Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 02.09.06

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    02.09.06

1. Kurdish rights    2.09 12:10pm
2. Vs army           2.09 4pm
3. Eagan peace vigil 2.09 4:30pm
4. WAMM happy hour   2.09 5pm
5. NAACP dinner      2.09 6:30pm
6. Better ballot     2.09 7pm
7. Kurdish policy    2.09 7:30pm
8. Jack Johnson/TV   2.09 8pm
9. 9-11 inquiry/CTV  2.09 8:30pm
10. Slavery/USA/TV   2.09 9pm

11. Felon/vote/conf  2.10 9am
12. Counter recruit  2.10 12noon
13. Purple Flower    2.10 2pm
14. Hmong archives   2.10 2pm
15. Palestine vigil  2.10 4:15pm
16. Emmett Till/film 2.10 7:15pm

17. Joshua Frank    - Who's the bigger hawk, George or Hillary?
18. Danny Schechter - Media incitement inflames the Middle East
19. Allan Sloan     - Latest Bush trick to privatize Social Security
20. ed              - Some characters (poem)

--------1 of 20--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Kurdish rights 2.09 12:10pm

February 9 - Kani Xulam: U.S. Human Rights Policy and the Kurdish
Community. 12:10-1:15pm.

Kurdish rights activist Kani Xulam will lecture on U.S. Human Rights
Policy and the Kurdish Community: The Case of Iraq, Turkey and Iran.

Co-Sponsored by Amnesty International - Minnesota Legal Group and the
University of Minnesota Human Rights Center

Location: Room 65, Mondale Hall, University of Minnesota Law School


--------2 of 20--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Vs army 2.09 4pm

Thursday, 2/9, 4 to 5 pm, demo "Not Our Children...Not Anyone's Children"
against the Army Career Center, Lyndale and Lake, Mpls.  612-522-1861.


--------3 of 20--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 2.09 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 20--------

From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: WAMM happy hour 2.09 5pm

WAMM Happy Hour at the Black Dog Café:  "State of the World got you down?"

Thursday, February 9, 5-8pm. Black Dog Café, 308 Prince Street (4th and
Broadway, Lowertown), St. Paul. Free street parking after 4pm, plus $1.00
parking in lots immediately east of the Black Dog Café behind Northern
Warehouse.

State of the World got you down? Be happy for a while! Join with
like-minded people from the Twin Cities area to socialize and get to know
a local peace group. Hors d'oeuvres compliments of the Black Dog Cafe.
Cash bar: wine, beer, coffee, tea, and fruit juice options. 15% of sales
will be donated to WAMM. Men and women of all ages welcome. FFI: Call WAMM
at 612-827-5364.


--------5 of 20--------

From: Ann Cader <anncader [at] visi.com>
Subject: NAACP dinner 2.09 6:30pm

Thursday, 2/9, 6:30 to 10pm, St Paul NAACP fund-raising reception and
dinner "Lest We Forget" with former Gary, Ind., mayor Richard Hatcher
speaking on 100 years of the civil rights struggle.

St. Paul Radisson Hotel, 11 E Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul.  Tickets $50, NAACP,
586 W. Central Ave., St. Paul 55103, phone 651-227-5199.


--------6 of 20--------

From: Kelly O'Brien <kellyobrien [at] visi.com>
Subject: Better ballot 2.09 7pm

Better Ballot Campaign house party
Thursday, February 9, 7-9pm.
912 18th Ave SE, Minneapolis, the home of Katie Fournier
Hosts: Katie Fournier, Jim Davnie, Don Fraser, Cara Letofsky, Sherri
Lessinger, Sean Broom, and Mark McHugh
RSVP/info: Katie: 612-331-5615; Cara: 612-724-5163

Please join us to learn more about the Better Ballot Campaign, the 2006
initiative to bring Instant Runoff Voting to Minneapolis. THIS IS NOT A
FUNDRAISER! It's a fun way to learn about the campaign to expand
democracy. And includes a demonstration election involving desserts!

Katie's home is a not handicapped accessible. Please let us know if you'd
like to be invited to a BBC event at an accessible location.


--------7 of 20--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Kurdish policy 2.09 7:30pm

February 9 - Kani Xulam: Public Policy Challenges and the Kurds. 7:30 pm.

Kurdish rights activist Kani Xulam will deliver a lecture onPublic Policy
Challenges and Opportunities for Kurdish Socio-Economic Integration and
Cultural Self-Determination: Implications of Turkey's Membership in the
European Union.

Sponsored by the Department of Sociology/Center for German and European
Studies and the Center for Holocost and Genocide Studies

Location: Nolte Hall, Department of Sociology/Center for German and
European Studies and the Center for Holocost and Genocide Studies,
University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus


--------8 of 20--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Jack Johnson/TV 2.09 8pm

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
tpt2 Part 2: Thursday, Feb. 9 at 8PM

Episode one follows Jack Johnson's remarkable journey from his humble
beginnings in Galveston, Texas, as the son of former slaves, to his entry
into the brutal world of professional boxing, where, in
turn-of-the-century Jim Crow America, the heavyweight champion was an
exclusively "white" title.

Johnson lived his life out loud, wearing fancy clothes, driving fast cars
and openly flaunting the conventions of the time by dating and then
marrying white women. Despite the odds, Johnson was able to batter his way
up through the professional ranks, and in 1908 he became the first African
American to earn the title Heavyweight Champion of the World. Johnson's
victory set in motion a worldwide search for a "white hope" to restore the
title to whites. On July 4, 1910, in Reno, Nevada, ex-champion Jim
Jeffries, the new "Great White Hope," came out of retirement to challenge
Johnson. Johnson easily won the contest, billed as the Battle of the
Century, despite a hostile crowd and a steady stream of racial epithets
hurled from Jeffries' corner. Johnson's victory provoked race riots all
around the country, but his troubles were only just beginning.

--------9 of 20--------

From: leslie reindl <alteravista [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: 9-11 inquiry/CTV 2.09 8:30pm

Thur Feb 9. 8:30pm on St. Paul cable SPNN channel 15, Altera Vista
program:  "International Inquiry into 9/11: Phase One," with panel Nafeez
Ahmed, Paul Thompson, and Barry Zwicker, and talk by Jiim Marrs.


--------10 of 20--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Slavery/USA/TV 2.09 9pm
 FEB.9 & 16:PBS: "Slavery and the making of America"

slavery and the making of america

Coming to PBS on Feb. 9th and the 16th from 9PM to 11PM is the four part
series Slavery and the Making of America, produced by Dante James, and
narrated by Morgan Freeman. Dante is an incredible filmmaker who has
produced many award wining films among them biographies on Marian Anderson
and A. Philip Randolph.  He worked with the late great filmmaker Henry
Hampton at Blackside and was the executive producer of Hampton's last
series This Far by Faith: African American Spiritual Journeys.

Slavery And The Making Of America tells the story of slavery from the
point of view of the enslaved.  The series recognizes the strength,
humanity and dignity of the enslaved and redefines them as pro-active
freedom fighters not passive victims.

It is essential to pass this email on to friends and family and
encourage them to watch.  If we can create a large audience for this
important series PBS will be forced to produce and air more programs
that address the African-American experience. There are also two web
sites for the series they are:
Verify the TV station in your area
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/about/schedule.html>

www.pbs.org/slavery <http://www.pbs.org/slavery> and
www.slaveryinamerica.com <http://www.slaveryinamerica.com/>


--------11 of 20--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Felon/vote/conf 2.10 9am

February 10 - VIDEO REPLAY of "Silenced Voices" Conference.

VIDEO REPLAY of "Silenced Voices:  The Constitutionality and Legality of
Felon Disenfranchisement Provisions" conference, which took place at the
University of Minnesota Law School on Saturday, January 28, 2006 beginning
at 9 a.m.

The conference/CLE explored racial disparities with regard to
incarceration.  The program schedule is set forth below.  There will be
video replays at the Law School on Friday February 10th and 24th and March
31st, 2006.  We will be applying for 5.6 CLE/CJE credit hours with 1.0
hour eligible for Elimination of Bias credit.

The program break down is as follows:

9:00 a.m. to 9:10 a.m. - Welcome and brief description of the facts and
procedural posture of Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida, 405 F. 3d
1214 (11th Cir. 2005).

9:10 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. - Overview: Felon Disenfranchisement and Democracy.
Prof. Christopher Uggen, Associate Chair, University of Minnesota,
Department of Sociology.

9:50 a.m. to Noon - Silenced Voices:  Panelists will examine the legal,
constitutional, societal and policy-making implications of felon
disenfranchisement provisions; measures that have been taken to address
them, e.g. executive orders, legislation; and litigation that has
challenged them, e.g. Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida; Muntaqim v.
Coombe, 366 F. 3d 102 (2nd Cir. 2004) and Farrakhan v. Washington, 338 F.
3d 1009 (9th Cir. 2003).

The panel will consist of: Catherine Weiss, Associate Counsel, Brennan
Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.  The Brennan Center represents
the plaintiff s class in the Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida; Art
Eisenberg Litigation Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.  The
NYCLU submitted an Amicus brief in support of the Plaintiff's position in
Muntaqim v. Coombe;  Rep. Keith Ellison of the Minnesota House of
Representatives. The author of legislation to restore the voting rights of
people who have been convicted of felonies and who are on probation or
parole; Gary Dickey, Jr., General Counsel and Policy Advisor to Governor
Tom Vilsack of Iowa who by executive order restored the voting rights of
ex-felons in Iowa; Marc Mauer, Executive Director, Sentencing Project,
Washington DC; and Clinical Prof. Carl M. Warren, faculty advisor to the
University of Minnesota Law School s Wm. E. McGee National Civil Rights
Moot Court Competition, will moderate the panel.

Noon to 1:00 p.m.  Lunch break (on your own)

1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Catherine Weiss , Esq. will discuss the standards
and appropriate legal analysis of the 14th Amendment and Voting Rights Act
issues in Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida.

1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.  Marc Mauer author of Race To Incarcerate and
Invisible Punishment will examine the staggering racial disparity in
incarceration.

The conference is being offered in conjunction with the Twenty-First
Annual William E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition.
This year's competition case is Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida,
405 F. 3d 1214 (11th Cir. 2005) a class action initiated in Florida which
asserts that the state constitutional provision that denies ex-felons the
right to vote violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and 2
of the Voting Rights Act. Thirty-six teams from law schools across the
country are submitting briefs and will argue orally at the law school
March 2, 3, and 4, 2006.

Location: University of Minnesota Law School, 229 19th Ave S.,
Minneapolis, MN 55455


--------12 of 20--------

From: sarah standefer <scsrn [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Counter recruit 2.10 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 20--------

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

"The Purple Flower" Town Hall Meeting

A collaboration between the University of Minnesota's African American and
African Studies Department, Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, and Black
Student Union

*The Purple Flower Town Hall Meeting Brings the "USs" vs. "The White
Devils" to the Stage in Celebration of Black History Month*
Rarig Center, 330 21 Av S Mpls, West Bank Arts Quarter, UofM
Friday, February 10th, 2006, 2-4 p.m.
Admission: FREE, call 612/625.1052 for information

In an exciting collaboration between the African American and African
Studies Department, the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance and the Black
Student Union, guest artist and professor Tisch Jones will facilitate a
staged reading and town hall meeting between faculty, students and the
community fostered by Marita Bonner's Harlem Renaissance play "The Purple
Flower." The event will take place on Friday, February 10, from 2:00 -
4:00 p.m. at Rarig Center on the U of M West Bank campus. Immediately
following the reading and discussion, participants are invited to a soul
food dinner in the theatre lobby, sponsored and hosted by the Black
Student Union.

The acclaimed play "The Purple Flower" focuses on the never-ending
struggle between the "USs" and "The White Devils". The "USs," who live at
the bottom of the mountain, try to get past the "The White Devils," who
live on the mountainside, in order to attain the coveted purple flower,
which sits atop the mountain. Bonner's play is best understood by
considering first the inherent staging problems it poses for would-be
performers. The interpretive questions raised by the text become, in
rehearsal and performance, an opportunity to reflect critically on how
racial difference is constructed and maintained, and an exercise in
finding means of resolving conflict without upheaval.

During "The Purple Flower" Town Hall Meeting, professors and scholars from
African American and African Studies will collaborate with Professor Jones
and any students from across campus who are interested in participating to
create an interactive event. The town hall forum will begin by analyzing
this 10-minute length play through assigning parts and presenting a staged
reading. Immediately following the reading, scholars from the African
American and African Studies Department will talk about the impact of this
work, not only during its time of release in the 1920s, but discuss it's
impact through the decades and into the 21st century. Students can
participate as readers as well as observers.

Students interested in participating as actors in the reading (no
memorizing of parts required) can sign up by calling Sherry Wagner-Henry
in the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance at 612.625.1052 or by emailing
swh [at] umn.edu. General participation in the town hall forum requires no
advance registration.

Media Contact: Justin Christy, 612/625.5380, Justin [at] umn.edu


--------14 of 20--------

From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com>
From: "Vang, Tzianeng" <TVang [at] csp.edu>
Subject: Hmong archives 2.10 2pm

Help us celebrate our 7th Anniversary this coming Friday, February 10th,
2006 from 2 ­ 8 p.m. Please consider stopping by any time between the
hours listed. There will be no formal programming, but guided tour of the
Center for Hmong Studies, home of the Hmong Archives, will be provided.

This is a free event and it is open to the public; the physical address
is: 1245 Carroll Avenue * Saint Paul, MN

Tzianeng Vang Chair/Interim Director of Hmong Archives, Program Associate
of Center for Hmong Studies, Hmong cultural & Language, and Seat Program
Concordia University-Saint Paul 275 North Syndicate Avenue Saint Paul, MN
55104 Directline: 651.603.6337 www.csp.edu/hmongcenter
<http://www.csp.edu/hmongcenter>


--------15 of 20--------

From: peace 2u <tkanous [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Palestine vigil 2.10 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.


--------16 of 20--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Emmett Till/film 2.10 7:15pm

2/10 to 2/16, 7:15 and 9:15 pm, film "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis
Till," about 1955 trial that sparked Civil Rights movement following killing
of African-American teenager, Bell Museum, 10 Church St. SE, Mpls.
www.mnfilmarts.org


--------17 of 20--------

Who's the Bigger Hawk, George or Hillary?
By Joshua Frank
Antiwar - 8 February 2006
http://www.antiwar.com/frank/?articleid=8515

There aren't many elected officials in Washington who want to throw the
gauntlet down on Iran more than Hillary Clinton. The New York senator
believes the president has been too soft on the militant Islamic country,
claiming that Bush has played down the threat of a nuclear-armed Tehran.

"I believe we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White
House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations,"
Clinton told an audience at Princeton University on Jan. 18. "I don't
believe you face threats like Iran or North Korea by outsourcing it to
others and standing on the sidelines. ... We cannot and should not - must
not - permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton added. "In
order to prevent that from occurring ... we must move as quickly as
feasible for sanctions in the United Nations."

Sen. Clinton has attempted to out-hawk Dubya on other foreign policy
matters, as well. From Iraq to Palestine, the Democratic Party's leading
lady argues that the current administration has not done enough to combat
the threat of terrorism. And like so many other neoconservatives (yes,
admit it, Hillary is a bloody neocon), Clinton will never admit that the
United States has fallen right into the grasp of al-Qaeda by attempting to
fight stateless terror by walloping sovereign Mideast countries.

And with the Hamas victory in the recent Palestinian elections, the U.S.
policy for the region isn't exactly producing the kind of results Bush and
his co-conspirators desired.

You'd have to pull out a microscope to differentiate between George W.
Bush and Hillary Clinton. Both want a continued occupation of Iraq. Both
want sanctions on Iran. And they both claim to want democracy in the
Middle East. Yet neither will accept a democratic outcome if it doesn't
favor U.S. interests.

"Until and unless Hamas renounces violence and terror, and renounces its
position calling for the destruction of Israel, I don't believe the United
States should recognize them, nor any nation in the world," Hillary
Clinton said recently.

"[Y]ou're getting a sense of how I'm going to deal with Hamas. ... And the
answer is: not until you renounce your desire to destroy Israel will we
deal with you," Bush told the Wall Street Journal in an interview during
the elections in Palestine.

Even though both express a desire to democratize the region, especially
Iraq, it is hard to imagine either allowing an Iraqi government to form
that is not friendly with the U.S. And a democratic Iraq (where the
candidates aren't chosen by U.S. officials) would likely embody the same
views as Iran concerning Israel.

Love for America in the Arab world hasn't exactly prospered these past
years, and it will not likely be changing anytime soon given the unified
position of the Republican and Democratic leadership in Washington.

So there you have it. Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush, leaders of their
parties, see eye-to-eye on the most pressing concerns facing the U.S. and
the Middle East today. And neither is offering up anything that will get
us out of the mess they helped to make.

[But of course we all have to line up lock-step for Hillary as the
"lesser-evil" in the 2008 election, "the most important election in our
lifetime (#3)". And should Ralph Nader run, we must all unite in screaming
"egoist spoiler" at him. These strategies worked so well in 2000 and 2004,
we have to do them again in 2008. They will keep us pleasantly diverted
while Diebold declares the election for Jeb Bush. It isn't about winning
or defending ourselves, it's about feeling good while the Bush royal
family replaces democracy with hereditary monarchy. If you "feel good",
what more could you want? -ed]


--------18 of 20---------

Media Incitement Inflames The Middle East
By Danny Schechter
ZNet Commentary
Mediachannel.org
February 08, 2006

DOHA, QATAR February 5: World be warned: the modern centurions in the
Pentagon have finally surfaced their plans for "long war," a "defense"
posture designed to put the United States on a permanent global war
without end footing. The announcement was greeted in the Arab World -
where I have just spent a week -with a "ho-hum" response as if to say 'so
what's new?"

Memories in this part of the world are long and go back to the brutality
of the crusades and more recent Western colonization. A protest by Muslims
in Britain against those cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad renamed
the BBC, The "British Broadcasting Crusaders." Some factions in
Palestinian refugee camps called on Osama bin Laden for revenge even as
more sober leaders, including those from Hamas, counseled restraint.

Many Arabs believe they are in a long war with the west already,
culturally denigrated in our press, under physical bombardment in Iraq,
and new threats in Iran. Many feel treated as by the west as children who
must be lectured or spanked constantly. They are applauded for going to
the polls but then have foreign assistance yanked for voting wrongly.

A Danish media exercise in free speech last September that many in the
West dismiss as no big thing, has been followed by pro-forma calls on
Arabs who protest to become more thick-skinned and "get over it."  After
all, it is argued, it's only an illustration by one man

There has been in some quarters a sanctimonious insistence that uncensored
freedom of the press is absolute without much awareness that the cultures
in an uproar are not societies with traditions of tolerance. (Would the
reaction have been any different if the cartoons were crudely racist or
anti-semitic?)

A fierce debate is now raging as Danish Embassies are attacked by people
using the issue to score points who make as few distinctions about people
in the West as the cartoonist did about the Prophet Mohammad. Many Arabs
are challenging their own culture too. Sheik Hamza Yusuf gave a lecture in
Doha saying one man made a stupid cartoon, to blame a whole nation is
disproportionate and unislamic. According to a blogger who was there, he
also remarked, "We Muslims should ask ourselves what have we done to
encourage people to draw a cartoon of the Prophet like that, and more in a
similar vein."

In an editorial, England's Guardian made some sensible distinctions: "The
Guardian believes uncompromisingly in freedom of expression but not in any
duty to gratuitously offend. It would be senselessly provocative to
reproduce a set of images of no intrinsic value which pander to the worst
prejudices about Muslims." (As media platform, Mediachannel reprinted the
cartoons to inform a deeper discussion, a decision I am not comfortable
with.)

The cartoons themselves touched a nerve that was already raw and are
symbolic of a great gap in perceptions that is getting wider.

Perhaps that's why the Al Jazeera Media forum I attended here in Qatar
began with a debate about what role the media should play. Should we in
the media try to bridge the divides that lead to hate and conflict or
should we just report them?  Should media outlets intentionally or
unintentionally incite confrontations? Can media irresponsibility be
defended in the name of press freedom?

Is there another way?

Behind the veils of the women and beyond the anger of the men in the Arab
world is a worldview reflected in their media but missing in ours. As a
result, their frame on the news is as different as their feelings about
what's behind all the mistrust. Bear in mind also that Arab societies are
far more politicized then our own.

Writing this week in Beirut's Daily Star, the respected columnist Rami C.
Khouri cited a University of Maryland study of attitudes in the Arab world
showing that hatred towards US policies is growing even in countries
nominally allied with the US.

"One of the significant findings," he writes. 'Is that Arab citizens by a
margin of 75% did not believe that democracy was the real objective of
American efforts to promote reform and change in the Arab world'. Very
large majorities of Arabs believed that the main motives of American
policies in the Middle East 'were oil, protecting Israel, dominating the
region, and weakening the Muslim World."

For many, the litmus test of Washington's professions is how it deals with
Hamas which swept a Parliamentary election in Palestine.  Already the US
is, in effect, collectively punishing a whole people who voted for a party
that ran on a "change and reform" program.  One Al Jazeera reporter
quipped to me, "I thought Bush supported faith-based politics."

In an essay titled "Yes to a Just Peace" in Dubai's Khaleej Times, Khaled
Mishaal, head of the political bureau of Hamas, lashes out at governments
which "failed the test of democracy" by their refusal to accept the will
of Palestinian voters by cutting off aid.  He says Hamas is willing to
seek peace "based on justice."  He insists they do not hate Jews as Jews
but rather oppose Israeli policies and practices. "Our conflict with you
is not religious," he says, "but political." This approach has many
adherents in the region even among those that do not support terrorism of
any kind by any party to the conflict."

Here we go again, as tensions mount once again, with Palestine once again
at the center of it. Pouring oil on the fire are provocative and offensive
cartoons uniting Muslims who are divided on many political issues but feel
a duty to defend their religion from disrespect. Isn't it time for more
real balance and diversity of perspective in our media? Instead of
responding to insults with more insults, we should demand more in-depth
nuanced coverage and less stereotyping.

I was struck by many Arab voices at the Al Jazeera Forum who noted that
there is less media freedom and room for the expression of all views in
the US in most of our media outlets than they have in their societies.
They see our media as keeping Americans uninformed almost by design.

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman's denunciation of the embedded war reporting
were applauded as were remarks by South Africa's Allister Sparks that the
American media has hit a new low when it comes to timely coverage of the
world.

As fresh revelations emerge about President Bush's deliberate deceptions
in collusion with Tony Blair in warring on Iraq, key information never
reported at the time, the reality of our "failed press" is becoming more
and more evident.

Many "news" outlets should be renamed "the olds"

"News Dissector" Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel.org. His latest books
are "When News Lies" and "The Death of the Media." See
newsdissector.org/store.htm. Comments to dissector [at] medichannel.org


--------19 of 20--------

[There must be some way some day soon we could all hang over our
respective toilet bowls and on cue barf Bush up for the last time.
Urrrpp! O for that final flush! whissssshhhh... Even the baby would giggle
and laugh bye-bye! bye-bye! -ed]

Latest Bush trick to privatize Social Security
Sleight of Hand
Allan Sloan
Washington Post

Feb. 8, 2006 - If you read enough numbers, you never know what you'll
find. Take President Bush and private Social Security accounts.

Last year, even though Bush talked endlessly about the supposed joys of
private accounts, he never proposed a specific plan to Congress and never
put privatization costs in the budget. But this year, with no fanfare
whatsoever, Bush stuck a big Social Security privatization plan in the
federal budget proposal, which he sent to Congress on Monday.

His plan would let people set up private accounts starting in 2010 and
would divert more than $700 billion of Social Security tax revenues to pay
for them over the first seven years.

If this comes as a surprise to you, have no fear. You're not alone. Bush
didn't pitch private Social Security accounts in his State of the Union
Message last week.

First, he drew a mocking standing ovation from Democrats by saying that
"Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security,"
even though, as I said, he'd never submitted specific legislation.

Then he seemed to be kicking the Social Security problem a few years down
the road in typical Washington fashion when he asked Congress "to join me
in creating a commission to examine the full impact of baby-boom
retirements on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid," adding that the
commission would be bipartisan "and offer bipartisan solutions."

But anyone who thought that Bush would wait for bipartisanship to deal with
Social Security was wrong. Instead, he stuck his own privatization
proposals into his proposed budget.

"The Democrats were laughing all the way to the funeral of Social Security
modernization," White House spokesman Trent Duffy told me in an interview
Tuesday, but "the president still cares deeply about this." Duffy asserted
that Bush would have been remiss not to include in the budget the cost of
something that he feels so strongly about, and he seemed surprised at my
surprise that Social Security privatization had been written into the
budget without any advance fanfare.

Duffy said privatization costs were included in the midyear budget update
that the Office of Management and Budget released last July 30, so it was
logical for them to be in the 2007 budget proposals. But I sure didn't see
this coming ­ and I wonder how many people outside of the White House did.

Nevertheless, it's here. Unlike Bush's generalized privatization talk of
last year, we're now talking detailed numbers. On page 321 of the budget
proposal, you see the privatization costs: $24.182 billion in fiscal 2010,
$57.429 billion in fiscal 2011 and another $630.533 billion for the five
years after that, for a seven-year total of $712.144 billion.

In the first year of private accounts, people would be allowed to divert up
to 4 percent of their wages covered by Social Security into what Bush
called "voluntary private accounts." The maximum contribution to such
accounts would start at $1,100 annually and rise by $100 a year through 2016.

It's not clear how big a reduction in the basic benefit Social Security
recipients would have to take in return for being able to set up these
accounts, or precisely how the accounts would work.

Bush also wants to change the way Social Security benefits are calculated
for most people by adopting so-called progressive indexing. Lower-income
people would continue to have their Social Security benefits tied to wages,
but the benefits paid to higher-paid people would be tied to inflation.

Wages have typically risen 1.1 percent a year more than inflation, so over
time, that disparity would give lower-paid and higher-paid people
essentially the same benefit. However, higher-paid workers would be paying
substantially more into the system than lower-paid people would.

This means that although progressive indexing is an attractive idea from a
social-justice point of view, it would reduce Social Security's political
support by making it seem more like welfare than an earned benefit.

Bush is right, of course, when he says in his budget proposal that Social
Security in its current form is unsustainable. But there are plenty of ways
to fix it besides offering private accounts as a substitute for part of the
basic benefit.

Bush's 2001 Social Security commission had members of both parties, but
they had to agree in advance to support private accounts. Their report,
which had some interesting ideas, went essentially nowhere.

What remains to be seen is whether this time around Bush follows through on
forming a bipartisan commission and whether he can get credible Democrats
to join it. Dropping numbers onto your opponents is a great way to stick
your finger in their eye. But will it get the Social Security job done?
That, my friends, is a whole other story.

Sloan is NEWSWEEK's Wall Street editor. His e-mail is
<mailto:sloan [at] panix.com>sloan [at] panix.com.


--------20 of 20--------

 Some characters may
 be displayed incorrectly -
 like Bush on TV.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
                     over 2225 subscribers as of 12.19.02
              please send all messages in plain text no attachments