Progressive Calendar 08.05.07 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu) | |
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 04:31:17 -0700 (PDT) |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 08.05.07 1. Cuba/oil/film 8.06 7pm 2. Hiroshima/cranes 8.06 7:30pm 3. Maltman/novel 8.06 7:30pm 4. Intensive Arabic 8.06 5. Bridge/transit 8.07 8:30am 6. Ramstad/peace 8.07 10am 7. Venezuela/CTV 8.07 5pm 8. Bridge fall/forum 8.07 7pm 9. Impeach for peace 8.07 7pm 10. IRV/NatlNightOut 8.07 11. Sierra Leone 8.08 8am 12. Right to protest 8.08 11am 13. Circus reform 8.08 1pm 14. Whites/racism 8.08 1pm 15. Organic farm 8.08 6pm 16. Vets/vs Israel 8.08 6pm Red Wing MN 17. Ellison/war 8.08 6:30pm 18. Ramstad/war 8.08 7pm 19. Kevin & Sherman - Ellison on AIPAC trip to Israel 20. Jordan Kushner - Ellison breaks promises to go on Israel lobby trip 21. Cindy Sheehan - I'm perturbed as heck 22. Glenn Greenwald - Democrats' responsibility for Bush radicalism 23. ed - Time for something different 24. Dave Lindorff - Spying: Bush demands, Congress rolls over (good dog) 25. ed - ballpark up, bridge down (poem) 26. ed - take me out to the bridge fall (altered song) --------1 of 26-------- From: Joan Malerich <joanmdm [at] iphouse.com> Subject: Cuba/oil/film 8.06 7pm THE POWER OF COMMUNITY: HOW CUBA SURVIVED PEAK OIL Faith Morgan and Pat Murphy Produced by the Community Solution Showing: Monday, August 6, 2007 7:00 PM Rondo Community Library, 461 North Dale Street (corner of University Avenue and Dale), St. Paul Free Admission and Free Parking Metro Transit Lines: #16, #50, #64 (Transit Office: 612-373-3333) One Time showing - Film Approximately One Hour, Discussion Follows Film Sponsored by the Minnesota Cuba Committee <mncuba [at] usfamily.net "One of the most important and hopeful stories of the past few decades.Story of individual achievement and the collective mobilization of an entire society to meet and enormous challenge." Richard Heinberg, author of /The Party's Over, Powerdown When Cuba lost access to Soviet oil in the early 1990s, the country faced an immediate crisis - feeding the population - and an ongoing challenge - how to create a new low-energy society. Cuba transitioned from large, fossil fuel intensive farming to small, less energy-intensive organic farms and urban gardens, and from a highly industrial society to a more sustainable one. This film tells the story of the Cuban people's hardship, ingenuity and triumph over sudden adversity - through cooperation, conservation and community, told in their won words. As the world approaches Peak Oil, Cuba provides a valuable example of how to successfully address the challenge of reducing our energy use. The Power of Community lets the Cuban people tell their own story and at the same time counters the prejudices many Americans have toward Cuba. This is a story of dedication to independence and triumph over adversity, and one of hope for the future. It gives hope to the developed world as it wakes up to the consequences of being hooked on oil. The Power of Community shows a "different way of thinking." It documents how we must all work together for the welfare and survival of humanity. Go to http://www.energybulletin.net/13171.html for a more details about the film. http://www.energybulletin.net/13171.html more details about the film. --------2 of 26------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Hiroshima/cranes 8.06 7:30pm Monday, 8/6, Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration at Lyndale Park Peace Garden, Roseway Rd just n. of Lake Harriet. 7:30 pm ceremony of cranes/speaker/music, 8:30 pm vigil in Peace Garden. www.wilpfmn.org or 952-922-0308. --------3 of 26-------- From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> Subject: Maltman/novel 8.06 7:30pm magers and quinn thomas maltman reads from his novel the night birds 7:30 monday august 6 at magers and quinn booksellers 3038 hennepin avenue south minneapolis mn 55408 612-822-4611 www.magersandquinn.com THE NIGHT BIRDS (Soho Press; August 2007; $24.00) is the intertwining story of two generations of the Senger family, German immigrants who fled sectarian violence in Missouri to settle in the prairies of Minnesota. The story begins in 1876 when young Asa Senger's world is altered by the return of his Aunt Hazel, long thought dead, after she is released from a mental institution. She comes bearing the secrets of a past that everyone else wants to forget. Through her stories, Asa learns the truth about his family and himself. Spanning almost two decades, Hazel's story begins with the Senger family's initial flight to the Minnesota prairie, where they would soon befriend the neighboring - and now banished - Dakota Indians. This relationship would shape not only the Senger family, but the Dakota tribe as well, and play a role in the subsequent Great Sioux Uprising and mass execution of 38 Dakota Indians. Prefigured by the twin ravens Hunin and Munin - Memory and Understanding - from his dead grandfather's treasured Grimm's fairy tales, Asa soon learns that his own identity is bound up in his family's lost history. Maltman's lyrical narrative skillfully blends historical events with one family's personal struggles, creating an epic journey that readers won't soon forget. Thomas Maltman's essays, poetry, and fiction have recently been published in Georgetown Review, Great River Review, and Main Channel Voices, among other journals. He has a BA from Eastern Washington University and an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato and currently teaches creative writing and literature at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. For further information, contact: 7 David Unowsky 612/822-4611 davidu [at] magersandquinn.com -------4 of 26-------- From: Mizna <mizna-announce [at] mizna.org> Subject: Intensive Arabic 8.06 Summer Intensive Arabic begins on August 6 in Mizna's office in Minneapolis. Go here for details and registration: http://www.mizna.org/classes/index.html#intensive If you can't join this summer, fall classes are now online. http://www.mizna.org/classes/index.html# --------5 of 26-------- From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> Subject: Bridge/transit 8.07 8:30am TUE AUG 7, 8:30 AM The City of Minneapolis is convening a special meeting next week for members of the business community citywide to discuss transportation and transit issues arising from the collapse of the bridge: Tuesday, August 7, 8:30AM, Augsburg College, 2211 Riverside Avenue South, Marshall Room (located in the Christensen Center). --------6 of 26-------- From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org> Subject: Ramstad/peace 8.07 10am Third-District Peace Campaign Meeting with Congressman Jim Ramstad Tuesday, August 7, 10:00 a.m. Ridgedale Government Center, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka. Bring your orange shirt, petition forms and any "End the War" signs that you may have. Bring friends, neighbors and children. After gathering, the group will walk the one block distance across Ridgedale Drive to Ramstad's office at 1809 Plymouth Road. Ramstad will be presented with petitions to end the war, a "Dear Colleague" letter for him to send to fellow members of Congress and a large framed poster with photos of all the Minnesotans killed in the war. The meeting will be controlled with prepared questions for Ramstad to address. FFI: Call Roxanne Abbas, 763-476-7643. --------7 of 26-------- From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net> Subject: Venezuela/CTV 8.07 5pm Revered St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN 15) viewers: "Our World In Depth" cablecasts in St. Paul on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings. All households with basic cable can watch! 8/7 5pm and midnight and 8/8 10 am. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (Conclusion). Amazing documentary film shot during the 2002 coup in Venezuela. --------8 of 26-------- From: PRO826 [at] aol.com Subject: Bridge fall/forum 8.07 7pm Public Forum on the I-35W Bridge Collapse Hosted by Socialist Alternative Tuesday, August 7th 7:00pm Coffman Room 304 University of Minnesota Last week's collapse of the I-35W bridge into the Mississippi River is a tragic catastrophe for the Twin Cities. As the dust settles, many questions arise: What caused this to happen? Was it simply a random failure or is this the result of systematic under-funding of public services? What can we do to ensure disasters like this don't happen again? Come to a discussion with members of Socialist Alternative to talk about these issues and more. For more information: _mn [at] socialistalternative.org_ (mailto:mn [at] socialistalternative.org) _www.socialistminnesota.org_ (http://www.socialistminnesota.org/) FOR MORE INFORMATION on Socialist Alternative, or to find out about our local meetings and campaign activities, contact us at: mn [at] socialistalternative.org 612-760-1980 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LINKS Socialist Alternative's national website is: www.socialistalternative.org We are linked to socialists around the world through the Committee for a Workers' International: www.socialistworld.net --------9 of 26-------- From: Impeach <lists [at] impeachforpeace.org> Subject: Impeach for peace 8.07 7pm Impeach for Peace We meet Tuesdays at 7pm at Joe's Garage (Restaurant along Loring Park) 1610 Harmon Pl Minneapolis, MN 55403 (612) 904-1163 --------10 of 26-------- From: PRO826 [at] aol.com Subject: IRV/NatlNightOut 8.07 It is absolutely imperative that we have as many Green party members [and anyone else -ed] as possible come out to help with National Night Out to get IRV signatures this Monday evening. We are still short 1,500 signatures and this night promises to be one of THE best opportunities to gather signatures. Please call Beth Mercer-Taylor at 651-204-7201. She could really use your help right now. Thank you. There is no time to waste, the August 15th deadline is right around the corner and it's going to be difficult to get that many signatures in 2 weeks. Heidi Sheen 651-245-3900 -- From: "Beth Mercer-Taylor" <mercer-taylor [at] comcast.net> Subject: IRV on National Night Out - we need some help! The Better Ballot Campaign needs your help to get the word about Instant Runoff Voting out to St. Paul voters - and the petition signatures in from these voters. We are over 5,000 signatures, but we need at least 1,500 more. Next Tuesday evening, August 7, is National Night Out and there are events throughout the city of St. Paul. We need to make sure that an orange T-shirt wearing Better Ballot Campaign presence is out at events throughout the city. What events will you be at or could you plan to attend? Let me know ASAP - and tell me if there are other people I should be contacting as well. What we know about right now, in terms of larger events, is the following: Snell-Ham: Bethel Christian Fellowship, Portland and Pascal, evening North Dale and Northwest Como: North Dale, 1414 N. St. Albans, 5-8 pm. Summit University: Blair Arcade parking lot, Selby and Arundel, starts 5 pm Summit University: House of Hope Church, 797 Summit, 5:30 pm Summit University: Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, 451 Central Ave., 5 pm Mounds Park: Mounds Park Pavilion, Earl St. and Mounds Boulevard, evening Hamline Midway: J&S Bean Factory, Hamline and Thomas, evening Hamline Midway: Trotter's, Cleveland and Marshall, evening Ward 4: Griggs Recreation Center, 1188 Hubbard, evening Ward 4: Zion Lutheran Church, 1697 Lafond, evening If you know of other events, let us know! Beth Mercer-Taylor St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign for Instant Runoff Voting --------11 of 26-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Sierra Leone 8.08 8am Wednesday, 8/8, 8 am, Alexandra Owings presents "Blood Diamonds in Sierra Leone," St Martins Table, Riverside at 21st, West Bank U of M, Mpls. --------12 of 26-------- From: "Jess Sundin" <jess.sundin [at] gmail.com> Subject: Right to protest 8.08 11am There seems some sort of conspiracy over at City Hall. Several people, including myself, have tried to call and emailed several different offices today, and prior. We are trying to understand what is being done by the so-called RNC Free Speech Work Group, and where they are in the drafting of a new ordinance to require permits for public rallies (see below). We have spoken to individuals in the City Coordinator's office, the Mayor's office, and the offices of Councilmembers Gordon, Ostrow and Schiff. We believe (though there are conflicting reports) that the Free Speech Work Group will have its next meeting on Wednesday, August 8 from 11am to noon. We suspect that these meetings are CLOSED to the public, and this is why we are not getting a straight answer from most the people we speak to. It is outrageous that a committee purportedly working to protect our free speech (in particular during the 2008 Republican Convention), would be meeting in secret! Some of you haven't received all the messages that have gone around on this, over the last week or so. To catch you up... The proposed permit ordinance is alarming: among other things, it criminalizes protests without a permit (and empowers a police officer to revoke a permit during the course of a protest at their own discretion). Participating in an unpermited public rally or meeting with more than 20 people would be a MISDEMEANOR offense. This policy is unacceptable. Current city policies have no such restrictions. We need to shine a light on what this committee is doing, and stop them from passing this restrictive ordinance. This message is to alert you to what is going on. While we work to confirm these facts, please discuss with your organization how to respond. The National Lawyers Guild is sending in a letter opposing the ordinance. The Anti-War Committee and Communities United Against Police Brutality are planning to do the same. I will forward our letters when the drafts are final. I would encourage your organizations to send in letters as well. I will include helpful contact information below. If we can determine whether this meeting is really happening next week, it could be very important to have a presence there. Please pencil it in on your calendar (Wednesday 8/8 @ 11am). Again, I will send out a confirmation when I can get it, probably sometime on Monday. In solidarity, Jess Sundin Anti-War Committee 612.272.2209 (cell) PROPOSED ORDINANCE: CHAPTER 462. PUBLIC RALLIES 462.10. Purpose. The purposes of this chapter are: (a) To protect the rights of all people to the orderly freedom of expression, speech and association guaranteed by the U.S. and Minnesota Constitutions; (b) To impose reasonable time, place, duration and manner restrictions on such expression, speech and association so as to protect the public's safety and access to public buildings and spaces. 462.20. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the terms defined in this section shall have the following meanings: Business Licensing. All staff from the Business Licensing Division of Regulatory Services, all other City staff that have been assigned to coordinate on the processing and issuance of public rally permits, and all staff from other political subdivisions who are working in cooperation with City staff on the processing and issuance of public rally permits. Person. A single person, group of persons, firm, partnership, association, corporation or other entity that intends to announce, conduct or hold a public rally. Public Rally. A group activity involving 20 or more people including but not limited to a demonstration, meeting, assembly, protest, vigil, parades, solicitations or other gathering that takes place on public property for the purpose of expressing views or opinions. Public rallies do not include lawful picketing that has no affect on the flow of pedestrian or motorized traffic on sidewalks, streets and allies. 462.30. Public rally permit required. No person shall announce or hold any public rally prior to obtaining a public rally permit from Business Licensing. There shall be no charge for a public rally permit. Failure to obtain a permit prior to holding a public rally shall be a misdemeanor. 462.40. Written application and process. Business Licensing shall create a written application and procedures for the processing and filing of public rally permits and shall make those documents available to the public physically and electronically. Any person seeking a public rally permit shall submit an application to Business Licensing. The application shall inquire about the precise time, duration, anticipated number of persons and location of the public rally, and shall inquire about other information as deemed necessary by Business Licensing. The application shall clearly set forth all of the requirements that applicants must comply with in obtaining other licenses, permits, or other permissions for the proposed public rally. At any time prior to a scheduled public rally, reasonable time, place, duration and manner conditions may be place on the permit by Business Licensing, only upon written findings of the necessity of such conditions. 462.50. Time for filing and processing public rally permit applications. (a) If an application is submitted one year or more prior to when a person intends to hold a public rally, Business Licensing shall approve or deny the application within sixty (60) days of the date the application is received, or the permit shall be issued. (b) If an application is submitted at least ninety (90) days but less than one year prior to when a person intends to hold a public rally, Business Licensing shall approve or deny the application within thirty (30) days of the date the application is received, or the permit shall be issued. (c) If an application is submitted at least seven (7) days but less than ninety (90) days prior to when a person intends to hold a public rally, Business Licensing shall approve or deny the application within five (5) business days of the date the application is received, or the permit shall be issued. (d) If an application is submitted less than seven (7) days prior to when a person intends to hold a public rally, Business Licensing shall make every possible effort to approve or deny the application the same business day or within one (1) business day, but in all cases shall approve or deny the permit within two (2) business days, or the permit shall be issued. 462.60. Grounds for denying a public rally permit. Business Licensing shall approve an application and issue a public rally permit unless: (a) the conduct of the public rally will interfere with the safe and orderly movement of emergency personnel or vehicles at the proposed location; 2. the location of the proposed public rally is inconsistent with the anticipated size of the public rally; 3. the proposed public rally would conflict or interfere with a previously approved public rally or other scheduled public activity at the proposed location; 4. the proposed public rally location is adjacent to and would unduly disturb a neighborhood based on the timing or identified activity of the public rally; 5. the proposed public rally may cause physical injury to persons or substantial damage to property; 6. the application is incomplete in some substantive way that would affect the safety of the participants in the proposed public rally; 7. The applicant has not complied with the procedural requirements contained in the application; 8. The applicant has not provided a bond or insurance certificate as required by Business Licensing; 9. The proposed public rally is prohibited by law; 10. The application contains misrepresentations of any kind; 11. The applicant refuses to execute an agreement, as may be required by Business Licensing, to reimburse the public for costs incurred in repairing or restoring any public property to its conditions prior to the public rally; 12. The proposed public rally will interfere with the operations of any governmental agency; or 13. It reasonably appears that the proposed public rally will present a clear and present danger to the public safety or health, or conflicts with security needs anticipated for the time and place of the proposed public rally. Prior to denying an application for a public rally permit, Business Licensing will make every effort to assist the applicant in finding a suitable and safe location in the public domain that the proposed public rally can safely take place at. Business Licensing shall make specific written findings on all factors upon which an application for a public rally permit is denied. Business Licensing shall not make any findings or deny any application for any reason relating to the content of any proposed expression, speech, idea or other protected activity. 462.70. Appeal of denial of application for public rally permit. (a) An applicant shall appeal the denial of an application for a public rally permit within 5 business days of the denial. An appeal must be submitted on a form provided by Business Licensing. Upon receipt of an appeal of a denial of an application, the Assistant City Coordinator of Regulatory Services shall designate a three-person appellate panel to hear the appeal. Two panel members shall be Deputy Directors or Directors in Regulatory Services, and one panel member shall be a City Council member. 2. The appellate panel shall consider the appeal as soon as possible so as to allow further review by state or federal courts prior to the date of the proposed public rally. If the date of the proposed public rally is less than fourteen (14) days after the appeal was received, the appellate panel shall convene and rule within one (1) business day of the appeal. 3. The appellate panel hearing is not open to the public. At the hearing, the appellate panel may receive and consider all forms of evidence, including hearsay evidence, and may set reasonable limits on the number of witnesses that may be called by Business Licensing and by the appellant. The appellate panel may limit the hearing to one (1) hour to expedite its deliberation and ruling. The appellant may be represented by an attorney. 4. The appellate panel may reverse, affirm or modify the denial of an application for a public rally permit. Upon the conclusion of the hearing, the appellate panel shall notify Business Licensing and the appellant of when it will issue its ruling. The appellate panel shall make every effort to rule as soon as possible so as to allow further review by state or federal courts prior to the date of the proposed public rally. 462.80. Violation of permit conditions. If a person violates the conditions of any permit, the permit may be immediately revoked. It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to continue to engage in an activity for which a permit was required after the permit has been revoked, provided the person knows the permit as been revoked. 462.90. Rights granted to permit holders. Any person possessing a valid permit has the exclusive right to use the area or facility specified in the permit for the applicable time. It shall be misdemeanor for any person to refuse to leave an area or facility which has been reserved by a valid permit when asked to do so by the permit holder or by any public employee or official. 462.100. Duties of permit holders. It is the duty of the permit holder to obey all laws and conditions on the permit, clean and restore the area used for the public rally to its original condition after the public rally has concluded, and to reimburse the City for all expenses incurred by the City to repair or restore any public property damaged by the public rally. 462.80. Other provisions not affected. This chapter does not alter, replace, modify or otherwise affect any other provisions in the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances. 462.90. Insurance required. Upon written findings only, Business Licensing may require an applicant to provide proof of insurance or a bond to alleviate identified risks associated with a proposed public rally. 462.100. Intergovernmental cooperation and coordination. Business Licensing staff is directed to coordinate and cooperate with other political subdivisions, including the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, to the fullest extent possible and as authorized by Joint Powers Agreements or other legal authority on the application process, permitting process, planning, coordination and all other aspects of scheduling and providing safe and available forums for public rallies. --------13 of 26-------- From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org> Subject: Circus reform 8.08 1pm August 8: Join Circus Reform Yes! at the Public Hearing for the Animal Protection Ammendment by the Public Safety and Regulatory Services committee at City Hall at 1:00 p.m. at the Council Chambers, City Hall, downtown Minneapolis. More info. --------14 of 26-------- From: farheen [at] farheenhakeem.org Subject: Whites/racism 8.08 1pm COMMUNITY DISCUSSION AND TRAINING ON WHITE PRIVILEGE & RACISM Please join Avenues for Homeless Youth and Dr. Heather Hackman in examining white privilege, white supremacy, and whiteness and the implications they have on effective anti-racist work. During this opportunity for discussion, awareness raising and breaking down barriers, we will also be screening Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible, a documentary which features the experiences of white women and men who have worked to gain insight into what it means to challenge notions of racism and white supremacy in the United States. Wednesday, August 8, 2007 1-4pm Pi Bar 2532 South 25th Avenue Minneapolis Questions: Call Amy Snyder at (612) 522-1690, ext. 104 or Raquel (Rocki) Simões at (612) 522-1690, ext. 110 ALL ARE WELCOME. THIS IS A FREE EVENT. NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED. --------15 of 26-------- From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org> Subject: Organic farm 8.08 6pm August 8: Women's Environmental Institute Organic Farm School with Ken Meter (Crossroads Resource) Finding Food in Farm Country. 6PM- 8:00PM p.m. at Amazon Bookstore, 4755 Chicago Ave S, Minneapolis MN. --------16 of 26-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Vets/vs Israel 8.08 6pm Red Wing MN Wednesday, 8/8, 6 pm meeting followed by a 7 pm presentation by an Israeli dissident,, Red Wing Vets for Peace meets at Gary Stone's Hobgoblin Music, 929 Highway 19, Red Wing. tuvecino [at] visi.com --------17 of 26-------- From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> Subject: Ellison/war forum 8.08 6:30pm [Ellison is not a progressive, but he plays on on TV. At best a liberal. Republicans roll the capitalist steamroller over people, and walk away. Liberals don't stop the steamroller, but are there to put band aids on broken bones, and say "What a good boy am I." Go and give him hell for his $$$ for war, and his one-sided trip to Israel. -ed] Congressman Keith Ellison Presents a Town Hall Forum: PEACE & THE IRAQ WAR Congress is considering legislation to address our nation's foreign policy crisis. Reported U.S. Military deaths now total over 3630 , with over 26558 U.S. Soldiers wounded. (Source: U.S. Department of Defense 05-Jul-07) Gen. David H. Petraeus the top U.S. commander in Iraq delivers the "Initial Benchmark Assessment" progress report to Congress in September. Please join Congressman Ellison to discuss current proposals for possible troop withdrawals from Iraq. [Don't hold your breath. -ed] Wednesday, August 8th 6:30 P.M. - 9:00 P.M. CWA - Local 7200 3521 E. Lake St , Minneapolis This is a great opportunity to voice your opinion about the war, get legislative updates that affect peace, learn about legislative action to stop the war, and to further the dialogue about peace. [Too bad we don't have a rep that will keep his promises not to fund war; that we have to keep begging and begging to get him to do what most people want, and what he pledged to do. That's capitalist America for you. -ed] --------18 of 26-------- From: Karl Hanson <abelincolnfromillinois [at] yahoo.com> Subject: Ramstad/war 8.08 7pm [Ramstad is not a progressive; at best a liberal. -ed] Our Federal Representatives are coming home soon. Representative Jim Ramstad Town Hall Meeting August 8, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. City Hall Council Chambers 5341 Maywood Road, Mound For more information, please call 952-738-8200 Lets all descend on this event and make our voices heard. [Maybe if we all scream at him and his buddies, they might think about ending the war in 10 or 20 years - but only after we're kicked out, as we were in Vietnam. Representative government represents the rich; the rest of us have no voice unless we shut down this totally-broken system. -ed] {Usually talking to these bozos is about as effective as yelling down a well - and at least with the well you get a friendly responsive echo. -ed] --------19 of 26-------- Ellison to take weeklong trip to Israel, meet with Israeli, Palestinian leaders Just back from Iraq, he will return to the Middle East on a privately funded trip including 19 Congress members. By Kevin Diaz and Jake Sherman, Star Tribune http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1338153.html WASHINGTON - Rep. Keith Ellison will spend a week in Israel on a privately funded trip sponsored by the America Israel Education Federation. The AIEF - the charitable arm of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) - is sending 19 members of Congress to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Aug. 12 through Aug. 18. The group, made up mostly of freshman Democrats, has plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The senior member on the trip is House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who has gone three times. Rick Jauert, Ellison's spokesman, said that Hoyer personally invited the Minnesota Democrat. "This is not an ideologically driven trip," said Josh Block, a spokesman with AIPAC. "The trip will have a wide variety of people with diverse perceptions. They will be up early in the mornings and have dinner by 8 [p.m.] so they are done by 11 [p.m.]." Jauert called the Israel trip "a natural extension" of Ellison's visit to Iraq last weekend. "It's another opportunity to meet and talk to people, to listen and learn. Dialogue is everything to him, and the more he can have, with more people, the better." Jauert said Ellison's engagement with the Middle East peace issue is important to the diverse communities of his Minneapolis-area district - from the Jewish Community Relations Council to the patrons of the Holy Land Middle Eastern eatery on Lake Street and Central Avenue. "He hears about it every time he goes back to his district," Jauert said. The group will stay in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and one night in the northern Galilee region. While in Israel's north, the group will view its border with Lebanon. The trip to Israel is Ellison's second as a congressman. In the spring, he traveled to the region as part of a congressional delegation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Later this month, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., will lead an AIEF-sponsored trip comprised of Republicans. --------20 of 26-------- Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 13:44:54 -0600 From: Jordan S. Kushner <kushn002 [at] umn.edu> Subject: Ellison breaks promises to go on Israel lobby trip Demand that Ellison Keep his Commitment to Peace in the Middle East Keith Ellison has broken his commitment to taking an independent and balanced trip to Israel and Palestine by agreeing to participate in a Congressional delegation funded fully by an organization affiliated with AIPAC. Support from activists in the peace and justice, and Muslim communities were critical for Keith Ellison's election victory. We campaigned for him in critical part because he promised to work for a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. In numerous meetings before and after the election, Ellison promised that he would be travelling to Israel and Palestine after elected, and that it would be a balanced trip where he would meet independently with people supporting the Israeli government, representatives of the Palestinian community and gernuine Jewish Peace activists. Ellison responded with understanding to concerns about the typical pattern of congress people taking trips that are paid for and organized by the Israeli lobby in order to make sure that elected representatives are only exposed to the rightwing Israeli point of view. Now Ellison has abandoned his commitment and announced that this month, he will be part of a trip funded by the American Israel Education fund, an "charitable" organization affiliated with AIPAC. Please call Ellison at (612) 522-1212, and demand that he decline to participate in the AIPAC trip, and instead plan an independent trip devoted to meeting with grassroots activists working for peace and justice. The Coalition for Palestinian Rights (CPR) www.coalitionforpalestinianrights.wordpress.com Coalition_for_Palestinian_Rights [at] yahoo.com --------21 of 26-------- I'm Perturbed As Heck by Cindy Sheehan Published on Sunday, August 5, 2007 by CommonDreams.org "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" "I'm human, goddamnit, and my life counts!" Howard Beale, Network 1971 In Paddy Chaefsky's brilliant movie, Network, news anchor, Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch who was awarded an Oscar posthumously for his remarkable performance) screams out: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," and then we see people all over the city leaning out their windows, screaming the same refrain. In 1971, when the movie was made, our country was still deeply mired in Vietnam and we were under the creepy thumb of the criminal and deadly, Nixon regime. It's a good thing that in 1974 our country had some courageous Congress Reps who were willing to stand up to the machine and begin impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon which included three articles: Article 1: Obstruction of Justice (Bush: Outing Valerie Plame and commuting Scooter Libby.s sentence, etc); Article II: Abuse of Power (Bush: signing statements, suspending Habeas Corpus, Patriot Act, violating the crap out of FISA, Military Commission.s Act, etc), Article III: Contempt of Congress (Bush: not allowing any of his aides to testify and ignoring subpoenas, etc). The full House committee unfortunately rejected an Article that was introduced to impeach Nixon for the illegal secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos. It's also amazing that the past Congress passed some important legislation while a committee was investigating the impeachment of the Tricky Dick (we now have a Trickier Dick!) As my friend, and member of that committee, former New York rep, Liz Holtzman, often says; "Congress can chew gum and walk at the same time". The present leadership of the House does not have similar confidence in Congress' ability to do its Constitutionally mandated job, perhaps because they are too busy handing over to BushCo more of our freedoms. Maybe we are expecting too much, it is conceivable that Congress cannot chew gum, walk AND simultaneously abdicate its responsibility to be a check and balance on this tyrannical Bush regime. With the Speaker of the House wanting to "work with" BushCo to systematically excise our freedoms, and Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid blaming the latest power-give away on the Republicans, when 16 Senate Democrats shockingly voted "yea" one wonders when America is going to get "mad as hell". Right now I think our mantra is: "I'm perturbed as heck and I am going to take it as long as they dish it". Sitting behind a computer and blasting off "angry" emails to your reps is not good enough: Even if you include some "f" words. Hiding behind your job and bills and not hitting the streets in massive numbers just gives Congress Inc and BushCo tacit approval to run our ship of state further up onto the rocks. We are getting the country and world that we deserve. One day, in fact it was August 3, 2005, I was making my laptop fairly smoke with righteous indignation and white-hot anger at the horrible and needless deaths of 14 more Marines from the Ohio Reserves. I had been out all over the country working my tookas off for change, but feeling like I was getting nowhere, even though, everywhere I went my fellow Americans were just as pissed as I was. A hopeless feeling of helplessness practically immobilized us all. While I was typing an email that day expressing all of these thoughts, I had a brainstorm: To go down to Crawford, TX after the VFP convention in Dallas to confront George about his manipulative "noble cause". On August 6th, we marched down Prairie Chapel Road and into a veritable doodoo-storm of media attention. I think around about the 5th day, a photographer finally agreed with me that it was a "media circus," and most of us are familiar with the Camp Casey story. One thing we learned that summer was attention does not mandate policy adjustment. Although much has changed in the USA: public opinion of George and his war of choice for profit have tanked and Congress changed in November .06, everything else has gotten worse. Besides the obvious loss of our freedoms, BushCo in tandem with Congress Inc, has increased worldwide Islamic Jihadism and fueled intense hatred of US corporate imperialism. The dead and mutilated bodies keep piling up in Iraq and the flag-draped coffins are surging home under the mainstream media's radar. The people of Baghdad have gone without water for days now and anyone of us can go to any faucet in our homes and pour ourselves a glass of safe water. The Iraqis are human, goddamnit, and their lives count, too! By our inaction, we form a union of callousness and violence with our federal employees. 535 members of Congress are about to go on undeserved vacations while our troops and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering under the most direst of circumstances and BushCo are poised to invade Iran and we all know Gonzo may have to resign and George will use the sleazy recess appointment process to foist another criminal on us. Congress and BushCo have dismal approval ratings, but what does that say about "We the People?" It says that in our Representative Republic, "We" have no say. That's because many of us believe that our responsibilities in that Representative Republic are fulfilled in the voting booth. If we don't stand up to the people whom we employ and pay and make sure our votes count literally and for what we stand for, then we are doomed to being ruled by the ruthless elite who get their legislative orders from the special interests. As Congressman John Conyers wrote over a year ago in his fabulous treatise on the crimes of BushCo called, Constitution in Crisis, "We have seen so many transgressions by this Administration that it is easy to forget last week's scandal amid this week's new outrage. I am hopeful that compiling all of these events of the last few years will help wake all of us up to the gravity of these matters and the cumulative damage to our country". Wake up America - the situation is indeed grave and we have three branches of government (and a complicit "fourth estate") that are committed to politics and profits before people. Nothing is going to change until we put people before the politics of profit or the profit of politics. www.CindyforCongress.org --------22 of 26-------- Democrats' Responsibility for Bush Radicalism by Glenn Greenwald Published on Saturday, August 4, 2007 by Salon.com It is staggering, and truly disgusting, that even in August, 2007 - almost six years removed from the 9/11 attacks and with the Bush presidency cemented as one of the weakest and most despised in American history - that George W Bush can "demand" that the Congress jump and re-write legislation at his will, vesting in him still greater surveillance power, by warning them, based solely on his say-so, that if they fail to comply with his demands, the next Terrorist attack will be their fault. And they jump and scamper and comply (Meteor Blades has the list of the 16 Senate Democrats voting in favor; the House will soon follow). I just finished a discussion panel with ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero which was originally planned to examine his new (superb) book about the work his organization has done for years in battling the endless expansion of executive power and presidential lawbreaking. But the only issue anyone in the room really wanted to discuss - including us - was the outrage unfolding on Capitol Hill. And the anger was almost universally directed where it belongs: on Congressional Democrats, who increasingly bear more and more responsibility for the assaults on our constitutional liberties and unparalleled abuses of government power - many (probably most) of which, it should always be emphasized, remain concealed rather than disclosed. Examine virtually every Bush scandal and it increasingly bears the mark not merely of Democratic capitulation, but Democratic participation. In August of 2006, the Supreme Court finally asserted the first real limit on Bush's radical executive power theories in Hamdan, only for Congress, months later, to completely eviscerate those minimal limits - and then go far beyond - by enacting the grotesque Military Commissions Act with the support of substantial numbers of Democrats. What began as a covert and illegal Bush interrogation and detention program became the officially sanctioned, bipartisan policy of the United States. Grave dangers are posed to our basic constitutional safeguards by the replacement of Sandra Day O.Connor with Sam Alito, whose elevation to the Supreme Court Congressional Democrats chose to permit. Vast abuses and criminality in surveillance remain undisclosed, uninvestigated and unimpeded because Congressional Democrats have stood meekly by while the administration refuses to disclose what it has been doing in how it spies on us. And we remain in Iraq, in direct defiance of the will of the vast majority of the country, because the Democratic Beltway establishment lacks both the courage and the desire to compel an end to that war. And now Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, with revealing symbolism, cancel their scheduled appearances this morning at Yearly Kos because George Bush ordered them to remain in Washington in order to re-write and expand FISA - a law which he has repeatedly refused to allow to be revised for years and which he has openly and proudly violated. Congressional Democrats know virtually nothing about how the Bush administration has been eavesdropping on our conversations because the administration refused to tell them and they passively accepted this state of affairs. The intense rush to amend this legislation means that most of them have no idea what they are actually enacting - even less of an idea than they typically have. But what they know is that George Bush and Fox News and the Beltway establishment have told them that they would be irresponsible and weak and unserious if they failed to comply with George Bush's instructions, and hence, they comply. In the American political landscape, there have been profound changes in public opinion since September of 2001. But in the Beltway, among our political and media establishment, virtually nothing has changed. I don't have time this morning to dissect the various excesses and dangers of the new FISA amendments, though Marty Lederman and Steve Benen both do a typically thorough job in that regard. Suffice to say, craven fear, as usual, is the author of this debacle. There are many mythologies about what are the defining beliefs and motivations of bloggers and their readers and the attendees at Yearly Kos. One of the principal myths is that it is all driven by a familiar and easily defined ideological agenda and/or a partisan attachment to the Democratic Party. That is all false. The common, defining political principle here - what resonates far more powerfully than any other idea - is a fervent and passionate belief in our country's constitutional framework, the core liberties it secures, and the checks and balances it offers as a safeguard against tyrannical power. Those who fail to defend that framework, or worse, those who are passively or actively complicit in its further erosion, are all equally culpable. With each day that passes, the radicalism and extremism originally spawned in secret by the Bush presidency becomes less and less his fault and more and more the fault of those who - having discovered what they have been doing and having been given the power to stop it - instead acquiesce to it and, worse, enable and endorse it. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. --------23 of 26-------- Time for something different ed In the 50s and 60s and 70s, the Dem party was stronger and more courageous than today. It had some outspoken and principled leaders. Though the DP often caved in to corporations and the rich, it didn't *always* do so, and sometimes it was actively on the side of the people. Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s that came to an end; the "party of the people" was replaced by the "party of the rich branch 2". Today the people, the majority, get nothing zero zip nada from the federal government, and less and less (almost nothing) from state and city government. The sinking of the DP from "sometimes effective" to "you want what??!!" has not yet sunk into the minds and actions of most Dems and many Greens. They imagine they are being "pragmatic" and "mature" by voting, way to their right, for lesser-evil Dems. Well, it NO LONGER WORKS. It is no longer pragmatic or mature or rational etc to vote for a party that NEVER gives you anything but crumbs, and fewer of them every day. Neither corporate party will do anything for us, and a lot against us. There has to be an appropriate negative word for this behavior - pick your own. This means that the majority, those who want things the DP won't give, need to DO SOMETHING ELSE, on a LARGE SCALE, and SOON. -ed --------24 of 26-------- Sad Day? How About a Sad Six and a Half Years? Spy Power: Bush Demands, Congress Delivers -- Again and Again and Again By DAVE LINDORFF August 4 / 5, 2007 CounterPunch What was Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) thinking when he told Senate colleagues it was a "sad day" when that body started taking its marching orders from an outsider (the president and the director of national security), in passing a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that gives the president a free hand to spy on communications of Americans without a judicial review? Is he implying that this is the first time the Senate has done this? Isn't that exactly what the Senate (and the House) did when they passed the so-called USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001? Isn't that what they did in overturning the Posse Comitatus Act and in altering the Insurrection Act last fall? Isn't it what they did in approving the Military Commissions Act last year, which retroactively okayed the use of torture on captives? The truth is that the Senate and House have both become little more than rubber stamps for Administration power grabs ever since 9-11. Indeed, since that date, the members of Congress have been willing sell-outs of their own institution, which today bears no resemblance to what the Founders described in Article I of the Constitution--a document which the members have effectively destroyed. For the past six-and-a-half years we have watched as a group of political midgets have destroyed what hundreds of thousands of our ancestors put their lives on the line to create and defend--a government system that was founded on the concept of individual rights and liberties, and that was structured to limit the power of the executive. Much has been made of a conversation at the White House a few years ago, in which Bush is reported to have told a few Republican members of the House that the Constitution is "just a goddamned piece of paper." In fact, that is what the members of Congress have also decided by their actions--and by their continued inaction. Prior to 2006, it was primarily the Republicans in Congress who were trashing the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the concept of separation of powers, though with significant Democratic backing. Now, it is the Democrats who are the wrecking crew. Make no mistake: the Democrats did not have to pass this latest piece of legislation, loosing the NSA spies on us all. They had the power to kill that bill in its tracks. Instead, they succumbed to the President's empty threat to label them all "soft on terror" if they didn't give him what he wanted: a blank check. They caved, just as they did when they had the power to end the war in Iraq last April by cutting off funding for it, and instead, voted to fund it in full. The Democrats in this Congress are a bunch of spineless cowards and willing enablers, and they now bear the chief responsibility for establishing the elements of an American police state. For that is clearly where this nation is headed. There was no need to give the president new warrantless surveillance powers. Would be terrorists are already fully aware of the government's spying capabilities and certainly are being cautious in their use of phones and email to communicate. Moreover, the secret FISA court has demonstrated that it is most accommodating of spying requests, having only rejected one such request from the President and National Security Agency in the past two years. It is obvious then that what the president is seeking is expanded power to spy on Americans. And incredibly, despite his 27-percent support rating in the polls, and despite widespread public fears of this kind of government snooping, he is getting it. Sen. Feingold has been one of the staunchest defenders of the Constitution, voting against the USA Patriot Act and against the invasion of Iraq, but he is wrong to imply that before Friday's betrayal of that document, the Senate was acting as an independent body. Both the Senate and the House ceased playing their constitutional role and became rubber stamps a long time ago. Instead of empty rhetoric, Sen. Feingold needs to take action and mount a filibuster against this shameful and dangerous bill, so that when it comes back for a final vote after being reconciled with whatever comes out of the House, it is killed. Dave Lindorff's latest book is The Case for Impeachment. He can be reached at: dlindorff [at] mindspring.com --------25 of 26-------- ballpark up, bridge down hit a fly, or fall and die ballpark up, bridge down --------26 of 26-------- take me out to the bridge fall take me out to the crowd buy me some peanuts and cracker jack I don't care if I never get back (never get back (never get back)) it's root root root in the debris hear them all talk with their gall and it's one two three strikes you're out at the old bridge fall ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - David Shove shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu rhymes with clove Progressive Calendar over 2225 subscribers as of 12.19.02 please send all messages in plain text no attachments To GO DIRECTLY to an item, eg --------8 of x-------- do a find on --8 impeach bush & cheney impeach bush & cheney impeach bush & cheney impeach bush & cheney
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