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Hey friends, again, thanks for all the calls you’ve been making about our bus, progress is being made, slowly. But I just got word that a young man who was scouting for us yesterday was riding his bike when a police officer tackled him and knocked him off his bike. The stepped on his chest, and he spent the night coughing up blood. When he was seen this morning by a jail medical officer, he was told ‘that was normal’. Please call and demand that he get medical treatment. He’s also reported being harrassed by the jail guards for his perceived sexual orientation—he’s a soft, sweet spiritual youth who came to our magical activism day camp—apparently they think he is gay. By the way he was charged with ‘assault on an officer’. His name is Elliot Hughes—ask that he receive medical treatment and that the harrassment stop. What’s most important is that they know he is not alone and has support. Thanks, Starhawk

Complaint Number for the jail: 651-266-8989 This post has been sent to you from Starhawk@lists.riseup.net. This is an announce-only listserve that allows Starhawk to post her writings occasionally to those who wish to receive them.

To subscribe to this list, send an email to Starhawk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net.

The Republican convention hasn't even started yet and they've had at least 5 raids against students and protesters in MN/St Paul. A groups at the Convergence Space, including a 5 year old child, were made to lie on the floor face down and were handcuffed. The were only release if they agreed to be photographed.

In another raid, a Democracy Now journalist was held at gunpoint based on an incorrect warrant. The warrants were written so that simple things like nails, spray paint and iPods could be used as proof of criminal intent.

Just a bit ago, an Earth Justice bus, which is used for permaculture demonstrations, was confiscated and the passengers left on the side of the highway. Welcome to Bush's America, where hippie kids are treated like terrorists and Gestapo tactics are SOP.

Seriously, we need to get that son of a bitch out of our White House and restore some sanity to our law enforcement.

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for DOMESTIC purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority. Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved,

UN. Fucking. Real.

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This is way out of hand -- join me in boycotting the debate. Kucinich deserves to at least be heard. He's the only one supporting impeachment. Let the media know we've had enough of their deciding what we should hear. Go here to tell them you get to make the choice, not them.

* NBC/MSNBC at 212 664-4444 and ask for the Comment Line or
* email NBC/MSNBC at letters@msnbc.com



Please click where it says "Digg Story" too, even if you have to register to digg it - the more, the faster, the better.

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via the ACLU.org

January 11, 2008 will mark six years since the first 20 prisoners arrived at Guantánamo Bay Cuba. Since then, 775 prisoners have passed through the gates and no trials have been completed.

As a symbol of freedom and democracy throughout the world, the United States must hold itself to our own high standards. When we resort to the use of torture, abuse, and indefinite detention we lower ourselves to the level of our enemies and defy the basic values that we hold dear. Guantánamo Bay has tarnished the reputation of the United States and makes a mockery of our core values. Six years on, it is time to call once and for all for the United States to CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO!

Stand with us on January 11th and let’s prove that those who would advocate for a lower standard are on the wrong side of the law... the wrong side of core American values... and the wrong side of history. Join me in signing the petition to Close Guantánamo and stand strong in support of justice.

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageNavigator/close_guantanamo_11108

Facing South:

Bill Quigley
Guest Contributor

In a small, still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all-white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students.

The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the "white tree" at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other.

The jury quickly convicted Bell of two felonies -- aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16-year-old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy charges.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The rest of the story, which is being reported across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as chilling.

I don't know whether to cry, scream or throw up. For the love of Goddess, who loves ALL of her children, please go read the rest of the story. The entire succession of events, and the fact that the whites are virtually unscathed while the black are being victimized by the entire system, including a prosecutor who told the black kids "that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "innocent prank I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." "

Apparently he's trying to do just that and it's working.

From the article:

People interested in supporting can contact:

The Jena 6 Defense Committee,
P.O. Box 2798
Jena, LA 71342

jena6defense@gmail.com

Friends of Justice
507 North Donley Ave.
Tulia, TX 79088,
www.fojtulia.org

ACLU of Louisiana
P.O. Box 56157
New Orleans, LA 70156

www.laaclu.org or 417-350-0536.



This is an urgent situation, so if you can send money, please do. If nothing else, join the ACLU because your dues go for things like this. This affects all of us, not just because the world is watching, but because none of us is free when shit like this can go down, and you know the Alberto's Justice Department won't do their jobs and stop this the way they should.

from Alternet.org

The picture you see there is the aerial view of the giant Swastika-shaped building cluster at the US Navy's Coronado, California Naval Amphibious Base.

Tell me again why we aren't supposed to call them Nazis? You do realize that we imported a lot of Nazi scientists during and after WWII, right? And W.'s grandfather Prescott Bush was sanctioned for doing business with the Nazis? That our military has recently been infiltrated by white supremecists and fascist Christians? That Karl Rove has followed the Nazi playbook step by step since the attacks on 9/11 - the one's they could have prevented? There are detention camps in Texas right now? American gulags spread about the globe? Do I have to list all the war crimes and human rights violations of the Bush crew?

Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean I'm wrong.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US DJ criticised over Obama song

Why are they laughing? Well, just in case Hurricane Katrina didn't convince the rest of the world that Americans are the most racist mother fuckers on the planet, now they're watching us tolerate Rush Limbaugh sing "Barack the magic negro." This is not a question of rights. It's a matter of taste and judgement. When are we going to demand that our media behave like adults?

Continuing with this week's theme of White Supremacy, Americablog reports that James Dobson's crew at the American Family Association and some of the other radical Right Wing groups are quoting Paul Cameron. In case you're not familiar with his work, Cameron advocates the extermination of homosexuals and tattooing HIV patients on their faces. Cameron's group, the Family Research Institute, is monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an ACTIVE HATE GROUP!

Cameron made his remarks about exterminating gays at CPAC, where Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot."

What scares me is that the people in a position to stop these hate mongers don't really understand how dangerous they are.

Where police in riot gear assail peaceful protesters with rubber bullets for no reason and without warning. I can't wait to hear the official story on this one - there were members of the MSM out in the crowd, and the Archbishop for the area had just been on stage. There was no trigger for this, and no warning - People simply found themselves in a hail of rubber bullets, even if they were trying to get their things together and leave.

One would almost think the police were trying to provoke the crowd of immigrants to riot. I wonder what they had in mind if they had succeeded?

Happy Beltane, y'all. Goddess, help us.

The Anti-Defamation League has a new report called Ku Klux Klan -- Extremism in America, which shows an increase in Klan related activities:

The Ku Klux Klan Today

The Ku Klux Klan, which just a few years ago seemed static or even moribund compared to other white supremacist movements such as neo-Nazis, has experienced a surprising and troubling resurgence due to the successful exploitation of hot-button issues including immigration, gay marriage and urban crime. Klan groups have witnessed a surprising and troubling resurgence by exploiting fears of an immigration explosion, and the debate over immigration has in turned helped to fuel an increase in Klan activity, with new groups sprouting in parts of the country that have not seen much activity.

In this report, ADL documents a noticeable spike in activity by Klan chapters across the country:
Longstanding groups have increased their activity and experienced a rapid expansion in size.

New groups have appeared, causing racial tensions in communities previously untroubled by racial issues. They hold anti-immigration rallies and recruitment drives and distribute racist literature with a new emphasis on the immigration issue, and Hispanics.

Klan groups have become more active in parts of the country that had not seen much activity in recent years, including the Great Plains States such as Iowa and Nebraska, and Mid-Atlantic states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The report includes a state-by-state listing of active Klan groups.

Klan groups increasingly are cooperating with neo-Nazi groups.

The Klan has adopted new publicity tricks and has embraced the Internet as a means to spread anti-Semitism and racism.

ADL has identified the following states as being notable for active or growing Klan chapters:

SOUTH
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
Mississippi
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas

MIDWEST
Indiana
Kentucky
Michigan
Ohio

GREAT PLAINS
Iowa
Nebraska

MID-ATLANTIC
Maryland
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
West Virginia

The basic ideology of the Ku Klux Klan today is not very different from that of many other hard-core white supremacist groups, such as neo-Nazis.

Although some Klansmen may still hold cross-burnings dressed in robes and hoods, today’s young Klansmen are more likely to look virtually indistinguishable from racist skinheads or neo-Nazis. Today’s Klansmen may be as likely to gather at white power music concerts or socialize at so-called ‘unity rallies’ with other white supremacists, as to participate in ritualistic cross burnings in the rural wilderness. Klan groups have become increasingly “nazified,” with members embracing and immersing themselves in neo-Nazi and racist skinhead subcultures, adopting the music, dress, tattoos and imagery of neo-Nazis.

Did I mention that they found a buch of White Power graffiti and such about 20 miles from here? And the skinhead down the road "shot himself in the hand?"

And yet, the ADL, Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann don't want us to call people Nazis, even when they act like Nazis. Maybe it's easier to ignore in New York than it is in KY. I'm afraid that by the time they get it, it will be too late.