Compassionate release for Lynne Stewart NOW! (WW)

Repost from Workers World:

Letter to the editor: Compassionate release for Lynne Stewart NOW!

By Editor on April 12, 2013 » Add the first comment.

Attorney Lynne Stewart is being held hostage by the State — the federal government. She is valiantly fighting both her unjust imprisonment and a serious bout of cancer. Time is a critical element in both instances. Lynne Stewart’s imprisonment is payback for her unrelenting defense of the poor and oppressed over decades in this complex and hypocritical society. Truth be known, she’s committed NO CRIME worthy of such harsh, cruel, and vindictive application. To paraphrase Fidel: What they (the imperialists) fear most is Lynne Stewart’s example.
Urgent pleas have gone out to the warden where sister Lynne is being held against her will; against the loving wishes of her family, colleagues, supporters, sister inmates, and internationalists the world over.
All of them ask for the granting of “compassionate-release” of Lynne due to the extreme health crisis confronting her daily. Prisons by definition are inadequate institutions to deal with such needs. Wardens in the world’s largest Prison House of Nations know this.
He, the warden, says that “prison guidelines” tie his hands and he is limited to following the established time schedule; as if the idea of extenuating circumstances is a foreign language to him. Hogwash. The Empire will not crumble with its compassionate release of Lynne Stewart. Behind Attica, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Kabul, etc., who is the U.S. to talk about hands being tied?
In a sane, decent, and humane society, Lynne Stewart’s life’s work would be celebrated, enshrined, and encouraged to the max. Not here. What does that tell you?
Demand Lynne’s release in the hundreds of thousands. Night and day!! NOW!!!
Henry Hagins
Take Back WBAI Coalition
New York City
April 5
Go to iacenter.org/LynneStewartPetition to sign to demand her immediate release.


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Senator Murray's proposed legislation for Mental Health

Senator Patty Murray (above) is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee.  Her office issued the following last week.



 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2013
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834

Murray Mental Health Bill Clears Committee Hurdle

In wake of recent tragedies, Murray provision in mental health package provides support for children and families affected by trauma

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, legislation authored by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to provide increased support for children and families affected by trauma, passed through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee as part of a larger package addressing mental health awareness and improvement. Sen. Murray’s Children’s Trauma Recovery Act includes a reauthorization and updates to the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (NCTSI), which works with children and families who are exposed to a wide range of traumatic experiences including physical and sexual abuse; domestic, school, and community violence; natural disasters, terrorism, or military family challenges; severe bereavement and loss; and life-threatening injury and illness.  

“As we have unfortunately witnessed too often in recent years, trauma involving children can happen at any time and in all parts of our country. The Children’s Trauma Recovery Act ensures the providers have the proper tools available to not only serve their day-to-day needs in treating child trauma, but also maintain absolute preparedness in the event of a national tragedy. Additionally, this bill supports the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative in its mission to raise the standard of care and increase access to evidence-based and trauma-informed practices in all child-serving systems.” said Senator Murray. “I applaud Chairman Harkin’s hard work in putting this comprehensive package together, so we can all work to ease the burden on our children and their families as they face very difficult times.”

NCTSI currently supports a national network of child trauma centers in forty-four states, including seventy-nine university, hospital, and community-based funded centers and ninety affiliate members. In addition to supporting everyday child trauma work, this network also mobilizes in response to national crises such as the shooting in Newtown, CT and Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. 

Specifically, the Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act authorizes the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to:

·         Support a national collaborative network of child trauma centers, including: grants for university and hospital child trauma centers which are involved with intervention development and dissemination of evidence-based practices; grants for diverse community-based organizations which are involved with providing services to children and families affected by trauma; and a grant for the NCTSI coordinating center to organize the collaboration, training, and dissemination activities of all funded and Affiliate NCTSI members to maintain the NCTSI network and outreach infrastructure;

·         Support the analysis and reporting of the child outcome and other data collected by the NCTSI coordinating center to establish the effectiveness, implementation, and clinical utility of evidence-based treatment and services;

·         Support the continuum of interprofessional training initiatives in evidence-based and trauma-informed treatments, interventions, and practices offered to providers in all child-serving systems;

·         Support the collaboration of NCTSI, HHS, and other federal agencies in the dissemination of NCTSI evidence-based and trauma-informed interventions, treatments, products, and other resources to all child-serving systems and policymakers.

The following groups have endorsed the Children's Trauma Recovery Act of 2013: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, Futures Without Violence, National Children's Alliance, National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, Prevent Child Abuse America, Mental Health America, uFOSTERsuccess, American Art Therapy Association, American Association on Health and Disability, American Dance Therapy Association, American Group Psychotherapy Association, American Orthopsychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health, National Association of Social Workers, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, School Social Work Association of America, and The Trevor Project.

###

---

Meghan Roh

Press Secretary | New Media Director

Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray

Mobile: (202) 365-1235

Office: (202) 224-2834

@PattyMurray | @SenateBudget | @MegRoh

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

"The Press and their Gospel of Stupidity" -- most requested highlight of the week by readers of this site.

 "Iraq snapshot," "Shinseki tries to present 134% increase as a gift for women," "How the VA and DoD waste your tax dollars (Wally)" and "DAV calls for Congress to reject 'chained CPI'" -- C.I., Ava, Wally and Kat report on a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing.

 "NASA budget" -- Betty reports on the space budget.

 "Anthony Perkins" and "Thoughts inspired by the book Split Image" -- Ann blogs about a book.

 "Barack and his excuse-based community" -- Trina calls it.

"when a woman is killed it's a 'personal matter'" and "Women are the first sacrifices" -- Rebecca and Marcia explain.

"THIS JUST IN! HE GRABS THE SCISSORS!" and "FDR rolls over in his grave" -- Barack is not to be trusted.

"The birth defects" and  "Spare me your statues and PSYOPS" -- Betty and Stan cover Iraq.

"The beach movies," "Annette Funicello," "his crush on annette funicello doesn't excuse his bad writing," "Annette,"  "A part of our culture," "The Great and Powerful Oz" and "Oz" -- Kat, Trina, Rebecca, Ruth, Elaine and Mike go to the movies.

"Guns aren't the problem in America, the culture of violence is" and "The gun debate" -- Mike and Ruth cover the gun debate.

"Mac and Cheese again in the Kitchen" -- Trina goes to the basics.

"'Victims have been denied justice' Angelina Jolie"

"Jonathan Winters" -- Ruth notes a passing.

"Ding Dong the BBC is nuts" -- Kat calls out the nonsense.

"Jolie and Judd" and "'Victims have been denied justice' Angelina Jolie" -- Stan and Ann note Angelina Jolie's remarks.

"Rolling In It" -- Isaiah dips into the archives.

"Another stinky from Barry" and "THIS JUST IN! THE REVIEWS ARE IN!" -- Poor Barack.

"Happy Endings," "community," "Fringe," "Nikita: Masks," "Body of Proof -- there are six," "The Client List," "Revolution," "Judas appears on Meet The Press," "Politics, TV and more" and "Smash: When Ivy becomes an airhead and Karen fondles drugs" --  Betty, Rebecca, Stan, Mike, Ruth, Marcia and Elaine cover TV.

 

"Lynne Stewart" -- Elaine on Lynne Stewart.

"The American Whore Corps" and "THIS JUST IN! HOW THEY LOVE TO WHORE!" -- Cedric and Wally coin a new term for the press "Whore corps."

Truest statement of the week

Those who doggedly challenge the orthodoxy of belief, who question the reigning political passions, who refuse to sacrifice their integrity to serve the cult of power, are pushed to the margins. They are denounced by the very people who, years later, will often claim these moral battles as their own. It is only the outcasts and the rebels who keep truth and intellectual inquiry alive. They alone name the crimes of the state. They alone give a voice to the victims of oppression. They alone ask the difficult questions. Most important, they expose the powerful, along with their liberal apologists, for what they are.


-- Chris Hedges, "The Treason of the Intellectuals" (Truthdig).

Truest statement of the week II

If there is anything worse than the United States destruction of Iraq and the killing of one million people, it is the fact that this crime has gone largely unreported. Most Americans don’t know very much about the invasion and occupation for the simple reason that the corporate media didn’t tell them much of anything important about it. Media consolidation into ever larger corporate conglomerates, and political subservience to big money guaranteed that only those Americans intrepid enough to seek out their own sources of news know about the degree of horror their government brought to the Iraqi people.

They don’t know that shells and missiles made of depleted uranium have poisoned Iraq’s air and water and that it was first used in the Gulf War of 1991. They don’t know that thousands of Iraqi children were killed when sanctions prevented them from getting food and medicine. They don’t know about the city of Fallujah and how it was destroyed by United States forces in 2004.

A campaign to “pacify” this city began after U.S. military contractors were killed there in 2003. In April and then in November of 2004 the city was decimated by a campaign meant to destroy popular resistance. The U.S. military attacked Fallujah’s hospitals in order to prevent the international media from seeing the carnage they had produced. Civilians trying to flee were turned back or even killed and soldiers cut off supplies of water and electricity. Mark77 firebombs, a variant of napalm, and white phosphorus, a weapon which melts skin and bone, were used during the attacks. All of these ghoulish concoctions are banned by international law and so is using collective punishment against a civilian population. 

The result of the use of depleted uranium and other weapons is a rate of genetic damage higher than that of any other population ever studied. Rates of cancer, leukemia, and infant mortality are higher in Fallujah than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after they were bombed with nuclear weapons in 1945. 

-- Margaret Kimberley, "Hidden War Crimes in Iraq" (Black Agenda Report).

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday.



First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:



The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

And what did we come up with?

• Truest statement of the week

Two weeks in a row, Chris Hedges gets a truest.

• Truest statement of the week II

Margaret Kimberley's had a truest before but you have to go back a bit.

• Editorial: All the things the media keeps forgetti...

Please read C.I.'s "Hejira" that just went up.  The stuff we covered in this editorial?  Antiwar.com is STILL not aware of it.  It's really past time that supposed 'independent' outlets stopped replying on AFP, et al and started relying on Iraqi media.  They wouldn't look as uninformed if they did that.

• TV: What's happy about early endings?

Ava and C.I. knew they were going to write about Happy Endings, they just didn't know how they'd write about it this time.  I (Jim) think the readers will love this.

• A bastard profanes the English throne

When Madeline Kahn was a guest on The Carol Burnett Show, she did one of "The Family" skits.  "The Family" is how Eunice, Ed and Mama were known back then.  In her skit, Madeline played an actress -- who'd been in the film Catwoman From Mars -- who lets Eunice be in a local play (after Eunice buys 200 tickets) and they act out the scene from Mary Queen of Scots where "A bastard profanes the English throne" appears.  That's what made us think of it.

• Photo of the week

Nope, the BBC didn't give a damn about the protests in Iraq on Friday.

• Roundtable

We roundtable on a number of items.

• Joan Wile's "The No Drones Explosion"

Joan Wile reports from the forefront of the efforts to stop The Drone War.

• New e-mail address

We have a new e-mail address. 

• Dick Gregory stands with political prisoner Lynne ...

Repost from Workers World.

• Highlights

Mike and the gang wrote this.

Peace.




-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: All the things the media keeps forgetting to tell you about Iraq

In June 2012, the White House claimed they'd stand behind then-nominee for US Ambassador to Iraq Brett McGurk -- apparently because, as Isaiah pointed out, they were afraid to stand in front of him.



Now the sleazy Brett has been sent to Iraq by Barack.  Why?

To announce that the US-brokered Erbil Agreement is no more.

That's big news and it was noted in Iraqi media and in Friday's "Iraq snapshot."

The US-brokered Erbil Agreement is what ended the 2010 political stalemate after 8 months, for those who've forgotten.  It was a contract that outlined a power-sharing government.  The US swore it was legal and binding and that they'd back it up.

Last week Brett McGurk announced the new US-policy: Backing a majority government.

If the Iraqis had wanted a majority government, they would have voted one in.

Then again, if they'd wanted Nouri for a second term as prime minister, they would have voted his State of Law into first place in the 2010 elections.

But they didn't do that either.

No.

They voted Iraqiya into first place.

But Barack Obama took out his tiny penis and pissed all over the Iraqi people, their voters and democracy.  He and his tiny penis wanted Nouri al-Maliki.

The US government's word isn't worth anything in Iraq anymore and you can thank Barack Obama for that.  Democracy was important to Brack . . . until democracy meant that the Iraqi people chose someone other than Nouri to be prime minister.

Look for the same whores who pass themselves off as journalists to ignore this development.  The same way they are ignoring Nouri announcing Friday that he wants early parliamentary elections.  We're not talking about the April 20th provincial elections.  No, he wants to hold parliamentary elections -- currently scheduled for March 2014 -- no later than this coming June.

And those April 20th elections?  He's not letting Anbar or Nineveh vote.  Says it's too dangerous.  Says they'll need six months to calm down sufficiently for voting.  Anbar and Ninveh support Iraqiya.  So if parlimentary elections are moved up to June, do you really think Nouri's going to let them participate?

That's one way to ensure that Iraqiya doesn't beat him again -- refuse to allow their members to vote.

TV: What's happy about early endings?

Happy Endings is a sitcom on ABC that airs . . .  Well when does it air?  Right now it's Fridays.  But there's not another ABC show currently that's been flipped around the schedule more.  In season three alone, Happy Endings has aired on Tuesdays and Sundays and now Fridays.  When a show starts flying all over a network's schedule, that's usually an indication that they're looking to axe it.







Which is why it's good that both USA and TBS are expressing interest in continuing the series should ABC cancel it.  What really surprised us was the homophobia at work trying to destroy the series.

We praised the show from the beginning.  It was a breakthrough show and one that just got funnier each season (we noted the third season greatness at the end of this piece).  The story about six friends includes one gay friend, Max (Adam Pally).  NBC's failed sitcom The New Normal also tried to include gay characters.  For some reason, Ellen Barken felt the need to demonize whole groups of people with Tweets before the show came on ensuring that it would have a very rocky time getting viewers.  We found her remarks stupid and uninformed because her generic hatred for all things conservative failed to grasp that there are Republicans who are pro gay (and Republicans who are gay) as well as Democrats who are homophobic.

For example, we would assume the website The AV Club is a liberal and welcoming site.  But then we read this nonsense from David Sims and we have to wonder:  "There’s a rather sweet kiss between Max and Wilson (I generally approve of such things on network TV, even if Adam Pally is beginning to shoulder an outsized load compared to say, Eric Stonestreet) but apart from that it feels nonsensical. I don’t know why I’m so grumpy about this!"

He's writing about two episodes that aired Friday, specifically the "Bros Before Bros" episode.  In that one, Dave's food truck finds competition when another food truck parks opposite it.  There's intense rivalry.  Turns out the food truck is owned and operated by the father of Max's new boyfriend.  Max is torn.  At the end, the rivarly erupts into a huge food fight and the only thing that stops it is when Wilson (Alex Quijano) and Max kiss.  The kiss, a passionate one, served a plot point.

So why is Sims being so damn snippy?  Why's he such a homophobe?  And exactly why does he have to bring up Eric Stonestreet?  Stonestreet plays Cam, one of the two gay stereotypes Modern Family loves, the other being bitchy Mitch played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson.  David Sims wants Max to be more like Mitch and Cam.  But Mitch and Cam are like most married couples on Modern Family -- driven by their children and lacking in sexual desire.  Even so, Clair and Phil and Jay and Gloria have some sexual desire.  It's just Mitch and Cam that are asexual.

On Happy Endings, characters are sexually active.  That's Penny, that's Dave, that's Brad, that's Jane, that's Alex.  It hasn't been Max this season.

Dave Sims seems to think otherwise.  But the last real kiss we're recalling Max having was when James Wolk was guesting as his boyfriend in season two.  Instead, season three has honestly played like Will and Grace in terms of Max.  He's stepped through hijinx with a new male beside him and, pay attention to the dialogue so you can learn that the two have had sex.  It's the Jack scenes from Will and Grace with everything but Guapo.

Season three has been Max and Penny competing for her physical therapist with both losing. It's been Max finding a guy he likes (episode 8) that he might get involved with (or have sex with) but Jane and Dave are determined to fix him up resulting in the guy Max likes walking out.   It's been Max unsure what type of gay he was and finding a guy he might like at the end of the episode (episode 9).

Though Dave Sims is bent out of shape, this is the first on camera physical contact Max has had all season.  (Episode 15 featured a guy the gang found repulsive -- had a head like a thumb -- that Max slept with when the stress of pretending to be straight for Chicago Bulls ticket got too much for him.  The sex took place off stage and the two never kissed on camera.)

Friday night, in episode 17, Max had his first romantic kiss of the season and that's too much for Dave Sims who admits he doesn't know "why I'm so grumpy about this."  It's obvious: Homophobia.

That's what leads him to compare Max to Cam.  Would you compare Penny (Casey Wilson) to Deborah on Everyone Loves Raymond?  Hell no.  Penny's not married and she's a sexual character.  Why would you compare Max and Cam?  Because they're both gay?  So the issue for Dave Sims is the characters being gay which goes to his homophobia.

Dave Sims might benefit from some self-examination and asking himself why one kiss is one kiss too many?  After he does that, he might want to ask himself what's the 'acceptable' number of same-sex male kisses?  Or why he feels that an asexual couple like Max and Cam should be considered the standard?  Or if the real issue is that he needs his TV gays to be stereotypes and when a groundbreaking character like Max comes along it leaves Dave Sims in a sexual panic?

What Happy Endings leaves us with is aching sides from non-stop laughing.

Season three has taken the humor to another level.  There have been the sight gags -- best the Halloween costumes where they went as the Jacksons and all picked up on Latoya (Dave), the prank schemes -- hilarious ending with Alex (Elisha Cutbert), the mistaken moments -- Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Penny think they've killed Alex's racist parrot Tyler,  the angry get-backs -- Brad getting back at Jane saying he was a trophy wife by playing one at her work, complete with tea cup pet pig Carnitas, and so much more.

It's been a hilarious season.  Instead of spinning wheels, the show's deepened the characters and deepened the laughs.  Every detail matters.  So in the Daniel Chun scripted "Ordinary Extraordinary Love" (episode nine), Penny offers a song she wrote whose lyrics include, "Take a penny, leave a penny."  And in the Jason Berger scripted "Bros Before Bros" (episode 17), her father (Andy Richter) explains he met Stephen Sondheim when he grabbed an umbrella at what he thought was a communal stand "give an umbrella, take an umbrella kind of thing."  And hats off to Beth McCarthy-Miller for her strong direction of episode 5 "P&P Romance Factory."  Brad sliding across the hood of the car in faux sexual excitement was comedy magic.  And the episode with Black Plague: A Love Story hasn't even aired yet.

When the show came on, the strongest were Casey Wilson, Damian Wayans Jr. and Max Pally.  Now days, every one of the six is the strongest.  Zachary Knighton's Dave is among the biggest surprises.  He and the writers have fleshed out the character that a whole episode could track Dave and it would be hilarious.  Alex and Jane (Eliza Coupe) have their own special chemistry -- even in "The Incident" when gearing up to kick the s**t out of each other.

They're all so amazing they should get an ensemble acting Emmy this fall.

And maybe they'd get a bigger audience if ABC wasn't forever moving them around the schedule?  It's as if ABC's whole point is to keep it a secret just how funny and how wonderful this show is.   A happy ending has to be shared to be enjoyed.