Nov 24 2012

POWER PAST COAL – SCOPING FERNDALE

Come and let your voice be heard.  

Stand in solidarity with others

Thursday, November 29, 2012 @  3:00 pm

Ferndale Evetns Center,  Barrett Road, Ferndale 98248
RSVP @ http://www.powerpastcoal.org/?post_type=petition&p=1554

Go to the web site to find out how you can help:  Get there early to have a place in line to speak.  Bring your camera, video camera to photograph the buses unloading from out of town in support of the terminal.

Nov 17 2012

RALLY FOR WALMART WORKERS

Stop Walmart from retaliating against its workers for speaking out and Stop the practice of Black Friday starting on Thanksgiving Day

We are just days away from the first ever Black Friday strikes by Walmart workers.
Workers are prepared.
Walmart has tried to stop these protests to no avail.
Workers have the right to strike against Walmart’s unlawful retaliation.
They will not be silenced, and we need to stand by them as they continue to speak out for fair and safe working conditions.
Please join the workers!

As workers strike, we need to be at their side this Black Friday, November 23rd, 2012

Mount Vernon Supercenter, 10:30 AM – 12 NOON (2301 Freeway Dr., Mount Vernon 98273)

Meet at Union Center, 1700 N. State Street to carpool to Mt. Vernon

Call Betsy for information (360-647-1752)

 

 

Nov 09 2012

The United States of ALEC

Expose the Secret World of ALEC

(American Legislative Exchange Council)

 

ALEC is a partnership of corporations working with state legislators to:

  • Restrict access to health care,
  • Turn public schools and prisons into profit centers,
  • Eviscerate clean air and clean water laws,
  • Make election laws that threaten to deprive millions of Americans of the right to vote.

AGENDA:

  • We will watch the one hour Bill Moyers documentary : “The United States of ALEC”
  • Followed by a lively discussion  THEN

Find out what you can do

Friday, November 16th

at  WECU Educational Center,  511 E. Holly

from 6:30 – 8:30

CONTACT 360-305-2936 and sign up

Sponsored by OCCUPY BELLINGHAM

Oct 26 2012

POWER PAST COAL-SCOPING HEARING TOMORROW

Come and let your voice be heard.  

Stand in solidarity with others

October 27, 2012 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Sqaulicum HIgh School, 3773 McLeod Rd, Bellingham,WA 98226
RSVP @ http://www.powerpastcoal.org/?post_type=petition&p=1554

Go to the web site to find out how you can help:  Get there early to hold places for doctors, engineers  etc.  Bring your camera, video camera to photograph the buses unloading from out of town in support of the terminal.

Oct 23 2012

The Great Coal Train Tour

The Roeder Home
2600 Sunset Drive
Bellingham, WA
Price: $8-$12
October 24th Wednesday 7:30pm

$8-$12 donation (at the door)

Co-hosts
Erik Thomas

(Bellingham Scoping Hearings are Saturday, Oct .27)

Co-Sponsored by the Whatcom Family & Community Network
and Whatcom County Homemade Music Society

Oct 22 2012

Mic Check – Announcement of Hearing – Notice of Rally and First Court Appearance for Ten Young – Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23rd, at 2:30 PM,

Hello there,
We just have a brief announcement for your consideration. We thank you in advance for taking the time to read it.

A Whatcom activist, Ten Young, a participant in Decolonize Whatcom, is currently experiencing the burden of of state repression, and he needs your support.
Earlier this year, in February, he led a “mic check” action against the Whatcom County Council, in response to a change in rules which shut out and marginalized the public from the decision-making process of County government.
Using a call-and-response technique developed at Liberty Plaza, New York City, known as the “People’s Mic”, Ten read off a brief statement in short chunks – each of which was repeated by some 15-25 participants in order to forge, using only the strength of their solidarity, their many distinct voices into a single, irrepressible force. Together, they read a statement in which they stridently chastised Whatcom County Council for the Council’s anti-democratic politics, and County Council, almost to a person, fled the room. Their videographer cut the recording in violation of the Public Meetings Act.
Almost immediately afterwards, a witch hunt to find the leader of the mic check began. After a suspicious and potentially questionable police investigation, formal proceedings against Ten began.
What is the charge for which Ten is being prosecuted? Not, as you might expect, for a violation of RCW 9A.84.030.1(b), “Intentionally disrupt[ing] any lawful assembly or meeting of persons without lawful authority”, which would be the only thing it would make sense to prosecute him for, but rather, RCW 9A.84.030.1(a): “Us[ing] abusive language and thereby intentionally creat[ing] a risk of assault.”
Scaring the County Council by using strident, strong language means there was a “risk of assault” created, in the eyes of the prosecutor, in contradiction to all prevailing legal standards concerning the matter. Ironically, assault did occur: someone at the meeting assaulted an independent photojournalist who was documenting the action. It is bitterly ironic that a protester should be prosecuted for creating the risk of assault, yet the actual assailant at the meeting, one Gregory Brown, should not only walk free, but has also been rewarded with a position on the Steering Committee for the Lummi Island Ferry.
If this were not enough to make one suspicious of the way the case has been handled, it is worth noting that this prosecution of a mic check is unique in the nation in that the leader of the mic check has been singled out for retaliation – although other participants were personally known to the Council. Every other mic check prosecution like this which has occurred, to our knowledge, has been a prosecution of the entire group, and the charges have never been for intent to incite violence or a similar charge – it has always been for disruption of a public meeting.
Truly, the extremes to which the local government has gone to single out and prosecute this peaceful activist on trumped-up charges can show nothing more than political motivation. These are not criminal proceedings: this is a witch hunt, meant to make an example of a courageous and creative activist who spoke truth to power.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23rd, at 2:30 PM, there is a hearing scheduled for his case. Due to a communication failure the time and date of this hearing did not make it to the defense before very recently.
It is extremely important that the community show up to support this activist who has come under such fire. He stood up for our rights; now let’s stand up for his.
The transcript of the statement which the protesters read is attached as a plain text file to this e-mail, and full video of the action is available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYorbYxkVP8
Sincerely, Friends of Ten Young Solidarity Committee

Oct 18 2012

A FREE EVENT COMING UP SOON

The Healthcare Movie

 

”People are more important than profits.” 

Tommy Douglas

 

 

This documentary tells the story of how the health care systems of Canada and the United States developed and how they affect the well-being of people in their respective countries. In the United States each year 45,000 people die and over 931,000 go bankrupt due to non-existent or inadequate health care coverage. In Canada everyone has access to health care when they need it and at a cost they can afford, so that Canadians live longer than Americans and no one goes bankrupt because of medical bills.

 

The Healthcare Movie was produced by Laurie Simons and Terry Sherrenberg and it is narrated by Kiefer Sutherland (grandson of Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan Premier who initiated a non-profit health care system in Canada).

 

Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship 

Thursday, October 25, 2012, 7 pm

1708 I Street,
Bellingham WA

Admission Free.  Sponsored by Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship Social Justice Committee and United for National Healthcare. (360) 398-2295, supporter@unitedforhealthcare.org, http://www.unitedforhealthcare.org

                                                                           

Oct 13 2012

AN UNCONVENTIONAL CONVENTION

Oct 09 2012

STAND UP TO WALMART

This event will occur at 9:00 in Mt. Vernon and 3:00 pm here in Bellingham   

Oct 07 2012

SAVING THE SALISH SEA