Progressive Calendar 04.25.11
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 03:15:09 -0700 (PDT)
              P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R   04.25.11

1. Climate/lunch   4.25 12noon
2. Honduras        4.25 1pm
3. LatAm justice   4.25 2pm
4. Anti-nuke       4.25 5pm/7pm
5. Peace walk      4.25 6pm RiverFalls WI
6. Sock the GOP    4.25 6:30pm

7. Salon/poetry    4.26 6:30pm
8. Transition Town 4.26 6:30pm

9. Ralph Nader   - Stripmining American jobs - is this patriotic?
10. Shamus Cooke - Deep collusion: the fake budget debate in DC

--------1 of 10--------

From: Wanda Ballentine <wsb70 [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Climate/lunch 4.25 12noon

Sierra Club -- North Star Chapter
Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet

The University will be hosting input sessions to hear from
students and faculty on which energy and carbon reduction solutions the
campus should prioritize.
Come to the input session on Monday to tell the University to get off of
coal.

Here are the details:
University Students, Faculty, Staff and Alumni
Climate Action Plan Input Sessions
Monday, April 25 from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Coffman Union Room 325
Questions: Contact Courtney Dowell at <mailto:dowe0031 [at] umn.edu>dowe0031 
[at] umn.edu

Let us know we can count on you to come and tell the university we need to
move beyond coal as soon as feasibly possible if we're serious about
sustainability.

<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=xWPjiDSNj7z7ETBjcWbfcw..>RSVP
now for the climate action input
session<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=xWPjiDSNj7z7ETBjcWbfcw..>.

Need another reason to come to an input session? Lunch is provided!
Joshua Low Sierra Club North Star Chapter

P.S. Have a Monday class? There will be a second input session on
Tuesday, April 26 from 2-4 p.m. in Carlson School of Management
Building L118. If you plan on going on Tuesday, contact Courtney at
<mailto:dowe0031 [at] umn.edu>dowe0031 [at] umn.edu, so we can give you a few
talking points.


--------2 of 10--------

From: Joseph Callahan <joepfaucal [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Honduras 4.25 1pm

Gerardo Torres, Leader of the Honduran National Front of Popular
Resistance (FNRP) Coordinator, U.S. and Canada relations

Minneapolis Community and Technical College
Friday, April 25, 1:00pm, Science Building, Room 1120
1501 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis

Honduran workers are still under attack following the 2009 U.S.-backed
coup.  Hear a leader of the resistance movement describe the continuing
repression against teachers and campesinos as they ffight back against the
oligarchy and its military, police and shadowy death squads.

All events are free and open to the public:
for more information : 612-702-5637
handsoffhonduras [at] gmail.com
HondurasFreedom.blogspot.com


--------3 of 10--------

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: LatAm justice 4.25 2pm

A Talk by Baltasar Garzon: "Universal Jurisdiction and International
Justice: An Inseparable Reality?"
Monday, April 25, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. University of Minnesota, Mondale Hall,
Room 25,229 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis.

Baltasar Garzon, an investigating magistrate of the Spanish National
Court, came to international attention in 1998 when he issued an
international warrant for the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet on human rights charges. He has also presided over human rights
cases against Argentine and Chilean military leaders and worked to unearth
crimes committed during the Franco era in Spain. Sponsored by: European
Studies Consortium, Spanish & Portuguese, Humphrey Institute of Public
Affairs, Global Studies, Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global
Change (ICGC), Law School, Human Rights Program, Global Programs and
Strategy Alliance. FFI: Email esc [at] umn.edu or call 612-625-6527.


--------4 of 10--------

From: Christine Frank <christinefrank [at] visi.com>
Subject: Anti-nuke 4.25 5pm/7pm

anti-nuke protest no more nukes- not now, not ever!
hell no, we won't glow!
shut down prairie island & monticello!
save mother earth with
clean, renewable, non-radioactive energy!

monday, april 25, 5:00 pm
plaza
mayday books 301 cedar avenue south west bank, minneapolis

the next 3ctc environmental forum
"from three mile island to chernobyl to japan- no more nukes!"
april 26th is the 25th anniversary of the chernobyl nuclear disaster

speakers:
john laforge nuclear researcher & staff member of nukewatch quarterly
christine frank coordiantor of the climate crisis coalition of the twin
cities

monday, april 25, 7:00 pm
mayday books
301 cedar avenue south
west bank, minneapolis
sponsored by the climate crisis coalition of the twin cities

For over a month since the 9.0 megaquake and tsunami that struck Northeast
Japan, three nuclear reactors have been melting down and leaking
radioactive isotopes, endangering the Japanese people as well as the rest
of the world with dangerous radioactive fallout in the atmosphere, ocean
and soil. The situation in Japan has been continually out of control and
is slipping ever further away as the temporary contract workers, whose
lives are being sacrificed, have struggled unsuccessfully to get the
stricken plant's cooling systems back on line.  The facility is in its
death throes and TEPCO, the reckless and greedy utility that owns it, has
admitted that its badly crippled reactors eventually will be scrapped.

TEPCO acknowledged this week that it could take nine months to get the
plant into cold shutdown, assuming that setbacks will not delay the
process, and there have been plenty of those already.  They must still
pump out 18.5 million gallons of contaminated water from turbine buildings
and nearby trenches before they can get the cooling systems back up &
running.  Because of widespread damage to the containments, storage pools,
and pipes, enormous amounts of radioactive water are leaking everywhere
and entering the sea, threatening marine ecosystems and the people, who
depend upon the fisheries.  One of Japan's most important farming regions
is being completely irradiated.  An ionizing plume has encircled Earth
from the release of radioactive steam, three hydrogen explosions and a
fire, putting everyone at risk for cancer and threatening unborn fetuses
with birth deformities.

We cannot afford to allow the capitalist system to play this deadly game
of nuclear roulette with human lives and the biosphere, which as we know
from the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster of 1986, will lose a tremendous amount
of biodiversity.  It is essential that we voice our opposition to this
absurdly expensive and deadly form of energy, which threatens the health
of the entire planet. There can be no such thing as "Atoms for Peace".
That is a lie.  Every dose of radiation is an overdose.  There are no safe
levels of exposure to mutagenic, carcinogenic ionizing radiation that
penetrates living tissue and alters chromosomes, whatever its
form-Iodine-131, Cesium-137 or Plutonium-239.  Plus, the radioactive waste
from the nuclear cycle will remain on the planet affecting life for
thousands of generations in perpetuity.  Because of the extremely long
half-lives of some radioactive isotopes, there is virtually no "away".
Radiation is forever.  There is nothing "green" about nukes since every
stage in the nuclear cycle is highly energy-intensive and generates
greenhouse gases with the sole exception of the fission process used to
heat water for steam.  There is no need for this nuclear madness when we
can harness the benign energy produced through nuclear fusion by the sun,
using the clean technologies we already have at our disposal-wind turbines
& solar arrays.  We must demand that they shut down all nuclear reactors,
whether they are on earthquake fault lines or not, and begin the lengthy
process of decommissioning them immediately. That includes those at
Prairie Island and Monticello.  Both of these nuclear power stations are
aging and dilapidated, yet the government has seen fit to extend their
licenses and allow increased output, while the radioactive wastes continue
to pile up with no solution for safe storage.  ENOUGH OF THIS INSANITY!
END THE NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE NOW!

[On the other hand, the ruling class needs new longer spiffier yachts,
second and third vacation mansions, and more more-servile servants.  Who
will win? -ed]


--------5 of 10--------

From: Nancy Holden <d.n.holden [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Peace walk 4.25 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


--------6 of 10--------

From: Hilary Debler <hdebler [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Sock the GOP 4.25 6:30pm

I just learned the GOP leaders in the Eagan area are holding a town hall
meeting at Wescott Library at 6:30pm on Monday the 25th. Let's ask them
about their morality and the job losses created with their plan to cut
medical care for our citizens who need it.


--------7 of 10--------

From: patty <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Salon/poetry 4.26 6:30pm

HI, This Tuesday, April 26, Media Mike (Mike Hazzard) is going to show
us his video of Roy McBride, A Poet's Poet.  It is a word ride of Roy,
and he says it was  labor of love videotaping him since 1986.  He
calls the labor and the video, "The Joy of Roy."

And, don't forget to read the Little Book of the Odd Month Club for
the last Tuesday of May.  Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
(the book reminds me of the new law being passed in Bolivia giving
Nature equal rights with humans.)

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.


--------8 of 10--------

From: "aleric [at] tcq.net" <aleric [at] tcq.net>
Subject: Transition Town 4.26 6:30pm

Northeast Minneapolis Library
Tuesday, April 26th
2200 Central Ave NE
6:30 - 8:00 P.M.

Can Minneapolis (and neighboring communities) not only survive Climate
Change and Peak Oil, but adapt and thrive? The Transition Town movement
thinks so - learn more about it from Tim Jordan and discuss possible plans
of action with fellow Greens.
(And see the newly remodeled Northeast Library.)

First in a series of local issue discussions sponsored by the 5th CD Green
Party of Minnesota. Everyone welcome,


--------9 of 10--------

Is This Patriotic?
Stripmining American Jobs
By RALPH NADER
April 22 - 24, 2011
CounterPunch

It is time to apply the standard of patriotism to the U.S. multinational
corporations and demand that they pledge allegiance to the United States
and "the Republic for which is stands.. with liberty and justice for all."
This July 4, 2011 would be good day for Americans to demand such a
corporate commitment.

Born and chartered in the U.S.A., these corporations rose to their giant
size on the backs of American workers and vast taxpayer-subsidized
research and development handouts. When they got into trouble, whether
through mismanagement or corruption, these companies rushed to Washington,
D.C. for bailouts from American taxpayers. When some were challenged in
foreign lands, the U.S. marines came to their rescue, as depicted decades
ago by two-time Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Marine General
Smedley Butler.

So what is their message to America and its workers now? It is not
gratitude or loyalty. It is "we're outta here, with your jobs and
industries" to dictatorial or oligarchic regimes abroad, such as China,
that know how to keep their impoverished, and abused workers under
control.

Note that these company bosses have no compunction replacing U.S. workers
with serf-labor, but they never replace themselves with bi-lingual
executives from China, India and elsewhere who are willing to work for
one-tenth or less of the huge pay packages executives get from their
rubber-stamp boards of directors in the U.S.

Just this week, the Wall Street Journal headlined "Big U.S. Firms Shift
Hiring Abroad." Veteran reporter, David Wessel writes:

"U.S. multinational corporations, the big brand-name companies that employ
a fifth of all American workers, have been hiring abroad while cutting
back at home, sharpening the debate over globalization's effect on the
U.S. economy. The companies cut their work forces in the U.S. by 2.9
million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4
million, new data from the U.S. Commerce Department show."

While Mr. Wessel acknowledges that other economies, especially in Asia,
are growing rapidly, he noted that "The data also underscore the
vulnerability of the U.S. economy, particularly at a time when
unemployment is high and wages aren't increasing."

Keep in mind that, while receiving all the public services, subsidies and
protections in this country, large corporations have been abandoning
America by shifting jobs overseas and by making our country perilously and
unnecessarily dependent on foreign governments that naturally put their
own interests first.

For example, the drug companies no longer have any plant in the U.S. to
manufacture essential raw ingredients for important antibiotics like
penicillin. In 2004, Bristol-Myers Squibb closed the last such factory in
East Syracuse, N.Y. The drug industry always made lots of money here. One
of every two Americans are on a prescription medicine. But the
pharmaceutical companies want to make more so they have moved their
production to Asia.

In 2009, The New York Times reported that "the critical ingredients for
most antibiotics are now made almost exclusively in China and India. The
same is true for dozens of other crucial medicines, including the popular
allergy medicine prednisone; metformin, for diabetes; and amlodipine, for
high blood pressure.

This flight to Asia raises serious questions. Senator Sherrod Brown (Dem.
Ohio) held hearings because he accurately believed that "the lack of
regulation around outsourcing is a blind spot that leaves room for supply
disruptions, counterfeit medicines, even bioterrorism."

Industrial scale production of Penicillin was developed by the U.S. war
production board in World War II and many drug companies made it in U.S.
plants, until the Chinese government lured the industry there with many
freebies and weak safety regulations. A few years ago 95 Americans died
from a Chinese produced counterfeit ingredient in the drug heparin, an
anticlotting drug needed for surgery and dialysis.

As Belgium drug industry consultant, Enrico Polastro, told The New York
Times: "If China ever got very upset with President Obama, it could be a
big problem." The Times concluded: "So for now, like it or not, China has
the upper hand."

Who gave China that dominant position? U.S. multinational drug companies,
who along with other big U.S. companies, pushed through Congress, with
Bill Clinton's support, ratification of both NAFTA's and the World Trade
Organization's "pull down" trade agreements. They created the very
globalized structure that they now claim they are beholden to in order to
meet the global competition. Clever, aren't they?

Other unpatriotic acts include the oil companies who, despite being given
a rich oil depletion tax allowance to invest in energy in the U.S.,
invested in oil production overseas. The U.S. is now dependent on foreign
sources for most of its petroleum. Don't forget the military-industrial
giants that thrive on U.S. military expansion abroad and sell modern
weapons to many dictatorial regimes which they use to oppress their people
and endanger our own national security.

U.S. multinationals that export jobs abroad, show too little regard for
our country, or to the U.S. communities that sustained them for decades.
Greedy corporate lobbyists continue to press for more privileges and
immunities, over those held by real humans, so as to be less accountable
under U.S. law for corporate crimes and other mis-behaviors.

If U.S. companies continue to expand their rights of personhood through
U.S. Supreme Court's political decisions (eg. the latest being the
notorious 5 to 4 Citizens United case opening up the floodgates of
corporate cash against or for electoral candidates), then, they should be
judged as "persons" and evaluated for their loyalty to their country of
creation.

Since corporations are clearly "artificial" entities and not real human
beings, narrower civil liberties standards can be applied to the
impersonal and massive concentrations of power, capital and technology
known as corporations

Independence Day July 4th presents an opportunity for a national attention
to the need for calling out these runaway corporate giants who exploit for
profit the patriotic sensibilities of Americans, but decline to be held
any patriotic expectations or values.

Readers interested in joining such an effort for July 4, 2011 contact
info [at] csrl.org.

Ralph Nader is the author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!, a novel.


--------10 of 10--------

Deep Collusion
The Fake Budget Debate in DC
By SHAMUS COOKE
April 22 - 24, 2011
CounterPunch

By definition, a "debate" requires two opposing sides holding mutually
exclusive opinions. In the U.S. Congress, however, real debate has all but
vanished. Instead, we are subjected to endless blather that - if you
listen closely - is a simple discussion over splitting hairs.

There can be no U.S. budget debate when both sides have already agreed
that massive cuts to social programs - including Medicare and Social
Security - will be the foundation of any plan.

With this fundamental agreement already in place, Democrats and
Republicans are pathetically trying to create a division where none
exists. The right wing looks especially foolish, since Obama has been
furiously sprinting to the political right throughout the budget "debate,"
having already overtaken the right-wing deficit hawks; in response, the
hawks have gotten more hawkish and restarted their rightward dash in a
desperate attempt to appear in "opposition" to the right-wing President.

For example, the Republicans originally demanded that an astonishing $4
trillion be cut from the U.S. budget, mainly through cuts to social
programs. Not to be outdone, Obama presented a plan that would cut $4
trillion, mainly through cuts to social programs. The furthest right are
the so-called Tea Party Republicans, who want to cut $10 trillion by
essentially privatizing the entire U.S. Government.

But, back to the hair splitting. Obama calls the $4 trillion Republican
plan "radical," and he's right; the plan seeks to privatize Medicare,
destroy Medicaid, gut other social programs, lower corporate tax rates,
etc.

But Obama is a radical budget cutter too; he seeks to gut
Medicare/Medicaid by $480 billion(!), slash spending for many crucial
programs for the poor, and privatize public education through his
corporate-sponsored Race to the Top program.

Obama is trying to make his plan seem progressive by talking about "taxing
the rich," but this is a lie. Finally allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to
expire is not "taxing the rich" (Bush himself planned for the cuts to have
expired already, but Obama agreed to extend them.)

Obama's recent tough speech against the Republicans was the first sign of
life for the President, just in time for him to begin his presidential run
for 2012, which will surely be full of promises that will never see the
light of day.

As the President wages a "battle" over secondary budget issues, such as
how best to make $4 trillion in cuts, the main issues are already agreed
upon. Economist Richard Reich helps explain:

"...the Democratic leadership in Congress refuse to refute the
Republicans' big lie - that spending cuts will lead to more jobs. In fact,
spending cuts now will lead to fewer jobs. They'll slow down an
already-anemic recovery. That will cause immense and unnecessary suffering
for millions of Americans"

"The president continues to legitimize the Republican claim that too much
government spending caused the economy to tank, and that by cutting back
spending we'll get the economy going again." (April 10, 2011).

This two-party big lie is not an accident, but an expression of a deeper
held belief: that the U.S. government must be directed to meet the needs
of the super wealthy who own U.S. corporations. Holding this belief
requires that you gut social programs (since corporations hate paying
taxes) and privatize everything publicly owned (so corporations can own
them for profit).

As long as both Democrats and Republicans agree to these deeper beliefs,
the country will shift continually to the right, with social programs and
living standards evaporating. However, the stronger that labor and
community groups unite and fight to save these social programs, the harder
will it be to cut them; out of such a struggle will emerge practical
solutions to solving the deficit problems of the country, such as
dramatically increasing the taxes on the rich and corporations so that
jobs can be created and social programs saved.

Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for
Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org) He can be reached at
shamuscooke [at] gmail.com


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

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