Saving One Life Is Important

Change.org

Child abuse victim Terry Williams killed the man who raped him for five years -- now Terry faces the death penalty in three weeks. Help stop his execution.

Sign Sue's Petition

Terry Williams is facing the death penalty in three weeks for killing the man who

repeatedly raped him.

But when Terry was convicted, the jury didn't know the whole story.

At the time of his trial, jurors say they had no history or background of the sexual

assault and abuse that Terry Williams had suffered for years.

Terry was brutally raped for five years, beginning when he was thirteen, by an older

man he trusted -- Amos Norwood. When the jury learned his information after the trial,

five jurors came forward to say that they no longer supported his death sentence.

Even Norwood's widow has forgiven him, and does not want Terry to be executed.

Sign the petition on Change.org asking Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania to stop Terry's execution scheduled on October 3 -- click here to add your name.

"When I heard about Terry Williams' life and his legal case, I knew I had to do what

I could to stop the scheduled execution of a man who should not be on death row and

would not be on death row had the jury heard all the relevant evidence," said Sue

Osthoff, Director of the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women,

a Philadelphia-based organization that assists victims of abuse and trauma who have

been charged with crimes related to their abuse.

Like many of the victims of abuse Sue assists, Terry was repeatedly victimized. For

Terry, that abuse by older males in his life started when he was only six years old.

Despite continuing to suffer sexual abuse for the next twelve years,

Terry received no counseling or support to help him deal with the repeated violence

he endured.

 In fact, some of the people who were supposed to help were the ones who actually

preyed on him.

None of this information was presented to the jurors during Terry's sentencing; had

it been, Terry would not be on death row.

The public outcry for Terry's clemency is growing.

 A broad coalition of people has joined the jurors and victim's widow in asking that

Terry’s sentence be commuted from death to life. Those calling for Terry’s life to

be spared include a growing list of child advocates, victims' rights advocates, former

prosecutors and judges, law professors, mental health professionals, and faith leaders

across Pennsylvania.

Sue Osthoff is very familiar with stories like Terry's. She started this petition

because she believes that if the jury had all of the evidence, they would not have

sentenced Terry to death.

Join Sue in calling on Governor Corbett to spare Terry Williams' life for killing the man who raped him.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Emilia and the Change.org team

This email was sent by Change.org to

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First Time Going to Deaf Chat Blind

Too Large an Experience to Name

I have no idea what to call this true story.  Amazing me would be close, but I Hate it when I'm just going about the business of life as best I can and people without disabilities call me Amazing.  What they don't know and can't admit, because it scares the crap out of them is that if forced to, they too would do what I am and maybe a Lot More.

The only reason I'm amazed is that I did something which terrified me.  If you were in my shoes it might Not terrify you.  There is no way for either of us to know what you would eventually do.

So, what's the big deal?  First (laughing to Myself as I write) I have to fix the setting. 

Because I and my TASL instructor have both gone to a weekly ASL. Class they are hiring a new instructor, or trying to.  So class is canceled for Oct., a drag.  But they have the "Deaf Chat" at a small pizza place in Springfield.  My instructor promised to come and I (much to my horror) promised to go also.  I Really Did Not Want to go!  A cab ride, sighted deaf people who might or might Not be willing to let me touch their hands, heads, outsides of their shoulders.  And my teacher has some usable vision, in a tiny field, straight ahead of her.  She told me to wear black so she could watch my hands move against a solid background.  I guess if I were a dark skinned African American I would have been asked to wear solid white.

I simply didn't have any idea what to expect.  Just to begin with, I used to see colors for part of my childhood and Love brilliant colors.  At night, since I can't see at all I want to make Damn sure others Can see me.  So I compromised.  I wore a black shirt and crinkle skirt with what Ann and I used to call her "sunset shirt".  It has pinks, reds, oranges, and purples which all work together.  I wore that shirt like a jacket as it's cotton gauze and could be pushed back on my shoulders when talking with my hands.  And I wore bright earrings which reflected some of those colors. 

Just before it was time to call the cab I had a Big panic attack.  I seriously considered taking a mild anti-anxiety drug I am prescribed.  But I was scared it would interfere with my ability to focus and pay attention, which is necessary when immersed in another language than your own.  So I didn't take it.

I knew I wanted a woman cab driver but was so rattled I forgot to ask when I put in an advance order for the cab.

Great, riding with some guy I didn't know and might not be able to hear well or understand.  And when he came he had been given the wrong address by the dispatcher so he just sat in the street and honked.  Was this my cab or one of my neighbors?  If it was a cab driver, didn't he see my white cane?  Why didn't he call out "Did you call a cvab?" or something?  Guess it just didn't occur to him. 

So I gradually started walking toward that car, listening for a cab company radio, couldn't hear it, of course.

I don't know what the dude was looking at but it Wasn't me.  About the time I got parallel with his back door he suddenly jumped out of the cab, noticing I am blind, and asking if I needed help.  I felt like saying "Daah, not NOW!",but was too busy being afraid and hypervigilant, to the best of my ability, all antenna up!

When I cautiously began opening the car door I Could hear the cab radio and got in.

He had some trouble finding the place and thought it was a bar.  Oh shit, was it?  I was told it was a pizza joint.  It wasn't a bar but they did serve beer with the pizza.  Was I going to have to put up with grabby drunks?

I went in.  There was a line.  I walked up until my cane gently bumped a foot and apologized.  It was SO Noisy I couldn't tell What was happening.  Just had to keep slowly oozing forward until I reached the counter.  This wasn't a name brand pizza store with a hostess to take people to seats, was it a cafeteria?  There was no way to tell from the racket.

When I got to the counter I explained that I'm totally blind and losing my hearing.  So please explain to me how things work here, do I order here or move somewhere else?  Luckily, ordering and paying were done at the same counter.  Then the kind woman behind the counter allowed me to hold her elbow lightly and led me to a table where I sat alone with my heart pounding.  When I said I had come for the "Deaf Chat" she said, "Well, the room's full of um."  Oh Great!  Now what?

Aboutt 7 or 8 minutes later, as I thought about my heart pounding and nursed my diet coke, (it's not safe for a totally blind person to drink with strangers) I felt a Familiar pair of Hands!  My instructor began a formal greeting when I grabbed her and hugged her, signing that I was scared.  She hugged me back and skipped the greeting.

Then she led me to her table.  While waiting for food we talked about the key chains she had made at my request for a friend and me.  She told me the colors of each and I paid her for them.

There was no online menu for this place, so I called before going to ask what they served besides pizza.  The man said they served hot  wings and breadsticks, the usual  things, only he didn't mention the beer.

I ordered the wings.  Spicy unfried chicken I could dip into a sauce if I chose, right?  Nope, they were Drenched in sweet catsup-like barbecue sauce, only it was both thicker and more sticky than catsup.  And I was going to talk with and read other people's Hands?  Now what?  Yah, I'll take them home, not eat here.

Somehow I had espected this quieter room where a group of deaf people met each Friday night to socialize.  The TV was blasting, the beer drinkers were roaring with good spirits before the night was over, only the deaf  people engaged in serious conversations  were quiet.  I had expected my teacher would talk a lot with me.  She did at first, then insisted that I EAT, she had already and needed her hands free to talk with our table mates.  She handed me a Big pile of napkins as thin as toilet paper and that pile Wasn't bit enough to deal with the Sauce!  But I ate.  Are you rolling on the floor yet?  I nearly am now that I'm home safe.

More napkins were stored in my purse and used.  Then I pulled some ice out of my coke, (diet soda isn't sticky) and washed my hands and face with it.  The last of that cube melted into the sauce pit in my deep tray of wing bones, a huge pile of napkins, and the Sauce!  I figured the waitress would just dump the whole wretched thing and not have to touch anything inside the tray the wings were served in.

I was clean enough then to sign to my instructor, "need to take a bath!"  She got a sighted lady to take me to the bathroom.  Quiet in there, too.  But I got a proper wash and as soon as I came out signed, "face is clean?"  She kindly looked then signed "Yes."  I felt much better.

After a bit my instructor got up and took me over to a lady I thought she knew.  Nope, this was socializing, Cold Turkey!  But the lady was Great.  She, like me, was quite hard of hearing but could speak and hear a bit.  She was a great lip reader, so I spoke as I signed, which I usually don't do with people who have grown up deaf.  She is 25 and was learning ASL to better communicate with her deaf boyfriend.  She taught me new words and asked me about myself.  I was surprised.  But I talked a bit about working with Rehab. For the Blind to sell items made by people with disabilities from all around the world.  This made her happy.  When she needed to go I spoke (same term is use for ASL as verbal speech) with a man who asked me if I had attended the state's school for the deaf.  I explained I had gone to a state school for the blind and read Braille.  He didn't know the sign for Braille, why would he?

I talked with a young man who went to a local high school.  He was learning both to read lips and closed captioning from having a number of TV sets all on the same program at the same time.  He was young and shy.  I can't remember how I got him to laugh but he said I was funny, then changed it to silly.  I said he was silly and we signed "yes you are" and "No, you are silly" for a couple of minutes. I signed that my mother was silly.   From there it Did get sily, anything I said became something to argue about, for the hell of it.  When I told him he liked to argue, there was another round of "yes you do" and "No, it's you".  I was laughing by the time that was done.  The young man was looking forward to driving and asked if I had a lot of money.  Hu?  He said he was broke and I said I was close to broke, electric bills were too high.  He agreed (no argument?) and complained about hiss bill too.

Then he told me it was night, dark, and he wanted to go to sleep.  We each agreed that it had been nice to meet the other and I wished him a good night.

I had never noticed so much difference in Hands before.  Some adult hands were so small I had a hard time reading them.  Every person made letters of the alphabet differently.  Some hands were so big I had to stretch mine to tell what the tips of the fingers were doing.  I forgot to cut my fingernails before going and had to be careful not to accidentally scratch anyone during conversation.  Some people had such short thumbs they couldn't make the letters in the way I have been taught and had to adapt them.  Other people had such short fingers that it was hard to tell the letter C from the letter E.  The very large hands had to be checked out carefully to see if the fingers Were curving or not.  I'm learning a lot.

  Someone led me back to my instructor's table.  We talked a bit more and I called a cab, with difficulty because of the noise.

A lady who had been talking with my instructor but who signed too fast for me to follow said she would watch for my cab.  I stood by the front door and she came for me when it pulled up.  Until I started to get into the car I didn't realize I was holding the elbow of a deaf guardian angel.  I mean that literally as he came outside to make sure the tiny lady guiding me and I were save and he took over, leading me to the cab.  Then I heard the driver talking from the car's front seat.  So I signed and spoke "Thank you" and he said "Ok" very softly.  I made sure to look at him and smile my thanks.

Got home at about 10:45.  Oh boy, into the house alone.  Dog was at the front door, a Comfort!  But after petting him I still went through swinging my cane viciously saying things loudly like, "Nope, no scumb hiding in the bathtub, this closet's too Packed for a fool to hide in . . . "  Totally silly, but a comforting ritual nonetheless. 

Then I fed the dog, took him out, and just Couldn't Believe what I had just done, with the moral support of my instructor but largely by myself.  I said a prayer of thanks as I realized I actually had Fun!  I decided Ann must be watching over me and thanked her, but a voice inside my own head said, "No."  So I thought of how much safer I'd have felt with Ann there, but then I also probably wouldn't have gone if I weren't so lonely and needing a Positive challenge.  Ann was incurably curious, though.  I might have gone because She wanted to.  But I don't know that I would have worked so hard at ASL if Ann were stil here, who can say?

A thing about being deaf-blind is that you carry in your very existence the worst fears of both groups.  Blind people tend to hear much more and more deeply than sighted people because we Have to listen better to survive.  In the same way deaf people see more and understand people they see more deeply because they Must use all of the sight they have to survive.  Only once tonight did I sign at someone who was too scared to answer.  Everyone else was extremely kind and gracious.  I am Deeply thankful!  In Cherokee, Ga-li-e-li-ga.  (I rejoice, I am Grateful!)

Didn't want to wake anyone up for such a long story, so am afflicting you.  That's why I began this blog, to have someone to talk to. 

If I go back it's got to be Pizza, which I didn't order this time for fear of making a mess with the cheese strings.  But it's strings over wings from Now On!

Do Your Dolls Look Like Your Insides or Outsides?

Once I asked a Phily Collector if she thought people generally liked dolls which looked like they did.  For kids I think this can be very important.

But what about us adults who get hooked on dolls? 

The answer I got was something like "No, not really."  But I still wonder.

Would a person who felt alienated from his/her society like action figures or dolls who represented this to them?  In other words, do people pick dolls which look like or represent their Inside?  Some people are Definitely attracted Only to dolls which look like them.  I know a blonde lady who grew up in California who Truly likes best only blonde Barbies with tans. 

But what about those of us who like best dolls Different from ourselves?  What do these dolls represent to us?  I've never had the privelege of meeting the Phily colector.  But as she has a lot of blonde dolls I wonder.  Is this person blonde, or is it just that she can part with some dolls more easily than others?  None of my business and I am Very thankful for that Perfectly Accessible link she put in her blog!  How Rare and Easy to read!

I have come to know that different kinds of dolls have different meanings to me.  Ann loved dolls with red or strawberry blonde hair, as her hair was curly and red when she was younger, a teenager.  As she grew up it became more auburn.  I didn't like all dolls (fashion dolls) having blonde hair and blue eyes when I was a kid, I had neither.  Now I have dolls with all colors of skin and hair.  But each type represented a specific thing to me when I was multiple.  As I grow older and continue to grow and change, the lines of representation blur more.  But I do wonder if anyone else has thought about this.  Is loving dolls which Don't look like you at all a sign on not loving oneself?  For kids I think the answer is probably yes. Is it the same for adults?

Signed, too Nosy.

They Lost Their Homes so Their Votes Won't be Counted?

Amazing!

Their Homes Were Foreclosed on so Their Votes Won't be Counted?

This is kicking somebody when they're already down.  Can't speak for you, but I don't Want any more elections like the one in 2000!  Please consider going to the organization's site and signing this petition.

(second time I've tried to post This, too.)

Rebuild the Dream

Anyone who lived through the 2000 election knows that every vote counts -- and razor-thin

margins are far from uncommon.

But what happens if, on November 6th, the voters who could decide the election are

simply... missing?

Many foreclosed homeowners don't know that their ballot might be challenged or thrown

out. Confusing rules -- many created after the 2008 crisis -- make it difficult for

voters in temporary residences to register and vote. It could block the votes of

the millions of Americans who have suffered through a foreclosure since 2008, with

disastrous consequences.

The Wall Street banks that caused all this have a responsibility to fix it.

Demand that Wall Street banks provide clear voter registration information to all foreclosed homeowners.

Hundreds of you chipped in to help us partner with the voter registration organization

Voto Latino on a campaign to inform and register underwater and foreclosed voters.

The folks at Voto Latino know what they're doing. Since starting in 2004, they've

reached an estimated 55 million Latino households nationwide.

Their efforts couldn't be more important this cycle. The swing states that could

determine the election have some of the highest Latino populations in the U.S.

They're also some of states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.

By buying up mortgages at record rates and selling them off under deceptive terms,

big banks created a massive housing bubble that boosted prices in swing states like

Nevada, Colorado, and Florida. Quite often, the folks writing the loans would scam

people into high-interest, adjustable-rate loans or promise that values would increase

forever.

When the house of cards came tumbling down, everyday Americans were stuck in homes

they suddenly couldn't afford. Millions lost their homes. Now, we need to make sure

they don't lose the ability to cast a ballot.

Add your name now.

Wall Street got bailed out, and now Main Street could get blocked out of the polling

booth. We can't let it happen.

Let's speak out now,

Ian and the rest of the Rebuild the Dream team

Their Homes Were Foreclosed on so Their Votes Won't be Counted?

This is kicking somebody when they're already down.  Can't speak for you, but I don't Want any more elections like the one in 2000!  Please consider going to the organization's site and signing this petition.

(second time I've tried to post This, too.)

Rebuild the Dream

Anyone who lived through the 2000 election knows that every vote counts -- and razor-thin

margins are far from uncommon.

But what happens if, on November 6th, the voters who could decide the election are

simply... missing?

Many foreclosed homeowners don't know that their ballot might be challenged or thrown

out. Confusing rules -- many created after the 2008 crisis -- make it difficult for

voters in temporary residences to register and vote. It could block the votes of

the millions of Americans who have suffered through a foreclosure since 2008, with

disastrous consequences.

The Wall Street banks that caused all this have a responsibility to fix it.

Demand that Wall Street banks provide clear voter registration information to all foreclosed homeowners.

Hundreds of you chipped in to help us partner with the voter registration organization

Voto Latino on a campaign to inform and register underwater and foreclosed voters.

The folks at Voto Latino know what they're doing. Since starting in 2004, they've

reached an estimated 55 million Latino households nationwide.

Their efforts couldn't be more important this cycle. The swing states that could

determine the election have some of the highest Latino populations in the U.S.

They're also some of states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.

By buying up mortgages at record rates and selling them off under deceptive terms,

big banks created a massive housing bubble that boosted prices in swing states like

Nevada, Colorado, and Florida. Quite often, the folks writing the loans would scam

people into high-interest, adjustable-rate loans or promise that values would increase

forever.

When the house of cards came tumbling down, everyday Americans were stuck in homes

they suddenly couldn't afford. Millions lost their homes. Now, we need to make sure

they don't lose the ability to cast a ballot.

Add your name now.

Wall Street got bailed out, and now Main Street could get blocked out of the polling

booth. We can't let it happen.

Let's speak out now,

Ian and the rest of the Rebuild the Dream team

My Petition for a More Accessible Internet

I wrote a petition to Change.org concerning the inaccessibility of many common internet sites.  I try to avoid drama, so don't know:  1.  If Change.org will help me with this petition by copying and pasting, or 2. If anyone will read or sign it, as it has no guttwrenching, tear jerking writing.

As this is my Second attempt to share my petition, I wonder if I should have left Google and Blogger out of the petition.  After all, not everyone is blessed to know a Tech. Savvy Wendi.  Well, below is my note, minus the slapping of the desk, swearing, and yelling I do at my poor helpless computer when the sites I go to are hopelessly Unfriendly to her.

I am a totally blind person with a severe hearing loss.  I use speech technology
and a Braille display to communicate online.  I cannot correct spelling or grammar
using change.org and this is why I ask for your help. Will you cut and paste the
petition below?
Petition for a More Accessible Internet
This petition will effect anyone who cannot read or learn from normally sized print.
The group I petition for include some people with learning disabilities, who learn
more easily from speech than from print.   Also included are people with vision impairments,
blind people and people who are deaf-blind.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is over 20 years old.  But the following situations
still happen Every day for hundreds of thousands of Americans, like me, who have
disabilities.
1.  You can't drive to the store but hear about a great sale.  So you get online
to Wal-Mart, Toys'r-Us, Target, or K-Mart.  After a couple of Hours you have filled
in search boxes, "combo" boxes, gone through many pages of Useless links and headings
yet you simply Cannot find what you need or want.
2.  You receive a wonderful E-mail add and try for hours to take advantage of it.
But all of the things listed above happen and you give up.
3.  You have a blog which you care about deeply.  But the host site changes its format
making it much harder or impossible to maintain.  Your voice online goes silent and
no one who reads your posts knows why.
4.  You must turn your computer's "screen reader" speech off to write a blog post,
or start a petition on change.org or do any filling in of boxes on a page appearing
on the computer monitor.  You can type without looking at the keys but you get interrupted
by the phone.  It is hard to find where you left off and if your finger slips, hitting
the wrong key, there is no way to correct a mistake in spelling or grammar.
A speaking computer doesn't read the screen in the same order as things appear on
the monitor.  So even if you turn the speech back on to find your place, from before
the interruption, you must turn it back Off to make the correction.  When you do
this, the cursor moves.  If you try to change a mistake, you may make another one
because your cursor has moved.
Why should you care? First, there Are accessibility guidelines for online websites
to follow and they Aren't being followed.  This is a broken promise by a nation which
promised us equal access more than twenty years ago.
It is more Frustrating than I know how to express!
Second, not being able to take advantage of sales costs those of us who cannot drive
or who would prefer to shop online money.  Or we may do without what we need or want.
People with disabilities who live on fixed incomes are often among the poorest in
the nation.
Third, for some of us who have disabilities the internet is a major source of communication
and we are often barred from communicating.
And fourth, not being able to easily correct spelling or grammar mistakes may cost
us jobs with online applications,  prevent us from saying what we want effectively,
and make us appear illiterate or foolish when this is Not true.
As our population ages more people will be encountering difficulties with sight and
hearing.  If they turn to speech or Braille they will learn suddenly that their Former
internet has just Shrunk dramatically.
I wish this petition to go to the Department of Justice and to the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission.  I also want it delivered to Wal-Mart, Toys'r-Us, Target,
Barnes and Noble, and K-Mart.
This isn't a life and death issue, but it is a Big  Quality of life issue for many
Americans like me, who have disabilities.
For a good example of an easily accessible site check out Amazon.com it is the only
shopping site many of the blind people I know use.

Small Personal Victory, Alligations of Large Corporate Crime!

So Blogger has changed its look.  And made itself  a bit harder to work with.  I am trying to find the s pot to type in labels.
 It is Never in the same place with speech or Braille as it is with a rodent.  The screen is read in a different order
by speech or Braille than with sight and a rodent.

Anyway, today I took my first taxi ride solo since Ann's death.  Not a big deal when I could hear better.  Then I took the bus and cabs alone.  But becoming more deaf, combined with being totally blind, added to the fact that I was spoiled and had a partially sighted and hearing partner to ride with for 20 years, I was scared.  But it really was no big deal, even though it Felt like one.  I went to a sighted deaf ASL class.  It's different than TASL to some extent, but we manage to make ourselves understood. 

My TASL teacher is coming to a "Deaf Chat" at a pizza place this Friday night and I will meet her and her sighted deaf boyfriend there.  I am starting to get out a bit.  Taxis are costly, so can't do it much and now have no one to shop with for fun.  But I need to make new friends and that means getting out.  I had been practicing ASL for "I need help going to the ASL. class, please."  (Me need you help me go ASL class please).  But when I encountered a hearing receptionist, I just said it.  In class a guy who had interpreted for me before came up to say hi.  The teacher had a deaf lady who worked at a deaf group home and could speak and read lips interpret for me.  She inntroduced me to one of her young clients but he felt too shy to talk hand to hand.  When she encouraged him to be polite he signed "too bad" to her.  So I signed "turkey" and he laughed.

But there were, as always, times when I had to sit and wait without an idea in hell about what was happening.  Comes with the territory and sucks!

When I am with blind people they may make fun of my needing tem to speak morly or a bit more slowly.  When I'm with deaff sighted people I'm just Lost sometimes, not knowing what is happening.  That is scary.  But I did it.

I cannot verify what is written below.  Unfortunately, I am not surprised.  But since the Supreme Court has ruled that a corporation has the same rights as a person, why isn't someone in Jail if it is true?

Talk about Scary, check it out.

Dole wants corporations to be able to get away with murder. Literally.

Dole

Tell Dole to immediately pull its amicus briefing from the

Shell Oil v. Kiobel

 case.

Sign the petition.

In five days, one of the

most significant Supreme Court cases

 of our time will decide whether corporations can literally get

away with murder.

In the name of profit and quashing dissent, Shell sanctioned extrajudicial killing,

torture, crimes against humanity, and the murder of outspoken author and playwright

Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria.

Corporations know that this case is precedent-setting, and so

corporations like Dole Foods are filing briefs in support of Shell

 to protect their own interests and make sure they can’t be held accountable for

human rights abuses abroad either.

Will you join us in telling Dole Foods to own up and immediately pull its amicus briefing from the  Kiobel v Shell  case?

Dole is vulnerable to public opinion, so we know they'll listen if enough citizen-consumers

like you weigh in. It knows that the stakes are high in the

Kiobel

 case: It has previously been accused of hiring a paramilitary organization that

was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in 2001 to provide

‘violent services’ for Dole’s banana operations in Colombia. These services include

murdering trade union leaders and intimidating Dole’s banana workers

 so that they would not dare to join unions or demand collective negotiations. The

paramilitaries allegedly also murdered small farmers so that they would flee their

land and permit Dole to plant bananas, and keep profits high.

The landmark Kiobel case could finally hold

Shell Oil accountable for sanctioning extrajudicial killing, torture, crimes against

humanity

, and the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa. But if corporations get their way next week, it

could permanently close a vital check on corporate power that makes sure corporations

are accountable to people.

Dole isn’t counting on a public outcry from members of the SumOfUs.org community,

but if we raise our voices together now, we can call out Dole for supporting Shell,

and can make it pull its amicus briefing from the court case.

Corporations should not be able to get in the way of justice, and Dole should know

that when it attempts to

protect corporate interests and power at the expense of human rights

, that we’ll come together and hold it accountable.

Sign our petition to Dole Foods now demanding that it immediately pull its amicus briefing from the  Kiobel v Shell  case.

Thanks for fighting for human rights and people over profits,

Emma, Taren, Kaytee and the rest of us

***********

Background Information

In Nicaragua and the Philippines, thousands of banana plantation workers were sterilized

by a toxic that was banned in the 1970s by the US Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA).

The pesticide, produced by Dow Chemical, caused asthma, cancer, miscarriages, and

sterilization.

Dole has also been accused of hiring a paramilitary organization designated a terrorist

organization by the U.S. government to intimidate and murder trade union leaders

and ensure they didn’t join unions or demand collective negotiations. The paramilitaries

allegedly also murdered small farmers so that they would flee their land and permit

Dole to plant bananas, and keep profits high.

What is an Amicus Briefing?

An amicus brief is a document which is filed in a court by someone who is not directly

related to the case under consideration. The most classic example of an amicus brief

is a document filed by an advocacy group such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

The additional information which is found in such a document can be useful for the

judge evaluating the case, and it becomes part of the official case record. Many

nations allow people or entities to file such documents with their courts.

The tradition of accepting amicus briefs comes from a larger concept, the amicus

curiae, or “friend of the court.” A friend of the court may be interested in a case

for various reasons, although he or she is not directly involved.

Who has submitted amicus briefings in the Shell v. Kiobel

 court case?

An extensive list of corporations have filed pro-Shell amicus briefs to the Supreme

Court. This includes Monsanto, Chevron, BP, Rio Tinto, Dow Chemical, Ford, pharmaceutical

giant Glaxosmith Kline, Proctor and Gamble, Honeywell, ConocoPhillips, IBM, General

Electric. It also includes right wing think tank the Cato Institute, and the U.S.

Chamber of Commerce.

Further reading:

Filipino Banana Workers Frustrated in Battle Over Dole’s Pesticides

, In These Times. August 15, 2012.

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.

 International Human Rights Clinic.

www.sumofus.org/

 SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

You can follow us on

Twitter

, and like us on

Facebook.

Perssonal again:  Trying to correct a spelling mistake in this is like playing "Hang Man."  Neither Braille nor speech will read anything I've posted to me.  Should have typed in Word then here.

And the most fun I had with Ann when we rode taxis was going "doll drewling".

Has anybody got spare Barboid purses they want to ditch?  I am Sick of sewing Tiny horrid purses by hand for the dolls I plan to sell!
 cearly

An Accessible Internet?

Trying out Blogger's new look (so they say) today.  It is with Thanks to Tech. Savvy Wendi that I can post at all!  Thought I would have to give up blogging for good, but she helped  me figure out how to Try and work with the new set up.  Those of you who are kind enough to read this will have to tell me whether it comes out looking like "word hash" or not.  I need to know.

According to the ADA, (Americans with Disabilities Act) there are certain standards of accessibility for disabled people which websites must meet.  And they generally don't.  What would an accessible internet mean?

For one thing it would mean I could shop online and save money at Toys'r-us, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or Target.  I cannot drive to these stores.  And when I use my screen reader to go to any of these sites there are so many links that it can take hours just to find One thing I want.  I want to give credit where it is do, Amazon.com has an accessible website just for screen readers.  It leaves out no important categories but does away with unnecessary material.  This site puts whatever I have searched for on the page that pops up next.  It is easy to find.  Even their regular site is usable, but slower.  I get messages on the regular site that "Internet Explorer cannot" do something or other.  But if I skip past all of those many times repeated messages, link by link or with headings, I do eventually find what I want.

Amazon doesn't Have sales, that I know of, so I pay a higher price for an accessible site.  But without it I would Never get a new doll.

So, shall I start a petition on Change.org for a more accessible Net?  I think, as the ADA is more than 20 years old, that it's about time!

I een had a hard time Unsubscribing to one of the sites named above which bombarded my mailbox with Tons of sales I'd have Liked to take advantage of.  So if I have the money, Amazon gets my business.

This situation is Very Frustrating!

With Blogger, I hope I can still write.  But I have found No way to correct spelling mistakes, even when I Know I have made one.  I'm not sure you can Imagine the annoyance!

I cannot see it but am told that "way down on the page" of Amazon's regular site there is a link to their Accessible site.  Check it out.

Here's Your Chance

What are you concerned about?  What scares you most about the future?  And what do you believe will help fix the world we live in?  What positive things can we do to build community?

If you want to pass on valuable suggestions, pass on what you've learned, or just tell the story of your under-employment, unemployment, or any other story, you've been asked.

The links below won't work from a blog and you will get more mail from this organization.  But you Can always unsubscribe.

Rebuild the Dream

If you'd told me years ago that this kid from Tennessee would end up appearing on

The View

 alongside music legend Prince and a Hollywood star like Rosario Dawson... I would

have said you were crazy. But it just happened!

Even more amazing: Next week, Rebuild the Dream is collaborating with Prince on a

series of concerts in Chicago on September 24th, 25th & 26th!

 We're organizing a Rebuild the Dream "village" at the concert to showcase sustainable

solutions to our nation's economic problems.

Dozens of organizations throughout Chicago will be participating in this celebration

of creativity, community, and collaboration. We'll have food co-ops, local artists,

civic organizations, community credit unions and many more ways for people to build

a more vibrant and sustainable future for Chicago. And we hope to take this dynamic

event on the road to other cities!

Want to learn more -- and see if tickets are still available? Click here to visit rebuildthedream.com/Prince now.

I know most of you can't make it to Chicago with only a week's notice.

There's another way you can get involved.

We're not just collaborating with Prince because he's one of the most incredible

musicians of any era. He shares this community's commitment to building a movement

that touches people's hearts, souls, and minds.

And the first step in building that sense of community is sharing our stories.

What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What are your fears about the broken

world we live in? What values, passed down through generations, guide you today?

We'll have story-sharing booths in the Rebuild the Dream village, but I'm hoping

this community will kick things off by sharing your stories today.

Take a moment to share now.

Stories can move us from anger to love, hopelessness to hope and create a shared

vision of the future. And with a shared vision of creativity and collaboration, we

can rebuild the dream.

I hope you're as excited as I am,

Van

P.S. --

 Want to support this type of work moving forward?

Chip in here to help.

Rebuild the Dream is a platform for bottom-up, people-powered innovations to help

fix the U.S. economy. You can

follow us on Twitter

, and

like us on Facebook

Does God Need Our Protection?

The following is a letter sent to the BBC.  If any of you kind readers are Muslim, maybe you can better help me to learn.

I am a member of a minority faith living in a predominantly fundamentalist Christian
area.  I am Frequently annoyed by people not thinking as they verbally trample over
what I believe.
I knew nothing about this obnoxious film mocking the Prophet Mohammed until the American
ambassador to Libya was killed with others, both Libyan and American.  I don't go
for looking for insulting garbage online or elsewhere.  I have not seen this film.
I confess ignorance and that is why I ask the following question.  If God is the
Mighty Creator of all beings who live, does He need people to Kill in His name to
defend His chosen Prophet?
When people trample over my beliefs I may tell them I don't appreciate it.  And sometimes
I don't bother, because I know they want to argue and win, not to be respectful or
learn.  What I have to remember is that those I believe in cannot be harmed by the
words or actions of others.  It is Me who gets angry or hurt feelings, not the Mighty
powers in which I place faith.
I have no problem with demonstrations of anger, saying, "For us this is unacceptable!"
But why Kill people and hold me and other respectful Americans responsible for the
offense, anger, and hurt created by one small group of Americans?  God will handle
this, will He not?
When people take violent action against a film or cartoon they Only draw attention
to it.  This kind of violent action makes people like me wonder What could have been
said or written?  It Increases the number of those checking out the hurtful and offensive
item to try and understand.  I will not watch this film or look for it online.  But
don't those who kill to protect the honor of the Prophet realize what they're doing?
They are deliberately demonizing people like me and they are making people Want to
read or watch the offensive item, in order to learn what caused such a reaction.
I do not believe God needs killers to defend Him or His Prophet.  So what is Truly
going on?

Two Unrelated Posts at Once

Two Posts in One

I have read about some of the conditions Chinese workers endure in factories making component parts for Apple.  In America we have already been through our industrial phase.  Our workers would never put Up with this treatment, as tyhey have in the past.  Illegal workers do sometimes suffer conditions as cruel.

Apple says it makes its products ethically.

It says that even the new iPhone that will be unveiled today will meet it's commitment

to the "highest standards of social responsibility".

But then how does Apple explain this report

 we got just last month from a worker in a factory in its Chinese supply chain?

Share this image on Facebook so everyone knows the truth about the new iPhone:

iPhone worker quote

Today there's going to be a lot of buzz about Apple's shiny new gadget. But if we

can create a different kind of buzz -- about the terrible working conditions faced

by factory workers in Apple's Chinese factories -- then Apple will feel the pressure

to finally keep its pledge of treating its workers ethically and paying them fairly.

So today we need your help getting to the word out about the real cost of the newly

announced iPhone 5.

If you're on Facebook, click here to share to share this graphic with friends.

email

 If you’re not on Facebook, simply forward this email to your friends and ask them

to go to

http://sumofus.org/post/iphone-5/?t=6&akid=800.80111.A30QIx

Back in January, in response to reports of repeated worker suicides, toxic working

conditions and rampant illegal overtime, SumOfUs.org launched a campaign to push

Apple to address reports of horrendous working conditions in its Chinese supply chain.

Over 200,000 of us raised our voices to demand that Apple make the iPhone 5 ethically.

That phone is being released today. In a few weeks, it will be on the shelves. But

the iPhone 5 is not an ethical iPhone -- not even close.

In response to the massive public outcry,

 Apple promised to improve

working conditions

, raise wages, and put an end to involuntary labor. The Fair Labor Association --

which is paid by Apple to investigate Apple -- quickly announced that there was rapid

progress at Apple’s suppliers. But

independent reports from as recently as last month tell a very different story.

Apple claims that it’s ending forced illegal overtime, but workers are simply required

to meet the same quotas within a regular shift -- meaning many have to work extra

hours without any pay at all.

“Apple claims wages are rising, but deductions for room and board have also increased,

as has unpaid overtime, so take-home pay has actually declined.”

. Meanwhile bosses are still abusive, unions are still overwhelmingly populated by

management, students are still forced to work in factories as part of phony “internship”

programs, and workers still lack any collective bargaining rights.

Suppliers like Foxconn abuse their workers because Apple demands that iPhones and

other gadgets be produced as cheaply as possible. But

Apple makes huge profits, and it can easily afford to treat its workers ethically

. And as the world’s largest company, Apple has the cash, the centralized supply

chain, and organizational heft to

drive improvements throughout the Chinese manufacturing sector

 by raising its own standards.

Together, SumOfUs.org members have already driven Apple to respond to reports on

working conditions in its supply chains. Apple clearly wants to look like an ethical

company, even though it isn’t acting like one yet. So

we need to keep up the pressure

until Apple finally follows through on its promises.

If you're on Facebook, click here to share to share the worker's quote with friends.

email

 If you’re not on Facebook, simply forward this email to your friends and ask them

to go to

http://sumofus.org/post/iphone-5/?t=10&akid=800.80111.A30QIx

Thanks,

Kaytee, Rob, Paul and the rest of us

********************************

Further reading:

Sweatshops are good for Apple and Foxconn, but not for workers

. Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, May 2012

Beyond Foxconn: Deplorable Working Conditions Characterize Apple's Entire Suplly Chain.

 China Labor Watch, June 2012

China Contractor Again Faces Labor Issues on iPhones.

 The New York Times, September 2012.

 SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations

accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

You can follow us on

Twitter

, and like us on

Facebook

My personal fear is that I will be among the first people sunk by government cutbacks.

But it seems that each time we have seen "trickle down economics" before, jobs Left.  I don't want this happening again.  I have never before donated money to a political campaign.  I believe that whoever is chosen to sit in the President's seat,  multi-national corporations will be doing a good deal of the driving.  So the question is, who will want to leave a positive historical legacy in his last term as President?  And who is likely to do the least harm?  I choose President Obama.  Actually sent his campaign a contribution.

Also am planning to send a contribution to the opponent of Mr. Akin, who claimed that in "legitimate rape" a woman's body just shuts down and she can't become pregnant.  Mr. Akin's opponent is a dead center politician.  But she is also a former prosecutor of rapists and knows that Mr. Akin's statement is wrong.  She believes in at least Some abortion rights for women.

Second Post, Unrelated to First.

Maybe it is meeting new people, or just time, I don't know.  But gradually I have mostly worked out of the guilt and self-hate I felt until pretty recently about Ann's death.  It frees me to miss her more, because I remember the fun we had.

It's kind of embarrassing to write about, but maybe some of you action figure and doll enthusiasts will understand.

Back in the days when 6 inch action figures cost $2 to $6, I collected some and Ann liked some of them.  One night we had an action figure battle.  We chose teams with roughly equal fighting skills, a karate expert for each side, a knife or claw fighter for each, a psy. (mind reader) for each side.  Then we had a huge battle for a couple of hours.  It finally ended when Angela, (from Spawn) had her head knocked off, I don't remember how.  Ann, the victor, was Horrified, as this was one of the $6 or maybe $7 action figures. I had so much fun just Playing that I laughed and didn't care.  We glued Angela's head back on but she can't turn it anymore.  Ann was reluctant to play with action figures after that.  But that joyous silly battle in which both of us laughed a lot is a fine gift of memory to have. 

Now each time I eat something good, or hear something interesting and positive I think, "Wish Ann was here to share this."

Sometimes I mentally try to transmit the good smell, taste, experience, to Ann, wherever she is.  And sometimes I just say aloud that I miss her and that it was a lot more fun when she was around.

One day I was out in the garden singing "I'm a mean green motha from outer space . . ." from the version of the movie "Little Shop of Horrors" where the lead singer from the soul group the Four Tops plays an evil plant from outer space.

 I remember Ann coming outside, cracking up and asking, "Do you realize what you're singing?"  I said yah, it seemed like a good gardening song to me.  Then Ann laughed harder, reminding me that we were in a trailer park and the neighbors could hear me singing.  I was right on key, but did tone it down for a bit, until I forgot again.  This time Ann just left it go and laughed.

Rape is NO Choice, Republicans Disagree?

I am not sure I'm right by urging my friends to vote for President Obama as I plan to do. But I found this article interesting.  Whenn I went to the link suggested I found that each statement was backed up by its own link.  There was a link to the Senator from MD., who is said below to have voted with Paul Ryan, Republican vice-presidential candidate against all access to abortion.  There are links to the other statements below about other Republican Congresspeople and about the Republican Party Platform.

If this Is the Republican Party official stance, then as a person who survived childhood sexual abuse I Have to vote against the candidates of that party who agree with this part of the platform!

I am not a one issue voter, not even in this case.  Despite talk radio's noises to the contrary, I think for the most part President Obama will act as a centerist.  We don't Get liberal talk radio in this part of the country, not through a Radio anyway.  So I'm not familiar with it. 

Frankly, we have a Democrat former President to thank for NAFTA and the subsequent moving of factories South, across the Mexican border.  Those jobs are gone.  So we must push President Obama, if he wins the elecction, to put Money where his mouth was during this campaign.  We must put More money into clean energy research and development!  We Have to train  workers with New skills. 

To me, this election looks like a choice between a mostly centerist Democrat and a Republican Party which would drag us back to "the good old days" in which women died From ilegal abortions and their families were shamed and shunned if the word got out.  The "good old days" were when no civil rights Movement had become public and Native Americans were dumped at the edges of city ghettos with a lot of government promises of jobs which never came true.  The rest, who stayed on reservation homelands were living in fear of "Termination", a government policy which took away all healthcare, other services, and subjected these rural ghettos to taxation by state, local, and Federal Government athorities.  Some of the tribes "terminated" never came back as tribes, but were scattered to the winds.  Guess who got the land?

In the "good old days" of the 1950's there was no Farm Workers Union and children brought here ilegally Always lived in hiding.  Farm workers and sharecropers were treated like near slaves.

In the Ozarks in the "good old days" I was washing my father's greasy work pants, (as a very young child) on a scrub board in wash tubs and hanging clothes out to freeze dry in the painful wind.  My sister was too.  We had no indoor plumbing, or no hot water which wasn't boiled first.  My dad was a self-respecting mechanic who wanted to look good each morning when he went to work.  He needed those clean clothes.

Children were the property of their parents, to be dealt with or disposed of as their parents saw fit.  Women were forced to shut up about having been raped.  After all, if they didn't Somehow "ask for it" it wouldn't have happened.  I'm not saying all people believed this, but it was the prevailing attitude across the country, not just here.  It was also true in St. Louis and Kansas City.

If a woman became pregnant, she had her baby and gave it up and was shunned unless she could afford to move.  Or she raised it, sometimes with resentment and hate.

It is true that some wonderful people are born of rape.  But so are some killers.  

Do we Really Want to take a step backward into all of those attitudes?  I don't.  And there is a harshness among many Republicans which I don't like.  Atheists aren't welcome.  Those who believe that Israel Must stop building settlements on Palestinian lannd are Certainly not welcome.  Non-Christians in general aren't welcome.  I don't want to go back to Those attitudes either.

Enough of a rant, although I am thinking and remembering, not trying to rant.  When people are afraid they tend to want to go back to what they remember as a "safer time".  This is normal.  But for so Many Americans and for those who Wanted to be included in helping to build the American dream it was NOT sa

fe! Blind people were begging on the streets, if they weren't piano tuners or basket weavers or chair caners.  We were subject to welfare worker raids in the cities to make sure we weren't "breeding" more blind people.

Normal fears of the changes around us and a desire to go back to what many remember as a happier time is understandable.  But change is inevitable, everything is impermanent.  And when we talk about the past in terms of prevailing social attitudes of the past, impermanence is a Good thing, I think.  

I think the best slogan at the part of the Democratic convention which I watched was about "move forward, not back."

The Republican Party's actual campaign platform states that there can

be absolutely no abortion exception even in the case of rape. So why

is their nominated presidential candidate lying and pretending he

somehow has some other position?

Tell them Rape Is NO Choice:

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1101.php

If the rights of personhood mean anything, surely they must include

the right of a woman not to be forcibly impregnated by a violent

criminal. But even that choice would be denied by Republicans from

top to bottom if they were to ever speak the truth. And when one

does, like Todd Akin, they act like they misspoke or it was some

aberration, but their voting records all show the same heartless

thing.

The Republicans' vice presidential candidate has voted lock step with

Akin on this multiple times. Rick Berg the Republican senate

candidate from ND voted to make abortion a homicide crime, even in

the case of rape. Then there is rape defender Mike Huckabee, who

argues that many wonderful people have been born through rape. And

did you know that the original "scientific" citation for Akin's

assertion that "legitimate" rapes don't lead to pregnancy was a Nazi

death camp "doctor"?

Please submit the action page above now to send an instant fax to

Congress, and to the Republican National Committee in particular,

with the message, "Rape Is No Choice."

Tell them Rape Is NO Choice:

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1101.php

And after you submit the action page above, we would love to send you

one of the new "Rape Is No Choice" bumper stickers we just created.

There is no charge for this, not even shipping, but of course if you

can make a donation of any amount, this is what makes if possible for

us to send free bumper stickers to anyone who cannot afford to make a

donation right now.

Rape Is No Choice Bumper Stickers:

http://www.peaceteam.net/all_bumper_stickers.php

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed

to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.

Contributions to The People's Email Network are not tax-deductible

for federal income tax purposes.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at

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