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

BARRIO UNIDO FOR A GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL AMNESTY

We make a call to the immigrant community and all those who are
in solidarity with our struggle to join us in front of the Federal Building
to protest the raids that we have been victims of and that are occurring
in different parts of the country.

They harass us as though we are animals of prey.
They lock us up in prisons for working for a miserable salary.
They steal our salaries that we earn with the sweat of our brow.
They separate us from our children leaving them traumatized for life......

We denounce the North American government for treating us like garbage
to be thrown away and taking advantage of our search for our daily bread
for their own political reasons.

We denounce the Mexican and Latin American governments for being
accomplices with the North American government for our misery and
for this involuntary exodus that has been forced upon us because
of the political, social, and economic conditions of our countries

We demand.......
To cease the immigration raids now!
To free all detained workers!
To return jobs to all those detained!
The right to all undocumented immigrants to unionize!

We demand a General and Unconditional Amnesty for all!

Protest the United States government

When: Friday, January 12, 2007
Where: 450 Golden Gate (Federal Building)
Time: 4pm to 7pm
Join in the struggle!

For more information call 415-431-9925

In Spanish:

BARRIÓ UNIDO POR UNA AMNISTÍA GENERAL E INCONDICIONAL
Hace un llamado a la población emigrante y a todos las que se
solidarizan con ella a un piquete enfrente del Edificio Federal
en protesta a las redadas de que estamos siendo victimas
en diferentes partes del país.
DONDE:
Se nos acosa como si fuéramos animales de caza.

Se nos encierra en prisiones para trabajar por sueldos de miseria.

Se nos roban los sueldos que hemos ganado con el sudor de
nuestra frente...

Se nos separa de nuestros hijos dej*ndolos traumados de por vida......

Denunciamos al gobierno Norte Americano por tratarnos como
basura desechable y utilizar nuestra búsqueda por el pan de cada
día para sus propósitos políticos...

Denunciamos a los gobiernos de México y América latina por ser
cómplices con el gobierno de Estados Unidos de nuestra miseria
y de este éxodo involuntario que las condiciones políticas,
sociales, y económicas de nuestros países nos ha obligado
a emprender.

Demandamos...

¡Cese a las redadas de la migra ahora!
¡Libertad a todos los trabajadores detenidos!
¡Regreso a su puesto de trabajo a todos los detenidos!
¡Derecho de los indocumentados a sindicalizarse!
¡Demandamos una Amnistía General e Incondicional para todos!

Piquete al Gobierno de Estados Unidos
Cuando: Viernes, 12 de Enero 2007
Dónde: 450 Golden Gate
Hora: 4pm a 7pm
Únete a la lucha
Para mas información llame a 415-431-9925

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

1) Chávez Plans One Big Venezuela Leftist Party, Led by Him
By SIMON ROMERO
January 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/world/americas/04venez.html?ref=world

2) In Padilla Wiretaps, Murky View of ‘Jihad’ Case
By DEBORAH SONTAG
January 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/washington/04padilla.html?ref=us

3) Exxon Accused of Trying to Mislead Public
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
January 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/business/04exxon.html

4) A Mother Fights for a Soldier Who Said No to War
By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 4, 2007; C01
www.marxmail.org

5) A drop into the abyss
Saddam jailed me but his hanging was a crime. Iraq's misery is now far
worse than under his rule
Haifa Zangana
Thursday January 4, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1982437,00.html

6) Behold Marx's twitch
By John Thornhill
Financial Times, Dec. 28, 2006
www.marxmail.org

7) Dear Friends of Lynne Stewart and Mumia Abu-Jamal
Next planning meeting for Lynne Stewart tour:
Saturday, January 6 at 10:30 AM
Socialist Action Bookstore
298 Valencia Street (14th and Valencia)
San Francisco
[Message via email...bw]

8) OTHER PEOPLE'S CONGRESS
[Col. Writ. 12/14/06] Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal
[Via email...be]

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

1) Chávez Plans One Big Venezuela Leftist Party, Led by Him
By SIMON ROMERO
January 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/world/americas/04venez.html?ref=world

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan. 3 — President Hugo Chávez has begun
forging a single Socialist party among his varied supporters, one
of his recent efforts to create momentum for far-reaching changes
to Venezuela’s political system that analysts say will effectively
concentrate greater political power in his hands.

Mr. Chávez formally announced the plan for the single party,
called the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, in a speech last
month to supporters here. He reminded them of his 23-percentage
-point margin of victory when he was re-elected last month
to a six-year term.

“Those votes don’t belong to any party.” Mr. Chávez said. “They
belong to Chávez and the people.”

Since then the swiftness and boldness of Mr. Chávez’s attempt
to create such a large party tied so closely to his personal leadership
have created concern, even among sympathetic political analysts,
that the step would effectively turn Venezuela into a one-party state.

In an essay published on Aporrea, an influential pro-Chávez blog,
Edgardo Lander, a sociologist at the Central University of Venezuela,
questioned the reasoning behind forming a single political party
described as Socialist when the definition of the “21st-century
Socialism” that Mr. Chávez aspires to build remained extremely
vague.

“Isn’t the cart being placed in front of the ox?” Mr. Lander wrote.
“What future, from the point of view of pluralism and democracy,
lies ahead for a political organization decreed in this fashion?”

Analysts more critical of Mr. Chávez have drawn a parallel with
Fidel Castro’s successful effort to create a single ruling party
in Cuba in the early 1960s.

Mr. Chávez has tried to assuage concerns that his project would
lead to authoritarianism by saying party leaders would largely
be chosen by his rank-and-file supporters, an idea lambasted
by critics here. “His tireless finger won’t stop singling out those
who are going to be the bosses,” said Teodoro Petkoff, the
editor of the opposition-aligned newspaper Tal Cual.

Some of Mr. Chávez’s supporters say the creation of a single
party would strengthen the government’s hand in combating
excessive bureaucracy and corruption stemming from the need
to distribute political spoils to an array of different parties.
Others view the new party as a way to remain ahead of
a fractious opposition.

The move has already revealed tensions within the coalition
of more than 20 political parties that currently supports the
president. Critics of the plan say it could marginalize relatively
small pro-Chávez parties that support an open economy,
existing government institutions and a pluralistic political
system.

By contrast, much of the support comes from more hard-line
members of Mr. Chávez’s own party, the Fifth Republic Movement,
which was dissolved last month to make way for its larger successor.

Some of those supporters want to strengthen parallel political
institutions created by Mr. Chávez, like a system of health
clinics and universities closely tied to the president and his
Socialist project for the nation.

For instance, he has announced a plan to build as many as
50 new universities, expected to be modeled on the three-year-
old Bolivarian University of Venezuela, which provides Socialist-
inspired, tuition-free classes to more than 170,000 students.

“We’re witnessing a struggle between two ideological currents
within the Chavista movement,” said Steve Ellner, a political
scientist at University of the East in Venezuela.

Some of the strongest resistance comes from Mr. Chávez’s
allies on the far left. The Communist Party, in particular, stands
to lose considerable stature if it folds into the new party, though
it is expected to do so.

The Communists have weathered decades of persecution and
the collapse of the Soviet Union. “The Communist Party was
created to defend the workers and should continue this struggle,”
Jerónimo Carrera, a senior party official, told the newspaper
El Nacional.

Mr. Chávez’s critics on the left and right regularly say he is
carrying out a “fake revolution” exemplified by a boom in
consumer spending on imported goods and the distribution
of economic favors and government contracts to those
who support his oil-financed administration.

But Mr. Chávez has also created thousands of agricultural
and industrial cooperatives. And he has expanded the
influence of “communal councils,” groups of 20 or so people
in poor areas who make routine planning decisions and
are financed by small communal banks. He said recently
that he would put $2 billion at the disposal of these
councils in 2007.

He still runs the risk, however remote, of losing one or
two smaller but important parties in his coalition. These
parties, which include Podemos and Fatherland for
All, are expected to decide this month whether to join
the new party.

As Mr. Chávez presses forward with that party, he seems
eager to imbue senior officials with a greater understanding
of Socialist ideology, as well as closer allegiance to his
own wishes.

Late last year, legislators in the National Assembly,
controlled by supporters of Mr. Chávez, were enrolled
in classes on Marxist analysis and socialist thinking
taught by professors from the National Armed Forces
Experimental University.

Signaling a desire for even his highest-ranking allies
to fall into step with what he calls his Bolivarian Revolution,
Mr. Chávez publicly dressed down Vice President José
Vicente Rangel and Interior Minister Jesse Chacón last
month.

The reason? They let an orchestra omit the Panamanian
anthem from an act honoring Simón Bolívar, the South
American independence leader, who died 176 years ago.

“We have to struggle against such inefficiency,” Mr. Chávez
said in comments broadcast on the state television. “What
a shame to have such disorganization for such a sublime
event,” he added, as a small crowd in attendance applauded.

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

2) In Padilla Wiretaps, Murky View of ‘Jihad’ Case
By DEBORAH SONTAG
January 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/washington/04padilla.html?ref=us

In 1997, as the government listened in on their phone call, Adham
Hassoun, a computer programmer in Broward County, Fla., proposed
a road trip to Jose Padilla, a low-wage worker there. The excursion
to Tampa would be his treat, Mr. Hassoun said, and a chance
to meet “some nice, uh, brothers.”

Mr. Padilla, 36, a Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican who had converted
to Islam a few years earlier, knew Mr. Hassoun, an outspoken
Palestinian, from his mosque. Still, according to a transcript
of the conversation obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Padilla
equivocated as Mr. Hassoun exhorted.

“We take the whole family and have a blast,” Mr. Hassoun said.
“We go to, uh, our Busch Gardens, you know ... You won’t
regret it. Money-back guarantee.”

Mr. Padilla, laughing, suggested that they not discuss
the matter over the phone.

“Why?” Mr. Hassoun said. “We’re going to Busch Gardens.
What’s the big deal!”

That conversation took place five years before Mr. Padilla,
a United States citizen accused of plotting a “dirty bomb”
attack against this country, was declared an enemy combatant.
Given that Mr. Padilla and Mr. Hassoun are now criminal
defendants in a terrorism conspiracy case in Miami,
it sounds suspicious, as if Mr. Hassoun were proposing
something more sinister than a weekend at the amusement
park. He well may have been — but maybe, too, he was
sincere or joking about a Muslim retreat.

Deciphering such chatter in order to construct a convincing
narrative of conspiracy is a challenge. Yet, prosecutors say,
the government will rely largely on wiretapped conversations
when it puts Mr. Padilla, Mr. Hassoun, and a third defendant,
Kifah Jayyousi, on trial as a “North American support cell”
that sent money, goods and recruits abroad to assist
“global jihad.”

Tens of thousands of conversations were recorded. Some 230
phone calls form the core of the government’s case, including 21
that make reference to Mr. Padilla, prosecutors said. But
Mr. Padilla’s voice is heard on only seven calls. And on those
seven, which The Times obtained from a participant in the
case, Mr. Padilla does not discuss violent plots.

But this is not the version of Mr. Padilla — Al Qaeda associate
and would-be bomber — that John Ashcroft, then the attorney
general, unveiled in 2002 when he interrupted a trip to Moscow
to trumpet Mr. Padilla’s capture. In the four and a half years
since then, as the government tested the limits of its power
to deal with terrorism outside the traditional law enforcement
system, Mr. Padilla is the only accused terrorist to have gone
from enemy combatant to criminal defendant.

His criminal trial, scheduled to begin late this month, will
feature none of the initial claims about violent plotting with
Al Qaeda that the government cited as justification for detaining
Mr. Padilla without formal charges for three and a half years.
Those claims came from the government’s overseas interrogations
of terrorism suspects, like Abu Zubaydah, which, the government
said, Mr. Padilla corroborated, in part, during his own questioning
in a military brig in South Carolina.

But, constrained by strict federal rules of evidence that would
prohibit or limit the use of information obtained during such
interrogations, the government will make a far more circumscribed
case against Mr. Padilla in court, effectively demoting him from
Al Qaeda’s dirty bomber to foot soldier in a somewhat nebulous
conspiracy.

The initial dirty bomb accusation did not disappear. It quietly
resurfaced in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The government filed the
dirty bomb charges against Mr. Padilla’s supposed accomplice,
an Ethiopian-born detainee, at about the same time it indicted
Mr. Padilla on relatively lesser offenses in criminal court.

A Change in Strategy

The change in Mr. Padilla’s status, from enemy combatant to
criminal defendant, was abrupt. It came late in 2005 as the
Supreme Court was weighing whether to take up the legality
of his military detention and the Bush administration, by filing
criminal charges, pre-empted its review. In a way, Mr. Padilla’s
prosecution was a legal maneuver that kept the issue of his
detention without charges out of the Supreme Court. After
apprehending him at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago
in May 2002, the Bush administration made a choice: to detain
Mr. Padilla militarily, in order to thwart further plotting, rather
than to follow him in order to gather evidence that might serve
a criminal prosecution.

Now that Mr. Padilla has ended up a criminal defendant after
all, the prosecution’s case does not fully reflect the Bush
administration’s view of who he is or what he did.

Senior government officials have said publicly that Mr. Padilla
provided self-incriminating information during interrogations,
admitting, they said, to undergoing basic terrorist training,
to accepting an assignment to blow up apartment buildings
in the United States, and to attending a farewell dinner with
Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected master planner
of the Sept. 11 attacks, before he flew to Chicago in 2002.

But any confessions by Mr. Padilla while he was detained
without charges and denied access to counsel — whether
or not he was mistreated, as his lawyers claim — would
not be admissible in court.

And it is unlikely that information obtained during the harsh
questioning of Al Qaeda detainees would be admissible, either —
and, further, the government is disinclined to expose sensitive
intelligence or invite further scrutiny of secret jails overseas.

Probably as a consequence, the current criminal case zeroes
in on what the government sees as an earlier stage of
Mr. Padilla’s involvement with terrorism. It focuses primarily
on the other defendants’ support during the 1990s for Muslim
struggles overseas, especially in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya.
Mr. Padilla, who was appended to their pre-existing case,
in which he had been an unnamed co-conspirator, is depicted
as their recruit.

Although prosecutors have declined to discuss the government’s
strategy, their filings and statements in court provide a picture
of the case they are expected to present at trial.

The most tangible allegation against Mr. Padilla is that in 2000
he filled out, under an alias, an Arab-language application to attend
a terrorist training camp. That application is expected to be offered
into evidence alongside the wiretapped conversations, but
Mr. Padilla’s lawyers say they will contest its admissibility,
challenging the government’s assertion that the “mujahideen
data form” belonged to their client.

Robert Chesney, a specialist in national security law at Wake
Forest University, called the prosecution a pragmatic one,
analogous to “going after Al Capone on tax evasion.”

But Deborah Pearlstein, a lawyer with Human Rights First
who has consulted with Mr. Padilla’s defense, said that his
will never be an ordinary, pragmatic prosecution. “If Jose
Padilla were from Day 1 just charged and tried, then maybe,”
she said. “But this is a case that comes after three and a half
years of the most gross deprivation of human rights that
we’ve seen in this country for a long time.”

Further, Ms. Pearlstein noted, the government has reserved
the option, should the prosecution fail, of returning Mr. Padilla
to the military brig. This, she said, “casts a shadow” over the
current prosecution.

The Bush administration’s military case against Binyam Mohamed,
28, the Ethiopian detainee at Guantánamo, put the current
proceedings in a different light, too.

In December 2005, Mr. Mohamed was referred to the military
commission in Guantánamo on accusations that he conspired
with Mr. Padilla on the dirty bomb plot. It was little noticed
at the time.

But accusations against Mr. Padilla that are nowhere to be found
in the indictment against him filled the pages of Mr. Mohamed’s
charging sheet, with Mr. Padilla repeatedly identified by name.
The sheet referred to the two men meeting in Pakistan after
Sept. 11, 2001, studying how to build an improvised dirty bomb,
discussing the feasibility of a dirty bomb attack with Al Qaeda
officials and agreeing to undertake the mission to blow up
buildings.

Mr. Mohamed’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said that these
charges were based on a forced confession by Mr. Mohamed,
who, he said, was tortured overseas into admitting to a story
that was fed to him. “Binyam was told all along that his job was
to be a witness against Padilla, Abu Zubaydah and Khaled Sheikh
Mohammed,” Mr. Stafford Smith said, adding that his client “has
no conscious knowledge that he ever met” Mr. Padilla.

The charges against Mr. Mohamed and other Guantánamo detainees
who were headed for prosecution there have been suspended
temporarily as a result of the Military Commissions Act passed
by Congress in October. Those charges are likely to be reinstated,
a Pentagon official said yesterday.

That Mr. Mohamed faced dirty bomb charges and Mr. Padilla
does not speaks to the central difference between being a terrorism
suspect in Guantánamo and a criminal defendant charged with
terrorism offenses in the United States.

In Guantánamo, the military commission system that deals with
foreign-born terrorism suspects is expected to allow, with some
exceptions, the use of information obtained through coercion.

“Federal court rules are restrictive,” Professor Chesney of Wake
Forest University School of Law said. “The very essence of why
they’re trying to have that separate military system was to create
rules to use information that is deemed by the intelligence
community to be trustworthy but wouldn’t make it under
the federal rules of evidence.”

David Cole, a professor of law at Georgetown University and
author of books on terrorism and civil liberties, sees the difference
between the two systems more critically: “What this says clearly is
that they feel that they can get away with using tainted evidence
in the military commission system that they can’t use in the criminal
court system.”

The Wiretapping Case

The criminal case against Mr. Padilla has its roots in the prosecution
of Sheikh Omer Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who
was convicted in 1995 of conspiring to blow up the United Nations
and other New York landmarks.

In the early 1990s, Sheikh Rahman’s telephone was tapped, and
Mr. Hassoun and Dr. Jayyousi, a Jordanian-born American citizen
who holds a doctorate in civil engineering, came to the government’s
attention through phone calls to or from his line. Then the government,
under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, began to eavesdrop
on them, which eventually pulled Mr. Padilla into their net, too.

The government presents the three defendants as “joined at the hip,”
as one prosecutor put it in a hearing last summer. But Judge
Marcia G. Cooke of Federal District Court, noting that Mr. Padilla
was appended to a case well under way, asked the government,
“If they are so joined at the hip, why is Mr. Padilla so late to the dance?”

Dr. Jayyousi, a former school system administrator in both Detroit
and Washington, D.C., never met Mr. Padilla, his lawyer, William Swor, said.

It is Mr. Hassoun, the government said, who recruited Mr. Padilla.
But both Mr. Hassoun’s and Mr. Padilla’s lawyers deny that
Mr. Padilla was recruited.

Seven Taped Phone Calls

Mr. Padilla’s lawyers and relatives say that he left South Florida
for Egypt in September 1998 on a spiritual journey. A former juvenile
offender, he converted to Islam as part of an effort to straighten out his
life, they say. His mosque in Fort Lauderdale sponsored his travel, he told
friends, relatives and F.B.I. agents who interviewed him in 2002.
Mr. Hassoun belonged to that mosque, and the telephone transcripts
seem to indicate that Mr. Hassoun helped, at the least, with
Mr. Padilla’s travel plans.

The seven taped phone calls that bear Mr. Padilla’s voice involve
conversations with Mr. Hassoun from 1997 to 2000.

On those calls, Mr. Padilla, unlike some of the other defendants,
does not employ what the government says is coded language.
According to the government, other defendants refer to their jihad-
related plans as “getting some fresh air,” “participating in tourism,”
“opening up a market,” “playing football,” and so on. This leads
to silly-sounding exchanges where “the brothers” discuss going
on “picnics” in order “to smell fresh air and to eat cheese” or using
$3,500 to buy “zucchini.”

In contrast, Mr. Padilla’s seven conversations with Mr. Hassoun range
from straightforward — Mr. Hassoun tells Mr. Padilla that his grandmother
has died; Mr. Padilla tells Mr. Hassoun that he has found himself
an 18-year-old Egyptian bride who is willing to wear a veil —
to vaguely suggestive or just odd.

In one phone call, the two men talked about a dream. It appeared
to be the dream that Mr. Padilla, according to his relatives, cites
as having played a crucial role in inspiring him to convert
to Islam: the vision of a man in a turban, surrounded by the
swirling dust of a desert.

Mr. Hassoun brought it up and told Mr. Padilla that he himself had
experienced the same vision. “What do you mean you saw the
same dream?” Mr. Padilla asked.

“I saw the dream of the uh ... person with the turban,” Mr. Hassoun
said.

Mr. Hassoun explained how, in his dream, the turban was wrongly
wrapped and so he thought the man might be a spy, in which
case, he was prepared “to split his body apart.” But then, he
said, he understood that “the brother ... was a good one.”

“Yeah?” Mr. Padilla said.

In three of the seven conversations, Mr. Padilla made statements
that the government has identified as “overt acts” in furtherance
of the accused conspiracy.

In the first, Mr. Hassoun asked, “You’re ready, right?” and
Mr. Padilla said, “God willing, brother, it’s going to happen soon.”
That was the summer of 1997, a year before Mr. Padilla left South
Florida for Egypt.

In the second, Mr. Padilla told Mr. Hassoun, during a 1999
conversation from Egypt, that he had asked his ex-wife in the
United States to arrange for him to receive an army jacket, a book
bag and a sleeping bag, supplies that he had requested because
“there was a rumor here that the door was open somewhere.”
In the third, Mr. Padilla told Mr. Hassoun in April 2000, that he
would need a recommendation to “connect me with the good
brothers, with the right faith” if he were to travel to Yemen.

Prosecutors say Mr. Padilla is mentioned, although by his Muslim
name Ibrahim or by another alias, on 21 additional tapes. One of
them refers to Ibrahim as being “in the area of Usama,” which
the government takes to mean that he was near Osama bin
Laden. But Mr. Padilla’s lawyers contest that interpretation.

“That is just nonsensical, Your Honor, that these men who for
years, according to the government, have been talking in code
all of a sudden are going to throw Osama bin Laden’s name around,”
Michael Caruso, a federal public defender, said in court.

Mr. Padilla has pleaded not guilty. But before his case goes before
a jury, his fitness to stand trial will be evaluated. On the basis
of Mr. Padilla’s lawyers’ assertion that he is mentally damaged as
a result of his prolonged isolation and his interrogation in the
brig, Judge Cooke has ordered a psychiatric evaluation by a Bureau
of Prisons doctor to be completed this week.

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

3) Exxon Accused of Trying to Mislead Public
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
January 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/business/04exxon.html

HOUSTON, Jan. 3 — The Union of Concerned Scientists released
a report on Wednesday accusing Exxon Mobil of spending millions
of dollars to manipulate public opinion on the seriousness of global
warming.

“Many of the tactics, and even some of the same organizations
and actors used by Exxon Mobil to mislead the public, draw
upon the tobacco industry’s 40-year disinformation campaign,”
the report said.

The report said that a task force that Exxon Mobil helped create
on global climate science in 1998 included someone who had
led a nonprofit organization called the Advancement of Sound
Science Coalition, “which had been covertly created by the
tobacco company Philip Morris in 1993 to manufacture
uncertainty about the health hazards posed by secondhand
smoke.”

Many of the accusations in the report have been made before
by the scientists’ organization and environmental groups.
But the organization, a liberal advocacy group, said this report
more completely detailed connections between money donated
by Exxon Mobil and the scientists in groups that question
the degree to which humans are contributing to climate change.

The release of the report comes as Democrats take control
of Congress, and the organization said it hoped incoming
committee chairmen investigate the links detailed in the report.

“The relatively modest investment of about $16 million between
1998 and 2004 to select political organizations has been
remarkably effective at manufacturing uncertainty about
the scientific consensus on global warming,” the report said.

Exxon Mobil released a statement responding to the report,
saying “many of the conclusions are inaccurate.” It added,
“Our support extends to a fairly broad array of organizations
that research significant domestic and foreign policy issues
and promote discussion on issues of direct relevance
to the company.”

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

4) A Mother Fights for a Soldier Who Said No to War
By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 4, 2007; C01
www.marxmail.org

Carolyn Ho is a mother on a mission.

She came to Washington in mid-December to build support for her son, Army
1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment
to Iraq.

Barring some kind of miracle, he will be court-martialed on Feb. 5 at Fort
Lewis, about 45 miles south of Seattle. If convicted, he could be sent to
military prison for six years. There's going to be a pretrial hearing today.

Like many Americans, she believed she could come to the capital city and
change the world. Or at least her small part of it.

She was acting purely on instinct, wanting to do everything in a mother's
power to protect her son. "I'm here to get what I can," said Ho, who is
from Honolulu. Dark hair pulled back. Dark eyes that moisten when she
speaks of her son. Soft voice. "I'm going to put it out there."

At the very least, she hoped for some kind of letter of support before
today's hearing. Late yesterday afternoon, a letter arrived. After a lot of
worry and work.

Lobbying Congress is no day at the spa.

During her Capitol Hill quest, she was accompanied by several seasoned
lobbyists, but they let her do the talking. She moved along the halls,
sitting down with staffers in the offices of Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and aides from the offices of Reps. Lynn
Woolsey (D-Calif.), John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

In closed-door meetings, Ho told the same story. She sees her efforts as
part of a larger, multifaceted wave that is challenging the Bush
administration from every angle. At the same time the president is
advocating an increase in the number of soldiers in Iraq, there is on the
home front an increase in the number of vocal opponents of the war. "I
believe my son is part of this movement," Ho said.

Phoebe Jones of Global Women's Strike, an international antiwar network
that supports Ho and Watada, was at Ho's side on Capitol Hill. "The work of
mothers is protecting life, beginning with their children," Jones
explained. "And that is really the opposite of the obscenity of war."

On the Hill, Ho handed out information packets. She passed around photos of
Watada, who is taller, fuller of face than his mother, but shares her smile.

Her son "based his decision on facts," she said. He studied the war in Iraq
and decided it was illegal. He tried to resign and leave the service with
dignity, but the Army wouldn't let him. He asked to be shipped to
Afghanistan; his request was denied. He was offered a noncombat position in
Iraq; he said no thanks.

Because the United States entered the war based on false premises, Ho said,
the war is illegal. It is thus her son's constitutional duty to disobey orders.

So she asked that members of Congress get involved. She said that ideally
she would prefer that the military accept her son's resignation and dismiss
all charges against him. "He shouldn't be in a military prison," she said.
His voice "will be totally squelched."

She asked, "Just who is the criminal here? The one who is refusing to
participate in war crimes?"

From the Army's standpoint, the case is simple. Tens of thousands of
soldiers have passed through Fort Lewis on their way to the war and have
not asked for special treatment, said Army spokesman Joe Piek. Watada, 28,
signed on for military service in 2003 with full knowledge that he might
have to fight an unpopular war, Piek said. "This is a case about a soldier
who refused orders to deploy to Iraq. . . . That is the bottom line."

Watada has been charged with one count of "missing movement," which means
he did not board one of the planes that were taking his 3rd Brigade to
Kuwait on June 22. In Kuwait the brigade's 4,000 soldiers received their
equipment and their marching orders.

He also is charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer," for subsequent
statements he made. For now he is assigned to a special troops battalion
and has been doing everyday soldierly duties while awaiting his court
appearance.

Piek said, "He joined the Army and swore an oath, and that includes
following the orders of the officers appointed over him. His unit was
placed in a stop-loss category, which meant that everybody currently in
that unit would deploy. You don't get to pick and choose, especially if you
are a junior officer, which places you get to go to."

To Watada's attorney, Eric Seitz, the situation is more complicated. "The
United States talks out of both sides of its mouth," he said. "We've
prosecuted soldiers in other countries for following orders to commit war
crimes. But God forbid you should use that refusal as a defense in this
country."

The Watada defense: Questioning the war publicly is not "conduct
unbecoming" but an exercise of freedom of speech. And he had the right to
miss movement because he was refusing to participate in what he deems an
illicit enterprise.

To Carolyn Ho, congressional staffers were polite and receptive. She came
at an inopportune time, she was told several times. Congress had adjourned
for the holidays and there was not much time before the court-martial.

There were flashes of hope: Along the way, someone suggested that a
"sign-on letter" sent by members of Congress to the secretary of the Army
might be a way to galvanize support for Watada. Or a "dear colleague"
letter that would alert others in Congress to Watada's situation. One
staffer brought up the idea of a "private resolution," an arcane move in
which Congress passes a bill that affects one person. "Those are
possibilities," Ho said. But as the day wore on, fatigue showed on her face.

She left with little more than encouragement and good wishes. A high school
counselor, Ho had been on leave since the end of September. She had to get
back to work.

She is divorced. Her ex-husband, Bob Watada, has also been out drumming up
support, speaking to churches and civic organizations around the country.
She spent October and November on the West Coast and much of December on
the East. At one event she shared a podium with Cindy Sheehan, who refers
to the moms-against-bombs instinct as "matriotism."

Ho went back to Hawaii for Christmas, but is in the Seattle area this week
for the hearing.

On the phone from Fort Lewis, Ehren Watada explained how he decided while
still in college -- in the aftermath of 9/11 -- that he wanted to serve his
country in the military. He walked into a recruitment office in Honolulu
and said he wanted to go to officer candidate school. He failed the
physical because of childhood asthma. "I was heartbroken," he said. "I paid
out of pocket for a breathing test to prove I had no breathing problems. I
passed the test with flying colors and was eventually accepted at the end
of March 2003."

Though Watada's father did not serve in the military, several uncles were
in World War II. One of his uncles was killed in Korea. Another relative
was in Vietnam. "There is a history of service in our family," he said.

When he signed up, "I didn't know the things I know today. I believed the
military and the government when they told me that Iraq posed an imminent
threat."

Watada said it took him a couple of years to realize that the United States
should not be in Iraq. He submitted his resignation in January 2006. "The
commanders of my unit were not too happy about it," he said. They were
surprised, he said, because until that point he had received positive
evaluations.

"I can't stop the war," said Watada. "But if Americans believe the war is
wrong, they should be doing everything they can to stop it."

His mother is doing what she can. "People are stepping gingerly," she said
yesterday about legislative action. "There's a wait-and-see approach."

She was in Tacoma, Wash., yesterday for a press conference when she
received a personal letter from Rep. Maxine Waters. Ho read an excerpt over
the phone:

"The issue that [1st Lt. Ehren Watada] has raised deserves to be publicly
debated and considered. And I will use my platform as a member of Congress
and chair of the 'Out of Iraq' caucus to highlight the failed policies of
this administration and stimulate discussion. . . . Your son has shown
great integrity and dignity in his objection to the war in Iraq, and I
commend you for working so hard on his behalf."

Ho sighed and said she found the letter to be "disappointing."

But it was something.

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

5) A drop into the abyss
Saddam jailed me but his hanging was a crime. Iraq's misery is now far
worse than under his rule
Haifa Zangana
Thursday January 4, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1982437,00.html

At 3.30am last Saturday, I was abruptly woken by the phone ringing. My
heart sank. By the time I reached the phone, I was already imagining bodies
of relatives and friends, killed and mutilated.

It was 6.30am in Baghdad and I thought of the last time I spoke to my
sister. She was on the roof of her house trying to get a better signal on
her mobile phone, but had to end the call as an American helicopter started
hovering above. Iraqis know it is within the US "rules of engagement" to
shoot at them when using mobiles, and that US troops enjoy impunity
whatever they do. But the call was from a Turkish TV station asking for
comments on Saddam's execution. I drew a deep sigh of relief, not for the
execution, but because I did not know personally anyone killed that day.

Death is now so commonplace in Iraq that we end up ranking it in these
personal terms. Last month, I attended the a'azas (remembrance events) of
three people whose work I highly respected. One was for Dr Essam al-Rawi,
head of the university professors' union who documented the assassination
of academics. A week before his killing his office at Baghdad University
had been ransacked and documents confiscated by US troops. The others were
for Dr Ali Hussain Mukhif, an academic and literary critic, and Saad
Shlash, professor of journalism in Baghdad University and editor of the
weekly journal Rayet Al Arab, who insisted on resisting occupation
peacefully - offering writers, including myself, a space to criticise the
occupation and its crimes, despite all the risks involved.

About 500 academics and 92 journalists have been murdered since the
invasion of Iraq. Hundreds more have been kidnapped, and many others have
fled the country after receiving threats against their lives. The human
costs are so high that many Iraqis believe that had there been a
competition between Saddam's regime and the Bush-Blair occupation over the
killing of Iraqi minds and culture, the latter would win by far. Sadly, I
am becoming one of them.

I am speaking as one who has been, from the start, a politically active
opponent of the Ba'ath regime's ideology and Saddam Hussain's dictatorship.
At times that was at the high personal cost of prison and torture. In 1984,
during the Iran-Iraq war, my family had to pay for the bullets used to
execute my cousin Fouad Al Azzawi before being allowed to collect his body.
But I find myself agreeing with many Iraqis, that life now is not just the
continuity of misery and death under new guises. It is much, much worse -
even without the extra dimensions of pillage, corruption and the total ruin
of the infrastructure.

Every day brings with it, due to the presence of occupation troops to
protect US citizens' safety and security, less safety and security for Iraqis.

The timing and method of the execution of Saddam Hussein proves that the US
administration is still criminally high on the cocktail of power,
arrogance, and ignorance. But above all racism: what is good for us is not
good for you. We are patriots but you are terrorists.

The US and their Iraqi puppets in the green zone chose to execute Saddam on
the first day of Eid al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice. This is the most
joyous day in the Muslim calendar when more than 2 million pilgrims in
Mecca start their ancient rituals, with hundreds of millions of others
around the world focused on the events. They then further humiliated
Muslims by releasing the official video of the execution, with the
69-year-old having a noose placed around his neck and being led to the
drop. The unofficial recording shows Saddam looking calm and composed, and
even managing a sarcastic smile, asking the thugs who taunted him "hiya hiy
al marjala?" ("is this your manliness?"), a powerful phrase in Arabic
popular culture connecting manliness to acts of courage, pride and
chivalry. He also managed to repeatedly say the Muslim creed as he was
dying, thus attaching himself in the last few seconds of his life to one
billion Muslims. Saddam had literally the final say. From now on, no Eid
will pass without people remembering his execution.

This was the climax of a colonial farce with the court proceedings' blatant
sectarian overtones welcomed by Bush and the British government as a "fair
trial". The occupation also welcomed the grotesque public execution as
"justice being done". Contrast this with the end of our hopes, as Iraqis in
opposition, of persuading our people of the humanity of democracy and how
it would, unlike Saddam's brutality, put an end to all abuses of human
rights, to execution in public, and to the death penalty.

It is no good the deputy prime minister John Prescott now condemning the
manner of Saddam's execution as "deplorable" when, as a representative of
one of the two main occupying powers, his government is both legally and
morally responsible for what took place.

It is hell in Iraq by all standards, and there is no end in sight to the
plight of Iraqi people. The resistance to occupation is a basic human right
as well as a moral responsibility. That was the case during the Algerian
war of independence, the Vietnamese war of independence, and it is the case
in Iraq now.

· Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi-born novelist and former prisoner of Saddam's
regime haifa_zangana@yahoo.co.uk

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

6) Behold Marx's twitch
By John Thornhill
Financial Times, Dec. 28, 2006
www.marxmail.org

What does it take to kill an idea whose time has passed?

One would have thought--that several decades of experimentation with
communism would have convinced most observers that--it was a murderous and
economically sub-optimal creed. Even its most fervent supporters could
scarcely contest the view that it has spectacularly failed to live up to
its creators' utopian expectations.

According to the Black Book of Communism, published in 1997 by a group of
French scholars, communist regimes were responsible for the "class
genocide" of almost 100m people during the 20th century. Apologists for
Joseph Stalin used to justify such brutality by arguing that you could not
make an omelette without breaking eggs. But, as George Orwell once famously
responded: where's the omelette?

Leszek Kolakowski, one of the world's foremost students - and critics - of
Marxism, thought he had buried the communist idea as long ago as 1974. "The
only medicine communism has invented - the centralised, beyond social
control, state ownership of the national wealth and one-party rule - is
worse than the illness it is supposed to cure," he wrote in a damning open
letter published in the Socialist Register. Arguing that the communist idea
could never be successfully modified or revived, he concluded: "This skull
will never smile again."

His view seemed to be vindicated when China reverted to capitalism in the
1980s as the best means of promoting prosperity and the Soviet Union came
crashing down in 1991. The communist diehards in impoverished Pyongyang and
Havana who survive today are hardly the brightest advertisements for the
vitality of the Marxist faith.

Yet, it seems, the edges of Karl Marx's lips are beginning to twitch again
in Europe as fresh attempts are made to reanimate his ideas. Marx should
not be held accountable for those who acted on his (often contradictory)
analysis, his latter-day supporters claim. Besides, it is wrong to equate
Marxist theory with communist practice. As Marx himself declared, he was
not a Marxist. It would be as unfair to blame Marx for the excesses
committed in his name, they claim, as it would be to condemn Jesus for the
evils of the Spanish inquisition.

The latest surge of globalisation, which is in so many ways reminiscent of
the era in which Marx lived, has undoubtedly led to renewed interest in his
critique of capitalism. Globalisation may be lifting millions of people out
of absolute poverty, but it has also led to startling divergences in
relative wealth. How can it be, as a United Nations report recently
estimated, that the richest 2 per cent of the world's adult population own
more than 50 per cent of global assets while the poorest 50 per cent own
only 1 per cent? How can one understand capital without Das Kapital?

"Far from being buried under the rubble of the Berlin Wall, Marx may only
now be emerging in his true significance. He could yet become the most
influential thinker of the twenty-first century," Francis Wheen, his
British biographer, concludes in a recent essay on Das Kapital.

The eloquent Mr Wheen even helped to persuade BBC listeners that Marx was
the most important philosopher of all time in a radio poll conducted last year.

Across the Channel, Marx has never really gone out of fashion - even if
Marxist ideas have become an internalised rhetorical reflex among
politicians more than a meaningful programme for action.

François Bayrou, the leader of the centrist UDF party, argues that the
French left has never been properly demarxisée. Just look at the 2002
presidential elections in which two rival Trotskyist candidates, the head
of the Communist party of France, and the leader of the Revolutionary
Communist League won 17 per cent of the vote between them in the first round.

Much of the rhetoric from mainstream French politicians ahead of next
year's presidential elections has a decidedly Marxist ring to it.

Ségolène Royal, the presidential candidate of the opposition Socialist
party, constantly talks about the need to rebalance capital and labour
declaring it is her intention to "frighten the capitalists". Even Nicolas
Sarkozy, the presidential contender from the ostensibly centre-right ruling
UMP party, rails against "rogue bosses" who pay themselves obscene bonuses
while shifting jobs offshore.

One prominent socialist politician says that the new class divide in France
and elsewhere in the developed world is between the rich - including most
French people - and the super-rich.

This new globalised "aristocracy" of financiers, industrialists and
policymakers now spans the globe preaching "market fundamentalism". Its
members have more allegiances to each other than to any nation state. While
telling their employees that job insecurity, reduced welfare benefits and
lower salaries are the condition of the modern world, they don golden
parachutes to protect themselves from failure.

Jacques Attali, the polymath French financier, has also been busily buffing
up Marx's reputation as a prophet of our globalised times. In a recent
biography of Marx, Mr Attali argues that the 19th century philosopher still
has much to teach us about the nature of capitalism, the shocks that
modernisation inflicts on traditional societies, the rise of competitive
individualism and the spread of insecurity.

According to Mr Attali, Marx answers questions that are only now being
asked. It is only in our days that we can see Marx in his true light,
unencumbered by his association with the experience of communism.

However, Marx would surely have been grumpy about his new-found status as
an analyst of our times rather than as an agitator for revolutionary
change. "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways;
the point, however, is to change it," he wrote.

The skull may not be smiling so much as frowning.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006

www.marxmail.org

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

7) Dear Friends of Lynne Stewart and Mumia Abu-Jamal
Next planning meeting for Lynne Stewart tour:
Saturday, January 6 at 10:30 AM
Socialist Action Bookstore
298 Valencia Street (14th and Valencia)
San Francisco
[Message via email...bw]

Lynne Stewart and Michael Ratner have accepted our invitation
to tour the Bay Area. The confirmed dates are February 23-25, 2007.
Lynne, accompanied by her husband Ralph Poynter, will stay on
several more days for additional meetings through March 1.

Michael is the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights
and among the leading U.S. figures in the fight for fundamental
constitutional rights for those illegally detained and tortured
by U.S. authorities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ratner has also
been involved in filing war crimes charges in a German court
against several figures in the Bush Administration.

Lynne Stewart is in the process of preparing her appeal to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She was falsely
convicted of conspiracy to aide and abet terrorism in a trial
replete with constitutional violations including the government's
use of some 80,000 wiretaps, phone taps and other infringements
on the attorney client privilege. Lynne's appeal and her similarly
framed co-defendants Ahmed Sattar and Mohammed Yousry,
will be combined with a defense against government efforts
to reverse and lengthen the two-year jail sentence jail imposed
by District Court Judge John Koeltl. The government originally
asked for a 30-year sentence and is insisting that it be imposed.

In addition to Lynne and Michael, Jeff Mackler, a national
coordinator of the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal will speak
on the final stages in the fight for Mumia's life and freedom.
Oral arguments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit are expected to be presented in Mumia's case in the
coming months. The government continues to seek a re-imposition
of the death penalty, while Mumia fights for a new trial and freedom.

To date the tour includes mass meetings in Palo Alto, Berkeley,
San Francisco and Marin. We need your help to schedule additional
meetings at colleges and universities, law schools, legal organizations,
new communities, etc. We need dedicated activists to help with
media work, publicity, outreach and all the other ingredients that
make for a successful tour in terms of political gains, new support
for Lynne, Mumia and Michael and serious fundraising. Lynne's last
visit raised in excess of $15,000. We expect to significantly top this
figure with the present tour. Your participation is essential. Your
attendance is required for the kind of effort that is vital to the
breakthrough victories we seek.

We have scheduled the next planning meeting for:

Saturday, January 6 at 10:30 AM
Socialist Action Bookstore
298 Valencia Street (14th and Valencia)
San Francisco

This will be a joint planning meeting of the tour co-sponsors
and friends including:
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
The National Lawyers Guild, Bay Are Chapter
The Middle East Children's Alliance
The Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
KPFA

Everyone is welcome!
By agreement with Lynne and Michael, the tour proceeds are
to be divided by the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee and the
Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. The basic themes
of the tour will be defense of civil liberties and democratic rights.

In solidarity,

Jeff Mackler,
West Coast Coordinator, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Co-Coordinator, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

O: 415-255-1080
Cell: 510-387-7714
H: 510-268-9429

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

8) OTHER PEOPLE'S CONGRESS
[Col. Writ. 12/14/06] Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal

It actually may be too early to tell, but are you getting the vibe that
Congress is going to betray you -- again?

The Congress -- both the House and the Senate -- are seen as honest and
trustworthy by an astonishingly low 14-and-16%, respectively, by most
Americans according to a recent poll. The converse of this, of course,
is that 84-86% of most Americans don't trust their Congress.

A term like that just ended at least partially explains that gap; for
Congress routinely sells its collective soul to the lobbyists and
corporate powers-that-be.

Only these wealthy forces could explain the actions and inactions of
Congress in its most recent term; complete servility to the
military-industrial-complex; the bankruptcy bill; their unbridled
hostility to a minimum wage -- you name it.

If you could afford their services -- cool; if you were a regular Joe
(or Joanna), working-class, or -- heavens forfend! -- poor -- forget it.

The Congress, in violation of the Constitution, ceded its power to the
President, and the executive has made a complete mess of every power it
was granted.

The mid-term elections, thought by many to have been a partial remedy of
this disaster, was predicated upon the wide public will to get out of Iraq.

The new congress was not yet in their seats, and already there are
whispers in the air of sending *more* troops to Iraq!

The march towards betrayal of the public will may have already begun.

As journalist Richard Swift explained in his book, *The No-Nonsense
Guide to Democracy* (Toronto, Ontario: New Internationalist Publ,
Ltd./Between the Lines, 2002), today's political parties strive to
actually be less and less *representative*:

"Such parties run the ideological spectrum from Right to Left (although
here differences between them are certainly narrowing). ... Such parties
have loose ideological commitments and use a vaguely populist rhetoric
(often of the Left) while campaigning. They typically contain a number
of powerful factions and interest groups each of which stakes a claim on
policy and economic awards once the party is in power ...

"Under most present circumstances these 'representatives' are only
answerable to us in a very general sense. Once they have been elected
any number of factors may weigh more heavily for them than the wishes of
their constituents; their own views, Party discipline, personal ambition
*or the influence of powerful lobbies*. Voters by-and-large do not get
to hold them accountable until the next general election. In the
meantime they form a virtual dictatorship -- particularly if they are
part of a majority government." [pp. 102-3]

For millions of people, especially those who voted for Democrats, there
is the expectation that this new class (or new majority) would headline
an Iraq withdrawal.

Now, it looks less so.

As the new congressional majority forms, lobbyists are bellying up to
the bar to make new and lucrative deals -- and with money comes influence.

Americans may learn that, in politics, faces may change, and parties may
swap -- but the same game goes on.

Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal

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

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
LINKS AND VERY SHORT STORIES
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

Bush Signing Statement Claims Power to Open Americans' Mail
President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open
Americans' mail without a judge's warrant. The president asserted his new
authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on December 20,
followed by a "signing statement."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010407R.shtml

Israel’s use of biological weapons in 1948
By Yossi Schwartz and Fred Weston
Thursday, 04 January 2007
http://www.marxist.com/israel-biological-weapons1948.htm

Bush Issues Signing Statement, Declares Right to Open Mail
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0104-01.htm

Iraq Vets Left in Physical and Mental Agony
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0104-07.htm

2007 Predicted to Be World's Warmest Year
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0104-08.htm

Meatpacking Laborers Victimized
By David Bacon, The American Prospect
Posted on January 3, 2007, Printed on January 3, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/45554/

A Challenge to the Supreme Court
Can the US Kill Iraqi Children Legally?
By BERT SACKS
January 4, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.com/sacks01042007.html

France: Bill to Redress Homelessness
By CRAIG S. SMITH
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin introduced legislation that would
give the homeless an enforceable right to housing. The move was
in response to a yearlong campaign on behalf of the homeless that
included the distribution of tents for people living on the street.
A concentration of the tents in the 10th Arrondissement in Paris
brought the issue to a head, and on New Year’s Eve, President Jacques
Chirac promised to ask the government to work on legislation.
The proposed law, Mr. de Villepin said, would “put the right to
housing on the same level as the right to medical care or education.”
January 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/world/europe/04briefs-frenchhomeless.html

Were pleas of Marine ignored?
Friends of Walter Smith say he had post-traumatic stress and that
the VA repeatedly brushed off his cries for help
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:12/31/2006 04:28:26 AM MST
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4928262

Crime and punishment -- California's conundrum:
Behind the state's prison boom
Reviewed by Tony Platt
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Golden Gulag
Prisons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California
By Ruth Wilson Gilmore
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS; 388 Pages; $19.95 PAPERBACK
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/31/RVGNGN44B71.DTL

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

SCROLL DOWN TO READ:
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS (IN FULL DETAIL)
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

BARRIO UNIDO FOR GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL
AMNESTY FOR ALL!
EMERGENCY PICKET LINE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2007, 4:00 - 7:00 P.M.
FEDERAL BUILDING
450 GOLDEN GATE AVE.
BETWEEN POLK AND LARKIN STREETS, S.F.

STOP THE ICE RAIDS! FREE THE WORKERS!
STOP THE DEPORTATIONS!
THE WORKERS SHOULD GET THEIR JOBS BACK!
WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE, GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL
AMNESTY FOR ALL! DEFEND THE RIGHT OF
ALL WORKERS TO ORGANIZE UNIONS IN THEIR OWN DEFENSE!

All human beings have basic, inalienable human rights to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. If your family is starving and you
can not find work, you have the right to find someplace where you can
feed, clothe and house your family.

If capital can go all over the world exploiting workers, then workers
have the right to move to find work for their family's basic survival.

IMMIGRANT WORKERS ARE GUILTY OF NOTHING
BUT WORKING HARD TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES
AND THEIR FAMILIES.

From South America, Latin America, China, Africa, India--in countries
all over the world, not to speak of the war in Iraq--a war of blood
for oil--U.S. businesses are raking in huge profits off the backs of workers
who earn slave wages and work under the most dangerous working conditions
at best, and under a state of war at worse.

Meanwhile, here at home, they are laying off workers, closing factories,
doing
away with benefits and working conditions won by worker's struggles
in the past--installing two, three, many-tiered pay scales--driving down
wages to below the scale parents are earning--leaving our children
with the heritage of a guaranteed life of poverty without union
representation.

WORKERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE UNIONS!

And now they launch an all-out war against the most vulnerable workers
--who are driven to work in these meatpacking plants. Whether
documented or not, this is brutal, dangerous and difficult work.

And not so coincidentally, these same workers just happen
to be in the midst of a fight to win union recognition!

THESE ARRESTS ARE A THREAT TO ALL WORKERS
AND ALL UNIONS!

These mass arrests are terrorist tactics designed as a warning
to all workers that if they struggle for a better life and better
working conditions, they will be persecuted in every way
imaginable.

This is an all-out assault on every worker and it is being
executed by a terrorist government--the U.S. Government--
who uses pre-emptive war based upon outright lies to further
their oil profits; who will stop at nothing to increase their
rate of profit.

The ultimate goal of the U.S. Government is for American big
business to continue to accumulate unimaginable wealth
at the expense of the hardworking majority all over the
world--nothing is off-limits to them in this, their fundamental
pursuit!

STOP THE ICE RAIDS! FREE THE WORKERS!
STOP THE DEPORTATIONS!
THE WORKERS SHOULD GET THEIR JOBS BACK!
WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE, GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL
AMNESTY FOR ALL! DEFEND THE RIGHT OF
ALL WORKERS TO ORGANIZE UNIONS IN THEIR OWN DEFENSE!

An injury to one is an injury to all! We are only as strong as our
weakest link. If we allow these terrorists from ICE to continue
to carry out these assaults against the basic human rights
of any of us--no matter what our immigration status--they
will not hesitate one second to use these same tactics of mass
firings, arrest, etc. against all of us who dare to struggle
in our own defense and in our own, basic human interests and
for our own basic rights as workers and human beings!

It's up to us to organize and fight back! If we are united, we cannot loose!

WE ENCOURAGE ALL WORKERS AND ALL LABOR AND COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATIONS TO ENDORSE THIS ACTION AND COME OUT TO
PICKET THE FEDERAL BUILDING TO PROTEST THESE RAIDS!
BRING YOUR OWN BANNERS AND SIGNS!

For more information contact:

Barrio Unido por una Amnistia
General e Incondicional
Cristina Gutierrez,
415-431-9925
companeros98@hotmail.com

Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
415-824-8730
bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com

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

REPORT BACK ON VENEZUELA
7:00 PM Saturday, January 13
522 Valencia Street , 3rd Floor Auditorium
Hear about:
-Factories run by workers
-The election turnout for Hugo Chavez
-Occupied factories
-Socialism of the 21st Century
See: A short film on current developments
in Venezuela .
Speakers:
-John Peterson, National Secretary
of US Hands Off Venezuela (recently
returned from Venezuela )
-A speaker from Global Exchange
-A speaker from Global Women’s
Strike, San Francisco Bay Area
-An opportunity for discussion will follow
the presentations.
Sponsored by Hands Off Venezuela
Hands Off Venezuela is an international
organization dedicated to the principle
that the people of Venezuela have the
right to determine their own destiny
without interference from foreign
countries.
Contact info:
phone (415) 786-1680
email sfbay@ushov.org
web www.ushov.org

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

ACT NOW TO END THE WAR!
SATURDAY JANUARY 27, 2007
Washington, D.C.
VOLUNTEER Live in NYC or DC? We need your help
before and during the protest. Call 212-868-5545
STAYINFORMED Visit www.unitedforpeace.org for
updated information and to sign up for our action alerts
DONATE Whether you can contribute $10, $100, or
$1000, we need your support to help end the war!
Call 212-866-5545 or visit www.unitedforpeace.org/donate
Join us for a massive
march on Washington
to tell the new Congress:
unitedforpeace&justice
www.unitedforpeace.org (212)868-5545
On Election Day the voters delivered a dramatic,
unmistakable mandate for peace. Now it's time for action.
On Jan. 27, 2007, help send a strong, clear message to
Congress and the Bush Administration:
Bring the troops home now!

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

MARCH ON THE PENTAGON
SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 2007
U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW
From Iraq to New Orleans, Fund the People's Needs NOT THE
WAR MACHINE! End Colonial Occupation: Iraq, Palestine, Haiti and
everywhere! Shut Down Guantanamo
AnswerCoalition.org

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

LYNNE STEWART AND MICHAEL RATNER IN BAY AREA
FEBRUARY 23-25 (Lynne and her husband Ralph will
stay on several more days. Stay tuned for complete
schedule of events.)
Dear Friends of Lynne Stewart,
I am pleased to announce that Lynne Stewart and Michael Ratner have
just accepted our invitation to tour the Bay Area. The confirmed
dates are February 23-25, 2007. Lynne, accompanied by her husband
Ralph Poynter, will stay on several more days for additional meetings.
In solidarity,
Jeff Mackler,
West Coast Coordinator, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
Co-Coordinator, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
O: 415-255-1080
Cell: 510-387-7714
H: 510-268-9429

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

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

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

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

A NEW LOOK AT U.S. RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS
Join us in a campaign to expose and stop the use of these illegal weapons
http://poisondust.org/

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

You may enjoy watching these.
In struggle
Che:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqcezl9dD2c
Leon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkFVV5X0p4

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

FIGHTBACK! A Collection of Socialist Essays
By Sylvia Weinstein
http://www.walterlippmann.com/sylvia-weinstein-fightback-intro.html

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

URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE IRAQ'S ACADEMICS.
Call for action to save Iraq's Academics
A little known aspect of the tragedy engulfing Iraq is the systematic
liquidation of the country's academics. Even according to conservative
estimates, over 250 educators have been assassinated, and many
hundreds more have disappeared. With thousands fleeing the country
in fear for their lives, not only is Iraq undergoing a major brain drain,
the secular middle class - which has refused to be co-opted by the
US occupation - is being decimated, with far-reaching consequences
for the future of Iraq.
http://www.brussellstribunal.org/

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

END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!
Stop funding Israel's war against Palestine
Complete the form at the website listed below with your information.
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?
JServSessionIdr003=cga2p2o6x1.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=177

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

ENDORSE THE A.N.S.W.E.R. CALL TO ACTION
March 17-18, 2007
GLOBAL DAYS OF ACTION ON THE
4TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR!
http://answer.pephost.org/site/Survey?
SURVEY_ID=3400&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&JServSessionIdr011=
k7a3443r73.app8a

http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ANS_homepage

Please circulate widely
www.answercoalition.org

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

Sand Creek Massacre
Hello, Everyone,
On November 29, 1864, 700 Colorado troops savagely slaughtered
over 450 Cheyenne children, disabled, elders, and women in the
southeastern Colorado Territory under its protection. This act
became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. This film project
("The Sand Creek Massacre" documentary film project) is an
examination of an open wound in the souls of the Cheyenne
people as told from their perspective. This project chronicles
that horrific 19th century event and its affect on the 21st century
struggle for respectful coexistence between white and native
plains cultures in the United States of America.

Listed below are links on which you can click to get the latest news,
products, and view, free, "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" award-
winning documentary short. In order to create more native
awareness, particularly to save the roots of America's history,
please read the following:

Some people in America are trying to save the world. Bless
them. In the meantime, the roots of America are dying.
What happens to a plant when the roots die? The plant dies
according to my biology teacher in high school. American's
roots are its native people. Many of America's native people
are dying from drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, hunger,
and disease, which was introduced to them by the Caucasian
male. Tribal elders are dying. When they die, their oral
histories go with them. Our native's oral histories are the
essence of the roots of America, what took place before
our ancestors came over to America, what is taking place,
and what will be taking place. It is time we replenish
America's roots with native awareness, else America
continues its decaying, and ultimately, its death.

You can help. The 22-MINUTE SAND CREEK MASSACRE
DOCUMENTARY PRESENTATION/EDUCATIONAL DVD IS
READY FOR PURCHASE! (pass the word about this powerful
educational tool to friends, family, schools, parents, teachers,
and other related people and organizations to contact
me (dvasicek@earthlink.net, 303-903-2103) for information
about how they can purchase the DVD and have me come
to their children's school to show the film and to interact
in a questions and answers discussion about the Sand
Creek Massacre.

Happy Holidays!

Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103

"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=4
1
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html

SHOP:
http://www.manataka.org/page633.html
BuyIndies.com
donvasicek.com.

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


MUST SEE: PBS VIDEO NOTEBOOK: A DAY AT THE PLANT
NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa takes us inside the
world's largest pork processing plant, located in Tar Heel, North
Carolina. As the first TV journalist ever allowed to film inside the
plant, owned by The Smithfield Packing Company, Hinojosa gives
us an insider's view of what conditions are like in a plant that
slaughters over 33,000 hogs per day.
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/250/smithfield.html

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

Rights activist held in Oaxaca prison
Three students arrested and held incommunicado in Oaxaca
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/80142.html

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

TAX THE RICH! FEED THE POOR! MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS, NOT WAR!
www.bauaw.org
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

The following quote is from the 1918 anti-war speech delivered
in Canton, Ohio, by Eugene Debs. The address, protesting World War I,
resulted in Debs being arrested and imprisoned on charges of espionage.
The speech remains one of the great expressions of the militancy and
internationalism of the US working class.

His appeal, before sentencing, included one of his best-known quotes:
"...while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal
element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Read the complete speech at:
http://douglassarchives.org/debs_a78.htm

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
!VIVA FIDEL! LONG LIVE FIDEL! LONG LIVE THE CUBAN REVOLUTION!
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

My Name is Roland Sheppard
This Is My `Blog'
I am is a retired Business Representative of Painters District
Council #8 in San Francisco. I have been a life long social activist
and socialist. Roland Sheppard is a retired Business Representative
of Painters District Council #8 in San Francisco. I have been
a life long social activist and socialist.
Prior to my being elected as a union official, I had worked
for 31 years as a house painter and have been a lifelong socialist.
I have led a unique life. In my retire age, I am interested in writing
about my experiences as a socialist, as a participant in the Black
Liberation Movement, the Union Movement, and almost all social
movements.
I became especially interested in the environment when I was
diagnosed with cancer due to my work environment. I learned
how to write essays, when I first got a computer in order to put
together all the medical legal arguments on my breakthrough
workers' compensation case in California, proving that my work
environment as a painter had caused my cancer. After a five-year
struggle, I won a $300,000 settlement on his case.
The following essays are based upon my involvement in the
struggle for freedom for all humanity. I hope the history
of my life's experiences will help future generations
of Freedom Fighters.
For this purpose, this website is dedicated.
web.mac.com/rolandgarret/iWeb/Site/RolandSheppardsBlog.html

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

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/

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

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

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

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

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

Immigration video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tacK8MAfuAs

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

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

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

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

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

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/

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

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.

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

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