Tag: 2009 News & News Blog
Peru: Hunt Oil Contract to Reignite Amazon Uprising?
Published November 2, 2009 by NACLA Report on the Americas.
By Bill Weinberg / NACLA
After the indigenous uprising in Peru's Amazon region in June, the country is in many ways fundamentally changed. For the first time, indigenous leaders from the rainforest are in direct dialogue with the highest levels of government. For the first time, a powerful alliance has emerged between rainforest peoples, highland campesinos, and urban workers, who joined in the protest campaign. The days when Lima's political elite could treat the rainforest as an internal colony seem definitively over.
Fighting Sex Slavery Across Texas
Published October 29, 2009 by KRGV.com.
By Alex Trevnio / KRGV
MISSION - One woman was sold on an auction block. Another became an involuntary servant in the land of the free.
"Human slavery, we have it. It is in our neighborhood but a lot of people don't want to see it," says Jaime Ortiz, a coordinator for the South Texas Civil Rights Project.
"Slavery is still here in our neighborhood in the Rio Grande Valley."
Protesters say quit wars, use money for healthcare
Published October 18, 2009 by the Austin American-Statesman.
By Steven Kreytalk / American-Statesman
They sat in the sun at City Hall Plaza on Saturday and listened to songs protesting war and to speeches declaring health care a human right.
The afternoon rally, attended by more than 120 people, carried a simple message, said organizer Alyssa Burgin of Texans For Peace: "The money we are spending killing people in Afghanistan and Iraq could be better used to save people here in America."
Musician Will T. Massey sang "bring them home, bring them home" while strumming his guitar.
Rick Perry Can Run, But He Can't Hide: Pressure Builds to Admit Texas Executed An Innocent Man
Published October 15, 2009 by Alternet.
As the corporate media picks up on the tragic story of Cameron Todd Willingham, Gov. Perry is going to desperate lengths to cover it up.
By Liliana Segura / Alternet
Denton residents protest drilling
Published October 16, 2009 by SocialistWorker.org.
By Candice Bernd / SocialistWorker.org
WHEN THE Denton City Council considered granting a special-use permit on July 21 to Fort Worth-based Range Resources to drill for natural gas on the Rayzor Ranch property--a site directly across from a neighborhood community, a hospital, a retirement center and a park--the council touched off a long campaign of community dissent.
U.S. authorities urged to overturn death sentence after jury consulted Bible
Published October 15, 2009 by the Guardian.
Jurors read from scripture as they deliberated on whether Khristian Oliver should be sentenced to death
By Chris McGreal / the Guardian
The Texas jury didn't hesitate to find Khristian Oliver guilty of shooting and bludgeoning an elderly man to death. Oliver had stood over his bleeding victim, repeatedly hitting him in the head with a rifle butt before robbing his house.
But then came the difficult decision over whether to sentence Oliver to death, and that's when the Bibles came into their own.
Trans Texas Corridor is declared dead -- again
Published October 6, 2009 by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
By Gordon Dickson / Star-Telegram
The Texas Department of Transportation has formally pulled the plug on the Trans Texas Corridor, a hotly contested plan to build toll roads, rail lines and utilities across the state, officials said.
But the state’s once-lofty plan to build $184 billion worth of new statewide infrastructure promises to live on in the governor’s race, where the need to reduce gridlock is often pitted against issues such as property rights, the impact of tolls on residents’ pocketbooks and foreign control of toll projects.
Border deaths called 'humanitarian crisis'
Published October 1, 2009 by the San Antonio Express-News.
By Lynn Brezosky / Express-News
BROWNSVILLE — The 15-year death toll of unauthorized immigrants trying to enter the United States has topped 5,600 and should be recognized as “an international humanitarian crisis,” U.S. and Mexican civil rights groups said in a report Wednesday.
Border Deaths Are Increasing
Published September 30, 2009 by the Washington Post.
Rise Is Despite Fewer Crossers, U.S. and Mexican Groups Say
By Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post
High rate of wage theft cited in study
Published September 24, 2009 by the El Paso Times.
By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
EL PASO -- Low-income workers in El Paso are at risk for wage theft by employers who exploit their labor and mislead them about their employment terms, worker advocates say.
ACLU investigating whether Hispanic students were singled out for poor test scores
Published September 25, 2009 by the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has launched an investigation into whether the Hispanic students in Gainesville High School were singled out for assemblies about low standardized test scores.
Army Prisoners Isolated, Denied Right to Legal Counsel
Published September 28, 2009 by Truthout.org.
By Dahr Jamail / Truthout.org
The military's treatment of Army prisoners is "part of a broader pattern the military has of just throwing people in jail and not letting them talk to their attorneys, not letting visitors come, and this is outrageous. In the civilian world even murderers get visits from their friends," according to civil defense attorney James Branum.
Some Texas districts change tune on abstinence-only sex ed
Published September 27, 2009 by the Austin American-Statesman.
Rising teen prenancy, STD rates, declining U.S. funds bring 'abstinence-plus' to more schools.
/ American-Statesman
Is Obama a Socialist? Reflection on the Degradation of Politics and the Ecosystem
By Robert Jensen
[This is an expanded version of a talk given to the University Democrats student group at the University of Texas at Austin, September 23, 2009.]
For months, leftists have been pointing out the absurdity of the claim that Barack Obama is a socialist. But no matter how laughable, the claim keeps popping up, most recently in the form of the Republican Party chairman’s warning of “a socialist power grab” by Democrats.
Laredo man dies after stun gun shock
Published September 22, 2009 by the Laredo Morning Times.
By Zach Lindsey / Laredo Morning Times
A man who was shocked by a police stun gun Monday morning died soon after at Doctors Hospital.
Police responded to a call at 3:50 a.m. that Richard Battistata, 44, had broken a bedroom window and gained entry to an apartment in the 200 block of Martingale Street.
The original call came in as a criminal mischief report.