This ruling is particularly pertinent in the light of Florida's recent
ruling (per NPR)making cameras, masks, protest signs, puppets, and other tools
for demonstrators illegal just prior to the planned demonstrations in Miami,
November 19-21, against the ministerial meeting to continue planning for
the FTAA.
Subject: Re: [media-states] Press Release: Indiana Green Party Sets
Program for 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Green
Party of Florida
October 22, 2003
Contact:
Mark Kamleiter
727-323-2555
William McLean
727-520-9199
Green Party
peace activist wins federal civil rights case A victory for constitutionally protected free
speech
TAMPA, Florida -- The United States District Court in Tampa,
Florida, has struck down criminal charges filed against peace and justice
activist and veteran William McLean, who was found not guilty of disorderly
conduct and unauthorized demonstration for promoting peace outside the Bay Pines
Veterans Administration Medical Complex in Pinellas County on March 27,
2003. The federal court's fifteen page opinion issued
by US Magistrate Judge Mary S. Scriven was received Thursday, October 16, 2003.
McLean challenged the constitutionality of the regulations under which
he was charged, and in United States of America v. William McLean, the defendant
won. The trial took place in July, and McLean was
defended by St. Petersburg attorney Mark S. Kamleiter, who called the ruling "a
victory for constitutionally protected free speech." Kamleiter serves as
co-chair of the Green Party of Florida and is a Board Member of the Pinellas
American Civil Liberties Union.
After a medical appointment at the VA
Medical Center, McLean and his wife Lynn decided to exercise their free speech
rights outside the entrance to the complex by holding signs which said "Trust God...NOT BUSH" and "Blessed are the
Peacemakers." VA police officers then told the McLeans they
couldn't stay on that side of the street, and that "the whole street is U.S.
Government property."
McLean said the couple started to cross the street, but were
called back by police to produce identification.
They were told - one time, according to McLean's testimony - to keep their signs
down. They were then led from the street over onto VA property. "We were
completely compliant with all requests during this time, McLean said.
"This took about 5 minutes, after which we led back off VA property to the
cross walk to go to the other side of the road. We were never given our I.D.s
back or we would have just left that side of the street."
.
At that time a VA Police officer named
Atkinson told the McLeans that holding up the signs on the other side of the
street would result in arrest. McLean replied by saying in a calm voice,
"There is a Constitution," which visibly angered officer Atkinson, who asked McLean if he
"wanted to be arrested." McLean didn't reply, insteadlifted
his peace sign, which prompted
his immediate arrest. McLean was handcuffed and the police seized the couple's
signs, even though they had been demonstrating outside of VA
walls.
McLean says of his treatment by
the VA police: "He then dragged me by the handcuffs behind my back and knocked
my head in the side of the police car. I was not in any way resisting.
I was then taken to
a 3 by 3 foot holding cage where I remained handcuffed with my wrists swelling
up for three hours. I later returned to the Emergency Room at the VA where these
injuries were documented and treated." McLean says the VA police officers were
not truthful or accurate in their reporting of the
incident.
The Court found that although McLean was
technically on the property of the VA Hospital, his position on a traffic
island/crosswalk outside the boundary walls of the complex was a
constitutionally protected public forum. The Court also found that the VA had
failed to demonstrate a reasonable grounds for prohibiting free speech in that
area and dismissed the "unauthorized demonstration" charges. The Court
found further that he could not be found guilty of "disorderly conduct" if the
conduct in question consisted solely of the constitutionally protected exercise
of free speech. Accordingly, the "disorderly conduct" charges were dismissed.
William McLean is an activist for the homeless and with the Campus
Greens. He is a member of Veterans for Peace, the ACLU and the Pinellas Green Party, and continues to hold
weekly peace vigils with others in front of the Bay Pines VA Hospital.
#
# #
[A copy of the District Court ruling is available from
attorney Mark Kamleiter's office.]
For a Friendlier, Healthier, Safer, Better Magee: Sidewalks!
Now and for the Future of Magee, sidewalks will make the City of Magee more "valuable" in so many Ways, but the Sense of Community that sidewalks encourage (& other benifits, i.e. encourage walking w/ long list of Health, pysical and emotional), perhaps, are even of more value than the infrastructure major increase value.
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Instituting a complete streets policy ensures that transportation planners and engineers consistently design and operate the entire roadway with all users in mind - including bicyclists, public transportation vehicles and riders, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.
SEE: FACT Sheets about "Complete Streets": http://www.completestreets.org/complete-streets-fundamentals/factsheets/ & main site: http://www.completestreets.org/
~~~~~~~~~below Letter from Federal Government,Washington D.C., to lynn and william Mclean (click to enlarge) about improvements in and for Magee! Dated: > > > July 29, 2011
Benefits of Complete Streets
Complete streets can offer many benefits in all communities, regardless of size or location.
Complete streets make economic sense. A balanced transportation system that includes complete streets can bolster economic growth and stability by providing accessible and efficient connections between residences, schools, parks, public transportation, offices, and retail destinations.
Complete streets improve safety by reducing crashes through safety improvements. One study found that designing for pedestrian travel by installing raised medians and redesigning intersections and sidewalks reduced pedestrian risk by 28%.
Complete streets encourage more walking and bicycling. Public health experts are encouraging walking and bicycling as a response to the obesity epidemic, and complete streets can help. One study found that 43 percent of people with safe places to walk within 10 minutes of home met recommended activity levels, while just 27% of those without safe places to walk were active enough.
Complete streets can help ease transportation woes. Streets that provide travel choices can give people the option to avoid traffic jams, and increase the overall capacity of the transportation network. Several smaller cities have adopted complete streets policies as one strategy to increase the overall capacity of their transportation network and reduce congestion.
Complete streets help children. Streets that provide room for bicycling and walking help children get physical activity and gain independence. More children walk to school where there are sidewalks, and children who have and use safe walking and bicycling routes have a more positive view of their neighborhood. Safe Routes to School programs, gaining in popularity across the country, will benefit from complete streets policies that help turn all routes into safe routes.
Complete streets are good for air quality. Poor air quality in our urban areas is linked to increases in asthma and other illnesses. Yet if each resident of an American community of 100,000 replaced one car trip with one bike trip just once a month, it would cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 3,764 tons of per year in the community. Complete streets allow this to happen more easily.
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Soldier: Army ordered me not to tell truth about Tillman
POSTED: 10:39 a.m. EDT, April 25, 2007
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The last soldier to see Army Ranger Pat Tillman alive, Spc. Bryan O'Neal, told lawmakers that he was warned by superiors not to divulge -- especially to the Tillman family -- that a fellow soldier killed Tillman.
O'Neal particularly wanted to tell fellow soldier Kevin Tillman, who was in the convoy traveling behind his brother at the time of the 2004 incident in Afghanistan.
"I wanted right off the bat to let the family know what had happened, especially Kevin, because I worked with him in a platoon and I knew that he and the family all needed to know what had happened," O'Neal testified. "I was quite appalled that when I was actually able to speak with Kevin, I was ordered not to tell him."
Asked who gave him the order, O'Neal replied that it came from his battalion commander, then-Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey.
"He basically just said ... 'Do not let Kevin know, that he's probably in a bad place knowing his brother's dead,' " O'Neal told House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman. "And he made it known I would get in trouble, sir, if I spoke with Kevin on it being fratricide."
The military instead released a "manufactured narrative" detailing how Pat Tillman died leading a courageous counterattack in an Afghan mountain pass, Kevin Tillman told the committee. (Watch Kevin Tillman accuse the military of lying )
Also Tuesday, former Pfc. Jessica Lynch told the House panel that the military lied about her capture.
Lynch testified that after her vehicle was attacked in Iraq in March 2003, she suffered a mangled spinal column, broken arm, crushed foot, shattered femur and even a sexual assault.
But it only added insult to injury, literally, when she returned to her parents' home in West Virginia, which "was under siege by media all repeating the story of the little girl 'Rambo' from the hills of West Virginia who went down fighting," Lynch said. (Watch Lynch set the record straight )
"It was not true," she said before gently chiding the military. "The truth is always more heroic than the hype."
Waxman, D-California, said the military "invented" tales about Tillman and Lynch. (Watch Lynch describe her bond with the Tillman family )
"The bare minimum we owe our soldiers and their families is the truth," Waxman said. "That didn't happen for two of the most famous soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."
Brother calls tale 'calculated lies'
As the tide was turning in the U.S. battle against Afghan insurgents -- and as media outlets prepared to release reports on detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq -- the military saw Pat Tillman's death as an "opportunity," Kevin Tillman told the panel.
Even after it became clear the report was bogus, the military clung to the "utter fiction" that Pat Tillman was killed by a member of his platoon who was following the rules of engagement, the brother said.
"Revealing that Pat's death was a fratricide would have been yet another political disaster during a month already swollen with disasters," Kevin Tillman said. "The facts needed to be suppressed. An alternative narrative had to be constructed, crucial evidence destroyed."
Tillman bristled at the military claim that the initial report was merely misleading.
Clearly resentful, he told the panel that writing a field report stating that his brother had been "transferred to an intensive care unit for continued CPR after most of his head had been taken off by multiple 5.56 rounds is not misleading."
"These are deliberate and calculated lies," he said.
Pat Tillman, who became a national hero after he gave up a lucrative contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to join the Army's elite Rangers force, was awarded the Silver Star, the military's third-highest combat decoration, after the Army said he was killed leading a counterattack.
O'Neal testified that his superiors had him write a statement about the incident for Tillman's Silver Star commendation. He said the final version contained false statements about enemy fire that had been inserted by someone else.
Thomas F. Gimble, the Defense Department's acting inspector general, said that investigators could not determine who altered O'Neal's statement and that no attempt was made to examine the document's electronic history.
The Army later acknowledged not only that Tillman was killed by his fellow soldiers, but that officers in Tillman's chain of command knew the counterattack story was bogus.
Still, Senior Chief Petty Officer Stephen White told the official heroism-under-fire story at a May 3, 2004, memorial service for Tillman.
"It's a horrible thing that happened with Pat," White, a Navy SEAL who was Tillman's friend, told the committee. "I'm the guy that told America how he died, basically, at that memorial. It was incorrect. That does not sit well with me."
Though the military blamed the erroneous report on an inadequate initial investigation, Mary Tillman told ESPN Radio last month that everyone involved in the shooting knew immediately that her son had been shot three times in the head by a member of his platoon.
"The Tillman family was kept in the dark for more than a month," Waxman said. "Evidence was destroyed. Witness statements were doctored. The Tillman family wants to know how all of this could've happened."
Lynch: Truth 'not always easy'
Lynch's testimony began with a recollection of the March 23, 2003, attack and her purported rescue nine days later.
As she and her fellow 11 soldiers drove through Nassiriya, Iraq, they noticed armed men standing in the streets and on rooftops. Three soldiers were quickly killed when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into their vehicle, Lynch said.
The other eight died in the ensuing fighting or from injuries suffered during the fighting, she said. Lynch later woke up at Saddam Hussein General Hospital.
"When I awoke, I did not know where I was. I could not move. I could not call for help. I could not fight," she said, explaining she had a six-inch gash in her head and numerous broken bones. "The nurses at the hospital tried to soothe me, and they even tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to Americans."
On April 1, U.S. troops came for her.
"A soldier came into the room. He tore the American flag from his uniform, and he handed it to me in my hand and he told me, 'We're American soldiers, and we're here to take you home.' And I looked at him and I said, 'Yes, I'm an American soldier, too,' " she recalled.
She was distraught to come home and find herself billed as a hero when two of her fellow soldiers had fought bravely until the firefight's end and another had died after picking up soldiers and removing them from harm's way.
"The American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes, and they don't need to be told elaborate lies," she said. "I had the good fortune to come home and to tell the truth. Many soldiers, like Pat Tillman, did not have that opportunity.
"The truth of war is not always easy. The truth is always more heroic than the hype," she said.
Lynch became a celebrity after U.S. troops filmed what they said was a daring raid on the hospital. Hospital staffers, however, said there were no Iraqi troops at the hospital when the purported rescue took place.
In the March 23, 2003, attack, Lynch, the Army claimed, was shot and stabbed during a fierce gun battle with Iraqi troops that left 11 of her comrades dead. It was later learned that Lynch never fired a shot during the firefight because her gun was jammed with sand.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!& "NOW!!!WOW!"
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'Fuck You... And Yours' - Pat Tillman's Father To Army Investigator
« on: August 12, 2010, 02:14:03 PM
"You are a General," Tillman's father writes Jones after being presented with a briefing book of his findings. "There is no way a man like you, with your intelligence, education, military, experience, responsibilities (primarily for difficult situations), and rank... believes the conclusions reached in the March 31, 2005 Briefing Book. But your signature is on it. I assume, therefore, that you are part of this shameless bullshit. I embarrassed myself by treating you with respect on March 31, 2005. I thought your rank deserved it and anticipated something different from the new and improved investigation. I won't act so hypocritically if we meet again."
william went through treatment starting in 2003, 8 years ago, and fininished 48 weeks on the "Chemo-Drug-Therapy". He is now trying to reverse a pattern of long term Cognitive, Personality and Mental issues that have plagued him, and tortured him for years now. He had air-gun vaccine going into the U.S. Army in 1981, and the VA Medical Center, Bay Pines FL treated his Hep C with a year of Chemotherapy. see: http://hcvets.com/data/hcv_liver/the_liver.htm
william is using a "Focusing" medication, similar to natural EARTH Medications (Plants/Nutrition/Biochemistry), and Psychological & Spiritual "Helps".
~ We Hope this will turn around to getting through the Damage/Distruction/Disruption of Cognition, Brain Tissue and Neural Pathways, displaying symptoms of "mental imbalance", toward Healing and Restoration, with a well planned out support system, documentation and learning (Knowledge is Power) of his Condition of Brain Damage and mental health symptoms, Studing Brain Anatomy and Physiology (Frontaltemporal dementia) and SOLUTIONS to not only overcome the Damage, but also be a better Person than before, because of "self-healing" psycology and spiritual practices and Life Principles (Truth, Humility, Honesty, Love).
These "self-healing" psycology and spiritual practices and Life Principles, include a "Strategy for Success" and "Support Circle", then LEARNING AND PRACTICISING a "Blend-taking anything helpful" of AA Principles & Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Spirtual Teachings (We are C.M.E. Methodists: http://www.c-m-e.org/core/roots.htm), Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy and Pyscodynamic Therapy. The Goal is to reverse and eliminate "side effect" to the Greatest possible recovery. The first step is calmness, less stress to promote stability and receptiveness to Therapy. Then years of Practicing Life Principles to have Wellness, Balance and Vitality to Live Life more fully, and make the best of Life.
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Roky Erickson True Love Cast Out All Evil
Legendary musician Roky Erickson's first new album in fourteen years, True Love Cast Out All Evil is in stores now. Produced by Will Sheff and featuring his band Okkervil River backing Erickson, the record is comprised largely of unreleased songs that Austin, Texas native Erickson wrote throughout his decades-long career – detailing with heart-breaking candor a harrowing life that has included shock treatment, imprisonment, mental illness, and irreversible loss. With a wisdom that can only be marshaled by someone who has been through all of this, Erickson also interjects the songs with love, hope, and spiritual grace.
Erickson's band The Thirteenth Floor Elevators burst on to the scene in 1966 with the hit "You're Gonna Miss Me," a snarling proto-punk song written by Erickson when he was just 15. The Elevators and the charismatic Erickson would be largely credited with igniting the garage rock movement and being one of the first psychedelic bands. The reverberations of the band's distinctive sound can still be heard today with Erickson's songs having been interpreted by the likes of R.E.M., ZZ Top, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Spacemen 3, Julian Cope, Radio Birdman and others.
While True Love Cast Out All Evil echoes the many musical styles in which Erickson has been a participant or a pioneer – including garage-rock, lo-fi psych, heavy metal, and country-tinged Texas folk – it also moves Erickson into new territory, foregrounding his songwriting skill. In these songs, Erickson addresses his troubled history in his own words, eschewing the metaphors of earlier songs like "I Walked with a Zombie" to speak directly about hardship and the lessons learned from it. Will Sheff's production highlights the songs while interweaving them with found-sound and archival recordings culled from Erickson's home videos and recordings made in the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
"I feel truly lucky that I got to produce this record," Sheff says. "When we started out, I was given sixty unreleased songs to choose from. There were songs written during business setbacks including the Elevators' painful breakup, songs written by Roky while he was incarcerated at Rusk, and a great deal of songs that reminded me of the sense of optimism and romanticism that I think sustained Roky through his worst years and ultimately reunited him, a few years ago, with his son Jegar and his first wife Dana. Because we started with so many songs to choose from, the quality of the material we ended up with was exhilarating. This is not a cynical comeback record, a lukewarm update on an established legacy – these are the best songs Roky has ever written, unreleased due to decades plagued by the kind of personal tragedies that would destroy someone less resilient. This record has been the most challenging and rewarding, thing I've ever worked on, and we in Okkervil River were deeply honored to show up decades later and help Roky carry these wonderful songs over the finish line."