BY POLICE FOR CHANTING "MILITARY RECRUITERS GO HOME!"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Karen Knoller, (818) 554-5382, kknoller@sfsu.edu
Press Conference: Monday, April 17, 2006, 11:00 AM
SFSU, 19th Ave & Holloway Ave, San Francisco
(see article in full, number 9, below)
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APPEAL TO: COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS, LAWYERS, TRADE UNIONISTS
AND POLITICAL ORGANIZERS
FROM: BARRIO UNIDO POR UNA AMNISTIA INCONDICIIONAL
We make a call to all those who want to support our struggle, lawyers,
community organizations, unions, political organizations, to help us
in the following way:
1. Community organizations please close organization on May 1,
2006. Put a banner stating you support a general and unconditional
amnesty for all immigrants.
2. Lawyers form legal teams to defend those workers that have been
fired or will be fired. Defend all those who will suffer any repercussions
when defending immigrants.
3. Trade unions go to places where people are being fired and organize
and demand that workers be reinstated.
4. Political organizations organize the white workers of this country to
unite in solidarity with us, the immigrant workers, and walk out of their
jobs on May 1, 2006 and for them not to look at us as their enemy
but as their allies.
5. For all of you to endorse, support and participate in our rally on
May 1, 2006 at 5:00 P.M. in front of the Federal Building. Allow us
immigrants to empower ourselves and make the decisions of our
lives.
We thank all those who want to help us. We the immigrants will
lead our struggle for a General and Unconditional Amnesty for All.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-431-9925
People United for General Amnesty
May 1, 2006, 5:00 p.m.
Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco
(For more information: 415-431-9925)
We make a call to all people to come and celebrate International
Workers Day by surrounding the Federal Building with our flags
and picket signs showing that we have built the richness and
strength of the United States of North America from our countries
up to now and that we are part of the work force in this country.
That is why we raise our national flags high, not as an insult to the
United States of North America, but to recognize that even though
we come from other countries we have enriched this soil and that
gives us the moral right to demand general amnesty for all.
COME AND UNITE IN THE STRUGGLE!
Barrio Unido por una Amnistia General
1 de Mayo 2006, 5:00 p.m.
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco
Mas informacion: 415-431-9925
Hacemos un llamado a toda la poblacion a celebrar el Dia de los
Trabajadores rodeando el Edificio Federal con nuestras banderas
y pancartas demostrando que desde nuestros paises hasta cuando
trabajamos aqui en este pais hemos contribuido a la riqueza y
poderio de los Estados Unidos de Norte America. Por eso levantamos
nuestras banderas nacionales, no como insulto a los Estados Unidos,
sino como reconocimiento que viniendo de otros paises hemos
enriquecido su suelo y con ese derecho moral demandamos una
amnistia general para todos.
Ven Y unete a la lucha
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REMINDER TO ALL GROUPS: BE SURE AND POST ALL ACTIONS AND
EVENTS TO WWW.INDYBAY.ORG TO REACH THE MOST PEOPLE
AGAINST THE WAR IN THE BAY AREA!
http://www.indybay.org
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Flash Film: Ides of March
http://isahaqi.chris-floyd.com/
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NO BORDERS! NO WALLS! NO FENCES! GENERAL AMNESTY FOR ALL!
OUR HOMELAND IS WHERE WE LIVE!
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QUICKVOTE
Do you agree with Charlie Sheen that the U.S. government
covered up the real events of the 9/11 attacks?
[So far it's running 83 percent in agreement.]
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/showbiz.tonight/
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REPEAL THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN 2007!
Check out: 10 EXCELLENT REASONS NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARY
http://www.10reasonsbook.com/
Public Law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001 [1.8 MB]
http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html
Also, the law is up before Congress again in 2007.
See this article from USA Today:
Bipartisan panel to study No Child Left Behind
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
February 13, 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-02-13-education-panel_x.htm
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SCROLL DOWN TO READ:
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
ARTICLES IN FULL
LINKS ONLY
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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Please forward
California Unwelcome War Criminal G. W Bush
Friday, April 21st, 4:00-7:00 PM
Cisco System
170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=170+West+Tasman+Drive&
csz=san+jose%2C+ca&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=
Mass Protest Against George W. Bush, War Criminal
Say to Bush In Person!
Stop the Spying, Stop the Lying, Stop the Dying!
No WAR - On Immigrants
- On Iraq
- On Iran
Money for Jobs, Health Care & Education
NOT War & Occupation!
Friday, April 21st 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Initiated by: South Bay Mobilization
International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition--S.F. Bay Area
Peninsula Peace & Justice Center, San Jose Peace Center
Students for Justice, WILPF
TRANSPORTATION INFO:
Carpools: If you can provide a ride or need a ride, please call 415-821-6545
(North Bay)
or 408-998-8504 (South Bay).
Driving Directions:
>From San Francisco, take 101 South to the Great America Parkway exit. Go East
onto Great America Parkway (a left turn). Follow for 2 miles to Tasman Drive
>From San Jose, take 101 North to the Great America Parkway exit. Go East onto
Great America Parkway (a right turn). Follow for 2 miles to Tasman Drive. T
>From Oakland, take 880 South, then take Tasman exit.
Public Transportation:
>From San Francisco, you can take CalTrain to Mountain View. At CalTrain's
Mountain View Station, take the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Light Rail
to Tasman (cisco) Station.
>From San Jose, take the VTA Light Rail to the Tasmin Station(Cisco) .
Parking:
Parking on surrounding streets. The Santa Clara Convention Center has a big
parking lot on the south side of Tasman which is 1 mile away.
California Says No to Bush!
This protest is being organized by:
South Bay Mobilization, 408-998-8504,
http://www.southbaymobilization.org
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, 650-326-8837,
http://www.peaceandjustice.org
International ANSWER, 415-821-6545,
http://www.internationalanswer.org
Direct Action to Stop the War,
http://www.actagainstwar.org
Global Exchange, 415-575-5555,
http://www.unitedforpeace.org
California Peace Action, 510-849-2272,
http://www.californiapeaceaction.org/
and ......
Join with thousands of Bay Area residents to protest Bush’s pro-war and
anti-people policies on Friday, May 2nd. [this date is incorrect. May 2
is a Tuesday...bw] For more information please call
408-998-8504.
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JOIN US TO HELP CELEBRATE MUMIA'S BIRTHDAY!
Mumia's Been Fast-Tracted! FREE MUMIA!
Saturday, April 22, 3-5:30 p.m.
West Oakland Public Library
1801 Adeline St. at 18th
Speakers:
Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10; Mel Mason, Seasice CA NAACP, former
Black Panther; Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action; Yuri Kochiyama, Friend
of Malcolm X and long time Mumia supporter; Cristina Gutierrez,
Co-Founder, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Bay Area United
Against War. (Organizations for identification purposes only.)
Legal Update: Leigh Fleming, Associate of Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel
for Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Moderator: Gerald Smith, Copwatch and former Black Panther
Video: 1999 West Coast Longshore Port Shutdown to Free Mumia
Donations to benefit Mumia's legal defense.
Sponsored by: Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
and The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Info: 510-763-2347
The Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 16222, Oakland, CA 94610, www.laboractionmumia.org
(The Oakland Public Library does not advocate or endorse viewpoints
of meetings or meeting-room users.)
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FROM PROTEST TO RESISTANCE
Regional Student Antiwar Conferences
Sponsored by the Campus Antiwar Network
WEST
Students and Educators to Stop the War Conference
San Francisco, CA
Mission High School
April 22
contact: tigger482@gmail.com
http://campusantiwar.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=34
http://www.campusantiwar.net/
Recently the US government has stepped up its bombing campaign
in Samara to the highest level of intensity since the onset of the war.
Even though public support has turned against the war and active
resistance has begun in many sectors of the country and in the
military, the movement is not at the necessary organizational
levels to attain a complete withdrawal of American forces from
the Middle East. Meanwhile, large demonstrations are being
planned in cities across the country in April. This comes at
a time when many politicians, Democrat and Republican, are
supporting policies of “re-deployment” or outright military
action against Iran.
Students are becoming organized and have been making great
strides in fighting recruitment, fostering debate, and
demonstrating for civil liberties. At this crucial time in the
antiwar movement it is essential that a unified student front
emerge to fight campus repression and to end the war.
Real strategies for active resistance need to be developed
to motivate the overwhelming public support into viable
solutions.
Campus Antiwar Network is establishing regional conferences
to develop the true student power needed to breakdown the
military machine that has relentlessly torn several countries
asunder. Workshops will look at concrete steps to end the war.
Anyone is welcome to attend and campuses are encouraged
to send as many people as they can. With the spirit of grassroots
democratic action, we can truly set in motion the catalyst to change.
MIDWEST
Chicago, IL
University of Illinois Chicago
April 22
contact: schwartz2020@gmail.com
mailto:schwartz2020@gmail.com
NORTHEAST
New York City, NY
April 29 & 30
(to coincide with the April 29 protest in New
York City to bring all the troops home now)
contact: monkeywithsoda@hotmail.com
SOUTH
location and date to be announced
contact: originalman777@aol.com
For more information, contact the people above or visit:
http://www.campusantiwar.net/
###
Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org
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People United for General Amnesty
May 1, 2006, 5:00 p.m.
Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco
(For more information: 415-431-9925)
We make a call to all people to come and celebrate International
Workers Day by surrounding the Federal Building with our flags
and picket signs showing that we have built the richness and
strength of the United States of North America from our countries
up to now and that we are part of the work force in this country.
That is why we raise our national flags high, not as an insult to the
United States of North America, but to recognize that even though
we come from other countries we have enriched this soil and that
gives us the moral right to demand general amnesty for all.
COME AND UNITE IN THE STRUGGLE!
Barrio Unido por una Amnistia General
1 de Mayo 2006, 5:00 p.m.
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco
Mas informacion: 415-431-9925
Hacemos un llamado a toda la poblacion a celebrar el Dia de los
Trabajadores rodeando el Edificio Federal con nuestras banderas
y pancartas demostrando que desde nuestros paises hasta cuando
trabajamos aqui en este pais hemos contribuido a la riqueza y
poderio de los Estados Unidos de Norte America. Por eso levantamos
nuestras banderas nacionales, no como insulto a los Estados Unidos,
sino como reconocimiento que viniendo de otros paises hemos
enriquecido su suelo y con ese derecho moral demandamos una
amnistia general para todos.
Ven Y unete a la lucha
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END THE WAR IN IRAQ! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
End the War at Home! Money for Human Needs, Jobs, Education,
Healthcare, and Hurricane Disaster Relief, Not War! No U.S. Wars and
Occupations from Palestine to Haiti, from Afghanistan to Cuba,
from Iran to Venezuela!
The STOP THE WAR NOW! COALITION Invites all those who agree
with the above perspective to join us at the:
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EDUCATION AND ORGANIZING
CONFERENCE TO STOP THE WAR IN IRAQ
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 9:00 A.M. TO 9:00 P.M.
(Including evening entertainment and rally)
LANEY COLLEGE
OAKLAND, CA
10TH AND FALLON STS. (LAKE MERRIT BART)
WE ARE THE MAJORITY!
In the U.S. today there is a major gap between the rapidly growing
antiwar consciousness of the U.S. population and the dramatic
decline of support for the U.S. war in Iraq, on the one hand, and
the organizational framework to mobilize ever-widening and broad
sectors of society against this war. This is particularly glaring on the
West Coast.
The growing opposition to the war is evidenced by the massive response
to the courageous actions of Cindy Sheehan, the growth of groups like
Gold Star Mothers for Peace and Military Families Speak Out, Iraq veterans'
organizations, the formation of U.S. Labor Against the War, the massive
demonstration of 300,000 in Washington D.C. on September 24, the
open debate in Congress, the increasing number of soldiers who lose
their lives for corporate profit and empire, the exposure of the lies
that were employed to justify the war and the subordination of many
social programs (like the immediate and critical relief necessitated
by Hurricane Katrina) to ever increasing military spending. All of the
above takes place against the backdrop of increasing attacks on basic
civil liberties and civil rights, union busting and broadside attacks
on social gains that were won decades ago, including pensions and
healthcare.
The above fives us great confidence that a far wider social and
political spectrum of society are opposed to the Iraq War and can
be engaged in ongoing educational activities as well as massive
mobilizations against it. What is needed most of all is a broad,
independent united-front perspective and an open and democratic
organizational form that is capable of filling the present void.
For list of endorsers, and information on registration fees, agenda,
workshops, etc. visit:
www.stopthewarnowcoalition.org
415-647-8796, 650-326-8837 or 510-451-1422
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Major Mobilization Set for April 29th
Dear Friends,
We are pleased to announce the kick-off for the organizing
of what promises to be a major national mobilization on
Saturday, April 29th. Today, each of the initiating groups
(see list below) is announcing this mobilization. Our
organizations have agreed to work together on this
project for several reasons:
The April 29th mobilization will highlight our call for an
immediate end to the war on Iraq. We are also raising
several other critical issues that are directly connected
to one another.
It is time for our constituencies to work more closely:
connecting the issues we work on by bringing diverse
communities into a common project.
It is important for our movements to help set the agenda
for the Congressional elections later in the year. Our
unified action in the streets is a vital part of that process.
Please share the April 29th call widely, and please use
the links at the end of the call to endorse this timely
mobilization and to sign up for email updates.
April 29th Initiating Organizations
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition
A war based on lies
Spying, corruption and attacks on civil liberties
Katrina survivors abandoned by government
MARCH FOR PEACE,
JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY
End the war in Iraq -
Bring all our troops home now!
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2006
NEW YORK CITY
Unite for change - let's turn our country around!
The times are urgent and we must act.
Too much is too wrong in this country. We have a foreign
policy that is foreign to our core values, and domestic
policies wreaking havoc at home. It's time for a change.
No more never-ending oil wars!
Protect our civil liberties & immigrant rights. End illegal
spying, government corruption and the subversion of
our democracy.
Rebuild our communities, starting with the Gulf Coast.
Stop corporate subsidies and tax cuts for the wealthy
while ignoring our basic needs.
Act quickly to address the climate crisis and the
accelerating destruction of our environment.
Our message to the White House and to Congress
is clear: either stand with us or stand aside!
We are coming together to march, to vote, to speak
out and to turn our country around!
Join us in New York City on Saturday, April 29th
Click here to endorse this mobilization:
http://unitedforpeace.org/modinput4.php?modin=119
Click here to sign up for email updates on plans for April 29th:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email
April 29th Initiating Organizations
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition
......................................................................
ANSWER Coalition: All Out for April 29 in New York City!
End Occupation from Iraq to Palestine, to Haiti, and Everywhere!
Fight for workers rights, civil rights and civil liberties - unite
against racism!
300,000 Came to Washington on Sept. 24
In recent weeks the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has been in the final
stages for planning a national demonstration in Washington DC on April
29, 2006. This action was to follow the local and regional
demonstrations for March 18-19 and youth and student actions scheduled
on March 20 on the 3rd anniversary of the criminal bombing, invasion
and occupation of Iraq.
On September 24, 2005 more than 300,000 people surrounded the White
House in the largest mobilization against the Iraq war and occupation
since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This demonstration was
initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in May 2005 and we urged a
united front with other major anti-war coalitions and communities. We
marched demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq. We
also stood in solidarity with the Palestinian and Haitian people and
others who are suffering under and resisting occupation. Coming as it
did following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we changed the demands of
the September 24 protest to include the slogan "From Iraq to New
Orleans, FundPeople's Needs not the War Machine."
During the past several years, and as demonstrated in a powerful
display on September 24, the anti-war movement has grown significantly
in its breadth and depth as the leadership has included the Arab and
Muslim community -- those who are among the primary targets of the
Bush Administration's current war at home and abroad.
The anti-war sentiment inside the United States is rapidly becoming a
significant obstacle to the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. The
anti-war movement has the potential to be a critical deterrent to the
U.S. government's aspirations for Empire. At this moment the White
House and Pentagon are issuing threats and making plans to move
against other sovereign countries. Iran and Syria are being targeted
as the U.S. seeks to consolidate power in the Middle East.
Simultaneously the Bush administration is working to undermine the
gains of the people of Latin America by working totopple the
democratically elected president of Venezuela and destroy the
revolutionary process for social change going on in that country.
Likewise it is intensifying the economic war and CIA subversions
against Cuba.
We believe that our movement must weld together the broadest, most
diverse coalition of various sectors and communities into an effective
force for change. This requires the inclusion of targeted communities
and political clarity. The war in Iraq is not simply an aberrational
policy of the Bush neo-conservatives. Iraq is emblematic of a larger
war for Empire. It is part of a multi-pronged attack against all those
countries that refuse to follow the economic, political and military
dictates of the Washington establishment and Wall Street.
This is the foundation of the political program upon which the
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has organized mass demonstrations in the recent
years. The fact that many hundreds of thousands of people
havedemonstrated in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, New
York and other cities is a testament to the huge progress that has
been made in building a new movement on this principled basis.
The people of the United States have nothing to gain and everything to
lose from the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti and
the threats of new wars and intervention in Syria, Iran, Venezuela,
Cuba, the Philippines, North Korea and elsewhere. It has been made
crystal clear in recent weeks that Washington is aggressively
prosecuting its strategy of total domination of the Middle East. U.S.
leaders are seeking to crush all resistance to their colonial agenda,
whether from states or popular movements in the region. The
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition andthe anti-war movement is raising the demand,
"U.S. Out of the Middle East."
At its core, the war for Empire is supported by the Republican Party
and Democratic Party alike, which constitute the twin parties of
militarism and war, and this quest for global domination will continue
regardless of the outcome of the 2006 election. In fact, leading
Democrats are attacking Bush for being "soft" on Iran and North Korea.
Real hope for turning the tide rests with building a powerful global
movement of resistance in which the people of the United States stand
with their sisters and brothers struggling against imperialism and the
new colonialism.
On the home front the Bush administration is involved in a
far-reaching assault against working class communities as most
glaringly evidenced by its criminal and racist negligence towards the
people of New Orleans and throughout the hurricane ravaged Gulf
States. While turning their backs on these communities in the moments
ofgreatest need, the U.S. government is now working with the banks and
developers who, like vultures, are exploiting mass suffering and
dislocation to carry out racist gentrification that only benefits the
wealthy. The administration is also working to eviscerate hard-fought
civil rights and civil liberties, engaging in a widespread campaign of
domestic spying and wiretapping against the people of the U.S. and
other assaults against the First and Fourth Amendments.
In early December 2005, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition filed for permits
for a national march in Washington DC on April 29, 2006. We were
preparing to announce the April 29 action but in recent days we have
heard from A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers in a number of unions that U.S.
Labor Against the War was seeking union endorsements for a call for an
anti-war demonstration on the same day in New York City. Having two
demonstrations on April 29 in both Washington D.C. and New York City
seems to us to be lessadvantageous than having the movement unite
behind one single mobilization. As such, we decided to hold back our
announcement. Subsequently, the New York City demonstration has been
announced by a number of organizations. Underscoring the need to have
the largest possible demonstration on April 29, the A.N.S.W.E.R.
Coalition has decided to fully mobilize, in all of its chapters and
organizing centers, to bring people to the New York City demonstration
on April 29. The banners and slogans of different coalitions may not
be the same, but it is in the interest of everyone to march
shoulder-to-shoulder against the criminal war in Iraq and the Bush
administration's War for Empire, including its racist, sexist and
anti-worker domestic program.
All out for a united, mass mobilization on April 29 in New York City!
Click here to become a transportation center in your city or town for
the April 29 demonstration.
Click here to receive updates on A.N.S.W.E.R.'s mobilization for the
April 29 NYC demonstration.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Click here to unsubscribe from the ANSWER e-mail list.
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Code Pink Mother's Day Vigil May 13-14, in Washington DC
Mother's Day is often seen as if through a soft-focus lens --
a sentimental day of cards and flowers and frills. It has a
surprisingly radical history, however. Just as International
Women’s Day, March 8, started as a day for women to rise
up for peace and justice, so did Mother’s Day in the US begin
with Julia Ward Howe’s inspirational 1870 Proclamation against
the carnage of the Civil War:
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!…
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity,
mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes
up with our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
Julia goes on to exhort women to leave their homes and
gather for an “earnest day of counsel” to figure out how
“the great human family can live in peace.” It’s time to
take Julia’s words to heart and bring them to fruition
in the world. Bouquets of spring flowers may be lovely,
but lasting peace is the greatest way to honor all mothers
-- past, present and future. Read the rest of Julia's
Proclamation here.
Join us this Mother's Day weekend, May 13-14, in
Washington DC as we gather for a 24-hour vigil outside
the White House. Bring your mother, your children, your
grandmother, your friends, your loved ones. Come for
the whole vigil (4pm Saturday to 4pm Sunday) or for
a few hours! We’ll sing, dance, drum, bond, laugh,
cry and hug. We’ll write letters to Laura Bush to appeal
to her own mother-heart, and read them aloud. We’ll
discuss new ideas for ending the war and building peace.
In the final two hours, from 2-4pm on Sunday, we’ll be
joined by some amazing celebrity actresses, singers,
writers--and moms. For more information & a schedule
of events to help you plan your trip, check out the
Mothers' Day page on the CODEPINK website. If you
can’t join us, you can create or join a Mother's Day
activity in your own community. For ideas to help
you plan an action check out the resources section
of the Mother's Day page.
And whether you’re in the US or overseas, please
consider writing a letter to Laura Bush to ask her how
she, as a mother, can continue to support a war that
is leaving scores of American and Iraqi mothers bereft.
Send your letters to laurabush@codepinkalert.org,
we’ll deliver them en masse; we'll also take the most
compelling letters and turn them into a book, “Letters to Laura.”
Let’s make this Mother’s Day, May 14, one where we
heed Julia Ward Howe’s original call to action. Let’s
come together to build the world we want for our
children -- and our mothers.
Alison, Dana, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Rae and Tiffany
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PUSH FOR PEACE
MEMORIAL DAY KICKOFF
MONDAY, MAY 29, 2006
GOLDEN GATE PARK, S.F.
(Exact location to be announced.)
Welcome to the Official Push for Peace Site!
http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q
The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts of
able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges,
so that all people can participate and be counted.
The Push for Peace logo shows a Navy veteran in a wheelchair
with a peace sign on the wheel, with people marching behind
him. It can be seen at:
http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q=node/71
Just in case we don't get to modify the map before the weekend,
I'll just name our proposed stops. We start, of course with Golden
Gate Park, from there we head south to Los Angeles. Turning
east we move to Phoenix, then on to Albuquerque. Now it's
north to Denver, and east to St Louis. North again to Chicago,
and east to Detroit. Continue east to Cleveland, and then NYC
if all goes well Central Park (Imagine), culminating at the gates
of the White House on July 4, 2006
Push For Peace is a collective of veterans, progressive activists,
and everyday citizens working together through education,
motivation, and truth to bring America's troops home from the
war in Iraq and to help bring healing and peace to our nation.
The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts
of able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges,
so that all people can participate and be counted. The Push
For Peace effort will include organized rallies and marches,
as well as appearances and performances by high-profile
speakers and entertainers, to rally the American people and
show them we stand united with our fellow citizen and soldier.
It is our goal to grow the base of participants each day resulting
in a cross-country Push culminating at the gates of the White
House on July 4, 2006. Events will be scheduled across the
country leading up to the big Push in July. So keep checking
the Push calendar for events near you. Mapping it all out...
[Website shows map of stops in US en route to DC on July 4, 2006...bw]
This is a tentative and unfinished P4P route and is only a work in progress.
The Push is set to leave Golden Gate Park on Memorial Day 2006 (currently
working on permits) and then we will Push our way across the country
to arrive in DC across from the White House gathering at Lafayette Park
(currently working on permits) on July 4th, 2006. Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco, California Las Vegas Nevada Phoenix, Arizona Denver,
Colorado Crawford, Texas New Orleans, Louisiana more states pending...
Pushing real Democracy! http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q=
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Defend Labor Programming At KFPA
Program Council/Management Bans
Labor Programming By KPFA Labor Collective
On March 8, 2006, Women's Day, the KPFA
Program Council with only two votes
opposed voted to ban any labor
programming proposals from the KPFA Labor
Collective for one year. They say they
took this action because of "
deteriorating relationships with the
station staff" and "ongoing disruption
of the unpaid staff structure" at KPFA.
This banning of programming by
the KPFA Program Council and the KPFA
Management including the new
manager Lemlem Rijio is an attack on all
working people and the labor movement.
Their justification is the same
aruguments used by employers
against unions in the workplace.
At the same time, this banning will
mean that the many hours of special
labor programming at KFPA on May
Day, Labor Day and Workers Memorial Day,
MLK Day will no longer be broadcast.
We believe that all working people and
listeners of KPFA need to speak out
against this action and support the
rescinding of it at the upcoming KFPA
Local Station Board Meeting on Saturday
April 22, 2006 which will be held in
San Jose.
The action was taken without a hearing
of the charges against the labor
collective and it was outside the
purview of the Programming Council to take
disciplinary action. Its purpose is
to consider and to act on programming
proposals and programs.
If you agree with this statement,
please sign our petition protesting the
banning of programming proposals
from the KPFA Labor Collective. Also please
send a letter to KPFA LSB at or call
Listener Comment line at 510-848-6767 ext. 622.
email programming@kpfa.org
Acting General Manager Lemlem Rijio at
copy to Pacifica Executive Director Greg Guma
contact@pacifica.org and
copies for the KPFA Labor Collective at
kpfalaborcollective@yahoo.com
In Solidarity,
For The KPFA Labor Collective
Steve Zeltzer
Chair
KPFA Labor Collective
94.1FM Free Speech Radio KPFA Local Station Board (LSB)
Saturday, April 22nd @ 12:30pm (come earlier to socialize)
UFCW Local 428 Hall
230 South Market Street @ San Carlos (Downtown San Jose)
next to Fairmont Hotel
Free Parking at 2nd and San Carlos Garage (2 blocks away)
...........................................................
Hello.
Are you an immigrant?
Do you have a history of immigration?
Do you support immigration issues?
Are you against the hr4437 bill?
Speak out
VISIT www.studentsresponseshr4437.com
A new website where students (and non-students)
can speak out on the hr4437 bill.
Please foward.
Thanks,
Cecilia
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
webpage: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org
e-mail: info@ImmigrantSolidarity.org
New York: (212)330-8172
Los Angeles: (213)403-0131
Washington D.C.: (202)544-9355
Please consider making a donation to the important
work of National Immigrant Solidarity Network
Send check pay to:
ActionLA/SEE
1013 Mission St. #6
South Pasadena CA 91030
(All donations are tax deductible)
*to join the immigrant Solidarity Network daily
news litserv, send e-mail to:
isn-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
or visit: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/isn
*a monthly ISN monthly Action Alert! listserv, go to webpage
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/isn-digest
Please join our following listservs:
Asian American Labor Activism Alert! Listserv, send-e-mail to:
api-la-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
or visit: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/api-la
NYC Immigrant Alert!: New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania
areas immigrant workers information and alerts, send e-mail to:
nyc-immigrantalert-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
or visit: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/nyc-immigrantalert
US-Mexico Border Information: No Militarization of Borders!
Support Immigrant Rights! send e-mail to:
Border01-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
or visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Border01/
...........................................................
Protests Planned Against Media War Coverage
By Danny Schechter
Source: MediaChannel.org
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3378
...........................................................
TELL BUSH AND CONGRESS: STOP THE WAR
ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS!
Please join the online campaign to
STOP THE WAR ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS!
YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW!
Send emails to President Bush, Vice President
Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, U.N. Secretary-
General Annan, Congressional leaders and
the media demanding NO WAR ON IRAN!
http://stopwaroniran.org/
...........................................................
WHY WE FIGHT
A film by Eugene Jarecki
[Check out the trailer about this new film.
This looks like a very powerful film.]
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/
...........................................................
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/decind.html
http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html
http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805195.php
Bill of Rights
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805182.php
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
ARTICLES IN FULL:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
1) 'Marlboro Man' Marine Describes Struggle With PTSD
Marine Suffering From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Tells His Story
By JAKE TAPPER, ROXANNA SHERWOOD and KARIN WEINBERG
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1838802&page=1&WNT=true
2) Path to Deportation Can Start With a Traffic Stop
By PAUL VITELLO
"What we see in the increasing collaboration between local
authorities and I.C.E. is situations where a person would normally
be released in his own recognizance, and instead is held on high
bail," she said of the agreements with the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency.
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/nyregion/14jails.html?hp&ex=1145073600&en=16ab5da5a53003f4&ei=5094&partner=homepage
3) Weapons of Math Destruction
By PAUL KRUGMAN
April 14, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/opinion/14krugman.html?hp
4) Students to Get No Warning Before Searches
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Education officials said the new searches would be used to confiscate
not only weapons but also an array of "dangerous instruments,"
as well as cellphones and any other items prohibited by the system's
disciplinary code.
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/education/14educ.html
5) Baghdad Morgue Overflowing Daily
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
Visit the Dahr Jamail Iraq website http://dahrjamailiraq.com
6) The $104 Billion Refund
The most absurd corporate tax giveaway of 2005.
By Michelle Leder
Posted Thursday, April 13, 2006, at 12:33 PM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2139782/
7) Lessons from Connecticut
Time to Shake Up the Peace Movement
By STAN HELLER
http://counterpunch.org/heller04132006.html
8) With Tax Break Expired,
Middle Class Faces a Greater Burden for 2006
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
This year 18.9 million taxpayers are facing the alternative levy,
with 11.8 million representing families with children. Without
Congressional action, those affected will pay $26.6 billion more
in federal income taxes for this year. Almost the same amount,
$24.1 billion, will be saved by all investors, the Tax Policy Center
estimated. Actual savings for investors are likely to be higher
if recent stock market growth continues.
The investment tax savings in 2006 will be heavily concentrated
on about 234,000 households, generally headed by someone
50 or older, with an average income of $2.6 million, more
than most Americans earn in a lifetime. By comparison, most
of the increase in the alternative tax is being paid by about
12 million families with children.
April 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/us/16tax.html
9) STUDENTS AT SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY DETAINED
BY POLICE FOR CHANTING "MILITARY RECRUITERS GO HOME!"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Karen Knoller, (818) 554-5382, kknoller@sfsu.edu
Press Conference: Monday, April 17, 2006, 11:00 AM
SFSU, 19th Ave & Holloway Ave, San Francisco
10) OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT ROBERT CORRIGAN, SFSU,
BY BONNIE WEINSTEIN
Reinstate these students immediately with no repercussions and join
the fight against the atrocities our government is carrying out
against the whole world!
April 16, 2006
www.bauaw.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
1) 'Marlboro Man' Marine Describes Struggle With PTSD
Marine Suffering From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Tells His Story
By JAKE TAPPER, ROXANNA SHERWOOD and KARIN WEINBERG
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1838802&page=1&WNT=true
LONG FORK, Ky., April 13, 2006 — - You may know him from the
iconic photograph, showing the exasperation and grit of a U.S. Marine.
He is Lance Corp. James Blake Miller from Jonancy, Ky., holler --
a small valley between mountains -- in the eastern part of the
state named after his great-great-great-grandparents, Joe and Nancy.
To many Americans, this picture of a young American fighter
has become a symbol of what is right with the nation. That may
be true, but the deep, psychological wounds Miller has sustained
in Iraq make him a symbol of something else, too.
Miller suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition
he says the American people do not truly understand.
"I tried to explain to people that I was suffering from PTSD
[post-traumatic stress disorder], and they were thinking that
this guy is a head case," he said. "That's the reason that
I am doing this."
"I want people to understand what PTSD is and what it can do
to you -- what it can do to your life. There's no real way to actually
correct it, but I mean with the support of friends and family, and
actual psychiatrists and things like that, it's something that can
be dealt with," he said.
Miller's story is not unique. A recent study published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that more
than one in three troops back from Afghanistan or Iraq sought
professional help for mental health problems within a year
of returning, with one in five reporting PTSD or mental trauma.
Miller joined the Marines as a high school senior in November
2002, driving almost an hour to the Pike County seat to enlist.
He was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, a Korean
War veteran, he said.
"I can remember my grandmother talking about him and stuff
like that, and just talk about the type of person you know
it changed him into," he said. It made him a man, she
would tell him.
6½ Packs a Day
After basic training in Paris Island, S.C., Miller went to Iraq
in June 2004. His cigarette habit, which began when he was
12, went from a 1½ packs a day to 6½ packs a day.
He was a radioman with the First Battalion, Eighth Marines,
Charlie Company, when he and his unit were caught in
a nightmarish firefight in Fallujah in early November 2004.
They started taking fire from every direction, he recalled.
From a rooftop, Miller called in two tanks, which fired
at an enemy location.
"It was actually right inside the building where we were at,
and it was nuts," he said. "It was like you could feel your heart,
like it just felt like it was coming out of your chest. It was
insane."
After the battle, an embedded photographer -- Luis Sinco
from The Los Angeles Times -- captured Miller grabbing
his first moment of peace.
"I was watching the sunrise, and I was just. … I was so
amazed," he said. "I was just like, here I am 20 years old.
I got my whole life ahead of me. You know, I hadn't really
done anything. In the 20 years I had been here, what had
I actually done?'"
"And, you know, thinking this is so beautiful just to watch
the sunrise and wondered if I was ever going to get the
opportunity to see that again."
Miller said he didn't like looking at the photo, however.
"I don't care much for it," he said. "I mean, if it made one
person here in the states stop and think for one second at
how grateful they should be, you know, just for what they
do have and the freedoms that they do have, then it was
worth it."
Within a day, the photograph appeared in at least 100
newspapers around the world. Many called him the "Marlboro
Man," because of the cigarette he's seen smoking.
To his surprise, he learned his superiors considered pulling
him out of combat and sending him back to the states because
of the publicity he'd received, but Miller resisted the idea.
"I was like no way," he said. "I mean I came in here with the
guys that I am with, and some of them aren't even able to
get back out of here."
Miller came to hate the photograph also because he is
smoking in it. Today, he's down to 1½ packs a day.
The Philip Morris Co. wanted to pay Miller to use his image on
a commemorative cigarette case with a desert camouflage design,
he says, but he declined, saying it wouldn't be fair to his fellow
Marines -- especially those left behind after being killed in Fallujah.
For Miller, Marlboro conjures vivid and warm memories of watching
the movie "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man," starring Mickey
Rourke and Don Johnson, with his father, who raised he and his two
brothers as a single parent. Because of his nicotine habit, Miller was
called "Smokey" as a kid. He even has a tattoo of a Marlboro Red
cigarette on his left forearm, but he's now trying to quit altogether.
Stateside, but Struggling With Aftereffects of War
After almost eight months, Miller's tour in Iraq ended. His unit was
sent to the Gulf Coast to help with safety and security during the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He says it was another wrenching
assignment -- one that reminded him all too much of Fallujah.
Miller had already begun to show serious signs of strain -- extreme
irritability and nervousness.
Even though he was back home, he suffered though sleepless nights,
exhaustion, blackouts, nightmares, and uncontrollable body movements.
"In my sleep, I'd pull my trigger finger," Miller said.
Visiting his girlfriend -- now his wife -- Jessica at her dorm at
Pikeville College, he imagined that he saw a dead Iraqi civilian.
The breaking point came when Miller and his unit were put on
the USS Iowa Jima with Hurricane Rita about to hit land.
Someone onboard, a Navy man, made a whistling noise, like
the sound of a mortar.
"I think they were trying to aggravate the Marines onboard, and
when the guy had made the sound, I don't remember anything
other than hearing it at the beginning. And after that what
I suppose happened was that I had grabbed him, put him against
the wall, slammed him to the floor, and I was on top of him and
I had no recollection of doing it."
Bringing Attention to a Misunderstood Affliction
Doctors examined him and quickly diagnosed him as suffering
from PTSD. Last November, exactly one year after his iconic
photograph was first published, Miller received an honorable
but early discharge, because of his disorder.
Today, he drives a couple hours to the Veterans Hospital to talk
to a psychiatrist several times a month.
Miller said he found people did not want to hear about PTSD.
"People don't understand that you can get PTSD from anything.
It's a near-death experience and being able to escape that and
just to be able to relive that," he said.
He still worries his PTSD may one day trigger another
violent outburst.
"If I was to act out, I don't know what I'd do. I was really scared
at first when I found out that this was actually what it was, that
what if I had done something to my wife or to someone I cared
about or loved?"
"And that tore me all to pieces. I had no idea how to deal with it."
Nevertheless, Miller is trying to move on with his life -- and
to quit smoking for good.
He's trying to deal with it now, but he's become an icon for
an altogether different kind of struggle.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
2) Path to Deportation Can Start With a Traffic Stop
By PAUL VITELLO
"What we see in the increasing collaboration between local
authorities and I.C.E. is situations where a person would normally
be released in his own recognizance, and instead is held on high
bail," she said of the agreements with the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency.
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/nyregion/14jails.html?hp&ex=1145073600&en=16ab5da5a53003f4&ei=5094&partner=homepage
While lawmakers in Washington debate whether to forgive illegal
immigrants their trespasses, a small but increasing number of local
and state law enforcement officials are taking it upon themselves
to pursue deportation cases against people who are here illegally.
In more than a dozen jurisdictions, officials have invoked a little
-used 1996 federal law to seek special federal training in
immigration enforcement for their officers.
In other places, the local authorities are flagging some illegal
immigrants who are caught up in the criminal justice system,
sometimes for minor offenses, and are alerting immigration
officials to their illegal status so that they can be deported.
In Costa Mesa, Calif., for example, in Orange County, the
City Council last year shut down a day laborer job center
that had operated for 17 years, and this year authorized
its Police Department to begin training officers to pursue
illegal immigrants — a job previously left to federal agents.
In Suffolk County, on Long Island, where a similar police
training proposal was met with angry protests in 2004,
county officials have quietly put a system in place that uses
sheriff's deputies to flag illegal immigrants in the county
jail population.
In Putnam County, N.Y., about 50 miles north of Manhattan,
eight illegal immigrants who were playing soccer in a school
ball field were arrested on Jan. 9 for trespassing and held
for the immigration authorities.
As an example of the uneven results that sometimes occur
in such cross-hatches of local and federal law enforcement,
the seven immigrants who were able to make bail before those
agents arrived went free. The one who could not make bail
in time, a 33-year-old roofer and father of five, has been
in federal detention in Pennsylvania ever since.
"I took an oath to protect the people of this county, and that
means enforcing the laws of the land," said Donald B. Smith,
the Putnam County sheriff. "We have a situation in our country
where our borders are not being adequately protected, and
that leaves law enforcement people like us in a very difficult
situation."
Other local law enforcement officials expressed similar
frustration at the apparent inability of the federal government
to stem the rise in illegal immigration. It is a frustration they
say has been growing in the last few years, and is now
reaching a point of crisis.
During that time, a number of coinciding trends may have
added to the sense that there has been a breach in the covenant
between the local and federal authorities, according to
interviews with immigration officials, police and advocates.
These trends include a housing boom that attracted growing
numbers of illegal workers, especially to distant suburbs and
exurbs, where federal resources are especially thin; an apparent
stagnation in the size of the federal immigration police force,
which has remained at about 2,000 for several years; and
increasing local opposition to illegal immigration, again,
especially in the suburbs.
George A. Terezakis, a Long Island immigration lawyer, said
that in his practice, he had seen a trend. "The heat is definitely
getting turned up. Not just on criminals, but against people
I would consider charged with relatively minor offenses: Having
an invalid driver's license, a fake Social Security card. A person
with a job and a family can end up sitting in jail for months,
and then being deported."
Federal statistics do not measure the number of immigration
arrests and deportations that occur because of local intervention.
Officials with the United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency said the roughly 160,000 illegal immigrants
deported last year represented a 10 percent increase over the
year before — and a national record — but they could not say
how many had been referred by the local authorities.
Until fairly recently, it was viewed as inappropriate, even
unconstitutional, for the local or state authorities to be
involved in the enforcement of federal law. In Los Angeles,
the police still operate under an internal rule that says
"undocumented alien status is not a matter for police
enforcement." Similar policies apply in San Francisco
and New York City.
But that may be changing, partly because the local authorities
have decided to play a more active role and partly because
of an unabashed call from the federal government seeking
help from states and localities.
"The untold story of immigration law is that there are just
not enough federal immigration officers to enforce the
immigration laws we have," said Kris W. Kobach, a law
professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City who
as a counsel in the Justice Department worked on several
cooperative agreements with state and local law enforcement
agencies.
"The only way our programs can work is with help from local
law enforcement, and we're expecting to see that happening
more and more," he said.
To make that happen, law enforcement officials have increasingly
been looking to a federal statute, the 1996 Immigration and
Nationality Act. It allows the local and state authorities to reach
agreements with the federal immigration and customs agency
to train their officers — in a four-week crash course — to be
virtual immigration agents, able to conduct citizenship
investigations and begin deportation proceedings against
illegal immigrants.
The law went nearly untried in its first five years on the books.
Then Florida had 60 state agents and highway officers trained
in 2002, and Alabama did the same for about 40 state troopers
in 2003. In the next two years, the Arizona corrections
department and the Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties
in California each had a few dozen officers trained.
Indicating a new sense of urgency, though, 11 additional state
and county jurisdictions have applied to enter the program in
the past year alone, according to a spokesman for Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, Michael W. Gilhooly. He would not
specify which they were, but public officials in Missouri, Tennessee,
Arizona and about a dozen additional counties in California, Texas
and North Carolina have publicly expressed interest in the program.
Local officials involved in these initiatives say they are mainly
targeting hardened criminals in the immigrant population —
people like gang members and sexual predators who have been
the recent target of sweeps by federal immigration agents.
But many of those affected by the new home-grown vigilance
are immigrants arrested for minor traffic violations, or charged
with unlicensed driving, possession of forged green cards and
other offenses that are virtually synonymous with the undocumented
life, say immigrant advocates and lawyers.
In Springfield, Mo., for example, a furor erupted recently when
a star player on the high school soccer team, Tobias Zuniga, was
arrested and jailed after a routine traffic stop because he admitted
to the officer that he was an illegal immigrant. Officers at the Christian
County Jail notified immigration agents, and Mr. Zuniga, an 18-year-
old senior, was held for a weekend before being released on bail.
"He was stopped for having excessively tinted windows," Tom Parker,
the father of a friend and classmate of Mr. Zuniga, said in a telephone
interview. "And he spent three nights in jail with drug dealers."
Mr. Zuniga faces deportation hearings this month.
Federal immigration officials, however, maintain that the vast
majority of illegal immigrants detained and deported are people
convicted or charged with serious crimes. There are simply not
enough immigration agents to respond every time a suspected
illegal immigrant is arrested for driving with an invalid license,
said Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency.
Daniel W. Beck, the sheriff of Allen County, Ohio, 100 miles
northwest of Columbus, said calling immigration agents
is no guarantee of action.
"When people drive without licenses, when they are in this country
illegally, it's really a right and wrong issue. I will arrest them,"
Mr. Beck said. "Unfortunately, by the time a federal agent gets
here, they are sometimes already bailed out of jail."
But Marianne Yang, director of the Immigrant Defense Project
of the New York State Defenders Association, a lawyers' group,
said a recurring problem for immigrants, legal and illegal, is the
high bail set for them if they are arrested, no matter how minor
the crime.
"What we see in the increasing collaboration between local
authorities and I.C.E. is situations where a person would normally
be released in his own recognizance, and instead is held on high
bail," she said of the agreements with the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency.
The arrests of the men playing soccer in Putnam County in January
might illustrate that phenomenon. Sheriff's deputies went there
in response to a complaint about safety by the administrator of
the elementary school, which was in session as the men played.
Mr. Smith, the Putnam sheriff, said deputies arrested the men
that day only after they refused the school administrator's request
for them to leave. They were charged with criminal trespass,
a class B misdemeanor, and a Brewster village judge set bail at
$1,000 for seven of the eight. Bail for the eighth man, Juan Jimeniz,
a roofer, was set at $3,000 because he was not able to provide
his home address.
Mr. Smith said federal immigration agents were called to the jail
because deputies suspected the men were illegal immigrants and
"because we are trying to uphold the law for the citizens of this county."
When they arrived, seven of the men had made bail and Mr. Jimeniz,
who was not able to pay his bail, was taken by the immigration a
gents to a federal detention wing of the Pike County Jail in Hawley, Pa.,
where he has remained since, fighting deportation.
"He has no criminal record," said Vanessa Merton, director of the
Immigration Justice Clinic of the Pace University Law School, which
represents Mr. Jimeniz. "He is a roofer. He is supporting five children."
"There is no way you could describe his detention as anything but
haphazard, random and completely arbitrary," she said.
Mr. Kobach, the former Justice Department official, said "unevenness
has been endemic to the nature of immigration enforcement in
recent years."
But efforts by local and state authorities to pursue illegal immigrants,
he said, are at least in part, "an effort to deal with that unevenness."
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
3) Weapons of Math Destruction
By PAUL KRUGMAN
April 14, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/opinion/14krugman.html?hp
Now it can be told: President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney
based their re-election campaign on lies, damned lies and statistics.
The lies included Mr. Cheney's assertion, more than three months
after intelligence analysts determined that the famous Iraqi trailers
weren't bioweapons labs, that we were in possession of two "mobile
biological facilities that can be used to produce anthrax or smallpox."
The damned lies included Mr. Bush's declaration, in his "Mission
Accomplished" speech, that "we have removed an ally of Al Qaeda."
The statistics included Mr. Bush's claim, during his debates with
John Kerry, that "most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-
income Americans."
Compared with the deceptions that led us to war, deceptions
about taxes can seem like a minor issue. But it's all of a piece.
In fact, my early sense that we were being misled into war came
mainly from the resemblance between the administration's sales
pitch for the Iraq war — with its evasions, innuendo and constantly
changing rationale — and the selling of the Bush tax cuts.
Moreover, the hysterical attacks the administration and its
defenders launch against anyone who tries to do the math on
tax cuts suggest that this is a very sensitive topic. For example,
Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa once compared people who say
that 40 percent of the Bush tax cuts will go to the richest 1 percent
of the population to, yes, Adolf Hitler.
And just as administration officials continued to insist that the
trailers were weapons labs long after their own intelligence analysts
had concluded otherwise, officials continue to claim that most of
the tax cuts went to the middle class even though their own tax
analysts know better.
How do I know what the administration's tax analysts know?
The facts are there, if you know how to look for them, hidden
in one of the administration's propaganda releases.
The Treasury Department has put out an exercise in spin called
the "Tax Relief Kit," which tries to create the impression that
most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income families.
Conspicuously missing from the document are any actual
numbers about how the tax cuts were distributed among
different income classes. Yet Treasury analysts have calculated
those numbers, and there's enough information in the "kit"
to figure out what they discovered.
An explanation of how to extract the administration's estimates
of the distribution of tax cuts from the "Tax Relief Kit" is here.
Here's the bottom line: about 32 percent of the tax cuts went
to the richest 1 percent of Americans, people whose income
this year will be at least $341,773. About 53 percent of the tax
cuts went to the top 10 percent of the population. Remember,
these are the administration's own numbers — numbers that
it refuses to release to the public.
I'm sure that this column will provoke a furious counterattack
from the administration, an all-out attempt to discredit my math.
Yet if I'm wrong, there's an easy way to prove it: just release the
raw data used to construct the table titled "Projected Share of
Individual Income Taxes and Income in 2006." Memo to reporters:
if the administration doesn't release those numbers, that's in effect
a confession of guilt, an implicit admission that the data contradict
the administration's spin.
And what about the people Senator Grassley compared to Hitler,
those who say that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans will receive
40 percent of the tax cuts? Although the "Tax Relief Kit" asserts that
"nearly all of the tax cut provisions" are already in effect, that's not true:
one crucial piece of the Bush tax cuts, elimination of the estate tax,
hasn't taken effect yet. Since only estates bigger than $2 million, or
$4 million for a married couple, face taxation, the great bulk of the
gains from estate tax repeal will go to the wealthiest 1 percent.
This will raise their share of the overall tax cuts to, you guessed it,
about 40 percent.
Again, the point isn't merely that the Bush administration has
squandered the budget surplus it inherited on tax cuts for the
wealthy. It's the fact that the administration has spent its entire
term in office lying about the nature of those tax cuts. And all the
world now knows what I suspected from the start: an administration
that lies about taxes will also lie about other, graver matters.
Thomas L. Friedman is on vacation.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
4) Students to Get No Warning Before Searches
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Education officials said the new searches would be used to confiscate
not only weapons but also an array of "dangerous instruments,"
as well as cellphones and any other items prohibited by the system's
disciplinary code.
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/education/14educ.html
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday that police officers
with metal detectors would conduct unannounced sweeps of students
and their bags at middle schools and high schools throughout the city
beginning later this month.
The scanning, as students arrive for classes in the morning, may be
conducted at any of the roughly 80 percent of secondary schools that
do not have permanent metal detectors, Mr. Bloomberg said, but schools
where officials perceive there is a heightened risk will probably be
searched more frequently.
In announcing the plan, the mayor cited a recent increase in the number
of guns and other weapons confiscated in the public schools even as
major crime in schools citywide has declined this year.
Students and school officials will get no warning of the scanning, but
to comply with legal restrictions, the mayor said the city would post
notices outside schools alerting students that they can be searched
on entry.
"This will be a systemwide deterrent," Mr. Bloomberg declared at
a news conference outside Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn,
which was empty on the first day of spring break. "Our reasons for
doing this couldn't be clearer or more compelling: we have zero
tolerance for weapons of any kind in city schools."
The mayor's announcement immediately drew skeptical comment
from civil liberties lawyers and protests from students who complained
of draconian security measures enforced by overzealous officers.
For instance, they said, officers seeking to prevent graffiti had confiscated
highlighters and markers for art classes at DeWitt Clinton High School
in the Bronx earlier this year.
"We intend to ask the Department of Education a series of questions
to clarify exactly what this program entails and what measures are
in place to minimize the intrusions on student privacy," said Donna
Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
"Schools teach by example. It would indeed be unfortunate for us to
raise future generations to expect that they have no expectation
of privacy."
The mayor's announcement came a day after five students were
arrested outside the John Jay High School building in Brooklyn during
a protest over stricter metal detector scanning, which resulted this
week in long lines and the confiscation of cellphones from about 80
students. During the protest, one student was charged with assault,
the others with disorderly conduct.
Education officials said the new searches would be used to confiscate
not only weapons but also an array of "dangerous instruments,"
as well as cellphones and any other items prohibited by the system's
disciplinary code.
Yesterday's news conference focused primarily on the decrease
in major crime in schools citywide and especially on improvements
in some of the most dangerous schools, like Lincoln, which had been
the target of more aggressive policing through the Operation
Impact program.
The mayor said four of the so-called impact schools — Lincoln
and Lafayette in Brooklyn, John Bowne High School in Queens
and Middle School 22 in the Bronx — had sufficiently improved
their safety records to be removed from the list. He said two
schools experiencing violence recently — Kennedy High in the
Bronx and Newtown High in Queens — would be added to the list.
While the mayor's statistics showed progress in most of the impact
schools, two — Canarsie High in Brooklyn and Truman High in the
Bronx — had increases in crime.
But even as Mr. Bloomberg said that overall the number of criminal
incidents was down, the number of weapons confiscated had
risen 5 percent this school year. He said that already 20 guns had
been seized, compared with 15 all last year. Police Commissioner
Raymond W. Kelly said that as many as 10 schools a day could have
the surprise searches. He said that the Police Department already
owned the needed equipment, and that the school safety division
had sufficient personnel so that the city would not have to spend
extra money on the effort.
Students who have complained of draconian police measures in the
schools had even harsher words for the mayor's plan yesterday.
"It's a bad idea; just another tool that will treat us all as criminals,"
said Juan Antigua, a junior at Clinton High in the Bronx, who said he
missed a history exam earlier this year after being delayed at the
metal detectors, which were installed at the school in September.
"I forgot that certain pants I have had a metal buckle in the back,"
he said. "They searched me twice, and they couldn't find out whatever
was beeping."
Mr. Antigua, 16, who is a member of the Urban Youth Collaborative,
an umbrella group of student activists, said the scanning was of
increasing concern especially as the city focused on students
in middle schools.
Students at Clinton staged a day of protest over the detectors this
fall, and continue to demand their removal. "Putting these metal
detectors in deprives us of our self-esteem, of our confidence that
we are going to school to learn," said Jessica Sosa, 17, a senior at Clinton.
The students predicted chaos at schools subject to unannounced
scanning, because students would not arrive early. "Sometimes the
metal detectors will go down, and you'll have hundreds of students
trying to get in through one metal detector," Ms. Sosa said.
At the news conference, Mr. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I.
Klein brushed aside questions about logistics.
"You can get used to something knowing that you have to comply
and that you have to have your bag open or that you can't carry
something," the mayor said. "We are all used to that in this day
and age."
He continued: "Even if it does slow things down, you have a right
to be safe in your schools and unfortunately we know already that
some kids bring weapons to school. We are not going to tolerate it."
But the principal of Lincoln High, Ari A. Hoogenboom, said the
scanning posed logistical complications. He advised any principal
whose school faced the surprise searches to postpone any tests
scheduled for first period. "Give the exam the next day," he said.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
5) Baghdad Morgue Overflowing Daily
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
Visit the Dahr Jamail Iraq website http://dahrjamailiraq.com
*BAGHDAD, Apr 14 (IPS) - As sectarian killings continue to rise in Iraq,
the central morgue in Baghdad is unable to keep up with the daily influx
of bodies. *
The morgue is receiving a minimum of 60 bodies a day and sometimes more
than 100, a morgue employee told IPS on condition of anonymity.
"The average is probably over 85," said the employee on the morning of
April 12, as scores of family members waited outside the building to see
if their loved ones were among the dead.
The family of a man named Ashraf who had been taken away by the Iraqi
police Feb. 16 anxiously searched through digital photographs inside the
morgue. He then found what he was looking for.
"His two sons were killed when Ashraf was taken," said his uncle,
50-year-old Aziz. "Ashraf was a bricklayer who was simply trying to do
his job, and now we see what has become of him in our new democracy."
Aziz found that the body of Ashraf was brought to the morgue Feb. 18 by
the Iraqi police two days after he was abducted. The photographs of the
body showed gunshot wounds in the head and bludgeon marks across the
face. Both arms were apparently broken, and so many holes had been
drilled into his chest that it appeared shredded..
A report Oct. 29, 2004 in the British medical journal The Lancet had
said that "by conservative assumptions, we think about 100,000 excess
deaths or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq."
In an update, Les Roberts, lead author of the report said Feb. 8 this
year that there may have been 300,000 Iraqi civilian deaths since the
invasion.
Such findings seem in line with information IPS obtained at the Baghdad
morgue.
Morgue official said bodies unclaimed after 15 days are transferred to
the cemetery administration to be catalogued, and then taken for burial
at a cemetery in Najaf. As he spoke, three Iraqi police pick-up trucks
loaded with about 10 bodies each arrived at the morgue.
At the cemetery administration, an official told IPS: "From February 1
to March 31, we've logged and buried 2,576 bodies from Baghdad."
Requests by IPS to meet with administration officials at the Baghdad
morgue were turned down for "security reasons."
Several surveys have pointed to large numbers of civilian deaths as a
result of the U.S.-led occupation.
Iraqiyun, a humanitarian group affiliated with the political party of
interim president Ghazi al-Yawir reported Jul. 12 last year that there
had been 128,000 violent deaths since the invasion. The group said it
had only counted deaths confirmed by relatives, and that it had omitted
the large numbers of people who simply disappeared without trace..
Another group, the People's Kifah, involved hundreds of academics and
volunteers in a survey conducted in coordination with "grave-diggers
across Iraq." The group said it also "obtained information from
hospitals and spoke to thousands of witnesses who saw incidents in which
Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. fire."
The project was abandoned after one of the researchers was captured by
Kurdish militiamen and handed over to U.S. forces. He was never seen
again. But in less than two months' work, the group documented about
37,000 violent civilian deaths up to October 2003.
The Baghdad central morgue alone accounts for roughly 30,000 bodies
annually. That is besides the large number of bodies taken to morgues in
cities such as Basra, Mosul, Ramadi, Kirkuk, Irbil, Najaf and Karbala.
(c)2004, 2005 Dahr Jamail.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
6) The $104 Billion Refund
The most absurd corporate tax giveaway of 2005.
By Michelle Leder
Posted Thursday, April 13, 2006, at 12:33 PM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2139782/
Feeling flush because you're getting a nice tax refund this year?
You're not alone. Some of America's largest corporations—a virtual
who's who of the Fortune 100—have been reporting their own hefty
tax windfalls, thanks to an absurd provision of a law designed
to create jobs.
IBM, for example, is banking a $2.8 billion refund—well, better
to call it a "tax savings"—because instead of paying the normal
corporate tax rate of 35 percent on $9.5 billion in profits
it earned overseas, the company paid only 5.25 percent.
That's the magic of the American Jobs Creation Act, a piece
of legislation that passed with comfortable margins in both
the House and the Senate and was signed into law by President
Bush just two weeks before the 2004 elections.
The AJCA, which was pushed through during the last fit of
panic about outsourcing, was ostensibly designed to encourage
companies to add jobs here. It gave a small tax deduction to
American manufacturers, and it offered a one-time tax holiday
in 2005 when corporations could repatriate their foreign income
at a massively reduced tax rate. This repatriation, the theory went,
would encourage R & D and capital investment in the United States,
leading to new positions down the road. But, like President Bush's
creatively named Clear Skies initiative and Healthy Forest Restoration
Act, the American Jobs Creation Act has not lived up to its title.
Take IBM. According to its annual report for 2005, the company
added fewer than 400 jobs worldwide last year to its workforce
of 329,000 people. At the same time, IBM shed 5 million square
feet of space in the United States, making it highly unlikely that
any of those jobs were added in the U.S. Indeed, numerous news
reports, including this Business Week article, put IBM's head count
in India at close to 40,000 at the end of 2005, more than a fourfold
increase over the 9,000 reported at the end of 2003.
Analysts anticipate that American companies will have repatriated
around $350 billion in 2005 as a result of the law. While it's hard
to make a straight calculation because of the vagaries of the tax code,
that works out to a savings of roughly $104 billion on corporate
America's tax bill. At Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant that announced
the single largest repatriation—$37 billion—the one-time windfall
works out to approximately $11 billion. That kind of tax savings buys
a lot of $600-an-hour lobbyists, though not, apparently, many
scientists and salespeople. In its annual report, Pfizer doesn't list
employees by region. But the company's total head count dropped
to 106,000 at the end of 2005, about 8 percent fewer jobs than
at the end of 2004.
"It basically gave money to corporations in return for corporate
contributions," says Bob McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax
Justice. As for the law's name, McIntyre says that Congress was
"just kidding." One of the few groups that believes the legislation
has led to the creation of jobs is the American Shareholders
Association, a spinoff of Americans for Tax Reform, led by
conservative activist Grover Norquist. In a report last month,
the American Shareholders Association said that stock buybacks,
dividends and mergers, and acquisitions were up sharply because
of the legislation and that this in turn had led to the creation of
500,000 high-paying jobs in the United States.
Not so far. Some companies taking advantage of the generous
tax break haven't even tried to hide their layoffs. In January 2005,
on the same day it announced it was cutting 6 percent of its workforce,
National Semiconductor said that it was repatriating $500 million
under the American Jobs Creation Act. Colgate-Palmolive, which in
December 2004 announced plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs,
brought back $800 million in overseas profits last year. The Wall
Street Journal reported in December that the combination of repatriation
and job cuts prompted Amalgamated Bank, which owns Colgate shares,
to file a shareholder resolution arguing that the company's brand and
reputation would be damaged by such moves. Julie Gozan, director
of corporate governance for Amalgamated, said the resolution was
withdrawn before Colgate filed its proxy on March 31 because the
company agreed to provide more information to investors on the
impact of the AJCA later this year. But Gozan said that Amalgamated
is considering similar resolutions at several other companies where
it owns stock.
In addition to lowering the tax rate, the AJCA required companies
to rewrite all sorts of employment contracts. Mike Melbinger, head
of executive compensation and employee benefits at Winston and
Strawn, a large Chicago-based law firm, estimated that the typical
large company might have 30 employment contracts, 10 change-in-
control agreements, and various severance plans, all of which had to
be changed as a result of the 2004 law. "It was a ton of work," says
Melbinger. "As much as we like to get paid, it was terrible for the clients."
So at least the American Jobs Creation Act benefited one group
of American workers: corporate lawyers.
Michelle Leder writes a daily blog at www.footnoted.org that looks
at SEC filings and is the author of Financial Fine Print: Uncovering
a Company's True Value.
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2139782/
Copyright 2006 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
7) Lessons from Connecticut
Time to Shake Up the Peace Movement
By STAN HELLER
http://counterpunch.org/heller04132006.html
In what country will a huge peace coalition hold an anti-war rally
have nothing to say about Iran, Israel and Palestine or Afghanistan?
Is the answer Israel? Turkey? Micronesia? Sadly it's the USA. On April 29
United for Peace and Justice is holding a big demonstration in New
York City called "March for Peace, Justice and Democracy". The only
"peace" demand mentioned is bringing troops home from Iraq.
The silence about Iran is staggering. On April 9 the Washington Post
reported on US military planning for an attack. In includes this sentence,
"Pentagon planners are studying how to penetrate eight-foot-deep
targets and are contemplating tactical nuclear devices". Contemplating?
We're not talking about mediation here, but dropping "tactical"
Hiroshima-size atomic bombs. And UFPJ has nothing to say.
The conventional wisdom smugly says this is all a bluff, that with
all the losses in Iraq and sagging polls at home Bush would be crazy
to attack Iran. But Sy Hersh reports [New Yorker April 17, 2006]
that a government consultant with ties to the Pentagon told him "
that the President believes that he must do 'what no Democrat or
Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,'
and 'that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.'" Mission is part of
Bush's "reborn" personality. Remember he seriously believes that
he was chosen by God to be President.
Who is going to stop him? The non-cooperation of France and
Germany of 2003 is a thing of the past. Russia and China? Can
anyone believe that these money-sotted regimes would put up
any opposition to a US full court press? How about the US Congress?
Hersh reports that the White House briefings of the leadership are
underway and the only questions that are being raised are "How are
you sure you can hit the targets deep enough?" What about the
Democrats? Kerry and Obama tried to win the macho crowd by
claiming in 2004 that Bush wasn't taking a hard enough line on
Iran. They're not about to change their spots now. Lieberman?
He's probably signing his name on the nukes themselves.
The peace movement seems paralyzed by the charge that Iran is
developing nuclear weapons. Never mind that Scott Ritter, who
was dead right about Iraq's WMD, has said repeatedly in interviews
and speeches that Iran has no nuclear weapons program. [See
my Jan. 24 video interview
have no evidence of such a program. Never mind that the US has
thousands of nuclear weapons that could holocaust Iran in minutes.
Never mind that Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons pointed
at Tehran.
Oops, I mentioned Israel. UFPJ doesn't want to say anything
about it. Condemn "unending oil war" and that's the beginning
and ending of analysis. The Christian Zionists who see a Jewish
conquest of Palestine as the start of Aramageddon? They don't
really matter. AIPAC, which draws half the Senate and a third of
the House to their blood-curdling conventions. Not really worth
mentioning, not even the 2006 gathering which was devoted to
demands that the US "take care" of Iran. Bush himself has stated,
"We will use military might to protect our ally Israel", but why
get into that?
And those pesky Palestinians. Yes, they have their troubles,
but why mention them in an anti-war movement? As if Israeli
war-mongering wasn't based on its aparthied-like oppression
of Palestinians. As if an Israeli official hadn't publicly said that
wiping out Saddam would help Israel impose a new "order" on
the Palestinians. As if the al-Qaeda killers haven't tried to adopt
the Palestinian cause as their own. Bringing up Palestine in
connection with the war will just alienate us from those
thousands and thousands of Israel partisans who are just
itching to join the movement once we get rid of our "anti-
Semitism". Uh-huh.
Unstated in the UFPJ rally call is a rush to the Democrats.
After grassroots activists pushed the UFPJ and ANSWER
coalitions into having one successful giant demonstration
on September 24, 2005, UFPJ passed a resolution to never
work with ANSWER again! Instead it found new allies with
liberal environmental groups, feminists and Jesse Jackson't
PUSH. Jesse Jackson, father confessor to war criminal Clinton,
is going to teach us morality. Grand. Dump all the bleeding
hearts who sympathize with the Arabs and Muslims and the
Dems will pick up votes in the heartland.
Well, in CT this strategy of pandering to the so-called center
has been tried and it's failed.
The Connecticut Experience
We in Connecticut have had a statewide umbrella group,
Connecticut United for Peace, that for over three years has
run the large statewide demonstrations. We're members of
UFPJ, but years ago we formally decided that the oppression
of Palestinians was intimately tied up with the war and have
mentioned it in all our rallies.
We started making plans for this year's March 18 rally last
November, and we held two ultra-democratic votes about
the demonstration's demands. Anyone who showed up at
the meetings could vote. In November we proposed the
slogan "End Israeli Occupation and Apartheid". We also
had slogans for immigrant rights, opposition to persecution
of Muslims and rejection of war with Iran.
At our final meeting in January (with 125 in attendance)
a number of people demanded a single issue rally, totally
on Iraq, saying by going for the lowest common denominator
we'd get labor, the Democrats and anti-war Jews. The majority
wouldn't go for it. We weren't going to abandon the immigrants
and Muslims and we'd be fools not to mention Iran, but we
figured the real sticking point was Palestine. So we offered
a compromise. Instead of the slogan "End Israeli Occupation
and Apartheid" we offered the vague "Justice for the Palestinian
People".
People voted for the compromise by a large majority. Still the
very notion that the Palestinians were the victims was too much
for some and others were afraid of offending the Democratic
Party and the Democratic Party oriented labor leaders. So the
Israel-apologists, the Peace Council and some labor leaders
went off and did their own thing. They held a rally on March 19,
a day after ours and formed a group with the acronym COW,
Connecticut Opposes War.
On March 18 we marched 20 blocks from a largely Latino
neighborhood and held and rally on the New Haven Green that
according to the AP attracted 1,000. We think it was larger.
Perhaps 10% were Muslim and Palestinians. We had pro-immigrant
speakers in English and Spanish and a section of the Green with
Spanish translators. It was a great demo, but we had expected
double that number to attend and we blame it largely on the split.
So how well did the splitters do on the 19th in Hartford?
Politically the rally sucked. It was two blocks from Senator
Lieberman's office and none of the speakers denounced
Lieberman. Neither Democrat Ned Lamont who was challenging
Lieberman for anti-war reasons nor Ralph Ferrucci who was
running as a Green were invited to speak. The only chant was
this embarrassing bleat,"We are Americans, This is Our Country".
Imagine after three years of the war they still think we have
to defend our patriotism? All the speeches denounced one
person and one person only, George Bush. As if the Democrats
hadn't pushed for the war enthusiastically and as if they weren't
still supporting it. Iran was mentioned in one sentence. And,
of course, they didn't say a word about Israel's constant pressure
for war against Iraq and Iran or the fact that Gaza is now without
flour. But the bottom line is numbers. Did they draw out the
"silent majority"? No. Their rally was about the same size as ours
(and included many of our people). It was hardly the breakthough
that COW was predicting. There were a dozen Democratic state
legislators. As for labor, state AFL-CIO President John Olsen spoke
and there was a sizeable presence by SEIU-1199, maybe 50 or
so union officials and members. That was about it.. Organized
Jewish presence was invisible. No one saw a single sign from
a Jewish organization and only one person objected to the tons
of pro-Palestinian rights literature we gave out. On the other
hand whatever was gained from the "middle" was lost from the
fact the Muslims were conspicuous by their absence.
The COW strategy is a model for what shouldn't be attempted
on April 29th..
We have three weeks. Something has to be done to change
the political direction of UFPJ. Ignoring Iran is maddness.
Abandoning Muslims and Palestinians is disgraceful. Silence
about Israel is inexcusable. We need to pressure the out
of touch UFPJ leadership. We need public statements, petitions
and a ton of emails to the UFPJ steering committee at their
address <>ufpj-sc@unitedforpeace.org Tell them to change
the demands and to get speakers who'll talk about all the
realities of the war.
Stanley Heller is chairperson of the Middle East Crisis Committee
and host of its weekly TV news program that can be seen on the
internet www.TheStruggle.org
He is a member of the organizing committee of Connecticut United
for Peace. He can be reached at mail@thestruggle.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
8) With Tax Break Expired,
Middle Class Faces a Greater Burden for 2006
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
This year 18.9 million taxpayers are facing the alternative levy,
with 11.8 million representing families with children. Without
Congressional action, those affected will pay $26.6 billion more
in federal income taxes for this year. Almost the same amount,
$24.1 billion, will be saved by all investors, the Tax Policy Center
estimated. Actual savings for investors are likely to be higher
if recent stock market growth continues.
The investment tax savings in 2006 will be heavily concentrated
on about 234,000 households, generally headed by someone
50 or older, with an average income of $2.6 million, more
than most Americans earn in a lifetime. By comparison, most
of the increase in the alternative tax is being paid by about
12 million families with children.
April 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/us/16tax.html
As millions of Americans rush to meet the Monday deadline
for reporting how much tax they owe on last year's income,
a stealth tax increase has begun eating into the 2006 income
of nearly 19 million households.
Unless Congress takes action, one in four families with children
— up from one in 22 last year — will owe up to $3,640 in
additional federal income tax come next April.
Few of them realize that their taxes have increased, because
Congress has not voted to raise taxes. Instead, Congress let
a tax break expire. That break limited the alternative minimum
tax, which takes back part of the tax cuts sponsored by
President Bush.
Mr. Bush has asked Congress to temporarily restore the tax
break, known as the A.M.T. patch. He has also asked Congress
to extend another break that lowered the tax rate on most
investment income to 15 percent.
Leading Republicans and Democrats agree that there is simply
not enough money to do both. Congress was unable to reach
an agreement on tax breaks before adjourning for vacation
earlier this month.
The expiration of the A.M.T. patch and the tax break for
investment income almost balance each other out this year,
according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonprofit organization
whose computer model of the tax system has been deemed
reasonable and reliable by the Bush administration.
The impact will be felt primarily among taxpayers of two
different income levels.
The A.M.T. will cost Americans who earn $50,000 to
$200,000 nearly $13 billion more next April. That is about
how much people who earn more than $1 million will save
because of the break on investment income like dividends
and capital gains. Both figures were provided by the Tax
Policy Center, which is a joint project of the Brookings
Institution and the Urban Institute.
Taking action on either measure will require more government
borrowing, adding to the federal budget deficit, which
is projected to reach $423 billion this year.
The question of how to deal with the alternative minimum
tax is central to the negotiations between the House and the
Senate over a $70 billion package of tax cuts. Republicans
had hoped to reach an agreement before the Easter recess
and reap some political benefit at tax time. But one of the
sticking points was the A.M.T. patch.
House negotiators proposed extending the tax break, but
Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican and chairman
of the Finance Committee, pushed for a more generous plan
that would also expand it and give more relief to middle-class
taxpayers. Negotiations are expected to resume when Congress
returns later this month, and Republicans say they are determined
to reach a deal in this election year.
Those favoring an extension of the investment tax break,
including House Republican leaders, say it encourages investment
and leads to more jobs. Two recent studies by the Congressional
Research Service, which examines issues for Congress, have
raised the possibility of unintended and perverse effects, such
as reducing savings and creating more jobs offshore.
Proponents of lower tax rates on investment income also warn
that ending the break will hurt stock prices. A number
of economists have cast doubt on this assertion.
Representative Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican who was
chosen by his party to advocate for extending the investment
tax break, pointed out that it affected more people than the
increase in the alternative minimum tax. About 30 million
taxpayers get dividends, while nearly 19 million are expected
to pay the A.M.T. on 2006 income.
But many of the dividend checks are quite small. The
investment tax savings in 2006 will be heavily concentrated
on about 234,000 households, generally headed by someone
50 or older, with an average income of $2.6 million, more
than most Americans earn in a lifetime. By comparison, most
of the increase in the alternative tax is being paid by about
12 million families with children.
Leonard Burman, a co-director of the Tax Policy Center, said
he had not noticed the similarity in the amount that the middle
class will pay and that the rich will save until The New York
Times sent him a comparison of the separate estimates
produced by the center.
Mr. Burman said the comparison "puts in context claims
made by some that this is a tug of war between" what
Mr. Bush has dubbed the haves and the have-mores.
He added that once Americans realized their taxes had
increased, he expected more pressure on Congress
to restore the A.M.T. patch.
Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy for Focus on
the Family, a politically influential Christian ministry based
in Colorado Springs, said his organization was just beginning
to study the effective taxes on families.
"This is a new one on the horizon, and I am very concerned
about it," Mr. Minnery said of the A.M.T. increase, adding
that "any policy that punishes the nuclear family is foolish."
The tax break that expired at the end of 2005 limited the
alternative minimum tax to 3.6 million taxpayers, of which
2.1 million were families with children.
This year 18.9 million taxpayers are facing the alternative
levy, with 11.8 million representing families with children.
Without Congressional action, those affected will pay $26.6
billion more in federal income taxes for this year. Almost the
same amount, $24.1 billion, will be saved by all investors, the
Tax Policy Center estimated. Actual savings for investors are
likely to be higher if recent stock market growth continues.
The alternative tax was originally adopted in 1969 to ensure
that people who earned the equivalent of more than $1 million
in today's dollars did not live tax free. It has not been fully
adjusted for inflation and was not integrated into the Bush
tax cuts. In addition, Congress in 1986 made basic changes
in what kind of deductions are counted in determining whether
one has to pay the alternative levy, causing it to become
a tax on the middle class.
In the beginning it took away exotic breaks to high-income
taxpayers who paid little or no tax. Now it denies people
exemptions for themselves and their children and deductions
for state income taxes and local property taxes.
Just one-tenth of 1 percent of the increased alternative tax
is being paid this year by those making $1 million or more,
the Tax Policy Center estimates, even though this is the only
group affected by the original version of the levy.
Carl Hulse contributed reporting for this article.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
9) STUDENTS AT SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY DETAINED
BY POLICE FOR CHANTING "MILITARY RECRUITERS GO HOME!"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Karen Knoller, (818) 554-5382, kknoller@sfsu.edu
Press Conference: Monday, April 17, 2006, 11:00 AM
SFSU, 19th Ave & Holloway Ave, San Francisco
Ten students were forcibly removed today from the gymnasium
at San Francisco State University for protesting military recruiters
on campus. The students were cited by University Police for
disrupting campus activities. Their activities included distributing
anti-military-recruitment leaflets, talking to recruiters and potential
recruits, and chanting phrases such as, ?Killing Iraqis is no career!
Recruiters are not welcome here!?
The chants were loud but students were peaceful and committed
to nonviolence. The police aggression came as a shock to the
students, who hadn?t planned to get arrested or cited, and were
not given any warning prior to detainment. Police rapidly lined
up in front of the students, intimidated them and began physically
pulling students out of the career fair, in an apparent breach of
police policy against manhandling. This is typical of campus police
who have had a recent history of assaulting members of the SFSU
campus community.
Students were cited with violation of CA Penal Code 626.4, which
restricts students from coming onto campus for fourteen days.
They have fourteen days to appeal the citation, but the University
is blocking students from entering the appeals process by claiming
they are booked until mid-May. This comes at a time when students
nationwide are undergoing oppression for protesting, including
students at University of California Santa Cruz, whose protest
Tuesday forced recruiters to pack up early and leave their campus.
Students Against War, an antiwar student group not rooted in any
political ideology, organized the pre-rally and speakers and faces
possible disbandment depending on today?s events. This is because
they are under preexisting sanctions for the protest that occurred
March 9, 2005, in which students effectively chased recruiters
off campus.
"I feel completely repressed and violated because I was forcibly
removed for expressing my right to free speech and protest,"
said Karen Knoller, SFSU freshman who was cited. "In addition
to being barred from my classes, I have also effectively been
made homeless, as I currently live in campus housing."
Knoller and two other students cited at SFSU, largely
a commuter school, also live on campus.
"What am I going to do? I have a paid apartment on campus
and I can't go to it. Am I paying them so I can just sit on 19th
and Holloway?" asked Chris Velasco, student at San Francisco
State University. "I have a right to protest.
My brother is in Iraq fighting."
SFSU is a university with a legacy of protests, starting with the
student strike of 1968. The students demand that they be allowed
to practice their rights to free speech and their right to protest,
and that they be allowed back on campus to attend classes,
visit their dorms and attend their antiwar meetings.
The students will be holding a press conference at the intersection
of 19th Avenue and Holloway, just outside the university, 11:00 AM
on Monday, April 17. At this event, students will discuss their legal
defense and the appeals process to the university.
Today students at SFSU held a protest against the presence of military
recruiters at the career fair. Some students were chanting and holding
up signs and some were speaking with the recruiters.
10 students have been cited by campus police for 'disrupting campus
activities' and suspended from the campus for 7-14 days.
This violation of the free speech of students at SFSU is outrageous!
Call or email President Corrigan and demand that the 10 students
suspended today be allowed back on campus!
President Robert Corrigan
(415) 338-1381
corrigan@sfsu.edu
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
10) OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT ROBERT CORRIGAN, SFSU,
BY BONNIE WEINSTEIN
Reinstate these students immediately with no repercussions and join
the fight against the atrocities our government is carrying out
against the whole world!
April 16, 2006
www.bauaw.org
TO: President Robert Corrigan, San Francisco State University
(415) 338-1381
corrigan@sfsu.edu
FROM: Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, www.bauaw.org
(415) 824-8730
Reinstate these students immediately with no repercussions and join
the fight against the atrocities our government is carrying out
against the whole world!
Dear President Robert Corrigan,
As you well know, through the No Child Left Behind Act, which will
be up before Congress again in 2007, the schools--that is, the
students--are being held hostage by the U.S. Military for recruitment
purposes. They must either subject themselves to the lies and false
promises made by the military or watch their school close or drastically
have to cut classes and programs in all areas because of the loss
of federal funds that would result if the school didn't comply to this act.
The voters of San Francisco voted to stop the war in Iraq and to bring
our troops home now in November of 2005. They voted to get the
military out of our schools in November of this year. And, in the San
Francisco Unified School District, 95 percent of parents signed the
district's Opt-Out form making it clear that they don't want the
military in contact with their children.
The least that all school administrations could do is actively fight the
No Child Left Behind Act and stand in full support of all those who
protest the militarization of our schools and the ongoing presence
of the military whenever they show up.
It should be the policy of the schools to welcome these protests,
facilitate them and stand in support of the will of the majority
of San Francisco voters in opposing their presence in our schools.
Your suspension of the ten students who took part in a peaceful
protest against the recruiters--recruiters who, by the way, have
a two-billion-dollar advertising budget to work with in their back
pocket--is unconscionable and goes against the democratic
expression of the will of the people of San Francisco.
The world is watching what you do. Reinstate these students
immediately with no repercussions and join the fight against the
atrocities our government is carrying out against the whole world!
It is time for us to take a stand against this assault on our right
to protest the military at our schools. Further, all the school
administrations should take a stand against the war, against
military recruitment in the schools and stand in favor of using
the trillion-dollar U.S. Military budget for human needs such as
education, housing, healthcare, etc. instead of a war that enriches
the wealthy elite while their children are exempt from military
harassment and rarely serve in the military--just like our President.
There is no stopping this movement because it is supported
by the people.
Which side are you going to stand on?
Reinstate the 10 with no repercussions!
Sincerely,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, www.bauaw.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
LINKS ONLY
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
FOCUS | US Charged With Killing Unarmed Worshipers
US and Iraqi officials received a tip in late March that a hostage was
going to be killed hide-out in northern Baghdad which was under
surveillance. They decided they had to act, but locals say the raid
brutally killed and wounded innocent people gathered for prayer.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041606X.shtml
Matthew Kendall-Smith, a doctor in the RAF, has
been found guilty by a court- martial and faces 8
months imprisonment and ?20,000 costs for
refusing to serve in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4905672.stm
Ripples From Law Banning Abortion Spread Through South Dakota
By MONICA DAVEY
April 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/us/16dakota.html
Delphi, The Terminator, And The Misuse Of Bankruptcy Law
April 16th, 2006
http://www.futureoftheunion.com/
Medicaid Hurdle for Immigrants May Hurt Others
By ROBERT PEAR
April 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/us/16medicaid.html?ei=5094&en=05a883230535a799&hp=&ex=1145246400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
Europe Stalls on Road to Economic Change
By RICHARD BERNSTEIN
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/world/europe/14europe.html
Students protesting military recruiters disrupt UCSC job fair
By JONDI GUMZ
Sentinel staff writer
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/April/06/local/stories/01local.htm
Treasury Rate Signals Burdens for Borrowers
By VIKAS BAJAJ
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/business/14bond.html
Internal Report Urges Changes After Katrina
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:01 a.m. ET
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Katrina-Washington.html?hp&ex=1145073600&en=311ad6f3416404f8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Auto Bailout Seems Unlikely
By EDUARDO PORTER
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/automobiles/14bailout.html?hp&ex=1145073600&en=3c93080bc7ebf55a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
More Retired Generals Call for Rumsfeld's Resignation
By DAVID S. CLOUD and ERIC SCHMITT
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/washington/14military.html?hp&ex=1145073600&en=bdbb556e9e293705&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Deal May Avert Pilot Strike at Delta
By VIKAS BAJAJ
April 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/business/14cnd-delta.html?hp&ex=1145073600&en=4a0242f9de3fc156&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Dahr Jamail and Jeff Pflueger | Learning to Count
Dahr Jamail and Jeff Pflueger write: How many Iraqis have died as the
result of the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of their country
remains an unresolved question in the anti-war movement. It is a question
the pro-war camp avoids. Yet what more important question is there?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041306J.shtml
A Cozy Arrangement
April 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/13/opinion/13thu1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Immigrants' firing leads to protest 15 women lose jobs after
attending rally; manager says they were warned
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
April 11, 2006
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060411/NEWS01/604110328
FOCUS | Cindy Sheehan: A Markerless Grave in Vacaville
Cindy Sheehan: "I am so tired of the Rovian, heartless, and ignorant
smear machine attacking me and my family at every turn of my back. The
latest abomination in their scrutiny of my life is the fact that Casey
has no "tombstone." As if it were anybody's business but Casey's family.
I am sure every last person who has a problem with this has buried a
child and they know what we are going through."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041106Z.shtml
Young Officers Leaving Army at a High Rate
By THOM SHANKER
April 10, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/washington/10army.html
Prosecution Sees Setback at Terror Trial in California
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
April 10, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/us/nationalspecial3/10lodi.html
Democracy in the Arab World, a U.S. Goal, Falters
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
April 10, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/world/middleeast/10democracy.html
FOCUS | Seymour M. Hersh: The Iran Plans
The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order
to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine
activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major
air attack, according to Seymour M. Hersh.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040906Y.shtml
