Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 09.29.07

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    09.29.07

1. Palestine         9.29 8:30am StJoseph MN
2. City refugee camp 9.29 8:30am
3. Kid's garden bene 9.29 10am
4. Steelworker rally 9.29 10am
5. NWN4P Minnetonka  9.29 11am
6. Army of None      9.29 1pm
7. Exco college      9.29 1pm
8. Marine/peace/film 9.29 7pm
9. Rachel Corrie/CTV 9.29 9pm

10. Cindy Sheehan - Pro-democracy means anti-fascism
11. Dave Lindorff - Time for a mass resignation from the Democratic Party

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

From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject:  Palestine 9.29 8:30am StJoseph MN

"Seeking to Understand the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict"
Saturday, September 29, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The College of St.
Benedict, Gorecki Conference Center, 37 South College Avenue, St. Joseph.

This assembly is intended to engage participants in an initial examination
of the relationships between Palestine and Israel. The theme will be
addressed by a panel of speakers: Rev. John Darlington, Wendy Kaufmyn,
Lorin Peters, and Florence Steichen CSJ. Workshops in an afternoon session
will include topics giving further attention to the subject. Presented by:
Pax Christi Minnesota. FFI and to Register: Call 651-699-8565 or visit
<www.csbsju.edu/csbcampusministry>.


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

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: City refugee camp  9.29 8:30am
***SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

Doctors without Borders
Refugee Camp in the City
Loring Park, Minneapolis
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/education/refugeecamp/


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

From: Britt  Carlson <britta00 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Kid's garden bene 9.29 10am

Fundraiser for the Community Design Center's Children's Garden Program
Outdoor concert by Celtic folk group Barra (http://www.barraband.com/)
Saturday, September 29 - 10 to 12 a.m.
Swede Hollow Café Patio
725 East 7th Street,
St. Paul, MN
Suggested donation:  $10.00
Outdoor event, weather permitting.

The Community Design Center of Minnesota operates two summer, youth
internship programs: the East Side Garden Corps and the East Side
Conservation Corps. Youth between the ages of 13 and 18, who live or go to
school in East Side St. Paul, can participate in these programs.

The youth from the Community Design Center will be present, selling
garden-related products (veggies, vinegars, wreaths) and telling folks
about the program.


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

From: Andy Hamerlinck <iamandy [at] riseup.net>
From:   stpaulunions.org <llwright [at] stpaulunions.org>
Subject: Steelworkers rally 9.29 10am

National Day of Action!
In Support of 7,000 Striking USW Forestry Workers
Saturday, September 29
Home Depot - 2360 White Bear Avenue North
Maplewood, MN 55109
10 am to NOON

On average, 25 workers are killed each year in the coastal forestry
industry of British Columbia. Steelworkers have been on strike since July
21 over issues of job safety and health. Home Depot is selling "bloody
lumber" produced by the struck companies. Please support the BC strikers
as USW members mobilize for a National Day of Action at over 100 Home
Depot locations across North America.
For more information, call 515-953-0783.


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

From: Carole Rydberg <carydberg [at] comcast.net>
Subject: NWN4P Minnetonka 9.29 11am

NWN4P-New Hope demonstration every Thursday 4:30 to 6 PM at the corner of
Winnetka and 42nd.  You may park near Walgreens or in the larger lot near
McDonalds; we will be on all four corners.  Bring your own or use our
signs.

NWN4P-Minnetonka demonstration- Every Saturday, 11 AM to noon, at Hwy. 7
and 101.  Park in the Target Greatland lot; meet near the
fountain. We will walk along the public sidewalk. Signs available.


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

From: "Krista Menzel (Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace)" <web [at] mppeace.org>
Subject: Army of None 9.29 1pm

Army of None Project
Counter-Recruitment Workshop
Saturday, September 29, 2007
1-3pm
Rondo Community Outreach Library
461 North Dale Street (at University Avenue), St. Paul, MN

Learn from Army of None authors and trainers Aimee Allison and David
Solnit how the military and the media are influencing young minds and how
you can organize an effective counter-recruitment campaign in your
community or school.

About Army of None

Every day in the United States, military recruiters enter the halls of
high schools equipped with a goodie bag of promises and free copies of the
U.S. Army's official new video game, America's Army. Assurances of
non-combat positions and college money made largely to teens of color and
low-income communities rarely materialize upon real-life service.

Army of None is a comprehensive guide to counter-recruitment campaigns -
from personal counseling to legislative change to direct action. More
hands-on and sustainable than other antiwar activities, the
counter-recruitment movement offers a provocative vision for the future
and has the potential to create deep positive social change and
de-militarize our schools, country, and the world at large.

Army of None is an unprecedented and practical resource for activists,
containing compelling photos and artwork, spoken word, sample fact sheets,
how-to guides, lobbying directions, resource lists, and ideas for direct
action. It provides a frightening look into the world of military
recruitment that everyone in the United States should know about, and the
hopeful stories, inspiration, and tools necessary to do something about
it.

About the Authors/Trainers

Anti-war, global justice and arts organizer David Solnit was a main
organizer in the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 and in San Francisco the
day after Iraq was invaded in 2003. He is the editor of Globalize
Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World.

After serving four years as a combat medic in the Army Reserves, Aimee
Allison earned an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector during
the Persian Gulf War. She now serves on the steering committee of San
Francisco's College Not Combat Initiative.

Cost: Free and open to the public. Donations accepted.
Sponsors: Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace and Crocus Hill/West 7th
Neighbors for Peace
More Information: (651) 641-7592  info [at] mppeace.org
www.mppeace.org/armyofnone  www.myspace.com/armyofnonebook


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

From: Miriam Larson <mlarson [at] macalester.edu>
Subject: Exco college 9.29 1pm

Hello and Welcome to the Twin Cities Experimental College!

We (the organizing team) hope that the first week and a half of classes
went well! We are all excited about this semester and all of the wonderful
classes being offered, as well as some of the other events that are taking
place.

The first of these events is coming up this Saturday, September 29 from
1-3 pm at the Jack Pine Community Center 2815 East Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55406. Join us for a potluck and discussion on the
question: how do we envision community-based education? Bring some food to
share, or just yourself. If you don't know how to get there, we'll be
meeting at Bateman Plaza (at Macalester) at 12:30 to bike/bus/carpool
together. New folks are always welcome.

Speaking of new folks (and old), it's not too late to sign up for another
class! The following classes have low enrollment and would welcome more
students: Poesía Latinoamericana del siglo XX / 20th Century Latin
American Poetry (in Spanish); Peace and Nonviolence; The Social
Responsibility of African American Music; Black Folk: Culture Defeats
Holocaust; The Great Law of Peace: Past, Present and Future;  Basic
Songwriting (or Song Craft); and the Neuropsychology of Emotion.  Sign up
at www.excotc.org and spread the word!

For those of you who are new to EXCO and would like a little introduction,
here's a brief brief one: The Twin Cities Experimental College was begun
in the Spring of 2006 by Macalester students as an alternative that
attempts to address some of the inequalities and injustices in higher
education; EXCO strives to offer the Macalester and surrounding community
the opportunity to teach or learn in a space open to alternative education
and all kinds of knowledge, including and beyond academic knowledge.
Everyone can teach or take a class, and all classes are free.

And just a couple more things: if you're interested in organizing or
doing outreach we'd love to have you join us on the organizing team! We
meet at 5:30 pm on Mondays in the Campus Center room 204 on Macalester's
campus. Also, we are now accepting teacher applications for next semester,
so if you've ever thought of teaching a class, now's the time to put your
thoughts to action! Check out the website www.excotc.org for teacher
applications, and plan on coming to the teacher training workshop (Tips
and Tricks for Teaching an EXCO Class) on Wednesday, October 24 from
4:45-6pm. More info to come on that.

That's all for now! We look forward to a great semester of collaboration
and learning and welcome you to the EXCO community. We can't do this
without you so tell all your friends to get involved!


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

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Marine/peace/film 9.29 7pm

Friday, 9/29, 7 and 9 pm, film "The Devil Came on Horseback" about Marine
Captain Brian Steidle who, over 18 months in Darfur, learns to change the
world through peaceful means while as military observer for the African
Union, Bell Auditorium 10 Church St SE, Mpls.  http://www.mnfilmarts.org/
or http://mnhumanrightsweek.org/


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

From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Rachel Corrie/CTV 9.29 9pm

Dear Minneapolis Television Network (MTN 17) viewers:

"Our World In Depth" cablecasts on MTN Channel 17 on Saturdays at 9pm and
Tuesdays at 8am.  Households with basic cable can watch!

9/29 9pm and 10/2 8am
"Rachel Corrie: A Life for Others".  On March 16, 2003, Rachel Corrie, an
American activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was killed
while attempting to prevent the destruction of the home of a Palestinian
family.  This show is a recording of a local theatrical performance
telling the true story of Rachel Corrie.


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

Pro-Democracy Means Anti-Fascism
by Cindy Sheehan
Published on Friday, September 28, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

"The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand
their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these
brave individuals," - George W. Bush

Watching the pro-democracy marches in Burma both inspires and sickens me.
I am inspired by seeing thousands of red-robed monks leading the
demonstrations and sickened by the violence they are being met with by the
military.

Seeing the images of the monks and others being beaten reminds me of the
Democratic Convention in 1968 where Chicago police beat the living
daylights out of demonstrators who were there to try and force the party
to come closer to the budding anti-war movement. It didn't work. Instead
of wonderful pro-peace candidate, Eugene McCarthy, the party nominated
Johnson's VP, Hubert Humphrey. We know what happened next: Nixon. After
last night's Democratic "debate" I am terrified and assured that the
Democrats will have another pro-war nominee.

The other event in my memory that the pro-democracy movement in Burma
reminds me of is Kent State, Ohio in May, 1970. Four students were killed
and nine were wounded marching against escalation of the Vietnam debacle.
I have heard from many people who were of age to protest the Vietnam war
at that time that the killings had the affect of frightening them into not
protesting, or scaling their protests back.

Of course the present state of our nation is not as overtly oppressive as
the government of Myanmar (Burma), presently where a Nobel Peace Laureate
Aung Sang Suu Kyi has been under house arrest there for years, but we who
have been paying attention to events can see that America is on the
precipice of serious fascism and only the brave actions of Americans
committed to freedom, democracy and peace will help stem the tide of this
rising neo-fascism that doesn't march through our streets in goose-step
and swastikas, but is creeping into our lives like cat's paws.

According to Chris Rowthorn, in his brilliant article, When America Went
Fascist, we went fascist on December 11, 2000 when the Supreme Court
appointed George as our unelected, un-democratic and illegal President.
Although it is easy and tempting to blame everything on BushCo, this is
about the only assertion that I disagree with in his article.

What about during the Clinton regime? Does anyone remember Elian Gonzales
or The Branch Davidians in Waco? Let's go back further. What about when
Truman dropped to WMD on hundreds of thousands of innocent victims in
Japan? What about Korea? Eisenhower and the Military Industrial Complex?
What about the Gulf of Tonkin? What about Watergate? What about Panama?
Kosovo? Nicaragua? Free trade agreements that hurt workers in all
countries that are involved in them and what about the abuse of language
in this country: Patriot Act; Homeland Security; Clear Water and Clean
Skies - and the No Child Left Behind Act that leaves every child behind
and is just a funnel to the recruiter's office?

There are just a few measures that we can use to stop this slide and
Rowthorn articulates what has become an important part of my platform.
Only vote for candidates that promise the following things - for
president, or any other federal elective offices:

* Repeal the Patriot Act
* Repeal No Child Left Behind
* Scale down the Department of Homeland Security and rename it so it loses
its Nazi tone and is brought under civilian control.
* Restore habeas corpus and close all torture camps by repealing the
Military Commissions Act.
* Repeal all contracts with paid mercenary killer companies.
* Restore the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
* Repeal all BushCo-Presidential directives (especially Directive 51) and
review all laws that contain signing statements.
* Restore the 4th Amendment by enforcing warrants for spying on Americans.
* Impeach Bush and Cheney - post presidency so they can't receive federal
benefits.
* Bring all troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and review military
needs for other bases around the world.
* Repeal all free trade agreements.
* Kick AIPAC and other lobbyists out of the halls of Congress where they
have no business.

One of the most profound ways we can stop this descent into fascism is by
impeaching, removing from office and incarcerating George Bush and Dick
Cheney, et al. I am very skeptical of a complicit Congress, Inc doing
anything about them in this term. I am also very skeptical of a
"professional" and fascist military leadership taking their oath of
service seriously and above their corporate-military allegiance to the
Executive Branch recently and so tellingly revealed by General Betray-Us,
so a military coup is out of the question and has the tricky element of
becoming a military dictatorship.

I was supposed to be in court today in Washington, DC for my last arrest.
I didn't go because I am not under allegiance and repudiate the fascists
that run our government and the enforcers who are doing their best
Nazi-job of "following orders" in oppressing our rights as Americans.

Why are they beating up a Reverend who served in the Air Force, and
honorably left after the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, for wanting
to attend a hearing in Congress?

Why are they arresting a Gold Star Mother for exercising the very freedoms
for which George Bush freakishly says her son died?

Why are my daughter and assistant under indictment for Contempt of
Congress when BushCo have steadily refused to testify before committees
under oath, or any other way? As a matter of fact, Betray-Us wasn't even
put under oath that day in the House.

Why are college students being tasered for asking the same questions that
we all want answered from John Kerry who threw our Representative Republic
in the garbage along with the 2004 election?

Why are nooses being hung in the South?

Why do any of us pay our Federal Taxes to a government that we abhor and
which we adamantly disagree with? Why do we allow our hard earned money to
be used for murder and oppression?

Why is Congress giving BushCo more authority to begin a New World War?

Where are religious leaders to lead us in pro-democracy demonstrations?
Most of our mainstream religions suffer from the same neo-fascism that our
governmental leaders suffer from.

Why do we march in DC on Saturdays and get arrested just to get arrested?
It's time to descend on DC on a weekday and make commitments to our world
and our posterity to over throw this fascism right now?

When can we have a country-wide massive general strike?

Recent reports show that Saddam made overtures to America through the UAE
and Spain to go into exile weeks before the March, 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Of course, the overtures were rejected because George's small mind was
already made up to invade Iraq before he became president in some sick way
to either show up or gain approval from a dysfunctional family. What if
Spain's former President Aznar had spoken up then? What if Colin Powell,
George Tenet, or any of the criminal neocons had spoken up to prevent this
horrible loss of life and pain before it even started?

I wouldn't be under a bench warrant right now. Rev wouldn't be recovering
from a badly sprained ankle. Casey would be alive and hundreds of
thousands of others would be alive.

We can't count on anyone but ourselves. It's now up to we the people to
follow the example of our brothers and sisters in Burma to courageously
confront the anti-democracy/pro-fascist elements of our society.

Contact Cindy at: Cindy [at] CindyforCongress.org

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan who was KIA in
Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and President of Gold Star Families
for Peace and the author of two books: Not One More Mother's Child and
Dear President Bush.


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

Time for a Mass Resignation From the Democratic Party
Quit the Party!
By DAVE LINDORFF
CounterPunch
September 27, 2007

Cynthia McKinney is doing it. It's time for you to do it too.

Have you, like many Americans, found yourself wondering why President
Bush, over and over again, would hand the Democrats in Congress the weapon
needed to bring him down?

Just look at the list:

Last year it was the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the
Supreme Court. Then, in the new Congress, it was a $120-billion
supplemental funding request for continuing the hugely unpopular war in
Iraq, followed by a bill to legalize the very National Security Agency
spying program which he has been running illegally for the past half
decade, and that has had people of all political stripes in an uproar. To
top that off, knowing that the Democrats were gunning for his Attorney
General, Alberto Gonzales, Bush made sure to have the NSA spying bill put
Gonzales in charge of the operation! And now this same president is coming
to Congress to ask for another nearly $200 billion for his Iraq War!

At first glance, you have to wonder, why on earth would he do this?

But then look what happens:

In every instance, with the exception of the latest Iraq War funding bill
(and we know what's going to happen with that), the Democrats have folded
and given the president exactly what he wanted, causing apoplexy among the
Democratic and independent voters who put them in charge of Congress last
November. After all, Democrats ran for office last year saying they would
stand up to the president, defend the Constitution, and end the war. Now
each time Bush taunts them and they fold, public support for the
Democratic Congress slumps further, to the point that today, they are even
less popular that Bush-quite an accomplishment!

This is a truly impressive strategy-surely the brainchild of Bush's
Rasputin, the dearly departed (to Texas) Karl Rove, who long ago
understood that the Democrats would not have the courage and strength of
conviction to stand against even a president as profoundly despised and
distrusted as Bush.

So all Bush has to do to promote a Republican victory in the 2008
elections is keep putting forward outrageous bills, keep expanding the
war, perhaps to include Iran, and keep undermining the Constitution. The
Democrats will enable or sign on to each horrible act in turn. And with
each such shameless action taken by the Democratic Congress, they further
enrage 2008 voters.

The Democrats, under Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (surely two of the sorriest excuses for leaders that Congress
has had in modern history), simply don't get it. They don't realize
they're being played for suckers and losers. And they don't even realize
that they are alienating their base.

Which brings us to what needs to be done.

The Democrats in Congress, and at the head of the party, need to receive a
serious wake-up call. Since they're clearly too dumb or too out of touch
to realize what's happening, we need to send them a message they can't
ignore-the political equivalent of a car bomb.

I'm talking about mass resignations from the Democratic Party, with every
person who resigns and becomes an independent or who changes their
registration to a third party sending a message to the DNC explaining why
he or she is quitting.

It starts small with a few people here and a few people there, but as Arlo
Guthrie once put it, pretty soon we're talking about a movement, and you
can join it right here!

A couple of months back, I set up an email address for people to register
at, and listed it on my website. To date, over 600 people have mailed in
saying they are quitting the Democratic Party until Democrats in Congress
begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney, and until they cut
of all funding for the Iraq War.

Now it's time to really kick this campaign into high gear.

A few days ago, Cynthia McKinney, the gutsy and outspoken former
congresswoman from Georgia who filed the first and so far only bill of
impeachment against George W. Bush in the waning days of the last
Congress, called me at home to say she wants to sign on. That's a nice
start to the campaign!

You read it first here: Former Rep. McKinney Quits the Democratic Party!

So how about you? Think about it: If you were to accept the official line,
George Bush won the presidency in 2000 by capturing the state of Florida
by 537 votes. And this movement has already got more than that number of
people who are no longer going to be Democrats! If we could get 537 people
in each state of the union to sign on and drop their party affiliation in
protest, the Democratic leadership would have to start contemplating how
many close states they are going to lose next year because of their abject
failure to act on principle and with courage in Congress.

Better still, if we could get 100,000 or 500,000 people to drop their
party affiliation nationwide, that would send a really powerful signal.

The beauty of this plan of action is that it is easy to do. And Democratic
officials, from the DNC to local officeholders and county committees watch
those registration totals like hawks, so they'll spot any de-registering
trend really quickly. In fact, if registrations start to drop, you'll see
local party officials start pressuring their Congressional representatives
to take action and do something to stem the flow. For one thing, if you
deregister, you're off their mailing lists. That means they can't hit you
up for money, and they can't target you for get-out-the-vote drives.
(Meanwhile, in many states, you don't even forfeit your right to
participate in Democratic primaries by dropping your party registration,
so you can still vote against Hillary and the rest of the warmongers in
the party.)

Oh, you say, we can't just quit the party and let the Republicans win
again!

Really? And just what have we gotten for our support for the Democrats in
2006? The war is still fully funded, and in fact has gotten worse, with
30,000 more troops in the country, not counting the 100,000 or so private
mercenaries. Spying on Americans here a home has been legalized, with the
help of the Democrats. (Nancy Pelosi can use threats of party discipline
to prevent members from moving on impeachment, but she won't crack the
whip to make them protect the Bill of Rights, or to defund the war?) And
Bush is still issuing those signing statements, so any bills of
consequence that Democrats have tried to pass have either been killed by
Republican maneuvering, or vetoed.

And public support for the Democratic Congress is in the teens.

Clearly the only way to save the Democrats from themselves is to make it
clear to them that they have to change or die.

And the way to do that is to join the "I Quit the Party" movement!

So click here and be a quitter.
http://dlindorff.mayfirst.org/?q=iquitthisparty
(Remember to get a voter registration form and follow through by
cancelling your Democratic Party affiliation!)

After you quit, then go to Dem.org, where Steve Fornier is trying to help
organize people who have left the Democratic Party, but still want to be
democrats. To learn more about Fornier's idea, read his recent
CounterPunch article.

Note: You can also help build the movement by sending this article and
link to every progressive person and progressive website you can think of.
It's time to take quitting the party viral.

Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into the
Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His book of CounterPunch columns titled
"This Can't be Happening!" is published by Common Courage Press.
Lindorff's newest book is "The Case for Impeachment",
co-authored by Barbara Olshansky.

He can be reached at: dlindorff [at] yahoo.com


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