Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 11.12.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    11.12.05

1. Intuition/dreams     11.13 9:30am
2. Chante Wolf          11.13 9:30am
3. Justice/sustain      11.13 10am
4. Pissed off voters    11.13 1pm
5. MN FOR annual        11.13 2pm
6. Peace rapid response 11.13 4pm
7. KFAI/Indian          11.13 4pm
8. Care for creation    11.13 4pm
9. India's development  11.13 5pm
10. Suburbia RIP/film   11.13 7pm
11. Dump WalMart/film   11.13 7pm

12. Christopher Hayes - Wal-Mart: symbol of the system
13. Justin Smith      - Another monkey trial?
14. Bernard Weiner    - Take Bush down
15. ed                - Flaaarrrrppp! (poem)

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

From: Samantha Smart <speakoutsisters [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Intuition/dreams 11.13 9:30am

Please join Speak Out Sisters! as we continue our Whistle Stop Coffee Shop
series!

Sunday, November 13 9:30am
The Black Dog Cafe 308 Prince Street in St. Paul
Deb Heath
Night Vision: Uniting Intuition and Dreams - How the Man Split the Moon

Speak Out Sisters! brings women together across boundaries to collectively
analyze injustice and exploitation and forge our own unique, creative,
effective and joyful strategies for personal and social transformation.

We create justice in the world by adopting a humanizing set of power
relations based on communality and love - join the WomanPower Revolution!


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

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Chante Wolf 11.13 9:30am

Sunday, 11/13, 9:30-10:30 am, Chante Wolf speaks on "What are Patriotism,
Militarism and Nationalism?," All Saints Lutheran Church (educ. forum),
15915 Excelsion Blvd (corner Woodland Rd.), Minnetonka.  FFI: Eileen
Anderson, 952-934-6260.


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

From: Alliance for Sustainability <iasa [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Justice/sustain 11.13 10am

Terry Gips Speaking on "What's Social Justice Got to do with
Sustainability?" Sunday Nov 13, 2005 10-11 am Unitarian Universalist
Church of Minnetonka

"What's Social Justice Got to do with Sustainability?"

Everything. Alliance for Sustainability President Terry Gips will explore
why through an inspiring, life-changing discussion. We'll also discuss an
innovative approach to sustainability called the Natural Step Framework
which utilizes the Basic Needs Work of Alternative Nobel Prize-winning
work of Chilean Economist Manfred Max-Neef to show that we can meet the
basic needs of every person on the planet while overcoming our consumption
addiction or "affluenza".

10-11 am Sunday Nov 13
Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka
605 Rice Street, Wayzata, MN   www.uucmtka.org/  Telephone: 952-473-5900

Take I-394 west from Minneapolis past I-494. Exit NORTH Hwy 101. Stay to
the left on the exit ramp and take a left onto Hwy 101, crossing over the
freeway. Stay to the right, and make a right turn onto Wayzata Blvd. Stay
in the right hand lane, through the first stoplight staying on Wayzata
Blvd. (Avoid the left hand fork which will take you to the Wayzata
business district). After taking the right hand fork, go one block past
the stoplight and make a left hand turn onto Walker (at the corner of the
cemetery). UUCM is 1/2 block down on the left. See
www.allianceforsustainability.net
<http://www.allianceforsustainability.net/> events calendar



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

From: sam buffington <samamadeo [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Pissed off voters 11.13 1pm

Hey League People, the final location for the Pot luck has been set. It
will be held at Sarah's and my house on November 13th from 1-6pm. If you
missed my last email it will be a chance for young organizers and
potential organizers to get together and talk about issues, concerns and
solutions for young people in St. Paul. The focus is on St. Paul but we
encourage every one to come and there will be plenty of time to look at
Minneapolis as well.

The Address is 1669 Van Buren in Midway. Van Buren is one block South of
Minnihaha on Snelling Ave. The house is one and a half blocks west of
Snelling. If you need directions or have any questions give Sarah and I a
call at 651 357 6563 or email me at
samamadeo [at] yahoo.com<http://us.f510.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=samamadeo [at] ya
hoo.com>.

The League will be providing some hearty food but chips, soda or deserts
would be appreciated.

From about 1:45 until 3 we will having an Official greeting and check in
fallowed by some short presentations. From 3 on will be a chance to
socialize and network with all the cool people who will be attending. This
will be a fun event not a 5 hour meeting. Children are welcome. Also feel
free to invite anyone you feel would enjoy the event.

I hope to see every one there and thank you all for the hard work in
getting the voter guides designed printed and out!


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

From: "Don,Rachel Christensen" <chris385 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: MN FOR annual 11.13 2pm

Please join us on Sunday, Nov 13, for the Annual Meeting of the Minnesota
Fellowship of Reconciliation.  2-5pm, at Union Congregational UCC at 3700
Alabama Av. in St. Louis Park 55416.  Tel:  (952) 929-8566.

We will celebrate the first recorded act of civil disobedience in our
young nation with a MN FOR Tea Party!  We will also present our second
annual Peacemaker of the Year award to Minneapolis City Council Member,
Don Samuels, who will be our speaker.

We invite you to recycle books, movies and music at the media swap and
shop table.  Bring items you would like to set free and take items you may
want in exchange.  Donations are accepted.


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

From: R. Terence Lamb <rtlamb [at] usfamily.net>
Subject: Peace rapid response 11.13 4pm

Sunday Nov 13, 4pm meeting at the FNVW office, 1050 Selby Ave., St. Paul,
to form a rapid response team in order to organize actions at events that
arise on short notice.  Attend this meeting, as there will be multiple
action opportunities calling for a rapid response during the upcoming
election year.  Key politicians who are hawks on the bloody Iraq debacle,
or who are spineless and utterly bankrupt in responding to it, must be
confronted.  For information call: FNVW, 651-917-0383 or Bob Lamb,
612-729-3106.


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

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: KFAI/Indian 11.13 4pm

KFAI's Indian Uprising for Nov 13

*PAKARINKA SISARI (FLOWERING OF THE DAWN) MUSIC CD*.  Thanks to ancient
indigenous Andean instruments, a range of sounds have emerged again from
the heart of the Earth.  In these songs, Pakarinka Sisari's instruments
create a special symphony with Taki Sumak Sami, Kichwa words that mean
"songs of nature in musical harmony."  The group Pakarinka Sisari comes
from the sacred mountains of Imbabura, Edcuador, to fulfill an ancient
prophecy through the magical power of Takisami or "music spirits."
 Their ancient healing music helps to balance the power of knowledge with
the feeling of the heart and to awaken a divine power (the Ushai).
 Hear how the music dances with the Waira (wind), the Yaku (water), and
the Nina (fire) and with Pachamama (Mother Nature) and Taita Inti (Father
Sun).

*Oscar Santillán*, a member of the Pakarinka Sisari group is visiting the
Twin Cities from Nov. 16-21.  He is from a family of Indigenous Kichwa
Indian musicians and healers from the village of Agato, a pre-Incan Kichwa
community outside of Otavalo, Ecuador.  Oscar was chosen at a young age by
the elders of his community to be taught the ancient traditions of his
people.  It is his life work to bring these teachings to his own
community, as well as to those who express solidarity with his movement,
in an effort to recuperate and restore what his people have lost since the
time of Spanish conquest.  Along with his two brothers, Oscar has released
two CD's of traditional music from the Andes.  They have toured in Europe
and the U.S.

As a herbalist, healer and musician, Oscar tells stories and speaks on
life and culture that are based on an integral relationship with Mother
Earth and the natural world.  Presentation: Nov. 18th, 7:00 p.m., Sacred
Journey Healing Arts, 2812 30th Ave. S, Mpls; also on Nov. 19th, 10:30
a.m., Resource Center of the Americas, 3019 Minnehaha Ave., Mpls.  FFI
call 612-729-7056 or 612-298-0847 or e-mail at _LPLipkin [at] juno.com _

* * * *
Indian Uprising is a one-half hour Public & Cultural Affairs radio program
for, by, and about Indigenous people & all their relations, broadcast each
Sunday at 4:00 p.m. over KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul.
Current programs are archived online after broadcast at www.kfai.org, for
two weeks.  Click Program Archives and scroll to Indian Uprising.


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

From: Alliance for Sustainability <iasa [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Care for creation 11.13 4pm

Congregations Caring for Creation, Fall Networking Dinner Sunday Nov 13.
4-7pm, Edina Community Lutheran Church Meet volunteer teams from other
Metro Congregations To share ideas for greening your congregation! Get
ideas for your winter & spring action campaigns. Find out how your
congregation can save up to 40% on energy bills. Soup, Bread & Spread
Supper provided by St. Martin's Table - $5 donation

Congregations Caring for Creation
Fall 2005 Congregational Networking Event
Nov 13. Sun. 4-7pm ,
Edina Community Lutheran Church
4113 W 54th St,
Minneapolis, 55424
(952) 926-3808

Map and Directions  <http://www.eclc.org/> http://www.eclc.org
Details at  <http://www.c3mn.net/> www.c3mn.net events calendar
Meet volunteer teams from other Metro Congregations To share ideas for
greening your congregation! Get ideas for your winter & spring action
campaigns. Find out how your congregation can save up to 40% on energy
bills. Soup, Bread & Spread Supper provided by St. Martin's Table - $5
donation.


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

From: Dwijendra nath Guru <dnguru [at] gmail.com>
Subject: India's development 11.13 5pm

Association for India's Development - Minnesota chapter invites you to
a talk by
Michael Mazgaonkar
an activist from Gujarat, India.

on Sunday, Nov 13 at 5pm
in Room 110, Saint Paul Student Center,

Michael Mazgaonkar is a social and environmental activist based in Juna
Mozda, a tribal village in Gujarat, India. He is the recipient of the 2002
Rural Development award given by the Development Support Center in
Ahmedabad for his work in watershed management. An
engineer-turned-activist, Michael along with his wife, Swati Desai, has
been living in the village for the last decade, and has been working with
the tribes for a sustainable lifestyle, on alternative technology and
networking with other organizations.

Michael is the co-founder of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS) or the
environment protection group. PSS actively campaigns against industrial
pollution in Gujarat by conducting investigations in and around the
industrial estates, by involving scientists and experts for technical
guidance and site inspections, by initiating dialogues with concerned
industries and government regulatory authorities and by occasionally
supporting public interest litigations.

for more info please contact Sudha, 612-578-7721, aidmn [at] tc.umn.edu ;
Dwiji, 612-803-0296, dnguru [at] gmail.com


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

From: Karen Harder <ktharder [at] efg.com>
Subject: Suburbia RIP/film 11.13 7pm

An Environmental Film Series focusing on the most pressing issues of our
time is planned for this winter.  A new collaboration of four urban
churches ­ Plymouth Congregational Church, First Congregational Church,
University Baptist Church and Prospect Park United Methodist Church ­ are
pleased to bring these films and issues both to their congregations and
the wider community as well.  Take out your calendars, invite your friends
and family, and plan to come!

Sunday, November 13: ³The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse
of the American Dream². As we enter the 21st century, serious questions
are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With
brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the
American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical
era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World
Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some
scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.²

The film will be shown at Plymouth Congregational, 1900 Nicollet Ave.,
Minneapolis, at 7pm in the theater, followed by discussion led by local
author and leader on transportation issues, Ken Avidor.

For more information, please call Karen Harder at (612) 824-4136 or the
church office at (612) 871-7400.

This event is free and open to the public - invite your friends and family!


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

From: Linda Winsor <ljwinsor [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Dump WalMart/film 11.13 7pm

Dessert Potluck Party for Peace
Sunday, Nov 13, 7-9pm
Saint John the Evangelist Church
60 North Kent Street, Saint Paul
(1 block north of Summit, 1 block east of Dale)

The Crocus Hill / West 7th Neighbors for Peace group invites you to join
us on Sunday, Nov. 13.  We will be viewing Robert Greenwald's new film
"Walmart the High Cost of Low Price."
http://www.walmartmovie.com/host2.php During our discussion of the film,
representatives from Metropolitan Independent Business Alliance will share
info. about their group.  http://metroiba.org/

Bring neighbors, friends, and a snack or dessert to share.
Non-perishable food items for Neighborhood House will be collected.  We
hold Dessert Potluck Parties for Peace every second Sunday of the month.

Linda Winsor / ljwinsor [at] yahoo.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crocushillpeace/


From cdsmith [at] alum.mit.edu Sat Nov 12 02:23:34 2005
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 06:31:00 -0600
From: Craig and Merritt <cdsmith [at] alum.mit.edu>
To: David Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: miba in action 11.13

    [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ]
    [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set.  ]
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David,

Beth Bergman and I will be the MetroIBA rep.s at this meeting.  I'm excited
to see the Wal-Mart movie and then to follow with our MetroIBA introduction
to a primed audience.

Best,

Merritt Clapp-Smith
Executive Director
Metro IBA
785 Goodrich Ave
St Paul, MN 55105
651.222.6533
merritt [at] metroiba.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Shove" <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>
To: "Metro Independent Business Alliance -- Janet Anancheyer"
<jaeasan [at] yahoo.com>; "Betsy Barnum" <betsy [at] greatriv.org>; "Beth Bergman"
<bethb [at] wetpaintart.com>; "Nancy Breymeier" <nbrey [at] msn.com>; "Jason Brown"
<jbrown [at] iqueonline.com>; "Michael Cavlan" <ollamhfaery [at] earthlink.net>;
"Merritt Clapp-Smith" <cdsmith [at] alum.mit.edu>; "Michele Cromer-Poire"
<mcromerpoire [at] aol.com>; "Beth Fischer" <beth [at] TheTCIGroup.com>; "Amber
Garlan" <amber [at] hammclinic.org>; "Lori Greene" <lori [at] mosaiconastick.com>;
"Andy Hamerlinck" <iamandy [at] riseup.net>; "Allan Hancock"
<alforgreens [at] comcast.net>; "John Hoeschen" <jhoeschen [at] stpaulcornerdrug.com>;
"Jon Kerr" <jon [at] oldmanriver.com>; "John Kolstad"
<jkolstad [at] millcitymusic.com>; "Renee Lepreau" <rlepreau [at] macalester.edu>;
"Dan Marshall" <dan [at] peapods.com>; "Marv Menzel" <folkmuse [at] aol.com>; "Charles
Merck" <camerck [at] comcast.net>; "Collette Morgan" <wrumpus [at] qwest.net>; "Jesse
Mortenson" <jmortenson [at] macalester.edu>; "Daniel Pickins-Jones"
<dpickensjones [at] macalester.edu>; "Rick Polanski" <polanski [at] pclink.com>;
"Danene Provencher" <pro826 [at] aol.com>; "Kathy Ritacco" <kritacco [at] wipfli.com>;
"Brent & Tami Schimnoski" <caffetto2 [at] earthlink.net>; "David Shove"
<shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>; "Elizabeth Sorenson" <elizabeth [at] mnretail.org>; "Julie
Steenerson" <julie [at] saporcafe.com>; "Lisa Torvik" <content [at] contentdata.com>;
"Dori Ullman" <doriandter [at] aol.com>; "David Unowsky" <rdu [at] ruminator.com>;
"Wendi Ward" <lori [at] mosaiconastick.com>; "Linda Winsor" <ljwinsor [at] yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 12:58 AM
Subject: miba in action 11.13


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 14:14:25 -0800 (PST)
From: Linda Winsor <ljwinsor [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: posting for Sunday event


Dessert Potluck Party for Peace
Sunday, Nov. 13, 7:00 - 9:00pm
Saint John the Evangelist Church
60 North Kent Street, Saint Paul
(1 block north of Summit, 1 block east of Dale)

The Crocus Hill / West 7th Neighbors for Peace group invites you to join
us on Sunday, Nov. 13.  We will be viewing Robert Greenwald's new film
"Walmart the High Cost of Low Price."
http://www.walmartmovie.com/host2.php During our discussion of the film,
representatives from Metropolitan Independent Business Alliance will share
info. about their group.  http://metroiba.org/

Bring neighbors, friends, and a snack or dessert to share.
Non-perishable food items for Neighborhood House will be collected.  We
hold Dessert Potluck Parties for Peace every second Sunday of the month.

Linda Winsor / ljwinsor [at] yahoo.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crocushillpeace/


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

Symbol of the System
What do you get when you cross gutted labor laws with a corporate culture
of impunity? Why, Wal-Mart, of course!
By Christopher Hayes
In These Times
November 6, 2005

There's a moment in Robert Greenwald's new documentary, Wal-Mart: The High
Cost of Low Price, that serves as a perfect metaphor for the entire battle
between organized labor and the country's largest private employer.

Josh Noble, an employee of the Tire and Lube Express division of a
Wal-Mart in Loveland, Colorado, is attempting to organize 17 of his fellow
workers into a union. As the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
election approaches, we see Noble with a United Food and Commercial
Workers' (UFCW) advisor going through the list of employees, discussing
who's with them and who's not. Noble says it looks about 50/50. Later, the
organizer cautions Noble that he may have lost the vote of his friend
Alicia. "No," Noble says. "I've talked with her quite a bit. She's just
kind of hard to read ... I hang out with her on the weekends. But she's
definitely into it. She's real strong." Cut to: Alicia Sylvia in her car.
Management's putting the squeeze on and she's now equivocating. We know
what will happen. It's like watching David sent out to battle Goliath,
blindfolded. Without a sling.

When election day finally rolls around Noble loses the election - 17 to 1.

It's not just that Wal-Mart has been winning the ongoing fight with the
UFCW, which has been trying to organize the bulk of the company's 1.2
million employees for the last six years. It's that its dominance has been
so absolute that even the small victories the union has scored have proved
to be Pyrrhic. In 2000, when seven of 10 butchers in a store in
Jacksonville, Texas, voted to join the UFCW, Wal-Mart responded by
announcing that henceforth it would sell only pre-cut meat in all of its
supercenters, fired four of the union supporters and transferred the rest
into other divisions. (Three years later, the NLRB ruled the decision
illegal. Wal-Mart is now appealing.) And in May this year, when workers at
a store in Jonquiere, Quebec, voted to unionize, Wal-Mart simply shut the
place down. "They wanted to send a message to every other store," says
UFCW spokesperson Chris Kofinis, "'Don't you dare unionize.'"

By any means necessary
There's little secret to Wal-Mart's success. The company will simply do
whatever it takes to keep workers from organizing. "Staying union free is
a full-time commitment," reads one of the company's training manuals.
"[F]rom the Chairperson of the 'Board' down to the front-line manager ...
[t]he entire management staff should fully comprehend and appreciate
exactly what is expected of their individual efforts to meet the union
free objective."

Managers are trained to call a special hotline at the first sign of
suspicious behavior, including "employees talking in hushed tones to each
other." After the call, the company's notorious labor relations division
headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, will swing into gear, often
dispatching a company jet to the afflicted store, bearing members of its
crack team of union busters. Management will convene mandatory meetings
with each associate and screen anti-union videos.

Former managers, like Stan Fortune, who worked for Wal-Mart for 17 years
and then went to work for UFCW, say the store also illegally follows union
sympathizers and spies on its employees with cameras in break rooms. "One
of their favorite tactics is to say, 'We need to freeze all raises in the
store because it can't appear that we're bribing anybody,' " Fortune says
in the film.

And then Wal-Mart will find a way to get rid of troublemakers. That's what
spelled the end of Fortune's career as a manager at the company. In 2001
Fortune was managing a Wal-Mart in Weatherford, Texas, when his boss
instructed him to fire an employee suspected of talking to the union. "I
told him 'I'm not firing him,' " Fortune says. "'That's illegal' ... He
got in my face and said, 'You fire him or I'm going to fire you.' " A week
later, Fortune was gone. "I filed for unemployment and the state found I
was fired without cause. That's when I found out that means nothing in the
real world."

Since 1999 the UFCW and others have filed more than 300 charges against
Wal-Mart with the NLRB, accusing the company of, among other
transgressions, firing employees for suspected union activity in violation
of the Wagner Act. In a third of these cases, the local NLRB office has
issued a formal complaint and attempted to prosecute the company, but it
hardly matters to the behemoth because even if the full NLRB rules against
Wal-Mart, the resulting penalties are a pittance. Wal-Mart didn't return
calls for comment, but generally they deny ever breaking the law.

In April, the UFCW threw in the towel and decided to start from scratch.
Instead of seeking to organize workers store by store, it launched
WakeUpWalMart.com, a public awareness campaign designed to educate the
public about Wal-Mart's business impact and negative community effects. A
coalition led by SEIU, Democracy for America and the Sierra Club has
launched a similar project called WalMartWatch.com.

Cause or effect?
Wal-Mart deserves just about all the bad press it gets, and its recent
commercials stressing what a gosh-darn great place it is to work would
suggest that these efforts are having some effect. But because there's
been so much focus on Wal-Mart's misdeeds, it's easy to surmise that the
company is a kind of outlier, and that the rest of corporate America would
never stoop to such techniques. This is simply not the case. "The right to
organize in the United States is on the verge of extinction," says Andy
Levin, director of the AFL-CIO's Voices [at] Work campaign. "Wal-Mart's not a
bad apple - it's the very symbol of a rotten system."

A book-length report on U.S. labor practices released by Human Rights
Watch in 2000 found that "workers' freedom of association is under
sustained attack in the United States, and the government is often failing
its responsibility under international human rights standards to deter
such attacks and protect workers' rights." Certifying a new union local
through an NLRB election, which requires emerging victorious from several
months of active campaigning by employers, 75 percent of whom hire
union-busting firms, has become so difficult that unions hardly even
bother anymore.

"If you look at the historical trends, 50 years ago, an average of 500,000
workers formed unions through the NLRB process every year," says Levin.
"And the number of workers whose rights were violated in that process,
according to the NLRB, was generally in the high hundreds or low
thousands. Fast forward to today. The private sector workforce is twice as
large, but the number that organized through elections last year was
80,000. The number of workers whose rights were violated, according to the
NLRB, is over 20,000. And that's literally the tip of the iceberg. Most
people's rights are violated probably before there's a union on the scene
to file a complaint."

Employers don't have to break the law to be effective. They can legally
require supervisors to actively campaign against the union upon pain of
termination and they can require employees to attend one-on-one pressure
sessions with their bosses. "No other industrialized democracy allows
this," says Levin. But even if they do break the law there are no punitive
damages or large fines. In fact, employers simply have to give back pay
minus what the fired employee was making at his or her subsequent job.
"Many employers have come to view remedies like back pay for workers fired
because of union activity as a routine cost of doing business," says the
Human Rights Watch report. "As a result, a culture of near-impunity has
taken shape in much of U.S. labor law and practice."

For several years, Levin and others at the AFL-CIO have been attempting to
build support for legislation that would chip away at this "culture of
near-impunity." The Employee Free Choice Act, which currently has 204
sponsors in the House and 40 in the Senate, would legally recognize a
bargaining unit if a simple majority of workers signed a card endorsing
unionization. It would also create binding arbitration for the first
contract a newly certified union negotiates, and increase penalties for
employer violations. Similar legislation has come close to passing in the
past, but has often fallen victim to filibusters from corporate friendly
senators.

Such legislation isn't necessary in countries where workers' rights are
already protected. In Germany, Wal-Mart has bought out several stores that
were already unionized, and they have stayed unionized. Since Wal-Mart
isn't in the charity business, it's safe to assume those stores are quite
profitable. In the film, Greenwald interviews workers there who proudly
speak of health benefits and six weeks of paid vacation. One woman says
she doesn't understand - why can't her American colleagues form a union?

It's a damn good question.

Research assistance for this article was provided by Robert Greenwald, the
producer/director of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. In an
unprecedented journalistic collaboration, The Nation, The American
Prospect and AlterNet will also tackle stories and themes showcased in the
film.

Christopher Hayes is a Senior Editor of In These Times.


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

Dover, PA Rejects Intelligent Design; Rev. Robertson Issues Fatwah on Town
Another Monkey Trial?
By JUSTIN E. H. SMITH
CounterPunch
November 11, 2005

Earlier in this space I have argued that rational, progressive Americans
should be no less concerned about anti-evolutionism than about the
so-called pro-life movement. The former issue may appear easier to
neglect, as debates about it have an air of intellectualism and
irrelevance, while as for the latter women's rights are at stake, and
clinics are bombed.

At bottom, though, both are but fronts in the same ugly war, for in each
case the Christian right makes an ungrounded claim to the sanctity of some
class of entities - human beings among animals in the one case, fetuses
among human beings in the other - argues that as a result of their
sanctity these entities are effectively off-limits to scientific
investigation, and portrays itself as a persecuted minority in view of the
broader society's refusal to play along. In both cases, there is a deep
mistrust of expertise, and a corollary sense that no decisions should be
left up to people with special training. Every decision should be made by
'ordinary' Americans, and their continuing exclusion from the
decision-making process - e.g., about whether evolution is to be taught as
true, or whether a fetus's ability to feel pain in the first trimester is
to be accepted as fact - is for them evidence of their persecution, and of
the control of American government by a sinister, secular cabal.

This is of course a perverse conception of democracy. No non-frivolous
democratic system could, for long, permit everyone to vote on everything.
Some decisions must be left up to the expert few in a position to make
them informedly. And yet creationists explicitly complain about the lack
of 'representation' of their view in school curricula, as if schools were
legislatures, and as if lessons in schools ought not consist in the
imparting of bodies of accrued knowledge, but instead in the
representation of interest groups. In this respect, in spite of its own
perceived distance from the academic left, the Christian right is much
more postmodern than traditional: it all but openly concedes that 'truth'
is only power in disguise. Some of us academic leftists, however, continue
to believe that 'truth' is much better defined as 'what is actually the
case, independently of you, whether you like it or not', and we thus
bemoan the relativism of the Christian right.

Take the recent, troubling court case in Pennsylvania, at which an
'expert' witness, University of Idaho microbiology professor Scott
Minnich, testified in support of the inclusion of 'intelligent design' in
high school biology curricula (see the AP article, 'Professor Defends
'Intelligent Design' in Pennsylvania Trial,' November 4, 2005). Minnich
maintained in his testimony that articles defending intelligent design are
not published in major peer-reviewed scientific journals because, simply,
intelligent design is a minority view. 'To endorse intelligent design
comes with risk,' Minnich complains, 'because it's a position against the
consensus. Science is not a democratic process.'

But what Minnich decries, we in fact have reason to celebrate, at least
those of us do who believe, against the Christian right and the cynical,
distrustful academic left, that Francis Bacon, Galileo, et al., did not
have a uniformly negative impact in world history, and that a humble, non-
fanatical commitment to scientific objectivity, to letting the world speak
for itself, can be a good thing.

In the expert communities of people who study things like cell biology,
genetics, organic chemistry, paleontology, 'intelligent design' (and I
cannot bring myself to drop the scare-quotes) is indeed a minority view.
But it remains one only because it is bad, and not, as Minnich appears to
believe, because the experts have an a priori commitment to disdaining it.
As a result, the vast majority of arguments for intelligent design are
disseminated in the form of advocacy rather than through the presentation
of research results. As Richard Dawkins put it recently: 'It isn't that
editors refuse to publish ID research. There simply isn't any ID research
to publish. Its advocates bypass normal scientific due process by
appealing directly to the non-scientific public and - with great
shrewdness - to the government officials they elect' ('One Side Can Be
Wrong,' The Guardian, September 1, 2005).

Dawkins is often most un-nuanced in his understanding of political issues
(I myself have criticized him to the delight of some Counterpunch
readers). In this case, though, a lack of nuance and toleration is just
what is needed. Philosophically, it may be interesting to doubt science's
claims to know the past, and it may be tempting to consider evolution by
natural selection to be yet another transformation of ancient metaphysical
ideas - even Plato, after all, has his myth of the earth-born men, and
Anaximander speaks of the scattered body parts at the beginning of time,
some of which were clumped together in arrangements better suited to
survive than others. The philosopher of science Karl Popper, with his
demanding conception of what can count as a scientific claim, noticed the
ways in which claims about a distant non-repeatable past fail to qualify,
and so deemed evolution a 'metaphysical research programme'.

This is, again, all very interesting, but politically, when it comes to
the sort of mundane issues school boards discuss, we had best bracket our
subtlety and follow Dawkins. History has taught that in this sort of
debate, subtlety will only be exploited by the other side. If we permit
ourselves to doubt, the creationists will say: look at them, they doubt,
whereas we do not, therefore, our interpretation of things must be the
more robust one, and this must be because it is true. Fundamentalists are
not swayed by subtlety.

In any case, outside of expert communities, among 'real' people,
creationists cannot complain about being a persecuted minority, since not
only are they not persecuted, but they are also not a minority. According
to a CBS News poll last month, 51 percent of Americans reject the theory
of evolution, believing instead that God created humans in their present
form. (It is at least noteworthy that the pollsters did not ask these
Americans to give reasons. In the world of polls, one person's 'beliefs'
count for as much as any other's.) And according to an August poll by the
Pew research center, 38 percent of Americans believe that creationism
should be taught instead of evolution, and not just alongside it, as the
more tactful ID-advocates claim to desire.

Let us thank God, or whomever, that polls are not immediately enacted into
law. Instead, there is a bit of a delay, and at present we have not seen
the total censure of science in American public schools. Creationism, I
add, is not just bad for science education, it's also disastrous for
poetry, philosophy, and religion itself, for it reduces all truth to
literal truth, and inculcates deafness to profounder registers. Absolutely
nothing, theologically speaking, hangs on the answer to the question of
the earth's age, or of human origins. But the Christian right, in its
betrayal of religion, has nonetheless chosen this battle. This could be to
their detriment, as it forces them to defend laughably bad arguments that
will only appear the more strained with repetition.

While there's still time, it is vital that all who abhor fundamentalism -
whether you have much interest in the intellectual question of human
origins or not - actively oppose the creationists' move for power over
curricular decisions. For what is at stake is not just an intellectual
question. If this were all it amounted to, it is safe to say the Christian
right would not be interested in it. If the fundamentalists win on this
front, a major step will have been taken towards the creation of a society
that lets vested political interests pass for truth, that allows
party-line philosophy to replace free inquiry. If the Christian right can
pull this off in the guise of a persecuted minority, it is safe to say
there will be no stopping them.

Justin Smith is a professor of philosophy and writer living in Montreal.
He can be reached at: justismi [at] alcor.concordia.ca


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

"Shallow Throat": Ratchet It Up, Take 'Em Down
by Bernard Weiner
http://www.opednews.com

"The wheels are coming off the bus," a giddy Shallow Throat said. "Now
that the Bush Administration is imploding from within, it's time for
those of us on the outside to set more political charges.

"So many who have wanted to 'get' these creeps, but who have been silent
before, are leaking damaging information about them. The Establishment
conservatives -- those who were pushed out of influence and power by the
neo-cons who hijacked our party -- are getting their message out daily:
It's OK to get rid of these Bush guys because if we don't, they'll take
us all down with them -- the party, the economy, the Constitution, the
military, the veterans, whatever's left of respect for the U.S. in the
world."

I hadn't seen Shallow Throat like this in a long, long time. The
high-ranking Bush Administration GOP mole, who previously had revealed
so much of the motivations and weaknesses from inside the White House,
just let the words come pouring out.

"In short, we're at the shores of Lake Critical Mass, my friend -- but
not quite to the Promised Land. Tell your liberal Dem colleagues to
ratchet up the pressure and join us traditional conservatives in pushing
this crew off the political cliff. If we each work our respective
constituencies with intelligence and determination, the long nightmare
will soon be over."

"But where to push the hardest?" I asked. "Where are they weakest? We
don't want to scatter-shot our energies."

DRY-ROT CAN DO WONDERS

"Their main points of weakness? Try anywhere. Their whole foundation,
built on lies and fraud and corruption and in-your-face arrogance and
bullying, has rampant dry-rot at the core. Just hit it hard, anywhere,
and more structure will fall off, by this time almost on its own."

"Good metaphor," I said, "but give us some specific guidance here.
Should we concentrate on the Iraq war? Supreme Court nominees?
Corruption? Torture? Where?"

"What I'm saying," Shallow Throat responded, "is that it's
Shadow-Cabinet time. The Dems, if they're smart, will organize their
forces accordingly. Certain Democrat Senators and Representatives should
have specific portfolios of attack. Some, those with special expertise,
should concentrate on Iraq. Some on corruption, focusing on DeLay,
Frist, Abramoff, Cheney. Some on our electoral system rife with fraud
and vote-tabulation manipulations. Some on the Constitution and abuse of
police power. Some should be shadowing Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush.
Some on the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Gonzales torture policies. Some on
following out the Scooter Libby and Niger Yellowcake chain. Some on
Alito and his way-out-of-the-mainstream ideological jurisprudence and
open conflicts of interest. Some on foreign policy, especially how the
Bush neocons are anxious to move the U.S. to war with Syria and/or Iran.

"To change metaphors, the Bush Administration is like a Great White
Shark beached right now, mostly by its own actions. In such a position,
it's extremely vulnerable, but in order to ensure that it doesn't escape
at the next HardRight tide, you've got to tie it up tightly. You've got
to organize the various teams so that everyone knows how and where to
throw the ropes over the carcass, where the nodal points of weakness are.

"If everyone's merely running around shouting and cheering, you'll just
get your ropes all tangled up and little will be accomplished, except to
make everyone temporarily feel good. We don't want to feel good, we want
to get this batch of crooks and liars and power-hungry zealots out of
the peoples' White House. Then we can set about the long process of
undoing years of Bush&Co. damage, and start the restoration process.

GOP ELITE MAKES ITS MOVE

"That's one reason why I'm suggesting that you make as many alliances as
you can, even if some of them are only tangential, with the traditional
elements of the GOP, the Establishment conservatives, the moderate
rank-and-file, those good reasonable conservatives in the Congress
worried about their chances for re-election," said ST. "Use what they're
saying about this Bush crew -- Bill Buckley, Larry Wilkerson, Colin
Powell, Brent Scowcroft, John Danforth, the leakers in the CIA, those
who published the Downing Street Memos, et al. These are not dastardly
'liberals'; these make up the backbone of traditional center-right rule.

"Those speaking out against the Busheviks are taking giant risks right
now saying what they're saying, and they need all the support they can
get. Yes, of course, they should have revealed all this stuff years ago,
but don't waste energy denouncing them for their belated courage, the
point is that they're saying it now. Use it."

"But how," I asked, "can we ensure that the Democrats will not falter,
that they are willing to take the lead in attacking the Bush
Administration consistently and frontally on all these issues?"

"Look, Bernie," said ST, "for years, your progressive friends have been
pointing out how spineless the Democrats have been in the face of Karl
Rove's mendacious assault on them and the democratic process as a whole.
But now, sensing the weaknesses and openings in the crumbling Bush&Co.
facade, they're starting to make forays, try out some political
jui-jitsu moves, rack up a few victories. In some ways, as unbelievable
as it sounds, they are starting to make noises as if they finally
understand what the word 'opposition' means. (A few already have taken
the necessary giant step: admitting they were wrong in granting Bush
authorization to take the country to war in Iraq, because the
Administration lied and misled them as they also lied and deceived the
public at large.)

"As these Democrat leaders begin to speak out -- especially Harry Reid
in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the House -- don't bad-mouth them for
their earlier timidity; praise them and encourage them for what they're
doing now. Keep your eyes on the prize: cleansing the White House of
this ruinous, reckless, incompetent crew. You can fight among yourselves
later."

"What I don't understand," I asked, "is what do you guys, you
traditional Republicans, get out of encouraging us progressive Democrats
to lead the fight in toppling the Bushies?"

RE-OPENING THE BIG CENTER

"I thought that would be self-evident," said Shallow Throat, with a
you-really-have-to-ask? look thrown my way. "We're frozen out. The Hard
Rightists, neo-con crazies and religious zealots have a total lock on
power in the Republican Party. The only way we can ever hope for our
more realistic and moderate candidates to get back into contention is to
impeach or otherwise get rid of this destructive cabal. We'd prefer to
do it ourselves but we're too weak right now. This time out, the Dems
must take the lead in bringing them down.

"After that, the Big Center is open once again -- you guys in the
center-left, we in the center-right. In a fair fight -- which means an
honest electoral system, with hand-counted paper ballots by official
poll workers -- we think we can whip your butts, but even if your side
wins, we still have a good shot the next time. Now do you get it? It's
in our self-interest -- which just happens to be what's good for the
country as a whole -- to return the federal government to the Big Center
by eliminating those who don't give a fig for democratic institutions,
except how to manipulate and distort them in the service of a tiny
sliver of the American population."

"And you're convinced that the Bushies can be taken now, that they're
that weak?" I asked.

"For sure. But with several important caveats. They may be dumb and
incompetent, but they're not politically stupid, they're still in power,
and they have few moral qualms. They see what you and I see, that
they're in free-fall right now, and that they're no longer trusted or
seen as occupying the moral/ethical high ground; they realize that
unless they take some drastic action to stop that free-fall, they're
going down -- with huge anchors tied around their necks: Iraq, Katrina,
Libby, jobs, torture, widescale corruption, the conservative
Establishment revealing even more of their mendacity and incompetence, etc.

BEWARE THE WALKING WOUNDED

"Which translates into: They will do anything, ANYTHING, to stave off
their impending loss of power. If they feel they have to totally shift
the focus, to distract the public from the Administration's self-created
woes, they will act accordingly; launch an attack on another country;
look the other way again as a large-scale terrorist attack (or public
health threat) takes place inside the United States; kick their
slime-machine into high gear against anyone who criticizes them. In
short, don't take your eyes off the Busheviks for a second; they're
wounded, cornered animals ready to do anything to strike out and escape
the political noose -- and, not incidentally, likely criminal
prosecutions down the line."

"But," I asked, "if the situation inside the Administration is so scary
for those deemed 'disloyal,' why are you risking your neck to talk to me
and get the word out to your ostensible political enemies?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The enemy for us all right now is
the Bush bunker crew holding the reins of federal political power. We
work together now to defeat them, we fight it out later in the good,
old-fashioned, civil way we've always fought. Let the best ideas win --
not the biggest lies.

"Sure, I'm frightened of what might happen to me if I were caught
talking with you. But, as I tried to emphasize in our discussion
tonight, the objective conditions are now there for taking down this
bumbling, vicious, greedy crew. Even if my own neck is at risk, at least
I'll know I'd be helping take them down with me. Not a bad bargain."

And with that, Shallow Throat, wearing a calm, big grin, vanished into
the night. I sat there sipping my Negra Modelo, feeling uplifted, warm,
hopeful. #

Bernard Weiner, co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org),
has conversed with the Shallow Throat character on numerous other
occasions ( www.crisispapers.org/weinerpubs.htm#shallow ). Formerly a
writer-editor with the San Francisco Chronicle, he has taught politics &
international relations at various universities. To comment, write >>
crisispapers [at] comcast.net <<.

Originally published by The Crisis Papers and Democratic Underground
11/8/05.

Copyright 2005 by Bernard Weiner.
www.crisispapers.org

Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has
taught at various universities, worked as a writer-editor at the San
Francisco Chronicle, and currently co-edits The Crisis Papers
(www.crisispapers.org).


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

 Flaaarrrrppp! goes Bush's butt
 merrily down the swine dark
 stream of Tex-brown sludge


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