Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 10.06.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     10.06.05

1. Dickinson/MPR         10.06 7:30am
2. Superior hiking       10.06 10am
3. Sustainable StPaul    10.06 10:30am
4. Eagan peace vigil     10.06 4:30pm
5. Rwanda/film/picnic    10.06 4:30pm
6. Small is beautiful    10.06 5pm
7. Help ex-offenders     10.06 5:30pm
8. Crystal meth/HIV      10.06 6pm
9. Tribal severeignty    10.06 6pm Brainerd MN
10. Vote fraud/film      10.06 6:30pm
11. Farheen Hakeem       10.06 7pm Stillwater MN
12. Bridges disvelopment 10.06 7pm
13. Anti-war play        10.06 7:30pm
14. Jordan refugees      10.06 7:30pm

15. Holly Sklar        - Growing gulf between rich and rest of US
16. Patricia Goldsmith - Nazis
17. Mike Whitney       - The evil of torture and the power of non-violence
18. Silja JA Talvi     - Alls or nothings: the US class divide deepens
19. Muriel Rukeyser    - Poem (poem)
20. ed                 - Get your Bush voodoo doll (poem)

--------1 of 20--------

From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com>
Subject: Dickinson/MPR 10.06 7:30am

Cathy Wurzer is going to interview me at 7 am tomorrow morning for Morning
Edition - it will be edited fast and probably broadcast somewhat later -
maybe 7:30am or so.

The questions are along the lines of "What do you hope to gain from
Sustainable StPaul [see #3 below] and what issues do you want focussed on
in the mayor's race?"


--------2 of 20--------

From: GibbsJudy [at] aol.com
Subject: Superior hiking 10.06 10am

The Superior Hiking Trail seeks volunteers to help build 14 miles through
the City of Duluth this season!

NEARLY 12 MILES ARE COMPLETE! We need your help to finish the work before
the ground freezes!  No experience is necessary, tools provided. Dress for
the weather and bring plenty of water.

Call 218-391-0886 or email gibbsjudy [at] aol.com for more information or go to
www.shta.org.

 Thursday, Oct 6, 10-3 pm. Meet at corner of 28th Ave. West and West 12th
Street, which is just west of Piedmont Avenue in the Lincoln Park
neighborhood.
 Saturday, October 8, 10-3 pm and Sunday, October 9, 12-5 pm. Meet by
Allyndale Motel at the dead-end on Westgate Boulevard near 68th AVe. W. To
get there, take Cody Street north from Grand or south from interstate 35.
Turn onto 66th Ave West and go one block to Westgate Boulevard. Turn left
and go two blocks to dead end at 68th Ave. W.

Judy Gibbs 5875 North Shore Drive Duluth, MN 55804 218-391-0886 (mobile)


--------3 of 20--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Sustainable StPaul 10.06 10:30am

To maintain the momentum for a Green Vision of StPaul and Elizabeth
Dickinson's mayoral campaign:

SUSTAINABLE ST.PAUL PRESS CONFERENCE

On Thursday, October 6, at 10:30am in Kellogg Park in downtown St.  Paul
(across from the Radisson Hotel), "Sustainable St. Paul" - a newly-formed
coalition committed to advancing key issues raised by Elizabeth
Dickinson's campaign for mayor - will hold a press conference to present
its next actions. Dickinson, who will serve as a senior advisor to the
group, will introduce the coalition; its key organizers will set out their
plans and priorities.

If there is significant rain, the press conference will move to the City
Hall lobby.

Press Conference introducing "Sustainable St. Paul"
Sustainable St. Paul, a coalition of Greens, DFLers, and independents
Kellogg Park, across from the Radisson in downtown St. Paul
10:30am, Thursday, October 6

CONTACT:
Mary Petrie 651-226-3527 cell
Elizabeth Dickinson 651-312-0616 651-235-1208 cell
Jesse Mortenson 651-647-4261*

---
Bloc keeping eye on mayor's race
BY JASON HOPPIN
Pioneer Press

Former St. Paul mayoral candidate Elizabeth Dickinson has finally decided
tothrow her newfound political weight around.

After her strong showing in the Sept. 13 primary, Dickinson declined to
endorse either Mayor Randy Kelly or challenger Chris Coleman. But the
Green Party member is lending her name to a left-leaning coalition that
hopes to keep progressive causes at the forefront of the debate heading
into the Nov. 8 election.

Billing itself as a coalition of Greens, DFLers and independents, a new
group called Sustainable St. Paul plans to ask Coleman and Kelly their
views on everything from a living-wage law to alternative energy sources.
Dickinson said the group would make the results available to the public.

Coleman beat Kelly in the primary by a nearly 2-1 margin. But Dickinson, a
late entrant in the race who raised a fraction of what Kelly and Coleman
did, came in a close third and collected more than 4,900 votes.

"The nearly 20 percent vote was a heads-up to establishment politics in
St. Paul," Dickinson said.

During the campaign, Dickinson raised issues usually considered political
suicide, including the possibility of a citywide income tax. But her
Election Day showing seemed to herald a new era of influence for Greens in
St. Paul after city voters shunned the party during the 2004 presidential
election.

"She's coming out of a campaign where everybody was surprised," said Ken
Pentel, the 2002 gubernatorial candidate for the Green Party of Minnesota.
"People understand that there are other issues than what gets force-fed
us."

Dickinson, who drives a fuel-efficient Prius, pushed hard on the
alternative energy issue, which she said resonated on the campaign trail.

"It's a real kitchen-table, pocketbook issue right now," Dickinson said.
"It's not just those crazy liberal environmentalist tree-huggers talking
about energy anymore."

Dickinson said she was recruited to the effort by organizers of
Sustainable St. Paul, who will set out their agenda during a downtown news
conference Thursday. Dickinson doubts the group will endorse either
candidate and doesn't know whether it will continue beyond the November
election.

On Tuesday, Coleman campaign spokesman Bob Hume said, "It's pretty clear
that Chris and Elizabeth agreed on a lot more than they disagreed on."

Kelly spokesman Vince Muzik said the campaign would wait until Thursday to
see whether it would work with the coalition.

"We're just going to listen and hear what they have to say," Muzik said.

Jason Hoppin can be reached at jhoppin [at] pioneerpress.com or 651-292-1892.
2005 St. Paul Pioneer Press and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.twincities.com

---
From: Jesse Mortenson <teknoj [at] gmail.com>

Come celebrate the strength of our Green voice in St. Paul! Supporters of
Elizabeth Dickinson's campaign - both Green and progressive DFL - have put
together an initiative to hold Randy Kelly and Chris Coleman accountable
to the vision of the thousands who voted for Elizabeth in the primary. We
plan to invite those two to engage with our platform, and to encourage
each to adopt specific green and progressive policy recommendations into
their campaign platforms - and into city administration.

We really need your support at this press conference! Your presence will
send a strong message to the remaining candidates and the public that
we're not going away, and that our general election votes must be earned.
It will also be a chance to find out how you can continue to work at the
community level to make our vision a reality in St. Paul.

What does Sustainable St Paul stand for? We have three broad categories:
"Strong, Socially-Just Local Economy," "Energy Smart," and "A Revitalized
Democracy."

Within each of these categories, we'll announce precise recommendations.
And if you like a check on chain stores on Grand Avenue; a strategically
renegotiated Xcel franchise agreement; and greater decision- making for
District Councils, you're going to love Sustainable St. Paul.


--------4 of 20--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 10.06 4:30pm

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


--------5 of 20--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Rwanda/film/picnic 10.06 4:30pm

Join Us For a special showing of the feature length movie-
HOTEL RWANDA
Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis
www.walkerart.org
Thursday, October 6, 2005
4:30-8pm
This Event is FREE to the Public.

A Lite Picnic Dinner will be Served (4:30 -5:30pm)

Sponsored by
International Leadership Institute
OASIS
Walker Art Center
Event supporters: Panera Bread, Mississippi Market Natural Foods
Co--op, Liz Royal, ILI Volunteers and Members

RSVP - space is limited. Students/Community Groups/Church Groups.
All youth groups must have 1 adult for every 6 youth and provide
transportation both to and from the event. No fee is charged for this
event. RSVP contact coventry [at] visi.com.

4:30 - 5:25 Picnic Dinner
4:30 - 5:25 Reception, invited guest
5:30 - 7:45 Movie-Hotel Rwanda
7:50 - 8:20 Presentation of Rwanda Photography Exhibit
8:25 - 9:00 Discussion - End

The International Leadership Institute invites community leaders across
all sectors to lead table discussion groups. The purpose of the event is
to understand the dynamics of violence, hatred and injustice through
personal dialogue. This event will be the lead-in for a community
conversation about Rwanda - Hope for the Present-Strength for the Future.

www.internationalleadership.org
A Community Civic Education Program


--------6 of 20--------

From: Jesse Mortenson <jmortenson [at] Macalester.edu>
Subject: Small is beautiful 10.06 5pm

10.06 5pm
Cahoots coffeehouse
Selby 1/2 block east of Snelling in StPaul

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


--------7 of 20--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Help ex-offenders 10.06 5:30pm

St. Paul Call to Action
October 6, 2005

The St. Paul Call to Action is an event to encourage community members to
get involved in supporting ex-offenders successfully return to their
neighborhoods.

The Call to Action will take place at the Martin Luther King Center (270
Kent St, St Paul) on Thursday, October 6, from 5:30 to 8pm.

A free chicken dinner will be followed by a program featuring community
leaders, local organizations, volunteers and ex-offenders. Over 20
neighborhood and Twin Cities organizations and faith communities are
sponsoring the event, where people can learn how to help returnees
transition back into their communities. All who have an interest in
strengthening their neighborhoods are welcome.  Participants are asked to
register for the event by contacting Dustin Hite or Reginald Sweet at
AMICUS, (612) 348-8570, or email dustin [at] amicususa.org by October 3rd.

Rashard Zanders Community Editor Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder 3744 4th
Ave. S. Mpls. MN 55409 rzanders [at] spokesman-recorder.com


--------8 of 20--------

From: gayhistorywork [at] netscape.net
Subject: Crystal meth/HIV 10.06 6pm

The Aliveness Project and Pride Institute are offering a 3 part program on
HIV, Crystal Meth, and Your Body on Thursday October 6, 13, and 27 at 6pm.

The Location of the program is at All God's Children MCC, 3100 Park
Avenue.  The program is free and open, but reservations would be
appreciated.  All are welcome.  Call Michael Jefferis at 612-822-7946 or
e-mail prevention [at] aliveness.org for more information or to make a
reservation.

The October 6 program will feature a medical talk by Dr. Frank Rhame about
methamphetamine's effects on the body, HIV, and antiviral medications.
Time will be available for Q and A.  Dr. Rhame has been involved with HIV
and AIDS medicine since the very beginning of the epidemic.

On October 13 Individuals will talk about their experience with crystal
meth use, addiction, and recovery.

The last meeting on October 27 will be about the social scene and crystal
meth.  The film "The Circuit" will be used as a discussion starter.

You are welcome to attend the sessions that interest you the most.


--------9 of 20--------

From: Nielsen/Fisk <fisksen [at] brainerd.net>
Subject: Tribal severeignty 10.06 6pm Brainerd MN

Tribal sovereignty is Rosenmeier forum topic

The Gordon Rosenmeier Center will host a free public forum on tribal
sovereignty THURSDAY Oct 6 at Central Lakes College in Brainerd.

"Tribal Nations: Is Tribal Sovereignty a Right, a Privilege, the Law?"
will start at 6:30pm after light refreshments in the campus cafeteria at
6pm.

Scheduled to appear on a panel to discuss and answer questions are Tadd
Johnson, special counsel to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; John Swimmer,
solicitor general for the Mille Lacs Band; and Don Wedll, long-term
planner and former DNR commissioner for the Mille Lacs Band.

Johnson will address the history of treaties and provide a definition of
sovereignty.

Swimmer and Wedll, along with band member Mary Sam, will discuss fears of
jurisdiction and laws, taxation, human rights, modern battles that have
emerged over land, hunting and fishing, economics, and gaming compacts,
plus modern realities of poverty, education, health care, chemical
dependency, suicide and violence, and the American Indian Movement.

The discussion is expected to conclude with a focus on "How can we better
understand each other and work together to solve our common problems?" as
well as a look at examples of current inter-tribal and tribal-local
government partnerships.

The Skone Family Conservatory housed in the Humphrey Center for American
Indian Studies will be open that night. It is in the Resource Learning
Center at CLC.

This forum is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the Mille Lacs
Band of Ojibwe, the Crow Wing County Human Rights Commission, the Central
Lakes College Multicultural Program and the Crow Wing County Human Rights
Commission.

For more information contact the event coordinator, Mary Sam, (320)
532-8853, who is a member of the Rosenmeier Center board of directors.


--------10 of 20--------

From: "Krueger, Rodney" <rodney.krueger [at] frontiercorp.com>
Subject: Vote fraud/film 10.06 6:30pm

Free screenings of the documentary Invisible Ballots at Minneapolis Public
Libraries.

View and discuss an in-depth expose of the all-electronic computerized
voting system that raises questions about electronic voting machines,
election rigging and accuracy. Program sponsored by Citizens for Election
Integrity.

* Thursday, October 6, 6:30-8 p.m.
Franklin Library, 1314 East Franklin Avenue

* Monday, October 17, 6:30-8 p.m.
Southeast Library, 1222 Southeast 4th Street

"Invisible Ballots: A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud" is a video
documentary produced, directed and edited by William Gazecki, director of
the Academy-Award nominated documentary "WACO: The Rules of Engagement."
Gazecki's in-depth exposé begs the question "does the proverbial Black Box
touch-screen voting machine jeopardize the sanctity of the voting
process?" As governments install computer voting systems with no paper
record to verify accuracy, is high-tech vote fraud flying underneath the
radar of public scrutiny?

Topics covered in the documentary include: the history of voting systems,
the Help America Vote Act, problems with electronic voting and the need
for honesty, oversight and transparency in elections.

The documentary screenings and discussions are sponsored by Citizens for
Election Integrity Minnesota, a nonpartisan group tied to the national
voting rights movement committed to restoring the integrity of our
election system. The group aims to raise awareness of the need for
election reform and to inspire citizen action.

For more information see:

http://www.electionintegritymn.org/ View more information about the
nonpartisan "Count Every Vote" coalition that is becoming active in
Minnesota.

http://www.fec.gov/hava/hava.htm Federal Election Commission: Help America
Vote Act

http://www.nvri.org/ The National Voting Rights Institute is a
nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that affirms our constitutional
protection of the right to vote.

http://www.verifiedvoting.org/ VerifiedVoting.org champions reliable and
publicly verifiable elections in the United States.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/ Vote Trust USA supports grassroots groups in
their efforts to change laws and regulations governing voting systems and
election administration.


--------11 of 20--------

From: scot b <earthmannow [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Farheen Hakeem 10.06 7pm Stillwater MN

St Croix Valley Peacemakers
Speaker: Farheen Hakeem
Recent Green Party candidate for Minneapolis Mayor.  She came in third in
the primary with 14%, is our featured speaker.

Her topic: Building on our Common Ground, Locally & Globally : Seeing
beyond Katrina & the Iraq War

Thursday October 6, 7pm

Born on Chicago's North Side, Farheen Hakeem learned about political
engagement at an early age. She learned the vital importance of advocacy
while helping to raise her autistic brother. Working alongside her
parents, owners of a small business, Farheen witnessed first-hand the
devastating effects of racism, development and poverty on individuals,
businesses, and communities. She became an outspoken , engaged high school
student. She earned a Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics, and moved to
Minneapolis at age 23 to pursue graduate work.

Farheen began teaching math at various public schools. After the tragedies
of Sept. 11, she felt her skills as an organizer and an activist were
needed to save what was left of our democracy.

Farheen has continued to work with youth, while also being actively
involved in the Antiwar Committee and the Womyn of Color Building Project,
speaking at many public venues, and writing articles for the PULSE.
Farheen is well-known throughout Minneapolis as an active community
organizer. She has demonstrated her commitment to the citizens of
Minneapolis in her current career as community coordinator for the Girl
Scout Council of Greater Minneapolis and in her past positions as a
community organizer for a housing co op and in education.

Join us for our regular monthly Valley Peacemakers meeting the first
Thursday of the month

We meet as usual at Ascension Episcopal Church 214 N 3rd St.  Stillwater
[3rd building North of the Stillwater Postoffice ]

We will begin with our local peace projects. Farheen will speak at 7:30pm.
Farheen is a very approachable, articulate, Islamic women who welcomes
your questions and insights.  Please join us this Thursday !
For more information call scot at 651 430 9111 or earthmannow [at] comcast.net


--------12 of 20--------

From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com>
Subject: Bridges disvelopment 10.06 7pm

[An adventure in land mis-use]

Please forward this announcement to your networks in the West Side and
other areas that may be impacted by the proposed developments on the
Flats.  This Educational Public Forum is intended to place ecological and
Public Health issues at the front and top of the discussions about
development rather than just an addendum to the discussions about Bonding,
TIF, Infrastructure, and Parking.

The October 6 meeting of the WSCO Public Health/Environment Committee will
feature a guest presentation by Jim Von Haden of the National Park
Service.

Jim is the coordinator for development review at the Mississippi National
River and Recreation Area (MNRRA).  This unit of the National Park System
spans 72 miles of the Mississippi River and four miles of the Minnesota
River in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.  Saint Paulıs riverfront,
including the West Side Flats and the entire area of the proposed Bridges
of Saint Paul development, is an integral component of the MNRRA.

As with last monthıs wonderful and thoughtful presentation by Deborah
Karasov of Great River Greening, this monthıs guest presentation begins at
7pm at the Riverview Library (Humboldt at George).

A discussion will follow the presentation and Jim will be available to
take questions. Information concerning various activities on the West Side
will be provided to those that want to be involved further.  The first
forty participants will receive free Dilly Bars from our local DQ.
Non-pesticide apples will be available as well.

In his presentation, Jim will provide a brief history of this very special
national parkıs designation and talk about why that makes a difference for
Saint Paulıs river corridor.  Jim will reveal what the MNRRA Comprehensive
Management Plan (CMP) says about riverfront development and why attention
to protecting this nationally significant resource deserves our attention.

Jim grew up near the river in La Crosse, Wisconsin and has made the Twin
Cities his home since 1989.  He has served with the National Park Service
in Saint Paul since 2002.  Jim helped design and plan the December, 2004,
red balloon test that demonstrated to the residents of the West Side and
other stakeholders the potential visual impact of the proposed West Side
Flats Urban Development near the foot of the Wabasha Street bridge.  On
May 25 of this year, Jim was a guest panelist for the WSCO-sponsored
community meeting concerning the proposed Bridges of Saint Paul
development.

Thursday, October 06 at 7pm Riverview Library.


--------13 of 20--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Anti-war play 10.06 7:30pm

Thursday (10/6), Friday (10/7) and Saturday (10/8) at 7:30 pm, Naomi
Wallace's play "In the Heart of America" about Operation Desert Storm (and
Vietnam and racism and homophobia) at Macalester College Theater (enter
college from St. Clair near Snelling), St. Paul. $7. 651-696-6359.


--------14 of 20--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Jordan refugees 10.06 7:30pm

Thursday, 10/6, 7:30, Wafa Fawzi Goussous, director Middle East Council of
Churches' refugee work in Jordan, speaks at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 41st
and Lyndale Ave. S, Minneapolis.  herstadwr [at] msn.com


--------15 of 20--------

Growing Gulf Between Rich and Rest of US
by Holly Sklar
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 5, 2005

Guess which country the CIA World Factbook describes when it says, "Since
1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top
20 percent of households."

If you guessed the United States, you're right.

The United States has rising levels of poverty and inequality not found in
other rich democracies. It also has less mobility out of poverty.

Since 2000, America's billionaire club has gained 76 more members while
the typical household has lost income and the poverty count has grown by
more than 5 million people.

Poverty and inequality take a daily toll seldom seen on television. "The
infant mortality rate in the United States compares with that in Malaysia
- a country with a quarter the income." says the 2005 Human Development
Report. "Infant death rates are higher for [black] children in Washington,
D.C., than for children in Kerala, India."

Income and wealth in America are increasingly concentrated at the very top
- the realm of the Forbes 400.

You could have banked $1 million a day every day for the last two years
and still have far to go to make the new Forbes list of the 400 richest
Americans.

It took a minimum of $900 million to get on the Forbes 400 this year.
That's up $150 million from 2004.

"Surging real estate and oil prices drove up several fortunes and helped
pave the way for 33 new members," Forbes notes.

Middle-class households, meanwhile, are a medical crisis or outsourced job
away from bankruptcy.

With 374 billionaires, the Forbes 400 will soon be billionaires only.

Bill Gates remains No. 1 on the Forbes 400 with $51 billion. Low-paid
Wal-Mart workers can find Walton family heirs in five of the top 10 spots;
another Wal-Mart heir ranks No. 116.

Former Bechtel president Stephen Bechtel Jr. and his son, CEO Riley
Bechtel, tie for No. 109 on the Forbes 400 with $2.4 billion apiece. The
politically powerful Bechtel has gotten a no-bid contract for hurricane
reconstruction despite a pattern of cost overruns and shoddy work from
Iraq to Boston's leaky "Big Dig" tunnel/highway project.

The Forbes 400 is a group so small they could have watched this year's
Sugar Bowl from the private boxes of the Superdome.

Yet combined Forbes 400 wealth totals more than $1.1 trillion - an amount
greater than the gross domestic product of Spain or Canada, the world's
eighth- and ninth-largest economies.

The number of Americans in poverty is a group so large it would take the
combined populations of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas, plus
Arkansas to match it. That's according to the Census Bureau's latest count
of 37 million people below the poverty line.

Millions more Americans can't afford adequate health care, housing, child
care, food, transportation and other basic expenses above the official
poverty thresholds, which are set too low. The poverty threshold for a
single person under age 65 was just $9,827 in 2004. For a two-adult,
two-child family, it was just $19,157.

By contrast, the Economic Policy Institute's Basic Family Budget
Calculator says the national median basic needs budget (including taxes
and tax credits) for a two-parent, two-child family was $39,984 in 2004.
It was $38,136 in New Orleans and $33,636 in Biloxi, Mississippi.

America is becoming a downwardly mobile society instead of an upwardly
mobile society. Median household income fell for the fifth year in a row
to $44,389 in 2004 - down from $46,129 in 1999, adjusting for inflation.

The Bush administration is using hurricane "recovery" to camouflage
policies that will deepen inequality and poverty. They are bringing
windfall profits to companies like Bechtel while suspending regulations
that shore up wages for workers.

More tax cuts are in the pipeline for wealthy Americans who can afford the
$17,000 watch, $160,000 coat and $10 million helicopter on the Forbes Cost
of Living Extremely Well Index.

More budget cuts are in the pipeline for Medicaid, Food Stamps and other
safety nets for Americans whose wages don't even cover the cost of
necessities.

Without a change in course, the gulf between the rich and the rest of
America will continue to widen, weakening our economy and our democracy.
The American Dream will be history instead of poverty.

Holly Sklar is co-author of Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work
for All Of Us (www.raisethefloor.org). She can be reached at:
hsklar [at] aol.com. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Copyright  2005 Holly Sklar

[But, gosh and golly, I can't expand my mind beyond Hillary in 2008 -
like, I mean, what choice do they let us have? You know, if I didn't buy
that, I'd have to think we're in deep doo-doo, and that would be so
unsettling I might have to get serious. So wake me up in time for the
November 2008 Hillary vote. You know, the most important election in our
lives, installment 3. Zzzzzzzzzzz -ed]


--------16 of 20--------

Nazis
by Patricia Goldsmith
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 3, 2005

We have reached the paralytic stage of Bush spin, where a large percentage
of the population are ready to forget the horrors they've just seen and
felt, in return for comforting lies - lies they can live with. A large
proportion of people are willing to place major responsibility for the
recent bloodbath on the Gulf Coast on media-targeted scapegoats - both
local officials and the victims themselves - in exchange for the ability
to deny the most threatening portion of the Bush response: the active
intervention of the federal government to prevent outside help from
getting in.  This was not neglect, incompetence, or failure. This was what
Rummy calls a "catastrophic success".

In the press of events, certain mainstream figures did go off the
reservation. New York Times columnist David Brooks actually admitted that
the Bushitters lie quite deliberately and have from Day One.  Brooks
characterizes the position of White House insiders this way: "[I]f you
admit a mistake, you get no credit from your enemies, and then you open up
another week's story, because the admission of a little mistake leads to
the admission of big mistakes and another week's story.  It's totally
tactical and totally insincere".

It's all a story. One big story from beginning to end.

It's also totally corporate. The Bushitters interact with the public only
through the medium of advertising and only in furtherance of their own
bottom line.  Anyone who thinks corporations are ever sincere, or are even
capable of human emotions, has fallen for a marketing pitch. To call what
they do lying simply misses the point: unlike human beings, corporations
have only one goal.

We Americans love corporations. We have bestowed on them, through legal
precedents and high-court interpretations of the Constitution, the status
of citizens.  Corporations have a right to free speech, just like you and
me. Of course, in the case of corporations, they can only speak through
money.  Money, money, money. We Americans love money. We feel it would be
wrong to limit how much money - I mean speech - wealthy multinational
corporations can spend on elections.  The cure for bad speech is more
speech, right?  Sort of like that.

The thing about money is, it amplifies certain voices. We all have free
speech, but corporate media are heard speech. So think about it: how could
you use media companies to make money? Don't give me a snap answer.  Mull
it over for 30 or 40 years.  Hire a whole bunch of people, generations of
the finest minds from the finest schools, to really, really dig into that
question.

What do you think would happen?

The funny thing is, it really seemed to work, at least for middle-class
white Americans, for a pretty long time. Not only that, a lot of it was
fun.  We like our big cars and our $100 running shoes and Starbucks and -
everything.  We're the world's greatest consumers. As long as New Deal
regulations remained even partially in effect, enough people prospered
that we had a nation of Republicans. Their wealth constituted their
credibility. Join the Chamber of Commerce, make connections, and get
ahead.

The problem is that when the ultimate takeover finally occurs and the
federal government is totally in the hands of corporate interests, the
logic abruptly reverses.

Unless you are part of the acquiring industries - oil, pharmaceuticals,
weapons, insurance, telecommunications - you are screwed. Exxon-Mobil, for
example, just made more money than any business has ever made in one
quarter in the history of the world - and the rest of us are paying and
will continue to pay for it.

The Bushitters' bonus targets are being set by Dick Cheney's energy
committee; in effect, this country works for people on the same page as
Enron's management, the smartest guys in the room. They created a false
energy shortage in California in order to jack up prices - and then they
turned around and convinced people that the problem was all the damn
regulations energy companies have to observe.  All the federal hoops they
have to jump through. Sound familiar? These people are now literally
printing money.  They have control of the army, which they've blended with
their own private security firms.  And rest assured they've got plans for
us.

Did you see Junior scold the nation pre-Rita, that constipated-frown face
urging the people of Galveston to listen CAREFULLY to authorities . . .
pained pause . . . and FOLLOW their instructions. Nobody hates the
American people more than George W. Bush. We literally make him sick.
That's why he has to be so carefully shielded from all sight and sound of
us. He does not wish us well.

So what the hell can we do?

At this moment, I can't even think about possible electoral solutions.
Elections are too far in the future and way too uncertain of practical
success, given the continuing, deepening privatization of voting and the
more and more open resorts to violence.  As a character says in an Alan
Furst novel, What are we going to do about Hitler invading Poland?  Vote?

As far as I can tell, our only choice at this moment is to go mano-a-mano.
We have to make a conscious decision to start fighting with all the
Bushitters we know. At the very least, we have to make their lives as
miserable as they've been making ours - I mean on a personal level, one on
one. I think a lot of us don't really want to see the people we're living
and working with; time to take a peek.

This Thanksgiving, go prepared to destroy appetites.  Get ready to cut off
unrepentant Nazis - because for me, nothing says sadistic war criminal
quite like Nazi. You know? The new batch of photos from Abu Ghraib - brace
yourselves - will no doubt help you make your point. I don't think
there'll be any naked cheerleader pyramids this time around.

Shunning is one tool that is available to all of us that has real
emotional impact. While shunning, you can take the MSM's advice and learn
to speak the language of moral values. Time to be intolerant and
judgmental - what a fucking relief! They've been having all the fun all
these years. No more!

At times like this, personal characteristics that have always seemed wrong
and annoying - like, say, a big mouth you can never keep shut - acquire a
new and unexpected value. Enjoy!

In addition to withdrawing affection, attention, respect, and cooperation,
we can withdraw something perhaps even more important, namely, our money.
Get out of the stock market. Realize that every campaign contribution you
make, to either party, enriches the corporate media: boy, do they love a
swing state. Those of us who have disposable income need to drastically
reduce our spending across the board. Begin by canceling all your
newspaper subscriptions, magazines too. Switch from cable to satellite and
tell them you're moving to get Link and Free Speech TV. Set a goal for
personal savings that's ambitious - and then double it. (P.S., these are
also common-sense survival tips.)

I also believe that we somehow need to stop paying for disasters, as well.
The Red Cross is still a non-profit but don't forget that Elizabeth Dole
is a former president: it's become a great little corporate enabler,
dutifully collaborating with the government agenda in order to protect its
funding stream in much the same way PBS does. Neither of them has the
balls or the ambition to make the kind of waves that, say, Amnesty
International does. Call it a corporate version of Stockholm Syndrome. We
have to figure out a way to help disaster victims - and all the victims of
globalization - without unintentionally feeding the circling vultures.

We might remember the example of Frances Newton. On the eve of her
execution for a crime she clearly did not commit, Newton said she drew
strength from the knowledge of her own innocence.  In the end, all she
could do was look her murderers steadily in the eye. It's a good
beginning, too.

Patricia Goldsmith is a member of Long Island Media Watch, a grassroots
free media and democracy watchdog group.  She can be reached at:
plgoldsmith [at] optonline.net.


--------17 of 20--------

The Evil of Torture and the Power of Non-Violence
by Mike Whitney
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 5, 2005

  "Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good".
 - Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful
words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the
good people".
 - Martin Luther King, from his Birmingham jail, April 16, 1963

Leftists and intellectuals have a tough time explaining the presence of
evil in the world so they steer away from the topic like the plague. This
is a big mistake and will eventually inhibit our ability to deal
effectively with the present crisis.

Typically evil is understood in the context of spiritual belief and
depends heavily on one's acceptance of the ultimate division of reality
into unseen forces of good and evil, God and Satan. The trouble with this
analysis is that it completely eschews demonstrable phenomena that can
help us understand the nature of the problem itself. There are things we
can know about evil in a practical, provable way that provide both insight
and remedy. These things do not require belief in a Supreme Being or faith
in an afterlife.

The Leftist approach sidesteps evil altogether, looking instead for hidden
psychological causes or deep-seated emotional problems to explain the
erratic behavior of destructive people.

This is ridiculous. Evil exists, just not in the Manichaean way that
George W. Bush chooses to characterize it. Let me give you an example. A
few days ago the CounterPunch web site featured a brilliantly written
article on torture, "The Invention of Porno Torture", by Liaquat Ali Khan.
"Porno torture" is a new addition to the Pentagon's repertoire of abusive
treatment of prisoners and takes place when sexual torture is
"photographed, filmed, or videotaped". These photos or films are then used
to "degrade and torment Muslim men," an effective tool in breaking down
prisoners and extorting information from them. Khan suggests that the
Pentagon is using porno torture for two reasons. First, there is some
ambiguity about its legality under present treaty agreements (which gives
the Defense Department a "green light" to continue abusing inmates) and,
secondly, because porno torture offends the "cultural-religious"
sensibilities of its conservative Muslim victims. Both of these are
correct, in some sense, but they miss the larger issue, the essential evil
of torture itself, and its real roots in the heart of man.

We like to believe that we are reasonable creatures governed by the
dictates of considered judgments and well-examined opinions that are
grounded in objective observation and experience. In fact, we are quite
the opposite. The German philosopher Nietzsche grasped this when he
stated, "The ego is the mask behind which the instincts operate". Man's
appearance as a reasonable creature is a pure sham, a protective
outer-coat that conceals the darkly irrational tangle of instincts and
appetites that drive his every action. Only the thin veneer of
respectability and the law keep society's thin thread from unraveling
entirely.

Man is capable of great good; creativity, curiosity and compassion. But,
that is only half the story. He is also capable of incalculable evil;
torture, war and devastation. This evil seed in the soul of man does not
emerge from a blighted childhood or some remote psychological disturbance.
It is an integral part of his human make-up; a faculty for annihilation
that is every bit as real as the gnawing hunger of a starving man. Evil
and nihilism are a central part of man's incomprehensible complexity; they
cannot be dismissed as mere character flaws or aberrations.

The photos from Abu Ghraib express the unalloyed wickedness of torture.
This is evil in the truest sense. The men who produced these horrors are
not the victims of some unknown childhood trauma or buried dementia. They
are men who take delight in inflicting cruelty and pain. This is
important, because we are not looking to understand their twisted
behavior, only for an effective way of stopping it.

Evil cannot be stopped by reason, but only by putting oneself in harms way
and obstructing the perpetrator. Every act of non-violence diffuses the
power of evil.

The heart of man reflects the vast and chaotic forces of the universe. It
is pure egotism to think we can grasp this incoherent, labyrinth of primal
appetites and infinite space. Non-violence puts these conflicted forces in
line with a deeper sense of harmony, but it cannot be attained without
great sacrifice.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state, and can be reached at:
fergiewhitney [at] msn.com.


--------18 of 20--------

October 3, 2005
Alls or Nothings
The U.S. class divide deepens under Bush
By Silja J.A. Talvi

While pundits expressed shock at the fate of the poorest inhabitants in
Katrina's wake, the U.S. class divide is not breaking news. But several
new studies reveal the chasm separating those living in abject poverty
from those with unimaginable fortunes is growing fast.

Big earners were the focus of "Executive Excess 2005," a study published
in September by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair
Economy. The study found that the ratio between CEO and worker pay now
stands at 431-to-1. In real numbers, this adds up to $11.8 million in
earnings for the average CEO compared to $27,460 for the average worker.

The most significant revelation of "Executive Excess" concerned the growth
in profits by companies involved in providing services, goods and military
"expertise" to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 9/11, CEOs
heading defense contractor firms have seen their pay increase by 200
percent.

Among them is David H. Brooks, CEO of DHB Industries, which manufactures
bulletproof vests. While 5,000 of DHB's vests have already been recalled
by the Marines, Brooks pocketed $70 million last year, in addition to
selling company stock worth $186 million.

Halliburton, which holds 52 percent of Defense Department contracts in
Iraq, has been among the biggest beneficiaries of the war in Iraq, earning
$10.7 billion since 2004, despite internal Pentagon audits that indicated
that hundreds of millions were being overcharged, mishandled or misused by
Halliburton subsidiary KBR.

After Katrina, Halliburton's profit margin will increase significantly, as
the company has already picked up repair contracts worth hundreds of
millions - and is poised to receive even more. (Joe Albaugh, the director
of FEMA for the first two years of the Bush administration, is now a key
lobbyist for KBR.) That's good news to Halliburton CEO David Lesar, who
saw his pay increase to $11.4 million in 2004, up from $4.2 million in
2003.

"It seems particularly unjust to see executives profiting personally from
the horrors of war," says Sarah Anderson, co-author of the report.

While the money rolls in for Lesar and other war profiteers, the war's
cost to American citizens has surpassed that of the Vietnam War, according
to "The Iraq Quagmire," a study by the Institute for Policy Studies. The
study finds that each U.S. citizen has paid $727 to support the war in
Iraq. The average monthly cost of the war in Iraq stands at $5.6 billion,
compared with the monthly price tag of $5.1 billion (adjusted for
inflation) during the Vietnam War.

Other industries are raking it in as well. Overall, CEO pay has increased
exponentially over the past 15 years -the cumulative pay of the 10 highest
paid CEOs alone has totaled more than $11.7 billion. The report's authors
conferred a special "CEO Hall of Shame" award on Citigroup''s Sandy Weill,
who has earned more than $1.1 billion since 1990.

Low worker pay, poorly funded pension plans and skillful tax dodging have
allowed these companies to reap huge profits. Forty-six large corporations
paid no federal income taxes in 2003, despite earning a collective $30
billion in profits. The CEOs of those 46 companies that skirted federal
taxes (led by the pharmaceutical-giant Pfizer) earned an average annual
salary of $12.6 million.

Meanwhile, according to the latest Census Bureau data, the percentage of
Americans living in poverty now stands at 12.7 percent, the high point of
a steady four-year increase. From 2003 to 2004 alone, the number of people
living in poverty increased by 1.1 million to 37 million. And, as critics
of the Census Bureau's approach to poverty data collection point out, the
number is likely conservative because the figures do not account for
regional differences in housing costs - nor are they adjusted for the
rising costs of childcare and health care.

American women and children have fared the worst over the last four years.
During that time the number of children living in extreme poverty -
defined as living with an annual income of below $7,610 for a family of
three - has increased by 20 percent to reach a high of 5.6 million.

Nationwide the poverty rate for adult women stands at 12.7 percent
(compared with 9.3 percent for men). Overall, the number of poor women
increased for the fourth year in a row to 20.6 million. Even women with
regular employment are doing worse - real median earnings for working
women fell from $22,595 to $22,224 in 2004.

Joan Entmacher, of the National Women's Law Center, says, "The new Census
data show that for most women and their families, there is no economic
recovery".


--------19 of 20--------

 Muriel Rukeyser
 POEM

 I lived in the first century of world wars.
 Most mornings I would be more or less insane.
 The news would pour out of various devices
 The newspapers would arrive with their careless stories,
 Interrupted by attempts to sell products to the unseen.
 I would call my friends on other devices;
 They would be more or less mad for similar reasons.
 Slowly I would get to pen and paper,
 Make my poems for others unseen and unborn.
 In the day I would be reminded of those men and women,
 Brave, setting up signals across vast distances,
 considering a nameless way of living, of almost unimagined values.
 As the lights darkened, as the lights of night brightened,
 We would try to imagine them, try to find each other,
 To construct peace, to make love, to reconcile
 Waking with sleeping, ourselves with each other,
 Ourselves with ourselves. We would try by any means
 To reach the limits of ourselves, to reach beyond ourselves,
 To let go the means, to wake.

 I lived in the first century of these wars.


--------20 of 20--------

 Get your Bush voodoo
 doll, and glue. At half past two,
 you know what to do.


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