Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 06.21.08

[David Shove (shove001]

              P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R   06.21.08

1. Atheists/AM950   6.22 9am
2. Pride picnic     6.22 11am
3. EXCO classes     6.22 12noon
4. Stillwater vigil 6.22 1pm
5. BibleTellsMe/f   6.22 2pm
6. Zinn/AM950       6.22 3pm
7. Pro-Choice       6.22 time?

8. Peace/energy     6.23-26 9am
9. Peace walk       6.23 6pm RiverFalls WI
10. Organic food    6.23 6pm
11. Persian class   6.23 6:30pm
12. Organic food/f  6.23 7pm
13. Safety online   6.23 7pm
14. JerusalemGLBT/f 6.23 7pm
15. StClair/Frank   6.23 7pm
16. Holistic health 6.23-27

17. Sen John Marty   - Creating socially responsible corporations
18. Bill Quigley     - Arrests for war resistance increase again
19. C Glendenning    - Techno-fascism
20. Cynthia McKinney - For action for Kucinich impeachment articles v Bush
21. PC Roberts       - John Yoo, totalitarian
22. ed               - Look what's on the table  (serial haikus)

--------1 of 22--------

From: August Berkshire <augustberkshire [at] GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Atheists/AM950 6.22 9am

Minnesota Atheists' "Atheists Talk" radio show
Sunday, June 22, 2008, 9-10 a.m. Central Time
In honor of Juneteenth, Michael Estes will discuss "African American
Freethinkers in the Civil Rights Movement."  He will then be joined by
Eric Harmon to discuss "The Affects of Religion in the African American
Community."

"Atheists Talk" airs live on AM 950 KTNF in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
To stream live, go to http://www.am950ktnf.com/listen. Podcasts of past
shows are available at http://MinnesotaAtheists.org or through iTunes.
Program Notes are available at http://MinnesotaAtheists.org.


--------2 of 22--------

From:   Dakotah Rae <dakotah [at] betterballotcampaign.org>
Subject: Pride picnic 6.22 11am

June 22, Pride Picnic
<http://www.tcpride.org/pride_events/2008_Picnic.php>:at Como Park East
Picnic Pavilions, from 11AM-2PM. Free grilled fare and old-fashioned
races.


--------3 of 22--------

From: excotc <excotc [at] gmail.com>
Subject: EXCO classes 6.22 12noon

Want to get involved? You are invited to attend the EXCO Visioning
Session, June 22nd 12-3pm WSAC room in Coffman Union on the U of M's
campus. RSVP to excotc [at] gmail.com and receive the agenda/key info. This is
a chance to be the decision-makers in EXCO's future!

Question or want to volunteer or organize? Contact us at excotc [at] gmail.com 
or
651-212-0727.


--------4 of 22--------

From: scot b <earthmannow [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Stillwater vigil 6.22 1pm

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

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

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


--------5 of 22--------

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: BibleTellsMe/f 6.22 2pm

June 22: OutFront Minnesota. Screening of For the Bible Tells Me So. 2 PM
at White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church, Mahtomedi. More info:
651-426-236. Or 6:30 PM at Bryn Mawr Church, Minneapolis. More info:
612-377-8746.


--------6 of 22--------

From: James Mayer <info [at] jamesmayer.org>
Subject: Zinn/AM950 6.22 3pm

OF THE PEOPLE:  CALL FOR ACTION
AM 950
952-946-6205
OF THE PEOPLE: This Sunday, june 22nd, 3 p.m. AM 950--Air America
Minnesota's new name; call letters: ktnf--with Host James Mayer.

Why do some people feel helpless about where our country is headed?
Do you, or I, consciously choose to be treated as passive consumers or
customers of a government whose so-called "leaders" want to run it like an
enterprise of, by and for corporations?  or do we, instead, CHOOSE to
command respect as citizens working together to govern ourselves through
government REPRESENTATIVES WHO truly serve the people?

It's time that we, the people, write our history of our times with our
actions.  How? Join me this Sunday on the program Of the People as we talk
about this with activist DR. Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of
the United States.  Tune into the program Of the People this Sunday at 3
P.M. on AM950, KTNF.

Of the People's on-air call-in number is 952-946-6205.

*You don't have to limit your listening to the car. You can spend
productive time at your computer AND stream us:
www.airamericaminnesota.com/listen if you put in a MN zip code. Off-air,
you can reach us by calling James Mayer at 651-238-3740, by e-mail at
info [at] jamesmayer.org, or by U.S. mail, address: James Mayer, 970 Raymond
Ave, St. Paul, MN 55114.

Please take a moment to call or send this announcement to anybody you can
think of, asking them to do the same, and join us on Of the PEOPLE, THIS
Sunday, June 22nd, 3 p.m. on AM 950


--------7 of 22--------

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: Pro-Choice 6.22 time?

Sunday, June 22: Pro-Choice Resources' Garden Party. 7th Annual Garden
Party & Silent Auction at the Pillsbury estate on Lake Minnetonka to
raise money for reproductive health. Boat rides will be provided by Al &
Alma's Boat Charters, and the event includes a silent auction with many
fabulous items.


--------8 of 22--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Peace/energy 6.23-26 9am

6/23 to 6/26, 9 am to 4:30 pm, Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet and
consociates sponsors POWER (Peace Organizing World Ecological Renewal)
Summit: Peace the New Energy for students grade 10 through 1st year
college, 1890 Randolph Ave, St Paul.  Register at http://www.csjstpaul.org
and click on Celeste's Dream.  Info from Jill at junderdahl [at] csjstpaul.org
or 651-696-2873.  Scholarships available.


--------9 of 22--------

From: Nancy Holden <d.n.holden [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Peace walk 6.23 6pm RiverFalls WI

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


--------10 of 22--------

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: Organic food 6.23 6pm

June 23: Women's Environmental Institute. Organic Farm School. "Finding
Food in Farm Country" with Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center at Open
Book, Minneapolis. 6 - 8 PM. Register.


--------11 of 22--------

From: Mizna  <mizna-announce [at] mizna.org>
Subject: Persian class 6.23 6:30pm

Mizna's summer classes are starting next week! This is your last chance to
register for Persian Language (Farsi)-- space is very limited and will be
taken on a first come-first served basis.

Persian Language for Beginners
Instructor: Mahmoud Sadrai
Max Class Size: 12
Teenagers - Adult
Mondays, June 23- August 11, 2008
6:30 - 8:00 pm

This new course will introduce participants to Persian (Farsi) as it is
used in today's Iran. Persian is an Indo-European language that is
structurally close to English, but on the surface shares many
characteristics with Arabic, including a writing system and many
vocabulary items. Students will learn the sound system, the alphabet, as
well as some basic vocabulary and sentence structure. Students will also
be introduced to phraseology that is common in daily encounters. The class
will cover both standard (written) and spoken Persian. Come join us to
learn more about this ancient language and culture.

To learn more about this class, or to enroll, go here:
http://www.mizna.org/classes/index.html
Mizna is a forum for Arab American art.  Visit our website:
http://www.mizna.org


--------12 of 22--------

From: Christine Frank <christinefrank [at] visi.com>
Subject: Organic food/f 6.23 7pm

INDUSTRIAL VS ORGANIC AGRICULTURE-YOU DECIDE
The next 3CTC Environmental Forum will be a screening of two films on food
production.  The True Cost of Food, an animated short produced by the
Sierra Club, examines what is wrong with industrial agriculture and The
Greening of Cuba, produced by FoodFirst, presents a shining example of the
organic alternative and what the possibilities are for growing safe,
healthy, nutritious foods in uncontaminated, living soils.  The program
takes place on Monday, June 23 at 7:00 PM at Mayday Books, 301 Cedar
Avenue South, West Bank, Minneapolis.  It is sponsored by the Climate
Crisis Coalition of the Twin Cities and is free and open to the public.
The 3CTC Business Meeting is at 6:00 PM.  All are welcome.  For further
information, EMAIL: christinefrank [at] visi.com or PHONE:  612-879-937.

MONTHLY CLEAN ENERGY VIGIL TO COOL DOWN THE PLANET
A Clean-Energy Vigil to Cool Down the Planet will take place during rush
hour from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, Monday, June 23 on the Plaza outside Mayday
Books, 301 Cedar Avenue South, West Bank, MInneapolis an hour before the
3CTC Business Meeting.  Advocates of clean energy are encouraged to bring
picket signs and banners.


--------13 of 22--------

From: Jonathan Barrentine <jonathan [at] e-democracy.org>
Subject: Safety online 6.23 7pm

STAYING SAFE ONLINE---

If you spend any time online (so that's all of you), or have kids who do,
come to our Internet Safety workshop this on Monday, June 23.  It will
feature discussions of protective software, avoiding scams, and being
"street smart" online.  This workshop is essential for anyone who owns a
computer with an internet connection, uses email, or has ever wondered
about how to stay safe while using sites like MySpace or Craigslist.  A
draft outline of topics that may be covered in this workshop is available
at http://pages.e-democracy.org/Internet_Safety .

Staying Safe Online
FREE WORKSHOP
Monday, June 23rd
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Rondo Community Outreach Library
461 North Dale
University & Dale, St. Paul

As always, the workshop is free, all are welcome to attend, and no
registration is needed.


--------14 of 22--------

-0500 From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com> To: david shove
Subject: Jerusalem/GLBT/f 6.23 7pm

Exclusive Twin Cities Screening:
"Jerusalem is Proud to Present",/ Outstanding Documentary Feature
Award Winner, Outfest 2007, to be shown at the St. Paul JCC on Monday,
June 23

A gay pride parade in the Holy City? This film is an explosive and
controversial expose of the complex dynamics between religion, politics
and human rights. The film uncovers the underbelly of religion,
fanaticism and politics and candidly reveals the vicious struggle of a
city torn between tradition and transformation.

Director and producer Nitzan Gilady takes the audience to the summer of
2006, where for the first time in history, Jerusalem was to host the World
Pride events, set to culminate in a traditional gay pride parade. Jewish,
Muslim and Christian religious leaders banded together in an
uncompromising battle against what they said would "defile the Holy City."
On the other side stood the activists of the Open House, Jerusalem's GLBTQ
community center, who planned the Pride events and were steadfast in the
face of the heated and violent anti-gay sentiment. Gilady followed every
twist and turn. Equally eye-opening are the fierce clashes that took place
between the liberal and religious councilors which Gilady filmed with
surprising access.  The 82-minute film is in Hebrew, English, Arabic and
Yiddish with English subtitles and is sponsored by the Beverly Thorman
Calmenson Gay and Lesbian Fund of the St. Paul JCC Endowment Funds.

Jerusalem is Proud to Present
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1320139087
Monday, June 23rd @ 7 pm
St. Paul JCC -- 1375 St. Paul Avenue, St. Paul, MN  55116
$5/members, $8/public, tickets at front desk or call 651.698.0751
For more information:  www.stpauljcc.org


--------15 of 22--------

From: Michelle Lee <angrypeanut77 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: StClair/Frank 6.23 7pm

On Monday, June 23, join AK Press authors Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua
Frank discuss their new book, "Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots
Resistance in the Heartland." The book includes contributions from Ward
Churchill, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Saul Landau, among others.

Media pundits and political strategists have painted the United States as
a two-toned nation. If your state is decorated in a blue or red hue then
you, your friends, families, and neighbors must fit neatly into the
"liberal" or "conservative" category. Fortunately for those of us in the
real world, politics and electoralism are not synonymous, and we see
things in full color. Combing alleged "red states" for signs of life,
Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair found that the ballot box is no
barometer of social pressure.

The rebels they encountered come from places we don't associate with
political struggle. They fight the good fight whether or not it makes the
news- because their lives and livelihood depend on it. We're talking
populist ranchers, marijuana activists, anti-capitalists, farmers, Native
American revolutionaries, antiracist activists, pro-choice crusaders, and
environmentalists. Red State Rebels reminds us that the heart of the
nation beats within all of us: not just in the (red or blue) clowns in
Washington.

Joshua Frank was born and raised in Montana. He is the author of "Left
Out!: How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush." His investigative
reports and columns appear in CounterPunch, Chicago Sun-Times,
CommonDreams.org, and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Jeffrey St. Clair
was born and raised in Indiana. He is co-editor of CounterPunch, and the
author of "Born Under a Bad Sky" and "White-Out."

Where: Arise! Bookstore 2441 Lyndale Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55405&#8232;,
612.871.7110&#8232; When: 7:00 p.m. Cost: Free!

For more information, please contact Michelle at angrypeanut77 [at] yahoo.com
or go to www.arisebookstore.org.


--------16 of 22--------

From: Erin Parrish <erin [at] mnwomen.org>
Subject: Holistic health 6.23-27

June 23 - 27: Center for Spirituality and Healaing, U of M. Holistic
Health & Healing Summer Institute 2008. Program prepares nurses, nursing
faculty, and other healthcare providers to teach and provide integrative
health and healing to patients and families in clinical settings. [This is
all the info I have - ed]


--------17 of 22--------

To the Point!
Creating Socially Responsible Corporations
by Senator John Marty
June 19, 2008
Apple Pie Alliance <http://www.apple-pie.org>

In the drive to please Wall Street investors, some corporations have
shortchanged their customers and workers and polluted the air we breathe.
Corporate scandals fill the news media.

Producing a good return on investment for business owners (shareholders)
is an important function of any for-profit corporation. But society is ill
served when we let profit trump fair treatment for the community.

It is unethical for businesses of our generation to use up natural
resources at an unsustainable rate, destroying the planet we leave for our
children. It is not OK for a business to make more money by paying their
employees so little that the workers' families end up in poverty. It is
not acceptable for a business to profit from selling toys containing lead
that poisons unsuspecting children. The public wants corporations to be
responsible for more than just making money.

Unfortunately, in today's political climate, profit usually wins out.
Corporations have the lobbyists, campaign contributions, and the clout to
block government from interfering in their drive to make more money.
Reform of the political system so government serves the best interests of
the people, not the best interests of powerful corporations, is urgently
needed.

However, this is not a problem to be solved solely with government
regulation and enforcement. Our corporate design needs change too.
Corporate laws should enable business owners to profit, but not to
maximize profits regardless of the impact on others. Unfortunately,
current law makes it difficult for corporate leaders to focus on the well
being of the community.

There are businesspeople who want to look out for the public interest, but
who are concerned that their fiduciary responsibility to stockholders
precludes them from paying better wages or protecting the environment if
profit margins are affected.

To address this fundamental problem, we should give businesses the option
of incorporating under an alternative structure that acknowledges their
responsibility to the stockholders as well as to other "stakeholders."
Others who have a stake in a corporation's actions include the employees,
the customers, the suppliers, the communities they are in, as well as the
general public interest such as public health, the environment, and public
safety. One means of facilitating socially responsible corporations is
spelled out in Senate File 1153, the Minnesota Responsible Business
Corporation Act.

The main advantage of incorporating as a socially responsible business is
that a corporation's board and executives would be protected from lawsuits
for failing to maximize stockholder profits as a result of their actions
to protect the interests of other stakeholders. For businesspeople who
want "to do the right thing," this would enable them to do so without fear
of being punished. In addition, the legislation would bring worker and
public interest representation onto the corporate board, and would ensure
that corporate leadership regularly considers its impact on the public.

This legislation is only a partial answer to the problem. It would assist
people who want to create a "for-profit" corporation to produce goods or
services for the purpose of making money, but who also have sincere
concern for other stakeholders. It would assist corporate leaders who
treat their employees and the environment well even if doing so might, in
the short term, reduce their profits.

Most businesses would continue to use the traditional corporate structure,
but some would choose to incorporate under the socially responsible option
instead.

Being socially responsible does not mean being unprofitable. Traditional
businesses often recognize that they can create "green" jobs in renewable
energy. Many employers recognize that good compensation for their
employees results in happier, more productive workers. Many businesses
recognize that it is a very real asset to have a positive reputation, to
have built public trust. It creates loyal customers.

Businesses cannot survive if they cannot make money. They need to generate
a fair return for their shareholders, but they can do that without
trampling on the rights and interests of the community.

Our current corporate structures were designed in an earlier era, captive
to investors' desire for short-term profits. In this new millennium, we
need corporate structures that protect the environment, ensure public
health and safety, and treat workers fairly. The Minnesota Responsible
Business Corporation Act is a step in that direction.
  _____

To the Point!  is published by the Apple Pie Alliance.
www.apple-pie.org <http://www.apple-pie.org/> .  If you know others who
would enjoy To the Point!, please forward this.
Free Subscription <http://www.apple-pie.org/ttp/subscribe.htm>   Address
Change <http://www.apple-pie.org/ttp/addrchange.htm>     Unsubscribe
<http://www.apple-pie.org/ttp/unsubscribe.htm>
Permission to quote or reprint is granted if author is credited.
Copyright © Apple Pie Alliance


--------18 of 22--------

Arrests for War Resistance Increase Again
by Bill Quigley
ZNet
Jun 19, 2008

"We can never forget that everything that Hitler did in Germany was
'legal,' and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did was 'illegal.'
It was 'illegal' to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany, but I am
sure that if I lived in Germany during that time I would have comforted my
Jewish brothers even though it was illegal...we who engage in nonviolent
direct action are not the creators of tension.  We merely bring to the
surface the hidden tension that is already alive."  

Martin Luther King, Jr.

There have been over 15,000 arrests for resistance to war since 2002. 
There were large numbers right after the run up to and invasion of Iraq.
Recently, arrests have begun climbing again.  Though arrests are a small
part of anti-war organizing, their rise is an indicator of increasing
resistance.

The information comes from the NUCLEAR RESISTER, a newsletter that has
been reporting detailed arrest information on peace activists and other
social justice campaigns since 1980.  Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa,
publishers of the NUCLEAR RESISTER, document arrests by name and date
based on information collected from newspapers across the country and from
defense lawyers and peace activists.

Since 2002, the NUCLEAR RESISTER has documented anti-war arrests for
protestors each year:

2002 - 1800 arrests
2003    6072 arrests
2004    2440 arrests
2005    975 arrests
2006    950 arrests
2007    2272 arrests
2008    810 as of May 1 

"Arrests for resistance to war are far more widespread geographically than
most people think," according to Cohen-Joppa of NUCLEAR RESISTER. "Yes,
there are many arrests in DC and traditional big cities of anti-war
activity - like San Francisco, NYC and Chicago, but there have also been
anti-war arrests in Albany, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Bangor, Bath, Bend,
Brentwood, Burlington, Campbell, Cedar Rapids, Chapel Hill,
Charlottesville, Chicopee, Colorado Springs, Denver, Des Moines, East
Hampton, Erie, Eugene, Eureka, Fairbanks, Fairport, Fort Bragg, Fort
Wayne, Grand Rapids, Great Dismal Swamp, Hammond, Huntsville, Joliet,
Juneau, Kennebunkport, La Crosse, Los Angeles, Madison, Manchester,
Memphis, Newark, Northbrook, Olympia, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Portland,
Portsmouth, Providence, Richmond, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Fe,
Smithfield, Springfield, St. Louis, St. Paul, Staten Island, Superior,
Syracuse, Tacoma, Toledo, Tucson, Tulsa, Vandenberg, Virginia  Beach,
Wausau, Wheaton and Wilmington just to name a few."

"In fact," notes Cohen-Joppa, "in 2007, anti-war arrests were reported
during 250 distinct events in 105 cities in 35 states and the District of
Columbia.  So far in 2008, arrests have been reported at 65 events in 43
different cities in 19 states and D.C."

An example of the scope of resistance can be found in the Chicago-based
Voices for Creative Nonviolence.  They joined with other major peace
groups like CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, and the National Campaign for
Nonviolent Resistance in early 2007 to launch The Occupation Project, a
campaign of resistance aimed at ending the Iraq War.  Theirs was a
campaign of sustained nonviolent civil disobedience to end funding for the
U.S. war in and occupation of Iraq.  The Occupation Project resulted in
over 320 arrests in spring of 2007 in the offices of 39 U.S.
Representatives and Senators in 25 states. 

"I am energized by the dedication of so many conscientious activists
across the country willing to take the risks of peace and speak truth to
power," says Max Obuszewski of the National Campaign for Nonviolent
Resistance.  "We have been unsuccessful so far in stopping this awful war
and occupation of Iraq, but it is not for the lack of direct action. We
are taking on the greatest empire in world history, but we will continue
to act."

"There are large numbers of new people being arrested," notes Cohen-Joppa,
"most typically saying, 'I have tried everything else from writing to
voting, but I have to do more to stop this war.'  The profile of people
arrested includes high school teenagers to senior citizens, mostly people
under 30 and over 50."

Anti-war arrests are significantly under-reported by mainstream media. 
For example, around the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq in March
2008, most news stories wrote that there were 150 to 200 arrests
nationwide.  Cohen-Joppa and NUCLEAR RESISTER report there were over
double that number, well over 400, many outside the cities where regular
media traditionally look.

Though arrests typically drop off in election years, as people's hopes are
raised that a new President or Congress will make a difference and stop
the war, this year looks like arrests are likely to continue to rise.  In
part, that will depend on the attitude of authorities in Denver and
Minneapolis, where the political conventions are being held.  In 2004, New
York City authorities overreacted so much to protestors at the Republican
convention that they arrested historic numbers of protestors - including
hundreds who had no intention to risk arrest.   If Senator McCain is
elected, anti-war resistance activities are expected to rise much higher.

Why do people risk arrest in their resistance to war?  Perhaps Daniel
Berrigan, on trial for resistance to the Vietnam War, said it best:

"The time is past when good people may be silent when obedience can
segregate us from public risk when the poor can die without defense.

How many indeed must die
before our voices are heard
how many must be tortured dislocated
starved maddened?

How long must the world's resources
be raped in the service of legalized murder?

When at what point will you say no to this war?
We have chosen to say
with the gift of our liberty
if necessary our lives:
the violence stops here.

The death stops here.
The suppression of truth stops here.
This war stops here."   

Though war resistance activities and arrests have not stopped the war in
Iraq, those struggling for peace remain committed.  "None of us know what
will happen if we continue to work for peace and human rights," says a
handmade poster of one involved in the resistance, "But we all know what
will happen if we don't."

Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New
Orleans.  Quigley77 [at] gmail.com  The NUCLEAR RESISTER is published 5 to 6
times a year.  They can be contacted at nukeresister [at] igc.org


--------19 of 22--------

Techno-Fascism
Every Move You Make
By CHELLIS GLENDINNING
CounterPunch
June 19, 2008

Surveillance of private calls and emails.  Cameras documenting every move.
No habeas corpus.  Unimpeded entry into personal financial records. Voting
machines changing election outcomes with the flick of a switch. Protest
defined as terrorism. Many people hope that the loss of civil rights
Americans have endured since the onslaughts mounted by Bush Administration
II is a political reality that can be reversed through electoral will.

Established mechanisms of political power are, of course, the immediately
available means for attempting change.  Notions of citizens. rights,
freedom, and democratic participation are compelling paradigms that have
consistently stirred the bravery of U.S. citizens - and yet elder
political scientist Sheldon Wolin, who taught the philosophy of democracy
for five decades, sees the current predicament of corporate-government
hegemony as something more endemic.

"Inverted totalitarianism,"  as he calls it in his recent Democracy
Incorporated, "lies in wielding total power without appearing to, without
establishing concentration camps, or enforcing ideological uniformity, or
forcibly suppressing dissident elements so long as they remain
ineffectual".  To Wolin, such a form of political power makes the United
States "the showcase of how democracy can be managed without appearing to
be suppressed".

Wolin rightfully points out that the origins of U.S. governance were "born
with a bias against democracy,"  and yet the system has quickly lunged
beyond its less-than-democratic agrarian roots to become a mass urban
society that, with distinct 1984 flavorings, could be called
techno-fascism.  The role of technology is the overlooked piece of the
puzzle of the contemporary political conundrum.

What are its mechanisms of control?

The use of telecommunications technologies for surveillance is obvious. So
are willful alteration of computer data for public reportage, manipulation
of television news for opinion-shaping, and use of microwave-emitting
weapons for crowd control.

Less obvious are what could be called "inverted mechanization" whereby
citizens blindly accept the march of technological development as an
expression of a very inexact, some would say erroneous, concept of
"progress".  One mechanism propagating such blindness is the U.S.
government's invisible role as regulatory handmaiden to industry, offering
little-to-no means for citizen determination of what technologies are
disseminated;  instead we get whatever GMOs and nuclear plants
corporations dish out.  A glaring example is the Telecommunications Act of
1996 that, seeking to not repeat the "errors" of the nuclear industry,
offers zero public input as to health or environmental impacts of its
antennae, towers, and satellites - the result being that the public has
not a clue about the very real biological effects of electromagnetic
radiation.  Inverted mechanization is thrust forward as well by unequal
access to resources:  corporations lavishly crafting public opinion and
mounting limitless legal defenses versus citizen groups who may be dying
from exposure to a dangerous technology but whose funds trickle in from
bake sales.  In his Autonomous Technology: Technics-Out-Of-Control as a
Theme in Political Thought, political scientist Langdon Winner points out
that, to boot, the artifacts themselves have grown to such magnitude and
complexity that they define popular conception of necessity.  Witness the
"need" to get to distant locales in a few hours or enjoy instantaneous
communication.

Even less obvious a mechanism of public control is the technological
inversion that results from the fact that, as filmmaker Godfrey Reggio
puts it, "We don't use technology, we live it".  Like fish in water we
cannot consider modern artifacts as separate from ourselves and so cannot
admit that they exist.

Social critic Lewis Mumford was among the first to make sense of the
systemic nature of technology.  In The Pentagon of Power, he identified
the underlying metaphor of mass civilizations as the megamachine.  The
assembly line - of factory, home, education, agriculture, medicine,
consumerism, entertainment.  The machine - centralizing decision-making
and control.  The mechanical - fragmenting every act until its
relationship to the whole is lost;  insisting upon the pre-determined role
of each region, each community, each individual.

Mumford deftly peels away false hope from a social reality based on
principles of centralization, control, and efficiency.  In 1962 he peered
into the future and saw the pentagon of power incarnate:  "a more
voluminous productivity, augmented by almost omniscient computers and a
wider range of antibiotics and inoculations, with a greater control over
our genetic inheritance, with more complex surgical operations and
transplants, with an extension of automation to every form of human
activity".

Inverted totalitarianism is both inverted and totalitarian because of the
power of modern mass technological systems to shape and control social
realities, just as they shape and control individual understandings of
those realities.  Its contemporary existence is most definitely the result
of the efforts of a group of right-wing fundamentalists who hurled
themselves into power through devious means - but today's desperate social
inequities, dire ecological predicament, and fascist politic are the
offspring of long-evolving technological centralization and control as
well.

The challenge is to see the whole and all its parts, not just the shiny
new device that purports to make one's individual life easier or sexier -
which in itself is a contributor to the making of political disengagement.
The whole is a megamachine, with you and your liquid TV, Blackberry, and
Prius a necessary cog.

Forging a survivable world is indeed going to take a change of
administration - for starters.  The terrifying reality that is mass
technological society suggests more:  radical techno-socio-economic
re-organization, and to that end spring visions informed by the indigenous
worlds we all hail from, the regionalism of Mumford's day, and today's
bioregionalism.  Or visions of the forced localization that Peak Oil,
economic collapse, climate change, and ecological devastation propose.

Chellis Glendinning is the author of six books, including Off the Map: An
Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy;  My Name Is Chellis
and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization;  and the forthcoming
Luddite.com: A Personal History of Technology.


--------20 of 22--------

Cynthia McKinney's Call to Action in Support of Dennis Kucinich's Articles
of Impeachment Against Bush

From Cynthia McKinney, Presidential Candidate
June 19, 2008, the Black Commentator
http://www.blackcommentator.com/282/282_mckinney_kucinnich_articles_impeachment.html

(This statement is also posted on the website of Cynthia McKinney's Power
to the People presidential campaign)

With great satisfaction I learned of the courageous action taken by
Congressman Dennis Kucinich on Monday, June 9th. On that day, on the floor
of the U.S. House of Representatives, he rose to introduce House
Resolution 1258, containing 35 Articles of Impeachment against President
George W. Bush. The litany of documented High Crimes and constitutional
abuses by the Bush administration took over five hours to recite.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank and commend Rep. Kucinich for his
courage and tenacity, for the comprehensiveness of his research, and for
the leadership he exhibited to press forward the democratic demands of the
People for accountability and justice.

Under House Rule 9, which Rep. Kucinich invoked in introducing H.Res. 1258
- "a question of the privileges of the House" - the full House of
Representatives was compelled within 48 hours to bring the matter to a
vote. Consequently, two days later, on Wednesday, June 11th, our
Congressional Representatives voted overwhelmingly (by a 251-166 margin)
to refer the matter to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by
Congressman John Conyers. Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment effectively
lay out the case against a lawless, degenerate regime that places
corporate power and profits above the good and welfare of the U.S.
Citizenry. In great detail they show that Bush & Co.:

     * manufactured a fraudulent case for the Iraq war, lying to Congress
    and the American People;

     * invaded Iraq illegally for the purpose of occupying a
      sovereign nation indefinitely and expropriating its public oil
      reserves and other natural resources for their billionaire cronies
      of corporate America;

     * negligently failed to provide protective gear to our troops;

     * outsourced the functions of the U.S. military and created a no-bid,
    private-contractor mercenary force which killed Iraqis with impunity
    and looted the treasuries of both the Iraqi and U.S. governments;

     * tore up the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the
    Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other binding international
    treaties to which the U.S. is signatory;

      * retaliated against government whistleblowers attempting to shine a
    light on corruption, malfeasance and unconstitutional abuse of power;

     * began illegal detentions without trial or access to counsel of U.S.
    citizens and foreign nationals alike;

     * countenanced kidnapping and torture;

     * created secret laws;

     * unconstitutionally spied on American citizens without a
      court order; and the list goes on and on.

Each fact exhibited in Rep. Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment is true
beyond dispute, and each by itself is sufficient to demonstrate the need
to remove this criminal President and his gang of thugs from the Executive
Branch - not least of all because most if not all of the crimes are still
ongoing.

But, as a Black woman from the South familiar with the struggle against
discrimination and racism, I am moved most profoundly, in particular, by
three of the Articles of Impeachment that I think serve to point out the
real sickness of this regime - the fact that for Blacks, for Latinos, for
Native Americans, for all peoples of color, and for much of the white
working class, democracy has never really existed in the United States,
and that today the limited gains in the direction of "a more perfect
Union" that were won in struggle two generations ago are now being
reversed through the deliberate, illegal policies of the gang that has
taken over the government.

I'm referring to:

     * Article 28 - Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of
    the Administration of Justice;

     * Article 29 - Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965;
    and

     * Article 31 - Katrina: Failure to Plan for the
      Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a
      Civil Emergency.

Therefore, I am hereby putting out an urgent call to all the progressive
forces throughout this country - including first and foremost the
democratic forces of the Black community, together with my supporters in
the Green Party, organizers of the Reconstruction Party, and most
especially Katrina survivors - to mobilize specifically around these three
Articles.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, one thing we have learned through
Barack Obama's success in capturing the Democratic Party nomination - when
everyone knows Hillary Clinton had been anointed by the Democratic Party
apparatus - is that the People, when they mobilize at the grassroots, can
"flip the script" on the Power Structure.

This past Monday, backed up by the sustained pressure of a persistent mass
movement for impeachment, Dennis Kucinich succeeded in "flipping the
script" on the House Democratic leadership, and now the Articles of
Impeachment are before the Judiciary Committee - precisely the result that
the impeachment movement has been fighting for over the last five years!

Today we find that the ball is back in our court. It's up to the People
now to "flip the script" once again. A massive grassroots movement of the
People must coalesce very quickly, which can move Chairman Conyers and the
House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on H.Res. 1258.

I call upon all the forces of the Black movement nationwide - whether they
currently support my presidential bid or the candidacy of Senator Obama,
along with all my Green and Reconstructionist supporters, Katrina
survivors and their supporters, the election protection movement, and all
progressive forces - to organize a mass mobilization to push the House
Judiciary Committee to move on the 35 Articles of Impeachment, with an
explicit emphasis on the Black demands for fairness, equality and justice
as laid out in Articles 28, 29 and 31.

I propose that all these social movements immediately combine in their
local Congressional districts to organize street demonstrations, send
delegations to their Congress members, and take any and all other steps
necessary, including the formation of ad-hoc action committees, to
publicize Articles 28, 29 and 31 and convince their representatives to co-
sponsor H.Res. 1258. Time is of the essence, brothers and sisters; it's
necessary that we all swing into motion now.

Such efforts must especially focus on our Black members of Congress. Most
important, activists in districts represented by the Black members of the
House Judiciary Committee must most energetically target their
representatives: Chairman John Conyers of Detroit; Bobby Scott of
Richmond, Virginia; Mel Watt of Western North Carolina; Sheila Jackson-Lee
of Houston; Maxine Waters of Los Angeles; my own distinguished successor
in office, Hank Johnson of Atlanta; Luis GutiƩrrez of Chicago; Artur
Davis of Black-Belt Alabama; and Keith Ellison of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

In the coming days and weeks, I will be announcing some concrete steps I
intend to take to assist in the development of the mass movement it will
take to ensure that accountability and justice are imposed upon the
lawless Bush gang. Immediately, I am instructing my campaign staff to
assist by setting up internet resources through my campaign website,
RunCynthiaRun.org, that will be useful to local activists in conducting
their organizing.

We have seen in this very election cycle how the mobilized masses, with
Black America as their indispensable animating force, can "flip the
script" on the Powers That Be. The time is now for us to do it again.

Keep the faith, my beautiful, powerful People!

To read more of Cynthia McKinney's writings, please visit
www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com.


--------21 of 22--------

An Animosity to Civil Liberties
John Yoo, Totalitarian
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
CounterPunch
June 20, 2008

John Yoo stands outside the Anglo-American legal tradition.  His views
lead to self-incrimination wrung out of a victim by torture.  He believes
a president of the US can initiate war, even on false pretenses, and then
use the war he starts as cover for depriving US citizens of habeas corpus
protection.  A US attorney general informed by Yoo's memos even went so
far as to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Constitution does
not provide habeas corpus protection to US citizens.

Yoo's animosity to US civil liberties made him a logical choice for
appointment to the Bush Regime's Department of Justice (sic), but his
appointment as a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley,
shatters that university's liberal image.

Habeas corpus is a centuries-old British legal reform that stopped
authorities from arbitrarily throwing a person into a dungeon and leaving
him there forever without presenting charges in a court of law.  Without
this protection, there can be no liberty.

Yoo is especially adamant that "enemy combatants" have no rights to
challenge the legality of their detentions by US authorities before a
federal judge. Yoo would have us believe that the detainees at Guantanamo,
for example, are all terrorists who were attacking Americans.  Nothing
could be further from the truth.

The question is whether any of the detainees are "enemy combatants".  Yoo
would have it so because the president says it is so.  As the president
has already decided, what is the sense of presenting evidence to a judge?
For Yoo, accusation by the executive branch is the determination of guilt.

But what we know about the detainees is that many are hapless individuals
who were captured by warlords and sold to the Americans for the bounty
that the US government offered for "terrorists".

Some of the other detainees could be Taliban who were engaged in an Afghan
civil war that had nothing whatsoever to do with the US.  The Taliban were
not fighting the US until the US invaded Afghanistan and began attacking
the Taliban.  This would make Taliban detainees prisoners of war captured
by invading US troops.  How POWs can be tortured, denied Geneva
Conventions protections, and tried by military tribunals without the US
government being in violation of US and international law is inexplicable.

Suppose you were a traveling businessman grabbed by a tribe and sold to
the Americans.  Would you consider it just to be detained in Gitmo,
undergoing whatever abuse is dished out, for 5 or 6 years of your life, or
forever, without your family knowing what has become of you?

Among the most appalling injustices was that inflicted on John Walker
Lindh, an American citizen who, like Americans of a previous generation
who fought in the Spanish Civil War, was fighting for the Taliban in the
Afghan civil war against the Northern Alliance.  Suddenly the Americans
entered the Afghan civil war on the side of the Northern Alliance.  Lindh
was captured and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

This kind of punishment is a new form of tyranny.  It is not law, and it
is not justice.

Lindh had no opportunity to withdraw once the US entered on the opposite
side. The only point of treating Lindh as if he were some dangerous
traitor was to demonstrate that American citizens can be treated to a
Kafka-type experience and have the American public accept it.

Yoo stands for the maximum amount of injustice, illegality and
unconstitutionality that can be committed in the name of the national
security state.

No American security was at stake in Afghanistan or in Iraq, and none is
at stake in Iran today.  The Bush Regime may be creating security problems
for Americans in the future by fomenting hatred of Americans among
Muslims.  This security problem is insignificant compared to the threat to
our liberty and freedom posed by John Yoo and his Republican Federalist
Society colleagues who are committed to tyranny in the name of "energy in
the executive".

Writing on the Wall Street Journal editorial page on June 17, Yoo
denounced the five Supreme Court justices who defended the US Constitution
against arbitrary "energy in the executive".

Yoo believes that the Constitution and liberty rank below "the nation's
security".  Fortunately, Yoo wrote, a fix is at hand.  "The advancing age
of several justices. means that President McCain can give us more judges
like Roberts (no relation) and Alito who will make certain that mere civil
liberties don't get in the way of arbitrary executive power justified by
national security".

In a Yoo-McCain regime, the terrorists you will have to fear are those in
your own government, against whom you will have no protection whatsoever.

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


--------22 of 22--------

 Nancy Pelosi:
 "Off the table: you name it!
 On it: me! Enjoy!"

 Bush: "I love when the
 only thing on the table
 is Nancy. Bring it on!"

 Nancy and George on
 the table, deep intertwined.
 Yes George! Yes Nancy!

 In nine months we will
 see the newest version of
 Rosemary's Baby.

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