Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 04.27.11

[David Shove (shove001]

             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R   04.27.11

1. Alliant vigil  4.27 7am
2. Energy/peace   4.27 8am
3. Clean energy   4.27 12noon
4. Rally vs Fed   4.27 4:30pm
5. Vs Libya war   4.27 5pm
6. Gitmo/Cuba     4.27 6pm
7. Peace readings 4.27 7pm
8. Justice/Lane   4.27 7pm
9. Vs monoculture 4.27 7pm

10. Chris Hedges - The corporate state wins again

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

From: AlliantACTION <alliantaction [at] circlevision.org>
Subject: Alliant vigil 4.27 7am

Join us Wednesday morning, 7-8 am
Now in our 14th year of consecutive Wednesday
morning vigils outside Alliant Techsystems,
7480 Flying Cloud Drive Eden Prairie.
We ask Who Profit$? Who Dies?
directions and lots of info: alliantACTION.org


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

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Energy/peace 4.27 8am

Breakfast Meeting: Peacemaking with Energy
Wednesday, April 27, 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. The African Development Center,
1931 South 5th Street, Minneapolis.

Christina Mills, from the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
(IEER), will update us on her work and the work of IEER on energy issues
at the state and federal levels - and on how critical the discussion of
energy is to the creation of peace. IEER has a number of areas of focus,
including the promotion of a fully renewable electricity sector in
Minnesota and the Midwest. Christina will provide an overview of all of
IEER's work, followed by time for questions and discussion. Sponsored by:
People of Faith Peacemakers. FFI: Call Eleanor, 763-784-5177.


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

From: Joan Vanhala <joan [at] metrostability.org>
Subject: Clean energy 4.27 12noon

Alliance for Metropolitan Stability Organizer Roundtable:
Metro Clean Energy Resource Team
https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/322/personalopt1.asp?formid=event&c=3791399

Many Twin Cities neighborhood groups, community organizations and other
metro-area residents are currently engaged in local clean energy efforts.
Metro Clean Energy Resource Team (CERT) helps connect, provide support
for, and increase the effectiveness of these local efforts in conducting
community energy projects.

The 2007 Minnesota Legislature called for the creation of a Twin Cities
Metro CERT Network. Since this time, Metro CERT has been building
relationships with communities and affiliate groups and supporting clean
energy projects across the eleven-county metro region.

Organizer Roundtable: Metro Clean Energy Resource Team
Noon - 1:30 pm
Wednesday, April 27
Rondo Community Outreach Library, St. Paul

Presenters:
 Diana McKeown, Metro CERT director
 Sam Hanson, sustainable development manager, East Side Neighborhood
Development Corporation
 Will Delaney, real estate specialist, Hope Community

Join in the Alliance for this Organizer Roundtable discussion on how to
build a sustainable future by increasing your community's active
adoption of energy conservation initiatives and renewable energy
resources.

Organizer Roundtables are free but registration is required. Please
register at:
https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/322/personalopt1.asp?formid=event&c=3791399

Light snacks will be provided. Feel free to bring your lunch!

Joan Vanhala Coalition Organizer Alliance for Metropolitan Stability 2525
E Franklin Avenue, Suite 200 Minneapolis, MN 55406 612-332-4471
joan [at] metrostability.org


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

From: sclickace1 [at] aol.com
Subject: Rally vs Fed 4.27 4:30pm

April 27th Rally Against the Fed
Why: An immediate response to April 27th's press conference being held by
Fed. Reserves Chairman Ben Bernanke
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 4:30 PM
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis 90 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN

April 27th marks the next date of a press conference by the Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (re: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42362299). In
response to Bernanke's press conference, End the Fed Minneapolis will also
host our own press conference and rally on April 27th to counter the
propaganda the Fed puts out.

We'll also take advantage of rush hour traffic in that area to continue to
raise awareness of reasons why we should end the fed.

Date: Wednesday, April 27th
Time: 4:30pm (start gathering/sign-waving) - 5pm (rally/our own press
conference)
Where: Outside the Minneapolis Federal Reserve
90 Hennepin Ave - Minneapolis, MN
What to bring: signs, chalk, whatever you got


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

From: Women Against Military Madness <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Vs Libya war 4.27 5pm

Lake Street Bridge Vigil Focus: U.S./NATO Military Intervention in Libya
Wednesday, April 27, 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Peace
Bridge spanning the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Banner and vigil to end the U.S./NATO military intervention in Libya. Make
no mistake about it. This is not for humanitarian reasons. It is for
Libya's oil and its strategic location in the Middle East and North Africa
which has been rocked with popular uprisings. It is urgent to demonstrate
against this costly and deadly intervention which is escalating. English
and French troops will soon enter Libya. The call by Obama, Sarkozy and
Cameron for regime change moves far beyond the ill conceived "no fly zone"
resolution passed by the U.N. and can only lead to more death and
destruction for the Libyan people. Hands Off Libya! End the Bombing!
Troops Out Now! Sponsored by: the Twin Cities Peace Campaign, the Anti-War
Committee and WAMM. FFI: Call 612-827-5364.


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

From: sclickace1 [at] aol.com
From: Minnesota Cuba Committee <mncuba [at] minnesotacubacommittee.org>
Subject: Adios Gitmo/Cuba 4.27 6pm

Adios Guantanamo
Wednesday, April 27
William Mitchell College of Law Auditorium

Panel discussion on the past, present, and future of Cuba and Guantanamo
Bay - and a celebration of Cuban culture

6-7 pm
Panel discussion featuring
 · Gary Prevost, a political science professor at the College of St.
Benedict/St. John's
University and an internationally respected expert on Cuba, and
 · Esteban Morales, a professor of political economy at the University of
Havana.
7-10 pm
Traditional Cuban dinner, dancing, and drinks

RSVP to melissa.richard [at] wmitchell.edu
Learn more at wmitchell.edu/national-security-forum


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

From: Nancy Nielsen <nancywriter [at] visi.com>
Subject: Peace readings 4.27 7pm

PEACE BEGINS
A reading by the Loft's Peace and Social Justice Writers Group
April 27, 2011

Minneapolis, MN - Members of the Loft's Peace and Social Justice Writers
Group will celebrate the publication of their first chapbook, Peace
Begins, and give a reading on Wednesday, April 27, 7:00-8:00 p.m., at the
Loft Literary Center, Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave.  S., Minneapolis.

Members of the group will showcase pieces written and shared within the
group and published in the chapbook titled Peace Begins. The essays and
poetry touch on past experiences, current thoughts, and future intentions,
including the peace of place and time and reflections on change. Plan to
mingle with the writers afterwards and munch on treats. Copies of Peace
Begins will be on sale before and after the event for $6.00.

How does peace begin? Peace begins when thoughts of peace are put to the
pen and discussed in an atmosphere of honest and open communication. Peace
begins when a small group of people shares their thoughts of peace with
others. Peace begins when it blooms within each individual heart.

The Dalai Lama has stated, "We cannot achieve world peace without first
achieving peace within ourselves inner peace. In an atmosphere of hatred,
anger, competition, and violence, no lasting peace can be achieved. These
negative and destructive forces must be overcome by compassion, love, and
altruism"

The Loft's Peace and Social Justice Writers Group consciously explores the
nature of peace, and through its activities aims to renew and maintain a
sense of hope for the future. We gather monthly, and by sharing our
writing and discussing works by writers who inspire and move us toward
action, we endeavor to refine our talents and use our creative craft to
promote peace and sustainable justice in our world.

The Loft's Peace and Social Justice Writers Group continues to meet and is
open to all experience levels and writing genres and meets the fourth
Wednesday of the month (January through October), 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Open
Book's "Book Club Room." The group welcomes all to join us as we gather at
the crossroads of peace, creativity and imagination. For more information,
write us at loftpeacewriters [at] gmail.com.

Please join us on April 27th at the Loft Literary Center as we gather
together to explore and celebrate peace and social justice.


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

From: lydiahowell [at] comcast.net
Subject: Justice/Lane 4.27 7pm

The concept of Justice Is at The Core of the American Promise - how well
are we keeping that promise?

Come and find out - Durng an Evening With Jeremy Lane

 who is a champion for the poor, for the disadvantaged, and for those who
seek access to justice.For 40 years Jeremy has been with Mid-Minnesota
Legal Assistance (Legal Aid) and its director for 30 years. Jeremy has
been bringing justice to Minnesota's most vulnerable citizens. He and his
organization:
 *Make it easier for a victim of domestic violence to escape their abuser.
 *Promoted legislation to keep Minnesota families in their homes by
protecting them from predatory lenders
 *Kept Minnesota seniors from losing their access to public
transportation.
Please come to hear Jeremy speak.and engage in a conversation with him.

Wed. April 27th, 2011 7:00pm-8:30pm
Southdale Library, 7001 York Ave. S. Edina: Ethel Barry Room

Sponsored by Precincts 17 & 18 in Senate District 41
Questions? Call Arnie Bigbee, 952 831 3508.


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

From: MARS Collective <radspacetc [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Vs monoculture 4.27 7pm

Wednesday, April 27, 7pm: Dismantling Monoculture
joined by the Root Force collective
Walker Community Church, 3104 16th Ave S., Minneapolis
(near bus routes 14 and 21)

Featuring the Beehive's first two works in our trilogy about globalization
in the Americas' the Free Trade Area of the Americas and Plan Colombia
graphic campaigns - the Dismantling Monoculture picture-lecture weaves
together images and stories from the past 10 years of our work. With two
giant illustrated portable murals, a six foot tall fabric storybook, and
an engaging narrative, the Bees take audiences on an interactive visual
tour of the connections between colonization, militarization, and resource
extraction disguised as "industrial development."

The result is a compelling and inspirational tale of struggle and resistance
in this era of immense change. Dismantling Monoculture grows and evolves
with each telling, as we all carry these histories within our own lived
experience. The Bees hope to share and seek stories about how these themes
manifest in our daily lives and what people do to resist and regenerate.

The presentation will also include previews and updates from Mesoamerica
Resiste, the final epic chapter in the trilogy, our most ambitious and
elaborate illustration to date - seven years in the making and nearly
hatched!  To learn more, visit:
http://www.beehivecollective.org/english/ppp.htm

The Beehive Collective will be joined for this presentation by Root Force,
a strategic campaign designed to exploit weak points in the global economy
and hasten the system's collapse. Read more about Root Force at
http://www.rootforce.org.


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

The Corporate State Wins Again
by Chris Hedges
Monday, April 25, 2011
TruthDig.com

When did our democracy die? When did it irrevocably transform itself into
a lifeless farce and absurd political theater? When did the press, labor,
universities and the Democratic Party - which once made piecemeal and
incremental reform possible - wither and atrophy? When did reform through
electoral politics become a form of magical thinking? When did the dead
hand of the corporate state become unassailable?

The body politic was mortally wounded during the long, slow strangulation
of ideas and priorities during the Red Scare and the Cold War. Its bastard
child, the war on terror, inherited the iconography and language of
permanent war and fear. The battle against internal and external enemies
became the excuse to funnel trillions in taxpayer funds and government
resources to the war industry, curtail civil liberties and abandon social
welfare. Skeptics, critics and dissenters were ridiculed and ignored. The
FBI, Homeland Security and the CIA enforced ideological conformity. Debate
over the expansion of empire became taboo. Secrecy, the anointing of
specialized elites to run our affairs and the steady intrusion of the
state into the private lives of citizens conditioned us to totalitarian
practices. Sheldon Wolin points out in "Democracy Incorporated" that this
configuration of corporate power, which he calls "inverted
totalitarianism," is not like "Mein Kampf" or "The Communist Manifesto,"
the result of a premeditated plot. It grew, Wolin writes, from "a set of
effects produced by actions or practices undertaken in ignorance of their
lasting consequences".

Corporate capitalism - because it was trumpeted throughout the Cold War as
a bulwark against communism - expanded with fewer and fewer government
regulations and legal impediments. Capitalism was seen as an unalloyed
good. It was not required to be socially responsible. Any impediment to
its growth, whether in the form of trust-busting, union activity or
regulation, was condemned as a step toward socialism and capitulation.
Every corporation is a despotic fiefdom, a mini-dictatorship. And by the
end Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs had grafted their totalitarian
structures onto the state.

The Cold War also bequeathed to us the species of the neoliberal. The
neoliberal enthusiastically embraces "national security" as the highest
good.  The neoliberal - composed of the gullible and cynical careerists -
parrots back the mantra of endless war and corporate capitalism as an
inevitable form of human progress. Globalization, the neoliberal assures
us, is the route to a worldwide utopia. Empire and war are vehicles for
lofty human values. Greg Mortenson, the disgraced author of "Three Cups of
Tea," tapped into this formula. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of
innocents in Iraq or Afghanistan are ignored or dismissed as the cost of
progress. We are bringing democracy to Iraq, liberating and educating the
women of Afghanistan, defying the evil clerics in Iran, ridding the world
of terrorists and protecting Israel. Those who oppose us do not have
legitimate grievances. They need to be educated. It is a fantasy. But to
name our own evil is to be banished.

We continue to talk about personalities - Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton,
George W. Bush and Barack Obama - although the heads of state or elected
officials in Congress have become largely irrelevant. Lobbyists write the
bills. Lobbyists get them passed. Lobbyists make sure you get the money to
be elected. And lobbyists employ you when you get out of office. Those who
hold actual power are the tiny elite who manage the corporations. Jacob S.
Hacker and Paul Pierson, in their book "Winner-Take-All Politics," point
out that the share of national income of the top 0.1 percent of Americans
since 1974 has grown from 2.7 to 12.3 percent. One in six American workers
may be without a job. Some 40 million Americans may live in poverty, with
tens of millions more living in a category called "near poverty". Six
million people may be forced from their homes because of foreclosures and
bank repossessions. But while the masses suffer, Goldman Sachs, one of the
financial firms most responsible for the evaporation of $17 trillion in
wages, savings and wealth of small investors and shareholders, is giddily
handing out $17.5 billion in compensation to its managers, including $12.6
million to its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein.

The massive redistribution of wealth, as Hacker and Pierson write,
happened because lawmakers and public officials were, in essence, hired to
permit it to happen. It was not a conspiracy. The process was transparent.
It did not require the formation of a new political party or movement. It
was the result of inertia by our political and intellectual class, which
in the face of expanding corporate power found it personally profitable to
facilitate it or look the other way. The armies of lobbyists, who write
the legislation, bankroll political campaigns and disseminate propaganda,
have been able to short-circuit the electorate. Hacker and Pierson
pinpoint the administration of Jimmy Carter as the start of our descent,
but I think it began long before with Woodrow Wilson, the ideology of
permanent war and the capacity by public relations to manufacture consent.
Empires die over such long stretches of time that the exact moment when
terminal decline becomes irreversible is probably impossible to document.
That we are at the end, however, is beyond dispute.

The rhetoric of the Democratic Party and the neoliberals sustains the
illusion of participatory democracy. The Democrats and their liberal
apologists offer minor palliatives and a feel-your-pain language to mask
the cruelty and goals of the corporate state. The reconfiguration of
American society into a form of neofeudalism will be cemented into place
whether it is delivered by Democrats, who are pushing us there at 60 miles
an hour, or Republicans, who are barreling toward it at 100 miles an hour.
Wolin writes, "By fostering an illusion among the powerless classes" that
it can make their interests a priority, the Democratic Party "pacifies and
thereby defines the style of an opposition party in an inverted
totalitarian system". The Democrats are always able to offer up a
least-worst alternative while, in fact, doing little or nothing to thwart
the march toward corporate collectivism.

The systems of information, owned or dominated by corporations, keep the
public entranced with celebrity meltdowns, gossip, trivia and
entertainment. There are no national news or intellectual forums for
genuine political discussion and debate. The talking heads on Fox or MSNBC
or CNN spin and riff on the same inane statements by Sarah Palin or Donald
Trump. They give us lavish updates on the foibles of a Mel Gibson or
Charlie Sheen. And they provide venues for the powerful to speak directly
to the masses. It is burlesque.

It is not that the public does not want a good health care system,
programs that provide employment, quality public education or an end to
Wall Street's looting of the U.S. Treasury. Most polls suggest Americans
do. But it has become impossible for most citizens to find out what is
happening in the centers of power. Television news celebrities dutifully
present two opposing sides to every issue, although each side is usually
lying. The viewer can believe whatever he or she wants to believe. Nothing
is actually elucidated or explained. The sound bites by Republicans or
Democrats are accepted at face value. And once the television lights are
turned off, the politicians go back to the business of serving business.

We live in a fragmented society. We are ignorant of what is being done to
us. We are diverted by the absurd and political theater. We are afraid of
terrorism, of losing our job and of carrying out acts of dissent. We are
politically demobilized and paralyzed. We do not question the state
religion of patriotic virtue, the war on terror or the military and
security state. We are herded like sheep through airports by Homeland
Security and, once we get through the metal detectors and body scanners,
spontaneously applaud our men and women in uniform. As we become more
insecure and afraid, we become more anxious. We are driven by fiercer and
fiercer competition. We yearn for stability and protection. This is the
genius of all systems of totalitarianism. The citizen's highest hope
finally becomes to be secure and left alone.

Human history, rather than a chronicle of freedom and democracy, is
characterized by ruthless domination. Our elites have done what all elites
do. They have found sophisticated mechanisms to thwart popular
aspirations, disenfranchise the working and increasingly the middle class,
keep us passive and make us serve their interests. The brief democratic
opening in our society in the early 20th century, made possible by radical
movements, unions and a vigorous press, has again been shut tight. We were
mesmerized by political charades, cheap consumerism and virtual
hallucinations as we were ruthlessly stripped of power.

The game is over. We lost. The corporate state will continue its
inexorable advance until two-thirds of the nation is locked into a
desperate, permanent underclass. Most Americans will struggle to make a
living while the Blankfeins and our political elites wallow in the
decadence and greed of the Forbidden City and Versailles. These elites do
not have a vision. They know only one word - more.  They will continue to
exploit the nation, the global economy and the ecosystem. And they will
use their money to hide in gated compounds when it all implodes. Do not
expect them to take care of us when it starts to unravel. We will have to
take care of ourselves. We will have to create small, monastic communities
where we can sustain and feed ourselves. It will be up to us to keep alive
the intellectual, moral and culture values the corporate state has
attempted to snuff out. It is either that or become drones and serfs in a
global, corporate dystopia. It is not much of a choice. But at least we
still have one.

Copyright  2011 Truthdig, L.L.C.
 Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated
from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign
correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books,
including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should
Know About War, and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on
America.  His most recent book is Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy
and the Triumph of Spectacle.


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

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