No More Prisons

185 people in DC were arrested in front of the supreme court on Monday in civil disobedience to the continued imprisonment of Mumia Abu-Jamal. 348 people were arrested nationwide in simultaneous protests in San Francisco and other cities. Inside the walls, justices were deciding on "Williams vs. Taylor," which has to do with the restrictions put on habeus corpus by the 1996 anti-terrorism act.


"What Williams is about is whether or not federal judges have to accept the findings of state court judges or whether or not they are independent -- habeas corpus is our most valued human right."
--Leonard Weinglass, attorney for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Most people think the government has a responsibility to ensure reasonable standards, minimal standards for poor people. On the other hand most people are against welfare, which does exactly that. That’s a propaganda achievement that you have to admire.
--Noam Chomsky
Z Magazine features Expanding the Floor of the Cage, an Interview with Noam Chomsky.

thanks to Abuddha and (again!) randomWalks for this link.

Wow!




Thanks to all of the fine people in Portland for making Fat Tuesday's event such a success. Never have I seen so many people of different races, ages, cultures and interests connecting like that, especially not in Portland.

For those of you who missed it. Billy, along with Daniel Burton-Rose, Mark Lakeman and Craig Rosenbraugh schooled the crowd and DJs Rip-One, Wicked, Deena and Magneto moved it for over six hours. Major props to Chloe from Reading Frenzy and Randy from Evergreen for hooking up this incredible event. The rest of the country has a lot to look forward to, if this is any indication.

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In the larger scheme of things, "racial profiling" is as American as WWF wrestling. It's a sport anyone can play—store clerk, real estate agent, cabbie, judge, employer, editor, doctor, lawyer, or teacher. But the problem becomes deadly when it's backed by the power of the state—and the gun.
-- WISTA JEANNE JOHNSON
Back East, the venerable Village Voice has a feature about the Diallo case and the world we live in. thanks, randomWalks.



Davey D's news site, which you should be visiting daily, is chock full of news about the hip-hop reaction's to the diallo case including a boycott of Hot 97 and Mos Def and Kweli's reaction to the verdict. In addition, you can read about MC Hammer's ressurection and how he is putting it all on the table to stop the madness that is Prop 21.

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Hate and bigotry and homophobia and racism have a place, evidently, and that place is in Major League Baseball.
--Derrick Boazman, Atlanta City Councilman
And if you're a sports fan, you may be as disgusted as I am that John Rocker's suspension has been reduced. I know this is a bandwagon issue of sorts, but athletes seem to be getting away with murder (literally!) these days.On the other hand, how long have governments around the world been doing it?? In Rocker's public comment, he apologizes for three things.

1. His dirty language - It's "not the type of language we use back home." That's funny, because I saw him cuss out New York fans on national TV between almost every commercial break when he was in the game. He must have learned those words on the No. 7 train.
   
2. His racist remarks - " I will emphasize that I am not a racist, although I can understand how someone who did not know me may think so." He didn't mean it, really. He then throws in the old white favorite - "I have several black friends."
   
3. His comments about the Atlanta clubhouse. Despite their racist mascot and chants, and their multi-media-monopolist-World-Bank-supporting owner, the Atlanta players do play with a measure of class. I'm pretty sure they don't care what he says anymore, he'll be gone soon by hook or by crook.
   

I'll try and keep the baseball updates to a minimum in the future. But for now, the sport of heroes like Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg should do better.

peace - dj