PBS Frontline has completed a documentary about the most recent Spokane, Washington mayor, Jim West. The local newspaper, the Spokesman-Review, setup a sting operation catching Mayor West courting teenage boys online and offering some of them internships. In the past he actually supported legislation that was anti-gay (ie: banning gays from working in schools & day-cares). Despite his own City Council voting to make him step down, he refused among much protest. The FBI got involved. After a long legal battle to recall the Mayor, voters finally succeeded in December of 2005 with 65% in favor of ousting him. Tragically, West died in July of 2006 at age 55.

For the Full Video & More Information: http://secretcommunique.blogspot.com/

On Monday, December 4, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in two critical cases that could limit the ability of communities to promote diverse local schools and avoid racial segregation. In cases from Seattle, Washington, and Louisville, Kentucky, the Court will consider whether voluntary integration efforts by these school districts advance the goals of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court's rulings in these cases will have far-reaching implications for the future of the nation's schools.

These cases mark the end of the Court's longest period without review of a K-12 school desegregation case, since its unanimous 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Unfortunately, the nation's struggle to realize Brown's vision of inclusive, integrated, high-quality schools has been marred, first by resistance, and, more recently, by continuing legal attacks. Indeed, the nation's public schools are now more segregated than they were in 1970.

Concerned about how these trends were affecting their own children and community, locally-elected school boards in Louisville and Seattle adopted student assignment measures to foster integrated, diverse schools. In doing so, they joined hundreds of other communities around the country that have also taken steps to see that children from different backgrounds learn to live, play, and solve problems together.

When the Court rules on these cases this Term, it has an opportunity either to give these communities the ability to preserve some measure of racial integration in public schools, or to end the era of Brown.

Sources: http://www.naacpldf.org/landing.aspx?sub=5

http://secretcommunique.blogspot.com/

NEWS DIRECT FROM: http://secretcommunique.blogspot.com/

If they can't stomach it, no need to apply.

Despite whether they find the film offensive, applicants must buy a copy and watch it if they hope to pass the Netherlands' new entrance examination.

The test — the first of its kind in the world — became compulsory Wednesday, and was made available at 138 Dutch embassies.

The test is part of a broader crackdown on immigration that has been gathering momentum in the Netherlands since 2001.

Anti-immigration sentiment peaked with filmmaker Theo van Gogh's murder by a Dutch national of Moroccan descent in November 2004.

Both praise and scorn have been poured on Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, the architect of the new test and other policies that have reduced immigration by at least a third.

A censored version with no homosexual and nude material had been prepared because it is illegal to show such images in Iran and some other countries, filmmaker Walter Goverde said. "With all the respect I have for all religions, I think people need to understand that Holland has its own liberal side as well," he said.

University of California Los Angeles Police Department officers shot Mostafa Tabatabainejad (a UCLA student residing in L.A.) several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library at 11:30 p.m. when he was unable to produce student ID during a random check.  Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your f*** abuse of power."

Full Story: http://secretcommunique.blogspot.com/2006/11/ucla-police-use-stun-gun-on-student.html

PS: The man in the video is of Iranian-American descent, according to my analysis of his name.  That may or may not be important.

INTRO: Al Jazeera International (aka: Al Jazeera English) launches Nov. 15, 2006. Al Jazeera is bankrolled from the Emir of Qatar's vast fortune and will remain free from commercial sponsorship or advertiser concerns. Therefore, expect more graphic and controversial content than what Western audiences are accustom to.

BIG NAME REPORTERS: Senior British journalist Sir David Frost (BBC), the only person to have interviewed the last seven US presidents and the last six British prime ministers. Frost will interview UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on the first day the channel launches. Frost says he investigated al-Jazeera with his own high-level contacts in Whitehall and Washington to make sure it had no terrorist connection before signing to work for them.

The other big name reporter will be Josh Rushing, a former United States Marine Captain who was a press officer for United States Central Command during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. He became famous for his appearance in the documentary Control Room, which documented his conversations with Al Jazeera correspondent Hassan Ibrahim. After the Pentagon ordered him not to comment on the movie he left the Marine Corps and signed up with Al Jazeera.

HOW TO WATCH IN THE USA: The best way to watch the channel will be through a live broadband stream from it's website. The website will also offer RSS feeds, e-mail newsletters and interactive discussion boards. No major US cable company is brave enough to broadcast the channel just yet. It was revealed that the US cable network Comcast had pulled out of talks to carry the channel, citing lack of capacity. In the US it will be available to customers of GlobeCast, the subsidiary of a French company that offers satellite TV service costing around $300 (€230) to install. Other companies include Fision, a digital service that will be available shortly in Houston; Jump TV, which describes itself as "the world's leading broadcaster of ethnic TV over the Internet; and www.VDC.com, a service that offers TV on the Internet to about 10,000 customers in the U.S.

 NEWS DIRECT FROM: http://secretcommunique.blogspot.com/

"Journalism seems like a precarious profession to practise in Mexico. It’s ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist. The latest tragic example of this came on Friday 27th October, in the southern state of Oaxaca (in Mexico) with the shooting of Brad Will. Brad was in Oaxaca as a journalist for New York City Indymedia, trying to get stories out about the protests in Oaxaca (see Seattle journalist latest post). While filming skirmishes between paramilitaries and protestors in Santa Lucia on Friday afternoon, Brad was shot in the abdomen and neck, and died from his injuries."

ABOVE VIDEO: Now Indymedia (his employer) has released the tape that was in Brad’s video camera & in his hands when he was shot. The above video is 16mins w/ English subtitles, and beware, the last minute (from 15:30) is very difficult to watch, as it shows him getting shot in first person point of view.

Video in Original Spanish: Link.

Skagit County. Ballots were printed without the legally required text describing initiatives. This was discovered only when a voter in Precinct 125 noticed it and reported it to the county and the Secretary of State. link.

Margaret Diane Hill: For the second time I have gone to Highland Terrace Elementary School to vote and been greeted with a broken Accu Vote Machine. The poll workers don't tell you it's busted until after you sign for your ballot. Then, after you vote you get to put it into a BROKEN machine that could have a waste basket in the bottom for all you know. HELP!!! What to do? I called the King County Voting precinct. Doesn't work. Last time they said they got 3 (THREE) broken Accu Vote MAchines in a row on the same day. Seems like a really convenient way to replace ballots with ones they like. Link.

Snoqualmie Elementary School in Snoqualmie and Mt. Si Senior Center in North Bend were closed and advised voters to go to other polling places. Link.

Atleast you're not in Texas: Former Rep. Tom DeLay, the disgraced Texas Republican, left behind a rare open congressional seat. But in that Texas district, according to the Houston Chronicle, "poll workers discovered that the wrong electronic machines had been delivered in at least four precincts, delaying dozens of voters and causing an undetermined number to vote in the wrong state Senate race."

I am new to Olympia and I work on the Capitol Campus. Please visit my website for independent news you will not find anywhere else. Please leave your comments. I will post all new stories on this site from now on.

http://secretcommunique.blogspot.com/

http://secretcommunique.blogspot.com/