Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 09.12.09

[David Shove (shove001]

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    09.12.09

1. Single payer/v Obama 9.12 9am
2. Peace walk           9.12 9am Cambridge MN
3. Colombia             9.12 10am
4. Haiti/US target      9.12 10am
5. Seward King's Fair   9.12 12noon
6. Walz/health          9.12 12noon Rochester MN
7. Mendota pow wow      9.12 1pm
8. Northtown vigil      9.12 2pm
9. Honduras/Obama coup? 9.12 3pm
10. Bicking camp. party 9.12 6pm
11. Linda v Citibank    9.12 6pm
12. Palestine benefit   9.12 7pm

13. Healthcare march    9.13 12noon
14. Clothes swap        9.13 12noon
15. Stillwater vigil    9.13 1pm
16. Barter market       9.13 1pm
17. RNC day4 civil suit 9.13 6pm
18. Peace walk          9.13 6pm RiverFalls WI

19. Russell Mokhiber - Disgraceful Democrats
20. Ron Jacobs       - It's time to be impolite about Afghanistan
21. Mark Drolette    - Regression depression

--------1 of 21--------

From: ty <tytymo [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Single payer/v Obama 9.12 9am

Obama will be speaking on his health care proposals at 12:30pm Saturday at
the Target Center. Doors open at 9:30am. Free and open to the public.

This is a REALLY huge opportunity to make the case for single-payer, when
tens of thousands will gather to try and see what Obama will say. The
NATIONAL media will be all over this. The right-wingers will inevitably
mobilize, so we need to also put pressure from the left on display! This
is the BIGGEST opportunity we have come our way this year, and we should
seize the initiative with both hands in my opinion.
[Proposed action not yet ratified. Watch online. -ed]

From: kls <ksprung [at] hotmail.com>
From MPR"s website:

President Obama will speak about health care reform at the Target Center
in Minneapolis this Saturday, White House officials confirmed this
afternoon. The event begins at 12:30 p.m., and is free and open to the
public. The president's visit comes in the middle of a strong push to pass
a health care reform package. His Minnesota speech will likely focus on
why he believes the country needs to pass the legislation. The president
has touted Minnesota's Mayo Clinic as a model for what is working well in
the health care system. This will be Obama's first visit to Minnesota as
president. Minnesota Republicans derided the Obama stop as a "Hail Mary"
pass.

Space at the event will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. No ticket is required. Attendees will go
through "airport-like security" and should bring as few personal items as
possible, White House officials said. No bags, signs, sharp objects,
umbrellas, liquids, or strollers will be allowed in the venue. Cameras
will be permitted.

--
From: Joel Albers <joel [at] uhcan-mn.org>

Single Payer Talking points in response to President Obama's speech

1. The health care crisis in the U.S. is getting worse. Even middle- class
families with supposedly good coverage are just one serious illness away
from financial ruin. Millions of people have lost their jobs and with them
their health insurance. Illness and medical bills contribute to 62 percent
of personal bankruptcies - a 50 percent increase since 2001. And
three-quarters of the medically bankrupt had insurance, at least when they
first got sick.

2. Yet the health insurance reform bill being developed in Congress and by
the president is looking like just another bailout - this time for health
insurance and pharmaceutical companies. With their lobbying dollars and
influence, these companies are crafting health insurance legislation to
expand their profits and power. A proposed individual mandate to force 47
million citizens to buy health insurance will be a windfall for private
health insurance companies, and will be partially paid for with taxpayer
dollars for subsidies to support premiums for people who can't afford
health insurance. Even under the "best" of these plans, over 20 million
people will remain uninsured.

3. These mandate plans would require everyone to buy the same private
insurance that is already failing us. These proposals don't regulate
insurance premiums, they don't keep the insurance companies from refusing
to pay many of our bills, and they don't improve the insurance we now
have. They would financially punish people who don't buy the insurance
industry's defective products.

4. Some proposals include a "public option," but this will quickly become
too expensive as the sick flee to the public sector as private insurers
avoid them, abandon them, or make it too difficult for them to get their
bills paid.

The debate over the so-called public option has been a very successful
diversionary tactic on the part of the insurance industry. The real debate
should have been over whether to replace the private insurers with a
single public plan. The insurance industry won outright since we never had
that debate.

In the event that the president states his continuing support for the
public option, keep these things in mind:

A public plan option might cut into private insurers' profits. That's why
they hate it. But their profits - roughly $10 billion annually - are
dwarfed by the money they waste in search of profit. They spend vast sums
for marketing (to attract the healthy); demarketing (to avoid the sick);
billing their ever-shifting roster of enrollees; fighting with providers
over bills; and lobbying politicians.

Hospitals and doctors would still need elaborate billing and cost-
tracking systems. And overhead for even the most efficient competitive
public option would be far higher than for traditional Medicare, which is
efficient precisely because it doesn't compete. It automatically enrolls
seniors at 65 and deducts their premiums through the Social Security
system, contracts with any willing provider, and does no marketing.

Health insurers compete by NOT paying for care: by seeking out the healthy
and avoiding the sick; by denying payment and shifting costs onto
patients; and by lobbying for unfair public subsidies (as under the
Medicare HMO program). To compete successfully, a public plan would have
to copy private plans. Decades of experience teach that private insurers
cannot control costs or provide families with the coverage they need. And
a government-run clone of private insurers cannot fix these flaws.

5. Experience shows the leading proposals in Congress and from the
president won't work, either to expand coverage or to contain costs. Plans
like these have been tried in many states over the past two decades
(Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington state, Oregon, Minnesota, Vermont,
Maine). They have all failed to reduce the number of uninsured or to
contain costs.

6. These mandate plans will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the
nation's health care costs. In this economic downturn, we need assure
health care for all without adding to the nation's cost and the
government's deficit. The bottom line is: these proposals don't reform our
fragmented, inefficient system, they just add to its complexity and costs.

President Obama's plan would finance reform by draining funds from
hospitals that serve the neediest patients. His other funding plans aren't
harmful, just illusory. He's gotten unenforceable pledges from drug
companies, hospitals, insurers and the American Medical Association to
rein in costs, a replay of promises they made (and broke) to Presidents
Nixon and Carter. And Obama trumpets savings from computerized medical
records and better care management, savings the Congressional Budget
Office has dismissed as wishful thinking.

7. As long as we continue to rely on private for-profit insurers,
universal coverage will be unaffordable. Their administrative costs
consume nearly one-third of our health care dollar. We will never have
enough money to provide everyone with decent care until we eliminate
private insurance with its enormous waste and inadequate coverage. And we
will never be able to keep costs down and get the care we need as long as
the wasteful and unnecessary insurance companies stand between us and our
doctors.

8. The growth in health care costs must be addressed if any proposal is to
succeed.

Single payer offers real tools to contain costs: negotiated fees, bulk
purchasing of drugs and devices, budgeting, especially for hospitals,
planning of capital investments, and an emphasis on primary care and
coordination of care.

Mandate plans offer only hopes: competition among insurance companies,
computerization, chronic disease management. Competition among the
shrinking number of insurance companies has already failed to contain
costs and, in the absence of single payer and reformed primary care,
computerization and chronic disease management will raise costs, not lower
them.

9. Every other industrialized country has some form of universal health
care. None uses profitmaking, investor-owned insurance companies like ours
to provide health care for all their people.

10. We have an American system that works. It's Medicare. It's not
perfect, but Americans with Medicare are far happier than those with
private insurance. Doctors face fewer hassles in getting paid, and
Medicare has been a leader in keeping costs down. And keep in mind that
Medicare insures people with the greatest health care needs: people over
65 and the disabled. We should improve and expand Medicare to cover
everyone.

11. What we know from polls is that nearly two-thirds of Americans support
a single payer national health insurance program, an improved "Medicare
for All." So why have our president and Congress abandoned single payer
health care when the majority of Americans support it?

12. We should step back and start over on health care reform.

13. A single-payer "Medicare for All" system is embodied in H.R. 676,
sponsored by Rep. John Conyers and 86 other members of Congress. It would
have:

Automatic enrollment for everyone
Comprehensive services covering all medically necessary care and drugs
Free choice of doctor and hospital, who remain independent and
negotiate their fees and budgets with a public or nonprofit agency
Public or nonprofit agency processes and pays the bills
Entire system financed through progressive taxes
Help job growth and the entire U.S. economy by reducing the burden of
health costs from business
Cover everyone without spending any more than we are now.

14. Since health insurance lobbyists have effectively squelched discussion
of single payer bill HR 676 as an option for health care reform in
Congress at this time, Rep. Anthony Weiner, a single payer supporter, has
filed an amendment to the health reform legislation recently created in
the House, HR 3200. Weiner's amendment would effectively change HR 3200
into a single payer bill.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised an up or down vote on this amendment in
September. For those of us who support single payer health care, we can
make it clear to our representatives in Congress that this will be an
important issue in their re-election as we go to vote next year.

15. Single-payer Medicare for All is the right answer:

It is right on choice. It provides free choice of doctor and hospital, the
choice Americans want and value. In mandate plans, we lose those choices.

It is right on efficiency. Single payer would slash administrative costs
and promote efficient primary care. It would also enhance evidence-based
quality assurance.

It is right on accountability. It will be a public, nonprofit system that
will respond to what doctors and their patients need, not what corporate
executives and their stockholders want.

Joel Albers Pharm.D., Ph.D. Clinical Pharmacist, Health Economics
Researcher Universal Health Care Action Network - MN Community/University
Collaborative Research www.uhcan-mn.org email: joel [at] uhcan-mn.org phone:
612-384-0973 address: 3500 35th ave S
            Mpls, MN, 55406


--------2 of 21--------

From: Ken Reine <reine008 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Peace walk 9.12 9am Cambridge MN

every Saturday 9AM to 9:35AM
Peace walk in Cambridge - start at Hwy 95 and Fern Street


--------3 of 21--------

From: Stephanie Bates <Stephanie.Bates [at] americas.org>
Subject: Colombia 9.12 10am

Coffee Hour- Saturday, Septmeber 12th
Colombia: Finding Peace in Times of Conflict
Saturday, September 12 10-11:30am

Colombia, situated in the northern Andes, is a country rich in biological
and cultural diversity. But Colombia also has a long history of war and
conflict- every day Colombians live in fear of the ongoing violence
perpetuated by armed actors- paramilitaries, guerrillas, and the state.
Such violence affects both the physical and mental health of Colombians.

In May, Robyn Skrebes traveled with a delegation from Witness for Peace-
Upper Midwest to learn about the ways that Colombians are coping with the
health impacts from the ongoing violence. In this RCTA Coffee Hour, Robyn
will be talking about the conflict in Colombia and sharing information
gathered during the trip.


--------4 of 21--------

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Haiti/US target 9.12 10am

"Haiti: Still a U.S. Target" A Talk by April Knutson and Joelle Vitiello
Saturday, September 12, 10:00 a.m. to Noon Van Cleve Community Center, 901
15th Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis.

Why has Haiti, the first Black republic in the world, suffered relentless
attacks from the United States and Western European powers since
independence in 1804? Occupation, coups, brutal dictatorships, and
economic discrimination and exploitation have left its land devastated and
its people impoverished. Why is this island of eight-million people so
important to the West? How can we change the oppressive and inhumane
economic and immigration policies of the U.S.?

Professor Knutson teaches at the University of Minnesota and Professor
Vitiello teaches at Macalester College. They are both authors of articles
on Haitian literature and history, teachers of French language and
culture, frequent visitors to Haiti. Sponsored by: Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom - Minnesota Metro (WILPF). Endorsed by: WAMM.
FFI: Call 612-922-7993 or visit www.wilpfmn.org.


--------5 of 21--------

From: Carol Greenwood <carolgwood [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Seward King's Fair 9.12 12noon

Where Progressives meet and greet!  King's Fair is coming again to Seward
Neighborhood!  This bi-annual neighborhood festival attracts hundreds of
visitors for a day of music, fun, information, and community celebration.
King's Fair comes around only every second year so it's not an event to be
missed.

This year's Fair will be Saturday, September 12, from noon to 5 pm, at
Matthews Neighborhood Park in Minneapolis. E. 24th St. and 29th Ave. S.


--------6 of 21--------

From: Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition <info [at] muhcc.org>
Subject: Walz/health 9.12 12noon Rochester MN

Congressman Walz Hosts Rochester Town Hall on Health Insurance Reform
Saturday September 12th, 12:00-2:00 at John Marshall High School, 1510
14th St NW, Rochester. Doors open 11:30. We suggest you arrive by 10:30
the latest.


--------7 of 21--------

From: Sue Ann <seasnun [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Mendota pow wow 9.12 1pm

The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community
Welcome Home Traditional POW-WOW
September 12 and 13 2009
St. Peter's Church Grounds in Mendota, Minnesota
Mendota's POW WOW <http://mendotadakota.com/mn/category/mendotas-pow-wow/>

The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community would like to welcome you to our
10th Pow Wow.  Grand entry Sept 12, at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm.
Grand entry September 13 at 1:00 pm.

Mitch Walking Elk will be our MC. Windy Down Wind will be the arena
director. Head Drum Eugene Red Day /Anpetu Duta and Co Host Drum Scotty
Brown Eyes / Oyate Teca. Head male dancer is Wally Ripplinger and female
Head dancer is Mary So Happy.

$5.00 donation for buttons. Feast at 5:00 pm on Sunday. Come see a live
eagle, get your picture taken. Call MMDC at 651-452-4141 for more
information; ask for Sharon, Curtis, or Renee.

Bring lawn chairs.  NO DRUGS, ALCOHOL, FIREARMS, OR PETS


--------8 of 21--------

From: Vanka485 [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 9.12 2pm

Peace vigil at Northtown (Old Hwy 10 & University Av), every Saturday
2-3pm


--------9 of 21--------

From: Socialist Appeal <new [at] socialistappeal.org>
Subject: Honduras/Obama coup? 9.12 3pm

Honduras Obama's First Coup?

The role played by the United States in the recent coup in Honduras has
been the subject of a heated debate. It is clear that when Obama arrived
at the White House he wanted to adopt a different approach to Latin
America than Bush's. Bush's policy of waving the stick had not given good
results and furthermore had put the US on the defensive and isolated its
position in the continent.  From Obama's point of view, it was time to use
the carrot.  But while the methods may be different, do the aims remain
the same?

John Peterson, National Secretary of the Hands Off Venezuela campaign and
Chief Editor for Socialist Appeal magazine, will discuss the role of the
Obama Adminstration in Latin America and the recent Honduran coup.  Local
Honduran solidarity activists, in contact with their families on the
ground, will also be speaking.

Saturday, September 12th, 2009
3:00pm
Mayday Bookstore
301 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis, MN

This event is free and open to the public.
Sponsored by Hands Off Venezuela and the Workers International League.


--------10 of 21--------

From: Dave Bicking <davebicking [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Bicking campaign party 9.12 6pm

Come party, enjoy some excellent live music, and support a winning
campaign for Minneapolis City Council!  We're into the last two months and
moving fast; now is the  time to step up in support if you want to see
some real change in November!

Saturday, September 12, 6:00 - 9:00pm.  Dave Bicking for City Council
campaign party and fundraiser, with free home-cooked food, snacks,
deserts, and LIVE MUSIC.  Above Mill City Music at 3820 East Lake St. in
Minneapolis.  (Use the door and stairs just to the left of the Blue Moon
Café)

Suggested donation:  $10 (Please, $20 or more if you can, less if you
can't)

MUSIC:
CHUCK SOLBERG, blues and jazz pianist, New Orleans style. Chuck Solberg
has toured here & abroad with Luther Allison, played with BB King's band,
The Shirelles, Muddy Waters, & Chuck Berry, among others, & won the public
admiration of Bob Dylan.  He will be joined by his Chuck Solberg Trio,
featuring vocals by his daughter Kristen Solberg and string bass and
vocals by Sigurd Nordskog.  Sensuous ballads, jazz standards, & the great
rhythms of New Orleans R&B tunes make this ensemble irresistible.  Their
website has samples of their music:
http://www.myspace.com/thechucksolbergtrio. I've heard them play several
times and highly recommend them!

BILL OLDFATHER's piano improvisations are playful and elegant.  His
repertoire features latin, jazz and folk themes.  A very talented friend
of mine!

Great music, AND you get to find out a little more about the campaign and
about the issues, and generally have a good time with like-minded people.
You gotta come and enjoy!!

See you Saturday, Dave Bicking 612-276-1213

PS.  If you just can't make it to the party, you can still donate to
strengthen this grassroots campaign against the entrenched power of the
incumbent.  Make out your check to:  Bicking for City Council, and mail it
to:  Bicking for City Council, 2425 E. Franklin Ave. #407, Mpls, MN 55406.
OR, contribute online at: http://davebicking.org/donate.html - fast, easy,
no stamp needed!
(Contribution limit is $300 per person)

AND, this campaign is only as strong as the base of volunteers who will
bring us to victory.  Please let me know if you can help with any aspect:
door knocking, lit dropping, mailings, organizing events like this one,
writing and research, communications, etc.  All are needed, no matter your
time limitations.  We have an immediate need for volunteers for a lit drop
this weekend.  We have a new piece of literature, and we aim to deliver it
to every household in the Ward this weekend!  No experience needed, just
some energy.  Get some exercise, get the word out, and enjoy the outdoors.
Please join us for a campaign that will win! - and have some fun doing it!


--------11 of 21--------

From: Lynette Malles <lynettemalles [at] msn.com>
Subject: Linda v Citibank 9.12 6pm

Resistance rising from the inner ring! Linda Norenberg, represented by
Kelly McCormack, is filing a motion to contest her eviction based on
Citibank's not having met the rules of MN statute 580. In Housing Court
today, the judge scheduled another Citibank hearing for Friday, September
18th. If the court decides that Linda's motion is frivolous, Citibank will
call for a writ of eviction on the 18th. However if there IS a basis for
Linda's motion, Citibank's case will be suspended, and a new court date
will be set for hearing Linda's motion.

It will cost $400 to file this motion, so come on out for Linda's
fundraising dinner at her family home!

Saturday, September 12th, 6pm start
Join us for dinner and bonfire in Robbinsdale 2750 McNair Drive Phone:
763-529-3571

Why not bring things to sell? Winter clothing, household items, objects
of art...whatever you don't need- and think others might want- will be
set out [but PLEASE take your items home with you if unsold].
Email a reply if you need a ride-cars will leave from in front of
Rosemary's at 5:30pm.
BICYCLISTS: you'll love the ride up through Wirth Park.

Linda, one of five Twin Cities women refusing to leave their homes, was
served her eviction summons last Friday. Join us in supporting Linda's
fight to STAY IN HER HOME! Never underestimate the POWER of the PEOPLE!


--------12 of 21--------

From: Jess Sundin <jess [at] antiwarcommittee.org>
Subject: Palestine benefit 9.12 7pm

Benefit for the Palestine Solidarity Project with speaker Michael Galvin
Saturday, September 12, 7:00pm - 9:30pm @ Mayday Bookstore, 301 Cedar Ave S,
Minneapolis, MN

Join us for benefit for the Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP) with
speaker Michael Galvin. Michael recently returned from working with PSP
and other solidarity organizations in the occupied Palestinian
territories. Come to learn about the current status of the occupation and
solidarity activism in Palestine, and also to support the PSP - a
Palestinian-led organization that uses nonviolent direct action to help
Palestinian communities remain on their land in the face of intimidation,
economic strangulation, and a history of forced displacement under the
Israeli occupation.  Sponsored by Opposition to War & Occupation, Women
Against Military Madness Mideast Committee, and the Twin Cities chapter of
the Intenational Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.


--------13 of 21--------

From: ty <tytymo [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Healthcare march 9.13 12noon

This is apparently a national day of action called to back public option
(NOT for single payer). Not clear how big this is, or if its more than
just a random semi-spontaneous call (like the Prop. 8 protests) but
appears to have some limited momentum, with actions in a number of cities,
including Minneapolis.

Below are the details of the Minneapolis rally. We should all definitely
attend and leaflet for the event on the 24th, which i will have leaflets
finished for by Tuesday this week.

--
Are you tired of not being "heard" in the healthcare reform debate? Are
you tired of the Tea Party Protesters usurping your voice? Then I say it
is time to Stand Up Twin Cities and March for Healthcare

Stand Up Twin Cities and March to demand healthcare reform which will
cover everyone, cost less, and prevent health insurance companies from
making a profit on sickness.

Rally and Walk
Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 12 noon, Rain or Shine
Phillips Park 1530 E. Franklin Ave. Minneapolis, MN

www.march4healthcare.com for more information about this nationwide
grassroots movement to create real healthcare reform
Email: mnhealthcarereform [at] gmail.com
In cooperation with TakeActionMN


--------14 of 21--------

From: Do It Green! Minnesota <Do_It_Green_Minnesota [at] mail.vresp.com>
Subject: Clothes swap 9.13 12noon

Mark your calendars for our upcoming Do It Green! workshop to be held at
our resource center in Uptown, Minneapolis inside the Twin Cities Green
retail store at 2405 Hennepin Ave S. Uptown, Minneapolis.

Sun, September 13th 12:00-4:00pm - Clothes Swap

Now is a great time to go through your closet and bring your unwanted
clothes to our Fall clothes swap! If you bring clothes, you can exchange
them for new ones, if you don't bring clothes please make a donation. All
remaining clothes and donations will go to a local shelter.


--------15 of 21--------

From: scot b <earthmannow [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Stillwater vigil 9.130 1pm

A weekly Vigil for Peace Every Sunday, at the Stillwater bridge from 1- 2
p.m.  Come after Church or after brunch ! All are invited to join in song
and witness to the human desire for peace in our world. Signs need to be
positive.  Sponsored by the St. Croix Valley Peacemakers.

If you have a United Nations flag or a United States flag please bring it.
Be sure to dress for the weather . For more information go to
<http://www.stcroixvalleypeacemakers.com/>http://www.stcroixvalleypeacemakers.com/

For more information you could call 651 275 0247 or 651 999 - 9560


--------16 of 21--------

From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Barter market 9.13 1pm

are barter markets going to assist during the economic crisis?

The Midway Barter Market, every Sunday, 1-3 pm, boulevard in front of 1724
Englewood Ave.  Barter Market on Wednesdays at SuperUSA are cancelled.
Community Gathering and Exchange at the "Midway Barter Market"!  Bring
something to share if you can; we've seen CSA and urban farm produce, jam,
bread, fruits, homemade candles and soap, jewelry, cassette tapes,
clothes, anything that's in good condition that someone else may want.
Labor exchanges are good too (i.e. I will fix your bike if you make me
lunch).  It's an informal gathering that's lots of fun, and you get to
take home stuff you want that someone else has too much of.  A folding
chair and maybe a folding table are good to bring, or even just a blanket
for the boulevard.  Contact Nine at mightymidway [at] gmail.com or 651.319.2241
with questions, or Kathy at kathysphotos [at] mindspring.com or 651.645.1492.


--------17 of 21--------

From: Melissa <smilyus [at] msn.com>
Subject: RNC day4 civil suit 9.13 6pm

This is a reminder that there is an upcoming meeting for people arrested
on Day 4 of the RNC last year during and after the march organized by the
Anti-War Committee. Spread the word to everyone you know who might want to
file a civil suit against the state for their senseless acts of terror and
unjust arrests that day!

Jordan Kushner, the leading attorney on civil lit for this day of the RNC,
and a couple organizers from the AWC will be there to talk about where we
go from here.

The details: Sunday, Sept. 13 6pm May Day Books

--
From: Meredith Aby <awcmere [at] gmail.com>

Civil litigation meeting for Day 4 RNC mass arrests
Sunday, September 13 @ 6pm @ Mayday Books, 301 Cedar Ave S, Mpls (under
Midwest Mountaineering)

A many of us were lined up at a police warehouse in St. Paul, trying to
reclaim our keys, cell phones, wallets, and other personal belongings
taken from us during the mass arrests on the final day of the Republican
National Convention. None of us was ever charged with a crime.

On Sept. 4, 2000 people rallied at the State Capitol to say, "No peace for
the war-makers!" With riot police lined up behind our rally stage, we set
out to march to the Xcel Center, where John McCain was speaking. Riot
police blocked us again and again, used pepper spray, tear gas, concussion
grenades. 396 people were indiscriminately rounded up and arrested,
including about twenty journalists.

St. Paul pulled out all the stops to prevent an anti-war message from
getting anywhere near the Xcel Center while McCain spoke, but their plan
backfired. Our story was told in every news report, and shown split-screen
with McCain's talk inside the RNC. In spite of police repression, our
demonstration was one of the great victories during the 2008 RNC.

But the victory came at a high cost, with all of us deprived of our
democratic rights to protest. With the assistance of attorney Jordan
Kushner, we are looking to file a civil lawsuit against the City of St.
Paul, for these abuses. Why?

* Our case can still bring attention to the continuing wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan
* We can demand more space for protest, rather than accept what happened to
us last September
* St. Paul should pay for its repressive actions against protesters

Fighting in the courts, and in the court of public opinion, gives us a
platform to do all of this. If you want to be a part of this case, we want
to hear from you. Please join us at Sunday's meeting (6pm @ Mayday Books),
with our attorney and AWC organizers. If you can't make it that day,
please watch for future communications about where we go from here. PLEASE
SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH FRIENDS WHO WERE ARRESTED WITH US ON SEPTEMBER 4,
2008.


--------18 of 21--------

From: Nancy Holden <d.n.holden [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Peace walk 9.13 6pm RiverFalls WI

River Falls Peace and Justice Walkers. We meet every Monday from 6-7 pm on
the UWRF campus at Cascade Ave. and 2nd Street, immediately across from
"Journey" House. We walk through the downtown of River Falls. Contact:
d.n.holden [at] comcast.net. Douglas H Holden 1004 Morgan Road River Falls,
Wisconsin 54022


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Civility is in the Eye of the Beholder
Disgraceful Democrats
By RUSSELL MOKHIBER
CounterPunch
September 11-13, 2009

Congressman Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) calls President Obama a liar.

That's disgraceful.

Some Democrats want him censured.

President Obama and the Democrats turn their backs on single payer - the
only health care reform that covers everyone and control costs.

By so doing, they are condemning at least 60 Americans a day to death
(Institute of Medicine report) due to lack of health insurance.

That's disgraceful.

Eighty-six Democrats in the House are signed on to Congressman John
Conyer's (D-Michigan) single payer bill (HR 676).

But not one has said they will vote against the break the bank, leave tens
of millions of Americans uninsured Obamacare.

Not one.

Not even Conyers has said he will vote against it.

None of the so called "progressive caucus" has said they will vote against
it.

HR 676 is being used a way to placate the Democrat's progressive base.

Sure, we believe in single payer.

But no way we're going out on a limb to fight for it.

That's disgraceful.

Wilson is fighting for his cause - insurance company profits before
people.

But at least he's fighting.

The Democrats are supposed to be fighting for the people.

They say they want change.

But they too are in the pockets of the pharmaceutical and health insurance
industries.

And they cave in to the powerful forces that control their political
lives.

That's disgraceful.

Obama throws the weak "public option" under the health insurance industry
bus.

And Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation magazine, says that
Obama shows "progressive spine".

That's disgraceful.

Civility is in the eyes of the beholder.

Obama and the Democrats are acting against the interests of the American
people.

Uncivil.

Disgraceful.

Who will censure Obama and the Democrats?

Russell Mokhiber is editor of Corporate Crime Reporter and founder of
http://www.singlepayeraction.org/


--------20 of 21--------

Death and Dying in the Age of No Change's Non War
It's Time to be Impolite About Afghanistan
By RON JACOBS
September 11-13, 2009
CounterPunch

In Germany, Chancellor Merkel defends a murderous attack on civilians
siphoning fuel from two stuck oil tankers, telling her countrymen that the
war in Afghanistan is not really a war at all.  In Washington, Bush
administration holdover Robert Gates (whose role in carrying on the
mission of the Empire is clearer by the day) tells the press that
Washington will not "abandon" Afghanistan or Pakistan.  In the White
House, the current set of deciders discusses how many more troops to send
into the mountains and plains of Afghanistan to fight an enemy in
Chancellor Merkel's non-war while they add private mercenaries working for
the dollar in their other zone of occupation, Iraq.  The occupying
soldiers have suffered more casualties in the Afghan non-war this past
year than ever before.  Yet, the big fool says to push on.

The phrase from Tacitus comes to mind with only a slight modification.
"They make desolation," he wrote. "and call it peace."  In Afghanistan,
they make desolation and call it freedom.  Enduring freedom.  This is the
lesson the Afghans must learn.  When you are the occupied, the native, the
wog, you are subject to the occupier's definitions.  He will kill your
wives and children and call it pacification.  He will choose your leaders,
tell you to vote and call it democracy.  He will kick in the doors to your
home, arrest you and your sons, and call you insurgents.  Of course, it is
this very practice which turns many of your men into said insurgents.

If the leaders he chooses for you oppose the more murderous of the
occupier's actions, that leader will be subverted.  Some, like Mr. Diem in
Vietnam and Patrick Lumumba in the Congo, will be murdered outright.
Others, like those that came before al-Maliki in Iraq, will merely
disappear from the scene, often with a newly expanded bank account.  Mr.
Karzai of Afghanistan may or may not make it through the show election he
is currently fixing.  If he does, Washington will install a newly-created
executive in Kabul whose role will be to undermine any attempts by Mr.
Karzai to actually rule in the interests of his nation as he sees it
instead of how Washington prefers.  If he doesn't win, he will retire
somewhere where deposed friends of Washington go.

The citizenry on the US homefront are quiet.  Allowing themselves to be
fooled by the myth of a new day, the old order continues.  Now they wait
for the new strategy to unfold.  A strategy that is no newer than the last
war to be sure and probably as old as the first, but the citizens'
historical memory is intentionally short.  If the civilized nations of the
world can finally pacify the restless occupied, then the world can truly
move to the next new frontier.  A new frontier with energy capturing and
transporting facilities located wherever the corporate executives of the
frontier believe them to be useful and defensible by the cavalry.   If the
citizenry at home continue to receive the fuel necessary for their
lifestyle, those dead and maimed children have even less meaning in their
lives.  It is, after all, the price they pay so we can (in the words of an
earlier president), "recreate however we want".

Recreating has become a challenge for may citizens who wonder where their
money went while they cheer the wars that provide the answer.  One
trillion plus for the wars and occupations and children live in shelters
in the land of plenty.  Still, the believers in their vote for change
refuse to see the change for what it is.  Nothing changed here, only the
family in the Great White House.  While the right wing leads its
unthinking nincompoops towards fascism, the rest of the mainstream
political populace refuses to examine the cause of their problems - modern
day capitalism - and continues to bet their lives on it despite the
ever-diminishing returns.

We've been told there is no alternative for so long that those who suggest
that there might be are excluded from the conversation.  Their opinion is
not only unimportant, it is a non-opinion because it doesn't fit into the
box designed by capital.  So, like those who are dying in the non-wars of
capital, those who oppose them are non-existent.  Is there a solution to
this enforced irrelevance?  Yes, but it doesn't lie in being polite.
Indeed, it doesn't exist within the rules of the game.  Are those of us
who oppose capital and its wars willing to take the risk required to turn
the aforementioned box upside down and thereby empty the world of
capital's illusions?  Or will we settle for standing outside it and
wishing it away?


--------21 of 21--------

Regression Depression
Mark Drolette
September 11th, 2009
Dissident Voice

I"ve been feeling a little discouraged about the nation's direction
lately.

Maybe it's just me.

Then again, maybe not. Everywhere I go, the sense of impending doom about
what's happening in (and to) our country is palpable. 'Course, there's
hope: just look at how the country's come together over the national
healthcare issue. With fellowship like that, how long can it be before
we're all debating excitedly 'round city-sized bonfires, our animated
dialogue punctuated by periodic AK47 bursts designed to drive (hollow)
points home?

You know we're firmly ensconced in bizarro world when America's rulers can
prosecute illegal warfare, torture people, shred the Constitution, steal
us blind, out secret agents, strong-arm massive corporate welfare and let
an entire city drown, yet it's not until affordable universal healthcare
is (ostensibly) proposed that that is the moment herds of screaming,
puerile, manipulated-to-the-max neo-brownshirts decide their beloved
America - the one that's only truly ever existed in John Wayne movies, by
the way - is under socialistic siege, subsequently demonstrating their
suddenly-uncontainable umbrage by throwing big-time, small-minded pissy
fits at faux town hall meetings.

The brandishing of firearms outside such events is an especially nice
touch. I can only guess what would have happened at an anti-war march had
any of us toted an assault rifle. Prior to a U.S. government-sponsored
Frankenfoods conference here in Sacramento six years back, our scared
witless shitty council ("Remember Seattle!" they were warned constantly by
cops and funds-bearing feds) hastily passed a raft of anti-constitutional
local ordinances, one of which authorized the arrest of any persons in
town (like, say, dissenters, maybe?) found with dirtballs in their
pockets.

That's what I said: dirtballs in people's pockets.

Speaking of Congress, I'm now convinced a poll could show 137% of
Americans strongly favoring something and yet if their desire didn't
happen to coincide with the wishes of Big Business (as, you know, it so
often does), then once again out would pop the corporatocracy's
jump-puppets - also known in some circles as "representatives" and
"senators" - to engage in so many contortions explaining why they couldn't
give us what we wanted they'd make Russian gymnasts proud. My suggestion?
Replace them with Russian gymnasts. We still wouldn't get what we wanted
but at least the back flips would be more expertly done.

Impotence is another thing that's got me, uh, down. (No, not that kind of
impotence - not that I would even know what that's like. Ever. OK, mostly.
All right, then, fine, but at least I still have my memories. Er - what
was I saying?) And not that you've ever asked yourself this question, but:
Just what the hell are we supposed to do to change things?

Vote? (For those who deem this a viable solution, please see jump-puppets
reference.)

Protest? Please don't tell my longtime activist girlfriend this, but while
she and I are out there standing on the street corner with seventeen other
diehards holding signs and hooting and hollering against the latest
outrage, I often feel like the powers-that-be are laughing at us, mocking
us. Ignoring us. (Imagine how much worse it would be if they really were!)
Actually, I'm not sure which is more deflating: Bush declaring us a focus
group, or Obama proving it.

Another bummer is seeing the classic tactics of misdirection and
scapegoating being employed to perfection. Sure, the great unwashed (and
unemployed) expressed righteous anger when the corporatists in charge
tanked the global economy only to be given no-strings-attached trillions
more, but their nastiest vitriol has nonetheless been loosed on folks who
are blameless (but far more accessible): those fortunate enough to still
have jobs and/or houses, including relatives, neighbors and (former)
friends.

I should know: I work for California's teacher licensing agency (no doubt
created by Marxist infiltrators who decided our state's educators should
be, well, educated; can you imagine?). Collectively, my fellow (unionized)
government employees and I are now public enemy numero uno, personally
responsible for everything from massive budget deficits to women with
loose morals (actually, that's one I wouldn't mind taking credit for - if
only I could remember how to go about it). We're being furloughed three
days monthly at fourteen percent less pay but that still isn't enough: our
pitchfork-bearing detractors want all of our heads, regardless the
disastrous impact on public services.

That cackling you hear is from the uber-corporatists who know full well
that envy is a terrible thing to waste and thus play on this natural human
frailty to convince millions that if their houses have burned down, the
solution is not to go after who set them afire in the first place but
demand that others run out and torch theirs, too.

Normally, I'd wrap things up here with some pithy suggestion, but I'm
afraid I'm plain pithed off, uh, out. However, I will say, upon further
reflection, there actually may be some merit to that whole
setting-things-ablaze idea.

Especially if the flash point were centered, you know, somewhere on Wall
Street.

Mark Drolette writes in Sacramento, California. He can be reached at:
mdrolette [at] comcast.net.

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