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JROTC OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS:
Meeting roundup report:
Around 14 people showed up at the meeting Monday, November 26, representing many different groups as well as some individuals, to discuss the SF Board of Education phase-out plan for JROTC.
PE CREDIT FOR JROTC NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH STATE LAW:
It was reported that the Board will announce that the district has not been in compliance with state law which prohibits giving PE credits to students who are in JROTC. San Francisco has been giving PE credits to students in JROTC. However, it is unclear if they will try a way around this state prohibition by allowing “team teaching” (one real credentialed-teacher in partnership with a JROTC un-credentialled “teacher”) so to speak, lending their credential to the JROTC “teacher” to allow them to continue to lead a credited JROTC class in place of PE. It was reported that the credentialed teachers were not happy with this solution and would not participate. It is not clear yet as to what the Board of Education in San Francisco will do. If the Board does comply with state law, funds for JROTC from the district will end, essentially ending JROTC in San Francisco schools.
JROTC FUNDING ENDS WITH COMPLIANCE WITH STATE LAW:
JROTC is funded roughly 50/50 by the Army and the district, because it is still considered a credited class—a substitute for PE. Without the accreditation of JROTC, the district’s half of bill will no longer be available to JROTC, therefore, they will have to close shop and leave.
We are in favor of the San Francisco Board of Education complying with state law and ending PE credit for JROTC.
SCHOOL COMMITTEES FOR ALTRNATIVES TO JROTC:
We voted to request that the Board of Education form committees at each school made up of students, teachers, parents and community representatives to assess the various needs for extra-curricular activities for students in their own school communities and to help to establish fun, peaceful, educational and humanitarian programs that will serve both the needs of the students and the community.
CITY-WIDE COMMITTEE TO END JROTC IN OUR SCHOOLS:
We voted to establish ourselves as a city-wide committee firmly opposed to JROTC in our schools and who have, as our goal, to replace JROTC with creative, fun, peaceful, educational and humanitarian programs that will serve both the needs of the students and the community and to make those programs available to all students in every community.
LETTER OF SUPPORT TO S.F. BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR PHASING OUT JROTC:
We voted to create a letter to be sent to the Board of Education commending their decision to phase-out JROTC and encouraging them to comply with state law prohibiting PE credit to students for membership in JROTC. And that they form committees in the schools to look for alternative programs to JROTC and that these committees, made of students, teachers, parents and community representatives become a part of the city-wide committee to find and establish viable alternatives to JROTC that address and fulfill the dire needs of all our children throughout the school district.
JROTC FACT SHEET:
We voted to put out an informational and educational fact sheet about the harm that JROTC does to all students and why the military has no place in our schools. We don’t want our children to study war; to learn to obey the chain of command; to look to themselves and themselves alone as a “brotherhood.” We want them to learn about freedom, equality and democracy and the brotherhood of man and rejection of war and violence as a way to solve problems!
KEEP THE PRESSURE ON THE BOARD OF EDUCATION BY REGULARLY ATTENDING AND SPEAKING OUT AT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETINGS:
We voted to keep up the pressure on the Board of Education to rid our schools of JROTC by mobilizing as many people as possible to attend Board meetings regularly, to get on the speaker’s list, and to send or bring the letters, and to hand out our educational material to those in attendance at the Board meetings and especially to JROTC students. We must do this to counter the U.S. Military organization of JROTC and their huge resources to mobilize students to attend and put pressure on Board members at the meetings—trying to give the impression that they represent all students which they clearly don’t by comparison of the number of those in JROTC and the vastly greater number who are not.
Our presence at these meetings will also enforce the recognition of the passing of two antiwar referendums in San Francisco:
Proposition I November 8, 2005 Election No Military Recruiters in Public
Schools, Scholarships for Education and Job Training City and County of San
Francisco Simple Majority Pass: 125,581 (59.15 percent) Yes votes; 86,723 (40.85 percent) No votes
Proposition N November 2, 2004 Election Withdrawing U.S. Military Personnel
from Iraq City of San Francisco Simple Majority 195,257 (63.33 percent) Yes votes; 113,053 (36.67 percent) No votes
SPEAK OUT AT THE BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 6:00 P.M., 555 FRANKLIN ST:
We voted to begin attending and speaking at the Board meetings on Tuesday, December 11, 6:00 P.M. At that time we want to commend the Board for voting to phase out JROTC and point out to them that this is a great opportunity for us to assess the dire needs of the students at all of our schools and to create new programs to meet those needs.
WE WANT TO VASTLY INCREASE EXTRA-CURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL STUDENTS:
We don’t want to reduce creative opportunities for our students we want to vastly increase those opportunities and to altogether eliminate funneling students into the military-controlled and operated JROTC to eventually be used as cannon fodder.
BROADEN AND INCREASE OUR BASE:
It was noted that we do have the potential to involve others in this campaign to keep JROTC out of our schools and to create new, peaceful alternatives for our children. While the Board has not reneged its decision to phase out JROTC, we acknowledge the military will surely continue to apply its massive pressure on the San Francisco school district to re-establish JROTC even if it is successfully phased out by 2008. San Francisco will be the first school district in the country to phase-out JROTC. All school districts around the country are watching what is happening here. You can be sure the U.S. Military is, too, and that they will keep up the pressure and try again and again to “own the schools.”
PUBLICIZE DEATH THREATS FROM JROTC MEMBERS:
It was also noted that some who have been campaigning to rid our schools of JROTC have had death-threats made against them. Certain teachers have also been threatened and had tires slashed. Three of us older women were surrounded in the lobby of the Board of Education right after a meeting by a large group of very big-for-their-age male JROTC students, acting right in view of their JROTC teacher, screaming in our faces with their fists raised, closing in on us, and actually blocking, momentarily, our exit from the building. One of the women was frail and relied on a cane to walk. To her it was a very frightening experience. This information must be made more public to expose exactly what is being taught to these children in JROTC. Their anger and rage is not only unhealthy, it is frightening. They are being whipped into a frenzy by the U.S. Military.
JROTC IS A RECRUITING TOOL
Some reported that in San Francisco JROTC does not recruit students into the military and, in fact, “discourages students from joining the military now.” But these are the words of the proverbial “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” They can with confidence tell these children (who, by the way, in San Francisco, are overwhelmingly non-white and from poor families whose parents have to work multiple jobs and who must go home to an empty house or out into the streets every day) to wait—not to join the military now--because they know, that in reality, there are few opportunities out there for these young people.
The military knows that indoctrinating young people into thinking that military service is a career opportunity that they would not otherwise have is a multi-billion dollar advertising project for the military that pays off in the military enlistment of the less economically fortunate youth to serve as cannon fodder. They do not recruit their own children. That’s why they promise college, music careers, medical careers—whatever carrot they can hang in front of their hungry prey—then lead them into the slaughterhouse. JROTC is good at what they do. On average, close to half their members end up in the military at some point in their lives. That ratio is drastically lower for the general public.
NEXT MEETING OF CITY-WIDE COMMITTEE TO GET RID OF JROTC:
[I suppose we should come up with a name for our city-wide committee...bw]
We voted to meet again, and encourage as many others to come as possible on Monday, January 7, 7:00 P.M., at 474 Valencia Street, First Floor, Room 145 (To the left as you come in, and all the way to the back of the long hallway, then, to the right.)
In solidarity,
Bonnie
BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETINGS
Held every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month.
All Regular and Committee meetings are open to the public.
555 Franklin Street, 1st Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
415/241-6427 or (415) 241-6493
(To get on the speaker’s list call the Monday before the meeting from 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM or Tuesday, the day of the meeting from 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM. You will get at most, two minutes and most probably only one minute to speak.)
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SUPPORT THE DAY AFTER DEMONSTRATIONS TO FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
From: LACFreeMumia@aol.com
A ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Mumia's case, based on the hearing in Philadelphia on May 17th 2007, is expected momentarily. Freeing Mumia immediately is what is needed, but that is not an option before this court. The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal calls on everyone who supports Mumia‚s case for freedom, to rally the day after a decision comes down. Here are Bay Area day-after details:
OAKLAND:
14th and Broadway, near the Federal Building
4:30 to 6:30 PM the day after a ruling is announced,
or on Monday if the ruling comes down on a Friday.
Oakland demonstration called by the Partisan Defense Committee and Labor Black Leagues, to be held if the Court upholds the death sentence, or denies Mumia's appeals for a new trial or a new hearing. info at (510) 839-0852 or pdcbayarea@sbcglobal.org
SAN FRANCISCO:
Federal Courthouse, 7th & Mission
5 PM the day after a ruling is announced,
or Monday if the decision comes down on a Friday
San Francisco demo called by the Mobilization To Free Mumia,
info at (415) 255-1085 or www.freemumia.org
Day-after demonstrations are also planned in:
Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver
and other cities internationally.
A National Demonstration is to be held in Philadelphia, 3rd Saturday after the decision
For more information, contact: International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, www.mumia.org;
Partisan Defense Committee, www.partisandefense.org;
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), www.freemumia.com;
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL IS INNOCENT!
World-renowned journalist, death-row inmate and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is completely innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. Mountains of evidence--unheard or ignored by the courts--shows this. He is a victim, like thousands of others, of the racist, corrupt criminal justice system in the US; only in his case, there is an added measure of political persecution. Jamal is a former member of the Black Panther Party, and is still an outspoken and active critic of the on-going racism and imperialism of the US. They want to silence him more than they want to kill him.
Anyone who has ever been victimized by, protested or been concerned about the racist travesties of justice meted out to blacks in the US, as well as attacks on immigrants, workers and revolutionary critics of the system, needs to take a close look at the frame-up of Mumia. He is innocent, and he needs to be free.
FREE MUMIA NOW!
END THE RACIST DEATH PENALTY!
FOR MASS PROTESTS AND LABOR ACTION TO FREE MUMIA!
In 1995, mass mobilizations helped save Mumia from death.
In 1999, longshore workers shut West Coast ports to free Mumia, and teachers in Oakland and Rio de Janeiro held teach-ins and stop-works.
Mumia needs powerful support again now. Come out to free Mumia!
- The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222, Oakland CA 94610
510.763.2347
LACFreeMumia@aol.com
November 2007
ACTION ALERT: Ensure Fairness For Mumia Abu-Jamal on NBC’s The Today Show!
On Dec. 6, NBC’s The Today Show intends to air a show about Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner’s new book “Murdered By Mumia.” According to the announcement on Michael Smerconish’s website, the show is planning to feature both Smerconish and Faulkner as guests.
The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (FreeMumia.com), Journalists for Mumia (Abu-Jamal-News.com), and Educators for Mumia (EmajOnline.com) have initiated a media-activist campaign urging people to write The Today Show at today@msnbc.com asking them to fairly present both sides of the Mumia Abu-Jamal / Daniel Faulkner case, by also featuring as guests, Linn Washington, Jr. (Philadelphia Tribune columnist and Associate Professor of Journalism at Temple University ) and Dr. Suzanne Ross (Clinical Psychologist and Co-Chair of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC).
A sample letter (http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/pr/TodayShow.doc), accompanied by an extensive informational press pack (http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/pr/PressPackNov07.pdf) has been created to use for contacting The Today Show. Please take a minute and contact them to ensure fair media coverage of this controversial and important case.
Sincerely,
The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (FreeMumia.com)
Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (Abu-Jamal-News.com)
Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal (EmajOnline.com)
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Today Show,
In December 2007, the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal will be entering the 27th year. In the course of those years, much of the media coverage has contained pure speculation and falsehoods. Media watchdogs like FAIR.ORG have sharply criticized this coverage as being biased against Abu-Jamal.
We understand that on Dec. 6, the Today Show intends to air a show about Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner’s book “Murdered By Mumia.” Interestingly, the scheduled interview regarding the new book focusing on Mrs. Faulkner comes at a time of many startling new developments in this historic case, generating international attention.
Reflecting the international interest in this case, in 2003, Abu-Jamal was named an honorary citizen of Paris , and in 2006, the city of St. Denis named a street after him. While this was largely motivated by opposition to the death penalty, they also cited strong evidence of both an unfair trial and Abu-Jamal’s innocence.
One of these developments centers on extraordinary photos of the 1981 crime scene taken by Philadelphia-based press photographer Pedro Polakoff (viewable at Abu-Jamal-News.com) that reveal manipulation of evidence, and completely contradict the prosecution’s case, including Officer James Forbes’ testimony that he properly handled both Abu-Jamal’s and Faulkner’s guns (the photos show Forbes holding both guns in his bare hand). Also the photos reveal that there were no large bullet divots or destroyed chunks of cement where Faulkner was found, which should be visible in the pavement if the prosecution’s scenario was accurate, according to which Abu-Jamal shot down at Faulkner and allegedly missed several times while Faulkner was on his back. Of particular note, this photographer twice attempted to provide these photos to the District Attorney for both the 1982 trial and the 1995 PCRA hearings, and was ignored both times.
Since his incarceration, Abu-Jamal has published six books and countless articles, and has delivered hundreds of speeches, including keynote addresses for college graduations. As a prolific writer and tenacious journalist, he has earned the respect (and support) of such notable prize-winning authors as Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, and Salman Rushdie. Just recently, he was accepted into the PEN American Center , one of the highest honors a writer can achieve. Additionally, at the time of his arrest, he was president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Black Journalists, and was awarded the PEN Oakland award for outstanding journalism after the publication of his first book, Live from Death Row. Since Live, he has garnered a following of dedicated readers around the world, including scholars, college educators, and journalists. His work is, in part, testament to the dignity he has demonstrated for the past 25 years he has been on death row.
The ethical interests in balance and fairness in presenting “news” regarding the Abu-Jamal case, arguably requires providing Today Show viewers with information evidencing Mr. Abu-Jamal’s innocence and unfair trial. To represent this other side, and to provide perspectives addressing the informational needs of your viewers, I ask that you also feature experts Linn Washington, Jr. (Philadelphia Tribune columnist and Associate Professor of Journalism at Temple University ) and Dr. Suzanne Ross (Clinical Psychologist and Co-Chair of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC) as guests on your Dec. 6 show (they can be contacted via Journalists for Mumia: hbjournalist@gmail.com).
While Mrs. Faulkner certainly has a “story” and is entitled to her opinions, your viewers should be privy to other facts, such as the prosecution withholding key evidence, witness coercion, racist jury selection, and evidence that Judge Albert Sabo boasted about his desire to help the prosecution “fry the nigger,” as enclosed in the press packet provided here for you: http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/pr/PressPackNov07.pdf
I also write to provide you with information (inclusive of material from Abu-Jamal’s lawyer) in the interests of journalistic balance, fairness and integrity. The press packet includes 1) A recent Black Commentator article by Philadelphia lawyer/journalist David A. Love describing the significance of the Polakoff photos, 2) An Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal press release about the Polakoff photos, written by Princeton University Professor Mark L. Taylor, 3) Criticism of the 1998 ABC 20/20 program about Abu-Jamal, 4) Background on the case, focusing on both the 1982 trial and 1995-97 PCRA hearings, with a focus on Abu-Jamal’s alleged “hospital confession,” ballistics evidence, and the testimony of Veronica Jones, 5) Recent police intimidation of Abu-Jamal’s supporters, including reported death threats against Sgt. DeLacy Davis, of Black Cops Against Police Brutality, and more.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Name
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Help end the war by supporting the troops who have refused to fight it.
Please sign the appeal online:
"DEAR CANADA: LET U.S. WAR RESISTERS STAY!"
"I am writing from the United States to ask you to make a provision for sanctuary for the scores of U.S. military servicemembers currently in Canada, most of whom have traveled to your country in order to resist fighting in the Iraq War. Please let them stay in Canada..."
To sign the appeal or for more information:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada
Courage to Resist volunteers will send this letter on your behalf to three key Canadian officials--Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley, and Stéphane Dion, Liberal Party--via international first class mail.
In collaboration with War Resisters Support Campaign (Canada), this effort comes at a critical juncture in the international campaign for asylum for U.S. war resisters in Canada.
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Next Antiwar Coalition meeting Sunday, January 6, 1:00 P.M.
474 Valencia St.
The OCT. 27 COALITION met Saturday, November 18. After a long discussion and evaluation of the Oct. 27 action, the group decided to meet again, Sunday, January 6, at 1:00 P.M. at CENTRO DEL PUEBLO, 474 Valencia Street, SF (Near 16th Street) to assess further action.
Everyone felt the demonstration was very successful and, in fact, that the San Francisco demonstration was the largest in the country and, got the most press coverage. Everyone felt the "die in" was extremely effective and the convergence added to the scope of the demonstration.
Please keep a note of the date of the next coalition meeting:
Sunday, January 6, 1:00 P.M.
EXPLORATORY LETTER: UNIFIED NATIONAL ACTION DURING MARCH 2008:
The regional antiwar demonstrations on October 27th were a great success.. The Boston mobilization organized by New England United (NEU) drew about 10,000 people, including many new activists and young people. Nationally, tens of thousands demanded an end to war and occupation now.
The NEU-sponsored action on October 27 was endorsed by a broad range of over 200 organizations. At a follow-up meeting, many members of NEU believed that we should build on this momentum by bringing together the antiwar movement in unified national protest in the spring for the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.
Reasons given included: 1) March will be the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and the antiwar movement must come together to demand an end to this war now; 2) The war plans against Iran are intensifying, and we have to fight now to stop a war on Iran before it's too late. At the same time, it was recognized that successful national action in the spring would require a broad base of support from antiwar organizations around the country. Therefore, NEU decided to create a working group to assess the level of support for such an action, and report back to our next general meeting in December with both an assessment of support, and a detailed proposal for a unified national mobilization in the spring. As an indication of growing interest in national action, Cindy Sheehan is convening a peace summit in San Francisco in January to help develop a unified strategy for the peace movement and to develop a plan for a unified national mobilization in DC during the March anniversary of the Iraq war.
A strong base of support from the grass-roots organizations around the country will be necessary to make unified national action a reality. If your organization is interested in planning for unified national action in March, please contact us as soon as possible at the following email address: spring2008@lists.riseup.net . Thank you. Spring Mobilization working group New England United http://www.newenglandunited.org/
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ARTICLES IN FULL:
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1) Man Entering U.S. Illegally Stops to Help Boy Involved in Crash
["No good deed goes unpunished" Clare Boothe Luce ((April 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American editor, playwright, social activist, politician, journalist, and diplomat. Witty, perceptive, and determined, she was also a prominent figure in New York society circles. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Boothe_Luce ]
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25illegal.html?ex=1196658000&en=b03b8561c9cf30c3&ei=5070&emc=eta1
2) Winter of Our Discontent
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Op-Ed Columnist
November 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/opinion/26krugman.html?hp
3) Defend Teachers Threatened With Termination for Antiwar Student
Walkout
PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
Urgent Call for Solidarity
tukwila.teachers.solidarity@hotmail.com
4) French Youths Clash With Police
By ARIANE BERNARD
November 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/world/europe/27paris.html?ref=world
5) New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India
By HEATHER TIMMONS and J. ADAM HUGGINS
November 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/nyregion/26manhole.html?ref=nyregion
6) Police and Protesters Clash Near Paris
By KATRIN BENNHOLD
November 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/world/europe/28riot.html?hp
7) Palestinians Protest Peace Talks
By ISABEL KERSHNER
November 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/world/middleeast/28palestinians.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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1) Man Entering U.S. Illegally Stops to Help Boy Involved in Crash
["No good deed goes unpunished" Clare Boothe Luce ((April 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American editor, playwright, social activist, politician, journalist, and diplomat. Witty, perceptive, and determined, she was also a prominent figure in New York society circles. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Boothe_Luce ]
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/25illegal.html?ex=1196658000&en=b03b8561c9cf30c3&ei=5070&emc=eta1
PHOENIX, Nov. 24 (AP) — A 9-year-old boy dazed after his mother crashed their van in the southern Arizona desert was comforted by a man entering the United States illegally, an official said Friday. The man stayed with the boy until help arrived the next day.
The woman, 45, had been driving on a Forest Service road in a remote area just north of the Mexican border when she lost control of her van on a curve on Thursday, Sheriff Tony Estrada of Santa Cruz County said.
The van vaulted into a canyon and landed 300 feet from the road, Sheriff Estrada said. The woman, from Rimrock, north of Phoenix, survived the crash but was pinned inside, he said.
Her son, unhurt but disoriented, crawled out to get help and was found about two hours later by the man, Jesus Manuel Cordova, 26, of the northern Mexican state of Sonora.
Unable to pull the mother out, Mr. Cordova comforted the boy while they waited for help. The woman died a short time later.
“He stayed with him, told him that everything was going to be all right,” Sheriff Estrada said.
As temperatures dropped, Mr. Cordova gave the boy a jacket and built a bonfire. He stayed with the boy until about 8 a.m. Friday, when hunters passed by and called the authorities, Sheriff Estrada said.
Mr. Cordova had been trying to walk into the country when he came across the boy. He was taken into custody by Border Patrol agents and was returned to Mexico on Friday night.
The boy and his mother were in the area camping, Sheriff Estrada said. The woman’s husband, the boy’s father, died two months ago.
The boy was flown to University Medical Center in Tucson as a precaution but appeared unhurt.
The names of the woman and her son were not being released until relatives were notified.
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2) Winter of Our Discontent
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Op-Ed Columnist
November 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/opinion/26krugman.html?hp
“Americans’ Economic Pessimism Reaches Record High.” That’s the headline on a recent Gallup report, which shows a nation deeply unhappy with the state of the economy. Right now, “27% of Americans rate current economic conditions as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ while 44% say they are ‘only fair’ and 28% say they are poor.” Moreover, “an extraordinary 78% of Americans now say the economy is getting worse, while a scant 13% say it is getting better.”
What’s really remarkable about this dismal outlook is that the economy isn’t (yet?) in recession, and consumers haven’t yet felt the full effects of $98 oil (wait until they see this winter’s heating bills) or the plunging dollar, which will raise the prices of imported goods.
The response of those who support the Bush administration’s economic policies is to complain about the unfairness of it all. They rattle off statistics that supposedly show how wonderful the economy really is. Many of these statistics are misleading or irrelevant, but it’s true that the official unemployment rate is fairly low by historical standards. So why are people so unhappy?
The answer from Bush supporters — who are, on this and other matters, a strikingly whiny bunch — is to blame the “liberal media” for failing to report the good news. But the real explanation for the public’s pessimism is that whatever good economic news there is hasn’t translated into gains for most working Americans.
One way to drive this point home is to compare the situation for workers today with that in the late 1990s, when the country’s economic optimism was almost as remarkable as its pessimism today. For example, in the fall of 1998 almost two-thirds of Americans thought the economy was excellent or good.
The unemployment rate in 1998 was only slightly lower than the unemployment rate today. But for working Americans, everything else was different. Wages were rising, yet inflation was low, so the purchasing power of workers’ take-home pay was steadily improving. So, too, were job benefits, including the availability of health insurance. And homeownership was rising steadily.
It was, in other words, a time when Americans felt they were sharing in the country’s prosperity.
Today, by contrast, wage gains for most workers are being swallowed by inflation. In fact, the reality for lower- and middle-income workers may be worse than the official statistics say, because the prices of necessities like food, transportation and medical care are rising considerably faster than the Consumer Price Index as a whole. One striking statistic: the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner was 11 percent higher this year than last year.
Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans receiving health insurance from their employers, which began to decline in 2001, is continuing its downward trend. And homeownership, after rising for several years on a tide of subprime mortgages — well, you know how that’s going.
In short, working Americans have very good reason to feel unhappy about the state of the economy. But what will it take to make their situation better?
The leading Republican candidates for president don’t even seem to realize that there’s a problem. A few months ago Rudy Giuliani, denouncing Hillary Clinton’s economic proposals, declared that “she wants to go back to the 1990s” — as if that would be a bad thing.
In fact, memories of how much better the economy was under Bill Clinton will be a potent political advantage for the Democrats next year.
But simply putting another Clinton, or any Democrat, in the White House won’t ensure that the good times will roll again. President Clinton was a good economic manager, but much of the good news during the 1990s reflected events that won’t be repeated, including low oil prices and the great medical cost pause — the temporary leveling off of health care spending as a percentage of G.D.P. that took place in the 1990s despite his failure to pass health care reform.
And there are good reasons to think that the negative effects of globalization on the wages of some Americans are larger than they were in the ’90s. That’s a hugely contentious issue within the progressive movement, with no easy resolution. I’ll write more about it in the months ahead.
Despite these caveats, Democrats have every right to make a political issue out of the failure of the Bush economy to deliver gains to working Americans — especially because conservatives continue to insist that tax cuts for the affluent are the answer to all problems.
But Democrats shouldn’t kid themselves into believing that this will be easy. The next president won’t be able to deliver another era of good times unless he or she manages to tackle the longer-term trends that underlie today’s economic disappointment: a collapsing health care system and inexorably rising inequality.
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3) Defend Teachers Threatened With Termination for Antiwar Student
Walkout
PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
Urgent Call for Solidarity
tukwila.teachers.solidarity@hotmail.com
BRIEF BACKGROUND:
On November 16th, over 1,000 students in Washington State walked
out to protest the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters
in public schools. Students at Foster High School in Tukwila,
Washington organized and 150 walked out, saying "Money for Schools, Not
War." (For more info, see www.yawr.org)
Foster students rallied at the school flagpole, marched down to the
I-5 overpass, and then marched to the Tukwila City Hall. The march and
rally were student generated and entirely peaceful.
In reaction the Tukwila School District has done the following:
- Suspended one Social Studies teacher, Brett Rogers, who
supported his students in a student generated democratic movement
- Threatened administrative action against five other teachers
- Threatened to discipline students for exercising their First
Amendment Right to free speech
When Brett Rogers was asked if he had a personal stake in the war,
he said: "It's an illegal war and my cousin is deploying December 4th,
and I'm not happy about it."
Please call and email the Principal and Superintendent now!
Tell them they need to:
1. Reinstate the teacher Brett Rogers who has been put on
administrative leave!
2. Drop the disciplinary hearings against all six teachers who
face investigations!
3. Support the initiative and moral fortitude of students who
took a stand against the effects caused by this war to their
communities!
4. Take no disciplinary action against students who participated
in the walkout!
We request that you flood the school administration with phone
calls and emails. Tell them to halt all disciplinary action against
students and the Tukwila Six!
CONTACT:
Foster HS Principal George Ilgenfritz: (206) 901-7905
ilgenfritz@tukwila.wednet.edu
And Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: (206) 901-8000, (206)
901-8006, burke@tukwila.wednet.edu
Please send a copy of protest emails to us at
tukwila.teachers.solidarity@hotmail.com so we can count how many
protest emails have been sent in.
If they refuse to answer your call, call Foster HS Assistant
Principal Daryl Wright (206) 901-7902 and Foster HS Office Manager
Darlene Aguiluz (206) 901-7915.
MORE BACKGROUND INFO:
On Friday, November 16th, more than a 1,000 students in Washington
State participated in a nation-wide student walkout to protest the war
and military recruiters in schools. This included around 150 students
at Foster High School, just south of Seattle. Foster is part of the
Tukwila School District, of which 71 percemt of the student body is low-income
and eligible for the free and reduced-cost school meals. Since the
beginning of the Iraq War, the U.S. military has been assigning ever
greater numbers of recruiters to lure young people into signing up for
this bloody, costly and illegal quagmire in Iraq, especially in
marginalized schools like Foster High School.
Student made signs, walked out, marched to an I-5 overpass and the
Tukwila City Hall for a civic and peaceful assembly. Now the principal
and school district superintendent have begun a witch-hunt against
students and at least six of their teachers and threatened to suspend
students who walked out. The students took a bold stand against the war
and these teachers have stood up for their students, some of the most
disenfranchised in the state, both inside and outside the classroom.
Students who walked out are threatened with truancy, and their
teachers‚ jobs are on the line. Now, who will stand up for these
students and teachers?
One teacher was put on administrative leave on Monday, November
19th. On Tuesday, November 20th, at least five more were delivered
memos notifying them that the Tukwila school district was
"investigating reports of possible misconduct relating to you in
connection with the student walk-out." These teachers were further
notified that they were not to discuss "this matter with any District
students or staff" under threat of being terminated. Several of these
teachers were completely unconnected with the walkout, but because they
have been previously marked out as individuals that speak their minds,
they are being lumped into the teacher hunt. "Investigative interviews"
are to begin this Tuesday.
- With a "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001 provision forcing
principals to give up the private contact information of young people
to military recruiters, students and teachers have the natural right to
protest.
- With a bloody and illegal war, where the soldiers that are
killed and maimed are disproportionately minorities and victims of the
"poverty draft," students and teachers of Tukwila have the natural
right to protest.
- With more than $500 billion dollars and the lives of more
than a million Iraqis having been utterly wasted on a failed war, with
schools in marginalized areas falling apart, we should all be
protesting with the slogan: "Money for Schools--Not For War!"
- With 75 percent of the American people polling against the war
according to the latest Washington Post poll, and a Democratic Congress
still making excuses for why it can't cut off funding to bring the
troops home, we must support the young people who speak out against
their future being bombed away.
- And we MUST support their teachers whose only misconduct
was making their lesson plans truly relevant to the lives of their
students.
If this Principal gets away with this attack on these workers and
students, it will embolden more bosses to try to further undermine
workers‚ rights, wages, and benefits, and it will intimidate more
people from speaking out against injustice--this is an attack on all
students and workers. These teachers are union members of the Tukwila
Education Association, and there are measures being taken to try to
ensure their defense through this channel, BUT A STRONG COMMUNITY AND
NATION-WIDE RESPONSE IS CRITICAL!!!
How can we give thanks to those on the REAL frontlines of freedom
in America?
Call and email the school officials above!
And please forward this alert to supportive organizations and
individuals!
YET MORE BACKGROUND INFO:
The memo from Interim Superintendent to at least 6 teachers
essentially says:
1. In the next couple days, we will summon you to a meeting
because we are "investigating reports of possible misconduct relating
to you in connection with the student walk-out." There could be
disciplinary consequences pending completion of this investigation.
2. You are not to discuss "this matter with any District
students or staff," or else you could be terminated.
3. You have the right to have a union representative present
with you during the investigative interview in case you feel your
rights might be violated.
The administration is clearly trying to isolate the teachers and
students from one another to try to divide them and weaken them. They
are trying to use the tactic of divide and rule. They are also
blatantly violating the teachers‚ right to free speech.
The teachers have been careful to abide by the Interim
Superintendent's directive not to talk with any District students or
staff about these matters. But nothing in the Superintendent's letter
said teachers could not talk with their union representatives or
community supporters. In fact, the letter explicitly says they could
talk with the union.
Some teachers who received letters were simply on their lesson
planning hour and therefore were not scheduled to teach class when the
student walkout happened. These teachers went outside just to see what
was going on when the students walked out, but they did not walk out or
promote the walkout. So the school has no evidence against some
teachers who received the threatening letters.
It appears the administration is targeting these teachers in a
political with-hunt because they have spoken their minds in the past
over other issues. For example, two of these teachers were banned in
the past from sending out school-wide emails because they spoke their
minds in school-wide emails that the administrators did not like.
Iraq Veteran
The husband of one of the teachers who received the threatening
letters is an Iraq veteran. He went to Foster High School on November
16th and spoke to the students from first-hand experience about the
truth of the Iraq War that the government and corporate media are
actively hiding from the American people, and he walked out with the
students.
As the Iraq veteran left the building, he was confronted by a
security guard who identified himself as a police
officer/veteran/federal marshal who said: "Don't even start with me,
I'm a veteran."
The school administration is disciplining a teacher whose husband
is a veteran whose life was put at serious risk in Iraq and who has now
turned against the war. This is very disrespectful to the veteran, his
family, and the working-class students who are being forced to shoulder
the burdens of this war. The school administrators are more concerned
with trying to having power over teachers and students than letting the
communities who have been hit the hardest by the war speak out against
the war and the predatory military recruiters in their schools.
This˜after the American people voted the Democrats into Congress to end
the war, but the Democrats are still making excuses about why they
cannot cut off funds for the war and direct those funds toward
education and other desperately needed social services. When the
leaders of our country will not end this unjust war, then it becomes up
to ordinary workers, parents, students, and soldiers to end the war.
The attendance secretary at the school also refused to excuse the
absences of students who had permission slips signed by their parents
to miss school, which is a flagrant violation of parent and student
rights.
Principal George Ilgenfritz also told one student that she didn't
know anything about war. (Ironically, the student is from an immigrant
Somali family who has family in the war-torn country of Somalia.)
On the Tukwila School District's website, the following message has
been posted by Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: "We believe in the
historic mission of public education within our democracy. Our schools
are expected to encourage and prepare students to be productive
citizens. We believe the challenge is to transform every child--to
give every student a chance to become an autonomous, thinking person
and a self-governing citizen. We are all here to work together to
provide the best education for the most prized commodity of our fine
city--the students of the Tukwila School District."
Yet when the students participate in an act of peaceful civil
disobedience in the best traditions of Martin Luther King and the Civil
Rights Movement who challenged unjust segregation laws, now the
Superintendent is hypocritically trying to discourage students from
being "self-governing citizens" and standing up for what is right.
We need to match the determination of these courageous teachers,
students and the Iraq veteran with all the support we can! Please take
a few minutes now to call and email the Principal and Superintendent at
the numbers and emails at the top of this email!
YouTube video of Foster High School student rally for peace:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOuLz3kKExI
Report on Washington State Nov. 16th student walkouts against the
war: http://yawr.org/nov16/seattle.html
Articles on Youth Against War and Racism student victories against
military recruiters in schools:
http://yawr.org/victory/victory.htm#tacoma
http://yawr.org/victory/victory.htm#kennedy
http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article13.php?id=611
Please forward this email widely to supportive organizations and
individuals who might be able to help!
For more info, contact the Tukwila Teachers and Students Solidarity
Committee: foster_nfo@hotmail.com (253) 573-9252
Please leave a brief message and we‚ll get back to you as soon as
we can.
"There is no native criminal class except Congress." - Mark Twain
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning... Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." - Frederick Douglass
www.socialistalternative.org
[My letter to Foster High School Principal and Interim Superintendent:
Dear Principal Ilgenfritz and Interim Superintendent Burke,
I am astounded to hear that you plan disciplinary action against both students and teachers who participated in a legal and peaceful demonstration against the war at Foster High School.
The courageous demonstration at Foster High School November 16th as part of a nation-wide student walk-out against the war and against military recruiting in the schools was inspiring and uplifting. The school community should be proud of these students and their teachers who supported them! They should be honored not punished!
Over 70 percent of people in this country are opposed to this war but have taken no stand in protest! How do we hope to end this atrocious war if we do not speak out and stand up and walk out against it!
What better lesson can education bring than to teach young people to stand up for their beliefs and demand that this government act according to what it's people believe is right!
Our children are facing an extremely difficult future. This government has not created a better world for them. On the contrary, this is the first generation in decades that will not fair as well as their parents in either life-expectancy or income. This government has left them a legacy of war and environmental catastrophe on a world scale! Their only hope for survival is their determination to make changes and protest this dreadful heritage.
The whole world is watching what you do now as they watched with pride at what Foster High School students did on November 16th.
We therefore demand that you:
1. Reinstate the teacher Brett Rogers who has been put on
administrative leave!
2. Drop the disciplinary hearings against all six teachers who
face investigations!
3. Support the initiative and moral fortitude of students who
took a stand against the effects caused by this war to their
communities!
4. Take no disciplinary action against students who participated
in the walkout!
Sincerely,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, bauaw.org
San Francisco, California
415-824-8730 ]
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4) French Youths Clash With Police
By ARIANE BERNARD
November 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/world/europe/27paris.html?ref=world
PARIS, Nov. 26 — The French police were bracing for new violence today in a troubled Paris suburb after arson and rioting erupted overnight Sunday when two youths were killed in a collision with a police car.
The clashes broke out after two teenagers on a motorbike collided with a police car Sunday in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, about 12 miles north of Paris.
Within an hour of the accident, bands of youths began stoning police and firemen, and set four buildings ablaze, including a police station and a McDonald’s restaurant. More than 28 cars were torched, many at a garage, officials said.
Twenty-five police officers were injured, including one with a punctured lung, and nine people were arrested, mainly in Villiers-le-Bel.
The violence spread to nearby Sarcelles, and some damage was reported in other towns.
“We’ve talked to our colleagues from the domestic intelligence services, who themselves talked to their contacts, in particular in schools, and what they are hearing are the little brothers saying, ‘My big brother told me to stay home tonight because they are going to destroy everything,’ ” said Patrick Trotignon, who is in charge of the Paris area for the Synergie Officiers police union.
The circumstances recalled the accidental deaths of two teenagers in October 2005 in another Paris suburb that sparked a three-week wave of unrest across France.
The two teenagers who died Sunday were identified in the French media only as Moushin, 15, and Larami, 16. They were riding on a small motorbike, or ‘dirt-bike,’ in Villiers-le-Bel in the Val d’Oise department, north of Paris.
Police described the accident as probably an ordinary crash at an intersection. “What is almost entirely sure is that it wasn’t a chase with the youths, but that they crashed into each other at the intersection,” said a police spokeswoman for the Val d’Oise region. “There is a theory that the youths ignored the right of way.” Mr. Trotignon said the kind of motorbike that was involved was not approved for road use.
The two teenagers who died in October 2005 were electrocuted in a power station in another suburb, Clichy-sous-Bois, while fleeing police.
An investigation concluded that officers had chased the two youths on foot, though not as far as the power station. In the ensuing troubles, which spread to many urban areas in France, thousands of cars were burned and dozens of public buildings were set on fire.
Since the 2005 riots, authorities have increased funding to help the suburban areas which often suffer from poverty and high unemployment rates; in some of the largely immigrant areas, youth unemployment is close to 50 percent.
Earlier this month, police found three gas cylinders loaded with screws and bolts in the troubled suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, north of Paris. One had been placed in a trash container which was later set ablaze, in what was considered to have been a trap for the police.
“There’s an escalation,” said Mr. Trotignon, speaking about the discovery of the gas cylinders in Aulnay in light of the events in Villiers-le-Bel.
“It wasn’t just to scare us off, it was to kill. And now we’ve got an officer who’s got a perforated lung.”
Mr. Trotignon said he expected “that tonight we’re going in for more,” with the chance that violence will spread to nearby towns. “We’ve been saying for eons that we’re sitting on a powder keg,” he said.
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5) New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India
By HEATHER TIMMONS and J. ADAM HUGGINS
November 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/nyregion/26manhole.html?ref=nyregion
NEW DELHI — Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.
Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one of West Bengal’s many foundries relied on strength and bare hands rather than machinery. Safety precautions were barely in evidence; just a few pairs of eye goggles were seen in use on a recent visit. The foundry, Shakti Industries in Haora, produces manhole covers for Con Edison and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, as well as for departments in New Orleans and Syracuse.
The scene was as spectacular as it was anachronistic: flames, sweat and liquid iron mixing in the smoke like something from the Middle Ages. That’s what attracted the interest of a photographer who often works for The New York Times — images that practically radiate heat and illustrate where New York’s manhole covers are born.
When officials at Con Edison — which buys a quarter of its manhole covers, roughly 2,750 a year, from India — were shown the pictures by the photographer, they said they were surprised.
“We were disturbed by the photos,” said Michael S. Clendenin, director of media relations with Con Edison. “We take worker safety very seriously,” he said.
Now, the utility said, it is rewriting international contracts to include safety requirements. Contracts will now require overseas manufacturers to “take appropriate actions to provide a safe and healthy workplace,” and to follow local and federal guidelines in India, Mr. Clendenin said.
At Shakti, street grates, manhole covers and other castings were scattered across the dusty yard. Inside, men wearing sandals and shorts carried coke and iron ore piled high in baskets on their heads up stairs to the furnace feeding room.
On the ground floor, other men, often shoeless and stripped to the waist, waited with giant ladles, ready to catch the molten metal that came pouring out of the furnace. A few women were working, but most of the heavy lifting appeared to be left to the men.
The temperature outside the factory yard was more than 100 degrees on a September visit. Several feet from where the metal was being poured, the area felt like an oven, and the workers were slick with sweat.
Often, sparks flew from pots of the molten metal. In one instance they ignited a worker’s lungi, a skirtlike cloth wrap that is common men’s wear in India. He quickly, reflexively, doused the flames by rubbing the burning part of the cloth against the rest of it with his hand, then continued to cart the metal to a nearby mold.
Once the metal solidified and cooled, workers removed the manhole cover casting from the mold and then, in the last step in the production process, ground and polished the rough edges. Finally, the men stacked the covers and bolted them together for shipping.
“We can’t maintain the luxury of Europe and the United States, with all the boots and all that,” said Sunil Modi, director of Shakti Industries. He said, however, that the foundry never had accidents. He was concerned about the attention, afraid that contracts would be pulled and jobs lost.
New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection gets most of its sewer manhole covers from India. When asked in an e-mail message about the department’s source of covers, Mark Daly, director of communications for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, said that state law requires the city to buy the lowest-priced products available that fit its specifications.
Mr. Daly said the law forbids the city from excluding companies based on where a product is manufactured.
Municipalities and utility companies often buy their manhole covers through middlemen who contract with foreign foundries; New York City buys the sewer covers through a company in Flushing, Queens.
Con Edison said it did not plan to cancel any of its contracts with Shakti after seeing the photographs, though it has been phasing out Indian-made manhole covers for several years because of changes in design specifications.
Manhole covers manufactured in India can be anywhere from 20 to 60 percent cheaper than those made in the United States, said Alfred Spada, the editor and publisher of Modern Casting magazine and the spokesman for the American Foundry Society. Workers at foundries in India are paid the equivalent of a few dollars a day, while foundry workers in the United States earn about $25 an hour.
The men making New York City’s manhole covers seemed proud of their work and pleased to be photographed doing it. The production manager at the Shakti Industries factory, A. Ahmed, was enthusiastic about the photographer’s visit, and gave a full tour of the facilities, stopping to measure the temperature of the molten metal — some 1,400 degrees Centigrade, or more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
India’s 1948 Factory Safety Act addresses cleanliness, ventilation, waste treatment, overtime pay and fresh drinking water, but the only protective gear it specifies is safety goggles.
Mr. Modi said that his factory followed basic safety regulations and that workers should not be barefoot. “It must have been a very hot day” when the photos were taken, he said.
Some labor activists in India say that injuries are far higher than figures show. “Many accidents are not being reported,” said H. Mahadevan, the deputy general secretary for the All-India Trade Union Congress.
Safety, overall, is “not taken as a serious concern by employers or trade unions,” Mr. Mahadevan added.
A. K. Anand, the director of the Institute of Indian Foundrymen in New Delhi, a trade association, said in a phone interview that foundry workers were “not supposed to be working barefoot,” but he could not answer questions about what safety equipment they should be wearing.
At the Shakti Industries foundry, “there are no accidents, never ever. Period,” Mr. Modi said. “By God’s will, it’s all fine.”
Heather Timmons reported from New Delhi and J. Adam Huggins from Haora, India.
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6) Police and Protesters Clash Near Paris
By KATRIN BENNHOLD
November 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/world/europe/28riot.html?hp
VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France, Nov. 27 — Dodging rocks and projectiles, the police lined the streets of this tense suburb Tuesday where angry youths have vowed to seek revenge for the deaths of two teenagers who died in a weekend collision with a police car.
Police union officials warned that the violence was escalating into urban guerrilla warfare, with shotguns aimed at officers — a rare sight in the last major outbreak of suburban unrest, in 2005.
More than 80 have been injured so far — four of them as a result of gunfire — and the rage was still simmering Tuesday afternoon. Inside the city hall of Villiers-le-Bel, a group of visiting mayors appealed for calm while police officers dodged rocks outside.
“We are sitting targets,” said Sophie Bar, a local police officer who stood guard outside. “They were throwing rocks at us and it was impossible to see where they came from. They just came raining over the roof.”
The violence was set off by the deaths of two teenagers on a motorbike who were killed in a crash with a police car Sunday night. The scene, with angry youths targeting the police mostly with firebombs, rocks and other projectiles, was reminiscent of three weeks of rioting in 2005.
But senior police officials warned that the violence was more intense this time.
“Things have changed since 2005,” said Joachim Masanet, secretary general of the police wing of the UNSA trade union. “We have crossed a red line. When these kids aim their guns at police officers, they want to kill them. They are no longer afraid to shoot a policeman. We are only on the second day since the accident, and already they are shooting guns at the police.”
Some young men stood by the charred timbers of the town’s police station, laughing and surveying the damage.
Cem, 18, of Turkish origin, declined to give his name because he feared police reprisals. But he and his friend Karim, of Algerian descent, said they both had participated in rioting over the past two days.
“That’s just the beginning,” Cem said. “This is a war. There is no mercy. We want two cops dead.”
Karim added: “The police brought this on themselves. They will regret it.”
Six of the officers hurt in the clashes Monday were in serious condition, according to Francis Debuire, a police union official. Four were wounded by gunfire, including one who lost an eye and another who suffered a shattered shoulder.
The biggest risk, the police say, is that the violence will spread. In 2005, unrest cascaded through more than 300 towns, leaving 10,000 cars burned and 4,700 people arrested.
As night fell in Villiers-le-Bel, the anxiety was evident. Strangers warned people to hide their cellphones because youths were snatching them on the street. People hurried to their homes, while some gathered in knots on street corners. Police helicopters circling public housing developments spotted stockpiles of rocks stacked along the roofs.
Naim Masoud, 39, a teaching assistant in Villiers-le-Bel, said that, in her school, even 8-year-old children talked about racism and discrimination by the police.
“It will take a lot more than riot police to cure this neighborhood,” she said. “These children feel like foreigners. It is inexcusable what they are doing, but the seeds are deep.”
Some of the fiercest clashes Monday took place near a bakery where one of the dead, a 16-year-old known only as Larami because his identity has not been made public, was an apprentice.
Habib Friaa, the owner of the bakery, said Larami had been highly regarded. He was stunned, he added, to learn Monday about his death.
“It’s quite something to say goodbye to somebody on Saturday and learn two days later that he died. We’re like a family here because we’re a small business,” Mr. Friaa said, noting that Larami “was not a delinquent. He was somebody who was learning our profession and he was serious.”
Ariane Bernard contributed reporting from Villiers-le-Bel.
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7) Palestinians Protest Peace Talks
By ISABEL KERSHNER
November 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/world/middleeast/28palestinians.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
JERUSALEM, Nov. 27 — A Palestinian man was killed in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday as Palestinian Authority police officers loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas fired their weapons to disperse protests against the Middle East peace gathering taking place in Annapolis, Md.
In Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic group Hamas, huge crowds estimated at over 100,000 came out to protest the Annapolis meeting.
The circumstances of the man’s death were not immediately clear, but medical workers said he had been shot in the chest, according to news reports. The protesters and the police were also reported to have been throwing stones at each other.
A police spokesman in Hebron sent a statement to reporters denying that the police had killed the man, identified as Hisham al-Baradei, in his 30s.
The Hebron demonstration was one of several in the West Bank organized by Hizb-ut-Tahrir — the Islamic Liberation Party — a small, unarmed, pan-Islamic group that advocates the return of the Caliphate and that has recently become more active in the Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian Authority had announced a ban on all demonstrations and press conferences during the Annapolis meeting, enforcing a state of emergency it declared after Hamas took over Gaza in a brief factional war in June.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir is independent of Hamas and criticized it for having participated in Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.
In Ramallah, the police used batons, tear gas and fired into the air to hold back about 300 Islamic demonstrators as they tried to march from a city mosque. Dozens of protesters were arrested; some journalists were also beaten and briefly detained. Police officers had broken up a smaller demonstration by secularist groups earlier in the day.
Inter-Palestinian violence has mostly been confined to Gaza and is much rarer in the Palestinian cities of the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority, dominated by Mr. Abbas’s Fatah party, holds sway.
In early November members of the Hamas police in Gaza shot and killed seven Fatah supporters when they broke up a rally on the anniversary of the death of the longtime Palestinian leader and Fatah founder, Yasir Arafat.
Baher Assaf, a spokesman for Hizb-ut-Tahrir, said in a statement that the Palestinian Authority police had “used brutal force” against the marchers in the West Bank, including live ammunition, killing one and wounding “hundreds.”
Mr. Assaf called the Annapolis meeting, where Israeli and Palestinian leaders announced their intention to launch serious peace talks, “a conspiracy against the Islamic nation.”
The Palestinian Authority minister for prisoner affairs, Ashraf Ajrami, told the Associated Press that there was a “plot to harm the standing” of the Abbas government while the Palestinian president is in the international limelight. Mr. Ajrami said the government “must investigate the events surrounding the incident” in which the protester died.
Protesters aside, many Palestinians in Ramallah seemed apathetic about the Annapolis meeting. At the downtown Palestine coffee shop, Al-Jazeera news channel was on mute as customers played cards and listened to Arabic music over the radio. The proprietor, Jamal, 48, said people were not interested in Annapolis “because there were so many conferences that led to nothing.”
A Hamas protester in Gaza, Asma Al-Fayoumi, 17, said: “There is a division among Palestinians. There are those after food, life, those that are materialistic, like Abbas, and there are those like us who are seeking life after death,” she said.
The large turnout in Gaza pleased her. “There are those who still enjoy good conscience,” she said.
Early Tuesday, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man who had been moving close to them in the southern Gaza Strip, an army spokeswoman said. He turned out to have been unarmed, she said. Hamas said that three of its militants were killed in two other clashes with Israeli forces in Gaza.
Khaled Abu Aker contributed reporting from Ramallah and Taghreed El-Khodary from Gaza City.
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Canada: Man Dies After Shock From Taser
By IAN AUSTEN
World Briefing | Americas
November 23, 2007
A 45-year-old man who had been arrested on assault charges died, about a day after the police in Nova Scotia used a Taser to subdue him. The man was the third person to die in Canada in just over a month after being shocked by Tasers wielded by police officers. Justice Minister Cecil Clarke ordered a review of the use of the hand-held stun guns following the man’s death, the latest in a series of government inquiries into the use of Tasers by the police. Widespread outrage in Canada followed the broadcast of a video last month that showed another man being shocked at least twice with Tasers at a Vancouver airport by officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The man, a Polish immigrant who appeared extremely confused on the video, died. A Montreal man also died last month, three days after he was subdued by the police with a Taser while being arrested for drunken driving.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/world/americas/23briefs-taser.html?ref=world
California: Cards for Immigrants
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lawmakers have given final approval to a law making San Francisco the nation’s largest city to issue identification cards to illegal immigrants. The Board of Supervisors voted 10 to 1 to create a municipal ID program to help residents without driver’s licenses obtain access to services and feel secure dealing with local law enforcement. The measure is modeled after a program that started last summer in New Haven, Conn. Supporters say that along with immigrants, elderly people who no longer drive and transgender individuals whose driver’s licenses no longer reflect their appearances also would benefit from having the cards. The measure goes into effect in August.
November 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/us/21brfs-CARDSFORIMMI_BRF.html?ref=us
Manhattan: Teachers Criticize Review Unit
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, called for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor to apologize to the city’s 80,000 teachers yesterday, a day after the chancellor sent principals an e-mail message announcing the formation of teams of lawyers and consultants meant to help principals remove poorly performing tenured teachers. Ms. Weingarten said that the message seemed timed to the release yesterday of national reading and math test scores showing little progress among New York City students. “The first speck of bad news, all of the sudden they go after teachers,” Ms. Weingarten said. The mayor said yesterday that removing tenured teachers was “a last alternative.”
November 16, 2007
New York
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/nyregion/16mbrfs-TEACHERS.html?ref=nyregion
Waterboarding and U.S. History
by William Loren Katz
"U.S. officers in the Philippines routinely resorted to what they called ‘the water cure.'"
November 14, 2007
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=435&Itemid=1
Writers Set to Strike, Threatening Hollywood
By MICHAEL CIEPLY and BROOKS BARNES
November 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/business/media/02cnd-hollywood.html?ref=us
Raids Traumatized Children, Report Says
By JULIA PRESTON
Hundreds of young American children suffered hardship and psychological trauma after immigration raids in the last year in which their parents were detained or deported, according to a report by the National Council of La Raza and the Urban Institute. Of 500 children directly affected in three factory raids examined in the report in which 900 adult immigrants were arrested, a large majority were United States citizens younger than 10. With one or both parents deported, the children had reduced economic support, and many remained in the care of relatives who feared contact with the authorities, the study said. Although the children were citizens, few families sought public assistance for them, the study found.
November 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/us/01brfs-raids.html?ref=us
Newark: Recalled Meat Found in Store
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Jersey consumer safety officials said yesterday that state inspectors bought recalled frozen hamburgers at a store weeks after the meat was recalled because of fears of E. coli contamination. The 19 boxes were bought in Union City on Wednesday, nearly four weeks after the manufacturer, the Topps Meat Company, issued a nationwide recall of 21.7 million pounds of frozen patties. Officials would not name the store yesterday because of the investigation, and investigators have not determined when the store received the meat, said Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for the state’s Division of Consumer Affairs.
New Jersey
October 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/nyregion/26mbrfs-meat.html?ref=nyregion
Florida: Sentence for Lionel Tate Is Upheld
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
An appeals court has upheld a 30-year probation violation sentence for Lionel Tate, who for a time was the youngest person to be sentenced to life in an American prison. The ruling Wednesday by the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach sets the stage for Mr. Tate’s trial on robbery charges that could carry another life term. Mr. Tate, 20, had sought to have the sentence thrown out based on procedural mistakes. Mr. Tate was 12 at the time of the 1999 beating death of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick. An appeals court overturned his murder conviction in 2004, and he was released but was on probation. In May 2005, the police said, Mr. Tate robbed a pizza delivery man, and he was found to be in possession of a gun even before that, a violation of his probation.
October 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/us/26brfs-lionel.html?ref=us
Submarine’s Commanding Officer Is Relieved of His Duties
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The commanding officer of the nuclear-powered submarine Hampton was relieved of his duty because of a loss of confidence in his leadership, the Navy said. The officer, Cmdr. Michael B. Portland, was relieved of duty after an investigation found the ship had failed to do daily safety checks on its nuclear reactor for a month and falsified records to cover up the omission. Commander Portland will be reassigned, said Lt. Alli Myrick, a public affairs officer. [Aren't you glad they are out there making the world safe for democracy?...bw]
October 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/us/26brfs-sub.html?ref=us
Britain: New Claim for Sovereignty in Antarctica
By REUTERS
World Briefing | Europe
Britain plans to submit a claim to the United Nations to extend its Antarctic territory by 386,000 square miles, the Foreign Office said. Argentina wants some of it, and its foreign minister said his country was working on its own presentation. May 13, 2009, is the deadline for countries to stake their claims in what some experts are describing as the last big carve-up of maritime territory in history.
October 18, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/world/europe/18briefs-claim.html?ref=world
California: Veto of 3 Criminal Justice Bills
By SOLOMON MOORE
Bucking a national trend toward stronger safeguards against wrongful convictions, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed bills that would have explored new eyewitness identification guidelines, required electronic recordings of police interrogations and mandated corroboration of jailhouse informant testimony. Mr. Schwarzenegger cited his concern that the three bills would hamper local law enforcement authorities, a contention shared by several state police and prosecutor associations. The proposals had been recommended by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, a bipartisan body of police officials, prosecutors and defense lawyers charged by the State Senate to address the most common causes of wrongful convictions and recommend changes in criminal justice procedures.
October 16, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/us/16brfs-VETOOF3CRIMI_BRF.html?ref=us
Illinois: Chicagoans May Have to Dig Deeper
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicagoans would have to spend 10 cents more on a bottle of water, pay higher property taxes and spend more for liquor under Mayor Richard M. Daley’s proposed budget for next year. Also financing Mr. Daley’s $5.4 billion budget are higher water and sewer fees and more expensive vehicle stickers for people driving large vehicles, $120 a vehicle sticker, up from $90. Mr. Daley announced his budget to aldermen, calling it a last resort to ask taxpayers for more money. His budget closes a $196 million deficit and avoids service cuts and layoffs. Budget hearings will be held, and a city spending plan will require a vote by aldermen.
Midwest
October 11, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/us/11brfs-CHICAGO.html?ref=us
Wisconsin Iraq vet returns medals to Rumsfeld
By David Solnit, Courage to Resist / Army of None Project.
"I swore an oath to protect the constitution ... not to become a pawn in your New American Century."
September 26, 2007
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS AND INFORMATION
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Russell Means Speaking at the Transform Columbus Day Rally
"If voting could do anything it would be illegal!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Lri1-6aoY
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Stop the Termination or the Cherokee Nation
http://groups.msn.com/BayAreaIndianCalendar/activismissues.msnw?action=get_message&mview=1&ID_Message=5580
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We Didn't Start the Fire
http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html
I Can't Take it No More
http://lefti.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html#9214483115237950361
The Art of Mental Warfare
http://artofmentalwarfare.com/pog/artofmentalwarfarecom-the-warning/
MONEY AS DEBT
http://video. google.com/ videoplay? docid=-905047436 2583451279
http://www.moneyasd ebt.net/
UNCONSTITUTIONAL
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6582099850410121223&pr=goog-sl
IRAQ FOR SALE
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6621486727392146155
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Port of Olympia Anti-Militarization Action Nov. 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOkn2Fg7R8w
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"They have a new gimmick every year. They're going to take one of their boys, black boys, and put him in the cabinet so he can walk around Washington with a cigar. Fire on one end and fool on the other end. And because his immediate personal problem will have been solved he will be the one to tell our people: 'Look how much progress we're making. I'm in Washington, D.C., I can have tea in the White House. I'm your spokesman, I'm your leader.' While our people are still living in Harlem in the slums. Still receiving the worst form of education.
"But how many sitting here right now feel that they could [laughs] truly identify with a struggle that was designed to eliminate the basic causes that create the conditions that exist? Not very many. They can jive, but when it comes to identifying yourself with a struggle that is not endorsed by the power structure, that is not acceptable, that the ground rules are not laid down by the society in which you live, in which you are struggling against, you can't identify with that, you step back.
"It's easy to become a satellite today without even realizing it. This country can seduce God. Yes, it has that seductive power of economic dollarism. You can cut out colonialism, imperialism and all other kind of ism, but it's hard for you to cut that dollarism. When they drop those dollars on you, you'll fold though."
—MALCOLM X, 1965
http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=987
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A little gem:
Michael Moore Faces Off With Stephen Colbert [VIDEO]
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/57492/
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LAPD vs. Immigrants (Video)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/ff/qr?term=lapd&Submit=S&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Search&st=s
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Dr. Julia Hare at the SOBA 2007
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/proudtobeblack2/
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"We are far from that stage today in our era of the absolute
lie; the complete and totalitarian lie, spread by the
monopolies of press and radio to imprison social
consciousness." December 1936, "In 'Socialist' Norway,"
by Leon Trotsky: “Leon Trotsky in Norway” was transcribed
for the Internet by Per I. Matheson [References from
original translation removed]
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/12/nor.htm
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Wealth Inequality Charts
http://www.faireconomy.org/research/wealth_charts.html
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MALCOLM X: Oxford University Debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmzaaf-9aHQ
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"There comes a times when silence is betrayal."
--Martin Luther King
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YouTube clip of Che before the UN in 1964
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtATT8GXkWg&mode=related&search
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The Wealthiest Americans Ever
NYT Interactive chart
JULY 15, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/business/20070715_GILDED_GRAPHIC.html
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New Orleans After the Flood -- A Photo Gallery
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=795
This email was sent to you as a service, by Roland Sheppard.
Visit my website at: http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret
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[For some levity...Hans Groiner plays Monk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51bsCRv6kI0
...bw]
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Which country should we invade next?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3g_zqz3VjY
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My Favorite Mutiny, The Coup
http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic
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Michael Moore- The Awful Truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeOaTpYl8mE
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Morse v. Frederick Supreme Court arguments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_LsGoDWC0o
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Free Speech 4 Students Rally - Media Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCjfod8yuw
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'My son lived a worthwhile life'
In April 2003, 21-year old Tom Hurndall was shot in the head
in Gaza by an Israeli soldier as he tried to save the lives of three
small children. Nine months later, he died, having never
recovered consciousness. Emine Saner talks to his mother
Jocelyn about her grief, her fight to make the Israeli army
accountable for his death and the book she has written
in his memory.
Monday March 26, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2042968,00.html
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Introducing...................the Apple iRack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KWYYIY4jQ
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"A War Budget Leaves Every Child Behind."
[A T-shirt worn by some teachers at Roosevelt High School
in L.A. as part of their campaign to rid the school of military
recruiters and JROTC--see Article in Full item number 4, below...bw]
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THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VIDEO DESTRIBUTED BY U.S. LABOR AGAINST
THE WAR (USLAW) FEATURING SPEAKERS AT THE JANUARY 27TH
MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOCUSING ON THE DEMAND - BRING
THE TROOPS HOME NOW.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6935451906479097836&hl=en
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George Takai responds to Tim Hardaway's homophobic remarks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcJoJZIcQW4&eurl_
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Iran
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html
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Another view of the war. A link from Amer Jubran
http://d3130.servadmin.com/~leeflash/
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A Girl Like Me
7:08 min
Youth Documentary
Kiri Davis, Director, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, Producer
Winner of the Diversity Award
Sponsored by Third Millennium Foundation
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1091431409617440489
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Film/Song about Angola
http://www.prisonactivist.org/angola/
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"200 million children in the world sleep in the streets today.
Not one of them is Cuban."
(A sign in Havana)
Venceremos
View sign at bottom of page at:
http://www.cubasolidarity.net/index.html
[Thanks to Norma Harrison for sending this...bw]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Cheyenne and Arapaho oral histories hammer history's account of the
Sand Creek Massacre"
CENTENNIAL, CO -- A new documentary film based on an award-winning
documentary short film, "The Sand Creek Massacre", and driven by
Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho people who tell their version about
what happened during the Sand Creek Massacre via their oral
histories, has been released by Olympus Films+, LLC, a Centennial,
Colorado film company.
"You have done an extraordinary job" said Margie Small, Tobient
Entertainment, " on the Colorado PBS episode, the library videos for
public schools and libraries, the trailer, etc...and getting the
story told and giving honor to those ancestors who had to witness
this tragic and brutal attack...film is one of the best ways."
"The images shown in the film were selected for native awareness
value" said Donald L. Vasicek, award-winning writer/filmmaker, "we
also focused on preserving American history on film because tribal
elders are dying and taking their oral histories with them. The film
shows a non-violent solution to problem-solving and 19th century
Colorado history, so it's multi-dimensional in that sense. "
Chief Eugene Blackbear, Sr., Cheyenne, who starred as Chief Black
Kettle in "The Last of the Dogmen" also starring Tom Berenger and
Barbara Hershey and "Dr. Colorado", Tom Noel, University of Colorado
history professor, are featured.
The trailer can be viewed and the film can be ordered for $24.95 plus
$4.95 for shipping and handling at http://www.fullduck.com/node/53.
Vasicek's web site, http://www.donvasicek.com, provides detailed
information about the Sand Creek Massacre including various still
images particularly on the Sand Creek Massacre home page and on the
proposal page.
Olympus Films+, LLC is dedicated to writing and producing quality
products that serve to educate others about the human condition.
Contact:
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
7078 South Fairfax Street
Centennial, CO 80122
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103
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A NEW LOOK AT U.S. RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS
Join us in a campaign to expose and stop the use
of these illegal weapons
http://poisondust.org/
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You may enjoy watching these.
In struggle
Che:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqcezl9dD2c
Leon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkFVV5X0p4
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FIGHTBACK! A Collection of Socialist Essays
By Sylvia Weinstein
http://www.walterlippmann.com/sylvia-weinstein-fightback-intro.html
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[The Scab
"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad,
and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with
which he made a scab."
"A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul,
a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue.
Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten
principles." "When a scab comes down the street,
men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and
the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out."
"No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there
is a pool of water to drown his carcass in,
or a rope long enough to hang his body with.
Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab.
For betraying his master, he had character enough
to hang himself." A scab has not.
"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver.
Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of
a commision in the british army."
The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife,
his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled
promise from his employer.
Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor
to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country;
a scab is a traitor to his God, his country,
his family and his class."
Author --- Jack London (1876-1916)...Roland Sheppard
http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret]
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END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!
Stop funding Israel's war against Palestine
Complete the form at the website listed below with your information.
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?
JServSessionIdr003=cga2p2o6x1.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=177
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Sand Creek Massacre
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=41
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html
On November 29, 1864, 700 Colorado troops savagely slaughtered
over 450 Cheyenne children, disabled, elders, and women in the
southeastern Colorado Territory under its protection. This act
became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. This film project
("The Sand Creek Massacre" documentary film project) is an
examination of an open wound in the souls of the Cheyenne
people as told from their perspective. This project chronicles
that horrific 19th century event and its affect on the 21st century
struggle for respectful coexistence between white and native
plains cultures in the United States of America.
Listed below are links on which you can click to get the latest news,
products, and view, free, "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" award-
winning documentary short. In order to create more native
awareness, particularly to save the roots of America's history,
please read the following:
Some people in America are trying to save the world. Bless
them. In the meantime, the roots of America are dying.
What happens to a plant when the roots die? The plant dies
according to my biology teacher in high school. American's
roots are its native people. Many of America's native people
are dying from drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, hunger,
and disease, which was introduced to them by the Caucasian
male. Tribal elders are dying. When they die, their oral
histories go with them. Our native's oral histories are the
essence of the roots of America, what took place before
our ancestors came over to America, what is taking place,
and what will be taking place. It is time we replenish
America's roots with native awareness, else America
continues its decaying, and ultimately, its death.
You can help. The 22-MINUTE SAND CREEK MASSACRE
DOCUMENTARY PRESENTATION/EDUCATIONAL DVD IS
READY FOR PURCHASE! (pass the word about this powerful
educational tool to friends, family, schools, parents, teachers,
and other related people and organizations to contact
me (dvasicek@earthlink.net, 303-903-2103) for information
about how they can purchase the DVD and have me come
to their children's school to show the film and to interact
in a questions and answers discussion about the Sand
Creek Massacre.
Happy Holidays!
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=41
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html
SHOP:
http://www.manataka.org/page633.html
BuyIndies.com
donvasicek.com.Peace Articles at Libraryofpeace.org">
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