Homeless Memorial Candlelight Vigil 2009

List of homeless who didn't survive the streets totals 42

By Lynnette Curtis
Las Vegas Review-Journal

http://www.lvrj.com/news/list-of-homeless-who-didnt-survive-the-streets-totals-42-79392997.html

Modern Day Slavery in America

You may remember Feminists for Life speaker Joyce McCauley-Benner's powerful speech, “Victory Over Violence."

http://www.feministsforlife.org/video/victory-over-violence-frame.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6jtE3mrls

Today this survivor of sexual assault assists victims of sex trafficking.

Please be aware that information contained within the following op-ed may be disturbing to some adults. And although children are sadly experiencing the abuse she writes about, parents are the best judge of whether their child is prepared to read Joyce's revealing article.

If you are interested in hosting Joyce as a speaker, http://www.feministsforlife.org/cop/speakers.htm please contact FFL’s College Outreach Program Coordinator at coordinator@ffloncampus.org .

Because women deserve better,

Serrin M. Foster
President

The Face of Modern Day Slavery

While browsing the internet one day, I came across an unsettling advertisement for a t-shirt which read “I went to Thailand and all I got was this kidnapped prostitute.”

It sold for $16.99 and, The Onion’s website noted, the “prostitute [was] not included.”

I would imagine the creators of the shirt found the statement amusing. They are, after all, working for a website that satirizes politics and the media. Some readers may gloss over it completely. Some may not understand the reference. And then there are those of us that are outraged.

“Kidnapped prostitutes” are victims of sex trafficking, a form of modern day slavery. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, championed by Rep. Christopher Smith, defines severe forms of trafficking in persons as ’’sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.”

Sex trafficking is more common than you think. While it certainly occurs internationally, in places like Thailand (driven largely by men “vacationing” or “on business” from America), it is also perhaps America's dirtiest little secret.

I have been working as an advocate for domestic (American) sex trafficking victims for the past year and a half. What have I learned?

- Slavery has been reinvented in America. Today, in 2009, children (both boys and girls) and adults are used for the purposes of commercial sex and forced labor—and most of America is completely unaware of their plight.

- Trafficking victims are vulnerable. They are most often victims of abuse, assault, and neglect before being trafficked.

- Trafficking victims are made vulnerable by other social injustices: poverty, racism, and the over-sexualization and objectification of women in our culture.

- Trafficking victims do not engage in “sex work.” They are manipulated into a life of prostitution, drugs, torture, and disempowerment.

- Trafficking victims do not have free choices; their actions are compelled by circumstances or by force, fraud, or coercion. Abortion, adoption, or parenting is a decision made and forced by another person, an abuser.

Victims of sex trafficking can come, when there is no intervention, from a generational or familial life of prostitution. It is not uncommon to see daughters of traffickers groomed to become future prostitutes and sons become future traffickers. In international trafficking, forced adoption or child abduction is also very common as children and women are considered products of a business rather than free human beings. Forced abortion is often performed with methods unsafe to women. A trafficked woman’s body is never her own.

As a survivor of sexual assault myself, I know the pain and turmoil having your sexuality hijacked. I also know how common sexual assault is in our society. But I found that the victimization I experienced was nothing in comparison to what these women experience as slaves, what these children experience as chattel.

Sex trafficking occurs in truck stops, hotels, suburban homes, rural fields, and cities across the US. Ever drive by a strip club assuming it employs adults? Would you be surprised to find children? I have met several young teens (14-16) who were coerced or manipulated into stripping and then prostituting after hours. Often the girls have fake papers given to them to protect the owner of the club. MySpace and other social web sites are prime recruiting ground to lure teens into these types of situations.

Shared Hope International’s “National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children” reveals that 13 is the average age children in the United States are forced into prostitution, and at least 100,000 American children are used in domestic prostitution every year.

Minor victims of domestic sex trafficking fill our detention facilities. We pay for that, but they pay much more. “Tonya,” a survivor of domestic sex trafficking put it this way. “I always felt like a criminal. I never felt like a victim at all. Victims don’t do time in jail, they work on the healing process. I was a criminal because I spent time in jail. I definitely felt like nothing more than a criminal.” But these children really are victims, not criminals. While they suffer, true criminals who buy sex from minors remain free, and the traffickers, watchers, recruiters, and groomers (many of whom were abused or exposed to trafficking by family members when they were young) who traffic children frequently escape detection.

Pornography contributes to this global injustice against women and children. Trafficking flourishes where pornography objectifies women and children and stimulates economic demand for even more pornography and prostitution. Ignorance or willful disbelief on the part of customers allows traffickers to fill that demand with their victims, who appear in seemingly legal porn.

Ideas to combat trafficking in the U.S. have included the formation of Rescue and Restore coalitions throughout the country. The US Department of Health and Human Services sponsors an awareness and educational campaign in addition to developing the coalitions and building awareness about the national human trafficking hotline. In June 2003, the FBI in conjunction with the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative. Their combined efforts were aimed at addressing the growing problem of domestic sex trafficking of children in the United States. As of September 2009, 818 children have been recovered, over $3 million has been seized, there have been 510 convictions, and 34 task force and working groups in targeted areas have been formed. Passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act is also integral to the fight to end human trafficking.

These strides are a good beginning. Yet, we must continue to dig deeper to fight the root causes of this issue. Trafficking victims are often missed because you have to look under the surface to find the truth of her circumstances. You may see them on the side of your milk carton while you enjoy your morning cereal. They are our missing children and the adults we missed as children. We have to ask more questions and assume less. We have to know that this is America's shameful secret too.

These crimes against women and children are a new wave of slavery. It deserves our full attention—and should not be callously displayed on a t-shirt.

Joyce Ann McCauley-Benner was raped at 20 while working her way through college and chose not to abort, not knowing if her unborn son was the result of rape or of her relationship. She says, “I know what it's like to want to run as far away as possible from a problem, how it feels to hang on to 'if I wasn't pregnant anymore, it would all be OK again.'“ Ms. McCauley-Benner, who graduated from college while raising her son, worked on a racial justice task force and currently works with victims of sex trafficking. Today she presents her speech, “Victory Over Violence” on college campuses and at Capitol Hill briefings. In addition to her lecture, she moderates FFL Pregnancy Resource Forums. A mother of two sons, Ms. McCauley-Benner lives in the Midwest.

Feminists for Life was a charter member of the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking and was the only pro-life organization who actively worked towards the successful passage of the Violence Against Women Act. More information may be found on FFL’s website, as in The American Feminist issues “Victory Over Violence” http://www.feministsforlife.org/taf/1998/fall/Fall98.pdf and “Crimes Against Women Around the World.” http://www.feministsforlife.org/taf/2002/SpringSummer2002/SpringSummer2002.pdf

©2009, Feminists for Life of America. Permission to reprint this article in its entirety with attribution to Joyce McCauley-Benner and Feminists for Life is granted. Please send a copy of or link to any reprints to Feminists for Life at info@feministsforlife.org .

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"Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion."

Say NO to the Status QuoTM

REFUSE TO CHOOSE® WOMEN DESERVE BETTER®
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Feminists for Life is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, 501(c)3 organization.

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Go to http://www.feministsforlife.org/support/index.htm and join online or donate today!

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What Does Love Mean?

Received this in my e-mail today. Thought it was cute and thought I would share it with you.

Power of God

If people were to hate me that is their load to carry, I have no room for hate in my heart because it is filled with love from God. Butch (Lou) Mathews

Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it.. Touching words from the mouth of babes.

What does Love mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.

So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca- age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss." Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." Nikka - age 6

(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine - age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image) Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need. Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply say the following small prayer for the person who sent you this.

Father, God bless all my friends in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! And may their life be full of your peace, prosperity and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you. Amen.

Then send it on to five other people, including the one who sent it to you. Within hours you caused a multitude of people to pray for other people. Then sit back and watch the power of God work in your life.

P. S. Five is good, but more is even gooder!

Chomsky on Obama Speech

News Release

Chomsky on Obama Speech

June 4, 2009

NOAM CHOMSKY
Chomsky, whose recent books include Interventions and The Essential Chomsky, sent the following to the Institute for Public Accuracy this morning: "A CNN headline, reporting Obama's plans for his June 4 Cairo address, reads 'Obama looks to reach the soul of the Muslim world.' Perhaps that captures his intent, but more significant is the content hidden in the rhetorical stance, or more accurately, omitted.

"Keeping just to Israel-Palestine -- there was nothing substantive about anything else -- Obama called on Arabs and Israelis not to 'point fingers' at each other or to 'see this conflict only from one side or the other.' There is, however, a third side, that of the United States, which has played a decisive role in sustaining the current conflict. Obama gave no indication that its role should change or even be considered.

"Those familiar with the history will rationally conclude, then, that Obama will continue in the path of unilateral U.S. rejectionism.

"Obama once again praised the Arab Peace Initiative, saying only that Arabs should see it as 'an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities.' How should the Obama administration see it? Obama and his advisers are surely aware that the Initiative reiterates the long-standing international consensus calling for a two-state settlement on the international (pre-June '67) border, perhaps with 'minor and mutual modifications,' to borrow U.S. government usage before it departed sharply from world opinion in the 1970s, vetoing a Security Council resolution backed by the Arab 'confrontation states' (Egypt, Iran, Syria), and tacitly by the PLO, with the same essential content as the Arab Peace Initiative except that the latter goes beyond by calling on Arab states to normalize relations with Israel in the context of this political settlement. Obama has called on the Arab states to proceed with normalization, studiously ignoring, however, the crucial political settlement that is its precondition. The Initiative cannot be a 'beginning' if the U.S. continues to refuse to accept its core principles, even to acknowledge them.

"In the background is the Obama administration's goal, enunciated most clearly by Senator John Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to forge an alliance of Israel and the 'moderate' Arab states against Iran. The term 'moderate' has nothing to do with the character of the state, but rather signals its willingness to conform to U.S. demands.

"What is Israel to do in return for Arab steps to normalize relations? The strongest position so far enunciated by the Obama administration is that Israel should conform to Phase I of the 2003 Road Map, which states: 'Israel freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).' All sides claim to accept the Road Map, overlooking the fact that Israel instantly added 14 reservations that render it inoperable.

"Overlooked in the debate over settlements is that even if Israel were to accept Phase I of the Road Map, that would leave in place the entire settlement project that has already been developed, with decisive U.S. support, to ensure that Israel will take over the valuable land within the illegal 'separation wall' (including the primary water supplies of the region) as well as the Jordan Valley, thus imprisoning what is left, which is being broken up into cantons by settlement/infrastructure salients extending far to the East. Unmentioned as well is that Israel is taking over Greater Jerusalem, the site of its major current development programs, displacing many Arabs, so that what remains to Palestinians will be separated from the center of their cultural, economic, and sociopolitical life. Also unmentioned is that all of this is in violation of international law, as conceded by the government of Israel after the 1967 conquest, and reaffirmed by Security Council resolutions and the International Court of Justice. Also unmentioned are Israel's successful operations since 1991 to separate the West Bank from Gaza, since turned into a prison where survival is barely possible, further undermining the hopes for a viable Palestinian state.

"It is worth remembering that there has been one break in U.S.-Israeli rejectionism. President Clinton recognized that the terms he had offered at the failed 2000 Camp David meetings were not acceptable to any Palestinians, and in December, proposed his 'parameters,' vague but more forthcoming. He then announced that both sides had accepted the parameters, though both had reservations. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Taba, Egypt to iron out the differences, and made considerable progress. A full resolution could have been reached in a few more days, they announced in their final joint press conference. But Israel called off the negotiations prematurely, and they have not been formally resumed. The single exception indicates that if an American president is willing to tolerate a meaningful diplomatic settlement, it can very likely be reached.

"It is also worth remembering that the Bush I administration went a bit beyond words in objecting to illegal Israeli settlement projects, namely, by withholding U.S. economic support for them. In contrast, Obama administration officials stated that such measures are 'not under discussion' and that any pressures on Israel to conform to the Road Map will be 'largely symbolic,' so the New York Times reported (Helene Cooper, June 1).

"There is more to say, but it does not relieve the grim picture that Obama has been painting, with a few extra touches in his widely-heralded address to the Muslim World in Cairo on June 4."


For more information, contact at the
Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020;
or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

May 1st March, Las Vegas

Click image to enlarge

Repost from myspace

Apr 21, 2009 1:23 AM

In response to the Las Vegas Review Journal Article

Dear Lynette,

I enjoyed reading your story about the upcoming march scheduled on May 1st in Las Vegas (http://www.lvrj.com/news/43166087.html). I am in strong support of such social justice efforts and am committed to supporting the students who are organizing this march.

I want to encourage you to reconsider your use of the term "illegal immigrants." I find this term to be incredibly offensive and dehumanizing. I understand that people living in this country without documentation are characterized as "illegal" by the government, but this is problematic for at least two reasons.

One, the immigration laws do not offer all people equal access to visas, residency and/or citizenship. In fact, poor people and people of color are overwhelmingly discriminated against and denied "legal" access to travel for work, etc.

Two, if a person commits a crime, the act is "illegal," not the individual. If you take a wrong turn and break a traffic law, you are not an "illegal" human being. You broke a law, and it is up to the courts to determine and decide what action to take.

When the average person/journalist uses this kind of terminology it opens up the avenue for hate language and anti-immigrant sentiment that is unfounded and largely based on myths about immigration and immigrants (as is evident in the comments left on your article).

Moreover, I believe that people living in this country as economic refugees, that is, people who come here for reasons of economic survival, do not deserve to be unfairly criminalized. The lack of citizenship status does not warrant citizenist (anti-immigrant discrimination) behavior/language nor the right to exploit and discriminate against this community of people.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his letter from Birmingham, "An unjust law is no law at all." Hence, since there is great debate about the justice of immigration law as it exists today, it is unfair to uphold this question of "legality" as a reason to refer to human beings as "illegal."

Overwhelmingly, journalists are taking the advice of the National Association for Hispanic Journalists and using the more respectful and dignified term "undocumented" immigrant/person/student/woman/man/child. I believe that journalists have an obligation to set the example for a more humane discourse on this issue. Thus, I urge you to discontinue the use of the terminology that is so closely linked to hate and discrimination. In a few years, this term will be as distasteful and shameful as the use of other derogatory/racist terms we have worked diligently to eliminate.

Sincerely,

Dr. Anita Tijerina Revilla..

---

FYI...

NAHJ
Urges News Media to Stop Using Dehumanizing Terms When Covering Immigration Calls for stopping the use of illegals as a noun, curbing the phrase illegal alien

Media Contact: Joseph Torres (202)662-7143.; Daniela Montalvo ..(202) ..662-7152 Washington, D.C.

-- As protesters march in the streets and debate intensifies in Congress over how to fix the nations immigration laws, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists calls on our nations news media to use accurate terminology in its coverage of immigration and to stop dehumanizing undocumented immigrants.

NAHJ is concerned with the increasing use of pejorative terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States. NAHJ is particularly troubled with the growing trend of the news media to use the word illegals as a noun, shorthand for "illegal aliens".

Using the word in this way is grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed. NAHJ calls on the media to never use illegals in headlines.

Shortening the term in this way also stereotypes undocumented people who are in the United States as having committed a crime. Under current U.S. immigration law, being an undocumented immigrant is not a crime, it is a civil violation. Furthermore, an estimated 40 percent of all undocumented people living in the U.S. are visa overstayers, meaning they did not 'illegally' cross the U.S. border.

In addition, the association has always denounced the use of the degrading terms alien and illegal alien to describe undocumented immigrants because it casts them as adverse, strange beings, inhuman outsiders who come to the U.S. with questionable motivations. Aliens is a bureaucratic term that should be avoided unless used in a quote.

NAHJ, a 2,300-member organization of reporters, editors and other journalists, addresses the use of these words and phrases by the news media in its Resource Guide for Journalists.

The following are excerpts for some of the terms prevalent in the current news coverage:

Alien:
A word used by the U.S. government to describe a foreign-born person who is not a citizen by naturalization or parentage. People who enter the United States legally are called resident aliens and they carry alien registration cards also known as "green cards," because they used to be green.

While Webster's first definition of the term "alien" is in accordance with the government's interpretation, the dictionary also includes other, darker, meanings for the word, such as a non-terrestrial being, "strange," "not belonging to one," "adverse," "hostile." And the Encyclopedia Britannica points out that "in early times, the tendency was to look upon the alien as an enemy and to treat him as a criminal or an outlaw.

" It is not surprising then that in 1798, in anticipation of a possible war with France, the U.S. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which restricted "aliens" and curtailed press freedoms.

By 1800 the laws had been repealed or had expired but they still cast a negative shadow over the word.

In modern times, with science-fiction growing in popularity, "alien" has come to mean a creature from outer space, and is considered pejorative by most immigrants.

Illegal alien
Avoid. Alternative terms are "undocumented worker," or "undocumented immigrant." The pertinent federal agencies use this term for individuals who do not have documents to show they can legally visit, work or live here. Many find the term offensive and dehumanizing because it criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering or residing in the United States. The term does not give an accurate description of a person's conditional U.S. status, but rather demeans an individual by describing them as an alien. At the 1994 Unity convention, the four minority journalism groups NAHJ, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and National Association of Black Journalists issued the following statement on this term: "Except in direct quotations, do not use the phrase illegal alien or the word alien, in copy or in headlines, to refer to citizens of a foreign country who have come to the U.S. with no documents to show that they are legally entitled to visit, work or live here. Such terms are considered pejorative not only by those to whom they are applied but by many people of the same ethnic and national backgrounds who are in the U.S. legally."

Illegal immigrant
While many national news outlets use the term "illegal immigrant," this handbook calls for the discussion and re-evaluation of its use. Instead of using illegal immigrant, alternative labels recommended are "undocumented worker" or "undocumented immigrant." Illegal immigrant is a term used to describe the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here. People who are undocumented according to federal authorities do not have the proper visas to be in the United States legally. Many enter the country illegally, but a large number of this group initially had valid visas, but did not return to their native countries when their visas expired. Some former students fall into the latter category. The term criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering or residing in the United States without federal documents. Terms such as illegal alien or illegal immigrant can often be used pejoratively in common parlance and can pack a powerful emotional wallop for those on the receiving end.

Instead, use undocumented immigrant or undocumented worker, both of which are terms that convey the same descriptive information without carrying the psychological baggage. Avoid using illegal(s) as a noun.

Illegal Avoid.
Alternative terms are "undocumented immigrant" or "undocumented worker." This term has been used to describe the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here. The term criminalizes the person rather than the actual act of illegally entering, residing in the U.S. without documents.

Immigrant
Similar to reporting about a person's race, mentioning that a person is a first-generation immigrant could be used to provide readers or viewers with background information, but the relevancy of using the term should be made apparent in the story. Also, the status of undocumented workers should be discussed between source, reporter and editors because of the risk of deportation.

Undocumented immigrant
Preferred term to "illegal immigrant," "illegal(s)" and "illegal alien." This term describes the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here. Some Latinos say this term more accurately describes people who are in the United States illegally because the word points out that they are undocumented, but does not dehumanize them in the manner that such terms as 'aliens' and 'illegals' do.

Undocumented worker
Preferred term to "illegal alien," "illegal immigrant," or "illegal(s)." This term describes the immigration status of people who do not have the federal documentation to show they are legally entitled to work, visit or live here.

Protest at the prison, Saturday March 7th

REPOST:

Feb 22, 2009 7:19 PM

Subject: Protest at the prison, Saturday March 7th from 11AM - 2PM

Shut Hutto Down! - Change we can believe in!!!

Saturday, March 7th in Taylor Texas at 11AM at the T.
Don Hutto "Residential" Facility 1001 Welch St, Taylor, TX‎ 76574

Join us to Protest at the Prison.

Students for a Democratic Society of the University of Houston is calling for a protest at the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center in Taylor Texas on Saturday March 7th. The T. Don Hutto Facility is a retrofitted medium security prison run by the Tennessee based Corrections Corporation of America, that detains pregnant women and women with children awaiting immigration court hearings.

This is a violation of the rights of children, a draconian false solution to the issues raised by human migration, a huge waste of taxpayer dollars going into the pockets of CCA shareholders, and a bad public policy, period. The intersection of xenophobia and anti-immigrant hysteria and the continual growth of prisons for profit is a threat to human rights. We can not sit by and allow private companies to profit of off the incarceration of children.

As part of the 100 actions in 100 days to end family detention we are calling on people and organization from throughout Texas to join us on March 7th in Taylor Texas at 11am at the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility 1001 Welch St, Taylor, TX‎ 76574. Please get in touch if you would like to be listed as a co-sponsor.

SDS in Houston will be leaving from the University of Houston campus at 7:30am to caravan to Taylor. If you would like a space in one of our vans (we are also asking for a deposit for the rental), or to carpool with us, please write us an email SDSUHtx@gmail.com

To learn more about the T Don Hutto Facility and the struggle against detention for profit, check out:

http://tdonhutto.blogspot.com
http://www.grassrootsleadership.org/100Actions.html
www.texasprisonbidness.org

The State of OUR State

MEDIA ALERT

Citizens’ groups to hold press conference on “The State of OUR State” on Wednesday

For information, call Mary Jo Parise-Malloy, Nevadans for Quality Education, at (702) 277-7862; Launce Rake, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, at (702) 791-1965; or Jan Gilbert, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, (775) 882-3440.

Jan. 12, 2008

For Immediate Release

Advocates for schools, children, families, people with disabilities, seniors and others affected by Nevada state budget cuts will hold press conferences in Reno and Las Vegas Wednesday, Jan. 14 to describe “The State of OUR State” and discuss how our communities should respond to the economic crisis.

In Reno, advocates from several organizations will speak at 1 p.m. at the Washoe County Senior Center Art Room, 1155 E. Ninth St.

In Las Vegas, advocates will speak at 4 p.m. outside the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave.

The organizers, among them Nevadans for Quality Education, and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, are inviting anyone with a concern about the quality of our communities to join us at these press conferences.

The day after the press conferences, Gov. Jim Gibbons is scheduled to present his annual State of the State address in Carson City.

--END