PS, Someone brought this to my attention via email...I actually forgot about this I think because I am frying some other, more directly life threatening fish at the moment, but in 2014, Peoples Initiative was also asked to bring expert witnesses and testify for the cell phone warning label bill in Maine. We did so and then I took my non profit hat off, rolled up my sleeves and lobbied legislators in Maine for almost a month. The bill passed by a 2/3 majority in both the house and senate, meaning it had the ability to over ride a veto had the governor wished to do so, but was then killed in the 12 hour when the industry flew gazillions of lobbyists into Maine in order to ensure the bills failure the day it was to be enacted. This totally took the legislator by surprise - she had never seen such a thing occur, but it did. This was the 3rd round of hearings the bill had, meaning 3rd year we were working on it with Rep. Andrea Boland (D) of Maine. Andrea got termed out and is no longer a rep. in Maine, but we are eternally grateful for her to have gotten the ball rolling on this. Now 5 other states and a couple of local municipalities in the US are bringing or have brought the bill as well as a couple of other countries having introduced it! It is just a matter of time now until it passes and becomes law somewhere. Once that happens, there will be a sea of other areas passing this bill or a version of it and people will start putting two and two together - meaning the cell phone is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of health effects from this radiation!!. Thus far, Belgium has passed a law forbidding the sale and the advertising of cell phones to children of a certain age. This is due to the president of Belgium Telecom becoming electrosensitive and banning WIFI from his office and the entire floor on his building! Why does it take an executive to become ill for something like this to happen? So now it's a wrap for what we did in 2014! Here's to 2015 being an even more productive and fruitful year!!
xoxo
Hello All,
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and didn't gain as much weight as I did in one sitting!! :l
If you don't want to read to about what we have accomplished this year and would just like to donate to our efforts on this issue, please know that your donation to ur 501c3 non profit is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, no amount is too small or too big and we are eternally grateful for whatever you can give. Please mail your donation to:
Peoples Initiative Foundation
101 S. Topanga Cyn. Blvd.
#586
Topanga, CA
90290
Our yearly bills total approx. $2,500 for operating costs (no salaries taken ever by the director or volunteers) including insurance, attorney, tax accountant, news letter platform, webmaster assistance plus website hosting. If we are so lucky as to have extra funds left over from fund raising (which we don't usually), we use it for additional legal council such as stopping the Fernwood tower, informational materials such as any local flyering or mailings we might do, and any other operating expenses. No salaries have ever been taken for the director or for volunteers.
What We Have Accomplished Together This Year
Locally in Our Village:
2014 was a busy year for us!! In conjunction with our sister citizens group CitizensForARadiationFreeCommunity.org , also founded by ThePeoplesInitiative.org director, Liz Barris, we were instrumental in raising the awareness and getting the word out about the cell tower that was scheduled to go in at the Post Office. We retained legal council, got petitions going and participated in getting a facebook page going for this effort. After realizing the community really did not want this mega cell tower to go in at the post office, the caring, responsible and sensitive business owners of Topanga Home Grown, Leslie and Steve Carlson, graciously withdrew their lease from T Mobile and we are now thankfully, mega cell tower free at the post office. But this effort by the industry to blanket us with deadly microwave radiation is not over...
Local Cell Tower Stopping Efforts Unearth NATIONAL Cell Tower "Federal Stimulus" Grant to the Tune of 12 Bilion for New "Upgraded" National "Homeland Security" Cell Tower Roll Out
Recently, whilst staving off another and even more powerful microwave radiation emitting surveillance tower scheduled to go in at the Fernwood Fire Station in our community, and after having retained legal council, served LA County Regional Planning with public records requests and The Department of Homeland Security with a FOIA, we got a temporary halt on the plan to just ram this cell tower down the community's throats. However, we stumbled upon an important but little known bit of information...Our little cell tower nightmare is a part of a much bigger and nastier cell tower roll out via the 12 billion dollar Federal Stimulus Grant dedicated to blanketing the US with cell towers under the guise of "Homeland Security" of course. LA RICS (the company/agency dedicated solely to installing 231 of these new cell towers in Los Angeles in order to blanket irradiate 97% of the county) has now been forced to consult with Regional Planning and The Coastal Commission - thanks to our little public records request and must go through proper procedure and adhere to local zoning rules and regulations when applying for their lease. We are also now going to be granted a very important public hearing on this and have already gathered signatures to stop this mega cell tower and will be gathering even more when I send out our online version of the petition in the coming weeks. Yes, even "Homeland Security" has to obey the law from time to time. If you live in another part of CA or another state, you should check and see if/when your area is to receive these new super high powered surveillance capable frequencies, coming to a fire station near you most likely...plus anywhere else they so desire of course...be on the look out.
Statewide:
Peoples Initiative has also been a party to the smart meter proceedings at the CPUC (CA Public Utilities Commission). Here is a copy of our latest filing in case you haven't yet seen it.
Also this year, we consulted with many people outside the Topanga area, both throughout the state, nationally and even internationally on both on cell tower blocking and smart meter removal without paying "opt out" fees.
Nationally:This year, we also co-authored and edited the Congressional White Paper, Legal, Legal, Constitutional and Human Rights Violations of Smart Meters/Smart Grid
which we took to Washington with us this year when we turned lemons into lemonade and formed a nationwide sister citizens lobbying group, StopSmartGrid.org in response to the bill PG@E filed in Congress to block our lawsuits and make smart grid mandatory in the US. We made the pilgrimage and took 40 meetings with Executive Branch Agencies, Chairs of key Congressional committees and other members of Congress on this issue. Although he rejected our request to sponsor a national free smart meter opt out bill, Sen. Leahy, (Vermont, Chair of Judiciary Committee and representing the state with the free opt out), is going to write a letter on our behalf to Dept. of Energy (the agency that refused to meet with us in Washington) regarding smart meters and violation of the 4th Amendment. The letter will be forthcoming in 2015, after the holidays and when the new Congress is in session. This is no small deal. The last time we got Congress to write a letter to the GAO on our behalf (my Cong. Waxman Los Angeles and Cong. Markey Massachusetts whom we also met with in DC) concerning cell phone radiation and RF emissions in general, this ended up with the GAO in turn writing the FCC and asking then to revue the RF microwave safety standards for the US, which is where we are today, waiting for the FCCs review and update to finish. We fully expect that some precautions are going to be implemented, such as with children and pregnant women. We are still far away however from protecting the general population, which is our ultimate goal.
We are in contact with the DOJ and FDA on this and will be meeting with them again when we go back to Washington in 2015, this time, armed with some very brilliant scientists to back us up!! I will keep you posted on this when it transpires. We are also in the process of following up with the other Executive Branch meetings which I will keep you posted on and re-grouping to better deal with the new Congress and change in power from Democrat to Republican in DC, which did affect some of our plans, but not all...we just have to adjust and keep moving on this. I am hopeful about our next trip to DC and the fruits it will bare. Republicans actually were extremely opposed to the spying aspect of smart meters, so there is a lot of possibility in Washington right now on that angle of this issue.
It is no small task attacking this issue, as it is currently the biggest money maker globally, surpassing even oil and gas. Perhaps this wireless technology would not be so popular were citizens informed about the deadly health effects associated with it, just as gas and oil may not have been so popular had we been informed that global warming would be a side effect.
Additionally, through our sister group, CtizensForARadiationFreeCommunity.org, we did sue Edison and PG@E, but those lawsuits were tossed out this year due to corruption within the court system. We are currently re-grouping and will be filing more lawsuits on this in the future, only this time we will be more familiar with the legal beast we are dealing with, better prepared and leaner with our focus.
We have also been putting out this news letter which we will be posting all back issues of on our website, as soon our webmaster gets back into our site which was recently hacked and the password changed! :l We hope this news letter has been keeping you up to date on all things EMF and other important environmental and human rights news.
And lastly but not least-ly, on a side note and unrelated with this 501c3 for legal reasons, I feel compelled to mention that I have also been putting together a documentary for the passed 7 years on this issue. The project took a turn that I truly never expected when I myself became full blown electrosensitive over the course of filming. But I believe this has added a unique perspective that I never fully comprehended until it actually happened to me (it never happens to you right?) and am looking forward to finishing it and sharing it with you, as I now consider it my life's work. I think you are going to like it. :)
Thank you again for your donation. I hope you are having a good holiday weekend and enjoying good health and life while we still have it!!
Sincerely and with gratitude,
Liz
