Friday, November 11, 2005

BAUAW NEWSLETTER-FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2005

Third Anniversary of "Shock and Awe"
March 18 through 20, 2005

Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19
Locally coordinated demonstrations across the
U.S. and around the world.

Monday, March 20, 2005
Youth and Student Day of Resistance to Imperialism

http://www.answercoalition.org/

...........................................................

59.7 percent Victory for Proposition i!

Congratulations for all who worked so hard on
Proposition I. This is a real mandate from the people
of San Francisco to get the military out of our schools!

In spite of the recommendations for a no vote for
Prop. I from the Chronicle and other main-stream media,
the resolve of the voters of San Francisco is clear.
We want the troops home Now and the military
out of our schools Now!

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/election/2005nov/sanfrancisco.shtml

In solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein
Www.bauaw.org

...........................................................

Film Showing: Hablemos del Poder /Talking of Power
Produced by the Global Women's Strike, 2005.
62 minutes, in Spanish, or with English subtitles.
Sex, race and class in revolutionary Venezuela.
From the hills of Caracas to the banks of the
Orinoco, the grassroots tell how they are
changing our world.

When: 7:00 PM, Saturday, November 12, 2005

Where: 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF
(not wheelchair accessible), close the 16th Street BART.

Cost: $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed

For more information: Email sfbay@ushov.org

...........................................................

It's here!
You can look up the # of recruits by state
and county, and a wealth of other demographic
data on military enlistments here:
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173&Itemid=61

...........................................................

WHAT DOES 2000 LOOK LIKE?
(Powerful Flash Film)
http://theunitedamerican.blogs.com/Movies/2000A/2000.html

...........................................................
REQUEST FROM JON PREVITALI:
...........................................................

Short Online Survey: Visualizing the Ideal Solar Power System

Why in this time when our use of fossil fuels is causing severe
environmental degradation and war are more people not interested
in solar power even if they could afford it? What do factors such
as maintenance, ease of use and aesthetic appeal of solar power
systems also play in decision-making?

"Visualizing the Ideal Solar Power System" is an online survey done
as part of a masters project through the University of Colorado's
Building Systems Program. The survey is completely anonymous.
It usually takes about 10 minutes and you can skip any question.

http://www.glsbd.com/survey.html

............................................................

The Jkirks: Music
http://www.thejkirks.com/music-11.html

The Earnest Soldier

The Moment’s slow. Years move so fast.
I gotta run. I’ll miss my past.
Don’t wake me when its over.

The shortest story ever told.
Died so young. Born so old.
Don’t look its on my shoulder.

I won’t be back again.
Not punished for my sins.
I face eternity with at I chose to be.

I’m declaring peace today.
Better get out of my way.
Go home now the fighting’s over.

The Greatest story ever told.
A poor man’s peace beats rich man’s gold.
We’ll take it off his shoulders.

We won’t be back again.
Not punished for our sins.
We face eternity with what we chose to be.

I want to take you with me.
I’m holding you round your knees.
But I know when I go.
I go alone.

The heart beats slow. Blood flows so fast.
I could not run. I missed my past.
Woke up and now its over.

The earnest story never told.
I died so young for rich man’s gold.
Don’t look its on your shoulder.

I won’t be back again.
Not punished for my sins.
I face eternity with at I chose and what
we chose and what you chose for me.

I want to take you with me.
I’m holding you round your knees.
But I know when I go.
I go alone. I go alone. I go alone.

.............................................................

URGENT!! KENT STATE NEEDS HELP!!
Subject: [CampusAntiwarNetwork]
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 18:57:34 +0000
From: nicole robinson
Reply-To: CampusAntiwarNetwork@yahoogroups.com
To: CampusAntiwarNetwork@yahoogroups.com

I know this is the second time I am sending
out a request for help. But if
you have not yet called and/or
e-mailed KENT STATE administration PLEASE DO
SO! Today Dave Airhart (Iraq Veteran
and student at KSU) was told he will
be facing probation, suspension or expulsion!

We need to tell KENT STATE administration
that we will not allow them to
punish an Iraq Veteran for speaking
out for peace! Below are the
numbers/e-mails. Let's show them
that we are a strong antiwar movement all
around the U.S. and we will not
tolerate such actions! We have done a press
conference but need your support
as well. Attached to this e-mail is an
article that I wrote about the situation.
If you are not familiar with what
happened please read it and/or e-mail
me. NLR75@hotmail.com. Also if you
have more suggestion on what we can
be doing e-mail me. Thank-you everyone
for your solidarity.

Carol Cartwright- University President: 330.672.2210
carol.cartwright@kent.edu

Greg Jarvie- Dean of Undergraduate Students: 330.672.9494
gjarvie@kent.edu

William Ross- Executive Director of the
Undergraduate Student Senate:
330.672.3207
wross@kent.edu

...........................................................

Sisters and Brothers,
Please check out the new Mumia info and resource
guide created by ICFFMAJ.
We urge you to download it from our website at:
http://www.freemumia.com/pdfs/MumiaBooklet1.pdf

...........................................................

People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and "Low Mechanicks"
By Clifford D. Conner
Nation Books / November 2005
ISBN 1-56025-748-2 / 568 pp. / $17.95

"Revisionist history with a strong proletarian bent." -Kirkus Reviews,
October 2005

"Cliff Conner's A People's History of Science is a delightfully refreshing
new look at the history of science. I know of nothing like it, because it
approaches that history free of the usual elitist preconceptions, and
shows, in an inspiring way, the role that ordinary people, working people,
played in the development of science. He presents startling new historical
data which should create some commotion in the halls of orthodoxy."
Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

The history of science is more complex and collaborative than the
traditional heroic narratives of Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein
suggest. Expanding on Howard Zinn's concept of a people's history, author
Clifford D. Conner has written his own populist take on the history of
science. A People's History of Science offers a broad survey of the history
of science "from the bottom up," covering the entire globe and spanning the
Paleolithic to the postmodern eras. His thesis is to demonstrate that
science-the knowledge of nature-did not emerge from the brains of "Great
Geniuses" with "Great Ideas," but from the collective experience of working
people-artisans, miners, sailors, peasant farmers, and others-whose
struggle for survival forced them into close contact with nature on a daily
basis.

In A People's History of Science, Conner demystifies science by locating
its origins and development in the productive activities of working people.
He also persuasively argues that the increasing specialization of the
sciences in universities and medical faculties has more often retarded
rather than advanced the growth of knowledge.

Conner also establishes that:

Medical science began with knowledge of plants' therapeutic properties
discovered by preliterate ancient people.

Chemistry and metallurgy originated with ancient miners, smiths, and
potters; geology and archaeology were also born in the mines.

Mathematics owes its existence and a great deal of its development to
surveyors, merchants, clerk-accountants, and mechanics of many millennia.

The experimental method that characterized the Scientific Revolution, as
well as the mass of scientific data upon which it built, emerged from the
workshops of European artisans.

The emergence of computer science from the garages and attics of college
dropouts demonstrates that even in recent times the most important
scientific innovations have not always been produced by a professional
scientific elite.

The mystique of modern science proclaims it to be a superior form of
knowledge, but in fact its trustworthiness has been thoroughly undermined
by the self-interest of corporations that hire the scientists and
manipulate their research findings.

Clifford D. Conner grew up in Nashville, TN. He received his masters degree
in education from the University of Georgia and his Ph. D in the History of
Science from CUNY. He has published a number of articles on the history of
science in scholarly journals and has participated in international
colloquia on various subjects. Conner worked as a proofreader and taught
history in the CUNY system before becoming a full-time author of books on
historical subjects. He lives in New York City.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
ARTICLES IN FULL:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

1) Op-Ed Columnist
The Deadly Doughnut
By PAUL KRUGMAN
November 11, 2005
Nhttp://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/opinion/11krugman.html?hp

2) Op-Ed Columnist
And the War Goes On
By BOB HERBERT
November 7, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/opinion/07herbert.html?hp

3) Op-Ed Columnist
Pride, Prejudice, Insurance
By PAUL KRUGMAN
November 7, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/opinion/07krugman.html?hp

4) Op-Ed Columnist
Gangsta, in French
By DAVID BROOKS
November 10, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/opinion/10brooks.html

5) Op-Ed Columnist
An Army Ready to Snap
By BOB HERBERT
November 10, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/opinion/10herbert.html?hp

6) Close-up
Military recruiters target isolated, depressed areas
By Ann Scott Tyson
The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - 12:00 AM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002612542_recruits09.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

1) Op-Ed Columnist
The Deadly Doughnut
By PAUL KRUGMAN
November 11, 2005
Nhttp://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/opinion/11krugman.html?hp


Registration for Medicare's new prescription drug benefit starts next
week. Soon millions of Americans will learn that doughnuts are bad
for your health. And if we're lucky, Americans will also learn a bigger
lesson: politicians who don't believe in a positive role for government
shouldn't be allowed to design new government programs.

Before we turn to the larger issue, let's look at how the Medicare
drug benefit will work over the course of next year.

At first, the benefit will look like a normal insurance plan, with
a deductible and co-payments.

But if your cumulative drug expenses reach $2,250, a very strange
thing will happen: you'll suddenly be on your own. The Medicare
benefit won't kick in again unless your costs reach $5,100. This
gap in coverage has come to be known as the "doughnut hole."
(Did you think I was talking about Krispy Kremes?)

One way to see the bizarre effect of this hole is to notice that if
you are a retiree and spend $2,000 on drugs next year, Medicare
will cover 66 percent of your expenses. But if you spend
$5,000 - which means that you're much more likely to need
help paying those expenses - Medicare will cover only
30 percent of your bills.

A study in the July/August issue of Health Affairs points out that
this will place many retirees on a financial "roller coaster."

People with high drug costs will have relatively low out-of-pocket
expenses for part of the year - say, until next summer. Then,
suddenly, they'll enter the doughnut hole, and their personal
expenses will soar. And because the same people tend to have
high drug costs year after year, the roller-coaster ride will
repeat in 2007.

How will people respond when their out-of-pocket costs surge?
The Health Affairs article argues, based on experience from H.M.O.
plans with caps on drug benefits, that it's likely "some beneficiaries
will cut back even essential medications while in the doughnut
hole." In other words, this doughnut will make some people sick,
and for some people it will be deadly.

The smart thing to do, for those who could afford it, would be
to buy supplemental insurance that would cover the doughnut
hole. But guess what: the bill that established the drug benefit
specifically prohibits you from buying insurance to cover the gap.
That's why many retirees who already have prescription drug
insurance are being advised not to sign up for the Medicare benefit.

If all of this makes the drug bill sound like a disaster, bear in
mind that I've touched on only one of the bill's awful features.
There are many others, like the clause that prohibits Medicare
from using its clout to negotiate lower drug prices.
Why is this bill so bad?

The probable answer is that the Republican Congressional
leaders who rammed the bill through in 2003 weren't actually
trying to protect retired Americans against the risk of high
drug expenses. In fact, they're fundamentally hostile to the
idea of social insurance, of public programs that reduce
private risk.

Their purpose was purely political: to be able to say that
President Bush had honored his 2000 campaign promise
to provide prescription drug coverage by passing a drug
bill, any drug bill.

Once you recognize that the drug benefit is a purely
political exercise that wasn't supposed to serve its
ostensible purpose, the absurdities in the program make
sense. For example, the bill offers generous coverage to
people with low drug costs, who have the least need for
help, so lots of people will get small checks in the mail
and think they're being treated well.

Meanwhile, the people who are actually likely to need
a lot of help paying their drug expenses were deliberately
offered a very poor benefit. According to a report issued
along with the final version of the bill, people are prohibited
from buying supplemental insurance to cover the doughnut
hole to keep beneficiaries from becoming "insensitive to
costs" - that is, buying too much medicine because they
don't pay the price.

A more likely motive is that Congressional leaders didn't
want a drug bill that really worked for middle-class retirees.

Can the drug bill be fixed? Yes, but not by current management.
It's hard to believe that either the current Congressional leadership
or the Mayberry Machiavellis in the White House would do any
better on a second pass. We won't have a drug benefit that
works until we have politicians who want it to work.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

2) Op-Ed Columnist
And the War Goes On
By BOB HERBERT
November 7, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/opinion/07herbert.html?hp

The coalition of the clueless that launched the tragically misguided
war in Iraq is in complete disarray.

Dick Cheney is simultaneously running from questions about his
role in the Valerie Wilson affair and fighting like mad to block any
measure that would outlaw torture by the C.I.A. His former top
aide, Scooter Libby, one of the original Iraq war zealots, is now
an accused felon who is seldom seen in public unaccompanied
by defense counsel.

Donald Rumsfeld, the high-strutting, high-profile defense
secretary who was supposed to win this war in a walk, is suddenly
on the down-low. There are people in the witness protection
program who are easier to find than Rummy.

As for the president, he went all the way to South America to
get away from the Washington heat. But even within the luxurious
confines of Air Force One, Mr. Bush found that he couldn't escape
the increasingly corrosive effect of the fiascos plaguing his
administration.

The ominous news of the president's plummeting approval
ratings followed him like a dark cloud. A Washington Post-ABC
News poll found that Mr. Bush has never been less popular with
the public. On nearly every important measure of character and
performance, he was given lower marks than ever before. For the
first time, according to the poll, a majority of Americans even
questioned the president's integrity. And fully 55 percent of
respondents to a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll said they
believe the Bush administration has been a failure.

The fact that Mr. Bush is struggling in his own political
purgatory (for the sin of incompetence) is bad news for
the soldiers in Iraq, where the suffering and dying continues
unabated. The administration that was so anxious to throw
scores of thousands of healthy young Americans into the
flames of war now has no idea how to get them out.

Troops are being sent into Iraq for two, three, even four
combat tours by an administration in which clowns like
Scooter Libby and Karl Rove were playing games with the
identity of a C.I.A. agent, and the vice president has been
obsessed with his twisted protect-the-torturers campaign.

Now the Bush crew, which should be focused like a laser
on what to do about the war, is consumed with damage
control - pumping up the poll numbers, defending its handling
of prewar intelligence, fending off further indictments
and staying out of prison.

The war? There's no plan for the war. The architects of this
war had no idea what they were getting into, and they are
just as clueless now. The war just goes on and on, which
is not just tragic - it's criminal.

Opposition to the war may be mounting. But the reality of
the war, especially the toll of American dead and wounded,
fades in and out of the public's consciousness.

There was a rush of articles a couple of weeks ago when the
number of deaths of Americans serving in Iraq reached 2,000.
But those stories were quickly superseded by Harriet Miers's
withdrawal of her nomination to the Supreme Court; President
Bush's selection of Samuel Alito to take her place; the indictment
of Mr. Libby; the president's address to the nation on the
possibility of a bird flu pandemic and so on.

The killing of G.I.'s in Iraq once again took its place as a relatively
minor story, meriting in most cases just a brief mention on the
inside pages of the major newspapers, and the most cursory
coverage on television newscasts.

The death toll has now reached at least 2,035 and, of course,
it is climbing. More than 15,000 G.I.'s have been wounded in
action. Limbs have been lost. Men and women have been
permanently paralyzed, horribly burned, or blinded. Thousands
more have been injured in nonhostile incidents, such as accidents,
and many have fallen ill.

If the American public could see the carnage in Iraq the way
television viewers saw the agony of New Orleans in the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina, this war would be over. A solution would
be found. Imagine watching a couple of soldiers in flames,
screaming, as they attempt to escape the burning wreckage
of a vehicle hit by a roadside bomb or a rocket-propelled
grenade.

For all the talk, neither the administration nor the public has
taken the reality of this war seriously enough to do something
about it. If the sons and daughters of the privileged were fighting
it, we'd be out of Iraq soon enough. But they're not fighting it.

So the war goes on and on.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

3) Op-Ed Columnist
Pride, Prejudice, Insurance
By PAUL KRUGMAN
November 7, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/opinion/07krugman.html?hp

General Motors is reducing retirees' medical benefits. Delphi has
declared bankruptcy, and will probably reduce workers' benefits
as well as their wages. An internal Wal-Mart memo describes plans
to cut health costs by hiring temporary workers, who aren't entitled
to health insurance, and screening out employees likely to have
high medical bills.

These aren't isolated anecdotes. Employment-based health insurance
is the only serious source of coverage for Americans too young
to receive Medicare and insufficiently destitute to receive Medicaid,
but it's an institution in decline. Between 2000 and 2004 the number
of Americans under 65 rose by 10 million. Yet the number of
nonelderly Americans covered by employment-based insurance
fell by 4.9 million.

The funny thing is that the solution - national health insurance,
available to everyone - is obvious. But to see the obvious we'll
have to overcome pride - the unwarranted belief that America
has nothing to learn from other countries - and prejudice - the
equally unwarranted belief, driven by ideology, that private
insurance is more efficient than public insurance.

Let's start with the fact that America's health care system spends
more, for worse results, than that of any other advanced country.

In 2002 the United States spent $5,267 per person on health care.
Canada spent $2,931; Germany spent $2,817; Britain spent only
$2,160. Yet the United States has lower life expectancy and higher
infant mortality than any of these countries.

But don't people in other countries sometimes find it hard to get
medical treatment? Yes, sometimes - but so do Americans.
No, Virginia, many Americans can't count on ready access
to high-quality medical care.

The journal Health Affairs recently published the results of
a survey of the medical experience of "sicker adults" in six
countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany and the United
States. The responses don't support claims about superior
service from the U.S. system. It's true that Americans generally
have shorter waits for elective surgery than Canadians or
Britons, although German waits are even shorter. But Americans
do worse by some important measures: we find it harder than
citizens of other advanced countries to see a doctor when
we need one, and our system is more, not less, rife with
medical errors.

Above all, Americans are far more likely than others to
forgo treatment because they can't afford it. Forty percent
of the Americans surveyed failed to fill a prescription because
of cost. A third were deterred by cost from seeing a doctor
when sick or from getting recommended tests or follow-up.

Why does American medicine cost so much yet achieve
so little? Unlike other advanced countries, we treat access
to health care as a privilege rather than a right. And this
attitude turns out to be inefficient as well as cruel.

The U.S. system is much more bureaucratic, with much
higher administrative costs, than those of other countries,
because private insurers and other players work hard at
trying not to pay for medical care. And our fragmented
system is unable to bargain with drug companies and
other suppliers for lower prices.

Taiwan, which moved 10 years ago from a U.S.-style
system to a Canadian-style single-payer system, offers
an object lesson in the economic advantages of universal
coverage. In 1995 less than 60 percent of Taiwan's
residents had health insurance; by 2001 the number
was 97 percent. Yet according to a careful study published
in Health Affairs two years ago, this huge expansion in
coverage came virtually free: it led to little if any increase
in overall health care spending beyond normal growth
due to rising population and incomes.

Before you dismiss Taiwan as a faraway place of which
we know nothing, remember Chile-mania: just a few
months ago, during the Bush administration's failed
attempt to privatize Social Security, commentators
across the country - independent thinkers all, I'm sure
- joined in a chorus of ill-informed praise for Chile's
private retirement accounts. (It turns out that Chile's
system has a lot of problems.) Taiwan has more
people and a much bigger economy than Chile, and
its experience is a lot more relevant to America's
real problems.

The economic and moral case for health care reform
in America, reform that would make us less different
from other advanced countries, is overwhelming. One
of these days we'll realize that our semiprivatized
system isn't just unfair, it's far less efficient than
a straightforward system of guaranteed health insurance.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

4) Op-Ed Columnist
Gangsta, in French
By DAVID BROOKS
November 10, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/opinion/10brooks.html

After 9/11, everyone knew there was going to be a debate about
the future of Islam. We just didn't know the debate would be
between Osama bin Laden and Tupac Shakur.

Yet those seem to be the lifestyle alternatives that are really on
offer for poor young Muslim men in places like France, Britain
and maybe even the world beyond. A few highly alienated and
fanatical young men commit themselves to the radical Islam of
bin Laden. But most find their self-respect by embracing the
poses and worldview of American hip-hop and gangsta rap.

One of the striking things about the scenes from France is how
thoroughly the rioters have assimilated hip-hop and rap culture.
It's not only that they use the same hand gestures as American
rappers, wear the same clothes and necklaces, play the same
video games, and sit with the same sorts of car stereos at full
blast. It's that they seem to have adopted the same poses of
exaggerated manhood, the same attitudes about women,
money and the police. They seem to have replicated the
same sort of gang culture, the same romantic visions
of gunslinging drug dealers.

In a globalized age it's perhaps inevitable that the culture
of resistance gets globalized, too. What we are seeing is
what Mark Lilla of the University of Chicago calls a universal
culture of the wretched of the earth. The images, modes
and attitudes of hip-hop and gangsta rap are so powerful
they are having a hegemonic effect across the globe.

American ghetto life, at least as portrayed in rap videos, now
defines for the young, poor and disaffected what it means
to be oppressed. Gangsta resistance is the most compelling
model for how to rebel against that oppression. If you want
to stand up and fight The Man, the Notorious B.I.G. shows
the way.

This is a reminder that for all the talk about American
cultural hegemony, American countercultural hegemony
has always been more powerful. America's rebellious
countercultural heroes exert more influence around the
world than the clean establishment images from Disney
and McDonald's. This is our final insult to the anti-Americans;
we define how to be anti-American, and the foreigners who
attack us are reduced to borrowing our own clichés.

When rap first came to France, American rappers dominated
the scene, but now the suburban immigrant neighborhoods
have produced their own stars in their own language. French
rap lyrics today are like the American gangsta lyrics of about
five or 10 years ago, when it was more common to fantasize
about cop killings and gang rape.

Most of the lyrics can't be reprinted in this newspaper, but
you can get a sense of them from, say, a snippet from
a song from Bitter Ministry: "Another woman takes her
beating./This time she's called Brigitte./She's the wife
of a cop. " Or this from Mr. R's celebrated album "PolitiKment
IncorreKt": "France is a bitch. ... Don't forget to [deleted] her
to exhaustion. You have to treat her like a whore, man! ...
My niggers and my Arabs, our playground is the street
with the most guns!"

The French gangsta pose is familiar. It is built around the
image of the strong, violent hypermacho male, who loudly
asserts his dominance and demands respect. The gangsta
is a brave, countercultural criminal. He has nothing but rage
for the institutions of society: the state and the schools.
He shows his own cruel strength by dominating women.
It is perhaps no accident that until the riots, the biggest
story coming out of these neighborhoods was the rise of
astonishing and horrific gang rapes.

In other words, what we are seeing in France will be familiar
to anyone who watched gangsta culture rise in this country.
You take a population of young men who are oppressed by
racism and who face limited opportunities, and you present
them with a culture that encourages them to become exactly
the sort of people the bigots think they are - and you call
this proud self-assertion and empowerment. You take men
who are already suspected by the police because of their
color, and you romanticize and encourage criminality so
they will be really despised and mistreated. You tell them
to defy oppression by embracing self-destruction.

In America, at least, gangsta rap is sort of a game.
The gangsta fan ends up in college or law school. But
in France, the barriers to ascent are higher. The prejudice
is more impermeable, and the labor markets are more rigid.
There really is no escape.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

5) Op-Ed Columnist
An Army Ready to Snap
By BOB HERBERT
November 10, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/opinion/10herbert.html?hp

Have you heard what's been happening to the military?

Most people have heard that more than 2,000 American G.I.'s have
been killed in the nonstop meat grinder of Iraq. There was a flurry
of stories about that grim milestone in the last week of October.
(Since then the official number of American deaths has jumped
to at least 2,055, and it continues to climb steadily.)

More than 15,000 have been wounded in action.

But the problems of the military go far beyond the casualty figures
coming out of the war zone. The Army, for example, has been
stretched so taut since the Sept. 11 attacks, especially by the
fiasco in Iraq, that it's become like a rubber band that may
snap at any moment.

President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld convinced themselves
that they could win the war in Iraq on the cheap. They never
sent enough troops to do the job. Now the burden of trying
to fight a long and bitter war with too few troops is taking
a terrible toll on the men and women in uniform.

Last December, the top general in the Army Reserve warned
that his organization was "rapidly degenerating into
a 'broken' force" because of the Pentagon's "dysfunctional"
policies and demands placed on the Reserve by the Iraq
and Afghanistan wars.

As one of my colleagues at The Times, David Unger of the
editorial board, wrote, "The Army's commitments have
dangerously and rapidly expanded, while recruitment
has plunged."

Soldiers are being sent into the crucible of Iraq for three
and even four tours, a form of Russian roulette that
is unconscionable.

"They feel like they're the only ones sacrificing," said
Paul Rieckhoff, a former Army lieutenant who served in
Iraq and is now the executive director of Operation Truth,
an advocacy group for service members and veterans.

"They're starting to look around and say, 'You know, it's
me and my buddies over and over again, and everybody
else is living life uninterrupted.' "

When I asked Mr. Rieckhoff what he thought was
happening with the Army, he replied, "The wheels
are coming off."

The Washington Post, in a lengthy article last week, noted:

"As sustained combat in Iraq makes it harder than ever
to fill the ranks of the all-volunteer force, newly released
Pentagon demographic data show that the military is
leaning heavily for recruits on economically depressed,
rural areas where youths' need for jobs may outweigh
the risks of going to war."

For those already in the Army, the price being paid - apart
from the physical toll of the killed and wounded - is high indeed.

Divorce rates have gone way up, nearly doubling over
the past four years. Long deployments - and, especially,
repeated deployments - can take a vicious toll
on personal relationships.

Chaplains, psychologists and others have long been
aware of the many dangerous factors that accompany
wartime deployment: loneliness, financial problems,
drug or alcohol abuse, depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder, the problems faced by the parent
left at home to care for children, the enormous problem
of adjusting to the devastation of wartime injuries, and so on.

The Army is not just fighting a ruthless insurgency in
Iraq. It's fighting a rear-guard action against these
noncombat, guerrilla-like conditions that threaten
its own viability.

There are reasons why parents all across America are
telling their children to run the other way when
military recruiters come to call. There are reasons
why so many lieutenants and captains, fine young
men and women, are heading toward the exit doors
at the first opportunity.

A captain who is on active duty, and therefore asked
not to be identified by name, told me yesterday:

"The only reason I stayed in the Army was because one
colonel convinced me to do it. Other than that, I would
have walked. Basically, these guys who are leaving have
their high-powered educations. Some are from West
Point. They've done their five years. Why should they
stay and go back to Iraq and die in a war that's just
going to keep on going?"

Beyond that, he said, "Guys are not going to stay in
the Army when their wives are leaving them."

From the perspective of the troops, he said, the
situation in Iraq is perverse.

He could find no upside. "You go to war," he said,
"and you could lose your heart, your mind, your arms,
your legs - but you cannot win. The soldiers don't win."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

6) Close-up
Military recruiters target isolated, depressed areas
By Ann Scott Tyson
The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - 12:00 AM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002612542_recruits09.html

WASHINGTON — As combat in Iraq makes it harder than
ever to fill the ranks of the all-volunteer force, newly
released Pentagon demographic data show that the military
is leaning heavily for recruits on economically
depressed, rural areas.

More than 44 percent of U.S. military recruits come from
rural areas, Pentagon figures show. In contrast, 14 percent
come from major cities. Young people living in the most
sparsely populated ZIP codes are 22 percent more likely
to join the Army, with an opposite trend in cities. Regionally,
most enlistees come from the South (40 percent)
and West (24 percent).

Many of today's recruits are financially strapped, with
nearly half coming from lower-middle-class to poor
households, according to new Pentagon data based on
ZIP codes and census estimates of mean household income.
Nearly two-thirds of Army recruits in 2004 came from
counties in which median household income is below
the U.S. median.

Such patterns are pronounced in such communities as
Martinsville, Va., that supply the greatest number of
enlistees in proportion to their youth populations. All
of the Army's top 20 counties for recruiting had
lower-than-national median incomes, 12 had higher
poverty rates, and 16 were non-metropolitan, according
to the National Priorities Project, a nonpartisan research
group that analyzed 2004 recruiting data by ZIP code.

"A lot of the high recruitment rates are in areas where
there is not as much economic opportunity for young
people," said Anita Dancs, research director for the
NPP, based in Northampton, Mass.

The war's impact

Senior Pentagon officials say the war has had a clear
impact on recruiting, with a shrinking pool of candidates
forcing the military to accept enlistees of lesser quality.
In fiscal 2005, the Army took in its least-qualified group
of recruits in a decade, as measured by educational level
and test results.

The war is also attracting youths driven by patriotism,
including a growing fringe of the upper class and wealthy,
but military sociologists believe that greater numbers of
young people who would have joined for economic reasons
are being discouraged by the prolonged combat.

The Pentagon ZIP code data, applied for the first time to
2004 recruiting results, underscores patterns already
suggested by anecdotal evidence, such as analysis of
the hometowns of troops killed in Iraq. Although still
an approximation, the data offer a more detailed portrait
of the socioeconomic status of the Americans most likely
to serve today.

Tucked into the Piedmont foothills of southern Virginia,
Martinsville is typical of the lower-income rural communities
across the nation that today constitute the U.S. military's
richest recruiting grounds.

Albert Deal, 25, had struggled for years to hold onto
a job in this rural Virginia community of rolling hills and
shuttered textile mills. So when the high-school graduate
got his latest pink slip, from a modular-homes plant,
he took a hard look at his life. Then he picked up the
phone and dialed the steadiest employer he knew:
the U.S. Army.

Two weeks later, on Oct. 27, Deal sat in his parents' living
room and signed one enlistment document after another
as his fiancée, Kimbery Easter, somberly looked on.

"This is the police check," said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher
Barber, a veteran Army recruiter, leading Deal through
the stack of paperwork. "This is the sex-offender check ...
" Barber spoke in a monotone, sounding like a tour guide
who had memorized every word.

Left adrift, young people such as Deal "are being pushed
out of their communities. They want to get away from
intolerable situations, and the military offers them
something different," said Morten Ender, a sociologist
at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

To be sure, some young people who need jobs or college
money also seek adventure and a chance to serve their
country. Others come from towns with large bases
or populations of veterans interwoven with a military
culture that helps keep enlistments high. And a rising
percentage of youth from wealthy areas is signing up,
presumably for patriotic reasons.

But nationwide, data point above all to places such as
Martinsville, where rural roads lined with pine and
poplar trees snake through lonely, desolate towns,
as the wellspring for the youth fighting America's wars.

"They are these untapped kids," Enders said "that
nobody found."

Working the territory

Barber's territory spans 862 square miles in one of
the country's most productive recruiting regions.
Roaming in and out of cellphone range through tiny
towns, Barber and his partner post Army brochures
at mom-and-pop groceries, work the crowd at NASCAR
races at the local track, and log more than 100 miles
a day meeting potential recruits.

On a recent day, he palmed the steering wheel of his
gray Dodge Stratus as he drove northwest into the
steeply undulating backcountry surrounding Martinsville,
where he commands a recruiting station.

In fiscal 2005, the Army's worst year for recruiting
since 1999, they signed up 94 percent of their target,
a relatively high number in one of the Army's top
recruiting regions.

"We were pretty much dead-on," said Barber of Miami,
attributing his success in part to the region's shrinking
job market and the inability of families to afford college.
Unemployment in Martinsville was 12.1 percent in 2004.
Median income is $27,000, with a poverty rate of 17.5
percent, 2000 census data show.

"The job market is dwindling, and it's hard for a young
man or woman to find something other than the
fast-food business," Barber said on the way to the
one-story home of Mike McNeely, Deal's stepfather.

Closed doors

Still, many young people such as Deal exhaust other
options before considering the Army, making today's
recruits older on average. "These kids have tested the
labor market and gone on to college but didn't perform
well," said Curtis Gilroy, director of accessions for the
Pentagon. From 2000 to 2004, the number of teenagers
joining the military dropped, while 20- to 25-year-olds
rose from 31 to 36 percent.

As his fiancée stares impassively at a TV soap opera,
Deal cradles Kadence, her fussy 6-month-old daughter,
and explains how he turned to the Army after doors kept
slamming in his face.

"I tried anything and everything" to land a job, Deal said,
ticking off glass and furniture companies and a local
telemarketing firm. "No one ever called back." Divorced
and the father of a 3-year-old son, Deal decided to call
the recruiter because "it's a job to do," he said.
"It's something to make a life of."

Sitting in a kitchen decorated with religious figurines,
McNeely, 50, agreed.

"You're not looking at a lot around here in terms of
a future," said McNeely, who is disabled. He added
that the textile and furniture factories where he once
worked have vanished or downsized.

But McNeely, Deal and Easter are uneasy over the
prospect that the job will lead to Iraq. "That bothers
me a lot," said McNeely, saying that his wife also
likes to have Deal "in hollerin' distance."

Easter now supports Deal, after being angry at first
over his plans to join the Army. Still, she hesitates
to marry him before he leaves for boot camp. Deal,
who wants a job as a tank driver, said he hopes
he won't deploy.

"Believe me, I don't want to go over there." But,
he said, "that's the risk I take."

It was just after lunch at Magna Vista High School
south of Martinsville. Sgt. Michael Ricciardi strode
through the door and was ushered inside by a smiling
woman signing in visitors. He was soon joking with kids
heading to class, including several future soldiers.

"This is pretty much my 'anchor' school," said Ricciardi,
Barber's partner, who spends hours each week handing
out Frisbees and footballs in the hallways. "They know
me pretty well."

In contrast to some schools around the country that
limit access to recruiters, Magna Vista, where half of
students receive financial aid or free lunch, welcomes
them. School officials give recruiters a list of seniors
to contact, and encourage upperclassmen to take
a vocational test required by the military.

"We expose them to the fact that the military is there,"
said guidance counselor Karen Cecil. "We're setting the
stage for (students) to know it's an option," especially
as a way to afford college, she said.

Indeed, like many heavy recruiting areas, Martinsville
has more people seeking Army jobs than are qualified
for them. Army recruiters here turn away scores of
interested youths because they fail vocational tests,
physicals or legal-background checks. To fill its ranks
nationwide, the Army in fiscal 2005 accepted its
least-qualified pool in a decade — falling below
quota in high-school graduates (87 percent) and
taking in more youths scoring in the lowest category
of aptitude test (3.9 percent).

Support for military service among parents has dwindled
nationwide, but many parents here view it as an opportunity,
often phoning recruiters to urge them to enlist their children.

A ticket elsewhere

Senior Miyana Gravely, 17, had long talks with her
mother before asking for approval to join the Army
and go to boot camp last summer. "You can do it.
I don't want you to grow up and say, 'Mama wouldn't
let me,' " Gravely recalls her mother telling her.

Gravely sees soldiering as a ticket to an active life
somewhere else. "I don't want to be one of the people
still sitting around Martinsville," she said, adding
she is contemplating airborne training and "wouldn't
mind" going to Iraq.

Being black and female, Gravely contradicts a national
decline over the past four years in the willingness of
both African Americans and women to consider military
service — a shift polls attribute to the U.S. anti-terrorism
effort and perceived discrimination. African Americans
fell from 22.3 percent of Army recruits in fiscal 2001 to
14.5 percent this year; Hispanics rose from 10.5 percent
to 13.2 percent, and whites, from 60.2 percent to
66.9 percent. Women dropped from 20 percent
to 18 percent.

Gravely is active in the school's large Junior Reserve
Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), which draws 300 of
the 1,200 students each year and works closely with
recruiters. JROTC programs are prolific in Virginia and
across the rural South.

"The parents heavily support it. We've kept a lot of kids
from getting kicked out of school," said JROTC
instructor John Truini.

The program gives students military ranks and strips
them away if they break discipline. "I don't want to
say [we] control the kids, but we have influence over
them," Truini said.

Davey Brooks, 17, grew up on a small farm; he said
JROTC "changed everything about my life." He joined
JROTC in hopes the military could fulfill his dream
of learning to fly — "like 'Top Gun,' " he says.

Now, Brooks is "battalion commander" and leader of
a nine-person Raider Team — modeled after Army
Rangers — which competes in military skills such as
evacuating casualties and orienteering. He plans
a 20-year Army career.

"I want to be in the Army and fly whatever I can get
my hands on," Brooks said. He is eager to go to Iraq
as a pilot, although he admits to one drawback:
He's scared of heights. "But when I'm up there," he
predicted, "I'll feel like I'm free and I'm in control of everything."

Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
LINKS:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

No-Bid Contract to Replace Schools After Katrina Is Faulted
By ERIC LIPTON
Published: November 11, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/national/nationalspecial/11schools.html?hp&ex=1131771600&en=9c902d201cc0f26a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Rethinking ‘Capitalist Restoration’
in China
by Yiching Wu
http://www.monthlyreview.org/1105wu.htm

Army reaches low, fills ranks
12% of recruits in Oct. had lowest acceptable scores
By Tom Bowman / Baltimore Sun
November 8th, 2005 6:27 pm
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.recruit08nov08,1,1130565.story?coll=bal-home-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

France Declares 12-Day State of Emergency to Curb Crisis
By MEG BORTIN,
International Herald Tribune
Published: November 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/international/europe/08cnd-france.html?hp&ex=1131512400&en=16bffc43c5fa3eb9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

FOCUS | Frank Rich: The Mysterious Death of Pat Tillman
Frank Rich writes, it would be a compelling story," Patrick Fitzgerald
said of the narrative Scooter Libby used to allegedly mislead
investigators in the Valerie Wilson leak case, "if only it were true."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110605Z.shtml

Groups against recruiters
LARGELY SYMBOLIC PROP. I OPPOSES MILITARY OFFICIALS'
PRESENCE AT CITY SCHOOLS
By Dana Hull
Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/13096573.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

French rioters shoot at police
By Anna Willard and Franck Prevel
Mon Nov 7, 2005 09:00 AM ET
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10184789&src=eDialog/GetContent

Lawmakers Call for Limits on F.B.I. Power to Demand Records
in Terrorism Investigations
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: November 7, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/politics/07fbi.html

First Death Is Reported in Paris Riots as Arson Increases
By CRAIG S. SMITH
Published: November 7, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/international/europe/07cnd-france.html?hp&ex=1131426000&en=165b4421caeda67a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

UAW: http://www.uaw.org/
Report on first of two auto rank-and-file meetings
(found at www.kclabor.org/news.htm)
Monday, November 7, 2005
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0511/07/0auto-374260.htm

Students protest war; others back U.S. military
PAUL SAND; The News Tribune
Published: November 3rd, 2005 03:00 AM
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5304174p-4809122c.html

washingtonpost.com
Youths in Rural U.S. Are Drawn To Military
Recruits' Job Worries Outweigh War Fears
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110302528.html

Bush ratings drop to new lows in poll
Thu Nov 3, 2005 11:46 PM ET
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10160729&src=eDialog/GetContent

Vehicles torched in French riots
Fri Nov 4, 2005 07:39 AM ET
By Kerstin Gehmlich
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10165728&src=eDialog/GetContent

Thousands Protest Against Bush at Summit in Argentina
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
and LARRY ROHTER
Published: November 4, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/04/international/americas/04cnd-prexy.html?hp&ex=1131166800&en=3cdb8cc69efdac1c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Pacifists for War
How the fractured counterrecruitment movement includes
those hoping to bring the draft back
By Cristi Hegranes
From sfweekly.com
Originally published by SF Weekly 2005-11-02
©2005 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2005-11-02/news/feature_print.html

Military Recruits Come From Poor Areas
United Press International  |  November 03, 2005
WASHINGTON - Most military recruits in the United States come
from areas in which household income is lower than the national
median, a non-profit group says.
Nearly two-thirds, 64 percent, of recruits to the military were from
counties that have average incomes lower than the national median
National Priorities Project said. The group looked at Department
of Defense data for 2004.
According to NPP, 15 of the top 20 counties that had the highest
numbers of recruits had higher poverty rates than the national
average, and 18 of the top 20 had higher poverty rates than
the state average.
The U.S. military has long been considered a step away from
economic hardship, a trend that is apparently continuing.
Military recruiting officials contend money is not the only reason
people join the military, since it also attracts those looking for
an opportunity for public service, travel, and structure and discipline.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051101-035849-1019r

Red Cross seeks access to CIA prison
By Stephanie Nebehay
Thu Nov 3, 2005 08:56 AM ET
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10152008&src=eDialog/GetContent

Israel and the Neocons
The Libby Affair and the Internal War
By JAMES PETRAS
November 3, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/petras11032005.html

A Thousand Evictions a Day for Weeks
Why are They Making New Orleans a Ghost Town?
By BILL QUIGLEY
November 1, 2005
On Halloween night, New Orleans was very, very dark. Well over half
the homes on the east bank of New Orleans sit vacant because they
still do not have electricity. More do not have natural gas or running
water. Most stoplights still do not work. Most street lights remain out.
Fully armed National Guard troops refuse to allow over ten thousand
people to even physically visit their property in the Lower Ninth Ward
neighborhood. Despite the fact that people cannot come back, tens
of thousands of people face eviction from their homes. A local judge
told me that their court expects to process a thousand evictions
a day for weeks.
Renters still in shelters or temporary homes across the country
will never see the court notice taped to the door of their home.
Because they will not show up for the eviction hearing that they
do not know about, their possessions will be tossed out in the street.
In the street their possessions will sit alongside an estimated
3 million truck loads of downed trees, piles of mud, fiberglass
insulation, crushed sheetrock, abandoned cars, spoiled mattresses,
wet rugs, and horrifyingly smelly refrigerators full of food from August.
There are also New Orleans renters facing evictions from landlords
who want to renovate and charge higher rents to the out of town
workers who populate the city. Some renters have offered to pay
their rent and are still being evicted. Others question why they
should have to pay rent for September when they were not allowed
to return to New Orleans.
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley11012005.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2005

WHAT DOES 2000 LOOK LIKE?
(Powerful Flash Film)
http://theunitedamerican.blogs.com/Movies/2000A/2000.html

.........................................................................................................

Belfast IRSP Press Statement
26th October 2005
PSNI/RUC RAIDS TODAY

The IRSP condemn without reservation the totally unwarranted searches
of Teach na Failte and Republican Socialist offices and homes of our
workers in Belfast and Strabane.

These searches are little more than a politically motivated fishing
exercise and an attempt by the PSNI/RUC to blacken the good name of
Teach na Failte, a well respected former prisoners association whose
work is mostly welfare based, plus a conflict transformation and
resolution project for ex-prisoners and their families.

IRSP spokesperson Paul Little said;

"The nature of these searches by the PSNI was aggressive with doors
being smashed down and a disabled TnF project officer Eddie
McGarrigle from Strabane who is confined to a wheelchair was thrown
out of it by the PSNI and left lying on the floor.

There is absolutely no justification for these raids or their violent
nature. The PSNI have demonstrated once again that they are not a new
beginning to policing but rather a new politically motivated
paramilitarist force, that excels in all the bad traits of the RUC.

New uniform, same old story

STATEMENT ENDS
.........................................................................................................
REQUEST FROM JON PREVITALI:
.........................................................................................................

Short Online Survey: Visualizing the Ideal Solar Power System

Why in this time when our use of fossil fuels is causing severe
environmental degradation and war are more people not interested
in solar power even if they could afford it? What do factors such
as maintenance, ease of use and aesthetic appeal of solar power
systems also play in decision-making?

"Visualizing the Ideal Solar Power System" is an online survey done
as part of a masters project through the University of Colorado's
Building Systems Program. The survey is completely anonymous.
It usually takes about 10 minutes and you can skip any question.

http://www.glsbd.com/survey.html

........................................................................................................

Subject: [CampusAntiwarNetwork] URGENT!! KENT STATE NEEDS HELP!!
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 18:57:34 +0000
From: nicole robinson
Reply-To: CampusAntiwarNetwork@yahoogroups.com
To: CampusAntiwarNetwork@yahoogroups.com

I know this is the second time I am sending out a request for help. But if
you have not yet called and/or e-mailed KENT STATE administration PLEASE DO
SO! Today Dave Airhart (Iraq Veteran and student at KSU) was told he will
be facing probation, suspension or expulsion!

We need to tell KENT STATE administration that we will not allow them to
punish an Iraq Veteran for speaking out for peace! Below are the
numbers/e-mails. Let's show them that we are a strong antiwar movement all
around the U.S. and we will not tolerate such actions! We have done a press
conference but need your support as well. Attached to this e-mail is an
article that I wrote about the situation. If you are not familiar with what
happened please read it and/or e-mail me. NLR75@hotmail.com. Also if you
have more suggestion on what we can be doing e-mail me. Thank-you everyone
for your solidarity.

Carol Cartwright- University President: 330.672.2210
carol.cartwright@kent.edu

Greg Jarvie- Dean of Undergraduate Students: 330.672.9494
gjarvie@kent.edu

William Ross- Executive Director of the Undergraduate Student Senate:
330.672.3207
wross@kent.edu

........................................................................................................

LYNNE STEWART ALERT:
Judge Koeltl upheld the verdict against Lynne Stewart yesterday
212-625-9696
From: Bob Lederer Subject: [dan] Lynne Stewart conviction
upheld From Pat Levasseur of the Lynne Stewart Defense Commitee. For
updates, check http://www.lynnestewart.org . From: AT aol.com> Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:28:25 EDT

Judge Koeltl upheld the verdict against Lynne Stewart yesterday. (The
judge also upheld the verdicts against the two other defendants,
Ahmed Abdel Sattar and Mohamed Yousry) In a 54 page ruling that
recounted key evidence, U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl rejected
all of Lynne Stewart's arguments that the Feb. 10 verdict should be
tossed out. In a separate ruling Judge Koeltl also rejected defense
request for a new trial based on allegations that one juror lied
about his past and that another juror had been unduly pressured to
reach her verdict.

These decisions clear the way for the sentencing now scheduled for
December 22nd. According to Joshua Dratel, one of the attorneys
representing Lynne Stewart, said the material support statute "by its
very nature, threatens to interfere with constitutional rights. . .
and that "these issues we will again reassert on appeal. We believe
in them," he said.

We are saddened by the Judge's decision but not surprised. It is
rare when the trial judge overturns a jury verdict. The tone of the
decision is worrisome in terms of how it bodes for sentencing so we
are bracing for the worst while continuing our efforts to demonstrate
that Lynne's case is unique in the annals of the criminal justice
system and that the Judge has discretion to sentence Lynne with
compassion and consideration. Consideration to Lynne's life time
commitment to good works in the community on behalf of the poor and
under represented. While Lynne has been politically active all of
her adult life, she is not a terrorist and should not be sentenced as
such. This is key because the terrorist enhancements in sentencing
expose Lynne to life in prison.

Please help us continue our work on Lynne's behalf. Help us to "not
let her go silently into that dark night" ... which is a lengthy
prison sentence. Lynne's sentencing is currently scheduled for
December 22nd. A date when most people will be preparing for the
holidays and when the news of Lynne's sentence would likely be buried
and forgotten by many. We won't let that happen! Help us to
continue our outreach and organizing - to keep Lynne Stewart's name
and case in the public eye. Keep Lynne Stewart Free!

The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee needs your financial support.
Please help by donating whatever you can. Make checks payable to The
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee, 350 Broadway, Suite 700, New York,
NY 10013. Tax deductible contributions can be made payable to The
National Lawyers Guild Foundation and mailed to the same address.
Just make sure to put Lynne Stewart on the memo line. You can also
donate on - line using PayPal by visiting our website at
www.lynnestewart.org.

SAVE THE DATE
December 8th, 7 p.m.a Speak Out and Forum on Lynne Stewart's case
will be held at The Community Church of New York. Details and
participants to be announced.

We have a new DVD "The Struggle Continues" (an informative and
poignant look at Lynne's case with interviews with Lynne, her family,
colleagues and former clients - available for a $10 donation and new
T-Shirts for $15.00 as well as the NLG booklet: The Case of Lynne
Stewart, a Justice Dept. Attack on the Bill of Rights. Please write
to us at :

Write to above address to request these
items, you can obtain them at the website using PayPal
or call 212-625-9696.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
ARTICLES IN FULL:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

1) From: Fernando Suarez del Solar
Sent: Oct 26, 2005 1:34 AM
A letter from Fernando Suarez del Solar on the 2000th US Death Toll in Iraq:
October 24, 2005

2) Op-Ed Columnist
Dick at the Heart of Darkness
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
October 26, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/opinion/26dowd.html?hp

3) The Road Ahead in Iraq
October 26, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/opinion/26wed1.html?hp

4) Florida
Millions in Florida Are Still Without Basics
By ABBY GOODNOUGH and JOSEPH B. TREASTER
October 26, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/national/nationalspecial/26wilma.html?pagewanted=print

5) Cindy Sheehan Plans to Padlock Herself to White House Fence

6) News
Conference Denounces Military
Meeting Focuses Criticisms on Campus Recruitment, Iraq War
BY Ada Tso
Contribution Writer
Monday, October 24, 2005
http://www.daiylcal.org/article.asp?=20103

7) The Great Reward
by Brooks Berndt
Guest Commentator
October 27, 2005
http://www.blackcommentator.com/156/156_berndt_great_reward.html

8) Op-Ed Columnist
Driving Blind as the Deaths Pile Up
By BOB HERBERT
October 27, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/opinion/27herbert.html?hp

9) Exxon Mobil Profit Soars on Oil Prices
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:24 a.m. ET
October 27, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-energy-exxon-earns.html

10) WE NEED A MOVEMENT OF MILLIONS
Published Oct 13, 2005 2:12 AM
The following transcript is taken from an audio commentary.
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Long live John Africa.
On a move!

11) KENT STATE letter of protest!
From: Bonnie Weinstein
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 11:24:56 -0700
To: Carol Cartwright ,
William Ross , Greg Jarvie
Cc: COLLEGE NOT COMBAT GROUP

Subject: Support to Dave Airhart, Iraq Veteran and hero to the
overwhelming majority of Americans who are opposed to the war

12) Should the U.S. Withdraw? Let the Iraqi People Decide
by Abigail A. Fuller and Neil Wollman
Sat, 29 Oct 2005 11:21:31 -0500
"Wollman, Neil J."

13) Op-Ed Columnist
Who's on First?
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
October 29, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/opinion/29dowd.html?hp

14) Editorial
The Case Against Scooter Libby
October 29, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/opinion/29sat1.html?hp

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

1) From: Fernando Suarez del Solar
Sent: Oct 26, 2005 1:34 AM
A letter from Fernando Suarez del Solar
on the 2000th US Death Toll in Iraq:
October 24, 2005

Today, October 25, 2005, the toll of U.S. fatalities in Iraq
reached the significant number of 2000. On March 27, 2003,
just seven days after the illegal occupation of Iraq began,
the fifth U.S. casualty (and the second Latino) fell--my son
Jess Alberto Suarez del Solar Navarro. Now, two years and
seven months later,we have reached 2000. 2000 young
people, each with a dream, each with enormous potential,
each manipulated and deceived for immoral reasons by
the group of powerful men who dragged us into a criminal war.
2000 families destroyed, 4000 parents devastated, with their
most precious treasure--their children--torn from them.
And whocares? Who cares about these young people who
are dying? Only the families care, it seems, since Bush's
criminal government continues with its rhetoric about how
Iraq is better off and how we will not leave until the mission
is completed. What mission? The personal agenda of
a ruling clique because clearly there is no humanitarian
mission in Iraq. When I learned that we had reached the
awful figure of 2000, I wept. I wept because the pain of
knowing that another young American had died reminded
me of my own tragedy and my own pain. I thought about
his parents, his mother who must feel the ache in her soul
knowing that her son died in an unecessary war, and his
father who, like me, was proud of his son and of his nation.
And unexpectedly his nation betrayed him and his son was gone.

I do not know if Bush in his self absorption and his feigned
Christianity understands the tremendous suffering he is
causing--the families' anguish, the harm to our nation
that he has placed in even greater danger. But I am sure
about one thing. Bush will receive his punishment,
a punishment that will make him cry tears of blood
as my family and 1999 other families are shedding
as they remember their lost children.

How much more blood will it take to end this criminal war?
How many more Iraqi children have to die? How many more
brave young Americans will have to make the ultimate
sacrifice? How many more parents will have to weep for
their sons and daughters? Who can answer me? Who?

We must demand that the lies and the dying stop today.

End the occupation of Iraq and
Bring our troops home now.

Fernando Suarez del Solar

Father of Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar

www.guerreroazteca.org

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

2) Op-Ed Columnist
Dick at the Heart of Darkness
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
October 26, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/opinion/26dowd.html?hp

After W. was elected, he sometimes gave visitors a tour of the love
alcove off the Oval Office where Bill trysted with Monica - the notorious
spot where his predecessor had dishonored the White House.

At least it was only a little pantry - and a little panting.

If W. wants to show people now where the White House has been
dishonored in far more astounding and deadly ways, he'll have
to haul them around every nook and cranny of his vice president's
office, then go across the river for a walk of shame through
the Rummy empire at the Pentagon.

The shocking thing about the trellis of revelations showing
Dick Cheney, the self-styled Mr. Strong America, as the central
figure in dark conspiracies to juice up a case for war and
demonize those who tried to tell the public the truth is how
unshocking it all is.

It's exactly what we thought was going on, but we never
thought we'd actually hear the lurid details: Cheney and
Rummy, the two old compadres from the Nixon and Ford
days, in a cabal running the country and the world into the
ground, driven by their poisonous obsession with Iraq,
while Junior is out of the loop, playing in the gym or on
his mountain bike.

Mr. Cheney has been so well protected by his Praetorian
guard all these years that it's been hard for the public to
see his dastardly deeds and petty schemes. But now, because
of Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation and candid talk from
Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Wilkerson, he's been flushed
out as the heart of darkness: all sulfurous strands lead back
to the man W. aptly nicknamed Vice.

According to a Times story yesterday, Scooter Libby first
learned about Joseph Wilson's C.I.A. wife from his boss,
Mr. Cheney, not from reporters, as he'd originally suggested.
And Mr. Cheney learned it from George Tenet, according
to Mr. Libby's notes.

The Bush hawks presented themselves as protectors
and exporters of American values. But they were so feverish
about projecting the alternate reality they had constructed
to link Saddam and Al Qaeda - and fulfilling their ide fixe
about invading Iraq - they perverted American values.

Whether or not it turns out to be illegal, outing a C.I.A.
agent - undercover or not - simply to undermine her husband's
story is Rove-ishly sleazy. This no-leak administration
was perfectly willing to leak to hurt anyone who got in its way.

Vice also pressed for a loophole so the C.I.A. could do
torture-light on prisoners in U.S. custody, but John McCain
rebuffed His Tortureness. Senator McCain has sponsored
a measure to bar the cruel treatment of prisoners because
he knows that this is not who we are. (Remember the days
when the only torture was listening to politicians reciting
their best TV lines at dinner parties?)

Colonel Wilkerson, the former chief of staff for Colin Powell,
broke the code and denounced Vice's vortex, calling his
own involvement in Mr. Powell's U.N. speech, infected with
bogus Cheney and Scooter malarkey, "the lowest point" in his life.

He followed that with a blast of blunt talk in a speech and
an op-ed piece in The Los Angeles Times, saying that foreign
policy had been hijacked by "a secretive, little-known cabal"
that hated dissent. He said the cabal was headed by Mr. Cheney,
"a vice president who speaks only to Rush Limbaugh and assembled
military forces," and Donald Rumsfeld, "a secretary of defense
presiding over the death by a thousand cuts of our overstretched
armed forces."

"I believe that the decisions of this cabal were sometimes made
with the full and witting support of the president and sometimes
with something less," Colonel Wilkerson wrote. "More often than
not, then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was simply
steamrolled by this cabal."

Brent Scowcroft, Bush Senior's close friend, let out a shriek
this week to Jeffrey Goldberg in The New Yorker, revealing
his estrangement from W. and his old protege Condi. He
disdained Paul Wolfowitz as a naieve utopian and said he didn't
"know" his old friend Dick Cheney anymore. Vice's alliance with
the neocons, who were determined to finish in Iraq what
Mr. Scowcroft and Poppy had declared finished, led him to
lead the nation into a morass. Troop deaths are now
around 2,000, a gruesome milestone.

"The reason I part with the neocons is that I don't think
in any reasonable time frame the objective of democratizing
the Middle East can be successful," Mr. Scowcroft said.
"If you can do it, fine, but I don't think you can, and in the
process of trying to do it you can make the Middle East a lot worse."

W. should take the Medal of Freedom away from
Mr. Tenet and give medals to Colonel Wilkerson and Mr. Scowcroft.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

3) The Road Ahead in Iraq
October 26, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/opinion/26wed1.html?hp

The results of the referendum in Iraq, finally made official yesterday,
were at least modestly encouraging, with 79 percent of Iraqis voting
in favor of the new constitution. There was a strong turnout among
the Sunni Arab minority, which largely boycotted January's parliamentary
elections and found itself damagingly underrepresented in the writing
of this constitution. This time, Sunnis voted in large numbers,
and overwhelmingly voted no. All three provinces with Sunni
majorities voted against the constitution. But in one of these,
the opposition fell short of a two-thirds majority, allowing the
constitution to pass.

Sunni political leaders deserve credit for leading their community
back into electoral politics. This may have no immediate effect
on violence, but a strengthened Sunni voice in politics would be
the most effective way to ward off full-scale civil war.

There was a time when Washington looked to the writing and
approval of this constitution as a crucial milestone on the road
to building a peaceful, democratic and unified Iraq that could
survive without American troops. No one believes that anymore.
The constitution is a deeply flawed and divisive document that
does not provide a workable template for national unity. The
hope lies in the willingness of Iraq's main communities to place
their faith in an electoral process and in the commitment by
the dominant Shiite and Kurdish parties to open the constitution
to significant amendments after the next round of elections,
in December.

The narrow margin of approval and the high Sunni turnout
should be a spur for Shiite and Kurdish political leaders to
fulfill that promise after those December elections. They can
negotiate amendments that would strengthen protections for
the Sunni minority and guarantee the financial and political
integrity of the central government in the likely event that
Kurdish and Shiite regions seek broader autonomy. They
could also remove constitutional provisions that subordinate
women's rights to clerical decrees.

All such changes would then have to be ratified in a new
referendum conducted under the same rules as the last vote.
If two-thirds of the voters in any three provinces voted no,
the changes would be blocked. Those rules are meant to
encourage enough compromises to make the final result
acceptable to all three of Iraq's main religious and ethnic
groups - the only workable basis for national unity and
constitutional development.

Despite their lack of experience in bargaining and compromise,
it ought to be clear to Kurds and Shiites alike that regional
autonomy at the cost of an intractable civil war and the
hostility of neighboring Sunni-ruled countries would not
be in their best interests. It would certainly not be in the
best interests of the United States, which would probably
be stuck with the job of pacifying the Sunni provinces and
defending the Kurdish and Shiite statelets.

Some 2,000 American soldiers have already lost their
lives fighting an insurgency whose tactics grow steadily
more lethal and whose support shows no signs of flagging.
Iraqi political leaders cannot expect the United States
to underwrite continued division and intransigence with
American blood. If Washington delivers that message clearly,
leaders of the highly vulnerable Kurdish population will
doubtless take it to heart. Leaders of some of the more
intransigent Shiite factions need to take it just as seriously.
The Sunnis should renounce violence and remain in
the electoral process.

The voters of Iraq have demonstrated twice that they have
the courage to go to the polls in defiance of terrorism and
insurgent violence. Now their leaders will have to persuade
them to do more than just show up to vote for their particular
communal faction. That would be the kind of step that builds
a nation - one that could make all the killing and loss that has
gone before mean more than just the rearrangement of pieces
on a political chessboard.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

4) Florida
Millions in Florida Are Still Without Basics
By ABBY GOODNOUGH and JOSEPH B. TREASTER
October 26, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/national/nationalspecial/26wilma.html?pagewanted=print

MIAMI, Oct. 25 - South Florida was a coast-to-coast mess on
Tuesday as millions of people remained without power, huge
lines formed for basic supplies and drivers wove through
packed, debris-strewn streets with no traffic signals.

Despite Gov. Jeb Bush's assurances that recovery from
Hurricane Wilma would proceed smoothly after lessons
learned from seven previous storms, the government response
looked frayed. In Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, people
lined up for ice and water only to learn that government
deliveries of both were late.

Many busy intersections had no police officers to guide
impatient drivers. Schools and most businesses remained
closed as dazed multitudes wandered in search of food, gasoline
and cellphone reception. The one bit of luck was blissfully cool
air, brought in by the storm, that made the lack of
air-conditioning endurable.

A day after Hurricane Wilma struck, leaving at least six dead,
power had been restored to several hundred thousand households
and businesses by Tuesday evening. But 3.1 million still had
no electricity, including about 93 percent of customers in
Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Eleven other counties also
reported power failures, many of them widespread. Officials at
Florida Power and Light said some customers might have
to wait four weeks.

More than half of the shelters that opened for the storm had
already closed on Tuesday, but about 50 still held more
than 7,000 evacuees, state officials said.

There were scattered reports of looting, and dawn-to-dusk
curfews remained in place throughout the region. Water
pressure was low in many places, and residents were advised
to boil what came out of their faucets, a hopeless proposition
for the legions whose stoves and microwaves were dead.

President Bush, criticized for a slow response to Hurricane
Katrina, planned to come to Florida on Thursday to inspect
hurricane damage, the White House announced.

Especially frustrating for many people were the waits for ice
and water at distribution points that opened hours later than
promised, if at all. Mike DeLorenzo, chief of Florida's Emergency
Response Team, said that traffic and debris prevented trucks
from arriving on time.

At the Orange Bowl in downtown Miami, cars wrapped around
the stadium and families waited hours to get their share.

"My mom is at home, she's bedridden and she needs her
fluids," said Milagros Arocena, whose car barely advanced
during the hour she had waited. "This line is incredible,
but I don't know where else to go."

Deena Reppen, a spokeswoman for Governor Bush, said long
lines and supply shortages were to be expected in the first
24 hours after a hurricane. "The state is working around the
clock with local and federal partners to push more food,
water and ice into the area," she said.

In Miami-Dade County, where only 6 of 11 ice and water
stations opened around the promised time of 2 p.m.,
Mayor Carlos Alvarez promised that the rest would open
by day's end and said that all things considered,
the delay was not bad.

"Let me just say that it's been a logistical challenge,"
he said. "We are trying to make good on a very bad
situation. Can we improve? Obviously."

Mr. Alvarez said that only 10 percent of the county's
2,600 traffic lights were working and that about 40
accidents, including 12 that were serious, had occurred
as a result. He said that the county courts would be closed
for the rest of the week but that the port would reopen
to cruise ships and trucks on Wednesday.

Miami International Airport reopened for limited flights
on Tuesday afternoon despite extensive damage to terminal
roofs and jet bridges. Fort Lauderdale International Airport
remained closed except to private aircraft.

Across the state in Naples, just north of where the hurricane
made landfall early Monday, ice and water distribution
appeared to be going more smoothly. At one station,
members of several National Guard units were operating
with assembly line precision. By 9 a.m., hundreds of cars,
from Mercedes Benzes to jalopies, had lined up on a road
leading into the parking lot of Barron Collier High School.

A National Guardsman in camouflage fatigues waved cars
forward, and as each rolled up to a squad of soldiers, one
sang out, "Pop the trunk." Other soldiers stepped forward
with cartons of bottled water and plastic bags of ice, putting
them in the car, tapping the trunk shut and motioning
the driver on. Each delivery was over in seconds.

"We've done this so much over the last two or three years
that we're getting pretty good at it," said Sgt. First Class
Tim Harper of the 265th Air Defense Artillery of Sarasota.

The storm clogged the streets of Naples, one of the wealthiest
cities in the country, with fallen shrubs and trees. But even
as the wind was dying down Monday afternoon, yellow
frontloaders were pushing and shoving and lifting away
debris, and by Tuesday afternoon the main streets and
most residential byways were clear.

Floodwater that had risen knee-high in some parts of Naples
also was all but gone by Tuesday afternoon, as it was in Miami's
downtown banking district. But the sleek high-rise buildings
that line Miami's Brickell Avenue, home to some of Florida's
largest banks, law firms and expensive hotels, looked shabby
with many windows blown out, the glass shattered in the street below.

"It looks worse than it is," said Cesar Alvarez, chief executive
and president of the law firm Greenberg Traurig, which lost
windows in about a third of its lawyers' offices.

Schools throughout South Florida will stay closed for the
rest of the week, officials said, and the Broward County
Courthouse, a high-rise building that lost dozens of
plate-glass windows in the storm, will not reopen for
at least two weeks. Ceilings collapsed in judges' chambers,
and the jury room, state attorney's office and public
defender's office were also damaged, said
Chief Judge Dale Ross.

One of the state's biggest businesses is growing ornamental
plants and flowers and trees, but dozens of nurseries
in the southwest Florida were battered by the storm.
At the H. M. Buckley & Sons wholesale nursery in Naples,
about half of the 40 workers turned up Tuesday to find
the plastic and mesh covering ripped off many greenhouses.
A few had been knocked down, and some sheds had been
reduced to heaps of shredded lumber.

Tom Buckley, the general manager of the nursery and the
fifth generation of his family in the business, said it could
cost several hundred thousand dollars to restore things.
Most of the property, he said, is so fragile it cannot be
insured. The strain showed in his face.

"I knew what I was going to find when I checked this out
on Monday," Mr. Buckley said. "I didn't necessarily expect
the demolition of some of the houses. But five minutes
later it was time to pick up the pieces and move forward.
You just do what you've got to do."

Though police spokesmen warned of steep fines and multiple
points on driver licenses for anyone who cruised through
intersections, courtesy often failed in a region where drivers
are less than civil even on normal days. Things were slightly
more orderly at the few grocery stores that opened, where
people wheeled carts through darkened aisles.

At a gas station in Plantation, near Fort Lauderdale,
a dozen police officers kept order among hundreds of
people carrying gas cans and a milelong line of vehicles.
Dimitrios Halivel, the station's owner, who was limiting
every customer to $20 worth of gas, said he was regretting
his decision to open.

"There's too much pressure," Mr. Halivel said.

In the Florida Keys, many longtime residents who defied
evacuation orders called Hurricane Wilma the most fearsome
storm in memory. Areas normally high and dry during
storms were under nearly four feet of water. The currents
pushed saltwater through some of Key West's oldest and
most expensive residential neighborhoods, and during
high tide 70 percent of the island was underwater.

Many homes in the Lower Keys appeared uninhabitable,
and thousands of vehicles were either destroyed or had
their electrical systems crippled.

Yet power was restored on Tuesday to the old historic
district and other parts of Key West and the Lower Keys,
with an estimated 9,000 homes back on line by evening.
Governor Bush visited Key West and went to the high school,
a Red Cross staging area and shelter for those who lost their
homes. He tried to appease fears that tourists would stay
away from Florida because of the sizable damage.

"People are going to remember their memories here
and want to come back," Mr. Bush said.

Abby Goodnough reported from Miami for this article,
and Joseph B. Treaster from Naples. Neil Reisner
contributed reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Terry
Aguayo from Miami, Tim O'Hara from Key West and
Joe Follick from Tallahassee.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

5) Cindy Sheehan Plans to Padlock Herself to White House Fence

Washington, Oct 25 (Prensa Latina) US activist Cindy Sheehan
announced Tuesday that, in a continuation of her antiwar crusade, she
intends to tie herself to the White House fence to insist the
government withdraw its troops from Iraq.

In an interview with ABC News, the Gold Star mother (her son Casey
was killed in Iraq in April 2004) said "The police will probably
arrest me, but when they release me, I will do it again."

Every US soldier who dies in Iraq is more than a number, it is an
unnecessary tragedy. I had been working hard to end this insanity,
but after my son died, another 1,400 soldiers lost their lives, she
said.

Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in an ambush in Sadr a few weeks after
he arrived in Iraq.

Several antiwar groups plan to organize a candlelight procession in
front of the White House when the number of US troops killed in Iraq
reaches 2,000, which could happen this week.

Since the US government led a coalition in attacking Saddam Hussein
in March 2003, 1,999 US soldiers have died and more than 14,300 have
been wounded.

Cindy Sheehan made a promise to the people of the United States that
she would continue her fight against the war until all the US troops
come home.

I will be a heartbroken mother until I die because of the lies that
destroyed my son, Sheehan said. I will continue the struggle until
the troops come home. Our people are going to Iraq to die and we
should stop this at all costs, she insisted.

With Sheehan, the Gold Star Families for Peace have urged the people
of the US to mobilize against the Iraq war.

The activist returned to her home in Oakland, California at the
beginning of October, where she received a hero's welcome. Sheehan
has become the international antiwar paradigm after a month-long
vigil at the President's Texas ranch and an extensive trip around the
nation.

hr/ccs/jvj

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

6) News
Conference Denounces Military
Meeting Focuses Criticisms on Campus Recruitment, Iraq War
BY Ada Tso
Contribution Writer
Monday, October 24, 2005
http://www.daiylcal.org/article.asp?=20103

More than 600 students, teachers and activists from across
the nation poured into UC Berkeley this weekend to speak out
against military recruiters on campus and denounce the Iraq
occupation.

The two-day counter-military recruitment conference was
held in the Valley Life Sciences Building, where attendees
participated in workshops and heard conscientious objectors
share their experiences.

The event was co-sponsored by Military Out of Our Schools
and the Campus Antiwar Network, along with dozens of
organizations including the UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition
and American Friends Service Committee.

"Innocent people in Iraq are dying, people are needlessly
being sent to war. We will put an end to military recruitment
and stop the wheels of the military," said Ph.D. candidate
Snehal Shingavi, a member of the UC Berkeley Stop the War
Coalition and an event organizer.

A packed auditorium pulsated with energy when the
first featured speaker, Military Out of Our Schools
coordinator Kevin Ramirez, came out on stage.

"We must continue to do counter-recruitment work
because it is rapidly growing as a powerful movement.
The Army, the National Guard, the Navy Reserve all
missed their recruiting goals by thousands," Ramirez
said to loud cheers.

The conference focused on an ongoing debate
that has gained momentum over the past year. In March,
the ASUC passed a resolution prohibiting the use of
the Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union by military
recruiters on the grounds that they discriminated
against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and queer community.

In November 2004, the Solomon Amendment,
which dictates that universities give military recruiters
equal access or face losing millions of dollars in federal
funding, was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals
in Philadelphia. With the U.S. Supreme Court waiting
to hear the case later this year, debate has continued
at campuses across the nation.

At the conference, those arguing against campus
military recruitment called the occupation a rich man's
war fought by the poor.

"Military recruitment is done so that poor people
are doing the dirty work for those who are rich,"
Shingavi said.

A standing ovation greeted the next speaker,
former Navy petty officer Pablo Paredes, who was
convicted and sentenced for missing movement,
for refusing to board an Iraq-bound ship.

"My name was Pablo Paredes, I was from the Bronx;
this was making the military recruiters tinkle," Paredes
said to illustrate the tendency of recruiters to target
poor minorities.

While most attendees supported the anti-war cause,
some students on campus stressed the importance
of allowing military recruiters to come.

"The military has been the single most innovative
organization in the world and having military recruiters
on campus will make sure that our military remains one
of the biggest contributors to the intellectual community,"
said senior Amaury Gallais, a member of the Berkeley
College Republicans, which squared off with the
UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition last spring over
the same issue.

Still, the sentiment at the event was clearly one of
anti-war, which came through in art performances as well.

Ariel Lucky, a performance artist, encapsulated the
view with a rap: "When I fill up my tank with Chevron gasoline
made from Iraqi crude oil on my way to work in the morning,
will I be forgiven by my great-grandchildren? Will history absolve me?"

Contact Ada Tso at atso@dailycal.org.

(c) 2003 The Daily Californian
Berkeley, CA
dailycal@dailycal.org

Printable URL: http://www.dailycal.org/particle.asp?id=20103
Original URL: http://www.daiylcal.org/article.asp?=20103

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

7) The Great Reward
by Brooks Berndt
Guest Commentator
October 27, 2005
http://www.blackcommentator.com/156/156_berndt_great_reward.html

Once upon a time, there lived
a mighty slave master on the mightiest plantation in the world.
When asked the secret of his might, he responded with one word: God.
The slave master was a religious man, a pious one in fact.
Every morning he rode his horse out to the fields and had his
slaves gather around him as he read from the good book and
preached a word. The master was quite fond of the good book,
at least certain parts. He especially liked the verse that tells
slaves to be obedient to their masters.

About this passage, the slave master preached many a sermon.
Although he had difficulty stringing words together to make
a complete sentence, he preached with great conviction.
"Obedience," he proclaimed, "is the true mark of a noble
slave and...umm an obedient slave. The noble slave bears
his burden with pride, loyalty, and er happy thoughts.
The noble slave is even willing to sacrifice his own life for
the greater good of the plantation and plantations
everywhere. Without plantations, there would be
great uh evil, but with plantations there is great
nobility and great reward er in heaven, that is."

Listening closely to this sermon was a wise, old slave
named John. Ole John was the master of tricks and
thereby the master of masters. After the sermon, he
approached his master and said, "Gee, massa, what do I
need to do to earn my great reward?"

"Pick more cotton," said the master.

That night Ole John stayed in the field picking after
quitting time. Later, when the slave master went to bed,
the other slaves came out and said, "We want our great
reward too. We'll help you pick." In an hour,
all the slaves worked together to complete a task
that would have ordinarily taken Ole John all night.

The next morning the master rode out to the field and
began praising the Lord when he saw how much
cotton was picked. "Glory to God, John! Did
you pick all that cotton?"

"I sure did," said Ole John.

The master then preached a whole sermon on how
slaves like Ole John would surely get their great
reward, in heaven, that is. When he finished preaching,
the master approached Ole John and asked him how
he did it. "I prayed," said Ole John.

"Well, John, how about you paint my house white
tonight?" said the master.

"Will do," said Ole John, and that night after the
master fell asleep, he painted the house white
with all of the other slaves.

The next day the master saw his great big white
house freshly painted and began praising the Lord.
"Glory to God! One day, John, you'll get your great
reward, in heaven, that is." Then, he asked John,
"What does God do when you pray?"

Ole John replied, "God gives me the strength
of a hundred slaves."

"My Lord," said the master, "I wish I had the
might of a hundred slave masters."

For that night, the master asked John to build a house
for his wife and kids that would be so nice none
of them would ever want to leave it. The next
day the master saw the new house and began
praising the Lord, "Glory to God! One day, John,
you'll get your great reward, in heaven, that is."
Then the master said to John, "Tell me how you
pray so I can get the might of a hundred masters."

Ole John answered, "I go to the great tree in the middle
of the woods, and there God tells me what I need to
do in order to increase my strength a hundred fold."

That night the slave master went to the big tree in the
middle of the woods, got down on his knees, and
prayed, "O Lord, give me my great reward here
on earth. Give me the might of a hundred masters."

"Noble slave," said a voice from above, "This is your master
speaking. Obey me, and I will give you the might of
a hundred masters."

"O yes Lord, tell me what to do, and I'll do it," prayed
the master.

"Noble slave, say the Lords Prayer ten times in a row
without a mistake. Then I will grant you your wish,"
said the voice from above.

Immediately, the master began to pray, "Our father
who art heaven, oh darn it Our father"

The next day the master was still praying, "they
kingdom be done, oh damn that kingdom"

And again the next day, he was praying, "thy will
be gone, oh damn your will"

Finally, on day three he prayed, "for thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever."
The master began jumping for joy and praising the Lord,
"Glory to God! Only nine more to go!"

Some days later the master was jumping for joy again and
praising the Lord, "Glory to God! Now I'll have the might
of a hundred masters. O Lord, you've given me my great
reward!"

In that same moment, Ole John and the rest of the slaves
were also jumping for joy and praising the Lord.
They too had just received their great reward in the North, that is.

This story was inspired by the African American folktales
collected by Zora Neale Hurston in "Mules and Men."
Brooks Berndt is a student at the Graduate Theological
Union in Berkeley, California, and can be reached at j
usticia_ahora@hotmail.com.

Thank you very much for your readership.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

8) Op-Ed Columnist
Driving Blind as the Deaths Pile Up
By BOB HERBERT
October 27, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/opinion/27herbert.html?hp

Much of the nation is mourning the more than 2,000 American
G.I.'s lost to the war in Iraq. But some of the mindless Washington
weasels who sent those brave and healthy warriors to their
unnecessary doom have other things on their minds. They're
scrambling about the capital, huddling frantically with lawyers,
hoping that their habits of deception, which are a way of life
with them, don't finally land them in a federal penitentiary.

See them sweat. The most powerful of the powerful, the men
who gave the president his talking points and his marching
orders, are suddenly sending out distress signals: Don't let
them send me to prison on a technicality.

This is not, however, about technicalities. You can spin it any
way you want, but Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of
Karl Rove, Scooter Libby et al. is ultimately about the
monumentally conceived and relentlessly disseminated
deceit that gave us the war that never should have happened.

Oh, it was heady stuff for a while - nerds and nafs swapping
fantasies of world domination and giddily manipulating the
levers of American power. They were oh so arrogant and glib:
Weapons of mass destruction. Yellowcake from Niger.
The smoking gun morphing into a mushroom cloud.

Now look at what they've wrought. James Dao of The Times
began his long article on the 2,000 American dead with
a story that was as typical as it was tragic:

"Sgt. Anthony G. Jones, fresh off the plane from Iraq
and an impish grin on his face, sauntered unannounced
into his wife's hospital room in Georgia just hours after
she had given birth to their second son."

The article described how Sergeant Jones, over a blissful
two-week period last May, "cooed over their baby and
showered attention on his wife."

"Three weeks later, on June 14," wrote Mr. Dao, "Sergeant
Jones was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on his
third tour in a war that is not yet three years old. He was 25."

Three times Sergeant Jones was sent to Iraq, which tells
you all you need to know about the fairness and shared
sacrifices of this war. If you roll the dice enough times,
they're guaranteed to come up snake eyes.

Sergeant Jones told his wife, Kelly, that he had "a bad feeling"
about heading back to Iraq for a third combat tour. After his
death, his wife found a message that he had left for her
among his letters and journal entries.

"Grieve little and move on," he wrote. "I shall be looking
over you. And you will hear me from time to time on the
gentle breeze that sounds at night, and in the rustle of leaves."

In addition to the more than 2,000 dead, an additional
15,000 Americans have been wounded. Some of these men
and women have sacrificed one, two and even three limbs.
Some have been permanently blinded and others permanently
paralyzed - some both. Some have been horribly burned.

For the Iraqis, the toll is beyond hideous. Perhaps 30,000 dead,
of which an estimated 10 percent have been children.
The number of Iraqi wounded is anybody's guess.

This is what happens in war, which is why wars should
only be fought when there is utterly and absolutely no alternative.

So what's ahead, now that the giddiness in Washington has
been replaced by anxiety and the public is turning against the war?

Even Richard Nixon's cronies are crawling out of the woodwork
to urge the Bush gang to stop the madness. In an article for
Foreign Affairs magazine, former Defense Secretary Melvin
Laird, now 83, says the administration needs to come up
with a clearly defined exit strategy, and fast.

Said Mr. Laird: "Getting out of a war is still dicier
than getting into one, as George W. Bush can attest."

But President Bush, who never gave the country a legitimate
reason for going to war, and has never offered a coherent
strategy for winning the war, seems in no hurry to figure
out a way to exit the war.

Soon after the Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that the
American death toll in Iraq had reached 2,000, the president
gave a speech in which he said: "This war will require more
sacrifice, more time and more resolve. No one should
underestimate the difficulties ahead, nor should they
overlook the advantages we bring to this fight."

Thousands upon thousands are suffering and dying in
Iraq while, in Washington, incompetence continues
its macabre marathon dance with incoherence.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

9) Exxon Mobil Profit Soars on Oil Prices
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:24 a.m. ET
October 27, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-energy-exxon-earns.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest
publicly traded oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly
profit surged 75 percent, pushed up by record crude oil and
natural gas prices.

Net income rose to $9.9 billion, or $1.58 a share, in the
third quarter from $5.68 billion, or 88 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a gain of $1.62 billion from restructuring its
stake in a Dutch gas transportation business, earnings were
$1.32 per share. On that basis, analysts' average forecast was
$1.39, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company's oil and gas production fell 4.7 percent from
a year earlier, hurt by outages caused by Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita.

The hurricanes ripped through the Gulf of Mexico in the
third quarter, disrupting energy operations in the region and
sending oil prices and refining margins sharply higher.

Exxon Mobil's capital expenditures jumped to $4.41 billion
in the quarter from $3.63 billion a year earlier.

Shares of Exxon Mobil, the largest of the so-called
''super-major'' oil companies, rose more than 10 percent in the
quarter, underperforming the broader Standard & Poor's
integrated oil and gas index, which rose more than 13 percent.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

10) WE NEED A MOVEMENT OF MILLIONS
Published Oct 13, 2005 2:12 AM
The following transcript is taken from an audio commentary.
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Long live John Africa.
On a move!

I want to thank Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Millions More Movement
for the kind invitation to join y'all here. As we gather, in person or
electronically, we do so in a time of peril.

We do so in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the state showed us
all that they don't give a damn about Black life. But every day of our
lives we see smaller but no less lethal Hurricane Katrinas. Every year
in public schools, millions of Black, Latin, and poor kids are
miseducated, thereby destroying, as surely as any hurricane, their life
hopes and chances.

In our communities, our taxes pay for our own oppression, as racist and
brutal cops make our lives hell daily. We are consumers of a media that
is as dangerous as any hurricane, for it poisons our minds and the minds
of millions of others by wholesale lies designed to demean and denigrate
us.

Look at the tale of horrors that came out of Katrina: the horror stories
of mass rapes and mass murders, told by Black politicians and Black cops
to deflect attention from the armed, roving gangs of New Orleans cops,
who stole everything that they could get their hands on. By putting out
these lies, they turned hearts and minds from their betrayal of their
own constituency, Black and poor New Orleanians, who needed transport,
food, clean water, toilet facilities, and medical care and safety.

What's the point? That they represent, not the interests of those who
voted for them, but the wealthy and well-to-do. If you doubt me, ask
yourself what percentage of the tens of thousands of people in the
Superdome or the convention center˜those people the government left to
starve, in the dark, thirsty, deathly afraid˜were registered Democrat?

If we're honest, we'll agree over 90 percent. What did it matter? It
didn't. Their loyalty was rewarded with betrayal. Did it matter that
there was a Democratic governor? Kathleen Blanco's first order was to
send National Guard into the streets, where she authorized them to shoot
to kill to protect property. Did any of you, in a week, see such
governmental passion displayed to protect human life? Did you see any
interest in protecting Black life?

I didn't think so.

What we saw then was what we've always seen˜the government as adversary,
not ally. In prisons all across America, in police stations, and in
courthouses, we experience daily hurricanes of hatred and indifference.
These institutions, just like other government branches, are threats to
our welfare, not tools of our will. They are tools of white supremacy,
even and sometimes especially when their leaders have Black faces.

We have Black politicians with virtually no political power which means,
once again, we pay for our own oppression. Our taxes pay for them, but
they don't serve our people's interests. They serve the state of white
supremacy. They serve the will of capital.

We need a movement of millions to build true social power. To free our
minds and our bodies from the mud that we languish in.

We need a movement of millions to transform our current social reality
of repression and destitution. We need a movement of millions to bring
back light to the eyes of our people. To engage in a struggle for
freedom, for justice, and for liberation.

We need a movement of millions of the poor, of workers, of women, of
youth, of students, of prisoners, of all those dedicated to change to
build independent organizations that can't be bought or sold and will do
the work necessary to be free.

We need a movement of millions to bring freedom to the brothers and
sisters of the Move 9, to bring freedom to Sundiata Acoli, to bring
freedom to Mutulu Shakur, to Russell Maroon Shoats, and hundreds of
other Black prisoners of war and political prisoners.

We need a movement of millions to resist the state oppression that has
brought us Patriot Acts, but not patriotic actions, wars for empire and
countless attacks on the poor. We need a movement of millions to make
common cause with oppressed people the world over. In Cuba, yes in Iraq,
in Venezuela, in the Congo, in Haiti, in the Philippines.

We need a movement of millions that is anti-imperialist, that is
anti-racist, and that unites us, not divides us. We need a movement of
millions, and let us begin right here. Thank you, on a move! Long live
John Africa. Free the Move 9.

From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

11) KENT STATE letter of protest!
From: Bonnie Weinstein
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 11:24:56 -0700
To: Carol Cartwright ,
William Ross , Greg Jarvie
Cc: COLLEGE NOT COMBAT GROUP

Subject: Support to Dave Airhart, Iraq Veteran and hero to the
overwhelming majority of Americans who are opposed to the war

TO: Carol Cartwright, William Ross, Greg Jarvie, Kent State University

Dear all,

I am prompted to write this protest letter on behalf of Dave Airhart,
a student and Iraq War veteran that climbed the Army's rock wall
at your infamous university and draped a sign that read, "Kent
State 4 Peace" over the wall for all to see. Since when is peaceful
protest not allowed in this country?

But there is an even more important reason for demanding that
Dave be given all his rights back and that all punishment against
him be rescinded immediately. The rock wall is a horrible
advertising scam designed to fool students about the reality
of war, the reality of military "life," if you are lucky enough
to live through it whole and with all your faculties.

War isn't climbing rock walls and joking with friends and David
knows this. War isn't "expanding your horizons" or "learning
useful skills". War is about killing the enemy. That means that
war is based on who the government deems the enemy at any
given moment in time. And who makes these decisions?
Do we vote on war? No, those who rule decide upon war.

So, our elected officials make the decision about war. Both
Republicans and Democrats alike voted on the war; the budget;
the expansion of military spending; the increase in the military's
advertising budget for recruitment and the entrenchment
of the military in our school system at every level; Patriot Act;
increased internal surveillance of civilians; more jails; more
police, etc. At the same time all social nets and services;
schools; hospitals; the entire social and service infrastructure
is in shambles. But the oil barons corporate kingpins are
swimming in money. Their children don't join the military!
They join the jet set.

And then, we find out beyond any reasonable doubt, that all
the reasons for the war in the first place were nothing but
a bunch of lies—-to militarily occupy the oil-rich region for
American business interests, having nothing to do with
anything but making that financial arrangement by
force—-using our tax money to carry out one of the biggest
crimes of our century.

And you expect people to be silent about educators allowing
the military—-this sick monster—-to come onto our schools
and campuses and set up a rock wall and pretend that war
is fun; to lie, pressure, humiliate, shame and coerce young
people to sacrifice their lives for lies; to consume and mangle
more of our kids to make the pockets of the wealthy elite
bulge even more? To condemn those that do survive to
suffer the images of war that dart in and out of consciousness
continually for the rest of their lives? Just whose side are you on?

The buck stops here!

Get the military out of Kent State University. If you can't
do it now you can at least demand it now! You can encourage
students like Dave. He should be speaking to all the students
at Kent State. He has valuable and real experience. The
military is no place for the inquisitive mind which all educators
are supposed to be nurturing. You need to get your bearings back.

You need to stand on the side of these brave students. You
need to support them not punish them. You need to convince
young people that joining the military is not a good choice
when an entire government has lied about all the reasons
for going to war in the first place. This war will be a shame
and disgrace for centuries to come, if the human race makes
it. Our young people need to study how to end wars and
create a humane world.

As educators your job is to stand on their side against the
military recruiters; to encourage students to think twice and
three times about joining the military. Your job is to see
that they are not fooled by the fun of climbing a rock wall.
It's not as much fun when you are carrying your buddy's
bloody torso on your back under gunfire. Your job is to
encourage them to read about the war; to seek out veterans
to speak to; to do thorough research on how the government
lied and used the mass media to perpetrate the lies. This
is the reality of our world today as much as we detest it.
School is no place for the military—-no place to recruit
our children to die for the enrichment of the wealthy elite
who rules this country.

It is up you to stand on their side. Go out and protest with
the students against the military. Let the military know they
are not welcome at Kent State even if you can't ban them
now! And drop all the charges and reinstate Dave Airhart
immediately. Get the military out of Kent State!

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
www.bauaw.org
415-824-8730
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

12) Should the U.S. Withdraw? Let the Iraqi People Decide
by Abigail A. Fuller and Neil Wollman
Sat, 29 Oct 2005 11:21:31 -0500
"Wollman, Neil J."

Give us three minutes and we can find an op-ed piece in a U.S.
newspaper calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, or
arguing that they should stay. The arguments are varied and numerous: If the
U.S. leaves, anarchy will ensue. Occupation forces are a target for
foreign terrorists. Bush should set a timetable for withdrawal. Setting a
timetable would embolden those using violence in Iraq. And so on. What
is missing from this picture? Any discussion of what the Iraqi people
themselves want. The opinions of those most affected by this war count
the most. And so a nationwide referendum should be conducted in Iraq on
the question of whether U.S. troops should stay or go, in which every
Iraqi can vote directly on this question.

What the U.S. public wants is much discussed in the
media-nearly every week poll results are announced indicating how many people
believe the United States should withdraw all or some troops from Iraq (63
percent, according to the latest USA Today/CNN Gallup Poll) and how
many believe the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq
(59 percent, from the same poll). As U.S. citizens we certainly have an
interest in whether the troops stay. Our tax money funds the U.S.
military presence, and our young men and women are being killed and injured
there. So our opinions matter.

But what about the Iraqis? There are inherent difficulties in
polling in an unstable, war-torn environment. Furthermore, most polls of
Iraqi public opinion ask such ambiguous questions as, "Do you think the
country is headed in the right direction?"-to which a "yes" answer
could mean any number of things, from a belief that the insurgents are
defeating the occupation forces and that's a good thing, to a belief that a
democratic government will be established soon in part due to the U.S.
presence. Neither is it sufficient to simply allow the Iraqi government
to determine whether or not U.S. troops stay: 37 percent of Iraqis, a
significant minority, feel that the Iraqi National Assembly does not
serve the interests of all Iraqis (International Republican Institute
poll, July 2005).

Some polls have asked Iraqis specifically about the presence of
U.S. troops, and guess what: they want us to leave. A February poll by
the U.S. military, cited by the Brookings Institution, found that 71
percent of Iraqis "oppose the presence of Coalition Forces in Iraq." This
poll was taken only in urban areas, but others have found much the same
sentiment. According to a January 2005 poll by Abu Dhabi TV/Zogby
International, 82 percent of Sunni Arabs and 69 percent of Shiite Arabs
favor the withdrawal of U.S. troops either immediately or after an elected
government is in place.

But an opinion poll does not carry the weight of a referendum,
in which all Iraqis could clearly and definitively vote on whether or
not U.S. troops should remain in their country. This can be done:
Kurdish activists organized a referendum on independence during the January
national elections in Iraq, which found that over 90 percent of Kurd
voters want independence for the region. On October 15 Iraqis will vote,
in another referendum, on whether to accept a new constitution.

It appears that we as a nation are so self-absorbed that both
the hawks and the doves among us have forgotten to ask what those most
affected by the war-the Iraqi people themselves--want. Let us remedy
this situation by supporting a referendum and then abiding by the results.
Let the Iraqi people decide.

Abigail A. Fuller is associate professor of sociology and social work
at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana. Neil Wollman is
professor of psychology and senior fellow of the Peace Studies Institute at
Manchester College, North Manchester, IN 46962;
aafuller@manchester.edu, njwollman@manchester.edu ;
260-982-5009/5346.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

13) Op-Ed Columnist
Who's on First?
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
October 29, 2005
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/opinion/29dowd.html?hp

It was bracing to see the son of a New York doorman open the door
on the mendacious Washington lair of the Lord of the Underground.

But this Irish priest of the law, Patrick Fitzgerald, neither Democrat
nor Republican, was very strict, very precise. He wasn't totally
gratifying in clearing up the murkiness of the case, yet strangely
comforting in his quaint black-and-white notions of truth and
honor (except when his wacky baseball metaphor seemed
to veer toward a "Who's on first?" tangle).

"This indictment's not about the propriety of the war," he told
reporters yesterday in his big Eliot Ness moment at the Justice
Department. The indictment was simply about whether the son
of an investment banker perjured himself before a grand jury
and the F.B.I.

Scooter does seem like a big fat liar in the indictment. And
not a clever one, since his deception hinged on, of all people,
the popular monsignor of the trusted Sunday Church of Russert.
Does Scooter hope to persuade a jury to believe him
instead of Little Russ?

Good luck.

There is something grotesque about Scooter's hiding behind
the press with his little conspiracy, given that he's part of
an administration that despises the press and tried to make
its work almost impossible.

Mr. Fitzgerald claims that Mr. Libby hurt national security
by revealing the classified name of a C.I.A. officer. "Valerie
Wilson's friends, neighbors, college classmates had no
idea she had another life," he said.

He was not buying the arguments on the right that
Mrs. Wilson was not really undercover or was under
"light" cover, or that blowing her cover did not hurt the C.I.A.

"I can say that for the people who work at the C.I.A.
and work at other places, they have to expect that when
they do their jobs that classified information will be
protected," he said, adding: "They run a risk when they
work for the C.I.A. that something bad could happen to
them, but they have to make sure that they don't run the
risk that something bad is going to happen to them from
something done by their own fellow government employees."

To protect a war spun from fantasy, the Bush team played
dirty. Unfortunately for them, this time they Swift-boated
an American whose job gave her legal protection from the
business-as-usual smear campaign.

The back story of this indictment is about the ongoing Tong
wars of the C.I.A., the White House, the State Department and
the Pentagon: the fight over who lied us into war. The C.I.A.,
after all, is the agency that asked for a special prosecutor
to be appointed to investigate how one of its own was outed
by the White House.

The question Mr. Fitzgerald repeatedly declined to answer
yesterday - Dick Cheney's poker face has finally met its
match - was whether this stops at Scooter.

No one expects him to "flip," unless he finally gets the sort
of fancy white-collar criminal lawyer that The Washington
Post said he is searching for - like the ones who succeeded
in getting Karl Rove off the hook, at least for now - and
the lawyer tells Scooter to nail his boss to save himself.

But what we really want to know, now that we have the
bare bones of who said what to whom in the indictment,
is what they were all thinking there in that bunker and
how that hothouse bred the idea that the way out of their
Iraq problems was to slime their critics instead of addressing
the criticism. What we really want to know, if Scooter testifies
in the trial, and especially if he doesn't, is what Vice did to
create the spidery atmosphere that led Scooter, who seemed
like an interesting and decent guy, to let his zeal get
the better of him.

Mr. Cheney, eager to be rid of the meddlesome Joe Wilson,
got Valerie Wilson's name from the C.I.A. and passed it
on to Scooter. He forced the C.I.A. to compromise one
of its own, a sacrifice on the altar of faith-based intelligence.

Vice spent so much time lurking over at the C.I.A., trying
to intimidate the analysts at Langley into twisting the
intelligence about weapons, that he should have had
one of his undisclosed locations there.

This administration's grand schemes always end up
as the opposite. Officials say they're promoting national
security when they're hurting it; they say they're squelching
terrorists when they're breeding them; they say they're
bringing stability to Iraq when the country's imploding.
(The U.S. announced five more military deaths yesterday.)

And the most dangerous opposite of all: W. was listening
to a surrogate father he shouldn't have been listening
to, and not listening to his real father, who deserved to be listened to.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

14) Editorial
The Case Against Scooter Libby
October 29, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/opinion/29sat1.html?hp

The five-count indictment handed up yesterday against Lewis Libby,
the vice president's chief of staff, may seem anticlimactic to those
who were hoping to finally learn who gave the columnist Robert
Novak the name of Valerie Wilson, a covert C.I.A. officer whose
cover was blown by his column on July 14, 2003. Although the
grand jury investigating the case was attempting to determine
whether Mr. Novak's source violated the federal law against
revealing the name of a covert operative, the special counsel
was mum on that as well.

Patrick Fitzgerald, a federal prosecutor, left open the possibility
that we may never know all the answers. But the essence of the
indictment is that Mr. Libby lied when he told F.B.I. investigators
and the grand jury that he had learned about Mrs. Wilson from
Tim Russert of NBC News around July 10, 2003, and had passed
the information on to Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and
then to Judith Miller of The Times, and that until then he had
not had any idea who she was or where she worked.

Supporters of Mr. Libby, known as Scooter, have attempted to
describe the Wilson case as, at worse, a matter of casual gossip
by Washington insiders about the wife of a man in the news.
But the indictment does not describe a situation in which
people accidentally outed someone they did not know was
a covert officer. It describes a distinct and disturbing pattern
of behavior among very high-ranking officials, including
Mr. Libby and Vice President Dick Cheney, who knew that
they were dealing with a covert officer and used their access
to classified information in a public relations campaign over
the rapidly disintegrating justifications for war with Iraq.

The diplomat, Joseph Wilson, went to Niger in 2002 at the
request of the Central Intelligence Agency to investigate
allegations that Iraq tried to buy uranium to make a nuclear
bomb. Mr. Wilson reported back that the uranium story was
unfounded, and he later went public with that contention.
But Mr. Cheney's team kept on pushing the claim, which
was included in President Bush's State of the Union speech
in 2003.

Then Mr. Novak reported that Mr. Wilson's wife worked at
the C.I.A. and had suggested Mr. Wilson for the mission.
In the eyes of Mr. Novak and other conservative hawks, that
made the trip suspect because they saw the C.I.A. as an
adversary. The office where Mrs. Wilson worked was not
toeing the line on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass
destruction.

Yesterday's indictment, which followed a two-year
investigation, contained only one reference to Mr. Novak,
who has refused to say whether he testified or cooperated
in any other way with Mr. Fitzgerald's grand jury. A single
cryptic paragraph in the 22-page indictment refers to an
unnamed senior White House official (called Official A)
who told Mr. Libby a few days before Mr. Novak's column
appeared that he had spoken to the columnist and discussed
with him Mr. Wilson, his wife, her job and her involvement
in Mr. Wilson's trip. Karl Rove has admitted talking to
Mr. Novak on the telephone about the issue, and he is
still under investigation by Mr. Fitzgerald.

The charges Mr. Fitzgerald filed - one count of obstruction
of justice, two of making false statements and two of perjury
- are very serious. They carry a combined possible sentence
of 30 years in jail, and Mr. Libby was forced to resign
yesterday. The Republicans' attempts to belittle the charges
are quite a switch, considering that many of these same
politicians gleefully helped to impeach President Bill Clinton
on similar charges in a much less serious context.

The indictment says Mr. Libby learned about Mrs. Wilson
first from a senior State Department official, then from
a C.I.A. officer, and then from Mr. Cheney himself, who
learned her identify from George Tenet, the director of
central intelligence at the time. At one point, according
to the indictment, Mr. Libby accosted Mr. Cheney's C.I.A.
briefer to complain that C.I.A. officials were making critical
comments to the press about Mr. Cheney's office, and
mentioned Mr. Wilson's trip to Niger and his wife.
This deeply improper harassment occurred a month
before Mr. Novak's column appeared.

When called to account for his actions, Mr. Libby pointed
his finger at a group of reporters, according to the indictment,
shifting attention from himself. That prompted Mr. Fitzgerald
to subpoena those journalists, and began a yearlong fight
over the protection of confidential sources.

Journalists from some news organizations testified after
trying to fight the subpoenas; others testified on the basis
of a document White House officials were compelled to
sign that said they waived any promises of confidentiality
from reporters. Ms. Miller says she believed the waiver was
coerced, and she went to jail until Mr. Libby assured her
directly that he was freeing her from her promise.

While she was imprisoned for 85 days, this newspaper and
this page gave Ms. Miller unwavering support. Recently,
Times executives have expressed regrets about some of
the ways her case was handled. Reflecting on these events,
we have no reservations about the obligation of this paper
to stand behind our reporter while she was in jail. We also
think Ms. Miller was right on the central point, that the
original blanket White House waiver was coerced.

As for Mr. Libby's case, the charges suggest that White House
officials did, in fact, use Mrs. Wilson's classified C.I.A. job as
a weapon against a critic of administration policy - to smear
his reputation or to warn off other dissenters. A jury will
determine whether Mr. Libby broke the law as a result of
that campaign. But it seems clear that he and other officials
violated the public trust.

And as absorbing as this criminal investigation has been,
the big point Americans need to keep in mind is this:
There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
LINKS:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Wal-Mart's Health Care Struggle Is Corporate America's, Too
By REED ABELSON
Published: October 29, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/business/businessspecial2/29health.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Damage
New Orleans Loses Its Shade
By BRUCE WEBER
Published: October 29, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/national/nationalspecial/29trees.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Being a Patient
For a Retainer, Lavish Care by 'Boutique Doctors'
By ABIGAIL ZUGER
Published: October 30, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/health/30patient.html?hp&ex=1130644800&en=4dda454678e09295&ei=5094&partner=homepage

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

The Vice President
In Indictment's Wake, a Focus on Cheney's Powerful Role
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: October 30, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/politics/30cheney.html?hp&ex=1130644800&en=d599c390429480e0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Road Trip for Relief! Reclaim the Gulf!
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/2005/10/road_trip_for_relief_reclaim_t_1.html#more

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Boot Yahoo
by Dan Raphael
One of the standard arguments for the superiority of 'free
enterprise' is that in the wake of economic freedom -- defined
as the freedom of capital to enrich itself -- political and other
freedoms follow in its wake. There are a few problems with this
argument: first, it is often framed in the broad sweep of history,
looking ahead at decades or even centuries. Most people don't
have centuries or even decades to waste, when it comes to being
imprisoned, assaulted, tortured, and executed. Second, freedom
exists in many places where the marketplace is heavily regulated;
in fact, most European countries place greater restraints on the
rights of corporations than is the case in the United States.
Third, capitalists are more than eager to do the work of tyrants
when it will assure them profit in return. A current example
of this third problem is currently gaining new notoriety.
The leading multinational internet corporation Yahoo! is under
growing fire for its admitted service to the government
of mainland China in helping identify political dissidents there....
http://dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Raphael1027.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

The Death of an Iraqi Prisoner
by John McChesney
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4977986

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Coverage of Americans Wounded in Iraq War Leaves US Media Hurting
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1027-01.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Killing a Voice for Peace
The Race to Execute Tookie Williams
By PHIL GASPER
October 28, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/gasper10282005.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Big Rise in Profit Puts Oil Giants on Defensive
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1028-01.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

A test of faith behind bars
Alleged plot stirs suspicion of Islam
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13774911p-14616977c.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Umer Hayat
Judge approves bail in Lodi case
By Denny Walsh -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, October 27, 2005
Story appeared on Page A1 of The Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13774913p-14616971c.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

MediaChannel Appeal: Join Us In A "Show The War, Tell The
Truth" Campaign
Submitted by editor on October 25, 2005 - 12:43pm.
By Danny Schechter
Source: MediaChannel.org
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/1555

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Ex-Head of F.D.A. or Wife Sold Stock in Regulated Area
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: October 27, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/politics/27fda.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Name of Rove's Aide Appears in Two Washington Inquiries
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: October 27, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/politics/27aide.html?hp&ex=1130472000&en=f19a6540a38a681e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

U.N. to Detail Kickbacks Paid for Iraq's Oil
By WARREN HOGE
Published: October 27, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/international/middleeast/27food.html?hp&ex=1130472000&en=9f381289a1ab65ac&ei=5094&partner=homepage

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

2,000 Dead: As Iraq Tours Stretch On, a Grim Mark
By JAMES DAO
Published: October 26, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/international/middleeast/26deaths.html?hp&ex=1130385600&en=1adbdf5a12fe847b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Bill Would Allow Second Attempts at Federal Death Sentence
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: October 26, 2005
If all 12 members of a jury in a capital case in federal court cannot
agree on whether to impose the death penalty, a convicted defendant
is automatically sentenced to life in prison.
But that may be about to change. A little-noticed provision in the
House bill that reauthorized the antiterrorism law known as the
USA Patriot Act would allow federal prosecutors further attempts
at a death sentence if a capital jury deadlocks on the punishment.
So long as at least one juror voted for death, prosecutors could
empanel a new sentencing jury and argue again that execution
was warranted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/national/26sentence.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

The Cost of Gold | Treasure of Yanacocha
Tangled Strands in Fight Over Peru Gold Mine
By JANE PERLEZ and LOWELL BERGMAN
October 25, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/international/americas/25GOLD.html?hp

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Totally Bootleg: Cops and Jails in New Orleans
by Don A. Monday, Oct. 17, 2005 at 10:04 PM
don@crimethinc.net
Until today, the New Orleans jail and courthouse were situated in
a Greyhound bus station, the DA office was in a gift shop in the
station lobby, and the cells were cages set up outside where the
buses were once parked. According to police documents, over
1000 people were booked there following hurricane Katrina.
http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/6001.php

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

MAMA AFRICA MAKES HER FAREWELL
Singing and weeping with
Miriam Makeba
Two marvelous concerts in Havana
BY MIREYA CASTA�EDA �Granma International staff writer
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/octubre/lun10/42makeba2-i.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------