Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 12.15.05

[David Shove (shove001]

           P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R       12.15.05

1. General College    12.15 9:30am
2. Vote pad demo      12.15 12noon
3. Eagan peace vigil  12.15 4:30pm
4. Small is beautiful 12.15 5pm
5. Homeless march     12.15 5pm
6. MN energy future   12.15 6:30pm
7. Peace/carol        12.15 6:30pm Stillwater
8. Education summit   12.15 6:30pm
9. NWA strike         12.15 6:30pm
10. Health ins/Kip    12.15 7pm Northfield
11. Palestine         12.15 7pm

12. Counter recruit   12.15 12noon
13. ACLU open house   12.16 12noon Bemidji
14. Palestine vigil   12.16 4:15pm
15. Northern Sun bash 12.16 6pm
16. Vets/peace/party  12.16 6pm
17. McCarthy on TPT   12.16 7pm
18. Mideast lit/food  12.16 7:30pm

19. Haiti justice     12.17 9am
20. McCarthy/film     12.17 12noon
21. US out now        12.17 1pm
22. Northtown vigil   12.17 1pm

23. Watson/Jones  - Bob Barr says military dictatorship close
24. Myers et al   - Is the Pentagon spying on Americans?
25. Stephen Pizzo - The 'retreat and defeat' Dems

--------1 of 25--------

From: madeline [at] riseup.net
Subject: General College 12.15 9:30am

Stop the Dismantling of General College!

On Thursday, December 15, the Equal Access Coalition will hold a teach-in,
forum and rally in response to the University of Minnesota administrations
plans for General College.

Contrary to the Administration's claims that they want only to improve
upon what the General College does, the administration is proposing to cut
the number of entering students from 875 to 475 and to make it a one-year
instead of a two-year program.  The administration has designated a month
of public comment on its plans that begins in mid-December.  We invite you
to participate in the events on December 15 at the center of which will be
high school students, those most immediately affected by the
administration's plans.

The teach-in, which begins at 9:30, will include a film on the role of
high school students in the civil rights movement and presentations on the
historical and global significance of the struggle to maintain General
College.  The forum, which begins at 11:00 and preceded by musical
performances is the opportunity for all participants to voice their stance
on how best to defend the General College mission.  Participants will
then, beginning at noon, rally in front of Morrill Hall to express their
collective support for General College.

The teach-in and forum will be held in Coffman Memorial Union Theatre on
the East Bank of the campus.  For more information and/or to make a
donation please visit:
www.webegc.org/Equal_Access_Coalition.htm

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

A very important event is coming up this Thursday.  As Youth Against War
and Racism struggles against the military's strategy to take advantage of
young people's lack of hope and direction, enticing them with financial
incentives to fight in a war, others are engaged in the same struggle from
a different angle, to inspire hope and give direction.

On Dec. 15th, university students/faculty/staff, community members and
high school students will hold a teach-in and rally against the
dismantling of General College (a program at the U that gave access to
mainly urban youth and youth of color who showed promise but who had
lacked the means to meet the standards of university admissions) and for
the building of a fighting movement that will make a university education
accessible to all young people of Minnesota, which was the original "aim"
of the land-grant institution known as the University of Minnesota.

It's time to reverse the University Adminstration's path to a
"prestigious" university, one which would bar low-income youth by hiking
tuition up even further.  We must realize that the struggle against
military recruitment in schools and against the war is inextricably bound
to the struggle for access to higher education and decent jobs.

Against War!  Against Military Recruitment!  For a Decent Future for Young
People!  Stop the Dismantling of General College!  Lower Tuition!  Make
the University Accessible to All!


--------2 of 25--------

From: Darrell Gerber <darrellgerber [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Vote pad demo 12.15 12noon

The Minnesota Disability Law Center would like to invite you and your
consumers for the opportunity to use a new accessible voting equipment
called the Vote Pad.  We, along with Citizens for Election Integrity
Minnesota, will be hosting a mock election on Thursday December 15, from
12noon-6:pm in room 200 at the State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard., Saint Paul, MN.

The Vote Pad is a non-electronic paper assistive device that allows the
voter to mark directly on the ballot.  A ballot is placed in a sleeve with
holes which aligns with the marking positions of the ballot.  Each hole
has a corresponding bump that helps the voter mark the correct choice.  
Once the ballot is in place, a tape recorder or Braille instructions can
be used to guide the voter through the ballot.  The voter can adjust the
tape as needed.  The voter can also verify the ballot once it is completed
by using a review wand to make sure each choice was marked correctly.

Please join us for this important event.  Your feedback is needed so that
county officials and the Secretary of State will know whether this
equipment is the right one to use for future elections.  Your opinion is
vitally important in the progress towards independent and private voting
for people with disabilities.  If you have any questions about the mock
election, give me a call and I will be happy to address your concerns.

Mai Thor, 612-746-3716


--------3 of 25---------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 12.15 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 25--------

From: Jesse Mortenson <jmortenson [at] Macalester.edu>
Subject: Small is beautiful 12.15 5pm

12.15 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 25--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Homeless march 12.15 5pm

Thursday, 12/15, 5 pm, annual Homeless Memorial March and silent vigil
from Hennepin Govt Center, 3rd Ave & 5th St. westward to Nicollet, then
down Nicollet to 28th.  6:30 Service of Remembrance at Simpson United
Methodist, 2740 1st Ave. S, Mpls.  7:30 community meal on lower level of
Simpson Church.  www.simpsonhousing.org


--------6 of 25-------

From: Cesia Kearns <cesia.kearns [at] sierraclub.org>
Subject: MN energy future 12.15 6:30pm

MINNESOTA'S ENERGY FUTURE-CLEAN OR DIRTY?
DECEMBER 15, 6:30-8pm
Eden Prairie Library, 565 Prairie Center Dr. Eden Prairie, MN 55344

Enjoy a two part presentation on dirty coal plants and clean renewable
energy alternatives, by Michael Brakke, Co-Chair of the Sierra Club North
Star Chapter Clean Air and Renewable Energy Committee, and J. Drake
Hamilton, the Science Policy Director of Minnesotans for an Energy
Efficient Economy.  Learn about the past, present, and future of
Minnesota's energy, and how you can be part of embracing cleaner
alternatives.

For questions about this event or more info on energy issues, contact
Cesia Kearns at 612-659-9124 or email cesia.kearns [at] sierraclub.org

Event sponsored by Friends of the Birch Island Woods and the Sierra Club
North Star Chapter.


--------7 of 25--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Peace/carol 12.15 6:30pm Stillwater

Thursday, 12/15, 6:30pm, St. Croix Valley Peacemakers do
Christmas/holiday singing, beginning at Stillwater bridge, continuing
Coop, Valley booksellers, Dreamcoat cafe, etc. FFI: Scott at
earthmannow [at] comcast.net or 651-430-9111.


--------8 of 25--------

From: Anne Carroll <carrfran [at] qwest.net>
Subject: Education summit 12.15 6:30pm

The West Side community is working with Humboldt Junior and Senior High
Schools on the schools' strategic plans, and they are hosting an Education
Summit for students, parents, staff, residents and community groups to
discuss this on Thursday evening, Dec. 15, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the
Humboldt Senior High Auditorium.

Their flier reads, in part: The Humboldt schools are positioning ourselves
for future growth by engaging in a three-part strategic effort:  re-align
the schools schedules and programs to better serve students, dramatically
improve the physical appearance of the entire campus, and educate the
community about the positive aspects of our schools.


--------9 of 25-------

From: Solidarity Committee <nwasolidaritymsp [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: NWA strike 12.15 6:30pm

Please join the Twin Cities Northwest Workers Solidarity Committee and
members of AMFA in leafleting the Guthrie Theater's production of "A
Christmas Carol" on Thursday evening, December 15.  NWA CEO Steenland sits
on the Guthrie board of directors and we want to let theater patrons know
who he is and how his presence on their board makes us feel.

Let's meet at 6:30PM (curtain is 7:30PM) in the Conservatory which is just
across from the front entrance of the Guthrie.

The Gurthrie Theater is located at 725 Vineland Place in Minneapolis's
Loring Park Neighborhood, immediately West of the Walker Art Center.  The
facility is just west of the confluence of Lyndale and Hennepin Avenues,
off of the Oak Grove/Hennepin intersection.  Parking is available both
on-street and in the Walker Art Center garage.

Questions, call Peter at 651-696-6371.


--------10 of 25-------

From: Janet & Bill McGrath <mcgrath1 [at] rconnect.com>
Subject: Health insurance/Kip 12.15 7pm Northfield

Cost of health insurance is hurting people and businesses. Meanwhile some
insurance and pharmaceutical companies are paying their CEOs more than
$100 million a year. Kip Sullivan, health care analyst from the Twin
Cities, will explain single-pay health care alternatives at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 15, at 313 1/2 Division Street in downtown Northfield.
(507) 645-7660.


--------11 of 25--------

From: Joe Schwartzberg <schwa004 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Palestine 12.15 7pm

THIRD THURSDAY GLOBAL ISSUES FORUM

Thursday, December 15, 7-9pm
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis
(at Lyndale & Hennepin). Free parking in church parking lot.

Free and open to the public.

Topic: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ROAD MAP TO PEACE IN ISRAEL - PALESTINE? This
presentation will consider the "Roadmap" and other formulas for a
two-state solution and describe recent changes in conditions on the ground
in Gaza and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as settlements expand
and the "separation barrier" continues to cut through Palestine. It will
also point out hopeful signs: collaboration between Palestinians and
Israelis, the many groups working for a just peace, and a growing
willingness to learn nonviolent resistance strategies.  Finally, it will
consider the mixed, but largely negative, role of the US.  To facilitate
future study a list of print and Internet resources will be distributed.

Presenter: SR. FLORENCE STEICHEN.
A native of Minneapolis and a Sister of St. Joseph, Florence was registrar
of Bethlehem University 1987-1992, during the first Intifada when the
University was closed by the Israeli military for nearly three years. She
returned to Palestine and Israel   in 1995, 1998, 2000, and 2004 to lead
groups and visit.  She speaks, writes and lobbies on the Palestinian-
Israeli conflict. Florence has a Masters of Theology degree from Notre
Dame University, has worked as a mediator, and has taught at the secondary
and college levels for about twenty-five years.


--------12 of 25--------

From: sarah standefer <scsrn [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Counter recruit 12.15 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


--------13 of 25--------

From: audrey thayer <athayer [at] paulbunyan.net>
Subject: ACLU open house 12.16 12noon Bemidji

You're Invited to...
The Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project
ACLU-MN

Holiday Open House

Friday December 16
~noon to 6:00 p.m.~
~at our office~

303 Railroad Street
Bemidji, MN 56601
218-444-2285


--------14 of 25--------

From: peace 2u <tkanous [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Palestine vigil 12.16 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.


--------15 of 25--------

From: Scott Cramer <scott [at] northernsun.com>
Subject: Northern Sun bash 12.16 6pm

Northern Sun Merchandising Annual Holiday Celebration
Can you say Party?
Fri Dec 16  6-8 pm
2916 E Lake St, Mpls,
great food, conversations, music, chair massage
our way of saying thanks to the progressive community.

[Great food and lots of it! Come extremely hungry! - ed]


--------16 of 25--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Vets/peace/party 12.16 6pm

Friday, 12/16, 6 to 10 pm, Veterans for Peace annual Christmas party
(potluck, music, dancing), St. Martin's Table, 2001 Riverside Ave, Mpls.
FFI 612-821-9141.  (all invited)


--------17 of 25--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: McCarthy on TPT 12.16 7pm

FRI DEC 16-Sun DEC 18: Film about Eugene McCarty on TPT

Friday's live 7:00-8:00 p.m. "Almanac" on tpt-2 will also show clips of it
along with tpt archival film of the Senator. "Almanac" repeats overnight
at 1:00 a.m., Saturday on tpt-17 at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday on tpt-2 at
10:30 a.m.

Mike Hazard's "Eugene McCarthy: I'm Sorry I Was Right," clips of which
we've seen on various TV reports this week, can also be seen Sunday, 12/18
on tpt-2 at 12:30-1:00 p.m. and 10:00-10:30 p.m., with an overnight repeat
at 4:00-4:30 a.m.


--------18 of 25--------

From: mizna-announce <mizna-announce [at] mizna.org>
Subject: Mideast lit/food 12.16 7:30pm

"Mideast in the Midwest" Literary Event
Friday, December 16
7:30pm
The Loft, at Open Book
1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis
(612) 215-2575
Cost: $5 includes refreshments

Mizna is holding our final 2006 "Mideast in the Midwest" community artist
gathering. Join us on December 16th at 7:30 p.m. as we feature local and
national writers showing their creative work and reading from the latest
issue of the journal.

Writers include Taous Khazem performing part of her one woman show, Angele
Ellis joining us from Pennsylvania, and local writers Amy Levine and
Kathryn Kysar reading their contributions to the journal. Other surprises
to follow!

Visit our website for information:  http://www.mizna.org or email us at
Mizna [at] Mizna.org


---------19 of 25-------

From: Rebecca Cramer <biego001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Haiti justice 12.17 9am

The Haiti Justice Committee meets monthly, at 9am on the third Saturday,
at the Resource Center of the Americas (27th Ave. S. and E. Lake St.), in
the Ben Linder room.


--------20 of 25-------

From: Adam Sekuler <adam [at] mnfilmarts.org>
Subject: McCarthy/film 12.17 12noon

Eugene McCarthy: I'm Sorry I Was Right
Dec 17 & Dec 18 @ Noon

One of Minnesota's most prominent political figures, Eugene McCarthy,
passed away Saturday. Only once did someone actually finish a film on
McCarthy. That honor goes to Mike Hazard, who spent five years making his
film, "Eugene McCarthy: I'm Sorry I was Right." Minnesota Film Arts honors
McCarthy¹s passing by screening Hazard's film. Featuring the music by
Butch Thompson, Dean Magraw, Xeng Sue Yang, Pete Seeger, Eubie Blake and
Bob Dylan, "Eugene McCarthy: I'm Sorry I was Right" is a half-hour
portrait following the career of the former Senator from Minnesota and
noting his accomplishments with rare archival footage and scenes shot on
location from his birthplace in Watkins, Minnesota to his final home in
Woodville, Virginia.

The film will screen with Hazard's "The Magic Green School Bus: Paul
Wellstone". Wellstone, whose political career somewhat mirrored that of
McCarthy, long considered McCarthy a hero. Hazard created "The Magic Green
School Bus" with a class of fourth, fifth and sixth grade students at Lake
Country Montessori School in Minneapolis.

The Bell Auditorium is the nation¹s only dedicated year-round non-fiction
film screen. It is located at 10 Church Street SE in Minneapolis inside
the Bell Museum of Natural History. More information can be found at
www.mnfilmarts.org/bell or by calling 612.331.7563


--------21 of 25--------

From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: US out now 12.17 1pm

Stop the U.S. War in Iraq!  U.S. Troops OUT NOW!

Saturday, December 17, 1:00 p.m. Library Plaza, Hennepin and Lagoon
Avenues, Uptown, Minneapolis. As the holiday season approaches, the
celebrations of peace are overshadowed by the continuing U.S. war in Iraq.
More than 100,000 Iraqis have died as well as over 2,100 U.S. military
personnel. Join an anti-war presence during one of the busiest shopping
days of the year in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. FFI: Call WAMM
at 612-827-5364. Sponsored by: Iraq Peace Action Coalition.


--------22 of 25--------

From: Lennie <major18 [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Northtown vigil 12.17 1pm

We will now be peace vigiling EVERY SATURDAY from 1-2pm at the at the
southeast corner of the intersection of Co. Hwy 10 and University Ave NE
in Blaine, which is the northwest most corner of the Northtown Mall area.

We'll have extra signs.  Communities situated near the Northtown Mall
include: Blaine, Mounds View, New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden
Hills, Spring Lake Park, Fridley, and Coon Rapids.

For further information, email major18 [at] comcast.net or call Lennie at
763-717-9168


--------23 of 25--------

Republican Congressman Says Totalitarian Regime a Danger
Bob Barr says military dictatorship close
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | December 11 2005

Former Republican Congressman and CIA official Bob Barr says that there is
a danger recent developments describe a trend of America slipping into a
totalitarian society and that the Bush administration are doing everything
in their power to see that this happens.

During a radio interview with host Alex Jones, Barr outlined where the
country is heading.

"Basically, as long as you smile when you demand to see somebody's ID at
gunpoint sitting on a bus I guess it's OK for the government, that's sort
of the way they operate. It can be a totalitarian type regime."

"I think it's a real danger where we have the military becoming involved
in all sorts of domestic matters and we have the government being able to
seize very private personal records on people without any suspicion that
they've done anything wrong. This is a dramatic turn of events that has
accelerated greatly since 9/11."

Barr made comments very similar to those of current Republican Congressman
Ron Paul in stating that natural disasters could be used by the government
as a pretext to abolish posse comitatus.

"If we have the military involved whenever there's a windstorm, rain or
tornado then what we are doing is that we are undermining the entire basis
on what our constitutional representative democratic form of government
was founded."

Barr said that legislation like the Patriot Act and its imminent
re-authorization and expansion were more of a threat to the American way
of life than any terrorist attack.

"Even when the leaders in Washington say we're not going to let the
terrorists change our way of life, they are implementing policies that do
precisely that."

Barr elaborated that the manipulation of fear was a key cornerstone in the
government's coup de 'tat on constitutional liberties.

"They're using people's fear of another terrorist attack to move forward
with various government programs that the government has wanted to gather
and put in place for many many years. They're using the fear which is now
driving public policy in this country which is very unfortunate and very
un-American. Our leaders are shamelessly playing on that fear to implement
and grab power."

Speaking on the topic of the second amendment, Barr said that his position
as a board member on the NRA enabled him to judge the difference between
how the Clinton and Bush administration's approached the issue. Barr
echoed the sentiments of many other prominent conservatives in expressing
his frustration about how the Bush administration was even more
anti-second amendment than the Clinton office.

"it's my impression to be honest with you, and this is confirmed by a lot
of folks who are involved very heavily in regulatory matters involving
firearms, that it is more difficult dealing with this administration than
it was dealing with the prior administration."

Barr is currently working with the ACLU and others in trying to prevent
the sunset clauses of the Patriot Act from being renewed, which could
happens as early as this week.


--------24 of 25--------

Is the Pentagon Spying on Americans?
Secret Database Obtained by NBC News Tracks SuspiciousDomestic Groups
by Lisa Myers, Douglas Pasternak, Rich Gardella and the NBC Investigative Unit
Published on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 by
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10454316/>NBC News

WASHINGTON - A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a
small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at
local high schools. What they didn't know was that their meeting had come
to the attention of the U.S. military.

A secret 400-page Defense Department document obtained by NBC News lists
the Lake Worth meeting as a threatand one of more than 1,500 suspicious
incidentsacross the country over a recent 10-month period.

This peaceful, educationally oriented group being a threat is
incredible,says Evy Grachow, a member of the Florida group called The
Truth Project.

This is incredible,adds group member Rich Hersh. It's an example of
paranoia by our government,he says. We're not doing anything illegal.

The Defense Department document is the first inside look at how the U.S.
military has stepped up intelligence collection inside this country since
9/11, which now includes the monitoring of peaceful anti-war and
counter-military recruitment groups.

I think Americans should be concerned that the military, in fact, has
reached too far, says NBC News military analyst Bill Arkin.

The Department of Defense declined repeated requests by NBC News for an
interview. A spokesman said that all domestic intelligence information is
properly collectedand involves protection of Defense Department
installations, interests and personnel. The military has always had a
legitimate force protectionmission inside the U.S. to protect its
personnel and facilities from potential violence. But the Pentagon now
collects domestic intelligence that goes beyond legitimate concerns about
terrorism or protecting U.S. military installations, say critics.

Four dozen anti-war meetings

The DOD database obtained by NBC News includes nearly four dozen anti-war
meetings or protests, including some that have taken place far from any
military installation, post or recruitment center. One incident included
in the database is a large anti-war protest at Hollywood and Vine in Los
Angeles last March that included effigies of President Bush and anti-war
protest banners. Another incident mentions a planned protest against
military recruiters last December in Boston and a planned protest last
April at McDonalds National Salute to Americas Heroes a military air and
sea show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Fort Lauderdale protest was deemed not to be a credible threat and a
column in the database concludes: US group exercising constitutional
rights. Two-hundred and forty-three other incidents in the database were
discounted because they had no connection to the Department of Defense yet
they all remained in the database.

The DOD has strict guidelines, adopted in December 1982, that limit the
extent to which they can collect and retain information on U.S. citizens.

Still, the DOD database includes at least 20 references to U.S. citizens
or U.S. persons. Other documents obtained by NBC News show that the
Defense Department is clearly increasing its domestic monitoring
activities.

One DOD briefing document stamped secret concludes: [W]e have noted
increased communication and encouragement between protest groups using the
[I]nternet, but no significant connection between incidents, such as
reoccurring instigators at protests or vehicle descriptions.

The increased monitoring disturbs some military observers.

It means that they're actually collecting information about who's at those
protests, the descriptions of vehicles at those protests, says Arkin. On
the domestic level, this is unprecedented, he says. I think it's the
beginning of enormous problems and enormous mischief for the military.

Some former senior DOD intelligence officials share his concern. George
Lotz, a 30-year career DOD official and former U.S. Air Force colonel,
held the post of Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
Oversight from 1998 until his retirement last May. Lotz, who recently
began a consulting business to help train and educate intelligence
agencies and improve oversight of their collection process, believes some
of the information the DOD has been collecting is not justified.

Make sure they are not just going crazy

Somebody needs to be monitoring to make sure they are just not going crazy
and reporting things on U.S. citizens without any kind of reasoning or
rationale, says Lotz. I demonstrated with Martin Luther King in 1963 in
Washington, he says, and I certainly didn't want anybody putting my name
on any kind of list. I wasn't any threat to the government, he adds.

The military's penchant for collecting domestic intelligence is disturbing
but familiar to Christopher Pyle, a former Army intelligence officer.

Some people never learn, he says. During the Vietnam War, Pyle blew the
whistle on the Defense Department for monitoring and infiltrating anti-war
and civil rights protests when he published an article in the Washington
Monthly in January 1970.

The public was outraged and a lengthy congressional investigation followed
that revealed that the military had conducted investigations on at least
100,000 American citizens. Pyle got more than 100 military agents to
testify that they had been ordered to spy on U.S. citizens many of them
anti-war protestors and civil rights advocates. In the wake of the
investigations, Pyle helped Congress write a law placing new limits on
military spying inside the U.S.

But Pyle, now a professor at Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts, says
some of the information in the database suggests the military may be
dangerously close to repeating its past mistakes.

The documents tell me that military intelligence is back conducting
investigations and maintaining records on civilian political activity. The
military made promises that it would not do this again, he says.

Too much data?

Some Pentagon observers worry that in the effort to thwart the next 9/11,
the U.S. military is now collecting too much data, both undermining its
own analysis efforts by forcing analysts to wade through a mountain of
rubble in order to obtain potentially key nuggets of intelligence and
entangling U.S. citizens in the U.S. military's expanding and quiet
collection of domestic threat data.

Two years ago, the Defense Department directed a little known agency,
Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, to establish and maintain a
domestic law enforcement database that includes information related to
potential terrorist threats directed against the Department of Defense.
Then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz also established a new
reporting mechanism known as a TALON or Threat and Local Observation
Notice report. TALONs now provide non-validated domestic threat
information from military units throughout the United States that are
collected and retained in a CIFA database. The reports include details on
potential surveillance of military bases, stolen vehicles, bomb threats
and planned anti-war protests. In the programs first year, the agency
received more than 5,000 TALON reports. The database obtained by NBC News
is generated by Counterintelligence Field Activity.

CIFA is becoming the superpower of data mining within the U.S. national
security community. Its operational and analytical records include reports
of investigation, collection reports, statements of individuals,
affidavits, correspondence, and other documentation pertaining to
investigative or analytical efforts by the DOD and other U.S. government
agencies to identify terrorist and other threats.

Since March 2004, CIFA has awarded at least $33 million in contracts to
corporate giants Lockheed Martin, Unisys Corporation, Computer Sciences
Corporation and Northrop Grumman to develop databases that comb through
classified and unclassified government data, commercial information and
Internet chatter to help sniff out terrorists, saboteurs and spies.

One of the CIFA-funded database projects being developed by Northrop
Grumman and dubbed Person Search, is designed to provide comprehensive
information about people of interest. It will include the ability to
search government as well as commercial databases. Another project, The
Insider Threat Initiative, intends to develop systems able to detect,
mitigate and investigate insider threats, as well as the ability to
identify and document normal and abnormal activities and behaviors,
according to the Computer Sciences Corp. contract. A separate CIFA
contract with a small Virginia-based defense contractor seeks to develop
methods to track and monitor activities of suspect individuals.

The military has the right to protect its installations, and to protect
its recruiting services, says Pyle. It does not have the right to maintain
extensive files on lawful protests of their recruiting activities, or of
their base activities,he argues.

Lotz agrees.

The harm in my view is that these people ought to be allowed to
demonstrate, to hold a banner, to peacefully assemble whether they agree
or disagree with the governments policies,the former DOD intelligence
official says.

'Slippery slope'

Bert Tussing, director of Homeland Defense and Security Issues at the U.S.
Army War College and a former Marine, says there is very little that could
justify the collection of domestic intelligence by the Unites States
military. If we start going down this slippery slope it would be too easy
to go back to a place we never want to see again, he says.

Some of the targets of the U.S. militarys recent collection efforts say
they have already gone too far.

It's absolute paranoia at the highest levels of our government, says Hersh
of The Truth Project.

I mean, we're based here at the Quaker Meeting House, says Truth Project
member Marie Zwicker, and several of us are Quakers.

The Defense Department refused to comment on how it obtained information
on the Lake Worth meeting or why it considers a dozen or so anti-war
activists a threat.

© MSNBC 2005

[The FBI and CIA, at the behest of their ruling class masters, have a long
history of subverting the left and aiding the right. This is probably why
the left in America is weaker than in many other industrialized countries.
It's not because we're so happy with our capitalist paradise(?), but
because the ruling class has so effectively removed our options. They
stole the 2000 and 2004 elections, invaded Iraq based on Big Lies, and now
will try to keep the war going by intimidating opposition.

The more just and humane and creative you are, the more the ruling class
hates and fears you. And with good reason. Let us all be more just and
humane and creative. -ed]


--------25 of 25--------

The 'Retreat and Defeat' Dems
By Stephen Pizzo
News for Real. Posted December 14, 2005.
http://www.alternet.org/story/29552/

Maybe we need a new party, since the party that claims to support us has
given up any pretense at actual opposition to Bush's war or anything else.
For once the Republican attack machine has described the Democratic Party
perfectly: retreat and defeat. It's what Democrats are all about now. I'm
not talking about the Democrats' position (if they had one) on Bush's
fool's errand of a war in Iraq. I'm talking about how Democrats have
flatly refused to stand and fight the war here at home, the war for
America's own democracy.

Democrats remind me of the that group of kids in every grammar school
whose members were not smart enough to be dorks nor tough enough to be
knuckle-dragging jocks. They are stuck in a social vacuum of sorts. Every
now and then one of them gets some backbone and declares he's "gonna show
those jocks." To which his frustrated friends eagerly egg him on. So he
tosses an insult or rock at the school thugs, who of course immediately
counter attack. His friends desert him leaving him screaming, "it was an
accident, honest. I didn't mean it." After which the thugs would beat the
crap out of him anyway.

     Asked about recent comments where Dean trashed Republicans as "evil"
and said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay belongs in jail, Biden told ABC's
This Week: "He doesn't speak for me with that kind of rhetoric and I don't
think he speaks for the majority of Democrats."

And...

     Responding to Dean's initial remark, Edwards said Dean "is not the
spokesman for the party."Dean is 'a voice. I don't agree with it,"

That's today's Democrats. John Murtha, one of the few truly tough guys in
the party, stood up and said right out loud -- "get out of Iraq, now." I'm
sure Murtha didn't wake up that morning and decide to hold a news
conference. He almost certainly ran his idea by fellow party members. And,
from what I hear, they replied, "Sure John, go ahead. We're right behind
you."

When Murtha stepped forward, alone, and fired off that rock, Republicans
did what Republicans do best, they attacked. Poor John turned to rally his
troops, but they were long gone. Many were clustered for cover around CNN
microphones, declaring as loudly as they could, "Murtha? He's not with
me," and "Hardly know the guy," and "Sure, John's a brave American. No one
questions that. But he doesn't speak for me or most other Democrats on
this one."

     Hillary Clinton said she respects Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., the
Vietnam veteran and hawkish ex-Marine who last week called for an
immediate troop pullout. But she added: "I think that would cause more
problems for us in America."

Oh you pack of quisling cowards. Run away! Run Away! Retreat and defeat.

This is why Dems never win anymore. And why Americans lose and lose and
lose again. We lose jobs, we lose medical care, we lose sons and
daughters. Because when the other side starts shooting Democrats hoist the
white flag of surrender and political cowardice. Instead of rallying
around defensible positions and yelling "Bring em on! Pass the
ammunition," they whimper, "Waffles, damn it! We need more waffles up
here. They're killing us with our own words. Pass the friggin waffles!"

Their own party chairman, Howard Dean, is the latest Dem to be left
bleeding in no-man's land by his own troops. Dean opened fire on the Bush
administration last week, pointing out -- correctly -- that even though
President Bush keeps using the term "Victory in Iraq," there can be no
American victory in Iraq.

Dean's statement is demonstrably true and nothing Dems should run from.
Any victory in Iraq will have to be an Iraqi victory. Because if we
declare it an American victory that's just an open invitation to young
Arabs worldwide to wage neverending Jihad in Iraq to prove us wrong. Just
ask the Israelis how "victory" works in that part of the world. An
American "victory" means, "Mission Never Accomplished."

Dean's statement was also correct based on the demographic reality Bush so
carelessly refers to as "Iraq." When Bush says we are "bringing democracy
to Iraq," he's flat wrong. What he is really trying to do is get three
tribes, Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, who hate one another's guts, to live
together peacefully under one civil roof. Forget about it. It will never
happen. Not in Bush's lifetime, not in his grand kids lifetimes. The best
hope for everyone involved is the creation of three autonomous regions
whose people agree that killing each other -- as much fun as it may be --
is simply bad for business.

Republican thugs also attacked Dean for saying that U.S. troops were
"terrorizing Iraqi women and children in their own homes." Using the word
"terror," was trespassing. "Terror," you see, is apparently now a branded
policy trademark of the GOP. They own it and they decide what's terror and
what's something else. Anyway, everyone knows that only swarthy people who
blow things and themselves up terrorize, not American troops. But, wait,
I've seen TV coverage showing American troops breaking into Iraqi homes in
the dead of night and lining Iraqi women and their children against a
wall. They sure as hell looked terrorized to me.

What Dean said was completely defensible by hard facts and video tape.
(Why didn't the DNC immediately put one of those videos up on the their
web site asking the question: "Do these Iraqi women and children look
terrorized to you?" )

Dean was simply pointing out the obvious: that such raids, if necessary,
should be carried out by Iraqi troops, not Americans. And that all we were
doing scaring the hell out of Iraqi kids is sowing the seeds of
anti-Americanism into a whole new generation of Iraqi kids.

So Dean bravely scrambled out of the trench and engaged the enemy at their
most vulnerable places. Then he heard the thunder of his troops feet
behind him. Dean turned to find himself alone. Not only did his troops run
for cover but they fragged their chairman for good measure, just as they
did Murtha earlier. Because those who stand and fight make the rest of
them look like what they are, connivers and cowards.

What kind of party is this? What kind of men and women run from the fight
they signed up to wage? When we voted for them they pledged to stand and
fight for what's right, liberty and the American way. Instead they have
done little but collaborate, triangulate and masturbate.

Murtha was right. The job of American soldiers in Iraq is done. They
should leave.

And Dean was right. We can't win an American victory in Iraq. (It isn't
even clear that an Iraqi victory is possible in Iraq.)

Any first-year college student could debate those positions convincingly.
Data, facts, video tape, testimony supporting those positions is piled up
all over Washington like cord wood. It's not exactly like we're asking
Democrats to enter the battle unarmed.

Dean and Murtha have handed their party an opportunity to circled their
wagons around a strong alternative to the administration's failed polices.
The party could have -- and should have -- done just that, refined those
positions into a coherent, clear and defensible policy, and gone to
battle. Instead they tripped all over themselves in retreating into
defeat, a refuge from which they can snipe at Republicans without exposing
themselves to the political dangers of open combat.

Murtha and Dean are the Democratic Party's ideological bookends. Between
them bracket the full scope of party ideology. Dean is liberal and Murtha
conservative. Murtha is pro-military. Dean is anti-war. Between the two
men's positions are all the ingredients needed to cook up a coherent and
strong Democrat alternative to the GOP's "stay the course," policy in
Iraq.

Look how easy it is:

     * Tell the Iraqis they have six months to get their political and
military act together.
     * In six months all US combat troops will move to the Iraqi borders
to provide better border security than we have in the US.
     * In six months the only US military assistance Iraqis can expect is
close air support, supplies and free advice.
     * One year later all American troops leave Iraq.

Is that so complicated? But it means Democrats digging their heels in ...
drawing a line in the political sand and daring the Republicans to cross
it and engage them in open combat on the facts right out there where
everyone can watch in public square.

But so far Democrats look even less keen for combat than the scared
looking Iraqis we're trying to train. Like the "new Iraqi army" Democrats
run for cover at the first hint of trouble. And, if one of their own does
or says something that gets him whacked by Republican thugs, well, no one
is gonna drag him to safety. After all, he was asking for it talking like
that.

So it's more of the same. More retreat, more defeat.

Democrats do come out of their foxholes for the Sundays TV talk shows
where they can take pot shots at the enemy from behind Tim Russert et al.
So there they were this Sunday, blathering away about how wrong-headed
Bush's Iraqi policies are. But when asked what Democrats would do, what
their plan was, they ran behind the skirts of their minority status.
Peaking out from behind those skirts they bravely declared, "Well, we're
not in charge. It's not our responsibility to come up with solutions.
Republicans are in charge, it's their responsibility."

Come on, Democrats. Would you folks agree on defensible positions and
stand and fight? Stand and fight, damn it. Do you understand how important
it is to this country that you do that and do it now?

You've already wasted five years, during which you've waffled, wavered,
wimped, whined and withdrew from battle. And look what it's gotten us? The
federal treasury is empty, the nation is treading in a rising sea of red
ink, most of the world no longer believes a word that comes out of
Washington -- and neither do a growing number of Americans. And, worse of
all, once again in my lifetime American kids are dying thousands of miles
from their homes for reasons that don't add up.

And you can lay all this on George W., either. You Democrats wimped out on
us and let it happen, all of it. Worse, many of you didn't just let it
happen, you lent a hand - hands now permanently stained with blood. (Even
Lady Macbeth regretfully accepted her complicity.)

So, what's it gonna take to get some backbone in you folks and get you out
of your foxholes? If asked to describe the Democrat Party right now I
think an alarming number of registered Dems would say it's become a nest
of connivers and cowards. (You say it's not so. Fine, make my day. Try
convincing me that's not true. I dare you. I double-dare you.)

Here's an idea. Begin by publicly admonishing the collaborators among you?
Remember how mad you all got at Zell Miller when he spoke at the
Republican convention? How about shelling out some of that righteous
indignation now on Joe Liberman?

I don't know. I think I just waste my breath when I talk to Democrats like
this. But I do believe that slapping around the collaborators, quislings
and cowards in their own party would certainly change the "risk/benefit"
equation. Suddenly wimping out in the midst of political hand-to-hand
combat would no longer be entirely risk free. It would be a way of laying
down a marker to party cowards, "Here's your choice, stand with us and
risk a GOP bullet in the chest or run and risk a Democrat bullet in the
back. Your choice."

But so far the only Democrat commandos with the stomach and backbone for a
fight appear to be John Murtha, Howard Dean and Russ Fiengold. (Hillary
Clinton's been too busy getting P.R. photos taken of her making nice to
soldiers and wrapping herself in Old Glory to fight. And the Democrats'
general in the Senate, Harry Reid, a man with all the charisma of a
undertaker -- looks like he'd need one himself if he ever got too excited
about anything. Smiling Joe Biden would stand and fight, but he's been
away having his teeth whitened for the '08 campaign.)

So it's fools to the right of us, clowns to the left, and me, stuck in the
middle with you.

Republicans won't change course because that would mean admitting they've
just killed thousands of people for all the wrong reasons. And the
Democrats refuse to put forth an unambiguous alternative because they are
scared. That's right, scared. Imagine that. One of two parties responsible
for running the most powerful nation on earth, scared. Afraid of honest,
thoughtful, progressive positions and policies. Afraid to put them in
black and white and then stand at the ramparts and fight for them.

Instead Democrats stick to what has become their new comfort zone, defeat.
Retreat and defeat.

Maybe we need to start training a new political army. Nothing less
important than our own democracy depends on it. Because I don't know about
you, but I'm tired of losing.

I'm ready for a fight.

Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including "Inside Job: The
Looting of America's Savings and Loans," which was nominated for a
Pulitzer.


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