Vol. XXXV, Number 5    May 2015       http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/2015/May

The Fight for $15 Minimum Wage in Portland »
If the minimum wage had tracked U.S. productivity gains since 1968, it would be $21.72 an hour.
|About Us | Subscribe | Contact Submission info | Volunteer
ThePortlandAlliance.org/police  
PDX Police Updates
 Speaking Truth to Power and Distressing the PDX Elite Since 1981 / Of, by and for the People!
 Previous Issues:  2015 April, MarchFebruaryJanuary 2014 Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec   2013 Dec  Nov  Oct   Older Issues

Scroll Down: CLG, Healthcare, War & Peace, Mayday, Wal-mart, Postal, News Bytes, Truthout, Immigration, Scientology, Street Roots, Music
                                Tom Engelhardt   Dangers of GMO foods
   Marijuana: What's the Story?, by Don Dupay   Mayday, International Workers' Day!


Lots of Poetry! 
Poetics: 
http://www.theportlandalliance.org/poetry
 


Jan Underwood:  After Disembarking / Before Departure
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/underwood


ThePortlandAlliance.org/MaryOtte
New Poetry from  Mary Ought Six
Walidah Imarisha
Two Poems by Walidah


ThePortlandAlliance.org/hastie

Obey

Living in America,
sometimes makes me think
I live in a luxurious concentration camp.  I can have anything I want as long as I obey certain rules.

Accepting Submissions!
http://wordsmithcollection.blogspot.com/2013/06/accepting-submissions.html


Breaking News

How Privatization Perverts Education

Read the Article at BuzzFlash


Drone Killing the Fifth Amendment: How to Build a Post-Constitutional America One Death at a Time

Read the Article at TomDispatch


Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site

Read the Article at Reuters


Active Community,
Cartoons
, Cartoons by Shannon Wheeler, Clyde List, & Steve Amy

Commentary, Critiques,
Letters, and more
!


For Email Marketing you can trust

Arts & Culture
Visual Arts, Music,
Theatre,
Cartoons, Movies,
Books, Writing


Community Calendar

Local actions, events, rallies, etc.


Eyes Wide Shut!

by Yugen Fardan Rashad



By Norman Solomon

Now the shoe is on the other foot. It is Obama defending the principle of “national sovereignty”while Putin is using the military “humanitarian intervention” rule promulgated most outspokenly by Obama’s UN Ambassador Samantha Power and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Picture of Michael Munk Tribune Photo L. E. Baskow

Partners
AND/OR Peacemakers:
ACLU
AFD / AFL-CIO
Alliance for Democracy
AMA / Backspace
B-MediaCollective
Bread&Roses /
CIO / CAUSA/
CLG / Code Pink
Common Dreams /
CWA / DIA /
Democracy Now /
First Unitarian Church
FSP /ISO /
IPRC
International Publishing Resource Center
Jobs w\ Justice /
KBOO /Labor Radio /
LGBTQ / MRG / Milagro /
Mobile T's Cover the News
Mosaic / Move-On /
NWLaborPress
Occupy /OEA /
Occupy PDX /
Oregon Peace & Justice /
Peace House
Peace worker /
PCASC / PPRC /
Right 2 Dream Too /

Sisters of The Road
Street Roots / Skanner /
SocialistAlternative.org /
SocialistWorker.org /
The Nation / TruthOut /
The 99%
Urban League /
VFP / Voz
We Are Oregon

Whitefeather
Witness for Peace /

Topics: A-F
Arts & Culture /
AIPAC / Beatles /
Books /
Bradley Manning /
Cartoons /
Civil Rights / Coal /
Death Penalty /
Department of Home Security /
Drones /
Economic Justice /
Education /
Election 2012 /
Fascism /
Fair Trade / F-29 /
Environment /
Film / Fluoridation
Foreclosure /
Topics: G-R
Health Care / Homeless / Iraq
J-Street / Jill Stein /
Justice Party / Middle East /
Music /
National Security Administration
Occupy Blog / Peace /
Persian / Police /
Post Office / Quotes
Topics: S-Z
STRIKE! / Theatre /
The Pongo Fund /
Torture / TPP /
Tri-Met / Union /
Unionresource / VDay /
Viewpoints
Visual Arts
Voices in Action
War & Peace /
Women / Writing /
WritingResource
Yell
 



Peter C. Little: Alliance Photographer


For Email Marketing you can trust

Jobs
theportlandalliance.org/jobs
Idealist Jobs Portal
theportlandalliance.org/idealist

Help Support Alternative Media!

Speaking
Truth to Power & Distressing Portland's Elites
Since 1981!

Navigation:
FrontPage / Activism /
BlogPortal / Calendar /
Ongoing Calendar Events
Donate /
Flyer/
Pictures on Picasso:
picasaweb.google.com/
theportlandalliance
/
PDX Music /
Poster / Subscribe /
Place Ad / Ad Rates /
Online Ads /
Advertising /
Twitter / News! /
Previous Issues /
Blog/ Myspace /
Facebook1 / Facebook2
Waterfront Blues Fest
Alliance on YouTube:

youtube.com/theportlandallianceBlog/ Myspace /
Facebook1 / Facebook2
Waterfront Blues Fest
Yugen Rashad
Alliance on YouTube:
youtube.com/theportlandalliance

Features:
Joe Anybody!
Active Community /
A Few Words /
Arts & Culture /
Book Reviews! /
Breaking News /
Cartoons / Steve Amy /
Too Much Coffee Man /
Community Calendar /
Cover The Real News! /

Fifth Monday LaborRadio!
Jobs / Labor History /
Letters / Music /
NewsBytes /
Poetry/
Mike Hastie Poetics

Progressive Directory /
Secret Society /
Viewpoints & Commentary

Columns:
William Beeman /
Ellen Brown /
Tom Engelhardt /

Consult Hardesty /

"Juggling the Numbers"
Instead of armed extra-legal storm troopers, we need effective public servants who can create safe and secure streets without precipitously resorting to violence and acrimony. We need peace officers who can live up to the name and do us proud.

Shamus Cooke /

Tom Engelhardt /
Tom H. Hastings theportlandalliance.org/hastings

Glick
The New “CIA”
By Ted Glick

As I write this, a new CIA, the Cowboy and Indian Alliance, is completing..

Kucinich /
Michael Munk /
theportlandalliance.org/Munk
Myers / Military Personnel
Cheating on tests!
William Reed /
Mark Schwebke /
Norman Solomon /
"the most sacred cow of the press is the press itself."
Vorpahl /
Lawrence S. Wittner theportlandalliance.org/wittner "America’s Peace Ship
By Lawrence S. Wittne





{


PHOTO BY AARON LEE


 



Buy Walidah's

new book from Powells
by clicking on icon
!

    http://www.theportlandalliance.org/mayday 
The Portland Alliance
MAY DAY!
International Workers' Day


Baltimore Police Just Arrested Man Who Filmed The Freddie Gray Arrest

Kevin Moore filmed the police brutally arresting Freddie Gray. That footage went viral and began all of the protests that have been flooding the streets of Baltimore and sweeping the nation ever since. Now, after claiming the police had been harassing and intimidating him after he went public with the footage, Kevin Moore and two members of Cop Watch –
Chad Jackson and Tony White – have been arrested tonight in Baltimore.
Picture by @aaronmmaybin/Instagram

Kevin Moore filmed the police brutally arresting Freddie Gray. That footage went viral and began all of the protests that have been flooding the streets of...

The Back Story: 

BALTIMORE - Kevin Moore was asleep in his home the morning of April 12, when his uncle yelled to him: "The police are tazing Freddie."

Moore, 28, ran out of his home in the same Gilmor Homes complex where Freddie Gray was arrested and sprinted across the street to get a view of what was happening.

"Once I got around to see where Freddie was, I instantly started recording," Moore said.

Moore shot one of the two cell phone videos of the Gray arrest that morning that have since ignited protests and raised questions about whether the police arrested him "without force or incident" as cited in an officer's report.

Moore said he found his friend handcuffed, "screaming for his life," and planted face down on the ground with one Baltimore bicycle police officer's knee on his neck and the other bicycle officer bending his legs backward so that Gray's heels were in his back.

"They had him folded up like he was a crab or a piece of origami. He was all bent up," Moore said.

"He said 'I can't breathe. I need a pump,' and they ignored him," Moore said. Gray had asthma and Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez confirmed at a press conference on Monday that Gray asked for an inhaler, but police did not have one at the scene.

Moore said, "The police yelled 'stop resisting,' but there was no resistance. He couldn't move."
rest of story:  www.independentmail.com/news/man-who-filmed-baltimore-arrest-video-speaks-out


2015 Dinner web news image

Join Jobs with Justice
more information: 
http://www.theportlandalliance.org/jwjupdates
Released in April, 2015:
"Behind the Badge in River City: A Police Memoir"

by Don DuPay

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/behindthebadge

            
"Behind the Badge in River City:
  A Police Memoir, is a revealing,
    unique and important book."



Most days, most people just take cops for granted. They assume the police are more or less like everyone else, putting in their hours and doing their jobs. At one level this is true.

Some of us may say hello to officers we happen across or we might encounter them briefly when getting a ticket or asking for directions. Regardless of these brief glimpses, few of us know a great deal about the men and women who serve as peace officers with The Portland Police Bureau. Perhaps it's time we found out.

Don Dupay served with the bureau from 1961-1978 as an officer and detective.  After resigning from his position in 1978, Mr. Dupay worked as Director of Security for a well-known hotel in Portland, co-hosted a cable access TV show,
"Cannibus Common Sense," and he still
lives and writes in Portland, Oregon. Checkout the review of his book: 

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/behindthebadge


India’s Shame, and the World’s

by Mel Gurtov

A democracy is supposed to have the advantage of affording people of any social class, gender, or religious or ethnic group the opportunity to advance.  In contrast with authoritarian political orders, democracies should be superior in their openness to change, to everyone’s participation in politics, and to equality before the law.  In a word, democracies are based on the politics of hope and the virtues of transparency.  Or so the theory goes.

 

India defies these expectations.  Though it has democratic institutions and vigorous political competition, at least among elites, when it comes to human development and human security,
India falls very short—embarrassingly so when compared with China.

rest of story: 
Alliance PeaceVoice Portal / http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/peacevoice

America's Drones Are Still Killing Scores of Innocents

By Alan Grayson and Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films

31 October 14

 Nabila Rehman, 9, was injured by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan. Rehman was picking okra in her family garden last year when missiles from a drone rained down from the sky, killing her grandmother and injuring her and seven other children. (photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Nabila Rehman, 9, was injured by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan. Rehman was picking okra in her family garden last year when missiles from a drone rained down from the sky, killing her grandmother and injuring her and seven other children. (photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OvhAFyeGk4&

ISIS has revived our dependence on drones. We must not let it.
 

amana Bibi was a 67-year-old Pakistani grandmother and midwife, killed by a U.S. drone strike on October 24, 2012. One year ago, the family of Mamana Bibi came to Washington,, D.C., to share their sad story with Members of Congress.
The rest of story:  http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/drones


This Israeli effort to blow up the Iran deal recalls the fake "African yellowcake" documents eventually exposed as US-sponsored fakes but used as evidence for the WMDs to justify the Iraq war.
 
Now, as Gareth Porters details, another set of fake PMD docs submitted to the IAEA by Israel-- with US complicity-- threatens the Iran nuke deal and could open the way for an attack on Iran. After IAEA chief ElBaradei dismissed those docs several years ago, the US replaced him with Amano, a citizen of a nation with a military alliance with the US, and who has since looked to the US and Israel for guidance on his decisions.
 
Read Porter's insider analysis, "The 'Possible Military Dimensions' bomb that could blow up the Iran deal"   http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/Munk
NWWRF 2015
Dates --  July 24 - 26
-- Scio, Oregon

We have found our new home for 2015 - Beautiful Scio, Oregon.
Scio is just 14 miles east of Albany, Oregon ( halfway between Eugene and Portland). 

The site offers shaded camping,
nice RV parking area,

river access, nice stage area,
great vendor boo
th spots and
is only 2 blocks from the small town of Scio with stores, restaurants and another local businesses  welcoming U to their small town. We are
blessed to be welcome
to this com
munity. 

We will have lineup announcements coming next week.
We have a great show in the works!!  

get the skinnyhttp://www.theportlandalliance.org/reggae
 


"It was tough; yesterday I finally watched a documentary on MLK's support of sanitation workers in Memphis that I'd recorded but did not want to see. I did not know Bobby Kennedy, running for POTUS, chartered the plane that brought Coretta and the family in to retrieve the body, or that she and the children

- in their grief - led a march her husband had planned. I realized how much I still ache.
I had forgotten that arsonists got within three blocks of the White House."
Bobby was dead when the SCLC returned to Memphis for a one-year

memorial of King's assassination.
Find out more at:ww.ThePortlandAlliance.org/consulthardesty
A Portal to Consult Hardesty


1040 For Peace

by Jack Payden-Travers               

"In the fiscal calendar this is Tax Time. In my church calendar it is the season of Easter, the holiest time of the year for all Christians. For my Jewish brothers and sisters it is Passover season. By my garden’s reckoning it is Spring.

 ...On my Induction day in 1970 I answered that question by refusing to step forward and fight in what my conscience told me was an unjust war. As fate would have it, I am once again confronted with that challenge each April 15th when I am asked to pay my taxes with the largest percentage going to current and past and future wars. As a conscientious objector to war, I believe that paying for war is participation in war. That is something that my religious beliefs forbid.

 And so this year as I have done for four decades I will file my taxes. I will pay for roads, health care, social programs, government operations, education, etc. But I will also refuse a portion of my tax debt. ...

Jack Payden-Travers, Lynchburg, VA, writes for PeaceVoice serves as the Director of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund in Washington, DC.

 find out more:  http://www.ThePortlandalliance.org/peace


Progressive Activism in Missoula, Montana

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/Missoula

Mayday in Missoula!



May Day rally coming to Missoula!
 


“No matter how cynical you become,

it’s never enough to keep up.” — Lily Tomlin


Fugitive Dreams 

From Portland's Walidah Imarisha,

a New Vision for Science Fiction,

Social Justice, and the Future

feature1-570x300.jpg

Upending the Wagon Train to the Stars

"I HAVE ALWAYS been into superheroes and comic books," says Walidah Imarisha when we meet up at Coffeehouse-Five on
N Killingsworth. Perhaps best known for her writing (everything from poetry to criticism), teaching (at Portland State University), and her public scholarship on race in Oregon, Imarisha's now putting a social justice lens on science fiction. As co-editor of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements,
out now from Oakland's AK Press, she's also written a story for the anthology, about a "grumpy" black angel.

"When I was growing up, all I had was Storm from the X-Men who looked like me," says Imarisha. "She's supposedly the second-in-command but she's very Uhura [from Star Trek]. She's very underutilized."

So when she and fellow writer Adrienne Maree Brown signed on to edit Octavia's Brood, named for science-fiction luminary Octavia E. Butler, Imarisha wanted to create a black female superhero. But it turns out it's pretty difficult to write a superhero who isn't inherently fascist.

"Superheroes by definition are these very elitist ideologies," she explains. "You have superpowers either because you had money to buy them—Batman—or you were born with these superpowers or you got mutated by some spider or whatever—but you're better, you're super."

Imarisha had done what many sci-fi writers have, from Joss Whedon to The Hunger Games' Suzanne Collins. She'd written a character you don't normally see taking power in mainstream sci-fi. But instead of subverting the dominant superhero narrative, Imarisha realized she'd merely reinforced it. Her heroine had become "a regular superhero."

read the rest of this story at The Portland Mercury!  
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/fugitive-dreams/Content?oid=15345218


http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/sickpay
    Paid sick days benefit entire community

As scholars and activists whose careers have focused on improving working people’s quality of life, we have long lamented this disturbing fact: The United States stands alone among the world’s most developed nations in not providing paid sick days for its workers.

...The consequences are profound. The lack of sick days has helped create a phenomenon known as “presenteeism,” whereby people go to work even though they are ill. These workers — especially those in occupations with high degrees of public contact such as restaurants, hospitals and schools — expose others to illness and create health hazards.

...The rest of the story:  http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/sickpay


The Portland Alliance Portal for Cascade Tickets...
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/cascadetickets
Cascade Tickets

Portland Announcements

Randy & Mr. Lahey (of Trailer Park Boys), May 15 at HiFi Music Hall (Eugene)
King Chip, May 31 at Peter's Room at the Roseland
Dirtwire, June 4 at HiFi Music Hall (Eugene)
Veil of Maya, June 7 at Hawthorne
Kottonmouth Kings & (hed)PE, June 9 at Hawthorne
The Griswolds, July 8 at Hawthorne
Tony Furtado Trio, July 18 at HiFi Music Hall (Eugene)
Fu Manchu, July 18 at Hawthorne
Charli XCX & Bleachers, July 26 at Edgefield (Password: MCMENAMINS)
Toadies, August 5 at Hawthorne
James Bay, August 5 at Crystal (Password: MCMENAMINS)
Brandon Flowers, September 3 at Roseland
Social Distortion, September 5 at Roseland
Navigation: FrontPage / Activism / Interactive Calendar / Donate / Flyer / YouTube / Poster / Subscribe / Place Ad / Ad Rates / Online Ads / Advertising / Twitter / News! / Previous Issues / Blog/ Myspace / Facebook1 / Facebook2
Oregon Small Businesses Can Thrive With a Higher Minimum Wage!
Study finds past wage hikes have not dampened small business growth
Raising Oregon's minimum wage to $15 per hour could boost the bottom
line of small businesses, a sector that has enjoyed growth even after substantial
wage hikes over the years. That's according a new study by the Oregon Center
for Public Policy.


"History shows that the small business sector can thrive following an increase
to the state minimum wage," said the Center's executive director, Chuck Sheketoff.
see the rest of the story:  http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/ocpp

"Commemorating" the Vietnam War: One Marine's Perspective

Camillo Mac Bica, Truthout: "March 29 has been designated 'Vietnam Veterans Day,' according to a proclamation issued by President Obama in 2012. Now, I have no problem acknowledging the debt owed to all whose lives were affected by this war. What I find intolerable is that our leaders are incapable of telling the truth about the war."

Read more about this and other issues:       http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/truthout


Ibrahim Bilal Mubarak came up with the idea, that those who embrace
community might get together and embrace one another.


 

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people…
They are the only sure reliance for the preservation
of our liberty.”

—Thomas Jefferson


Obama want's to be
your Big Brother
"After denouncing his predecessor's warrantless wiretapping, Obama presided over the construction
of a surveillance state more expansive than any democracy has ever known.  What he hid includes...
REST OF STORY:
thepeaceresource.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/obama-wants-to-be-your-big-brother/

People continue to die in Afghanistan, Algeria,
Iraq, LIbya, Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen.

These are not accidents. And they will not end until we insist.

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/engelhardt

Tomgram: Nick Turse, How Washington Creates Global Instability | TomDispatch.com is for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of our
post-9/11 world and a clear sense of how our imperial globe actually works.

Portland Films: The Alliance Film Guide: 
Scheduling, Reviews, and More...

Check it out! Finally Got the News- (1970) a filmCheck it out! about the revolutionary struggle of Black autoworkers in Detroit... watch it as a double feature with the documentary about the injured GM workers in Bogota. Don't miss these films! Connects the struggle of the autoworkers in Bogota with the struggle of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit in 1970.
Both links are available at http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/film

Inequality for All

Published on October 8th, 2013

inequalposterAt the heart of the film is a simple proposition: what is a good society, and what role does the widening income gap play in the deterioration of our nation’s economic health? We are endeavoring for Inequality for All to be a paradigm-shifting, eye-opening experience for the American public. We want to accurately show through a non-partisan perspective why extreme income inequality is such an important topic for our citizens today and for the future of America.

Starts Friday October 11th

60

- See more at: http://hollywoodtheatre.org/inequality-for-all/#sthash.MLjShSBy.ZqntgYHh.dpuf

Inequality for All

Published on October 8th, 2013

inequalposterAt the heart of the film is a simple proposition: what is a good society, and what role does the widening income gap play in the deterioration of our nation’s economic health? We are endeavoring for Inequality for All to be a paradigm-shifting, eye-opening experience for the American public. We want to accurately show through a non-partisan perspective why extreme income inequality is such an important topic for our citizens today and for the future of America.

Starts Friday October 11th

60

- See more at: http://hollywoodtheatre.org/inequality-for-all/#sthash.MLjShSBy.ZqntgYHh.dpuf

 
"People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want
and the courage to take.”
Emma Goldman
The right to rebellion is the right to seek a higher rule... GEORGE ELIOT

Help support local media!


                        ThePortlandAlliance.org/communitycalendar

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

Too Much Coffee Man

http://wordsmithcollection.blogspot.com/2013/06/writing-creative-arts-cutting-edge-of.html

132946_600