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Heightened security results in bicyclists , skateboarders, and pedestrians having greater usage of the streets

As I crossed one of the several yellow steel bridges here in Pittsburgh, I noticed the drastically reduced presence of autos. A person would perhaps think this is Carfree day in Pittsburgh or a North American version of Ciclovia, (well, not quite), were it not for helicopters flying overhead, National Guard personnel, cops on motorcycles, and the occasional dark sedan with opaque windows racing through the streets.

Across the Allegheny River, it seemed like a usual autumn day with nice weather, except that many people have today and tomorrow off from work, unable to travel easily to and from downtown. People relaxed in parks in an area across the river called the North Side. Two people I spoke with on the street during the small protest against the US backing of the Ethiopian dictatorship told me they were dissappointed about the lack of "action." They also said that some Pittsburghers want to " beat up the hippies," as they tell it.

Activists plan protest without permit

Some activists plan to hold a march this afternoon without a permit from the city. At least two people working with independent media organizations here in Pittsburgh say that the march is almost certain to involve many arrests. During the past several days, police here in the North Side district have impounded vehicles of activists and one group here said that a police informant had attended one their meetings last night, making arrests as people left the meeting.

Protest against Ethiopian Dictatorship

Protestestors cried out "America, land of the free, home of the brave" and asked onlookers or anyone else who might be watching and listening in other parts of the world, why the US government is backing the Ethiopian dictatorship.

Free Press coverage of G20 meeting

The Free Press is covering the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with updates throughout the day. Check the front page and the G20 - Reports from the Field section for updates.

Your electronic vote in the 2010 election has just been bought

Unless US Attorney General Eric Holder intervenes, your electronic vote in 2010 will probably be owned by the Republican-connected ES&S Corporation. With 80% ownership of America's electronic voting machines, ES&S could have the power to shape America's future with a few proprietary keystrokes.

ES&S has just purchased the voting machine division of the Ohio-based Diebold, whose role in fixing the 2004 presidential election for George W. Bush is infamous. (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine)

Critics of the merger hope Holder will rescind the purchase on anti-trust grounds.

But only a transparent system totally based on hand-counted paper ballots, with universal automatic voter registration, can get us even remotely close to a reliable vote count in the future.

Activists protest against large banks as G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh approaches

A couple of hours after an AIDS Funeral March and Protest outside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, about 60 activists associated with the Bail Out the People Movement demonstrated in the same spot, on Tuesday, Sept 22.

One man stepped forward to speak. Picketers walked slowly in a ring around him, with signs saying “Bail out the people, not the banks” and “Mellon Bank, the real Pittsburgh ‘Stealers’ and Pirates.”

The speaker, who introduced himself as Larry, said “I’m unashamed to say I’m homeless.” He apparently called out to the onlookers and passersby who were in autos or walking part of their afternoon commute : “We’re not scum or lowlifes. Get to know us.”

Another speaker, a demonstrator from Jersey City, N.J. , led a chant by calling out “housing is a human right,” getting the response from the crowd of fellow demonstrators, “tell those bankers we’re going to fight.”

The G-20 in Pittsburgh

On Tuesday, Sept 22, activists from Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh and other cities held a mock funeral procession to demand better policies for addressing the AIDS pandemic, a day ahead of the arrival of delegates for the G-20.

The approximately 50 participants in the New Orleans-style funeral march drew a mix of interest, irritation, and amusement from onlookers in the business district of downtown Pittsburgh.

At the head of the funeral march where pallbearers carried a cardboard coffin, a man shouted into a microphone while someone else carried a portable amplifier, “when people with AIDS are under attack, what do we do ?” and marchers shouted in unison, “fight back!”

Amidst the early afternoon bustle of an weekday, the demonstrators repeated this call-and-answer and similar chants as the funeral march made its way around the perimeter of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the site of the G-20 Summit later this week.

Erica Goldberg works with ACT UP Philadelphia. She said global health is not on the agenda of the G-20 Summit.

Tom Friedman's idiocy atomique

France's atomic power industry is a failed radioactive flame. Its 58 reactors are unpopular, unsafe, uneconomical, dirty, direct agents of global warming, weapons proliferators and major generators of atomic waste for which there is no management solution.

But self-proclaimed "green advocate" Thomas Friedman seems to think otherwise. In his just published New York Times op ed "Real Men Tax Gas" Friedman applies the term "wimp" to those who fail to fight global warming. But in true corporate style, he can't face the hard truths about France's industrie atomique. To wit:

1) In denial verging on psychosis, Friedman says France has "managed to deal with all the radioactive waste issues without any problems or panic." In fact, France's unsolved waste problem has thousands of ultra-hot fuel rods building up at reactor sites, just like here. Its hugely expensive attempts to reprocess spent fuel cause devastating radiation releases into the English Channel and elsewhere, prompting continual demands from around Europe that they stop.

ACORN

An album release of holy proportions

On Friday September 4, I went to an album release party for the Artist named “Fly Boy” at Expressions. I didn’t know what to expect from him but he brought a powerful performance. Being that Fly Boy was a Christian Rapper, he chose to have other Christian Artists open and warm up the audience for him. Artists included were “Jahova’s Boy,” “Har-vey,” “Icee Jake,” “Zero” and “Star.” They all delivered a powerful performance and the crowd was eager to see where Fly Boy would take the emotion.

Fly Boy came in with a lounge style instrumental performed by the live band that he had with him on the stage. During one of his songs he called his group “Fly Mental” to the stage and about a third of those standing joined him on the stage to perform an interlude which was just amazing. Fly Boy decided to announce in between his next song that everyone on the stage with him doesn’t just say it, they live it.

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