Progressive Calendar 08.26.06
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 03:50:23 -0700 (PDT)
             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    08.26.06

1. PeaceJam car wash   8.26 10am
2. Airport dike appeal 8.26 10:30am
3. Katrina             8.26 11am
4. Hmong festival      8.26 11am
5. AWC volunteer day   8.26 11am
6. Bike tour/BBQ       8.26 3pm
7. SpiritRoad/AM950    8.26 3pm
8. Gray panthers       8.26 3pm
9. Jesse's sweet corn  8.26 5pm
10. MUI                8.26 6pm
11. Marv b-day 75      8.26 6:30pm
12. Likely stories     8.26 7:30pm

13. CPUSA picnic       8.27 1pm
14. Civil rights/WWII+ 8.27 2pm
15. KFAI/Indian        8.27 4pm

16. Peterson/Dechert - Let Ken Pentel debate
17.                  - Women's equality day
18. Green Party      - Dems & Repubs downplay health care crisis
19. Justin Clark     - Tiny lot urban gardening
20. Albert McKeon    - GOP candidate says 9/11 attacks were a hoax

--------1 of 20--------

From: "Krista Menzel (Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace)" <web [at] mppeace.org>
Subject: PeaceJam car wash 8.26 10am

Como Park Senior High Students PeaceJam Trip Benefit Car Wash
Help send these students to the PeaceJam conference in Denver!

Saturday August 26, 10am-4pm
Midway Family YMCA, Parking Lot 1761 University Avenue, St. Paul
$5.00 minimum donation for each car washed, additional donations greatly
appreciated.

Who We Are: We are members of the conflict Resolution Team at Como Park
Senior High in St. Paul. We are all trained Peer Mediators and have been
involved in PeaceJam for 2 years. Our team has been active in our school
and community for over 12 years.

What We Need: We are trying to send 8 members of our team to the PeaceJam
10th Anniversary Conference in Denver, Colorado, next month. We need to
raise $700.00 per person. We are holding a car wash from 10:00 a.m. until
4:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 26, to raise the necessary funds for our
trip. Please stop by the YWCA at 1791 University Avenue in St. Paul to
have your car washed for a $5.00 minimum donation, or call Sue Grosse
Macemon at (612) 770-1885 to contribute. We appreciate your support!

About PeaceJam: Since 1996, PeaceJam has been putting youth together with
Nobel Peace Prize winners, creating a new generation of leaders committed
to positive change. On September 15-17, 2006, the PeaceJam Foundation will
be celebrating its 10th anniversary with an international conference in
Denver, Colorado. This conference will bring together 12 Nobel Peace
Laureates from the PeaceJam Foundation as well as 3,000 youth from around
the world for 2 1/2 days to discuss strategies to create positive change
in the world, gain skills, network, and celebrate the accomplishments of
the PeaceJam Foundation.

More Information: For more information, contact Sue Grosse-Macemon at
(612) 770-1885.


--------2 of 20--------

From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com>
Subject: Airport dike appeal 8.26 10:30am

We are on for meeting at 10:30 AM Saturday the 26th. This Saturday at
Swede Hollow Cafe. John has been our go to guy on the legal and is working
to coordinate our efforts. The amount of work he has done so far is
amazing. He is also working on lining up some pro bono help and drafting
documents. It still is important for anyone who has contacts to explore
them for possible help. Nothing is final yet and we can not wait to ask
around for help. Hopefully by Saturday we will have more information.

Send checks to Friends of the Parks 1621 Beechwood Avenue, Saint Paul, MN
55116. Make sure to write on the Memo line "Floodwall" so it gets to that
account.

We sure are lucky we have elected officials like Kathy and Sheldon working
on our behalf. Besides they are just darn nice people.
TOM DIMOND and SUSAN DIMOND
2119 Skyway Drive St. Paul, Minnesota 55119 (h) 651-735-6667


--------3 of 20--------

From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Katrina 8.26 11am

Memorial Celebration Honoring the One Year Anniversary of Hurricane
Katrina

Saturday, August 26, 11am-4pm Sabathani Community Center, 310 East 38th
Street, Minneapolis. March, speakers, Louisiana style cooking,
entertainment. FFI: Call Terry at 612-821-2350 or Trudy at 612-821-2398.


--------4 of 20--------

From: Anne R. Carroll <carrfran [at] qwest.net>
Subject: Hmong festival 8.26 11am

This should be fantastic, as usual, so do stop by if you're around on
Saturday and enjoy this great festival at the Western Sculpture Park across
from Sears near downtown, 11am-7pm.

For more information contact:  Kathy Mouacheupao Executive Director Center
for Hmong Arts and Talent 651-603-6971


--------5 of 20--------

From: Tracy Molm <molm [at] umn.edu>
Subject: AWC volunteer day 8.26 11am

Volunteer Day
Saturday 8/26 @ 11am @ AWC office in UTech Building in Dinkytown
(1313 5th Street SE, Mpls) Suite 213
Help the Anti War Committee paint signs, visual art and othe exciting
stuff for our 9/11 protest!  It's a great time to learn more about the AWC
and use your artistic skills.


--------6 of 20--------

From: North Country Co-op <northcountrycoop [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Bike tour/BBQ 8.26 3pm

For the next two weeks, FWD-MN (the Federation of Workplace Democracies-
Minnesota) is holding the first Minnesota Worker Cooperative Conference.
Check out their fascinating Field Trips and practical workshops:

BICYCLE HISTORY TOUR AND BARBECUE, Sat August 26, 3-6pm, Meet on the Stone
Arch Bridge at 3pm to start_Suggested donation $1, Join us for a brief
bike tour of cooperative and radical labor sites in Downtown and South
Minneapolis, with some sites dating back to the 1880s. Each site will be
described as we go, and there might even be some dramatic reenactments on
location! The tour will end with a reception at North Country Coop with a
barbecue on the West Bank near North Country Coop.  (If you are interested
in performing or otherwise helping out with the bike tour, contact Katie
Manthey at kateape [at] yahoo.com)


--------7 of 20--------

From: Burt Berlowe <berlowe [at] tcinternet.net>
Subject: SpiritRoad/AM950 8.26 3pm

Spirit Road Radio will broadcast live from the Minnesota State Fair
Saturday at 3 p.m. on Air America 950 AM. We will be at the Air America
booth at Judson and Liggett on the north end of the fair near the horse
barns. We will feature live music, special guests and audience
participation. Come and visit us.


--------8 of 20--------

From: hangerseeley [at] aol.com
Subject: Gray panthers 8.26 3pm

If you are not booked this coming Saturday, August 26 from 3 pm to 5 pm;
you might want to join the annual meeting Birthday celebration of the Twin
Cities Gray Panthers-- at East Side Neighborhood Services at 1700 Second
Street NE, Mpls. MN 55413. The theme is "The Best Age Is The Age You
Are".....a Maggie Kuhn quote.

We are hoping to have a representative of every age--from 0 to 100-!!  At
the event, we will have some fun games and activities planned to provide
people with energy and enthusiasm to address ageism issues.

And there will be cake and punch and party games but no black balloons.

Do spread the word.  If need more information call me at 612-378-2713
(home) or work 612-787-4036.  Thanks.  Jane


--------9 of 20--------

From: Jesse Mortenson for 64A <jesse [at] jessemortenson.com>
Subject: Jesse's sweet corn 8.26 5pm

We've got more fun lined up for you. Tom Taylor, former Green candidate
for the House, and Tom Dunnwald are hosting a party for us with some fresh
sweet corn up in Northeast Minneapolis.

5 to 9pm, Saturday, August 26th
1501 26th Ave. N.E.
http://www.jessemortenson.com/party/ne

It is on the corner corner of Lincoln and 26th, 1 block north of Lowry,
and 1 block west of Johnson IN North East Minneapolis. Call Tom Taylor -
612-788-4252 - or Tom Dunnwald - 612-789-0397 - with questions. Everybody
welcome!

Jesse Mortenson Green Party Candidate for Minnesota House of
Representatives District 64A www.jessemortenson.com


--------10 of 20--------

From: Rebecca <mn_united_ireland [at] lycos.com>
Subject: MUI 8.26 6pm

Minnesotans for A United Ireland will meet on Saturday Aug 26th,6 PM at
Arise Bookstore
2441 Lyndale Av S,Minneapolis

Agenda
1 Orientation
2 Irish Fair
3Chicago Hunger Strike Com
4Ad in papers
5 Samhain
6Fundraising
Info or directions call Mike 651 645-9506

Minnesotans for a United Ireland 612-871-7110


--------11 of 20--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Marv b-day 75  8.26 6:30pm

Saturday, 8/26, 6:30 pm, living legend (famous for Honeywell and ATK
protests, etc) Marv Davidov birthday celebration ("I'm still alive at
75!")  and world premier of the documentary made about him, O'Shaughnessy
Education Center, St Thomas Univ, Cleveland & Summit, St Paul.
612-874-7715.


--------12 of 20--------

From: Larry Johnson <elent7 [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Likely stories 8.26 7:30pm

We're doing our STORYTELLING FOR ADULTS again 7:30 p.m. at Dunn Bros by
Loring Park (329 West 15th st., just east across Hennepin from the
Walker).

We called it POLITICAL ANIMALS AT THE STATE FAIR but who knows what
stories will show up.  We did pieces of this idea on AM950 Radio a year
ago when we did a storytelling show there once a month so we know Elaine
might tell about meeting Coya Knutson as a 13 year old, or she might tell
about competing in the 4H musical talent show.  Larry might tell about
what happens when you try to KNOCK OVER THE HAIRY DOLLS AND WIN A TEDDY
BEAR or about being taken special as a third grader to meet President
Dwight D. Eisenhower . . . or they might tell about COUSIN CAMP and taking
grandchildren to see Paul Wellstone . . . . . and some of you who come to
listen might have your own short stories about the state fair for the
second half.

Many of you also know that we've been part of an effort to raise money to
build THE SPIRIT OF PEACE STATUE at the Peace Garden by Lake Harriet, as
well as to replace the crumbling bridge with a new one. The statue is
going up before the October 25 children's ceremony where we honor the
memory of Sadako Sasaki, the courageous little girl in Hiroshima who died
of radiation sickness but in her dying inspired a movement by her
crane-folding and her prayer to the last crane to "fly around the world
and tell people to never again drop such a bomb on any human city". We're
still raising money for the bridge, and we'd gladly take your donation
either at Dunn Bros or through the mail.

Call us at 612-747-3904 for more information on the STORYTELLING or the
PEACE GARDEN PROJECT

Larry Johnson and Elaine Wynne KEY OF SEE STORYTELLERS 612-747-3904


--------13 of 20--------

From: Doris G. Marquit <marqu001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: CPUSA picnic 8.27 1pm

ANNUAL PWW PICNIC & BOOK SALE .
Sunday August 27, 1 - 3:30 pm,
Indian Mounds Park (Earl St & Mounds Blvd), St. Paul
Brats, burgers,  veggie fare, & books.  Free.
Speaker:  Jose " Pepe "  Lozano, staff writer for People's Weekly World

Sponsored by Minn CPUSA
FFI: Harry McAllister 651- 776-2027.


--------14 of 20-------

From: Stephen Feinstein <feins001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Civil rights/WWII+ 8.27 2pm

Ongoing at Minnesota History Center St Paul
>From US Holocaust Memorial Museum

New Lives: Civil Rights after World War II
Sunday August 27, 2006, 2pm.

As newspaper and firsthand accounts revealed the horrors of World War II,
communities across the nation were inspired by the battle won overseas
against tyranny and inhumanity toward political and civil rights movements
at home. Join a panel of historians and activists to learn about
Minnesotans' responses to World War II, and the movements that developed
in its wake.
 Iric Nathanson, a Minneapolis writer and researcher who specializes in
Jewish history will offer historic context on the Fair Employment
Practices Committee (FEPC), the executive order signed into law in 1941 to
outlaw racial discrimination in the workplace.
 Sally Sudo, education liaison for the Japanese American Citizens League -
Twin Cities Chapter will address the unique issues that Japanese-Americans
faced in the aftermath of World War II and throughout interment camps in
postwar society. Susan Shapiro, scholar and former president of the Jewish
Community Relations Council, to moderate.


--------15 of 20--------

From: Chris Spotted Eagle <chris [at] spottedeagle.org>
Subject: KFAI/Indian 8.27 4pm
 Uprising, August 27, 2006

KFAI's Indian Uprising, August 27, 2006

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE'S CENSORED SOUNDS by Brenda Norrell for Indian Country
Today, August 9, 2006.  PHOENIX - Nearly two decades after Cree singer and
songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie's song ''Universal Soldier'' was released
and shipments of her records mysteriously disappeared, the truth of the
censorship and suppression by the U.S. government became public. Now, in
federal court, Charles August Schlund III stated he is a covert operative
and supports Sainte-Marie's assertions that the United States took action
to suppress rock music because of its role in rallying opposition to the
Vietnam War.  Sainte-Marie says she was blacklisted and, along with other
American Indians in the Red Power movements, was put out of business in
the 1970s. ''I found out 10 years later, in the 1980s, that [President]
Lyndon Johnson had been writing letters on White House stationary praising
radio stations for suppressing my music,'' Sainte-Marie said in a 1999
interview with Indian Country Today at Dine' College.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413424.  Note:
Sainte-Marie's song, The Universal Soldier (2:15), released by Vanguard,
1970 on a set of two records, having 24 songs under the title, The Best of
Buffy Sainte-Marie..

ARTWORK IS THE ONLY CONSTANT IN CHEROKEE MAN'S LIFE by Brandon Harris,
Paragould Daily Press, posted by the AP August 23, 2006.  PARAGOULD, Ark.
(AP) - Don't try to guess what David Wayaneetah's next move will be. He
couldn't even tell you himself.  Wayaneetah, Cherokee, has done a little
bit of everything. He grew up on a reservation in North Carolina, went to
military school, served in Vietnam, went to law school and worked as a
lawyer.  But perhaps the most pervasive aspect of Wayaneetah's life is his
artwork.  Wayaneetah, 59, has been involved with carving artwork out of
wood and stone since he was a young boy. It began as a hobby and a way to
help support his family's income on the reservation, but it has since
transformed into a lucrative business with pieces selling for thousands of
dollars each at shows around the world.  ''I'm a product of my years,''
Wayaneetah said. ''That's my life. This is part of what I do. It just kind
of happens, and I just go with what happens.''
http://www.Indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413486.

* * * *
Indian Uprising is a one-half hour Public & Cultural Affairs program for,
by, an about Indigenous people broadcast each Sunday at 4:00 p.m. over
KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul.  Producer and host is
Chris Spotted Eagle.  KFAI Fresh Air Radio is located at 1808 Riverside
Avenue, Minneapolis MN 55454, 612-341-3144.


--------16 of 20--------

Let Ken Pentel debate

From: Diane J. Peterson <birch7 [at] comcast.net>

I guess those organizations are afraid of or unconcerned about having
truly lively environmental statements coming from a person who has biked
his talk. Sounds like it will be the same old same old DULL.  If only for
the purpose of pizzazz, and keeping the audience awake, they should invite
Ken Pentel.

The Establishment hates pizzazz, eh?  Or maybe they just hate democracy?

The event announcement claims:
"Sponsored by Envision  Minnesota  to elevate issues of growth, energy, and
conservation"

Well, they can't desire too strongly to "elevate" all those issues if the
Green candidate, the one candidate UNBEHOLDEN to corporate destroyers of
the environment, is excluded.

It'll be a Green victory if we can cause them to invite Pentel to
participate.  His presence will make the event less dull.  Anyone want to
pitch this method of putting more sparkle into the event to the decision
makers?

Down with dull,
Diane J. Peterson White Bear Lake, Minnesota birch7 [at] comcast.net

---
From: Richard Dechert <ldechert [at] webtv.net>

That is incredible!!!  I'm a regular viewer of Twin Cities Public
Television's "Almanac," the longest running and most respected
public-affairs program in Minnesota--which airs throughout Minnesota.  As
he has in previous years, Mr. Pentel recently appeared on "Almanac" as the
Green Party of Minnesota's candidate for governor, and again surpassed his
DFL, GOP and Independence Party of Minnesota (IPM) rivals as the most
knowledgeable and articulate candidate on environmental issues.

Therefore, to arbitrarily exclude him from the so-called Envision
Minnesota convention is to turn "grass roots democracy" on its head.

But perhaps that exclusion can be explained by this description of
Envision Minnesota in the Dovetail Partners, Inc. News:

"Dovetail Joins the Envision Minnesota Project

"White Bear Lake, Minnesota - Minnesotans live in a special and
remarkable place we have inherited from the generations before us, clean
and prosperous, and filled with natural abundance and a superior quality
of life.

"Over the past year, dozens of Minnesota leaders have enthusiastically
responded to a call to take the long view. Working through a series of
focus groups and team deliberations, the dedicated volunteers of the
Envision Minnesota Project have endeavored to identify the most
significant environmental priorities facing our state and to strategize
about how we might address those priorities in a focused, thoughtful,
meaningful way.

"Envision Minnesota, is comprised of business and community leaders, as
well as former elected officials from both parties including former
governor Wendell Anderson, and former congressmen Tim Penny and Vin Weber.

"The group, which was originated by the conservation organization 1000
Friends of Minnesota, aims to circulate its policy views to state leaders
at various levels of government. It also plans a Sept. 16 convention in
St. Cloud, to which gubernatorial candidates will be invited.

"Dovetail Partners recently signed on as a partner to the Envision
Minnesota Project."

Apparently, there is no place for true Green on that stretch of
DFL/GOP/IPM Astroturf.

Richard Lee Dechert Maplewood, Minnesota A member of Progressive Democrats
of America


--------17 of 20--------

Women's equality day
Brutal Treatment of Women Suffragists at Occoquan Workhouse

There's an email circulating that tells of the brutal treatment in 1917 at
Occoquan, Virginia, prison, of women who had picketed the White House as
part of the campaign to win the vote for women. The point of the email: it
took a lot of sacrifice to win the vote for women, and so women today
should honor their sacrifice by taking our right to vote seriously, and
actually getting to the polls. The author of the article in the email,
though the emails usually omit the credit, is Connie Schultz of The Plain
Dealer, Cleveland. Is the email true? a reader asks - or is it an urban
legend? It sure sounds exaggerated - but it's not.

Alice Paul led the more radical wing of those who were working for women's
suffrage in 1917. Paul had taken part in more militant suffrage activity
in England, including hunger strikes that were met with imprisonment and
brutal force-feeding methods. She believed that by bringing such militant
tactics to America, the public's sympathy would be turned towards those
who protested for woman suffrage, and the vote for women would be won,
finally, after seven decades of activism.

And so, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and others separated in America from the
National American Woman Suffrage Association headed by Carrie Chapman
Catt, and formed the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU) which in
1917 transformed itself into the National Woman's Party (NWP).

While many of the activists in the NAWSA turned during World War I either
to pacifism or to support of America's war effort, the National Woman's
Party continued to focus on winning the vote for women. During wartime,
they planned and carried out a campaign to picket the White House in
Washington, DC. The reaction was, as in Britain, strong and swift: arrest
of the picketers and their imprisonment. Some were transferred to an
abandoned workhouse located at Occoquan, Virginia. There, the women staged
hunger strikes, and, as in Britain, were force-fed brutally and otherwise
treated violently.

I've referred to this part of woman suffrage history in other articles,
notably when describing the history of the suffragist split over strategy
in the last decade of activism before the vote was finally won. Feminist
Sonia Pressman Fuentes documents this history in her article on Alice
Paul.

She includes this re-telling of the story of Occoquan Workhouse's "Night
of Terror," November 15, 1917: Under orders from W. H. Whittaker,
superintendent of the Occoquan Workhouse, as many as forty guards with
clubs went on a rampage, brutalizing thirty-three jailed suffragists. They
beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head, and
left her there for the night. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell,
smashed her head against an iron bed, and knocked her out cold. Her
cellmate Alice Cosu, who believed Mrs. Lewis to be dead, suffered a heart
attack. According to affidavits, other women were grabbed, dragged,
beaten, choked, slammed, pinched, twisted, and kicked. (source:  Barbara
Leaming, Katherine Hepburn (New York: Crown Publishers, 1995), 182.)

Related Resources:
 A firsthand account of this is in Doris Stevens' Jailed for Freedom (New
York: Liveright Publishing, 1920.
 The History of Women's Equality Day
(http://www.nwhp.org/events/equality-day/history-of.html)

for Danene Provencher


--------18 of 20--------

Greens: Dems & Repubs downplay health care crisis
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
Greens accuse Democrats and Republicans of downplaying the health care
crisis

*Green candidates call single-payer national health insurance as the lone
solution to 45 million Americans without coverage

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green candidates across the U.S. have made health care
for all a top campaign issue, demanding single-payer national health
insurance, and accusing Democrats and Republicans alike of sweeping the
health care crisis under the rug while accepting major insurance company
contributions.

"Greens are calling health care a national emergency, while many
Democratic and Republican candidates are talking about it as little as
possible," said Bob Levis, Wisconsin Green candidate for the U.S. House
(5th District). Mr. Levis is running against incumbent F. James
Sensenbrenner, who owns over three million in pharmaceutical stock and has
voted against reforms such as the patients' bill of rights.  "More than 45
million Americans, including 9 million children, have no health coverage.
Millions of other Americans have inadequate coverage.  The U.S. leads in
medical technology, but the worst access to health care among industrial
nations."

"The only solution to the crisis is single-payer national health
insurance, which will cover every American, regardless of age, income,
residence, or prior medical condition, with quality coverage," added Mr.
Levis.  "Single-payer national health insurance will cost working
Americans far less than they now pay for private coverage.  Single-payer
also takes the burden off businesses to provide health coverage for
employees, and creates a lot less paperwork and aggravation for hospitals,
physicians, and other health professionals."

"Many people believe that 'government inefficiency' would make national
health insurance more expensive than private insurance, when the facts
indicate the opposite," said Art Myatt, Michigan Green candidate for the
U.S. House (12th District).  "Medicare delivers 98 cents to health care
providers out of every dollar of Medicare income.  The private insurance
industry does well to deliver 70 cents.  National health insurance would
actually lower the total amount that society spends on health care."

Greens note that the Democratic Party removed national health insurance
from its national platform during the Clinton-Gore Administration.
President Clinton introduced a complex 'managed care' plan, which would
have placed coverage under the control of a few giant insurance firms.
Even though the Clinton plan failed, most Democrats continue to favor
reforms that leave powerful HMO and insurance corporations in control of
health care.  None of these plans will solve the health care crisis, say
Greens, because HMO and insurance corporations are the root of the problem
- they don't want to cover Americans who are old or poor or have prior
medical conditions that may interfere with profits.

"While Greens accept no corporate contributions, Democratic and Republican
politicians receive millions from corporate health lobbies that don't want
single-payer national health insurance," said Carol Brouillet, Green
congressional candidate in California's 14th District "Sen. Hillary
Clinton (D-NY) is the top 2006 recipient in Congress of contributions from
the insurance industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Both Democrats and Republicans are listed among the top recipients of
money from the insurance and pharmaceutical industry."  (Green candidate
Howie Hawkins is challenging Sen. Clinton for her Senate seat.)

One exception among Democrats is Rep. John Conyers (Mich.), who each year
introduces legislation for single-payer national health insurance in the
U.S. House.  The Green Party has consistently supported the Conyers bills.

Corporate pharmaceutical lobbies also made sure that Congress passed its
prescription drug 'reform' bill in 2003 - which benefited drug companies
but did little to help older Americans who need their prescription
medicines.  Under single-payer, all seniors will have full access to their
prescription medicines at zero or minimal cost.

Some states, such as California, have been considering state-wide
single-payer plans. Greens in these states have supported such proposals.
The chief obstacles have been Democratic and Republican politicians who,
under the influence of corporate lobbies, work to obstruct single-payer,
and advertising by HMOs and insurance companies that misleads the public.

In Tennesse, Green gubernatorial candidate Howard Switzer is challenging
incumbent Phil Bredesen (D), who has been dismantling one of the nation's
few state provided health care systems, dropping 330,000 (many of them in
need of care) from TennCare's rolls during the past year.  Mr. Switzer's
campaign slogan is "Healthcare for All."

"Americans will win universal coverage and quality health care under a
single-payer plan when voters elect candidates who are on the side of
Americans who need health care, not on the side of corporate lobbies,"
said Jeff Kravitz, Green candidate for the U.S. House in California's 5th
District. "The health care crisis and the demand for single-payer national
health insurance are at the top of the list of reasons why America needs
the Green Party."

MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org 1700 Connecticut Avenue
NW, Suite 404 Washington, DC 20009. 202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN Fax
202-319-7193

Green campaign listings, news, photos, and web
sites http://www.gp.org/2006elections
Database of 2006 Green candidates
http://www.greens.org/elections
Video clips of Green candidates
http://www.gp.org/2006elections/media.shtml

Physicians for a National Health Program
http://www.pnhp.org

Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty [at] greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene [at] greens.org


--------19 of 20--------

www.energybulletin.net
Published on Friday, July 28, 2006 by San Francisco Chronicle

Back(yard) to the land Family grows its meals on tiny urban lot
By Justin Clark
Natural Home magazine

For most people, eating organic means a trip to the local whole-foods
store and, often, a hit to their wallets. For the Dervaes family, eating
organic requires only a trip to the garden. The family of four raises 3
tons of food each year - enough to supply three-quarters of their diet
and maintain a thriving organic produce business to boot.

Jules Dervaes, along with his three grown children, lives on 1/5 of an
acre in suburban Pasadena and cultivates about half the property, or 1/10
of an acre. Given that the average American's diet requires 1.2 acres of
farmland per person, the Dervaeses are eating quite well off one-fiftieth
of the land the rest of us require.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture reports that most
California corn or rice farms produce an annual yield of less than a
1/2-ton per acre and the average bean farm 1/5-ton per acre. The
Dervaeses' operation is about 60 to 150 times as efficient as their
industrial competitors, without relying on chemical fertilizers and
pesticides.

"Everybody wants more land," Dervaes says. "We decided to find out how
much we could accomplish on this piece of land."

Path to freedom

Dervaes had been running a small lawn-maintenance business six years ago
when he and his family started their self-sufficiency garden project,
dubbed Path to Freedom. They started the garden because of their growing
concerns about genetically modified organisms and other potentially
harmful additives in mass-market produce. Since then, the Dervaeses have
raised everything from asparagus and jicama to kiwis and cotton - all of
it organic. They've been successful using space-maximizing gardening
techniques, including raised earth beds and potted plants that hang
between trellised plants.

Jules Dervaes' genius lies in his ability to adapt his back-to-the-land
vision to an urban environment. Ultimately, he realized that in addition
to providing food for his family, this garden also could help sustain them
financially if he sold its bounty to local businesses. Rather than
competing head-on with larger produce suppliers, the family raises niche
products that only a city full of gourmet restaurants could support:
nasturtiums and Khaki Campbell duck eggs, for example.

The Dervaeses' garden exemplifies both sustainability and frugality:
manure (sweepings from local stables) used as fertilizer, trellises made
from old bicycle wheels, planter dividers made from recycled glass bottles
and homemade pots-within-pots that save water.

In addition, the family drives one vehicle, a black Chevy Suburban that
runs on biodiesel refined from discarded cooking oil provided by local
restaurants. The Dervaeses reach out to their community by using their
garage to screen environmental films and by holding seminars on going
solar. They also took advantage of Pasadena's home-greening rebates by
installing a $14,000, 2-kilowatt solar-cell system for less than half the
retail cost.

The family is installing a wastewater reclamation system, a dual-flush
toilet and a composting toilet. Already, they rely on hand-crank
appliances and a pedal-power grain mill.

Urban gardening tips

"Anyone can do this, if they have dedication," says Dervaes of his wildly
productive garden. "Don't be afraid to start small with something like
herbs that you know will survive." For aspiring urban gardeners, Dervaes
has plenty of advice.

1. Get to know your backyard's ecology. As an example, Dervaes points out
a patch in his yard that doesn't appear to be shaded but that feels cool.
He uses a canopy with a shade cloth and squeezes out one more round of
lettuce in summer.

2. Let natural ecosystems develop. Dervaes recommends exercising patience
when aphids invade because the solution already may be in the local insect
population. Recalling Path to Freedom's first infestation, he says: "I
tried spraying soapy water, but I actually had to let the aphids spread.
Their natural ladybug predators needed the aphids to max out before they
got to work." Now, says Dervaes, an entrenched ladybug and praying mantis
population takes care of most of his pests.

3. Keep a nursery. Dervaes keeps a large workbench with dozens of
seedlings that he uses as guinea pigs to help him figure out when to
plant. If one type of plant fails, he simply pulls it out and substitutes
another. He also rotates plants that like it hot and dry (beans,
cucumbers, corn and peppers) with cool crops (kale, mesclun, snow peas).

4. Start a skyscraper farm. Most of the Dervaeses' backyard was initially
covered in concrete, so they experimented with multistory container
plantings, with each plant occupying its own "story" in the skyscraper
(for instance, broccoli, a tall, strong plant, paired with endive, a
low-growing salad green. Dervaes plants three or sometimes four crops
vertically, using trellises to support vine plants that grow above their
downstairs neighbors.

5. Take a holistic approach. "It's so important to feed the soil," Dervaes
says. He fertilizes between plantings using a mixture of kitchen compost,
bat guano pellets and droppings from his rabbits, ducks and chickens.
Every week during growing season, he dilutes 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of a kelp
fertilizer in a gallon of water and sprays it directly on the plants.
(Salad greens, such as lettuce, should not be eaten right after contact
with kelp fertilizer, especially without washing, because it can leave a
fishy taste.)

Excerpted from Natural Home magazine. Read the full story at www.
NaturalHomemagazine.com or call (800) 340-5846 to subscribe. Copyright
2006 by Ogden Publications Inc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editorial Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our contributor UrbanPioneer writes:
Not only does this family grow much of its own food, their urban homestead
is a model of sustainable actions and projects in an urban environment.

Follow their path...
Organic Gardening, Urban Permaculture, Solar Energy, Homebrew Biodiesel,
Citified Farm Animals, Cob Oven, Waste & Water Reclamation, Appropriate
Technologies & More!

~ A pioneering journey towards self sufficiency, one step at a time ~
Their extensive website can be found at www.pathtofreedom.com
Article found at :
http://www.energybulletin.net/newswire.php?id=18645

Original article :
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/22/HOGTMK219B1.DTL&hw=dervaes&sn=001&sc=1000


--------20 of 20-------

GOP Candidate Says 9/11 Attacks Were a Hoax
By Albert McKeon
The Nashua (NH) Telegraph via Truthout
Aug 25, 2006
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082506B.shtml

A Republican candidate for this area's congressional seat said Wednesday
that the U.S. government was complicit in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks.

In an editorial board interview with The Telegraph on Wednesday, the
candidate, Mary Maxwell, said the U.S. government had a role in killing
nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, so it could
make Americans hate Arabs and allow the military to bomb Muslim nations
such as Iraq.

Maxwell, 59, seeks the 2nd District congressional seat. The Concord
resident opposes the incumbent, Charles Bass of Peterborough, and Berlin
Mayor Bob Danderson in the Republican primary Sept. 12.

Maxwell would not specify if she holds the opinion that the government
stood by while terrorists hijacked four domestic airliners and used them
as weapons, or if it had a larger role by sanctioning and carrying out the
attacks.

But she implicated the government by saying the Sept. 11 attacks were
meant "to soften us up ... to make us more willing to have more stringent
laws here, which are totally against the Bill of Rights ... to make us
particularly focus on Arabs and Muslims ... and those strange persons who
spend all their time creating little bombs," giving Americans a reason "to
hate them and fear them and, therefore, bomb them in Iraq for other
reasons."

She said this strategy "would be normal" for governments, citing her
belief that the British government - and not the Germany military - sank
the Lusitania ocean liner in 1915. The deaths of Americans on the cruise
liner helped galvanize U.S. support to enter World War I, and benefited
England, she said.

In turn, the Sept. 11 attacks "made the ground fertile" for more stringent
laws, such as the Patriot Act, and the creation of the Department of
Homeland Security, Maxwell said.

Near the end of the interview, Maxwell pounded her fist on the table and
asked editors of The Telegraph why they weren't publishing more stories
about the government's role in the terrorist attacks or proliferation of
nuclear weapons.

Maxwell has no political experience. She lived abroad for the past
quarter-century with her husband, George, a pediatrician, and only
recently returned to the U.S., she said.

In the hour-long interview, Maxwell spoke at length about Constitutional
law, U.S. law, nuclear weapons proliferation, and other domestic and
foreign policy issues.

Maxwell said the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq. She also questioned
whether Congress authorized the war and said its members can't explain
that 2002 vote. (Congress authorized the use of force to defend this
country's security and enforce United Nations resolutions on Iraq.)

"Legally, we shouldn't have gone to Iraq if Congress can't explain why,"
she said.

Maxwell described herself as a strict Constitutionalist, a candidate who
wants to bring the country "back to basics." The Constitution grants more
power to the legislative branch than the other two branches, but Congress
has allowed the executive and judicial branches to diminish its influence,
she said.

She also said the U.S. shouldn't immerse itself in the international
community by signing trade and security pacts. These agreements have
weakened national sovereignty, she said.


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