Progressive Calendar 06.17.07
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:51:22 -0700 (PDT)
            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    06.17.07

1. Rights/genocide    6.18-22 9am
2. Windustry          6.18 5:30pm
3. Single-payer       6.18 6pm
4. Iraq for sale/f    6.18 6:30pm
5. Wiki class         6.18 6:30pm
6. Climate crisis     6.18 7pm

7. Health care mess   6.19 8am
8. Rights dinner      6.19 5pm
9. Gordon/safety      6.19 6pm
10. Salon/peace       6.19 6:30pm
11. Health care       6.19 7pm
12. Zirin/sports      6.19 7pm
13. Impeach buttcrack 6.19 7pm
14. Rock-Tenn burner  6.19 7:30pm

15. AlliantTech       6.20 8am
16. WAMM bridge vigil 6.20 5pm

17. Danene Provencher - Resolution to impeach Bush and Cheney
18. Jacqueline Marcus - Fight corps: turn off your TV for good
19. Phil Rockstroh    - The enduring beauty of ugly truth

--------1 of 19--------

From: Stephen Feinstein <feins001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Rights/genocide 6.18-22 9am

Summer Workshop on Human Rights and Genocide to be Repeated June 2007
Places are still available.

Monday-Friday Week of June 18-June 22, 2007, 9am - 4pm
Institute of Global Studies
Workshop on Teaching about Genocide and Human Rights. 2 credits
Dr. Stephen Feinstein
Hist 5960/Glos 5900 sec 001 0900-1600 MTWThF Carlson School of Management

The course deals with the evolution of human rights doctrine since the
18th century and the issues connected with genocide and the Holocaust. A
number of guest speakers will be part of the course to provide their
expertise. Included are issues of Native Americans, Roma, Cambodian
Genocide, Rwanda, International Tribunals and applications for teaching
within the Minnesota pre-college curriculum.

For information and registration contact:
Molly McCoy <mccoy019 [at] UMN.EDU>


-------2 of 19---------

From: Ingrid Vick <ingrid [at] windustry.org>
Subject: Windustry 6.18  5:30pm

Windustry invites you to our community energy solutions book event!
When: Monday, June 18th
Time: 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Where: Windustry's Office
2104 Stevens Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55404

Windustry is pleased to host Greg Pahl, author of The Citizen-Powered
Energy Handbook: Community Solutions to a Global Crisis. Join us in a
community discussion of the book and learn about renewable energy
technologies that you and your community can adopt.

Pahl's book has been described as an eloquent account of the critical
situation we face and offers innovative solutions you can undertake in
your home and community. For more information on the book, please visit:
www.gregpahl.com <http://www.gregpahl.com/> . Copies will be available for
sale and signing at our event.

Light refreshments will be served
No RSVP necessary
Any questions please contact:
Windustry
www.windustry.org <http://www.windustry.org/>
612-870-3461
info [at] windustry.org


--------3 of 19--------

From: Stefanie Levi <stefalala [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Single-payer 6.18 6pm

Thanks for everything you're doing to keep the fight for universal single
payer focused and vibrant. With the Twin Cities' opening date of Michael
Moore's "SICKO" so close at hand- 29 June- we need to come together to
work out direct actions for the opening screenings and the lead-up to
them.

So...I'm hosting a working potluck at my house on Monday, 18 June - next
week.  The potluck theme is "delicious and nutritious traditional foods
from countries the pretzel-choker in the oval office hates" - which,
basically, includes foods from any country affected by "climate change"!!
- since he hates even the u. s. of a. All political jocularity aside, I
will be cookin' up a couple of vegetarian middle eastern dishes; feel free
to bring whatever.  Keep it no muss/no fuss for yourselves..but it would
be great to not have too much dessert-y stuff.  If anyone can't bring food
for whatever reason, please come to the potluck meeting, anyway.  All are
welcome.

We just need creativity & solidarity to spice up and strengthen our
actions.  for those so inclined, please come with a mock-up or rough-draft
flyer.  We'll probably need two flyers:  one to announce the upcoming
screening, and the other would be basically brief and informational, maybe
using images, slogans or quotes from "SICKO."

Peace Love Solidarity Socialism with Bona Fide Single Payer Universal
Health Care Now,

Stefanie Levi 612-822-2974
Home address:  3833 12th Ave South Minneapolis 55407


--------4 of 19--------

From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Iraq for sale/f 6.18 6:30pm

FREE Third Monday Movie and Discussion: "Iraq for Sale"

Monday, June 18, 6:30 p.m. St. Joan of Arc Church, Hospitality Hall, 4537
Third Avenue South, Minneapolis. "Iraq for Sale" is the story of what
happens to everyday U.S. soldiers when corporations go to war. The film
takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children
who have been changed forever as a result of corruption occurring in the
alleged reconstruction of Iraq. It covers the connections between private
corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow
them to do so. Sponsored by: WAMM Third Monday Movies. FFI: Call WAMM,
612-827-5364.

---------5 of 19--------

From: Rosa Maria de la Cueva Peterson <rmdelacp [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Wiki class 6.18 6:30pm

The St. Paul E-Democracy Rondo [Library, Lex & Univ] Outreach 2006-2007

June 18 6:30pm
Wiki
St. Paul E-Democracy volunteers will show you how to use a wiki, and
ways that that you might use to connect with neighbors, and become more
involved in your community.

[Something wiki this way comes. -ed]


--------6 of 19--------

From: Corey Mattson <coreymattson [at] maydaybookstore.org>
Subject: Climate crisis 6.18 7pm

Labor Confronts the Climate Crisis:
Report Back From the North American
Labor Assembly

Come join us for a forum and discussion led by Christine Frank, Volunteer
Coordinator for the Twin Cities Climate Crisis Coalition (3CTC), member of
the Continuation Committee for Labor and Sustainability, and a member of
the IATSE Local 13 Minneapolis Stagehands Union.

Monday, June 18th, 7pm at Mayday Bookstore
301 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55454  (612) 333-4719
Event sponsored by: Socialist Action


--------7 of 19-------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Health care mess 6.19 8am

Minneapolis Television Network (MTN 17) viewers:
"Our World In Depth" cablecasts weekly on MTN Channel 17.  Households with
basic cable can watch.  "Our World In Depth" is on Saturday at 9 pm and
the following Tuesday at 8 am (as well as other times).

6/16 and 6/19 "The Health Care Mess" w/author and organizer with
Physicians for a National Health Plan, Kip Sullivan. Hosted by Eric
Angell.

"Our World In Depth" features analysis of public affairs with
consideration of and participation from Twin Cities area activists.  The
show is mostly local and not corporately influenced! With respect to Mr.
Moyers, "Our World In Depth" might be better than PBS!  For information
about future programing of "Our World In Depth", please send an e-mail to
eric-angell [at] riseup.net.


--------8 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Rights dinner 6.19 5pm

Tuesday, 6/19, 5 pm, MN Advocates for Human Rights holds awards dinner with
theme "Human Rights, Justice and Peace: Truth and Reconciliation in
Post-Conflict Societies" with keynote speaker Jerome Verdier of Liberia's
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and honoring Priscilla Hayner and Sofia
Macher, The Depot in Mill District of downtown Mpls, 225 - 3rd Ave S, Mpls.
www.mnadvocates.org


--------9 of 19--------

From: Cam Gordon <CamGordon333 [at] msn.com>
Subject: Gordon/safety 6.19 6pm

News from Cam Gordon Council Member, Second Ward
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/ward2/
http://secondward.blogspot.com

Roundtable: Increasing Safety by Building Community.  Please join me and
the new Second Ward Community Outreach Interns for a Roundtable Discussion
on Community Policing, Block Clubs and Walking Groups, June 19th, 6-8 PM
at Luxton Park.


--------10 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Salon/peace 6.19 6:30pm

Tuesday, 6/19, 6:30 pm, Pax Salon hosts Minnesota alliance of Peacemakers
president Dick Bernard speaking about his perspective for peace, Mad
Hatter's Tea House, 943 W 7th, St Paul.  pattypax [at] earthlink.net


--------11 of 19--------

From: GREG and SUE SKOG <family4peace [at] msn.com>
Subject: Health care 6.19 7pm

Health care is becoming more expensive for everyone in Minnesota. We
deserve a health care system that provides good quality, affordable care
for everyone in the state.

Meet With Our Elected Leaders About Health Care!

Join us to talk with our state legislators in Eagan, including Senator Jim
Carlson, about how we can make the health care system work better for all
of us in Minnesota!

Health Care for All Roundtable
Tuesday, June 19 at 7 pm
Eagan Community Center
1501 Central Parkway

Directions:
Located just off of Interstate 35-E one block north of the intersection of
Yankee Doodle Road and Pilot Knob roads on Central Parkway.
Eagan Community Center Phone:
Main Line (651) 675-5550
Any Questions? Please Contact Julia Rybak at TakeAction Minnesota
Phone: (651) 379-0751
Email: Julia [at] takeactionminnesota.org<mailto:Julia [at] 
takeactionminnesota.org>


--------12 of 19--------

From: Corey Mattson <coreymattson [at] maydaybookstore.org>
Subject: Zirin/sports 6.19 7pm

A talk by: David Zirin, author of Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain,
Politics, and Promise of Sports

>From the Don Imus scandal to the stormy between hip-hop and the NBA, from
the "baseball" factories" of the Dominican Republic to the inspiring of
Roberto Clementte - Dave Zirin looks past the shiny surface to what is
really happening in the locker room, the boardroom, the arena, and the
stands.

"Welcome to the Terrordome," Public Enemy's 1989 hip-hop anthem was a call
to arms against world - and a popular culture - gone mad.  A real
terrordome emerged in the New Orleans Superdome in the horrifying
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - a gruesome collision of sports and
politics as thousands sat stranded in a sports arena where most could
never have afforded even the cheapest ticket.

Today the "Terrordome" is a twenty-first century sports world that is
frightening, ridiculous, horrifying and inspiring...all before the next
commercial break. Within these pages you'll find heroes and villains.
You'll find oppression and protest. And you'll find an engaging and
provocative look at the world of sports like no other.

Buy the Book at 15% Off!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
7 pm at Mayday Books
301 Cedar Ave. South on the West Bank in Minneapolis
(in the basement of THE HUB; enter on side of building. Public parking
ramp behind the building. For info, call 612-333-4719 or go to
www.maydaybookstore.org


--------13 of 19--------

From: Impeach <lists [at] impeachforpeace.org>
Subject: Impeach buttcrack 6.19 7pm

Our weekly meeting location has changed.  We still meet Tuesdays at 7:00
p.m.  But now we meet at:
Joe's Garage (Restaurant along Loring Park)
1610 Harmon Pl
Minneapolis, MN 55403
(612) 904-1163

For directions go to:
http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&q=joe%27s+garage&near=Minneapolis,+MN&fb=1&cid=0,0,12573178761977060807&ll=44.971602,-93.285019&iwstate1=dir:to&iwloc=A&f=d&daddr=1610+Harmon+Pl,+Minneapolis,+MN+55403&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=directions-to]here

New energy has been pumped into the impeachment movement as 7 cosponsors
have signed onto Kucinich's House Resolution 333 calling for the
impeachment of Cheney.  Also, John Conyers (the head of the committee
responsible for writing up articles of impeachment, and who currently is
in possesion of H.Res. 333) has voiced his support for the impeachment
movement.  Come help us finish the job!

- It will take more than emails to accomplish our goal.

We need people to get out into the world and get involved.  Calling all
concerned citizens...Activate!

We need leaders.  Ask yourself if you're willing to put in the time to
help make this happen.  No hiearchy, no egos.  Our organization is proud
of the fact that anybody who has the desire can step up and make things
happen.  There are a few of us who started things initially, but we're all
in agreement that this movement must be democratic, and open to all.
Anyone who wants to step up and make this happen, is free to.  We'll
provide you any resources to which we have access to help make your dreams
of Bush-Free America come true.

We do need your help.  This can't happen without people stepping up to
demand Bush step down.  Please contact us about starting a chapter, or come
to a meeting (info on the website), and become a player in this movement.
We have plenty of projects which are as-of-yet undone.  We know how, and
can provide you the resources necessary.

- Become a sponsor...

Organizing requires resources.  So far, most of the funding of this cause
has been borne by those attending the meetings.  However, we will
obviously not be able to afford the costs associated with this whole
movement as it grows.  Please think of how important this effort is, and
ask yourself if you can contribute to this cause of ours.  Even $10 or $20
can really make a huge difference to us.  You can do so on our website by
clicking on the "Donate" button.  Or, feel free to come to a meeting, and
donate in person.

We'd love to mention you as a sponsor on the website, or feel free to
remain anonymous.  You may choose to sponsor a specific cause.  Perhaps a
freeway banner?  We'll be posting some specific needs related to our
October protest soon.  We are not-for-profit, so every dollar goes to
Impeach Bush.  Help us to reclaim our democracy.
http://impeachforpeace.org/donate.html

- Recurring event
Every Tuesday
Minneapolis World Can't Wait Meeting
For 1.5 hours.
For details:
http://impeachforpeace.org/board/viewtopic.php?p=638#638

- Other Impeach For Peace Resources...

Do-It-Yourself Impeachment: http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html
See all the events at
http://impeachforpeace.org/cgi-bin/activistlistwcw.cgi
Join us for discussion at http://impeachforpeace.org/board/
See Mikael's blog at http://impeachforpeace.org/blog/

Impeachment Partners:
http://worldcantwait.org/
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=taxonomy/term/17
http://pledgetoimpeach.org/
http://pdamerica.org/
http://impeachbush.tv/
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/impeachment/petition2.htm
http://impeachforchange.org/


--------14 of 19--------

From: "Krista Menzel (Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace)" <web [at] mppeace.org>
Subject: Rock-Tenn burner 6.19 7:30pm

Who Wants to Ingest Toxins from a Garbage Burner?
[Don't all raise your hands at once - ed]
Public Meeting
Tuesday Evening, June 19, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Macalester College
Kagin Commons Ballroom
1600 Grand Avenue
St. Paul, MN

Learn about the Toxic Health Hazards from the proposed Rock-Tenn RDF
processed-garbage burner.

Meeting Sponsored and Conducted by:  Neighbors Against the Burner (NAB)
It will NOT be business as usual!
Alan Muller, environmental activist from Green Delaware, will speak!

RDF = Refuse-Derived Fuel = Processed Municipal Waste

RDF is loaded with plastic (from the various plastics we use and discard
every day), mercury, cadmium, lead, aluminum, and other toxic materials
that are NOT removed as part of the "processing" before the garbage is
burned. Some ground-up metals are removed - all that the large rotating
magnet at the Newport garbage processing plant can pick up. But this
magnet does not remove all the metal particles. Once burned, such toxins
are emitted in very dangerous, very small particulate forms into the air
we breathe. NO scrubber can remove ALL of these toxins from the burner
emissions. Wind plumes can carry these toxins hundreds of miles, wafting
them onto distant land and water where they can (and do!) ultimately get
into the food chain.

Environmental Toxins: A Cumulative Effect Remember: Just because a garbage
burner - or, for that matter, any kind of biomass burner, or a coal burner
- meets the current EPA guidelines for emissions does NOT mean that those
emissions are safe to humans or to the environment at large. EPA emissions
standards have seriously eroded under the Bush Administration. We cannot
trust them to protect our health. Also, what has long been overlooked in
the business-as-usual approach to the regulation of emissions is the
cumulative effect of various environmental toxins upon public health.

Because such harmful effects are cumulative - they mount within the body -
they may take years or decades to finally overpower our immune systems.
International public health and other independent, scientific researchers
studying the effects of burner emissions - that is, researchers who have
not been paid by those in the incinerator and garbage-processing
industries (who stand to profit or otherwise benefit by "proving" that
burners are safe) - are discovering alarming relationships between the
incidences of serious diseases - cancers, reproductive system disorders,
immune system disorders, heart and lung disease, asthma and other
breathing disorders (especially the increases in childhood asthma), ADHD
and other brain-function disorders in children, and fetal health disorders
- and patients' proximity to burners.

Our concerns must transcend those of our own, individual health. Would you
want your beloved dog or cat or horse or parakeet to breathe toxic air, or
eat food with particles of mercury, dioxin, and cadmium in it? How about
your kids? Or your grandchildren? Your parents? Your spouse? Your partner?
Would you eat from a home garden with particulate fallout on its
vegetables?  It's about ALL of us.

The Rock-Tenn Garbage Burner is NOT a "Done Deal."  Neighbors who have
attended the R-TIN and District-Council-sponsored meetings in the summer
and fall of 2006 left with the impression that the proposed Rock-Tenn
garbage burner was a foregone conclusion - something that the "powers that
be" had already put into motion that could not be stopped. While they may
want you to believe this, it is NOT true!

The Minnesota State Legislature recently passed (as part of the Energy
Omnibus bill) a $4.5 million appropriation for the St. Paul Port Authority
to use to study the economic feasibility and environmental impacts of such
a plant, and to conduct open public forums about this proposed garbage
burner. Construction could not even begin on such a plant for several
years. SO IT IS NOT A "DONE DEAL."

Let Our Voices Be Heard! The time to let our opinions be heard, especially
to those in public office, is NOW. Come to the public meeting on June 19,
2007. Come to future public meetings sponsored by Neighbors Against the
Burner and by the St. Paul District Councils and St. Paul Port Authority..
Ask questions. Express your concerns. Let our voices be heard. We want
clean, safe energy for St. Paul businesses and neighborhoods.

We are Pro-Labor AND Pro-Environment AND Pro-Public Health An attempt is
already being made to pit Unions and Labor - especially the 450+ workers
employed by Rock-Tenn - against neighbors who oppose the garbage burner.
This is an old ploy. We, in Neighbors Against the Burner DO want to find a
solution that will provide affordable, clean energy to the Rock-Tenn
recycling plant to keep it as a healthy, thriving business in St. Paul for
generations to come. We value the recycling service that Rock-Tenn
provides to the entire state, as well as their economic value to the
community and their employees. But we do not accept the narrow idea that
an emission-producing RDF or "biomass" burner is the only viable way to
provide Rock-Tenn with affordable power. And we DO support public monies
being used to fund a solution - but not one that will endanger the health
of people, animals, and the planet.

Tuesday June 19 Public Meeting Sponsored by NAB A newly formed,
independent neighborhood group, Neighbors Against the Burner (NAB) is
sponsoring the Tuesday, June 19, 7:30 p.m. meeting at the Macalester
College Kagin Commons Ballroom, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN. This room
holds 650 people, so we encourage EVERYONE in Merriam Park and all
surrounding Twin Cities neighborhoods to attend.

Alan Muller, Environmental Activist, to Speak We (NAB) have invited a
dynamic speaker to address this meeting. Alan Muller, an environmental
activist from the East Coast, who worked for many years as an engineer
designing RDF garbage burners, will speak knowledgeable and passionately
about RDF garbage burners (AND about other kinds of biomass burners that
also produce toxic emissions). He will enlighten us about the technologies
of incineration and about the severe public health hazards posed by the
toxins they emit. He will speak about the research that links such
environmental toxins to various cancers, to asthma and other lung
diseases, to heart disease, reproductive disorders, and brain functioning
disorders in children and fetuses. He will speak about why such toxins
become even MORE dangerous as air-born emissions than they are when
contained within landfills.

Alan will also speak about the economics and politics of burners.  And he
will inspire us to join other communities that have successfully prevented
garbage burners and other kinds of incinerators from being built.

Moving to Zero Waste: There ARE Cleaner, Safer Alternatives to
Garbage-Burning! Alan will also address the alternatives to garbage
burners, as communities find environmentally clean ways to create energy
for residences and businesses while substantially reducing their municipal
waste - that is, by moving to Zero Waste public policy.

There are clean, intelligent ways to provide affordable energy for
Rock-Tenn and our community, to KEEP the valuable recycling service and
jobs that Rock-Tenn provides without poisoning our air with the toxins
emitted from burning garbage or other hazardous, toxin-emitting fuels.

Contact: Neighbors Against the Burner (NAB) For more information about
Neighbors Against the Burner, about the June 19th public meeting, about
future public meetings, or about any issue or concern related to the
proposed Rock-Tenn RDF garbage burner, see our website at
<http://www.neighborsagainsttheburner.org/>www.neighborsagainsttheburner.org.

Learn what YOU can do to fight this burner and to prevent further harm
from being done to our air, land, water and our public health!

[I think all we rabble should welcome cancer, if it means a rich person
gets to have a longer yacht. After all, what's the meaning of life, if not
pampering the pampered, and afflicting the afflicted? Now everyone breathe
deep. Deeper. Wake up and smell the money! -ed]


--------15 of 19--------

From: Sue Ann <mart1408 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: AlliantTech 6.20 8am

LOVE in THE TIME of WAR:
the Transformation of Fear and Hate to
Understanding and Love

Summer Action at Alliant TechSystems
Wednesday, June 20 '07  8:00 a.m.
following the regular 7 a.m. weekly vigil
5050 Lincoln Drive, Edina

Wear Black or White (requested, not required)
Bring a Drum if you like, or a plastic bucket and stick
FFI www.AlliantACTION.org

Alliant TechSystems corporate headquarters is at 5050 Lincoln Drive, Edina,
1/2 block off Highway 169; take the Lincoln Drive/5th Street Exit

Alliant TechSystems (ATK) is the largest Minnesota-based military contractor
and the prime supplier of cluster bombs, landmines, DU munitions and all
three rocket motors for the first-strike nuclear Trident II missiles.


--------16 of 19--------

From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: WAMM bridge vigil 6.20 5pm

 "WAMM Day at the Bridge" Vigil

Wednesday, June 20, 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge,
spanning the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Come to
Marshall Avenue (St. Paul) side of the bridge so that we can greet you.
Join WAMM women (and like-minded men) for a special day on the Lake
Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge. Bring WAMM t-shirts, buttons, visors,
signs, or just yourself. Some signs will be available for use. FFI: Call
WAMM, 612-827-5364.


--------17 of 19--------

From: Danene Provencher PRO826 [at] aol.com
Subject: Resolution to Impeach Bush and Cheney (or kick the bums out)

Please spread far and wide

Dear Minneapolis citizens,

Please take 2 minutes to contact your city councilperson and ask him/her
to support and pass a resolution for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
During the June 13th forum with speakers from ImpeachforPeace.org, Cam
Gordon, Green Party City Councilman explained the strategic process for
making it more feasible to get the Impeachment Resolution on the City
Council agenda.  If we inundate the city council with phone calls and
emails every day, they will realize there is a strong grassroots movement
of constituents behind this issue.  Until then, they will simply believe
that there are more important things to deal with (like the victimization
of the poor).

Resolutions have already passed in 75 cities, 23 statewide and national
political committees, the state legislature in Vermont and has been
introduced in 9 state legislatures and 17 state legislatures are
considering introducing impeachment resolutions.

Some local elected officials may claim that this is a federal issue, but
the policies made by the current administration are reducing our LGA
(Local Government Aid) which we see affecting our local services.

Including unfunded promises made for Medicare, Social Security, and
Federal retirement programs, US taxpayers now have a total debt of $59
TRILLION.  That's $516,000 for every US household. (USA Today)

Here are the 10 reasons for impeachment:
Ten Reasons to Impeach George Bush [aka Buttcrack] and Dick Cheney

I ask Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney for the
following reasons:

1.  Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal "War of
Aggression"  against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to
Congress and the public, misusing government funds to begin bombing
without Congressional authorization, and subjecting our military personnel
to unnecessary harm, debilitating injuries, and deaths.

2.  Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of
thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping
prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

3.  Violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal
residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and
without access to counsel.

4.  Violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists,
hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white
phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.

5.  Violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping
of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.

6.  Violating the Constitution by using "signing statements" to defy
hundreds of laws passed by Congress.

7.  Violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000,
2002, 2004, and 2006.

8.  Violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation,
selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing
the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD
proliferation for political retribution.

9.  Subverting the Constitution and abusing Presidential power by
asserting a "Unitary Executive Theory" giving unlimited powers to the
President, by obstructing efforts by Congress and the Courts to review and
restrict Presidential actions, and by promoting and signing legislation
negating the Bill of Rights and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.

10.  Gross negligence in failing to assist New Orleans residents after
Hurricane Katrina, in ignoring urgent warnings of an Al Qaeda attack prior
to Sept.

11, 2001, and in increasing air pollution causing global warming. Source:
Democrats.com

Here is the contact info for city council  people:
Minneapolis City Council contact information
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/
WARD 1,  Paul Ostrow,  612-673-2201,  paul.ostrow [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us

WARD 2, Cam Gordon, 612-6730-2202,  cam.Gordon [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us

WARD 3, Diane Hofstede, 612-673-2203,  diane.hofstede [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us

WARD 4, Barbara Johnson, 612-673-2204,  barbara.johnson [at] 
ci.minneapolis.mn.us

WARD 5, Don Samuels, 612-673-2205,  don.samuels [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us

WARD 6, Robert Lilligren, 612-673-2206,
robert.lilligren [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us

WARD 7, Lisa Goodman, 612-673-2207,
_http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-goodman.asp_
(http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-goodman.asp)

WARD 8, Elizabeth Glidden, 612-673-2208,
_http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-glidden.asp_
(http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-glidden.asp)

WARD 9, Gary Shiff, 612-673-2209,
_http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-schiff.asp_
(http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-schiff.asp)

WARD 10, Ralph Remington, 612-673-2210,
_ralph.remington [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us_
(mailto:ralph.remington [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us)

WARD 11, Scott Benson, 612-673-2211, _scott.benson [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us_
(mailto:scott.benson [at] ci.minneapolis.mn.us)

WARD 12, Sandy Colvin Ray, 612-673-2212,
_http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-roy.asp_
(http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-roy.asp)

WARD 13, Betsy Hodges, 612-673-2213,
_http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-hodges.asp_
(http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-hodges.asp)

We also need organizations and businesses to sign a letter of support  for
the Impeachment resolution.  They can be mailed to:

City Hall
ATTN:  Minneapolis City Council
350 S. 5th St.
Rm #307
Minneapolis, MN  55415

Here is a copy of the resolution we want placed on the agenda and  considered
for a vote:

Resolution to Impeach President George W.  Bush and Vice President Richard B.
Cheney

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney conspired with others to
defraud the United States of America by intentionally misleading Congress
and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war in
violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted to ordering the National Security
Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American civilians without
seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of
Review, duly constituted by Congress in 1978, in violation of Title 50
United States Code, Section 1805; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney conspired to commit the
torture of prisoners in violation of the "Federal Torture Act"  Title 18
United States Code, Section 113C, the UN Torture Convention and the Geneva
Convention, which under Article VI of the Constitution are part of the
"supreme Law of the Land"; and

WHEREAS, George W. Bush and Richard B.  Cheney acted to strip American
citizens of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention
without access to legal counsel, without charge and without the
opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the
detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the President
of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant", all in subversion of law;  and

WHEREAS, In all of this George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have acted in
a manner contrary to their trust as President and Vice President,
subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the
cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of
________(insert your City/Town/State)___________ and of the United States
of America;  and

WHEREAS, Petitions from the country at large may be presented by the
Speaker of the House according to Clause 3 of House Rule XII;

Be it resolved that George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct,
warrantimpeachment and trial, and removal from office and disqualification
to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United
States;

Be it resolved further by the City of _________ , That our senators and
representatives in the United States Congress be, and they are hereby,
requested to cause to be instituted in the Congress of the United States
proper proceedings for the investigation of the activities of the George
W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney, to the end that they may be impeached and
removed from such office.

Be it resolved further, That the Clerk of the City of _________ be, and is
hereby, instructed to certify to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, under the seal of the City of _____________, a copy of
this resolution and its adoption by the City of _________, as a petition,
and request that this petition be delivered to the Office of the Clerk and
entered in the United States Congressional Journal. The copies shall be
marked with the word "Petition"  at the top of the document and contain
the original authorizing signature of the ____(insert "Town Clerk" or
whomever signs for the City)_____.

For grassroots democracy, Danene Provencher GPM Politics Co-Chair


--------18 of 19--------

A Powerful, Massive Protest: Diminish the Corporate Media's Power by
Turning off Your TV for Good!
by Jacqueline Marcus
Published on Saturday, June 16, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

It pleases the Bush administration that the majority of Americans will not
hit the streets of D.C. to protest their unconstitutional war crimes. They
haven't time, but they would still like to do something to end the
suffering. Well here's a way to significantly stop the corporate criminals
that run this war without so much as stepping outside your home:

The mainstream media networks are not interested in educating the public.
They are financially supported by the worst criminal polluters (oil &
coal) and war profiteers (weapon contractors).

The corporate media network executives' goal is to dumb down the society.
And to some extent, they've succeeded. That's why they're going after the
web with a nasty vengeance because the web is the last vestige of
democracy where people can learn the facts about the crimes that the Bush
administration and their cronies are committing.

Thus the most effective way of diminishing the American Oil Thugs' power
is to shut off the corporate media networks and read your favorite website
news instead, like CommonDreams.org.

"That's all very well," you may argue, "but unrealistic because people
rely on their TVs for entertainment and news. Furthermore, occasionally,
an informative program will air from Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann or HBO
films".

True, there are some good moments, but even Olbermann's show is 60%
scandal sheet with MSNBC's intent of mingling fact with tabloid. I prefer
to read or listen to his commentaries on the web. As for HBO, you can
support their films when they appear in DVD.

If a million people here and a million people there began to shut them
off, it would immensely weaken the corporate media's influential powers.
In fact, millions of people have already made this decision by turning to
DVD's, books, newspapers and the web for news and drama.

It seems absurd to complain about Paris Hilton and tabloid trash if you
continue to watch the network news. If it makes you angry, then do
something about it! Turn off your TV for good. If you use satellite or
cable - STOP PAYING FOR IT. Trust me, you won't miss it. Indeed, you'll
realize that it's a liberating experience because you'll no longer be
contributing to the very forces that you oppose.

Most importantly, you'll be rebelling against the worst corporate thugs
that own the White House and our Senate: the oil, coal, weapon and
pharmaceutical corporations. The central networks are owned, via
sponsorship and advertisement monopolies, by these same corporate thugs
who are the policy-makers that now control our government.

There will always be greedy fools who want control over the world's
resources and wealth. There will always be tyrants like Bush, Cheney and
Gonzales. That's nothing new. But our history reveals that we used to have
an honest press, journalists who would expose their crimes by performing
their duty as Watch-Dog reporters. With the exception of a few
individuals, those days are long gone in the world of TV news reporting.

The worst crime mainstream media has committed is CENSORSHIP. For example,
there are people around the country who have stood up to this
administration and their unconstitutional war policies, but you'll never
hear their voices in the mainstream media. As the editor of Common Dreams
wrote:

"The mainstream media doesn't tell you the hundreds of other similar
stories from towns all over the USA. We rarely hear the voices of ordinary
Americans, the voices of people just like those in Arrowsic.

"Instead you hear from the John McCains. The Joe Liebermans. The retired
General Talking-Heads who provide "commentary" while on the payroll of the
biggest military contractors". (Arrowsic Votes 71-17 to Halt War Funding;
CommonDreams.org; 6-14-07)

The network reporters are far more immoral than the Bush cronies, given
the role they've played in letting Bush off the impeachable hook at every
critical turn since the Bush administration took office illegally through
corrupt election practices such as massive Diebold cheating.

My decision came to shut off the TV once and for all when I saw NBC's
White House reporter, David Gregory, dancing with Karl Rove on a stage.
They're all working together.

In fact, the reason our politicians are sold out to the same corrupt
corporations is because they have to buy expensive TV ad time. If the
majority of people refused to pay or watch TV, it would diminish the
corruption in politics. That's the central reason why we should turn off
the TV for good.

The network sponsors encouraged Americans to support the Bush
administration's most unconscionable policies from deliberate lies about
connecting 9-11 to Iraq, to the belief that torture is acceptable, to the
criminal lie of persuading the public that there is no connection between
industrial oil-coal pollution and global warming. When Paris Hilton trumps
CIA secret torture camps in the mainstream media, what more proof do we
need? Turn it off for good!

Let's recall how the corporate network anchors glorified the mass bombing
of innocent Iraqis with their televised cheerleading in the name of "shock
& awe".

The best way to protest this unconscionable war and the media's
irresponsible lies about global warming is to shut them down for good.
Turn off your TV. It's an effective mass protest of powerfully diminishing
corporate influence over our own lives and over the members of Congress.

Jacqueline Marcus - (jackiemarcus [at] justice.com) editorials and letters have
appeared in the Washington Post, Salon, Slate, New Times, (San Luis
Obispo, CA Cover story: "The Politics of Restraint"). Her poems have
appeared in national university journals, The Kenyon Review, The Ohio
Review, The Antioch Review and many more periodicals. Her book of poems,
Close to the Shore, was published by Michigan State University Press. She
teaches philosophy at Cuesta College and is the editor of ForPoetry.com

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and
discover new web pages.


--------19 of 19--------

Tantrums of Mass Destruction or The Enduring Beauty of Ugly Truth
In Praise of the Shabby-Ass Human Glory of Every Day Resistance
by Phil Rockstroh / June 15th, 2007

Recent news reports have revealed that the Bush Administration has
bestowed upon itself the right to grant itself absolute power if "any
incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of
mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S.
population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions"
might come to pass.

Actually, the hypothetical catastrophes stated above sound very much like
the veritable calamities inflicted upon the nation by the Bush presidency
itself. Worse, at present, many of our Democratic representatives are
showing their outrage regarding the disastrous policies of the
administration - by agitating to bomb Iran.

Regarding such circumstances, Eric Fromme warned, "the destruction of the
world is the last, almost desperate attempt to save myself from being
crushed by it". Ergo, we witness these collective pathologies play out in
the perpetual aggression of American foreign policy, the exploitation
inherent in our corporate workplaces, marketplaces, and healthcare
practices and the exponentially expanding destruction of the environment.

How, then, can we begin to alter these seemingly ineluctable
circumstances?

First off, don't give the elites credit for being more intelligent than
they are. Ruthlessness, striving and cunning should not be mistaken for
intelligence. The only real accomplishment of the present day ruling class
has been to transform their self-justifying lies into a form of
performance art.

In reality, they have left private institutions bloated and public ones
bankrupt. And left us, as a people, directionless and bereft of hope.

But that is not the totality of the situation: We must muse upon our own
complicity in creating this cultural catastrophe. We've all been employed
as landscapers on this blood-sodden deathscape.

At present, in our alienation and attendant passivity, our plight is
analogous to that of so-called "crib babies," those socially and
emotionally arrested, orphaned children who were left to languish in
indifferent institutions. Culturally, we seem devoid of the ability to
respond to each other, to create a just society - or even envisage one.

Such is the extent of our alienation and it is reflected in the media
clowns and confidence artists who comprise our (misnomer alert)
leadership. We can produce slick, television-friendly self-promoters -
e.g., Thompson and Obama - but we can't rebuilt New Orleans or devise an
exit strategy from Iraq.

Creating mass media is not tantamount to creating society. When we live in
an era wherein image trumps reality, it follows that an infantilized
populace will be transfixed by the shiny objects of media culture - that
the tiny dramas of shallow celebrities will work like crib mobiles to
distract us from the deep anguish of being a species standing before the
crumbling edifice of paradigm collapse.

If media culture seems so unreal, it is because it is a reflection of our
chronic alienation - our systemic disengagement from communal involvement;
so profound is our alienation - not only from our environment - but also
from our inner lives that we pose a danger to ourselves and others - which
is, of course, the clinical criteria describing those unfortunate souls
whose sanity has deteriorated to the point in which they require
institutionalization.

Conversely, a populace being in possession of an inner life would prove a
dangerous development to the one percent who hold ninety percent of the
nation's wealth - those who prosper from our alienation and its attendant
apathy. It is a given these corrupt elitists will try to maintain our
estrangement from our inner realities - because if we were to be roused to
awareness insurrection would result.

Being internally colonized by consumerism, we have lost the ability to
imagine meaningful change, because our inner lives are no longer our own.
Benumbed by our complicity in corporate blanding, by means of ceaseless
branding, our inner beings, rather than resembling a teeming, vital polis
of meaningful engagement, now seem closer in resemblance to the cold
florescent light-flooded shelves of off-the-interstate convenience stores.
Impulse and shallow need - in other words - utter desperation - has
usurped the deepening eros of communal engagement.

Hence, the thronging avenues of imagination, personal and collective, have
been replaced by a soul-numbing proliferation of Starbucks and Banana
Republic outlets that serve palliative remedies masking the pain of our
powerlessness to alter the tragic trajectory of the times. All transpiring
as the sky burns and Arctic glaciers melt into rising seas - and we're
driven to distract ourselves from descending dread by means of another
latte buzz, shopping excursion, the unreality of Reality TV, and the
pathetic pandering of a political class of shallow hacks who are
themselves powerless before their Thanatotic addiction to power.

Such are the colic nightmares of us cultural crib babies. What comes of
this degree of alienation? Violence (from shooting sprees to perpetual
war). Addiction (from mindless consumerism to prisons overcrowded with
drug users). Magical thinking (from neo-con fantasies of global dominance
to Christian End Time hallucinations). Paranoia (The abiding delusion that
little brown people cross our borders in order to take our jobs, force us
to speak their language, and blow up our malls - after, of course, they've
swept the floors and scrubbed the toilets). Depression (from wide-spread
use of anti-depressants to the massive demoralization that reveals itself
in pandemic levels of social apathy).

What if the media were to begin to chronicle this collective nervous
breakdown? What if we became unable to avert our gaze from the tragedies
of our time? What if we were induced to not only stare into the abyss -
but were grabbed by the lapels by it?

Then, I suspect, our apathy would grow unpalatable. We'd choke on our
fetid self-justifications; swallowing our rationalizations would prove
about as appetizing as eating a foot-long hotdog inside a slaughterhouse.

At some point, try driving out into the American countryside (as I've
spent the last six months doing). See for yourself the drought-desiccated
Everglades and Okefanokee swamps ablaze, where clouds of smoke are
enswathing the states of the Deep South like a death shroud. Walk through
the splintered, toxic rubble of New Orleans. Although do not go to gawk,
but to grieve - and rage - and then meditate on how we came, as a people,
to abandon an entire American city. Then continue, as I did, down
Interstate 10, onward through the concrete-encased, "heat dome" of the
stripmall archipelago that is Houston; its ugly, ad hoc architecture
glazed in the Greenhouse Gas-trapped infernos known as weather in Sun Belt
cities. Then proceed out into the West Texas prairielands and approach the
areas where enormous, industrial livestock holding pens and
slaughterhouses are located. Places, where exploded-from-high-speed-impact
carcasses of swarms of black flies stipple your windshield, where the reek
of death cannot be masked, even if you possess a car-deodorizer the size
of Arkansas.

In these places, you'll find the reek of empire; as well as, the reason
the people of the world have turned their faces away from us in revulsion.
This stench permeates the air of our nation and clings to the fabric of
our lives. Moreover, although George Bush is a veritable idiot savant in
the art of creating the stench of death, our Little Prince of Putrefaction
is not taking the reek back to Texas with him when we're finally rid of
him. No, it is our own essence now. Iconography-wise: Let's lose the
imagery of noble and lofty bald eagles: rotting road kill should be
proclaimed our national animal.

Yes, we're powerless before the enormity of the age - but we cross the
line into complicity when we're oblivious to our own individual stake in
it. At this point, we can no longer afford the luxury of retreating to our
comfort zones. Tears must scald our eyes; horrific visions should haunt
our nights. The hour has come when we must wrestle with the demon of our
own indifference who gains his sustenance and strength from the bribes,
large and small, we accept from this death-sustained system.

Worse yet, our pathologies are embodied in our infant/tyrant leadership
who throw global-wide tantrums of mass destruction because as a people we
have forgotten how to give ourselves over to the eros of engaging the
world by social and political involvement.

How do we begin to restore ourselves and reclaim our nation? - First, by
remembering we're alive - and that life is finite. The awareness of the
urgency of the situation at hand will quicken one's pulse and the demon
will lessen its grip as one's blood rises in mortification and outrage.

How will we know we are turning the tide? - When our listless sleepwalking
gives way to participation mystique - to vivid, waking dreams of living
flesh.

How will we know if we're losing? - Simple: We will remain as we are, at
present: bloodless, wane spirits imprisoned within our own clammy skin.

This is the archetypal criteria at the root of the mythic imagery of
raising the dead: The simple realization that one is alive within life;
that the ennui engendered by the illusion of atomization has ended; and
that one's individual dreams and longings - and even one's flesh - are not
exclusively our own, but are part and parcel of the implicate order of a
living planet.

Accordingly, there is neither an omnipresent, ever-watchful Sky Daddy
divinity above nor a Risen Son savior proffering redemption, yet there is
engagement (action and inspiration) within the vastness of the world - a
redemption borne of risk that serves to re-animate a necrotic heart. In
short, we so love the world we give ourselves to it.

To do so, it is imperative we begin unshackling ourselves from the noxious
orthodoxies of church, state, political party, and corporation, as well as
from our own narcissistic strivings within those hierarchies of vampires
and wean ourselves from the petty perks we garner from group approval and
institutional bribes.

Accordingly, the first step is an awareness of the problem and a
willingness to reveal it in all its shabby-ass human glory - even if the
implications of doing so are ugly - even if to do so will be to risk scorn
in one's personal life and reversals in one's professional standing.

Years ago, I heard the tale of a fellow, a struggling artist, who had
bought an old, dilapidated house. Upon moving in, he discovered the place
was infested with cockroaches. Worse, the house sat close to railroad
tracks and when trains trundled by, shaking the house, its floors, walls,
and ceilings literally seethed with agitated cockroaches.

Since no amount of bug spray could lessen the massive infestation, the
artist began zapping the bugs with glow-in-the-dark spray paint. Later,
when friends dropped by in the evening and a train rumbled down the
adjacent tracks, he would switch off the lights and all present were
dazzled by the moving, organic mobile of scuttling, multi-colored lights
he created.

At present, this is where we find ourselves as a people: powerless before
the ugliness of the age. Therefore, we have little choice other than to
light the ugliness up and turn the objects of our revulsion (personal and
collective) into something resembling the truth of art.

What will we gain?

Only this: the enduring beauty of ugly truth - one of the few balms
available within the agonies of a dark and ugly age.

Phil Rockstroh, a self-described, auto-didactic, gasbag monologist, is a
poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be
contacted at philangie2000 [at] yahoo.com. Read other articles by Phil.

This article was posted on Friday, June 15th, 2007 at 6:16 am and is filed
under General. Send to a friend.


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