From editors at agrnews.org Thu Aug 1 14:38:33 2002 From: editors at agrnews.org (Asheville Global Report) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:44 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] House hands trade powers to Bush; Senate next Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20020801153654.00a33d30@buncombe.main.nc.us> By Sean Marquis July 30 (AGR)? At 3:30am on Saturday, July 27 the US House of Representatives voted to give president George W. Bush ?Fast Track? trade authority. The early morning 215-212 vote would hand over congress? constitutional role of regulating trade with other nations. In the past, presidents from Gerald Ford through George H. W. Bush were also given such added power, but that power lapsed in 1994 in Bill Clinton?s first term when the Republican controlled congress refused to give it to him. Under Fast Track, the president brings a completed agreement to congress which then can only vote ?yes? or ?no? on the entire package and not alter or add any provisions. Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 3 of the US Constitution states: ?Congress shall have the power to regulate Commerce with foreign nations ? If the Senate also approves the bill, congress will not have that power for the next five years, when the measure will come up for renewal. Bush has been pushing for Congress to give him their power since he took office and with the help of patriotic fervor in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, finally got the trade bill passed in the House. Last December, the House of Representatives passed Fast Track 215-214. In May, the Senate passed similar legislation with a vote of 66-30. The two versions of the bill were hashed into a compromise 300-plus page bill last week which was sent to the House floor at 2am Saturday morning. After an hour and a half of debate, the bill was passed. After the vote, Bush, who has renamed Fast Track as ?Trade Promotion Authority?, issued a statement: ?For nearly 10 Years, America has lacked Trade Promotion Authority and the ability to fully take advantage of trade opportunities. [TPA] will open markets, expand opportunity and create jobs for American workers and farmers. I urge the Senate to vote on this good bill before the Senate goes home for the August recess.? The Senate is expected to pick up the compromise measure before the August break and with just enough trade-friendly Democrats, it is expected to pass. According to a separate White House statement in support of TPA: ?Trade spurs growth in overseas markets for US goods and services, enhances opportunities for higher-paying American jobs, expands choices for American consumers, and promotes US security interests Trade spreads American values and reinforces the habits of liberty that sustain democracy.? According to a report by CNN, Bush headed Saturday to Andrews Air Force Base in Greenbelt, Maryland, to play golf with three congressmen who were instrumental in TPA?s passage. As Republican Reps. Dan Burton, Michael Oxley, and Tom Delay teed off with Bush, the president said he was ?celebrating the passage of Trade Promotion Authority.? ?Midsummer Night?s Massacre? While Bush was off playing golf and celebrating, there were many who were not happy about his victory or congress? roll over and remained unconvinced about the ?democracy sustaining? ability of free trade. Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen?s Global Trade Watch, said that the vote, ?will be remembered as the Midsummer Night?s Massacre, where growing popular concern about corporate-led globalization was shot down in favor of a backwards policy combining corporate managed trade and global deregulation of basic consumer, environmental and other public interest standards. ?Public opposition to NAFTA-style trade deals has grown so strong that now the only way to move this policy is to ram through at 3:00am [sic] in the dark of night 304 pages of legislation combining five different trade bills which was unavailable for public or congressional review until hours before the vote,? Wallach said. She also pointed to the ?hypocrisy in Washington? on account of ?GOP House leadership and President Bush ramming through a trade bill which has as its main agenda promoting massive global corporate deregulation just hours after crowing about passage of new regulations aimed at the corporate crime wave caused by the very sort of deregulation this bill promotes globally.? The Sierra Club said that fast track will allow the Bush administration to extend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) across the western hemisphere. Provisions in NAFTA allow foreign corporations to sue signatory governments [US, Canada, and Mexico] such as in the case of the Methanex Corporation. Methanex, a Canadian company, is suing the US in a NAFTA tribunal claiming that a California ban on MTBE (a toxic gasoline additive) is ?expropriation? and that it is entitled to $970 million in ?compensation? as a foreign investor ? the $970 million is ?lost? revenue because the company cannot sell its toxic additive in the state. ?Now more than ever, Americans want Congress to hold corporations accountable, not give them more breaks,? said Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. ?The House?s capitulation to powerful business interests could jeopardize many of the environmental protections Americans take for granted.? A report by the Mexico Solidarity Network, an economic justice and human rights coalition, said the contents of the bill were ?terrible? and that the ?Gramm language is in.? According to the report: ?The sneaky Senator Phil Gramm snuck in language at the 11th hour into the House Fast Track bill last December the night before the vote. This language basically says that countries don?t even have to uphold their own labor and environmental laws, much less the ILO [International Labor Organization] standards. It sheds any pretense of having the ability to use trade sanctions if a country that is a signatory of a trade agreement is found to be violating international labor law [by using child labor, for example] or environmental agreements.? The report also pointed out the General System of Preferences (GSP), which gives preferences to goods from poor nations, was extended to 2006 but was also weakened. The change would weaken gender discrimination protections. ?They [Congress] stripped out a clause from GSP that would have required countries receiving these special trade benefits to not have policies which discriminate against women,? the report said. A week prior to the vote, Global Exchange, a fair trade advocacy group, issued a statement saying that, ?Fast-Tracked agreements like NAFTA and the WTO [World Trade Organization] brought us lost jobs, attacks on local environmental laws, the ?race to the bottom? in labor and environmental standards here and abroad and the destruction of more than 33,000 family farms.? ?When an agreement is ?Fast-Tracked,? the final product of these corporate-driven negotiations is steam rolled through Congress without any chance for debate or changes,? according to the statement. Global Exchange added that, ?Fast Track is a fundamentally undemocratic procedure by which the US Congress surrenders its ability to craft trade policy.? From editors at agrnews.org Thu Aug 1 14:40:55 2002 From: editors at agrnews.org (Asheville Global Report) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Trial for one could decide fate of all =?iso-8859-1?Q?=91Carson?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?_City_Ten=92?= Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20020801153923.00a33090@buncombe.main.nc.us> By Liz Allen July 31 (AGR)? Rock Boice Jr. is scheduled to go to trial for the murder of Sammy Resendiz, co-founder of the Eastside Tokers, Aug. 26 in Carson City, Nevada at 1:30pm. His trial will be a deciding factor in the fates of the other Native American youth, known collectively as the Carson City Ten, all charged with first-degree murder in the case. The youth were rounded up after Jessica Evans, also Native American, was battered by members of Resendiz?s gang. Evans immediately sought assistance from the police, who responded by threatening her with jail, then sending her home with friends. Police later claimed the jail was full so they declined to arrest Resendiz and stated Evans exhibited no signs of battering. Relations of Evans, hearing of the incident, went to the hotel where it took place. A fight broke out and police arrived on the scene within minutes, but most who were involved had cleared out. Terry Boice, of the Nevada American Indian Movement (AIM), and Rock Boice Jr.?s mother, commented that the defendants ?weren?t in the hotel room more than 30 seconds and within three minutes the police arrived.? Sammy Resendiz was taken by ambulance to Carson Tahoe Hospital to meet with CareFlight from Reno. One of the officers on the scene reported seeing Resendez walk out of the bathroom. Police also reported Resendiz needed to be restrained. These statements contradict the forensic expert?s assertion that the injuries causing Resendiz?s death would have made walking an impossibility. Forensic reports also indicated that Resendiz?s body showed signs of death by strangulation, with the hyoid bone, located underneath the chin, being broken and the muscle bruised. Originally there were fifteen defendants in the case, and after being thinned out to ten they faced the death penalty even though most were under eighteen, with the youngest being 14. The original court date of June 24, 2002 was continued on the grounds of inadequate representation and the court-appointed defense attorney, who after four years with the case had yet to even prepare a witness list, was dismissed. The new defense attorneys are Larry Leichter of San Francisco and Day Williams. James Cosner of Bay Area AIM, who is organizing people to attend the trail, believes the new counsel to be a ?tremendously huge improvement . It?s obvious that they [the court-appointed attorneys] had no intention of defending the youth.? Terry Boice explained that with the new lawyers they are now finding out new relevant information practically every day. They have discovered that the officer who sent Jessica Evans home was a victim of Resendiz prior to becoming a cop. The first officer on the scene at the hotel in 1998 was a witness for the victimized future police officer and had picked Resendez out of a line up. Also, according to Boice, Resendiz?s ex-wife?s parents were deputies and Resendiz had custody of her and his two children despite a record of multiple arrests for domestic and child abuse. Another factor to consider is the emergency room doctor, Richard Conte, who is currently accused in a high profile case of kidnapping his ex-wife and the murder of her current husband and his business partner. Rocky Boice Jr.?s trial is key, because the judge maintains that if Boice is found innocent then the case of the others will be proven and their charges dropped. The prosecution does not have any physical evidence linked to the victim or the defendants. They are being charged with first-degree murder because after two years of reviewing this case the State Supreme Court decided last May that when a death occurs in a burglary it could be considered first-degree murder. The burglary charge stems from the practice in Nevada wherein breaking into a ?house? without permission is automatically considered burglary. The District Attorny (DA) has filed a motion not to seek the death penalty. Terry Boice believes the situation to be a reflection of the rampant and hostile racism Native Americans incur in Carson City. ?It really hurts me that the reason the kids are in the trouble they are in is because they weren?t protected from the gang The sheriff just decided they weren?t worth it because they were born Native American.? She reports native youth are ?terribly harassed? and threatened at school, not only by other students, but also by non-student gang members who come on campus. The activists are asking for support in the form of monetary donations to their legal fund, having supporters attend the trial and demand that the facts be heard, as well as praying for indigenous families.. From wires at the-alarm.com Fri Aug 2 12:39:41 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--War Notes Message-ID: War Notes a bi-monthly column following the developments of our new permanent war, the war on terrorism by Sasha k The Alarm! Newspaper Contributor Bombs and cover-ups: A preliminary UN investigation has uncovered more ugly details about the US bombing earlier this month of a wedding party in Afghanistan. A couple of days after the incident, the Pentagon announced that it would take some time to investigate and that they didn?t even know if anyone had indeed died. But according to the Times of London, the UN investigation found that US soldiers arrived on the scene within hours and that they filmed damaged buildings and the bodies of around fifty dead Afghanis. The soldiers went much further than that, however. Apparently they tied up the women of the village and cleaned up shrapnel, bullets and bloodstains. The UN investigation also found ?no corroboration? on the ground that the US plane had been fired upon. The Pentagon denied there was a cover-up and still claims it is too early to draw any conclusions. The UN was to make its full report public on Wednesday, but after the US denial, the UN gave the report to the US and Afghan governments and did not make it public. The cover-up is being covered up. Bombing peace: The US, of course, isn?t the only one with a ?collateral damage? problem. Israel bombed a tightly packed Gaza neighborhood last week, killing a Hamas leader and fifteen civilians and wounding around 150. The attack is sure to set off many revenge bombings of Israeli civilian and military targets. Even the US weakly condemned the attack, saying that ?this heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace.? But was that really the goal of dropping a one-ton bomb on a crowded residential neighborhood? Ariel Sharon, Bush?s ?man of peace,? seems to have had other aims for the attack, which he personally approved.On the days leading up to the July 23 bombing, there were several significant moves towards peace. First, Abdul Razek Yahyia, the Palestinians? interior minister, announced a new security plan to reduce violence. Shimon Peres, Israel?s foreign minister, was pleased with the plan. At the same time, the EU, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were in the midst of brokering a peace plan that, as a first step, would have groups linked to Yasser Arafat?s Fatah movement--such as the al-Aqsa Brigades--end the use of suicide bombing within Israel. Finally, on July 22, Hamas? spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said that Hamas would stop killing Israeli civilians if Israel pulled out of the Palestinian cities it recently reoccupied, freed prisoners and stopped the assassination of Palestinian leaders. These moves towards peace were troubling to Sharon, whose continued hold on power is based on an Israeli fear of terrorism. Additionally, if peace began to break out, Sharon would have no excuse for reoccupying Palestinian controlled areas, or for the removal of Arafat. But the bombing quickly took care of Sharon?s mounting problems, and it looks as if peace is again safely a long way off. Suicide bombing and landmines: If terrorism is defined as the targeting of civilians, is the use of landmines an act of terrorism? Landmines are much more likely to kill civilians than military personel. This fact has been the driving force behind the Ottawa Convention, the five-year-old global treaty banning the use of landmines. Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, announced Sunday that Afghanistan would become the 126th country to sign the treaty. Afghanistan has been badly affected by landmines: according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 200,000 Afghanis have been killed or wounded by mines in the last twenty-three years of war. But there are still a few prominent nations supporting the continued use of landmines; the US, China and Russia have not signed the treaty. It is also estimated that around 2,000 of the bombs the US dropped on Afghanistan in the recent war lie unexploded around the country, ready to randomly kill and wound. A chorus of doubt: As US talk of a war on Iraq reaches a high point, a chorus of statements against the war by leaders vital to any war coalition is weakening Bush?s opportunity for a prompt attack. Arab League chief Amr Musa warned that any attack on Iraq would threaten regional security. French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made a joint statement that they would not support an attack on Iraq without a UN mandate. The Kuwaiti government called on Iraq to let in inspectors and avoid the war. King Abdullah of Jordan, meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said that Britain should not go along with the US drive towards war. King Abdullah, who will meet with President Bush this week, said, ?in the light of the failure to move the Israeli-Palestinian process forward, military action against Iraq would really open a Pandora?s box.? The Egyptian and Saudi governments have also made statements against the war. Iraq?s neighbour, Turkey, a key NATO ally, stated its concerns over the war. But it also quietly asked the US to write off $4 billion of debt if the US does go to war. And even in Britain, America?s strongest supporter, a series of letters and op-eds in newspapers by retired, high-ranking military personnel have denounced the war plans. War and human rights: Last Friday, Mary Robinson, the UN human rights chief who is to lose her job due to US pressure, said the US ?war on terror? was encouraging countries to roll back human rights. She said that countries have been using the crackdowns in the US and Europe as an excuse to step up repression in their own countries. Robinson didn?t name any nation, but this week Egypt arrested sixteen members of the Muslim Brotherhood (which has renounced violence) along with a prominent human rights activist and sociology professor, Saadeddin Ibrahim. Ibrahim is being prosecuted bythe Egyptian government for monitoring Egyptian elections. In China, the government is increasing its repression of ethnic Uyghurs, a Turkish minority that lives in the western province of Xinjiang. The Chinese government--attempting to present itself as a US partner in the ?war on terrorism?--now legitimates the repression by claiming, without any evidence, that Uyghur separatists are supported by Osama bin Laden. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Fri Aug 2 12:50:01 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Ojo en el INS Message-ID: <44ED9A6A-A640-11D6-9B46-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Ojo en el INS Un enfoque semanal en el INS y la pol?tica inmigratoria Ser o no ser (ilegal), esa es la cuesti?n. El Procurador General Ashcroft Anuncia Nuevas Reglas para Inmigrantes. Por Carlos Armenta Colaborador del Periodico ?La Alarma! El t?rmino ?ilegal? adquiere caracter?sticas diferentes cuando se aplica a seres humanos que a objetos o acciones. Cuando este t?rmino se utiliza para categorizar a personas, su sola existencia dentro de determinado espacio puede traer como consecuencia su arresto o deportaci?n, como se da en el caso de inmigrantes ilegales. Los c?lculos sobre residentes ilegales en los Estados Unidos arrojan cifras que van desde los 8 hasta los 11 millones de personas. Respecto a estas personas, el comisionado del Servicio de Inmigraci?n y Naturalizaci?n (INS, por sus siglas en ingl?s), James Ziglar, declar? el pasado 23 de Mayo?en conferencia de prensa en Tucson, Arizona?que no deben preocuparse de que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos implemente las leyes migratorias para tratar de deportarlos. Ziglar dijo que ?a nadie le gusta la idea de que la gente entre ilegalmente a este pa?s, pero no es pr?ctico ni razonable el pensar que se les puede detener y mandarlos de regreso a casa.? Tal declaraci?n obedece a dos razones principales: por un lado, y tal y como lo han declarado muchos funcionarios del gobierno, los E.U. necesitan un flujo constante de inmigrantes (as? lo ha sido desde el siglo XIX) para lograr su desarrollo como naci?n. Por otro lado, el INS carece de la capacidad log?stica y administrativa, tanto para poder atender a los millones de personas que buscan legalizar su situaci?n en este pa?s, como para deportar a todos aquellos que residan aqu? de manera ilegal. De hecho, se sabe que el INS se hace de la vista gorda cuando se trata de inmigrantes ilegales que laboran en el sector agr?cola, de servicios o en rastros, solo por citar algunos ejemplos, a?n sabiendo donde trabajan, debido al gran beneficio econ?mico que los inmigrantes ilegales aportan en materia de mano de obra barata. La categorizaci?n de ?ilegales? hace posible que estas personas sean v?ctimas de abusos por parte de sus patrones, al vivir siempre bajo la amenaza de deportaci?n, si no aceptan condiciones de trabajo muy por debajo de las que exigen las leyes laborales, las cuales solo protegen a los ?legales.? As? las cosas, causan gran curiosidad las declaraciones hechas por el procurador general John Ashcroft en un foro anticrimen celebrado el pasado 23 de julio en Alberta, Canad?, en el sentido de que existe un plan para ejecutar una ley migratoria que existe desde hace cincuenta a?os. La ley requiere que todo inmigrante que resida en los E.U. notifique al INS cualquier cambio de domicilio con un plazo de diez d?as. La regla en cuesti?n afecta a todos los residentes permanentes legales (diez millones aproximadamente, de acuerdo a cifras del propio INS), as? como a visitantes y estudiantes que permanezcan en los E.U. por m?s de treinta d?as. Ashcroft declar? que con la implementaci?n de dicha ley ?aumentaremos nuestra capacidad para localizar r?pidamente a cualquier extranjero en el caso de que se deban iniciar procedimientos de deportaci?n.? El anuncio de Ashcroft pone de manifiesto el plan para que el INS forme parte integral del nuevo Departamento de Seguridad Territorial (Department of Homeland Security), el cual fue dise?ado como consecuencia de los ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre. En un comunicado oficial hecho el 6 de junio del a?o en curso, el comisionado del INS, James Ziglar, declara que el ?INS pondr? todo de su parte para hacer del nuevo Departamento de Seguridad Territorial un ?xito.? La llamada ?guerra contra el terrorismo? sigue entonces siendo utilizada como excusa para coartar las libertades y garant?as constitucionales de los que vivimos en los E.U. Con este tipo de medidas, se hace mucho m?s f?cil para el gobierno el poder detener a cualquier persona aunque se trate de alguien que siempre ha vivido dentro de la ley. Con la implementaci?n de la citada ley migratoria, el gobierno tendr? la capacidad de categorizar a cualquier inmigrante como ilegal por no haber reportado un cambio de domicilio, aunque dicho cambio haya ocurrido a?os atr?s. Es en este sentido de la retroactividad que la ley cobra la m?yor importancia. Muchos residentes permanentes legales sin antecedentes criminales, que pagan impuestos y operan dentro de la ley, sienten que la implementaci?n de dicha medida podr?a utilizarse como excusa para el trato abusivo hacia inmigrantes de ciertos or?genes nacionales. Se conoce, por ejemplo, el caso de Tahr Abdeljaber, residente permanente legal originario de Palestina y padre de dos ni?os que son ciudadanos americanos. Abdeljaber fue detenido recientemente por la polic?a en Atlanta por manejar a exceso de velocidad, y luego fue sometido a interrogatorio por parte del FBI por tener en su carro un mapa de Carolina del Norte, en el que varias localidades hab?an sido encerradas en un c?rculo con pluma. Aunque no se presentaron cargos en contra de Abdeljaber, el INS inici? su propia investigaci?n y descubri? que este no hab?a notificado un cambio de domicilio en 1999, por lo que ahora enfrenta el riesgo de ser deportado. Ashcroft no explic? de que manera el INS manejar? el nuevo sistema para reportar el cambio de domicilio, o si el Departamento de Justicia planea implementar dicha ley de manera retroactiva. Ashcroft tampoco explic? cual ser?a el procedimiento a seguir por parte de los inmigrantes para notificar cambios de domicilio. Sin embargo, en el caso de Abdeljaber la ley se aplic? de manera retroactiva y sin que existiera, adem?s, informaci?n oportuna y clara sobre como reportar el cambio. La grave omisi?n por parte de Ashcroft, contrastada con un caso como el de Abdeljaber, pone en evidencia la intenci?n del gobierno de dar al INS toda la discrecionalidad posible para decidir quien es sujeto de deportaci?n. El anuncio hecho por el procurador, como era de esperarse, provoc? reacciones de oposici?n por parte inmigrantes legales y activistas pro-inmigraci?n. Frank Sharry, director ejecutivo del Foro Nacional de Inmigraci?n, declar? al San Jose Mercury News que la medida ?no har? de los Estados Unidos un lugar m?s seguro, solo lograr? que los recien llegados se sientan en la mira de las autoridades.? Incluso muchos opositores a la immigracion parecen esc?pticos del anuncio de Ashcroft. Mark Krikovian, director del Centro de Estudios para la Inmigraci?n, cuya posici?n es a favor de un control m?s estricto de las fronteras, declar? al Mercury News que la implementaci?n de esta y otras leyes migratorias es algo que ?est? fuera del alcance de la capacidad del INS.? El INS trata de ofrecer la impresi?n de que trabaja para hacer del territorio de los E.U. un lugar m?s seguro para vivir. Con la excusa de la seguridad nacional, se han cometido injusticias como la implementaci?n del Chinese Exclusion Act, el encarcelamiento de inmigrantes legales y ciudadanos americanos de origen japon?s durante la segunda guerra mundial y la deportaci?n masiva de mexicanos, sin importar su ?legalidad? o ?ilegalidad? durante los a?os de la gran depresi?n. Sin embargo las leyes migratorias siempre han sido aplicadas inequitativamente. Por la mayor parte, el INS prefiere ignorar la presencia de inmigrantes ilegales en los E.U, si estos convienen a los intereses de los que los emplean. Ahora m?s que nunca, con la implementaci?n de leyes como la del cambio de domicilio?que han existido desde hace mucho tiempo, pero que el INS hab?a decidido no aplicar?esta agencia cuenta con la discrecionalidad para decidir de una manera arbitraria quien es ilegal, y, por lo tanto, quien puede ser vulnerable a muchos tipos de abuso por parte de las autoridades. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Fri Aug 2 12:51:07 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Eye on the INS Message-ID: <6C47F78F-A640-11D6-9B46-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Eye on the INS, July 26 A weekly forum to discuss the INS and immigration policy Picnics and Bureaucrats By Michelle Stewart The Alarm! Newspaper Collective A few weeks ago, I was stunned to hear about the 150-year-anniversary celebration at San Quentin State Penitentiary. Just as I began to come to terms with my frustration over that event, I was shocked again by a story out of El Paso about the pending Paso al Norte Immigration Museum being created by the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) and the Smithsonian. But how do the celebration of the anniversary of a death-row prison and the creation of a borderlands museum relate to each another? My frustration about both of these items is that they rely on such an overwhelming sense of denial. How does one decide to ?celebrate? a prison?s anniversary, go to events, eat cake, and go on tours of the ?public? areas? Especially considering that during these festivities there are people locked up inside, serving time, possibly sitting on death row. I realize that for some the bare bones of the matter is that criminals are criminals, and they must serve their time. Well, I am not the first to say it, but the actual fact of the matter is that the criminal justice system is inherently flawed. Statistics in the US read that one out of every three African American men under the age of thirty has served or is serving time in jail; this is a statistic that demands that we explore the fundamental flaws in the justice system and the socio-economic conditions that allow for such statistics?not celebrate the anniversary of a jail. When I began reading about the Paso al Norte Immigration Museum, I was initially excited. I thought a museum being built along the border in the coming years would be really dynamic. However, as I read through the supporting documentation, I became less than impressed and began to recall my outrage at the San Quentin event. At an event last year Diana Natalicio, the president of UTEP, told the story of how she came up with the idea for the museum after reading a solicitation letter for the Ellis Island Museum. ?I was suddenly struck by the fact that there was no place where immigration across the southern border was commemorated, as immigration from Europe is celebrated?and honored?at Ellis Island.? She was struck by the obvious and missed the complexity of the matter, a fact that shows quite prominently in the planning stages of this museum. The Paso al Norte Immigration Museum is being referred to as the Ellis Island of the Southwest. I don?t know why. As an immigrant processing center, Ellis Island is closed. Its deeds are referred to in the past tense. El Paso, on the other hand, is still a very active border. As for Natalicio?s comment about the celebration of the southern border (and its migrants), does she really believe there is a national celebration occurring? Perhaps the UTEP president needs to read the headlines more often to recognize the current rhetorical tone toward the southern immigrant. To compare today?s Southern border to yesterday?s Ellis Island is preposterous for numerous reasons. Last year after the president of UTEP spoke at an event to announce the project, the Smithsonian came forward with a rather ridiculous statement: ?... UTEP is currently coordinating a binational effort to develop the museum, but ultimately, the project is envisioned as an independent institution symbolizing the aspirations of all immigrants.? How in the world can the Smithsonian think that this one museum can summarize the aspirations of all immigrants?all of them? This is either a case of absolute ignorance when it comes to the actual experiences of many southern border crossers and other immigrants, or the Smithsonian truly believes that what the US offers (insert some nationalist?s pride item) creates a baseline experience for every single border crosser. I could go on, at length, about how ridiculous that statement was, however, with a little thought anyone can tear it apart. My chief concern is the way in which ignorance will influence this new project. Just as blind belief in the justice system allowed for people to celebrate the anniversary of a prison, I fear this museum will allow for people to position immigration issues as things of the past. All of the information available about the Paso al Norte Immigration Museum indicates it will be a museum dedicated to preserving local and family history. The museum is currently drafting a feasibility study while also beginning to solicit historical documents from locals. For all intents and purposes, it seems that the stories of immigrants will be told through a historical lens. What, then will be said about today?s immigration policy? Will there be two wings: one for the past, and another for the present? But most importantly, will there be a critique of the INS? Will there be a section called ?La Migra Today?? The walls could be filled with pictures of bodies lying in the desert, a small sign post could state ?Operation Gatekeeper: Death Toll 600 and rising...?. Another area could have dramatic, mounted pictures along with a photo essay to tell the story of families split apart. Maybe there could be an enclosed interactive space to highlight the feel of an INS raid; there could be another closed off area with an audio relay of deportation hearings. Could there also be a dark room at the end of a hall, that no one is allowed to enter or that people are chosen at random to be forced to enter?which would be the detainment camp? How do we build a historical, immigration museum in today?s immigration environment? I fear this museum will open in the coming years without unpacking contemporary immigration policy. The museum is also just a short-distance drive from Ciudad Juarez, the site of one of the largest serial killings in North America. The body count continues to rise, while both the border and its industries are implicated in the crime. But perhaps the deaths of nearly 300 women, and the disappearance of hundreds more, is not good for a museum?s image. Perhaps the installment would be disturbing?the road to a maquiladora lined with grave markers and women?s bodies. I think the idea of a borderlands museum is amazing. However, it would require guts and wisdom to critique the southern border and immigration policy. In the next five to ten years, the Paso al Norte Immigration Museum will open its doors. Hopefully, at that point the vision of these planners (today) will not influence the entire project. For I fear people will sit on the lawn of this museum and have a picnic, thinking how silly the INS used to be and how quaint the southern border crosser was in the 1890s. This would be no less disturbing than the people who packed cake into their mouths while ?touring? San Quentin just a few weekends ago. ---- Beginning next week this column will shared between two columnists: Carlos Arment and Michelle Stewart. Thematically the column will remain the same; however, the voice of the commentary will rotate weekly. Carlos will be wrting in Spanish, and I will continue writing in English. The intention of this column from the get-go was to provide a means to instigate dialogue on issues surrounding immigration and the INS. I am excited to have Carlos join me in this forum and hope you find our different perspectives and voices to be thought-provoking. Please remember your comments are welcomed at michelle@the-alarm.com. ---- All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Fri Aug 2 12:55:04 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--"Pull the Plug on the Ponds" Message-ID: ?Pull the plug on the ponds? Protected frog pulls the plug on developer?s bank account By Michelle Stewart The Alarm! Newspaper Last week Albert Seeno Jr., president of West Coast Homebuilders Inc. (WCH) of Concord, plead guilty to two counts of violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a result of his activities at the San Marco housing development site located near Pittsburg, CA. The 639 acres will host an estimated 3,200 estate-style houses. However, last year the development ran into a snag in the form of a threatened frog. WCH was aware that the site might be suitable habitat for the California red-legged frog which was listed on the ESA in 1996 with a classification of threatened. The ESA has three major categories: endangered, threatened, and sensitive. A classification of threatened means there is reasonable evidence to support the claim that the species will become endangered if there is not a conscious effort to protect its habitat and/or assist in its population?s recovery. As early as 1997, the company was aware of the possibility that the site may be habitat for the frog. On March 25, 1997, WCH and the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) signed an agreement stating that if frogs were located on the site, the company would halt activities and consult with the agency to ?ensure the species is protected.? In January of 2001, CDFG game warden Nicole Kozicki gave verbal warning to WCH stating that the two ponds at the construction site were potential frog habitat, and that the company would have to perform species surveys to get permission to do grading and other alterations. According to the US Attorneys? Office, in March 2001, the environmental consultant contracted by the company found evidence of red-legged frog activity in the two ponds created on the development site, and notified the company that, by law, it was required to begin consultations with CDFG. The day after being notified of the frog?s presence, Seeno was reported to have said, ?pull the plug on the ponds,? and instructed an employee to drain the two ponds that were frog habitat. In May 2001, Kosicki visited the site to monitor the activity?s effect on the frog. She was reportedly concerned when she came across the dry ponds, and, upon further investigation, found a dead frog in the vicinity of one of the ponds. She and another investigator interviewed Seeno, and he later admitted to burying the habitat in the interest of his land development. Last week Seeno?s plea placed his company liable for violating the Endangered Species Act by harming the frogs? habitat and the recovery of the species as a whole. As part of the plea, WCH agreed to pay a total of one million dollars to a diverse group of agencies and private organizations. The company was also placed on probation for three years and was required to write a letter of formal apology to be published in the Contra Costa Times. In his apology, Seeno takes responsibility for his crime. He wrote, ?My decision was wrong and caused the destruction of these valuable frogs and their habitat.? He closed his apology by stating, ?It is my hope that this substantial penalty along with my apology will send a strong message deterring others who may be tempted to engage in this same conduct. I apologize for destroying this valuable piece of our ecology.? However, one has to wonder if Mr. Seeno was a little more calculating in his crime. Consider that the housing development in question anticipates building 3,200 homes in the coming years, of which eight have reportedly sold for over $500,000- each?his fine was only one million dollars. Sidebar: The California red-legged frog Threatened Species ? The red-legged frog was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1996. ? A listing of threatened means that the species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. ? The US Fish and Wildlife Service is charged with protecting species that are listed under the Endangered Species Act Habitat and History ? The red-legged frog?s historic range was (coastal) Point Reyes in Marin county and (inland) Redding in Shasta county to Baja California in Mexico. ? Numerous factors including destruction of habitat through housing and agricultural development and culinary popularity lead to the rapid depletion of the species. ? Today, frogs are only present in approximately ten percent of their historic range and their population has been collectively reduced by over seventy percent. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Fri Aug 2 12:59:26 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Youth column Message-ID: <95B0848E-A641-11D6-9B46-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Youth column--July 26 The Politics of Fat Discrimination By Anita O?Shea The Alarm! Newspaper Contributor Gurl is a gutteral and raw growl of who I am, to how I see myself. If I must be defined it will be on my own terms, WITH my own terms.?Janice Klux, Cutlass #4 Growing up as a fat gurl, I was made acutely aware of fat-phobia. Fear and hatred of fat is something that is deeply ingrained in all of us in the US. Ironically, in a country with rampant over-consumption there is a heavy pressure on everyone to be ?fit? and thin. However, being thin does not always equal being healthy. Where survival of the fittest is most often the survival of the richest, being a healthy human being is not a priority in the U.S. Fitting into this society involves abandoning self-respect while the media, the medical industry and the diet industry feed off of our insecurities. Evidence shows that dieting, diet pills, plastic surgery, and eating disorders are less healthy than just being fat. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia are indications that we live in a society where our size takes precedent over our physical or mental stability and health. Diet pills (such as Fen/Phen) are known to have serious and potentially deadly side effects. Weight-loss surgery often doesn?t work. Whatever weight one may have lost is gained back and side effects?such as dangerous vitamin deficiencies?can last a lifetime. According to the ?International Journal of Obesity?, ninety-five percent of people who lose weight on diets gain back every pound within three years. This obviously contributes to serious self-esteem problems, as we are all expected to have the willpower to change our weight, even though the way we look and our weight is often determined at birth. GROWING UP FAT Growing up surrounded by negative images of fat people, needless to say I was a rather insecure adolescent. I?m pretty used to getting made fun of for being fat, for not shaving hair, for the way I dress and also for being an all-around queer/gender-deviant, for being politically active, for being a radical. Neither being queer nor being fat were things I could choose. I don?t even think that I have a real choice when it comes to being an activist. To me there is no option but to fight back; the discrimination of fat people, of queer people, of youth is directly tied to my own experience of oppression. Furthermore, the oppression of people of color, of the poor and working class, of disabled people and of my elders are all directly linked to fat phobia, to sexism, heterosexism and age-ism and is ultimately rooted in a for-profit system. FAT AND FEMINISM: The fact that I am a feminist and also a female-born person, has contributed the most to my experience of taunting and discrimination. As much crap as I got and still get for being a feminist?for being too loud, too expressive, for taking up too much space ?it is feminism that has directly led me to an understanding of all these issues and of the connections between them. The third wave of feminism, from the early 90?s on, especially deals with issues of body image. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on some literature (like Body Outlaw) that illuminated what eating disorders are and how they stem from a ridiculous standard we have as to what beauty should be. Eating disorders affect everyone, but beauty standards are tied to the broader exploitation of women and gurls. THE MEDIA, WOMEN, AND FEMINIST SOLIDARITY The media tells us what we should look like everyday. TV shows and advertisements portray women and men as skinny, rich and therefore happy people. Commercials for diet pills, food, drinks and exercise machines are fed to us constantly. These media images also put pressure on us all to conform to socially constructed gender roles. It is often the youth, and very young women who are targeted by the media. Gurls are becoming self-conscious about body image at younger and younger ages. By creating unattainable standards for what women?s bodies should look like, women and youth are kept constantly occupied with their body image and their own self-doubt. Women become obsessed with making themselves fit into different standards of beauty and seldom question where these standards come from. It keeps women from questioning a sexist society and also from organizing and finding their power and solidarity with other women. Unfortunately, being a feminist and speaking out against fat-phobia does not always guarantee being well received by other feminists. I?ve brought up size-ism as a serious issue in some of my classes at UCSC and it?s difficult for me when I feel like I?m not taken seriously or when the discussion of fat-hatred is not pursued. A fellow fat activist Natalie Boero said the discussion of fat-phobia is not just ?some bourgeois feminist distraction.? There are connections between fat phobia/size-ism and other forms of oppression like sexism, racism, heterosexism, gender-phobia, ableism and ageism. All the different forms of oppression come together in a variety of ways. To build an effective movement against fat-phobia, the leaders of the movement need to be the ones who understand the most about the intersections of oppression. Racism compounds fat discrimination on many levels. Women of color who are fat, or any size, will also face the added burden of racism when they are on the job, getting paid, looking for housing, seeing media images, being treated by health care providers, etc. The most militant leaders, the least likely to sell out, are those ?on the bottom?: women, especially women of color, lesbians, youth, and disabled women. As a fat white person, I feel the movement against fat-discrimination needs to form coalitions with those fighting other forms of oppression. Fighting against fat-phobia ALONE is not going to truly change our circumstances as fat people. We need to fight to change a system that produces and condones discrimination of all types. CAPITALISM AND FAT-PHOBIA: Under capitalism, we are made to feel that we constantly need to attain something more, to get more money, status, and power. Money determines our success. We need the best products to be happy and we need to continue buying to be content. If we can?t afford these products we are made to feel inferior. Capitalism is the source of fat-hatred and all the self-loathing and insecurities that manifest as eating disorders, yo-yo dieting, plastic surgery and taking diet pills. The media tells us to keep buying products we don?t need, which keeps the consumerist machine moving. As Nomy Lamm says in the book Body Outlaw (edited by Ophira Edut), ?The diet industry makes over $30 billion a year relying on your fear and hatred of fat. They don?t care about your health and happiness, they care about your money.? According to NAAFA, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, the numbers now are more like $50 billion. FAT ACTIVISM As a fat, feminist, young, gender-queer, radical, dyke, freak, I have committed myself to being an activist, and to fighting all forms of oppression. The economy of capitalism functions by how well it can divide and conquer. It assures that people in communities and movements are fighting so much amongst themselves that they won?t work to retaliate against the lack of jobs, healthcare, childcare and welfare. That?s why it is essential that we all realize our common struggle and understand the diverse and flabulous differences we all have. ---- Anita O?Shea is a member of Radical Women, a UCSC student, queer youth organizer and a DJ on Free Radio Santa Cruz. You can contact her at: rwbayarea@yahoo.com. Or for other resources go to: www.fatso.com, www.naafa.com , or www.adiosbarbie.com. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Fri Aug 2 13:02:40 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Struggle for public control over internet Message-ID: <0965791C-A642-11D6-9B46-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Struggle for public control over internet Director of ICANN draws attention to flaws in governance process that mirror criticisms of Santa Cruz local government by Fhar Miess The Alarm! Newspaper Collective In October of 2000, Cable News Network, known across the globe as CNN, issued a ?cease and desist? order to Maya Online, a Shanghai-based internet company that had registered the CNNEWS.COM domain name with a Chinese registrar named Eastern Communications. A series of legal proceedings followed, with contradictory rulings in China and?in April of this year?in the US. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) became involved shortly afterward. ICANN was originally formed by the United States Department of Commerce as a California non-profit organization providing international oversight in the assignment of internet domain names and addresses. ICANN issued a demand to Eastern Communications that they transfer the domain name to CNN, despite the fact that the presiding US Federal judge clearly stated no intention of dictating the activities of a Chinese registrar. Maya Online further accused ICANN of ?secret? communications with the registrar. This sort of secrecy and unwarranted assumption of authority has earned ICANN a consistently bad reputation with members of the internet community. One of ICANN?s most vehement critics has been Karl Auerbach, a resident of Santa Cruz. In an open and public online election, Auerbach was elected as ICANN?s At-Large Director for the North American region in November 2000. He frequently denounced the organization, calling attention to its excessive secrecy, lack of public process, lack of accountability, insufficient oversight by the Board of Directors and poor business practices. As a Director with ICANN, Auerbach has made attempts on many occassions to reform the organization. These attempts have been largely thwarted by the professional staff of ICANN, who have withheld documents from Auerbach despite repeated verbal and written requests. Auerbach finally filed suit against ICANN in March of this year. On Monday, July 29, the California Superior Court ruled in Auerbach?s favor and compelled ICANN to provide Auerbach with the requested documents within a week. At the root of Auerbach?s tiff with ICANN is a struggle to prevent the creeping privatization of the internet. In a paper titled ?A Prescription to Promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts? he charges that ICANN ?is a predominately non-elected body that is responsive primarily to those industry groups that stand to gain by ICANN?s decisions. ICANN is effectively accountable to no one.? Unfortunately, Auerbach will have little time to effect real change in ICANN. His term expires this November. Also, according to a declaration made by Auerbach to the California Supreme Court, ICANN?over the course of two board meetings??took a sequence of steps that eliminated the public seats on ICANN?s Board of Directors and dispensed with future public elections on any matter within ICANN.? Auerbach had more to say in a prepared statement, dated June 12 of this year, before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. ?My seat on ICANN?s Board of Directors, and the seat of every other publicly elected Director, will cease to exist on October 31 of this year,? he said. ?On that date real public representation within ICANN will end. After that date, ICANN will be effectively controlled by a small group of privileged ?stakeholders?.?That grant of favored status is mirrored by a nearly total exclusion of the public and of non-commercial and small businesses interests. These have been given only token voices.? Even these stakeholder arrangements are largely ?facades,? according to Auerbach. ?Most of ICANN?s decisions are made by its staff, often without consultation with the Board of Directors.? Auerbach?s criticisms of ICANN will likely resonate with some of his fellow Santa Cruzans. Throughout the process of considering amended ordinances in the Downtown Business District, the Santa Cruz City Council has faced similar charges of excluding public input and replacing full accountability to an ?at-large? public with a priviledged yet ill-defined group of ?stakeholders,? in combination with the largely unilateral initiatives of City Staff. And the similarities don?t end there. ?By denying people and organizations the ability to form fluid coalitions and relationships according to their self-perceived interests the ?stakeholder? concept has made compromise within ICANN exceedingly difficult and rare,? writes Auerbach. This sort of artificial categorization mirrors the City Council?s process, which at its most galvanizing point divided the public into those for and against the ordinance ammendments. Of course, it is dangerous to conflate ICANN, a California non-profit corporation that presumes to impose a global governance structure over the entire internet, with the City of Santa Cruz, a small municipal body attempting to legislate and enforce ?decorum? on its main drag. But, at the same time, we cannot let ourselves be duped when City legislators attempt to denigrate the significance of their exclusionary practices by drawing attention to the much more nefarious activities of their counterparts at the Federal level. Whether it is a relatively small municipality like Santa Cruz or a ?private government organization? (PGO) like ICANN or an umbrella of repressive agencies like the Homeland Security Office or a corporate malefactor like WorldCom, these movements toward secrecy and highly-stratified management and away from public process and accountability are not unrelated. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From mikeburke99 at yahoo.com Tue Aug 6 11:55:06 2002 From: mikeburke99 at yahoo.com (mike burke) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Indypendent: Small Farmers Uproot Agribiz Message-ID: <20020806165506.23103.qmail@web20501.mail.yahoo.com> By A.K. Gupta (This article originally appeared in the August 2002 issue of the Indypendent in New York.) **** Photos Available on Request **** When the average American makes the journey from couch to fridge, she opens a door to the world: apples from New Zealand, coffee from Vietnam, cheese from Europe, chocolate from Africa, bananas from Ecuador, tomatoes from California. Despite this, we may still imagine our food as coming from some midwestern breadbasket, grown by hardworking farmers straight out of American Gothic. In reality, dinner was probably harvested by a peasant family, children included, being paid starvation wages and in the yoke of a plantation owner feeding products to some global enterprise. Even in this country, when the harvest isn’t the work of some giant combine, it’s probably being plucked, cut, raked or uprooted by migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean. But some farmers have a different vision. Nestled in the Taconic Hills in the upstate New York town of Harlemville, Hawthorne Valley Farm has been at the forefront of a trend to make farms a part of their local communities. Rachel Schneider, who helps to manage the vegetable gardens at the 400-acre farm, explains that since its founding in 1972, the mission of the non-profit Hawthorne Valley Association, which includes the farm, a 300-student school, and a visiting students’ program and camp, is to “integrate agriculture and the arts.” “Our main goal at the farm,” explains Schneider, “is to farm sustainably and as ecologically sound as possible.” Schneider sees most consumers as “out of touch with farming, because they get their produce from the supermarket. They need to get in touch with how much food costs and how it’s produced.” According to government statistics, farmers received 41 cents of every dollar consumers spent on food in 1950; today, they get barely half of that. To be economically sustainable, says Schneider, Hawthorne Valley “surrounds our farm with value-added and direct-marketed products” like processed vegetables (sauerkraut, pickles), dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), a stand at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan, community supported agriculture (CSA) and an extensive store. By filling the role of not just the farmer, says Schneider, but also “the processor, the distributor and the retailer,” Hawthorne Valley is able to avoid “being industrial or having a huge farm.” A walk around the farm bears that out. This is what a farm should look — and smell — like. The odors of wet hay, manure and motor oil mingle near the garage bearing fire-engine-red tractors. Sparrows careen about after a cooling summer downpour, ignoring a lone chicken scratching the moist earth by a moldy, dull-silver silo. Next to the 50-foot-tall silo, bright-eyed calves with clean, almost shiny, fur lounge under an open-air metal and wood shed, three to a pen. Piglets snuffle in the back half of the shed as a monstrous mama pig digs into the cooling mud. Hundreds of yards in the distance, the backs of roaming cows bob above the brush as they forage by the waterside. Turnip, another calf, seems oblivious to it all. She’s only interested in gnawing on a shirtsleeve. Turnip will one day join Hawthorne Valley’s herd of 60 dairy cows. Because it doesn’t use industrial methods, like penicillin injections or bovine growth hormones, Hawthorne Valley “produces half the amount of milk of a conventional dairy farmer,” says Schneider. “One cow produces on average 18 to 20,000 pounds of milk on a conventional dairy farm. Our average is 10 to 11,000.” But while “conventional milk sells for $10-$13 per ‘hundredweight,’” explains Schneider, “organic milk sells for $20-$22 per hundredweight.” Schneider says, “We’ve determined with our 250 acres we can support 60 cows. They produce milk, but more importantly, from a biological point of view, they produce manure that we compost for the crop lands, pasture land and vegetable gardens.” The use of manure on fields that grow hay for the cows, which produce more manure for the vegetable gardens, scraps from which feed the pigs, underlies the concept of “biodynamic farming.” Hawthorne Valley Farm is one of dozens of biodynamic farms scattered across the country. The role of manure and composting is critical to biodynamic farming, explains Aaron Hulme of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association. In biodynamic farming, says Hulme, “all of the inputs are supposed to come from one’s farm. The farm is a self-contained unit.” “Biodynamic farming,” says Hulme, “came from a series of eight lectures given by Austrian Rudolf Steiner to a circle of farmers in 1924. They worried that the mechanization of the other aspects of human life would obliterate farming.” Peter Brady, the head farmer at Phillies Bridge Farm in the Hudson Valley town of New Paltz, says biodynamic farming “is an attempt to make the farm more inclusive, with less inputs, less fertilizer and more diversity.” Phillies Bridge, says Brady, practices organic farming and “plans to go biodynamic eventually,” in part by bringing in cows, goats and expanding its flock of 33 chickens. Like Hawthorne Valley, Phillies Bridge is a non-profit, has an educational aspect and runs a CSA. The Phillies Bridge CSA currently has 75 local members, at $500 for a full share. Hawthorne Valley has 220 shares and distributes its produce to members in the local area, Long Island and the Bronx. What’s especially impressive is the small amount of land used to feed so many people. Hawthorne Valley has 12 acres of vegetable gardens, while Phillies Bridge has five. Both make weekly deliveries to their members from June to November. Brady says Phillies Bridge “can grow more per acre than conventional, large-scale farmers, partly because we aren’t growing 3,000 acres.” Yet these two farms raise a nagging question: How viable are they as models? Both of them are non-profit, unusual among farms, which gives them tax advantages. Brady says for Phillies Bridge, “agriculture brings in 75 percent of the revenue and education 25 percent.” Brady admits, “We’re a non-profit. We’re competing with other CSAs. We get Americorp volunteers. Other farmers feel it may not be a level playing field.” Hawthorne Valley expects to generate $3 million in revenue this year, two-thirds of that from its bountiful store. But Schneider says it nets only at most $20,000 a year in profits — not even one percent. One couple in New Paltz, Ron and Kate Khosla, are trying to go the commercial route while maintaining high agricultural standards. Dominated by the Shawanagunk Mountains, the 77-acre Hugenot farm was purchased by the Khoslas almost four years ago. Ron says, “Farming is a lot of gambling. For instance, if you put out your crops by May 19, you’re 90 percent assured they won’t die from frost. This year, though, a lot of people lost crops” due to an unusual cold snap in late May. “We lost $20,000 worth of organic strawberries, and we’ll never make it up,” he notes. Because of the economic pressures, the Khoslas live in decidedly Spartan conditions. “We’ve been camping out for four years. The first year, we lived in the greenhouse. We don’t even have indoor plumbing.” Their hard work is paying off, slowly. They’re now in the process of building a house after turning a profit of $18,000 last year, explains Ron. But “we made less than $3 an hour.” The couple says their farming goes beyond organic, in large part because of federal guidelines that have watered down what organic means. Organic food is no longer the work of some idealistic back-to-the-landers, but a $6 billion a year business that is becoming dominated by agribusinesses. And they have an interest in making “organic” compatible with their industrial scale. While the U..S. Department of Agriculture backed off guidelines two years ago that would have allowed genetic engineering, sewage sludge and radioactive waste used in the production of “organic” food, it still allows controversial practices. It allows manure and waste from conventional factory farms to be used on organic farms; it essentially allows factory farm crowding for organic livestock; and it has imposed an inspection system that is often cost-prohibitive for the small, organic farmers. “Organic is not the same as it used to be,” says Ron. “The process is so time-consuming, so expensive, that the small farmers, the ones who’ve been doing it since the 1970s, can’t call themselves organic anymore.” What gets Ron particularly incensed is the waste issue. “You can use chicken carcasses, diseased parts, and waste” from conventional factory farms. As a result, “there are measurable levels of herbicides, steroids, hormones, antibiotics and pesticides in the soil” of farms that are ostensibly organic. In response, the Khoslas have started to use the term “Certified Naturally Grown (CNG)” and are trying to establish a new trend. “We just went public at the beginning of July. We already have 50 applicants from all over the country,” says Ron. “Organic is now being administered by people who don’t know anything about organic. With CNG, it’s farmers inspecting farmers,” he explains. All the farmers interviewed agree that some of the biggest problems facing non-industrial farming is consumer ignorance and apathy. Peter Brady says he gets kids at Phillies Bridge who “don’t know the difference between a horse and a cow.” Ron Khosla says, “As much as I want to complain about subsidies, the biggest problem is consumer apathy. All they want is cheap vegetables.” --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/mailman/archive/dryerase/attachments/20020806/630db37d/attachment.html From mikeburke99 at yahoo.com Tue Aug 6 12:00:17 2002 From: mikeburke99 at yahoo.com (mike burke) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Indypendent: Int'l Briefs: Iraq, Indonesia, Nigeria, Berenson... Message-ID: <20020806170017.44133.qmail@web20511.mail.yahoo.com> International Briefs on 1. Iraq; 2. Global Warming; 3. US-Indonesia Relations; 4. Nigerian Protests; 5. Lori Berenson From mikeburke99 at yahoo.com Tue Aug 6 12:02:25 2002 From: mikeburke99 at yahoo.com (mike burke) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Indypendent: Globalization Treatens Cambodian Fishing Message-ID: <20020806170225.8865.qmail@web20514.mail.yahoo.com> By Joshua Breitbart *** Photos Available on Request *** From mikeburke99 at yahoo.com Tue Aug 6 12:20:07 2002 From: mikeburke99 at yahoo.com (mike burke) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:45 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Indypendent: Globalizing the Wild Blueberry Message-ID: <20020806172007.78158.qmail@web20506.mail.yahoo.com> By John Tarleton *** Photos available *** From mikeburke99 at yahoo.com Tue Aug 6 12:21:46 2002 From: mikeburke99 at yahoo.com (mike burke) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:46 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Indypendent: Limited Food Options Starving Many Message-ID: <20020806172146.83350.qmail@web20502.mail.yahoo.com> By Emily Reinhardt *** Graphic available *** The offerings of many bodegas on 125th St. bear more resemblance to a frat boy’s dorm room than to a food provider. There are potato chips, pork rinds and an army’s supply of 40-oz. bottles of malt liquor. There are some bruised bananas and apples in crates, and a few loaves of whole wheat bread among mountains of Wonder Bread. The type of supermarkets and grocery stores in poor neighborhoods often limits residents’ access to nutritious food. For instance, lower-quality grocery stores like Met Foods with sad-looking produce abound in Astoria, Queens while greengrocers and stores like Gourmet Garage saturate upscale neighborhoods like SoHo. “[Lower-income food choice is] a huge issue of access,” says Bryant Terry of B-Healthy, a group promoting nutrition, youth leadership and youth activism. “Even if you change the people’s perceptions, it’s an issue of access. The food selection is horrible.” Malnutrition, a major problem plaguing low-income communities, is not synonymous with hunger. Hunger stems from a lack of food; malnutrition is caused by a lack of nutrients. Over 20 percent of Americans are clinically malnourished, whereas eight percent are hungry. In fact, many Americans are both malnourished and obese. “Food insecurity” — meaning a lack of regular access to healthy foods — is a large contributor to malnutrition in poor communities, affecting some 33 million Americans nationwide. Though not technically “hungry,” these people often consume diets that lack many essential vitamins and minerals. It is often the “food insecure” who dine on macaroni and cheese by necessity, rather than by choice. But even for the rest of Americans who have proper access to nutritious foodstuffs, malnutrition may be no stranger. According to an article on HealthWorld Online (www.healthy.net), by Dr. Patrick Quillin, “At least 20 percent of Americans are clinically malnourished, with 70 percent being sub-clinically malnourished (less obvious).” Though food insecurity exists in both urban and rural America, certain problems are inherent to the urban poor. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), urbanites spend 30 percent more money on food than other communities, but consume fewer calories. Fresh produce is less accessible in cities due to transportation and distribution issues. Fast food consumption in the cities is also high. (One-third of America’s “eating out” is done at fast food establishments.) Urban, lower-income households also tend to buy less at the supermarket. They buy more from stores with fewer offerings, such as bodegas, even though supermarkets sometimes undercharge the smaller stores by as much as 10 percent. Supermarket prices are four percent higher in urban and rural areas than in the suburbs, but the suburbs contain the lowest amount of poor households. In a perverse twist, the richest people pay the least for their groceries. And because the poor have far less money, they also spend a far greater percentage of their disposable income on food than the rich or middle class. Back in 1970, when a cup of coffee was 25 cents, the average household spent less than 15 percent of its disposable income on food. By 2000, that number had dropped to 10.6 percent. But this statistic does not mean that food is a bargain for lower-class communities. The percentage of after-tax income households spend on food is 34.2 percent, for incomes between $5,000-$9,000. In contrast, a household making $70,000 spends 8.7 percent. According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service report “Expenditures for food require a large share of income when income is relatively low...the figure [average household spending on food] has sometimes been misused to prove that food is a bargain.” There is also a tendency to buy starchy and fatty foods that fill the stomach but starve the body. This offers little nutritional variety in daily and weekly meals. Kuo Huang, an agricultural economist for the USDA, writes that fluctuating food prices can also weaken the nutrition that poorer households receive. “If the price of beef goes up, while the price of chicken remains the same, consumers will likely buy less beef and more chicken.” This not only affects chicken and beef but the foods that would be bought in conjunction, like cheese for cheeseburgers. Food consumption based on price and not nutritional value can make for a much less-balanced diet. An additional barrier faced by many communities of color is the perception that “eating healthy is a white bourgeois thing,” Terry says. The food activist links this attitude to food production and in the perceived high cost of eating healthily. Though many immigrant families may cook up nutritious meals, Terry says many immigrant youth just want to be “Americanized.” McDonald’s and pizza symbolize America to these young people, who are often more enthusiastic about these foods then their own food heritage. Mexican-Americans now have the highest obesity rates of any ethnic group in America. Over half of all Americans meet worldwide standards for being overweight, while 23 percent of Americans are obese. The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2001 report on obesity claims, “overweight and obesity are particularly common among minority groups and those with a lower family income.” This is especially true for women. Lower-income women are 50 percent more likely to be obese then those with higher incomes. African-American woman suffer particularly, with 69 percent considered “obese.” “There needs to be a demand [for nutritious food in lower-income areas], a demand needs to be created,” says Terry. “Having fresh produce is meaningless if there’s no one around to buy it.” --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/mailman/archive/dryerase/attachments/20020806/ee9a71f6/attachment.html From fhar at the-alarm.com Fri Aug 2 12:44:24 2002 From: fhar at the-alarm.com (Fhar Miess) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:46 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Ojo en el INS Message-ID: <7BF2467C-A63F-11D6-9B46-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Ojo en el INS Un enfoque semanal en el INS y la pol?tica inmigratoria Ser o no ser (ilegal), esa es la cuesti?n. El Procurador General Ashcroft Anuncia Nuevas Reglas para Inmigrantes. Por Carlos Armenta Colaborador del Periodico ?La Alarma! El t?rmino ?ilegal? adquiere caracter?sticas diferentes cuando se aplica a seres humanos que a objetos o acciones. Cuando este t?rmino se utiliza para categorizar a personas, su sola existencia dentro de determinado espacio puede traer como consecuencia su arresto o deportaci?n, como se da en el caso de inmigrantes ilegales. Los c?lculos sobre residentes ilegales en los Estados Unidos arrojan cifras que van desde los 8 hasta los 11 millones de personas. Respecto a estas personas, el comisionado del Servicio de Inmigraci?n y Naturalizaci?n (INS, por sus siglas en ingl?s), James Ziglar, declar? el pasado 23 de Mayo?en conferencia de prensa en Tucson, Arizona?que no deben preocuparse de que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos implemente las leyes migratorias para tratar de deportarlos. Ziglar dijo que ?a nadie le gusta la idea de que la gente entre ilegalmente a este pa?s, pero no es pr?ctico ni razonable el pensar que se les puede detener y mandarlos de regreso a casa.? Tal declaraci?n obedece a dos razones principales: por un lado, y tal y como lo han declarado muchos funcionarios del gobierno, los E.U. necesitan un flujo constante de inmigrantes (as? lo ha sido desde el siglo XIX) para lograr su desarrollo como naci?n. Por otro lado, el INS carece de la capacidad log?stica y administrativa, tanto para poder atender a los millones de personas que buscan legalizar su situaci?n en este pa?s, como para deportar a todos aquellos que residan aqu? de manera ilegal. De hecho, se sabe que el INS se hace de la vista gorda cuando se trata de inmigrantes ilegales que laboran en el sector agr?cola, de servicios o en rastros, solo por citar algunos ejemplos, a?n sabiendo donde trabajan, debido al gran beneficio econ?mico que los inmigrantes ilegales aportan en materia de mano de obra barata. La categorizaci?n de ?ilegales? hace posible que estas personas sean v?ctimas de abusos por parte de sus patrones, al vivir siempre bajo la amenaza de deportaci?n, si no aceptan condiciones de trabajo muy por debajo de las que exigen las leyes laborales, las cuales solo protegen a los ?legales.? As? las cosas, causan gran curiosidad las declaraciones hechas por el procurador general John Ashcroft en un foro anticrimen celebrado el pasado 23 de julio en Alberta, Canad?, en el sentido de que existe un plan para ejecutar una ley migratoria que existe desde hace cincuenta a?os. La ley requiere que todo inmigrante que resida en los E.U. notifique al INS cualquier cambio de domicilio con un plazo de diez d?as. La regla en cuesti?n afecta a todos los residentes permanentes legales (diez millones aproximadamente, de acuerdo a cifras del propio INS), as? como a visitantes y estudiantes que permanezcan en los E.U. por m?s de treinta d?as. Ashcroft declar? que con la implementaci?n de dicha ley ?aumentaremos nuestra capacidad para localizar r?pidamente a cualquier extranjero en el caso de que se deban iniciar procedimientos de deportaci?n.? El anuncio de Ashcroft pone de manifiesto el plan para que el INS forme parte integral del nuevo Departamento de Seguridad Territorial (Department of Homeland Security), el cual fue dise?ado como consecuencia de los ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre. En un comunicado oficial hecho el 6 de junio del a?o en curso, el comisionado del INS, James Ziglar, declara que el ?INS pondr? todo de su parte para hacer del nuevo Departamento de Seguridad Territorial un ?xito.? La llamada ?guerra contra el terrorismo? sigue entonces siendo utilizada como excusa para coartar las libertades y garant?as constitucionales de los que vivimos en los E.U. Con este tipo de medidas, se hace mucho m?s f?cil para el gobierno el poder detener a cualquier persona aunque se trate de alguien que siempre ha vivido dentro de la ley. Con la implementaci?n de la citada ley migratoria, el gobierno tendr? la capacidad de categorizar a cualquier inmigrante como ilegal por no haber reportado un cambio de domicilio, aunque dicho cambio haya ocurrido a?os atr?s. Es en este sentido de la retroactividad que la ley cobra la m?yor importancia. Muchos residentes permanentes legales sin antecedentes criminales, que pagan impuestos y operan dentro de la ley, sienten que la implementaci?n de dicha medida podr?a utilizarse como excusa para el trato abusivo hacia inmigrantes de ciertos or?genes nacionales. Se conoce, por ejemplo, el caso de Tahr Abdeljaber, residente permanente legal originario de Palestina y padre de dos ni?os que son ciudadanos americanos. Abdeljaber fue detenido recientemente por la polic?a en Atlanta por manejar a exceso de velocidad, y luego fue sometido a interrogatorio por parte del FBI por tener en su carro un mapa de Carolina del Norte, en el que varias localidades hab?an sido encerradas en un c?rculo con pluma. Aunque no se presentaron cargos en contra de Abdeljaber, el INS inici? su propia investigaci?n y descubri? que este no hab?a notificado un cambio de domicilio en 1999, por lo que ahora enfrenta el riesgo de ser deportado. Ashcroft no explic? de que manera el INS manejar? el nuevo sistema para reportar el cambio de domicilio, o si el Departamento de Justicia planea implementar dicha ley de manera retroactiva. Ashcroft tampoco explic? cual ser?a el procedimiento a seguir por parte de los inmigrantes para notificar cambios de domicilio. Sin embargo, en el caso de Abdeljaber la ley se aplic? de manera retroactiva y sin que existiera, adem?s, informaci?n oportuna y clara sobre como reportar el cambio. La grave omisi?n por parte de Ashcroft, contrastada con un caso como el de Abdeljaber, pone en evidencia la intenci?n del gobierno de dar al INS toda la discrecionalidad posible para decidir quien es sujeto de deportaci?n. El anuncio hecho por el procurador, como era de esperarse, provoc? reacciones de oposici?n por parte inmigrantes legales y activistas pro-inmigraci?n. Frank Sharry, director ejecutivo del Foro Nacional de Inmigraci?n, declar? al San Jose Mercury News que la medida ?no har? de los Estados Unidos un lugar m?s seguro, solo lograr? que los recien llegados se sientan en la mira de las autoridades.? Incluso muchos opositores a la immigracion parecen esc?pticos del anuncio de Ashcroft. Mark Krikovian, director del Centro de Estudios para la Inmigraci?n, cuya posici?n es a favor de un control m?s estricto de las fronteras, declar? al Mercury News que la implementaci?n de esta y otras leyes migratorias es algo que ?est? fuera del alcance de la capacidad del INS.? El INS trata de ofrecer la impresi?n de que trabaja para hacer del territorio de los E.U. un lugar m?s seguro para vivir. Con la excusa de la seguridad nacional, se han cometido injusticias como la implementaci?n del Chinese Exclusion Act, el encarcelamiento de inmigrantes legales y ciudadanos americanos de origen japon?s durante la segunda guerra mundial y la deportaci?n masiva de mexicanos, sin importar su ?legalidad? o ?ilegalidad? durante los a?os de la gran depresi?n. Sin embargo las leyes migratorias siempre han sido aplicadas inequitativamente. Por la mayor parte, el INS prefiere ignorar la presencia de inmigrantes ilegales en los E.U, si estos convienen a los intereses de los que los emplean. Ahora m?s que nunca, con la implementaci?n de leyes como la del cambio de domicilio?que han existido desde hace mucho tiempo, pero que el INS hab?a decidido no aplicar?esta agencia cuenta con la discrecionalidad para decidir de una manera arbitraria quien es ilegal, y, por lo tanto, quien puede ser vulnerable a muchos tipos de abuso por parte de las autoridades. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Thu Aug 8 22:00:23 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:46 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Ex-Braceros sue for withheld wages Message-ID: <25C70FB0-AB44-11D6-8EE0-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Ex-Braceros file lawsuit Suit demands repayment for wages withheld sixty years ago By Maryanne Schiffman The Alarm! Newspaper Contributor On Friday more than 100 elderly men gathered outside of Wells Fargo headquarters in San Francisco to demand repayment of wages withheld from them for more than sixty years. The men are plaintiffs in a federal class action lawsuit filed in March 2001 against Wells Fargo, the largest bank in rural California and a major player in California?s agricultural economy. The suit charges Wells Fargo with breach of contract, breach of trust/fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment. The plaintiffs in the suit came to the US during WWII, when the government initiated the bracero (?strong arm?) program, inviting Mexican workers to replace American workers who had gone off to war. Initially only the railroad industry participated, but the program was later extended to sectors such as the agricultural industry in California. Under the original agreement between the two governments, ten percent of braceros? wages would be put aside in a ?savings plan.? The contract stated that when the workers returned to Mexico, the Mexican government would either use the money to buy farm equipment for the braceros or return the money to them in a lump sum. However, the Mexican government neither bought equipment nor returned the money to the workers. Wells Fargo says it fulfilled its part of the agreement by transferring the money to Mexican banks, and that it was the responsibility of those banks to return the money to the braceros. Yet Wells Fargo refuses to open its books to prove its innocence. It is alleged that the money owed to the men amounts to between $500 million and $1 billion. After gathering at the Wells Fargo bank site on Friday, the ex-braceros next marched to San Francisco?s U.S. District Court Building where the first statements on the case were being heard. Attorneys for Wells Fargo attempted to have the case dismissed on the basis of technicalities, including the lapse of the legal statute of limitations. The judge considered the arguments provided, and has yet to return a decision. Several California politicians are intervening on the ex-bracero?s behalf. In February of this year, Marco Firebaugh (D., Los Angeles) introduced State Assembly Bill 2913, extending the statute of limitations for the special case of the ex-braceros. The bill, which provides that the ex-braceros? claims ?be applied retroactively and not be dismissed provided that the actions are introduced before December 31, 2003,? has passed the house and is now pending approval by the State Senate. Similar legislation has been also introduced at the federal level. Sam Farr (D.-Santa Cruz) is among the many politicians who support this legislation and look for justice for the braceros. The good news is that the legislation is expected to pass in the State Senate without difficulty, and the governor is expected to sign it. The bad news is that the court case only addresses the ?missing wages? that were deducted from the salaries of the 400,000 railroad workers who were here between 1942 and 1949. This leaves aside the rest of the more than 2.5 million braceros, including those working in agriculture, who also claim they had wages withheld and never saw a cent returned to them. It is estimated that in the span of time between 1949 and 1969, millions of dollars were withheld from these workers. Ignacio G?mez Rodr?guez is a Salinas resident and a member of the Salinas Valley Ex-Braceros, one of largest and most politically active ex-bracero groups in the US. ?There is more than just the money the lawsuit asks for in this issue? he says. ?First of all, there were many more braceros who lost money than just the ones who worked between 1942 and 1949. We want Wells Fargo to respond for the wages of all of those workers. But beyond that, it is also an issue of respect. We came here and helped this country with its needs. We would like to be treated decently and respectfully.? The lawsuit involves workers from both sides of the border and almost every state in the nation. Politicians ? including the president ? have been quick to line up on the bracero?s side. For Wells Fargo, a bank trying to win over Latino communities with new policies to attract Spanish-speaking customers and special money wire rates to Mexico, the negative publicity is becoming increasingly painful. The day after the San Francisco demonstration, Wells Fargo representatives contacted Alianza Braceroproa to ask for a meeting to discuss the situation. But Mr. G?mez Rodr?guez of the Salinas Braceros was skeptical. ?If Wells Fargo really did send the money to Mexico,? he said, ?then they should open their books and show us the records. If they really did, then they have nothing to fear. But if they didn?t, then they need to respond for that money.? For more info on legislation AB2913, visit the California State Legislature at www.assembly.ca.gov or call Rudy Montalvo at the offices of Henry Contreras (D.- Los Angles) at (323) 562-7880 or (916) 319-2050. For info on the Salinas Valley Braceros Organization, visit http://www.newcitizen.org/english/bracero_eng.htm. For info on the class action lawsuit, contact one of the following organizations working with ex-braceros in the area: The Citizenship Project in Salinas (831) 423-4345, Alianza Braceroproa in San Jose (408) 929-9551, and Proyecto Bracero de Stockton (209) 956-0367. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Thu Aug 8 22:02:02 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:46 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Ex-Braceros interponen demanda contra banco Message-ID: <60D09ABE-AB44-11D6-8EE0-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Ex-Braceros interponen demanda contra banco. Piden se les devuelvan sueldos retenidos hace sesenta a?os Por Maryanne Schiffman Colaborador del Semanario ?La Alarma! El viernes 2 de agosto del 2002, m?s de 100 ex-braceros se reunieron en las puertas de las oficinas centrales del banco Wells Fargo en San Francisco, para demandar el reembolso de su salario, el cual hab?a sido retenido por mas de 60 a?os. Los ex-braceros antepusieron en marzo del 2001 una demanda federal de acci?n de clase contra el banco Wells Fargo, uno de los bancos m?s grandes en las ?reas rurales de California, y un contribuyente mayor a la econom?a de la agricultura en California. Los cargos en contra del banco Wells Fargo son por violaci?n al contrato, violaci?n de obligaciones de confianza/ fiduciario, e enriquecimiento il?cito. Los demandantes vinieron a los Estados Unidos durante la segunda guerra mundial, cuando el gobierno estadunidense inici? el programa bracero, invitando a los trabajadores mexicanos a reemplazar a los trabajadores americanos que se hab?an ido a la guerra. En un principio s?lamente participaba la industria del ferrocarril, pero el programa despu?s se extendi? a otros sectores, c?mo el de la industria de la agricultura en California. Bajo el acuerdo original entre los dos gobiernos, el diez por ciento del salario de los braceros fue puesto en un ? plan de ahorros.? El contrato estableci? que al regresar los trabajadores a M?xico, el gobierno mexicano usar?a el dinero para proporcionarles equipo para el campo o se los reembolsar?a en un solo pago. Sin embargo el gobierno mexicano no compr? el equipo y tampoco devolvi? el dinero a los trabajadores. El banco Wells Fargo dice haber cumplido con su parte en el acuerdo de transferir el dinero a los bancos de M?xico, y que la responsabilidad de regresar el dinero a los braceros reca?a en los bancos mexicanos. Hasta ahora, Wells Fargo se niega a abrir sus libros para comprobar su inocencia. Se estima se les debe a los ex-braceros un monto de entre 500 millones y un bill?n de d?lares. Despu?s de la reuni?n en el banco Wells Fargo el d?a viernes, los ex -braceros marcharon hacia el edificio de la corte del distrito de San Francisco en donde se escucharon las primeras declaraciones del caso. Los abogados del banco Wells Fargo intentaron que el caso fuera desechado, aduciendo que la demanda fu? levantada fuera del tiempo l?mite que establece el estatuto de limitaciones (statute of limitations). El juez consider? los argumentos proporcionados y a?n no anuncia una decisi?n. Sin embargo varios pol?ticos de California est?n intercediendo en favor de los braceros. En febrero de este a?o, Marco Firebaugh (D., Los Angeles) present? la iniciativa de ley AB2913 en la asamblea legislativa estatal de California la cual extender?a el estatuto de limitaciones para el caso especial de los ex--braceros. La iniciativa fu? aprobada en la asamblea legislativa y est? esperando aprobaci?n en el senado estatal. A nivel federal ya se han presentado iniciativas semejantes. Sam Farr, (D. Santa Cruz) es uno de los pol?ticos locales que apoyan esta legislaci?n y buscan justicia para los braceros. La buena noticia es que se espera que el senado estatal aprobar? la iniciativa, y que el Gobernador Davis la firmar? en ley. La mala es que el juicio nada mas abarca los ?fondos perdidos? que fueran deducidos de los salarios de 400,000 trabajadores de ferrocarriles entre los a?os de 1942 y 1949. Esto excluye al resto de los 2.5 millones de braceros, incluyendo a los trabajadores de la agricultura, a quienes tambi?n se les hicieron deducciones y nunca se les regres? esa parte de sus sueldos.. Se estima que el monto retenido a ?stos trabajadores entre los a?os de 1949 y 1969 asciende a los millones de d?lares. Ignacio G?mez Rodr?guez es residente de Salinas, y miembro de Los Ex-Braceros del Valle de Salinas, la organizaci?n de ex- braceros mas grande y pol?ticamente activa del pa?s. ?Hay m?s que dinero en esto, ? dice G?mez. ?Primero, hab?an muchos m?s braceros que perdieron su dinero, no solo los que trabajaran entre 1942 y 1949. Queremos que Wells Fargo responda por los salarios de todos los trabajadores. Pero m?s all? de eso, esto es asunto de respeto. Venimos aqu? y ayudamos a este pa?s con sus necesidades. Queremos que nos trate con decencia, respeto y justicia.? El juicio involucra a trabajadores en ambos lados de la frontera y en casi todos los estados de los Estados Unidos. Los pol?ticos ? hasta el presidente George Bush ? est?n tomando el lado de los braceros. Para Wells Fargo, un banco que quiere ganar el mercado latino en California con sus servicios para hablantes de espa?ol y precios bajos para enviar giros a M?xico, el juicio de los ex-braceros se puede convertir en una pesadilla. Un d?a despu?s de la manifestaci?n en San Francisco, representantes de Wells Fargo contactaron a la Alianza Braceroproa de San Jos?, organizaci?n que organiz? el evento, para pedir una reuni?n para ?discutir el problema.? Pero el Se?or Ignacio G?mez Rodr?guez de los ex-braceros de Salinas se mostr? esc?ptico. ?Si Wells Fargo de verdad mand? el dinero a los bancos de M?xico,? dice, ?entonces deber? abrir sus libros para mostrar sus archivos. Si es verdad, no tienen nada que temer. Pero si no, necesitar?n hacerse responsables por todo ese dinero.? Para mayor informaci?n sobre la legislaci?n AB2913, se puede ver la p?gina de Internet del gobierno de California a www.assembly.ca.gov o llamar a Rudy Montalvo en las oficinas del representante Henry Contreras (D., Los Angeles) (323) 562-7880 o (916) 319-2050. Para informaci?n sobre los Ex-Braceros del Valle de Salinas, se puede ver su p?gina de Internet en espa?ol a http://www.newcitizen.org/spanish/braceros_espanol.htm. Para m?s informaci?n sobre la demanda federal de acci?n de clase, comun?quese con una de las organizaciones en la ?rea que trabajan con los ex-braceros: El Proyecto de Ciudadan?a en Salinas: (831) 424-2713), La Alianza Braceroproa en San Jos?: (408) 929-9551, o El Proyecto Bracero de Stockton (209) 956-0367. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Thu Aug 8 22:02:50 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:46 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Alarm!--La_cancelaci=F3n_del_proyecto_del_aeropu?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?erto_en_Texcoco?= Message-ID: <7DE27B70-AB44-11D6-8EE0-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> La cancelaci?n del proyecto del aeropuerto en Texcoco Solo un primer paso en la lucha por la justicia social en M?xico. Por Carlos Armenta Colaborador del Semanario ?La Alarma! La presidencia de la Rep?blica mexicana decidi? dar marcha atr?s en su proyecto de construir, en Texcoco, el nuevo aeropuerto de la ciudad de M?xico. La noche del primero de agosto, la presidencia inform? su decisi?n de iniciar los tr?mites para dejar sin efecto los decretos expropiatori?s, citando la negativa de las comunidades ejidales a vender sus tierras. Ante tal anuncio, los ejidatarios de San Salvador Atenco, una de las principales comunidades afectadas por el proyecto, celebraron durante toda la noche del mismo d?a primero. Aunque las celebraciones continuaban hasta la madrugada del d?a dos, muchos de los ejidatarios, inclu?dos sus principales l?deres, mostraron una actitud de escepticismo hasta que no se les entreguen documentos por escrito que confirmen el anuncio de las presidencia. Duranto la celebraci?n, se oyeron arengas como la de ?!Zapata vive, la lucha sigue!? la cual no es solo una frase, sino expresa la confirmaci?n de que la lucha por la tierra contin?a y sigue vigente. Al respecto, Ignacio del Valle, dirigente de las Uni?n de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra, puntualiz? que ?el ejemplo de Atenco ya prendi?, por eso no podemos quedarnos en este paso. Conseguimos, gracias al esfuerzo del pueblo, que pare la expropiaci?n, pero vienen otras luchas importantes. El problema de fondo es un orden social injusto que tiene muchas caras. Se llama neoliberalismo, Tratado de Libre Comercio, Plan Puebla Panam?, Acuerdo de Libre Comercio para las Am?ricas....? Los atenquenses miraron a su pasado y enconraron los s?mbolos que les permitieron emprender el largo camino de las resistencia contra el poder federal. Retomaron sus ra?ces prehisp?nicas a trav?z de la figura de Netzahualc?yotl, rey de Texcoco, y se apropiaron de la rebeld?a de sus abuelos que pelearon en el ej?rcito de Emiliano Zapata, despu?s de haber trabajado como peones en las haciendas porfiristas por doce centavos el jornal. ?stas principales luchas sociales que sirven como s?mbolos de lo que se considera la naci?n mexicana, quedan representadas en la lucha de los atenquenses. La Revoluci?n mexicana cobra vida con la resistencia de los ejidatarios de Atenco, pero no como herramienta de control por parte de las autoridades y unos pocos privilegiados, sino como estandarte de lucha por una justicia social que no ha fructificado en M?xico a pesar del sacrificio de muchos mexicanos, en su mayor?a ind?genas y pobres. Sin embargo, el presidente Fox aseguraba, antes de la cancelaci?n del proyecto, que las comunidades afectadas no ten?an arraigo hist?rico en la regi?n. Las actitudes de los que insist?an en que el proyecto Texcoco continuara sin importar la oposici?n de los campesinos revelan su mentalidad colonialista y porfirista. Por ejemplo, On?simo Cepepda, obsipo de Ecatepec, Estado de M?xico, declar? que ?a?n cuando haya muerto una persona, a?n cuando hayan muerto 500, se debi? haber constru?do el nuevo aeropuerto en Texcoco.? Cepeda sigue los mismos pasos de la iglesia cat?lica durante la colonia en M?xico, que justificaba cualquier matanza o trato inhumano hacia los ind?genas de aquellos tiempos con el pretexto de la evangelizaci?n, cuando en realidad buscaba beneficios econ?micos. Al respecto, Ignacio del Valle revel? que ?lo de la cancelaci?n del aeropuerto le duele [al obispo] porque ten?a las manos metidas en este negocio.? El se?or Cepeda quiere obviamente regresar quinientos a?os en el tiempo. Otra actitud que demuestra el deseo de regresar en el tiempo, aunque a este solo le interesa regresarse cien a?os, a la ?poca del porfiriato (anterior a la revoluci?n), es la del gobernador del Estado de M?xico, Arturo Montiel Rojas, quien declar? que la cancelaci?n del proyecto ?es lamentable.? Adem?s, advirti? que continuar?n las investigaciones por presuntos delitos cometidos por los ejidatarios durante las protestas. El se?or Montiel asegura que ?los inversionistas hab?an destinado aproximadamente el cuarenta por ciento de los 2 mil millones de d?lares que se necesitaban para echar a andar el proyecto,? aunque el gobierno federal hab?a revelado que ?no hab?a a?n ning?n inversionista haciendo los estudios o los proyectos de prefactibillidad para realizar la inversi?n.? Sin quererlo el gobierno pone en evidencia a los que, como Montiel y el obispo Cepeda, anteponen los intereses econ?micos a las necesidades humanas. Los ejidatarios rechazan tal actitud de avaricia. Francisco Morales, campesino de La Magdalena declar? a La Jornada que ?nuestro pueblo ha preferido un pu?o de tierra a un fajo de billetes. Los billetes se acaban y nuestras tierras las tendremos para siempre.? El gobierno debe de entender que ya no puede comprar el apoyo del pueblo con migajas. Tanto los ejidatarios como otros importantes personajes pol?ticos de M?xico expresaron su aprobaci?n hacia la cancelaci?n del proyecto, pero mostraron tambi?n una actitud cautelosa. Del Valle puntualiz? que ?si se retractaron en este caso fue porque no tuvieron otra salida. Se ven?a una convulsi?n social, ?a huevo! Pero si contin?a el divorcio de las autoridades con el pueblo, si insisten en aplicar la fuerza para lograr sus objetivos, esto se va a repetir. ?Habr? muchos Atencos!? Cuauht?moc C?rdenas, ex-candidato a la presidencia por el Partido de la Revoluci?n Democr?tica (de izqauierda), apoy? las declaraciones de del Valle, al apuntar que ?el decreto expropiatorio no ten?a ning?n sustento ?tico ni legal,? es decir, la cancelaci?n no obedece en un cien por ciento a las protestas sino a la inviabilidad social y pol?tica del proyecto. El presidente Fox dijo que el aeropuerto se construir?, aunque no sea en Texcoco. Sin embargo, faltar?a ver que opinan los propietarios de los terrenos a expropiar en otros lugares, y c?mo el gobierno enfrentar? una posible oposici?n. Como dijo del Valle, ??Habr? muchos Atencos!? La lecci?n del fallido proyecto aeroportuario es que el di?logo debe existir desde el principio y que en M?xico ya nada se puede construir si no es con el consenso, tomando en cuenta a todas las partes involucradas. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Thu Aug 8 22:04:19 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:47 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Eye on the INS Message-ID: Eye on the INS A weekly forum to discuss the INS and immigration policy It?s the ?simple? things By Michelle Stewart The Alarm! Newspaper Collective It is usually the simple things that slip through the cracks, then get you. After a long week of work (or play), you forget to take back the library book; or after the weekend you don?t return the movie to the video store. For each of these ?little things? you are penalized?overdue fees. During a move, when you pick up your whole life and deposit it into labeled boxes, you often miss a few things. You might forget to grab something hanging inside a closet, or fail to take out the garbage (if you didn?t like the landlord). You might, also, forget to do the obvious: fill out a change of address card. Just like with the overdue movie or the library book there eventually comes evidence of the oversight. You will notice the library book sitting near the front door (waiting to be returned) or you will receive a call from the video store (demanding the return of their property). When you forget to file a change of address card, you find you have no mail to open. If you are an immigrant, forgetting to file a change of address form can have far more menacing consequences? and there are no warnings. There are no letters sent to you in the mail reminding you to do this task; there is no ?courtesy? phone call informing you of your mistake. Yet there is a penalty for the oversight?a stiff one at that. This is what I got to deal with this week. It is the newly required ?Change of Address? form to the INS office for all of us who are permanent residents. The INS admits this is an old, unenforced law, but it has decided to enforce the law once again. The 1952 legislation requires all legal residents to report a change of address within ten days of moving. Without warning, the INS began enforcing the law in mid-July. So what does this mean? What happens if you happen to move and forget to file this change of address form along with the half dozen other change of address forms? Well the penalty, predictably, is a fine or deportation. That?s right, for this simple thing that might slip your mind, in the chaos of moving your life from one place to another, the cost could be deportation. And those who are deported are not allowed back into the US for five to ten years. A pretty stiff penalty for a rather minor infraction. Yet this is the state of things. I am a permanent resident (formerly of Canada) and when I found out about the law, I cursed and grumbled as I went to the INS webpage and downloaded the form?I have definitely moved without informing them within the required time period. When I decided to cover this, I was originally going to posit that the 1952 law was archaic. Upon further consideration, it is actually decidedly timely. Consider that one of the achievements of Immigration and Nationality Act of June 27, 1952 (according to the INS) was it ?broadened the grounds for exclusion and deportation of aliens.? Then consider the historical moment we are living in today. As each press report links another political group or country to Al-Qaeda, and the government continues its ?War on Terrorism,? it is no surprise that we are turning back to laws of another paranoid era. As the anxiety of terrorism is relived everyday on each television across the US, it becomes very clear that the law of the land (with regards to immigration) is embracing a means to exclude and deport all aliens. The post-9/11 paranoia is far from over, and continues to grow as the campaign against ?terrorism? expands. The BBC reported this week that the number of people seeking citizenship in the US was up 100% last year. This trend was reported immediately after 9/11. Why the trend? The list is long and includes: 1000+ currently being detained, hundreds targeted for minor immigration infractions, the tracking of all tourists who enter the US, the widescale crackdown on student visitors... the list goes on and on. The choice, then, to naturalize is obvious for many. So, as thousands flock to courthouses for public swearing-in ceremonies, the schools will fill with people studying for the immigration exam. ?Who is the president of the United States?? will be answered in chime by many thousands, some of whom will admit they are filing in fear, others who will solemnly say they are patriotic and devoted to America. Those of us who have not lived here long enough to qualify for the citizenship test contemplate our strategies, and think about the pros and cons of declaring a pledge of allegiance to an adopted country. We pause, as we contemplate these questions, or as we fill out a change of address form (nervously), and remember that thousands of Japanese nationals and Japanese-American citizens were detained fifty years ago. Citizenship didn?t protect them back then; will it protect anyone in the future? At the end of the day, in this historical moment, it is the little things that seem to catch us. The Change of Address Form is found on the INS webpage. The form can be downloaded at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/ar-11.htm. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Thu Aug 8 22:05:21 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:47 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--It's Capitalism, Baby--Love it or leave it! Message-ID: It?s Capitalism, Baby?Love it or Leave it! By Chris Kortright The Alarm! Newspaper Contributor ?The fundamentals of our economy are sound.??George W. Bush on July 30, 2002 Crisis after crisis has shaken the image of capitalism. Multinational corporations such as Enron, WorldCom, Tico, Right Aid, K-Mart and Xerox have declared bankruptcy or losses up to $38 billion. These failures are not limited to the US. European companies like the French media corporation Vivendi Universal (with a debt of 20 billion euros) and the German industrial conglomerate Babcock Borsig are having problems, too. Wall Street investors have lost up to $6,700 billion during the sharp fall in stock values. Attorney General John Ashcroft stated, ?When financial transactions are fraudulent and balance sheets are falsified, the invisible hand that guides our market is replaced by a greased palm.? Ashcroft is separating fraudulent practices, as if they are somehow outside of the general tenets of capitalism. By separating the ?invisible hand that guides our market? from the ?greased palm,? Ashcroft isolates the frauds and their perpetrators, verbally placing them in the margins of the capitalist system. He is attempting to keep Americans? faith in the system of capitalism. The company failures should invoke the question of whether these problems of deception and book-cooking are a temporary hiccup within the workings of capitalism or a symptom of disease in the system in general. Are these events a systemic issue or are they just chance occurrences? Can President Bush solve these problems with reforms or does the system itself need to be completely altered? Two months ago WorldCom declared bankruptcy after getting caught with their pants down regarding accounting discrepancies. WorldCom is the second-largest long distance telephone company in the US and the world?s largest provider of internet connections, operating in more then 100 countries. They left a debt sheet of $90 billion, topping Enron?s $70 billion bankruptcy, which just two months ago was the world?s largest corporate debt. Burdened with debt and pocketing smaller and smaller profits (which soon turned into losses) they reported $3.8 billion in expenses as long-term investments. Last year, this fraudulent move allowed WorldCom to fake profits of $1.38 billion on Wall Street and safeguard its share price. Setting an unusual precedent, on August 1 the FBI arrested Scott Sullivan, WorldCom?s former chief financial officer, and David Myers, its one-time controller. If convicted of all counts of fraud, conspiracy and false statements, Sullivan and Myers could each receive up to 65 years in prison. If they enter into plea agreements with prosecutors, they could lower their sentences. The interesting thing about the WorldCom bankruptcy and fraud case is that it fits securely into the basic logic of capitalism. Capitalism calculates with short-term profits and thereby ignores the social costs associated with the human and financial resources exploited for profit; this is basic cost analysis. Does WordCom?s short-term investment really contradict capitalist principles? If we look at the practice of capitalism and the logic that has established it as the dominant economic system globally, we will see that WorldCom?s actions do not contradict capitalism, but rather work within its structure. On July 30, George W. Bush gave a speech about the newly-signed corporate reform legislation. He said, ?A recession cost many American workers their jobs. And now corporate corruption has struck at investor confidence, offending the conscience of our nation.? Some people have said that the very recession that ?cost many American workers their jobs? was the motivating factor for corporations to ?cook their books.? By the year 2000, the market was saturated, setting the stage for our recent recession. This saturation is known as overproduction. In a saturated market, commodity and service prices eventually fall below production costs and profits vanish into thin air. Corporate profits globally have fallen for the past five consecutive quarters; this is the largest drop in three decades. But according to capitalist theory, recessions weed out the weaker corporations. They don?t threaten capitalist stability. According to economists who defend neo-liberal theory, recessions are not supposed to be all bad. Within capitalist theory recessions ?free up? resources like capital and skilled labor, which are then shifted and redeployed into more effective capacities elsewhere. Unfortunately for working people, the economic world is never equal and text-book neo-liberalism doesn?t exist in the real world. In the July 30 speech, Bush laid out a statement for working people. He said, ?This law says to workers: we will not tolerate reckless practices that artificially drive up stock prices and eventually destroy the companies and your jobs.? But is it possible for the US government to protect workers within the system of capitalism? Besides a few symbolic sackings for PR purposes, the bosses appear to be doing fine, even with this recession and present corporate shaming. By 2000, the average annual pay of CEOs at 362 of America?s largest corporations reached $12.4 million, a six-fold increase over a ten year period. The average CEO makes 475 times the salary of your average manufacturing or service sector worker. Bush claimed: ?America?s system of free enterprise, with all its risks and all its rewards is the strength of our country, and a model for the world. Yet free markets are not a jungle in which only the unscrupulous survive, or a financial free-for-all guided only by greed. The fundamentals of a free market?buying and selling, saving and investing? require clear rules and confidence in basic fairness.? Like Ashcroft, Bush is arguing that the executives of the above corporations and the recent events are exceptions to the rules of capitalism. By keeping them on the margins and cracking down on a few, Bush maintains the faith of the American people in the general principles of capitalism. He reinforces the idea that the system works, because they are able to ?punish wrongdoers.? These recent events, however, are not the work of marginalized or ?deviant? actors of capitalism. They are an integral part of capitalism. This is capitalism. We either accept its rules of practice and absolve the WorldCom executives of any ?evil doing??they must not be held or tried because they were playing by the rules of their game?or we need to reevaluate the system we are in. There is no way that productive capitalism, or happy capitalism, can be made distinct from capitalism based on unrestricted speculation. This is capitalism baby?love it or leave it! All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Thu Aug 8 22:06:00 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:47 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Can you believe it (news of the weird type things) Message-ID: Can You Believe It? From the Alarm! Newspaper Butt nothing, eBay it! When Mark Kennedy went into a jewelry store on July 31, 2002, he did more than window shop. After asking to see a ring, he allegedly grabbed a handful of jewels dropped them in his drawers and drove away. Later, when police apprehended Kennedy they were puzzled by the absence of the jewelry. Later on, while in custody, Kennedy became ill and was taken to an area hospital where the missing jewels were discovered. Kennedy had swallowed the gems and reported that he inserted a necklace up his rectum (to hide them from police). The hospital doctors disagreed and cited x-rays that clearly illustrate the necklace was also in his stomach (indicating he swallowed it). When the story hit the news in Boca Raton, Florida, a flood of phone calls went out to Harold?s Jewelers inquiring about the infamous necklace. Surprised by the public interest (but willing to cash in), the owner of the store has placed the necklace on eBay and expects to rake in $100,000. Once the butt of many jokes, these gems will yield more money now than they would have before the heist! Reports did not indicate the suspect went under the knife to produce the goods. The gems were apparently boiled and washed with jewelers cleanser before being put on the electronic auction block. Bobbit still doesn?t get it According to a story by the Associated Press, John Wayne Bobbit was released from jail in Las Vegas Tuesday, pending trial to face charges of domestic violence. Bobbit had been married two months when he was arrested on assault charges filed in May by his wife, Joanne Bobbit. John Wayne Bobbit first gained notoriety when his first wife, Lorena, cut off his penis. It was later surgically reattached. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From wires at the-alarm.com Thu Aug 8 22:06:30 2002 From: wires at the-alarm.com (Alarm!Wires) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:47 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm!--Fast Track passed by Bush Message-ID: <00A1F898-AB45-11D6-8EE0-003065F4865E@the-alarm.com> Bush Signs Fast Track Legislation From the Alarm! Newspaper On Tuesday, President Bush signed Fast Track trade legislation that granted him sweeping powers to negotiate international trade agreements. The House narrowly approved the legislation in a mid-night session a week earlier. The bill then easily passed the Senate. Fast Track?also called Trade Promotion Authority?allows trade agreements to be negotiated by the White House, then presented to Congress for a yea or nay vote, without amendments or alterations. This legislation allows the President to sign trade deals that can overturn local, state and national laws that protect workers, consumers, social services and the environment. The White House had lobbied hard for fast-track authority?last enjoyed by a president in 1994?in order to negotiate planned trade deals with Chile, Singapore and other countries, as well as to give it more freedom in the World Trade Organization?s Doha agenda talks. The authority will allow the White House to extend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) across the Western Hemisphere. NAFTA already allows foreign corporations to sue the US government whenever they feel that US federal or state environmental laws affect their profits. There was significant opposition to the passage of the bill. ?The usual corporate special interests will repeat the tired chant about how Fast Track will be good for us, yet the trade pacts generated under the Fast Track model have resulted in a huge, economy-slowing, job-killing US trade deficit, wages that have not caught up to the 1970s, more unsafe and uninspected imported food and an array of environmental and other important public interest laws being attacked and weakened,? said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen?s Global Trade Watch. All content Copyleft ? 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or by government agencies. ----- The Alarm! Newspaper a local weekly newspaper for an engaged populace http://www.the-alarm.com/ info@the-alarm.com P.O. Box 1205, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 (831) 429-NEWS - office (831) 420-1498 - fax From editors at agrnews.org Thu Aug 8 15:18:39 2002 From: editors at agrnews.org (Asheville Global Report) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:47 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Allegations of racial profiling, brutality against APD Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20020808161641.00a3ca60@buncombe.main.nc.us> Allegations of racial profiling, brutality against APD By Shawn Gaynor Asheville, North Carolina, Aug. 5 (AGR)? Two African-American Asheville residents, Khalid Saadiq and Ismael Hassan, both 31 years old, are voicing allegations of police brutality and racial profiling over an incident on the night of Sunday, July 21. The two say Hassan was beaten by two white Asheville police officers, and a videotape of the incident supports their claim. Saadiq is a former Asheville police officer and Hassan is a current youth corrections officer. These allegations come at a time of heightened national awareness of police brutality due to the recent events in Inglewood, California and Oklahoma City. According to Mr. Hassan the two friends were returning home from their place of worship, along with his 5-year-old son Elijah. Upon arriving at Hassan?s home on Blanton St., an Asheville Police Department (APD) cruiser pulled up in front of the house and turned on its lights. According to Saadiq, by this time the three were on the front lawn. Saadiq said the officers told them to get back in the car, approaching the two men on the lawn. Saadiq began asking for what reason they are been detained, and at this point officer Breneman grabbed him. ?I told him that I did this [police work] for seven years, that he didn?t know what he was doing. I told him to take his hands off of me, that I was not resisting [arrest], and that?s when he dropped his hands, turned me around and handcuffed me.? said Saadiq. Witnessing Saadiq?s arrest, Hassan, wearing his Swannanoa Youth Corrections Officer uniform, approached Breneman. ?I dropped my son off at the porch and told him to ring the doorbell. Then I walked back up in a calm manner and asked ?what?s up, what?s the deal,? and that?s when he [officer Maltby] pepper-sprayed me twice,? said Hassan. ?From there I turned around with my back to the officers and squatted down. Maltby ordered me to go prone, and I did. He started to bring my arm back to cuff me and he twisted it the wrong way. I say ?you?re breaking my arm? and he started to beat me.? Breneman, who had just finished loading up Khalid into the car returned and joined in, Hassan said. A neighbor from across the street, alerted by the police lights, grabbed his camera and began to videotape. The tape begins as Breneman is closing the door of the car with Saadiq in the cruiser. All appears calm. Then, without any discernible verbal orders on the part of the officer, or verbal resistance from Hassan, a physical confrontation can be heard breaking out in the yard. Several blows can be heard on the videotape. ?You stop hitting him! You stop hitting him,? pleads Hassan?s sobbing mother, rushing onto the lawn. As the camera comes across the street and gains a clear view of Hassan?s lawn, both Breneman and Maltby can be seen on top of Hassan, who is prone on his stomach. Maltby knees Hassan in the back, and strikes him. ?I?m not resisting arrest,? says Hassan, ?this is my lawn.? Then Hassan gives his hands to Maltby to be cuffed. The evidence of the beating can be seen on the back of Hassan?s youth corrections uniform shirt: knuckle marks in blood. ?They hit me repeatedly with quick punches to the head and back, Maltby kneed me in the back,? Hassan said. ?When they were hitting me Breneman cut his hand.? On the tape, Breneman can be seen coddling his injured hands as he gets up off the now cuffed Hassan. ?You don?t hit him any more. He?s in cuffs, don?t you hit him anymore,? says Hassan?s brother Isaac, who had also come out onto the lawn. Then for the first time Maltby calls in the incident as a traffic stop. Other officers arrive and officer Eberthart opens the back door to the cruiser after recognizing Saadiq, his former colleague, in the back seat. ??What are you doing in here,? he asks me. That?s exactly what I want to know,? recalled Saadiq. The officers huddle, and begin treating Hassan for pepper spray. Hassan is then taken from the site to the hospital, examined, and then taken to the county jail where he and Saadiq are booked. Why the two were initially stopped by police is still a matter of disagreement. On Hassan?s arrest record he is charged with being stopped for running a red light on Coxe Ave. ?I never ran a red light,? Hassan said. ?He claims that we ran a light on Coxe but we never came that route.? Both men assert they were stopped only because of the color of their skin. ?They could have simply avoided this by calling in our tag, or they just could have answered the question when we asked,? said Saadiq. ?We asked them ?why do you want us to get back in the car. We haven?t done anything wrong.? They could have said we want you to get back in the car because of whatever. It?s that simple ? if they had a reason. They didn?t have a reason, that?s why they didn?t say anything. In my estimation, they see two black faces in a halfway decent-looking car with rims and they figure we?re drug dealers or whatever and they?re gonna make a quick name for themselves by busting us. If they violate rules and go against procedure, and violate laws, it?s OK because we?re two ?niggers? and who?s gonna believe us over two white police officers, and that?s what took place.? ?Don?t get me wrong,? Saadiq continued, ?there are a lot of good officers out there. There are a lot of guys who are professional but then you have those who think you?re nothing, and ?I?ll do what the hell I want to do because I?m the police and I can?.? Saadiq said that because of a recent change in Asheville Police Department policy in regards to officer training, both officers Maltby and Beneman were relatively inexperienced. It was previously required that an officer have three years minimum service to train a rookie officer. That limit has been reduced to one year of service, leaving rookies to train rookies, Saadiq said. Asheville Police Chief Will Annarino said an internal investigation of the incident is being conducted. While the investigation is pending, Annarino said he would not answer any questions. Hassan has been charged with running a red light, improper right turn, disorderly conduct, assaulting a government official, and resisting arrest. Saadiq is facing a single charge of resisting a public officer, a misdemeanor. They are due to appear in court on Aug. 19. Both men say they have no previous criminal record. The two men have begun circulating a petition demanding their charges be dropped and the APD reformed. From editors at agrnews.org Thu Aug 8 15:19:56 2002 From: editors at agrnews.org (Asheville Global Report) Date: Sun Feb 8 02:51:47 2004 Subject: [Dryerase] Alarm raised over issue of mercury in vaccines Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20020808161851.00a41560@buncombe.main.nc.us> Alarm raised over issue of mercury in vaccines By Elizabeth Allen Aug. 3 (AGR)? Recently, concern has been on the rise that mercury in childhood vaccines may cause autism. Mercury poisoning can display outward traits, a neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters and biochemistry similar to autism. A major source of mercury -- second only to uranium as the most toxic metal known to humans -- is Thimerosal, used in vaccines as a preservative. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) determined that on an individual and cumulative vaccine basis the amount of mercury injected into young children exceeds government safety standards. Data collected from the US government and medical literature suggests Thimerosal has induced many cases of idiopathic autism, which represents an unrecognized mercurial syndrome. Observations are based on the existing similarities between mercury poisoning and autism and the known exposure to mercury through vaccines. The connection also reflects a causal relationship with, among many other factors, symptoms appearing shortly after vaccination, increases in Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) cases corresponding to increases in vaccinations, and parental reports of children with autism as also having elevated levels of mercury. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder conceived primarily of a psychiatric condition with a threefold diagnostic criteria including social impairment, communication impairment, and preservative or stereotypic behaviors, or a need for sameness. Autism may have differential diagnoses including obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety disorder and schizophrenia. Mercury vapor poisoning shares autism?s characteristics of neurosis, problems with inhibition of preservation, stereotyped behaviors and, as in the case of one twelve-year-old girl, eye contact. Symptoms of both conditions have a lot of inter-individual variation but disorders of physical movement are present in nearly all cases of ASD and mercury poisoning. Al