Download 'em, print 'em, and post 'em up!

I came across this poster a few days back, on the Phoenix Anarchist Coalition website, and thought they were very well done in outlining the problems of gentrification. They're available for download, along with other variations on the theme of "You Can't Vote for/against." I'd love to start seeing these all over Tempe, and any area people and neighborhoods are getting screwed by developers. Click on the poster below to download:

Now Showing: Death in the Desert for Development!

A bad week for workplace safety in the valley, as two workers were murdered on the job, one of the workers died while in a trench at the site for the new Harkins Christown 14. The police are fully aware of the identity of the suspect, but are not making any arrests. The culprit is well known amongst federal workplace safety investigators, and is described by detractors as a serial killer. A description given to this writer by a worker, who will remain anonymous, named the killer as a viscous system known to working folks as Work. The attacker goes under a number of aliases, such as capitalism, progress, development, or industrialism. The suspect is armed, dangerous, and everywhere. Here's some more information on the valley's latest work related deaths:

A worker was killed Saturday in a trench collapse, the second death of a construction worker in the Valley in four days.

Phoenix police said the 42-year-old man was working on a 5- to 6-foot deep trench at the Harkins Christown 14 theater going up at Spectrum Mall, Bethany Home Road and 19th Avenue.

The worker fell in as the trench collapsed about 3 p.m. and was partially covered by dirt and concrete. He was pronounced dead at the scene, said Sgt. Joel Tranter, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Tranter said a homicide investigator made an initial review of the scene and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified.

On Tuesday, Francisco Lugo, 20, was crushed by a pipe at a worksite at El Mirage and Bethany Home roads.

Workplace deaths are not only seeing a spike here in the construction and development oriented valley, Washington's King County has seen a spike in workplace deaths due to the area's building boom:

In one of a string of high-profile workplace accidents in King County this year, Merryman was killed Feb. 7 when the service locomotive he was on went out of control in the Beacon Hill tunnel, and he was thrown or jumped from the engine.

Workers have been crushed to death at a South Seattle metal recycler and at the Port of Seattle. A contractor was electrocuted at a Federal Way amusement park. On Friday, firefighters rescued a worker at a Harrison Street construction site from a 40-foot-deep hole after the man suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

This year, already a lethal one for workers in King County, comes on the heels of the deadliest this decade.

Not including workers in King County killed in homicides or car crashes, 14 people died in job-site accidents in 2006, according to a Seattle P-I analysis of statistics from the state Department of Labor and Industries. That's well above the county's five-year average of about nine workers killed a year in job-site accidents.

While the newspapers, developers, and politicians may cheer on economic growth, who will remember those who died to build the monuments of wealth and excess? The 14 in King County, 37 in Oregon, or the two in Phoenix last week, it seems apparent to me that more is needed than a monument at the state capitol.

Finally, a special message for Dan Harkins: Dan, first of all, a thank you from this valley native for the years of entertainment you've provided through your highly lucrative chain. The Camelview 5 was my film school, here I was able to take in avant-garde and international films I would have never otherwise seen on the big screen in Phoenix, it was a young film geek's film school.

Compliments aside, a worker died building one of your many new financial projects, is it possible that you set a precedent no other company will make by giving your name a rest and at least go with the Harkins (Slain workers' name here) 14 Theaters? Could you possibly give it a shot? After all, he died for you to continue to profit from your empire of theaters (standing at 31 completed in Arizona and four other states), the least you can do is drop the highly inventive (*cough*) "Christown 14" and throw this hard working person's name on the marquis, right next to your own. Sure, bosses say they take risks all the time (they mean with their money), but I'm sure we can all agree that they're rarely putting their lives on the line like their workers (who give their bodies, time, and creativity to fatten pockets that are rarely their own).

If the heat doesn't kill you...

Loads of great news for Arizonans this week, in addition to Arizona taking the honor for being the 3rd most dangerous state in the country (which I honestly think is pretty cool, keepin' the west wild and all that, we were only outranked by our neighbors New Mexico at #2, and Nevada at #1), the enemy of all that is good and kind, industrial capitalism, has really gone the distance to put Arizona's economy ahead of the people.

In line with the long history of such actions, groups of rich guys have been running shit in Arizona for as long as there has been an Arizona. The successful effort to change the AZ constitution to make us a right to work state was a good showing of their everlasting political muscle, most of the 22 states with such a law have it on the books as a statute, but not AZ, nope, it's in our constitution! It's beyond obvious they have increased their struggle against human freedom and welfare, after all, workers having no rights on the job wasn't enough, another drop in the bucket for these guys. So, what do you do when you're a millionaire who lives on the other side of the country, and have made your fortune by you and your buddies' companies destroying Arizona's unique bio-region and annihilating anything that resembles workers rights for your profit, then what?

You kill every one.

LOOKIN' GOOD: An Open Pit copper mine in Bisbee, Arizona

The Arizona Repub reported today on the devastating news that our state has leapfrogged the rest of the country in our toxic emissions:

Tens of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals were released into Arizona's air, water and land in 2005, a 15 percent jump from the previous year, according to a federal agency.

Toxic releases nationwide went up 3 percent during that time, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency. But as mining has grown in Arizona, so has the presence of toxics in the environment.

Mines and metal facilities were responsible for the majority of the 65.2 million pounds of toxics released in Arizona.

Copper mining has grown in Arizona as international demand for the metal has soared. The waste rock and ore left over from a mine often contain toxic metals.

The data come from the Toxics Release Inventory, a company-reported national database that details where and how toxic chemicals get into the environment.

While the seemingly unstoppable march of industrial development continues with it's toxic goosestep, there are those who fight to stop the total destruction of our state and fellow residents' lives. Just this past weekend a demonstration was held on the Chandler/Gila River community border against local scumlord Romic. Their operation is, according to their own website, a "world class hazardous waste management!", but it stinks of racism to this writer, as the Gila River indian community (it should be noted, by this I refer to the people, not the tribal government) has struggled for years to shut this and other polluters down in the Gila River area.

BURNIN' DEATH HERE: Romic's Gila River plant

GRACE (Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment), a grassroots Gila River organization, is calling for Romic to shut down for good after a toxic plume was discovered underneath the Romic plant contaminating nearby water, and after members of GRACE were allowed to inspect the Romic site, finding evidence of mishandling of the waste all over the facility. Over 70 people participated in the demonstration, from different tribes, as well as residents from across the valley concerned for our collective health.

It is this sort of collective action our state needs if we want to continue to brag about our sunsets and mountains, but ten or fifteen years from now, when it's too late for both our state and (sadly) the world, our tumor ridden asses will have no one to blame but ourselves.