From the open publishing newswire: In the early morning of Sun. April 16th Adrian Haley, a concerned citizen, climbed 60' up a tree outside Rep. Brian Baird's Vancouver, WA office. He plans to perch in the tree until Sat April 22nd and descend during an Earth Day celebration planned in Fort Vancouver. Mr. Haley is protesting Rep. Baird's decision to cosponsor the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act - HR4200, and his continual disregard for the growing majority of science showing post-fire logging hinders forest regeneration.

The action ended a lot sooner than planned but in the next 2 days there will be more. Please help us show Baird how we feel about his Salvage bill.At first the lower level cops showed up around 10:30 and were really cool and thought things would be chill until Mon. when the big wigs would make decisions about arrests etc. Then a little later the Chief of Police showed up and changed the whole situation. He started playing hard ball and said, "NO MATTER WHAT, HE IS COMMING OUT OF THAT TREE TODAY!". We played a little hard ball with him and soon the folks who had control over the property showed up. They were furious and wanted Adrian out of the tree even sooner than the officer.
related: Adrian Haley and associates negotiate for Baird public debate

Got Roadless? Show Dates April 17 - Eugene, University of Oregon April 18 - Portland, Clinton Street Theatre April 19 - Eugene, Lane Community College April 21 - Medford, Medford Public Library

The Final chapter of the saga of the Biscuit Burn is still unwritten. Ecologists prove logging it is unhealthy, firefighters warn it's dangerous, economists assure it's wasteful. Dozens of arrests have stymied the threat to a fraction of their promise. Still, Bush and Big Timber come back for more - this time Kalmiopsis Roadless Areas auctioned off under the guise of salvage!

The Oxygen Collective has been at the forefront of both public education and popular protest of Biscuit logging. We will be offering a free multi-media presentation reviewing the Biscuit saga up to now and highlighting how the latest logging proposals will create detrimental national precedents.

related: Forest Service to destroy Oregon's foremost hatchery | Once Upon A Forest

From the open publishing newswire: Approximately 50 people showed up throughout Saturday at Schumacher Furs for our weekly protest. For 5 hours we stood together in the rain, wind, and bone-chilling cold. Our shoes were wet, our fingers were freezing, but we never lost sight of the fact that the animals used and abused for their fur, those spending their lives in tiny barren cages, those caught in traps for days in freezing weather without food or water and unable to return to their babies, those being beaten and skinned alive for their fur... have it far worse than we ever could.

In truth, despite the weather, we didn't have it bad at all. In the company of other passionate and compassionate people (and their dogs), we chanted, danced to live bagpipe music, held signs, passed out literature, did street theater, drank tea, and ate vegan treats (cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, bagels with vegan toppings, and doughnuts donated by Voodoo Doughnuts).

related: Schumacher claims 2 million in lost sales | all schumachers articles | all articles by 'little dove'

From the open publishing newswire: 17 students, protesting unfair wage policies for University employees, have been arrested at the Univesity of Virginia after a peaceful sit-in ouutside the office of University President John Casteen. The sit-in was the culmination of 8 YEARS of peaceful attempts to raise the wages of university employees, many of whom unable to support their families on the University's wages. The University's response has been appalling, including the denial of food to the students. President Casteen must be held responsible. He must must immediately order the release the students and begin negotiations and a process to allow for fair, living wages for all Univeristy employees. The supression of dissent and abuse of power continues to spread: Unreported in the media, 17 students at the University of Virginia have been arrested following a peaceful sit-in protest regarding fair, living wages. The protests were the culmination of 8 YEARS of attempts by students and university employees to raise the wages for university employees...many of whom have been struggling in full time jobs that have paid far less than can support their families. The University's response has been appalling: the students have been denied food and visits while detained. PORTLAND SPEAK UP! Thank you.

From the open publishing newswire: Today over 1000 young people from throughout the Portland Metro area gathered in the South Park Blocks to say "No Human Being is Illegal." I arrived at the rally organized by PCASC just a few minutes before the noon start time. There was a light rain and it appeared they were attempting to put up a tent for the sound equipment and doing a sound check. There were more than 300 people gathered when I showed up, with people pouring in from all around.

I walked around the gathering place for awhile taking pictures and taking in a scene that was unfamiliar to me: people excited about street protest. One speaker spoke to the crowd "we are not criminals, we are not illegals. this struggle is not just for latinos, it is for everbody." There were many chants and screams, roars from the demonstrators when the speakers finished sentences, it was inspiring. By 12:30, I would estimate that there were around 600 people listening to the speakers, the speaker around then, a young woman said "This is about Human Rights. This is a youth movement happening across the country, this is the civil rights movement of OUR generation," and many people cheered for that statement.

related: Brief Report Back From Today's Immigrant Rights March | Student Walk Out and March for Immigrant Rights Today | nohr4437.org | April 9th and 10th Days of Action | US IMC Migrant Rights Page | iMigrate | all articles by bht

From the open publishing newswire: I do not know whether Derrick Foxworth committed the offenses of which he has recently been accused. That's the point. None of us knows. There has been no investigation, no finding of fact. Why, then, is Mr. Foxworth being publically (if symbolically) flogged? Could it be that the city can't handle the thought of an uppity black man having a sexual relationship with a white woman?

Make no mistake, if Foxworth really did abuse his position and sexually harass a subordinate, then he should be fired. No question, that sort of behavior is not to be tolerated. But there is something very disturbing to me about the city's response to these allegations. As I said, there has been no investigation yet, so none of us knows what actually happened. True, the corporate press is full of salacious details regarding personal emails between Mr. Foxworth and his accuser. Indeed, to anyone who has read the emails (or only a bit of them, as I did), it's fairly clear that there was a sexual relationship of some kind between accused and accuser. What is not at all clear is the nature of that relationship. I have seen no evidence, up to this point, that the relationship was anything other than consensual. (Of course, that does not mean that Ms. Oswaldt is lying, or that Mr. Foxworth is necessarily innocent. Again, there has been no investigation, so it would be premature to assume either guilt or innocence.)

related: all articles by CatWoman

From the open publishing newswire: [Today] is the next major action in what has become the most dynamic movement at play in the US today. Students will be walking out of school, then meeting up in the South Park blocks (SW Salmon btw. 8th and 9th) for a rally and march. This will be at least the fifth major immigrant rights action in Oregon since the beginning of March, and so far, the white liberal/left/progressive/radical community has been mostly absent. There has been some support from the labor movement, but that's about it. Let's turn that around.

related: nohr4437.org | April 9th and 10th Days of Action | US IMC Migrant Rights Page | iMigrate

From the open publishing newswire: With Whom should good, God-fearing Americans take up their protests??

Ever since the Big Bang, Someone out there has been up to no good! The entire universe is now an endless succession of FREE LUNCHES that must have American Conservatives seeing RED!!! No wonder they're working overtime to rectify the situation.

A guaranteed minimum income could be seen as a constgitutional right like the franchise and equal protection bfore the law. This 1986 essay shows us the alternative to the dystopia of permanent war. I apologize for the translation errors. Translation is teamwork.

From the open publishing newswire: Hasan Shakur has organized concerts, organizations, events and put out newsletters from a death row cell dealing with liberation of black people and all people. Now the state of Texas has set his execute date for April 27, to silence his voice.

Working with the Human Rights Coalition, a prisoner family organizing project headquartered out of Philadelphia, I have had the amazing opportunity and honor to meet Hasan Shakur, aka Derrick Frazier ##999284. Hasan sits on the advisory council, the governing board of HRC. He also sits on Texas' death row, and has been there for all of his adult life. As I got to know Hasan, I was blown away by the work and commitment this brotha did. From a cell in one of Texas' most notorious units, without access to phone calls or human contact, he has been able to organize fundraising concerts to stop violence in the communities on the outside. He is able to put out a newsletter about prison issues more consistently than most organizations in the "free" world are able to.

And now the state is saying that Hasan's time is up. It does not care that Hasan was barely older than a teenager when the state decried he should die. It does not care that he was represented by ineffective counsel who was later disbarred, who did nothing to rebut the state's case against him, to prove his character and show any mitigating circumstances.

Please write and call the governor and ask for a stay of execution. Go to Hasan's website www.hasanshakur.com. Sign the petition to save his life at www.hasanshakur.com.

From the open publishing newswire: By now everyone knows about the arrests and indictments handed down to 11 people charged with ELF actions. The SHAC 7 have been convicted on all counts for maintaining a website. Rod Coronado has been arrested for explaining how he committed his arsons. Activists have been arrested in Sacramento charged with thought crime. Not to mention the various Grand Jury investigations around the country.

Like it or not, the radical movement has found itself in the middle of a war. The ELF, ALF, anarchists and other radicals have been declared the number one threat to the state. The FBI devotes more time and energy to activists than it does Al-Qaeda.

For every article I write, I wonder if this will be the one that lands me back in the hole. The FBI, in connection with the Oregon Department of Corrections, reviews all my outgoing mail. Some of my mail has been censored and not allowed to go out at all. I am banned from meeting with the media. None of those who were arrested are allowed to contact me, or allowed to be contacted by me.

I'm beginning to feel a lot more like a P.O.W. than a political prisoner.

"This is a state of emergency. Not only our success, but also our existence depends on your actions. The police state is here. Everything we've long feared is coming to pass. This isn't someone else's fight anymore, it's yours. What are you going to do about it?"

Organize an event for the International Weekend of Resistance Against the Green Scare! June 9-11, 2006 | http://www.freefreenow.org

From the open publishing newswire: We will show 3 short films this friday at 7pm at laughing horse books
3652 se division st 503-236-2893
donations accepted and discussion encouraged

Laughing Horse Book Collective Closing it's Doors May 15th

From the open publishing newswire: On Tuesday, April 4, 32 communities in the state of Wisconsin voted on referenda calling for the immediate withdrawal of all American military forces from Iraq. Of these areas, 24 voted for immediate withdrawal, and eight voted against. In the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, 70 percent voted for immediate withdrawal.
The referenda results represent a major embarrassment for both big-business political parties in the US, as well as for the media, which consistently present the Bush administration's "war on terror" as enjoying a popular mandate, while attempting to marginalize any opposition. What these referenda reveal is that while the war may be fully supported by the media and big-business politicians, it is widely opposed by the broad masses of ordinary people in the US.

Significantly, when the same choice was put before the US Congress in November of last year, only 3 congressmen—less than 1 percent—voted for immediate withdrawal, and 403 against. Both the Democratic and the Republican candidates in the 2004 presidential elections were in favor of continuing the war in Iraq indefinitely.

The broad popular opposition to the war revealed by the referenda immediately provoked defensive remarks and denunciations from the Bush administration.

From the open publishing newswire: Hello to you all, it's tre here at wilkie. I'm doing well, and holding strong through this 23rd day of my hunger strike. I've received word from my lawyer that the minister of justice, Vic Toews, is postponing his decision on whether or not to surrender me for extradition. By Monday, April 24th, we will know his official decision.

Even if he decides to surrender me, this doesn't mean that I'm going to be swooped away to the states the next day! If the desicion is not favorable, my lawyer will file the necessary paperwork notifying the minister of our intention to appeal his decision. This appeal could take a long time, therefore, I most likely will not be leaving Canada anytime soon.

Thank you for your continued support, love, prayers, and energy. This extension gives us all an opportunity to send the minister, and all his associates, who are deciding my fate, much abundant light and positive intention to make a just and fair decision.

love, peace, and solidarity
namaste,
tre

 http://www.trearrow.org/

From the open publishing newswire: Rogue Collective is seeking film submissions of all kinds which highlight the struggles and achievements of queer people of color, by queer people of color!

Our aim is to engage the greater public in meaningful discourse on race, sexuality and gender in media; to supplant false popularized conceptions (e.g. being portrayed as "exotic", "hypersexual", "nonsexual", and "junglistic") sustained by and created for commercial interests; and to recognize achievements by QPOC in filmmaking.

Films must be submitted by May 20, 2006.