The article below was written by two independent media partners. We are currently based out of Toronto, Canada but are presently covering the blockade in east Texas of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Dear New York Times,

This letter is in regards to the article you published today on the Texas Tar Sands written by Dan Frosch (“Last-Ditch Bid in Texas to Try to Stop Oil Pipeline,” October 12, 2012). (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/us/protesters-gather-at-keystone-xl-si...)

Mr. Frosch’s portrayal of the blockade, activists’ efforts to stop the pipeline, and the depiction of TransCanada are misleading. The story is missing facts. I was with the NYT reporter Dan Frosh on October 9th and 10th when he visited the Tar Sands blockade in Winnsboro,TX. My partner and I were doing independent media at the same time and same place.

First, Mr. Frosch failed to mention that he and a NYT photographer were detained and handcuffed while covering the story, allegedly for passing an “arbitrary boundary” stipulated by TransCanada. I was there immediately after they were released. The detention and handcuffing of the NYT reporters is significant because there has been serious media censorship and repression surrounding the Keystone XL Pipeline blockade.

I first met Mr. Frosch the night of October 9th. On that evening, two livestream bloggers who were in the tree sit, Elizabeth Ace and Lorenzo Serano, were arrested despite the fact that they held official press passes. This fact does not appear in the NYT feature.

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A secret audio recording of a stop-and-frisk in action sheds unprecedented light on a practice that has put the city's young people of color in the NYPD's crosshairs. Read the full story at The Nation

October 6, 2012

By Charlie Bowman

Last night's (Oct 5) Occupy Buffalo's all night celebration in Niagara Square was a wet one. The event honored the action by of a lone individual, Joe "Food" Fitzerald. On this date last year he pitched the first tent in Niagara Square. In doing so he acted against the decision of Occupy Buffalo's General Assembly. Joe's action unleashed the absolutely wonderful -- well supported -- many-tent occupation of that public space.

Sometimes the majority gets it wrong.

Last night between 10:30 PM and 12:30 AM -- during a lull in the rain -- I was in Niagara Square at Occupy Buffalo's Joe "Food" Fitzerald vigil. About 20 people were standing on the sidewalk and grass - some holding signs - some groups of people engaged in conversation. An occasionalfriendly honk from a passing car, and a less frequent display of the index finger from an uneducated person -- and Occupy Buffalo's wonderful response: "We're Number One!".

It was then we got waterboarded.

The underground sprinkler system suddenly popped up spraying those who happened to standing on the grass. It wasn't as if the plants and grass needed it: he ground was already super-saturated with water from the day's stormy weather -- the grass and plants seemed very happy and hardly in need of any watering. Nonetheless, the sprinkler system activated. Having no place to go, the added water simply ran off the grass onto the sidewalk, thence onto the streets. And yes, the coats of many Occupy Buffaloeians were already saturated with rain water prior to sprinkling.

No one could remember the sprinkler system being activated last year during Occupy Buffalo's Occupation of Niagara Square. Indeed, Occupy Buffalo did not know there was a sprinkling system at Niagara Square.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Olivia Leirer (646) 479-3426
oleirer@nycommunities.org

Buffalo Sides with New York Homeowners, Closes $45 million JP Morgan Chase Account in Protest
Buffalo becomes 7th New York municipality to divest from JP Morgan Chase in protest of the banks foreclosure policies
The city of Buffalo announced it would close its $45 million account with JP Morgan Chase in protest of the bank's foreclosure policies Wednesday afternoon. City funds will be shifted to a new account at First Niagara Bank.
“I think this move was both a fiscally-responsible, smart decision and also a socially-conscious, community-minded one. The two are not always at odds and I’m pleased that the City will be investing more in a local bank that has demonstrated its faith in Western New Yorkers and a commitment to helping our region grow,” said Delaware District Councilmember Michael LoCurto.
“We hope this move will make JP Morgan Chase take a hard look at their role in the community, and decide to play a more active role in improving conditions in the places that they do business,” said Masten District Councilmember Demone Smith.
The decision is a result of pressure from members of New York Communities for Change, the Occupy Buffalo movement, the Working Families Party and other community and activist organizations.
“My community is suffering at the hands of banks like JP Morgan Chase, who took advantage of homeowners, gamed our economic system and are still reaping the benefits,” said Eddie France, a member of New York Communities for Change’s Buffalo Chapter. “I’m proud that my city has taken a stand on the side of the people.”

http://www.buffalogreencode.com/
We’re preparing a new zoning ordinance to shape Buffalo’s future. It’s designed to build on the land use plan that was developed last year, and to make our shared vision for the city a reality.

The zoning ordinance contains the specific and detailed laws that will govern development in our city. Please join us at an upcoming Open House to learn more about how this will benefit your neighborhood and let us know what you think.

Plan to attend the open house where you live or work – June 4-9.

The slow-turning gears of justice have begun to grind the Hancock 33 --including the Buffalo-7 subgroup of those wonderful individuals. On April 22, they were arrested and zip-tied while journeying to inform uninformed uniformed people of their Constitutional obligation to refuse to follow illegal orders related to our per-Magna Charta extrajudicial execution of human beings by unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).

Bad news, but there is a silver lining in these unwarranted arrests: the anti-drone signs shown for several years at the bimonthly vigil at Hancock Field in Mattydale NY seem to be having an effect. For the past 2 years, the Onondaga Sheriff's Department acted as though they couldn't have cared less about the wording on the signs. Now, the sheriff's behavior changed suddenly and dramatically -- for mysterious reasons. Two weeks ago, the Onondaga Sheriff's Office dusted off a law about parading or assembling in a public space without a permit and arrested and zip-tied 33 members of the coalition for parading and assembling without a permit. And Tuesday, May 2, two more drone vigil people were arrested holding signs while standing on the side of a very public highway. The latest arrests were evoked by a
complaint filed by the military -- suggesting someone high up the command ladder is upset by the bimonthly transmission of unwanted visual information reaching successfully inside the air base, as well as reaching those exiting the base during a change in shift. Perhaps it's reaching the drone pilots and the folks who fire the missiles -- the very people who see very clearly the horrific results of their day's work. Perhaps they are having second thoughts...and those thoughts see expression in the form of new behavior by the Onondaga Sheriff's Office.

For now, no more than two people at one time can hold anti-drone signs outside the main gate of Hancock Air Field -- so says the Onondaga Sheriff's Office (see David Swanson, WarIsACrime.org). In Mattydale NY, no more two people standing near a military base can exercise their First Amendment Rights simultaneously.

Can the U.S. military use civilian police to limit the expression of First Amendment Rights on non-military property?

Unlike last years' judicial events --- where everyone was conveniently arraigned in a few evenings --- the arraignment dates for the 33 heroes are spread out over 2 months. This has the effect of maximizing the traveling expenses for folks living far from Syracuse...including the Buffalo-7 -- and diminishing the already nano-desire of mainstream media to cover the Hancock 33 trials. Nevertheless, the WNY Peace Center will proudly pay the peripatetic Buffalo-7's expenses, and our newly formed WNY Peace Center Media Group will play a big role in getting the word out about the Hancock 33 trials.

Russell Brown, member of the WNY Peace Center and Chair of the Militarismand Resistance Task Force, was arraigned May 1 in DeWitt Town court. Judge Gideon ordered a pre-trial hearing for Russell on June 14. He will be going back to court at least twice more.

DeWitt Town Court schedules will force members of the Buffalo-7 to make at least 18 round trips between Buffalo and Syracuse over the next two or three months (arraignment, pre-trial hearing and trial).
On Wednesday, May 9, two members of Occupy Buffalo -- Laura Toth and Jose Verduzco -- will be arraigned in DeWitt Town Court. We need a volunteer to drive them to court, witness the proceedings, and bring them home that evening. Unlike Russell's arraignment this week -- where 22 members of the Upstate NY Drone Coalition showed up in support -- no Hancock 33er from Syracuse, Rochester, Ithaca or Binghamton will be in court that night.....so someone from the WNY Peace Center has to step up and make sure Laura and Jose are not alone at their arraignment:

Wednesday, May 9, 2012
6 P.M.
DeWitt Town Court
5400 Butternut Dr.
East Syracuse, New York 13057-8509

If interested, please call the WNY Peace Center at 332-3904 and leave a message.

Source Link: http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

"This document focuses on the "Top 1%" as a whole because that's been the traditional cut-off point for "the top" in academic studies, and because it's easy for us to keep in mind that we are talking about one in a hundred. But it is also important to realize that the lower half of that top 1% has far less than those in the top half; in fact, both wealth and income are super-concentrated in the top 0.1%, which is just one in a thousand."

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Susan Herman, president of the ACLU, discusses the impact on the war on terror on average Americans. Post 9/11 programs such as the Patriot Act and other surveillance provisions have reversed the balance of power between the government and the people, allowing the government to abuse this power. The government now swims in a ocean of public data to which it has no desire to return back.