The most recent Program is about Industry attempt to situate Liquefied Natural Gas facilities along the Oregon coast. This program contains three sections on this issue. The first is a 10 minute power point presentation by Dan Serres of Columbia Riverkeeper.
This is followed by the January Bark hike to the proposed Clackamas River crossing of the Palomar pipe line, which will cut a 100 foot wide, 40 mile swath through the Mt. Hood National Forest.
Also included in this episode are speakers from the recent Clean Energy Rally which took place at the Capitol in Salem Oregon in January 2009.

Channel 11:
Sunday 3/29/2009, 11:30 AM

Channel 23:
Sunday 3/22/2009, 8:00 PM and Thursday 4/2/2009, 6:00 PM

Channel 22:
Wednesday 3/25/2009, 9:00 PM and Tuesday 3/31/2009, 5:00 PM.

A few of the most recent Bark for Mt. Hood programs are now available on Google.
Googling for Bark
and also available on the Bark Blip.tv Channel

INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS

David Korten speaking in Portland at the end of May, 2009. His 50 minute talk is from his newest book, “Agenda for a New Economy.”

Channel 21:

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 6:00 pm.

Saturday, August 29 2009 at 7:00 pm.

Friday September 11, 2009 at 7:00 pm.

Economic Town Hall, Plenary Sessions One and Two

The event is moderated by Laurie King, of Portland Jobs with Justice

First to speak is Martin Hart Landsberg. His presentation is entitled “Understanding the Crisis.”
This can also be viewed separately on Google

Second presentation is Veronica Dujon: “Making a New Vision a Reality”
This can also be viewed separately on Google.

Both of these are combined in one program for Public Access Televison.
Channel 11:
Monday, April 27, 2009 at 8:30 am
Channel 21:
Saturday, March 21 at 12:30 and Monday, March 30 at 3:30 pm and Thursday, April 16 at 12:30.

Plenary Session Two: Working Together, Building a Movement. This can also be viewed on Google

Channel 11:
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 10:00 am.
Channel 21:
Monday, April 6 at 8:30 pm and Wednesday, April 15 at 1:00 pm and Wednesday, April 29 at 8:30 pm.

HEART AND SOUL-DIER
On Saturday, September 6, 2008, I attended an event in Portland entitled Voices of Vets, promoted to bring “together veterans and the community in an attempt to heal the distance between the warriors and those they protect and bridge the gaps between war and peace, trauma and renewal, pain and understanding.”

It was this and much more. It was on outpouring of the human heart and soul in response to the devastating effects of war on veterans and their families; it was grief, it was humor, it was a microcosm of the daily suffering of our soldiers and those who their experience directly impacts.

This event was the result of an earlier five day retreat which took place near Ashland Oregon in May of this year organized by the Welcome Home Project and co sponsored by Michael Meade and the Mosaic Multicultural Foundation.

As Michael Meade said during the introduction to the event, those attending the retreat were “specifically working directly into the traumatic experiences that everyone was bringing back from battle. The group involves some Viet Nam veterans, some from the current war in Iraq and some from Afghanistan…..the bravery that they had in battle they have now brought to their poetry….the poems will be an expression of their own souls”

What came out of this retreat were words straight from the agony of war, the loss of close comrades, the daily death and dying and all the aberrations introduced from the activities centered around the organized, systematic taking of human life.

The introduction by Meade was brief, and he soon led the group from a side room of the First Congregational United Church onto the platform facing 75 – 100 people who came to hear their words and support them in their attempt to heal and gather sense from their experiences. They somberly filed out and took their seat singing a two word chant, Azima Ho.

As Michael explains later, “Azima is a West African word for the Earth, but not the earth we simply walk upon, but the Earth as a star, singing in the sky, reminding us that we are children of the Earth…….. May we remember that we are children of the Earth; may we remember to treat each other like we are children of the Earth.”

One by one these brave people stood at the microphone and read their words, sometimes tearfully, sometimes hurling them out full of obscenities and raging at the loss of soul, at their unexpected breaking heart.

Though all weren’t poetic, they were all poetry, arising out of their common humanity, expressing confusion and pain and loss and hope. Some of their pain was healed during the retreat, I’m sure, just by the close proximity of others whose experiences mirrored their own. They arrive back home struggling to integrate this surprising and unsettling glimpse into the depths of evil that is war, evil though fought for any reason, for any reason, whatsoever.

The Wounded

One couple whose son, Rory, went off to war and came back horribly wounded spoke a few times throughout the evening, expressing their grief, but also the love they have for their son, and the pride they took in his phenomenal recovery with a 2% chance of survival.

His mother, Cynthia Lafever, after asking veterans in the audience to rise and be thanked for their service, read, as her first poem, sound bites from the letter she received from the Army detailing what had happened to her son. Words so many wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers through the ages have heard before, words they might have thought they were prepared to integrate, until they heard them in a letter, or over the phone, or dripping from a starched and stiff uniform standing at the door of the home, the home shared with their son, their daughter, their loved one.

“Hello….Yes….Mother…Captain?….Roadside…Cannot Say…Sustained….Don’t…Know….Baghdad…Critical… Open…Head…Wound….Our Boy!

Yes, heart wrenching, but too, soul searching, as each person in the room perhaps struggled to determine how they would, how they could react to this raw and life changing missive. They perhaps saw themselves standing at the door, by the mailbox, by the phone, numb, dumb and gasping for air through the tears and the snot running down their face and now smeared across their life..

Everyone who was present in that room loves, is loved, and so has braved the vulnerability necessary to love and be loved. This news is devastating, momentarily and forever.

Both Cynthia and her husband Stan traveled for one year back and forth from coast to coast, to Walter Reed Hospital, helping their son with his physical rehabilitation. Later Stan speaks of his surprise “at the number of wounded and the severity of their injuries.” His poem, the Halls of Knowing,” details his walking the halls of that hospital.
Walk the halls with your eyes open and you will begin to know the truth of it.
Look at each of them. Do not be afraid; they are still the same.
Look into their eyes, if they are still there. Look into their hearts if they aren’t.
Look into their missing limbs; they already know; you can’t avoid it, they already know
Look at their burns, their scars; they already know
You can’t avoid it; they already know
Changed forever, yet still the same, husbands, wives, fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, brothers and sisters,
They are changed forever; but they are still the same.

Those of us whose lives are lived outside the arena of these experiences can only guess what these cryptic sentences might mean, but the heartache, the upheaval, the insane distortions exploding into the lives of the Lafevers seep through their words and we are are blasted sane by the concussion of that agony.

Psychological Injuries

Moe, who has lived for 30 years with a Viet Nam vet suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) details the symptoms of that disorder, and how they have affected the lives of her family. Alternating periods of ups and downs, drug addictions, anger, despondency, and even attempts at suicide have made her life and the life of her son a living hell. But she persists, because of the great love in her heart, a love that accepts her vulnerability as she and her husband search for understanding, catharsis and healing.

Mike, in 1960, was an 18 year old medic in Viet Nam. His poem, “Procedure,” describes “step by step a common procedure I carried out while working on the intensive care ward. Number one, remove all tubes from the body; two, pack gauze into the holes to prevent leakage of fluids on their way home; tie the penis off and pack the anus with gauze; tie the right hand over the left and place on the stomach; tie the jaw shut and pack gauze into the nostrils and ears; tie the right foot over the left, and tie the body tag over the right big toe; and finally with reverence, and with somebody helping, I would place the body in the body bag.”

This ritual was also performed on the Vietnamese, and Mike performed this duty with the same reverence. But slowly, “after several few weeks of body bagging so many G.I.’s, I could grab a “gook” by the shirt, by the hair, I don’t care what it was and I could throw them in that body bag all by myself. No question, and I was happy”

Now, today, after taking stock of himself as the fourth step in gaining sobriety, Mike will not longer use that word, “gook” in referring to the Vietnamese soldier.

Many of these soldiers he bagged, he had already known as patients. “I got to know these kids, while bathing them, shaving, changing their bandages, feeding and changing their bedding. We would talk about their families, where they lived, their fears. “I don’t know how many men, brave soldiers I put in those bags. After six months I refused to do it any more. And now I do it in my sleep.”

The Healing of Humor

Devastating, war of one people on another. We hear and see the flag waving, the lofty rhetoric of bringing freedom, of liberating, of protecting the world against one scourge or another. Yet, behind it all are people bandaging, amputating, tying off limbs.
Behind it all are the trips to the hospital and the bedside vigil, the dreams and ambitions sacrificed to the gods of war. Behind it all are people whose homecoming didn’t reckon with the immense sensibilities of the human heart, on coming home to find their humanity outraged and discovering the unsuspected connection between day dreams and night mares.

Yet, people respond to trauma in different ways, and even the same person may do so in many inconsistent ways. A young soldier who had earlier introduced himself as a citizen of the Netherlands and a soldier of the world and who recently received his orders to redeploy, read a piece by Jake. Jake is another Iraq War veteran, who “came to the retreat because he wanted to be less of an asshole…… And I’m writing poetry because I want people to know why I’m such an asshole”

Jake carries a large range of medication with him at all times, and his poem, “This OAF Vet is Heavily Medicated for Your Protection” is about the veteran treatment plan he is on.
“What you get isn’t what you see. If you look closer, you will see a pharmacy.
I take some to kill the pain, but for some reason I can’t recall it’s name.
Come on now, this one is my friend; oh yea I got it now, its’ Vicodin.
I swallow down that little tab, it’s supposed to keep me from being sad,
As it hits my stomach I feel so soft; you all know it as Zoloft……”

Jakes poem takes us cleverly through Clonidine, Lorazepam, Prazosin, and Methocarbamol, this last at a dosage of 1600 milligrams, which “help to keep me numb. If I didn’t have these friends I’d cry and moan; come to think of it, damn I’m stoned. I told my story, and I’ll take a bow; I hope you all feel safer now.”

The Heart of a Poet

Many of those who attended the Retreat in May could not attend this event. Michael read a poem from Laura, now redeployed to Iraq “a young woman, a natural poet, a poet in her heart without question and,” then breaking down here with emotion, “someone who should not be in battle.” Michael wanted to read her poem “to invoke her presence, in order to bring her voice here.”

Her Poem, “Lima Charlie,” begins, “Dear God in heaven, or wherever. Perhaps because my humvee rolls through the valleys of the shadow of death in Jalalabad, in Kabul, or perhaps because this land looks so much like the picture bible of my childhood, I look for you in the swirling sands. Any of these mountain could hold a Jesus preaching blessings on all that I am not, not the meek, not the Peacemaker. I went to three chaplains with my cloven soul.” The first one gave me medals of your saints…….the second anointed my head with oil, but couldn’t tell me why my cup runneth over but all around me children die from want of drink and food, their thirsty bodies scream, while whispering quietly your name.”

“The third offered me holy water to dowse me with, while just outside two babies were sprinkled with shrapnel. From Minarets they call out your greatness, but the explosions drown out their prayers. And seeming greater still the mortar shell steal their children and the rockets crumble the men.” Laura speaks further of the daily devastation, of the Fire, enemy fire, the fire fights and the friendly fire, and says that it is past time for a monk to set themselves on fire for a cleansing fire, for the Prince of Peace, or a Dove to come down out of the sky.

She finishes, “….But the silence on your end God thunders into my skull so deafening loud and so unalterably clear.”

A Village As Strong As A War

I speak of and quote from only a few of the 17 or so whose attendance at the event brought home the suffering, grief, waste and shame of War. While they were speaking I realized that any race, any culture, any nation from any corner of this globe could be standing before me reading out the poetry of their grief and affliction. Anyone, in the modern era, Iraqi, Vietnamese, Afghani, but larger, soldiers and their loved ones down through the centuries, the millennium, whose lives have been marked indelibly, crippled, perhaps forever, by battle.

War is failure; there is no honor in this failure, only bandages and body bags and devastated lives bravely struggling to heal and work themselves back into their community. I applaud the poetry, though it crushes me momentarily. I respect and admire the warrior, though I detest and curse the war which brings the people nothing but grief .

We can only imagine what these people have suffered, though imagination staggers at the immensity of the pain,outrage and injury expanding in time to engulf not only the soldier but their families and their communities. This was brought into focus by the words of one soldier who said of the Retreat at the end of his talk:
“This will renew the strength of my scarred soul. Can we create a village as strong as a war?”

Playback Schedules for Part One at Portland Community Media
Tuesday 11/11/2008, 8:00 AM, Channel 11
Sunday 10/26/2008, 12:00 PM, Channel 22
Thursday 10/30/2008, 8:01 PM, Channel 22
Saturday 10/25/2008, 9:00 PM, Channel 23
Tuesday 11/4/2008, 10:30 PM, Channel 23

Playback Schedules for Part One at Metro East Community Media
Channel 11:
Friday, December 5 at 12:00 am

Channel 21:
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 12:00 am and Saturday, November 8 at 1:00 am and Tuesday, December 9 at 5:00 pm

Playback Schedules for Part Two at Metro East Community Media
Channel 11:
Sunday November 28 at 12:00 am.

Channel 21:
Sunday, December 7 at 7:30 pm and Thursday, November 27 at 1:00 am and Tuesday, November 18 at 5:00 pm.

Playback for Part Three at Metro East Community Media
Channel 11:
Saturday, December 27 at 6:30 pm
Channel 21:
Monday, November 17 at 8:30 pm and Wednesday, November 26 at 9 pm and Friday, December 12 at 9:30 pm.

Audio files of the evening are available at:

Part One-50 minutes in length:
Voices of Vets, Part One

Part Two – 48 minutes in length:
Voices of Vets, Part Two

Part Three, 23 minutes in length:
Voices of Vets, Part Three

Video will soon be made available at: PhilosopherSeed, Embeded Video

Veterans for Peace Forum Interview

Dan Shea of Portland Veterans for Peaceinterviews Michael McPherson, president of Veterans for Peace, National
This interview is about 50 minutes in length, and the playback times are for Portland Community Media.
Tuesday 11/11/2008, 9:00 AM, Channel 11
Wednesday 11/5/2008, 7:30 PM, Channel 22
Saturday 11/8/2008, 9:00 PM, Channel 22
Wednesday 10/29/2008, 8:00 PM, Channel 23
Monday 11/10/2008, 11:00 PM, Channel 23

Eyes Wide Open

An exhibit at Holladay Park depicting the ravages of the Iraq war. This exhibit uses army boots to portray each and every Oregon soldier killed in Iraq as well as a large mass of prayer flags to represent all U.S.soldiers.
Throughout the park are everyday shoes with name tags of those Iraqi citizens sacrificed to U.S. aggression. At various point are also large posters of Iraqi people.

The Exhibit was put together by American Friends Service Committee. Accompanying music for the video by Jerry LaRoca.

Channel 11:
Saturday, November 29 at 6:30 pm.

Channel 21:
Monday, November 17 at 4:00 pm and Friday, December 5 at 7:00 pm and Wednesday, December 17 at 11:30 pm.

Security and Prosperity Partnership

As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) turns fifteen, more-and-more people are recogizing its faults and demanding a change. Unfortunately, the NAFTA agenda continues to move forward in unanticipated ways. Most Americans, including many dedicated trade activists, have yet to take a critical look at the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), which is often referred in neighboring countries as “NAFTA-plus.”

In this panel discussion, a team of experts from Mexico, Canada and the United States will dissect the economic and security arrangements being forged behind closed doors under the auspices of the SPP. These back room deals cover everything from water privatization to energy policy; homeland security to public health; transportation to immigration — all without any real consultation with Congressional branches or the general public. This is a topic that deserves our close attention.

Speakers for the event:
Hector Sánchez is the Policy Education Coordinator for Global Exchange’s Mexico Program. He represents the program in Washington, D.C., where he coordinates efforts to inform and organize legislators and key organizations in support of new priorities on trade and immigration. Hector has over 10 years of policy, research and community organizing experience in the education, government, and non-profit sectors. His commentaries on Mexican politics were frequently published in Mexico before he moved to Washington six years ago. During the five years prior to joining Global Exchange in the summer of 2007, Hector worked at Education Trust where he developed and led an initiative to improve public education for this country’s immigrant and Latino community. He holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Texas.

A last minute change in speaker venue was John Grabler, an independent journalist who has spend much time with the people of Mexico affected by Trade Policies of the U.S.

Carleen Pickard is a Regional Organizer for the Council of Canadians, which is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization with members and chapters across the country. Carleen works with communities to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians. In August of 2007, the third Summit on the Security and Prosperity Partnership took place in Montebello, Quebec, and the Council of Canadians called a National Day of Action. Carleen worked with activists in BC to oppose the Summit. She previously worked with Global Exchange on human rights and economic rights issues in Mexico and Latin America.

This program is one hour and fifteen minutes in length.

Channel 22:
Friday, 6/20/2008, 10:00 AM, and Wednesday, 6/25/2008, 9:00 PM and Tuesday, 7/1/2008, 4:00 PM
Channel 23:
Monday 7/7/2008, 5:00 PM, and Thursday 7/10/2008, 7:00 PM

Standing Up To the Madness

David Goodman and his sister, Amy appeared at the Baghdad theater recently to talk about their new book, “Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times.”
This is a 26 minute video of David, who first speaks about why he and his sister co-authored the book and then reads several passages from the book.
Portland Community Media schedules:
Channel 22: Monday 5/19/2008, 9:00 PM, and Friday 5/23/2008, 7:30 PM
Channel 23:
Wednesday 5/21/2008, 6:00 PM and Monday 5/26/2008, 8:00 PM

Metro East Community Media
Channel 11:
Friday, May 23 at 10:30 pm.
Channel 21:
Saturday, May 24 at 8:00 pm and Saturday, May 31 at 8:00 pm.

To view this on Google.com

For MP3 Audio

Blue Covenant

A talk given by Maude Barlow, head of the organization the Council of Canadians at the First Unitarian Church in Portland Oregon in April of 2008.
She speaks for about 30 minutes from her new Book, “Blue Covenant,The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water,” and in the remainder of the 54 minute program answers questions from the audience.

Portland Community Media:
Channel 22:
Wednesday 5/21/2008, 10:00 PM and Wednesday 5/28/2008, 7:00 PM
Channel 23:
Sunday 5/25/2008, 5:00 PM and Saturday 5/31/2008, 9:00 PM.

Metro East Community Media:
Channel 11:
Friday, June 13 at 10 pm.
Channel 21:
Wednesday, June 4 at 9:30 pm and Thursday, June 12 at 9 pm and Thursday, June 19 at 9:30 pm.

For MP3 Audio

Defending Basic Rights

In May on 2007 the Oregon State Legislature passed a domestic partnership law for same sex couples, scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2008. Opponents immediately set about collecting the signatures necessary to put this law to a vote of the people.

When this referendum failed to gather the necessary signatures, the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Arizona brought suit before a Federal Judge, complaining that state and county elections officials wrongly disqualified their signatures on these petitions seeking to force a statewide election on the law November 4.

Judge Michael Mosman first ordered a 32 day stay on the law and heard the case on February 2, 2008, ruling that the State could begin to register same sex couples who choose to enter into domestic partnership as early as the following Monday.

Prior to the court hearing, On January 30, over 2000 people rallied in Portland Oregon at Terry Schrunk Plaza to voice their outrage at the machinations of this out of state organization and pledge their support to defend these basic rights for all Oregon citizens.
Speakers from the Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Community spoke eloquently and forcefully that the right to choose ones partner is a basic human right and that same sex couples are no different from any other family in this need. All Oregon families should have access to both the rights and the responsibilities that legal recognition of a relationship brings. Legal recognition for families keeps children safe in the event of a crisis, brings financial and emotional security, and strengthens our total community as a whole.

The event was enthusiastically moderated by Becky Flynn, Eugene Regional Director of Basic Rights Oregon and Kendall Clawson, Executive Director of Portland Q Center.

Portland Community Media schedules for this 43 minute video of the event, including contact information for the various groups involved and ways in which viewers may assist in this struggle. Media:
Channel 11:
Sunday 2/24/2008 at 8:01 PM.
Channel 23:
Tuesday, 2/26/2008 at 7:00 PM and Wednesday, 3/5/2008 at 8:00 PM.

Defending Basic Human Rights, on Google.com

First to speak was Erin Sexton Saylor, appearing on stage with her wife Melissa and their two year old daughter Vivian. She stated that when the domestic partnership law passed, “we were really excited because it was one less thing we had to worry about. And now we’re back in a place of not knowing, not knowing that when this little girl is born if she going to have two parents or just one, not knowing she going to have to wait for a second parent adoption to come th rough to know that our family is safe.”
“Our family and hundreds of other committed couples in Oregon really deserve to take care of each other. That is what domestic partnerships is all about.”

Next to the microphone were Keith and Antoinette Edwards, proud parents of a gay son. Keith exclaimed how everyone present had many important things that they “could be doing and that there was nothing better that they could be doing than make sure everyone has their basic rights. This is an issue that is close to home for us because we have a son who is gay; not gay by choice but he was born that way. We love him and feel that he should have the same rights as anyone else in this country.”
Antoinette follows her husband and gets right to the point: “my gay son is a gift from God! She finishes with a quote from a Rabbi: “Simply put, there is no one religious view on these issues. From my point of view, each day that our states laws permits discrimination against lesbians and gays, it is an afront to God. It is time to stop standing in the way of the holiness of equality and equity.”

Union solidarity was represented in the person of Barbara Byrd, Secretary-Treasurer of Oregon AFL-CIO, who was proud that her union has “fought hard for domestic partnership benefits on their contracts, for anti discrimination clauses that would prevent discrimination because of their gender identity and sexual orientation…….We’re behind you in this fight; we want to keep out of state, right wing, anti gay interests. We will stand with you. You’re not alone in this struggle, organized labor is behind you.”

The first of two Ministers was next to speak, Rev. Joseph Santos-Lyons, Universalist Unitarian Minister. He begins strong, saying that “a child will be born today that will thank you for your activism. That child will be Black, White, Latino, Asian, Native, mixed-race, gay or straight, rich or poor, that child will matter.”
Domestic Partnerships provide basic rights, human rights, and the ability for families to protect themselves. We are doing God’s work when we are building a path to social equality.
The Reverend spoke eloquently of the connection between human society and God’s law. “History tells us that Hate follows the ideologies and theologies of discrimination. When this happens to our neighbor, we are all affected.” According to Rev. Santos-Lyons, the solution to the problem is Community, building better relationships, with both those within this movement and those outside it, and that all struggles are linked.
“Overcoming racism is linked to overcoming heterosexism and sexism. May our stronger friendships breed trust, loyalty, compassion, and yes, forgiveness among us.”

The second testimony of committed couples came from Yolando Lozano and Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Speaking for the couple, a committed couple for 14 years, Lozano said that she was proud to represent the gray haired, Hispanic, rural lesbian members of our community.”
Having had a couple careers, both in government and in business, she “can’t tell you how many times I’ve been quietly and subtly discriminated against, whether passed over for promotions or not given a raise when earned, or even once having my job deleted from the budget.”
“This law will have a tremendous impact on our health care decisions, retirement benefits and family law issues as we continue to age.”
Lozano thanked the people of Oregon and the fair minded legislators who went “as far as a state can go to insure that our families are treated equally.”

Alisa Simmons, Executive Director of Brother to Brother; was introduced next. Alisa stated that, “we really are in a monumental moment in history. Today we stand together as we approach the pinnacle of the Civil Rights Movement of the 21st century. As black, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people, and allies of diverse backgrounds, these days seem all to familiar to the struggles fought by pioneers of Equality that came before us.”

Jeanne Frazzini, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon, the main organizer for the Rally, spoke to the long struggle against sexual discrimination. “For more than 30 years we’ve been out here in the rain, we’ve been standing in the rain, all of us who believe in fairness and justice for our families. We’ve been standing in this rain of heartless intolerance for far too long.”……..When the Legislature passed our laws this past year, they stood on the right side of history.”

To loud and prolonged applause, former Governor Barbara Roberts was next on stage. “Today we are here, hundreds of us, to make three very strong public statements. One, we believe in the legal and Human rights of every Oregonian, including our gay and lesbian friends and family.” “Two. We will not be silent while out of state fundamentalist fanatics like the Alliance Defense Fund attempt to use the Federal Court system to interfere with Oregon’s Constitution and our State laws.” “Three. We expect this nations Federal Courts to respect and protects the state’s rights of all 50 states to control the election, voting and initiative systems of their own st ate.”

At this point the Portland Gay Men’s Choir sang two songs, before the speakers continued.

Speaking for students, Tosh Shatz, PSU student leader and equal rights advocate acknowledged the many shoulders that the current struggle stood upon: labor rights, civil rights, women’s rights, queer rights and Human rights . “I can feel the movement that we are a part of, and it’s a greater movement for social justice.”
“We must come together in all of our beautiful colors and fight against oppression in every form.”

Speaking to the need for all cultures to work together, the next speaker was Kaysee Jama, Executive Director of theCenter for Intercultural Organizing.
“Let us find the right way and create a society that does not tell people that you are not equal, but one that guarantees every child their basic human rights that God gives.”

State Representative, Rep. Tina Kotek . Tina says that her and her partner of three years don’t want to go somewhere else to be recognized. “We want to be recognized in our own state of Oregon, the state we work hard every day to make a better place. We are going to wait to have our celebration because we deserve, we demand our recognition in Oregon.”
Tina thanked those in elected office and those running for office who support basic human rights and then addressed what people must do to bring the struggle to a successful conclusion, down the road, past the upcoming ruling and beyond, to another possible ballot measure fight.

Rev. Tair Wilkins, Community of Welcoming Congregations referred to the fact that “religious and congregational leaders around the state, across traditions, are standing in solidarity with us to say that we are not going anywhere. We are here to stand on the side of Love and Justice s long as it takes. We will keep working to support our lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters because as a matter of Faith we believe all families deserve equal protection.”

During the event, and again just before the event was concluded, speakers indicated that sign up sheets were being circulated providing the gathering an opportunity to participate in the upcoming struggles by volunteering in various capacities.
Those wishing to contribute in any way to this struggle can contact Basic Rights Oregon

Though the decision announced on the Friday after this Rally did go their way, the battle is not over as the Alliance Defense Fund will surely appeal, and certainly attempt another signature gathering referendum.

NO LNG!

From local organic farmers to third generation fishermen, from small business owners to loggers, over 200 Oregonians gathered in front of Northwest Natural Gas in Portland Oregon in December of 2007 to protest Liquefied Natural gas facilities proposed for the Columbia River Estuary by Energy speculators from Texas, New York and California.

Speakers from these various demographics briefly took the bull horn to demand that their Governor, Democrat Ted Kulongoski, weigh in against the establishment of another unsustainable fossil fuel industry.

These energy infrastructures situated in Oregon would be used to pipe the natural gas to the lucrative markets in California, who have already refused to situate the facilities in their state.

Channel 11:
Saturday, February 16 at 11:00 pm
Channel 21:
Wednesday, February 20 at 10:30 pm and Saturday, February 23 at 7:30 pm and Tuesday, February 26 at 8:30 pm.

Also, posted to Google.com

Surge Protection Brigade on “A Growing Concern.”

A replay of an “A Growing Concern” program, featuring members of the Surge Protection Brigade, also known as the Pissed off Grannies. The guests were recently acquitted of charges stemming from an anti war action on Good Friday of 2007, at the Military Recruiters Office on N.E. Broadway.
Schedules:
Channel 11:
Sunday, January 20 at 6:00 pm.
Channel 21:
Tuesday, January 22 at 11 pm and Saturday, January 26 at 6 pm and Tuesday, January 29 at 7 pm.

Portland Tea Party

December 16, 2007, is the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, where American Colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor to protest the passage of the Tea Act, “which allowed the East India Company to sell tea to the colonies directly and without ‘payment of any customs or duties whatsoever’ in Britain, instead paying the much lower American duty.”

“This tax break allowed the East India Company to sell tea for half the old price and cheaper than the price of tea in England, enabling them to undercut the prices offered by the colonial merchants and smugglers.” (Wikipedia) Not so different from today, when government gives wealthy Corporations the rights of living, breathing human beings and puts their profit margins above the interests of the People.

For this reason the tea was dumped into the harbor. And for these same reasons members of Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, Chapter 72, and other supporters of the Constitution, dumped bags of compost symbolizing tea over the side of the Hawthorne bridge soon after reading aloud the U.S. Constitution and a list of current grievances.

The reading took place at Salmon Spring fountain where the gathering had marched after singing rewritten Christmas carols to the Christmas shoppers at Pioneer Square. These Carols had been brought up to date to portray the situation in our Nation, the gradual loss of human and civil rights; the use and justification for torture against enemies, real and imagined; the “taxation for global domination.”

The event began at Peace Memorial Park on the East side of the Steel Bridge, where the group burned copies of the USA PATRIOT Act, before boarding the Max train to Pioneer Square.

The day was not without adversity. When the gathering had taken the Max train from the Peace Memorial Park down to Pioneer Square, a rambunctious, or maybe ambitious, Tri Met official demanded that the Protesters stop Caroling on the Max train and also that we stop taping him. And, at the Square three citizens were outraged by the signs alluding to Bush Administration complicity in the 911 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. These three actually claimed to be against the war, and no friends of the Bush Administration, but believed that these allegations went too far and somehow denigrated those who died there that September day.

Yet the protesters met with numerous honks of approval from passers by, as well as nods and vocalizations of agreement from pedestrians in the streets and at Pioneer Square.

After dumping the tea into the Willamette River, the crowd slowly dispersed.

This is a video of the highlights of the event, about 25 minutes in length. It includes testimony from a few of the attendees, some of the revamped Christmas Carols, the Tri Met officer, the three citizens protesting the protesters and the reading of the U.S. Constitution with current grievances.

Metro East Television Schedules:
Channel 11:
Saturday, January 19 at 11 pm.
Channel 21:
Tuesday, January 15 at 7:00 pm and Friday, January 25 at 7:30 pm.

Portland Community Media Schedules:
Channel 11:
Friday 1/25/2008, 11:00 PM, Channel 11
Channel 22:
Monday 2/4/2008, 9:00 PM and Wednesday 2/6/2008, 6:30 PM
Channel 23:
Tuesday 1/29/2008, 7:30 PM and Thursday 1/31/2008, 9:30 PM

Portland Tea Party on Google.com

Audio files of event:
Portland Tea Party, RealPlayer

Portland Tea Party, MP3

The Shock Doctrine

Naomi Klein, whose most recent book, The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism has been an international best-seller, spoke to an overflowing house in Portland Oregon on Friday, December 7, 2007.

Metro East Playback Schedules:
Channel 11:
Friday, January 18, 2008 at 1:00 am.

Portland Community Media Schedules:
Channel 22:
Thursday 1/31/2008, 8:00 PM and Saturday 2/9/2008, 8:00 PM
Channel 23:
Saturday 2/2/2008, 9:00 PM and Tuesday 2/5/2008, 7:00 PM

The crowd completely filled the available space and the overflow were provided with television coverage in the basement of the First Unitarian Church where she was speaking.

Klein, whose parents went to Canada seeking political asylum because of the Viet Nam war, was born in Montreal in 1970, spoke for about an hour, answered questions for about an hour afterwards, and concluded her talk with a 6 minute video.

Engaging, but casual, smart and eloquent, but easily understood, her presentation charmed the crowd as much by its style as by its content. Though speaking from a podium, she seemed very much a part of, rather than apart from the gathering

She begins, “it’s wonderful to be at the heart of Portland’s legendary Progressive community; thank you for all the work you have done over the years in keeping up this fight. It is a revolutionary moment. There are moments when it feels less so, and Portland keeps on keeping’ on, which we appreciate.”

Arriving here from Los Angeles, which is still recovering from the wild fires of recent months, she was met with television images of people who have lost their homes to floods, highways collapses, mudslides and road closures. “These are very familiar images to me , because I’ve spent the last four years immersed in disaster zones. …It reminds me of what I’ve seen in Biloxi Mississippi after Katrina, or New Orleans after Katrina, or Sri Lanka after the tsunami.”

“We’re going to be talking about disaster tonight, we’re going to be talking about disaster capitalism, and it seems only appropriate for us to begin this discussion by thinking about these disasters unfolding in this region, in other parts of the country, around the world……Think about when we see these images, when a community is living through these disasters, what our initial human response is. ….”

“The initial human response to a disaster is not to exploit it for personal gain, that’s not what most people want to do. What most people want to do is help When they see i t on television from far away, they want to help. That was the response to the tsunami, that was the response to Katrina, that was the response in this state………The message that I have is that we are not inevitably exploited in the face of a disaster. There are choices at all of these junctures, and I think we need to remember that.”

“This phenomenon that I call Disaster Capitalism is really the opposite of that initial human response that we all felt….What Disaster Capital sees in a crisis is really the opposite of that. Th