May Day Protest St. Vincent's Hospital

May Day Protest At O'Toole Building (St. Vincent's)

Members of Demand a Hospital and Healthcare for the 99%, an official working group of Occupy Wall Street, staged a picket, an OWS-style “speak-out,” and a “DIE IN” to draw attention to “A COMMUNITY WITHOUT A HOSPITAL” at the former St. Vincent’s Hospital’s O’Toole Building at 30 Seventh Avenue (between 12th and 13th Streets) on May Day from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

Community groups cite the closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital as a public health crisis. The closing of the hospital has left more than a million residents, guests, and tourists on Manhattan’s Lower West Side without either a full service hospital or a Level 1 Trauma Center. Doctors, nurses, and patients will picket and stage a die-in to symbolize those who will die without access to necessary healthcare in the U.S.

While New York City, New York State, and the Medicaid Redesign Team make budget cuts to healthcare and close more and more hospitals, activists question why real estate developers and healthcare corporations can make large profits. In the face of public healthcare budget cuts and irresponsible and dangerous hospital closings, activists are organizing around the idea that a truly universal, single-payer healthcare system is the only viable option that will provide healthcare for all.

Dalida's Concert at Carnegie Hall

DALIDA at Carnegie Hall in New York (29.11.1978)

Photographs and video of Dalida in New York City, with excerpts of one of her most amazing concerts abroad, on November 29, 1978, when she performed in concert at Carnegie Hall.

Dalida sera toujours dans nos coeurs.

Trayvon Martin March For Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact : Carlene Pinto : (212) 870-6854 or cpinto@theriversdiechurchny.org

RELIGIOUS LEADERS, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ORGANIZE
MARCH FOR JUSTICE ON FRIDAY NIGHT IN HARLEM

(New York, NY - April 12, 2012) —On Friday, April 13, 2012 at 5 p.m., the Mission & Social Justice Department of the Riverside Church of New York along with the Carry on Community Development Corporation of Convent Ave. Baptist Church will march for Justice through Harlem for Trayvon Martin and all the victims of racial profiling. The march is scheduled to begin at West 120th Street & Claremont Avenue and end at Convent Ave. & West 144th Street.

Event Date : Friday, April 13, 2012

Begin Time : 5 p.m.

Meeting Place : West 120th Street & Claremont Avenue

While our nation has awakened to the February 26th murder of Trayvon Martin, his case is but one example of a long-standing civil and human rights crisis that plagues our nation's history. This long-standing civil rights crisis has in this current period heightened the racism that institutionally cripples our society and our communities of color.

Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, Florida, by a Neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman who pursued, confronted, and shot the 17-year-old who was unarmed. After weeks of doubt, Zimmerman was finally charged with Second Degree Murder by a Special Prosecutor. Zimmerman is expected to assert an affirmative defense under a controversial Florida law known as "Stand Your Ground."

“We will march for justice for Trayvon Martin, march for all of the victims of racial profiling, and march for the lives lost to an unjust, racialized system. We will march to never forget the names of the lives lost” said The Reverend Emery Ailes from the Prison Ministry at Convent Ave. Baptist Church.

March organizers call on all community organizations and churches to join the march tomorrow with hooded sweatshirts and posters of support. New Yorkers are encouraged to lend your voice to those who have been silenced -- and to use mass media to spread the word! -- that Trayvon Martin, Ramarley Graham, Danroy Henry, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, and the numerous others that have lost their lives will never be forgotten.

The Riverside Church of New York along with the Carry on Community Development Corporation at Convent Ave. Baptist Church invite all members of the faith community as well as the Harlem and New York City communities to join the march as we continue to call attention to the injustices which affect all of us, our children, and our futures.

# # #

George Zimmerman Information Document

Read the "Information Document" filed in the case of State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman

Special Prosecutor Angela B. Corey filed an Information document in the case of Trayvon Martin's murder case. The document brings charges of Second Degree Murder against the defendant George Zimmerman. The Information document was signed on Prosecutor Corey's behalf by Bernardo de la Rionda, the designated Assistant State Attorney for the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in the State of Florida.

Seminole County Court: George Zimmerman Information Document

Trayvon Martin Police Report

Sanford, FL police report on Trayvon Martin

Supreme Court Healthcare Transcripts

March 28, 2012: Transcript from the Supreme Court's hearing on Department of Health and Human Servs. v. Florida.
March 28: Supreme Court Hearing Transcript - Department of Health and Human Servs. v. Florida

March 27, 2012: Transcript from the Supreme Court's hearing on Department of Health and Human Servs. v. Florida.
March 27: Supreme Court Hearing Transcript - Department of Health and Human Servs. v. Florida

March 26, 2012: Transcript from the Supreme Court's hearing on Department of Health and Human Servs. v. Florida.
March 26: Supreme Court Hearing Transcript - Department of Health and Human Servs. v. Florida

Doctor Leaves America Over Its Broken Healthcare System

Because of the broken healthcare system in America, Dr. Carol Paris has decided to move her medical practice from Maryland to New Zealand. In this video, she tells us why.

Who is Stephen Berger ?

Who is Stephen Berger ?

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has set out to cut Medicare and Medicaid reïmbursements in the New York State budget by empowering Stephen Berger, the chairman of a private investment firm, to close entire hospitals in Brooklyn.

Abdo Nahmod, EMS Chief, Won't Release EMS Statistics

Call New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at : (212) 564-7757 and ask her to demand that NYC EMS Chief Abdo Nahmod publicly release ambulance response and transit times for the Lower West Side of Manhattan. Ever since Speaker Quinn approved the Rudin family's billion dollar luxury condo conversion plan for St. Vincent's Hospital, the community has feared that it would take more time for ambulances to respond to 911 emergency calls and to transport sick or dying people to the nearest hospital. We need to know what the EMS statistics are now that St. Vincent's has been closed.

Michael Dowling Andrew Cuomo Medicaid Cuts

The New York Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) is a 27-member body charged with cutting $2.85 billion from the state's Medicaid budget, so that Gov. Andrew Cuomo would not look like the bad guy.

In 2011, the MRT was scheduled to meet for 2 full days and have 4 days for consumers, advocates and other stakeholders to review proposals and offer feedback.

The team, however, decided that they could skip this process and push forward a vote to approve the package 4 days early. Effectively ignoring the voices and opinions of all those not on the team.

Obama Signs Anti-Protest Trespass Bill H.R. 347 Into Law

President Barack Obama signed H.R. 347 into law, a bill that could drastically limit the ability of Americans to assemble and protest. Sometimes referred to as the Trespass Bill, the wording in the new law now makes it a federal offense to assemble at many political events, essentially criminalizing protesting.

Notwithstanding the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, both houses of Congress passed, and President Obama signed into law, legislation that most people view as unconstitutional. Did anybody read the First Amendment ?

AMENDMENT I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

(Censorship update : The original video blogged on this post was banned by YouTube.)

Gary Tilzer Was Quoted In The NYTimes

The journalist and political consultant, Gary Tilzer, author of the mandatory-reading political blog True News From Change NYC, was quoted in yesterday's issue of The New York Times.

In the article, "Kingmaker of Little Russia," Mr. Tilzer was quoted about how the Democratic and Republican political machines take the Russian-American community for granted.

“This is a tragedy,” he said. “They work very hard and produce lots of votes, but the parties treat them like serfs.”

Eric Holder, Obama Administration Shred U.S. Constitution ; Say Assassination Of American Citizens Is O.K. Without Due Process

Twisted Interpretation Of U.S. Law May Allow Killings of American Citizens, Attorney General Eric Holder Says

From The New York Times :

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. asserted on Monday that it is lawful for the government to kill American citizens if officials deem them to be operational leaders of Al Qaeda who are planning attacks on the United States and if capturing them alive is not feasible.

“Given the nature of how terrorists act and where they tend to hide, it may not always be feasible to capture a United States citizen terrorist who presents an imminent threat of violent attack,” Mr. Holder said in a speech at Northwestern University’s law school. “In that case, our government has the clear authority to defend the United States with lethal force.”

While Mr. Holder is not the first administration official to address the targeted killing of citizens — the Pentagon’s general counsel, Jeh Johnson, did so last month at Yale Law School, for example — it was notable for the nation’s top law enforcement official to declare that it is constitutional for the government to kill citizens without any judicial review under certain circumstances. Mr. Holder’s remarks about the targeted killing of United States citizens were a centerpiece of a speech describing legal principles behind the Obama administration’s counterterrorism policies. ...

Occupy LGBT Community Center

Media Wrap Up : Activists #Occupy the New York City LGBT Community Center to protest the censorship of the Palestinian LGBTQS solidarity group, Siegebusters

Here is a wrap-up of reporting about the #Occupy The LGBT Center protest :

• Where Is Kirsten Gillibrand blog : Occupy NYC LGBT Center Video
• New York Magazine : A Gay Community Center’s Middle-East Problem
• Gay City News : Protest Hits Ongoing Ban on Israeli-Palestinian Debate at NYC LGBT Center

#OWS Activists from the Healthcare for the 99% Working Group demonstrate outside the Rudin Condo Hearing at City Council

Members of the Healthcare for the 99% Working Group of #OccupyWallStreet joined with residents of the Lower West Side last Tuesday. Hundreds of people turned out to testify against a controversial rezoning application, which would convert St. Vincent's Hospital in the Lower West Side of Manhattan into a billion-dollar luxury condo and townhouse complex. Residents fear that with no hospital in such a large part of New York City would result in dangerous EMS response and transport times, which would lead to unnecessary deaths, such as the untimely death of Richard J. Sheirer, whose life might have been saved had there been a hospital in the Lower West Side of Manhattan.