Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 09.27.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E     C A L E N D A R      09.27.05

1. Hear Lydia Howell     9.27 11am
2. Renewable energy      9.27 1:30pm
3. Electronic vote fraud 9.27 6:30pm
4. Counter recruit       9.27 7pm
5. SASE poetry           9.27 7pm
6. Compassion/animals    9.27 7pm
7. Spiritual left        9.27 7pm
8. Dag/Bunche/Congo      9.27 7pm
9. Vs recruit/schools    9.27 7pm
10. PW assassination     9.27 8pm

11. Fix broke elections  9.29 8am
12. Anti-torture         9.28 3pm
13. StPaul roundtable    9.28 7pm

14. Rich Broderick  - Sam Hammil & poets against the war
15. PC Roberts      - America is running out of time    [+ed]
16. Joshua Frank    - Democrats flee peace protests    [+ed]
17. Gilles d'Aymery - Neo-liberal vs socialist hurricanes  [+ed]
18. Dave Zirin      - Etan Thomas electrifies anti-war Washington
19. Marge Piercy    - The cat's song (poem)

--------1 of 19--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Hear Lydia Howell 9.27 11am

Tune in to "Catalyst" Tues Sept 27 @ 11am to hear an interview with ISMAIL
KHALIDI, playwright and performer of TRUTH SERUM BLUES, with the play's
director, DARPANKAR MUKHERJEE. Braodcast on KFAI, 90.1 fm Mpls 106.7 fm St
Paul archived aafter broadcast www.kfai.org Lydia Howell, host of
"Catalyst" on KFAI Radio


--------2 of 19--------

From: Julie Risser <julie.risser [at] visi.com>
Subject: Renewable energy 9.27 1:30pm

COMMITTEE: * Regulated Industries
9/27/2005
5 State Office Building
Representative Torrey Westrom

1:30-5pm
Joint Committee Meeting with Agriculture and Rural Development Policy:
Discussion of Renewable Energy Standard (RES)

HF 2532 (Davids) Renewable energy provisions modified.
HF 1561 (Pederson, A.) Wind power usage goal established at 20 percent by
2020, and wind energy conversion system loan guarantee program
established.


--------3 of 19--------

From: Mark Halvorson <mshalvorson [at] mn.rr.com>
Subject: Electronic vote fraud 9.27 6:30pm

9/27 6:30-8pm.  Nokomis Library,  5100 34th Ave South, Mpls.
Free Screening of "Invisible Ballots:  The Temptation for Electronic
Vote Fraud."    [Watch them make fraudian slips - ed]

"Invisible ballots" shakes the foundation of any thinking American who is
dedicated to the perpetuation of the 200 year-old experiment we call
democracy. It is a must watch!- Warren Slocum, Registrar of Voters, San
Mateo County, Calif.  Sponsored by Citizens for Election Integrity - MN
www.electionintegritymn.org 612-724-1736


--------4 of 19--------

From: ollamhfaery [at] earthlink.net
Subject: Counter recruit 9.27 7pm

St Louis Park Forum on Counter Recruiting
by Michael Cavlan RN
Email: ollamhfaery [at] earthlink.net
Phone: (612)327-6902

Summary: Did you know that the infernal No Child Left Behind Act has a
Sneaky Pete section requiring high schools to turn over information to
military recruiters or loose their federal funding?

The Leave My Child Alone Project

is a grassroots movement to help educate us, the parents of those
children, about the "Opt Out" right that we have to keep our children's
names, addresses and phone numbers out of the hands of military
recruiters. Please attend an "Opt Out" event to learn more

Tuesday September 27 7-9pm
St Louis Park City Hall
5005 Minnetonka Blvd in St Louis Park
downstairs meeting room

Residents from outside of St Louis Park welcome

Please RSVP at ollamhfaery [at] earthlink.net or (612)327-6902 so we can know
how many of the opt out forms copies we need to make

Please pass on to any group or organization that may be interested
    www.leavemychildalone.org
 Sponsored by the St Louis Park Green Party


--------5 of 19--------

From: lisa fink <lisa [at] saseonline.org>
Subject: SASE poetry 9.27 7pm

SASE COMMUNITY POETRY CIRCLE
Tuesdays, September 20-October 18
7:00-9:00 PM at SASE's Poetry Library
FREE

How does (poetry) collaboration meet desire? What or how is (poetry)
text possession? What do we gain or lose by reading (poetry) pleasure as
political? These questions form the core of the fall five-part SASE
Community Poetry Circle, facilitated by Gabrielle Civil.

Participants should be able to commit to *at least 3 of 5 sessions* and
will be asked to complete opening and exit surveys. Each law-abiding
Poetry Circler will receive a free copy of Maria Damon and mIEKAL aND'S
collaborative book of poetry pleasureTEXTpossession. Poetry Circlers will
also receive large doses of eating, drinking, laughing, singing, writing
and heart to heart talks.

Our quest: to discover what happens when we read poetry together . . .
No experience with poetry (or Poetry Circles) necessary.

SASE Community Poetry Circles are a part of an on-going action research on
poetry and community supported by the College of St. Catherine Centers of
Excellence.

To register, please e-mail or phone Lisa Fink at lisa [at] saseonline.org or
612-822-2500 or just show up tonight at 7PM. If you have any questions,
contact Lisa or Gabrielle Civil at gfcivil [at] stkate.edu. We look forward to
seeing you there!

Gabrielle Civil is a black woman poet, scholar, literary arts community
educator, conceptual and performance artist. She has designed and
facilitated workshops in libraries, schools, literacy centers for more
than eight years. She has performed her creative work widely, in such
venues as the Red Eye Collaborative, Intermedia Arts, Patrick's Cabaret
and the Center for Independent Artists. Her most recent performance work
was "Berlitz" performed at the Yari Yari Pamberi: Black Women Dissecting
Globalization Conference in New York City, October 2004. She received
her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from New York University in 2000 and
currently teaches literature and writing at the College of St. Catherine
in St. Paul, MN. The aim of all her endeavors is to open up space.


--------6 of 19--------

From: Compassionate Action for Animals <info [at] ExploreVeg.org>
Subject: Compassion/animals 9.27 7pm

Compassionate Action for Animals
CREATING RESPECT AND JUSTICE FOR ANIMALS IN OUR WORLD
Peaceable Kingdom Showing with Harold Brown

"Peaceable Kingdom is a beautiful film and a must-see." --Alicia
Silverstone
"Peaceable Kingdom is a masterpiece." --Dr. Jane Goodall

Imagine awakening one day to realize that the work you were trained to do
since birth, the life you had always imagined you'd lead, the very values
that had been taught in your family for generations, went against the
deepest part of your being.

In Peaceable Kingdom, we hear the riveting stories of people struggling
with their conscience around some of our society's most fundamental
assumptions.

An inspiring story of personal redemption, compassion, healing and hope,
Peaceable Kingdom is described by many of its viewers as "a life changing
experience."

Join us to watch this powerful documentary at 7pm on Tuesday, September
27, in the Coffman Theater. After the documentary, we will be joined by
Harold Brown, one of the film's stars, for a Q&A session and a catered
reception.
Coffman Theater on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota

Compassionate Action for Animals is a non-profit animal advocacy
organization that promotes plant-based diets and inspires people to
respect animals through action, education, and outreach.

Compassionate Action for Animals PO Box 13149 Mpls., MN 55414
Office hours: MTWThF 11:00-2:00 in Coffman 226E Web: ExploreVeg.org Email:
info [at] ExploreVeg.org Phone: (612) 626-5785


--------7 of 19---------

From: Nichola Torbett <ntorbett [at] emcp.com>
Subject: Spiritual left 9.27 7pm

There will be an organizing meeting of the Network of Spiritual
Progressives on Tuesday, September 27, at 7pm at Betsy's Back Porch, 5447
Nicollet Av S in Minneapolis. The purpose of this new, nationwide,
interfaith organization is to

1)  Challenge the misuse of religion, God, and spirit by the religious
right

2)  Challenge the current bottom line that judges the productivity and
rationality of organizations, institutions, and people exclusively by how
much money and power they generate and offer a new bottom line that takes
into account the degree to which organizations, institutions, and people
generate kindness, generosity, humility, ecological and ethical
sensitivity, compassion, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the
universe.

We're interested in building community, supporting each other in our work
on progressive issues, and publicly challenging the assumptions 1) that
the only rational way to live is to look out for one's own interest above
all and 2) that every reasonable human being's highest goal is the
accumulation of as much money, power, and goodies as possible.

People of all faiths as well as those who might identify as "spiritual but
not religious" are welcome.

More information on the national network is available at
www.spiritualprogressives.org <http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/> .
For local info, contact Nichola Torbett at ntorbett [at] burningmail.com. Hope
to see you Tuesday night!

[Time we hit them with our spiritual left - ed]


--------8 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Dag/Bunche/Congo 9.27 7pm

Tuesday, 9/27, 7 pm, talk "Hammarskjold, Ralph Bunche, and the Congo" by U
of W prof emeritus Crawford Young at the Humphrey Institute, U of M,
www.americanswedishinst.org or 612-871-4907.


--------9 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Vs recruit/schools 9.27 7pm

Tuesday, 9/27, 7 to 9 pm, meeting against military recruitment in the
schools, St. Louis Park City Hall, downstairs meeting room, 5005 Minnetonka
Blvd, St. Louis Park.  www.leavemychildalone.org


--------10 of 19--------

From: leslie reindl <alteravista [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: PW assassination 9.27 8pm

Tues Sept 27, 8 pm, Minneapolis Cable Channel 16:  Altera Vista presents
"American Assassination: The Strange Death of Senator Paul Wellstone."
Prof. Jim Fetzer discussing his research into the October 2000 plane crash
that took the lives of Paul, his wife, staff members, and pilots.  Taped
by John Bussjaeger and David Greer, edited by John Bussjaeger.


--------11 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Fix broke elections 9.29 8am

Wednesday, 9/28, 8-10am, presentation "Fixing Broken Elections" with
Mark Halvorson, St. Martins Table, 2001 Riverside, Minneapolis.
www.justview.org


--------12 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Anti-torture 9.28 3pm

Wednesday, 9/28 (and every Wednesday), 3 to 4 pm, meeting of anti-torture
group Tackling Torture at the Top, St. Martin's Table, 2001, Riverside,
Minneapolis.  lynne [at] usfamily.net


--------13 of 19--------

From: brian bates <brianbates [at] uswest.net>
Subject: StP roundtable 9.28 7pm

Saint Paul residents are coming together to create a vision for a
healthier, cleaner, more livable Saint Paul. You can help!

The Saint Paul Roundtable is a series of meetings designed to identify the
pressing issues regarding Saint Paul's environment, especially those
issues where local action can make a positive impact. Join us for the next
topic presentation and community discussion!

September 28, 7-9pm
Weyerhauser Chapel @ Macalester College (1600 Grand Avenue)
Map of the area and campus: http://www.macalester.edu/about/mapbynumber.html
* There is another event at Macalester that evening, so please arrive
early to find parking!*

Volunteer Roundtable members will present information about working toward
a waste-free Saint Paul.  What are the next steps our city can take to
decrease our waste, conserve our resources and recycle more?  What can the
city do to ensure we recycle at events, in public spaces, in our offices,
at school and at home? How can the city purchase more environmentally
preferable products and encourage others to do the same?  Come to ask
questions, listen to the community discussion, share your ideas, learn
about the current conditions in Saint Paul and find opportunities to take
action.

To be updated about Saint Paul Environmental Roundtable community
meetings, please send your contact information to
roundtable [at] eurekarecycling.org <mailto:roundtable [at] eurekarecycling.org>

Roundtable Topics and Schedule:
Working for a waste-free Saint Paul (Sept/Oct 2005)
Healthy local food systems (Oct/Nov 2005)
Smarter, cleaner energy (Nov 2005/Jan 2006)
Greening the built environment (Jan/Feb 2006)
Improving the quality & quantity of green space (Feb/Mar 2006)
Clean water stewardship (Mar/Apr 2006)

For more information:
Call (651) 222-7678  or visit
www.eurekarecycling.org/environmentalroundtable
<http://www.eurekarecycling.org/environmentalroundtable>

The Saint Paul Environmental Roundtable, a collaboration of individuals
from neighborhoods, organizations, and businesses throughout the city, was
convened by Eureka Recycling. The Roundtable provides citizens with the
opportunity to be more informed about what Saint Paul is already doing to
protect Saint Paul's quality of life and to identity and recommend viable
actions that can be taken by the city, citizens and organization to
further protect and improve Saint Paul's environment.


--------14 of 19--------

From: Richard Broderick <lc_richb [at] pop.webblake.com>
Subject: Sam Hammil & poets against the war

On October 2, at 7pm, Sam Hammil, founder of Copper Canyon Press and of
Poets Against War (www.poetsagainstthewar.org) is going to read with
Robert Bly, co-founder of the Vietnam Era Writers Against The War, Wang
Ping, Heid Erdrich, and Rich Broderick, founder of Minnesota Poets Against
War, at Unity Unitarian Church, 732 Holly Ave, in St. Paul.

Sponsored by Minnesota Poets Against War and the co-ministers of Unity,
and co-sponsored by the Merriam Park, Hamline Midway, and Crocus Hill
Neighbors for Peace, and Friends for a Non-Violent World, the reading is
free to the public.

Early in Jan 2003, Hamill was invited to a White House conference on
poetry and American culture scheduled for Feb. 12, 2003 to be hosted by
Laura Bush. He took the invitation as an opportunity to invite American
poets to send him poems and statements opposing the then-impending
invasion of Iraq. He intended to compile the work and hand it over to Mrs.
Bush. The White House caught wind of what he was planning and cancelled
the event, but poets around the United States and elsewhere heeded his
call to organize readings for February 12. That night, events took place
in more than 250 cities worldwide, including a local reading in St. Paul
that drew an audience of more than 200 to hear 22 local poets raise their
voices in protest against the country's headlong rush to war.

Since then, Hamill has gone on to found the now-international Poets
Against War movement. His PAW website has posted 20,000 anti-war poems and
he's published a critically-acclaimed anthology selected from that
outpouring. Today, he travels around the globe stirring interest in
socially- and politically-engaged poetry;  recently he returned from a
Poets Against War conference in Medillin, Colombia attended by more than
10,000 people.

For more information on the reading, call 651/699-0890 or or 651/228-1456.
e-mail: richb [at] lakecast.com


--------15 of 19--------

Iraq War Winners: Al-Qaeda, Iran and Military Contractors
America is Running Out of Time
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
CounterPunch
September 26, 2005

George W. Bush will go down in history as the president who fiddled while
America lost its superpower status.

Bush used deceit and hysteria to lead America into a war that is bleeding
the US economically, militarily, and diplomatically. The war is being
fought with hundreds of billions of dollars borrowed from foreigners. The
war is bleeding the military of troops and commitments. The war has ended
the US claim to moral leadership and exposed the US as a reckless and
aggressive power.

Focused on a concocted "war on terrorism," the Bush administration
diverted money from the New Orleans levees to Iraq, with the consequence
that the US now has a $100 billion rebuild bill on top of the war bill.

The US is so short of troops that neoconservatives are advocating the use
of foreign mercenaries paid with US citizenship.

US efforts to isolate Iran have been blocked by Russia and China, nuclear
powers that Bush cannot bully.

The Iraqi war has three beneficiaries: (1) al Qaeda, (2) Iran and (3) US
war industries and Bush-Cheney cronies who receive no-bid contracts.

Everyone else is a loser.

The war has bestowed on al Qaeda recruits, prestige, and a training
ground.

The war has allied Iran with Iraq's Shi'ite majority.

The war has brought soaring profits to the military industries and the
firms with reconstruction contracts at the expense of 20,000 US military
casualties and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties.

The Republican Party is a loser, because its hidebound support for the war
is isolating the party from public opinion.

The Democratic Party is a loser, because its cowardly acquiescence in a
war that is opposed by the majority of its members is making the party
irrelevant.

The latest polls show that a majority of Americans believe the US cannot
win against the Iraq insurgency. The majority support withdrawal and the
redirection of war spending to rebuilding New Orleans. Despite the clarity
of the public's wishes, the Republican Party continues to support the
unpopular war.

With the exceptions of Reps Cynthia McKinney and John Conyers, Democrats
fled the scene of the Sept 24 antiwar rally in Washington DC. The cynical
Democrats are apparently owned by the same interest groups that own the
Republicans and are refusing the mantle of majority party that the
electorate is offering to the party that will end the war.

The Bush administration is churning out red ink in excess of $1 trillion
annually. The federal budget deficit is approaching $500 billion. The US
trade deficit is approaching $700 billion.

The budget deficit is being financed by foreigners, primarily Asians who
now hold enough US government debt to exercise power over US interest
rates and the value of the dollar whenever they decide to use the power
that Bush has placed in their hands.

The trade deficit is being financed by turning over the ownership of US
assets and future income streams to foreigners, making Americans forever
poorer from the loss of accumulated wealth.

For the time being, China is willing to accumulate US assets as a way of
taking over our consumer markets, attracting US manufacturing industry
with cheap labor subsidized by artificial currency values, and gaining our
technology. China's strategy is to over-value the US dollar in order to
encourage the transfer of US economic capabilities to China. China's
strategy gives artificial value to the dollar and keeps US interest rates
at an artificial low.

The values of US stocks, bonds, and real estate depend on the support that
Asians' economic strategies provide the dollar and US interest rates. As
Asia achieves its goal of preeminence in manufacturing, innovation, and
product development, the strategy will change. Once China completes its
acquisition of US capabilities, it will no longer have a reason to support
the dollar.

When the dollar goes, it will affect costs, profits, interest rates and
living standards in dramatic ways. Costs and interest rates will soar, and
profits, living standards, equity values, bond prices and real estate will
plummet.

These unpleasant events await only Asia's decision to curtail its support
for US red ink. That will happen when this support no longer serves Asia's
interest.

When Asia pulls the plug on the dollar, the US government will find that
monetary and fiscal policy are powerless to offset the consequences.

Compared to US budget and trade deficits, terrorists are a minor concern.
The greatest danger that the US faces is the dollar's loss of reserve
currency role. This would be an impoverishing event, one from which the US
would not recover.

An intelligent government sincerely concerned with homeland security would
find a way to halt the global labor arbitrage that is stripping the
American economy of high value-added jobs and manufacturing capability,
thereby causing the US trade deficit to explode. The loss of tax base that
results when US companies outsource jobs and relocate production abroad
makes it ever more difficult to balance a budget strained by war, natural
disasters, and demographic impact on Social Security and Medicare.

Global labor arbitrage is rapidly dismantling the ladders of upward
mobility and thereby endangering American political stability. This threat
is far greater than any Osama bin Laden can mount.

Time is running out for Republicans and Democrats to escape from the
distraction of a pointless war and to focus on the real threats that
endanger the United States of America.

Paul Craig Roberts has held a number of academic appointments and has
contributed to numerous scholarly publications. He served as Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His graduate
economics education was at the University of Virginia, the University of
California at Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is coauthor of The
Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at:
paulcraigroberts [at] yahoo.com


[And yet how many Dems are just sitting around doing nothing comfortably
waiting for Hillary in 2008 to solve all their/our problems? Pro-war
Hillary who will concede 1 hour after the polls close as the RP steals the
national election for the third time in a row. Maybe then they will get
serious - or maybe they will sit around doing nothing until the RP steals
the 2112 election and Hillary concedes an hour before the polls open.
Well, there's always the election in 2116 - 2020 - 2024 - 2028 - 2032 -
2036 ...

Perhaps the present system should be given another 3 or 4 decades before
we get serious. We wouldn't want to do anything, you know, hasty. Or maybe
we should wait till we're all dead and let our distant descendents (those
who make it through) fix our problem. We'd like a bunch of stuff now, and
we can just send them the bill. We know they'd be real happy to pay.
They'd know just where our graves are, and do dances of joy on them. -ed]


--------16 of 19--------

It's Time for a Name Change
Democrats Flee Peace Protests
By JOSHUA FRANK
CounterPunch
September 26, 2005

I have been thinking for a while now that the Democrats really should sit
down and consider changing their mascot from a donkey to a marmot. A
rodent really is more emblematic or their provincial habits than a donkey
could ever be. Think about it. Just this past weekend antiwar rallies were
held across the country and the Democratic leadership was nowhere in
sight. They had high-tailed it out there. They hid in their holes and were
afraid to be seen.

In all fairness, a few elected Democrats did show face, mainly two: Reps.
John Conyers and Cynthia McKinney. But I wouldn't constitute either as
party leaders. The better-known Democrats, like Senators John Kerry and
Hillary Clinton, two likely candidates for 2008, were nowhere to be seen.
Even more striking were the absences of DNC Chairman Howard Dean, Russell
Feingold and Ted Kennedy - all occasional critics of the Iraq war.

Of course the Democrat's collective criticism only goes so far. They
certainly don't want to be photographed with any militant protestors. By
God, that would taint their reputations! They've got campaign
contributions to worry about here. No, the Democrats aren't about to take
to the streets. They'd rather sit back and project the illusion that they
care.

On her way out to Washington, the anti-war movement's leading lady Cindy
Sheehan offered a tepid excuse for Senator Clinton's refusal to attend the
protest, "She knows that the war is a lie, but she is waiting for the
right time to say it. You say it and you risk losing your job."

Well, sorry, but I think the time to speak out against the war is right
now and if it means Clinton could lose her job (even though that's highly
unlikely, given that almost half of all Americans, according to a recent
Pew research poll, think we should end the occupation and come home),
so-be-it.

This isn't to say that the Democratic grassroots don't oppose the war. The
majority does - but then so do nearly half of all Republicans. So this
begs the question: why are anti-war activists so loyal to a Democratic
Party that supported Bush's war and still refuses to oppose it?

Much of the Democrat's cognitive dissonance has to do with the success of
Howard Dean at the DNC. He's been able to corral anti-war Democrats into
the fold, making sure they don't flee en masse over the war issue even
though they should. Many still see Dean as a sign of future hope, where
party leadership stays in touch with the grassroots. Plus, Dean's early
criticisms of the Iraq war earned him significant street-cred with party
advocates.

It was un-deserved. Dean, like the rest of the Democratic leadership, is
pro-war and pro-occupation, and it couldn't be more damaging for the peace
movement to continue putting faith into this futile party. If Democratic
activists really want to make some change - the best thing they could do
would be to get up and leave their party. Only then will Democratic
leaders start to think twice about the monstrous policies they endorse.

Joshua Frank is the author of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George
W. Bush, published by Common Courage Press. You can pre-order a copy at
discounted rate at www.BrickBurner.org. Josh can be reached at:
Joshua [at] BrickBurner.org.


[What? Get up and leave the Dem party? And maybe join a (gasp!) third
party? Shouldn't the DP be given at least another 3 or 4 decades before we
even think about climbing out of its hallowed ruts?  We wouldn't want to
do anything, you know, precipitate. We have all the time in the world.
Relax. Go back to sleep. -ed]


--------17 of 19--------

Neo-Liberal Vs. Socialist Hurricanes
by Gilles d'Aymery
Swans

"Three hundred of the Arkansas National Guard have landed in the city of
New Orleans. These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained,
experienced, battle-tested and under my orders to restore order in the
streets. They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded. These troops know
how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary
and I expect they will." -Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (Dem)

(Swans - September 26, 2005)  Just about one year ago, in September 2004,
Cuba was hit by a horrendous category 5 hurricane (Ivan), more powerful
than Katrina, with winds topping 160 mph. Wide swaths of the island were
devastated. Some 20,000 houses and buildings were wiped out. It was a
natural disaster of catastrophic proportion. How many lives were lost?
None. How many animals were lost? Very few. Humans and animals evacuated
in an orderly fashion to higher grounds, to houses of friends, relatives,
or neighbors, long predetermined. In Cuba, people know in advance where
they are supposed to go in case of an emergency. Not only animals are
evacuated but basic appliances such as refrigerators and TVs so as to
minimize losses as well as the risks of potential looting - yes, in dire
circumstances we are all subject to the temptation, whether out of
necessity or whatever lower instincts kick in time of duress.

Contrast this with the situation in Louisiana, especially in New Orleans -
the so-called "Big Easy" - Mississippi, and Alabama, when Katrina hit. The
(CNN) images that troubled me most, beside the floating bodies and the
hordes of begging humanity, were those of the rescue of a man on a roof.
He was standing there with his dog, the water right up to the edge of the
roof. A small boat approached; the rescuers - darn good people, doing as
much as they could - helped the man jump on the small boat; then the boat
began backing up, leaving the dog behind, stranded on the roof. They left
the dog behind...

They abandoned the dog.

What does this contrast tell us about the respective societies?

Look at the evacuation in Texas and Western Louisiana as Rita, thankfully
greatly diminished in its destructive power, moved on inexorably toward
the US shores. Look at the chaos, people told to leave, to get shelter
somewhere, anywhere. Look at people getting in their vehicles and heading
into a gridlock on freeways and highways that are routinely over-crowded
in normal circumstances. Look at the people stuck in their vehicles - aka,
"shelters" - with quickly no gasoline available, people stuck on the
roads, their gas tank empty. "We'll get through this," said the republican
Governor of Texas. "Give a prayer for Texas," he concluded.

Give a prayer was the immediate response to Katrina. A day of prayer was
ordered by the Louisiana governor. Let us pray! Where's the gas, where's
the water, where's the food, where's help? Let the country pray.

A prayer will do. In the aftermath of Katrina, once Mr. Bush had ended his
golf outing and, the next day, his fundraising and red-white-blue pep talk
in San Diego, FEMA informed the country that we should all pitch in.
Where? In faith-based organizations... Give to god, and god will give you
back - a free-market, religious, private paradigm that has taken over the
US of A.

In Cuba - a much-reviled country, the seat of tyranny, we are told - they
save people and animals and appliances. In America, we pray...and make
money and defend property. Oh, yes, property...

The first responders to the Katrina aftermath were the Coast Guard, the
National Guard (whichever was not in Iraq), and the overwhelmed locals.
For the most part, they behaved like humans are supposedly thought to
behave. They took care, as well, or poorly, as they could, of the poor
souls left behind. To look at those guys and their helicopters going up
and down from one roof to the other was a fair reminder of the goodness
and the courage of the people. There, down in the worst of the worse, most
responded with humanness, indeed heroism...

Not the system, though... Before the faith-based organizations, the Red
Cross, the local-state-federal "authorities" would kick in, the
mercenaries had moved in. Jeremy Scahill, a correspondent for the national
radio and TV program Democracy Now!, reports in "Blackwater Down" (The
Nation, September 21, 2005) how private security companies had moved into
The Big Easy. Private mercenaries deputized by the Louisiana governor -
let me repeat this, private mercenaries deputized by the Louisiana
governor - contracted by FEMA - let me repeat this, contracted by FEMA -
were shooting their way around. Not only do we, as a country, privatize
violence (like the prison system), we shoot to kill. Check the
"Democratic" governor's quote at the top of this sorry piece. Jeremy
Scahill tells the story about a guy from BATS (Bodyguard and Tactical
Security) shooting at whatever "black gangbangers." "After that, all I
heard was moaning and screaming, and the shooting stopped. That was it.
Enough said."

According to Scahill, "mercenaries from companies like DynCorp, Intercon,
American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company
called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are fanning out to guard
private businesses and homes, as well as government projects and
institutions. Within two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private
security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from 185 to 235."

In September 2004, "over two and a quarter million people were evacuated
before Hurricane Ivan" by the Cuban Civil Defense System. That's 20
percent of the entire Cuban population. Again, not one single human life
was lost. (source Prensa Latina, (September 21, 2005).

Following Katrina, the Cuban government offered to send 1,500 doctors and
nurses, each with a backpack filled with emergency medical supplies. Four
hundred were sitting on a tarmac ready to fly to Louisiana. Cuba is known
the world over for her preparedness and efficient preventive response to
the dangers of hurricanes. Her medical respondents are experts in the
field. The US government did not bother to respond to that generous offer.

"I began by asking Ricardo Alarcon how Cuba deals with hurricanes," said
Amy Goodman in her interview of the President of the Cuban National
Assembly on September 20, 2005 (broadcast the next day). Alarcon answered:

Well, it's a matter of prevention, of organization. The community of civil
defense. In the final analysis, it has to do a lot with the concept of a
society. I don't want to join what they call here "the blame game." In a
way, it's difficult to be fair, because what is to be blamed I think, is a
system. It's more than individuals.

Prevention, organization and logistics (buses to evacuate residents
without cars, storage of first-aid supplies, instead of lack of gas along
the Texas highways)...social versus private answers...reality versus
prayers...humanitarian response versus private, for-profit response; and
you get zero deaths versus 1,000-plus dead (and counting), over 2,000
children separated from their families, hundred of thousands homeless, and
another Ground Zero. What is it that you are missing here? Can't you see
the difference?

In Cuba, they prevent with a civil defense and trained medical
professionals. In America, we only do preventive wars and respond to
natural disasters by sending mercenaries and national guards with orders
to shoot to kill; and the first "reconstruction" contract was granted
to....Halliburton!

Says Alarcon,

You cannot create a proper evacuation program after the hurricane is
affecting you. You have to have that in the society, but for that, you
have to change the priorities. You have to change the values in which the
society is based. You have to spend resources, money, on that. The values
on which America is based were on display loud and clear, for the whole
world to watch, in New Orleans. Isn't it about time we learn from Cuba
before the entire country mirrors this horror and drowns literally and
figuratively in an ocean of greed, racism, and poverty? People before
profits; people before profits; people before profits; PEOPLE!!!

When will the people awaken?


[It would be considerably safer for old folks to retire to Cuba than to
Florida. A hurricane comes, Cuba saves you, the US cuts you loose to fate.
Drop the American Dream, dream the Cuban Dream. -ed]


--------18 of 19--------

The Speech Everyone Is Talking About: Etan Thomas
Electrifies Anti-War Washington
By Dave Zirin
Edge of Sports September 26, 2005

Every generation the wide world of corporate sports produces an athlete
with the iron resolve and moral urgency to step off their pedestal and
join the fight for social justice. A century ago, it was boxer Jack
Johnson, flaunting, as WEB DuBois put it, "his unforgivable blackness." In
the 1930s, "the Brown Bomber" Joe Louis and track star Jesse Owens took
turns spitting in Hitler's eyes, and Mildred Babe Didrikson continued to
show that a woman could be the equal - if not superior - of any man. In
the 1940s and 50s, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, and the Brooklyn
Dodgers advanced the cause of civil rights through the transgressive act
of the multi-racial double play. In the 1960s, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown,
Bill Russell, David Meggyesy, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos showed how
mass struggle could ricochet into the world of sports with electric
results. In the 1970s, Billie Jean King used a wicked forehand, and took
to the streets, to demand equal rights for women, and Curt Flood showed
the labor movement - and the bosses - how to go from crumbs to a bigger
piece of the pie. In the 1980's Martina Navratilova came out of the closet
and onto centre court, with her girlfriend on her sinewy arm in plain view
of all.

Today we may just have a figure to join their ranks in the NBA's Etan
Thomas. Regular readers of this column will know that I have interviewed
the Washington Wizards' Power Forward on numerous occasions and
highlighted his views on everything from the death penalty to the ravages
of Hurricane Katrina. He is also the author of a book of poems called More
Than An Athlete.

But this past weekend, Etan made a play for pantheon status. Etan took it
to that Ali level, by delivering a blistering poetical speech as part of
the weekend's anti-war demonstrations in Washington DC. His contribution,
which was played in its entirety on Democracy Now!, is being hailed as
'the best of the day' in various nooks and crannies of the blogosphere.

Here is the transcript. Read and pass it along - it has the power to
topple tyrants.

'Giving all honor, thanks and praises to God for courage and wisdom, this
is a very important rally. I'd like to thank you for allowing me to share
my thoughts, feelings and concerns regarding a tremendous problem that we
are currently facing. This problem is universal, transcending race,
economic background, religion, and culture, and this problem is none other
than the current administration which has set up shop in the White House.

In fact, I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to
get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up
Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb
Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie,
Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other
right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a
trip to the hood. Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to
drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other
side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have
scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for
needing assistance.

I'd show them working families that make too much to receive welfare but
not enough to make ends meet. I'd employ them with jobs with little
security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be
fired at the drop of a hat. I'd take away their opportunities, then try
their children as adults, sending their 13-year-old babies to life in
prison. I'd sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their
young with a daily dose of inferior education. I'd tell them no child
shall be left behind, then take more money out of their schools, tell them
to show and prove themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge
on things that they haven't been taught, and then I'd call them inferior.

I'd soak into their interior notions of endless possibilities. I'd paint
pictures of assisted productivity if they only agreed to be all they can
be, dress them up with fatigues and boots with promises of pots of gold at
the end of rainbows, free education to waste terrain on those who finish
their bid. Then I'd close the lid on that barrel of fool's gold by
starting a war, sending their children into the midst of a hostile
situation, and while they're worried about their babies being murdered and
slain in foreign lands, I'd grace them with the pain of being sick and
unable to get medicine.

Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q. would
become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of inferior care,
filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny pinching at the expense of
patients, doctors practicing medicine in an intricate web of rationing and
regulations. Patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise
and quality quickly deteriorates, but they say that managed care is
cheaper. They'll say that free choice in medicine will defeat the overall
productivity, and as co-payments are steadily rising, I'll make their
grandparents have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their
rent.

Then I'd feed them hypocritical lines of being pro-life as the only
Christian way to be. Then very contradictingly, I'd fight for the spread
of the death penalty, as if thou shall not kill applies to babies but not
to criminals.

Then I'd introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating a
curb in their trust in the law. I'd show them the nightsticks and
plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they'd
soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and
seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason. Harassment
ain't even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised hands, cell
phones and wallets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I'd
introduce them to pigs who love making their guns click like wine glasses.
Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets, making them a walking bull's
eye, a living pinata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then
we'll see if they finally weren't aware of the truth, if their eyes
weren't finally open like a box of Pandora.

I'd show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the
world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with
the force of a boulder. The bird of democracy flew the coop back in
Florida. See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep's
clothing. T.K.O.d by the right hooks of life, many are left staggering
under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your
dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing
yourself forward like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a
needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.

They keep telling us all is equal. I'd tell them that instead of giving
tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into
unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton,
maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take
more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of
rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment
continuing to rise like a deficit, it's no wonder why so many think that
crime pays.

Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe next
time, we'll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay in the
White House, tell them that numbered are their days.'


--------19 of 19--------

 Marge Piercy
 The Cat's Song

 Mine, says the cat, putting out his paw of darkness.
 My lover, my friend, my slave, my toy, says
 the cat making on your chest his gesture of drawing
 milk from his mother's forgotten breasts.

 Let us walk in the woods, says the cat.
 I'll teach you to read the tabloid of scents,
 to fade into shadow, wait like a trap, to hunt.
 Now I lay this plump warm mouse on your mat.

 You feed me, I try to feed you, we are friends,
 says the cat, although I am more equal than you.
 Can you leap twenty times the height of your body?
 Can you run up and down trees? Jump between roofs?

 Let us rub our bodies together and talk of touch.
 My emotions are pure as salt crystals and as hard.
 My lusts glow like my eyes. I sing to you in the mornings
 walking round and round your bed and into your face.

 Come I will teach you to dance as naturally
 as falling asleep and waking and stretching long, long.
 I speak greed with my paws and fear with my whiskers.
 Envy lashes my tail. Love speaks me entire, a word

 of fur. I will teach you to be still as an egg
 and to slip like the ghost of wind through the grass.

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

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