by Munira Syeda

Naji Hamdan is a U.S. citizen who, since August 2008, has been in detention in the United Arab Emirates. He is a father of three children, the youngest of whom is 1 and the oldest 16. He lived in Southern California for more than 20 years, and was a respected community leader and activist in the Muslim community.

Hamdan’s detention has been marked by allegations of torture, lack of access to an attorney and family members, a four-month detention without formal charges being filed, and, according to a suit filed by the ACLU late last year, FBI’s surveillance and interrogation of Hamdan.

In a signed statement given to U.S. consular officer Sean Cooper in U.A.E., Hamdan said he was kicked, made to sit in an electric chair with threats that he might be electrocuted, punched and slapped, blindfolded, and beat with a large stick. (Abu Ghraib detainees were regularly tortured by the U.S. military in a similar manner. See Participant Media’s “Standard Operating Procedure.” Another Participant Media film, “The Visitor,” deals with a character who is detained in the U.S.).

After the ACLU filed suit against the U.S. government on FBI’s involvement, Hamdan was moved to criminal custody in U.A.E. and now faces terrorism-related charges, based on a coerced confession. Amnesty International started an online petition for people to plead Hamdan’s case.

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by Paul Shapiro

It’s hard to imagine a turnaround as stunning as the pork industry’s this week.

On Tuesday, HBO began airing a poignant 87-minute film about the abuse of pigs trapped in Ohio’s agribusiness industry (further showings can be found here). Death on a Factory Farm chronicles the impressive work of an employee at Wiles Pig Farm who secretly videotapes 500-pound breeding sows trapped in two-foot-wide cages in which they can’t even turn around for months on end. This practice—known as gestation crate confinement—is standard in the U.S. pork industry, despite being banned because of its cruelty throughout the European Union. These crates have also been banned in Florida, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado and California, but Ohio still permits them.

The film also depicts workers killing lame pigs by wrapping a chain around their necks, suspending them from a tractor, and hanging them execution-style. It takes 4-5 minutes before the pigs stop thrashing in the air. Despite such appallingly inhumane treatment caught red-handed on video, a judge acquitted the factory farm owner and his employees on charges related to the hangings.

In the wake of the film’s first airing on HBO, the pork industry was quick to react. The National Pork Producers Council issued a statement saying it “condemns” the images seen in the film, and that such practices are “abhorred by responsible pork producers.”

Really?

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by Jacob Soboroff at Why Tuesday?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, goes the expression. Well, according to the New York Times, the American voting system IS broken. So let’s fix it. For us here at Why Tuesday? it was an extreme pleasure to see an extra-long editorial making the case for election reform this morning.

In last year’s presidential election, as many as three million registered voters were not allowed to cast ballots and millions more chose not to because of extremely long lines and other frustrating obstacles. Ever since the 2000 election in Florida, the serious flaws in the voting system have been abundantly clear. More than eight years later, Congress must finally deliver on its promise of electoral reform.

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by Margo Wootan

This year Congress is poised to reauthorize the child nutrition programs. When it does, it is essential that it updates the national school nutrition standards for foods sold out of vending, school stores, a la carte, and other venues outside of meals.

Those standards haven’t been updated in 30 years and no longer make sense from the standpoint of science or kids’ health. What the USDA considers “junk food” doesn’t match what the rest of society would consider junk. The current standard prohibits the sale of seltzer water, breath mints, and chewing gum, yet allows the sale of cookies, snack cakes, and candy bars.

The sale of junk food in schools undermines parents’ and schools’ efforts to teach children good nutrition. It is also fueling the obesity epidemic. Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and teens, and that increase is linked to soda intake and the sale of junk food in schools.

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by Jordana Lilly

On February 1st for my girl scout silver project, I hosted an event: Dare to Aware featuring the “Darfur Now” movie and speaker Martina Knee from the SF Bay Area Darfur Coalition. Snacks and drinks were sold to purchase solar cookers to help the women in Darfur. I contacted local media and got pretty good coverage of the event. Here’s an article from the local paper.

Nearly 50 people showed up–which isn’t bad for superbowl sunday. Everyone found the movie to be really informative. Martina Knee, the speaker did a nice job bringing everyone up to speed on what’s been happening in Darfur since the movie ended. We had great participation from my Homestead High school Save Darfur club and my girl scout troop by baking goodies to sell and making popcorn — volunteers from those groups and friends helped staff the info table and sell products. We sold enough baked goods and popcorn for solar cookers for 8 families (16 cookers which saves 8 tons a year of firewood). Articles  in local newspapers brought in a young couple from Los Altos that saw the event in our Town Crier and the young man wanted to learn about interning with SF Darfur Coalition to help with advocacy — he took furious notes. A friend from temple came (the day after his bar mitzvah) and was inspired to take up the cause for his bar mitzvah project. One girl scout immediately took action and started advocating the next day. My temple principal was motivated to add the postcard campaign to our temple wide mitzvah day for March. The SAVE Darfur club from my high school and teacher sponsor for the club took the extra literature to incorporate in future Darfur awareness events. I was really happy with all the help and interest.

takepart with Save Darfur

Here are some more pictures from the event:

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By Rachel Stratman

Eleven days after operation Cast Lead was implemented by Israel in the Gaza strip the casualty count is growing and the majority are women and children. During air raids a UN controlled elementary school was hit killing 40 and injuring dozens more. This attack was one of three on U.N. school properties. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brig. General Avi Benayahu said after the incident. “We face a very delicate situation where the Hamas is using the citizens of Gaza as a protective vest,” It is no surprise that both sides will blame the other for why innocent women and children are being killed in these attacks, but the fact remains the numbers are climbing. In this CNN video, a Gaza hospital is overflowing with casualties including whole families.

The attacks have proved to be unsuccessful only targeting military buildings and hideouts. Both sides insist they will not back down while the UN and many countries plea for a cease fire. It is important to call for an immediate cease fire for both sides and not single out one side against the other. Congress will be voting on a resolution and it is important to takepart and urge your congressman to speak out for ceasefire in Gaza.

by Frances Beinecke

After 35 years working as an environmental advocate, I have done my share of consensus building and coalition tending. It’s not always easy finding common ground, even among those who are fighting for the same cause. But on Tuesday the environmental community reached an unprecedented level of agreement. More than 30 leading conservation, climate, and environmental groups representing millions of members released a joint plan for President-Elect Obama’s transition team.

The plan covers a wide range of issues that merit prompt presidential attention, but it underscores the immediate need to channel America’s ingenuity into solving the entwined economic, climate, and environmental crises.

As members of our coalition worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to devise the plan, I noticed that many of us were grappling with the same two conflicting emotions.

The first was hope. Our meetings and conference calls had a level of excitement I have not detected in years. After two terms of failed leadership, we see the promise in a president who made solving global warming the subject of his second major policy announcement.

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by  William Lucas Walker

I’ve made a short video, urging Californians to Vote No on Prop 8. I made it for my children. I also made it with the aid of a number of friends who let me photograph their sons and daughters, as well as a voiceover by my pal Amy.   So thanks.

Kelly and I were married on June 17 2008, after nine happy years together. Next to the births of our children, it was the most joyful day of our lives. For our 7-year-old daughter Elizabeth, it was the high-point of our family’s life. She was bursting with pride all summer. Until she heard about Proposition 8.

Our most compelling reason for choosing marriage had less to do with romance than with the benefits marriage would provide our kids. Not just the many legal protections marriage automatically confers on children, but the more real, everyday benefit of knowing that their family is equal, not in some different, lesser legal category than all their friends’ families.

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by Eugene Yoon

When it comes to drugs many of us were taught the first defensive strategy: “Just Say No.” While this catch-phrase is effective, it may not be applicable to a curious population that find themselves getting a slight adrenaline rush from the idea of trying it just once. For those who already find themselves in the middle of a dark addiction and have long surpassed the “just once” stage, then catch-phrases are an empty cause.

However, no matter where you are on the spectrum, whether you are drug-free or an avid user, the following videos are a dose of reality for everyone. These 30-second advertisements were a reaction to the teenage meth boom in Montana, and were aimed to paint a no-bars picture of what addiction looks like. And, as an advisory warning, the videos are more R-rated then most PSAs.

takepart and join the Montana Meth Campaign

by Lee Camp and StealBackYourVote

STEP 1:   DON’T DON’T DON’T mail in your ballot!! Absentee ballots are often not counted for the weakest of reasons. Furthermore, there are new rules in many states that you must photocopy your ID and send it with the ballot. However, they often don’t even tell you that. So HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of absentee votes will not be counted for this reason.

STEP 2:   VOTE EARLY …VERY EARLY! Many states are already allowing you to vote. Do it NOW. That way if you’re not listed on the voter roles, you have plenty of time to get your complaint heard.

STEP 3:   REGISTER AND THEN REGISTER AND THEN REGISTER! There is a TON of purging of voter rolls going on. It’s not enough to think you’re registered. Double check twelve times. You can check online at  www.votersunite.org/info/RegInfo.asp .  Once you’re done with that, go register. …Then go register.

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