Progressive Calendar 01.15.07 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu) | |
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:12:26 -0800 (PST) |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 01.15.07 1. SPNN/Rovics 1.16 5pm 2. IRV salon 1.16 6:30pm 3. Homeless/poor 1.16 7pm 4. Arise/films 1.16 7pm 5. MnSOAWatch demo 1.17 11:45am 6. Conflict res 1.17 6:30pm 7. Salvador 1.17 7pm 8. Immigrants 1.18 3:35pm 9. Eagan peace vigil 1.18 4:30pm 10. Northtown vigil 1.18 5pm 11. SPPS school plan 1.18 6pm 12. Health care 1.18 7pm 13. Global warming 1.18 7pm 14. Immigration 1.18 7pm 15. Michael Lerner 1.18 8:30pm 16. Lydia Howell - Jobs & environment unite: StPaul conference 1.19-20 17. Rich Broderick - Massa's Son 18. PC Roberts - Bush must go; only impeachment can stop him 19. Roland Sheppard - Both dead: civil rights movement & Dem party 20. ed - Dance among the shards (poem) --------1 of 20-------- From: Eric Angell <eric-angell [at] riseup.net> Subject: SPNN/Rovics 1.16 5pm Dear St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) viewers: "Our World In Depth" airs at 5 pm and midnight each Tuesday and 10 am each Wednesday on SPNN Channel 15. Below are the scheduled shows through Jan. 17. 1/16 and 1/17 "David Rovics in Concert: Haliburton Boardroom Massacre Tour" (Part 2). Concert plus post-concert interview. Announcement: "Our World In Depth" will begin airing weekly in Minneapolis on MTN. The first Minneapolis show will be Sat, Jan 20 at 10pm. "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! For information about future programming of "Our World In Depth", please send an e-mail to eric-angell [at] riseup.net. (PS It might be better than PBS.) --------2 of 20-------- From: Patty Guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net> Subject: IRV salon 1.16 6:30pm Tuesday, January 16 will be a presentation by Mounds Park Academy students on IRV (instant runoff voting) and the attempt to garner support for it in St Paul. Pax Salons ( http://justcomm.org/pax-salon ) are held (unless otherwise noted in advance): Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Mad Hatter's Tea House, 943 W 7th, St Paul, MN Salons are free but donations encouraged for program and treats. Call 651-227-3228 or 651-227-2511 for information. --------3 of 20-------- From: Cam Gordon <CamGordon333 [at] msn.com> Subject: Homeless/poor 1.16 7pm Ending Homelessness and Decriminalizing Poverty January 16, 7-9 pm at Saint Martin's Table 2001 Riverside Ave. Please join me, Cathy ten Broeke, Coordinator on Homelessness for Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Guy Gambill from the Council on Crime and Justice, Mark Anderson from the Barbara Schneider Foundation and Margaret Hastings from the Decriminalization of Homelessness Task Force for the next in my ongoing series of roundtable discussions. The City Council and County Board have adopted a ten-year plan to end homelessness in Minneapolis. Come learn how the current system too often criminalizes the poor and homeless, and about the promising alternative approaches offered in this plan and elsewhere. Come learn, share your ideas and help us organize for future change and develop better tools for responding to poverty and homelessness. Cam Gordon Minneapolis City Council Member, Ward 2 --------4 of 20-------- From: Kiera Coonan <kieracoonan [at] yahoo.com> Subject: Arise/films 1.16 7pm Arise! Bookstore to Host Winter Film Series Minneapolis, MN: Following up their summer events series, Arise! Bookstore is hosting a weekly Winter Film Series to take place every Tuesday night from January 2, 2006 through April 10, 2007. The collection of films to be featured in the series has been selected by volunteers and consists of films about music, politics, books, and fun. Every second and fourth Tuesday, Arise will feature the Book Nerd/Film Nerd book club as a part of the series: anyone can come get the featured book, watch the movie based on the book, and hang out afterwards to discuss. All films start at 7:00 P.M and the event is free. Free popcorn will be provided to all who attend. Arise! is a collectively-run progressive bookstore and resource center located in Uptown Minneapolis at 2441 Lyndale Ave S. 55404. For further information, please go to www.arisebookstore.org or contact Kiera Coonan at 651.399.6058 1/16 Celluloid Closet 1/23 BOOK NERD/FILM NERD BOOK CLUB PRESENTS: The Secret of NIMH 1/30 Eraserhead --------5 of 20-------- From: MnSOAWatch <MnSOAW [at] circlevision.org> Subject: MnSOAWatch demo 1.17 11:45am Please join us for Leafletting the Mpls Skyways at lunchtime with the SOA Puppet Generals Wednesday January 17 11:45 am Meet inside at corner building of 2nd Ave S and 4th St S Tri Tech Office Center 331 Second Avenue South Minneapolis <http://www.stthomas.edu/mpls/visitors/skywaymap.htm> Join the Puppet Generals for a walk through the Minneapolis skyways during lunchtime to educate passers-by about this training school of human rights violators. As the 'out of dress code' for the downtown clientele group strolls along, information about the SOA/WHINSEC will be offered with our signs and leaflets. --------6 of 20-------- From: HHH-Stu-Personal [mailto:HHH-STU-PERSONAL-L [at] LISTS.UMN.EDU] On Behalf Of Michelle E Mosner Subject: Conflict res 1.17 6:30pm Interested in gaining insight about responses to conflict from around the world? Conflict as opportunity is one of the main purposes behind a newly developed network entitled "Global Citizens for Conflict Resolution." This group's mission is to facilitate discussion between people with diverse backgrounds about the challenges and opportunities of conflict resolution. Our current mailing list includes professors, mediators, lawyers, nonprofit organizations, international fellows, and students...we hope our membership and learning grow exponentially in 2007. Accordingly, we invite you to join us for our 2007 Kick-Off where we will enjoy a potluck meal, provocative dialogue, and guest speaker Barbara Raye, MBA! Ms. Raye is Founder and Executive Director of Center for Policy, Planning & Performance (www.effective.org), and Executive Administrator for the Victim-Offender Mediation Association. Her consulting firm has offices in St. Paul, Romania and Kenya. In addition, she is a practitioner of mediation, providing training nationally and internationally, as well as an author on collaboration, ethical use of power, effective change agents, and cultural, racial and gender bias in the North American mediation model. January 17, 2007 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Luxton Community Center 112 SE Williams Ave Minneapolis, MN 55414 This location is on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota. It is easily accessible by Bus Routes 16 or 50. There is also plenty of free parking. Free! But please bring a favorite food or dessert to share. For more information, please contact Josh Moore or Michelle Mosner at gccr.mn [at] gmail.com. If you would rather speak with someone by phone, please call Josh at 763.561.0033 (Community Mediation Services) or Michelle at 651.592.8859. Thank you for your time and interest. We sincerely hope to see you on January 17th. Global Citizens for Conflict Resolution gccr.mn [at] gmail.com GCCR is a learning organization, with a mission to facilitate discussion between people with diverse backgrounds about the challenges and opportunities of conflict resolution. This group is open to the public; therefore, please invite your friends and colleagues to our monthly meetings or as contacts in our list-serve. Furthermore, the Steering Committee is always open to new suggestions, guest speakers, and topics for dialogue. Finally, we thank our partnering organizations, Community Mediation Services (www.mediationprogram.com) and Center for Policy, Planning & Performance (www.effective.org). --------7 of 20------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Salvador 1.17 7pm Wednesday, 1/17, 7 pm, Jesus Hurtado and Jerry Rau describe their 19-day 1989 hunger fast against the violence in El Salvador and apply the lessons toward today's peace efforts, St Joan of Arc Church, 4537 - 3rd Ave S, Mpls. www.mapm.org --------8 of 20-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Immigrants 1.18 3:35pm Thursday, 1/18, 3:35 to 5:45 pm, panel "Integrating MN: Exploring the Acclimation Process of Recent Immigrants" with Omar Jamal (Somali Justice Advocacy Center), Sumbal Mahmud (Islamic Center of MN) and May Xiong (Neighborhood House), Kay Fredericks Room, Klas Center, Hamline Univ, 1539 Hewitt Ave, St Paul. www.hamline.edu/news_events/dialogues/27093.html --------9 of 20-------- From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org> Subject: Eagan peace vigil 1.18 4:30pm CANDLELIGHT 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. --------10 of 20-------- From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com Subject: Northtown vigil 1.18 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. --------11 of 20-------- From: Anne R. Carroll <carrfran [at] qwest.net> Subject: SPPS school plan 1.18 6pm Regional Community Strategic Plan Meetings For the past few months, Superintendent Meria Carstarphen and school district staff have been developing a new strategic plan that outlines how resources will be prioritized to accelerate student achievement in the Saint Paul Public Schools through 2009. The planning work to date has been guided by the parameters and expectations laid out by the Board and community leaders, and driven by our energetic new superintendent's sincere commitment to doing whatever is necessary ensure that every child successfully meets the highest standards. Five community meetings are being held over the next few weeks to "close the loop" for all community members, including SPPS students, families, and staff. There will be a very short presentation at each, and all evening people can roam freely among several staffed "stations" to get answers to questions and provide input on any or all of the key initiatives being proposed. Please attend one of the five meetings listed below to find out more about the draft plan, ask questions, and offer feedback. All meetings are free and open to the public. Thursday, Jan. 18 6:00-8:30 p.m. Highland Park Junior High, Cafeteria 975 S. Snelling Ave., 55116 Monday, Jan. 22 6:00-8:30 p.m. John A. Johnson Elementary, Cafeteria 740 York Ave., 55106 I'll be stopping by these meetings to get a sense of what people are thinking, so hope to see many of you there! -- Anne Carroll, St. Paul Board of Education --------12 of 20-------- From: Dr. James Hart <hartx013 [at] umn.edu> From: Lee Salisbury [mailto:leesal [at] comcast.net] Subject: Health care forum 1.18 7pm River Valley Action HEALTH CARE FORUM Thursday, January 18, 2007 7-9pm Trinity Lutheran Church (Garden Room) 115 4th St. N. Stillwater, MN 55082 651-439-7400 PURPOSE: Citizens and area legislators are invited to attend this informative health care forum to learn more about our options for future health care coverage across our state and nation. PANELISTS: JIM KOPPEL, from Children's Defense Fund-MN, will discuss solutions for covering all the children in our state. KIP SULLIVAN, from MN Universal Health Care Coalition, and author of The Health Care Mess: How We Got into It and How We Can Get out of It, will present ways to address the current situation. GEOFF BARTSCH, from HealthPartners, will look at insurance industry alternatives and perspectives. Each panelist will have 30 minutes to present their ideas and solutions. The final half hour is reserved for audience participation and questions. For more information, contact Karen Fitzpatrick at karenjimfitz [at] msn.com or 651-426-3530 This event is FREE and OPEN to the public; a free-will donation will be collected to help cover transportation costs for the panelists. --------13 of 20-------- From: Joe Schwartzberg <schwa004 [at] umn.edu> Subject: Global warming 1.18 7pm THIRD THURSDAY GLOBAL ISSUES FORUM Free and open to the public. Come and bring a friend. Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis Parking in church parking lot. January 18, 2007, 7:00-9:00 p.m. RECENT GLOBAL ACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING The world awaits US re-engagement in the fight to prevent irreversible damage from climate change. Absent action at the federal level, leaders from around the world are focusing on significant sub-national initiatives such as the new California global warming solutions act. The new make-up of the US Congress and the Minnesota legislature also suggest new possibilities, as does the recent meeting in Nairobi, Kenya of the parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. We will discuss the results of that meeting and the forthcoming report of the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, with particular reference to the economics of taking action to mitigate the problem. Presenter: J. DRAKE HAMILTON. As Science Policy Director for Fresh Energy, Ms. Hamilton is responsible for scientific analysis, policy development and outreach on renewable energy, global warming, and the promotion of clean technology. She is a Board member of the US Climate Action network and the principal author of FE's Playing with Fire: Climate Change in Minnesota. She spent the summer of 2005 in Europe studying global warming policy solutions, participated in the UN-sponsored international climate change negotiations in Montreal in December 2005, and gives many talks each year on global warming and cost-effective energy solutions. --------14 of 20-------- From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com> Subject: Immigration 1.18 7pm 1/18 (7 pm) and 1/19 (9 am to 7 pm), Saltillo Mexico bishop Raul Vera and L.A. cardinal Roger Mahony talk about immigration issues on "Building Bridges," $25 includes lunch, O'Shaughnessy Education Center, Univ of St Thomas, St Paul. --------15 of 20-------- From: altera vista <alteravista [at] earthlink.net> Subject: Michael Lerner/CTV 1.18 8:30pm Thurs. Jan. 18, 8:30 pm St. Paul cable channel 15: "Creating a Culture of Love, Peace, and Justice"--speech by Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, author of The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right, speaking at the Midwest Conference of Spiritual Progressives, Wesley Methodist Church, Mpls, Nov. 18, 2006. --------16 of 20-------- Jobs and Environment Unite at Upcoming St. Paul Conference by Lydia Howell "The jobs crisis and the environmental crisis are driven from the SAME source. Corporate America is ripping off the environment and Corporate America is ripping off American workers and their families," says author and 25-year union organizer, Jack Rasmus, keynote speaker at the Labor and Sustainability Conference, January 19th and 20th in St. Paul. The false choice of "jobs or environmental protection" is rejected at this weekend's conference, organized by unions and environmental activists. New grassroots coalitions are challenging policies that destroy local economies and reverse environmental protection. Most Americans express econmic insecurity (or outright desperation), but, don't know how deep the widening wealth gap is or how legislating a corporate strategy has created it. Rasmus' new book 'The War At Home: The Corporate Offensive From Reagan to G.W. Bush" documents both extensively. (See http//www.kyklosproductions.com) "Because of deliberate policies, [like $5 Trillion in tax cuts, primarily for the wealthiest] $1 Trillion every year is shifted AWAY from 90 million working and middle-class families to the wealthiest one-percent of households and corporations. In the last five years, seven million jobs have been shifted OFF-shore," points out Rasmus, who has a PhD in economics. "Today, 44 million people out of the 135 million American workforce, are working part-time, temporary or contract jobs. Those contract workers are often laid-off by the company and re-hired as contracters at lower wages and without benefits." Consider that CEOs make in one day what the average worker earns in a year. The Labor and Sustainability Conference links issues such as saving the Ford plant and clean mass transit, Iron Range mining versus clean energy jobs, economic impacts of global warming and "globalizing" fair labor and envirnomental protection into trade policies. "It's no coincidence that we have an escalating environmental crisis and a jobs crisis. Deregulation is the linchpin for both the environmental and jobs crisis," Rasmus explains, holding both Republicans and Democratics responsible. Rasmus describes corporate strategy, "Starting in the late 1970s, there was the take-over of the Republican Party, as a machine to drive corporate interests. Now, CEOs spend over half their time on lobbying. That was followed by restructuring the Democratic Party, led by the Democratic Leadership Conference (DLC) - called 'New Democrats'. This isn't the party of Franklin Roosevelt we knew. It's more corporate-oriented. Under Bill Clinton, more jobs were lost to so-called 'free trade' than under Reagan or Bush Sr. Clinton opened 'free trade' to China with three million jobs outsourced to China. Bush Sr. couldn't push NAFTA (North American Free trade AGreement). Clinton did. Much of the policies under G.W. Bush were pioneered under Clinton." Changes from Congress are unlikely, even if the Democratic majority summons the will, Rasmus says, since Bush would veto pro-worker and pro-environmental legislation. Victories are being won on the state and local levels. "Look at what California just passed: Emissions Reductions Act, solar intiatives, and state employees' pension funds earmarked for green investments," Rasmus said. The City of Minneapolis is taking on environmental issues, as Mayor R.T. Rybak stated in a recent press release, "... our city-wide environmental sustainability plan guides our aggressive work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of renewable energy sources... my 2007 city budget adopted by the City Council includes new resources to ramp-up our efforts to directly engage the public on ways to help address climate change." However, so-called 'economic development' has failed on the jobs front. Public subsidies to corporations, like Target's downtown store, granted an exemption on the living-wage requirement for receiving public money. Rasmus and conference organizers link ways government policies can create incentives for investments in new green industries that will create jobs and consumer demand for sustainable products. "We have the opportunity to push state and local governments in this direction." FREE Labor and Sustainability Conference, Fri. Jan. 19, 6pm reception, 7pm keynote speakers and Sat. Jan. 20, workshops 9am to 5pm, dinner, performance by Minnesota Spoken Word Association and dance 6pm to 10pm. UAW Union Hall, 2191 Ford Pkwy. St. Paul Information:(651)699-4246 http://laborandsustainabilityconference.org --------17 of 20-------- Massa's Son By Rich Broderick The Twin Cities Daily Planet (www.tcdailyplanet.net) When people think about Gone with the Wind, they usually remember the panoramic image of thousands of dead and wounded Confederates deposited around the Atlanta depot or of Scarlet at the end of the movie vowing to survive. But for me the iconic sequence comes near the very beginning of the film, during festivities at Tara, the OšHarašs beloved plantation. A bunch of young bucks in their best Parisian finery have just heard that the South has seceded from the Union. Wešre gonna show them Yankees! this crew of popinjays crows, the manly chest thumping and vows of bloody retribution to anyone who dare violate the homeland somewhat belied by the pastel finery of frock coats and tight-fitting silk breeches. These are not the hard-headed and hard-hearted men who made cotton king at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. These are those menšs offspring. These are not Massa. Theyšre Massašs Son. A toast is called for not surprising, given the staggering amount of alcohol consumed by the Southern gentry, with estimates of the per capita daily intake of booze standing at half a pint. If you exclude from this estimate women, children, and that fraction of adult males who eschewed drink, actual consumption by those who did imbibe was probably in excess of a pint of whiskey a day, or more than enough to sustain a low-key buzz for most of onešs waking hours; the South, in other words, charged off into secession not only impulsively, but half-crocked to boot. The only check on the frenzied celebration is offered by Rhett Butler. The South, he patiently reminds all, not only has a smaller population than the Northern states, but only a fraction of the miles of rail line, as well as a daunting deficit in factories, warehouses, merchant vessels, and arms depots. Most damning of all, there is not one factory in the whole South that manufactures artillery. Call Butler a charter member of the reality-based community. The response to his well-grounded skepticism is predictable. Shouted down, called a coward, he is challenged to a duel which he declines on the grounds that his participation would be tantamount to murdering his ardent but unseasoned foe. Sound familiar? Replace the young bucks with the Vulcans of the Bush Administration. Chief among the belligerents in this updated version would, of course, be George W. Bush himself, a man who, if no longer a drunk, spent half his adult life drowning himself in alcohol and ingesting God knows what other inebriating substances. Though GW didnšt grow up on a plantation, he might as well have, having emerged from the same kind of privileged, morally disordered background, one that indulged his appetites and absolved his misdeeds, a culture of impunity that, paradoxically, bred in him a chronic self-doubt about his actual worth. A leading dog trainer was once asked his training philosophy. ŗI pay my animals the respect of holding them to the consequences of their actions,˛ was his reply. Well, Bush has never been held to the consequences of his actions as odd as it may sound, the ultimate form of disrespect parents can visit on their children. He is precisely what you can expect from a 60-year-old man who has never once had to pay for his mistakes. He is, in short, Massašs Son, a cultural archetype noted by de Toqueville, among others, for its impulsiveness, violence, and self-delusion in antebellum days, as today, a far more dangerous, unpredictable, and callous figure than even Massa himself. This is why, despite strenuous efforts by the Republican Party to win them over, Black-Americans have recoiled from Bush. From long and bitter experience, they know Massašs Son when they see him, in whatever guise. Looking at Bush through this lens not only helps explain the bloody mess hešs spawned in the Middle East but also the incompetence, malfeasance, corruption, arrogance, stupidity, and, above all, lack of accountability that has marked his six years in office. Unfortunately, it is also a good guideline for understanding his current and future course. There are many possible explanations for the proposed ŗsurge˛ of American troops, everything from saving face to making sure there are enough soldiers on hand to blunt the Shiite uprising that will erupt if Israel goes ahead and drops tactical nukes on Iran. But perhaps the simplest explanation is also the most dire; he must escalate because Massašs Son cannot and will not accept that he has lost. Defeat is what Yankee scum are fated to experience not Southern aristocrats. At the close of the Civil War the firebrands who led the South into secession began issuing brave, rear-echelon calls for the remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia to take to the hills and carry on an endless guerrilla war against the Yankee invaders. Any move in this direction was quashed by the head of the army in question. By now, Rhett Butler had, figuratively, donned the uniform of a four-star general and ordered his troops to lay down their arms, go home, and begin to rebuild their shattered lives. Robert E. Lee might have been a Southern gentleman, but he was not, thank God, Massašs Son. He knew when he was licked. Bush does not. Forget faint-hearted hopes that he is ŗenough of a politician˛ to find some way to compromise with his political opponents who now include the overwhelming majority of American voters. Another nip from the flask, another round of hoarse bravado from his equally feckless circle of advisers, and he is going to charge headlong into a doomed confrontation with Congress. Impeachment may be off the table, at least as far as Nancy Pelosi is concerned, but it, or some alternative method of removal, is coming. Who knows, maybe the heads of the Army and Marine Corps will finally but politely decline to follow any more of Bushšs illegal and self-defeating orders; or perhaps the Great Decider will seal his own fate rather more dramatically by showing up drunk at a Rose Garden press briefing and challenging his tormenters to a duel as he once, also drunk, squared off with his father and offered to go ŗmano a mano.˛ Whatever the case, America today, as surely as in 1860, is slipping toward an irrepressible conflict. And once again, Massašs Son is the reason why. --------18 of 20-------- Bush Must Go Only Impeachment Can Stop Him By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS CounterPunch January 15, 2007 When are the American people and their representatives in Congress and the military going to wake up and realize that the US has an insane war criminal in the White House who is destroying all chances for peace in the world and establishing a police state in the US? Americans don't have much time to realize this and to act before it is too late. Bush's "surge" speech last Wednesday night makes it completely clear that his real purpose is to start wars with Iran and Syria before failure in Iraq brings an end to the neoconservative/Israeli plan to establish hegemony over the Middle East. The "surge" gives Congress, the media, and the foreign policy establishment something to debate and oppose, while Bush sets his plans in motion to orchestrate a war with Iran. Suddenly, we are hearing Bush regime propaganda that there are Iranian networks operating within Iraq that are working with the Iraqi insurgency and killing US troops. This assertion is a lie and preposterous on its face. Iranian Shiites are not going to arm Iraqi Sunnis, who are more focused on killing Iraqi Shiites allied with Iran than on killing US troops. If the Iranians wanted to cause the US trouble in Iraq, they would encourage Iraqi Shiites to join the insurgency against US forces. An insurgency drawn from 80 per cent of the Iraqi population would overwhelm the US forces. CBS reports that the news organization has been told by US officials "that American forces have begun an aggressive and mostly secret ground campaign against networks of Iranians that had been operating with virtual impunity inside Iraq." To manufacture evidence in behalf of this lie to feed to the gullible American public, US forces invaded an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq and kidnapped five consulate officials, claiming the Iranians were part of plans "to kill Americans." In typical Orwellian fashion, Secretary of State Condi Rice described Bush's aggression against Iran as designed to confront Tehran's aggression. Iraqi government officials in the Kurdish province and the Iraqi foreign minister have refused to go along with Bush's propaganda ploy. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that the Iranian officials were no threat and were working in a liaison office that had Iraqi government approval and was in the process of being elevated into a consulate. The Iraqi foreign minister said that US troops tried to seize more innocent people at the Irbil airport but were prevented by Kurdish troops. The Kurds, of course, have been allies of the US forces, but Bush is willing to alienate the Kurds in the interest of provoking a war with Iran. If Bush is unable to orchestrate war with Iran directly, he will orchestrate war indirectly by having US troops attack Iraqi Shiite militias. Bush has already given orders for US troops to attack the Iraqi Shiite militias, who oppose the Sunnis and have not been part of the insurgency. Obviously, once Bush can get US troops in open warfare with Iraqi Shiites, the situation for US troops in Iraq will quickly go down hill. Bush will be able to blame Iranian Shiites for arming Iraqi Shiites that he can say are killing US troops. Bush has also ordered the Persian Gulf to be congested with TWO US aircraft carrier attack groups. There is no military or diplomatic reason for even one attack group to be in the Persian Gulf. If Bush fails to orchestrate a war with Iran by kidnapping its officials or by attacking Shiite militias, he can orchestrate an event like the Tonkin Gulf incident or have the Israelis pull another USS Liberty incident and blame the Iranians. The Tonkin Gulf incident was used by the Johnson administration to deceive Congress and to involve the US in the Vietnam war. Johnson alleged a North Vietnamese attack on US warships. In 1967 Israel attacked and destroyed the US intelligence ship Liberty, because Liberty's crew had picked up proof that Israel had initiated the war with Egypt and intended to attack Syria the next day. Some have speculated that Israelis hoped their attack on the Liberty could be blamed on Egypt and used to draw the US into the war against Egypt. In 2003 the Moorer Commission, headed by Admiral Tom Moorer, former Chief of Naval Operations and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, concluded: "That in attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against American servicemen and an act of war against the United States." "That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the U.S. Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty." "The Captain and surviving crew members were later threatened with court-martial, imprisonment or worse if they exposed the truth; and were abandoned by their own government." "That due to the influence of Israel's powerful supporters in the United States, the White House deliberately covered up the facts of this attack from the American people." "That a danger to our national security exists whenever our elected officials are willing to subordinate American interests to those of any foreign nation, and specifically are unwilling to challenge Israel's interests when they conflict with American interests." On the 30th anniversary of Israel's destruction of the liberty, Admiral Moorer said that Israel attacked the Liberty because Israel knew that the intelligence ship could intercept Israel's plans to seize the Golan Heights from Syria, an act of Israeli aggression to which the US government was opposed. Admiral Moorer said, "I believe Moshe Dayan concluded that he could prevent Washington from becoming aware of what Israel was up to by destroying the primary source of acquiring that information--the US Liberty. Moorer reports that after a 25 minute air attack "that pounded the Liberty with bombs, rockets, napalm and machine gun fire . . . three Israeli torpedo boats closed in for the kill . . . the torpedo boats' machine guns also were turned on life rafts that were deployed into the Mediterranean as well as those few on deck that had escaped damage." Admiral Moorer says, "What is so chilling and cold-blooded, of course, is that they [Israel] could kill as many Americans as they did in confidence that Washington would cooperate in quelling any public outcry. " The US invasion of Iraq and the looming US attack on Iran are proof that Israel has even more power over the White House today. Bush has many ways to widen his war in the Middle East. His brutal aggression against Somalia has largely escaped criticism for the war crime that it is. On January 11 the US National Intelligence Director told Congress that Hezbollah in Lebanon may be the next US threat. Just as he lied to the entire world about Saddam Hussein and Iraq, Bush is lying about Iran. Bush and the neoconservatives are frantic for war with Iran to get underway before the US Congress forces a US withdrawal from the failed adventure in Iraq. Bush's entire "war on terror" is based on lies. The Bush Regime, desperate to keep its lies covered up, is now trying to prevent American law firms from defending the Guantanamo detainees. The Bush Regime is fearful that Americans will learn that the detainees are not terrorists but props in the regime's orchestrated "terror war." On January 13 a New York Times (editorial) said that "Cully Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, tried to rally American corporations to stop doing business with law firms that represent inmates of the Guantanamo internment camp." Stimson alleged that it was "shocking" that American law firms were "representing detainees down there." He suggested that when corporate America got word of if, "those C.E.O.'s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms. We want to watch that play out." The only reason for the Bush Regime's policy of indefinite detention without charges is that it has no charges to bring. The detainees are not terrorists. They are the Bush Regime's props in a fake war that serves as cover for the Regime's hegemonic policy in the Middle East. The only action that can stop Bush is for both the Democratic and Republican leadership of the House and Senate to call on the White House, tell Bush they know what he is up to and that they will not fall for it a second time. The congressional leadership must tell Bush that if he does not immediately desist, he will be impeached and convicted before the week is out. Can a congressional leadership that lives in fear of the Israel Lobby perform this task? All the rest is penny-ante. Revoking the Iraqi War Resolution as Rep. Sam Farr has proposed or requiring Bush to obtain congressional authorization prior to any US attack on Iran simply lets Bush and his Federalist Society apologists for executive dictatorship claim he has commander-in-chief powers and proceed with his planned aggression. Cutting off funding is not itself enough as Bush can raid other budgets. Non-binding resolutions of disapproval are meaningless to a president who doesn't care what anyone else thinks. Nothing can stop the criminal Bush from instituting wider war in the Middle East that could become a catastrophic world war except an unequivocal statement from Congress that he will be impeached. Bush has made the US into a colony of Israel. The US is incurring massive debt and loss of both life and reputation in order to silence Muslim opposition to Israel's theft of Palestine and the Golan Heights. That is what the "war on terror" is about. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts [at] yahoo.com --------19 of 20-------- Where Will Blacks Find Justice? The Civil Rights Movement is Dead and So is the Democratic Party by Roland Sheppard Atlantic Free Press - - Dec 21, 2006 http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/496/81/ The first civil and human rights movement by and for Black people started during the Civil War and the period of Black Reconstruction that followed. It was a time of radical hopes for many freed slaves. But it was also a time of betrayal. Then President Andrew Johnson and the non-radical Republicans, in collusion with the Democratic Party, the party of slavery, sold out the early post-war promises for full equality and "40 acres and a mule". Instead, the promise of equality was soon replaced by the restoration of the property rights of the former slave owners in the South. How did they accomplish this betrayal? The answer is simple - terrorism. They used police and terroristic Ku Klux Klan violence. These extra-legal activities laid the basis for the overthrow of Black Reconstruction and the institutionalization of legal segregation (Jim Crow) in the former slave states. To enforce Jim Crow, Black people were, for decades, indiscriminately lynched and framed. This was the status quo in the United States until the United States Supreme Court came out with its "Brown v. Board of Education" decision in 1954, mandating the right to equal education. The successful yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-56 reflected the new, more militant mood among Negroes (the name given to Black people by the ruling class). This new mood was a product of the rise of the Black Liberation movements in Africa, the confidence gained by the Black working class during the rise of the CIO, and the respect, knowledge, and expectations of democracy gained by Black soldiers during the Korean War. (For more information about the boycott read my article: 50 Years Later: Lessons from the Montgomery Bus Boycott.) Thus the struggle against Jim Crow had begun, and with each victory to integrate and enforce the 1954 Supreme Court decision, the mass of Black people gained confidence in themselves and that the fight for racial equality could be won. In the early sixties, the movement grew stronger as young people from the universities spearheaded the 'freedom rides' and sit-ins throughout the South to oppose Jim Crow and enforce the law of the land, which the local, state, and federal governments had refused to enforce. In the spring of 1963, the struggles in Birmingham, Alabama, led by the Black working class, garnered international attention when police commissioner Eugene ("Bull") Connor unleashed powerful water hoses and German shepherd police dogs against the demonstrators. Terror and violence gripped this city, while the world watched. Indeed, it was the national and international embarrassment that forced President Kennedy and the government to begin to take governmental action. After Birmingham, the March on Washington was called. In the space of a few weeks a huge demonstration built. This demonstration was the largest social action in the United States since the union strikes that led to the rise of the CIO in the 1930s. This mass action led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965. At that rally, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chairman John Lewis was prevented from delivering his prepared speech by the march organizers. It was a notable omission. In this speech, he was going to say: ".... We are now involved in a serious revolution. This nation is still a place of cheap political leaders who build their career on immoral compromises and ally themselves with open forms of political, economic and social exploitation. What political leader here can stand up and say 'My party is the party of "principles"'? The party of Kennedy is also the party of Eastland. The party of Javits is also the party of Goldwater. Where is our party? " But if Lewis could be prevented by the March organizers from offending the liberal Democratic establishment from the stage of the Washington march, they could not prevent the civil rights movement from embracing a growing militancy and desire to expand the struggle to embrace a larger vision of social change. Unfortunately, the momentum that was gained from the March was lost during the 1964 Presidential election campaign, when the major civil rights groups called for a moratorium on demonstrations in order not to embarrass then President Lyndon BainesJohnson during the election campaign against the "greater evil" Barry Goldwater. (Both were defenders of Jim Crow prior to the 1963 March on Washington.) The movement never fully recovered to this subordination of the struggle to "lesser evil" political action. While the struggle in the South was specifically against Jim Crow, the struggle in the North was against de-facto segregation. The images of the dogs etc. on TV being used against Blacks in the South subsequently gave rise to the Black Nationalist movement in the North. The rise of the Black Muslims and Malcolm X was a reflection of the mood in the majority of the Black ghettos in every major northern city, where the economic and political power of Black people was more concentrated and greater than in the rural south. The rise of the nationalist movement consequently generated heated debates within the movement between the strategies of peaceful disobedience and righteous self-defense. In his latter years, Malcolm X saw the Black struggle as a struggle for human rights, and, notably, as an anti-capitalist economic struggle. As he explained at the Militant Labor Forum in the fall of 1964: "It's impossible for a chicken to produce a duck egg... The system in this country cannot produce freedom for an Afro-American. It is impossible for this system, this economic system, this political system, period... And if ever a chicken did produce a duck egg, I'm certain you would say it was certainly a revolutionary chicken!" Unfortunately, Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 before he could build an organization to follow in his footsteps. Following the assassination of Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, later known as Kwame Ture, became the new leader of SNCC and is credited with starting the movement for Black Power. In Lowndes County Alabama in 1965, he helped the Lowndes Country Freedom Organization (LCFO) to form their own party. The symbol of the party was the Black Panther Party. The Alabama Democrats retaliated against this movement by evicting sharecroppers and tenant farmers, and attempting illegal foreclosures against Black Panther supporters. They even threatened to kill any African-American who registered. Thus the LCFO was forced to arm themselves for self-defense, but not to initiate any violence. In the course of time, Black Panther Parties arose throughout the country. Due to the mass mobilizations by the civil rights movement and the Black rebellions in the inner cities, by 1968 legal segregation, Jim Crow, was destroyed. Blacks acquired the right to vote and access to jobs through affirmative action programs, to make up for the past discriminations. There was hope for a better life in the Black Community.However, after Martin Luther King, struggled against de facto segregation in Chicago, he realized that the struggle for economic equality was a more difficult fight than the struggle against Jim Crow. At this point he began to take similar anti-capitalist positions as Malcolm X. Both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King opposed the Vietnam War prior to their assassinations. At the time of their assassinations, both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were embarking on a course in opposition to the capitalist system. It is clear from reading and listening to their final speeches that they had both evolved to similar conclusions of capitalism's role in the maintenance of racism. That is why they were assassinated. (For more information read The Assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. It's now known that during the rise of the modern civil rights movement, the government, led by Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, was spying on the movement and its leadership. In the 1970's, the "Cointelpro" disruption operations by the government against the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, and radicals and socialists, during that period, also became public knowledge. Under "Cointelpro" the different United States spy agencies used informers, agents, and agent provocateurs to disrupt organizations. One purpose of this program was to "neutralize" Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Elijah Muhammad," in order to prevent the development of a "Black Messiah," who would have the potential of uniting and leading a mass organization of Black Americans in their quest for freedom and economic equality. At the end of his life, King also stated what he was planning in the struggle for economic equality: "There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American citizen whether he be a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid, or day laborer. "There is nothing except shortsightedness to prevent us from guaranteeing an annual minimum - and livable - income for every American family. ...."There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities... The coalition of an energized section of labor, Negroes, unemployed, and welfare recipients may be the source of power that reshapes economic relationships and ushers in a breakthrough to a new level of social reform. "The total elimination of poverty, now a practical responsibility, the reality of equality in race relations and other profound structural changes in society may well begin here." At that time, the stock market was below 1,000 points. Today, it is above 10,000 points, and yet there still is no social vision for paying an adequate wage. Unlike Malcolm X, whose assassination cut short his organizing plans, King was organizing a movement to obtain his stated goals when he was assassinated. In fact, he was in Memphis to build that "coalition of an energized section of labor, Negroes, unemployed, and welfare recipients" in support of striking municipal sanitation workers. If such a force had been launched, the whole power of the antiwar and civil rights movement in the 1960s could have transformed the labor movement and become "the source of power that reshapes economic relationships and ushers in a breakthrough to a new level of social reform." To combat the rise of the Civil Right Movement, the "war on poverty" was first launched in 1965 along with the concept of "Black Politicians". Malcolm X described this process in his Jan. 7, 1965 speech "The Prospects for Freedom", at the Militant Labor Forum, in New York City: "They have a new gimmick every year. They're going to take one of their boys, black boys, and put him in the cabinet so he can walk around Washington with a cigar. Fire on one end and fool on the other end. And because his immediate personal problem will have been solved he will be the one to tell our people: 'Look how much progress we're making. I'm in Washington, D.C., I can have tea in the White House. I'm your spokesman, I'm your leader.' While our people are still living in Harlem in the slums. Still receiving the worst form of education. "But how many sitting here right now feel that they could [laughs] truly identify with a struggle that was designed to eliminate the basic causes that create the conditions that exist? Not very many. They can jive, but when it comes to identifying yourself with a struggle that is not endorsed by the power structure, that is not acceptable, that the ground rules are not laid down by the society in which you live, in which you are struggling against, you can't identify with that, you step back. "It's easy to become a satellite today without even realizing it. This country can seduce God. Yes, it has that seductive power of economic dollarism. You can cut out colonialism, imperialism and all other kind of ism, but it's hard for you to cut that dollarism. When they drop those dollars on you, you'll fold though." After the assassination of Martin Luther King and the subsequent rebellions in the inner cities protesting his assassination, the Democratic Party's "war on poverty" started laying dollars on any potential Black leaders and grooming Black Candidates. John Lewis, formally of SNCC, became enlightened, he forego the Black Panthers and saw the Democratic Party, symbolized by a jackass, as his party. Most of what W.E. B. Dubois described as the "talented tenth" were bought off by this process. The more radical concepts that Martin Luther King and Malcolm X had developed at the time of their deaths disappeared from the scene. No one took up where they left off. The governmental policy, directed towards the 'leaders' of the civil rights movement, of the carrot (dollarism) and the stick (assassinations) had proven to be successful. A last chance at rebuilding the movement was the first National Black Political Assembly on March 10,1972. "Eight thousand African Americans (three thousand of whom were official delegates) arrived in Gary, Indiana, to attend their first convention, which was more commonly known as the 'Gary Convention.' A sea of Black faces chanted, 'It's Nation Time! It's Nation Time!' No one in the room had ever seen anything like this before. The radical Black nationalists clearly won the day; moderates who supported integration and backed the Democratic Party were in the minority. 7 It gave birth to the "Gary Declaration" which stated: "... A Black political convention, indeed all truly Black politics, must begin from this truth: The American system does not work for the masses of our people, and it cannot be made to work without radical, fundamental changes. The challenge is thrown to us here in Gary. It is the challenge to consolidate and organize our own Black role as the vanguard in the struggle for a new society. "To accept the challenge is to move to independent Black politics. There can be no equivocation on that issue. History leaves us no other choice. White politics has not and cannot bring the changes we need." Unfortunately, Black Democratic Party supporters such as Richard Hatcher the mayor of Gary Indiana, Jesse Jackson, Ron Daniels, and even Amiri Baraka betrayed the hope from the Cary Convention. Instead of the course that was decided at the convention, they led the way to support Black politicians and through them, the Democratic Party. "Vote for Me and I'll set you Free" became the slogan for the day and the civil rights movement became completely demobilized and with its "leaders co-opted" into the system. From this demobilization, came the betrayal and atomization of the movement. As Malcolm X said in his New York City speech, Dec. 1, 1963: "The Negro revolution is controlled by foxy white liberals, by the Government itself." At first, there was an illusion of progress; there was a rise in the number on Black politicians. There was an increase in jobs for black professionals in government, in industry, and on television. There was an impression that things were getting better through the strategy of relying upon the Democratic Party to politically secure, protect, and advance the struggle for racial equality. An example of what was wrong with this strategy was clearly demonstrated when Maynard Jackson was elected mayor of Atlanta Ga., in 1974. At the time of Martin Luther King's was assassination, he willing to risk jail and to organize a mass demonstration in defiance of a court injunction to help the striking Memphis municipal garbage workers. These workers ultimately won their union contract, and thousands of ordinary working families in that city got living wages that allowed them to educate their children, buy houses, live decent and dignified lives, and even retire. In contrast, Maynard Jackson quickly demonstrated that he was not beholden to or a leader of the Black population that elected him, but beholden to those who financed his election campaign and who helped his personal political and financial advancement. In Atlanta, Jackson, instead of helping city sanitation workers, fired more than a thousand city employees to crush their strike. In this, he had the support of white business leaders and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Similar fruits, from the political policy of supporting the "lesser evil" Democratic Party, has led to a set back for the struggle for civil rights and equality. "Lesser evil" always means "More Evil" - the Republican Richard Nixon, the "greater evil" in 1968, would be the "lesser evil" to the Democrat Clinton (Bill and Hillary) in today's world! No longer fearing a mass civil rights movement in the streets, the Democrats have, for the past 30 years, shared responsibility for the gradual reduction of affirmative action and the victories of the movement. >From my own experience, the only way to enforce affirmative action, is if there are quotas for employment in the workplace. The new Black politicians, along with Jessie Jackson, came out against quotas in the 80s, helping to make affirmative action more difficult. Various court decisions helped to reduce the effects of affirmative action and to resegregate the nation's school system. In 1995, President Clinton, as the leader of the Democratic Party, drafted a memorandum for the elimination of any program that creates (1) a quota; (2) preferences for unqualified individuals; (3) creates reverse discrimination (The slogan of the racists); or continues affirmative action even after its equal opportunity purposes have been achieved." (A myth) The Democratic Party was responsible for the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act which established a 100-to-1 sentencing ratio between possession of crack (mainly used in the inter-cities) and of cocaine powder (mainly used in the suburbs). Under this law, possession of five grams of crack is a felony and carries a mandated minimum five-year federal prison sentence. For cocaine powder it is only a misdemeanor for the possession of less than 500 grams of cocaine powder. The five-year felony sentence applies if one has 500 grams in their possession. This sentencing disproportion was based on phony testimony that crack was 50 times more addictive than powdered coke. The Democratic Party-controlled Congress then doubled this ratio as a so-called "violence penalty". This has led to "affirmative action" in the prison system, where Black inmates are a far greater in percentage of all prisoners than their percentage in the nation. At the same time, many states are now preventing those convicted of a felony from voting. According to the Harvard Civil Rights Project the public schools have become more separate and unequal -- the consequences of a decade from 1988 to 1998) of resegregation along economic, ethnic and racist lines. Throughout this land, both the Republican and Democratic Parties are gentrifying the inner cities, in the service of big business, and the poor are being scattered to the winds. It is how the rich are handling unemployment and poverty in this country. Recently, Black U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) went to Africa to publicize the catastrophe of Aids in Africa. He should have also gone to the Black Communities in the United States and publicized the crisis of Aids in Black America, where nearly half of the million Americans, who are living with HIV today, are Black. In fact it has become a Black disease. The bipartisan corporate "bankruptcy reforms" in the late 80s to the present have allowed corporations to lay off workers, rob pension plans, and tear up union contracts. Because Black workers are still the "last hired and first fired", they have received the brunt of these attacks. Overall, the rich have become richer, and the poor have become poorer. Ben H. Bagdikian put it well in his "Preface to the Sixth Edition" of the The Media Monopoly, after he explained that just six of the world's largest corporations control 95% of the mass media, he wrote: "The American economy [has been] undergoing an astonishing phenomenon that the mainstream news left largely unreported or actually glamorized in its infrequent references, the largest transfer of the national wealth in American history from a majority of the population to a small percentage of the country's wealthiest families." This process was facilitated by the fact that almost every "tax reform" from Kennedy in 1961, to Bush in 2004, has resulted in the taking of wealth from the working class and giving it to the capitalist class. And yet, the Congressional Black Caucus echoes the "hype" from the government, the press, and the Republican and Democratic Parties, that things are better today. The economic figures from the bipartisan wage-price freeze in 1972 to today demonstrate that this it is false illusion. According to info please, Black households median income in 1972 was $21,311 or $97,201.78 in 2005 dollars, while white Households median income in 1972 was $36,510 or $166,526.06 in 2005 dollars. In 2004 Black households had a median income in 2004 was $30,947 in 2005 dollars. White Households had the highest median income at $47,957 in 2005 dollars. Significantly lower than the median incomes for 1972. These figures show that Black Households median income in 1972 was 58% of white households median income and approximate 64% of white households today. This does not represent progress, it represents that income for workers, Black People and other minorities has decreased since 1972. Black people now have an income of 64% of white households that has not kept up with inflation and has actually decreased by over 50% since 1972. Since the working class and the poor have been suffering an ever-increasing rate of taxation and concurrent cuts in government services, the decline in real wages and their standard of living has been worse. In order to regain what has been lost and win equality rights for all, we must stop supporting those who are oppressing us - the Democratic and Republican Parties - and go back to what made all movements powerful. Which was relying upon ourselves and building our own independent power. As King said: "There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities... The coalition of an energized section of labor, Negroes, unemployed, and welfare recipients may be the source of power that reshapes economic relationships and ushers in a breakthrough to a new level of social reform. "The total elimination of poverty, now a practical responsibility, the reality of equality in race relations and other profound structural changes in society may well begin here." Such a coalition, as King envisioned it thirty-three years ago, is needed today. In order to survive, we must begin the begin. [Roland Sheppard is a retired Business Representative of Painters District Council #8 in San Francisco. He has been a life long social activist and socialist. He regularly attended Malcolm X's meetings in Harlem and was present at the meeting when Malcolm X was assassinated. He was in charge of defense whenever Malcolm X spoke at the Militant Labor Forum in New York City from 1964-1965. Lately, he has written articles for the San Francisco Bay View. He can be reached at Rolandgarret [at] aol.com. References for this text available on request.] Atlantic Free Press was launched in September 2006 by Dutch-Canadian Richard Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands and American Expatriate Chris Floyd of Oxford, UK. Brick Ogden, an American Expatriate in Amsterdam has been a key supporter of this project. Assistant Editor Canadian Chris Cook hails from Victoria, British Columbia and Senior Writer Paul William Roberts is based in Toronto - but often on the road. The mission of AF Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried public discourse today. AF Press provides a new venue for disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press. [The above gives some history of the evil of lesser-evil, co-optation, naivete, and criminal wishful thinking. Alas, it springs eternal; progressives keep imagining we can advance by taking the easy lesser-evil party route; they become part of the problem. -ed] --------20 of 20-------- Pull down the statue of the would-be dictator. Dance among the shards. Flip the bosses the bird; throw them huge shit-loads of Why the hell should I? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 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
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