[NYC] Mystery Donor Gives $5M to Hunter College and other colleges run by women

suggested by Brittany, re-posted from NY Post

So kick ass! Now I only hope they use the designated scholarship money for students who really need it (versus as a recruitment tool for Ivy Leaguers)... --ianna.

Mystery Donor Gives $5M to Hunter College
Associated Press

A mystery donor has given millions to at least 14 colleges run by women.

Hunter College said Monday it received $5 million in the fall and realized only recently that more than a dozen other colleges nationwide had received similar donations.

Hunter College President Jennifer Raab says the money "couldn't have come at a better time."

The City University of New York school says the donor earmarked $4 million for scholarships. The school will use the rest to update its library and give students more group study space.

The gift is Hunter College's largest-ever donation.

At least 13 other schools with women presidents have received anonymous donations ranging from $1 million to $10 million in the last two months. The gifts total at least $74.5 million so far.

[Fresno] C.A.F.E. Fresno Infoshop Opening in May

re-posted from AnarchistNews.org

CAFE Fresno Infoshop Opening
submitted by mikerobe, 04/25/09

C.A.F.E. (Collective for Arts, Freedom, and Ecology) infoshop is holding a grand opening during May Day weekend. Party Friday; Lecture and discussion Saturday; Vegan potluck and film Sunday. 935 F St in downtown Fresno. Doors open at 6 pm each night.

For three years we've been dealing with cops, city inspectors and the fire marshal during which time we've thrown dozens of shows, held lectures (John Ross, Dennis Banks, Rob los Ricos, and others), shown films, had parties, hosted community groups, planned and plotted. We still haven't dealt with the various state assholes, but we thought we may as well have a grand opening. Come on out if you happen to be in the neighborhood. FNB, community grocery, bike clinic, library, zines, rad film library, sierra nevada earth first! and many other community groups using the space.

The trolls and flame throwers out there will talk their shit. Whatever. This infoshop is opening in the spirit of Emma Goldman's insights about the Spanish as opposed to the Russian revolution:

"The reality was that despite the evident readiness of the masses for the social revolution in the fall of 1917, they were not fully prepared to undertake the enormous reconstructive tasks that confronted them or to resist the Bolshevik assumption of dictatorial powers. In contrast, Goldman found both kinds of preparation in Spain. The accomplishments and endurance of the collectives that she described with such admiration were grounded in the long history of the anarchist movement in Spain, dating back to at least 1845. Goldman spoke repeatedly of the libertarian spirit of the Spanish people.... In August 1938 she reiterated, 'it will interest you to know that I found in some villages four generations steeped in Libertarian Communism. To them the idea was not merely on paper or in books, but a living force.'"

May the force be living within you and expressing itself with others.

mikerobe

[internet] Day Zero: Home of the 1001 Day Project

This website, Day Zero, encourages people to make a list of 101 things that they want to accomplish in 1001 days (roughly 2.75 years). The mission statement of Day Zero is "A unique meme that challenges and inspires you to set and complete realistic goals in life." The project encourages you to ask yourself:

"1. Who do I love, and what am I doing about it?
2. Am I pursuing my dream, or is fear* stopping me?
3. Am I doing something that matters?
4. What am I doing to help others?
5. Am I as good a person as I want to be?
6. What am I doing to live life with passion, health and energy?"

*We could problematize this question. Regardless, I think the project is quite worthwhile. I hope you check it out and maybe even give it a whirl.

Visit Day Zero here: www.dayzeroproject.com

[Amy Tan] Saying Thanks To My Ghosts

re-posted from NPR: "This I Believe"

Saying Thanks To My Ghosts, 04/26/09
By Amy Tan

I didn't used to believe in ghosts, but I was trained to talk to them. My mother reminded me many times that I had the gift. It all stemmed from a lie I told when I was 4. The way my mother remembered it, I refused to get ready for bed one night, claiming there was a ghost in the bathroom. She was delighted to learn I was a spirit medium.

Thereafter, she questioned anything unusual — a sudden gust of wind, a vase that fell and shattered. She would ask me, "She here?" She meant my grandmother.

When I was a child, my mother told me that my grandmother died in great agony after she accidentally ate too much opium. My mother was 9 years old when she watched this happen.

When I was 14, my older brother was stricken with a brain tumor. My mother begged me to ask my grandmother to save him. When he died, she asked me to talk to him as well. "I don't know how," I protested. When my father died of a brain tumor six months after my brother, she made me use a Ouija board. She wanted to know if they still loved her. I spelled out the answer I knew she wanted to hear: Yes. Always.

When I became a fiction writer in my 30s, I wrote a story about a woman who killed herself eating too much opium. After my mother read a draft of that story, she had tears in her eyes. Now she had proof: My grandmother had talked to me and told me her true story. How else could I have known my grandmother had not died by accident but with the fury of suicide? She asked me, "She here now?" I answered honestly, "I don't know."

Over the years, I have included other details in my writing I could not possibly have known on my own: a place, a character, a song. I have come to feel differently about my ghostwriters. Sometimes their clues have come so plentifully, they've made me laugh like a child who can't open birthday presents fast enough. I must say thanks, not to blind luck but to my ghosts.

Ten years ago, I clearly saw a ghost, and she talked to me. It was my mother. She had died just 24 hours before. Her face was 10 times larger than life, in the form of a moving, pulsing hologram of sparkling lights. My mother was laughing at my surprise. She drew closer, and when she reached me, I felt as if I had been physically punched in the chest. It took my breath away and filled me with something absolute: love, but also joy and peace — and with that, understanding that love and joy and peace are all the same thing. Joy comes from love. Peace comes from love. "Now you know," my mother said.

I believe in ghosts. Whenever I want, they will always be there: my mother, my grandmother, my ghosts.

[LA] Revolutionary Autonomous Communities' Food Program going strong after a year and five months

reposted from APOC Conference list

Revolutionary Autonomous Communities' Food Program

The Revolutionary Autonomous Communities has created a food program where we are empowering ourselves and others to become self-sustainable.

The Food Program is a mutual-aid project where people themselves are organizing and distributing food in their own neighborhoods. This is not charity, we do not believe that change will happen this way. This is self-empowerment, where working class neo-colonies are feeding themselves, and organizing to feed themselves.

Since the first week of November, 2007, RAC has distibuted much needed grocieries to the needy workers of the area. Last week 200 people standing in line received food packages.

You can join us every Sunday at 1:30 PM. Meet at the SE Corner of Wilshire and Parkview in MacArthur Park.

RAC Mission Statement:

We feel that this system is killing our people by what the corporations feed us or don't feed us. At the same time there is an abundance of healthy food that goes to waste. They would rather let food go to waste than allow the prices of food in the market to drop. Then they disconnect people (all indigenous and colonized people) from the land, which a free and independent people need to survive. They centralize power and resources in the hands of the few, this is how they keep oppressed people dependent on a white-supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist-imperialist system.

RAC's Food Program is a way that we can work with supporters and other organizations to feed healthy food to our communities. We want people to connect with each other, to pick up and distribute the food amongst themselves. We will support, help connect people and to supply whatever resources we can. Through this process our goal is to connect our communities and to take them back. Our overall goal is to regain our necessary connection to the land. We need land to survive, and the land belongs to us, not the colonizer. We want to relearn how to live off the land and how to truly be self-sustainable.

We're Still Here, We Never Left

Support our Food Program.

Help Pick Up Food.

Help Distribute Food in Your Neighborhood.

Donate to our Community Mutual-Aid Program.

Get Organized!

Take Back Our Communities and Take Back the Land!

All Power THROUGH the People!

-Revolutionary Autonomous Communities


E-mail RAC:
rac@lists.riseup.net

To donate to the RAC Food Program:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3639082

RAC Blog:
http://revolutionaryautonomouscommunities.blogspot.com/

Radio RAC LA
Tuesdays 9PM-12AM
http://killradio.org/

[NC] Small town of Wilson tells Time Warner to Suck It

re-posted from Consumerist.com

Time Warner Cable Cannot Possibly Compete With the Small City of Wilson, NC
By Meg Macro, 04/23/09

The city of Wilson, NC was tired of high internet, cable, and telephone prices, so they decided to do something about it. They started their own, city-owned, ISP. Now Time Warner Cable and Embarq have teamed up to convince North Carolina's legislature to propose bills outlawing community owned ISPs because the big guys cannot possibly compete.

We can see why they are worried. Wilson's ISP sounds great. It's an all fiber optic network that has 81 basic cable channels, 10 Mbps (download and upload), and a digital phone plan with unlimited long distance to the U.S. and Canada, all for $99.95, says Daily Tech. A comparable TWC package would cost $137.95, for an introductory rate.

Now Wilson's ISP, which calls itself "Greenlight" has started a blog to protest the legislation. Here's an excerpt:

"My name is Brian Bowman. I'm the Public Affairs Manager for the City of Wilson, NC, and I'll bet my broadband is faster than yours. I have a 10Mbps up/down connection at my house. Can't get half that from the cable company. I buy it directly from the City of Wilson. After less than a year of residential service, almost 3,000 Wilson citizens are subscribing to Wilson's fiber optic network. Local businesses can get up to one Gbps. Local homes get up to 100 Mbps. We call it Greenlight. NC Senate Bill 1004 and House Bill 1252 would change the law to stop cities from providing broadband. The bills say they "Level the Playing Field" but they are designed to protect cable monopolies in our state. The cable company told me Wilson would be exempt, but it's still wrong for NC."

[Senegal] Nine Gay Convinctions Overturned & Released

re-posted from BBC.co.uk

Gay Convictions Quashed, 04/20/09

Senegal's court of appeal has quashed January's convictions of nine men for homosexuality and ordered their immediate release.

They were sentenced to eight years in jail after being found guilty of "indecent conduct and unnatural acts".

The men - who part of an anti-HIV/Aids group - were arrested in December at a flat in a suburb of the capital, Dakar.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Senegal, a predominantly Muslim country where gay people remain marginalised.

The defence team argued at the beginning of the appeal last week that the case against the men was based mainly on anonymous tip-offs, reported AFP news agency.

The accused were not caught in the act as the prosecution had suggested during the trial, argued the defence.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had expressed his concern at the original verdict.

The sentences were the highest ever handed down in Senegal for a homosexuality conviction and sparked outrage from international gay rights groups.

In sentencing the nine, the judge added three years to a five-year sentence, saying the men were also members of a criminal group.

In February 2008, the editor of a magazine in Senegal received death threats after publishing pictures claiming to depict a wedding ceremony between two men.

[Wales] Protests Against Closing of Community Pools

re-posted from BBC.co.uk

Two Protests at Threatened Pools, 04/19/09

Protests have taken place at two community swimming pools in north and south Wales.

Harlech pool in Gwynedd and one at Treherbert in Rhonda Cynon Taf are both set to close over the next few months.

Gwynedd Council said the Harlech pool had reached the end of its life, while Rhondda Cynon Taf council said funding was behind Treherbert's closure.

However, campaigners say both pools are vital for educational, sport, community leisure, health and tourism needs.

Up to 150 people joined the protest march in Harlech on Sunday afternoon, including EastEnders actress Charlie Brooks, who was brought up in nearby Barmouth and who learnt to swim at the pool.

The protest at Treherbert was due to start at 1630 BST.

The south Wales facility, which last month saw protests by local school children, is scheduled to close its doors to the public on Monday.

The action group which has been campaigning to keep it open says it is only a matter of time before the building becomes a target for vandals.

"If significant damage was caused the pool will never reopen," a spokesman for the group said.

"It seems the RCT council are determined not to assist the action group in refusing to defer the closure of the pool and keep staff at the site to prevent possible intrusion and damage."

The Harlech pool is due to close in June and campaigners say the final decision on its future is imminent.

Gwynedd council said it could not justify spending the £400,000 it needed to bring the building up to standard.

The council wants users to travel to Porthmadog and use the pool there but protestors say it is too far especially for school children who receive lessons as part of school curriculum.

The council has given those interested until the end of June to come up with their own proposals to save the pool.

The Friends of Harlech Swimming Pool issued a statement saying a new report highlights the cost to the local community of closing such a "vital facility."

The report is due to be presented to Gwynedd council board on 28 April.

But the Friends' statement said they had been told by the council that unless a business plan to save the pool was in place by 15 May, the pool will close in June.

[Wales] Daffodils to Help Make Alzheimer's Treatment Affordable

Daffodils grown in the Welsh mountains help to make Alzheimer's treatments affordable, follow this link for a video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8008445.stm

re-posted from BBC.co.uk

Daffodil crops, which are rich in a chemical that is thought to slow the progress of Alzheimer's Disease, are being grown in the Welsh mountains.

Producing the drug from daffodils may make the treatment cheaper.

Jeremy Cooke reports.

[Somalia] You Are Being Lied To About Pirates

suggested by Omowale, re-posted from Independent.co.uk

Listed as good news because it showcases pirates in an entirely different/empowering light, embraced by the people. --ianna.

You Are Being Lied To About Pirates

by Johann Hari, 01/05/09

Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labelling as "one of the great menaces of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell - and some justice on their side.
Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage Bluebeard that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often saved from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains Of All Nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence.

If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked often, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.

Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively, without torture. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century".

They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal Navy." This is why they were romantic heroes, despite being unproductive thieves.

The words of one pirate from that lost age, a young British man called William Scott, should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirateing to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."

This is the context in which the "pirates" have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a "tax" on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence".

No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But in a telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali: "We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas." William Scott would understand.

Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our toxic waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We won't act on those crimes - the only sane solution to this problem - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 per cent of the world's oil supply, we swiftly send in the gunboats.

The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail - but who is the robber?

[Mississippi] Woman Miraculously Survives DV Attack

Potentially triggering article involving domestic violence. Posted because of the miracle of her survival. The appropriateness of this article is, perhaps, up for debate. If anyone wants me to take it down, please leave a comment with this request. --ianna.

re-posted from Telegraph.co.uk

Woman Makes Cup of Tea After Being Shot in Head, 04/18/09
by Telegraph's Foreign Staff Agencies in Birmingham, AL

Police and doctors hailed the survival of Tammy Sexton, 47, as miraculous after a bullet from a .38-calibre handgun struck her squarely in the forehead, passed through her skull and exited through the back of her head. She is expected to make a full recovery, while her husband shot himself dead after the attack on his wife.

But law enforcement officers in Jackson County, Mississippi, were also astonished that Mrs Sexton offered them tea when they arrived at her home after the shooting.

Sheriff Mike Byrd said: "When the officer got there she said, 'What's going on?' She was holding a rag on her head and talking. She was conscious, but she was confused about what had happened.

"She had made herself some tea and offered the officer something to drink.

"There's no way she should be alive other than a miracle from God. You just don't hear of something like this. Somebody gets shot in the head and they're dead."

He said that her husband had been on probation for domestic violence and officers had been seeking to serve him with a court order demanding he stayed away from his wife and their rural home.

He said the bullet apparently passed through the lobes of the woman's brain without causing major damage. She was rushed to hospital by helicopter where shehas been monitored for three days.

Dr Patrick Pritchard, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, said: "There is a space in the brain where a missile could pass without doing any major damage.

"Is it possible? Yes. It would be rare."

[NY] Governor to Submit Bill Legalizing Gay Marriage

suggested by Eric, re-posted from New York Times

Paterson to Submit Bill Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage in New York
by Jeremy W. Peters, 04/15/09

Gov. David A. Paterson plans to introduce legislation on Thursday to make marriage between same-sex couples legal in New York, advancing his push for greater rights for gay men and lesbians, at a time when other states have done so.

Mr. Paterson’s plans represent the most public effort yet by the governor, who has been a consistent supporter of gay rights, to position himself and New York at the crest of a broadening national movement.

The move allows him to lead on an issue that could prove defining in his governorship, which has so far been marked by political missteps and the crumbling economy.

But it is also something of a political gamble, because the legislation faces an uphill climb in the State Senate. Democrats acknowledge that they do not have enough votes there to get the measure approved, meaning that its chances could rest in the hands of a few Republicans.

The governor also risks alienating socially conservative voters at a time when he can least afford to drive away any more support.

Nevertheless, he has said he is committed to putting the measure to a vote in Albany sooner rather than later.

“The timing was always right,” Mr. Paterson said on Tuesday as he announced an economic-development grant in Nassau County. “It’s just who is willing to take that step. And I am.”

Once Mr. Paterson introduces the bill, a step that he is expected to formally announce on Thursday morning, the focus will shift to the Assembly, where the measure passed in 2007 by a vote of 85 to 61, and is expected to pass again this year.

“And I think that all could happen rather quickly,” said Micah Z. Kellner, a Democratic assemblyman who represents the Upper East Side. Once the Assembly acts, it will be up to Senate Democrats, who control the chamber 32 to 30, to decide whether to bring it to the floor for a vote. Some in the Senate, including its only openly gay member, Thomas K. Duane, have said they want the bill to be voted on only if its passage is certain.

Some same-sex-marriage supporters said they hoped that by introducing the measure now, when it is likely to receive plenty of attention after the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision this month overturning a ban on same-sex marriage and the Vermont Legislature’s vote last week to override a veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, the governor would create momentum for the bill.

“Maybe by coming out publicly like this and reaffirming his support for marriage equality, the governor can sway some colleagues in the other house who might be nervous about voting for this,” said Matthew Titone, a Democratic assemblyman from Staten Island. “I think it’s an opportunity for him to show people that he really believes in something.”

But cracking the Senate Republican conference, which is known for its unanimity and solidarity, will be a difficult task, same-sex-marriage supporters concede. Republican leaders have said they are not budging on the issue.

“Our conference hasn’t supported gay marriage, and nothing has changed,” said John McArdle, a spokesman for Senate Republicans.

But Mr. Duane said that he had assurances from some Republicans that they would vote for the bill. He declined to name them.

Still, Mr. Duane said that while the governor’s bill was an important gesture, it could end up being ultimately just that.

“It’s still only paper, words, unless we all fight to make it a reality,” he said.

[U.S.] Only 53% of Americans think Capitalism is Bette Than Socialism

re-posted from rasmussenreports.com

Sure, it's not 0% believing in capitalism (yet) but, as far as survey research goes, 53% is pretty exciting. --ianna.

Just 53% Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism, 04/09/09

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.

There is a partisan gap as well. Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism. As for those not affiliated with either major political party, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% opt for socialism.

The question posed by Rasmussen Reports did not define either capitalism or socialism

It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a “free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.

Other survey data supports that notion. Rather than seeing large corporations as committed to free markets, two-out-of-three Americans believe that big government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

Fifteen percent (15%) of Americans say they prefer a government-managed economy, similar to the 20% support for socialism. Just 14% believe the federal government would do a better job running auto companies, and even fewer believe government would do a better job running financial firms.

Most Americans today hold views that can generally be defined as populist while only seven percent (7%) share the elitist views of the Political Class.

[West Virginia] The Art of Being a Neighbor

re-posted from NPR: Weekend Edition/This I Believe

The Art of Being a Neighbor
By Eve Birch, 04/12/09

I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job, a mortgage, cable, credit, warranties, success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing.

One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $56.

I scoured the countryside for someplace I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a shack in an isolated hollow, four miles up a winding mountain road over the Potomac River in West Virginia.

It was abandoned, full of broken glass and rubbish. When I pried off the plywood over a window and climbed in, I found something I could put my hands to. I hadn't been alone for 25 years. I was scared, but I hoped the hard work would distract and heal me.

I found the owner and rented the place for $50 a month. I took a bedroll, a broom, rope, a gun and cooking gear, and cleared a corner to camp in while I worked.

The locals knew nothing about me. But slowly, they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, tools and canned deer meat, and they began sticking around to chat. They'd ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing, maybe get drunk some night. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream — not the one of individual achievement but one of neighborliness.

Men would stop by with wild berries, ice cream, truck parts and bullets to see if I was up for courting. I wasn't, but they were civil anyway. The women on that mountain worked harder than any I'd ever met. They taught me the value of a whetstone to sharpen my knives, how to store food in the creek and keep it cold and safe. I learned to keep enough for an extra plate for company.

What I had believed in, all those things I thought were the necessary accouterments for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place. Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors.

After four years in that hollow, I moved back into town. I saw that a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people.

It's four of us now, but over time I've had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We'd all be in shelters if we hadn't banded together.

The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It's not so much about what I can get for myself; it's about how we can all get by together.

[Canada] Several Cities Contemplating Drive-thru Ban

re-posted from ActionSpark.com

Numerous Cities Contemplating Drive-thru Ban
By cstar, 03/02/09

Various Canadian cities – including North Vancouver, BC, Edmonton, AB, King's County, NS, and Toronto, Peterborough, London, Ajax, Mississauga, and Sarnia, ON – are currently looking at banning, more strictly regulating, or studying the impacts of drive-thru restaurants.

As reported by CTV.ca on January 22, "A North Vancouver councillor wants to ban restaurants from building drive-thrus in his city because he's worried about the environmental damages caused by idling vehicles. Councillor Sam Schechter introduced a motion Monday night to ban drive-thrus at restaurants. The motion would also prevent the only current restaurant in the City of North Vancouver with a drive-thru, an A&W, from expanding...In the U.S., two cities in California and one in North Carolina have imposed moratoriums on drive-thrus as a result of similar initiatives. City council has ordered an investigation into Schechter's motion and has asked for a report in a few months."

The Kitchener-Record also reported on January 22 that, "Kitchener could soon join a growing list of cities looking to ban, or regulate more closely, new drive-thru operations. City council is expected to consider the issue in early March, following the lead of cities that include London, Hamilton, Mississauga and Winnipeg.

In 2006, an air-quality report from the (Kitchener Environmental Advisory) committee called for a ban on drive-thrus and for an anti-idling campaign...The report was accepted by city councillors, who launched an anti-idling campaign last year...but city councillors took no action on drive-thrus."

On January 25, the Edmonton Sun reported that, "Some green-minded civic politicians want Edmonton to consider closing the window on new restaurant drive-thrus and their idling vehicles. The belief is that would send fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere...(Councillor Don) Iveson said a ban on new drive-thrus could be considered in the Alberta capital as the city in the coming months reviews the way neighbourhoods are designed. He wants to see more pedestrian-friendly planning...Councillor Dave Thiele said a ban on drive-thrus may ultimately be what the city needs. He said he's stopped using the lanes altogether in an effort to reduce his carbon footprint and because he finds the service inside to be quicker."

And the Erie Times-News reported on February 10, "Toronto and Vancouver have instituted bans on building new drive-thru coffee shops and created strict regulations on building drive-thrus in residential, mixed commercial-residential areas and some pedestrian areas. Other cities, including Hamilton and North Vancouver, are considering similar regulations. Officials who are proponents of the bans say that bans of drive-thrus would improve air quality by reducing the number of idling cars."

Toronto's CityTV reported on December 17, 2007 that, "Two years ago, a Toronto bylaw came into effect prohibiting new drive-thrus within 100 feet of any residential property. But some councillors think it's time to toughen up that law. 'Many, many American municipalities have gone in the direction of just absolutely banning drive-thrus, and it's time for the city of Toronto to consider the same,' maintains Councillor Joe Mihevc."

Business opposition

In terms of opposition to the proposed bans on drive-thrus, the Kitchener-Record reported that, "City councillors recently deferred any decision about a ban on new drive-thrus because they want to hear details of a study by Mike Lepage of RWDI, a Guelph-based consulting firm. The study concludes that cars idling in a drive-thru are less harmful than having the engines shut off for a few minutes and then restarted. The study cited the burst of particulates that is released when a cooling engine restarts. The study was paid for by Tim Hortons and is being peer-reviewed by scientists at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Victor Labreche, a private-sector planner representing Tim Hortons, who appeared before councillors recently.

The peer review won't be ready until late February or early March. City councillors want to see the review before making any decision about a ban." The North Shore News reported on January 23 that, "The drive-through option offers safety and convenience to many people, such as parents with small children, the physically challenged and the elderly, and a ban would produce questionable environmental benefits, he said. Parking lot only locations produce about 60 per cent more green house gases and 20 per cent more smog pollutants than drive-through services, Mark von Schellwitz (spokesman for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association) said."

Yet, as reported by the Canadian Press on December 8, 2007, "Students at the University of Alberta monitored a popular Tim Hortons outlet in Edmonton last year for 54 hours and counted 3,756 vehicles idling for an average of more than five minutes each. The longest idle was more than 12 minutes." Additionally, the Edmonton Sun reported that, "A 2006 University of Alberta study found that vehicles idling in fast-food drive-thrus across Edmonton contribute about 8,600 tonnes of emissions per year into the atmosphere." A study conducted by the Ontario Medical Association in 2005 estimated that there are 5,829 premature deaths and 16,807 hospital admissions due to air pollution each year.

The London chapter

The London chapter of the Council of Canadians has launched a petition which states, "Drive-throughs are an incredible detriment to our environment and are a luxury item we can live without. Climate Change is real. A grave threat to all life on this planet. It is time to place our environment and the health and well being of our children ahead of business interests and profits. I demand that all levels of government impose an immediate moratorium on all new commercial drive-through operations and establish a timetable to phase out all existing drive-through operations through zoning or other by-laws." To sign the petition go to, http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-drive--throughs-in-canada.

The Council of Canadians has argued that the five principles of a Canadian Energy Strategy should include security of supply, production, distribution, access, and the environment. Within security of the environment we argue that, "Canadians are concerned about climate change. In spite of this, we are also a wasteful nation in terms of water and energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. We need to push the government to enact policies that meet the expectations of Canadians by encouraging environmentally sustainable production, distribution and use of energy."

And as municipal politicians consider the idea of addressing drive-thru restaurants, federal politicians may want to look again at the issue of federal cabinet ministers and their idling limousines on Parliament Hill. As reported by the CanWest News Service on February 5, 2007, "Federal cabinet ministers must insist their chauffeurs stop idling their limousines for hours at a time during long winter meetings on Parliament Hill, according to MPs who add that every measure counts when it comes to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions...(MP Yves) Godin wants the House affairs committee to resurrect a 1990 edict ordering ministers' chauffeurs to stop idling their engines. RCMP officers were asked to enforce the rule, said Godin."

[Thailand] Thai Protests Disrupt Asia Summit

re-posted from BBC News

Thai Protests Disrupt Asia Summit
04/11/09

Anti-government protesters in Thailand have smashed into the venue of a Asian summit in the resort of Pattaya.

A Thai government government spokesman said leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) decided to postpone the talks.

It is not clear so far whether only the Saturday session or the whole two-day summit has been cancelled.

Thailand has been in turmoil for months, following the removal of allies of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

Some 2,000 of the red-shirted protesters, who back Mr Thaksin, had arrived in the beach resort on Friday.

This week also saw huge protests by the anti-government camp in the capital, Bangkok.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had vowed the Asean summit, called to discuss the global financial crisis, would go ahead.

It was due to get into full swing on Saturday before concluding on Sunday with a summit due to include India, Australia and New Zealand.

The new government has been left embarrassed by the ease with which its opponents have been able to disrupt such a high-level gathering, the BBC's Jonathan Head reports.

Riot police reportedly intervened to separate the protesters from hundreds of blue-shirted government supporters.

Some government supporters were armed with sticks and bottles and some of the protesters could be seen wielding sticks and at least one knife.

Deputy Thai government spokesman Supachai Jaisamut said the government was investigating unconfirmed reports that three people were shot and wounded in the clashes.

"There is an informal report of two or three injured, they are blue shirts," he said.

"We don't know exactly but maybe the bullets came from the red shirts?"

Witnesses say the protesters used taxis and at least two large lorries to block the talks venue.

"The Asean-China summit has been postponed because of the attempts to block the arrangement of the leaders," Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told reporters.

Earlier, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone was unable to enter the talks venue because protesters were blocking the entrance.

An unnamed Japanese foreign ministry official told Reuters news agency that while the trilateral meeting had been cancelled, the Japanese foreign minister did speak by telephone separately with his South Korean and Chinese counterparts.

A Chinese official told AFP news agency that the ministers had waited for an hour before deciding to cancel.

The meeting would have been the foreign ministers' first opportunity to discuss last Sunday's launch of a North Korean rocket, widely viewed as a long-range missile test.

Resignation demand

The Asean summit has already been postponed and relocated several times because of Thailand's political turmoil.

Mr Abhisit came to power in December. He formed a coalition after a court ruled the previous government, led by allies of Mr Thaksin, was illegal.

The move came after anti-Thaksin protesters shut down the country's airport for eight days and besieged government offices.

Mr Thaksin's supporters in the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) accuse Mr Abhisit's government of being a puppet of the military.

They say he took office illegitimately and should resign so fresh elections can be held.

[Mecca] Sheik Adil Kalbani: First Black Man to Lead Prayers in Mecca

I just want to note that the tone of this article does rely a bit on exoticizing time; the author goes out of their way to juxtapose religious practice against technologies (YouTube, cellphones, etc) in a way that seems to suggest that Islam and technology exist separately, in different times. So, yes, the writing of this article is a little fucked up, but the story is still good news. Happy reading --ianna.

re-posted from New York Times

The Saturday Profile - A Black Imam Breaks Ground in Mecca
By Robert F. Worth, 04/10/09

Two years ago, Sheik Adil Kalbani dreamed that he had become an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

Waking up, he dismissed the dream as a temptation to vanity. Although he is known for his fine voice, Sheik Adil is black, and the son of a poor immigrant from the Persian Gulf. Leading prayers at the Grand Mosque is an extraordinary honor, usually reserved for pure-blooded Arabs from the Saudi heartland.

So he was taken aback when the phone rang last September and a voice told him that King Abdullah had chosen him as the first black man to lead prayers in Mecca. Days later Sheik Adil’s unmistakably African features and his deep baritone voice, echoing musically through the Grand Mosque, were broadcast by satellite TV to hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.

Since then, Sheik Adil has been half-jokingly dubbed the “Saudi Obama.” Prominent imams are celebrities in this deeply religious country, and many have hailed his selection as more evidence of King Abdullah’s cautious efforts to move Saudi Arabia toward greater openness and tolerance in the past few years.

“The king is trying to tell everybody that he wants to rule this land as one nation, with no racism and no segregation,” said Sheik Adil, a heavyset and long-bearded man of 49 who has been an imam at a Riyadh mosque for 20 years. “Any qualified individual, no matter what his color, no matter where from, will have a chance to be a leader, for his good and his country’s good.”

Officially, it was his skill at reciting the Koran that won him the position, which he carries out — like the Grand Mosque’s eight other prayer leaders — only during the holy month of Ramadan. But the racial significance of the king’s gesture was unmistakable.

Sheik Adil, like most Saudis, is quick to caution that any racism here is not the fault of Islam, which preaches egalitarianism. The Prophet Muhammad himself, who founded the religion here 1,400 years ago, had black companions.

“Our Islamic history has so many famous black people,” said the imam, as he sat leaning his arm on a cushion in the reception room of his home. “It is not like the West.”

It is also true that Saudi Arabia is far more ethnically diverse than most Westerners realize. Saudis with Malaysian or African features are a common sight along the kingdom’s west coast, the descendants of pilgrims who came here over the centuries and ended up staying. Many have prospered and even attained high positions through links to the royal family. Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, is the son of Prince Sultan and a dark-skinned concubine from southern Saudi Arabia.

But slavery was practiced here too, and was abolished only in 1962. Many traditional Arabs from Nejd, the central Saudi heartland, used to refer to all outsiders as “tarsh al bahr” — vomit from the sea. People of African descent still face some discrimination, as do most immigrants, even from other Arab countries. Many Saudis complain that the kingdom is still far too dominated by Nejd, the homeland of the royal family. There are nonracial forms of discrimination too, and many Shiite Muslims, a substantial minority, say they are not treated fairly.

“The prophet told us that social classes will remain, because of human nature,” Sheik Adil said gravely. “These are part of the pre-Islamic practices that persist.”

Black skin is not the only social obstacle Sheik Adil has overcome. His father came to Saudi Arabia in the 1950s from Ras al Khaima, in what is now the United Arab Emirates, and obtained a job as a low-level government clerk. The family had little money, and after finishing high school, Adil took a job with Saudi Arabian Airlines while attending night classes at King Saud University.

Only later did he study religion, laboriously memorizing the Koran and studying Islamic jurisprudence. In 1984 he passed the government exam to become an imam, and worked briefly at the mosque in the Riyadh airport. Four years later he won a more prominent position as the imam of the King Khalid mosque, a tall white building that is not far from one of the Intelligence Ministry’s offices.

Theologically, Sheik Adil reflects the general evolution of Saudi thinking over the last two decades. During the 1980s he met Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, a leader of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He initially sympathized with their radical position and anger toward the West. Later, he said, he began to find their views narrow, especially after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Now he speaks warmly of King Abdullah’s new initiatives, which include efforts to moderate the power of the hard-line religious establishment and to modernize Saudi Arabia’s judiciary and educational establishment. He reads Al Watan, a liberal newspaper.

“Some people in this country want everyone to be a carbon copy,” Sheik Adil said. “This is not my way of thinking. You can learn from the person who is willing to criticize, to give a different point of view.”

His life, like that of most imams, follows a rigid routine: he leads prayers five times a day at the mosque, then walks across the parking lot to his home, which he shares with two wives and 12 children. On Fridays, he gives a sermon as well.

He expected it to continue that way for the rest of his life. Then in early September he woke up to hear his cellphone and land line, both ringing continuously. Stirring from bed, he heard the administrator of the Grand Mosque leaving a message. He picked up one of the phones, and heard the news that the king had selected him.

Two days later he walked into a grand reception room where he was greeted by Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca Province. Sheik Adil tried to introduce himself, but the prince cut him off with a smile: “You are known,” he said.

Next, Sheik Adil was led to a table where he sat with King Abdullah and other ministers. He was too shy to address the king directly, but as he left the room he thanked him and kissed him on the nose, a traditional sign of deference.

Remembering the moment, Sheik Adil smiled and went silent. Then he pulled out his laptop and showed a visitor a YouTube clip of him reciting the Koran at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

“To recite before thousands of people, this is no problem for me,” he said. “But the place, its holiness, is so different from praying anywhere else. In that shrine, there are kings, presidents and ordinary people, all being led in prayer by you as imam. It gives you a feeling of honor, and a fear of almighty God.”

[Utah] Four Day Workweek

re-posted from NPR, Morning Edition

Utah Finds Surprising Benefits In 4-Day Workweek
By Jenny Brudin, 04/10/09

Last summer, amid surging gas prices, Utah became the first state in the nation to mandate a four-day workweek for state employees.

A recent assessment of the program by state planners found the expected energy cost savings haven't materialized, but there have been unexpected boosts to productivity and worker satisfaction.

Sonia Smith is one of the 18,000 state workers who began a four-day, 10-hour workweek eight months ago. At first, she says, she was shocked and scared about the change. The state accountant is a single mom, and she worried about child care for her 10-year-old son. Now, Smith is a champion of the switch.

"I like having the three-day weekend," Smith says. "I like being able to have one day set aside to do everything that I need to do, and then the other two days where I can devote to my son."

Every Friday morning now, Smith volunteers at her son's school. She helps students with their spelling tests and relishes the extra time with her son. Smith's family and baby sitter adjusted their schedules to enable her to work the adjusted hours.

Smith is among the 70 percent of Utah state employees surveyed who now say they prefer the shorter workweek. Mike Hansen, strategic planning manager in the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, says one of the more surprising effects of this workday change is that employees are now taking significantly less leave.

"That's increased productivity — that's employees behind their desk more this year than the last two years, to the tune of 9 percent" less time off, Hansen says. Paid overtime is also down.

But when Utah implemented the shorter workweek, the goal was to cut energy use by 20 percent and save the state money — and those big savings haven't come through yet.

So far, energy use has been reduced — but only by 13 percent. Each of Utah's 900 government buildings is unique. State energy managers have to figure out how to turn everything off on Fridays — especially the massive heating and air conditioning units.

Energy specialists monitor kilowatt hours used at state buildings, looking for inefficiencies that might be driving costs up. In May, the state also plans to kick off a peer-to-peer energy reduction campaign in each department.

The shift to longer hours isn't without other challenges.

For Nicki Lockhart the change has taken a toll emotionally and physically. "I hate it," she says. "It is not working one single bit for me."

On a recent day, Lockhart walks around her office building. It's about 3:30 in the afternoon, right when fatigue is starting to set in, with nearly three more hours of work left to go. "A 10-hour day for me is like eternity," she says.

By the time the customer service agent gets home and eats dinner, she says, it's time for bed. By Friday, Lockhart is so stressed out, she gets headaches. She's one of the 20 percent of state employees who are still struggling with the change.

But the good news, for everybody, is that the reduction in Friday commuters and the energy savings in buildings have cut down the carbon dioxide pumped into the local air. And the public — the people these government offices serve — seems happy with the change.

Exiting the Department of Motor Vehicles office, Utah resident Jose Sales says he likes the 10-hour days the program created "because I can come in after work and take care of my business — 20 minutes and I'm done."

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman will decide next summer whether to make the four-day week permanent. If Utah's experiment succeeds, it could have an impact on thousands of workers across the country.

"Nobody else has done it like this on this scale," says Hansen of the Office of Budget and Planning, "and everybody is watching."

[U.S.] Squatters Call Foreclosures Home

suggested by Eric, re-posted from NYT

With Advocates' Help, Squatters Call Foreclosures Home
By John Lelandm 04/09/09

When the woman who calls herself Queen Omega moved into a three-bedroom house here last December, she introduced herself to the neighbors, signed contracts for electricity and water and ordered an Internet connection.

What she did not tell anyone was that she had no legal right to be in the home.

Ms. Omega, 48, is one of the beneficiaries of the foreclosure crisis. Through a small advocacy group of local volunteers called Take Back the Land, she moved from a friend’s couch into a newly empty house that sold just a few years ago for more than $400,000.

Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said about a dozen advocacy groups around the country were actively moving homeless people into vacant homes — some working in secret, others, like Take Back the Land, operating openly.

In addition to squatting, some advocacy groups have organized civil disobedience actions in which borrowers or renters refuse to leave homes after foreclosure.

The groups say that they have sometimes received support from neighbors and that beleaguered police departments have not aggressively gone after squatters.

“We’re seeing sheriffs’ departments who are reluctant to move fast on foreclosures or evictions,” said Bill Faith, director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, which is not engaged in squatting. “They’re up to their eyeballs in this stuff. Everyone’s overwhelmed.”

On a recent afternoon, Ms. Omega sat on the tiled floor of her unfurnished living room and described plans to use the space to tie-dye clothing and sell it on the Internet, hoping to save some money before she is inevitably forced to leave.

“It’s a beautiful castle, and it’s temporary for me,” she said, “and if I can be here 24 hours, I’m thankful.” In the meantime, she said, she has instructed her adult son not to make noise, to be a good neighbor.

In Minnesota, a group called the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign recently moved families into 13 empty homes; in Philadelphia, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union maintains seven “human rights houses” shared by 13 families. Cheri Honkala, who is the national organizer for the Minnesota group and was homeless herself once, likened the group’s work to “a modern-day underground railroad,” and said squatters could last up to a year in a house before eviction.

Other groups, including Women in Transition in Louisville, Ky., are looking for properties to occupy, especially as they become frustrated with the lack of affordable housing and the oversupply of empty homes.

Anita Beaty, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, said her group had been looking into asking banks to give it abandoned buildings to renovate and occupy legally. Ms. Honkala, who was a squatter in the 1980s, said the biggest difference now was that the neighbors were often more supportive. “People who used to say, ‘That’s breaking the law,’ now that they’re living on a block with three or four empty houses, they’re very interested in helping out, bringing over mattresses or food for the families,” she said.

Ben Burton, executive director of the Miami Coalition for the Homeless, said squatting was still relatively rare in the city.

But Take Back the Land has had to compete with less organized squatters, said Max Rameau, the group’s director.

“We had a move-in that we were going to do one day at noon,” he said. “At 10 o’clock in the morning, I went over to the house just to make sure everything was O.K., and squatters took over our squat. Then we went to another place nearby, and squatters were in that place also.”

Mr. Rameau said his group differed from ad hoc squatters by operating openly, screening potential residents for mental illness and drug addiction, and requiring that they earn “sweat equity” by cleaning or doing repairs around the house and that they keep up with the utility bills.

“We change the locks,” he said. “We pull up with a truck and move in through the front door. The families get a key to the front door.” Most of the houses are in poor neighborhoods, where the neighbors are less likely to object.

Kelly Penton, director of communications for the City of Miami, said police officers needed a signed affidavit from a property’s owner — usually a bank — to evict squatters. Representatives from the city’s homeless assistance program then help the squatters find shelter.

To find properties, Mr. Rameau and his colleagues check foreclosure listings, then scout out the houses for damage. On a recent afternoon, Mr. Rameau walked around to the unlocked metal gate of an abandoned bungalow in the Liberty City neighborhood.

“Let the record reflect that there was no lock on the door,” Mr. Rameau said. “I’m not breaking in.”

Inside, the wiring and sinks had been stripped out, and there was a pile of ashes on the linoleum floor where someone had burned a telephone book — probably during a cold spell the previous week, Mr. Rameau said.

“Two or three weeks ago, this house was in good condition,” Mr. Rameau said. “Now we wouldn’t move a family in here.”

So far the group has moved 10 families into empty houses, and Mr. Rameau said the group could not afford to help any more people. “It costs us $200 per move-in,” he said.

Mary Trody hopes not to leave again. On Feb. 20, Ms. Trody and her family of 12 — including her mother, siblings and children — were evicted from their modest blue house northwest of the city, which the family had lived in for 22 years, because her mother had not paid the mortgage.

After a weekend of sleeping in a paneled truck, however, the family, with the help of Take Back the Land, moved back in.

“This home is what you call a real home,” Ms. Trody said. “We had all family events — Christmas parties, deaths, funerals, weddings — all in this house.”

On a splendid Florida afternoon, Ms. Trody’s dog played in the water from a hose on the front lawn. The house had mattresses on the floors, but most belongings were in storage, in case they had to leave again.

“I don’t think it’s fair living in a house and not paying,” Ms. Trody said.

She said the mortgage lender had offered the family $1,500 to leave but was unwilling to negotiate minimal payments that would allow them to stay. She said she and her husband had been looking for work since he lost his delivery job with The Miami Herald.

In the meantime, she said, “I still got knots in my stomach, because I don’t know when they’re going to come yank it back from me, when they’re going to put me back on the streets.”

The block was dotted with foreclosed homes.

Three of her neighbors said they knew she was squatting and supported her. One is Joanna Jean Pierre, 32, who affectionately refers to Ms. Trody as Momma.

Ms. Pierre said Ms. Trody was a good neighbor and should be let alone. “That’s her house,” Ms. Pierre said. “She should be here.”

Ms. Trody said that living here before, “I felt secure; I felt this is my home.”

“This is where I know I’m safe,” she added. “Now it’s like, this is a stranger. What’s going to happen?”

Even without furniture or homey touches, she talked about the house as if it were a member of her family.

“I know it’s not permanently, but we still have these couple days left,” she said. “It’s like a person that you’re losing, and you know you still have a few more days with them.”

[Maryland] Rare Jewish Sun Blessing

re-posted from NPR: All Things Considered

With Rare Sun Blessing, Jews Marvel At Creation
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty, 04/08/09

Passover, or the annual celebration of Jews' exodus from Egypt, began Wednesday. This year, it's a once-in-a-generation event.

It coincides with the Birkat Hachamah — the "Blessing of the Sun" — a celebration that occurs every 28 years, when the sun is in a precise location in the sky.

To mark the occasion, a group of religious Jews gathered for a 7 a.m. standing-room-only service at the Chabad Lubavitch house in Gaithersburg, Md. Men wearing prayer shawls chanted from the Talmud before moving outside into the soft early light. It was time for a special blessing.

"Raise your hand if you did this either in 1953 or 1981. Anybody?" asked Rabbi Sholom Raichik.

Raichik surveyed the crowd of 100 men and women, and only a half-dozen hands went up. It's not surprising, since the blessing of the sun is so infrequent. He directed them to face east, punctuating the Psalms with explanations.

According to Talmudic tradition, on Wednesday morning the sun was at the exact position in the skies as it was the moment the Earth was created — 5,769 years ago. It's a complicated calculation. And after some description, the rabbi defaulted to modern technology.

"If you want to know what that means, our Web site has an audio of the class that explains that," he said.

Of course, at the last Blessing of the Sun, there were no Web sites, no cell phones, no text messages. It's a remarkable shift for Meir Shamoulian, who passed the previous blessing in Iran.

"Everything changing — but still sun is there, and universe is there, everything is as same as a long time ago, million years ago," Shamoulian said. "The nation is same thing. They make something new — Internet, telephone or something else. But still you're in the same world. God cannot be changed, and also the universe cannot be changed."

Shamoulian's 21-year-old-son, Moshe, says technology highlights the astounding precision of God's creation.

"And like, there are so many pictures that the Hubble telescope can capture — it's just miraculous," Moshe Shamoulian said. "So we say the blessing not only on the sun but on everything, really, like the entire universe. That God made such a beautiful universe."

Back in 1981, Rabbi Raichik was a 17-year-old yeshiva student. Today, he has a wife and eight children. He notes that the last time around, the Soviet Union, or what he calls the "evil empire," was America's major rival. President Ronald Reagan had just been shot. And word of the sun blessing ceremony got out by letter and word of mouth. But today, it's a different mode of communication.

"How did I get the word out? I didn't mail a piece of information out for this at all," Raichik says. "There was no mailing; there was e-mails and notifications and e-mail templates. One person creates it and another person posts it and you share your ideas. The world is obviously a much smaller place than it was back then."

And, he thinks, a safer place. As for his wife, Hanna, she looks forward to the next Blessing of the Sun in 2037.

"God willing, we'll all be in Jerusalem," Hanna says. "God willing, we should have total peace in the world, and the Messiah should be here and there should be total peace in the world. And life will be very good for everybody."

In the meantime, they'll immortalize the occasion with a photo — which they are posting online.

[VT] Vermont Lawmakers Override Veto, OK Gay Marriage

re-posted from NPR.org

VT Lawmakers Override Veto, OK Gay Marriage

April 7, 2009

Vermont lawmakers on Tuesday overrode the governor's veto of a measure legalizing same-sex marriage, making the state the fourth to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed — but the first to do so through legislation.

Both houses of the Democratic-controlled Vermont Legislature mustered the necessary two-thirds vote to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto, issued just hours earlier. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House.

The move comes nine years after Vermont became the first state to allow civil unions for gay couples. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa also allow same-sex marriage after courts ruled gays could not be excluded.

The vote in Vermont was a major victory for gay marriage supporters, some of whom celebrated outside the House chamber as the vote was announced.

Robert Dostis said he and his partner, Chuck Kletecka, were making wedding plans for the fall. "We haven't decided who's going to propose to who yet, but we've been together 25 years in September, so I think Sept. 14 could be a nice wedding day," Dostis told NPR.

The veto's overturn follows an April 3 decision by the Iowa Supreme Court, which struck down a law limiting the definition of marriage to a man and a woman. The high court said the law violated the constitutional rights of equal protection. That ruling opens the door for gays and lesbians to exchange vows in Iowa as soon as April 24.

Iowa lawmakers had "excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification," the justices wrote.

[Iowa] High Court Strikes Down Ban on Gay Marriage

re-posted from NPR

Iowa High Court Strikes Down Ban on Gay Marriage, 04/02/09

Iowa's Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on gay marriage, saying the provision violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.

The unanimous ruling issued Friday would make Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal. The court's decision upholds a 2007 Polk County District Court judge's ruling.

The 2007 ruling prompted nearly two dozen people to apply for marriage licenses in Polk County, Iowa's most populous county and home to Des Moines. Only one couple managed to get married before the decision was stayed the next day.

The case stems from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization. The group filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses.

Gay rights supporter and former state lawmaker Ed Fallon told NPR that the ruling is consistent with Iowa's history.

"Iowa has always been on the cutting edge of civil rights," Fallon said, "whether it's regarding desegregation of schools or the rights of African-Americans to be full citizens."

"This is huge. And I think it's a testament to the fairness and sense of decency that Iowans have," he said.

The decision makes Iowa the first state in the Midwest and the third in the nation to legalize gay marriage. Massachusetts and Connecticut permit same-sex marriage; California did briefly before voters passed a ban in November.

During oral arguments before the Supreme Court in December, Des Moines lawyer Dennis Johnson argued Iowa's ban violated his clients' due process and equal protection rights.

Roger J. Kuhle, an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that the lower court's ruling for the plaintiffs violates the separation of powers and that the issue should be left to the Legislature.

During oral arguments, Chief Justice Marsha Ternus explained that the high court would determine whether the district court erred by finding that the same-sex marriage ban violated the state constitution and whether it erred by not allowing the county's expert witness testimony.

The timing of the decision could be awkward for state lawmakers who are on track to end the legislative session in coming weeks.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs) told reporters that it's "exceedingly unlikely" the Legislature would deal with the gay marriage issue this year, regardless of the court's ruling.

"This is the final step in a lengthy legal proceeding," said Gronstal. "We're going to wait and see that decision and review it before we take any action."