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BREAKING NEWS AT THE ALLIANCE

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Fluoride Lobby Fumbles at Public Debate
 by Hart Noecker • April 11, 2013 • Hart, Rebel Cities, Rebel Portland, Sustainable Cities, The Shaming Room • 13 Comments

Thursday, April 11, 2013 • Portland, Oregon

Wednesday night’s debate to discuss the pros and cons of adding fluorosilicic acid (aka fluoride) to the Bull Run water supply that Portland depends upon saw an excess of 240 concerned citizens pack the Matt Dishman Community Center’s auditorium.  The event was sponsored by the Multnomah County Democrats.  Moderator Teddy Keizer, Chair of the Mult-Co Dems opened the evening by thanking those in attendance for coming, then sternly warned the crowd that no outbursts or applause would be tolerated during the debate. “We will not ask you to leave, we will tell you leave.”

Observing the filled room, it wasn’t hard to notice that Clean Water Portland’s bright-blue ‘No Fluoride‘ buttons and shirts outnumbered  ”Healthy Kids Healthy Portland” blood-red buttons about 5 to 1.  It seemed the audience present might already be in favor of continuing Portland’s 60 year tradition of rejecting fluoride of their drinking water.

Representing the pro-fluoridation side of the night’s debate was ‘Healthy Kids Healthy Portland’ (HKHP), a PAC formed after activists collected twice the required signatures to move city hall’s fluoride vote into referendum, granting the public a voice on whether fluoride will be added to their drinking water.  The effort that gathered a staggering 43,000 signatures last fall was spear-headed by Clean Water Portland (CWP), who were on hand to present the anti-fluoride side of the evening’s debate.

In the HKHP corner was Alejandro Queral MS, JD, a program officer at the NW Health Foundation.  In 2010 Alejandro was appointed by the now embattled governor John Kitzhaber to serve on the state’s Public Health Advisory Board.  Also speaking for HKHP was Mike Plunkett, DDS, MPH, dental director for both Care Oregon and the Neighborhood Health Center.  Like Alejandro, Mike was also appointed by John Kitzhaber to the state’s Health Advisory Board.

Representing Clean Water Portland was Rick North, a 30 year veteran of nonprofit management, including work in public health and environment in the American Cancer Society and in developing faith-based programs to reduce global warming.  Rick has also done work in opposition to GMO’s and controversial livestock growth hormones.  Also speaking for CWP was Kellie Barnes, MOMT, MPT, a mother of two, and founder of Core Physical Therapy LLC.  She has been a health care provider for two decades.

After winning a coin toss, Alejandro and Mike from HKHP chose to begin opening remarks.  Each spoke, though Mike took on speaking duties about twice as much as Alejandro during the opening and throughout much of the evening.  Both men were dressed in jackets and ties, and approached their arguments with a paternal, authoritative tone, citing the ‘sound science’ and numerous government agencies that have endorsed fluoridation.

By contrast, Rick and Kellie began their opening remarks with a slower, measured tone that seemed more refined and empathetic to the audience present.  Kellie spoke with a maternal chord that resonated well with the audience; she sounded like a native Portland neighbor more than anyone else on stage.

While speaking, Mike Plunkett seemed slightly perturbed to have to debate the issues at all, often beginning sentences with “Look..” or “You have to understand…” or “The thing people don’t get is…”, possibly sensing that people in the room were distrustful of his rhetoric.  He even went so far in his opening remarks as to characterize CWP’s opposition to fluoridation as being based upon “scare tactics” and “fear politics”.

Alejandro initially began more cool, but as the debate progressed, he, too adopted a more agitated tone, at one point declaring, “Everything is a chemical.  Nothing in the universe is pure.”  The crowd chuckled politely, unsure of whether he meant to sound so dismissive.

Both men attempted to generate a narrative claiming fluoride is safe, that it has no side effects.  Yet neither offered an ethical argument for the forced medication that nonconsensual fluoridation would amount to.

Kellie Barnes and Rick North from CWP both approached this issue of consent several times, citing medical professionals in Europe who disagree with mandated medication.  Rick went on to inform that only a small fraction of nations throughout the world actually choose to practice fluoridation.

Kellie went on to refute the HKHP line that fluoride poses no health risk by citing several at-risk groups like pregnant women and people living with diabetes.  She also tolerated several interruptions from her male counterparts from HKHP who seemed to have no problem chiding her in front of the crowd.  They repeatedly claimed there was “no scientific evidence” of any significant harm from fluoride.  Rick calmly disagreed, “We know fluoride disrupts thyroid function.”  HKHP did not refute him on this point.

After Kellie explained that permanent white spots that form on teeth are the first signs of an overdose of fluoride called fluorosis, Mike Plunkett became red-faced and irritably admitted that “All fluoride causes some amount of fluorosis” which caused another stir among the audience.

Kellie and Rick both spoke about hazard labels on toothpaste that warn consumers not to swallow after brushing, citing the harm of digesting fluoride.  Kellie explained that a 12oz. glass of fluoridated water “has the same amount of fluoride as a pea-sized drop of fluoride toothpaste”.  Furthermore, drinking a day’s worth of fluoridated water is the equivalent as swallowing about a days worth of toothpaste.

In what would build towards an ever-increasing series of gaffes for HKHP, Mike Plunkett seemed to respond without having listened to what Kellie had just said.  Mike abruptly quipped, “Those warning labels on toothpaste are there because swallowing toothpaste is unhealthy”, which caused even more laughter from the audience.

At the doorway to the auditorium, volunteers from each campaign had handed out stapled copies of their respective talking points.  It was Kellie who repeatedly referred the audience to Clean Water Portland’s printed text.  Throughout the debate, each time she asked the audience to turn to a certain page, hundreds of people in the auditorium could be heard rustling papers.  This crowd appeared less and less interested in the HKHP hype.

Rick North went on to debunk Alejandro and Mike’s claim that adding 0.7PPM of fluorosilicic acid to drinking water was a ‘safe’ dose.  Rick explained, “We know fluoride can cause harm.  Regardless of the PPM, once introduced into drinking water, we can no longer control the dose.  If we cannot control the dose, we cannot control the harm.”  Despite being warned to refrain, several members of the audience applauded in response to this fact.

It was shortly after Rick’s statement that Mike Plunkett was seen placing his head in his hands for several moments in what looked like either frustration or exhaustion.  This was not a momentary gesture, and was not in direct response to Rick or Kellie, as his co-debater Alejandro was on the mic speaking during this odd display of expression.

At this point, it was clear who was winning the debate.  But then things got even stranger.  A written question from the audience was asked aloud from moderator Teddy Keizer, “According to the CDC, Texas is fluoridated at 80%, yet has the one of the highest rates of tooth decay, how do you explain this discrepancy?”   The audience again began laughing, which seemed to unnerve Mike Plunkett into becoming even more defensive.

In his answer, Mike claimed that there could be no direct correlation between rates of fluoridation and rates of tooth decay.  This statement stunned the audience, who at this point had spent the last two hours listening to HKHP make the argument that tooth decay statistics and fluoridation were inextricably linked.  This was the essential argument of the entire ‘Healthy Kids’ campaign, and their chief debater had just pulled the rug out from under it.

From here, the rest of the questions from the audience picked apart the pro-fluoride campaign.  When asked if the large donations that HKHP has been receiving posed a potential conflict of interest, the pair of HKHP debaters chose to dodge the question entirely.  Rick and Kellie were more than happy to confirm that the vast majority of their respective campaign’s support consisted of small, individual donations and staff of unpaid volunteers.

Alejandro and Mike then seemingly resigned themselves to the fact that they had lost the debate, finally dropping their agitated tones and pursuing some degree of damage control with attempts at humor.  Admitted Mike, “I know we don’t agree on all things, I can tell looking at all your faces tonight you don’t agree with me [on fluoride]“.  More laughter rose from the crowd.

As the night came to a close, Kellie and Rick were as calm and confident as ever.  They reiterated their arguments that fluoride does have negative side effects for human beings, that it is not universally recognized in the medical community as a health benefit – nor should it be mandated medication without individual choice to abstain.  Kellie reaffirmed previous statements, “The science changes before the policy.  Right now, the science is changing.  We have safer options for dental health.  Portland deserves better.”

In the final seconds of the debate, Rick moved beyond the confines of medicine, “I wish this had been brought up before, but there is a reason Sierra Club and Columbia Riverkeepers and Food & Drug Watch came out against fluoridation in Portland.  There is a reason that not one environmental organization will endorse fluoride.”

The end of Rick’s line signaled the close of the debate, and with this close there erupted thunderous applause from the hundreds of people in the auditorium, sustaining for a solid minute while the audience cheered approval.  There could be no doubt about who had won the night’s debate.  There could be no doubt about how much Portlanders cherish unpolluted Bull Run fresh water.

As the audience gradually exited, the faces of HKHP’s speakers and dwindling supporters looked grim, and perhaps rightly so.  Despite this, the fight for our drinking water is not done.  Not by a long shot.  HKHP continues to rake in top-dollar donations to pay expensive PR firms and their wealthy consultants.

Clean Water Portland needs your financial and volunteer support.  There is also an ongoing series of ‘clean water’ concerts happening at The Goodfoot for the next 6 weeks featuring a wide array of music talent.  The next show is event page’d HERE.

Threats to our water supply will surely persist.  Regardless, today we have a responsibility to win this fight against fluoridation.

See you in the streets.

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Obama's Social Security Cut Proposal Sparks Backlash, Reaction is not good when Obama betrays his base....Again!

                 http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/huffington

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                                             Civil rights are under attack!   

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March 2013    Portland Unions Denounce FBI Raids,  Grand Jury Witch Hunt of Activists FBI agents in heavy-duty battle gear during July 25 raids on anarchist activists in Portland, Oregon.  (Photo: KGW) PORTLAND, OR – On July 25 of last year, several homes of activists in the Pacific Northwest were broken into by federal agents who claimed to be seeking evidence for a grand jury investigation. The “crime” being investigated was alleged vandalism of a federal building during May Day demonstrations in Seattle. However, the warrants specifically mentioned “black clothing” and “anti-government or anarchist literature” as items to be seized. The “investigation” was really a fishing expedition designed to force activists to turn over information on their friends and fellow activists under parameters that are so vague that just about anyone ever associated with any of those targeted could be named as a suspect.!  Checkout the whole story! Portland Unions Denounce FBI Raids, Grand Jury Witch Hunt of Activists Last July 25 several homes of activists in the Pacific Northwest were broken into by federal agents who claimed to be seeking evidence for a grand jury investigation of “vandalism” during May Day demonstrations in Seattle. However, the warrants specifically mentioned “black clothing” and “anti-government or anarchist literature” as items to be seized. The “investigation” was really a fishing expedition designed to force activists to turn over information on their friends and fellow activists. Three of those targeted in the raids heroically refused to testify and were held in a federal detention center for months, and one is still in prison. We demand that Maddy Pfeiffer be released and any and all proceedings against anyone targeted in this dragnet be dropped and their records expunged. Portland unions have in the past led struggles against police cooperation with the feds’ Joint Terrorism Task Force. In keeping with this, supporters of the Internationalist Group initiated a resolution against FBI repression which has been endorsed by five Portland-area unions. Portland Unions Denounce FBI Raids, Grand Jury Witch Hunt of Activists (March 2013)  Resolution Against FBI Repression Whereas three homes in Portland, and several others across the Northwest were raided by the FBI on Wednesday, July 25th to collect evidence for a grand jury investigation, and Whereas the residents of the homes in Portland had their doors broken down, were tear gassed, and handcuffed in the course of executing the search warrants, and Whereas the “evidence” collected in the July raids included such objects as of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union literature, and Whereas the Portland branch of the IWW is a respected labor union which consistently acts in solidarity with other unions, a partner in the planning of Portland’s yearly May Day events, and the union representing workers in three local social service shops providing assistance to at-risk youth and survivors of domestic violence, and Whereas the right to participate in unions and organize ourselves as workers and freedom of expression and freedom of association are fundamental rights, and Whereas the FBI has a longstanding history of infiltrating and spying on activists and labor organizations in Portland through the use of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and the Portland Red Squad in order to intimidate, harass, and dismantle these groups, and Whereas several unions in Portland have a strong history of resisting FBI repression and the JTTF including a successful campaign for Portland to pull out of an agreement with the JTTF in 2005, and Whereas the history of FBI and federal repressi  Civil rights are under attack!  on against union members and their allies include such prominent examples as the Palmer Raids, in which members of unions and labor organizations were targeted because of their actual or suspected affiliation with the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party as well as actual or suspected membership in the IWW, between 1919 and 1920 which resulted in the arrests of thousands of people and the deportation of upwards of 500, and Whereas the Portland JTTF, and its counterpart, the Portland Red Squad has been used to spy on workers participating in an organizing drive at Powell’s books in 2000, the IWW over several years beginning as early as 1917, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) throughout the 1930's and in several instances since then, and Whereas the most recent July raids are clearly intended to similarly intimidate and harass activists and union members, and  Civil rights are under attack!  Whereas the July raids and their associated grand jury proceedings are politically motivated and intended to suppress dissent expressed on May 1st, 2012, during the celebration of International Workers Day, and Whereas any attack on any union is an attack on all unions, and Whereas an injury to one is an injury to all, be it therefore Resolved that we condemn the raids that took place on July 25th and any future raids and defend the people targeted in them, and be it further Resolved that we will make our best effort to mobilize our membership to support a mass meeting to condemn the attacks on our unions and resist FBI raids and repression and defend our right to participate in unions, and be it further Resolved that we call for a meeting of union members to discuss next steps in resisting FBI repression and form a network to respond to any future raids. Endorsed by: IWW Portland Local, IUPAT Local 10, IATSE Local 28, ILWU Local 5, LIUNA Local 483 To contact the Internationalist Group and the League for the Fourth International, send e-mail to:internationalistgroup@msn.com

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Fund for the Public Interest wants to remain a ‘right-to-work’ and at-will employer,
and walks out of bargaining when a reporter shows up

By DON McINTOSH, Associate Editor

read more at
http://www.theortlandalliance.org/nwlaborpress

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21 Oct 2012  more at: http://www.theportlandalliance.org/CLG

Breaking: George McGovern, liberal standard-bearer against Nixon in '72, dies --Democrat George S. McGovern, a war hero who opposed the Vietnam War, was crushed by President Richard Nixon's Watergate-tainted campaign. A die-hard idealist, McGovern inspired scores of budding politicians. 21 Oct 2012 George S. McGovern, an icon of American liberalism who campaigned for the White House with moral fervor against President Richard M. Nixon and the Vietnam War but lost in a thundering landslide, has died. He was 90. McGovern died early Sunday morning while under hospice care in Sioux Falls, S.D., said family spokesman Steve Hildebrand. He had been hospitalized for various illnesses and injuries since suffering a serious fall last December.

US civil rights groups ask international election monitors for assistance --NAACP and others say voter restrictions and ID laws ahead of 2012 US election require planned observer mission to expand 20 Oct 2012 American civil rights groups have appealed to the world's biggest election monitoring organisation over concerns about controversial changes in voter registration ahead of the November 6 White House poll. The eight civil rights group expressed their worry that millions, including those on low income as well as minorities, could be excluded from the vote for the presidency and for members of Congress. They raised the issues during a meeting on Tuesday in Washington with representatives from the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which represents 56 states in Europe, Central Asia and North America.

The remarkable, unfathomable ignorance of Debbie Wasserman Schultz 19 Oct 2012 On 29 May 2012, the New York Times published a remarkable 6,000-word story on its front page about what it termed President Obama's "kill list". It detailed the president's personal role in deciding which individuals will end up being targeted for assassination by the CIA based on Obama's secret, unchecked decree that they are "terrorists" and deserve to die...But Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic Congresswoman from Florida and the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, does not know about any of this. She has never heard of any of it. She has managed to remain completely ignorant about the fact that President Obama has asserted and exercised the power to secretly place human beings, including US citizens, on his "kill list" and then order the CIA to extinguish their lives. [So this is how the Democrats keep the believers believing -- they keep them in the dark, even at the very top of the party! -- MDR]

3 bank failures bring US 2012 total to 46 19 Oct 2012 Regulators on Friday closed two small banks in Florida and one in Missouri, bringing to 46 the number of U.S. bank failures this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized GulfSouth Private Bank and First East Side Savings Bank, both in Florida. Regulators also shuttered Excel Bank in Missouri. Regulators arranged for lenders to assume the deposits and purchase essentially all the assets of each of the failed banks. Even so, the three bank failures are expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $86.1 million.

CLG needs your support.
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P.O. Box 1142
Bristol, CT 06011-1142
Contributions to CLG are not tax deductible.

Feel free -- and CLG encourages you -- to forward this newsletter to your lists and friends!
Those who wish to be added to the list can go here: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clg and add your name. 

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Stories

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From Guantánamo to NDAA: Obama Admin Bids to Preserve Indefinite Detention at Home and Abroad
The Obama administration has filed an emergency appeal of a federal judge’s decision to block a controversial statute that gave the government the power to carry out indefinite detention. Judge…
democracynow.org · Tweet this story
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The Reactions to Romney's Secret Fundraising Tape Keep Pouring In
1. A Republican candidate for senate in Connecticut has spoken out against Mitt Romney's 47% comments:
blogtown.portlandmercury.com · Tweet this story
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Jammy!: Bringing Back the Boombox
iPods are okay, but they don't have quite the same cachÉ as strolling down the street with a handsome boombox on your shoulder, or as sufficient power to annoy other people at the park with your…
mod.portlandmercury.com · Tweet this story
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_Democracy Now!_ host champions independent media

Carnegie Mellon's Student Newspaper Since 1906 Investigative journalist, author, and co-founder and host of radio show Democracy Now! Amy Goodman made an appearance at McConomy Auditorium last Thursday. Goodman’s…

thetartan.org · Tweet this story

Tweeted by Democracy Now!

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a non-profit organization broadening knowledge of Portland’s past, present and future.

Hidden Portland: City Treasures! With Carye Bye Friday, October 19, 10:00AM-12:30PM Meets at Director Park What if the City was a Museum? Hidden Portland: City Treasures! attempts to answer this question by allowing…

dillpickleclub.org · Tweet this story

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		PSU Career Center @PSUCareerCenter	14 Sep
		@portlandmercury TJMAXX hiring fair, 80 positions for new downtown store Fri/Sat. at PSU- Hoffmann Hall. Please share.
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Code Pink's First Ever Peace and Goodwill Delegation to Pakistan

by Trudy Cooper

The US is not at war with Pakistan. Yet US drones hover overhead in the tribal regions of North and South Waziristan. Almost daily, there are strikes. Since 2004, these drones have killed as many as 3,000 people in Pakistan.¹ Hundreds more are wounded. Nearly all of them are civilians.

These victims and survivors are mostly non-combatants.
These human beings, like most of us, are simply trying to live their lives. They are working the fields, cooking r meals, and educating their children. The strikes have destabilized their communities. These people are traumatized, both physically and psychologically, from fear and grief. The buzz overhead is never-ending. May people are chronically ill from the continuous stress:   women in these areas give birth prematurely and children are unable to sleep at night because they fear death at any moment from the skies. These communities are helpless to protect themselves. The residents are unable to move from the area because they do not have the necessary skills or education to survive elsewhere.  For the rest of the story... go to The TPA Code Pink Portal at http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/codpink

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Portland Alliance Iraq Portal:
BAGHDAD, 27 July 2012 (IRIN) -

Thousands of Iraqi refugees returning from Syria will face huge challenges reintegrating into a country with high rates of unemployment, dismal basic services and ongoing sectarian strife.
“I think we will face a humanitarian crisis regarding this issue,” said Yaseen Ahmed Abbas, the president of the Iraq Red Crescent (IRC). “You should expect pressure on everything in Iraq by having such a large number of people in a short time. It’s not easy.”

More than 15,000 Iraqis have returned to Iraq in the past nine days, after unprecedented fighting in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to Deputy Minister of Displacement and Migration Salam Dawod Al Khafagy. The government evacuated 4,000 by air, he said; the rest crossed by land. Tens of thousands of others have returned since the Syrian conflict started in March 2011.

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/iraq

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Bradley Manning Portal: at The Portland Alliance
Portland Oregon:  On 8/16, a well planned action took place at several army/military recruiting offices in Portland. At the end of the days actions, all
groups of protesters met up at the Lloyd Center Recruiting Office for a mass protest. They marched from there across town to an
Obama Campaign Training Facility where they Occupied the building and 6 persons went into the office and refused to leave.
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/bradleymanning  

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Truthout: Interview with Green Party's Jill Stein, Candidate for Organizer in Chief

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IRAQ: Returnees from Syria - a “humanitarian crisis” in the making

BAGHDAD, 27 July 2012 (IRIN) -

Thousands of Iraqi refugees returning from Syria will face huge challenges reintegrating into a country with high rates of unemployment, dismal basic services and ongoing sectarian strife.
“I think we will face a humanitarian crisis regarding this issue,” said Yaseen Ahmed Abbas, the president of the Iraq Red Crescent (IRC). “You should expect pressure on everything in Iraq by having such a large number of people in a short time. It’s not easy.”

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NEWS ITEM For immediate release July 13, 2012
SYSTEM GRAVELY BROKEN: RESPONSES TO CHASSE DISCIPLINE REVERSAL
Yesterday, the news revealed that the two officers who had been disciplined in the brutal beating death of James Chasse, Jr. were ordered to have their records expunged and back
payments made for the 80 hours each was suspended.

Police Accountablilty! http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/policeaccountability

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