Progressive Calendar 04.08.11
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 05:13:47 -0700 (PDT)
             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R   04.08.11

1. Palestine vigil  4.08 4:15pm
2. John Shotzbarger 4.08 5pm
3. Palestine films  4.08-10 7pm
4. Upton Sinclair   4.08 8pm

5. GreenParty StP  - GP StP City Council candidates
6. Bill Quigley    - Robin Hood in reverse in US - seven examples
7. Russell Hoffman - Fukushima, nearly a month In - a slow agonizing death

--------1 of 7--------

From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net>
Subject: Palestine vigil 4.08 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.


--------2 of 7--------

From: Joan Malerich <joanmdm [at] iphouse.com>
Subject: John Shotzbarger 4.08 5pm

To all who knew John Shotzbarger and his relentless pursuit of peace and
justice, please give tribute to John by attending either the visitation or
the service or both.

VISITATION: Friday (April 8)  evening (5-8 PM)  AND Saturday (April 9)
morning (10-11 AM)
SERVICE:  Saturday morning 11:00 AM (followed by a lunch)

Both the visitation and the service are at the Bradshaw Funeral
Home,(McDivitt-Hauge), 3131 Minnehaha Avenue South which is one block
south of Lake and Minnehaha.

Private interment Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

Dorothy Allen, John's partner in life, can be reached at 612-728-9443

One can sign visit the guest book atVisit Guest Book
<http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/startribune/guestbook.aspx?n=john-david-shotzbarger&pid=149961754&cid=full>
http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/startribune/guestbook.aspx?n=john-shotzbarger&pid=149961754&cid=full


--------3 of 7--------

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Palestine films 4.08-10 7pm

Palestinian Film Festival
April 8 through 10 St. Anthony Main Theater, 115 Main Street Southeast,
Minneapolis.

This festival showcases films that highlight the situation in
Palestine, the experiences of the Palestinian people and American
responses to the situation in Palestine.
 Friday, April 8, 7:00 p.m.: "One Family in Gaza 7:45 p.m.: "Something to
Prove"
 Saturday, April 9, 7:00 p.m.: "Private"
 Sunday, April 10, 4:00 p.m.: "Salt of This Sea"

Sponsored by: The American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights
(AAPER). FFI: Email minnesota [at] aaper.org.


--------4 of 7--------

From: ElyDog <elydog [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Upton Sinclair 4.08 8pm

University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts & Dance Presents...
STOLL THRUST STAGE, RARIG CENTER

"OIL! & THE JUNGLE"
a creative collaboration led by Kym Longhi and Karla Grotting,
based on the books by Upton Sinclair.

A theatrical collision between Upton Sinclair's most famous novels, using
highly physical performance, music, and Sinclair's text, shows how
capitalism affects the human spirit - and how his writing is as relevant
today as it was over 100 years ago.

Friday-Saturday, April 8-9, 8:00 PM, Sunday April 10, 2:00 PM,
Wednesday-Thursday, April 13-14, 7:30 PM, Friday-Saturday, April
15-16, 8:00 PM

For more information and TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS:  $10-$18
call 612-624-2345 or visit http://theatre.umn.edu

Fascism is capitalism plus murder.
-Upton Sinclair


--------5 of 7--------

From: Andy Hamerlinck <iamandy [at] riseup.net>
Subject: StP/GP/City Council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Green Party Endorses Johnny Howard and Jim Ivey for St. Paul City Council

Contacts:
Andy Dawkins, Coordinated Campaign Co-Chair, 612-237-9924,
adawkins [at] mansfieldtanick.com

Roger Meyer, Coordinated Campaign Co-Chair, 651-338-5318,
rogermeyerstpaul [at] gmail.com

Johnny Howard for Ward 1, 651-894-3216, johnnyhoward4ward1 [at] yahoo.com,
www.johnnyhoward.org

Jim Ivey for Ward 2, 651-665-0224, jim [at] iveyforsaintpaul.org,
www.iveyforsaintpaul.org

--
The Green Party of St. Paul unanimously endorsed two candidates for St.
Paul City Council on Sunday: Johnny Howard, of Frogtown, for Ward 1, and
Jim Ivey, of Lowertown, for Ward 2.

Howard and Ivey are the first to join an emerging citywide Green Party
effort to run a strong slate of candidates in St. Paul's first election to
be conducted by Ranked Choice Voting.

"Ranked Choice Voting provides St. Paul residents with the opportunity to
exercise greater choice and vote their conscience in this election," said
Green Party co-chair Jesse Mortenson. "We campaigned hard in the effort to
win Ranked Choice Voting for our city, and we're excited to field great
candidates under the new system."

Both Green-endorsed candidates are emphasizing the following in their
campaigns:

-- A stronger, more vibrant local economy that creates jobs
-- A greener, healthier environment
-- Treating everyone in St. Paul with dignity and respect, and
-- Increasing local self-determination by using the wisdom and energy of St.
Paul residents

"Johnny and Jim put people first in their campaigns. They embody the Green
Party key value of Grassroots Democracy," said party co-chair Gary Carlson.
"We are proud to stand with them and will continue our efforts to recruit
others to stand with them in advocating for a stronger, cleaner and
healthier St. Paul."

The Green Party also announced on Sunday that Andy Dawkins and Roger Meyer,
two long-time St. Paul residents with a commitment to bringing more voices
and more choices into politics, will be co-chairing the coordinated campaign
to elect Green Party candidates across the city. In the coming weeks, more
voices will be joining Howard and Ivey in carrying forward the Green Vision
for St. Paul.

[If YOU would like to explore running for St Paul City Council, please
contact either
 Andy Dawkins, Coordinated Campaign Co-Chair, 612-237-9924,
 adawkins [at] mansfieldtanick.com
or
 Roger Meyer, Coordinated Campaign Co-Chair, 651-338-5318,
 rogermeyerstpaul [at] gmail.com
 -ed]


--------6 of 7--------

Robin Hood in Reverse in US
Seven Examples
By Bill Quigley
Znet

The rich have been getting richer and the poor and middle have been
getting poorer in the US recently.  Here are seven examples that show how
the US is going through Robin Hood in Reverse.

Between 1948 and 1979, the richest 10 percent of families in the US
claimed 33 percent of average income growth.  Between 2000 and 2007, the
richest 10 percent claimed a full 100 percent of average income growth in
the US, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Business taxes were cut from 46 to 34 percent 25 years ago, according to
Pro Publica. But today 115 of the big 500 companies listed on Standard and
Poor's Stock Index paid federal and other taxes of less than 20 percent
over the last 5 years according to David Leonhardt of the New York Times.

General Electric's tax rate for last year was 7 percent according to Pro
Publica.

The top 5 percent US households claim 63 percent of the entire country's
wealth.  The bottom 80 percent hold just 13% of the growth, according to
the Economic Policy Institute.

Last year, John Paulson, a hedge fund manager "earned" $4.9 billion,
according to the New York Times.  Ten years ago it took 25 such managers
to collectively earn that much.  Last year the top 25 hedge fund managers
pocketed (a much better word) a total of $22 billion.  It would take over
440,000 people each earning $50,000 a year to match that amount.

A federal development program intended to help poor communities, the New
Market Tax Credit, instead funnels up to ten billion taxpayer dollars to
big corporations like JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs and Prudential to
build luxury hotels, office buildings and a car museum. Bloomberg Markets
Magazine pointed to the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago which was renovated
for $116 million. Prudential got $15.6 million in tax credit from the US
Treasury for helping fund the project because the hotel was in a census
zone that included two colleges which housed a lot of lower income
students.

According to the Financial Times, there are now more people living in
poverty in the US than at any time in the last 50 years.  Foreclosure
filings were nearly 4 million in 2010, up 23 percent since 2008 according
to RealtyTrac.

By Bill Quigley.  Bill is Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional
Rights and a professor of law at Loyola University New Orleans.  He can be
reached at quigley77 [at] gmail.com

[Are pitchforks more expensive now than before? -ed]


--------7 of 7--------

A Slow Agonizing Death
Fukushima, Nearly a Month In
By RUSSELL D. HOFFMAN
April 6, 2011
CounterPunch

It's been more than three weeks now, and things are still getting worse at
Fukushima Daiichi.  The world's news media, and the tired public, may be
trying to move on, but Fukushima is still spewing radioactive poisons at
ever-increasing rates, pushing itself back onto the headlines day after
day...

Now there are confirmed radiation readings around the plant that are
millions of times higher than the legal limits.  Not just higher than
background or "normal" limits, but millions of times higher than legal
limits.   The mega-catastrophe we all hoped to avoid forever is unfolding,
and not one bright nuclear scientist or engineer seems to know how to stop
it.

So much for the experts.

According to physicist Dr. Michio Kaku - one of the good guys - three
reactors are either already melting down or in eminent danger of doing so,
and a spent fuel pool may be, as well.  He doesn't seem to think anything
can stop it now: Molten fuel, dripping from broken reactor pressure
vessels, spewing radioactive smoke and steam for years to come...

But it could still get even worse than that:  There could be a violent
steam explosion.   Or two, three, four... or six.  And then Daini will be
unapproachable, just a few miles way.  So there will go four more.  In
preparation, are they emptying the spent fuel pools at Daini at this time?
No.  They are happy to have achieved cold shutdown of those four reactors,
and just keep riding out the aftershocks and the radiation wafting over
from Fukushima Daiichi, waiting until somebody says they can turn the
reactors on again.  That's their new plan.  Go back to being stupid as
soon as possible.

Meanwhile, it's a slow, agonizing death of the reactors at Daiichi, and
for those trying to stop it, many, perhaps all, of them will go through
their own slow, agonizing death because of their efforts, as well.  For
the sake of others.

Despite their "heroism" - and I put the word in quotes only because, the
day before the "natural" disasters that led to the manmade failures, these
are the same people who could have reallly done something to prevent this
tragedy, like blow the whistle on the safety violations and the illogical
locations of the diesel generators and all sorts of other things.  But
now, truly, they are heroes, and let's hope their efforts succeed.
Otherwise, or rather, even in spite of it, many others will also suffer
and die.

Other species will suffer, too.  Birds fly by the reactors constantly.
They have not obeyed the evacuation orders one bit.

How far do they get after they fly directly in the plume, or drink the
water from the ponds and puddles?  Or feast on the radioactive corpses
that litter the area?

Do the birds then fall into the sea, to be eaten by fish which we then
will consume, still hot with radioactivity?

Do they fall on the land, to spoil the ground dozens or even hundreds of
miles away - thousands, if they are migratory species of birds?

There are radioactive "hot spots" all over the reactor site.

And why are they dumping 350,000 barrels of radioactive water into the
oceans when an empty tanker could have been brought nearby during the past
few weeks, and the water could have been put there and held for decades or
filtered of large particles and left long enough to let the fast-decaying
products emit their deadly particles and rays, before releasing to the
oceans?  An old tanker wouldn't cost all that much!  Of course, then
they'd need another... and another... and another...

I realized, late last night, that the reactor operators at TEPCO at the
time of the tsunami and I have something in common.   No, really, we do!

You see, they called their colleagues and coworkers offsite and told them
they the plant was going to melt down if they didn't get help quickly.
Big help.  Generators, pumps, and people.  They called the government.
They even asked for the U.S. military to come help them protect the public
because the reactors are going to melt down if you don't come help!!!

People at the other ends of the lines - people who should be on trial
today for, at the very least, negligent mass murder - told the plant
operators they were "on their own" and would have to solve their problems
themselves.

Undoubtedly, the plant operators said the plant would melt down if you
don't listen to us!  Again came the response, for we all know the result.

But you know what?  That's just what I've been saying all along!  "The
plants are going to melt down unless you do something!  I can't do it
myself!"  That's been my exact message all along, too!

San Onofre, Diablo Canyon, Davis Besse and all the rest:  They'll all melt
down sooner or later, if we don't shut them down instead.  But no one
activist, citizen, whistleblower or politician can do it themselves.  We
need to all pull together on this.  Improving safety won't be good enough.
Oh sure, it's a good idea.  But it won't suffice.  Shut-down might not
even suffice, but it's much, much more likely to keep us all safe.

The odds are currently approximately 100 per cent that this will happen
again and again.  The arrogance of the pro-nuclear side right now, less
than a month into this tragedy, proves it.

It doesn't require an earthquake plus a tsunami plus poor design plus the
arrogant indifference of key people on the ends of the phone lines.  All
those are just the triggers this time.  Davis Besse almost melted down in
2002 without any of those  triggers, it was just an overlooked leak that
went on for a surprisingly short amount of time, which almost cost America
half of Ohio.  (Maybe more.  There is an incredible amount of spent fuel
stored there, as at every reactor.)

What it really takes for a meltdown is just public indifference.  If the
plant near you isn't shut down, then it will melt down sooner or later.
Might it make it to the end of its license?  NO!  Because its license will
be extended. There is a 100 per cent track record on license extensions so
far.

These plants won't be shut down by their operators.  They won't be shut
down by the regulators.

If there is one "lesson to be learned" that we can all take away already,
it's that the nuclear power plant operators will stop at nothing short of
meltdown.[*] Consider that dozens of exactly-similar nuclear reactors to
the ones in Fukushima, in at least as dangerous and as populated areas,
are still operating 24/7 all around the world, it's obvious that the next
reactor to be shut down permanently will probably do so of its own accord,
on its own schedule, whenever it pleases.

Damned reactors.

Russell D. Hoffman is author of The Code Killers: An Expose of the Nuclear
Industry. Free download:  acehoffman.org. He lives in Carlsbad,
California, 25 miles south of the San Onofre nuclear generating station
and runs a blog: acehoffman.blogspot.com

[*So if we don't FORCE the few to shut them down, millions will die. A few
capitalists "realize" their mega-greed selves, and damn us to hell in the
bargain.  Their arrogance has no scruples about killing as many of us as
will make them even a wee bit richer. No pacifism on their side, but we're
supposed to be respectful of every hair on their heads. -ed]


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

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