Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 10.03.06

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     10.03.06

1. TortureBill/KFAI   10.03 11am
2. Race/justice/labor 10.03 12noon
3. Social forum/SPNN  10.03 5pm
4. Computer workshops 10.03 5pm
5. Protest Dobson     10.03 5:30pm
6. LaVie/loving arts  10.03 6pm
7. Salon runs amok    10.03 6:30pm
8. Anoka Greens       10.03 6:30pm
9. Coreopsis poetry   10.03 7pm
10. Gumbleton/justice 10.03 7pm

11. Nutraceuticals    10.04 11:30am
12. Grannys/bioneers  10.04 12:45pm
13. Color/wealth      10.04 2pm
14. Woman/color/lead  10.04 3pm
15. All GP campaigns  10.04 6pm
16. Global inequality 10.04 6:30pm
17. LatAm socialism   10.04 7pm
18. Immigrants        10.04 7pm
19. Press/security    10.04 7pm
20. Health care       10.04 7pm

21. Chris Floyd - Fatal vision: the deeper evil behind the Detainee Bill
22. Joe Allen   - The antiwar struggle, UFPJ and the Democrats
23. ed          - Lemming season  (poem)

--------1 of 23--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: TortureBill/KFAI 10.03 11am

Tues Oct 3: Torture Bill  KFAI/Catalyst

September 28, 2006 should go down as a day that will live in infamy:
that's when the U.S. Congress passed the Military Commission Act of 2006,
which legalzies torture, suspends habeas corpus (the 1215 Magna Carta law
that requires anyone held by the State to ahve access to a court) and
expands presidential power without restraint.

Hear longtime civil liberties attorney JORDAN KUSCHNER, a member of the
National Lawyers Guild, explain this bill and what it means. Corporate
media HAS BEEN ALMOST ENTIRELY SILENT ABOUT THIS BILL. (You can also hear
one of the dissenting Democrats, Sen Patrick Leahy on DEMOCRACY NOW, the
Friday Sept. 29th edition, at http://www.democracynow.org) It is crucial
that this assault on the Constitution, internaltional human rights law and
the Geneva Convention be opposed.

"Catalyst" is procuded and hosted by Lydia Howell. You can read her
ocmmentary about the bill "American Civil Liberties:R.I.P." on her new
blog: http://blog.myspace.com/lydia Howell Catalyst, Tues. 11am, KFAI
Radio 90.1fm Mpls 106.7fm St. Paul All shows archived for 2 weeks after
broadcast at http://www.kfai.org


--------2 of 23--------

Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:23:12 -0500
Subject: Race/justice/labor 10.03 12noon

Racial Justice and Labor Roundtable for Organizers
Tuesday, October 3, noon to 1:30
Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, 2525 Franklin Avenue East, Suite 200,
Minneapolis

Organized labor wants to ensure dignity in the workplace, living wage
jobs, benefits including health insurance, and safe workplaces.  These
demands are crucial to securing a decent livelihood for low-income
workers, many of which are people of color.  Racial justice organizers
want to see access to good jobs, a voice for people of color, and equity
in labor practices.  How have the two worked together?  How have they
diverged?  What can we learn from the struggles for racial justice and
union jobs?

Please join us for a discussion with Julia Grantham of SEIU Local 26,
Bernie Hesse of UFCW Local 789, Bill Kendle of IBEW Local 110, and other
invited labor and racial justice activists.  RSVP by Monday, September 25
to Unny Nambudiripad at unny [at] metrostability.org or 612-332-4471.  See
http://www.metrostability.org/news/article.php?id=45 for more information.


--------3 of 23--------

From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Social forum/SPNN 10.03 5pm

Dear St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) viewers:

"Our World In Depth" airs at 5 pm and midnight each Tuesday and 10 am each
Wednesday on SPNN Channel 15.

10/3 and 10/4
"Highlights from the 2006 Midwest Social Forum (MWSF)"  Poetry,
reflections on organizing the MWSF, a half hour presentation by Scott
Parkin of the Rainforest Action Network on breaking our addiction to
fossil fuel, and, two songs by folk musician David Rovics.

"Our World In Depth" features analysis of public affairs with
consideration of and participation from Twin Cities area activists.  The
show is (mostly) local and not corporately influenced! For information
about future programing of "Our World In Depth", please send an e-mail to
eric-angell [at] riseup.net.


--------4 of 23--------

From: Tim Erickson <tim [at] e-democracy.org>
Subject: Computer workshops 10.03 5pm

[SPIF] E-Democracy Workshops & Voter Voices

Final reminder about the FREE SPED workshops at the Rondo library tomorrow
afternoon.

    * 5:00 - 6:00 PM = VOTER VOICES, how to upload video, audio, and
photos
                       to the internet.
                       - How to upload to YouTube
                       - How to upload to Flickr

                       Designed to help you participate in the
                       2006 E-Democracy.Org Voter Voices project.
                       http://www.e-democracy.org/voices/

    * 6:30 - 8:30 PM = How to start your own BLOG

    * 3:00 - 5:30 PM = Podcasting day, help us make a PODCAST
    * 6:30 - 8:30 PM = Podcasting day, help us make a PODCAST

WHERE:   Rondo Community Outreach Library
          461 N. Dale Street (Dale and University)
          651-266-7400

COST :  Its all FREE!

Special thanks to the volunteers who are already signed-up to help
tomorrow. Michelle Fure, Kevin Marshall, Sara Reller, Tim Erickson, Steve
Clift, & Marc Trimble


--------5 of 23--------

From: David Strand <mncivil [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Protest Dobson 10.03 5:30pm

Protest the Anti-GLBT, anti-women and anti-family gathering

Tuesday, October 3rd
5:30-6:30pm
Outside of Excel Energy Center
199 West Kellogg Boulevard
Saint Paul, MN 55102

Directions
Major highways (Interstate 94 and 35E) run through downtown Saint Paul,
making it easily accessible from all parts of the state. The Xcel Energy
Center is located on the corner of Kellogg Boulevard and West Seventh
Street.

Who is James Dobson?
James Dobson is founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, an anti-GLBT
organization that produces his internationally syndicated radio programs.
Dobson is heard on more than 3,000 Christian conservative radio facilities
in North America, where he urged millions of his followers to support
anti-gay candidates in recent elections.

Besides mobilizing his members to vote for the Christian right, Dobson
spreads the following lies about the GLBT community:
- Legalizing gay marriage could lead to marriage to donkeys
- Gay marriage is connected to the war on terror
- Stem Cell research is comparable to Nazi Experiments

[All the cute donkeys are already taken. -ed]


--------6 of 23--------

From: Candy Hadsall <candhad55 [at] tcinternet.net>
Subject: LaVie's loving arts 10.03 6pm

Ms. LaVie¹s School of Loving Arts offers courses, special events, and
weekend retreats for adults on topics pertaining to sexuality, love and
relationships starting in October. Ms. LaVie¹s School of Loving Arts will
offer a sex-positive learning environment for individuals interested in
exploring ways to become more loving with themselves and the significant
people in their lives. Like-minded people will be able to come together
for discussion in an environment that is positive, joyful, non-shaming,
healing and informational.

The first Introductory Course, "Getting To Know Your Sexual Self", begins
Monday, October 3 at 6pm. Classes are held in a lovely home in South
Minneapolis. For more information on the courses offered by Ms. LaVie¹s
School of Loving Arts, fees, location and how to sign up, please call
612-825-0886 and leave your contact information.


--------7 of 23--------

From: Patty Guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Salon runs amok 10.03 6:30pm

Tuesday, October 3, the salon will be Open Discussion.  As I am listening
to CSPAN right now and the debate on torture, for God's sake, Torture!! ,
It seems like we will have lots to talk about and do.

The next week, October 10, our guest will be John Kolstad (Papa John).
His topic will be Single Payer Health Insurance.  He will also tell us
about his race for Minnesota Attorney General.  Also, will give us a
glimpse of what is happening with Small Businesses. Please come, thanks,
patty

Pax Salons ( http://justcomm.org/pax-salon )
are held (unless otherwise noted in advance):
Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
Mad Hatter's Tea House,
943 W 7th, St Paul, MN

Salons are free but donations encouraged for program and treats.
Call 651-227-3228 or 651-227-2511 for information.


--------8 of 23--------

From: Ken Pentel <kenpentel [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Anoka Greens 10.03 6:30pm

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3RD-
Anoka Co. Greens Meeting ant the Anoka County Blaine Library. 6:30pm.
Joining Leroy Schaffer Candidate for St. Francis City Council.  Across
from Northtown Mall


--------9 of 23--------

From: Coreopsis Poetry Collective <coreopsispoetry [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Coreopsis poetry 10.03 7pm

Erin:  612-501-9427

  Coreopsis Poetry Collective  (coreopsispoetry [at] yahoo.com)
  Presents
  an evening of poetry
  Tuesday, October 3, 2006
  7:00 p.m.
  Featuring:

  Lorena Duarte
  Bradley Liening
  Anna Meek

Short question and answer period to follow donations graciously welcomed
at Black Dog Café 308 Prince Street lower town St. Paul

*Coreopsis Poetry Collective*
We exist to cultivate a community of diverse local artists and poets which
integrates all art forms centered around poetry.


--------10 of 23--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Gumbleton/justice 10.03 7pm

Tuesday, 10/3, 7 pm, peace and justice advocate Bishop Gumbleton talks on
"Is There Room for Me in this Church?" Basilica of St Mary, Mpls.


--------11 of 23--------

From: lawvalue <lawvalue [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Nutraceuticals 10.04 11:30am

The Lecture Series on Law, Health, & the Life Sciences will present Mark
Blumenthal, PhD (American Botanical Council) on Wednesday, October 4, 2006
from 11:30am-1:00pm in the Coffman Memorial Union Theater.

Dr. Blumenthal will lecture on "Nutraceuticals:  Dietary Supplements,
Botanical Drugs, and Natural Products-Science, Safety, and Efficacy."
Continuing education credit is offered (see below).  The series is
co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota's Consortium on Law and Values
in Health, Environment, & the Life Sciences and Joint Degree Program in
Law, Health, & the Life Sciences

Dr. Blumenthal will assert that the U.S.'s herbal dietary supplements
market reveals a direct correlation between the level of clinical testing
for an herb category and its market success.  A significant amount of
clinical research on a specific herb (e.g., garlic, ginkgo, ginseng)
usually pertains to one or two leading proprietary products, even though
some competing manufacturers may "borrow" the results of these clinical
trials to substantiate claims made for untested competitive or generic
products.  To assist health professionals in identifying potentially
reliable herbal preparations, Dr. Blumenthal will showcase specific brands
of herb products that have been shown safe and effective in published
clinical trials to acknowledge that the vast majority of published
clinical literature frequently pertains to one or a few clinically-tested
products or materials.

Mark Blumenthal is the Founder and Executive Director of the American
Botanical Council (ABC); an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated
to disseminating accurate, reliable, and responsible information on herbs
and medicinal plants.  He is the Editor/Publisher of HerbalGram, an
international, peer-reviewed quarterly journal, the contents of which
reflect the educational goals of ABC. For six years he was an Adjunct
Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the College of Pharmacy at
the University of Texas at Austin, teaching a course entitled "Herbs and
Phytomedicines in Today's Pharmacy".  Mr. Blumenthal is also the senior
editor of the English translation of The Complete German Commission E
Monographs - Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines (1998), a rational
system developed by German regulatory authorities for evaluating the
safety and efficacy of herbal medicines.

The event is free and open to the public.  Registration is required if you
wish to receive continuing education credits (CLE, CME, or CNE).  RSVP to
lawvalue [at] umn.edu or 612-625-0055.  Coffman Union parking is available in
the East River Road Garage on Delaware Street behind Coffman Union.  Maps
may be found at http://onestop.umn.edu/Maps/index.html.

This lecture is intended for students, faculty, researchers, scientists,
policymakers, patients, health care professionals and organizations, and
interested members of the community.  Following this lecture, participants
should be able to:

*       Discuss the difference between a food and a drug and identify
categories under which certain dietary supplements, botanical drugs, and
natural products fall.
*       Understand the role of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education
Act in regulating dietary supplements, botanical drugs, and natural
products.

Applications for CME and CNE credits have been filed with the University
of Minnesota Office of Continuing Medical Education.  Determination of
credit is pending.  Continuing legal education credit (CLE) for attorneys
will be requested (1 hour).

This lecture is the first lecture in the 2006-07 Lecture Series.  This
year's Lecture Series focuses on nutrigenomics, nutraceuticals, and
direct-to-consumer marketing of genomic nutritional profiling.  For more
information on upcoming events, visit
http://www.lifesci.consortium.umn.edu/conferences/.


--------12 of 23--------

From: barbara Vaile <barbara [at] organicconsumers.org>
From: caquilt51 [at] aol.com [mailto:caquilt51 [at] aol.com]
Subject: Grannys/bioneers 10.04 12:45pm

Grandmothers for PEACE
Wednesday, October 4. 2006
Edina Community Library
Grandview Square
12:45 pm

Are You A "Bioneer?"
Their Mission:  To inspire individuals to utilize natural systems in
developing and resoring our communities.  We will view presentations
highlighting solutions to our problems that we accrue when we work with
the energy of nature's systems - not fossil fuel.  For a jolt of
transformative possibilities that will profoundly affect our lives and
those of our grandchildren, come see!  You might just leave a Bioneer!


--------13 of 23--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Color/wealth 10.04 2pm

Wed.Oct. 4: Color of Wealth @ U of M, East Bank

As the 'wealth gap" widens, elites escalate the ancient tried and true
'divide and conquer' techinques: anti-immigrant sentiment(primarily
against Mexicans), demonizing the poor and resurgent racism, especially
against African-Americans. A new book "The Color of Wealth" is provides
crucial clarity on the historical and current realities of race and
class in America.

You can hear co-author,U of M African-American Studies Professor Rose
Brewer, a brilliant analyst and searing speaker. FREE Wed. Oct. 4, 2pm, U
of M Bookstore, Coffman Union, 300 Washington Ave. SE, Eaast Bank campus U
of M, Minneapolis (Lydia Howell)


--------14 of 23--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Woman/color/leader 10.04 3pm

October 4 - What Does It Mean To Be A Woman of Color Leader?. 3-6pm.
Cost: Registration required: $40 Regular Rate, $10 Student Rate.

Join us as we bring together a panel of experts to talk about what it
means today to be a woman of color leader. Hear strategies and life
lessons from women leading the way in corporate, education,
government, and small business settings.

In small groups following the panel, the discussion continues on the
process of integrating one's individual, cultural, organizational, or
leadership self. Where is your power? What are the possibilities? This is
a great opportunity to meet women from other organizations and learn how
they are defining their leadership role as they evolve into the complete
person they were intended to be.

Sponsored by the Twin Cities Women's Council and College of St. Catherine
Leadership Institute.

PANELISTS
Rosa Miller, MBA, Vice President, Latin America, 3M Company Rosa was born
in Peru and her career spans 34 years at 3M . Rosa has had increasing
roles from her start as an Advanced Engineer in R&D, to International
Director of Latin America, Africa and Canada in the Health Care area,
Managing Director of 3M Philippines, Division Vice Presidents of Surface
Conditioning and Abrasives Systems Divisions to her current role as Vice
President of Latin America. Rosa's affiliations include Society of
Hispanic Engineers, to Board of Director positions for the Childrens Home
Society, Minnesota Independent School forum and HealthEast foundation.

Miriam Vaughn-Lee, M.S., Director, Diversity and Workforce Strategies for
the City of Minneapolis.  Miriam is a compelling veteran trainer and
founder of Vaughn-Lee and Associates Consulting. Her human resource
background includes management development, employee relations, career
planning and employee selection. She has taught at the secondary and post
secondary level, and is currently teaching as the University of Minnesota.
She is a member of several professional development organizations.

Kazoua Kong-Thao, Vice Chair, St. Paul Board of Education. Kazoua is a
firm believer in personal power and in using that power to enhance
yourself and influence others. As a former refugee child, speaking no
english and living in the "projects," she has come a long way. Today she
is a community leader, motivational speaker, trainer, consultant and life
coach. She has dedicated her life to making a difference in the areas of
equal opportunity, affirmative action, civil rights and other diversity
issues.

FACILITATOR
Dr. Verna Cornelia Price, President, J. Cameron and Associates. Dr. Verna
Cornelia Price is an innovative person known for creating programs and
processes that increase organizational effectiveness and individual
performance. Dr. Price is a consultant, professional trainer, motivational
speaker, coach and author of "The Power of People - Four Kinds of People
Who Can Change Your Life." At the University of Minnesota, where is is
currently adjunct faculty, her leadership resulted in the creation of the
First-Year experience and Undergraduate minor in Leadership programs.

To register by phone please call Jennifer Foth at 651-690-6819.
Location: Henrietta Schmoll Rauenhorst Hall (Ballroom), Coeur de
Catherine, College of Saint Catherine, St. Paul Campus


--------15 of 23--------

From: Krisrose02 [at] aol.com
Subject: All GP campaigns 10.04 6pm

Hi MN Greens!

Wednesday, October 4, we will be meeting to do some lit  dropping in the
Hamline Midway area for all GP campaigns!

Meet Kristen and Mahi at Ginkgo Coffee (NW corner of Snelling  and Minnehaha)
at 6:00 pm.  We'll have some coffee and meet new volunteers  and then head
out to distribute candidate lit and Sample ballots.

First time and seasoned lit droppers are very much encouraged  and welcome to
join us.  As election day draws nearer, we have to work  together to bring
the Green Party campaigns to the people of Minnesota.   Democracy begins when
YOU arrive.

If you have any sidewalk chalk -- bring it along!

See you Wednesday! Kristen Olson CCC associate 651-210-0789


--------16 of 23--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Global inequality 10.04 6:30pm

October 4 - P Sainath: Nero's Guests: Globalization and the Age of
Inequality. 6:30pm

Indian journalist P. Sainath gives free talk on "Nero's Guests:
Globalization and the Age of Inequality."

FFI: http://aidmn.org/sainath
Location: 425, blegen Hall, U of M West Bank, 269 - 19th Ave S,
Minneapolis, MN 55455


--------17 of 23--------

From: Jess Sundin <jess [at] antiwarcommittee.org>
Subject: LatAm revolt/socialism 10.04 7pm

Revolution & Socialism in Latin America

Wednesday, 10/4 @ 7pm @ May Day Bookstore, 301 Cedar Ave &#8211; 1 block
west of the Carlson School of Mgmt, on the West Bank of the U of M, Mpls
Every week in the news the topics of revolution & socialism are raised in
discussion of the Caribbean, Central & South America. Come hear from
Meredith Aby, Jessica Sundin, & Erika Zurawski, who have recently returned
from meeting with revolutionaries in Colombia, Ecuador, & Venezuela, on
the prospects for revolutionary socialism in Latin America. www.frso.org


--------18 of 23--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Immigrants among us 10.04 7pm

October 4 - Barbara Frey: Crossing Borders: Immigrants Among Us. 7pm

University of Minnesota Professor Barbara Frey speaks on "Crossing
Borders: Immigrants Among Us".

FFI: 612-339-3023 or office [at] cabrinimn.org
Location: St. Frances Cabrini Church, 1500 Franklin Ave SE,
Minneapolis


--------19 of 23--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Press/security 10.04 7pm

October 4 - 21st Annual Silha Lecture: The Freedom of the Press v. The
National Security. 7pm.  Cost: Free and Open to the Public.

Geoffrey Stone has been a member of the University of Chicago law faculty
since 1973. From 1987 to 1993, Mr. Stone served as dean of the University
of Chicago Law School, and from 1993 to 2002 he served as Provost of the
University of Chicago. Mr. Stone received his undergraduate degree in 1968
from the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree in 1971 from the
University of Chicago Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of
the Law Review. Mr. Stone served as a law clerk to Judge J. Skelly Wright
of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and to
Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Mr. Stone was admitted to the New York Bar in 1972 .

Mr. Stone teaches primarily in the areas of constitutional law and
evidence, and writes principally in the field of constitutional law. His
most recent book, Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition
Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (2004) received the Robert F. Kennedy
Book Award for 2005, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for 2004 as the Best
Book in History, and was a Finalist for the American Bar Association's
2005 Silver Gavel Award. It was also hailed as among the most notable
books of 2004 by the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times,
Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Christian Science Monitor.

Mr. Stone is currently chief editor of a fifteen-volume series,
Inalienable Rights, which will be published by the Oxford University Press
between 2006 and 2010. He is working on a new book, Sexing the
Constitution. His past works include Eternally Vigilant: Free Speech in
the Modern Era (2001), The Bill of Rights in the Modern State (1992) (with
Mr. Epstein and Mr. Sunstein), Constitutional Law (5th ed. 2005) (with Mr.
Sunstein), and The First Amendment (2d ed. 2003) (with Mr. Sunstein). Mr.
Stone also serves as an editor of the Supreme Court Review (with Mr.
Hutchinson and Mr. Strauss).

Among his many public activities, Mr. Stone is a member of the national
Board of Directors of the American Constitution Society, a member of the
National Advisory Council of the American Civil Liberties Union,
Vice-President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Law
Institute, a member of the Board of the Renaissance Society, and Chair of
the Board of the Chicago Children's Choir. In the past, he has served as a
member of the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law
Schools, a member of the Board of Advisers of the National Association of
Public Interest Law, a member of the Advisory Board of the Legal Aid
Society, a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Chicago
Hospitals, a member of the Board of Governors of Argonne National
Laboratory, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Chicago Volunteer
Legal Services Foundation.

This year's lecture will be followed by reception and book signing.

Copies of "Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of
1798 to the War on Terrorism" will be available for purchase.

Silha Center activities are made possible by a generous endowment from the
late Otto Silha and his wife, Helen.

FFI: The Silha Center, University of Minnesota School of Journalism and
Mass Communication: 612-625-3421 OR www.silha.umn.edu Location: Cowles
Auditorium at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 301 19th Ave. S.,
Minneapolis, MN 55455


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From: joel michael albers <joel [at] uhcan-mn.org>
Subject: Health care 10.04 7pm

Dear Health Care Activists,
Next MN UHCAN meeting
Wednesday, Oct 4, 7PM-9PM
Walker Church Lower Level Lounge, 3104 16th ave s. (near lake street and 
bloomington ave in Mpls)

Items:

1. Welcome new people, intros, background 

2. Reportbacks: .  - Thanks to MN UHCAN Participants in The Headwaters
Walk for Justice on Sept 17th: Carol, Stephanie,Kristine,
 - Progress on our our new film, Everybody In, Nobody Out (Greg, Neil,
Sanat, Joel)
    - Walker Church's support of MN UHCAN
 -  Single-Payer t-shirts still available to buy or sell, $10.( 82 of 100
sold)

3. Upcoming Forum Saturday, Oct 7, 1-3PM, How Corporations Kill Real HC
Reform and Buy-Off Candidates. See flyer below. Pls attend, distribute
flyer, get the word out.

4. Upcoming Forum Monday Oct 9, 7-9 PM in Prior Lake Library, Public
Policy and Politics of Health Care Reform;  Are the Candidates
Accountable? organized by Art Yeske, and how he has formed a model for
others intested in bringing one together in their community.

5. Forming our own HC Coop Pool: for uninsured,self-employed, small
businesses, artists etc. Buying equipment to do health screenings for the
pool and communities.

6. Solving Medicare Part D Disaster: Big issue for upcoming, Nov election.

7. other items, ideas ? Come on down, bring a friend. Hope to see you
there.

Joel Albers Minnesota Universal Health Care Action Network 612-384-0973
joel [at] uhcan-mn.org www.uhcan-mn.org Health Care Economics Researcher,
Clinical Pharmacist


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Fatal Vision: The Deeper Evil Behind the Detainee Bill
By Chris Floyd, TO UK Correspondent
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Monday 02 October 2006
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100206A.shtml

There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this
country - if the people lose their confidence in themselves - and lose
their roughness and spirit of defiance.
- Walt Whitman

    1.

It was a dark hour indeed on Thursday when the United States Senate voted
to end the constitutional republic and transform the country into a
"Leader-State," giving the president and his agents the power to capture,
torture and imprison forever anyone - American citizens included - whom
they arbitrarily decide is an "enemy combatant." This also includes those
who merely give "terrorism" some kind of "support," defined so vaguely
that many experts say it could encompass legal advice, innocent gifts to
charities or even political opposition to US government policy within its
draconian strictures.

All of this is bad enough - a sickening and cowardly surrender of liberty
not seen in a major Western democracy since the Enabling Act passed by the
German Reichstag in March 1933. But it is by no means the full extent of
our degradation. In reality, the darkness is deeper, and more foul, than
most people imagine. For in addition to the dictatorial powers of seizure
and torment given by Congress on Thursday to George W. Bush - powers he
had already seized and exercised for five years anyway, even without this
fig leaf of sham legality - there is a far more sinister imperial right
that Bush has claimed - and used - openly, without any demur or debate
from Congress at all: ordering the "extrajudicial killing" of anyone on
earth that he and his deputies decide - arbitrarily, without charges,
court hearing, formal evidence, or appeal - is an "enemy combatant."

That's right; from the earliest days of the Terror War - September 17,
2001, to be exact - Bush has claimed the peremptory power of life and
death over the entire world. If he says you're an enemy of America, you
are. If he wants to imprison you and torture you, he can. And if he
decides you should die, he'll kill you. This is not hyperbole, liberal
paranoia, or "conspiracy theory": it's simply a fact, reported by the
mainstream media, attested by senior administration figures, recorded in
official government documents - and boasted about by the president
himself, in front of Congress and a national television audience.

And although the Republic snuffing act just passed by Congress does not
directly address Bush's royal prerogative of murder, it nonetheless
strengthens it and enshrines it in law. For the measure sets forth clearly
that the designation of an "enemy combatant" is left solely to the
executive branch; neither Congress nor the courts have any say in the
matter. When this new law is coupled with the existing "Executive Orders"
authorizing "lethal force" against arbitrarily designated "enemy
combatants," it becomes, quite literally, a license to kill - with the
seal of Congressional approval.

How arbitrary is this process by which all our lives and liberties are now
governed? Dave Niewert at Orcinus has unearthed a remarkable admission of
its totally capricious nature. In an December 2002 story in the Washington
Post, then-Solicitor General Ted Olson described the anarchy at the heart
of the process with admirable frankness:

"[There is no] requirement that the executive branch spell out its
criteria for determining who qualifies as an enemy combatant," Olson
argues.

"'There won't be 10 rules that trigger this or 10 rules that end this,'
Olson said in the interview. 'There will be judgments and instincts and
evaluations and implementations that have to be made by the executive that
are probably going to be different from day to day, depending on the
circumstances.'"

In other words, what is safe to do or say today might imperil your freedom
or your life tomorrow. You can never know if you are on the right side of
the law, because the "law" is merely the whim of the Leader and his
minions: their "instincts" determine your guilt or innocence, and these
flutterings in the gut can change from day to day. This radical
uncertainty is the very essence of despotism - and it is now, formally and
officially, the guiding principle of the United States government.

And underlying this edifice of tyranny is the prerogative of presidential
murder. Perhaps the enormity of this monstrous perversion of law and
morality has kept it from being fully comprehended. It sounds unbelievable
to most people: a president ordering hits like a Mafia don? But that is
our reality, and has been for five years. To overcome what seems to be a
widespread cognitive dissonance over this concept, we need only examine
the record - a record, by the way, taken entirely from publicly available
sources in the mass media. There's nothing secret or contentious about it,
nothing that any ordinary citizen could not know - if they choose to know
it.

    2.

Six days after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush signed a "presidential
finding" authorizing the CIA to kill those individuals whom he had marked
for death as terrorists. This in itself was not an entirely radical
innovation; Bill Clinton's White House legal team had drawn up memos
asserting the president's right to issue "an order to kill an individual
enemy of the United States in self-defense," despite the legal
prohibitions against assassination, the Washington Post reported in
October 2001. The Clinton team based this ruling on the "inherent powers"
of the "Commander in Chief" - that mythical, ever-elastic construct that
Bush has evoked over and over to defend his own unconstitutional
usurpations.

The practice of "targeted killing" was apparently never used by Clinton,
however; despite the pro-assassination memos, Clinton followed the
traditional presidential practice of bombing the hell out of a bunch of
civilians whenever he wanted to lash out at some recalcitrant leader or
international outlaw - as in his bombing of the Sudanese pharmaceutical
factory in 1998, or the two massive strikes he launched against Iraq in
1993 and 1998, or indeed the death and ruin that was deliberately
inflicted on civilian infrastructure in Serbia during that nation's
collective punishment for the crimes of Slobodan Milosevic. Here, Clinton
was following the example set by George H.W. Bush, who killed hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of Panamanian civilians in his illegal arrest of Manuel
Noriega in 1988, and Ronald Reagan, who killed Moamar Gadafy's adopted
2-year-old daughter and 100 other civilians in a punitive strike on Libya
in 1986.

Junior Bush, of course, was about to outdo all those blunderbuss strokes
with his massive air attacks on Afghanistan, which killed thousands of
civilians, and the later orgy of death and destruction in Iraq. But he
also wanted the power to kill individuals at will. At first, the
assassination program was restricted to direct orders from the president
aimed at specific targets, as suggested by the Clinton memos. But soon the
arbitrary power of life and death was delegated to agents in the field,
after Bush signed orders allowing CIA assassins to kill targets without
seeking presidential approval for each attack, the Washington Post
reported in December 2002. Nor was it necessary any longer for the
president to approve each new name added to the target list; the "security
organs" could designate "enemy combatants" and kill them as they saw fit.
However, Bush was always keen to get the details about the agency's
wetwork, administration officials assured the Post.

The first officially confirmed use of this power was the killing of an
American citizen, along with several foreign nationals, by a CIA drone
missile in Yemen on November 3, 2002. A similar strike occurred on
December 4, 2005, when a CIA missile destroyed a house and purportedly
killed Abu Hamza Rabia, a suspected al-Qaeda figure. But the only bodies
found at the site were those of two children, the houseowner's son and
nephew, Reuters reports. The grieving father denied any connection to
terrorism. An earlier CIA strike on another house missed Rabia but killed
his wife and children, Pakistani officials reported.

However, there is simply no way of knowing at this point how many people
have been killed by American agents operating outside all judicial
process. Most of the assassinations are carried out in secret: quietly,
professionally. As a Pentagon document uncovered by the New Yorker in
December 2002 revealed, the death squads must be "small and agile," and
"able to operate clandestinely, using a full range of official and
non-official cover arrangements to ... enter countries surreptitiously."

What's more, there are strong indications that the Bush administration has
outsourced some of the contracts to outside operators. In the original
Post story about the assassinations - in those first heady weeks after
9/11, when administration officials were much more open about "going to
the dark side," as Cheney boasted on national television - Bush insiders
told the paper that "it is also possible that the instrument of targeted
killings will be foreign agents, the CIA's term for nonemployees who act
on its behalf.

Here we find a deadly echo of the "rendition" program that has sent so
many captives to torture pits in Syria, Egypt and elsewhere - including
many whose innocence has been officially established, such as the Canadian
businessman Maher Arar, German national Khalid El-Masri, UK native Mozzam
Begg and many others. They had been subjected to imprisonment and torture
despite their innocence, because of intelligence "mistakes." How many have
fallen victim to Bush's hit squads on similar shaky grounds?

So here we are. Congress has just entrenched the principle of Bush's
"unitary executive" dictatorship into law; and it is this principle that
undergirds the assassination program. As I wrote in December, it's hard to
believe that any genuine democracy would accept a claim by its leader that
he could have anyone killed simply by labeling them an "enemy." It's hard
to believe that any adult with even the slightest knowledge of history or
human nature could countenance such unlimited, arbitrary power, knowing
the evil it is bound to produce. Yet this is exactly what the great and
good in America have done.

But this should come as no surprise. They have known about it all along,
and have not only countenanced Bush's death squad, but even celebrated it.
I'll end with one more passage from that December article, which sadly is
even more apt for our degraded reality today. It was a depiction of the
one of the most revolting scenes in recent American history: Bush's state
of the Union address in January 2003, delivered live to the nation during
the final warmongering frenzy before the rape of Iraq:

Trumpeting his successes in the Terror War, Bush claimed that "more than
3,000 suspected terrorists" had been arrested worldwide - "and many others
have met a different fate." His face then took on the characteristic leer,
the strange, sickly half-smile it acquires whenever he speaks of killing
people: "Let's put it this way. They are no longer a problem."

In other words, the suspects - and even Bush acknowledged they were only
suspects - had been murdered. Lynched. Killed by agents operating
unsupervised in that shadow world where intelligence, terrorism, politics,
finance and organized crime meld together in one amorphous, impenetrable
mass. Killed on the word of a dubious informer, perhaps: a tortured
captive willing to say anything to end his torment, a business rival, a
personal foe, a bureaucrat looking to impress his superiors, a paid snitch
in need of cash, a zealous crank pursuing ethnic, tribal or religious
hatreds - or any other purveyor of the garbage data that is coin of the
realm in the shadow world.

Bush proudly held up this hideous system as an example of what he called
"the meaning of American justice." And the assembled legislators ...
applauded. Oh, how they applauded! They roared with glee at the leering
little man's bloodthirsty, B-movie machismo. They shared his sneering
contempt for law - our only shield, however imperfect, against the blind,
brute, ignorant, ape-like force of raw power. Not a single voice among
them was raised in protest against this tyrannical machtpolitik: not that
night, not the next day, not ever.

And now, in September 2006, we know they will never raise that protest.
Oh, a few Democrats stood up at the last minute on Thursday to posture
nobly about the dangers of the detainee bill - but only when they knew the
it was certain to pass, when they had already given up their one weapon
against it, the filibuster, in exchange for permission from their
Republican masters to offer amendments that they also knew would fail. Had
they been offering such speeches since October 2001, when the lineaments
of Bush's presidential tyranny were already clear - or at any other point
during the systematic dismantling of America's liberties over the past
five years - these fine words might have had some effect.

Now the killing will go on. The tyranny that has entered upon the country
will grow stronger, more brazen; the darkness will deepen. Whitman, thou
should'st be living at this hour; America has need of thee.

Chris Floyd is an American journalist. His work has appeared in print and
online in venues all over the world, including The Nation, Counterpunch,
Columbia Journalism Review, the Christian Science Monitor, Il Manifesto,
the Moscow Times and many others. He is the author of Empire Burlesque:
High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, and is co-founder and
editor of the "Empire Burlesque" political blog. He can be reached at
cfloyd72 [at] gmail.com.

[Of what use or value is the national Democratic Party if it always goes
along with/surrenders to the Republican Party/dictator wannabe Bush/the
quasi-fascist ruling class? It makes us feel good to think there is a
defender there; it takes us off the hook; we don't have to do anything.
But there is no defender there, and if we do nothing we're in for hell on
earth. We have to defend ourselves; no one else will do it for us;
certainly not the national Dems. In what way are they a lesser evil? -ed]


--------22 of 23--------

The Antiwar Struggle, UFPJ and the Democrats
Where Are the Mass Protests?
By JOE ALLEN
CounterPunch
September 27, 2006

By every conceivable measure, the antiwar movement in the United States
should be a vibrant, mass movement.

Forty percent or less of the U.S. population gives the Bush administration
a favorable job rating; other polls show that two-thirds of Americans
think the Iraq war was a "mistake"; and, most importantly, 80 percent of
Iraqis want the U.S.-British occupation of their country to end.

The increasing number of U.S. war dead and the inadequate treatment of
injured and disabled veterans has infuriated many people in the U.S.,
while the exposure of torture and war crimes by U.S. military personnel
has wiped away any "moral superiority" the U.S. claimed over its former
client Saddam Hussein.

When one adds this list to the mounting social cost of paying for the war
with increasing cuts in social welfare programs, one has to ask: why is
our antiwar movement so passive?

The reasons for this are many. The Democrats - the so-called "opposition"
party in the U.S. - have provided crucial support for the war and
occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. There's also the hold of liberalism -
which from the time of FDR through Clinton has always supported an
aggressive U.S. foreign policy - on the U.S. left. The low level of class
struggle, despite the huge inequalities of U.S. society and workers'
growing alienation from the political establishment, is another factor.

Another crucial reason for the weakness of the antiwar movement is the
political course chosen by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the
largest and most visible antiwar coalition in the U.S.

UFPJ's main claim to leadership was the role it played in organizing the
U.S. end of the worldwide antiwar protests on February 15-16, 2003, a
month before the invasion took place.

Yet in the three-and-a-half years since, UFPJ has organized only a very
small number of national mobilizations. And even these have not always
been unambiguously antiwar demonstrations. For example, the clear target
of UFPJ's protest outside the Republican National Convention in August
2004 was George Bush, not the war on Iraq, which has taken place with
bipartisan support.

This past spring, meanwhile, some coalition leaders explicitly described
the New York City demonstration on April 29 - which UFPJ cosponsored with
a wide array of liberal groups - as part of a broader mobilization behind
the Democrats in the 2006 election.

UFPJ's response to the major crisis points for U.S. policy since the
invasion - the leveling of Falluja, the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, the
threats to attack Iran, the recent Israeli-U.S. assault against Lebanon -
has been feeble in terms of protest, while its emphasis on building
support for the so-called antiwar Democrats in Congress has grown more
distinct.

* * *

ONE FACTOR in this strategic orientation is the influence of the Communist
Party (CP) USA, which plays an important part in shaping the direction of
UFPJ. One of UFPJ's co-chairs and most active leaders is Judith LeBlanc,
who is publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party.

For the past 70 years, with few exceptions, the CP has argued that it is
essential for progressive movements hoping to win social change in the
U.S. to support the Democratic Party against the Republicans.

Recently, Sam Webb, the national chair of the CP, put forward the party's
views on antiwar activism and the 2006 election in an article titled
"Ending the occupation, the 2006 elections and tactics," published in the
CP's newspaper, People's Weekly World.

Webb devotes most of article to attacking "some on the left" who "are
against any kind of strategy that isn't immediate'" - an argument
apparently directed at organizations such as the International Socialist
Organization, the publishers of Socialist Worker, and other voices of the
antiwar far left, such as the CounterPunch Web site.

This is not the first time that Sam Webb has put pen to paper to criticize
other left organizations. In the run-up to the 2004 presidential election,
Webb declared, "The responsibility of left and progressive people is not
to spend their time bellyaching over [John] Kerry's shortcomings."

Webb seems to be referring to those who argued that it was disastrous for
antiwar activists to support John Kerry, the Democratic Party's pro-war
candidate for president.

Like Bush, Kerry argued for "pre-emptive" war - "Every nation has a right
to act pre-emptively if it faces an imminent and grave danger," he said.
Kerry voted for a war resolution pushed by the White House in October
2002, then later attempted to claim that he didn't vote to give Bush the
authority to wage a unilateral war - even though the resolution he voted
"yes" on was called the "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against
Iraq."

During the campaign, Kerry called for 25,000 more U.S. troops to be sent
to Iraq. He voted for every funding bill for the occupation of Iraq and
Afghanistan and is an ardent supporter of Israel. He could by no stretch
of the imagination be called an antiwar candidate.

But Webb and the Communist Party's support for Kerry in 2004 went beyond
the traditional "lesser evil" reasoning of the U.S. left - and the
millions of working-class Americans who see little difference between the
Democrats and Republicans, but hold their noses and vote for the candidate
they think will be "least harmful."

Webb demanded that the left present Kerry as a "positive choice" - as he
put it, "to convince millions that there is a choice," because the
"biggest danger in this election isthat a substantial section of voters
still believe that it doesn't make much of a difference who they vote for
on November 2."

Far from being a "positive choice," Kerry's campaign was so right wing and
inept that Bush - who four years before had to steal the vote in Florida
to take the White House - won easily with a 3 million vote margin.

The Democrats - who, before and since the 2004 election, ducked every
opportunity to challenge the Bush administration's policies - got the
unswerving support of a large section of the left, including the Communist
party, to the detriment of the struggle against the Bush agenda.

* * *

NOW, TWO years later, with Bush's policies sinking still lower in public
support - when the anti-war movement should be pressing both parties for
immediate withdrawal from Iraq - Webb is arguing against it.

Instead, he proposes that antiwar activists should support what he calls
an "anti-occupation bloc" in Congress and the various proposals put
forward by its members for "redeployment" of U.S. troops or setting a
deadline for their withdrawal from Iraq.

This "anti-occupation" bloc is an interesting group of people. When the
Republicans called the Democrats' bluff and put forward a resolution last
spring calling for immediate withdrawal, only three House Democrats voted
for it. The rest voted against it - including Rep. John Murtha, whose
"redeployment' plan has been supported by UFPJ, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(D-Ohio), an "antiwar" candidate in the 2004 Democrat primaries, who said
the Republican resolution was "a trick."

While Webb concedes that the demand for "immediate withdrawal" position
"may be correct in the abstract, it is too inflexible as a political
approach." Webb proposes that the antiwar movement follow the lead of
Democrats, whom he describes as "center" and "progressive" forces. "The
most advanced demands of the progressive and center forces - not the
demands of the left - are the basis for building the broadest possible
mass unity and a congressional majority to end the occupation," he writes.

But most congressional Democrats are opposed to setting a deadline for
withdrawal, and even the "antiwar" resolutions put forward by the "out of
Iraq" caucus contain qualifications and vague timetables. The demands that
Webb would have antiwar activists embrace, in reality, are not to "end the
occupation," but to continue it in a different form.

Meanwhile, Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), one of the three Democrats to
vote for the resolution for immediate withdrawal, was defeated in the
recent Democratic primaries by Hank Johnson, a virtual unknown. Johnson
was supported by a coalition of conservative Democrats like former Georgia
Gov. Roy and prominent Republicans like Home Depot co-founder Bernie
Marcus.

* * *

Contrast this Democratic opposition to McKinney with the lavish support -
from the likes of Bill Clinton and rising liberal star Sen. Barack Obama -
for Bush clone Sen. Joe Lieberman in his failed campaign to win the
Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut.

What sense does it make for antiwar activists to support a party that
worked to defeat one of tiny number of opponents of the Iraq War among its
ranks?

The antiwar movement in the United States needs to oppose the various
phony "exit strategies" put forward by the Democratic Party. Some are just
election-year posturing to fool voters disgusted by Bush and Rumsfeld,
while others - for example, Rep. John Murtha's "redeployment" plan - are
schemes for continuing the war on Iraq from outside its borders, most
likely by intensified bombing.

The demand for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and
Afghanistan is the only principled and practical position that the antiwar
movement can take to end the misery brought to the region by the United
States. Support for the Democratic Party is pulling antiwar organizations
further from this principled position - and must be rejected.

Joe Allen writes regularly for CounterPunch, the Socialist Worker and the
International Socialist Review. He lives in Chicago. Email:
joseph.allen4 [at] att.net



--------23 of 23--------

 It's lemming season.
 O what so glorious as
 plunging off this cliff?


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