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Ladywriter

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  1. Posted · Report reply

    Times

    The Iroquois national lacrosse team was supposed to open the world championships on Thursday night with a much-anticipated game against host country England.

    Instead, the team remains stranded at a Comfort Inn in Ozone Park, Queens, denied visas by the British government and growing increasingly doubtful that it will be able to compete in the tournament at all.

    What the Iroquois team had most feared for the past week — that their passport dispute with the governments of the United States and now Britain would not be resolved before their first game in the tournament — has now come to pass. The team forfeited its first contest, which had been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. local time in Manchester, England.

    Team officials continued their weeklong scramble to allay British concerns over their tribal passports, on which they have traveled to past international competitions. But they reported little progress in that effort.

    “We haven’t given up,” Percy Abrams, the team’s executive director, said Thursday. “We just feel like if we get to the right person, someone high up enough, something will work out for us. They have to do the right thing.”

    The team’s travel plans were first thrown into question last week, when the British government said the players would not be allowed to travel on their tribal passports unless the American government provided written assurance that they would be allowed to re-enter the United States after the tournament.

    Federal officials refused to do that until Wednesday morning, when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton authorized a one-time waiver clearing the way for the team to travel without United States passports, which it has refused to accept.

    For a few hours, the team was all smiles, thinking that only some paperwork at the British Consulate stood between the team and its departure for England. But late Wednesday afternoon, the team was informed by British officials that it would not be granted visas after all.

    That drew immediate outrage from team officials, who said the consulate had gone against its word, and from several lawmakers who had lobbied the State Department on the players’ behalf.

    The U.K. Border Agency issued a statement saying that the players would be welcome to travel to England on tribal passports — but only if they also presented “established documentation” like American or Canadian passports.

    That is not an acceptable option to the team, which has repeatedly said that traveling on what it considers a foreign passport would be an affront to the sovereignty of the six nations that make up the Iroquois Confederacy.

    The State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said American officials had discussed the team’s situation with British officials multiple times on Wednesday and Thursday. But the British government concluded it could not make an exception to its usual immigration policies, which he said did not come as a surprise to the State Department.

    ”We’re satisfied that they looked at this thoroughly, but from their standpoint they made the decision they made,” Mr. Crowley told reporters in Washington. “It’s their prerogative to determine and decide who qualifies for entry into the United Kingdom.”

    The Iroquois team is scheduled to play again on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. local time against Japan. Team officials said they would need to depart Kennedy Airport by Friday afternoon to have any hope of not forfeiting that game, too.

    In the meantime, the team planned to play a scrimmage against a local lacrosse club in Bayville, Long Island, on Thursday night. After all, the players want to stay in shape, just in case they do find a way to get to England.

    But as the hours pass, team officials concede that appears less and less likely to happen. “Our window is closing,” Mr. Abrams said.

    :nah:

  10. Posted · Report reply

    While reaping the largest profits in history and destroying the Gulf of Mexico, BP and other Big Oil companies have taken more than $35 billion of our money in special subsidies and tax breaks.1

    Surprised? I was.

    But it's true: Not only did ExxonMobil avoid paying ANY income taxes last year, they also got a $46 million REFUND from the IRS.2

    And the bailouts just wont stop. Even as the worst environmental disaster in American history continues unabated in the Gulf of Mexico,3 the Senate just voted to give Big Oil another bailout.4

    So we've teamed up with DFA and Credo mobile to demand that Congress end all tax breaks and subsidies for dirty fossil fuels and invest in green jobs and clean energy instead. And you can help by signing this petition:

    http://www.stopbigoilbailouts.com/

    A few weeks ago, Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) famously apologized to BP for what he called a shakedown of the oil industry.5

    Barton was right. But BP and other Big Oil companies are the ones doing the shaking.

    In 2008, ExxonMobil earned a record $45.2 billion or just about $5.2 million per hour.6 But unlike the rest of us, they're not paying their fair share in taxes. In fact, they're walking away with billions of our dollars, even as they screw up our environment and keep our economy dependent on dirty and dangerous fuels.

    It makes no sense. At a time when we could be investing in clean energy businesses that would create jobs right here in America, why are we writing checks to dirty, polluting Big Oil companies?

    Some members of Congress are fighting back by proposing to end the Big Oil Bailout and invest in green jobs instead.4 But they need our help to make it happen. Help us take the first step by signing your name today.

    Thanks,

    - Japhet

    Japhet Els

    TrueMajority/USAction

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Methane and Climate Change: From the Amazon to the Gulf of Mexico

    Commentary by Nikolas Kozloff, special to mongabay.com

    June 20, 2010

    BP: New cap on oil well is 'very close'

    150,000-pound metal stack should be installed later Monday

    The BP executive was careful to keep expectations grounded, stressing that once the cap is in place, it will take days to know whether it can withstand the pressure of the erupting oil and feed it through pipes to surface ships. The cap and vessels together make up BP's plan to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf for the first time since April 20.

    considering all they've done is fail and fail and fail some more I have 0% confidence in anything they do

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Dear Friends,

    Yesterday an Iranian woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, was saved by global protests from being stoned to death.

    But she may still be hanged -- and, meanwhile, execution by stoning continues. Right now fifteen more people are on death row awaiting stoning in which victims are buried up to their necks in the ground and then large rocks are thrown at their heads.

    The partial reprieve of Sakineh, triggered by the call from her children for international pressure to save her life, has shown that if enough of us come together and voice our horror, we may be able to save her life, and stop stoning once and for all. Sign the urgent petition now and send it onto everyone you know -- let's end this cruel slaughter NOW!

    http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?vl

    Sakineh was convicted of adultery, like all the other 12 women and one of the men awaiting stoning. But her children and lawyer say she is innocent and that she did not get a fair trial -- they state her confession was forced from her and, speaking only Azerbaijani, she did not understand what was being asked of her in court.

    Despite Iran's signing of a UN convention that requires the death penalty only be used for the "most serious crimes" and despite the Iranian Parliament passing a law banning stoning last year, stoning for adultery continues.

    Sakineh's lawyer says the Iranian government "is afraid of Iranian public reaction and international attention" to the stoning cases. And after Turkey and Britain's Foreign Ministers spoke out against Sakineh's sentence, it was suspended.

    Sakineh's brave children are leading the international campaign to save their mother and stop stoning. Massive international condemnation now could finally stop this sickening punishment. Let's join together today across the world to end this brutality. Sign the petition to save Sakineh and end stoning here:

    http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?vl

    In hope and determination,

    Alice, David, Milena, Ben and the whole Avaaz team

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