| Progressive Calendar 01.28.08 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001 tc.umn.edu)
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| Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:17:04 -0800 (PST) | |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 01.28.08 1. TC DP writers 1.28 4pm 2. AI 1.28 7pm 3. SpOILs of Iraq 1.28 7pm 4. Ford board 1.28 7pm 5. Internet safety 1.28 7pm 6. Spike Lee film 1.28 7pm 7. Cops & you/CTV 1.29 5pm 8. Home-groan poem 1.29 6:30pm 9. HIV/Palestine 1.29 7pm 10. GreenParty/CTV 1.29 10:45pm 11. Kushner/Cavlan - Rep Keith Ellison backs down on Guantanmo 12. Ralph Nader - Ambition, power and the Clintons 13. Ron Jacobs - What's at stake in Bolivia 14. ed - Bumpersticker (1 for the price of 1! Act now!) --------1 of 14-------- From: Jay Gabler <jay [at] tcdailyplanet.net> Subject: TC DP writers 1.28 4pm Tomorrow (1/28) at 4 PM we at the Twin Cities Daily Planet (tcdailyplanet.net) will be holding our regular Monday writers' meeting at the Rondo Community Outreach Library, which is located at the corner of Dale and University in St. Paul. These meetings are the perfect opportunity to connect with TCDP writers and to learn about upcoming events and assignments. Tomorrow specifically, we'll be holding a special meeting where our communities editor Dan Haugen will be offering tips on finding and pursuing story ideas. If you're available, please join us; we encourage you to bring a piece of in-progress (or recently completed) writing to share with the group--time permitting. All are welcome: New writers, experienced writers...even the simply curious. Hope to see you there! -Jay Gabler, Assistant Editor --------2 of 14-------- From: Gabe Ormsby <gabeo [at] bitstream.net> Subject: AI 1.28 7pm Augustana Homes Seniors Group meets on Monday, January 28th, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the party room of the 1020 Building, 1020 E 17th Street, Minneapolis. For more information contact Ardes Johnson at 612/378-1166 or johns779 [at] tc.umn.edu. --------3 of 14-------- From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org> Subject: SpOILs of Iraq 1.28 7pm Antonia Juhasz: "Iraq and the SpOILS of War: Whose Oil Is It Anyway?" Monday, January 28, 7:00 p.m. St. Joan of Arc Church, 4537 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis. Antonia Juhasz is a social-justice activist and a leading international-trade and economic-policy analyst. Author of "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time," as well as articles and op-eds in national and international papers. As Big Oil begins to sign contracts in Iraq-relying on 30 years of U.S. military protection to secure its interests-Juhasz opens a door into the depths of the oil industry to reveal how it works, where it wants to take us, and what we can do to stop it. Sponsored by: Iraq Peace Action Coalition. FFI: Call Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq, 612-522-1861 or WAMM, 612-827-5364. --------4 of 14-------- From: Merritt Clapp-Smith [mailto:Merritt.Clapp-Smith [at] ci.stpaul.mn.us] Subject: Ford board 1.28 7pm Ford Project Update Public meeting Monday January 28, 2008 on the environmental assessment process occurring at the Ford plant site in St. Paul. Presenters from the MN Pollution Control Agency and Arcadis, Ford's environmental consultants, will explain the process of testing the site for possible contamination, reviewing the results, and planning for potentially needed remediation. A question and answer session will follow. 7-8:30 pm at Lumen Christi Catholic Church at 2055 Bohland Avenue off Cleveland. Merritt Clapp-Smith Planner, Dept. of Planning & Economic Development City of Saint Paul 25 West 4th St, 12th floor St. Paul, MN 55102 Tel: 651.266.6547 Fax: 651.228.3341 merritt.clapp-smith [at] ci.stpaul.mn.us --------5 of 14-------- From: Jonathan Barrentine <jonathan [at] e-democracy.org> Subject: Internet safety 1.28 7pm [e-condoms? -ed] If you spend any time online (so that's all of you), or have kids who do, then please come to St. Paul E-Democracy's Internet Safety workshop this coming Monday, January 28th. It will feature discussions of protective software, phishing, and being "street smart" online. This workshop is essential for anyone who owns a computer with an internet connection, uses email, or has ever wondered about how to stay safe while using sites like MySpace or Craigslist. A draft outline of topics that may be covered in this workshop is available at http://pages.e-democracy.org/Internet_Safety Our workshops take place Mondays at Rondo Library in St. Paul, from 7:00pm to 8:30. Upcoming workshops include: Internet Safety (January 28) The State Legislature Online (February 4) Blogging (February 11) New Tools for Public Participation (February 25) A complete list of upcoming workshops can be found at http://pages.e-democracy.org/Rondo_Workshop_Schedule --------6 of 14-------- From: Christine Frank <christinefrank [at] visi.com> Subject: Spike Lee film 1.28 7pm 3CTC January Environmental Forum There will be a screening of director Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke, which deals with the impacts of the Hurricane Katrina Disaster on the poor Black community of New Orleans. The film showing will take place on Monday, January 28th at 7:00 PM at Mayday Books, 301 Cedar Avenue South, West Bank, Minneapolis. Following the film, there will be a discussion about confronting environmental racism and achieving justice for those most negatively affected by climate change. The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Climate Crisis Coalition of the Twin Cities. The 3CTC business meeting is at 6:00 PM. All are welcome. For more information, Email: christinefrank [at] visi.com Or Phone: 612-879-8937. --------7 of 14-------- From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net> Subject: Cops & you/CTV 1.29 5pm Sainted St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN 15) viewers: "Our World In Depth" cablecasts in St. Paul on Tuesday evenings at 5pm and midnight and Wednesday mornings at 10am. All households with basic cable may watch. 1/29 5pm and midnight and 1/30 10am "Holding Police Accountable" Interview of Communities United Against Police Brutality organizer Michelle Gross. Hosted by Eric Angell. (a repeat) --------8 of 14-------- From: patty <pattypax [at] earthlink.net> Subject: Home-groan poems 1.29 6:30pm Next Tuesday, Jan. 29, will be a poetry salon. Bring your own or bring a poem from a favorite poet to read, Or just come and listen to others poems. Pax Salons ( http://justcomm.org/pax-salon ) are held (unless otherwise noted in advance): Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Mad Hatter's Tea House, 943 W 7th, St Paul, MN Salons are free but donations encouraged for program and treats. Call 651-227-3228 or 651-227-2511 for information. [So I wrote one just for the meeting "ME" I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as is me. A me whose hungry mouth is prest Against some maiden's flowing breast; A me that looks at me all day, And lifts my arms to me to pray; A me that may in summer wear A rat's nest cowlick in my hair; Upon whose bosom heads have lain; Who intimately lives with Jane. Poems are made by fools like thee, But only I can make a me. Critics say: "Nifty" "Keen" "Neat-o" "Challenged" "Different" "I'll get back to you" "You're serious?" "Attaching his name to this poem is an act of artistic heroism" "Forever safe from plagaraism" "The 9/11 event of poetry". No way around it, I'm hep. -ed] --------9 of 14-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: HIV/Palestine 1.29 7pm Tuesday, 1/29, 7 to 9 pm, Bill O'Keefe of Catholic Relief Services speaks on "HIV/AIDS, Development Aid, Human Migration and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict," St Joan of Arc, 4537 - 3rd Ave S, Mpls. 651-291-4477. --------10 of 14-------- From: alforgreens [at] comcast.net Subject: GreenParty/CTV 1.29 10:45pm 3rd Congressional District Green Party Show A 30 minute show on introduction of the Green Party espousing some of the 10 Key Values of the Green Party and contacting the 3rd CD local to meet, plan for future activities, hold caucuses. Aired on Northwest Cable Channel 19 & 20 on the following dates: Tuesday 1/29 channel 20 10:45 PM Thursday 1/31 channel 19 8 PM Contact : Allan Hancock, chair 3rd Congressional District Green Party Email: 3rdCDGreenParty [at] gmail.com --------11 of 14-------- Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:37:57 -0600 From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> Subject: (Act!)Rep.Keith Ellison backs down on Guantanmo by Jordan S. Kushner, National Lawyers Guild human rights lawyer in Minneapolis,MN: Mr. Ellison manages to conclude that conditions are not so bad, without even being allowed to speak with any prisoners in person. Since the building looks like Minnesota's maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights, he is relieved. Its time to straddle the fence again. Just accept what the government handlers choose to show him, and ignore all the evidence of torture and other mistreatment obtained by human rights groups, the red cross, journalists, and other factfinders. Maybe the hundreds of people locked up for six years without any judicial hearing to consider any evidence to support locking them up should be given due process some day according to our representative Ellison. But now is a congressperson, loyal to the national Democratic power structure, beholden to the Israel lobby, and rewarded aggrandizement by the power structure and good publicitly by the corporate media - so he's got to consider "national security." Considering Keith's prior background focused on due process and human rights, his waffling on the concentration camp in Guantanmo is about the most pathetic and spineless. Jordan S. Kushner, National Lawyers Guild human rights lawyer in -- Comment by Michael Cavlan: Our great liberal congressional representative gets flown by the Department of Defense to Guantanamo, and lo and behold, its not that bad and he's not sure it should even be closed. -- Keith Ellison Craig Lassig, Associated Press Ellison's feelings on Guantanamo mixed After visiting the facility, the congressman says that conditions are better than he expected but that the detainees' lack of legal rights remains a serious concern. Conditions at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are better than he expected, but U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said Friday that he is more concerned than ever about the lack of legal rights afforded terrorism suspects and others imprisoned there. "We must balance our security interests with our commitment to human rights," said Ellison, , D-Minn., who has criticized the detention of a Sudanese journalist who has been held at Guantanamo for more than five years without charges. The Minneapolis congressman spoke Friday morning at the University of Minnesota Law School, a day after Defense Department officials gave him and U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, a hastily arranged tour of the facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. Ellison had expressed interest in going and was given a seat on a routine military transport flight to the base. The camp, which has released hundreds of prisoners since its inception in 2002, now houses about 275 men captured during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on which Ellison sits, was also invited on the trip but declined after being told he couldn't talk to the detainees. Ellison said that he went to Guantanamo "sure that I wanted it closed down," but that he tried to keep an open mind. He came back less certain that it should be closed, he said, but eager to shine "a bright light" on it. Some of what he saw impressed him. Detention officials "are professional, they're polite, they're doing a difficult job and they didn't make the policy that they're executing," he said. Conditions were comparable to those at a well-run American prison, such as the state prison in Oak Park Heights, Ellison said. Detainees have access to medical care, are well-fed and get at least two hours of recreation each day. He said he didn't see any thumbscrews or hear any howling. "But what I did see was a whole lot of people who have no process to change the condition that they're in," Ellison said. 'Absolute legal limbo' The Guantanamo Bay facility is not quite the transparent prison that officials claim, he said. Many detainees have no guarantee of a trial, and attorneys representing some of the detainees have told him that they're not allowed to have private communications with their clients. Ellison said he asked to speak with Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese cameraman for the Al Jazeera television network, but was refused. Ellison, the only Muslim member of Congress, drew national attention last year when he said Al-Haj should be either prosecuted or released. Ellison said he received a confidential briefing from military authorities on Al-Haj's situation and was assured he wasn't being held because he was a journalist. But Ellison said he remained troubled that he wasn't allowed to speak to any prisoners. "I don't doubt that many of them are bad," he said. He told the audience that he understood many spit at the guards and openly threaten to make war on the United States, he added. But others are being held not because they're suspected of terrorist activity but simply because of information they may or may not have, he said. Ellison said that he will push hard to open up the process that determines who should be detained. "We have the majority of people in absolute legal limbo there," he said. --------12 of 14-------- Return to Triangulation Ambition, Power and the Clintons By RALPH NADER CounterPunch January 26 / 27, 2008 For Bill and Hillary Clinton, the ultimate American dream is eight more years. Yet how do you think they would react to having dozens of partisans at their rallies sporting large signs calling for EIGHT MORE YEARS, EIGHT MORE YEARS? Don't you have the feeling that they would cringe at such public displays of their fervent ambition which the New York Times described as a "truly two-for-the-price-of-one" presidential race? It might remind voters to remember or examine the real Clinton record in that peaceful decade of missed opportunities and not be swayed by the sugarcoating version that the glib former president emits at many campaign stops. The 1990's were the first decade without the spectre of the Soviet Union. There was supposed to be a "peace dividend" that would reduce the vast, bloated military budget and redirect public funds to repair or expand our public works or infrastructure. Inaugurated in January 1993, with a Congress controlled by the Democratic Party, Bill Clinton sent a small job-creating proposal to upgrade public facilities. He also made some motions for campaign finance reform which he promised during his campaign when running against incumbent George H.W. Bush and candidate Ross Perot. A double withdrawal followed when the Congressional Republicans started roaring about big spending Democrats and after House Speaker Tom Foley and Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell, told Clinton at a White House meeting to forget about legislation to diminish the power of organized money in elections. That set the stage for how Washington politicians sized up Clinton. He was seen as devoid of modest political courage, a blurrer of differences with the Republican opposition party and anything but the decisive transforming leader he promised to be was he to win the election. He proceeded, instead, to take credit for developments with which he had very little to do with such as the economic growth propelled by the huge technology dot.com boom. Bragging about millions of jobs his Administration created, he neglected to note that incomes stagnated for 80% of the workers in the country and ended in 2000, under the level of 1973, adjusted for inflation. A brainy White House assistant to Mr. Clinton told me in 1997 that the only real achievement his boss could take credit for was passage of legislation allowing 12 weeks family leave, without pay. There are changes both the Clinton Administration actively championed that further entrenched corporate power over our economy and government during the decade. He pushed through Congress the NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements that represented the greatest surrender in our history of local, state and national sovereignty to an autocratic, secretive system of transnational governance. This system subordinated workers, consumers and the environment to the supremacy of globalized commerce. [It's why I left the Dem party, never to return. It also signalled the end of the Dem party as a party of the people, and thus the end of progress in America until there is a people's revolt. -ed] That was just for starters. Between 1996 and 2000, he drove legislation through Congress that concentrated more power in the hands of giant agribusiness, large telecommunications companies and the biggest jackpot - opening the doors to gigantic mergers in the financial industry. The latter so-called "financial modernization law" sowed the permissive seeds for taking vast financial risks with other peoples' money (ie. pensioners and investors) that is now shaking the economy to recession. The man who pulled off this demolition of regulatory experience from the lessons of the Great Depression was Clinton's Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, who went to work for Citigroup - the main pusher of this oligopolistic coup - just before the bill passed and made himself $40 million for a few months of consulting in that same year. Bill Clinton's presidential resume was full of favors for the rich and powerful. Corporate welfare subsidies, handouts and giveaways flourished, including subsidizing the Big Three Auto companies for a phony research partnership while indicating there would be no new fuel efficiency regulations while he was President. His regulatory agencies were anesthetized. The veteran watchdog for Public Citizen of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, said that safety was the worst under Clinton in his twenty nine years of oversight. The auto safety agency (NHTSA) abandoned its regulatory oath of office and became a consulting firm to the auto industry. Other agencies were similarly asleep - in job safety (OSHA) railroads, household product safety, antitrust, and corporate crime law enforcement. By reappointing avid Republican Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, Mr. Clinton assured no attention would be paid to the visible precursors of what is now the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Mr. Greenspan, declined to use his regulatory authority and repeatedly showed that he almost never saw a risky financial instrument he couldn't justify. Mr. Clinton was so fearful of taking on Orrin Hatch, the Republican Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that he cleared most judicial appointments with the Utah Senator. He even failed to put forth the nomination of sub-cabinet level official, Peter Edelman, whose credentials were superb to the federal appeals court. Mr. Edelman resigned on September 12th, 1996. In a memo to his staff, he said, "I have devoted the last 30-plus years to doing whatever I could to help in reducing poverty in America. I believe the recently enacted welfare bill goes in the opposite direction." Excoriated by the noted author and columnist, Anthony Lewis, for his dismal record on civil liberties, the man from Hope set the stage for the Bush demolition of this pillar of our democracy. To justify his invasion of Iraq, Bush regularly referred in 2002-2003 to Clinton's bombing of Iraq and making "regime change" explicit U.S. policy. But it was Clinton's insistence on UN-backed economic sanctions in contrast to just military embargo, against Iraq, during his term in office. These sanctions on civilians, a task force of leading American physicians estimated, took half a million Iraqi children's lives. Who can forget CBS's Sixty Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl's tour through Baghdad's denuded hospitals filled with crying, dying children? She then interviewed Mr. Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeline Albright and asked whether these sanctions were worth it. Secretary Albright answered in the affirmative. Bill Clinton is generally viewed as one smart politician, having been twice elected the President, helped by lackluster Robert Dole, having survived the Lewinsky sex scandal, lying under oath about sex, and impeachment. When it is all about himself, he is cunningly smart. But during his two-term triangulating Presidency, he wasn't smart enough to avoid losing his Party's control over Congress, or many state legislatures and Governorships. It has always been all about him. Now he sees another admission ticket to the White House through his wife, Hillary Clinton. EIGHT MORE YEARS without a mobilized, demanding participating citizenry is just that - EIGHT MORE YEARS. It's small wonder that the editors of Fortune Magazine headlined an article last June with the title, "Who Business is Betting On?" Their answer, of course, was Hillary Clinton. Ralph Nader is the author of The Seventeen Traditions [After such evil leaders, how can self-respecting progressives remain in the national Dem party? Self-deception? Amnesia? Drink? Drugs? Surrender? Possession by the devil? Being staked to the floor? A Rip Van Winkle 20-year sleep? Alzheimers? -ed] --------13 of 14-------- What's at Stake in Bolivia The Horizons of History By RON JACOBS CounterPunch January 26 / 27, 2008 The recent uprisings and eventual electoral success of the Movimiento a Socialismo (MAS) in Bolivia is one of the most hopeful historical events to have occurred so far this century. From its beginnings in the struggles against the privatization of water in 2000 up to the current attempts by the popular government to nationalize natural gas and redistribute land, the Bolivian revolution has captured the imagination of indigenous and leftist activists everywhere in the world. Forrest Hylton and Sinclair Thomson's newest book, Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics, covers this revolutionary upsurge from a leftist perspective that goes beyond Marxism as it is academically understood and places the demands for indigenous autonomy as the foundation for this revolution. The book opens with a description of the events in La Paz in October 2003 as witnessed by the authors and concludes with a critical look at what the victory of Morales and the MAS means for the future of Bolivia and the indigenous movements that put the party in power. In between these bookends, the reader is presented with a popular history of Bolivia. It is a history rich in resistance and almost as rich in reaction. Like many other Latin American countries, the history of Bolivia is filled with colonialism, slaughter, and resistance. The forms of that resistance are many. Sometimes it involved only the creole or settler class against the colonialist overseers and their successor governments. Other times it involved only the indigenous peoples against those overseers. Sometimes it involved a coalition of members from both of the resisting classes in a movement against those oppressors. Indeed, sometimes the resistance itself was successful and took control of the reins of power. Unfortunately, when this occurred, the coalition between the creole forces and the indigenous peoples disintegrated, usually because of a creole belief in their ultimate superiority based on skin tone and culture. It is at this crux that Hylton and Thomson tend to do their best analysis. It is also at this crux that leftists of the northern hemisphere should pay the most attention. The success and failure of movements past and present depend on understanding indigenous analyses and perceptions of history and leftism and somehow incorporating these into a revolutionary ideology that encourages the realization of both traditions. The alternative is to face a situation where for every progressive step forward we make in the struggle for social and economic justice, we end up taking at least one backwards, if only because of non-indigenous activists' failure to grant the power to indigenous elements that is necessary to sustain those forward steps. As noted above, the history of Bolivia is filled with instances of collaboration between radical movements of indigenous peoples and settlers and their descendants. Some of these historical moments were more than instances and actually moved the country towards a fairer and more equitable existence for all of its people. Yet, most of them resulted in a division amongst the very forces that created the positive circumstances. Often, the divisions revolved around land rights and the question of private property. This division then allowed the forces of reaction to creep back into power, harshening their repression of the popular forces each and every time, usually in the name of the nation. These lessons are not only important as regards our understanding of Latin America, they are also quite relevant to the worldwide struggle against neoliberalism and its neoconservative twin we are currently either part of or witness to. Revolutionary Horizons is a brilliant and succinct survey of the struggle of the Bolivian poor and working peoples, who also happen to be primarily descendants of its original human inhabitants. One should read it not only for its importance to understanding the recently successful struggles against US imperialism in Bolivia and its neighboring lands but also for its relevance to the greater struggle against that very same opponent. While many in the United States have focused their energies on the US wars in Asia and the Middle East recently, the people of Latin America have been gaining power over their own lives and in doing so, have torn at the web of the Washington consensus and loosened the imperial grip that Washington has grown so used to. It's only a matter of time before the stumbling military giant of US imperialism turns its attentions southward once again. Reading this book will help those opposed to this scenario understand what's at stake. Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground, which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. His first novel, Short Order Frame Up, is published by Mainstay Press. He can be reached at: rjacobs3625 [at] charter.net --------14 of 14-------- --------------------------- Uncle Imperial Wants YOU! --------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - David Shove shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu rhymes with clove Progressive Calendar over 2225 subscribers as of 12.19.02 please send all messages in plain text no attachments To GO DIRECTLY to an item, eg --------8 of x-------- do a find on --8 impeach bush & cheney impeach bush & cheney impeach bush & cheney impeach bush & cheney
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