CNN Claims Iran Shot at a US Drone, Revealing the News Network's Mindset
Its Pentagon reporter parrots significant, inflammatory government claims
without an iota of skepticism or balance
by Glenn Greenwald
Barbara Starr, CNN's Pentagon reporter (more accurately known as: the Pentagon's
reporter at CNN), has an exciting exclusive today. Exclusively relying upon
"three senior officials" in the Obama
administration (all anonymous, needless to say), she claims that "two
Iranian Su-25 fighter jets fired on an unarmed US Air Force Predator
drone in the Persian Gulf last week," while "the drone was in
international airspace east of Kuwait . . . engaged in routine maritime
surveillance." The drone was not hit, but, says CNN, "the incident
raises fresh concerns within the Obama administration about Iranian
military aggression in crucial Gulf oil shipping lanes."
Iranian guards with the US RQ-170 Sentinel drone they claim to have brought down
electronically. Photo/AFPFirst things first: let us pause for a moment to extend
our thoughts and
prayers to this US drone. Although it was not physically injured, being
shot at by the Iranians - while it was doing nothing other than
peacefully minding its own business - must have been a very traumatic
experience. I think I speak on behalf of everyone, regardless of
political views, when I say that we all wish this brave hero a speedy
recovery and hope it is back in full health soon, protecting our
freedom.
The CNN report on this incident is revealing indeed. Every paragraph - literally
- contains nothing but mindless summaries of the claims of US government
officials. There is not an iota of skepticism about any of
the assertions, including how this incident happened, what the drone was doing
at the time, or where it took place. It is pure US government
press release - literally; I defy anyone to identify any differences if
the US government had issued its own press release directly rather than
issuing it masquerading as a leaked CNN report.
Most notably, CNN does not even bother with the pretense of trying to include
the claims of the Iranian government about what happened. There is no indication
that the self-described news outlet even made an
effort to contact Tehran to obtain their rendition of these events or
even confirmation that it occurred. It simply regurgitates the
accusations of anonymous US officials that Iran, with no provocation,
out of the blue decided to shoot at a US drone in international
airspace. (Although CNN does not mention it, last December Iran shot down a US
drone which, it claims (and the US does not deny) was in Iranian air space).
That CNN's prime mission is to serve the US government is hardly
news. But given the magnitude of these kinds of accusations - their
obvious ability, if not intent, to bolster animosity on the part of the
US public toward Iran and heighten tensions between the two nations -
shouldn't CNN at least pretend to be a bit more skeptical and
even-handed about how it is reporting these claims? Anonymous Bush
officials claim Saddam is reconstituting his nuclear program; anonymous
Obama officials claim Iran illegally shot at a US drone for no reason.
But nothing can top this sentence from CNN, intended to explain the
significance of this alleged event: "Iran has, at times, been
confrontational in the region." Yes, indeed they have - in stark
contrast to the peaceful United States, which never is. Or, as Jeremy
Scahill today, anticipating how Starr might present her report on-air on CNN
later today: "Iran, which has launched airstrikes in Pakistan,
Yemen, Somalia and [holding earpiece] -- wait, what's that, Wolf? Oh,
right. The US, which has..." Scahill was being a bit generous to Wolf
Blitzer there, who would be far more likely to add; "yes, that's right,
Barbara: and we should also remind our viewers how Iran, just a few
short years ago, attacked its neighbor Iraq, destroyed the country, and
then occupied it for almost a decade, showing how aggressive the mullahs are
willing to be in this region."
In case any of you thought the US media would change its future
behavior in light of the debacle during the run-up to the Iraq War -
and, really, were any of you thinking they would? - this is your answer. The
pre-Iraq-War behavior wasn't an abandonment of their purpose but
the supreme affirmation of it: to drape the claims of the US government
with independent credibility, dutifully serve its interests, and
contrive an appearance of a free press. This is our adversarial,
watchdog media in action.
Iranian evil
This all reminds me of a debate I did a couple years ago on MSNBC
with Arianna Huffington and the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart over Iran
and whether it should be viewed as an aggressor and enemy of the
US. For most of the debate, MSNBC kept showing scary video footage of a
test of a mid-range missile which Iran had just conducted, and then
Capehart picked up on that to tell me, in essence: how can you say Iran
isn't aggressive when they're testing these missiles? Yes, because,
clearly, countries of peace (such as the US and Israel) would never do something
as belligerent as testing missiles, much like no real Country of Peace would
ever want to acquire a nuclear weapon.
© 2012 Guardian/UK
Glenn Greenwald is a columnist on civil liberties and US national security
issues for the Guardian. A former constitutional lawyer, he
was until 2012 a contributing writer at Salon.  His most recent book is, With
Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and
Protect the Powerful. His other books include: Great American Hypocrites:
Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics,  A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs.
Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency, and How Would a Patriot Act?
Defending American Values from a President Run Amok. He is the recipient of the
first annual I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/08-12

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Earthquake-Causing Fracking to Be Allowed within 500 Feet of Nuclear Plants
By Washington's Blog
Global Research, October 22, 2012


Nuclear Plants Vulnerable to Earthquakes
The American government has officially stated that fracking can cause
earthquakes. Some fracking companies now admit this fact The scientific
community agrees. See this, this, this, this and this.
Earthquakes can – of course – damage nuclear power plants. For example, even
the operator of Fukushima and the Japanese government now admit that the nuclear
cores might have started melting down before the tsuanmi ever hit. More here.
Indeed, the fuel pools and rods at Fukushima appear to have “boiled”, caught
fire and/or exploded soon after the earthquake knocked out power systems. See
this, this, this, this and this. And fuel pools in the United States store an
average of ten times more radioactive fuel than stored at Fukushima, have
virtually no safety features, and are vulnerable to accidents and
terrorist attacks. And see this.
Indeed, American reactors may be even more vulnerable to earthquakes than
Fukushima.
But American nuclear “regulators” have allowed numerous nuclear power plants
to be built in earthquake zones:
Some plants are located in very high earthquake risk zones:
  And they have covered up the risks from earthquakes for years … just like the
Japanese regulators did. For example:
	 * The NRC won’t even begin conducting its earthquake study for Indian
Point nuclear power plant in New York until after relicensing is
complete in 2013, because the NRC doesn’t consider a big earthquake “a
serious risk”
	 * Congressman Markey has said there is a cover up. Specifically,
Markey alleges that the head of the NRC told everyone not to write down
risks they find from an earthquake greater than 6.0 (the plant was only
built to survive a 6.0 earthquake)
	 * We have 4 reactors in California – 2 at San Onofre 2 at San Luis Obisbo –
which are vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis
For example, Diablo Canyon is located on numerous earthquake faults,
and a state legislator and seismic expert says it could turn into
California’s Fukushima:
 On July 26th 2011 the California Energy
Commission held hearings concerning the state’s nuclear safety. During
those hearings, the Chairman of the Commission asked governments experts whether
or not they felt the facilities could withstand the maximum
credible quake. The response was that they did not know.This is similar to what
happened at Fukushima: seismologists dire warnings were ignored (and see this.)
Yet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn’t even take earthquake risk into
account when deciding whether or not to relicense plants like Diablo Canyon.
Are They Fracking With Us?
American nuclear regulators are allowing earthquake-inducing fracking to be
conducted mere feet from nuclear power plants.
As the Herald Standard reports:
Chesapeake Energy has a permit to frack just one mile from the Beaver Valley
Nuclear Power Station in Shippingport. Whether that is cause for alarm, experts
can’t say.
>***
>“Hydraulic fracturing near a nuclear plant is probably not a concern
under normal circumstances,” [Richard Hammack, a scientist at the
Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory] said. “If
there is a pre-stress fault that you happen to lubricate there (with
fracking solution), that is the only thing that might result in
something that is (seismically) measurable.”
That’s not very reassuring, given that “lubrication” of faults is the main
mechanism by which fracking causes earthquakes. (Indeed,  the point is
illustrated by the analogous fact that leading Japanese seismologists say that
the Fukushima earthquake “lubricated” nearby faults, making a giant
earthquake more likely than ever.)
And as Akron Beacon Journal notes, fracking is allowed with 500 feet of nuclear
plants:
“We’re not aware of any potential impacts and don’t
expect any,” said FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young today. “We see
no reason to be particularly concerned.”
>***
>[But]experts can’t say if the proposed well so close to two nuclear power
plants is cause for concern.
>***
>DEP spokesperson John Poister told the Shale Reporter that there are no
required setbacks specifically relating to a required distance between such
shale wells and nuclear facilities, just a blanket regulation requiring a
500-foot setback from any building to a natural gas well.
Brilliant …

http://www.globalresearch.ca/earthquake-causing-fracking-to-be-allowed-within-50\
0-feet-of-nuclear-plants/5309229


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Do you really believe the pesticide and junk food companies would spend
$46 MILLION trying to save you money? (is the Pope Catholic?)

I note, if you have enough money you can lie like crazy and break the law
and cite US Government and University backing, but if the organic industry
had said the FDA backed them there would be fins, organic farmlands would
have pesticides in them, and jail time would have resulted.

Scott

http://www.alternet.org/print/food/did-monsanto-trick-california-voters

  AlterNet [1] / By Ocean Robbins [2]

Did Monsanto Trick California Voters?
November 8, 2012

California could have been the first state in the nation to mandate the
labeling of genetically engineered foods. We would have joined more than
60 countries [3] where consumers have the right to know if their food has
been genetically modified. But the prospect of Proposition 37 terrified
the junk food and pesticide companies that want to keep us in the dark
about what we eat.

The "No on 37" campaign spent $46 million [4] burying the state's voters
in an avalanche of misleading ads and outright falsehoods. Their efforts
defeated the proposition, 53 percent to 47 percent.

But Monsanto and their peeps didn't just spend $46 million promoting their
opinion. They also lied and got away with it. Check out these examples:

1) They illegally included the FDA logo in a "No on 37" mailing to state
residents, and made up a quote from the FDA, which the FDA refuted [5].
The FDA did not and cannot express an opinion on ballot initiatives.

2) They used the Stanford logo [6] in TV ads and mailers, when the
University also did not take a stand on the issue. And they said [6] that
Henry I. Miller, their hired gun, is a professor at Stanford when in
reality, he works for the Hoover Institution -- which rents office space
on the campus.

3) They paid a PR firm with expertise in fighting recycling legislation
(on behalf of the soda pop industry) to generate a misleading [7] "study
[8]" that was designed to show the proposition raising food prices by
hundreds of dollars per state resident per year. This despite independent
economic analysis [9] concluding that it would not raise prices in any
meaningful way, and that in Europe, mandated labeling was not linked
[10]to an increase in food prices. (Do you really believe the pesticide
and junk food companies would spend $46 million trying to save you money?)

4) They said there have never been any documented ill-effects from GMO
consumption. But many allege that 37 direct human deaths [11] and 1,500
disabilities linked to a toxic batch of the supplement Tryptophan [12]were
caused by a genetically engineered strain of bacteria used in production.
And there are numerous reports of livestock that have died [13] as a
result of grazing on GMO cotton. There could be far more widespread
ill-effects, but without labeling, it's nearly impossible to find out
conclusively.

5) They said Prop 37 was full of exemptions for special interests. But in
reality, the exemptions [14] were modeled after those adopted throughout
the European Union and every other country that calls for labeling. For
instance, livestock that are fed GMO grains don't have to be labeled
genetically engineered unless the animal, itself, is genetically
engineered. That's not a special interest exemption -- it's basic science.

What's Next For The Food Movement?

In the last decade, the movement for healthy, sustainable food has been
growing exponentially [15], with consumption of organic foods growing from
$8 billion [16] in 2000 to $31 billion [17] in 2011. We've seen an equally
dramatic rise in the number of farmer's markets and CSAs. Still, it's a
big jump to move from 4 percent market share, to changing national food
policy. Tobacco was found to be harmful to health in 1950, and it took
nearly half a century to meaningfully change laws.

The food movement is growing fast, but as a political force, it's still in
its infancy. Big agribusiness still controls the purse strings in
Congress, and runs the show at the FDA. At least for now.

An ABC News poll [18] found that 93 percent of Americans want to know if
their food is genetically engineered. Even after a narrow loss against a
heavily financed and deeply entrenched food industry, the rapidly growing
food movement may be just getting started.

"The arc of history is long," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us, "but it
bends towards justice." As we've seen time and time again, when enough
people demand it, eventually, change does come.

See more stories tagged with:
prop37 [19],
monsanto [20],
california [21],
gmo [22],
food [23]
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/food/did-monsanto-trick-california-voters

Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/ocean-robbins
[3]
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/can-campaign-ads-convince-vo\
ters-not-to-care-whats-in-their-food/263673/
[4]
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prop37-genetic-food-labeling-20121108,0,75\
19439.story
[5]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/05/california-gmo-idUSL1E8M2DGD20121105
[6]
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/04/business/la-fi-mo-anti-proposition-37-ad\
-pulled-20121004
[7]
http://www.mercurynews.com/elections/ci_21847838/reality-check-anti-proposition-\
37-ad-genetically-engineered
[8]
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/food-fight-over-label-genetical\
ly-engineered
[9]
http://www.anh-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/GE-Food-Act-Costs-Assessment.p\
df
[10]
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/library/speeches/speech114_en.pdf
[11]
http://todayyesterdayandtomorrow.wordpress.com/2007/06/09/gm-tryptophan-ems-kill\
ed-37-and-permanently-disabled-1500-people/
[12]
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-dangers/health-risks/L-tryptophan/intro\
duction
[13]
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Syngenta_Charged_for_Covering_Up_Livestock_Deaths_from_G\
M_Corn.php
[14]
http://truth-out.org/news/item/12238-opponents-of-californias-gmo-prop-have-hole\
s-in-their-loopholes
[15] http://www.agmrc.org/markets__industries/food/organic-food-trends/
[16] http://www.packagedfacts.com/sitemap/product.asp?productid=143481
[17]
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2404-organic-industry-healthy-growth.html
[18] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97567&page=1#.UJqdWmk-th7
[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/prop37
[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/monsanto
[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/california
[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/gmo
[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/food-0
[24] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
http://www.alternet.org/print/food/did-monsanto-trick-california-voters

The Progressive Conversations Series Presents

INTERFAITH FORUM ON ISLAMOPHOBIA

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11th - 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
At
Culver-Palms United Methodist Church
4464 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City  90230

With
Imam Muhammad Faqih
Reverend James Lawson
Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak
Moderated by Estee Chandler

Free to the Public!
Suggested Donation $10/$5
No One Turned Away

The week after Chicago congressman Joe Walsh claimed, "There is a radical
strain of Islam in this country, trying to kill Americans every week," there
were two attacks in the Chicago suburbs, one at a mosque, the other at an
Islamic school. In previous weeks, a mosque in Joplin, Missouri was burned
to the ground, and Sikh worshippers in Wisconsin were murdured "for looking
Muslim." In the wake of 9/11, Islamophobia-in both neoconservative and
liberal forms-has been an important ideological pillar of the "war on
terror." From cultural, theological, and political perspectives, our
speakers will deconstruct the most persistent myths about Islams and
Muslims. and examine the role Islamophobia plays in justifying war abroad
and political repression at home.

Off the 405 at Culver, south on Sepulveda.
Parking behind Church.

www.urinorthamerica.org/blog/2012/11/05/nov-11-3-pm-islamophobia-interfaith-
forum-in-los-angeles-coordinated-by-the-levantine-center






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Veteran's Day Service

At  The Church In Ocean Park
235 Hill Street, Santa Monica 90405

Sunday, November 11th
10:15 AM to 11:45 AM

Speaker is Ed Ellis

Ed is past President of Veterans for Peace Los Angeles and one of the
founders of the Arlington
West Memorial on Santa Monica Beach, a memorial put up every Sunday, for
nearly 9 years. He is
dedicated to educating the public about the human cost of war.

Rev. Janet Gollery McKeithen - janetmckeithen@...

www.facebook.com/events/383803768366253





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From: Alan Gilbert
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 11:08 PM
To: democratic-indv@...



Some
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/11/some-thoughts-on-obama
-stunning-defeat.html> thoughts on Obama: A stunning defeat for racists,
patriarchs, exploiters, homophobes and blowhards



I am - and most people I know are - enormously relieved and thrilled at
Obama's victory. These are some thoughts about it.

***

Bill O'Reilly spoke of the defeat of "traditional America" a "white
America." He spoke of the latinos as well as blacks who voted for Obama as
just wanting "stuff."

This is a standard pseudo-tea-party line (the Boston Tea party was an
integrated revolutionary crowd.). It is wrong in three ways. First, no "tea
party" advocate refuses social security, medicare or veterans benefits.
"Keep the government's hands off my social security" was an early tea-party
sign which captures the racist ninnie-dom of its aging, not to say doddering
"white" advocates.

That slogan is, of course, against the interests of people who believe it.
Fortunately, in Ohio, many working class white people didn't (even in the
South, I suspect, a lot of poorer white people didn't). And fortunately,
fewer unmarried white women - a growing per cent of voters - and married
white women didn't.

Second, nobody gets bigger breaks or more "welfare" from the government than
billionaires. They get special deals so they can hide their profits overseas
from taxation. They get special tax incentives so the Romneys pay a lower
tax rate, if any, on their multimillions than any of the people who clean up
their many mansions.

Third, the executives at Goldman Sachs, AIG and Bain, for example, make
money largely through speculation and gutting other people's jobs. They are
literally parasites or speculators - the creatures of "derivatives" and
"credit default swaps" - who produce nothing and wrecked the world economy
to boot.

There is another category of capitalists who produce something (Apple being
a leading example). At their plant in China (Foxconn), however, 14 workers
threw themselves off the roof this summer...

There is thus exploitation of people who actually work, physically, hard, at
little pay, under coercion, often in despair, in the production of bright
i-phones and computers. Many ordinary Americans are among their number.

Bill O'Reilly is a blowhard who speaks of others who want "stuff" and gets
paid a lot of money for doing very little. His claims are projection,
psychologically speaking. For the takers and I mean particularly categories
two and three above, rich people, capitalists, bankers (some of whom have
some self-possession and decency, but unfortunately not many), what they say
of others is who they are.

It was their defeat. It was earned.

***

John Nichols emphasized this morning on Democracy Now that Obama's victory,
likely to be over 3 million votes, was decisive. It was a bigger victory
than that of JFK, Nixon, Carter or W in either term. Remember W's preening
agenda - made possible only by the corporate media - to spend his "political
capital" by stealing social security.

Obama needs to push decent immigration reform. Legalizing the immigrants who
are exploited here, some 11 or more million people, will further shift the
electorate over time - move further toward decency - and force the
"Republican" party or some successor to stop being the party of bigotry and
pseudo-Israeli, pseudo-Berlin "walls" against the world.

As Hurricane Sandy and the Colorado fires this spring underline, the oceans
are warming. There is structural causality of climate change, the rising sea
levels or increasing droughts - as well as particular causes - to the
increasing dangers of nature. Obama needs to act on this.

But Obama will not act on anything without pressure from below. So we need
to push hard on these things.

***

Presidential campaigns are always a spectacle. The attention and energy of
millions of people is absorbed in them. Doing something about politics from
below - as in the social movements like Occupy which made Obama a decent
candidate - are temporarily weakened, go by the board. Yet see the bracing
efforts of people on Occupy in flooded New York below.

***

After the election, even in victory, people are tired or need to have a
life, get back to work.

So fighting for what needs to be done becomes, in this way, more difficult,

***

In his victory speech, Obama spoke of what is supposedly exceptional in
America. This is partly true and partly just a de rigeuer politician's
slogan.

***

America has supported and is the biggest arms seller to oppressors abroad.
We need a campaign to awaken Americans to the plight of the Palestinians -
inside and outside the Occupied territories - by the state of Israel. We
need a decent two state solution or a one state solution with human rights
for all.

But Israel plays a destructive flaunter of international law role in the
world as well as in American politics, as the Netanyahu-Romney couple
showed. This needs to be stopped. See here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/song-is-hope.html> ,
here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-jericho-road-and-w
all.html> , here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/those-who-demonstrate-
every-friday.html> , here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/poem-mood.html> , here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-burning-of-olive-t
rees.html> , here
<http:/democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/in-village-of-budrus.ht
ml> , here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-is-autism-among-b
oys.html> , here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/jannas-song.html>
,here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-sickening-statistic-
58-of-israeli.html> , here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-response-from-hilary
-putnam-women-and.html>  and here
<http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/2012/11/founding-myths-view-fr
om-below.html> .

The settlements need to be challenged and reversed (or integrated - might be
nice to trade some of the $3 billion military aid, not just to move settlers
back to Israel, but to move Palestinians in...).

As the civil rights delegation of which I was a part saw, it will take a
determined anti-aparteid movement from below to change this.

***

Unlike other Presidents running for reelection, Obama did not bomb Iran or
support Israeli aggression during the campaign (see my Must Global Politics
Constrain Democracy?, ch. 1). But the dangers of American/Israeli
aggression, too, will take a movement from below to head off.

***

That Obama, as an able African-American and mixed race candidate, weathered
this storm - won despite 8% unemployment (15% in real terms, counting those
who have given up looking for work or have part-time and would jump at full
time jobs) and racism - the heart of the Romney campaign - is startling. The
so-called Republican party (the imperial authoritarian party) has been the
party of sabotage, of voting no to defeat Obama regardless of a common good.

That was what made Chris Christie's behavior in the storm, along with
Obama's, exemplary. The Republicans, as Norm Ornstein of the American
Enterprise Institute, has rightly argued recently, are the zealous party of
"no" at the expense of a common good, buoyed only by money, lies, the bought
press, and of course, the fantasies and fears of many ordinary people.

It comes from what Obama said - standing for opportunity and decency for all
Americans, inviting all into the community and from, for the most part,
extremely able campaigning. The campaigning is, as the Presidency, during
Hurricane Sandy, mainly efficient, doing competently what one might expect
someone to do though candidates/politicians often don't, and also inventive.

Most Americans want decency and opportunity for themselves and their
familieis, and see that this is something that needs extension to others.
And Americans are tired of imperial aggressions.

***

The Obama campaigns have been memorable for finding many new to politics,
lost or forgotten or overlooked, reaching out to them, enabling them to
mobilize. Their method reveals a new model of skill in figuring out how to
mobilize the vote. Here
<http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-cries-as-he-thanks-campai
gn-staff-after>  Obama says some interesting things about himself and to his
campaign workers about what they mean to him and about their future. It is
pretty good.

The Republicans might catch up technically. But they don't have the politics
to reach voters - "white" land is not a place so many of us want to be. And
of course, the spirit that mark the Obama campaigns is absent. Nonetheless,
it is only if they and the whole spectrum shifts now to the center (or
"left" in American terms) that they will be likely to win national
elections.

***

Was Obama a favorite against Hilary Clinton? Against McCain (it took two
losing wars and a financial collapse)? Against Romney?

Not a chance.

In terms of ability, this is a once in a lifetime candidate (team) and
President.

***

The economy seems to be picking up. Bill Clinton worried that Romney might -
if austerity and cutting the throats of poor people who actually spend the
money they earn in America and thus exert a multiplier impact on growth
(their buying leads to the employment of others who provide them goods) -
reap the benefits. He won't.

But the depression may continue. Obama needs to fight for genuine programs
for jobs and using federal moneys to prevent state layoffs of teachers and
other public workers.
Whether American capitalism can provide full employment at decent wages -
even with a new burst for the green economy - remains to be fought for and,
less likely, seen.

***

The movement that brought Obama back to power is not the reality of power in
Imperial Washington. The rich, as Barack says, always have a place at the
table, the militarists (a trillion dollar war complex) much more.

***

Obama's speech in Iowa was a bit wistful, looking back on campaigning. His
victory speech was generous and large, looking to, once again, lift everyone
up.

It was what he had been cautioned against - given the depression - in
campaigning. But it is much more who Barack Obama is.

One could hear the relief in his voice as well. It was no certain victory,
particularly after the stylistic debacle in Denver. He could have been the
one-term African-American president, the results largely erased.

The forces of racism were mobilized against him, baying behind Romney.
Listen again to O'Reilly.

He mobilized the people to overcome them.

We overcame them. I join with everyone else in the feeling of relief and
being thrilled by his reemergence as someone with a broader and decent
vision for America.

***

But Obama is, again, the leader of the empire. If one expects too much from
him or the Democrats, one is likely to be disappointed.

Obama is still the man of drones, every one he fires a war crime. As
Democratic neo-neo cons blither, he kills less civilians than in
neocon-Bush-Cheney-would-be Romney aggressions. He kills many.

He is making new enemies in Pakistan daily - those who hate us because the
American President murders children and other innocents - for the United
States.

***

Obama is still the man of state secrets. The Canadian government can pay
damages to Maher Arar, the Syrian-Canadian engineer kidnapped by Bush from
Laguardia and sent to be tortured in a coffin like cell in Syria, released
when the Syrian authorities told the US monsters that he knew nothing). But
Obama's government will not allow him to sue for damages in the United
States. The "Courts," too, squeak "state secrets."

***

There will be no hearings about torture. American war criminals like Richard
Cheney and Condoleeza Rice strut around - inside the United States. But they
and Bush can not go abroad (except for Bush's recent visit, carefully
planned, well guarded, to the Cayman islands to speak to the rich on how
exploiters can shift their gains to avoid taxation.)

***

The victories of Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin and the "amazons," as
Rachel Maddow put it, in New Hampshire are a heartening rejection of the
disgusting patriarchy of the "Republican" party.

Warren stood up to Wall Street. The bankers wanted her, above others, gone.

For all our problems (I lived for many years in Massachusetts and much of my
family does still), the people of Massachusetts are not fools. Elizabeth
Warren is the successor of Ted Kennedy.

Warren (though not on foregin policy yet) is a voice for the future.

***

Gay marriage was, for the first time, upheld in two elections. There isn't a
single person in my class at Metro who has the slightest sympathy for
bigotry. Obama is the first President to stand against homophobia and to
include gay people in his victory speech.

America is changing before our eyes.

(Karl Rove's explosion on Fox News was a wonderful revelation of this - the
moneyman of evil and epistemogical closure was unable to deal with the
shattering of his demented universe, telling the peons who was boss.)

***

Marijuana legalization won in Colorado. Three notes on this. First, tobacco,
still pushed by the US government in Spain and China, inter alia, is lethal
to people's lives in a way that grass is not.

Alcoholism in America is also a far more startling danger than weed. We once
had real prohibition - an abomination - for a reason. Drunkenness has always
been a favorite drug for many people against a feeling of misery and
oppression, generated by capitalism and by the amazing difficulties of
family life.

Second, Tom Tancredo, a leading racist and an odious human being, is
completely right about this. It is a matter of individual liberty whether
one smokes marijuana. The prohibition against it has resulted in a pseudo-
and failed "war" on drugs (i.e. a lot of violence comes into our lives from
this attempted prohibition).

More importantly, as Michalle Alexander underlines in The New Jim Crow,
America had 300,000 in jail in the 1970s. With the segregationists moving to
the Republican party, the Congress passed mandatory sentencing. An 8 fold
increase in prisoners to 2.3 million, 25% of the world's prisoners,
occurred.

Many people, particularly teenagers are in jail for possession of marijuana
(80% of the increase is for victimless drug "crimes").

The police permitted by the Supreme "Court" routinely violate the Fourth
Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures by stopping cars in
largely black or chicano neighborhoods, searching them, and doing drug busts
on the 5% with some marijuana. If they did it in Boulder or Cherry Creek or
Scarsdale, they would be halted by middle class outrage.

It is despicable that Democrats like Michael Hancock blither about "gateway"
drugs. It is now the time to push against the Obama administration's
crackdown on marijuana, to cut down the jails, and to restore hope i.e.
chances for education and jobs for people to whom what is basically an
American police state (the prison-industrial complex, nurtured in racism and
affecting many whites as well) has denied it.

***

The choice in this election was between decency - this kind of democratic
evolution, marked by protest movements from below - and an increasing police
state of the .0001% (clinging to the older presudo-America by aggression,
racism and repression). There is not much future, not just for the United
States but for the existence of humans on this planet, in the second course.

That was what was in the balance. It will be still for many years.

Nonetheless, our reelection of Obama was a blow for decency.


***

Peter Rugh, Nation of Change
Published: Thursday 8 November 2012
"As this storm has shown, those who will bear the brunt of extreme weather
in the future will be those who are already struggling to survive. "

Climate Change Lifts the Lid Off Inequality in New York City

On Tuesday morning, as New Yorkers were beginning to vote, 60 polling
stations had been either destroyed or turned into emergency shelters. Above
the same waters that had flooded many of the city's coastal neighborhoods a
week before, I and other Occupy movement activists hung a banner at the
midpoint of the Manhattan Bridge. With the intention of drawing a line
between the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy and fossil fuels, it said,
"Got climate change blues? Fuhgeddabout fossil fuels!"

Six days earlier, on Halloween night, I pedaled past that same spot.
Everything below 39th Street, with the exception of the Empire State
Building, was dark. Locals took to referring to Lower Manhattan as the "dead
zone." Areas of the city like Red Hook, Rockaway and Staten Island had been
inundated with floodwaters and scarred by electrical fires. Public transit
was completely shut down, and fuel scarce. People had taken to riding
bicycles, for more reasons than one. In Brooklyn, for instance, the direct
action bike troop Times Up! set up a bicycle generator - the same one used
to power Zuccotti Park last fall - to help Manhattan refugees streaming over
the Williamsburg Bridge power their cellphones and call their loved ones.

This was just one tiny facet of a massive do-it-yourself relief effort that
New Yorkers have mounted after the storm. It's also one of many attempts to
show that this storm and the suffering it has caused are intimately related
to the business that the dark towers of Lower Manhattan symbolize.

The silence

It wasn't until November 1 that the full scale of the disaster began to
register. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told New Yorkers that the city was doing
everything in its power to get back to business as usual again, but for
people in areas most ravaged by Sandy, normalcy was a long way off. Power
remained out for days, and across the city police guarded gas stations where
long lines of parked cars sat idle waiting to creep up to barren tanks.

In an unexpected turn, Bloomberg announced his endorsement for President
Obama's reelection, citing the president's concern for climate change.
Bloomberg thus recognized the connection between Sandy and global warming
that even the president was unwilling to make. That same day, in fact, the
Guardianreported that Obama and company had made a conscious decision in
2009 not to talk about climate change directly. In a private meeting,
administration officials told environmental activists that it was a losing
talking point; instead, the administration said that it was going to be
discussing "green jobs" and that environmental organizations should do the
same.

Accordingly, talk of climate change has been noticeably absent from Obama's
2012 campaign, in sharp contrast to the soaring rhetoric of four years ago.
When accepting his party's nomination for president in 2008, Obama promised
that he would usher in the moment when the oceans would cease to rise. This
time around he has been bragging that his administration has "built enough
pipeline to encircle the Earth and then some."

The lights

Help us speak truth to power. Donate what you can afford to support
NationofChange.

The suction pumps dredging out water from homes in Red Hook were evidence
that the oceans hadn't ceased to rise. Nikki Brierre was at home when Sandy
came and she saw 10-foot waves from the Upper New York Bay crashing into her
neighborhood. Brierre later evacuated to a friend's house but then went back
to assess the damage. Her third-story apartment was untouched, but a greasy
residue five feet tall clung to her neighbor's walls on the ground floor.

Across the Gowanus Expressway and on higher ground, Carroll Gardens was
virtually unaffected by the storm. Brierre went door to door there on
Thursday, collecting blankets and nonperishable foods for those stranded on
the other side of the highway, where volunteers with the non-profit Red Hook
Initiative and Occupy Sandy Relief, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, were
working to deliver basic supplies to the many in need.

Brierre said the response to Sandy in Red Hook "makes me proud of where I
live. It's a really strong community." She added though, that leaders needed
to take climate change more seriously. "A hurricane at the end of October?
It's pretty clear that our weather is not what it used to be."

On Manhattan's Lower East Side on Friday, Shahana "Butterfly" Bryant and her
friend Lourdes "Lou-Lou" Davila said they didn't know anything about climate
change. I found them having a barbeque with some friends in front of the
Barrier Free Living shelter on Avenue C and Houston, where they've been
staying. Hot dogs sizzled on a grill while soul music pumped through an old
boombox. Butterfly was grateful for all the help she'd received during the
storm and in its aftermath, praising the dry packaged food that the National
Guard had distributed as "delicious."


After visiting Red Hook the day before and delivering food to apartments in
Chinatown all day, this was the first I'd heard mention of the National
Guard. As we spoke, though, several camouflaged Humvees coasted by.

Lou-Lou, who uses a wheel chair, wasn't as content with the way things had
been handled. She told me that before, during and after Sandy the Department
of Homeless Services was nowhere to be found. There were no flashlights, so
people were showering in the dark, which is especially difficult if you
can't stand up. Barrier Free couldn't cook, so they'd been serving nothing
but sandwiches and dry food since Monday night. These hot dogs were the
first warm meal they'd had since the Lower East Side went dark. But the
worst part for Lou-Lou was the cold. Hurricane Sandy, according to the Union
of Concerned Scientists, coasted over waters that were nine degrees warmer
than average on its way to New York, but on land the thermometer had been
steadily dropping each night since the storm. There was a shortage of
blankets, leaving those at the refuge to supply their own.

People Lou-Lou knows were less fortunate than her. "I have friends that had
to go out and panhandle," she said, "because their food went rotten and they
had to feed their kids and families. They're still with no water at all.
It's been horrible, really horrible."

It was then that the lights above Barrier Free began to twinkle. The whole
neighborhood began to shine as dusk set in. Lou-Lou and Butterfly's faces
brightened. As I biked on through the Lower East Side, everyone I saw was
wearing a big grin on their face. People lugging carts loaded with water
were hooting and hollering. Though it was 5 o'clock in November it felt like
New Year's. The return of power indicated to the neighborhood that, for them
at least, the worst was over.

The revolutionaries

Elsewhere the disaster continued unabated. On Saturday in Sunset Park,
Brooklyn, three National Guardsmen in camouflage fatigues sat through an
orientation led by Occupy Wall Street activists from the altar of St. Jacobi
Lutheran Church. Since Sandy, OWS has turned the expertise acquired in
managing occupied Zuccotti Park last fall to hurricane relief. Occupy
activists also teamed up with the environmental organization 350.org to help
coordinate relief efforts online. In many cases, such as at St. Jacobi,
government response teams are following the lead of the Occupiers.

What started as a dozen Occupy Sandy volunteers collecting donations earlier
in the week bloomed into a large and complex network of operations. Vans
were being dispatched to more than a dozen stricken neighborhoods across the
city, delivering food and supplies. Ten thousand meals had been prepared in
the church's basement the night before. Orientations were being held around
the clock as volunteers streamed in by the dozens.

This orientation started like a typical Occupy meeting. Occupy is a
leaderless, horizontal movement, volunteers were informed, so everyone has
the opportunity to become a leader. What followed was a run-down of the
basics of canvassing, of keeping safe, of the proper gear to bring and of
ascertaining peoples' needs. At the end, volunteers were asked to sign up
for shifts. The guardsmen got in line like everyone else to add their names
to the list.

In Red Hook on Sunday, a barker preaching revolution stood in front of a
buffet, while those in line received spoonfuls of warm soul-food in
styrofoam containers. Children and their parents positioned themselves on
nearby corners distributing literature on the "People's Survival Program,"
explaining that their relief efforts were only a temporary fix and that the
real solution to the suffering of those in the housing projects is people
power.

That day, Occupy Sandy point-people in Red Hook sent the group I was with to
an understaffed FEMA station in Coffey Park. I and 10 other volunteers
wheeled a dolly through the projects making deliveries to elderly people
cloistered inside.

There was still no power in most of the buildings, and a thick stench of
mold and garbage wafted up from the bottom floors. As each apartment door
opened, a musty smell of hot, trapped humanity greeted us, accompanied by
mole-eyed men and women patiently surviving on bottles of water and dry
packaged food. They couldn't shower since they had no water, and they were
keeping their windows shut to conserve heat. We noted what medication they
needed and inquired about whether they had medical conditions that needed
treatment. One woman in a wheelchair said she was developing bedsores and
had an infection in her leg that needed draining. We jotted that down. On
the way back to refill supplies, a woman stuck her head out her window and
yelled, "I need money." We dutifully jotted that down too, along with her
address, though probably the same could be said for everyone else in the
neighborhood too.

The marathon

Politicians have seemed especially clumsy in the days since Sandy, as if to
reveal the awkwardness of their role in both the causes of the hurricane and
the inadequate response. Only after widespread pressure did Mayor Bloomberg
finally cancel Sunday's New York City Marathon, which would have drawn city
resources away from relief. Obama returned to the campaign trail last week,
but there was still no mention of global warming from his lips. While giving
a speech in Virginia, Mitt Romney was interrupted by a longtime
environmental activist, Ted Glick, holding a sign that read "End Climate
Silence" and demanding, during one of Romney's dramatic pauses, "What about
climate change?" Cringing, Romney looked off into the distance while the
crowd shouted the heckler down with chants of "U! S! A!"

It was in this same spirit of denial that North Carolina's lawmakers decided
over the summer to pass a bill mandating that scientists limit themselves to
historical data when making sea-level projections; two weeks later a study
revealed that the tides of North Carolina are encroaching on the shore
faster than anywhere on earth. Overall, climate scientists who deny that
global warming is real and human-induced are few and far between, totaling
about 2 to 3 percent of their profession. In September, the Spanish
non-profit DARA published a report that estimates 100 million people could
perish as a result of climate change by 2030.

As this storm has shown, those who will bear the brunt of extreme weather in
the future will be those who are already struggling to survive. Those
without power in society - the poor and working-class people of color
inhabiting New York's outlying areas - have been stranded without electrical
power. Sandy has lifted the lid off the inequality that already existed in
New York City. What quiet failures of justice in our society will be
revealed next by the effects of climate change remain to be seen.



Democratic-individuality.blogspot.com
Posted by  <http://www.blogger.com/profile/08980599518017458202> Alan
Gilbert
   _____

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Willard Romney, Cutting Off The Help for Good  -  Esquire

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/romney-staff-credit-cards-110812








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Mike Hersh,

So, the person you were hired to work for in this last campaign, are they
still paying you 3 days after the election is over, and if so, to do what?

Some people want an accounting of what their donated money goes for, and
spending the last of is supporting people who aren't achieving the purpose
it was donated for upsets them.

Scott

> Willard Romney, Cutting Off The Help for Good  -  Esquire
>
> http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/romney-staff-credit-cards-110812
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Noam Chomsky: My Visit to Gaza, the World's Largest Open-Air Prison Friday, 09
November 2012 09:03  By Noam Chomsky, Truthout


Women sit in their makeshift home in the Forgotten Neighborhood in Gaza City,
Gaza, September 6, 2012. A United Nations report cites shortages of
food, water, electricity, jobs, hospital beds and classrooms amid an
exploding population in what is already one of the most densely
populated patches of the planet. (Photo: Ed Ou / The New York Times) Even a
single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the
total control of some external force.
And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to appreciate what it
must be like to try to survive in the world's largest open-air prison,
where some 1.5 million people on a roughly 140-square-mile strip of land are
subject to random terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose
other than to humiliate and degrade.
Such cruelty is to ensure that Palestinian hopes for a decent future
will be crushed, and that the overwhelming global support for a
diplomatic settlement granting basic human rights will be nullified. The Israeli
political leadership has dramatically illustrated this
commitment in the past few days, warning that they will "go crazy" if
Palestinian rights are given even limited recognition by the U.N.
This threat to "go crazy" ("nishtagea") – that is, launch a tough
response – is deeply rooted, stretching back to the Labor governments of the
1950s, along with the related "Samson Complex": If crossed, we will bring down
the Temple walls around us.
Thirty years ago, Israeli political leaders, including some noted
hawks, submitted to Prime Minister Menachem Begin a shocking report on
how settlers on the West Bank regularly committed "terrorist acts"
against Arabs there, with total impunity.
Disgusted, the prominent military-political analyst Yoram Peri wrote
that the Israeli army's task, it seemed, was not to defend the state,
but "to demolish the rights of innocent people just because they are
Araboushim (a harsh racial epithet) living in territories that God
promised to us."
Gazans have been singled out for particularly cruel punishment.
Thirty years ago, in his memoir "The Third Way," Raja Shehadeh, a
lawyer, described the hopeless task of trying to protect fundamental
human rights within a legal system designed to ensure failure, and his
personal experience as a Samid, "a steadfast one," who watched his home
turned into a prison by brutal occupiers and could do nothing but
somehow "endure."
Since then, the situation has become much worse. The Oslo Accords,
celebrated with much pomp in 1993, determined that Gaza and the West
Bank are a single territorial entity. By that time, the U.S. and Israel
had already initiated their program to separate Gaza and the West Bank,
so as to block a diplomatic settlement and punish the Araboushim in both
territories.
Punishment of Gazans became still more severe in January 2006, when
they committed a major crime: They voted the "wrong way" in the first
free election in the Arab world, electing Hamas.
Displaying their "yearning for democracy," the U.S. and Israel,
backed by the timid European Union, immediately imposed a brutal siege,
along with military attacks. The U.S. turned at once to its standard
operating procedure when a disobedient population elects the wrong
government: Prepare a military coup to restore order.
Gazans committed a still greater crime a year later by blocking the
coup attempt, leading to a sharp escalation of the siege and attacks.
These culminated in winter 2008-09, with Operation Cast Lead, one of the most
cowardly and vicious exercises of military force in recent memory: A defenseless
civilian population, trapped, was subjected to relentless attack by one of the
world's most advanced military systems, reliant on U.S. arms and protected by
U.S. diplomacy.
Of course, there were pretexts – there always are. The usual one,
trotted out when needed, is "security": in this case, against homemade
rockets from Gaza.
In 2008, a truce was established between Israel and Hamas. Not a
single Hamas rocket was fired until Israel broke the truce under cover
of the U.S. election on Nov. 4, invading Gaza for no good reason and
killing half a dozen Hamas members.
The Israeli government was advised by its highest intelligence
officials that the truce could be renewed by easing the criminal
blockade and ending military attacks. But the government of Ehud Olmert –
himself reputedly a dove – rejected these options, resorting to its
huge advantage in violence: Operation Cast Lead.
The internationally respected Gazan human-rights advocate Raji
Sourani analyzed the pattern of attack under Cast Lead. The bombing was
concentrated in the north, targeting defenseless civilians in the most
densely populated areas, with no possible military basis. The goal,
Sourani suggests, may have been to drive the intimidated population to
the south, near the Egyptian border. But the Samidin stayed put.
A further goal might have been to drive them beyond the border. From
the earliest days of the Zionist colonization it was argued that Arabs
have no real reason to be in Palestine: They can be just as happy
somewhere else, and should leave – politely "transferred," the doves
suggested.
This is surely no small concern in Egypt, and perhaps a reason why
Egypt doesn't open the border freely to civilians or even to desperately needed
supplies.
Sourani and other knowledgeable sources have observed that the
discipline of the Samidin conceals a powder keg that might explode at
any time, unexpectedly, like the first Intifada in Gaza in 1987, after
years of repression.
A necessarily superficial impression after spending several days in
Gaza is amazement, not only at Gazans' ability to go on with life but
also at the vibrancy and vitality among young people, particularly at
the university, where I attended an international conference.
But one can detect signs that the pressure may become too hard to
bear. Reports indicate that there is simmering frustration among young
people – a recognition that under the U.S.-Israeli occupation the future holds
nothing for them.
Gaza has the look of a Third World country, with pockets of wealth
surrounded by hideous poverty. It is not, however, undeveloped. Rather
it is "de-developed," and very systematically so, to borrow the term
from Sara Roy, the leading academic specialist on Gaza.
The Gaza Strip could have become a prosperous Mediterranean region,
with rich agriculture and a flourishing fishing industry, marvelous
beaches and, as discovered a decade ago, good prospects for extensive
natural gas supplies within its territorial waters. By coincidence or
not, that's when Israel intensified its naval blockade. The favorable
prospects were aborted in 1948, when the Strip had to absorb a flood of
Palestinian refugees who fled in terror or were forcefully expelled from what
became Israel – in some cases months after the formal cease-fire.
Israel's 1967 conquests and their aftermath administered further blows,
with terrible crimes continuing to the present day.
The signs are easy to see, even on a brief visit. Sitting in a hotel
near the shore, one can hear the machine-gun fire of Israeli gunboats
driving fishermen out of Gaza's territorial waters and toward land,
forcing them to fish in waters that are heavily polluted because of
U.S.-Israeli refusal to allow reconstruction of the sewage and power
systems they destroyed.
The Oslo Accords laid plans for two desalination plants, a necessity
in this arid region. One, an advanced facility, was built: in Israel.
The second one is in Khan Yunis, in the south of Gaza. The engineer in
charge at Khan Yunis explained that this plant was designed so that it
can't use seawater, but must rely on underground water, a cheaper
process that further degrades the meager aquifer, guaranteeing severe
problems in the future.
The water supply is still severely limited. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA), which cares for refugees but not other Gazans, recently released a
report warning that damage to the aquifer may soon become
"irreversible," and that without quick remedial action, Gaza may cease
to be a "livable place" by 2020.
Israel permits concrete to enter for UNRWA projects, but not for
Gazans engaged in the huge reconstruction efforts. The limited heavy
equipment mostly lies idle, since Israel does not permit materials for
repair.
All this is part of the general program that Dov Weisglass, an
adviser to Prime Minister Olmert, described after Palestinians failed to follow
orders in the 2006 elections: "The idea," he said, "is to put
the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger."
Recently, after several years of effort, the Israeli human rights
organization Gisha succeeded in obtaining a court order for the
government to release its records detailing plans for the "diet."
Jonathan Cook, a journalist based in Israel, summarizes them: "Health officials
provided calculations of the minimum number of calories
needed by Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants to avoid malnutrition. Those
figures were then translated into truckloads of food Israel was supposed to
allow in each day ... an average of only 67 trucks – much less than
half of the minimum requirement – entered Gaza daily. This compared to
more than 400 trucks before the blockade began."
The result of imposing the diet, Middle East scholar Juan Cole
observes, is that "about 10 percent of Palestinian children in Gaza
under age 5 have had their growth stunted by malnutrition. ... In
addition, anemia is widespread, affecting over two-thirds of infants,
58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over a third of pregnant mothers."
Sourani, the human-rights advocate, observes that "what has to be
kept in mind is that the occupation and the absolute closure is an
ongoing attack on the human dignity of the people in Gaza in particular
and all Palestinians generally. It is systematic degradation,
humiliation, isolation and fragmentation of the Palestinian people."
This conclusion has been confirmed by many other sources. In The
Lancet, a leading medical journal, Rajaie Batniji, a visiting Stanford
physician, describes Gaza as "something of a laboratory for observing an absence
of dignity," a condition that has "devastating" effects on
physical, mental and social well-being.
"The constant surveillance from the sky, collective punishment
through blockade and isolation, the intrusion into homes and
communications, and restrictions on those trying to travel, or marry, or work
make it difficult to live a dignified life in Gaza," Batniji
writes. The Araboushim must be taught not to raise their heads.
There were hopes that Mohammed Morsi's new government in Egypt, which is less in
thrall to Israel than the western-backed Hosni Mubarak
dictatorship was, might open the Rafah Crossing, Gaza's sole access to
the outside that is not subject to direct Israeli control. There has
been a slight opening, but not much.
The journalist Laila el-Haddad writes that the reopening under Morsi
"is simply a return to status quo of years past: Only Palestinians
carrying an Israeli-approved Gaza ID card can use Rafah Crossing." This
excludes a great many Palestinians, including el-Haddad's own family,
where only one spouse has a card.
Furthermore, she continues, "the crossing does not lead to the West
Bank, nor does it allow for the passage of goods, which are restricted
to the Israeli-controlled crossings and subject to prohibitions on
construction materials and export."
The restricted Rafah Crossing doesn't change the fact that "Gaza
remains under tight maritime and aerial siege, and continues to be
closed off to the Palestinians' cultural, economic and academic capitals in the
rest of the (Israeli-occupied territories), in violation of
U.S.-Israeli obligations under the Oslo Accords."
The effects are painfully evident. The director of the Khan Yunis
hospital, who is also chief of surgery, describes with anger and passion how
even medicines are lacking, which leaves doctors helpless and
patients in agony.
One young woman reports on her late father's illness. Though he would have been
proud that she was the first woman in the refugee camp to
gain an advanced degree, she says, he ''passed away after six months of
fighting cancer, aged 60 years.
''Israeli occupation denied him a permit to go to Israeli hospitals
for treatment. I had to suspend my study, work and life and go to sit
next to his bed. We all sat, including my brother the physician and my
sister the pharmacist, all powerless and hopeless, watching his
suffering. He died during the inhumane blockade of Gaza in summer 2006
with very little access to health service.
"I think feeling powerless and hopeless is the most killing feeling
that a human can ever have. It kills the spirit and breaks the heart.
You can fight occupation but you cannot fight your feeling of being
powerless. You can't even ever dissolve that feeling."
A visitor to Gaza can't help feeling disgust at the obscenity of the
occupation, compounded with guilt, because it is within our power to
bring the suffering to an end and allow the Samidin to enjoy the lives
of peace and dignity that they deserve.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12635-noam-chomsky-my-visit-to-gaza-the-worlds\
-largest-open-air-prison

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Fukushima: A Disaster Manufactured in the Imperial Boardrooms of Capital
by Chris Williams / July 11th, 2012
They may not live in castles anymore, but the glass-plated
skyscrapers that tower over the great cities of the world, in faceless
anonymity, still signify the imperious domain of the ruling elite.  It
is from these places, not the featureless depths of the earth’s roiling
crust, which were the decisive cause of the triple nuclear meltdowns at
the Fukushima-Daiichi plant on March 11, 2011.
An independent report by the
Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC), the
first independent investigation committee authorized by the
Japanese Diet (parliament) in its 66 year history, was released to both
houses of the Diet on July 5.  The chairman of the report begins with
zero equivocation as to the ultimate cause of the nuclear meltdowns,
which are still preventing tens of thousands of people from returning to their
homes; returns that for many, are likely never to come:
The earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011 were natural disasters of a
magnitude that shocked the entire world. Although
triggered by these cataclysmic events, the subsequent accident at the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant cannot be regarded as a natural
disaster. It was a profoundly manmade disaster – that could and should
have been foreseen and prevented. And its effects could have been
mitigated by a more effective human response.
How could such a “profoundly manmade disaster” have come to pass?  A
multitude of errors, “willful negligence”, and a “reluctance to question
authority” led to nuclear power becoming “an unstoppable force, immune
to scrutiny by civil society. Its regulation was entrusted to the same
government bureaucracy responsible for its promotion.”  It sounds all
too eerily familiar to anyone who has spent time investigating the US
nuclear regulatory body, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the
collusion between the NRC and US nuclear corporations.
In a line that must indubitably stoke the anger and sorrow of all
those made homeless, all those who have lost their livelihoods and all
those tens of thousands more who now are left to agonize over
radioactive contamination for themselves and their children for decades
to come, the report states, “The direct causes of the accident were all
foreseeable prior to March 11, 2011.”
In other words, contrary to all the talk about “an unforeseeable
event” from governments around the world and nuclear apologists of the
left and right, the nuclear meltdowns, with all their untold and
long-term consequences for the physical and mental health of the people
of the region, were entirely preventable if the corporation which
operated the plants, TEPCO, or the government bodies charged with
regulating the nuclear industry, NISA and METI, had taken the
appropriate safety precautions:
The operator (TEPCO), the regulatory bodies (NISA and
NSC) and the government body promoting the nuclear power industry
(METI), all failed to correctly develop the most basic safety
requirements—such as assessing the probability of damage, preparing for
containing collateral damage from such a disaster, and developing
evacuation plans for the public in the case of a serious radiation
release.
The report notes that these organizations had known of the inability
of the reactors to withstand such an earthquake and tsunami since 2006.  It
recommends across the board substantive reforms to all aspects of
nuclear regulation, the operation of the plants, the legal framework
within which they operate and the emergency response, evacuation and
disaster preparedness plans, all of which were found wanting.
It warns that these must not be cosmetic name changes or simply
shifts of personnel but a root and branch reordering of priorities and
fundamental reforms as government regulators and the corporation as
organizations all failed to protect the public, as is their legal duty:
There were many opportunities for NISA, NSC and TEPCO to
take measures that would have prevented the accident, but they did not
do so. They either intentionally postponed putting safety measures in
place, or made decisions based on their organization’s self interest—
not in the interest of public safety.
In an echo of the BP Gulf oil spill of 2010, where it was found that
BP had no viable emergency response plan, “TEPCO’s manual for emergency
response to a severe accident was completely ineffective, and the
measures it specified did not function.”  In yet another similarity with the
BP disaster, where US government regulators were found to be having sex and drug
parties with BP officials, the report speaks of “a cozy
relationship between the operators, the regulators and academic scholars that
can only be described as totally inappropriate.”
However, fundamental reform to the nuclear industry, and TEPCO in
particular, is looking less likely without a further outpouring of
national protest the like of which Japan has not seen in decades.  This
is because TEPCO is a giant corporation with a stranglehold on electricity
production and much else through various related companies.
Thanks to a virtual monopoly and a murky electricity
pricing system, it has become one of the biggest sources of loosely
regulated cash for politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen, who have
repaid Tepco with unquestioning support and with the type of lax
oversight that contributed to the nuclear crisis.
TEPCO had net income (i.e. profits) of $1.7 billion in 2009 through
its corporate affiliates and ownership of 192 electricity plants that
produce up to one third of the electricity in Japan.  Overall, Japanese
people pay twice as much for electricity as do those in the US.  TEPCO
is, therefore, in the current neoliberal jargon, justifying yet more
daylight robbery through ongoing bank bailouts, apparently another
corporation “too big to fail”.  Amazingly, TEPCO is pushing to restart
some of its own reactors despite the widely held belief, now well
documented in the government’s independent report, that the corporation
was largely to blame.  Meanwhile, TEPCO, in its own report on the
accident, exonerated itself, citing instead the size of the tsunami and
government blunders as the causes of the meltdowns.
Conversely, not to mention much more believably, the authors of the
NAIIC report conclude that the accident was “manmade”: “The TEPCO
Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident was the result of collusion
between the government, the regulators and TEPCO, and the lack of
governance by said parties. They effectively betrayed the nation’s right to be
safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the
accident was clearly “manmade.”
Some people, a lot of people, should be going to jail.  Betrayal of
the people and their right to be free of radioactive contamination,
particularly a people that has already suffered the horror of atomic
weapons used against its civilian population, is unconscionable.  What
could have driven these decisions taken by so many people in all these
different organizations?  Led them to behave in such a criminally
irresponsible manner?
Ultimately, we get to the heart of the matter: “As the nuclear power
business became less profitable over the years, TEPCO’s management began to
put more emphasis on cost cutting and increasing Japan’s reliance on nuclear
power.”
Put another way, the decisions taken were dictated by the prime
directive of capitalism: make profit at all costs, grow by any means
necessary.  Cut whatever corners you need to, bribe and cajole whoever
is necessary, denigrate and belittle those who oppose you; there is no
higher power to which you will answer other than the God of Profit. 
This is the iron law of capital accumulation.
The consequences of those decisions, taken in the faraway, plush
boardrooms of the nuclear corporations, and the lack of credible
government information since the disaster, have now created the fear of the
people, the disbanding of families, and the destruction of their livelihoods in
Fukushima prefecture:
They continue to face grave concerns, including the
health effects of radiation exposure, displacement, the dissolution of
families, disruption of their lives and lifestyles and the contamination of vast
areas of the environment. There is no foreseeable end to the
decontamination and restoration activities that are essential for
rebuilding communities.
What an utterly appalling way to make electricity.  No foreseeable
end to decontamination and restoration activities.  Even without
considering the issue of nuclear waste, the staggering cost of building
and operating nuclear plants, or the umbilical cord that indelibly
connects the nuclear power industry to the nuclear weapons and defense
industry, can anyone honestly say that as a highly technological
society, we have no better alternatives to generating electricity than
operating nuclear power stations?
The response by the people of Japan has been tremendous and inspiring.  Tens of
thousands have regularly picketed government and corporate offices to prevent
the restart of reactors, 7.5 million people have signed a petition against
the restarting of any of the 54 idled reactors which have been kept
shuttered due to this massive and unprecedented outpouring of activism,
organizing and anger.  A new anti-nuclear movement is being born from
below.  As of May, the people of Japan celebrated the shut-down of the
last of the 54 Japanese reactors, even as there were no power cuts.  Our power
defeated the nuclear power!  People’s joy was short-lived,
however.  Despite the “setback” of the Fukushima nuclear disaster –
which should now surely be described at the very least as a
disaster-waiting-to-happen, nuclear corporations are not throwing in the towel
and admitting that nuclear power has got to go.
Through a carefully orchestrated media campaign of fear-mongering
based on the threat of power cuts and government announcements about the dangers
a lack of electricity pose to Japan’s fragile economy, they
have managed to  successfully argue for the restart of reactors in the
western industrial region around Osaka.  In a rare televised appeal to the
Japanese public, the new Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, who is
entirely pro-nuclear, made the case for the necessary restarts.
However, in another new piece of evidence that should halt all talk
all restarts, the NAIIC report notes that it cannot say whether the
earthquake itself – not the tsunami – was partly responsible for the
reactor meltdowns.  This finding invalidates the “stress tests” that the
nuclear plants have undergone to prove that they are safe to operate
because those tests were based on the assumption that it was only the
tsunami, not the earthquake, which caused the structural problems and
loss of power at the plant.
Meanwhile, a separate government panel of experts has declared that,
based on what happened with the tsunami from the March 11th earthquake,
34m, or 112 feet high tsunamis are possible along the Pacific coast.  Every
single one of the 54 Japanese nuclear reactors is situated along the coast!
The tsunami that overwhelmed the Fukushima-Daiichi plant, and swept
away entire villages in the area, causing 19,000 deaths, was 14m (45
feet) high, less than half what is predicted as now possible.  A 2003
report had put the maximum that had to be planned for at 20m (60 feet)
but clearly a 14m wave can overwhelm coastal defenses and inundate
nuclear plants such as at Fukushima-Daiichi, which had only anticipated
and prepared for a 6m (20 foot) high wave – especially if they have
already been compromised by the preceding earthquake.  The only rational answer
is to permanently shut down all the reactors, break apart and
dismantle the nuclear corporations as threats to public health, take
further measures to conserve electricity and speed up the program of
building the infrastructure necessary for a clean energy economy.
However, there are a few broader conclusions to draw from this report and the
litany of similar cases of accidents such as the BP spill where the corporate
drive for profit is like an unstoppable tsunami
rationalizing all manner of health and safety evasions and cutbacks.
Firstly, this is not about a few bad apples or irresponsible, corrupt people. 
This is about how capitalism operates.  How else does one
explain the need for every single area of capital accumulation – from
the nuclear industry, to oil and gas, to pharmaceuticals to food
production – to have independent regulators preventing the corporations
from doing what they are primed to do: make profit at all costs?  If the
regulators are in the pockets of the corporations that bestride the
planet as unaccountable behemoths with their colossal economies, often
larger than most individual states, all hell breaks loose.
Second, whatever those deluded environmentalists who are pro-nuclear
think, there is no scenario in which a sane person can be pro-nuclear
when the nuke plants are operating within a social system that has no
ethical, social, ecological or moral concerns and drives the individuals who run
the system into immoral actions.  The only thing crazier than
boiling water by splitting atoms is boiling water by splitting atoms in a social
system driven by profit.
Five years ago the great leftist social and ecological thinker and activist
Barry Commoner was asked in a New York Times interview whether the
environmentalists who have now turned to nuclear power as
an answer to global warming had a point.  To which he answered:
No. This is a good example of shortsighted
environmentalism. It superficially makes sense to say, “Here’s a way of
producing energy without carbon dioxide.” But every activity that
increases the amount of radioactivity to which we are exposed is
idiotic. There has to be a life-and-death reason to do it. I mean, we
haven’t solved the problem of waste yet. We still have used fuel sitting all
over the place. I think the fact that some people who have
established a reputation as environmentalists have adopted this is
appalling.
Third, within capitalism, there are certain essential economic
activities which need to be thought of as they were before the
acceleration of capitalist orthodoxy of deregulation and privatization
that occurred with the birth of neo-liberalism 30 years ago. Before the
drive for privatization that necessitated the evisceration of the
organized power of the working class, as the balance of class forces
were forcibly tilted toward the corporations and away from us.
Activities where we are not seen as customers for a commodity that we buy from a
for-profit corporation, but rather as citizens, with a right to a service from
the government that we elect to represent our interests.
Examples of such essential services are the provision of education,
access to water, health care, a pension, public transportation – the
most basic attributes for a productive and healthy life and a
functioning society.  But this idea must also extend to the provision of
electricity.  Not just because it is fundamental to the way we live,
but, just as importantly, for ecological reasons.
We need to conserve electricity and energy use in general and set up
systems to ensure that there is a nationally organized program to do
so.  However, that will never happen with electricity
production when the utilities are privately owned.  Private electric
utilities make more money the more electricity they sell us.  So having
consumers use less would be counter-productive and irrational from a
corporate perspective.  If they’re regulated and offered incentives to
sell us less, they just charge more for each individual unit and pass
the costs on.  Furthermore, corporations are always going to spend as
little as they can get away with on infrastructure, safety and
maintenance, as illustrated to a horrific extent by the nuclear
catastrophe in Japan.
Electricity should be a service that is publically provided, not a
commodity to be bought.  In other words, we need to re-nationalize the
electricity grid and see it as an opportunity to build a new energy
infrastructure, one that is efficient and has at its heart energy
conservation based around alternative sources of energy.  Not outdated,
dirty, and dangerous 19th and 20th century technologies such as coal,
oil, gas or uranium but clean, renewable – and safe – wind, solar and
geothermal sources.  Energy sources that Japan and United States have in great
abundance.
It’s crystal clear, however, that without an organized mass movement
from below that unites social and ecological issues together into a
single movement for jobs, sustainability and justice, one that tilts the balance
of social power back in our favor, as the Japanese people are
attempting right now, those changes will not happen. Absent the building of such
a movement, we will eventually be left living on an irradiated
cinder of a planet where they sell us hazmat suits at inflated prices
from the safety of their glittering corporate towers.
In India, there is a titanic struggle going on between people
organized under the banner of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear
Energy (PMANE) and the Indian government.  The Indian state is
determined, despite Fukushima, to increase its reliance on nuclear power
tenfold, so that it represents 25% of electricity production.  This in a
country where almost half the population, 400 million people, lack access to
electricity and decades old Indian wind turbines produce twice as much
electricity as current Indian nuclear plants that have
already received billions of dollars in funding.  If these wind turbines alone
were upgraded, let along building more modern ones or taking
advantage of the plentiful solar energy that India basks in, they could
supply a much larger segment of electricity and obviate the need for the nuclear
plants.
Due to the growth and persistence of the Indian activists struggle,
the state is becoming increasingly violent, dispatching thousands of
troops to put down protests.  Theresponse by PMANE and the anti-nuclear
activists to state violence and intimidation as they fight to protect themselves
from the calamity of building more nuclear plants deserves to be quoted
at some length:
The day after the Tamil Nadu state by-elections last
March… Chief Minister Selvi J. Jayalalithaa suddenly reversed her
earlier decision to support the protesters, dispatching at least 6,000
police and paramilitary to the region. For three days, the government
prevented essential supplies — including tankers of water and milk —
from reaching the PMANE base in Idinthikarai, a coastal village about
two kilometers from the Koodankulam reactors. But nearby fishing
communities sympathized with the protesters at Idinthikarai and sent in
boats of supplies for them. In an unprecedented display of solidarity,
traditional local women also took to boats to reach the village.
Residents blocked roads en masse, preventing police from arresting the
movement’s coordinators.
This is the kind of heroic solidarity actions and mass movement we
need to build in the United States and in every part of the globe.
But, finally, if the system really is pathological in its operation,
as I would argue it is, then the only solution is to uproot it in its
entirety and replace it with something that we can jointly and
collectively create; a social and economic system that places people and the
planet before profit.
Ultimately, a system where there is no profit, where we cooperate to
democratically plan out what we need to produce and how we’re going to
produce it with, to use Marx’s words, the “least possible expenditure of
energy”.  The stepping stones along the path to that fundamental
transformation require the building of a mass social and ecological
justice movement that fights for real reforms as outlined above,
beginning with the abandonment of the destructive and costly insanity of nuclear
power and the eradication of fossil fuel derived energy that is destabilizing
global climate.  But a movement that simultaneously aims
for a revolutionary reordering of power.
Power to the People, not the Corporations!
Chris Williams is a long-time environmental
activist and author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist
Ecological Crisis. His writings have appeared in International Socialist Review,
The Indypendent, Truthout, and ZNet. He is a chemistry and
physics professor at Pace University and chair of the Packer Collegiate
Institute science department. His website is www.ecologyandsocialism.org and he
can be contacted at ecologyandsocialism@.... Read other articles by Chris,
or visit Chris's website.

http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/07/fukushima-a-disaster-manufactured-in-the-imper\
ial-boardrooms-of-capital/


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[image: Logo Venezuela Analysis]Venezuela’s Chavez: Obama Should Govern His
Own Country and not “Invade” Others

Nov 9th 2012, by Ewan Robertson
[image: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in a meeting with government
ministers yesterday (agencies)]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in a meeting with government ministers
yesterday (agencies)

Mérida, 9th November 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan president
Hugo Chavez has commented on the re-election of US president Barack
Obama, *while
urging his own state governor candidates to maintain their commitment “with
the people” and not the “local bourgeoisie.*”

In a meeting with ministers yesterday, Chavez offered his thoughts on the
current US president’s re-election, saying, “Hopefully President Obama
reflects and dedicates himself to governing his country, and forgets about
invading other peoples, destabilising other countries, etc.”

The Venezuela president further stated his opinion that Obama should
“reflect, first, for his country, which lamentably has many social and
economic problems. It's a divided country, a country with a social and
economic fracture where poverty and misery are growing every day.”

With Chavez’s own re-election on 7 October, both presidents have been
through long electoral campaigns this year. The latest figures on the US
election put turnout lower than in 2008, possibly at around 50%. In
Venezuela’s presidential election turnout was 81%, a historic high.

Speaking to ministers, Chavez also described the US as being dominated by
“a super elite, [who] are exploiting the country and society: poisoning it,
cheating it, manipulating it through a media war.”

Venezuelan – US relations have been frozen at the chargé d’Affaires level
since 2010, when the former US ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy,
ended his term of service, and the Chavez government refused at accept
Obama’s replacement, Larry Palmer.

*Message to Candidates*

*In the same meeting, Chavez also sent a message to the candidates for his
party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), in the upcoming
regional and local elections.*

*The Venezuelan head of state warned candidates against a lack of
commitment with the Bolivarian movement, saying that some of his party’s
elected representatives “end up trapped by the regional bourgeoisie…and
each of those cases has pained me greatly.”*

*He accused some of his movement’s representatives as being afraid of local
power elites, and argued “they freeze up….you see them making great
speeches, and suddenly they win the mayoralty, the governorship, and they
stop themselves!”*

*Chavez also criticised his governors for not doing more to tackle the
system of large-scale land ownership in Venezuela, known as latifundios. He
stated that “I haven’t received, in all these years, even one
recommendation from a governor to confront the latifundios, to fulfil the
constitution: it seems you’ve forgotten, then?”*

The PSUV is currently waging a campaign against the opposition MUD
coalition, and other groups, for state governor elections slated for 16
December. In many states the election is likely to be tight-fought.

In this context, Chavez declared to the PSUV’s candidates, “What I’m doing
is a reflection and a call, hand on heart…from now on I commit my
candidates for governor to assume their responsibility with the revolution,
not with local groups, or political groups inside the (PSUV) party.”

Chavez also clarified that he was not referring to all PSUV
representatives, and argued that the movement had many “good teams”. He
concluded his commentary by again urging all his candidates to maintain
“loyalty [with] the people and the revolution, whatever the cost.”
------------------------------
*Source URL (retrieved on 09/11/2012 - 3:38pm):*
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/7447


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____________________________________
  (http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/calendar/Calendar.php)

Please post your  immigrant action _calendar_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/calendar/EventPublish.php)   items
Fall 2012 National Immigrant  Solidarity Network Monthly News Digest and
News  Alert!
National Immigrant  Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant  Rights!
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(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/)
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(All  donations are tax deductible)


Fall 2012 U.S. Immigrant  Alert! Newsletter
Published by National Immigrant  Solidarity Network
Please Our  Newsletter:
_http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Fall12.pdf_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Fall12.pdf)
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____________________________________
The Election Over! Where’s Our Change? Our  Demands to the President Obama
at the Second Term!
In This Issue:
1) CCR Commentary
2) FAMILIA LATINA  UNIDA Commentary
3) NILC Commentary
4) Petition to Support  Sergio
5) Latino voters in 2012 election
6) New Mexico,  Border Election Highlights
7) LA council approves ID cards for  city residents
8) Anti-Latino Laws Ignite The South
9)  Updates, _Please  Support NISN!_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Fall12NewsAlert.html#donate) 
_Subscribe  the Newsletter!_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Fall12NewsAlert.html#newsletter)
Please  download our latest newsletter:
_http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Fall12.pdf_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Fall12.pdf)

Hurricane Sandy, Obama's  Re-election, and the next 4 years
Vince Warren - Center for Constitutional Rights (New York,  NY)
Two big things happened in the last week, and they're both going to
require our attention for the next four years and beyond: the national  election
repudiated religious conservatives and handed Obama a second  term, and
Hurricane Sandy destroyed many thousands of lives.
Our allies in New Orleans and Haiti taught us the aftermath of a  disaster
like Sandy will last a long, long time and have far-reaching  impact on
things like public housing, privatization of government, and  civil and human
rights. We need to look ahead to hold the government  accountable to a
people's recovery that meets people's needs and is driven  by a people's agenda
guided by the principles of human rights.
Meanwhile, Obama's re-election means we need to hold the president
accountable for the change we want to see. Here are the changes we will  keep
fighting for in Obama's second term:
     *   Close Guantanamo, and end torture through indefinite  detention.
Repatriate or resettle the men the government does not intend  to prosecute,
and provide fair trials for the rest
     *   End the use of solitary confinement in prisons across the  country
     *   End unlawful “targeted killings” and the expansion of the
Orwellian “disposition matrix.” Acknowledge, investigate and provide 
reparations
for unlawful civilian killings
     *   End the war in Afghanistan and pull all private military
contractors out of Iraq and Afghanistan
     *   Abandon the endless global war paradigm as the basis for  abusive
national security policies and end the use of war force outside  of war zones

     *   Investigate and prosecute former high-level U.S. officials who bear
  responsibility for torture and war crimes committed in  Afghanistan, Iraq
and the “black sites”
     *   Provide medical treatment and compensation to people subjected to
torture in U.S.-run detention facilities, including in Iraq and  Afghanistan
as well as Guantánamo, and provide war reparations to  communities in Iraq
and Afghanistan for harms done to the people and the  environment
     *   End the persecution of whistleblowers and journalists like  Julian
Assange, Wikileaks and Bradley Manning for protected First  Amendment
activity
     *   Increase transparency, sunshine and freedom of information in
federal law enforcement and prisons and end overclassification of  unlawful or
embarrassing government conduct
     *   Stop the criminalization of dissent: end the stifling of  activist
expression under the anti-free-speech National Defense  Authorization Act
and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and end  overbroad prosecutions for
terrorism under material support laws
     *   Stop the criminalization and profiling of communities based  on
race and religion:end the devastating Secure Communities program that  destroys
families and spreads fear in immigrant neighborhoods
     *   End warrantless surveillance and stop the indiscriminate targeting
and surveillance of Muslim, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities
under the guise of national security
     *   Support human rights internationally: stop funding and training
police and militaries abroad implicated in human rights abuses in places  like
Honduras
     *   Center women's equality in all policy and legislative initiatives
concerning their bodily autonomy and right to health
We know that we cannot rely on politicians or even the courts: only  people
can make meaningful change. This is a critical time for all of us  to act
to change the course of history and build a unified vision for a  society
guided by human rights. Hope only gets you so far. Let's get to  work.
____________________________________

Obama's 2nd Term Mandate: Immigration Reform
National Immigration Law Cente
CHICAGO – President Barack Obama has  won a second term, beating Republican
challenger Governor Mitt Romney.  Latinos – the fastest growing voting bloc
in the nation – provided crucial  votes to Obama in swing states. Asian
Americans and other voters of color  also played a huge role in re-electing the
President. Many voted for the  president’s re-election not simply to
support his positions, but as a  rebuke to Romney’s harsh anti-immigrant
rhetoric.
Below is a  statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the
National  Immigration Law Center:

“Americans have voted for a more  inclusive country. Politicians on both
sides of the aisle should finally  realize that they can no longer scapegoat
Latinos, immigrants, and other  voters of color to score cheap political
points among the xenophobic  segments of our community without paying a price at
the ballot box.  President Obama, like Harry Reid two years ago, shrewdly
recognized that  his opponent’s harsh self-deportation policies about
aspiring American  citizens would only serve to drive Latinos and Asian
Americans
to vote  against extremism.

“As a result, the mandate for President Obama,  along with the newly
elected members of Congress, should be clear: voters  want an immigration system
that treats aspiring citizens with dignity, and  provides a roadmap for those
living and working here to integrate fully  into society.

“We fully recognize that one person cannot accomplish  immigration reform
on his own. We expect President Obama to exert his  considerable leadership
to replace a system that has for too long  shattered Latino and other
immigrant families and for Congress to come to  the table. We will no longer
tolerate status quo of record deportations  and aggressive detention policies,
and
politicians on both sides of the  aisle should recognize that if they
adhere to these draconian positions,  their political future is at risk. The
demographic writing is on the wall:  Republicans and Democrats alike should
begin working now toward creating  an inclusive society in the future, or risk
losing the heart of future  American voters.”

The Obama Administration has an ambitious agenda,  and many of their
policies will have a profound effect on immigrants’  lives. Here are a few of
the
most important issues affecting immigrants  today:

- Immigration reform. Though President  Obama has reiterated his support
for immigration reform to Univision and  the Des Moines Register, precious
little has been said about how he would  achieve such reform. Immigrant
families have suffered under record  breaking deportations; we must not allow
these
detention and deportation  systems to continue to destroy immigrant
communities simply because both  parties cannot agree on how best to create a
roadmap to citizenship for  the men and women who are American in their hearts,
if not by their  papers.

- Immigrant access to health care. The  Obama administration should
continue to implement the Affordable Care Act  (ACA) in as robust a fashion as
possible, and any effort to reform our  broken immigration system must protect
access to existing affordable care  options for newly authorized immigrants.
This includes repealing an  ill-advised rule excluding young immigrants
granted a reprieve from  deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals.

-  Preventing family separation. Immigration and Customs  Enforcement
agents should finally begin adhering to the memos issued by  the administration
that outline when an individual should be allowed to  return to his or her
family rather than undergo deportation proceedings.  Currently, many
individuals who should not be deported under the guidance  are banished from the
United States, often leaving loved ones and children  behind.

- Promoting economic justice for all workers and  their families. Working
immigrant families have the most to lose  under sequestration budget
negotiations that will take place in the coming  months. President Obama and
Congress must protect critical safety-net  programs, including the Child Tax
Credit
and Supplemental Nutrition  Assistance Program (food stamps), which help
lift millions of families out  of poverty each year.

- Promoting a level playing field for  all workers. Ensure that abusive
employers don’t use immigration  status to thwart labor rights or to gain
competitive advantage over  workers by vigorously enforcing the agreement
between
the Department of  Labor and Department of Homeland Security to ensure that
workplace  immigrant apprehension and detention doesn’t undermine labor
standards  enforcement.

____________________________________
Please download our latest  newsletter:
_http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Fall12.pdf_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Newsletter/Fall12.pdf)


Past NISN News Letters
_Spring  2012_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Spring12NewsAlert.html)  | _Summer 
2012_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Summer12NewsAlert.html)  |
_Winter  2011_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Winter11NewsAlert.html)  | _Summer 
2011_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Summer11NewsAlert.html)  | _Fall  2011_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Fall11NewsAlert.html)  | _November 
2011_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Nov11NewsAlert.html)  | _Spring  2011_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Spring12NewsAlert.html)  |
_September  - October 2009_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Sep-Oct09NewsAlert.html)  | _Spring 
2010_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Spring10NewsAlert.html)  | _Fall  2010_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Fall10NewsAlert.html)  |
_October-Novermber  10_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Oct-Nov10NewsAlert.html)
_May  - June 2009_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/May-June09NewsAlert.html)  | _March  -
April 2009_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/March-April09NewsAlert.html)  |
_January  - February 2009_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Jan-Feb09NewsAlert.html)  | _November 
- December
2008_ (http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/News/Nov-Dec08NewsAlert.html)

____________________________________

Useful Immigrant Resources  on Detention and Deportation
Face Sheet: _Immigration  Detention--Questions and Answers_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/detq&aflier.pdf)  (Dec, 2008) by:
_http://www.thepoliticsofimmigration.org_
(http://www.thepoliticsofimmigration.org/)

Thanks for GREAT works from Detention Watch  Network (DWN) to compiled the
following information, please visit DWN  website:
_http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org_ (http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/)
_Tracking  ICE's Enforcement Agenda_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/4.%20Tracking%20ICE%20Enforcem\
ent%20Agenda.doc)
_Real  Deal fact sheet on detention_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/5.%20Real%20Deal%20fact%20shee\
t%20on%20detention.pdf)
_Real  Deal fact sheet on border_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/6.%20Real%20Deal%20fact%20shee\
t%20on%20border.pdf)
- _From  Raids to Deportation-A Community Resource Kit_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/39.%20From%20Raids%20to%20Depo\
rtation--A%20Com
munity%20Resource%20Kit.pdf)
- Know Your Rights in  the Community (_English_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/40.%20Know%20your%20Rights%20i\
n%20Community%20--%20Eng
lish.pdf) ,  _Spanish_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/41.%20Know%20Your%20Rights%20i\
n%20Community%20--%20Spanish.pdf) )
-  _Know  Your Rights in Detention_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/42.%20Know%20Your%20Rights%20i\
n%20Detention.pdf)
- _Pre-Raid  Community Safety Plan_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/43.%20Pre%20Raid%20Community%2\
0Safety%20Plan.pdf)
- _Raids  to Deportation Map_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/44.%20Raids%20to%20Deportation\
%20Map.pdf)
- _Raids  to Deportation Policy Map_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/Documents/DWN/45.%20Raids%20to%20Deportation\
%20Policy%20Map.pdf)

More on  Immigration Resource Page
_http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/resource.htm_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/resource.htm)
Useful Handouts and Know Your Immigrant  Rights When Marches


Immigrant Marches / Marchas de los Inmigrantes
(By ACLU)

    EN ESPAĂ‘OL
_Acerca de  la Union Americana de Libertades  Civiles_
(http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/espanol/index.html)

Immigrants and their supporters are participating in marches all over  the
country to protest proposed national legislation and to seek justice  for
immigrants. The materials available here provide important information  about
the rights and risks involved for anyone who is planning to  participate in
the ongoing marches.
If government agents question you, it is important to understand your
rights. You should be careful in the way you speak when approached by the
police, FBI, or INS. If you give answers, they can be used against you in  a
criminal, immigration, or civil case.
The ACLU's publications below provide effective and useful guidance in
several languages for many situations. The brochures apprise you of your  legal
rights, recommend how to preserve those rights, and provide guidance  on
how to interact with officials.
IMMIGRATION
_Know Your Rights When Encountering Law Enforcement_
(http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/kyr_english.pdf)
|  _Conozca Sus Derechos Frente A Los Agentes Del Orden  PĂşblico_
(http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/immigration_kyr_spanish.pdf)

ACLU of Massachusetts - Your Rights And  Responsibilities If You Are
Contacted By The Authorities _English_ (http://www.aclum.org/pdf/bustcard.pdf) 
|
_Spanish_ (http://www.aclu-nj.org/downloads/BustcardSpanish.pdf)  |
_Chinese_ (http://www.aclum.org/pdf/bustcard.pdf)

ACLU of  Massachusetts - _What to do  if stopped and questioned about your
immigration status on the street, the  subway, or the bus_
(http://www.aclum.org/pdf/Operation%20Safe%20Commute.pdf)
| _Que  hacer si Usted es interrogado en el tren o autobus acerca de su
estatus  inmigratorio_
(http://www.aclum.org/pdf/Operation_Safe_Commute_SPANISH.pdf)

ACLU of South Carolina - _How  To Deal With A 287(g)_
(http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/immigration_287g_english.pdf)
| _Como  Lidiar Con Una 287(g)_
(http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/immigration_287g_spanish.pdf)

ACLU of Southern California - _What to Do If Immigration Agents or Police
Stop You While on  Foot, in Your Car, or Come to Your Home_
(http://www.aclu-sc.org/attach/k/kyr_immigration_en.pdf)
| _Qué Hacer Si Agentes de Inmigración o la Policía lo  Paran Mientras Va
Caminando, lo Detienen en su Auto o Vienen a su  Hogar_
(http://www.aclu-sc.org/attach/k/kyr_immigration_sp.pdf)

ACLU of Washington - Brochure for Iraqis: What to  Do If the FBI or Police
Contact You for Questioning _English_
(http://www.aclu-wa.org/detail.cfm?id=200)  | _Arabic_
(http://aclu-wa.org/detail.cfm?id=354)

ACLU of  Washington - _Your  Rights at Checkpoints at Ferry Terminals_
(http://www.aclu-wa.org/library_files/FerryCheckpointsEng%206-08.pdf)
| _Sus  Derechos en Puestos de Control en las Terminales de
Transbordadores_
(http://www.aclu-wa.org/library_files/FerryCheckpointsSpan%206-08.pdf)
LABOR / FREE SPEECH
_Immigrant Protests - What Every Worker Should Know:  _
(http://www.nilc.org/ce/nilc/protests_what_every_worker_should_know.pdf)
| _Manifestaciones de los Inmigrantes - Lo Que Todo  Trabajador Debe Saber_
(http://www.nilc.org/ce/nilc/protests_what_every_worker_should_know_sp.pdf)

PROTESTERS
ACLU of Florida Brochure - _The Rights of Protesters_
(http://www.aclufl.org/PDFs/right_to_protest_brochure.pdf)
| _Los Derechos de los Manifestantes_
(http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/acluprotestbrochuresp1.pdf)
STUDENTS
Washington State - _Student Walkouts and Political Speech at School_
(http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/studentwalkouts20060503.pdf)
| _Huelgas Estudiantiles y ExpresiĂłn PolĂ­tica en las  Escuelas_
(http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/immigrants/studentwalkouts20060503_spanish.pdf)

_California Students: Public School Walk-outs and Free  Speech_
(http://www.aclu-sc.org/attach/k/KYRCAStudentProtestsEnglish.pdf)
| _Estudiantes de California: Marchas o Huelgas y La  Libertad de ExpresiĂłn
en las Escuelas PĂşblicas_
(http://www.aclu-sc.org/attach/k/KYRCAStudentProtestsSpanish.pdf)


____________________________________

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://www.sabinabecker.com/2012/11/festive-left-friday-blogging-calle-13-steps-\
up.html

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Calle 13 steps
up<http://www.sabinabecker.com/2012/11/festive-left-friday-blogging-calle-13-ste\
ps-up.html>
November
9, 2012 — Sabina Becker

The social conscience of Calle 13 continues apace. Here’s the scoop on
their latest collaboration:<http://www.aporrea.org/internacionales/n217880.html>

Calle 13 <http://www.youtube.com/artist/calle-13?feature=watch_video_title> -
La Bala (The Bullet) Lyrics Letra in ENGLISH AND SPANISH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_0SqjQs7U00



  *The Puerto Rican urban music group Calle 13 presented its latest video
clip on Thursday, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), denouncing the damage done by weapons and violence all over the
world.*
*

“This is a very important topic, close to my heart, because we’re in a
state of emergency in many countries where there is violence in general,”
said singer René Pérez Joglar, alias “El Residente”, in a press conference.

Directed by Simón Brand of Colombia, in collaboration with other directors
from various lands, the videoclip for the song, “La Bala” (The Bullet),
covers places such as France, Holland, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the
United States to address the impact of violence on a person.

“I wanted to give a personality to the bullet and, in doing so, you can see
how people can understand the damage it does,” said the artist, who assured
that he wants to avoid clichés and not show blood so that people keep their
eyes on what is the impact of a bullet.

This is the second time in which Calle 13, consisting of Pérez and his
stepbrother Eduardo Cabra, “El Visitante”, has collaborated with UNICEF. A
year ago, they took part in a campaign against human trafficking and
exploitation.

“Collaborating with the group has helped us to reach young people with very
important messages in a way that is close to them,” said UNICEF’s Latin
America representative, Tamar Hahn.

“‘La Bala’ greatly reinforces what we are doing and gives us an incredible
platform for reaching the young, because sometimes the way UNICEF expresses
itself isn’t the best way to get the message out to young people,” Hahn
added, referring to violence in Latin America as an “epidemic situation”.

Hahn said that education is fundamental for avoiding this problem, a point
with which Pérez agrees.

“It’s the principal factor, the low priority our governments place on
education is a huge factor and the reason for which we’re living in
violence,” said the rapper, who is convinced that more education will
discourage the use of weapons.
*

*Calle 13 will be appearing December 1 in a solo performance in Mexico, at
the Palacio de los Deportes in the capital.*

Translation mine.

Sorry I couldn’t find the video mentioned in this piece; in the meantime,
enjoy the video above, which supplies a handy English translation of the
awesome lyrics. Will post the video described in the news item as soon as I
can find it.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*- Havana Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org -*

Sri Lanka to be tried for genocide against Tamils: How will Cuba and its
allies respond?

Posted By *Circles Robinson* On November 10, 2012 @ 5:35 am In *Recent
Posts,World* | *No
Comments<http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=81848&print=1#comments_controls>
*

*By Ron Ridenour*

<http://www.havanatimes.org/?attachment_id=81849>[1]HAVANA TIMES — An
unprecedented move by internationalists and activists for human rights and
justice, one that could inspire controversy among left oriented governments
and peoples’ solidarity committees, will take place next spring.

“In April 2013, a panel of international experts will be convened as Judges
of the �Permanent People’s Tribunal’ to examine reports submitted by many
specialized working groups on the accusation of the crime of Genocide
against the Government of Sri Lanka and on the accusations against various
international actors who had supported and prepared the conditions for the
Sri Lankan Government to implement this alleged crime,” stated the
Rome-based �Permanent People’s Tribunal’ (PPT) on November 3. (1)

This decision is supported organizationally by the �Irish Forum for Peace
in Sri Lanka’ (IFPSL) based in Dublin and the International Human Rights
Association (IMRV) based in Bremen.

In mid January 2010 the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lankan held its
sessions in Dublin, Ireland. There were four findings:

1: That the Sri Lankan Government and its military are guilty of War Crimes;
2: That the Sri Lankan Government and its military are guilty of crimes
against humanity;
3: That the charge of genocide requires further investigation;
4: That the international community, particularly the UK and USA, share
responsibility for the breakdown of the peace process.(2)

It also found that member states of the United Nations had not *“complied
with their moral obligation to seek justice for the violations of human
rights committed during the last period of the war”* [Sri Lanka government
war against the Tamils].

The PPT was referring to Human Rights Council Resolution S-11/1 of May 27,
2009. Cuba led the majority of members to vote for the Sri Lanka government
drafted resolution. The resolution only praised Sri Lanka government for
ending the hostilities and for the “liberation” of tens of thousands of
Tamils (who were, in fact, up to three hundred thousand Internally
Displaced Persons incarcerated for many months and even years in
concentration camps).

It only condemned the Tamil Tiger guerrillas (Liberation Tigers for Tamil
Eelam) for terrorism and made no mention of the long-endured suffering,
pogroms, indiscrimination and inequality suffered by the Tamil people at
the hands of the Sinhalese majority governments and military, and Buddhist
monks.

Since the time of the resolution, Cuba has stepped up closer ties with the
Mahinda Rajapaksa family government, even inviting him to Cuba as a guest
of honor for four days. (3)

*The case for genocide*

Here are excerpts of the PPT statement concerning the need to investigate
the possibility that Sri Lankan governments have been committing genocide
against the Tamil people for decades.

*“This possibility has become a necessity now, due to the mass of new
evidence (substantial, quantitative and qualitative) that has come to light
since [2010 session]. At the time we held the �Dublin Tribunal’, the real
casualty figures remained largely hidden. The official UN figure did not
exceed 8000 civilian casualties, while some of the British and French press
carried reports estimating the total number of casualties at �up to
20,000′. In fact, the Sri Lanka Government maintained a position of �zero
civilian casualties’ for the full period of the final military offensive!*

*“However, soon after the Dublin Tribunal, like a dam bursting, details of
terrible atrocities and a more realistic estimation of the magnitude of the
massacre started surfacing in media.*

*“The effective embargo in the international media that existed during the
eight months of the military offensive – which had helped to prevent a
humanitarian opposition to the war to emerge – was starting to break down,
eight months after the end of the military project.*

*“One month after the Tribunal – in February 2010 – appearing on
Australia’s ABC Television, the former UN spokesman in Sri Lanka Gordon
Weiss contradicted the UN estimate of �no more than 8,000 casualties’
stating that �anything between 10,000 to 40,000’ civilians may have died
during the final siege. Sometime later the Experts’ Panel appointed by the
UN Secretary General used the 40,000 figure as its own estimate.*

*“On January 2011, the Catholic Bishop of Mannar made a submission to the
Sri Lankan Government’s own �Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’
(LLRC) that according to his calculation, 146,679 people are unaccounted
for (he used the Government’s own statistics to show this)…*

*“The casualty figure issue is just one factor – which we have highlighted
to emphasise our point. Various other factors – such as an examination of
the historical background which had laid the basis to the events that led
to the military operations in 2009, as well as, whether or not the
continuing issues that the Tamil people in the area concerned are facing at
the moment are related to this history, needs to be carried out properly to
deal with the overall reality.*

*“Due to the fact that substantial, quantitative and qualitative new
evidence has become available, we believe that there are compelling reasons
to organize a follow up to the �People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka’ to examine
the case of Genocide against the Tamil people.”*

This follow up session will be held in Germany.

*Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal* was initiated in 1979 by the left socialist
and anti-fascist resistance fighter Senator Lelie Basso. He had been a
judge on the International War Crimes Tribunal, also know as the Bertrand
Russell-Sartre Tribunal, in 1966-7, concerning war crimes committed by the
United States against Vietnam, and the 1973-6 investigations regarding war
crimes committed by Latin American dictatorships, assisted by the USA. One
of Cuba’s few women guerrilla fighters, Melba Hernandez, was one of the
judges when she was chairwoman of the Cuba Committee for Solidarity with
Viet Nam.

PPT has held more than 40 sessions on war crimes and crimes against
humanity, as well as genocide, in many parts of the world: US war crimes
against Nicaragua, national dictatorship war crimes (usually with the
assistance of US military forces and the CIA) against Argentines,
Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, Filipinos, the Western Sahara, Eritrea…

It has also investigated and condemned Turkey for committing genocide
against the Armenian people. In 2006, it ethically sanctioned the economic
neo-liberal model and multinational corporations for violations of
international principles respecting human rights.

Among the many prestigious PPT panelists have been Nobel Prize winners:
Adolfo Perez, Sean MacBride and George Wald. Many judges and associates
have either come from Latin America and/or been close to the Cuban
revolutionary process, as well as its allies in the ALBA alliance, among
them are: Francois Houtart and Miguel D’Escoto.
—–

*(1) **http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35722 [2]***

Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General, Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT), Rome
Jude Lal Fernando, Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL), Dublin
Nicolai Jung, International Human Rights Association (IMRV), Bremen e.V
Contact: irishpeaceforum@...
imrvbremen@...

*(2)*
 
http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2010/01/Dublin_Permanent_Peoples_Tribunal_Fi\
nal__Report.pdf<http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2010/01/Dublin_Permanent_Peo\
ples_Tribunal_Final__Report.pdf>
  [3]

*(3) *Much of my writings of late have focused on the Tamil people’s
struggles for human rights and justice and the lack of natural solidarity
that Cuba should be taking with them instead of the opposite: support for a
most brutal Sri Lanka regime.

Here are some of my articles on that issue and connection, as well as on
how the worst terrorist states in the world—the USA and Israel—have always
backed the Sinhalese racist governments with arms and heavy war machinery,
intelligence and surveillance, and money. Furthermore, in this world of
geo-politics with odd bed partners, China, Pakistan, Russia, and Iran have
also heavily aided the Sri Lanka Sinhalese chauvinists in committing gross
atrocities against the Tamil people. I have also written a book on the
subject* *published in India in 2011:
“Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka”
 
http://www.ronridenour.com/books/tamil_nation_in_sri_lanka.htm<http://www.ronrid\
enour.com/books/tamil_nation_in_sri_lanka.htm>
  [4]
“Cuba-ALBA let down Sri Lanka Tamils” http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=56447
[5]
“Cuba hosted Sri Lanka Pres/War Criminal”
  http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=72890&cpage=1
<http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=72890&cpage=1>
[6]
*“*Cuba’s contradictory stance on Tamils”* *
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=56447 [5]
“Cuba outvoted at UN Human Rights Council over Sri Lanka-Tamils
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=65303 [7]
“Sri Lanka war crimes-genocide with West complicity”
 
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/05/sri-lanka-war-crimes-genocide-with-west-compli\
city/<http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/05/sri-lanka-war-crimes-genocide-with-west-\
complicity/>
  [8]
*Share this post:*


------------------------------

Article printed from Havana Times.org: *http://www.havanatimes.org*

URL to article: *http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=81848*

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: *http://www.havanatimes.org/?attachment_id=81849*

[2] http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35722: *
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35722*

[3]
http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2010/01/Dublin_Permanent_Peoples_Tribunal_Fi\
nal__Report.pdf
:*
http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2010/01/Dublin_Permanent_Peoples_Tribunal_Fi\
nal__Report.pdf
*

[4] http://www.ronridenour.com/books/tamil_nation_in_sri_lanka.htm: *
http://www.ronridenour.com/books/tamil_nation_in_sri_lanka.htm*

[5] http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=56447: *
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=56447*

[6] http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=72890&cpage=1 : *
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=72890&cpage=1*

[7] http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=65303: *
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=65303*

[8]
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/05/sri-lanka-war-crimes-genocide-with-west-compli\
city/
: *
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/05/sri-lanka-war-crimes-genocide-with-west-compli\
city/
*

[9] Image: *http://www.linkwithin.com/*
*
*


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From: earthactionnetwork@...
[mailto:earthactionnetwork@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2012 9:34 PM
Subject: Post electiion ACTIONS + Triumph of the Nerds


Hi,

There is an epic showdown coming next month as our country faces the "fiscal
cliff" -- the Bush tax cuts will expire and major budget cuts will be
triggered automatically. President Obama backed down on the Bush tax cuts in
December 2010, but fresh from winning re-election, we need to make sure he
keeps his commitment to end them. We helped put him in the Oval Office twice
now, and we need to make sure he knows our priorities.

The Bush tax cuts are irresponsible, immoral, and have added $1 TRILLION to
the deficit. They are the chief reason that we can no longer fund vital
public services.

Click below to tell President Obama to make ending the Bush tax cuts his top
priority.


<http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/ic/idizu4w6wub5xk/DRFCRVlLSUMSRB5WXhBBA
ARcU1NZRwRaBVccDERTGiELAXRAEAwyVR1wRUFC>
http://www.couragecampaign.org/EndBushTaxCuts




--------------------


The election is over, but the fight isn't! Washington is on the verge of a
showdown over taxes and spending.

It seems like everyone is going around saying the 'America is broke', but as
Van points out, the truth is that "We are not broke, we are being robbed --
and somebody has our money!"

I just signed the commitment to not buy the myth and to help spread the
truth. If you're with me can you sign it as well? Here's the link:

  <http://act.rebuildthedream.com/sign/america_is_being_robbed?source=ems>
http://act.rebuildthedream.com/sign/america_is_being_robbed?source=ems


-------------


Here's some terrific news.  With victories yesterday in statewide votes in
<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=FTept6tEuJoRMh1%2FyAF
WA%2BJ2NY%2FYzbTE> Montana  and
<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=mB7Sy0nyNCqtdvRlGU6ZY
eJ2NY%2FYzbTE> Colorado , both by nearly three-to-one margins, we're now one
quarter of the way to amending the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens
United.




This a huge milestone, one we could not have achieved without your help,
along with the help of many friends and allied organizations, including
Common Cause, which led the way on the Montana and Colorado victories with
our support, as well as People for the American Way, Public Citizen, U.S.
PIRG, Move to Amend, Ben & Jerry's, RootsAction, the American Sustainable
Business Council, Auburn Seminary, Avaaz, Credo, unPAC, and SignOn.org.



The Math




As you may recall, amending the constitution requires passage by two thirds
of each chamber of Congress, and then ratification by three quarters of the
states.  Those thresholds equal 67 U.S. Senators, 290 U.S. Representatives,
and ten states.




We're one quarter of the way there in the Senate, with 24 returning U.S.
Senators who have introduced or co-sponsored amendment bills.  We're also
one quarter of the way there in the House, with 73 returning U.S.
Representatives having introduced or co-sponsored amendments.1  And now, as
of yesterday, eleven states have formally called for an amendment: Hawaii,
New Mexico, Vermont, Rhode Island, California, Connecticut, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Montana, and Colorado.



The Meaning




It's especially exciting that Montana and Colorado acted through statewide
votes of the people.  They're the first states to do so (the other nine
states acted through their legislatures).  The overwhelming margins of
victory are worth celebrating too: although the last ballots are still being
counted, the count so far in Montana stands at 74.9% to 25.1%; in Colorado
the count so far is 73.8% to 26.2%




These victories also underscore the trans-partisan nature of our growing
national movement: Montana's a red state, and Colorado is a swing state.
Polls show that support for an amendment transcends party lines: our own
poll in 2010 showed that 68% of Republicans, 82% of independents, and 87% of
Democrats support an amendment.2  An Associated Press poll this past
September found that 81% of Republicans, 78% of independents, and 85% of
Democrats want to limit corporate, union, and other outside spending on our
elections.3




This trans-partisan support will be tremendously important for our continued
success going forward.



What Now




Help us build on this momentum.  Send a letter to the editor of your
newspaper to get the word out about what we're accomplishing together.  Now,
just after Americans everywhere have been barraged for months by negative
campaign ads enabled by Citizens United, is a great time to highlight what
we can do go fight back.




We've made it easy to put your letter together in just a few moments with
our online tool.





<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZhEb8V%2Bzhdb%2F6s%2F
9k7X5aeJ2NY%2FYzbTE> Click here to send a letter to the editor of your
newspaper.




Thanks again for all you did to make this moment possible.




Sincerely,




- Peter




Peter Schurman

Free Speech For People

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

----------


  <http://mashable.com/2012/11/07/nate-silver-wins/>
http://mashable.com/2012/11/07/nate-silver-wins/

  <http://mashable.com/2012/11/07/nate-silver-wins/> Triumph of the Nerds:
Nate Silver Wins in 50 States


  <http://mashable.com/author/chris-taylor/>   November 7, 2012 by
<http://mashable.com/author/chris-taylor/> Chris Taylor

  <http://mashable.com/follow/topics/barack-obama> Barack Obama  may have
comfortably won re-election in the electoral college, and squeaked a victory
in the popular vote. But here is the absolute, undoubted winner of this
election:  <http://mashable.com/follow/topics/nate-silver> Nate Silver  and
big data.

The  <http://fivethirtyeight.com/> Fivethirtyeight.com  analyst, despite
being  <http://mashable.com/2012/11/02/nate-silver-twitter/> pilloried by
the pundits , outdid even his 2008 prediction. In that year, his
mathematical model correctly called 49 out of 50 states, missing only
Indiana (which went to  ROMNI  by 1%

This year, according to all projections, Silver's model has correctly
predicted 50 out of 50 states. A last-minute flip for Florida, which finally
went blue in Silver's prediction on Monday night, helped him to a perfect
game.

A caveat: Florida has not yet been called officially, but Obama is in the
lead with 98% of precincts reporting. If anything, Silver's placing of
Florida on a knife edge makes him look even more prescient. No wonder one of
the night's more popular tweets suggested that he was actually from the
future, working from old newspapers.

SEE ALSO:  <http://mashable.com/2012/11/02/nate-silver-twitter/> Did Nate
Silver Let Twitter Get Under His Skin?

What does this victory mean? That mathematical models can no longer be
derided by "gut-feeling" pundits. That Silver's contention - TV pundits are
generally no more accurate than a coin toss - must now be given wider
credence.

The great thing about a model like Silver's (and that of similarly winning
math nerds, such as Sam Wang of the  <http://election.princeton.edu/>
Princeton Election Consortium ) is that it takes all that myopic human bias
out of the equation. The ever-present temptation to cherry-pick polls is
subverted.

You set your parameters at the start, deciding how much weight and accuracy
you're going to give to each poll based purely on their historical accuracy.
You feed in whatever other conditions you think will matter to the result.
Then, you sit back and let the algorithm do the work.

Silver may be a registered Democrat, but he learned back when he was doing
baseball analysis that he'd never get anywhere if his models weren't
absolutely neutral, straight down the line between feuding teams.

By 2016, if the networks are paying attention, don't be surprised to see
that the talking heads are all Nate Silver clones. Every media organization
will now want its own state poll-based algorithm, especially given
<http://mashable.com/2012/11/06/nate-silver-new-york-times-traffic/> how
much traffic Silver has driven to the New York Times' website . We'll see
more about that kind of model, and less stories about individual polls,
which are almost always misleading unless you aggregate them.

Statistics, big data, neutral mathematical models - this, it turns out, is
what people want. Who knew?

Well, we geeks knew, but we're starting to get used to having the rest of
the world follow our lead. We had the smartphones first, we read the fantasy
books before they became blockbuster movies and TV shows, and now we can
boast that we stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Nate Silver's data before it
was popular.

You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, option D
(occasional emails and up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch
options (option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day,
option D - up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded
you this email and you want to be on our list, send an email to
earthactionnetwork@... and tell us which option you'd like.   For
more info on Earth Action Network go to www.earthactionnetwork.org and for
more info about Mha Atma see www.drmhaatma.com.

"War's never a winning thing, Charlie.  You just lose all the time, and the
one who loses last asks for terms.  All I remember is a lot of losing and
sadness and nothing good at the end of it.  The end of it, Charles, that was
a winning all to itself, having nothing to do with guns."

     --Ray Bradbury, from the short story "The Time Machine" 1957
   _____

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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2013.0.2793 / Virus Database: 2624/5882 - Release Date: 11/08/12



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Uranium Milling and the Church Rock Disaster



Church Rock, New Mexico, would seem an improbable spot for a nuclear
disaster.  A dusty cluster of industrial machinery set in the arid
mesas of the great Southwest, its most distinguishing feature might be
considered a large pond of murky liquid, unusual in such dry terrain.
Church Rock also hosts a series of underground uranium mine shafts, a
mill, and a scattered community of Navajo families who survive by
herding cattle, goats, and sheep.
A deep gully leads from the mine site into the Rio Puerco, which
once flowed only when fed by spring rains.  Now it is wet year round,
bolstered by water pumped from the mine shafts to keep them from
flooding.  That water flowing from the mine is laced with radioactive
isotopes.  And the pond hides a burden of contaminated waste.
The 350 families who water livestock in the Rio Puerco rely on their
small herds to eke out a meager existence.  Many are members of the
Dine--Navajo--Nation, with incomes in the range of two thousand
dollars per year.  During the hot days of the desert summer local
children would play in the stream as their parents tended the goats,
sheep, and cattle.


A Wall of Radioactive Water
In the early morning hours of July 16, 1979--fourteen weeks after
the accident at Three Mile Island--all of that changed.  The dam at
Church Rock burst sending eleven hundred tons of radioactive mill
wastes and ninety million gallons of contaminated liquid pouring
toward Arizona.  The wall of water backed up sewers and lifted manhole
covers in Gallup, twenty miles downstream, and caught people all along
the river unawares.  "There were no clouds, but all of a sudden the
water came," remembered Herbert Morgan of Manuelito, New Mexico.  "I
was wondering where it came from.  Not for a few days were we
told."[1]
No one was killed in the actual flood.  But along the way it left
residues of radioactive uranium, thorium, radium, and polonium, as
well as traces of metals such as cadmium, aluminum, magnesium,
manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, sodium, vanadium, zinc, iron,
lead and high concentrations of sulfates.[2]  The spill degraded the
western Rio Puerco as a water source.  It carried toxic metals already
detectable at least seventy miles downstream.[3]  And it raised the
specter that uranium mining in the Colorado River Basin may be
endangering Arizona's Lake Mead, and with it the drinking water of Las
Vegas, Los Angeles, and much of Arizona.
Except for the bomb tests, Church Rock was probably the biggest
single release of radioactive poisons on American soil.  Ironically it
occurred thirty-four years to the day after the first atomic test
explosion at Trinity, New Mexico, not far away.
The source of the catastrophe was uranium mill wastes.  Usable
uranium is extracted from the sandstone in which it is usually found
by grinding it fine and leaching it with sulfuric acid.  The acid
carries off the desired isotopes.  But the leftover waste
sands--"tailings"--still contain 85 percent of the ore's original
radioactivity, and 99.9 percent of its original volume.  There are now
some 140 million tons of them scattered around the West.  NRC
commissioner Victor Gilinsky and others consider them "the dominant
contribution to radiation exposure" of the entire nuclear fuel
cycle.[4]  The acid milling liquids--called "liquor"--also dissolve
dangerous traces of thorium 230, radium 222, lead 210, and other
isotopes.  Because of their high radioactivity the tailings and liquor
both must be isolated from the environment--but nobody has yet
demonstrated a method with any long-term success.
At Church Rock several hundred million gallons of the liquor were
being held in a large pond so the liquids could evaporate off and the
solid tailings be stored.  The whole complex was owned by the United
Nuclear Corporation (UNC), a Virginia-based firm with assets in the
hundreds of millions of dollars and influence in the New Mexico state
government.  Its dam and pond at Church Rock were opened with the
understanding that they would operate just eighteen months;  twenty-five
months later, at the time of the accident, no alternative sites
were being developed.
The UNC dam wall was an earthen structure with a clay core, twenty-five
feet high and thirty feet wide.  On the morning of the accident a
twenty-foot-wide section of it gave way, wreaking havoc downstream.
In the desert, water is synonymous with life.  In contaminating the
Rio Puerco, UNC had threatened the basis of existence for all of the
people who lived downstream.  For the first time they confronted the
terrors of radioactivity.  "Our hearts have been broken," said Bodie
McCray of Tsayotah.  "We don't sleep worrying about it.  I worry about
our children and their children."
Indeed the hundreds of families living near the spill now had to
live with the same kinds of uncertainties just beginning to plague the
people of central Pennsylvania.  "Ever since the accident we've been
wanting the truth," said Kee Bennally, a silversmith playing a lead
role in the multimillion-dollar lawsuit against UNC.  "They say it's
not dangerous and in a couple of days they say it is dangerous.  It's
been really confusing, especially for the old people.  They don't know
anything about this, the contamination, the radiation. . . ."[5]
What made the Church Rock disaster especially tragic was that it
could have been avoided.  Soon after the spill an angry U.S.
representative Morris Udall (D-Ariz.) told a congressional hearing
that "at least three and possibly more Federal and state regulatory
agencies had ample opportunity to conclude that such an accident was
likely to occur."  Even before the dam had been licensed "the
company's own consultant predicted that the soil under this dam was
susceptible to extreme settling which was likely to cause [its]
cracking and subsequent failure."[6]
Cracks had developed in the dam the year it opened, said Udall.
Aerial photographs revealed that liquor, which was supposed to be kept
away from the dam face, was lapping against it.  State-required
seepage devices and monitoring wells had never been built or inspected
for.[7]
UNC's chief operating officer, J. David Hann, countered Udall by
blaming the accident on "a unique rock point, beneath the breach."
Because the dam had been built partly on bedrock and partly on softer
ground, that rock point "served as a fulcrum, resulting in transverse
cracking."  The breach was "like many things you undertake," Hann told
the congressional hearing.  "They have a risk, and we undertook this.
There was a circumstance that was not foreseen at the time."[8]
But coming in the wake of Three Mile Island, and in light of
considerable evidence of impending disaster, Hann's arguments seemed
to carry little weight.  In a special report the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers charged that if the dam had been built to legal
specifications, according to approved design, "it is possible that the
failure would not have occurred."[9]  And a spokesman from the New
Mexico State Engineer's Office added that a "consensus" of engineers
who reviewed the accident agreed that "had the drain zone been
constructed according to the approved plans and specifications, and
had the tailings beach been in place as recommended by [UNC's]
engineers, it is likely that failure would not have occurred."[10]
At the time of the disaster the dam was carrying a load of tailings
liquor at least two feet higher than allowed for in its designs.  The
company had also failed to tell the state that cracking had been
observed.  "There were significant warnings appearing before the dam
broke," said William Dircks, director of the NRC's Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.  "I think that is the troubling part
of it."[11]
Ultimately, for the company, the accident would mean a loss of some
revenue and bad publicity.  For the people downstream life itself was
at stake.  "Somehow," complained Frank Paul, vice-president of the
Navajo Tribal Council, "United Nuclear Corporation was permitted to
locate a tailings pond and a dam on an unstable geologic formation.
Somehow UNC was allowed to design an unsafe tailings dam not in
conformance to its own design criteria.  Somehow UNC was permitted to
inadequately deal with warning cracks that had appeared over two years
prior to the date the dam failed.  Somehow UNC was permitted to
continue a temporary dam for six months beyond its design life.
Somehow UNC was permitted to have a tailings dam without either an
adequate contingency plan or sufficient men and material in place to
deal with a spill.  Somehow UNC was permitted to deal with the spill
by doing almost nothing."[12]
Ironically the Church Rock dam was a "state-of-the-art" structure.
Paul Robinson, an Albuquerque-based expert on mining issues, warned
the Udall hearings that "UNC-Church Rock was the most recently built
and the most carefully engineered tailings dam in the state."  Similar
dams owned by Anaconda, Kerr-McGee, UNC-Homestake Partners, and Sohio
were "disasters waiting to happen."[13]
________________________________
  1. Kathie Saltzstein, "Navajos Ask $12.5 Million in UNC Suits," Gallup
Independent, August 14, 1980 (hereafter cited as "Navajos");  for a
general analysis of the relationship between Indians and uranium
development, see Joseph G. Jorgenson, et al., "Native Americans and
Energy Development" (Cambridge, Ma.:  Anthropology Resources Center,
1978);  for a broad range of information on the issue of uranium mining
and milling, contact the Black Hills Alliance, Box 2508, Rapid City, SD
57709.
2. Edwin K. Swanson, "Water Quality Problems in the Puerco River," paper
presented at the American Water Resources Association Symposium, Water
Quality Monitoring and Management, Tucson, Arizona, October 24, 1980.
3. Edwin K. Swanson, interview, May 1981.
4. Victor Gilinsky, "The Problem of Uranium Mill Tailings," paper
presented at the Pacific Southwest Minerals and Energy Conference,
Anaheim, California, May 2, 1978 (Washington, D.C.:  NRC Office of
Public Affairs), No. S-78-3, p. 3 (hereafter cited as "Problem").  See
also, EPA, Environmental Analysis of the Uranium Fuel Cycle, Part
I--Fuel Supply, EPA-520/9-73-003-B, Washington, D.C:  EPA Office of
Radiation Programs, 1973, p. 26.
5. Chris Shuey, "Calamity at Church Rock, New Mexico," Saturday Magazine,
Scottsdale Daily Progress, Part 1, February 14, 1981, p. 3 (hereafter
cited as "Calamity").
6. U.S. Congress, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, Mill Tailings Dam Break at
Church Rock, New Mexico, 96th Congress, October 22, 1979, pp. 1-4
(hereafter cited as Church Rock Hearings).
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid., p. 120.
9. Ibid., p. 3.
10. Ibid., p. 42.
11. Ibid., p. 39.
12. Ibid., p. 8.
13. Ibid., pp. 225-232. 


http://www.ratical.org/radiation/KillingOurOwn/KOO9.html

Harvey Wasserman and Norman Soloman.  "Uranium Mining and the Church Rock
Disaster." in Killing Our Own:  The Disaster of America's Experience with Atomic
Radiation.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From: Pat & Jeff Warner [mailto:PatnJeff@...]
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2012 8:50 AM
To: Ed Pearl
Subject: Suggestion to post


Ed

   Please post the below announcement for the Interfaith Discussion on
Islamophobia scheduled for tomorrow

best    jeff

Pat & Jeff Warner
562-694-1637
La Habra Heights, CA 90631


TOMORROW, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 3 pm,

CULVER-PALMS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH on Sepulveda near Culver Blvd.



WHAT:       ISLAMOPHOBIA; First in a Series

                   An interfaith dialogue addressing civil rights violations
against Muslims

in our communities & across the nation.

                   Speakers:         Reverend James Lawson

                                           Rabbi Haim Beliak (by video link)

       Imam Muhammad Faqih

                   Moderator:     Estee Chandler

WHEN:       TOMORROW, SUNDAY, November 11, 3 PM

WHERE:     Culver-Palms United Methodist Church, 4464 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver
City

Off 405 at Culver, south on Sepulveda.  Parking behind Church.

ENTRY:      $10; $5 students; no one turned away

                   Refreshment will be served.

INFORMATION:            <mailto:info@...>
info@...   or    <mailto:LosAngeles@...>
LosAngeles@...

FLYER:       attached and at
<http://www.lajewsforpeace.org/images/IslamophobiaFlyer.pdf>
http://www.lajewsforpeace.org/images/IslamophobiaFlyer.pdf

We are living in troubled times.  Some our neighbors are being scapegoated
and demonized by a nation-wide, loosely organized campaign of Islamophobia.
This is just the most recent episode of in America of fear of "the other."

This event brings together a panel of distinguished community leaders to
examine cultural, theological, and political perspectives of Islamophobia.
The speakers will deconstruct the most persistent myths about Islam and
Muslims, and examine the role Islamophobia continues to play in justifying
war abroad and political repression at home.

In a way, this event will examine the very fabric of American society that
Islamophobia threatens to destroy.  This event will start to expose the
demagoguery that promotes the irrational fear that is Islamophobia.

Issues that will be discussed include:

* What do we know about the political, spiritual and psychological
keys that are played to elicit Islamophobia?

* What is the damage to our constitutional freedoms and to the
inclusive society we have strived for?

* What kinds of social healing and cooperation are required in order
to move forward?

Speaker's Bios

* Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak is the Executive Director of Beit Polska, the
Progressive Jewish Community's umbrella organization in Poland. He served as
chaplain and adjunct professor at The Claremont Colleges for 17 years. He is
a co-founder of <http://jewsonfirst.org/> JewsOnFirst.org, a leading source
on the "Christian Right" including their role in fanning Islamophobia in
American Society.

* Imam Muhammad Faqih holds a degree in Islamic Studies from the
Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in Fairfax, VA.  He served as an
Imam in Laurel, MD and in San Diego, CA.  Currently, Imam Faqih is the
resident Imam of the Islamic Institute of Orange County in Anaheim.

* Reverend James Lawson is an architect of the American Civil Rights
Movement, whom Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "the leading theorist and
strategist of nonviolence in the world."  He has been a leader and educator
in peace & justice issues for over 50 years for innumerable organizations
including ICUJP, CLUE, the ACLU, the NAACP, and the World Council of
Churches.

This talk is part of the Progressive Conversations on Israel/Palestine and
US Foreign Policy in the Middle East, a monthly series presented by LA Jews
for Peace, Friends of Sabeel-Los Angeles, and Jewish Voice for Peace-Los
Angeles, in association with Levantine Cultural Center.  The Islamophobia
series is also sponsored by the Islamic Shura Council of Southern
California, the United Methodists' Holy Land Task Force, the Interfaith
Communities United for Justice & Peace, and the American Friends Service
Committee.  KPFK, 90.7 FM, is the media sponsor.

Jeff Warner
LA Jews for Peace
  <http://www.lajewsforpeace.org/> www.LAJewsforPeace.org



   _____

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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away
By NICOLE PERLROTH
Published: November 7, 2012


Not long after I began writing about cybersecurity, I became a paranoid
caricature of my former self. It’s hard to maintain peace of mind when
hackers remind me every day, all day, just how easy it is to steal my
personal data.
Enlarge This Image
Minh Uong/The New York Times
Within weeks, I set up unique, complex passwords for every Web site,
enabled two-step authentication for my e-mail accounts, and even covered up my
computer’s Web camera with a piece of masking tape — a precaution that
invited ridicule from friends and co-workers who suggested it was
time to get my head checked.
But recent episodes offered vindication. I removed the webcam tape —
after a friend convinced me that it was a little much — only to see its
light turn green a few days later, suggesting someone was in my computer and
watching. More recently, I received a text message from Google with the two-step
verification code for my Gmail account. That’s the string
of numbers Google sends after you correctly enter the password to your
Gmail account, and it serves as a second password.(Do sign up for it.) The only
problem was that I was not trying to get into my Gmail account. I
was nowhere near a computer. Apparently, somebody else was.
It is absurdly easy to get hacked. All it takes is clicking on one
malicious link or attachment. Companies’ computer systems are attacked
every day by hackers looking for passwords to sell on auctionlike black
market sites where a single password can fetch $20. Hackers regularly
exploit tools like John the Ripper, a free password-cracking program
that use lists of commonly used passwords from breached sites and can
test millions of passwords per second.
Chances are, most people will get hacked at some point in their
lifetime. The best they can do is delay the inevitable by avoiding
suspicious links, even from friends, and manage their passwords.
Unfortunately, good password hygiene is like flossing — you know it’s
important, but it takes effort. How do you possibly come up with
different, hard-to-crack passwords for every single news, social
network, e-commerce, banking, corporate and e-mail account and still
remember them all?
To answer that question, I called two of the most (justifiably) paranoid people
I know, Jeremiah Grossman and Paul Kocher, to find out how they
keep their information safe. Mr. Grossman was the first hacker to
demonstrate how easily somebody can break into a computer’s webcam and
microphone through a Web browser. He is now chief technology officer at
WhiteHat Security, an Internet and network security firm, where he is
frequently targeted by cybercriminals. Mr. Kocher, a well-known
cryptographer, gained notice for clever hacks on security systems. He
now runs Cryptography Research, a security firm that specializes in
keeping systems hacker-resistant. Here were their tips:
FORGET THE DICTIONARY If your password can be found in a dictionary, you might
as well not have one. “The worst passwords are
dictionary words or a small number of insertions or changes to words
that are in the dictionary,” said Mr. Kocher. Hackers will often test
passwords from a dictionary or aggregated from breaches. If your
password is not in that set, hackers will typically move on.
NEVER USE THE SAME PASSWORD TWICE People tend to use
the same password across multiple sites, a fact hackers regularly
exploit. While cracking into someone’s professional profile on LinkedIn
might not have dire consequences, hackers will use that password to
crack into, say, someone’s e-mail, bank, or brokerage account where more
valuable financial and personal data is stored.
COME UP WITH A PASSPHRASE The longer your password, the longer it will take to
crack. A password should ideally be 14
characters or more in length if you want to make it uncrackable by an
attacker in less than 24 hours. Because longer passwords tend to be
harder to remember, consider a passphrase, such as a favorite movie
quote, song lyric, or poem, and string together only the first one or
two letters of each word in the sentence.
OR JUST JAM ON YOUR KEYBOARD For sensitive accounts,
Mr. Grossman says that instead of a passphrase, he will randomly jam on
his keyboard, intermittently hitting the Shift and Alt keys, and copy
the result into a text file which he stores on an encrypted,
password-protected USB drive. “That way, if someone puts a gun to my
head and demands to know my password, I can honestly say I don’t know
it.”
STORE YOUR PASSWORDS SECURELY Do not store your
passwords in your in-box or on your desktop. If malware infects your
computer, you’re toast. Mr. Grossman stores his password file on an
encrypted USB drive for which he has a long, complex password that he
has memorized. He copies and pastes those passwords into accounts so
that, in the event an attacker installs keystroke logging software on
his computer, they cannot record the keystrokes to his password. Mr.
Kocher takes a more old-fashioned approach: He keeps password hints, not the
actual passwords, on a scrap of paper in his wallet. “I try to keep my most
sensitive information off the Internet completely,” Mr. Kocher
said.
A PASSWORD MANAGER? MAYBE Password-protection software
lets you store all your usernames and passwords in one place. Some
programs will even create strong passwords for you and automatically log you in
to sites as long as you provide one master password. LastPass, SplashData and
AgileBits offer password management software for Windows, Macs and mobile
devices. But consider yourself warned: Mr. Kocher said he did not use
the software because even with encryption, it still lived on the
computer itself. “If someone steals my computer, I’ve lost my
passwords.” Mr. Grossman said he did not trust the software because he
didn’t write it. Indeed, at a security conference in Amsterdam earlier
this year, hackers demonstrated how easily the cryptography used by many popular
mobile password managers could be cracked.
IGNORE SECURITY QUESTIONS There is a limited set of
answers to questions like “What is your favorite color?” and most
answers to questions like “What middle school did you attend?” can be
found on the Internet. Hackers use that information to reset your
password and take control of your account. Earlier this year, a hacker claimed
he was able to crack into Mitt Romney’s Hotmail and Dropbox accounts using the
name of his favorite pet. A
better approach would be to enter a password hint that has nothing to do with
the question itself. For example, if the security question asks
for the name of the hospital in which you were born, your answer might
be: “Your favorite song lyric.”
USE DIFFERENT BROWSERS Mr. Grossman makes a point of
using different Web browsers for different activities. “Pick one browser for
�promiscuous’ browsing: online forums, news sites, blogs — anything you
don’t consider important,” he said. “When you’re online banking or
checking e-mail, fire up a secondary Web browser, then shut it down.”
That way, if your browser catches an infection when you accidentally
stumble on an X-rated site, your bank account is not necessarily
compromised. As for which browser to use for which activities, a study
last year by Accuvant Labs of Web browsers — including Mozilla Firefox,
Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer — found that Chrome was
the least susceptible to attacks.
SHARE CAUTIOUSLY “You are your e-mail address and your
password,” Mr. Kocher emphasized. Whenever possible, he will not
register for online accounts using his real e-mail address. Instead he
will use “throwaway” e-mail addresses, like those offered by
10minutemail.com. Users register and confirm an online account, which
self-destructs 10
minutes later. Mr. Grossman said he often warned people to treat
anything they typed or shared online as public record.
“At some point, you will get hacked — it’s only a matter of time,”
warned Mr. Grossman. “If that’s unacceptable to you, don’t put it
online.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/technology/personaltech/how-to-devise-password\
s-that-drive-hackers-away.html?src=me&ref=general


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

To make any of the links in the article work you will have to go to their
web site.

Be healthy, and wise,
Scott


http://shiftfrequency.com/comprehensive-list-of-gmo-products/

Comprehensive List Of GMO Products

  Posted on October 2, 2012 by Gillian
Govt Slaves | October 2 2012
Though California’s Prop. 37 failed I extend my gratitude and sincere
thanks to California for publicizing the dangers of GMO. Had this passed,
it would have proved a source of great blessing to humanity and put an end
to this eugenics agenda that masks poison as “food.”
Note: You can download this pdf file created by the Center for Food Safety
that provides guidelines for buying non-GMO foods in your local stores.
This tells you what you can eat that is not GMO contaminated.  ~G

In addition, should you want more info concerning GMO products and the
companies producing them, please take a look at this excellent list put
together by Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper on Facebook.
Baby Food ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Nabisco (Phillip Morris)
-Arrowroot Teething Biscuits
-Infant formula Carnation Infant Formulas(Nestle)
-AlSoy
-Good Start
-Follow-Up
-Follow-Up Soy

Enfamil Infant Formulas (Mead Johnson)
-Enfamil with Iron
-Enfamil Low Iron
-Enfamil A.R.
-Enfamil Nutramigen
-Enfamil Lacto Free
-Enfamil 22
-Enfamil Next step (soy and milk-based varieties)
-Enfamil Pro-Soybee

Isomil Infant Formulas (Abbot Labs)
-Isomil Soy
-Isomil Soy for Diarrhea
-Similac(Abbot Labs)
-Similac Lactose Free
-Similac with Iron
-Similac Low Iron
-Similac Alimentum
Baking ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Aunt Jemima (Quaker)
-Complete Pancake & Waffle Mix
-Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix
-Cornbread Mix
-Easy Mix Coffee Cake

Betty Crocker (General Mills)
-Pie Crust Mix
-Original Pancake Mix
-Complete Pancake Mix
-Buttermilk Complete Pancake Mix
-Muffin Mixes
-Banana Nut
-Lemon Poppy Seed
-Blueberry
-Wild Blueberry
-Chocolate Chip
-Apple Streusel
-Quick Bread Mixes Banana
-Cinnamon Streusel
-Lemon Poppy Seed
-Cranberry Orange
-Gingerbread
-Cookie Mixes Chocolate Chip
-Double Chocolate Chunk
-Sugar
-Peanut Butter

Bisquik (Betty Crocker/General Mills)
-Original
-Reduced Fat
-Shake ‘n Pour Pancake Mix
-Shake ‘n Pour Buttermilk Pancake Mix
-Shake ‘n Pour Blueberry Pancake Mix

Duncan Hines (Aurora Foods)
-Muffin Mixes
-Kellogg’s All-Bran Apple Cinnamon
-Kellogg’s All-Bran Blueberry
-Blueberry
-Blueberry Crumb
-Chocolate Chip

Hungry Jack (Pillsbury)
-Buttermilk Pancake Mix
-Extra Light & Fluffy Pancake Mix (all varieties)
-Jiffy
-Corn Muffin Mix
-Blueberry Muffin Mix
-Raspberry Muffin Mix
-Pie Crust Mix

Mrs. Butterworths (Aurora Foods)
-Complete Pancake Mix
-Buttermilk Pancake Mix

Pepperidge Farms (Campbell’s)
-Buttermilk Pancake Mix
-Pillsbury
-Quick Bread & Muffin Mixes
-Blueberry
-Chocolate Chip
-Banana
-Cranberry
-Lemon Poppyseed
-Nut
-Hot Roll Mix
-Gingerbread

Bakers (Kraft/Phillip Morris)
-Unsweetened Chocolate
-Semi-Sweet Chocolate
-German Sweet Chocolate
-White Chocolate
-Hershey’s
-Semi-Sweet Baking Chips
-Milk Chocolate Chips
-Mini Kisses
-Nestle
-Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
-Milk Chocolate Chips
-White Chocolate
-Butterscotch Chips
-Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bars
Bread ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Holsum (Interstate Bakeries)
-Holsum Thin Sliced
-Roman Meal
-12 Grain
-Round Top
-Home Pride
-Buttertop White
-Buttertop Wheat

Pepperidge Farms (Campbell’s)
-Cinnamon Swirl
-Light Oatmeal
-Light Wheat
-100% Whole Wheat
-Hearty Slices
-7 Grain
-9 Grain
-Crunchy Oat
-Whole Wheat
-Light Side
-Oatmeal
-Wheat
-7 Grain
-Soft Dinner Rolls
-Club Rolls
-Sandwich Buns
-Hoagie Rolls

Thomas’ (Bestfoods)
-English Muffins Original
-Cinnamon Raisin
-Honey Wheat
-Oat Bran
-Blueberry
-Maple French Toast
Toast-r-Cakes Blueberry
Toast-r-Cakes Corn Muffins

Wonder (Interstate Bakeries)
-White Sandwich Bread
-Country Grain
-Buttermilk
-Thin Sandwich
-Light Wheat
-100% Stoneground Wheat
-Fat Free Multigrain
-Premium Potato
-Beefsteak Rye
-Wonder Hamburger Buns
Breakfast ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Kellogg’s
-Pop Tarts (all varieties)
-Pop Tarts Snack Stix (all)
-Nutri-Grain Bars (all)
-Nutri-Grain Fruit Filled Squares (all)
-Nutri-Grain Twists (all)
-Fruit-Full Squares (all)

Nabisco (Nabisco/Phillip Morris)
-Fruit & Grain Bars (all varieties)
-Nature Valley (General Mills)
-Oats & Honey Granola Bars
-Peanut Butter Granola Bars
-Cinnamon Granola Bars

Pillsbury (General Mills)
-Toaster Scrambles & Strudels (all varieties)

Quaker
-Chewy Granola Bars (all varieties)
-Fruit & Oatmeal Bars (all varieties)
-Aunt Jemima Frozen Waffles
-Buttermilk
-Blueberry

Eggo Frozen Waffles (Kellogg’s)
-Homestyle
-Buttermilk
-Nutri-Grain Whole Wheat
-Nutri-Grain Multi Grain
-Cinnamon Toast
-Blueberry
-Strawberry
-Apple Cinnamon
-Banana Bread

Hungry Jack Frozen Waffles (Pillsbury/General Mills)
-Homestyle
-Buttermilk
Cereal ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

General Mills
-Cheerios
-Wheaties
-Total
-Corn Chex
-Lucky Charms
-Trix
-Kix
-Golden Grahams
-Cinnamon Grahams
-Count Chocula
-Honey Nut Chex
-Frosted Cheerios
-Apple Cinnamon Cheerios
-Multi-Grain Cheerios
-Frosted Wheaties
-Brown Sugar & Oat Total
-Basic 4
-Reeses Puffs
-French Toast Crunch

Kellogg’s
-Frosted Flakes
-Corn Flakes
-Special K
-Raisin Bran
-Rice Krispies
-Corn Pops
-Product 19
-Smacks
-Froot Loops
-Marshmallow Blasted Fruit Loops
-Apple Jacks
-Crispix
-Smart Start
-All-Bran
-Complete Wheat Bran
-Complete Oat Bran
-Just Right Fruit & Nut
-Honey Crunch Corn Flakes
-Raisin Bran Crunch
-Cracklin’ Oat Bran

Country Inn Specialties (all varieties)
-Mothers Cereals (Quaker)
-Toasted Oat Bran
-Peanut Butter Bumpers
-Groovy Grahams
-Harvest Oat Flakes
-Harvest Oat Flakes w/Apples & Almonds
-Honey Round Ups

Post (Kraft-Phillip Morris)
-Raisin Bran
-Bran Flakes
-Grape Nut Flakes
-Grape Nut O’s
-Fruit & Fibre date, raisin and walnut
-Fruit & Fibre peach, raisin and almond
-Honey Bunch of Oats
-Honey Nut Shredded Wheat
-Honey Comb
-Golden Crisp
-Waffle Crisp
-Cocoa Pebbles
-Cinna-Crunch Pebbles
-Fruity Pebbles
-Alpha-Bits
-Post Selects Cranberry Almond
-Post Selects Banana Nut Crunch
-Post Selects Blueberry Morning
-Post Selects Great Grains

Quaker
-Life
-Cinnamon Life
-100% Natural Granola
-Toasted Oatmeal
-Toasted Oatmeal Honey Nut
-Oat Bran
-Cap’n Crunch
-Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch
-Cap’n Crunch Crunchling Berries
Chocolate ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Cadbury (Cadbury/Hershey’s)
-Mounds
-Almond Joy
-York Peppermint Patty
-Dairy Milk
-Roast Almond
-Fruit & Nut
-Hershey’s
-Kit-Kat
-Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
-Mr. Goodbar
-Special Dark
-Milk Chocolate
-Kisses
-Symphony

Kraft (Kraft/Phillip Morris)
-Toblerone (all varieties)
-Mars

-M&M (all varieties)
-Snickers
-Three Musketeers
-Milky Way
-Twix

Nestle
-Crunch
-Milk Chocolate
-Chunky
-Butterfinger
-100 Grand

Carnation (Nestle)

Hot Cocoa Mixes:
-Rich Chocolate
-Double Chocolate
-Milk Chocolate
-Marshmallow Madness
-Mini Marshmallow
-No Sugar

Hershey’s
-Chocolate Syrup
-Special Dark Chocolate Syrup
-Strawberry Syrup

Nestle
-Nesquik
-Strawberry Nesquik

Swiss Miss (ConAgra)
-Chocolate Sensation
-Milk Chocolate
-Marshmallow Lovers
-Marshmallow Lovers Fat Free
-No Sugar Added
Condiments ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Del Monte (Nabisco/Phillip Morris)
-Ketchup
-Heinz
-Ketchup (regular & no salt)
-Chili Sauce
-Cocktail Sauce
-Heinz 57 Steak Sauce

Hellman’s (Bestfoods)
-Real Mayonnaise
-Light Mayonnaise
-Low-Fat Mayonnaise

Hunt’s (ConAgra)
-Ketchup (regular & no salt)
-KC Masterpiece
-Original BBQ sauce
-Garlic & Herb Marinade
-Honey Teriyaki Marinade

Kraft (Kraft/Phillip Morris)
-Miracle Whip (all varieties)
-Kraft Mayonnaise (all)
-Thick & Spicy BBQ sauces (all varieties)
-Char Grill BBQ sauce
-Honey Hickory BBQ sauce

Nabisco (Nabiso/Phillip Morris)
-A-1 Steak Sauce
Open Pit (Vlasic/Campbells)
-BBQ sauces (all)
-Chi-Chi’s (Hormel)
-Fiesta Salsa (all varieties)
-Old El Paso (Pillsbury)
-Thick & Chunky Salsa
-Garden Pepper Salsa
-Taco Sauce
-Picante Sauce

Ortega (Nestle)
-Taco Sauce
-Salsa Prima Homestyle
-Salsa Prima Roasted Garlic
-Salsa Prima 3 Bell Pepper
-Thick & Chunky Salsa

Pace (Campbells)
-Chunky Salsa
-Picante Sauce

Tostitos Salsa (Frito-Lay/Pepsi)
-All Natural
-All Natural Thick & Chunky
-Roasted Garlic
-Restaurant Style
Cookies ~Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Delicious Brands (Parmalat)
-Animal Crackers
-Ginger Snaps
-Fig Bars
-Oatmeal
-Sugar-Free Duplex
-Honey Grahams
-Cinnamon Grahams
-Fat Free Vanilla Wafers
-English Toffee Heath Cookies
-Butterfinger Cookies
-Skippy Peanut Butter Cookies

Famous Amos (Keebler/Flowers Industries)
-Chocolate Chip
-Oatmeal Raisin
-Chocolate Sandwich
-Peanut Butter Sandwich
-Vanilla Sandwich
-Oatmeal Macaroon Sandwich

Frookies (Delicious Brands/Parmalat)
-Peanut Butter Chunk
-Chocolate Chip
-Double Chocolate
-Frookwich Vanilla
-Frookwich Chocolate
-Frookwich Peanut Butter
-Frookwich Lemon
-Funky Monkeys Chocolate
-Ginger Snaps
-Lemon Wafers

Keebler (Keebler/Flowers Industries)
-Chips Deluxe
-Sandies
-E.L. Fudge
-Soft Batch Chocolate Chip
-Golden Vanilla Wafers
-Droxies
-Vienna Fingers
-Fudge Shoppe Fudge Stripes
-Fudge Shoppe Double Fudge & Caramel
-Fudge Shoppe Fudge Stix
-Fudge Shoppe Peanut Butter Fudge Stix
-Country Style Oatmeal
-Graham Originals
-Graham Cinnamon Crisp
-Graham Chocolate
-Graham Honey Low Fat
-Crčme Filled Wafers
-Chocolate Filled Wafers

Nabisco (Nabisco/Phillip Morris)
-Oreo,(all varieties)
-Chips Ahoy!(all varieties)
-Fig Newtons (and all Newtons varities)
-Lorna Doone
-Nutter Butters
-Barnum Animal Crackers
-Nilla Wafers
-Nilla Chocolate Wafers
-Pecanz Shortbread
-Family Favorites Oatmeal
-Famous Wafers
-Fudge Covered Mystic Sticks
-Honey Maid Graham Crackers
-Honey Maid Cinnamon Grahams
-Honey Maid Chocolate Grahams
-Honey Maid Oatmeal Crunch
-Teddy Grahams
-Teddy Grahams Cinnamon
-Teddy Grahams Chocolate
-Teddy Grahams Chocolate Chips
-Café Cremes Vanilla
-Café Crčme Cappuccino

Pepperidge Farm (Campbell’s)
-Milano
-Mint Milano
-Chessmen
-Bordeaux
-Brussels
-Geneva
-Chocolate Chip
-Lemon Nut
-Shortbread
-Sugar
-Ginger Men
-Raspberry Chantilly
-Strawberry Verona
-Chocolate Mocha Salzburg
-Chocolate Chunk Chesapeake
-Chocolate Chunk Nantucket
-Chocolate Chunk Sausalito
-Oatmeal Raisin Soft Baked

Sesame Street (Keebler)
-Cookie Monster
-Chocolate Chip
-Chocolate Sandwich
-Vanilla Sandwich
-Cookie Pals
-Honey Grahams
-Cinnamon Grahams
-Frosted Grahams

Snack Wells (Nabisco/Phillip Morris)
-Devil’s Food
-Golden Devil’s Food
-Mint Crčme
-Coconut Crčme
-Chocolate Sandwich
-Chocolate Chip
-Peanut Butter Chip
-Double Chocolate Chip
Crackers ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Keebler (Keebler/Flowers Industries)
-Town House
-Club
-Munch ‘Ems (all varieties)
-Wheatables
-Zesta Saltines
-Toasteds (Wheat, Onion, Sesame & Butter Crisps)
-Snax Stix (Wheat, Cheddar & original)
-Harvest Bakery (Multigrain, Butter, Corn Bread)

Nabisco (Nabisco/Phillip Morris)
-Ritz (all varieties)
-Wheat Thins (all)
-Wheatsworth
-Triscuits
-Waverly
-Sociables
-Better Cheddars
-Premium Saltines (all)
-Ritz Snack Mix (all)
-Vegetable Flavor Crisps
-Swiss Cheese Flavor Crisps
-Cheese Nips (all)
-Uneeda Biscuits

Pepperidge Farm (Campbell’s)
-Butter Thins
-Hearty Wheat
-Cracker Trio
-Cracker Quartet
-Three Cheese Snack Stix
-Sesame Snack Stix
-Pumpernickel Snack Stix
-Goldfish (original, cheddar, parmesan, pizza, pretzel)
-Goldfish Snack Mix (all)

Red Oval Farms (Nabisco/Phillip Morris)
-Stoned Wheat Thin (all varieties)
-Crisp ‘N Light Sourdough Rye
-Crisp ‘N Light Wheat

Sunshine (Flowers Industries)
-Cheeze-It (original & reduced fat)
-Cheeze-It White Cheddar
-Cheeze-It Party Mix
-Krispy Original Saltines
Frozen Dinners ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Banquet (ConAgra)
-Pot Pies (all varieties)
-Fried Chicken
-Salisbury Steak
-Chicken Nugget Meal
-Pepperoni Pizza Meal

Budget Gourmet (Heinz)
-Roast Beef Supreme
-Beef Stroganoff
-Three Cheese Lasagne
-Chicken Oriental & Vegeatble
-Fettuccini Primavera

Green Giant (Pillsbury)
-Rice Pilaf with Chicken Flavored Sauce
-Rice Medley with Beef Flavored Sauce
-Primavera Pasta
-Pasta Accents Creamy Cheddar
-Create-a-Meals Parmesan Herb Chicken
-Cheesy Pasta and Vegetable
-Beef Noodle
-Sweet & Sour
-Mushroom Wine Chicken

Healthy Choice (ConAgra)
-Stuffed Pasta Shells
-Chicken Parmagiana
-Country Breaded Chicken
-Roast Chicken Breast
-Beef Pot Roast
-Chicken & Corn Bread
-Cheese & Chicken Tortellini
-Lemon Pepper Fish
-Shrimp & Vegetable
-Macaroni & Cheese

Kid Cuisine (ConAgra)
-Chicken Nugget Meal
-Fried Chicken
-Taco Roll Up
-Corn Dog
-Cheese Pizza
-Fish Stix
-Macaroni & Cheese

Lean Cuisine (Stouffer’s/Nestle)
-Skillet Sensations Chicken & Vegetable
-Broccoli & Beef
-Homestyle Beef
-Teriyaki Chicken
-Chicken Alfredo
-Garlic Chicken
-Roast Turkey

-Hearty Portions Chicken Florentine
-Beef Stroganoff
-Cheese & Spinach Manicotti
-Salisbury Steak

-Café Classics Baked Fish
-Baked Chicken
-Chicken a L’Orange
-Chicken Parmesan
-Meatloaf with Whipped Potatoes

-Everyday Favorites Chicken Fettuccini
-Chicken Pie
-Angel Hair Pasta
-Three Bean Chili with Rice
-Macaroni & Cheese

Marie Callenders (ConAgra)
-Chicken Pot Pie
-Lasagna & Meat Sauce
-Turkey & Gravy
-Meat Loaf & Gravy
-Country Fried Chicken & Gravy
-Fettuccini with Broccoli & Cheddar
-Roast Beef with Mashed Potatoes
-Country Fried Pork Chop with Gravy
-Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ore-Ida Frozen Potatoes (Heinz)
-Fast Fries
-Steak fries
-Zesties
-Shoestrings
-Hash Browns
-Tater Tots
-Potato Wedges
-Crispy Crunchies

Rosetto Frozen Pasta (Heinz)
-Cheese Ravioli
-Beef Ravioli
-Italian Sausage Ravioli
-Eight Cheese Stuffed Shells
-Eight Cheese Broccoli Stuffed Shells

Stouffer’s (Nestle)
-Family Style Favorites Macaroni & Cheese
-Stuffed Peppers
-Broccoli au Gratin
-Meat Loaf in Gravy
-Green Bean & Mushroom Casserole

-Homestyle Meatloaf
-Salisbury Steak
-Chicken Breast in Gravy

-Hearty Portions Salisbury Steak
-Chicken Fettucini
-Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes
-Chicken Pot Pie

Swanson (Vlasic/Campbells)
-Meat Loaf
-Fish & Chips
-Salisbury Steak
-Chicken Nuggets
-Hungry Man Fried Chicken
-Roast Chicken
-Fisherman’s Platter
-Pork Rib

Voila! (Bird’s Eye/Agri-Link Foods)
-Chicken Voila! Alfredo
-Chicken Voila! Garlic
-Chicken Voila! Pesto
-Chicken Voila! Three Cheese
-Steak Voila! Beef Sirloin
-Shrimp Voila! Garlic

Weight Watchers (Heinz)
-Smart Ones Fiesta Chicken
-Basil Chicken
-Ravioli Florentine
-Fajita Chicken
-Roasted Vegetable Primavera
Energy Bars & Drinks ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Power Bars

Power Bar (Nestle)
-Oatmeal Raisin
-Apple Cinnamon
-Peanut Butter
-Vanilla Crisp
-Chocolate Peanut Butter
-Mocha
-Banana
-Wild Berry
-Harvest Bars Apple Crisp
-Blueberry
-Chocolate Fudge Brownie
-Strawberry
-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Drink Mixes

Carnation Instant Breakfast Mix (Nestle)
-Creamy Milk Chocolate
-Classic Chocolate
-French Vanilla
-Strawberry
-Café Mocha
Heat & Serve Meals ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Chef Boyardee (ConAgra)
-Beefaroni
-Macaroni & Cheese
-Mini Ravioli
-ABC’s & 123′s

Dinty Moore (Hormel)
-Beef Stew
-Turkey Stew
-Chicken & Dumplings
-Hormel
-Chili with Beans
-Chili No Beans
-Vegetarian Chili with Beans

Kids’ Kitchen (Hormel)
-Spaghetti Rings with Meatballs
-Macaroni & Cheese
-Pizza Wedges with 3 Cheese

Franco-American (Campbell’s)
-Spaghetti O’s
-Mini Ravioli
-Power Rangers Pasta in Sauce
Meat & Dairy Alternatives ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Loma Linda(Worthington/Kellogg’s*)
-Meatless Chik Nuggest

Morningstar (Worthington/Kellogg’s*)
-Harvest Burger
-Better ‘n Burgers
-Garden Veggie Patties
-Grillers Burgers
-Black Bean Burger
-Chicken Patties

Natural Touch (Worthington/Kellogg’s*)
-Garden Vegetable Pattie
-Black Bean Burger
-Okra Pattie
-Lentil Rice Loaf
-Nine Bean Loaf

Worthington (Worthington/Kellogg’s*)
-Vegetarian Burger
-Savory Slices

Dairy Alternatives

Nutra Blend Soy Beverage(Bestfoods)
-Original
-Vanilla
-Apple
-Orange
*A company letter states that they are in the process of converting to
non-genetically modified “proteins” in all products.
Meal Mixes & Sauce Packets ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Betty Crocker (General Mills)
-Garden Vegetable Pilaf
-Creamy Herb Risotto
-Garlic Alfredo Fettuccini
-Bowl Appetit Cheddar Broccoli
-Macaroni & Cheese
-Pasta Alfredo

Knorr (Bestfoods)
-Mushroom Risotto Italian Rice
-Broccoli au Gratin Risotto
-Vegetable Primavera Risotto
-Risotto Milanese
-Original Pilf
-Chicken Pilaf
-Rotini with 4 Cheese
-Bow Tie Pasta with Chicken & Vegetable
-Penne with Sun-Dried Tomato
-Fettuccini with Alfredo
-Classic Sauce Packets Hollandaise

Béarnaise
-White
-Brown
-Lemon Herb
-Mushroom Brown
-Onion
-Roasted Chicken
-Roasted Pork
-Roasted Turkey

Pasta Sauce Packets Alfredo
-Four Cheese
-Carbonara
-Pesto
-Garlic Herb

Lipton (Unilever)
-Rice & Sauce Packets Chicken Broccoli
-Cheddar Broccoli
-Beef Flavor
-Spanish
-Chicken Flavor
-Creamy Chicken
-Mushroom

-Sizzle & Stir Skillet Supers Lemon Garlic Chicken & Rice
-Spanish Chicken & Rice
-Herb Chicken & Bowties
-Cheddar Chicken & Shells

Near East (Quaker)
-Spicy Tomato Pasta Mix
-Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Pasta Mix
-Falafel Mix
-Lentil Pilaf
-Couscous
-Tomato Lentil
-Parmesan
-Toasted Pinenut
-Herb Chicken
-Broccoli & Cheese
-Curry

Pasta Roni (Quaker)
-Fettuccini Alfredo
-Garlic Alfredo
-Angel Hair Pasta with Herbs
-Angel Hair Pasta with Parmesan Cheese
-Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato Parmesan
-Angel Hair Pasta Primavera
-Garlic & Olive Oil with Vermicelli

Rice-a-Roni (Quaker)
-Rice Pilaf
-Beef
-Chicken
-Fried Rice
-Chicken & Broccoli
-Long Grain & Wild Rice
-Broccoli au Gratin

Uncle Ben’s (Mars)
-Long Grain & Wild Rice (Original & with Garlic)
-Brown & Wild Rice Mushroom
-Country Inn Mexican Fiesta
-Country Inn Oriental Fried Rice
-Country Inn Chicken & Vegetable
-Country Inn Chicken & Broccoli
-Natural Select Chicken & Herb
-Natural Select Tomato & Basil
-Chef’s Recipe Chicken & Vegetable Pilaf
-Chef’s Recipe Beans & Rice
-Chef’s Recipe Broccoli Rice
Frozen Pizza ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Celeste (Aurora Foods)
-Supreme
-Pepperoni
-Vegetable
-Four Cheese
-Deluxe
-Cheese

Tombstone (Kraft/Phillip Morris)
-Pepperoni
-Supreme
-Sausage & Pepperoni
-Extra Cheese
-Stuffed Crust
-Three Cheese

Totino’s (Pillsbury)
-Crisp Crust
-Pepperoni
-Combination
Snack Foods ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Act II Microwave Popcorn (ConAgra)
-Butter
-Extreme Butter
-Corn on the Cob

Frito-Lay* (PepsiCo)
-Lays Potato Chips (all varieties)
-Ruffles Potato Chips (all)
-Doritos Corn Chips (all)
-Tostitos Corn Chips (all)
-Fritos Corn Chips (all)
-Cheetos (all)
-Rold Gold Pretzels (all)
-Cracker Jack Popcorn

Healthy Choice Microwave Popcorn (ConAgra)
-Organic Corn (soy/canola oils)

Mothers Corn Cakes (Quaker)
-Butter Pop

Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popcorn (ConAgra)
-Original
-Homestyle
-Butter
-Smart Pop
-Pour Over
-Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Cakes
-Chocolate
-Caramel
-Orville Redenbacher Mini Popcorn Cakes
-Butter
-Peanut Caramel
-Chocolate Peanut

Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn (Betty Crocker/General Mills)
-Natural
-Homestyle
-Jumbo Pop
-Extra Butter
-Light
-94% Fat Free Butter

Pringles (Procter & Gamble)
-Original
-Low Fat
-Pizza-licious
-Sour Cream & Onion
-Salt & Vinegar
-Cheezeums
-Quaker Rice Cakes
-Peanut Butter
-Chocolate Crunch
-Cinnamon Streusel
-Mini
-Chocolate
-Ranch
-Sour Cream & Onion
-Apple Cinnamon
-Caramel Corn
-Quaker Corn Cakes
-White Cheddar
-Caramel Corn
-Strawberry Crunch
-Caramel Chocolate Chip
*Frito has informed its corn and potato suppliers that the company wishes
to avoid GE crops, but acknowledges that canola or other oils and
ingredients in its products may be from GE sources.
Soda & Juice Drinks ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Coca Cola (Coca Cola)
Sprite
Cherry Coke
Barq’s Root Beer
Minute Maid Orange
Minute Maid Grape
Surge
Ultra
PepsiCo
Pepsi
Slice
Wild Cherry Pepsi
Mug Root Beer
Mountain Dew
Cadbury/Schweppes
7-Up
Dr. Pepper
A & W Root Beer
Sunkist Orange
Schweppes Ginger Ale

Capri Sun juices (Kraft/Phillip Morris)
-Red Berry
-Surfer Cooler
-Splash Cooler
-Wild Cherry
-Strawberry Kiwi
-Fruit Punch
-Pacific Cooler
-Strawberry
-Orange
-Grape

Fruitopia (Coca Cola)
-Grape Beyond
-Berry Lemonade
-Fruit Integration
-Kiwiberry Ruckus
-Strawberry Passion
-Tremendously Tangerine

Fruit Works (PepsiCo)
-Strawberry Melon
-Peach Papaya
-Pink Lemonade
-Apple Raspberry

Gatorade (Quaker)
-Lemon Lime
-Orange
-Fruitpunch
-Fierce Grape
-Frost Riptide Rush

Hawaiian Punch (Procter & Gamble)
-Tropical Fruit
-Grape Geyser
-Fruit Juicy Red
-Strawberry Surfin

Hi-C (Coca Cola)
-Pink Lemonade
-Watermelon Rapids
-Boppin’ Berry
-Tropical Punch
-Smashin’ Wildberry
-Blue Cooler
-Blue Moon Berry
-Orange
-Cherry

Kool Aid (Kraft/Phillip Morris)
-Blastin’ Berry Cherry
-Bluemoon Berry
-Kickin’ Kiwi Lime
-Tropical Punch
-Wild Berry Tea
-Ocean Spray
-Cranberry Juice Cocktail
-Cranapple
-CranGrape
-CranRaspberry
-CranStrawberry
-CranMango

Squeeze It (Betty Crocker/General Mills)
-Rockin’ Red Puncher
-Chucklin’ Cherry
-Mystery 2000

Sunny Delight (Procter & Gamble)
-Sunny Delight Original
-Sunny Delight With Calcium Citrus Punch
-Sunny Delight California Style Citrus Punch
Tang juices (Kraft/Phillip Morris)
-Orange Uproar
-Fruit Frenzy
-Berry Panic

Tropicana Twisters (PepsiCo)
-Grape Berry
-Apple Raspberry Blackberry
-Cherry Berry
-Cranberry Raspberry Strawberry
-Pink Grapefruit
-Tropical Strawberry
-Orange Cranberry
-Orange Strawberry Banana

V-8 (Campbells)
-V8 Tomato Juices (all varieties)
-Strawberry Kiwi
-Strawberry Banana
-Fruit Medley
-Berry Blend
-Citrus Blend
-Apple Medley
-Tropical Blend
-Island Blend
Soup ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Campbell’s
-Tomato
-Chicken Noodle
-Cream of Chicken
-Cream of Mushroom
-Cream of Celery
-Cream of Broccoli
-Cheddar Cheese
-Green Pea
-Healthy Request Chicken Noodle
-Cream of Chicken
-Cream of Mushroom
-Cream of Celery
-Campbell’s Select Roasted Chicken with Rice

-Grilled Chicken with Sundried Tomatoes
-Chicken Rice
-Vegetable Beef

-Chunky Beef with Rice
-Hearty Chicken & Vegetable
-Pepper Steak
-Baked Potato with Steak & Cheese
-New England Clam Chowder

-Soup to Go Chicken Noodle
-Chicken Rice
-Garden Vegetable
-Vegetable Beef & Rice

Simply Home Chicken Noodle
Chicken Rice
Garden Vegetable
Vegetable Beef with Pasta

Healthy Choice (ConAgra)
-Country Vegetable
-Fiesta Chicken
-Bean & Pasta
-Chicken Noodle
-Chicken with Rice
-Minestrone

Pepperidge Farms (Campbell’s)
-Corn Chowder
-Lobster Bisque
-Chicken & Wild Rice
-New England Clam Chowder
-Crab Soup

Progresso (Pillsbury)
-Tomato Basil
-Chicken Noodle
-Chicken & Wild Rice
-Chicken Barley
-Lentil
-New England Clam Chowder
-Zesty Herb Tomato
-Roasted Chicken with Rotini
-Fat Free Minestrone
-Fat Free Chicken Noodle
-Fat Free Lentil
-Fat Free Roast Chicken
Tomatoes & Sauces ~ Genetically Engineered Ingredients

Del Monte (Nabisco/Phillip Morris)
-Tomato Sauce

Five Brothers Pasta Sauces (Lipton/Unilever)
-Summer Vegetable
-Five Cheese
-Roasted Garlic & Onion
-Tomato & Basil

Healthy Choice Pasta Sauces (ConAgra)
-Traditional
-Garlic & Herb
-Sun-Dried Tomato & Herb

Hunts (ConAgra)
-Traditional Spaghetti Sauce
-Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce
-Tomato Sauce
-Tomato Paste

Prego Pasta Sauces (Campbells)
-Tomato, Basil & Garlic
-Fresh Mushroom
-Ricotta Parmesan
-Meat Flavored
-Roasted Garlic & Herb
-Three Cheese
-Mini-Meatball
-Chicken with Parmesan

Ragu Sauces (Lipton/Unilever)
-Old World Traditional
-Old World with Meat
-Old World Marinara
-Old World with Mushrooms
-Ragu Robusto Parmesan & Romano
-Ragu Robusto Roasted Garlic
-Ragu Robusto Sweet Italian Sausage
-Ragu Robusto Six Cheese
-Ragu Robusto Tomato, Olive Oil & Garlic
-Ragu Robusto Classic Italian Meat
-Chunky Garden Style Super Garlic
-Chunky Garden Style Garden Combo
-Chunky Garden Style Tomato, Garlic & Onion
-Chunky Garden Style Tomato, Basil & Italian Cheese
-Pizza Quick Traditional
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This entry was posted in Health and tagged Cheerios, Chocolate chip, Food,
General Mills, generalmills, Kellogg, Kellogg Company, Mead Johnson,
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From: Get Lit-Words Ignite [mailto:mimi@...]
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 11:15 AM
Subject: Adopt a School for Get Lit & Classic Slam Today!

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here
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Get Lit's Adopt A School Campaign is here!



Dear Get Lit Family, Friends, and Supporters,



As you know, our annual fundraiser is on Sunday, November 18th from 2-6. If
you haven't already purchased your Get Lit Gala tickets yet, please RSVP and
purchase your tickets here
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001dX5loV7i0EopMchmE5HWbe1nB0_jgYa2jiBvDsHhfN1r
7VZi-KQ52-t8cacfjH444H9xrt73PLlaNlMrZkNHmC4WfSaY-wD_RDgpxMXDdzhD_Lmn_Sjv7fzt
d3bCLsG-q6_4rZiCweOKj02kNmx1pBZvl7Yy8jD1ixBO0TyPVLM=> !  Proceeds are going
towards the "Adoption" of 20 Los Angeles County high schools to receive one
year's worth of poetic instruction in Get Lit Standards based curriculum for
ONE YEAR, reaching over 5,000 teens! In addition, each of the 20 schools
will compete in our annual CLASSIC SLAM poetry competition AT THE ORPHEUM
THEATER in April, 2013 which brings together thousands of teens, provides
scholarships, and more.



TO FUND ALL OF THIS SO THAT IT IS FREE FOR SCHOOLS, Get Lit is 1. hosting
our November 18th fundraiser honoring Luis Rodriguez & Ned Colletti and 2.
launching our ADOPT A SCHOOL campaign.



How does Adopt A School work?  Scroll through the list of schools below and
watch the videos of the teens from the participating high schools. Then send
whatever amount you'd like from $1 to $5,000 to fund a part or their whole
ADOPTION so that they can get started participating in Get Lit's award
winning program!





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Xtv_m3Z_sBmU9LLED2A9fn9tBiQeiGGz6d_HsQNFt3owKRwmqX5Ql0u7yaawHCEpJfWR7cjZ2XQP
pkxc2RGg4WslMPecBhq6oQ_bnqUn-hGxlRpDSHzAWighV_nG4bk=> Adopt A School/Classic
Slam


Adopt A School/Classic Slam






Dorsey High School



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LBm2qJHmFDhwfp5DfnZosqRztA9qr6-1WQyrd8fxtlaAKOIUUUF4B8Kj_ZW5gJeegrVZIgoQ13uW
EbOclJQOzqd0k92uCEy0J1yvcVoH7w==> Dorsey HS




SoHDA, Soto



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B9V1ruBnMNcSkellgOlarIau7niHUa8h1m9C1Mcs5BHGXkFPssgJ-VF49bBBjBYIr21zFKFQJkWj
YsvRbOAu9-P1gx_XucKJTXgXjH4YnA==>







  VAPA



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yI8Jq2XuWmMz939OqWmmrU9MMl5XKjeZAQSbLWyns4u1RYzAw-57teqBoR_G4heGS_2LIGZqaeq-
gOjy6CMtFaafa2YF1t2n0BHm3J1XkA==>








Duarte High School



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vnMeHiMRWJnkOSwLPxcXNU5OOvcKsOsMpD0ULLcL_fT0ZfCM3TaMK0677pRgndsnSvWYAZ594OLC
C7llt3xuEjDjuD49Sdg13oXGQmrI5w==>




ELAPAA



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SgHADeLmcvN2vb_jIrMfqxX049wQhhG2b8CkfT_Yc08DwBUcet36JP-74fhxj4O1K5kw5n_cj0Gr
JxQTsDYbQZv5LE8Wcffzmw_8owSY1g==>




El Segundo High School



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jDiox0ZUYLjXR4SE9V6WOkQncsfUt5hc2DyWBW1Om_E4ePLGv18aIFyaANsI9Dh1L9rAYhrgVMTi
KVXRJFTmJ2IpOeOt9c3WCADzkjHGhw==>





Morningside High School



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-DJPb3AG4EWwsvDX8nfZIft4BuRk1HLPBSlzCRuAPexHC1TWXTRbFmSS11GHaif0DD8ujgoOYSYT
zbo-SrZM6LBEpChlyow86GQ10meafQ==>




CHAMPS



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BQcOpQAWfOgDUMmja5bIgXXKUY3v5gpZk2jKrORdVIcxGeKR7RevpELlwYjvkigXW5dWLOrE7yeb
saV3y8wPHJYVjeGuej-XAxlMkC_FcA==>




Lakeview Charter



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fxIGJrlAnTTr84L-UkwktD8YgGzsdpwpu1Q8T-v6trfECYWePdthrkmrZeZnUmLaSKGGilP3-gQT
PQe6H6c5jT_dP-T7AO3dtkpgRnuyjw==>





Triumph Charter



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c2kee5Ilyd5xYg1W3f5jo0bzpTdYONLrZKpU-Uy5dRSUOL5SaFN5My8NbLbZJGjn0z3LJ7_CjSmL
SofGZjiI2kKrmx_MNgG_wevR39x3HQ==>




West Adams Prep



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qCUXJbocSsQrp-r75II_P7Dpi-tOZsIaIpMPwyKCxyUOvmy94s5FLkYx66xCLwwtatL93hIkLmKN
CAbxA6a4i1Grp-TdqpiBhz_678JMhw==>




John Muir



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b4YLsf2U-qNW7U819docAiLwtBdwpJsCb-B8IDCfJ93Zmlo-WnTAYdeSOOEQc-qtpVBpjxDzIZC1
W_dlkNMw3hprU1_o5LzcSg_hVq6cGw==>





Alhambra High School



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01xrE0sFkf812nWln4AJX4Bjo04tECLkCiHCipi2Z1ourNTCuZfL5RwijnEFaORN6vOxldZ8dyfD
jxNe_ACz6lrnb8-0vtDiAIu7IR2OHw==>




Hamilton High School



<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001dX5loV7i0Eo2uorCXhIsf5-1Jp7qSlJxeSTt7OtcEuoS
oHbKuTFFxQG3FQwS7CeJW1EplgVAtxBHgHH-vmcTxgSASSpYS_DPKEOMAslxy7yKOiat4F1Cwoi0
nys_LNoqbh5oQmufj5wGrgN_DVzctA==>




William Workman HS



<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001dX5loV7i0ErKGS4J1FwOg4NxUH9k4hNCHcA0nRiPPS6f
6K0hKWHUkWkcVmq0StEDzKZNFf5OdLG-mD-Q1dKnk0RmP4_N68VL73txBuab9iA38Ms8iCIZSN-F
P5I3y94d4sk_cd9ET7_wEwLv2PzAXg==>




Animo Inglewood



<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001dX5loV7i0Eog31rWL8RWg2Z4IaNoL2PIk8IpKOrZI4mo
R4o1mSdJLamWY0vYBPB4hEoNc3NOZgT6C9V_9gRQrZnx1Jdz21cI8jrP2PAA5N1n4lieMZJfiw2X
RniS7xXeebqMS5C3I37nzKX1C7-7ZA==>




El Rancho High School



<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001dX5loV7i0EoujNiNwH3_s6_jnSMaPa1ejql1-vI_dp-n
M0k_pw7soH_ycsPFvOBROc5pyA_eYak45P4Um1KPKkl3W_hG0rsl2NqT5A7p28U-f8-vKlrmSXwq
h3wwyAX0nOfCN9DI_BfAw_B3ha-knQ==>




Youth Opportunities HS



<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001dX5loV7i0Eo_3SoT6EeRXJTjIO4m9QRRewj53-jeoBO3
UaepyjCmBWV6F6exnkVcn8xXizqjNQyVxDngNbUwnrGP1z6Tl7X9peMj0D932PtzcGQsweHhBOoP
XVon-E5YJKqmzQIx_1tcgWedFz5jRg==>





San Gabriel High School



<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001dX5loV7i0ErPQnN-ZQBqgm7sNWMU6umOlTFxPxqfrJRY
1DKL03uHaKo557I_JhawgE1Ean72QbdNpB6x1RQaFqJ_VjwbOIrdqJorsoIUOYB1qIYR8mprNIWt
FkB1KKTK04GBfjUGtCGHC3NY5DJWAQ==>






NO AMOUNT IS TOO LITTLE! With your contribution YOU WILL KNOW that you've
provided a school full of teens with a ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE that
will CHANGE THEIR LIVES, FOREVER!



My very best,



Diane Lane

Get Lit-Words Ignite



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MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jerry Rubin   310-399-1000
JerryPeaceActivistRubin@...
OR: David Conrad
davepconrad@...

PAUL CONRAD BRONZE SOLD AT ROBERT BERMAN AUCTION
TO SANTA MONICA NOTED ART GALLERY OWNER TO BENEFIT
	 "CHAIN REACTION" RESTORATION EFFORT


Santa Monica, CA-  A bronze sculpture by 3-time Pulitzer Prize winning political
cartoonist Paul Conrad was sold at auction on November 11

to benefit the restoration effort for the late artist and sculptor's iconic
landmarked "Chain Reaction" sculpture that has been standing in the

Santa Monica Civic Center since 1991. The bronze titled "Martin Luther King Free
at Last" was auctioned at the Robert Berman Last

Goodbuy Live Public Art Auction, that took place at the Bergamot Station Art
Center in Santa Monica. The 1996 Conrad piece was sold

for $4,500 to Josh Needle, a longtime local Santa Monica resident and the owner
of the noted Impolitic- A Gallery of Opinionated Art,

which was located on Main Street in the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica from
1999 to 2003.


The auction price also included Conrad's 1975 political cartoon print How Would
You Like to Be Introduced…?.


Also attending the auction were Paul Conrad's wife Kay Conrad and their son
David Conrad.


All the proceeds will be used for repairing and restoring "Chain Reaction".


People can donate to the restoration effort by sending their tax deductible
contributions to:

City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division
For: "Chain Reaction"
P.O. Box 2200
Santa Monica, CA  90407-2200

For more information call:  310-399-1000
And visit:  www.ConradProjects.com

####

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January Delegation to Venezuela: Witness Historic Inaugurations and Advances in
Food Sovereignty, Human Rights, and Community Power January 7-17, 2013 With
Hugo Chavez’s historic win this October, the Venezuelan people have committed
to carry forward the Bolivarian Revolution, with its advances in social
equality, human rights, community power, and more. Join us this January to
witness the presidential inauguration on January 10th, followed by visits to
different parts of the country. One of the focuses of this trip will be food
sovereignty, or how both the government and the people are taking back control
of the country’s agricultural and food systems. We will also explore other
areas of social transformation, including education, healthcare, and direct
citizen participation in the political process. There will also be trips to
beaches, parks, and other sites of interest.
Cost for Activities: $1100. This will cover all lodging, all ground
transportation, 2 meals per day, qualified trip leaders, and Spanish-English
interpretation. Additional expenses during the trip will be low.
Airfare not included.
Tentative Itinerary. Start and end in Caracas; visits to the states of Maracay,
Yaracuy and Carabobo. Day 1: Caracas – Arrival; orientation/welcome; visits
to social programs and discussions with community leaders and local
authorities.Day 2: Visits to urban agriculture sites and other community
initiatives in different communities in Caracas, including 23 de Enero, El
Valle, and Petare.Day 3 and 4: Presidential Inauguration and relates
activities.Days 5 and 6: Visits to rural areas in the states of Yaracuy and
Carabobo: learn about agrarian reform and agroecology through visits to
agricultural cooperatives, biological control laboratories, food processing
coops, and agricultural education programsDays 7 and 8: Visit to the
Afro-Venezuelan coastal community of Chuao, known for producing some of the
world’s best cocoa; learn about artisanal cacao production as well as
artisanal fishing and Venezuela’s progressive fishing laws; enjoy beautiful
  beaches.Day 9: Caracas: free day for sight seeing, getting souvenirs, etc.Day
10: departure. To Learn more and hold a spot for the trip,
email cbalbertolovera@.... Please be in touch as soon as possible, as
space  is very limited. Please allow several days for responses.
Sponsored by the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY.For more information
see:http://revolucionalimentaria.wordpress.com/category/delegations/
Check out these articles from past delegations:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2008/magdoff040208.htmlhttp://monthlyreview.org/\
090824shiavoni-camacaro.php


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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/opinion/krugman-hawks-and-hypocrites.html?
partner=rssnyt
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/opinion/krugman-hawks-and-hypocrites.html
?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss> &emc=rss

Hawks and Hypocrites

Paul Krugman:
NY Times Op-Ed: 11/12/2012

Back in 2010, self-styled deficit hawks - better described as deficit scolds
- took over much of our political discourse. At a time of mass unemployment
and record-low borrowing costs, a time when economic theory said we needed
more, not less, deficit spending, the scolds convinced most of our political
class that deficits rather than jobs should be our top economic priority.
And now that the election is over, they're trying to pick up where they left
off.

They should be told to go away.

It's not just the fact that the deficit scolds have been wrong about
everything so far. Recent events have also demonstrated clearly what was
already apparent to careful observers: the deficit-scold movement was never
really about the deficit. Instead, it was about using deficit fears to shred
the social safety net. And letting that happen wouldn't just be bad policy;
it would be a betrayal of the Americans who just re-elected a
health-reformer president and voted in some of the most progressive senators
ever.

About the hypocrisy of the hawks: as I said, it has been evident for years.
Consider the early-2011 award for "fiscal responsibility" that three of the
leading deficit-scold organizations gave to none other than Paul Ryan. Then
as now, Mr. Ryan's alleged plans to reduce the deficit were obvious
flimflam, since he was proposing huge tax cuts for the wealthy and
corporations while refusing to specify how these cuts would be offset. But
in the eyes of the deficit scolds, his plan to dismantle Medicare and his
savage cuts to Medicaid apparently qualified him as a fiscal icon.

And how did the deficit scolds react when Mitt Romney served up similar
flimflam, with Mr. Ryan as his running mate? Well, the Peter G. Peterson
Foundation is deficit-scold central; Peterson funding lies behind much of
the movement. Sure enough, David Walker, the foundation's former C.E.O. and
arguably the most visible deficit scold in America, endorsed the Romney/Ryan
ticket.

And then there's the matter of the "fiscal cliff."

Contrary to the way it's often portrayed, the looming prospect of spending
cuts and tax increases isn't a fiscal crisis. It is, instead, a political
crisis brought on by the G.O.P.'s attempt to take the economy hostage. And
just to be clear, the danger for next year is not that the deficit will be
too large but that it will be too small, and hence plunge America back into
recession.

Deficit scolds are having a hard time with this issue. How can they warn us
not to go over the fiscal cliff without seeming to contradict their own
rhetoric about the evils of deficits?

This wouldn't be hard if they had been making a more honest case on the
budget: the truth is that deficits are actually a good thing when the
economy is deeply depressed, so deficit reduction should wait until the
economy is stronger. As John Maynard Keynes said three-quarters of a century
ago, "The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity." But since
the deficit scolds have in fact been demanding that we make deficits the
priority even when the economy is depressed, they can't go there.

So what we get instead, for example in a white paper on the fiscal cliff
from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, is a garbled set of
complaints: The adjustment is too fast (why?), or it's the wrong kind of
deficit reduction, for reasons not made clear. Or maybe they are made clear,
after all. For even as it rails against deficits, the white paper argues
against raising tax rates and even suggests cutting them.

So the deficit scolds, while posing as the nation's noble fiscal defenders,
have in practice shown themselves both hypocritical and incoherent. They
don't deserve to have a central role in policy discussion; they really don't
even deserve a seat at the table. And they certainly don't deserve to have
one of their own appointed as Treasury secretary.

I don't know how seriously to take the buzz about appointing Erskine Bowles
to replace Timothy Geithner. But in case there's any reality to it, let's
recall his record. Mr. Bowles, like others in the deficit-scold community,
has indulged in scare tactics, warning of an imminent fiscal crisis that
keeps not coming. Meanwhile, the report he co-wrote was supposed to be
focused on deficit reduction - yet, true to form, it called for lower rather
than higher tax rates, and as a "guiding principle" no less. Appointing him,
or anyone like him, would be both a bad idea and a slap in the face to the
people who returned President Obama to office.

Look, we should be having a serious discussion about America's fiscal
future. But a serious discussion is exactly what we haven't been having
these past couple years - because the discourse was hijacked by the wrong
people, with the wrong agenda. Let's show them the door.

* * *

From: AmeriConscience@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 5:54 AM
To: AmeriConscience@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AmeriConscience] Digest Number 4855


Sun Nov 11, 2012 4:45 pm (PST) . Posted by:



<mailto:bluesapphire48@...?subject=Re%3A%20Fw%3A%20George%20Bush%20Vot
es%20For%20Obama> "Romi Elnagar" bluesapphire48



A cheery story to brighten your day...

Election 2012
George Bush Accidently Votes For Obama
Nov. 06, 2012
Former U.S. president George W. Bushaccidentally voted for Barack Obama
today at a polling place near his Crawford, TX home.
According to local reports, the two-term Republican was confused by the
instructions on his electronic voting machine and mistakenly cast a ballot
he intended to discard.
Witnesses say Bush argued with poll workers for several minutes afterwards
in a effort to redo his vote, but in accordance with state law they
ultimately denied his request.
The embarrassing incident may have gone unnoticed if it weren't for a local
newspaper reporter who happened to be voting in the next booth. Suzanna
Everett, a politics correspondent for the Waco Timeswitnessed the entire
ordeal and crafted a cunning scheme to make it public.
Left On Red
Barred by ethics rules from using knowledge gained within a polling station,
Everett waited for Bush to leave the facility and ambushed him with a trick
question designed to fool him into revealing the news himself:
"Mr. President Fox Newsis reporting that you've accidentally voted for
Barack Obama. Would you care to comment?"
Thinking that his mistake had already been found out, Bush sought to
minimize the damage:
"Yes unfortunately because of the incompetence of the folks who designed the
ballot, my vote counted for the other guy," Bush responded. He then
attempted to explain exactly how the mishap occurred:
"First of all, everything was very mismaladjusted on the screen. You
shouldn't put the senators and the congresspeople and the presidents all
jumbled together like that. It's too crowded. Just confuses folks."
Bush then explained that after marking the wrong candidate, he sought to
correct his error by clicking the red "Cast Ballot" button, thinking that it
was designed to 'cast away' the ballot and bring up a fresh one:
"Usually red means stop and green means go. I thought I was stopping
   _____

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General David Petreus has resigned after evidence of an extramarital affair
surfaced. A highly regarded, efficient military officer has been brought low by
behavior that is as old as time.


This reinforces The Empire's narrative that their soldiers are honorable me.  To
be sure, most of them do not piss on dead civilians, torture live ones, or rape
women and children, as has been documented.

But the army itself is an army of invasion and occupation, and General Petreus
was part of its leadership.  The civilians who commanded him are as guilty of
war crimes as Adolf Hitler.  Like Rommel, Petreus may be a good soldier and a
good man.  I would bet hard currency that he deeply regrets his affair with Ms.
Broadwell, not only because it was wrong, hurting his family and his career, but
also because she seems to have been somewhat unhinged.  Certainly, he did the
honorable thing, which unfortunately puts him in a distinct minority.  Colin
Powell should have resigned when it was shown that he had lied to the whole
world about Iraq.  (And BTW, that lie led directly to the army and Petreus being
sent there, of course.)  Other people in the military should be resigning when
it is shown that there men have engaged in the lower level war crimes I
mentioned at the beginning of this article.

That General Petreus was an officer in an army that invaded a sovereign nation
that had NOT attacked the U.S. is clear.  At the time he received his orders to
carry out actions in Iraq, he certainly must have believed the propaganda about
Saddam Huseein, but later when his army found no WMD, what did he do?  Did he
resign?

And that army  of which he was part also used weapons like Depleted Uranium,
which is arguably prohibited by international law, and white phosphorus, which
is clearly prohibited, also make everyone who used it vulnerable to charges of
war crimes.  The dreadful and brutal occupation of Fallujah, which has been
pretty much hushed up by the U.S. media, was also carried out by the U.S.
military.  Are we to suppose that Petreus didn't know anything about it? At the
time (2003), he was engaged in fighting south of Baghdad (Fallujah is west of
the capital.) In 2009, he was quoted as saying that what turned Fallujah around
was the local populace rejecting al-Qaeda. 
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-502243_162-3232352.html

That Petreus resigned, whether voluntarily or under some sort of duress which we
as yet know nothing about, was sad for him and his family.  It was entirely a
mess of his own doing, though, and for that, our sympathy should be somewhat
limited.  That he was an officer of an army of occupation, both in Iraq and
Afghanistan, stretches my sympathy to the breaking point.  The people who
deserve our sympathy are the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians who
died in that war, and the thousands of veterans who committed no war crimes
voluntarily, yet languish in military hospitals or whose bones rot in
graveyards.


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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John A Imani <johnaimani3@...>
Date: Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Subject: RAC-LA Celebrating 5 Years of Organizing the Members of the
MacArthur Park Community
To: rac-lasupporters@...


Comrades,

The Revolutionary Autonomous Communities-Los Angeles--formed in the wake of
the Police Riot in MacArthur Park on May Day 2007--was initiated as a
response to demonstrate that the right of human laborers to go where ever
it is that we might find work w/o regard to man-made inventions such as
borders.

On May Day 2007 the LAPD took a position that should one demonstrate for
this (and other) human rights then that one (and all who do so) will be
attacked by the armed power of the state.  The radicals who formed RAC-LA,
in opposition to this, did so with the express intention of organizing not
only paper-less migrants but the lowest economic rung of the working class,
the homeless, the hungry, the work-less, the lowest paid members of our
class so as to:

1.) provide mutual aid with and to each other through RAC's 'Programa
Comida', our 'Food Program' which weekly provides fresh vegetables and
fruits free of charge to now over 200 of those in need; and,

2.) lay the plans and develop a model of revolutionary resistance that
ought serve as an example of new ways of thinking, new methods of work.

Below our announcement, you will find a political-economic description of
the methods and manners of RAC-LA's organization.

Join us Sunday Nov 18th to celebrate 5 years of the efforts towards
achieving these goals.

JAI
RAC-LA




RAC-LA’s Participation in The Circuits of Production

*1st Circuit*
*Planning*

*(First Circulation Circuit)*

*
*

  */                                                                 \*

  *4**th**Circuit
2**nd** Circuit*

*   Consumption
                     Production*

*                                                      a. individual*

*                                                      b. productive
*

*
*

* \                                                                   /*

*3rd Circuit*
*Allocation and Distribution*

*(Second Circulation Circuit) *


  The circuits of capitalist production, indeed those of any and all modes
of production (e.g. slavery, feudalism, socialism, communism, even
hunter-gathering) consist of 1.) Planning; 2.) Production; 3.) Allocation
and Distribution; and, 4.) Consumption. In Planning, decisions are made as
to what things are to be produced and therefore what factors of production
(materials, tools and labor), necessary to produce them, have to be
allocated (in capitalism this means purchased) and arrayed before
production can begin. In the circuit of Production, these factors are
combined so as to fabricate or grow or mine, etc. the desired objects. In
distribution, the items are apportioned to their end-users (in capitalism
this means sold to the end-users). And, in consumption the end-users make
use of them either for direct consumption as consumers or indirect
consumption, that is productive consumption, by making these goods
available as factors for the allocation decisions made in circuit 1 as
means of production.

Though RAC-LA hardly represents the might, mass and complexity of the
coming socialist commonwealth, it does have, albeit in microcosm, similar
economic problems in each of its circuits that it too must solve.


  *The First Circulation Circuit-The Factors Market*

In order to understand RAC-LA’s participation in its own Circuit 1, the
planning of production, it is necessary to understand the product that is
being produced. That product is not this or that fruit nor these or those
vegetables, rather it is the bundles of food themselves which are composed
of the fruits and vegetables. Up until this time, as we have now acquired a
small garden space, RAC-LA has not itself manufactured nor farmed any item
save T-shirts. Instead, what is planned and what is done is the assembling
of the packages that for 4 ˝ years we have distributed to an average of
more than 175 people every Sunday in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. Items
that, while still healthy and nutritious, might bear some blemish that make
them un-saleable but not un-consumable. These items form the raw material
for RAC-LA workers’ production, in our Circuit 2, of bundles that contain
items that we have salvaged from being tossed. The first phase of RAC-LA’s
planning therefore consists therefore of allocation of its labor-powers to
make the pick-ups. Now, as there are no waged-workers who might do this,
nor are there bosses who might have ordered these last to do so, this is
and has been accomplished by the free and voluntary acceptance of these
tasks by comrades who take upon themselves particular assignments. Should,
for any reason, the comrade who is scheduled for a pick-up is unable to
perform, her place is immediately taken by another comrade. This voluntary
association will implicitly color much of what follows below.

The second phase of RAC-LA’s planning comes with the preparations for the
assembly of the parcels. An assessment is made of 1.) the number of people
who will desire the parcels; and, 2.) the number of items of each kind that
we can allocate to each basket. The first is obtained by passing out
numbers *(“boletas”)* that, in addition, provides the sequence for an
orderly distribution, as those who have received their numbered tickets
earliest will also receive their parcels earlier. The second judgment comes
about as the result of consultation amongst the workers and a “best guess”
assessment of how many of x vegetable or y fruit to place in each box. This
is hardly exact economic calculation—as the oftimes at end existence of a
surplus or deficit of this or that foodstuff that makes itself known—but it
is economic calculation. It is a calculation decision arrived at as a
result of a “Conspiracy of
Equals”1<#13af5e16bf74c1b5_13af5ddd5094926f_sdfootnote1sym>as to how
best to allocate this and/or that so as to achieve a simple
economic goal: that every box ought contain an equal amount of sustenance.
However, the fact is that even with the achievement of this equal
allocation there is the certainty that all who receive these equal parcels
will not derive equal amounts of utility as one may have more dependants
than another, say, responsible only for herself. This cannot be helped as
RAC-LA, in this paradox, is caught in the vise of an ages-old quandary: the
discussion of exactly what “equality” is. Below it is asserted that this
riddle can be solved.

What is exceptional about what RAC-LA doing is the transformation of those
who have come to us seeking the assistance we provide, seeing what we are
doing and, while they wait, take it upon themselves to, say, help break
down the cardboard boxes (which are recycled), unload the truck or measure
out and bag the rice and beans, etc. Soon we find that we have been joined
by another *companera(o)* enamored by the self-empowerment of voluntary
workers in action without thoughts of private profits and without the boss
who takes it.


  *The Second Circuit-Production*

In RAC-LA’s 2nd Circuit, the production of the bundles, the first order of
business is the unloading of the vehicles bringing the raw materials of
RAC-LA’s production to our location on the west side of MacArthur Park near
Wilshire Bl. In this, regular RAC-LA members and sympathizers are almost
always joined by some of those waiting to receive the foodstuffs. No one is
required to do this and, yet, it almost always occurs.

Next comes the triaging of the food whereby the items are shorn of,
perhaps, wilted outer leaves, etc. Again, comrades (and sometimes
bystanders) take up these duties on their own volition. Separately, a group
of 4-6 *companera(o)s* measure and package quart size packets of rice and
beans. And in a third sector, comrades tend to both the disposal of trash
as well as the aforementioned breaking down of the cardboard containers
that the fruits and vegetables have arrived in. No one assigns anyone to
any sector. Anyone can do any job. Of course, someone joining us for the
first or second or even a third time might inquire as to where her services
could best be used but after this they know where to go: to where they are
best used (i.e. most needed). This voluntary work *sans* the incentive of
payment (though, most workers also opt to receive baskets at end) gives
evidence that cooperative production (i.e. where one works for the benefit
of all and is, in turn, benefited by the work of all) is no
“pie-in-the-sky”, is no mass hallucination brought on by fits of ague borne
of a system that demeans human beings into beasts of burden activated only
by the “carrot” (pay) or the “stick” (the threat of firing) false dichotomy
of capitalism.

The workers being the judge of who is, who remains and who ought not be a
fellow in this effort is a prime fundamental of our mode of production. The
“ill-fit” is a serious question and not taken lightly by members and
expulsion from the program has happened only once. Decisions necessitated
by the possible “ill-fit” of this or that person are made in a
post-production “circle” wherein also are analyses of how this day’s work
transpired and how might things have been done better are discussed. Such
“post-production” worker-evaluations demonstrate how it is that
“planning”—normally a 1st Circuit activity—can take place after and in
light of the 2nd Circuit, Production. Indeed, because of the flexibility
inherent in worker-controlled activities such changes can occur at any time
in any phase. Such ability to “change-on-the-fly” initiated by those
directly involved, one might think, stamps this proto-cooperative
production as superior to the inherent inertia of “one-mind, one-brain”
systems dominated by a “commanding will”.


  *The Third Circuit (2nd Circulation circuit)-Allocation and Distribution*

RAC-LA’s 3rd Circuit, Allocation and Distribution, is simple. The products
assembled by RAC-LA are distributed to those who have received their *
“boletas”* in the order in which the tickets were obtained. In capitalism,
this “*boleta*" would find its Hyde-to-its-Jekyll doppelganger in money.
Though in this micro-economy that is the RAC-LA Food Program this “*boleta*”,
this “money”—this “wherewithal to buy—is in no way connected to the efforts
required to obtain it. Although one may work, one is not required to do so.
By cutting this tie between effort and reward, the 3rd Circuit of
Distribution, in the Food Program’s circuits of production, is RAC-LA’s
microcosmic on-going experiment in the realms and regions of pure
anarchic-communism.

The “exchange” which occurs is that of the bundles for the return of the “*
boleta*” and, most-times a smile. There is a codicil to this in that there
is a syndicalist aspect to one feature of the program, the bags rice and
beans. Upon signing up for their “*boleta*” the patrons are asked for a $1
donation. Inability or unwillingness to part with this sum is no grounds
for denial of aid. Those who do not donate receive exactly the same as the
others save for the rice and beans (which means that these are still
“rationed” (i.e. to be exchanged for a requisite chit, in this case the
dollar.)) With these contributions (averaging appx $60/week) RAC-LA
purchases 50lb sacks of the staples. What the donor receives back, if
purchased separately by the individuals, would be rice and beans that would
have cost appx $2-2.50. And when we find that the collections from our
various points of “salvage” are lacking, then all—even those who did not
part with the donation—receive these staples.


  *The Fourth Circuit-Consumption*

In RAC-LA’s 4th Circuit, consumption of the boxes of foodstuffs handed out
to the “Food Program’s clients and workers not only aid in the reproduction
of these workers’ labor-powers, it increases it beyond what it would have
been without such aid. By providing free of charge healthy, if not pretty,
vegetables and staples, the parcels’ consumption injects needed nutrition
into these under-paid, and thereby ill-fed, members of the world-wide
working class and their dependents. It is as if an additional (ballpark
figure) $10 had been handed to each and that the money had been totally
spent upon neither soda nor chips but to obtain the vitamins richly
inhabiting vegetables.

It might also be remarked, at this point, that RAC-LA’s circuits of
production though anarchist in form, are socialist/communist in their
content.

1 <#13af5e16bf74c1b5_13af5ddd5094926f_sdfootnote1anc> *
http://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/conspiracy-equals/index.htm
*


Films on RAC-LA
"We're Still Here, We Never Left" (The Founding of RAC-LA)

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDH3si3b-Ks

"An Experiment in Socialism: RAC's Free Food Program"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJxkQerLchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LpPUrYBS\
uA&feature=relmfugg&feature=related<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJxkQerLcgg&f\
eature=related>
"R.A.C: Gentrification, Anarchism, Community Organizing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LpPUrYBSuA&feature=relmfu
http://www.facebook.com/raclosangeles

revolutionaryautonomouscommunities.blogspot.com/


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

ORECLOSURE CRISIS #2
EDUCATIONAL FORUM: WHAT PROGRESS HAVE WE MADE LOCALLY, STATEWIDE, AND
NATIONALLY?
Representatives from Occupy Fights Foreclosure, LA Housing Authority,
and Occupy Pasadena will answer.
When: Tuesday, 13 November 2012, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Where: Neighborhood Church, 301 No. Orange Grove Bouldevard, Pasadena

Who:
     * Lori Gay, LA Neighborhood Housing Authority
     * Suzanne O'Keeffe, Occupy Fights Foreclosures
     * Ruth Sarnoff, Occupy Fights Foreclosures
Free event, open to the public
Contact: aclupasadena@...
   [aclu foreclosure forum]  <http://www.laprogressive.com/?p=72284>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Indefinite detention, torture, assassination of any and or all peoples.

NO SWEAT!

But in puritanical USA, have sex with someone not your wife?

End of career for anyone in our elite system! (not so for the 99%).

Wow, you should be able to talk to people outside of the Island Nation
USA, and hear/see how they laugh at us. The rest of the worlds leaders
openly have Mistresses, or even if they don't, it's not a big deal, but
murders and assassins, killers of mothers fathers and little kids can be
dethroned for sex outside of wedlock has to terrify the BeJesus out of the
rest of the world, what psychos would have those problems?

Oh yeah, the ones with ALL THE CHEMICAL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN THE
WORLD AND 90% OF ALL NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE WORLD.

Laugh quietly at us or someone might determine you don't have enough
Democracy or Civilization.

We practice Government Issue, when your no longer of any use, discard and
destroy, so no one else can use you either.

Scott

> General David Petreus has resigned after evidence of an extramarital
> affair surfaced. A highly regarded, efficient military officer has been
> brought low by behavior that is as old as time.
>
>
> This reinforces The Empire's narrative that their soldiers are honorable
> me.  To be sure, most of them do not piss on dead civilians, torture live
> ones, or rape women and children, as has been documented.
>
> But the army itself is an army of invasion and occupation, and General
> Petreus was part of its leadership.  The civilians who commanded him are
> as guilty of war crimes as Adolf Hitler.  Like Rommel, Petreus may be a
> good soldier and a good man.  I would bet hard currency that he deeply
> regrets his affair with Ms. Broadwell, not only because it was wrong,
> hurting his family and his career, but also because she seems to have been
> somewhat unhinged.  Certainly, he did the honorable thing, which
> unfortunately puts him in a distinct minority.  Colin Powell should have
> resigned when it was shown that he had lied to the whole world about
> Iraq.  (And BTW, that lie led directly to the army and Petreus being sent
> there, of course.)  Other people in the military should be resigning when
> it is shown that there men have engaged in the lower level war crimes I
> mentioned at the beginning of this article.
>
> That General Petreus was an officer in an army that invaded a sovereign
> nation that had NOT attacked the U.S. is clear.  At the time he received
> his orders to carry out actions in Iraq, he certainly must have believed
> the propaganda about Saddam Huseein, but later when his army found no WMD,
> what did he do?  Did he resign?
>
> And that army  of which he was part also used weapons like Depleted
> Uranium, which is arguably prohibited by international law, and white
> phosphorus, which is clearly prohibited, also make everyone who used it
> vulnerable to charges of war crimes.  The dreadful and brutal occupation
> of Fallujah, which has been pretty much hushed up by the U.S. media, was
> also carried out by the U.S. military.  Are we to suppose that Petreus
> didn't know anything about it? At the time (2003), he was engaged in
> fighting south of Baghdad (Fallujah is west of the capital.) In 2009, he
> was quoted as saying that what turned Fallujah around was the local
> populace rejecting al-Qaeda. 
> http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-502243_162-3232352.html
>
> That Petreus resigned, whether voluntarily or under some sort of duress
> which we as yet know nothing about, was sad for him and his family.  It
> was entirely a mess of his own doing, though, and for that, our sympathy
> should be somewhat limited.  That he was an officer of an army of
> occupation, both in Iraq and Afghanistan, stretches my sympathy to the
> breaking point.  The people who deserve our sympathy are the hundreds of
> thousands of innocent civilians who died in that war, and the thousands of
> veterans who committed no war crimes voluntarily, yet languish in military
> hospitals or whose bones rot in graveyards.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

Russell Means Russell Means, an American-Indian activist, died on October
22nd, aged 72

Nov 10th 2012 | from the print edition

   DRIVING one day through the Diné lands in New Mexico—not “Navajo”, a
white man’s word—Russell Means suddenly stopped the car. His wife wondered
why. He had stopped to look at a shepherd among the scrubby hills, walking
with his flock. No one told that man where to go or what to do. He was
living with the land. Even better, he was praying, for that was what
Indians did when they listened. And best of all, he was a free man.
Silently, fervently, Mr Means saluted him.

His own God-given sovereignty blazed inside him, igniting the Indian-rights
movement he led for several decades. He was pure Oglala Lakota, born in the
sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, and with the build of a chief,
strapping and tall. His hard, dark eyes seemed to stare from another
century, re-running ancient battles; his handsome face was crossed with
scars, though these were less ritual marks than the souvenirs of bar-room
brawls in Sioux Falls or San Francisco. The long braids (never cut, for
hair carried memories), the beads, the leather: everything cried out his
heritage. But being Indian, he fiercely said, didn’t mean dressing in
feathers like a bird and going to a pow-wow for a couple of hours. No
Indian was authentic if he wasn’t as free as his ancestors had been.

He was far, very far, from that. The ramshackle Pine Ridge reservation, his
birthplace, was still “prisoner-of-war camp 344” in Pentagon records. The
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which oversaw such slums, was a den of
corruption and incompetence. The modern tribal governments were mere
puppets and collaborators. Indians everywhere (never “Native Americans”,
another colonisers’ word) had been robbed, corralled and turned into cowed,
self-loathing lemmings in white schools. Every treaty made by the white man
with the Indians had been broken. America was “the biggest liar in the
world”.

He defied the lies in small ways and large. Not for him a driving licence
or a fishing permit; the land he drove on, the river he fished in, belonged
to his people anyway. For 21 years he paid no income tax. He refused to
carry an Indian ID card. He ran on an activist platform for tribal, state
and national office (for the Libertarian Party, in 1987), though never
successfully. All this time he was the leading member of the American
Indian Movement (AIM), as charismatic as he was divisive. The movement had
turned him, at 29, away from a drifter’s life and towards a cause.

At AIM he organised a succession of publicity stunts, including the
occupation of Alcatraz Island; the seizing of a replica *Mayflower* in
Boston Harbour on Thanksgiving Day, 1970; a prayer-vigil on top of Mount
Rushmore, on Lakota holy land; and the occupation and trashing of the BIA’s
Washington offices in 1972. All were tasters for the most daring stunt of
all, the occupation in 1973 of the hamlet of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge
reservation, where in 1890 around 300 Lakota had been killed by the
American army. Chilled and starving, but steeled by the free-walking
spirits of the dead, Mr Means and 200 others held out, through blizzards
and machinegun fire, against massed federal guardsmen for 71 days. He tried
to dictate the terms of the surrender; the Nixon administration naturally
reneged on them.

*An arrow to the sun*

Most of the time he was angry, an anger so intense that it was almost
uncontrollable. His drinking did not help. Violence dogged him. Enemies,
probably agents of the BIA, tried to shoot him. He got into fights, had
spells in jail, married and then neglected several women in the style of
the head-buck wandering male. His years in AIM were chaotic; he resigned
six times before the movement split. While other groups, blacks and women,
surged ahead, America’s Indians went nowhere much. In 2007 Mr Means and
several others withdrew from the United States to form the Republic of
Lakota, covering thousands of square miles in five states. Not even
brother-Sioux would recognise it; but their freedom was too firmly
mortgaged to white men.

He lamented that his people had no natural allies: not Marxists, for they
were rationalists who reduced men to machines; not Christians, for their
notion of God was incompatible; not even blacks, for their experiences of
repression were too different. The revolution he wanted was unlike anyone
else’s. It was the revolution of the medicine wheel, the sacred hoop of
life, in which all things ended as they began: in which the world was
turned slowly but beautifully backwards, towards the freedom in Nature the
ancestors knew.

He himself, though, went westwards, to Hollywood. In “The Last of the
Mohicans” and Disney’s “Pocahontas” in the 1990s he played the sort of
wise, far-seeing chief he should have been, had everything been different.
He became the standard Indian, sympathetic enough, but speaking the white
man’s script under the white man’s direction. Whenever his pride galled too
much, he walked out.

As Chief Chingachgook in “Mohicans”, standing on a mountain top, he
commended his dead son to the ancestors, crying that he would fly towards
them like a swift arrow into the sun. All dead warriors went that way. So,
in time, would he. But loudly and often he vowed to return as lightning,
zapping to ashes in a wild, free blaze the White House and all it stood for.

http://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21565906-russell-means-american-indian-ac\
tivist-died-october-22nd-aged-72-russell-means/print


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://www.thenation.com/article/171048/super-storm-sandy-peoples-shock#

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/14495-focus-shameless-disaster-ca\
pitalism

Author and activist Naomi Klein. (photo: CharlieRose.com)

Shameless Disaster Capitalism
By Naomi Klein, The Nation
12 November 12


Yes that's right: this catastrophe very likely created by climate change-a
crisis born of the colossal regulatory failure to prevent corporations
from treating the atmosphere as their open sewer-is just one more
opportunity for more deregulation.

he following article first appeared in the Nation. For more great content
from the Nation, sign up for their email newsletters here.

Less than three days after Sandy made landfall on the East Coast of the
United States, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute blamed
New Yorkers' resistance to big-box stores for the misery they were about
to endure. Writing on Forbes.com, he explained that the city's refusal to
embrace Walmart will likely make the recovery much harder: "Mom-and-pop
stores simply can't do what big stores can in these circumstances," he
wrote.

And the preemptive scapegoating didn't stop there. He also warned that if
the pace of reconstruction turned out to be sluggish (as it so often is)
then "pro-union rules such as the Davis-Bacon Act" would be to blame, a
reference to the statute that requires workers on public-works projects to
be paid not the minimum wage, but the prevailing wage in the region.

The same day, Frank Rapoport, a lawyer representing several billion-dollar
construction and real estate contractors, jumped in to suggest that many
of those public works projects shouldn't be public at all. Instead,
cash-strapped governments should turn to "public private partnerships,"
known as "P3s." That means roads, bridges and tunnels being rebuilt by
private companies, which, for instance, could install tolls and keep the
profits.

Up until now, the only thing stopping them has been the law-specifically
the absence of laws in New York State and New Jersey that enable these
sorts of deals. But Rapoport is convinced that the combination of broke
governments and needy people will provide just the catalyst needed to
break the deadlock. "There were some bridges that were washed out in New
Jersey that need structural replacement, and it's going to be very
expensive," he told The Nation. "And so the government may well not have
the money to build it the right way. And that's when you turn to a P3."

Ray Lehmann, co-founder of the R Street Institute, a mouthpiece for the
insurance lobby (formerly a division of the climate-denying Heartland
Institute), had another public prize in his sights. In a Wall Street
Journal article about Sandy, he was quoted arguing for the eventual "full
privatization" of the National Flood Insurance Program, the federal
initiative that provides affordable protection from some natural
disasters-and which private insurers see as unfair competition.

But the prize for shameless disaster capitalism surely goes to right-wing
economist Russell S. Sobel, writing in a New York Times online forum.
Sobel suggested that, in hard-hit areas, FEMA should create "free trade
zones-in which all normal regulations, licensing and taxes [are]
suspended." This corporate free-for-all would, apparently, "better provide
the goods and services victims need."

Yes that's right: this catastrophe very likely created by climate change-a
crisis born of the colossal regulatory failure to prevent corporations
from treating the atmosphere as their open sewer-is just one more
opportunity for more deregulation. And the fact that this storm has
demonstrated that poor and working-class people are far more vulnerable to
the climate crisis shows that this is clearly the right moment to strip
those people of what few labor protections they have left, as well as to
privatize the meager public services available to them. Most of all, when
faced with an extraordinarily costly crisis born of corporate greed, hand
out tax holidays to corporations.

Is there anyone who can still feign surprise at this stuff? The flurry of
attempts to use Sandy's destructive power as a cash grab is just the
latest chapter in the very long story I have called The Shock Doctrine.
And it is but the tiniest glimpse into the ways large corporations are
seeking to reap enormous profits from climate chaos.

One example: between 2008 and 2010, at least 261 patents were filed or
issued related to "climate-ready" crops-seeds supposedly able to withstand
extreme conditions like droughts and floods; of these patents close to 80
percent were controlled by just six agribusiness giants, including
Monsanto and Syngenta. With history as our teacher, we know that small
farmers will go into debt trying to buy these new miracle seeds, and that
many will lose their land.

When these displaced farmers move to cities seeking work, they will find
other peasants, indigenous people and artisanal fishing people who lost
their lands for similar reasons. Some will have been displaced by foreign
agribusiness companies looking to grow export crops for wealthy nations
worried about their own food security in a climate stressed future. Some
will have moved because a new breed of carbon entrepreneur was determined
to plant a tree farm on what used to be a community-managed forest, in
order to collect lucrative credits.

In November 2010, The Economist ran a climate change cover story that
serves as a useful (if harrowing) blueprint for how climate change could
serve as the pretext for the last great land grab, a final colonial
clearing of the forests, farms and coastlines by a handful of
multinationals. The editors explain that droughts and heat stress are such
a threat to farmers that only big players can survive the turmoil, and
that "abandoning the farm may be the way many farmers choose to adapt."
They had the same message for fisher folk inconveniently occupying
valuable ocean-front lands: wouldn't it be so much safer, given rising
seas and all, if they joined their fellow farmers in the urban slums?
"Protecting a single port city from floods is easier than protecting a
similar population spread out along a coastline of fishing villages."

But, you might wonder, isn't there a joblessness crisis in most of these
cities? Nothing a little "reform of labor markets" and free trade can't
fix. Besides, cities, they explain, have "social strategies, formal or
informal." I'm pretty sure that means that people whose "social
strategies" used to involve growing and catching their own food can now
cling to life by selling broken pens at intersections, or perhaps by
dealing drugs. What the informal social strategy should be when super
storm winds howl through those precarious slums remains unspoken.

For a long time, climate change was treated by environmentalists as a
great equalizer, the one issue that affected everyone, rich or poor. They
failed to account for the myriad ways by which the superrich would protect
themselves from the less savory effects of the economic model that made
them so wealthy. In the past six years, we have seen the emergence of
private firefighters in the United States, hired by insurance companies to
offer a "concierge" service to their wealthier clients, as well as the
short-lived "HelpJet"-a charter airline in Florida that offered five-star
evacuation services from hurricane zones. "No standing in lines, no hassle
with crowds, just a first class experience that turns a problem into a
vacation." And, post-Sandy, upscale real estate agents are predicting that
back-up power generators will be the new status symbol with the penthouse
and mansion set.

It seems that for some, climate change is imagined less as a clear and
present danger than as a kind of spa vacation; nothing that the right
combination of bespoke services and well-curated accessories can't
overcome. That, at least, was the impression left by the Barneys New York
pre-Sandy sale-which offered deals on Sencha green tea, backgammon sets
and $500 throw blankets so its high-end customers could "settle in with
style". Let the rest of the world eat "social strategies, formal or
informal."

So we know how the shock doctors are readying to exploit the climate
crisis, and we know from the past how that would turn out. But here is the
real question: Could this crisis present a different kind of opportunity,
one that disperses power into the hands of the many rather than
consolidating it the hands of the few; one that radically expands the
commons, rather than auctions it off in pieces? In short, could Sandy be
the beginning of a People's Shock?

I think it can. As I outlined last year in these pages, there are changes
we can make that actually have a chance of getting our emissions down to
the level science demands. These include relocalizing our economies (so we
are going to need those farmers where they are); vastly expanding and
reimagining the public sphere to not just hold back the next storm but to
prevent even worse disruptions in the future; regulating the hell out of
corporations and reducing their poisonous political power; and reinventing
economics so it no longer defines success as the endless expansion of
consumption.

These are approaches to the crisis would help rebuild the real economy at
a time when most of us have had it with speculative bubbles. They would
create lasting jobs at a time when they are urgently needed. And they
would strengthen our ties to one another and to our communities- goals
that, while abstract, can nonetheless save lives in a crisis.

Just as the Great Depression and the Second World War launched populist
movements that claimed as their proud legacies social safety nets across
the industrialized world, so climate change can be a historic moment to
usher in the next great wave of progressive change. Moreover, none of the
anti-democratic trickery I described in The Shock Doctrine is necessary to
advance this agenda. Far from seizing on the climate crisis to push
through unpopular policies, our task is to seize upon it to demand a truly
populist agenda.

The reconstruction from Sandy is a great place to start road testing these
ideas. Unlike the disaster capitalists who use crisis to end-run
democracy, a People's Recovery (as many from the Occupy movement are
already demanding) would call for new democratic processes, including
neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard-hit communities should be
rebuilt. The overriding principle must be addressing the twin crises of
inequality and climate change at the same time. For starters, that means
reconstruction that doesn't just create jobs but jobs that pay a living
wage. It means not just more public transit, but energy efficient
affordable housing along those transit lines. It also means not just more
renewable power but democratic community control over those projects.

But at the same time as we ramp up alternatives, we need to step up the
fight against the forces actively making the climate crisis worse.
Regardless of who wins the election, that means standing firm against the
continued expansion of the fossil fuel sector into new and high-risk
territories, whether through tar sands, fracking, coal exports to China or
Arctic drilling. It also means recognizing the limits of political
pressure and going after the fossil fuel companies directly, as we are
doing at 350.org with our "Do The Math" tour. These companies have shown
that they are willing to burn five times as much carbon as the most
conservative estimates say is compatible with a livable planet. We've done
the math, and we simply can't let them.

We find ourselves in a race against time: either this crisis will become
an opportunity for an evolutionary leap, a holistic readjustment of our
relationship with the natural world. Or it will become an opportunity for
the biggest disaster capitalism free-for-all in human history, leaving the
world even more brutally cleaved between winners and losers.

When I wrote The Shock Doctrine, I was documenting crimes of the past. The
good news is that this is a crime in progress; it is still within our
power to stop it. Let's make sure that this time, the good guys win.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Strike Wave and New Workers' Organisations: Breaking out of Old
Compromises
By Leonard Gentle <http://sacsis.org.za/s/stories.php?iUser=49> · 12 Nov
2012

Over the past weekend, the striking mineworkers of Amplats gathered at a
mass rally in Rustenburg and howled their defiance of a series of
ultimatums issued by the company. At De Doorns, farm workers are on a
wildcat strike - the latest of a series that has become a feature of the
South African landscape over the last three months, knocking Mangaung off
the front pages. Something is stirring from below…and it is time we got
beyond the fear and trepidation that have become the stock response in the
media.

After the Marikana massacre President Jacob Zuma appointed the Farlam
Commission and also convened an emergency Social Dialogue meeting of
Business, Labour and Government in October. The partners released a
statement calling on strikers to return to work and for the police to
defend law and order and noted that “the wave of unprotected
strikes…[could]…undermine the legal framework of bargaining.”

So far the Farlam Commission has heard evidence of a police conspiracy,
intimidation of witnesses, and a hotline line between Cyril Ramaphosa,
Lonmin and the police. But with the strike wave continuing is it not also
time to ask: Where did this much-vaunted “legal framework of bargaining”
come from? And how virtuous, from the perspective of democracy and social
justice, has that system been?

South Africa’s Labour Relations Act (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment
Act (BCEA) and their associated institutions of the Commission for
Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the Sector Education
Training Authorities (SETAs) and National Economic, Development and Labour
Council (NEDLAC) came out of a series of engagements around the National
Economic Forum, the Labour Market Commission and the National Training
Board between 1990 and 1995. Like the World Trade Centre negotiations at
Kempton Park, which shaped South African political compromises, there was a
similar set of trade-offs being enacted within the labour market sphere
between Labour (essentially COSATU) and Big Business.

Under apartheid industrial relations legislation had been based on the
racial alliance between Big Business and white workers, and the suppression
of black workers. White workers could form trade unions and use their
muscle to establish minimum wages, industrial councils to have industry
negotiations and have systems of labour protection and training through
apprenticeship and training boards.

For black workers, however, strikes were illegal and they were excluded
from labour protection and industrial councils.

However the illegal strike wave amongst black workers outside Durban in
1973 saw black workers defy the labour laws and eventually set up strong
unions and forge Recognition Agreements with large employers. New unions,
like the Metal and Allied Workers’ Union, even broke into the Industrial
Council system, eventually forcing the apartheid state, in 1979, to amend
the LRA to grant African workers the right to form trade unions and to
compel employers to deduct membership dues.

By the time the labour market negotiations began in the early 1990’s,
COSATU wanted the state to legislate a legal duty to bargain on the part of
employers, impose centralised bargaining and demanded that the new
democratic state should provide a high degree of social protection for
workers. Big Business, in turn, wanted maximum labour flexibility, little
state intervention and little social protection.

These opposing views appeared irreconcilable.

The deal breaker was to take labour legislation out of the sphere of
criminal sanction and state enforceability completely. Instead the state,
and Big Business and Big Labour agreed to a system of what came to be
called “voice regulation” and “social partnership”.

So strikes and employer lockouts, unfair labour practices, unfair
dismissals and incorrect wages, etc. would no longer be illegal but subject
to discussion and rational persuasion through institutions like the CCMA.
If your employer summarily sacked you or underpaid you, you couldn’t get a
labour inspector to reinstate you or have your employer compelled by law to
honour a contract, you went to the CCMA where you could get a mediator to
try and reach a compromise solution.

Similarly, while there was no compulsion on the part of an employer to
negotiate, you could invoke the power of your strong union to make life
difficult in time for such a recalcitrant employer. And you could strike,
albeit only on what was deemed to be a matter of interest (as opposed to
unfair dismissal, which is deemed to be a conflict of right, over which you
couldn’t strike but had to refer to the CCMA for mediation and/or
arbitration). So the labour movement got its plethora of rights, but which
were dependent on their real organised power to exercise, because the state
was not going to be involved. But Big Business got its demands for labour
flexibility because there were no laws involving the state imposing any
kind of criminal sanction or legal enforceability.

The whole system presumed a scenario whereby Big Business would get the
benefits of labour flexibility, industrial peace and skilled labour and Big
Labour would get skills, job security, higher wages and a seat at the table
of all labour market institutions.

But neither the state nor Big Business kept their side of the bargain.
Whereas the LRA, the SETAs and NEDLAC were unveiled during the period of
the RDP, the government unveiled GEAR and its neo-liberal prescriptions
without any consideration of its Big Labour “partner”. And Big Business,
instead of seeking beneficiation and skilled labour, took the gap. At least
the biggest South African monopolies did -- unbundled, financialised and
then jumped ship to London, New York and Melbourne. Making money via
releasing “share holder value” on global stock markets was so much more
profitable than extending employment and promoting skills, let alone
hanging out with its “social partners” in NEDLAC.

That left COSATU with nowhere else to go. After responding with anger in
the early days of GEAR, the federation has more recently been happy to slag
off the betrayals of its tripartite partner, the ANC, while its leaders,
organisers and even shop stewards rake in the money involved in attending
NEDLAC, SETAs and the myriad other tripartite and centralised bargaining
fora.

And how did the institutions of South Africa’s industrial relations perform?

Well, from the viewpoint of peace and productivity they certainly did their
job. Strikes have shown a steady decline since 1995 with only 2010, the
year of public sector strikes showing an increase in the number of strikes
and days lost, as unions and state departments found themselves at the end
of a 3-year agreement in that year. The CCMA in the meantime has increased
its case handling exponentially and has become an established part of the
industrial relations landscape.

But from the side of ordinary working class people the system has been a
disaster on every score.

Firstly, at the macro level, inequality is increasing and all the
indicators show increased unemployment - now peaking at 40% - according to
Census 2012; and the increased informalisation and casualisation of
workers. The labour peace has come at the cost of the restructuring of the
working class towards the very flexible labour demanded by Big Business.

But what about the layer of full-time workers who have permanent jobs and
are the backbone of the trade unions today? It turns out that, apart from
those who benefit from the perks of sitting on the various negotiating
fora, it didn’t work for them either.

In the main, company-level wage negotiations have settled on and around the
annual inflation rate. And seeing that this is a figure roughly
representing cost of living increases over the year past, this means that
real wage levels have been eroded.

And what about the achievements of the Bargaining Councils?

Well, the statistics on centralised bargaining are revealing. In the
history of the labour movement this was supposed to be a powerful means to
even things upwards - to win victories in enterprises or sectors where the
workers were strong, and then have that victory extended to companies where
the union was weak via the ministerial signature extending the agreement to
non-parties. So for years employers resisted centralised bargaining or
Industrial Councils (as they were called then) fearing that it would push
wage costs up.

In 1995’s LRA the industrial councils were rechristened Bargaining Councils
and the compulsion on the part of the minister weakened so that s/he had
some discretion in this matter and only if there were thresholds reached in
terms of employer and union representativity.

So what has been their performance? In cases of holidays, working hours,
maternity benefits, etc., Bargaining Councils have either settled on the
minima already enshrined in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (meaning
no protracted negotiations and strikes were needed when workers already had
these rights established in law) or, shockingly, have reached settlements
where these are actually below the minima set in the Act.

The average weekly working hours have gone up from 44 hours to 45 -- a mass
increase in the working year without a commensurate increase in pay.

In other words, far from Bargaining Councils being instruments used by the
unions to level conditions upwards they have become instruments for the
employers to level conditions downwards!

Cape Town’s Labour Research Service’s 2011-2012 Bargaining Indicators had
this to say: “The BCEA looks more like a ceiling than a floor of minimum
conditions. Put another way, actual conditions of employment tend to
cluster around the legislated minimums. We see few significant upward
variations.”

In COSATU’s internal review tabled at its recent Congress, some 60% of
members express dissatisfaction with wage increases negotiated.

Overall workers’ wages and salaries as a percentage of national income have
been dropping every year and were overtaken in 1999 by profits. In other
words there has been a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich
in the era of the current industrial relations system.

If the striking workers of the last three months are - horrors of horrors -
challenging this system of industrial relations, then they are doing us all
a service for which they should be applauded and not condemned.

Internationally, the trade union movement has often gone through periods of
stagnation and co-option only to be revived by internal rebellions against
the established industrial order. Trade unions originated in Britain as
“trades unions” – where the older term, “trades”, referred to the skilled
trades of craftsmen. The movement arose from two sources: one conservative
and protective of the old guilds and craftsmen resisting the hordes of
newly proletarianised, deskilled workers; the other a militant offshoot of
the 19th century radical Chartist movement. The first shop stewards were
factory (or “shop”)-based representatives who led a radical democratic
movement against the craft unions in the late 19th century and established
the modern labour movement.

Similarly in the USA, the older craft-based American Federation of Labour
(AFL) experienced a revolt by industrial workers in the 1920s against the
sweetheart nature of the AFL and its protection of skilled white workers.
These militant industrial workers, newer immigrants and many Blacks –
grouped under the Congress of Industrial Organisations - fought the labour
elite and forced it into an amalgam, the AFL-CIO, which is still America’s
trade union centre today.

So worker rebellions against “their own unions” and against the “legal
framework” for collective bargaining have a distinguished history.

Since Marikana there has been a strike wave of some 100 000 workers across
the country – from the platinum province, to the coal and gold mines of the
North West, Gauteng and the Free State, and from the workers at Kumba in
the Northern Cape; to Toyota in KZN; and even home-based textiles workers
in Cape Town. And now farm workers in De Doorns.

A common feature of these strikes has been that they were led and driven by
self-organised workers’ committees in defiance of the existing unions and
of signed collective agreements made with these unions. This exercise in
self-organisation was even to impact on existing procedural wage
negotiations – notably the transport sector, where employers and unions
were about to reach an agreed wage settlement only to find that membership
on the ground rejecting the proposed agreement and forcing through a
protected strike.

The appellation, wildcat, may invoke images of an unruly mob. The
appearance of a Julius Malema at Marikana may play to perceptions that
striking workers are easily swayed bumpkins willing to believe any
snake-oil salesman. And the demand for R12 500 may appear unreasonable and
outrageous to commentators who can’t credit workers with any power to think
for themselves. But what has been the most striking feature of the strike
wave – particularly in the mining sector - has been the level of
sophistication displayed, with no full-time organisers, no back up offices
and no administrators; and against all the whole gamut of the state and
civil society - from the mine owners media, to the political parties and
the trade unions themselves.

For example AngloPlat declares, a month ago, that it has dismissed 12 000
workers. Then it says that they can return but by their imposed deadline.
Then it meets with NUM and Solidarity, where they sign an agreement for a
return to work. But still they can’t get back to full production and they
can’t bring in scabs. The workers simply say “the Strike Committee speaks
for us” and defy AngloPlat.

With each back down by management the strength of the Committee is enhanced
until, against all the procedures enshrined in the LRA and the collective
agreements with NUM, they are forced to sit down with the Strike Committee
and recognise its de facto power. As at Lonmin – where the company was
forced by the power of its strike committee to pay a 22% wage increase –
the workers at Lonmin and AngloPlat have changed the face of industrial
relations in South Africa. And this has been repeated at AngloGold and
across the mining sector.

As ever there are no guarantees and the best efforts of the striking
workers may be defeated by the sheer range of forces lined up against them.
But for now the Strike Committees across the mining industry have formed
their own structure, the National Strike Committee, and within this there
is lively debate about where this initiative will go and what its strategic
orientation will be -- whether a broad labour front or a new union or a
mass enlistment in one of the existing registered unions.

The strike wave has been greeted only with doom and gloom in the mainstream
media. Strangely enough, the same media and many commentators have also
lined up to speak to the threat to democracy posed by an increasingly
authoritarian and beleaguered ANC leadership. Business figures such as
Nedbank Chairman Reuel Khoza were lauded for having the “courage” to speak
up, while World Bank luminaries like Mamphela Ramphela are celebrated for
“speaking the truth to power”.

So why when striking workers challenge this self-same intolerant government
and the whole cosy edifice of the current order they are treated to this
discourse of fear and loathing? Surely it is time to celebrate the
possibilities for an expansion of democracy represented by the current
strike wave? Or is democracy only an effete experience for the well to do?
*Gentle* is the director of the International Labour Research and
Information Group (ILRIG), an NGO that produces educational materials for
activists in social movements and trade unions.

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