Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 03.28.07

[David Shove (shove001]

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R   03.28.07

1. AIM/GLBT            3.28 4pm
2. Palestine/apartheid 3.28 4pm
3. Support StPaul  IRV 3.28 4pm
4. Brown power         3.28 5:30pm
5. Afghan landmines    3.28 6:30pm
6. CIA & cinema        3.28 7pm
7. Nader/film          3.28 7pm
8. Racial justice/art  3.28 7pm

9. CityPages       - Review of film on Nader "An Unreasonable Man"
10. CorpCrimeRpt   - Political players and single payer
11. Laura Flanders - No special rights

--------1 of 11--------

From: David Strand <mncivil [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: AIM/GLBT 3.28 4pm

Randy Burns, head of the Two-Spirit Circle of the American Indian
Movement, will speak on activism in AIM and the GLBT community. As a
thirty + year activist in both movements he will address the problems
faced by activists who are part of more than one cultural entity. The
presentation will be on Wednesday, March 28th, 4:00pm to 6:00pm in Elmer
L. Anderson Library in the Givens Conference Room. The address is 222 21st
Ave. S.


--------2 of 11--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Palestine/apartheid 3.28 4pm

Media contact: Kelly O'Brien, College of Liberal Arts, 612-624-4109 or
obrie136 [at] umn.edu

"Countdown to Apartheid in Israel/Palestine" talk
Jeff Halper, coordinator of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
University of Minnesota, 125 Nolte Center, east bank campus
Wednesday, March 28, 4:00 p.m.
FFI: Institute for Advanced Study, www.ias.umn.edu; 612-626-5054

Peace Activist Jeff Halper at U of M

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN (March 12, 2007)--Internationally-recognized
human rights activist Jeff Halper will speak at the University of
Minnesota on Wednesday, March 28 at 4:00 p.m. His talk, entitled
"Countdown to Apartheid in Israel/Palestine," will address the
components of Israel's "Matrix of Control" and how they are leading to a
permanent system of separation and domination of Israelis over
Palestinians. According to Halper, Israel's occupation is being
transformed from a temporary military situation into a permanent "fact
on the ground," recognized by the United States. His talk will take
place in 125 Nolte Center, on the U of M east bank campus.

Hibbing, Minn.-raised Jeff Halper, an anthropologist, is the coordinator
of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) a leading
organization of the Israeli peace movement. He has lived in Israel since
1973. Halper has researched and written extensively on Israeli society and
is the author of the book /Between Redemption and Revival: the Jewish
Yishuv in Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century/ (Westview, 1991). He was
chair of the Israeli Association for Ethiopian Jews. Halper has been
active in the Israeli peace movement for many years. As the coordinator of
ICAHD, he has forged a new mode of Israeli peace activity based on
non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to the Israeli Occupation
authorities and in close cooperation with Palestinian organizations, even
in times of intense conflict.

Jeff Halper is also teaching a seminar on the Israel/Palestine conflict
while he is at the U of M. He will be available for interviews in
Minneapolis from March 16 - 29.


--------3 of 11--------

From: Andy Hamerlinck <iamandy [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Support StPaul IRV 3.28 4pm

Help our St. Paul City Council members "Feel the IRV" at this month's
Policy Session on Instant Runoff Voting!!! Join supporters at 4:00pm this
Wednesday (28th) in City Council Chambers, 3rd floor, City Hall. Most
Council Members have been slow to publicly support IRV. Let's remind them
that IRV is about Better Democracy. Let's remind them that IRV is about
Better Campaigns. And let's remind them that IRV would toe the line for
the affirmative action goals of the St. Paul DFL.

The policy session is at the end of the regular work day, so grab a
coworker, slip out a side door a few minutes early and come warm the
benches in City Hall!

Can't make it? Let your council person and the Mayor know that you support
IRV using this incredibly simple web tool:
http://stpaul.betterballotcampaign.org/choose/ward/stpaul


--------4 of 11--------

From: Darrell Gerber <darrellgerber [at] earthlink.net>
From: Karen Monahan [mailto:KMONAHAN [at] mn.rr.com]
Subject: Brown power 3.28 5:30pm

Separate is not equal! Join the Brown Power Base Project!   Reject
Segregation in Minnesota Schools!

Our First meeting went well on March 14th, 2007.
Come and learn more about the Brown Power Base Project and how you can get
involved. This is your Brown Power Meeting reminder for Wednesday
March 28th, 2007. The Meeting time is 5:30 pm until 8:00 pm @ 2100 Plymouth
Avenue North 55411.
Bring everyone you know who is concerned about segregation in education.

Brown Power Base Project Partners: the Minneapolis Urban League, African
American Family Services, the Institute on Race & Poverty, HACER, Centro
Campesino and the Housing Preservation Project.

For more information: Contact Cheryl Morgan Spencer 612-302-3100
cmspencer [at] mul.org


--------5 of 11--------

From: United Nations Association of MN <info [at] unamn.org>
Subject: Afghan landmines 3.28 6:30pm

Help Clear Landmines in Afghanistan
Come to The Night Of A 1000 Dinners 2007 - Bring your friends!

Adopt-A-Minefield In Afghanistan
Buffet Dinner of Afghani Food and A Short Report On Our Mines Removing
Work in Afghanistan on Wednesday, March 28, 2007
At DaAfghan Restaurant, 6:30-9:00 p.m.,
929 West 80th Street, Bloomington, MN 55420

Please RSVP at 952-888-5824, www.daafghan.com, COST: $25.00
For further information call Jay Shahidi at 612-328-1913.


--------6 of 11--------

From: "Barnes, Joan" <joan.barnes [at] wmitchell.edu>
Subject: CIA & cinema 3.28 7pm

The CIA and the Cinema

The National Security Forum at William Mitchell College of Law will
present "The CIA and the Cinema,"
What's the secret to good spy movies?
How do they differ from other films?
Why do spies fascinate Hollywood and vice versa?
Has the CIA gone Hollywood?
We have ways of finding out...

Wednesday, March 28, 7:00 p.m.
William Mitchell College of Law, Room 325, 875 Summit Ave, St. Paul
More info: events [at] wmitchell.edu or call 651-290-6400

The National Security Forum (NSF) was founded in 2005 to examine the
balance between individual liberty and public safety. It brings national
security experts, scholars, and policy-makers from around the U.S. to
discuss these issues.

Media Contacts:  Joan Barnes 651-290-6371 952-200-8508
Jbarnes582 [at] mn.rr.com Mary Grant 651-290-6452 mgrant [at] wmitchell.edu


--------7 of 11--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Nader/film 3.28 7pm

Get a free preview of the new documentary film AN UNREASONABLE MAN, about
the amazing life of RALPH NADER. Scapegoating and blaming Nader for
Democratic failures in 2000 and 2004, means many have forgotten who this
fine American is and all he's accomplished FOR the nation: the Clean Air
Act and other environmental legislation, consuemr safety(like seat
belts!), the Freedom of Information Act and so much more.

He's also making the case for basic small-d democratic values, cleainging
up our election system, voting rights and making the case for impeachment.
Nader was one of the very first voices to challenge Corporate take over of
our government and the commodification of our culture.

The film's distributor will decide how many cities get to ssceen film
BASED ON how well it does in MInneapolis--it opens FOR ONE WEEK ONLY AT
THE LAGOON THEATRE IN UPTOWN MINNEAPOLIS, FRIDAY,MAR. 30thwo

Come see the film and help get the word out w/fliers, online and to
friends!

WED,MAR.28, 7pm
MAY DAY BOOKS
301 Cedar Ave. S.
(basement of HUB Bucycle, door faces frwy)
WEST BANK, MInneapolis
(612)333-4719
Parking next door or at U of M amp on Riverside


--------8 of 11--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Racial justice/art 3.28 7pm

Encountering Racial Justice Through Art

Hamline University is pleased to present a visual and performance art
program designed to challenge racial injustices. "Encountering Racial
Justice through Art," includes a juried art show that runs Monday, March
26 through Friday, April 20 in the Giddens Learning Center Art Gallery at
1556 Hewitt Avenue on Hamline's Saint Paul campus. An opening reception in
the gallery will be held Wednesday, March 28 from 7-9 p.m. Coinciding with
the art exhibit, an evening of theatre, spoken word, and music promoting
racial justice will take place Friday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m. in Sundin
Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Avenue. Featured performers include hip-hop band
Purest Form, spoken word artists Bobby Wilson and Christy Erikson,
dancer/performance artist Alejandra Tobar-Alatriz, singer/songwriter Marri
Harris, theatre troupe I Am...We Are..., and others. These events are free
and open to the public.

This performance and visual arts program unites emerging and established
artists throughout the Twin Cities whose works seek to push beyond a
celebration of cultural heritage to explore the deeper issues of racial
injustice. It seeks to inspire, engage, enlighten and enrage audiences
while inviting a deeper contemplation of racial justice issues.

Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 9:30 pm,
Saturday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
www.hamline.edu/hamline_info/offices_services/student_relations/studentaffairs/misa/
other_info.html
or contact bploger [at] hamline.edu <mailto:bploger%40hamline.edu>,
651-523-2587 for more information.


--------9 of 11--------

CityPages review of "An Unreasonable Man"
Vol 28 Issue 1373  PUBLISHED 3/28/2007
URL: www.citypages.com/databank/28/1373/article15275.asp
HOME: www.citypages.com

Spoiler Alert
Doc reopens the Nader debate: Is it his fault?
by Jim Ridley

It is November 7, Election Day in America, the year of our Lord 2000, and
en route to the ballot (screen, chad dimpler, whatever) every hand
miraculously freezes in mid-selection. All at once, there is a
lightning-fast stroboscopic blip of the future: two planes, human rain, a
shower of debris and dust; tortured prisoners heaped in a pile;
flag-draped coffins. Muzzle flashes blink in the Superdome. A grinning man
in a flight suit poses before a banner reading, "Mission Accomplished." A
flash, a fade, the world unfreezes, and all eyes return to the ballot.
Having seen what they've seen, does anyone vote for Ralph Nader?

Infuriating, combative, infernally self-righteous - and often right - the
vexing vote-splitter is the subject of An Unreasonable Man, Henriette
Mantel and Steve Skrovan's sprawling documentary. A cornucopia of
talking-head rancor, indefatigable idealism, and livid history, the film
argues that the crusading activist, organizer, and working man's champion
deserves a bigger place in history than as just the Grinch Who Spoiled the
Election. That doesn't mean he'll get it. As even Nader's friend and
supporter Phil Donahue concludes, "It's going to be the first line of his
obit."

Like its subject, the movie leads with its chin, starting with Nader's
announcement of his 2004 presidential run - a move that sent liberals
still smarting from 2000 (including many former supporters)  scurrying for
torches and pitchforks. "Thank you, Ralph, for the Iraq War...thank you,
Ralph, for the destruction of the Constitution,"  catcalls The Nation's
insufferable smarm-bucket Eric Alterman, as if the mag hadn't hailed
Nader's hoisting of the Green flag early on when it was politically
convenient.

Hard to believe, but the Benedict Arnold of the weathervane bleeding-
heart set was once a hero - a little guy who brought Big Auto to heel,
helped prevent more than 190,000 automotive deaths in 30 years, and was
directly responsible for the Environmental Protection Agency, OSHA, the
Freedom of Information Act, and other vital public safeguards. The
question An Unreasonable Man addresses is why - as in, Why didn't Nader
the public servant just hand over his votes to Al Gore or John Kerry, and
concede that a lesser evil is still better than a greater one?

The answer the movie presents is complicated: Because Nader grew up amid
the town-hall government of his Connecticut hometown, and came away
certain that open debate and citizen engagement are the purest forms of
democracy. Because Nader is convinced, rightly or wrongly, that all of his
missions carry a public mandate. Because Nader is one competitive,
argumentative cuss. Because Nader has no truck with the idea of
realpolitik, or with perpetuating a rotten system. (Just how rotten we see
on camera, when state troopers block Nader from attending the 2000
presidential debate - a debate he would have greatly enriched, which was
of course the problem.) And also, not least of all, because he couldn't
stomach the candidates. "I'm a 20-year veteran of the folly of the 'least
worst,'" Nader tells the filmmakers.

An Unreasonable Man shifts from Nader's present infamy to his first public
triumph: his early-1960s crusade against accident-prone design flaws in
the sleek, sexy machines rolling off Detroit's assembly lines. When GM
played hardball, hiring hookers and detectives to discredit Nader, the
resulting congressional inquest and six-figure invasion-of-privacy
settlement made his career - Nader became the Capra-esque embodiment of
the guy who fights City Hall and wins. The revelation of Mantel and
Skrovan's documentary is how long he maintained that reputation, and how
deeply he instilled his ideals in others. Mantel, herself a former Nader
staffer, and Skrovan, a veteran staff writer on Everybody Loves Raymond,
interview a number of the young activists who flocked to Washington in the
late '60s as "Nader's Raiders"  - proto-wonks too straight-laced for the
Yippie movement, but inspired by Nader to flex their civic muscle for the
common good.

Though plainly sympathetic, An Unreasonable Man doesn't so much endorse as
explain Nader's decision not to step aside after it was clear he had
campaigned too effectively for the Democrats' comfort.  (The Dems were the
"meanest bunch of motherfuckers I've ever run across," observes the
invaluable investigative reporter James Ridgeway, which is saying
something.) The filmmakers give ample voice to usual-suspect critics such
as Alterman and Todd Gitlin, who brand Nader a deluded megalomaniac and
deeply troubled. More affecting are the former Raiders who respectfully
regret their boss's refusal to back down, and find his subsequent
brush-off a brutally unsentimental rejection of their shared past. Sadder
still are the clips of former supporters Susan Sarandon and Michael Moore
actively campaigning against him - as if the ideals they once shared were
no longer even an option.

The question remains: Knowing what they know now, do Nader supporters
regret their vote? For most, almost certainly - and Gore today seems a
much more progressive figure than the lump of centrist taffy who stumped
in 2000 - but An Unreasonable Man reminds us why a vote for Nader
mattered: Because it represented the unshakable belief in a better future,
and in an individual's power to effect positive change. The film's title
refers to George Bernard Shaw's dictum that "all progress depends on the
unreasonable man" who insists on bending the world to his will. If the
film shows that few men are as unreasonable as Ralph Nader, it also shows
that few have so succeeded in shaping their world: His legacy of
progressive legislation will affect generations to come. If Nader is
guilty of anything, it's of clinging to his ideals amid a dam burst of
compromise and disillusionment as if they were a lifeboat - or an anchor.


--------10 of 11--------

The Corporate Crime of Selling Private Health Insurance
Political Players and Single Payer
By CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
CounterPunch
March 27, 2007

In most of the world, it is a corporate crime to sell private health
insurance.

That's because most countries insure their citizens as a matter of right.

Private insurers dilute the public pool.

One nation, one payer.

Medicare for all.

Everybody in, nobody out.

No bills from the doctor.

No bills from the hospital.

No deductibles.

No co-pays.

No in network.

No out of network.

No corporate profits.

No threat of bankruptcy from health bills.

Health insurance will be the number one domestic political issue in the
USA in 2008.

Polls indicate that the majority of the American people want single payer.

But who will deliver?

On Saturday, the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) sponsored a forum in Las Vegas for
presidential candidates to discuss health care.

No Republicans accepted.

Seven Democrats accepted.

All the candidates at the forum agreed that universal health care was the
goal. (Even the Business Roundtable and the insurance industry now say
they want "universal health care.")

But only one - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) - accepts the only
answer that will work - single payer.

Medicare for all.

The rest - including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Bill
Richardson, Mike Gravel, and John Edwards - want some mixture of public
and private health insurance.

They know this public/private mix won't work - the healthy wealthy will
buy private insurance, the sick poor will sign on with the government -
and the government program will be crippled.

But they don't have the guts to stand up to the private insurance industry
and say - get out.

Kucinich has introduced single payer legislation (HR 676) in Congress that
would make it unlawful to sell private health insurance for benefits that
are medically necessary.

Last week, we entered the belly of the beast - the American Health
Insurance Plans (AHIP) 2007 National Policy Forum at the Capital Hilton in
Washington, D.C.

AHIP is the trade association for the companies that will be sacked if
single payer becomes law.

We walked into a session titled - Coverage for All Americans: Putting
Access at the Top of the National Agenda.

The session was moderated by AHIP President Karen Ignagni.

Not once during the 90-minute session was single payer mentioned.

Universal coverage, yes.

Single payer, no.

But during the discussion, the geography of nowhere was laid out.

On one side, Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA had teamed up
with AHIP's Ignagni.

On the other, Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP and John Catsellani, president of
the Business Roundtable.

AARP and the Business Roundtable have joined with SEIU to form something
called Divided We Fail.

Divided We Fail is a corporate liberal answer to single payer.

All Americans should have access to affordable quality health care.

All Americans should have peace of mind about their future long-term
financial security.

Families USA and AHIP do a separate dance but mouth similar platitudes.

But both Divided We Fail and Families USA/AHIP dismiss single payer as
unworkable.

On the single payer side is Kucinich, about 60 members of the House of
Representatives, the California Nurses Association, Physicians for a
National Health Program, and Health Care Now.

Kucinich is now the single payer champion.

The problem with Kucinich, of course, is that if he doesn't get the
nomination, he will take the stage at the Democratic Convention in 2008 in
Denver - as he did in 2004 in Boston - raise the hand of the corporate
nominee and endorse the corporate platform.

Then where will we be?

Nowhere.

Again.

Corporate Crime Reporter is located in Washington, DC. They can be reached
through their website.


--------11 of 11--------

No Special Rights
Laura Flanders
Published on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 by The Nation

Nonbinding this and that, deadline lah-di-dah, Bush/Cheney are going to
ignore the mandate of the midterm elections and every pressure from
Congress on Iraq, because Bush/Cheney know their opponents' bark has no
bite. And that's because those opponents have yet to renounce the
Bush/Cheney vision of US supremacy in the world. In fact, mostly, they
share it.

William Pfaff writes about US Manifest Destiny in the New York Review of
Books: "It is something like heresy to suggest that the US does not have a
unique moral status and role to play in the history of nations," he
writes. Bush/Cheney tap into a belief that's as old as the state itself.
(Pfaff quotes Paine: "The case and circumstances of America present
themselves as in the beginning of the world. We are as if we we had lived
in the beginning of time.")

Belief in US "exceptionalism" is the hop-skip-jump that led to US
intervention in Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Central America - and now Iraq. It's
the "exception" that okays the breaking of global rules, from the Geneva
Convention, to the conventions against torture to the chucking-out of
Habeas Corpus. Like Dirty Harry, Bush knows Americans believe "good" cops
can break the rules if they're on a mission to save the world from terror,
evil, tyranny.

Neo-cons came up with the chilling phrase "The New American Century," but
even their critics accept the concept. In his testimony to Congress on
global warming, Al Gore referred not once but a handful of times to the US
"unique" role to save the planet.

At the risk of being burnt at the stake I'd like to suggest that this
month provides a special chance to review all this stuff about
specialness. March 25 marked the 200th anniversary of the British
Parliament's abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. (A US law took
effect in 1808.) To take a second look at the foundations of the country
is to be reminded of the reality behind the rhetoric.

The New World wasn't so new. Ask the people who lived here. Slavery wasn't
a new beginning. It was ancient. The first place to throw off slavery was
Haiti in 1801, sixty-three years ahead of the United States. That makes
Haiti special. Does it give Haiti a unique role in the world, to invade
other countries and pursue a Project for a New Haitian Century?

We've got the brawn, but does that give us the right or the responsibility
to rule the world? The problem isn't this deadline or that. The problem is
the ideology of supremacy. The same ideology (that some are by nature
better, or more valuable than others) that undergirded slavery in the
first place.

Laura Flanders is the author of BLUE GRIT: True Democrats Take Back
Politics from the Politicians, forthcoming April 9, from The Penguin
Press.

Copyright 2007 The Nation


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