The federal government has secretly been working on a plan to transport highly radioactive liquid from Chalk River, Ontario, Canada, to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, SC -- a distance of over 1,100 miles. A series of 250 truckloads are planned by the Department of Energy (DOE). Interstates 95 and 85 are two of the probable main routes. Based on published data of the US Environmental Protection Agency, a few ounces of this liquid could destroy a whole city water supply. These liquid shipments are unnecessary. The radioactive waste can be down-blended on-site, making it into a solid. This has been done for years at Chalk River. Records from the past are very clear about this liquid and how it should be managed. The report "Detailed Statement on the Environmental Considerations By the Division of Material Licensing, US Atomic Energy Commission" (December 14, 1970) -- which has within it Allied General's application for the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant (Docket No. 50-332) -- describes the waste generated at that facility, and describes how to manage the waste. I knew of this report because of the successful legal challenge to this facility in the 1970s in which I participated. Here is the outline of the criteria needed: * Ensure absolute confinement of HLLW by multiple barriers (HLLW - "high level liquid waste") * Ensure cooling to remove self-generating fission product heat by redundant cooling systems * Provide adequate space in storage tank... * Control corrosion by appropriate design and operating measures * Control non-condensable gases and airborne particulates, including radiolytic hydrogen H2 * Store in form to facilitate future solidification A majority of these are not possible during transport. In addition, when this is repeated 250 times, just a small error, human or equipment, could be disastrous. And errors are to be expected. For example, in the first shipment (and only so far), they had a hot spot in the transport container, and at the Savannah River Site had to turn it around to face the wall, supposedly so as not to expose the workers. Mary Olson of Nuclear Information Resource Service, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against these shipments, explains that "even without any leakage of the contents, people will be exposed to penetrating gamma radiation and damaging neutron radiation just by sitting in traffic beside one of these transport trucks. And because the liquid contains weapons-grade uranium, there is an ever-present possibility of a spontaneous chain reaction giving off a powerful blast of life-threatening neutrons in all directions -- a so-called 'criticality' accident." Despite the lawsuit, despite all the letters, despite email, despite petitions, from thousands of concerned citizens, the DOE claims the impact is "insignificant." Although the law requires it, the DOE has not done an Environmental Impact Statement. There has been a limited amount of news coverage; therefore, many people who would be affected by an accident do not know that this is happening. This needs to be stopped. Please ask the Governor to keep these shipments out of the state. Ruth Thomas Environmentalists, Inc.

The Republican Party is trying to gut affordable health insurance for tens of millions of people across the United States. But in California we have the opportunity to pass single-payer healthcare – Medicare for all. Assembly Speaker Rendon, a Democrat, has blocked passage of SB 562, the single-payer Healthy California Act, by moving it indefinitely to the Rules Committee. California should lead the nation by passing single-payer healthcare now. As chair of the California Democratic Party, Eric Bauman could show that he's serious about advocating for single-payer healthcare by applying maximum pressure on Speaker Rendon right away!

Climate Change is our most urgent common problem and legislators are not responsive to "we, the people" because of fossil fuel money! I wrote my SunTrust and asked them to live up to their name. Sierra Club offers a Green Visa and Environmental Defense Fund has Bank of America MasterCard, but big banks need to do more! Think Fox/O'Reilly when customers boycotted their products to get fast results!

To live without cancer is much better than trying to live with cure!

As a historic peace church originating from the 16th century Protestant Reformation, it is high time to embrace a name that acknowledges women, who constitute at least 50 percent of the denomination's population. During the major division of the 1880s the German Baptist Brethren splintered into three groups: the traditionalists such as the Old German Baptist Brethren, progressives led by the Brethren Church, and the conservatives, who adopted the name Church of the Brethren in 1908. By title, none of these groups even recognized the presence of women in their respective communities. The doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers promotes a non-hierarchical pattern of church life, thus, an inclusive and egalitarian church ought to reflect such values in its name.

If the MDPD has its way, whenever you step outside -- on your way to the store, to the beach, or even just into your backyard -- you could be filmed by a plane flying over the county. It’s a radical new surveillance technology that will create an oppressive and stigmatizing environment in the communities that are targeted.

Consider the rhetoric from one of the most promising new House members, Democrat Jamie Raskin, at a recent rally near the Washington Monument. Reading from a prepared text, Raskin warmed up by declaring that “Donald Trump is the hoax perpetrated on the Americans by the Russians.” Soon the congressman named such varied countries as Hungary, the Philippines, Syria and Venezuela, and immediately proclaimed: “All the despots, dictators and kleptocrats have found each other, and Vladimir Putin is the ringleader of the unfree world.” He even blamed Vladimir Putin for Brexit. Watch the speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKml53OjzGY Later, asked about factual errors in his speech, Raskin floundered during a filmed interview with The Real News. Watch the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce0X7_48vGY Read "Dangerous Discourse: When Progressives Sound Like Demagogues," by Norman Solomon: http://rootsaction.org/news-a-views/1535-dangerous-discourse-when-progressives-sound-like-demagogues

In the wake of the state’s most severe drought in memory, California Governor Jerry Brown issued mandatory statewide water restrictions that require all public agencies to reduce their water consumption by 25 percent. Officials at the 34 prisons operated by the California Department of Corrections have responded by restricting inmates' showers, ability to flush their cells' toilets, and access to laundry services and clean clothes, according to interviews with inmates. Showers are running only three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) for a total of four hours, providing a little over an hour for hundreds of prisoners to take turns bathing on shower days. Any prisoner caught in the showers for more than 5 minutes, washing clothes while showers are running, bird bathing or flushing the toilets in their assigned cell could face disciplinary action, including 30 days added to their prison sentence (CDC-115 Rules Violation Report). Prison officials have been instructed to shut off water fountains, outdoor showers, and to stop hosing down sidewalks. As a result, California prisoners are denied water-breaks throughout the day and are refused the hygienic practice of washing off sweat after a workout. Women's prisons in particular have struggled with sanitary upkeep since the implementation of CDCR’s water conservation program. Shower and toilet restrictions affect female prisoners on their menstrual cycles most directly. CDCR’s water conservation program began in 2006 with a pilot project to install flush-restricting valves on toilets at nearly one-third of all California adult institutions, resulting in a host of unsanitary conditions ranging from foul odor to overflowing toilets. Water conservation methods have only grown more aggressive within the recent decade and California prisoners have borne the brunt of health and safety hazards associated with aggressive yet inadequate conservation planning. If California is serious about water conservation and water-use reduction in its prisons, state officials should consider developing policies that promote the depopulation of overcrowded state facilities -- starting with releasing disabled people, the elderly and non-violent offenders. Reducing the numbers of people incarcerated unnecessarily could result in significant water savings and help to make the prison environment more adaptable and suitable for rehabilitation. Other methods of reducing water waste, without violating the human rights of the imprisoned, can include updating sinks, toilets, showers, and appliances with advanced water-saving fixtures. Sign this petition to California Governor Jerry Brown asking him to immediately end all water conservation methods that violate the human rights of people in prison. Sources: http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-ff-to-save-water-california-turns-off-prison-showers-20150709-story.html https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/california-prisons-are-restricting-shower-and-toilet-use-to-fight-the-historic-drought-626 http://www.insidecdcr.ca.gov/2010/04/california-prisons-reduce-water-consumption/ http://www.inmate.com/prison-articles/california-prisoners-affected-by-drought.htm

Barbara Lee represents Berkeley and Oakland and nearby areas in Congress (13th CD). She has built a reputation as an advocate for peace and civil liberties. She was the lone vote in Congress against the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that has been used to justify US wars/bombing/drone killing since 9/11. Most recently she opposed and spoke out against Trump's cruise missile attack on Syria in April. But lately Representative Lee may be taking a dangerous turn. At a recent town hall Lee hosted Malcolm Nance, MSNBC analyst and former U.S. intelligence agent who is one of the premier neo-McCarthyists and Russia bashers in the country. Nance not only pushed the dubious narrative that Russia “stole the election.” He went into a rant about the Russian people saying “Russia is an intensely conservative nation. They have a serf-slave mentality. They are passionately and intensely insincere…” AND "There is nothing we should do that's friendly to the Russians. They've gone from Communists to Autocrats." This is nothing more than xenophobia and war-mongering. It is part of a campaign by establishment Democrats and the mass media that seeks to: • Deflect blame for Clinton’s defeat from the discredited politics of the corporate Democrats to the Russians. • Push an aggressive stance toward Russia that could lead to a direct military confrontation and possible nuclear war. Many of us are constituents of Barbara Lee and have voted for her in past elections. We urge her to: • Cease and desist from spreading/enabling this warmongering. • Condemn xenophobia whether it is directed against Muslims or Russians. • Reaffirm her support for peace and opposition to all wars of aggression.

A petition filed on behalf of political prisoner and renowned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, seeking a new appeal in his decades-long case, was heard in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas on April 24, 2017. During the session, Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker ordered the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office to turn over all records pertaining to Mumia’s legal case. If released, these records will reveal a grave conflict of interest in Mumia’s appeal case, identifying Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille as a biased contributor to the case. Justice Castille, who has in the past denied Mumia’s appeals, also played a significant role in Mumia’s conviction during his trial on charges of killing a police office. Castille was Assistant DA at the time of Abu-Jamal’s trial in 1982. In addition, he was appointed as the Philadelphia District Attorney during Mumia’s direct appeal in 1988. A new nine-minute video gives background on new revelations of conflict of interest regarding Mumia’s appeal case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17Tp5NlllLU What else can you do? A ruling to implement Judge Leon Tucker's recent order to release Mumia’s court documents could be made as soon as May 30, 2017. Please call or e-mail the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office now to pressure them to follow the court’s order to release all the records and files regarding Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal case. Phone: 215-686-8000 E-mail: [email protected]

It's so good for so many things and not bad for anything, it's that simple.

UPDATE APRIL 2022: Three years ago, this petition was written by incarcerated women at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, including by Jennifer Fecu, who since her release in 2020 has been working to connect women to the community outside through Community Connects project of Imanis Safehouse (ImanisSafehouse.org). This petition and the brave actions of women inside led to the building of a coalition to fight the package restrictions, and ultimately the postponement of this directive. Now, in 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul is trying to slip the package directive back in, starting with the women's prisons. We are asking that people continue to sign this petition as one form of fighting back, while we build the struggle to once and for all defeat this directive that so deeply harms our loved ones in order to put money in the coffers of prison slave profiteers. Please see below for quotes from our beloved community. "None of the vendors carry "cholov Israel, "glat kosher" or "parve" products [for observant Jews]. The prices are tripled and the shipping costs are very high." / "There are soooo many people whose families live paycheck to paycheck and are on food stamps. So when they tried this about 3 years ago an online petition was created and people flooded the governor's office with phone calls because they could not afford to order from vendors or had no way to do it at all because they are on social services and use [food] stamps for the packages of their loved ones. But now Hochul is in and they're trying to slip it through...So we are asking, all of us at Bedford....to request the governor void this. We ask that people call her office. They say its to stop violence, but when we have no food etc violence will definitely escalate!. We need help." ********* Visitation packages are a crucial part of subsistence in the prisons. New York State’s prison system that houses over 30,000 men, women, and children, all of whom are under fed, under nourished, and are not able to meet hygiene needs without purchasing products. Packages brought in by visitors allow prisoners to sustain themselves while they suffer the “slow death” of the prison system. They receive books, hygiene products, stationery, religious objects, underwear, shoes, shirts and blouses (which allow people to regulate their body temperature). All of these objects are crucial for survival for inmates. The proposal to revise the package directive 4911 by adding 4911A to restrict packages to a small selection of prison vendors will severely restrict what prisoners can have (which is already extremely restrictive) and raise costs for family members who already have an extra burden to bear taking care of their loved ones in and out of prison. Currently, visitation packages can be purchased from bulk stores, which allow families to keep costs down. We can be assured that packages purchased through vendors will be more expensive. In addition to increasing costs for families who are already financially struggling, this directive will put even more money into the hands of the prison industry, which is already a multi-million dollar a year industry that thrives of other people’s immiseration. Meanwhile, prisoners are working for slave wages, making 10-16 cents an hour, and are completely reliant on outside support to supplement their starvation diets served in prison. Furthermore, the justification for restricting packages is that visitors are allegedly smuggling drugs through packages. However, as investigations show, it is often corrections officers who smuggle drugs, and who are the ones allowing in tainted packages. Instead of monitoring the COs--there are currently no cameras in the package room--DOCCS is instead punishing prisoners and their families. In addition, suicide in prison is often a result of alienation, deprivation, and lack of stimulation, which will all increase with a new package restriction. The only things that this directive will be taking out of the prisons if it is implemented are prisoners’ human dignity, will, and incentive for good behavior. We are asking that the new directive, 4911A, be repealed immediately, before the NYS prison system wastes time and money on further roll-out, and before the lives of over 30,000 incarcerated people and their families are changed for the worse. Written by families and friends of people incarcerated in Women’s facilities of NYS.