Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 11.05.09

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R   11.05.09

1. Burma/Thailand      11.05 11am
2. Race/Obama era      11.05 4pm
3. Eagan peace vigil   11.05 4:30pm
4. Northtown vigil     11.05 5pm
5. Pentel/ecology      11.05 6pm
6. Art/social change   11.05 7:30pm
7. Future cities       11.05-08 Madison WI

8. My god it's FFUNCH  11.06 11:30am
9. Palestine vigil     11.06 4:15pm
10. Overcoming racism  11.06 5pm
11. Shop for WAMM      11.06 5pm
12. Ken Pentel         11.06 6pm
13. McKinney/Gaza      11.06 7pm
14. Peace puppets/HOBT 11.06 7:30pm

15. Dave Lindorff - Dems crash and burn: bigger disaster looms in 2010
16. Matt Reichel  - Health insurance - shut down this murderous racket!

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

Subject: Burma/Thailand 11.05 11am
From: Write On Radio <writeonradio [at] yahoo.com>

WRITE ON RADIO!
This week on Write on Radio, Bernice Koehler Johnson joins us to talk
about her book The Shan: Refugees without a Camp, an account of her
experiences working with Shan refugees who have escaped genocide in Burma
by fleeing to Thailand. More information about the Shan and her work can
be found at www.BerniceJohnson.com.

Also this week, writer, painter, and teacher Mary Carroll Moore joins us
to talk about her newest novel, Qualities of Life, a coming of age story
set in the Adirondack Mountains.

Information about regular spoken word and open mic venues can be found at
MinnesotaMicrophone.com.

Write on radio airs every THURSDAY 11 am - noon central time on 90.3 FM
Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul and live on the web at www.kfai.org.
Shows are archived for two weeks on line.


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

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: Race/Obama era 11.05 4pm

November 5: Women's Center, University of Minnesota presents Professor
Rose M. Brewer who will receive the Ada Comstock Distinguished Woman
Scholar Award and deliver a lecture entitled "Colorblind, Postracial or
Not? Exploring Race in the Obama Era". 4 PM at Cowles Auditorium in the
HHH Center, 301 19th Avenue So., Mpls. Free and open to the public.
Dessert reception to following in the HHH Atrium. Contact Peg Lonnquist
for more information.


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

From: Greg and Sue Skog <family4peace [at] msn.com>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 11.05 4:30pm

PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest corner of
Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs and
candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends south
of the river speaking out against war.


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

From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 11.05 5pm

NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil every Thursday 5-6pm, at the intersection of Co. Hwy
10 and University Ave NE (SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine.

Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View,
New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park,
Fridley, and Coon Rapids.  We'll have extra signs.

For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or
email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com.


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

From: Ken Pentel <kenpentel [at] YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Pentel/ecology 11.05 6pm

Ecology Democracy Network November 2009 Calendar

Each date below (Except for All Nations Church on the 6th.) offers, an
introduction meeting to learn about the Network, as well as, a study
group. The November study group book is: Unequal Protection, The Rise of
Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights, By Thom Hartmann. You
may be able to check this book out at the library, online, or I will make
available copies of a few pages we study.

(December Study group: Real Choices New Voices, By Douglas Amy)

All the gatherings below are located at the Bryant Square Park. 31st and
Bryant Ave. in South Minneapolis (One block south and west from Lyndale
and Lake). *Except for the presentation at the the All Nations Church on
November 6th

Please help to recruit other like minded people. I spend a few days each
week in the field knocking on doors, flyering in front of the Wedge Co-op,
events and posting notices of the gatherings below. I need help doing
this. Call or e-mail to join me in the streets or, I have attached a PDF
of a handout you can print, mark down some of the upcoming dates, work
your turf and spread the word via e-mail too.

If the dates or times don't work for you, or you are in greater Minnesota
and want to arrange a presentation contact me

Dates are subject to change, notify me if you are going to participate.
Thanks, Ken

-Thursday, November 5th
Ecology Democracy Network Introduction Meeting 6-7pm
Study group: 7-8:30pm

*-Friday, November 6th
Ecology Democracy Network Introduction Meeting 6-9pm
All Nations Church

All Nations Church is on Bloomington and 22nd Ave. S. in Minneapolis. Go
West on Franklin to Bloomington, turn left and go two or three blocks.
It's on the corner on the right.

-Saturday, November 7th
Ecology Democracy Network Introduction Meeting: 11:30-1pm
Study group: 1-2:30pm

-Tuesday, November 10th
Ecology Democracy Network Introduction Meeting 6-7pm
Study group: 7-8:30pm

-Thursday, November 19th
Ecology Democracy Network Introduction Meeting 6-7pm
Study group: 7-8:30pm

-Saturday, November 21st
Ecology Democracy Network Introduction Meeting: 11:30-1pm
Study group: 1-2:30pm

Ken Pentel Ecology Democracy Network P.O. Box 3872 Minneapolis, MN 55403
(612) 387-0601


--------6 of 16--------

From: Intermedia Arts <info [at] intermediaarts.org>
Subject: Art/social change 11.05 7:30pm

Intermedia Arts is proud to present The Catalyst Series, a program that
provokes and presents new work in the performing arts, visual arts,
literary arts, as well as multimedia and film presentations--all created
in partnership with community artists, groups and organizations; all
designed to spark dialogue and be a catalyst for social change.

November's Catalyst Series includes the premier of the Bridges triptych:
Three World Premiere Performances;
Three Amazing Nights of Theater
November 5-7, 2009

Featuring Reginald Edmund, Virginia Grise, Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe,
Jessica Huang, Stacy Lee King, Teresa Konechne, and Baraka de Soleil.
Curated by Dipankar Mukherjee, Meena Natarajan, and J. Otis Powell!

Bridges is a program of Pangea World Theater Co-Presented by Intermedia
Arts through the Catalyst Series.

The Catalyst Series
BRIDGES
A program of Pangea World Theater
Co-Presented by Intermedia Arts
November 5-7, 2009
7:30PM at Intermedia Arts
$8 in advance / $10 at the door

Red Dirt Rites is an invocation. A threshold crossed, traveling. The
wounded healer manifest, she/he is easy on the eyes and covered in red
dirt. (Re)membering in the blue light is the holding on, the letting go.

In Bbbl's dreamlike world, the construction of specific language,
technology, materialism, and isolation results in the demolition of
language, meaning and the exploration what it truly means to be human.

Developing, raw & organic, Conjuré navigates a performative pathway
unearthed during the unsettling merging of variant cultural legacies;
culling the collective creative process of sharing truths, ancestral
traditions and "recipes."


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

From: Lydia Howell <lydiahowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Future cities 11.05-08 Madison WI

NOV.5-8:FUTURE CITIES 2009" in MADISON, WI

"Future Cities 2009" www.futureCities2009.org
<http://www.futureCities2009.org> designed to "stimulate efforts to engage
citizens in their local democracies to promote a shift from carbon and
nuclear energy sources to renewables and conservation, greener
transportation and development practices, global elimination of nuclear
weapons, and a transition from war spending to peace economy" will be held
in Madison, WI Nov. 5-8.


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

From: David Shove <shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu>
Subject: My god it's FFUNCH 11.06 11:30am

Ffunch 11.06 11:30am

Meet the FFUNCH BUNCH!
11:30am-1pm
First Friday Lunch (FFUNCH) for progressives.
Informal political talk and hanging out.

Day By Day Cafe 477 W 7th Av St Paul.
Meet on the far south side.

Day By Day has soups, salads, sandwiches, and dangerous
apple pie; is close to downtown St Paul & on major bus lines


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

From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Palestine vigil 11.06 4:15pm

The weekly vigil for the liberation of Palestine continues at the
intersection of Snelling and Summit Aves in St. Paul. The Friday demo
starts at 4:15 and ends around 5:30. There are usually extra signs
available.


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

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Overcoming racism 11.06 5pm

Conference: "Overcoming Racism: Why Is It So Hard?"

Friday, November 6, 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, November 7, 8:00 a.m.
to 6:30 p.m. William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, St. Paul.
Join others committed to addressing racial inequities as we deepen our
understanding and improve our skills for advancing antiracist
transformation in our own particular contexts. Featuring national keynote
speakers: Zeus Leonardo, University of California, Berkeley; Victor Lewis,
The Color of Fear; Heather Hackman, St.Cloud State University.
Registration Fee: $120.00. Register by October 30 for early bird
registration: $95.00. Sponsored by: William Mitchell College of Law, KFAI
Radio, Minnesota Department of Human Services, the St. Paul Foundation,
Travelers, ASDIC Antiracism Study-Dialogue Circles, and Facilitators in
Training (FIT). Endorsed by: WAMM. FFI and to register: Visit
www.facilitatingracialequitycollaborative.com.


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

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Shop for WAMM 11.06 5pm

WAMM Benefit Shopping Night at Ten Thousand Villages
Friday, November 6, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Ten Thousand Villages, 867 Grand
Avenue, St. Paul.

Benefit WAMM by shopping at Ten Thousand Villages in St. Paul. Make an
evening of it and visit one of the many restaurants located nearby. Not
what G.W. had in mind when he told you to shop. Ten Thousand Villages is a
fair-trade retailer of artisan-crafted home decor, personal accessories
and gift items from across the globe. As one of the world's oldest and
largest fair-trade organizations, Ten Thousand Villages has spent more
than 60 years cultivating trading relationships in which artisans receive
a fair price for their work and consumers have access to distinctive
handcrafted items. 20% of the evening's sales will be donated to WAMM.
Sponsored by: Ten Thousand Villages and WAMM. FFI:
www.stpaul.tenthousandvillages.com.


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

From: DoriJJ [at] aol.com
Subject: Ken Pentel 11.06 6pm

INVITATION TO HEAR KEN PENTEL PRESENTATION
Mark the date November 6, 2009 at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM.  That's the time
that Ken Pentel will present the background and updates on the Ecology
Democracy Network.  He will make the presentation at the All Nation's
Church, 1515 East 22nd St., on the corner of Bloomington Ave.

Ken, three time candidate for governor of Minnesota and a was with
Greenpeace for 11 years, has been successfully gathering support for this
movement by visiting towns, knocking on doors and speaking to groups all
over the state.  He covers all this ground by bicycle.

Ken is an exciting, powerful and knowledgeable speaker.  You will come
away from his presentation informed and armed with the information you
need to help save the planet.

If you have any questions, please call either Dori Ullman at 612-414-9528
or Michael Cavlan at 612-327-6902.


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

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: McKinney/Gaza 11.06 7pm

A Talk by Cynthia McKinney: Breaking the Siege of Gaza
Friday, November 6, 7:00 p.m. Walker Methodist Church, 3104 16th Avenue
South, Minneapolis.

Hear former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney tell
the story of her three valiant attempts and final success at entering Gaza
to show solidarity and provide humanitarian aid to its besieged people.

While attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,
Cynthia McKinney was a passenger in the relief vessel Dignity when it was
rammed by the Israeli army in international waters, December 30. The
heavily damaged ship was forced to limp into a Lebanese port.

In late June, McKinney and twenty other human rights activists were
arrested when their boat, Spirit of Humanity, was boarded by the Israeli
Navy. McKinney spent days in an Israeli prison before being released, but
within days was on her way to join the Viva Palestinian U.S. caravan,
organized by British Member of Parliament George Galloway.

While in Gaza, Cynthia McKinney witnessed the devastation and destruction
caused by "Operation Cast Lead," a military offensive against the people
of the Gaza Strip launched by Israel (with U.S-supplied weapons). After 22
days of unrelenting aerial attacks coupled with an intensive ground
invasion that began on January 3, 2009, the death toll exceeded 1,400
Palestinians, the majority of them civilians including women and children.
Over 5,000 more were wounded. Excessive civilian casualties were
compounded by the unprecedented destruction of civilian infrastructure
across the Gaza Strip including hospitals, schools, mosques, civilian
homes, police stations and United Nations compounds.

Today, the siege of Gaza continues as Israel pursues an illegal policy of
extreme collective punishment against the 1.5 million residents of Gaza -
more than half of whom are children. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter
called the blockade of humanitarian goods to Gaza "one of the greatest
human rights crimes on Earth."

Free and open to the public. Donations accepted. Sponsored by: the WAMM
Middle East Committee. FFI: Call WAMM, 612-827-5364.


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

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Peace puppets/HOBT 11.06 7:30pm

FOR YOUNG PEACEMAKERS: Puppet Performance: "A Path Home: A Story
of Thich Nhat Hanh"
Fridays, November 6, 13 and 20, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, November 7, 14
and 21, 7:30 p.m.;
Sundays, November 8, 15 and 22, 2:00 p.m. In the Heart of the Beast Puppet
and Mask Theatre, 1500 East Lake Street, Minneapolis.

"A Path Home: A Story of Thich Nhat Hanh" is an intimate performance which
explores the life and work of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk, poet,
and peace activist. In the hands of creator and master visual storyteller
Masanari Kawahara, eloquent puppets weave an interpretation of the man and
his teachings in this new In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask
Theatre (HOBT) production.

Based on writings by Thich Nhat Hanh, this active meditation juxtaposes
the simple joys of life with the horrors of war and violence, and
illuminates his influential path through both.

Performed by just one puppeteer, accompanied by a live musician, this show
serves as introduction for those unfamiliar with Thich Nhat Hanh, and also
illuminates details of his life and the important people surrounding him
that may be less known even to those familiar with his teachings.

Tickets: $17.00. Seniors, Youth and Groups of 10 or More: $12.00.
Sponsored by: HOBT. Endorsed by: WAMM. FFI and reservations: Call
612-721-2535 or visit www.hobt.org.


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

Bigger Disaster Looms in 2010
Democrats Crash and Burn
By DAVE LINDORFF
CounterPunch
November 4, 2009

It would be easy to read too much into the few statewide races that were
decided last night, but I think it's fair to say that the results in New
Jersey and Virginia, where Republican gubernatorial candidates won--in New
Jersey's case knocking off a well-funded Democratic incumbent--that the
results were a blow to the Barack Obama/Rahm Emanuel strategy of playing
to the right, of avoiding confrontation in Congress and of ignoring the
progressive voters whose enthusiasm and effort back in the 2008 campaign
put Obama in office.

Exit polls showed that many Obama voters sat out this election in New
Jersey and Virginia, with turnout low in both races.  In part that was
because of local conditions, of course. In Virginia, Democrat R. Creigh
Deeds ran as a conservative, and was attacked by the Republican candidate,
former state attorney general Robert McDonnell, as a tax-happy liberal.
With liberal voters in Virginia unenthusiastic about Deeds, and
Republicans revved up, the loss was a foregone conclusion, even with Obama
making two visits to campaign for Deeds, and with the national Democratic
Party pumping in $6 million in campaign funding.

In New Jersey, incumbent Democrat John Corzine was wildly unpopular for
raising taxes, so that even with Democrats holding an almost 2:1
registration advantage in the state (half of all voters are unaffiliated),
he too had no enthusiastic backing from his former base. No amount of
money poured in by the former Goldman Sachs chief executive could overcome
the negative views of his record as governor.

But despite the lackluster candidates in both Virginia and New Jersey, I
think it's safe to say that there was also clear evidence that the losses,
and the margins of the losses - huge in Virginia's case, and significant
in normally safely Democratic New Jersey - provide evidence that the Obama
presidency, and the prevailing Democratic strategy of minimalist
legislative initiatives on health care reform, global warming etc.,
expanded and unending war in Afghanistan, support for Wall Street and
neglect of the one-in-five Americans who are unemployed or underemployed,
are a political disaster in the making for Democrats in general and Obama
in particular.

The president came into office on a wave of populist enthusiasm and high
expectations for the "change" candidate Obama promised. No change has been
forthcoming now for over nine months, and with the president now past the
first-year anniversary of his historic election victory, the latest
election results suggest that his presidency could already be headed for
the rocks.

2010 is an election year that will see all seats in the House, and a third
of the seats in the Senate up for grabs. Typically, a president's party
loses seats in that election even when things are going well. When things
are not going well, the losses can be significant.

Obama had a chance, coming into Washington after a big rout of Republicans
last year, to set out an agenda of major progressive change. He could have
called for expanding Medicare to cover all Americans. Instead he handed
health reform over to Congress and immediately put out the word that he
was open to compromise with Republicans, thus dooming reform from the
outset.  He could have announced a thorough review of America's two wars,
and then set in motion a withdrawal form both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Instead he dithered on Iraq, and added troops in Afghanistan, assuring
that both these disasters inherited from the Bush/Cheney administration
became his own disasters, which will now drag on through his whole term.
He could have declared a global climate emergency, and announced a
job-creating crash program to develop renewable energy in the US and to
make the US a leader in renewable energy R&D. Instead, he did almost
nothing in this critical area.  As for the economic crisis, he could have
taken a progressive stand against the abuses of Wall Street, ordered a
criminal investigation of the banking class, broken up the big banks and
established a new regulatory system to put an end to the era of casino
capitalism.   Instead, he put the bankers in charge of Treasury and poured
trillions of dollars into the largest banks, allowing them to grow even
bigger and more predatory.

Voters, their collective assets shrunken over the year by $14 trillion,
understandably are left wondering how, aside from better verbal skills,
this president differs from the last one. As for the Democratic Congress,
with Democrats pretending that nothing can be done unless they have not
just 60 seats in Congress, but perhaps 70 or 75 (enough to be able to
survive the inevitable defection of conservative members of the party),
they can't do anything of consequence - a claim that only is true if, as
is the case, the party's leadership and the president are unwilling to
punish those who break rank.

If Democratic and progressive independent voters feel the same way about
Obama and the Democratic Congress next fall, it will be curtains for the
Democrats and for Obama's presidency, such as it is. [Bring it on. It
can't be too soon. -ed]

And you know what? It won't matter much if that happens, because what
we're seeing is that having Obama in the White House, and Democrats "in
control" of Congress doesn't get you much in the way of progressive
change. [So to hell with them. -ed]

Dave Lindorff  is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His
latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and
now available in paperback). He can be reached at dlindorff [at] mindspring.com

[I think it likely that Obama is deliberately throwing the fight. He helps
the rich get richer and more powerful, and all the rest of us get poorer
and weaker. Exactly the script of the rich. He would have been promised
well-funded quiet retirement acres for his sellout; he would also have
been told that he had no alternative because the rich can do anything
(said menacingly) so he has no choice - sell out and get the golden
parachute, or suffer what's behind the other door. Ditto for Congress. It
would mean we're much closer to fascism than we'd like to believe. If not,
where is the contrary evidence? Almost nothing is going our way, and
almost everything the way of the ever richer and more powerful. Obama's
part fits the part of fight-thrower to a T. -ed]


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

Shut Down This Murderous Racket: Change We Need and Crave
by Matt Reichel
November 4th, 2009
Dissident Voice

Al Capone is awake in his grave in awe at the criminal racket promulgated
by the health care industry: a murderous multi-billion dollar industry
that keeps the world's Superpower in the sociological Stone Age. A recent
study upped the figure of Americans killed by this enterprise from 20,000
to about 45,000: that is fifteen 9-11's a year of Americans facing a
cruel, painful death at the hands of these prolific killers.

Some might say I sound like a demagogue. When you are used to insipid
soundbytes and P.C.-fluff, the truth starts sounding like demagoguery. The
fact of the matter is that the truth is extraordinarily painful in this
country ruled by a peculiar Victorian fetish of the marketplace. Nowhere
in the civilized world could one imagine civic leaders fear mongering the
populace about the evils of "socialized medicine" without getting laughed
out of the country. Unfortunately, these goons of capitalist oppression
seem to have been collectively laughed out of the civilized world and into
Land of the Free.

Nonetheless, the problem is not this visceral minority. The problem lies
in those that pretend to befriend progress: that grand, archaic organ of
political oppression called the Democratic Party. This increasingly
irrelevant union of crooks, hucksters and swindlers has betrayed the
American people beyond recognition. Their failure to enact meaningful
health care reform must be the last straw.

>From the beginning of the current "health reform" debacle, the game was
rigged. Immediately, the only meaningful reform, "single payer," was taken
off the table, and progressives were told to rally behind a "strong public
option" by Democratic front groups like Moveon.org and Health Care for
America Now (HCAN). These two NGO's organized numerous "rallies" in order
to command a feeble subservience to the Democratic leadership ahead of
their caving to corporate interests on the issue.

Meanwhile, single-payer activists were placed in the precarious position
of having to advocate against the meaningless and amorphous "strong public
option" and the tea-baggers all at once. In a country so dominated by
trivial soundbytes, you have to be either "for or against" everything: no
shades of gray, no third way. Unfortunately, many progressives got caught
in the trap and started rallying behind a bill (Obama's Health Care Bill
HR 3200) that no one knew anything about. This clever catch all was meant
to accomplish exactly that: institute no meaningful reform while tricking
a significant portion of progressives into thinking that we were now
seeing "The change we can believe in".

Nonetheless, single-payer activists were thrown a couple bones. One was a
promise of a vote on the "Weiner Amendment" on the house floor. This
amendment would have replaced the current bill with HR 676: the
single-payer bill. The other, more meaningful bone was the "Kucinich
Amendment," which would have lifted loopholes that prevent individual
states from enacting single-payer legislation. This approach seemed more
tactically sound than expecting much of an up-down vote on single-payer on
the house floor. The Canadian health system was enacted
province-by-province, and it seemed reasonable to expect the same here:
the more "enlightened" states lead the way, attract a significant spike in
businesses fleeing other states so as to cut health expenses, and
gradually the states fall like dominoes.

Kucinich told a crowd in Aurora, IL this summer to focus on his amendment.
He informed us that the Single-Payer vote (Weiner Amendment) was a smoke
screen doomed to failure because of the lack of adequate time to organize
sufficiently for the vote.

I then attended several organizing meetings and stressed the need to
emphasize the Kucinich Amendment as the most tactically prescient step
forward for single-payer activists. I suggested that people not bite the
Weiner amendment bait. As a veteran of the NGO industrial complex, I saw
the Weiner Amendment for what it was: a chance for progressive Democrats
and single-payer NGO's to claim victory (just by bringing the issue to a
vote), and to thus muster some fund-raising. I could picture the
fund-raising letter: "Dear Single-Payer Activist, today we scored a major
victory in the House of Representatives by bringing Single Payer Health
Care to a vote for the first time. But there remains a lot of work to be
done in order to win the vote in the future. Please help us in this
mission by donating today".

Unfortunately, many activists bit the bait. Action alert after action
alert instructed people to call their reps and urge them on the Weiner
Amendment.

In the end, both the Kucinich and Weiner amendments were removed from
consideration by house leadership this past week. Meanwhile, Democratic
cheerleaders have been trumpeting the success at instituting a "public
option" in both the House and Senate versions of the health reform bill.
The proposed public option will cover about 3% of the population, while
roughly 33% of Americans are un- or under-insured. Many progressive
democrats inform me that this is the best we can realistically do given
the conservative dynamics of the American populace. I don't understand
what American populace they are talking about. As someone who goes out to
the bungalow belt of Chicago to knock on doors practically everyday, I can
say with full confidence that only an insignificant wacko minority is
repelled by the thought of "Medicare for all". Perhaps we can figure out a
way to leave those few people out when we finally do institute a
single-payer system.

Progressive leaders have fallen to the right of the American people.
Americans crave and need meaningful health care reform in line with the
remainder of the civilized world. They crave and need leadership in
Washington that stands for the interests of their constituents: leaders
that aren't fearful of lifting their heads above the fray, pounding their
fists on the podium and declaring "It is time we shut this racket down.
Let us throw the insurance companies into the dustbin of history once and
for all, and end this domestic terrorism that kills 45,000 Americans a
year!" [Yes! -ed]

Unfortunately, to get to this point, we are going to have to purge the
Congress of almost every last one of its members, and stop thinking that
the Democrats or the NGO industrial complex will ever bring Americans
their cherished Medicare-for-all. [Amen. Purge. Sweep the stables clean.
-ed]

Matt Reichel is a French teacher and the Green Party Candidate in
Illinois's 5th Congressional District. He can be reached at:
mereichel [at] gmail.com.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   - 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

                          vote third party
                           for president
                           for congress
                          now and forever


                           Socialism YES
                           Capitalism NO


 To GO DIRECTLY to an item, eg
 --------8 of x--------
 do a find on
 --8