Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 10.19.05

[David Shove (shove001]

              P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    10.19.05

1. Vs Kelly/housing    10.19 2:30pm
2. Midtown greenway    10.19 6:30pm
3. Poetry/consumer age 10.19 7:30pm
4. Katrina garage sale 10.19

5. Candidates w11/w12  10.20 7pm

6. Counter recruit     10.21 12noon
7. Palestine vigil     10.21 4:15pm
8. Colombia/film       10.21 6:30pm
9. Kathy Kelly/Arise   10.21 7pm
10. McGovern here/film 10.21 7:15pm
11. Queens/film        10.21 7:30pm
12. Cabaret Katrina    10.21 8pm

13. William Blum   - Portrait of schizo Americanus
14. Joshua Frank   - Kevin Zeese's antiwar campaign for the US Senate
15. Fitrakis et al - Why can't the left face stolen elections 2004/2008?
16. ed             - Our leaders on high (poem)

--------1 of 16--------

Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:22:44 -0500
From: William McGaughey <2wmcg [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Vs Kelly/housing 10.19 2:30pm

PROTEST DEMONSTRATION AT ST. PAUL CITY HALL
WEDNESDAY 10.19 AT 2:30pm

Landlords and homeowners unhappy with the Kelly Administrationıs
heavy-handed use of housing inspections will be picketing St. Paul city
hall tomorrow at 2:30pm on the south (Kellogg Blvd.) side of the
building. Twenty to twenty-five persons are expected to attend the rally.

The man on the street does not realize the extent to which the city of St.
Paul has abused its power to inspect housing.  City inspectors have
repeatedly cited elderly homeowners for minor violations - tall grass,
etc. - and then charged them for ³excessive use of inspection services.²
They have condemned the homes of poor but law-abiding citizens who could
not afford to keep pace with ³repairs² demanded by the city.  St. Paul
housing inspectors have threatened to tear down homes if they were not
sold to certain persons for a certain price.  City officials have lied
under oath about the condition of buildings.  At least three lawsuits in
federal court charge the city of St. Paul and its top officials with
racketeering.

A possible advantage of Randy Kellyıs endorsement of George W. Bush in the
last election is that federal prosecutors seem willing to cut him and his
minions much slack in prosecuting such offenses.  In contrast, a
politically isolated official such as Green Party city council member Dean
Zimmermann had his campaign records seized before the primary election for
³crimes² which have yet to see an indictment.

The protesters, armed with signs and a megaphone, intend to tell Randy
Kelly and the rest of this arrogant crowd that itıs time for them to leave
public office.

For further information: contact Bill McGaughey (612) 374-5916 Les Lucht
(651)  489-7436


--------2 of 16--------

From: Gena Berglund <genab61 [at] mindspring.com>
Subject: Midtown greenway 10.19 6:30pm

Community Meeting #4 - Wednesday, October 19 from 6:30-8:30pm at Salem
Lutheran Church Lounge area (28th & Lyndale Ave S). Concentrating on the
area west of I35-W. The workshop (charrette) will allow members of the
community to contribute to design concepts for specific sites along the
Greenway. A Spanish interpreter will be available.

Community Meeting #5 - Thursday, October 20 from 6:30-8:30pm at Midtown
YWCA Community Room (2121 East Lake St). Concentrating on the area east
of I35-W. The workshop (charrette) will allow members of the community
to contribute to design concepts for specific sites along the Greenway.
A Somali interpreter will be available.


--------3 of 16--------

From: lynette <lynette [at] prettyhorses.net>
Subject: Poetry/consumer age 10.19 7:30pm

Wednesday, October 19

Pultzer Prize winning poet Philip Levine reads and lectures:  "O Taste and
See: Poetry in a Consumer Age" as part of the University of Minnesota
Esther Freier Endowed Lecture in Literature. 7:30 pm at Coffman Theater,
West Bank. Reception and book signing follows.


--------4 of 16--------

From: "Lifestyle Coach, Litahni," <litahni [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Katrina garage sale 10.19

We are hoping to conduct the Garage Sale Wed - Sunday this week.  We need
people to help with putting stuff out and with sitting at the sale to
collect monies etc. Location is Columbia Heights, corner of 48th Av and
7th Street. (between Central Ave.(Hwy65) and University Ave. (Hwy 47) just
south of 694) in the pavillion at McKenna Park.

If you have any time at all please email me with the time blocks you could
work and your contact phone number.  I simply cannot manage to be here all
of the time.

North Serves South, Grass Roots Relief Effort going on now! Drop off
goods and money at Stonehenge, 2520 Hennepin Ave. or Columbia Grounds
Coffee Shop, 3301 Central Ave. N. www.NorthServesSouth.com Contact:
Litahni 763-427-0212


--------x of 16--------

From: Doug Walter <dwalter [at] nokomiseast.org>
Subject: Candidates wards 11/12 10.20 7pm

Nokomis East is hosting a Candidate Forum for Wards 11 & 12 along with MPRB
District 5 on Thursday, October 20.

Join us in welcoming Ward 11 candidates Scott Benson and Greg Iverson, Ward
12 candidates Sandy Colvin Roy and Kevin McDonald, and MPRB 5th District
candidates Carol Kummer and Jason Stone. Moderated by the League of Women's
Voters. It should be a lively evening.

7-9pm, Thursday, October 20.
Location:  Minnehaha United Methodist Church, 3701 E. 50th St.
(Corner of 37th Ave South and E 50th St. Seven blocks east of 50th St LRT
Station and on Bus #27 from the LRT)
Basement meeting hall (wheelchair accessible)

Refreshments will be served


-------6 of 16--------

From: sarah standefer <scsrn [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Counter recruit 10.21 12noon

Counter Recruitment Demonstration
 Our Children Are Not Cannon Fodder
Fridays   NOON-1
Recruiting Office at the U of M
At Washington and Oak St.  next to Chipolte
for info call Barb Mishler 612-871-7871


--------7 of 16--------

From: peace 2u <tkanous [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Palestine vigil 10.21 4:15pm

Every Friday
Vigil to End the Occupation of Palestine

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

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


--------8 of 16--------

From: Mary Turck <mturck [at] americas.org>
Subject: Colombia/film 10.21 6:30pm

Friday, October 21 - Confessing to Laura FREE. 6:30pm Resource Center of
the Americas, 3019 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis 55406 FFI: 612-276-0788.
(directed by Jaime Osorio Gomez) Colombia. Spanish with English subtitles.
After the assassination of Liberal Colombian leader Jorge Elieser Gaitan
in 1948 sets off a violent civil war, rioting traps two people at Laura's
house, setting the scene for terror and a multitude of confessions.  This
1990 production is an emotionally gut- wrenching story set in a turbulent
time in Colombin's history.


--------9 of 16--------

From: Arise! <arise [at] arisebookstore.org>
Subject: Kathy Kelly/Arise 10.21 7pm

Kathy Kelly
Human Right Activist
Author, Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison
Friday, October 21, 7 pm

Arise! is proud to host Kathy Kelly, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize and founder of Voices In The Wilderness, a group dedicated to
breaking the US embargo on Iraq by contributing humanitarian aid, and
providing 'human shields' to protect against bombing. She is also a key
organiser of the protests against the School of the Americas, for which
she was imprisoned.

About the book: In the spring of 2004, human rights activist Kathy Kelly,
twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was sent to Pekin Federal
Prison for leading a protest at the School of the Americas. While in
prison, Kelly's organization, Voices in the Wilderness, was targeted by a
US State Department lawsuit charging that Kelly violated US-imposed
sanctions when she took humanitarian aid to Iraq during numerous visits
over the last five years.

In this fiercely eloquent book, Kelly recounts such trips to Iraq, tells
the largely unknown story of the School of the Americas and describes
daily life inside a federal prison, where America's poor are warehoused.
Like Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, Kelly's powerful
narrative gives voice to the unheard millions suffering at home and
abroad.


--------10 of 16-------

From: Adam Sekuler <adam [at] mnfilmarts.org>
Subject: McGovern here/film 10.21 7:15pm

GEORGE MCGOVERN IN PERSON!!! only on 10.21

Come out to see and hear one of the greatest political figures in US
history, George McGovern.

Minnesota Film Artsı Bell Auditorium is screening a film about him Friday
and he will be here to introduce the premiere screening. Come see what
compassionate politics is all about, not the compassionate conservatism
which has brought so much devastation to the place we call home. Here's
the details...

One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern.

Artfully chronicling the political campaign of this soft-spoken Senator
from rural South Dakota, One Bright Shining Moment features memorable
footage of the Vietnam era, which takes us back to the assassination of
Martin Luther King and Kent State, when passions ran high in the struggle
for Civil Rights and to end the bitter war in Vietnam.

The Bell Auditorium on October 21 @ 7:15pm
17th & University Aves SE
(inside the Bell Museum of Natural History).

Tickets to this screening are $15 and can be purchased
in advance by calling 612.331.7563

---
Winner of the Best Documentary at the Sarasota Film Festival, One Bright
and Shining Moment retraces the political campaign of this soft-spoken
Senator from rural South Dakota. Against all odds, McGovern's Army, a
grassroots movement born in living rooms across the country, gave way to
the unlikely defeat of his Democratic opponents and to his nomination for
President. Memorable footage of the Vietnam era takes us back to the
assassination of Martin Luther King and Kent State, when passions ran high
in the struggle for Civil Rights and to end the bitter war in Vietnam. A
series of thoughtful interviews with an array of insiders (including Gore
Vidal, Gloria Steinem, Warren Beatty, and Gary Hart) reflect back on the
man who ran on a platform of fairness and compassion, not compassionate
conservatism.

Showing October 21-November 3 at 7:15/9:30pm nightly Sat. & Sun. at
1:15/3:15/5:15pm also.

The Bell Auditorium is located at 10 Church Street at the intersection of
17th and University Ave. S.E. on the University of MN East Bank campus in
the Bell Museum of Natural History.

Nolte Garage immediately adjacent to the Bell Museum is open Monday
through Friday, $3.25 for unlimited parking after 4pm - The 4th Street
Ramp on 17th Ave and 4th Street is less than a block from the theatre,
$3.25* for unlimited parking Saturday & Sunday.

Buses number 2, 3 and 6 all stop within one block of the theatre. go to
www.metrotransit.com for exact times and schedules.


--------11 of 16--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Screaming queens/film 10.21 7:30pm

"Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria" film premiere
Friday October 21, 7:30pm
Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota.
301 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis.

Director Susan Stryker in person
Free and open to the general public

New documentary recalls early gay and transgender riots

Susan Stryker, an internationally-recognized transgender studies scholar,
will appear in Minneapolis on October 21 to speak about transgender
studies and appear at the area premiere of her film, "Screaming Queens:
The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria."

"Screaming Queens" recovers the lost history of a significant but
little-known event - 1966 riot at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco's
impoverished Tenderloin neighborhood, when drag queens and hustlers first
banded together to fight back against police harassment, three years
before the more famous gay riots at New York's Stonewall Inn.  The film
uses first-person interviews, archival footage, voice-over narration, and
period music to place the story of the Compton's Cafeteria riot in broader
historical contexts--the civil rights movement, the war in Viet Nam, urban
renewal and redevelopment polices, and the rise of sexual liberation
politics.

Stryker co-directed the film with Victor Silverman. "Screaming Queens"
will screen at the Cowles Auditorium in the Humphrey Institute on Friday,
October 21 at 7:30pm, followed by a question-and-answer session with
Stryker.

Stryker will also speak that day from 3:30-5pm on the topic
"(De)Subjugated Knowledges: The Recent Emergence of Transgender Studies"
at Coffman Memorial Union, University of Minnesota.

Susan Stryker, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized transgender studies
scholar and former Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society in
San Francisco. Stryker is the co-author of /Gay By the Bay: A History of
Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area/, contributing editor of the
transgender studies special issue of /GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay
Studies/, author of /Queer Pulp: Perverse Passion in the Golden Age of the
Paperback/, and co-editor of the /Transgender Studies Reader/, forthcoming
from Routledge in 2006.

Susan Stryker is available for interviews in Minneapolis on October 19
and 20. For information and scheduling contact Kelly O'Brien at
612-624-4109 or obrie136 [at] umn.edu <mailto:obrie136 [at] umn.edu>.

FFI (public): 612-626-4542
FFI (media): Kelly O'Brien, College of Liberal Arts, 612-624-4109,
obrie136 [at] umn.edu <mailto:obrie136 [at] umn.edu>


--------12 of 16--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Cabaret Katrina 10.21 8pm

FRI.OCT.21: CABARET KATRINA @ Patrick's Cabaret, Mpls

CABARET KATRINA
Friday, October 21st, 2005 (8pm most likely)
$10 suggested minimum donation
Patrick's Cabaret
3010 Minnehaha Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-724-6273
reservations: 612-721-3595
patrickscabaret [at] patrickscabaret.org

She is still in need of performers of all types to participate. Anyone you
can round up would be much appreciated. Just pass her email address on to
anyone who's interested and people can contact her.  Her email address is
teresamock [at] yahoo.com

Here's the information on the charity:

S.O.S. Coalition:  The S.O.S. Coalition has served over thirty-two
communities that were devastated along the Gulf Coast. They also provide
support and assistance through over fifteen churches in the region. The
churches serve as community service sites, especially in the
African-American communities. In addition to their amazing Gulf Coast
operation, S.O.S. continues to offer relocation services, operate long
term shelters in Alabama, provide medical services and advocate for FEMA
benefits. This community-based organization provides information,
services, and resources to other grassroots relief organizations both
regionally and nationally. Their distribution warehouse established with
the help of donations from people like you, located in Mobile, Alabama is
distributing needed food, water, and essential survival supplies. S.O.S.
is asking for donations of goods and cash. This group needs your help so
they can continue to expand their services. They are also looking for
capable volunteers. The y are a non-profit corporation and your donations
will be tax deductible. Supplies can be sent to: S.O.S. 2810 Mill Street
Mobile, AL 36607 (251) 377-9691 s cabaret


--------13 of 16--------

The Anti-Empire Report
Portrait of Schizo Americanus
by William Blum
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 18, 2005

                  Katrina and the Good Americans

All the kindness, all the concern and generosity, the utmost empathy,
taking strangers into their homes, donating so much money and goods and
time, helping them find a roof over their heads, find a job, locate their
loved ones ... But it must be asked: Why is it that so many of these same
people can show so little concern for the many, many victims of US foreign
policy -- the bombed and the tortured, the maimed and the impoverished,
the widows and the orphans, the overthrown and the suppressed? How can
these kind and generous Americans take delight and pride in the "shock and
awe" of the Pentagon military machine?  How can they exult in the
machine's unstoppable power to smash through brick and flesh?
Unquestionably, many of them display more regard for their dog than for
any Iraqi or Afghan.

I think the main reason is that Americans are convinced, or at least tell
themselves, that the devastation and suffering of these foreigners is the
price that has to be paid for a higher cause. Residing comfortably in
Americans is a deeply held belief that no matter what the United States
does abroad, no matter what horror may result, no matter how bad it may
look, the government of the United States means well. American leaders may
make mistakes, they may blunder, they may lie, they may even on the odd
occasion cause more harm than good, but they do mean well. Their
intentions are always honorable. Of that Americans are certain. They
genuinely wonder why the rest of the world can't see how benevolent and
self-sacrificing America has been. Even many people who take part in the
anti-war movement have a hard time shaking off some of this mindset; they
march to spur America -- the America they love and worship and trust --
back onto the right track.

Another comparison worth pondering:  Look at the US government's
preparation for the invasion of Iraq.  For almost a full year the bases
were set up, the airfields laid out, the tanks moved into place, the army
hospitals readied for the wounded in Germany, the body bags inventoried,
hundreds of thousands of military and civilian personnel assigned their
spots and their duties, money being printed round the clock upon request,
every "t" crossed, every "i" dotted, little left to chance ... and look at
the preparation for a hurricane hitting New Orleans, which was beyond the
"if" stage, waiting only for the "when".  The empire has its priorities.

                War is Peace, Occupation is Sovereignty

The town of Rawa in Northern Iraq is occupied. The United States has built
an Army outpost there to cut off the supply of foreign fighters
purportedly entering Iraq from Syria. The Americans engage in house
searches, knocking in doors, summary detentions, roadblocks, air strikes,
and other tactics highly upsetting to the people of Rawa. Recently, the
commander of the outpost, Lt. Col.  Mark Davis, addressed a crowd of 300
angry people. "We're not going anywhere," he told the murmuring citizens.
"Some of you are concerned about the attack helicopters and mortar fire
from the base," he said. "I will tell you this: those are the sounds of
peace". [1]

He could as well have said they were the sounds of sovereignty. Iraq is a
sovereign nation, Washington assures us, particularly in these days of the
constitutional referendum, although the vote will do nothing to empower
the Iraqis to relieve their daily misery, serving only a public relations
function for the United States; the votes, it should be noted, were
counted on an American military base; on the day of the referendum,
American warplanes and helicopters were busy killing some 70 people around
the city of Ramadi. [2]

London also insists that Iraq is a sovereign nation. Recently, hundreds of
residents filled the streets in the southern city of Basra, shouting and
pumping their fists in the air to condemn British forces for raiding a
jail and freeing two British soldiers. Iraqi police had arrested the
Britons, who were dressed as civilians, for allegedly firing their guns
(at whom or what is not clear), and either trying to plant explosives or
having explosives in their vehicle. British troops then assembled several
armored vehicles, rammed them through the jailhouse wall, and freed the
men, as helicopter gunships hovered above. [3]

An intriguing side question: We have here British soldiers dressed as
civilians (at least one report said dressed as Arabs), driving around in a
car with explosives, firing guns ... Does this not feed into the frequent
speculation that coalition forces have been to some extent part of the
"insurgency"?  The same insurgency that's used as an excuse by the
coalition to remain in Iraq?

Afghanistan is also sovereign we are told. In July a statement by the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- made up of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan
and its Central Asian neighbors -- asked the United States to specify a
date of its troop withdrawal from Central Asian bases on the ground that
operations in Afghanistan were winding down.  But in September we could
read in a Washington Post report from Afghanistan: "The Soviets built a
runway here more than 20 years ago to land fighter jets. The Americans,
having pretty much worn that one out with their jumbo cargo planes, are
building a new, longer strip meant to withstand the U.S. military's
heaviest loads. The construction, at the four-year mark in America's
military presence in Afghanistan, isn't stopping there.  Plans call for
expanded ramps for fighter jets and helicopters, multiple ammunition
storage bunkers and a six-story control tower, for a total bill exceeding
$96 million.  An even more expensive airfield renovation is underway in
Iraq at the Balad air base, a hub for U.S. military logistics, where for
$124 million the Air Force is building additional ramp space for cargo
planes and helicopters. And farther south, in Qatar, a state-of-the-art,
104,000-square-foot air operations center for monitoring U.S. aircraft in
the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa is taking shape in the form of a
giant concrete bunker. The $500 million price tag includes a set of
support facilities that would be the envy of any air force.

"All in all, the U.S. military has more than $1.2 billion in projects
either underway or planned in the Central Command region -- an expansion
plan that U.S. commanders say is necessary both to sustain operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan and to provide for a long-term presence in the area".
[4]

There are of course areas other than the military which illustrate
Washington's continuing exercise of sovereignty over Iraq, areas such as
those concerning multinational corporations. Sales of Iraqi assets and
laws and decrees concerning deregulation, privatization, corporate taxes,
etc. were promulgated early on by Washington's Coalition Provisional
Authority to make life easy for Halliburton and its partners in crime.
These laws and decrees still remain in force and were set up to be rather
difficult to amend.  From all accounts, the new Iraqi constitution makes
no mention of them.

And let us not forget: All Americans in Iraq, and all their allies,
military or civilian, have complete immunity from any Iraqi law
enforcement or judicial body, no matter what they do.

                          Clueless in Gaza

For some time now, the Pentagon has been fighting against the American
Civil Liberties Union, members of Congress, and others who are pushing for
the release of new photos and videos of prisoner "abuse" (otherwise known
as "torture") in the American gulag.  The Pentagon has been trying to
block release of these materials because, they claim, it will inflame
anti-American feelings and inspire terrorist acts abroad.  This clearly
implies that so-called anti-Americans come to their views as a result of
American actions or behavior.  Yet, the official position of the Bush
administration, repeated numerous times and never rescinded, is that the
motivation behind anti-American terrorism is envy and/or hatred of
American democracy, freedom, wealth, and secular government, nothing to do
with anything the United States does abroad, nothing to do with US foreign
policy. [5]

In a similar vein, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen
Hughes recently toured the Middle East for the stated purpose of
correcting the "mistaken" impressions people have of the United States,
which, she would have the world believe, are the root cause of
anti-American hatred and terrorism; it's all a matter of misunderstanding,
image, and public relations.   At her confirmation hearing in July, Hughes
said "The mission of public diplomacy is to engage, inform, and help
others understand our policies, actions and values". [6] But what if the
problem is that the Muslim world, like the rest of the world, understands
America only too well?  Predictably, this confidante of President Bush
(this being her only qualification for the position, just like Harriet
Miers's only qualification for the Supreme Court) uttered one inanity
after another on her tour.  Here she is in Turkey: "to preserve the peace,
sometimes my country believes war is necessary," and declaring that women
are faring much better in Iraq than they did under Saddam Hussein. [7]
When her remarks were angrily challenged by Turkish women in the audience,
Hughes replied: "Obviously we have a public relations challenge here ...
as we do in different places throughout the world". [8] Right, Karen, it's
all just PR, nothing of any substance to worry your banality-filled little
head about.

The Arab News ("The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily") summed
up Hughes's performance thusly: "Painfully clueless". [9] The same could
of course be said about Hughes's boss (whom Harriet Miers has called the
most brilliant man she has ever met). [10]

The Washington Post reported that: Hughes's "audiences, especially in
Egypt, often consisted of elites with long ties to the United States, but
many people she spoke with said the core reason for the poor U.S. image
remained U.S. policies, not how those policies were marketed or
presented". [11] Might she and her boss learn anything from this? Nah.

                   American Foundations and Dissent

Political science professor Joan Roelofs has a new book out on this
long-neglected subject, Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of
Pluralism.   Here"s a sample:

"Although Ford and other foundations had undertaken ameliorative measures,
'malcontents' started to spring up everywhere in the US during the 1960s.
Foundation ideology attributed the radical protests to defects in
pluralism. The pluralist ideology holds that any interest is free to
organize and to obtain benefits from the system, through peaceful
processes of compromise.

"Disadvantaged groups, such as blacks, Chicanos, women, children, and the
poor, needed help in obtaining their rights. Grant money would enable them
to participate in the interest group process on an equal basis with the
more advantaged groups, and then they would no longer waste their energies
in futile disruptive actions.  Note that according to foundation ideology,
the poor are just another minority group.  Poverty, militarism, racism,
and environmental degradation are not byproducts of the economic system or
related to each other.  They are merely defects to be corrected through
the pluralist political process".

A very interesting flowchart showing the flow of money from foundations to
progressive media and other organizations of the left can be found at:
www.leftgatekeepers.com/ For the latest information in this area send an
email to Bob Feldman at bob_jan [at] xensei.com.

William Blum is the author of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA
Interventions Since World War 2, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only
Superpower, Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire, and
West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir. Visit his website:
www.killinghope.org. He can be reached at: bblum6 [at] aol.com.


--------14 of 16--------

Kevin Zeese's Antiwar Campaign for the US Senate:
Hope for Changing Politics in Washington
by Joshua Frank
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 18, 2005

Politics in the United States often seem bleak, if not hopeless. There
just aren't many campaigns or candidates out there that one can get too
excited about these days. And if it's the war and US foreign policy that's
got you in a tizzy, you may as well forget about tracking down a contender
that feels the same. There are not a lot out there.

Some do exist, however, but they are often left out. The fact is it is
people who agree with a candidate's positions but abandon them that do the
most damage, not the media or Beltway insiders. That's why it is vital
that antiwar folks stick to their cause and resist the quicksand of
lesser-evil politics in 2006, regardless of the alleged consequences. If a
candidate starts to speak up and embody an antiwar stance, the movement
against the war should stand behind him/her with full force.

Just such a candidate has risen to the challenge. Lawyer and antiwar
activist Kevin Zeese is taking on the two war parties by seeking an open
US Senate seat from Maryland. Zeese, who is running independent of the two
major parties, has been involved in a host of social justice issues over
the past thirty years and is currently serving as the director for the
antiwar organization Democracy Rising, which is calling for a responsible,
rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Zeese is seeking the nomination of
Maryland's antiwar Libertarian, Populist and Green Parties as well as
support from Maryland's fastest growing group of voters -- disgruntled
Republicans and Democrats.

"There is not a single Senator standing up in Washington urging that we
bring the troops home," Zeese recently told me. "Even the strongest
opposition to the war in the Senate does not advocate an exit time table.
With a growing majority opposing this war and wanting the troops to come
home as soon as possible, the Senate needs at least one member who will
advocate for that majority view".

In order for Zeese to pull of a victory he must defeat entrenched pro-war
Congressman Ben Cardin, who is a perfect example of what is so utterly
wrong with the Democratic establishment. Cardin has voted to fund the
occupation; he opposes an exit strategy and supports the invasive Patriot
Act. Like most politicians in Washington, Cardin is also in the pockets of
the corporate elite. Even though he's been a legislator for almost two
decades now, nobody quite knows what the guy stands for ideologically. One
thing is for sure, though, convictions don't drive Cardin -- campaign
dollars do.

Zeese's pursuit is already drawing support from Democrats disappointed
with the Party's attempt to anoint Cardin. Zeese will be addressing
Democratic-leaning groups in November urging them to support a strong
antiwar advocate, not a corporate activist. But Zeese isn't just hoping
his campaign can shave votes away from Cardin, he is also attempting to
slice a wedge in Maryland's Republican base.

"The DC Republican's Wall Street values are not consistent with Main
Street values," Zeese contends. "Their wholehearted support for the
Patriot Act is not consistent with protecting the Constitution, and the
Republican's support for nation building in Iraq is not consistent with
investing in America".

There is no doubt that Zeese has his work cut out for him. His campaign is
up against a popular Democrat and his beefy $4 million war chest. And all
this before the likely Republican, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele -- a Karl
Rove-backed stooge -- has announced his bid. But a contentious three-way
race can be won by a plurality vote of as little as 34 percent.

If the antiwar movement wants an independent Senator in Washington who
will not compromise or quit in efforts to stop the war in Iraq, they
should consider passing a few dollars to the Zeese camp.

"We've got to move past party politics and stick to issues," says Kevin
Zeese, "I'm standing up against this war. We've got to bring our troops
home. We've to end this occupation and I believe that if the antiwar
movement gets behind my campaign, Washington will have no choice but to
listen to our pleas".

* You can learn more about the Zeese campaign at www.kevinzeese.com.

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



--------15 of 16--------

Why Can't the Left Face the Stolen Elections of 2004 & 2008?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
Published on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 by the Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)

If some of its key publications are any indicator, much of the American
left seems unable to face the reality that the election of 2004 was
stolen. So in all likelihood, unless something radical is done, 2008 will
be too.

Misguided and misinformed articles in both TomPaine.com and Mother Jones
Magazine indicate a dangerous inability to face the reality that these
stolen elections mean nothing less than the death of what's left of
American democracy, and the permanent enthronement of the Rovian GOP.

As investigative reporters based in Columbus, Ohio, we witnessed
first-hand, up close and personal, exactly how the 2004 election was
stolen, and how it will most likely be done in 2008. In the precinct in
which Harvey Wasserman grew up, and in the one where Bob Fitrakis now
lives, we saw the well-funded, profoundly cynical and deadly effective
mechanisms by which the Bush-Cheney-Rove-Blackwell GOP machine switched a
victory for John Kerry to an easily-repeatable defeat for democracy.

That Kerry and the spineless Ohio and national Democratic Parties have
been complicit is a crucial part of the problem much of the left also
seems unwilling to face. But if you live in Franklin County, Ohio, and
watch the Republican and Democratic Parties run joint pickets against
progressive candidates, and cut backroom deals allowing incumbents of
either party run unopposed, you may miss the full scope of the disaster.

And until the left faces the rot that defines the Democratic Party, there
is no hope for a fair election in this country. In other words: those who
think the White House can be retaken in 2008, but refuse to face the theft
of the vote in 2004, should prepare to be ruled by the likes of Jeb Bush,
now and forever.

Before we go into the sordid details, we have to ask: exactly what is it
about Team Bush that makes people think they could not or would not steal
an American election? Do they lack funds? Do they lack expertise? Is there
something in the Machiavellian/mobster moral code of Karl Rove and the
Bush Family that would prevent them from doing here what they've been
doing throughout the Third World for so long?

CIA meister Poppy Bush long ago perfected the art and science of stealing
elections. US manipulators have interfered with and tipped elections for
decades. Why should Ohio be any different? Especially when all the world
knew control of the most powerful office on earth would be decided right
here.

Lets do the bookends: before the voting, Ohio's infamous Republican
Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell clearly and vehemently denied poll
access to teams of international observers from the United Nations and
other international election observers.

Since the election, he has effectively stonewalled and sabotaged all
recount attempts, to the point that no credible accounting of the Ohio
election has ever been done. To this day, at least 100,000 votes remain
uncounted, electronic voting machines remain unaudited, key hardware and
data files have been trashed, paper ballots have sat unguarded for anyone
to pilfer and tallies in dozens of key counties remain filled with
statistical impossibilities.

In our "How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008", we
list more than 180 bullet points on how this theft was perpetrated. It was
a brilliant, cynical and masterfully executed campaign of death by a
thousand cuts.

In Florida 2000, the means of the crime were limited to a few instances of
intimidation, butterfly ballots, computer manipulation and a corrupt
Supreme Court. But four years after, in Ohio, dozens of sometimes subtle,
sometimes blatant tricks were designed to steal a few thousand votes here,
a few thousand more there, until victory was in GOP hands. Unless they are
exposed and blocked, every one of these scams can and will be duplicated
throughout the United States in 2006 and 2008. The question is: will the
left follow mainstream Democrats with sheep-like acceptance as every
election goes the same way from here on? And if so, why bother even
staging more votes in this country at all?

Starting with Russ Baker at TomPaine.com, the indicators are grim. Last
January, Baker penned an absurd, ill-reported piece of nonsense called
"What Didn't Happen in Ohio." Baker traipsed into Columbus for a few days,
interviewed the usual faux Democrats, and left with a Big Story: "The
Election Was Fair."

If Baker had done any meaningful research he might have seen the dozens of
other instances of intimidation, irregularities and fraud that went
unmentioned in his glib paragraphs. Instead he relied on Bill Anthony,
chair of the Franklin County Democrats and Board of Elections.

Bill is a pleasant, affable African-American with no commitment or fight
for democracy or even the Democrats. He has appeared on Bob's local radio
show and with Harvey on others. On one of them, Bill admitted that the
Franklin County BOE knew there would be problems with voting machines, and
asked Blackwell for paper ballots well before the 2004 election.
Blackwell, Anthony said, turned them down. The result was the now infamous
chaos at the polls, with inner city voters stuck in the rain for hours.
Just what Blackwell wanted.

But did Bill Anthony fight Blackwell's absurd ruling? Did he make it a
public issue prior to the election?

Not a chance.

For a quickie reporting job, Anthony is a dream. He's well-spoken,
charming and convincing. As an African-American with union connections, he
would seem the perfect liberal source.

In 2003, Anthony endorsed the Republican mayor's former press secretary
for the Columbus School Board. He then supported two Republican candidates
on a "Reform Slate" aimed at ousting the Board's only progressive
Democrat, an African-American.

Bill Anthony is just one of a legion of what are known throughout the
state as DINOs - Democrats in Name Only. The Ohio Democratic Party is a
national embarrassment. Its chair, Denny White, was not long ago a
Republican, and will soon be one again, once the party is fully
disemboweled, a job very close to done. Throughout Ohio, DINOs piously
cover this piece of fraud and that piece of theft with glib "I hate Bush"
rhetoric. The pity is, out-of-state reporters actually take them
seriously.

Mark Hertsgaard is a well respected author and reporter and a long-time
friend of Harvey Wasserman, and of election critic Mark Crispen Miller. He
has contributed some very valuable work over the years. But he's done
himself - and the voting public - very wrong on "Recounting Ohio" in the
new Mother Jones.

Mark is smart and thorough enough to leave open the possibility that
Ohio's election was, indeed, stolen. But he also falls prey to the DINO
trap, failing to cover far too much of what happened here while taking
seriously centrist Democrats who are known locally to have no credibility.

So Mother Jones questions the significance of the firing of a Democratic
election official who blew the whistle on computer manipulations by Triad,
an obscure Republican voting machine company. But Triad was involved in
counting the votes in nearly half of Ohio's 88 counties. Questions are
still being raised about Triad, including: "How did they get all these
contracts in the first place?"

Mother Jones correctly points out that seven times the number of votes by
which Bush took Ohio were cast on Republican-controlled machines. But the
magazine fails to follow up with mention that those votes have been
tabulated on proprietary non-transparent software - a fact we pointed out
in our own article in Motherjones.com many months prior to the election.

Mother Jones also discounts the fact that a phony Homeland Security alert
in Warren County landed the vote count in an unauthorized warehouse rather
than the official secure location, and that reporters were barred from the
vote count. That count, which went hugely and suspiciously and very
importantly for Bush, was observed by nominal Democrats. But so were other
highly dubious vote counts around the state, as they had been in Florida
2000, which Mother Jones argues adamantly was indeed stolen.

The irony of this is that the same issue of Mother Jones leads off with a
dead-on story about Ohio and national Democrats who are sabotaging the
campaign of the aggressively electable Paul Hackett for a key US Senate
seat. And another MoJo piece bemoans the fact that national Democrats seem
adept only at losing.

Yet here the back of the book is a story discounting evidence compiled by
a legion of independent, grassroots election rights advocates, while
favoring phone interviews with the very Democrats being denounced in the
front of the book.

Above all, the core of evidence that the election was stolen in Ohio 2004
comes from some 500 sworn statements and signed affidavits taken by people
of all political parties, including two Republican hearings officers, in
the weeks after the election. Anyone truly committed to finding out what
happened here needs to start with that huge body of evidence.

As MoJo points out, none of this has been made easier by the "abandon
ship" of the biggest DINO of all, John Kerry. Kerry had $7 million in the
bank earmarked to "count every vote" and was apparently losing by just
136,000 Ohio votes with more than 250,000 still uncounted when he turned
tail and conceded. Even Blackwell's corrupt, virtually meaningless first
fake recount dropped Bush's official tally by 18,000 votes.

The Democrats have since attacked the election protection movement here
through a lawyer named Daniel Hoffheimer who comes from none other than
the stalwart Cincinnati Republican law firm of Taft, Stettinius et. al.
MoJo quotes another Kerry/DINO lawyer Michael O'Grady, counsel to the
state Democratic Party, who argues that for Ohio to have been stolen, the
entire GOP would have had to be "conspiratorial," while the Democrats were
"dumb as rocks."

In fact, that's an assessment many activists in Ohio heartily endorse,
though you might add the word "inert" to the description of the Democrats.

O'Grady claims, for example, that an impossible vote count in three
southern Ohio counties that gave Bush his entire margin of victory can be
explained by a feminist outpouring for an African-American court candidate
who ran zero campaign in those counties. But the presumption is that those
same feminists somehow didn't bother to vote for Kerry over George W.
Bush. No local student of that election could begin to take such an
assessment seriously.

Or how about the quote from Chris Rakocy, a "tech specialist" about those
notorious touchscreens in Mahoning County where voters who chose Kerry saw
Bush light up. Rakocy says that problem was "only" on 18 of 1,148
machines, and that it was corrected early.

But Rakocy stands alone against dozens of sworn statements and affidavits
confirming that the problem went on all day, and was never fixed, and may
have involved far more machines than 18, and not only in Mahoning County
but also in Franklin. Even at that, in heavily Democratic Youngstown (not
to mention Columbus), just 18 machines could have accounted for switching
thousands of votes. And, in fact, Kerry's margins in both Youngstown and
Columbus were suspiciously light.

And what would Mother Jones herself do to machines that disenfranchised
even one voter, no matter what the apparent impact on the ultimate vote
count? Why is the magazine named for her discounting the
you-couldn't-make-this-one-up reality of voters pushing one candidate's
name on a touchscreen and seeing another's name light up, time after time
after time? Or are we taking this - and her - all too seriously?

Then there's the song and dance from Warren Mitofsky. The father of exit
polls saw his work used to overturn a stolen election in Ukraine just
prior to the American vote. But when his poll-taking here showed John
Kerry with a nationwide margin of 1.5 million votes, somehow Mitofsky
jumped ship on his own decades of professionalism.

Exit polls funded by six major news organizations showed Kerry carrying
Ohio, Iowa, New Mexico and Nevada as late as 12:20 am on Wednesday
morning, well after balloting stopped even in Alaska and Hawaii. These
four "purple states" gave the election to the "blue" Democrats, then
miraculously switched to "red" for Bush, giving him the White House once
again.

Given all that's known about exit polls - and it's a lot - the odds on one
state switching like that are about one in one hundred. For four, it's a
virtual statistical impossibility. Add the fact that not one, not four,
but TEN of eleven swing states showed drastic shifts from Kerry to Bush
and you enter the realm of, well, a stolen election.

Add huge, unexplained shifts from pre-election polls to post-election vote
counts in crucial 2002 Senatorial races in Georgia, Minnesota and
Colorado, then remember what happened in Florida 2000, and examine the
basic Bush attitude toward democracy itself, and you've got a pattern to
say the least. And an obvious prescription for one-party rule as far as
the eye can see.

Except when you are dealing with America's Democratic Party in 2004 and
with reportage that relies on a few phone calls and a disheartening lack
of grassroots perspective. If all politics is local, as Tip O'Neill well
knew, then so are all vote counts.

Our first article predicting what would happen in Ohio 2004 was published
many months before the election in, of all places, MotherJones.com. We
warned that electronic voting machines deployed by the likes of Diebold
could give Ohio and thus the nation to George W. Bush. Wally O'Dell,
Diebold's infamous CEO, pledged to deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush
in 2004, and all evidence points to the fact that he at least helped.

What we missed in addition was the myriad clever tricks the GOP would
bring to bear in pulling this off. Ohio has a long history as a test
market. New products like white bread and spam are brought here first, to
see how they'll fly with America at large.

In Ohio 2004, scores of tools for stealing an American election were tried
and proven out. Outside reporters have come here again and again to pull
at this one and tear at that one. Almost always, they get even that wrong.
And almost always, they fail to see the bigger picture.

If we have a "know it all" attitude, as is sometimes charged, it's because
we were (and are) here, we saw it happen, we witnessed the seven-hour
waits and the denials of the absentee ballots, and we took the testimony
of the hundreds who later went under oath.

And we see more unravel every day. Conspiracy theories happen sometimes
when actual conspiracies occur. The stakes involved, the players on both
sides and the events that are out there plain as day are all of a piece
that's simply too obvious for anyone on the ground here to miss.

Hertsgaard has the good sense to mention indictments that have recently
come down on election thieves in Cuyahoga County. We know that to be the
tip of the iceberg.

What matters now is whether the GOP will be allowed to repeat nationwide
in 2006 and 2008 what they saw they could get away with in Ohio 2004.

Election theft skeptics tend to conclude their put-downs by urging we
forget about the vote-count stuff and concentrate on coming up with
candidates so good that "the election won't be close enough to steal."

Having seen what we saw here, knowing what Mother Jones is reporting about
the Democratic attacks on Paul Hackett, and about the loser instinct
ingrained in the Dems' DLC/DNA, we must charitably describe such a
conclusion as being profoundly wishful thinking.

Someday we may indeed have candidates far worthier than Al Gore and John
Kerry. But they both won the presidency of the United States, however
corruptible their margins of victory.

We need to guarantee that if someone worthwhile and willing to fight ever
does come along, we will have a left that's prepared to make sure the
votes are fairly counted.

As Rev. Jesse Jackson put it while speaking to election protection
activists here, "We can afford to lose an election. We can't afford to
lose our democracy."

Who would agree more strongly than Tom Paine and Mother Jones?

Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of How the GOP Stole
America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008, available at Freepress.org and
harveywasserman.com. Their upcoming What Happened in Ohio, with Steve
Rosenfeld, will be published by The New Press in spring, 2006.

[Denial is a good bourgeois virtue, enabling many Dems and some
progressives to con themselves with "peace in our time", to fiddle while
Rome burns. They could try to put out the fires, or they could have
another round or two before things go beyond the point of no return. -ed]


--------16 of 16-------

 Our leaders on high
 Pray all of us die
 O do not ask why
 For mercy don't cry
 Let's live in the sky
 Eat all that good pie
 Perhaps we can fly
 In the sweet bye bye.


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