Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 09.09.05

[David Shove (shove001]

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     09.09.05

1. Counter recruitment 9.09 11am
2. Hurricane funds     9.09 12noon
3. Coldwater           9.09 3pm
4. Hurricane funds     9.09 4pm
5. Palestine vigil     9.09 4:15pm
6. Ortiz poetry        9.09 7pm
7. Indie Shabbat       9.09 7pm
8. Play about torture  9.09 7pm
9. Hurricane bene/PBS  9.09 7pm
10. Rock for peace     9.09 7pm
11. Indiginas/film+    9.09 7pm
12. War plays project  9.09 7:30pm
13. Katrina/NOW/PBS    9.09 9:30pm
14. Palestine          9.09 tba
15. FOR/peace/justice  9.09-11 Frontenac MN
16. AmIndian festival  9.09-11

17. Cindy Sheehan    - What kind of extremist will you be? [copy widely!]
18. Dan LaBotz       - Rehnquist: the Chief Injustice
19. Juan Gonzalez    - Shell game at gas stations pays big
20. Bill Van Auken   - New Orleans war zone: a dress rehearsal for martial law?
21. Stephen Sondheim - More (song)
22. ed               - Plutocratiat (poem)


--------1 of 22--------

From: sarah standefer <scsrn [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Counter recruitment 9.09 11am

"Our Children Are Not Cannon Fodder"
CounterRecruitment Demonstration
Fridays   11-12 noon
Recruitment Office in Stadium Village at the U of M.
1/2 block east of Oak St on Washington Ave.
for info call Barbara Mishler 612-871-7871


--------2 of 22--------

From: ereiam j.h. <sembl001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Hurricane fund 9.09 12noon

This Friday - 12noon-1pm - Table collecting for People's Hurricane Fund @
corner of Washington & Church St

Support progressive forces in New Orleans Black and working class
communities! Donate to the People's Hurricane Fund

This Friday, September 9, from 12:00 - 1:00, we will be collecting
donations for the newly-formed People's Hurricane Fund. We will have a
table set up at the corner of Washington and Church Streets, on the U of M
East Bank campus near Coffman Union. All money collected will be sent
directly to the People's Hurricane Fund.

The People's Hurricane Fund has been set up by Community Labor United
(CLU), a coalition of progressive organizations throughout New Orleans
which was founded in 1998. The fund will be directed and administered by
New Orleans evacuees.

They have issued a set of progressive demands to struggle over how the
evacuees from New Orleans are treated, and related to the character of the
reconstruction of New Orleans (will it be rebuilt to serve the rich or the
poor and working class). To that end they are also calling for community
oversight over the rebuilding process.

You can see their September 5th statement and list of demands here:
http://www.qecr.org

If you are unable to make it to the table at that time, you can send
donations directly to The People's Hurricane Fund, c/o Vanguard Public
Foundation, 383 Rhode Island St., Ste 301, San Francisco, CA 94103

This table and collection are being organized by Fight Back! Newspaper
(www.fightbacknews.org). For more information, email
info [at] fightbacknews.org


--------3 of 22--------

From: Friends of Coldwater <susujeffrey [at] msn.com>
Subject: Coldwater 9.09 3pm

The US Fish & Wildlife Service opens the gate to this sacred spring for
only one hour a week, Friday afternoons from 3-4 PM. That closure
contravenes the 1805 treaty--but the water still flows.

For a Coldwater entrance permit application call Fish & Wildlife
authorities at 612-713-5306 (fill it out, send it back & they'll process &
return it to you).


--------4 of 22--------

From: Todd Heintz <proud2liveinjordan [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Hurricane funds 9.09 4pm

Hurricane Katrina Fundraiser
Feeding the Least, Increasing the Peace and Cub Foods On West Broadway
invites you to help support our Sisters and Brothers who have been
devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

We will be selling Hot dogs and drinks provided by Cubs and Pepsi for
$1.00 dollar or what ever you choose to donate to raise funds to help
those who are in need.

So come join us on Friday, September 9
4-7pm
Cub Foods, Located at 701 West Broadway in North Minneapolis,
The first 250 people will receive MN. Twins Tickets.

There will also be special quest appearances. For more information contact
Ms. Brianna Miller @651-707-2135

This event is supported by Pepsi, Pan O'Gold Bakery, African American
Family Services, Holding Forth the Word of Life International Ministries,
Southside Health Center, Ms Shantel King and friends, KMOJ RADIO, and many
other community organizations, businesses, churches, and corporations.


--------5 of 22--------

From: peace 2u <tkanous [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Palestine vigil 9.09 4:15pm

Every Friday
Vigil to End the Occupation of Palestine

4:15 pm - 5:15 pm
Summit & Snelling, St. Paul

There are now millions of Palestinians who are refugees due to Israel's
refusal to recognize their right under international law to return to
their own homes since 1948.


--------6 of 22--------

From: Mary Turck <mturck [at] americas.org>
Subject: Ortiz poetry 9.09 7pm

Friday, September 9-7pm. Noche Cultural: FREE. Resource Center of the
Americas, 3019 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis 55406 FFI: 612-276-0788.

Emmanuel Ortiz reads from his new poetry chapbook, Brown unLike Me: Poems
>From the Second Layer of Our Skin. In his sophomore volume of poems, Ortiz
explores the relationship between the individual and family, community,
society, place and history, as well as the complex layers and meanings of
being brown/Latino/Caribbean/other. Sometimes bonding, sometimes biting,
these bittersweet poems take the reader on a journey from San Francisco to
San Cristobal to San Juan, through airport customs, into prisons, from
bookstores to basketball courts, and speak to the experience of living
with multiple identities within a single body. With special guests:
Palabrista poets Teresa Ortiz and Rodrigo Sanchez.


--------7 of 22--------

From: Alyse <alyse [at] jewishcommunityaction.org>
Subject: Indie Shabbat 9.09 7pm

Indie Shabbat
The next Indie Shabbat is Friday September 9th, 7pm at Journey's house in
Minneapolis (directions available on request/ RSVP) We will be having
another vegetarian potluck with great conversation. Please email and RSVP
to let us know what dish you'd like to share

**Indie (Independent) Jews is an initiative of Jewish Community Action.
It is a group of Jews who are not members of synagogues, but are looking
to form an independent community.  Open and welcome to all.

Alyse Erman Jewish Community Action 651-632-2184
alyse [at] jewishcommunityaction.org

For more information about Jewish Community Action visit
 www.jewishcommunityaction.org


--------8 of 22--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Play about torture 9.09 7pm

Ben Kreilkamp's provocative new play, "When Reason Sleeps", is being
performed twice more at the Bryant Lake Bowl (information below). The
performance dates are Friday September 9 at 7pm (doors 6pm) and Thursday
September 15 at 10pm. (doors at 9:30).

"When Reason Sleeps" had a successful run at this year's Fringe Festival
at the Illusion Theater, with audiences responding strongly for and
against this thought-provoking play. Audience comments are still available
at fringefestival.org. Just click on 'audience reviews' and then scroll
down to "When Reason Sleeps".

One of the few overtly political plays in this year's fringe, "When Reason
Sleeps" addresses a most disturbing fact of the current national
situation, U.S. policies and practice of torture in connection with the
'War on Terror'.  No feel good piece of nationalist denial, the play
considers some of the personal implications of the administration's
policies. It raises the question of citizen accountability in a democracy,
where in some measure 'the government' is 'our government'. The play asks
questions, and answers are left to the individual, as befits a democratic
debate. Carolyn Petrie (in the Pioneer Press) wrote: "You may hate it, but
it'll get you thinking."

While serious, the play is also quite funny. The playwright terms it a
'nightmare comedy.' Kristin Van Loon (artistic director of the Bryant Lake
Bowl Theater) says "I laughed my ass off."  Other comments include:
"disturbingly funny", and "kick-ass political theater".

John Townsend of Lavender says "When Reason Sleeps is definitely a
satirical gem."

The same cast is performing:  Ben Kreilkamp (as the 'tortured artist'),
Rhonda Lund (as the mostly holy nun), Marian Kimball Eichinger (as the
'distractress'), Matthew Spector (as the 'protector of our freedom'), and
Nate Krantz (playing the guard).

For those who missed it at the Fringe or who want to catch it again or who
saw it and want to tell friends, this could be the last chance.  The
theater at Bryant Lake Bowl is an intimate space so it would be advisable
to make reservations.

Tickets are $12 and there will be a two dollar discount for those with a
fringe button.  Reservations: 612-825-8949

Bryant Lake Bowl, a unique combination restaurant, bar, bowling alley and
theater is located at 810 W. Lake St., two blocks West of Lyndale
(www.bryantlakebowl.com). Full food and bar menu is available in the
theater and parking is free on the street.


--------9 of 22--------

From: Lee Dechert <LDechert [at] tpt.org>
Subject: Hurricane bene/PBS 9.09 7pm

On Friday Sept 9 at 7pm, tpt and other PBS stations will carry a live
one-hour special to benefit those impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Almanac, Washington Week and NOW will air at 8:00, 9:00 and 9:30 p.m.
respectively.


--------10 of 22--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Rock for peace 9.09 7pm

Friday, 9/9, 7 to 10 pm, free "Rock for Peace" concert by 3 local bands
(info on the draft, recruitment, consciencious objection, etc.), Como Park
Streetcar Station, Lexington and Horton, St. Paul.
www.parkpeace.org/military.html or 651-644-3927.


--------11 of 22--------

From: lisa fink <lisa [at] saseonline.org>
Subject: Indiginas/film+ 9.09 7pm

WORDS! CAMERA! ACTION!
Friday, September 9, at 7pm, Intermedia Arts
$7 ($5 for Intermedia Arts and SASE members and youth under 17)

INDIGENAS
Films, Performances and Stories from Indigenous Perspectives

A quarterly program, Words! Camera! Action! is a creative fusion of spoken
word and moving images meant to inspire community action. Words! Camera!
Action! is a presentation of Intermedia Arts and SASE: The Write Place.

On September 9, the theme is Indigenas - a unique conversation through
dance, song, poetry and film created for, by and about women from
indigenous cultures inspired by stories and images from Native American
films and videos.

Last March, local Karen dancers, singers and storytellers shared their
stories, dance and music as part of Words! Camera! Action! - Matriarchs.
Their stories were challenging to the storytellers and the listeners
alike. By using artistic expression to catalyze better understanding of
their indigenous experience, White Earth Anishinabe writer and performance
artist Marcie Rendon is leading a writing workshop with local Karen
immigrant women. Through Indigenas, they will weave an onstage/onscreen
dialogue to ask questions, share histories, find commonalities around
indigenous and immigrant stories.

The Karens are an indigenous cultural minority from the highlands near the
Myanmar-Thai border who have had to struggle against human rights abuses
and displacement. There are about 450 Karen refugees now living in
Minnesota.

Tickets are $7 ($5 for Intermedia Arts and SASE members and youth under
17). Intermedia Arts is located at 2822 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis,
MN 55408. For more information about Words! Camera! Action!, please call
(612) 871-4444 or visit www.intermediaarts.org.

Intermedia Arts is a catalyst that builds understanding among people
through art.

SASE: The Write Place is the literary arts organization that believes
everyone can be a writer.  Dedicated to helping people of all ages and
abilities find their voice and get their voice heard, SASE (pronounced
"sassy") strives to effect change through writing by offering a variety of
community programs, such as residencies in k-12 schools and social service
agencies, grants, workshops, mentorships and readings, and houses the only
poetry-specific library in Minnesota

CONTACTS:
 Marlina Gonzalez Intermedia Arts 612-874-2803 marlina [at] intermediaarts.org
www.intermediaarts.org
 Lisa Fink SASE: The Write Place 612-822-2500 lisa [at] saseonline.org
www.saseonline.org


---------12 of 22--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: War plays project 9.09 7:30pm

September 9 - The War Plays Project.  7:30pm

Performance of the War Plays Project by actress/director Frances Ford.
Sponsored by Twin Cities Friends Meeting, Veterans for Peace and the
Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Location: New Main Cafe, New Main Hall, St. Paul campus of Metropolitan
State University

--
From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>

We are looking to get this into schools, churches and college settings if
you know of any connections). Thanks for passing this along and attending
if you can! ... Chante Wolf, VFP.

Wanted to remind folks of Fran Ford's War Play project: "Letters To,
Letters From, ... Letters Never Written"

Exploring the costs of war to veterans and to their families, LETTERS TO,
entertains, shocks and provokes by using the words of Minnesota veterans
in a theatrical setting.

Refreshments will be served after the performance, and we invite you to
stay and share your reactions. A free will donation will be collected.

The performance will be presented at in the basement of New Main Hall on
7th Street, St. Paul For more information please call 651-793-6437.


--------13 of 22--------

From: Sue Ann <mart1408 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Katrina/NOW/PBS 9.09 9:30pm

The acclaimed weekly newsmagazine NOW on PBS will devote all if its
programs in September to covering Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
The coverage, which (began Friday 9/2, 8:30pm, tpt-2; repeating Sunday
9/4, 5:30pm, tpt-17)  with a report on why New Orleans was virtually
defenseless against Hurricane Katrina, will include a special one-hour
broadcast on September 16, entitled "Katrina: The Response."

That program, which will be taped at WLPB, the PBS station in Baton Rouge,
will gather an audience of citizens, experts and officials to concentrate
on the rapid response failure and the challenges ahead.  The town-hall
meeting will be moderated by NOW's host David Brancaccio. "In the 24-hour
coverage of events on the ground, our goal is to provide our audience with
an alternative," says Brancaccio.  "We're going to be looking analytically
at the tough issues: the shortcomings in the emergency response; how our
public policy fell short; and the ethical questions raised from the
looting and disorder that have followed this disaster.  We want to know
what the people and the experts closest to this tragedy can tell us about
what happened and why.". . .

Web Site: http://www.pbs.org/now.

-
On Friday Sept 9 at 7pm, tpt and other PBS stations will carry a live
one-hour special to benefit those impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Almanac, Washington Week and NOW will air at 8:00, 9:00 and 9:30 p.m.
respectively.


--------14 of 22--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Palestine 9.09 tba

September 9 - Workshop on Palestinian/Israeli Crisis.  Time: TBA.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, one of the first ten women to become a rabbi in
Jewish history, a congregational rabbi for 32 years, and devoted to
interfaith peacemaking and working towards a just and compassionate
outcome for Israel and Palestine, will speak and conduct a workshop.
Friday, Lynn will be giving the dvar and there will be a post-service
discussion.  All welcome.

FFI Ilano Favero liana [at] tcinternet.net
Location: Mt. Zion Synagogue in St. Paul


--------15 of 22--------

From: "Don,Rachel Christensen" <chris385 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: FOR/peace/justice 9.09-11 Frontenac MN

SEPTEMBER 9-11
Upper Midwest FOR Regional Gathering

"We Make the Road by Walking*:
(or rolling, or any way you can get there!)
90 Years of Interfaith Peacemaking"
Villa Maria Center, Frontenac, MN

Join members and friends of the Fellowship of Reconciliation at the Villa
Maria Center in southeast Minnesota, September 9-11, 2005, for a weekend
of celebration, renewal and organizing for peace with justice through
nonviolence.

The gathering will be graced by master storyteller and peace and human
rights activist, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb.  One of the first ten women to
become a rabbi in Jewish history, Lynn is a long-time member of the FOR
and co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish PeaceWalk for Interfaith Solidarity.
Throughout her career Lynn has devoted herself to a just and compassionate
peace for Israel and Palestine.

For more information and to register contact: chris385 @umn.edu
(651)690-2609 Don Christensen


--------16 of 22--------

From: David Strand <mncivil [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: AmIndian festival 9.09-11

The Gathering at the River will be Sept 9-11 at Harriet Island in St. Paul
and will feature Authentic Native Arts and Crafts booths, outddor trade
show of American Indian businesses, and traditional American Indian food
vendors.

Entertainment includes national recording artists Indigenous-- Shannon
Curfman-- Micki Free-- Michael Jacobs-- Annie Humphrey... and many more

Tribes Represesnted include:  Mille Lacs, Fodn Du Lac, Red Lake, Bois
Forte, Leech Lake, White Earth, Greand Portage, Shakopee, Prairie Island,
Upper Sioux, Lower Sioux

The event is sponsored by the Minnesota American Indian Chamber of
Commerce.

There is not much info on the event yet on the MAICC website.
http://www.maicc.org/festival.html

There is a full page ad just inside the front cover the August issue of
"the Circle". http://www.thecirclenews.org/

--
From: Dennis Tester <dennis [at] dennistester.com>

The Minnesota American Indian Festival will be held September 9th, 10th
and 11th, 2005 on Harriet Island in Saint Paul. The festival's mission is
to showcase and strengthen Minnesota Indian Country, by educating all
people about the great impact that the American Indian community and
commerce have on the State of Minnesota.

The three day event plans to draw people from around the region to the
Capitol City. On Friday, September 9th, the festival will host an
educational day dedicated to elementary age children. Students from
schools across the metro area will be invited to attend the event to learn
about the 11 different reservations in Minnesota and the differences
between them. The family festival will feature traditional American Indian
dance, music, and artists, as well as today's nationally known American
Indian entertainers to be announced at a later date.

The festival will also include a business and commerce area to highlight
the American Indian businesses around the state that contribute to
economic growth of the State of Minnesota.

The Minnesota American Indian Chamber was one of the first American Indian
Chambers in the United States, and the first and oldest ethnic Chamber in
Minnesota. The mission of the MAICC is to promote entrepreneurial
partnerships among American Indian businesses, professionals, and Tribal
governments that will elevate and sustain the economic vitality of our
communities and our people.

http://www.maicc.org/events.html


--------17 of 22--------

What Kind of Extremist Will You Be?
by Cindy Sheehan
Published on Thursday, September 8, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Early morning, April 04, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky,
Free at last, they asked for your life, But they could not take your
pride.
In the name of love, one more in the name of love.
--U2: Pride (In the name of love)

Most everyone who is reading this knows what happened to Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. on April 04, 1968. Some of you may even know what happened to my
son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan on April 04, 2004. If you don't know, Dr
King and Casey were murdered by the same malevolent entities: People and
ideologies that say that we have to be mortally afraid of the "ism" du
jour and we, as Americans who have the "moral high-ground" in the world
can send our innocent children to invade innocent countries and kill
innocent people to fight the "ists" that go with the "isms." In Vietnam we
were fighting the evil Communists and in Iraq we are fighting the evil
terrorists. Our war against Communism out-stayed its welcome in the 1980's
and the military industrial war complex was running out of excuses to
build bombs, tanks, bullets, ships, submarines, and soldiers; so in 2001,
our leaders who serve the war machine had to switch our enemy of the state
to terrorism.

Dr. King had the temerity to challenge the war machine and war racketeers
on April 04, 1967 in his famous speech on Vietnam - and he paid for that
bit of inspired, courageous, honesty with his life exactly one year later.
Casey had the naive gall to join the US Army thinking he would be making
the world a better, safer place - and he paid for that kind of immature
(but honest) patriotic mistake with his wonderful life.

Casey was a brave and honorable man who we were told volunteered to go on
the mission that killed him to save the lives of his buddies. He was shot
in the back of the head and died a little while later in a medic's station
while a medic was trying to hold his brains in while the doctors tried to
keep him breathing. We have heard many wildly disparate stories of Casey's
last few minutes on earth, I don't know if we will ever know the truth.
One thing I do know, however, is that like Dr. King, Casey's murder will
be to advance the cause for peace and in the name of love.

I am wholly and completely convinced that this aggression on Iraq is
illegal, immoral and appallingly unnecessary. I am also convinced that one
drop of blood was one drop of blood too much to be shed for this
abomination in Iraq. Now oceans of blood - both Iraqi and American - have
been spilled for ruinous and disturbing policies of very bad people in our
government who have based their reasons for invasion and occupation on
their twisted imaginations and their seemingly bottomless lust for power,
profits, chaos and confusion.

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote this from the Birmingham Jail in 1963 and it
is so relevant today:

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful
words and actions of bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good
people."

I must regretfully admit that before my son was killed, I didn't publicly
speak out against the invasion/occupation of Iraq. I didn't shout out and
say: "Stop! Stop this insane rush to an invasion that has no basis in
reality - don't invade a country based on cherry-picked, prefabricated
intelligence and contemptible scare tactics!"

I didn't stand up and scream: "Congress, don't you dare abrogate your
constitutional rights and responsibilities! Do not, under ANY
circumstances give the keys to our country to power-drunk, irresponsible
and reckless maniacs!"

When George threateningly stated in his disordered and defiant headlong
rush to disaster: "If you're not for us, you're against us," I will regret
forever not calling him on the phone and screaming: "I am SO against you
and your repulsive policies, you self-important man. I am against killing
innocent people and I am against you telling me it's unpatriotic to be
against you and your murderous philosophy!"

Why, oh why, was I silent when the cowardly and capricious arm-chair
warriors of the Pentagon sent my son and over a million other brave young
Americans to an atrocious excuse (that never should have been fought in
the first place) for a war without the proper equipment, armor, training,
supplies, or planning? I should have boldly strode up the Pentagon and
said: "Look here, Donald, not only do you not go to war with the Army you
"have", you make sure our precious life blood is well protected if you do
send them off to fight and how about not sending our kids to die in the
sand or soil of another country UNLESS it is absolutely necessary to
defend our own sand and soil?"

If I had broken the bonds of my slavery to silence sooner, would Casey
(and scores of others) still be alive? I don't know. There were and still
are so many good people working for peace and justice and they have been
for so many years. One thing I do know, however, is that no matter how
much I scream and cry and rail against God, country, and humanity, I
cannot bring Casey back. But, I have not shut up since Casey was killed,
nor will I be silent until every last one of our nation's sons and
daughters are brought back from this morally repugnant and ill-fated war!!
Nor, will I give up when this occupation is finished. I will continue
fighting for the children of the world and make sure a tragedy of historic
proportions like this never happens again. If I can save even one mother
here or there from the pain and agony I'm going through, then it will have
been so immensely worth it.

I encourage and challenge every citizen of the world to do one small thing
for peace each day. Even if it is to nag your elected officials to demand
the keys of our country back from the all but convicted felons, liars and
self-proclaimed pro-life hypocrites who have them now.

Casey and Dr. King were both violently killed on April 04 in different
years and during different wars - two wars that are really just two
different sides of the same coin. I want their deaths to mean something. I
want them to count for peace and justice, not violence and hatred.

I can feel my son's presence urging me on to save his buddies. I can hear
him whispering in my ear and in my dreams: "Mom, finish my mission. Bring
my buddies home alive" I can hear Dr. King's words similarly challenging
me to action: "The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what
kind of extremists will we be?"

Well, Casey, my son, my hero. Well, Dr. King, the hero of millions, I
pledge to be the kind of extremist who works for peace with justice and
who will never take "No" for an answer. I will strive to hold the bad
people in our government accountable for all of the heartache and
emptiness they have caused our world by their deliberate lies and
deceptions and by their misuse of power and their abuse of our nation's
precious human resources. I will be the kind of extremist who believes
that our country can be taken back from the corporatocracy and unethical
war profiteers that have control of it now. I will be the kind of
extremist who believes that the people of Iraq can rebuild their own
country without the dangerous "help" of the American military presence and
I will be the kind of extremist who strives to bring our kids home from
the Middle East immediately.

If there ever was a time in our nation's history that required the
passion and compassion of extremists, it is now: This very minute. {Amen}

What kind of extremist will you be?


--------18 of 22--------

The Corpse and His Court
Rehnquist: the Chief Injustice
By DAN LA BOTZ
CounterPunch
September 8, 2005

William Rehnquist, lay in state in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court.
Dead at last, dead at last.

Let us remember him. He stood tall-and faced backward. He turned back the
hands of the clock. He helped push back the tides of time. Though he wore
a robe and sat on a high bench in a great room with tall ceilings and dark
wood in a building made of white stone, let us remember, he was not afraid
to strike down at the weak.

If we have much injustice in this country, let us remember, he was in his
time the chief injustice.

William Rehnquist. Let's remember him. He never flinched. He never
hesitated to use power against the powerless, or might against the
underdog. He struck a blow against African Americans, opposing the
expansion of desegregation. He took a swing at women; dissenting in Roe v.
Wade, arguing to deny women the right to chose. He hit out against the
poor, the uneducated, and people of color, by supporting the death
penalty.

He was not a man for all times, he was not even a man for our time - he
was a blast from the past. He argued for states' rights against the
Federal government. He argued against the separation of church and state,
and for public tax money for religious schools and religious prayers in
the public schools. He loved our country, loved it not as it was, but as
it might have been - had it never had the Civil Rights movement or perhaps
the Civil War.

Whatever may be said against him, no one will deny, however, that he never
let his class down. During his tenure as Justice and then as Chief
Justice, the Court took no important decision that would have advanced
working people or the poor. The Court made no decisions that would have
helped labor unions or the environmental movement. The Court never stopped
a tax cut, never criticized a law to make a war. The Court did not stop
the systematic incarceration of black men, nor end the violence in the
prisons. When an election was mismanaged and democracy made a mockery, the
Chief Justice did not hesitate to throw the election to his party and its
candidate, our president.

Though he dressed like an opera buffa Judge from the commedia dell'arte,
putting golden chevrons on his sleeves to elevate his rank above his
peers, he was no clown. Whatever else may be said of him, he knew who his
friends were, he knew which side he was on - and it wasn't ours.

Let us remember him. He was no mediocre man. Where others had merely done
poorly, he did bad. When he found things bad, and left them worse.
Appointed to the Court in the 1970s and serving into the 21st century, he
helped to drive us back to the 1950s, and in some areas to the nineteenth
century. We will not see his like again - until tomorrow and Chief Justice
Roberts.

             The Republican Court and Revolution

The Court, Rehnquist's Court, did not give us justice. But that was not
because we did not have enough Democrats on the Supreme Court.

To get justice we do not need liberals on the Supreme Court, and if we
did, we would not need the Democratic Party in power to select them.
Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, remember, appointed Earl Warren
to be Chief Justice of the Court, the most liberal court of the 20th
century, that ushered in Civil Rights with Brown v. Board of Education.
The Democrats did not give us the liberal Court, poor people did, millions
of poor people in motion.

All institutions, even those made of stone, respond to pressure and give
way to the tide of the times. The Warren Court reflected the changing
times - Asia and Africa ascending, Latin America in rebellion, revolutions
in the Third World. Independence for India, and Indonesia, revolution in
China, the African decolonization. Algeria and Vietnam at war against the
French, and the French (Europe!) defeated. The great revolutionary upsurge
around the world shook the foundations of the court.

And at home, the returning black veterans, because they had fought for
freedom in Europe, believed they did not have to live with oppression at
home. The country saw the early stirring of civil rights in the South
before Montgomery. Black men, women, and children in the church and soon
in the streets, poor people in motion that's what moved the Court.

We will not get a liberal Court through the Democratic Party, which never
was so liberal, which today is not liberal at all. And if we were to get a
liberal Court, we would not have what we wanted anyway. A liberal court
would still be the Court, still be a damn against democracy, a dike
against the people.

But, if what we want is not a liberal court but real change, then we need
once again to put pressure on the institution - we need Asia and Africa
ascending, Latin American in rebellion, and the stirrings of civil rights
at home, again.

                      The Pressure is Building

And the hopeful thing is that the pressure is building. The pressure is
building with the crew of Camp Casey and every appearance of Cindy
Sheehan. The pressure is building with the tragedy of New Orleans, the
failure of the United States, and the solidarity of working class and poor
people in the midst of this disaster. The pressure is building with the
Latin American nations rejecting the Washington Consensus and foreign
corporate control over their lives. The pressure is building with
resistance in the Arab and Muslim world to the American intrusion in their
societies.

Our task is to contribute to these movements, to increase the pressure, to
shake the stones of the Court and to sweep away injustice. We will not do
it, however, without a movement that stands for a new society.

We need the reconstruction of America on a new basis of social solidarity
and democracy. We do not need the selection of a more liberal justice to
the court. We need a more democratic society without such a court, a
society where representative institutions reflect the needs and desires of
ordinary people, and where beyond Congress local institutions of popular
power and participatory democracy give people a voice in the running of
society. The Chief Justice is dead, but the chief injustice, a Court and a
government that stand against humanity, remains.

Dan La Botz edits Mexican Labor News and Analysis, and is the author of
several books on labor in Mexico, Indonesia, and the United States. He can
be reached at: DanLaBotz [at] cs.com


--------19 of 22--------

Shell Game at Gas Stations Pays Big
by Juan Gonzalez
Published on Thursday, September 8, 2005 by the New York Daily News

On Sept. 1, just three days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast,
top executives at Shell Oil's Texas headquarters took a public stand
against gasoline price gouging.

"We encourage our wholesalers and dealers to . . . practice restraint
during these periods," the press release from Shell said.

The company even urged the public to contact local governments "if you
feel a gasoline station is charging a price that is out of line with other
stations in your market."

That same day, Motiva Enterprises LLC, Shell's oil refining subsidiary,
hiked the wholesale price of gasoline for Shell dealers throughout the
Bronx by a whopping 20 cents a gallon, according to company records
obtained by the Daily News. Those records show that since the hurricane
disaster, Shell has increased its wholesale gasoline price on six separate
occasions for its Bronx dealers.

On Aug. 31, the company hiked the price twice in one day - first at 3 p.m.
and then at 6 p.m. "These oil companies are out of control," said a
veteran Shell dealer in the Bronx who is furious at the company's tactics.

"There's no supply problem," said the dealer, who asked not to be
identified.

"Shell's just forcing us to raise the price. This gas was refined more
than a month ago, so why charge people more for it? It's just greed."

Even the price of Shell gas depends on the neighborhood. At a Shell
station on E. 233rd St. in the north Bronx, for example, the pump price of
premium gas yesterday was $3.51, while at the the Bartow Ave. station in
Co-op City, it was $3.89 - 38 cents more.

Adnan Muzniv, the manager at the 233rd St. station, told me there hadn't
been a price increase "in the last three days."

But at Ralph's Shell Station on Bruckner Blvd. and Castle Hill Ave., where
premium yesterday morning was $3.59 a gallon, dealer Nancy Gianatasio said
Shell notified her by E-mail Tuesday night that her wholesale price would
go up 20 cents a gallon starting at 8 p.m. yesterday.

How is it possible, you might ask, for an oil company to charge its own
dealers in the same borough different prices for the same gas?

The practice is far more common than we realize, says state Assemblyman
Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester).

"It's called zone pricing," Brodsky said. "The oil companies are forcing
dealers in some neighborhoods to charge higher prices. These are
artificial increases not related to supply in demand."

In other words, price gouging.

Brodsky has introduced a bill in Albany to make zone pricing illegal.

But no one in Gov. Pataki's administration or at City Hall seems to be
paying much attention to these outrageous gas hikes since the hurricane.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is about the only one to speak out.

Eliot Spitzer, our attorney general who loves to make big headlines
slapping the wrists of Wall Street crooks, is AWOL while oil companies
pick the pockets of millions of motorists every day.

>From here, it looks like oil companies are exploiting Katrina more than
Enron and the gas companies did during the California blackouts a few
years back.

I contacted Shell's headquarters yesterday to ask about its supply and
demand situation and the impact of the hurricane on the price of its oil.
A spokesman referred me in an E-mail to the company Web site.

On the Web site, I noticed that Shell, which has thousands of employees
and three refineries in the Gulf Coast area, had announced it is donating
all of $3 million in emergency aid for hurricane relief.

You should know that during the second quarter of 2005, the Royal Dutch
Shell Co. reported a profit of $5.2 billion - a 34% increase over the same
period in 2004.

In other words, Shell is donating a little more than 1 hour's worth of
last quarter's profits to the hundreds of thousands left homeless in the
Gulf Coast.

Meanwhile, in the Bronx, New York's poorest borough, it has hiked the
price of its gasoline six times in 10 days.

Juan Gonzalez is a Daily News columnist.

 2005 NY Daily News


--------20 of 22--------

From: Jeffrey Alan Haas <jeffhaas [at] mr.net>
Subject: "New Orleans a war zone: rehearsal for martial law"?

ENTIRE ARTICLE:
New Orleans becomes a war zone
A dress rehearsal for martial law?
By Bill Van Auken
8 September 2005
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/nola-s08.shtml

The disaster that struck New Orleans and the southern Gulf Coast has given
rise to the largest military mobilization in modern history on US soil.
Nearly 65,000 US military personnel are now deployed in disaster area,
transforming the devastated port city into a war zone.

Squads of combat-equipped troops toting assault rifles and columns of
humvees with gunners at the ready crisscross its flooded streets. Soldiers
with bayonets mounted have begun house-to-house canvassing of the city to
enforce the complete removal of its civilian population.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the disastrous delay in providing
aid to the city's beleaguered citizens was in large part a matter of waiting
until this massive military force was ready to deploy.

With New Orleans under de facto martial law, its Mayor Ray Nagin issued an
order Tuesday for the forced evacuation of its remaining residents,
estimated at anywhere between a few thousand and tens of thousands. New
Orleans police officials indicated that they were prepared to forcibly drag
people from their homes.

US military spokesmen initially said that they would support the operation,
but claimed that uniformed soldiers would not participate directly in these
evictions. But Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Inge, deputy commander of US Northern
Command, told Pentagon reporters Wednesday that national guard units, which
are formally under state control, could be used to compel people to leave.

Nagin's proclamation asserted that the presence of civilians in the city
would "impede" and "distract" from the recovery operation. Some officials
have cited a potential public health disaster resulting from the city's
inundation by waters polluted by toxic chemicals and decaying corpses.

Whatever the validity of these motives, the proposed forced evacuation will
constitute the most massive military operation mounted against the people of
an American city since the Civil War.

While the US military deployment includes medical teams, search-and-rescue
helicopters and other forms of relief, the largest troop contingents have
been deployed as a military occupation force, to protect private property
and suppress civil disturbances.

The Pentagon has issued continuous press releases touting how many millions
of meals, gallons of water and pounds of ice it has delivered to the city in
the last few days. These reports, however, beg the question of why such
supplies were not made available during the first four days after the
hurricane hit, when impoverished residents of the city were literally dying
in the streets.

With the bulk of the population having left the city, the greatest supply
operations now will involve not the relief of hurricane victims but
logistical support for the tens of thousands of troops themselves.

The Bush administration's defenders have made demonstrably false claims that
no one could have expected a disaster on this scale, while attempting to
shift blame onto state and local officials. The deadly delay in the relief
effort has been attributed by the administration's opponents to the
government's criminal incompetence and seeming indifference to the plight of
New Orleans' largely poor and black population.

While no doubt incompetence and indifference played a major role, there is
also strong evidence that aid was deliberately withheld by the White House
and the Pentagon as part of a strategy for asserting unfettered military
control over the city.

Both hurricane victims and public officials have given multiple accounts of
US authorities actively turning back aid and blocking rescue attempts in the
days that followed the breaching of the city's levees.

Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, for example, broke down in
tears Sunday during an appearance on the NBC television program "Meet the
Press," declaring, "It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in
New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New
Orleans area."

He cited repeated actions by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management
Administration) that involved the deliberate sabotage of relief efforts. He
reported that FEMA turned back trailer truckloads of water sent by Wal-Mart,
claiming the city didn't need them. He also said that the Coast Guard's
offer of fuel urgently needed to power generators was countermanded by FEMA.

Finally, he said that just a day earlier FEMA agents had come in and "cut
all of our emergency communication lines" without any warning. The local
sheriff, he added, had the lines reconnected and then posted armed guards to
see that they were not cut again.

This last, and most sinister, example is in keeping with the Pentagon's
"information war" doctrine, which demands the complete control of
communications in an area targeted for invasion and occupation.

Denise Bottcher, press secretary for Governor Blanco, also charged that FEMA
deliberately blocked offers of aid from Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and others.

And a spokesman for Sen. Mary Landrieu (Democrat, Louisiana), told the media
that FEMA held up aid from both public and private agencies, withholding
approval for the US Forest Service to use water tanker aircraft to put out
fires and delaying the arrival of Amtrak trains to evacuate people from the
city. Offers by private companies to provide communications equipment were
also held up by the agency. There were also reports that the Red Cross was
prevented from going into the city and that FEMA refused to allow the
unloading of food, water and medical supplies brought by ships into New
Orleans harbor.

The apparent aim of this organized obstructionist behavior by the agency
that is supposedly charged with coordinating relief was to block any
significant aid until the military could intervene in the city with
overwhelming force.

This came on Friday, with military commanders treating New Orleans as a
combat operation. This was the term used by Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander
of the Louisiana National Guard's Joint Task Force, in an interview with the
Army Times.

"This place is going to look like Little Somalia," said General Jones. "We'
re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation
to get this city under control." The newspaper clearly got the message,
referring in its report to troops coming in to "fight the insurgency in the
city."

There were numerous reports from New Orleans residents of being treated as
if they were indeed "insurgents," with police and troops sealing off the
city to prevent attempts to leave.

Over 1,000 National Guard troops and police were sent in Friday to seize
control of the New Orleans Convention Center, one of the areas where
evacuees had been left to die. Military officials referred to the operation
as a "clear and hold" mission, using the phraseology employed by the
Pentagon to describe its attacks on towns in Iraq where there is substantial
resistance to the US occupation.

Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, bragged of
having "stormed the convention center," while acknowledging to Pentagon
reporters, "We waited until we had enough force in place to do an
overwhelming force."

Asked specifically by a reporter if the buildup of this force was reason why
it took until Friday before the National Guard came in with any significant
aid, Blum responded, "That is not only fair, it is accurate. You've
concisely stated exactly what was needed, and I told you why. We took the
time to build the right force."

Also on Friday, Bush administration officials sent Louisiana Governor
Kathleen Blanco a legal document demanding that she sign over control of the
state's National Guard as well as state and local police units. The memo
sought their federalization under the Insurrection Act, a statute that
allows the president to take control of state militias under conditions in
which state governments themselves are unable to "suppress rebellion."

Blanco rejected this demand, no doubt seeing it as an admission of failure
by her own administration.

For Bush, the assumption of full military control was a matter of political
importance. Under the Insurrection Act, the US president is required to
issue a public order for those in "rebellion" to cease and disperse. There
is little doubt that had he gained the acquiescence of the Louisiana
governor, he would have taken to the airwaves as the "commander-in-chief,"
in an attempt to dispel the wave of outrage sweeping the country over the
government's response to the disaster.

As early as Wednesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan was telling the
press that "martial law has now been declared in Mississippi and Louisiana,"
an indication of the administration's intentions but not the legal reality
in either state.

Blocked from achieving total military control, Bush dispatched Lt. Gen.
Russell Honore from the US Northern Command to develop a parallel command
structure overseeing active duty troops.

The media has lionized Honore, portraying him as the "John Wayne" of New
Orleans-with the city's residents presumably assuming the role of Indians.
The general thrust of such commentary is that the military is the only
institution that can "get the job done."

That the civilian agency which was created to deal with such
disasters-FEMA-has been gutted, with an unemployed former horse show
organizer, Michael Brown, placed at its head, has everything to do with such
perceptions.

The most adamant proponent of the thesis that the military must take charge
is the Wall Street Journal, whose editorial board enjoys the closest
political relations with the Bush White House. In a Tuesday editorial titled
"Bush and Katrina," the Journal commented: "The New Orleans mess improved
only after the Pentagon got involved. Though the military is normally barred
from domestic law enforcement by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Defense
officials have been doing a lot of creative thinking about what they can do
and what the public now expects post-September 11."

Washington's response to the disaster in New Orleans is hardly a
manifestation of "creative thinking," much less "what the public now
expects."

In reality the US ruling elite and both major parties have used September 11
as the pretext for implementing far-reaching attacks on democratic rights
and breaching legal barriers-such as Posse Comitatus-against the use of
military force against the American people.

Just last month, the Washington Post published an article revealing that US
military's Northern Command had developed a series of "war plans" for the
military "to take charge" in domestic crises. (See: "Pentagon devising
scenarios for martial law in US".)

While apparently these plans involved a response to supposed terrorist
attacks, including the detonation of a nuclear device in a major American
city, the catastrophe that struck New Orleans provided ideal conditions for
testing the plans out.

The growing reliance on the military, however, is a response neither to
terrorist threats or natural catastrophes. On the international arena, the
US ruling elite has turned toward the use of military aggression and the
seizure of strategic assets and territories as a means of offsetting the
relative decline of American capitalism's position in the world economy.

At home, the turn toward martial law is a manifestation of growing fears
within America's fabulously wealthy financial oligarchy that conditions of
social polarization and steady decline in the living standards of the vast
majority of working people have created a social powder keg.

The deliberate denial of food, water and means of escape to tens of
thousands of suffering New Orleanians in order to prepare a massive military
exercise is a crime. It is moreover a warning that the deepening of the
social crisis in America raises the threat of military repression and
dictatorship.


--------21 of 22--------

From: Jeffrey Alan Haas <jeffhaas [at] mr.net>
Subject: Bush's National Anthem*: music/lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

This song has also been chosen to serve as the National Anthem for nearly
every member of Congress, The Supreme Court, all Corporate Conglomerates,
The Ultra Wealthy, and neo-conservatives everywhere * :

 "More"
 Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
 from the film, DICK TRACY, sung by Madonna.


 "Once upon a time I had plenty of nothing,
 Which was fine with me.
 Because I had rhythm, music, love,
 The sun, the stars and the moon above,
 Had the clear blue sky and the deep blue sea.
 That was when the best things in life were free.

 Then time went by and now I got plenty of plenty,
 Which is fine with me.
 'Cause I still got love, I still got rhythm,
 But look at what I got to go with 'em.
 "Who could ask for anything more?", I hear you query.
 Who would ask for anything more? Well, let me tell you, dearie.

 Got my diamonds, got my yacht, got a guy I adore.
 I'm so happy with what I got, I want more!

 Count your blessings, one, two, three
 I just hate keeping score.
 Any number is fine with me
 As long as it's more
 As long as it's more!

 I'm no mathematician, all I know is addition
 I find counting a bore.
 Keep the number mounting, your accountant does the counting.
 [More! More!]

 I got rhythm, music too, just as much as before
 Got my guy and my sky of blue,
 Now, however, I own the view.
 More is better than nothing, true
 But nothing's better than more, more, more
 Nothing's better than more.

 One is fun, why not two?
 And if you like two, you might as well have four,
 And if you like four, why not a few
 Why not a slew
 [More! More!]

 If you've got a little, why not a lot?
 Add and bit and it'll get to be an oodle.
 Every jot and tittle adds to the pot
 Soon you've got the kit as well as the caboodle.
 [More! More!]

 Never say when, never stop at plenty,
 If it's gonna rain, let it pour.
 Happy with ten, happier with twenty
 If you like a penny, wouldn't you like many much more?

 Or does that sound too greedy?
 That's not greed, no, indeedy
 That's just stocking the store
 Gotta fill your cupboard, remember Mother Hubbard.
 [More! More!]

 Each possession you possess
 Helps your spirits to soar.
 That's what's soothing about excess
 Never settle for something less.
 Something's better than nothing, yes!
 But nothing's better than more, more more
 [Except all, all, all]
 Except all, all, all
 Except once you have it all [have it all]
 You may find all else above [find all else above]
 That though things are bliss,
 There's one thing you miss, and that's
 More! More!
 More! More! More! More!
 More! More! More!"


The music to this song can be found on Madonna's album, "I'm Breathless",
Track 8, Time: 4:56.

Lyrics were obtained from this web address:
http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~kennyz/madonna_lyrics/im_breathless.html#more

The song "More" won a special Master award from The Movie Masterwork Society
(TMMS) as "The Most Socially Provocative Song of 1990.")

*The statement made that this is an anthem for our government or anyone is
in truth fiction, at least to the mind of the creator of this satirical
comment on the individuals and organizations noted.  There is no known
awareness on the part of the creator using this song as a political
commentary that Stephen Sondheim originally wrote this song based on any
political motivation or orientation.


--------22 of 22--------

 Ruling **ass Bush marks
 the dictatorship of the
 plutocratiat.


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