Portland Anarchist Black Cross

Good News!

Just a quick note to let everyone know, Daniel is no longer being held at MDC Brooklyn! Friday afternoon, the Bureau of Prisons released Daniel back to the halfway house, as they had made a serious error. The Center for Constitutional Rights issued a statement today which read: “Daniel McGowan has been released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where he was taken into custody yesterday and is back at the halfway house where he has been residing since his release from prison in December. Yesterday, Daniel was given an “incident report” indicating that his Huffington Post blog post, “Court Documents Prove I Was Sent to Communication Management Units (CMU) for My Political Speech,” violated a BOP regulation prohibiting inmates from “publishing under a byline.” The BOP regulation in question was declared unconstitutional by a federal court in 2007, and eliminated by the BOP in 2010. After we brought this to the BOP’s attention, the incident report was expunged.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel McGowan Article

Posted on April 1, 2013 by theblocproject | Edit

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

PDXABC is seeking occasional submissions for this site.  You don’t have to commit to anything regular and you don’t have to be a great writer; you can get good at it later.  All that is needed, is a compulsion to share humor and ideas with our readers. Interesting writers take risks, make blunders, and squirt out stupid ass-berries they later wish they hadn’t. Their participles dangle awkwardly. They are often bedeviled by a spastic semicolon. To write, is to abide in a state of perpetual uncoolness – and enjoy it!  If this sounds like you, please email: portlandabc@resist.ca

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

A new Oregon Jericho Movement affinity group, is starting up in Salem, OR!  They will be holding their first prisoner writing event on Sunday, April 7, 2013, from 2-4pm.  Some of us are going to pool it down there to support them in their first effort, so if you want to ride along, let us know at: portlandabc@resist.ca  Or, if you think you might want to go by yourself, the address where the event will be held is:

Ike Box Coffee Shop
299 Cottage St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
(On corner of Cottage and Chemeketa Streets NE, downtown Salem)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Prisoner activism can be wearing.  This post is something different, just to give us a little breather.

The I Ching (pronounced, “ee-king,”) means ‘Book of Changes,’ in Chinese.  It is one of the most important books in world literature, with origins stretching far back into the mists of antiquity.  It is thought the I Ching evolved out of prehistoric tortoise shell and bone divination; much the same as dice.  In the mythical account of the history, Fu Hsi, an early cultural-hero type, saw a dragon-horse rise from the Yellow River. On the side of the dragon-horse were markings, and it was those
which inspired the earliest version of the I Ching. Whether one ascribes to the bored cave-people tossing bones around origin, or the “I drank too much and beheld a mythic beast” version, the I-Ching is the world’s oldest known book.  It is the source out of which later grew Taoism, the martial arts, Chinese medicine and Feng Shui.

The I Ching can be used for divination, to answer a question you might have, or as tool to inspire meditation and deep philosophical thought.  The first step is to create a hexagram that looks like this thing, over here ——->

A very simplified method for creating a hexagram, is to take 3 pennies and toss them 6 times.  A  hexagram grows from the bottom up, like a plant.  The first coin toss will be your bottom line, the second toss will be your next line up, and so on to the top.  Each line in the stack will either be noted as a yin line: __   __, or a yang line: ______, according to the position the coins landed in, below:

This is really an over-simplification of the rather more complex and proper way to create a hexagram, but it will do to get us started.  Once you have your stack drawn, you can look up your hexagram on the table located here:  I CHING TABLE  just click on the hexagram that looks exactly like yours, then brace yourself for some ancient wisdom to come charging out of the dawn of time and smite you right upside your third eye!  Seriously though – if you are receptive, this could change your life .  

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Please sign this petition for the merciful release of Lynne Stewart:  Release Lynne NOW!  Lynne spends her days chained  to a prison bed at Carswell Federal Medical Center, in Texas. She has breast cancer. Although Lynne is almost too weak to walk, getting to her cancer treatments involves dragging 10 pounds of chains that shackle her wrist and ankles together. Lynne’s breast cancer was in remission at the time of her conviction, but the surgery she needed was withheld for 18 months. Treatment has been substandard and sporadic, so the cancer is now in her lymph nodes and in her bones and lungs. Lynne is a radical attorney who devoted her life to serving the oppressed.  She has been a tireless advocate for the many people targeted by the U.S. gov for fighting for freedom and justice.  Her activism and radical political views are the real reason Lynne Stewart is serving such a harsh and unjust sentence. There is hope for getting Lynne back with her family. Under the 1984 Sentencing Act, after a prisoner requests it, the Bureau of Prisons can file a motion with the Court to reduce sentences “for extraordinary and compelling reasons.”  Suffering from a life threatening illness qualifies Lynne for a humane and compassionate release. This woman can spend her last days at home. It only requires that enough of us step up and demand it.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Steven Slevin was arrested on suspicion of stealing a car and driving it while drunk in New Mexico, in 2005.  He was never convicted, never tried, never saw a judge. Instead, Steven was pitched into an isolation cell in Dona Ana county, NM, and was left there for 22 months. There, he was essentially forgotten. Jail guards would walk by him every day, watching him deteriorate.  Steven would call out to them, begging them for help, and day after day, they did nothing.  Steven was as invisible to them as a ghost. He had no health care, hygiene, or decent food. Steven’s toenails grew so long, they curled around his feet. His dental problems were so severe, he was forced to pull out his own teeth by himself. He developed bed sores.  A fungus grew on his skin. He lost a ton of weight and grew so shaggy and unkempt, he looks like he could have just stepped out of a werewolf story. Steven Slevin descended into madness.  

Steven’s sister lived on the other side of the country and had limited means. At first, she wrote letters and responded to his, but as time wore on and his madness intensified, Steven’s letters became fewer and then stopped altogether. She thought he simply didn’t want to talk to her anymore and had no idea about the condition he was in. Ultimately, she and other family members became suspicious and once they became aware of his plight, they fought for his release by calling and demanding action from legislators and county commissioners.

Eventually, after 22 months of this, Steven was released and all charges against him were dropped. Not only were they unable to prove he had been driving while drunk, but his lawyer says the car wasn’t even stolen – it was his friend’s car. Now, the poor man has lung cancer and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Steven was just awarded one of the largest civil rights settlements in history, $15.5 million, but Dona Ana County, NM, in an apparent bid to prove itself the worst place on earth and one that is utterly devoid of human decency, is appealing.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

From denverabc, March 7, 2013 

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »