As Iranian activists protest the election results (current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declaring reelection victory over opponent and former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi - and just one day after the election instead of the customary three), you can follow up-to-the-minute reports on Twitter from the Tehran Bureau:
http://twitter.com/tehranbureau

You can also check out their blog:
http://tehranbureau.com/

Tonight (June 13) is the Undercurrent's 3rd Birthday Party! This yearly fundraiser has been a blast in previous years, and we're excited about another great line-up this year.

Here are the details:
When: Saturday, June 13, 2009
Doors open at 5 PM, the show starts at 6 PM

Where: The Starline in the Tower District

Who: 18 and over

Cost: $15 at the door
proceeds benefit the Undercurrent

The Bands:
Destructo Bunny
The Sleepover Disaster
Shon J
3 Bags Full
the Fay Rays
Son Del Valle
It's an Icicle
plus Special Guest

And More: We'll be...
* Selling t-shirts

http://twitter.com/FresUndrcurrent

Apparently, the cool kids these days are using Twitter. So we will too.

We'll be using Twitter to give people info on our upcoming 3rd Birthday Party and (eventually) upcoming issues.

DON'T FORGET:
The Undercurrent 3rd Birthday Party
At Starline (831 Fern Ave, Tower District)
$15
Lots of local bands (Destructo Bunny, Sleepover Disaster, Three Bags Full, Shon J, Fay Wrays, Son del Valle, It's an Icicle, and more!
We'll also be holding a raffle for a bicycle - raffle ticket proceeds benefiting the Fresno County Bicycle Coalition.

[This press release provided by the EEOC]

Hispanic Workers Subjected to Racial Taunts, Federal Agency Charged

FRESNO, Calif. – Sam's Club, the wholesale chain store owned and operated by Wal-Mart, violated federal law by compelling Latino employees to endure a hostile work environment based upon their Mexican national origin, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

Gauguin 'cut off Van Gogh's ear'
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90)
Van Gogh famously painted a self-portrait with his ear bandaged

Vincent van Gogh did not cut off his own ear but lost it in a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin in a row outside a brothel, it has been claimed.

It has long been accepted that the mentally ill Dutch painter cut off his own ear with a razor after the row in Arles, southern France, in 1888.

But a new book, based on the original police investigation, claims Gauguin swiped Van Gogh's ear with a sword.

by Jim Miles

by Dahr Jamail
April 6th, 2009 | T r u t h o u t

One week after Iraqi government forces arrested an Awakening Group (commonly referred to as Sons of Iraq, al-Sahwa) leader, Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad’s Fadhil neighborhood in Baghdad, sparking gun battles that raged for hours between US-backed Iraqi forces and US-allied Sunni militiamen that killed three people, militiamen have once again been detained, widening concerns that sectarian violence may once more engulf Baghdad. There are 50,000 Sahwa fighters in Baghdad alone.

by Jim Miles

The first part of this series looked at the overall context of the economy, the war on terror, and the environment. The previous section focussed on the military with its ties to terror and the economy globally. This final section looks at the environmental consequences of our consumptive society and some solutions that could be made for a long-term solution.

April 4th, 2009
by William Blum
www.killinghope.org

"History is littered with post-crisis regulations. If there are undue restrictions on the operations of businesses, they may view it to be their job to get around them, and you sow the seeds of the next crisis."
– Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment analyst, CharlesSchwab & Co., a leading US provider of investment services.1

MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media

March 31, 2009

To be fair to the BBC, Rageh Omaar’s observation generalises: the whole of British journalism is a “white man’s club” dominated by the “class thing”.

In March, media magnate Rupert Murdoch received the American Jewish Committee’s National Human Relations Award. The plaudits heaped on Murdoch recalled the words of the 4th century Buddhist poet, Aryasura: