*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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JROTC WILL GO "POTLUCK" CELEBRATION!
CELEBRATE WITH BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2006, 7 P.M.
COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO
474 VALENCIA STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, NEAR 16TH STREET

Bring some food to share and let's celebrate a tremendous victory
in ridding our schools of JROTC. Let's put our heads together
and brainstorm:

--community involvement in alternative programs
--continued counter-recruitment activity in the schools
--repealing the No Child Left Behind Act up for re-vote in 2007
--other school, student, parent and community needs
--organizing antiwar work in the community

and any other ideas you have for future action. Any plans already
under way?

Everyone welcome--please circulate

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
TAX THE RICH! FEED THE POOR! MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS, NOT WAR!
www.bauaw.org
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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!VIVA FIDEL! LONG LIVE FIDEL! LONG LIVE THE CUBAN REVOLUTION!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

SCROLL DOWN TO READ:
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
ARTICLES IN FULL
LINKS AND VERY SHORT STORIES

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

ANTI-CORPORATION FILM FESTIVAL!

December 1 thru 3, 2006 (Friday thru Sunday!)
Victoria Theatre, Mission District
2961 16th St @ Mission St (across from the BART station)

** GREAT FILMS ** ACTIVISM ** SPEAKERS ** PARTIES ** DISCUSSION ** 

$5 per film or $40 all weekend pass - Students and activists
$10 per film or $75 all weekend pass - General admission
Your ticket price is a donation to cover our costs.

Films such as Century of the Self and The Corporation will
be shown, complemented by new cutting-edge films about
corporate power such as The Forest for the Trees, a documentary
about the legal case of Judy Bari made by the daughter of Bari's
attorney. The final program will be announced in November.

Speakers on Saturday night will begin at 7:00 pm and offer
further insight into the films, corporations, and the structure
of our economy as a whole. In addition, there will be a festival
after-party on the evening of Sunday, December 3 with
refreshments and entertainment.

CounterCorp is an anti-corporate nonprofit organization
accepting no corporate donations. All of your donations
go to exposing the truth about corporations and finding
Alternatives to corporate ownership of our communities.
If you would like to support us, please visit
www.countercorp.org/countercorp-support.htm
and click on "Donate Now." Every little bit helps. Thank you!

Built in 1908 as a vaudeville house, the 500-seat Victoria
Theatre is the oldest theater currently operation in San Francisco.
We thought this would be a perfect setting to begin to dream
beyond the memes of timed obsolescence and creative destruction
that corporations have injected into our societies, to a time before
the corporate agenda prevailed above all else. For directions
and info, please visit www.victoriatheatre.org.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Volunteering both before and/or during
the festival will earn you a FREE PASS to all films and parties!
Please contact volunteers@countercorp.org!

www.countercorp.org -for more info!

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"Ode to Joy and Struggle"
Event for Lynne Stewart and co-defendants
Saturday, December 9th ,
6:30 or 7:00 pm [I'm looking into that. -t.]
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
From: PatLevasseurP @ aol.com
Subject: Govt. seeking authorization to appeal Lynne Stewart‚s
sentence
Govt. seeking authorization from Solicitor General to appeal
Lynne Stewart's sentence (and that of her co-defendants)

Hello All,

I am writing to update you on that status of Lynne Stewart's
case after her sentencing on October 16th. While we were all
relieved that Lynne did not get 30 years, the Government has
announced that it has gone to the Solicitor General of the
United States Justice Department for authorization to appeal
her sentence and that of her co-defendants. They are not
challenging the bail pending appeal but state that they will
only agree to one 30 day adjournment of the filing of the
appeal because they want everyone serving their sentences
as soon as possible. What does all this mean for Lynne?
Lynne's attorneys are not surprised that the government wants
to appeal her sentence. Although sentences are not usually
appealed it does happen and case law in the 2nd Circuit
which governs Lynne's case shows that although rare, when
a sentence is appealed and the Circuit sends the case back
for resentencing the result is a far longer sentence. We are
hopeful that Judge Koeltl‚s meticulous sentencing decision
will carry the day but we have no guarantees and must
continue our vigilance in the face of this latest move
by the government. Of course Lynne's attorneys
will be filing the appeal of her conviction within the year.

Remember to save the date and join us in an
"Ode to Joy and Struggle
December 9th 6:30 to ?

The evening will be held at the beautifully renovated Judson
Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South
(near Thompson St.) in the West Village, New York City.
The event is mostly one of joy but of course the struggle
continues. We will also be commemorating Mumia Abu Jamal's
25 years behind bars and to that end we will hear from:

Lynne Stewart - her case and current legal status

Pam Africa
Chair of International Concerned Family
and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is currently
determining whether Abu-Jamal will be granted a new trial
or sent back to death row, which is the district attorney's
preference. Speaking about this at our event is Pam Africa,
who will be joining us after the annual rally in Philadelphia,
which recognizes the day Mumia Abu Jamal was shot and framed.

and

Robert Meeropol
Executive Director, Rosenberg Fund for Children

ABOUT ROBERT MEEROPOL

Robert Meeropol is the founder and Executive Director of the
Rosenberg Fund for Children (RFC). For the last 30 years he
has been an activist, writer and public speaker. He has
successfully sued the federal government and through the
RFC, has assisted hundreds of children whose parents also
have been attacked for their social activism. Robert is also
the author of AN EXECUTION IN THE FAMILY (now available
in paperback from St. Martin's Press.) This political memoir
chronicles Meeropol's journey from childhood victim of
McCarthy-era repression; to 1960's militant activist; to politically
engaged parent and law student; to founder and leader of the
Rosenberg Fund for Children. ODE TO JOY AND STRUGGLE

Join Lynne Stewart and the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee in

THANKING YOU !

for your support over these last 4+ years
and uniting for the struggle ahead

Saturday, December 9th , 7pm till .......
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY

Speakers:

Lynne Stewart
Pam Africa, International Concerned
Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Robert Meeropol. Executive Director,
Rosenberg Fund for Children

Music by:

Selah Eric Spruiell and The Fort Greene Project
Urbano Sanchez, Latin Jazz
Professor Louie and Fast Eddy
Professor Irwin Corey and Randy Credico
and MUCH more
(comedy, Latin jazz, rap)

Great Food & Drink provided

Judson Memorial Church resides on the southern edge
of Washington Square Park between Thompson
and Sullivan Streets. Accessible by subway.

Trains: A, C, E, F to West 4th; R to 8th St.; 1 to
Christopher St.-Sheridan Sq.

Mobility Handicapped please enter through
Thompson Street entrance.

Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
350 Broadway, Suite 700
New York, NY 10013
212-625-9696
www.lynnestewart.org

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Drums Across America for Peace
December 16, 2006 simultaneously across
the country at 11:00 to 11:30 A.M. PST
For More Information contact:
Marilyn Sjaastad
541-344-8088
Jade Screen Clinic

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

UFPJ calls for march on DC Sat, Jan. 27, local
actions on March 17
www.unitedforpeace. org
212-868-5545
Please forward widely!
Tell the New Congress:
Act NOW to Bring the Troops Home!
Join United for Peace and Justice in a massive march on Washington ,
D.C. , on Sat., January 27, to call on Congress to take immediate
action to end the war.
On Election Day the voters delivered a dramatic, unmistakable mandate
for peace. Now it's time for action. On January 27, 2007, we will
converge from all around the country in Washington , D.C. to send a
strong, clear message to Congress and the Bush Administration: The
people of this country want the war and occupation in Iraq to end and
we want the troops brought home now!
Congress has the power to end this war through legislation. We call on
people from every congressional district in the country to gather in
Washington, DC -- to express support for those members of Congress who
are prepared to take immediate action against the war; to pressure
those who are hesitant to act; and to speak out against those who
remain tied to a failed policy.
The peace and justice movement helped make ending the war in Iraq the
primary issue in this last election. The actions we take do make a
difference, and now there is a new opportunity for us to move our work
forward. On Election Day people took individual action by voting. On
January 27 we will take collective action, as we march in Washington ,
DC , to make sure Congress understands the urgency of this moment.
Join United for Peace and Justice in this crucial push for peace!
1) Make a donation right now to support the January 27 mobilization and
help give us the funds we need to make this a truly massive outpouring
for peace.
2) Pass this email along to everyone you know, post it on blogs and
websites -- do everything you can to help us get the word out about
January 27th.
3) Make sure your organization endorses the January 27th mobilization.
Click here to add your endorsement.
4) Start making plans to bring people from your congressional district
to Washington on January 27. We will soon have a form on our website,
where you or your group can sign up to be the coordinator for people
coming to DC from your area, so you can meet up, coordinate
transportation, housing, etc.
5) Keep checking the UFPJ website for more details in the coming weeks!
You might have also heard that United for Peace and Justice was calling
for a demonstration in Washington to commemorate the 4th anniversary of
the war in Iraq on March 17. Because of the new developments and our
decision to organize the January 27th mobilization, we are now calling
for local and regional antiwar actions that weekend instead. We will
soon be issuing more information about the plans for the 4th
anniversary.
Help us continue to do this critical work: Make a donation to UFPJ
today.
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace. org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit www.unitedforpeace. org/email

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

MARCH 17, 2007 GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION ON THE 4TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE WAR!
DEMONSTRATIONS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.; LOS ANGELES;
SAN FRANCISCO; SEATTLE; CHICAGO AND OTHER CITIES AND
TOWNS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD. THE
A.N.S.W.E.R. COALITION URGES EVERYONE IN THE ANTIWAR
MOVEMENT TO COME TOGETHER IN UNITY AGAINST THE
CRIMINAL ACTIONS OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
http://www.pephost. org/site/ PageServer? pagename= ANS_homepage

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May Day 2007
National Mobilization to Support Immigrant Workers!
Web: http://www.MayDay2007.net
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
webpage: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org
e-mail: info@ImmigrantSolidarity.org
New York: (212)330-8172
Los Angeles: (213)403-0131
Washington D.C.: (202)595-8990

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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

The Corporate Looting of the Gulf Coast
Robin Hood in Reverse
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley11132006.html
More Info:
www.justiceforneworleans.org
For a detailed report:
Big, Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering on the American Gulf Coast
by Rita J. King, Special to CorpWatch
August 15th, 2006
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14004

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

TAX FACT SHEET
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901006_taxpolicy.pdf

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

Communist Manifesto illustrated by Disney [and other cartoons) with
words by K. Marx and F. Engels--absolutely wonderful!...bw]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1oGIffyVVk&NR

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

Asylum Street Spankers-Magnetic Yellow Ribbon
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=bfMgRHRJ- tc

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

Homer Simpson Joins the Army
Another morale-booster from Groening and company. [If you get
a chance to see the whole thing, it's worth it...bw]
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/11/12/video-the-simpsons-salute-the-lazy-and
-uneducated/

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A Look at the Numbers: How the Rich Get Richer
Clara Jeffery (May/June 2006 Issue
IN 1985, THE FORBES 400 were worth $221 billion combined.
Today, they re worth $1.13 trillion more than the GDP of Canada.
THERE'VE BEEN FEW new additions to the Forbes 400.
The median household income
has also stagnated at around $44,000.
AMONG THE FORBES 400 who gave to a 2004 presidential
campaign, 72% gave to Bush.
IN 2005, there were 9 million American millionaires,
a 62% increase since 2002.
IN 2005, 25.7 million Americans received food stamps,
a 49% increase since 2000.
ONLY ESTATES worth more than $1.5 million are taxed.
That's less than 1% of all estates
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?url=http://www.motherjon
es.com/news/exhibit/2006/05/perks_of_privilege.html

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Do You Want to Stop PREVENT War with Iran?

Dear Friend,

Every day, pundits and military experts debate on TV when, how and where
war with Iran will occur. Can the nuclear program be destroyed? Will the
Iranian government retaliate in Iraq or use the oil weapon? Will it take
three or five days of bombing? Will the US bomb Iran with "tactical"
nuclear weapons?

Few discuss the human suffering that yet another war in the Middle East
will bring about. Few discuss the thousands and thousands of innocent
Iranian and American lives that will be lost. Few think ahead and ask
themselves what war will do to the cause of democracy in Iran or to
America's global standing.

Some dismiss the entire discussion and choose to believe that war simply
cannot happen. The US is overstretched, the task is too difficult, and
the world is against it, they say.

They are probably right, but these factors don't make war unlikely. They
just make a successful war unlikely.

At the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), we are not going to
wait and see what happens.

We are actively working to stop the war and we need your help!

Working with a coalition of peace and security organizations in
Washington DC, NIAC is adding a crucial dimension to this debate - the
voice of the Iranian-American community.

Through our US-Iran Media Resource Program
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkFbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkFbIfQs8eafpLV5/ , we help
the media ask the right questions and bring attention to the human side
of this issue.

Through the LegWatch program

http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabummRbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabummRbIfQs8eafpLV5/ ,

we are building opposition to the war on Capitol Hill. We spell out the
likely
consequences of war and the concerns of the Iranian-American community
on Hill panels

http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkGbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkGbIfQs8eafpLV5/

and in direct meetings with lawmakers. We recently helped more than a dozen
Members of Congress - both Republican and Democrats - send a strong
message against war to the White House

http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkHbIfQs8eafpLV5/
http://niacouncil.c.topica.com/maafjioabumkHbIfQs8eafpLV5/

But more is needed, and we need your help!

If you don't wish to see Iran turn into yet another Iraq, please make a
contribution online or send in a check to:

NIAC
2801 M St NW
Washington DC 20007

Make the check out to NIAC and mark it "NO WAR."

ALL donations are welcome, both big and small. And just so you know,
your donations make a huge difference. Before you leave the office
today, please make a contribution to stop the war.

Sincerely,
Trita Parsi
President of NIAC

U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW)

www.uslaboragainstwar.org
http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/
Email: info@uslaboragainstwar.org

PMB 153
1718 "M" Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Voicemail: 202/521-5265

Co-convenors: Gene Bruskin, Maria Guillen, Fred Mason,
Bob Muehlenkamp, and Nancy Wohlforth
Michael Eisenscher, National Organizer & Website Coordinator
Virginia Rodino, Organizer
Adrienne Nicosia, Administrative Staff

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Enforce the Roadless Rule for National Forests
Target: Michael Johanns, Secretary, USDA
Sponsor: Earthjustice
We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:
This past September, Earthjustice scored a huge victory for our roadless
national forests when a federal district court ordered the reinstatement
of the Roadless Rule.
The Roadless Rule protects roadless forest areas from road-building
and most logging. This is bad news for the timber, mining, and oil
& gas industries ... And so they're putting pressure on their friends
in the Bush Administration to challenge the victory.
Roadless area logging tends to target irreplaceable old growth forests.
Many of these majestic trees have stood for hundreds of years.
By targeting old-growth, the timber companies are destroying
natural treasures that cannot be replaced in our lifetime.
The future of nearly 50 million acres of wild, national forests
and grasslands hangs in the balance. Tell the secretary of the
USDA, Michael Johanns, to protect our roadless areas by enforcing
the Roadless Rule. The minute a road is cut through a forest, that
forest is precluded from being considered a "wilderness area," and
thus will not be covered by any of the Wilderness Area protections
afforded by Congress.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/112283692?z00m=6687205&z00m=668720
5<l=1162406255

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Mumia Abu-Jamal - Reply brief, U.S. Court of Appeals (Please Circulate)

Dear Friends:

On October 23, 2006, the Fourth-Step Reply Brief of Appellee and
Cross-Appellant, Mumia Abu-Jamal was submitted to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn,
U.S. Ct. of Appeals Nos. 01-9014, 02-9001.)

Oral argument will likely be scheduled during the coming months.
I will advise when a hearing date is set.

The attached brief is of enormous consequence since it goes
to the essence of our client's right to a fair trial, due process
of law, and equal protection of the law, guaranteed by the Fifth,
Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
The issues include:

Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied the right to due process
of law and a fair trial because of the prosecutor’s “appeal-after
-appeal” argument which encouraged the jury to disregard the
presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt, and err
on the side of guilt.

Whether the prosecution’s exclusion of African Americans
from sitting on the jury violated Mr. Abu-Jamal’s right
to due process and equal protection of the law,
in contravention of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986).

Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied due process and equal
protection of the law during a post-conviction hearing
because of the bias and racism of Judge Albert F. Sabo,
who was overheard during the trial commenting that
he was “going to help'em fry the nigger."

That the federal court is hearing issues which concern
Mr. Abu-Jamal's right to a fair trial is a great milestone
in this struggle for human rights. This is the first time
that any court has made a ruling in nearly a quarter
of a century that could lead to a new trial and freedom.
Nevertheless, our client remains on Pennsylvania's death
row and in great danger.

Mr. Abu-Jamal, the "voice of the voiceless," is a powerful
symbol in the international campaign against the death
penalty and for political prisoners everywhere. The goal
of Professor Judith L. Ritter, associate counsel, and
I is to see that the many wrongs which have occurred
in this case are righted, and that at the conclusion
of a new trial our client is freed.

Your concern is appreciated

With best wishes,

Robert R. Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

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

Antiwar Web Site Created by Troops
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A small group of active-duty military members opposed to the war
have created a Web site intended to collect thousands of signatures
of other service members. People can submit their name, rank and
duty station if they support statements denouncing the American
invasion. “Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price,”
the Web site, appealforredress.org, says. “It is time for U.S. troops
to come home.” The electronic grievances will be passed along
to members of Congress, according to the Web site. Jonathan
Hutto, a Navy seaman based in Norfolk, Va., who set up the Web
site a month ago, said the group had collected 118 names and
was trying to verify that they were legitimate service members.
October 25, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/washington/25brfs-005.html

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

Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Child Rape Photos
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2006-10-23 20:54. Evidence
By Greg Mitchell, http://www.editorandpublisher.com
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14864

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

Profound new assault on freedom of speech and assembly:
Manhattan: New Rules for Parade Permits
By AL BAKER
After recent court rulings found the Police Department's
parade regulations too vague, the department is moving
to require parade permits for groups of 10 or more
bicyclists or pedestrians who plan to travel more than
two city blocks without complying with traffic laws.
It is also pushing to require permits for groups of 30
or more bicyclists or pedestrians who obey traffic laws.
The new rules are expected to be unveiled in a public
notice today. The department will discuss them at
a hearing on Nov. 27. Norman Siegel, a lawyer whose
clients include bicyclists, said the new rules
"raise serious civil liberties issues."
October 18, 2006
http://www.nytimes. com/2006/ 10/18/nyregion/ 18mbrfs-002. html

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

Soul-Sick Nation: An Astrologer's View of America
Jessica Murray
Format: Paperback (6x9)
ISBN 1425971253
Price: $ 13.95
About the Book
Astrology and geopolitics may seem strange bedfellows, but
Soul-Sick Nation puts the two together to provide a perspective
as extraordinary as the times we are living in. Using the principles
of ancient wisdom to make sense of the current global situation,
this book invites us to look at the USA from the biggest possible
picture: that of cosmic meaning. With a rare blend of compassion,
humor and fearless taboo-busting, Soul-Sick Nation reveals
America's noble potential without sentiment and diagnoses
its neuroses without delusion, shedding new light on troubling
issues that the pundits and culture wars inflame but leave
painfully unresolved: the WTC bombings, the war in Iraq,
Islamic jihad, media propaganda, consumerism and the
American Dream.
In her interpretation of the birth chart of the entity born
July 4, 1776, Murray offers an in-depth analysis of America's
essential destiny--uncovering , chapter by chapter, the greater
purpose motivating this group soul. She shows how this
purpose has been distorted, and how it can be re-embraced
in the decades to come. She decodes current astrological
transits that express the key themes the USA must learn
in this period of millennial crisis—including that of the
responsibility of power—spelling out the profound lessons
the nation will face in the next few years.
Combining the rigor of a political theorist with the vision
of a master astrologer, this keenly intelligent book elucidates
the meaning of an epoch in distress, and proposes a path
towards healing—of the country and of its individual citizens.
Murray explains how each of us can come to terms with this
moment in history and arrive at a response that is unique
and creative. This book will leave you revitalized, shorn
of illusions and full of hope.
About the Author
"Jessica Murray's Soul-Sick Nation raises the symbol-system
of astrology to the level of a finely-honed tool for the critical
work of social insight and commentary. Her unflinching,
in-depth analysis answers a crying need of our time. Murray's
application of laser beam-lucid common sense analysis
to the mire of illusions we've sunken into as a nation is
a courageous step in the right direction... Just breathtaking! "
--Raye Robertson, author of Culture, Media and the Collective Mind
" Jessica Murray,..a choice-centered, psychospiritually- oriented
astrologer.. . has quietly made a real difference in the lives of her
clients, one at a time. In "Soul Sick Nation," she applies exactly those
same skills to understanding America as a whole. Starting from
the premise that the United States is currently a troubled adolescent,
she applies an unflinching gaze to reach an ultimately compassionate
conclusion about how we can heal ourselves and grow up."
- Steven Forrest, author of The Inner Sky and The Changing Sky
http://www.authorho use.com/BookStor e/ItemDetail~ bookid~41780. aspx

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

Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!
Interested in furthering your knowledge about Palestine
and its people?
Want to help make the Palestinian Right to Return a reality?
Looking for ways to show your support for Palestine and
Palestinian refugees?
Why not shop for a donation at Al-Awda
http://al-awda. org/shop. html
and help support a great organization and cause!!
Al-Awda offers a variety of educational materials including interesting
and unique books on everything from oral histories, photo books
on Palestinian refugees, to autobiographies, narratives, political
analysis, and culture. We also have historical maps of Palestine
(in Arabic and English), educational films, flags of various sizes,
and colorful greeting cards created by Palestinian children.
You can also show your support for a Free Palestine, and wear with
pride, great looking T-shirts, pendants, and a variety of Palestine pins.
Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!
Visit http://al-awda. org/shop. html for these great items, and more!
The Educational Supplies Division
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda. org
WWW: http://al-awda. org
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC), is a broad-
based, non-partisan, democratic, and charitable organization of
grassroots activists and students committed to comprehensive public
education about the rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their
homes and lands of origin, and to full restitution for all their confiscated
and destroyed property in accordance with the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, International law and the numerous United Nations
Resolutions upholding such rights (see FactSheet). Al-Awda, PRRC
is a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3)
organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the
United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations
to Al-Awda, PRRC are tax-deductible.

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

Before You Enlist
Excellent flash film that should be shown to all students.
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=ZFsaGv6cefw

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

In an interview in March 1995 entitled, "Jesse Helms: Setting the
Record Straight" that appeared in the Middle East Quarterly, Helms
said, "I have long believed that if the United States is going to give
money to Israel, it should be paid out of the Department of Defense
budget. My question is this: If Israel did not exist, what would
U.S. defense costs in the Middle East be? Israel is at least the
equivalent of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Middle East. Without
Israel promoting its and America's common interests, we would
be badly off indeed."
(Jesse Helms was the senior senator from North Carolina and the
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.)
http://www.meforum. org/article/ 244

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

TWO AMICUS BRIEFS FILED FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL WITH
THE 3RD CIRCUIT FEDERAL APPEALS COURT IN JULY 2006

These pdf files can be found on Michael Schiffmann's web site at:

http://againstthecr imeofsilence. de/english/ copy_of_mumia/ legalarchive/

The first brief is from the National Lawyers Guild.
The second brief is from the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, Inc.

Howard Keylor
For the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
www.laboractionmumi a.org.

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

Asylum Street Spankers-Magnetic Yellow Ribbon
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=bfMgRHRJ- tc

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

SIR! NO SIR!
I urge everyone to get a copy of "Sir! No Sir!" at:
http://www.sirnosir .com/
It is an extremely informative and powerful film
of utmost importance today. I was a participant
in the anti-Vietnam war movement. What a
powerful thing it was to see troops in uniform
leading the march against the war! If you would
like to read more here are two very good
publications:

Out Now!: A Participant' s Account of the Movement
in the United States Against the Vietnam War
by Fred Halstead (Hardcover - Jun 1978)

and:

GIs speak out against the war;: The case of the
Ft. Jackson 8; by Fred Halstead (Unknown Binding - 1970).

Both available at:
http://www.amazon. com/gp/search/ 103-1123166- 0136605?search- alias=books&
rank=
+availability, -proj-total- margin&field- author=Fred% 20Halstead

In solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein

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Endorse the following petition:
Don't Let Idaho Kill Endangered Wolves
Target: Fish and Wildlife Service
Sponsor: Defenders of Wildlife
http://www.thepetit ionsite.com/ takeaction/ 664280276?
z00m=99090&z00m= 99090<l= 1155834550

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

END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!
Stop funding Israel's war against Palestine
Complete the form at the website listed below with your information.
Personalize the message text on the right with
your own words, if you wish.
Click the Next Step button to send your letter
to these decision makers:
President George W. Bush
Vice President Richard 'Dick' B. Cheney
Your Senators
Your Representative
Go here to register your outrage:
https://secure2. convio.net/ pep/site/ Advocacy?
JServSessionIdr003= cga2p2o6x1. app2a&cmd= display&page= UserAction& id=177

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

Idriss Stelley Foundation is in critical financial crisis, please help !
ISF is in critical financial crisis, and might be forced to close
its doors in a couple of months due to lack of funds to cover
DSL, SBC and utilities, which is a disaster for our numerous
clients, since the are the only CBO providing direct services
to Victims (as well as extended failies) of police misconduct
for the whole city of SF. Any donation, big or small will help
us stay alive until we obtain our 501-c3 nonprofit Federal
Status! Checks can me made out to
ISF, ( 4921 3rd St , SF CA 94124 ). Please consider to volunteer
or apply for internship to help covering our 24HR Crisis line,
provide one on one couseling and co facilitate our support
groups, M.C a show on SF Village Voice, insure a 2hr block
of time at ISF, moderate one of our 26 websites for ISF clients !
http://mysite. verizon.net/ vzeo9ewi/ idrissstelleyfou ndation/
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/isf23/
Report Police Brutality
24HR Bilingual hotline
(415) 595-8251
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/Justice4As a/

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Appeal for funds:
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
Visit the Dahr Jamail Iraq website http://dahrjamailir aq.com
Request for Support
Dahr Jamail will soon return to the Middle East to continue his
independent reporting. As usual, reporting independently is a costly
enterprise; for example, an average hotel room is $50, a fixer runs $50
per day, and phone/food average $25 per day. Dahr will report from the
Middle East for one month, and thus needs to raise $5,750 in order to
cover his plane ticket and daily operating expenses.
A rare opportunity has arisen for Dahr to cover several stories
regarding the occupation of Iraq, as well as U.S. policy in the region,
which have been entirely absent from mainstream media.
With the need for independent, unfiltered information greater than ever,
your financial support is deeply appreciated. Without donations from
readers, ongoing independent reports from Dahr are simply not possible.
All donations go directly towards covering Dahr's on the ground
operating expenses.
(c)2006 Dahr Jamail.

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Legal update on Mumia Abu-Jamal's case
Excerpts from a letter written by Robert R. Bryan, the lead attorney
for death row political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
...On July 20, 2006, we filed the Brief of Appellee and Cross
Appellant, Mumia Abu-Jamal, in the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia.
http://www.workers. org/2006/ us/mumia- 0810/

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Nick Mottern, Consumers for Peace
                nickmottern@earthlink.net

Howard Zinn joins Kathy Kelly, Dahr Jamail, Ann Wright and Neil MacKay in
endorsing "War Crimes Committed by the United States in Iraq and
Mechanisms for Accountability."
 
The report was published internationally by 10 organizations in October.

"This report on the war crimes of the current administration is an
invaluable resource, with a meticulous presentation of the
evidence and an astute examination of international law.
- Howard Zinn. 

The 37 page report, written by Consumers for Peace with the
consultation of international humanitarian law expert Karen
Parker, JD, is available for free download at 
http://www.consumersforpeace.org/pdf/war_crimes_iraq_101006.pdf

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

Today in Palestine!
For up to date information on Israeli's brutal attack on
human rights and freedom in Palestine and Lebanon go to:
http://www.theheadl ines.org

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

Oklahoma U's First African-American Speaker

Dear Representative Johnson:

Congratulations on your bill for creating an
African-American Centennial Plaza near the
Capitol.

I have a suggestion for including an important
moment in Oklahoma African-American
history in the displays.

The first African-American speaker at the
University of Oklahoma was Paul Boutelle,
in 1967.

He is still alive but has changed his name
to Kwame Somburu. I believe it would be
very appropriate also to invite Mr. Somburu
to attend the dedication ceremony for
this plaza. I correspond with him by email.

Here is a 1967 Sooner magazine article about his appearance:

http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p25-27_1967v40n2_OCR.pdf

Sincerely,

Mike Wright
Norman
329-6688

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Interesting web site with many flash films. The site is managed
by veteran James Starowicz, USN '67-'71 GMG3 Vietnam In-Country
'70-'71 Member: Veterans For Peace as well as other Veterans
and Pro-Peace Groups. Also Activist in other Area's, Questioning
Policies that only Benefit the Few, supporting Policies that Benefit
the Many and Move Us Forward as a Better Nation and World!
Politics: Registered Independent
http://imagineaworldof.blogspot.com/

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

Taking Aim with Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone has a new Internet
address: http://www.takingaimradio.com

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF ZIONISM
BY RALPH SCHOENMAN
Essential reading for understanding the development of Zionism
and Israel in the service of British and USA imperialism.
The full text of the book can be found for free at the
new Taking Aim web address:
http://www.takingaimradio.com

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JOIN THE LYNNE STEWAR DEFENSE - THE CASE IS NOT OVER!
For those of you who don't know who Lynne Stewart is, go to
www.lynnestewart. org and get acquainted with Lynne and her
cause. Lynne is a criminal defense attorney who is being persecuted
for representing people charged with heinous crimes. It is a bedrock
of our legal system that every criminal defendant has a right to a
lawyer. Persecuting Lynne is an attempt to terrorize and intimidate
all criminal defense attorneys in this country so they will stop
representing unpopular people. If this happens, the fascist takeover
of this nation will be complete. We urge you all to go the website,
familiarize yourselves with Lynne and her battle for justice
www.lynnestewart. org

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NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO FREE THE CUBAN FIVE
Comité Nacional por la Libertad de los Cinco Cubanos
Who are the Cuban Five?
The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison, serving
four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being wrongly
convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001.
They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero,
Fernando González and René González.
The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing
espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related
charges.
But the Five pointed out vigorously in their defense that they were
involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups,
in order to prevent terrorist attacks on their country of Cuba.
The Five's actions were never directed at the U.S. government.
They never harmed anyone nor ever possessed nor used any
weapons while in the United States.
The Cuban Five's mission was to stop terrorism
For more than 40 years, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based
in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against
Cuba, and against anyone who advocates a normalization
of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. More than 3,000 Cubans
have died as a result of these terrorists' attacks.

Gerardo Hernández, 2 Life Sentences
Antonio Guerrero, Life Sentence
Ramon Labañino, Life Sentence
Fernando González, 19 Years
René González, 15 Years

Free The Cuban Five Held Unjustly In The U.S.!
http://www.freethef ive.org/

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Eyewitness Account from Oaxaca
A website is now being circulated that has up-to-date info
and video that can be downloaded of the police action and
developments in Oaxaca. For those who have not seen it
elsewhere, the website is:
www.mexico.indymedi a.org/oaxaca
http://www.mexico. indymedia. org/oaxaca

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

REMINDER TO ALL GROUPS: BE SURE AND POST ALL ACTIONS AND
EVENTS TO WWW.INDYBAY. ORG TO REACH THE MOST PEOPLE
AGAINST THE WAR IN THE BAY AREA!
http://www.indybay. org

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

Iraq Body Count
For current totals, see our database page.
http://www.iraqbody count.net/ press/pr13. php

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

The Cost of War
[Over three-hundred- billion so far...bw]
http://nationalprio rities.org/ index.php? optionfiltered=com_
wrapper&Itemid= 182

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

"The Democrats always promise to help workers, and the don't!
The Republicans always promise to help business, and the do!"
- Mort Sahl

---------*-- -------*- --------* --------- *-------- -*------- -
"It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."
- Emilano Zapata
---------*-- -------*- --------* --------- *-------- -*------- -

Join the Campaign to
Shut Down the Guantanamo Torture Center
Go to:
http://www.shutitdo wn.org/
to send a letter to Congress and the White House:
Shut Down Guantanamo and all torture centers and prisons.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERco alition.org http://www.actionsf .org
sf@internationalans wer.org
2489 Mission St. Rm. 24
San Francisco: 415-821-6545

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

Great Counter-Recruitment Website
http://notyoursoldi er.org/article. php?list= type&type= 14

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

DEFEND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND
CIVIL RIGHTS!

Last summer the U.S. Border Patrol arrested Shanti Sellz and
Daniel Strauss, both 23-year-old volunteers assisting immigrants
on the border, for medically evacuating 3 people in critical
condition from the Arizona desert.

Criminalization for aiding undocumented immigrants already
exists on the books in the state of Arizona. Daniel and Shanti
are targeted to be its first victims. Their arrest and subsequent
prosecution for providing humanitarian aid could result in
a 15-year prison sentence. Any Congressional compromise
with the Sensenbrenner bill (HR 4437) may include these
harmful criminalization provisions. Fight back NOW!

Help stop the criminalization of undocumented immigrants
and those who support them!

For more information call 415-821- 9683.
For information on the Daniel and Shanti Defense Campaign,
visit www.nomoredeaths. org.

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

FYI
According to "Minimum Wage History" at
http://oregonstate. edu/instruct/ anth484/minwage. html "

"Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the
highest at $9.12. "The 8 dollar per hour Whole Foods employees
are being paid $1.12 less than the 1968 minimum wage.

"A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The graph shows
both nominal (red) and real (blue) minimum wage values. Nominal
values range from 25 cents per hour in 1938 to the current $5.15/hr.
The greatest percentage jump in the minimum wage was in 1950,
when it nearly doubled. The graph adjusts these wages to 2005
dollars (blue line) to show the real value of the minimum wage.
Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the
highest at $9.12. Note how the real dollar minimum wage rises and
falls. This is because it gets periodically adjusted by Congress.
The period 1997-2006, is the longest period during which the
minimum wage has not been adjusted. States have departed from
the federal minimum wage. Washington has the highest minimum
wage in the country at $7.63 as of January 1, 2006. Oregon is next
at $7.50. Cities, too, have set minimum wages. Santa Fe, New
Mexico has a minimum wage of $9.50, which is more than double
the state minimum wage at $4.35."

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

NO BORDERS! NO WALLS! NO FENCES! GENERAL AMNESTY FOR ALL!
OUR HOMELAND IS WHERE WE LIVE!

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

REPEAL THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN 2007!
Check out: 10 EXCELLENT REASONS NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARY
http://www.10reason sbook.com/
Public Law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001 [1.8 MB]
http://www.ed. gov/policy/ elsec/leg/ esea02/index. html
Also, the law is up before Congress again in 2007.
See this article from USA Today:
Bipartisan panel to study No Child Left Behind
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
February 13, 2006
http://www.usatoday .com/news/ education/ 2006-02-13- education- panel_x.htm

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

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
http://www.law. indiana.edu/ uslawdocs/ declaration. html
http://www.law. ou.edu/hist/ decind.html
http://www.usconsti tution.net/ declar.html
http://www.indybay. org/news/ 2006/02/1805195. php

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

Bill of Rights
http://www.law. cornell.edu/ constitution/ constitution. billofrights. html
http://www.indybay. org/news/ 2006/02/1805182. php

---------*-- -------*- --------* --------- *-------- -*------- -
ARTICLES IN FULL:
---------*-- -------*- --------* --------- *-------- -*------- -

1) Victory in San Francisco on November 14:
Board of Ed. Votes to Phase Out JROTC!
Student Activist Receives
Threats For Opposing JROTC
By ERIC BLANC
and
VICTORY! JROTC WILL GO!
Report by Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
With statements read to the board by Bonnie Weinstein and
Carole Seligman.
www.bauaw.org

2) Hundreds, All Nonunion, Walk Out at Pork Plant in N.C.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
November 17, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/us/17walkout.html?ref=us

3) Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre in Ramadi
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

4) Farmers in Dire Straights
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

5) Press Release from the Central Bank of Cuba
GRANMA INTERNATIONAL
Havana. November 17, 2006
http://www.granma. cu/ingles/ 2006/noviembre/ vier17/48banco. html

6) Marijuana
By Bonnie Weinstein
November 15, 2006
www.socialistviewpoint.org

7) SMITHFIELD WORKERS WIN NEGOTIATED AGREEMENT
WITH COMPANY ON UNNECESSARY FIRINGS
From: smithfield@ufcw.org
mailto:smithfield@ufcw.org

8) The Ghosts of 1898
Wilmington's race riot and the rise of white supremacy
Timothy B. Tyson, Special to the News & Observer
http://www.newsobserver.com/1370/story/511596.html

9) Education Under Siege
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily
Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

10) Another 1934 Is Just around the Corner
By The Editors of Socialist Viewpoint
Socialist Viewpoint
www.socialistviewpoint.org

11) A New Class War: The Haves vs. the Have Mores
By ERIC KONIGSBERG
November 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/weekinreview/19konigsberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

12) Rejecting the Draft
New York Times Editorial
November 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/opinion/21tue1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

13) A Free-for-All on Science and Religion
“Children are systematically taught
that there is a higher kind of knowledge which comes from faith,
which comes from revelation, which comes from scripture, which
comes from tradition, and that it is the equal if not the superior
of knowledge that comes from real evidence.”
By GEORGE JOHNSON
November 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/science/21belief.html?8dpc

14) Israeli Map Says West Bank Posts Sit on Arab Land
By STEVEN ERLANGER
November 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/world/middleeast/21land.html?hp&ex=1164171600&en=2e03da87b76e6581&ei=5094&partner=homepage

15) Military Documents Hold Tips on Antiwar Activities
“Veterans for Peace is a peaceful organization,” the entry said,
but added there was potential that future protests
“could become violent.”
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and MARK MAZZETTI
November 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/washington/21protests.html?ref=us

16) Treasury Chief Urges ‘Balance’ in Regulation of U.S. Companies
[i.e., corporations freely go across borders to increase their profits but
individuals who cross borders to find the means to survive are
criminals...bw]
By STEPHEN LABATON
November 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/business/21paulson.html?ref=business

17) Officer in Taser case identified
Terrence Duren, a 2001 UCLA officer of the year, has been the
subject of two other use-of-force complaints.
By Charles Proctor and Richard Winton
Times Staff Writers
November 21, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taser21nov21,0,1459046.story?coll=la-home-headlinesOfficer

18) Weighing In on Wages
New York Times Editorial
November 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/opinion/22wed1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

19) Herrera Secures Civil Gang Injunction
Against Notorious 'Oakdale Mob'
CITY ATTORNEY DENNIS HERRERA NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2006
CONTACT: MATT DORSEY (415) 554-4662

20) Bombing Appalachia
http://ga3.org/ct/pdSIojS1nRhl/

21) Medical System Becomes Sickening
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily
Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

22) Selective Service: Ready for a draft
By Thom Patterson
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/11/20/selective.service/

23) IT'S THE OCCUPATION, STUPID
by Roger Burbach and Paul Cantor
Why has Iraq turned into a haven for terrorists and a bloody, war
ravished nation?
It's the occupation, stupid.

24) Interview with Ricardo Alarcon,
President of the National Assembly
of People's Power of Cuba
Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com
FROM CUBA-L LISTSERV
Translation by Robert Sandels.
11/16/06
La Jornada (Mexico)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews

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

1) Victory in San Francisco on November 14:
Board of Ed. Votes to Phase Out JROTC!
Student Activist Receives
Threats For Opposing JROTC
By ERIC BLANC
and
VICTORY! JROTC WILL GO!
Report by Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
With statements read to the board by Bonnie Weinstein and
Carole Seligman.
On November 14, a major political earthquake shook San Francisco and
the entire country. For the first time ever in the United States, a
school board -- the Board of Education of the San Francisco Unified
School District (SFUSD) -- voted to kick the Junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps (JROTC) off the high school campuses.

By a vote of 4-2 (with one board member absent), the school board
voted to phase out the JROTC program over the next two years and to
set up a task force to establish an alternative program to provide a
community structure and leadership skills to the approximately 1,600
high school students -- mainly Asian, Black and Latino -- who enroll
in JROTC every year.

With this vote, San Francisco will immediately become an important
example for other cities to kick out this authoritarian recruitment
tool of the U.S. military from our country's public high schools.

This victory was not a foregone conclusion. Not by a long shot.
Enormous pressures were brought to bear on the school board to
maintain JROTC.

All-Out Media Drive to Keep JROTC

On November 5, the San Francisco Chronicle published a front-page
glowing tribute to the JROTC, warning of the proposal to "kill off
the long-standing and enormously popular course," which, it stated,
is neither discriminatory nor a vehicle for military recruitment, but
merely a positive "learning experience."

A few days later, the Chronicle editors published an editorial urging
its readers to contact all the board members who had indicated they
might support the proposal to drop JROTC from the high schools. They
even gave out the board members' email addresses, which they never do.

In the week leading up to the vote, S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom, School
Superintendent Gwen Chan, and countless other prominent community
figures lashed out at the school board members who had moved the
anti-JROTC resolution through committee. The board members were
accused of racism, elitism, scorn for the city's students, and a
blind concern for their own "narrow and leftist" political agendas at
the expense of the most needy children in the district.

A few voices went so far as to place the blame for any future
students killed in gang wars on the board members who would vote to
suspend JROTC. They claimed that the only thing that has prevented
these most at-risk students from joining these gangs is the JROTC
program.

Other voices still insisted that JROTC is not a vehicle for the
military to recruit in San Francisco, and that JROTC does not
discriminate against LGBT students in San Francisco. This might occur
in other cities, they insisted, but not in San Francisco.

RY Launches Anti-JROTC Campaign

At the beginning of the school year, Revolution Youth (RY) members at
Lowell High School began to organize support the school board
resolution to phase out JROTC. They decided to circulate a student
petition in support of this proposal and to build a city-wide
campaign on the high school campuses.

Within weeks, the Lowell RY students were holding weekly Saturday
afternoon meetings at Dolores Park with students from 11 other public
and private high schools in the city (and even the greater Bay Area).
The campaign was carried out in close collaboration with the American
Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

A few days before the school board vote, Revolution Youth sent out an
email posting to students and antiwar activists throughout the city
urging them to attend the board meeting and reminding them of the
importance of this campaign. The posting reads, in part:

"Is the JROTC really 'enormously popular' throughout the city, as the
Chronicle claims? Hardly. In fact, an independent movement of
high-school students at more than 12 schools began in August to
support the proposal in the Board of Education. A petition circulated
by these students has in a few weeks received more than 800
signatures. [See copy of Petition below.]

"It also should be noted that at Mission High School, some of the
main student-advocates of the petition are Latino youth who are
current members of JROTC and who were pushed into the program without
knowing what it was -- or because their parents couldn't afford the
P.E. uniforms -- and who are unable to leave it now because of
scheduling conflicts due to the lack of space in regular P.E.
classes. Š

"'As students we believe that fighting JROTC is a way to fight the
Iraq war by taking away a valuable recruitment tool for the U.S.
military,' says J.L., Lowell high-school student and member of
Revolution Youth, the principal youth organization mobilizing S.F.
students against the military presence on campuses.

"And in November 2005, S.F. voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition
I, opposing military recruiters on campuses.

"What about the claim that JROTC is not a recruitment tool? Rudy de
Leon, Under Secretary of Defense, testifying before the Military
Personnel Subcommittee House Committee On Armed Services in March
2000 admitted that, 'The proportion of JROTC graduates who enter the
military following completion of high school is roughly five times
greater than the proportion of non-JROTC students.'

"It is true that this percentage is for the time being lower in San
Francisco, but this could change in coming period, as the U.S.
military seeks to overcome its recruitment woes in order to continue
the occupation of Iraq.

"And what about the denial that JROTC is discriminatory? It is true
that in San Francisco there are openly LGBT students in JROTC, but
these students are denied certain privileges of joining JROTC, such
as eligibility for special military scholarships or eligibility for
entering the military with higher pay. Moreover, JROTC is
intrinsically linked to and funded by the military, which overtly
bans openly LGTB citizens from joining.

"And what about the 'positive impact' of JROTC on students? It is
true that some students in San Francisco have learned leadership
skills and 'found a family' in JROTC, but there is no reason why
students couldn't have a similar experience with the new alternative
program that is planned to be set up after phasing out JROTC; the $1
million in S.F. yearly public funding that goes to JROTC could
provide the financial base for building this new program.

"What is needed now is for all students, community organizations,
progressives, and antiwar activists to mobilize in support of the
school board proposal to get rid of JROTC."

The RY members devoted the final week before the school board vote to
line up students to speak at the school board meeting in support of
the proposed board resolution. This was not so easy. It was one thing
for students to sign a petition addressed to the school board
members, but it was quite another for students, particularly at the
predominantly Black or Latino high schools, to testify publicly
against JROTC.

Public Testimonies and the Final Vote

The evening of November 14 began as anticipated. The pro-JROTC forces
bused in hundreds of their supporters, including war veterans, to
pressure the school board to drop the resolution disbanding their
program. Pro-JROTC speakers claimed throughout the evening that "at
least 1,500" of their supporters had mobilized in front of the school
board building. Most observers placed the number at a 200 to 300 --
still not a negligible turnout.

After taking up some other minor agenda items, the president of the
school board, Norman Yee, called on board member Dan Kelly to read
and move the final and amended version of the resolution on JROTC.
This was followed by some initial comments by school board members
and then the comments from the public.

Each side was given half an hour of testimony to support their
position. With a one-minute time limit per speaker, this meant
roughly 30 speakers per side.

The pro-JROTC group went first. The speakers were livid against the
board members, accusing them of racism against Asians, wanton
disregard for the poor students in the district, and more. All denied
there was any link between JROTC and the military; in fact a few
teachers who spoke in favor of JROTC said they strongly opposed the
war and military recruitment. For them this was simply a case of
providing structure and discipline to kids who otherwise would be out
in the streets, susceptible to the pressures from the gangs.

To the surprise of many, the pro-JROTC grouping included only a few
high school students. Most of the speakers were adult leaders of the
JROTC program.

The anti-JROTC side went next, led off by M.K., a Revolution Youth
member and senior at Lowell High School, who opened her comments
announcing that students at 11 high schools had gathered more than
800 signatures from students in support of the board resolution.

M. then announced that many more students would have been at the
meeting in support of the proposal to phase out JROTC but they were
scared to speak out. She mentioned that anti-JROTC activists at
Lincoln High School were actually threatened physically on account of
their support for the school board resolution..

M. was one of six RY students who spoke before the board. Two student
members of the Youth Commission from SOTA and Lowell also spoke in
favor of the board resolution. [Two of the statements from RY members
are included below; the others will be available shortly.]

Other speakers in support of the resolution included political and
community activists Eric Blanc, Millie Phillips, Tom Lacey, Denise
D'Anne, Cristina Gutierrez, Medea Benjamin, Bonnie Weinstein and
Carole Seligman, among others. All underscored the fact that the
people of San Francisco, in two separate ballot votes, have rejected
the war in Iraq and recruiters on campuses: Prop N (2004) called for
the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and then Prop I
(2005) called for Out Now! and also for an end to JROTC on the high
school campuses.

All insisted on the horrors of the war and explained that the
military, with its task of killing or be killed for the sake of
empire and oil profits for the multinational corporations, cannot be
viewed as an acceptable alternative to gang-war violence; it only
transfers the killing fields to the streets of Kabul or Baghdad.

School, many said, also must be a place to develop critical thinking
-- something that is contrary to what JROTC and the army is all
about. Bonnie Weinstein, for example, noted the following in her
comments:

"The Army JROTC text from their Leadership, Education and Training
manual states on page 87, 'When troops react to command rather than
thought, the result is more than just a good-looking ceremony or
parade. Drill has been and will continue to be the backbone of
military discipline.' And from the Navy JROTC Naval Science text,
page 24, the Navy calls for, 'loyalty to those above us in the chain
of command whether or not we agree with them.'

The anti-JROTC activists were a slight minority in the room but they
were as loud, or louder, than the pro-JROTC forces. No one who
observed the meeting, or who heard the impassioned pleas of the
anti-recruitment student speakers over KALW Radio can claim that the
JROTC program has 'overwhelming support' among the students of San
Francisco.

Then came the vote, with the school board holding its ground and
voting to phase out the JROTC program. A major victory was scored for
peace, and for public education independent from military recruiters!

M.K. Receives Physical Threats

As the anti-JROTC activists left the meeting room following the
board, many were harassed and subjected to threats from the JROTC
cadets.

Antiwar activist Bonnie Weinstein wrote a letter to the school board
members the day after the vote to congratulate them for their
historic stand and to notify them of threats she and others had
received on their way out of the board meeting. Weinstein wrote:

"Students who were at the meeting last evening and who are
disappointed by the vote were extremely hostile -- several of them
physically threatened Cristina Gutierrez, myself and others as we
left. It was scary to see them filled with so much hate. Of course,
that's why we want JROTC out of our schools. (You may not be aware
but JROTC students were laughing when Cristina told of being tortured
by U.S. military-trained Colombian troops.) I was also very puzzled
that their 'teachers' were not there with them to counsel them after
the vote was taken and to monitor this threatening and extremely
disrespectful behavior.

"This is important to bring up because we were not speaking to them
on the way out -- just among ourselves, and we were accosted by them
screaming at the top of their lungs in our faces with their fists
raised and tight! We were standing with an older woman with a cane
and the students crowded around us and began shouting and chanting
and screaming in our faces as we tried to leave.

"Cristina's small stature came to the waist of one of the boys who
stood in front of us momentarily barring the exit. There was a big
screen in the lobby and the students -- some of whom have seen and
talked to us before -- must have recognized us again from the screen
and were furious with our statements. Their behavior exposes the very
real danger JROTC is to our student's character and well being."

The threats did not stop there.

RY member M.K. reports that the night after the school board vote she
received a dozen threatening myspace messages from students across
the city about the petition and her comments to the board. M. also
reports she found out there is a bulletin circulating with her
information, pictures of her, and a direct link to her myspace site
encouraging people to harass and physically threaten her.

"So much for the JROTC kids proving how much the program taught them
leadership, social skils, and maturity," M. writes.

M.'s parents have contacted the police, the board of education, the
JROTC instructors, and the principals at various high schools, to
notify them of the threats against their daughter. M. has sent a
letter to the Chronicle editors informing them of the threats and
urging them to stop fanning the flames of intolerance and hatred.

Where To Go From Here?

This is an important first victory -- but the battle has not been won.

The U.S. Army has just announced a $1.53 billion ad campaign contract
with McCann/Erickson, a major advertising agency, to launch a new
recruitment campaign. Also, so long as Bush's No Child Left Behind
Act is the law of the land, school board will be pressured to keep
the military recruiters on the campuses.

We must organize to repeal No Child Left Behind!

For now, Revolution Youth members are calling on all San Francisco
students who signed the RY petition and on all anti-recruitment
activists in San Francisco to contact the school board members to
congratulate and thank them for writing the historic resolution and
for making the tough decision to support it.

Please write your letters to:

- Dr. Dan Kelly
dkelly@sfusd.edu
- Mr. Mark Sanchez
msanche@sfusd.edu
- Mr. Eric Mar, Esq.
emar@sfusd.edu
- Ms. Sarah Lipson
slipson@sfusd.edu

Also, please inform the board members if you are willing to work with
the SFUSD to develop an alternative program to JROTC. We now have an
obligation to develop such a program for the students who, for
various reasons, have found a home in JROTC.

Students interested in continuing to organize this anti-recruitment
work should contact RY at the following: Tel. 415-641-8616 or
ryi_irj@yahoo.com.

There are a lot of things we can do in the coming months, such as an
antiwar battle of the bands or a holiday CD action at the Stonestown
Recruiting Center.

Please get back to us. We have to continue the struggle to end the
war in Iraq and to get the military recruiters off our campuses -- in
other Bay Area cities, across California, and all across the country.

(Eric Blanc, a graduate of Lowell High School in 2002, was one of the
Revolution Youth anti-JROTC campaign coordinators.)

STATEMENT FROM D.S.:

Hello, my name is D.S. and I attend Lowell High School.

I support the Board of Education's resolution to replace JROTC with
an alternative program that is not directly affiliated with the
military. Career opportunities in high schools should be equally
represented, and JROTC holds for the military the advantage of
receiving physical education credit as well as almost one million
dollars in district funding while other clubs do not. (There is also
a smaller student to teacher ratio, despite JROTC instructors'
$15,000 greater salary.)

The military is not the only organization capable of teaching
leadership, discipline, first aid, and map reading. I trust that the
Board of Education will not abandon their students, and ensure that
the talent of the Drum Corps, Drill Team, Colour Guard, and so on are
not wasted. If the statistics of the views on war of JROTC and
non-JROTC students are equal, let us unite to demilitarize and
promote a progressive educational environment in our schools in San
Francisco to initiate this movement throughout America.

STATEMENT FROM I.C.:

Hello, my name is I.C. and I am a freshman at School of the Arts high
school.

I support the proposal made by the school board to phase out JROTC
from San Francisco public schools. It is not accurate to say that
this proposal will deprive students of feeling leadership. If JROTC
remains connected to the military it will eventually deprive these
same students of their lives. JROTC is used by the military as a
recruiting tool and though not all of the students who participate in
it end up joining the military a great many of them do.

Yes, many people are in JROTC because they feel that it provides
great leadership opportunities and they feel like a family among
their fellow JROTC peers, and I think that all of this is important.
However, all of this is highly achievable with alternative programs
not linked so strongly with the military.

I have only been at my school for about three months and through my
art discipline I have felt family. Perhaps with more creative and
artistic opportunities in public schools, these students can feel the
same way.

VICTORY! JROTC WILL GO!
Report by Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
With statements read to the board by Bonnie Weinstein and
Carole Seligman.

[Bay Area United Against War has been organizing to rid our schools
of JROTC. For three years, we set a table up in front of the Board of
Education meetings once a month handing out information exposing
JROTC as a major recruiting tool in our schools, organized counter-
recruitment workshops and tables in our schools; and brought the
issue up over and over again at the school board meetings.
This is a great prize for all our hard work.
Thanks to all!...bw]

Warmest congratulations to the San Francisco Board of Education!
Many thanks to all who showed up--the students who presented
over 800 signatures demanding an end to JROTC to the board--and
all those who spoke and those who did not have the chance to
speak. And all those who have worked so hard to get JROTC
our of our schools. A battle won!

Open letter and report to the S.F. Board of Education
by Bonnie Weinstein

Dear Board Members,

You have done a wonderful thing! After all these years, while we are
still stuck with military recruiters because of No Child Left Behind,
we can finally look forward to a more non-military environment for
our children without the addition of JROTC. I can also testify than
many students are put into JROTC against their will. In one counter-
recruitment workshop a freshman student told of how, since
she was new to the district and late for enrollment, she was assigned
to JROTC and hated it but feared speaking out about it--and she
was just a sample of the many I have spoken to who were not
in JROTC by choice. Now, finally, this will end.

I do have a lot of concern for the students who were at the meeting
last evening and who are disappointed by the vote. As a matter
of fact, they were extremely hostile--several of them physically
threatened Cristina Gutierrez, myself and others as we left--
it was scary to see them filled with so much hate. Of course, that's
why we want JROTC out of our schools. (You may not be aware but
JROTC students were laughing when Cristina told of being tortured
by U.S. Military-trained Columbian troops.) I was also very
puzzled that their "teachers" were not there with them to counsel
them after the vote was taken and to monitor this threatening
and extremely disrespectful behavior.

(This is important to bring up because we were not speaking
to them on the way out--just among ourselves and we were
accosted by them screaming at the top of their lungs in our
faces with their fists raised and tight! We were standing with
an older woman with a cane and the students crowded around
us and began shouting and chanting and screaming in our
faces as we tried to leave. Cristina's small stature came to
the waist of one of the boys who stood in front of us momentarily
barring the exit. There was a big screen in the lobby and the
students--some of whom have seen and talked to us before--
must have recognized us again from the screen and were furious
with our statements. I am very afraid for these students. They
need to be counseled by professionals. Their behavior exposes
the very real danger JROTC is to our student's character and
well being.)

But this decision was an historical one. It was picked up by the
New York Times (See link to article below) and even Newsweek
sent a reporter. According to the Times article, "Lt. Cmdr. Joe
Carpenter, a Pentagon spokesman, has said he didn't know
of any other school district having barred JROTC from its
campuses."

So, we have come to the attention of the Pentagon!

Hopefully this will set a precedent just as our antiwar-anti-
military recruitment initiatives have done across the country.
This past election saw many cities across the East Coast pass
antiwar referendums.

But our battle is not yet over. The Army alone has a 1.53 billion-
dollar ad campaign contract with McCann/Erickson--a major
advertising agency--to launch a new recruitment campaign.
And, meanwhile, the No Child Left Behind act will be up for
grabs again in 2007. We must organize to abolish it!

But for your information I would like to give you two quotes
I didn't have time to give you last night:

The Army JROTC text from their Leadership, Education and
Training manual page 87 states, "When troops react to command
rather than thought, the result is more than just a good-looking
ceremony or parade. Drill has been and will continue to be the
backbone of military discipline." And from the Navy JROTC Naval
Science text page. 24, the Navy calls for, "...loyalty to those
above us in the chain of command whether or not we agree
with them."

This can be found at: http://www.objector.org/jrotc/why.html

Your decision last evening will go a long way toward bringing
this kind of non-thinking to an end. We have seen the results
of JROTC on our children and it isn't very pretty.

In solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org

The following is the text of my short statement and a link to the
source of the $1.35 billion figure I quote:

"The U.S. Army has a new 1.35 billion dollar recruitment campaign
budget*—they don’t need our help! And with a 45 percent recruitment
rate nationwide, JROTC qualifies as top-recruiters.

Their main job is to teach students that loyalty to those above in the
chain of command, whether or not you agree with them, takes
precedence over thinking.

Isn’t that what got us into the war in the first place?

The most basic responsibility of our public education program
is to teach critical thinking and that blindly obeying orders—especially
when you don’t agree with them—is thoughts’ antithesis, and, in fact,
has led to history’s most heinous military crimes.

For two years in a row the voters of San Francisco have declared
their opposition to the war in Iraq and against military recruitment
in our schools. Now is the time to carry out the will of the majority.
Get JROTC and all military recruiters out of our schools!...Bonnie
Weinstein."

Text of Carole Seligman's statement to the Board of Education:

"The war on Iraq could not happen without troops. The purpose of the Jr.
ROTC is to steer young people into the military. Your decision
tonight has national importance.

The people oppose the war on Iraq and want the troops home now!
Horrified by the deaths of over 655,000 Iraqi civilians, we
oppose the half-trillion dollars spent on war that should be
spent on education, health care, and other human needs.
ROTC has been in S.F. since World War One. The purpose is still
to turn young people into occupiers and killers for the big
corporations.

I hope the students and the Board of Education won’t
fall for the line.

of The Chronicle that ROTC is just harmless marching
around with flags and sticks.

It's a military program. The pressure is on because the
military has failed to meet its enlistment goals. We do not
want the military to have any part in our schools. We want
them out! Out of Iraq and out of our schools!"

* Link to New York Times article on $1.35 Billion Army advertising budget:

Army’s New Battle Cry Aims at Potential Recruits
By STUART ELLIOTT
"A PRIZED goal of Madison Avenue is to link a brand to a desirable
quality or attribute: Ford trucks with toughness, Coca-Cola
with reliability. Now comes a major effort from one of the oldest
brands of all, the Army, to lay claim to the concept of strength.
“Army strong” is the theme of a campaign that the Army plans
to announce formally today. The effort, with a budget estimated
at $1.35 billion in the next five years, will appear in traditional
media like television as well as nontraditional outlets like blogs,
social networking Web sites and chat rooms...."
November 9, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/business/media/09adco.html

You can see a sample of the real thing (if you can stand it) at:
http://www.army.mil/

Here's a link to the Chronicle article:

SAN FRANCISCO
School board votes to dump JROTC program
Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/15/BAG2HMD46B1.DTL

New U.S. Army Recruitment Ad Campaign:
"There's strong, and then there's Army strong. It is not just
the strength to obey, but the strength to command. Not just strength
in numbers, the strength of brothers. Not just the strength to lift, the
strength to raise. Not just the strength to get yourself over, the strength
to get over yourself."
Commercials that feature soldiers and their families take a similar
tack. "You made them strong, We’ll make them Army strong."
The effort, with a budget estimated at $1.35 billion in the next five
years, will appear in traditional media like television as well as
nontraditional outlets like blogs, social networking Web sites
and chat rooms.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/business/media/09adco.html?ref=business

JROTC Debate in Chronicle today:

PRO: A battle over values
Michael Bernick
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/09/EDG6PKE1IB1.DTL&
hw=jrotc&sn=001&sc=1000

CON: Popular doesn't = appropriate
Dan Kelly, Mark Sanchez
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/09/EDG8EM8OIE1.DTL&
hw=jrotc&sn=002&sc=936

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2) Hundreds, All Nonunion, Walk Out at Pork Plant in N.C.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
November 17, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/us/17walkout.html?ref=us

Support Smithfield Food Workers:
http://www.unitehere.org/
Dear Labor Activists, Workers in Smithfield Foods' plant in Tar Heel,
North Carolina need your help RIGHT NOW! Tired of abuse and unfair
punishment, they're streaming out of the factory in protest as I write this.
They need your support! Call or write Smithfield and tell them
to respect their workers' rights:
Phone: 757-365-3000 or 888-366-6767
E-mail: information@smithfieldfoods.com
[Open Letter To: information@smithfieldfoods.com
To whom it may concern:
Workers have basic human rights no matter where they are born
or where they choose to live. At some point we must all take
a stand for justice and human rights. Take that stand today
against unjust, anti-immigrant laws and hire back those you
have fired. Take a stand and recognize the right of workers
to organize and fight for their just cause.
The world is watching what you do.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, www.bauaw.org]

Workers are pouring out of the plant right now in a spontaneous
protest against abuse and intimidation. The workers are walking
out because Smithfield retaliated against several workers who
were standing up for their rights and demanding a voice
on the job. The workers are saying enough is enough --
and they need our help to send that message. We need
to tell Smithfield to respect the rights of its workers;
to stop the abuse in Tar Heel; and that the world is watching
how they react. Please support the workers by calling
or emailing the Company NOW! Demand that Smithfield
not retaliate, stop any firings and stop the abuses
in Tar Heel. You can reach Smithfield by phone or e-mail:
Phone: 757-365-3000 or 888-366-6767
E-mail: information@smithfieldfoods.com

In a move highly unusual for nonunion workers, more than 500
employees walked out yesterday at the Smithfield Packing Company’s
hog-killing plant in Tar Heel, N.C., the largest pork-processing plant
in the world.

Workers involved in the walkout said it was fueled by anger over
Smithfield’s recent decision to fire several dozen immigrants who
the company said had presented false Social Security numbers
in applying for a job.

Several of the workers said their action had largely crippled production
at the plant, which employs 5,500 people and slaughters 32,000 hogs
a day. But Smithfield officials said production had merely been slowed
a little.

The walkout coincided with a big push by the United Food and
Commercial Workers to unionize the Smithfield employees in Tar Heel,
about two-thirds of them Hispanic immigrants. A number of workers
said the discontent stemmed not just from the recent firings but also
from brusque treatment, the speed of the production line
and widespread injuries.

“They were tired of the working conditions,” said Gene Bruskin,
director of the union’s organizing drive. “They want a permanent
solution to the problems there.”

Mr. Bruskin said the walkout had been organized by the plant’s
immigrant workers and not by the union. But Dennis Pittman,
a Smithfield spokesman, maintained that it had been carried
out in close cooperation with the union, as a way of pressuring
the company to halt its fight against organizing efforts.

Mr. Pittman said 350 workers had walked out during the
morning shift, and 200 during the afternoon shift. But several
employees involved put the number at about 700 on the
morning shift and some 500 on the afternoon shift.

Several weeks ago Smithfield Packing, a subsidiary of Smithfield
Foods Inc., sent hundreds of workers “no-match letters,”
notifying them that the name and Social Security number
they had given the company did not match records of the
Social Security Administration. In recent days, the company
began firing those who were unable to explain the discrepancies.

Eduardo Pena, an organizer for the union, said some of the
letters had gone to employees who had valid Social Security
numbers, and several workers said yesterday that they would
not return to work until Smithfield pledged not to fire any
more immigrants over the issue.

But the government has threatened to fine companies that
knowingly continue to employ illegal immigrants, and
Mr. Pittman said: “If Smithfield were to do what the union
is calling for, we would be breaking federal law by knowingly
employing undocumented workers. The union should stop
trying to pressure Smithfield to break the law.”

One of those engaged in the walkout, Keith Ludlum, who
is paid $11 an hour to herd hogs to slaughter, said the
workers were concerned about far more than the
immigration matter.

“They’re asking for the company to allow us to have
a union contract,” Mr. Ludlum said, “and to respect
workers’ rights and to respect workers in general.”

Hundreds of workers milled in front of the plant for much
of the day. In an effort to ease the dispute and restore
full operations there, the workers’ leaders and Smithfield
officials exchanged tense, on-again, off-again feelers.

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3) Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre in Ramadi
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

RAMADI, Nov 17 (IPS) - U.S. military tank fire killed scores of
civilians in Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, late Monday night,
according to witnesses and doctors. Anger and frustration were evident
at the hospitals and during the funerals in the following days.*

Iraqi doctors and witnesses at the scene of the attack said U.S. tanks
killed 35 civilians when they shelled several homes in the Al-Dhubat
area of the city.

Ramadi, located 110 km west of Baghdad, has been beset with sporadic but
intense violence between occupation forces and insurgents for several
months.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people carried the 35 coffins of the dead to a
graveyard in a funeral procession which closely resembled an angry
demonstration.

"We heard the bombing and we thought it was the usual fighting between
resistance fighters and the Americans, but we soon realised it was
bombing by large cannons," 60-year-old Haji Jassim explained to IPS at
the burial. "We weren't allowed by the Americans to reach the destroyed
houses to try to rescue those who were buried, so certainly many of them
bled to death."

Jassim claimed that everyone killed was innocent, that they were not
fighters. He said that when he and others attempted to reach the rubble
of the destroyed homes, located near mosques whose minaret's
loudspeakers had broadcast pleas for help, "There was a big American
force that stopped us and told us the usual ugly phrases we hear from
them every day."

Jassim, speaking with IPS while several other witnesses listened while
nodding their heads, said that ambulances did not appear on the scene
for hours because "we realised that the Americans did not allow them to
move," and that as a result, "there were people buried under the rubble
who were bleeding to death while there was still a chance to rescue them."

Jassim then burst into tears and walked away saying prayers to Allah to
bless the souls of the dead.

A doctor at Ramadi's main hospital, Abdullah Salih, told reporters that
35 bodies had been brought in and he also believed that others had not
been retrieved since access had been limited by ongoing U.S. military
operations.

Another doctor, Kamal al-Ani, said that in addition to the dead, another
17 wounded had been brought into the hospital.

The scene at the hospital was tragic as doctors confirmed the reason of
death for many as severe bleeding that had gone on for several hours.
Most of the doctors were unwilling to discuss too many details for fear
of U.S. military reprisals.

"You can notice the number of dead is at least twice as high as the
number of wounded," one of the doctors, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told IPS. A local Iraqi policeman who identified himself as
Khalif Obeidi told IPS that tanks had destroyed several houses in the
area during the U.S. raid, killing more than 30 civilians.

"We know that those killed were innocent," said Obeidi, "although there
have been attacks on the Americans from near that area in the past."

Residents of the city and relatives of the dead who were at the funeral
were furious.

"There is no other way for the Sunnis than to fight," Ali Khudher, a
25-year-old carpenter who lost a relative in the attack told IPS. "It is
a religious war and no one can deny that now."

Others who attended the mass funeral chanted anti-American,
anti-Israeli, anti-Iranian and even slogans against the Islamic Party
which is now part of the Iraqi government.

Tempers run high in Ramadi also because the city has often been the
scene of large-scale U.S. military operations and their inherent forms
of collective punishment.

Last June, thousands of residents were forced from their homes due to
military operations, according to Maurizio Mascia, programme manager for
the Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS), a non-governmental group
based in Amman, Jordan that provides relief to refugees in Iraq.

At that time, Mascia told IPS, "The Americans, instead of attacking the
city all at once like they've done in their previous operations in
cities like Fallujah and Al-Qa'im, are using helicopters and ground
troops to attack one district at a time in Ramadi."

Mirroring a complaint heard often from residents of Ramadi, Mascia said,
"The main dangers for the population are the MNF (multi-national force)
at the checkpoints and the snipers: both usually shoot at any movement
that they consider dangerous -- causing many victims among civilians."

In a phone conversation with IPS, a spokesman for the U.S. military in
Baghdad said he had no specific details of the incident and that "the
U.S. military has been conducting ongoing patrols and security details
in Al-Anbar for months now. Our efforts are always to attack the
terrorists and protect the civilian population."

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail

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4) Farmers in Dire Straights
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

BAGHDAD, Nov 16 (IPS) - Despite the Iraqi prime minister's optimism for
the agricultural sector, the farmers who are struggling to survive tell
another story.*

In an address to Iraqi politicians this week, Prime Minister Nouri
Al-Maliki praised his government's performance in agriculture. Maliki
highlighted the new state-supported crop prices, through which farmers
would receive subsidies and encouragement to continue growing their
crops -- but he did not mention how much the price supports would be.

"The prime minister seems not to be aware of the real problems we are
facing here," Haji Jassim, a farmer from the rural Al-Jazeera area near
Ramadi, told IPS. Speaking from a relative's home in Baghdad, he added,
"What he is talking about would have been good if prices were the only
problem, but someone should explain to him the other obstacles we are
facing."

Jassim said that one of the main problems is lack of manpower, "since
most of our young men who were not killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops are
in jail or missing."

The frustrated farmer added that obstacles like lack of electricity,
fuel and security in the field and "dozens of others, should be known to
the man who claims to be our supporter."

Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, overthrown by U.S.-led forces in
2003, the government purchased crops from farmers in order to encourage
them to continue planting. In this way, the government guaranteed that
farmers would sell their crops, regardless of how bad the market was
under the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations in 1990.

Many farmers now even wish the Saddam Hussein dictatorship had remained
in place, since economic hardship has become so severe under the
U.S.-led occupation.

"What they call the 'condemned regime' used to supply us with everything
we needed. Seeds, fuel, trucks, harvest machines and anything we might
need," Ali Abdul-Hussein, a farmer from Diwaniya who used to produce
rice but now works as a simple laborer in Baghdad, told IPS. "We were
happy to get rid of Saddam, but now we wish to get half the services he
used to offer us."

The Iraqi economy as a whole has been affected negatively by the
occupation and the related problems it has brought to Iraq. Some
estimates of the unemployment rate are as high as 50 percent, which is
significantly higher than it was under the sanctions.

According to the Integrated Regional Information Networks, which is the
UN's humanitarian news and information service, "Up to half of the
national population is currently unemployed in Iraq, where women
represent almost 60 percent of the total populace."

In 2005, Iraq's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs estimated a
48-percent unemployment rate.

Further hampering farmers is the fact that Iraq's inflation rate has
soared to nearly 70 percent, according to the country's planning
minister, Ali Baban.

Baban told reporters in September that prices had increased for all
goods used to measure inflation, including food, fuel, transport,
medical services and medicine, clothing, property, furniture and other
essential goods.

Across Iraq, petrol and electricity, both of which extremely important
to Iraqi farmers, have seen the highest increase: 374 percent over the
last year. Also bad news for farmers is that the transport sector saw a
218-percent hike in prices.

Thus, the cost of farming, along with the average Iraqi's increasing
inability to afford rising market prices, has made everyday life
extremely challenging.

Lack of security is another problem that has hampered farmer's productivity.

"How can one deliver any crops to Mr. Maliki's warehouses? Militias are
taking firm positions there and so if you are Sunni, they will kill you
and take your money. But if you are a Shi'ite, then they will only take
your money and release you for ransom," farmer Latif Hameed said in an
interview.

One of the first and at the time famous sectarian killings carried out
by Shi'ite militias was in the main Jameela wholesale market in Baghdad.
Death squads killed 14 Sunni farmers from Madaiin while they were
selling their vegetables to merchants there.

Since that time, the market has been effectively paralysed because the
sharp increase in militia activity means most farmers no longer feel
safe there.

In addition, some Iraqi farming experts blame malfunctioning
infrastructure for hampering farmers' work.

Agriculture in Iraq will not improve in the near future "because our
soil was corrupted by the water table rising due to a failure of
functioning drainage systems," a university agriculture professor,
speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS in Baghdad.

Drainage systems depend on pumping machines that have come to a nearly
complete stop because of electricity and fuel shortages.

"Lack of supporting material like fertilisers and soil treatment has
affected agricultural operation in the country, and even when it is
available it is too costly and badly manufactured," the professor added.

In a study to be published soon by an Iraqi economics institute, over 75
percent of the vegetables and fruit consumed in Iraq are imported from
Syria, Jordan and Iran.

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail

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5) Press Release from the Central Bank of Cuba
GRANMA INTERNATIONAL
Havana. November 17, 2006
http://www.granma. cu/ingles/ 2006/noviembre/ vier17/48banco. html

As is widely known, in late 2004, Cuba had to take measures to
substitute the Cuban Convertible Peso for the dollar in monetary
circulation, with the goal of frustrating the perfidious attempt by
the United States government to prevent dollars in cash that had
arrived in Cuba via completely legal channels from being utilized to
pay for part of our imports of goods and services.

At the time, it was extensively explained how the U.S. government was
bringing pressures to bear against the Swiss Bank UBS to prohibit it
from carrying out its normal business with Cuba. That attempt was
based exclusively on the terror being spread throughout the United
States with its proclaimed policy of "you're either with us or
against us."

As has occurred throughout all of these years, the actions of our
enemies were defeated on that opportunity, as well: the dollar, the
symbol of their imperial power, was humiliatingly expelled from Cuba;
or commercial and financial relations continued to expand, and the
credibility and respect for our country and its financial
institutions are growing every day.

It should be added that based on that experience, our country's
far-sighted policy has been to substantially increase the use of
other currencies in our international transactions, given that we are
persuaded that the irresponsible materialistic U.S. policy, which has
led it to fall into unsustainable fiscal and commercial deficits and
placed its own currency in crisis, and the tendency for its gradual
depreciation is now irreversible.

An example of how times have changed for the dollar is that at this
moment, a simple statement by the president of the Central Bank of
China regarding the composition of its reserves by currency type is
enough to make the dollar depreciate, as occurred very recently.

It should not be forgotten that China today possesses the largest
amount of monetary reserves on the planet (more than $1 billion
dollars), four times more than those of the United States; hence, any
comment by the Central Bank of China that is interpreted as an
intention to reduce the amount of dollars in its reserves can have a
negative impact on that currency.

To the great discomfort of the United States, the fate of its
currency now depends - among other factors - on what is said in
China. That is the fragility of the dollar at this time.

In the specific case of the Swill bank UBS and subsequently of
another bank from that same country, Credit Suisse, an unfortunate
subordination to the orders of the empire took place, providing an
irrefutable example of how the United States imposes its laws in an
extraterritorial manner, and decides who can or cannot do business
with the institutions of other nations that are supposed to be free
and sovereign.

In the case of UBS, coercion and blackmail may also be involved,
given that an EFE news agency report dated Oct. 29, 2005 indicated
that certain branches of that bank participated in the United States
"food for oil" program imposed on Iraq, and according to
investigations, at least five Swiss businesses paid the Iraqi
government some $1 million each to win contracts in that country
within that program. This was revealed to U.S. authorities, who were
conducting the aforementioned investigations, and extraordinarily
weakened their ability to act independently of the United States,
even when they see themselves obliged to sacrifice their professional
ethics, even by lying.

It should be added that, according international media reports, UBS
was a generous donor to the election campaigns of Bush and his rival,
John Kerry, which confirms its desire to win the complacence of the
U.S. government no matter which party is in power.

More recently, the Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung published an
article last Sunday in which it was justly noted that in Cuba's case,
there are no international sanctions but that nevertheless, the two
aforementioned Swiss banks had broken off their business with our
country.

This article said, among other things:

"In the case of Cuba, which has no international sanctions and is not
in conflict with the organizations of the United Nations, the Cubans
are boycotted by one country alone: the United States of America."

Questioned by the press, on November 14, both banks offered the
following explanation to the Swiss newspaper Le Temps:

"UBS is explaining its decision due to the high costs of monitoring
respect for and conformity with the regulations for dealing with
clients from the communist island. For Credit Suisse, 'Cuba is one of
the sensitive countries,' the bank's spokesman said, without
expanding on what that means."

In the same article, there are statements by Carlo Lombardini,
business lawyer for the Geneva Bar Association, in which he says
"Both Swiss banks are influenced by the U.S. viewpoint of the world.
The cessation of transactions with Cuba is one of the consequences. "

Finally, we must ask: Who decides which countries are "sensitive" or
not? And within what parameters is that classification based?

Or could it be that nobody knows that 50% of all the money-laundering
in the world is done in the United States? Shouldn't this be taken
into account by the aforementioned banks in considering that the
United States is a truly "sensitive" country with respect to acting
in accordance with the laws of its financial system?

The answer is very simple: the actions of these two Swiss banks have
nothing to do with respect for the law or precautions in their
banking transactions. They are simply acts of submission to the
United States, which they do not dare to admit.

Fortunately, there are few institutions like UBS or Credit Suisse
that humiliatingly subordinate themselves to the United States, and
there is a growing number of agencies and countries that are not
disposed to blindly allying themselves with an empire whose repeated
failures in the last few weeks are just the tip of the iceberg of its
irreversible decadence.

(Translated by Granma International)

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6) Marijuana
By Bonnie Weinstein
November 15, 2006
www.socialistviewpoint.org

This article is written in two parts., “Part 1 : Background to the Drug
War,” gives an essential history of the racist criminilzation of Marijuana.
“Part 2: Marijuana Today,” is an analysis of the current “drug war”
that has its roots in this racist history.
—Bonnie Weinstein

Part 1: Background to the Drug War

There is a great book that documents how hemp and marijuana
proscriptions and the racist application of the law throughout
its history came about. The