LOS ANGELES – The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today asked the FBI to turn over records related to the agency’s collection and use of race and ethnicity data in Southern California communities.

The request is one of 30 coordinated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by ACLU affiliates in states and the District of Columbia seeking to uncover records from the FBI field offices related to the “mapping” of ethnic communities in the U.S.

FBI guidelines on domestic intelligence, issued in 2008 but released only this year, authorize agents to collect information about and map so-called “ethnic-oriented” businesses, behaviors, lifestyle characteristics and cultural traditions in communities with concentrated ethnic populations.

“This is a clear example of ‘Muslim mapping,’” said Peter Bibring, staff attorney at the ACLU/SC. “Singling out individuals for investigation, surveillance, and data- gathering based solely on their religion or ethnicity is profiling, pure and simple. It’s disturbing that federal resources may be used on such an unconstitutional and ineffective approach. ”

The ACLU of Southern California helped defeat a similar example of religious and racial profiling in  2007, when the Los Angeles Police Department launched a program to “map” the location of local Muslim communities in an effort to pinpoint places where they thought that potential terrorist cells were likely to be located. The program was quickly scrapped after it provoked widespread community outrage and objections from the ACLU/SC and Muslim community and advocacy groups.

The FBI’s power to collect, use, and map racial and ethnic data to assist the FBI’s “domain awareness” and “intelligence analysis” activities is described in the 2008 FBI Domestic Intelligence and Operations Guide (DIOG). The FBI released the DIOG in heavily redacted form in September 2009, but a less-censored version was not made public until January of this year, in response to a lawsuit filed by Muslim Advocates. Although the DIOG has been in effect for more than a year and a half, very little information is available to the public about how the FBI has implemented this authority.

“The FBI’s mapping of local communities and businesses based on race and ethnicity, as well as its ability to target communities for investigation based on supposed racial and ethnic behaviors, raises serious civil liberties concerns,” said Michael German, ACLU policy counsel and former FBI agent. “Creating a law enforcement profile of a neighborhood based on the ethnic makeup of the people who live there or the types of businesses they run is unfair, un-American and will certainly not help stop crime.”

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, founded by novelist Upton Sinclair in 1923, is one of the oldest, largest, and most progressive affiliates of the ACLU, our nation’s guardian of liberty. The ACLU/SC works in the courts, legislatures, and communities throughout Southern California to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws. Visit www.aclu-sc.org.

Oprah is apparently,  a  disa-phobe.   Phony in  her ‘magnanimous mom’ way of  acting  like she’s cool with physical anomaly.

Maybe she’s only comfortable  with her own physical bag, the ‘large lady’ thing she truly DOES embrace. Then again,  HOW many diets has she  hyped?  See the inconsistency here?

I wouldn’t even bother except that this is the  20^th anniversary of the  passage of the  A.D.A,  The Americans  With Disabilities Act.   Not  exactly a good time  to be inquiring  of a new mom “Does he have all his fingers and toes?”  as  she did  just the other day on live TV, when a woman  in the audience was rushed to the hospital with a preemie baby unexpectedly announcing his arrival.

The FIRST words out of Oprah’s mouth were ‘Does he have all his  fingers and toes?”

I repeat this because I want to make myself clear on one thing on this auspicious occasion of remembering and honoring the re- authorization of a very big and important aspect of the original Civil Rights Act of 1964.  That the way we either choose to dignify diversity or  point it out as a ‘concern’ is a major part of the intent of the  A.D.A, passed  into law this week in  1990.

Yes, that’s right, the ADA is nothing more (nothing LESS!)  than a  reminder and  re- enervation  of that  most important legislation which put  ‘Equality’ and ‘American’ in the history books together.  But it was a necessary reframing of an issue that had become the ‘bastard child’ of the Civil Rights Movement.   True, People of  Color (Oprah?)  were the main issue, but a lesser known and therefore lesser enforced chunk of  that incredible legislation was intended to protect those of us who have  unconventional bodies.   The A.D.A had grown necessary because too many employers and  builders were simply ignoring the needs of the one in ten of us who have  unique talents.  I mean, special needs.

The sad truth was that, for decades in post industrialist/ public school America,  a person who used a wheelchair or needed extra time to complete typing class (like me, who wasn’t even allowed  to be in that class in the first place) would be ignored or excluded from  ordinary life activities and  employment  simply because our handicaps (icky word, I know) were perceived as being inconvenient  or  expensive to accommodate.

By re enforcing that smaller part of The Civil  Rights Act, we disparate and diverse ‘freaks of nature’ ( I say this with tongue in cheek and a loving heart), had our Day of  Recognition.  Because I and my then husband and co anchor at KCBS Los Angeles,  Jim Lampley, had worked hard to help create awareness for the A.D.A, we were invited to D.C. to receive the Bob Dole Foundation Award  as  way to say thanks for our efforts. It was a moment I will never forget, and one I WISH Oprah would remember.

I met Oprah a long time ago,  when I was invited to be on her show, covering a topic she seemed to like discussing ,before all that glam thing happened to her. This was the Old Oprah.  Her empathy on that episode was real;   I felt it.  This ‘old Oprah’ is the one I choose to remember.

Count my fingers and toes, and my children’s fingers and toes as whole and human.  No newborn should be subjected to  ‘digitizing’ baby body parts as ‘proof’ he or she is okay. Shame on you, Oprah!

Americans with Disabilities Act
ADA HOME PAGE

What’s New to ADA.gov
(Updated July 26, 2010)

Revised ADA Regulations Implementing Title II and Title III
(New July 26, 2010)

Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (New July 23, 2010)
Accessibility of Web Information and Services Provided by Entities Covered by the ADA
Movie Captioning and Video Description
Accessibility of Next Generation 9-1-1
Equipment and Furniture

View Via On-Demand Accessible Video on ADA.gov:

Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s
Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Friday, July 23, 2010

with Attorney General Eric Holder, former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, former Congressman Tony Coelho, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez, and presentations by ADA experts who played significant roles in the development and passage of the ADA in 1990.

Relive History: The Signing of the ADA, July 26, 1990

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On the House calendar for this week is a vote on a $33 billion supplemental bill to escalate the war in Afghanistan. The Senate did not accept the House version (passed without a vote on July 1st). The House will likely now vote on the Senate version or something close to it. This will likely mean something quite unusual: a straightforward vote in which yes means yes more war, and no means no.

Whether we block the bill or not, we will now be able to identify clearly and unambiguously the war supporters and war opponents. They will need to be punished and rewarded while they’re home for August and at the polls in November. If the majority of Democrats vote against the war funds, we will be able to point out that opposition from the President’s own party. And the closer we come to defeating the bill the more we will have to build on as the peace movement joins with the labor and civil rights movements this fall.

Our message is simple:

Vote no on funding this escalation of war, regardless of whether it’s a procedural vote, and regardless of any good measures attached to it.

FCNL has a toll-free number to call your representative: 1-888-493-5443, or use the standard number (202) 224-3121.

Pull U.S. Troops Out of Pakistan

The House is expected to debate and vote on Tuesday on a privileged resolution (HCR 301) introduced by Congressmen Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul to remove U.S. forces from Pakistan. The resolution directs the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove the United States Armed Forces from Pakistan. On this one we want to ask for Yes votes.

More info.

Call Congress (202) 224-3121.

I have never forgotten the conversation my mom and dad were having at the moment I woke up. My doctor was explaining to them that if I did fully recover, I would likely have several lifelong health problems; the most common being Rheumatic fever. I know my parents were, at that moment, unaware of my near wakefulness.  They spoke candidly, unguarded, vulnerable as children themselves in the face of the fear that they would not be able to afford even one more illness from me, the last in a family of four children.

We were not really poor, just small town low income. But health insurance, even back then, was a luxury my family could not afford, because of the concerns private health insurance companies had over whether my congenital anomaly (I have ectrodactyly, a deformity involving my hands and feet) might create some ‘unknown’ costs for them if they allowed me to obtain coverage.

Under the new health insurance act, it still is not clear whether a kid deemed ‘ risky’ me would be ‘redlined’ from ‘normal; insurance pools  or somehow ‘shoehorned ‘ into a cluster of shared risk private companies. I know, we have a lot left to learn about the details that will survive the final showdown of amendments in the Senate. It’s one thing to finally have the discrimination part of (precondition/pro life) addressed, but it’s quite another to feel ANY confidence in ANY private health insurance company(ies) NOT using this to their advantage, to get their government bailout on those of us who are ‘costly to cover’ and low income. Without regulation on the limits to how much they will be able to charge for the privilege of insuring us high maintenance citizens, how can it be anything than just a different kind of taxpayer bailout?

Frankly, my experience (having birthed two children witrh ectrodactyly myself) young adults with physical anomalies have no significantly higher doctor visitation rates than do conventionally equipped young adults  but BOTH populations are about to become a carefully targeted group for the ‘required coverage’ that this bill stiplates…and that will be a heavy burden on Obama’s shiny new digital voting bloc.

Like every other Progressive Democrat who still supports Obama, I am grateful that we have, at least, allowed Senator Ted Kennedy some peace in his grave, because a huge first step has been taken.  But it is so much NOT the healthcare we wanted, we NEEDED, it is NOT single payer (Medicare For All) and it is worrisome to not have REAL regulation in place to stanch the flow of profit taking that will come from Big Insurance as long as they can get by with it.

I know for my parents, the notion that they would be forced to buy private health insurance for all four of their children and themselves has them rolling in their graves.  It must seem Orwellian to them, and if they had been required buy law to buy private health insurance coverage back then, every Progressive Democrat in Austin Minnesota (post apocalyptic/union busted headquarters of Hormel Meats) would have joined them in protest, by tossing their Spam in Turtle Creek, for beginners.  I would have joined them, in my little kid hospital gown.



HR676 IS WHAT AMERICA NEEDS!

Only HR676 would have made this a shameful legacy of America’s past. But we won’t get what we need from Obama! So disappointing, but true! Single payer healthcare (HR676) is, tragically, not within our grasp:(

Firm cancels health insurance coverage for girl, 17, after celiac disease diagnosis

My mother died in a  hospice care in San Diego.  My grandmother was a nurse in an Oakland Hospital.  I  cannot afford adequate health insurance in California, or most of the rest of our United States, for that matter.  My  awareness and appreciation of  the “Healthcare Not Warfare” campaign launched by the Progressive Democrats of America over this last year has helped shape the kind of activism that truly speaks to my heart.

In a presidential election year, especially this one, when the sheer urgency of the moment begs to grab all the attention,  my activist friends and I  are scattered thin, literally and figuratively.  We each have pet causes; America’s troubles are too numerous even for full time loudmouths to give voice!

My own personal favorites over the last eight years of a Neo-con Bush administration have been election integrity and  corporate media reform, both equally hungry issues soon to be yanking on the Obama chain.   I will be among the hordes of citizens waiting to make these issues important to our new president.

But I  am also selfishly, passionately driven to make this slogan and its campaign leaders in the Progressive Democrats of America to help in every way possible to make  “Healthcare Not Warfare” a priority on the first hundred days agenda. I am in good company, too.   The  powerful CNA, California Nurses’  Association and several other teamsters unions  have joined together with  PDA (pdamerica.org) to  create a groundswell of  momentum to help shape  President Obama’s  universal healthcare plan.

Currently,  his platform does not include  the all important single payer  clause, so the big pharma and big insurance  corporate cabal would still  be able to manipulate the insurance payout matrix.   Single payer simply means that we as individuals would be able to rely on a much simpler, more cost effective system like Medicare to handle claims and payouts and  even more significant, to lobby for competitive pricing from Big Pharma on our behalf.

When the California  nurses (who strengthened their union sufficiently enough to permanently  tarnish Governor Schwarzenegger’s claim to be a ‘friend of the service employee’)  decided to throw their fists in the air for single payer universal health insurance,  the issue gained  a feisty  ally.   The nurses had come out in massive numbers for movie theatre openings of Michael  Moore’s “Sicko”, handling out pamphlets explaining how single payer healthcare for every American was not a radical, left wing, socialist idea, but a reasonable, logical solution to one of  America’s  most shameful problems; we  are the ONLY industrialized nation on the planet with  an estimated fifty million  uninsured citizens.

National PDA Director Tim Carpenter tapped into this whirling dervish of  life in the balance caregivers and he has been marshalling his  nightingales toward DC ever since. Obama will soon feel the  wind  at his back  from a nation ready for  change.  Part of that change must include  making  Americans  feel a healthy pride in our country!  Universal, single payer healthcare will  help  do that.   Who better to give our pride a healthy glow, than an army of nurses with progressive human values  and  a concise, simple agenda for  a new president’s first hundred days?

OCTOBER 28^TH 2009

Because the corporate media “say it aint so” NO EMERGENCY, ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO AMERICANS DIE EVERYDAY from lack of health-care. Big Pharmaceutical companies have not t yet fully figured out how to profit “enough” from the un and under-insured to “push” its’ “newsworthiness”

http://pdamerica.org/articles/news/2009-10-27-10-51-06-news.php

True grassroots activism in these “United States requires fearless acceptance of likely arrest! Progressive Democrats of America supports a renewed nation, respectful of the rule of law at home and abroad, fully integrated into and respectful of the world of nations and peoples, and re-grounded on the universal values of human dignity, justice, and environmental sanity.

Single-payer Health Care Advocates Arrested in Protest – Progressive Democrats of America pdamerica.org

Besides the Weiner amendment and the Sanders amendment and the Kucinich amendment, it seems we COULD have had real health reform! But watch, this so called “public option” in the bill thats hitting the vote floor tomorrow. It  has retained none ofthe above! For California, Kucinich amendment COULD have allowed us to do our… own single payer healthcare. call me cynical; I have a sinking feeling that tomorrow’s decision will be again, too little, too late!

www.kucinich.us.com