Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 03.28.06

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     03.28.06

1. Zimmermann court   3.28 9am
2. Housing day        3.28 9am
3. Cam Gordon meet    3.28 9:30am
4. Wi-fi Mpls         3.28 5:30pm
5. Salon free-for-all 3.28 6:30
6. Homeless/film      3.28 7pm
7. Sami/Iraq          3.28 7pm Little Falls MN
8. Campaign finance   3.28 7pm
9. Afghan massacre    3.28 8pm

10. CCHT building     3.29 7:30am
11. Battered women    3.29 12noon
12. Feminine poverty  3.29 12noon StCloud MN
13. Landmine removal  3.29 5pm
14. Anti-Apartheid    3.29 6:30pm
15. Mossad/Nazi/film  3.29 6:45pm
16. DFA book club     3.29 7pm
17. Bicking/Iraq      3.29 7pm
18. Clean water       3.29 7pm
19. Sami/Iraq         3.29 7:30pm

20. Amy Ihlan   - Roseville mayor floats gag rule [ed head]
21. Paul Street - "Realism" of the do-nothing liberal-left intelligentsia
22. Johns Hopkins - Cancer news
23. ed            - Anti-stadium bumper stickers

--------1 of 23--------

Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:17:18 -0600
From: Dean Zimmermann <deanzimm [at] mn.rr.com>
Subject: Zimmermann court 3.28 9am

The persecution of Zimmermann

Tomorrow, Tuesday March 28th is a motion hearing in the case of the United
States vs Dean Zimmermann.  The hearing is at 9am, courtroom 9E, in the
Mpls Federal Court House.  The [purpose of the hearing is for each side to
make various pre-trial motions.  Dean's lawyer, Dan Scott, will probably
make about 16 motions of various kinds.  It would be good to have some
supporters there, just so they know that Dean has not been forgotten.

Dean Zimmermann deanzimm [at] mn.rr.com C: 612-388-1311 H: 612-724-3888 2200
Clinton Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404

--
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 12:39:29 -0600
From: Dave Bicking <dave [at] colorstudy.com>

Tuesday:   (March 28)
9-9:30am Next step in Dean Zimmermann's case: filing of preliminary
motions, at Mpls Federal Court House.  This will be just a short hearing
(the main trial won't be until later in the summer).  This is not as
important as his first hearing in court, when he pled not guilty.  But it
is likely to gain some news coverage, so having some supporters there
would be good from that standpoint.  Plus, it would be a nice act of
solidarity for a man who has done so much for the city, for the Green
Party, and the people.


--------2 of 23--------

From: Joanna Dornfeld <jdornfeld [at] mhponline.org>
Subject: Housing day 3.28 9am

Dear HousingMinnesota Supporter,

You understand the challenges thousands of Minnesotans face each day to
afford their housing.  Imagine the policy change that could happen if
policy makers walked in your shoes.  Join a growing movement of people who
are working to ensure all Minnesotans have a safe, decent affordable place
to live.

The first step to participate in the movement is to attend Housing
Solutions for a Stronger Minnesota Lobby Day March 28 to inform
legislators about the important affordable housing and homelessness policy
decisions that are before them.

It is crucial that you register today so we reach our goal of 500
participants.

To register, reply to this email and include your name, home address,
phone number and email address.  We use this information to schedule
meetings with your legislators and to provide you additional information
prior to Lobby Day.  For more information and to register online go to
www.housingminnesota.org/lobbyday.

Schedule:
9am Check in at St. Paul Armory, 600 Cedar Street (across the mall
from the State Capitol)
9:45-10:30am. Training/prepare for lobby visits
11am. Rally in Capitol Rotunda
11:30am-2pm.  Lobby visits

We look forward to working with you to end homelessness and ensuring all
Minnesotans are affordably housed.

Joanna Dornfeld Field Manager HousingMinnesota (651) 649-1710 ext. 108


--------3 of 23-------

From: Cam Gordon <CamGordon333 [at] msn.com>
Subject: Cam Gordon meet 3.28 9:30am

Office Hours:  I will be holding office hours every Tuesday morning in the
Second Ward from 9:30-11am.  The locations will rotate as follows, so that
I can meet with residents in their own neighborhoods:

Fourth Tuesdays:
Seward / Cooper neighborhoods
Seward Tower East Advantage Center, 2910 E Franklin Ave


-------4 of 23--------

From: Dave Bicking <dave [at] colorstudy.com>
Subject: Wi-fi Mpls 3.28 5:30pm

Tuesday:   (March 28)
5:30-7pm Mpls Wi-Fi Roundtable with C-CANS (I don't remember what that
stands for) and the Alliance for Metro Stability.

These two groups will be the leaders in putting together the proposed
Community Benefits Agreement for the WiFi contract between the city and
the corporation that is chosen to provide WiFi access.  If you want to
have input into what should be in this agreement, this is the meeting you
should go to, and the groups you should be talking to.  At 2525 E.
Franklin #200. (Pizza & pop served.)


--------5 of 23--------

From: Patty Guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Salon free-for-all 3.28

Hi,  The Conversational Salon on Tuesday, March 28 will be an Open
Discussion.  Please come and share your views and listen to others.

Pax Salons ( http://justcomm.org/pax-salon )
are held (unless otherwise noted in advance):
Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
Mad Hatter's Tea House,
943 W 7th, St Paul, MN

Salons are free but donations encouraged for program and treats.
Call 651-227-3228 or 651-227-2511 for information.


--------6 of 23--------

From: m1r3201 [at] aol.com
Subject: Homeless/film 3.28 7pm
Film/Viigil re: homelessness

A national call for sleepouts and vigils on March 31st to honor those who
are or have experienced homelessness, and also to call for increased
efforts to end poverty and homelessness has been put forth by many
organization including the National Coalition for the Homeless, Call for
Renewal, Students Mobilized to End Hunger and Homelessness.

In response to this call there will be a vigil in the Kingfield
Neighborhood anchored by Margaret Hastings...(a Kingfield resident for the
past 15 years) and Guy Gambill

Below are the specifics:

1. Tuesday, March 28 at 7pm: a free showing of "Illegal to be Homeless"- a
half hour documentary regarding the criminalization of homelessness
specifically focused on Mpls.

The film showing will be at the Martin Luther King Jr. Park Building (42nd
and Nicollet).
The film showing will be followed by question and answer and information on
the March 31st vigil.

2. March 31st--- A vigil from 7p.m. March 31st to 8a.m. April 1st on the
sidewalk, in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Park Building. This will
not take place in the park itself.

This is not a sleepout. If you come, please note: please do not bring
tents, or anything that will block the sidewalks. Bring whatever will make
you comfortable on the sidewalk, i.e. sleeping bags to sit on or stay warm
in, etc.

Feel free to stop by anytime during the vigil...for a minute, an hour, or
overnight.

The MPD have been apprised that this vigil is meant to be quiet,
respectful and will not disrupt our neighbors across from the park.

FFI- Margaret Hastings at m1r32-1 [at] aol.com
Guy Gambill at Council on Crime and Justice Advocacy Coordinator 822 South
3rd Street, Suite 100 Minneapolis, MN 55415 Office: 612-348-7874 Direct:
612-596-7628 Fax:612--348-7872 gambillg [at] crimeandjustice.org
www.crimeandjustice.org


--------7 of 23--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Sami/Iraq 3.28 7pm Little Falls MN

Tuesday, 3/28, 7 pm, returning briefly from 6 months in Iraq, former Twin
Cities resident and now Muslim Peacemaker Sami Rasouli speaks at Little
Falls Carnegie Library, Little Falls.  jodendahl [at] fslf.org


--------8 of 23--------

From: clay0092 <clay0092 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Campaign finance 3.28 7pm

Tuesday (3/28)
Campaign Finance Reform Debate, presented by Democracy Matters and the
Campus Conservative Cultural Program, U of M Parliamentary Debate Society
7 pm, President's Room, Coffman Memorial Union

How is big money effecting elections in Minnesota and what can be done
about it?


-------9 of 23--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Afghan massacre 3.28 8pm

This is an amazing film I saw at the Babylon Arts Collective before it
burned.  It is the horrible and amazing story of what happened to those
who surrendered to the United Nations during the U.S. invasion of
Afghanistan and were turned over to the Northern Alliance.  Although it
made the Newsweek cover at one point, it remains a complete secret in
plain sight. -CU

Hamline University Students FOR Peace invites you to watch "Afghan
Massacre:  the convey of death" on March 28th from 8-10pm in Drew Science
Room 118.  Drew Science is a brick buildling in the middle of campus
between Englewood and Hewitt on the East side of Snelling.  The movie is
an import from England that addresses the US military's involvement in
Afghanistan and US treatment of prisoners of war.  It is free and open to
the public, so bring your friends!


--------10 of 23--------

From: Philip Schaffner <PSchaffner [at] ccht.org>
Subject: CCHT building 3.29 7:30am

Learn how Central Community Housing Trust is responding to the affordable
housing shortage in the Twin Cities. Please join us for a 1-hour Building
Dreams presentation.

	St. Paul Sessions:
	Mar 29 at 7:30a * Apr 19 at 4:30p

We are also happy to present Building Dreams at your organization, place
of worship, or business. Space is limited, please register online at:
www.ccht.org/bd or call Philip Schaffner at 612-341-3148 x237
(pschaffner [at] ccht.org)


--------11 of 23--------

From: Bonnie [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: Battered women 3.29 12noon

Wednesday, March 29, noon, State Capitol Rotunda: Minnesota Coalition for
Battered Women, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Minnesota Indian
Women's Sexual Assault Coalition, and Minnesota Network on Abuse in Later
Life host 2006 Violence Against Women Action Day: Rally at the Capitol.
Includes the Memorial for the 2005 Femicide Victims and Sexual Assault
Victims.  Details at www.mcbw.org.


--------12 of 23--------

From: Bonnie [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: Feminine poverty 3.29 12noon StCloud MN

Wednesday, March 29: St. Cloud State University Women's Center Women on
Wednesday Series: Race and the Feminization of Poverty. Noon-1 PM. Free
and open to the public. Atwood Theatre. See contact info above.


--------13 of 23--------

From: MJShahidiusa [at] aol.com
Subject: Landmine removal 3.29 5pm

THE UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA and OLD WORLD ANTIQUES, INC.
invite you to attend a gathering to benefit the victims of landmines in
AFGHANISTAN:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 5-8pm, with Hors d'oeuvres and beverages.
4911 Excelsior Boulevard, St. Louis Park, MN 55416.
PLEASE RSVP at 952-929-1638.

Socialize while viewing authentic antique furniture, crafts and art work.

This year the ADOPT-A-MINEFIELD coalition is asking people around the world
to organize dinners, lunches or other events where invitees would be asked to
donate money for landmine removal. The Minnesota Division of the UNITED NATIONS
ASSOCIATION will hold a number of events during the year. We will continue to
remove landmines in Afghanistan which we have adopted as our minefield . For
additional information contact http://www.landmines.org/, or, call M. Jay
Shahidi at 612-328-1913. Thanks.


--------14 of 23--------

From: Madeleine Baran <madeleine.baran [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Anti-Apartheid 3.29 6:30pm

Noted Anti-Apartheid Activist and ANC Leader to Speak at Arise Bookstore

Minneapolis, MN March 7, 2006 -Arise Bookstore and Resource Center is
proud to host internationally acclaimed anti-apartheid activist and
African National Congress leader Ahmed Kathrada, for a free reading and
book signing on Wednesday, March 29th at 6:30pm.

Mr. Kathrada will be reading from Memoirs, his newly-published
autobiography, which details his struggles against apartheid South Africa,
his 18 years in prison, and his lessons for today's global activist
movement.

Arise Bookstore, a collectively-run progressive bookstore and resource
center, is located at: 2441 Lyndale Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55405.


--------15 of 23--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Mossad/Nazi/film 3.29 6:45pm

Wednesday, 3/29, 6:45pm, film "Walk on Water" about Mossad hit man trying
to track down Nazi Alfred Himmelman and values problems along the way,
Bell Museum, 10 Church St SE, Mpls.  www.mnfilmarts.org


--------16 of 23--------

From: Noelle Douglas <joyeux [at] visi.com>
Subject: DFA book club 3.29 7pm

DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA (DFA) BOOK CLUB
A monthly book group for progressives focused on political and social
issues.
Book:  End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs
Wednesday, March 29th at 7pm
Dunn Brothers Café, 2nd Floor Conference Room, 201 3rd Ave South,
Minneapolis


--------17 of 23--------

From: Dave Bicking <dave [at] colorstudy.com>
Subject: Bicking/Iraq 3.29 7pm

Wednesday, March 29, 7pm, in place of our regular meeting of T3 (Tackling
Torture at the Top), we will be hosting a second presentation by Dave
Bicking on the background and causes of the war on Iraq.

He will start by reviewing and wrapping up last week's theme which looked
at the intersection of the history of US involvement in Iraq, with the
current US strategy for global empire.  This will lead to a look at what
the US intends for the future of Iraq if the anti-war movement and the
Iraqi resistance are not successful.  He will discuss the integral role of
the US policy of torture in creating that continued control of Iraq.  He
will also address the questions brought up last time about the Iraqi
elections and the supposed progress of democracy, and how those are tied
into growing prospects for civil war.

At Center School, 2421 Bloomington Ave. S., Mpls (ring doorbell for
entrance)  Free, all are welcome, no need to have attended the previous
session. -Dave Bicking 612-276-1213


--------18 of 23--------

From: clay0092 <clay0092 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Clean water 3.29 7pm

Wednesday (3/29)
Protecting Minnesota's Clean Water Legacy, presented by EcoWatch
Speakers:  John Tuma, MEP and Patience Caso, Clean Water Action
7-8 pm, West Bank Auditorium, UMN
Learn about Minnesota's water quality and what the Clean Water Legacy bill
would do to improve our waters.


--------19 of 23--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Sami/Iraq 3.29 7:30pm

Wednesday, 3/29, 7:30 pm, returning briefly from 6 months in Iraq, former
Twin Cities resident and now Muslim Peacemaker Sami Rasouli speaks at
Henrita Academic Building, College of St Benedict.  mnolde [at] csbsju.edu


--------20 of 23--------

From: Amy Ihlan <amyihlan [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Roseville mayor floats gag rule [ed head]

Limit Council Agenda Items -- on agenda Monday night

Mayor Klausing has proposed a new policy for council members to place
issues on the council meeting agenda.  Currently, council members can add
agenda items if they are submitted by noon on the Wednesday before the
meeting.  Mayor Klausing proposes that agenda items must be submitted by
noon on the Wednesday before the previous council meeting.  This would
increase the notice time for agenda items from the current 5 days to at
least 12 days (or more when there is longer than one week between
meetings).

Mayor Klausing also argues that the council should be able to remove
proposed items from future agendas where the majority is not interested or
does not desire to pursue an issue, to prevent "a minority of the council
monopolizing the work of the council."  (See Mayor Klausing's memo in the
March 20 council packet.)

Some of you have asked me what I think about this proposal.  Here are my
concerns:

1.  Mayor Klausing has not shown there is any problem with the current
procedure allowing council members to place items on the agenda.

2.  If the council majority is able to remove requested agenda items in
advance, as this proposed new policy allows, council members in the
minority can be effectively blocked from even raising issues for council
discussion.

3.  This is not a "work load" issue as Mayor Klausing frames it, but a
basic issue of democracy, and the ability of council members to advocate
policies and represent points of view that the council majority disagrees
with or is not interested in pursuing.

4.  To the extent there are legitimate concerns about council members
having adequate chance to read materials and prepare for meetings, these
can be addressed by means other than delaying or limiting council members
from putting issues on the agenda.

If you have concerns or questions about Mayor Klausing's proposal, please
contact the council to express your views.  It is on the agenda for
tomorrow night (March 27).


[It has been extremely depressing over the last two years watching the
Developers-Uber-Alles Roseville City Council Gang of 3. No laws or plans
or procedures or promises or concerns for small business and citizens can
stop these self-appointed zealots for big boxes, tax giveaways, and
eminent domain land grabs. They act as if they can do anything they want,
laws be damned. Think of Bush's relation to his favorite corporations -
that's how the Gang of 3 is related to their favorite developers.
Everything for them, nothing for anyone else; the public be damned.

And now this. What a naked grab for power! All the better for the
developer suits to dance and remove our land air money small business
community life, perhaps to a quick dancehall beat, funny trombones roaring
as they steal yet one more batch of items. Lawlessness run rampant. No new
thing out here in Roseville. Just worse, more naked, going for the quick
kill, the big enchilada - so much to grab, so little time.

And Roseville is far from the only city or board so run. In Bush's
America, anything is permitted the powerful; laws mean nothing. This can't
last. Either the powerful will take all power, or we will take the country
back. We'd better get started. Cringing in the corner with Hillary and
Hillaryism ain't gonna do it - ed]


--------21 of 23--------

The "Realistic" Pessimism of the Do-Nothing Liberal-Left Intelligentsia
by Paul Street
www.dissidentvoice.org
March 24, 2006

Who will save us from the pessimistic, do-nothing "realism" of the
privileged and elitist "liberal left"?

"Racism Will Not be Solved"

Did you know that the problem of racism in America "is not going to be
solved?"  Efforts to address racial disparities in the United States are
now "all to no avail," according to a brilliant leading liberal-left
intellectual I recently met.

His opinion seems widely shared across the liberal intellectual class,
which goes to special lengths to cloak the deeply racialized nature of
contemporary social disparities they prefer to discuss in misleadingly
"color-blind" terms (for an especially graphic example, see Jeremy Travis,
But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry [New
York, NY: Urban Institute Press, 2005]).

"'Troops Out Now' is Sentimental Foolishness"

Did you know that the United States "has no choice" but to persist in
maintaining an imperial military presence in Iraq for a long period of
time? "Our" illegal occupation of that nation may be monumentally criminal
and murderous (responsible for the death of more than 100,000 Iraqis
according to responsible investigations) and expensive ("a trillion
dollars and counting" according to left-liberal New York Times columnist
Bob Herbert yesterday). It may, as widely predicted on the liberal left
(and in radical and some conservative quarters), be richly fueling
extremist Islamic terrorism within Iraq and the Middle East.

But "troops out now," liberal-left intellectuals lecture me, is an
"unrealistic," "irresponsible" and "sentimental" position because "all
Hell will break loose over there if we leave."  Yes, the withdrawal of
U.S. troops "will lead to civil war."

At the same time, the highbrow and left-liberal line I'm hearing runs, the
U.S. has an obligation to "help clean up the mess it made over there" by
"rebuilding Iraq," defeating the terrorists we helped spawn, and exporting
a measure of benevolent Western "democracy" to Iraq.

Furthermore, the "realist" left-liberal argument runs, there's no point in
trying to rally the American people for withdrawal. Protesting the
occupation and calling for the withdrawal of our troops won't work. We saw
the utter futility of protest three years ago, when record-setting
American and global demonstrations failed to (miraculously) prevent
Washington's invasion of Mesopotamia.

And "given the right-wing's stranglehold on both the political process and
public discourse," the Nation's nauseating radical-baiting liberal-left
columnist Eric Alterman recently moaned, the poor "powerless Democrats
cannot hope to address" the "Iraq quagmire" in a forceful, morally
informed manner. They can't "even have their public proposals treated
fairly."

Why, Alterman asks, should the nation's supposed opposition party "make
themselves vulnerable by offering up a target for Rove or O'Reilly to
torture, twist, and otherwise pervert for the propose of political
assassination but in 2006 and again in 2008?"

Way to fight back, Eric.

If his sorry Democratic Party Do-Nothings embraced an "out now" policy,
Alterman adds, "the effect would be to reinforce the 'disarray/these
people can't be trusted to protect us' narrative that remains the
Democrats Achilles heel." A Democratic demand for withdrawal "would be
treated in the conservative punditocracy as the equivalent of a call to
'cut and run,' and hence would open the entire 'weak on defense' Pandora's
Box that almost always dooms Democrats in national elections"  (Eric
Alterman, "Iraq: The Democrats' Dilemma," The Nation, April 3, 2006, p.
12).

Can you hear the violins in the background?

Such are the lame, rightist-enabling, and self-surrendering "oh well but
GET REAL that's the WAY IT IS in right-wing America" arguments that are
routinely made by know-it-all do-nothing liberal-left intellectuals, who
chide me for speaking at demonstrations where people chant "silly" and
"obsolete" slogans like "Stop this Racist Oil War," "Troops Out Now,"
and (horror) "Power to the People."

You can even pick up much of this sad surrender line from activist
liberal-left pressure groups like Moveon.org and other ostensibly
progressive antiwar outfits opposed to immediate withdrawal.

Never Mind Democracy

Never mind that, as Anthony Arnove notes, in "The Logic of Withdrawal,"
(ZNET, March 20, 2006):

* "The U.S. military has no right to be in Iraq in the first place"

* The U.S. has no intention of fostering democracy in the Middle East
since Washington opposes "ordinary people control[ing] their region's
energy resources."

* "Democracy cannot be 'installed' by outside power, at gunpoint."

* The U.S. is feeding, not preventing civil war in Iraq.  It is
"deliberately pitting Kurds against Arabs, Shia against Sunni, and faction
and against faction...following a classic [imperial] divide and rule
strategy."

* The state-terrorist occupation (see Edward S. Herman, "The Preeminence
of State Terrorism," Z Magazine, February 2006) is the principal source of
such Islamic terrorist activity as now exists in Iraq.

* The U.S. and leading multinational corporations it represents (e.g.
Halliburton and Bechtel) are looting, buying up, and strangling, not
rebuilding, Iraq, consistent with the underlying corporate-neoliberal
globalization project that lives on beneath the empire's open aggression.

* "The Iraqis are fully capable of rebuilding their own society."

* The U.S. can and should contribute to the Iraqis' self-directed
rebuilding by paying reparations (covering U.S.-imposed damages going back
long before the current invasion), canceling all Iraqi state debts from
the Saddam era, and providing such external assistance as the Iraqis
require.

And never mind that:

* More than half the U.S. population now supports immediate U.S.
withdrawal (September 2005 CBS New York Times poll)

* Half of the U.S. populace now says that the war is NOT "morally
justified," down from 75 percent in March 2003 (Susan Page, "Most Say War
Has Hurt the USA But Will Help Iraqis," USA Today, 17 March 2006).

* A record 60 percent of Americans say the war "hasn't been worth it"
(Page, "Most Say War Has Hurt the USA")

* Seventy-two percent of the U.S. troops in Iraq say that the U.S.
should get out of Iraq within a year and only 23 percent support Bush's
"stay the course" line (see www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075)

* Seventy-two percent of Americans surveyed by the Chicago Council on
Foreign Relations in 2004 (the percentage is certainly higher today) say
that the U.S. should remove its military from Iraq if that's what a clear
majority of Iraqis want (Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Global
Views 2004: American Foreign Policy and Public Opinion, October 2004, p.
17).

* A poll commissioned by the British Ministry of Defense last year found
that fully 82 percent of Iraqis were "strongly opposed" to the presence of
foreign troops and less than 1 percent believed the troops were
responsible for improvement in security" (Richard Norton Taylor, "British
Forces Arrest Nine Iraqis As Poll Shows Hostility to Troops,"  The
Guardian, October 24, 2005).

Oh Ye of Little Democratic Faith

One problem with liberal-left do-nothing intellectuals is that they lack
the classic American liberal Thomas Jefferson's idealistic faith in the
people and in "popular government's" democratic duty to act in line with
"the people's" will, even when such action might lead to "unwise"
policies.

As the radical-democratic left knows, there's nothing "unwise" about
immediate withdrawal. But even if the rapid removal of the U.S. military
from Iraq was a "bad" policy, Jefferson's concept of appropriate
democratic governance points unambiguously to such removal - negative
consequences (real or imaginary) notwithstanding.

Beneath all their snide, pseudo-populist Bush-bashing, liberal-left
"realists'" refusal to advance policy in accord with the wishes of the
citizenry places them closer to the aristocratic sentiments of Jefferson's
authoritarian opponent Alexander Hamilton. For Hamilton, "the people" were
a dangerous and ignorant "beast" - a wretched rabble inherently unfit to
rule. That "beast" needed above all to be contained and properly
"represented" in the corridors of power and policy by more "expert" and
worldly superiors from the privileged and propertied elite.

Go to almost any supposedly "leftist" U.S. college or university today and
you will learn that those more astute superiors include much of the
liberal professoriat, whose bolder sorts like to lecture genuinely radical
(and often therefore marginal) academicians and students on the
sentimental silliness and childish naiveté of contemporary anti-war
activism.

Looking at the above opinion data suggesting that this is a moment of
great opportunity to advance the just cause of withdrawal, I am struck by
the self-satisfied cowardice of the fatalistic liberal-left know-it-all
and do-nothing intellectuals. They seem more concerned with obeying
venerably failed and hopelessly narrow electoral agendas and accommodating
evil than with embracing the dangerous possibilities of morally engaged
activism driven by democratic ideals.

Power to the people.

Paul Street is a Visiting Professor of American History at Northern
Illinois University. His latest book is Empire and Inequality: America and
the World Since 9/11 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, October 2004). He
can be reached at: pstreet [at] niu.edu.


--------22 of 23--------

Cancer update -- Johns Hopkins -- Cancer News from Johns Hopkins:

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This
information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as
well.

Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins
are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.

Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases
dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr.  Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program
Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health
hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using
plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He
said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin
into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.  Instead, he
recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers
for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So
such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be
removed from the container and heated insomething else. Paper isn't bad
but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered
glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast
food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin
problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as
dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the
food is nuked,the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out
of the plastic wrap and drip into the food.  Cover food with a paper towel
instead.


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Anti-stadium bumper stickers

An anti-stadium group recently asked for slogans. I feel the call:

 We don't need no steenking stadiums

 Stadiums make you sterile

 Suck my stadium

 Kick the stadium habit

 Stadiums make you look old and fat


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