Tell-A-Vision
In Memory of Norton Buffalo
28 September 1951 - 30 October 2009
USGS has Upgraded this to a Magnitude 3.6
An earthquake occurred at 11:52:23 PM (PDT) on Friday, October 30, 2009.
The magnitude 3.6 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) E of The Geysers, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 4 km ( 3 miles)
Thanksgiving Is A Celebration of Genocide
The End of American Thanksgivings
The Black Commentator - Issue 66
Nobody but Americans celebrates Thanksgiving. It is reserved by history and the intent of "the founders" as the supremely white American holiday, the most ghoulish event on the national calendar. No Halloween of the imagination can rival the exterminationist reality that was the genesis, and remains the legacy, of the American Thanksgiving. It is the most loathsome, humanity-insulting day of the year - a pure glorification of racist barbarity.
We at [Black Commentator] are thankful that the day grows nearer when the almost four centuries-old abomination will be deprived of its reason for being: white supremacy. Then we may all eat and drink in peace and gratitude for the blessings of humanity's deliverance from the rule of evil men.
Thanksgiving is much more than a lie - if it were that simple, an historical correction of the record of events in 1600s Massachusetts would suffice to purge the "flaw" in the national mythology. But Thanksgiving is not just a twisted fable, and the mythology it nurtures is itself inherently evil. The real-life events - subsequently revised - were perfectly understood at the time as the first, definitive triumphs of the genocidal European project in New England. The near-erasure of Native Americans in Massachusetts and, soon thereafter, from most of the remainder of the northern English colonial seaboard was the true mission of the Pilgrim enterprise - Act One of the American Dream. African Slavery commenced contemporaneously - an overlapping and ultimately inseparable Act Two. [Continue reading at]:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/66/66_cover_thanksgiving.html
Thanksgiving, Celebration of Genocide
Native American Holocaust Absolution by Pilgrims
Skipping past the signing of the Mayflower Compact, the first concerns of the new arrivals were finding something to eat and a place to settle. After anchoring off Cape Cod on November 11, 1620, a small party was sent ashore to explore. Pilgrims in every sense of the word, they promptly stumbled into a Nauset graveyard where they found baskets of corn which had been left as gifts for the deceased. The gathering of this unexpected bounty was interrupted by the angry Nauset warriors, and the hapless Pilgrims beat a hasty retreat back to their boat with little to show for their efforts. Shaken but undaunted by their welcome to the New World, the Pilgrims continued across Cape Cod Bay and decided to settle, of all places, at the site of the now-deserted Wampanoag village of Patuxet. There they sat for the next few months in crude shelters - cold, sick and slowly starving to death. Half did not survive that terrible first winter. The Wampanoag were aware of the English but chose to avoid contact them for the time being.
In keeping with the strange sequence of unlikely events, Samoset, a Pemaquid (Abenaki) sachem from Maine hunting in Massachusetts, came across the growing disaster at Plymouth. Having acquired some English from contact with English fishermen and the short-lived colony at the mouth of the Kennebec River in 1607, he walked into Plymouth in March and startled the Pilgrims with "Hello Englishmen." Samoset stayed the night surveying the situation and left the next morning. He soon returned with Squanto. Until he succumbed to sickness and joined his people in 1622, Squanto devoted himself to helping the Pilgrims who were now living at the site of his old village. Whatever his motivations, with great kindness and patience, he taught the English the skills they needed to survive, and in so doing, assured the destruction of his own people. [Continue Reading at]:
http://www.tolatsga.org/wampa.html
Native American Issues & Causes & NDN News Website - http://www.ndnnews.com/
Podcasts: - Robbie Basho (Wounded Knee) - 1975 - Click 
Laura Allan (Native American Ceremonial Song) - 1975 - Click
The Thanksgiving Myth
by John Two-Hawks
Let me begin by stating that thousands of years before the 'official' Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed by Governor Winthrop of the Massachussetts Bay Colony in 1637, North American Indigenous people across the continent had celebrated seasons of Thanksgiving.
'Thanksgiving' is a very ancient concept to American Indian nations. The big problem with the American Thanksgiving holiday is its false association with American Indian people. The infamous 'Indians and pilgrims' myth.
It is good to celebrate Thanksgiving, to be thankful for your blessings. It is not good to distort history, to falsely portray the origin of this holiday and lie about the truth of its actual inception. Here are some accurate historical facts about the true origin of this American holiday that may interest you [Continue Reading at]:
http://www.nativecircle.com/mlmThanksgivingmyth.html
In an 1868 treaty, drafted at Fort Laramie in Sioux country, the United States established the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people. However, after the discovery of gold there in 1874, the United States confiscated the land in 1877. To this day, ownership of the Black Hills remains the subject of a legal dispute between the U.S. government and the Sioux.
I'm Sorry You Have Taken So Long to Say You're Sorry
by David Pego
"I think America clearly knows the atrocities - the holocaust, the land theft, the boarding school experience completely wiping out the language and cultures of our Native brothers and sisters."
http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/native/politics_law/pego_apology_bill.asp
CtrlAltShift.co.uk - Cover by Laura Oldfield Ford - Savage Messiah
Pow! Comic-strip heroes fight against corruption -
Anthology aims to make young people angry at the world's abuses of power
by Mark Brown, arts correspondent,
guardian.co.uk
It is a comic book collection without a cape, dodgy mask or death ray in sight. There are, though, plenty of baddies.
This week sees the publication of a new anthology aiming to encourage young people to get interested in – and angry at – corruption in its many forms and guises.
The people behind the project are Ctrl.Alt.Shift, which describes itself as an experimental youth initiative. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/02/comic-book-corruption
Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption is an exhibition hosted by the Lazarides Gallery on Greek Street in Soho, London.
Running from 6th November to 30th November, the exhibition will display a history of political comic art as well as some of the pieces we commissioned for our very own 'Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption' comic book.
The exhibition brings together an eclectic mix of comic book and graphic novel work in a bid to politicise a new generation of activists through the medium of popular comic culture. It will feature a powerful range of political stories created by some of the world’s best comic and graphic artists such as Dave McKean, Pat Mills, Peter Kuper and Dan Goldman. It will also include a collaborative piece of work by acclaimed musician and writer Dev Hynes (aka Lightspeed Champion) and Luke Pearson, the winner of the 'Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption' Competition which ran back in August.
In addition to a range of international and powerfully political comic strips on show, the exhibition presents an array of vintage comics. Superman visiting famine-ridden Ethiopia in 1986, Ronald Regan’s face superimposed on Captain America’s as part of the ‘Regan’s Raiders’ patriotic super heroes series and ‘I Am Curious, Black!’ which is Lois Lane’s exploration of race as she takes on the body of a black woman for 24 hours are examples of just a few historical gems to be discovered.
A short program of moving image and animation work inspired by the comics and politics theme will also be screened in the gallery, curated by onedotzero. - Entry is free.
FREE Savage Messiah Zine download (pdf) by Laura Oldfield Ford
Please note that file size is 15.7MB and may take several minutes to download.
Source: http://www.modernedition.com/art-articles/general-art-articles/savage-messiah-zine.html
COMICA NEWS - Preview: Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption
12 protesters arrested in Pelosi's office
by Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Report, Wednesday, November 4, 2009
(11-03) 17:03 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal police on Tuesday arrested 12 supporters of a single-payer health care system who entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco offices and refused to leave until they talked to the congresswoman.
Police arrested them for creating a disturbance on federal property nearly three hours after they entered Pelosi's offices. Pelosi was not in the office and did not talk to them by telephone.
The protesters, who are in favor of a system administered by the federal government but delivered by private health care providers, entered the waiting room of Pelosi's offices about 11:45 a.m. and were arrested around 2:30 p.m., according to Pam Allen, an attorney with the California Nurses Association.
The activists were protesting the lack of a vote over a "Medicare for All" amendment proposed in the House bill.
Those arrested were cited, released and ordered to appear before a federal judge.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/04/MN6I1AEPLP.DTL&type=health
Verizon Lawsuit Makes AT&T The Villain, Again
by David Coursey, PCWorld, November 04, 2009 6:04 AM PST
America is thanking AT&T this morning for drawing attention to how limited its 3G coverage is. This is something I never paid much attention to until yesterday, when AT&T sued Verizon over a TV ad comparing the carriers' 3G coverage.
AT&T sued over Verizon's "There's a map for that" TV ad that compares Verizon's 3G coverage (lots) to AT&T's (small by comparison). If AT&T had not sued, the ad would have come and gone. I might never have seen it, but now that I have, I am sharing it with friends--like you. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/181379/verizon_lawsuit.....html
Telecom Crimes
Violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution
Violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution
Unlawful electronic surveillance or disclosure or use of information obtained by electronic surveillance in violation of 50 U.S.C. §1809.
Unlawful interception, use or disclosure of Class communications in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511
Unlawful solicitation and obtained disclosure of the contents of communications in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(1) or (a)(2)
Unlawful solicitation and obtained disclosure of non-content records or other information in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3)
Violation of the Administrative Procedures Act
Violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers
Memories for Remnants of Paradise
Corporate Media Is Using FUD
Keywords in the iPhone Hack are:
Non-destructive & Jailbroken
Hey Vivendi: Remember GOP Freedom Fries?
Warning of extra heart dangers from mixing cocaine and alcohol
A third chemical – cocaethylene – builds up in the liver over a number of years among those who mix the two drugs. And this is now having major health consequences
by Jamie Doward, The Observer, Sunday 8 November 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/08/cocaine-alcohol-mixture-health-risks
Mexican swine flu outbreak a man-made pandemic?
by redpill8 - Monday Apr 27th, 2009 6:26 PM
Has Baxter International released a biological weapon?
by David Rothscum Reports - November 1, 2009
One Flu Over the Ukraine's Nest
by Edgar J. Steele - November 3rd, 2009 6:32 AM
Ukraine virus mystery deepens
by RNW News Desk - 3 November 2009 - 1:02pm
Airplanes sprayed mysterious substance
over Ukraine days before pneumonic plague outbreak - Friday, November 6, 2009 - 15:22
Is Baxter behind the outbreak of pneumonic plague in the Ukraine?
Saturday, 07 November 2009 10:56
Trail leading to Pneumonic plague in Ukraine involved "chemtrails"
or mysterious spray, fears of vaccine - Sunday, November 8, 2009 - 09:48
Update on Ukraine "swine flu" epidemic
Sunday, 08 November 2009 10:51
Does Donald Rumsfeld own shares of flu vaccine? --- What...
Does Donald Rumsfeld own shares of Baxter Pharmaceuticals? --- Really...
Veterans Day 2009
Why Should Anybody In the Military Trust
A
Chickenhawk Congress that
Supports
Bush Administration War Criminals and
Terrorists Who Attack U.S. Military ???
Photo of boots by Ward Reilly, member VVAW, VFP, Advisor to IVAW.
Ball of Confusion by Love and Rockets - September 3, 2001
People moving out, people moving in
Why, because of the color of their skin
Run, run, run but you just can't hide
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
Vote for me and I'll set you free
Rap on, brother, rap on
Well, the only person talking about love and affection is the preacher
And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the teacher
Segregation, determination, demonstration, intergration
Aggravation, humiliation, devastation of our nation
Ball of confusion
Yeah, that's what the world is today
Hey, hey
Ball of confusion
Yeah, that's what the world is today
Hey, hey
The sale of pills are at an all time high
Who was walkin' down with there heads in the sky?
The cities aflame in the summer time!
go on and we go home
Economics, Reaganomics, Birth Control, The Status Quo
Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon
Politicians say
And the band played on
So, round and around and around we go
Where the world's headed, nobody knows
Ball of confusion
That's what the world is today
Hey hey
Ball of confusion
That's what the world is today
Hey hey
Hey hey
Fear in the air, tension everywhere
Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles new record's a gas
And the band played on
Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors
Solid Gold in demand, population out of hand, suicide
Too many bills, hippies movin' to the hills
People all over the world are dying in the war
And the band played on
Ball of confusion
That's what the world is today, hey, hey
Ball of confusion
That's what the world is today, hey, hey
Ball of confusion
That's what the world is today, hey, hey
Ball of confusion
That's what the world is today
Hey Hey
Should Christine Todd Whitman be charged with premeditated murder?
9/11's delayed legacy:
cancer for many of the rescue workers
A spate of cancer-related illnesses among New York's rescue services who worked at Ground Zero sparks fear of an epidemic
by Ed Pilkington in New York, guardian.co.uk
A spate of recent deaths of New York police and fire officers who took part in the emergency operation at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks has heightened fears that it could be the start of a delayed epidemic of cancer-related illness.
Five firefighters and police officers, all of whom were involved in the rescue and clear-up at the site of the collapsed Twin Towers, have died of cancer in the past three months, the oldest being 44. Three died last month within a four-day period. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/11/cancer-new-york-rescuers
EPA 9/11 pollution controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPA_9/11_pollution_controversy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
White House Ordered EPA to Lie About 9/11 Pollution Danger
EPA Misled Public on 9/11 Pollution
White House ordered false assurances on air quality, report says
by Laurie Garrett
NEW YORK -- In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available.
That finding is included in a report released Friday by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA. It noted that some of the agency's news releases in the weeks after the attack were softened before being released to the public: Reassuring information was added, while cautionary information was deleted.
"When the EPA made a September 18 announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, it did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement," the report says. "Furthermore, the White House Council on Environmental Quality influenced . . . the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones."
On the morning of Sept. 12, according to the report, the office of then-EPA Administrator Christie Whitman issued a memo: "All statements to the media should be cleared through the NSC (National Security Council in the White House) before they are released." The 165-page report compares excerpts from EPA draft statements to the final versions, including these:
The draft statement contained a warning from EPA scientists that homes and businesses near ground zero should be cleaned by professionals. Instead, the public was told to follow instructions from New York City officials.
Another draft statement was deleted; it raised concerns about "sensitive populations" such as asthma patients, the elderly and people with underlying respiratory diseases.
LEVELS OF ASBESTOS
A statement about discovery of asbestos at higher than safe levels in dust samples from lower Manhattan was changed to state that "samples confirm previous reports that ambient air quality meets OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards and consequently is not a cause for public concern."
Language in an EPA draft stating that asbestos levels in some areas were three times higher than national standards was changed to "slightly above the 1 percent trigger for defining asbestos material."
This sentence was added to a Sept. 16 news release: "Our tests show that it is safe for New Yorkers to go back to work in New York's financial district." It replaced a statement that initial monitors failed to turn up dangerous samples.
A warning on the importance of safely handling ground zero cleanup, due to lead and asbestos exposure, was changed to say that some contaminants had been noted downtown but "the general public should be very reassured by initial sampling."
The report also notes examples when EPA officials claimed that conditions were safe when no scientific support was available. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0823-03.htm
White House Molded EPA's 9/11 Reports
Advisories Were Edited To Play Down Risk From Asbestos
By Joel Arak, CBS News, WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2003
CBS/AP) The Environmental Protection Agency's internal watchdog says White House officials pressured the agency to prematurely assure the public that the air was safe to breathe a week after the World Trade Center collapse.
"Competing considerations, such as national security concerns and the desire to reopen Wall Street, also played a role in EPA's air quality statements," the report said.
The New York Times, which reported on the inspector general's findings before they were made public, points out that officials from the EPA and from the White House criticized the report, saying investigators misunderstood the complexity of the situation after the terror attack.
The agency's initial statements in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were not supported by proper air quality monitoring data and analysis, EPA's inspector general, Nikki L. Tinsley, says in a 155-page report released late Thursday.
An email sent just one day after the attacks, from then-EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher's chief of staff to senior EPA officials, said "all statements to the media should be cleared" first by the National Security Council, the report says.
Approval from the NSC, which is chaired by President Bush and serves as his main forum for discussing national security and foreign policy matters with his senior aides and Cabinet, was arranged through an official with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the report said.
That council, which coordinates federal environmental efforts, in turn "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones," the inspector general found. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/09/national/main567489.shtml
Will Whitman Be Prosecuted for 9/11 Lies?
Reps. Nadler, Weiner & Pascrell Request Special Counsel to Investigate Whether Criminal Charges Should be Filed - September 13, 2006
NEW YORK – Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) today wrote Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez requesting that a Special Counsel be appointed to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought against former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, and against other government officials, for taking actions that may have endangered the lives of thousands of people following the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
"Christie Whitman repeatedly declared the air safe, and now thousands of people are sick, and some have died, from World Trade Center contamination," said Rep. Nadler. "To add insult to injury, she just went on 60 Minutes and tried to blame everybody else for her misdeeds. She must be held accountable," he added.
"Christie Whitman lied to the public about the health hazards at Ground Zero and endangered lives," said Rep. Weiner. "We must ensure that the accountability for these actions is not lost in a cloud of finger-pointing. Only with the appointment of a special prosecutor with subpoena power can an independent investigation occur and, if necessary, criminal charges be brought against those responsible."
"The betrayal of the public, the first responders and all those who courageously volunteered at ground zero following this brutal attack is unconscionable," stated Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. "Justice must be served. The lies and deceit have caused the deaths of men like James Zadroga, and caused thousands of others to become gravely sick. This Administration abandoned the very patriots who embodied our sense of national pride during a critical moment in American history. Now the Administration is failing to uphold our justice system. The reprehensible negligence and deception that has characterized the federal response to this real environmental health hazard is abhorrent. It is morally incumbent upon Attorney General Gonzalez to initiate the independent investigation that we have demanded."
In August, 2003, Rep. Nadler asked the Department of Justice to initiate a federal investigation of Ms. Whitman’s response to World Trade Center contamination following 9/11. That request was based on EPA’s negligence and wrongdoing that has been well documented, culminating in a report that year by the EPA Inspector General that also found that the White House instructed EPA to downplay air quality concerns. To our knowledge, DOJ never opened an investigation of this matter.
Today, Reps. Nadler, Weiner, and Pascrell renewed the call for a special counsel in light of several recent developments. A class action lawsuit was filed by residents, workers and school children against the EPA, and against Ms. Whitman personally, for taking actions and making statements that knowingly placed the victims in the way of harmful contamination. A federal judge ruled that the case against not only the government, but against Ms. Whitman personally, can go forward, and stated that Ms. Whitman’s actions "shock the conscience." Two internal government memos were recently obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, which reveal that the EPA knew the air around Ground Zero was unsafe. In addition, Ms. Whitman may have had a financial conflict-of-interest, and perhaps should have recused herself from the World Trade Center case.
"Unfortunately, the Department of Justice cannot investigate this matter. Since the Department’s refusal to initiate an investigation two years ago, DOJ decided to represent the EPA and Ms. Whitman personally in the class action suit brought by residents, workers and students from New York," the Members wrote. "Therefore, only a special counsel can independently review this case and consider bringing charges against Christine Todd Whitman and other officials who recklessly endangered the lives and health of thousands of American citizens and heroes." [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.house.gov/list/press/ny08_nadler/WhitmanProsecuted091306.html
Did Giuliani Kill More Americans on 9/11 Than Osama?
by John Ozberkmen on 02 January, 2008 14:37:00
On Sept 28, 2001 Giuliani stays with the same reassuring sentiment that all is well. "The air quality is safe and acceptable. And I know there are people that are concerned about it and people that are worried about it, but that's just the reality." [Giuliani, 9/28/01] But between these two dates did Rudy find out the air around ground zero was unsafe to breathe? [Read More]:
http://nationalexpositor.com/News/859.html
Rudy Giuliani's Five Big Lies About 9/11
On the stump, Rudy can't help spreading smoke and ashes about his lousy record
BIG LIE 5: 'Every effort was made by Mayor Giuliani and his staff to ensure the safety of all workers at Ground Zero.'So read a Giuliani campaign statement in June, responding to a chorus of questions about the mayor's responsibility for the respiratory plague that threatens the health of tens of thousands of workers at the World Trade Center site, apparently already having killed some.
by Wayne Barrett, the Village Voice
with special research assistance by Alexandra Kahan Tuesday, July 31st 2007
http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-07-31/news/rudy-giuliani-s-five-big-lies-about-9-11/1
Why Does Congress Continue to Support
Bush Administration War Criminals and
Terrorists Who Attack U.S. Military ?
Ministers of Satan Watch:
Evangelist sentenced to 175 years for sex crimes
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7JRsIm1DgSBIfIFSL3D_fjT1HmwD9BUPI082
Steve Bell
UN investigator accuses US of shameful neglect of homeless
UN special rapporteur says wealthy US ignoring deepening homeless crisis while pumping billions into bank rescues
• Investigator meets homeless victims of American dream
by Chris McGreal in Los Angeles, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 November 2009 15.12 GMT
A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as "invisible" a deepening homeless crisis.
Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing, who has just completed a seven-city tour of America, said it was shameful that a country as wealthy as the US was not spending more money on lifting its citizens out of homelessness and substandard, overcrowded housing.
"The housing crisis is invisible for many in the US," she said. "I learned through this visit that real affordable housing and poverty is something that hasn't been dealt with as an issue. Even if we talk about the financial crisis and government stepping in in order to promote economic recovery, there is no such help for the homeless."
She added: "I think those who are suffering the most in this whole situation are the very poor, the low-income population. The burden is disproportionately on them and it's of course disproportionately on African-Americans, on Latinos and immigrant communities, and on Native Americans."
Rolnik toured Chicago, New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Wilkes-Barre, a Pennsylvania town where this year the first four sheriff sales – public auctions of seized property – in the county included 598 foreclosed properties. She also visited a Native American reservation.
The US government does not tally the numbers but interested organisations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children, often single parents. On any given night in Los Angeles, about 17,000 parents and children are homeless. Most will be found a place in a shelter but many single men and women are forced to sleep on the streets.
Los Angeles, which is described as the homeless capital of America, has endured an 18-fold increase in housing foreclosures. Evictions from owned and rented homes have risen about tenfold, with 62,400 people forced out last year in Los Angeles county.
Welfare payments are not enough to meet the rent, let alone food and other necessities. A single person on welfare living in Los Angeles receives $221 (£133) a month – an amount that hasn't changed in a decade. The rent for one room is typically nearly double that.
Rolnik said that while she saw difficult conditions in all the places she visited, the worst was on the Native American reservation of Pine Ridge in South Dakota.
"You see total hopelessness, despair, very bad conditions. Nothing I have seen in other cities compared to the physical condition of the housing at Pine Ridge. Nothing compared to the overcrowding. They're not visible, they're isolated, they're far away. They're just lost," she said.
Rolnik says that one of the greatest matters of shame is that the US has the resources to provide decent housing for everyone.
"In the US, it's feasible to provide adequate housing for all. You have a lot of money, a lot of dollars available. You have a lot of expertise. This is a perfect setting to really embrace housing as a human right," she said.
Rolnik has given a verbal report to the US state department, which has a month to respond to her observations. She will submit a final written report to the UN human rights council early next year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/12/un-investigator-us-neglect-homeless
Veterans homeless population 'staggering'
Senate & Congress Are Veteran Hating Chickenhawk Corporatist Whores
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
About one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services. Current population estimates suggest that about 131,000 Veterans (male and female) are homeless on any given night and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Many other Veterans are considered near homeless or at risk because of their poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and dismal living conditions in cheap hotels or in overcrowded or substandard housing.
Right now, the number of homeless male and female Vietnam era Veterans is greater than the number of service persons who died during that war -- and a small number of Desert Storm veterans are also appearing in the homeless population. Although many homeless Veterans served in combat in Vietnam and suffer from PTSD, at this time, epidemiologic studies do not suggest that there is a causal connection between military service, service in Vietnam, or exposure to combat and homelessness among Veterans. Family background, access to support from family and friends, and various personal characteristics (rather than military service) seem to be the stronger indicators of risk of homelessness.
Almost all homeless Veterans are male (about three percent are women), the vast majority are single, and most come from poor, disadvantaged backgrounds. Homeless Veterans tend to be older and more educated than homeless non-Veterans. But similar to the general population of homeless adult males, about 45% of homeless Veterans suffer from mental illness and (with considerable overlap) slightly more than 70% suffer from alcohol or other drug abuse problems. Roughly 56% are African American or Hispanic.
http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=1
Who Are YOU Going To Believe?
Government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations, shall perish the earth
Lawsuit filed against PG&E for smart meter overcharges
A class action lawsuit has been filed claiming that Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) smart meters are consistently overcharging customers for electricity and natural gas. PG&E is currently in the midst of a massive smart meter rollout in California where 10 million are expected to be installed by the end of 2011. [Read More]: http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/682-lawsuit-filed-against-pgae-for-smart-meter-overcharges.html
Class Action Accuses PG&E of Overcharges
Utility accused of negligence, fraud in SmartMeter program by Jon Hood [Read more]:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/11/pge_suit.html
PG&E sued over new SmartMeters, soaring bills
by David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer [Read more]:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/09/BU851AHKGA.DTL
PG&E's SmartMeter rollout off to rough start
by Dana Hull [Read more]:
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13786974?nclick_check=1
Class action lawsuit claims smart grid customers see 200% bill increase
by Nate Kharrl [Read more]: http://www.ecofactory.com/news/class-action-lawsuit-claims-smart-grid-customers-see-200-bill-increase-111109
"Listen up, bonehead:
I turned off your clothes dryer and saved you a $30 surcharge!"
Smart grid prepares to talk back
by Joel Banner Baird [Read more]: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091115/LIVING09/91113029/-Listen-up--bonehead---Smart-grid-prepares-to-talk-back
Enzo Gentile presenta Matteo Guarnaccia: Ribelli con stile
Mercoledì 18 novembre ore 21. Libreria ShaKe - Interno 4 viale Bligny 42 Milano
Enzo Gentile, giornalista e scrittore, presenta il libro di Matteo Guarnaccia Ribelli con stile. Un secolo di mode radicali (novità ShaKe Edizioni).
Partendo da Bohemien, Apache, Wandervogel, Squadristi, Rebeti, Sorelle della strada, fino a Hippie, Punk, Skinhead, Paninari, Hip Hop, Raver, Bike Messenger... I tanti “stili” della ribellione di tutto il Novecento, in un tour guidato tra chi voleva cambiare il mondo e chi solo il proprio guardaroba. E c'è da scoprire cos'ha dato Milano!
Da un artista da sempre al centri dei flussi innovativi, il libro definitivo sulla storia delle controculture.
Partecipano l'autore Matteo Guarnaccia e il musicista Fred Ventura, pioniere della new wave e della techno milanese, che suonerà i suoi cd al ritmo della storia musicale dei ribelli del 900. Con proiezione di foto e video.
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Pablito el Drito presenta Bit Bubbles (con il Gameboy)
Giovedì 19 novembre alle ore 21, "The Hacker Corner" @ Libreria ShaKe viale Bligny 42 Milano
Pablito el Drito, dj e attivista underground milanese, presenta "Bit Bubbles", il suo Ep interamente prodotto con una consolle Gameboy e Nanoloop, software progettato dall'hacker tedesco Oliver Wittchow. Interverranno i componenti del collettivo Micromilano, nodo milanese della rete Micromusic, net community dedicata alla micromusic e alla creatività 8 bit.
Sarà la giusta occasione per parlare di una scena underground, quella della micromusic, che riutilizza i vecchi computer per farne degli strumenti musicali, che sviluppa propri hardware e software e che conta centinaia di musicisti indipendenti in tutto il mondo. - info: http://www.shake.it/
It's the end of the world as we know it...again by Matt Wuerker
A Brief History of Socialist Plots to End the American Way of Life
'I saw papers that show US knew
al-Qa'ida would attack cities with aeroplanes'
Whistleblower the White House wants to silence speaks to The Independent
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington, independent.co.uk
Friday, 2 April 2004
A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened.
A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened.
She said the claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that there was no such information was "an outrageous lie".
Sibel Edmonds said she spent more than three hours in a closed session with the commission's investigators providing information that was circulating within the FBI in the spring and summer of 2001 suggesting that an attack using aircraft was just months away and the terrorists were in place. The Bush administration, meanwhile, has sought to silence her and has obtained a gagging order from a court by citing the rarely used "state secrets privilege".
She told The Independent yesterday: "I gave [the commission] details of specific investigation files, the specific dates, specific target information, specific managers in charge of the investigation. I gave them everything so that they could go back and follow up. This is not hearsay. These are things that are documented. These things can be established very easily."
She added: "There was general information about the time-frame, about methods to be used but not specifically about how they would be used and about people being in place and who was ordering these sorts of terror attacks. There were other cities that were mentioned. Major cities with skyscrapers."
The accusations from Mrs Edmonds, 33, a Turkish-American who speaks Azerbaijani, Farsi, Turkish and English, will reignite the controversy over whether the administration ignored warnings about al-Qa'ida. That controversy was sparked most recently by Richard Clarke, a former counter-terrorism official, who has accused the administration of ignoring his warnings.
The issue what the administration knew and when is central to the investigation by the 9/11 Commission, which has been hearing testimony in public and private from government officials, intelligence officials and secret sources. Earlier this week, the White House made a U-turn when it said that Ms Rice would appear in public before the commission to answer questions. Mr Bush and his deputy, Dick Cheney, will also be questioned in a closed-door session.
Mrs Edmonds, 33, says she gave her evidence to the commission in a specially constructed "secure" room at its offices in Washington on 11 February. She was hired as a translator for the FBI's Washington field office on 13 September 2001, just two days after the al-Qa'ida attacks. Her job was to translate documents and recordings from FBI wire-taps.
She said said it was clear there was sufficient information during the spring and summer of 2001 to indicate terrorists were planning an attack. "Most of what I told the commission 90 per cent of it related to the investigations that I was involved in or just from working in the department. Two hundred translators side by side, you get to see and hear a lot of other things as well."
"President Bush said they had no specific information about 11 September and that is accurate but only because he said 11 September," she said. There was, however, general information about the use of airplanes and that an attack was just months away.
To try to refute Mr Clarke's accusations, Ms Rice said the administration did take steps to counter al-Qa'ida. But in an opinion piece in The Washington Post on 22 March, Ms Rice wrote: "Despite what some have suggested, we received no intelligence that terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland using airplanes as missiles, though some analysts speculated that terrorists might hijack planes to try and free US-held terrorists."
Mrs Edmonds said that by using the word "we", Ms Rice told an "outrageous lie". She said: "Rice says 'we' not 'I'. That would include all people from the FBI, the CIA and DIA [Defence Intelligence Agency]. I am saying that is impossible."
It is impossible at this stage to verify Mrs Edmonds' claims. However, some senior US senators testified to her credibility in 2002 when she went public with separate allegations relating to alleged incompetence and corruption within the FBI's translation department.
US top court orders more review in photo abuse case
WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set aside a lower court's ruling that had ordered the release of photographs showing American soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The high court's action, which had been expected, occurred after the U.S. Congress recently approved a provision to exempt the photographs from disclosure, a measure that President Barack Obama signed into law. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN3044964920091130
Seymour Hersh says:
The US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking," the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was "a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."
He called the prison scene "a series of massive crimes, criminal activity by the president and the vice president, by this administration anyway…war crimes."
The outrages have cost us the support of moderate Arabs, says Hersh. "They see us as a sexually perverse society."
Hersh describes a Pentagon in crisis. The defense department budget is “in incredible chaos,” he says, with large sums of cash missing, including something like $1 billion that was supposed to be in Iraq.
"The disaffection inside the Pentagon is extremely acute," Hersh says. He tells the story of an officer telling Rumsfeld how bad things are, and Rummy turning to a ranking general yes-man who reassured him that things are just fine. Says Hersh, "The Secretary of Defense is simply incapable of hearing what he doesn't want to hear."
The Iraqi insurgency, he says,was operating in 1-to-3 man cells a year ago, now in 10-15 man cells, and despite the harsh questioning, "we still know nothing about them...we have no tactical information.”
He says the foreign element among insurgents is overstated, and that bogeyman Zarqawi is "a composite figure" hyped by our government.
The war, he says, has escalated to "full scale, increasingly intense military activity."
Hersh described the folks in charge of US policy as "neo conservative cultists" who have taken the government over, and show "how fragile our democracy is."
He ripped the supine US press, pledged to bring home all the facts he could, said he was not sure he could deliver all the damning info he suspects about Bush administration responsibility for Abu Ghraib. [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.pastpeak.com/archives/2004/07/post_1.htm
Supreme Court to democracy: Drop dead
With a single rash, partisan act, the high court has tainted the Bush presidency, besmirched its own reputation and soiled our nation's proudest legacy.
By Gary Kamiya, Thursday, Dec 14, 2000 17:32 PST
Tuesday, Dec. 12, is a day that will live in American infamy long after the tainted election of George W. Bush has faded from memory. With their rash, divisive decision to dispense with the risky and inconvenient workings of democracy and simply award the presidency to their fellow Republican, five right-wing justices dragged the Supreme Court down to perhaps its most ignominious point since the Dred Scott decision.
The court was the last American civic institution to have preserved an aura of impartiality, to be regarded as above the gutter of partisanship and self-interest. The reality, of course, is that no court, no judge, no human being, is completely free of those entanglements. Yet the court has generally acted wisely in avoiding judgments that would inevitably and utterly besmirch it. With one reckless and partisan ruling, it squandered its most precious possession: its reputation. It may take years, even decades, to repair the damage done by the Scalia-Rehnquist court's decision to cancel the election and crown the winner.
It's hard not to conclude, now that this whole sorry saga is over, that the fix was in from the beginning. Not the crude, "vast right-wing conspiracy" fix of Hillary Clinton's imagination, but a de facto fix. Why shouldn't one think the game was rigged, when five Republican-appointed justices -- one of whose son works for the law firm of the lawyer representing Bush, another of whose wife is recruiting staff for the Bush admininstration and two of whom have made clear their desire to retire under a Republican administration -- trashed their entire judicial philosophy to ram through, with only the most cramped of legal justifications, a last-second victory for a Republican who lost the national popular vote and, when the votes in Florida are actually counted, is likely to have lost the Florida one as well? [Continue Reading At]:
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/12/14/bush/index.html
Denialists Click HERE To Continue
The man whispered, "God, speak to me" and a meadowlark sang. But the man did not hear. So the man yelled "God, speak to me" and the thunder rolled across the sky. But the man did not listen. The man looked around and said, "God let me see you" and a star shined brightly. But the man did not notice. And the man shouted, "God show me a miracle" and a life was born. But the man did not know. So the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God, and let me know you are there" Whereupon God reached down and touched the man. But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.
Don't miss out on a blessing because it isn't packaged the way you expect.
Without love in the dream, it will never come true. - Garcia/Hunter