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Alert: Save the Gorillas Petition  
Focus: Animal Welfare
Action Request: Petition
Location: United States

Please sign petition here:  

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/632616965




Congo rebels said to kill, eat gorillas
 



DAKAR
, Senegal
- Rebels in eastern Congo have killed and eaten two silverback mountain gorillas, conservationists said Wednesday, warning they fear more of the endangered animals may have been slaughtered in the lawless region.


Only about 700 mountain gorillas remain in the world, 380 of them spread across a range of volcanic mountains straddling the borders of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda in Central Africa.


One dismembered gorilla corpse was found Tuesday in a pit latrine in Congo's Virunga National Park, a few hundred yards from a park patrol post that was abandoned because of rebel attacks, according to the London-based Africa Conservation Fund. Another was killed in the same area on Jan. 5, said the group, which based its report on conservationists in the field.


The group blamed rebels loyal to a local warlord, Laurent Nkunda, for the latest killing. Nkunda is a renegade soldier who commands thousands of fighters in the vast country's east who have in recent years assaulted cities and clashed sporadically with government forces.


Silverbacks are older adult males and usually group leaders, though some are loners.


Paulin Ngobobo, a senior park warden, wrote an Internet blog about finding the latest remains.


"We've learned a lot: the gorilla had in fact been eaten for meat. His name was Karema, another solitary silverback that had been born into a habituated group — meaning that he had grown to trust humans enough to let them come to within touching distance," Ngobobo wrote.


"We learned that the remaining gorillas are extremely vulnerable — the rebels are after the meat, and it's not difficult for them to find and kill the few gorillas that remain."


Ngobobo said the first gorilla reported killed had been shot by rebels and eaten.


"A local farmer was ordered to help the rebels collect the meat of the gorilla," Ngobobo said. "He told them that the meat was dangerous to eat, and immediately informed us."


Robert Muir of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, who accompanied Ngobobo, said: "We need to impress on Nkunda and his men that it is inexcusable to destroy national and world heritage of such critical importance. ... Now that we know that the slaughtered gorilla was eaten, the gorillas habituated for tourism are at extreme risk — and we are worried that more have been killed already."


The last remaining hippo populations in Congo are in Virunga and are also on the verge of being wiped out. Conservationists have blamed rebels and militias for slaughtering them, and say more than 400 were killed last year, mostly for food. Only 900 hippos remain, a huge drop from the 22,000 reported there in 1998.


Virunga park has been ravaged by poachers and deforestation for more than a decade. The 1994 Rwandan genocide saw millions of refugees spill into Congo, marking the beginning of an era of unrest, lawlessness and clashes between militias and rebel groups.


Mineral-rich Congo, which held its first democratic elections in more than four decades last year, is struggling to recover from a 1998-2002 war that drew in the armies of more than half a dozen African nations.

The job of protecting the country's parks falls on local rangers, and the risks are high. In Virunga alone, some 97 rangers have died on duty since 1996, the Africa Conservation Fund said.


On his blog, Ngobobo also described being shot at and beaten by the military, who he and other rangers were trying to persuade to stop cutting down the forest.


Richard Leakey, a conservationist credited with helping end the slaughter of elephants in Kenya during the 1980s, said: "The survival of these last remaining mountain gorillas should be one of humanity's greatest priorities. Their future lies with a small number of very brave rangers risking their lives with very little support from the outside world."


 
Posted: Jan 22, 2007 12:28pm | comment (0) | discuss (0) | permalink
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Tags: death   soul   animals   life   mountain   park   earth   natural   mountains   animal   nature   wildlife   african   god   jesus   africa   apes   christian   congo   evolution   murder   conservation   ape   christians   gorilla   silverback   rebels   altruism   gorillas   cannibalism   cannibal   cannibals  
Blog: A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives  


A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives
 

November 14th, 2006

To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,

I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.

Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:

Dear Conservatives and Republicans,

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.

7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.

Signed,

Michael Moore

mmflint@aol.com

(Click here to sign the pledge)

www.michaelmoore.com

P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.


 
Posted: Nov 17, 2006 10:12pm | comment (0) | discuss (0) | permalink
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Alert: $250,000 Reward for Evidence of Election Fraud  
Focus: Election
Action Request: Various
Location: United States
WORKING ASSETS

$250,000 Reward For Evidence of Election Fraud

Press Release Regarding Reward for Evidence Leading to Voter Fraud
Conviction

http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eqs50I5S3c0COb0BRiF0Ec

Washington, Nov. 7 -- MoveOn.org Political Action is offering a
$250,000 reward for new material evidence leading to a felony
conviction for an organized effort of partisan voter suppression or
electronic voting fraud.

Throughout the day accusations of election fraud and voter suppression
incidents have been flooding into state and federal authorities
throughout the country. In Virginia, the FBI has launched a criminal
investigation into charges of voter suppression. In 20 Congressional
districts, NRCC robocalls appearing to come from Democrats harassed
voters with repeated calls in an apparently coordinated campaign to
suppress the vote.

Complementing an earlier reward for whistleblowers, MoveOn's reward is
being offered to anyone who provides this information.

Click here for the full text of the news release:
http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/eqs50I5S3c0COb0BRiF0Ec

Sincerely,

Will Easton
Manager
Working Assets

 
Posted: Nov 7, 2006 9:31pm | comment (0) | discuss (0) | permalink
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Blog: Death of a President (D.O.A.P.)  

CNN, NPR Turn Down Ads for Death of a President

CBC Arts

The American news networks CNN and National Public Radio have refused to accept ads for the controversial British film Death of a President, about the fictional assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush.

CNN sent an e-mail to movie distributor Newmarket Films on Tuesday, saying it would not air ads for the film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Gabriel Range accepts the International Critics' Prize in Toronto for Death of a President.  It will open on only 100 screens in the U.S. and some media outlets have refused ads.Gabriel Range accepts the International Critics' Prize in Toronto for Death of a President. It will open on only 100 screens in the U.S. and some media outlets have refused ads.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

CNN said it "has decided not to take the ads because of the extreme nature of the movie's subject matter."

The film is shot as if it is a documentary, looking back on the 2007 shooting of Bush during an anti-war rally in Chicago. Real news footage of Bush is mixed with acted segments to create the story.

Filmmaker Gabriel Range has used the same technique in two films that cast light on British politics.

But projecting the death of a sitting president has been too controversial for many critics in the United States and two theatre chains there have balked at showing the film, which opens Friday October 27.

Ads could taint news coverage of film: NPR

National Public Radio (NPR) said it refused the ads because it did not want to give listeners the idea that it was reporting about the movie because it took the sponsorships, an NPR spokeswoman said.

"The movie is fairly likely to generate significant controversy and we'll cover it as a news story," said NPR spokeswoman Andi Sporkin.

"To take a sponsorship spot would raise questions and cause confusion" among listeners, she said.

Newmarket Films co-founder Chris Ball objected to the refusals by CNN and NPR, saying major newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post have run ads.

"To refuse to accept ads for a movie is tantamount to saying it shouldn't be seen, and this runs counter to everything we are supposed to believe in as a free society," Ball told the Los Angeles Times.

He defended the film's premise, saying it is an appeal for tolerance.

"Death of a President is the opposite of a call for violence," Ball said.

The largest U.S. theatre chain, Regal Entertainment Group, and a smaller competitor, Cinemark USA, have said they would not screen the movie. It will open Friday October 27th on about 100 screens nationwide.

Maple Pictures is releasing Death of a President in Canada, also on Friday October 27th, and has a promotional campaign that features a picture of Bush, with his birth and fictional death date(October 2007).

The ads have been accepted by Canadian media outlets.




Some U.S. Cinemas Balk at Showing Death of a President

CBC Arts

Some major U.S. cinema chains are refusing to play the film Death of a President, which depicts the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush.

The film, which won the international critics' prize at the Toronto International Film Festival, mixes real news footage of the president with dramatized segments to tell the story.

The film has been controversial since its subject matter has been known and director Gabriel Range reported getting death threats.
 

Now cinema chains in the U.S. are balking at releasing it.

"We would not be inclined to program this film," Regal Entertainment Group chief executive Mike Campbell said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

"We feel it is inappropriate to portray the future assassination of a sitting president, regardless of political affiliation."

Texas-based Cinemark USA and its unit Century Theaters, which has cinemas in northern California, have also refused to book the film.

Boston-based National Amusements is still in negotiations over whether to release it.

Newmarket Films of Los Angeles bought rights to distribute the film at TIFF and plans to open it Oct. 27, ahead of the U.S. congressional election Nov. 7.

Range says the film is meant to provoke debate on today's U.S. political climate.

The fictional Bush assassination occurs in Chicago in 2007 against a background of anti-war protests, and Range depicts a xenophobic rush to judgment as an American of Middle Eastern descent is accused of the crime.

Range said he could have told the same story with a fictional president who looks or acts like Bush, but feared it would not have the same impact.

Newmarket co-founder Chris Ball agrees the film is controversial, but says it's a compelling political thriller.

"In many ways it is sympathetic to George Bush. It talks about a rush to judgment. In no way is it a call for violence," Ball said.

The film has an R rating, which will keep away some movie-goers.

But Newmarket distribution consultant Richard Abramowitz insists it will open widely in the U.S. with at least 700 screens booked for Oct. 27.

"We're getting a good reception in a lot of places. No matter how tight the screens are, once a film has success, it's always easier to get more screens," he said.

Politically controversial films such as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth have done well in the U.S. in the past.

Death of a President was a hit with audiences as well as a critics' favourite at TIFF, with crowds lining up to see it.



British Film Courts Controversy By Fabricating Bush Assassination

CBC Arts


A controversial British film that fabricates the assassination of U.S. President George Bush will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival and air on a BBC channel later this fall.

The film Death of a President, produced by Gabriel Range, Simon Finch and Ed Guiney, combines real news and documentary footage with acted scenes to create the story.

The 90-minute film takes the form of a fictional documentary looking back at the assassination of Bush in October 2007 in Chicago.

In the film, Bush is confronted by a massive demonstration against the Iraq war when he arrives in Chicago and is gunned down by a sniper as he leaves a speech.

The hunt for the killer focuses on a Syrian-born man, Jamal Abu Zikri, giving an opportunity to explore issues of the political climate in the U.S. amid the war on terror.

Actors play fictional secret service agents and aides who recall the shooting in interviews recorded for the retrospective documentary.

TIFF reviewer Noah Cowan calls the film "dangerous and breathtakingly original," and says Range does a masterful job of integrating the real and the fictional, using special effects.

On the TIFF program, which starts Sept. 7, the film is referred to as D.O.A.P.

Peter Dale, head of More4, the BBC digital channel airing the film Oct. 9, called it a "thought-provoking critique" of contemporary U.S. political realities.

"It's an extraordinarily gripping and powerful piece of work, a drama constructed like a documentary that looks back at the assassination of George Bush as the starting point for a very gripping detective story," he said.

Dale acknowledged that the film describes an unwelcome scenario and could be considered provocative.

"I'm sure that there will be people who will be upset by it, but when you watch it you realize what a sophisticated piece of work it is," he said.

Range and Finch have done two similar projects for BBC2, both of them critiques of Britain's body politic that combined real footage with fictional disaster story.

The Day Britain Stopped shows a complete failure of U.K. transit systems after a rail strike and plane crash coincide. The Man Who Broke Britain posits a Britain in financial turmoil after oil prices peak and a shady trader loses millions for a major bank.


Crowds queue for contentious Death of a President premiere at TIFF

CBC Arts


A large and curious crowd, as well as a strong police presence, met the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Death of a President Sunday night but no protests materialized in response to the controversial film.

Writer-director Gabriel Range has received death threats and has been flamed online over the work, which depicts the fictional assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush by a sniper in Chicago in 2007 in a melee that results from a violent anti-war protest.

The fictional, dramatic film uses a documentary format. It shows former Secret Service agents, police officers, the suspects in the shooting and their families reflecting back on the event from a fictional future, outlining how the country became more divided and xenophobic in the aftermath.

Range said Death of a President wasn't meant to be a political attack on Bush, but to examine the long-term effects of Washington's so-called "war on terror" and Americans' willingness to give up their civil liberties in return for promises of security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It is using the lens of the future to look at the present," director Range told the audience after the premiere.

"It is about issues that have affected us all in the last five years. It is a film about America today."

Both supporters, detractors queue to see film

Many of those waiting in the long line on Sunday, in hopes of scoring a last-minute ticket, defended the movie. Among them was Sanjay Rajput, a visitor from Detroit who said he worries the film might never be screened in the U.S.

"I think that just harms all sides," he said. "You're really seeing a marginalization of artistic points of view that don't fit the mainstream."

Michelle Legge, a resident of Beamsville, Ont., was also queuing in hopes of seeing the film, even though she said she opposed it and was upset about the timing of the screening just prior to the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11.

"I don't know. It just gives me the creeps thinking about that," she said.

Festival co-director urges critics, public to watch film

However, TIFF co-director Noah Cowan said Sunday that people should see the film before they judge it.

"It actually deals not very much with the idea of killing anybody. It's actually about policies and their aftermaths," he told a crowd outside the premiere.

In TIFF materials issued this summer and in the program book, Death of a President was referred to as D.O.A.P. to keep the nature of the project quiet until closer to the screening.

Combines real footage, acting

Critics have attacked the film's combination of real documentary and news footage, including of the real-life Bush. For example, a publicity still that showed what appears to be Bush being shot has lit up blogs and provoked reaction around the world.

The image was actually shot using an actor, with Bush's face superimposed.

Range has previously used the technique of combining documentary footage and acted sequences into a fictional scenario in two projects for BBC2, both of them critiques of British political realities.

The Day Britain Stopped shows a complete failure of British transit systems after a simultaneous rail strike and plane crash. The Man Who Broke Britain posits a Britain in financial turmoil after oil prices peak and a shady trader loses millions for a major bank.


Passion of the Christ distributor scores Death of a President at TIFF

CBC Arts

A company with plenty of experience handling a provocative film has picked up the U.S. rights for Death of a President, the controversial movie that depicts the assassination of U.S President George W. Bush.

Newmarket Films, which handled Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, has secured the U.S. distribution rights to British filmmaker Gabriel Range's Death of a President for a reported $1 million US.

To give the film the feel of a traditional documentary, the director combined existing archival footage of Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney with special effects and new, fictional footage of actors portraying former Secret Service agents and other officials speaking about the killing and its aftermath.

Worry over U.S. distribution amid protests

Death of a President drew protests well before the film's premiere, with Range admitting to having received several death threats. Many filmgoers had been worried the film would not get wide distribution in the U.S. because of the uproar.

The 93-minute film is set to air in the U.K. on Oct. 9, on a digital subsidiary of Channel 4, but had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.

Though there was a strong police presence, there were no protests outside the screening. A sold-out theatre warmly greeted Range at the premiere and gave the film a round of applause at the end.

During a question-and-answer session with the audience following the screening, Range said he doesn't believe the movie would incite an attempt on Bush's life.

"I think the film makes it clear it would really be a horrific event. There have been plenty of fictional films about assassinations, so this is not the first in that sense," he said, adding that the recent Secret Service thriller The Sentinel, which starred Kiefer Sutherland, opened with footage of an attempt on former president Ronald Reagan's life.


Death of a President scores TIFF critics' prize

CBC Arts

The controversial British film Death of a President, which depicts the assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush, has won the international critics' prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Death of a President, directed by Gabriel Range, was chosen "for the audacity with which it distorts reality, to reveal a larger truth," said a statement released by the festival.

The film is described as having a "unique premise, told in the style of a retrospective documentary, which offers a critique of the contemporary U.S. political landscape."
 
The director said he found it encouraging that his film found a distributor at the festival as well as winning an award.

"I hope that's proof that people can see beyond the premise and see that it's a film about this post 9/11 world we live in," said Range at the ceremony.

 
Posted: Sep 21, 2006 7:13pm | comment (0) | discuss (0) | permalink
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Blog: Sowing the Seeds of FEAR in an Election Year, Republican-Terrorists Spread the Love!  
Immigration Raid Makes a Ghost Town

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/immigration-raid-makes-a-ghost-town/20060915141409990003

By RUSS BYNUM, AP


STILLMORE, Ga. (Sept. 15) - Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago.

This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants.

The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.

More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the woods, camping out for days. They worry some are still hiding without food.

At least one child, born a U.S. citizen, was left behind by his Mexican parents: 2-year-old Victor Perez-Lopez. The toddler's mother, Rosa Lopez, left her son with Julie Rodas when the raids began and fled the state. The boy's father was deported to Mexico.

"When his momma brought this baby here and left him, tears rolled down her face and mine too," Rodas said. "She said, `Julie, will you please take care of my son because I have no money, no way of paying rent?"'

For five years, Rodas has made a living watching the children of workers at the Crider Inc. poultry plant, where the vast majority of employees were Mexican immigrants. She learned Spanish, and considered many immigrants among her closest friends. She threw parties for their children's birthdays and baptisms.

The only child in Rodas' care now, besides her own son, is Victor. Her customers have disappeared.

Federal agents also swarmed into a trailer park operated by David Robinson. Illegal immigrants were handcuffed and taken away. Almost none have returned. Robinson bought an American flag and posted it by the pond out front - upside down, in protest.

"These people might not have American rights, but they've damn sure got Human rights," Robinson said. "There ain't no reason to treat them like animals."

The raids came during a fall election season in which immigration is a top issue.

Last month, the federal government reported that Georgia had the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population in the country. The number more than doubled from an estimated 220,000 in 2000 to 470,000 last year. This year, state lawmakers passed some of the nation's toughest measures targeting illegal immigrants, and Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue last week vowed a statewide crackdown on document fraud.

Other than the Crider plant, there isn't much in Stillmore. Four small stores, a coin laundry and a Baptist church share downtown with City Hall, the fire department and a post office. "We're poor but proud," Mayor Marilyn Slater said, as if that is the town motto.

The 2000 Census put Stillmore's population at 730, but Slater said uncounted immigrants probably made it more than 1,000. Not anymore, with so many homes abandoned and the streets practically empty.

"This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo coming in and yanking people up," Slater said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Marc Raimondi would not discuss details of the raids. "We can't lose sight of the fact that these people were here illegally," Raimondi said.

At Sucursal Salina No. 2, a store stocked with Mexican fruit sodas and snacks, cashier Alberto Gonzalez said Wednesday that the owner may shutter the place. By midday, Gonzalez has had only six customers. Normally, he would see 100.

The B&S convenience store, owned by Keith and Regan Slater, the mayor's son and grandson, has lost about 80 percent of its business.

"These people come over here to make a better way of life, not to blow us up," complained Keith Slater, who keeps a portrait of Ronald Reagan on the wall. "I'm a die-hard Republican, but I think we missed the boat with this one."

Since the mid-1990s, Stillmore has grown dependent on the paychecks of Mexican workers who originally came for seasonal farm labor, picking the area's famous Vidalia onions. Many then took year-round jobs at the Crider plant, with a workforce of about 900.

Crider President David Purtle said the agents began inspecting the company's employment records in May. They found 700 suspected illegal immigrants, and supervisors handed out letters over the summer ordering them to prove they came to the U.S. legally or be fired. Only about 100 kept their jobs.

The arrests started at the plant Sept. 1. Over the Labor Day weekend, agents with guns and bulletproof vests converged on workers' homes after getting the addresses from Crider's files.

Antonio Lopez, who came here two years ago from Chiapas, Mexico, and worked at the Crider plant, said agents kicked in his front door. Lopez, 32, and his 15-year-old son were handcuffed and taken by bus to Atlanta with 30 others. Because of the boy, Lopez said, both were allowed to return. In his back pocket, he carries an order to return to Atlanta for a court hearing Feb. 2.

But now, "there's no people here and I don't have any work," he said.

The poultry plant has limped along with half its normal workforce. Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit new workers.

Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago. She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro. Still, Bell said she felt bad about the raids.

"If they knew eventually that they were going to have to do that, they should have never let them come over here," she said.

 
Posted: Sep 16, 2006 5:15pm | comment (0) | discuss (0) | permalink
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Blog: Poll says Most Canadians Blame U.S. for 9/11 Attacks  

New poll says most Canadians blame U.S. for 9/11 attacks