Last year we heard that Willie Nelson was coming out with his own brand of Bio-fuel, called Bio-Willie, which he’d be selling through Distribution Drive. Today the New York Times ran a piece on Willie and his alternative fuel, writing: “While Bono tries to change the world by hobnobbing with politicians and Sir Bob Geldof plays host to his mega-benefit concerts, Willie Nelson has birthed his own brand of alternative fuel. It is called, fittingly enough, BioWillie. And in BioWillie, Mr. Nelson, 72, has blended two of his biggest concerns: his love of family farmers and disdain for the Iraq war.”
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Diane Wilson’s old foe, Formosa Plastics, was recognized this week with the international Hitter Award, which is given annually to corporations with outstanding violations of human rights. The Taipei Times reported this morning that the Huapan Administration Consul-tant Co and Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) were this year’s main recipients, most notably for “their records in trampling Thai workers’ human rights.” But Formosa Plastics, which was kicked out of Taiwan decades ago for its poor record of industrial pollution, was also given the “award” for its role in violating foreign workers’ human rights. Formosa now has plants in Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, and Texas.

On January 14th, The Orton Family Foundation will present designer, social entrepreneur and affordable housing innovator John Abrams at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont. We’re thrilled that John, winner of this year’s Business Ethics award for Workplace Democracy, will be back in Vermont!

The Orton Ideas Forum is an occasional series of distinguished lectures, book readings and discussions intended to share provocative ideas and important lessons from the front lines of land use planning in America. For thirty years, John Abrams and his co-workers at the South Mountain Company design/build firm have been quietly changing how business is done. As a proponent of working for the benefit of people, place and community, John Abrams explores how responsible business practice can promote local culture, create social equity, and maintain ecological balance.

You can learn more about John Abrams’ lecture at the Northshire Bookstore here.

The Victoria Advocate reported today:

Former Seadrift resident arrested
Victoria Advocate
December 14, 2005

PORT LAVACA - Diane Wilson, 57, formerly of Seadrift, was arrested by
Harris County deputies on a Calhoun County warrant for criminal
trespassing. She was returned to Calhoun County Friday and began
serving 120 days in jail after a jury recommended the sentence plus a
$2,000 fine in January 2004.

A Corpus Christi appellate court upheld the Calhoun County court’s
decision in May 2004. Wilson, who has been out of the state since that
time was arrested when she returned to Texas, said Sheriff B.B.
Browning.

Wilson was forcefully removed from a platform at Dow Chemical’s
Seadrift plant on Aug. 26, 2002 after lodging an eight-hour protest
accusing the company of not making amends for losses in the 1984
industrial disaster in Bhopal, India.

In the past couple of days we’ve recevied quite a few requests for an address where supporters can write to Diane. Here is her address at the Victoria County Prison, where she can receive letters:
Sylvia Diane Wilson
CR # 65510
Victoria County Jail (Calhoun County Inmate)
101 North Glass
Victoria, TX 77901

Diane is being held in the Victoria County Jail, since the Calhoun County Jail has been condemmed…

Yesterday Molly Ivins publisher her annual “one-stop, hit-the-bookstore with less than 24-hours-to-go, all-purpose Procrastinator’s List” for holiday gifts ideas. Her top choice for gifts this year: An Unreasonable Woman! Check out her glowing review, and the rest of her gift ideas (I guess there were some others) in the Sacramento Bee.

“For a terrific read and a great political yarn, “An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas” is my nomination for best surprise book of the year…
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Diane Wilson has her court appearance in Houston today, after being arrested for infiltrating Tom Delay’s fundraiser last week. The story of her arrest appears in articles by The Houston Chronicle and Houston Indymedia, who reported that Diane was being held even after her bail was posted, and even though the bail money had been collected and not returned. There is a nice piece about Diane and Veterans for Peace, which also ran in The Houston Chronicle, detailing her message to Delay and Cheney.

This spring we’ll be publishing Peter Laufer’s new book, Mission Rejected. The book tells the stories of US Soldiers who have said no to the war in Iraq, either by refusing to be deployed, seeking conscientious objector status, or coming home from Iraq opposed to the war. Laufer’s collected stories resonate with the acceptance speech of recent Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, who said, “The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law,” said Pinter, known for his outspoken criticism of U.S. foreign policy.”
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Diane Wilson was arrested in Texas last night, while protesting at Tom Delay’s fundraising dinner with CodePink. We are still peicing together details, but The Houston Chronicle reported this morning:

> At least one protester infiltrated the event. Diane Wilson of the
> progressive women’s group Code Pink said she paid only $50.
>
> “I guess they needed people inside,” she said. “You can get in pretty
> cheap. I didn’t want to give too much.”
>
> She briefly disrupted Cheney’s speech and rolled out a banner that
> reads: “Corrupt greed kills from Bhopal to Baghdad.”
>
> Wilson was promptly escorted out.

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This afternoon Democracy for America hosted a great live blog discussion with Unembedded authors Thorne Anderson, Rita Leistner, and Kael Alford. After posting four photos from the book with captions describing each scene, the hosts at Blog for America sat back and watched as their readers grilled the photojournalists on everything from ethics to f stops.
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