Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Coroner's Inquest and the Fifth Amendment

The Coroner's Inquest and the Fifth Amendment

Submitted by David Kaplan on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 13:56.


The Coroner’s Inquest Review Panel recommended changes to the inquest process designed to answer the public outcry for fair and balanced representation during inquest proceedings while also addressing concerns that the process not become too ‘adversarial.’ Nonetheless, the Police Protective Association has warned that its officers won’t participate. The ACLU of Nevada explains why the proposal will work and will not violate the Fifth Amendment. For more info, open the PDF below.

PDF link is on the page below:

http://aclunv.org/inquestandthefifth

Also the link to the discussion on KNPR's State of Nevada is at the link above.

ACLU of Nevada: "DO YOU THINK THE CORONER'S INQUEST NEEDS REFORM? Please contact your commissioners and tell them that we need representation AT THE INQUEST PROCEEDING ITSELF, for the deceased's family. The PPA and the DA are fighting this, and we need your help. The ordinance will be introduced next Tue. [11/16] and then will be voted on 12/7."

You can find our County Commissioners here. 


Click on their name and you can find their e-mail address to voice your opinions.

http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/Pages/default.aspx

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Committee Created to Review Coroner's Inquest System

Committee Created to Review Coroner's Inquest System

From the ACLU:


All members of the public are invited to provide input to the committee, and we strongly encourage you make your voices heard.

You can provide comments to the committee directly at a public meeting:

* Monday, October 18, from 5 pm to 9 pm (agenda)
http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/dep...810.Agenda.pdf
* Monday, October 25, from 5 pm to 9 pm
* Monday, November 1, from 5 pm to 9 pm
* Monday, November 8, from 5 pm to 9 pm

All meetings will take place in the Commissioners Chambers at the Clark County Government Center, located at 500 S. Grand Central Parkway in Las Vegas.

And you can submit written comments to:

* Via email: inquest@ClarkCountyNV.gov
* Via U.S. mail: Coroner’s Inquest Committee, c/o the
County Manager’s Office, P.O. Box 551111, Las Vegas, NV 89155-1111

Additional information about the process is available on the Clark County website.

http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/dep...7sInquest.aspx

The committee needs to hear all of the voices and concerns about the Coroner's Inquest system. Please submit your written comments and come to the committee meetings. This is your committee and your voice deserves to be heard!


http://aclunv.org/node/326

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Being Gay / LGBT / It Gets Better / Bullying / Suicide
Please watch the video further down in this post!

Being Gay / LGBT / It Gets Better / Bullying / Suicide

In the past three weeks we have had five gay suicides.  These are just the ones that have been seen in the media.  And because of our internet system now, a lot of articles, personal stories, and videos have been surfacing.  I want to do my small part and post on my blog (and other websites) about this terrible issue of bullying.  I am hoping that if you read this blog that you will also do your small part - whatever that may be - to help stop this horrible form of abuse.

I am also reaching out to the legal community to do your part to try to stop this.  These great articles and videos that I have posted here are helpful to one extent.  The theme of "It Gets Better" is good, but we need more info on how to prevent the abuse in the first place or stop it from escalating in the schools.  Many of the folks in the videos say it got better for them after they got out of high school.  LGBT should not have to wait until they are out of high school for it to get better.

On the positive side, I want to encourage anyone who is being harassed or bullied for ANY reason at all to find a trusted adult who you can talk with.  There are many people and organizations in your community who will listen to you.  Yes, it gets better but you deserve to have it better now.  There are many people out there in the community who are just like you.  And they will care about you and love you just for who you are.

Call your local LGBT center, your local ACLU center, your local homeless youth center, or your local or National Suicide Hotline Number:  1-800-273-TALK (8255), a free, 24-hour hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Your call will be routed to the nearest crisis center to you. 

Do NOT give up!  You can survive.  Keep calling and looking until you find someone that you can talk to.  You have a right to be happy without being harassed or bullied.

"There's a lot of things that happen in your life that you can't choose.  But the one thing that can never be taken away from you is your ability to choose how to respond... There's one thing that everybody can do and that is that they can always reach out for help.  There's always somebody there that will offer support.  Everybody's in a position to reach out for help and get support and not be alone with how they're feeling." 
--Terry Wise, A Suicide Attempt Survivor 

I have watched so many good videos that it is hard for me to know which one to post here.  So, I will post this one from the ACLU, but I strongly suggest that you watch the other videos I have linked to.  They are all short enough so that you can watch the whole video.

I am also posting links here that I found from the article "Tools Against Homophobic Bullying" written by Lisa Belkin belkin@nytimes.com October 1, 2010, 11:39 am.

You can find the article here: 

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/tools-against-homophobic-bullying/




More Info and Videos

It Gets Better: Dan and Terry (Video)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcVyvg2Qlo


itgetsbetterproject  |   September 21, 2010

If you're gay or lesbian or bi or trans, and you've ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, "Fuck, I wish I could've told him that it gets better," this is your chance. We can't help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don't think they have a future—and we can help them....

READ MORE about the It Gets Better Project, in Savage Love, here: http://bit.ly/bYtxBd

Filmed by Kelly O.

It Gets Better: Wicked Cast Members (Video)
From: kevinyeedotcom | October 01, 2010  | 305 views

In response to the sudden influx of gay suicides, cast members from the 2nd National Tour of Wicked tell their stories of how they overcame their teens to become the artists they are today!

http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject

ACLU Staffers' "It Gets Better" Videos

http://www.aclu.org/aclu-staffers-it-gets-better-videos?v=1

Learn more about the ACLU LGBT Project's work on behalf of students and youth at:

www.aclu.org/safeschools

Links in "Tools Against Homophobic Bullying"

Lambda Legal

http://www.lambdalegal.org/

Stop Bullying Now!
(resource for parents of younger children)

http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/

Order Out, Safe & Respected
Your rights at school

http://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/out-safe-respected/

Bending the Mold
An Action Kit for Transgender Students

http://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/bending-the-mold/order-bending-the-mold.html

GLSEN, or the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
Four Steps Schools Can Take to Address Anti-LGBT Bullying and Harassment
Media Contact:
Daryl Presgraves
646-388-6577
dpresgraves@glsen.org
Feb 19, 2008

Educator piece of the problem

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2263.html

Training programs

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2587.html?state=research&type=research

Latest report

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2624.html?state=research&type=research

END

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Statement from AFAN RE: Canyon Ridge Christian Church

*Thanks to AFAN for choosing to do the right thing.

Statement from AFAN RE: Canyon Ridge Christian Church

by Aid for AIDS of Nevada on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 2:45pm

Posted on Facebook

“After evaluating Canyon Ridge Christian Church’s backing of Pastor Ssempa of Uganda and his support of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, we feel that it is in the best interest of our clients, supporters and staff to dissolve our relationship with the church immediately. Unfortunately, we will be unable to continue to work with the church, as long as they are associated with Pastor Ssempa. Since what he and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill represent violates the basic human rights that should be afforded to all Ugandans. Our mission is to provide client service programs that assist in enhancing the physical health and psychosocial wellness of the individuals living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in southern Nevada, while promoting dignity and improving the quality of their lives. We will further this mission without the support of Canyon Ridge Christian Church.” - Aid for AIDS of Nevada


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Founded in 1984, Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN) is the oldest and largest AIDS service organization in the state of Nevada. Nearly two thousand men, women and children infected with HIV are registered as clients with our agency. AFAN provides direct client service programs, food programs, prevention and education programs, and community outreach.

http://www.afanlv.org

Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Should Cities Restrict Food to the Homeless?

Should Cities Restrict Food to the Homeless?

Cities Seek to Contain the Homeless; Advocates Call Policy 'Misguided'

Gee, Thanks for Permission to Feed People, Las Vegas

Gee, Thanks for Permission to Feed People, Las Vegas

by Josie Raymond June 15, 2010 11:30 AM (PT) Topics: Criminalization of the Homeless

Doesn't asking for permission to feed the needy feel a little off, like asking to go to the bathroom or to eat lunch?

Read the full article here:
http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/gee_thanks_for_permission_to_feed_people_las_vegas

"Cliff" by invisiblepeople, Face and voice of homelessness, Las Vegas, NV

Sunday, May 16, 2010

People & Power - Homeless Hero - 03 Feb 08 - Pt 1



Story of Cheri Honkala's rise from homelessness and single motherhood to leadership of a growing popular movement in the USA.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Welcome: Japan Council Against A&H Bombs


 


Welcome: Japan Council Against A&H Bombs

http://pjep.org/actions/?id=4618&t=1273035600


The Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo) was established in September 1955. Since then it has waged various kinds of campaigns for: the prevention of nuclear war; the total ban on and the elimination of nuclear weapons; and support and solidarity with Hibakusha (victims of the atomic bombing). Yayoi Tsuchida, assistant general secretary of Gensuikyo, will be leading their delegation in Las Vegas.

Over 5000 people from Japan are visiting the United States on the occasion of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference http://peaceandjusticenow.org/wordpress/ at the United Nations throughout the month of May including 1500 members of Gensuikyo. Eighty of them, including several Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) are coming to Las Vegas. Like their compatriots visiting other cities, they want to speak with people about the need for a swift and total ban on and the elimination of nuclear weapons; and the need for people to support and have solidarity with Hibakusha (victims of A- and H- bomb attacks and testing).

Please review and consider signing and circulating their Appeal for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World. http://www.antiatom.org/sig/2010/E_index.html

...Thursday, May 6, the delegation will stand with the weekly peace vigil outside the federal courthouse in Las Vegas.

Thanks to the Atomic Testing Museum http://www.atomictestingmuseum.org/ for donating their space for this reception. Organized by Nevada Desert Experience http://nevadadesertexperience.org/ along with Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service. http://paceebene.org/

...Vigil for Peace Every Thursday: 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m., in front of the Federal Courthouse, 333 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas, Nevada.

Every week, a group of people stand with signs about peace, about the cost of war, asking people to honk in a sign of solidarity if they're in a vehicle. This particular vigil has been taking place for over eight years. Please join us in promoting nonviolence and world peace.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Education Not Incarceration

Education Not Incarceration

by Dahn Shaulis

Sunday, February 14, 2010, 10:10 AM

[The RJ failed again to mention common sense legislation that could be used to reduce the State budget. I provided Mr. Benjamin Spillman with the written information below which he failed to use in his article "Residents Give Budget Input". I am doubtful that the RJ or the Sun will publish this]

I am asking that Nevada lawmakers gather the courage to push Senate Bill 398 in the emergency session, to reduce a dysfunctional and wasteful aspect of state government, to treat low-level drug offenders rather than throwing them into gang-infested, drug infested prisons. I am also asking Nevada voters to call or write their legislators about this measure.

According to the SAGE Commission, which approves of this measure, the State would save an estimated $51.2 million in the first year by diverting non-violent probation violators from prison to treatment. The SAGE Commission also estimated a $280 million savings over five years. Substance abuse treatment would be provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. The heads of Corrections and Parole and Probation have already publicly stated that they approve of this measure.

I speak to you not only as a concerned citizen, but also as an educator who has spent considerable time working in and studying the Nevada justice system. As a case manager in high security mental health units at two state prisons, I have seen this waste of resources, where prisons have become “the new asylums” and where high security prisons serve as graduate schools for organized crime.

For 45 years the State of Nevada decided to invest in adult and youth prisons instead of communities, public education, and human services. Crime grew as a result of the growing casino culture, racial segregation and discrimination, and the refusal to treat people for substance abuse and mental health problems. Overall index crime peaked in Nevada in 1980, yet the fear of crime enabled lawmakers to push for more prison funding, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in capital expenditures. Currently, some lawmakers want to build prisons even as other facilities lie vacant.

Prisons in Nevada do little to habilitate prisoners, providing them with few opportunities to get the skills and resources they need to make it on the outside. It is appalling to see that Casa Grande, which is supposed to provide opportunities for short-timers, always has dozens of empty beds, while waves of low-level probation violators flood the high security High Desert State prison. Let’s have the courage to start the savings now. The time is now to downsize this costly part of government—and to replace it with community reinvestment and public education.

Nevada Interim Finance Committee Meeting

MEETING NOTICE AND AGENDA

Name of Organization: NEVADA LEGISLATURE’S INTERIM FINANCE COMMITTEE

Date and Time of Meeting: February 18, 2010 – 9:00 a.m.

Place of Meeting: Grant Sawyer State Office Building
Room 4401
555 East Washington Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada

Note: Some members of the Committee may be attending the meeting and other persons may observe the meeting and provide testimony through a simultaneous videoconference conducted at the following locations:

Legislative Building
Room 4100
401 South Carson Street
Carson City, Nevada

If you cannot attend the meeting, you can listen to or view it live over the Internet. The address for the Nevada Legislature website is http://www.leg.state.nv.us. Click on the link “Live Meetings – Listen or View.”
 
Note: Please provide the secretary with electronic or written copies of testimony and visual presentations if you wish to have complete versions included as exhibits with the minutes.
 
A G E N D A
Note: Items on this agenda may be taken in a different order than listed.
 
*Denotes items on which the Committee may take action.

A. ROLL CALL.

*B. DISCUSSION OF THE STATE BUDGET SHORTFALL AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS.

C. PUBLIC COMMENT.

(Because of time considerations, the period for public comment by each speaker may be limited, and speakers are urged to avoid repetition of comments made by previous speakers.)

Note: We are pleased to make reasonable accommodations for members of the public who are disabled and wish to attend the meeting. If special arrangements for the meeting are necessary, please notify the Fiscal Analysis Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, in writing, at the Legislative Building, 401 South Carson Street, Carson City, Nevada 89701-4747, or call the Fiscal Analysis Division at (775) 684-6821 as soon as possible.
 
Notice of this meeting was posted in the following Carson City, Nevada, locations: Blasdel Building, 209 East Musser Street; Capitol Press Corps, Basement, Capitol Building; City Hall, 201 North Carson Street; Legislative Building, 401 South Carson Street; and Nevada State Library, 100 Stewart Street. Notice of this meeting was faxed for posting to the following Las Vegas, Nevada, locations: Clark County Government Center, 500 South Grand Central Parkway; and Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 East Washington
Avenue. Notice of this meeting was posted on the Internet through the Nevada Legislature’s website at www.leg.state.nv.us.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Human Rights Advocates Given Maximum Federal Prison Sentences

Speaking Truth to Power

Human Rights Advocates Given Maximum Federal Prison Sentences of Six Months for Direct Action Opposing the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC)

Judge Finds SOA Watch Activists Guilty for Carrying Protest against the SOA/WHINSEC onto Fort Benning, Issues Arrest Warrant for Michael Walli for Refusing to Appear for the Trial. Father Louie in Georgia Jail.

On Monday, January 25, 2010, U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth sentenced three human rights advocates to six months in federal prison for carrying a protest against the School of the Americas onto the Fort Benning military base in Georgia. This school, re-named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is a controversial U.S. Army training school for Latin American soldiers.

Father Roy Bourgeois, a Roman Catholic priest and the founder of SOA Watch, the organization that works to close the School of the Americas said "Judge Faircloth has sentenced our sister and brothers to 6 months in federal prison for speaking the truth about the SOA/WHINSEC. We are saddened by the court's continued blindness and hardness of heart, but we are stronger than ever in solidarity. These sentences are symbolic of our nation's misdirection, but they are also great steps forward for our resistance movement. It is truer today, than ever before, that although they jail the resisters they have not, and cannot, jail the resistance!"

The "SOA 4" are:

Nancy Gwin, long-time activist from Syracuse, New York - sentenced to six months in prison

Father Louie Vitale, veteran and priest from Oakland, CA - sentenced to six months in prison

Ken Hayes, SOA Watch Council member from Austin, TX - sentenced to six months in prison

Michael Walli, a member of the Catholic Worker movement from Washington, DC refused to appear for the trial in Georgia. Walli had told the court during his November arraignment that he would not pay any bail and that he would not voluntarily return for the trial. "I walk out and it's goodbye" Walli told Judge Mallon Faircloth. Michael Walli made good on his promise and on Monday, Judge Mallon Faircloth issued a warrant for Michael Walli's arrest.

The "SOA 4" were among the tens of thousands who gathered on November 20-22, 2009 outside the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia to demand a change in U.S. policy in Latin America and the closure of the SOA/WHINSEC. The group peacefully crossed onto Fort Benning while thousands stood vigil at the gates of the base in memory of those killed by graduates of the institution.

The SOA/WHINSEC, a military training facility for Latin American security personnel, made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution.

Nancy Gwin's trial statement


(Nancy is on trial for her work to close the School of the Americas along with Louie Vitale and others.)

Your Honor, I’ve brought a woven fabric, a tapestry from Guatemala, with me today to remind those in the courtroom of the beauty of the people of Latin America, of their gifts. And, this weaving is also a reminder of what violence does to beauty.

Your Honor, my name is Nancy Gwin. I was born in Nebraska, growing up in a small town there. My home is now Syracuse, New York. I wish to speak to you of my journey to the prayer vigil to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC on Sunday, November 22, 2009.

I am a war orphan---my father, Boyd Gwin is MIA/Missing in Action in North Korea, an Air Force/National Air Guard Pilot whose plane was shot down in January, 1953. I am a peace activist in my father’s honor. As a young woman I committed to do what I could in my lifetime to make the strong statement, “No more war orphans, no more widows or Gold Star mothers.”

Many veterans are working to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC. I like to think I stand with them and understand their indignity of knowing such a training school exists within the United States Armed Forces.

I have been to El Mozote in the Morazan Department of El Salvador, walked on the grounds where people were massacred and visited the small museum there. Graduates of the School of the Americas, Salvadoran armed forces trained by U.S. military, killed at least 1000 civilians at El Mozote. It is estimated that 130 were children under the age of twelve. I have a granddaughter who will turn twelve this week.

Your Honor, I am a person of faith, a church woman. My faith tradition is the United Church of Christ, although I have great respect for other religious traditions. Whenever I have been able, I have journeyed to other countries in Latin America to interface with the people, to witness the impact of the economic and foreign policies of the United States first hand.

The United Church of Christ has adopted a Resolution “Calling for the Close of the U.S. Army School of the Americas” which I have attached to my statement. I quote:

“Whereas it has been established that people of faith, working in solidarity with people of Central America, have been murdered by soldiers trained at the School of the Americas, namely those responsible for the assassinations of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the four North American church women, the six Jesuit priests, their Housekeeper and her daughter, all in El Salvador; . . .

“Be it further resolved that the Twenty-first General Synod endorses continued efforts by the School of the Americas Watch in Fort Benning, Georgia, Washington, D.C. and local Central American solidarity organizations across the country, to push for closing the School of the Americas; . . .”

I visited Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico where forty-five Catholic indigenous people, including fifteen children, gathered at a prayer meeting were massacred on December 27, 1997. They were members of the pacifist group, “Las Abejas”. Mexican graduates of the School of the Americas/WHINSEC have played an active role in the civilian-targeted warfare in their country.

Your Honor, I treasure the ideal of a truly democratic process where a person may decide to run for elected office, cast an unfettered vote for the candidate of his or her choice. I have served as an International Election Observer, trained and certified, in elections in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Haiti and witnessed people there working hard to assure fair and free elections; to revitalize democracy.

I was not surprised to learn that the general, Gen. Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, who led the coup in Honduras on June 28, 2009 which overthrew democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya is a two-time graduate of the School of the Americas. This institution, funded by our tax dollars, has trained thousands of coup leaders and human rights abusers. This coup has happened only seven short months ago. Thousands of people in Honduras have been resisting while the SOA/WHINSEC is continues to train Honduran officers.

The School of the Americas/WHINSEC has in the past and continues to train in low-intensity conflict; in counter-insurgency warfare against the poor, the laborers, the teachers, union-organizers. The School of the Americas/WHINSEC continues to send military officers from Latin America back to their homelands to use tactics and policies which result in war orphans, widows and Gold Star mothers.

I have always loved, been intrigued by the Spanish verb ”esperar”. It translates both “to hope” and “to wait”. In English, we use different verbs and distinguish between the meanings---sometimes, I think, because waiting and hoping are so separate in our impatient culture---not as intertwined.

Your Honor, I have worked hard to educate my elected officials on the urgency of closing the School of the Americas/WHINSEC, investigating its operations, and changing the foreign policies which underpin it. It is past time to send a message to our brothers and sisters in Latin America that we are ready for change, for right relation, for new beginnings. Sometimes waiting and hoping are not enough.

Links:

http://www.unobserver.com/layout4.php?id=7141&blz=1

http://www.examiner.com/x-10438-Human-Rights-Examiner~y2010m1d26-US--human-rights-defenders-get-maximum-prison-sentence-for-truth

Friday, January 08, 2010

"Somebody Like Me" by Jason Crabb

"Somebody Like Me" by Jason Crabb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC-MyglVbCc

1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.