Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 10.25.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     10.25.05

1. War walkout        10.25 5pm +more
2. Library candidates 10.25 7pm

3. Parl-procedure     10.28 8:30am
4. Hmong 101          10.28 10am
5. Counter recruit    10.28 12noon
6. Palestine vigil    10.28 4:15pm
7. NonViolence        10.28-30 6pm Frontenac MN
8. God of hell/play   10.28 8pm
9. Latino conference  10.28 Des Moines IA
10. Palestine dance

11. Mike Whitney       - Apres Rove: when Bush's Brain takes a perp walk
12. Kevin Zeese        - Don't participate in the corrupt two-party system
13. Patricia Goldsmith - Capitalism for dummies
14. Gilles d'Aymery    - The American experiment, really?
15. ed                 - Mussolini or Hitler? (poem)

--------1 of 15--------

Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 11:47:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: christie white <northernrunner2005 [at] yahoo.com>
From: ty <tytymo [at] gmail.com>
Subject: War walkout 10.25 5pm +more

Urgent solidarity needed!

Students are being threatened with failing classes for walking out on
November 2nd

*** Help mobilize our defense!  ***

As of October 19th, nearly 1,000 high school students across the Twin
Cities had signed the "November 2nd Walkout Pledge," and we expect that
number of grow substantially in the remaining 12 days before November 2nd.
This tremendous response to Youth Against War and Racism's call to action
has taken place in the face of threats to fail students who miss tests
that day.

By an unfortunate coincidence, many Twin Cities schools scheduled a finals
day on November 2nd, the anniversary of Bush's "reelection" and the day
chosen for nationally coordinated student walkouts against the war and
military recruitment in schools. But other students who miss class that
day for reasons school administrators deem legitimate will not be fail
their classes. They will get to take a make-up final.

Is it too much to ask that anti-war students who choose to participate in
this justified act of protest, who are taking action to secure a decent
future for our generation, also be given make-up tests?

We feel confident that, with enough community pressure, we can convince
school districts across the Twin Cities to provide make-up tests for the
hundreds or thousands of students who participate in this walkout. Here is
the plan and several ways that you can help:

1. Press Conference and Protest
Tuesday, Oct 25, 5pm
807 Broadway St NE, Minneapolis

Outside the Minneapolis School Board meeting, students will stand beside
parents, community leaders, and elected officials to demand an end to
military recruitment in our schools and to demand school districts across
the Twin Cities do not punish or fail student who participate in the
walkout. We will be announcing the thousands of signatures we have
received on petitions to kick military recruiters our of our schools.

*** How YOU can help: We need at least 8 cars and drivers to help get high
school students to and from the press conference. If you can offer rides,
please call Ty at 612-760-1980. Spread the word and help us get a big
turnout for this protest and press conference.

2. Protest Call-in Day - Wednesday, October 26th

On the day after our press conference, we are asking community supporters
across the Twin Cities to call the District Superintendents of several
area school districts, to urge them to allow students who choose to
walkout against war and military recruitment on November 2nd be allowed to
take make-up tests.

*** How YOU can help: We will send out a separate announcement about this
in the next couple days, with phone numbers, emails, and talking points.
Please be ready to distribute this plea for solidarity to friends, family,
classmates, and co-workers and urge them to call-in.

3. Help distribute NEW walkout leaflets in high schools!

Thousands of Twin Cities students have heard about the walkout and want to
participate, but are understandably scared they will be punished and
failed. We need to let these students know that we have their backs! We
need to let them know that they will NOT be left defenseless if they
choose to walkout, and that we are already mobilizing to defend them. We
are producing tens of thousands of new leaflets explaining all this, and
we need your help to pass them out.

*** How YOU can help: If you can volunteer to distribute leaflets before
or after school on any of the next 8 school days before the walkout, email
tytymo [at] gmail.com or call 612-760-1980.

4. Be ready, after November 2nd, to defend students facing repression

We hope that all our efforts leading up to the walkout will be adequate to
convince school administrators that it is in their own best interests to
avoid punishing or failing students who choose to walkout on November 2.
However, we have to be prepared act immediately and decisively to defend
any youth activist facing persecution. Please be ready.


--------2 of 15--------

Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 14:22:06 -0000
From: Ern <talltanern [at] yahoo.com>

We ( Senate District 60 ) are hosting a forum for ALL of the 2005
candidates for the Minneapolis Library Board.

Tuesday Oct 25 7-8pm

in the multi-purpose room at Martin Luther King Park
4055 Nicollet Avenue South Minneapolis, MN

The Friends of Minneapolis Library have agreed to provide a moderator for
the forum. The moderator (Christina Melloh) will be using questions
submitted by the audience in written form. Please note that there will be
time after the forum to meet the candidates.

Ernie Lewis SD60 Director of Publicity MPLS Ward 13 Coordinator


--------3 of 15-------

From: "Melendez, Brian" <BMelendez [at] faegre.com>
Subject: Parl-procedure 10.28 8:30am

I am forwarding a message about a seminar on "Parliamentary Law in
Real-Life Meetings" that I am teaching later this month for the Hennepin
County Bar Association (for the fifth consecutive year). The seminar is
geared toward nonlawyers as well as lawyers, and will cover topics
relevant to procedure in public bodies and political organizations, for
example. The normal cost is $115, but I have asked that the bar offer a
special rate for nonlawyers; the Association has agreed to a rate of $25,
which covers the materials and a small fraction of the program's overhead.
-Brian Melendez

Have you ever felt at a disadvantage in a meeting because you didn't know
parliamentary procedure? ever chaired a meeting where you wished that you
were more comfortable with the skills, tricks, and traps of presiding?
ever gotten frustrated by a "rules geek" who singlehandedly tied a meeting
in knots, regardless of what the majority wanted?

You probably already know more parliamentary procedure than you realize
and, by mastering a few common-sense fundamentals, you can be comfortable
in almost any real-life meeting. The Hennepin County Bar Association is
sponsoring a seminar on "Parliamentary Law in Real-Life Meetings" that
covers these fundamentals. The seminar is a continuing-legal-education
seminar, but is geared toward lawyers and nonlawyers who are interested in
running and participating in effective real-life meetings. The instructor
is Brian Melendez, past president of the Hennepin County Bar Association
and a member of the American Institute of Parliamentarians and National
Association of Parliamentarians, who has served as parliamentarian for
more than a dozen organizations. Last year's participants ranged from
attorneys representing public bodies to volunteers active in nonprofit,
political, and religious organizations.

The seminar will be held on Friday 28 October from 8:30-11:45am at the
Hennepin County Bar Association, 390 Minnesota Law Center, 600 Nicollet
Mall, Minneapolis (ph. 612.752.6600). The Association has applied for 3.0
hours of continuing-legal-education credit. The cost is $115 for bar
members, $140 for lawyer nonmembers. (A special rate of $25 is available
for nonlawyers.) To register, or for more information, please contact
Carol Berg (e/m carol [at] hcba.org, ph. 612.752.6612).

===
["Have you ever felt at a disadvantage in a meeting because you didn't
know parliamentary procedure?" Actually yes. At a party I met the most
beautiful woman in this or any other world, and she said, "I just LOVE
guys that do it with, you know, parliamentary procedure." I of course
tried bluffing, but she put me through a 10-question examination, which I
failed miserably. Tabling sounded really interesting, but it turned out it
wasn't THAT kind of tabling. There was some stuff in Latin that sounded
really, you know, suggestive, if you've ever read about the goings-on in
Rome in the later empire, but it was just some dry court kind of stuff
that wouldn't knock your socks off even if you grabbed a live wire. How
was I to know? She just laughed in my face. "Just like all the other guys
I meet - why o why can't I meet a guy who knows how to order his life the
parliamentary way?" And then she turned and walked away. Even walking away
she was more beautiful than Dante's dream. -ed]


--------4 of 15--------

From: Anne Carroll <carrfran [at] qwest.net>
Subject: Hmong 101 10.28 10am

This is well worth your time and has been completely revamped since last
spring. I would encourage everyone to attend -- it's extremely valuable if
you intend to stay engaged with the future of our great city of St.
Paul... -- Anne Carroll

From Mark Pfeifer at the Hmong Cultural Center:

Our next Hmong 101 workshops from our Building Bridges program will be
held Friday October 28 from 10-1 and Friday November 18 from 10-1 at the
Hmong Cultural Center in Saint Paul. Attendance-hour verification letters
will be available for attendees

A flyer and registration form are available at:
http://hmongstudies.org/BB_Workshops_October_November_05_Flyer.pdf

General information about the Building Bridges Teaching about the Hmong in
Our Communities program is available at:
http://www.hmongcenter.org/bookmuledpre.html


--------5 of 15--------

From: sarah standefer <scsrn [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Counter recruit 10.28 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


--------6 of 15--------

From: peace 2u <tkanous [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Palestine vigil 10.28 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.


--------7 of 15--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: NonViolence 10.28-30 6pm Frontenac MN

Friday,10/28 (6 pm) to Sunday, 10/30, Dan Snyder leads workshop
"Nonviolence in Personal and Political Life," Villa Maria Center in
Frontenac, MN.  $233 pp single to $200 pp double.  FFI Al Lang,
608-647-5923 or ablang [at] mhtc.net


--------8 of 15--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: God of hell/play 10.28 8pm

Frank Theatre presents
the Midwest premiere of Sam Shepard's
THE GOD OF HELL

Haynes:  Do you know what plutonium is named after, Frank?
Frank:  No - what?
Haynes:  Pluto - the god of Hell.
Frank:   Oh, I thought he was a cartoon.

Frank Theatre continues its 16th season with the Midwest premiere of Sam
Shepard's latest work, THE GOD OF HELL, Oct 28-Nov 20, (preview Oct 27) at
the Loring Playhouse, 1633 Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. Performances are
Thurs-Sat at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm.  Sunday performances are followed by
a post-show panel discussion with members of the community and the
artists. Tickets are $14-20; for reservations and information, call (612)
724 3760, or visit the theatre's website at www.franktheatre.org

Set in a Wisconsin farmhouse, Frank and Emma's bucolic lifestyle as dairy
farmers is disrupted when they offer cover to Haynes, a long-time friend
of Frank's who is on the lam from a mysterious government project
involving plutonium. When an unctuous government bureaucrat appears at
their farmhouse, questioning their patriotism and knowing far more about
them than they would like, their heartland lifestyle is turned into a
chilling scene of runaway government.

THE GOD OF HELL features a cast that includes Virginia Burke, Gary Keast,
Grant Richey and Ansa Akyea. The set is designed by Steve Rohde, with
lighting by Becky Fuller, sound design by Michael Croswell and costumes by
Kathy Kohl. Artistic Director Wendy Knox will direct.

Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard's latest play is an uproarious,
brilliantly provocative farce that brings the gifts of a quintessentially
American playwright to bear on the current American dilemma. His work is
known for being frank and often absurd, and for having an authentic sense
of the style and sensibility of the gritty modern American west. He has
written 45 plays, 11 of which have won Obie Awards. BURIED CHILD, written
in 1979, won Shepard the Pulitzer Prize.  Other notable work includes
CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS in 1978, TRUE WEST in 1980 and A LIE OF THE
MIND in 1985. He alsow rote screenplays for Altman's Fool for Love, and
Wim Wender's Paris, Texas. As an actor, he appeared in Days of Heaven,
Resurrection, Raggedy Man, The Right Stuff, Frances, Country, and Fool for
Love.

Frank Theatre is a professional theatre company committed to producing
unique work that stretches the skills of the artists who create the work
while simultaneously challenging the everyday perceptions of the
audience through the exploration of ideas and issues of social,
political and/or cultural concern.

For further information, please contact Frank Theatre at (612) 724 3760,
or at info [at] franktheatre.org. or check us out at www.franktheatre.org.


--------9 of 15--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Latino conference 10.28 Des Moines IA

October 28 - The 7th Strengthening and Valuing Latino/a Communities
Conference and the Latino/a Leadership Awards.

CONFERENCE MISSION
The Strengthening and Valuing Latino Communities in Iowa Conference is an
opportunity to explore the changing demographics and dynamics of the Iowa
Latino community. The conference also looks at the responsiveness of
educators, policy makers, institutions, communities, businesses and
organizations to the fastest growing population in Iowa and the US.

Latinos are now Iowa s largest minority population group according to the
latest census results. However, this component of our population is still
untapped and under-served. The Latino Conference emphasizes "culture" as a
strength that can be used to improve services to the Latino community
(ideally providing optimum support to both the newcomers and the
established persons of Latino/a origin). At the conference you will enjoy
art, music, education, professional development, and a warm, energetic
atmosphere. The conference also provides access to and networking
opportunities for Latino/a leaders and community members. Registration for
the conference will allow participants to attend a combination of events,
including the pre-conference institute, the plenary session, the Latino/a
Leadership Awards Brunch, and more.

FFI: http://www.latino-institute.org Location: Des Moines, Iowa


--------10 of 15--------

From: Lisa Albrecht <lalbrech [at] che.umn.edu>
Subject: Palestine dance

Ibdaa!, a Palestinian folkloric dance troupe composed of youth from
Dheisheh refugee camp in Palestine is performing on Wednesday November 2,
at 7:30pm at Saint Paul Central High School, 275 Lexington Avenue (corner
of Marshall and Lexington).

The performers who are youth, ages 10-13, have performed all over the
world. The show is a three-part epic, which depicts the history, hardship,
and aspirations of Palestinian refugees¯a unique opportunity for
communities across the U.S. to learn about Palestinians as people.

The Ibdaa! dancers will participate in a cultural exchange workshop with
youth from the Saint Paul Central Touring Company, who are students at
Saint Paul Central High School.

The National tour is hosted by Middle East Children's Alliance, from
Berkeley, California (www.mecaforpeace.org).  Local co-sponsors include:
Saint Paul Central Touring Company; American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee; Middle East Peace Now; Pax Christi-Twin Cities; Women Against
Military Madness.

Showtime: 7:30 pm.
Ticket Prices: Adults- $15, Students w/ ID- $10

Interviews available.  Photos available. Background information attached.
Contact: (612) 239-1638

Lisa Albrecht, Ph.D. Morse-Mn. Alumni Association Distinguished Professor
of Teaching School of Social Work 283 Peters Hall 612-624-3669
Social Justice Minor - http://ssw.che.umn.edu/Programs/socialjustice.html


--------11 of 15---------

When Bush's Brain Takes a Perp Walk
Apres Rove
By MIKE WHITNEY
CounterPunch
October 24, 2005

Can Bush survive in a post-Rove world?

Not likely.

The Bush persona is mainly the invention of its author Rove; a careful
stitching together of religious and western imagery, of pious moralizing
and cowboy "straight-talk". Originally, Bush was a formless glob of clay
that uber-advisor Rove tenderly sculpted and brought to life. In many ways
Bush is nothing more than the political vehicle for the aspirations,
ambitions, and objectives of his constituents. He wasn't chosen as a
presidential nominee for his abilities, but for his for his willingness to
follow orders and carry out the corporate agenda without question. His
utter lack of curiosity about anything beyond the range of his immediate
experience has proved to be a real godsend in his new assignment. In fact,
Bush may be the perfect candidate; a self-absorbed malingerer who
flawlessly reflects the identity of the person whispering through his
hidden ear-piece.

Rove is the stardust that animates the vacuous executive; the transformer
that pumps a steady stream of electricity into the severed
presidential-cortex. He's not so much a puppet-master as he is an
alter-ego; a Texas Cyrano creating the illusion of sincerity, warmth and
moral conviction where none exist. Simply put, he's a magician; turning a
lumpen mass of protoplasm into a fully-operable world leader with moveable
parts. Without the wily-professor Rove behind the curtain, the Bush faade
would quickly dissipate and vaporize into thin air.

The system simply doesn't work without Rove. It goes beyond the symbiotic
relationship between the two; it's the marriage of mind and muscle. Bush
likes to play dress-up, and Rove, who has a keen grasp of American
folklore, is forever extracting new, iconic identities from his
bag-o-tricks. One day Bush appears as a "Mission Accomplished"
action-figure in a shiny jumpsuit on the flight-deck of the USS Abraham
Lincoln, then he's hammering man with rolled up sleeves and a contractor's
nail-belt, and finally, its basic flannel for the requisite Ronald Reagan
chain-saw photo-op. Whatever the occasion, our Betsy McCall president is
always at the ready to slip on a costume, coif up the hairpiece, and take
center stage. Rove's job is to ensure that Bush looks presidential whether
waltzing with a plastic turkey in Baghdad or gadding about in a Navy
flight-jacket surrounded by Marines.

The greatest tribute to Rove is the fact that 38% of the American people
still believe that Bush is running the country. This is a remarkable feat,
especially since the public relations smokescreen that traditionally
shelters Bush from criticism has gotten increasingly threadbare.

In the last few weeks a number of articles have pointed out that Bush is
totally outside of the policy making loop in his own administration.
Apparently, the Pentagon's OSP (Office of Special Plans) and Cheney's WHIG
(White House Iraq Group) made all of the major decisions related to the
upcoming war in Iraq. Bush was either too busy developing a softer look
for his scripted video-conferences or frolicking in the Crawford outback
on his customized mountain bike. Wherever he was doing, his circumscribed
role as performer-in-chief has never really been in doubt. He was enlisted
to put a smiley-face on vile policies of torture, repression and war; and,
he has done just that.

But, now, the system is teetering from the threat of indictments. If Rove
goes down, the cracks and fissures in the White House parapets will appear
fairly quickly. Bush depends on his podgy confidante more than people
realize. He's the anchor that keeps the petulant president from drifting
off into a post-alcoholic miasma. Without Rove, the country faces the
prospect of an embattled executive left to his own devices, his jittery
hands inching ever-closer to the Big Red Switch.

Not a pretty picture.

The Bush administration really isn't built on its high-minded ideology as
many seem to believe. That stuff is pure mumbo jumbo. The regime rests
entirely on the strengths and talents of a few key people, without whom
the whole mechanism would grind to an abrupt standstill. Rove, Rumsfeld
and Cheney are the indispensable cogs in the imperial jalopy. If any one
of them is carted off to prison, the entire operation will unravel like a
ball of yarn.

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


--------12 of 15--------

To Create the Democracy We Want
Challenge the Corrupt Two-Party System Don't Participate in It
by Kevin Zeese
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 24, 2005

Recently, on the anti-Bush, Democratic Party leaning website Daily Kos an
open letter was published urging me to run as a Democrat for the U.S.
Senate in Maryland rather than independent of the two political parties.
Below is my response to the suggestion.

Dear Daily Kosers:

Elections should be about current issues and a vision for the future. For
me that vision is of a truly representative democracy. I want Americans to
look back 50 to 100 years from now - when we have a vivid multi-party
democracy and say - "can you imagine in the last century how there were
only two major parties and dozens of colas? Boy, were we an immature
democracy!"

A survey published in the July 16 Economist asked U.S. voters whether they
felt their elected officials represented their priorities. Only 17 percent
said "yes". In the greatest democracy on earth 83 percent can't say they
are represented! It is no wonder we have such low voter turnouts. (A
survey of non-voters found that that a majority of non-voters felt that
the candidates did not represent their concerns - even in the last
election 40% of registered voters didn't vote, Kerry gave them no reason
except not being Bush - not good enough.) It is also not surprising that
Democrats are at their lowest popularity in more than 50 months while
Republicans are also dropping in the polls. Neither party represents the
priorities of the people.

As writer Andrew Gumbel recently said: "Both the Republicans and the
Democrats over the past century have shown more interest in preserving
than reforming a system that does not involve all of the voters. The US
has had a low turnout rate for the past 100 years, and the parties are
much more interested in controlling the voters they know than in expanding
the electorate or having other parties crashing in on their duopoly".

In Maryland, the Democratic Party leadership has been blocking voter
verified paper ballots for electronic voting (the Republican governor says
he is "open" to it). They have also put in place partisan administration
of elections with the "Linda Lamone for Life Bill" - a bill making it
impossible to fire the Democratic election administrator who spent $100
million on paperless voting machines that cannot accommodate an
independent recount. The machine Democrats who control Maryland politics
are not interested in reviving our democracy, i.e. having more choices for
voters, or having a voting system voters can trust. They just want to hold
onto power - that is why Democratic registration is shrinking, while
Republican and non-major Party/independent registrations are increasing -
the latter most quickly.

The two party system reminds me of when I was raising my kids. If they
were doing something I didn't like, call it "C,". I would say - "you can
do either A or B". They felt they had a choice and stopped pursuing "C"
but in reality I had already made their choice for them. The two party
system is much like that for voters - treating us as children.

Will either Party challenge the military industrial complex? Will they
challenge the pharmaceutical or health insurance industries in order to
provide health care for all? What has either Party done to ensure decent
jobs at home that pay a living wage? Haven't both parties supported the
corporate trade agreements that masquerade as "free trade" but really
empower international corporations, undermine the environment, labor
standards and consumer protection? Will either Party criticize Israel when
it violates international law or the basic human rights of the Palestinian
people? Will either Party end the failed war on drugs? Will either Party
put in place universal voter registration - the international standard
for elections? Will either Party reduce barriers to third party and
independent candidates - or will they cynically hold onto power by
denying democracy? Will either Party cut $300 billion in annual corporate
welfare? On all of these and many other issues both parties fail to
represent the interests of the American people.

I agree with Senator John McCain (not someone I always agree with) when he
says that our current electoral system is "nothing less than a massive
influence peddling scheme where both parties conspire to sell the country
to the highest bidder". Please dwell on that statement for a few minutes.
I know readers of the Daily Kos will agree that Republicans are guilty of
what McCain describes - but sadly, so is the leadership of the Democratic
Party. And, I'm sure most of you will recognize the truth in the
statement. If you agree, the question is: Do you participate in a corrupt
influence peddling scheme or do you challenge it. I've decided to
challenge it and fear that if we don't our democracy cannot be saved. I
hope some of you will put aside partisanship and join me.

For years, indeed decades, people have tried to reform the Democratic
Party from the inside. It always fails. When political movements go inside
the Democratic Party - they weaken and disappear - look at the anti-war
movement in 2004, the union movement over decades, efforts at African
American equality - on and on. What ever happened to the Rainbow
Coalition? What has the Democratic establishment done for those that are
calling for change from within? Nothing. Even Howard Dean has stopped
talking about ending the Iraq War since becoming DNC Chairman. The only
way to create the politics we want is by challenging the corrupt system in
place.

Already my outside challenge has gotten Ben Cardin to finally do something
on paper trails for e-voting. For 2 years Rush Holt has had a bill to
require a paper trail for recounts. Ben Cardin was silent. I wrote him
about the issue and started to publicly criticize him. Two days after
doing so he signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill. This will make him a
better candidate and a better Member of Congress for the remainder of is
House term.

I know some of you say it is impossible - the two party system can't be
challenged. But certainly this corrupt method of governance is not as
embedded as slavery, the denial of women's rights, nor as strong as the
Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union or Maoism. Yet, those have all crumbled.
Change is possible. Even our founders warned against "factions" as
political parties were known in their day. This corrupt two-party system
is inconsistent with the vision of a robust representative democracy -
with our vision for being the greatest democracy in Earth's history. We
have the power to create the future we want - but if we keep supporting
candidates based on party label and not on issues we care about then we
will keep getting political leaders that do not represent our interests.
We will only get what we want by voting for what we want.

I know the challenge of a third party race but I am running to win, not to
spoil. I know the system is rigged against non-major party candidates and
that the money will flow to the major party candidates. Rep. Cardin has
already raised $4 million dollars and his Republican opponent has not yet
even announced. As a recent article about the Maryland campaign pointed
out his campaign support has come from "banking, finance and real estate
lobbies, the largest single category of his supporters. Well-known
political commentator Allan Lichtman, a professor at American University,
noted that Cardin is 'the biggest percentage recipient of corporate PAC
money of any national Democrat in Maryland.'" Is Ben Cardin going to lead
our country to a government "of, by and for" the people - or are the
interests of his contributors going to dominate?

And, look how the Maryland Democrats are taking African Americans for
granted - steam rolling Kweisi Mfume, picking a former Republican
military officer over Ike Leggett as Lt. Governor in 2002 - African
Americans have been the most loyal constituency of the Democratic Party.
What have they gotten for it? A downward spiral on every measure - jobs,
income, wealth, health, incarceration, education. African Americans need
to wake up and demand representation. They can do this best outside of the
Democratic Party.

I am no fan of Michael Steele the Republican. And, I will challenge his
base as well campaigning in Republican parts of Maryland. Republican Party
Wall Street values do not match the rhetoric of Main Stream values. Their
support for the Patriot Act is not consistent with protecting individual
rights in the Constitution. Their support for nation building in Iraq is
not consistent with their base's view of investing in America. They have
fissures that I will highlight to break apart their base.

For all of these reasons I will not run in the Democratic Primary - doing
so would merely be participating in one of the corrupt political parties
that have sold out Americans. I am going to challenge from the outside and
as a result voters, will have an anti-war, anti-Patriot Act,
anti-corporate trade agreement, pro-worker, pro-environmental protection
and challenger of the incredible rich-poor divide on the ballot in
November 2006. This campaign will be about issues - that is why Cindy
Sheehan has appeared with me at the University of Maryland because the
Iraq War - which is undermining the morality, nobility and vision of
America - will be central to my campaign. I realize many of you are strong
partisans but I hope some of you will participate and support this
campaign. Please visit www.KevinZeese.com for more information on my views
on various issues.

Thanks for asking me to join the Democratic primary, but as you can see
doing so would be inconsistent with my vision for a genuine democratic
future.

Sincerely, Kevin Zeese

P.S. On the "spoiler" issue there is a simple solution that the Maryland
Democratic dominated legislature could enact whether the Republican
governor approved or not - instant run-off or majority voting. This allows
voters to rank their candidates and if no candidate wins a majority then
the lowest candidates votes go to the voters second choice. So, if spoiler
is your concern, the power is within the Democratic Party to avoid it.
Don't blame me if once again they fail to act in the interests of the
voters.

Kevin Zeese is a candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland seeking the
nomination of the Populist, Libertarian and Green Parties. For more
information visit: www.KevinZeese.com.


--------13 of 15--------

Capitalism for Dummies
by Patricia Goldsmith
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 24, 2005

Last week I caught a glimpse of a local TV news promo warning that the
FDA is poised to OK a new drug for diabetes that also sharply increases
the risk of "heart problems, strokes and death". It was the night's big
scare story, very reminiscent of the scandals over Vioxx, Celebrex and
Bextra. You'll remember that the FDA allowed Vioxx back on the market,
even though studies show it may be responsible for as many as 55,000
deaths. It looks like the diabetes drug will win approval too.

But rest assured, there's no danger of easy access to the Plan B
morning-after contraceptive. In fact, there's actually been a crackdown on
medical doctors' latitude in prescribing narcotics for pain relief. The
use of medical marijuana, in states that have voted to allow it, is avidly
prosecuted, SWAT teams and all.

Behold, life in the post-New Deal, neocon era, with one spectacular
regulatory failure after another - accompanied by one intrusive,
fearmongering initiative after another to make sure we don't ever connect
the dots or see the big picture. Big picture? Even with the unprecedented
level of corruption, lawlessness, and moral depravity we see all around
us, we have to keep coming back to the economics.

The scandals at the FDA highlight the success the Bushitters have had in
dismantling the New Deal system of regulated capitalism. Ironically, it
was that system of regulations that saved capitalism in the '30s and
allowed our mixed economy to thrive over most of the last fifty years. New
Deal/Progressive Era regulations kept the system in balance, with workers
earning enough to be consumers. It kept the market's playing field
somewhat level. Above all, it allowed for constitutional democracy, which
was placed at a higher value than mere economics.

But all that has changed. The New Deal is dead. Wealthy transnational
economic interests are firmly in control. The New Deal has given way to
neo-liberal globalization.

Benito Mussolini said, "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism
because it is the merger of state and corporate power". If that is true -
and Mussolini ought to know - then globalization is nothing less than
fascism on a planetary scale.

Consider the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which passed at the
end of July, in spite of strong public opposition. Lori Wallach, of Public
Citizen's Global Trade Watch explained what the vote meant:

[F]or people in Central America, this is devastating. Right? I mean, the
provisions are very clear: People with HIV and AIDS who need medicine, who
use generic drugs will die now, because they will not get generic drugs,
because this agreement takes away the ability to produce generic drugs.
People in Central America who rely on essential public services, their
drinking water, electricity, education, or for instance in Costa Rica, the
whole telecommunications system, government guaranteed access, has to be
privatized and deregulated under this agreement. People's difficult lives
will be made much hard, or as Oxfam and the World Bank reported, millions
of Central American campesinos, small farmers, who are hanging on by their
fingernails as it is, are going to get flattened by this agreement, and
there are going to be millions of displaced and hungry people. Talk about
instability. I mean, if it takes military killing people to get the thing
passed, and you know the results are going to be devastating,
destabilizing, economically and socially, as a national security matter,
but as a human, moral matter, what this is going to do to Central America
is god awful.

And now it's happening here. In fact, we're well into the process.

A new book, Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of
American Democracy, details some of the strong-arm strategies we see at
work, including enacting laws that deliberately ignore or exacerbate
problems in order to create crises that justify drastic solutions. That
one's called a time-bomb. I would say the time bomb technique is, in fact,
the essence of the Bushitters. approach to governance.

Hurricane Katrina is a good example. By ignoring the problem and then
making it as bad as possible, the White House group running the disaster
operation insured a huge reconstruction operation to benefit corporate
cronies. At the same time, they claim that the money required is causing a
budget crisis. The budget crisis, in turn, justifies the creation of a
so-called Gulf Coast Opportunity Zone.

In spite - or perhaps because - of increasing public opposition, recent
weeks have seen a staggering succession of corporate sweetheart deals
passed through Congress, bills that not only give away billions of dollars
but shield companies from legal obligations. One law, subsidizing the
building of domestic oil refineries, in spite of historic oil company
profits, actually calls for citizens who sue oil companies to pay the
companies' legal fees, win or lose - virtually placing oil companies
outside the reach of tort law. These are the items that have been on
corporations' Christmas lists for many, many years; Santa has finally
arrived.

I look at Tom DeLay's grinning (s)mug shot and I see the fatuous contempt
of a Mussolini. He proves that evil is not only banal, it's literally an
exterminator: DeLay developed a passion for politics when tree-hugging
laws put limits on the kinds of poisons he could use in his cockroach
business. Personally, I think he's on the insects' payroll; they're the
ones who really stand to benefit from his leadership.

With the phenomenon of peak oil, we are at a point where survival demands
planning and prioritizing with the needs of the common good in mind. If we
don't allocate and protect demonstrably dwindling resources, given our
society's total dependence on oil-based products and technology, we are
headed for certain destruction. Burning all the remaining fossil fuel on
the planet would also jeopardize our survival. Unregulated capitalism, or
fascism, is totally unable to defend us against these dangers, because it
is the source of the problem.

In that regard, Bush's recent statements concerning the possibility of an
avian flu pandemic are extremely disturbing. For an administration
dedicated only to making money for its clients, a flu pandemic is a
mouth-watering opportunity. Bush's focus on military-enforced quarantines
is hardly an appetizing prospect, post-Katrina.

According to Dr. James E. Maynard, a twenty-seven-year veteran of the
Center for Disease Control, the last thing we need is a military
quarantine. Anti-virals that control one of the common sequelae of the
flu, pneumonia, will probably be able to bring mortality rates down
relative to those experienced in the great pandemic of the First World
War. Vaccinated workers wearing barrier clothing can be deployed to
carefully cull domestic chicken populations. The government should also
negotiate a bulk rate on the drug that can combat this disease.

Somehow, though, if Bush is still around when flu season blows in, I think
he'll stick with the army. As Condi Rice said in another context this
week, with her characteristic unintentional honesty - the woman is plain
stupid - "I don't think the president ever takes any of his options off
the table concerning anything to do with military force".

Bush's open preparation for yet another national disaster demonstrates as
nothing else could the impossibility of going on with our capitalist
system in its present form. We are running a race to the bottom of the oil
barrel.

Raw capitalism's solution to our present situation is being enacted in
front of us: grab everything you can before it's gone. If it doesn't
result in the physical destruction of our planet, it's going to be the end
of the middle class, and of anything worthy of being called civilization.
We have to stop it before it destroys all of us.

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.


--------14 of 15--------

The American Experiment, Really?
by Gilles d'Aymery
Swans - October 24, 2005

"Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardoner." ("To understand it all is to
forgive it all.")  -Anne-Louise Germaine Necker, aka Madame de Stal
(1766-1817) - French author and political philosopher

"What a bummer it is to be a human being."  -Kurt Vonnegut

The questions on the agenda - What have we come to? Who are we? And what
do we stand for? - come from two readers of first, TomDispatch, and
second, the New York Times (see the front page). They were asked in the
context of the Iraq Operation Occupation and recurring news of abuse and
torture of Afghans and Iraqis at the hands of US military personnel. The
following was written with this context in mind. Without further ado...

What have we come to?

A hyper-militarized and arch-violent nation where 100 million people -
one third of the US population - are directly or indirectly related to
the military and countless law enforcement agencies, spending on death and
destruction more than the remaining of the entire world; a self-indulgent
nation of buccaneers drowning in consumerism and waste without any regard
for the consequences wreaked on the environment and the rest of humanity;
a pitiful land gripped by fear and insecurity; a human construct based on
a mixture of savage social Darwinism, an irrational, deeply conservative
(in the reactionary sense), religiosity, and an absurd (and groundless)
belief in an innate, god-given Goodness; and the slow but unrelenting
"Third-Worldization" of the social and economic fabric of the country
where even hope has been hijacked and raped. In brief, a deluded people in
unreserved denial of the damages and destructions they inflict upon
themselves and the world.

Rejoinder: We are the chosen people. Doing god's work is hard work.

Who are we?

Better ask, "who are they?" for this writer has felt a primal
psychological need to distance himself from the ongoing onslaught on the
human spirit. This distantiation began in 1991 with the first Iraq War,
got reinforced by the Yugoslav tragedy and the 1999 Kosovo War, became
existential in the aftermath of 9/11/2001, the Afghanistan revengeful war,
the ideologically motivated, mercantilist second war on Iraq, and turned
potentially terminal with Abu Ghraib and during an experience with the
Santa Rosa, California, police department, prison, and court systems
between May 2004 and April 2005. But, whether "we" or "they," this is an
unanswerable question in this short space and time. It would require a
book-length examination.

Which America did the New York Times reader have in mind? Three hundred
million people (est. 2005) can't possibly be pigeonholed without resorting
to sweeping generalities. Which America, indeed? That of Kurt Vonnegut and
Louis "Studs" Terkel? That of Ralph Nader and Bill Moyers? That of
Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame and the Car Talk brothers, Tom and
Ray Magliozzi (the NPR crowd)? That of Etan Thomas and Michael Eric Dyson?
Cindy Sheehan, Kathy Kelly? Or is it the America of Pat Robertson, Bill
Bennett, and the Christian Right, the depraved and corrupted intellectual,
political, and corporate elites? The prescription meds addicted iPod and
video game generation - the Cyborgs? The one-third of the country
struggling to make ends meet with less than $27,000 yearly income per
family?

It's all of the above, of course, and more. Americans are a very diverse
class-based and racially segregated people whose extreme individualism and
the brutal structure of the politico-economical system lead to unordinary
resilience. Always forward looking, Americans are proud to fend for
themselves. The higher situated on the social ladder, measured in monetary
terms and material possessions, the prouder they are. To have is to be.
Live and let live is their subliminal motto. There is no need for a
government or for a social safety net. Taxes are exploitative. Anything
that may somewhat limit the opportunity to be, which translated in
American lingua franca means to have, to own, to possess, is to be
opposed. Americans distrust their government. They consider, with reason,
that the bureaucracies are stifling their can-do attitude. Government is
not just inefficient, it cannot be relied upon to help the citizenry. All
the same, when violence is lashed out on the periphery, places few can
locate on a map, then government is to be trusted in the name of inherent
Goodness.

Working hard is a given. The more one works, the better chance one has to
make it. To make it means, again, to have - this cannot be repeated
enough: To have is to be, in the USA. Hence, those who have not, do not
work enough. Poverty is blamed on the poor. The poor deserve their status
- they are responsible for their poverty. It's a psychology of
self-reliance and pragmatic entrepreneurship. Upward mobility is a non
sequitur. All Americans, it is believed, can make it right up to the top
where wealth means power.

It is a god-given right, as per the Constitution (the "pursuit of
happiness").

Americans believe that the USA is the best, most productive country in the
world: best education, best health care, best democracy, best economic
opportunities, you name it... And why not - aren't the multitudes trying
to come to the US shores a vivid example of American success? Immigration
is solid proof of economic opportunity. It demonstrates that the rest of
the world, while loathing the experiment, cannot compete with the
construct. They envy our freedoms.

By and large, Americans are a decent and generous people on a personal
level, imbued with optimism and detached friendliness ("Hi there, what can
I do for you?" - translation: "how much money can change hands my way?").
As a whole, however, they tend to have a split personality, a case of mild
schizophrenia: People and countries are neatly divided into either friends
and allies or enemies. How one ends up on either side of the ledger
largely depends whether one agrees with the inherent goodness and
rightfulness of their views and policies. To find oneself on the wrong
side of the ledger, both internally and externally, does result in
unpleasant consequences. Being strong partisans of corrective retribution,
violence becomes the necessary means to enforce American order at home and
abroad. Americans are literally enamored with their security apparatus,
their military might...and their guns; all of which they use with abandon.

(The friends-enemies duo is so entrenched in the national psyche that it
can be found, and mercilessly utilized, in the remnants of what was once
upon a time known as the American Left. Utterly mind-boggling...and
amusing! These remnants of the Left behave in the same fashion as the
entire population in regard to telling other countries and governments
what's wrong with them. In other words, sheer arrogance and condescension
are a common denominator of American society, from the most radical
fringes to the gatekeepers and captains of industry - well, there is not
much industry left in America aside from the manufacturing of death.)

Americans are also endearingly superstitious. They believe in all sorts of
fairy tales. From rapture to dispensation, alien abductions, the demon,
satan, evil, god, goddess, werewolves, bigfoot, vampires, hell and heaven,
witches, ghosts, haunted houses, intelligent design, creationism, etc.,
etc., etc. Not surprisingly, most Americans are religious believers. As
the saying goes, why think when one can believe!

Most striking in our age of instant communications, Americans are an
utterly uninformed or misinformed insular people. Fending for themselves
by working ever longer hours and driving long commutes, they have little
time - and often no interest or curiosity - to look for information.
They overwhelmingly get their "news" from the main media (mostly TV),
which are controlled by five or six corporate conglomerates that distill,
in between product placements and sports events, mostly disinformation and
manipulation. Skeptical by nature, they quickly lose attention and get
back to their reality - Work, Family, Homeland (sounds familiar...Travail,
Famille, Patrie?). This particular state of affairs should not be held
against the population at large. The earthy skepticism is a testimony to
their pragmatism.

But it cuts both ways. Endeavor to inform that, for instance, the US
health care system stands at the bottom of practically all other
industrialized nations while spending two or three times more that these
nations; that Cuba has more doctors and nurses, or hospital beds, per
capita than the U.S.; that America, with less than 5 percent of the world
population consumes in excess of 25 percent of the world's energy,
releases 42% of global fossil fuel CO2 and 34% of greenhouse gas
emissions; that each American spits out some 20 metric tons of CO2 every
year compared to 8 tons for each European or 2 tons for Chinese; that it
takes over 12,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per person to support
Americans - less than half in Europe and about 1,000 in China; that US
productivity is actually lower than that of France or Germany; that a poor
child has more chance to grow out of poverty in Canada or Europe than in
the USA (cf. the myth of upward mobility); that the democratic system in
the U.S. is a figment of the imagination due to gerrymandering, polling
frauds, rigged elections, and a seemingly two-party system that advocates
and implements the same policies for the benefit of the very, very, happy
few; that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, had no WMDs or nuclear
program, was no threat to us...that...that...that... A glazed look avoids
the eyes of the informer. It can't be, says the look on the avoiding face.
Rugged skepticism reinforced by joyous self-serving beliefs in the
immaculate conception of the American way of life refuses the obvious, for
it would shatter the belief system. Again, why think when one can believe!

Reason has been banned from public discourse, ethics sacrificed in the
name of a debased morality, minds lobotomized for the betterment of
quarterly corporate profits, science superseded by religiosity, education
privatized, knowledge exiled, common sense stripped of all senses,
scatological porn substituted for sex, gambling institutionalized... We
are a faith-based nation now - perception has become reality. From the
top of these modern-day Philistines' Temple a subjugated and mortified
Jesus is left crying Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani.

Rejoinder: The indispensable nation led by an exceptional people fully
deserving of world domination in the name of freedom and democracy.

What do we stand for?

Greed, materialism under the cloak of faux spirituality, global domination
through violent coercion, militarism at home and abroad, abject
inequality, the sacredness of private property, neo-liberal zealotry,
religious bigotry, obscene consumerism, instant gratification,
environmental mayhem, dismal racism, and the sempiternal money, money,
money, money, money, money, money. In a nutshell, this is what America
stands for at this stage of human history - the myriad concerned citizens
and do-gooders notwithstanding.

In conclusion, and in defense of the masses of decent and humane people,
the roots of American harshness can be traced back to the old world - it
is Europeans who settled in the new world and began the great "American
Experiment" through possibly the biggest genocide the world has ever
known... The American way of life and its excesses ensue by and large from
the extreme severity of a ruthless economic system, controlled by and for
the benefits of the very few, that has brutalized and traumatized the
entire citizenry for over two centuries. It's not the people; there is no
particular American gene that somehow leads to such harshness. It is the
system itself that has created this predicament. Predictably, Americans
from kindergarten to their graves are the most medicated people in the
world. It does not have to be. Change the system, get rid of the
managerial and political class, reset priorities, put people before
profits, have workers take control, bring the troops home and keep them
there once and for all, dismantle the military-industrial complex, break
free from the materialist shackles, embrace the other, the mirror of one's
alienated shadows, bring reason back to the fore... Then, at last, at long
last, Americans will no longer be feared, despised, and reviled, but
regarded with affection, respect, and the commonality that all humans
share - or ought to share - and deserve.

Afterthought: In spite of twenty-three years in the country, je ne les
comprends toujours pas...


--------15 of 15--------

 Mussolini or
 Hitler? Gotta vote lesser
 evil: Benito.

 Like, hey, have we got
 a choice? I mean, with BM
 we got wiggle room.


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   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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