From an ANSWER LA Forum last night.
Speakers:
Nader Abuljebain: expert on the Right of Return and refugee issues. He is a leader in the Free Palestine Alliance-USA and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the ADC-LA/OC. He spoke on the history of Palestine and Zionism. His talk starts at 12:09 on the mp3. He spoke for 30 minutes, with 20 minutes of Q&A.
Samera Sood: long-time Palestinian activist and member of the Palestinian American Women’s Association. She recently traveled to refugee camps in Lebanon to document refugees lives and spoke for ten minutes, introducing a slide show of her findings.
mp3 (1:17, 26.6 MB)

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From DJ Mitchell

The Calipatria State Prison website states that the prison’s mission is “to provide for the confinement of general population Level I (minimum custody) and Level IV (maximum custody) inmates who are willing to participate in vocational and/or academic programs, prison industries or support services.”
 
Except that there are no vocational or academic programs, nor are there supoport services for the bulk of the prison population.  An inmate can wait years just to get to an AA meeting. What few jobs are available are occupied by the lifers who have been there the longest. The rest sit in their cells 21 hours per day.
 
According to the prison website, the facility was designed for 2,208 occupants. The site lists the prison’s current population at 4,151, nearly double what it was designed for.
 
Boredom and overcrowding… And they are surprised when violence erupts.

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Oil prices climbed higher today, sticking stubbornly above the $55 a barrel mark, supported by a forecast that the market could spike as high as $105.

Goldman Sachs warned yesterday that the oil markets might have entered the early stages of a “super spike” period, which could drive prices toward $105.

I drive a Prius hybrid (46 mpg in LA), Sue has a VW bug diesel (40 mpg.). Whew.

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