U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson pays a visit to UCLA's Advocacy Network

photo: ucla

(BMLTV) February 17, 2012 - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson joined scientists, faculty, technology innovators and students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to tour its Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC CEIN). Founded in 2008, the center has been awarded $24 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is working to train the next generation of nano-scale scientists and engineers. UC CEIN is one of the nation’s only centers researching predictive toxicology of nanomaterials, and is developing a new approach to identify impacts and environmental hazards of nanomaterials before they become widely used in the environment.

To follow up on President Obama’s State of the Union address, Administrator Jackson discussed the Obama administration's research priorities that benefit both public health and the economy. The visit continues Administrator Jackson’s ongoing efforts to speak with Americans across the country, especially students, about EPA’s work to protect people’s health and the environment and support job growth.

source: ucla

Stricter limits urged as deaths following police taser use reach 500

(BMLTV) February 16, 2012 - The deaths of 500 people following police use of Tasers underscores the need for tighter rules limiting the use of such weapons in law enforcement, Amnesty International said.
According to data collected by Amnesty International, at least 500 people in the USA have died since 2001 after being shocked with Tasers either during their arrest or while in jail.
On 13 February, Johnnie Kamahi Warren was the latest to die after a police officer in Dothan, Alabama deployed a Taser on him at least twice. The 43-year-old, who was unarmed and allegedly intoxicated, reportedly stopped breathing shortly after being shocked and was pronounced dead in hospital less than two hours later.
“Of the hundreds who have died following police use of Tasers in the USA, dozens and possibly scores of deaths can be traced to unnecessary force being used,” said Susan Lee, Americas Programme Director at Amnesty International.
“This is unacceptable, and stricter guidelines for their use are now imperative.”
Strict national guidelines on police use of Tasers and similar stun weapons – also known as Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) – would effectively replace thousands of individual policies now followed by state and local agencies.
Police forces across the USA currently permit a wide use of the weapons, often in situations that do not warrant such a high level of force.
Law enforcement agencies defend the use of Tasers, saying they save lives and can be used to subdue dangerous or uncooperative suspects.
But Amnesty International believes the weapons should only be used as an alternative in situations where police would otherwise consider using firearms.
In a 2008 report, USA: Stun Weapons in law Enforcement, Amnesty International examined data on hundreds of deaths following Taser use, including autopsy reports in 98 cases and studies on the safety of such devices.
Among the cases reviewed, 90 per cent of those who died were unarmed. Many of the victims were subjected to multiple shocks.
Most of the deaths have been attributed to other causes. However, medical examiners have listed Tasers as a cause or contributing factor in more than 60 deaths, and in a number of other cases the exact cause of death is unknown.
Some studies and medical experts have found that the risk of adverse effects from Taser shocks is higher in people who suffer from a heart condition or whose systems are compromised due to drug intoxication or after a struggle.
“Even if deaths directly from Taser shocks are relatively rare, adverse effects can happen very quickly, without warning, and be impossible to reverse,” said Susan Lee.
“Given this risk, such weapons should always be used with great caution, in situations where lesser alternatives are unavailable.”
There are continuing reports of police officers using multiple or prolonged shocks, despite warnings that such usage may increase the risk of adverse effects on the heart or respiratory system.
Deaths in the past year include Allen Kephart, 43, who died in May 2011 after he was stopped by police for an alleged traffic violation in San Bernardino County, California. He died after three officers shocked him up to 16 times. The officers were later cleared of wrongdoing.
In November 2011, Roger Anthony fell off his bicycle and died after a police officer in North Carolina shot him with a stun gun. The officer reportedly shocked Anthony – who had a disability and hearing problems – because he did not respond to an order to pull over.
Neither man was armed when police shocked them.
“What is most disturbing about the police use of Tasers is that the majority of those who later died were not a serious threat when they were shocked by police,” said Susan Lee.

The Invisible War

(BMLTV) THE INVISIBLE WAR is a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of our country's most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within our US military. Today, a female soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire with the number of assaults in the last decade alone in the hundreds of thousands.

Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of several young women, the film reveals the systemic cover up of the crimes against them and follows their struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. THE INVISIBLE WAR features hard-hitting interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the perfect storm conditions that exist for rape in the military, its history of cover-up, and what can be done to bring about much needed change.

the invisible war

Who’s winning in the Middle East? everyone outside the West knows it’s the Islamists

photo: global research and international affairs

(BMLTV) February 7, 2012 - Nawal al-Saadawi, now 80 years old, is a unique figure in Egypt. She is a pioneer feminist and a radical Arab nationalist. Al-Saadawi has lived in the United States but hates America and, of course, Israel. You can imagine that she also loathes the Islamists. So how does someone like al-Saadawi react to the Egyptian elections won by the Islamists?

She brands it an American conspiracy. “Democracy is not elections and America uses religion to divide Egypt,” she said in a recent television interview. You are going to be hearing–or not hearing, if you depend on the Western mass media–a lot more of this kind of thing.

How often have I heard Iranian exiles complaining that the United States deliberately didn’t help the shah in order to bring Ayatollah Khomeini to power? The Turkish opposition has been talking this way for years. In Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and probably soon in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, people will be saying: Why do we live under Islamist oppressive dictatorships? Answer: The Americans brought them to power.
It’s an irony of history. Why do the Iranians hate us? The left tends to say that this is because the United States backed a coup in 1953 against the democratic regime of Muhammad Mossadegh (a regime that was already collapsing, in which the Communists were getting stronger, and the Islamic clerics supported the coup) and the Shah afterward. Now we are being told that America has been bad to back the dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia, though the United States opposed the far bloodier dictatorships in Iraq and Syria.

Yet now the Obama Administration is backing new regimes that are also going to be rather nasty (though there’s hope for Tunisia) and is failing to help democratic oppositions. It is pursuing a pro-Muslim Brotherhood policy. One day some future American president may be apologizing for that.

In contrast, the real Middle East isn’t full of revolutionary Islamists who only want an American apology or a boost into power in order to be friends of the United States. It is full of a lot of people, maybe a majority in a number of countries, that would like not to live under radical and repressive dictatorships. It also has a number of governments that want Western help against what they see as their real enemies–Iran and revolutionary Islamists.

There are a hundred anecdotes I could tell but here are some from the last few hours, through personal sources. A Gulf Arab was asked about his country’s strategic priorities. He replied that the Iranian regime, “hates everyone. We need more guns” to defend ourselves from Tehran. A close observer in another Arab country writes me that in contrast to the West, “Everyone inside the region seems to “get it,” regarding the threat from Iran’s government.

Funny how clear actual Middle Easterners are about what’s going on–at least when they are talking to each other–compared to those across the seas whose interpretations are merely wrong-headed, bizarre, and soon proven to be wrong.

On the other side of the battle, the Islamists are very happy. In an interview with a British newspaper, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh spoke frankly about his analysis of the situation. What he has to say tells more than all the analysis from all the Western talking heads, journalists, and politicians.

“The Palestinian cause is winning. With the Muslim Brotherhood part of the government [in Egypt], they [the Egyptians] will not besiege Gaza. They will not arrest Palestinians. They will not give cover to Israel to launch a war….Israel is disturbed by this. It knows the strategic environment is changing. Iran is an enemy. Relations are deteriorating with Turkey. With Egypt, they are really cold. Israel is in a security situation they have never been in before.”

I don’t agree with him that Palestinians are “winning” now and are those who gained most from the “Arab Spring.” But there is much truth in what he says. Egypt will now let Hamas do pretty much as it pleases, including smuggling terrorists, money, and weapons across the border into the Gaza Strip or setting up bases in Sinai. The Brotherhood in Egypt will use the country’s resources to help Hamas.

Why would anyone even think of making peace with Israel when they are enthusiastic believers in total victory, the idea that events are on their side for wiping out Israel? Everyone in the Middle East understands these attitudes are triumphing, no matter which side they are on. Few in positions of power in Europe or America do.
It is not true, though, that Israel has never faced such a situation before. That’s precisely the way things were in the first three decades of Israel’s existence and many elements of the contemporary situation are better than they were for Israel in the last three decades, following peace with Egypt. Still, this is quite different from the rosy picture of moderation breaking out all over that prevails in Western governing circles.

Haniyeh and the kind of people ruling Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya are not rolling over in the flower field of democracy and peace but rather exulting about how they are on the road to bloody victory over Israel and the West. If you actually listen to what they say most of the time it couldn’t be more obvious.

by: barry rubin

The Newark Police Foundation web site has been hacked

This is a screen shot of the Newark Police Foundation web site.
photo: abhi ahmadadeen

UPDATE: February 4, 2012
I finally took out a moment and made a call to the New Jersey Police Department. The conversation I had with the department validates why I believe that based on the Occupy Wall St. mission statement, a relationship between the Occupy Wall St. and the group who call themselves Anonymous is counter-productive to everything that Martin Luther King Jr. stood for. I would say that the urgency for the Occupy movement to remove themselves from any association with Anonymous is critical to the [safety and non-violent claim] of the Occupy movement at large. http://www.newarkpd.org



(BMLTV) As of February 3,2012 - The Newark Police Foundation web site currently reads the following at its homepage: We see your attempts to waste more of the peoples money, to harass your citizens with preemptive crime fighting by shining red lights on them.
We are now shining our red lights on you,
The city of newark has suffered long enough at the hands of corrupt politicians police and other goverment officials.
Expect us
#CabinCr3w
10:10PM Eastern

PS: F**k Jersey Shore

Greater than AIDS

(BMLTV) February 3, 2012 - National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is on Tuesday, February 7! Actress & singer Naturi Naughton is one of many Black celebrities who have united to respond to AIDS. The Greater Than AIDS movement responds to the AIDS crisis in the United States, in particular the severe and disproportionate epidemic among Black Americans. Through a national media campaign and community outreach, Greater Than AIDS aims to elevate the public’s knowledge and understanding of HIV/AIDS and confront the stigma surrounding the disease. Although national in scope, the effort is targeting communities most heavily affected, based on HIV/AIDS incidence and prevalence data.

Occupiers rally at State Attorney General’s office and Wells Fargo

photo: occupy la

(BMLTV) LOS ANGELES – Today, Friday, February 3rd, members of Occupy LA will hold a late morning foreclosure crisis rally outside the Los Angeles office of the California State Attorney General and a neighboring Wells Fargo branch. Attorney General, Kamala Harris, recently withdrew from negotiations with the nation’s biggest mortgage servicers and last week her office called the current settlement “inadequate for California”.

Today is the last business before the State Attorney Generals come to an agreement over the nationwide settlement with several banks, including Wells Fargo, over allegedly deceptive mortgage and foreclosure practices. On Monday February 6th, in an unprecedented first step toward negotiations between occupiers and bankers, a handful of Occupy activists will meet with Wells Fargo to discuss foreclosure-related concerns.

Activists call on State, Federal, and banking representatives to impose a moratorium on all foreclosures until full investigations into lending institutions’ policies and practices are pursued showing the extent of fraud on innocent homeowners.

California is one of the hardest hit states with one in every five U.S. foreclosures located in California. The Golden State expects 2.2 million foreclosures by the end of 2012.

For California homeowners, the over two million foreclosures will come at a stiff price: $650 billion in the form of property taxes and other local government costs. For many occupiers, the multi-state settlement totaling $25 billion split between five banks is seen as a meager settlement, falling short of expectations of accountability and consequence.

In addition, banks have sought release from future claims.

Activists want to hold banks accountable for improper lending and foreclosure practices not just limited to robo-signing but also predatory lending, origination, liars-loans, appraisal, MERS, securitization, insurance, credit-default swap, duel-tracking, modification, foreclosure, and any other fraud and abuse.

Activists demand Attorney General Harris, Wells Fargo, and other banks impose moratoriums and offer more immediate and long-term relief to innocent borrowers. They also demand principle, interest, and payment reductions that will balance the changed market values of homes and reduced income. Both of these factors have negatively affected homeowners who have been hurt by the country’s severe employment and economic crises.

Many Occupy activists agree with Harris's assessment that the settlement is inadequate. Occupiers wish to encourage Harris to remain strong against attempts to lure California back to the table. The negotiations surrounding the massive robo-signing scandal for which Wells Fargo has been implicated in are inadequate and do not meet the needs of Californians. Occupy activists hope that their upcoming Monday meeting with Wells Fargo executives will be a first step in the process to correct these wrong doings.

“We call on Harris to continue to represent the people’s interests over lenders',” states Carlos Marroquin, a homeowner advocate and Occupy activist, “Also, we call on Wells Fargo to do the right thing for homeowners.”

Wells Fargo and Occupy Activists Historic Meeting
On Monday, February 6th, Occupy activists will have an unprecedented meeting with Wells Fargo executives. This meeting represents a first of its kind — since the Occupy Movement began on Wall Street in mid-September of last — where bank executives and occupiers will come together to discuss some of the issues that prompted protests.

Representatives from Wells Fargo approached members of Occupy the Rose Parade during preparations for the Tournament of Roses Occupy Protest, which drew over 5,000 Occupy supporters on January 2, 2012. Wells Fargo was the largest financial contributor to the Rose Parade, entering two large floats in the parade procession this year.

The meeting with Wells Fargo comes just as 5 of the nation’s biggest mortgage servicers, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial, try to reach a settlement with the State Attorney Generals and the Obama Administration.

Los Angeles, which has been hit particularly hard, has nearly 80,000 homeowners underwater totaling $7.3 billion in losses. According to a report by Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC), if the banks were to adjust those mortgages to the current market value, it could pump $780 million into the local economy and spur 11,353 jobs. Overall, Los Angeles homeowners are estimated to lose $78.8 billion in home value as a direct result of the 200,000 foreclosures from 2008-2012. -C.M.

Monsanto Forced Out of UK by Activists

February 3,2012 - It has been a truly rough week for Monsanto. After being slammed with a lawsuit by concerned farmers over their GMO crops and thrown out by China, now the corrupt juggernaut is being thrown out of the United Kingdom. In an unprecedented announcement, Monsanto announced a major departure from the UK due to “intense opposition” to genetically modified foods from activists.

As a result, the company is now closing its genetically modified wheat growing operation based in Cambridge. Monsanto officials even went on record stating that the move was a result of opposition against their own ‘Frankenstein Foods’.

read more:

by: anthony gucciardi

This is my baby’s life and it took three big push’s to get him here

Timberly Hill with her son Trevell. photo: abhi ahmadadeen

(BMLTV) CHESAPEAKE VA, February 1, 2012 - Yesterday when I popped in to have [sort of a Journalist to local business owner] dialog with Annette Hill of Annette’s Sandwich Shop, I had the opportunity to visit a bit with Annette’s daughter who was also present. Timberly was proudly carrying out the motherly duty of nourishing her 4 week old son Trevell. I curiously posed a few intimate questions. I asked Timberly if Trevell was keeping her up at night and she responded with a tenderly smile and a yes! Timberly explained that Trevell boasted a big appetite so she found herself tending to his needs in the tiptoeing hours of the night. Timberly went on to say that she wouldn’t trade the experience for anything in the world. I inquired about the complexity of her labor and Timberly resorted to a deep tone, stating “it was long but it only took 3 push’s to bring my wondrous baby into the world”. During our dialog I had learned that Timberly wasn’t currently working. We were approaching issues around her personal Healthcare, affordable? unaffordable? but there was a distraction and I wasn’t able to extract all the details. To be continued.

by: abhi ahmadadeen

Occupy Long Beach is holding a Donation Drive to benefit 5,300 children

(BMLTV) February 1, 2012 - Occupy Long Beach is holding a Donation Drive to benefit the 5,300 children attending school in long beach that do not have a permanent address.

We are accepting donations of new socks, shoes and sweatshirts/jackets for children ages 5-17. We are working with the Bethune Transitional Center, due to liability reasons they can only accept new items. We can also accept monetary donations, checks can be made to the Bethune Transitional Center, or you can give cash donation to either of the drop off locations listed below.

We are accepting donations at Bixby Park, Mon-Fri 5pm-8pm or Sat- Sun noon-5pm on the corner of Broadway and Junipero, or at Urban Cottage, 4121 LB Blvd. Tues-Sat 11am-5pm.

You can mail donations to Urban Cottage, 4121 LB Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90807, ATTEN OCCUPY LONG BEACH.

Donation Drive ends February 12th! Please help us to help the kids!

Heather Kern

Notice To Comply: Disgruntled Occupy DC Protester is tazed in the back at point-blank range

(BMLTV) Washington DC., January 29, 2012- In an aggressive response to the "questionable" "man-handling" of an Occupy DC Protester.In what appears to be the response to a knee-jerk reaction, the protester is then tased in the back at point-blank range by a US Park Police Officer.

Occupy Oakland Protesters and Police have a stand off in the mist of tear gas , rubber bullets and flashbangs

(BMLTV) January 29, 2012 - Police in Oakland California have resorted to using tear-gas, rubber bullets and flashbangs as 2,000 or more Occupy Oakland protesters march in resistance to Wall Street Corruption.

Undocumented Youth Respond To The State Of The Union Address On The Dream Act

photo: Mru Merino

(BMLTV) January 25, 2012 - Last night at his State of the Union Address, President Obama stated "Let’s also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country face another challenge: The fact that they aren’t yet American citizens. Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation. Others came more recently, to study business and science and engineering, but as soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else. That doesn’t make sense… Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away."

With bold dedication in the State of the Union Address , the President has shown his understanding of some of the realities of undocumented youth. The President also showed that he has a desire to have a Dream Act put into place, but was his language enough to quell the fears of deportable youth? It’s one thing to push for something politically difficult, but it’s quite another to be able to follow through, and empty platitudes are legion in politics.

“[We] should all want a smarter, more effective Government… With or without this Congress, I will keep taking actions that help the economy grow.” With bold language, President Obama has shown that he is willing to act without the support of Congress, but what can Dreamers expect from this?

Lucy Allain, an undocumented youth who confronted Romney at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City, as someone affected by this issue, responded to the state of the union address through this video.

Candidate Obama in 2008 said, “one thing we can do immediately is to pass the Dream Act.” However, when it came time for him to back up his words as President through administrative relief he allowed the deportations to flow. So far, Obama has been to the right of former President Bush: in 2011 alone his administration deported nearly 400,000 immigrants, including DREAM eligible youth, more than any administration before.

Nevertheless, we are still hopeful and watching President Obama’s actions and we would support him, but he MUST support us in the absence of congressional action.

This support can come in the form of administrative relief for DREAMERS. Administrative relief would be a small investment, on a potentially large return as news outlets have been reminding us for years that the Latino community is the fastest growing demographic of voters in the nation.

Source: DRM Capital Group