On Tuesday, February 15th, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office introduced Secure Communities the county, allowing fingerprints gathered by local agencies to be compared across other fingerprint databases, including those of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. 

See more details from the mainstream media here: http://www.coloradoconnection.co...

Stay tuned for upcoming events to formulate strategies against the War on Brown People.

4PM, Monday, February 28th, 2011

11th St. & Main Ave. in Durango, CO

Join Durango’s progressive environmental community in a solidarity & support rally for Tim DeChristopher at 4PM on Monday, February 28th on the corner of 11th Street & Main Avenue in Durango. Bring signs, banners, noise makers, plant & animal costumes (etc.), and your friends. Be creative! For more info or to get involved, contact earthfirstdurango@riseup.net or go to southwestearthfirst.wordpress.com

In December 2008, Tim DeChristopher disrupted an oil and gas auction to allay further climate change. By registering as a bidder, Tim drove up prices on many parcels and eventually won over a million dollars worth of oil leases before federal agents removed him from the room. He faces 10 years in prison. Tim’s trial will be held in downtown Salt Lake City on February 28th, and we are organizing many opportunities for those who wish to defend a livable future to do so on a variety of levels.

P&L Press, the new publishing and distribution arm of the thirty year-old worker-owned union job shop P&L Printing, is now fully operational! In addition to a selection of radical literature from some of the finest independent presses in North America; we're pumping out brand new and classic zines, carrying periodicals like the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, 4strugglemag and Fire to the Prisons, and stocking items to help fund raise for local collectives and revolutionary organizations.

We make or print the vast majority of our inventory ourselves in our shop. All of our buttons, zines, art prints, t-shirts, and stickers are made in-house by IWW affiliated workers. This ain't a Kinkos: we aim for high quality printing and layout for items that last.

You can find P&L Press in Denver, tabling at shows and events all over the city or by stopping by at the 27 Social Centre (2 blocks east of Federal Blvd on 27th Avenue) on weekdays between 8AM and 4PM. You can also order online (use discount code LAUNCH for 10% off, good until 2/25!) at plpress.bigcartel.com and follow our production blog at plpress.blogspot.com. Got something you'd like to see us carry? Want us at your next show? Need to make a bulk order? Email us at plpress@riseup.net, we'll be sure to get back to you quickly.

It has been seven months since the murder of Marvin Booker and there has been a resurgence of a movement to combat police terror. As we ask questions of where this movement can go from here, we must also come to an understanding of what it is we're fighting against.

Join panelists from a variety of movement backgrounds and experiences in a discussion of the role of policing and imprisonment in our society and who these forms of social control benefit and why.

Saturday, February 26th 4PM-6PM
27 Social Centre 2727 W. 27th Ave Unit D (27th and Decatur, 2 blocks east of Federal, alley entrance to building) Denver, CO
http://www.facebook.com/event.ph...

Denver, Colorado. January 29, 2011. We ain't takin this no mo'!

Greetings from the occupied Ute territories of Turtle Island, colonially known as the "American Southwest"!

We are very happy to announce that, for the third year running, the Wild Roots Feral Futures (WRFF) eco-defense, direct action, and rewilding encampment will take place in the forests of Southwest Colorado this coming June, 2011. WRFF is an informal, completely free and non-commercial, and loosely organized camp-out operating on (less than a) shoe-string budget, formed entirely off of donated, scavenged, or liberated supplies and sustained through 100% volunteer effort. Though we foster a collective communality and pool resources, we encourage total self-sufficiency (which we find to be the very source and foundation of true mutual sharing and abundance).

We would like to invite groups and individuals engaged in struggles against the destruction of the Earth (and indeed all interconnected forms of oppression) to join us and share your stories, lessons, skills, and whatever else you may have to offer. In this spirit we would like to reach out to local environmental groups, coalitions, and alliances everywhere, as well as more readily recognizable groups like Earth First!, Rising Tide North America, and others to come collaborate on the future of radical environmentalism and eco-defense in our bio-regions and beyond.

TO THE STREETS! – SATURDAY, JANUARY 29TH AT 6 PM. DENVER SKATE PARK.
FUCK THE POLICE

It has been more than six months since the senseless murder of Marvin Booker by the Denver Sheriff's department. Marvin, a homeless street preacher booked on minor charges, was only asking to grab his shoes when he was choked, beaten and tazed by five jail guards before succumbing to death. His killers were cleared of any wrong-doing, even amidst a roar of public outcry, and internal affairs refuses to release the multi-angle video of the incident to the family or the larger community demanding accountability.

Marvin isn't the only casualty of Denver's police. In fact, it's getting difficult to keep track of how many people have been brutalized by the police across the state this year. Lawsuits are flooding the courts, ranging from accusations of racially motivated assaults to coercive rape. Presently, there are police in the Denver metro area being investigated for sexually abusing children and possessing vast troves of child pornography. The police are shooting first and spinning it in the media later far more often than the typical “isolated incident” pattern their public relations departments shill us. These are not “our neighbors” or “people just trying to do a job.” They are sociopathic, power-hungry, violent fiends. They are our enemies, they are extremely powerful, and they are at war with the people of this city.

The city of Bell has a neighbor city called Vernon, and it's ringleaders of Republican Christian mobsters make the RICO predicate acts of Bell pale in comparison. http://www.latimes.com/news/opin... You should go read the entire article at the URL offered howeveer here's an extract: -=- The tiny family fiefdom is essentially a criminal enterprise posing as a city government. It should be officially unincorporated as soon as possible. What's really protected Vernon all these decades is the disregard for the thousands who work in the city's factories each day but live outside Vernon's tightly controlled borders. The city has an assessed property tax base of $4.1 billion to support a population of 96. Next-door Bell has a tax base of $1.1 billion to support a population of 40,000, many of whom are employed in Vernon. The world was outraged when the South African apartheid regime segregated the urban black population into impoverished "Bantustans," cut off from the white-controlled commercial wealth. Why should we permit similar disparities in the heart of our region? -=- This is what happens when Republicanism is allowed to fester. http://www.latimes.com/news/opin...

Yahoo was off today for short bursts of time as the servers appeared to be overloaded. About five percent of Yahoo's workforce is being let go today. The login problems might or may not be linked to these staffing changes. The Yahoo business is fighting the image of a business in free fall. These layoffs and issues with login are not doing anything to fight this image. This layoff puts more individuals in the payday advance loan line. Source of article - Yahoo login goes down as company lays off 700 employees by MoneyBlogNewz.

Yahoo goes down with offerings such as login

Many reports on the web explained that Yahoo login just was not working. That was Tuesday morning. Yahoo News, Yahoo Buzz and Yahoo email all would not work. It seemed like Yahoo services were down. Several outside mail offerings reported that Yahoo Mail servers were off. Tues at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time, things were better. It seemed all Yahoo services were working intermittently.

Documented to be Yahoo layoffs

Monday night, the New York Times reported that rumors were circulating about Yahoo layoffs. Many news sources confirmed the rumors on Tuesday. About 5 percent of the workforce can be laid off, which is from 600 to seven-hundred people. Most layoffs can be within Yahoo’s product group. This is the group that controls Yahoo goods like Yahoo mail. The Yahoo product division head told department heads to prepare for up to 20 percent of their workforce to get laid off a few days ago.

AOL buyout rejected by Yahoo

In Denver, Colorado outrage about the case of Julian Assange and the illegal attacks on Wikileaks is almost invisible.  Exceptions to the rule include random messaging on college campuses, such as Auroria Denver, and street messaging, such as this graffiti picture, taken from a locomotive next to the Lightrail at the 10th and Osage station.  These messages are beautifully done, and certainly it is better that these exist than nothing at all.  However, these meager offerings, moderately inspiring though they might be to some, are only in reaction to the dominant discourse.  At best these messages are an attempt to radicalize people at an incremental level, influencing the discourse and encouraging people to action and inquiry, however shallow.  At worst they honestly hope to influence policy about Wikileaks or the attack on Julian Assange with some pressure-group theory of politics.  Unfortunately, the current mode of production, system, or totality (krapitalism, the spectacle, the commodity relationship, class rule) not only determines the dominant discourse, it defines it.

Rally to Show Solidarity for Striking Georgia Prisoners
By Phillip Reynes

Note: We are having problems uploading pictures and so the pictures will be found as attachments at the bottom of the article.  COIMC is working to resolve this issue as soon as posible.

It was cold and my hands felt it, I could not wear gloves and work my camera, when I arrived at the new jail that Denver had built on Elate and Colfax to cover the rally in solidarity with the skiting Georgia inmates. I had just heard the strike had ended and wondered if this would effect the turn out. As it turned out nobody knew this at the rally. Despite this fact it was good to see so many cared enough to come out in support of these inmates who exhibit great courage in doing what they have done. I can't help but feel that the state will take it's own revenge against the leaders of the strike.

Regardless, today marks the end of a seven-day strike where tens of thousands of inmates in Georgia refused to work or leave their cells until their demands had been met. The odd thing is, that until today, no one had ever heard about this strike. Unless you read COIMC or are very media savvy and know where to look on line.

It was already dark when I arrived at 5:00 pm for the six o'clock rally. I reflected on Georgia's bad weather as I shivered and waited for the rally to start. The turnout, considering the cold was good, as 20 or so people arrived to show there support and hoist signs showing their solidarity with the Georgia prisoners.

The folowing post was recently submitted to the newsfeed but disapeared in a few days.  The content in no way violates the editorial policy, so I am at a loss of how it disapeared.  I emailed the COIMC list about it, and I am a member of that list so I know that it was not approved for moderation to be sent out to the list.  With no information or idea of what happened to this post, I am re-posting it.  COIMC editors may contact me at stanley1848@riseup.net .

From the Ward Churchill Solidarity Network

At Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado an urgent letter was released altering the Fort Lewis and Durango community about a meeting that took place between FLC president Dene Thomas, Provost Steven Roderick and two students. Concern was raised because of the methods used by the president and the Provost of the college with regards to student input. Not only did the students concerns fall on deaf ears, but we feel there was an attempt to silence us. Most surprising of which is an analogy President Thomas made to FLC and Ken State. Please read the narrative below explaining the meeting in further detail.

Fort Lewis College President Dene Kay Thomas Threatens Students with Kent State
November 17, 2010

FLC President Dene Kay Thomas Brings up Kent State Shootings

At Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado an urgent letter was released altering the Fort Lewis and Durango community about a meeting that took place between FLC president Dene Thomas, Provost Steven Roderick and two students. Concern was raised because of the methods used by the president and the Provost of the college with regards to student input. Not only did the students concerns fall on deaf ears, but we feel there was an attempt to silence us. Most surprising of which is an analogy President Thomas made to FLC and Ken State. Please read the narrative below explaining the meeting in further detail.

November 15th, 2010

The following narrative is a jointly written document concerning the meeting held on Friday November 12th, between FLC students, Jake Brettin and Alex Pullen, and FLC President Dene Kay Thomas and Provost Stephen Roderick. As students who were invited by the President to her office to talk, we feel our voices were not heard and, moreover, an attempt was made to silence us.

In communities across North America October 22nd has become a day to commemorate victims of police repression and violence. For many communities, October 22, 2010 took on a more urgent meaning in the wake of severe police repression and violence that has plagued cities large and small. In Denver, this year's October 22nd event saw a rise in hostility towards the cops and an increased militancy from years' past.

 Throughout 2010, police in the metro area have repeatedly made headlines with horrific acts of violence directed at community members. Ranging from allegations of sexual assault, rapes of children, murders, and beatings, news stories have painted a picture of a department that is clearly running amok and waging war on the residents of Colorado. Offending officers are rarely held accountable and department leadership deftly sweeps incidents under the rug to stave off an increasingly angry public.

One of the most violent and high profile incidents occurred in July. Denver Sheriff's Deputies serving as guards at the new Denver Justice Center murdered 56 year old Marvin Booker, a homeless preacher being held as a prisoner at the jail. Marvin had asked for access to his shoes before he would comply with orders to return to his cell. In response, five deputies tackled him, placed him in repeated choke and pain compliance holds, tasered him, and beat him. Marvin died shortly after the attack. While the local coroner deemed the death a homicide, the DA announced in late September that no charges would be filed against any of the officers involved.

Join Denver ABC for our monthly political prisoner letterwriting night. This month we will focus on women identified prisoners that are being caged for their contributions to liberation struggles and their personal actions against patriarchy.

Come write letters to amazing and strong women who have robbed banks, carried out armed actions against the state and capitalists, successfully defended themselves against their abusers, and have devoted their lives to women’s liberation.

As always, DABC provides everything you need: envelopes, paper, pens, stamps, addresses, and EVEN DINNER!

This is a kid’s friendly event, so bring the whole family… and your friends!

http://denverabc.wordpress.com/2...

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On September 9, two months to the day after Marvin Booker was murdered by five sheriffs deputies in Denver's brand-spanking new jail, members of Mr. Booker's extended family, in Denver from all over the country to mark the occasion, gathered with their attorneys for a press conference on the steps of the City and County building. Earlier in the day, they had met with Mayor Hickenlooper, who, they said, had expressed condolences and sympathy to the family. And the mayor appeared at the press conference, for which he certainly deserved credit, since I'm sure the city attorney told him not to; though when asked by a reporter about his appearance, and its relevance to the inevitable civil lawsuit, Hickenlooper was quick to say that it did not in any way constitute an admission of wrongdoing on the part of the city. Reverend Spencer Booker, speaking for the family, thanked the mayor for showing sensitivity to their pain, but also called on the District Attorney to quickly bring criminal charges against the officers responsible for Marvin Booker's death.Darold Kilmer, the lead attorney for the family, also called upon the mayor and the city to achieve swift accountability and take measures to ensure that nothing like this happens again. Imagine, he said, if five inmates had killed a deputy; imagine how much further along the process of holding someone accountable would be. He called on the DA to act promptly to bring appropriate criminal charges, noting “the unfortunate history in Denver of a failure of courage to charge law enforcement officers criminally.” Which was a diplomatic way of noting that a DA criminally charging a cop or sheriff for even the most egregious criminal act occurs with roughly the same frequency as a sighting of Halley's comet.

“how can I be a rape ‘survivor’ if I have to continue to go through the motions over and over? I am being Raped Again!! How many times should I have to go through this? I haven’t survived shit! I am still suffering! If I refuse to do this procedure, I will be written up... This refusal would cost me the apartment program and my 8-year-old son would not be able to stay the night with me ever again.” --letter from inmate in DWCF In January of 2010, the Denver Women's Correctional Facility (DWCF) implemented a new search procedure called the 'labia lift.' The following is a description given by an inmate that entails what the strip search includes:

Santa Fe New Mexico to many represents a unique icon of our nation's multicultural past. Little known to the thousands of tourists who visit the city each summer to buy original art and knock-off trinkets, local officials also harbor some deep, dark secrets. The secrets are not told at the iconic state-run Palace of Governors Museum, where Native American artisans sell hand-made jewelry under a covered walkway alongside one of the nation's most visited town squares.

The dark secret involves murder, religion and conquest. Each year, a city-funded celebration of a "peaceful reconquest" omits details of 70 prisoners executed by Conquistadors who captured the Plaza on Dec. 29, 1693. The prisoners had been seized during a daylong battle in which the band of starving colonists hoped to find a supply of food to get them through the winter. The murders, in the words of the conquistador's leader, were for the crime of apostasy against his deity.

The truth of the killings is told in first person by Don Diego De Vargas, who led the 1693 expedition back into New Mexico. De Vargas wrote in his now-translated journals (To the Royal Crown Restored, University of New Mexico Press, 1995) that "I told them I was having them killed”. He ordered his priests to attempt religious conversion of the condemned prisoners, that he ordered his officers to quickly execute the prisoners and wrote that "the number of Indians killed that day was 70." The book is available in the research section of the Santa Fe Public Library, just around the corner from the Plaza.

Grand Valley Homeless Children Need Day Shelter

On Wednesday, September 1, at South 9th St. and the railroad tracks (631 S. 9th St.), Housing First! No More Deaths!, homeless families and other supporters are holding a demonstration to demand action for homeless families. As wonderful of a community as Grand Junction is, there remains a void in services provided to homeless families with children. If this need can not be met before the cold weather of winter comes to the Grand Valley, Housing First! No More Deaths! is ready to take action.

There have been around 500 school-age children identified as homeless in District 51, and there are many more homeless babies and toddlers. There is no designated space in our community for homeless families, some of the most vulnerable members of our community, to safely spend time during the day.

The Catholic Outreach Day Center provides space for homeless adults to do laundry, receive mail, and have shelter from inclement weather during the day. But the Day Center has exhausted their resources and are unable to allow children in their facility. This means that Grand Junction’s homeless children and babies are left out in the elements, and single mothers and fathers are left with nowhere to do laundry or access the Day Center’s other services.