​In some disconcerting news for those of us who have been fantasizing about hot marathon smoking sessions with Mary-Louise Parker, the star of Showtime's Weeds has admitted she doesn't smoke marijuana.But at least Parker, 46, who plays the role of pot-peddling housewife Nancy on the hit cable series, doesn't judge you for toking up, reports Gerrick D. Kennedy at the Boston Herald.It's not that Parker has anything against cannabis, you see. It's just that it doesn't seem that exciting. Continue reading "'Weeds' Star Mary-Louise Parker Doesn't Smoke Weed" >

LAist (blog)
Hundreds of Hyatt Hotel Workers Protesting
KHON2
Hyatt Regency employees are staging a protest this morning... with hundreds of union members expected to particiapte. The protest and demonstration started ...
Hotel Workers Protesting At Local Hyatts Again TodayThe San Francisco Appeal

all 26 news articles »

​Police arrested rapper T.I. and his wife Tameka "Tiny" Cottle for alleged possession of a controlled substance Wednesday night after Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies smelled a strong odor of marijuana emitting from vehicle.The newlyweds -- they just got married on July 30 in Miami -- were booked at the West Hollywood sheriff's station, reports Jolene Michael at Gather. Both were held on charges of felony possession of a controlled substance, and bail was set at $10,000 apiece. Both had posted bail as of 4 a.m. Thursday, and are due back in court on September 3. Continue reading "Rapper T.I. And Wife Arrested On Felony Drug Charges" >

The Guardian
Chaos as Mozambicans protest higher bread prices
Reuters Africa
MAPUTO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Shops were looted, cars set ablaze and roads barricaded. Protests over bread price rises spread over Maputo ...
Private Mozambican TV: 6 killed in protestThe Associated Press
South Africans prepare to leave protest hit MaputoPrimedia Broadcasting - Eyewitness News
Mozambique police kill 6 in food price protestCBC.ca
AFP -Vancouver Sun -Bloomberg
all 939 news articles »

I will now proceed to use the AK Press Blog to shamelessly promote an event that I have been co-organizing for the past five years: The Mid-Atlantic Radical Bookfair, a three-day cavalcade of radical and anarchist authors, publishers, zinesters, and bookgeeks of all varieties that takes place every year here in Baltimore. After two years of organizing the Bookfair as a standalone event (including one year wherein we took over a gigantic theater in the middle of the downtown and crammed it with more than 50 tablers and another 50 panels & workshops), we were approached by the organizers of the Baltimore Book Festival with an invitation to bring the Radical Bookfair inside the larger city-sponsored Festival and organize our own tent & speaker stage. Weird, right? We thought so too, but we like to try new things, so we gave it a whirl for the first time back in 2008 and you know what? It was awesome. It was so awesome that we did it again the next year. And now, 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the Radical Bookfair, which takes place in Baltimore this September 24-26. 

If you are anywhere within traveling distance of Baltimore, I really suggest you think about coming out for the event. Check out some of the amazingness that’s in store for you:

Friday, September 24:

6:30PM: Anarchism 101 with Cindy Milstein

Saturday, September 25:

Noon: Indigenous activist Jessica Yee on Colonization, Communities of Color, and Sexuality
1PM: Bitch Magazine co-founder Lisa Jervis and author Sheri Parks discuss Representations of Women
2PM: Tricia Shapiro and Mark Nowak on the costs of coal (a release event for Mountain Justice!)
3PM: A panel discussion on the history and legacy of the Panthers and the politics of imprisonment with Eddie Conway
4PM: Political cartoonist Ted Rall launches An Anti-American Manifesto
5PM: Radical urbanist Matt Hern & Take Back the Land founder Max Rameau discuss the city from below
6PM: The Uses of a Whirlwind super panel, with Craig Hughes, Stevie Peace, Max Rameau, Betty Robinson, and more!

Sunday, September 26:

12PM: Chris Williams on Ecology and Socialism
1PM: Ben Dangl, Jeff Conant, and Marina Sitrin on Lessons from Latin America
2PM: Kari Lydersen on the Chicago Factory Takeover, in conversation with Deborah Rudacille on Sparrow’s Point
3PM: Penelope Rosemont and Noel Ignatiev on the critique of whiteness from Surrealism to the steel mill
4PM: Dan Berger and Daniel Burton-Rose on Rethinking Resistance in the 1970s

Seriously? That’s an incredible lineup. It’s also a bunch of AK authors (because we seriously have far too many great books coming out this Fall), so it’s even vaguely legitimate for me to promote this on the AK Press blog!

I love all of the panels, I really do … but, I mean, come on. Everybody’s got to have a favorite, right? I think Max Rameau and Matt Hern on Saturday evening is going to be min-blowing. These are two of the all-time best speakers I’ve ever seen … last March, during the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair, I saw Matt Hern speak twice in the same day and was captivated both times. And Max Rameau’s talk was definitely one of the strongest parts of The City From Below conference. And, on Sunday, if you’re in Baltimore and you miss Penelope Rosemont and Noel Ignatiev … well, you should probably just go ahead and kick yourself now. I hear there’s folks coming into town just for that panel … let’s hope they stay for the rest of the day too!

All in all, I really think this will be one of our best bookfairs yet. More info to come, I’m sure, but feel free to check out the bookfair website at http://bookfair.redemmas.org for more details!

Ammon News
Dozens of Jordanians protest in Amman, condemning direct Palestinian-Israeli ...
Xinhua
2 (Xinhua) -- Scores of Jordanians took part in a sit-in on Thursday, protesting the start of direct peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the ...
Jordanian opposition blasts relaunch of direct Middle East talksMonsters and Critics.com

all 6 news articles »

Telegraph.co.uk
Activists held after rig protest
The Press Association
The activists had been suspended under the rig since Tuesday to protest at Cairn Energy's deepwater drilling in the area, saying it could spark an oil rush ...
Protest Shuts Down Oil Rig off GreenlandNew York Times (blog)
Greenpeace takes water quality protest to ArcticInternational Environmental Technology
Arctic Weather Ends Oil Rig OccupationSky News
Telegraph.co.uk -Earthtimes -The Guardian
all 497 news articles »

Independent journalist and author of the soon to be released, Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World, Nir Rosen, provides a sober analysis of the current state of Iraq and the US withdrawal on yesterday’s Democracy Now!. According to Rosen: [Obama] said that the US has paid a high price, a huge [...]

by Sinan Antoon this is the chapter of devastation this is our oasis an angle where wars intersect tyrants accumulate around our eyes in the shackle’s verandah there is enough space for applause let us applaud another evening climbs the city’s candles technological hoofs crush the night a people is being slaughtered across short waves [...]

In Alaska, and a growing number of other areas, it appears freedom of speech will get you arrested.  A man who attended the state fair was assaulted and caged for holding a sign with his political beliefs on it.  The officers seemed conflicted on whether or not to arrest the man in the video but [...]

Washington Post
Beck rally a celebration, not a protest
Daily Caller
So I have been protesting for two years. But irritation can only carry you so far… August 28: Seeking personal peace from the constant protesting spirit ...
Glenn Beck Rally vs Sharpton Rally: Correcting the MessagesPeople's Cube (satire)
Honor to attend DC rallyLake Oswego Review

all 315 news articles »

- contributions

The recovered remains of the sunken ROKS Cheonan warship.

By Roddy Quines

September 1, 2010 -- It has often been said that "the first casualty when war comes is truth". The latest string of lies and half truths on the Korean peninsula have set the stage for the reheating of old tensions between North Korea and South Korea. The two Koreas have been at war for the last 60 years, with only a ceasefire and a 250-kilometre “no man’s land” known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) holding the fragile peace.

read more

Santa Clara County, can you hear us now? Neighbors protest Verizon cell phone ...
San Jose Mercury News
Residents are protesting the construction of a Verizon tower, the fourth cell tower in the area. (Kirstina Sangsahachart/ Daily News) A Los Altos area ...

and more »

ABC Online
Protesting asylum-seekers sent to WA
The Australian
Meanwhile, Northern Territory police have rejected reports that they refused to provide water and food to the asylum-seekers involved in yesterday's protest ...
Water not withheld from Darwin detainees: policeABC Online
Asylum seekers protest in AustraliaAljazeera.net
Immigrants' Protest in Australia Ends After 7 HoursEmbrace Australia
Sydney Morning Herald -Bloomberg -The Canadian Press
all 381 news articles »

Today at the Minnesota State Fair, the DFL Party will launch a scavenger "hunt for Tom Emmer's plans." And The Uptake will be there to cover the exciting game!

In the 1933 Paramount motion picture “Tillie and Gus”, W.C. Fields said:
“There comes a time in the affairs of men, when we must take the bull by the tail, and face the situation.”
The term “motion pictures” is rather archaic nowadays, but there's nothing archaic about W.C.'s insightful wisdom—almost 80 years ago spinning a clear image of precisely where we are in 2010. Indeed, ours is a confusing time of wars over fossil energy, imperialism, secrecy, disinformation, massive upward transfer (...) - contributions

NOLA.com
Students protest budget cuts at UNO
WAFB.com
By the end of the protest, a handful of students were arrested, the police chief was punched and students were maced by police. The protests started early ...
UNO students plan rally today to protest more budget cutsNOLA.com
UNO students protest budget cuts2TheAdvocate
UNO students protest budget cutsWXVT

all 25 news articles »

by Jesús Cantú, Proceso
A memorial on Monterrey Tech's campus to two students
killed by soldiers who were engaged in a shoot-out with criminals.
Soldiers later planted guns on the students' bodies to make
it appear as though they were members of organized crime.
Mexico City, August 25- An analysis of recommendations 36 and 45, issued this year by the [Mexican government's] National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in reference to the death of the two Almanza Salazar children and of the two Monterrey Tech students, makes it clear that in both cases the soldiers who participated committed the same offenses: altering the scene of the crime, apparently to cover up their responsibility in the incidents; planting evidence to try to implicate the victims as members of criminal organizations or, at least, to modify the course of the investigations; and to hinder the national human rights ombudsman's investigations.

The existence of similar conduct in the two distinct cases, which were carried out by soldiers from two different military zones, arouses the suspicion that this is a general policy and not the anomalous personal behavior of those involved.

In particular, recommendation 45, regarding the murder of the two students, is damning [proof of] the military's evidence-planting: utilizing the Defense Ministry's very own documents, [the recommendation] demonstrates that the soldiers planted weapons they had previously seized from criminals on the students.

In this respect, the recommendation points out: "in the e-mail of images annexed in the report from the responsible authority, AR13, commander of the VII Military Zone in Nuevo Leon, said that once the confrontation against members of organized crime had ended, a grey Yukon was inspected, and inside the following was found: (...) an automatic rifle, .308 caliber, Century Arms brand, Cetme Sporter model, serial numbers erased; as well as a carbine, .223-5-56 mm, Bushmaster brand, model XM15-E2S, serial number L262834."

And further on [the recommendation] indicates: "...the public prosecutor's cadaver inspection report compiled by the Forensic Medical Service of the Nuevo Leon State Attorney General's Office states that Javier Francisco Arredondo Verdugo had in his right arm a rifle-style firearm, color black with green and a black strap, with a metallic magazine that did not have any bullets.  The serial number and brand was not observed.  Jorge Antonio Mercado Alonso, on the other hand, had in his left arm ... a black metallic firearm, 223 caliber, model XM15-E2S, Bushmaster brand, serial number L262834."

The recommendation concludes: "...from the report produce by the commander of the VII Military Zone it is deduced that the two weapons found inside the truck when it was searched by soldiers are the same weapons that appeared in the arms of both students at the moment the public prosecutor's office inspected the cadaver, even when a video demonstrated that they [the students] were not traveling in the truck.  [Rather], they were leaving campus and they were unarmed, which leads to the conclusion that these [weapons] were planted with the goal of altering the crime scene."

Martín and Bryan Almanza Salazar's funeral. In the case of the Almanza Salazar family, the evidence comes from contradictory testimony.  The two most relevant pieces of evidence are the location of the Tahoe truck in which the two dead boys, Martín and Bryan Almanza Salazar, were traveling--it was found between two trucks occupied by members of organized crime--and the bullet holes that were shot in the front part [of the vehicle] to make it appear as though the [family's] truck was caught in the crossfire.

Regarding the truck's location, the CNDH document states: "...in the e-mail of images number 13018, sent on May 5, 2010, by AR3, which appears as an annex to the National Defense Ministry's report provided... to the National [Human Rights] Commission, the following is written:

"...5. At the end of the attack, the scene was searched and three vehicles were found in the order listed below, with the following items inside them:

"a) A dead, unidentified male assailant with military-style clothing in a blue truck; b) a male with injuries in his legs in a black Tahoe truck, who is identified as V6, indicating that he was coming from Nuevo Laredo and heading towards Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and that his family was accompanying him; also inside the vehicle, in the back, was the lifeless body of young Martin Almanza Salazar, who died at the scene, and c) a dead unidentified male assailant with military-style dress in a red vehicle."

The Almanza Salazar family's truck.  The family says
soldiers shot the boys in their parents' arms as they fled
the soldiers' unprovoked attack.
Regarding this detail, the recommendation states: "...the National [Human Rights] Commission observes that work was done to alter the course of the investigations, which is demonstrated by the May 9, 2010 testimony of T2 and T3 (as the witnesses are referred to in order to protect their identities), who state that when they received the call over radio from V1 (identified as Martín Almanza Rodríguez, the boys' father, who was driving the vehicle) that the truck in which they were traveling had been shot by soldiers, they went to the scene of the crime, arriving at approximately 21:30 hours on April 3, 2010, and observed in said place that there was only the black Tahoe truck with its hazard lights blinking, which they clearly identified as V1's vehicle, and, upon questioning the soldiers regarding the passengers, the soldiers told them that the injured had already been transported to Miguel Alemán for medical treatment.  [T2 and T3] went to the hospital in Miguel Alemán... As they were returning to Nuevo Laredo and crossed the bridge [near the crime scene] at about 23:30 hours on April 3, 2010, the say that V1's truck was [parked] between a blue pick up truck and a red vehicle."

(In other military documents that refer to the trucks it is observed that they took exactly the same measures as in the previous case: they used the goods that they seized from the criminals to alter the crime scene and modify the course of the investigation.)

Also, to make it appear as though the family had been caught in the crossfire, once the injured and the bodies had been taken away, the soldiers fired at the truck's windshield and hood.  The CNDH recommendation states: "...in relation to the bullet holes that appear in the front of the truck, they do not coincide with the victim's testimony.  Moreover, the National [Human Rights] Commission's forensic report indicates that, in relation to the bullet holes described in the right front passenger seat, it can be established that the shooter was located outside and in front of the vehicle in question; likewise, that the seat was not occupied by any person due to the absence of biological fluids (blood stains or tissue), meaning that it is very probable that they [the bullet holes] were made once the truck was unoccupied."

In both cases, at the beginning of the recommendations, the CNDH makes a nearly identical observation.  In the students' case, it notes: "[The CNDH] considers it necessary to make evident that during the investigation for this recommendation, there were obstacles and a lack of collaboration on the part of the National Defense Ministry, which denied [access to] some of the information that was requested in order to discover the truth of what happened."

According to the CNDH's recommendations, the behaviors and cover-ups are very similar, despite the fact that the cases, soldiers, and military zones are different, which makes it more difficult to attribute the human rights violations to human error or individual abuses.

Translated by Kristin Bricker.

The Hindu
Save the Planet Protest Gunman James Lee killed by police
HULIQ
Savetheplanetprotest.com is a direct protest aimed specifically at the Discovery Channel. Lee had been arrested before in a protest at the Discovery ...
Save the Planet Protest, James Jay Lee's mantraAll the buzz in News (blog)
Eco-Warrior Takes Hostages In Discovery Channel ProtestContactmusic.com
Gunman's Environmental Grudges Well Known Before Discovery Channel Hostage ...FOXNews
LALATE (blog) -Washington Post (blog) -NBC Miami
all 3,429 news articles »