Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 02.10.06

[David Shove (shove001]

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    02.10.06

1. Pancake breakfast 2.11 8am
2. Black history     2.11 10am
3. Haiti/elections   2.11 10am
4. CAMS/vs military  2.11 10:30am
5. Northtown vigil   2.11 1pm
6. Kurdish rights    2.11 2pm
7. Bands/benefit     2.11 2pm
8. Dance/peace       2.11 7:30pm

9. Nonviolent comm   2.12 10am
10. Sensible vigil   2.12 12noon
11. MnSOAWatch/court 2.12 2pm
12. Coldwater/Indian 2.12 7pm
13. Aftershock/doc   2.12 7pm
14. Bicking action   2.12 7pm
15. Blacks v KKK/TV  2.12 11pm

16. Carolyn Baker  - Cloning Enron: propagating economic collapse
17. David Johnston - Corporate wealth up for top-income Americans
18. George Monbiot - Exposed: secret corp funds behind health "research"
19. ed             - Benito, baby (poems)

--------1 of 19--------

From: Susan Svatek <ssvatek [at] cce.umn.edu>
Subject: Pancake breakfast 2.11 8am

Women's Prison Book Project Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser

The Women's Prison Book Project will host our 6th annual pancake breakfast
fundraiser this Saturday February 11 from 8am until noon.

This fun community & kid friendly event features all you can eat
buttermilk and vegan pancakes, along with grits, fruit salad, coffee, tea
and juice. Cost is $6 for adults and $3 for kids. The breakfast takes
place at Walker Community Church in South Minneapolis, at 3104 16th Ave S.

All proceeds benefit The Women's Prison Book Project, an all-volunteer
grassroots organization that sends free books and resources to women and
transgender prisoners all over the country. Pancakes Not Prisons!


--------2 of 19--------

From: Doris G. Marquit <marqu001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Black history 2.11 10am

The Minnesota Metro branch of Women's International League for Peace and
Freedom announces its February "Coffee With" program, in conjunction with
Black History Month:

Saturday, February 11, 10am-12noon

Contributions of African Americans to the Culture and Wealth of America:
The Need for Reparations with Mahmoud El-Kati Lecturer in History,
Macalester College, St. Paul Mr. El-Kati is a lecturer, writer, and
commentator on the African American experience.  He specializes in African
American history since World War II.

Van Cleve Community Center
901 15th Ave. SE, Minneapolis
Free, refreshments served
FFI 651-458-7090 or 651-633-4410.


--------3 of 19--------

From: Mary Turck <mturck [at] americas.org>
Subject: Haiti/elections 2.11 10am

Saturday, February 11 Elections or Selections in Haiti. Mike Levy speaks
on dictatorship, democracy and elections in Haiti.

Part of weekly coffee hour series, with a talk by a featured speaker and
discussion. Saturdays, 10-11:30am. $4 includes first cup of coffee.
Resource Center of the Americas, 3019 Minnehaha Av, Minneapolis 55406 FFI:
612-276-0788]


--------4 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: CAMS/vs military 2.11 10:30am

Saturday, 2/11, (and 2nd Saturday of each month), 10:30 am, CAMS
(counter-recruitment group) meets at Twin Cities Friends Meeting, 1725
Grand, St. Paul.  Contact Mary at wamm [at] mtn.org


--------5 of 19--------

From: Lennie <major18 [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Northtown vigil 2.11 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.
This is a MUCH better location.

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


--------6 of 19--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Kurdish rights 2.11 2pm

February 11 - Kurdish Human Rights Film and Civil Society Charity Event.
2-7pm.  Cost: $6.00 for students and $7.50 for public.

The funds raised at this event will be given to charities that work with
chemical attack survivors in Iraq, and the impoverished province of Van,
Turkey.  In addition to two film screenings, there will be a Food and Gift
Vendors for Charity Fund Raising from 2-6:30 pm.  Babani's Kurdish
Restaurant will be present, providing food for sale with 20% of profits
for charities, as well as ALSADU Fine High Quality Gifts and Fair Trade
Handicrafts.

The following award winning human rights films will be shown:

1.) "Good Kurds, Bad Kurds No Friends But the Mountains" - A documentary
on the negative impact of conflicting US foreign policy on the Kurdish
Community. In this film, the story of Kani Xulam's emergence as a Turkish
Kurdish refugee in Santa Barbara, California to a first class lobbyist on
the Hill is woven into the larger context of conflicting and lethal
foreign policy goals relative to "Good" Kurds in Iraq vs. "Bad" Turkish
Kurds.

2.) "JIYAN" - A documentary of the lives of orphans and surviors of the
chemical attack against the Kurds in Iraq. In this film, which is produced
and directed by a Kurdish-American refugee from Iraq, the collapse of the
civil society and communties that rose up against Sadaam, and were
punished through chemical attacks, are examined.

Location: Room 25, Mondale Hall, University of Minnesota Law School


--------7 of 19--------

From: Carmela Kranz <C.Kranz [at] mmf.umn.edu>
To: David E Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Bands/benefit 2.11 2pm

Please join us for seven hours of toe-tapping music from local bands on
Saturday, February 11 from 2 to 9 p.m. at the Eagles Club in Minneapolis
to benefit Anne Sullivan School's band program.  Visit www.iloveband.org
<http://www.iloveband.org/>

Band was discontinued at Anne Sullivan School almost 2 years ago due to
budget cuts. That's 750 kids without band!  During this time many parents,
students and faculty have longed for a way to bring band back to the kids.
Thanks to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation and their donation of up to
$25,000 in refurbished instruments, our supportive principal, our district
fine arts coordinator, and dedicated parent volunteers - band began for
approximately 100 of our 5th and 6th graders this week!

We need to raise money to keep our band program alive.  Tickets can be
purchased at the door the day of the event ($10 adult, $5 kids 6 and over)
and parking is free. The Eagles have generously donated their venue, the
performers are contributing their time, many parent volunteer hours will
be logged, and the Sullivan students are gathering pledges and conducting
their own Dance-a-thon.

Anne Sullivan is an urban community school with 750 students. (One of the
largest K-8 schools in Mpls.) The population is socioeconomic and
ethnically diverse.  As much as 71% of Sullivan students receive
free-and-reduced lunch (the measure of poverty) and 170 students are
English Language Learners (ELL).

Anne Sullivan also provides the DHH program (Deaf Hard of Hearing) for the
District pre-school through 8th grade.  Due to budget cuts over the last 2
years Sullivan has not only lost band but also choir, sign language,
electives in the middle school program and many staff.  Sadly, there is an
ongoing drive for parents to bring in copy paper for classroom teachers.
While we believe the State should be providing enough money to schools to
reinstate band and many other programs, the reality is this may take many
years at the legislative/governor level and we will have missed hundreds
of kids.

Here's the line up - hope to see you there!  Lets Go Band!

2pm      Dick and Jane Big Brass Band (New Orleans Funk)
2-3:30pm Dance-a-thon DJ -- Hip Hop and more! (DJ on 2nd stage)
4pm      Seward Jazz Band (on 2nd stage)
3:15pm   Bill Geezy (Folk)
3:45pm   Zafiro featuring Christina & Viviana (Caribbean Salsa)
4:45pm   Rich Lewis Band (R&B)
6pm      Andrew "Cadillac" Kolstad (Honky Tonk Blues)
6:45pm   Faux Playboys (Zydeco Swamp Boogie)


Carmela S. Kranz Director of Development School of Public Health 420
Delaware Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 612-626-8481 (direct)
612-306-6881 (cell) 612-624-5406 (Roxana - Assistant) 612-626-6931 (fax)
c.kranz [at] mmf.umn.edu


---------8 of 19--------

From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Dance/peace 2.11 7:30pm

Shake off the Winter blahs, get down, boogie with friends AND support a
couple of great organizations!

Valentine's Dance with rockin' DJ, Wildman Wayne
Saturday Feb 11, 7:30pm-midnight
Walker Church, 3104 16th Ave S, Mpls

Benefit for IMPACT and Walker Church
$5-10 suggested donation
[BYOB- pop will be sold- snacks/water provided]

IMPACT (Ideas to Mobilize People Against Corporate Tyranny) is a
grassroots group raising awareness about the impact of corporations on our
society, promoting sustainable lifestyles and mobilizing ourselves and our
communities to take cooperative action.

Walker Church is a faith community dedicated to nurturing spirituality,
building caring community and working courageously for peace with justice.
www.walkerchurch.org

FFI: Kathleen Schuler, kschuler [at] ix.netcom.com


--------9 of 19--------

From: Betsy Barnum <betsy [at] greatriv.org>
Subject: Nonviolent comm 2.12 10am

Living, Speaking and Listening from the Heart

A Basic Training in Nonviolent Communication (NVC)*, a practice that
supports a consciousness based on living in the present moment. We will
explore how to carry an active heart-based mindfulness meditation into
each interaction by tapping into the deep spring of love that lives in
each and every one of us. Through this work we will open up to a world
full of compassionate giving.

NVC powerfully facilitates personal growth, family peace, compassionate
social change, conflict resolution and mediation.

NVC helps us focus our attention on
  1) Empathic understanding of others while maintaining each othe's
     values, and
  2) Expressing our real feelings and needs openly and honestly, yet
     without blame or criticism.

  NVC delineates four components of communication:
  1) Observations free of evaluations;
  2) Feelings straight from the heart;
  3) Needs, values and longings; and
  4) Requests expressed clearly in positive action language.

Offered by Margarita Mac & John Karvel
Two Sundays, February 12 & 19, 2006, 10 am to 6 pm

Northrup King Building, 1500 Jackson St. NE Studio #404, Minneapolis

Requested donation: $250-$0. We request a $30 deposit and administration
fee with registration.  In addition we request that you pay by donation
after the class the highest amount you can joyfully give if the class
contributed to your life. We are following BayNVC's financial arrangements
because they meet our needs for support, beauty and inclusion. For more
information follow this link: http://www.baynvc.org/financial.php

Nonviolent Communication comes from the work of Marshall Rosenberg and the
Center for Nonviolent Communication. For more information about NVC go to
the global website at www.cnvc.org or the local website at www.tcnvc.org.


---------10 of 19---------

From: skarx001 <skarx001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Sensible vigil 2.12 12noon

The sensible people for peace hold weekly peace vigils at the intersection
of Snelling and Summit in StPaul, Sunday between noon and 1pm. (This is
across from the Mac campus.) We provide signs protesting current gov.
foreign and domestic policy. We would appreciate others joining our
vigil/protest.


--------11 of 19--------

From: MnSOAWatch <MnSOAW [at] circlevision.org>
Subject: MnSOAWatch/court 2.12 2pm

Please join us and invite your friends to our
Minnesota SOAWatch
Court Report
Sunday February 12 at 2:00 pm
St Stephen's Church
22nd St and Clinton Ave South, Minneapolis

Our gathering will give a brief background on the SOA/WHINSC, testimony
from Steve Clemens and Sam Foster, music from the vigil and witness from
former Prisoners of Conscience. Donations to help cover the expense of
their witness will be collected and appreciated.  More info:
www.mnsoaw.org Not everyone can cross the line at Fort Benning, but we all
can support those that do...


--------12 of 19--------

From: Sue Ann <mart1408 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Coldwater/Indian 2.12 7pm

Abraham Lincoln & the Largest Mass Hanging in America, featuring Jim
Anderson, Full Moon Walk at Coldwater

Abraham Lincoln & the Largest Mass Hanging in America

Full Moon Walk Around the Coldwater Area
Sunday, February 12  Lincoln's Birthday
7pm gather  7:15 walk
Gather in Minnehaha Park, at the south end pay parking lot, off 54th Street.
Walk to be led by Jim Anderson,
Cultural Chairman of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community.
Sponsored by Friends of Coldwater. www.friendsofcoldwater.org

On December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato in the largest
mass hanging in America. Originally 392 men were to be executed. President
Lincoln insisted that individual cases be reviewed and the number was
reduced to 38. Most members of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community
can trace their ancestors back to Mendota in the 1700s. The
French-Canadian fur traders migrated to Minnesota and settled in Mendota.
In the old world, the Mdewakanton people and fur traders lived in peace.
This lasted through the 1700's and into the early 1800's. Many fur traders
married Dakota women. Then came a flood of immigrants and a dearth of land
and game. "I don't know which was worse, whiskey or the church," said Bob
Brown, late chairman of the Mendota Dakota Community.

The harsh winter of 1861, combined with broken treaty promises and delays
in the delivery of annuity goods, brought about the Dakota Uprising of
1862 which lasted two weeks. Some 600-700 white people were killed;
probably more Dakota people were killed however their bodies were never
counted.

392 Dakota men were marched from Fort Snelling to Mankato, imprisoned and
scheduled for execution. Thanks to President Lincoln's intervention 38 of the
original 392 were hanged in Mankato, the day after Christmas, 1862.
Frightened Minnesotans were dissatisfied and demanded that all the Dakota
Indians be banished from the State. The Dakota Nation was shipped out west to
unfamiliar, unfavorable land to learn to be farmers or to die. In the
following years a bounty was paid for individual Indian deaths.

Coldwater is the last sacred spring in Minneapolis since the Great Medicine
Spring (in Theodore Wirth Park) and Glenwood Spring were permanently dewatered
by MnDOT with construction of I-394 in the late 1980s.

Directions: In south Minneapolis take Hiawatha/Hwy 55 to 54th Street and turn
east into Minnehaha Park. Follow the park road around to the left into the pay
parking lot.


--------13 of 19--------

From: Linda Winsor <ljwinsor [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Aftershock/doc 2.12 7pm

Dessert Potluck Party for Peace
Sunday, February 12, 7:00 - 9:00pm
Saint John the Evangelist Church
60 North Kent Street, Saint Paul
(1 block north of Summit, 1 block east of Dale)

The Crocus Hill / West 7th Neighbors for Peace group invites you to join
with neighbors and friends who care passionately about peace and justice.

We will be viewing the documentary "Aftershock" which was shot in
Washington DC on January 20, 2005 surrounding the Presidential
Inauguration.  It chronicles counter inaugural events and provides a voice
to dozens of articulate, passionate attendees expressing their individual
concerns about the shape and direction of our country, featuring such anti
war notables as Celeste Zappala, co founder of Gold Star Families For
Peace, Iraq War Veteran Aidan Delgado, and independent journalist Amy
Goodman; as well as performance groups Billionaires For Bush and the
Raging Grannies.  These segments are interwoven with quotes from founding
fathers and prominent US citizens.  The message being that, not only is
dissention patriotic, it's critical for a healthy democracy.
www.aftershockthemovie.com

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


--------14 of 19--------

From: "Stephen Eisenmenger" <Stephen [at] MNGreens.org>
Subject: Bicking action 2.12 7pm

[Sustainable Mpls]
Meeting at Dave Bicking's house, 3211 22nd Ave S, Mpls
Next Meeting Sunday February 12th, 7-9pm.


--------15 of 19--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Blacks v KKK/TV 2.12 11pm

Independent Lens:
Negroes With Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power
tpt2 Sunday, Feb. 12 at 11PM
tpt17 Monday, Feb. 13 at 9PM

Credited with inspiring the Black Power Movement, Robert Williams led
his North Carolina hometown to defend itself against the Ku Klux Klan
and challenge repressive Jim Crow laws. This program follows Williams'
journey from southern community leader to exile in Cuba and China, a
journey that brought the issue of armed self-defense to the forefront of
the civil rights movement.


--------16 of 19--------

Cloning Enron: Propagating Economic Collapse
by Carolyn Baker
Scoop News (New Zealand) - Feb 8, 2006
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0602/S00074.htm

'ENRON: The Smartest Guys In The Room', a film by Bethany McLean and Peter
Elkind (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413845/) is a jaw-dropping,
mind-altering expose of Enron's scandal-induced demise, guaranteed to
astound its viewers unless they have been informed by the investigative
journalism of From The Wilderness and the research of Catherine Austin
Fitts' at www.solari.com <http://www.solari.com>

As one of the fortunate fans of FTW and the Solari model, I gleaned from
McLean and Elkind's movie not new information, but an untarnished lens
that removed all lingering illusions that the Enron outrage was uniquea
distinctly 'bad apple' among a handful of examples of corporate
criminality, a so-called isolated incident. Readers of Mike Ruppert and
Catherine Austin Fitts are blessed with an economic map, embellished by
McLean and Elkind, which confirms, as Fitts writes, that Enron is the
ultimate 'business model' for financing not only the Bush Administration,
but the economy of the United States itself.

It is now painfully obvious that the preponderance of U.S. corporations, the
federal government and state and local governments have adopted the Enron
template for destroying the prosperity of the nation and its citizens. For
what purpose? Mike Ruppert answered the question superbly in his 2003
article 'Eating The Chosen People' and reiterated it in Crossing The
Rubicon:

*'The truth is that the abundance enjoyed by the American people for two
centuries must be utterly destroyed if the Empire is to survive. Few will be
prepared for how far that destruction has already progressed and fewer still
will even think of preparing before the disaster arrives.'

In other words, as the title of Ruppert's article so poignantly suggests,
the bankruptcy of companies, the skyrocketing of the federal deficit, the
neglect and decay of infrastructure, the disappearance of 401K's and
pension funds, the elimination of health insurance plans, and a host of
other American economic nightmares, didn't just 'happen'. They are
contrived, planned, and frighteningly intentional. The ruling elite 'need'
to eat us alive, and they are doing so.

As Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, Chairman and CEO of Enron go to trial in the
coming months, we are likely to see their hands slapped, maybe even see
them incarcerated, but it is highly unlikely that anyone will connect the
dots to a host of other crimes associated with the Enron debacle such as
drug money laundering, billions of dollars missing from the Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the crime of the century,
September 11.

It is also a virtual certainty that other key accomplices such as J.P.
*Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Merrill Lynch *will not be prosecuted, nor will
the trial illumine the pervasive adoption of the Enron template by both the
public and private sector of the economy.

In a nutshell, the Enron model goes something like this:

Nothing is as it seems.

Anything is possible as a result of the unprecedented deregulation of
business during the Bush II Administration and under Executive Orders during
the Bush I Administration that facilitated the creation of Black Budgets.

*Any and all rules can be manipulated.*

Profits are booked, not in real time or real money, but from 'an idea'
using 'mark-to-marketing' accounting. This is not unlike writing a check
for $100 when one's checking account is empty assuming that one is going
to receive a deposit of $200 in the next few days, and even if the deposit
doesn't arrive then, it will 'at some point'. *Profits can be whatever one
says they are, and one can book them on the 'idea' of profits increasing
in the future*.

In order to succeed, 'creative accounting', also known as book-cooking, is
essential to facilitate the illusion of profits that actually do not
exist; therefore, an accounting accomplice such as Arthur Andersen is
absolutely necessary. It is additionally helpful to have other accomplices
to loan billions to the sinking ship, knowing full well that it is sinking
- accomplices like Chase, Citibank, and Merrill Lynch - anyone who will
collude, and I would hasten to add that the *true meaning of collusion is
'the sharing of an illusion.'

*Actual debt and liabilities are hidden.*

CEO's are paid some 400 times what employees are paid.

The players know that their house of cards will collapse, but that is no
liability. In fact, the *sooner collapse happens, the more it serves their
financial interests.

*Pension funds and 401K's are looted and used to finance investments* that
will bring obscene rates of return for management while employees blithely
assume that pension funds will be available when they need them. How does
this happen? As Fortune's Geoffery Colvin concludes:

Private employers, while required to account for their pensions, have
played *sophisticated games with the numbers -- all within the rules*. For
example, they can assume the pension fund increased in value when it
actually declined. They can assume it will continue increasing in value at
a rate that is almost certainly way too high. They can even jack up their
reported profits based on that assumed, though nonexistent, increase in
pension-fund value.

Increasingly, corporations and public sector entities lament that they can
*no longer afford to pay employee health insurance premiums* due to the
'skyrocketing costs of health care.' However, a January 21, 2006 article
in Insider Magazine is particularly illuminating:

According to confidential sources, UnumProvident - the nations largest
disability and long term insurer - is operating in a state of chaos while
executives struggle to cash in their chips. Insider trading by the
millions, exactly $144 Million according to the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission Insider & Rule 144 transactions reported period
February 2004 through January 04, 2006.

Insider Magazines in-depth investigation reveals a *monster corporation
with a "religious front" to hide away Billions siphoned from investors and
policyholders*. The Maclellan Foundation definitely has hooks into the
Bush White House, IRS, federal courts and the U.S. Department of Labor and
it may have received millions from U.S. government sponsored faith based
initiatives explained in their " how to get taxpayer money Web site " -
http://www.maclellan.net.

Recent corporate moves suggest the company to be quietly liquidating after
raising additional capital from investors. Some investors have filed suit
for fraud claiming that the company lied to them about soundness of
financial statements and claims payments. After years of fending off
thousands of lawsuits for bad faith and reckless disregard of medical
facts involving denied claims the company recently agreed to reassess
215,000 claims federal and state regulators claim were wrongfully denied.

*Is this why health care costs are exorbitant?* Is UnumProvident just
another 'bad apple'? Is economic warfare on Americans really about greed
and waste? The facts reveal a very different reality: *The Enron model has
been cloned innumerable times in virtually every private sector industry
and in the public sector as well.* To describe pandemic fraud as 'greed
and waste' is like saying that during Europe's fourteenth-century Black
Death, a few people got sick and died.

Moreover, as noted in the 'Eating The Chosen People' article, a 2002
survey conducted by Financial Times revealed that *'Top executives and
directors of the biggest U.S. business collapses amassed billions* in
salary and share sales while the stock market was still booming.'

CEO salaries and bonuses have continued to soar since Enron folded, and
those amounts currently average 431 times the salaries of other employees

*What the Enron movie did not address was the issue of where the company
obtained funds to actually maintain itself.* It is one thing to book phony
profits, but it is quite another to have a massive cash flow that also
does not appear in the company's accounting system. *Catherine Austin
Fitts* has superbly documented her hypothesis that *Enron was actually a
slush fund deeply entangled with the Harvard Endowment, Dyncorp -* one of
the nation's most powerful defense contractors, and international drug
trafficking and money laundering.

Additionally, all of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records
on _Enron's fraudulent trading were *stored in the World Trade Center*
which was obliterated on September 11, 2001._ _To my knowledge, *Fitts and
Ruppert* are the only individuals who have begun to connect all these
dots. The Enron movie certainly did not.

Not only has the* Enron* model been replicated ad infinitum, inherent in
it is the destruction of every facet of the entity it controls except for
the personal profits of those at the top. Like a Category Five hurricane
or an omnivorous King Kong, the *Enron template purposefully obliterates
every obstacle in its path and leaves whatever it touches in shambles*.
The players walk away with billions while workers and the environment are
decimated, a syndrome which *Catherine Austin Fitts calls 'Tapeworm
Economics.'

In the field of psychology, this behavior is called sociopathic, meaning
that the Ken Lays and Jeff Skillings of the world have* no conscience*.
The players assume that unless they destroy the 'chosen people', the
empire will not survive. And they are right. All empires ultimately
collapse, and the United States, as brilliantly documented in Crossing The
Rubicon, is currently in the process of doing just that. But while it is
true that empires are destined to fall off a cliff, few in human history
have been intentionally 'pushed' by their own ruling elite.

My research in recent years has proven to me that the most important thing
I can do about the big picture is know it and know it well because if I
really understand the cloned monster with which I'm dealing on a daily
basis, I will not expect it to nurture me, provide for me, take care of
me, or meet any of my needs. It is *incapable of anything but
destruction*. On a smaller and local scale, I can join with those I trust
and want to share my life with and help restructure our lives according
the Solari model of economics that truly serves people and the ecosystems.
(http://www.solari.com/opportunity.htm)

As we witness the unfolding of the* Jack Abramoff* scandal, which will
continue throughout 2006 and beyond, we are likely to see a miniature
configuration of the scandal's tentacles and to whom they connect, but the
subterranean root structure of corporate fraud and its host of accomplices
in government will remain enshrouded in the smoke and mirror antics of
Enron clones and massive denial on the part of the American public. Were
that horror show unveiled, it would make Jack Abramoff look like an altar
boy by comparison.

In the coming months, we are also likely to witness the bankruptcies of
*General Motors and Ford, followed by Daimler Chrysler*. But not to worry,
enter *Citigroup *with which *Citibank *is affiliated, riding in on its
not-so-white horse, sweeping up the entire mess, and_ making billions off
the Big Three's imminent financial train wreck.

Given that Citibank is a documented drug money laundering institution
H.U.D., and Harvard Endowment, the mind reels at the convoluted can of
worms that Citigroups's involvement with the American auto industry might
entailanother possible instance of the Enron template gone berserk.

I currently teach in colleges in two different states. Six months ago I
received a notice from the retirement system of one college attempting to
dispel rumors that the system's funds had vanished when actually they were
'securely intact.' I smiled, fully aware that I was being lied to. Three
months ago I received a similar letter from the retirement system of the
other state in which I teach, echoing the deceptions of the first letter.
As Peak Oil, global warming, and global economic collapse perpetrated by
Enron clones bear down on my world and those I love, *I expect nothing
from the empire except its own demise and incessant attempts to devour me
in the process*. Meanwhile, I will create for myself and with others, as
many options as possible for navigating the empire's imminent collapse --
facilitated by 'the smartest guys in the room.'

Mapping The Real Deal is a column on Scoop supervised by Catherine Austin
Fitts. Ms Fitts is the President of Solari, Inc.  http://www.solari.com/.
Ms. Fitts is the former Assistant Secretary of Housing-Federal Housing
Commissioner during the first Bush Administration, a former managing
director and member of the board of directors of Dillon Read & Co. Inc. and
President of The Hamilton Securities Group, Inc.


-------17 of 19--------

From: Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.), Jan. 29, 2006
CORPORATE WEALTH SHARE RISES FOR TOP-INCOME AMERICANS
By David Cay Johnston

New government data indicate that the concentration of corporate wealth
among the highest-income Americans grew significantly in 2003, as a trend
that began in 1991 accelerated in the first year that President Bush and
Congress cut taxes on capital.

In 2003 the top 1 percent of households owned 57.5 percent of corporate
wealth, up from 53.4 percent the year before, according to a Congressional
Budget Office analysis of the latest income tax data. The top group's
share of corporate wealth has grown by half since 1991, when it was 38.7
percent.

In 2003, incomes in the top 1 percent of households ranged from $237,000
to several billion dollars.

For every group below the top 1 percent, shares of corporate wealth have
declined since 1991. These declines ranged from 12.7 percent for those on
the 96th to 99th rungs on the income ladder to 57 percent for the poorest
fifth of Americans, who made less than $16,300 and together owned 0.6
percent of corporate wealth in 2003, down from 1.4 percent in 1991.

The analysis did not measure wealth directly. It looked at taxes on
capital gains, dividends, interest and rents. Income from securities owned
by retirement plans and endowments was excluded, as were gains from
noncorporate assets such as personal residences.

This technique for measuring wealth has long been used in standard
economic studies, though critics have challenged that tradition.

Among them is Stephen J. Entin, president of the Institute for Research on
the Economics of Taxation in Washington, which favors eliminating most
taxes on capital and teaches that an unintended consequence of the
corporate income tax is depressed wage rates. Mr. Entin said the report's
approach was so flawed that the data were useless.

He said reduced tax rates on long-term capital gains may have prompted
wealthy investors to sell profitable investments. That would show up in
tax data as increased wealth that year, even though the increase may have
built up over decades.

Long-term capital gains were taxed at 28 percent until 1997, and at 20
percent until 2003, when rates were cut to 15 percent. The top rate on
dividends was cut to 15 percent from 35 percent that year.

The White House said it did not believe that the 2003 tax cuts had much
influence on wealth shares. It also said that since wealth is transitory
for many people, a more important issue is how incomes and wealth are
influenced by the quality of education.

''We want to lift all incomes and wealth,'' said Trent Duffy, a White
House spokesman. ''We are starting to see that the income gap is largely
an education gap.''

''The president thinks we need to close the income gap, and he has talked
about ways in which we can do that,'' especially through education, Mr.
Duffy said.

The data showing increased concentration of corporate wealth were posted
last month on the Congressional Budget Office Web site. Isaac Shapiro,
associate director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in
Washington, spotted the information last week and wrote a report analyzing
it.

Mr. Shapiro said the figures added to the center's ''concerns over the
increasingly regressive effects'' of the reduced tax rates on capital.
Continuing those rates will ''exacerbate the long-term trend toward
growing income inequality,'' he wrote.

The center, which studies how government affects the poor and supports
policies that it believes help alleviate poverty, opposes Mr. Bush's tax
policies.

The center plans to release its own report on Monday that questions the
wisdom of continuing the reduced tax rates on dividends and capital gains,
saying the Congressional Budget Office analysis indicates that the
benefits flow directly to a relatively few Americans.


--------18 of 19--------

Exposed: the secret corporate funding behind health research
by George Monbiot
The Guardian - Feb 7, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1703694,00.html

Academics and the media have failed dismally to ask the cruicial question
of scientists' claims: "Who is paying you?"

Three weeks ago, while looking for something else, I came across one of
the most extraordinary documents I have ever read. It relates to an
organisation called ARISE (Associates for Research into the Science of
Enjoyment). Though largely forgotten today, in the 1990s it was one of the
world's most influential public-health groups. First I should explain what
it claimed to stand for.

ARISE, founded in 1988, seems to have been active until 2004. It described
itself as "a worldwide association of eminent scientists who act as
independent commentators". Its purpose, these eminent scientists said, was
to show how "everyday pleasures, such as eating chocolate, smoking,
drinking tea, coffee and alcohol, contribute to the quality of life".

It maintained that there were good reasons for dropping our inhibitions
and indulging ourselves. "Scientific studies show that enjoying the simple
pleasures in life, without feeling guilty, can reduce stress and increase
resistance to disease ... Conversely, guilt can increase stress and
undermine the immune system ... This can lead to, for instance,
forgetfulness, eating disorders, heart problems or brain damage." The
"health police", as ARISE sometimes called them, could be causing more
harm than good.

ARISE received an astonishing amount of coverage. Between September 1993
and March 1994, for example, it generated 195 newspaper articles and radio
and television interviews, in places such as the Wall Street Journal, the
International Herald Tribune, the Independent, the Evening Standard, El
Pais, La Repubblica, Rai and the BBC. Much of this coverage resulted from
a Mori poll, called Naughty but Nice, that ARISE claimed to have
commissioned, into the guilty pleasures people enjoyed most. Here is a
typical example (this one from Reuters):

"Puritanical health workers who dictate whether people should smoke or
drink alcohol and coffee are trying to ruin the quality of life, a group
of academics said ... 'Many of us hold the view that it is a person's
right to enjoy these pleasures ...' said Professor David Warburton, a
professor of pharmacology at Reading University in England ... 'Much of
health promotion is based on misinformation. It is politically driven'."

The Today programme gave Warburton an uncontested interview in its prime
spot - at 8.20am. He extolled the calming properties of cigarettes and
poured scorn on public-health messages. ARISE has also featured eight
times in the Guardian. Coverage like this continued until October 2004,
when the Times repeated ARISE's claim that we should stop "worrying about
often ill-founded health scares" and "listen to our bodies, which
naturally seek to protect themselves from disease by doing the things we
enjoy." In hundreds of articles and transcripts covering its claims, I
have found just one instance of a journalist - Madeleine Bunting in the
Guardian - questioning either ARISE's science or the motivation of the
scientists.

Warburton, who claimed to run the group, was head of psychopharmacology at
the University of Reading. While ARISE was active he published at least a
dozen articles on nicotine in the academic press. In 1989, in the
Psychologist, he mocked the US surgeon general's finding that nicotine is
addictive. Most of his articles were published in the journal
Psychopharmacology, of which he was a senior editor. They maintained that
nicotine improved both attention and memory. I have read seven of these
papers. On none of them could I find a declaration of financial interests,
except for two grants from the Wellcome Trust.

In 1998, as part of a settlement of a class action against the tobacco
companies in the US, the firms were obliged to place their internal
documents in a public archive. Among them is the one I came across last
month. It is a memo from an executive in the corporate services department
of Philip Morris - the world's largest tobacco company - to one of her
colleagues. The title is "ARISE 1994-95 Activities and Funding". "I had a
meeting," she began, "with Charles Hay and Jacqui Smithson (Rothmans) to
agree on the 1994-1995 activity plan for ARISE and to discuss the funding
needed. Enclosed is a copy of our presentation."

This showed that in the previous financial year ARISE had received
$373,400: $2,000 from Coca-Cola, $900 from other firms and the rest - over
99% - from Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, RJ Reynolds and
Rothmans. In 1994-95 its budget would be $773,750. Rothmans and RJ
Reynolds had each committed to provide $200,000, and BAT "has also shown
interest". She suggested that Philip Morris put up $300,000. Then the memo
becomes even more interesting.

"The previous 'Naughty but Nice' Mori poll proved to be very effective in
getting wide media coverage. The exercise will be repeated this year on
the theme of 'Stress in the Workplace' ... A draft questionnaire was
already submitted to [Tony Andrade, Philip Morris's senior lawyer] and
[Matt Winokur, its director of regulatory affairs] for comments." "We
decided to hold" ARISE's next conference in Europe, it continued, because
of "positive European media coverage". Philip Morris had appointed a
London PR agency to run the media operation, set up ARISE's secretariat
and help to recruit new members. ARISE's "major spending authorisation and
approval would be handled by an 'informal' Budget Committee involving PM,
Rothmans and possibly RJR and BAT".

The memo suggests ARISE was run not by eminent scientists but by eminent
tobacco companies. This impression is reinforced by another document in
the tobacco archive, which explains how the group began. "In 1988 the US
Surgeon General said: 'Nicotine was as addictive as heroin or cocaine.'
The industry responded. A group of academics was identified and called
together to: - review the science of substance abuse, - separate nicotine
from these substances".

I sent a list of questions to Warburton, but he told me that he did not
have time to answer them. Reading University replied that it knew
Warburton's work had been sponsored by the tobacco companies. Indeed, the
university itself had received over #300,000 from ARISE, but "from the
university's standpoint, the source of funding for ARISE has always been
vague". It revealed that "Professor Warburton and the University of
Reading were in receipt of BAT research funding between 1995 and 2003".
But at no time had it questioned this funding or sought to oblige
Warburton to declare his interests in academic papers. Astonishingly, it
suggested that this would amount to "censorship" and "restricting academic
freedom".

The journal Psychopharmacology told me it was unaware Warburton had been
taking money from tobacco firms. "It is an author's responsibility to
disclose sources of funding, and widely understood that journals
themselves do not expect to police this declaration." After a long career
untroubled by questions about his interests or professional ethics,
Warburton retired in 2003. He still lectures at Reading as an emeritus
professor.

How much more science is being published in academic journals with
undeclared interests like these? How many more media campaigns against
"overregulation", the "compensation culture" or "unfounded public fears"
have been secretly funded and steered by corporations? How many more
undeclared recipients of corporate money have been appearing on the Today
programme, providing free public relations for their sponsors? This case
suggests that academia and the media have failed dismally to exercise
sufficient scepticism. Surely there is one obvious question with which
every journal and every journalist should begin. "Who's funding you?"


--------19 of 19--------

 Lesser evilists
 back Benito over Adolf
 in two.oh.oh.eight

 "Milder, much milder -
 Benito is the prez for
 me" - John Q Pablum.

 "Benito means peace
 in our time - and after that,
 who cares?" - Mimi Now.

 "Benito, baby,
 he's my way-cool puss in boots,
 meeow!" - Knott C Katt.

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

   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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