***Note from Anita, this article is dated but still pertains to RIGHT NOW!
Water Wars
by Janet C. Phelan Saturday, Apr. 26, 2008 at 3:24 PM
The U.S. Patriot Act and other pieces of legislation authorize a "culling of the herds."Water Wars-An Update" By publishing “Water As A Weapon” in the July/August edition, The American’s Bulletin made journalistic history. There have been massive efforts to censor the information in that article, and its publication in hard copy is truly a victory for freedom of the press, during dark times for truth and personal liberty. Back in 2004, while a columnist at the Santa Monica Daily Press, I had begun to research the water weapon. I had made an initial request for water records, tendered at City Hall in Santa Monica . Immediately, the machine moved into gear. Within six hours of that first request, I received a phone call from SMDP Editor Carolyn Sackariason. She informed me that she had received a call from the City Attorney’s office and told me, with some anxiety infusing her voice, that she had not authorized me to ask questions about water, and that I was “endangering” her position as Editor of the Daily Press. When it became clear that this was an unresolvable issue, I quit in protest. To my amazement, I found that I had been blackballed in my field. I was not able to secure other journalistic employment; in fact, I was suddenly not able to secure steady employment at all. Homeless and nearly broke, I ended up working day labor through Labor Ready, and sleeping on beaches and in parks. Personal survival issues became critical , but I continued to work the water story as diligently as possible. I was not the only party involved in the water story who lost employment. Fred d’Aguilar, who had been working on the City Desk of the Los Angeles Times for fifteen years, had been functioning as a sounding board for me as I continued on with this story, without the umbrella or sponsorship of a newspaper. It was Fred who had suggested the title of the original article, “Public Extermination Project.” We were engaging in a steady patter of gallows humor in our phone calls: “Need more PEP in your life? Try drinking L.A. water!” and so on. With Fred’s insistence, I sent him over the first draft of the PEP article. He brought it to the attention of his editors at the Times, and Fred was shortly thereafter “let go.” At last report, he was engaged in starting up his own business, which was not involved with media. Read more here:
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2008/04/29379.php
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