TONIGHT
Tuesday, August 16, 7 p.m.
474 Valencia St.
(Near 16th Street, S.F.)
The College Not Combat referendum will be
Proposition "i". The printed material is in the works!
Now our real work begins!
GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR
SCHOOLS! VOTE YES ON "I"!
Picket the S.F. Board of Education
Tuesday, August 23, 6:30 p.m.
555 Franklin Street
(Near McAllister St., S.F.)
BRING SIGNS! HUNDREDS OF
CARS GO BY AND HONK IN
SUPPORT!
1) Watch this video of Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/127648/index.php
2) Why I must tell the president to stop the war
LEAVE NOW, BEFORE ANOTHER SON DIES NEEDLESSLY IN IRAQ
By Cindy Sheehan
Posted on Mon, Aug. 15, 2005
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/12386701.htm
3) "Slow Falling Bird"
Performances are Thursday, Friday
and Saturday through August 20th,
extra show Monday, August 15, 8 P.M. at
the EXIT on Taylor, 277 Taylor Street,
San Francisco.
I encourage reservations, as the
first weekend sold out. Call: 415-351-0277 - the EXIT
4) Democrats embrace tough military stance
Sharpen message on foreign policy
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | August 14, 2005
WASHINGTON -- After months of internal debate and closed-
door discussions, Democrats have begun to develop a more
aggressive foreign policy that focuses heavily on threats
they say are being neglected by the Bush administration,
while avoiding taking a contentious stance on Iraq.
Even Democrats who have been associated with liberal
positions on international affairs are calling for more
troops in uniform, proposing that threats of force be
used to stop nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North
Korea, and pressing for potential military intervention
to ease famine and oppression around the world.
Democrats are also calling for better pay and benefits
for soldiers and heightened efforts to protect mass transit
and other potential terrorist targets.
The emerging message among Democrats reflects a recognition
that winning congressional and presidential elections
in the post-Sept. 11 era requires candidates to establish
a willingness to use America's military might and keep
the nation safe, according to party leaders and strategists.
Despite pressure from liberal groups calling for a quick
exit from Iraq, several of the party's White House
aspirants and congressional leaders are calling for the
United States to intensify efforts to bring stability
to the nation before troops come home.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/14/democrats_embrace_tough_military_stance/?page=1
5) Find out the latest information on how you can
support Mumia Abu Jamal's fight for freedom. Meet Pam
Africa at a special MOBE meeting this Friday, 7:30 p.m.
at 298 Valencia Street (Valencia and 14th) in the
Socialist Action Bookstore. –
Tom Lacey, SF Peace and Freedom Party
6) The Trail of the Catonsville Nine
by Daniel Berrigan, S.J.
Friday, August 26
Doors @ 6:30, 7:00 Curtain
St. Boniface Theatre
175 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco
7) Op-Ed Columnist
Someone Tell the President
the War Is Over
By FRANK RICH
Published: August 14, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/opinion/14rich.html
8) Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center presents a
Working Towards Peace Forum:
The U.S. in Iraq
Bringing Freedom and Democracy -- or Occupation?
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 7:00 P.M.
Mt Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church
55 Eckley Lane
Walnut Creek
phone: (925) 933-7850
Speakers:
Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics and chair of the
Peace & Justice Studies program at the University of
San Francisco, and the author of Tinderbox: U. S. Middle
East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism.
Sean O'Neil is a decorated Marine who served twice in Iraq
and now speaks out against the war.
Learn more about the historical and political context of
the conflict, and the reality of current conditions in Iraq.
Suggested Donation: $5.00
9) Unacceptable regimes in Iraq and the United states
Occupied zones
There are killings every day in Iraq. Occupying troops, diplomats,
aid workers and media people are killed, as are Iraqis, in far greater
numbers. But President George Bush's war is not only against
opponents in Iraq and the Middle East: it is a war against his
fellow Americans.
By Howard Zinn
Le Monde diplomatique, August 2005
http://mondediplo.com/2005/08/04iraq
10) DEA Seeks Private Guards To Protect Traveling Tonnage of Pot
By Stephen Peacock ,
Posted on Sat Aug 13th, 2005 at 12:43:51 AM EST
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is recruiting
private security forces to load, transport and unload
"multi-ton" shipments of seized marijuana en route
to destruction in Arizona. It's conducting what
is known as a "sources sought" inquiry to determine
the availability of commercial firms that can provide
on-call deployments of armed contractors to protect
these bulk transports of pot.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/8/13/04351/1042
11) Venezuelan President Proposes Socialist World Offensive
http://www.plenglish.com/
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R1CE23C9B
12) Climate warning as Siberia melts
11 August 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Fred Pearce
THE world's largest frozen peat bog is melting. An area
stretching for a million square kilometres across the
permafrost of western Siberia is turning into a mass
of shallow lakes as the ground melts, according to
Russian researchers just back from the region.
The sudden melting of a bog the size of France and
Germany combined could unleash billions of tonnes
of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
The news of the dramatic transformation of one of the
world's least visited landscapes comes from Sergei
Kirpotin, a botanist at Tomsk State University, Russia,
and Judith Marquand at the University of Oxford.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725124.500
13) Lives Blown Apart
By BOB HERBERT
Published: August 15, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/opinion/15herbert.html
14) Invisible to Most, Immigrant
Women Line Up for Day Labor
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: August 15, 2005
The women are not noticed by the weekday morning crowds
that rush past Eighth Avenue and 37th Street, in the heart
of Manhattan's fashion district. They arrive in twos and
threes after 8 a.m., shrinking against the buildings on
both sides of the avenue, until scores of them are
waiting, small, dark-haired Mexicans, Ecuadoreans, Hondurans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/nyregion/15labor.html
15) Critics Say It's Time to Overhaul
Army's Bonus System
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: August 15, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/national/15recruit.html
16) UPDATES ON CINDY SHEEHAN VISIT TO CRAWFORD
Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005
10:15 a.m.
SHOTS FIRED!
Deborah Mathews reporting for The Iconoclast.
Camp Casey is becoming very organized, with how-to signs
placed about. Ann Wright said, "That's what we are trying to do."
Let me read you the schedule posted on a tree: "9:15 camp
meeting; 10 a.m. inter-faith service, 10:30 a.m.,
"Food-Not-Bombs Breakfast at Peace House," and....
http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/32news21.htm
17) A smile in the dark
(Regarding the Atlanta Appellate Court decision on the Five)
by Celia Hart, August 12, 2005
http://www.walterlippmann.com/ch-08-12-2005.html
18) From Dave Rovics newsletter:
19) Colored Ink &The SF Peacemakers
present:Our Health Is Our Wealth
A day of Film, Food, &Social Justice
Saturday, August 20th 2005
Brava Theater
2789 24th St., San Francisco
Registration begins at 11:00 am
Festival begins at 12:00 noon
20) Leave My Child Alone
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
1) Watch this video of Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/127648/index.php
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
2) Why I must tell the president to stop the war
LEAVE NOW, BEFORE ANOTHER SON DIES NEEDLESSLY IN IRAQ
By Cindy Sheehan
Posted on Mon, Aug. 15, 2005
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/12386701.htm
I will never, ever forget the night of April 4, 2004, when
I found out that my son Casey had been killed in Iraq.
I will also never forget the day when we buried my sweet boy,
my oldest son. If I live to be a very old lady and forget
everything else, I will never forget when the general handed
me the folded flag that had lain on Casey's coffin, as his
brother and sisters, standing behind me, sobbed.
I think of Casey every day as I wait outside President
Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, determined to meet with him.
I want to let the president know that I feel he recklessly
endangered the life of my son by sending our troops to attack
and occupy a country that was no imminent threat to the
United States.
And I want to let him know that millions of Americans
believe that the best thing we can do -- for our own
security, for our soldiers and for the Iraqi people
-- is to bring the U.S. troops home from Iraq now.
Just because it's too late for Casey and the Sheehan
family, why would we want another innocent life taken
in the name of this ever-changing and unwinnable
mission in Iraq?
I did get to meet with President Bush 2 1/2 months
after my son was killed, but I never got to say any
of these things to him. I was in deep shock and grief
at the time, and all I wanted to do was to show him
pictures of Casey and tell him what a wonderful man
our son was.
But today things are very different. My shock has
worn off, and now I've got a lot of anger along
with my grief.
I'm angry because every reason the Bush administration
gave for the invasion of Iraq has been shown to be false.
The Sept. 11 commission report concluded there was
no link between Iraq and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The weapons inspectors gave up searching for weapons
of mass destruction and wrote in the Duelfer report
that there were none to be found.
From the Downing Street Memo, we learned that the
Bush administration ``fixed'' intelligence to justify
the Iraq invasion.
And after every supposed milestone in Iraq -- the
capture of Saddam Hussein, the transition to Iraqi
rule and most recently the Iraq election -- things
just don't get better. U.S. soldiers and Iraqis
continue to be killed in greater and greater numbers,
the cost of the war skyrockets and there's no
end in sight.
Last week, after 30 U.S. service members were
killed, the president reiterated his pledge to
complete the mission of our fallen soldiers. But
that mission originally was to protect the United
States from a lethal attack by Saddam Hussein –
with weapons it turns out he did not have.
Anyway, I don't want the president to use Casey's
memory to justify continuing this war, which will
end up only needlessly killing more wonderful
young men like him.
Many people have been streaming in to Crawford to
support my vigil and persuade the president to listen
to the people who want an end to this war. We are
camping out in a drainage ditch, in 100-degree
weather, but it's worth it.
If and when I do meet with the president this time,
it will be for all of the Gold Star Families for
Peace that lost children in this war, for all of
the mothers and fathers and husbands and wives who
are grieving and who want to tell the president
to end this devastating war.
No one else -- not one more mom -- should have
to lose her son in Iraq.
CINDY SHEEHAN is the mother of a fallen Iraq war
soldier and the co-founder of Gold Star Families
for Peace. She wrote this article for Progressive
Media Project, which is affiliated with
Progressive magazine.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
3) "Slow Falling Bird"
Performances are Thursday, Friday
and Saturday through August 20th,
extra show Monday, August 15, 8 P.M. at
the EXIT on Taylor, 277 Taylor Street,
San Francisco.
I encourage reservations, as the
first weekend sold out. Call: 415-351-0277 - the EXIT
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
4) Democrats embrace tough military stance
Sharpen message on foreign policy
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | August 14, 2005
WASHINGTON -- After months of internal debate and closed-
door discussions, Democrats have begun to develop a more
aggressive foreign policy that focuses heavily on threats
they say are being neglected by the Bush administration,
while avoiding taking a contentious stance on Iraq.
Even Democrats who have been associated with liberal
positions on international affairs are calling for more
troops in uniform, proposing that threats of force be
used to stop nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North
Korea, and pressing for potential military intervention
to ease famine and oppression around the world.
Democrats are also calling for better pay and benefits
for soldiers and heightened efforts to protect mass transit
and other potential terrorist targets.
The emerging message among Democrats reflects a recognition
that winning congressional and presidential elections
in the post-Sept. 11 era requires candidates to establish
a willingness to use America's military might and keep
the nation safe, according to party leaders and strategists.
Despite pressure from liberal groups calling for a quick
exit from Iraq, several of the party's White House
aspirants and congressional leaders are calling for the
United States to intensify efforts to bring stability
to the nation before troops come home.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/14/democrats_embrace_tough_military_stance/?page=1
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
5) Find out the latest information on how you can
support Mumia Abu Jamal's fight for freedom. Meet Pam
Africa at a special MOBE meeting this Friday, 7:30 p.m.
at 298 Valencia Street (Valencia and 14th) in the
Socialist Action Bookstore. –
Tom Lacey, SF Peace and Freedom Party
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
6) The Trail of the Catonsville Nine
by Daniel Berrigan, S.J.
Friday, August 26
Doors @ 6:30, 7:00 Curtain
St. Boniface Theatre
175 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco
Dear Friends,
Fr. Louis Vitale, co-founder of Pace e Bene, will be
stepping down as the pastor of St. Boniface Church
in the Tenderloin of San Francisco after 13 years
to become more fully active in nonviolent action.
During his 13 years at St. Boniface, Fr. Louis aside
from being a tremendous pastor to the parishioners
and homeless in the area, continued his work for
peace and justice by welcoming anti-war activists
to organize at his church, joining picket lines,
holding press conferences, protesting and going
to jail, and opening up the pews of the church
to house those who hav no other home.
On Friday, August 26 at 6:30 PM, the St. Boniface
Neighborhood Center is hosting a production of
Fr. Dan Berrigan's play "The Trial of the Catonsville Nine"
to honor Fr. Louis and wish him well in his new endeavors.
Come see a great cast of local activists (including Laura
Slattery of Pace e Bene) read this dramatic re-telling
of the 1968 trial of Catholic priests and other activists
who burned draft files at a Selective Service System
office in Maryland in protest of the war in Vietnam.
The event is a benefit for the St. Boniface Neighborhood
Center, which was started by Louie and provides service
and advocacy for people experiencing homelessness.
General admission tickets (sliding scale rate of $10-100
per ticket) and reserved by calling (415) 861-5848 or
by emailing sbnctr@hotmail.com
No one will be turned away for the lack of funds.
Attached is a flyer for the event -- please feel free
to post and distribute. Spread the word.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
7) Op-Ed Columnist
Someone Tell the President
the War Is Over
By FRANK RICH
Published: August 14, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/opinion/14rich.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
8) Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center presents a
Working Towards Peace Forum:
The U.S. in Iraq
Bringing Freedom and Democracy -- or Occupation?
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 7:00 P.M.
Mt Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church
55 Eckley Lane
Walnut Creek
phone: (925) 933-7850
Speakers:
Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics and chair of the
Peace & Justice Studies program at the University of
San Francisco, and the author of Tinderbox: U. S. Middle
East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism.
Sean O'Neil is a decorated Marine who served twice in Iraq
and now speaks out against the war.
Learn more about the historical and political context of
the conflict, and the reality of current conditions in Iraq.
Suggested Donation: $5.00
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
9) Unacceptable regimes in Iraq and the United states
Occupied zones
There are killings every day in Iraq. Occupying troops, diplomats,
aid workers and media people are killed, as are Iraqis, in far greater
numbers. But President George Bush's war is not only against
opponents in Iraq and the Middle East: it is a war against his
fellow Americans.
By Howard Zinn
Le Monde diplomatique, August 2005
http://mondediplo.com/2005/08/04iraq
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
10) DEA Seeks Private Guards To Protect Traveling Tonnage of Pot
By Stephen Peacock ,
Posted on Sat Aug 13th, 2005 at 12:43:51 AM EST
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is recruiting
private security forces to load, transport and unload
"multi-ton" shipments of seized marijuana en route
to destruction in Arizona. It's conducting what
is known as a "sources sought" inquiry to determine
the availability of commercial firms that can provide
on-call deployments of armed contractors to protect
these bulk transports of pot.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/8/13/04351/1042
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
11) Venezuelan President Proposes Socialist World Offensive
http://www.plenglish.com/
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R1CE23C9B
Caracas, Aug 14 (Prensa Latina) The President of Venezuela, Hugo
Chávez, called for world youth to initiate a socialist offensive,
due to the urgency to save life on the planet.
Chávez assured that there is nobody better than young people to
achieve the resurgence of socialist ideas, in a speech Saturday
before delegates of the XVI World Festival of Youth and the Students.
The Venezuelan head of state recalled that after the fall of the
Soviet Union many thought that was the end, but 14 years later
socialism has revived.
The ghost has returned to travel through the world and now, with new
ideas, young faces being fed with the ideas of Indians, black people
and the grass roots, in a deep offensive, he noted.
In his opinion, the first five decades of this century are when the
decision must be made between the socialist alternative or barbarism,
and called on them to realise that life on the planet might end.
"There is no time to lose. In this and the next five decades the
future will be decided," expressed Chávez before thousands of
delegates of a hundred countries that participated in the youth
meeting here between 8-15 August.
He called for open debate, without prejudice about socialism, and to
abandon the defensive attitude of revolutionary movements in recent
years.
Chávez announced likewise the initiation in his country of meetings
of local community governments to make their own proposals, to
establish genuine popular power.
ln/ml/rc/jwp
For more information, please visit us at
www.handsoffvenezuela.org
In order to continue and expand our work,
we rely entirely on volunteers and on
donations from our friends and sympathizers.
Please consider making a
contribution today, and contact
us about building an HOV committee in your
area by writing us at:
contact@handsoffvenezuela.org.
All proceeds go towards building
the HOV campaign. To make a donation or to purchase
DVDs or stickers, please go to:
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/wrapper/
To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/handsoffvenezuela/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
12) Climate warning as Siberia melts
11 August 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Fred Pearce
THE world's largest frozen peat bog is melting. An area
stretching for a million square kilometres across the
permafrost of western Siberia is turning into a mass
of shallow lakes as the ground melts, according to
Russian researchers just back from the region.
The sudden melting of a bog the size of France and
Germany combined could unleash billions of tonnes
of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
The news of the dramatic transformation of one of the
world's least visited landscapes comes from Sergei
Kirpotin, a botanist at Tomsk State University, Russia,
and Judith Marquand at the University of Oxford.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725124.500
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
13) Lives Blown Apart
By BOB HERBERT
Published: August 15, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/opinion/15herbert.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
14) Invisible to Most, Immigrant
Women Line Up for Day Labor
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: August 15, 2005
The women are not noticed by the weekday morning crowds
that rush past Eighth Avenue and 37th Street, in the heart
of Manhattan's fashion district. They arrive in twos and
threes after 8 a.m., shrinking against the buildings on
both sides of the avenue, until scores of them are
waiting, small, dark-haired Mexicans, Ecuadoreans, Hondurans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/nyregion/15labor.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
15) Critics Say It's Time to Overhaul
Army's Bonus System
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: August 15, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/15/national/15recruit.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
16) UPDATES ON CINDY SHEEHAN VISIT TO CRAWFORD
Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005
10:15 a.m.
SHOTS FIRED!
Deborah Mathews reporting for The Iconoclast.
Camp Casey is becoming very organized, with how-to signs
placed about. Ann Wright said, "That's what we are trying to do."
Let me read you the schedule posted on a tree: "9:15 camp
meeting; 10 a.m. inter-faith service, 10:30 a.m.,
"Food-Not-Bombs Breakfast at Peace House," and....
http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/32news21.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
17) A smile in the dark
(Regarding the Atlanta Appellate Court decision on the Five)
by Celia Hart, August 12, 2005
http://www.walterlippmann.com/ch-08-12-2005.html
A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela
Edited by Walter Lippmann
Honestly, we never expected it. They have submitted us to so much
injustice, the current United States administration has tried so hard
to inflict chronic hopelessness and so much concentrated hatred by
those authorities against the Cuban revolution, that August 9 was a
true miracle for our people.
The first press reports reaching us about our solidarity brothers in
the United States, were unbelievable messages ... the trial had been
revoked ... a new trial was to be held. With this decision ... the
sentences were revoked! It was hard to believe! That moment, if just
for a second, before we returned to common sense, we wanted to
embrace everything around us; kiss our dog; bless the three judges
for having given justice. Perhaps, at that moment, we looked
differently and with a small dose of faith, on the Statue of Liberty.
The document released by the Eleventh Circuit Appellate Court of
Atlanta refers to the revocation of the trial held in Miami. There,
where the Cuban émigrés are kidnapped, through lies and lack of
knowledge, little justice can be given. If it was a dream ∑ we did
not want to wake up.
But it was true. It was as if the legal system, with this news,
wanted to repair those seven years when it seemed that time would be
our enemy. The story of that agony would become known. Decency was
probable!
Now, at least, we can dream. Dream that Gerardo and that beautiful
Adriana could be confident on behalf of a baby that injustice
prevents its fruition; that Rene, in addition to looking into the
immensity of Ivette's eyes could admire the marvelous woman in whom
the daughter Irmita has become, through so much pain. Dream that
Fernando can embrace his delicate wife here in Havana, looking at his
mother with pleasure, a woman who has became a great orator. And
Ramon could watch his daughters in a hot beach and his wife who seems
more innocent than a flower. With Antonio ∑ we could dream of
listening to those airy poems that seem to escape through our
windows, verse by verse, and watch Mirta smile without so much
sadness. We could dream about all of that because of an honest
decision that sparked hope again.
Because it was not only the injustice of sentencing innocents
deprived of looking at the sea; there are collateral injustices like
the one announced by our sister Graciela Ramírez, international
organizer of the International Solidarity Committee for the Cuban
Five. Injustices such as the months of isolation, bad treatment,
geographic separation. They not only had to pay the price for daring
to defend my country from criminal actions, but also made their
families suffer other unwritten sentences; and also all the Cubans
and good persons around the world, with whom we have shared this
pain. This decision seemed to stop, for a second, malevolence in the
Earth.
On the other hand, the Atlanta judges have implicitly decreed in
their resolution that it is practically impossible to try honest
Cubans since this case (with God's help) will establish a legal
precedence. So, then, it is a starting point ∑ just that, only a
starting point.
Of course, we will soon awake from that dream, because it is merely a
smile: good news in the framework of the most obstinate darkness. We
should not believe that the rest is going be along easy street. Of
course, the incoherence of the Mafia cupola of Cuban organizations in
Miami snarls and barks at us and then "will ride on". And it is
strange that the United States government, accusers of our five young
men, has not yet appealed. Oh yes. The bonds of the current
administration with the Cuban-American Mafia and the favors they owe
each other, must keep us vigilant and acutely measure the next legal
or political thrust of the enemy.
It's still not time to open the champagne. Quite the contrary: our
battle now will have to be stronger and more obstinate.
That is what our brilliant lawyers have told us, many who are members
of the defense team. Skillfully they await the new step and wait for
the answer of the prosecution that still has several weeks to decide
what to do.
We don't have time. The truth of the Five should be a campaign for
their immediate release and return to Cuba. In fact, today the United
States should free them. They are technically free but are still in
jail. We must not keep quiet, nor stop sharpening our pencils.
Just like when truth has allies, an opportune communication should be
our battle cry. To say it and repeat it in all languages and in song
and verse, novel and music, passionately shout: The Five should be
released! Because they have been declared innocent; otherwise we must
sue the U.S. government for an act that smells of kidnapping. Now, a
slight thread of truth has begun to unravel and what we must do is to
unravel the skein before the government appeals the decision. These
weeks that the U.S. government has to decide on whether or not to
appeal, we should use to request their return and, above all, to
reveal the intrigues and filth behind their unmerited sentences.
Lastly, I want to share a thought with all of you. But specially with
my comrades, friends and acquaintances or not, of the radical left
wing parties because there are times when I feel that the
internationalist cause of the Cuban Five is not understood. The Five
are not only innocent of the crimes for which they were condemned to
unbelievable sentences. No. These five men are symbols of the
permanent battle of the Cuban revolution that is part of the world
revolution. Those who honestly worry about the perpetuation of this
veteran revolution can observe that we are not fighting today for
prisoners of the attack on the Moncada garrison; we are not going
back in history. The Five are our battle comrades, because they are
fighting the worse enemies of our ideas.
If there were a pestilence of U.S. imperialism, if there is an enemy
of world socialism, it is precisely the Mafia connection of the Cuban
cupola of southern Florida with the Miami administration that not
only commits vandalic acts of sabotage against our innocent people
and where this part of the exile community suffers ideological
terrorism. They intend to install the worst capitalism in the island
with the worst methods of murderers. What they want, with the buddies
in government and all internal allies is to move towards the most
reactionary system possible and in the worse manner. In this case the
ends and the means walk hand in hand.
Our five comrades are not only innocent or brave or honest; they are
above any other consideration, internationalist revolutionaries
kidnapped at the time of writing this, by the greatest enemy that
world history has faced.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
18) From Dave Rovics newsletter:
I wrote this on August 13th, 2005 (lyrics at end of email -- also at
the top on the main page of www.davidrovics.com). Cindy Sheehan is
currently at Bush's ranch, waiting to meet him. Google her name and
you'll learn all about it, if you haven't heard. She spoke at the
Veterans for Peace convention in Dallas where I just played.
Sometime in the next several days I'll have this song on the top of the
"MP3 music" page at www.soundclick.com/davidrovics for free download.
Feel free to link to it or to use the MP3 for any purpose. Same goes
for the other songs you find there, including many related songs ("Four
Blank Slates," "Waiting for the Fall," "When Johnny Came Marching
Home," many more). Thanks to William Rivers Pitt for his article in
www.truthout.org entitled Every Mother's Son.
Lyrics are below... But also I wanted to mention while I'm at it that
Chris Chandler has a fantastic new piece, which now has a video to go
along with it, called "There's Something In The Air But It's Not On The
Airwaves." It's the first link down after his picture on
www.chrischandler.org.
Song for Cindy Sheehan
David Rovics
Casey was a good boy
He treated people well
And his momma loved him
Anyone could tell
She'd send him off to school
Pack his lunch with care
When he came back home she hugged him
With her fingers in his hair
Cindy, she loved Casey
And when all is said and done
She is every mother
And he was every mother's son
When Casey was a little older
He spent his time each week
In that church in Vacaville
In the service of the meek
In the service of his city
In the service of the lord
With his momma in the pews
All the time they could afford
And if their love alone could save us
Then the world would be one
She is every mother
And he was every mother's son
People thought the priesthood
Was where he'd someday be
So some folks were surprised
When he joined the army
The recruiter told him
He wouldn't have to fight
Cindy hoped this was the case
And prayed for him every night
That was before they sent him
To the desert with a gun
She is every mother
And he was every mother's son
His truck had no armor
And when it came under fire
It and half the soldiers in it
Became a funeral pyre
Cindy, she was sleeping
The moment Casey died
And she knew she'd never see him
Standing by her side
There was no consolation
No safe place she could run
She is every mother
And he was every mother's son
The president, he told her
He died for a noble cause
But Cindy's wondering
Exactly what that was
Since they never found the weapons
And now that Casey's gone
It seems that oil is the game
And Casey was the pawn
Cindy's got some questions
And so does everyone
Because she is every mother
And he was every mother's son
David Rovics
www.davidrovics.com
www.soundclick.com/davidrovics
DRovics@aol.com
(617) 872-5124
P.O. Box 995
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
U$A
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19) Colored Ink &The SF Peacemakers
present:Our Health Is Our Wealth
A day of Film, Food, &Social Justice
Saturday, August 20th 2005
Brava Theater
2789 24th St., San Francisco
Registration begins at 11:00 am
Festival begins at 12:00 noon
Come join us for a festival like no other! Experience good
healthy food, holistic health practices, film shorts, and
workshops addressing community issues of health, poverty
and violence, planning a solution of how to heal our community.
For a lot of us, our mental and physical health is at risk,
the best way to overcome these issues is to come together,
educate ourselves, and deal with them collectively. Special
panel presented by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty,
following an excerpt of the movie "Redemption: The Stan
Tookie Williams Story" addressing Stan, the death penalty,
and our civil rights.
Featured films include:
Peace Maker in Sudan
Details a personal account of the crisis in Sudan which
began in February 2003. Indiscriminate killing, mass rapes,
looting of livestock and the burning of villages at the
hands of government troops and the militias have resulted
in 50,000 deaths and forced an estimated 1.2 million
people from their homes.
Peacemakers 4 life
Takes a look at the violence in our community. Illustrates
how a community coming together can overcome these issues,
break the cycle of violence, and unite us in transforming
our lives.
Hosted By:
_Conscious Eyes TV &KPOO 89.5 FM Radio personality
Pam-Pam "theimposingfigure"
_Performances, spoken word, live music.
The Bay Area's DJ Fonzilla navigates the dance floor.
_Special Celebration for Idriss Stelley's Birthday
Idriss was killed by the SFPD
He was shot at 48 times on 8-20-01
One of the all too many victims of police brutality...
For more information
About the event:
415-240-0093 or visit www.coloredink.org
415-573-8257 or visit www.sfpeacemakers.org
About Stan's case:
www.tookie.com
www.nodeathpenalty.org
Suggested Donation of $10
Purchase one of the movies at the festival and get in for free!
no one turned away for lack of funds
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20) Leave My Child Alone
Hi,
Working Assets (long distance telephone service) in the Bay area has
created a website and coalition re Leave My Child Alone.
Here's info about it.
Marti
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: SFDiversions
Sent: Aug 15, 2005 1:34 PM
To: Hiken@igc.org
Subject: Does the Pentagon Have Your Number?
Dear Friends,
Buried deep within the No Child Left Behind Act is a provision that
requires public high schools to hand over the private contact
information of students to military recruiters. If a school does not
comply, it risks losing vital federal education funds. As if that
weren't bad enough, the Pentagon has now built an illegal database of
30 million 16-25 year olds as another recruitment tool.
Protect our children by helping them "Opt Out"!
Working Assets has helped create the Leave My Child Alone coalition to
make it easy to protect children from unwanted military recruiting by
getting their names off both Pentagon and high school recruiting
lists. To opt your child out, go to:
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/index.cfm?event=showContent&contentid=63&mktcode=uncontacted
Most parents don't even know about the need to opt out. Please forward
this email to parents, grandparents, and teachers you know. Tell them
to visit LeaveMyChildAlone.org for more information and all the forms
needed to opt out.
Repeal No Child Left Behind's Military Recruiting Provision
The Student Privacy Protection Act of 2005 amends section 9528 of No
Child Left Behind to prohibit military recruiters from contacting
students unless these minors and their parents specifically "opt in"
and consent to receive such communications.
Click here to become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Student Privacy
Protection Act.
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/index.cfm?event=signPetition&pid=1?mktcode=uncontacted
Want to tell the Pentagon that their database is a violation of
privacy? To send a letter telling them to shut down
their illegal database, go to:
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/act
How can I make a difference in my school district?
From September 7 to 30, Leave My Child Alone coalition partners will
be mounting a nationwide Back-to-School campaign complete with events
in all 50 states plus D.C.
You can join up with other concerned parents, teachers, grandparents,
veterans and members of your local community by attending or
organizing school board meeting outings to advocate for opt out
policies and pass model school board resolutions. To find out about
events near you or to find out how you can organize an event yourself,
go to:
http://diversions.workingforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/ehR30BAnsK0QC40zKC0EN
Do you know school principals, parent group officers, school board
members or other people in a position to change school policy on
military opt-out procedures? Tell them to visit LeaveMyChildAlone.org
for organizing resources or simply email Catherine
(cgeanuracos@workingassets.com) to find out how we can
help them make a difference in their district.
Thank you for helping to build a better world.
Catherine Geanuracos
Campaign Organizer
http://diversions.workingforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/ehR30BAnsK0QC403JN0EM / Working Assets
PLEASE SEND QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO:
leavemychildalone@workingassets.com.
www.leavemychildalone.org
National Lawyers Guild
Military Law Task Force
Marguerite Hiken, co-chair
318 Ortega Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
415-566-3732
mlhiken@pacbell.net
www.nlg.org/mltf
Kathleen Gilberd, co-chair
1168 Union Street, Ste. 302
San Diego, CA 92101
619-233-1701
KathleenGilberd@aol.com
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