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Act NOW to STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!


Troy Davis


TELL THE GEORGIA GOV., LEGISLATURE, PARDONS AND PAROLE BOARD, BUSH, OBAMA, MCCAIN, CONGRESS AND THE MEDIA:
STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!

Please join the online campaign to STOP THE EXECUTION! FREE TROY DAVIS NOW!
YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW! Click HERE to Fill in Online Form

Tell Gov. Perdue and the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board:

STOP THE EXECUTION! FREE TROY DAVIS!

On Monday, October 27, Troy Davis, an African American on death row in Georgia, is scheduled to be legally lynched by the state of Georgia. Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." No physical forensic evidence was presented at Davis' trial, and 7 of the 9 witnesses have recanted their testimony, with at least two saying they were pressured by police to finger Davis as the killer. Yet on October 14 the Supreme Court refused to allow a new hearing in his case. TAKE ACTION NOW using the link below to let the Georgia Parole Board, Governor, Legislature, and congressional delegation as well as President Bush, Senators Obama and McCain, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Congressional leaders and members of the media know you demand No Execution of Troy Davis!

To fill in the online form, go to:
http://www.iacenter.org/troydavis


Your messages will go to hundreds of public officials, including the Governor of Georgia, the entire Georgia legislature, each member of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the full Georgia Congressional delegation, as well as President Bush, Senators Obama and McCain, Congressional leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, and national and local media representatives.

The text of the message reads as follows (you will have the opportunity to edit it if you wish):

To: Governor Perdue, Georgia Pardons and Parole Board, Georgia Legislature, Georgia Congressional Delegation, Senators Obama and McCain, President Bush, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secretary General Ban

cc: members of the media

On Monday, October 27, Troy Davis, an innocent man, is scheduled to be executed unless you act to prevent it. He was convicted solely on witness testimony, and 7 of the 9 witnesses have since recanted, many alleging that police coerced them into making false statements.

I join with millions in the US and around the world in demanding that you Stop the execution of Troy Davis. Innocence matters to me. Justice matters to everyone.

I urge you to act now.

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International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
55 W 17th ST #5C
New York, NY 10011
www.iacenter.org
iacenter@iacenter.org
212-633-6646

Warning of an Imminent Massacre: Colombian's Call for International Support!

American Friends Service Committee, Oct. 17, 2008

Just a few weeks ago Colombia's President Uribe was in the United States with a delegation of 80 people claiming the human rights situation in Colombia is better. Events of the last week show that the situation is worse.

Violent and repressive tactics are being used against thousands of Indigenous people who are participating in a national mobilization to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis they face.

In Cauca where the most severe violence is occurring 35 people were wounded yesterday when the Colombian military and anti-riot police shot indiscriminately into a crowd of 12,000 who were blockading a road.

Yesterday, the Association of Indigenous Townships (ACIN) as well as the National Organization of Indigenous People (ONIC) warned of an imminent massacre at the hands of the Colombian army and anti-riot police.

Our e-mail boxes are flooded with requests for action and support. You can help by urging the U.S. Department of State and congress to work vigorously to ensure human rights conditions for U.S. military assistance to Colombia are being enforced.

Under U.S. legislation the Colombian military has to ensure that the Colombian Armed Forces are not violating the land and property rights of Colombia's Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, and that the Colombian Armed Forces are implementing procedures to distinguish between civilians, including displaced persons, and combatants in their operations."

Please call Susan Sanford, Colombia Desk Officer at the State Department at (202) 647-3142. Here is a script of a sample message:
"I am calling today to bring to your attention the violent tactics the Colombian army and anti-riot police are using against Indigenous protesters. The worst of this violence is taking place in southwestern Colombia, the department of Cauca. I want to urge you and your colleagues to ensure that human rights conditions for U.S. military assistance are being enforced. I also encourage you to call on the Colombian government to deal with the protesters through dialogue and in a peaceful manner."
Then call your member of Congress and urge them to take action to prevent further bloodshed in Colombia. (202) 224-3121 and ask the Capitol Switchboard operator to connect you to your member of Congress' office, or click here to enter your address and find your representative and their direct phone number. Here is a sample message:
"Just a few weeks ago Colombia's President Uribe was in the United States with a delegation of 80 people claiming the human rights situation in Colombia is better. But the Colombian army and anti-riot police are using repressive and violent tactics against indigenous protesters. 35 people were wounded, some possibly fatally, when the army shot indiscriminately into a crowd. Please call on the Department of State to take rigorous measures to ensure that human rights conditions for U.S. military assistance to Colombia are being enforced."


Natalia Cardona

Peacebuilding Unit

American Friends Service Committee

Tel: (215)241-7162

Fax: (215) 241-7000

www.afsc.org/colombia

www.tradeandwar.org

Bush plans to host world powers at economic summit

DEB RIECHMANN, AP, Oct. 18, 2008
Since Oct. 9, 2007, when the Dow topped 14,000, investors have lost $8.3 trillion from pension funds, college savings plans, 401(k)s and other investments. Congress gave Bush a $700 billion plan to buy bad assets from banks and other institutions to shore up the financial industry. The crisis has rocked financial markets across the world, prompting fears of a worldwide recession.
CAMP DAVID, Md. – President Bush, looking for answers to an economic emergency with just three months left in office will host an international summit to discuss ways to fix the world financial system but warned on saturday against reforms that threaten capitalism.

"We will work to strengthen and modernize our nations' financial systems so we can help ensure that this crisis doesn't happen again," Bush said at the Camp David presidential retreat.

Bush, meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, did not announce a date or site for the summit. But Sarkozy suggested it be held in the shadow of Wall Street before the end of November.

"Insofar as the crisis began in New York, then the global solution must be found to this crisis in New York," Sarkozy said.

Bush has backed the steps European nations have taken to fix the financial markets and is willing to listen to a range of ideas from both developed and developing nations, but he hasn't signed on to the more ambitious, broad-stroke reforms that some European leaders have in mind to avoid a repeat of the market crisis that rippled around the globe.

Sarkozy has floated the idea of reforming rating agencies and even exploring the future of currency systems. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who engineered a British bank bailout that inspired U.S. and European rescues, is proposing radical changes to the global capitalist system, including a cross-border mechanism to monitor the world's 30 biggest financial institutions.

Nearing the end of his second term, any U.S. work to reform the global financial system likely will fall to Bush's successor. It's unclear if the summit will be before or after the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4, or whether the candidates, their representatives or the winner would attend.

Standing outside on a crisp autumn day at the helipad on the secluded retreat, all three leaders spoke soberly about what Bush called a "trying time for all our nations."

"As we make the regulatory and institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism — a commitment to free markets, free enterprise, and free trade," Bush said. "We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world."

Since Oct. 9, 2007, when the Dow topped 14,000, investors have lost $8.3 trillion from pension funds, college savings plans, 401(k)s and other investments. Congress gave Bush a $700 billion plan to buy bad assets from banks and other institutions to shore up the financial industry. The crisis has rocked financial markets across the world, prompting fears of a worldwide recession.

"We're dealing with a significant problem," Bush said, calling for patience to let rescue measures take effect. " But the American people and our friends around the world can know that we have confidence that the measures will work."

Barroso said it was time for the entire international financial system to be reformed.

"We need a new global financial order," he said. "The European Union and the U.S., we can make a difference together."

Sarkozy also stressed the urgency of what he said was a "worldwide crisis" that demands a "worldwide solution."

He said he agreed with Bush's view that reforms not challenge the foundations of market economics. But he added: "We cannot continue along the same lines because the same problems will trigger the same disasters."

He said hedge funds and tax havens cannot continue to operate as they have in the past; financial institutions cannot continue without supervisory control.

"This is no longer acceptable," Sarkozy said. "This is no longer possible. ... This sort of capitalism is a betrayal of the sort of capitalism we believe in."

Protest John McCain in Concord, NC on Saturday, Oct.18

Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008

Protest John McCain In Concord, NC

Bail Out THE PEOPLE Not The Banks!
Moratorium on Home Foreclosures & Evictions!
Bring The Troops HOME NOW!
Defend Barack Obama Against Racist Attacks & Lies!

8:00 am

Cabarrus Arena & Events Center

4751 NC Highway 49
Concord, NC 28025

Action Center For Justice condemns the rallies being held by McCain & particularly Palin for their racist, lynch mob mentality.

There have been calls at these rallies accusing Obama of being a terrorist and even going so far as calling for Obama to be killed. This is outrageous! We are calling on everyone that can to join us this Saturday.

To carpool from the Charlotte area call David with Action Center For Justice at 704-492-5226 or email charlotteaction@gmail.com. Latest details will be posted at www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com.

From Mecklenburg County GOP

Join Senator John McCain for a North Carolina Road to Victory Rally

Saturday, October 18, 2008
Doors Open at 8:00 AM
Must Arrive by 10:00 AM

Cabarrus Arena & Events Center
4751 NC Highway 49
Concord, NC 28025

John McCain will be returning to North Carolina on Saturday, October 18th, for a Road to Victory Rally.

This is an event you will not want to miss! Tickets will be available for pickup beginning on Wednesday at 2:00 PM at the locations given below. Tickets are limited to four per person and will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Please note that a ticket does not guarantee entry to the event. Entry will also be on a first-come, first-serve basis to those carrying tickets, so please be sure to arrive early! For security reasons, bags and signs are prohibited inside the venue.

Also, a new shipment of McCain-Palin yardsigns have at Victory 2008 headquarters

Ticket Distribution Centers:


Charlotte Victory Office
1515 Mockingbird Lane, Suite 218
Charlotte, NC 28209
(704) 910-0696

Concord Victory Office
50 Concord Commons Parkway
Concord, NC 28027
(704) 795-1709

Cornelius Victory Office
8301-17 Magnolia State Drive
Cornelius, NC 28031
(704) 987-4301

Gastonia Victory Office
224 South New Hope Road
Gastonia, NC 28055
(704) 868-3330

Harrisburg Victory Office
4351 Main Street
Harrisburg, NC 28075
(704) 454-5661

Union Victory Office
100 E. Myers Street
Monroe, NC 28110
(704) 225-9454

McCain may come to Charlotte

Posted: Monday, Oct. 13, 2008
McCain 2008

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., participates at a rally in Davenport, Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008.

In what would be his second N.C. appearance this week, Republican presidential candidate John McCain plans a Charlotte rally on Saturday, according to a top N.C. supporter.

Charlotte investor Mark Erwin, chairman of N.C. Citizens for McCain, said McCain is expected to be in town for an afternoon rally. He said the campaign is still looking at venues. There's no official word from the campaign.

"We've got a couple of options we're working on," Erwin said this afternoon. "They're still working on putting it together."

McCain is in Wilmington for an event this afternoon. His wife Cindy was in Concord Saturday to be grand marshall of the Bank of America 500.

Before today, John McCain's most recent appearance in the state was in May, when he spoke to Charlotte business leaders and gave a speech in Winston-Salem.

Polls show the presidential race close in North Carolina. Democrat Barack Obama has been to the state three times in recent weeks.

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Action Center For Justice
www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com

Sat., Oct 25 Mass Regional Rally & March to Bail Out The People, Not The Banks - Freeze on Foreclosures & Evictions

1:00 pm at Bank Of America HQ
The Square, Trade St & Tryon St
Charlotte, NC


Join together to demand the following
emergency measures:

• Moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions.
• Freeze all job layoffs and extend unemployment benefits.
• Freeze all utility cutoffs & roll back gas, food and utility prices
• Protect workers’ pensions and savings—hands off Social Security.
• Debt cancellation for working and poor people & students—no repossessions or wage garnishing.
• Moratorium on budget cuts in all social programs like health care, education, mass transit, youth programs, seniors programs, veterans programs and others.
• Support the Public Workers & UE Local 150—respect, fair wages, workers rights

Initiated by NC Bail Out The People Movement; Rayvonne Motley, Vice President, UE Local 150; Action Center For Justice; Raleigh F.I.S.T. (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together), Students For A Democratic Society-Chapel Hill, Students For A Democratic Society-UNCC

Download flyers to post & pass out.

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION demanding the government BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE, NOT WALL STREET!

For info, to endorse, volunteer & get involved contact Action Center For Justice at 704.492.5226 or charlotteaction@gmail.com. www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com.

A CALL TO ACTION

BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE--NOT THE BANKERS
Nationally Coordinated, Local Mass Actions
October 24-27


*Organize marches and demonstrations in front of banks, especially JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank, or at your local Federal Reserve bank. Organize a teach-in or a public hearing on the Wall Street crisis, etc.

These are some of the growing list of demands that activists will be raising at events during the Days of Action:
--Emergency moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions
--No budget cuts in education, healthcare and all social services
--No layoffs, extend unemployment benefits
--No utility shut-offs
--Debt relief for students, poor and working people
--Protect public and private pensions
--Jobs at a living wage

We are outraged Congress has approved a $700 billion
bailout of the banks.

At a time of massive home foreclosures, job layoffs, rising food prices and cutbacks in social services--including education--how dare these politicians hand out billions of dollars to the filthy rich?

Students have seen their jobs and student loans disappear while we and our families scramble to make ends meet.

An Associated Press writer noted that the money could pay the average wages of 22 million people in the U.S. for a year, or pay off the outstanding student loan debt, which is currently at $550 billion, or cover universal healthcare for six years.

We know that NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT. These politicians who are in the pockets of big business, have only their interests in mind. It's up to us to fight for our rights and needs.

With that in mind, we are calling for Nationally Coordinated Local Days of Action on Friday through Monday from October 24-27.

We are asking for grassroots, community and youth organizations, trade unionists, anti-racist forces, the anti-war movement and everyone who's just mad as hell about the "bailout" to both endorse this call, and take ownership of it.

Plan actions during this period of time in your cities
across the country.

At a time of unprecedented economic crisis, we must mobilize and organize and fight back until the demand becomes reality. Bailout the People, not the Bankers!

Initiators:
Ad-hoc National Network to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
Moratorium Now Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
Women's Fightback Network
FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together)
Troops Out Now Coalition

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army
Gina Cavallaro, ArmyTimes, Sept. 30, 2008

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.

“Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”

The command is at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., but the soldiers with 1st BCT, who returned in April after 15 months in Iraq, will operate out of their home post at Fort Stewart, Ga., where they’ll be able to go to school, spend time with their families and train for their new homeland mission as well as the counterinsurgency mission in the war zones.

Stop-loss will not be in effect, so soldiers will be able to leave the Army or move to new assignments during the mission, and the operational tempo will be variable.

Don’t look for any extra time off, though. The at-home mission does not take the place of scheduled combat-zone deployments and will take place during the so-called dwell time a unit gets to reset and regenerate after a deployment.

The 1st of the 3rd is still scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, which means the soldiers will have been home a minimum of 20 months by the time they ship out.

In the meantime, they’ll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the “jaws of life” to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

The package is for use only in war-zone operations, not for any domestic purpose.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

“I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered,” said Cloutier, describing the experience as “your worst muscle cramp ever — times 10 throughout your whole body.

“I’m not a small guy, I weigh 230 pounds ... it put me on my knees in seconds.”

The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”).

“I can’t think of a more noble mission than this,” said Cloutier, who took command in July. “We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you’re going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones.”

While soldiers’ combat training is applicable, he said, some nuances don’t apply.

“If we go in, we’re going in to help American citizens on American soil, to save lives, provide critical life support, help clear debris, restore normalcy and support whatever local agencies need us to do, so it’s kind of a different role,” said Cloutier, who, as the division operations officer on the last rotation, learned of the homeland mission a few months ago while they were still in Iraq.

Some brigade elements will be on call around the clock, during which time they’ll do their regular marksmanship, gunnery and other deployment training. That’s because the unit will continue to train and reset for the next deployment, even as it serves in its CCMRF mission.

Should personnel be needed at an earthquake in California, for example, all or part of the brigade could be scrambled there, depending on the extent of the need and the specialties involved.
Other branches included

The active Army’s new dwell-time mission is part of a NorthCom and DOD response package.

Active-duty soldiers will be part of a force that includes elements from other military branches and dedicated National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams.

A final mission rehearsal exercise is scheduled for mid-September at Fort Stewart and will be run by Joint Task Force Civil Support, a unit based out of Fort Monroe, Va., that will coordinate and evaluate the interservice event.

In addition to 1st BCT, other Army units will take part in the two-week training exercise, including elements of the 1st Medical Brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas, and the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Bragg, N.C.

There also will be Air Force engineer and medical units, the Marine Corps Chemical, Biological Initial Reaction Force, a Navy weather team and members of the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

One of the things Vogler said they’ll be looking at is communications capabilities between the services.

“It is a concern, and we’re trying to check that and one of the ways we do that is by having these sorts of exercises. Leading up to this, we are going to rehearse and set up some of the communications systems to make sure we have interoperability,” he said.

“I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”

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Correction:

A non-lethal crowd control package fielded to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, described in the original version of this story, is intended for use on deployments to the war zone, not in the U.S., as previously stated.

Number of homeless students in CMS rising

The increase is expected to continue amid the declining economy and surge in foreclosures
Clay Barbour, charlotte.com, Sept. 24, 2008
...As of June, CMS reported 2,493 homeless students, a 35 percent increase from just two years ago.

Those numbers are likely to increase. Local advocate Annabelle Suddreth said officials expect the subprime housing crisis and declining economy to push that number above 3,000.
The closest thing 7-year-old J.D. has to a permanent address is her desk in Ms. Dougherty's second-grade class.

Every morning she arrives at Walter G. Byers Elementary School to find it just as she left it, in the back, near the computer.

In her world, stability – no matter how small – is badly needed. J.D., whose name is withheld to protect her identity, is homeless.

She is part of a disturbing trend at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. As of June, CMS reported 2,493 homeless students, a 35 percent increase from just two years ago.

Those numbers are likely to increase. Local advocate Annabelle Suddreth said officials expect the subprime housing crisis and declining economy to push that number above 3,000.

“People who have never thought they would deal with this are now a check or two from being homeless,” she said. “I shudder to think how many children will find themselves in this situation now.”

Suddreth is executive director of A Child's Place, a local nonprofit that works with CMS to help homeless children and their families. In the past four years, she has watched the homeless population explode.

It's a trend taking place across the country. Officials with the National Coalition for the Homeless said there are more than 250,000 homeless children in the U.S. on any given day. Michael Stoops, the organization's acting executive director, said he expects those numbers to leap as schools start dealing with more victims from the nation's foreclosure crisis.

“It's sort of like waiting for a hurricane,” he said. “We know it's coming. It's just a matter of when.”

Homeless students wrestle with discipline problems and poor grades. They are twice as likely to miss school for sickness. They are typically two grades behind. And they suffer from anxieties and depression three times as often.

“These children have a whole lot on their plate,” Suddreth said. “They wrestle with issues that no child should have to deal with.”

J.D. – the child's initials – moved to Charlotte from Kansas with her mother in June. They were supposed to stay with her grandmother in Mount Holly, but family troubles pushed them out the door within days of arriving.

The two found shelter at the Center of Hope Women and Children's shelter, run by the Salvation Army. Every day J.D. waits in front of the shelter for the bus that takes her and about 20 other shelter students to school.

Officials send the bus early. It takes the children straight to school, then heads out for the other students. Officials do this to help the homeless kids avoid the stigma associated with homelessness.

“Kids can be mean,” said J.D.'s mother, who also wanted her name withheld. “I wanted to shelter her from this experience as much as possible.”

Officials say homeless students come from all over. Some live in shelters. Some stay in cars. Other stay in motels or live with relatives.

“And those are just the ones we know of,” Suddreth said. “Not everybody is willing to raise their hands and say, ‘I'm homeless.'“

A Child's Place works with CMS in 10 schools, helping homeless families where they can.

Caring for homeless students is not easy. They are frequently shy and withdrawn. They often feel isolated and disconnected from school. As a result, homeless students are likely to have lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety than their peers.

“It's a challenge,” said Byers Elementary Principal Terri Edmunds-Heard. “They don't always understand what has happened to them.”

Byers Elementary has more than 100 homeless students, about 20 percent of its student body, the result of its proximity to the Salvation Army shelter.

Edmunds-Heard said this means her teachers have become accustomed to dealing with keeping the students' home life in mind.

They often don't have the supplies needed for homework. They come to school hungry and upset. Teachers have to be part educator, part counselor and sometimes, part parent.

But Edmunds-Heard said the most important thing they can do for homeless children is provide stability.

“They don't have it in their home life and they need to have it somewhere,” she said.

‘Terrorism’ charges levied against RNC protesters

Tyneisha Bowens, Workers World, Oct 4, 2008

For four days in September the top-ranking members of the Republican Party staged their national convention in St. Paul, Minn., to officially announce the presidential and vice presidential candidacies of John McCain and Sarah Palin. While corporate interests and corrupt local politicians welcomed the Republicans with open arms, the citizens of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul organized mass protests and pockets of resistance all over the city.

In preparation for the protests and plans to shut down the Republican National Convention, the city of St. Paul was given $50 million for security, which it used to terrorize protesters and residents of the Twin Cities before and during the RNC. Harassment included preemptive raids on private homes and public meeting spaces with no warrants or legal reasoning; the arrests of 800 protesters, journalists and locals; brutality and torture in the jails and detention centers where protesters were held; and the use of gas, concussion bombs, pepper spray, rubber bullets and marker ammunition on protesters.

Of the 800 arrested, eight—Monica Bicking, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, Luce Guillen-Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Max Spector and Eryn Timmer—are being charged with "conspiracy to commit riot in furtherance of terrorism." This is the first use of this charge, under the USA Patriot Act. The charge is a second-degree felony that could result in several years in prison for these eight brave organizers.

The eight are members of the Welcoming Committee, an anarchist/anti-authoritarian group that organized activities to shut down the RNC. Their arrests took place on Aug. 30 and Sept 1, six of them in raids of homes and public meeting spaces.

It is clear that the RNC 8 are political targets being used to set a repressive precedent against organizers and activists across the country. The U.S government is setting the stage for mass repression of movements for social and economic justice by equating activism to terrorism. This can be seen in the arrests and charges of the eight as well as the new presence of an active military unit, fresh from Iraq, which has been placed within U.S. borders to put down acts of "civil unrest" and subdue groups and individuals.

Organizers across the country are mobilizing support for the RNC 8 through fundraising for legal expenses, letters of support, building awareness locally and nationally as well as putting pressure on Minnesota elected officials to drop the charges and free the eight. Their trials are underway at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center in St. Paul.

This is the time to stand together against the repression of our right to call out and act against injustice, our right to stand up against oppression, war and poverty. It is time for us to call for justice for the RNC 8 and all political prisoners.

For more information on the RNC 8 and their trial dates visit http://rnc8.org.