Torture victims initiate private prosecution of Bush on arrival in Canada

Torture Victims to Initiate Private Prosecution against George W. Bush on his Arrival in Canada

by Center for Constitutional Rights

Global Research
Canadian Government Has Legal Obligation under UN Convention Against Torture to Prosecute Alleged Perpetrators of Torture, Rights Groups Say
Prominent Individuals and Organizations Sign on in Support
SURREY, BC -- (Oct. 19, 2011) Tomorrow, four individuals who allege they were tortured during George W. Bush’s tenure as president of the United States will lodge a private prosecution in Provincial Court in Surrey, British Columbia against the former president, who is due to visit Canada for a paid speaking engagement at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit on October 20. The four men will take this step after repeated calls to the Canadian Attorney General to open a torture investigation of George Bush went unanswered. Human rights groups and prominent individuals will sign on in support of the effort.
The four men, Hassan bin Attash, Sami el-Hajj, Muhammed Khan Tumani and Murat Kurnaz, each endured years of inhumane treatment including beatings, chaining to cell walls, being hung from walls or ceilings while handcuffed, lack of access to toilets, sleep, food and water-deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures, sensory overload and deprivation, and other horrific and illegal treatment while in U.S. custody at military bases in Afghanistan and/or at the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay.
Read article:
http://theglobalrealm.com/2011/10/19/torture-victims-to-initiate-private-prosecution-against-george-w-bush-on-his-arrival-in-canada/

Watch Occupy Movie: Natives Reclaim Manhattan

Just released: 'Occupy Wall Street: The Movie'
27 minutes
Watch on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/gt4j1nT9yJY

Federal Judge Halts Uranium Leasing Program in Colorado

Dolores River

Federal Judge Halts 42-Square-Mile Uranium Leasing Program in Colorado

Sweeping Ruling Suspends All Drilling, Mining, Exploration, Existing and Future Leasing
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Press statement
Posted at Censored News
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TELLURIDE, Colo. -- In a major victory for clean air, clean water and endangered species on public lands, a federal judge on Tuesday halted the Department of    Energy’s 42-square-mile uranium-leasing program that threatened the Dolores and San Miguel rivers in southwestern Colorado. Five conservation groups had sued to halt the leasing program, charging that the Department of Energy was failing to adequately protect the environment or analyze the full impacts of renewed uranium mining on public lands.

“We are pleased that Judge Martinez agreed with the groups, as well as local    governments, who have been requesting the federal government take responsible steps to disclose the full range of impacts of mining uranium on public lands in combination with the impacts from Energy Fuels’ proposed uranium mill,” said Hilary White, executive director of  Sheep Mountain Alliance. “This is an important ruling that will help ensure that any uranium mining and milling that may take place in the Dolores River watershed is protective of the environment and human health. We look forward to the Environmental Protection Agency’s leadership in disclosing the full impacts of    uranium activity in this important watershed.”

The 53-page ruling invalidates the Department’s approval of the program; suspends each of the program’s 31 existing leases; enjoins the Department from issuing any new leases; and enjoins any further exploration, drilling or mining activity at all 43 mines approved under the program pending satisfactory completion of new environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act.

“This is a huge victory for public lands, rivers and wildlife in southwestern Colorado and a major setback for the uranium industry’s efforts to industrialize and    pollute the Colorado Plateau,” said Taylor McKinnon, public-lands campaigns director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Department of Energy has thumbed its nose at environmental laws for too long; today’s ruling is a big course correction.”

Conservation groups challenged the Department's current leasing program for not    complying with the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. In July the Department attempted to thwart the lawsuit by initiating a new “environmental impact statement” for the program but continued to administer the program under its prior flawed approval.

Uranium mining and milling resulting from the lease program will deplete Colorado River basin water and threaten to pollute rivers with uranium, selenium, ammonia, arsenic, molybdenum, aluminum, barium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, vanadium and zinc. Selenium and arsenic contamination in the ColoradoRiver basin from abandoned    uranium-mining operations have been implicated in the decline of four endangered Colorado River fish species and may be impeding their recovery.

“Even  small amounts of some of these pollutants, like selenium, can poison fish,    accumulate in the food chain and cause deformities and reproductive problems for endangered fish, ducks, river otters and eagles,” said Josh Pollock of Rocky Mountain Wild. “It is irresponsible for the  Department of Energy to put fish and wildlife at risk by allowing uranium leases without adequate analysis of necessary protections to prevent pollution.”

The Colorado Environmental Coalition, Information Network for Responsible Mining, Rocky Mountain Wild, Center for Biological Diversity and Sheep Mountain Alliance sued the Department of Energy and Bureau of Land Management in July 2008 for approving the program without analyzing the full environmental impacts from individual uranium-mining leases spread over 20,000 acres and for failing to ensure protection of threatened and endangered species prior to authorizing the program. The Department refused to conduct a full EIS analysis in 2008, instead issuing a FONSI    (“finding of no significant impact”), which was also struck  down as part of the court ruling.

Plaintiffs  were represented by attorneys Travis Stills of the Energy MineralsLaw Center, Jeff Parsons of the Western Mining Action Project and Amy Atwood of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Download a copy of the ruling here. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/mining/Grand_Canyon_Uranium_Mining/pdfs/Order_Granting_Injunction.pdf
Contact:

Hilary White, SheepMountain Alliance, (970) 729-2321
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 310-6713
Josh Pollock, Rocky Mountain Wild, (303) 546-0214 x 2

Censored News Tweetly News Oct. 18, 2011

Occupy Sacramento at midnight, Russell in his wheelchair,
is the last one arrested tonight, Tuesday night.
Screen capture Censored News

Naomi Wolf arrested/Photo by Mike Shane/Twitter

Naomi Wolf describes arrest, and the cell with blood or feces on wall

By Brenda Norrell Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

New York In the big Occupy news tonight from Wall Street, feminist author Naomi Wolf was arrested on the sidewalk in front of an event she was attending.

Wolf was taken into custody at an award ceremony held to honor New York's governor. Wolf and a companion were handcuffed outside Skylight Studios in Manhattan where Gov. Andrew Cuomo was to accept the "Game Changer of the Year Award" from The Huffington Post, according to AP.
Wolf, a political activist and author of the best-selling book "The Beauty Myth," was taken into custody by police as about 50 protesters gathered outside on the sidewalk.

Wolf describes arrest and cell

Wolf said on Facebook, "I have been released from custody. I was completely complying with the law and the permit as it was described to me by police and I was arrested for standing lawfully on the sidewalk. I will post more tomorrow. Thank you for your messages of support."

Then, Wolf added, "Thank you all again for your support. Given the coverage, I feel that I should put on record a nit of what happened, full details in the am. The protesters were being told that they needed to leave the sidewalk outside of the Huffington Post event because 'Huffington Post had a permit' to control the use of the sidewalk. I have a chapter in Give Me Liberty on NYC permits so I knew that could not be accurate. Sidewalks are public spaces and can't be leased by private entities. I asked for a copy of the permit. A spokesman finally acknowledged that the permit allowed for pedestrian access as long as it did not obstruct foot traffic on the sidewalk."

Wolf continues, "Sorry, "a bit." I said, okay, we won't obstruct pedestrian traffic, we will just walk. SO I invited the OWS protesters to come back from across the street and walk with me in a single file so no one obstructed the flow of pedestrians. A phalanx of white-shirted police then approached us and with a megaphone said, "You are disobeying a lawful order to disperse and will be arrested. I approached (respectfully and peacefully) the officer with the megaphone and said I was confused: the permit allowed us to walk if we did not obstruct traffic and we were not doing so. He stood before me and said, "Will you get out of my way?" I did not say anything but I could not fall back because I knew he was misinterpreting the law. The sidewalks were being properly handled by the protesters even according to the restrictive permit. I did not step aside so he indicated that I should be cuffed, and my hands were cuffed behind me with plastic handcuffs."

"My partner and I were taken, cuffed, in a police van to I believe the seventh precinct (they had planned to take us to the first, I am so grateful to protesters who appeared on our behalf at the first) where we were held in separate cells for about half an hour. My cell had blood or feces on the wall. The staff were very courteous. But I was told that I would be released with a summons but that if I rejoined the protesters and got arrested my fingerprints would be taken, the sergeant gestured at a camera and said my photo would be taken, it would all be entered into a federal database and follow me forever. He also said if I spoke I should be careful not to say anything that could be construed as 'inciting a riot.' I said hadn't broken the law -- my summons was for 'disorderly conduct.'"

"Many witnesses will confirm I stood perfectly still and addressed the officer with great courtesy. I said that we hadn't broken the law according to the permit in question. He said that when an officer deems a situation as safety issue, it trumps the permit. I asked, then how can any situation not be subject to an officer deeming it a 'safety issue?'"

"He did not explain but gave me a section of the criminal code to look up. I was arrested for disorderly conduct although my conduct was peaceful respectful law-abiding and orderly. I was arrested for not backing down when a police officer told me contrary to what I knew about the law and the permit process that a private entity owned the sidewalk. He was mistaken and I was correct. I behaved entirely lawfully and my arrest was unlawful."

New Mexico: The Occupy Albuquerque moment has renamed itself Unoccupy Albuquerque, out of respect for Native Americans: http://www.americanindependent.com/199655/occupy-movement-in-new-mexico-finds-new-name-out-of-respect-for-native-americans

Arizona It turns out the heavily-armed militia that showed up for the Occupy Phoenix blast-off were not there to counter-protest, but to join the movement. One of the militia contacted Censored News to explain that not all of the militia there were members of the white supremacists' National Socialist Movement, like JT Ready who was present and heavily-armed.

The Phoenix Class War Council of anarchists explains what happened on Saturday when the militia showed up with assault weapons at Occupy Phoenix. http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/10/neo-nazis-show-up-armed-to-counter.html

New York: A police officer who pepper sprayed Occupy Wall Street protesters faces discipline: Ten days possible loss of vacation. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/nyregion/commander-who-pepper-sprayed-wall-street-protesters-faces-disciplinary-charges.html

Finally, some good news.

Colorado Taylor McKinnon said, "Today, owing to the good work of Center for Biological Diversity, Sheep Mountain Alliance, Rocky Mountain Wild, Energy Minerals Law Center and Western Mining Action Project, 43 uranium mines, 31 lease tracks, all associated exploration and drilling, and an entire 42 square mile uranium leasing program in southwestern Colorado, was shut down by a federal judge."

McKinnon added, "Yes, the plaintiffs will issue a press release tomorrow. To my knowledge this is the largest singular shut-down of uranium mining activity in the history of U.S. public lands.  Notable are the excellent attorneys who constructed and argued this case--Travis Stills, Jeff Parsons, and Amy Atwood."

Since Twitter, and its ugly twin Facebook, are far better to watch at night than television, if I had one, I'll keep you updated here at Censored News.

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Earlier interview: Naomi Wolf: 'Obama can lock any US citizen up without trial'