Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 08.24.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     08.24.05

1. Lurking ordinance   8.24 1:30pm
2. Anti-torture        8.24 3pm
3. Mayor cand forum    8.24 6pm
4. Midtown greenway    8.24 6:30pm
5. Cuba/health/film    8.24 7pm
6. Dag's pics          8.24 7pm
7. Senate topics/Tom's 8.24 7:30pm

8. Elizabeth Dickinson - Small business/big box
9. Diane Christian     - The politics of death
10. Mike Whitney       - Tony Blair's first trophy: "Shoot to Kill"
11. Joshua Frank       - A futile party: the Democrats and Cindy Sheehan
12. Stew Albert        - Fascism in America: are we there yet?
13. Ezra Pound         - Salutation (poem)

--------1 of 13--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Lurking ordinance 8.24 1:30pm

Aug 24 @ 1:30pm:Mpls City Council Hearng on "lurking" ord.

Note from Lydia Howell: Not only do the police use the "Lurking" ordinance
against homeless people - but, it's a also regularly used against far MORE
PEOPLE OF COLOR THAN WHITE FOLKS. It's a huge loophole to roust, search,
harras and arrest people (holding them for hours and often not even
charging them with anything - though the ARREST STAYS ON ONE'S RECORD,
serving to make that person "look suspicious" & hence, providing a FUTURE
JUSTIFICATION FOR FURTHER POLICE HARRASSMENT AND ABUSES. -LH

Please try to make it to this public hearing of the Public Safety Committe
on August 24th. This is a hearing in response to the Decrim Task Force
recommendation to edit out "to do any mischief" from the ordinance
language. (as too vague).

The continued effort on the part of Paul Zerby and Dean Zimmerman to push
forward on Decrim Recs has been extraordinary.  This work and issue
continues to come before our policital leaders via these efforts.

Editing out this phrase may seem a small thing, but it tightens up the
loopholes that can be used against persons experiencing homelessness.

If you cannot make it to the hearing, please e-mail Paul Zerby with your
support for his motion to edit out the above wording. His e-mail is
paul.zerby [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us

Council Member Zerby has made a motion to edit that language out.

It is important for advocates to show our presence either in person or
via e-mail.

-Margaret Hastings

Referred by City Council 8/5/05
6. Lurking:
Ordinance amending Title 15, Chapter 385 of Code relating to
Offenses--Miscellaneous: In General, amending Section 385.80 to remove
the prohibition against lurking with intent to "do any mischief". (Zerby)
Action Taken: Public Hearing Set for August 24th Meeting
Staff report: Lurking Ordn


--------2 of 13--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Anti-torture 8.24 3pm

Wednesday, 8/24 (and every Wednesday), 3 to 4 pm, meeting of anti-torture
group Tackling Torture at the Top, St. Martin's Table, 2001 Riverside,
Minneapolis.  lynne [at] usfamily.net


--------3 of 13--------

From: William G. Kingsbury <langston [at] bitstream.net>
Subject: Mayor cand forum 8.24 6pm

Mayoral Candidate Forum
August 24th at the Women's Club of Minneapolis
6-7pm Candidate Information Displays
7-9pm Candidate Forum
The Women's Club is located at 410 Oak Grove Street.

TOPIC:	Crime & Safety: The Impact on Schools - Housing - Business
MODERATED BY:	The League of Women Voters of Minneapolis
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information: Contact SSCO at #612-871-7307 or CLPC at #612-874-9002


--------4 of 13--------

From: Meg Forney <megf [at] visi.com>
Subject: Midtown greenway 8.24 6:30pm

The City of Minneapolis is funding the adoption of a land use and
development plan for the Midtown Greenway.  This plan will then go through
the formal adoption into the Minneapolis Plan, the Cityıs guiding policy
document. This will be an implementation tool for the City Council.  I
encourage your attendance at these workshops (see attached announcement)
to shape the vision for this corridor which touches 16 different
neighborhoods along the Cityıs ³belly.²

The Midtown Greenway Land Use and Development Plan Open House last month
engaged approximately 100 people to view the past projects, give input on
design guidelines, and indicate area assets and challenges.  Comments I
found of value were: Open space is a priority, especially in regards to
Soo Line gardens; a need for good urban design that creates vitality in
the City; the description by the corridor founder, George Puzak, of the
³verdant corridor;² and the challenge by Park Board candidate Christine
Hansen, ³is the land owner, Hennepin County, guaranteeing this future?²
The choice of the name Greenway certainly sets a mindset and an
expectation of forever green.

With so much pressure to develop, the balancing act of the natural and
built environment is tenuous and continually vulnerable.  Thus, the
opportunity to adopt an overlay to the Cityıs Plan is critical.  The Park
Board has only an ³arms length² relationship to the corridor.  As a
candidate for Park Board, an At-Large position, this concerns me.  As a
Realtor, I know the value of land and itıs role in defining the quality of
life in the City.  Land is a finite resource as well as open space. The
Park Commissionersı primary role is as the stewards of the lands.  Of
late, I have seen the Park Boardıs oversite minimized.

Please plan on attending the two public workshops (notice attached here)
on August 24th (west half) and August 25th (east half)  with opportunities
to determine redevelopment guidelines and respond to various development
concepts.

We need MORE input for the Midtown Greenway Land Use and Development Plan

The City of Minneapolis is working with your community and a consultant team
led by Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. to prepare a plan to guide future
land uses and development in the Midtown Greenway corridor. In July you may
have participated in an open house where you learned about the planning
process and provided your input.  Hereıs your next opportunity:

Community Workshops
August 24, 6:30-8:30pm (west of 35W)        August 25, 6:30-8:30pm (east of
35W)
Salem Lutheran Church, Lounge area        Midtown YWCA, Community Room
28th & Lyndale Ave South                2121 East Lake Street
Spanish interpreter available                Somali interpreter available
Two public workshops will be held in the Greenway area with opportunities to
determine redevelopment guidelines and respond to various development
concepts.

If you have any questions, please contact
Minneapolis Senior City Planner Beth Elliott at 612-673-2442 or
beth.elliott [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us
or visit the Planning Divisionıs website at
Attention. If you want help translating this information, call-
612-673-3737.


--------5 of 13--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Cuba/health/film 8.24 7pm

Wednesday, 8/24, 7pm.  Cuba film "Bloodletting: Life, Death, and
Healthcare" and discussion group at home of Joan Malerich, FFI;
justnad [at] comcast.net or 651-451-4081.


--------6 of 13--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Dag's pics 8.24 7pm

August 24 - Hammarskjoeld: The Photographer.  7pm

Hammarskjoeld's vocation was political science, but his avocations were
many.  A true renaissance man, Dag Hammarskjoeld received his degree in
the humanities, and had far-ranging interests, including poetry,
painting, music, and theology. University of Minnesota Professor Robert
Silberman will focus on Hammrskjoeld's special interest in photography.
Location: American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, MN


--------7 of 13--------

From: John Kolstad <jkolstad [at] millcitymusic.com>
Subject: Senate topics/Tom's 8.24 7:30pm

[This was set up for DFL senate candidate Klobouchar; but with any luck,
other senate candidates and their supporters will show up too. -ed]

There is an important event at Tom's Drugstore tomorrow, August 24 from
7:30-9pm.  Tom's Schneider Drug is Located in Minneapolis on University
Ave and Bedford ( right across from KSTP tv tower and just West of Hwy
280).  Tom's Drug Store Salon has been on going for over 18 years.

There will be 7 mini presentations on topics of vital interest to
Minnesotans and Americans.  These are issues that have a major effect on
our society.

This would also be a wonderful opportunity for any citizen to get a quick,
but substantial overview of these topics, relevant to the US Senate.
This is an extraordinary collection of knowledge and intelligence.  This
is also an event that all our local media should and newspapers should
take advantage of.

NOT NECESSARILY IN ORDER OF PRESENTATION
 1. Martin Sampson -Prof U of MN - on Middle East
 2. Hy Berman - Retired History Prof - Historical significance of this
senate seat.
 3. Phil Shivley- on what relationship with United Europe should be.
 4. Bob Holt - US Energy Policy
 5. Peter Rachleff -History Prof, Macalester- Labor Issues
 6. Kip Sullivan & John Kolstad on why America must enact national health
insurance via single payer.
 7. Ed Fogelman - Prof U of MN - on the Soul of American Democracy - Why
"Was" American Democracy the envy of the world and how can we get it back.

Tom Sen Gupta - owner of Tom's Schneider Drug is a remarkable man in many
respects.  He is passionate about democracy and about citizens having an
active role in what their government does.  But this requires that
citizens be very much aware and knowledgeable of the key issues that
affect their lives.  To this end, Tom has for over 18 years hosted monthly
salons that have drawn a very high caliber of participants and presenters.

Respectfully submitted by John R Kolstad/President, Mill City Music Chair,
Steering Committee, Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition 612/722-6649


--------8 of 13--------

From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com>
Subject: Small Business/Big Box press conference speech

TEXT OF ELIZABETH DICKINSON'S SPEECH ON "BIG BOX" DEVELOPMENT
August 23, 2005

As many of you know, about a year ago I produced a short, 12-minute
documentary called "Always Low" on the negative effects of Wal-Mart on
communities like St. Paul.  This afternoon, as many of you also know, there
is a protest at the St. Paul Wal-Mart, which I will attend.

What you may not know is that the Green Party itself has been very active in
promoting small business through the Metro Independent Business Alliance, a
non-profit membership organization working to strengthen and promote
locally-owned, independent businesses in the Twin Cities region.  The
organization exists to help the Twin Cities maintain its unique community
character, provide continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs, build
economic strength, and prevent the mass displacement of community-based
businesses by national and transnational chains.

Why is small business so important?  First, 75% of all new jobs come from
small businesses.  If an acre of land is devoted to a big box development,
that development will only provide about 25 jobs -- but if that same acre is
devoted to small businesses, it will yield 100 jobs.

Second, relative to their size and profits, small businesses spend three
times as much in the community as do big box stores like Wal-Mart because
they tend to buy, and spend their money, locally.  Money that stays in the
community enriches the community.

Third, local businesses are far more likely to increase the tax base and
reduce homeowners' tax burdens.  The cost to taxpayers for roads, water, and
sewage for big-box development is often more than the payment of sales and
property taxes.  Barnstable, Massachusetts, did a study of big boxes vs.
local businesses and found that downtown stores generated a net annual
surplus -- that's tax revenue minus costs -- of $326 per 1,000 square feet,
while big box stores created an annual tax deficit of $468 per 1000 square
feet.

Today I want to put some proposals on the table for the city of St. Paul.

First, we need to improve our planning and land use policy to ensure that
years of revitalization and investment are not undermined by uncontrolled,
competing retail.  We should think about enacting a temporary moratorium on
construction of large retail stores, like the moratorium currently under
consideration in the City Council.

Additionally, we should look at a size cap, such as either the
50,000-square-foot size cap proposed for the city by the Green Party of St.
Paul, or the 25,000-square-foot size cap suggested for Grand Avenue by the
Summit Hill Association and District 16 Neighborhood Council. This may slow
down the encroachment of multiple formula businesses like CVS, Walgreens and
EQ Life so close to the family-owned Bober Pharmacy.  As a year-long
Consumer Reports investigation noted, independent drugstores like Bober
Pharmacy outperform chain drugstores not only in personal service and the
extras like in-store health screenings, speed of filling prescriptions,
supplying hard-to-find and out-of-stock medicines, but also in the price of
items.

Third,  we should require an economic impact review for any proposed retail
construction of more
than 25,000 square feet.  The impact on tax revenue, city services,
employment, traffic, the downtown
business district, parking, and the community's character should be
examined.  If a store's costs to the city outweigh its benefits, then the
developer should be denied a permit.

Fourth, we should look at restricting the number of formula businesses,
defined as businesses that feature standardized services, methods of
operation, decor, uniforms, architecture, or other features virtually
identical to businesses elsewhere.  Coronado, California allows no more than
10 formula restaurants and requires a special review and permit for all
formula retail stores.  Formula stores make it more difficult for local and
independent businesses like Bober Pharmacy to maintain a foothold in the
city.  St. Paul's caption should not be "Come to St. Paul -- we're just like
everywhere else."

Fifth, we should look at creating Neighborhood Commercial Individual
Districts like those in San Franciso, where ordinances limiting retail
building, sizes and styles are tailored to suit the individual character of
each neighorhood.  The needs of the East Side are going to be different from
the needs of Grand Avenue.

Finally, we should create, within the mayor's office, the position of a
liaison to help small businesses.  The Small Business Development Director
would aid small businesses in practical ways, including:

- Implementing a program of low interest loans like the 2% small business
startup loans Minneapolis already has.

- Creating a list of vacant storefronts and office buildings in each ward so
that small businesses know where to look for suitable spaces, and sharing
those lists with the Small Business Administrations and non-profit groups
like Women Venture, which helps women entrepreneurs start their own
businesses.  We should not lose successful women-owned businesses like
Junonia to Eagan because the city couldn't find them a suitable space.

- Actively soliciting the types of businesses that residents are seeking in
the downtown area -- for example, approaching the Landmark Theatre chain to
take over the empty cinema in the Galtier Plaza.

Small businesses can be the engine of economic growth for St. Paul. They
can, and do -- just look around you on Grand Avenue -- define the atmosphere
of the city.  Their unique character, attention to service, job creation,
local focus, and the value they bring to our community, deserves St. Paul's
respect and support.  Cities -- great, successful cities -- are incubators
of dreams.  If St. Paul is to be an incubator of dreams, we must help our
best and most imaginative entrepreneurs make their dreams a working reality.


--------9 of 13--------

Life Precedes Liberty
The Politics of Death
By DIANE CHRISTIAN
CounterPunch
August 23, 2005

"History, we don't know. We'll all be dead."
 -George W. Bush to Bob Woodward, on how history will judge his Iraq war

Death is different things in different focuses - a natural end, a
punishment for sin, a tool of sacrifice or domination. Morality can be
constructed on refusing to inflict death or on inflicting it. Recently US
politicians have embraced both positions. In the case of Terry Schiavo,
the Florida woman declared brain dead, the US Congress and the President
intervened to prevent her death by removal of a feeding tube. In Iraq, the
US Congress and the President ordered the deaths of thousands of soldiers
and civilians by authorizing war. In both cases the legislations about
death were justified as correct and good. Death was deemed an evil to be
avoided in the Schiavo case and a necessary evil to accomplish good ends
in the Iraq war. In the Schiavo case, the President called for extreme
restraint in allowing a braindead woman to die; in the war initiative he
sought the deaths of Saddam Hussein's regime and accepted the collateral
killing of thousands of innocents.

Both Bush's moves in the Schiavo case and in the Iraq War polled first as
politically acceptable, then later as unacceptable. Bush's comment to
Woodward about historical judgment treats history like a poll. His
analysis is political. Politics is present tense. The leader acts to hold
political power, which is the end or shaping moral principle. The language
is about winning. From Bush's political point of view being a war
president worked, and he boasted that winning a second term proved he was
right, that the American people agreed with him about the Iraq war.
Election might signals right. Sophocles' Antigone disputed that very
point - saying winners have power, but power doesn't make right.

Most people think of America as on the side of Creon the tyrant not
Antigone the martyr on the issue of political power. Creon is the ruler
who says 'what I say goes, don't bury your rebellious brother' while
Antigone pleads a duty higher than ruler's law. She says that if her
brother who sided with Creon had been killed, she would bury him also. The
right of family burial supercedes political vengeance. When people discuss
Antigone's courage they usually frame her conflict as family versus
government allegiance. But Sophocles' play really places the sharper
conflict. Does political might make right, does it justify the death
penalty, can the commander-in-chief do anything with impunity? In American
Westerns the law is enforced by the marshall who carries the gun. Judge
Roy Bean puts his rifle on the court bar and refers to it as the supreme
court. American Westerns are full of heroes loathe to kill but pressed to
do it to save white women or menaced towns or law and order. The
willingness to impose death is not just cowboy American either. As Stokely
Carmichael observed, violence is as American as apple pie. Our history is
full of death - waging brutality - toward Indians and slaves and sweat
shop workers and one another. Like much Iraq history which looked to the
lugal or big strongman, Americans mostly elect presidents willing to kill,
who uphold the death penalty and preach strong defense for the country.

At the same time, our culture imagines itself as kindly. We justify the
violence we do as grudging, necessary, correct, and good. To the outsider,
America may appear wildly hypocritical. We kill and terrorize while
claiming to extirpate killing and terrorism. The righteousness may be
wearing thin. That's what I make of Bush's comment to Woodward. I don't
think he meant that history's judgment is far away or inscrutable. I think
he simply says it doesn't matter to him. It isn't even worth the usual
rationalizations and protestations of faith.

The rationalizations of the Iraq War - weapons of mass destruction and
imminent danger - proved faulty. The protestations of faith morphed from
killing the evil ones to freeing the oppressed to democratic
nation-building. World opinion indicted Bush, and only a few argue that if
democracy prevails in the Middle East he'll be seen as a bold leader. But
Bush's political position remains cogent. He's a war president.
Death-dealing is power - raw and real. We're alive and using it. In
history we'll all be dead - who cares about long-term judgment? The
politics of death is amoral - you can construct it positively or
negatively. It's real meaning is power now.

Bush's strength is in draping this with relentless pious sunniness: War is
hard but good; the sacrifices are noble; the cause is just; the nation is
united behind our brave soldiers; hope is rising; we rule. His is not a
delusion of religion. It is a delusion of politics. More dangerous.

The politics of death are pragmatic and amoral. As Machiavelli observed,
the ability to inflict death signals absolute power. Americans have not
only sought politicians who support the death penalty and are willing to
wage war or at least to threaten it, they also approve political
assassination. Just as most advanced societies move away from the death
penalty and seek to avoid war, America's current political climate permits
the death penalty and embraces war as its duty.

Karl Rove summed it succinctly: "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in
the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11
attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and
understanding for our attackers." Rove's response is the opposite of
Christ's counsel to turn the other cheek when struck and not to resist
evil. Rove's is the politicizing response which turns power to rule and
assert dominance.

He maps moral categories of good and evil to an amoral separation between
the strong who are willing to kill and the weak who seek peace. Embracing
the infliction of death becomes the test to identify the righteous,
cleansing, and strong. But it's a pose; the real battle is about politics,
about Republicans defeating Democrats, conservatives trouncing liberals.
Political righteousness is even thinner than religious. It's also more
fickle.

Bush reveals the fault or the hypocrisy of American ideals. Our great and
tolerant and individual-affirming government ideal of life and liberty
sometimes turns to death and force.

Truth is, life precedes liberty. You cannot be free unless you're alive.
So the politics of death are always at odds with the ideal. Great energy
is expended to fudge this. The Battle Hymn of the Republic is a fine
example:"As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free." The
stirring analogy is faulty and confuses agency. Christ who would not kill
and suffered death is equated with the soldier charged to kill and slain
for national goals. The killing part - Christ doesn't, the soldier does -
completely disappears. It merges via death into noble self-sacrifice and
messianic divinity. The Battle Hymn of the Republic asks the same willing
life sacrifice that bin Laden asks of his suicide bombers. Both ask
warriors to kill and be killed for a cause.

It is precisely at this intersection of taking life that political
positions invoke or become religious positions because inflicting death is
an absolute act.

It is true that we shall all be dead. The religious idea is usually that
this realization should make us act better, though Ecclesiastes says it's
what drives us mad and makes us act badly. You can argue it either way.
But a politics of death counsels seize the day, let others think about
judgment. History, who knows, we'll all be dead.

It is careless. And heartless. And cruel. Deliberately.

Diane Christian is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor at University at
Buffalo and author of the new book Blood Sacrifice. She can be reached at:
engdc [at] acsu.buffalo.edu


--------10 of 13--------

Tony Blair's First Trophy
"Shoot to Kill"
By MIKE WHITNEY
CounterPunch

Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27 year old Brazilian electrician, was
apprehended by Scotland Yard's special Firearms Unit on July 22 in the
London subway, and shot 7 times in the head at point-blank range. He
becomes the first victim of Britain's new "shoot-to-kill" policy and the
first trophy in Blair's war on civil liberties.

When Tony Blair boasted two weeks ago that "the rules had changed", he
probably never imagined that his edict would produce such immediate and
horrific results. But, let's be clear; Blair's bloody fingerprints are all
over this pointless murder just as they are in the deaths of tens of
thousands of Iraqis who have been unable to avoid British and American
aggression in their own country.

At present, the blame for the incident has been shifted onto acting Police
chief Sir Ian Blair, the main-player in a massive and inept cover-up of
the events surrounding the shooting. Sir Ian delivered a statement shortly
after the killing that has since been completely discredited. The Police
Chief said:

"Whatever else they (the police) were doing, they clearly thought they
were faced with a suicide bomber and they were running towards him. That
is cold courage of an extraordinary sort." There was nothing "cavalier or
capricious" about the way the police carried out their duties which,
according to him, were "directly linked to anti-terrorist operations".

Blair insisted that his officers had no choice but to use "lethal force".

All lies.

In fact, according to eyewitness accounts, de Menezes was actually held
down and shot while sitting quietly with his newspaper!

Police Chief Blair knew from the very beginning that de Menezes was not
wearing a "thick, padded coat which could hide explosives", "did not run
from police", "did not vault the barrier at the underground Tube," "had
used his Tube Pass" to board the subway, and "had taken a seat before
being grabbed by an officer". All of these fabrications were leaked to the
press and never refuted by Scotland Yard for more than 3 days, until the
truth began to surface.

How do we know that Blair knew the real facts of the case?

Because at least 12 members of the various police units who were present
at the crime scene had to report directly to Blair.

Every detail of incident that appeared the press has been refuted and
summarily disproved.

Even more bizarre, the police had confirmed that the man they were looking
for was "not white", and yet, de Menezes was positively identified as
white just minutes before he was shot and killed.

As one British tabloid said, "It was a massive cock-up".

What really took place in the London subway on July 22 was a
"gangland-style" hit carried out by anti-terror goons masquerading as law
enforcement officers. The operation was supposed to prove that the police
needed the ability to use "lethal force" to ensure public safety but,
instead, it only further undermined public confidence. The entire drill
made Tony Blair's Israeli-trained "Firearms Unit" look like little more
than shambling storm troopers.

Now, the policy of "shoot-to-kill", the cornerstone of Blair's anti-terror
strategy, will have to be reviewed and hopefully, shelved.

Law enforcement should NEVER be permitted to use "deadly force" in any
situation other than self defense. Their primary duty is to protect the
rights of citizens, not to provide a security-apparatus for the state. The
new shoot to kill policy confers absolute authority on the police,
allowing them to act as judge, jury and Lord High executioner. It's a
prescription for disaster as the de Menezes case proves.

The incident in the London subway points out how Blair plans to reshape
the law to enhance his own power. The Prime Minister started hacking away
at civil liberties even before the dust had settled over the London
subway. He immediately recommended a 12 point "Anti-terror Program" that
savages free speech, suspends habeas corpus and due process, and gives the
state to the right deport aliens without judicial review.

The new legislation declares "open season" on minorities; allowing the
police to completely disregard the traditional restraints that protect
foreign visitors.

Blair has exploited the London bombings to the maximum; trying to use the
violence to curtail (what Charles Krauthammer calls) Britain's
"pathological openness" through "shrinkage of civil liberties".

"Pathological openness"? Now there's a euphemism that could have been
minted in 1938 Nuremburg.

Tony Blair's "The rules have changed" speech was nothing but a public
relations scam intended to announce the launching of martial law against
minorities. His proclamation was no different than Bush's edicts about the
"war on terror", which has led to the detention and abuse of hundreds of
Muslims. Both are transparent schemes designed to eviscerate civil
liberties and increase the power of the executive.

The unfortunate death of young Mr. de Menezes is the inevitable outcome of
policies that were devised to lay the foundation for autocratic
government. Britain, Australia and the United States are moving pell-mell
in the direction of Israel; the apartheid, police-state that conceals its
lack of democracy behind the pretense of periodic elections. It comes as
no surprise that Scotland Yard's "Firearms unit" was trained by Israeli
anti-terror goons. The "shoot-to-kill" policy has a long pedigree in
Israel; where justice is casually meted out by war criminals at the top of
the political pyramid. The shooting of innocent suspects is just the
beginning if this "Israelization" process; it unavoidably leads to endless
detentions, state-sanctioned torture and collective punishment; all in the
name of "fighting terror".

Blair, Bush and Howard have all turned to a model of governance that
justifies the absolute, unchecked authority of the state over the rights
of the citizen. De Menezes is just the first casualty in this incipient
struggle. He won't be the last.

Note: a "must read" column in the New York Times "When You Have to Shoot
First" 7-28-05, by ex-IDF Haim Watzman. Watzman defends the right of the
London police to kill de Menezes on the mere suspicion of being a
terrorist. He also supports the killing of "wounded and disabled" persons
who could potentially be terrorists even if they are unarmed and trying to
surrender!?!

"Purity of Arms"?

According to Watzman the officer who "killed Mr. Menezes did a horrible
thing. But he also did the right thing" to avoid the risk of the
"gratuitous horrors" of terrorism.

It's chilling reading for those who really want to grasp where Blair and
Bush plan to take the nation.

Mike Whitney can be reached at: fergiewhitney [at] msn.com


--------11 of --------

A Futile Party
The Democrats and Cindy Sheehan
By JOSHUA FRANK
CounterPunch
August 23, 2005

Cindy Sheehan is exactly what we needed. Following the 2004 elections the
antiwar movement was left in shambles, unable to recover from the
malfunctions of the Democratic Party. MoveOn.org had capitulated its
antiwar position by supporting John pro-war Kerry. United for Peace and
Justice did not organize a single rally against the Iraq occupation. The
Green Party forgot it was an election year and endorsed a no-name
candidate from Texas. Indeed, the "Anybody but Bush" epidemic had crushed
whatever movement there was to begin with.

But now the war opposition is coming back to life. The floodgates are
open. Bush's approval rating has dipped into the 30% range. George W. Bush
is not a popular president. As I write, the White House PR machine is
putting together a series of speeches for Bush to give over the course of
the next month - where he'll be calling for more public support for the
nonsensical war. Aides to the President say he'll be drawing parallels
between Iraq and WWII. Apparently victory takes some time.

Well over 1,800 US troops have died in the conflict thus far. Surely
thousands more will perish as the illegal occupation continues. The war's
defenders are having a difficult time rationalizing their support.

As this new invigorated opposition to the Iraq war comes to a head with
media savvy Sheehan at the helm, one would assume the Democratic Party
would find its voice. What do they have to lose? Certainly not elections.
And certainly not their own popularity. They have none. Even with Bush
down in the polls the Democrats are not able to capitalize. They have not
added an ounce to the antiwar campaign other than a few laughable gestures
concerning the Downing Street Memos. Other than that, they have been
completely silent. Pathetic, in fact. Save Senator Russ Feingold who is
now calling for a mediocre withdrawal plan. But even Russ's half-assed
call to withdrawal troops by December 2006 is being challenged within the
Democratic establishment by the liberal warmongers.

Antiwar Howard Dean, the restless chair of the DNC, says it is the
responsibility of the Bush administration to come up with an exit
strategy, not the Democrats'. Talk about the inability to offer an
alternative. What makes Dean believe Bush could ever provide any
reasonable ... anything? Let alone an exit policy? Dean's tangled jargon
is just another case of the Democrat's inability to be a legitimate
oppositional party.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, two prominent Democrats in the race
for the White House in 2008, aren't having any of Feingold either. Stay
the course, they say. Whatever the hell that means. Stay the course of
what? Have they forgotten that there is no goal. No plan. No course. What
we do know however, is that thousands more troops and civilians are sure
to die as the US continues to occupy Iraq.

Fortunately the grassroots of the Democratic Party does not agree with
Kerry and Clinton. They want the troops out of Iraq. Many claim that this
riff between the party grassroots and the DC Democrats is a fundamental
identity crisis. They see the party as having no legitimate direction. No
heart. No soul. They are right.

If Democratic politicians had a soul they'd be standing shoulder to
shoulder with Sheehan's supporters at candle light vigils across the
country. But that won't be happening anytime soon. The Democrats in DC
aren't even sure Sheehan's actions are justified. They aren't even sure
that her son died for an unjust cause.

The futility of the Democrats in Washington grows graver by the day.

Joshua Frank is the author of the brand new book, Left Out!: How Liberals
Helped Reelect George W. Bush, which has just been published by Common
Courage Press. You can order a copy at a discounted rate at
www.brickburner.org. Joshua can be reached at Joshua [at] brickburner.org.

[ED COMMENT:

Nevertheless, how many progressives will drop everything else and
dutifully line up to vote for the disgraceful Hillary in 2008? Too many.
Way too many. It should be NONE. It is sad when we can see mass impotence
THREE YEARS before the next phony stolen election, three years in which we
could have done something about it, but didn't. Perhaps we don't care much
anymore for life on earth.

Time to review the definition of "effete"

1. exhausted of vigor or energy; worn out. 2. lacking in wholesome vigor;
decadent. 3. unable to produce; sterile.

and "decadence"

1. the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state;
decay; deterioration. 2. moral decay; self-indulgence.

and "decay"

1. to become decomposed; rot. 2. to decline in excellence, prosperity,
health, etc; deteriorate.]


-------12 of 13--------

Are We There Yet?
Fascism in America
By STEW ALBERT
CounterPunch
August 23, 2005

Is America going fascist? Or has the cursed event already happened? It
depends on your definition of fascism. What usually occurs in a fascist
scenario?

* Labor unions are weak and the right to strike is denied by law. In
Bush's America, the unions and their solidarity are extremely weak. The
right to strike is still permitted by law, but strikes seldom happen and
when they do, as in the current case of Northwest Airlines, scabs are
brought in and management and the White House collude about how best to
crush the workers. A merging of giant corporations and the State is well
along.

* Civil liberties are declining in number and the right to assert them
grows increasingly chancy. When the Patriot Act is combined with a variety
of authoritarian laws passed during the Clinton administration and
fanatics are placed in charge of the secret police, those who do speak out
against the government must carefully watch their words. Much of what was
once permitted to rebels is now against the law. Indeed, with secret
trials, undisclosed prisons and torture, one may question to what extent
the law actually still exists.

* The increasingly Draconian regime faces a weak, dispirited and divided
opposition. America is almost a de facto one party state where the
Democrats pay Bush the highest compliment by trying to imitate him. And
many in the radical left and progressive movements (Cindy excepted) aren't
able to go beyond silly sectarianism or tactical and organizational
incompetence. --- The rise and glorification of irrational philosophy. The
current government assault on scientific thought in the name of Christian
extremism and phobic nationalism easily fills that requirement.
Additionally, a cultural war rages where authoritarian religious values
deride and delegitimize their opponents as practitioners of decadence and
treason.

* Fascism tends to be warlike and criminally aggressive. The invasion of
Iraq combined with the flag waving, ultraviolence and official big lies
does the trick. And the ongoing threats to Syria and Iran strengthens the
case.

* We usually find a "Duce" in charge. A character created by image
manipulation and propaganda. Every attempt has been made to put Bush over
as a triumph of the will cowboy hero who flies big airplanes and struts on
flight decks in his special uniform. The effort to create a sneering
superman hasn't completely worked because Dubya comes across as a little
too dumb for the task.

* Racism is usually part of the fascist mix. The post 9/11 antidemocratic
assault on Arabs and certain Muslim Asians combined with the panic and
minute man vigilantism taking place on the Mexican border satisfies this
similarity.

* Free elections no longer take place although fascism may permit some
stage managed electoral activity. George Bush was not elected President in
2000. The Presidential election was fixed in Florida. Doubts continue
about the integrity of the 2004 election. There is authentic concern about
the introduction of non paper trail computer voting. And Republicans are
redistricting to assure their Congressional power.

The leaders of this fascist construction have been following a successful
right wing version of Gramscian analysis. They have gradually been
building an authoritarian culture within the framework of ordinary civil
society and have now reached a point of power where they have begun
reconstructing the State.

When making judgments about fascism's presence we should not just look at
the final totalitarian model that developed in Europe during the 1930s.
Fascism passed through various stages and wasn't born overnight in its
final horrible form. And it's possible that America will never go the full
route. It may even develop am Americo-fascism with a human face. But there
is a difficulty with this speculation. The fascisms of Europe evolved in
opposition to the rise of the proletariat and the challenge of socialism.
Hence it included and corrupted certain aspects of socialism in its
practice. It always contained an element of welfare state in its structure
and defined itself as a middle way between liberal capitalism and
socialism.

American fascism is flowering in a post socialist era in which global
capitalists feels fully free to bury the welfare state. Because of this
historical circumstance, American fascism has within itself the potential
for an unearthly collective barbarism.

Stew Albert runs the Yippie Reading Room. His memoir, Who the Hell is Stew
Albert?, is just out from Red Hen Press. He can be reached at:
stewa [at] aol.com


--------13 of 13--------

 Salutation
 Ezra Pound

 O generation of the thoroughly smug
        and thoroughly uncomfortable,
 I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
 I have seen them with untidy families,
 I have seen their smiles full of teeth
        and heard ungainly laughter.
 And I am happier than you are,
 And they were happier than I am;
 And the fish swim in the lake
        and do not even own clothing.


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   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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