Protecting Civil Rights

In The United States America, we pride ourselves in protecting citizens' rights. We tell ourselves all citizens not incarcerated for crimes have the right

1. to fair housing practices
2. to fair hiring practices
3. to love those they love
4. to representation in government
5. to need-based assistance with food, shelter, and medical attention
6. to personal safety protected by military and police forces
7. to equal rights despite age, race, or beliefs

One has but to walk in any US city or impoverished rural area to learn that we are failing on those counts. Is our empathy declining?

In 1991, the then governor of California opted not to pass legislation that would potentially protect some of our citizens from housing discrimination. This led to a protest in one California city that led to a riot in which a state building was vandalized.

Bob Ostertag composed a work, All The Rage, inspired by and incorporating recordings of that riot. It was performed by Kronos Quartet and is available to you at Ostertag's website. Libretto by Sara Miles. [Originally Elektra-Nonesuch 79332-2]

There was a lot of despair ultimately that we weren't saving our friends lives, that we weren't bringing about the change that we expected to bring about, that 70% of the country still thought it was okay that we should be denied our jobs and denied places to live and treated to hate crimes and generally excluded and ignored as our community was dieing.

The Veto Riot emerged out of that long period of cultural ferment.

-- Gerard Koskovich, co-organizer of the protest that led to the riot heard in All The Rage

license: assumed all rights reserved by artist

Update: Whale Songs

UPDATE 2, January 2008: Letter from NRDC President

Fantastic news! A federal court in California has just imposed the strongest-ever protections for whales against an onslaught of military sonar.

The new controls are the result of an NRDC lawsuit that demanded the Navy rein in its deadly sonar before beginning two years of maneuvers near the Channel Islands -- one of the world's most sensitive environments and home to five endangered species of whales.

The Navy itself estimates that the booming sonar would harass or harm marine mammals some 170,000 times -- and cause permanent injury in more than 400 cases.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said the Navy's existing plan for protecting marine mammals was "grossly inadequate." And she has ordered the Navy to put a series of precautionary measures in place -- many of them recommended by NRDC -- that will go a long way toward protecting whales from needless injury and death.

For starters, the Navy will not be permitted to use its dangerous mid-frequency sonar within 12 miles of the California coast, a zone that is heavily used by migrating whales and dolphins. Sonar will also be banned in the Catalina Basin, an underwater canyon with a high density of whales.

The Navy will also have to monitor for marine mammals -- from the ship and from the air -- both before and during its sonar exercises. If any marine mammals are spotted within 2200 yards of the ship, the Navy will have to shut down its sonar.

These safeguards represent a giant leap forward in our decade-long campaign to make sure that whales don't have to die for the sake of military practice.

I want to thank you for advancing our campaign for whales through your tenacious online activism. Needless to say, this fight is far from over and many more court battles lay ahead.

But case by case, we are accomplishing what many thought impossible: forcing the Navy to obey our environmental laws and stop its needless killing of whales -- and all without compromising military readiness.

Thank you for standing with NRDC in defense of the world's marine mammals.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
NRDC

P.S. In the wake of this landmark victory, please help us build nationwide opposition to a separate Navy plan that would put a sonar range right next to a key migratory route for endangered whales by clicking here:
www.nrdcactionfund.org/whales_nc_tell_friends

UPDATE 1, AUTUMN 2007: The Pentagon has taken the unprecedented step of exempting the US Navy from the Marine Mammal Protection Act for six months while it conducts training exercises with dangerous mid-frequency sonar. This WILL cause strandings and internal hemorrhaging of marine mammals and will certainly kill many.

Please take a moment to send this note as soon
as possible to Secretary Winter. Thank you.

Ear-splitting military sonar is needlessly threatening whales and other marine mammals throughout the world's oceans. Yet the U.S. Navy has resisted legal requirements to put safeguards in place during testing and training to protect marine life. In response to this dangerous breach of environmental laws, NRDC is waging a campaign of courtroom action and public pressure to compel the Navy to restrict its use of deadly sonar.

High-intensity sonar blasts whales with noise billions of times more intense than levels known to disturb them and can cause their internal organs to hemorrhage. Scientists have linked the use of mid-frequency military sonar to hundreds of whale strandings and deaths around the world, in areas such as North Carolina, the Bahamas, Greece, the Canary Islands and Japan. Such sonar can also interfere with a whale's hearing, affecting its ability to navigate, avoid predators, find food, care for its young and, ultimately, survive.

Please take a moment to send a note as soon as possible
to the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. Thank you.

Sites with whale songs to download:

• http://www.oceanalliance.org...
• http://www.stopwhaling.org...
• http://www.oceanmammalinst.org/songs.html
• http://www.avantgardeproject.org...
• http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts...

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The Internet Radio Equality Act

"Congress has gotten involved in the ongoing fight to raise royalty rates for Internet broadcasters. Congressmen Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Don Manzullo (R-IL) have introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act, in an attempt to stop the Copyright Royalty Board's decision to increase the rates. The legislation is said to 'modernize' the copyright rules, putting royalties paid by public broadcasters of 'sound recordings'" under the same system as 'musical works.'

"Organizations who have been fighting the CRB decision have reacted favorably to the bill. Andi Sporkin of NPR says, 'This bill asks Congress to reinforce its historic acknowledgement that public broadcasting has a place in the media landscape by modernizing section 118 of the Copyright Act for the 21st century....'"

-- FMQB, Radio Industry News article April 26, 2007

Please Ask Your Congressional Reps to Co-Sponsor H.R. 2060, The Internet Radio Equality Act

Call Your Congressional Representative :15 Sec PSA (mp3)

SaveNetRadio.org for more information

more articles:

- Lawmakers Propose Reversal Of Net Radio Fee Hikes
CNet, also on NYTimes.com, April 26

- Congress's Attempt to Save Internet Radio
USNewswire (Via Yahoo News), April 26

- Congress May Loosen Noose On Internet Radio
The Register, April 27

- Net Radio Update
USA Today Tech Space, April 27


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Save Internet Radio

The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger. The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC has more than tripled the royalty rates for webcasters and left unchanged they will kill Internet radio. These exorbitant rates go into effect on May 15, 2007 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!).

Without Congressional action the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date. We need your help. Please take a moment to send a letter to your member of Congress on the SaveNetRadio.com site to keep Internet radio from being silenced.

UPDATE: Stickman Radio put it well...

YOUR LEGAL RIGHT TO LISTEN TO INTERNET RADIO IS BEING TAKEN AWAY!

This is not a joke. Internet radio is about to be wiped out Not just this station but all of them, including large stations like Radio Paradise, SomaFM, LAUNCHCast Radio - and thousands of independent broadcasters like STICKMAN RADIO!!!!

Immediate action on your part is imperative to continue to have access to these stations. If you do not internet radio may disappear forever as soon as May 15!

CLICK HERE NOW AND TELL CONGRESS TO SAVE NET RADIO!

No to Ban on Minors in DC Clubs

photo: Susie J. Horgan from her new book of early DC punk scene pics, Punk Love

Alec Bourgeois [Dischord Records and Superbad Records] writes:

DC Councilman Moves to Ban Minors from Clubs in DC

In response to a the murder of Talesha Ford outside at a nightclub in DC, Councilman Jim Graham has introduced legislation to ban minors from venues that also serve alcohol. We grieve the senseless loss of another young life on our streets, but feel that to simply ban young people from activities that connect them to the District's rich and diverse musical community is both short sighted and ill-considered.

Since the early '80s, the DC underground has built and maintained a tradition of using musical bonds to support community activism. Organizations like Positive Force have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local shelters, medical clinics, AIDS outreach, rape crisis centers, etc. -- all through all-ages benefit shows sponsored in nightclubs, church halls and non-traditional music spaces alike. Many of the people who volunteer for groups like Positive Force, and many of the members of the bands that play these shows, are teenagers or were turned on to this community while in high school or before.

None can argue whether the inclusion and active participation of "minors" in the Washington music community is one of the major reasons for it's initial rise and continued vibrancy. Nor can one argue that the active participation in a community that cares for it's own, offers positive mentors, cultural diversity, and teaches self reliance has saved many, many more souls from the violent and dangerous distractions on our streets than it has claimed.

Please write to Jim Graham and show your support for all ages access to music in Washington, DC.

Write Jim Graham at: jim@grahamwone.com

more info


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