We need to go to law school. Seriously. As activists, we are absolutely dependent on an industry of law that we know very little about and have very little influence in. Prison is serious stuff and to have so little available help within our own ranks is not acceptable or safe. Our friends and lovers are shuffled around in a system that leaves them wondering what they were actually charged with and/or convicted of and what exactly the evidence against them was. Our family are left in utter darkness about procedures and are reduced to begging for legal information from attorneys paid $200 an hour. I seriously believe we need more activist attorneys. NOW.

* A member of the group promoting the Alternative Social Forum explains why the World Social Forum (WSF), taking place in Caracas during January 2006, is another attempt by the Chavez government to impede the autonomous development of social struggles in the country.

Dear Friends,

We would enjoy your participation in the workshop we are leading on Nonviolent Communication and Social Change: Beyond Righteous Anger Saturday, Jan 14th 10 am – 1 pm (Friends Meeting House 225 Rooney St. Hwy 1 at Morrissey) (In Honor of Martin Luther King’s Birthday: sponsored by NVCSantaCruz)

A luncheon and celebration will be held on January 8, 2006, acknowledging those who went to Selma, directly participated in the Selma to Montgomery March, voter registration in Mississippi, bus Freedom Rides, or other events in the mid-1960's that resulted in universal voter registration, Civil Rights legislation, and an overturning of Jim Crow laws.

Sami Abed and Megan McNamara of Felton have safetly arrived in Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine to attend a conference on nonviolent political action December 27-30. McNamara, a local EMT, and Abed, a local business owner, are representing the Resource Center for Nonviolence.

A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio. With times and freqs for listening at home. 2 files- broadcast and slow-modem streaming. Free to rebroadcast. Netherlands, China, Cuba, and Russia.

Defend Women's Reproductive Autonomy, Confront the Right-Wing Invasion, and Shut down the Walk for Life.
Meet at 11 am. Sunday, Jan. 21. Justin Herman Plaza at the Embarcadero, San Francisco. Look for the info table.

Spokescouncil to plan Civil Disobedience:
Sunday, Jan. 15. San Francisco. 3 pm. Location to be announced.

On the Judicial Branch, continued

What I suggest and hope is that as many people as possible contact their congress people and demand an investigation not only of NSA's spying on the public but of their software people SRA International and also into their 'spinoff', Mantas Inc,.who,as I have explained previously in various indymedia articles,allowed the illegal 'pump and dump' .of Texas' fraudulent biotech company, Endovasc, to be orchestrated and covered up through a Charles Schwab account.(see link Charles Schwab Share-Money laundering below.)