There's more to the story of pirates along the Somali coast than just bad guys in boats. In today's report, John Reid, President of the Conservation Strategy Fund in Sebastopol, looks past recent headlines to the root causes of this outbreak of nautical lawlessness.

Because natural resources are essential to the survival of millions of residents of undeveloped nations, CFS President John Reid (right) predicts that, in order to help preserve them, climate change will soon become a major factor in shaping US foreign policy.

 Michael Winship, senior writer for the weekly PBS public affairs program "Bill Moyers Journal," has additional background on this issue here.

War tax resistance--refusing to pay a portion of one's annual IRS bill that funds military endeavors--is alive and well in Sonoma County.

Larry Harper explains that he has been inspired in his war tax resistance by the example of the late Rabbi Michael Robinson (below), one of the founders of Sonoma County Taxes For Peace.

Eszter Freeman has in the past staged more dramatic protests than just withholding her tax payment. She recalls one from 1990 (pictured here, with Freeman at the center in black), in which she made and decorated a coffin as the legal tender she used for that's year's payment.

There are generally two options for people who choose to make an ethical statement with the tax money they withhold. One is putting those funds into an escrow account, where the money will fund positive social  purposes, but still can be drawn upon when and if the IRS eventually demands payment. The other is to redirect their taxes into a local fund to support constructive efforts in the community. Harper explains how that is done by Sonoma County Taxes for Peace.

Sonoma County Taxes for Peace meets monthly. Call 823-9203 for details. Other sources for additional information about War Tax Resistance include:

Northern California War Tax Resistance

 The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee

National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund

Conscience and Military Tax Campaign Escrow Account

After living in Sonoma County for nearly 60 years, civil rights advocate Willie Garrett has seen--and instigated--some substantial changes here. But he'd still like to see more.

One of Willie Garrett's first moves toward expanding integration in Santa Rosa, focused on the city's swim center, sometime around 1956.

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In the late 1960s, Mr. Garrett (seen more recently here)  was one of the co-founders of the Ethnic Studies Department at Sonoma State University, where he told the mostly white students not to expect an easy A, because community service would be an important part of his classes.

Typically, Mr. Garrett has not joined in recent public handwringing over the continuing absence of ethnic diversity among the Sonoma State student body. But he is planning to do something about it.

Willie Garrett has been named the 2009 recipient of the Jack Green Civil Rights Award from the Sonoma County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, an honor that will be bestowed at the group's annual Awards Dinner tonight (April 3). Last minute reservations can be made by calling (707) 765-5005.

A widely used electronic voting machine has been decertified in California, after tests confirmed it sometimes deleted groups of ballots without counting them.

 A co-founder and director of the Election Defense Alliance, Dan Ashby says this latest setback for electronic voting machines is further confirmation of their dubious reliability.

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