Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 09.15.05

[David Shove (shove001]

              P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     09.15.05

1. Anarchist Panther    9.14 4pm & 8pm
2. Katrina picket/press 9.15 4:30pm
3. Eagan peace vigil    9.15 4:30pm
4. Small is beautiful   9.15 5pm
5. Seine/jazz/wine      9.15 5pm
6. JohnsonLee/Samuels   9.15 6:30pm
7. Nuke history         9.15 7pm
8. CIA novel            9.15 7pm
9. Chili feed/DC bus    9.15 7pm
10. Teens rock mic      9.15 7:30pm
11. African films       9.15 7:30pm
12. Play about torture  9.15 10pm
13. Nanotech-biology    9.15

14. Free Schell tickets

15. Mark Morford  - The storm that ate the GOP
16. Junaid Alam   - Don't "politicize" tragedy? The tragedy is political
17. ed            - It's about time (word frippery)

--------1 of 17--------

From: freu0016 <freu0016 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Anarchist Panther 9.14 4pm

All power through the people: a talk with Ashanti Alston
a.k.a  Anarchist Panther

Thursday Sept 15
4pm
Coffman 209 (Black Student Union), U of M

and

8pm
Weyerhauser Chapel on the Macalester College campus (St. Paul)

Ashanti Alston is a former member of the Black Panther Party and served 14
years as political prisoner for his involvement with the Black Liberation
Army. Alston is now active with Critical Resistance, a national radical
prison abolitionist organization. He authors the zine "Anarchist Panther"
and works with Anarchist People of Color (APOC) and Estación Libre, an
organization that works to strengthen ties between people of color in the
US and people of the liberated Zapatista territories of Chiapas, Mexico.

Alston will speak on what it meant to be moved by the idea of new, radical
possibilities - from Black Power to revolution. Alston says, "Though I
never finished my senior year in high school I have always been a
grassroots intellectual and always push students in the universities to be
excited about the new ideas, the perspectives that CAN be open to them."
He will also talk about current social movements and the possibility of
liberation in (or from) contemporary America.

Sponsored by: Anti-War Organizing League, Black Student Union, La Raza For
more information: umnresist [at] yahoo.com, www.tc.umn.edu/~awol/


--------2 of 17--------

From: Welfare Rights Committee <welfarerightsmn [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Katrina picket/press 9/15 4:30pm

Welfare Rights Committee to Hold Press Conference/Picket on Thursday
September 15 at 4:30pm, Federal Building 4th St & 4th Ave downtown
Minneapolis to Denounce Bush Government Failure to Protect Poor and African
American Communities in Hurricane Katrina.

Two Welfare Rights activists will speak about trip to Houston to meet with
Hurricane Katrina survivors. Welfare Rights Committee to begin collecting
donations to go directly to the New Orleans Welfare Rights Organization
and directly to poor families abandoned by Bush administration.

Welfare Rights Committee 310 E 38th St #207 Minneapolis, MN 55409 Ph:
612-822-8020 fx:612-824-3604 welfarerightsmn.org

PROTEST BUSH GOVERNMENT FAILURE TO RESPOND AND RESCUE POOR AND AFRICAN
AMERICAN VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA ---MINNEAPOLIS FEDERAL BUILDING (4TH
ST & 4TH AVE) THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15TH AT 4:30 PM.  Welfare Rights Activists
returning from meeting with hurricane survivors in Houston to speak.
Welfare Rights Committee to begin collecting funds to go directly to New
Orleans Welfare Rights Organization and low income families deserted by the
Bush administration.

On Thursday, September 15th, at the Federal Building in downtown
Minneapolis, the Welfare Rights Committee will hold a protest and press
conference to denounce the Bush Government's failure to rescue victims of
Hurricane Katrina.  Those left behind to suffer and die were poor, the
majority African American folks.   Hundreds of thousands have been
displaced, their homes destroyed.  Bush's failure continues to mount as
hurricane survivors  in Houston are being turned away from promised shelter,
money and resources.

Hurricane Katrina exposes the blatant and willful negligence of the Bush
administration towards low income people and people of color in the U.S.
While Bush is always ready to send us to fight his wars abroad, he seems to
think we don't have the right to survive here.  While Bush gives billions in
tax cuts for the richest  and billions to carry out an illegal war in Iraq,
he cuts funding to life-saving infrastructure in our cities, and delays
response to one of the greatest tragedies in our country.

Two Welfare Rights Committee activists are currently  in Houston, meeting
and talking with Hurricane Katrina survivors and being eyewitnesses to the
continuing Bush and FEMA failures.  They will have just returned to
Minnesota and will be present at the protest to share the information they
learned from the families displaced and transferred to the Houston
astrodome.  Many of the families waited for days at the New Orleans
Superdome for food, water, medicine, health care and evacuation while Bush
vacationed and his incompetent cronies in the White House twiddled their
thumbs.

The Welfare Rights Committee will also stand in solidarity with our sisters
and brothers in the Gulf Coast by starting  a fundraising drive to send much
needed funds to the New Orleans Welfare Rights Organization and low income
families who were also displaced by the Hurricane.  The WRO is an
organization led by low income women and women of color, that has been
fighting for rights for poor families for the last 20 years.  The WRO's
office and members' homes are in the heart of the flooding in New Orleans,
and have been destroyed.  The director of the WRO is still missing.

It is critical to speak out about the Bush administration's deliberate
neglect and to demand justice .  We must demand full accountability,
immediate fulfillment of survivors needs, and the right of  return for the
survivors to their restored neighborhoods.


--------3 of 17-------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 9.15 4:30pm

CANDLELIGHT PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest
corner of Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs
and candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends
south of the river speaking out against war.


--------4 of 17--------

From: Jesse Mortenson <jmortenson [at] Macalester.edu>
Subject: Small is beautiful 9.15 5pm

9.15 5pm
Cahoots coffeehouse
Selby 1/2 block east of Snelling in StPaul

Limit bigboxes, chain stores, TIF, corporate welfare, billboards; promote
small business and co-ops, local production & self-sufficiency.


--------5 of 17--------

From: Samantha Smart <speakoutsisters [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Seine/jazz/wine 9.15 5pm

Dear Friends and Music Fans:
The 2005 Minnesota sur Seine Music Festival needs your support.

Minnesota sur Seine is an international exchange and collaboration of
music, spoken word and art. The Festival will bring together musicians and
artists from the Twin Cities and France. This year we also welcome
renowned artists from England. The second edition of this unique festival
will be held October 14th - 23rd, 2005.

2004 was the first edition of this festival and it was the subject of a
film by French director Judith Abitbol, four pages in L'Express magazine,
three pages in Jazz Magazine France and ½ page in Downbeat Magazine. It
garnered numerous positive mentions in the Twin Cities papers as well.

There are many ways to support this exceptional project.

You can attend a Fundraising Party Thursday September 15 at the
Wine Company Warehouse garden from 5 - 8pm. You will be treated to the
music of Fat Kid Wednesdays, enjoy excellent wine from the Wine Company
and light food while having the opportunity to bid on exceptional one of a
kind silent auction items including:

 Tasting, tour and lunch with Nan Bailley at Alexis Bailley Vineyards
 Picnic on the Kinnickinnic guided fly fishing and lunch with Chris Osgood
 Private gig with Fat Kid Wednesdays
 Cooking class for 6, wine included, with Vincent Francoual at Vincent
Restaurant
 French Classes
 Wine Tasting for 6 with Jason Kallsen at the Black Dog Café
 Surprises from the Geek Squad/Best Buy
 And more.

Space is limited so please reserve early. Cost is $25 per person.

You can attend the festival, and be sure to bring your friends!

Volunteer to help us with many different tasks related to producing this
kind of event.

We appreciate any and all financial contributions. All donations support
the Minnesota sur Seine Festival. Reservations for the fundraiser and
Donations can be sent to:

Minnesota sur Seine: 246 Banfil St., St. Paul, Mn 55102 please include
card #, expiration date, name phone number Checks, MC and Visa accepted

Reply by email sararemke123 [at] msn.com
Stay tuned to our website to find out how you can participate in
this exciting event
www.surseine.org


--------6 of 17--------

From: Shawn Lewis <lewiss [at] email.com>
Subject: JohnsonLee/Samuels 9.15 6:30pm

THE COMMUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
The Martin Luther King Lecture Series

Communiversity- An effort to unite Black Knowledge from Academia and from
the Community. Each month The COMMUNIVERSITY hosts a gathering at a Black
owned or operated business and features a Black academic/expert to speak
on various issues that are related to our community. This event is free
and open to the public, but we stick to our principle of supporting our
Black businesses and experts, as well as appealing to Black people, all
for the cause of cultural enlightenment and growth. We are still in a
STRUGGLE.

THURSDAY- September 15
Social: 6:30pm. Lecture: 7pm.

To Discuss:
"THE STATE OF AFFAIRS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS 5TH WARD AND THE IMPACT ON THE
BLACK COMMUNITY"
With Featured Guests: 5th Ward Councilmember Candidates
NATALIE JOHNSON-LEE AND DON SAMUELS
And Special Guest: Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate MARCUS HARCUS


--------7 of 17--------

From: Joe Schwartzberg <schwa004 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Nuke history 9.15 7pm

THIRD THURSDAY GLOBAL ISSUES FORUM
Thursday September 15, 7-9pm
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis
(at Lyndale & Hennepin). Free parking in church parking lot.

Free and open to public.

Topic:  NUCLEAR HISTORY YOU WERE NEVER TAUGHT IN SCHOOL

All nuclear weapons states have harmed their own people without informed
consent. U.S. government studies confirm that contamination from nuclear
weapons testing in the 1950s and 60s was spread across the country. The
U.S. nuclear establishment is now preparing new tests and planning a new
plutonium pit production facility.  Long-standing nuclear clean-up goals
are not being met, threatening vital water supplies. A proven way to shut
down nuclear weapons plants and halt testing is to make widely known
nuclear weapons' devastating effects on people's health and the
environment. This briefing will examine the US nuclear track record in
making national security decisions and how that affects us, our families,
and the world.

Presenter: LISA LEDWIDGE. Lisa is the U.S. Outreach Director at the
Maryland-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and edits
the quarterly IEER newsletter, Science for Democratic Action.  She
telecommutes from Minneapolis. Check out IEER's information-rich web
site, www.ieer.org.

Sponsors: Minnesota Chapter, Citizens for Global Solutions;  Minnesota
Alliance of Peacemakers; Hennepin Ave. United Methodist Church Social
Concerns Committee.


--------8 of 17--------

From: Walker Art Center <mailing.list [at] walkerart.org>
Subject: CIA novel 9.15 7pm

Free Verse: Harry Mathews Free Verse: Harry Mathews
Thursday, September 15  7pm
Gallery 8 Cafe, WalkerArtCenter
Price:  Free

In a startling riff on the theme of self-portraiture, legendary expatriate
writer Harry Mathews reputed to be a CIA agent due to a series of
improbable coincidences in the early 1970s decided to act the part. In his
latest novel, My Life in CIA: A Chronicle of 1973, Mathews documents the
year as seen through his would-be agents eyes, using his inimitable
experimental style to make the journey both fascinating and fun. Mathews
Potentielle), Frances famed Workshop for Potential Literature. This group
of writers and mathematicians, which included Marcel Duchamp, Georges
Perec, and Italo Calvino, uses compositional techniques based on
mathematical methods. Walker Art Center Premier Partners


--------9 of 17--------

From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Chili feed/DC bus 9.15 7pm

Chili Feed and Rant for D.C. Bus Scholarships

Thursday September 15, 7pm May Day Books, 301 Cedar Avenue South, West
Bank (basement HUB bicycle), Minneapolis.

Chow down on Lydia's Refugee Texan Chili (vegetarian or meat), cornbread
and other goodies. Plus: here's your chance to rant on the war, the NWA
strike, budget cuts, or corporate media-anything! Poets welcome. Enjoy
progressive community and raise money for bus scholarships to the
September 24th March on Washington. FFI: Contact May Day Books at
612-333-4719. Co-sponsored by Anti-War Committee, WAMM, and Iraq Peace
Action Coalition.


--------10 of 17---------

From: Sarah Anderson Caflisch <scaflisch [at] loft.org>
Subject: Teens rock mic 9.15 7:30pm

Thursday September 15, 7:30pm
Teens rock the mic
7:30pm
The Woman's Club, 410 Oak Grove St.., Minneapolis

This is a benefit event for Teens Rock the Mic.  Teens Rock the Mic is an
ensemble of young spoken word artists. The mission of this program is to
cultivate a community of teen poets throughout the metro and to provide
this community with opportunities to come together and share their work.
Readings will celebrate the written form while honoring the next
generation of writers.

Readings by Charlie Baxter, Terri Ford, Patricia Hampl, Alexs Pate,
Angela Shannon and Ellen Bryant Voigt.

Teens Rock the Mic is a program of The Juno Collective in Partnership
with the MN Spoken Word Association.  Cosponsored by the Loft.

Information: 651-221-0210 or www.junocollective.org


--------11 of 17---------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: African films 9.15 7:30pm

Global Lens
September 15­October 1
Walker Cinema

Free African Films
The Free Thursday Nights screenings at 7:30 pm on September 15, 22, and
29, feature introductions by local scholars: Daughter of Keltoum (La Fille
de Keltoum) is introduced by Joëlle Vitiello, associate professor in the
Department of French and Francophone Studies at Macalester College
(September 15); Hollow City (Na cidade vazia) is introduced by Fernando
Arenas, associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at
the University of Minnesota (September 22); and Kabala is introduced by
Cherif Keita, professor of French in the African/African American Studies
Department at Carleton College (September 29).

Thursday September 15, 7:30pm FREE
Daughter of Keltoum (La Fille de Keltoum)
Directed by Mehdi Charef
Introduced by Joëlle Vitiello, associate professor in the Department of
French and Francophone Studies at Macalester College

Raised in Switzerland, Rallia returns to Algeria for the first time since
infancy to confront her birth mother about why she was given up for
adoption. As she journeys through the barren villages in the Atlas
Mountains, her western style and lack of conformity to local customs are
met with hostility as her disconnection from her birth country becomes
clear. 2001, Algeria, color, 35mm, in Arabic and French with English
subtitles, 101 minutes.


--------12 of 17--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Play about torture 9.15 10pm

Ben Kreilkamp's provocative new play, "When Reason Sleeps", is being
performed twice more at the Bryant Lake Bowl (information below).
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.


--------13 of 17-------

From: Peter VerHage <PVERHAGE [at] hhh.umn.edu>
Subject: Nanotech-biology 9.15

This is a reminder to register for the upcoming "Nanotechnology Biology
Interface: Exploring Models for Oversight" conference on September 15th,
2005 hosted by The Center for Science, Technology & Public Policy at the
Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota.  This day-long public
workshop will focus on exploring and evaluating models for the oversight
of nanotechnology, with a focus on nanoparticles that are used in or
derived from biological systems.The conference will feature a diverse
gathering of national and international experts in the fields of
nanotechnology and biology, such as scientists, industry and government
representatives, regulators, lawyers, bio-ethicists, and social
scientists.

Sessions include: 1) an overview of applications of nanotechnology, as
it is related to biology and the use of nanoscale biomolecules, 2)
presentations on different regulatory or non-regulatory governance
systems in the U.S. and elsewhere and their applicability to and
appropriateness for the nanotechnology sector, 3) the views of a variety
of experts and stakeholders on the societal interface of nanotechnology
and an appropriate balance between the progress of the technology and
ensuring safety, and 4) the long-term future of nanotechnology and how
governance approaches can and should take into account far-future or
unforeseen applications of nanotechnology.

The event is free and open to the public and lunch will be provided.
Please register by emailing or calling Marsha Riebe, Assistant Director,
612-625-0368 or mriebe [at] hhh.umn.edu

For more information about this event, visit
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/stpp/nanotechnology.html


--------14 of 17--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Free Schell tickets

I just got off the phone with Phil Steger, head of Friends for a
Nonviolent World (FNVW).  I confirmed that there are a LIMITED NUMBER of
free tickets to hear Jonathan Schell this Saturday, 8 pm, at the
Fitzgerald theater.  All you do is to be one of the first to call FNVW at
651-917-0383.  Leave them your name and pick up the tickets at the event
on Saturday night.

I have been reading Jonathan Schell's most recent book "The Unconquerable
World" and I cannot tell you how impressed I am.  This is the guy who can
build the foundation the rest of the peace framework goes on.  He's not at
all a pacifist.  In fact, his book reads a lot like military history.
But he outlines the huge limitations of even the most oppressive
governments and the tremendous power that people and democracies have.

I strongly urge you to think of that person in your life who you would
like to see working at a progressive think tank, that university professor
of sociology or political science, that scholarly minister or theologian,
that political party strategist who thinks about long-term change.  Think
of that young college student or activist that you consider the most
likely to be U.S. senator in 30 years.  Invite that person to go with you
to hear Jonathan Schell.  I can guarantee you that there will be ideas
that will stimulate your own thinking and give you ideas for the future,
whether or not you agree with everything or anything that is said.

But call soon.  These free tickets will run out.  If that happens, you
will need to pay $25, like I did.


--------15 of 17--------

The Storm That Ate The GOP
Who will pity the soulless Republican Party now that Katrina is mauling
their regime?
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Can you hear that? That low scraping moan, that painful scream, that
compressed hissing wail like the sound of an angry alligator caught in a
vise?

Why, it's the GOP, and they're screaming, "No, no it can't be, oh my God,
please no, this damnable Katrina thing is just an unstoppable PR disaster
for us!"

After all (they wail), who woulda thought dissing all those poor black
people and letting so many of them die in filth and misery in the
Superdome while our pampered CEO president enjoyed yet another vacation
would cause such an ugly backlash, such harsh criticism of the glorious,
rich-uber-alles GOP creed?

Who knew it would lay bare our deeply inbred agenda of social injustice
and civil neglect, and our systematic abuse of the country? This storm
thing is so not the thing we need right now because, oh my God look, just
look! We've been so golden! We've had the run of the candy store! We have
been gods among swine!

Can you hear them? Hastert to DeLay to Frist to Santorum to Rove to Cheney
to Bush himself, across the board and all down the snickering party line
they keen, "It's not fair! We've been planning this regime, this overthrow
for 40 years! We've worked so damn hard to drive a wedge into the culture
and an ice pick into the heart of the nation, working like demons on meth
to mangle this country's economy and sense of pride so as to boost
corporate profits and lock down our wealth and empire!"

And now Katrina. And now a furious backlash we never predicted that could
very well spell the death of our wanton free-for-all gluttony. Damn you,
Mother Nature! Damn you, uppity female!

Just listen. Isn't that Dick Cheney, lying awake at night as the leeches
drain his soul, muttering his woes to a well-narcotized Lynne? "Dammit,
Lynney, what went wrong? We've got the House locked up and the Senate
locked up and we can cram through any law or any referendum or toxic
Patriot Act we like with next-to-zero outcry and no discussion on the
floor ..."

We're successfully stuffing the lower courts with hundreds of homophobic
neoconservative misogynist appointees and now we even own the Supreme
Court -- the Supreme Court, pudding-thighs! -- and even the increasingly
impotent California governor is more in our back pocket than we imagined.
We've had the whole goddamn country under our thumb for five years,
squirming like a stuck rat as we make out like robber barons.

What a run we've had! We've threatened major media into numb compliance
and we run the FCC the way a pimp runs a cheap hooker and we've got a
loudmouth right-wing pundit manning nearly every ideological outpost in
every corner of the media globe while millions of stupefied 'Murkins still
believe Fox News is a genuine source of integrity and honesty. Look at us
go!

And don't forget, to back it all up and shore up the base, we've got so
many hate-spitting pseudo-religious bonk jobs broadcasting their bile
across roughly 1,600 militant Christian Midwestern talk-radio shows it
would make Jesus himself cringe in pain, and even that soulless cretin Pat
Robertson is comfy enough to start suggesting we assassinate foreign
leaders who dare to dis BushCo.

Look what we've accomplished! We launched two brutal, devastating,
unwinnable wars. We've let Osama bin Laden run happy and free for over
four years, and counting. We just passed an obscene $12.3 billion energy
bill that ensures our heroin-like dependency on foreign oil for the next
two decades while misinformed 'Murkin GIs die in Iraq protecting us from
$5 gallons of gas. Damn, we're good!

We torture innocent detainees in Iraq and abuse inmates at Guantnamo and
chip away at women's rights and demonize homosexuals, and we strip the
forests and gut the Clean Air Act and pollute the water and devastate the
economy and cut welfare spending (whew!), and still the lemming people
think we're gods because we keep them wrapped in fear and a whole pile of
carefully orchestrated Rove-ian lies. We are, in short, f--ing geniuses.

But now, this. Now BushCo's spineless Katrina response and our party's
obvious contempt for lazy poor people who don't own SUVs and
Lockheed-Martin portfolios means Dubya's ratings have plummeted below 40,
as many of his precious pet agenda items head for the Dumpster, including
the gutting of Social Security and the gutting of Medicare and even more
tax cuts for his wealthy cronies. Damn you, Mother Nature!

Even the media has stepped it up, taken off the kid gloves and begun
hurling angry, pointed questions at BushCo for the first time in four
years, ever since we muzzled them with one part threat and one part Rove
and all parts corporate stranglehold. Hell, the damn media was on the
ground in New Orleans within 24 hours of Katrina, beating our untrained
monkeys from FEMA by three days. Who the hell do they think they are?

Ain't it a bitch? And now there are those who say the impermeable fortress
o' pain known as the GOP might just lose the South next election due to
its obvious lack of care for the lower classes, unless we can somehow
scare them poor people into not voting again, or tell them if they vote
Democrat they won't get any health care or food stamps or relief money or
any of Barbara Bush's patronizing rich-grandma cookies. Hey, it worked
last time.

So goes the GOP lament. Of course, it's not all bad (they say). Hell, the
oil companies are as giddy as schoolgirls at being able to falsely jack up
prices to over whopping 70 bucks a barrel, despite a recent (temporary)
glut of supply. Halliburton is squealing like Jenna Bush at a kegger at
scoring the contract to help rebuild New Orleans' infrastructure thanks to
the fact that the former head of FEMA is now a Halliburton lobbyist, and
the GOP plan to decimate FEMA and militarize emergency efforts is going --
pardon the pun -- swimmingly.

But something has shifted. Something is ugly and toxic in the water. This
is what, I imagine, the GOP overlords are asking each other over cocktails
and baby seal kabobs and whale-blood transfusions: Do you think the people
are finally beginning to sense it? Are they finally waking up? You think
they know that the fact that Bush is finally taking a modicum of
responsibility for his administration's failure -- something he never,
never does -- is a sign of true GOP desperation? Do you think they
recognize that BushCo isn't really spending a dime on Katrina relief, that
the $52 billion they just crammed through Congress without any discussion
isn't actually going toward repairs and rebuilding at all?

You think people sense that all of it, every single dime, is going toward
-- you guessed it -- PR? Spin control? You know it's true. Every
government truck and every National Guardsman and every aid package and
every miserable FEMA agent you see is merely in place to try and shore up
Bush's miserable poll numbers, his dwindling support. Hell, it's the only
reason Bush -- or his party -- does anything for the "good" of the nation.

But holy crap, it sure is expensive. It sure is annoying. It sure takes
the GOP off its game of warmongering and finger-pointing and padding the
pockets of the rich and pulverizing the economy like a ... like a ... yes,
OK, like a hurricane. Damn you, Mother Nature.


--------16 of 17--------

ZNet | U.S.
Don't "Politicize" Tragedy? The Tragedy is Political
by Junaid Alam
September 13, 2005

It is doubtlessly true that some Americans consider the sad and
devastating fate meted out to the refugees in New Orleans and other areas
along the Gulf Coast to be a strictly "natural disaster," and therefore
dislike left-wing "politicization" of the ongoing tragedy. The right-wing
has also grasped onto this sentiment, poking fun at leftists as being
"cynical" for blaming Bush for "causing" the hurricane. These sentiments
are severely misplaced; the first is a product of simply not knowing all
the facts, and the second is, quite predictably, a product of malicious
deception.

No honest human being would describe the deaths of theatre-goers in a fire
as a simple "misfortune" if it turned out that the theater owner locked
all the fire exits. Those burned alive inside the building would not be
the victims of "just an accident" if the one responsible for their safety
and means of escape failed them out of malice or negligence. Similarly,
none can seriously claim that the suffering inflicted on the refugees in
New Orleans is merely the result of a "natural disaster" - for their
plight has been exacerbated by an administration that cares more for
profit and the misadventure in Iraq than for the people of New Orleans.

Let us look at the facts. The arrival of a deadly hurricane was not a
surprise. In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency called a major
hurricane hitting New Orleans one of the three "likeliest, most
catastrophic disasters facing this country." So what happened to FEMA?
Bush began privatizing the agency, with a Bush official in the agency
calling it an "oversized entitlement program." Two years later, FEMA was
dissolved from cabinet level to an appendage of the Department of Homeland
Security. Bush appointed one of his political cronies to head the
organization, Michael Brown, a man with absolutely zero experience in
managing disasters - except for his own existence: his last job was in the
International Arabian Horse Association, and even there he was forced to
resign.

In June 2004, the administration also gutted the Army Corps of Engineers
budget for levee building in New Orleans to 20% of its previous
commitment, citing war costs. In the past year, at least eight articles
have appeared in New Orlean's major daily, the Times-Picayune, explaining
that construction of the levee system was being crippled by the siphoning
of funds into the Iraq war and "homeland security." Al Naomi, project
manager for the Corps in the area, had said, "we don't have money to put
the work in the field." In June 2005, funding for the New Orleans district
of the Corps was slashed by $71.2 million dollars, more than 40%. Money
for construction evaporated.

Meanwhile, a full one-third of the Louisiana National Guard is stationed
in the deserts of Iraq. The government has been scrambling to supply
enough manpower to the thinly stretched and overwhelmed forces along the
Gulf Coast. Thanks to this administration, our troops are dying and
killing in a foreign country whose people resent our presence instead of
saving Americans who are pleading for help in our own country. This is the
pathetic, disgraceful kind of "homeland security" the "patriotic" frauds
of the Right have provided for America.

The right-wing ideologues responsible for this fiasco imagine the American
people to be so stupid that they keep repeating the mantra, "Bush could
not stop the hurricane!" as if this were really anyone's contention.
Meanwhile, they themselves "politicize" the issue in their own typically
racist way, cruelly blaming the mainly poor and black victims by
demonizing them as dumb "looters" and excusing the sickeningly slow aid
efforts as the result of a handful of people shooting at the military.

But in reality, the refugees in New Orleans did not own cars to evacuate
New Orleans. And since the authorities offered zero help and had no plan
other than a call to "get the hell out of Dodge," only affluent whites
could cruise out with ease. Those left behind were therefore forced to
take supplies from stores to avoid dying from hunger and dehydration. In
those crowded bowls of death and misery known as the Superdome and
Convention Center, which people had been told to flee to by authorities
and then were utterly abandoned for days, the "looters" have been the
heroes of women and children, bringing in diapers, baby formula, and food.

Additionally, the idea that one or two people shooting at military
helicopters could bring relief efforts to a halt is utterly absurd. How is
it possible that many journalists have been able to weave in and out of
these places, while the military claims it is too "dangerous" to help? How
is it possible that the most powerful military force the world has ever
seen is being impeded by a miniscule number of civilians with
semi-automatics?

Only the vicious American Right, drowning in its moral cesspool of hatred
for blacks and love for greed, would blame the victims for taking
desperately needed supplies that have already been written off as
insurance losses by companies anyway. Only white supremacists, such as
those often perched on the news desks of Fox News, could focus on the tiny
minority of people taking TVs and luxury items, while utterly ignored the
outstanding fact that the real looting has been carried out by Bush and
his rich allies, who have robbed the people and the social sector blind in
order to line their own pockets, thus leaving the poor helpless in the
face of disaster.

What has transpired along the Gulf Coast over the past week has provided
the entire world with incontrovertible, indisputable proof that all the
blithering proclamations about the "American dream" are as hollow as the
president's head and as meaningless as any thought formed within it. Just
as the floodwaters breached the barriers of the woefully inadequate levee
system, the cheap slogans and absurd mythology of an "equal America for
all" have been completely and permanently breached by the inescapable
reality of suffering and desperation witnessed along the Gulf Coast. That
race and class are the two most prevalent markers of life - and death - in
America is now clear to all but the purblind, and particularly clear to
the poor of New Orleans.

No doubt these victims will face many challenges and have many questions
as they search for love ones and struggle to rebuild their lives. But it
will not be long before they demand to know one thing above all: "Who
locked our fire exits?"

Junaid Alam, 22, is co-editor of this journal and a journalism student at
Northeastern University. He can be reached at alam [at] lefthook.org.


--------17 of 17---------

 It's about time

 Mushrooms are sporadic.
 Part-time jobs are temporal.
 Celebrations are occasional.
 Waiters are waiting.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
                     over 2225 subscribers as of 12.19.02
              please send all messages in plain text no attachments