The Dalai Lama

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/dalailama

Spirituality and the Environment

– the Dalai Lama, a Priest, a Rabbi, an Imam, and a Native American Elder

by Larry Cwik

On May 9, 2013, the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, revered by Tibetan Buddhists the world over, visited Portland and spoke on Spirituality and the Environment. He spoke to a capacity crowd of almost 5,000 people at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center and captivated the audience.

Anchorwoman Laural Porter of Portland’s KGW television moderated a panel which included the Dalai Lama, representatives of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, and a practitioner of Native American spirituality.

greenshadowcabinet
GOP’s Strategy
of Deception

Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, two veteran centrists who disdain partisan labels, finally said what nearly everyone knows to be true. In April, they penned a Washington Post article entitled, “Let’s just say it, the Republicans are the problem.” Yet, the GOP “problem” goes even deeper, says Beverly Bandler.

By Beverly Bandler (News Bytes: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/newsbytes

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’
by Jed Morey on May 14, 2013

Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself
Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’
"Eric Freedman, a constitutional law professor from Hofstra University, also calls the ruling “an unauthorized power grab.” According to Freedman, “The Department of Defense does not have the authority to grant itself by regulation any more authority than Congress has granted it by statute.” Yet that’s precisely what it did."

details: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/militaryindustrialcomplex

PDX Pride Portal

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/pdxpride

Federal lawsuit demands Portland Officer Dane Reister be terminated for a 2011 shooting!

... Portland Police Officer Dane Reister should lose his job for suddenly firing a beanbag shotgun that he mistakenly loaded with lethal rounds at a man obviously suffering from a mental illness, a federal lawsuit filed Thursday says.

The attorney for William Kyle Monroe, wounded by Reister on June 30, 2011, accuses the officer, Police Chief Mike Reese and the city of Portland of violating Monroe's civil rights through false arrest, assault and negligence.

The suit seeks more than $11 million in damages.

Monroe, who was 20 at the time and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, narrowly escaped bleeding to death only because OHSU Hospital was near the shooting scene, but he's permanently disabled, his lawyer said.

The suit alleges that the police chief could have prevented such a mistake by prohibiting officers from mixing lethal ammunition with less-lethal munitions in their duty bags, as Reister did. Further, the suit contends, the bureau has failed to adequately discipline officers who are "pre-disposed'' to using excessive force.

"Defendant Reister's conduct was so extreme that it goes beyond all possible bounds of decency, and it constituted conduct that a reasonable person would regard as intolerable in a civilized community," Monroe's attorney Thane Tienson wrote in the suit.
...
Monroe assured police he hadn't done anything wrong as he backed away and then began running and yelled for help. Without warning, the suit says, Reister fired five times, emptying his clip. The fifth round jammed because of Reister's "excessively rapid firing," the suit says.

The shots fractured Monroe's pelvis, punctured his bladder, abdomen and colon. The fourth shot, fired from less than 15 feet away, left a "softball-size hole in his left leg," and severed the sciatic nerve, the suit says.

The next day, then-Mayor Sam Adams and Reese called the shooting a "tragic mistake." The president of the Portland Police Association said the union would "stand by" Reister through the judicial process.

--By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

Oregon PeaceWorks to Close Its Doors

But this is far from an Ending

After 26 years of statewide advocacy for peace, justice and sustainability, Oregon PeaceWorks (OPW) will close its doors, but refuse to alter its agenda. The office at 104 Commercial Street in Salem, barring a miracle, will close on April 30.

The organization's all-volunteer board made the decision as a response to financial pressures.

Birthed in 1987, Oregon PeaceWorks immediately played an important role in achieving a moratorium on U.S. nuclear weapons testing - a moratorium which is still being observed. OPW also led statewide opposition to the invasion of Iraq in 1991 and to the Iraq war which began in 2003.

...Recently, OPW produced a PowerPoint presentation and a 41-minute video entitled "The Militarization of America" addressing this issue. The video can be viewed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqugzBpDDeY.

In 1988, OPW began publication of The PeaceWorker, a peace newspaper that circulated statewide, as well as in Northern California and Southern Washington. It was published monthly until spring 2010 when it became an Internet-only publication, in response to the rising cost of print publication and in an attempt to fulfill its mission in a greener way.

...All board and staff members will continue pursuing social change and public service. The Board has established a fund that will match, dollar for dollar up to $5,000, all contributions toward discharging the organization's debts. Contributions can be sent to Oregon PeaceWorks, 104 Commercial Street NE, Salem, OR 97301 or submitted securely through OPW's website
www.oregonpeaceworks.org

OPW Program Director and former Executive Director Peter Bergel concluded: " the struggle will definitely continue..."

According to Kerry Fox, OPW's current Executive Director, the organization will hold a going-out-of-business sale on April 19-20 from 10-5 at the organization's downtown Salem office at 104 Commercial St. NE, "Visit our website (www.oregonpeaceworks.org) for information about the sale, or call us at 503-585-2767," she said.

Obama's Social Security Cut Proposal Sparks Backlash, Reaction is not good when Obama betrays his base....Again!
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/huffington

RESIST!
How to Legally Resist an Illegal, Unconstitutional, Checkpoint...
When stopped by officers and asked to produce id:
Useful Statements:
I have the right to travel. It is my right to film you. I refuse to exit the vehicle. No thank you. Respectfully, I choose not to answer any more questions. I do not have to answer you. No thank you, I intend to proceed. I have the freedom to travel unmolested. I want to freely travel down the road. I have every right to travel. I have every right to film you. You are not getting in this vehicle without a warrant. I plead the fifth amendment. No.

Counter-questions:
Do I have to get out of the car? What is the purpose of this stop? What is your probable cause? What is your reasonable suspicion? What is your name? Am I being detained? Do you have probable cause? What is the purpose of this stop? Am I free to go? Are you refusing to allow me to go? Do you have an id?

TPA Common Dreams Portal!
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/commondreams

Published on Thursday, April 11, 2013 by Common Dreams

Two Obamas, Two Classes of Children

by Ralph Nader

"Behind the Badge in River City: A Police Memoir"
by Don DuPay

Retired officer tells truth, names names, and holds fellow officers
accountable, find out how times have changed...

Checkout a book review in the Alliance!
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/behindthebadge

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/normal

Marijuana Legalization Measure Introduced in Oregon

by Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director February 26, 2013

Legislation has been introduced in Oregon by the House Committee on Revenue that would legalize and regulate the adult use of marijuana.

House Bill 3371 would establish a regulatory system, similar to the one in place in the state for alcohol, for the cultivation, production, and sale of cannabis to adults over 21. Adults would be allowed to possess up to 24 ounces of usable marijuana and grow up to six plants in their homes, in addition to purchasing it from regulated retail outlets.
Read the full text of the legislation here.

Hugo Chávez is dead:
The fight for socialism lives!
http://www.theportlandalliance.org/chavez

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/newsbytes/newindex.html

Checkout our partners in communications and alternative media!

Mother Jones
1:16 PM - Public

Obama can murder you with drones on US soil,
US Attorney General writes. But only in, like, "extraordinary" circumstances. Comforting.

Obama Administration Says
President Can Use Lethal Force Against Americans On US Soil »

A poet, writer, and former board member of the Northwest Alliance for Alternative Media & Education, Max Linden Levy, passed away in the fall of 2012.   Max meant a lot to us here at the Alliance. He was a wonderful man whose poetry and writing will endure.

Here is a small sample of his poetry.

For all we can know

The Universe begins and ends
in each of us,

in the reach of our own hands.

                              ~From Time on Our Hands, by Max Linden Levy

                                                Readings

A Tasty Fruit - voice presentation poetry
The Birth of Light -- voice presentation fiction
Driver -- voice presentation poetry
Charlie's Dad-- voice presentation fiction

AlternativeNewsResource.org/

Behind the Headlines... Oregon News Links
Community Meetings: theportlandalliance.org/communitymeetings

Shannon Wheeler's Too Much Coffee Man Portal at The Portland Alliance

Green Shadow Cabinet Portal! New! http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/greenshadowcabinet GOP’s Strategy of Deception

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ by Jed Morey on May 14, 2013

Federal lawsuit demands Portland Officer Dane Reister be terminated for a 2011 shooting!

Obama's Social Security Cut Proposal Sparks Backlash, Reaction is not good when Obama betrays his base....Again! http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/huffington

Two Obamas, Two Classes of Children

Marijuana Legalization Measure Introduced in Oregon

Hugo Chávez is dead: The fight for socialism lives! http://www.theportlandalliance.org/chavez

Green Shadow Cabinet Portal! New!

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/greenshadowcabinet
GOP’s Strategy
of Deception

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’
by Jed Morey on May 14, 2013

Obama's Social Security Cut Proposal Sparks Backlash, Reaction is not good when Obama betrays his base....Again!
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/huffington

Hugo Chávez is dead:
The fight for socialism lives!
http://www.theportlandalliance.org/chavez