Edward Sanders

VOD UPDATE: An earlier VOD story on a brutal attack on Edward Sanders, #141545, at Kinross Correctional Facility, elicited a number of comments emailed to me by family members regarding mistreatment of other prisoners there, including the use of racist remarks by white guards such as the “N” word and “boy,”  and false allegations made by white prisoners against Black prisoners which were used by prison officials at Kinross to the detriment of the Black prisoners.

I have sent the 83 signatures collected from around the world asking that Edward Sanders be transferred, to Deputy Warden Thomas Mackie, by email and by regular mail, and a copy of this story as well. If there is no action on the case of  Edward Sanders, we will be broadening the struggle to call for an investigation of the entire prison at Kinross from every organization available.

I made a phone call to the warden’s office on Friday, Sept. 23, during which the assistant warden assured me that I would receive a return call from the warden by Monday Sept. 26, with respect the package of petition signatures sent to him.

Edward Sanders after the violent attack which nearly took his life July 11, 2011; the other prisoner attempted to stab him in his kidney, spine and his only good eye, but Edward was able to deflect those attacks because he works out every day; however he was slashed as seen in photo and came to the unit station, where the guard somehow had ignored the event, with blood "dripping from head to toe" according to prison records.

Shortly thereafter, I instead received a call from an assistant attorney general in the state AG’s office absolutely denying every allegation made in the earlier story on Edward Sanders. No information was given to me regarding what he based his version of events on: no witnesses, no records, etc. VOD is already in possession of numerous prison records related to the July 11, 2011 attack on Edward Sanders, and is expecting soon to receive both central office files on Edward and the prisoner who attacked him shortly, pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request that was granted, as well as other information Edward has given permission to obtain. All prisoners’ famlies should be aware that it is the common practice of MDOC under Governor Rick Snyder, as well as Republican state attorney general Bill Schuette, to issue blanket denials of abuse. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY OFFICIALS TRYING TO ENLIST YOU IN THEIR VERSION OF EVENTS.

Kinross

I am asking that everyone with a loved one at Kinross who is experiencing abuse to please contact me (Diane Bukowski, editor VOD) at 313-825-6126 or diane_bukowski@hotmail.com) to give me the information. It does not have to be published on this website, to avoid retaliation by the administration. I will keep records and together with prison advocacy organizations including legal assistance we will see what can be done.

VOD has published several stories on the People’s Task Force to Free the Wrongfully Convicted, one of whose founders is at Kinross also. See below for links to these stories and contact information for the People’s Task Force, as well as information to contact Warden Thomas Mackie. Kinross is a Level One/Two facility, basicially for low-risk prisoners.

There is no excuse for the reports coming out of there involving prisoner on prisoner attacks (which may have been set up by the guards), as well as problems from the guards. The Muskegon Chronicle reported recently that there are numerous prisoners at higher risk levels housed at Kinross as was the prisoner who attacked Edward. Click on: http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/07/near-escape_at_upper_penninsul.html  for that story.)

(Click on  http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/06/sign-petition-to-transfer-edward-sanders-victim-of-brutal-prison-attack/ to read Edward’s story.Please continue signing this petition, as further signatures will be turned in at a later date, and we are still concerned for Edward’s safety. Link for the petition is http://signon.org/sign/justice-for-edward-sanders.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/04/internet-rally-sept-6-12-noon-for-investigation-of-crime-labs/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/07/15/people%e2%80%99s-task-force-continues-battle-to-expose-crime-lab-crimes-in-protests-at-fed-bldg-city-council/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/06/23/families-demand-worthy-must-go-free-prisoners-convicted-on-falsified-crime-lab-evidence/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/06/15/dpd-msp-and-worthy-guilty-in-crime-lab-cases-says-peoples-task-force/

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE’S TASK FORCE:

To contact the Detroit People’s Task Force to Free the Wrongfully Convicted, call Marilyn Jordan, at (313) 784-4021, Kevin Carey, at (313) 887-4344, or Roberto Guzman, at (313) 272-1406. This story is being forwarded to them as well.

Deputy Warden Thomas Mackie’s contact information is:

VOD ED: THERE IS A PAROLE BOARD HEARING ON CLEMENCY FOR TROY DAVIS SEPT. 19; BELOW LETTER FROM INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ARE LINKS TO SIGN PETITIONS TO THE PAROLE BOARD: PLEASE SIGN!!!

From: The International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and
Empowerment in conjunction with Peace in the Hood
________________________________________

Mr. James E. Donald
Chairman
Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr., SE
Suite 458, Balcony Level, East Tower
Atlanta, Georgia 30334-4909

September 17, 2011

Re: Troy Davis

On behalf of The International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment, we are asking you to have the courage to stop the execution of an innocent man, Troy Davis. The International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment is the largest National Network of grassroots, faith and community based organizations dedicated to Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment in the United States. The Council serves as an umbrella organization with over 35 affiliates throughout the United States and globally. For over 17 years, the Council has sponsored several National Urban Peace (Street Organization) and Justice Summits. The Council has initiated prevention, intervention and transformation work all over the U.S. and globally to affect change in the lives of youth impacted by racism, poverty, inequality and injustice.

Rally for Troy Davis in Atlanta Sept. 16; Reuters reported 2,000 people turned out

Rarely has a case attracted the international attention and support as this case. The facts are undeniable: 1) seven of the original nine witnesses recanted their testimony stating they were coerced by strong arm tactics of the police who were investigating the murder of one of their own; 2) one of the remaining two witnesses, Redd Coles was himself a suspect at one time; 3) three witness stated that the same Redd Coles confessed to them that he murdered the off duty officer; and 4) there was no physical evidence connecting Mr. Davis to the crime.

Consider the words of U. S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun:

“Twenty years have passed since this Court declared that the death penalty must be imposed fairly, and with reasonable consistency, or not at all, and, despite the effort of the states and courts to devise legal formulas and procedural rules to meet this daunting challenge, the death penalty remains fraught with arbitrariness, discrimination, caprice, and mistake.”– U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, February 22, 1994

Now consider these facts on the death penalty from the Death Penalty Fact Sheet on the Death Penalty in the United States:

• Studies by such organizations as the United States General Accounting Office, the American Bar Association, and The Yale University School of Law have all concluded that the most reliable indicator of whether or not the death penalty will be sought is the race of the victim. Prosecutors are more likely to seek the death penalty if the victim is white and the perpetrator if African American or a person of color.
• The death penalty is not enforced on any geographically consistent basis. Almost 80% of the executions are in the south, yet the South had the highest murder rate in the United States according to the F.B.I. Uniform Crime Statistics in 2008. The Northeast, which had the lowest rate of executions (less than 1%), had the lowest murder rate. (Death Penalty Fact Sheet)
• Of the death row inmates, 42% are Black. In death penalty states, 98% of the chief prosecutors are white.
• In death penalty cases, 75% of murder victims were white. Nationally, only 59% of murder victims were white.
• Execution is more expensive than lifelong incarceration and in some cases, can cost tax payers as much as $250 million dollars per case (California).

The standard for convictions and death penalty cases is clean and convincing evidence. This was clearly not met in the case. Clear and convincing evidence is not the word of two people (one of whom was a suspect). In appeals, the state has argued procedural issues-not the guilt or innocence.

The standard for a civilized society is not what someone has a right to do, but having the moral courage to do the right thing. In this case, we stand as a united organization and say that the right thing to do is to commute the death sentence of an innocent man. Killing people to teach people that killing people is wrong does not make moral sense. The evidence is not there, but the racism and the notorious police blue line of protecting their own and revenging their own is there. We ask you to look within your own conscious and have the courage to do what is right. Do not execute an innocent man. Do not participate in a legal homicide.

Respectfully,

Spokesmen

Amir Khalid Samad, T. Rashad Byrdsong, Jitu Sadiki, Minister Kuratibish Rashid

SIGN ONLINE PETITION AT 

http://www.iacenter.org/troydavis

/troydavissept16listlocalactionandjusticefortroy.org    Continue reading →

 Libya & Gaddafi – The Truth you are not supposed to know

What the West has done through NATO is beyond tragic, and all the people who have bought the latest round of lies and manipulation will look to Libya as they now look to Iraq, and they will see another disaster that most can never imagine. Watch video above.

VOD ED: EVEN THE WESTERN MEDIA IS NOW BEING FORCED TO ADMIT THE LEVEL OF SUPPORT MUAMMAR GADHAFI AND THE JAMHIRIYA HAVE IN LIBYA, PER THE AP ARTICLE BELOW: 

iberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at Afro Arab Summit in Sirte where Gadhafi announced $90 billion investment in African countires, Oct. 10, 2010

Gadhafi loyalists push back Libyan forces

Coastal towns of Sirte, Bani Walid protect old-regime snipers

Last Updated: September 17. 2011 1:00AM

by Ryan Lucasand Hadeel Al-Shalchi/ Associated Press

Sirte, Libya— Moammar Gadhafi’s fighters beat back an attempt by Libya’s new government Friday to crush remnants of the old regime, forcing revolutionary troops into retreat in the mountains and turning Gadhafi’s hometown into an urban battlefield of snipers firing from mosques and heavy weapons rattling boulevards.

The tough defense of the holdout towns of Sirte and Bani Walid displayed the firepower and resolve of the Gadhafi followers and suggested Libya’s new rulers may not easily break the back of regime holdouts. It also raised fears the country could face a protracted insurgency of the sort that has played out in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gadhafi walking with Comoros Pres. Ahmed Mohamed Sambi at Sirte airpot to attend Arab League Summit in Sirte March 26, 2010

“The Gadhafi loyalists have so many weapons,” said Maab Fatel, a 28-year-old revolutionary fighter on the front lines in the mountain enclave of Bani Walid.

“This battle is really crazy,” Fatel said, his uniform splattered with blood from a wounded comrade.

Revolutionary forces began the day by streaming into Bani Walid but pulled back after intense fighting failed to dislodge pro-Gadhafi snipers and gunners from strategic positions. The two sides traded relentless mortar and rocket fire across a 500-yard-wide desert valley called Wadi Zeitoun that divides the town between north and south.

Meanwhile in New York , the United Nations gave strong backing to Libya’s former rebels Friday, handing their National Transitional Council the country’s U.N. seat and then lifting and modifying some sanctions imposed on Gadhafi’s regime.

VOD ED: VIDEO BELOW IS AN ADMISSION BY CNN OF THE GENOCIDE BEING UNLEASHED ON BLACK LIBYANS AND AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS

What has Libyan war unleashed on Africa?

By Askia Muhammad -Senior Correspondent-

Last updated: Sep 10, 2011 – 9:10:13 AM

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) – Even as Western European leaders boast of their roles in the overthrow of the Libyan government of Col. Muammar Gadhafi , African leaders who were at first silent about the plot have begun voicing their opposition to the campaign. The African Union (AU) has withheld its recognition of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), and a group of 200 concerned African leaders have issued a statement warning about Africa being re-colonized by NATO’s European powers.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela to the post; South Africa and Libya have been long-time allies

The leaders, including former South African President Thabo Mbeki, released a letter in Johannesburg Aug. 24, lamenting the “misuse of the United Nations Security Council to engage in militarized diplomacy to effect regime change in Libya,” and the “marginalization of the African Union” in the process. (Click on http://www.uruknet.info/?p=80782 for further information on statement.)

The group accused NATO of violating international law, according to a report published by Business Day. “NATO has empowered itself openly to pursue the objective of regime change and therefore the use of force and all other means to overthrow the government of Libya, which objectives are completely at variance with the decisions of the UN Security Council,” said Prof. Chris Landsberg, chair of the department of political science at the University of Johannesburg said, in behalf of the group.

The letter was signed by more than 200 mostly South African prominent intellectuals, including Mr. Mbeki, Prof. Shadrack Gutto of the University of South Africa, former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, Prof. Mahmood Mamdani from the University of Columbia, former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad, and author and poet Dr. Wally Serote and others.

Mongane Wally Serote, poet and former anti-apartheid freedom fighter from South African

“The AU stands for peace, democracy and freedom of all people. This is the role that the AU still wants to play whether you talk about the Ivory Coast, whether you talk about Sudan, whether you want to talk about Libya or whichever of the African country on the continent, the AU stands for that. It has a plan to put in place,” said Dr. Serote. The AU’s so-called “Road Map” remains the only way to peace for the people of Libya, he insisted.

The UN Security Council voted to approve Resolution 1973 authorizing NATO’s armed intervention in Libya, “has caused grave concern throughout the African continent, throughout the world, particularly in South Africa itself,” Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of history at the University of Houston told The Final Call. “I think it has, quite frankly, weakened the government of Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, and this statement is just more evidence of the grave concern in Africa.

VIDEO ABOVE: RACIST ‘REBELS’ STRANGLE BLACK LIBYAN AT GUNPOINT 

“As you probably know, Jean Ping, who is the president of the African Union made a statement, really calling into question the bona fi des of the so-called transitional council, headquartered in Benghazi,” Dr. Horne continued.

“Because, according to Mr. Ping, an eminent statesman, the rebels, so-called, apparently cannot draw distinctions between those who are darkskinned, and those who are, quote mercenaries, un-quote. In other words, there has been a reign of terror unleashed against dark-skinned persons in the regions which the rebels control. This is even more astonishing when one considers that by any measure, a substantial percentage of the Libyan body-politic is dark-skinned. This is a monumental blunder on the rebels’ part, and I think they should be castigated for (it),” Dr. Horne continued.

Concerns about the safety of darkskinned Africans drew the attention even of Amnesty International, which warned on September 1 that Black Libyans and sub-Saharan Africans are at high risk of abuse from rebel forces who were seeking to ostensibly target Gadhafi supporters.

At a camp for migrants near Tripoli, African nationals said they fear for their lives. “Some people are saying that it’s the Blacks who worked with the Libyan soldiers to shoot them or whatever but we were not among them,” a Ghanaian man said, according to Free Speech Radio News. “We are from Ghana, Nigeria—not among (them). We know nothing about that. That is why we are running for our life.”

“If you go out in the streets, people will hold you and say you are fi ghting for Gadhafi ,” said a Nigerian man. “I am not a fi ghter. That is why I keep myself here with my wife. No money to feed. Please, I need your help.” There are even more troubling implications concerning Africa’s political future, according to Dr. Horne. “What is unfolding in North Africa is the creation of a new Afghanistan, this time on North African soil.

“What I mean is, that in order to topple, or at least to weaken the Gadhafi regime, the United States had to make alliances with those we were fighting in Afghanistan—this socalled Islamic fundamentalists who played a vanguard role in terms of the military operations of the rebels. Not only that, but the NATO forces also introduced further instability into North Africa by singling out the Berber minority in Libya to be trained militarily to fi ght the Gadhafi regime.

“The Berber minority plays a pivotal role throughout North Africa, not least in Algeria and in Morocco. And by empowering them thusly in Libya, it seems to me that the NATO forces may be introducing further instability” in the entire region, Dr. Horne said. This may be the fi rst move by NATO to re-establish its colonial control over Africa. This intervention, like the U.S.-Afghanistan intervention against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, may unleash “totally unpredictable forces.”

Related news:

Black Libyans and Workers live in fear after NATO backed coup  (WT&R, 08-31–2011)

Gold, Oil, Africa and Why the West Wants Gadhafi Dead  (FCN, 06-07-2011)

Ten reasons why the U.S. war in Libya is a CIA operation (FCN, 04-28-2011)

Why the West Want the Fall of Muammar Gaddafi  (Analysis by Jean-Paul Pougala, 04, 2011)

A CIA commander for the Libyan rebels  (WSWS, 03-28-2011)

Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective  (FCN, 03-08-2011)

An Analysis of Muammar al-Qaddafi’s Green Book  (FCN, 06-18-2010)

How the U.S. Government destabilized foreign governments  (FCN, 07-22-1985)

Former Pres. George W. Bush, who put Sean Cox on the federal bench, is also a member of the international cartel The Carlyle Group, parent company of Synagro; Cox cites the Synagro scandal at DWSD as one of the reasons for its takeover

FROM “MONEY TRAILS TO THE FEDERAL BENCH” 

Michigan: U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox 

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Nominated: September 10, 2004 | Confirmed: June 8, 2006

Summary: Cox contributed $2,000 to Bush in December 2003 while he was a state judge. Cox gave $790 in statecampaign contributions after his nomination, including $500 to the campaign of his brother, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, according to state records. He also gave nearly $5,500 in federal contributions to Republicans between 1993-2002, including $3,000 to former Sen. Spencer Abraham.

Sean Cox is the brother of former Michigan AG Mike Cox, who was the only Republican to OPENLY endorse the racist anti-affirmative aciton Proposal 2 (although others supported it behind closed doors); he used his office to ensure its placement on the ballot

Chronology:

• Sept. 10, 2004: Bush nominates Cox.

• Oct. 25, 2004: Local Republican committee receives $200 from Cox.

• Feb. 14, 2005: Bush re-nominates Cox.

• April 4, 2005: Local Republican committee receives $90 from Cox.

• Dec. 1, 2005: Cox’s brother, Michigan’s attorney general, receives $500 from Cox.

 FROM RIGHT WING WATCH: 

ustice Antonin Scalia signs copy of U.S. Constitution at Federalist Society Lawyers Convention in 2008

Sean Cox is a member of the ultra-right-wing Federalist Society. 

Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies

Established: 1982 by a group of right-wing law students President/Executive Director: Eugene Meyer
Board of Directors: National Co-Chairmen Prof. Steven Calabresi and David M. MacIntosh, Directors Prof. Gary Lawson, and Eugene B. Meyer, Hon. T. Kenneth Cribb (President of Collegiate Network), and Mr. Brent O. Hatch, treasurer.
Membership: The FS Lawyers Division has 25,000 legal professionals; Student Division has more than 5,000 law students at 145 law schools; 60 metropolitan lawyers’ chapters; 15 nationwide practice groups; and a new Faculty Division with unpublished membership numbers.
Finances: $5,450,536 (total revenue for 2004)
Grants: Since 1985, The Federalist Society has received over $12 million in grants from conservative foundations, such as the Earhart, Bradley, Simon, and Olin Foundations, as well as the Carthage, Koch, and Scaife Foundations.
Publications: Several e-mail newsletters on different topics, a quarterly law journal, a “Conservative and Libertarian Pre-Law Reading List,” and various reports on legal issues.

Read the latest news on the Federalist Society on the group’s Right Wing Watch index page

NAACP March against racist Proposal 2, an example of initiatives supported by the Federalist Society

Principal Issues

• The Federalist Society hopes to transform the American legal system by developing and promoting far-right positions and influencing who will become judges, top government officials, and decision-makers. FS is “dedicated to reforming the current legal order.”
• The Federalist Society is a well established network of right-wing lawyers, politicians, pundits, and judges.
• Many members of the Federalist Society advocate a rollback of civil rights measures, reproductive choice, labor and employment regulations, and environmental protections.
  In Federalist Society’s guide to forming and running a chapter of the society, FS says it “creates an informal network of people with shared views which can provide assistance in job placement.”
• The Federalist Society has 15 different “practice groups” that focus on particular legal issues, such as civil rights and labor and employment law.
• Read PFAW Foundation’s detailed report, The Federalist Society: From Obscurity to Power [PDF file]. 

Its members include, among numerous others:

Federalist Society Members in the Bush Administration [partial list]

• Former Attorney General John Ashcroft
• Former Secretary of the Department of Energy Spencer Abraham
• Former Solicitor of Labor Eugene Scalia (Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s son)

Federal Judicial Nominees

• Samuel Alito, confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court
• John Roberts, confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court
• 

  Michael Chertoff

  Michael Chertoff, confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, currently Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security

• Henry Saad, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [withdrawn]
• Susan Neilson, confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Deborah Cook, confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Jeffrey Sutton, confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Other High-Profile Federalist Society Members [partial list]

• Justice Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court
• Senator Orrin Hatch(R-Utah)
• Charles Murray, controversial author who asserted that some races are inherently less intelligent than others
• Don Hodel, former Christian Coalition president
• Former Michigan Governor John Engler
• Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan; currently head of the Michigan Department of Human Services, which is about to slash 15,000 families from the public assistance rolls, and is steadily kidnapping poor children, particularly in the Black and Latin communities, from their families for profit through Child Protective Services.

  

  Maura Corrigan and Rick Snyder plotting to kidnap more poor babies and starve the rest

Some of the many Detroiters who answered Councilwoman JoAnn Watson's call to deluge the Council with demands to stop Judge Sean Cox's takeover of DWSD

Union announces it will file for intervener status to oppose Judge Cox’s attack on DWSD 

By Diane Bukowski

 September 14, 2011 

DETROIT – Residents packed the City Council chambers Sept. 14 to demand that its members act aggressively to stop U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox’s move to seize Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), announced Sept. 9. (Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/12/911-in-detroit%e2%80%94terrorist-judge-cox-strikes-water-department/ to read about Cox’s attack.) 

Chris Griffiths demands that City Council take action against water takeover

The Council held a closed session to consult with attorneys Sept. 7 on the matter and is expected to hold more. Councilwoman JoAnn Watson and others have demanded that the Council hire its own attorney to file suit, in light of Mayor Dave Bing’s ongoing collusion with both Cox and retired Judge John Feikens in carving up the Department. 

Tom Barrow, who exposed blatant fraud as a candidate in the 2008 mayoral election and has now formed the group Citizens for Detroit’s future to challenge this November’s election on the City Charter, boomed out a challenge to the Council. 

Former mayoral candidate Tom Barrow, who opposed privatization of city assets and jobs

“A Republican judge using an embedded Republican facilitator sitting in the Mayor’s office has taken our water department, which we own and control,” Barrow said.

“This Council must act to file its own lawsuit. I  urge this body to stand up . Cox is not himself above the law. Recall how they took our Cobo Hall and once they got it they took every minority vendor out of Cobo Hall. Councilpersons, Council president, you are our last hope. Fight back resist  or we will as a city will be left to die.”

Whether the Council will vote to do so immediately is questionable. Cox designated Council President Charles Pugh and President Pro-Tem Gary Brown, along with one Water Board member, to conduct a 60-day study to address DWSD’s alleged failure to adhere to federal Clean Water Act requirements, or face a “more intrusive remedy.” 

Local 207 President John Riehl, center, with attorney George Washington at right and Secretary-Treasurer Mike Mulholland, at earlier press conference announcing lawsuit against Synagro contract

John Riehl, president of Local 207 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), represents the majority of DWSD workers. 

“We plan to file for intervenor status in federal court,” Riehl said. “We will be glad to meet with the Council to let them know what we know about problems in the department, and how to resolve them. We support the Council’s move to retain its own attorney to fight this heinous attack.” 

Feikens earlier denied the union’s attempt to intervene in the case, but Riehl said Cox has now directly involved the unions, since he has ordered complete abrogation of DWSD union contracts. 

Last DWSD Director Pamela Turner

Riehl told VOD earlier that despite Cox’s claims to the contrary, the Water Department is currently hiring dozens of new workers, including plant operators, to increase its capacity to comply with the Clean Water Act, and is functioning very well, even without a director. He said federal oversight of the department deliberately set it up to fail by cutting staff, not filling vacancies, and alienating capable administrators such as its last director, Pamela Turner, who ended up resigning.

Local 207 has long fought the decimation of the department, meeting constantly with City Council and submitting lengthy analyses and recommendations. 

(Below is video of part of the meeting taken by Kojo, whose YouTube channel is at BBCUFI.)

“We oppose any decision by Cox to take away control and ownership of DWSD,” Dempsey Addison, president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE), said. “That’s 5,000 city jobs at stake, 5,000 members who pay into our pension system. If we lose the Water Department, our bond ratings will go down the toilet and we will no longer be able to borrow money for the rest of the city.” 

 DWSD, which is an enterprise agency separate from the City’s general fund, has always had stellar bond ratings on Wall Street, until recent controversy over the takeover caused the ratings agencies to drop them slightly. Meanwhile, the city itself has been consigned to junk bond ratings for some time.  

Raphael Robinson (center) tells Council DWSD can produce city's electricity too, as Cecily McClellan (r) listens

APTE Vice-President Cecily McClellan told the Council, “The Water Department has been under federal oversight for 34 years. It is ludicrous and disingenuous to believe that a 60-day study will do something that has not been done in that time. If we lose the water department, we will lose the city as a whole. The suburbs want the department’s revenues, its jobs and its contracts. But we need them, we OWN the Water Department, we PAID for it.” 

Raphael Robinson, a DWSD professional retiree, said he trained Water Department operators and currently is an advisor for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the American Water Works Association. 

DWSD North Service Center Booster Station

“DWSD produces one of the best products in the world,” Robinson said. “Its employees are some of the best trained in the world. Its huge systems of booster pumps and lifts at plants all the way to Port Huron are also capable of generating electricity, not only for the department but for the surrounding residential areas.  We can sell electricity to DTE rather than pay them for it.” 

Lynna Kaucheck, of the national organization Food & Water Watch, and also a member of the People’s Water Board, said regionalization of DWSD as planned under Cox’s proposals, is the first step to complete privatization.

Lynna Kauchek of the national organization Food and Water Watch (right) joins other speakers to demand action against water takeover

“We have found that a human necessity like water is far better owned and controlled by a public entity, not money-hungry private corporations,” Kauchek said.

Tyrone Travis called Cox’s move nothing but “ethnic cleansing” or “negro removal.” 

“State genocide can only be fought outside the box, not within the system,” he said. “That was shown in India, China, Russia and in Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights movement. We have got to get out to the neighborhoods to mobilize the people.” 

Mayor Dave Bing announces "Consent Agreement" under Judge Cox Feb. 11, 2011 giving away Detroit control of Water Board, as Macomb County Water Commissioner Anthony Marocco, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, and Oakland County Water Commissioner John McCulloch chomp at the bit for revenues, contracts and jobs

DEMONSTRATION TO STOP DWSD TAKEOVER IN FRONT OF WATER BOARD BUILDING SEPT. 7, 2011

 Watson wants Detroiters to pack council chambers Sept. 13;

Other fightback campaigns in the works 

By Diane Bukowski 

September 11, 2011

U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox

DETROIT – U.S. District Court Judge Sean F. Cox hit Detroit’s water customers and workers with his own 9/11 terror attack Sept. 9. He wrested away the city’s most valuable asset, its Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), in order to turn it over to suburban-based corporate interests lock, stock and barrel, without a cent of compensation to the City of Detroit. 

Cox’s order anticipates complete separation of the appointed Board of Water Commissioners (BOWC) from Detroit’s government. Meanwhile, it overrides the CityCharter and Home Rule under the state constitution, negates Civil Service provisions, and abrogates DWSD union contracts. (Click on DWSD Cox order 9 9 11  to read entire order.) 

Instead of facing final approval by the Detroit City Council, water rates and contracts would be determined solely by a supermajority of the seven-member BOWC. The supermajority provision, included in a February Consent Agreement, gives veto power to the BOWC’s three representatives chosen by Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties. 

Protesters at Feb. 23 mass rally in Lansing

Cox set a cursory 60-day period for Mayor Dave Bing, City Council President Charles Pugh, President Pro-Tem Gary Brown, and one Water Board member to devise a plan to remedy the department’s alleged failures to comply with the Clean Water Act, that meets HIS satisfaction, or face a “more intrusive remedy.” 

“In [devising the plan], they shall not be constrained by any local Charter or ordinance provisions, or by the provisions of union or other contracts,” Cox said. “If these local officials fail to devise and propose a workable solution to remedy the underlying causes of the serious and recurrent violations of the Clean Water Act in this case, this Court will directly order a more intrusive remedy.” 

Cox ordered the city officials to report back to him by Nov. 4. 

Members of the community and water department workers have reacted with furor. 

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson calls for fightback against water takeover Sept. 10

City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said the Council is meeting in closed session Tues. Sept. 13 at 9 a.m. to discuss Cox’s order with attorneys. She asked Detroiters to pack council chambers at 10 a.m. to insist during public comment that the Council fight the order in court and elsewhere. 

“Somebody has decided they don’t want Black folks in control of the city,” Watson said. “They don’t want us to have self-determination, local control, or local power. The water department is Detroit’s most significant asset other than its people. It can’t be handed away or negotiated away. The suburbs already have county representatives on the board, that is enough of an olive branch. They should not demand nor receive ownership of our water.” 

Mike Mulholland, Secretary-Treasurer of DWSD’s largest union local, AFSCME 207, said, “They want our water because in the wake of global warming water is becoming a scarce resource, it is like gold.” 

AFSCME Local 207 officers Mike Mulholland and Lekita Thomas; Thomas said white Homrich contractors repeatedly use the "n" word at DWSD facilties

He said the union wants the City Council to hold a public hearing on the takeover to mobilize the community. One way to fight back, he said, would be a mass worker-community occupation of the Water Board building similar to that conducted by teen mother students at Catherine Ferguson Academy in February. That takeover received world-wide support. 

“Detroiters have built, paid for, maintained, and operated their public water system for nearly 200 years and currently provide about four million people with some of the best quality tap water in the country, if not the world,” Lynna Kaucheck of Food and Water Watch said during a protest at the Water Board building on Randolph Sept.7. “Our national research shows that such takeovers and privatization have on the average led to a fifteen percent increase in water rates per year, while service has declined.” 

The 60-day period in Cox’s order appears to be a concession to legal precedents he cites, which set minimal limits on federal overrides of local control. Macomb County proposed the “more intrusive remedy” of complete separation of DWSD in a motion Aug. 8 in response to Detroit’s motion to end federal oversight of DWSD. 

Steve Seckler, Chairman and Founder IMG

Federal oversight involving hundreds of plans and studies has existed for 34 years, resulting in billions in private contracts and cost overruns, and billions more in bond debt to finance the contracts. It has led to the deliberate dismantling, privatization and attrition of the DWSD workforce despite constant union objections, on the advice of private consultants like the Infrastructure Management Group IMG), handsomely paid for out of DWSD revenues. IMG is an ardent advocate of privatization of water utilities.

U.S. District Court Judge John Feikens originated the DWSD consent decree in 1977. He kept tailoring it to benefit outsiders, even appointing a “Business Leadership Group (BLG)” composed of Bing, DTE CEO Anthony Earley, DWSD contractor James Nicholson of PVS Chemicals, and others with money to gain from lucrative DWSD contracts and privatization. 

Under Feikens’ oversight and that of Mayors Kwame Kilpatrick and Dave Bing, up to 40,000 Detroit families have faced water shut-offs every year, ironically leading to a conclusion by former DWSD Director Victor Mercado, now under federal indictment, that the “demand” for water had dropped. 

Atty. David Ottenwess, DWSD Special Master and Cox campaign contributor

 But Feikens continually stressed that he would not exercise federal authority to take absolute control of the department away from Detroit, which Cox has just done. 

Cox has appointed his long-time associate Attorney David Ottenwess as “Special Master” during the current period of federal oversight. Ottenwess’ only qualifications appear to be that he heads a law firm that defends hospitals and doctors from malpractice lawsuits, and contributed handsomely to Cox’s campaign for Circuit Court in 1996. Another major contributor was the peripatetic James Nicholson of the BLG, also a major contributor to Kilpatrick’s second campaign.

The City of Detroit had proposed to replace federal oversight with a July 8 Consent Order with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for federal oversight, but Cox denied the city’s motion, claiming DWSD had again breached Clean Water Act requirements. 

DWSD workers Andrew Daniels-El holds city charter at Call Em Out meeting Jan. 28, 2009

He repeatedly laid the blame almost exclusively on city personnel and purchasing practices, including union contracts, City Council approval of rates, and set-asides for minority-owned businesses. He cited a litany of reports, including a 2008 IMG report. 

“The report found several problems in terms of human resources and staffing,” Cox said. “IMG noted that there is ‘an alarmingly low number of certified operators for the size and complexity of the DWSD wastewater treatment plant, which is one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the country.’ (Id. at 8). 

“It also found that civil service rules and union rules and agreements compound the problems with recruiting and retaining qualified staff. (Id. at 10-11). It stated that“[i]n terms of governance, City Council maintains control over all employment matters. All employees of DWSD, with the exception of the Director and Deputy Director, fall under the City of Detroit Civil Service. Job descriptions, pay rates and classifications are all subject to input and approval by the Civil Service Commission (CSC),” and “[a]ny changes to job descriptions must also be reviewed by unions.” (Id.) Because of these constraints, the DWSD has “limited control over who gets hired, what they get paid and job classification revisions.” 

Henry Ford, a known Nazi sympathizer, received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle July 30, 1938, his 75 birthday

Cox cited a 2009 “Consensus Action Report” by the Engineering Society of Detroit, whose members have included such major corporate profiteers as Alex Dow, Henry Ford, Henry Ford II, Lee Iacocca, Albert Kahn, Keith Crain, and C. Richard Wagoner, Jr. 

Cox says, “In addressing practices in purchasing, the Consensus Action Report noted “[t]he often  eedless labyrinth of process and procedures required to award a significant contract.” (Id. at 9). It further stated, “[i]n a word, the City’s Purchasing Department was in the dark, after the fact and out of the loop regarding much of DWSD’s purchasing activities leading to formalistic and bureaucratic procedures that treated symptoms and not causes.” (Id.). It further stated that “bidding procedures introduce problems, as well. There are significant difficulties in obtaining clearances and certifications, and the number of levels of management approval needlessly burdens the process. What appeared missing was a management communication and process linkage that could address the inefficiencies and hurdles to the timely and cost-effective purchase of the staffing, parts and capital needs of DWSD and WWTP.” (Id.).

Detroit youth at Lansing rally demand jobs and businesses for their people

 Clearances and certifications include guarantees that contractors have paid their city taxes and do not discriminate in their work force practices. Cox further condemns the existence of City Council approval of all contracts over $25,000, as well as city emphasis on the hiring of Detroit-based and “minority-owned” companies. (See article below on the recent scurrilous, racist Fox 2 News attack on the Black-owned Bankston Construction, combined with glorification of the white-owned behemoth Homrich Corporation, which lost a water contract to Bankston.) 

As this article went to press, union and community officials were still devising strategies on how to deal with Cox’s order. The order, reached early on Sept. 8, was not announced until the end of the day Sept. 9, and received minimal press coverage as a result. 

STAY TUNED TO VOD FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. For further information, contact:

AFSCME Local 207: 313-965-1601, 313-919-5011, 313-995-5691

Lynna Kaucheck, Food & Water Watch: Cell: (586) 556-8805, Email: lkaucheck@fwwatch.org

Posted: 2011/09/09
From: Mathaba

By Dennis South

The Libyan people, gathered in their popular congresses and committees, are the Jamahiriya founded by Muammar Qaddafi, and are the legal de jure and de facto government of Libya. They still control the vast majority of Libya unlike what the Hilary Clinton media and NATO would have you believe.

There are no longer any independent journalists in Libya other than those working for and reporting to Mathaba under difficult conditions with communications being monitored by NATO which is seeking via its ground forces to eliminate those reporting the truth.

The popular masses, endured 6 months of non-stop bombing by NATO and now also ground invasion forces of Al-Qaida along side British SAS with water supplies cut off, super markets in Sirte bombed along with the Friday prayers on Eid, massacres with thousands dead, all unreported in the world media.

In spite of these most cowardly forms of trying to enforce an entire population of over 6 million to surrender and accept the NATO-led heretics of Al-Qaida and other extremists as the “new government” of Libya, directed by Hilary Clinton and the U.S. State Department, the popular masses still control the vast majority of Libya with the foreign forces and puppets limited to Benghazi and some parts of Tripoli.

Where NATO has not shut down communications the citizens are terrorized by the vicious armed thugs who help themselves to peoples homes and plunder, rape and steal.  Now, information comes in in bits and pieces, occasionally.  Before, when there were a wide variety of sources of information coming from inside Libya, we had heavy corroboration.  That is not the case now but little has changed: the enemy forces control not even Tripoli which is why meetings of the foreign puppet masters still take place in Paris.

Reports from Mathaba, Syrian radio, the Leader himself, Dr. Ibrahim, are the most reliable. There is much that will be coming to light in the coming weeks and months which will shock the world, or those who care, and the scale of the suffering caused by the NATO and its rebels to a population which enjoyed the purest form of democracy in the world, which allowed them to assign themselves all the benefits that control of national resources allows: free health care, free education, free housing, free electricity and more besides.

Ownership of government by the people, by the people themselves being the government by way of legislative people’s conferences and executive elected people’s committees, allowed Libyans to attain the highest standard of living in all Africa and higher than Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. They even had enough to spare $32 billion for a $42 billion project to free the entire continent of Africa from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, with that money now stolen by the U.S.

And additional over $100 billion from the Libyan Sovereign Wealth fund has also been stolen, and Libya had 144 tons of gold reserves and was calling for payments for oil in gold and not worthless debt-printed U.S. dollar bank notes, as well as sponsoring the creation of an Africa-wide gold dinar and “Afro” currency.

These, argue analysts, are some of the real reasons for the war against Libya, with Sarkozy having said that Muammar Qaddafi and Libya’s plans created a threat to the “financial security” of the international community — the international community being the phrase used as always for the banking elite, not the world community of people of all nations.

However, precisely because of the strength of Libya and her people who carry defensive arms — at least one million are armed with AK-47 Kalashnikovs for the event of any invasion — it has taken NATO six months of non-stop bombing and ongoing, in what will go down in military history as the most heroic and under reported war of all time, in which the world’s largest armies have failed to achieve their objectives.

Prime objective of NATO and her ground troop rebels and mercenaries, has been and remains, the elimination of Muammar Qaddafi — a rare visionary who has lived to see his dream come true of empowering the people so that they control government, wealth and arms. Another vision he has is of the United States of Africa, free from want, hunger, need and the plunder and meddling of outsiders.

That dream looks set to be achieved, with the inevitable collapse of the bankrupt west which is leading the grab for African wealth by attempting to control its strongest point of defense — Libya — and the rise to popularity not only within Africa where Qaddafi was already a legend in every remote village, but throughout the world, where people are discovering the truth about Libya and sharing it.

The Qaddafi’s ideology and movement, has given birth to people’s conferences worldwide, and new initiatives to bring to account those who have committed crimes against humanity. The media war being waged by showing a few thousand rebels in often faked settings, may fool many people, but those with intelligence have seen through the obvious lies and cannot be fooled again.

A report by Eugene Gajvoronsky which appeared in Russian confirms what we have been reporting all along, that the Libyan Jamahiriya remains and controls the majority of Libya, and that the Libyan army and defense forces too remain intact as well as the resistance led by Muammar Qaddafi and some of his sons, and notable his daughter Aisha, who is a soldier leading committed to destroying Al-Qaida.

Below follows a very rough rushed translation of the Russian report:

Tripoli: There is fighting, using artillary, in the northwestern suburbs.  In Salah Edden, three NATO-rebel jeeps were destroyed with 6 artillery shells.  Progress is being made in the southern suburb area of Azzawiya by the heavily armed soliders of Khamis al-Gaddafi.

Bani Walid: After failing to convince sheikhs and tribal elders of Bani Walid to surrender, the rats decided to not attack the city at this time.  The defenders of Bani Walid are confident in their abilities, and are determined to fight against the colonial coalition [NATO] to the end.

There have been as many as 7 different conflicting reports about the number of NATO-rebel that have attempted to besiege Bani Walid.  It has also been learned that yesterday, there was an unsuccessful attack on the city by the NATO-rebel alliance, which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of NATO-rebel by the defenders of Bani Walid.

A NATO-rebel convoy called was ambushed, and 14 NATO-rebels were killed. 

Sirte: The bombing of Sirte is non-stop. The sources of food in the city have been bombed by NATO. The remote city is besieged with only men being allowed out who are then shot or imprisoned, with women and families forced back. This is an incredible war crime taking place to starve and thirst and entire town and bomb it from the air along with missiles and sound bombs. Where is the international outcry, and where is the media coverage of this siege. It is also reported that hundreds of people were massacred in bombing of the Eid prayers at the end of Ramadan. The entire city is being made to pay the price of slow painful death for refusing to give up their democracy as well as their loyalty to Muammar Qaddafi who originates from this place.

There is fighting in Azzawiya.  ITAR-TASS gave a report on the atrocities that are being committed by the NATO-rebels in this city.  It is claimed that the Libyan Defense Forces used tactical SCUD missiles against NATO-rebel forces in Misrata.

Benghazi: It is worthy to highlight what is going on in Benghazi.  Social chaos exists between four centers of power in Cyrenaica (the east of Libya): The Obeid tribe, the Haruba tribe, the Islamist gangs and the Middle Eastern mercenaries (from Qatar, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, etc).  It appears that this chaos has reached a critical mass.  There are reports of clashes between different factions of the NATO-rebels there, and even the use of NATO air power against the NATO-rebels of Benghazi.

It is possible that the tribes of Cyrenaica have decided that it is time to liberate all of Libya, and to join the union of tribes that support the Libyan Jamahiriya.  The wind of change is thus blowing in favor of Muammar Qaddafi and the Jamahiriya.

Algeria: Algeria is going to send humanitarian aid to Libya.  Syrian and Algerian computer hackers attacked the website of the Al-Jazeera television station which has been subservient to the Emir of Qatar where it is based, the Emir being a rent-boy prostitute of Hilary Clinton according to detractors of the dictator.  The governments of Mali and Niger are concerned about the appearance of armed men who might destablizie their areas, while Africa gears up to send support for Libya to repulse the NATO-led Al-Qaida.

In the last 72 hours, the Libyan Armed Forces killed at least 128 rebels and 25 vehicles, including 2 tanks, the report said.  According to various estimates, from 70 to 80 percent of Libyan territory is under the control of the Libyan Armed Forces and the tribes that are loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, the report concluded.

The original article is here. 

About Dennis South

I have been serving, for 43 years, the cause of helping to create a new, balanced and peaceful world.

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