Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 06.26.06

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     06.26.06

1. mn911               6.26 7pm
2. Jason Leopold       6.26 7pm

3. Jam with Cam        6.27 9:30am
4. Market/schmarket    6.27 5pm
5. Fetzer/9-11/salon   6.27 6:30pm
6. Dialogue on crime   6.27 6:30pm
7. MN sur Seine        6.27 7pm

8. Call to justice     6.28 8am
9. Gitmo/criminal prez 6.28 5pm
10. Ovarian cancer     6.28 6pm
11. Choice/MN 06 Leg   6.28 6:30pm
12. GLBT/anti-war/AWC  6.28 7pm
13. GLBT pride reading 6.28 7pm
14. GLBT/music/films   6.28 7pm/dusk

15. Jim Fuller     - Identifying the real "haters of America"
16. Mark Leibovich - Another Kennedy living dangerously
17. Aurora Morales - Venezuela: 'Socialism is our model'
18. ed             - WNAC: Words for the New Amerikan Century

--------1 of 18--------

From: altera vista <alteravista [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: mn911 6.26 7pm

7 pm at Cahoots, Snelling and Selby in St Paul
Question official account of 9/11


--------2 of 18--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Jason Leopold 6.26 7pm

Jason Leopold exposed the enron corporate corruption. More recently, he's
known for the truthout "scoop" of a Karl Rove "indictment" - that wasn't.
Leopold has been savaged by the corporate press in recent weeks - who
point to his "felonious past" - and challenged his ethics as an
independent journalist. Leopold began his journalism career at
"mainstream" papers - the LA Times, dow jones newswire - and along the way
got snagged by drug addiction. then, he got sober and now writes for the
nation, z, counterpunch and of course, truthout.

NEWS JUNKIE is Jason Leopold's new memoir that takes you on this
contemporary trip from the top to the bottom and back again...along with a
look at the impact of digging for the truth about the powerful and about
one's self. Jason Leopold will be in the Twin Cities for two events.

Mon June 26, 7pm Borders books
1390 West University Ave. St. Paul

Tues June 27, 11am, U of MN
Murphy Hall, on Church St. SE (off Washington)
East Bank, U of M, Minneapolis


--------3 of 18--------

From: Cam Gordon <CamGordon333 [at] msn.com>
Subject: Jam with Cam 6.27 9:30am

Cam Gordon, Council Member, Second Ward 612-673-2202 (w) 612-296-0579 (c)

Office Hours: every Tuesday morning in the Second Ward 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 18--------

From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: SPNN/market/schmarket 6.27

Dear St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) viewers:

While we still have public access tv (see: www.saveaccess.org for the
reference), select SPNN Channel 15 for "Our World In Depth/Our World
Today".  Show times are 5 pm and midnight on Tuesday evenings and 10 am on
Wednesday mornings.

"Our World In Depth/Our World Today" features analysis of public affairs
with consideration of and participation from Twin Cities area activists.
The show is local and not corporately influenced (get it while you can!).

6/27 and 6/28 "De-deifying the Market"
w/economist Karen Redleaf.

7/4 and 7/5 (repeat) "De-deifying the Market"
w/economist Karen Redleaf.

7/11 and 7/12 "Coke and Pepsi: Hard Questions for Soft Drinks"
w/Sanat Mohanty from India and Gerardo Cajamarca (Merideth Cleary
interpreting) from Columbia.

All shows are hosted by Eric Angell.


--------5 of 18--------

From: Patty Guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Fetzer/9-11/salon 6.27 6:30pm

On June 27, the guest will be James Fetzer.  He is currently a McKnight
University Professor in Dept. of Philosophy at the University of
Minnesota, Duluth.

Dr. Fetzer recently submitted a chapter to David Griffin and Peter Scoll
for their book, 9/11 and the American Empire.  He is one of many writers
and scientists who believe that the extraordinary times require
extraordinary measures and demands an independent study of the 9/11
tradedy.

Pax Salons ( http://justcomm.org/pax-salon ) are held 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 18--------

From: Paul C. Ernst <pcepublic [at] pobox.com>
Subject: Dialogue on crime 6.27 6:30pm

Violent Crime Is Rising in Our Neighborhood:  Fact or Perception?
A forum for community dialogue

Tuesday, June 27, 6:30pm
Linwood Community Center Gym, 860 St. Clair Ave.
Sponsored by: District 16 Planning Council / Summit Hill Association (SHA)

Forum Topics to include:
 Presentations from St. Paul Police Western District Commanders regarding
reports of rising crime in the Summit Hill neighborhood and surrounding
communities
 Opportunities for residents to get accurate information, perspective and
practical advice from the police in relation to crime in the Summit Hill
neighborhood
 Opportunities to meet your neighbors and discuss joint efforts to prevent
crime

For further information on the meeting please call the SHA office at
(651) 222-1222.

[Reports have surfaced of numerous white collar criminals in three-piece
suits hanging around corporate headquarters, government buildings,
expensive restaurants, yacht marinas, and country clubs. They are armed
with fountain pens, patented song and dance routines, and cash-filled
envelopes. On guard! Take a bite out of crime! -ed]


--------7 of 18--------

From: info [at] surseine.org
Subject: MN sur Seine 6.27 7pm

Tastes of North Africa and the Mediterranean
Wine, Food and Music
Minnesota sur Seine and The Black Dog Cafe Present
an evening of wine, music and spices of the Mediterranean

Tuesday June 27th 7-9pm
food and wines from regions including North Africa, Spain and France will
be featured

Music by Fat Kid Wednesdays
Tickets can be purchased on line at www.TC-Uncorked.org or in person at
the Black Dog $30.00 tickets $25 is tax deductable Visa, MC accepted

All proceeds benefit the Third Annual Minnesota sur Seine Music Festival,
www.surseine.org

All attendees will be entered into a drawing for 2 sets of 2 tickets to
B'net Houariyat and Fat Kid Wednesdays concert October 21st at
O'Shaughnessy Auditorium. Minnesota sur Seine is thrilled to present B'net
Houariyat at the third annual Minnesota sur Seine Music Festival B'net
Houariyat is a group of traditional women singers. They live in Marrakech,
Morocco. All the members of the group are singers, percussion players and
dancers.

Their musical inspiration is rooted in sub-Saharan Africa and the Berber
oral tradition. With humor and energy, Benet Haporth are transcending
the cliches of the condition of women in Islamic countries. All the song
texts are ancient and evoke various aspects of everyday life: social
issues , religion, love, family, neighbors and bad feelings. Benet
Houariyat are commenting on their community, which is modern, but with
ancient roots. Their performances can include songs denouncing arranged
marriages with an old and rich man, mocking male pride, or condemning
fanaticism. The dances are from the original tribes, the Houara, as well
as Berber.

Their repertoire includes Aita (feminine seduction call) and Chaabi (a
style that originated the now popular rai music.) Their dance of a woman
possessed by spirits is a spellbinding.

B'net Houariyat will appear at the festival in partnership with the "Women
of Substance" series of the College of St. Catherine.

The Black Dog Café
308 Prince Street
4th and Broadway, across from the Farmer's Market, Lowertown
St Paul, MN 55101 651-228-9274


--------8 of 18--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Call to justice 6.28 8am

June 28 - CALL TO JUSTICE: Reducing Racial Disparity and Enhancing Public
Safety.  8:30am-4:15pm.  Cost: (see website).

CALL TO JUSTICE: Reducing Racial Disparity and Enhancing Public Safety

Program Schedule:
8:00 - 8:30 a.m. Registration and Seating

Morning Program
8:30 - 8:45 a.m. Introduction and Topic Overview:
Reverend Albert Gallmon, Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church and Chair
of Board of Directors of Council on Crime and Justice

8:45-9:00 a.m. Racial Disparities and Minnesota s Changing Demographics:
Donna Zimmerman, Vice President of Government and Community Relations at
Health Partners and Member of the Racial Disparities Committee of the
Itasca Project.  This presentation will feature demographic and
socio-economic trend data, including racial disparity trendlines,
developed by the Brookings Institute for the Itasca Project Consortium of
more than forty CEO s, mayors and community leaders funded by the McKnight
Foundation, and the St. Paul Foundation.

9:00-9:45a.m. Causes and Consequences of Racial Disparity in the Justice
System: Key Findings and Recommendations:
Tom Johnson, President of Council on Crime and Justice; former Hennepin
County Attorney.  This presentation will present a synthesis of seventeen
studies conducted by the Council on Crime and Justice examining the causes
and consequences of the racial disparity in Minnesota s justice system.
The focus will be on the Key Findings and Recommendations, along with
proposed Action Steps for addressing the disparity.

9:45-10:45 a.m. Causes of the Disparity: A Multi-Perspective Examination:
Panel Moderator: Judge Tanya Bransford, Hennepin County District Court
Panel Members: Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page; Professor
Michael Tonry, University of Minnesota Law School; Clayton Robinson,
Ramsey County Attorney s Office; Steve Glaze, Ex-offender; Chief John
Harrington, St. Paul Police Department; Dr. Bill Green*, Interim
Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools; Suzanne Koepplinger,
Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Women s Resource Center; Ebony
Ruhland, Research Associate for Council on Crime and Justice This panel
discussion will explore in depth the Key Findings from the Council on
Crime and Justice s multi-year research on the causes of the racial
disparities in Minnesota s justice system.

10:45 11:00 a.m. Break

11:00 12:00 a.m. The Collateral Consequences of the Racial Disparity in
Minnesota s Justice System: Key Findings and Recommendations:
Panel Moderator: Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson
Panel Members: Professor Todd Clear, John Jay School of Criminal Justice;
Dr. Bravada Garrett-Akinsanya, Licensed Clinical Psychologist and
Executive Director of the African American Child Wellness Institute;
Richard Amos, Director of Social Services at St. Stephens; Anita Selin,
member of the Minneapolis Police Relations Council; Hilary Whitham,
Research Coordinator for the Council on Crime and Justice.
This panel will explore in depth the Collateral Consequences identified by
the Council on Crime and Justice as arising from the racial disparity in
Minnesota s justice system.

12:00 12:30 p.m. The Mayors Views
Mayor R. T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis; Mayor Chris Coleman, Mayor of St.
Paul
Mayors Rybak and Coleman will reference Minnesota s changing demographics;
the need to reduce racial disparities through improved relationships
between the justice system and communities of color; and the need to
reduce the negative collateral consequences of justice system involvement.

12:15   1:15 p.m. Lunch (Provided)

Afternoon Program

1:15 1:45 p.m. Luncheon Speaker: Racial Justice: The Ethical Dimension
Professor Kenneth Goodpaster, Koch Endowed Chair in Business Ethics,
University of St. Thomas.  Professor Goodpaster will offer his reflections
on business ethics, corporate responsibility and the common good, all in
the context of the racial disparity in the justice system.

1:45 2:00 p.m. Break

2:00 2:30 p.m. The Linkage between Consequences and Causes: The Inverted
Relationship
Mike Miles, CEO Space Center Inc.; and former Chair of the Board of
Directors of the Council on Crime and Justice.  This presentation will
focus on the self-perpetuating aspects of the justice system s racial
disparities, linking the consequences of involvement in the justice system
to the causes of the disparity and the ethical issues raised.

2:30 3:45 p.m. Action Steps for Undoing the Racial Disparity Within the
Justice System: The Ethics of Acting Now!
Panel Moderator: Judge Kevin Burke, Hennepin County District Court
Panel Members: Senator Julianne Ortman, Minnesota Senate; Assistant Chief
Sharon Lubinski, Minneapolis Police Department; David Schecter, WCCO
Television; Sam Grabarski*, Executive Director, Downtown Council;
Community Resident (TBD); Professor Chris Uggen, University of Minnesota
Department of Sociology; Russ Balenger, Case Worker Amicus; Shane Price,
African American Men Project; Sarah Walker, Call-to-Justice Coordinator
for Council on Crime and Justice. This panel will discuss in depth the
proposed Key Action steps for addressing the racial disparities in
Minnesota s criminal justice system. It will also explore the
political/ethical issues involved in moving (and not moving) forward.

3:45 4:30 p.m. First Reflection, Then Action!
Reverend Albert Gallmon, Pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church;
This session will review the strongest (and weakest) substantive aspects
of the Forum and, then engage the audience in gauging support for/and
desired involvement in the proposed Actions Steps.

4:30 p.m. Adjourn
* indicates commitment pending

FFI and to register: http://www.crimeandjustice.org/ Location: Minneapolis
Community and Technical College (MCTC), 1501 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN
55403


--------9 of 18--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Gitmo/criminal prez 6.28 5pm

Wednesday, 6/28, 5 pm, Joseph Margulies signs book "Gitmo and the Abuse of
Presidential Power," Fredrikson & Byron, 200 S 6th St, room #4000, Mpls.
mchong [at] mnadvocates.org


---------10 of 18--------

From: Bonnie [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: Ovarian cancer 6.28 6pm

June 28: Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance June Meeting- Grand Rounds
Presentation.  Macalester College John B. Davis Lecture Hall 6-8pm.

Learn how MOCA is raising awareness of ovarian cancer, its symptoms and
the importance of early detection through one of its educational programs
called Grand Rounds. Time to socialize with other ovarian cancer
survivors, family members and friends. For more info or to RSVP call
952/890-8775.


--------11 of 18--------

From: ewomenwin [at] mnwpc.org
Subject: Choice/MN 06 Leg 6.28 6:30pm

The Minnesota Women's Political Caucus Education Council is proud to
present

The Coffeehouse Series
sequence of discussions that focus on the different aspects of
reproductive choice

Your body & choice: real-life affects of the '06 legislative session
with Kathleen Murphy, Midwest Health Center for Women
June 28, 6:30-7:30pm
Fresh Grounds, 1362 West 7th Street, Saint Paul

Ignorance is not bliss. The legislative process is complex and can be
difficult to understand, yet everyday our elected officials are making
important decisions about how we will live our lives.  While your body is
personal, this year's legislative session shows how your body is
political.  Come learn the straight-up facts, engage in frank conversation
and leave the most informed neighbor on your block.


--------12 of 18--------

From: David Strand <mncivil [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: GLBT/anti-war/AWC 6.28 7pm

Come Out Against the War!
Wednesday, 6/28 @ 7 pm @ Betsy's Backporch Cafe, 5447 Nicollet Ave S,
Minneapolis.

The Anti-War Committee invites the GLBT community and allies speak out
against the war and occupation of Iraq. Bring your opinions, a poem, your
guitar, or whatever. Just join us to talk about how this war affects our
community, and what we can do to stop it.

For more info: 612-379-3899 or info [at] antiwarcommittee.org .


--------13 of 18--------

From: Write On Radio <writeonradio [at] YAHOO.COM>
Subject: GLBT pride reading 6.28 7pm

Wednesday June 28th
7pm. S.A.S.E. GLBT Pride Reading. A special celebration of GLBT Pride
Month. Come hear many of the participants of this year's program as they
read in this special cabaret celebrating GLBT pride. Hosted by John
Medeiros and Andrea Jenkins. Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls.


--------14 of 18--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: GLBT/music/films 6.28 7pm/dusk

CINEMA & CIVICS
Wednesdays, June 14-August 2, 2006
7-11 PM, Films At Dusk
Stevens Square Park 1801 Stevens Ave, Minneapolis, MN

Cinema & Civics
All events are located in Stevens Square Park and are free and open to
the public. Programs begin at 7 PM, films at dusk. Stevens Square Park
is located at 1801 Stevens Ave in Minneapolis. Call 612-879-0200 or
visit www.stevensarts.org for more information.

June 28
Minneapolis Pride in Stevens Square
Celebrate Pride city wide AND right in your backyard.

Performance presented by District 202 E squared Performance Group in
collaboration with Outward Spiral Theatre Company. Music by local band
Grace Darling & Special Guest.
Additional support from Rainbow Families and other local GLBT organizations.

Film: CALL ME MALCOLM by director Joseph Parlagreco
A documentary about a transgender seminary student and his struggle with
faith, love, and gender identity featuring Malcolm Himschoot, currently
Minister of Outreach at Plymouth Church on Nicollet Ave, who will be
present to introduce the film.

Preceded by BETWEEN THE BOYS by local director Jake Yuzna
Voyeuristically exploring a relationship between two young men who fall
into the gray area between the sexual experimentation of adolescence and
the world of adult emotions, Between the Boys glimpses into one of the
few remaining taboos of current times.


--------15 of 18---------

JIM FULLER was a reporter and editor at the Minneapolis Star tribune for
almost 40 years. His blog is a blunt, beautifully written commentary on
our times. Here's his newest post. Highly recommended. -Lydia Howell

Thursday, June 22, 2006
Identifying the real "haters of America"
by Jim Fuller
http://www.jamesclayfuller.blog

There they go again.

Right wing columnists and other Bush-loving extremists - hey, we get to
use such denigrating terms if they do - are back on the tired theme of
"America haters and Bush haters." In the lexicon of the radical right,
those terms mean anyone who doesn't support the Bush or any portion of its
agenda for overturning the U.S. Constitution.

Rush Limbaugh, the non-thinking man's favorite lout, is shouting the last
few days that "the left" is pleased that two U.S. soldiers were tortured
before they were killed.

That goes far beyond the allowable limits of commentary.

I'm part of "the left" by today's Republican and press standards, and so
are the great majority of my friends. I don't know anyone who isn't
sickened by the thought of what those young men suffered.

Where we go wrong, according to Limbaugh and his zombie following - and
where we are right by the the standards of most of the world - is that we
are equally sickened by the almost unimaginable sufferings of those who
have been and are being tortured under the sponsorship of this country's
leaders.

No torture is acceptable, no torturer is anything but evil. Saddam,
Hitler, Stalin, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the grinning puppet in the White
House were cut from the same rotten cloth. They have no remorse for the
horrors they have caused to be committed. They are less than fully human.

We're not supposed to say such things of course. Right wing propaganda,
supported by what passes for journalism in this country in recent years,
has persuaded the vast majority of Americans that such truths are
"leftist," at best, and that speakers of the plain, unspun and
demonstrable truth hate America.

Well....

Hate Bush, which also means Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and our own
fat Goebbels, Karl Rove?

Growing up in what I recognized in my teens as an extremely backward and
unthinkingly racist branch of Lutheranism, I developed a definition of
"hate" that stays with me. Hate, in that personal definition, is an
extremely powerful emotion; it means that you desire the greatest possible
harm to come to the one(s) you hate, you want them dead, perhaps even to
suffer as the torture victims have suffered.

Intellectually, I don't quite believe that definition, but it's there,
deep in my gut, as are so many things we absorbed as children.

So, no, by that definition I don't hate the Bush crowd.

I do despise them. I do want them gone - away from all possibility of
wielding further power, perhaps settled down in some enclave of the super
rich where they can verbally abuse the help and sneer at everyone who is
not them, but cannot do further damage to this country or the wider world.

In that, I know, I am in the company of millions of good Americans.

Because, in fact, it is they, the Bush, who hate America.

That is, they hate what it was until they grasped the power to transform
it, and they hate the vestiges of what it used to be. Their every action
demonstrates that.

Democracy?

They have subverted the electoral system, encouraged and engineered the
theft of elections and the disenfranchisement of those who are likely to
vote against them. They are a long way down the road of twisting the
judicial branch of government into a tool of their political vision - just
as was done in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia.

Having successfully gerrymandered Congressional districts to the point
that it is all but impossible for a majority of citizens to elect a
majority of that body, and they have made personal loyalty to themselves
the sole criterian for gaining influence in the legislative branch of
government. They have openly sold key governmental departments and the
legislative process to giant business. Regulatory bodies are run by the
industries they are supposed to regulate.

They fail miserably at protecting the public from predatory corporate
giants, from natural disasters and, inevitably, from terrorists because
they just don't give a damn about the people of this or any other country.
Government to them is something to be run for the sake of increasing their
own wealth and power and for no other reason.

Schools? They do NOT want an educated public; they are well on their way
to making the people of the United States a pool of trained but fearful
labor, willing to take whatever they are offered in exchange for their
work.

Health care? Just enough so that enough of the people can work through
their productive years without excessive absenteeism.

Share the proceeds of increased productivity with those who produce the
wealth? Don't be ridiculous.

Protect the environment? Why? They're quite sure in their arrogance that
there always will be safe, pleasant havens for themselves. They don't go
to national parks, or fish on public waters; their getaway spots have
fences and guards at the gates and outriders along the fences to keep them
from contact with the rabble.

Create a lasting peace? War creates immense wealth for those who own the
right corporations. And war is the perfect tool - as they have shown with
Iraq - for conning the largely ignorant public into accepting the shift
from a republican democracy into an imperial Republican dictatorship.

They hate America as it was created and as it was before they cheated
their way into control.

Hate the Bush crowd? Not quite, but the next thing to it.

Anyone not part of their tiny club who can look at what they've done and
what they are doing and not despise them is deluded beyond understanding.

posted by James @ 1:56 PM


--------16 of 18--------

June 25, 2006
Another Kennedy Living Dangerously
By MARK LEIBOVICH

San Francisco

ONE of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s family mementos is a boyhood photo of
himself in the Oval Office with his uncle President John F. Kennedy. Then
9, Mr. Kennedy - who is still known as Bobby - had just given the
president a spotted salamander in a small vase. The salamander appears to
be dead.

"He does not look well," President Kennedy told Bobby as they observed the
slimy pet. The president is prodding it with a pen, to no avail. "I was in
denial," Bobby Kennedy said, explaining that he had probably doomed the
salamander by keeping it in chlorinated water.

Not to attach too much significance to a dead salamander, but, oh, what
the heck: the photo distills some Bobby Kennedy essentials - his
matter-of-fact presence in royal circles, his boyish chutzpah and a
lifelong appreciation for animals (even those he has killed).

Now 52, Mr. Kennedy, is one of the country's most prominent environmental
lawyers and advocates. Clearly he was traumatized by his youthful act of
environmental insensitivity and vowed as an adult to become a fervent
protector of all the planet's salamanders. Or perhaps this is
overreaching, seeing too much in a simple picture. (Sometimes a dead
salamander is just a dead salamander). But it goes with the family
territory - the speculating, overguessing - and it would seem particularly
inevitable for anyone burrowing through life with the name Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.

Mr. Kennedy presided last week at the annual conference of the Waterkeeper
Alliance, an assembly of 153 "keepers" from around the world charged with
protecting the planet's most vulnerable watersheds, largely through
litigation or threat thereof. On Wednesday the riverkeepers, baykeepers,
coastkeepers, deltakeepers, channelkeepers and inletkeepers packed into
three zero-emission hybrid-electric buses bound for Treasure Island on San
Francisco Bay. There they ate dinner on biodegradable plates and took
turns giving brief speeches. They spoke with earnest commitment, contempt
for industrial polluters and awe for Bobby Kennedy.

"Thank you for fighting for our waterways, Bobby," said Leo O'Brien,
executive director of San Francisco Baykeeper. "And thank you for fighting
for democracy."

Recently, much of Mr. Kennedy's public focus has been on democracy, and he
has taken increasingly audacious leaps into political swamps that
transcend the environment. He roiled the blogosphere and cable news shows
this month after declaring - in an article he wrote in Rolling Stone -
that Republicans stole the 2004 presidential election through a series of
voting frauds. "I've become convinced that the president's party mounted a
massive, coordinated campaign to subvert the will of the people in 2004,"
Mr. Kennedy wrote in the exhaustive, strenuously footnoted article, which
relied heavily on the published research of others.

He has repeated the accusation on Air America, the liberal radio network
on which he is co-host of a program, and on a procession of television
talk-'n'-shout fests (with Stephen Colbert, Wolf Blitzer, Tucker Carlson,
Chris Matthews). Mr. Kennedy is hitching his iconic name to a cause that
has largely been consigned so far to liberal bloggers and which nearly all
Democratic leaders and major news media outlets have ignored and which,
unsurprisingly, Bush supporters have ridiculed. Tracy Schmitt, the
Republican National Committee press secretary, accused Mr. Kennedy of
"peddling a conspiracy theory that was thoroughly debunked nearly two
years ago."

Farhad Manjoo, of Salon.com, wrote: "If you do read the Kennedy article,
be prepared to machete your way through numerous errors of interpretation
and his deliberate omission of key bits of data."

It is impossible to read the Rolling Stone article without wondering how
Mr. Kennedy's audacious accusations might relate to his philosophical
evolution or even affect his political viability. Naturally he is asked
all the time what he envisions next for himself, specifically, what he
plans to run for.

"I'd say daily," he says of how often he's asked. As if the mantle of one
of the country's top environmental advocates couldn't be enough to satisfy
a Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy came close to running for attorney general of New
York State this year. "Very, very close," he said, but he decided not to,
fearing its effect on his wife, Mary, and their four children. (He has two
other children from a previous marriage.)

Nonetheless, perhaps more than any other Kennedy of his generation, he is
looked upon as the next potential vessel for Something Bigger. In words,
temperament and actions, he conveys a frenetic vibe of restlessness that
invites the questions "What else?" "What next?" "What more?"

At the Waterkeeper Alliance meeting he bounced from conversation to
conversation, introducing people, touching bases, jiggling his right foot
on the floor in rare idle seconds. He is also possessed of Kennedy looks
and a riveting speaking style, despite a genetic neurological condition,
spasmodic dysphonia, that he developed at age 40, which strains his speech
and can make it sound as if he's choking up.

"He's the only speaker in the environmental movement who can say he'll
speak for 20 minutes, then speak for 40 and you want him to go on longer,"
said Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy said in a phone interview that his nephew "has a
certain Pied Piper quality about him" and described a typical scene at the
family compound in Hyannisport, Mass., in which his nephew transfixes 30
children with nature demonstrations, usually involving animals or fish.

One of the recurring themes within Mr. Kennedy's orbit of friends is the
"Bobby story," an action or vignette that is quintessential to the man. In
most cases a "Bobby story" involves some kind of spontaneous, often
daredevil act, on the order of impatiently jumping off a chairlift,
jumping off a cliff or being host to more than 100 people for
hypercompetitive Capture the Flag games at his 10-acre home in Mount
Kisco, N.Y. (which inevitably yield at least one emergency-room trip).

"He has a really intense metabolism," said Andrea Raisfeld, a close family
friend and frequent participant in what she described as "these adult play
dates."

Mr. Kennedy has always lived his life close to nature and to the edge. The
third of 11 children born to Ethel Skakel Kennedy and Senator Robert F.
Kennedy, he used to fixate on ants from his crib, he said his mother
recalls. As a boy he assembled a zoo at his family's home in Virginia,
comprising about 40 reptiles and birds at any one time. He started racing
homing pigeons at 7 and falconing at 9 and has always been given to the
family penchant for recreational abandon: high-speed pursuits like skiing,
water-skiing and hockey.

He was 14 in June 1968, when the rector of Georgetown Preparatory School
woke him to tell him his father had been shot. He flew to California,
where Senator Kennedy had just won the Democratic primary. He was at the
hospital when his father died.

Mr. Kennedy graduated from Harvard College and the University of Virginia
Law School. He received a master's degree in environmental law from Pace
University, where he is now a law professor.

In 1983 he entered a drug treatment program after having been arrested for
heroin possession in South Dakota. He has been clean ever since and
attends regular meetings, Mr. Kennedy said, declining to discuss his
sobriety further for the record.

"I think, in a very dramatic way, Bobby's surviving, and his determination
to get to a state of mind where he can be constructive, has been central
to him," Senator Kennedy said. "He has faced some enormous challenges,
some enormously serious challenges."

In 1984 his younger brother David Kennedy died of a drug overdose. In 1997
another brother, Michael, was killed after skiing into a tree while
playing football on the slopes of Aspen, Colo. They are among the litany
of exhaustively documented Kennedy tragedies, which create a prism through
which to view Mr. Kennedy's penchant for risk taking and full-on
recreation. At what point is he tempting fate?

As is the family custom, he is not given to public hand-wringing about his
family losses. "I think God's in charge of that," he said of whether he
lives or dies. "You're supposed to do what you're supposed to do. And
whatever happens, happens."

Peter Kaplan, the editor of The New York Observer and one of Mr. Kennedy's
closest friends since they met as college roommates, said that he doesn't
worry. "Bobby really loves life, so he takes good care of himself," Mr.
Kaplan said. "The second part of the answer is, he really loves his life,
and he wouldn't live it any other way than with complete engagement with
himself and with the outdoors."

Senator Kennedy, who like his nephew lost brothers well before their time,
said, "I think he feels he has to live for a lot of people who've been
lost."

The senator made these remarks in the context of his nephew's lifestyle
and political work. Friends say Mr. Kennedy has undergone a gradual
adjustment to his priorities through the Bush years. He has broadened his
notion of "what you're supposed to do." He has, through his professional
life, been identified with the environmental movement.

"Now it's much more fundamental than protecting the environment for
Bobby," said his friend Laurie David, the liberal advocate and producer of
"An Inconvenient Truth," the Al Gore movie. "He fears that the country is
being lost, that democracy is at stake."

Mr. Kennedy said that he had "continually expanded my realm of interest."
His recent focus on the 2004 election exists on that continuum, he added.

He had heard low-grade rumblings about alleged abuses in Ohio, faulty
voting machines and minority voters waiting hours in line at the polls.
But he remained skeptical, or complacent. "I kept the same kind of
deliberate blinders on that much of the media did," he said, bemoaning the
news media's relative preoccupation with "Brad and Angelina and the Duke
lacrosse team."

THEN Mr. Kennedy spent Christmas skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, at the home
of Ms. David and her husband, Larry David, the "Seinfeld" creator and
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" protagonist. Mr. David urged him to read a book on
the 2004 election by the news media critic Mark Crispin Miller.

Mr. Kennedy did, and a few days later he was skiing with the Rolling Stone
publisher, Jann S. Wenner, an old friend and Sun Valley homeowner. Mr.
Kennedy suggested that Mr. Wenner commission a story on the "stolen
election." Mr. Wenner said he would, provided Mr. Kennedy wrote it. He had
written a much-discussed and much-challenged story for Rolling Stone last
year linking childhood vaccines and a rise in autism.

After some hesitation, Mr. Kennedy said, he agreed to write the election
article. Since it was posted on Rolling Stone's Web site on June 1, the
Web has been ablog with a split between those who believe this is the
biggest unreported story ever and those who think it's old news,
discredited long ago. Mr. Kennedy said it's hard to prove that any
election had been "stolen."

"If you're looking for proof and certitude, you're not going to find it,"
he said. Either way, Mr. Kennedy said he is committed to stoking the
outrage of 2004, wherever it leads. "This is going to remain one of my
central concerns for a while," he said, adding, "America should be
indignant." But is it, beyond certain liberal airwaves and blogs? Congress
has not exactly been rocked with speeches on the matter or with calls for
investigations.

In a phone interview, Mr. Wenner said that John Kerry, the big loser in
2004, "does not question the validity of the piece," hardly a signal of
outrage.

Senator Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat and a longtime advocate
of electoral reform, called the article "tremendously compelling." But not
compelling enough to talk about it: Mr. Dodd's comments were relayed in a
statement from his office.

Mr. Kennedy called the silence of leading Democrats "a great
disappointment," but declared himself undeterred. If anything, he said,
the experience has left him more likely to run for office than before.

"It's all in God's hands," he said on Wednesday night at Treasure Island,
a lemony sun setting over the Golden Gate Bridge. He was surrounded by
environmentalists swapping stories about protecting the planet's liquid
resources (and imbibing other liquid resources).

"I can only control my own conduct," Mr. Kennedy said, shrugging. "And I
plan to go down fighting."


--------17 of 18--------

VENEZUELA: 'Socialism is our model'
by Aurora Morales
English translation by Coral Wynter
Green Left Weekly - Jun 21, 2006
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/672/672p15d.htm

Aurora Morales, member of the Venezuelan National Assembly and secretary
for international relations for the Movement for the Fifth Republic (MVR)
party, was a guest speaker at an international conference, "Socialism in
Latin America: Experiences in Change and Regional Integration", held in
Quito, Ecuador, on April 17-18. The conference, sponsored by the Socialist
Party of Ecuador to mark its 80th anniversary, heard speakers from
socialist and revolutionary parties from around the continent. The
following is an abridged version of Morales's address to the conference.

Greetings from Hugo Chavez, president of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, to all the socialist parties participating in the historic
project of changing Latin America, and to all those present today to
celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Socialist Party of Ecuador. I
welcome the chance to exchange opinions, impressions and ideas with other
political figures and personalities from Latin America, to look for a
united strategy for this continent so that our people can live with
increased dignity. I look forward to listening to the ideas and thoughts
of Ecuadorians who are socialist, progressive, revolutionary and
Bolivarian. I also want to deliver greetings from my Bolivarian
compatriots.

My talk is on Latin American integration and international relations, from
a revolutionary Bolivarian perspective. We have a project of
constitutional change and at the centre of it is the human being. When
talking of jurisprudence, I mean how do we look for a new system of
international relations that provides equity in the arena of social,
political and economic exchange in the region and internationally.

This is not a program of short duration, but a very long project. To break
with the hegemonic monopoly of imperialism, to break with the old system
we have inherited, is not easy. The difficulties we have to confront are
difficulties of a different type in each country, because not all of our
countries are equal. Because of this, we can't find just one form in which
we can develop. We have to adapt to different customs, economics, social
conditions, politics, and relationship of forces in each one of our
countries.

But we have to unite on this highway, to try and march together, to tackle
the inevitable contradictions that arise and have arisen. We need to have
the will to resolve these contradictions, the will to search for a better
world.

Constructing a new state

With the Bolivarian project [in Venezuela], we face a great challenge in
the construction of a new state: a state that is democratic and socialist,
with rights and justice for all. We are working in part with the old state
machinery, because imagine the situation if we had sacked all the
employees and the administrators of the old state. We are humanists, with
an ideological foundation -- Bolivarianism -- and we are revolutionaries.
We can be thankful for the conquest and the defeat of imperialism in our
country, and the victory against the military coup and the petroleum
sabotage.

I know you Ecuadorians are interested in this struggle because of the
[cancellation of the] US oil concession with Oxy [Occidental Corporation].
Venezuela nationalised the petroleum industry under [former president]
Carlos Andres Perez in 1974. Yet although it was nationalised, the
business remained under the control of commercial interests, including the
automation of production. And the management of the petroleum industry was
controlled from the US -- a management that demonstrated later [during the
oil industry lock-out in 2002 that aimed to undermine the Chavez
government] that it had all the power.

Therefore, this experience that we have had in this country must be
assimilated by all the peoples of Latin America -- because we have
absorbed the experience, both the successes and the failures. All these
experiences are struggles for liberty and justice: this is the history of
humanity. We have studied the failure of the socialist project in Europe,
in the Soviet Union, and the question of popular democracy. We have also
studied the coups against progressive Latin American governments, promoted
by the US. The case of Chile was very tragic: the intervention and the
repression. Thanks to [people power in 2002 that defeated the US-backed
coup attempt], and Chavez's victory in the elections and the [2004]
referendum, we were able to overcome these attacks.

As you are aware here in Ecuador, the Cuban Revolution -- under the
leadership of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Communist Party -- which hasn't
been co-opted and hasn't been beaten, has helped us enormously. For
example, the creation of the Latin American missions of Barrio Adentro
were a product of this help. More than 20,000 Cuban doctors in Venezuela,
working with Venezuelan doctors with a class orientation, have improved
the health of the people in the barrios. This never could have happened
without the Cuban Revolution.

This is our perspective, with many difficulties to overcome. In the case
of the petrol strike, we were able to re-nationalise the industry and
achieve an income [to the state] of 80%, while 20% remained with [the
state-owned oil company] PDVSA for investment. With the passage of time,
the whole situation changed. The old directors of the petroleum industry
had invented a series of terrible, legal manoeuvres, whereby only 20% of
the oil income went to the state.

In 1995, Theodore Petkoff introduced the Venezuelan agenda. This agenda
was to sell all the concessions of the petroleum industry to the US with
the aim of privatising the industry. But there was no privatisation of the
Venezuelan oil industry, thanks to Hugo Chavez and his government. You
should take notice of the voracity of imperialism, due to the necessity
[of that system] for the greatest concentration of capital. This propelled
them to carry out a coup in April 2002, and the petrol strike in December
2002.

Popular power

Our current project is the construction of a new state with justice, human
rights and popular power. The popular power we are developing is
participatory democracy. Its latest form is through the Communal Councils,
at the level of the communities, with a registry. Each incorporates
400-450 families. The involvement of the population in politics is
normally much lower. This initiative will involve all citizens and they
will have a community bank and the appropriate social control of the
monies.

The construction of popular power in Venezuela is fantastic. I recently
attended a meeting of a barrio (neighbourhood), which had been waiting
approximately 30 years for the production of water. With a working group
of water technicians, and people in the barrio, they received state
finance of 30 million bolivares for their project. The working group were,
in the majority, women. With the help of this capital, they were able to
put in the pipes. They put the remaining money into an account in the name
of their council, to use later to solve other problems. The law of the
Communal Councils was discussed at all levels, with widespread
participation.

Global inequality

At this moment, there is a recomposition, a change in the situation of the
blocs, of the political forces, around the world. In Europe this is
producing great contradictions. We have to take into account the asymmetry
of inequalities.

If a worker in France goes to Rumania, and a Rumanian worker goes to
France, what are they going to do with the social security system and
vacations and different scales of pay?

A worker in France is more expensive and the cost of living in France is
higher, but they will not pay the same salary. So this European unity is
deteriorating and breaking up. As a consequence of this, we have to look
for real unity, a unity that is equitable and fair for all of us.

Consider Africa, a country destroyed by colonial interests. If one looks
at the map of Africa and sees how many military bases the US has in
Africa, it is very disturbing. The problems of desertification are
terrible. In Africa, conditions are very much worse than ours, with
terrible sickness and massive poverty.

In Asia, China is experiencing great development. China is the most
populous country on earth, with 1.3 billion inhabitants, a growing
productive capacity, and a quota of many millionaires. But China faces
very difficult conditions. It could adopt the same methods as North
America -- the same model of capital accumulation that consumes large
amounts of energy; the model of the great multinationals that will destroy
the planet in 50 years. At the level of accumulating capital, China is
following this model. It's a good thing that the Communist Party of China
is well organised. We have to study this phenomenon closely, and I hope
that their own technology can help them develop their own model, and not
follow that of North America.

In the Middle East, as we know, we have seen the invasion of Afghanistan,
the occupation of Iraq -- an occupation that is terrible, with the aim of
destroying the traditions, the culture, all the history of the people of
Iraq. The threats continue, with the US warnings against Lebanon. There
are designs against the sovereignty of Iran, where this Islamic people
have undertaken their own development, their own nuclear technology,
toward peaceful ends. But the US won't allow this. We need solidarity with
the Iranian people. The US plans to destroy the nuclear plants. It doesn't
rule out the possibility of invasion. This would be disastrous for the
whole of humanity.

We also have the tragic situation of the Palestinians. We all know the
story of the fight of the Palestinians for national control of their
country. Just recently, Hamas won the elections. This has produced a new
form by which the US blocks Palestine's sovereignty. Hamas is possibly
going to win sovereignty, but the US won't allow Hamas to exercise genuine
democratic self-determination.

Latin America

In Latin America, we are in a different phase of transition. The victory
of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela was the result of an accumulation of many
struggles, of the organisation of social groups. Chavez and his speeches
where he educates the people, his deep knowledge of the people, and the
relationships he has established in the international field, have been a
tremendous advance. With [President] Lula in Brazil, there is a different
situation. All the countries are different. We in Venezuela can advance
more because we have a leader in the political, the moral, and the
military fields. In the armed forces in Venezuela, the officers, the
troops, with the thoughts of Simon Bolivar and the Bolivarian ideology,
want to serve to guarantee the rights of the people. This process of
change in the armed forces is important. Recently, by contrast, a
Brazilian general spoke of the 'threat of communism'.

In Venezuela, this wouldn't happen. I don't want to say that there is no
seed of anti-communism, but our armed forces are patriotic, a sensibility
that was generated by Chavez. They understand they have to work with the
people to solve all the problems that exist. Imperialism tried to block
our petroleum production two years ago, no one should forget. This meant
two months without gas, without petrol, without food. The managers tried
to sabotage our industry. From all points of view they were trying to
create ungovernability, to force the armed forces against us. On the
contrary, when they saw this national danger against Venezuela, the armed
forces stood with Chavez.

So this alliance of the armed forces with the people in this project is
fundamental. And in the difficult moments of the April 11, 2002 coup, the
battalions of the armed forces were in support of the constitution,
despite the Golpistas being present in the [Miraflores] Palace. The same
thing happened with the petroleum sabotage. Therefore, in Venezuela, we
have forged a civic-military alliance.

I have been a revolutionary all my life. My parents have also been
revolutionaries, although my father was in the military. My parents went
to prison when I was one year old, and were in prison for seven years. The
armed forces have a special character in Venezuela.

We must remember that the enemy penetrates everywhere. In Venezuela there
is not one space where the enemy doesn't penetrate. We must realise that
the enemy is everywhere and we must be there as well. A comical event
occurred about 20 years ago. There was an organisation for the defence of
the rights of sex workers, and a lot of homosexuals and transsexuals
joined. A member of the North American embassy was the head of the
organisation and I began to wonder why. You must realise they do it for
the intelligence. Do you think they wanted to participate in the defence
of the sex workers? No, They were thinking that through the sex workers,
they could obtain information. This is why I say there is no area where
the enemy has not been inserted. We must have the firmness and conviction
to also do the same, because we are defending our life, our country, and
our rights, and the lives of our children, our future and our humanity. We
are doubly obliged to do this.

Latin America is confronting a situation of transition, where US
imperialism is imposing ALCA [the Free Trade Area of the Americas].
Because we would not go into ALCA, the US is trying to form a free market
with all the Latin American countries, which will affect their national
interests. In Colombia, for example, it will affect all the producers, and
this will affect Venezuela. Because of this, we had to denounce this
process and leave the Andean Pact. We are taking measures to protect
ourselves. But at the same time, we are hoping that the Colombians will
take account of these facts and fight to get rid of this free trade
agreement. The same is happening in Peru. But all this process and
transition is up for debate, with a model of hegemony versus a
revolutionary model.

Crisis

There is a crisis in this period. There is a crisis of capital
accumulation. This crisis has other aspects: financial, a crisis of
energy, and a crisis of consumerism. We can't continue a situation where
4.7 % of the world's population consumes 25% of the energy.

There is also a military crisis. People are denouncing the occupation of
Iraq. Now, the military in the Pentagon is working closely with the
intelligence services, including the CIA. But, there are too many fronts
opening up.

What is the tendency of the future? US military forces can destroy the
world. We can't allow this. The problems with the Middle East, with China
-- what have they got to do with Latin America? Because we need to do
business in the market, we need to conserve our resources and we need to
stop the increase in prices.

We proposed in the Letter to America this same idea, of a co-ordinated
regional trading policy. El Salvador and Colombia are also participating
in this. There is a recomposition of forces in the world; break-ups, a
recombination of blocs. Latin America is in this process of transition,
with the possibility of advancing to a new model, which we call
Bolivarian.

In the political field, we are proposing to work with all the available
movements against the forces of neoliberalism: with the small and medium
businesses, nationalist sectors, the indigenous movement, revolutionary
movements, social movements, anti-capitalist movements -- for example, the
MST in Brazil, the youth movements, the students, the workers' movements,
etc.

In our case, the Bolivarian movement doesn't have any belief in
capitalism. We say: Resist the pressure. Advance on the revolutionary
path. We can't stop until the whole world is socialist. Open the doors,
because the options for the world are, as Rosa Luxembourg said, "Socialism
or barbarism".

Socialism is our model. The road is very long. But we have the spirit to
walk along the endogenous [national] path for equality in the countries of
Latin America and the Caribbean, and to construct a regional, integrated
Latin American economy with a strong presence in this international
process of change.

Viva Chavez, Viva Evo, Viva Kirchner, and Viva all those who want a better
world!


--------18 of 18--------

 WNAC - Words for the New Amerikan Century

 Audibull   - spoken lies
 Credibull  - easily believable lies
 Gullibull  - factory reject lies good enough for idiots
 Horribull  - lies so grisly they must be true
 Legibull   - hand-written lies
 Plausibull - benefit-of-the-doubt lies
 Printabull - lies in newspapers and books
 Terribull  - lies on 9/11 and terrorism
 Visibull   - lies on TV


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