Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 12.07.05

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     12.07.05

1. Affordable housing  12.08 2pm
2. GLBT health/dinner  12.08 3:30pm
3. Eagan peace vigil   12.08 4:30pm
4. Small is beautiful  12.08 5pm
5. Anti-war concert    12.08 6pm
6. Same sex marriage   12.08 6:30pm
7. Cavlan/health/party 12.08 6:30pm
8. Human rights/film   12.08 6:30pm StCloud MN
9. Spirit/progress     12.08 7pm

10. Protest Bush       12.09 11am
    other 12.09 events in next PC

11. MCLU          - Shop union for the holidays
12. AP            - Study: metro smoking bans haven't hurt sales
13. NY Daily News - Angry activists set to hound Hil
14. Paul Street   - Normalizing evil on the local news

--------1 of 14--------

From: Joanna Dornfeld <jdornfeld [at] mhponline.org>
Subject: Affordable housing 12.08 2pm

Show your support for dedicated affordable housing funding!

Today, 300,000 low-income Minnesota households cannot afford their
housing.  That number will grow to 330,000 by 2010! Minnesota's growth
and economic development depend on strengthening our communities with
safe, decent, affordable housing.

Dec 8, 2-4pm

Joint hearing of Senate Housing Subcommittee and House Jobs and Economic
Opportunity Committee to explore housing trust funds as potential models
to meet Minnesota's housing needs.

Room 107 of the State Capitol
(parking and directions to the Capitol are available online at
http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legdir.asp)

For more information, please contact Mike Davey, Organizing Director
Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless: 612-879-9437or
davey [at] mnhomelesscoalition.org.


--------2 of 14--------

From: David Strand <mncivil [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: GLBT health/dinner 12.08 3:30pm

GLBT Health Forum and FREE Dinner, Dec 8

I invite you to Rainbow Health Initiative's GLBT Health Forum on Thursday,
December 8, 2005.  The purpose of this forum is to create a community
around health issues facing Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people
in Minnesota.  Check out our ad on page 15 of the current edition of
Lavender.

Thursday, December 8, 2005
Minneapolis Convention Center
1301 2nd Avenue South

3:30 Planning Forum for GLBT Community Leaders: Room 206A
5:30 Reception and Exhibitors: The Seasons Dining Hall
6:00 Dinner with Speaker and Award Presentation

This year's focus is Creating an Effective Tobacco Plan for Minnesota's
GLBT Communities.  As you may know, Hennepin County adopted a smoke-free
ordinance this year along with many other counties and cities within the
state.  This is an important step toward reducing the harm tobacco causes
all of us, especially those who are GLBT.  It is known that GLBT
communities have higher smoking rates than the general population. An
estimated 440,000 people die every year from tobacco-related causes.  How
many of those people are GLBT?

Rainbow Health Initiative will also present results of a recent tobacco
project, participated in by approximately 1,700 Minnesotans.

GLBT community leaders are encouraged to participate in the strategic
planning session at 3:30, so that we may continue to make progress in
reducing the harm tobacco causes our communities.  Input is needed from as
many leaders as possible in order to be as effective as possible.  The
tobacco industry spends $26 Million a day on marketing to keep people
addicted.  While we do not have the dollars to combat this, I believe we
certainly have the brainpower.

Nationally known Keynote speaker, Scout, PhD will lead us in an
exploration of tobacco issues facing GLBT populations. Scout was
instrumental in the development of the National LGBT Tobacco Action Plan.
He was also Project Manager for The LGBT Incubation Project, exploring
innovative smoking cessation strategies and social support for GLBT
people.

In addition, a GLBT Health Advocate Award will be presented to an
individual doing remarkable work in any area of GLBT health.  Go to
www.rainbowhealth.org to nominate someone you think is doing a great job!

Exhibitor tables are also available to your organization during the forum
at no cost.  RSVP yours today!  To register for the forum and/ or reserve
an exhibitor table, contact Rainbow Health Initiative at 612.252.1222.

Antonio Cardona Project Director Strategic Tobacco Plan Rainbow Health
Initiative antoniocardona [at] rainbowhealth.org office: 612.252.1222 cell:
763.257.6365


--------3 of 14--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 12.08 4:30pm

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


--------4 of 14---------

From: Jesse Mortenson <jmortenson [at] Macalester.edu>
Subject: Small is beautiful 12.08 5pm

12.08 5pm
Cahoots coffeehouse
Selby 1/2 block east of Snelling in StPaul

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


--------5 of 14--------

From: c lalama <canyonisfamous [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Anti-war concert 12.08 6pm

DROP BEATS NOT BOMBS
An antiwar benefit show for Youth Against War and Racism
December 8, 6pm, all ages, tickets $6
Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave, Minneapolis

Hosted by: I Self Devine; Rhymesayers Entertainment
Headliner: Los Nativos; Rhymesayers Entertainment
Performances by: The C.O.R.E., Purest Form, Unknown Prophets, DJ Kool
Hanz, with spoken word by Dessa of Doomtree

Following the successful 2000-strong student walkout on November 2nd, The
"Drop Beats Not Bombs" show will mark the launch of Youth Against War and
Racism's 2006 campaign to demand area school boards pass resolutions
stopping military recruitment in schools. In between the performances,
youth activists will speak to the political issues and elaborate up-coming
campaign plans.

Come show your support for the growing anti-war and counter military
recruitment movement in Twin Cities high schools. Proceeds benefit Youth
Against War and Racism.

For more information contact: Canyon Lalama, 612-532-1959,
canyon.lalama [at] gmail.com www.yawr.org


--------6 of 14--------

From: David Strand <mncivil [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Same sex marriage 12.08 6:30pm

Together Minnesota!  It's About More Than Marriage is the current name of
the campaign to vote no on an amendment to ban same sex marriage should it
make through the legislature to the ballot next fall.  There will be a
community meeting this Thurs, Dec 8 (yes tommorrow!) in St. Paul from
6:30-8:30 see details below.

TogetherMinnesota!
It's About More than Marriage
GLBT Community Meeting
HRC, Task Force, and National Center for Transgender Equality To Speak
December 8, 6:30-8:30pm

Dr. Martin Luther King Center
270 Kent Street, St. Paul
651-224-4601

TogetherMinnesota! welcomes guests, Mara Keisling, Executive Director of
the National Center for Transgender Equality; Dave Noble, Political
Director with the Task Force-Washington D.C.; and Bo Shuff, National HRC
Staff-Washington, D.C. to a community meeting in St Paul.
TogetherMinnesota! and their guests will share insights and thoughts on
Minnesota's upcoming legislative battle, as well as other important
information about what's happening nationally for GLBT rights.

In addition, TogetherMinnesota! will give an overview of the rally that
was held in opposition to the Minnesota Family Council's recent "Pastor's
Summit" on marriage. Whether you want to be actively involved or simply
want to know more about what is happening for GLBT people, this is THE
meeting to attend!


--------7 of 14--------

From: Gerry D'Amour <g [at] hjd.com>
Subject: Cavlan/health/party 12.08 6:30pm

MIKE CAVLAN FOR US SENATE

Green Party US Senate Candidate Mike Cavlan
Will Give a Major Health Care Address to Hospital Professionals

7:30pm Thursday December 8
Black Dog Coffee Cafe, Lowertown, St. Paul
Corner of Broadway and 4th St.

Michael's Health Care Vision includes:  Hospitals run by health
professionals, Patient Acuity, End of for Profit Corporate Medicine,
Single Payer Universal Access, the protection of health professionals
income and a good work environment.

A party, styled as a fund raising house party will run from 6:30-9pm

The Committee to Elect Michael Cavlan
P.O.Box 14208, St. Paul. MN 55114-0208
www.cavlan.org
Press Contact Gerry D'Amour Tel.612-817-4205


--------8 of 14---------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Human rights/film 12.08 6:30pm StCloud MN

December 8 - Human Rights Day Observance.  6:30-8:30pm.
Screening: This Is My Home
A Challenging and Inspirational Documentary on Minnesota Youth.

Spend some time in the lives of young people -- who share about the gifts
and dreams they have, the ways in which individuals and systems in their
lives disrespect and threaten those gifts and dreams, and the journey of
facing such obstacles helping to create a community in which cultural
differences are valued, not divisive. Allow their tragedies and triumphs
to trigger reflection on the hopes that you have, the challenges that you
experience, and the ability that you have to contribute to such a
community.

This is My Home campaign provides opportunities for students, families,
community members, educators, and school staff to work together in new
ways and on new projects that promote justice in and through education.
This is My Home is the most comprehensive program available that
illustrates simple and innovative ways to include human rights education
that will contribute immensely to the educational, cultural and social
development of students and the communities which they live.

Comments and Discussion with Youth, Advocates and Educators after the
video.

ASL Interpretation provided. Other accommodations provided upon advance
request.

Location: City Council Chambers, St. Cloud City Hall, 400 2nd Street S.,
St. Cloud, MN

For further or specific information contact: Baba Odukale, St. Cloud Human
Rights Office at 320-650-3133 or baba.odukale [at] ci.stcloud.mn.us


--------9 of 14--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Spirit/progress 12.08 7pm

Thursday, 12/8, 7 pm, monthly meeting Network of Spiritual Progressives,
White Bear Unitarian-Universalist Church, 328 Maple St, Mahtomedi.  FFI:
ntorbett [at] burningmail.com


--------10 of 14--------

From: anonymous
Subject: Protest Bush 12.09 11am

Confront George W. Bush the deceitful commander in chief of the
blood-drenched Iraq quagmire!

Friday, 12/9, 11am to 12:30pm in front of the Hilton Hotel, 1001 Marquette
Avenue South, in downtown Minneapolis.

Bush is joining robotic Republican hawk Mark Kennedy for a $1,000-a-plate
luncheon and for $10,000 contributors can get a picture taken with Bush.

A solid majority of Americans believe that we were misled into war - that
the war is not sustainable and not worth the slaughter and maiming of
thousands of American G.I.'s and tens of thousands of Iraqis.  If
Americans could see the carnage in Iraq the way television viewers saw the
agony of New orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - if they could
see the men, women and children who have been butchered or permanently
paralyzed, horribly burned or blinded, this war would be over.

Join with us in demanding an end to the insurgency-fueling U.S. occupation
of Iraq.

[Several peace groups are worried about their tax-exempt 501c3 status, and
so have backed away from co-sponsorship. So I won't list any. For more
info, call your favorite group.

I myself prefer to give money to groups with NO tax exemptions, able to
engage in full-bodied virile political opposition and advocacy. If we want
to take the country back from BushCo and the corps, we have to be prepared
to pay for it without tax breaks -ed]

--
From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>

Rep. Kennedy's U.S. Senate aspirations get Bush's attention
Patricia Lopez, Star Tribune
November 15, 2005

President Bush is expected to return to Minnesota on Dec. 9 to raise money
for Rep. Mark Kennedy's U.S. Senate bid.

The $1,000-a-plate luncheon will be held at the Minneapolis Hilton,
according to invitations that are filtering among well-placed Republicans.
For a $10,000 donation, contributors can get a picture taken with Bush.

Former U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz will serve as the event's chairman and
said Monday that "the president is a great fundraiser and a great draw.
We're pleased to have him here." Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Norm Coleman and
Republican members of the state's congressional delegation are cohosts.

Heidi Fredrickson, Kennedy's campaign press secretary, declined comment on
the event.

Kennedy, who represents the Sixth Congressional District, has no viable
Republican opponent, but he is expected to face a tough race for the seat
being vacated by U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton. Hennepin County Attorney Amy
Klobuchar and child advocate Patty Wetterling are vying for the DFL
endorsement, along with veterinarian Ford Bell.

Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carlton College in
Northfield, said that while Bush's popularity has dipped to an all-time
low, he remains a formidable fundraiser and a reliable draw for Republican
donors.

"Certainly he's going through the roughest patch of his presidency,"
Schier said, "but he still can raise a ton of money, so it's still a coup
to get him to a fundraiser."

A CNN-Gallup poll released Monday showed Bush's approval rating at 37
percent, with 60 percent disapproving of the way he is handling his job.
In the poll, 56 percent of registered voters nationwide said they would be
likely to vote against a local candidate supported by Bush, while 34
percent said the opposite.

Larry Jacobs, director of the Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of
Politics and Governance, said the visit may prove problematic for Kennedy.

"To have an unpopular president as his public face in a purple
[competitive] state like Minnesota may be risky for Kennedy," Jacobs said.
Voters less than enthralled with Bush may forget over the next year, he
said, "but the question is whether the Democrats will allow them to
forget."

On the other hand, he said, Kennedy "is already closely aligned with Bush,
so he might as well take advantage of it." Jacobs said Kennedy may pursue
a strategy in which he takes advantage of the president's prodigious
fundraising abilities while separating himself from the administration on
certain votes. "He needs some way of communicating to voters that he's not
the president's boy," Jacobs said.

Bush last visited Minnesota in June, when he kicked off a nationwide
effort to promote the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Patricia Lopez ⤢ 651-222-1288


--------11 of 14--------

From: Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council <kyle [at] mplscluc.com>
Subject: Shop Union for the Holidays

Brothers and Sisters,
You can show your solidarity this holiday season by shopping Union!

Visit the Union Shop Online and check out great ideas for holiday gifts.
It's at http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/jdzRu1Y1Gu5c/.

Looking for something specific and want to find one that's Union Made in
the USA? Check out www.shopunionmade.org to find everything from baseball
bats to cars

Locally in the Twin Cities, check out these great Union shops. Click on
the name to be directed to their websites.

Northland Poster Collective, www.northlandposter.com . "Labor's Art Shop"
has great union posters, T-shirts, coffee mugs, calendars, solidarity
holiday cards, and much more. Check out their great website!

Bookstore of the Americas, www.americas.org , has their annual "Fair Trade
Shopportunity" now through Dec. 30. Get beautiful handmade (and fairly
traded) crafts, fair trade coffee, and great books. And the bookstore is a
union shop! Stop in M-F 10:00 - 8:00 or Sat 10:00 - 5:00 at 3019 Minnehaha
Ave South in Minneapolis.

Union House (All American Imprints) www.unionhouse.com , is just north of
the metro area in Wyoming, MN, and you can get high-quality, Union Made in
the USA apparel on their website as well. Men's work clothes, blue jeans,
jackets, golf shirts, even underwear! They also do custom screen printing
and embroidery. You can order on their website or by calling 651-462-7710.

Twin Cities Union Restaurants and Hotels, www.here17.org . Going out to
dinner? How about a gift certificate? UNITE HERE Local #17 has a list of
all thier union shops, including famous spots like Murray's Cafe, Jax
Cafe, Mancini's, Pazzaluna, or (my personal favorite) Red's Savoy Pizza.
Check out UNITE HERE #17's website for a complete list of Twin Cities
Union Shops.

Best wishes from the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council this Holiday
Season!

P.S. Lots of people you know want to shop union-made-in-the-USA this
holiday season. Forward this e-mail to a friend and share The Union Shop
Online with them.

Visit The Union Shop:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/m1zRu1Y1Gu54/


--------12 of 14--------

From: AP
Subject: [Mpls] Study: Metro Smoking Bans Haven't Hurt Sales

AP) St. Paul Despite fears that a patchwork of smoking restrictions would
devastate the metro area's bar and restaurant industry, a newspaper
analysis shows overall industry sales in the area increased in the second
quarter of 2005.

In cities and counties with the smoking bans, the St. Paul Pioneer Press
analysis of taxable sales reported to the state Revenue Department found
no significant decline in food and liquor sales.

Destinations including downtown Minneapolis, Uptown, Dinkytown and parts
of St. Paul did better after the bans went into effect than they did the
year before.

And despite claims of widespread bar and restaurant closures in
Minneapolis, there now are more liquor establishments there than there
were before the ban went into effect March 31. With more than 670
establishments selling liquor in Minneapolis, 11 closed and 14 have
opened, according to the city's division of licenses and consumer
services.

It appears the industry is not losing its customers.

"It's what we hoped would happen," said St. Paul Council Member Dave
Thune, who is pushing to toughen St. Paul's restrictions and said he will
lobby for a statewide law.

"It's way more expensive to have people in the hospital with emphysema and
off of work and suffering from lung cancer," he said.

Ahmed Abdelaal, an adjunct marketing professor at the University of St.
Thomas, said the numbers mirror what's happened in other cities with
smoking bans. "I'm not surprised," Abdelaal said. "If we take New York as
a model, it did not affect sales."

But some places were affected. Several Hennepin County suburbs saw their
bar and restaurant sales slow or decline in 2005, especially the Maple
Grove area. Sales in other Hennepin County areas increased.

Tom Day, vice president for government affairs for Hospitality Minnesota,
said the smoking ban, coupled with an increase in the minimum wage, has
affected the industry beyond the normal ebb and flow of business.

"The restaurant industry is a volatile industry," Day acknowledged. "The
problem is, there are some prominent, successful businesses that we see
closing."

Some people claim the Hennepin County ban has forced some restaurant and
bar workers out of jobs. But in the six months after the ban took effect,
hospitality industry employees filed fewer unemployment claims than in the
same period last year, according to the state Department of Employment and
Economic Development. And in Washington and Anoka counties, where there
are no smoking restrictions, the number of jobless claims increased over a
year ago.

Jim Farrell, executive director of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage
Association, said bars and nightclubs could be hurting, even if the
restaurant industry thrives.

Mike Jennings, owner of Rosen's City Tavern near the Target Center, fears
that once patrons walk outside to smoke, they may not come back.

"Now they walk outside, and their barstool and their car door are equal
distances away. And it could go either way," Jennings said.

The Minneapolis Hospitality Association said that compared with last year,
revenue from charitable gambling such as pull tabs declined nearly $3.5
million in Minneapolis in the five months after the ban. President Carol
Lynn Miller said that indicates people aren't going to bars anymore.

Dan O'Gara, owner of the St. Paul bar and music venue O'Gara's Bar and
Grill, said he's benefited from the Hennepin County ban because he allows
smoking. But he worries he will lose customers if St. Paul goes
smoke-free. He said neighborhood bars would be devastated.

"The blue-collar, working man's bar, which is a big thing in the Twin
Cities, is probably going to be a thing of the past if this continues,"
O'Gara said.

A St. Paul ban, which has the support of a majority on the City Council
and mayor-elect Chris Coleman, would likely take effect March 31, 2006. If
that happens, Thune said he wants to help neighborhood bars.

"The smaller, older bars fare the worst, I would suspect," Thune said.
"The little neighborhood bar, we want to make sure that they stay healthy.
We want to talk about how we can put some kind of package together to help
them."

---
From: Ed Caffrey <eacaffrey [at] comcast.net>
To: stpaul-issues [at] forums.e-democracy.org

I think what is really apparent is that the Pioneer Press finally feels
free of the shackles of city politics and is able to not only write but
actually publish a column that honestly shows that the effects on the
bar/restaurant/hospitality industry has been negligible despite the
warnings from opponents of the ban. The overwhelming preponderance of
research and evidence shows that there are significant harmful health
effect of secondhand smoke on not only bar/restaurant patrons but on the
employees forced into working in such conditions.  Is is a good thing for
a citywide paper to be able to write such a column without political
pressure to stuff it in the drawer.

---
From: Jeanne Weigum <jw [at] ansrmn.org>

You may have missed it, but MPR did an analysis of actual employement
figures in Hennepin county.  They used numbers rather than anecdotes.
The bar folks have repeatedly said there have been 2000 jobs lost in
Hennepin county.  MPR did the real math.  drum roll please....  18 jobs
lost in Hennepin County.  That number is vastly fewer than those lost in
surrounding counties without smoking restrictions.


--------13 of 14--------

NY Daily News - Dec 6, 2005
Angry activists set to hound Hil
http://nydailynews.com/front/v-pfriendly/story/372195p-316484c.html

WASHINGTON - Anti-war activists furious with Sen. Hillary Clinton are
vowing to bird-dog her everywhere she goes, starting with a swanky
Manhattan fund-raiser tonight.

Clinton's letter last week clarifying her position on Iraq - which
included rejecting a timetable for withdrawal - fanned the anger of some
war opponents, who decided to launch a campaign against New York's junior
senator.

"We're calling it Bird-Dog Hillary," said Medea Benjamin of the peace
group Codepink.

"I'm so mad at her," said Nancy Kricorian, Codepink's New York City
coordinator. "We will dog her wherever she goes."

Kricorian's group and several others plan to show up tonight at Crobar in
Manhattan, where former President Bill Clinton is the top draw at a
fund-raiser for his wife.

The idea is to have protesters tail the senator around the state and the
country in hopes of persuading her to oppose the war.

Protesters from the group interrupted a Clinton speech Saturday in Chicago
and an unrelated group demonstrated at her appearance Friday at a
Democratic fund-raiser in Kentucky.

Codepink is also organizing a bigger rally for Dec. 20, when Clinton heads
to San Francisco for a bar association benefit and an interview session
with Jane Pauley.

Although she criticized President Bush's handling of the war in her
letter, her no-timetable stance particularly peeved the activists.

"Stop waffling, and let's work on bringing the troops home," said Bill
Dobbs of United for Peace. Dobbs and Benjamin predicted Clinton or any
Democrat would lose a White House bid in 2008 if they run on a pro-war
platform.

Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said Clinton has little to fear from
anti-war activists, as long as she looks deliberative. "The right wing and
the left wing both want to move her to the left. She can't let them do
that," Sheinkopf said.

Clinton's office stood by her letter yesterday.

"In her letter, Senator Clinton laid out a thoughtful explanation to her
constituents of her position on Iraq," said spokesman Philippe Reines.


--------14 of 14--------

Normalizing Evil on the Local News
by Paul Street
 December 07, 2005
 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=9276

Watching the Ten O'Clock News from Rockford, Illinois a few nights ago, I
learned about the death of Andrew Patten.  A graduate of the public high
school in nearby Byron, Illinois, Patten is one of ten United States
Marines killed by an anti-occupation bomb last Friday in Fallujah, Iraq.

The story on Channel 17-WTVO - Rockford's ABC affiliate - was quick and to
the point.  Patten enlisted three months after graduation. He was 19 years
old.  Now he's dead, felled by mysterious Iraqi "insurgents" in a region
that U.S. commanders claimed was "under control."

Viewers heard from one of Andrew's former classmates, a cheerleader who
was interviewed during a break in a basketball game.  We also heard from
Andrew's high school wrestling coach.

Both of the interview subjects agreed that Andrew's death was tragic. But
the tone of their comments was rather upbeat.  Andrew's demise, they
seemed to feel, was an almost positive event.  Andrew died, both observed,
selflessly trying "to do something good for his country."

The cheerleader was "proud to have known Andrew."  The coach looked
pleased describing Andrew as "a fallen hero."

The story was over and it was time to move on.  WTVO didn't miss a beat.
The anchorman's face went from stern solemnity to holiday cheer as he
delivered a quick and happy piece on a Christmas parade in nearby Rockton,
Illinois.

After a series of commercials that included an advertisement directing us
to a local shopping mall "for all the stuff you love," a syndicated "news"
reporter gave us tips on "how to cut your holiday gift costs."

Did you know that "the average couple" spends $1500 on Christmas presents
each year?  The presenter of this sobering information advised us to
reduce our seasonal expenditures by "doing what Santa does: make your list
and check it twice."

There was nothing especially unusual in the way young Andrew Patten's
tragic death was handled on WTVO-17.  The station followed the standard
local TV modus operandi on local troop deaths in Iraq: brief sound clips
from high-school friends and teachers on the fallen champion's patriotic
sacrifice and on to the next story, some commercials, and the sports.
The interview are used to put a positive, patriotic spin on the Bush
administration's reprehensible murder of yet another young, well-meaning
American in occupied Mesopotamia.

It's bad enough that Bush's monumentally illegal, immoral, and brazenly
imperialist occupation of Iraq is actually quite bad for Andrew's country,
not to mention the Iraqis and the cause of global peace.  This miserable,
mass-murderous conflict drains tens of billions of dollars from
desperately needed domestic programs.  It is helping fuel the nation's
skyrocketing fiscal and trade deficits.  It is encouraging extremist
Islamic terrorism, worsening America's terrible image abroad, and further
de-stabilizing a region of critical strategic significance in the world
economic and state system.

But the really despicable thing is the way local television news makes the
maddening loss of American life in the criminal war on Iraq into a
routine, acceptable, and practically banal fact of daily experience.

Local news authorities should be pressured to stop normalizing an unjust
and disastrous war that exploits noble love of country to satisfy the
failing imperial ambitions of the Bush-Cheney White House. It is
unacceptable for broadcasters to fold the deaths of Andrew and other dead
GIs into the regular and unremarkable register of the commercialized
quotidian.

Many young Americans would like "to do something good for their country."
They deserve a better outlet for that patriotic ambition than
participation in an illegitimate war that most of the American populace
now opposes even as dominant media continues to hide the full story of why
that war was launched and how it is being fought.

Americans deserve better from their nation's supposedly free and
independent media.  That media is supposed to help the citizenry protect
itself from high state deception, not actively participate in the
propagation of deadly imperial lies by supporting the banalization of evil
and the related pseudo-patriotic normalization of unnecessary overseas
death.

Paul Street (pstreet [at] niu.edu) is a Visiting Professor in U.S. History at
Northern Illinois University.  He is the author of Empire and Inequality:
America and the World Since 9/11 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2004,
order at www.paradigmpublishers.com); Segregated Schools: Race, Class, and
Educational Apartheid in the Post-Civil Rights Era (New York, NY:
Routledge:2005); and Still Separate, Unequal: Race, Place, Policy, and the
State of Black Chicago (Chicago, IL: 2005


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