Taken from: http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=334

October 21, 2012

Sometimes the best life lessons can be learned from kids.  Kids like Miss Vivienne Harr of Fairfax, Calif. Vivie, as she likes to be called, is a personality-full-cup-runneth-over, 8-year-old philanthropy phenom who set up a lemonade stand – or what I like to call Lemonade Stand 2.0.

Vivie was inspired to take a stand against slavery after seeing an installation on slavery by Lisa Kristine, a photographer who captured these authentic, haunting, gut-wrenching snapshots of modern-day slaves around the world. The family cried in disbelief. They went home and researched slavery and human trafficking.

Vivie was inspired to take action. She quickly garnered tens of thousands of supporters from the local and worldwide community and raised more than $50,000 dollars in just under two months.

Vivie’s project went viral after Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times op-ed columnist, tweeted about @vivienneharr and #MAKEASTAND LEMONADE. She’s also been featured on many media outlets including the BBC, Yahoo and is slated to appear on Jeff Probst’s talk show, which debuts on Sept. 10.All the business acumen that Vivie had was selling lemonade. She took a stand and did something – selling lemonade was in her power to be a voice for the voiceless.  Rain or shine, Vivie plans to set up shop and sell her organic, free trade, made-with-love lemonade every day until they raise $150,000 to free 500 slaves. All of the proceeds will go to NOT FOR SALE, a nonprofit organization that re-abolishes slavery around the world. Won’t you join her and make a stand?

Vivie isn’t stopping at her $150,000 goal. She’s working with investors to bottle her #MAKEASTAND LEMONADE … stay tuned!

“California governor signs gay conversion therapy ban”

Taken from: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/us/california-gay-therapy-ban/index.html

October 1, 2012

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill banning therapy aimed at turning gay kids straight, saying such efforts “will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.” ”This bill bans non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide,” Brown tweeted.

The California Senate passed the bill in May. It will kick in on January 1.

The bill prohibits efforts to change the sexual orientation of patients under age 18. But it’s facing a legal challenge from a group seeking an injunction against it. The Pacific Justice Institute told CNN it was filing a lawsuit Monday.

The American Psychiatric Association says the potential risk of so-called “reparative therapy” is great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior. Therapists’ alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce the self-hatred already felt by patients, the association says. ”The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality per se is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation,” the association says.

After the bill passed the state Senate, Equality California spokeswoman Rebekah Orr praised the “right first step in making sure that young people are protected from these unscrupulous therapists who are really engaging in therapeutic deception that is based on junk science.” Equality California describes itself as the largest statewide advocacy group in California working for “full equality” for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

But the president of an organization that promotes reparative therapy, the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, called the bill “another triumph of political activism over objective science.” ”In NARTH’s view, a truly scientific response would call for more and better research to answer these questions, not a legislative ban that runs roughshod over professional judgment and parental choice,” said Christopher Rosik, a psychologist. In a statement on NARTH’s website, the group says the law will seriously jeopardize the livelihoods of “licensed therapists in California who would otherwise be willing to assist minor clients in modifying their unwanted same-sex attractions and behaviors.” It also will “supplant the rights of parents,” the group says. The Pacific Justice Institute, which describes itself as a network of more than 1,000 attorneys “defending religious, parental, and other constitutional rights,” argues that the law violates the First Amendment. ”Of all the freedom-killing bills we have seen in our legislature the last several years, this is among the worst,” said Brad Dacus, the group’s president and founder, in a written statement.

But Equality California said, “This law will ensure that state-licensed therapists can no longer abuse their power to harm LGBT youth and propagate the dangerous and deadly lie that sexual orientation is an illness or disorder that can be ‘cured.’”

If a legal battle follows, it could center around the questions of whether such therapy constitutes child abuse and whether a ban is unconstitutional.

Peter Drake, who once participated in reparative therapy, said the bill protects youths from “a very, very dangerous therapy that doesn’t work and leaves a lot of people feeling despair and hopelessness.”

Ryan Kendall, who went through this type of therapy when he was 13, told CNN it began after his mother read his diary and discovered he was gay. In the therapy, he was consistently told his sexuality was a choice and could “be fixed,” he said. ”I never believed that. I know I’m gay just like I know I’m short and I’m half Hispanic. I’ve never thought that those facts would change. It’s part of my core fundamental identity. So the parallel would be sending me to tall camp and saying, ‘If you try very hard, one day you can be 6-foot-1.’” Kendall said psychologist Joseph Nicolosi treated him. His parents provided CNN with copies of bills from Nicolosi’s office, but Nicolosi said he did not remember treating someone by that name. He told CNN he views the therapy he provides as “trying to bring out the heterosexuality” in someone. The therapy is not harmful, and he treats only people who want to change, Nicolosi said.

A leading psychologist in the field of reparative therapy, George Rekers, treated a boy named Kirk Murphy, whose story was told in a 2011 CNN report. Rekers considered Kirk a success story, writing that ‘his feminine behavior was gone,’ — proof, Rekers said, that homosexuality can be prevented. But Murphy’s family said he never stopped being gay. He hanged himself at the age of 38. Despite allegations by the family that Rekers’ therapy ultimately led to the suicide decades later, Rekers told CNN that scientifically, it “would be inaccurate to assume that it was the therapy,” and that he grieves for the parents. ”Two independent psychologists with me had evaluated him and said he was better adjusted after treatment,” Rekers said. ”I only meant to help, do the best I could with the parents,” he added. Rekers’ days as a prominent anti-gay champion came to an end after he hired a male escort to accompany him on a trip to Europe. He denied any sexual contact or awareness at the time that the escort offered sexual favors.

Earlier this year, psychiatrist Robert L. Spitzer apologized for his 2003 study of reparative therapy, which suggested that it could help gays and lesbians become straight. He said it was deeply flawed. ”I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy,” Spitzer said in a letter to the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior. “I also apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works with some ‘highly motivated’ individuals.”

Kendall said the therapy he underwent “led me to periods of homelessness, to drug abuse, to spending a decade of my life wanting to kill myself. It led to so much pain and struggle. And I want them to know that what they do hurts people. It hurts children. It has no basis in fact. And they need to stop.

“Brad Pitt’s mother pens anti-gay marriage letter”

Taken from: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/brad-pitt-mother-pens-anti-gay-marriage-letter-130708977.html

June 6, 2012

Brad Pitt once said he wouldn’t marry Angelina Jolie until everyone—gay or straight—had the same right.

Apparently his mother doesn’t share his views.

In a letter to her hometown paper, the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader, Jane Pitt writes that Christians, like herself, should not refuse to vote for Mitt Romney just because he is a Mormon. The published response to an earlier opinion in the paper describes President Barack Obama’s opponent for president as “a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality.”

Jane Pitt’s letter continues:

Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama—a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.

She concludes with, “I hope all Christians give their vote prayerful consideration because voting is a sacred privilege and a serious responsibility.”

The newspaper even verified the identity of the letter’s author in this editor’s note: “To clear up earlier confusion, the News-Leader has verified the letter writer is the mother of actor Brad Pitt and local businessman Doug Pitt.”

Brad Pitt worked with George Clooney in the play “8,” a YouTube-streamed reading that charted the proceedings in the federal appeals court hearing that deemed Proposition 8, a California ban on same-sex marriage, unconstitutional. Pitt has been vocal about his support for same-sex marriage. Brad Pitt told People magazine in 2011: “No state should decide who can marry and who cannot. Thanks to the tireless work of so many, someday soon this discrimination will end and every American will be able to enjoy their equal right to marriage.”

Well, this could make for an interesting discussion should Brad and Angelina take their kids to visit Grandma Jane in Missouri.

“Finally, Mother’s Day Cards That Actually Make Sense”

Happy Mother’s Day! :) 

Taken from: http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/05/mamas_day_e-cards.html

May 10, 2012

A group of activists and mothers in Oakland, Calif. have started an annual Mother’s Day tradition that would probably put Hallmark to shame. Fed up with the mainstream image of mothers as domestic, middle class, and white, they’ve made a real effort over the past two years to celebrate who they call “mamas on the margins”: all those single, queer, immigrant, and young mothers whose stories are often glossed over by corporate card makers.

“I can’t find a Mother’s Day card that looks at our identities in a way that is sentimental for me and my mom,” says Shanelle Matthews, communications coordinator at Forward Together, an Oakland-based organization that’s leading the e-Card drive through its Strong Families initiative. Matthews grew up as one of three kids in a single-parent black household, and wants to celebrate her mother’s hard work. “This campaign is personally close to be because I can finally say something to my mom on Mother’s Day that’s actually of cultural relevance and value.”

Matthews says that the group is aiming to “shift the narrative of “how people think about family. We wanted to create a line of greeting cards that spoke to the marginalized moms in our communities whose faces we never see on the front of those cards.”

Last year, the group released a series of video tributes to young mothers. This time around, they decided to strip the concept down even further by offering up a series of beautifully designed e-Cards that supporters can personalize and send on Mother’s Day. All of the cards feature brown-skinned, non-traditional families and suggest that the act of love is often selfless and, yes, political.

The process of sending a card is pretty simple. Viewers have their choice of 18 cards that they can then customize with a personal message and send to whomever they please. Once the card is sent, supporters can also take a look at one of two online petitions to end funding for abstinence-only education or help support recently incarcerated parents. At present, the cards are only available online, but Matthews says that plans are in the works to create cards that can be distributed in person. “We know it’s not always in the best interests of greeting card companies to highlight the needs of moms on the margins,” says Matthews. “If they did then that would be recognizing that there’s something askew.”

And there’s been plenty askew in the American political climate. The Mamas Day project is in many ways a breath of fresh air in year that’s been resoundingly hard on women, especially those who are poor and of color. While Republicans continue to deny their hand in launching a “War on Women”, the country’s political climate has put women’s bodies and choices on center stage. Gender reporter Akiba Solomon has written about how GOP attacks on Planned Parenthood, a vital source of reproductive care for thousands of women, have continued unabated. Not too long ago, Colorlines.com writer Miriam Zoila Perez retraced the long and troubling history of the anti-abortion movement. (Perez also helms the blog Radical Doula and is a consultant with the Strong Families initiative.)

The group has also kept a running dialogue on motherhood up as part of its Mamas Day Our Way blog series. It’s a candid look at mamahood from varying perspectives: the ambivalent, could-be mom; the mom battling against environmental racism to help fight her kids’ asthma; the ecstatic, new LGBT family.

The group reached out to eight artists to design the cards, including Melanie Cervantes and Nikki McClure. And they say that the experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

Artist Joy Liu said she loved making the cards. “Designing a card specifically for a mother who has experienced loss, and a card celebrating an immigrant mom, was very thought provoking for me as an artist,” said Liu. “I think the bigger vision of motherhood that these cards are promoting is powerful, and I loved the process of depicting it visually.”

“‘Help me,’ homeless man begs as cops fatally beat him in videotaped incident”

Taken from: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/08/us/california-police-beating/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

May 8, 2012

A graphic video played at a hearing Monday to determine whether two California police officers should stand trial in the beating death of a homeless man showed them kicking and punching the mentally ill man as he lay on the ground — screaming in pain and begging for help.

The victim, Kelly Thomas, died five days after the beating on July 5.

Manuel Ramos, a 10-year veteran of the Fullerton, California, police department, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, while Cpl. Jay Patrick Cicinelli faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony use of excessive force in the same case.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

The black-and-white video was played during a preliminary hearing for the two officers.

It begins with Thomas — a 37-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia — sitting and being told by Ramos to put his feet out and hands on his knees.

The officers were responding to a call about a homeless man looking into car windows and pulling on handles of parked cars.

In the video, Thomas is slow to cooperate.

Ramos then tells him: “You see my fists? They’re getting ready to f— you up.”

Thomas, who is unarmed and shirtless, stands and another officer walks over. They hit him with their batons and hold him on the ground as he begs for help. ”Ok, I’m sorry, dude. I’m sorry!” he screams. At one point, Thomas says he can’t breathe. The officers tell him to lie on his stomach, put his hands behind his back and relax. ”Ok, here, here, dude, please!” he says.

Other officers arrive.

At times, trees block the view of the camera and it’s not always clear who is doing what as officers pile on top of Thomas. One uses a Taser stun gun.

Thomas cries out for help and. toward the end of the beating, for his father: “Dad! Help me. Help me. Help me, dad.” His voice gets softer and trails off.

By the end of the video, he is lying in a pool of blood as the officers wonder out loud what to do next. One can be heard saying: “We ran out of options so I got to the end of my Taser and I … smashed his face to hell.”

Thomas suffered brain injuries, facial fractures, rib fractures, and extensive bruising and abrasions, according to prosecutors.

The Orange County coroner listed his manner of death as a homicide and said he died after having his chest compressed, leaving him unable to breathe.

The FBI is investigating possible civil rights violations in his case.

Six Fullerton officers, including Ramos and Cicinelli, were put on paid leave after his death. The case drew widespread attention to the police department of Fullerton, located about 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

“Undocumented student publishes how-to guide for peers on finding jobs after college”

Taken from: http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/06/undocumented-student-publishes-how-to-guide-for-peers-on-finding-jobs-after-college/?hpt=us_c2

April 6, 2012

A California doctoral student who’s an undocumented immigrant has published a free how-to guide on the Internet instructing similar immigrants on finding employment after college and maintaining good health “living in the shadows.”

The inspiration for the book came from her family, she said. ”My father has always told me look for solutions instead of the problems,” says Iliana Guadalupe Perez, an immigrant since the age of 8 when her parents brought her to the United States from Mexico. ”I always try to find the solution to the problem, if this door closed, what can I do so it opens to me?”

Perez’s immigration status has been her biggest problem: she is part of the millions of undocumented students around the country. But she is also a college graduate, and yet her legal status still stands in the way of her job prospects. It’s to the point where she wonders if doors won’t open, could there be a window?

Perez graduated from California State University, Fresno, in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in science and mathematics and a minor in economics. Even after she had a diploma in her hand, she heard the whispers that her legal status would still prevent her from pursuing a career. Questions about why her parents would bring her to an unfamiliar place – illegally – stuck with her. Seeing the many opportunities afforded to legal residents, Perez says she knew she couldn’t give up on her future. ”I was optimistic,” she says, “I knew I could find a job because I have an education and a degree.”

That feeling of frustration motivated Perez, now a first-year education doctorate student at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, to publish a 73-page guide called “Life After College: A Guide for Undocumented Students.” ”This guide is not only for undocumented students but for all students,” Perez said. “This guide gives them options and it’s not a guide intended to do something illegal in the system. ”Everything in the guide is legal. The options I give exist out there,” she said.

The guide focuses on different topics from how to open up your own business legally, pay for postgraduate studies, obtain a job abroad, stay motivated and work in the United States legally as an independent contractor, among other topics. The document offers tips for undocumented students who have faced the same challenges Perez has but who are also living in the shadow of illegal immigration. Perez said she wanted to give students hope and let them know success is achievable. ”The idea of the guide was based on my own personal experiences after graduating from the university and then trying to get into a master’s or doctorate program,” she says, “it was difficult, so I decided to take an internship to help me.”

She interned for the “Educators for Fair Consideration,” a non-profit organization that was established in 2006 in San Francisco and focuses on helping low-income, minority youth and undocumented students continue to higher education. ”The mission of our organization is help and support undocumented students,” said Jose Arreola, outreach manager for the group. “We offer scholarships, legal services and educational guides because of the lack of information and resources that is not available out there to help these students.”

Arreola said Perez’s guide is necessary to help undocumented students. The free, online document is “a guide to give solutions because many of these students were asking us what are we going to do after we graduate?  They don’t know the many options out there,” Arreola said. Educators for Fair Consideration sponsored Perez’s guide and put her in contact with experts, resources and students who are undocumented. “Life After College” contains tips, information and resources to help undocumented students navigate life after graduation. ”Life After College” contains tips, information and resources to help undocumented students navigate life after graduation. Said Perez: “It may seem undocumented students have limited options upon graduating from college. That’s not true. This guide gives students options and hope.” She said the guide can’t guarantee a job, but she hopes that it will benefit graduates and expose them to opportunities.

“California Student in Relationship With Teacher Moves Out After Sexual Assault Arrest”

Taken from: http://gma.yahoo.com/california-student-relationship-teacher-moves-sexual-assault-arrest-131605656–abc-news-topstories.html

April 7, 2012

A California student who left school, her family and her friends to live with her teacher boyfriend has ended the relationship after the teacher was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting another girl 14 years ago. ”He called me from jail and yes, I told him that we’re done,” Jordan Powers, 18, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “I lost everything for this guy. I lost my senior year. I gave up all my friends at high school because they didn’t agree with me.”

James Hooker, 41, was arrested in Modesto, Calif., on Friday after police discovered he had an an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student in 1998. Hooker has been under investigation for his involvement with Powers, his former business class student, with whom he appeared on national TV programs earlier this year to profess his love.

Hooker was charged with one count of oral copulation with a minor and is in jail, according to a statement from Modesto police. ”He told me that he met her online and he hung out with her just as friends and then he went to her house and she came out of the bathroom naked and he only touched her boobs and her legs,” Powers said. “He was freaked out so he left and went home. He said nothing else happened, but all of that was a lie.”

Despite the charges, Powers said nothing happened romantically between her and Hooker prior to her 18th birthday.

The teen said she believed the woman came forward now to help her see the truth about Hooker and rescue her from the relationship. ”My heart dropped. I felt betrayed. I just have a gut feeling there are other girls,” Jordan Powers said.

Her mother, Tammie Powers, has publicly tried to end the romance from the beginning and expressed relief at Hooker’s arrest. ”It’s my contention all along that he used authority and that he’s a predator,” she said. But a reconciliation between mother and daughter isn’t happening just yet. Jordan Powers said she is staying with a family friend in another state while she recovers from her heartbreak.

“How could he lie to me for all these months and look me in the eye and tell me he loves me?” she said. “I don’t know how someone could have such a cold heart.”

“7 Dead, 3 injured, suspect caught in college shooting”

Taken from: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/02/BABJ1NTM3Q.DTL#ixzz1qw5Pm4TT

April 2, 2012

Seven people were killed and three were injured after a gunman opened fire this morning on a private university in Oakland that caters to Christian students, in what ranks among the deadliest attacks on a campus in California history.

Police captured the suspected gunman inside an Alameda grocery store five miles away from the shooting site at Oikos University after he allegedly walked to the customer service counter and told employees, “I just shot some people.”

A law-enforcement source close to the investigation confirmed to The Chronicle that the suspect is 43-year-old One Goh of Oakland. The suspect used a .45-caliber handgun, spraying a classroom with gunfire and firing additional shots as he ran out, said the source, who did not wish to be identified because the investigation is ongoing.

Goh had been a nursing student at Oikos University, located at 7850 Edgewater Road in East Oakland, and there was some kind of dispute that may have resulted in him getting kicked out of at least one class, the source said.

Paul Singh, 20, of Santa Clara said his sister was among the victims shot and survived. Singh said his sister, Dawinder Kour, 19, was attending her nursing class when the shooter burst through the door. ”He grabbed a lady that was filing, and brought her in and said everybody get against the board,” Singh said outside of Highland Hospital, where his sister recovered from a gun shot wound to the forearm. What happened next in the classroom was not clear, Singh said. ”My sister called me, running, saying I’ve been shot,” he said. Singh said his sister recognized the shooter as a former student who she had last seen three months ago, after he dropped out of the program.

Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said the gunman opened fire at about 10:30 a.m. Ten people were hit by gunfire in a rampage that set off a manhunt that ended about an hour later. Terrified students ran from the college in the chaotic moments afterward, as police searched the building for the shooter and rescued students, who took cover and hid inside. SWAT units smashed glass windows with sledgehammers to reach the huddling students and faculty.

Authorities captured Goh more than five miles away in an Alameda shopping mall an hour after the shooting. “We have a person of interest detained,” Watson said, declining to name the suspect. “We believe this person is responsible.” The injured were rushed to Highland Hospital as police searched the building for more victims. Outside the building, located in an industrial area of East Oakland, the Alameda County Coroner removed four body bags shortly after 2 p.m.

Teachers and students were left stunned by the sudden act of violence, calling the religious-based school a tranquil atmosphere, where peers studied biblical studies and music.

Teacher Lucas Garcia, 33, said he was conducting an English class with 20 students when he heard shots ring out from the other side of building. “I looked outside the door and someone said, ‘Somebody has a gun,’” Garcia said. “So I evacuated the classroom.” Others decided to lock themselves in. Tashi Wangchuck, 38, said his wife was inside a nursing classroom with eight students when she heard the shots. Wangchuck said his wife told him that she locked the door and turned out the light – but the gunman fired shots through the door. No one was injured. ”She was a hero,” Wanchuck said of his wife.

Angie Johnson, 52, of San Leandro, said she was doing errands in the industrial complex when she saw a young woman leaving the building with a bloodied right arm and crying, “I’ve been shot, I’ve been shot.” Johnson said while she waited for medical attention the woman told her the shooter was a man in her nursing class who rose up and shot one person at point blank range in the chest before he started spraying the room with bullets. ”She said he looked crazy all the time,” Johnson said the victim told her, “But they never knew how far he would go.” Johnson said the victim “had a hole in her right arm the size of a silver dollar with blood coming down.”

At the South Shore shopping center in Alameda, police taped off a portion of the parking lot and appeared to focus their attention on a parked blue Honda Accord.

Lisa Resler, 41, was shopping with her 4-year-old daughter when she saw a security guard and Alameda police detaining the suspect outside the Safeway store. She said she thought they were dealing with a shoplifter at first. The man appeared “very sedated” and “looked so out of it,” Resler said. She described him as an Asian male who was wearing a beanie and khaki pants. ”I don’t know why he came here to Alameda,” she said. “I think maybe he wanted to blend in here. My biggest fear is him committing a bigger crime here.” She said she was shocked to learn that he was suspected in the mass shooting in Oakland. ”I’m really shaken up. My heart’s racing, this is very shocking to me,” she said. “This is scary.”

According to its website, Oikos is an independent Korean school that offers undergraduate courses in ministry and nursing, among other degrees. The school does not show up on the U.S. Department of Education’s list of accredited schools. But the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education has approved the school to teach seven degree-granting programs: bachelors degrees in biblical studies and music; masters in divinity, music and Asian medicine, a doctorate in ministry, and an associates degree in nursing. Its website says the school trains men and women “for Christian leadership, both lay and clerical.” It’s not clear how many students attend the school, or the size of its faculty.

“Court overturns Prop. 8 in California, says state can’t ban gay marriage”

Taken from: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/court-overturns-prop-8-california-says-state-t-181451250.html

February 7, 2012

The 9th Circuit Court in California struck down the state’s voter-passed ban on gay marriage, ruling 2-1 that it violates the rights of gay Californians.

“Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples,” Judge Reinhardt wrote in the decision. The Court concludes that the law violates the 14th Amendment rights of gay couples to equal protection under the law. Gay marriage will still not be allowed in the state, leaving time for Prop 8 defenders to challenge the decision.

The Circuit Court backed up District Judge Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled in August of 2010 that the state of California has no “rational basis” to single out gay men and women as ineligible for marriage. The group fighting for Proposition 8, which passed in 2008 after thousands of gay couples had already married, appealed Walker’s decision arguing that it should be vacated because Walker is gay and has a long-time same-sex partner. The 9th Circuit Court judges denied this motion.

Walker’s sweeping 2010 decision was called a ”grand slam” by gay rights advocates, who hoped it would convince the Supreme Court to decide that states cannot outlaw gay marriage. But Reinhardt was explicit in his decision that his court’s decision is “narrow” and only relates to California, not to the entire nation. In California, gay people had the right to marry for several months before it was taken away from them by a majority of voters. This amounts to a violation of equal protection because a right was specifically taken away from a minority group, Reinhardt writes. But this argument would not apply to gay people in other states. “It’s a strong decision but it is not the ringing endorsement of broader marriage equality that some might have hoped for,” Hunter College professor and gay rights advocate Kenneth Sherrill said.

The pro-Prop. 8 camp has said it will appeal the decision. The group can now ask that all 11 members of the 9th Circuit hear their case, instead of just the panel of three who decided against them on Tuesday. “Today’s ruling finally clears the field for an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, where we are confident we will be victorious,” the Save Prop 8 campaign said in a statement.

“Calif. Investigates Skin-Lighteners for Dangerous Mercury”

What saddens me the most is the common idea that the whiter one’s skin, the more beautiful/handsome one is. In cultures all across the world, people with lighter skin are deemed more refined, have more access to resources and opportunities, able to more easily find a husband/mate, are considered more superior to everyone else. This obsession with looking “whiter” or “more pale” or “lighter” has created a market for creams, many of which can possess incredibly harmful ingredients that have been known to cause cancer, skin lesions, discoloration, health risks, and the like, especially the cheaper ones. 

Taken from: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=7ab8e2c53bb231f2faf1d1d35b79148f

January 27, 2012

There could be a dark side to skin-lightening creams often found in stores that cater to ethnic communities.

Starting next week, California health officials will collect and test a sampling of skin-lightening products in the Bay Area for possible mercury contamination. Health officials launched the investigation in response to a spate of mercury poisoning cases linked to the tainted face creams that are made outside the United States.

A handful of cases emerged in the mid ‘90s, but it was a 2010 case involving a 39-year-old Latina and her family in Alameda County that spurred the state to action.  Coordinators of a health study found the East Bay resident with dangerously-high mercury levels, and notified state health officials. An investigation traced the source of her mercury poisoning to an unlabeled jar of face cream, which relatives from Virginia had brought back from Mexico and given to her.

State health officials, working with their Virginia counterparts, identified in total 22 people who were exposed to mercury through similar face creams, including extended family and friends. The case was highlighted last week in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). “This is one of the first investigations of the problem within California,” said Dr. Rapali Das, chief of the Environmental Health Investigations Branch of the state Department of Public Health and co-author of the MMWR report. “Why [we’re focusing] attention on the issue now — these cases have come to our attention here, we think it’s enough of a problem to address it.”

Last year, the state documented a dozen cases of mercury poisoning from tainted skin lighteners, Das says, and have anecdotal reports of at least another four cases.

Health problems from mercury exposure include “mental and neurological” symptoms, according to Dr. Mark Miller, director of the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit at UCSF and co-author of the MMWR report, which noted that some of those who were exposed to mercury experienced “numbness, tingling, dizziness, forgetfulness, headaches, and depression.” Encountering high enough levels or chronic exposure can also harm the kidneys, Miller says.

The people profiled in the MMWR report said they used the face cream for “skin-lightening, fading freckles, and treating acne.” Mercury, a metal, is a highly effective skin lightener, because it blocks melanin, which gives hair and skin pigmentation.  “It’s effective. It’s just dangerous for you,” said Miller, adding that the FDA does not allow any mercury in products sold in the United States. He said all the products with dangerous mercury levels are here “illegally.”

Nationwide, state health departments are coming across scores of cases of mercury poisoning through skin-lightening products brought into the country from someplace else. Health officials in Texas, New York, and Minnesota have recently carried out investigations of skin-lighteners, and alerted the public about possible mercury contamination.

In 2010, the Chicago Tribune carried out an investigation of skin-lighteners sold in local stores and on the Internet, and found that out of 50 face creams, six contained “mercury levels banned by federal law.” The six products were made in “Lebanon, China, India, Pakistan and Taiwan.”

California health officials will begin to collect and test a sampling of skin-lightening products from store shelves in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, said Lori Copan with the state health department. She says they will target ethnic stories and swap meets, catering to three “priority groups,” including Chinese, Filipino, and Latino.

In the cases documented last year by California health officials, most involved products that were brought into the state through people’s “personal luggage,” Copan said. The extended family profiled in the MMWR report brought the skin-lightening cream back from Mexico, while two other households bought them in local stores. The products were also made in Mexico.

Copan says the state health department issued alerts about mercury-laced skin-lighteners in 2010, and will be working with a statewide network of “promotoras” — peer health educators — to get information into hard-to-reach communities. “It is very important. Ladies using the cream not only put it in her face, but using in [sic] her whole body,” said Vicky Avila, health educator with Vision y Compromiso in Redwood City, Calif. “They put the cream on babies…it’s a big problem for them.”

The case that prompted California health officials to issue a health alert in 2010 involved unlabeled products in white jars. Other state health departments have issued alerts about products made in Mexico with dangerous levels of mercury, including Crema de Belleza–Manning and Crema AguaMary.

Last year, researchers from UC Berkeley and UCSF, conducting a health study, found a Latina in San Francisco with high mercury levels, the source of which was eventually traced to her face cream. In that case, the cream was a U.S. brand name product that was purchased and likely adulterated in Mexico.

Copan with the state health department emphasized that any skin-lightening product purchased abroad could be tainted, including U.S. brand name products. “If it was purchased outside of the United States, it could have mercury in it,” she said.
California’s health department advised consumers to avoid buying products that list “mercury,” “mercurio,” or “calomel” (mercurous chloride) on the label as well as unlabeled beauty products.

Health worker Avila says many of the women she sees prefer to buy products they are familiar with from their home countries, especially new immigrants who want to feel connected to their “roots” and culture. Avila says the women load up on products when they travel to Tijuana or they may shop for them at local Latino stores in California. Often times, the products may not be displayed on shelves, but carried in a backroom, so they must ask for them specifically.  “Women don’t like to talk about it,” Avila said. “They don’t like to say where they bought it.”

“Calif. teen sentenced for killing gay student”

Taken from: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iI_bdidmw3uDZCQJ-8DbV0gUsu-A?docId=981ee26bde044f508471de19e4a0479b

December 19, 2011

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — A teen who fatally shot a gay junior high classmate in the back of the head during a computer lab nearly four years ago was sentenced Monday to 21 years in state prison, capping an emotional case that focused attention on how schools deal with sexual identity.

Brandon McInerney, 17, dressed in a white T-shirt and blue pants, didn’t speak at the hearing, but his lawyer said his client was sorry for killing 15-year-old Larry King. ”He feels deeply remorseful and stated repeatedly if he could go back and take back what he did, he would do it in a heartbeat,” Scott Wippert said. McInerney will report to prison next month, after he turns 18. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and unlawful use of a firearm after jurors deadlocked during his trial as an adult on a first-degree murder charge. Several jurors said afterward that they didn’t think McInerney should have been tried as an adult.

McInerney had just turned 14 when he shot King in front of shocked classmates at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard on Feb. 12, 2008. Prosecutors alleged it was a hate crime driven by homophobic rage because King wore girl’s clothing and flirted with McInerney. The killing became a flashpoint for gay rights groups that said it was further evidence that children often pay a horrible price when they come out. Comic Ellen DeGeneres, a lesbian, weighed in on her talk show and said gays shouldn’t be treated as second-class citizens.

Because of pretrial publicity, the trial was moved from Ventura County to Los Angeles County.

King’s father, Greg King, read a four-page letter lambasting everyone from jurors, who he called incompetent, to the media for not focusing enough on school leaders “bungled” handling of his son’s situation. He said the shooting had scarred students who testified, calling it their “9/11.”

School administrators were criticized for not doing enough in the weeks leading up to the killing at the Oxnard school to quell a simmering feud between the two boys and for allowing King to wear heels and makeup. School district officials said they were upholding federal law by protecting Larry King’s right to express his sexual orientation. Greg King blamed the school district for not heeding requests by his wife to help tone down their son’s flamboyant behavior, despite having a plan that called for preventing the boy from drawing attention to himself. ”The school could have and should have prevented Larry from engaging in the provocative behavior he was involved in,” he said.

He saved his strongest statements for McInerney, who he said his family couldn’t forgive. ”You took upon yourself to be a bully and to hate a smaller kid, wanting to be the big man on campus,’” Greg King said to McInerney on behalf of his wife. “‘You have left a big hole in my heart where Larry was and it can never be filled.’”

King’s family and Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox wore buttons with the teen’s face on it, while some of McInerney’s supporters wore powder blue wristbands that read “Save Brandon.” Some teachers and jurors also attended the hearing.

Outside court, Dawn Boldrin, a teacher who gave King her daughter’s homecoming dress, had kind words for both of the teens. ”I probably would just hug him,” Boldrin said when asked what she would do if she could meet McInerney. “I know he’s a good kid.”

During the trial, prosecutors portrayed McInerney as a teen who couldn’t control his anger and was influenced by white supremacist ideology. Jurors rejected the claim that the killing was a hate crime.

Prosecutors said the plotted killing was first-degree murder and that McInerney should be punished as an adult.

Defense attorneys, who unsuccessfully argued to keep the case in juvenile court, said McInerney reached an emotional breaking point after King’s advances. They said he snapped when he heard King wanted to change his first name to Latisha.

Under teams of the plea bargain, McInerney’s murder conviction was stayed and he received the harshest possible sentence under California law for voluntary manslaughter — 11 years — and use of a firearm — 10 years. McInerney is ineligible for time served for good behavior because he pleaded guilty to murder.

Following the hearing, defense attorney Robyn Bramson said McInerney is close to getting his high school diploma and plans to take advantage of any opportunity afforded him in prison. ”I really think this is a story that if you follow up in 21 years you’ll find a kid who has rehabilitated himself,” she said.

“Police: 8 hurt in Oakland shooting, 2 critically”

Taken from: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jxMTbvLNfY8GTcLmXedD2-dA1Eow?docId=4c52d85d35394b2faa7bf395d08e6c6f

November 29, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A hail of gunfire along an Oakland street left eight people wounded, including a 1-year-old boy and a woman who authorities say were hospitalized in critical condition.

The gunfire broke out Monday evening in a liquor store parking lot after a crowd had gathered, police said. The victims were transported to local hospitals by others at the scene before officers arrived to find dozens of bullet casings. The 1-year-old’s father also was shot, but relatives told KTVU-TV he was able to drive his son to the hospital, where surgeons were trying to relieve swelling on the toddler’s brain. ”We are aware of a 1-year-old boy who was shot — possibly in the head — in critical condition right now,” Oakland Police Lt. Robert Chan told the station. Children’s Hospital Oakland declined to release any details about the child.

The shootings just after 6 p.m. happened near Interstate 880 in the city’s West Oakland neighborhood, police officer Johnna Watson said. Watson said six of the victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigators were seeking multiple shooters, but further details on suspects or a motive were not immediately available.

Television footage showed a van belonging to an Oakland rapper that was riddled with bullet holes and had apparently taken some of the victims to the hospital. The rapper, who goes by the name Kafani, posted to Twitter on Monday that he had not been shot but to pray for his little cousin. He said news reports that he had been filming a music video when the shooting took place were incorrect.

“Police close down Occupy Oakland protest camp”

Taken from: http://news.yahoo.com/police-surround-oakland-occupy-protest-camp-140113770.html?bouchon=807,ca

November 14, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) – Police moved in early on Monday to clear anti-Wall Street protesters from an Oakland plaza, arresting 32 people but avoiding the clashes that marked a previous attempt to shut down the Occupy Oakland camp. Several dozen officers dressed in riot gear and carrying batons descended on the square shortly after dawn, but took a less aggressive approach than a similar operation on October 25 and were met with less resistance from demonstrators.

It was on October 25 that police and protesters clashed near downtown Oakland in one of the most violent episodes since the anti-Wall Street movement began in New York in September. Former Marine Scott Olsen was critically injured during that altercation, giving impetus to the demonstrations nationwide. Olsen, 24, was released from the hospital last week and has called for peaceful demonstrations.

Monday’s police actions saw officers in some cases smiling and talking with protesters as they took down more than 100 tents, under illumination from the searchlight of a helicopter hovering overhead, as a separate line of officers kept a chanting crowd from entering the camp. Before the camp was completely cleared a crowd of protest supporters outside shouted “Shame on you!” When the operation was finished, collapsed tents and debris lay scattered throughout the plaza. One watching protester, Joanne Warwick, said the police action was disturbing. ”Here we are after five weeks and we can’t work this out,” she said.

By rush hour on Monday, the City Hall plaza was closed off by fences. Police and a handful of protesters lingered on the edge, the latter singing songs at an intersection blocked off by police as commuters rushed by to work. ”We had to bring the camps to an end before more people got hurt,” Mayor Jean Quan told a news conference after the action. City officials said they hoped to reopen the central plaza to demonstrators by 6 p.m. but would not allow camping.

“There will be a strong police presence at the plaza 24/7,” Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan said.

Occupy Oakland scheduled a 4 p.m. meeting at the main downtown library, a different location than the plaza where protests have centered. The city of Oakland had put out a notice addressed “Dear Business Leader” on Monday morning saying the police were enforcing an order issued on Friday. It said “the City could not assure adequate public health and safety in the plaza” the protesters occupied, and suggested businesses might want to consider delaying the start of their work days on Monday.

The Oakland action is one of several in recent days aimed at clearing protesters out of encampments authorities say have become dangers to public health or sources of rising crime.

The weekend saw police clearing operations in Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver, Colorado, as well as threats of action in other cities if protesters did not clear out on their own. In St. Louis, where 27 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested early Saturday morning, attorneys for members of Occupy St. Louis planned to take their battle to regain their downtown campsite to federal court on Tuesday. They seek an injunction that would allow an overnight presence in Kiener Plaza, the downtown city park near the Gateway Arch where the protests against economic inequality maintained a camp for six weeks.

“Schools Scrapping ID Cards Color-Coded by Test Scores”

Taken from: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-color-coded-id-cards-test-scores,0,5659545.story?hpt=us_bn7

October 7, 2011

LA PALMA, Calif. (KTLA) — School district leaders are eliminating programs at two Orange County high schools that color code student ID cards based on test scores.

At Kennedy High School in La Palma, students currently carry school IDs in one of three colors based on their performance on the California Standards Tests, plus a spiral-bound homework planner covered in a matching color. White signifies lower scores, gold signifies a higher level of achievement and improvement and black is the best all-around, signifying advanced test scores in all subjects.

High ranking color cards give students free admission to athletic events, as well as discounts to school dances and at local businesses. While low ranking card colors require students to stand in a separate cafeteria lunch line and come with no benefits.

But school district officials announced late Thursday afternoon that they have decided to eliminate the color-coding system, turning instead to uniform ID cards and notebooks, and lunch line privileges for all students. The district said in a statement: “We believe it is important to acknowledge and celebrate our students’ successes. The incentive programs at two… campuses were implemented with the best intentions. Yet, we recognize that innovative programs sometimes have unintended consequences that may impact some of our students.”

KTLA spoke to parents and students about the color-coded ID cards. ”It’s segregation between the students, and that’s wrong,” one parent told KTLA.

Students were somewhat divided on the issue. ”I care about my grades and my test scores, and I care about my future, and whenever I get called stupid it puts me down, and it makes me not even want to try,” student Shalie Chudomelka said. ”I think it’s bad,” student David Butler echoed. “I do feel discriminated about it.”

But not everyone felt that the system was all bad. ”If we abolish the gold card system, do we have to abolish sports?” student Alexander Jimenez said, defending the program. “They have varsity, they have frosh-soph. It’s a meritocracy. People are rewarded based on their performance.”

Still, an educational psychologist who specializes in student motivation called the system “one of the worst ideas ever.” UC Irvine assistant professor Anne Marie Conley told the OC Register that the three-tiered system stigmatizes the most academically vulnerable kids — underprivileged minorities, poor students and English learners.

Ben Carpenter, principal at Cypress High School, which now has a similar system, defended the program. He said there was nothing discriminatory about it. ”It’s not based on anything other than how hard you work to learn the material in the classroom and how well you’ve performed in this classroom,” Carpenter told the OC Register. According to Carpenter, the practice is no different than more traditional displays of achievement such as honor roll, letterman jackets, honor cords at graduation, honor societies, even students walking around school hallways carrying textbooks for honors and college-level Advanced Placement courses.

The California Department of Education told the Register on Tuesday that any program revealing information about how well a student has performed on state tests is a violation of the student’s privacy and should be terminated.

“California Governor Signs Dream Act”

Taken from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203476804576619292756560716.html

October 8, 2011

California Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday finished signing the California Dream Act, under which California students who are undocumented immigrants will qualify for state-funded financial aid for college.

The controversial bill is the highest-profile act to expand undocumented students’ access to higher education after a federal Dream Act, which would have given undocumented students a path to short-term permanent residency status, failed last year to attract enough support in Congress.

“The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us,” Mr. Brown said.

Under current law, undocumented students pay resident tuition rates if they have graduated from a California high school and affirmed that they are in the process of applying to legalize their immigration status. Starting January 1, 2013, those students will be eligible to apply for state-funded Cal Grants and other public aid.

The legislation builds on a previous bill signed into law in July, which makes financial aid from private sources available to the same pool of students. The two laws are collectively known as the California Dream Act.

The California Department of Finance estimates that 2,500 students will qualify for Cal Grants as a result of the bill, at a cost of $14.5 million. The overall Cal Grant program is funded at $1.4 billion, meaning that 1% of all Cal Grant funds will be potentially impacted.

The bill’s passage comes as several states have revisited their immigration laws in the wake of last year’s defeat of the federal Dream Act. In Alabama, a controversial new law lets officials check the immigration status of students in public schools, which the federal government is seeking to block.

Meanwhile, Illinois in August passed its own Dream Act, which gives undocumented students access to privately funded grants. But California’s bill is especially significant because it is the nation’s largest state and home to far more undocumented residents than any other. It is also the first bill that uses public funds to help undocumented students.

“As a result of the failure of Congress to pass the Dream Act, we now have both pro-immigrant youth legislation and anti-immigrant youth legislation” that states are pursuing on their own, said Kent Wong, an immigration expert at the University of California, Los Angeles.