Cotton Spider and Wooden Cart Prevent Commutation of Sentence?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“COTTON SPIDER AND A WOODEN CART PROHIBIT CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR BROWN FROM SIGNING CLEMENCY
Will A Cotton Spider and Wooden Cart Cause Patricia Wright To Die In A California Prison?

BlogTalkRadio

“The Nancy Lockhart Show’” tackles injustices and actively obtains results.

California – July 18, 2011 – The question “Will a cotton spider and a Wooden Cart cause Patricia Wright To Die In A California Prison?” Many years ago Patricia Wright visited a model home with her young son. After touring the home Patricia learned that her son had taken a cotton spider and wooden cart out of the children's play room of the model home. Patricia had no idea of this but, ended up with a misdemeanor in the state of California.

Patricia Wright CDC#W79941, is wrongly convicted and currently housed at Central California Women's Skilled Nursing Facility as she is terminally ill. Patricia is requesting that Governor Brown commute her sentence as, the Board of Pardon's and Parole is in agreement with her release.

The INNOCENCE PROJECT at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, NY has accepted Patricia's case and is working on proving her innocence; however, Patricia is dying.

Patricia was convicted in 1998 of her ex-husband’s 1981 murder, no physical or forensic evidence or, eyewitnesses tie her to the crime, she adamantly denies any involvement, and crime scene fingerprints exclude her.
Read about her story at, http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_38/patricia_wright_jd_issue_38.pdf
Arletta Wright, Patricia's sister, has joined The Nancy Lockhart Show seeking the public's assistance to release her terminally ill sister. The Cotton Spider and Wooden Cart were upgraded to a felony after the wrongful conviction. A COTTON SPIDER and WOODEN CART Prohibit Commutation.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thenancylockhartshow/2011/07/12/patricia-wright--compassionate-medical-release

About “The Nancy Lockhart Show”

“The Nancy Lockhart Show” is an internationally interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that tackels injustices and actively obtains results. The stream and archives are available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thenancylockhartshow.

Press Contact

Arletta Wright -             951-520-7811      

Nancy Lockhart, M.J.             (843) 217-4649      

thenancylockhartshow@gmail.com

Summary Of Patricia Wright's Current Issues

Patricia Wright CDC#W79941, is wrongly convicted and currently housed at Central California Women's Skilled Nursing Facility. Patricia is requesting that Governor Brown commute her sentence as, the Board of Pardon's and Parole is in agreement with her release. The board cannot release her according to California's laws until governor Brown commutes the sentence.


The INNOCENCE PROJECT at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, NY has accepted Patricia's case and is working on proving her innocence; however, Mrs. Wright is suffering from the last stages of cancer.
Patricia was convicted in 1998 of her ex-husband’s 1981 murder, no physical or forensic evidence or, eyewitnesses tie her to the crime, she adamantly denies any involvement, and crime scene fingerprints exclude her. Read about her story at, http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_38/patricia_wright_jd_issue_38.pdf
Arletta Wright, Patricia's sister, will join us in asking for the public's assistance to release her terminally ill sister.

Tim DeChristopher

 

@Mirela Monte

You may not know Tim, he is an environmentalist and his 'civil disobedience' is being compared to Rosa Parks...He took on an oil giant and ended up being charged with violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act and making false statements! Please take a moment to read his statement to the judge after he was sentenced to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine: "I know Mr. Huber [Federal prosecutor] disagrees with me on this. He wrote that 'The rule of law is the bedrock of our civilized society, not acts of ‘civil disobedience’ committed in the name of the cause of the day'. That’s an especially ironic statement when he is representing the United States of America, a place where the rule of law was created through acts of civil disobedience. Since those bedrock acts of civil disobedience by our founding fathers, the rule of law in this country has continued to grow closer to our shared higher moral code through the civil disobedience that drew attention to legalized injustice." The U.S. Attorney’s office issued a memorandum addressing DeChristopher’s case that stated, “To be sure, a federal prison term here will deter others from entering a path of criminal behavior.” DeChristopher responded to this statement during his court address: "The certainty of this statement not only ignores the history of political prisoners, it ignores the severity of the present situation. Those who are inspired to follow my actions are those who understand that we are on a path toward catastrophic consequences of climate change. They know their future, and the future of their loved ones, is on the line. And they know we are running out of time to turn things around. The closer we get to that point where it’s too late, the less people have to lose by fighting back. The power of the Justice Department is based on its ability to take things away from people. The more that people feel that they have nothing to lose, the more that power begins to shrivel. The people who are committed to fighting for a livable future will not be discouraged or intimidated by anything that happens here today. And neither will I. I will continue to confront the system that threatens our future. Given the destruction of our democratic institutions that once gave citizens access to power, my future will likely involve civil disobedience. Nothing that happens here today will change that. I don’t mean that in any sort of disrespectful way at all, but you don’t have that authority. You have authority over my life, but not my principles. Those are mine alone.” ~Kathy Looney Tim DeChristopher Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/TimDeChristoph​er I Do Not Want Mercy, I Want You To Join Me: http://bit.ly/JoinTim Peaceful Uprising (Tim's group): http://www.peacefuluprising.or​g/ "Do you think maybe we could get through to them if we all wrote in Tim DeChristopher on the next ballot?" ~Crystal Holsinger-Laundry

Wealth Gap Between Minorities and White Americans Doubles After Housing Crisis, Recession

A new study of U.S. census data reveals that wealth gaps between whites and minorities in the United States have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tracking them a quarter-century ago. White Americans now have on average 20 times the net worth of African Americans and 18 times that of Latinos. According to the Pew Research Center, the gaps were compounded during the housing bust and the subsequent recession, and essentially wiped out much of the economic progress made by people of color over the past 20 years. We discuss the center’s study with Roderick Harrison, sociologist and demographer, and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau. “Any hopes or aspirations, particularly based solely on Obama’s election, that we had reached some kind of post-racial state were close to delusional,” says Harrison. “This report is pointing to just how much the socioeconomic inequalities have been exacerbated by the recession and poor economy.” [includes rush transcript]

http://t.co/30C4YU1 via @democracynow 

Parks Essay Appears to Discuss Rape Attempt

An essay by civil rights icon Rosa Parks gives an account of a black housekeeper who is nearly raped by a white neighbor. An expert has said it might be drawn from her own life, but an institute created by her says she wrote it as fiction. (July 29)

Don't tell yourself why things won't work out in life

 

Don't tell yourself why things won't work out in life, but tell yourself why they can work out as you prove to yourself what you can do and make your life work for you. When plans change in our lives, it's then we learn to improvise and get out there to put into action what we want to accomplish, achieve and happen in our lives. We can't just sit on the sidelines or take the backseat to our life or we will never know how things will turn out. Instead of selling ourselves short, we need to give ourselves credit for how far we've come and give ourselves a fighting chance to see our dreams become a reality!

- Jenna Kandyce Linch

Justice for Kelly Thomas- Phone, Twitter & Facebook Campaign

		Created by:		Carol Leonard
For	JUSTICE 4 KELLY THOMAS!

Lets all start calling, tweeting and leaving messages on the facebook page of the Orange County District Attorney's page for the next month; We must pressure them so that they prosecute the 6 rogue cops that killed Kelly Thomas! We must show that we are not afraid to stand up and speak out- When Kelly Thomas was screaming, "Dad! Dad!" They should have known he was not the average criminal on the street. Contact your local news stations and tell them you'd like them to cover this story!! Those cops need to receive the fullest punishment of the law! What has happened to "Serve & Protect"?


DA's Main Office             (714) 834-3600       Tony Rackaucks, DA


http://www.facebook.com/oc​datony


http://twitter.com/#!/ocda​tony


http://orangecountyda.com/​home/index.asp


http://orangecountyda.com/​home/index.asp?page=142

Michele Bachmann Has No Comment On the Teen Suicide Epidemic in Her Own Backyard

Gawker
http://t.co/1lLvKFh 

horrible

Seth Abramovitch — Gay-hating presidential aspirant Michele Bachmann represents a district of Minnesota which public health officials have labeled a "suicide contagion area," according to a deeply disturbing piece in Mother Jones. Here's why: In the space of two years, nine teenagers from the area have taken their own lives—the most recent one in May—while "many more" have attempted suicide unsuccessfully. Most of them were known or perceived to be LGBT youth.
This rash of suicides began when a seventh-grader named Samantha Johnson, new to the area after her family had moved from North Dakota, had shot herself on Veterans Day 2009 with a hunting rifle. Samantha was a chubby, tomboy-ish girl who played sports, and was teased mercilessly by the other members of her volleyball team. Hers began a wave of similar suicides in the 38,000-student Anoka-Hennepin school district, the largest in Minnesota.

At least four of the suicides involved kids known or at least perceived by their peers to be LGBT. Since January, seven of Fietek's students at Anoka Middle School have been hospitalized for attempting or threatening suicide. [...]
Anoka-Hennepin has a policy on the books known colloquially as "no homo promo," which dates in back to the mid-1990s. Back then, after several emotional school board meetings, the district essentially wiped gay people out of the school health curriculum. There could be no discussion of homosexuality, even with regard to HIV and AIDS, and the school board adopted a formal policy that stated school employees could not teach that homosexuality was a "normal, valid lifestyle."

As for Ms. Bachmann, she has made a grand total of zero comments on the teen suicide epidemic in her own district. None. In fact, she has voted against proposed anti-bullying legislation, making the following, mindbogglingly insensitive statement on the matter at a hearing in 2006:

"I think for all us our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies, always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to point of zero tolerance and what does it mean?...What will be our definition of bullying? Will it get to the point where we are completely stifling free speech and expression? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?"

Anoka-Hennepin's "no pro homo" policy has been amended slightly in recent years. Teachers and school staff are now instructed to remain "neutral" on the subject of homosexuality if it ever comes up in class. Both policies were championed by the Minnesota Family Council and the Parents Action League, which also lobby to make "reparative therapy" part of the official school curriculum. That's the gay deprogramming technique practiced by Bachmann's husband, Marcus Bachmann, at Bachmann & Associates, his sham of a Christian counseling clinic.
There's more at Mother Jones. Be ready to get very sad, and very angry. [Photo via Getty]

RNU DEMAND IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF BRENDAN LILLIS

RNU activists in Ireland, Scotland and America, have over the last few days been very proud to participate in the campaign and 4 day fast to call for the immediate release of Brendan Lillis.

RNU activists in Ireland, Scotland and America, have over the last few days been very proud to participate in the campaign and 4 day fast to call for the immediate release of Brendan Lillis.

‘Fasting for 3 days is no easy task’, says Ciaran Cunningham, RNU/ Cogús spokesperson, ‘but at least we are able to go home to our families and loved ones at the end of it. Roisín Lynch, Brendan’s partner, does not have that option thanks to David Ford and the Stormont’s Department of Injustice. There is no logic or compassion here and how anyone can perceive Brendan Lillis as a threat is beyond comprehension’.

RNU believe that Brendan Lillis should be at home, not just on compassionate grounds, but also because there are no legal reasons for him to be in Maghaberry, considering that there are no charges against him, yet has his licence revoked. Brendan Lillis is a man who has been confined to his bed for over 600 days, can barely talk, cannot walk and is so weak that tragically has been given days to live. This can only be described as cruelty.

Ciaran continued; ‘the system of a person being ‘released on licence’ should be abolished as it’s essentially a threat on people’s heads and a person can have their licence revoked at the whim of the British Secretary of State’.

The Republican Network for Unity wish to express our solidarity with Roisín and Brendan and commend their bravery. We urge everyone, Republican or otherwise to campaign for the immediate release of Brendan.

Related Link: http://www.republicannetwork.ie/

Please Show Support For Davontae Sanford

Please Show Support For Davontae Sanford & Family No Justice No Peace !

Why you can't put a price on Rosa Parks

Local resident, Thelma Mosley, holds a portrait of civil rights activist, Rosa Parks, as she waits in-line to enter the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to pay her respects October 30, 2005 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)By Ronda Racha Penrice
http://t.co/vvTWv9F


Rosa Parks has been immortalized as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement". That fateful day in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama helped changed the nation, eventually moving us closer towards "a more perfect union."
Unfortunately, that concept of "a more perfect union" has been lost on Parks' relatives and perhaps the state of Michigan, where the civil rights icon had long resided until her death in 2005 at the age of 92.
According to court papers filed in the Michigan Supreme Court by Steven Cohen, who represents Parks' caretaker Elaine Steele and the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, which Steele helped Parks create, attorneys John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr., coincidentally appointed by the state, are charging the estate valued at $372,000 by most accounts a whopping $243,000. In addition, Guernsey's Auctioneers are standing by in New York to auction off Parks' memorabilia, which includes the hat she wore that fateful day in 1955, as well as presidential medals and other items.
Even more disturbing, according to attorney Lawrence Pepper, who represents Parks' 13 nieces and nephews who contested the will naming Steele and the Institute as beneficiaries, Parks gave the coat she wore that day to a niece in the 1960s or 1970s who, not realizing its historical value, got rid of it. Cohen is disputing that claim but what's most unsettling is that the situation is even here in the first place. One would think that those closest to her would have recognized her significance in the struggle for human rights and equality in the United States the most.
When it comes to preserving African-American history and culture, why are we always on the losing end? Why can't these relatives and friends put aside their own personal selfishness and live true to the spirit of those they represent and look out for the greater good? At the end of the day, who would not think that items such as the coat and hat Parks wore the day she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger, as was then deemed by law, and move to the back of the bus should not be in an institution for all to see?
Unfortunately this is not the first time that the estate of Rosa Parks has been in the news. Even before the civil rights icon passed away in 2005, she was at the center of another controversy, with her representatives at the time suing the Atlanta rap duo OutKast for using her name for their song "Rosa Parks" on their highly acclaimed album Aquemini, released in 1998. Johnnie Cochran was even retained to represent her estate. In 2003, the case was settled and actually $227,000 of the estate's current value of $372,000 came from that agreement.
For many in the hip-hop community, the actions on behalf of Parks illustrated the ongoing disconnect between the civil rights and hip-hop generations. OutKast named the song after the civil rights icon in homage, not out of disrespect. Although, in theory, one cannot argue with a financial settlement intended to help educate the youth regarding the Parks' significance, ultimately, the matter should have never made it to court. At some point between 1999, when the case was filed, and 2005, when it was settled, there should have been a meeting of the minds and cooler heads should have prevailed.
The greatest problem, however, is that we, as a people and a culture, don't value our own family legacies, even when news headlines and history books consistently affirm them. In February, Lena Horne's family auctioned off parts of her estate that, in my opinion, should have been offered to various museums. A gelatin silver print of the entertainment and civil rights icon taken by Carl Van Vechten sold to a private collector for nearly $4,000. One of her Louis Vuitton traveling trunks and an original painting by African-American artist Charles Alston, who taught Jacob Lawrence, were each purchased for $20,000.
Could that trunk not have been donated to a fashion museum to indicate that black women have long been on the cutting edge of fashion? Surely that Charles Alston painting should be hanging in a museum.
Selling the pair of gold cuffs with gemstones that Horne's granddaughter Jenny Lumet wore to the Academy Awards during a special tribute to Lena Horne is even more perplexing. If they were important enough to wear to an Oscars tribute in honor of your grandmother, why sell them for $6,000?
If those at the top don't realize their historical and cultural relevance, then what about the rest of us?
In recent years, Roots-inspired television programs, not to mention the explosion of genealogy research, has made many of us who don't have relatives of Rosa Parks' or Lena Horne's stature more aware of our personal history but we have a long way to go.
As tragic and, dare I say, embarrassing as this Rosa Parks' estate business is, it should serve as a cautionary tale to those of us charged with guarding our own family legacies. We should pay more attention to what that legacy is and how it should be passed down before a significant death occurs. If we don't care, how can we expect others to?

PRESS CONFERENCE & RALLY Sis Marpessa

	GOVERNOR'S OFFICE, PATRICK HENRY BLDG. 1111 EAST BROAD STREET Richmond, Virginia
Created By	Fight Against Autism and Police Injustice
More Info	STOP VIRGINIA'S ABUSE OF AUTISTIC TEENAGER! Reginald "Neli" Latson was racially profiled in May 2010 and despite being frisked and found to be clean, the police action escalated and he was arrested and convicted for defending himself against them. SHOULD NELI BE PENALIZED FOR BEING AUTISTIC? After a full tortuous year of imprisonment, including months of stark and terrifying isolation, on May 31, 2011, the court demanded an ADDITIONAL year of his life, although they KNOW he is not a criminal! THIS NIGHTMARE MUST END! IS PRISON THE PLACE TO TREAT AUTISM? EACH DAY IN PRISON ROBS NELI OF HIS FUNCTIONAL ABILITIES. HE IS FEARFUL, CONFUSED, BULLIED, AND TRAUMATIZED. GOV. MCDONNELL, PARDON NELI LATSON AND FREE HIM NOW! PRESS CONFERENCE AND RALLY AUGUST 15, 2011 12PM - 3PM Office of the Governor, Patrick Henry Building 1111 East Broad Street - Richmond, Virginia TAKE A STAND FOR NELI AND IN DEFENSE OF OUR CHILDREN! Contact: A Voice for Neli,             540-425-0813      , avoiceforneli@yahoo.com, www.avoiceforneli.com, Subscribe to listserve for urgent updates by e-mailing avoiceforneli-subscribe@ya​hoogroups.com

Autum Ashante EPK

"DYING FOR SUNLIGHT", a commentary by Mumia Abu Jamal

by Fatirah Aziz

Today, at the notorious California super-maximum prison, Pelican Bay, hundreds of prisoners are on a hunger strike. As of July 1, 2011 a number of men ceased eating state meals in protest of horrendously long-term confinement, government repression, lack of programs and the hated gang affiliation rules.

According to California Prison Focus, the health of some the men are dangerously deteriorating. Some have ceased drinking, as well as eating and haven’t urinated in days. Some are threatened by renal failure, which can result in death.

Why? The demands of the strikers seem relatively tame, which gives us some insight into the level of repression. The five core demands are:

1.     Individual instead of group responsibility.
2.     Abolition of the “gang-debriefing” policy, which endangers both those who debrief and/or their families.
3.     An end to long-term solitary confinement.
4.     Adequate food, and
5.     Constructive programs, such as art, phone privileges and the like.

A sub-demand is adequate natural sunlight – sunlight.  There are few things more torturous than dying by starvation. These men are killing themselves potentially for fresh air and sunlight, and about a third of California prisoners, 11 out of 33 prisons, have joined them.

Contact the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition to find out how to support this effort for human rights. On the web at: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com


From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu Jamal.

Nelson Mandela returns to childhood village ahead of his 93rd birthday

Nelson Mandela returned to his childhood village ahead of his 93rd birthday on Monday as South Africa and the world prepared to honour the most celebrated living statesman on the planet.

For the third year, at the request of his charitable foundation, July 18 will be observed as Mandela Day, recognised by the United Nations as a global call to volunteer for good causes for 67 minutes — representing each year of Mandela’s life in active politics.
“It is hard to sum up Mandela’s achievements and contribution to the country’s struggle for freedom,” said Shadrack Gutto, of the Centre for African Renaissance Studies at the University of South Africa.

“A leader of Mandela’s calibre serves as a symbol of humility and selflessness,” said Gutto.
The ailing former president arrived at his childhood village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape on Thursday in a military medical aircraft.
Done discreetly

His trip was done discreetly, the public and journalists were kept away.

It was unclear where Mandela would spend his birthday as his foundation refused to comment on his plans.

However, he is expected to celebrate it with his family, which he has rarely left since a health scare in January when he was hospitalised for an acute respiratory infection.

He was last seen in public just before his last birthday, when he and his third wife Graca Machel made an appearance at the football World Cup final.

It’s a far cry from the fanfare that once greeted his birthday.

For his 90th, Mandela jetted off to London for a charity concert with the likes of Will Smith and Annie Lennox to raise money for his Aids charity; hosted a speech in Johannesburg by Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; and threw a party for hundreds of children at his home.

This year, 93 children from around the country are invited to his foundation on Monday, but they aren’t expected to meet the man most South Africans know as Madiba, his clan name.

All the nation’s 12.4 million school children will erupt in song in a special “Happy Birthday” rendition with an African twist, penned by a local composer.

Companies, charities and celebrities have all announced plans for the day.

A group of bikers left Johannesburg at the beginning of the week to traverse the country doing voluntary work in poor communities. Their 2,200-kilometre trip ends Monday in Pretoria.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter and American reality show star Kimora Lee Simmons were among 67 famous people who inked their handprints to the Mandela Legacy Canvas, which will be auctioned in Cape Town this weekend to raise money for charity.

As South Africa’s first black president, Mandela is revered for ushering in democracy and for his personal sacrifices in fighting the white-minority apartheid regime that jailed him for 27 years.

On his release in 1990, he led negotiations that paved the way to elections in 1994. He used his warmth, dignity and self-deprecating humour to help heal racial divisions and opened a process of reconciliation.

Those values can be in short supply among South Africa’s current leaders who seem embroiled in an endless series of scandals from corruption to hate speech, said political analyst Steven Friedman.
“The political climate is tense right now. Racial divisions are showing and space for national debate is needed.

“Leaders these days use the government to dominate others. It is important that politicians and society don’t lose sight of Mandela’s vision for a united South Africa,” said Friedman
http://bit.ly/qSd1ul 

Irish summon Vatican diplomat over abuse cover-up

 

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK - Associated Press

http://t.co/Cg1p6WK via @YahooNews 

 

DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland's government demanded answers from the Vatican's ambassador Thursday after a fact-finding report concluded that Rome secretly discouraged Irish bishops from reporting pedophile priests to police.

Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore summoned Pope Benedict XVI's representative in Ireland a day after a judge-led investigation found that the Vatican in 1997 encouraged bishops to reject the Irish church's tough new child-protection rules.

Gilmore and Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the Vatican of violating Ireland's sovereignty by instructing bishops in the letter that they should place the church's laws above the nation's. The letter warned bishops here that their 1996 policy — requiring all suspected pedophiles in the priesthood to be reported to police — would undermine the church's canon law.

"There's one law in this country. Everybody is going to have to learn to comply with it. The Vatican will have to comply with the laws of this country," Gilmore said after his face-to-face grilling of the ambassador, a rare experience for the pope's diplomats anywhere, let alone long-deferential Ireland.

Gilmore said he wouldn't let the Vatican repeat previous denials of responsibility. That happened following Ireland's 2009 publications of reports into three decades of Dublin Archdiocese cover-ups and six decades of abuse in church-run residential schools. Irish taxpayers have already funded more than euro1 billion ($1.4 billion) in payouts to 13,000 people over the latter scandal.

"We're not going to let it rest. ... We want a response from the Vatican to this report," Gilmore said.
Ever since Ireland's first Catholic child-abuse scandal triggered a government's collapse in 1994, the Vatican has stressed it was a solely local, Irish problem that Rome-based officials regretted but had no role in promoting. Pope Benedict repeated this line in his 2010 pastoral letter to the Irish people.
The pope's ambassador to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, refused to take reporters' questions outside the foreign ministers' office.
Head bowed, he read a short statement saying he wanted to stress "the total commitment of the Holy See for its part in taking all the necessary measures to ensure the protection of children."
Leanza said he had just received a copy of the latest Irish government-ordered report into Catholic cover-ups. The government published the report online the day before. Leanza said he would "bring it to the immediate attention of the Holy See."
In Rome, Vatican officials declined to comment.
Kenny, who didn't attend the meeting with the Vatican diplomat, said his government soon would make it a crime to withhold evidence of child abuse from the police. He specified this would include any information a priest received during the sacrament of confession.
"The law of the land should not be stopped by a crozier or a collar," Kenny said.

The church insists that a priest must keep confidential any crimes revealed to him during a confession.

Ireland's latest investigation details the 1996-2009 concealment of abuse complaints in a County Cork diocese. It is seen in Ireland as particularly significant because it documents the diocese's dismissal of the church's first official get-tough policy that supposedly went into force in 1996.

The investigators attributed the failure, in part, to the Vatican's criticism of the Irish initiative in its response a year later.

Kenny called the Vatican's written intervention — first revealed in full by The Associated Press six months ago — "absolutely disgraceful."

Irish leaders had sought formal Vatican approval. Instead the Vatican's then-ambassador, the late Archbishop Luciano Storero, warned Irish bishops that a powerful church body, the Congregation for the Clergy, had ruled that such mandatory reporting of abuse claims to civil authorities conflicted with canon law.

Storero wrote that the Irish policy had the status of "merely a study document," while the new Irish policy of making the reporting of suspected crimes mandatory "gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature."

He wrote that canon law, which required abuse allegations and punishments to be handled within the church, "must be meticulously followed." Any bishops who tried to impose punishments outside the confines of canon law would face the "highly embarrassing" position of having their actions overturned on appeal in Rome.

Leanza, who was appointed to Dublin in 2008, has come under fire in Ireland for repeatedly rebuffing requests from Ireland's series of state-ordered investigations into Catholic Church concealment of child-abuse crimes. Last year he refused to testify before a parliamentary committee trying to explore the Vatican's role.

Ireland's church took its 1996 initiative under public pressure as the first Irish cover-ups came to light. A former altar boy, Andrew Madden, was first to go public with his lawsuit against the Dublin Archdiocese, which had tried to settle the claim in quiet.

Madden offered one possible solution Thursday to the church's difficulty in choosing between Ireland's laws and its own, which still do not make explicit the need to report suspected child-abuse crimes to police.

"If the bishops want to live by canon law," he said, "they should take themselves off to the Vatican and live there."

___

Online:

Irish church's 1996 get-tough policy, http://bit.ly/qu5TIF

Report on 1996-2009 Cork abuse cover-ups, http://bit.ly/pyi8oF

Irish church's child protection office, http://www.safeguarding.ie/

Assata Shakur - A Message To Mumia

A2 Mumia Abu-Jamal Spoken Word With Music By Man Is The Bastard

Rec March, 1997 at the Studios, Havana.

© 1997 The prison radio project/Quixote center
℗ & © 1997 Alternative Tentacles Records
Distributed by Mordam.

"Celebrating 20 Years Of Cultural Terrorism"

Truth is,

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Pendleton Correctional on lockdown after fatal attack

By Abbey Doyle

An inmate at the Pendleton Correctional
Facility died at Saint John’s Medical
Center Saturday morning after he was
attacked and stabbed by two other
inmates, facility Superintendent Keith
Butts said.
Daniel D. Dewitt, 35, of Columbus, was
attacked around 6:30 a.m. Saturday while
the inmates housed in the facility’s “H Cell
House” were being released for gym
recreation, according to a press release
from the facility.
After the early morning attack, Dewitt was
immediately transported to the prison’s
Health Care Center for emergency
treatment and then transported by
ambulance to Saint John’s, where he was
pronounced dead just after 8 a.m.
Dewitt arrived at the Pendleton facility on
Jan. 14 and was serving a 17-year
sentence for dealing in a controlled
substance and a 10-year sentence for
felon in possession of a firearm. He was
sentenced in Bartholomew County with a
projected release date of November
2017, according to the release.
The attack remains under investigation by
state police and Pendleton Correctional
police officers. The two inmates
suspected in the attack have been put
into segregation.
The maximum security portion of the
facility has been put on lockdown status
with visits stopped until further notice.
The lockdown won’t include the minimum
security dorms outside of the walls of the
facility. Those units, at this time, will
continue to operate normally, according
to the release.
Dewitt’s body will be transported to Ball
Memorial Hospital for an autopsy, the
release stated.

Lest We Forget: Today, July 16th Is The 64th Birthday Celebration For Sis. Assata Shakur

 

Born: July 16, 1947 

 

 

 

"The more you understand what you're dealing with, the stronger you get. People see fear as a bad thing. Fear is healthy when you're dealing with Amerikkka. But when fear controls you, when you're afraid to struggle fear is a bad thing. I'm more afraid of what will happen if I don't struggle, than what will happen if I do"

Political Exile Comrade: Sis. Assata Olugbala Shakur, Black Panther Party/Black Liberation Army

 

--
SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!

Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org

In Pictures: Formerly incarcerated women

http://t.co/QGDwNvL via @ajenglish

Meet some of the women who are struggling to reintegrate into their communities after being freed from prison in the US.

The United States is the world's leader in incarceration with more than 2.3 million people currently in the nation's prisons or jails. Included among the total number of prisoners are more than 200,000 women, and more than one million who are under the supervision of the criminal justice system, on probation or parole.
The majority of female offenders are poor, disproportionately African American or Hispanic, under-educated, unemployed and unskilled. After being freed from prison, reintegrating into the community is often a difficult process for women.
Medical treatment for both mental and physical illness isn't easily affordable, and finding work can be difficult. Addiction, poverty, unemployment, physical and mental illness, sexual abuse, and homelessness serve as challenges for formerly incarcerated women and in many case lead them back to a path of crime.
This is a look at women recently released from the US prison system as they struggle to reintegrate into their communities.

Sade: "Do people know? Can other people see? It's a fear. I now have two stigmas: I am a minority and a felon. It took almost two full weeks walking around the city ... when people would look at me: do they [know]? I am told it will eventually go away ... it's weird." [Gabriela Bulisova]

Zandononi: "I am a single mom, I have a substance abuse history, I am convicted felon and on top of that, I am a Muslim. When I go out in the society people have already prejudged me and they don't even know me, all they do is look at my face. I think it is so, so important that somebody knows we are real people, we are human, we have real feelings ... because what you read about us in the paper it's true, but we change just like anybody else!" [Gabriela Bulisova]

Towanda: "My mother was using drugs, she tried to kill me when she was pregnant with me. My mother used to beat me, she tried to drown me, she burned me with iron, she said she hated me, she wished she had never had me." [Gabriela Bulisova]

Sheila: "Being locked up is sad, you are away from the world, you don't know what's going on, you don't know what your kid is doing... you don't know what's going to happen, you are just like living day-by-day. I really don't want to experience that no more in my life." [Gabriela Bulisova]

Violet: "The whole prison process, in a nutshell, has been an experience I never want to experience again. I think that unless you find out who you are, you are doomed to keep repeating stuff." [Gabriela Bulisova]

Juanita: "Officially I've been clean for seven years. I feel great about myself today, I like the way I look, and I like the way I feel. I look forward to getting up every day doing what I need to do to better myself as far as getting back in the society." [Gabriela Bulisova]

Lisa: "I got into the street life and I started selling drugs. From selling drugs I started using drugs, and then I became my best customer. And then I committed my offense, which was aggravated assault, and I went to prison. I did 14 years, I felt like my life was over - I did not have life but it was life to me." [Gabriela Bulisova]

Maria: "Ninety-five days ago, I was sitting in the federal prison ... you never forget that. I had lost faith in the judicial system, I have lost faith in the US government, I have lost faith in people in general, with the exception of my parents and very few friends. I have been disappointed in awful, awful ways. I lost respect for myself, for other people and all I needed was to be treated like a human again ... you need somebody to tell you: you are going to be fine, you need somebody to believe in you, because starting over is absolutely terrifying." [Gabriela Bulisova]

Ollin: "I was locked up [from age] 25 to 49, a lot of that was arrested. From 25 to 49, emotionally, I was arrested. Eleven years of that confinement, I was literally in handcuffs and chains. Now I am trying to catch up with the society. I spent 23 years in prison and I was the first African-American woman ever pardoned by the governor of Virginia." [Gabriela Bulisova]

For more information visit gabrielabulisova.photoshelter.com.

A Transgender Man of Color Shares his Story

 

by: Chandra R. Thomas
http://t.co/8LF456g via @jjiega 

James Newton, 29, of Norcross, Ga., a suburban community near Atlanta, got a rude awakening into what it sometimes means to be a black man in America.
Moments after officially getting his name changed from his female birth name at the county courthouse, he noticed a woman looking back at him in the parking lot. With every step he took toward his car, recalls Newton, the woman sped up, all the while frantically twisting her head in his direction. It took a moment for it to register, but he soon realized that she had incorrectly assumed that he was following her to her car. The incident, he says, in many ways marred an important milestone in his transgender transition into life as a male. He insists, however, that he now embraces the experience as another important lesson learned. It’s a sobering reminder of the double discrimination that many transgender people of color often face in society, contends Newton.
Recently, he talked to JJIE.org’s Chandra R. Thomas about his transgender journey.
JJIE: So you were born a female but transitioned into life as a male in 2008. What’s been the biggest surprise?
NEWTON: It’s interesting because to some degree there’s male privilege, but the other side of that is being a black man and often being perceived as a threat by others. It wasn’t something that I had experienced when living as a black woman or even a black lesbian woman. I’m 5 “9 and pretty muscular and I have a shaved head and I am heavily tattooed. So I don’t know, maybe I just look threatening in general. Now I get people grabbing their purses and choosing to take the stairs rather than ride the elevator with me. To be quite honest, it was kind of difficult to deal with at first. It’s just a reminder of how much more work needs to be done in society in regards to acceptance.
JJIE: Any other challenges you feel that you now face living as an African-American man?
NEWTON: Yes. There are certain things I simply cannot do when I get pulled over by a cop without being perceived as threatening. I have to be pretty observant and aware of my surroundings. It’s just different. I don’t remember being perceived as a threat when I was living as a woman. I don’t remember getting followed around in stores. I have two little brothers and that makes me wonder about the stuff they will have to deal with as they get older. Knowing some of the challenges they, too, will face in society makes me sad. It makes me want to protect them from it.
JJIE: Describe your transgender journey.
NEWTON: I lived as a female until I was about 25. I even lived as a lesbian for many years and realized that it just wasn’t fitting. So I decided to explore what it really meant to be transgender. You never really get to see the regular side of being transgender; only the Jerry Springer version. In 2008, I started with the hormone therapy. Over the course of seven months my voice got deeper. I was still living as a woman at work so it was funny because as my voice got lower and lower people would ask, ‘do you have a cold?’ Eventually I was able to transition fully into being a male at work. I was surprised that I was able to do it. I work in the criminal justice system and in the court system so it was a gamble, but it worked out in the end.
JJIE: How has your family reacted to the change?
NEWTON: In terms of my family I got a lot of, ‘why don’t you just be a girl? Why don’t you just be a lesbian? It’s so much harder to live the way you’re living.’ My dad has been slow to accept it. My mom has been more supportive of why I needed to do this. My dad is really old school so it’s understandable I guess.
JJIE: What do you want people to know about you and other transgender people?
NEWTON: Trans people want to be like everybody else. I just want happiness and to find someone to settle down with; not that Jerry Springer life that they show on TV. I’m just this little nerdy guy. Transgender people are like everyone else. We just want to live our lives and just be happy.

Casey Anthony: Going Into Law?

Casey Anthony

Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/Landov

By Lesley Messer

http://t.co/3PNRYR6 

After being acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, Casey Anthony is making plans for her future – and according to one of her lawyers, that may include a career in law.

"She's been exposed to the criminal justice system and I think that might be a pursuit of hers," attorney Ann Finnell says in this week's PEOPLE. "Whether it's a paralegal or an advocate for social justice issues, I don't know."

For the past three years, Anthony, 25, has been behind bars while the case against her went to trial, and during that time, says Finnell, she was "in limbo." Anthony will leave jail Sunday.

"She couldn't plan on anything," says the Florida attorney, who was going to participate in the penalty phase of the trial had Anthony been convicted. "Now she can start directing her own course."

Another possible career for Anthony? Something involving photography.

"She has always had a passion for that and hopefully she'll continue with it, because she has an obvious knack for it," says Finnell. "Those two things – she's thinking about now but who knows what the future's going to bring."

For more on Casey Anthony's future, pick up this week's PEOPLE, on newsstands now