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features archive
Missoula, MT, March 10, 2011 - At about 2:30 am on Thursday morning, two residents of Missoula, MT, Carol Marsh and Ann Maechtlen sat down in the middle of Reserve St. in an attempt to halt the shipment of large, oversize loads of equipment heading to a ConocoPhillips tar sands oil refinery in Billings, MT. They were joined in protest with about 100 community members stopping the loads temporarily.
Conoco Phillips, the third largest integrated energy corporation in the United States, operates a tar sands refinery in Billings and has a 50 percent equity interest in the proposed Keystone XL Energy Pipeline, which would cut through the Northeastern portion of Montana, transporting large quantities of tar sands crude to Texas, a project that has sparked an outpouring of opposition from Glasgow to the Gulf Marsh, a retired journalist and grandmother, and Maechtlen, a two-time cancer survivor, attempted three or four times to block the shipments but the police refused to arrest the two women, instead opting to forcefully remove them to the sidewalk as they were cheered on by a crowd of about 100 supporters. The police cited and released one other man who sat down with the two women. The action was the culmination of a "welcome to Missoula" street party organized by local grassroots group Northern Rockies Rising Tide (NRRT) in an effort to take back the streets from Big Oil. homepage:  http://www.northernrockiesrisingtide.org
On [Saturday] February 26th, from noon to 3pm, there will be a Walk for Choice in support of women's rights Join us to help stop the national assault on women's rights and women's reproductive health. You have a voice, WALK FOR CHOICE!
Walk for Choice 2011 was created directly in response to the events in Congress surrounding H.R. 3. Women and allies around the world will peacefully protest against limiting a woman's right to choose and the right to have a safe, legal abortion. Abortion is a legal procedure that saves the lives of 70,000 women each year.Walk for Choice will take place in multiple cities on February 26th, 2011. The official Walk for Choice website is walkforchoice.tumblr.com. Walk for Choice PDX is a peaceful walk in support of women's and men's access to reproductive rights. While this event is short-notice, we can still make an impact. Your attendance is greatly appreciated! We will meet at a central location at 12:00 and walk until 3:00. Exact location and route to be announced closer to date of walk. homepage: link to www.facebook.com
After 12 years of battling to stop Monsanto's genetically-engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's organic farmland, the biggest retailers of "natural" and "organic" foods in the U.S., including Whole Foods Market (WFM), Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, have agreed to stop opposing mass commercialization of GE crops, like Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa.
In exchange for dropping their opposition, WFM has asking for "compensation" to be paid to organic farmers for "any losses related to the contamination of his crop." http://prwatch.org/spin/2011/01/9903/whole-foods-market-caves-monsanto
An Oregon State Rep takes the lead on ethical health care in Oregon. Rally in Salem, Friday, March 11, when the bill is introduced to the House Health Care Committee.
Thanks to KBOO, I learned that an Oregon state rep is leading the fight for single-payer health care in Oregon. This is a direct challenge to the federal government. The state rep is Michael Dembrow, and you can follow links from his home page http://www.michaeldembrow.com/rep/?page_id=228 to read about the bill, Affordable Health Care for All Oregon Act.
There will be a rally in Salem on the day the Act is heard in the House Health Care Committee, Friday, March 11. I hope to see you there, and I will post again as the day nears.
On December 8, Pesticide Action Network and Beyond Pesticides joined beekeepers from around the country in calling on EPA to pull a neonicotinoid pesticide linked with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) off the market immediately. Our call is based on a leaked EPA memo that discloses a critically flawed scientific study, thus suggesting there may be imminent hazards to honeybees posed by continued use of clothianidin, the pesticide in question. Several issues are at play: poorly conducted science, a broken regulatory system that puts chemicals on the market before testing them, lack of transparency and, most critically, the survival of honeybees and commercial beekeepers.
CCD is the name given to the mysterious decline of honeybee populations across the world beginning around 2006. Each winter since, one-third of the U.S. honeybee population has died off or disappeared. CCD is likely caused by a combination of pathogens, the stresses of industrial beekeeping, loss of habitat and more. But many scientists believe that sublethal pesticide exposures are a critical co-factor potentiating this mix. In the U.S., agencies are focused on research, trying to quantify these risks. In Germany, Italy and France, they decided they knew enough to take action years ago, banning suspect neonicotinoid pesticides. Bee colonies there are recovering and beekeepers here are outraged. Learn more >> Fact Sheet on Clothianidin & CCD http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/Clothianidin&CCD_Backgrounder.pdf
http://www.panna.org
Public Access program featuring a power point presentation by Friends of Safe Drinking Water concerning the plans by City authorities to cover Portland reservoirs and add toxic chemicals.Scott Fernandez of Friends of Safe Drinking Water, appearing on the Portland Public Access program, "A Growing Concern." Some of the points covered by the discussion: *Cryptosporidium, the supposed reason for this massive rebuilding of our water system, is a red herring. A catastrophic sewage event in Milwaukee, Wisc. - the rationale for requiring Cryptosporidium treatment - was caused by raw sewage in the drinking water, not Cryptosporidium. What I took away from this extremely educational Power Point presentation is that this effort to cover the reservoirs is a business decision, not a health or community service decision. The situation needs massive intervention by the public, contacting the City Commissioners, the Mayor and the Congressional delegation, particularly David Wu. What every Portland resident needs to know about our water system
Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 and a host of other anti-war organizations present folksinger George Mann in Concert, with special guests, at Urban Grind NE, 7 - 9 PM on Friday, November 12 Concert Honoring Veterans "UNTIL YOU COME HOME" George Mann in concert with Mic Crenshaw & Jana Losey, Adam Carpinelli to open plus VFP's own Grant Remington and other special guest musicians See a prescreening of a documentary film of the project that inspired the CD "Until You Come Home" - Director Kim Shelton's new film "Voices of Vets" soon to be released Suggested donation $5 to $10 no one turned away
Solicitation for support of Oregon's Measure 74 (medical marijuana dispensary regulation) Happy Friday, Beaver Staters! What are your weekend plans? How about voting YES on Measure 74 and submitting those ballots! Many leading Oregonians have spoken out in support of Measure 74, including several physicians. Doctors Frances J. Storrs, Peter Goodwin, Glenn M. Gordon, John Pearson, Nancy Crumpacker, Philip Newman, Susan Katz, and James P. Scott all agree that "Measure 74 will enhance the care and well-being of thousands of seriously ill patients. It will reduce pain and suffering and improve quality of life."
In effect, Measure 74 will provide both doctors and patients better information and better treatment options. It is crucial that we pass this compassionate measure in Oregon. The most important thing you can do now is VOTE! If you are registered to vote and have not yet received your ballot, call your county elections office right away. Please voice your support for Measure 74 in any way you can -- forward this message to a friend or two or post about it on your social networking sites. Have a great weekend, and remember to VOTE YES on 74! coalitionforpatientsrights2010.com
Heading into Summer, the Rosehip Medics are preparing another Street Medic training--to accommodate increasing activity & community-building efforts in Portland and all over the West Coast. Learn the basics of providing first aid, emergency support, & DIY healthcare for protests/actions & communities of resistance. Registration is open but limited--so sign up soon!
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is now reviewing a "Title V" operating permit that would allow PGE's Boardman plant to continue polluting our environment and harming our health. This permit is an opportunity for DEQ to require full compliance with the Clean Air Act by requiring the best available pollution control technology at the plant. These costly measures could force PGE to close by 2014.
BACKGROUND: Portland General Electric (PGE) operates Oregon's only coal-fired power plant located in Boardman, Oregon. The Boardman Coal Plant emits 5 million tons of carbon dioxide, over 15,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide and over 200 pounds of mercury every single year making it a major source of air pollution in the Gorge, and Oregon's largest stationary source of global warming pollution. WHAT: Public hearing on the future of the Boardman coal-fired power plant. The DEQ is taking public comment on the Title V "Acid Rain" operating permit for Portland General Electric's Boardman coal-fired power plant.
Please join us for a demonstration in downtown Portland at noon on Thursday, April 22nd (Earth Day), to demonstrate your opposition to Liquefied Natural Gas development on public land!
This rally coincides with two important LNG happenings this month: The state of Oregon is considering extending a lease for Oregon LNG on the publicly owned Skipanon Peninsula in Warrenton. At the same time, Oregon LNG is being investigated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for misconduct and abuse of stakeholders in the permitting process. On the day of our rally the FERC investigative hearing on Oregon LNG's misconduct will be held at Portland City Hall and we will be there to show our opposition to LNG in Oregon! No LNG Development on Public Lands! Noon-1pm in front of Portland City Hall 1120 SW 4th Avenue Thursday, April 22nd - Earth Day http://www.heynwnatural.org/
Confronted by global climate change, health concerns, and disturbing news about the treatment of farmed animals, many people are switching to a flexitarian or vegetarian lifestyle. If you find yourself wondering about the impact of dietary choices, now is a great time to sign up for the Spring 2010 sessions of Veg 101, offered by Northwest VEG.
Veg 101 classes will run from 6:30-8:45 PM every Sunday from March 7 to April 25. Each class features a one-hour lecture and one-hour cooking class, with samples served. View the complete course description at http://nwveg.org/veg101.php
Northwest VEG is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) group that supports healthier, more sustainable, compassionate food choices. Join us for the 2010 Portland VegFest, which will be held on September 18 and 19 at the Oregon Convention Center. For more information about Northwest VEG, visit www.nwveg.org.
The Rosehip Medic Collective is holding a 20 hour basic Street Medic training in Bellingham, WA on the last weekend in Janurary, with a focus on training medics for the Anti-Olympics Convergence. In these trainings we seek to empower people to provide
quality emergency care in situations pertinent to activists. We will train you in giving a basic assessment, in offering friends and allies life saving first aid, discuss strategies for dealing with police weapons and violence, and many other awesome things. This training will be the weekend of January 29-31, 5pm-9pm on Friday and 9am-6pm on both Saturday and Sunday. We ask for a $20 donation to cover the cost of materials, supplies, and travel, but no-one is turned away for lack of funds. We're not from Bellingham, but we can help to coordinate housing for people coming from out of town. Our priority is to get as many people trained as possible, and we will prioritize anyone planning on providing medical support at the Olympics. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to make this training accessible for you.
SE Portland Urban Farmers seek help with seed increase in conjunction with a larger project to breed superior varieties and have enough seed on hand, no matter what happens, to feed town. For a 100% sliding scale contribution, you can help out and have a garden for life - check it out, be part of the project, and help your local farmer out.
It's scheming, planning and assessing time for farmers once the hard freeze comes, as it did on 9 December. Your humble Urban Farmers haven't been totally idle during these shortest of days: I got a darn good idea. I've spent the last few weeks fleshing it all out and securing the necessary support from the other farmers to make it happen. The SE Seedbank Project will involve folks in ways that go way beyond keg parties w/ the 2010 Perpetual Seed Kit. This came out of an idea of Calliope's called the Neighbourhood Foodshed Alliance, where we go even further to reduce travel distance for food by connecting folks w/ their neighbourhood farmer. But, that's neither here nor there! So.... http://sePDXseedbank.wordpress.com/
This is a call for informed consent reform and the criminal prosecution of medical staff who participate in the "medical rape" of patients. ALL Oregon Rape victims are directed to OHSU for rape exams, even if they live hours away. Many simply accept the emergency care at their local hospital and go home. Women who are raped and make a mistake of going to OHSU, may suffer a second rape. Now I know folks do not like to call any sort of "medical care" rape, but times are changing and the laws need to change with them. Raped women who do not want to suffer a rape kit, or not with males present are forced, rather than accommodated, that is by any reasonable woman standard a second rape. OHSU may call the police, as if they have the right to give them permission to violate a patient's rights, or they may just sedate her and move forward. Now one might say, they need to catch the rapist, but OHSU has another, perhaps more influential motive for this second rape.
[This is really horrific; please take a few minutes to let the BLM know that Oregon water-dependent species will be irreparably harmed by all the action alternatives, and that herbicide use should be phased out, instead of tripled.]
The Oregon Bureau of Land Management is currently proposing to increase toxic herbicide use on BLM public lands in Oregon from about 17,000 acres of herbicide spraying a year to control invasive plants to almost three times as much -- 45,000 acres a year, and to increase the number of herbicides used from four to 12 herbicides on the west-side of the Cascades and 16 on the east side... claiming that there is higher public acceptance of herbicide risks east of the Cascades. The BLM offers a narrow range of alternatives, rejecting public suggestions to increase the use of non-herbicide control methods... and to prohibit use of the very potent Acetolactate Synthase-inhibiting herbicides (Chlorsulfuron, metsulfuron methyl, sulfometuron methyl, imazapic, and imazapyr) which are particularly risky to use in aerial spraying or boom spray applications. Failing to incorporate or combine any of these public proposals and the suggestion of only using herbicides as a last resort, the BLM is offering 5 alternatives, four of which use herbicides, with alternative 1 being no herbicide use, which they admit they are not taking seriously, saying it is for comparison purposes only. *Mail comments (today) to: Vegetation Treatments EIS Team, POB 2965, Portland, OR 97208-2965, or email (but confirm receipt) to:  orvegtreatments@blm.gov
From Friday Nov. 20 through Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 26, urban forager Rebecca Lerner will attempt to survive exclusively on wild food she gathers from sidewalks, parks, wilderness areas and yards in the city of Portland, OR. There will be no Dumpster diving, mooching from gardens or picking from cultivated fruit trees. In an effort to highlight wild food, Lerner's unusual menu will include thistle, sumac, dandelion and other weeds; fat she gathered from a roadkill deer; the root vegetable wapato; acorns, chestnuts, hazelnuts and black walnuts harvested from city trees; mushrooms; stinging nettles; hawthorn berries; yellow dock seeds; cleavers, and more.
"Foraging is a fun and free way to get healthy local food," Lerner said. "It's also a survival skill that can come in handy in an emergency, and a way to get in touch with our roots as hunter-gatherers."
Healthcare activists and their supporters, take over the campus of Regence-Bluecross, in an attempt to meet with their CEO, and have demands heard, but are denied justice, and refused entry.
This is Martha Perez, reporting to you live from SW Portland, where about 50 healthcare advocates are gathered for a non-violent, peaceful sit-in, rally and march around the campus of Regence Bluecross, home to one of the largest healthcare insurers in Oregon state. I am being told the building now is in lock-down, and will remain so, for the time being, in response to this latest action.
Tuesdays march was attended by over 400 people, many with signs for the public option and single payer, and against big insurance and the for-profit insurance industry. Speakers included someone who'd lost their house because of health care bills, Dr. Paul Gorman, and moveon.org people as well as someone from the AFL-CIO which has come out strongly in favor of Single Payer. The march began at Pettygrove Park and went around 200 Market building housing the offices of Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Video of march and speakers protesting Big Insurance trying to control debate over health care and stop the public option: Related: Open Letter to Congressman DeFazio on Health Care
Video clip from the recent send off of the Mad as Hell Doctors to Washington D.C. This video is about 4 minutes in length. The speaker discusses the many ways that people in Portland and along the route to D.C. can assist the Mad As Hell Doctors achieve their goal of convincing Obama and Congress that this country needs health care for people, not for profit. The Mad As Hell Doctors are on a 20 day tour which will culminate in rally at Lafayette Park in Washington D.C. on September 30th. They kicked off the Tour in Portland Oregon at Pioneer Square on September 8th.
Audio from doctors speaking at the Portland Oregon kick off for the Mad as Hell Doctors Tour, taking the message of Universal Health Care to cities along their way to Washington D.C. They intend to stop in big cities and whistle stops alike, conducting pre-booked local and national Media appearances.These doctors, from many different areas of Health Care, speak out about the conditions in the medical industry which prompts them to take time out from their lives and seek to educate others about the need for Reform. They speak about the heavy hand of the insurance industry and the prominence of profits over people. The Tour left Pioneer Square heading for Seattle, then on to Spokane, Helena Montana and beyond. For more info: www.madashelldoctors.com Photos from the event | Mad As Hell Doctors Audio
We will be holding a candlelight vigil to bring attention to the urgent need for healthcare reform with a public option.
Every day people lose their insurance. Many people are excluded coverage because of pre-existing conditions. And many people simply can't afford it. We need reform that will address all these needs now. We will provide some candles, but it would be great if you could bring your own, too. Please also bring some signs for while we're getting set up (while it's getting dark enough) SW 3rd & SW Madison -- Terry Schrunk Plaza. Wednesday, 2 Sep 2009, 7:30 PM Directly opposite Senator Wyden's office building.
Portland Fermentation Festival @ Ecotrust Thursday, August 27th 6-8pm -- with special guest Sandor Ellix Katz author of Wild Fermentation -- is open to whatever you want to bring -- fermented food and drink to share, products to sell, recipes, cultures etc. Or don't bring anything at all -- just come and enjoy some late summer skill sharing, talking, eating and drinking of all sorts of tasty food and drink. As of now there will be a room full of tables and people and fermented food and drink. Everything else is up to what we make of it. Should be great. Portland Fermentation Festival For more info, go to: www.lizcrain.com
Portland City Council will consider this week a proposal to build a water treatment plant (LT2) for our pristine Bull Run water. The plan is, we are told, designed to address a US EPA requirement that all drinking water in the US be treated/filtered for Cryptosporidium. While this cookie cutter approach will likely add to the safety of water in other cities, it is not appropriate in Portland because our Bull Run system supplies water with virtually no possibility of contamination. Cryptosporidium in a form that is lethal to humans has never been found in the Bull Run water system. There has been no demonstrated need for treatment/filtration.
The construction of a water treatment plant will be very expensive, $385 million, all of it to be paid for by the city water users. The $385 million would be financed via the issuance of bonds; interest payments due and paid for by water users would increase that figure to close to $1 billion dollars. Alliance for Democracy has joined others in calling for the Portland city council to postpone a decision until later in August, and to hold public meetings scheduled it a time when citizens can attend. Ask the Portland city council now to postpone a decision until the public can gain knowledge of what is at stake and can get their voices heard. In addition to the letter below from Oregon Wild, please see the editional comment by the Oregonian where they write "The best solution, of course, is the one that would cost nothing: Leave Portland's water alone." [Background Article: http://friendsofreservoirs.org/background.html]
A crowd of healthcare advocates converge[d] at Pioneer Courthouse Square, in support of a true public option for healthcare reform...to publicly declare their collective desire to see a Public Option healthcare reform package get passed by Congress and approved by President Barack Obama, by this fall or sooner.
There was a noticeable TV media presence, along with a galvanizing speech given by Jefferson Smith, current OR state legislator and founder of the Bus Project. Rally participants also shared tragic stories about their healthcare experiences, and got their message across to the energetic, diverse audience, despite not being allowed by local authorities to carry a bull-horn, in order to be properly heard. Rally participants also expressed concerns over Senator Ron Wyden's response to public option reform. A vote is potentially expected sometime early next week, so the outcome has yet to be decided in Congress. Stay tuned. Related: Howard Dean @ Powell's speaking on Single Payer Health Care | The Face of Privatization
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