Training Arizona Police

DREAM activists face deportation

Three young immigrant rights activists speak with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! on Thursday, May 20th. The three are all facing possible deportation after their arrest in a sit-in on Monday at the offices of Republican Senator John McCain.

Mohammad Abdollahi is an Iranian-born immigrant rights activist and co-founder of a web portal for undocumented students called DreamActivist.org. Yahaira Carrillo is student at Rockhurst University in Kansas and the founder of the Kansas Missouri Dream Alliance. Lizbeth Mateo is an organizer with DREAM Team Los Angeles.

Iwu Out!

The acting president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has sent Maurice Iwu on "pre-retirement leave" from his position as chairman of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC). The retirement is interpreted as a long overdue dismissal by most who know Nigerian politics, given that Iwu supervised the extremely corrupt and mismanaged elections of 2007.

"Iwu sacked" reads the story by Daniel Idonor in both Vanguard and AllAfrica. Funke Adetutu t the Daily Nation regards this as a welcome sacking, as does Bamidele Aturu in her letter to Sahara Reporters.

Prison Time for American Crooks

Two disgraced former executives of the Willbros Group have been convicted in United States court of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing Nigerian officials. Jim Bob Brown was sentenced in federal court in Houston to one year and one day in prison and fined $17,500 while Jason Edward Steph was sentenced to 15 months and fined $2,000, Further details of the story can be found at All Africa and in the FCPA Blog.

More Power without Coal?

Because of "regulatory and legal uncertainties" about the future of coal, the Seminole Electric Cooperative today announced that it has canceled plans to build a new coal-fired power plant at its generation facility near Jacksonville, Florida (St. Petersburg Times, Dec 18th). Earthjustice, an non-profit public interest law firm based in Tallahassee, had threatened legal action on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation.

Seminole applied in 2006 for a permit to build the proposed 750 megawatt coal-fired plant, upgrading its Putnam County facility which currently generates 1300 megawatts. Power, an industry magazine, named it as "top facility" for 2009. The Seminole Electric Cooperative also received a Leadership Award from the Council for Sustainable Florida. It's webpage trumpets a "long-standing and continuing commitment to a diverse program of environmental stewardship at its generating stations." According to Earthjustice, Seminole is now proposing to build a natural gas fired plant instead along with a 1 to 5 megawatt solar energy project in southwest Florida.

Brass Evolution

The marching band at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Missouri was forced by conservative parents to abandon a t-shirt in which hominid ancestors were shown marching along with brass instruments. Assistant Superintendent Brad Pollitt asked that all band members turn in their shirts after the band marched at the Missouri State Fair. Pollitt told Tony Ferrell of the Sedalia Democrat that the Sedalia School District is required by law to remain neutral where religion is concerned.

Many of us do believe that biological science and the theory of evolution are neutral with respect to religion. Not so Richard Dawkins, however, who has prominently posted this story under "Wingnut News."

Electronic Reserve, Copyright, and Fair Use

Back in January of 2007, I wrote an entry here about "Fair Use" of digital images in my teaching. At that point in my career, I did not have occasion to distribute written materials to students other than my syllabi and an occasional handout. I have subsequently taught a few classes in which I assigned readings on reserve or provided photocopies to my students. Although I definitely believe in crediting an author or photographer for original material, my primary duty is to my students. Most of them are working hard at jobs off campus to afford the materials for which they must already pay in order to pass my classes.

The "electronic reserve" was a new concept to me until I read about it yesterday morning as the subject of a lawsuit against Georgia State University by three leading academic publishers. Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and SAGE Publications charged GSU with "enabling professors to provide students with digital copies of copyrighted course readings."

¹Hafner, Katie, 2008, "Publishers Sue Georgia State on Digital Reading Matter," New York Times, April 16.

²Nielsen, Brian, 2009, "Publishers Sue Georgia State U. on e-coursepack," NUL Copyright, April 16.

³Stewart, Claire, 2009, "What does the lawsuit against Georgia State mean?," NUL Copyright, April 20.

⁴AAP, 2009, Publishers Take Action Against Georgia State University Copyright Infringement, Association of American Publishers, Washington, D.C.

⁵Hirtle, Peter, 2009, "Georgia State: Don't Forget the User," Library Law Blog, May 4.

⁶Liebler, Raizel, 2009, "The Georgia State E-reserves lawsuit: Is Fair Use Dead? Or is it the traditional publishing model?" Library Law Blog, May 7.

⁷Heyward, Kerry, 2009, "(Almost) Everything You Need to Know About Copyright Law," Center for Teaching and Learning Newsletter, p. 2, Georgia State University, Atlanta.

⁸Board of Regents Copyright Committee, Regents Guide to Understanding Copyright & Educational Fair Use. Atlanta, Ga.: University System of Georgia.

Mohammed Yusuf dies in custody

The body of Mohammed Yusuf, leader of Nigeria's radical islamic sect "Boko Haram," was shown to journalists on Thursday just hours after police said they had captured him in the northern city of Maiduguri. Here are some representative links from foreign press as well as Nigerian blogs:

Boko Haram leader killed. Juliana Taiwo in Abuja and Michael Olugbode in Maiduguria writing on Friday, July 31st for the Nigerian daily This Day.

Boko Haram: Matters Arising by Reuben Abati in Nigerian Village Square.

Is Boko Haram Nigeria's Taliban? by Cameron Duodu of the Guardian in Great Britain.

Nigerian row over militant killing, a BBC story with a first-hand account Bilkisu Babangida.

Killings by security forces in Northern Nigeria, a Sahara Reporters story reporting complaints by Amnesty International.

Atlanta loses Lake Lanier

Last Friday, July 17th, Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been improperly tapping Lake Lanier as a municipal water source for Atlanta. I have yet to read the entire decision, but according to newspaper accounts it hinged on the idea that current use of the reservoir deviates from the initial purpose of impounding federally protected waters of the Chattahoochee River.

The Lake Lanier case involved the state governments of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It was tried before a judge from the federal district of Minnesota, presumably to insure impartiality. Judge Magnuson's decision has implications for many other localities where lakes originally constructed for flood control or irrigation have been converted to municipal water supplies or some other purpose than that for which the waters were originally impounded.

Many environmentalists are already applauding this decision, particularly in Alabama and Florida. However, it is likely that Georgia will now instead move forward on new dam construction. New dams, particularly if built within the "ACF" (Appalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint) system, could have even more deleterious impacts on both local Georgia environments and downstream fisheries and hydrology.

WHO MOVED MY SOAP?

A University of Utah student has thrown a monkey wrench into the firesale auction of oil and gas leases held by the Bureau of Land Management on Friday, December 19th. Amy Goodman interviewed Tim DeChrisopher Monday morning on Democracy Now.

Tredegar 12 Sentenced

Ten of the 12 activists known as the "Tredegar 12" were sentenced this past Tuesday, July 29th to community service in Richmond, Virginia. The Tredegar 12 blocked the headquarters of Dominion Resources on Tredegar Street in Richmond back on June 30th. My post about this has attracted some attention, because I grouped it with other incidents which are being referred to as "ecoterrorism" by U.S. law enforcement. Detailed coverage of this incident by local bloggers Beth Wellington and Sparki was primary source material for my initial post. One of the activists, Marley Green, also has a blog called The Small Axe where he has written about his experience at trial.

I used a photograph in my original post which was taken by Hilary Lufkin. It was not my intention to use the photograph without credit.

No Looting In Iraq?

It all started with a story by Martin Bailey in The Art Newspaper, and it was really the headline as much as the actual story that drew fire. As reported by Mr. Bailey,

An international team of archaeologists which made an unpublicised visit to southern Iraq last month found no evidence of recent looting—contrary to long-expressed claims about sustained illegal digging at major sites.

Mr. Bailey did also mention that the archaeologists only visited eight major sites in southern Iraq: Ur, Ubaid, Eridu, Warka, Larsa, Tell el-Ouelli, Lagash and Tell el-Lahm. However, he also clearly expressed his view that the extent of looting has been exaggerated both by reporters and by archaeologists. A similar view has been even more directly expressed in a blog commentary by Dr. Dorothy King -

The false claim of looting - along with the claim that the US could have prevented the thefts from Baghdad Museum - has been a major part of the anti-War propaganda.

Whether pro- or anti-war, it is clear that propaganda and political advocacy do color our perception of the illegal digging and trade in antiquities which have occurred both before and after the United States deposed Saddam Hussein by military force. Issues about protection of cultural resources cannot be separated from political and military issues in Iraq and other countries of the Middle East. Archaeology and protection of cultural resources are deeply embedded within the ongoing political and religious conflicts.

Relying both upon her own inspection of aerial photographs and upon research by Dr. Elizabeth Stone, Dr. King supports the gist of the Bailey piece in concluding that most looting on the major sites occurred prior to the start of the current Iraq war. Opposing views on the issue are being expressed, however, by David Gill, Larry Rothfield, and a number of other scholars posting to the Iraq Crisis discussion list. A first hand account of looting in southern Iraq presented by the Director of Antiquities in Nasiriya Province, Dr. Abdulamir Hamdani, can be viewed online at Safe Corner.

What a blogstorm!

Dominion Energy protest in Richmond

Twelve protesters have been arrested in Richmond, Virginia in an action against construction of a coal-fired electric plant by Dominion Energy. Beth Wellington and "Sparki" at It's Getting Hot In Here are providing frequent updates on this story. Donations for legal expenses can be made to Drumplaya112@yahoo.com.

Update on August 1: The above photograph was taken by Hilary Lufkin. I apologize for not giving her credit for it in this initial post. I just put up a new post about the sentencing of ten of the "Tredegar 12" on Tuesday, July 29th.

FIRE in Action: Valdosta State University

Disrespecting Indiana Jones



A minor blogstorm has errupted over the appointment of Harrison Ford to the Board of Directors of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). In this video a well-known scholar and advocate against the illicit trade in antiquities, Oscar Muscarella, expresses his opinion that Indiana Jones is not an archaeologist but rather a "plunderer."

What do you think?

The blogstorm began as a reaction to the AIA press release. Early reactions can be found in Numismatics and Archaeology and in Safe Corner. Both posts have many comments, largely agreeing with Muscarella in condemning Indy as a plunderer.

Spencer gets 6 Months

Donald Spencer, the owner of Spencer Environmental, Inc., was sentenced to six months in prison by the U.S. District Court in Porland, Oregon. According to the June 5 story in the Portland Tribune, Spencer Environmental will also pay a $150,000 fine. After a March 2004 fire at the company’s former plant, waste oil and acid were spilled into a local creek causing the death of hundreds of fish. Spencer had sold the building about a year before the fire occurred, hiding evidence of contamination at the site.

R.I.P. U. Utah Phillips (1935-2008)

Here is an entertainer whom I would love to have seen and never did. I did hear several excellent performances of his on NPR folk music programs, Mountain Stage. Utah, or "U. Utah" as he preferred to be called, traveled the country for years on the "folk" circuit. Although he was probably a musician from birth, he did not turn to that as a livelhihood until forced out of a job as a government archivist in Salt Lake City, Utah due to his political activities.

U. Utah Phillips had continued to perform in recent years despite problems with his heart which finally took him from this earth on Friday, May 23rd at 11:30 P.M. PDT. His home for many years had been Silver City, Nevada. His son, Duncan, carries on in his father's footsteps there and is making the funeral pland and keeping an active blog dedicated to his father's memory. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman dedicated an entire hour-length program to airing an interview which she did with U. Utah Phillips back in 2004.

Both of my parents are actually older than he was, so this is a big wakeup call for me.

SRS Shell Game

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is an aging nuclear facility on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River opposite Augusta, Georgia. Since 1989, the SRS has been managed by a quasi-public corporation called the "Washington Savannah River Corporation." By most accounts, the management has been effective and has maintained good public relations with local residents and even with most citizen environmentalists. When the contract for SRS management was put up for competitive bid, however, a new shell company called "Savannah River Nuclear Solutions" made a lower bid.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions was scheduled to take over management of the SRS this week. The change between shell companies has been put on hold, however, by a legal "protest" filed on behalf of the Washington Savannah River Corporation. In addition to the news story filed by Mary Ellen Cheatham of Georgia Public Broadcasting, a bulletin about the delay is posted on the Savannah River Nuclear Solutions webpage. Fine print under the company header also indicates that Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is a "Fluor Daniel Corporation." I am certain that I will be posting more on this story as it develops.

Power Shift, 2007

Some of my students told me this past week that they would be missing class this Monday for a trip to Washington, D.C. I soon found out that these students, members of the Students Against Violating the Environment (SAVE) group here at VSU, will be participating in a national consciousness-raising event called "Power Shift."

From what I am learning about this event, I am very proud of my students and even a bit jealous. Tonight's rally is apparently being held at the University of Maryland, and the students will then travel to Capitol Hill on Monday to rally for increased federal environmental legislation. I just hope that they do not wind up getting hauled off to jail by the Capitol police. A few of them are a bit brash and outspoken.