"This weekend" / "Este fin de semana" (impreciso)

BIG ISLAND (HI) - "officers will conduct DUI checkpoints throughout the island over the holiday weekend." (http://www.hawaii247.com/2010/09/02/police-stepping-up-dui-checkpoints-for-labor-day-weekend/)

CALISTOGA (CA) - "drunken driving check point in Calistoga over the Labor Day holiday weekend." (http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_b2363bc8-b707-11df-a4ba-001cc4c03286.html)

MADISON COUNTY (TN) - "The Jackson Police Department will be working in tandem with the Madison County Sheriff's Department over the Labor Day weekend with random checkpoints throughout the city and county." (http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100903/NEWS01/9030314/1002/Police++Drunk+drivers+beware)

MONTGOMERY COUNTY (TX) - "Authorities in Montgomery County say they will be using sobriety checkpoints to catch those over the legal limit." (http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7647761)

PENNSYLVANIA - "The DUI checkpoints will happen throughout Adams, Dauphin, Cumberland and York counties." (http://www.whptv.com/mostpopular/story/DUI-checkpoints-planned-for-holiday-weekend/KTaj4H1OX0KCJxJs-ysedg.cspx)



Friday / Viernes (3/sep)

ANAHEIM (CA) - "Other scheduled checkpoints are taking place in Anaheim on Friday and La Habra on Saturday." (http://www.ocregister.com/news/checkpoint-265028-police-dui.html)

BAKER COUNTY (FL) - "sobriety checkpoint will take place on Friday, September 3, 2010, starting at 9:00 p.m. and concluding on Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. The checkpoint will be held on US 90, West of CR-231 in Baker County." (http://www.lakecityjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=14&SubSectionID=74&ArticleID=6509)

BECKLEY (WV) - "The checkpoint will be held on Fayette Street from 8 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday." (http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=85547)

BREA (CA) - "Brea Police is holding a DUI and driver's license checkpoint on Friday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Imperial Highway east of Valley View in Yorba Linda." (http://www.ocregister.com/news/checkpoint-265028-police-dui.html)

CAMARILLO (CA) - "sobriety checkpoint in Camarillo from 7 p.m. to midnight Friday" (http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/sep/01/dui-crackdown-planned-over-holiday-weekend/)

CARSON (CA) - "7 tonight to 3 a.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

CHINO (CA) - "sobriety and driver's license checkpoint from 9 p.m. Sept. 3 to 4 a.m. Sept. 4" (http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_15900099)

CHINO HILLS (CA) - "DUI /driver's license checkpoint from 6 p.m Friday to 2 a.m. Sunday in Chino Hills." (http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_15963590)

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP – "A drunk driving checkpoint will take place Friday night near Northgate Mall in the 3500 block of Springdale Road...from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m" (http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100903/NEWS01/309030011/DUI-checkpoint-location)

ECHO PARK (CA) - "8 tonight to 1:30 a.m. Saturday at Sunset Boulevard and Sutherland Avenue." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

EL SEGUNDO (CA) - "7 tonight to 3 a.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location in the city." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

FONTANA (CA) - "DUI /driver's license checkpoint from 6 p.m. Friday to 1:30 a.m. Saturday." (http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_15974031)

GREENFIELD (CA) - "sobriety and driver’s license checkpoint Friday night." (http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20100902/NEWS09/100902016/1002/NEWS01/South+Monterey+County+city+to+conduct+DUI+checkpoint+)

HAMILTON COUNTY (OH) - "A drunk driving checkpoint will take place in Hamilton County on Friday night" (http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100901/NEWS01/309010011/DUI-checkpoint-Friday)

HIGHLAND (CA) - "The checkpoint will be from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. at the corner of Base Line Road and Central Avenue." (http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_15968720)

LA QUINTA (CA) - "Police in Palm Springs and La Quinta plan to check drivers’ sobriety and licenses at checkpoints tonight" (http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100903/NEWS0801/100903006/Palm+Springs++La+Quinta+plan+DUI+checkpoints+tonight)

LA VERNE (CA) - "drivers license and driving under the influence checkpoint from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. Saturday" (http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_15973992)

LEE COUNTY (FL) - "A DUI sobriety checkpoint is scheduled for this weekend, beginning today." (http://www.news-press.com/article/20100903/NEWS01/100903003/1075/DUI-checkpoint-planned-in-Lee-County-this-weekend)

LIVE OAK (FL) - "Comprehensive Roadside Sobriety Checkpoint (CRSC) within the Lake City District, on Friday, September 3, starting at 10 p.m...on US Highway 129, north of the city of Live Oak in Suwannee County." (http://www.lakecityjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=14&SubSectionID=74&ArticleID=6509)

LOS ANGELES (CA) - "6 tonight to 1 a.m. Saturday at Manchester Avenue and Hoover Street." "7 tonight to 12:30 a.m. Saturday at Slauson Avenue and Olive Street." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

MARTINEZ (CA) - "Planned for the 3700 block of Alhambra, roughly between Hagin’s Automotive and the Walgreen’s, the checkpoint is scheduled to last from 7 p.m. to midnight." (http://www.martinezgazette.com/news/story/i1336/2010/09/02/dui-checkpoint)

MENIFEE (CA) - "DUI/Driver’s License checkpoint September 3, 2010 from 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM in the City of Menifee." (http://www.riversidesheriff.org/press/per10-0903.asp)

NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana) - "sobriety checkpoint on Friday, September 3, 2010, in the warehouse district. The check point will begin at approximately 9:00 P.M. and will conclude at about 5:00 A.M." (http://www.neworleans.com/news/local-news/466594.html)

OBETZ (OH) - "The DUI Task Force will operate a checkpoint tonight on Alum Creek Drive south of Williams Road in Obetz." (http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/03/dui-crackdown-set-forholidayweekend.html?sid=101)

PALM SPRINGS (CA) - "Police in Palm Springs and La Quinta plan to check drivers’ sobriety and licenses at checkpoints tonight" (http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100903/NEWS0801/100903006/Palm+Springs++La+Quinta+plan+DUI+checkpoints+tonight)

PLACENTIA (CA) - "The Placentia Police Department is conducting its checkpoint on Friday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m." (http://www.ocregister.com/news/checkpoint-265028-police-dui.html)

PLEASANTON (CA) - "sobriety and driver's license checkpoint Friday night at an undisclosed location in town...from 7 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m." (http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15977131)

SAN MARCOS (CA) - "On Friday, September 3rd, 2010, from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., deputies from the San Marcos Sheriff’s Station will deploy additional resources in the form of a DUI and Driver License Checkpoint and roving saturation patrols in the city of San Marcos." (http://apps.sdsheriff.net/press/Default.aspx?FileLink=e7abbf99-c4d2-4dd4-8a09-b9ed65d7d53e)

SAN RAFAEL (CA) - "The checkpoint will begin at 6 p.m. at Francisco Boulevard East near Shoreline Parkway and may later move to Irwin Street and Fifth Avenue." (http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_15969703)

SONOMA COUNTY (CA) - "Checkpoints are planned for Friday and Saturday night" (http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20100903/COMMUNITY/100909815?Title=DUI-checkpoints-planned-this-weekend)

STOCKTON - "The checkpoint will start at 6 p.m. and end at 2 a.m. Saturday. It will be in the area of West Lane north of March Lane." (http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100903/A_NEWS02/9030308)

TENNESSEE - "For West Tennessee, the highway patrol will be staging checkpoints this evening on U.S. 70 in Madison County; U.S. 45 East in Gibson County and Weakley County; Tenn. 364 in Carroll County; Tenn. 22 in Henry County; and Tenn. 203 and U.S. 57 in Hardin County." (http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100903/NEWS01/9030314/1002/Police++Drunk+drivers+beware)

TRACY (CA) - "The checkpoint is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. Friday evening to 2 a.m. Saturday morning at an undisclosed area in town." (http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/9351953/article-CHP-out-to-catch-drunken-drivers?instance=home_news_bullets)

YORBA LINDA (CA) - "DUI/Driver's License checkpoint on Friday 9/3 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Imperial Highway east of Valley View." (http://laist.com/2010/09/01/oc_cops_to_run_long_weekend_dui_cra.php)

YUCCA VALLEY (CA) - "sobriety and driver's license checkpoint on September 3, 2010, from 6:00p.m. - 02:00a.m, in the area of Twentynine Palms Highway and Trojan Lane" (http://www.sbcounty.gov/sheriff/public/pressreleases/PRDetail.asp?vwSelect_StationsPage=2&PRID=3260)



Saturday / Sábado (4/sep)

APPLE VALLEY (CA) - "DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Saturday September 4, 2010 from 6pm to 2am, in the Town of Apple Valley" (http://www.sbcounty.gov/sheriff/public/pressreleases/PRDetail.asp?PRID=3270)

ENCINO (CA) - "Reseda Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard from 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m." (http://laist.com/2010/09/02/at_least_8_dui_checkpoints_this_hol.php)

HAWTHORNE (CA) - "8 p.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Sunday in the 12700 block of Hawthorne Boulevard." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

LA HABRA (CA) - "Other scheduled checkpoints are taking place in Anaheim on Friday and La Habra on Saturday." (http://www.ocregister.com/news/checkpoint-265028-police-dui.html)

LICKING COUNTY (OH) - "OVI checkpoint will be held from 9 p.m. to midnight Friday night on state Route 13 in Licking County, south of Cristland Hill Road." (http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/sep/03/3/ovi-checkpoint-licking-county-ar-220523/)

LOS ANGELES (CA) - "6 p.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday at Jefferson Boulevard and Western Avenue." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

MARINA DEL REY (CA) - "6 p.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday at Washington Boulevard and Stanford Avenue." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

MOORPARK (CA) - "DUI checkpoint Saturday in part of the county’s unincorporated area" (http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/sep/01/dui-crackdown-planned-over-holiday-weekend/)

RESEDA (CA) - "Sherman Way and Amigo Avenue from 8:00 p.m. - 2 a.m." (http://laist.com/2010/09/02/at_least_8_dui_checkpoints_this_hol.php)

SANTA BARBARA (CA) - "sobriety/driver license checkpoint on Saturday, September 4, 2010, in the Santa Barbara City limits...from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. The CHP will generate an e-mail and/or fax notification detailing the location of the checkpoint approximately two hours prior to the opening." (http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=38394)

SONOMA COUNTY (CA) - "Checkpoints are planned for Friday and Saturday night" (http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20100903/COMMUNITY/100909815?Title=DUI-checkpoints-planned-this-weekend)

TARZANA (CA) - "8 p.m. Saturday to 1:30 a.m. Sunday at Reseda and Ventura boulevards." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)

VENICE (CA) - "Washington Boulevard and Stanford Avenue from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m." (http://laist.com/2010/09/02/at_least_8_dui_checkpoints_this_hol.php)



Sunday / Domingo (5/sep/2010)

SAN PEDRO (CA) - "3 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Harbor Boulevard and First Street." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)



Monday / Lunes (6/sep)

TENNESSEE - "On Monday evening, checkpoints will be staged on Tenn. 54 in Weakley County; U.S. 79 in Carroll County; Tenn. 119 in Henry County; and Tenn. 22A and US 412 in Henderson County." (http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100903/NEWS01/9030314/1002/Police++Drunk+drivers+beware)

TWENTYNINE PALMS (CA) - "DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on September 6, 2010, from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., in the area of Twentynine Palms Highway and Larrea Avenue." (http://www.sbcounty.gov/sheriff/public/pressreleases/PRDetail.asp?PRID=3265)

VENICE (CA) - "3 to 9 p.m. Monday at Venice and Abbot Kinney boulevards." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15976386)



Friday / Viernes (10/sep)

LINCOLN (NE) - "And somewhere in northwest Lincoln on Sept. 10, officers will stop cars at a sobriety checkpoint." (http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_788d35d2-b79a-11df-b097-001cc4c03286.html)

PASCO COUNTY (FL) - "A DUI checkpoint is in the works for Sept. 10 as well." (http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2010/sep/02/ha-pasco-deputies-to-step-up-dui-patrols-during-ho/)

Recently right-wing radio, along with some mainstream media; have been having a field day (or field days) regarding alleged RV dumping of black water in Venice. Out of all the propaganda surrounding this, I cannot understand how over 100 gallons of sewage could come out of a holding tank that most likely has somewhere between a 25 and 40 gallon capacity. And the Venice Neighborhood Watch character (seen here in a video http://blip.tv/file/1812907 ), whose credibility has been questioned by community members, was the person who fingered the alleged dumper. Still, Councilman Bill Rosendahl is calling for an agency “working group” in order to better respond to public health hazards. Here are some of our most critical public health hazards they will not focus on: 1. The dumping of carbon pollution from petroleum and coal used for energy and transportation – our carbon footprint is something we should all be trying to reduce, but one of the main culprits is our US Military. In 2006 the Department of Defense was the largest consumer of energy in the world – using 1 quadrillion BTU. A standard military M-1 Abrams tank will only go 20 miles on 100 gallons of fuel. Lets not forget the hazardous public health effects of depleted uranium or all the extremely nasty chemicals, like perchlorate, used for explosives. (The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism - By Barry Sanders & Published by AK Press) 2. The dumping of livestock excrement into our waterways by factory farms, often unregulated, pollutes and kills life by spreading the chemicals injected into the animals along with the insecticides used on livestock feed into lakes, streams, rivers that flows into our oceans, and seeps into the ground water, 3. The dumping of methane gas into our atmosphere by these livestock factory farms, which is a significant greenhouse gas linked to global warming. If you purchase and consume factory farmed animal products, you are contributing to these public health hazards – not to mention creating a health hazard for you and your family. In fact, these few examples of dumping I have named (and there are more) are well documented public health hazards that many scientists believe will end life as we know it on planet earth, especially if they aren’t reduced or controlled dramatically. Not the people who live in RVs in Venice. So a little perspective is in order here – along with trying to focus on positive solutions. The city and the county could provide some free vouchers for RV dumping at Dockweiler State Beach. They could also open the existing public restrooms at nighttime. Along with a few well maintained port-a-potties – we could solve much of the issues related to the normal human function of peeing and pooing. Considering the millions of people who visit Venice, generating millions of dollars of tourist revenue, it is simply silly that our city councilman has not done at least these few things prior to calling for a highfaluting working group. Councilman Rosendahl could also do the humane thing and make sure people living in vehicles had some safe local public parking lots to go to at night before calling for the homeless haters to fill out bogus petitions in order to justify putting in his newly amended oversized vehicle ordinance in Venice. We absolutely need to consider taking emergency measures pertaining to our homeless population, like providing safe public parking lots, because many people living in vehicles are disabled and we are in the middle of an economic crisis that does not appear to being resolved any time soon. Lets not forget that we have the largest Free Clinic in Southern California in Venice. No one in our council office or the city seems to care much about how using law enforcement to harass or remove homeless people from Venice will kill someone who is very sick. Unfortunately, our city has mainly chosen law enforcement, incarceration, and the court system as the non-solution-based answer to homelessness. It costs much more to criminalize homeless people than to house them and our local tax dollars are supporting these heavy expenditures. We tax payers are helping to perpetuate a big festering budget boil that has no cure. It would save money and be much more helpful to those in need if people could get united behind solutions, like building more low income housing or assisted living, rather than hate and fear mongering. And as for that right-wing radio, I think if you listen to those stations too much your IQ will be decreased – if not eliminated completely.

up to 3,000 people marched in the 40th anniversary CHICANO MORATORIUM march in east L.A. on Aug 28 2010. the marchers had as main demands… Stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan! Money for jobs and not for war!

Viernes / Friday (27/ago)

ASBURY PARK (NJ) - "From 11 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday, police will pull over motorists traveling southbound on Route 71 into the municipal parking lot to determine drivers' sobriety" (http://www.app.com/article/20100826/NEWS/100826043/DWI-checkpoint-to-be-held-in-Asbury-Park-this-weekend)

ATASCADERO (CA) - "Atascadero Police Department will conduct a DUI/drivers license checkpoint today from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m." (http://www.atascaderonews.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=3063&page=72)

BERKELEY (CA) - "The checkpoint will be at Adeline Street between Harmon and Fairview streets from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m." (http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_15904882)

COACHELLA (CA) - "police plan to stop vehicles at an undisclosed location in the city and check drivers’ sobriety as well as their licenses from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m." (http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100825/NEWS0801/100825018/Coachella+police+plan+two+weekend+DUI+checkpoints)

FLORIDA - "The checkpoint will be conducted on US 319 north of State Road 267." (http://www.wakulla.com/Wakulla_News/Local_News/Florida_Highway_Patrol_to_Conduct_Roadside_Sobriety_Checkpoint_on_August_27_2010082710584/)

GOLETA (CA) - "DUI / Drivers License Checkpoint on August 27, 2010 and on August 28, 2010 at unannounced locations within the city limits." (http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=37977)

KING CITY (CA) - "a sobriety checkpoint today on Jolon Road. The DUI and driver’s license checkpoint will be held from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m., the CHP said." (http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20100827/NEWS01/100827014)

LAGUNA NIGUEL (CA) - "From 7 tonight to 3 a.m. Saturday, a DUI/DL checkpoint will be up somewhere in Laguna Niguel." (http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/crime-sex-1/cypress-dui-checkpoint-drivers/)

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP (OH) - "sobriety checkpoint at state Route 21 at Marshallville Road in Lawrence Township today" (http://www.cantonrep.com/stark/x1395628931/Sobriety-checkpoint-to-target-Lawrence-Township)

ONTARIO (CA) - "Retén en Mission entre Mountain y San Antonio" (información de la red de mensajes de texto)

OVERLAND PARK (MO) - "The Kansas City Police Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint on this weekend at a location in Kansas City that is known for occurrence of DUI related crashes or DUI arrests." (http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2010/08/dui-checkpoints-this-weekend.html)

RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CA) - "checkpoint will be held on Friday from 6PM to 2AM." (http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_15900097)

SANTA BARBARA (CA) - "Friday August 27th 7 pm to 3 am" (http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=37977)

SANTA CLARITA VALLEY (CA) - "On Friday, August 27, the California Highway Patrol Newhall Area Office will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. The checkpoint will begin at approximately 8:30 P.M. and conclude at approximately 2:30 A.M." (http://hometownstation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21530:chp-dui-checkpoint-clarita-2010-08-25-15-20-&catid=26:local-news&Itemid=97)

SANTA ROSA (CA) - "The checkpoint will run from 7 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday" (http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100827/NEWS/100829560?Title=DUI-license-checkpoint-tonight-in-Santa-Rosa-)

WILTON (CT) - "DUI checkpoint starting on Friday evening and extending into Saturday morning on Danbury Road." (http://wilton.patch.com/articles/dui-checkpoint-friday-night)



Saturday / Sábado (28/ago)

BERWICK (ME) — Police will be conducting an operating-under-the-influence checkpoint in the downtown area on Saturday, Aug. 28. (http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100827/GJNEWS_01/708279909&template=SouthernMaineRegion)

COACHELLA (CA) - "police plan to stop vehicles at an undisclosed location in the city and check drivers’ sobriety as well as their licenses from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m." (http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100825/NEWS0801/100825018/Coachella+police+plan+two+weekend+DUI+checkpoints)

CYPRESS (CA) - "Cypress Police Department conducts a DUI and driver's license checkpoint from 8 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday." (http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/crime-sex-1/cypress-dui-checkpoint-drivers/)

GOLETA (CA) - "DUI / Drivers License Checkpoint on August 27, 2010 and on August 28, 2010 at unannounced locations within the city limits." (http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=37977)

KNOXVILLE (TN) "The checkpoint will be 1 a.m.-2 a.m. at Cherokee Trail and Cherokee Bluff" (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/aug/26/082610webcheckpoint/)

LA HABRA (CA) - "La Habra holds a DUI/DL Checkpoint from 7 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday." (http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/crime-sex-1/cypress-dui-checkpoint-drivers/)

LONG BEACH (CA) - "checkpoint, which will run from 6 p.m. Saturday through 2 a.m. Sunday." (http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_15904821)

NAPA VALLEY (CA) - "driving under the influence and driver's license checkpoint Saturday between 6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. in an undisclosed location." (http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_3a6d03ac-b0d5-11df-a5b3-001cc4c002e0.html)

PERRIS (CA) - "DUI/driver's license checkpoint from 6 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday" (http://www.pe.com/localnews/perris/stories/PE_News_Local_D_sb27_dui.2951528.html)

REDLANDS (CA) - "Friday, Aug 27, DUI/CDL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

RIALTO (CA) - "Friday, Aug 27, DUI/CDL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

SILVER SPRINGS (NV) - "One checkpoint is scheduled for Saturday in Silver Springs near the entrance to Lake Lahontan State Park and the other is planned in Washoe County." (http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100827/NEWS/100829678/1001&parentprofile=1)

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP (OH) - "an OVI checkpoint on U.S. 40, just east of U.S. 68 in Springfield Township. It starts at 8 p.m. Friday night and runs through 2 a.m. Saturday morning." (http://www.whiotv.com/news/24782845/detail.html)

TUCSON (AZ) - "the Tucson Police Department said it set up a sobriety checkpoint on Saturday night" (http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_5228f5fa-9fc0-501a-9c87-c098a6ec3dd2.html)

UTAH COUNTY (UT) - "The checkpoints will be set up at State Road 114 at mile post 4, between Provo and Orem on Geneva Road. The checkpoint will begin at 9 p.m. Saturday and end at 3 a.m. Sunday." (http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50159728-76/checkpoint-county-office-sheriff.html.csp)

YUCAIPA (CA) - "Friday, Aug 27, DUI/CDL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)



Sunday / Domingo (29/aug)

CLAREMONT (CA) - "sobriety checkpoint at an undisclosed location within the City. The checkpoint will start at 6:00 p.m. and conclude at 2:00 a.m." (http://www.ci.claremont.ca.us/download.cfm?ID=27088)



Next weekend / El finde entrante

APPLE VALLEY (CA) - "Saturday, Sept. 4, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

CHINO (CA) - "sobriety and driver's license checkpoint from 9 p.m. Sept. 3 to 4 a.m. Sept. 4" (http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_15900099)

EL CERRITO (CA) - "sobriety and driver's license checkpoint between 8:30 p.m. and 3 a.m. Sept. 3 on northbound San Pablo Avenue between Hill Street and Cutting Boulevard." (http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_15890756?nclick_check=1)

FONTANA (CA) - "A DUI/driver’s license checkpoint will be held in Fontana on Monday, Aug. 30 and on Friday, Sept. 3" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

GRAND TERRACE (CA) - "Saturday, Sept. 4, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

HESPERIA (CA) - "Saturday, Sept. 4, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

HIGHLAND (CA) - "Friday, Sept. 3, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

LOMA LINDA (CA) - "Sunday, Sept. 5, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

ONTARIO (CA) - "Friday, Sept. 3, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

REDLANDS (CA) - "Saturday, Sept. 4, DUI/DL checkpoint" "Sunday, Sept. 5, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

RIALTO (CA) - "Friday, Sept. 3, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

UPLAND (CA) - "Thursday, Sept. 2, DUI/DL checkpoint, Upland" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

VICTORVILLE (CA) - "Friday, Sept. 3, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

YUCAIPA (CA) - "Friday, Sept. 3, DUI/DL checkpoint" (http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c7694a6e8a41124050155.txt)

Federal prosecutors have used top leaders of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), known as the most violent gang in the US and Central America, as secret informants over a decade of murders, drug-trafficking and car-jackings across a dozen US states and several Central American countries. During that time period, prosecutors obtained more than 21 wiretap approvals, plus extensions, to investigate MS-13, failing to tell judges that the gang leaders were already in custody as informants—a possible violation of federal law. The details are revealed in court documents filed by the defense in the ongoing murder conspiracy trial of Alex Sanchez [1] and 23 alleged MS-13 members in Los Angeles. Sanchez, who was released on bail [2] after an outpouring of community appeals and a review by an appeals court, is well-known as the former gang member who founded Homies Unidos [3], a gang intervention group attempting to quell gang violence in the US and Central America. The revelations threaten to undermine the state’s case—and could even lead parts to be thrown out—while raising serious questions about the legality of the US government’s global war on gangs, which, like the larger war on terror, uses undercover police units, informants, secret databases, and surveillance without clear legal authority. The informants are identified as Nelson Comandari, described by law enforcement as "the CEO of Mara Salvatrucha," and his self described “right hand man,” Jorge Pineda, nicknamed "Dopey" because of his drug-dealing background. Both are Salvadorans in their 30s, being held in law enforcement custody at undisclosed locations. Los Angeles authorities hold Comandari responsible for six to ten murders—killings he either committed or ordered—according to crime reporter Tom Diaz in his 2009 book No Boundaries, about transnational gangs. Comandari's grandfather was Col. Agustin Martinez Varela, a powerful right-wing Salvadoran who served as an interior minister during El Salvador’s civil wars. Comandari's uncle, Franklin Varela, was a central informant in the Reagan administration’s scandalous investigation into the activist Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador [CISPES]. There is more that may come to light. "Public information about Nelson Comandari's criminal case is in lockdown," Diaz wrote last year, "and I was subtly warned more than once about writing about it." Mention of Comandari’s name, Diaz added, "causes senior FBI and Justice Department officials in Washington to blanch." Comandari and Pineda/Dopey have been in government custody since 2006 and 2000 respectively, where their phone calls have been recorded and their personal contacts monitored. In Pineda/Dopey's case, according to court documents, "at the time it applied for the initial wiretap order at the end of November 2000, the government had already had access to Dopey for nearly three months." As for Comandari, he was providing recorded evidence for authorities "just weeks before the government applied for its first wiretap of 2006." The failure by the FBI and prosecutors to disclose their relationships with Comandari and Pineda/Dopey while seeking wiretap authorizations potentially violated federal law requiring officials to show that a wiretap is a "necessity" in the absence of any other intelligence-gathering techniques. "Inaccuracies or significant omissions" in wiretap applications are prohibited. Pineda/Dopey, by his own account, taped as many as 600 phone calls "from all over the world" with the FBI listening, holding discussions of ongoing MS-13 criminal activity beginning in 2001. The information he obtained was so valuable to authorities that the FBI described it as "gold dust." With the FBI’s encouragement, Pineda/Dopey cultivated the trust of Comandari, eventually becoming the middleman other gang leaders had to call in order to communicate with him. In exchange, Pineda/Dopey received nearly $130,000 in payments from the government between 2000 and 2004, and remained on the state payroll until 2006. He was protected from deportation, as were his relatives, and he obtained favorable treatment for his wife in a criminal case. After investing so much in his "right-hand man," it must have been thrilling for the prosecution when the captive Comandari started spilling his guts to an FBI-led team in January 2006. Three days of questioning yielded 26 single-spaced pages of notes. Another series of interrogations, in May of that year, produced 44 single-spaced pages. Interrogations in September turned out a 61-page summary. Present during several interrogation sessions were Frank Flores, the lead LAPD officer on the current case, and Elizabeth Carpenter, the lead prosecutor. It’s not clear how many other interrogations took place, and the notes remain sealed. But it is clear that the prosecution kept their extensive questioning of "the CEO" of MS-13 a secret from the wiretap judges. Federal Judge Manuel Real will rule on the wiretaps’ admissibility before the trial opens next February. If he sides with the prosecution and there is a conviction, the wiretap ruling will be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, for all the evidence of official misconduct, nothing has turned up in the "gold dust" tapes to fortify the prosecution’s case against Alex Sanchez. Of some 20,000 taped phone calls recorded by authorities, the prosecution has produced only four in which Sanchez participated, and Sanchez says his former comrades asked that he participate in those calls because of an old gang dispute in which he and others were being threatened by name. The transcripts of these calls back him up, with a key MS-13 leader repeatedly demanding to know why Sanchez was on the calls when he was no longer an active member of the gang. The fact that the state concealed its ties to top MS-13 leaders could lead parts of its conspiracy case to be thrown out—and the hidden side of its war on gangs to be exposed. If hiding the use of top gang leaders as informants while seeking broad wiretap powers is not “a significant omission,” the government is betting that the rule of law can be overlooked in waging its overzealous war on gangs.

BANTAY PILIPINAS PROJECT LOS ANGELES (BPPLA) August 23, 2010 BANTAY PILIPINAS FORMED IN CALIFORNIA Los Angeles- The Manila based BANTAY PILIPINAS, a cybernet group that advocated for free, clean and honest elections in the Philippines last May 10 presidential elections - formed the Steering Committee of its LA project last August 15, 2010. In a collective decision to continue the tasks of BANTAY PILIPINAS not only as an election watch dog but also as the premier advocate of good governance and anti graft and corruption campaign in the Philippines - individuals and groups banded together and formed a steering committee in Los Angeles. The composition of BPP-LA Steering Committee a self selecting body was chosen by the BANTAY activists themselves. The initial members are Austin Baul Jr., FACLA Executive Director; Paul Julian, FACLA Ist Vice President; Jerry Esguerra, Bantay Pilipinas USA convenor; Arturo P. Garcia; Oliver Sulit; Clarita Julian; Rita Dinsay; Cela Esguerra; Linda Nery; Aurora and Armando Torreda. BUILDING ON ITS SUCCESS Prior to the elections in May, Los Angeles witnessed the first ever political related debate featuring represenatives of leading presidential candidates in the Philippines. Pegged as "Debate sa PTown", hosted by Bantay and held at the Historic Filipinotown, it was well attended and received extensive press coverage. A similar event was also held in San Diego California. On October 16, 2010 - Bantay will. again venture into another ground breaking event - a multi media celebration of the heroism and artistry of the Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal. This will be held at the East West Players in the heart of Los Angeles' Little Tokyo - "Isang Gabi ni Rizal" will feature a full reception replete with chamber music, wine table, verses from Rizal's work, exhibition of paintings by U.S. based Filipino artists, books and Rizal inspired publications and a sumptuous Filipino style light buffet. The highlight of the evening will be the screening and review of Marilou Abaya's 1998 film "Jose Rizal". At the steering committee meeting on August 19 Bantay geared for the planned inaugural ball early next year and the Bantay Pilipinas International Conference in Manila next summer. Exploratory organizing committees are also forming in San Francisco, San Diego, New York-New Jersey area and Chicago. Bantay Pilipinas is surely moving forward! *****

Stewart Alexander 2012 http://socialistparty-usa.org/ http://www.gp.org/index.php The Freedom Socialist Party dismissed President Obama’s jobless recovery in 2009; the Socialist Party has dismissed any signs of an economic recovery; now, Stewart Alexander, a 2012 U.S. presidential hopeful says, “A majority of Americans no longer believe Barack Obama has a plan to revive the U.S. economy or to create jobs.” At the beginning of 2010, an article appeared in the Freedom Socialist, “The myth of the jobless recovery.” The article revealed that the jobless recovery was based on increased profits for corporate America; the article also noted “Many workers are experiencing not a recession but a full scale depression.” Stewart Alexander says, “Since President Obama took office in 2009, the U.S. economy has gone from bad to worse; unemployment numbers have remained high, and as many as 22 million Americans are out of work. Last week, U.S. jobless claims rose to the highest levels in nine months. According to the Associated Press, “Employers appear to be laying off workers again as the economic recovery weakens. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November.” Alexander has estimated that as many as 40 percent of black workers are unemployed or underemployed; and as many as 35 percent of all minorities, to include females are unemployed or underemployed. Alexander says as many as 30 percent of teens remain unemployed. Steve Hoffman, with the Washington Federation of State Employees Local 304 and contributing writer for the Freedom Socialist, noted in his article (The myth of the jobless recovery), “No amount of chronic social misery impress government bureaucrats and media spin doctors.” The say “Sure, maybe it’s a jobless recovery. But profits are up! Can’t we celebrate?” Alexander says financing the war and the U.S. occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan is costing U.S. jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars that could be used to rebuild and repair our nation’s infrastructure; “The war and occupation is taking the U.S. economy into a full scale depression.” Last week on Fox Business News with Neil Cavuto, Stewart Alexander noted that President Obama has failed on his election promise to end the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan; subsequently, financing the war has resulted in an increasing loss of U.S. jobs. Shortly after announcing he would run for president in 2012, Alexander introduced a national economic recovery program; he refers to the program as “A Better Deal.” Stewart Alexander is calling for unconventional measures to revive the U.S. economy and to create jobs; he is calling for all banks, financial and insurance institutions to be socially owned and operated by a democratically-controlled national banking authority which should include credit unions, mutual insurance cooperatives, and corporate state banks. While running as the Socialist Party’s 2008 nominee for Vice President, Alexander proposed a plan that would include other North American countries to form a North American Banking Authority. Alexander says “The struggles for working people are global; we need global solutions. In the 21st Century, it has become necessary to reorganize the entire world banking system.” To meet the growing needs of working people, Alexander is proposing the creation of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to help eliminate poverty and to meet the basic needs of working people and the long term needs for seniors. Alexander says President Obama is lacking a vision which is necessary to bring about a national economic recovery. “President Obama is only a functionary for the capitalists ruling elite and is enforcing U.S. imperialism at the expense of working class people.” For more information search the Web for: Stewart A. Alexander U.S. Socialist Stewart Alexander Will Run for President in 2012 http://www.banderasnews.com/1007/nw-stewartalexander16.htm US Election 2012: Stewart Alexander Will Seek Green Party Presidential Nomination http://www.banderasnews.com/1008/nw-stewartalexander18.htm SPUSA 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire- Stewart A. Alexander http://vote-socialist.org/p08/questionnaires/alexander.html Article by Stewart Alexander http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/myarticles/Stewart-A--Alexander/3439 Washington and Capitalism is in Shambles http://www.socialistwebzine.org/2009/05/washington-and-capitalism-in-shambles.html Election 2012: Stewart Alexander Proposing ‘A Better Deal’ for Economic Recovery http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/Election-2012--Stewart-Alexander-Proposing-a--Better-Deal--for-Economic-Recovery/211555 Socialist Party of California Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Murrieta-CA/Socialist-Party-of-California/123576857687203 Stewart Alexander 4Prez http://www.u4prez.com/Blogs/imagine89/For-President-in-2012.html Dan La Botz for U.S. Senate Socialist Party of Ohio http://danlabotz.com/ Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org/index.php Mohammad Arif Stewart Alexander 2012 National Campaign Manager Socialist Party of California 40485 Murrieta Hot Springs Road, #149 Murrieta, CA 92563

The following emails, which appeared on the New Pacifica Yahoo group, says much about their author, KPFK listener candidate Christopher Bayard Condon. They're posted here in the interest of informing and educating the electorate.  Condon is responding to a blog by Doug Henwood, host of “Behind the News” at KPFA in Berkeley. He is not running with a slate, but as of this writing, he remains a committee member of one of them, the Committee To Save KPFK. We've highlighted those ideas that we find troubling, but we ask that you judge for yourself. Photo by NoHoDamon.

Subject: [Fwd: Doug Henwood: the state of WBAI]
Posted by: "bayardcondon" lacitizensgrandjury@earthlink.net bayardcondon
Date: Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:49 am ((PDT))

Gentle Pacificans,

There are two types of people in the world; those who take responsibility and those who blame others. Now I have been a fan of Doug Henwood's since I lived in NYC and listened to the then much better WBAI, so this is not a personal attack although I can predict that he will take it as such and respond with a personal attack. He knows a great deal about the economy and wall street, pre-911, but he knows nothing about the 911 attack, planning, execution, and cover-up; and knows even less about natural medicine.

Part of the reason he knows nothing about these things is that he, and for that matter the entire left gatekeeper leadership, Jews and Gentiles alike, have swallowed from the beginning the pre-scripted propaganda fabrication of the fictitious al-quaida and Osama bin forgotten conspiracy theory - advanced by the most powerful propaganda apparatus in world history. Not only that, but he cannot even see this apparatus and grip on the intellectual jugular of the left for having become part of it, any more than fish can see the water they swim in.

Now they can't, aren't big enough, to acknowlege being wrong from the beginning, played a role themselves in advancing the propaganda fabrication, and failed to educate themselves in the now conclusive body of evidence that points to, well, other parties as the perps of the 911 attack summed up in the assertion that "911 was an inside job."

Flowing from this intellectual collapse is a failure to understand all its consequences; the purpose and meaning of Guantanamo, the preplanned attack on Afganistan, the pre-scripted Patriot Act, the plan for permanent occupation and control of central Asia, the control of the global drug trade, and, dear Doug Henwood, the control of the global financial system. In short, a failure to understand anything else and a retreat into the comfort of the collective delusional hallucination into which our media has invited us to live, permanently, for the rest of our lives. No thank you.

All this, and much more, was the objective of coup d'etat which we suffered on September 11, 2001. We, and our stepinfetchit President, are now governed by those who planned, executed, and covered-up the greatest crime in American History. Henwood, most of the so called Pacifica public affairs programmers, most specifically including Amy Goodman, cannot, will not, wrap their tender little brains around the magnitude of their intellectual failure. Nor do they have the capacity to look directly into the heart of darkness, describe what they see, and give challenge to absolute evil.

Thats why we can't attract and keep listeners, because we are politically, intellectually, and morally irrelevant.

Whilst I agree that the Kevin Trudeau premium is not very Pacifica (havn't heard it, don't intend to) its just flailing about trying new things. Didn't work. WBAI and KPFK both have had failed fund drives, 55% fulfullment here in LA I hear.

Gary Null, on the other hand, has always been a fountain of valuable information and products which have made enormous contribution to Pacifica finances and our understanding of natural medicine over the decades. Those who attacked him and drove him from Pacifica have a lot to answer for. And they parade their ignorance like it some species of Boy Scout merit badge. "I don't know about it, therefore it must be false," is not a credible argument.

Yeah, we'd do just as good with Ginsu knives, and a most excellent knife sharpener I know about, slap a Pacifica decal on them and we're in business. In the alternative, we should return to tried and proven premiums, 911 material, which for years provided one third or more of our network's income, filling the gap created by Amy Goodman, Doug Henwood, and the rest.

Finally, WBAI, KPFK, and Pacifica had better learn to live on lots less money - and fast. Between our insane and very expensive governance structure, giving Amy Goodman $700,000 per year, and giving key 911 perpetrator, our landlord, Larry Silverstein, some obscene amount every month, we have not a prayer. Now that we are governed by a geriatric feminist, chosen by one vote thanks to STV voting, over a very qualified white man (an apparent disqualification) we have squandered our last chance at getting our collective act together.

Good luck to you all, you'll need it.

Bayard Condon

Subject: Re: [Fwd: Doug Henwood: the state of WBAI]
Posted by: "bayardcondon" lacitizensgrandjury@earthlink.net bayardcondon
Date: Thu Aug 12, 2010 7:58 am ((PDT))

Yes, Matt, that is correct. Most, but not all, smart people who have studied and analyzed the evidence see no other alternative but to conclude that the Mossad played a key sub-contractor role is several key areas of the 911 attack, including the planning, execution and cover up. Most Jews cannot accept this, or are silent about it. ...

Subject: Re: [Fwd: Doug Henwood: the state of WBAI]
Posted by: "bayardcondon" lacitizensgrandjury@earthlink.net bayardcondon
Date: Thu Aug 12, 2010 12:42 pm ((PDT))

Chris,

You are absolutely correct, I have never in my life encountered so much racism as I have since I got involved in Pacifica. It is thinking at the lowest possible level of consciousness, and it is really starting to piss me off. As I do not do PC thinking or speaking, and prefer the vocabulary of a drunken sailor to Pacifia-speak, be forewarned.

Here we see it most visibly in the hiring process where every decision, and nearly every person making them, is motivated by race and gender issues. Oh, we fired a black man at WBAI, so we have to make his replacement black. Oh, says KPFK delegate to the PNB Ricco Ross, (sorry Ricco) we have three ED finalists and they are all white men, that won't do. So they brought back someone who had been dropped as unqualified in an earlier round, the previously referred to geriatric feminist, and thanks to STV voting is now our ED. Her first executive act was to completely stuff up the LSB elections at all stations by selecting a NES whose qualifications, well, mirrored her own. Thanks loads, Ricco. Next, she will select the GMs of most of our stations with the same standards of judgement and intellectual rigor.

So whadda we got. Governance and Management where nobody is qualified for anything. Seriously, through my eyes, there is nobody competent here at all. I actually considered applying for ED, as I know what must be done and how to do it, but did not because I would not subject myself to a process where my race and gender (not to mention politics) were marks against me, proof being what we have just seen.

Now why did it take a carload of crackers from our Texas station to come to NYC to paint and clean the carpets. Something that our previous management could not do, they did not even notice the filth that had accumulated around them so degraded was their personal consciousness. I was told about the carpet cleaning, still containing the dust from the exploded World Trade Towers, and upon cleaning gallon after gallon of blackness was removed leaving cleanliness, again, next to godliness. Or, a clean slate to muck up again.

I think the antithesis of Lew Hill's dream is for his network to have become part of the apparatus of state propaganda advancing every day in one way or another (I don't beleive in conspiracy theories, I hear from somebody every day on air at KPFK), a subtle form of mind control designed just for us on the left. We're so special.

That's what I am doing here is calling this out, shining the light on it so it can be seen. For those with eyes.

Matt thinks that's anti-semetic, Chris thinks its racist. Can it really be? Two - two - two mints in one?

Bayard Condon

Subject: Re: Fw: the state of WBAI
Posted by: "bayardcondon" lacitizensgrandjury@earthlink.net bayardcondon
Date: Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:45 am ((PDT))

Gentle Pacificans,

I would like to withdraw my earlier comments about there being nobody competent in governance or management, it was exaggeration to make a point and not literally accurate.

Joe Wanzala is one such competent individual, LaVerne Williams is another, Summer Reece is another, Grace Aaron is another, and Tony Bates is working real hard at it, mistakes and all, and there are others as I come to reflect on it. Not only have they demonstrated competence over an extended period of time, but a high degree of personal integrity which amplifies the former.

But they are all swimming upstream against a current of buffoons, poseurs, poppinjays, place holders, and mountebanks put in place by our vaunted democracy.

If only we had the good sense to recruit our top management from inside, from those who have demonstrated a track record of intellegence and performance, like we did for one year with Grace Aaron (as much as I disagree with her politics). Our hiring policies insist on outside recruitment, then deny our own board the ability to choose the candidate. STV voting was never intended for the micro level of a board; and our use of this for elections merely permits the process to be to be corruted by an organized minority (read JUC and allies) and permits the selection of a candidate not supported by the majority, as just happened by one vote. Oh, this is secret exec session stuff, too bad.

In every instance I know of, the hiring process imposed by our bylaws has produced the most unsuitable candidate imaginable, after taking one year or more to do so. Show me an exception. Since the recent refusal by the KPFA LSB, and our new glorious leader of an ED, to follow the bylaws on the recall election, firing the recall elections supervisor Sanchez (another competent individual); and the WPFW LSB refusal to acknowlege the PNB as a governing body, has demonstrated that the bylaws are merely voluntary, or for "other people," we need to stop being governed by them, period. Our PNB should have the ability to decide on a candidate they agree on, probably a PNB member, offer them the job and get on with it. In one meeting.

So we need to find a way to draft Joe Wanzala as Executive Director, quickly, and reverse the irresponsible and reckless selection of an ED whose only qualifications, it appears, was to host a third rate feminist radio program on some fouth rate local station in Florida; a program whose primary claim to fame was that she never had a man on as a guest. And, she's seventy or eighty years old at least, apparently nobody knows, without any leadership qualities at all. At least Grace Aaron wore her white hair proudly.

Let Joe Wanzala not be tarnished by my sarcastic wit, he has no knowlege of this message and we have not talked in some time; but he has demonstrated the judgement, character and leadership qualities that we need to have here right now.

And, judging from his ebony complexion, he ain't no white cracker either, a plus around here. But, I have been told in confidence, he is the wrong kind of black person. Oh... Being Irish, and only recently white, how could I ever understand this.

Will we do this? Of course not, the bylaws won't allow it. Can we amend the bylaws, of course not, the bylaws won't allow it. Can we save this network from collapse, probably not, the bylaws won't allow it.

Recall the ED, draft Joe Wanzala.

Or die, along with the rest of the progressive left, and the Republic for which it stands, a death of a thousand cuts.

Bayard Condon

A Letter to My Friends in Wilderness As my life comes to a close, I feel compelled to express my gratitude to those of you who have journeyed together with me in wilderness and contributed to my understanding of wilderness and subsequently of myself. I hope you will indulge me a few moments as I try to share with you what I have learned on our journey together. The Wilderness Act of 1964 marked a turning point in America's attitude toward wild places. It was an acknowledgment that wild places were not only coming under the plow and the paving machines, but that their loss by such means was accelerating and would soon lead to a society impoverished by the loss of the fundamental relationship between humans and the lands which defined them. The language of the Act is like few other laws we have enacted. It reads more like poetry than law and evokes an emotional response which invites introspection and envisioning of a future expressive of our concern for restraint and accommodation of other life forms. This, in contrast to a precise formulaic law was the genius of the Act's principle author, Howard Zahnizer. He fixed the concept of wilderness in our minds rather than just in law or on a piece of real estate - and compelled us to look for and understand the characteristics of wilderness in our lives as well as in our landscapes. The Wilderness Act will challenge and enrich scholars, legal experts, wilderness managers and wilderness advocates for as long as there is wilderness. We can only hope that the spirit which created this awareness of our place in the natural order prevails in our thinking, for, as Joseph Wood Krutch said, "Wilderness is the permanent home of the human spirit." Upon passage of the Wilderness Act, the Forest Service developed management policy and direction to administer this new National Wilderness Preservation System, Forest Service Manual Section 2320. It consisted of 34 pages. Today it is 55 pages and in the process of being revised in the WO. When you hold that Forest Service Manual Section 2320 in your hands, you hold a precious symbol of the Forest Service's commitment to America's wilderness, one which is being challenged by all manner of argument. Within the agency, there are those who are impatient with the idea of the minimum tool and craft arguments to justify the use of chain saws, trail machines, jackhammers, helicopters, and other expedients for the sake of convenience or economy. There are those who are wedded to the idea of mitigating the challenges of wilderness by constructing improvements, identifying and removing hazards, writing detailed guidebooks and publishing detailed maps. There are those who feel that the existing definition of wilderness may be inappropriate to an evolving social conscience rooted in technology, urbanization and speed, and that management must be modified to reflect those changing social values. There are those who feel that human intervention in natural processes within wilderness is necessary when those processes don't fit their perceptions of what is natural. There are those who hold an anthropocentric rather than bio-centric view of wilderness and accordingly suggest that accommodation for human use, rather than preserving an untrammeled wilderness resource, be the paramount consideration when shaping wilderness policy. Outside the agencies, there are those who, in their eagerness to see more public lands gain the protection of wilderness, have agreed to legislative provisions which compromise the wilderness quality of the very lands they wish to preserve as wilderness. There are those who think of wilderness as beautiful landscapes or wildlife sanctuaries or recreation areas rather than as places which integrate the enduring physical, biological and spiritual dynamics of an untrammeled part of the earth. The authors of the Wilderness Act held no such views. They were keenly aware that there were but few remnants of the landscapes which had shaped the American character and they wanted to ensure that these were preserved in the condition of wildness which confronted and influenced our early pioneers. They knew that wilderness had to remain a point of reference in both our natural and cultural histories, an enduring benchmark for our journey through time and space, unchanged by human intervention and subject only to natural forces. They knew that wilderness was an indispensable part of our humanness and was critical to our understanding our place in the universe. Today, the American public can be grateful that you have been vigilant and stood shoulder to shoulder with the dedicated group of wilderness advocates both within and outside the public land management agencies to assure that these challenges to wilderness are being resolved in favor of the philosophy so well articulated in the Wilderness Act. You are the stewards of America's wilderness and I want to speak to you of stewardship. Webster's Dictionary defines a steward as "One called to exercise responsible care over the possessions entrusted to him(her) ; One who manages another's property." I am extremely grateful to you for having chosen to be stewards of these lands. You have assumed a sacred trust, to be executed with reverence, humility, and a profound sense of responsibility. You are not engaged in a business or delivering a product or providing a service or producing a commodity. You are engaged in no less than preserving the nation's precious remaining repositories of wildness and guarding the permanent home of our human spirit. Over the years, I have watched as the growth and complexity of the National Wilderness Preservation System have presented you with new stewardship challenges. You have met those challenges with care and deliberation and resolved them with uncanny respect for the language and intent of the Wilderness Act. Today, you can be proud that since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, which designated 9 million acres of Forest Service land as wilderness, the people of the United States have respected your stewardship and repeatedly petitioned the Congress to entrust to you the care of more wilderness areas. Their efforts have placed more than 109 million acres in your care. You can be proud that the federal land management agencies have created the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center to provide training in wilderness philosophy and wilderness stewardship for federal employees. You can be proud that the federal land management agencies have created the Aldo Leopold National Wilderness Research Center to conduct social and biological research to support and improve wilderness stewardship. And you can be proud of your role in preserving that "enduring resource of wilderness" envisioned by the authors of the Wilderness Act. As you enter another year of wilderness stewardship, please be as caring of yourselves as you are for wilderness. Take the time to open yourselves fully to the dynamics of wild landscapes and their affects on your mind, body and spirit. Share your passions with your colleagues and the earth. Become fully alive. These days you share with the wildness are gifts you will treasure forever. My fondest memories are of those times when nature's influences were most keenly felt: Being picked up by a gusty ridge top wind and pitched through the air like a rag doll. Huddled on the lee of a rocky summit during a storm and feeling hypothermia trying to rob me of my abilities. Being carried along in the tumbling whiteness of an avalanche. Walking out of the snow and ice of high mountains and again smelling the green of the earth. Lying in a sunny meadow and sensing that all the spirits there were filling my being with strengths unknown and unknowable. Sensing the unseen presence of the others in the landscape. Feeling a timeless wisdom trying to order my thoughts to wholeness. For most of us our connection with wilderness is commonly understood to be primarily rooted in the cultural and aesthetic responses which evolved from the experiences of early explorers and settlers on the new landscapes of America. We have recently discovered, however, that the underlying basis for our responses to wilderness goes deeper, much deeper: Going to the wilderness is going home. Anthropologists and others have been suggesting for a long time that we are still the wild creatures we were in the Pleistocene. We haven’t changed. Only our circumstances have changed. Paul Shepard, perhaps the most insightful scholar of the history and evolution of human ecology has written: "The discovery of the DNA by Watson and Crick was hailed for its implications for human health and well being. Soon it is expected we will be able to create the perfect banana or the perfect cow and clone it forever. We may soon be able to change the order of genes in our chromosomes to make us taller, thinner, stronger. Maybe even less maladapted to our current circumstances." But more importantly, the mapping of the human genome confirmed that, genetically, we are still wild, Pleistocene creatures. Finally, an answer as to why we feel so at home in wilderness. Shepard declared that “The home of our wildness is both etymologically and biologically wilderness. Although we may define ourselves in terms of culture and language and so on, it is evident that the context of our being now, as in the past, is wilderness, an environment lacking domestic plants and animals entirely, and to which, one might say, our genes look expectantly for those circumstances which are their optimal ambiance”. “The time is coming “ he said “to understand the wilderness in its significance, not as adjunct to the affluent traveler, to an educated, esthetic, appreciative class, or to thinking of nature as a Noah’s ark in all of its forms, but as the social and ecological mold of humanity itself, which is fundamental to our species”. To understand the significance of wilderness, we must take the time to separate culture from biology, learning from instinct, - and to search deep within for those ancient gifts which truly inform our humanness. I have but one request of you. Go -- Find yourself in the wilderness. Be at home. Let your genes once again find expression in the world that defined them. Rejoice in your humanness. You are a genetic library of gifts informed by centuries of life in wilderness. Gifts from the experiences of antecedent creatures - ichthyian, reptilian and mammalian which lie still in your brain stem. Gifts from the struggles of the naked ape with neither fang nor claw who was able, not only to survive, but to adapt and flourish -- simply and elegantly -- in wild landscapes. When we first walk into wilderness, we feel like alien creatures, intruding into the unknown but if we stay a while, usually about a week, and pay attention to ourselves, those gifts become apparent. We become aware that our eyes see better. We can pick things out in the landscape more keenly; we can measure distance more accurately; and shape, color and contrast are vividly apparent. Our noses discriminate and identify the odors on the wind, the smell of a bighorn is a lot different than that of a bear, there is a marsh upwind. The sounds we heard on our first day came from a general direction but now our bi-aural senses are so keen we can almost pinpoint the source and distance of a sound and identify it. The awkwardness we first felt when moving over broken ground has been replaced by a fluid economical rhythm of movement that seems almost effortless. Our spine flexes, gathering and releasing energy; our pelvis tilts, our center of gravity is keenly felt and we are again those confident primal animals on the landscape. We sense our relationships with the other creatures with whom we share these landscapes, relationships which reaffirm our humble role as members of the vast community of life. These are not new skills learned, they are ancient abilities recalled, pulled from the shelves of that genetic library deep within our being. As we peer into campfire flames, the comfort of thousands of fires, in thousands of caves, over thousands of years, warm us from the inside as well from the outside. The diminuendo of the Canyon wren and the raucous scolding of the Stellar’s jay invite our hearts to sing. The warmth of the sun and the snap of the cold affirm that we are alive and vulnerable. The mountains, the deserts, the storms and the rivers challenge our cunning and demand our respect. The vastness of the landscape humbles and fixes us in scale. As we lie on the earth in the evening, the march of Orion across the heavens fixes us in time. We are still those Pleistocene creatures -- at home and full of the wonder of being. This is the wildness in our genes, found manifest in a simple, bipedal hominid, surrounded by a peace that transcends time and in a place we shall always need: wilderness. Thank you George Duffy, Wilderness Ranger (Retired), Mountaineer, New Mexico

At 7 p.m. Saturday, August 21, a free will donation benefit show in which 100% of the donations will go to The Harmony Project will take place at Oneonta Church in South Pasadena. The Harmony Project offers free music instruction to at-risk children in Los Angeles to nurture purpose and develop these children as musical ambassadors of peace, hope and understanding amongst people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. Drop out rates are greater than 50% for the demographic that makes up The Harmony Project’s enrollment, yet 100% of Harmony Project students remain enrolled in school. The Harmony Project teaches kids to read music, think strategically, cooperate with others, manage their time, and provides them with a brighter future. This program has been selected by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in both 2008 and 2009 as one of the best arts-based non-profits in the nation. Kids from The Harmony Project have played at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel. The Harmony Proect originally started out in 2001 with 36 students and now has over 700 students with 300 students on the waiting list. Performers from Miss Saigon, RENT, a soloist featured at Walt Disney Concert Hall, inspirational singer/song writers, a violinist, improvisers from Monkey Butler's Main Stage, and a representative from The Harmony Project have united to raise money and send additional students to The Harmony Project. Benefit Concert for The Harmony Project at Oneonta Congregational Church, 1515 Garfield Ave., South Pasadena. 7p.m. Saturday, August 21. Free Will Donation.

"This weekend" / "Este fin de semana"

PORTSMOUTH (NH) - "A sobriety checkpoint will be conducted by city police at an undisclosed time this week." (http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100819-NEWS-8190419)

WAKEFIELD (NH) - "Wakefield Police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint in the Wakefield area sometime this weekend." (http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100820/GJNEWS_01/708209899)



"Statewide crackdowns until Labor Day" / "Mano dura hasta el Día de Trabajo"

Wisconsin, Delaware, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey



Friday / Viernes (20/aug)

CHINO HILLS (CA) - "DUI /driver's license checkpoint from 6 p.m Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday." (http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_15816488)

COACHELLA (CA) - "The checkpoint in Coachella is expected to be held from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m." (http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100820/NEWS0801/100820015/Three+cities+plan+DUI+checkpoints+this+weekend)

DEFIANCE COUNTY (OH) - "OVI checkpoints scheduled for Friday night. The exact locations will be announced Friday morning" (http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/alcohol-checkpoints-slated-throughout-state-869549.html)

HENRY COUNTY (IN) - "Indiana State Police troopers from the Connersville District will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Friday at an undisclosed location in Henry County." (http://www.pal-item.com/article/20100817/UPDATES/100817016/State+police+will+operate+a+checkpoint+Friday+in+Henry+County)

IMPERIAL BEACH (CA) _ "between 7:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. The check point will be conducted at 9th Street and Palm Avenue." (http://apps.sdsheriff.net/press/Default.aspx?FileLink=813950cd-3004-417f-9dd9-ce052c9d9523)

LOGAN COUNTY (OH) - "OVI checkpoints scheduled for Friday night. The exact locations will be announced Friday morning" (http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/alcohol-checkpoints-slated-throughout-state-869549.html)

LORAIN COUNTY (OH) - "One of the checkpoints will be in Lorain County, on Lorain Road, west of Lear Nagle Road." (http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/traffic/locations-announced-for-statewide-ovi-checkpoints)

MAHONING COUNTY (OH) - "OVI checkpoints scheduled for Friday night. The exact locations will be announced Friday morning" (http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/alcohol-checkpoints-slated-throughout-state-869549.html)

NOVATO (CA) - "sobriety and drivers license checkpoint on Friday at an unspecified site in Novato." (http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_15835165?nclick_check=1)

PALM DESERT (CA) - "Palm Desert’s checkpoint is set to run from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m." (http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100820/NEWS0801/100820015/Three+cities+plan+DUI+checkpoints+this+weekend)

PLACENTIA (CA) – "A driving under the influence and driver's license checkpoint has been scheduled by the Placentia Police Department for 6 p.m. Friday until 12:30 a.m. Saturday in the western portion of Placentia." (http://www.ocregister.com/news/checkpoint-262442-placentia-driver.html)

RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CA) - "The checkpoint will be at an undisclosed location from 6 p.m. tonight to 2 a.m. Saturday." (http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_15833670)

REDLANDS (CA) - "sobriety and driver's license checkpoint from 10 p.m. Friday until 3 a.m. Saturday in the southbound lane of Cajon Street, south of Cypress Avenue." (http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_D_nb19_dui.1ef527a.html)

SALINAS (CA) - "A sobriety checkpoint will be set up from 6 to 11 p.m. today." (http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20100820/NEWS01/100820004)

SAN BERNARDINO (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

SANTA CLARITA VALLEY (CA) - "sobriety checkpoint in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. The checkpoint will begin at 8:30 P.M. and end at 2:30 A.M." (http://hometownstation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21442:chp-dui-checkpoint-clarita-2010-08-18-14-57&catid=26:local-news&Itemid=97)

SANTA MARIA (CA) - "sobriety checkpoint in Santa Maria." (http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/article_21bb828c-aa29-11df-9ce7-001cc4c03286.html)

SCIOTO COUNTY (OH) - "OVI checkpoints scheduled for Friday night. The exact locations will be announced Friday morning" (http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/alcohol-checkpoints-slated-throughout-state-869549.html)

SONOMA COUNTY (CA) - "two DUI checkpoints will be held tonight" (http://roadwarrior.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10744/18-day-dui-crackdown-starts-today-in-sonoma-county/)

TRUCKEE (CA) - "The checkpoint will be somewhere in Truckee, from 7 p.m. until midnight." (http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20100817/NEWS/100819899/1066&ParentProfile=1051)

TWENTYNINE PALMS (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND - "sobriety checkpoint on Route 1 Aug. 20...Starting in the late evening, officers will stop every northbound driver at Rossborough Drive" (http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/police-return-to-route-1-checkpoint-1.1536424)

VISTA (CA) - "DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Friday evening, August 20, 2010, at an undisclosed location in the City of Vista." (http://apps.sdsheriff.net/press/Default.aspx?FileLink=98cd29dd-a954-42b4-be7f-3a887cbde68c)



Saturday / Sábado (21/ago)

ANAHEIM (CA) - "DUI/CDL Checkpoint, 1900-0100" (http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/Sheriff-Coroner/Docs/Press%20Releases/2010-08-18_DUI_Schedule.pdf)

LOMA LINDA (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

LOMPOC (CA) - "Tomorrow, there are checkpoints scheduled for Highway 154 and in Lompoc" (http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/article_21bb828c-aa29-11df-9ce7-001cc4c03286.html)

MARION (OH) - "driving under the influence checkpoint in the city limits Saturday from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Sunday. (http://www.marionstar.com/article/20100820/NEWS01/8200307/-1/newsfront2)

NEPTUNE CITY (NJ) — "officers will pull cars over from 11 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday on Route 35 North." (http://www.app.com/article/20100820/NEWS/100820045/Neptune-City-police-conducting-DWI-checkpoint)

RANCHO MIRAGE (CA) - "police in Rancho Mirage plan to follow suit with a checkpoint to be held from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m." (http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100820/NEWS0801/100820015/Three+cities+plan+DUI+checkpoints+this+weekend)

RAPIDES PARISH (Louisiana) - "sobriety checkpoint from approximately 8 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday in Rapides Parish." (http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20100820/NEWS01/8200306)

RIALTO (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

ROSEVILLE (CA) - "Roseville police will target drunk drivers Saturday night with a sobriety checkpoint set up some place within city" (Modesto Bee)

SONOMA COUNTY (CA) - "two DUI checkpoints will be held tonight and two on Saturday night." (http://roadwarrior.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/10744/18-day-dui-crackdown-starts-today-in-sonoma-county/)

UKIAH (CA) - "the checkpoint will be operated from 7 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday in the "unincorporated area of Ukiah," and that "all vehicles will be checked."" (http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_15831439)

VICTORVILLE (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

WASCO (CA) - "The check point will be at an undisclosed location within the city limits of Wasco. The check point will begin at 1800 hours (6pm) and will continue to 2400 hours (12am)." (http://www.kernsheriff.com/misc/News/Pages/default.aspx)



Sunday / Domingo (22/ago)

CHINO (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

REDLANDS (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 8 p.m. to 3 a.m." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)



Next week / La semana entrante

ANAHEIM (CA) - "Friday, Sep 3rd, DUI/DL Checkpoint 1900-0100" (http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/Sheriff-Coroner/Docs/Press%20Releases/2010-08-18_DUI_Schedule.pdf)

APPLE VALLEY (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., on Sept. 4." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

CHINO (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sept. 3." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

FONTANA (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoint, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fontana, Aug. 30." "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sept. 3."(http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

GRAND TERRACE (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., on Sept. 4." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

HESPERIA (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., on Sept. 4." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

HIGHLAND (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sept. 3." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

LA HABRA (CA) - "Fri, Aug 27th, Sat, Sep 4th, DUI/DL Checkpoint 1900-0300" (http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/Sheriff-Coroner/Docs/Press%20Releases/2010-08-18_DUI_Schedule.pdf)

LAGUNA NIGUEL - "Fri, Aug 27th, DUI/CDL Checkpoint 1900-0300," (http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/Sheriff-Coroner/Docs/Press%20Releases/2010-08-18_DUI_Schedule.pdf)

LAS CRUCES (NM) - "At least one sobriety checkpoint will be conducted somewhere within city limits next weekend, Aug. 26-29" (http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_15836107)

LOMA LINDA (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., on Sept. 5." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

LOMPOC (CA) - "another checkpoint in Lompoc will be held Wednesday." (http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/article_21bb828c-aa29-11df-9ce7-001cc4c03286.html)

NORCO (CA) - "The Norco Office of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department will conduct a DUI / Driver’s License Safety checkpoint in Norco on August 28, 2010, from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m." (http://www.riversidesheriff.org/press/jvs10-0828.asp)

ONTARIO (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Aug. 27" "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sept. 3." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Aug. 27" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

REDLANDS (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Aug. 27" "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., on Sept. 4." "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., on Sept. 5." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

RIALTO (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Aug. 27" "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sept. 3." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

SANTA MARIA (CA) - "DUI checkpoints are slated for tonight and Saturday, Aug. 28, in Santa Maria." (http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/article_21bb828c-aa29-11df-9ce7-001cc4c03286.html)

TEMECULA (CA) - "On Friday, August 27, 2010, from 8:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M., officers from the Temecula Police Department will be conducting a Driving While Under the Influence/Traffic Safety Checkpoint at an undisclosed location within the City of Temecula." (http://www.riversidesheriff.org/press/sws10-0827.asp)

UPLAND (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoint, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., Upland, Sept. 2" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

VICTORVILLE (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sept. 3." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

YUCAIPA (CA) - "Sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Aug. 27" (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

YUCCA VALLEY (CA) - "Checkpoints, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sept. 3." (http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_15829277)

Fundraiser is believed to be at a private home in the Hancock Park area of LA: Possible address of fundraiser (unconfirmed) (# unknown) S. Hudson Avenue, Los Angeles, CA ------------- AF-1 Schedule Air Force One at LAX Arriving approximately 4:10pm Monday. Departing approximately 8:40am Tuesday. other info: The LA fundraiser, which will take place at the home of Marilyn and John Wells, costs $2,500 per person to attend, although “co-hosts” will have to shell out as much $30,400 each, the maximum allowable contribution by a donor to a national party committee per year. Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40379.html Obama will be spending the night somewhere in LA Monday night. Presidents often stay at the Century City Plaza Hotel or Downtown at the Biltmore. These are other possible protest sites. ---------- More information: Los Angeles Reception for President Barack Obama Start: 08/16/2010 - 5:00pm End: 08/16/2010 - 8:00pm PLEASE JOIN Co-Hosts KATIE MCGRATH & J.J. ABRAMS CINDY & ALAN HORN MARILYN & JEFFREY KATZENBERG KATE CAPSHAW & STEVEN SPIELBERG BARBRA STREISAND JANET & TOM UNTERMAN ALONG WITH…Members of the California Delegation Along with Nancy Pelosi SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE Chris Van Hollen CHAIRMAN OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE Invite you to join President Barack Obama Monday, August 16, 2010 5:00 p.m. (time tentative) – Cocktail Reception 7:30 p.m. – Co-Host Dinner with Special Dinner performance by Tony award winner Idina Menzel at the home of Marilyn & John Wells Los Angeles, California Address available upon rsvp For more information please contact Lindsay Rachelefsky at (310) 207-5039 or lindsay@capstratca.com Location: Home of Marilyn & John Wells Los Angeles, California Organizer(s): Chris Van Hollen Source: http://montereycountydemocrats.org/los-angeles-reception-president-barack-obama

TO: CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION ATT: MEG VAUGHN SOUTH COAST AREA OFFICE 200 OCEANGATE, SUITE 1000 LONG BEACH CA 90802-4302 I have been informed that the development named "The Ridge", built by Hearthside Homes, in Bolsa Chicamesa/Huntington Beach, has attained a zone change or variance that is allowing them to dig up and remove historical human remains and historical Native American artifacts. Basically, they are digging up an old Tongva cemetery. This happened in Playa Vista, and the upshot was that the corpses and their religious artifacts were separated, and the artifacts were delivered to museums. This is grave-robbery. It is illegal and must be stopped. The cemeteries of the Tongva are a signficant cultural resource not only for the Tongva, and all Native Americans, but all Americans. These are the ancient people of the area, who have been here for millennia. They are the "Mission Indians". The City of Huntington Beach has re-zoned five acres of cemetery from "Preservation" to "Development". I suggest that the Coastal Commission and the State of California try to conform to the spirit of the Federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and intervene to stop the building. Did you know that under NAGPRA, over 30,000 human corpses have been repatriated to their tribes? That is horrifying, that our museums (and tax dollars) were used to maintain human bodies as archeological artifacts, while their descendents begged for decades to have their relatives returned home for a proper re-burial. Will the dead ever have their peace? Now, for the worship of the dollar, we have a housing developmen company expanding their footprint, and it has led to the removal of human bodies. If these bodies (and related artifacts) end up in an institution with Federal funding, they will be required to return the bodies (and artifacts). What kind of folly are these developers undertaking? They are wasting our tax money, and probably doing something that eventually leads to a museum breaking the law. Do not allow the continued excavation. Scale back the project. http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/FAQ/INDEX.HTM

In California, attorneys are supposed to take a certain percentage of pro bono cases each year. In Orange County, anyone needing pro bono services is told that the attorney cannot afford to do pro bono or has taken too much pro bono work already. What does this mean? It means that the attorney may have completed his or her quota of one free phone call for a well paying client. The pro bono lie is a standard joke among Orange County attorneys. To check this out, we asked 200 needy potential clients to survey attorneys, presenting their compelling cases and asking for low cost or pro bono services. Over 90% of Orange County attorneys have been contacted to date . Not one of the clients involved in the survey received an offer of pro bono, low cost or reasonably priced work by any of the Orange County attorneys surveyed. Only 10% are left to go. Based on the first 90 %, it seems unlikely anything will change. Even where the potential clients' life depended on obtaining services, the attorneys offered over-priced services that were out of the clients’ price range. The clients with the worst responses were the victims of domestic violence seeking family law services. Attorneys tended to triple their rates or say the case was too messy when they learned the client was a domestic violence victim. The State Bar of California has some clean-up work to do in one of California's richest counties.

SAT AUG 28 2010 9 am 1st street and Mednik ave, East LA March to Salazar Park

About 100 people, led by the SEIU, are protesting NOW outside Meg Whitman's new East Los Angeles office, 212 E. Atlantic. They're pressed up the doors and windows, with drums, signs, and chants. Channels 4 and 34 are doing interviews. Cars honking and slowing traffic on Atlantic. Sheriffs just showed up. "Whitman, liar, pants on fire." :) Seems like Meg picked the wrong barrio.

The May 19th Movement, named for the day being the day of the group's first meeting as well as also being the birthdates of Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, Augusto Sandino, Lorraine Hansberry and Yuri Kochiyama, is dedicated to the development of a local independent political party with the express purpose of finding, running and electing working class candidates to office in Los Angeles to represent the interests of the poor and the working poor. Please send your feedback to the group so that we can all share our ideas. Thanks! To subscribe to the May 19th listserve send an e-mail to may19thmovement-subscribe@lists.riseup.net KICK-OFF MEETING Saturday, August 7 1:30 pm Afiba Center 5730 Crenshaw Bl LA, CA 90043 DRAFT: Mission Statement: The Mission of the May 19th Movement is to identify indigenous leadership from the oppressed working class communities of Los Angeles and run these leaders as Independent Candidates in the 2011 Los Angeles City Council elections in the 8th and 9th council districts. These independent candidates will represent the interest the interest of their communities, not for the interest of the status quo. We already have these rights as guarantee by the Declaration of Human Rights. The problem is that there is lack of political will and organization to effect these rights. PLATFORM: 1. The Right To A Job For All Wanting To Work At A ‘Union-Wage’ The Right To Participate In Real Job-Training So As To Dramatically Improve The Skill Levels Of The Unemployed, 2. The Right To Housing And An End To Involuntary Homelessness; END FORECLOSURES NOW!!! 3. The Right To Free And Quality Health-Care; 5. The Right To Free Education Up To The Person’s Ability; The Right Of A Worker To Go To Where He/She Can Best Provide For Themselves And Their Families-SIN FRONTERAS!!!! Freedom from intimidation by the policing forces; Social rehabilitation not penal incarceration. Planning Meeting Thurs Aug 5th 6:30PM Coalition LA 2500 Wilshire Bl Ste 908 LA, CA 90057

Baldwin Park, Calif. -- Workers at Kaiser's Baldwin Park Medical Center filed complaints with state and federal agencies today, asking for help after Kaiser management failed to ensure the safety of workers and patients in response to death threats by a former employee. On July 16, the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a restraining order against Tiffany Ford, 47, for making death threats against two Kaiser employees in the hospital cafeteria.[1] Despite the court's order, Kaiser officials have allowed Ford full access to the hospital where she threatened employees, citing a prior agreement with Ford's employer, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). After complaints [2] to Kaiser management about Ford's disruptive behavior and violent threats were ignored, workers reported the unsafe conditions to the California Department of Public Health [3], the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) [4], and the hospital accreditation board JCAHO (the Joint Commission).[5] Safety has been a special concern for employees at Kaiser Baldwin Park since a 2003 workplace shooting of a Kaiser doctor in the urology department.[6] Kaiser's written code of conduct said that harassment and threats of any kind "will not be tolerated." [7] Yet Ford has violated the court's restraining order twice in the last two weeks and has evaded responding police officers, and Kaiser management has still refused to bar her from the facility. DOCUMENTATION 1. Restraining Order after Hearing to Stop Harassment, July 16, 2010. http://nuhw.org/storage/BPK-TRO.pdf 2. Letter from 13 employees to Medical Group Administration head Rick Rosoff, Area Medical Director John Bigley, and Executive Director Maggie Pierce. July 8, 2010. http://nuhw.org/storage/BPK-ee-letter.pdf 3. Letter to California Department of Public Health, "RE: Complaint regarding Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center," Aug. 5, 2010. http://nuhw.org/storage/BPK-CDPH.pdf 4. Complaint to with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Aug. 5, 2010. http://nuhw.org/storage/BPK-OSHA.pdf 5. Complaint to Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Organizations (JCAHO), Aug. 5, 2010. http://nuhw.org/storage/BPK-JCAHO.pdf 6. "Doctor Shot in Baldwin Park Hospital," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 20, 2003. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/sep/20/local/me-hospital20 7. Kaiser Permanente Principles of Responsibility/Code of Conduct, policies on harassment and employee safety. http://nuhw.org/storage/BPK-policy.pdf # # # The National Union of Healthcare Workers is California's fastest-growing union, representing caregivers in every job classification. NUHW is dedicated to member democracy, dignity and justice for healthcare workers, and quality, affordable healthcare for all. | NUHW.org

Pride Rally Reveals Queer Community’s Divisions Over Obama by MARK GABRISH CONLAN Copyright © 2010 by Mark Gabrish Conlan for Zenger’s Newsmagazine • All rights reserved PHOTOS, top to bottom: City Councilmembers Carl DeMaio and Todd Gloria, Stuart Milk, Robin McGehee (with her two children), Autumn Sandeen, Joseph Rocha San Diego’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Pride Festival officially began on the evening of Friday, July 16 with the so-called “Spirit of Stonewall” pride rally on the site of the festival near Sixth and Juniper in Balboa Park. Most cities’ Pride committees have regarded the rally as a stepchild, an embarrassing remnant of Pride’s radical political origins to be dismissed as obsolete and quaint in the highly corporatist business-fests Pride weekends have become. But when San Diego’s Pride organization quietly eliminated the rally in 2009 after a disappointing event in 2008 that drew only 50 people — despite an internationally known headliner, British Queer rights organizer Peter Tatchell — veteran local Pride volunteers and political activists listed that as one of the things they wanted changed about Pride when the remaining members of Pride’s board resigned in early 2010. So a rally was once again held this year, drawing about 100 people — double the attendance in 2008 but still a fraction of the people who went to the parade and festival the next two days — to hear a program that, almost as if it were planned that way, started with the most conservative elements in Queer politics and worked its way up to the most radical ones. The rally was introduced by San Diego’s two openly Gay male City Councilmembers, Republican Carl DeMaio from District 5 and Democrat Todd Gloria from District 3. DeMaio, a controversial figure opposed by liberal and progressive San Diego Queers for his fights to downsize city government, outsource city workers’ jobs to private companies and weaken the power of public employee unions, began the rally with a short statement that said, “There’s something uniquely San Diegan about the tranquility in our diversity.” Gloria, who along with DeMaio was there to present the City Council’s resolution declaring the week before the events “San Diego LGBT Pride Week,” said, “This year is special. Many times, those who hate us try to stop this resolution from happening, and year after year you come out for us. This year we had not one speaker against us.” Bob Leyh, board member of both San Diego LGBT Pride and the San Diego Democratic Club, then took over as MC of the event, which became a weird mixture of presentations of Pride’s service awards and speeches that became more intense and farther Left as the evening wore on — and as more and more people left the rally site to sample the night life of Hillcrest or go home to rest up for the parade and festival the next day. Milk Comes to Praise Obama … The first major speaker was Stuart Milk, nephew of openly Gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, who along with the city’s mayor was killed in November 1978 by a fellow Supervisor, an ex-police officer who got a notoriously light sentence for the double murder. Stuart Milk, who in recent years has come out as Gay himself and has worked for international human rights, began his speech by recalling that when his uncle was stationed with the Navy in San Diego he wrote home to his mother calling San Diego “a beautiful city with beautiful boys.” Stuart Milk congratulated the California state legislature for passing a bill to make May 22, Harvey Milk’s birthday, a state holiday, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for signing it into law. Stuart Milk said that his uncle would be “amazed” at how many openly Queer elected officials there are in the U.S. today (when Harvey Milk won his seat in 1977 there were only two others, Minnesota state legislators Elaine Noble and Allan Spear) and hailed openly Gay teacher Kevin Beiser’s candidacy for the San Diego Unified School District board of trustees. “You also have examples of authenticity among our youth, including Lisa Sanders,” Stuart Milk said — referring to San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders’ openly Lesbian daughter, whose example influenced him to reverse his position on same-sex marriage equality and allow San Diego to join California’s other major cities in support of the unsuccessful attempt to overturn Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, in the courts. “Harvey knew he was going to be killed,” Stuart Milk recalled. “He had stacks of death threats. He willingly gave up his life not just for his nephew but for all of us. When Harvey first ran for office [in 1971], homosexuality was still listed as a mental disease. … Harvey’s message was, ‘Come out,” and every time one of us comes out, that takes courage. I’m an openly Gay man and a Gay relative of a famous Gay man, and every time I’m asked, ‘Where’s your wife?,” I say, ‘You should ask, “Where’s your husband?”’ — even though I don’t have one. I’ve spoken in Istanbul and Damascus, and other places that are very dark for our community.” Reporting on a meeting he’d been in between President Obama and prominent Queer political activists, Stuart Milk reported, “Obama said last fall, ‘It’s not for me to tell you to be patient, any more than it was up to others to counsel patience to African-Americans. There is no difference.’ Obama said we will see an administration that will fight until all people have human rights. An African-American President speaking those words sends a huge message, and in all my travels overseas it’s being heard. Harvey said history has shown laws have been enacted full equality and it’s been taken away” — a reference to how quickly Queers in Germany lost the equality they’d had under the Weimar Republic when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, started persecuting them and ultimately sent them to death camps in the Holocaust along with Jews, Gypsies, Communists and people with disabilities. “We have to realize that we are all at risk of being discriminated against,” Stuart Milk warned. “As much as we’ve got a long way to go, please thank the President for speaking up for me and you.” Stuart Milk also thanked another president, Cristina Fernandez Kirchner of Argentina, who had just signed into law the world’s most recent bill allowing same-sex couples to marry, for saying “it’s a distortion of democracy to allow the majority to vote down the rights of the minority.” He acknowledged that “more than three decades after my uncle stood on a streetcorner in San Francisco, we still do not have federal protection against discrimination in employment and housing. We are second-class citizens paying first-class rates, and that has to stop. We cannot live on hope alone. Too many of us have lost hope. We are reminded of the false promises and unfulfilled commitments. We need to make tomorrow the day that we have our rights.” … McGehee to Challenge Him But the evening’s final speaker, Fresno-based Queer activist Robin McGehee, said that one of the reasons the Queer community has endured so many false promises and unfulfilled commitments is that they have failed to hold the Democratic party accountable for making those promises and then welching on them. She bade her audience to stop listening to Obama’s fine words in support of Queer equality and instead look at his administration’s pathetic record on our issues. Obama has done virtually nothing to push the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) through Congress, nor has he been a leader on repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents Queer Americans from serving openly in this country’s military, McGehee argued — and, she added, that’s not going to change until Queers are willing to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience actions targeting Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate majority leader Harry Reid and other Democratic politicians who talk a good game on Queer rights but do little or nothing for us. “When will we be dissatisfied enough to fight back and deliver the message that we are no longer willing to settle for anything less than full federal equality?” McGehee said. “I toured the country with Cleve Jones (former aide to Harvey Milk and founder of the NAMES Project AIDS memorial quilt, and principal organizer of the 2009 March on Washington) to say it is no longer O.K. to address our issues one by one, but that we must fight for full recognition under the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees all Americans equal protection under the law. … Our fight for equality will only be enhanced with the luxury of two feet, one cell phone and one laptop. Many have classified me as an ‘angry Lesbian activist.’ I’m a fed-up mother who will continue fighting until my family is equal to anybody else’s.” McGehee urged people to register for her Web site, www.getequal.org, “to empower the LGBT community and its allies to use direct action. Why direct action, and why now? Why not now? I am tired of our community being bullied. No longer should we settle for piecemeal processes that do not protect us all. Every day our children are being harassed, we should look at apathy as criminally negligent. Many of us have suffered, and if we do not act we are denying the suffering of others. … We continue to target Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and other officials who are not making our fight for equality their priority. We hope to empower others to take the fights into their own hands. We must create iconic actions that demonstrate employment discrimination, military discrimination and religious inequality. We will take our lead to target people to promise to be our friends.” According to McGehee, when she’s made similar speeches she’s been accused of being “anti-Democrat” and “anti-Obama.” Noting that she’s a registered Democrat who took her son to the voting booth in November 2008 when she voted for Obama, she said, “Not holding our friends to account is a sign of a dysfunctional relationship. The rights of a minority were taken away in November 2008 [when California voters passed Proposition 8] and in May 2009 [when the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8] and Obama did nothing. I thought of that as I stood looking at the White House that I shouldn’t have to do that. What happened to their campaign message? I did not ask Obama to give us a speech with a Cliff’s Notes summary of our rights. I asked him to follow through on legislation. I will not fall in love as easily in 2012 as I did in 2008, and I hope you don’t either. I want Obama to show the courage to deliver the change he promised. I hope I did not vote for someone who proclaimed himself a ‘fierce advocate,’ and then was not afraid to run from us. I still have hope, but it’s fading.” What’s going to revive McGehee’s hope, if anything can, is not Obama but ourselves: a raging tide of ordinary Queers and allies signing on to www.getequal.org and being willing to put themselves on the line and get arrested to show the Democrats that they can no longer put us off with fine rhetoric and no action. “When we realize we are fighting for equality, we get equal faster when we all take our quest for equality into our own hands,” McGehee said. “Our brothers and sisters are dying because we are not holding our so-called ‘friends’ accountable.” Though she positioned herself well to the Left of Stuart Milk, she closed her speech with a similar admonition to his and his famous uncle’s that the more of us come out, the faster the struggle for Queer equality will triumph. “It is a lot harder to discriminate against the people we know than the people we think we know,” she said. Autumn on the Front Lines “Freedom must be demanded, and at this point I’m in a pretty demanding mood,” said San Diego Transgender activist and 20-year Navy veteran Autumn Sandeen. She answered McGehee’s call for direct action in Washington, D.C. on April 20, when she and five other Queer U.S. veterans handcuffed themselves to the White House gates to demand that Obama and Congress repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” this year. Though all six participants were arrested, the police singled out Sandeen for especially vicious treatment. “They called me an impersonator, an ‘it,’ a ‘shim,’” Sandeen recalled. “It was law enforcement officers who called me that.” Sandeen said she took part in the action — a followup to one in March in which two of the same participants, Lt. Dan Choi and Cap’t. Jim Pietrangelo II, and McGehee had been arrested — “not because it would impact Transgender people, but because Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people need to be able to serve in the U.S. military as proud, open members. If an issue is one for even a small subgroup of our community, it’s an issue for me. I sacrifice for other communities in a way I hope others would do for Trans people. I do it because this is about us.” According to Sandeen, when she started presenting as a woman in 2003 after years of living as a male, “the [California] Fair Employment and Housing Act did not protect Trans people. By 2004 we had legal protection for Transgender Californians. … What rights and freedom we have were fought for by activists. I work for the freedom, equality and justice for those who will come after me. I am somebody, we are somebody, we deserve equal rights. … We have a choice. We can end injustice, not just in our backyard but all over America. I personally choose to act to further justice. I’ve marched, I’ve engaged in direct actions, and I want the justice that will really make us free Americans.” Rocha: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in Practice Before Sandeen spoke, another military veteran, Joseph Rocha, had given the audience a grim picture of how “don’t ask, don’t tell” actually works — or doesn’t — in practice. His ordeal began when, as an 18-year-old newly recruited to the Navy, he was stationed in the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain. He knew he was Gay but he believed that if he followed “don’t ask, don’t tell” and kept his sexual orientation a secret, he’d still be allowed to serve his country. He was wrong. As he reported in an article in the Washington Post on October 11, 2009, Rocha was harassed almost immediately by his fellow servicemembers. “Shop talk in the unit revolved around sex, either the prostitute-filled parties of days past or the escapades my comrades looked forward to,” Rocha wrote in the Post. “They interpreted my silence and total lack of interest as an admission of homosexuality. My higher-ups seemed to think that gave them the right to bind me to chairs, ridicule me, hose me down and lock me in a feces-filled dog kennel.” The dogs, Rocha explained, were there because the business of the unit he was training for was to detect explosives — and the way they did that was with bomb-sniffing dogs. Rocha’s worst experience was the “all-day event” he was put through by a superior officer, Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint, in a classroom at the American school in Bahrain. “In one corner of the classroom was a long sofa, turned away from the door,” Rocha recalled in his Post article. “When you walked into the room, it appeared that one man was sitting on it, alone. But I was there too — the chief had decided that I would be down on my hands and knees, simulating oral sex. A kennel support staff member and I were supposed to pretend that we were in our bedroom and that the dogs were catching us having sex. Over and over, with each of the 32 dogs, I was forced to enact this scenario.” Knowing better than to tell any of his story to his superiors — “I feared that reporting the abuse would lead to an investigation into my sexuality,” he explained — Rocha suffered in silence until a female sailor witnessed it six months after it had started. “She reported the incident and, from what I understand, this prompted an internal investigation into hazing in my unit,” Rocha wrote in the Post. “The Navy confirmed 93 incidents of misconduct, including hazing, abuse, physical assault, solicitation of prostitutes and misuse of government property and funds, but the case was closed.” What’s more, the Navy chose to make Petty Officer First Class Jennifer Valdivia, who’d actually been supportive of Rocha, their scapegoat, charging her with having failed to stop the abuse — while Michael Toussaint, Rocha’s chief tormentor, was promoted. When Valdivia learned of the charges against her, she committed suicide. Just two days before she killed herself, Valdivia told Rocha he’d been accepted to the Naval Academy prep school in Annapolis, and he actually accepted — then, “mentally and emotionally depleted … after more than two years of abuse,” Rocha decided to come out as Gay and resign from the Navy. Rocha told his audience at the Pride rally that what kept him going was his sense of a debt to “the men who would never come home. I decided that, in order to justify that I was alive, I had to dedicate my life to honor them and justify their sacrifices. I realized that through technology we could get this demand for justice to the country through newspapers, rallies and TV. We no longer have to wait for a straight politician to take up our case. We can be our own champions. All of you are challenging old stereotypes in jobs, schools and churches, and this can be as important as anything activists do. … Please don’t ever — and I tell you this from my own experience — don’t let anyone make you feel less proud than you do this weekend.” Community Service Awards Earlier in the rally, former San Diego Democratic Club president Andrea Villa gave a Stonewall Service Award to reverend canon Allison Thomas of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral — located just a few blocks from where the rally was happening — for the overall Queer-friendly policies of her church (Villa called it “a beacon of openness and equality”) and her involvement in recruiting religious leaders to oppose Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage in California. Later in the program another Queer-friendly religious leader, Rabbi Laurie Coskey, received a “Friend of Pride” award for contributions from a person who doesn’t identify as Queer but nonetheless supports the Queer community. The citation mentioned that Coskey has been challenging both religious and secular orthodoxy about Queers since 1987, when she gave a sermon about the myths then current about AIDS. More recently she’s been involved in interfaith movements of Queer-friendly people of faith and in United for a Hate-Free San Diego and the anti-8 campaign. After Villa announced the award to Thomas, Leyh himself gave an award to Ann Garwood and Nancy Moors, the couple in charge of the Hillcrest History Guild, “an online museum that captures the history of Hillcrest, including photos and stories charting the evolution of a Zip code.” He then introduced two prestigious officeholders, State Senator Christine Kehoe (who’s held public office continuously since her 1993 election to the San Diego City Council, the first open Queer to hold office anywhere in San Diego County) and Assemblymember Lori Saldaña. “Happy Pride to every single person in San Diego, straight or Gay,” said Kehoe, who recalled her role — along with her successors in the District 3 City Council seat, Toni Atkins and Todd Gloria, in forcing out a three-person Pride board widely seen as dysfunctional and replacing it with a group of veteran community activists, including former Pride board members, that shepherded the process of producing this year’s events. She thanked the current Pride board, staff and volunteers “for making this event happen. The board stepped in at a critical time and is working for transparency and accountability.” Kehoe also boasted that the state legislature recently passed a resolution urging the U.S. Congress to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Saldaña joked, “I’ve been in the parade with Frontrunners and the Sierra Club, and after 20 years walking they’ve let me ride in a car.” A third elected official, Congressmember Susan Davis, made a walk-on appearance but didn’t speak. Afterwards Leyh introduced other officials and candidates in the crowd — including the major-party nominees for the 76th District California State Assembly seat, Democrat Toni Atkins and Republican Ralph Denney. It’s a race that marks another milestone in San Diego politics: the first time a Queer Democrat and a Queer Republican have run against each other as major-party nominees, ensuring that a Queer person will almost certainly fill that seat no matter who wins. Other candidates Leyh introduced included Stephen Whitburn, openly Gay challenger to County Supervisor Ron Roberts; and Kevin Beiser, openly Gay candidate for the San Diego Unified School District board. He also mentioned that Pride had received congratulatory letters from at least two local Republican officeholders, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and County Supervisor Greg Cox (though, oddly, not from Cox’s wife Cheryl, the mayor of Chula Vista), as well as Democrats including U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congressmember Bob Filner, and California attorney general (and candidate for governor) Jerry Brown. Community service awards went to Cheryl Houk, executive director and 17-year veteran of Stepping Stone, and Queer businesswoman Dr. Joyce Merrick. Another award recipient was actor and playwright Patricia Lowry, who won for her original script Dear Harvey for Diversionary Theatre. Drawn entirely from letters by and to Harvey Milk and interviews with people who knew and worked with him, Dear Harvey has been performed throughout the country since its premiere at Diversionary in San Diego. Actor James Vasquez reproduced one of Harvey Milk’s speeches as presented in Lowry’s play, and this provided a natural segue into Pride board co-chair Larry Raney’s introduction of Stuart Milk.

Queer Democrats Back State Party on Redistricting Join Fight to Protect Legislators’ Power to Draw Their Own Districts by MARK GABRISH CONLAN Copyright © 2010 by Mark Gabrish Conlan for Zenger’s Newsmagazine • All rights reserved PHOTOS, top to bottom: Mark Hansen and Paul Clay, Paul Clay, Mark Hansen The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club debated the two ballot propositions about redrawing legislative districts at their regular meeting July 22 but ultimately voted overwhelmingly to support the state party’s position that it should be the legislators themselves — not an independent commission — that get to draw their own districts. The club went along with the state party in endorsing no on Proposition 20, which would extend the authority of the state’s independent redistricting commission to draw Congressional as well as state legislative districts; and yes on Proposition 27, which would dissolve the redistricting commission altogether and hand the power to map legislative districts back to the legislature itself. Both propositions will appear on the November 2 ballot. The independent commission actually doesn’t exist yet. It was authorized by a measure narrowly passed by California voters in 2008 and is currently whittling down thousands of applicants into a 14-member panel. By law, the final commission must contain five Democrats, five Republicans and four people not registered with either of the two major parties. A clause in Proposition 20 requires that any redistricting plan passed by the commission must be approved by at least nine members: three of the Republicans, three of the Democrats and three of the people affiliated with smaller parties or no party at all. The original initiative to create the redistricting commission didn’t include Congressional districts in the hope that restricting it to the state legislature would win the support of the California Democratic Party — or at least that the state Democrats would stand neutral. It didn’t work. Not only did the state Democratic leadership oppose the initiative, but even after it passed they circulated and qualified Proposition 27 to get rid of the independent commission before its members could be selected and it could begin work. Within the San Diego Democratic Club, support for independent redistricting was led by Alex Sachs, the club’s former vice-president for political action. Sachs, who had resigned his club office the previous month and is relocating to Iowa, warned that opposing independent redistricting could spark a backlash that could hurt the state Democratic ticket. “It is dangerous for our club and our party to be on the wrong side of the electorate,” Sachs said. “If we oppose what’s seen as a good-government position, we do so at our peril.” Other club members strongly disagreed. “Sometimes the majority of Californians is wrong,” said special events chair Matt Corrales — which got knowing chuckles from an audience who knew precisely what he was referring to: the passage of Proposition 8, the state’s ban on legal recognition of same-sex marriage, in November 2008. “The redistricting commission is less diverse than either the California legislature or the electorate as a whole,” Corrales added — suggesting that by being older, whiter and more Republican than California’s overall population, they might consciously or unconsciously bias the redistricting in favor of the GOP. Club member Gerry Senda said he was concerned about the provision in Proposition 20 that allows three commission members from one political party to block the redistricting altogether. He said the real agenda of Proposition 20’s Republican backers is to sabotage the commission and force the redistricting into the California Supreme Court — which consists of six Republicans and one Democrat (though three of those six Republicans voted for the right of same-sex couples to marry in a decision later reversed by the voters through Proposition 8). “The GOP wants to Texicate California,” Senda said — referring to a court-ordered redistricting in Texas that changed the state’s legislature and congressional delegation from an even split between the major parties to overwhelmingly Republican. Senda claimed that the California congressional delegation, which is now 33 Democrats to 19 Republicans, would shift to 27 Democrats and 22 Republicans if Proposition 20 passes. Ellis Rose, former club activist who has recently returned to attending and speaking out regularly at its meetings, said he was involved in the last redistricting process for the San Diego City Council — which also involved an independent commission — and it soured him on the whole idea. “The issue isn’t trusting independent voters, it’s trusting an independent commission,” Rose said. “It can be just as corrupt as any other body.” Eventually the club voted overwhelmingly, 32 to 7 with two abstentions, to endorse the state party’s positions of no on 20 and yes on 27. The club accepted the state party’s endorsements on three other propositions without debate. The club opposed Proposition 23, which would suspend California’s landmark law against global warming until the state’s unemployment rate drops below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters — which, opponents point out, has only happened three times in the last 30 years. It supported Proposition 25, which would reduce the required vote to pass a budget in the state legislature from two-thirds in each house to a simple majority; and opposed Proposition 26, which would raise the threshold to pass state fees and levies from a simple majority to two-thirds. (California’s constitution already requires a two-thirds vote to raise taxes, and neither proposition would change that,) Also on the agenda were two Democratic nominees for state legislative seats in heavily Republican districts: Paul Clay, who’s running for the State Senate against Joel Anderson; and Mark Hansen, a candidate for the Assembly against Brian Jones. Despite the Republican registration edge in both districts, Clay is confident he has a chance because Anderson is unpopular even among many Republicans in the area. “He’s been fined $20,000 by the Fair Political Practices Commission, and the Fresno County Republican Central Committee was fined $29,000 for those same violations,” Clay said of Anderson. “He paid himself $100,000 from his campaign fund in the primary, shifting it to a ‘company’ which doesn’t exist. He used $246,000 of state taxpayers’ money to send out his brochures, and spent $517,000 on his primary campaign. His backers include British Petroleum, Exxon, AIG, GEICO and most of the major insurers and oil companies.” “My opponent, Brian Jones, is a bit more humble,” said Hansen. “He believes the earth is 5,000 years old and dinosaurs and people lived at the same time. He’s the deputy mayor of Santee and ran against Duncan Hunter (Jr.) for Congress last time and lost in the Republican primary. He’s being very low-key, and I haven’t raised enough money to scare anyone yet.” Asked about Jones’ position on Queer issues, Hansen admitted, “I’ve heard nothing along those lines from him, but he is a lay minister at Sunrise Church, which is not a progressive organization.” Hansen described his principal issues as “sustainability in terms of the economy, environment and culture,” and pointed to his involvement with the Heartland Coalition (not to be confused with the Right-wing Heartland Institute) in creating jobs for inner-city youth and training them to be construction workers. The club endorsed both candidates without audible opposition. The club also made Howard Wayne’s candidacy for the District 6 seat on the San Diego City Council a priority race at the suggestion of former political action vice-president Alex Sachs. Democrats got a shock when Lorie Zapf, the Republican front-runner, beat Wayne by 12 percent in the primary and more people voted for Republicans than for Democrats — leading to the fear that this seat, currently held by progressive Democrat Donna Frye, might be lost in November. “Wayne is clearly a strong friend of this community, and his opponent is clearly not,” Sachs said. (During the primary, Zapf was quoted as saying that Queer people are not morally fit to hold elective office, though she later backtracked.) Sachs also pointed to the overlap between District 6 in the city and District 4 for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, where former club president and openly Queer candidate Stephen Whitburn is running to unseat incumbent Ron Roberts. The motion to make Wayne’s race a priority passed unanimously.