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This week's Rad Teen Print off the week is from Desmond, a student at RUST (Radical Urban Silkscreen Team) in Hazelwood. Students each picked an inspiring quote at random, chosen by Closing the Gap, a health program of the... Mary Tremonte

Republished by Energy Bulletin, OpEdNews, and Countercurrents. The following exchange between Michael Carriere and Alex Knight occurred via email, July 2010. Alex Knight was questioned about the End of Capitalism Theory, which states that the global capitalist system is breaking down due to ecological and social limits to growth and that a paradigm shift toward [...]

July 26, 2010 chicagobreakingnews.com

A well-known figure in Chicago's Puerto Rican community was released from federal prison today, more than three decades after taking part in a nationalist movement that terrorized the city with bombings and other violent acts.

Carlos Alberto Torres, 57, paroled after serving 30-years for seditious conspiracy related to his role in the FALN movement, was en route this afternoon to Chicago from the federal prison in downstate Marion.
Torres was not charged with any specific bombings, and his supporters called him a "political prisoner" who had served enough time and deserved to be paroled.

"I consider this a day of victory for all the people who have dedicated years of struggle for the liberty of all the political prisoners," Torres said by cell phone.

A rally was planned for 4 p.m. today on West Division Street in the heart of the Puerto Rican community.

Through the early 1980s, the FALN used homemade bombs to make a political statement, robbing banks to finance their activities. They were active primarily in Chicago and New York. Six people were killed in New York as a result of FALN violence.

Despite criticism from Mayor Richard Daley, President Clinton in 1999 offered clemency to 11 FALN prisoners, a group that did not include Torres. Family members of victims were critical of Clinton's move, saying the prisoners should be considered terrorists.

The son of a man killed by an FALN blast called the releases "a disrespectful affront to all Americans" in a newspaper op-ed last year.

Torres said he understood why some would still harbor ill feelings toward the FALN activists.

"That is the past and the past cannot change. We can only impact the moment of the present and the future," he said. "The people have a right to their opinions and it is not my place to try to convince them one way or the other."

Alejandro Molina of the Boricua Human Rights Network said supporters would be raising funds to ease Torres' transition into society. Torres is scheduled to return to his native Puerto Rico on Tuesday morning.

The Incarceration of Carlos Alberto Torres

By MARJORIE COHN counterpunch.org

Today, Puerto Rican political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres will walk out of prison after 30 years behind bars. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy - conspiring to use force against the lawful authority of the United States over Puerto Rico. Torres was punished for being a member of an armed clandestine organization called the FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation), which had taken responsibility for bombings that resulted in no deaths or injuries. He was not accused of taking part in these bombings, only of being a member of the FALN.

In 1898, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States by Spain as war bounty in the treaty that ended the Spanish-American War. Nevertheless, the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico and has occupied it ever since. Puerto Ricans have always resisted foreign occupation of their land and called for independence.

The Puerto Rican independence movement enjoys wide support internationally. Every year for 29 years the United Nations Decolonization Committee has passed a resolution calling for independence. There have been similar declarations of the Non-Aligned Movement, and recent submissions to the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review.

All of these expressions call on the U.S. government to release Puerto Rican political prisoners who have served 30 and 29 years of their disproportionately long 70 year sentences in U.S. prisons for cases related to the struggle for Puerto Rican independence. They include Torres (who was sentenced to 30 years) and Oscar López Rivera (sentenced to 29 years), as well as Avelino González Claudio, who was recently sentenced to seven years. None of these men was convicted for harming anyone or taking a life.

Torres’ attorney, National Lawyers Guild member Jan Susler of Chicago, notes, “Carlos is being released from prison due to the unflagging support of the Puerto Rican independence movement and others who work for human rights. The more than 10,000 letters of support from the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico and other countries sent a strong message to the Parole Commission.”

Supporters from all over the United States will flock to the welcoming celebration in Chicago, which will take place in the heart of the Puerto Rican community. Tomorrow, Torres, his family and attorney will fly to Puerto Rico, where thousands will greet him with a concert of the nation’s finest musicians and artists.

Yet there is a damper on the celebration, as Torres leaves behind his compatriot Oscar López, a 67 year old decorated Viet Nam veteran. López did not accept the terms of President Clinton’s 1999 clemency offer, which would have required him to serve an additional 10 years in prison with good conduct. Though he declined the offer, López has now served the additional 10 years in prison with good conduct. Had he accepted the deal, he would have been released last September. Those who did accept are living successful lives, fully integrated into civil society. There is no reason to treat him differently.

While we celebrate this remarkable day in the life of Torres and the movement for Puerto Rican independence, let us commit ourselves to continue to struggle until Oscar López Rivera and Avelino González Claudio, as well as all political prisoners in U.S. prisons, also walk free.

Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, is immediate past president of the National Lawyers Guild, deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and the U.S. representative to the executive council of the American Association of Jurists.

Justseeds RESOURCED Portfolio Launch Reception Pittsburgh, PA Friday, July 30th - 6-10pm Free and Open to the Public 3410 Penn Ave 2nd Floor (entrance and bike parking around back via Spring Way) EVENT DETAILS: Justseeds Artists' Cooperative is launching... Shaun Silfer

In the decade from 1931 to 1940, B. Traven published a series of six books known as his Jungle Novels: Government (1931), The Carreta (aka The Cart) (1931), March to the Monteria (aka March To Caobaland) (1933), Trozas (1936), The... Josh M. www.justseeds.org

We actually have to thank Andrew Breitbart in some respects because after the fun we had with him and his temper tantrums earlier this year when we busted his boy James O'Keefe at a white supremacist forum in 2006 (something that O'Keefe is still avoiding talking about), we have been non-stop going around the country using him to make our point. Thing is, if he is still able to cost a good woman her job on his say so because someone in the Obama Administration doesn't have not the balls but the brains to tell him to go to hell, there's more work to do. It seems that Saturday in Philadelphia, PA is going to be his next Teabagger event and that rally is significant because the organizers wanted this rally to show that the NAACP is sooooo wrong about them. Breitbart isn't helping, and the black conservatives who are going to be on this stage kissing his behind are just going to make themselves look stupid. Not all of them though. While the "Uni-TEA" rally is phony in his mission to bridge those racial gaps, that doesn't mean everyone participating is insincere. There are some folks who have issues with Breitbart's presence, given what he did - and apparently still wants to do - to former USDA official Shirley Sherrod last week. Some may not participate. Some will in the hopes that it will help start something that will ease the shrill discourse. Sadly far too many of them will prefer that shrill discourse. If that's the case, we have no problem playing along. That's one thing Breitbart knows about us all too well!

Law enforcement agencies actually paid crook to sponsor “seminars” used to hook his marks

 

Investment broker Kenneth Wayne McLeod was found dead, Vince Foster-style, inside his SUV in a park in southeast Jacksonville, Fla., on June 22.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to media reports. A rumor now popular among some federal law enforcement agents casts a bit of bitter irony over McLeod’s fate, indicating that he killed himself with a pistol given to him by the DEA to commemorate his years of service to the agency.

Whether that rumor has any basis in reality is not clear, but it speaks volumes about how some law enforcers feel about what McLeod did to a number of DEA agents, as well as dozens of other former and retired federal agents.

McLeod’s death came only some five days after he confessed to Securities and Exchange Commission investigators that he had been operating a 22-year-long Ponzi scheme that had victimized hundreds of government employees, primarily federal law enforcement agents.

In a Ponzi scheme, individuals are lured into investing money in a fund or other vehicle in exchange for the promise of high returns. However, the investment incentive is, in fact, an elaborate ruse that plays on greed. The money put in by new investors is used to make some payments to earlier investors in order to maintain the pretense of legitimacy, but the bulk of the money is almost always misappropriated to the desired ends of the operators of the Ponzi scheme.

And though many of the facts of McLeod’s Ponzi scheme are now known, what is not known is whether other parties enabled his confidence scheme, either through negligence or complicity. But it is clear that McLeod did not operate in a vacuum, and that a number of individuals, including former federal law enforcement agents, were part of his business circle and arguably, wittingly or unwittingly, enhanced McLeod’s credibility, and thereby ability, to gain the trust of his marks.

By the time the SEC, based on an anonymous tip, intervened in mid-June, McLeod, a registered investment broker, had scammed as much as $34 million from 139 individuals who were still invested in his phony retirement fund, which he called the FEBG Bond Fund. Most of the investors in the bond fund, which court records show numbered as high as 260 at one point, were current and retired law enforcers with agencies such as DEA, FBI and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security.)

McLeod’s exploits have been well-reported by the mainstream press in Florida, such as the Times-Union in Jacksonville, as well as by trade publications that cover government, like the Federal Times — which concedes in its coverage that it has previously printed a couple of retirement advice columns penned by McLeod.

One of McLeod’s tricks in advancing his confidence scheme, it seems, was to spend copiously on self-promotion and to ingratiate himself with connected people in the law enforcement community. In fact, McLeod, between 2005 and June 2010, spent more than $1 million on promotional items to bolster his brand name – including paying thousands of dollars for luxury suites at the local pro football stadium and sponsoring an annual junket for 40 of his “friends” to the Super Bowl, according to pleadings filed against his estate in a pending federal lawsuit in Miami.

McLeod also managed to get his foot in the door of major federal law enforcement agencies, such as DEA, FBI, the Secret Service, ICE and even the IRS, via retirement-planning seminars he provided to employees of those agencies. He was so connected that he not only regularly presented these seminars at various law enforcement field offices around the country, but he was also invited to pitch his retirement advice at seminars held at ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C.; the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Va.; and the El Paso Intelligence Center in Texas, a secretive multi-agency operation located along the border.

McLeod, since 2006, put on nearly 260 such seminars, according to information still available on his company Web site. And, according to federal court pleadings, he was paid up to $15,000 per seminar by the sponsoring law enforcement agencies.

The SEC, in a press release issued in late June, describes McLeod’s scheme as follows:

The SEC alleges that McLeod lured many of his investors through retirement benefits seminars he gave at government agencies nationwide [through his company called Federal Employee Benefits Group Inc., or FEBG]. … The security of the government bonds [in his purported FEBG Bond Fund] was a key element of McLeod's deception but he never purchased any bonds. Instead, he used the investors' retirement savings to conduct a Ponzi scheme, to pay himself, and to pay for lavish entertainment, including annual trips to the Super Bowl for himself and 40 friends.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed on June 24, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, McLeod traveled to various state and federal government agencies to conduct FEBG employee benefits counseling and planning seminars. FEBG also provided individuals with personalized benefits analyses specific to their retirement plans and financial portfolios. Individuals could also choose to have F&S Asset Management [another McLeod company] manage their money.

The SEC alleges that in addition to the traditional investments McLeod offered through F&S Asset Management, he offered many investors guaranteed annual returns of eight to ten percent through a purported tax-free "FEBG Bond Fund" or "FEBG Special Fund." He falsely told investors that their principal would be 100 percent invested in and secured by government bonds.

Even though SEC investigators make clear how McLeod worked his scheme, it is not yet clear, as mentioned, whether anyone else besides McLeod was complicit, or criminally negligent, in advancing the Ponzi scheme.

Calls made to federal law enforcement agencies, such as ICE and DEA, seeking comment on McLeod’s scam, and whether he was properly vetted by the federal agencies paying him for his seminars, were referred to the FBI, which is still investigating the case.

Jeff Westcott, spokesman for the FBI office in Jacksonville, makes clear that no determination has been made yet that McLeod acted alone.

As far as the FBI is concerned, the investigation is “still open-ended.” Westcott adds: “We are considering all possibilities.”

McLeod’s Track Record

A little digging into McLeod’s business background raises some serious questions about why no one involved with his various ventures seemed to ask some hard questions about his veracity.

Records filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), an independent regulatory authority overseeing securities firms in the U.S., indicate that McLeod, 48 at the time of his death, was the target of two client-investor complaints early on in his career, one in 1995 and one in 1996. Those cases involved the sale of investment products valued at $11,914 and $17,815.92, respectively.

In both cases, according to the FINRA disclosure report, the customers alleged that they were misled by McLeod. The company through which McLeod sold the products, Prudential Insurance, each time agreed to refund the money to the clients with no admission of wrongdoing by the company or agent (McLeod). McLeod somehow even managed, in one of the cases, to get the wronged investor to write a letter to Prudential praising his work and reportedly got the other investor to put money into a new investment.

Still, those black spots on McLeod’s record, it would seem, should have led some individuals in the law enforcement community to keep a closer eye on McLeod, particularly as he began making promises to hundreds of potential investors about a bond fund offering an extraordinary guaranteed return of 10 percent per year. But apparently, that was not the case.

McLeod’s business operations also should have raised a few eyebrows had anyone at the various federal agencies paying him $15,000 per seminar taken a look in that direction.

McLeod operated his seminar business through FEBG Inc. and also ran a separate company, called F&S Management Group Inc., or FSAMG, that appears to have been a legitimate investment firm through which he managed retirement accounts for investors

But beyond that, McLeod operated at least five other business enterprises, four of which were dissolved between 2007 and 2008, according to Florida corporation records.

Following is the list of McLeod's known companies, according to Florida state records:

• F&S Asset Management Group Inc. (FSAMG): Incorporated May 10, 2007; still listed as active. This company, based on available evidence, appeared to operate above-board, and according to court records, had $43 million in assets under management for 1,147 clients at the time the SEC intervened in McLeod’s operations. The court has since issued an order freezing the assets of FSAMG and sister company FEBG.

• Federal Employee Benefits Group Inc. (FEBG Inc.): Incorporated Aug. 2, 1993, name changed officially in November 20004 from National Association of Federal/Postal Employees Inc.; still listed as active.

• State Employee Benefits Group, a division of FEBG Inc. [no record of incorporation with Florida; listed as part of the FEBG family of services on the FEBG Web site].

• Federal Employee Investment Services Inc. (FEIS Inc.): Incorporated Feb. 11, 1998; inactive as of Nov. 16, 2007, voluntary dissolution.

• McLeod Capital Realty Group Inc.: Incorporated April 16, 2008; voluntary dissolution Sept. 15, 2008

• The McLeod Consulting Group Inc.: Incorporated Nov. 4, 2004; administrative dissolution for failure to file an annual report, Sept. 14, 2007.

• McLeod Capital Mortgage Group Inc.: Incorporated July 8, 2005; voluntary dissolution Sept. 15, 2008.

Did anyone in the government making decisions to sponsor or otherwise associate with McLeod’s activities ask about these various companies and how they related to the investment companies targeting federal law enforcement agents? Why did McLeod decide to allow four of them to go out of business within about a year of each other?

At this point, there are no answers to those questions. However, according to a report in the Times-Union, besides a large home in the Jacksonville area, McLeod “owned homes in Ameila Island and Saint Johns, and a 38-foot yacht named ‘Top Dawg.’” Another report published by the Huffington Post claims that, according to Michael Goldberg, an attorney appointed by the court to serve as the receiver for FSAMG and FEBG, “less than $10,000 remains in the coffers of Federal Employee Benefit Group [the company McLeod used to operate the Bond Fund scam] and there may be only “$4 million in assets” that can be seized from McLeod’s estate to pay investors.

Attempts were made to contact Goldberg to confirm the figures reported by the Huffington Post story, but he was not available for comment.

Assuming the figures in the Huffington Post article are accurate — and regardless, a Ponzi scheme, by design, assures investors are not made whole — it seems logical to ask where did all the money, at least $34 million, go? Might any of McLeod’s various now-shuttered companies have played any role in disappearing that money?

It is likely FBI and SEC investigators are asking similar questions.

McLeod’s Web

Among the keys to McLeod’s successful 22-year scam was his ability to cozy up to higher-level law enforcers, bring them into his business fold, and then trade on their names and use that access to later bilk lower-level agents out of their retirement savings. And in the latter endeavor, McLeod showed no mercy, taking investments for his phony bond fund that represented the money made from the sale of homes, family inheritances, and even college-tuition savings for the agents’ children, according to court records.

One document in particular, a Web page that is part of McLeod’s SEBG online marketing materials, demonstrates the extent of his artifice. That Web site lists the purported members of the board of directors for SEBG — a division of McLeod’s FEBG, which, again, was the business entity through which retirement seminars were offered to law enforcers and which harbored the phony bond fund.

SEBG, or State Employee Benefits Group, according to McLeod’s Web site, “focuses on the [retirement] education and planning needs of those serving State, County and Municipal positions, including judicial, legislative and public safety personnel.”

The following former law enforcers, including their titles [in bold] with McLeod’s enterprise, show up on the Web site for the SEBG board of directors — all of whom also are listed as having e-mail address ending with @febg.com:

• Douglas Fabel, special assistant to the president [McLeod]; Treasurer of the Association of Former Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, according to the group’s most recent annual report.

• Gilbert Bruce, regional field coordinator; former special agent in charge of DEA’s San Francisco field office.

• Robert Michelotti, executive vice president; former special agent in charge DEA’s Tampa field office.

• John Albano, regional field coordinator; former assistant special agent in charge in DEA’s Phoenix field office.

(Albano served in Phoenix under Special Agent in Charge Thomas Raffanello, who later went on to serve as Allen Stanford's chief of security. Stanford is now pending trial, accused of operating an $8 billion Ponzi scheme. Earlier this year, Raffanello was acquitted of charges that he helped Stanford conceal evidence.)

• Wilfred Garrett, regional field coordinator; former supervisory special agent with DEA.

• John Eichelberger, director of strategic planning; former Chief Financial Officer of Customs and Border Protection [retired in 2004], according to CBP’s fiscal year 2003 annual report.

• Fred Haiduk, director of field operations; Treasurer of the Association of Former Customs Special Agents, according to the group’s most recent annual report.

• Gary Hillberry, director of marketing; former special agent in charge of the U.S. Customs Service's Denver field office; chairman of the 2011 Association of Former Customs Special Agents Convention slated to be held in Denver.

• Kenneth McCabe, director of market development; retired special agent in charge of FBI’s Pittsburg division; now serves as a commissioner on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Narco News attempted to contact, where phone numbers could be found or via the retired-agent association groups, each of the individuals listed on the SEBG board for comment and to assure they, in fact, served in the positions indicated on McLeod’s Web site. [Note, the page featuring the SEBG board has since been removed form the Web and had to be retrieved by Narco News via a cache link.]

Only Gilbert shows up in the pending lawsuit against McLeod’s estate, in an e-mail exhibit attached to pleadings referencing how one of the scammed investors, a former DEA agent, was introduced to McLeod.

“I met you both [the victimized DEA agent and his wife] through Bert Bruce and offered you the opportunity to participate in the FEBG Fund in 1999,” the e-mail written by McLeod states.

Narco News did manage to reach Wilfred Garrett, who now runs a private investigative agency in Florida.

“I cannot talk on the advice of my lawyer,” Garrett said. “So I have no comment regarding … why my name is on the [SEBG] board.”

Lloyd Nilsen, treasurer of the Association of Former Federal Narcotics Agents, confirms that Garrett and another agent that shows up on the SEBG board listing, Robert Michelotti, are members of AFFNA.

“I know a couple of our members worked for McLeod at one time, but I do not know in what capacity,” Nilsen adds. “… He [McLeod] traded on people’s names, and he was tacitly approved by the agency. If he was paid [by DEA and other agencies], you would have to assume someone checked him out.”

Narco News was not successful in reaching any of the other former law enforcers on the SEBG board list.

The fact that names appear on a board of directors list associated with one of McLeod’s companies, or that some former law enforcers may have worked for one or more of his companies, does not indicate (nor is there any evidence at this point) that they were in anyway complicit in his Ponzi scheme. But it does seem clear that McLeod, at a minimum, took advantage of their reputations to snake his way into law enforcement circles in order to bait his victims.

However, in terms of his business operations, McLeod did not operate alone. SEC records reveal that he had several business associates as well as offices in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Lubbock, Texas, that did business for FSAMG.

His business associates, according to SEC and FINRA records, included Charles W. Waddell Jr. and Jerry D. Killion. Narco News attempted to contact both of them.

Waddell identifies himself by name on a voice mail linked to the telephone number listed in SEC filings for FSAMG’s West Palm Beach office. Narco News left a message for him at that number, but he has not returned the call.

FINRA and SEC filings show Waddell served not only as an investment advisor for McLeod's FSAMG, but that he also was a "consultant" for FEBG (the seminar company retained by various law enforcement agencies). Waddell, according to FINRA documents, also worked as a mortgage broker for McLeod Capital Mortgage Group — one of the McLeod companies dissolved between 2007 and 2008.

Killion was reached at the phone number listed in SEC filings for FSAMG’s Lubbock office. He, like Waddell, served as an investment adviser for FSAMG, SEC filings show. Killion also acted as a benefits consultant for FEBG, according to FINRA records.

Killion said McLeod would provide him with client leads and they would split any revenue gained from those leads. However, he stressed that he only sold legitimate products through FSAMG or directly through registered brokerage firms.

Killion stressed that the McLeod-referred clients — primarily in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico — represented a “small part of my business.” Killion confirmed that he did attend some FEBG retirement seminars for DEA and ICE agents, but “probably in eight years, I went to six seminars, and sat I in the back and listened.”

“I was totally shocked by it [McLeod’s Ponzi scheme],” Killion added. “All I know is what I’ve read in the papers.”

Killion did say he knew of some former law enforcers who worked for McLeod as employees, mentioning he has spoken on the phone in the past with former U.S. Customs agent Haiduk in that capacity.

“I’d be shocked if any of them [McLeod’s employees or former law enforcers] knew anything about the Ponzi scheme,” Killion said. “Wayne [McLeod] couldn’t afford to let anyone know; otherwise, people would begin to ask questions and everything would fall apart.”

Well, it seems clear that things did fall apart, and that many people now know about McLeod’s scam, and that plenty of questions are being asked.

The answers to those questions, though, at this point, seem to be as difficult to find as the millions of dollars stolen from the victims of McLeod’s long-running Ponzi scheme.

Stay tuned ….

 

"By allowing for greater flexibility in the foster care system, New York joins a small group of states that have adjusted their laws, including Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado and California. But in most of the country, parental rights remain in...

Where Are The Maya? exposes the uncomfortable truth about the tourist Meccas of Cancún and Playa del Carmen in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The Narco News School of Authentic Journalism presents Where Are The Maya? a new 15-minute documentary film that strikes at the heart of Mexico's tourism industry. Filmed over the course of eleven days [...]

More than 50 tribal nations peacefully took control of the Marine Life Protection Act’s Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in California on July 21. Among those gathered were members of the Yurok, Tolowa, Cahto, Pomo, Karuk, Hoopa Valley, Maidu, Hopi, Navajo, and other tribes. Their message to the task force: the state will no longer impose its will on indigenous people. The group of more than 300 met on Main Street in Fort Bragg, CA, and marched a half-mile to the C.V. Star Community Center, chanting, "MLPA, taking tribal rights away!" and, “No Way MLPA!”

“This is about more than a fouled-up process that attempts to prohibit tribes from doing something they have done sustainably for thousands of years,” said Frankie Joe Myers, a Yurok tribal citizen and organizer for the Coastal Justice Coalition. “It is about respect, acknowledgment and recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights. Whether it is their intention or not, what the Marine Life Protection Act does to tribes is it systematically decimates our ability to be who we are. That is the definition of cultural genocide.”

The Marine Life Protection Act Initiative is a publicly and privately funded partnership between the State of California and a few deep-pocketed foundations �" chiefly the Resources Legacy Fund �" to implement the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which was signed into law in 1999. The MLPA calls for the creation of marine protected areas along the California coastline.

The Blue Ribbon Task Force is charged with making recommendations to the California Fish and Game Commission for placement of the protected areas. The task force has stated that it will view traditional tribal coastal gathers on the coast the same way it does recreational fishing. Indigenous people have gathered resources from the coast for thousands of years, making this a valuable tradition to their communities. Coastal indigenous people collect mussels, seaweed and other ocean resources for sustenance and ceremonial regalia.

Citizens from tribal nations as distant as the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma attended the meeting to stand in solidarity with northern California tribes. Dania Rose Colegrove, a Hoopa tribal citizen, states, “The Blue Ribbon Task Force had given us no indication that they were listening to North Coast Tribes’ call to respect our sovereignty. We felt that we needed show them a small symbol of what we are willing to do to pass on our culture to future generations. “

This is the second time indigenous Californians have disrupted a Marine Life Protection Act Initiative meeting. On June 29, a smaller group interrupted the MLPAI’s Science Advisory Team, which was meeting in Eureka. Members of the Coastal Justice Coalition pointed out that there is no scientific data that says tribal gathering has any negative impact on the coastal ecosystem and the act does nothing to stop pollution and off-shore drilling �" the real threats to the health of the ocean and coast.

The Coastal Justice Coalition is a group of concerned tribal citizens and community members who came together to defend indigenous peoples’ right to gather on the coast.

Photos: Photos | MLPA process should address the concerns of North Coast Tribes | Klamath Justice Coalition

If New York Gov. David Patterson wants any redemption for his mess of a Governorship before he leaves in January, he really, really, REALLY needs to pardon this guy. We reported on this story two years ago about John White, a black man who defended his home and his son against an angry white mob outside his Suffolk County, NY home and ended up shooting one of the mob, a 17-year-old, to death. The trial and eventual manslaughter conviction was seen as an outrage even among conservatives, but we hadn't heard much about the case until today, when we were looking at another case where a Black Univ. of Louisville (KY) student named Montequa Jackson fought another angry white mob attacking her boyfriend. She stabbed one, and that netted her a guilty plea to 4th degree assault and expulsion from the school. That reminded us of John White's case, we looked it up and found out that two weeks ago he started his 2-4 years in prison. What's even sadder is that no one, absolutely no one is talking about the case anymore, despit our pronouncements two years ago.  We should hang our heads in shame for that, but it's not too late. We will be in NYC next Saturday, and this will come up. This man does not need to be in jail, and if anyone needs a parallel, look up the case of Joe Horn and see how things were done with that.

The Unified Taxi Workers Alliance organized a prayer vigil on Wednesday, July 7th to support the drivers and families who were victimized in a recent raid by the Philadelphia Parking Authority and Immigration Customs Enforcement Authorities. This segment was adapted using video produced by Rebekah Scotland for MMPTV. Edited by Kistine Carolan.

Past Coverage: May 31: Tens of Thousands March in Phoenix Against Arizona Race Laws and the Criminalization of Immigrants | May 21: 1st Nation & Migrants Oppose SB1070, Demand Dignity, Human Rights & End to Border Militarization | May 8: Phoenix Suns protest SB1070, and State Senator Russell Pearce blankets bill opponents as "anarchists" | May 5: Mayday!!! 8,000 March in Tucson, 10,000 in Phoenix; Flagstaff City Council votes to sue state over SB1070 | May 4: Welcome to the New Arizona | April 26: Protests and Resistance Continue Against Arizona's Racist Legislation | April 23: Apartheid in Arizona: Governor Signs "Juan Crow" Bill into Law | April 22: 2,500+ Students Walk-out on Thursday Against SB1070 | April 22: Communities Continue to Mobilize Against SB1070 | April 20: Hundreds of Students Walk Out Tuesday to Call on Governor Brewer to Veto SB1070 | April 20: Senate Bill 1070 Protestors Arrested: Nine Students Arrested for Chaining themselves to AZ Capitol Doors

From: Toronto ABC torontoblackcross@gmail.com

Hi all,

We're proud to announce the summer release of Issue 16 of
4strugglemag at http://4strugglemag.org/category/issue-16.
Please see below for an introduction from political prisoner Jaan Laaman.

Thanks for your continued support of 4strugglemag - an important
voice for prisoners across the continent.

Toronto ABCF

We begin by doing something we rarely do, dedicating this issue to an
outstanding individual, a courageous sister, Marilyn Buck. Our
primary section is on Black August (BA). You'll find Doc Holiday's
historic words on the meaning and principles of BA. This is followed
by Akili Castilin's essay on "A Generational Perspective" on BA.
There are several other insightful articles in this section, as well
as Kazi Toure's run down on the events and significance of August 7,
1970. This August 7 is also the date of the national Running Down The
Walls run, and information on that is at the end of this issue.
Definitely check it out and join or start a RDTW run in your city or prison.

We have lots of information in "The Struggle Continues" section, on
the G8/G20 events in Toronto, Canadian "Prisoners' Justice Day," the
CMU in Marion and more.

In the "Revolutionary Analysis and Info" section, our central long
piece is by Russell Maroon Shoats, entitled, "The Dragon and the
Hydra." This essay adds to the discussion Bill Dunne began in issue
15 with his article on the Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka. The
theoretical question raised and discussed was on national liberation
struggles and methods of revolutionary organization. 4SM welcomes
serious and reasoned revolutionary analysis of these and related
issues, especially from political prisoners (PPs) and others, who
have hands on experience in these struggles. While 4SM pages are open
to PPs and other revolutionaries' criticisms of national liberation
as a strategy and various types of revolutionary and guerrilla
organizations, this in no way should be interpreted as 4SM lessening
its support for actual revolutionary struggles and professional and
fighting organizations. As we clearly state in our general
introduction in every issue, "4strugglemag is an independent
non-sectarian revolutionary voice. We are unapologetically
anti-imperialist and solidly in support of progressive national
liberation, especially the struggles of New African/Black,
Mexicano/Chicano, Puerto Rican and Native American Nations presently
controlled by u.s. imperialism." There are several other thought
provoking articles in this section.

We also have some book reviews, including Marland X's review of a
Black Panther Party study, Will You Die with Me?, which readers will
learn from.

4SM is always open to your revolutionary thoughts, criticisms and
suggestions, poems and graphics too. We will have more reflection
from Bill Dunne on the national liberation question, as well as
reports back on the RDTW runs in the next issue. See you all in issue
17, out in November, and like and old saying goes, if you don't like
the news happening (the wars, the government repression, continuing
job losses and house evictions), then go out and make some news of your own!

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle!
Jaan Laaman, editor

Suzy Subways mizsubways@gmail.com

Friday July 30, 6pm at LAVA, 4134 Lancaster Ave. Free!
R2K Art Exhibit & Reception
Food/Drinks and Exhibit -- Check out news clippings, photos, posters,
flyers, artifacts, sound stations and video from the summer of 2000.
R2K Legal will be on site with legal files for those arrested to
reclaim.

Open Mic, Movie and Party
Saturday July 31, 6pm onward at the Puppet Warehouse, 4100 Haverford.
Free!
6pm: Food & Drinks // Sharing stories from 2000 through an open
mic // Screening of Elizabeth Fiend?s 2 part documentary on R2K
?Unconventional Coverage: The Message and the Means? // and other art
and artifacts from the previous day's exhibit.
9pm: Dance Party! Featuring R2K Legal veteran DJ Halfbreed.

This July 2010 marks 10 years since Philadelphia was the site of the
2000 Republican National Convention. The week of August 1, 2000,
thousands of activists took to the streets of Center City
Philadelphia for direct action against police brutality and the
prison industrial complex. We were riding an exciting wave of mass
direct actions against global capitalism following the previous
November?s actions which shut down the meetings of the World Trade
Organization in Seattle and large scale street actions against the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank in DC. This summer, let?s
celebrate our fighting spirit 10 years ago, and let?s celebrate our
resilience in surviving R2K!

While we were organizing to shut down the city on August 1st and
simultaneously helping with vast logistical needs for the multitude
of other protests and actions that week in Philly, the Philadelphia
Police Department (in tandem with the District Attorney?s office and
judges) were planning repression on a scale we hadn?t anticipated. In
the months leading up to the RNC, organizers were spied on, picked
off the street, infiltrated and harassed. On August 1st, starting
with an early morning raid of a warehouse and mass arrest of artists
and puppet makers, cops chased and brutally beat activists on the
streets with blessings of police commissioner John Timoney and the DA
Lynne Abraham (and a million dollar insurance policy protecting the
City against police brutality lawsuits). About 480 activists were
arrested, and while in jail for up to 3 weeks, many were physically
and sexually abused by police and prison staff. About 40 people faced
bogus but serious felony charges. Because police destroyed hundreds
of our puppets, including skeletons representing the loss of 138
people that George W. Bush had executed as Texas governor, the
corporate media told the world we had no message.

But we also created a new independent media, with collective use of
internet, camera, radio and writing skills, which became Philly IMC.
And while in jail, organizers met with ?general population? detainees
and publicized a list of demands: no more waiting 2 or more years to
go to court, no more beatings, prompt medical attention, and more.

For many who organized for, attended and/or stayed around after to
deal with the legal defense, the RNC was a transformative event. For
some of us it was our first protest and led us down a road of
lifelong struggle. While for others, the repression meant it would be
the last time we would ever attend a protest again. Many of us who
are currently still active 10 years down the road still draw on the
lessons learned while organizing as well as the trust and shared
struggle from the RNC to further our current work. The best way to
heal from trauma is to tell our stories together. Let?s support each
other to build collective healing and share our lessons with newer
activists.

All are welcome - whether you were there in 2000 or want to learn
more about it. Hope to see you there!

RSVP online at the Facebook Event // Learn more at the Archived R2K
Legal Site & at the Defenestrator site

by Oakland 100 Support Committee ( oakland100 [at] gmail.com )
Friday Jul 23rd, 2010 indybay.org

Greetings from California, Comrades!

As many have heard, a relentless anti-police movement has grown from the
tragedy of Oscar Grant's murder on January 1, 2009 by former officer
Johannes Mehserle.* Recently, Mehserle was convicted of the deplorable
charge of involuntary manslaughter, a weak charge which carries a sentence
of probation to four years in prison.


When the news of Mehserle's verdict reached the people of the bay area on
July 8, the streets heated up in a style reminiscent of the anti-police
riots a year and a half ago. Downtown Oakland swelled immediately after
the release of the verdict. For hours after the verdict was released,
people milled about, yelling at police, and listening to angry speeches.
As the sun went down, the police moved in to end the spontaneous
demonstration, threatening arrest of anyone who stayed on the streets. The
sky was littered with helicopters and planes. Every police force in the
region had gathered in downtown. Despite these threats, in the hours that
followed, blocks and blocks of Oakland were wrecked, bank windows smashed,
stores looted, and trash cans set on fire by people outraged by the state
and society's sickening disregard for Oscar Grant's life, and by
extension, those who are always the victims of police violence in the
state's constant war against people of color, women, and the
poor.
The night of July 8th, and long after the riots had ended, the
Oakland Police Department as well as other Bay Area police departments,
snatched at least 78 people from the streets.

Twelve of those comrades are still in jail. Seven of them are being held
without bail for parole violations. The five others face various felonies
including burglary, rioting, and arson. They have bails ranging between
$60,000 and $70,000, with one man being held for $525,000. With a bail
bondsman we can free them by posting around 10% of the bail. We are
hopeful that some of these people will get their bail reduced in the
coming weeks after their pre-trial. Regardless, raising funds now is
imperative. Defendants will be held in jail until the conclusion of their
trial if we do not bail them out. (During the last Oscar Grant riots in
January 2009 one man was charged with arson. His trial dragged on a whole
year before the city dropped the charges due to lack of evidence. This
scenario is destined to repeat itself at the expense of those arrested on
the 8th.)


We, the anarchists and autonomists of the Bay Area of California, lovers
of rebellions, and haters of cops for their ceaseless violence against us,
do humbly request for solidarity to help free these brave rebels. If your
collective, scene, squat, movement has the capacity to throw a benefit, or
otherwise come into money, for this legal defense fund. we couldn't need
it more in order to keep our movement against the murderous police fierce
and alive!




Thank you.



In Solidarity,


The Oakland 100 Support Committee


To make an online contribution use oakland100 [at] gmail.com via paypal.com

For more information on the status of the cases see
http://supporttheoakland100.wordpress.com/ or email us at oakland100 [at]
gmail.com


For ongoing coverage of the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement see
http://www.indybay.org


Please feel free to repost and forward this widely and translate into
other languages!


*For those unfamiliar with the case: Oscar Grant, a Black man, was pulled
off a train in Oakland New Years Eve by a gang of police. He was laying
face down on the ground when shot point blank in the back by Mehserle, a
white cop. The murder was filmed by many train passengers and viewed by
hundreds of thousands of people on youtube. A week after the murder herds
of people from Oakland, California erupted in riots.
http://supporttheoakland100.wordpress.com/

A closing letter from the Midnight Special Law Collective

Thursday Jul 22nd, 2010 Posted to Indybay.org


Dear Friends,


Midnight Special has been engaging in months of discussion and critical
analysis about the role of law collectives, both amongst ourselves and
with other members of the law collective movement. We have also been
looking at our own internal process as an anti-authoritarian collective.
We have reached various conclusions: that we have been unable to break out
of the service provider model; that we are dissatisfied with jumping from
action to action, and leaving little infrastructure behind; that we often
emulate the oppressive structures we seek to change; and that these
problems are much harder to solve than we had believed.


Our final conclusion is that, because of the state of the movement and
ourselves, Midnight Special will not be able to overcome those challenges.
So it is with sadness and hope that we write to you today. After 10 years
of work, we, the members of the Midnight Special Law Collective, are
closing our doors.


We have mixed feelings about ending the collective. On the one hand, we
have achieved so much over the last decade. We trained hundreds of people
how to legal observe and thousands more how to use their rights to (more)
safely agitate for social change. We provided legal support for some of
the most significant protests of the last 10 years, from the
anti-globalization demonstrations at the end of the Clinton administration
to the anti-war protests of the Bush years to the protests against the
financial and political bullying of the G8/G20 today. We are proud of the
work we have done the the relationships that we have formed with you all
over the years.

Frequently, Midnight Special has been called upon to travel and help out
with radical legal support. While we are honored that the work we do is
appreciated, we have found that other collectives and people doing similar
work are overlooked, and their opinions are not heard. We recognized back
in the year 2000 that it was crucial for us to spread our knowledge.
Unfortunately, we were always better at supporting others than in
organizing others to support themselves. Additionally, we have created an
internal collective dynamic that validates macho behavior and has been
unable to seriously address issues of gender and power within the
collective. After many months of trying, we have not made meaningful
progress in resolving these dynamics. That failure is what ultimately led
to the demise of our collective. We state it here to encourage other
political groups to take anti-oppression issues seriously.

While ending a 10 year project is never easy, this does create
opportunities that did not exist before. We are now free to use what we've
learned through Midnight Special in other work for social justice. We hope
that the lessons we have learned about anti-oppression will be taken up by
other projects and organizations, and into our future work. Each of us
continues to believe that the movement still needs democratic and
accountable legal support, for everyone who protests for social justice.
Your support, as much as our work, has made that possible, and we are
excited to see how legal support will grow from here. Thank you.

Yours in struggle,

The Midnight Special Law Collective

Vermont Action for Political Prisoners and Prison Book Project present:

Connecticut River Running Down the Walls

A 5K run, walk or bike ride to benefit U.S. Political Prisoners

Saturday, August 7, 2010, 10am-2pm

Greenfield River Swimming & Recreation Area, Greenfield, MA

***Be a runner, walker, or cyclist*** We ask that participants gather as
many sponsors for the run as possible. For more information, contact us
for the registration and sponsorship form (email us at
prisonbookproject@riseup.net ). Those who do not gather sponsors may
participate in exchange for a donation of $12. All participants will
receive refreshments, lunch, and a gift bag of fresh produce from local
farms as a prize for their involvement.

***Sponsor a runner*** This can be done through a flat donation to the
runner of your choice.

***Donate directly to Running Down the Walls*** Any amount helps. Please
send checks directly to CRRDTW, c/o Prison Book Project, P.O. Box 396,
Amherst, MA 01004. Make checks payable to Prison Book Project with the
note line: CRRDTW 2010

***Benefactors***

100% of funds raised at CRRDTW will benefit the following:

Marie Mason Support Fund. For more information, please see:
http://freemarie.org/

Vermont Action for Political Prisoners and Anarchist Black Cross
Federation Warchest Funds. For more information on the ABCF or poltical
prisoners, please see: http://www.abcf.net/ or
http://4strugglemag.org/political-prisoner-profiles/

***Solidarity Runs***

Connecticut River Running Down the Walls will take place in conjunction
with over a dozen other RDTW events taking place in cities, towns, and
prisons across North America, including Los Angeles, CA, Albuquerque, NM,
Arcata, CA, Ashland, OR, Bellefonte, PA, Boston, MA, Denver, CO, Elmore,
AL, Inez, KY, USP Marion (IL), USP Navosta (TX), New York, NY, USP Pelican
Bay (CA), Phoenix, AZ, USP Tucson (AZ), and Toronto, Ontario.

***Black August***

CRRDTW is scheduled to coincide with observation of Black August, a month
designated for reflection on the lives and lessons of Jonathan Jackson,
George Jackson, and other Black revolutionaries who perished during the
prisoners’ movement of the 1960s and 70s. For more information on Black
August, see
http://4strugglemag.org/2009/08/10/black-august-a-celebration-of-freedom-fighters-by-doc-holiday-et-al/

***Directions***

Take interstate 91 to exit 26 (MA- RT2) towards Greenfield At the traffic
circle take the 1st or 2nd exit onto MA-RT2 West / Mohawk Trail (First if
coming south; second if coming north on I91) It will look like you are
headed into strip mall land. (drive .3 miles) Take your first right onto
Colrain Rd. (drive 1.4 miles)Turn right at Nash’s Mill Rd. (drive .2
miles)Park on the right opposite the swimming hole in the open parking
area.

For more information on CRRDTW, please contact VAPP at
vermontaction@gmail.com

Co-sponsored by Prison Legal News http://www.prisonlegalnews.org