Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 07.31.06

[David Shove (shove001]

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     07.31.06

1. Corp ag ugh/Cavlan    8.01 10:30am Redwood Falls MN
2. Jew v Israel/KFAI     8.01 11am
3. 9-11/inside job/CSpan 8.01 5:10pm
4. Condom on a stick     8.01 5:30pm
5. Salon/Cambodia        8.01 6:30pm
6. Health/uhcan-mn       8.01 7pm
7. National Night Out    8.01

8. Had enough?           8.02 6:30pm
9. Farm/food/film        8.02 7pm
10. Roseville transit    8.02 7pm
11. Washington Co fair   8.02-06

12. Jay Pond          - Jay Pond for Congress
13. Diaz/Ovalle       - Protesters set up barricades in Mexico City
14. Anne Flaherty     - Bush submits new terror detainee bill
15. Gideon Levy       - Days of darkness
16. Richard Broderick - L'Chaim! The apple never falls far from the tree

--------1 of 16--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Corp ag ugh/Cavlan 8.01 10:30am Redwood Falls MN

Tue Aug 1:FARM FEST/Alternatives to Corporate Ag

Note from Lydia Howell: Agriculture is a place where many issues converge:
rural/small town economies, food safety/quality, farming practices and the
environment (genetically-modifed seeds & plants), feed lots, pesticides
(organic alternatives), trade policies: internationally, "free trade" v.
FAIR TRADE and the blockage against trade with Cuba (which Minnesota
farmers would like to see end) to local distribution networks like co-ops,
farmers' markets etc and even health (who gets healthy food, who
deosn't?), labor practices (rights of migrant workers).

Both corporate-sponsors parties support Big Ag: corporations that favor
POLLUTING practices (like pestidices), geneticaly-modified seeds and
plants that may seriously endanger both human health and the environment
and who get PUBLIC subsidies to do these things - while healthier
alternatives go begging for support. Family farms have been under seige
for over 25 years, when solutions to environmental and economic issues in
rural areas are often to be found in farming on a smaller scale(see the
writings of Kentucky famer/writer Wendell Berry).

The Green Party offers a real alternative to the Democratic/Republican
focus on Corporatizing more and more of our daily lives and too often
ignoring rural needs. Check out Michael Cavlan, candidate for US DSenate
at the Agricultural forum below. LH

Green Party candidate for US Senate, Michael Cavlan Tour

Tuesday August 1st
10:30 am
Senate Debate on Agriculture
Farm Fest
Gilfillian Estates
Redwood Falls
Redwood County, MN

contact for Michael Cavlan for Senate camapign at (612)327-6902

--
From: greenpartymike <ollamhfaery [at] earthlink.net>

Any Greens in this area, please contact our camapign at (612)327-6902
Get on the Cavlan Train, while there is still space.
Michael Cavlan RN www.cavlan.org


--------2 of 16--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Jew v Israel/KFAI 8.01 11am

Tue.AUG.1, 11am: Jewish Critic of Israel on KFAI/"Catalyst"

Seth Farber is a Jewish peace activist in NYC, PhD psychologist, member of
the Green Party and also of Jews Against The Occupation (JATO). He's an
author who's last book is "Radicals, Rabbis & Peacemakers: Conversations
With Jewish Critics of Israel" (available in the TC at MAY DAY BOOKS on
the West Bank, Minneapolis). His book includes his conversations with Noam
Chomsky, Phyllis Bennis (analyst of the way the UN has been copted by the
US), Norman Finkelstein, whose books reveal the long history of Israel's
ethnic cleansing of indigenous Arab populations, rabbis such as Marc Ellis
with a "prophetic vision" and memvbers of JATO. He talks about the Israeli
slaughter in Lebanon and puts it in the context of the Israel/Palestinian
conflict.

Farber is interviewed on "Catalyst:politics & culture", hosted by Lydia
Howell, on KFAI Radio, 90.3fm Mpls 106.7fm St Paul. All shows archived for
2 weeks after broadcast & check out the "Catalyst" page for local events,
upcoming guests and more at http://www.kfai.org


--------3 of 16--------

From: Nuzi Haneef <nuzi.haneef [at] comcast.net>
Subject: 9-11/inside job/CSpan 8.01 5:10pm

The C-SPAN program showing the panel discussion at the LA 9/11 conference,
aired 7/29/06 and 7/30/06, is having an effect. A new member, Mary, just
joined our meetup because of it. Another showing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Please spread the word to get a wide audience for it. The air time
announced by C-SPAN is as follows but please check their website for the
latest (using the "TV Schedules" link on the top right corner at <
http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp>):

* Channel: C-SPAN (Note: This means C-SPAN1, not C-SPAN2)

* Date and time: Tuesday, August 1, 2006; 5:10 PM CDT (6:10 PM EDT)

* Program Title: "September 11th Terrorist Attacks" or "Theories about
September 11" (forum)
(NOTE: The TV guide schedule will probably not show this title; this
program will air under some other series. On Saturday, it aired under
American Perspectives.)

* Duration: 1:50 (est.)

* Panelists:
Jones, Alex - Filmmaker
Fetzer, James H. - Co-Founder, Scholars for 9/11 Truth
Bowman, Robert M. - Member, Scholars for 9/11 Truth
Jones, Steven E. - Co-Founder, Scholars for 9/11 Truth
Tarpley, Webster Griffin - Author

This telecast can be seen worldwide over the internet as a video stream
over the internet at < http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp>. (Scroll down a
little and look for the section "LIVE STREAMS" near the middle of the
webpage.)

--
To visit The MN 9/11 Questions Meetup Group, go here:
http://9-11.meetup.com/253/

--
The appearance of this discussion on the nation's premiere public affairs
cable network is an incredible boon to the 9/11 Truth Movement. None of
the 9/11 Truth events that C-SPAN has covered in the past are as
hard-hitting as the 9/11 + The Neo-Con Agenda program. This panel
discussion cuts to the heart of the issue and exposes the events of
September 11th, 2001 as a complex premeditated plot carried out by
criminal elements within the U.S. Government as a pretext for launching
the endless "War on Terror" in which the globe is currently embroiled.

C-SPAN's coverage of this pivotal information will bring considerable
national attention to the 9/11 Truth Movement. It will also lend further
credibility to the Scholars for 9/11 Truth, the premiere organization
within the movement for peer-reviewed scientific research on 9/11 issues.

MORE INFO
Each member of the panel brought their own particular perspective and
expertise to the discussion while each maintained throughout their
comments that 9/11 was an "inside job."

Alex Jones, a progenitor of the 9/11 Truth Movement introduced the panel
and acted as moderator. Professor Steven E. Jones, an expert in Physics,
re-capped his vital new research which has conclusively proven that
demolition incendiaries were used to bring down World Trade Center and
could have only been placed there in advance of 9/11.

As a Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Minnesota and a former Marine Corps officer, James Fetzer
cut through the myths surrounding the 9/11 hijackers. Former Air Force
Interceptor Pilot Robert Bowman brought up the lack of air defense on the
day of 9/11 and shed light on the slough of drills conducted on 9/11 to
distract the military and prevent Flights 11 & 77 from being shot down.

Finally Author and Historian Webster Tarpley tied all of the information
together to paint a picture of 9/11. He described the drills, Bush's
actions and the blow-by-blow details of that fateful day that revealed
what could only be called the horrible truth of a conspiracy fact.

It is crucial that everyone see this historic panel discussion on C-SPAN.
Tell your friends and family, email colleagues, and post links on message
boards. This is an incredible step in spreading the truth about 9/11.


--
From: "Andregg, Michael M." <mmandregg [at] stthomas.edu>

URGE UN MEMBERS TO WATCH C-SPAN "9/11 INSIDE JOB" TODAY, AUG. 1ST

This will take you all of 2 or 3 minutes to accomplish and MAY CHANGE THE
WORLD !! (Below find a message to send the UN members, and their emails)

As you may know, Chavez of Venezuela is talking to other leaders about
forming a global 9/11 truth investigation.

C-SPAN is airing the "9/11 Inside Job" 2 hour program AGAIN TODAY, Aug.
1st, for the 4th time. BELOW YOU'LL FIND A MESSAGE AND THE EMAILS OF THE
ENTIRE UNITED NATIONS PERMANENTE MISSIONS FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. Please A)
Send the below message to them, and B) forward this entire email action on
to all your contacts, urging them to do the same. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
C-SPAN'S AIRING IT LATER TODAY!!

==
THE SUBJ. LINE TEXT FOR UN MESSAGE:

C-SPAN TODAY, Aug 1st, 6:10 EDT - 9/11 INSIDE JOB !! Media MUST WATCH !!

THE BODY OF MESSAGE TO SEND TO UN MEMBERS:
It is incumbent upon ALL United Nations members to watch this program, and
to investigate the evidence analyzed at BYU Physics Dept. proving 9/11 was
an inside job, by way of the controlled demolition of the 3 WTCs.
Thermate/Sulfer traces on WTC debris.

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and other leaders are discussing launching a
global International Tribunal to Investigate 9/11. PLEASE JOIN THEM !!

This HISTORIC telecast can be seen worldwide over the internet as a video
stream over the internet at <http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp>
http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp

C-SPAN at *06:10 PM EDT*
1:50 (est.) Forum
September 11th Terrorist Attacks
Alex Jones Productions
Alex Jones, rtd. Air Force Lt. Colonel Dr. Robert Bowman, BYU Physics
professor Dr. Steven Jones, James H. Fetzer , Scholars for 9/11 Truth

At below link, click on the:
American Perspectives: Sept. 11, V.P. Cheney, & Congress (07/29/2006) to
watch this C-SPAN coverage. If there is a problem watching it from the
C-SPAN site, another link is below of video coverage of the same event.

<http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=APS&ShowVidNum=10&Rot_Ca
t_CD=APS&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=100&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=100>
http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=APS&ShowVidNum=10&Rot_Cat
_CD=APS&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=100&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=100#

VIDEO COVERAGE OF THE 9/11 INSIDE JOB EVENT C-SPAN COVERED:

<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5004704309041471296&q=alex+symposi
um>
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5004704309041471296&q=alex+symposiu
m

ALSO, if you've yet to see the "LOOSE CHANGE" DOCUMENTARY - which is
covered in a four-page article in "VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE"s AUGUST 2006
ISSUE:

View the FREE ONLINE VIDEO DOCUMENTARY that raises many important issues
regarding 9/11, by visiting:

<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=94448691996878155&q=9%2F11+loose+ch
ange+2nd+edition>
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=94448691996878155&q=9%2F11+loose+cha
nge+2nd+edition

70 MILLION AMERICANS NOW WANT AN INVESTIGATIONS OF POSSIBLE US GOVT.
COMPLICITY IN THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER, 11, 2001. (Zogby poll)
 <http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060522022041421>
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060522022041421

PLEASE FORM AN INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL TO INVESTIGATE THE EVENTS OF
9/11/2001, THAT HAVE LED OUR WORLD INTO WAR.


--------4 of 16--------

From: erin [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: Condom on stick 8.01 5:30pm

Tuesday, August 1: Pro-Choice Resources Condom Stickering Party.
5:30-7:30pm at Pro-Choice Resources. Enjoy pizza, company of like minded
people, make condoms on a stick! www.prochoiceresources.org.

[Might this explain the real meaning behind Red Green's motto, "Keep your
stick on the ice"? (Talk about shrinkage!). Might this be a new item at
the State Fair? -id] [ed is not responsible for id, who runs amok and
occasionally steals PC space. -ed]


--------5 of 16--------

From: Patty Guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Salon/Cambodia 8.01 6:30pm

Tuesday Aug 1 the guest will be Marvin Lang who as the Chief Nurse
Anesthetist, Emeritus, at Hennepin Co. Medical Center will share his
experiences as a volunteer in a small children's hospital in Siem Reap,
Cambodia.  He is a member of Health Volunteers Overseas, a program that
organizes and directs activities in developing countries.

Ice tea will be a nice treat for the evening.

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 16--------

From: joel albers <joel [at] uhcan-mn.org>
Subject: Health/uhcan-mn 8.01 7pm

Dear Health Care Activists

Next meeting
TUESDAY, August 1, 7PM-9PM
Walker Church Lower Level Lounge, 3104 16th ave s.
(nearlake street and  bloomington ave in Mpls).

Feel free to bring a potluck item for National Night Out, outside the
Church.

Items:
1. Welcome new people, intros, background 10"
2. Reportbacks: Art Car Parade; debuting our new film,"Everybody In,
Nobody Out", where, when ? 10"
3. Forming our own HC Cooperative Pool:A new model; for the uninsured,
self-employed, small businesses, artists etc.30"
4. National Health Care Action Day is Aug 22. Plan an action ? 20"
5. Solving Medicare Part D Disaster:10"
6. Reclaiming the Visual Landscape; changing the entire visual landscape.
20"
7. other items, ideas to add ?

Also, our new eye-catching, conversation-starter, Single-Payer t-shirts
are available to buy or sell, $10

Joel Albers Minnesota Universal Health Care Action Network 612-384-0973
joel [at] uhcan-mn.org www.uhcan-mn.org Health Care Economics Researcher,
Clinical Pharmacist


--------7 of 16--------

From: hare [at] tcfreenet.org
Subject: National Night Out 8.01

National Night Out is Tuesday, 1 August.
[No further info given. -ed]


--------8 of 16--------

From: "Cleary, Merideth" <MCleary [at] americavotes.org>
Subject: Had enough? 8.02 6:30pm

Round Table Discussion
Had Enough?

Attend a local community gathering where people can voice their concerns
about the issues and the direction of the state and how we can start to
bring change in 2006.

Wednesday, August 02
6:30pm
Black Bear Crossing Cafe - Como Lake Pavillion
1360 Lexington Parkway
Saint Paul, MN  55103

For more information contact Merideth at merideth [at] americavotes.org or at
612-702-8542


--------9 of 16--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Farm/food/film 8.02 7pm

Wednesday August 2
7-11 PM, Films At Dusk
Stevens Square Park 1801 Stevens Ave, Minneapolis, MN

August 2, 2006
Grow Your Own

Celebrate the harvest with neighborhood gardeners and Gardenworks. Music
from old-time banjo, washboard, and string bass band The Brass Kings will
be followed by the film "The Real Dirt on Farmer John". Enjoy fresh
veggies and fruit from local gardeners and Sisters Camelot - we'll make
the mother of all salads! And learn about composting in your apartment.

Film: THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN by director Taggart Siegel True story
of third-generation American farmer John Peterson's journey of success,
tribulation, failure and rebirth, culminating in his creation of a
biodynamic, organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)  farm serving
1500 families in the Chicago area with weekly fresh produce.


--------10 of 16--------

From: Luke Heikkila <lukeandsarahheikkila [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Roseville transit 8.02 7pm

The Transportation and Transit subcommittee will meet on 8/2/2006,
7:00-9:00pm, at City Hall - Hawthorne room.

Agenda
Transportation & Transit Subcommittee Meeting
August 2, 2006, 7:00-9:00pm
City Hall, Hawthorne Room

1. Welcome & introductions
A. Sign-in
B. Assign note taker (post to City site & Forum site)
2. Review Norms (see below)
3. Current state of Roseville transportation infrastructure, and future
concerns -- presented by special guest Duane Schwartz, Roseville Public
Works Director.  (approx. one hour)
4. Individual briefs from members on:  Road Transportation, Pedestrian and
bike transportation (commercial / residential), Traffic control and
safety, and Transit.  These are from the steering committee initial issues
list.
5. Public Input (10 mins.)
6. Plan agenda for next meeting
7. Other business
A. Our mission:  Broad visionary level, compared with specific
implementation.
B. Schedule August public outreach meeting - three weeks notice needed
to publicize.
8. Adjourn


--------11 of 16--------

From: Diane J. Peterson <birch7 [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Washington Co fair 8.02-06

Metro Greens are needed to fill shifts at the Washington County Fair in
Stillwater, Wed Aug 2 to Sun Aug 6. Plus, Be in the evening parade on Aug
2.

Dear Fellow Greens,

The Washington County Local will have a booth at the Washington County
Fair from Wednesday, August 2nd through Sunday, August 6th. The hours are
10-10 Wed. through Sat. and 10 -8 on Sunday. The fairgrounds are southwest
of Stillwater, near Manning Avenue, Stillwater Boulevard, the Lake Elmo
Airport, Stillwater High School, and the town of Lake Elmo.

Please forward phone numbers of likely volunteers.

There will be a parade at 6:00 on Wed. which we can be in free of charge.

Please call or email to sign up for a time. As of this writing, all
volunteer time slots are open. Admission charges for volunteers will be
reimbursed by the Washington County Local.

Candidates are especially invited.

Bill Oldfather 651-275-0247 bill_oldfather [at] yahoo.com


--------12 of 16--------

Jay Pond for Congress (fwd)
http://jaypond.org/_ (http://jaypond.org/)

He doesn't accept donations from PACs, and won't be part of the major
party fundraising machines.

As a third party candidate, he can be more serious about election reform
than DFL or Republican candidates.

He'll work to end the war, bring home the troops, and rebuild Iraq.

He's a proponent of renewable energy and recognizes the importance of the
vast wind potential of the upper Midwest.

He's in favor of universal single payer health care.

He will advocate for reform of our immigration policy, and for the rights
of immigrants.

He believes strongly in civil rights, including everyone's right to
marriage.

He will paint a Green spot on the red/blue map of US House districts that
will be a powerful signal that this country is reversing its trend toward
the political right.

He spent six months in Washington observing the Minnesota delegation in
the US house.

He has the integrity, intelligence, and idealism needed to make a positive
difference in Congress.

--
For all of these reasons and more, please go to Jay's website and click on
"Contribute", or mail a check (every bit helps!), or consider working with
Jay to collect ballot access signatures starting July 4th.

Jay Pond
U.S. Congress - 5th District
Contact:
Pond for  Congress
2501 Bryant Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-220-5050
_www.JayPond.com_ (http://www.JayPond.com)


--------13 of 16--------

Protesters set up barricades in Mexico City
By Kevin Diaz & David Ovalle
McClatchy Newspapers

MEXICO CITY - Thousands of protesters set up barricades along Mexico
City's central thoroughfare Sunday night hours after the largest
demonstration in Mexico's history filled the main square in support of
leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's election challenge.

Police made no effort to intervene as the protesters set up tents and
blocked traffic, apparently in response to Lopez Obrador's call for the
establishment of 47 "permanent assemblies" to press his claims of fraud in
the July 2 elections. Lopez Obrador lost the vote to conservative Felipe
Calderon by less than 1 percent of 41 million ballots cast.

Protesters at one of the barricades on the Paseo de la Reforma said they
would remain there until a federal tribunal hearing Lopez Obrador's
challenge orders a recount of every ballot.

The street action comes amid mounting tensions in the post-election
dispute and was the first sign that Lopez Obrador's supporters intended to
take their protests beyond organized mass rallies.

The blocking of Reforma, a giant boulevard that stretches across Mexico
City's central corridor, came after a record 1.2 million gathered by
midday in the Zocalo, the city's historic central square, to hear Lopez
Obrador.

The gathering - the third such rally since the election results were
announced - was smaller than the 2 million Lopez Obrador had promised two
weeks ago, when he brought together 1.1 million followers.

But police said it was the largest demonstration in Mexico's history, and
analysts said it was enough to lend momentum to Lopez Obrador's case,
which currently is being considered by Mexico's federal election tribunal,
which must declare a winner by Sept. 6.

"The electoral tribunal has to rule independently, but they have to be
aware of public opinion," said John Ackerman, a law professor at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Lopez Obrador told the crowd he wouldn't hold another mass march.
Instead, he called on his supporters to organize "permanent assemblies" to
hold around-the-clock vigils throughout the city until the tribunal rules.

He vowed that the assemblies would be "disciplined and respectful,"
though he did not rule out potential civic disruptions, for which he
apologized in advance.

"We will be here until we have a recount of the votes that gives us a
legitimate president," Lopez Obrador told the cheering crowd.

While he was proposing the encampments, he said, it would be up to his
followers to decide how to carry them out, a posture that seemed to
distance him from any possible trouble.

"We are here in peace," said Basilio Martinez, one of the tent dwellers
setting up on the Paseo de la Reforma, shortly after darkness fell. "We
don't have written permission from the police, of course, because they
can't give it to us. But they are not intervening."

Sunday's march came as lawyers for Calderon's National Action Party, or
PAN, met with the tribunal's seven members to discuss the case. On
Saturday, Lopez Obrador's representatives met with the justices.

"Not only is the presidency at stake, but so are the rights of the
people," Lopez Obrador said at the rally. "It's not a lot to ask for a new
count of the votes. That would calm the country and assure stability."

The massive rally and the private judicial proceedings - no one from the
public was allowed to monitor the justices' meetings with the two camps -
capped a week of increasing friction during the post-election dispute.
Both sides have declared victory.

The candidates amped up the rhetoric Wednesday - Lopez Obrador declared
himself "president of Mexico," while Calderon's camp said Lopez Obrador is
bordering on "messianic."

The spectacle on Sunday proved every bit as colorful and noisy as two
previous Lopez Obrador marches.

Marchers whacked empty water jugs with sticks, a man atop a truck wore an
oversized paper Lopez Obrador head, and a giant TV screen broadcast live
protest shots set to throbbing electronic music.

Selling coffee mugs bearing Lopez Obrador's portrait, street vendor Maria
del Carmen Silvestre, 32, said he remains the best hope for the nation's
poor.

"Calderon won't do anything for us," she said. "With Lopez Obrador we will
get work and we will survive."

Lopez Obrador arrived at the packed square aboard a motorcade that had
passed down the Paseo de la Reforma, where a statue of Cuauhtemoc, the
last Aztec emperor, was draped with a huge banner that read "At your
orders, Mr. President."

People carried signs bearing the likeness of Mexico's first indigenous
president of Mexico, Benito Juarez.

One young woman dressed in white hung from a wooden crucifix. Her yellow
sash read "Democracy."

"We're a very Catholic country. It's Mexican idiosyncracy," said
university professor Guadalupe Rodriguez, 48. "But it doesn't mean (Lopez
Obrador) is messianic. It's a form of expression."

Despite Sunday's massive turnout, a poll published Sunday showed concerns
over Lopez Obrador's movement.

The poll, sponsored by the Reforma newspaper, showed that 58 percent of
Mexicans don't believe Lopez Obrador when he says he'll respect the
decision of the electoral court. Fifty-seven percent believe his protest
campaign could spark violence.

Also, 59 percent said they believe he has acted "irresponsibly" since the
July 2 elections, compared to 28 percent who said the same of Calderon.

Ovalle reports for The Miami Herald.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15160108.htm

[I doubt the accuracy of this "poll".

Lydia Howell comments "I wonder how many more elections here in the USA
will have to be stolen before Americans show the courage of the Mexican
people?"

I would say, quite a few. We don't like to believe our government is evil,
out of control, in the hands of bloodthirsty elitists, etc. Some of us
prefer to live in a pretty pink haze of denial, rather than fight. On the
other hand, we here are far less advanced than people south of the border,
so perhaps we can blame our inaction on ignorance and infancy. Anyway,
many will line up behind Hillary, to be led like lemmings over the cliff
in 2008.  Otherwise they would have to face some nasty truths, and do some
hard things, which they'd prefer not to. -ed]


--------14 of 16--------

Bush submits new terror detainee bill
By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 28, 6:53 PM ET
http://tinyurl.com/s5ypz [AP]

U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and
barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the
Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the
bill.

A 32-page draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon's tribunal
system, established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and
prosecute detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system was
thrown out last month by the Supreme Court.

Administration officials, who declined to comment on the draft, said the
proposal was still under discussion and no final decisions had been made.

Senior officials are expected to discuss a final proposal before the
Senate Armed Services Committee next Wednesday.

According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all "enemy
combatants" until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy combatants as
anyone "engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition
partners who has committed an act that violates the law of war and this
statute."

Legal experts said Friday that such language is dangerously broad and
could authorize the military to detain indefinitely U.S. citizens who had
only tenuous ties to terror networks like al Qaeda.

"That's the big question ... the definition of who can be detained," said
Martin Lederman, a law professor at Georgetown University who posted a
copy of the bill to a Web blog.

Scott L. Silliman, a retired Air Force Judge Advocate, said the broad
definition of enemy combatants is alarming because a U.S. citizen loosely
suspected of terror ties would lose access to a civilian court - and all
the rights that come with it. Administration officials have said they want
to establish a secret court to try enemy combatants that factor in
realities of the battlefield and would protect classified information.

The administration's proposal, as considered at one point during
discussions, would toss out several legal rights common in civilian and
military courts, including barring hearsay evidence, guaranteeing "speedy
trials" and granting a defendant access to evidence. The proposal also
would allow defendants to be barred from their own trial and likely allow
the submission of coerced testimony.

Senior Republican lawmakers have said they were briefed on the general
discussions and have some concerns but are awaiting a final proposal
before commenting on specifics.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon
England are expected to discuss the proposal in an open hearing next
Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Military lawyers
also are scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary
Committee.

The legislation is the administration's response to a June 29 Supreme
Court decision, which concluded the Pentagon could not prosecute military
detainees using secret tribunals established soon after the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks. The court ruled the tribunals were not authorized
by law and violated treaty obligations under the Geneva Conventions, which
established many international laws for warfare.

The landmark court decision countered long-held assertions by the Bush
administration that the president did not need permission from Congress to
prosecute "enemy combatants" captured in the war on terror and that al
Qaeda members were not subject to Geneva Convention protections because of
their unconventional status.

"In a time of ongoing armed conflict, it is neither practicable nor
appropriate for enemy combatants like al Qaeda terrorists to be tried like
American citizens in federal courts or courts-martial," the proposal
states.

The draft proposal contends that an existing law - passed by the Senate
last year after exhaustive negotiations between the White House and Sen.
John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz. - that bans cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment should "fully satisfy" the nation's
obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

Sen. John W. Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., chairman of the
Armed Services Committee, said Friday he expects to take up the detainee
legislation in September.
___
On the Net: A copy of the report can be found at:
http://balkin.blogspot.com/

[Seig heil, mein Fuehrer -ed]


--------15 of 16--------

Days of Darkness
By Gideon Levy
Haaretz.com
http://www.truthout.org_2006/073106E.shtml
Sunday 30 July 2006

In war as in war: Israel is sinking into a strident, nationalistic
atmosphere and darkness is beginning to cover everything. The brakes we
still had are eroding, the insensitivity and blindness that characterized
Israeli society in recent years is intensifying. The home front is cut in
half: the north suffers and the center is serene. But both have been taken
over by tones of jingoism, ruthlessness and vengeance, and the voices of
extremism that previously characterized the camp's margins are now
expressing its heart. The left has once again lost its way, wrapped in
silence or "admitting mistakes". Israel is exposing a unified,
nationalistic face.

The devastation we are sowing in Lebanon doesn't touch anyone here and
most of it is not even shown to Israelis. Those who want to know what Tyre
looks like now have to turn to foreign channels - the BBC reporter brings
chilling images from there, the likes of which won't be seen here. How can
one not be shocked by the suffering of the other, at our hands, even when
our north suffers? The death we are sowing at the same time, right now in
Gaza, with close to 120 dead since the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, 27 last
Wednesday alone, touches us even less. The hospitals in Gaza are full of
burned children, but who cares? The darkness of the war in the north
covers them, too.

Since we've grown accustomed to thinking collective punishment a
legitimate weapon, it is no wonder no debate has sparked here over the
cruel punishment of Lebanon for Hezbollah's actions. If it was okay in
Nablus, why not Beirut? The only criticism being heard about this war is
over tactics. Everyone is a general now and they are mostly pushing the
IDF to deepen its activities. Commentators, ex-generals and politicians
compete at raising the stakes with extreme proposals.

Haim Ramon "doesn't understand" why there is still electricity in Baalbek;
Eli Yishai proposes turning south Lebanon into a "sandbox"; Yoav Limor, a
Channel 1 military correspondent, proposes an exhibition of Hezbollah
corpses and the next day to conduct a parade of prisoners in their
underwear, "to strengthen the home front's morale".

It's not difficult to guess what we would think about an Arab TV station
whose commentators would say something like that, but another few
casualties or failures by the IDF, and Limor's [foreign minister limor
Livnat] proposal will be implemented. Is there any better sign of how we
have lost our senses and our humanity?

Chauvinism and an appetite for vengeance are raising their heads. If two
weeks ago only lunatics such as Safed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu spoke about
wiping out every village where a Katyusha is fired, now a senior officer
in the IDF speaks that way in Yedioth Aharonoth's main headlines. Lebanese
villages may not have been wiped out yet, but we have long since wiped out
our own red lines.

A bereaved father, Haim Avraham, whose son was kidnapped and killed by
Hezbollah in October 2000, fires an artillery shell into Lebanon for the
reporters. It's vengeance for his son. His image, embracing the decorated
artillery shell is one of the most disgraceful images of this war. And
it's only the first. A group of young girls also have their picture taken
decorating IDF shells with slogans.

Maariv, which has turned into the Fox News of Israel, fills its pages with
chauvinist slogans reminiscent of particularly inferior propaganda
machines, such as "Israel is strong" which is indicative of weakness,
actually while a TV commentator calls for the bombing of a TV station.

Lebanon, which has never fought Israel and has 40 daily newspapers, 42
colleges and universities and hundreds of different banks, is being
destroyed by our planes and cannons and nobody is taking into account the
amount of hatred we are sowing. In international public opinion, Israel
has been turned into a monster, and that still hasn't been calculated into
the debit column of this war. Israel is badly stained, a moral stain that
can't be easily and quickly removed. And only we don't want to see it.

The people want victory, and nobody knows what that is and what its price
will be.

The Zionist left has also been made irrelevant. As in every difficult test
in the past - the two intifadas for example, this time too the left has
failed just when its voice was so necessary as a counterweight to the
stridency of the beating tom-toms of war. Why have a left if at every real
test it joins the national chorus?

Peace Now stands silently, so does Meretz, except for brave Zehava Gal-On.
A few days of a war of choice and already Yehoshua Sobol is admitting he
was wrong all along. Peace Now is suddenly an "infantile slogan" for him.
His colleagues are silent and their silence is no less resounding. Only
the extreme left makes its voice heard, but it is a voice nobody listens
to.

Long before this war is decided, it can already be stated that its
spiraling cost will include the moral blackout that is surrounding and
covering us all, threatening our existence and image no less than
Hezbollah's Katyushas.


--------16 of 16--------

from richb [at] lakecast.com
L'Chaim! The apple never falls far from the tree.
Richard Broderick
www.tcdailyplanet.net

With his response to his 81-year-old father's arrest this past week on
charges of lewd conduct and indecent exposure, Sen. Norm Coleman once
again rates a 100 percent voting record from the National Association of
Smarmy Ass Coverers.

In case you missed the news reports, Norm Coleman Sr. was caught having
sex with a 38-year-old woman outside a pizza parlor in St. Paul. Not
surprisingly, Norm Jr spent all his energy calculating what harm randy old
papa might cause his son's lackluster political career. Lacking the
cojones to face the press in person, Norm Jr issued a statement saying, "I
love my father dearly. I do not condone his actions or behavior and I am
deeply disturbed by what I have learned. He clearly has some issues that
need to be dealt with, and I will encourage him to seek the necessary
help." Given Norm Jr's own history of indiscriminate womanizing, whatever
"issues" the old man has to deal with seem to have been passed on from one
generation to the next. The apple never falls far from the tree, now does
it? For his brazen two-faced hypocrisy, I hereby sentence our
whited-sepulcher of a Senator to chair a public hearing every day for a
year in which the sole witness is British MP George Galloway.

Articles about the arrest also cited Norm Jr's previous practice of
pimping his father, a veteran of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge,
during election bids, most shamelessly during his campaign against Paul
Wellstone in 2002. On such occasions, Junior would refer to his old man as
"my personal hero." Well, Normie, he's my personal hero now, too. An
81-year-old man getting it on with a woman less than half his age? In
public? In a car? L'Chaim!

Maybe I'm so hard on Junior because I came to know - and despise him - so
well in college. Well, not him personally, but certainly his type. The
callow, self-aggrandizing SDS agitator with his fantasies of a revolution
that would end up putting someone, well, just like himself in charge, his
exploitative manipulation of others to go off and get their heads cracked
in confrontations with the police and National Guard - confrontations
invariably deemed too dangerous to dare risk exposing the "brains" behind
the unrest to, his chauvinistic treatment of "chicks"; the Women's
Liberation Movement, it should be recalled, was less a response to the
repressive Fifties than to the fury of young women in the Anti-War
Movement triggered by their male counterparts - patronizing young
patriarchal bastards like Norm Coleman Jr.

And while we're on the topic, how much you want to bet that in his
long-hair SDS days, Normie didn't refer to his father as "my personal
hero?" "Fascist pig,"  maybe. "Tool of the Military-Industrial Complex,"
perhaps. Certainly not "personal hero."

Yup, Norm Jr's whole life has been of a seamy piece, his lickspittle
support of Bush's creative destruction in the Mideast, his enlistment in
the neocon's Chicken Hawk War, a natural extension of his previous
incarnations, each bearing telltale traces of the slime trail he leaves in
his wake. How could you go from being an SDS-er to a neocon Republican? he
was once asked. Easy, he replied.  Back then I wanted to change the world.
I still do.

Translation? Once a sociopath, always a sociopath.

I'll say this: whatever his old man did, it was a consensual act between
two adults that harmed no one. Norm Sr got caught screwing a woman. Norm
Jr has spent his whole life screwing the rest of us.

[And I for one am not enjoying it. -ed]


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