PEACE CARAVAN HEADS FOR AKWESASNE

MNN. June 28, 2009. To support the Mohawks of Akwesasne who refuse to allow the border guards to carry guns at the CBSA check point, a Peace Caravan will be arriving on Wednesay, June 30. It will start in Six Nations and head east on the 401 to the Cornwall exit. The Six Nations police will be escorting the caravan over the International Bridge to Kahwenoke, Cornwall Island, to the tent site next to the former Canada Customs at approx. 3pm. There may be over 200 cars plus 4 buses. Hundreds of supporters are expected. Many are arriving on Tues. June 29th. All are welcome to stay for July 1st to hear speakers and take part in socials.

For those coming from the US side or making donations, they may go to or cross over from Loran Thompson's Dock or Mac's Marina at the old church in St. Regis, off Highway 37 to Cornwall Island.

Bring your camping gear.
NEEDED: water, food and money. Funds would be greatly appreciated: Go to www.akwesasnewomensfire.com and donate online. For donations by check or money order please send to: Akwesasne Womens Fire, 936 Island Rd, Akwesasne ON K6H 5R7

NOTE: Please disregard the unsigned June 27th press release from the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne which tried to redirect supporters to Ottawa. [613-936-1548 bwhite@akwesasne.ca]. Health Canada also gave a dire warning for Indigenous communities to stay away from large social gatherings to stop the spread of swine flu. Former Chief Nona Benedict responded: "Does this mean July 1 Fireworks are canceled, as well as all future lacrosse games at the arena and the Akwesasne Pow-wow?"

Canada is reviving the old tactic of disinformation, intimidation and threats. We are in the right. We don't want guns! This is a time to negotiate from a position of strength, not fear or weakness. We can't have appeasers make deals behind our backs. If we start giving away piecemeal, eventually we will wind up with nothing.

The Mohawks are obviously not going to break the peace that has pervaded the situation from the beginning to now. The Peacemaker Dekanawida and our ancestors will be proud of the message of peace that we have maintained. If anybody causes trouble, it will be outside agitators, police forces, military, undercover agents and professional trouble makers. We won‚t fall for it. We will protect each other.

We thank everybody for supporting us.
Posted by: Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Go to MNN "BORDER" category for more stories.

Earth Song - an MJ song corporate America doesn't want you to hear

Caravan to Cuba Send Off Event

a note from janine -- i'll be leaving with the caravan from the peace arch border park (vancouver bc/blaine washington) on july 5th, and then blogging from cubajourney.blogspot.com as i did last year on my first caravan. it was such an incredible experience, i just gotta do it again!!

20th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba - Breaking the blockade, delivering humanitarian aid and standing in solidarity with Cuba.

5:30 potluck - 7:30pm presentation - Friday, July 3
@ BCGEU Hall 2994 Douglas, Victoria.

U.S. Pastors for Peace representative - Lisa Valanti will give an update on the Obama’s US/Cuba relations, what this caravan represents and why people should be in solidarity with Cuba.

Lisa has traveled to Cuba over twenty times - each time refusing the mandatory licence from the U.S. Treasury Dept. She participated in the 24 day hunger strike on the “Little Yellow School Bus” and the 90 day “Fast for Life”. She is on the executive and founder of the US-Cuba Sister Cities Assn., the Pittsburgh-Matanzas Sister City Project, the Pittsburgh CUBA Coalition and others. Lisa is a consultant to the University of Pittsburgh's Semester-at-Sea bringing the largest number of US students (over 700) ever to go to Cuba.

Join us to hear this dynamic, motivated guest for the Caravan’s farewell send off.

Admission by donation.

Sponsored by the Goods for Cuba Campaign 250-743-2994

in victoria, walter mcginnis can check your home for electromagnetic radiation (mcginniselectric.ca)

BC government compensates unions for breaking community social services agreements

June 25, 2009

Four unions have reached a settlement with the provincial government for community social services workers who lost their job security provisions under the BC Liberals’ 2002 contract-breaking legislation – Bill 29.

The total settlement of $425,000 will be divided among the Hospital Employees’ Union, the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees B.C., and the Health Sciences Association of B.C.

HEU’s share of the settlement is about $45,000 which is based on the number of members we have in community social services. The union has convened a committee to make recommendations as to how HEU should use the monies to collectively benefit all members working in the sector.

In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the charter right to freedom of association had been infringed upon because Bill 29 arbitrarily eliminated key provisions contained in the unions’ collective agreements. Following that ruling, the B.C. government paid a settlement of $85 million to compensate health care workers, who were directly impacted by Bill 29.

At issue under this latest settlement was the B.C. government’s removal of job security provisions from negotiated collective agreements that specifically affected community social services workers.

No 2010 Olympics !!! You're invited to join the resistance ...

Tune in to the Winds of Change radio programme today ... I'll be speaking with a native youth representative about their resistance to the 2010 Olympics, and with Lee Hall from Friends of Animals about the trophy hunting of African animals in America. Listen Live at CFUV.UVic.ca starting at 11 am pst or wait for the podcast to appear at RelativeNewz.ca.

Resist 2010: Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics. (HIGH RES) from BurningFist Media on Vimeo.

Friends of Animals Win: African Antelope Shielded From Safari Club and Trophy Tourists

WASHINGTON D.C., June 23, 2009 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- A decision has been issued in FRIENDS OF ANIMALS v. KEN SALAZAR (Civil Action 04-01660): The Interior Department’s US Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by issuing a blanket exemption allowing trophy hunting at U.S. ranches of endangered African antelopes.

Friends of Animals (“FoA”) and others sued the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of Interior on the grounds that the Service unlawfully exempted US-bred scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelles from prohibitions against harming, harassing, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collecting endangered species.

Section 10 of the ESA allows some uses for “scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species,” if the government publishes notice and allows for public comment for each “good faith” application for an exemption or permit at every stage of the proceeding. It does not provide a means to authorize the sport hunting of these animals.

The antelopes at issue are native to northern Africa. Today, addax and dama gazelles are nearly wiped out, due to hunting, war, desertification of habitat, human settlement and agribusiness. Scimitar-horned oryx are virtually extinct; most live on Texas hunting ranches, where they are bred. In 2005, following a Friends of Animals lawsuit, these antelopes were listed as endangered, but the government issued a rule creating a loophole for captive-bred antelope, claiming “captive breeding in the United States has contributed significantly to the conservation of these species.”

“This is disingenuous,” said Lee Hall, legal director for Friends of Animals, noting that the Service’s exemption follows similar fragmentations of ESA listings, resulting in removal of protections for gray wolves, Gunnison's prairie dogs, and Queen Charlotte goshawks for political and commercial purposes.

Under Bush’s leadership, the federal government has eroded the Act’s protections to cater to local governments and special interests. In July 2008, for instance, the Service removed protections for Preble's meadow jumping mice in Wyoming while keeping the Colorado populations on the endangered species list -- so protections would end at the state line.

“The Obama administration must reject this fragmentation of the Endangered Species Act,” said Hall. “We’re glad the party’s over for ranches that allow hunters to kill antelopes, typically pimping the oryx for around $3500 each, and the gazelles and addax for more.”

The Endangered Species Act’s subsection 10(c), said the court, shows that Congress intended an individualized permitting process, to provide meaningful public participation. Yet advocates have been kept from even finding out which ranches were operating under the loophole. The Safari Club, which intervened as a defendant, said advocates could find their information on the Internet.

But US District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. wrote, “Blanket exemptions under regulations are anathema to this intention because they allow the FWS to permit a great number of exemptions at once without providing the detailed information to the public that would be required in an individualized analysis.”

Friends of Animals president Priscilla Feral expressed appreciation for the outstanding work of the University of Denver Environmental Law Clinic. Feral added, “We are heartened by the message the federal court has sent this week against exploitation. Why would the government allow the hunting of these antelope any more than they’d allow the hunting of a chimpanzee?”

“We’d like the federal government to protect the animals currently in captivity, who number about 2000 or more, from harm at the hands of hunting enterprises.”

www.friendsofanimals.org

Contacts:

Priscilla Feral, President, Friends of Animals, Darien, Connecticut
Current tel: (at Primarily Primates sanctuary): 830.755.4616, or mobile: 203.219.0428. E-mail: feral@friendsofanimals.org

Lee Hall, Legal Director, Friends of Animals,
Tel: 610.964.0090. Email: leehall@friendsofanimals.org

Mike Harris, Director of the Environmental Law Clinic,
University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Denver, Colorado
Tel: 303.871.6140, or mobile: 720.841.0400. Email: mharris@law.du.edu

Copyright © 2009, World-Wire. All rights reserved.
Issuers of news releases and not World-Wire are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

World-Wire is a resource provided by Environment News Service

NASA moon bombing to be discussed on radio tonight ...

The planned Oct. 9, 2009 NASA moon bombing will be discussed on Coast to Coast AM on Wednesday June 24, 2009 from 10-11 PM

NASA’s LCROSS mission launched a lunar orbiter on June 19, 2009 and is intended to bomb a location on the south pole of the moon on October 9, 2009 with a 2-ton kinetic weapons, creating a crater on the moon nearly 5 miles wide. This bombing violates space law, including the U.N. Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty, and may trigger conflict with extraterrestrial civilizations based on the moon, which the U.S. government (National Security Agency and NASA) have known about since the mid-1960s. The LCROSS bombing should be aborted before Oct. 9.

Discussing LCROSS will be Alfred Lambremont Webre, whose Examiner.com article exposing the LCROSS mission is online here.

an ode to david rovics

have you ever played that game, the one where someone writes a couple of lines of 'poetry' and then folds the page over so that only the last line can be read and passes it to the next person to write their couple of lines (and fold the page so the last line can be read and pass it on)?

we played that game at the end of david rovics' workshop last week. i'll claim credit for instigating it, and thank sharon for encouraging it .... it's something my university chums sometimes used to do while sitting in the uvic student pub, felicitas, named after a janitorial person who used to work there, in between classes. i figured it'd be fun to gift david with something collectively from the group he'd just spoken with for a couple of hours about songwriting and life and all that sort of stuff.

david has enthusiastically agreed to put our poem to music and perform it for us next time he's in town. there's no doubt it'll be a huge hit on clear channel.

Have you had a good time
At the workshop?
with so many friends
of conscience as their beat
And sweet sweet words of hope and rage
Shimmer and rise from off the page
get down to it, feelings from music
Writing the words, bio-degrade the turds.
Ideas with friends, connections and tunes
Birds singing in trees, insurrection in June
Salesmen dance hornpipes, while the goose-step of war
Marched relentlessly on, heedless of voices
That spoke of the alienation of past conflict
and caused him to write of what, knew he not
but, thrust upon him by the breathless cherry, his cherry
bore a seed, germinated, grew a tree. on
Ft. Street, bore fruit that people ate, and stopped buying
Stopped buying, and planted gardens
Dug up the streets and opened the soil to the sun
mycelium running fruiting
spores flying
landing here
on their victim’s bodies

they want to bomb the moon?

NASA moon bombing violates space law & may cause conflict with lunar extraterrestrial civilizations

Alfred Lambremont Webre Seattle Exopolitics Examiner

The planned October 9, 2009 bombing of the moon by a NASA orbiter that will bomb the moon with a 2-ton kinetic weapon to create a 5 mile wide deep crater as an alleged water-seeking and lunar colonization experiment, is contrary to space law prohibiting environmental modification of celestial bodies. The NASA moon bombing, a component of the LCROSS mission, may also trigger conflict with known extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon as reported on the moon in witnessed statements by U.S. astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and in witnessed statements to NSA (National Security Agency) photos and documents regarding an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon.

If the true intent of the LCROSS mission moon bombing is a hostile act by NASA against known extraterrestrial civilizations and settlements on the moon, then NASA and by extension the U.S. government are guilty of aggressive war which is the most serious of war crimes under the U.N. Charter and the Geneva Conventions, to which the U.S. is subject. The U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. has ratified, requires that “ The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.” 98 nations have ratified and 125 nations have signed the U.N. Outer Space Treaty.

Continues here .......

Join Us in Opposing CANSEC!

About the Images

All of the major weapons delivery systems (war planes) shown in this video are embedded with numerous military components manufactured in Canada by corporate exhibitors that showcased their wares at CANSEC 2009 in Ottawa, May 27-28.

And, what's more, almost all of these weapons systems are made by prime US war contractors that Canadians are forced to invest their retirement savings in, thanks to our government's Canada Pension Plan!

The automatic weapons shown in this video are produced and exported by Colt Canada, which also exhibited its products at CANSEC.

The victims of war seen in this video live in war zones fueled by Canadian military industries, primarily Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza.

Join Us in Opposing CANSEC!

Sign our ONLINE PETITION to stop the City of Ottawa from hosting future war industry trade/export bazaars.

View thousands of petition signers and their comments

Contact Ottawa's Mayor and City Council

Make a donation to support COAT's work

Yours sincerely for peace
Richard Sanders
coordinator, COAT

P.S. And, thanks to Rew MacCrimmon for splicing the audio track together!

Happy 80th Birthday Che Guevara!

veggie pride parade in los angeles

His name is Ezra Nawi

Join Naomi Klein, Neve Gordon, Noam Chomsky and thousands of others and tell Israel not to jail Ezra Nawi, one of Israel’s most courageous human rights activists.

His crime? He tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region.

Nawi, a Jewish Israeli of Iraqi descent, is a threat to the settlers and the Israeli government because he has brought international attention to efforts to illegally remove Palestinians from the Hebron region. He will be sentenced in July.

Watch the remarkable video of Nawi trying to stop the home demolition and his subsequent arrest, and then sign the petition.

Nation states vs. Indigenous People and the Land

NYM WARRIOR SHARK REFUSED RANSOM (BAIL) FOR LAND STRUGGLE, RCMP TARGET HIS WIFE FOR REFUSING TO BE SILENT

Native Youth Movement Warrior Shark is still denied bail by KKKlanada and the illegal province of so-called british columbia. He is being held captive for defending the Land and Secwepemc women and children against sun peaks resort corporation and their mercenaries the royal canadian mounted pigz (RCMP). His illegal capture took place on Thursday, May 21st, 2009, almost 8 years after he was charged with defending the Land and People. Now his wife is being targeted for being a community organizer.

Sun Peaks Resort Corporation is illegally built on Un-Surrendered Secwepemc Territory. In 2000 Secwepemc people moved back to the Land surrounding Sun Peaks to stop their illegal expansion and destruction. Immediately the people were targeted, over 70 arrests have taken place in an effort to chase the people back to the reserved concentration camp. The Secwepemc continue to oppose Sun Peaks' destruction as well as all destruction to the Land, Water and Air.

Shark's wife, Miranda Dick, a mother of 5 is a part of the Secwepemc Womens Council and a Warrior for the Land and People. She has been targeted by the RCMP and threatened with criminal charges for refusing to be silent about Shark's capture and her uncompromising stance to protect her ancestors remains and sacred sites from the highway and railways destructive illegal expansion.

A RCMP officer, from the Chase detachment, approached the Neskonlith Chief and Council and said Miranda could be charged with Fraud for collecting donations towards Shark's legal costs while she is on social assistance. The RCMPigz are trying their best to use fake petty threats to shut Miranda and the Secwepemc people up. They want Shark to be isolated and the world stay uninformed about the Indigenous Land fight here in so-called british columbia. KKKlanada does not want anybody to know about the destruction that Sun Peaks, the Highway and Railway expansion, Mining, IPP's (Dams), and the oil pipelines and tar sands are doing to all Life. Their attempts to scare off community support and create in-fighting will fail, the people are smarter than that. The People will not be silenced, we are Earth's Army, here to speak for the speechless and defend the defenseless.

A day before Shark was arrested, a Mohawk Warrior, Gator was arrested for defending his Land from illegal destruction (development). In the same time frame, the RCMPigz threatened Miranda (through DIA chief & council) 15 individuals were harassed and targeted by the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU) for organizing against the 2010 Winter olympics, to be illegally held on Un-Surrendered Native Land. Also over 100 Native People were massacred in Peru for stopping illegal destruction on their land. In Oaxaca, Native people fighting a mine were attacked by mexikkkan police and military. In Mohawk Territory, our brothers and sisters are refusing to allow armed boarder guards on their land and have been roadblocked onto Cornwall Island by KKKlanadian and ameiKKKan forces. We are Unified with all Indigenous People Worldwide, we must know each other and our struggles, so we can help each other defeat the enemies of the Earth.

World War 4 is here, the last battle of Nation states vs. Indigenous People and the Land. What would Crazy Horse do? Native people will not sit by and be silenced and massacred, our brothers and sisters in Peru have killed over 20 police in response to the massacre of their people, our ancestors are with us we stand in full solidarity with our people in the Amazon, we will defeat these illegal rs invaders, have no fear.

Write to Shark at:

Joseph Romandia
05474879
Box 820
Kamloops, BC
V2C 5M9

We will not stop until we win! No Surrender!

We are seeking donations from all those out there that support the Indigenous struggle for land and Freedom. All those that support Native youth, here is your chance to make a donation for a good cause.

All donations can be made to:

Skwelkwek’welt Protection Centre
c/o PO Box 837
Chase, BC
V0E 1M0

Royal Bank (in the midst of switching to climate friendly banking)
Shuswap Ave., Chase, BC
Transit # 00880
Account # 5055447

If you are sending donations from the US, please send “international money order” or it will take 30-business days to clear for cheques and other money orders.

for more information: resistance515@hotmail.com

Take the Tooker - Bike Lanes on Bloor - Le Monde a Bicyclette

From: Angela Bischoff (greenspi@web.ca)

Last weekend, 2000 cyclists in Toronto rode for Bike Lanes on Bloor, a campaign that was initiated by friends of Tooker's following his passing. This was the largest bicycle advocacy event in Toronto's history. Check out the 7 min. video that was produced of the event.

notes from the courtroom - june 10 08

i'm looking at the backs of a row of black robes. two women lawyers (broadsky & buckley) representing the poverty and human rights centre, a man and a woman lawyer (skollod and jones?) also representing the rights of the homeless (didn't catch where they're from), a man (something elwood) from the pivot legal society. and, of course, cathie boies parker and irene faulkner - the women who have championed this case all these years.

there's a mr. young (not the infamous john young, who i meet later in the hallways of the courthouse where he tells me that his two court wins aren't enough because schools are still charging fees even though it's twice been ruled illegal or unconstitutional, and he's going to the supreme court of canada sometime this summer in an effort to win the right to free education for all across canada, as a good canadian society would provide) representing the bc municipalities. b channel's andrew ainsley, who's sitting beside me, says he's heard the bc municipalities association are the ones paying for all this. they're likely shitting bricks. if this thing ends up in the supreme court of canada, which it very well might, there's no telling the implications for municipalities. they might all be required not only to acknowledge homeless people, but to actually care enough about them to allow them the dignity of self-preservation. there's penner (male) and jackson (female) representing the attorney general and the city's lawyer. o'donnell? something like that.

and then there are the three judges. i have no clue what their names are. two of them are women, and apparently one of those won the scissors/rock/paper toss backstage (steve filipovic, who could've been mayor, suggested maybe that's how they decide) and is sitting in the middle chair.

there are a number of witnesses. david johnston is sitting a row in front of me. his hair and beard are growing in grey after he shaved it all off a couple months ago. i think about how many years we've all been determinedly working, each in our own ways, to secure the rights of canadian homeless people to protect themselves from the winter elements. and more than that - the right to build one's own housing in the face of a global economic crisis, the right to gather in communities of our own choosing, the right to self-determination on these stolen lands.

i think about how i could leave this wood panelled room, with its padded churchlike benches, its large wooden desks and tables, its coat of arms .... i could walk outside and along any nearby street and find people who, for as many reasons as there are they, find themselves homeless.

one of the judges has interrupted the city lawyer's diatribe, which i've only been half hearing as i write this, to ask for clarification. the city lawyer lost me after his first sentence:

"there are no constitutional rights for the homeless ...." he finished this sentence with "... to erect tents inside city parks" but i know, we all know, if they had their way there's be no rights for any of us unless we fall in step with the status quo - a mortgage, a picket fence, and suv in the driveway, or nothing. never mind those who just flatly reject that trap, even if we try, and fail, and go bankrupt or get laid off, and can't find affordable rental housing, and end up on the streets. it's just too bad. tough luck. it's not the city's problem.

the city's lawyer is nattering on about cridge park (the tent city encampment created after david johnston was tortured with sleep deprivation and imprisoned several times because he insisted he have the right to sleep on provincial lands) which they ignored at the time, allowing it to become whatever it became (which was certainly not as smelly and bedraggled as they would have us believe) without offering one iota of assistance in the form of recycling bins or porta potties. the consensus among many of us is that the city intentionally let, maybe even infiltrated, cridge park so that they could hold it up in court all these years later as an example of how very f'ing difficult it is for regular, rational, kind, caring homeless people to try and construct something livable when there are drug dealers and men who like to have sex with children ready to move alongside any encampment they can find. simon will tell me, later, outside as we're gathered on the lawns of the courthouse until we get kicked out, that the city and authorities' cry, during cridge park, was "you'll have to take that into a courthouse, there's nothing we can do about it here." so here we are, all these years later, inside the courthouse, listening to a hired hand tell tall tales about cridge park and how any opportunity for any homeless person to erect a tent anywhere will naturally result in a cridge park type situation and this is not the place to discuss that.

the three judges asked for clarification several times during the city lawyer's rant. essentially, it came down to this -

city lawyer: it's just not fair (insert mental image of angry inner child stomping and yelling). the court has over-stepped their boundaries. madam ross' decision imposed an obligation on city council to implement a 'regulatory regime' that would require resource allocation.

the centre woman judge's response: that's what this is about. if the court finds something to be unconstitutional, it means that some change in behaviour must occur. judge carol ross found a city bylaw to be unconstitutional, now it's "over to you" to figure out how you're going to change and reconstruct and reassign. "you make the policy decisions," we decide whether they're in keeping with canada's charter of rights and freedoms or not.

much more rambling about pre-emptive camping, the slippery slope, it starts with one tent and next thing you know they're planting potatoes in beacon hill park. a difficult to connect reference to henry morgantaler and pregnant women. an insistence that this is a political issue dealing with the allocation of resources and "it is being dealt with." much exaggerated celebration of the compartatively tiny amount of housing that the high salaried committee to end homelessness (not to be confused with the originally named and very different grass roots coalition to end homelessness) has secured, along with their intention to move 1500 people off the streets by 2018. no mention that at least another 1500 will have died by then if we continue this destructive course of neo-fascism. a lot of discussion about the city's emergency response thing that happens in the winter, where they put mats on floors (including donated yoga mats, i've recently learned, and call them beds) and fill rooms to capacity (one can only imagine the over-crowding, not to mention the air borne tuberculosis - how do they define 'capacity') and then say about people whose only crime is that they're homeless and prefer to sleep outside - "they could have gone to a shelter space and they chose not to."

fifty years ago they would have said "they could have gone to a concentration camp, and they chose not to." we do have the right not to be institutionalized, don't we?

just a reminder - we live on stolen land. the founders of this city planted gardens wherever they wanted. during the gold rush, the entire place was full of tents. ironically, the original pre-contact natives probably felt much the way today's privileged elite feel now: you invite one or two of them to pitch a tent, and next thing you know there's a whole community of them setting up camp.

i think about a story i heard yesterday, from a native acquaintance, about his sister. they were having a party. someone called the cops. her friends left. five male police officers insisted she leave the apartment. she refused, knowing they'd charge her with being drunk in public (as they had done with her friend). the police entered the apartment and broke her arm in their attempts to remove her. apparently she has a facebook page about it and is hoping to press charges. trouble is, there were no witnesses. serving and protecting.

back in today's courtroom the city's lawyer informed us that, on page 1360 of volume 7 (of whatever forest of trees were harvested for that), it's reported that 1.3 million tax dollars are spent every year for police to respond to beach fires, and "cleaning up" (aka harassing homeless people and stealing their stuff in) the parks. oh, and the city and province want $260,000 for costs incurred during the original trial, which ended last year with madam justice carol ross' decision that a city bylaw which prevented homeless people from putting up a tarp or tent to protect themselves was unconstitutional. one can only guess what this big ticket black robe affair will cost.

i couldn't stomach any more, and decided to hang out on the lawn with the real people.

tomorrow the three judges will hear from the 7 (if i counted correctly) black robed lawyers defending the rights of the homeless.

a twitter

don't go places where they don't like the smell of you.

an email from a 911 truth guy

I recently found this wonderful little parable which I have used to make a 2 minute video.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZeiSKnhOBc


Sincerely,

Peter Zaza

vic911truth.org
casazaza.blogspot.com

it's been one of those dayz

i try not to let 'i'm getting old' get me down. and i do a pretty good job of it, normally ...

if i were to meet my teenage self, the one who knew everything, i could still relate. i wouldn't feel like i have to pretend that i'm doing things that are cool, to impress her. i'd be able to say to her "i'm still real." and mean it.

but some days i just have to accept the truth. i'm getting older. i'm still pretty sure i can find a place in myself to deny that death is actually necessary, and if the time arrives i'm confident i'll deal with death with dignity and self-respect, but there's no denying the aging thing. it just happens.

you can pinch and tuck, pretend it's not real, try to forget about it for a while, but it's gonna getcha eventually.

that's what it says. death. it says - "look at me, i'm inevitable."

but it's over there, it's far away from me .... from me, who can still relate to that teenager who i was. full of hope. optimism. life was ahead of me, and i was enjoying it day by day, moment by moment. i was young, and relatively pretty. the world was my oyster. whatever that means.

in retrospect, it was a party. i didn't have a freakin' clue what was really going on.

and now i'm here.

and same for you.

so be careful.

there's a lot to watch out for. it's a tricky place, this earth, from a human perspective.

very strange indeed, i would expect, from a non-human one.

JUNE 10/11TH: CALL FOR SOLIDARITY AGAINST THE CITY OF VICTORIA TENT CITY APPEAL!

Make your presence known!

ON JUNE 10TH AND 11TH, THE CITY OF VICTORIA WILL GO TO COURT TO APPEAL JUDGE ROSS' SUPREME COURT RULING ON THE RIGHTS OF HOMELESS PEOPLE SLEEPING OUTSIDE TO ERECT SHELTERS.

Share your outrage as the City of Victoria continues to squander its resources appealing a Supreme Court ruling which secured the rights of the homeless to protect themselves from the elements!

Stand in solidarity through your presence in the Supreme Court or join others in vocalizing your indignation outside the Court on Burdett Avenue

======

Thursday, June 10th & 11th, 9:00am - 4 pm Victoria Courthouse, 850 Burdett Ave, Victoria, Coast Salish Territories

======

BRING PLACARDS, MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, NOISEMAKERS, BANNERS

*Please, join us on June 10th & 11th to speak out against this brazen attempt by the city of Victoria to criminalize our poor and unhoused community members*

*Say NO to the VIOLATION of human rights and demand that the City of Victoria be accountable for upholding the Charter of Human Rights for all*

For more info:
victentcity@gmail.com
www.tentcity.wikidot.com

Photo from Pete Rockwell: a firefighter extinguishes a barbeque at the 2006 (?) Cridge Park tent city which sparked this opportunity to re-visit Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Madam Justice Carol Ross' decision, which is being appealed by the City of Victoria, can be read in its entirety by clicking here.

Save Madrona Farm !!!

Thoughts for today ....

It's 20 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The corporate media sources I've read are denouncing the violence with one breath, and celebrating the successes of the Chinese Government with the next. Consensus seems to be that the violence was wrong, the successes could have happened without it. And the successes they refer to, I'm guessing, are all about the production and distribution of goods. I don't think they're talking about China's exemplary human rights or environmental successes.

They say China is a Communist nation. Is it really?

Wikipedia defines Communism this way:

"Communism (from Latin: communis = "common") is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general."

And, just so it's clear, Wikipedia's definition of Socialism:

"Socialism refers to any one of various economic theories of economic organization advocating state or cooperative ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal opportunities/means for all individuals with a more egalitarian method of compensation based on the full product of the laborer."

The 'successes' of China are commonly recorded in terms of commerce. I don't know enough about China to comment on its egalitarianism, its classlessness, but what I know about sweatshops and capitalism suggests that China is anything but Communist - at least according to these definitions.

Here's what Wikipedia says about Capitalism:

"Capitalism is an economic system in which wealth, and the means of producing wealth, are privately owned. Through capitalism, the land, labor, and capital are owned, operated, and traded for the purpose of generating profits, without force or fraud, by private individuals either singly or jointly,and investments, distribution, income, production, pricing and supply of goods, commodities and services are determined by voluntary private decision in a market economy."

What do they call a system where wealth, and the means of producing wealth, are the only things that matter, regardless of who owns the means of production? That's more what China's about, isn't it?

All this talk about China and Tiananmen Square, and my upcoming adventure to Cuba, got me thinking ....

I'm really opposed to the concentration of power, or the concentration of wealth. Whenever power is held by a few, there is corruption and violence and greed. Governments, at least those constructed within patriarchal power structures, are highly centralized. With few exceptions, there is very little communication between the elected officials and the populace. In a capitalist nation it's all about getting elected, and then ruling over the masses until it's time to pretend you care about them enough that they'll vote for you again, all the while serving only the wealthy elite, the richest of the capitalists.

I'm willing to bet the quest for power, for getting elected, is also true in socialist nations that have a one person one vote voting system, though I've heard Sweden has a lot of referendums, and make some effort to gather public opinion in between elections. In Cuba people vote for local representatives who are then able to vote for the higher levels of government. That's not so different from how it works here in Canada - if you've ever been a member of a political party and tried to get someone elected, you'll see how forbidding a system it is.

As a small business entrepreneurial person, I'm not keen on living with a government that owns everything. I think some things should be collectively, rather than privately managed --- things like health care, and education, and resources (water, hydro, electric, forests). It's ridiculous to hand those over to a corporate entity whose only concern is the fiscal bottom line. Decades of public ownership in Canada have proven that we are capable of managing our own resources, hospitals, and schools. Only in recent years, with neo-liberal underfunding schemes designed to lead to privatization (let's break it and give it the corporation to 'fix' it), have those previously publically owned entities started to fall apart.

So I'm not opposed to collective ownership, or co-operative decision making. Neither am I opposed to small business ventures which encourage imaginative solutions and creative outlets for individuals who want to offer up media or music or food in a different and more independent way. It's the gigantic 30 rock corporate entities with tax-exemption status and enormously concentrated power and decision making that are the problem.

What about this, then ...... what if we were to elect socialist governments, but allow some capitalist ventures (if they're earth and people friendly and non-exploitative) so people can make money independently, and contribute to a collective pot that's distributed for the benefit of all? So a government wouldn't be entirely in control of everything, but neither would they be in the business of selling everything off to their capitalist friends, making the rich richer and the poor poorer - as is happening here in Canada?

Wait a minute .... I think that's what the CCF was about - the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. Maybe, if someone were to resurrect it (with some changes, like allowing small scale capitalism and including women who understand consensus based decision making), I might be tempted to vote again someday. Because what's going on here right now is just a mess and I don't want any part of it.

On Doctor Tiller’s Murder

From: Starhawk (stella@mcn.org)

Here’s the post I just wrote for On Faith—the Newsweek/Washington Post Religion blog. To read it there and post comments, go to http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/. I’m not sure when it will be up on the front page. But you can click on Panelists and scroll down to find mine, or just go to http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/starhawk directly. Love, Starhawk

On Doctor Tiller’s Murder
By Starhawk

On the day that Dr. George Tiller was murdered at his church by a right-wing anti-abortionist, I was teaching a women’s natural building course up in the hills where I live. The roses were blooming in lush profusion and twenty beautiful women were on my hilltop sculpting a Goddess bench and weaving a structure out of straw and mud.

Tucked into a wrinkle in the hills, my cabin gets no TV reception and the only radio station that comes through plays Golden Oldies. My internet access is a very slow, archaic dialup. When I’m up here I’m often behind on the news. It seeps in, rather than blaring forth its headlines.

So the news of the murder came through slowly, a phrase caught on the fly while driving my biodiesel pickup down to grab a forgotten tool, another trickle of information as I scan my email, slowly staining a bright day with grief and rage.

“My body is the body of the Goddess,” the women sing as we scrape dust from the earth, itself the greater body of the Goddess, add water, mix mud, clay and sand to build with, as women have done from the beginning of time. Our minds, our hands, our creative bodies and the body of the earth are one.

The murder of Dr. Tiller was an act of terror. Although its immediate victim was a man, it was aimed at women's hearts and minds, designed to shatter our oneness and assert control. And it is part of a larger campaign of terror—if we must throw that word around then let us use it where it truly applies. When the murderer squeezes the trigger, when Bill O’Reilly thunders on Fox News or Randall Terry pontificates, they are sending the same message to women, “Your bodies, your fertility, your sexuality must remain under our control, or you will die, along with anyone who helps you.”

On the day Dr. Tiller was murdered, Governer Schwarzenneger cut funding for the Healthy Families Act, a decision which will likely cost more children’s lives than all the abortions Dr. Tiller ever performed. Yet no one is calling him a murderer.

On the day Dr. Tiller was murdered, millions of refugees in Pakistan huddled in fear of American drone bombers. The graves of children in Iraq are still fresh: mothers in Gaza continue to weep over the hundreds of children murdered in the Israeli assault. Yet the ‘right-to-life’ movement is not agonizing over the blood that covers all our hands.

On the day Dr. Tiller was murdered, uncounted children died from hunger, from lack of access to medical care, from contaminated water. Young boys were dragooned into service as child soldiers; young girls sold into sexual slavery. We could use a true right-to-life movement, one that would champion these children, one that would stand against the greed, the violence, the callousness, the cowardice that murders at a safe distance and kills by hoarding the means of life.

Witches, Pagans, Goddess worshippers have no dogma, no central body that tells us what to believe or what decisions to make. But if there is one belief we all hold in common, it is this: that we are each our own moral and spiritual authority. From women’s power to conceive, profound and sometimes painful choices arise, and we must be free to make those choice for ourselves. To deny women that right is to deny our most basic human agency.

The women in my garden are a mix of ages. Some of us remember the days of secrecy, shame, and back-alley abortions. Most are too young to have ever lived in a world where the right to make their own decisions was in question. Dr. Tiller’s death is a wake-up call to all of us. Women have made great strides in my lifetime, but we are still far from safe and secure in our liberation. May this tragedy unleash a new wave of feminist organizing. May we all get on the phones and online and out in the streets to defend the clinics and the policies that protect our health and our self-determination. May we drown out the hate-mongers with a chorus of voices raised in defense of the wild, lush, ecstatic, and free bodies, hearts and minds of women and men and of our own right to choose what we harbor and what we birth. A strong, revitalized feminist movement will be our real protection from the agents of terror, and our true hope for the generations to come.

And for some positive, practical things you can do:

Call your local clinic and offer support.

Consider making a financial donation in memory of Dr. Tiller to Planned Parenthood, to Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, or else to the clinic of your choice. The former two can be accessed here:

https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp2009_inhonor
http://prch.org/george-r-tiller-md

CREDO/Working Assets is circulating a petition to hold Fox News responsible for Bill O’Reilly’s inflammatory rhetoric. In 28 separate episodes he has targeted Dr. Tiller.

More information on the Pagan approach to abortion can be found in: Starhawk and M. Macha NightMare. The Pagan Book of Living and Dying. San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. It includes rituals and prayers around the issue of abortion, as well as personal accounts.

From: David Rovics (drovics@gmail.com)

Hi folks,

I made a recording of the song I just wrote about Dr. George Tiller's assassination on my little MP3 recorder. Chuck Rosina in Boston cleaned up the MP3 a bit and Jon Fox in Australia put it online at his Head On Radio Network website. You can stream or download the song here: http://headonradionetwork.com/blog/2009/06/03/new-music-from-david-rovics-in-the-name-of-god/

The link to that page is also featured near the top of http://www.davidrovics.com as well if that's easier...

Of course if you know any radio programmers who might like to play the song on their internet or terrestrial radio shows, please feel free to send around the above link or the MP3 itself wherever you see fit.

Thanks,
David

all these years later, fox news catches on to the truth of 911?

TODAY ME, TOMORROW YOU: Hailie Selassie, 1936

From: "Mohawk Nation News"

MNN. May 30, 2009. Rastafarians highly regard Selassie for this comment. In 1936 the African nation of Ethiopia was invaded by Italy when it was ruled by Moussellini. Selassie went to the League of Nations to ask for help. They refused and offered him asylum in Britain. Something strange is being played out against the Mohawks at the Akwesane border. We don‚t want guns there. The U.S. and Canada want us to submit to their will because we are getting in the way of their plans.

Who are the guns in the hands of the border guards going to be pointed at? Who is putting the Americans into a pressure cooker, to watch out for terrorists and to keep worrying about a dangerous world? Who is pushing them into having no choice but to create a global fascist empire for their own protection? It‚s the international bankers who are engineering the economic collapse and depression to bring the dollar down to zero. The U.S. as it stands today is going to be destroyed. The Anglo-American empire will fall so that Fortress America can be set up and run by a few criminal war lords.

The U.S. plans to own Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. has to rely on food, oil and commodity imports. They are short of resources, water being a main one. They won‚t do low paying jobs. A food shortage has been created blaming it on drought and money issues. The oil deficit is chronic. Wheat, beef and lumber are being stockpiled. Hoarding is going on everywhere mostly by the military. The U.S. is becoming overrun with homeless people and empty boarded up houses. The dollar will eventually crash.

Isolation, paranoia and zenophobia are running amok. U.S. citizens are being made to fear strangers and aliens. Foreigners are being kicked out [forgetting they are all immigrants themselves]. They think they see terrorism everywhere. People are being put into unfounded suspicion, utter despair and rage that can lead to mob violence and martial law. The police state is the final goal.

Walls have been built around them in the south manned by guards carrying guns and high security towers. In the north the same plans are in motion. We thought at first it was to harass non-U.S. citizens. It‚s starting to look more like the Americans themselves might be the primary victims.

For global government the concept of U.S. citizenship will be destroyed to bring in world electronic citizenship. Enhanced drivers licenses will facilitate workers travelling the NAFTA super highway corridor throughout Great Turtle Island without ever getting off it. The army can move quickly to anywhere they‚re needed.

Many unemployed soldiers and laid-off auto workers have nowhere to turn. A pool of millions has been made available to the military complex. Many will wear uniforms.

To save themselves, the U.S. is being told they have to conquer the world. They have the weapons, manpower and the blueprint. They are told in effect, „We can conquer the world and take everything from everybody, under the right of discovery‰.

A charismatic leader is making the pronouncements. His brown skin is part of the deception. He tells them the U.S. destiny is to rule the world.

The propaganda is that it is becoming dangerous for Americans to travel. Armed border guards between peaceful nations has a psychological effect. Americans are already being chased out of Mexico by fights between drug lords and threats of swine flu. Guns are going to be pointed at the people coming from the U.S. into Canada.

The U.S. made a new policy to pursue terrorists and criminals in Mexico and Canada. They hope that soon Canada and Mexico will be protectorates of the U.S., similar to the Philipines.

This is the old Hitler scheme to build Fortress Europe. After WWI Germany was surrounded by real or imagined enemies. They had to give up all their weapons and were under the control of foreign nations. They had to pay heavy reparations to French, British, Americans and Russians. They were starving due to embargoes. Soldiers were unemployed. The German mark was down to zero. They had no colonies and no natural resources. Fear was put into their minds. They were terrified of being strangled to death by their enemies. Hitler told them that to survive they had to overpower the world. They had to control those around them so as not to be hemmed in. Their scapegoats were the Jews.

U.S. citizens are being conditioned to blame the Indigenous of Canada and Mexico for all their troubles. They want our resources for nothing and for us to be the slaves who will extract it for them.

The international elite engineered the gun issue at the border. They told Canada to put guns in the hands of the border guards to put fear into Americans. Mexico is their enemy. The U.S. citizens are being lead to believe that Canada is becoming their enemy too. China put up their wall to keep out the Mongol hordes. The Romans put the wall between Scotland and England to keep out the highlanders. The Jews are building a wall around Palestine for the same reason. Russians put up the Berlin wall to create the impression that there was an enemy on the other side threatening to get in and hurt them.

When a nation feels threatened, they build a wall. It‚s a psychological barrier. It‚s dangerous.

U.S. and Canada are angry and alarmed at us for stopping the guns at the border. They are going to be pointed basically at Americans. Are Americans being contained to prepare for racial and class chaos coming to their homes soon?

Kahentinetha & Karakwine MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Note: Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations by check or money order to „MNN Mohawk Nation News‰, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen thank you very much. Go to MNN „BORDER‰ category for more stories; New MNN Books Available now! Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates http://.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; Sign Women Title Holders petition! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois

The Maltese proverbs. http://www.aboutmalta.com/grazio/qwiel2.html
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/selassie.htm