This can’t be true, can it?

Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.

In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law being used to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners captured and held in the United States.

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That makes three such videos that have surfaced in the past few months.

The LAPD on Monday was grappling with another controversial videotaped arrest, this one showing an officer shoving a handcuffed suspect into a patrol car, then leaning in with a can of pepper spray to douse the man’s face before shutting the door.

Here’s the first two videos.

These instances of LAPD brutality were video’ed and thus people now know what happened. How many other such instances weren’t?

P.S. LAPD brass is described as ‘livid‘ over this video, and the officer involved has resigned. Will he be prosecuted?

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The Aetna Insurance company made large profits from slavery. They sold life insurance on slaves, loaned money to slave owners to buy slaves, etc. - all while slavery was illegal in their home state of Connecticut.

Aetna admits it happened but says, so what, it was long ago and we’ve reformed now. A typical corporate fog machine, they accept no responsibility and issue bland promises. Yet the profits they (and many other corporations) made on slavery allowed them to become a huge corporation.

The Restitution Study Group working with Blacks in Government, “the nation’s largest and oldest public service employees’ organization” has launched a nationwide boycott of Aetna.

BIG’s resolution demands that Aetna create a Trust Fund to benefit slave descendants with a portion of the funds going to assist African American Healthcare Institutions actively working to alleviate the health disparities plaguing African American families and communities. The resolution asks that government employees consider changing their insurers if Aetna fails to create the Trust Fund.

Hit ‘em where it hurts. Their wallet.

Our podcast by Eugene Puryear discusses reparations in more detail.

[tags]Aetna boycott[/tags]

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In response to the crisis of affordable housing for low-income workers and the homeless, particularly in the African American community, a group of South Florida organizations and individuals calling themselves “Take Back the Land” took control of a plot of government-owned land for the benefit of the people on Oct. 23.

The land had been vacant for years after the government said they would build low-cost housing on it. So the people took it and plan to build their own structures. Some are living there now. They have growing and significant community support, which will make it increasingly difficult for authorities to dislodge them.

Take Back the Land

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The Flying Alarm Clock

“You’ll have to get up when this little baby starts, because it takes off and flies round the room, making a really annoying noise like a mosquito”

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