Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 02.22.06

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     02.22.06

1. Anti-torture      2.22 6:30pm
2. GreenParty/what   2.22 Stillwater MN
3. Police listening  2.22 6:30pm
4. Broadband forum   2.22 7pm
5. Indigenous films  2.22 7pm
6. Book club         2.22 7pm
7. Green space       2.22 7pm
8. PRT transport     2.22 7pm

9. MetroIBA/Leg      2.23 7:30am
10. Harlem GT/film   2.23 1pm
11. Fair Oaks park   2.23 3pm
12. Sudan/US/film    2.23 7pm
13. Black/fball/film 2.23 7pm
14. Papa John/Clint  2.23 7:30pm
15. 9-11 scam/CTV    2.23 8:30pm

16. Nikos Raptis - The US and the Nazis
17. PC Roberts   - Polls show many Americans are simply dumber than Bush
18. Teresa Gutierrez - Pentagon quietly builds up South American bases
19. ed           - Three Cheney poems

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

From: Dave Bicking  <dave [at] colorstudy.com>
Subject: Anti-torture 2.22 6:30pm

Every Wednesday: meeting of the anti-torture group, T3: Tackling Torture
at the Top (a sub-group of WAMM).  Note new location:  Center School, 2421
Bloomington Av S Mpls.

We have also added a new feature:  we will have an "educate ourselves"
session before each meeting, starting at 6:30, for anyone who is
interested in learning more about the issues we are working on.  We will
share info and stay current about torture in the news.


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

From: Stephen Eisenmenger <stephen [at] mngreens.org>
Subject: GreenParty/what 2.22 Stillwater MN

STILLWATER/WASHINGTON COUNTY -- What¹s the Green Party doing behind the
scenes?
Wednesday, February 22
6:30-8:30pm

LOCATION: Temporary site of the Stillwater Public Library, Valley Ridge
Mall, 1305 Frontage Road West
PHONE: (651) 275-4338 x 11

AGENDA:
--Update on the Green Party of MN
--Conversation on current issues at the Capitol:  a more honest democracy,
sustainable energy and agriculture, local control and a local economy,
health care for everyone.

Snacks will be provided.


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

From: Michelle Gross <mgresist [at] minn.net>
Subject: Police listening 2.22 6:30pm

State Rep. Neva Walker is hosting this event tomorrow night.  It would be
great to have people in the audience who can raise police accountability
issues.

Minneapolis Police Listening Session
Wednesday, February 22, 6:30-8:30pm
Sabathani Community Center
310 E 38th St., Minneapolis

Please plan on attending a learning-listening-resolution session with
officials from the Minneapolis Police Department to discuss public safety
and policing issues in the Third Precinct.  Come share your concerns on
how the police are responding and treating our community.

For more information, contact:  State Representative Neva Walker at
(651)-296-7152 and via e-mail at rep.neva.walker [at] house.mn


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

From: Jon Kerr <jon [at] oldmanriver.com>
Subject: Broadband forum 2.22 7pm

The City of St. Paul recognizes the importance of broadband accessibility
to the future of our city and currently has a study underway to help chart
a course of action. Springsted Inc has been hired to conduct a Broadband
Technology Needs Assessment & Economic Development Impact Study (BITS) for
St. Paul. This study will examine Saint Pauls broadband technology needs
from four perspectives: businesses, residents, education and City
operations. BITS will provide recommendations and at least three
operational models for the City to consider. The final report by
Springsted will be completed by April 21, 2006.

Community participation is a key component of BITS. A variety of
activities are planned during the month of February to gather information
and input from businesses, residents, and higher education institutions in
the City of Saint Paul. Two Public Forums are scheduled where residents
can participate in a consultant facilitated session that presents
information and solicits audience participation. Forums are scheduled for:

Wednesday, February 22
7-9pm
Location: Hillcrest Recreation Center
1978 Ford Parkway

Monday, February 27, 2006
7-9pm
Location: Daytons Bluff Recreation Center
800 Conway Street

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3180
Hijacking the Internet, commentary on federal initiatives and potential
local impacts

Is A Publicly Owned Information Network for Minneapolis a Wise Public
Investment? is available at http://www.newrules.org/info/minneapolis


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

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Indigenous films 2.22 7pm

February 22: I Belong to This (2003) & Home - Two films by White Mountain
Apache filmmaker Dustinn Craig.  Film screenings will be followed by a
video-cam conversation with filmmaker.

I Belong to This is the final film in the 2003 PBS special Matters of
Race.  It is filmmaker Dustinn Craig's personal look at culture and
heritage.  Dustinn Craig, a White Mountain Apache, lives in Tempe, Arizona
with his wife Velma, a Navajo, and their four children.  The couple
considers what aspects of their cultural heritage they would like to pass
on to their children.

Home focuses on tribal members from a variety of tribes in Arizona and New
Mexico, including Apache, O'odham, Peublo, Yaqui who talk about what their
land and the concept of home means to them.  Free Admission

Augsburg College
Science 123, 707 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55454
7-10pm
Parking: All lots that say, commuter, faculty, staff.

Sponsored by: Independent Indigenous Film Minneapolis, The Ho Chunk
Nation, The Upper Sioux Community, The Circle Newspaper (612)  722-3692,
Augsburg College: American Indian Studies Program, American Indian Student
Services, The Augsburg Historical Society, the Anne Pederson Women's
Resource Center, and Women's Studies

For more information visit our website at www.augsburg.edu/ais/filmseries
or call Elise at 612-330-1523


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

From: Noelle Douglas <joyeux [at] visi.com>
Subject: Book club 2.22 7pm

DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA BOOK CLUB
A monthly book group for progressives focused on political and social
issues.
Book: Paul Wellstone by Billy Lofy
Wednesday, February 22nd at 7pm

Dunn Brothers Café, 2nd Floor Conference Room, 201 3 Av S Minneapolis

Our goals are:
 To have fun, chatting and debating with other progressive folks!
 To help each other to become better informed
 To strengthen community among progressives and promote networking

For further information, please contact Drea at
Mplsprogressivebookclub [at] yahoogroups.com.


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

From: brian bates <brianbates [at] uswest.net>
From: "Eureka Recycling" <intern [at] eurekarecycling.org>
Subject: Green space 2.22 7pm

Saint Paul residents are coming together to create a vision for a
healthier, cleaner, more livable Saint Paul. You can help!

The Saint Paul Environmental Roundtable is a series of meetings designed
to identify the pressing issues regarding Saint Paul's environment,
especially those issues where local action can make a positive impact.
Join us for the next topic presentation and community discussion!

Help protect and enhance the quality and quantity of green space in Saint
Paul!

Urban green spaces, like gardens and parks, make Saint Paul a better place
to live and work by providing places for recreation and community
building, preserving habitat for animals and plants, and improving the
quality of air and water. At this meeting we will discuss what we can do
to preserve the green space we have in Saint Paul, and how we can
establish more.

Wednesday, February 22, 7-9pm
Battle Creek Recreation Center
75 South Winthrop Street


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

From: Andrea Walker <walk828 [at] gmail.com>
Subject: PRT transport 2.22 7pm

Wednesday, 2/22
CPRT meeting, 7pm at the Minnehaha United Methodist Church. Corner of 37
Av and 50 St Minneapolis, 3rd Floor.

PRT is an automated transportation system where passengers ride in 2 to 4
person vehicles on elevated guideways non-stop from where they started all
the way to their destination. The guideways provide a network not unlike
our current system of freeways except that the vehicles on the guideways
are all computer controlled. This allows optimum use of the time and
space, (no traffic jams, no accidents) and all merging and exiting to
off-line stations is handled automatically.

[PRT is a radical challenge to cars, oil, gas, concrete, freeways, big
parking lots (and big boxes), MnDOT, big developers, bigger & more
expensive and more disruptive and less universal (viz LRT) alternatives
beloved by building trades unions. It's revolutionary if it ever is
installed anywhere, because everyone will want it, and the lobbies will
lose out - which is why they campaign against it in a ballistic fashion.
-ed]


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

From:  <merritt [at] metroiba.com>
Subject: MetroIBA/Leg 2.23 7:30am

Dear Metro Independent Business Alliance Members and Friends,
You are invited to our upcoming event...

"Building a Voice for Independent Business at the MN Legislature"
Speaker: MN House Rep. Jim Davnie, Mpls
Thursday Feb 23
7:30-9:30am
Acadia Cafe  (NE corner of Nicollet and Franklin in Mpls)
Breakfast refreshments available.

This event is sponsored by MetroIBA and is open to the public.
Please bring a friend or interested businessperson.

For more information contact:
Merritt Clapp-Smith Executive Director, MetroIBA 785 Goodrich Av, St. Paul
55105 651.222.6533 info [at] metroiba.org www.metroiba.org


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

From: valentina barnes <valbarnes2001 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Harlem GT/film 2.23 1pm

February 23: The Harlem Globe Trotters, is the story of the history of
the Harlem Globetrotters and the world wide humanitarian efforts of the
Globetrotters organization.

The film will be screened at 1-2:30 PM. (A one hour film followed by
refreshments & conversations).
The Seniors' Place 1801 Central Avenue NE


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

From: Jenny Heiser <jennyh [at] mn.rr.com>
Subject: Fair Oaks park 2.23 3pm

 [The following letter is from Chad Whittlef, a Whittier Neighborhood
neighbor I know. Fair Oaks Park is between Stevens Avenue on the west,
Third Avenue on the east, E. 22nd St. on the north, and E. 24th St. on the
south. This lovely park, one of the oldest in the city of Minneapolis, is
filled with trees and green space. One idea is to install a stormwater
run-off watershed-friendly rain garden in the SE corner of the park -- a
great G(g)reen idea. Please think about stopping by the Gale Mansion, 2115
Stevens Avenue South, on Thursday, Feb. 23, between 3-5 p.m.]

Fair Oaks Park is essential for our densely populated neighborhood. The
time has come for us to reclaim our park and protect our historical
heritage. As many of you know, Fair Oaks Park was once a jewel from the
golden age of American landscape design. Though the historical record is
incomplete, we know that Frederick Law Olmsted, the giant of American
landscape architecture, was originally contracted to design the grounds
around the palatial home of US Senator Washburn, the owner of General
Mills. Those grounds became our park. The footings of the mansion and some
of the original trees still grace the park. A few images of the mansion
and its esteemed Victorian-era landscape still exist, showing gardens, a
pond and a rustic bridge.  

Since the Washburn estate was given to the city for the "quiet recreation"
of its citizens there have been numerous unexecuted plans for the
park. It's probably good that some of the more radical plans never came to
pass. In fact the topography has hardly changed. Looking at the stack of
unrealized schemes it seems obvious now that the best idea for the
landscape remains the one that was actually implemented in the 1880s.   

Over the years, as I've spoken with others who appreciate the unique
history of the park, it has become apparent that we all need to get
together and try to restore the park in the spirit of that original
design. About three weeks ago we started working in earnest. Since then we
have submitted articles of incorporation for the Friends of Fair Oaks
Park, and we're in the process of obtaining non-profit status. Our group
is committed to safety, beauty and revitalization in historic
Washburn-Fair Oaks Park. We are dedicated to preserving and augmenting our
common heritage by forming partnerships and seeking resources to restore
the park with an appreciation for both the original landscape design and
the current needs of the community.   

We invite you to join us as we quickly move forward. Our first event is
taking place on Thursday, February 23rd, in the historic Gale mansion on
the NW corner of the park. The AAUW is graciously allowing us to use their
space for a tea party to benefit Fair Oaks Park. We will be serving tea
and treats, mingling, and enjoying live music and historical displays,
all starting at 3:00. A brief presentation and call to action will begin
at 5:00. Admission is $10 in advance and $13 on the day of the event.
Children accompanying adults are very welcome and admitted without charge.
For more information please view our first newsletter, which you can get
electronically by contacting us.   

I also encourage you to visit our newly launched website at
www.fairoakspark.com and read about us a recent Downtown Journal article,
A Fairer Fair Oaks, at www.dtjournal.com .   

We need your help to plan this and other events! We've already started
talking about a festival in honor of Arbor Day on Sunday, April 30th, in
which we will invite all of our residential and institutional neighbors to
contribute their ideas and energy to support and celebrate the park.
Mark your calendars and join us. E-mail or call us (612-879-5170). We need
you.  

Chad Whittlef Friends of Fair Oaks Park


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

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Sudan/US/film 2.23 7pm

February 23 - Film: Lost Boys of Sudan. 7pm.  Cost: Free, but tickets
required; available after 6 pm at the Bazinet Garden Lobby Desk..

The award winning documentary, Lost Boys of Sudan, follows two Sudanese
refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America. Orphaned as
young boys in one of Africa's cruelest civil wars, Peter Dut and Santino
Chuor survived lion attacks and militia gunfire to reach a refugee camp in
Kenya along with thousands of other children. From there, remarkably, they
were chosen to come to America. Safe at last from physical danger and
hunger, a world away from home, they find themselves confronted with the
abundance and alienation of contemporary American suburbia. Join a
post-screening discussion with the director, Megan Mylan and Santino Majok
Chuor, one of the subjects of the film. Directed by Megan Mylan and Jon
Shenk. Introduction by the director, Megan Mylan 2004, 35mm, in English
and Dinka with English subtitles, 87 minutes.

Free Matinee Screenings: Thursday February 23 and Friday February 24, 9:30
am. Matinee screenings are open to all audiences and are ideal for
students in grades 9-12.

Megan Mylan, director of Lost Boys and Santino Majok Chuor, one of the
subjects of the film are available for a limited number of outreach
activities including discussions, talks, and presentations with young
people at your site or at the Walker on Thursday, Feb. 23 and Friday, Feb.
24 in the afternoons.

Presented in partnership with Intermedia Arts.  To schedule for a group of
10 or more, e-mail your request to education.resources [at] walkerart.org. Or
call 612-375-7609.  If you are interested in arranging outreach activities
for your group, please contact Kiyoko Sims at 612 375-7543 or
kiyoko.sims [at] walkeart.org.

On-line classroom study guides and resources for Lost Boys of Sudan:
http://www.lostboysfilm.com/learn.html. Location: Walker Art Center, 1750
Hennepin Avenue, Mpls MN 55403


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

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Black/fball/film 2.23 7pm

Playing for Keeps
tpt17 Thursday, Feb. 23 at 7PM
tpt2 Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 11PM

The film follows the challenges facing several African-American football
players and their coach as they struggle to overcome obstacles on the
field and in the classroom. Fitz Hill, one of only four African-American
head football coaches at Division I-A schools, arrived at San Jose State
University in 2001 pledging to combine football and academic achievement.
The documentary traces Hill's tenure as he attempts to encourage players
from inner-city, high-crime neighborhoods. Over the next four years, the
coach and team are confronted by a losing record on the field, and apathy
and opposition of the football program.


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

From: John Kolstad <jkolstad [at] millcitymusic.com>
Subject: Papa John/Clint 2.23 7:30pm

Papa John Kolstad and Clint Hoover In Concert at the Ginkgo

Nationally known recording artist and performer, Papa John Kolstad will be
joined in concert by Clint Hoover, virtuoso harmonica player, Thursday,
February 23, 7:30pm at The Ginkgo Coffee House, 721 N. Snelling Ave, St
Paul, 651/645-2647. The evening will be recorded live for a future CD
release.  Cover $10 Adv - $12 at the Door.

This will be a rare performance by two of the Twin Cities best players of
"down-home" acoustic blues, folk and fun swing. The Coffee House - Concert
format will allow this seasoned duo to perform a repertoire with a subtly
and beauty that other formats do not allow. If you like blues, 12 string
guitar and harmonica, and a thoroughly entertaining evening, this is an
event not to miss.

Papa John, a fine singer, will perform primarily on 12 string guitar,
which has been John's primary instrument for 40 + years. Papa John's
finger picking on the 12 string is very accomplished, unique among today's
musicians, but solidly based in tradition.

Clint Hoover is one of the preeminent harmonica players in America today.
He is truly world class. He is one of the few masters of both the diatonic
harmonica (blues harp) and the chromatic harmonica (tin sandwich). Clint's
playing is brilliant, melodic and very lyrical. His solos are show
stoppers.

The music at this event will be excellent, subtle and masterfully
performed, punctuated with stories, anecdotes, and humor. Join them and be
part of the live recording.

For reservations call 651/645-2647.


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

From: leslie reindl <alteravista [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: 9-11 scam/CTV 2.23 8:30pm

Thurs Feb 23, 8:30pm St. Paul cable SPNN channel 15:  Altera Vista
presents "Loose Change: A Documentary on 9/11."  Produced by Dylan Avery.
Visit www.loosechange911.com for more information.


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

The US and the Nazis
By Nikos Raptis
ZNet Commentary
February 22, 2006
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-02/11raptis.cfm

In previous Commentaries I mentioned that: "Of course it rests with me to
prove that the comparison of the US to the Nazis is not an exaggeration."
Recent events deferred the analysis of this statement. Finally, here it
is:

Let us start at the top: "The Fuehrer told me then that the simplest thing
to do would be to take as example the United States of America, where the
head of the state is at the same time also the head of the government.
Thus following the example of the United States, we combined the position
of the head of the state with the head of the government, and he called
himself Fuehrer of the German people and Reich Chancellor of the German
Reich." (Robert E.Conot, "Justice at Nuremberg", Harper & Row, New York,
1983, p. 333)

The words in the above quote were uttered by Hermann Goering during his
testimony, on March 13, 1946, before the Nuremberg Tribunal.

The head of a state used to be the King. Today a King or a President of a
Republic is mostly a figurehead. However, Hitler chose the US President as
his "head of state"-model. That, in itself, is quite revealing. That the
US President is a real "leader" or a real "commander" of the American
people, not a figurehead, cannot be disputed. The verb "fuehren" in German
means to "lead" or to "command". So, Hitler chose for himself the role of
the "Fuehrer" (leader or commander) of the German people.

One can ignore the words of Goering (and of Hitler) and (of course) ignore
the above brief analysis. What one cannot ignore is that W. Bush is an
uncommonly arrogant and violent "leader" whom, according to his loyal
legal underlings, no one can touch, no matter what he does (they call it
the theory of "unitary executive") or he can ignore any law he does not
like (they call it "signing statement").

"Hitler ... made himself the unilateral arbiter of the Geneva Convention,
and declared null and void whatever section was not convenient to him".
This was written in 1983 (Conot, p. 308). It is easy, today, to find a
similar statement about W. Bush even in the mainstream US press. It seems
that the gang around him and his "loyal" underlings are bent to ruthlessly
exploit the shibboleth that a war president has a "blank check" to do as
he likes, three quarters of a century after Hitler.

[Note: The "loyalty" of underlings to their political leaders is morally
an extremely low point in human behavior. Hitler describing contemptuously
his underlings said: "Have you noticed how people tremble, how they try to
say what will please me?"  The loyalty of Condoleezza Rice, of Carl Rove,
etc, to W. Bush is a typical example of what Hitler meant.]

Now, moving to a level immediately below the top we discover a surprising
list:

1. Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974), Hitler's Youth Leader and Governor of
Vienna during World War II, was responsible for the deportation of 65,000
Jews from Vienna to Poland and to their death. Schirach was 3/4 American.
His paternal grandfather, emigrated from Germany, had served in the Union
Army during the Civil War, had been selected as one of the honorary
pallbearers at Lincoln's funeral and had married into the wealthy Norris
family of America. His mother, also an American, whose ancestors included
two signatories of the the Declaration of Independence, was the daughter
of a New York lawyer. The Nuremberg Tribunal condemned Schirach in 1946 to
20 years imprisonment for crimes against humanity, which he served out.

2. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (1877-1970) was the financial architect
of the Nazis who directed the preparations for Hitler's war. He was
brought up in the US where his parents had emigrated and his father became
an American citizen. His two middle names derived from the famous editor
of the New York "Tribune". At the Nuremberg Tribunal he was charged and
found guilty but was acquitted, in spite of the protests of the Soviet
judge, since the rearmament was not cosidered criminal in itself. However,
a de-Nazification court sentenced Schacht to eight years' labour camp as a
"Major Offender". A sentence that he did not serve.

3. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (1870-1950) was a German armaments
tycoon who was appointed by Hitler as "Fuehrer of the Reich Estate of
German Industry". Krupp's father, Gustav Halbach, was a member of a
German-American family of coal mining entrepreneurs with properties in
Ruhr and in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Gustav Halbach spent his early years
in Pennsylvania and married the daughter of a prominent Civil War hero,
Colonel Henry Bohlen. In 1906, the Keiser selected Gustav as the consort
of Bertha Krupp, heiress to the Krupp fortune. Their son, Alfried
(1907-1967) was made "Fuehrer of the German Armament Industry" by Hitler
and used hundreds of thousands of slave laborers from concentration camps
in his factories.  At Nuremberg, the elder Krupp was indicted as a major
war criminal, however he did not stand trial because of his "physical and
mental condition". His son, Alfried, was sentenced (in 1948) to twelve
years' imprisonment. He served only three years.

4. Charles "Chip" Eustis Bohlen (1904-1974) was a second cousin of
Alfried's but also was working in the White House as President F.D.
Roosevelt's liaison with the State Department and as an expert in Soviet
affairs, while Alfried was helping Hitler in his humanitarian endeavours.

5. Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893-1046) was Hitler's Minister of Foreign
Affairs from 1938 to 1945. After he studied languages at Metz and Grenoble
he spent four years in Canada as an immigrant occupied in business. He was
the first of the defendents to be hanged at Nuremberg.

6. Luise Jodl was wife of Alfred Jodl, Hitler's closest military adviser
and Chief of the Operations Staff. Her maternal grandfather had been
British. Alfred Jodl was hanged at Nuremberg. Jodl's deputy, Walther
Warlimont, was married to the daughter of Paula Anhaeuser-Busch of the St.
Louis brewing family. He was sentenced in 1948 to life in prison.

7. Constantin Freiherr von Neurath (1873-1956), a German aristocrat, was
German Foreign Minister from 1932 to 1938. Subsequently he was appointed
as Hitler's man in Czechoslovakia. Also, he was a friend of Queen Mary of
England. At Nuremberg he was found guilty of war crimes, crimes against
peace and crimes against humanity. In 1946 he was sentenced to 15 years,
imprisonment. He served 8 years.

The Nazi defendants at Nuremberg were 22. Of these defendants, according
to the above list, about one third were related by blood, marriage, or
otherwise to Americans (or other Anglos). Was this a diabolical
statistical anomaly? Does this have any significance that deserves some
kind of scrutiny? A general comment could be that at this level of the
Nazi or American elites nationality is of no great importance. The members
of this elite grow up and live in a separate and rather homogeneous
universe. However, that this "Americanism" (acquired through blood, etc)
did not prevent the evolvement of these individuals to Nazis and finally
to the fate at Nuremberg should not be overlooked.

This Nuremberg "surprise" prompts us to reverse the question: what was the
influence of "Germanism" on "Americanism"? There are two principal sources
of influence of the Germanic peoples on the population of America. The
German immigrants in America and the inundation of America with Nazis,
starting a few days after the death of Hitler.

Let us start with the immigrants. The year of 1848 was a year of social
revolution all over Europe. There were revolts in France, Italy, Austria,
Hungary, England, Ireland, Switzerland, and Germany. The revolts were
crushed by the various kings, Emperors, etc. In Germany after the revolt
failed tens of thousands of the revolted Germans fled to America. These
immigrants are known as the "Forty-eighters".  As a matter of fact, the
leaders of the German revolt were greeted in America (in St. Louis, etc)
as heroes through mass rallies. Of them, F. Hecker, F. Sigel, and A.
Willich, later became Union officers during the Civil War. ("Germans for a
Free Missouri", S. Rowan & N. Primm, U. of Missouri Press, 1983, p. 24).
These German freethinkers were a kind of "protosocialists" who had a dream
to "enlist the United States as an agent of world revolution or as the
center of a world republic" and they considred the American Revolution as
"the best remaining hope for a redemption of mankind".  (Rowan, p. 25 and
p. 30). Of course, we know that not only this remained a dream but it
turned into a nightmare of imperial proportions through the efforts of the
US elites.

The contribution of the German-American immigrants to the advance of
humanitarian radicalism not only in the US but all over the world should
be honored (and should be researched dilligently by historians). The
German Haymarket martyrs, the radical Germans of Missouri, of
Pennsylvania, of Wisconsin, of Texas, etc as protosocialists were a breed
worthy of great respect.

If the Germany and the US of the mid-19th century era had these seeds of
radicalism how come they ended up with respective reactionary societies?
The case of Germany has been analyzed extensively in the post-WWII era.
The "volk syndrom" (or one could say the "chosen people syndrom") was a
significant factor. The US case has also been investigated in relation to
the birth of the "corporation", the invention of the "scientific
propaganda" and the barbaric destruction of the labor movement. Also, the
Nazis planted in the US since 1945 (see below) had a significant
contribution. It seems that both societies have followed parallel paths
towards the evolution into very violent states. Germany's trajectory
peaked in the 1930s and ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Nazis. The US
case is still pending.

Hitler commited suicide on April 30, 1945. The surrender of the Nazis was
signed on May 8, 1945. Eleven days later, on May 19, "a military transport
plane with windows blackened to hide its notorious cargo..." brought in
Washington, D.C. the first Nazis, Herbert Wagner and his two assistants
"and then kept [them] hidden from immigration authorities". ("Secret
Agenda", Linda Hunt, St. Martin's Press, 1991, p. 6, 7).

The true number of Nazis planted in the US is impossible to know until the
CIA opens its files. There were various programs with assorted code-names
("Overcast", "Paperclip", etc) designed to smuggle Nazi scientists (by the
thousands) and (inexplicably) Nazi SS regulars (by the tens of thousands).
It seems that the US militaries who were recruiting the Nazis after 1945
considered the SS as somthing similar to the US Marines, so they did their
utmost to send them to the US.

Most of the older Nazis (scientists, etc) went straight to the US centers
of power. Take the case of General Walter Dornberger. He was one of those
responsible for the death of "At least 20,000 prisoners - many of them
talented engineers who had been singled out for missile production... -
[and who] were killed through starvation, disease, or execution..."
Dornberger, after working for the US Air Force, went into the private
industry and "eventually rose to be a vice-president in the Bell
Aerosystems Division of the Textron Corporation... He died peacefully in
June 1980." (Christopher Simpson, "Blowback", Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988,
p. 27, 28).

The younger SS Nazis, who were brought to the US with their families (!),
given free passage, board, emergency funds (with taxpayers money), and
assisted to find jobs (at a time when American engineers were laid off),
dispersed in the lower levels of the American society.

Did these Nazis, planted in the US society, influence it?  The US
government's "use of Nazis and collaborators in intelligence programs has
left a mark on the life in the United States itself. This impact is what
is known in spy jargon as "blowback," meaning unexpected - and negative -
effects at home that result from covert operations overseas." (Simpson, p.
5).

Is not 9/11 a typical "blowback"? Is not bin Laden a "result from covert
operations" in Afghanistan?

"It had taken the greatest war in history to put a stop to an unspeakable
[Nazi] evil. And now the cutting edge of that nightmare was being
transplanted to America." Words of Linda Hunt in her book "Secret Agenda"
of 1991 (p. 21).

[Note: It would be interesting if some Ph. D candidates, or young
journalists research the expansion of the original Nazis and their
families in the US society and also assess their political attitudes,
etc.]

But, what is Nazism? The most accurate answer to that is found in the four
Indictment Counts of the Nuremberg Tribunal. The Counts: 1. Conspiracy to
commit the crimes enumerated in the other three Counts. 2. Crimes against
peace, i.e. the planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression. 3.
War crimes, i.e. violations of the laws of war. 4. Crimes against
humanity, i.e. exterminations, deportations, and genocide.

Of these counts number 2 is considered the most important. "By 1939, the
peoples of the civilized world had come to believe that the launching of
aggressive war was a crime not only morally wrong, but one that warranted
the most severe punishment. (Bradley F. Smith, "Reaching Judgment at
Nuremberg", Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1977, p. 17).

Those were the counts for the Nazis. Now, let us apply them (very
brieflly) to the US: Count 2: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Grenada, Haiti,
Panama, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan Iraq I, Iraq II (not to add Greece
with 160,000 killed through a US proxy army in 1947-9). Count 3: Vietnam
"agent orange", Kosovo DU, Iraq I, Fallujah..., torture all over the panet
since 1947. Count 4: Genocides in Indonesia and East Timore. Count 1:
Conspiracy with the "poodle", i.e. Britain. Ignoring all counts except
number 3 (about wars of aggression) we end up with "the most severe
punishment" for W. Bush and his underlings.

One has to resist the temptation to delete all the text above the
enumeration of the counts and leave only the text presenting the
correspondence of the Nuremberg counts to the US acts in order to show
that the comparison of the US to the Nazis is not an exaggeration.

Finally, the fitting way to close this Commentary is by quoting the words
of two persons that are worthy of great respect:

- "We have to ask ouselves whether what is needed in the United States is
dissent - or denazification." (Noam Chomsky, "American Power and the New
Mandarins", Pantheon Books, 1969, p. 16).

- Irmgard A. Hunt was only 3-and-a-half in October 1937 when Hitler had
singled her out to sit on his knee. Her parents were living in
Berchtesgaden, Hitler's village, and were "both enthusiastic supporters of
the Nazis". Sixty years later, now an American since 1958, Irmgard A. Hunt
wrote a book about Berchtesgaden: "On Hitler's Mountain".

In an interview to Michael Little of the "Washington City Paper" (June 24,
2005, p. 25) she says: "Karl Rove has all the skills of Dr. Goebbels and
then some. It's just amazing how people have stopped questioning the
reasons for the war, how people will believe there were weapons of mass
destruction. It's absolutely stunning how you can brain-wash people by
fine-tuning the ideology... Hitler said, 'I can't take on this job unless
I have complete power...' And it's a bit like the emergency powers after
9/11... The American people had better watch what they're signing onto."

[Stolen elections in 2000 and 2004, 9-11, invasion of Iraq, torture,
shredding the social safety net, spying, plans vs Iran & Venezuela... etc
convince me that there is a hard core of fascism in US government,
responding to fascist corporations and ruling class. They have dropped the
mask and are going for total power. Looking back, it is easy to see, now,
that it has been around for many decades, held in check until the USSR
folded. I now find it easy to believe it responsible for many of our
famous assassinations. The American people may be good, but the ruling
class is not. Best to act now, while we still can. Doing nothing until
2008, and then doing Hillary, is not going to cut it. Nor is backing
candidates under the thumb of corporate money. -ed]


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

Polls Show Many Americans are Simply Dumber Than Bush
By Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11696.htm

01/29/06 "ICH" -- -- Two recent polls, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll
and a New York Times/CBS News poll, indicate why Bush is getting away with
impeachable offenses. Half of the US population is incapable of acquiring,
processing and understanding information.

Much of the problem is the media itself, which serves as a disinformation
agency for the Bush administration. Fox "News" and right-wing talk radio
are the worst, but with propagandistic outlets setting the standard for
truth and patriotism, all of the media is affected to some degree.

Despite the media's failure, about half the population has managed to
discern that the US invasion of Iraq has not made them safer and that the
Bush administration's assault on civil liberties is not a necessary
component of the war on terror. The problem, thus, lies with the absence
of due diligence on the part of the other half of the population.

Consider the New York Times/CBS poll. Sixty-four percent of the
respondents have concerns about losing civil liberties as a result of
anti-terrorism measures put in place by President Bush. Yet, 53 percent
approve of spying without obtaining court warrants "in order to reduce the
threat of terrorism."

Why does any American think that spying without a warrant has any more
effect in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant? The
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Bush is disobeying, requires
the executive to obtain from a secret panel of federal judges a warrant
for spying on Americans. The purpose of the law is to prevent a president
from spying for partisan political reasons. The law permits the president
to spy first (for 72 hours) and then come to the court for permission. As
the court meets in secret, spying without a warrant is no more effective
in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant.

Instead of explaining this basic truth, the media has played along with
the Bush administration and formulated the question as a trade-off between
civil liberties and protection from terrorists. This formulation is false
and nonsensical. Why does the media enable the Bush administration to
escape accountability for illegal behavior by putting false and misleading
choices before the people?

The LA Times/Bloomberg poll has equally striking anomalies. Only 43
percent said they approved of Bush's performance as president. But a
majority believe Bush's policies have made the US more secure.

It is extraordinary that anyone would think Americans are safer as a
result of Bush invading two Muslim countries and constantly threatening
two more with military attack. The invasions and threats have caused a
dramatic swing in Muslim sentiment away from the US.Prior to Bush's
invasion of Iraq, a large majority of Muslims had a favorable opinion of
America. Now only about 5 percent do.

A number of US commanders in Iraq and many Middle East experts have told
the American public that the three year-old war in Iraq is serving both to
recruit and to train terrorists for al Qaeda, which has grown many times
its former size. Moreover, the US military has concluded that al Qaeda has
succeeded in having its members elected to the new Iraqi government.

We have seen similar developments both in Egypt and in Pakistan. In the
recent Egyptian elections, the radical Muslim Brotherhood, despite being
suppressed by the Egyptian government, won a large number of seats. In
Pakistan elements friendly or neutral toward al Qaeda control about half
of the government. In Iraq, Bush's invasion has replaced secular Sunnis
with Islamist Shia allied with Iran.

And now with the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian election, we see the
total failure of Bush's Middle Eastern policy. Bush has succeeded in
displacing secular moderates from Middle Eastern governments and replacing
them with Islamic extremists. It boggles the mind that this disastrous
result makes Americans feel safer!

What does it say for democracy that half of the American population is
unable to draw a rational conclusion from unambiguous facts?

Americans share this disability with the Bush administration. According to
news reports, the Bush administration is stunned by the election victory
of the radical Islamist Hamas Party, which swept the US-financed Fatah
Party from office. Why is the Bush administration astonished?

The Bush administration is astonished because it stupidly believes that
hundreds of millions of Muslims should be grateful that the US has
interfered in their internal affairs for 60 years, setting up colonies and
puppet rulers to suppress their aspirations and to achieve, instead,
purposes of the US government.

Americans need desperately to understand that 95 percent of all Muslim
terrorists in the world were created in the past three years by Bush's
invasion of Iraq.

Americans need desperately to comprehend that if Bush attacks Iran and
Syria, as he intends, terrorism will explode, and American civil liberties
will disappear into a thirty year war that will bankrupt the United
States.

The total lack of rationality and competence in the White House and the
inability of half of the US population to acquire and understand
information are far larger threats to Americans than terrorism.

America has become a rogue nation, flying blind, guided only by ignorance
and hubris. A terrible catastrophe awaits.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan
administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal
editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is co-author
of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at:
paulcraigroberts [at] yahoo.com


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

Pentagon quietly builds up South American bases
By Teresa Gutierrez
http://www.workers.org/2006/world/pentagon-0223/

At the very same time that the working class and progressive movement in
Latin America is rapidly shifting to the left, invigorating
anti-imperialist sentiment around the world, Washington is quietly and
ominously militarizing the Americas.

From the U.S./Mexican border to many parts farther south, U.S. imperialism
is setting up more and more military bases throughout the region and
stealthily sending ever more U.S. troops and mercenaries to Latin America.

Under the guise of fighting the so-called drug war or seeking "Al Qaeda
terrorist cells," Washington's real intention is to prepare to overcome
the rising movements against U.S. imperialism that are sweeping the
region.

Washington's intense escalation of military force is extremely dangerous
for the oppressed people of the Americas and should be energetically
fought by the anti-war movement in the United States.

As Conn Hallinan wrote last November in Foreign Policy in Focus, "Indeed,
it is feeling a little like the run-up to the sixties and seventies, when
Washington-sponsored military dictatorships dominated most of the
continent, and (secret) armies ruled the night."

                  The growing U.S. military threat

Although it only recently came to light, last year the Bush administration
sent 400-500 U.S. troops to Paraguay, alarming many Latin Americans.

This action takes place within the context of a growing number of U.S.
military bases built in the region in the last several years, and within
the context of Plan Colombia, a $3-billion-plus military initiative for
Colombia, was passed under the Clinton Administration. Plan Colombia is
the military wing of the stalled Free Trade Agreement of the Americas
(FTAA).

What cannot be wrested from the people of Latin America by its operators
in three-piece suits, Washington clearly aims to steal through its agents
in military fatigues.

There are approximately 25 known U.S. military bases or land-based radar
stations in Latin America and the Caribbean. These include military bases
in Guantanamo, Cuba; Comalapa, El Salvador; Reina Beatriz, Aruba; Fort
Buchanan and Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico; Hato Rey, Curacao; Manta,
Ecuador and Soto Cano, Honduras.

In January 2006, Cuban Radio Havana revealed that Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld had authorized the expansion of U.S. military bases in the summer
of 2005. These expanded military bases were called CSL's--Cooperative
Security Locations --and set up at the Mariscal Estigarribia airbase in
Paraguay and elsewhere.

According to Radio Havana, these bases, while staffed by a relatively
small number of troops, "have the capability to ramp up military
operations at short notice."

Developments in Paraguay are alarming progressives across that country's
borders in Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, where Indigenous peasant leader
Evo Morales recently took office as president.

According to an article in the January Political Affairs, the Bush
administration in December 2004 canceled $330 million in aid to several
South American countries because they had refused to grant U.S. soldiers
immunity from prosecution for crimes committed in those countries.

Paraguay did sign the immunity agreement in a secret session of its
congress on May 26, 2005, authorizing an 18-month stay for U.S. soldiers,
which can be extended repeatedly.

The U.S. troops that arrived in Paraguay last July 1 are only 120 miles
from Bolivia at a base near Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay.

The base has a runway long enough to accommodate large military transport
planes such as B-52 bombers and Galaxy C-5 cargo planes. It also has
barracks space for 16,000 troops, a huge radar system and vast hangers.

Prominent Paraguayan journalist and human rights activist Alfredo Boccia
Paz stated recently that "immunity from prosecution for U.S. soldiers,
extension of their stay, and joint military exercises all provide the
groundwork for the eventual installation of a U.S. base in Paraguay."

Furthermore, last July a high-powered meeting of Bush administration
officials met with Paraguay's vice president.

Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Noriega met with Paraguay Vice
President Luis Castiglioni and concluded that "experts would soon be going
to Paraguay to develop a planning seminar on systems for national
security."

The FBI also announced that in 2006 it would open an office in Paraguay.

The U.S. troops stationed in Paraguay are already up to no good. The
Southern Command, according to several sources including Radio Havana,
announced an upcoming "saber rattling" military exercise to take place in
Paraguay called "Fuerzas Comando 06 (Operation Commando Force 06)."

Stan Goff, a former sergeant in the U.S. Special Forces, often points out
in his denunciations of U.S. intervention that it can be misleading to
judge the impact of a U.S. intervention only by the number of U.S. troops
involved. If these troops are Special Forces, for example, they can train
local mercenaries or pave the way for thousands of ground troops.

Bush administration officials deny that Mariscal Estigarribia will become
or is a U.S. military base.

                           Manta, Ecuador

In 2001, the Pentagon came under criticism for opening a military base in
Manta, Ecuador. The base is located 20 minutes from war-torn Colombia's
borders. Those in Colombia who resist neocolonial domination there
consider the base opening an act of war. Many U.S. Congress members also
opposed Manta and tried to block the Manta project.

The first thing the base in Manta housed was E-3 AWACS surveillance
planes. According to the Washington Post (Jan. 25, 2001), with the troops
and the planes, "Manta will become the main hub for U.S. surveillance
flights over the vast cocaine-producing areas of Latin America."

The U.S. pays no rent at Manta. It signed the deal with a former
Ecuadorian president, Jamil Mahuad, who fled to exile in the U.S. and was
under indictment for abuse of power.

One year before Ecuador opened the Manta base it adopted the U.S. dollar
as the national currency.

                         A rose is a rose

In the usual Pentagon and Washington double talk, government officials
have taken to doctoring up the language of the militarization of Latin
America to make it palatable for the U.S. public.

In the case of both Manta, Ecuador, in 2001 and Mariscal Estigarribia,
Paraguay now, government officials called the bases "Forward Operating
Locations" or "Cooperative Security Locations" to avoid calling them
bases.

Washington has mislabeled the militarization of Latin America as part of
the fight against drugs, just as some of the media have mislabeled the
Minutemen militarizing the U.S.-Mexican border as freedom fighters.

In reality, the strengthening of military bases and the sending of U.S.
troops is aimed to subvert the rising revolutionary movements in Latin
America. It is aimed against Presidents Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo
Morales in Bolivia and at Fidel Castro in Cuba.

But the tide for an end to colonial and imperialist domination has turned
in favor of the oppressed and no military base can turn it back.

This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License. Workers World,
55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011 Email: ww [at] workers.org <mailto:ww [at] workers.org>
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe [at] workersworld.net
<mailto:wwnews-subscribe [at] workersworld.net>

[If BushCo withdraws substantially from Iraq, it will free up the military
to invade South America. We could hope the Dem Party would save us, but
since they won't, we have to rely on third world countries and peoples to
maintain democracy freedom progress and a livable ecology.  -ed]


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

 Dick "Tater" Cheney
 wants to peel off their skins
 and make the French fry.

 Dick "Liquor" Cheney
 worries he will get drunk and
 do something same-sex.

 Workers of the world,
 arise! You have nothing to
 lose but your Cheneys!


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