Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 09.19.05

[David Shove (shove001]

              P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     09.19.05

1. Al McFarlane/KFAI     9.19 11am
2. Chavez/KFAI           9.19 12noon
3. Women/struggle/film   9.19 6:30pm
4. Katrina/Houston       9.19 6:30pm

5. Poetry salon          9.20 6:30pm
6. Katrina fundraiser    9.20 7pm
7. Fair elections        9.20 7pm
8. WAMM benefit          9.20 7:30pm
9. New vision/war        9.20 7:30pm

10. CCHT Building Dreams 9.21 4:30pm
11. Mpls/art/culture     9.21 5:30pm
12. Marketing food/kids  9.21 6:30pm
13. Meth/sex/men         9.21 7pm
14. Peace day concert    9.21 7pm
15. Violence v women     9.21 7pm
16. Raffa reads          9.21 7:30pm

17. Dave Lindorff - New Orleans as Potemkin Village: one big sham
18. James Petras  - Mass media and New Orleans: from victims to vandals
19. Nikolas Kozloff - Rev Pat Robertson and Gen Rios Montt
20. Ben Tripp     - Some optimistic thoughts: America, O mighty river
21. ed            - The men in power (poem)

--------1 of 21--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Al McFarlane/KFAI 9.19 11am

Forum Agenda:
St. Paul Mayoral Candidate Screening
Hurricane Katrina Aftermath
Penumbra Theatre: Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers
Urban Teacher's Programs

Monday September 19, 11am on KFAI Radio 90.3fm Mpls 106.7 fm St Paul all
shows archived for 2 weeks after broadcast www.kfai.org

11am-1pm
Golden Thyme Coffee and Cafe, 921 Selby Ave. St. Paul


--------2 of 21--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Chavez/KFAI 9.19 12noon

On this Monday Sept 19, 12noon on DEMOCRACY NOW on KFAI, you can hear an
interiew with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

He's in NYC for a special meeting with the United Nations. Here's a chance
to hear for yourself, a man already targeted by the U.S. for overthrow
(April 2002) - but, whose SUPPORTERS STOOD UP AND DEFENDED HIM - the 70%
poor of Venezuela who voted for Chavez.

Why is the US mad at him? Chavez has the audacity to feel his country's
oil profits should not just enrich the small elite there - but, rather
should improve the lives of the majority. [Shocking! I personally know
that my only value in the world is as a plaything of the idle rich, as a
bored cat amuses iself parrying a wounded June bug. O may they bat me
about with their sharp claws, slowly and with maximum malice aforethought!
Vindicate my otherwise superfluous existence! -ed]


--------3 of 21--------

From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Women/struggle/film 9.19 6:30pm

Monday September 19, 6:30pm. St Joan of Arc Church, Upper Room Parish
House, 4537 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis. Parking is close, free, and
easy.

"Women in Struggle" is a 60 minute documentary about four Palestinian
women who have been political prisoners in Israeli jails. The viewer gets
to know these women and the circumstances of a brutal occupation that
resulted in their being jailed. Discussion follows. FFI: Call the WAMM
office at 612-827-5364.


--------4 of 21--------

From: Welfare Rights Cmte II <welfarerights [at] qwest.net>
Subject: Katrina/Houston 9.19 6:30pm

Come hear two twin cities Welfare Rights activist talk about what they saw
and who they were able to talk to while in Houston, reporting for Fight
News Paper on the inadequate conditions.  The current government sponsored
"rescue and relief operations"  are worse than inadequate. And those
responsible need to be held accountable. We demand that the government do
whatever it takes to provide meaningful aid to the victims of this crisis!

Monday Sept 19, 6:30pm
SABATHANI COMMUNITY CENTER
HOSTED BY FIGHT BACK!
WWW.FIGHTBACKNEWS.ORG
612-823-2841

Welfare Rights Committee
310 E 38th St #207, Mpls MN 55409  ph:612-822-8020  fx: 612-824-3604
primary email - welfarerightsmn [at] yahoo.com
secondary email welfarerights [at] qwest.net


--------5 of 21--------

From: patty guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Poetry salon 9.20 6:30pm

Tuesday Sept 20 will be a poetry salon.  Come and share your poem
or anybody else's poems.  These are always great salons.

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

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


--------6 of 21--------

From: Krisrose02 [at] aol.com
Subject: Katrina fundraiser 9.20 7pm

Our efforts to aid evacuees and survivors of Hurricane Katrina marches on.
As of right now we have a caravan of four trucks that left last weekend
with supplies, hardware, cleaning supplies, and tools - and volunteers -
As of Monday, these volunteers had dropped off supplies to Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, were on their way to McComb, Mississippi, and on through to a
shelter in Slydell, Louisiana.

Our Green neighbors in Wisconsin were able to get two trucks together,
filled partially at Fighting Bob Fest, and also picking up donations in
Illinois before heading down to the Gulf Coast.

We'll have another 28' truck filled with supplies leaving the twin cities,
and a support vehicle filled with volunteers, headed for Biloxi and Camp
Sister Spirit, which is housing evacuees.

Fundraiser:
Everything is going really smoothly with one exception - we need gas
money!  If anyone can donate even $5 please go to the web site,
www.mncahs.org and plug in $5 -- just click on donate.  THANKS to St. Paul
Greens who have already donated $250 to the efforts -- you all have helped
ease folks in devastating times!

There will be a fundraising concert on Tuesday, Sept. 20 (next Tuesday)
from 7 pm - 9 pm.  There will be a short presentation from one of the
teams of volunteers who just returned from an extended stay in MS,
delivering supplies and volunteering at Camp Sister Spirit.  What they
saw, they have said, has changed their lives.

There will be music from local musicians Bill Holloway, and BLT (Karl
Burke, Rich Lindell, and Roady Tate. www.bltfolk.com)  This is not to be
missed.

Perhaps Dave Shove will agree to come and read a poem!?

Tuesday, September 20
7-9pm
The Coffee Grounds
Corner of Hamline and Hoyt
Roseville, MN
Suggested Minimum donation -- $10
http://www.thecoffeegrounds.net/map.php

FFI krisrose02 [at] aol.com

Hope to see you all there!
Kristen Olson
GPMN CC 4th CD Rep
GPUS delegate
GPSP/4th CD

ps -- we could use some volunteers to help load up the big truck on
Friday!!


--------7 of 21--------

From: Darrell Gerber <darrellgerber [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Fair elections forum 9.20

After Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 what are we doing to make sure
we have fair & accurate elections in Minnesota and the United States?
Join us to discover what progress has been made, what still needs to be
done and what you can do to help.

Tuesday September 20
7-9pm
University of MN - The Coffman Theater
Coffman Memorial Union
300 Washington Avenue SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Nearest parking: Weisman Art Museum Garage
<http://onestop.umn.edu/Maps/WeisGar/>
Washington Avenue Ramp
East River Road Garage
Cost: Free - donations to cover the venue rental fee appreciated

Hear from local leaders working to insure our elections are fair &
accurate.

Marcia Avner, Public Policy Director, MN Council of Nonprofits
www.mncn.org <http://www.mncn.org>

Mark Halvorson, Director & Cofounder for Citizens for Election
Integrity MN www.electionintegritymn.org
<http://www.electionintegritymn.org>

Lance Henderson, President for Citizens for Election Integrity
MN www.electionintegritymn.org <http://www.electionintegritymn.org>

Javier Morillo-Alicea, State Director of the AFL-CIO 2004 Voting Rights
Protection Program, President & Business Representative for SEIU Local 26
www.seiu26.org <http://www.seiu26.org>

Joshua Schenck Winters, Public Policy Associate, MN Council of Nonprofits,
Leads the MN Participation Project www.mncn.org <http://www.mncn.org>

Let us know you're coming! fairandaccurateelections [at] hotmail.com
<mailto:fairandaccurateelections [at] hotmail.com>

Gary DeCramer, Director Master of Public Affairs Program Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs University of Minnesota Phone:  612.625.3458
FAX:  612.625.9546


--------8 of 21--------

From: Ellen Hinchcliffe <ehinchcliffe [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: WAMM benefit 9.20 7:30pm

This is a night of poetry and performance I am organizing to raise money
for Women Against Military Madness. Great line up, worthy cause...please
forward widely and I hope to see you there! Peace, Ellen Marie

Renewing our vision
Resisting war and despair

A benefit for Women Against Military Madness
www.worldwidewamm.org

September 20
7:30-9:30pm
$5-10 sliding scale
Center for Independent Artists
4137 Bloomington Ave. S, Minneapolis

Performers include:
Louis Alemayehu
Sharon Day
Ed Bok Lee
Meg Novak
Rush Merchant
Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe

With the 60th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with
the anniversary of 9/11, with the ensuing crisis in Sudan and Niger, with
the energy raised by the protests that took place in Crawford against the
war on Iraq, with the devastation of greed and poverty laid bare by the
Hurricane, with the ongoing struggles for Coldwater Springs right here in
Minneapolis and the ongoing resistance of Indigenous people everywhere,
with the coming season of change, death and rebirth.

Let us come together and renew our vision, renew our commitment to resist
and raise some much needed funds for a kick-ass local organization!
PLEASE JOIN US. PEACE.


--------9 of 21--------

From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: New vision/war 9.20 7:30pm

Renewing our Vision: Resisting War and Despair

Tuesday, September 20, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Center for Independent Artists,
4137 Bloomington Avenue South, Minneapolis.

With the 60th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with
the anniversary of 9/11, with the ensuing crisis in Sudan and Niger, with
the energy raised by the protests in Crawford against the war on Iraq,
with the ongoing struggles for Coldwater Springs right here in Minneapolis
and with the ongoing resistance of Indigenous people everywhere, with the
coming season of change, death and rebirth; let us come together to renew
our vision, renew our commitment to resist and raise some funds for bus
scholarships to the September 24th March on Washington. FFI: Contact
<theater2resist [at] yahoo.com>.


--------10 of 21--------

From: Philip Schaffner <PSchaffner [at] ccht.org>
Subject: CCHT Building Dreams 9.21 4:30pm

You're invited to a free, one-hour information session provided by Central
Community Housing Trust. "Building Dreams" is on hour of inspiration and
information about the Twin Cities affordable housing crisis and the
mission of Central Community Housing Trust. You'll learn how affordable
housing is defined; how hard it is for a family to get by in the Twin
Cities on a low income; and how CCHT's high-quality, long-term approach to
housing helps solve the Twin Cities' housing crisis. We've limited each
session in size so you can meet and talk with CCHT leadership and get to
know other community members who care about housing.

Wednesday, September 21, 4:30-5:30pm, Brownstone Bldg, 849 University
Ave. Room 106, St. Paul.  For more information, visit: www.ccht.org/bd

Philip Schaffner Fund Development Manager Central Community Housing Trust
612-341-3148 x237 pschaffner [at] ccht.org

Learn how Central Community Housing Trust is responding to the affordable
housing shortage in the Twin Cities. Please join us for a 1-hour Building
Dreams presentation.
	Minneapolis Sessions:
	*  Sept 22 at 4:30p *  Oct 11 at 7:30a
	St. Paul Sessions:
	Oct 19 at 4:30p
We are also happy to present Building Dreams at your organization, place
of worship, or business. Space is limited, please register online at:
www.ccht.org/bd or call Philip Schaffner at 612-341-3148 x237
(pschaffner [at] ccht.org)


--------11 of 21--------

From: Connie Beckers <CBECKERS [at] mn.rr.com>
Subject: Mpls/art/culture 9.21 5:30pm

Contact:  Matt Laible, Communications Department, 612-673-2786
Jane Gregerson, Minneapolis Arts Commission, 612-927-9477

Minneapolis citizens invited to weigh in on the City's new plan for arts
and culture

The Minneapolis Arts Commission is hosting a public meeting to introduce
Minneapolis citizens to the new strategic arts and culture plan for the
city.  Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Council Member Gary Schiff will speak,
and a panel will take questions and comments from the audience.

5:30-7pm, Wednesday, Sept 21 Theatre de la Jeune Lune, 105 N First St
Minneapolis

On Sept 2, the Minneapolis City Council passed a 10-year strategic plan
called the Minneapolis Plan for Arts & Culture.  It defines the role of
the City in supporting arts and culture, and the role of arts and culture
in accomplishing the City's broader goals. The plan culminates a
three-year effort that started with a unique public-private partnership.
Support for developing the plan was provided, in part, by the McKnight
Foundation.

The planning effort was led by Co-Chairs Mayor Rybak, City Council Member
Schiff, and former Chair of the Minneapolis Arts Commission Randy Hartten.
Input on the plan came from more than 500 public constituents representing
a broad spectrum of Minneapolis arts, cultural organizations,
neighborhoods and businesses, as well as elected officials and Minneapolis
City staff.

Jane Gregerson, chair of the Minneapolis Arts Commission, will facilitate
the public meeting and Hartten will give a brief overview of the plan.
There will then be a panel discussion on the plan.  Panelists include:
Neil Cuthbert of the McKnight Foundation; Tom Daniel and Pamela Miner of
the City's Community Planning and Economic Development Department; Daniel
Gumnit, Intermedia Arts; Kathy Halbreich, the Walker Art Center; David
O'Fallon, MacPhail Center for the Arts; and Roderic Southall from Obsidian
Arts.  The panel will take comments and questions from the audience.

The Minneapolis Arts Commission is a 17-member, City-appointed, volunteer
body that represents the arts community of Minneapolis.  Its mission is to
strengthen the arts and enrich cultural life in Minneapolis.

To have a look at the new arts plan, visit www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/dca.
For directions and parking information, go to www.jeunelune.org or call
612-332-3968.


--------12 of 21--------

From: Julie Risser <julie.risser [at] visi.com>
Subject: Marketing food to kids 9.21 6:30pm

Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents
September 21
6:30-7:45pm
Edina Library
5280 Grandview Square

Featured Speaker: Mary Story, PhD RD

In recent years, the food and beverage industry has viewed children and
adolescents as a major market force. Children and adolescents are now the
target of intense and specialized food marketing and advertising efforts.
Food marketers are interested in youth as consumers because of their
spending power, their purchasing influence, and their role as future adult
consumers.

Multiple techniques and channels are used to reach youth, beginning when
they are toddlers, to foster brand-building and influence food product
purchase behavior. These food marketing channels include television
advertising, in-school marketing, product placements, kids clubs, the
Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth-targeted
promotions, such as cross-selling and tie-ins. Foods marketed to children
are predominantly high in sugar and fat, and as such are inconsistent with
national dietary recommendations. This presentation will review the food
advertising and marketing channels used to target children and
adolescents, the impact of food advertising on eating behavior, and
current regulation and policies.

Mary Story is a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community
Health as well as the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs for
School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.

This non-partisan event is free & open to the public. Sponsored by the
Green Party of Edina. For information call Julie Risser 952-927-7538


--------13 of 21--------

From: PrideAlive <pridealivemap [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Meth/sex/men 9.21 7pm
     and Men: The New Challenge Facing Gay and Bisexual Men

A unique collaboration between the Twin Cities health services for gay and
bisexual men, the City of Minneapolis, the Walker Art Center, and the
Minnesota Department of Health announces a community forum to focus on the
emerging trend of crystal methamphetamine use in the Twin Cities gay and
bisexual men's community.

The forum titled "Meth, Sex, and Men: The New Challenge Facing Gay and
Bisexual Men" will be held at the Gallery 8 Café at the Walker Art Center
on Wednesday, September 21 from 7 to 9:30 pm. Refreshments and a
complimentary art tour of select pieces from the Walker Art collection
will begin at 6 pm.

Bill Burleson of the Health Interventions for Men (HIM) program at the Red
Door Clinic notes, "Crystal Meth is a definite health issue in Minnesota,
and particularly among gay and bisexual men. New research confirms that
meth users are contracting HIV at a rate three times higher than non-meth
users. This is certainly an issue we must take seriously as a community."

The forum will be moderated by Gary Schiff, GLBT community member and
Minneapolis City Councilperson and will include presentations from Dr.
Hal Martin, Park Nicollet Clinic, Johnny Hess, Pride Institute, Rick
Terzick, Alternatives, Inc., and several former meth users.

A similar forum for health service providers will be held at noon on
Wednesday, September 21st at the Fairview University
Hospitals-Riverside location in the Brennan Center Auditorium that
will also include Cindy Lutz, Drug Enforcement Agency Officer.

This forum is a collaboration between the City of Minneapolis
Department of Health and Family Support, the HIM program at the Red
Door Clinic, Pillsbury United Communities, PrideAlive, a program of
the Minnesota AIDS Project, the Minneapolis Urban League, The
Aliveness Project, Youth and AIDS Project at the University of
Minnesota, the Man to Man Program at the University of Minnesota, and
the Minnesota Department of Health.

For more information, contact PrideAlive at (612) 373-9165 or
pridealive [at] mnaidsproject.org or visit himprogram.org/meth.html


--------14 of 21--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Peace day concert 9.21 7pm

The Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP), an association representing
more than 60 Minnesota Peace organizations, many with national
affiliations, is presenting an International Peace Day Concert, September
21. The event will be co-sponsored by Hennepin Avenue United Methodist
Peace & Justice Committee. Proceeds will go to Gulf States disaster relief
and the Peace Foundation of North Minneapolis, a community based
organization working for non-violence in the City of Minneapolis.

The United Nations International Day of Peace, a day of global ceasefire
and non-violence, came about through a unanimous resolution of the UN
General Assembly, declaring that Peace Day be observed on the same date
each year, and asking all people to observe, honor and promote it.

The concert will be held at Hennepin Ave Methodist Church, 511 Groveland
at Lyndale Ave South, in Minneapolis, 7pm, September 21. It will feature
local greats Butch Thompson, Pop Wagner, Gina Citoli, plus Native American
Drum and Jingle Dancer, MC and Musician/Entertainer Rick Bernardo and
others, with multimedia. Doors open at 6pm.

Admission $25; $15 students/seniors (tax-deductible). Tickets available
through www.Ticketworks.com <http://www.ticketworks.com/> (no fees) or at
the door. Free parking available in church lot; Walker Center Ramp $4.00.
FFI: Madeline Simon madeline-mpls [at] msn.com <mailto:Madeline-mpls [at] msn.com>,
952-854-2976; Russell Dedrick russell [at] amazinghusband.com
<mailto:Russell [at] amazinghusband.com>, 651-303-1891; Jane Powers, MAP
Program chair, janepow [at] earthlink.net <mailto:janepow [at] earthlink.net>
612-823-6921.

FFI: about the UN International Peace Day Concert see Minnesota Alliance
of Peacemakers, www.mapm.org <http://www.mapm.org/>; For UN International
Day of Peace www.peaceoneday.org <http://www.peaceoneday.org/> and the
United Nations, www.un.org/events/peaceday/2005
<http://www.un.org/events/peaceday/2005>


--------15 of 21--------

From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com>
Subject: Violence v women 9.21 7pm

September 21 is the International Day of Peace. Please join us that
evening to honor and further the work of Sheila and Paul Wellstone to end
violence against women. We are inviting men and women, adults and youth,
Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Independents and everyone who is
passionate about stopping violence against women and children to
participate in a Civic Dialogue about Safe Families and Safe Communities.
That evening, you will have opportunity to learn about the Violence
Against Women Act (VAWA) and what we each can do to advocate for
Congressional reauthorization before it expires 9.30.05.

Will you join us? Please sign up at the VAWA Action Center:
http://www.wellstone.org/swinstitute/category_page.aspx?catID=3800

7-9pm
Old Man River Café
879 Smith Avenue
West StPaul
Directions: www.mapquest.com
During the event, food & beverages will be available for purchase at the
Café.

Background: Sheila Wellstone was a champion, advocate and organizer in the
movement to end violence against women and children. For years, she strove
to make this issue a national civic and political priority and she
believed that ending violence against women and children was everyone's
responsibility.

Paul and Sheila were true partners on this issue. Working in Washington
and in local communities with advocates and survivors, they became
national leaders on this issue. Together, their advocacy brought sweeping
change in US law.

In 1994, they championed the very first Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
This landmark federal legislation was a community based approach to keep
people safe from violence in their homes and their relationships. VAWA
says crimes against women and children will not be tolerated in our
communities and offers innovative tools to protect survivors and prevent
violence. VAWA expires on September 30, 2005.

We know that if Paul and Sheila were here today, they would be on the
frontlines ensuring that no victim's voice would be lost in the politics
of the United States Congress. It's up to us to carry on Paul and
Sheila's work. We have to tell Congress that we won't let this issue go
back behind closed doors, where families suffer in silence. Please join us
in advocating for reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act!

Elizabeth Dickinson West Side St. Paul


--------16 of 21--------

From: Sarah Anderson Caflisch <scaflisch [at] loft.org>
Subject: Raffa reads 9.21 7:30pm

Wednesday, September 21, 7:30pm
PUBLICATION READING
ELISSA RAFFA
Freeing Vera
The Loft, Open Book 1011 Wash Av S Minneapolis 55415

Author and ex-pat comes home to the Twin Cities to talk about fact and
fiction, disability rights and lesbian activism, and writing novels about
the Midwest while living in Greece. Compelling and funny, evocatively
written and elegantly structured, Freeing Vera recalls the turbulent
optimism of the 1970s for young people in America--and at the same time
casts an emotionally accurate light on the complexities of independence,
caring, confrontation, forbearance, loyalty, disappointment, and greed
that all truth-seekers and their kin must face. The Permanent Press

Free

Sarah Anderson Caflisch scaflisch [at] loft.org 612-215-2590 612-215-2575,
www.loft.org


--------17 of 21--------

New Orleans as Potemkin Village
One Big Sham
By DAVE LINDORFF
CounterPunch
September 17 / 18, 2005

Three cheers for Maureen Dowd for exposing the sham of President' Bush's
Jackson Square speech to the nation announcing his "recovery plan" for New
Orleans, and a big fat raspberry for the electronic media-and for Dowd's
own New York Times-for failing to mention it in their "hard-news" coverage
of the speech.

For those who missed it, Bush, dressed in a pressed, blue, open-collar
dress shirt (not "badly tailored" this time), was backed by a beautifully
blue-lit St. Louis Cathedral. What Dowd pointed out in her 9/17 column,
was that the lighting was flown in by the White House advance team, along
with generators (most of New Orleans is still without power). To spare the
American public from seeing the darkened ghost town of the surrounding
French Quarter, the Bush advance team also flew in military camouflage
netting, which was strung up behind the president to block out all
buildings but the cathedral.

As Dowd pointed out, the setting, on TV screens, resembled nothing so much
as the Disney castle-an appropriate metaphor for the whole Bush
presidency, with its focus on imagery, stagecraft and hocus-pocus.

What boggles the mind is how our national media has become so inured to
this kind of manipulation that reporters don't even bother to mention it.
Viewers are left in the dark about the way they are being deceived.

Really, how hard would it have been for a print reporter, writing about
the speech, to mention the effort that went into setting up the stage for
the president's address? (The Times did mention the charade in a reporters
notebook filed by White House reporter Elisabeth Bumiller, but the
information should have appeared in the lead hard-news report on the
address.) How hard would it have been for a TV reporter to have the camera
crew cut to some of the scenes of blacked-out buildings behind the
netting, or to the generator roaring away to provide the backlighting?
After all, given the incredible ineptness displayed by the White House in
getting rescuers to the scene of the flood, it is surely relevant to show
how efficient the same White House's PR operation could be at getting
crucial equipment like lights and generators into the battered city.

At this point, I'd be interested in hearing what happened to those
generators. Having schlepped them all the way into the ravaged city, id
the White House donate them to the relief effort, or did they pack them up
and fly them out again, the way they did with the fake "relief supplies"
that were set up for a staged earlier visit by the president to flood
victims in Mississippi (a bit of information that was also left out of
American coverage but reported by a German TV reporter)?

My own guess is that this fakery is all of a piece with a much larger
sham. Just as the White House is faking the backdrops in the president's
public appearances, most of his major public initiatives are also just
smoke and mirrors. No Child Left Behind was a classic of the genre, as
were announcements of federal aid to New York City after 9-11.

It should come as no surprise when the latest promises for major federal
support for the rebuilding of New Orleans turn out to be hollow too.

After all, having thoroughly blown the budget on the
$300-billion-and-counting Iraq War, the president really has no money to
offer. He's already said that there will be no rescinding of the mammoth
tax giveaways to the rich and corporations to fund the rebuilding program,
which could cost as much as $200 billion. In fact, he's still pushing for
more tax cuts. And much of the money for rebuilding the drowned city, the
president says, will have to come from cuts in other federal programs
(read poverty programs), which means that what one hand gives to New
Orleans - one of the poorest cities in America - will be taken away from
its residents by the other. Note, for example, a planned 13-percent
increase in Medicare outlays by individual recipients.

What Dowd showed us in her excellent column was a Potemkin president. What
the president announced in his carefully staged address from New Orleans
was a Potemkin recovery program.

Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into the
Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His new book of CounterPunch columns
titled "This Can't be Happening!" is published by Common Courage Press.
Information about both books and other work by Lindorff can be found at
www.thiscantbehappening.net.

He can be reached at: dlindorff [at] yahoo.com

[So when are we going to impeach the tyrant? - ed]


-------18 of 21--------

ass Media and New Orleans
From Victims to Vandals
By JAMES PETRAS
CounterPunch
September 17 / 18, 2005

Briefly, but dramatically, the political failures that turned New Orleans
and many other Gulf cities and towns into a human catastrophe, shattered
the bonds of conformity between the mass media and the government.
Critical reporters described the failure of the government's Homeland
Security to evacuate vulnerable poor people and the absence of basic food
and water for the victims. The media contrasted Bush partying with
Republican cronies in California, Vice President Chaney on the golfing
green, Secretary of State Rice shopping in Manhattan and Homeland Security
boss Chertoff claiming that disaster relief was in excellent shape with
the cries of desperation and destitution of tens of thousands of
poverty-stricken and hungry African Americans and poor whites barely
surviving in a dark, filthy convention center and sports arena.

By Day Four of the disaster, the critical impassioned voices were replaced
by measured voices of official compassion. Photo opportunities of Bush
abounded; the National Guardmen were arriving and the Government was
responding. The "news" was about the heroic aid workers with photogenic
white guards and nurses cradling black infants, bringing relief to the
"refugees" and ending the growing lawlessness, violence and "looting"
among the survivors. Interviews with top military officials focused on the
threats to the soldiers from violent elements among the "refugees". Visual
images of armored troop carriers, heavily armed Special Forces against a
backdrop of angry desolate people, resonated with the war propaganda from
Iraq. What was an exercise in humanitarian aid was converted into a
counter-insurgency operation. By the end of the sixth day the mass media
converted the national government's political failures to protect citizens
into a successful military occupation.

                The Militarization of New Orleans

Nothing captures the "revised line" of the media better than the prominent
place given to the government's order to "Shoot to kill looters". Not a
whimper of protest, not a critical voice: The media converted the
destitute city into a war zone: New Orleans became Fallujah. The media
dredged up every rumor, hearsay, un-substantiated third hand report of
child rape and murder to provide a "context" for the "new reality"  the
militarization of a devastated American city. The media are well prepared
for that scenario: Embedded journalist featured soldiers handing out
concentrated military field rations (totally useless for small children
and dehydrated elderly) while the beating of blacks carrying groceries
(blacks 'loot' food; whites 'find' food) was omitted. Over a hundred
thousand people without homes, jobs and savings, water, food and
sanitation, were first and foremost subject to military occupation to
protect the banks, boutiques and jewelry stores from "looters". Sixteen
thousand troops and Special Forces backed by armored carriers and
helicopters have taken over the city.

There were no announcements or plans for civil reconstruction  jobs for
those without jobs and plans to re-house the tens of thousands of families
left homeless. Instead the media repeatedly played on white paranoia:
black rapists terrorizing neighborhoods, shelters, anywhere they could
flag a rumor. It is surprising that 'cannibalism' wasn't included in the
media's list of 'outrages' committed by the "Africanized" destitute. There
was hardly any mention of the "looters" who braved the swirling floods and
military snipers to bring bottled water to the elderly, dry cereal to
children and cans of sardines to the hungry. Ninety-nine point percent of
the poor blacks were destitute but the media focused on the 1% of
criminals. "Zero tolerance" declared Governor Blanco of Louisiana to
titillate the President and to prime the automatic rifles of the Special
Forces. The black mayor of New Orleans, caught between the majority of
blacks confined to filth, living amidst the decaying dead and the sewage
of the living and the militarization of the city, appealed to the outside
world.

The daily rape of a city, of an entire population of the most vulnerable,
is condoned. While the media pursue a witness to the rumored rape of a
14-year-old several days earlier they ignore reports of mass death, fecal
contaminated waters and listless, dehydrated babies. The mass state
propaganda machine focuses on the President signing an aid bill and
promising Law and Order.

                    Criminalizing the Victims

Given the government's total abandonment of tens of thousands of poor,
starving and homeless blacks, it was obvious that many people would
scavenge for food and water. By deliberately linking the survivors with
"looters" and "rapists", public officials set the stage for the subsequent
militarization and de-facto martial law - fertile terrain for the killing
fields. The first reports that filtered out from (unembedded) eyewitness
reports mentioned groups of Guardsmen beating the self-help survivors.
Military reports cited the killing of several 'snipers'.

No doubt the Government's first pre-occupation is to saturate the city
with the military to prevent the survivors from organizing for justice and
to channel all communications about the state of the city through
officially approved sources. Even more significantly the military defines
the nature of the situation as a problem of criminality and the repressive
"solution" through maximum control and minimum aid.

                The Magical Powers of the Mass Media

On the seventh day after the human catastrophe, the mass media were
flooded with the faces, voices and compassionate rhetoric of all the major
and minor spokespeople of the Bush Administration. Every major television
network, every featured program presented Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Chertoff
and various Generals speaking in mutual admiration of the Herculean
efforts, of the courageous and generous Guardsmen, aid workers etc.

The mass media commentators and interviewers wholeheartedly co-operated in
decriminalizing the state. The officials guilty of crimes against the
humanity of poor and destitute citizens were transformed into humanitarian
saviors. Not a single word of self-criticism from the officials and none
suggested by the media moderators. The few dissident critical voices of
the first few days were chastened and disappeared from the television
screen. The US media was the only place in the world in which the guilty
officials were exonerated.

Media-State mass propaganda had its impact: Public opinion polls indicated
that more (70%) of the public were hostile of the President's petroleum
policy and high gas prices than of the gross political neglect which
caused the death of thousands of their, mostly black, compatriots (66%).

By publicizing the President's belated and inadequate aid and amplifying
the extent of criminality among the destitute, the mass media has racially
polarized the catastrophe between generous compassionate white
humanitarians and ungrateful, hostile black "refugees" - a term stripping
the victims of their citizenship and rights.

Washington's "Shoot to Kill" order applied to water bottle snatchers and
the real or imagined snipers. Negative labeling of the victims by the
media heightens the public's distrust of the testimonials of dehydrated
children and frail grandmothers. Criminalization, demonization and
militarization is what Washington does best. Repeating official propaganda
and censoring dissident interviews is what the US mass media does best.
Not a single mass media outlet, not a single one of the major television
outlets mentioned the highly critical reports of the most prestigious
overseas media. Reports from Le Monde, the Guardian, El Pais, Der Spiegel,
La Jornada were never mentioned.

Photo propaganda and captions in big print are especially effective in our
boobocracy and it is what our mass media does best. Photographs of Bush
hugging a cleaned-up, photogenic 'survivor', excluded the bodies floating
in the debris. Ubiquitous photos appeared of Bush signing the aid bill
seven days after the fact, but not photos of Bush at a Republican fund
raiser on Day One of the hurricane. No photos of Vice President Chaney
golfing on Day Three, while cadavers floated down Main Street in Biloxi,
Mississippi. No photos of the President and CEO of the Red Cross
depositing her over $640,000 salary, while 40,000 people lacked clean
water in "refugee sites". No photos of Secretary Rice at a Broadway comedy
on Day Four while the bodies of old black ladies decomposed near their
outraged and destitute relatives and neighbors.  Conclusion

The mass media made an abrupt turn, adapting and shaping the images of the
Administration's catastrophe. In seven days the magic of the media
transformed the Bush team from incompetent and ignorant leaders to
decisive and caring officials. At the same time the desperate, dying and
furious were converted into an unruly, crime-ridden, ungrateful and
chaotic mob. The political message was clear: Repression and
militarization were priority conditions for survival and humanitarian aid.
The city had to be under de facto martial law before it could be saved.
Viet Nam and Falluja come to mind. After all, counter-insurgency is what
we do best.

According to the President, his Cabinet members and the media: "America is
rising to the occasion." We won't forget the 10,000's of dead and injured,
we'll even lower the flag for a few days - that is if the Congressional
Black Caucus raises the issue. As the President would say, "Let's move on.
We've got a war to win in Iraq."

In the other America, the victims, their friends, their brothers and
sisters are not deceived. Certainly the Europeans, Africans, Asians and
Latin Americans have images etched in their collective memory: of frantic,
desperate New Orleans poor with faces staring angrily at an indifferent
government.

But will white America remember who are the criminals and who are the
victims?

James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University,
New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser
to the landless and jobless in brazil and argentina and is co-author of
Globalization Unmasked (Zed). His new book with Henry Veltmeyer, Social
Movements and the State: Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina, will be
published in October 2005. He can be reached at: jpetras [at] binghamton.edu

[The mass media aids and abets tyrants. -ed]


--------19 of 21-------

Demeaner of the Faith
Rev Pat Robertson and Gen Rios Montt
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
CounterPunch
September 17 / 18, 2005

While Pat Robertson's recent remarks on the Christian Broadcast Network's
The 700 Club that the United States should "take out" Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez certainly caught the media spotlight, the statement by the
evangelical minister was only the latest episode in a long and troubled
story. Since the 1970s Robertson has loyally served hawkish U.S. foreign
policy objectives in Latin America and played a particularly pernicious
role in the region. Christian organizations nation wide would do well to
heed the history and to rigorously challenge Robertson on his record.

As a young man, Robertson dreamed about profitable business deals in Latin
America. After graduating from college, he briefly worked for the W.R.
Grace & Co. in New York. Robertson was specifically assigned to Grace's
Foreign Service School to analyze South American economic conditions in
South America. There, Robertson collaborated with the company's chief
executives of the company. According to one of Robertson's biographers,
"during the months he worked with the Grace company he viewed Latin
America as the 'land of opportunity' where he would find some way to
enrich himself. Though Robertson left the company after only about nine
months, he later achieved his dream by extending Christian televangelism
to Central America. By the 1980s, Pat Robertson's program "The 700 Club,"
reached 3.1 million viewers in Guatemala. Robertson took a personal
interest in the strife torn Central American nation, developing warm ties
to General Efrain Rios Montt, a born again evangelical Christian. When
Rios Montt took power in a military coup d'etat in March of 1982,
Robertson immediately flew to Guatemala, meeting with the incoming
president a scant five days after he came to power. Later, Robertson aired
an interview with Rios Montt on "The 700 Club" and extolled the new
military government.

Robertson's visit came at a particularly sensitive time. Guatemala's dirt
poor indigenous peoples, who made up half the country's population, were
suffering greatly at the hands of the U.S. funded military. The armed
forces had taken over Indian lands that seemed fertile for cattle
exporting or a promising site to drill for oil. Those Indians who dared to
resist were massacred. Rios Montt, a staunch anti-Communist supported by
U.S. president Reagan, was determined to wipe out the Marxist URNG, the
Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union rebels. However, according to
Amnesty International, thousands of people with no connection to the armed
struggle were killed by the regime. Not surprisingly, many Indians turned
to armed resistance. To deal with the ever worsening situation, Rios Montt
proposed a so called "guns and beans" campaign. Rios Montt explained the
plan very succinctly: "If you are with us, we'll feed you, if not, we'll
kill you." For Robertson, however, Rios Montt's extermination policy was
of little account. Astonishingly, the televangelist wrote "I found [Rios
Montt] to be a man of humilityimpeccable personal integrity, and a deep
faith in Jesus Christ."

One reason that Rios Montt may have appealed to Robertson was the
dictator's dislike of Catholic priests. In the 1980s, they had become an
obstacle to the expansion of evangelical Protestantism. Working within
indigenous communities, Catholic priests had been driven out or murdered.
Protestant sects, on the other hand, allied to the Guatemalan military.
They preached individual conversion, the importance of obedience to
military and political authority, the merits of capitalism, and the value
of inequality. Rios Montt's own Church of the Word went so far as to
define priests and nuns as the enemy. According to Walter LaFeber, a
historian of Central America, three priests were killed within a
thirty-six month period in just one province. With the Catholic Church out
of the way, Rios Montt conducted a scorched earth policy. His forces
massacred as many as 15,000 Indians. Whole villages were leveled and the
army set up "Civilian Self-Defense Patrols" which forced 900,000 villagers
to "voluntarily" aid police in tracking down suspects. Rios Montt created
"model" villages, similar to concentration camps, which housed Indian
refugees. However, when 40,000 survivors sought safety in Mexico,
Guatemalan helicopters machine gunned the camps. Rios Montt justified the
genocidal policy by claiming that the Indians were suspected of
cooperating with the URNG, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union, or
"might" cooperate in future. Amnesty International noted that extra
judicial killings carried out the by the military "were done in terrible
ways: people of all ages were not only shot to death, they were burned
alive, hacked to death, disemboweled, drowned, beheaded. Small children
were smashed against rocks or bayoneted to death."

Far from denouncing such practices, Robertson rushed to defend Rios Montt.
"Little by little the miracle began to unfold," he wrote of the regime.
"The country was stabilized. Democratic processes, never a reality in
Guatemala, began to be put into place." Robertson also praised Rios Montt
for eliminating death squads, despite recent estimates that tens of
thousands were killed by death squads in the second half of 1982 and
throughout 1983. Most damning of all, even as Rios Montt was carrying out
the extermination of the Mayan population, Robertson held a fundraising
telethon for the Guatemalan military. The televangelist urged donations
for International Love Lift, Rios Montt's relief program linked to Gospel
Outreach, the dictator's U.S. church. Meanwhile, Robertson's Christian
Broadcasting Network reportedly sponsored a campaign to provide money as
well as agricultural and medical technicians to aid in the design of Rios
Montt's first model villages. Rios Montt was ultimately overthrown in
another military coup d'etat in August 1983.

Unfortunately, Robertson's involvement in Guatemalan politics did not
discredit his career. He also led efforts to back the Nicaraguan contras
in the 1980s, who sought to overthrow the Sandinista regime. More
recently, he has been an important backer of President Bush and currently
commands a captive audience of one million U.S. television viewers.
Judging from his recent remarks, Robertson has not chosen to re-evaluate
his hawkish views. The latest target drawing Robertson's fire is
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Unlike General Rios Montt, who came to
power in a military coup, Chavez enjoys significant popular support. He
has won two presidential elections, in 1998 and 2000, defeated an
opposition led recall referendum in August 2004 and according to recent
polls, has an approval rating of 70%. Not surprisingly, he is favored to
win re-election in 2006. But to Robertson, the will of the Venezuelan
people is of no account. Chavez, unlike Rios Montt, has not been compliant
with U.S. interests. Not only has Chavez had the audaciousness to
criticize the U.S. war in Iraq, but he also questions the fairness of Bush
initiatives like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. The world's
fifth largest oil producer, Venezuela has significant political and
economic clout in the region, and Chavez has poured oil proceeds into
health and education programs. To the ire of Robertson, Chavez has pursued
an independent course by providing oil to Cuba. In exchange, the island
nation has sent thousands of doctors who have assisted the Venezuelan
poor. Unfortunately for Bush and the Christian right, Chavez has not been
easily dislodged from power. Though the U.S. provided material assistance
to Venezuelan opposition figures seeking to topple Chavez, a coup d'etat
in April of 2002 proved a miserable failure when popular protest led to
Chavez's reinstatement. Since that time, Chavez has consolidated power and
has become a hemispheric leader. Robertson's attack surely will not alter
the political equation in Venezuela. Though the televangelist has a
presence in Venezuela, broadcasting in Spanish over Venezuelan station
Televen, Venezuelan Protestants only number 2% of the population and are
by and large a working class Chavez constituency. Nevertheless,
Robertson's remark has cast a pall over U.S.-Venezuelan relations, which
had in recent months already hit a record low.

Though some Protestant ministers have criticized Robertson, arguing that
the televangelist has demeaned the faith, this trickle needs to turn into
a torrent. By all reckoning, Robertson's career should have been destroyed
as a result of his support for genocidal dictator Rios Montt. Now,
Protestants nation-wide have the opportunity to voice their dissent over
Robertson's most recent outburst. Hopefully, they will act soon or
Robertson will continue to make un-Christian statements that contribute to
ill will between the United States and its neighbors.

Nikolas Kozloff received his doctorate in Latin American history from
Oxford University in 2002. His book, South America In Revolt: Hugo Chavez
of Venezuela and The Politics of Hemispheric Unity, is forthcoming from
St. Martin's Press.

[Proto-fascist Robertson finds high place and fortune in America, aiding
and abeting tyrants, genocide, and assassination. Anyone as far left as he
is right would long ago have been imprisoned or killed by the government.
The men in power show their true nature by who they laud and who they
kill. -ed]


---------20 of 21--------

Some Optimistic Thoughts
America, O Mighty River
By BEN TRIPP
CounterPunch
September 17 / 18, 2005

One could say that nations are like rivers, all flowing through the eons
toward the same dark sea of history. They wend their courses through the
landscapes of the world, some rivers sinuous and narrow, some straight and
broad. One could also say that nations are like large Epoisses de Burgogne
cheeses stored in an unventilated shed, but I prefer the river analogy: it
has that pep, that extra zim for which wide-awake consumers yearn.
America, it seems to this lowly navigator of the lateen-rigged keyboard,
is a broad, mostly straight river, flowing with awesome speed toward that
inksome sea. There was an oxbow at the Civil War, and another when the
Depression proved that capitalism didn't work; other than these slight
diversions, our way has been a direct one. And now we come to the salty
part.

Thirty-nine percent of Americans polled still think erstwhile president
Bush is doing a bang-up job. Meanwhile, the man (if man he is) remains in
office. He thrust America into World War Three (an asymmetrical struggle
involving hegemonic nation-states against stateless doctrinaire warriors,
as the kids down at the pool hall say) because terrorists attacked a
symbol of American commerce; but confronted with an entire city destroyed
by an act of his #1 pal, God, Bush hasn't expended the restorative energy
necessary to put on a bake sale to buy Creationist textbooks for the
school library. Why? Because there was a villain in the Manhattan tragedy,
and he groks good guys and bad guys, and more to the point, because it was
an attack on the dollar. On the other hand (the left hand), New Orleans is
a lifestyle proposition. Bush hates lifestyles. He loves money. So no soup
for New Orleans, but a thousand years of war for the World Trade Center.
Thirty-nine percent of Americans think that's just dandy.

It's not Bush or his bunch of bureaucratic bedizened and benighted Belial
butt-buddies that are to blame. It's the rest of us doing nothing to stop
them. We are entering that terrifying gulf, that bay of cold waters,
Ancient History. The American experiment is over, just as the French and
English and Dutch and Spanish experiments are over. We'll get to keep our
bit of land, we'll have our little corners of industry and tourism and
culture to keep the wolf out from under the covers, but the American Age
is over. Our glittering river has run its way to the ocean and all the
cheering masses picnicking on her banks will pack up and go home while the
water recedes and the current slows and the mud and bracken build up
turbid-fashion. You can't drink it now. The flashing salmon are gone.
America has come of age and will inherit the very state of swamphood for
which Americans have long mocked Europeans.

Right, I think this river thing has run dry, but I'm sure my more alert
correspondents get the point. We're done. From here forward, it's going to
be the usual non-struggle between the governed and the governors. The
general outlines of the thing are established. We'll have corporations
living on government money and citizens providing same with same, just
like everybody else has done. Old nations like Italy that used to be
America didn't have corporations, they had the Church, but la mme
diffrence. The money flows uphill. Thirty-nine percent of Americans are
fine with this arrangement. Our attitudes about race and sex and identity
have more or less ground to a fermata. Various groups will come in and out
of vogue: Okay to be Gay! Black is Back! But these will be variations on a
monolithic never-changing culture. We export jobs but we don't import
cultures, not anymore, so the mixture must get more and more homogenized.
O Pasteur, what hast thou wrought?

Five hundred years from now, some upstart nation will be mocking America,
and America will wink sleepily, stuck in gummy corpulence to the Naugahyde
La-Z-Boy of time, and sneer. Just you wait, punk.

That thirty-nine percent of Americans that think it's all working out just
great will swell again and become most Americans, wait and see. Because
there aren't going to be better choices to make next time. The compromises
will become more encompassing. The range of possibilities will become
narrower and more alike. The American river will back up with silt, and
like New Orleans, when the storms come, it will drown. And just like New
Orleans, there will be apathy. Because what mattered about America ran
into the sea long before.

Write yourself an amusing punch line here, I haven't got one.

Ben Tripp is an independent filmmaker and all-around swine. His book,
Square In The Nuts, may be purchased here, with other outlets to follow:
http://www.lulu.com/Squareinthenuts. Swag is available as always from
http://www.cafeshops/tarantulabros. And Mr. Tripp may be reached at
credel [at] earthlink.net.


--------21 of 21--------

 The men in power show
 their true nature by who they
 laud and who they kill.


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   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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