Designa Vaginas: Cosmetic Surgery Goes Deep

Yes...I went there. Image by Rio Safari
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In a society where numbers on a measuring tape and weight scale calculate a woman's worth, the field of cosmetic surgery has grown to astounding length.

Physicians offer a variety of nip and tuck procedures that can allow the transformation of a female body from the top of her skull to her very tiptoes. More recently, much has been made of what has come to be known as the "designer vagina" craze.

The field of cosmetic surgery has a long history that continues to evolve.

Groundbreaking techniques were developed by plastic surgeons in order to repair facial deformities caused by the wars of the 20th century. It soon occurred to plastic surgeons that cosmetic surgery procedures could also be used to enhance beauty. More procedures were developed to include body-contouring breast augmentation, liposuction, and tummy tuck, in addition to facial surgeries.

Once quite costly, cosmetic surgery was once a luxury afforded only by the affluent. Today, cosmetic surgery is performed on a wide variety of patients from varying social classes. In 2007 alone, there were more than 11.5 million cosmetic surgeries performed, an increase of 50 percent from 2000.

The revamped vadge

The concept of vaginal surgery or labioplasty originated in the 1950s, with the goal of improving a woman's "well-being." It also grew from a need to repair episiotomies, where the entrance to the vagina is tightened after giving birth. It is also true that the advanced form of this surgery, Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation (LVR), has been used to correct stress urinary incontinence, whereby the relaxed vaginal muscles and support tissues are tightened and relaxed vaginal lining is reduced.
Surgery is also done to correct excessively large labia, a condition that cause chaffing and painful intercourse.

An unexpected turn occurred when woman began to report that, not only had surgery corrected their vaginal ailments, it also brought to them an increased enjoyment of intercourse. When the media picked up on this, the designer vagina craze was born as women began to request the surgery not out of medical concern, but rather for enhanced sexual satisfaction.

A surgeon in Los Angeles who advertised this surgery with the headline "You Won't Believe How Good Sex Can Be!" has cashed in at a phenomenal rate as women flock to him and other surgeons who offer designer vaginas in search of mind numbing sex.

As labioplasty, vaginoplasty and a technique called "G-spot amplification" have become the fastest growing cosmetic procedure in the industry, requests for the procedure have doubled in the past five years. Not all advise or support this medical procedure for non-medical needs however.

Vulnerable vaginas, vulva vanities

As the potential for genital landscaping grows, so, too does concern in the medical field. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recently issued a statement on the designer trend, calling it dangerous, expensive and unwarranted. "The real risks of potential complications such as scarring, permanent disfigurement, infection, dyspareunia and altered sexual sensations should be discussed in detail with women seeking such treatments," it said. Doctors in the United States and Britain have raised similar concerns about the surgery.

One area of concern calls upon the ethical question of exploitation. While the designer vadge is not cheap at $6000 to $10,000 a poke, the industry is seeing a growing number of women as young as 15 requesting the procedure.

One young woman asked for the surgery after her boyfriend made a hurtful comment about her protruding genitalia. In the instance that women do not understand that there were a large number of variations in the appearance of normal female genitalia, there exists the possibility that these operations prey on insecurities and fears of vulnerable women who may be more in need of psychological help rather than medical.

There is also the question regarding the real purpose in having this procedure done; is it something asked for by women for their benefit or for that of their male partners? If this is the case, what happens when the revamped vadge does not meet the standards of her partner? Will a vulnerable woman undergo this risky surgery once or twice more? And what would this say about a surgeon who agrees to submit again and again to her vagina vanity syndrome until said surgeon has her fitting like a glove as her boyfriend desires?

Sex sells, there can be no denial. There dwells a great disconnect in a society where a woman's worth and self esteem are subject to scrutiny and dependent upon the decision to lance or not lance her lower lips.

When vagina modification is performed to meet the standard of what a patriarchal society defines as acceptable and desirable, it falls close to meeting the categorization of genital mutilation. And for those of both genders who think that genital mutilation does not exist in civilized societies, I now ask you to think again.
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There is a plastic surgeon online who actually linked this article on his website. Funny.

This article appeared in the September 2009 issue of the Portland Alliance

An Interview with former Weatherman Co-Founder Bill Ayers

From 2008. I got a lot of criticism for using the term "freedom fighters." Not the least from Ayers himself. I find this interesting given that he spent the better part of his twenties blowing things up. He later said,"''I don't regret setting bombs,'' Bill Ayers said. ''I feel we didn't do enough.''

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The "terrorist" and the Prez-elect: Bill Ayers on Obama, activism and Republican spin In a stump speech delivered one month before election day, the intellectually challenged Sarah Palin said of President-elect Barack Obama; "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Turns out one of Barack's earliest supporters is a man who, according to the New York Times, and they are hardly ever wrong, was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that quote, launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and US Capitol." The so-called "terrorist" in question is Bill Ayers, co-founder of the sixties radical Weather Underground, an organization the FBI labeled as a domestic terrorist group. The sixties became a time ripe for anti-government dissent and calls for revolution among young, radical activists in the U.S. Bill Ayers was one who answered this call. In time, he would rise to national prominence as a militant leader of the New Left. Already an anti-racist and anti-war activist, Ayers became involved with "Students for a Democratic Society" (SDS), a leftist organization that focused on direct action, radicalism, participatory democracy and student power. From1968-69 he rose in the ranks of SDS and went on to lead the "The Jesse James Gang," an SDS regional group. It was at this time that Ayers and like-minded members began to question the effectiveness of non-violent civil disobedience as mere symbolic activism while looking toward a more radical and militant form of response. As discussions of differing ideologies grew within SDS, so too did a lasting schism. The final split occurred at the 1969 SDS convention in Chicago where a document titled "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" was circulated. It outlined the position of the group that would become the Weathermen (and later the Weather Underground Organization, WUO). It was signed by 11 people, including Mark Rudd, Bernardine Dohrn, John Jacobs, Bill Ayers, Terry Robbins, Jeff Jones, Gerry Long, and Steve Tappis. After the murder of Chicago Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton in 1969, the WUO issued a "Declaration of War" against the United States government. As an investigation disclosed that Hampton was set up by the FBI to be assassinated by the Chicago Police Department under the umbrella of the illegal surveillance program COINTELPRO, Ayers and fellow comrades were moved to adopt fake identities, pursue covert activities only and go underground. As Bernadine Dohrn (wife of Bill Ayers) has stated, "We felt that the murder of Fred required us to be more grave, more serious, more determined to raise the stakes and not just be the white people who wrung their hands when black people were being murdered." Following through with urban guerrilla warfare that they felt would actually interfere with U.S. military and internal security apparatus and serve as a catalyst for revolution, the Weathermen proceeded with a series of bombings that targeted government buildings and several banks. The bombings were preceded by communiqués that provided evacuation warnings with statements regarding the particular matter that motivated the attack. The bombing of the United States Capitol in March of 1971 was accompanied with the statement saying it was done "in protest of the US invasion of Laos." The bombing of The Pentagon on May 19, 1972, was done "in retaliation for the US bombing raid in Hanoi," and the January 29, 1975 bombing of the United States Department of State Building was done in "response to escalation in Viet Nam." In 1973, the federal government actually requested the dismissal of the charges against Dorn and Ayers in the interest of national security following accusations of government misconduct. However state charges against Dohrn remained. Reluctant to turn herself in to authorities, the couple finally left the underground in 1980. Dohrn was fined $1,500 and given three years' probation for a misdemeanor dating back to a 1969 anti-war demonstration. In 1982, Dohrn did eight months in jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury about the 1981 Brink's robbery that involved fellow radicals David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin. Today Bill Ayers is a professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, holding the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar. He is also the author of a number of groundbreaking books with a focus on teaching and civil rights. In the decades that have ensued since the WUO has fluttered and dissolved, various members have been quite candid in reexamining actions taken and words spoken in the hubris of youth and white privilege in a time when the sentiment of "all or nothing" appeared to be the most effective path to take. Former WUO members have gone on record to reveal a certain lingering of regret in relation to their militant past. As Mark Rudd has said: "These are things I am not proud of, and I find it hard to speak publicly about what was right from what was wrong... part of the Weatherman phenomenon that was right was our understanding of what the position of the United States is in the world. It was this knowledge that we just couldn't handle; it was too big. We didn't know what to do. In a way I still don't know what to do with this knowledge. I don't know what needs to be done now, and it's still eating away at me just as it did 30 years ago." In the following interview, Bill Ayers reflects on his resurfaced notoriety, Obama and what the future may hold under a new administration. ME: When the Right found itself floundering, the McCain/Palin campaign resorted to desperate tactics as both you and Rev. Jeremiah Wright became the men to hate. Interestingly, neither Fox nor other corporate networks mentioned the fact that in 1980 you turned yourself in and that many of the charges against you were dropped due to the illegality of COINTELPRO surveillance. What do you have to say about this? BA: Unable to challenge the content of the Obama campaign, his opponents chose instead to invent a narrative about a young politician who emerged from nowhere, a man of charm, intelligence, and skill, but with an exotic background and a strange name. He seemed to knock everyone out, but still the refrain played over and over: "What do we really know about this man?" Secondary characters in the narrative included an African-American preacher with a fiery style, an activist white minister identified with the black community, a Palestinian scholar, and an "unrepentant domestic terrorist." Linking the candidate with these supposedly shadowy characters, and ferreting out every imagined secret tie and suggested dark affiliation became big news. I was the person cast in the "unrepentant terrorist" role; I felt at times like the enemy projected onto a large screen in the "two minutes hate" scene from George Orwell's novel 1984, when the faithful gathered in a frenzy of fear and loathing, chanting "kill him!" It felt surreal. ME: On November 4, it became clear that the Republican inspired neo-McCarthyism and post 9/11 rhetoric of fear proved unsuccessful. Seven years after an attack by Muslim freedom fighters, the U.S. elected to the presidency a Black man who's middle name is Hussein. Did this surprise you? BA: I don't recall any "attacks by Muslim freedom fighters," but rather crimes against humanity carried out in the service of an arid and crypto-fascist ideology--- nothing nice. ME: For the record, what history do you have with Barack Obama? Do see anything at all revolutionary about his win? BA: President-elect Barack Obama and I sat on a board together; we lived in the same diverse and yet close-knit community; we sometimes passed in the bookstore. We didn't pal around, and I had nothing whatsoever to do with his platforms or positions. I knew him as well as thousands of others did, and like millions of others today, I wish I knew him better. The dishonesty of the original narrative about Obama assumes that if two people are in the same room at the same time, or if you can show that they held a conversation was, or shared a cup of coffee, took the bus downtown together, or had any of 1000 other associations, then you have proven that they share ideas, policies, outlook, influences, and especially responsibility for one another's behavior. There is a long and sad history of guilt-by-association in our political culture, and at crucial times we've been unable to rise above it. Election night in Grant Park, Chicago was electrifying--- a mass gathering powered by a sense of unity and hope for future accomplishments. The mood and the celebration echoed worldwide: what was unimaginable had become inevitable, and unforgettable. The power of rising expectations, of imaginations unleashed, of hope for something better than the politics of war and fear---all of it was in the air and on the move. Several initiatives are bubbling and rising today, drawing folks together to speak and to listen to one another, and to search for ways to name the moment as we inaugurate change from the grass roots. It's movement-building time. This is the moment of, "Yes, we can." Its time has come, and it's up to all of us. ME: Where do you see the country going after this in terms of domestic and foreign policy? Is there anything that you feel hopeful about? BA: This is the moment to rethink and reframe. We should organize and mobilize to break the stranglehold of a foreign policy based on military might in favor of foreign policy based on justice, and on learning to live in the world as a nation among nations. We should break with the idea that what's best for the rich is somehow good for all, and invest in people, their education and health and well-being. Yes we can... and let's make a commitment to working toward a world at peace and in balance. ME: Is there anything that you feel important for the next generation of radical activists to focus on at this time in history? And what do you feel is the task of alternative media at this point? BA: We need to act, and we need to doubt. If we only act we become self-righteous and dogmatic; if we only doubt we become paralyzed. If we open our eyes, make connections, act, doubt, act again... doubt again... then we're on the right track. And we need to always measure the success of the work pedagogically---did we learn something new? Did we teach another person? If we are teaching and learning, learning and teaching, then we'll be making our twisty ways toward a world in balance. This article also appears in the December 2008 issue of the Portland Alliance

Eco-Warriors Or Eco-Terrorists?

The Northwest Green Scare sweep brought much from the shadows. FBI plants brought activists to the brink, friends and comrades turned informants for lighter sentences, even as those sentences themselves put former activists behind bars for an average of ten years.

This is from 2008.
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Eco-Warriors Or Eco-Terrorists?

Rulings seen in NW cases of three eco-activists

Court cases of three environmental activists have recently reignited discussion regarding definitions of the word "terrorism." All three cases involve acts of arson. While arson is a crime punishable by law, one still must question the heavy handedness of prison sentences handed down as well as proposed sentences in the following cases. The lengthy sentence originally handed down to forest activist Jeff "Free" Luers was recently reduced by nearly 13 years. Briana Waters faces a possible 20 year sentence with Tre Arrow possibly facing life sentences if found guilty. A single act of arson in the state of Oregon is punishable by up to seven years. In this post 9/11 environment, radical environmentalists have been labeled terrorists by the federal government. Does this label fit the crime in these cases? Does destruction of private property equal terrorism? Is destruction of private property equal to acts of violence?

Court Clampdown

On March 3rd, Tre Arrow, aka Michael Scarpitti was arraigned in the Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland after ending his four-year extradition fight from Canada to the U.S. He has been wanted by FBI to stand trial in Oregon on charges connected to eight year old arsons that caused $260,000 in damage to Oregon logging and cement trucks. Arrow was arrested on shoplifting charges in Victoria on March 13, 2004. He had been held in Canada since then.

After a bow and greeting of Namaste from Tre, 34, the short hearing began before Judge Dennis Hubel. The indictments moved forward with Tre pleading not guilty to conspiracy and arson.

Greeted by press outside the courthouse after the arraignment, Loney stated that Tre felt that the time was right to return to Oregon to set the record straight. "His spirit is great," said Loney. "We are very happy that U.S. marshals will meet his raw vegan diet. He is a strong, centered and spiritual individual. This is what has carried him through."

Hubel scheduled Arrow's trial for May 6th. Arrow is to be held as a flight risk and potential danger pending the trial. Arrow is currently being held in Multnomah County. Because of security concerns it is not yet known where he will be moved to. Tre faces fourteen counts with the charges of arson and conspiracy alone possibly resulting in life sentences.

Briana Waters Found Guilty of 2001 Arson

On March 6, a jury in Tacoma found Briana Waters guilty of two counts of arson. The 32 year-old stood accused of serving as lookout while fellow activists firebombed the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001.

The jury deadlocked on five other counts including conspiracy and use and possession of a destructive device that could have put her behind bars for at least 35 years. She now faces five to 20 years in prison. Her sentencing is scheduled for May 30.

Both Waters and Arrow maintain their innocence.

Jeffrey Luers Wins Appeal

Jeff "Free" Luers, originally sentenced in June of 2000 to 22 years and eight months for setting fire to three SUVs at the Romania Chevrolet dealership in Eugene, Oregon, was re-sentenced to 10 years. This decision was handed down on February 28 in Lane County Circuit Court. The new ruling brings his release date to December 2009. Luers originally filed his appeal in January of 2002.

While supporters and civil liberty proponents see the re-sentencing as a victory, many are still left with the strong sentiment that the Luers trial, in addition to the Arrow and Waters charges and sentencing, are clearly politically motivated persecutions used by a repressive state as a tool to squash and discourage dissent.

When The Punishment Does Not Fit the Crime

The original sentence handed down to Luers in June of 2001 was stunning in a most draconian sense. The three vehicles that he and Craig "Critter" Marshall (who later plead out under the "Alfread Decision"--no contest--and served five years) set fire to caused $40,000 worth of damage and were quickly put out with a simple fire extinguisher. The vehicles were also repaired and subsequently sold. Luers and Marshall had taken care to make sure that the dealership and surrounding buildings were vacant. When the two were pulled over a half hour later for a missing headlight and detained for three hours in which time other agencies arrived at the station, Luers was questioned and arrested for criminal mischief I, which carries a sentence of one year.

One week later he was arraigned on nine different felony counts including arson, attempted arson, and manufacturing and possession of destructive devices or explosives. Similar devices were found at petroleum distributor Tyree Oil in Eugene, and three weeks before his trial began, he was also charged with attempted arson of that facility and faced several more charges. While no physical evidence was found to link Luers to Tyree, he was offered a deal for 12 years if he would plead guilty to both Romania and Tyree. He held fast and refused. One week before his April 4 trial began, in a tragically misguided show of solidarity, someone hit Romania again and torched 30-35 vehicles causing one million dollars in damages. A statement was released afterward claiming responsibility and that the action was done in support of Luers.

In the end, Luers was found guilty of 2 counts of manufacturing a destructive device, 2 counts of possession of a destructive device, 3 counts of arson, 2 counts of attempted arson, 1 count of attempted criminal mischief, and 1 count of criminal mischief.

To be clear, Luers has admitted that he set fire to the three SUVs. What is important is understanding how and why a charge of criminal mischief can in a matter of weeks take great leaps and bounds toward a 22 year sentence. Make no mistake; the cases cited here are trials of political persecution. Luers was punished for his political leanings as much as and if not more than anything else.

Unjust Sentencing in a Climate of Lies and Fear

It does not take any stretch of the imagination to sense that the 2nd Romania arson had great impact on the punishment meted Luers. Couple this with the history of the link to anarchist activism, protest and street fighting that comes to the mind of many when the city of Eugene is referenced and you find a ready made assumption of guilt.

Briana Waters is facing the possibility of spending the next 20 years behind bars. Just days before her trial went to jury, an arson fire in Woodinville WA destroyed construction on what was to be a new Street of Dreams. Paper, television and online news sources were quick to use the term "eco-terrorism" and erroneously stated that evidence existed of explosive devices and booby traps. One has to wonder what affect this all had on the decision of the jury.

Found guilty of two counts of arson, both counts stem from the single UW arson. In order to pad the conviction, the government specified the charges of arson of a building used in interstate commerce, and arson of a building that receives federal funding.

When the defense argued that they would like to have the ability to determine if the jurors had been influenced by coverage of the Woodinville fire, the jury was instructed not to talk to either side's lawyers about the case at any point in the future.

No physical evidence was shown to tie Waters to the arson. The government instead relied on the testimony of two informants, Jennifer Kolar and Lacey Phillabaum, a young woman tagged by other activists long before the Waters trial as disrespectful, unprincipled, and not fit to be involved with the movement. Also relied upon was flimsy circumstantial evidence. While nothing in Waters' history shows her to be a flight risk, the court has determined her to be such and she will be held in custody until her sentencing at the end of May.

The hardest evidence facing Tre Arrow is likely to come from others who are cooperating witnesses. The charges he faces are more of the same evidence of political persecution.

The "T" Word

The largest roundup of eco-activists in US history began with the launch of the FBI's Operation Backfire on December 7, 2005. At a national press conference in January 2006, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller unveiled a 65-count indictment targeting the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Gonzales proclaimed that a "vast eco-terrorist conspiracy" was the US's number one domestic terrorist threat. The feds are waging brutal war against earth defenders and are using their Patriot Act's excessive reach to do so. Earth defenders who are bound in government chains are political prisoners of war.

Briana Waters was one of many caught in the sweeping snare of Operation Backfire, now also known as the Green Scare. Waters, Luers and Arrow have all been labeled terrorists. Luers has always claimed autonomy with no affiliation with either ELF or ALF. None of the acts of ecotage described above caused injury to a single animal or human being, yet the government, emboldened with their hijacking of 9/11, has seen fit to add terrorist enhancement to the charges leveled at those targeted by the Green Scare.

To contextualize the current state of siege, consider this: In 1998 U.S. Forest Service employee Tamara Meredith was found guilty of 35 counts of arson for intentionally setting forest fires in order to receive overtime pay. While she had endangered the lives of some 600 firefighters, she received a sentence of only three years.

The sentences that the government has and will surely try to hand out to radical environmentalists in the future rank in the same sentencing categories of attempted murder, manslaughter I, rape I and kidnapping. None of the three cases stated here have dead bodies attached to them. In addition to examining definitions of the word "violence," it also begs the question; just who is a terrorist? What is a terrorist? Who has the power to define this term?

Terrifying Stats

The U.S. is the world's largest consumer of energy. According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States consumed about 25% of all the energy used in the world in 2006. We use more energy each year than all the nations of Western Europe combined, and we use about two-thirds more energy than China. We represent less than 5% of the world's population and create 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Despite a vast potential for energy from the sun, wind, crops and other renewable sources, renewable energy currently accounts for a mere 6% of our total energy use. U.S. Geological Survey shows that Glacier National Park will have no glaciers left by 2030. Square miles of Arctic sea ice that have melted in the last 30 years (roughly the size of Texas), threatening polar bear habitats and further accelerating global warming worldwide, according to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Congress has not passed any bills to cut global warming.

This should alarm you.

Pollution is driven by economy. We rank at number one as global industrial polluter compared to other larger nations. The top ten U.S. industrial polluters are: Alcoa, Chevron, Massey Energy, American Electric Power, So. Co, Boeing, Apple, Cargil, and Ford Motor. Each listed here cause devastation to the environment at growing rates either by toxic air emission, poisoning water, dumping toxic waste, or emitting toxic levels of mercury. Significant amounts of phthalate, a toxin thought to cause birth defects, have been found in the Apple iPhone and iPod. The SUVs targeted by Luers are capable of emitting three times the pollution of other vehicles.

If destruction of private property can be labeled terrorist, then so too should destruction of the earth. In contributing to global warming and causing environmental damage at an unchecked rate, why should corporations not also be labeled criminals? In weighing the crimes and alleged crimes of radical environmentalists seen recently in Northwest courts, circumstances beg a critical examination. Which acts of destruction have caused long term, irreversible damage? Which acts have been driven by cold capitalism and economy? Which acts truly endanger the health and well being of the larger population and generations to come? In his statement to the court at his sentencing hearing, Jeff Luers stated, "I am filled with love and compassion. I fight to protect life, all life, not to take it."

The so-called eco-terrorist acts spoken of here were carried out to protest excessive consumption, global warming, the rape of the land and genetic engineering. As long as eco-activists are witness to the violence committed upon the earth by corporate polluters one would expect that we will continue to see desperate acts of ecotage. I ask that you take a moment to consider who and what acts are more criminal. Just who are the true terrorists?

"When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money."

Cree Prophecy

Indy Media in the Police State

From 2009

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The role of independent media in the continuing police state An interesting thing happened at the Republican National Convention this past September. As police donned riot gear and readied their rubber bulletrifles and tear gas canisters to combat thousands of anti-war/anti-police state protesters, minute-to-minute updates of police brutality and resultant street fighting began to appear online on Indymedia centers across the United States.

It was truly an amazing thing to see, and we can thank resourceful activists and Twitter in large part for this. Twitter is the networking technology launched in 2006. Twitter expanded "mobile blogging" (updating a blog from a cellphone) into "microblogging," the updating of an activities blog (microblog) that distributes the text to a list of names. Messages can also be sent and received via instant messaging, the Twitter Web site or a third-party Twitter application. Heady tactics for heavy times, and an amazingly effective tool for organizing and on-the-fly independent news reporting in the continuing police state. During the RNC police riot, radical Twin City activists provided some of the more savage police state imagery imaginable; we read and viewed video of mass arrests of demonstrators who, in following orders to disperse, were still corralled and maced before they were beaten and dragged off to police vans and buses. On video, tales of police torture and beatings began to emerge and were posted to YouTube. In some cases, arrestees were denied medication. Folks held in jail for over eight hours saw requests for food and water ignored. Some toe-to-toe, blow-by-blow accounts  were reported as they happened. That is effective reporting. A day or so into the protests, a group of journalists and activists held a press conference to report that police were increasingly targeting independent journalists. Notes were confiscated along with computers and video cameras. Film was exposed in cameras and equipment was held as evidence. Reporters from Portland Indymedia (OR) were among those who lost equipment. Merchants of fear Sept. 11, 2001 brought the first opportunity of the 21st century to radically alter the mentality of "Amerikkka." With this came the introduction of a new order of society; a New World Order. In a time when anyone who stands up against the New World Order is labeled a terrorist, hotbeds of dissent are in danger of falling silent. This is a grave time, and if ever there was a time of exposure of the under reported or the unreported, that time is now. This is not a time to fall to the language of fear. In addition, we cannot allow ourselves to exist in fear of the season of the snitch. This is a time for coalition building and organizing and radical leftist and anti-capitalist strategies. This is a time for cross-cultural and inter-cultural dialogs and exchanges, the initiation of which should not fall on the shoulders of radical independent journalists of color or different ethnicities alone. With this, I must offer a challenge: Alternative independent media cannot wear the face of the white male only! It also cannot continue to be offered only in the language of the oppressor. It is the task of the white radical left to create meaningful and respectful ways to cover the struggles of people of color and also include people of color in media organizations. At the same time, the radical white left must take note that they are not "The Great White Radical Hope,"  coming to the rescue of the disadvantaged. Radical media cannot be limited or event oriented only. There must always exist ongoing activity in regard to meeting the challenge of whatever the enemy has in store in a time of unchecked violation of civil liberties. We must understand that, just because we cannot always hear the enemy walking in lock step, this does not mean that the jack boot does not have itself poised to crush the back of our necks. Those of us who are privileged and gifted with any knowledge of technology must not waste this gift. We need to share both with whomever and wherever we can. Our laptops are our weapon. We can choose to use it in self-serving anonymous complacency or as a tool for change. Its all about communication and reporting the unreported. And perhaps most importantly regarding the new President-elect Obama: We must not allow ourselves to be lulled into complacency as it appears most have. Our task is to hold him to his word on campaign promises made. This must be our greatest task. Our cameras, digital or not, are also weapons if we live with intent and commitment to our cause. Videotape and photos can open windows to a whole different world. They can be tools for social justice,  social parity and key in creating the inter-cultural collectives and communities that are essential to movement building. Moreover, when video and film capture and expose injustices, both can be tools for silencing the enemy. All one needs to do is point and shoot.