by page the extensive notes he had taken during the delegation and the papers, business cards and other materials he had gathered.

"He asked me what countries I had visited on this trip and I answered, Haiti. After looking at a print out of protocols for taking victim testimony he asked me if genocide was a problem in Haiti. I answered that human rights violations by UN troops were a problem," recalled Kaufman.

When the official discovered a pack of matches in Kaufman's bag, he said, "They let you on with matches?"

"I raised my eyebrows," said Kaufman.

Approximately 8:00 pm, the officer handed Kaufman his passport and immigration form and told him he was free to go. Right before Kaufman left, the man stopped him to ask another question, "Do you know a Patrick Jordan James?" Kaufman responded with, "I know a James Jordan." The official asked what the relationship was between them.

He recalls:

"I hurried through the empty baggage claim to the exit and handed my immigration form to the officer there. He took it and said asked me to follow him. He led me by a different route back to the same office I had been in.

"I sat again. At one point I asked for water and an officer went out and filled my water bottle. At another point I asked to use the bathroom and an officer accompanied me there and back. By this time I was the only one left in Secondary Passport Control."

Kaufman says that officers came in periodically and the officer in charge told them to clock out. The officer in charge told him, "There seems to be some confusion. We're not altogether sure why we're holding you. We're waiting for a call from Washington."

The telephone rang and a short time later he gave Kaufman his passport and said, "You're free to go." Kaufman asked if he needed his customs form and the official replied, "We took care of that. You're the last person left in the whole building."

Kaufman did not take note what time he was finally released.

Haiti

The delegates left Haiti just six days before Tuesday's tragic earthquake, which practically wiped out the areas they had visited. An estimated 100,000 men, women and children have been killed, along with further destruction of their land. Millions are now in even more precarious predicament and aid, albeit streaming in, hasn't put a dent in their relief.

I had the pleasure of Jordan's company in D.C. after his detention by the TSA and Homeland Security on the 7th. The stories and photos he shared with us about his trip to Haiti are now everlasting. The faces of children, in attendance a makeshift classroom, which was so battered that coming to school on a rainy day was impossible, to the women who suffered extreme violence.

Just when I thought the people of Haiti couldn't possibly suffer any more, an earthquake comes in to finish the job.

Please donate to organizations that don't stand to profit from this tragedy - share your money to those who have a clear conscious. Many aim to bulk up their salaries or have political agendas.

Two notable organizations, which openly spoke out against the U.S.-sponsored, directed the coup and occupation, are Haiti Action Committee and Haiti Reborn.

Prisoner Abuse at Lewisburg Penintentiary

Margaret Jean Plews

Arizona Prison Watch
1809 East Willetta St.
Phoenix, AZ 85006
prisonabolitionist@gmail.com
January 15, 2010

Warden Bledsoe

USP Lewisburg - U.S. Penitentiary
2400 Robert F. Miller Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837

Dear Warden Bledsoe,

Arizona Prison Watch members have been informed by the NYC Jericho Movement that Byron Shane Chubbuck #07909051, an institutionalized person in your custody, has been subject to repeated abuse and civil rights violations at the hands of your employees, and is vulnerable to retaliation for complaining about such treatment. As requested by his supporters, we’re “writing in solidarity with many others across the nation to demand a full investigation into Mr. Chubbuck’s treatment on November 7, 2009 and to see his assault charge from that day be dropped. We also ask that the June 24, 2009 charges against him be reviewed and dropped…”

That’s from the letter drafted by Oso’s friends; I’m sure you are aware of the details of his case. They’ll be helping him go through “proper BOP channels” with these allegations of abuse. I presume those are the channels fine-tuned by the Prison Litigation Reform Act designed to bog prisoner grievances down so they never meet the threshold for having exhausted prison administrative procedures before proceeding to a lawsuit. We’ll be working on tossing that thing out this year and making sure prisoners are better protected.

What’s been happening at your prison to our brother is an outrage. If I was a DA I’d see the cutting of Mr. Chubbuck’s braid in this context as an outright assault that should be prosecuted, not just an insult to his people and their traditions. It was excessive force – completely unnecessary. It would certainly constitute assault if a prisoner pinned down a guard and snipped a lock of hair from his head, whatever the motive. You should have recognized and responded to that immediately for what it is. I suspect the employee referenced in that incident got a pat on the back, instead, not disciplined or reported to police as a perpetrator of violence against institutionalized persons.

In light of the amount of harm that could be done to Mr. Chubbuck – to both his mental and physical health – in such a hostile environment, this is the beginning and end of my own use of “proper channels”. I’ll be using my blogs to tell people who Byron Chubbuck is, where he is, and how he’s being treated at the hands of our government – it’s pretty much up to you and the BOP what that characterization ultimately turns out to be. We’ll be paying attention.

If necessary, we’ll urge our allies to contact their respective congress members – all across the country - about Mr. Chubbuck’s safety and welfare in your custody, and the well-being of other prisoners. If you throw him into isolation and try to cut him off from us, we’ll lobby to get him featured prominently on the new Solitary Watch News website, and assure that intense media scrutiny is focused back on USP Lewisburg. Even the people who live in your town will be so disturbed by the abuse associated with your institution – and the torturous conditions of solitary - that they’ll be at your gates holding you accountable, too.

We will expose any effort made to retaliate against Mr. Chubbuck for challenging such gross violations of his civil rights in the meantime. I don’t know your defense for your employees’ conduct to date, but you can hardly claim ignorance if any further harm comes to that man in your custody. You are the one ultimately responsible for protecting him, and we’ll hold you accountable for what your staff do.

Every bit of information we get from Mr. Chubbuck and his fellow prisoners about their treatment there – including any trouble they have communicating with the outside world - will contribute to Arizona Prison Watch’s letter to Senator Webb’s committee on criminal justice reforms as an example of what’s wrong with the Federal Bureau of Prisons – and hopefully what you’re doing to fix it. The more clear and responsive you are regarding these concerns, the more fairly we can reflect your positions and actions to our members and readers – otherwise we are left to speculate aloud based on what limited view we may have from out here.

As for the allegation that Mr. Chubbuck himself assaulted a guard: we are skeptical about claims of officers who have been “assaulted” by prisoners that they (and usually five other officers) have beaten mercilessly (or tried to scald) while they were handcuffed and shackled. People like that just don’t make convincing victims – they don’t even make credible witnesses. We’d like an outside investigation of any such allegations. We suspect those are counter-charges being levied as retaliation and intimidation – and perhaps an excuse to restrict Mr. Chubbuck’s mobility and human contact even more. His friends are quite concerned about the effect this is having on his mental health, understandably. That’s one reason I’m also cc’ing this letter to my own Senator John McCain – he knows the trauma of captivity, and of people trying to break him - as I suspect some of your guards are trying to do to Oso.

The law enforcement profession has a range of technologies and techniques for controlling and restraining men safely without inflicting excess pain, humiliation, or injury. Granted, prisons can’t function without the threat and periodic use of state violence – no one would stay there if they didn’t have to. And you have some pretty mean people – but not the vast majority of them. If you depend heavily on any of those three elements for your prisoner management practices, you have long since lost “control” of your prison, and your leadership is obsolete. You are engaging in torture, not behavior management. If it becomes apparent that’s what’s going on, we’ll call you on it and demand that you step down.

We believe that the greater burden of responsibility for restraint when it comes to using violence is on the party with the greatest power to do harm – in this case, your guards (especially when they have someone already restrained). Mr. Chubbuck’s constitutional status may be as a slave of the state, but you are sworn servants of the people – all the people - and we expect better treatment of prisoners in this country than this. Mr. Chubbuck’s criminalized status and prison sentence doesn’t give anyone license to exploit their power over him for sadistic purposes, and Americans don’t take to enslaving and abusing Native Americans like we used to. Legislation is going to be changing soon.

In the meantime, if one prisoner is experiencing this kind of abuse, we can only assume that others are at risk as well. It only takes one to trigger a CRIPA investigation, though, and this sounds suspicious enough to me. Our respective states keep us busy, but I’m sure that between all of us we can find someone at the DOJ who would take a special interest in any patterns of mis-treatment towards different minority populations in your custody. The DOJ visits my blogs often because of the Arpaio investigation, so I have a shortcut if I need it to get their attention - if they aren’t on this already.

Please let us know soon how you’ll be responding to the abuses identified above. We’ll be waiting to hear back from Oso, too, and expect his mail and other methods of communicating with his community to be reasonably unhindered from now on. Do be mindful that what you do to this man touches his people as well. Neither he nor they stand alone. In fact, you can count us among his people now, too.

Sincerely,
Margaret Jean Plews
Arizona Prison Watch

Cc: Mr. Byron Chubbuck / NYC Jericho Movement / US Department of Justice – Civil Rights Division / North Carolina Prison Watch / Ohio Prison Watch / Nevada Prison Watch / Wisconsin Prison Watch / Utah Prison Watch / Louisiana Prison Watch / New Mexico Prison Watch / Solitary Watch News / Prison Legal News / / Prison Reform Community Center / James Ridgeway / Critical Resistance / 4Struggle Magazine / Prison Activist Network / Prisoner Rights Newsletter / Prison Reform Community Center/ Break The Chains / ACLU National Prison Project

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Diabetes and mercury poisoning at Grassy Narrows

Insulin Resistance and Simultaneous Exposure to Mercury, Dioxins and Furans


Dear Friends,

At Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nations in Ontario, Canada, many people have been diagnosed with Minamata disease (mercury poisoning). Many people in these two communities also have Type II Diabetes.
Both communities were exposed simultaneously to mercury, dioxins and furans from their fish and wild meat. Industrial pollution was the source of the contamination. Although they were tested for mercury, the people were never tested for dioxin or other toxins such as arsenic, cadmium and hexachlorobenzene which have recently been linked to diabetes in a variety of studies. Some of these toxins are still being released by the pulp mill at Dryden, Ontario.
Few studies in the world seem to look at the efects of simultaneous exposures to pollutants. The very recent study below did just that and discovered that simultaneous exposure to mercury. dioxins and furans resulted in increased Insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a risk factor for Diabetes.
When looking at connections between pollutants and Diabetes, scientists should investigate multiple exposures and the synergistic effect they may have in relation to the onset of Type II Diabetes. All the best to you.
For Land and Life,
John H.W. Hummel

Pollution/Health Researcher,

Nelson, B.C.

Canada

Link to obtain the Full-Text Published Version of this Scientific Paper:

http://journals.lww.com/epidem/Citation/2009/11001/Association_Between_Insulin_Resistance_and.9.aspx

Definition of Insulin Resistance:

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/DM/pubs/insulinresistance/

URN etd-0730109-171534

Author Jung-Wei Chang


Abstract The neurotoxic effects caused by methylmercury (MeHg) have been well documented in several epidemiologic studies. The most frequent clinical signs and symptoms were color discrimination, incoordination, impaired cognitive performance, cerebellar ataxia and tremor. However, it will also cause adverse health effects, which targets on the liver, kidney function and endocrine system. Besides, several epidemiologic and animal studies have also suggested that polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) would pose the simliar health effects as the methylmercury. Fish consumption was the main and crucial exposure pathway for general population to dioxins and methylmercury. If people consume the polluted fishes and seafood by accident, it might cause higher health risk, which was also the keystone of this study. An-Shun chlor-alkali plant had operated for forty years and manufactured sodium hydroxide, chlorine gas and pentachlophenol (PCP). During the manufactural processes, lots of sludge contained mercury was released into the nearby environment around the factory. The measured data provided evidence that the PCP and untreated wastewater from the factory might had spread via the wastewater and soil into the sea reservoir. Local residents used to catch aquatics such as fish, shrimp and crabs from the reservoir for consumption or vendor. Fish and aquatic organisms consumption from the sea reservoir was the main and crucial pathway for their exposure to dioxins and methylmercury. And the measured data also revealed that the residents had high health effects risk of dioxins and mercury. This study provided a good opportunity to examine the hypothesis that residents co-exposed dioxins and methylmercury might be associated with an increased risk of neurologic and endocrine toxic effects, and even a potential interaction. In Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI C-2.0), higher abnormality rates for remote memory (p= 0.036), mental manipulation (p= 0.013), and orientation (p= 0.005) were found in the High-MeHg group than in the Low-MeHg group. The left peroneal motor nerve conduction velocity (NCV) was significantly decreased with serum dioxins (β= -0.86, p= 0.037). We found a slight monotonic increase in the risk for insulin resistance across the serum PCDD/F categories (P for the trend: < 0.001). Groups with serum dioxins higher than 20.5 pg WHO98-TEQDF/g lipid had a higher risk of insulin resistance (adjusted odds ratios of 2.7, 3.5 and 5.0 for 50th to < 75th, 75th to < 90th and 产 90th percentile, respectively) compared with the reference group (< 9.6 pg WHO98-TEQDF/g lipid [< 10th percentile]). Serum dioxins were significantly increased with the number of MetS components (serum PCDD/F levels: 16.9, 20.7, 26.7, 29.5, 28.2, and 24.0 pg WHO98-TEQDF/g lipid, respectively). In factor analysis, four risk factors—lipidemia, blood pressure, body size, and glycemia—accounted for 72.8% of the variance in the 10 core factors in participants and revealed that dioxins were linked to MetS through shared correlations with high blood pressure. After adjusting for confounding factors, participants with higher serum dioxin levels or insulin resistance were at significant risk for having MetS (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.40 [95% CI 1.03-1.90] for dioxins; AOR 6.69 [95% CI 5.03-8.99] for insulin resistance). Participants exposed to higher levels of dioxins and possessed insulin resistance had a much greater risk (AOR 1.80 [95% CI 1.32- 2.48]) of having MetS. High-dose exposure to dioxins is suggested to be a blood pressure-related factor which raised MetS risk by modifying the effect of insulin resistance on metabolic syndrome. After adjusting for confounding factors, residents with higher serum dioxin levels or blood mercury levels (reference: < 25th percentile; higher: > 75th percentile) were at a significant risk for insulin resistance (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 4.0 [95% CI 2.3-7.3] for dioxins; AOR 2.3 [95% CI 1.5-3.5] for mercury) and HOMA β-cell dysfunction (AOR 2.3 [95% CI 1.3-3.9] only for dioxins). We found a striking multiplicative interaction between dioxins and mercury, even in non-diabetic residents(AOR 2.1 [95% CI 1.1- 4.1]). Accumulated dioxins and mercury may synergistically increase the risk of developing insulin resistance. The Framingham General Cardiovascular Disease score and risk were both significantly increased with serum dioxins (p< 0.001), which shows dioxin might also cause cardiovascular toxic effects.

In our large-scale study with a great deal of variation in PCDD/F and mercury co-exposure, we found that participants—even those without diabetes—co-exposed to higher levels of PCDD/Fs and mercury had a much greater risk of having insulin resistance, which persisted even after we had adjusted for the effect of the other explanatory variables. Our results have important ramifications for public concern, whatever pathophysiologic mechanism underlies the interaction between serum PCDD/Fs and mercury and its association with insulin resistance.

Whether the synergistically increasing risk of insulin resistance leads to a higher prevalence of diabetes deserves more attention and follow-up. In humans, PCDD/Fs and mercury are easily accumulated by eating fish and other seafood. It should concern us that the current Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) for PCDD/Fs and recommended limits for methylmercury may underestimate the synergistic risk.

In conclusion, we found a significant association between serum PCDD/Fs, blood mercury, and insulin resistance after adjusting for confounding factors: interaction between dioxins, mercury, and insulin resistance exists even in persons without diabetes. Accumulated dioxins and mercury may synergistically increase the risk of developing insulin resistance. Further study is needed to confirm these findings in other persons co-exposed to high levels of PCDD/Fs and mercury. Information about the long-term health implications of insulin resistance should be promptly delivered to those with a history of co-exposure to PCDD/Fs and mercury because of the extra risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic disease they may incur.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Israel reveals fears of human rights activists, international boycott and Zapatistas

This article on the imprisonment of Palestinian human rights activists, reveals Israel's fear of non-violent activists, an international boycott and the Zapatistas. It also speaks of Elbit Systems, Israel's defense contractor. Elbit is the border wall/intelligence contractor at both the Apartheid border of Palestine, and at the US/Mexico border by way of a subcontract with Boeing. 

ISRAEL RELEASES PALESTINIAN BOYCOTT ACTIVISTS
The Media Line

http://www.themedialine.org/news/print_news_detail.asp?NewsID=27721


International campaign ends in release of two prominent Palestinian activists.



A prominent West Bank activist said by Palestinian groups to be the first Palestinian imprisoned for promoting an international boycott of Israel has been released after being detained by Israel for over 100 days without charge.



Mohammad Othman, a 34 year old resident of the West Bank village of Jayyous, was released Wednesday after 113 days in Israeli custody.



Palestinian advocacy groups believe Othman to be the first Palestinian imprisoned solely for advocacy of the international boycott movement against Israel.



"I was interrogated every single day for 75 days from 8am until 6.30pm and sometimes until midnight," Othman told The Media Line. "The entire time I was held in isolation. Physically they did not touch me, but it really damages a person to be in isolation. They also played all kinds of games, telling me they will arrest my brother, my friends and the journalists writing about me."



Othman was first taken into Israeli custody by the Israel Security Agency, commonly known as the Shin Bet, on September 22 at an Israeli border crossing terminal. Othman was attempting to return to the West Bank following a trip to Norway, where he had met with senior government officials including Finance Minister Kristen Halvorsen to try and convince the country to boycott companies involved in Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Othman took Norwegian officials on a tour of the West Bank, traveled to Norway and played a major role in convincing a Norwegian state pension fund to divest the $5.4 million it had invested in Elbit, one of Israel's largest defense firms. Minister Halvorsen announced the decision early last month.



"They are trying to put a lot of pressure on the boycott movement," Othman said. "They realized how much pressure it is putting on them."



"I was interrogated by ten different commanders, nine from the Shin Bet and one from the Mossad," he said, referring to the Israel Security Agency and Israel's national intelligence agency, respectively. "They asked me about the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, my work, why I'm traveling around the world and why I have the contacts of ministers, prime ministers and embassies."



Othman was held for interrogation for two months, after which he was put into administrative detention.



"After about 50 days they came up with this charge that I'm in contact with Hezbollah," Othman said. "It's crazy. I told them I am involved in a peaceful fight and dealing with international human rights organizations."



"They had nothing against me but I was really worried when I was put into administrative detention," he said. "It can be a few months or up to seven years."



"I was often put in court without a lawyer and had to represent myself," Othman said. "Two days ago I was sent to court again and I got the papers that I was going to be freed."



"I couldn't believe it," he continued. "The judge said 'Why aren't you reacting?' I said 'Because it's administrative detention so you can arrest me two minutes after releasing me'."



While he was released without charge, Othman was required to pay 10,000 shekels ($2,716) bail for his release, an administrative technicality related to his initial detention for interrogation prior to his placement in administrative detention.



Officially, Israel has made no comment on the two cases and a spokesperson for the Israel Security Agency told The Media Line they were looking into the matter.



Magda Mughrabi, the Advocacy Officer at Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association, which represented Othman at some of his court hearings, argued Othman's case exemplifies Israel's use of administrative detention as a tactic to punish non-violent activism.



"Israeli is using detention as an arbitrary policy as opposed to something founded on strong evidence," Magda Mughrabi, Advocacy Officer with Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association, told The Media Line. "Mohammad Othman wasn't charged with anything."



"Representatives of the British, Norwegian and German governments all attended the hearings and there was no substantiated evidence," she claimed. "They issued an administrative detention order against him saying he posed a security threat to the area and his detention was necessary to neutralize the threat. Then later the judge said Mr Othman still poses a security threat but that there is no progress in his interrogation."



"This is contradictory," Mughrabi maintained. "Legally administrative detention can only be used for preventative purposes when there is information that there is an imminent threat to the security of the state. So if they say that his administrative detention should be shortened because there is no progress in the investigation that means they are not holding him for preventative purposes but as a substitute for prosecution because they don't have evidence against him."



"This is a war between the campaign and the Israeli authorities," she added. "The human rights community has written a lot about the arbitrary use of administrative detention. It's not used as a preventive measure but as a punitive measure when they don't have enough evidence to prosecute someone."



There are over 7,000 Palestinians currently held by Israel as ‘security prisoners’, around 290 of them administrative detainees and many of whom, Palestinians claim, have been arrested solely for political reasons.



Palestinian groups claim that Israel has arrested a number of non-violent activists in reprisal for their international advocacy efforts or involvement in demonstrations. Most notable has been the detention of dozens of Palestinian activists arrested in nighttime raids in the West Bank villages of Ni'ilin and Bil'in, the sites of weekly demonstrations against Israel's separation barrier. Many of those arrested have been accused by Israel of incitement and put in administrative detention based on secret evidence. Very few have been charged.



Othman's release came one day after Israel's release of another prominent Palestinian activist, Jamal Juma.



The director of Stop the Wall, a Palestinian campaign opposed to Israel's construction of a barrier around the West Bank, Juma was released Tuesday after being detained by the Israel Security Agency for 27 days without charge. Juma was arrested on December 16 less than 48 hours after being interviewed by The Media Line regarding the continued detention of Mohammad Othman.



Despite being a legal resident of Jerusalem entitled to legal rights similar to those afforded to Israeli citizens, Juma was processed in Israel's military court system in the same legal procedures used by Israel for West Bank Palestinians like Mohammad Othman.



"This experience made it much clearer to me how much the non-violent Palestinian movement freaks them out," Juma told The Media Line. "They see how our movement is opening the eyes of the world to the oppression of the Palestinians and they are determined to stop it but they don't know what to do. They can't call us terrorists so they bring people like me into jail without any real legal way to charge us."



"They accused me of incitement and contact with terrorist organizations," he said. "It's so silly they even accused me of contact with the Zapatistas [laughing]. I told them 'Do you think that when I meet 60,000 people at conferences I ask everyone there 'Do you have a problem with Israel? Are you part of a terrorist organization?' In the end they dropped it of course and didn't charge me with anything at all because none of it made any sense."



"I am only out of prison today because of international pressure, both official pressure from consulates and official bodies, as well as organizations around the world that don't understand why Israel would arrest someone like me," Juma said of the massive campaign launched by Palestinian activists for his release. "I really appreciate this level of solidarity."



"You can't imagine how much dehumanization there is in these jails," he said of his detention. "I was interrogated constantly, put into isolation, put in a cell in which my head was in the door and my feet in the toilet. I was handcuffed for many hours, the cells are lit up 24 hours a day and the food is so bad you wouldn't even give it to dogs."



"They didn't beat me or anyone I saw," Juma added. "But this is a form of torture and the worst face of the occupation. Many prisoners almost lose their minds and all of this is done in shadow and nobody knows about it."



Juma and other Palestinian advocates who have worked intimately with Othman say he was spurred to activism by the effect of the West Bank separation barrier on his family.



"Mohammad comes from a big and poor family in Jayyous village in the West Bank," Juma said. "Lots of their land has been isolated behind the wall and he started his activism because of that, to show the threat the occupation presents to his family and his village."



"He continued his activism both locally and internationally, calling on people and organizations and governments to boycott Israel for its crimes against the Palestinian people," he said. "That's why he became a target of the Israelis."



The international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel is viewed as a serious national threat by most Israelis, many of whom see boycott advocacy as paramount to sedition, and a number of Israeli analysts argue that the threat posed to Israel justifies the arrest of its leaders.



"The demonization of Israel is a form of warfare and Israel is treating it as such,"



Dr Gerald Steinberg, Chair of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University told The Media Line. "Whether it's through this so called boycott and sanctions campaign, or attempts to have Israeli leaders like Former Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni arrested in Britain, or International Criminal Court related activites, this kind of incitement is political warfare on par with military warfare in that the goal is to destroy the state of Israel."



"As Prime Minister Netanyahu recently stated, demonization is as dangerous to the State of Israel as the Iranian nuclear threat," he added. "That's the broad view of the majority of Israelis."



Dr Ron Breiman, the former chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel one of the founders of the secular Hatikva faction of the National Union, a right wing nationalist political party in Israel, echoed Dr Steinberg's remarks.



"Israel needs to defend itself and should arrest people like this," he told The Media Line at the time of Othman's arrest. "In any normal country when someone is doing harm to his own state he would be punished for that. I don't think a European country would allow such activities within her borders and we are too forgiving of it."



"I want democracy and I want free speech," Dr Breiman said. "But there are limits to free speech and even in a democratic country you cannot say anything that you want, especially in a state of war."





By Benjamin Joffe-Walt on Thursday, January 14, 2010





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Censored News is published by censored journalist Brenda Norrell. A journalist for 27 years, Brenda lived on the Navajo Nation for 18 years, writing for Navajo Times, AP, USA Today, Lakota Times and other American Indian publications. After being censored and then terminated by Indian Country Today in 2006, she began the Censored Blog to document the most censored issues. She currently serves as human rights editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report at the Hague and contributor to Sri Lanka Guardian, Narco News and CounterPunch. She was cohost of the 5-month Longest Walk Talk Radio across America, with Earthcycles Producer Govinda Dalton in 2008: www.earthcycles.net/
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