Progressive Calendar 10.16.07 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu) | |
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:51:10 -0700 (PDT) |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 10.16.07 1. Migration/Europe 10.16 2:30pm 2. Soup/world hunger 10.16 4:30pm 3. Protest WalMart 10.16 4:30pm 4. Iran/US/CTV 10.16 5pm 5. Environment/RIP 10.16 5:30pm 6. Kids health vigil 10.16 7pm 7. Maya Angelou 10.16 7pm 8. CD training 10.16 7pm 9. Rendition/film 10.16 7:30pm 10. Nonprofit ethics 10.16 11. VernonBellecourt 10.16 12. Broadband 10.17 8:30am 13. Racism/KFAI 10.17 11am 14. Kolstad CD sale 10.17 4pm 15. Bush war lies 10.17 7pm 16. Maquilapolis/f 10.17 7pm 17. NWN4P New Hope 10.18 4:30pm 18. Eagan vigil 10.18 4:30pm 19. Northtown vigil 10.18 5pm 20. Govt info access 10.18 5pm 21. Home energy 10.18 6pm 22. FairVote party 10.18 6pm 23. Impeach/pro/con 10.18 7pm 24. Amnesty Intl 10.18 7:15pm 25. Joan Malerich - Anti-imperialism groups 26. Michael Cavlan - On Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize and Academy Award 27. Joshua Frank - Nobel Gore? A prime time hypocrite 28. Cindy Sheehan - Leadership void 29. Gary Younge - The land of optimism is in the dumps --------1 of 29-------- From: Stephen Feinstein <feins001 [at] umn.edu> Subject: Migration/Europe 10.16 2:30pm Topic: "Contemporary Migration Politics in Europe" Speaker: Anja Rudiger Former Executive Coordinator, UK Secretariat, European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), London Tuesday, October 16, 2007 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM 115 Blegen Hall 269 19th Avenue S., Minneapolis Free and open to students, faculty, and the public. --------2 of 29-------- From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com> From: "Christi Anderson" <canderson [at] neighb.org> Subject: Soup/world hunger 10.16 4:30pm We will have soups from around the world!! Just to tempt you're appetite here are just a few Acorn squash and Apple, Columbian, Chicken and Matzo Ball, 15 Bean and Ham, Vegetarian Lentil, Chili, Spicy African Peanut and Beef Minestrone. Hope you can join us for the soup supper to benefit the food shelf. Call if you have any questions 651-789-2503 Christi Anderson World Hunger Day Soup Supper To Benefit the Neighborhood House Food Shelf Join us for good soup and conversation as we fight hunger on World Hunger Day Tuesday October 16 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. Menu: Soup, bread, bars, and coffee Cost: Suggested donation of $5 to $10 Neighborhood House is serving an average of 30 families every day. We're giving out more than 1,400 pounds of food a day! To RSVP or for questions, contact Christi Anderson at 651-789-2503 or Canderson [at] neighb.org Neighborhood House 179 Robie Street East Saint Paul MN 55107 www.neighb.org --------3 of 29-------- From: Andy Hamerlinck <andy [at] macgrove.org> Subject: Protest WalMart 10.16 4:30pm Local Activists to Warn Shoppers of "the Ultimate Joint Venture" between Wal-Mart and China WakeUpWalMart.com Members in St.Paul, MN and Across the Country Draw Attention to Dangerous Products Pulled from Wal-Mart shelves New National Television Ad Asks Why Wal-Mart Chooses to Protect its Chinese Suppliers, Not its Customers St. Paul, MN - This week, community activists and members of WakeUpWalMart.com, America's campaign to change Wal-Mart, will gather outside of the Wal-Mart store at 1450 University Ave W, to alert shoppers to the dangerous relationship between Wal-Mart and China that puts families, children and pets at risk. Wal-Mart is the number one importer of Chinese goods, and the country's sixth largest trading partner, surpassing even Germany and Britain. More than 70 percent of goods on Wal-Mart's shelves come from China. WakeUpWalMart.com members will arm Wal-Mart shoppers with a list of more than 20 products the store sold that were so dangerous they had to be pulled from some Wal-Mart shelves. Also this week, WakeUpWalMart.com will release a national television ad that warns of the "growing influx of foods and produce from China, sold at Wal-Mart." The ad questions why Wal-Mart chose to put suppliers ahead of consumers when it lobbied against laws requiring new disclosure of where food comes from. What: The Ultimate Joint Venture Where: Midway Wal-Mart at 1450 University Ave W When: 4:30pm on Tuesday, Oct. 16 , 2007 CONTACT: Meghan Scott (202) 721-8014, National Contact Bernie Hesse (651) 216-3827, Local Contact --------4 of 29-------- From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net> Subject: Iran/US/CTV 10.16 5pm 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! 10/16 5pm and midnight and 10/17 10am "Iran and the US: Myths and Reality" Interview of Nasrin Jewell, Iranian born professor at the College of St. Catherine. Co-hosted by Karen Redleaf and Eric Angell. (a repeat of last week's show) --------5 of 29-------- From: Tim Erickson <tim [at] e-democracy.org> Subject: Environment/RIP 10.16 5:30pm A friendly reminder about our three upcoming events: Policy and a Pint: The Death of Environmentalism, the Policy Analysis Conference and the Citizens League Annual Meeting: Policy Happens Here! Please note: We expect next week's Policy and a Pint to sell out - and we are already nearing capacity. Sign up now to guarantee yourself a spot! (And check out reviews of the book we'll be discussing, Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, from Wired Magazine, Grist, The New Republic and the New York Review of Books.) Policy and a Pint: The Death of Environmentalism Tuesday, October 16 Doors at 5:30 p.m., program at 6:00 p.m. Varsity Theater, 1308 4th Street SE, Minneapolis $10, $5 for students with valid ID Appetizers from the Loring Pasta Bar included Join the Citizens League and 89.3 The Current for our next Policy and a Pint, featuring Michael Shellenberger, co-author of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility. Shellenberger and co-author Ted Nordhaus stirred up controversy a few years ago when they released an essay called "The Death of Environmentalism." They argue that the old ways of talking about pollution and acid rain won't change how people go about their lives, and that "environmentalism" has to die in order for real change to happen - that we need to come up with new models that take into account economics, job creation and people's quality of life. --------6 of 29-------- From: Leah Olm <minnesota5 [at] iraqsummer.org> Subject: Kids health vigil 10.16 7pm SCHIP VIGIL AT BACHMANN'S OFFICE- TUESDAY! LIGHTING THE WAY FOR REPRESENTATIVE BACHMANN TO STAND UP FOR HEALTHCARE FOR KIDS President Bush vetoed expanded health insurance coverage for our nation's children. Will Representative Bachmann stand with Bush? Or stand with our children? Join us for a candlelight vigil! Tuesday, October 16th at 7:00 PM at Michele Bachmann's Woodbury Office Just off of I-94 6043 Hudson Road, Suite 330 Woodbury, MN 55125 Everyone is encouraged to attend, children included. For more information, go to: http://volunteerforchange.org/e/1102?refcode=o572 or call Iraq Campaign at (612) 465-8803 --------7 of 29-------- From: Stephen Feinstein <feins001 [at] umn.edu> Subject: Maya Angelou 10.16 7pm Temple Israel, 24th and Hennepin, Minneapolis announces Dr. Maya Angelou as Speaker on Tuesday evening October 16 at 7:00 PM. $36.00 Reserved seats all sold on first come first sold basis Other seats sold out. Dr. Maya Angelou is a remarkable Renaissance woman who is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature. As a poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, she continues to travel the world, spreading her legendary wisdom. Within the rhythm of her poetry and elegance of her prose lies Angelou's unique power to help readers of every orientation span the lines of race and Angelou captivates audiences through the vigor and sheer beauty of her words and lyrics. Contact for purchase of tickets:: Temple Israel Organizing Committee maxfallek [at] aol.com --------8 of 29-------- From: Meredith Aby <awcmere [at] gmail.com> Subject: CD training 10.16 7pm Civil Disobedience Training TUES 10/16 @ 7pm @ May Day Books (301 Cedar Ave, Mpls) Interested in ending the war? Want to learn to use civil disobedience to take a stand? Come learn how to use this tactic in an upcoming demonstration. --------9 of 29-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Rendition/film 10.16 7:30pm Tuesday, 10/16, 7:30 pm, free sneak preview of film "Rendition" wherein an American wife investigates her Egyptian-born husband's disappearance and unorthodox interrogation, Oak St Cinema, 309 Oak St SE, Mpls. http://www.mnfilmarts.org --------10 of 29-------- From: Tim Erickson <tim [at] e-democracy.org> Subject: Nonprofit ethics 10.16 I just heard about a series of free workshops in nonprofit leadership offered by Hamline University and the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. Registration is required but there's no fee. Word following the first on Tuesday is that it was excellent. More info: http://gmcc.org/Compassionworkshops.htm Here are some of the sessions coming up: Oct 16 - Nonprofit ethics Oct 23 - Human resources performance appraisals Oct 30 - Marketing & communications Nov 6 - Nonprofit accountability & transparency Nov 13 - Strategic planning for board & management Nov 20 - Conflict resolution Nov 27 - Nonprofit fundraising: research methods Dec 4 - Grant writing --------11 of 29-------- From: Chris Spotted Eagle <chris [at] spottedeagle.org> Subject: Vernon Bellecourt Vernon Bellecourt (WaBun-Inini) passed over into the spirit world earlier today, October 13, 2007. Minneapolis, Minnesota surrounded by his friends and family. Vernon Bellecourt (WaBun-Inini) Anishinabe/Ojibwe Nation 1931 - 2007 Vernon was a principal spokesman for the American Indian Movement and a leader in actions ranging from the 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington to the 1992 Redskin Superbowl demonstrations. He Co-founded and was the first Executive Director of the Denver AIM Chapter. His involvement at Wounded Knee in 1973 led to a Federal indictment. He was a special representative of the International Indian Treaty Council and helped organize the first Treaty Conference in 1974. He was jailed for throwing his blood on the Guatemalan Embassy to protest the killing of 100,000 Indians. He was elected to a 4-year term in his White Earth tribal government and developed a model program for the spiritual education of Indian prisoners. Vernon was President of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports & Media and recipient of the City of Phoenix, Martin Luther King Human Rights Award 1993 Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Wake Circle of Life School, White Earth Reservation, MN Wednesday Morning, October 17, 2007 - Burial White Earth Reservation, MN Vernon had no medical insurance plan and the Bellecourt family is collecting donations to help pay for medical and burial costs. Donations and cards can be sent to: Clyde Bellecourt 3953 14th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 --------12 of 29-------- From: mary treacy <mtreacy [at] onvoymail.com> Subject: Broadband 10.17 8:30am Blandin Broadband is sponsoring a a series of webinars of possible interest. "Community Broadband: Making the Right Choices." Sessions include Global Trends in Broadband (Oct 3), The Economic Impacts of Broadband & Technology (Oct 17) and Web 2.0 applications (Oct 31). All 8:30-9:30 a.m. Free and open. Take one or all three. Join the webinar at https://umconnect.umn.edu/blandinwebinar. Conf call dial 866 316 1519 passcode 14223904. Register by sending a note to dpfeifer [at] minnesotaruralpartners.org. --------13 of 29-------- From: Andy Driscoll <andy [at] driscollgroup.com> Subject: Racism/KFAI 10.17 11am OCTOBER 17: Truth to Tell discusses Racism, Resegregation, and Remedies in Education Studies and statistics show urban core schools more segregated than ever. This was not the plan back in 1960s, 70s, and 80s when court ruling and policymakers combined to invoke the means to bring white kids and students of color into the same educational settings. Why haven't they come together? What dynamics are at play in the palpably re-segregated systems of the Twin Metro Area? The answer is that there is no one answer - and no one remedy. Many good people bring wide-ranging perspectives to the discussion about what to do to improve achievement and reduce the social isolation that comes from segregated housing patterns and schools. Truth to Tell's Andy Driscoll and new co-host, Lynnell Mickelsen will ask proponents of four perspectives. GUESTS: * MYRON ORFIELD - Director, Institute on Race and Poverty, UofM Law School * CARLA BATES education activist and member of the MPS District Parents Advisory Committee * HASHI ABDI Somali Action Alliance * NADYA PARKER, Executive Director, Urban Teacher Program, Metropolitan State University --------14 of 29-------- From: PRO826 [at] aol.com To: discuss [at] mngreens.org Subject: Kolstad CD sale 10.17 4pm At Mill City Music we now have a retail section open for selling CDs and some books. We are open Wed - Thurs 4- 6 and Saturday 11 to 2 (although we'll probably be here later than 2). I've got over a thousand CDs that I'm selling for $1.00 and many hundreds that I am selling $2 to $9, plus we have our regular inventory that we sell at list price. Every kind of music you can imagine. Located at 3820 East lake Street [8 Blocks West of the Lake Street Bridge], Minneapolis. Drop by some time. John Kolstad --------15 of 29-------- From: Polly Jo Peterson <peter089 [at] umn.edu> Subject: Bush war lies 10.17 7pm THE CASE FOR WAR - WAS IT FRAUDULENT? THE UNITED STATES v. GEORGE W. BUSH et al. First Unitarian Society, 900 Mount Curve Ave, Minneapolis Wednesday, October 17 at 7:00 P.M. Free admission Dinner at 5:45 with a suggested donation of $7 for adults. Please RSVP if you are coming to dinner to madeline-mpls [at] msn.com or 952-854-2976 (leave a message). No matter what our political affiliation or stand on the war happens to be, our government officials must be held accountable for upholding their oath of office. The task often boils down to the people having to pressure Congress to perform their oversight job. Based on Elizabeth de la Vega's book, six readers present the evidence for an indictment of top government officials charging they tricked the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspired to defraud the United States. While the grand jury is hypothetical, the facts presented here are real. They were compiled by a former federal prosecuting attorney of 20 years, Elizabeth de la Vega. Having prepared for hundreds of grand juries like this one, she devoted two years meticulously sifting through mountains of facts, and throwing out any evidence that was not corroborated by two or more reliable sources. All the facts and circumstances in this reading can be found in her book, U.S. v. George W. Bush et al. Learn the staggering scope and depth of the alleged crime; when it started, how it evolved, and the people involved. Then decide if there's enough evidence to indict. --------16 of 29-------- From: dgr [at] umn.edu Subject: Maquilapolis/film 10.17 7pm Don't miss the next film in the 2007-2008 Labor & Community Film Series: Maquilapolis (city of factories). Wednesday, October 17th 7 PM Waite House Community Center 2529 13th Ave S. in Minneapolis A film by Vicky Funari & Sergio De La Toree (2006) 68 minutes. Bilingual in Spanish and English. Free and open to all. For more information on the film series, visit www.workdayminnesota.org or www.laboreducation.org or call 612-626-2034. Sponsored by the University of MN Labor Education Service & Waite House Community Center. Carmen works the graveyard shift in one of Tijuana's maquiladoras, the multinationally-owned factories that came to Mexico for its cheap labor. After making television components all night, Carmen comes home to a shack she built out of recycled garage doors, in a neighborhood with no sewage lines or electricity. She suffers from kidney damage and lead poisoning from her years of exposure to toxic chemicals. She earns six dollars a day. But Carmen is not a victim. She is a dynamic young woman, busy making a life for herself and her children. To create MAQUILAPOLIS, the filmmakers brought together Carmen and other factory workers in Tijuana with community organizations in Mexico and the U.S. to collaborate on a film that depicts globalization through the eyes of the women who live on its leading edge. This process merges artmakingwith community development to ensure that the film's voice will be truly that of its subjects. --------17 of 29-------- From: Carole Rydberg <carydberg [at] comcast.net> Subject: NWN4P New Hope 10.18 4:30pm NWN4P-New Hope demonstration every Thursday 4:30 to 6 PM at the corner of Winnetka and 42nd. You may park near Walgreens or in the larger lot near McDonalds; we will be on all four corners. Bring your own or use our signs. --------18 of 29-------- From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org> Subject: Eagan peace vigil 10.18 4:30pm CANDLELIGHT PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest corner of Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs and candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends south of the river speaking out against war. --------19 of 29-------- From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com Subject: Northtown vigil 10.18 5pm NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil every Thursday 5-6pm, at the intersection of Co. Hwy 10 and University Ave NE (SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine. Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View, New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park, Fridley, and Coon Rapids. We'll have extra signs. For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com. --------20 of 29-------- From: mary treacy <mtreacy [at] onvoymail.com> Subject: Govt info access 10.18 5pm Access to accurate, timely and reliable government information is the very essence of a democracy -- more honored in the breach than in the observance.... Anyone interested in the right to know and transparency in state government is welcome to participate in this unique discussion of a topic that too often slips between the proverbial cracks: Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie Management of Minnesota's Renewable Asset Thursday, October 18, 2007 5-7pm. Secretary of State's office, Retirement Systems of Minnesota Building 60 Empire Drive, St Paul, MN Recent events underscore that state and local government transparency is both essential and threatened. Government views information as a powerful resource to assure an informed democracy - or as a commodity to be shielded, sold, available only to the privileged. Ubiquitous dependence on the internet coupled with data storage and telecommunications options, presents unprecedented challenges for thoughtful policy development, integrated planning and citizen participation in the process. As Minnesotaâ's Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie is in the middle of it all. Sponsored by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MnCOGI), Telecommunications and Information Policy Roundtable (TIPR) Minnesota Chapter, American Society of Information Science & Technology (ASIST) Minnesota Independent Scholars' Forum --------21 of 29-------- From: AmiVoeltz DoItGreen <mngreenguide [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Home energy 10.18 6pm free community workshops FREE Do It Green! Workshop Series Visit doitgreen.org or call 612-345-7973 for workshop updates and to RSVP. OCT./NOV. Home Energy Conservation Learn ways to reduce your home energy costs and contribution to global warming. Walk-through an energy audit of a home, learn tips on insulation, alternative energy and take home a fluorescent bulb! Thurs, Oct 18th 6-8pm West 7th Community Center (in class workshop) 265 Oneida St, St Paul --------22 of 29-------- From: BethMarie Ward <bethmarieward [at] comcast.net> Subject: FairVote party 10.18 6pm FairVote Biennial Fall Election Party Fundraiser Thursday, October 18, 2007 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm Home of Brian Melendez, 1777 Dupont Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55403 Suggested donation: $25, $50, $100, $250 Questions Contact: FairVote MN, 763-807-2550 or info [at] fairvotemn.org Description: Join us for an evening of delicious food, wine and conversation, featuring Jon Pratt from the MN Council of Non-Profits to speak about The Future of Elections. This is a multi-partisan event. Join friends and supporters of Instant Runoff Voting who share the common desire for Better Democracy in Minnesota! --------23 of 29-------- From: Joe Schwartzberg <schwa004 [at] umn.edu> Subject: Impeach/pro/con 10.18 7pm THIRD THURSDAY GLOBAL ISSUES FORUM Free and open to the public. Thursday, October 18, 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis (at Lyndale & Hennepin) Park in church l TO IMPEACH, OR NOT TO IMPEACH? Article II, Section 4 of the federal Constitution states that civil officers of the US may be impeached for commission of "Treason, Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." Determining whether sufficient grounds exist for impeachment is the prerogative of the House of Representatives, while the actual trial subsequent to impeachment is entrusted to the Senate. Relevant questions relate to whether the alleged criminal actions were knowingly and deliberately committed and the political judgment as to whether impeachment - or the failure to impeach -- will serve the best interests of the nation. Presenters: TIM PENNY and MIKAEL RUDOLPH. Arguing for impeachment will be Mikael Rudolph, founder of the Minneapolis Chapter of The World Can't Wait and co-founder of Impeach for Peace. Mr. Rudolph served on the impeachment panel at the 2006 Veterans for Peace convention in Seattle and spoke for impeachment at the DFL 5th Congressional District meeting in Minneapolis, subsequent to which Keith Ellison cosigned the Kucinich impeachment resolution in the US House of Representatives. Opposing impeachment will be Tim Penny, a senior fellow and co-Director of the Humphrey Institute Policy Forum. After representing Minnesota's First Congressional District from 1982 to 1994, Mr. Penny served on the transition team of Governor Jesse Ventura and, in 2002 was himself the Independence Party candidate for governor of Minnesota. Author of three books, including The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics (1998), Mr. Penny is a regular public speaker, radio commentator, and editorial writer on topics of political importance at both the federal and state level. --------24 of 29-------- From: Gabe Ormsby <gabeo [at] bitstream.net> Subject: Amnesty Intl 10.18 7:15pm AIUSA Group 315 (Wayzata area) meets Thursday, October 18th, at 7:15 p.m. St. Luke Presbyterian Church, 3121 Groveland School Road, Wayzata (near the intersection of Rt. 101 and Minnetonka Blvd). For further information, contact Richard Bopp at Richard_C_Bopp [at] NatureWorksLLC.com. --------25 of 29-------- Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:21:29 -0500 From: Joan Malerich <joanmdm [at] iphouse.com> Subject: Anti-Imperialism Groups Re:YOUTH ANTI-IMPERIALISM GROUP Ages 16-23--some exceptions possible Tentative Start Date Sunday, October 28, 2007 Each session will meet one night a week for eight weeks. Those interested need only commit to the first eight weeks and then can decide if they want to commit to the second and/or third eight-week session. Contact: Joan, 651-451-4081 or joanmdm [at] iphouse.com To develop leadership and establish unity with the ammunition of knowledge, strategy and commitment. Leaders are not for hire; they lead by desire and a search for truth and reality. To form a People's resistance movement based on human rights and stopping wars. Knowledge and strategy are key to stop wars. TRIAL EIGHT WEEK SESSION: 6-10 PARTICIPANTS HISTORY OF US TERRORIST INTERVENTIONS AROUND THE WORLD WHY STUDY US INTERVENTIONS? So youth can learn the tactics and strategy the US has used militarily and economically to occupy foreign countries such as: 1. Media infiltration and control: False propaganda that creates fear. 2. Infiltration of youth groups, labor groups, women's groups 3. Assassination of political leaders 4. Control of elections, setting up puppet regimes friendly to US imperialist policy 5. Fear of socialism (social programs) and participatory democracy as opposed to US representative democracy RESOURCES: Several videos (such as Panama Deception), articles from truth sources (such as Global Research) and a special emphasis on William Blum's book, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since WW II CONTACT: Joan 651-451-4081 or joanmdm [at] iphouse.com Sessions will be held in apartment six blocks north of Macalester college in St. Paul and near Marshall, Snelling and Selby. --------26 of 29-------- Michael Cavlan for US Senate Campaign Statement On Al Gore recieving the Nobel Peace Prize and Academy Award. It was under the Clinton/Gore administration that Depleted Uranium weaponry was first authorized. It was under was the Clinton/Gore administration that 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi children died from the sanctions, which is still a greater death toll than the Bush administration, although the Bushies are catching up quickly. The Clinton/Gore administration first authorized "extraordinary rendition" and signed the 1996 Telecommunications Act which has further consolidated the corporate media, which is, in my opinion the biggest risk to democracy we face today. Let us also not forget "Welfare Reform" and the "War On Drugs", both an attack on poor people. Clinton/Gore again. Then let us not forget that Gore actually won the 2000 election and instead of standing up for those who voted for him, including the 90,000 illegally purged from the voting rolls, Al Gore told the Congressional Black Cacaus to "sit down and be quiet", as noted in the Michael Moore movie Farenheight 9-11. The WTO protests of Seattle in 1999 were targeting the policies of the Clinton/Gore administration. This includes signing up for NAFTA, GATT, the WTO, the IMF, massive give-a-ways of public land to the Mining Industries and of large tracts of our forests to the Lumber Industries. None of this was mentioned in his cute little film. Instead of targeting the corporate responsibility for the crisis of global warming, he tells us what "we little people" can do. Buy a Prius, change a light bulb etc, not what General Motors should be forced to do. Just us "little people" changing bulbs etc. He also obviously did not target the policies started under his vice-presidency. No talk of NAFTA or corporate globalization in his movie. Al Gore is a well packaged, corporate friendly "environmentalist." Al Gore is a "green-washed" corporate prostitute who has been green-washed just as surely as British Petroleum or any other corporate polluter. My fullest apologies to prostitutes for comparing you to Al Gore. Now that is really an "inconvenient truth" and I can guarantee that this is something you will never hear from the Sierra Club, Dennis Kucinich or any of the local versions of him here in Minnesota. That is another "inconvenient truth." In other words, wake up people. Pay attention to the actions instead of the words. You are being lied to, again. Come join us on the peace, truth and accountability campaign. We shall meet at the Blue Moon Coffee Shop, 3822 East Lake St, Minneapolis at 6 pm, Thursday October 18th for more information contact Dori Ullman (612)414-9528 --------27 of 29-------- A Prime Time Hypocrite Nobel Gore? By JOSHUA FRANK CounterPunch October 15, 2007 Al Gore has returned to the political spotlight in exalted fashion with a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, propping himself up for a potential presidential bid in 2008. Front and center in Gore's new rhetorical entourage is the state of nature, and in particular, global warming. And while Gore may be delivering an important message about the fate of our fragile ecosystems, one must be weary of the messenger's past. For Gore's own environmental record leaves much to be desired. Al Gore's reputation as the Democratic standard bearer of environmentalism dates back to the early 1990's when his book Earth in Balance outlined the perilous threats to the natural world. Gore also showboated his green credentials at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, which garnered the newly minted Senator great respect among Beltway greens who praised him for his willingness to take sides on controversial issues. While serving as vice president under Bill Clinton, Gore was put in charge of the administration's environmental portfolio, but had little to show for it. As the Center for Public Integrity writes in their book The Buying Of The President 2000, "Personally and professionally the vice president has profited from Occidental largess. To this day he still draws $20,000 a year from a land deal in Tennessee brokered between his father and [former Occidental chairman Armand] Hammer. The total amount is more than $300,000." This relationship between Hammer, who was close with Al Gore Sr. as well, matured greatly during the late 1980s while Gore served in the Senate, including Kenneth Lay style trips on Hammer's private plane and monster campaign contributions. Oil companies during the 20th Century, reports the Center for Public Integrity, "have tried unsuccessfully to obtain control of two oil fields owned and operated by the federal government: the Teapot Dome field in Casper, Wyoming, and the Elk Hillsfield in Bakersfield, California." When Clinton and Gore took office in 1992, that was about to change. Perhaps only outdone by George W. Bush's connections to Big Oil, Al Gore pressed President Clinton to approve handing over these public lands to the oil companies. The land, managed by the Navy, had held emergency oil reserves since 1912. It took five years of lobbying on behalf of Big Oil, but Gore and Occidental were victories. In the fall of 1997 the Energy Department sold 47,000 acres of the Elk Hill reserve to Occidental. Continues The Center for Public Integrity: "It was the largest privatization of federal property in U.S. history, one that tripled Occidental's U.S. oil reserves overnight. Although the Energy Department was required to assess the likely environmental consequences of the proposed sale, it didn't. Instead it hired a private company, ICF Kaiser International, Incorporated, to complete the assessment. The general chairman of Gore's presidential campaign, Tony Coelho, sat on the board of directors. "The very same day the Elk Hills sale was announced, Gore delivered a speech to the White House Conference on Climate Change on the "terrifying prospect" of global warming, a problem he blamed on the unchecked use of fossil fuels such as oil." Other than his alleged environmental convictions, Gore was a political coward when push came to shove in Washington. During Clinton's campaign for president in 1992 Gore promised a group of supporters that Clinton's EPA would never approve a hazardous waste incinerator located near an elementary school in Liverpool, Ohio, which was operated by WTI. Only three months into Clinton's tenure the EPA issued an operating permit for the toxic burner. Gore raised no qualms. Not surprisingly, most of the money behind WTI came from the bulging pockets of Jackson Stephens, who just happened to be one of the Clinton/Gore's top campaign contributors. Perhaps Al Gore's greatest blunder during his years as vice president was his allegiance to the conservative Democratic Leadership Council and their erroneous approach to environmental policy. Gore, like Clinton who quipped that "the invisible hand has a green thumb", extolled a free-market attitude toward environmental issues. "Since the mid-1980s Gore has argued with increasing stridency that the bracing forces of market capitalism are potent curatives for the ecological entropy now bearing down on the global environment," writes Jeffrey St. Clair in Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me: The Politics of Nature. "He is a passionate disciple of the gospel of efficiency, suffused with an inchoate technopilia." Then came the first of the Clinton administration's neoliberal wet dreams: NAFTA. After the passage of NAFTA, pollution along the US/Mexico border dramatically increased. And Gore should have known better; NAFTA allowed existing environmental laws in the United States to be undermined. Corporations looking to turn a profit by skating around enviro statutes at home moved down to Mexico where environmental standards and regulatory enforcement were scarce. These follies were followed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's destructive deal with the sugar barons of South Florida, which doomed vast acreages of the Everglades. Then Gore and Clinton capitulated to the demands of Western Democrats and yanked from its initial budget proposals a call to reform grazing, mining, and timber practices on federal lands. When Clinton convened a timber summit in Portland, Oregon, in April 1994, the conference was, as one might expect, dominated by logging interests. Predictably, the summit gave way to a plan to restart clear-cutting in the ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest for the first time in three years, giving the timber industry its get rich wish. Gore, again, said nothing. Forests under Clinton and Gore's watch didn't fare all that well. The Clinton administration's Salvage Rider, known to radical environmentalists as the "Logging without Laws" rider, was perhaps the most gruesome legislation ever enacted under the pretext of preserving ecosystem health. Like Bush's "Healthy Forests" plan, Clinton's act was choc full of deception and special interest pandering. "When [the Salvage Rider] bill was given to me, I was told that the timber industry was circulating this language among the Northwest Congressional delegation and others to try to get it attached as a rider to the fiscal year Interior Spending Bill," environmental lawyer Kevin Kirchner says. "There is no question that representatives of the timber industry had a role in promoting this rider. That is no secret." In fact, Mark Rey, a former lobbyist for the timber industry and head of the United States Forest Service under Bush, authored Bush's forest plan and Clinton's salvage bill while working as an aide for Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. "Like Bush's so-called 'Healthy Forest Initiative,' the Salvage Rider temporarily exempted salvage timber sales on federal forest lands from environmental and wildlife laws, administrative appeals, and judicial review," contended the Wilderness Society. "The Salvage Rider directed the Forest Service to cut old-growth timber in the Pacific Northwest that the agency had proposed for sale but subsequently withdrew due to environmental concerns, endangered species listings, and court rulings. Bush's initiative also aims to increase logging of old-growth trees in the Pacific Northwest." Clinton and Gore during the time could have exercised presidential authority to force the relevant agencies to abandon all timber contracts that stemmed from the Salvage Rider. But they never flexed their muscle and instead sat by as the forests were subjected to gruesome annihilation. An example of the ruin: Thousands of acres of healthy forestland across the West were rampaged. Washington's Colville National Forest saw the clear cutting of over 4,000 acres. Thousands more in Montana's Yaak River Basin, hundreds of acres of pristine forest land in Idaho, while the endangered Mexican Spotted Owl habitat in Arizona fell victim to corporate interests. Old growth trees in Washington's majestic Olympic Peninsula - home to wild Steelhead, endangered Sockeye salmon, and threatened Marbled Murrelet - were chopped with unremitting provocation by the US Forest Service. And the assault on nature continued with Gore's blessing. Around the same time Clinton and Gore, after great pressure from the food industry, signed away the Delaney Clause, which prohibited cancer-causing pesticides and ingredients to be placed in our food products. And after pressure from big corporations like chemical giant DuPont, the Clinton administration, with guidance from Gore's office, cut numerous deals over the pesticide Methyl Bromide despite its reported effects of contributing to Ozone depletion. As for Gore's pet project, global warming, he did little to help curb its dramatic effects while handling Clinton's enviro policies. In fact, Gore and Clinton made it easy for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to back out of the Kyoto Protocol by undermining the agreement in the late 1990s. It was the winter of 1997 when Vice President Gore, who was in direct control of Clinton's environmental policies, flew to Japan to address the international delegation about the US's position on the Kyoto Protocol. Gore and Clinton had just come off an election victory and it was time to pay back the big oil and gas companies who had handed over $6 million to their party the year prior. Gore warmed up his attentive audience by affirming that Clinton and the US public believed the Earth was in peril and that all global citizens must act swiftly to save it. But in typical Gore doublespeak, he declared the United States would not support the agreement because it did not ask enough of developing nations, even though the US is the leading polluter in the world. As Gore put it then, "Signing the Protocol, while an important step forward, imposes no obligations on the United States. The Protocol becomes binding only with the advice and consent of the US Senate." Gore soon returned to Washington only to reiterate his message that the Clinton administration would not put the Kyoto Protocol before the Senate. "As we have said before, we will not submit the Protocol for ratification without the meaningful participation of key developing countries in efforts to address climate change," he said. It was at that moment when Clinton and Gore ruined any chances of the Kyoto Protocol being honestly debated in Washington. Later in November of 1998 Gore "symbolically" signed the accord, likely to appease his environmental pals like the Sierra Club's Carl Pope. But the Vice President's tepid gesture couldn't have carried less weight. The Clinton administration, with Gore's guidance, refused to allow the Republican controlled Senate to decide on the Kyoto Protocol for themselves. Gore advised Clinton not to send the Protocol to the Senate to be ratified. The blame could have burdened the Republican Party, not the Democrats and the Clinton administration. But instead the buck stopped with Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Predictably, President Bush followed their lead. And there you have it. It was Mr. Global Warming himself who first tried to kill off the Kyoto Protocol. And the list goes on. So while Al Gore flies around the country and overseas with trophy in hand to preach to the masses about the dangerous effects of global warming and its inherent threat to life on Earth - you may want to ask yourself whether the hypocritical Gores of the world are more a part of the problem than a solution to the dire climate that surrounds us all. Joshua Frank is the co-editor of DissidentVoice.org, and author of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush, and along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the forthcoming Red State Rebels, to be published by AK Press in March 2008. He can be reached through his website, BrickBurner.org. --------28 of 29-------- Leadership Void by Cindy Sheehan October 13, 2007 ZNet "They are advocates. We are leaders." - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in regards to "Anti-war activists." People of America, this is truly the problem with what was once a Representative Republic and now is a country run by "elected" officials who believe that they, individually and collectively, are above any accountability and are not answerable to their constituents. Our public servants erroneously believe that they are the leaders! Ms. Pelosi made this statement to a group of reporters at a luncheon recently and she also went off on activists who have been participating in vigils outside of her chi-chi home in the Pacific Heights district of San Francisco. The people who are vigiling outside her house regularly, in a Pelosi Watch are only exercising their rights as American citizens to make their concerns known to a Rep who was elected from a district that is wholeheartedly against the occupation of Iraq and for impeaching the liars who got us into the illegal and immoral situation. No, Ms. Pelosi, you are not a leader. You have proven time and again in what you laughably believe is a "mistake" free run as Speaker of a Democratic House that you will do anything to protect an Imperial Presidency to the detriment of this Nation and the world, particularly the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. This Democratic Congress supported BushCo's disastrous and deadly surge; handed him over billions of their constituent's tax dollars to wage this murder; have by their silence and votes countenanced an invasion of another country; approved more restrictions on the rights of the citizenry to be protected against unreasonable search and seizure; Ms. Pelosi does not even know if "torture" (which violates international law and the 8th Amendment in our Bill of Rights) is an impeachable offense; and worst of all the impeachment clauses were taken "off the table" in an ongoing partnership with BushCo to make the office of the presidency a Congressionally protected crime conglomerate that is rapidly sending this Nation down a crap-hole of fascism. So, Congress has led us to a few things: war, poverty, oppression, unemployment, and an inexplicable continuance of the Bush Regime. No, Ms Pelosi, you are not even a leader in the very narrowest of definitions. We do not elect our Congressional Representatives to be leaders, not to be used as willing marionettes for the war machine and other special interests that serve the elite to the detriment of the rest of us, but to represent the will of the people. We send our elected officials to DC and pay their salaries and subsidize their benefits to do the "Will of the People." No matter how many times Ms. Pelosi and George Bush share tea and giggles and no matter how often she "prays' for him, George is not the Decider and she is only the Leader of the House of Representatives not the people. We are the sovereigns in this country and I tried to demonstrate this when I demanded a meeting with another haughty public servant: George Bush. I cannot speak for every Democrat, Independent, Green or disenchanted Republican (and there are many) in America, but the consensus from my travels all over this country is that we put Democrats back in power in both Houses of Congress to be an opposition to the Bush Regime and to stop the annoying "bobble-headed, rubber-stamping" approval of all things criminal and murderous. We did not wish to keep heading in the same direction but desired to go another way, which would have required the Dems to finally step up and forcefully counter and stop the high crimes of BushCo. They have failed. We are sick of excuses. We are tired of the blame being diffused on the Senate, the Blue Dog Dems, the Republicans or even, incredibly, the people of Iraq. A true leader accepts responsibility in ways that are not even dreamed of by BushCo or Congress Inc. A true leader would stand up and do what is intelligent and what is right and if he/she were a leader then people would follow. A leader does not wait idly by for a crowd of sycophants to gather around her before she does her job with integrity and courage; a leader leads the way and the Democratic Congress with an approval rating even lower than George's had better wake up to whom they need to follow: us! We have countless examples of true leaders throughout American history and if not for them, women would not have the right to vote, much less be Speaker of the House; Black Americans would still be slaves or at the very least still drinking out of separate fountains; workers would not have the right to unionize and children would still be mining coal; we would still have troops in Southeast Asia, and we would still be under the aegis of our close Cousins in Empire: the British. Some of our courageous leaders have had to pay the ultimate price for their bravery and vision and Ms. Pelosi should be ashamed of arrogantly whining over her rubber chicken that Americans exist who want her to do her job because people are dying and lives are being ruined with her complicity. We have the right to hold both of the political parties accountable. We not only have the right, we have the responsibility. We not only have the right and the responsibility we have the power. --------29 of 29-------- Published on Monday, October 15, 2007 by The Guardian/UK The Land of Optimism Is in the Dumps, But Refuses to Accept How It Got There by Gary Younge Not since Watergate has such pessimism afflicted Americans. They want politicians to lift them without facing the cause by Gary Younge On April 27 1968 the vice president, Hubert Humphrey, announced his presidential candidacy. It was a particularly troubled moment in America's recent history. Just three weeks after Martin Luther King's assassination, the cities were still scarred by riots while the country as a whole was deeply divided over the Vietnam war. Presumably seeking to capture the mood of the nation, Humphrey started his speech thus: "Here we are, the way politics ought to be in America, the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose, the politics of joy; and that's the way it's going to be, all the way, too, from here on out". Within six weeks Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated. America's self-image as the home of unrelenting progress - a nation of historic purpose and unrivalled opportunity where tomorrow will always be better than today - is the linchpin of its political and popular culture. Optimism, it seems, is a truly renewable national resource. It was used to build Bill Clinton's "bridge to the 21st century" in 1992, and powered the alarm clocks for Reagan's "new morning in America". "The American, by nature, is optimistic," said John F Kennedy. "He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly". This optimism is the source for much of what makes the US simultaneously so revered and reviled, dynamic and deluded, around the world. On one hand it articulates a hope, bordering on certainty, that a better world is not just feasible but already in the making. Released from the hogties of tradition and formality, such confidence is driven by possibility rather than the past. Winston Churchill once said he "preferred the past to the present and the present to the future". An American politician who wanted to get elected would say precisely the opposite. This optimism underpins the notions of class fluidity and personal reinvention at the core of the American dream. Where others might ask "Why?", it asks "Why not?". Such is the root of so much that is great about America's economy, culture and politics. On the other hand this optimism has within it the notion that the US is the exclusive repository of these hopes and the sole means by which a better world can be made. Unfettered by history, consensus or empirical evidence, it is driven by myth rather than material circumstances. Even as class rigidity entrenches and personal reinvention slips, the dream remains. Like Stephen Colbert's spoof of George Bush, it has the capacity to "believe the same thing Wednesday that [it] believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday". It posits America as the world's future whether the world wants it or not. Such is the root of so much that is terrible about America's economy, politics and foreign policy. This sense of optimism has been in retreat in almost every sense over the past few years. According to Rasmussen polls, just 21% of Americans believe the country is on the right track, a figure that has fallen by more than a half since the presidential election of 2004. Meanwhile only a third think the country's best days are yet to come, as opposed to 43% who believe they have come and gone - again a steep decline on three years ago. These are not one-offs. In the past 18 months almost every poll that has asked Americans about their country's direction has produced among the most pessimistic responses on record - a more extended period than anyone can remember since Watergate. America, in short, is in a deep funk. Far from feeling hopeful, it appears fearful of the outside world and despondent about its own future. Not only do most believe tomorrow will be worse than today, they also feel that there is little that can be done about it. There are three main reasons. Closest to home is the economy. Wages are stagnant, house prices in most areas have stalled or are falling, the dollar is plunging, and the deficit is rising. A Pew survey last week showed that 72% believe the economy is either "only fair" or poor and 76% believe it will be the same or worse a year from now. Globalisation is a major worry. Of 46 countries polled recently, the US had the least positive view on foreign trade and one of the least positive on foreign companies. The sense that things will improve for the next generation has all but evaporated. Another Pew poll from last year found that only 34% of Americans expected today's children to be better off than people are now - down from 55% shortly before President Bush came to power. Second is the Iraq war and the steep decline in America's international standing it has prompted. A global-attitudes Pew poll from last year showed that 65% of Americans believe the country is less respected by the rest of the world than it was - double the figure of 20 years ago. The fact that only half those polled thought this was a problem is telling. For if the war in Iraq were going well then this probably wouldn't matter. But it isn't. All surveys show that for some time a steady majority of the public believe the war was a mistake, is going badly and that the troops should be withdrawn. One of the central factors in which America's self-confidence was predicated - global hegemony based on unrivalled military supremacy - has been fundamentally undermined. Last week Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top commander of US troops in Iraq, spelled out the national despair, branding the war a "nightmare with no end in sight". Which brings us, finally, to the political class. Once again the American public have lost faith. The rot starts at the top. Almost as soon as they elected Bush in 2004 they seemed to regret it. Since Katrina, his favourability ratings have been stuck in the 30s and show no signs of moving - or at least not upwards. Bush's only comfort is that public approval of the Democratically controlled Congress is even worse, hovering just below where it was shortly before the 2006 elections. In other words, however Americans believe their country will return to the right track, they no longer trust politicians to get them there. Little suggests that anything will change any time soon. After four years of being told they were winning a war they have been losing and are better off when they are not, Americans are more wary of political happy talk than they have been for a long time. But that doesn't mean they want to hear sad talk instead, even if it happens to be true. For the central problem is not that they were lied to - though that of course is a problem - but that they have constantly found some of these lies more palatable than the truth. Bush may have exploited the more problematic aspects of this optimism. But he did not create them. Enough of the American public had to be prepared to meet him halfway to make his agenda possible. Herein lies the challenge for the presidential candidates in the coming year - how to respond to this pessimistic mood without reflecting or discussing its root causes: to lay out a plausible explanation of how Americans can get their groove back, without examining how they got in this rut in the first place. Gary Younge, the Alfred Knobler Journalism Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the New York correspondent for the Guardian and the author of No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey Through the Deep South (Mississippi) and Stranger in a Strange Land: Travels in the Disunited States (New Press). 2007 The Guardian From shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu Tue Oct 16 03:44:49 2007 Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:50:36 -0500 (CDT) From: David Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu> To: David Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu> Subject: Why Won't Liberals Join Them?Blacks Turn Against the WarBy JOHN WALSH October 15, 2007 Why Won't Liberals Join Them? Blacks Turn Against the War By JOHN WALSH In these dark days for the peace movement, last Sunday morning brought a ray of sunshine. "Military sees big decline in black enlistees; Iraq war cited in 58% drop since 2000" ran the headline atop page one of the Boston Globe (10/7). To be precise, from 2000 to 2005, the last year for which the Pentagon provides data, Black enlistees have dropped from 41,185 to 17,399 a year. The biggest declines came in the army and marines as opposed to navy and air force enlistments; in other words the declines were in the services most likely to return you home in a box in the dead of night. This development is very bad news for the masters of empire who, for a century, have relied heavily on scarce economic opportunities for Black youth to drive them into the armed forces. Michael O'Hanlon, military analyst at the liberal Democrat Brookings Institution laments this unsettling development: "African-Americans have been a key part of the modern military. There's obviously been a degree where the black community in the United States has seen [military service] as culturally valuable and promoted it. That whole culture and value system (sic) is at risk in the black community. That is a big, big change. To me it portends a longer term loss of interest. It can be tough to get it back." Mr. O'Hanlon does not seem to be rejoicing at the demise of this imperial "value system"; the rest of us should leap for joy. Young Black men interviewed for the Globe report declared that they do not believe in the war and therefore won't enlist. They also spoke of Hurricane Katrina, one saying: "Why should we go over there and help them (Iraqis), when the US government can't help us over here?" Another said that the war is "unnecessary," the same word used by Jimmy Carter, and continued: "It's not our war. We got our own war here, just staying alive." He then reminded the reporter that his hometown, Philadelphia, has suffered more than 200 homicides in 2007, most involving Black youth. But the military are not giving up, redoubling their recruiting effort, pumping more money and more advertising into it. But it is not working. Key to this Black Resistance are the "influencers." As the article says, "Adult influencers of all youths, such as parents, sports coaches, or mentors, say Iraq makes them less likely to recommend military service, according to Pentagon surveys. Of all racial groups, African-American influencers are the least likely to suggest enlistment, according to the surveys." Now there are solid parents, making certain that their kids are not turned over to the merchants of death. As the article puts it, "They (the parents) see it from the aspect of . . . 'I don't care about the benefits, I don't care about the money, I don't care about nothing. I don't want my child going to Iraq.'" Other parents have a lot to learn from this. The Black Resistance to the war is poetic justice, given the racist roots of the neocon movement that spawned the war. Recall Norman Podhoretz's tenet that a neocon is a liberal "mugged by reality." Let's ask ourselves what is the image of a "mugger" in many white minds, and it is all too easy to see what the neocon Podhoretz was getting at. It was not simply racism directed at Muslims and Arabs that informed the neocon project but racism directed at Blacks and Hispanics from the very first. Much remains to be done since the Black population is still over represented in the military. As the Globe article points out: "Despite the sharp decline in enlistments, the percentage of blacks in the military still slightly exceeds that of the general population: 14.5 percent in the military, as of 2005, versus 12.8 percent in the US population. Nonetheless, recent Pentagon-sponsored surveys suggest that attitudes among military-age African-Americans may have changed for good." The creation of non-military economic and educational opportunities for Black and other minority youth must be an essential part of the antiwar movement. At UFPJ (United for Peace and Justice) and related antiwar meetings the lament routinely goes up that there are few (or more often zero) African Americans in attendance. And no wonder. Beneath the surface these meetings have as their agenda keeping the other war party (the Dems) in power. Do the "leaders" of UFPJ not understand that Blacks readily see through this ploy? Are these "leaders" so contemptuous of the Black community? They ask where are the African-Americans. The answer is easy. They are busy. They are working long and hard to keep their kids out of the death machine peddled by Dems as well as Republicans. They are striking at the heart of the military machine whereas the UFPJers are protecting the left wing of the bird of prey, the Democratic Party. Who are the leaders of the peace movement anyway? The attendees at those deadly boring and very PC UFPJ meetings or those Black parents keeping their kids out of the military and thus undermining the imperial machinery of death. John V. Walsh can be reached at John.Endwar [at] gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - 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
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