On Thursday, October 22nd, Ehud Olmert, a war criminal and Israel's former prime minister, will be speaking at the The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco for the World Affairs Council. During his last weeks as Prime Minister of Israel, Olmert unleashed a horrific war on the people of Gaza, that left over one thousand dead, a majority of them unarmed civilians, and hundreds of them children. It destroyed thousands of homes, leaving tens of thousands homeless. A demonstration organized by Stop AIPAC, calling for Olmert's prosecution for war crimes will be held at Union Square at 5:30 PM.

During Israel's offensive on Gaza many hospitals, schools and homes of civilian people were devastated. Israeli forces used explosives containing white phosphorus which are forbidden by international law in civilian fields.

During his presidency Olmert have also approved the 2006 Israeli invasion into Lebanon, after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by the Hizbulla. Olmert refused to negotiate an exchange of POW, and instead pushed for a full attack on Lebanon where more then 1,200 people were killed. Currently, Olmert is facing charges in Israel for corruption and bribery. Read more

Citizens arrest and mass disruption of former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in San Francisco | 22 Bay Area residents arrested for disrupting former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's

EI exclusive video: Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in Chicago

Gaza "ceasefire" reveals more dead and more than 50,000 left homeless | Gaza: Over 600 Palestinians Killed. Humanitarian Crisis Faces 1.6 Million | Israel ’s Prime Minister Announces Resignation After Two Investigation For corruption

On Thursday, October 15, hundreds came to Civic Center, to protest president Obama's appearance at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in a fundraiser for the Democratic National Convention. Earlier in the day another demonstration took place at SF City Hall to oppose the continuous cuts in education funding.

At the SF City Hall, unions, teachers, politicians and students gathered in hopes of rallying people to mobilize and take action over the continuous cuts in education funding. People also expressed their frustration over the lack of leadership in the City and State governments when it comes to education.

Among those holding signs and protesting at Union Square were physicians supporting single payer health care, Code Pink submitting petitions that call on the government to withdrew from Afghanistan, 9/1-Truth activists demanding for new investigation of 9/11, and Green Peace raising attention about global warming.

Photos from the Union Square protest: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

September 28th was called as an international day of protest against the coup d'etat in Honduras. In San Francisco, demonstrators gathered at the Honduras Consulate at Powell and Market streets to demand the immediate suspension of all U.S. financial aid to the coup government; stop endorsing the Arias Plan; and immediately recall the U.S.Ambassador until the reinstatement of President Zelaya.

San Francisco, California se hizo eco de la convocatoria mundial para solidarizarse con el pueblo de Honduras este Lunes 28 de Septiembre. La coalicion BALASC (Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Coalition), de la que el FMLN-Norte de California es miembro fundador, convoco a una manifestacion frente al consulado de Honduras en el centro de San Francisco. Cerca de un centenar de personas se hicieron presentes en una de las manifestaciones mas grandes en defensa del pueblo Hondureño que se han realizado durante los ultimos 90 dias.

Video | Photos: 1 | 2 | Announcement

Previous Related Indybay Feature: Ousted President Zelaya Returns to Honduras

On Tuesday, September 29th, Max Blumenthal will discuss his new book Republican Gomorrah at First Congregational Church of Berkeley. Republican Gomorrah is an exposé of the dysfunction, scandal, and crime from the heart of the Religious Right; the fringe movement that has come to define the Republican Party. Blumenthal describes establishment Republicans, and how moderates have been systematically purged from party ranks.

Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and documentary videographer, and has become one of the most important people writing about how the Religious Right fringe movement became the Republican Party mainstream. Whether it was his revelation of Sarah Palin's involvement with a Kenyan pastor who boasted of epic battles with witches, or his exposé of the eccentric theocratic multimillionaire behind California's Prop 8 anti-gay-marriage initiative, Blumenthal's reporting goes almost instantly viral, and shocks thousands.

Read more | Max Blumenthal | Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party | "Feeling the Hate" Videos Show Culture of Hate Among Israelis

On September 21st, ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returned to the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa and appeared on several television stations from within the Brazilian embassy. TeleSur showed images of uniformed Honduran National Police officers, with billy clubs, shields, helmets and guns, surrounding the zone near the Brazilian Embassy, apparently to close access to the area, blocking anti-coup demonstrators from entering or leaving.

Coup leader Roberto Micheletti appeared on television after Zelaya's return became public and demanded Brazil hand over Zelaya to stand trial. The coup regime also imposed a militarily enforced curfew and shut down airports until at least 6pm Tuesday.

On the morning of September 22nd, police moved in and attacked protesters in front of the Brazilian embassy, firing tear gas at the crowd. Reuters reports that at least two tear-gas canisters landed inside the embassy compound. Chiapas Indymedia reports 2 people were killed as police shot live ammunition at protesters.

On June 28th, the Honduran military ousted the democratically elected government of Honduras, detaining and then exiling Zelaya to Costa Rica. The crisis began when the military refused to distribute ballot boxes for an opinion poll on a new Constitution. Zelaya fired the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who refused to step down and sent the military in to detain the President. The Congress and a Supreme Court sanctioned the coup after it had taken place, appointing Roberto Micheletti to be the new President. The OAS, all governments in the region and most countries around the world have refused to accept the new government.

Sept 21 Breaking News From NarcoNews | Seven Million Hondurans Under House Arrest as Micheletti Writes of "Democracy" | Ousted leader returns to Honduras | TeleSur Coverage | Sept 21st FlashPoints Coverage | Sept 22nd Democracy Now Coverage | Honduran Campesino Blog

Live radio from Honduras | Indymedia Chiapas/Honduras Breaking News, Photos And Audio

Previous Indybay Coverage: SF Protest Against Honduran Coup | Military Coup In Honduras

On August 17, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court took the rare step of ordering a new hearing for Georgia death row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis. The nation’s highest court ordered a federal district court in Georgia to “receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes his innocence.”

In 1991 Davis was convicted for the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. There is no physical evidence tying Davis to the crime scene and seven out of the nine non-police witnesses have since recanted or altered their initial testimonies. Others have implicated the prosecution's key remaining witnesses as the actual perpetrator of the crime.

Justice Scalia’s dissenting opinion states: “This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged 'actual innocence' is constitutionally cognizable."

In a separate opinion answering Scalia’s dissent, Justice Stevens, joined by Justices Ruth Brader Ginsburg and Stephen Bryer, wrote “The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing.”

Read More: 1 | 2 | Capital Defense Weekly blog | TroyAnthonyDavis.org

Previous Indybay Feature: Global Day of Action for Death Row Inmate Troy Davis

Michael Steinberg writes: "on August 11 protesters gathered at 5 p.m. in front of the Honduran Consulate to protest the coup that removed elected President Manual Zelaya, and called for an end to repression in Honduras and the return of Zelaya to office."

"Zelaya was seized at gunpoint in his pajamas during the early hours of June 28 and forced onto a plane that flew him to Costa Rica. Honduran General Romeo Vasquez, who ordered this action, is a two time graduate of the notorious School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, GA, also known as the School of Assassins.

"The coup regime has refused to allow Zelaya back into Honduras. When Zelaya attempted to return to Honduran by plane in July, he was refused landing at the main airport in the nation’s capital, Tegucigalpa. But, according to the July 19 Independent /UK, permission to land was subsequently also refused at Palmerola Air Force base, HQ of the Honduran Air Force, as well as the US Joint Task Force-Bravo, from which Black Hawk helicopters operate in support of the US War on Drugs in Central America. Read more

Military Coup In Honduras | Will Venezuelan Destabilization Follow the Honduran Coup? | Honduras Coup: Template for a Hemispheric Assault on Democracy | Honduran coup collaborator calls Obama equivalent of "Field Ni**er"

On August 22, in San Mateo, "Billionaire" activists stood at a busy intersection in front of a branch of Ameritrade and spread their message: Private Health Care--Because Corporations Know What's Best for You!

The group calling themselves "Insurance Executives Against ObamaCare" stated that: "We're the wealthy health care insurance execs and pharmaceutical execs who are making a killing (pardon the pun) off of the status quo in the health care industry. We elite refer to it as Wealthcare. And since we Billionaires are a minority in this country, we desperately need your support so that we can continue our profiteering...so that one day it may trickle down to you lowly people. Thanks for your support! Huzzah!!"

Photos: 1 | 2

Activists for Health Care Reform Offer Counseling at San Jose "Tea Party"

Cynthia Papermaster and Susan Harman write: "Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee was confronted by three torture accountability activists in a Pasadena courtroom who called out to him to resign for giving legal approval to interrogation techniques amounting to torture. He was so surprised that he stopped and listened to the three women, Cynthia Papermaster, Susan Harman, and Dianne Wright while they told him he is unfit to be a judge and should resign. No cameras or video were allowed inside the courtroom."

"It's a problem that Jay Bybee is a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. How can he serve as a judge when he seriously violated the laws against inhumane treatment of detainees and gave legal approval to interrogation techniques that amount to torture. We agree with Patrick Leahy, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that if Bybee's a decent human being, he'll resign. We agree with MoveOn and People for the American Way, who've submitted 140,000 petition signatures to John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, asking him to impeach Bybee. And we agree with the New York Times, which called for his impeachment twice in April."

"As part of the June 25 national Torture Accountability Day, Cynthia wrote and filed a formal judicial misconduct complaint against him. The Court Executive let her know that Bybee has a copy of her complaint. Last Wednesday, July 1, Cynthia discovered that Bybee would be hearing a case in Pasadena on Monday, July 6. We quickly organized Code Pink, Progressive Democrats of America, and World Can't Wait to do an inside-outside action: protesters outside the court starting at 8:30 to greet him on his arrival, and incognito protesters inside the hearing room at 11:00 to stand up and speak out at the right moment. Caught up in the moment, we both decided we had to be there. We flew to Los Angeles from San Francisco at 7:00 a.m. (ugh!), were picked up at Union Station in LA by Tobi Dragert, and arrived at the Ninth Circuit Courthouse in Pasadena at 10:00." Read More with Video

Protests at 9th Circuit Court in SF Demand Judge Bybee Be Disbarred and Prosecuted

Berkeley Pedestrian Bridge becomes an awareness activist action against torture/censorship | Impeach Bybee

Legislators and hundreds of Delta advocates held a rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, July 7th, to oppose the peripheral canal -- what they call a budget-busting and environmentally destructive project that would approximate the Panama Canal in width and length.

"I'm not going to vote for a plan that builds a Panama Canal down the middle of the 15th Assembly District,” exclaimed Assemblymember Joan Buchanan to loud applause from a crowd of recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, Delta farmers, farmworkers, Indian Tribal members, environmentalists and community activists. “I will do all I can to make that the Delta is protected.”

As she spoke, Delta family farmers from North Delta CARES and others held up banners proclaiming “The Peripheral Canal=Panama Canal North,” along with signs saying, “Fewer Water Exports, Not Fewer Delta Fish” and “Give the Delta a Voice!”

Read More: 1 | 2

See Also Right Wing Rally for Water Declares It's "Fish vs. People"

In the face of the Obama administration's refusal to release a reported 2,000 more photographs of detainee abuse — in spite of being ordered by a federal court to do so — torture opponents in fifteen U.S. cities held protests to demand that the government make the photos public. These protests also called for prosecution of those who ordered, legally justified, and carried out torture in US detention and secret prisons during the Bush years.

On May 28th in San Francisco, protesters rallied outside the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals court house to call for the prosecution, impeachment, and disbarment of "Torture Judge" Jay Bybee. Bybee's 2003 lifetime appointment to the federal bench was his reward from George Bush for his work as head of the Office of Legal Counsel. There, Bybee issued the 2002 torture memo which authorized torture including waterboarding, walling, sleep deprivation and other torture techniques.

Read More | Video | Photos: 1 | 2

Also See: May 31st John Yoo Home Demo: Shame on Yoo

If approved by the state legislature, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget plan will close 220 of 279 State Parks and Beaches, including each and every State Park and Beach in Santa Cruz County.

The proposed Santa Cruz County State Park and Beach closures are Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Castle Rock State Park, Castro Adobe State Historic Park, Coast Dairies State Park, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Lighthouse Field State Beach, Manresa State Beach, Manresa Uplands State Park, Natural Bridges State Beach, New Brighton State Beach, Palm State Beach, Rio Del Mar State Beach, Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, Seabright State Beach, Seacliff State Beach, Sunset State Beach, The Forest of Nisene Marks, Twin Lakes State Beach and Wilder Ranch State Park.

A rally to save State Parks and Beaches took place on June 1st at Natural Bridges State Beach. On June 2nd, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks took a bus to Sacramento for the only public hearing on this proposal before the Legislative Budget Conference Committee. Read more

Rally at Natural Bridges to Save State Parks & Beaches

At 10am on Tuesday May 26th, in a 6-1 decision, the California Supreme Court's ruled in favor of Proposition 8 banning future same-sex marriages but upholding existing same-sex marriages. In the one dissenting opinion, Judge Moreno stated "This could not have been the intent of those who devised and enacted the initiative process. In my view, the aim of Proposition 8 and all similar initiative measures that seek to alter the California Constitution to deny a fundamental right to a group that has historically been subject to discrimination on the basis of a suspect classification, violates the essence of the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and fundamentally alters its scope and meaning."

California Upholds Proposition 8 Gay Marriage Ban, Leaves 18,000 Same-Sex Marriages Intact | PDF Of Decision: Strauss vs. Horton, S168047 | PROP 8 UNHELD 6-1 | Judge Moreno's Dissent | Gay Marriage Advocates Likely to Seek Another Ballot Vote | Feminist Majority Coverage | ACLU Coverage | Supreme Court Perverts Power of Initiative Process | California Was The Future

Street actions to protest discrimination are taking place throughout the day in California and elsewhere in the nation. Most actions took place at 6pm, but immediate action upon the announcement took place in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and Palo Alto. In San Francisco, police arrested more than 150 protesters for blocking the intersection of Van Ness and Grove near City Hall shortly after the ruling was announced.

Fresno: Photos
Santa Cruz: Photos
Palo Alto: Photos 1 | 2
San Francisco: Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Coverage Of Arrests Near SF City Hall
Los Angeles: AJLPP Statement | Press Conference At Gay and Lesbian Center
Sant Barbara: Photos
San Diego: Video | Over 4,000 Rally | Over 70 Activists Occupy San Diego County Clerk’s Office

On Saturday, May 30th, a rally of California-wide advocates for national LGBT equality will be held in Fresno. Organizers chose Fresno for its location in the middle of the state and because California's Central Valley population is more representative of "middle-America" attitudes. They say that the struggle for full equality for gays and lesbians has to be won in towns like Fresno, and not just in LGBT-friendly metropolitan areas.

San Francisco | Palo Alto | Santa Cruz and Watsonville | Salinas | Monterey | Hollister | Day of Decision | Meet in the Middle | Rage about prop8? Its White Night Time | How to Protest the Prop 8 Decision

MarriageEquality.org | Previous Indybay Coverage

On Friday, March 27, protesters decried budget cuts to home care workers in front of the State Building in Oakland. SEIU, which organized the protest, claimed that the California budget passed in February contains $1 billion in "trigger cuts" to home care, health care, higher education, SSI/SSP, and CalWORKS. The Oakland protest was part of a day of action organized by SEIU that included a rally at the Capitol Building in Sacramento and in five other cities. "When legislators buried these 'trigger cuts' deep in the February budget agreement, they were counting on not having to take responsibility for their decision to make such unpopular cuts. We're coming to our leaders' front doors to demand they accept responsibility for their decisions that will harm the elderly, the sick, people with disabilities, struggling families, and students," said Paula Cantera, a home care provider in Napa County. The home care workers weren't alone. "If our leaders can find a way to enrich corporations with billions in shameless giveaways, they can find a way to protect our seniors an people with disabilities, " said Gary Passmore, Executive Director of the Congress of California Seniors.

Photos

Students and educators from public colleges all over the state converged on Sacramento on March 16, 2009 to demand that California fully fund higher education and not raise tuition. Many had meetings with legislators. While protests were entirely peaceful, one student was arrested by police for no apparent reason.

Amid the deepening budget crisis in California’s public colleges and schools, over 6,000 students, teachers, administrators, and education workers converged on the State Capitol in Sacramento on March 16, 2009. They came to demand, “Keep the doors open,” “No budget cuts,” “Bail out colleges, not banks,” “Fund education, not war,” and “Money for schools, not prisons.”

They came from all over the state. Students from Los Angeles Mission College had boarded buses before 3 AM to arrive in Sacramento in time to march from Raley Field to the steps of the Capitol for an 11 AM rally. De Anza College in Cupertino sent four buses with some 200 students. Altogether, over 70 buses converged at Raley Field from which participants marched across the drawbridge over the Sacramento River, down the Capitol Mall to the State Capitol, a distance of approximately one mile. They were joined on the steps of the Capitol by students from local area public colleges.

Read More with Photos

Following a series of interfaith Town Hall meetings that have been held in Oakland since the murder of Oscar Grant, the first in a series of planned Caravans for Justice headed to Sacramento on February 19th, focused on various aspects of the "justice" system. A caravan of cars and buses traveled from Richmond, Oakland, San Francisco, and East Palo Alto to the California State Capitol to speak out and lobby legislators a number of issues: Oscar Grant and police killings (including revising the "Police Bill of Rights" that shields their misconduct records from the public), repressive gang laws, reforming the Three Strikes law, dropping the charges against the San Franciscso 8, environmental justice, and other laws and issues that criminalize urban youth and negatively effect communities of color.

Speakers and participants included: Christopher Muhammad - Nation of Islam; Pastor Zachary E. Carey - TrueVine Ministries; Keith Muhammad - Nation of Islam; Gordon A. Humphrey, Jr. - Olivet Institutional Missionary Baptist Church; Sandra Swanson - Black Caucus / Ca State Assembly; Joe Coto - Latino Caucus / Ca State Assembly; Barbara Becnel - Author, journalist, and film producer; Jack Bryson - Father of Friend of Oscar Grant III; Archbishop Franzo King - Saint John Coltrane Church; Mandingo - Oakland Black Panther Party; Betty Williams - Sacramento NAACP; Rudy Corpuz - United Playaz; Reverend Daniel Buford; Mike Ali - Native American Activist; Richard Brown - San Francisco 8; and Geoffrey Pete.

Townhall meetings continue to be held every Saturday at 4:30pm at Olivet Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland in order to advance a unified movement for justice and to plan for the Caravan for Justice #2.

Video | Event Announcement | Caravan for Justice

See also: The Police Bill of Rights, Copley, and Where We Are Today in CA with Police Accountability | Why Fresno Needs an Independent Police Auditor | Monday, February 23: JR of Flashpoints court hearing for felony charges | Black Panthers History "Honoring Huey P. Newton", Berkeley, 2/22/09: photos & audio | Justice for Anita Gay, Justice for All! | Justice for Anita! Justice for All! Anita Gay Vigil, Berkeley, 2/20/09 | Town Hall Featuring Minister Louis Farrakhan, Oakland, 2/17/09: photos and audio | Federal Court's Tentative Ruling Attempts to Stop Overcrowding in CA Prisons | Federal judges ready to release up to 60,000 California prisoners | Emergency Town Hall Meeting, 1/10/09 | BART has a long history of excessive force and lack of accountability

Related Indybay Features: Activists Take Over BART Board Meeting to Demand Justice for Oscar Grant | San Jose Sees Sixth Victim of Death by Taser | Justice Never Served… Five Years after the Murder of Rudy Cardenas by State Police | Community Groups Respond to Fresno Police Beating of Homeless Man