Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 10.22.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    10.22.05

1. Superior hiking    10.24 10am
2. CO                 10.24 5:30pm
3. Call for Patrick's 10.24 5:30pm
4. Toxics/community   10.24 7pm
5. AI Augustana       10.24 7pm
6. Vs Grand Av chains 10.24 7pm
7. Labor film         10.24 7:30pm
8. Freethought        10.24 7:30pm

9. Bells/Iraq toll    10.25-28 12noon
10. NWA/scab removal  10.25 12noon
11. Peace cranes      10.25 1:30pm
12. Berry/poetry      10.25 6:30pm
13. NE Mpls forum     10.25 6:30pm
14. Spiritual left    10.25 7pm
15. Day of the dead   10.25 7pm

16. Cindy Sheehan  - [Not] supporting Hillary
17. Dave Lindorff  - Dean & Clinton: the Democrats' abortion hypocrisy
18. Norman Solomon - Media at a huge crossroads
19. Marc Cooper    - Gore Vidal, octocontrarian
20. ed             - Bush endarkenment (poem)


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From: GibbsJudy [at] aol.com
Subject: Superior hiking 10.24 10am

The Superior Hiking Trail seeks volunteers to hel build 40 miles of trail
through the city of Duluth. No experience is necessary, all ages welcome.
Dress for the weather and bring lunch and water. For more information
contact Judy at 391-0886 or gibbsjudy [at] aol.com or go to the Superior
Hiking Trail website at www.shta.org.

Monday, October 24, 10-3 pm. Meet at the junction of St. Louis River Road
and Skyline Parkway.
Tuesday, October 25, 10-3 pm. Meet at the junction of St. Louis River
Road and Skyline Parkway.
Wednesday October 26, 10-3 pm. Meet at the junction of St. Louis River
Road and Skyline Parkway.
Thursday, October 27, 10-3 pm. Meet at the junction of St. Louis River
Road and Skyline Parkway.
Friday, October 28, 10-3 pm. Meet at the junction of St. Louis River Road
and Skyline Parkway.
Saturday, October 29, 10-3. pm Meet at the junction of St. Louis River
Road and Skyline Parkway.

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


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From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: CO 10.24 5:30pm

Monday, 10/24, 5:30 to 7 pm, talk by Rev Lowell Erdahl (ELCA) and Maj. Gen
Larry Shellito (of MN National Guard) on "Conscientious Objection to
Military Service: A Model for Ethical Discourse," at Weisman Art Museum,
UofM, 333 E River Rd, Minneapolis.  www.ulch.org or www.tc.umn.edu/~umism


--------3 of x--------

From: pr_cabaret <pr_cabaret [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Call for Patrick's 10.24 5:30pm

Patrick's Cabaret Needs Your Help!
On October 24, 25, and 26th
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Evenings from
5:30 - 9:30 pm

We will hold our annual phon -a -thon.  (At the Green Institute in
Minneapolis just a few minutes from the cabaret)

We raise almost 10% of our annual revenue at the phon-a-thon.  It takes
many volunteers to make a successful phon-a-thon.

We provide you with a funscript, fabulous food amazing coworkers and the
best celebration in true Cabaret tradition If you are able to volunteer
please contact April at the Cabaret 612-724-6273 or
aprilpatricks [at] yahoo.com

Performers, please note that Patrick is holding the unbooked slots that
remain in the November and December cabarets for folks who help out with
the phonathon. If you plan to help with the phonathon and want to perform
at the cabaret before the end of the year, make sure you ask April to let
Patrick know.

April Sellers aprlpatricks [at] yahoo.com 612-724-6273


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From: CarolGwood [at] aol.com
Subject: Toxics/community 10.24 7pm

Toxic Hazards and Your Community
Industrial Sources in South Minneapolis
Monday, October 24
7pm, Matthews CenterToxi
2318 29th Ave. S. Minneapolis

Worried About Your Exposure to Toxic Substances?

The workshop will be taught by Dr. William Toscano, Chair of the
Environmental Health Sciences division of the University of Minnesota
School of Public Health.

Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency have indicated they
plan to attend so as to answer your questions about arsenic contamination
and clean-up in Phillips and Seward neighborhoods.  Minnesota Department
of Agriculture, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and Minneapolis
Environmental Inspections representatives will also attend, if they can
work it into their schedules.

The Centers for Public Health Education and Outreach at the University of
Minnesota School of Public Health and several neighborhood-based
organizations are pleased to offer free community education on the toxic
hazards that are present in South Minneapolis

 This third of four sessions concerning toxins will cover:

Third Session (Industrial Activity as source):
 -Detailed information about specific toxicants that are sourced from
industrial/commercial/disposal operations including incineration. -Also
discussed: workplace exposures and releases (spills, polluted sites, air
and water discharges) that constitute a risk to the individual or
community.
 -Toxins from industrial activities such as VOCs, arsenic, heavy metals,
and PBTs
 -Characteristics of industrial toxins (environmental behavior)
 -What individuals/community can do to reduce industrial toxins and their
health impacts (exposure and risk).

The goals of this series of workshops are to raise peoples' awareness of
toxic substances, promote risk reduction strategies and emphasize the fact
that there are many easy things people can do to reduce and prevent the
effect of toxicants on their and their family's lives.

There will be lots of opportunity to ask question and learn in an
interactive way. Don't miss this chance to talk with one of the
premier authorities in Minnesota about toxic exposures to you and your
family. Free activities for children ages 4-10 provided by South
Minneapolis YMCA.

The last program in the series will involve a discussion about toxicants
produced from Home and Garden activities and will occur on Monday,
November 28, 2005.

For more information, please contact Bernie at Bernie [at] sng.org Phone,
612.338.6205, x102, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. These programs
are sponsored in part, by a grant from the National Institute of
Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) as part of the Midwest Consortium for
Hazardous Waste Worker Training.

Co-sponsored by the following organizations:
Seward Neighborhood Group Longfellow Community Council
South Minneapolis YMCA


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From: Gabe Ormsby <gabeo [at] bitstream.net>
Subject: AI Augustana 10.24 7pm

Augustana Homes Seniors Group meets on Monday, October 24th, from 7-8pm in
the party room of the 1020 Building, 1020 E 17th Street, Minneapolis. For
more information contact Ardes Johnson at 612/378-1166 or
johns779 [at] tc.umn.edu.


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From: Amanda Schultz [mailto:amanda [at] grandave.com]
Subject: Vs Grand Av chains 10.24 7pm

Formula Business Public Meeting
Mondays, October 10, 17 and 24 at 7 pm
Sponsored by the Summit Hill Association / District 16 Planning Council
All are welcome to these public meetings!

The purpose of these meetings is to provide information on Formula
Businesses Ordinances, to discuss them, and to evaluate them in relation
to Grand Avenue in St. Paul. This discussion is in response to growing
concerns and questions about the changing nature of Grand Avenue with
fewer unique, independent stores and more formula stores. Each meeting
will have a presentation, and time for questions and discussion.

Input at these meetings will shape future conversations about the
appropriateness of a Formula Business Ordinance proposal for Grand Avenue

Meeting #3 - Is a Formula Business Ordinance right for Grand Avenue?
Summary:  Is a Formula Business Ordinance appropriate for Grand Avenue? If
so, what form could it take?  If not, what are the best alternatives?

Monday October 24
7-8:30pm
William Mitchell College of Lae - Auditorium


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From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Labor film 10.24 7:30pm

We Were Heroes---Now They Say We're Criminals...
BETRAYED
THE STORY OF CANADIAN MERCHANT SEAMEN

A film by Elaine Briere (2004)

It was 1949. Canadian seamen had just returned from war. Many had not. All
too many had died for their country. But unlike their fellow seafarers in
the navy there was no welcome on their return. Just another war to fight.
The Cold War. /And this time they were the enemy.

Although Canada is surrounded by three oceans, there is not a single
deep-sea ship flying the Canadian flag today.

Sixty years ago, Canada had the fourth-largest merchant fleet in the
world. After WWII, the Canadian government began to privatize the fleet.
In 1949, the Canadian Seamen's Union fought back with the largest maritime
strike in the 20th century, joined by workers in 26 countries.

Red-baited, jailed and fired, the striking seamen were blacklisted along
with their militant supporters in the US-based Seafarers International
Union, including our own Jack Maloney, who stood up against the
ship-owners, the Coast Guard and their own union leaders.

Monday Oct 24
7:30pm
St Paul Labor Center,
411 William Mahoney Street, St Paul.
aka Main Street
St Paul Labor Speakers Club
Free and open to the public. For more information, call 651-222-3787 x16


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From: Doris G. Marquit <marqu001 [at] UMN.EDU>
Subject: Freethought 10.24 7:30pm

Monday, October 24
7:30 pm, Mayday Bookstore, 301 Cedar Ave. S.
"The Paris Freethought Congress and Today's Struggle for a Rational World"
Speaker: Fred Whitehead, historian and author of "Freethought on the
American Frontier"

Central & Southern Minnesota District, CPUSA, invites you to hear about
important developments in the international struggle against religious
intolerance and oppression as the scientific world outlook confronts
rising Christian and Islamic fundamentalisms.

Free and open to the public.
FFI: 612-922-7993 and website: http://csminn.cpusa.org.


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From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Bells/Iraq toll 10.25-28 12noon

100,000 Rings: Bell Ringing Ceremonies to Grieve and Protest the Deaths of
Iraqis in the US/UK War and Occupation

 Tuesday, October 25, 12noon to 2pm. Peavey Plaza, Nicollet Mall and 11th
Street, Minneapolis.
 Wednesday, October 26, Noon to 2:00 p.m Peavey Plaza, Nicollet Mall and
11th Street, Minneapolis.
 Thursday, October 27, Noon to 2:00 p.m. Peavey Plaza, Nicollet Mall and
11th Street, Minneapolis.
 Friday, October 28, Noon to 2:00 p.m. University of Minnesota, Washington
Avenue and Oak Street, Minneapolis.

The bell ringing ceremonies will take place on the one-year anniversary of
the Lancet study, which reported the estimated deaths caused by the war
and occupation of Iraq totaled more than 100,000. Each ring of the bell
will symbolize the death of an Iraqi person. These will be solemn "Bell
Ringing" ceremonies. We will ring a bell every minute, each solitary ring
symbolizing the death of an Iraqi person as a result of the war and
occupation. At intervals during the bell ringing, the names of Iraqis who
are known to have died in the violence can be read. With these events, we
hope to help break the silence surrounding the suffering and death of the
Iraqi people, people caught on a battlefield without borders in the
crossfire of a war they didn't start or invite.

In addition to the four events listed above, the following weekly vigils
will also be participating in the bell ringing ceremonies:
 Monday, October 24, 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Highway 61 and 4th Street, White
Bear Lake.
 Tuesday, October 25, 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. 7th Avenue and University NE,
Minneapolis.
 Wednesday, October 26, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Lake Street/Marshall Avenue
Bridge.
 Wednesday, October 26,4:45 to 5:45 p.m. 50th and Halifax, Edina.
 Others to be announced.

The Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq and Women Against Military
Madness are also participating in "100,000 Rings," international bell
ringing events to grieve and protest the deaths of Iraqis in the US/UK war
and occupation. This is a project of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and
Justice Not Vengeance, a British group.


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From: Solidarity Committee <nwasolidaritymsp [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: NWA/scab removal 10.25 12noon

Please attend next Tuesday's lunchtime RADISSON VICTORY AND SOLIDARITY
RALLY.  Northwest is moving the scabs from the East Bank Radisson to two
other Radisson properties in Saint Paul.  The move is the result of
ongoing pickets by AMFA and AFSCME members, supporters, and University of
Minnesota students.  Let's show up and tell Radisson that moving the scabs
across town won't end the protests.  We will picket until the SCABS GO
HOME.

PICKET TIME: 12noon Tuesday October 25.
LOCATION: RADISSON HOTEL; Washington Avenue SE and Harvard Street in the
Center of the University of Minnesota East Bank campus.  Public Parking is
available immediately adjacent to the hotel.  The location is also easily
accessible on public transit.


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From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Origami peace cranes 10.25 1:30pm

October 25 - Remembering Sadako.  1:30pm

Children from throughout the metro area will meet to remember Sadako
Sasaki of Hiroshima, whose legacy is the folding of origami peace cranes.
Storytelling, Japanese children s songs, crane-folding.

FFI: Mary Maguire Lerman at 612-313-7726.
Location: New Spirit of Peace circle at Lyndale Park Peace Garden at Lake
Harriet in Minneapolis


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To: Jules Nyquist <julesnyquist [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Berry/poetry 10.25 6:30pm

Tuesday, October 25, 6:30pm-8:30pm we will read and hear the poetry of
Kentucy famer-poet, novelist, teacher, essayist and envrionemntal
acitvist Wendell Berry.
MAD HATTER CAFE
943 West 7th St.
St.Paul
Salons are free but donations encouraged for program and treats.
Call 651-227-3228 or 651-227-2511 for information.

The Coonversatonal Salons are held every Tuesday eveing @ Mad Hatter. You
can get on the email list to find out what topics/speakers will be
featured. See our web pages at http://justcomm.org/pax-salon


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From: Josh Collins <Josh.Collins [at] mpls.k12.mn.us>
Subject: NE Mpls forum 10.25 6:30pm

Minneapolis Public Schools to hold Community Forum in northeast Minneapolis

Minneapolis Public Schools is partnering with the community group Public
Education in Northeast (PEN), holding back-to-back meetings next week.
The first hour will be devoted to Associate Superintendent Von Sheppard
addressing questions and issues related to schools in northeast
Minneapolis. PEN will hold its monthly meeting immediately following the
community forum.

Wireless personal translation services will be available in Spanish,
Somali and Hmong. Those requiring translation are encouraged to arrive
early.

Sheppard oversees schools in Area A, which includes schools in the Camden,
Near North and Northeast communities.

Northeast Minneapolis Community Forum
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005
  6:30-7:30 p.m. Community Forum
  7:30-8:30 p.m. PEN Monthly Meeting
Edison High School
700 22nd Ave. N.E., Minneapolis

Superintendent Peebles will hold her next town hall meeting at North High
School on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005, from 6-7:30 p.m. Peebles has hosted town
hall meetings across the district in an effort to inform and engage
families in discussion about issues that affect the district.  Additional
information will be available at a later date.

If you have questions, please contact Josh Collins at 612-668-0228 or the
Area A Offices at 612-668-0210.

Josh Collins Director of Media Relations Minneapolis Public Schools 807
N.E. Broadway Street, Room 100 Minneapolis, MN 55413 Phone: 612-668-0228 |
Mobile: 612-490-8410 Fax: 612-668-0235 | E-mail:
Josh.Collins [at] mpls.k12.mn.us


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From: Nichola Torbett <ntorbett [at] emcp.com>
Subject: Spiritual left 10.25 7pm

The second meeting of the local Twin Cities chapter of the Network of
Spiritual Progressives will take place Tuesday, October 25, at 7pm at
Betsy's Back Porch, 5447 Nicollet Ave. S. in Minneapolis. The purpose of
this new, nationwide, interfaith organization is to

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

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

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

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

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


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From: lynette <lynette [at] prettyhorses.net>
Subject: Day of the dead 10.25 7pm

Tuesday, October 25

A celebration of Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead with poetry, stories
and music. Part of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library 9th Annual
Chicano and Latino Writers Festival. 7 pm at Guadalupe Alternative Programs,
381 E Robie St, St. Paul.


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

Supporting Hillary
by Cindy Sheehan
Published on Sunday, October 16, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

I would love to support Hillary for President if she would come out
against the travesty in Iraq. But I don't think she can speak out against
the occupation, because she supports it.

I will not make the mistake of supporting another pro-war Democrat for
president again: As I won't support a pro-war Republican.

This country wants this occupation to end. The world wants the occupation
to end. People in Iraq want this occupation to end.

Senator Clinton: taking the peace road would not prove you are weak.
Instead, it would prove that you are the strongest and wisest candidate.
As a mom, as an American, as a patriot: I implore you to have the strength
and courage to lead the fight for peace.

I want to support you, I want to work for you, but like many American
moms, I will resist your candidacy with every bit of my power and strength
unless you show us the wisdom it takes to be a truly great leader.

Prove that you are "passionate" and reflect our nations' values and
refusal to support imperialism, greed and torture.

Senator Clinton: come out against this occupation of Iraq. Not because it
is the politically expedient thing to do but because it is the humane
thing to do. If you want to make Casey's sacrifice count, bring the rest
of his buddies home alive.

***

I did meet with Sen. Clinton, along with Sen. Harry Reid, on September 22,
2005. No one has asked me how it went with Sen. Reid, but I've been asked
about my meeting with Sen. Clinton many times. A few days earlier in
Brooklyn, I had referred to her as waiting for a politically "expedient"
moment to speak out against the war in Iraq. I, of course, think that this
tactic is wrong, because politics has nothing to do with the slaughter
going on in Iraq. No one asked the almost 2000 Americans and tens of
thousands of innocent Iraqis who have been killed what political party
they were rooting for. When a mother receives the news that her son or
daughter has been killed for lies she never thinks "Oh no, how could this
have happened? I am a Democrat(Republican)!!!"

Playing politics with our soldiers' lives is despicable.

I thought the meeting with Sen. Clinton went well. I thought she listened
and heard what we had to say. I went with another Gold Star Mother, Lynn
Braddach, and my sister, Dede Miller. After Sen. Reid left, Mrs. Clinton
stayed for a few more moments and she told us that she had met with the
other Gold Star Mothers who had a different view from ours. I said it
didn't really matter, because our view is right. Lynn, Dede, and I don't
want our loved ones to be used as political pawns to justify the killing
spree in Iraq. I can't believe any mother who has had her heart and soul
torn out would wish that on another mother. How often do the lies have to
be exposed before every American (elected official, media representative,
average citizen) wakes up and says, "enough killing is enough!"

I thought Mrs. Clinton listened, but apparently she didn't because
immediately afterwards she said the following to Sarah Ferguson of the
Village Voice:

"My bottom line is that I don't want their sons to die in vain... I don't
believe it's smart to set a date for withdrawal... I don't think it's the
right time to withdraw."

That quote sounds exactly like what the few Republicans I talked to that
week said. Making sure that our children did not die in "vain" sounds
exactly like something George Bush says. A "date" for withdrawal? That
sounds like Rush Limbaugh to me. That doesn't sound like an opposition
party leader speaking to me. What Sen. Clinton said after our meeting
sounds exactly like the Republican Party talking points I heard from
Senators Dole and McCain.

Sen. Clinton is in California today to raise money for her political
campaigns. An invitation to one star-studded gala reads:

"We must stand with Senator Clinton as she stands up for what we believe
in. Hillary is and always has been our champion in the White House and the
Senate." And she's one of the "strongest, most passionate and intelligent
Democrats."

I didn't get an invitation to any of the events, but maybe it's because
she doesn't stand up for what I believe in. I don't believe in continuing
this occupation of Iraq and I don't believe in killing more of our
soldiers because my son has already been needlessly and tragically killed.
I don't believe she is passionate. I think she is a political animal who
believes she has to be a war hawk to keep up with the big boys. She is
intelligent, there's no doubt about that. However, I believe that the
intelligent thing for Democrats to do for 2006 and 2008 would be to come
out strongly and correctly against the botched, bungled, illegal, and
immoral occupation of Iraq.

62% of Americans now believe that this war is based on lies and betrayals
and want our troops to start coming home. 53% of Americans want our troops
to come home immediately. The last time I looked, Democrats did not
comprise 62% of our population. Americans oppose this war in overwhelming
numbers and it crosses party lines. Because America can see that the war
in Iraq has fueled terrorism and has made the world and our country less
secure. America can see that the murder of innocents is not a "right and
left" issue, it is a "right and wrong" issue.

Sixty-nine of our best and brightest have been sent meaninglessly and
unnecessarily to their premature deaths since I met with Mrs. Clinton on
September 22nd. Sixty-nine mothers and fathers and who knows how many
spouses, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, cousins, and friends have
been meaninglessly and unnecessarily sent into tailspins of grief and
emptiness since that meeting.

We all know that Sen. Clinton, along with many other Representatives and
Senators voted to give George Bush the authority to invade a sovereign
nation that was no threat to the USA. We know that they spinelessly
abrogated their constitutional responsibility and duty to declare war. We
(and most of them) know that voting to give an irresponsible person
authority to wage war was a devastating mistake. But I know that knowing
all of that will not bring my son or almost 2000 other Americans back and
it won't bring back that nation's war dead, either.


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Dean, Casey, Clinton and Miers
The Democrats' Abortion Hypocrisy
By DAVE LINDORFF
CounterPunch
October 21, 2005

The pathetic pandering of various Democratic Party leaders, like Howard
Dean and Hillary Clinton, to the anti-abortion fanatics represents the
nadir of principle and integrity of a party that keeps demonstrating why
it deserves to die.

I have nothing against a guy like Pennsylvania Democratic Senate hopeful
Bob Casey, a Catholic, saying he is opposed to abortion. That alone should
not disqualify him or anyone from being a Democrat or even a progressive.
But he needs to go beyond that to explain how a sincere belief on his part
will impact on his job as a legislator. Because anyone who would act to
restrict a woman's access to a safe, legal abortion must concede that the
result of such restriction will be a massive surge in unsafe, illegal, and
even self-induced abortions. That is, the rates of abortions in societies
where abortions are legal and in societies where they are illegal are
almost identical, but in one case women live and in the other they die or
are maimed for life.

The same can be said for such outrages as parental notification laws. It
may sound logical to say that a minor girl should have to tell a parent
before undergoing a medical procedure as risky as an abortion, but the
reality is that many teenagers would rather die (and well might) before
admitting to their parents that they had messed up and gotten pregnant. As
well, all too many pregnant girls are victims of rape or even of incest,
and are afraid to go to a parent who may even be the perpetrator or the
spouse of the perpetrator, for permission. Parental notification laws
won't stop abortions - they'll just drive girls to risk death getting them
illegally.

That's what makes the new "anti-abortion-friendly" positions of weasels
like Dean and Clinton so obscene. They know all this stuff, but don't have
the courage to state the obvious and take a stand. It's also what makes
Democratic candidates like Casey so flawed.

Any self-proclaimed progressive or Democrat who opposes abortion must
begin by acknowledging that abortions are going to occur no matter what
the law is, and by conceding that the only legitimate way to reduce
abortions is to make sex education and contraception wide-spread and
easily accessible to all, including juveniles. Beyond that, such people
must be committed to a continued protection not only of the absolute legal
right to abortion, but also to the state's willingness to pay for the
procedure just as for any other needed medical procedure for those who
cannot afford it.

The bottom line is that to ban or even to restrict abortions, or public
funding for abortions is simply to condemn some women to death and injury.

It's all about pandering to the religious right, not about the so-called
"sanctity of life."

That kind of hypocrisy should be left to the Republicans and the
fundamentalists-who of course have a champ in Harriet Miers, a woman who
claims she can't discuss her views on abortion and Roe v Wade, but who we
now learn advocated as far back as 1989 not only passage of a
Constitutional ban on abortion, but a ban on abortions in Texas, once the
Supreme Court permits states to do so.

What a fine profile in courage this model presidential sycophant turns out
to be!

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

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


--------18 of x-------

Media at a Huge Crossroads
25 Years After Reagan's Triumph
By NORMAN SOLOMON
CounterPunch
October 21, 2005

"It bought us the time we needed."

Lieutenant-General James Lovelace, USA

By a twist of political fate, the Oct. 28 deadline for special counsel
Patrick Fitzgerald to take action on the Plamegate matter is exactly 25
years after the only debate of the presidential race between Ronald Reagan
and incumbent Jimmy Carter. How the major media outlets choose to handle
the current explosive scandal in the months ahead will have enormous
impacts on the trajectory of American politics.

A quarter of a century ago, conservative Republicans captured the White
House. Today, a more extreme incarnation of the GOP's right wing has a
firm grip on the executive branch. None of it would have been possible
without a largely deferential press corps.

Among other things, Reagan's victory over Carter was a media triumph of
style in the service of far-right agendas. When their only debate occurred
on Oct. 28, 1980, a week before the election, Carter looked rigid and
defensive while Reagan seemed at ease, making impact with zingers like
"There you go again." More than ever, one-liners dazzled the press corps.

For the next eight years, a "Teflon presidency" had the news media making
excuses for the nation's chief executive, who often got his facts wrong
while substituting folksy exclamations for documented assertions. The
Democratic Party's majorities on Capitol Hill rarely challenged Reagan,
and the Washington press corps used the passivity of the Democrats to
justify its own. As Walter Karp wrote in Harper's magazine a few months
after Reagan left office, "the private story behind every major non-story
during the Reagan administration was the Democrats' tacit alliance with
Reagan."

That tacit alliance included going easy on Reagan and his
vice-president-turned-successor, George H.W. Bush - despite the
Iran-Contra scandal that exposed their roles in the illegal funneling of
aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, a CIA-backed army that intentionally killed
civilians in Nicaragua while trying to implement Washington's goal of
overthrowing the Sandinista government.

"For eight years," Karp wrote in mid-1989, "the Democratic opposition had
shielded from the public a feckless, lawless president with an appalling
appetite for private power. That was the story of the Reagan years, and
Washington journalists evidently knew it. Yet they never turned the
collusive politics of the Democratic Party into news."

Today, words like "feckless" and "lawless" seem like understatements when
applied to the current president. A pattern of mendacity, callousness and
appalling priorities has brought deadly consequences from Baghdad to New
Orleans. The administration appears to be nearly drowning in scandals. Yet
the news media - again with notable assists from Democratic leaders in
Congress - are doing much to keep the Bush regime afloat.

Predictably, the Oct. 15 referendum on a constitution in Iraq provided the
Bush administration with a new opportunity to roll out a retooled line of
propaganda vehicles. A manipulative process, massaged under the duress of
occupation, yielded a "yes" vote among Iraqis who chose to participate.
Seen through a narrow lens - keeping the carnage and intimidation out of
the frame - the election was a victory for democracy. Seen more broadly,
it was a travesty.

Like two decades ago, the absence of tough Democratic leadership on
Capitol Hill - combined with an overly respectful press - enables the
White House to retain extensive political leverage. While the day of
reckoning in human terms is every day in Iraq, the political day of
reckoning on Iraq policy has yet to come in Washington. And at the rate
things are going, many more years will pass before the need for withdrawal
of all U.S. troops from Iraq becomes incontrovertible in American media
and politics.

Part of the Reagan legacy is the Washington press corps' refusal to ask
tough questions with even tougher follow-ups. Although the polls say that
President Bush and his Iraq policies are very unpopular, Democrats in
Congress and reporters are still hanging back. Their polemical statements
and probing stories are the political and journalistic equivalents of
slapping the wrist rather than going for the jugular.

Nothing is more dangerous than a cornered wild beast. And if the day comes
that its political survival appears to be at stake, the Bush
administration will counterattack with extreme ferocity. Judging from the
past, there are solid reasons to doubt that the press corps - and leaders
of the overly loyal opposition - are inclined to pursue key issues of
White House deception to the point that the administration will be truly
backed into a corner. As usual, the tasks of demanding truth and affecting
the course of history for the better will fall to independent journalists
and grassroots activists.

Norman Solomon is the author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death.


--------19 of x-------

Gore Vidal, Octocontrarian
by MARC COOPER
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/cooper
[from the November 7, 2005 issue]

Gore Vidal remains one of the more prolific contemporary American writers
and certainly one of the most politically outspoken. Shortly after his
recent 80th-birthday celebration, Nation contributing editor Marc Cooper
interviewed him in his Hollywood home. Herewith, a condensed version of
that conversation. .   --The Editors

Q:.In the introduction to your new book, Imperial America, you begin by
saying that the four sweetest words in the American lexicon are "I told
you so." What were you gloating about?

A:.Oh, everything. The principal bit of wisdom that I had to purvey, which
I got from Thomas Jefferson and he got from Montesquieu, is that you
cannot maintain a republic and empire simultaneously. The Romans couldn't
do it. The Brits could only manage it up to a certain point, but then
ended up going broke. The Venetians were an empire, and the United States.
And in each case the republics were lost. Starting with our war against
Mexico in 1846, which was to acquire California, we've been in a serious,
naked grab, grab, grab imperial mood.

Q:.In that respect, how different is the Bush Administration? Anything new
here, or part of that same historical arc?

A:.Well, a lot is different. The machinery is all changed. Nuclear and
bacteriological weapons exist. We can kill a lot more people. But there
have been things unimaginable to me and most Americans - that we would
have a government that is absolutely in your face to every country on
earth. We have insulted everybody.

Q:.We now see that House majority leader Tom DeLay has been indicted. The
Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, is under investigation by the SEC.
We've seen the debacle around Michael "Brownie" Brown and FEMA. Is this
Administration finally collapsing under its own weight?

A:."Under its own lack of weight" [laughing], I think, is the phrase you
are searching for.

Q:.Sort of the unbearable lightness?

A:.Yes, the unbearable lightness. Or here DeLay - gone tomorrow. Yes, I do
believe it is breaking up. And the indictment of DeLay would not have
happened had there not been two hurricanes, which dramatized to everybody
in the United States that we don't have a government. And to the extent we
do have one it is not only corrupt but a menace to other countries, to our
liberties, to our Bill of Rights.

Q:.If, indeed, this Administration is collapsing for lack of weight, what
comes after it?

A:.Martial law, that's next. Bush is like a plane of glass. You can see
all the worms turning around in his head at any moment. The first giveaway
of what's on his mind - or the junta's mind.

Q:.The junta being...?

A:.Cheney, who runs everything, I suspect. And a few other serious
operators. Anyway, I first noticed this was on their mind when Bush
finally woke up to the fact that the hurricanes were not going to be good
PR for him. And he starts to think friends of his are going to be running
in '08. So what's the first thing he does? The first thing on the mind of
a dictator? He gets the National Guard away from the governors. The Guard
is under the governors, but Bush is always saying, Let's turn it over to
the military. This is what's on their mind. Under military control.

Q:.Are you predicting a coming military dictatorship? And that the
American people would stand for that?

A:.They'll stand for anything. And they will stand for nothing. I deal
with a lot of European journalists who are very well versed in American
politics. But they will ask me silly questions like, "So, Kerry didn't
turn out very well. So who's the next leader of the opposition who can
become President?" I answer, Well, first the New York Times won't
interview him. He won't get on prime-time television if he looks like a
winner. That's out. Or he will be made a fool of, like they did with
Howard Dean when they amplified his famous cry. That was all done at CBS
to make him look like a maniac. They are very resourceful! So if you have
a media that is completely controlled by corporate America - or whatever
phrase you want to use to describe our rulers - no information is getting
through that is useful to the public. No White Knight is going to be
acknowledged in the press or seen on television. He would have no way of
connecting with the people. And this a permanent fact in our situation....
If there could be a viable opposition to the oil and gas junta that has
seized power - all three branches of government, I think - it will have to
be at the grassroots. Then you will have to find a way of publicizing
through the Internet the White Knight - or the Black Knight, whoever comes
along to save us.

Q:.What are three or four main things the White Knight would have to say
to motivate us, in your words, to keep the Republic?

A:.First of all, we should be allowed to keep the money we earn. Because
most of us are heavily taxed.

Q:.That's what the Republicans say.

A:.That's what they say, but they don't mean it. What they mean is, "We
people who have money, we don't want our children to pay any inheritance
tax. We don't want our huge incomes to be taxed. We don't want the profits
of our big corporations ever to be taxed." And they've pulled all that
off. When you run against them, you have to say the profits on
corporations are going to be taxed. As they always were. The people
understand this. And if they don't, you can explain it in ten minutes.

Q:.What would the White Knight do with the military?

A:.Cut its budget in half. That would save us a lot of money. We could
rebuild a lot of levees. We don't need it.... We can't win a war anymore.
They can't bring back the draft. We are at end times now for this regime.
Just keep your fingers crossed we are not at end times for our country....

Q:.One area where things seem to have improved in America concerns
homophobia. Gay marriage can now be discussed in polite company.

A:.I don't know that it much matters as a theme. Talk to anybody in the
military and it's just as bad as when I spent three years in the Army
during World War II and those suspected of same-sex activities were
Section Eighted out or locked up. It was bad then, and it's bad now. An
issue like gay marriage just keeps homophobia alive.

Q:.So you're not an advocate of it?

A:.No. I know to what purposes that issue is put.... You get an issue,
like gay marriage, which doesn't concern 99.9 percent of the population,
and you go on and on and on about it. Proving that the Democrats are all
crazy, if not all queer. Someone wants to get married, fine. What's it to
me?

Q:.If we pick a point forty years ago, in the middle of the 1960s, when
you were half your age, did you think then the United States would take
the course it eventually did?

A:.I never thought the President would dare to favor pre-emptive war. I
never thought it would come to this, a sort of maniac for President who
goes around attacking verbally and physically any country he wants. The
ownership of this country has usually been pretty shrewd. They knew what
they wanted. They don't want to pay taxes, certainly. They don't want
people blowing them up in the night like 9/11. And if there ever was great
cause for impeachment it would be over 9/11. Never been a case of
negligence like that.

Q:.You are not possibly suggesting that the Bush Administration allowed
this attack to go ahead?

A:.No. I'm not saying anything even close to it. If there had been some
sort of wicked collusion between elements of our government and the 9/11
team from Saudi Arabia, in a country like ours, by now, at least two of
them would have been on television talking to Barbara Walters. That's what
kind of country we have. We can't keep secrets. No, it's unthinkable.
Whatever was behind 9/11 was well worked out. And there isn't a brain in
this Administration that could have worked out something like 9/11. Either
to prevent it or to do it.


--------20 of x--------

 Bush endarkenment
 spreads like wild fuehrer. In the
 dark, dark things happen.


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