BAUAW NEWSLETTER-FRIDAY, DEC.3, 2004

STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.

NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)

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

Bay Area United Against War Presents
a film screening of:

"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"

Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector."
Danny will be available for a question and answer period
right after the movie.

Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893

" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's coverage of
the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter shows us how the TV
networks now prefer the role of cheerleader, to that of objective
journalist," says Mike Nisholson of austinnforkerry.org.

"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris and a
Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of big media
reporters as they in turn track the march toward war, embed themselves in
the military industrial complex and then get out when the fighting gets
tough and leave the cleanup work to stringers, " writes Shandon Fowler of
film's Hamptons International Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.

To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.com
www.bauaw.org

(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)

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

San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:

www.bringourtroopshomenow.org

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1) Fallujah Refugees Tell of Life and Death in the Kill Zone
The NewStandard
December 03, 2004
by Dahr Jamail
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

2) Violence in Baghdad Kills at Least 25 Iraqis
By Mussab al-Khairalla
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Dec 3, 2004 08:42 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6989407&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

3) Job Growth Is Well Below Wall Street Forecasts
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/business/03cnd-jobs.html?hp&ex=1102136400&
en=f64e15ce0acaa303&ei=5094&partner=homepage

4) NEWS: Evidence gained by torture can justify holding
Guantanamo prisoners
forever, Justice Dept. official says
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=321015

5) America's super-rich look forward to a merry Christmas
By Rick Kelly
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS :News & Analysis :North America
3 December 2004
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/rich-d03_prn.shtml

6) The Number Wall St. Crunches the Most [executive bonuses]
By JENNY ANDERSON
and LANDON THOMAS Jr.
November 29, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/29/business/29wall.html?oref=login

7) Sometimes justice prevails!
An enemy of the state
George Galloway
The Guardian
Friday December 3, 2004
gallowayg@parliament.uk

8) URGENT: Send Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

9) Subject: Take Action to Terminate Plutonium Activities at
Livermore nuclear weapons lab
-----Original Message-----
From: Tara Dorabji [mailto:tara@trivalleycares.org]
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 5:00 PM

10) Protest the Inauguration of George W. Bush
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
January 20, 2005: Our Resistance Continues!

11) TAKE ACTION AGAINST CBS AND NBC FOR REFUSING TO AIR
GAY-INCLUSIVE ADS
From: Advocacy [mailto:advocacy@familypride.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 5:27 PM
Important News from the Family Pride Coalition
GREETINGS FROM THE FAMILY PRIDE COALITION!

12) Freedom Suppressed on Chicago Subways
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
South End Press
Press Release.....
Cambridge, MA Dec 02, 2004

13) How the Workers are Robbed
Who produces the wealth and who gains most from its
production? In a pamphlet written 97 years ago, John Wheatley
described an imaginary court case, with a coalmaster,
a landowner and several others being charged with "having
conspired together and robbed an old miner, Dick McGonnagle."


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

1) Fallujah Refugees Tell of Life and Death in the Kill Zone
The NewStandard
December 03, 2004
by Dahr Jamail
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

*Journalists and residents who have fled Fallujah share accounts of US
troops killing unarmed and wounded people; Dahr Jamail continues
interviewing survivors as images of a city under US assault further emerge.*

Baghdad , Dec 3 - Men now seeking refuge in the Baghdad area are telling
horrific stories of indiscriminate killings by US forces during the peak
of fighting last month in the largely annihilated city of Fallujah.

In an interview with The NewStandard, Burhan Fasa'a, an Iraqi journalist
who works for the popular Lebanese satellite TV station, LBC, said he
witnessed US crimes up close. Burhan Fasa'a, who was in Fallujah for
nine days during the most intense combat, said Americans grew easily
frustrated with Iraqis who could not speak English.

"Americans did not have interpreters with them," Fasa'a said, "so they
entered houses and killed people because they didn't speak English. They
entered the house where I was with 26 people, and [they] shot people
because [the people] didn't obey [the soldiers'] orders, even just
because the people couldn't understand a word of English."

A man named Khalil, who asked The NewStandard not to use his last name
for fear of reprisals, said he had witnessed the shooting of civilians
who were waving white flags while they tried to escape the city.
Fasa'a further speculated, "Soldiers thought the people were rejecting
their orders, so they shot them. But the people just couldn't understand
them."

Fasa'a says American troops detained him. They interrogated him
specifically about working for the Arab media, he said, and held him for
three days. Fasa'a and other prisoners slept on the ground with no
blankets. He said prisoners were made to go to the bathroom in
handcuffs, using one toilet in the middle of the camp.

"During the nine days I was in Fallujah, all of the wounded women, kids
and old people, none of them were evacuated," Fasa'a said. "They either
suffered to death, or somehow survived."

Many refugees tell stories of having witnessed US troops killing already
injured people, including former fighters and noncombatants alike.

"I watched them roll over wounded people in the street with tanks," said
Kassem Mohammed Ahmed, a resident of Fallujah. "This happened so many
times."

Other refugees recount similar stories. "I saw so many civilians killed
there, and I

saw several tanks roll over the wounded in the streets," said Aziz
Abdulla, 27 years old, who fled the fighting last month. Another
resident, Abu Aziz, said he also witnessed American armored vehicles
crushing people he believes were alive.

Abdul Razaq Ismail, another resident who fled Fallujah, said: "I saw
dead bodies on the ground and nobody could bury them because of the
American snipers. The Americans were dropping some of the bodies into
the Euphrates near Fallujah."

A man called Abu Hammad said he witnessed US troops throwing Iraqi
bodies into the Euphrates River. Others nodded in agreement. Abu Hammed
and others also said they saw Americans shooting unarmed Iraqis who
waved white flags.

Believing that American and Iraqi forces were bent on killing anyone who
stayed in Fallujah, Hammad said he watched people attempt to swim across
the Euphrates to escape the siege. "Even then the Americans shot them
with rifles from the shore," he said. "Even if some of them were holding
a white flag or white clothes over their heads to show they are not
fighters, they were all shot."

Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein reported witnessing similar
events. After running out of basic necessities and deciding to flee the
city at the height of the US-led assault, Hussein ran to the Euphrates.

"I decided to swim," Hussein told colleagues at the AP, who wrote up the
photographer's harrowing story, "but I changed my mind after seeing US
helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river."


Hussein said he saw soldiers kill a family of five as they tried to
traverse the Euphrates, before he buried a man by the riverbank with his
bare hands.


"I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some
US snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim," Hussein recounted. "I
quit the idea of crossing the river and walked for about five hours
through orchards."

A man named Khalil, who asked The NewStandard not to use his last name
for fear of reprisals, said he had witnessed the shooting of civilians
who were waving white flags while they tried to escape the city. "They
shot women and old men in the streets," he said. "Then they shot anyone
who tried to get their bodies."

"There are bodies the Americans threw in the river," Khalil continued,
noting that he personally witnessed US troops using the Euphrates to
dispose of Iraqi dead. "And anyone who stayed thought they would be
killed by the Americans, so they tried to swim across the river. Even
people who couldn't swim tried to cross the river. They drowned rather
than staying to be killed by the Americans," said Khalil.

US military commanders reported at least two incidents during which they
say Iraqi resistance fighters used white flags to lure Marines into
dangerous situations, including a well-orchestrated ambush.

Proponents of relaxed rules of engagement for US troops engaged in
"counter-insurgency" warfare have cited such incidents from last month's
experience in Fallujah as arguments for more permissive combat
regulations. Some have said US forces should establish what used to be
called "free-fire zones," wherein any human being encountered is assumed
to be hostile, and thus a legitimate target, relieving American
infantrymen of their obligation to distinguish and protect civilians.
But if the stories Fallujan witnesses have shared with TNS are accurate,
it appears the policy might have preceded the argument in this case.

US and Iraqi officials have called the "pacification" of Fallujah a
success and said that the action was necessary to stabilize Iraq in
preparation for the country's planned "transition to democracy." The
military continues to deny US-led forces killed significant numbers of
civilians during November's nearly constant fighting and bombardment.

(c) 2004 The NewStandard. See our reprint policy.
www.newstandardnews.net

More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com

You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/
to subscribe or unsubscribe to the email list.

(c)2004 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent link
to the DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images and text
including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on another website,
copying and printing requires the permission of Dahr Jamail. Of course,
feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches via email.

Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches

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

2) Violence in Baghdad Kills at Least 25 Iraqis
By Mussab al-Khairalla
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Dec 3, 2004 08:42 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6989407&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber plowed into a
Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad after dawn prayers on Friday, killing
14 people and stoking fears that sectarian divisions over when
to hold elections could unleash further bloodshed.

In a second dawn attack in the capital, guerrillas fired
mortars at a police station near the notorious airport road in
the southwest of Baghdad and then stormed the building, hunting
down and shooting the occupants. At least eleven policemen were
killed and six wounded, survivors of the attack said.

Witnesses to the mosque attack, in the staunchly Sunni
northern neighborhood of Aadhamiya, said the car bomb followed
an initial blast believed to have been caused by a mortar.

"The first blast happened just as worshippers were leaving
the mosque after dawn prayers. Everyone in the area rushed to
help them," said a local sweeping up broken glass in his
garden. "Then a few minutes later, a car blew up the whole
crowd."

The twisted wreckage of destroyed cars littered the street
and locals tried to mop up pools of blood with pieces of cloth.

During the assault on the police station, the attackers set
free around 50 prisoners and set two police pickup trucks
ablaze. Clouds of thick, dark smoke poured into the air.

In an Internet statement, the guerrilla group led by
Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed
responsibility for the attack.

"The lions of al Qaeda in Iraq attacked the headquarters of
the apostates who sold their religion, honor and land ... and
attacked the Seydiya police station, killing everyone inside
except for two who fled," the statement said.

A U.S. soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb near the
northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, the American military
said. At least 990 U.S. military and Pentagon personnel have
been killed in action since the start of the war in Iraq.

ELECTIONS UNDER THREAT

Guerrillas trying to drive out U.S.-led troops and
overthrow the American-backed government of Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi have mounted repeated attacks on Iraqi security forces,
targeting police stations and checkpoints with suicide bombs
and kidnapping and killing scores of police and National Guard.

In Mosul last month, insurgents stormed several police
stations, looting them of weapons and equipment. Most police in
the city deserted their posts and fled. More than 60 bodies
have also been found dumped in Mosul, believed to be Iraqi
soldiers and National Guardsmen abducted and killed by gunmen.

The violence threatens to derail Iraq's first democratic
elections in decades, scheduled for Jan. 30. The U.S. military
has acknowledged that insurgent violence will intensify as the
poll approaches and has announced it will increase its troop
strength in Iraq to 150,000 -- the highest ever figure.

Many among Iraq's 20 percent Sunni Arab minority -- from
which the insurgency draws the core of its support -- have
called for a delay in the elections, saying that violence in
Sunni areas will prevent the polls being free and fair.

Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq during the rule of Saddam,
fear they will be marginalised in the new Iraq, as the 60
percent Shi'ite majority exercises its newfound political clout.

Shi'ites, however, insist the elections should go ahead on
time, arguing that any delay would be a surrender to terrorism.
Iraq's Kurds in the north say they are ready for elections, but
would accept a delay if others wanted it.

COALITION FRAYS

Several Sunni Arab parties say they will boycott the
elections if they go ahead on time.

In contrast, Shi'ites and Kurds are already planning how
they can maximize their gains from the elections. Most Shi'ite
parties plan an alliance to contest the election on a single
slate, so that the Shi'ite vote is not split. The main Kurdish
parties have already made a similar agreement.

Shi'ite and Kurdish politicians have been urging voters to
register and prepare for the polls. But in several Sunni areas,
voter registration has not even got under way. Guerrillas have
intimidated election officials and told merchants they will be
killed if they distribute voter registration forms.

Some Sunni politicians warn that if the elections go ahead
but with many Sunnis unable or unwilling to participate, the
insurgency in Iraq will only worsen.

In Germany, where Allawi is visiting for talks with
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, police arrested three Iraqis in
anti-terror raids across several cities. A police spokesman
said the raids were linked to Allawi's visit but it was too
early to say whether they had been planning an attack.

In another blow to U.S. efforts to keep other nations
involved in policing Iraq, Ukraine's parliament asked outgoing
President Leonid Kuchma to withdraw Ukraine's contingent of
about 1,600 soldiers from Iraq.

The move follows Hungary's decision last month to pull out
its troops and complicates Poland's plans to substantially
reduce its presence after Iraq holds parliamentary elections
early in 2005. Poland leads a multinational division in central
Iraq that includes Ukrainian and Hungarian troops.

The Polish-led division also included Spanish troops before
Madrid's anti-war Socialist government took power last May and
ordered the withdrawal of their troops. Thai and Filipino troops
who were part of the division have also returned home.
(Additional reporting by Ghaida Ghantous in Dubai and Mark
Trevelyan in Berlin)

(c) Reuters 2004

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

3) Job Growth Is Well Below Wall Street Forecasts
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/business/03cnd-jobs.html?hp&ex=1102136400&
en=f64e15ce0acaa303&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - The economy added 112,000 payroll jobs
in November, the Labor Department reported today, far fewer than
the month before and not enough to keep up with growth in the adult
population.

The gain was well below Wall Street forecasts for an increase of about
200,000 jobs, and employment in manufacturing remained stagnant
for the third month in a row.

The overall unemployment rate slipped to 5.4 percent last month
from 5.5 percent in October, the Labor Department said. The
jobless rate has essentially been flat since July.

Bond investors immediately reacted to the disappointing report
by pushing up prices of Treasury securities, on the expectation
that economic growth will be more moderate and that interest rates
will be under less pressure to climb. As a result, the dollar fell sharply
against other currencies and hit another record low against the euro.

"The economy is adding jobs, but not at a feverish pace," said
Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research, an economic
research firm in New York. "Economic growth is not expanding at
a pace that can engender stellar job growth, and I think you have
to get used to these kinds of numbers."

But analysts said the broader picture suggests that the economy
is still poised for moderate growth and modest gains in employment
over the next year.

So far this year, the economy has added more than 1.5 million jobs,
at an average pace of about 178,000 jobs a month since September.

Economists estimate that the nation needs to generate about 150,000
jobs a month to keep up with growth in the nation's population.

Though employment has climbed at nearly that pace over the past
year, job creation remains far slower since the last recession ended
three years ago than it has after any other economic recovery since
World War II.

Month-to-month changes in payroll employment are notoriously
volatile and defy the consensus forecasts on Wall Street more
often than not.

Analysts were stunned last month when the Labor Department
reported that payroll employment surged by 337,000 jobs in
October and that job gains in August and September were higher
than previously thought.

Today, the Labor Department revised down its October estimate
to 303,000 jobs. But analysts said even that number was exaggerated
by special events and statistical issues.

"October now clearly stands as an outlier, partly thanks to the
hurricane effect and partly, we think, to plain old sampling error,"
wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief United States economist at High
Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y.

The department also reduced September's estimate to 119,000
jobs from 139,000.

On Wall Street this afternoon, the benchmark 10-year Treasury
note was up more than a point in price, while its yield dropped to
4.27 percent, from 4.41 percent late Thursday. With the dollar
weakened by the decline in interest rates, the euro surged to
a record $1.3461, from $1.3270 late Thursday.

Stocks, meanwhile, showed little change by mid-afternoon.

Despite today's bond market rally, the new jobs data is unlikely
to deter the Federal Reserve from raising its short-term benchmark
interest rate another quarter-point, to 2.25 percent, at its next
policy meeting on Dec. 14. The Fed has been raising rates since
June at what the central bank calls a "measured pace," and officials
have given no hint that they are ready to pause in that process.
Indeed, economic growth is likely to exceed 4 percent in 2004,
well above the long-term growth rate, and the "real" interest rates
are below zero after subtracting the effects of inflation.

Most economists have pared back their forecasts for 2005, with
many predicting that growth will slow to a little more than 3 percent.
High energy prices are expected to be part of the reason, along with
rising interest rates and a long-expected moderation in consumer
spending. But the United States also faces inflationary pressures
from the continued availability of cheap money, high energy prices
and the dropping value of the dollar.

Fed officials appear divided between those worried about
inflationary pressures and those who see weakness in the
economy. But even those worried about sluggish growth seem
prepared to go along with additional rate hikes for the moment.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

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

4) NEWS: Evidence gained by torture can justify holding
Guantanamo prisoners
forever, Justice Dept. official says
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=321015



[Soon the Department of Justice will
have to be renamed -- or perhaps folded
into the Department of Homeland Security.
-- In another shocking indication
of what notion of law and due process
now prevails there, U.S. District Court
Judge Richard J. Leon heard Principal
Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian
Boyle argue that Guantánamo prisoners
can be kept in prison for life based
solely on evidence obtained by torture.
-- Such a position reverses existing
U.S. law and is an outrage to the
fundamental values of the United States. --
Or, given the revelation that the Red
Cross has discovered the U.S. has
devised new and sophisticated methods
of torture that leave no marks on the
human body, perhaps we should begin
speaking of the former
fundamental values of the United States.
-- Thanks to Tim Smith for
sending this. --Mark]

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1841/

U.S. MILITARY SAYS EVIDENCE GAINED BY TORTURE IS ACCEPTABLE
By Michael J. Sniffen

Associated Press
December 3, 2004

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=321015

WASHINGTON -- Evidence gained by
torture can be used by the U.S. military in
deciding whether to imprison a foreigner
indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
as an enemy combatant, the government concedes.

Statements produced under torture
have been inadmissible in U.S. courts for
about 70 years. But the U.S. military
panels reviewing the detention of 550
foreigners as enemy combatants at the
U.S. naval base in Cuba are allowed to
use such evidence, Principal Deputy
Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle
acknowledged at a U.S. District Court hearing Thursday.

Some of the prisoners have filed lawsuits
challenging their detention without
charges for up to three years so far.
At the hearing, Boyle urged District
Judge Richard J. Leon to throw their cases out.

Attorneys for the prisoners argued
that some were held solely on evidence
gained by torture, which they said
violated fundamental fairness and U.S. due
process standards. But Boyle argued
in a similar hearing Wednesday that the
detainees "have no constitutional rights enforceable in this court."

Leon asked whether a detention
based solely on evidence gathered by torture
would be illegal, because "torture is illegal.
We all know that."

Boyle replied that if the military's
combatant status review tribunals
"determine that evidence of questionable
provenance were reliable, nothing in
the due process clause (of the Constitution)
prohibits them from relying on
it."

Leon asked whether there were any
restrictions on using torture- induced
evidence.

Boyle replied that the United States
never would adopt a policy that would
have barred it from acting on evidence
that could have prevented the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks even if the data
came from questionable practices like
torture by a foreign power.

Several arguments underlie the U.S.
court ban on products of torture.

"About 70 years ago, the Supreme
Court stopped the use of evidence produced by
third-degree tactics largely on the
theory that it was totally unreliable,"
Harvard Law Professor Philip B. Heymann,
a former deputy U.S. attorney
general, said in an interview.
Subsequent high court rulings were based on
revulsion at "the unfairness and brutality
of it and later on the idea that
confessions ought to be free and uncompelled."

Leon asked whether U.S. courts could
review detentions based on evidence from
torture conducted by U.S. personnel.

Boyle said torture was against U.S.
policy and any allegations of it would be
"forwarded through command channels
for military discipline." He added, "I
don't think anything remotely like
torture has occurred at Guantanamo" but
noted that some U.S. soldiers there had
been disciplined for misconduct,
including a female interrogator who
removed her blouse during questioning.

The International Committee of the Red
Cross said Tuesday it has given the
Bush administration a confidential report
critical of U.S. treatment of
Guantanamo detainees. The *New York
Times* reported the Red Cross described
the psychological and physical coercion
used at Guantanamo as "tantamount to
torture."

The combatant status review tribunals
comprise three colonels and lieutenant
colonels. They were set up after the
Supreme Court ruled in June that the
detainees could ask U.S. courts to see
to it they had a proceeding in which to
challenge their detention. The panels
have reviewed 440 of the prisoners so
far but have released only one.

The military also set up an annual
administrative review which considers
whether the detainee still presents
a danger to the United States but doesn't
review enemy combatant status.
Administrative reviews have been completed for
161.

Boyle argued these procedures are
sufficient to satisfy the high court.

Noting that detainees cannot have
lawyers at the combatant status review
proceedings and cannot see any secret
evidence against them, detainee attorney
Wes Powell argued "there is no meaningful
opportunity in the (proceedings) to
rebut the government's claims."

Leon suggested that if federal judges
start reviewing the military's evidence
for holding foreign detainees there
could be "practical and collateral
consequences . . . at a time of war."

And he suggested an earlier Supreme
Court ruling might limit judges to
checking only on whether detention
orders were lawfully issued and review
panels were legally established.

Leon and Judge Joyce Hens Green, who
held a similar hearing Wednesday, said
they would try to rule soon on whether
the 59 detainees may proceed with their
lawsuits.

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

5) America's super-rich look forward to a merry Christmas
By Rick Kelly
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS :News & Analysis :North America
3 December 2004
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/rich-d03_prn.shtml

America's corporate elite is preparing to reward itself with another
round of massive end-of-year bonuses. For the ultra-wealthy, these
multimillion-dollar payouts are considered an appropriate and well
deserved reward for another profitable year of operations.

A report in the New York Times on Monday noted that the Christmas
bonuses for Wall Street's executives, bankers and traders are expected
to be 10 to 15 percent higher than those of last year. These bonuses
now typically constitute the bulk of a Wall Street professional's earnings.

"In 2003, Lloyd S. Blankfein, the president and chief operating officer
of Goldman Sachs made $20.1 million; only $600,000 of that was
salary," the Times explained. "Similarly, E. Stanley O'Neal, the chief
executive of Merrill Lynch, made $500,000 in salary, but received
a bonus of $13.5 million and restricted stock worth $11.2 million
more."

So-called "superstar" traders and investment bankers are also in
line for lucrative bonuses. These are individuals who have generated
revenue for their firms of more than $25 million this year, through
the trading of stocks, commodities and bonds. Wall Street's
"superstars" can expect to receive bonuses of $5-15 million.

These payments underscore the extent to which the fortunes of
the upper echelon of the corporate world have become divorced
from the trajectory of the real economy. The process of determining
bonuses, the Times noted, is "harrowingly subjective" and "highly
political." "It's campaign season on Wall Street," an unnamed top
executive told the newspaper.

Bankers and traders are now engaged in furtive efforts to secure
the largest possible bonuses. They tell their employers that other
companies have been offering them huge salaries if they switch
sides, and offer exaggerated accounts of the lucrative deals and
trades they have cut for their companies over the past 12 months.
("When you add everyone's numbers, you have more revenues
than the entire investment bank," a global head of trading at
a major Wall Street firm declared.)

One cannot help but be disgusted by this squalid spectacle.
For these individuals, already multimillionaires, the scramble
to maximize their payout is largely driven by the concern for
status and prestige within a milieu that exalts wealth and
excess above all else.

Meanwhile, millions of ordinary American families will
struggle to even afford a decent Christmas dinner. Hundreds
of thousands of people have lost their jobs this year, and millions
more live under the threat of unemployment. Even for those with
jobs, rising fuel and food prices have made it increasingly difficult
to get by.

An examination of executive bonuses highlights the inefficiency
and irrationality of contemporary corporate America. Not only
are hundreds of millions of dollars skimmed off companies'
revenues to further enrich a tiny elite, but countless hours are
also spent calculating exactly how this misdirection of assets
should be carried out. The Times noted that it is not unusual for
a chief executive officer to devote six hours a day to compensation
and bonus issues.

Merck executives rewarded for gross incompetence

The incredible waste created through the anarchy of the profit
system was also demonstrated this week in the case of the crisis
-ridden pharmaceutical company, Merck. In an extraordinary
decision, the company's board decided that its top 230 executives
and managers will be entitled to huge payouts if another
corporation takes over Merck, or even buys 20 percent of
its shares.

Any manager who is retrenched or resigns within two years
of a takeover or a 20 percent buyout will receive a payment
equivalent to three years of salary and bonuses. Executives
will also be able to immediately exercise their stock options
and restricted stock grants.

Raymond V. Gilmartin, Merck's chairman, president and chief
executive officer, received almost $20 million in compensation
in 2003. He also has unexercised stock options from previous
years valued at more than $47 million.

Merck has been in crisis ever since the withdrawal of its arthritis
treatment, Vioxx, from the market on September 30. The recall
was instigated after conclusive evidence emerged that the drug
greatly increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The
withdrawal began only after some 80 million prescriptions were
filled around the world.

Shareholders have seen the value of their stock fall by 40
percent since the withdrawal of Vioxx. The latest crisis has only
compounded the company's longstanding problems, which have
resulted in its share price declining by a total of 70 percent over
the past four years.

The company also faces the threat of federal investigation and
thousands of potentially crippling civil suits. There is significant
evidence suggesting that Merck knew about the dangers of Vioxx
years before its withdrawal from the market. Dr. David Graham,
associate director for science and medicine with the Food and
Drug Administration, recently told the Senate that the drug has
probably caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks,
of which up to 40 percent were fatal.

The weakened state of the company has left it vulnerable to
takeover. The falling value of the US dollar relative to the euro
has further increased the likelihood of a bid from a European
drug company, such as GlaxoSmithKline or Novartis.

None of Merck's executives have been or will be held responsible
for their disastrous tenure. Faced with the threat of being retrenched
in the event of a takeover, they have simply changed the rules to
ensure that any corporate buyout will actually work in their favor.
Ordinary workers at Merck, who earn a tiny fraction of what the
company's senior executives earn, will receive no benefits should
they lose their jobs.

The Merck case demonstrates that the corporate world has
largely abandoned any conception that the remuneration of
senior executives should be tied to the performance of their
companies. The Enron and WorldCom scandals were less
aberrations than they were case studies in how America's
largest companies are increasingly used as little more than
slush funds by the corporate elite.

A tiny layer has amassed wealth at a rate unprecedented in
modern American history, and as a result, the level of social
inequality has developed to a critical and unsustainable level.
The gulf that now separates the mass of working people from
the ruling elite is the objective basis upon which standard
democratic norms are rapidly breaking down.

Copyright 1998-2004
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved

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

6) The Number Wall St. Crunches the Most [executive bonuses]
By JENNY ANDERSON
and LANDON THOMAS Jr.
November 29, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/29/business/29wall.html?oref=login

The holiday season has arrived and with it the ultimate in year-end
giving, bonus season on Wall Street.

Top executives of the leading financial firms are now spending
hours each day huddled in boardrooms or trapped on endless
conference calls, sparring among themselves to determine how
big the bonus pool will be, how it will be divided among the
divisions and, then, what each employee will receive.

The executives complain privately about the time that must be
spent on compensating their highly paid professionals at the
expense of calling on clients, recruiting talent or talking to
shareholders.

"It is brain damage any way you cut it," said the chief executive
of one firm, who spoke on the condition he not be identified
because compensation is such a sensitive topic on Wall Street.

Nonetheless, the year-end bonus is an unquestioned tradition
on Wall Street. Bonuses typically make up the majority of
compensation for professional employees. In 2003, Lloyd S.
Blankfein, the president and chief operating officer of Goldman
Sachs made $20.1 million; only $600,000 of that was salary.
Similarly, E. Stanley O'Neal, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch ,
made $500,000 in salary, but received a bonus of $13.5 million
and restricted stock worth $11.2 million more.

An investment banking analyst right out of college, would have
made a $65,000 salary and a $35,000 bonus. An associate just
out of business school, might have made $85,000 in salary and
a $115,000 bonus.

This year, bonuses for investment bankers are expected to rise
10 percent to 15 percent from last year, Wall Street executives
and compensation experts say. While that is a fairly sharp rise,
it comes off a lower base. Fixed-income traders, who have done
better in recent years, are expected to see smaller rises in their
bonuses. But a successful fixed-income trader is now making
over all more than $1.5 million - what a top investment banker
would have reaped in 2000 - while his or her banker counterpart
is probably taking home something closer to $900,000. Bonuses
for equity traders are likely to be either flat or down from last year.

"Remember the Masters of the Universe?" said Alan Johnson,
managing director of Johnson Associates, the compensation
consulting firm. "They are no longer the masters. The bankers
are still making less than they did in 2000, while fixed-income
is making a lot more money."

The process of awarding bonuses is harrowingly subjective, based
on some formula of an individual's performance, the division's
performance and the bank's overall results. It is also highly political.
Employees harangue employers, suggesting that headhunters have
been calling and competitors are planning to pay big numbers.

"It's campaign season on Wall Street," one top executive said.

All the campaigning in the world will probably not change the
results. After a strong first quarter for most Wall Street firms,
executives had predicted a rise of 20 percent to 25 percent in
year-end bonuses. But those expectations have since been
scaled back by two consecutive quarters of slower growth.

"There was a precipitous drop-off in the third quarter, and the
bonus pools are reflective of that," said Michael Franzino,
senior managing partner and chief of global financial services
at the employment search firm Heidrick & Struggles. "Banks
will be somewhat conservative given the current economic
climate."

Bonuses this year are also expected to show that the gap
between the haves and the have-nots - between those who
produce the most revenue and everyone else - is wider than ever.

Since the boom of the late 1990's, the major Wall Street banks
have become more and more dependent on a shrinking breed
of superstar traders and investment bankers, whose wizardly
ways have subsidized a greater number of less profitable peers
and divisions.

"The top-tier producers could well get 40 to 50 percent more
than they did last year," said Stephen Spagnuolo, a headhunter
at Sheffield Haworth who works with Wall Street executives.
"And the strong areas will be fixed income, proprietary and
commodities trading."

Many of these bankers are largely unknown outside their small
financial circles. But to their bosses and rival banks looking to
build banking teams, their names loom large.

Whether they trade commodities at Goldman Sachs or mortgage
-backed bonds at Bear Stearns, these people have produced
anywhere from $25 million to $100 million in revenue for their
firms, banking executives say. These stars will be in a position
to command bonuses of $5 million to $15 million a year. And
if they do not get what they want, they could certainly make
more by moving to a commercial bank eager to offer multiyear
guarantees.

Indeed, even though business is sluggish, there is a hiring
frenzy now for those senior producers who can bring in more
than $25 million in revenue.

The compensation process starts soon after Labor Day and
intensifies through the end of the year. The process is
important for the simple reason that employees are the assets
of a securities firm. And while the prospect of a chief executive
spending as much as six hours a day on compensation issues
may seem unusual, it is all part of the way Wall Street does business.

"A significant amount of time is spent around budget and
bonus," Mr. Franzino of Heidrick & Struggles said. "You don't
want to overpay, but you can't afford to underpay because
of the recruiting environment."

Total compensation is the single largest expense item for
securities firms, according to the Securities Industry Association.

This bonus season, traders will again take home a bigger
share of the total bonus pie because trading - both for clients
as well as for a firm's own account, called proprietary trading -
has replaced investment banking as the main revenue engine
of securities firms.

Investment banking revenues at five major firms - Goldman
Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers ,Morgan Stanley and
Bear Stearns - dropped 42 percent from 2000 to 2003, while
net trading revenues, including principal transactions and net
interest, rose 0.4 percent, according to Guy Moszkowski,
a securities industry analyst with Merrill Lynch. He expects
lower revenue from both new trading and investment banking
for 2004 from the year before. His forecast for this year does
not include his own firm, Merrill Lynch.

To be sure, the amount of the bonus is highly variable. It depends
on an employee's performance, his or her relationships with clients
and managers as well as various external factors.

And some firms will do better than others. Morgan Stanley's fixed-
income group may pay the price for a rocky third quarter: its
principal transactions dropped 62 percent in the third quarter
over the same period a year earlier, a performance management
attributed to an incorrect bet on interest rates. Mr. Moszkowski
estimates Lehman Brothers investment banking revenue will rise
28 percent in 2004 over 2003, suggesting strong gains.

"This is a year of unusual differences among firms," said
Mr. Johnson, the compensation expert.

And, of course, no number is taken at face value: negotiations
will ensue. Top Wall Street executives say it is exhausting listening
to all the accounts of the contributions the employee made to
winning a big merger deal or landing a significant block trade.

"When you add everyone's numbers, you have more revenues
than the entire investment bank," said one global head of trading
at a major Wall Street firm.

Copyright 2004 The New York

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

7) Sometimes justice prevails!
An enemy of the state
George Galloway
The Guardian
Friday December 3, 2004
gallowayg@parliament.uk

When the 17th-century republican Algernon Sidney spoke on
Tower Hill before his beheading on false charges almost exactly
321 years ago, he observed that "the whole matter is reduced to
the papers said to have been found in my closet by the King's
officers". In the days after Baghdad fell to US forces last April, all
manner of closets spilled forth papers - remarkably often to the
Telegraph group of newspapers. In quick succession, their reporters
claimed to have found, in a series of burning buildings, documents
linking Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden, tales of French and
Russian perfidy, and the papers they used to smear me as being in
the pay of the Iraqi regime.

Like the paperwork on which the case for the war itself was built,
these all turned out to be bunkum, bogus or doctored. A Daily
Telegraph reporter, Philip Smucker, came up with his own documents
for the US Christian Science Monitor, making similar claims. The
Mail on Sunday purchased still more documentation, putting my
supposed "earnings" from Saddam and his family into a £20m-
plus stratosphere. Both were shown to be forgeries. One by one
these assaults by the pro-war media foundered on a large and
immovable rock - none of them was true.

Eighteen months and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths
further on, the Daily Telegraph has been given a judicial thrashing
at the high court, which will have stung more powerfully than any
its public schoolboy editors endured in their younger days. Well
over seven figures of damages and costs, combined with Mr Justice
Eady's damning judgment, must have made the paper's new owners
smart at the damage done to the Telegraph's reputation by the
old regime of Lord Conrad Black, Barbara Amiel and fox-hunter
Charles Moore.

Over several days and dozens of articles, the Telegraph tried
comprehensively to discredit me and the wider anti-war movement.
As Neil Darbyshire, the paper's executive editor, said to explain
why the paper rushed into print: "The Iraq war was at a volatile
stage and Mr Galloway was unceasing in his opposition". And when
they couldn't stand their story up they sought refuge in the
coward's defence that they had never suggested the lurid claims
they published had been true - but merely "neutral reportage"
in the public interest. Even a blind man in a hurry could see that,
in the words of Mr Justice Eady, "the nature, content and tone of
their coverage cannot be so described".

But as most British people now believe, the entire case for the
war was based on falsehoods and lies. From the forged papers
showing Iraq buying nuclear materials from Niger to the pulp
fiction of the Campbell-Scarlett dossiers, one of the grossest
deceptions in modern history has been practised upon us.

There is a long tradition in Britain of attempts by governments
and media to use false allegations about foreign cash to discredit
those who refuse to bend to the powers-that-be, from the Zinoviev
letters to the Scargill affair. The Telegraph, a chief cheerleader for
the Iraq war, together with the media empire of another foreign
press baron, Rupert Murdoch, tried to paint me as a treasonous
"enemy of the state", and the anti-war movement as the "enemy
within". But the real enemies of the state are the political leaders,
pre-eminently the prime minister, who deceived the country into
a disastrous military adventure which has devastated a foreign
land and disfigured the face of international affairs. And the real
enemies within are the pusillanimous poodles in parliament and
press who allowed, and are still allowing them, to get away with it.

The Telegraph did me and the anti-war movement an injustice
and the judge held it to account. But the Blair government -
which used the Telegraph's assault to force me out of a Labour
party I'd served for 36 years - has committed an incomparably
greater injustice. Iraq was invaded on trumped-up charges. As
a result, an estimated 100,000 Iraqis have died; the lives of
millions more have been wrecked. This week we learned the
conditions of child health in a land occupied are now even worse
than during the killing years of sanctions. Yet not a single
government minister has fallen. No official has been sacked.
Alastair Campbell has become a highly paid raconteur and talk
show host. John Scarlett, unblushing, has been promoted to
head the Secret Intelligence Service. The guilty men in Whitehall
and Westminster remain unpunished.

Now the stain on my name has been removed, I intend to step
up my efforts, with others both inside and outside parliament,
to harry and hold to account those responsible for the crimes
of the Iraq war.

· George Galloway is Respect MP for Glasgow Kelvin and a
columnist for the Scottish Mail on Sunday

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

8) URGENT: Send Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

Hi all,

CODEPINK, Global Exchange, and Physicians for Social Responsibility
are sponsoring a humanitarian aid delegation to Jordan and Iraq at
the end of this year. The delegates will be military family members
who have lost loves ones in the Iraq war, Sept. 11 family members,
and physicians. They will be bringing humanitarian aid for the people
of Falluja. So far, CODEPINK has raised $50,000 for humanitarian relief.
We are trying to raise $100,000 and are asking other groups, like
UFPJ, if you would send out an alert asking people to support this
effort. I think that for many of us who felt powerless to stop the
attack on Falluja, it's the least we can do to support the Falluja.
This could be modified for UFPJ. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Andrea

URGENT: Send Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

DONATE NOW
When the US bombed a hospital in Falluja and seized another,
leveled virtually the entire city, killed hundreds of desperate
civilians, refused to let humanitarian aid workers into the city,
and left an estimated 50,000 civilians without water, electricity
and food, we here at Global Exchange knew we had to do
something-FAST-because Falluja is just one terrifying example
of the escalating devastation in Iraq.

So we have put together a delegation of parents who lost loved
ones in Iraq and on 9/11, as well as health care workers, to take
a shipment of humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq. This
delegation will take desperately needed medical supplies to
the Iraqi/Jordanian border, where we will meet with Iraqi
humanitarian aid organizations that will take the supplies
to Falluja and to those in the most need.

These supplies will only get to those in need if each of us
does our part. We need you to DONATE NOW

As Global Exchange was busily preparing for the year-end
humanitarian mission to the Jordanian/Iraqi border, we
received an urgent message. It was from our dear friend
Dahr Jamail, an amazing American independent journalist
who has been risking his life to get the true story of Fallujah
to the American public:

I have just come from a refugee camp in Baghdad with families
from Fallujah. The suffering is beyond description. It's worse
than anything you've read or anything I've written so far.

This is a humanitarian crisis. They need medicines for their
camp and the other camps immediately. We have an organization
set up of doctors who can distribute the medicines and supplies.
BUT WE NEED THEM NOW! THIS CANNOT WAIT!

While George Bush was on the campaign trail talking about
moral values, his administration was busy preparing the assault
on Fallujah that was launched immediately after the election.
We MUST show the Iraqis and the world community that there
are indeed kind, compassionate Americans who are appalled
by the immoral behavior of our government and want to help-
not kill-the Iraqi people.

PLEASE HELP US GET MEDICAL AID TO THE PEOPLE OF
FALLUJAH. Your donation will directly support the purchase
and distribution of vital medicines as well as educate the U.S.
public about the the human toll of the war in Iraq.

DONATE NOW securely online and challenge your friends,
family and co-workers to MEET or BEAT your donation.

Or send checks made out to "Help Iraqis/Global Exchange"
to: 2017 Mission St. #303 San Francisco, CA 94110.

KEEP INFORMED and ACTIVE. Here are three links to update
you on the current crisis:

Dahr Jamail reports on the assault on Fallujah and mounting
casualties.

Children Pay Cost of Iraq's Chaos : Malnutrition Nearly
Double What It Was Before Invasion.

Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq

Photographs of Fallujah under siege (Warning: Graphic)

Thank you for helping the people of Iraq.

In peace and solidarity,

Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange and CODEPINK

Amalia Avila, mother of Lance Cpl. Victor Gonzalez, died in
Iraq on October 13, 2004

Nadia McCaffrey, mother of Army Spc. Patrick McCaffrey,
died in Iraq on June 22, 2004

Fernando and Rosa Suarez del Solar, parents of Lance Cpl.
Jesus Suarez del Solar, died in Iraq on March 27, 2003

Adele Welty, mother of New York City firefighter Tim Welty,
died in The World Trade Center, September 11, 2001

Jeffrey Ritterman, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility

PS: Remember, your donation is tax-deductible. It is one
way to transfer money from war to money for health, peace
and justice.

Sponsored by: Global Exchange, CODEPINK, Global Village
Foundation and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ufpj-iraq/

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

9) Subject: Take Action to Terminate Plutonium Activities at
Livermore nuclear weapons lab
-----Original Message-----
From: Tara Dorabji [mailto:tara@trivalleycares.org]
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 5:00 PM


Dear Friends:

We need your help to stop the expansion of plutonium activities at the
Livermore nuclear weapons lab. As you are reading this, the Dept. of
Energy is considering major expansions of nuclear weapons programs and
materials in Livermore. Among other dangerous plans, the Department of
Energy has proposed to *more than double* the plutonium limit at
Livermore Lab to 3,300 pounds. This is enough plutonium to make more
than 300 nuclear bombs. Having this large of an amount of plutonium in
Livermore presents unstudied risks such as making the lab a terrorist
target, leaving the San Francisco Bay area vulnerable to environmental
releases from accidents or routine operations, and provoking other
countries to follow suit and increase their stockpiles of nuclear
materials.

*We need you to take action today to stop the Dept. of Energy from
expanding plutonium activities at Livermore Lab.*

*TAKE ACTION*:
http://capwiz.com/wagingpeace/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6718276
Click on the link above to send a letter to the Dept. of Energy and
Congress.

Thank you,
Tara Dorabji

--
Tara Dorabji
Outreach Director
Tri-Valley CAREs
www.trivalleycares.org
tara@trivalleycares.org
ph: (925) 443-7148
fax: (925) 443-0177

Before the word, was the silence. In this silence existed neither
thought nor judgment. First came laughter,then the tears, and the sound
was born. With the sound, the world flooded with memories.

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

10) Protest the Inauguration of George W. Bush
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
January 20, 2005: Our Resistance Continues!

On Thursday, January 20, 2005, George W. Bush will be inaugurated as
president of the United States. For the millions of us who stand for the
values of peace and justice, it is a moment to renew our commitment
to resist the Bush Administration and its deadly policies of war and
greed – and to show Bush, and the world, that our movement is
energized, mobilized, and determined to keep fighting back.

United for Peace and Justice urges everyone who can to converge
in Washington, DC on January 20. We encourage you to participate
in the creative, powerful protest activities being organized by two
groups: the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN - http://www.dawndc.net)
and Turn Your Back on Bush (http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org).
See below for more information.

We also urge groups around the country to organize local protest
and/or educational events on January 20, to provide opportunities
for all those who canÂ’t make it to Washington to take a public and
visible stand for peace and justice and to invigorate our movement
of resistance in every corner of the United States. Be sure to list your
activities on the UFPJ website calendar at
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/events

UFPJ also encourages everyone to wear a white ribbon on January 20,
no matter where you are or what you are doing. In many cultures,
white is the traditional color of mourning. We will wear white to
honor the tens of thousands of civilians and more than 1200 U.S.
servicepeople who have died in Iraq. We also honor all of the people
in our own communities and around the world who have died as a
result of the Bush administration's policies.

In their own words, here is what the organizers of the counter-
inaugural activities supported by UFPJ have to say:

From DC Anti-War Network:

“RISE Against Bush, SHINE For A Peaceful Tomorrow: Every morning,
the sun rises up, penetrating and overcoming the darkness of night.
What once was dark becomes bright, changed by the force of the
sunÂ’s rays. Our world is in darkness tonight, plagued with war, poverty,
environmental destruction, and attacks on many of the liberties
that so many of us hold dear. The darkness over our world has
grown yet darker with the election of George W. Bush to another
4 years in office. In the dark of the night, we need only wait for
the sun. However, in the dark of our world, we cannot wait. If we
are to see a new dawn, we must take action now. The DC Anti-War
Network (DAWN) calls on the people of the world to RISE Against
Bush and SHINE For A Peaceful Tomorrow.

“DAWN calls for people all over the nation and world to converge
on Washington, DC, on the day of George W. BushÂ’s Inauguration,
January 20, 2005, for peaceful anti-war actions. While DAWN is
coordinating with many groups for a day of actions, DAWN calls
additionally for these specific actions: (1) A permitted nonviolent
anti-war rally followed by a march to BushÂ’s inaugural parade route;
(2) A nonviolent civil disobedience die-in, following the rally, in
memorial to the dead at the hands of Bush and his Administration.”

For more information, visit http://www.dawndc.net


From Turn Your Back on Bush:

"Turn Your Back on Bush is a new kind of event in an old tradition:
direct nonviolent action. In the past four years, Bush has made it
clear that dissent is unwelcome in his America, and his policies
have created an atmosphere where demonstrators are corralled
and their messages marginalized. Polls show that the majority
of Americans disagree with Bush on numerous issues, but by
refusing to talk to anyone but the most subservient press outlets
and appearing only in highly staged events, he has cut himself
off from all but his most ardent supporters. We want our audience
with our President.

”On inauguration day, we will gather as citizens for the public
events of the day and join the rest of the crowd. At a given signal,
we will turn our backs. Until the moment we turn around, there
will be nothing to distinguish us from the rest of the crowd. By
leaving our signs and buttons at home, we will avoid all of the
obstacles that Bush and his supporters have used to keep anyone
who disagrees with him out of sight. For this one moment we will
speak as one and show Bush that winning an election does not
mean he has the support of all Americans."

For more information, visit http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org

DON'T MOURN, ORGANIZE
Disgusted by Bush's election? Get active!
* Visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org for links to events and groups
* New "Bring the Troops Home Now" car magnets at
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/merchandise
* Donate at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/donate to enable
us to keep fighting back
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email

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

11) TAKE ACTION AGAINST CBS AND NBC FOR REFUSING TO AIR
GAY-INCLUSIVE ADS
From: Advocacy [mailto:advocacy@familypride.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 5:27 PM
Important News from the Family Pride Coalition
GREETINGS FROM THE FAMILY PRIDE COALITION!



CBS and NBC have refused to air
a United Church of Christ ad that emphasizes
the church's welcoming of a diverse
membership, including same-sex couples.
According to a United Church of
Christ statement, the ad says that the church
seeks to welcome all people, regardless
of ability, age, race, economic
circumstance or sexual orientation.

“Because this commercial touches on
the exclusion of gay couples ... and the
fact that the executive branch has
recently proposed a Constitutional amendment
to define marriage as a union between
a man and a woman, this spot is
unacceptable for broadcast," the church
quoted CBS as saying.

You can view the ad on the UCC website
at www.stillspeaking.com/default.htm

The ad has been accepted and will air on
other networks, including ABC Family,
AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark,
History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV
Land.

Call CBS and NBC and tell them they are
wrong for not airing a pro-tolerance,
pro-inclusive ad by the United Church
of Christ, and that you want them to air
the ad. Perhaps explaining to them how
interesting, to say the least, that they
gladly air programs with pundits that
spew anti-gay and anti-marriage/family
messages.

To contact CBS, call: (212) 975-4321
To contact NBC, call: (212) 664-4444

Please forward this message to fair-minded
friends and family members and
encourage them to call as well.

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

12) Freedom Suppressed on Chicago Subways
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
South End Press
Press Release.....
Cambridge, MA Dec 02, 2004

Cambridge, MA Dec 02, 2004 South End Press, a 27-year-old
independent book publisher, has learned that any advertisements
promoting Mumia Abu-Jamal have been banned on Chicago's
public transit system. This action was discovered when the
Press investigated a report that a Chicago police officer had
torn down a paid advertisement on Chicago's Red Line for the
award-winning journalist's new book WE WANT FREEDOM:
A LIFE IN THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.

When asked for comment, Viacom Outdoor Marketing--a
subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. that manages the advertisements
on the Chicago transit system--informed South End Press
"the CTA [Chicago Transit Authority] can no longer accept any
more advertisements on this author [Mumia Abu-Jamal]." This
is not the first time Viacom has acted to prevent even the mention
of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In 2002 Viacom-owned MTV censored a
video by Public Enemy because the song included the line "Free
Mumia." In addition to barring ads including Mumia Abu-Jamal,
all South End Press advertising will be subject to approval
before posting.

The caller who brought this issue to South End's attention
stated that while riding the Chicago subway, he witnessed
a police officer removing a We Want Freedom poster from
the train's interior. When he asked the officer why, he was
threatened with a citation. And this is not the first time police
have acted to suppress information on the Black Panthers.
WE WANT FREEDOM vividly recounts two occasions when the
police limited the First Amendment rights of Black Panthers.
In one instance, Mumia tells the story of when he was selling
papers in downtown Oakland and crossed the street in the
middle of the block. Before he knew it, two police officers
pulled up and arrested him for jaywalking. "If we were not
selling copies of The Black Panther," asks Abu-Jamal, "would
this have happened?" His conclusion is grim: "I don't think so.
They were beating us softly."

Further investigations into the ban on Mumia Abu-Jamal are
underway. Anyone who witnessed the removal of posters for
WE WANT FREEDOM, which South End Press contracted with
Viacom Outdoor Marketing to run on the Red and Blue lines
from mid-September to mid-October, is encouraged to
contact the Press.

South End Press
Alexander Dwinell
Editor/Publisher
email: southend@southendpress.org
phone: 617.547.4002

www.southendpress.org
southend@southendpress.org

South End Press | 7 Brookline Street | Cambridge | MA | 02139

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13) How the Workers are Robbed
Who produces the wealth and who gains most from its
production? In a pamphlet written 97 years ago, John Wheatley
described an imaginary court case, with a coalmaster,
a landowner and several others being charged with "having
conspired together and robbed an old miner, Dick McGonnagle."

The pamphlet, How the Miners Are Robbed , had considerable impact
before the First World War. Its basic class analysis remains valid for
workers today as they are still being robbed. In the following extracts
from the pamphlet, the magistrate interrogates the witnesses. The
first person to enter the witness box is the Coalmaster.
[Magistrate = M, Prisoner = P]

The Coalmaster

M: What is your name?

P: Frederick Michael Thomas Andrew Sucker, sir.

M: You have a great many names.

P: I protest, sir.

M: I did not ask your occupation. I desire to know how you
came to be possessed of so many names?

P: I can't answer your question, sir.

M: Ah! That sounds suspicious. Now will you kindly tell us
how much wealth you possess?

P (Proudly): One million pounds, sir.

M: You must be an extremely able man.
How did you come to have a million pounds?

P: I made it, sir.

M: Ah! do you plead guilty to manufacturing coin?

P (indignantly): No, sir.

M: Than will you please tell us what you mean
by saying you made it?

P: I earned it in business, sir.

M: How long have you been in business?

P: Twenty years, sir.

M: You must be a very capable worker to have
earned such a huge sum in such a short time?

P (indignantly): I don't work, sir.

M: Ah! this is very interesting. You don't work
and yet you have told us that in twenty years
you have earned one million pounds?

P: I own a colliery, sir.

M: What is a colliery?

P: A shaft sunk perhaps a hundred fathoms
in the earth; also various buildings and
machinery for the production of coal.

M: Did you sink the shaft?

P: No, sir. I got men to do it.

M: Did you manufacture the machinery
and erect the buildings?

P: No, sir. I am not a workman. I got others to work.

M: This is an extraordinary case. You say other men
erected the buildings, and manufactured the machinery,
and sunk the shaft and yet you own the colliery? Have
the workmen no share in it?

P: No, sir. I am the sole owner.

M: I confess I can't understand. Do you mean to tell me
that those men put a colliery in full working order, and
then handed it over to you without retaining even a share
of it for themselves?

P: Certainly, sir.

M: They must have been very rich and generous,
or very foolish! Were they rich men?

P: Oh no, sir.

M: Had they many collieries?

P: Oh, none at all, sir. They were merely workmen.

M: What you mean by merely workmen?

P: Merely people who work for others.

M: Surely they must be generous people.
Don't they require collieries themselves?

P: They do, sir.

M: And they own no collieries?

P: No, sir; but I allow them to work in mine.

M: That is very kind of you, but of course not
nearly so kind as their act in giving the colliery
to you. Do you find you don't require the whole
colliery yourself, that you can allow others also
to use it?

P: Oh, you don't understand sir. I don't work
in my colliery. I allow the workmen to do so.

M: Oh, I see. After those men handed over the
colliery to you, you found you had no use for it,
and so returned it to them to save them erecting
another?

P: Oh no, no, sir. The colliery is still mine,
but they work in it.

M: Really, this is very confusing. You own a pit
which you did not sink, and plant which you did
not manufacture nor erect. You do not work in this
colliery because you do not want to work. Those
who do not want to work own no colliery, and yet
they gave one to you. Did you beg of them to come
and work in your colliery, as you had no use for it?

P: Oh, not at all, sir. They begged me to allow
them to work.

M: But why beg leave to use your colliery? Why not
make one for themselves, as they had done for you?
But perhaps you make them some allowance for
working in your colliery and keeping it in order?

P: Oh yes, sir. I pay them according to the amount of
coal they produce.

M: Well, that seems fair. Then I suppose those men
will soon become very rich? They will have the value
of the coal they produce, and the allowance you make
to them for keeping your colliery in order?

P: Oh no, sir. The coal they produce is mine.

M: What! They turn over the product of their labour
to you? Don't they require the value of this coal
themselves?

P: Oh yes, sir. But it is my coal, having been
produced in my colliery.

M: My dear sir, you amuse me. Those men sank
he pit, put the colliery in working order, and dug
the coal. Where is your claim?

P: I gave them permission to do these things, sir.

M: You permitted them to sink the pit, and then
you took the pit; you permitted them to erect the
plant, and then you took the plant; you permitted
them to dig the coal, and then you took the coal.
Is that it?

P: Yes, sir; but I paid them for doing these things.

M: How did you get money to pay them seeing you
do no work?

P: I inherited ten thousand pounds from my father,
and I used some of this until the men produced the coal.

M: How did your father earn that money?

P: In the same way, sir, as I have converted that
ten thousand pounds into a million.

M: How have you done that?

P: By selling the coal.

M: Did the men employ you to sell the coal?

P: Oh no, sir; the coal was mine.

M: Really, your claim seemed so impertinent that
I had not taken it seriously. Did you pay over to the
miners the amount you received for the coal, less
your salary?

P: No, sir. I merely paid them the least amount
I could get men to work for.

M: I must say this is puzzling. Why do these men
require to work for you?

P: Because, sir, they can't work without machinery
which costs money. We rich men having the money,
and therefore the machinery, and those men requiring
to work or starve, they must accept our terms.

M: Surely the State could provide all the capital
required in opening up mines; why should the
people require to make terms with you?

P: Oh, quite easily sir, but the State is ruled by
Parliament, which is composed of men like me.
They are not such fools as to injure themselves.

M: I did not think there were such stupid people
in the world as you describe those working men
to be. How much coal does a miner produce in a day?

P: About three tons, sir.

M: At what price do you sell this coal?

P: At ten shillings per ton, sir.

M: Now, if you will kindly tell us how much per
day the miner gets for the three tons of coal
which you sell at thirty shillings, we shall be
able to judge how you treat him.

P: He receives about five shillings, sir.

M: Are you serious?

P: Oh yes, sir.

M: What becomes of the remainder?

P: A small portion goes to maintaining
[the cost of men] and covering depreciation
of machinery. The Duke gets a good slice as
rents and royalties. The remainder is my profit.

M: What are rents and royalties?

P: A sum charged by the Duke for allowing
people to use the land.

M: What! But never mind, I will examine him
presently. Is this how you have come to possess
a million pounds and this old man is in poverty?
You have been selling his coal and holding on to
most of his money.

Your father robbed his father in like manner. With the
proceeds of that robbery, and the fact that it left him
penniless, you have been enabled to rob this man. Were
it allowed to continue, your son would be richer than you
were, and his son would be as poor as he was.

Therefore the power of your family to make slaves of his
family would increase with each generation. Fortunately,
this case may end your outrageous scheme.

Stand down until I have examined the others.



When prisoner Sucker had again taken his place between
the two constables in the dock, a middle-aged man of stout
build and a ruddy, well-fed, well-watered appearance,
entered the witness box to be examined. In answer to the
Magistrate's first question, he said his name was:

The Duke of Hamilton

M: Come, come, I asked your name, not your occupation!

P: That is my title, sir.

M: Your title may be a number when this case is finished.
I must warn you not to trifle with this Court.
What is your name?

P: I don't use any name, your honour.

M: Do you work?

P: Oh no, sir.

M: What! Are you too a loafer?

P: No, sir. I don't require to work.

M: No successful robber does.
Why don't you require to work?

P: I'm a wealthy man, sir.

M: How did you come to be wealthy seeing you
don't work, and that wealth is the product of labour?

P: I inherited my wealth, sir.

M: Did your father work for it?

P: No, sir; he too was a wealthy man.

M: Did your grandfather, or your great-grandfather,
or any of the family ever do any work?

P: No, sir.

M: How did they get wealth?

P: Oh, just as I get mine, sir.

M: How is that?

P: By allowing people to use my land.

M: How did you get land? Did you create it?

P: Oh no, sir. I believe God created it.

M: Did he create it for your ancestors?

P: I can't say, sir.

M: Surely you must know if He created it specially
for your ancestors, or whether the land was here
before your ancestors got possession of it?

P: It was always there, sir. My family got possession
of it only at the time of Robert the Bruce.

M: What right had they to take possession of the land?

P: It was given to them by Robert the Bruce.

M: But Bruce did not create the land, nor was it his
to give away. He had no right to do so, and you have
no moral or legal claim to it. Don't you work on this land?

P: Oh no, sir. I've already explained I don't require to
work. I allow thousands of others to do so.

M: Why don't they work on their own land?

P: They have none, sir.

M: What! Do you claim all the land in the district?

P: Yes, sir.

M: And must those men use your land or starve?

P: Certainly, sir.

M: I hope you don't act as the other prisoner does
with his machinery. Is your permission granted on
condition that they hand over to you a share of
what they produce?

P: Oh yes, sir.

M: Do they do so?

P: Certainly, sir. They must do so or starve.

M (soliloquising): I now see the need for an
Eternal Hell. What share of miner's coal do you claim?

P: I usually obtain in Royalty on each man's
work a sum equal to half what he gets for working.

M: That means when a miner produces three
tons of coal he gives you one?

P: Yes, sir.

M: If there be twenty thousand miners working on
your land, each man must give you every third hutch he fills?

P: Yes, sir.

M: So that again assuming you have twenty thousand miners
working on your land, it takes ten thousand of them to earn
as much as you draw?

P: Yes, sir.

M: And these ten thousand men must risk their lives in the
bowels of the earth while you may be enjoying yourself anywhere?

P: Yes, sir.

M: What sort of men are they?

P: Hard-headed, intelligent men, sir. (Loud laughter in Court,
which was instantly suppressed.)

M: Why don't they take over the land themselves-nationalise it?
Then you could no longer rob them of one third of what they
produced?

P: Oh, that would never do, sir. That would be Socialism. They
prefer to continue paying royalty to me.

M: But even to take advantage of their simplicity is a terrible
crime. Are you not ashamed to do so?

P: Certainly not, sir. It is within the law.

M: Who made the laws?

P: The class to which I belong, and they made no mistakes, sir.

M: If they have not, you make one if you think that this Court
will judge your class by the laws they made. Why a community
should permit itself to be infested by characters like you passes
my comprehension. Please take your place in the dock until
I have heard the evidence against you.

The first witness called was the complainer, Dick McGonnagle.

Old Dick's Evidence

M: What age are you, Dick?

D: Fifty-two, your honour.

M: Dear me! you look eighty at least!

D: I've had to work very hard, your honour.

M: How long have you worked in the mines?

D: 40 years, your honour.

M: Have you worked regularly?

D: On an average five days a week, your honour.

M: How much coal do you produce each day?

D: About three tons, your honour.

M: Dear me! You should be a very wealthy man. In 40 years
you must have produced something like 30,000 tons?

D: I am not good at figures, your honour.

M: I am told that this coal is sold at ten shillings per ton?

D: I don't know, your honour.

(Council explained that it would be proved the prisoners
divided it amongst them, and even robbed the old man
afterwards, of that part of the small share he had received.)

M: Then I suppose you are not aware that the market
price of the coal you have produced would be £15,000?

D: I was not aware of that, your honour.

M: What wages have you received?

D: On an average, 25 shillings a week.

M: Great heavens! That means you have been swindled
out of nearly £12,500!

What became of that £12,500 of which you have been robbed?

D: I don't know, your honour.

(Counsel explained that it would be proved the prisoners
divided it amongst them, and even robbed the old man
afterwards of part of the small share he had received.)

M: Are you still employed in the mines?

D: Yes, your honour.

M: Don't you find it difficult even to walk to the pit?

D: Yes, your honour. I must now leave half an hour
earlier than formerly, as I have to rest for breath at
every 100 yards.

M: How do you get to the coalface after descending the pit?

D: A young man wheels me in a hutch, your honour.

M: And dumps you down there to dig your coal?

D: Yes, your honour.

M: And when you have dug it these men steal it from you?

D: Yes, your honour.

M: Have your fellow-workmen ever stolen from you?

D: Only once, your honour. A man 'pinned' a hutch of
mine, and he was hunted from the pit. This man called
the Duke has 'pinched' every third hutch I have filled for
40 years, and I think he should be hunted.

(After hearing evidence from a 'Socialist' against the
prisoners and from a Clergyman in their defence the
Magistrate rose to deliver judgement.)

He said he had no difficulty in finding the prisoners guilty.
They had admitted their guilt. He felt, however, that no
punishment which that Court could condemn them to
would be sufficient for such terrible crimes.

He would, therefore, send them to the Lowest Court for
punishment, and ordered that they be taken there at once.

Court Officer: Where is the Lowest Court, your honour?

Magistrate: I forget exactly. Ask the clergyman.

---

This is factory life as portrayed by George Cruickshank in
1832, in the equivalent of today's tabloid journalism. Child
workers were often shown in etchings - not photographs -
clearing out waste cotton while the Spinning Mule was in
operation.

However, it's a 'myth', says Josselin Hill, curatorial director
of Quarry Bank Mill near Wilmslow, that many children were
seriously injured. Children may have been employed for their
nimbleness and their tiny fingers, but in fact, the Mule was
stopped for the children to clean it. Admittedly, the mule
spinner was paid by the number of 'draws', and didn't want
to wait too long. They would shout 'Get out!', and the child
would have to scramble.

In 1865 13-year-old John Foden died at Quarry Bank when his
head was caught between the roller beam and the carriage.