Feature Archives

Gathering for a anti-war rally at 16th & Broadway in Sacramento on Saturday October 15, 2005, a few hundred Sacromentans, showed their support for the anti-war movement, and called for an end to the US led occupation of Iraq. Joining the protest was Cindy Sheehan, as well as the Capoeira Arts Academy Performing Group. Pictures from the event can be viewed here.

Earlier in the week, Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother whose courageous battle to meet with George W. Bush at his Crawford, Texas ranch this August has reinvigorated the anti-war movement, delivered a letter today to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office at the State Capitol in Sacramento pleading with him to pull California National Guard troops out of Iraq.

Sheehan’s sister, Dede Miller, and members of Veterans for Peace, Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out & CODEPINK Women for Peace accompanied Sheehan as she walked from the Capitol’s West Steps, through the Capitol, to the front of the governor’s office. The CA Highway Patrol stopped the group from going into the governor’s office, but Sheehan was able to meet briefly with one of the Governor’s staff while her supporters and the media waited. Read More

The Bay Area Coalition to Fight the Minutemen is mobilizing an action to oppose the Minutemen Project's rally to gather public support for their attempts to harass poor, undocumented border-crossers and to announce their support of a new initiative that would establish a state border police in addition to the existing federal border patrol. This rally will take place in Sacramento on the Capitol steps on October 29th from 10am to 12:30pm. It will feature the founder of the Minutemen Project, Jim Gilchrist, and the legislative sponsors of the California Border Police Initiative, amongst others. Governor Schwarzenegger has also been invited to speak. Read more about the event here.

Despite a recent federal court ruling, timber cutting continues in and near the Sequoia National Monument. On September 9th, Justice Charles Breyer from the US District Court for the northern district of California halted logging on a 2,000 acre commercial logging project called the Saddle fuel reduction sale. However, the ruling left open the fate of the Ice, White, and Frog timber sales, all of which are areas contiguous with or in the immediate proximity of the Saddle project. The focus of Breyer’s ruling was the absence of credible scientific evidence in the Forest Service’s guidelines for these timber sales. Of particular concern was the critical condition of the Pacific fisher population in the southern Sierras. Further decrease in canopy cover and disruption of fisher habitat could likely bring about the extinction of the species (the Bush administration has refused to accept the recommendation of scientists for listing the southern fisher as an endangered species). Sierra Nevada Earth First! activists were in the woods again this past weekend surveying timber sale units in the Frog, White, and Ice sale areas. :Read reports from Earth First! activists here.

On September 29th Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed Equality California-sponsored Assembly Bill 849, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which had passed the state Senate and Assembly. In his veto statement, he said that he did not feel that the legislature can overturn an initiative that the voters had decided. As a result of his veto, hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Californians and their families will continue to live without equal protection of the law. Equality California chapters and allied organizations are hosting community gatherings in response to the Governor's veto on Friday, September 30th. Most of the gatherings will take place between 5 and 6pm. In the central valley, protests are scheduled for Bakersfield, Modesto, and Sacramento. More info here.

Friday September 23 from 5-9pm in Downtown Fresno:The Hurricane...A Benefit Show at Broadway Studios...For Food Not Bombs Relief Efforts

From the Food Not Bombs Website: Food Not Bombs groups all across the southern United States are feeding families displaced by Katrina. Help us get food and supplies past FEMA. We need clothes, cooking equipment, food, cooks and money to provide for thousands of hungry homeless people. We have no overhead, rent or salaries so every donation goes directly to helping people. Many affected by Katrina are familiar with Food Not Bombs because we have been sharing free food in communities through the area for many years. Because we are independent we can take food and supplies to areas where no other agency can reach . . . Continued. Food Not Bombs Won't Back Down Food Not Bombs Website: SEND ONE DOLLAR DONATION OR MORE BY PAYPAL

Kevin Hall, local campaign manager for the Alliance for a Better California, is worried that not enough people are paying attention to the November 8 special election. "The governor is trying to push his right-wing agenda by holding an off-year election," Hall says. But organized labor and community activists are mobilizing their forces and have a strategy to win in November. The plan includes a door-to-door effort, a "Dog Arnold" campaign, and a big Get Out the Vote effort. On a pleasant Saturday afternoon last month, more than 100 people came together to learn about the propositions and began walking precincts in southwest and southeast Fresno. Precincts will be walked each weekend until the election.
Report and pictures | Alliance for a Better California

This year, East Bay Animal Advocates(EBAA) asked for a tour of the company’s chicken farms. The tour request was denied. So EBAA conducted it's own investigation of Foster Farms' broiler (chicken meat) operations in Merced County; California's top broiler producing county and home of the company’s headquarters. The group's graphic documentation, exposes systematic animal neglect at Foster Farms’ poultry operations. EBAA investigators rescued 39 sick and injured chickens. Following the investigative rescue, EBAA filed an animal cruelty complaint with Merced County Animal Control.

Each week Foster Farms slaughters five million chickens for human consumption. In honor of September’s National Chicken Month, EBAA is calling on Foster Farms to discontinue its misleading Pure Honest to Goodness marketing campaign and improve conditions for the birds.
Report and pictures here | East Bay Animal Advocates website | Foster Fact's website