US launches major assault in Iraq
By Qassim Abdul-Zahra, AP
Published: 16 March 2006
US forces and the Iraqi army today launched what was
termed the largest air assault since the US-led invasion,
targeting insurgent strongholds north of the capital.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article351700.ece

ALL OUT SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 11:00 A.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.
STOP THE WAR!
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW
END COLONIAL OCCUPATION FROM IRAQ TO PALESTINE TO HAITI...
U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST!
FROM IRAQ TO NEW ORLEANS, FUND PEOPLE'S NEEDS,
NOT THE WAR MACHINE!
VOLUNTEER NOW: 415-821-6545
Endorse March 18 Global Day of Action
Volunteer Now! To get involved, call 415-821-6545
or email answer@actionsf.org
[If you would like to volunteer Saturday, show up at the
Civic Center at 9:00 A.M. and go to the ANSWER table
for an assignment.]

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Dear Friends,

The Justice in Palestine Coalition wishes to invite our brothers
and sisters in the Bay Area to participate in a contingent on
March 18, 2006, Commemorating the Third Anniversary
of the Occupation of Iraq

We will be Marching beneath the banner:

Stop Racism Against Arabs and Muslims!
Justice and Freedom for the people of Palestine, Iraq,
and the Middle East and South Asia.

The Justice in Palestine coalition sees the urgent need to
address the question of the rising anti-Arab and anti-Islamic
racism that has recently been dramatically exposed by media
coverage of current events (the cartoon affair, the Dubai ports
deal, the uproar over the Hamas elections, the recent talk of
"threat of civil war in Iraq", increasing military threats
against Iran, etc.)

A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed that the
percentage of Americans who have a negative view of Islam
has risen substantially to the extent that it is higher now
than it was in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Sadly, there is also evidence that a lack of clarity on this
issue can have a disorienting effect on the broader anti-war
movement and those we hope to reach as our allies.

We think it is our responsibility to march in the upcoming
March 18th demonstrations commemorating the third
anniversary of the occupation of Iraq, clearly carrying signs
that address the question of incitement against Arabs
and Muslims.

Our contingent will be meeting at 11am at the Civic
Center near the entrance to the parking garage on McAlester
Street. We hope you and your friends and families will join
us there. Together we can take a stand against racism,
and help stop the war.

If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please
feel free to contact us.

All the best to you as we look forward to hearing from you,

The Justice In Palestine Coalition

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Not in Our Name Bay Area - Special Event

Sunday, March 19 at Noon
Direct from Iraq, independent journalist Urban Hamid
Not in Our Name office (map)
3945 Opal Street, Oakland

Please RSVP as space is limited. Refreshments will be served.
Donation requested.

www.notinourname.net

phone: 510-601-8000
email: bayarea@notinourname.net
local: bayarea.notinourname.net

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Monday , March 20
4 p.m.
Military recruitment office
Stonestown Mall, San Francisco)
(across from Macy's at old Kinko's location)

Monday, March 20 will mark the THIRD YEAR of the war in Iraq. With the
majority of the country now against the war and the death toll of US
soldiers in Iraq over 2,300, we call upon the military to cease and desist its
aggressive tactics and not to recruit ONE MORE OF OUR YOUTH to suffer
in this illegal and immoral war! The vast majority of San Franciscans say
"Troops Out Now!" and many feel that the conflict in Iraq is only made worse by
the US presence there.

We will converge on the Marine Recruitment Center Monday at 4:00 PM,
joining with high school students in the area, college antiwar groups in the
Campus Antiwar Network, and antiwar activists throughout the Bay Area. We
will call upon the military not to recruit one more youth to war, and to leave our
community! Bring your signs, your noisemakers, and your love for peace!

Campus Antiwar Network is a grassroots collaboration of student
antiwar groups throughout the US. For more info please visit
www.campusantiwar.net.

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

DANGER: MILITARY “OPT OUT” FORMS
SIGNED BY 95% OF S.F. PARENTS
COULD BE MADE NULL AND VOID BY THE SFUSD!

“EQUAL ACCESS” FOR MILITARY RECRUITERS WILL BE
RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL ON:

TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 7:00 P.M.
Irving G. Breyer Board Meeting Room
555 Franklin Street, First Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102

In spite of a two-billion-dollar military recruitment advertising budget
outside of the schools, the "Equal Access for Recruiters" Board of
Education Policy (62-14Sp1) will allow two recruiters each from the
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard into schools
to recruit children each time colleges or employers bring notice
of scholarship, job or career opportunities to the students
at their schools!

SAN FRANCISCO VOTERS VOTED TO
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW IN 2005!

WE VOTED TO GET THE MILITARY
OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS IN 2006!

AND PARENTS HAVE MADE THEIR POSITION CLEAR!
THEY HAVE “OPTED OUT” OF MILITARY RECRUITMENT
BY A 95 PERCENT MAJORITY!

We urge you to get on the speakers list for the Board meeting
and come and register your outrage!

Add your name to the speakers list for the Tuesday, March 28th
meeting by calling: 415-241-6427 Monday between 8:00 a.m.
and 4:00 p.m., or Tuesday, between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

BAUAW COUNTER-PROPOSAL FOR ACTION
BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION:

Let it be district policy that, as long as this war is being
carried out against the will of the Iraqi people and, against
the will of the American people; and as long as the "No Child
Left Behind Act" is still in effect, the military will be given
a stall in the dirtiest bathroom or basement closet on school
or campus when they insist on coming! And huge warning
signs will be posted at the door and around school
and given to each student stating:

The material and information you receive from the military
is full of lies and false promises designed to get you to sign
up to risk your life in an unlawful, and unjust war. While,
under the current "No Child Left Behind Act," the school
can't legally prevent the military from coming on school
grounds without losing funding that will keep the school
open, we can and will warn all students of the deceitful
and unlawful attempts by the military to get students
to sign up.

STUDENTS BEWARE! DON'T BELIEVE A WORD THE MILITARY
SAYS! DON'T RELY ON THEIR CONTRACT WITH YOU! AS SOON
AS YOU JOIN, IT BECOMES NULL AND VOID AND YOU BELONG
TO THEM! YOUR LIFE WILL NO LONGER BE YOUR OWN! TURN
AWAY FROM MILITARY RECRUITMENT AND DON'T JOIN THE
MILITARY! GO TO THE COUNSELING OFFICE FOR INFORMATION
ON COLLEGE AND JOB TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES NOT
CONNECTED TO THE MILITARY! GO TO COLLEGE OR JOB
TRAINING NOT INTO COMBAT!

Note: There is nothing unlawful against protesting the
presence of the military in our schools. Further, the San
Francisco Board of Education will make it its urgent business
to organize against the "No Child Left Behind Act" on a national
level by contacting school districts around the country
to protest this act of holding our children and their schools
hostage for military recruitment purposes. All parents and
the community will be notified well in advance of when
and where the military will show up next so that they can
choose to keep their children home on that day or to
organize and/or participate in a protest of the presence
of the military since they are clearly not wanted in this district.

www.bauaw.org
415-824-8730

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

Troops Out Now Coalition Statement on Withdrawal from Iraq

On the 3rd Anniversary of the war, let's make our message clear:

A Call to Unite Around the Demand for an:

Immediate
Complete
Unconditional
Withdrawal of All Occupying Forces from Iraq

The best way that the antiwar movement can mark the third
anniversary of the criminal war and occupation of Iraq
is to unite around the demand for an immediate,
unconditional and complete withdrawal of all occupying
troops from Iraq.

Immediate - not in 10 years or in six months--as soon
as it takes to put soldiers on planes and bring them home.
Not waiting for the "Iraqi" army to be trained or for the
establishment of a government subject to U.S. control,
or for any other reasons that really only amount to one
thing: an excuse to justify and extend the occupation.

Complete - not in phases, not with bases left behind,
not redeployment across the border, but a complete
removal of all occupying forces from all Iraqi territory.

Unconditional - The Iraqi people have an absolute right
to govern themselves today, without any conditions
imposed on them by Bush and Halliburton.

The principal argument advanced against the immediate
and complete withdrawal of all occupation troops is that
the occupation must continue until Iraq is stabilized
in order to establish democracy and prevent a civil war.
The basic premise underlying this argument is the racist
assumption that the people of Iraq are somehow inherently
incapable of governing themselves, and require the
paternal tutelage of the U.S. We believe that the Iraqi
people have the ability and the absolute right to govern
themselves, without the presence of any occupying forces.

However, stabilizing Iraq was never an objective of the
invasion. Ted Koppel's op-ed in the Feb.24 New York
Times made this clear. Koppel explained that oil has been
the driving force of U.S. policy in the Middle East for "more
than a half-century," and was the motive for the CIA
overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh 53 years ago.
He concluded, “The reason for America’s rapt attention
to the security of the Persian Gulf is what is has always been.
It’s about the oil.”

U.S. troops are in Iraq to subjugate the people in order
to ensure U.S. control of the Iraqi people's oil reserves.
If the troops are there tomorrow, they will be there for
the same reason. If they are there in six months or ten
years, this will still be their goal. Stability and democracy
has never been and will never be the goal of this brutal
occupation.

If an armed gang invaded your home, destroyed much of
the furnishings and tortured and killed members of your
family--the idea of asking them to hang around with their
guns to help fix up the place would be absurd. You would
want them out immediately--not on a timetable, not when
they decided that they had trained you in how to put your
house in order, not when they had finished robbing you--
but immediately.

We've all seen the photos of what the invasion and occupation
have done -- the devastation wrought by U.S. bombers,
the torture and abuse at U.S. prison camps. The U.S.
announced on March 9 that it would soon be opening
a new prison at Camp Cropper to take over the work
of the torture chambers at Abu Ghraib. This new prison
camp will join some 38 U.S.

Donate to help mobilize for March 18 & 19

military-run detention centers where Iraqi people
are routinely abused and held in conditions clearly
violating international law. There is no justification
for these crimes to continue one more day.

Moreover, the U.S.-led occupation is not preventing
civil war, it is fomenting it. The violence plaguing Iraq
today is the direct result of the occupation. There are
some strategists in the Pentagon and the CIA that even
look at civil war as an opportunity to carve up the country,
based on a divide-and-rule strategy. As Gen. William E. Odom,
former head of the National Security Agency, said, "We
created the civil war when we invaded; we can't prevent
a civil war by staying." Those concerned about the violence
in Iraq should demand that the occupying forces, who are
the cause of that violence, leave today.

The problem with “phased withdrawal” and relying
on politicians for answers

It is critical that the antiwar movement steer clear of taking
any position that condones the continuation of the criminal
invasion and occupation of Iraq for even another hour.

One reason why antiwar activism is not as consistent and
militant as it should be, despite the overwhelming opposition
to the war, is that it has not rallied around a clear and
principled position independent of the politics of the two
major parties. Instead, many are inclined towards a strategy
of tying the antiwar movement to the small number of politicians
who offer some mild criticism of the war, in the hopes that
this will make the movement broader and more credible.

The problem with this strategy is that with a few rare exceptions,
the antiwar positions of the most outspoken elected officials
have at best been inconsistent and weak. Despite overwhelming
public opposition to the war, no one in leadership of either
the Democratic or Republican Parties questions the legitimacy
of the war or offers any real opposition. Instead, they are trying
to repackage their war plans as an antiwar position, under the
cover of "phased withdrawal" or "redeployment." The antiwar
movement gains nothing whatsoever, and has much to lose,
by cooperating with this deception.

A phased withdrawal may sound like a realistic solution, but
is dangerous because drawing down or redeploying 5,000 or
30,000 troops is calculated to take the steam out of the
opposition to the war and the antiwar movement.

A phased withdrawal plan would give the Bush regime the
opportunity to prolong the occupation, including plenty of
time to finish implementation of permanent military outposts
the Pentagon is planning to leave in place throughout the
Middle East and surrounding regions.

Phased withdrawal is just the Bush plan dressed up in antiwar
clothing--the Bush Administration always planned to withdraw
some troops, as soon as the conquest of Iraq was complete,
permanent U.S. bases were built, and the oil revenues were
under U.S. control.

Many who oppose the war have gravitated to Rep. Murtha's
criticism of President Bush's handing of the war. But Murtha,
who fervently championed the invasion of Iraq from the
beginning, is not calling for an end to the war. What he
is calling for is "redeployment," which is another cover
for continuing the war with different tactics.

His proposal doesn’t call for the troops to come home.
It calls for a partial, phased withdrawal, with troops being
redeployed to Kuwait, ready to intervene in Iraq or elsewhere
in the region. Marines and Special Forces would remain in
Iraq, supported by U.S. bombers and gunships. Under his
plan, U.S. bases would remain in Iraq, and U.S. corporations
would continue to control the Iraqi economy under the guise
of reconstruction. This is not a plan to end the war; it is an
attempt to market the continuation of the occupation to
an antiwar crowd.

The antiwar movement doesn't need to seek legitimacy
anywhere, especially not from politicians who supported
and helped plan the illegitimate and criminal war.

While there’s nothing wrong with getting politicians to speak
at the big antiwar rallies, we cannot look to them or depend
on them for leadership. When we do, our movement is pulled
in a direction that weakens us, sacrifices our independence,
and demobilizes us.

Political positions have a direct bearing on how a movement
struggles, or even if it engages in struggle at all. Adapting
to a soft position, like phased withdrawal or redeployment,
gives people the message that there's no need to mobiize
on the streets to bring the troops home now--just wait for
the politicians to work out the details of the withdrawal.
If the movement were united around the demand for an
immediate, complete, unconditional withdrawal, this would
elevate, intensify, and clarify the struggle against the war.

In the early days of the occupation, some called for the
Pentagon to hand authority over the occupation to the
United Nations. It’s likely that this position will be taken
up again by some, as part of a phased withdrawal plan.
We should be wary of the UN solution. As much as we
wish that it were otherwise, more often than not the UN
does not act in the interest of the people of the world,
but in the interests of the U.S. government, the governments
of the major European countries, and the corporate interests
that those governments represent. In Haiti, as in so many
other instances, the UN has merely provided a cover for what
is in essence a U.S. occupation, and has engaged in gross
human rights violations. It was the UN, on behalf of Wall
Street and Washington, that sanctioned the first Gulf War
and the genocidal sanctions against Iraq that killed
between 1.5 and two million people.

The people of Iraq are not likely to accept another foreign
occupation whose only distinction from the present one
is superficial. Ultimately, it’s up to the people of Iraq to
determine what role if any the UN or any other force should
play in rebuilding their country.

As opposition to the war continues to grow, and the
bipartisan lies about Iraq are exposed to the whole world,
the antiwar movement has a tremendous opportunity.
But to seize this opportunity, it needs a clear, independent
message.

We need to unify around the demand for an immediate,
unconditional and complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.

What you can do to help build March 18:

- Endorse -
Add your name to the growing list of hundreds of endorsers
who say "Troops Out Now!

- Donate - Help
us with the massive costs of mobilizing coast to coast --
sound and stage, printing tens of thousands of leaflets,
organizing buses, and much move.

- List Your Local Activity


---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
DEFEND FREE SPEECH!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH AT PACE UNIVERSITY
BACKGROUND INFO:

Dear Friends:

Yesterday we (Brian Kelly and Lauren Giaccone) were threatened with
disciplinary actions ranging from warnings to expulsion: all for holding
a peaceful rally, handing out educational flyers about Bill Clinton’s war
crimes, and holding regular CAN/SDS meetings at our school.

Yesterday, the Pace University Dean of Students disrupted our regular
joint Campus Antiwar Network (C.A.N.) and Students for a Democratic
Society (S.D.S.) meeting citing a university policy against "unrecognized
student organizations" reserving or using university space. This occurred
after an event we held on Sunday where I (Brian Kelly) called Bill Clinton
a "war criminal" with my friend and fellow anti-war activist Lauren Giaccone,
citing his atrocities around the world during his presidency. We were not
charged with any violation; however, we were detained and threatened
by both Secret Service agents and various police officers.

For more information about what happened at the event, including the
threats made to us and the illegal searches that occurred please visit
the following link:

http://leftist.ws/2006/03/08/why-i-called-bill-clinton-a-war-criminal/

When I got back to my dorm I found:

An envelope from my university on the ground near my front door. Inside
the envelope was a letter from Pace stating that they are pursuing disciplinary
actions against me for the following:

1. Failure to register a rally
2. Violation of distribution and solicitation policy
3. Reservation of university space by an unrecognized organization

These charges are an attempt to stop us from voicing our opinions
and exercising our constitutional rights to free speech, press, and
assembly. Pace’s message to students and the community is clear:
We do not recognize constitutional rights.

Any of these charges can carry penalties ranging from verbal warnings
to expulsion.

We believe the only chance to challenge these charges is to make
sure that Pace knows that the world is watching them.

We are challenging President Caputo and the University not only on
this instance, but also on their attack on civil liberties around the
university, their enforced apolitical atmosphere, their union-busting
activities, and the presence of Homeland Security agents on campus.

Thanks for your support!
Brian Kelly
President, Pace Campus Antiwar Network
kelly@leftist.ws

FOR ONGOING UPDATES:
http://www.campusantiwar.net/

SAMPLE LETTER:

To: Pace University
Dear David Caputo, President of Pace University:
president@pace.edu
campus “hotline” 1-866-PAC-E001

We are outraged that your school is charging two students, Brian Kelly
and Lauren Giaccone, with potential expulsion from school for engaging
in a peaceful protest.

In the interest of free speech, we demand that you drop ALL charges
against Brian and Lauren, and that your administration cease any
harassment of the Pace University Campus Antiwar Network, Students
for a Democratic Society, and any other activist organizations.

Sincerely,
the undersigned
To add your name go to:

http://www.traprockpeace.org/pace_repression/

OPEN LETTER TO:

David A. Caputo
President
Pace University
president@pace.edu
campus “hotline” 1-866-PAC-E001

Dear President Caputo,

The news of the persecution of Brian Kelly and Lauren Giaccone
for holding an antiwar meeting on the campus is extremely
distressing. The purpose for campus rules that require pre-
registration of groups and meetings is to prevent violence or
other illegal activities from taking place on the campus not
to prevent the peaceful exercise of free speech and assembly.

The real perpetrators of illegalities and violence--the U.S.
Military--are the ones that should be banned from campus
and brought up on charges for disseminating lies about
military service such as assuring enlistees that they do not
have to fight but can have careers in such fields as "electric
guitar player" or "doctor" instead--which is a blatant lie and
act of overt and covert deception. Are these promises designed
to honestly recruit the "best of the best?" NO! These recruitment
techniques are designed to recruit the most economically
desperate and naive of students.

The recent Supreme Court ruling upholding "equal access"
to students in colleges and High Schools for the military is just
a way to circumvent the "opt-out" forms that both parents and
students have signed to keep the military away--to keep the
lies away.

The function of any school is to promote the lives and future
of our kids not to promote their road to death and possibly
severe injury that could end any chance of a decent future
for them.

The military doesn't need your help! They have a two billion
dollar budget this year alone for recruitment advertising with
McCann/Erickson, a major advertising agency. And they are
actively spreading these lies about one's "choices" in military
service. But, once you take your second oath you become
military property to do with as they please and all of your rights
are suspended and all of the promises that the military gave--
even contracts that they sign with enlistees--are made null and
void by taking that second oath.

Already, over a third of returning veterans are seeking psychological
assistance from public health facilities and are suffering from
depression and post traumatic stress syndrome because the cause
for what they signed up for turned out to be a bunch of lies.
Instead they have experienced an entire population--the people
of Iraq--expressing their overwhelming desire for the U.S. Troops
to get out of their country. They are not welcomed by the people
of Iraq with open arms as the enlistees were told.

And, most importantly, the Iraqi people's hatred for the U.S.
Intervention into their country is completely justified! The
analogy of murderous people entering your home, killing
family members, destroying your home, torturing and
imprisoning children and grandparents, stealing or destroying
all that you own and then expecting that those very same people
be asked to undo what they have done is insane!

This war is dead, dead, dead wrong! These students should be
hailed as heroes! And, our institutions of higher learning as well
as our public school system should be actively fighting to get the
military out of the schools. They should be universally demanding
that schools be off-limits to these military organizations who are
carrying out mass murder and turning innocent kids who just want
a good life for themselves and their families into murderers too!

The schools and universities--teachers and professors AND
ADMINISTRATORS--should be actively fighting against such laws
as "No Child Left Behind" that holds our children's education and
funding of the schools as ransom to the military--a law that ties
school funding to open hunting season of our kids year-round
to military ghouls!

The constitution expressly states that people have the right
to peacefully protest and demonstrate their opposition to government
policy. No rules can be designed to circumvent the constitution--
even on college campuses!

As long as this war is being carried out against the will of the
Iraqi people and, against the will of the American people; and
as long as the "no child left behind" law is still in effect, the military
should be given a stall in the dirtiest bathroom on campus as their
headquarters! And huge warning signs should be posted at the
door stating:

"The material and information you receive from the military is full
of lies and false promises designed to get you to sign up to risk
your life in an unlawful, and unjust war. While the university/school
can't legally prevent the military from coming on campus without
losing funding that will keep the school open, we can warn our
students of their deceitful and unlawful attempts to get them to sign up.
STUDENTS BEWARE AND TURN AWAY FROM THIS MILITARY RECRUITMENT
TOILET AND DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY."

The administration COULD do this and not be in defiance
with "no child left behind."

It us the only thing a school with a conscience can do.

The whole world is watching what your school does in this circumstance.
We demand that you drop all charges against the students and their lawful,
peaceful organizations and carry out the will of the majority of Americans
and protest the hunting of more cannon fodder for this murderous war
in our places of learning.

Be creative! Use all the means at your disposal to fight this unconstitutional
requirement to keep the military on our school campuses--including the
Reserve and Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. Let them train in a toilet
as well!

Schools should be a safe haven not a hunting grounds for death and destruction!

This message will be circulated far and wide!

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
www.bauaw.org

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OPEN LETTER TO:
Dr. Monte Moses, Superintendent
Cherry Creek Schools

RE:

Teach vs. speech
How should public schools handle hot controversy in class?
A teacher's Comments on Bush stoke an ever-simmering debate
By Karen Rouse and Robert Sanchez
Denver Post Staff Writers
DenverPost.com
Article Launched: 3/03/2006 01:00 AM
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3564246

and:

Right-Wing Attack Dogs Go after a Colorado High School Teacher
by Michael D. Yates
March 3, 2006
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/yates030306.html

And some of the "criminal" comments made by Jay Bennish:

"Among other things, Mr. Bennish asked his class which country
has the most weapons of mass destruction and answered the
United States.  He suggested that capitalism was inimical
to human rights and that the U.S. wants to create by military
force if necessary a world in its own image.  He suggested that
there were chilling similarities between Bush's words and those
of Hitler.  Right on the mark if you ask me!  Meanwhile, the
moronic Gunny Bob said that Bennish criticized capitalism
but was a capitalist himself (because he gets paid a wage?).
Finally, on March 3, the Denver Post noted that, near the end
of the recording, Mr. Bennish told his students, "You have
to figure this stuff out for yourselves. . . . I'm not in any way
implying that you should agree with me. . . . What I'm trying
to get you to do is think about these issues more in depth
and not just to take things from the surface."  And, "I'm glad
you [those students who challenged him] asked all of your
questions because they're all very good, legitimate questions." 
Sounds like a real brain washer to me!"

Dr. Monte Moses, Superintendent
Cherry Creek Schools
Phone: 720-554-4213
Email:
4700 South Yosemite Street
Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111
Phone: 303-773-1184
Fax: 303-773-9884

Dear Dr. Moses,

I am appalled to read these articles and learn that geography
teacher, Jay Bennish, who teaches at Overland High School
in Aurora, Colorado is in trouble and out of work for things
he said in an honors geography class. What happened to
freedom of speech and for the right of students and teachers
to discuss freely the current events of the day. How can this
be avoided in a subject like geography?

Are our teachers to be given a script to read in the classroom
and the admonition to prohibit any discussion that deviates
from that script?

And, even more outrageous, is the School District going to
dance to the tune of right-wing radio announcers? Is this
what our educational system is going to come to? Is congress
ready to appoint Bill O'Reiley and Fox's Hannity and Colmes
to head the Department of Education?

This is an outrageous travesty of justice that won't be
tolerated and has already attracted the attention of
people throughout our country.

Put Jay Bennish back to work with all of his back pay
(if he has lost any) and keep right-wing radio out
of the classroom!

Teachers like Jay are beacons of light and should be
cherished! His comments as reprinted above show
that he is the voice of reason.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
Www.bauaw.org


VOTE ON LINE FOR JAY BENNISH AND FREE SPEECH:
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/rockytalklive/

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SCROLL DOWN TO READ:
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
ARTICLES IN FULL
LINKS ONLY

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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
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COME TO THE NEXT BOARD MEETING TO
DEMAND THAT THE S.F. BOARD OF EDUCATION
CUT ALL SCHOOL TIES TO THE MILITARY!
TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 7:00 P.M.
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Irving G. Breyer Board Meeting Room
555 Franklin Street, First Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102

Please note: the "Equal Access for Recruiters" Board
of Education Policy (62-14Sp1) is designed to
circumvent and essentially un-do the "opt out"
forms signed by the overwhelming majority
(95 percent) of parents in the SFUSD who
DON'T want the military to contact their kids!
"Equal Access for Recruiters" (62-14Sp1)
will come before the board at this meeting
for final approval. It has been recommended
8-0 by the Curriculum Committee.

It is urgent we turn out to protest this
resolution!

If you wish to speak at the Board meeting
Tuesday, March 14, Call: 241-6427 to get on the speakers list.
Monday between 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, between 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Text of Resolution No. 62-14Sp1 – Authorization to Approve Board
Policy Regarding Equal Access for Recruiters

[DRAFT] BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY (62-14Sp1)

Equal Access for Recruiters

Recruiters of all types (including but not limited to employment,
education, service opportunities, military or military alternatives)
shall be given equal access to San Francisco Unified School District
high schools. The principal at each school shall determine the
frequency with which recruiters may visit, but in order to be in
compliance with the equal access rule, each recruiter shall be
granted the opportunity to visit any single campus at least as
frequently as any other recruiter. For purposes of this policy,
each branch of the military is considered to be a separate
recruiting organization.

This recruitment policy must be posted throughout the year.
At a minimum, these rules shall be posted in the school’s
main office, counseling center, career center, and on the
District’s website.

All recruiters must comply with the following guidelines:

• Recruiters must obtain the written permission of the principal
or designee to be on campus. Such permission may be granted
for the full year;
• Recruiters must contact the principal or designee prior to
their visit to schedule specific times to be on campus, and
the monthly schedule for such visits must be posted at a
minimum in the school’s main office, counseling center,
and career center;
• All recruiters must sign in and sign out in the school’s
main office each time they visit the campus;
• Recruiters shall limit all recruiting activities to the specific
area designated by the principal or designee. This designated
area must be within a specific confined space on the campus
(such as a classroom or office); recruiters may not roam the
campus or grounds. Recruiters may not pursue or approach
students; recruiting activities may only be directed at students
who affirmatively approach the recruiter for information.
• The principal or designee may permit recruiters to leave
information in a designated area. Such information must be
dated and clearly identify a contact name and number that
students, staff or others may call if there are questions
about the information;
• If the principal or designee designates such an area for
recruiter information, the area must include a clearly visible
sign that states that SFUSD and the school do not endorse
or sponsor the materials;
• All recruiters must clearly identify the organization that
they are recruiting for: military recruiters must be in uniform,
and all other recruiters must wear identification that similarly
indicates the organization that they are recruiting for;
• Recruiters may not take students out of the designated
recruitment area or off campus;
• No more than two recruiters from each organization
may recruit on campus at one time.

Recruiters of all types are cautioned to remember that the
primary goal of the SFUSD high schools is to educate students.
Recruiting activities that are disruptive or that interfere with the
traditional activities of a given school day are not permitted.

Recruiters who harass students or staff, provide misleading
or untrue information, or who do not comply with applicable
state and federal laws or SFUSD rules or policies may have their
organization’s permission to recruit on campus revoked for the
remainder of the semester, or the semester following the infraction
if the infraction occurs after the fifteenth week of the semester.
The principal or designee, in his or her discretion, may provide
students with access to information to correct any misleading
or untrue information provided by such recruiter(s), if available.

The principal shall retain copies of the recruitment calendars and
sign-in sheets and provide such copies to the Assistant
Superintendent for High Schools by June 30th of each year.

SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
San Francisco, California

Superintendent’s Proposal

No. 62-14Sp1 AUTHORIZATION TO APPROVE BOARD POLICY
REGARDING EQUAL ACCESS FOR RECRUITERS

REQUESTED ACTION:

That the Board of Education approves a new Board Policy regarding
Equal Access for Recruiters. This policy provides for equal access
to SFUSD high schools for all types of recruiters, including but not
limited to employment, education, service opportunities, military
or military alternatives. The policy also outlines the guidelines and
restrictions related to recruiting activities and access.

OPEN LETTER TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BOARD OF EDUCATION:

Dear Board Members,

The group I am with, Bay Area United Against War, has been actively
campaigning against military recruitment in our schools. The recent
decision by the Supreme Court making "equal access" mandatory in
order to receive "No Child Left Behind" (NCLF) funds dictates that
we take action against this order since it is clearly against the wishes
of the majority of voters who voted for Proposition I, to get the military
out of our schools, and the overwhelming majority parents of the San
Francisco Unified School District who signed the "OPT OUT" forms to
keep the military away from their kids.

Instead of adopting a policy, i.e., Education Policy (62-14Sp1), that
facilitates the complete circumvention of the "OPT OUT" forms and
ignores the wishes of the both the voters and the parents of San
Francisco to keep the military away from our kids, the school district
could and should make these military visits as unpleasant as possible.

I suggest that as long as this war is being carried out against the
will of the Iraqi people and, against the will of the American people; and
as long as the "No Child Left Behind Act" is still in effect, the military
should be given a stall in the dirtiest bathroom or basement closet on
school or campus when they insist on coming! And huge warning signs
should be posted at the door and around school stating:

"The material and information you receive from the military is full
of lies and false promises designed to get you to sign up to risk
your life in an unlawful, and unjust war. While, under the current "No
Child Left Behind Act," the school can't legally prevent the military
from coming on school grounds without losing funding that will
keep the school open, we can and will warn students of the deceitful
and unlawful attempts by the military to get them to sign up.

STUDENTS BEWARE! DON'T BELIEVE A WORD THE MILITARY SAYS!
DON'T RELY ON THEIR CONTRACT WITH YOU! AS SOON AS YOU
JOIN IT BECOMES NULL AND VOID AND YOU BELONG TO THEM!
YOUR LIFE WILL NO LONGER BE YOUR OWN! TURN AWAY FROM
MILITARY RECRUITMENT AND DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY! GO TO
THE COUNSELING OFFICE FOR INFORMATION ON COLLEGE AND
JOB TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES NOT CONNECTED TO THE MILITARY!
GO TO COLLEGE OR JOB TRAINING NOT INTO COMBAT!"

There is nothing unlawful against protesting the presence of the
military in our schools. Further, the San Francisco Board of Education
should make it its urgent business to organize against the "No Child
Left Behind Act" on a national level by contacting school districts around
the country to protest this act of holding our children and their schools
hostage for military recruitment purposes.

The military does not need our help. They have a two billion dollar
advertising budget with McCann/Erickson, a huge advertising agency,
for the purposes of military recruitment of young people. They publish
slick brochures that tell kids they can be anything from a musician
to a rocket scientist if they just serve their country for a few years.
Yet less than ten percent of all enlistees ever get money for college.
And, sadly, some don't ever come home at all.

If the school district must take the money, they should at least make
the military pay the consequences of disregarding the wishes of the
school community in San Francisco by boldly protesting their presence
each and every time they come to a school.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
www.bauaw.org

.......................................................

Planning Meeting for the Luis Primo
Speaking Event on March 25, 2006
7:00 PM, Thursday, March 9, 2006
Socialist Action Bookstore
298 Valencia Street
(corner of 14th Street), San Francisco

Primo has his passport in hand and his tickets have been
secured; the UNT is eager for him to visit the US and tell the
Venezuelan story! Let’s roll up our sleeves and make this happen!
Everyone is urged to attend this planning meeting. We will go
over all the many tasks and assignments in preparation for this
most important event.

If you have suggestions for where we can distribute fliers at
upcoming events, please make a suggestion.
There is one special task we need help on now:
Who can translate the flier into Spanish?
If you need leaflets to distribute, we will have them at the meeting!

Call Hands Off Venezuela 415-786-1680
for more information or email: sfbay@ushov.org

.......................................................

March for Peace: Latino Voices of Opposition to Iraq War!
http://humane-rights-agenda.blogspot.com/2006/03/march-for-peace-latino-voices-of.html

On March 12, 2006 Fernando Suarez del Solar, Pablo Paredes,
Camilo Mejia and Aidan Delgado will lead a coalition of the
willing across a 241 mile quest for peace that aims at raising
Latino voice of opposition to the War in Iraq. The
March will run from Tijuana, Mexico all the way to
The Mission district of San Francisco making strategic, symbolic
and ceremonial stops along the way.

The 241 mile march is inspired by Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March
protesting British imperialism and will serve as a loud cry for
an end to the bloodshed in Iraq.

more info see

http://www.swiftsmartveterans.com/

War resisters and conscientious objectors Pablo Paredes
and Aidan Delgado are coming to the Bay Area to speak
at about 20 events! including at least 9 public events,
from Sacramento to Watsonville, as well as Oakland,
San Francisco, Berkeley, Davis and San Rafael. 
Additional speaking events are scheduled at schools. 
 
The schedule for the public events of the speaking
tour and a high resolution flyer are now available at
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/paredes/paredes.htm.

Pablo Paredes will be in the Bay Area from Feb 27 – Mar 5,
and Aidan Delgado from Mar 2 – Mar 5. 
 
Please circulate widely, and we hope to see you
at least at one event!
 
Steve
Check out the online January '06 Objector -
http://www.objector.org/magazine.html
 
Steve Morse
GI Rights Program Coordinator
Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO)
405 14th St., Suite #205, Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 465-1617 or (888) 231-2226,
Fax: 510-465-2459 www.objector.org

For discharge information, visit: www.girights.org
GI Rights Hotline:  (800) 394-9544
 
General, your tank is a mighty vehicle. It shatters the
forest and crushes a hundred men. But it has one
defect: it needs drivers.

General, your bomber is awesome. It flies faster
than a hurricane and bears more than an elephant. 
But it has one defect: it needs a mechanic.

General, a man is quite expendable.  He can fly
and can kill.  But he has one defect: he can think.                  

Bertolt Brecht

.......................................................

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org
sf@internationalanswer.org
2489 Mission St. Rm. 24
San Francisco: 415-821-6545

Make a tax-dedctible donation to A.N.S.W.E.R.
by credit card over a secure server, 
learn how to donate by check.

Postering for March 18 Anti-war Protest - Volunteer Now!
A.N.S.W.E.R. ACTIVIST MEETING
TUESDAYs, 7PM
2489 Mission St. Room 24 (at 21st St.) SF,
near 24th St. BART
Now more than ever, the anti-war movement needs
to reach out to the thousands of people who are turning
against the war and occupation of Iraq. Your help is needed.
Call the ANSWER office for the schedule to go out in teams to poster
for an hour or two. Pick up flyers, posters and stickers
at the ANSWER office at 2489 Mission St. Room 30.
Your help is needed!
Call 415-821-6545 for hours.

...............................................................

WALKIN TO NEW ORLEANS
MARCH 14 THROUGH MARCH 19, 2006
http://vetgulfmarch.org/

Veterans For Peace (VFP), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW),
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), Military Families
Speak Out (MFSO), and Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP),
at the call of the Mobile Veterans For Peace Chapter #130,
will conduct a march between Mobile, AL, and New Orleans,
LA, from March 14-19, 2006 -- the third anniversary of the
invasion and occupation of Iraq.

This historical event highlights the connections between the
economic and human cost of war in the Middle East and the
failure of our government to respond to human needs at
home, especially the needs of poor people and people of color.

The government's negligent and often hostile response to
hurricane survivors is mirrored by that same government's
continued commitment to an illegal, immoral war fought
at a staggering cost.

These are twin disasters, and the veterans of wars abroad
along with the survivors of Katrina and Rita are joining
together for this march and caravan to establish ties of
material solidarity between those who oppose the war abroad
and the social and economic costs for working people at home.

ADVISORY: Spring Break corresponds to the march.
If you plan to get plane tickets to Mobile and from
New Orleans, book them early.
...............................................................

NATIONAL WEEK OF CAMPUS ACTION
Week of March 13-17
Students Say NO to War in Iraq!
College Not Combat, Troops Out Now!

(*Spring break alternative: Schools on spring
break during March 13-17
will hold events the week of March 20)

Student week of action coordinated by the
Campus Antiwar Network
http://www.campusantiwar.net
RecruitersOut@yahoo.com

Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org

...........................................................

Third Anniversary of "Shock and Awe"
Saturday, March 18, 2006, 11:00 a.m.
CIVIC CENTER
San Francisco

Monday, March 20, 2006
Youth and Student Day
of Resistance to Imperialism

http://www.answercoalition.org/

...........................................................

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New play by local writer Tommi Avicolli Mecca

Following on the heels of his critically acclaimed
one-man show last year, local author and activist
Tommi Avicolli Mecca is debuting his new work, "the
aching in god's heart," March 16-18, 8pm and March 19
at 5pm at Theatre St. Boniface, 175 Golden
Gate/Leavenworth.

The play takes a hard look at the meaning of love and
family. Sofia, a dutiful daughter who has given up
everything to take care of la famiglia, is suddenly
forced to face the truth about her life of devotion.
"The play really looks at the conflict that develops
between 'la via vecchia' (the old ways) of the
immigrant generation and those of the first generation
born here in America. It's the Italian/American story
we don't see on TV or in the movies," says author
Avicolli Mecca.

The cast includes Renee Saucedo, Diana Hartman,
Giancarlo Campagna and Avicolli Mecca.

The four performances of "aching" will benefit four
local nonprofits: Housing Rights Committee, Day
Laborers Program, St. Boniface Neighborhood Center and
the Family Link. Admission is $10 but no one will be
turned away for lack of funds. Bring a check for your
favorite nonprofit. To reserve tickets, call (415)
861-5848.

...........................................................

SATURDAY, MARCH 18 AND 25
VENEZUELA AT THE CROSSROADS
Workers on the Move

Luis Primo, Venezuelan Labor Leader to Speak in San Francisco

The U.S. Hands Off Venezuela Campaign invites you to hear
Luis Primo, a central leader of the Venezuelan National Union
of Workers (UNT), the new labor federation in Venezuela
which has replaced its corrupt predecessor which supported
the U.S.-backed attempted coup against President Chavez.
Luis Primo will address the antiwar rally on Saturday, March 18
and will speak at a public meeting on Saturday, March 25.

Currently, Primo is a Regional Coordinator for the UNT
(Caracas-Miranda), he heads the Union/Political Education
for the UNT on the national level, and works with the Ministry
of Labor on the Committee on the Recovered Factories.
Primo will be running for the National Leadership of the
UNT at its upcoming congress this spring.

Hands Off Venezuela has been organized around the
principle that the people of Venezuela should be able
to determine their own destiny, without the interference
of foreign governments, particularly the U.S. government.
We have organized numerous educational events to inform
people in this country about the important events unfolding
in Venezuela so that people here can have an informed position.
Without the truth, people are in no position to act.

We hope that Luis Primo's visit to California will be one
of many exchanges between Venezuelan and American
trade unionists. In addition to speaking in San Francisco, he will
be touring the West Coast where he will speak in a half-dozen
cities. To make this possible, Hands Off Venezuela Campaign
has launched a fund raising drive to cover the many expenses
of the tour. Volunteers are needed to help organize the event,
and donations of any amount are greatly appreciated.
Donations can be sent to: HOV, 4579 18th St., San Francisco,
CA 94114. Letters of support or endorsements of the tour are
also appreciated and can be sent to sfbay@ushov.org.

When and Where:
7 pm, Saturday, March 25, 2006
ILWU Local 34 Hall, 4 Berry St., San Francisco
(Located next door to SBC Park.
Take MUNI N line toward SBC Park.)

Partial List of Endorsers

Dolores Huerta
San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
South Bay Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
Contra Costa Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
Vanguard Public Foundation
San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper
Alan Benjamin, Executive Board, SF Labor Council, Co-coordinator Open
World Conference
Fred Hirsch, Vice President of Plumbers and Fitters Local 393, San Jose
California
Gloria LaRiva, President, Local 39521 Media Workers Sector/CWA*
Louie Rocha, President CWA Local 9423*
Global Exchange
Chris Gilbert and Karen Bennett, MATRIX Program*, UC Berkeley Art
Museum*
Dorinda Moreno, Hitec Aztec Communications, Santa Maria, CA.
Cesar Chavez Lifetime Achievement Legacy Award, 2003
National Network on Cuba
Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives
Todd Chretien, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, California
Peace and Freedom Party

* for identification purposes only

Admission: $5, $3 seniors, unemployed, and students

For more information, call 415-786-1680 or email sfbay@ushov.org

labor donated

...........................................................

Power in Eden:
Emergence of Gender Hierarchies
in the Ancient World

With Bruce Lerro

4 Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 March 19th, 26th, April 2nd, April 9th
Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph (cross-street Alcatraz)

-How Relevant is Engels’ Origin of the Family,
Private Property and the State in the light of over one-hundred
years of anthropology and archeology?

-To what extent was “primitive communism” egalitarian
in terms of gender relations?

-When in history does individualism start? Is it a product
of capitalism or does it go back further?

-Agricultural State Civilizations (The Asiatic Mode
of Production) were the most oppressive to women in history.
Why was there no women’s movement in the ancient world?

Bruce Lerro has been teaching and writing about the origins
of class and gender inequalities for the past fifteen years.
He has lectured at New College of California and teaches
regularly at Golden Gate University, Dominican University,
John F. Kennedy University and Diablo Valley College.
He is the author of Power in Eden: Emergence of Gender
Hierarchies in the Ancient World, Trafford Press, 2005.

Format
Initial Talk—broadly discussing all four questions

Part I—In Depth Reading and Discussion of each of the
Four Questions

Part II –Optional—In Depth Reading and Discussion of Other
Chapters in the text.

This will be determined by Bruce and the class participants

Pedagogy

The initial talk will be a lecture with brief discussion
at the end of each question

For all four classes in part one there will be assigned
readings during the week and each class will be
a discussion of the readings. We will discuss clarification
as well as substantive questions each week.
There will be no lecture.

Required Reading: Power in Eden: Emergence
of Gender Hierarchies in the Ancient World

My Approach
I consider myself a Marxist-materialist and I believe
that the Marxian tradition must be informed and
enriched by over one hundred years of research.
I consider Marxism a method rather than a scholastic dogma.
What You May Learn
-The process of female subordination was a very gradual
and had super-structural and psychological components
as well as economic
-Engels was right about some things and wrong about others
-A provocative stage theory about how male dominance originated
-There are well-researched conditions under which women
will or will not be likely to rebel

......................................................................

April 7-9, 2006
Quality Inn (Located On US 31)
Kokomo, Indiana 46902
Meeting Introductions 7:ooPM Friday
Saturday & Sunday Begin With Registration At 8:00AM

Working people are under attack as never before. The institutions on
which workers have dependedˆthe Democratic Party and the unions have
utterly failed to defend us. Democratic as well as Republican
politicians support the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, savage cuts in
social programs, outsourcing jobs, attacking public education,
rewriting bankruptcy laws to benefit credit card companies. Union
officials work with corporations to cut wages, rob retirees of their
pensions, impose wage tiers, cut health care. They replace worker
solidarity with worker-against-worker Company Teams. They support the
war-makers in DC.

Meanwhile most working people, blue-collar and white-collar, employed
and unemployed, remain unorganized and largely defenseless.

The politicians and the unions are part of the problem. We cannot rely
on them and we cannot change them. We have to go around them, to create
institutions that we control to fight for the values, the livelihoods,
the future of working people.

SOLIDARITY NOW is a new organization formed in Peoria, IL in 2005. Our
goals are to rebuild the culture of mutual support that is natural to
working people, to fight for the goals of working people, and to build
a movement for democratic revolution.

If you are an auto worker, a teacher, a nurse, a student, a professor,
work in an office or school or hospital or university, are employed or
unemployed, working or retired, we invite you to join Solidarity Now
and to join us in Kokomo for our National Meeting.

To be assured of a room, please make your reservations now at the
Quality Inn, Kokomo, IN (765-459-8001). Tell them you are with
Solidarity Now. Rooms are $58 per night, single or double, breakfast
included. Please let Tino Scalici (tinoscalici@msn.com) or Dave
Stratman (newdem@aol.com) know if you would like to join Solidarity Now
or if you plan to attend the meeting.

(For more info on Solidarity Now, please see our web site at
solidaritynow.com.)

We are still negotiating the cost of the conference rooms. We will
either take up a collection or charge a small conference fee to cover
the costs. The meeting will be an all day event.

Future of the Union Mailing List
http://futureoftheunion.com/mailman/listinfo/news_futureoftheunion.com

......................................................................


Major Mobilization Set for April 29th

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce the kick-off for the organizing
of what promises to be a major national mobilization on
Saturday, April 29th. Today, each of the initiating groups
(see list below) is announcing this mobilization. Our
organizations have agreed to work together on this
project for several reasons:

The April 29th mobilization will highlight our call for an
immediate end to the war on Iraq. We are also raising
several other critical issues that are directly connected
to one another.

It is time for our constituencies to work more closely:
connecting the issues we work on by bringing diverse
communities into a common project.

It is important for our movements to help set the agenda
for the Congressional elections later in the year. Our
unified action in the streets is a vital part of that process.

Please share the April 29th call widely, and please use
the links at the end of the call to endorse this timely
mobilization and to sign up for email updates.

April 29th Initiating Organizations
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition

A war based on lies
Spying, corruption and attacks on civil liberties
Katrina survivors abandoned by government

MARCH FOR PEACE,
JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY

End the war in Iraq -
Bring all our troops home now!

SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2006
NEW YORK CITY

Unite for change - let's turn our country around!

The times are urgent and we must act.

Too much is too wrong in this country. We have a foreign
policy that is foreign to our core values, and domestic
policies wreaking havoc at home. It's time for a change.

No more never-ending oil wars!
Protect our civil liberties & immigrant rights. End illegal
spying, government corruption and the subversion of
our democracy.

Rebuild our communities, starting with the Gulf Coast.
Stop corporate subsidies and tax cuts for the wealthy
while ignoring our basic needs.

Act quickly to address the climate crisis and the
accelerating destruction of our environment.

Our message to the White House and to Congress
is clear: either stand with us or stand aside!

We are coming together to march, to vote, to speak
out and to turn our country around!

Join us in New York City on Saturday, April 29th

Click here to endorse this mobilization:
http://unitedforpeace.org/modinput4.php?modin=119
Click here to sign up for email updates on plans for April 29th:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email

April 29th Initiating Organizations
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition

......................................................................

ANSWER Coalition: All Out for April 29 in New York City!
End Occupation from Iraq to Palestine, to Haiti, and Everywhere!
Fight for workers rights, civil rights and civil liberties - unite
against racism!

300,000 Came to Washington on Sept. 24

In recent weeks the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has been in the final
stages for planning a national demonstration in Washington DC on April
29, 2006. This action was to follow the local and regional
demonstrations for March 18-19 and youth and student actions scheduled
on March 20 on the 3rd anniversary of the criminal bombing, invasion
and occupation of Iraq.

On September 24, 2005 more than 300,000 people surrounded the White
House in the largest mobilization against the Iraq war and occupation
since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This demonstration was
initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in May 2005 and we urged a
united front with other major anti-war coalitions and communities. We
marched demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq. We
also stood in solidarity with the Palestinian and Haitian people and
others who are suffering under and resisting occupation. Coming as it
did following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we changed the demands of
the September 24 protest to include the slogan "From Iraq to New
Orleans, FundPeople's Needs not the War Machine."

During the past several years, and as demonstrated in a powerful
display on September 24, the anti-war movement has grown significantly
in its breadth and depth as the leadership has included the Arab and
Muslim community -- those who are among the primary targets of the
Bush Administration's current war at home and abroad.

The anti-war sentiment inside the United States is rapidly becoming a
significant obstacle to the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. The
anti-war movement has the potential to be a critical deterrent to the
U.S. government's aspirations for Empire. At this moment the White
House and Pentagon are issuing threats and making plans to move
against other sovereign countries. Iran and Syria are being targeted
as the U.S. seeks to consolidate power in the Middle East.

Simultaneously the Bush administration is working to undermine the
gains of the people of Latin America by working totopple the
democratically elected president of Venezuela and destroy the
revolutionary process for social change going on in that country.
Likewise it is intensifying the economic war and CIA subversions
against Cuba.

We believe that our movement must weld together the broadest, most
diverse coalition of various sectors and communities into an effective
force for change. This requires the inclusion of targeted communities
and political clarity. The war in Iraq is not simply an aberrational
policy of the Bush neo-conservatives. Iraq is emblematic of a larger
war for Empire. It is part of a multi-pronged attack against all those
countries that refuse to follow the economic, political and military
dictates of the Washington establishment and Wall Street.

This is the foundation of the political program upon which the
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has organized mass demonstrations in the recent
years. The fact that many hundreds of thousands of people
havedemonstrated in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, New
York and other cities is a testament to the huge progress that has
been made in building a new movement on this principled basis.
The people of the United States have nothing to gain and everything to
lose from the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti and
the threats of new wars and intervention in Syria, Iran, Venezuela,
Cuba, the Philippines, North Korea and elsewhere. It has been made
crystal clear in recent weeks that Washington is aggressively
prosecuting its strategy of total domination of the Middle East. U.S.
leaders are seeking to crush all resistance to their colonial agenda,
whether from states or popular movements in the region. The
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition andthe anti-war movement is raising the demand,
"U.S. Out of the Middle East."

At its core, the war for Empire is supported by the Republican Party
and Democratic Party alike, which constitute the twin parties of
militarism and war, and this quest for global domination will continue
regardless of the outcome of the 2006 election. In fact, leading
Democrats are attacking Bush for being "soft" on Iran and North Korea.
Real hope for turning the tide rests with building a powerful global
movement of resistance in which the people of the United States stand
with their sisters and brothers struggling against imperialism and the
new colonialism.

On the home front the Bush administration is involved in a
far-reaching assault against working class communities as most
glaringly evidenced by its criminal and racist negligence towards the
people of New Orleans and throughout the hurricane ravaged Gulf
States. While turning their backs on these communities in the moments
ofgreatest need, the U.S. government is now working with the banks and
developers who, like vultures, are exploiting mass suffering and
dislocation to carry out racist gentrification that only benefits the
wealthy. The administration is also working to eviscerate hard-fought
civil rights and civil liberties, engaging in a widespread campaign of
domestic spying and wiretapping against the people of the U.S. and
other assaults against the First and Fourth Amendments.

In early December 2005, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition filed for permits
for a national march in Washington DC on April 29, 2006. We were
preparing to announce the April 29 action but in recent days we have
heard from A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers in a number of unions that U.S.
Labor Against the War was seeking union endorsements for a call for an
anti-war demonstration on the same day in New York City. Having two
demonstrations on April 29 in both Washington D.C. and New York City
seems to us to be lessadvantageous than having the movement unite
behind one single mobilization. As such, we decided to hold back our
announcement. Subsequently, the New York City demonstration has been
announced by a number of organizations. Underscoring the need to have
the largest possible demonstration on April 29, the A.N.S.W.E.R.
Coalition has decided to fully mobilize, in all of its chapters and
organizing centers, to bring people to the New York City demonstration
on April 29. The banners and slogans of different coalitions may not
be the same, but it is in the interest of everyone to march
shoulder-to-shoulder against the criminal war in Iraq and the Bush
administration's War for Empire, including its racist, sexist and
anti-worker domestic program.

All out for a united, mass mobilization on April 29 in New York City!
Click here to become a transportation center in your city or town for
the April 29 demonstration.

Click here to receive updates on A.N.S.W.E.R.'s mobilization for the
April 29 NYC demonstration.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Click here to unsubscribe from the ANSWER e-mail list.

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

PUSH FOR PEACE
MEMORIAL DAY KICKOFF
MONDAY, MAY 29, 2006
GOLDEN GATE PARK, S.F.
(Exact location to be announced.)

Welcome to the Official Push for Peace Site!
http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q

The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts of
able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges,
so that all people can participate and be counted.

The Push for Peace logo shows a Navy veteran in a wheelchair
with a peace sign on the wheel, with people marching behind
him. It can be seen at:

http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q=node/71

Just in case we don't get to modify the map before the weekend,
I'll just name our proposed stops. We start, of course with Golden
Gate Park, from there we head south to Los Angeles. Turning
east we move to Phoenix, then on to Albuquerque. Now it's
north to Denver, and east to St Louis. North again to Chicago,
and east to Detroit. Continue east to Cleveland, and then NYC
if all goes well Central Park (Imagine), culminating at the gates
of the White House on July 4, 2006

Push For Peace is a collective of veterans, progressive activists,
and everyday citizens working together through education,
motivation, and truth to bring America's troops home from the
war in Iraq and to help bring healing and peace to our nation.
The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts
of able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges,
so that all people can participate and be counted. The Push
For Peace effort will include organized rallies and marches,
as well as appearances and performances by high-profile
speakers and entertainers, to rally the American people and
show them we stand united with our fellow citizen and soldier.
It is our goal to grow the base of participants each day resulting
in a cross-country Push culminating at the gates of the White
House on July 4, 2006. Events will be scheduled across the
country leading up to the big Push in July. So keep checking
the Push calendar for events near you. Mapping it all out...
[Website shows map of stops in US en route to DC on July 4, 2006...bw]

This is a tentative and unfinished P4P route and is only a work in progress.
The Push is set to leave Golden Gate Park on Memorial Day 2006 (currently
working on permits) and then we will Push our way across the country
to arrive in DC across from the White House gathering at Lafayette Park
(currently working on permits) on July 4th, 2006. Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco, California Las Vegas Nevada Phoenix, Arizona Denver,
Colorado Crawford, Texas New Orleans, Louisiana more states pending...
Pushing real Democracy! http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q=

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

FACTSHEET
The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied
http://al-awda.org/facts.html
...........................................................

Protests Planned Against Media War Coverage
By Danny Schechter
Source: MediaChannel.org
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3378

...........................................................

TELL BUSH AND CONGRESS: STOP THE WAR
ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS!
Please join the online campaign to
STOP THE WAR ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS!
YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW!
Send emails to President Bush, Vice President
Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, U.N. Secretary-
General Annan, Congressional leaders and
the media demanding NO WAR ON IRAN!
http://stopwaroniran.org/

...........................................................

March 2006 National Immigrant
Solidarity Network Monthly Digest
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
URL: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org
e-mail: Info@ImmigrantSolidarity.org
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!

...........................................................

WHY WE FIGHT
A film by Eugene Jarecki
[Check out the trailer about this new film.
This looks like a very powerful film.]
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/

...........................................................

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

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

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

1) Employers Sharply Criticize Shift in
Unionizing Method to Cards From Elections
"Many businesses oppose card checks because they say the
procedure makes it much easier for unions to secure majority
support, often giving management little chance to present its
case against unionization. But unions say companies often
prevent fair elections by firing and intimidating union supporters.
And, labor leaders complain, elections often become so contentious
that nearly half the time unions win, companies fail to sign collective
bargaining agreements. Card checks lead much more easily
to contracts, union leaders say.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
March 11, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/national/11labor.html

2) A Warning From South Dakota
New York Times Editorial
March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/opinion/12sun1.html?hp

3) U.S. Rethinks Its Cutoff of Military Aid to Latin American Nations
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/politics/12rice.html

4) Prisoners Up Above, 'Nifty-Gifties' Down Below
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/nyregion/12jail.html

5) Cartoons, Caricatures and the Myth of Artistic Freedom
by Mike Alewitz
Please Post and Distribute:
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
AGITPROP NEWS: 3.13.6

6) Urgent: Israel about to kill Ahmad Saadat
Israeli troops storm Palestinian jail
From: "Eyad Kishawi"
Distribute on all lists
Tuesday 14 March 2006, 18:26 Makka Time, 15:26 GMT

7) U.S. Ends Inquiries, Clear Channel Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/15radio.html?pagewanted=all

8) Stop Bush's War
By BOB HERBERT
March 16, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/opinion/16herbert.html?hp

9) TV Stations Fined Over CBS Show Deemed to Be Indecent
By JULIE BOSMAN
[Big Brother is watching TV, too!...bw]
March 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/business/media/16fine.html

10) Scapegoat, R.I.P.
James Bissett
National Post
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=a629cdda-eb4b-44a6-a2bc-0002b0ec2f0e&p=1

11) Students Protest University President David Caputo’s
State of the University Address
Brian Kelly | Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Pace University, New York City Campus

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

1) Employers Sharply Criticize Shift in
Unionizing Method to Cards From Elections
"Many businesses oppose card checks because they say the
procedure makes it much easier for unions to secure majority
support, often giving management little chance to present its
case against unionization. But unions say companies often
prevent fair elections by firing and intimidating union supporters.
And, labor leaders complain, elections often become so contentious
that nearly half the time unions win, companies fail to sign collective
bargaining agreements. Card checks lead much more easily
to contracts, union leaders say.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
March 11, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/national/11labor.html

Above the photographs of Fidel Castro, Kim Jong Il of North Korea
and an American union president, the full-page advertisement contains
a provocative quotation: "There is no reason to subject the workers
to an election."

Below the photographs, the advertisement asks, "Who said it?"

For the answer, readers are directed to a Web site, which explains
that those words were uttered by Bruce S. Raynor, the union
president and the leader of Unite Here, which represents hotel,
restaurant and apparel workers.

In seeking to equate Mr. Raynor with foreign dictators, the business-
backed group that ran the advertisement was trying to discredit
the most successful strategy that unions have used to try to reverse
a decades-long slide in membership.

That strategy is known as card checks, a process in which companies
grant union recognition once a majority of workers sign cards
saying they favor a union. Unions increasingly want to use this
procedure to replace the traditional organizing method: secret-
ballot elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.

Many businesses oppose card checks because they say the
procedure makes it much easier for unions to secure majority
support, often giving management little chance to present its
case against unionization. But unions say companies often prevent
fair elections by firing and intimidating union supporters.

And, labor leaders complain, elections often become so
contentious that nearly half the time unions win, companies
fail to sign collective bargaining agreements. Card checks
lead much more easily to contracts, union leaders say.

Card checks were used to sign up roughly 70 percent of the
private-sector workers who joined unions last year, according
to A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials. That compares with less than 5 percent
two decades ago.

Through card checks, 150,000 private-sector workers joined
unions in 2005. Over the past year, the procedure has been
used to unionize 4,600 workers at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel-
casino, 5,000 janitors in Houston and 16,500 workers at Cingular,
the cellphone company.

In an interview this week, Mr. Raynor again maintained that
it was better to use card checks than "to subject workers
to an election."

"Under the National Labor Relations Act, the election process
in the United States has turned into a meat grinder for workers,"
he said. "Each year 20,000 workers are fired or retaliated against
for supporting a union." With unions pushing ever harder for card
checks, Richard Berman, executive director of the Center for
Union Facts, the group that ran the advertisement, said the
time was right for business to mount an offensive against them.

"The fact is unions now say that as a general rule they don't
want N.L.R.B. elections," Mr. Berman said.

Mr. Raynor's union is one of five that quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O. over
the past year. Though the two camps disagree on many issues,
the labor federation's leaders have called for using card checks
instead of elections.

"Elections just don't work," said Stewart Acuff, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s
organizing director. "The process is too broken."

A study last year by professors at the University of Illinois
at Chicago found that during unionization elections, 30 percent
of employers fire pro-union workers and 49 percent threaten
to close work sites if workers unionize.

Critics of card checks say heavy-handed tactics are used in that
process, too. Representative Charlie Norwood, Republican of
Georgia, who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on
Workforce Protections, is sponsoring legislation that would
outlaw card checks. His bill has 81 co-sponsors.

"Union thugs are allowed to confront individual workers on
the job and at their homes, and demand the worker sign
a card giving the union exclusive rights to representation,"
Mr. Norwood wrote in an op-ed article in The Washington Times.

Union leaders say that coercion is rare.

The National Labor Relations Act gives private-sector workers
the right to unionize through card checks or secret-ballot
elections. But the act also gives employers the right to insist
on elections. The act does not cover government employees.

Labor unions are backing a bill that would give unions the
right to use card checks while taking away the right of
companies to insist on secret-ballot elections.

The bill has 210 co-sponsors in the House and 42 in the
Senate. But even supporters say it will probably not pass
in this Congress because President Bush is likely to veto it.

Meanwhile, unions are using various tactics to persuade
companies to accept card checks and are also increasingly
pressing employers to pledge not to fight unionization efforts.

Sometimes unions use contract negotiations at one operation
— perhaps agreeing to productivity measures — to get
a company to agree to card checks at its other sites. More
often, unions undertake confrontational campaigns to
squeeze employers to agree to card checks.

To pressure Cintas, the giant uniform and laundry company,
Unite Here has encouraged workers to bring lawsuits alleging
pay violations and racial and sexual discrimination. Cintas
has not given in, insisting that secret-ballot elections are fairer.

At the Consolidated Biscuit bakery in McComb, Ohio, Bill Lawhorn
said more than 70 percent of the workers had signed cards
in favor of joining the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers
and Grain Millers Union when he led efforts to form a union in 2002.

Nonetheless, the union lost a secret-ballot election, 485 to 286,
after Consolidated Biscuit conducted a vigorous anti-union campaign.
Two years later a National Labor Relations Board judge found that
managers had illegally spied on union supporters and had warned
them that the bakery would go bankrupt if a union was voted in.

Mr. Lawhorn was fired the day after the unionization vote. The
labor board judge ordered him and six other workers reinstated,
ruling that they were illegally fired for supporting a union.

The bakery has appealed. Mr. Lawhorn remains unemployed,
hoping the appeal process will uphold his reinstatement.
"What they did here was un-American," he said. "If we had
card check, we'd have a union right now."

To support the fight against card checks, the United States
Chamber of Commerce has established a Web site,
secretballotprotection.com, that criticizes the process and
praises elections as more democratic.

Randel Johnson, the chamber's vice president for labor,
immigration and employee benefits, said card checks usually
did not give workers a chance to hear about the downside of unions.

"If the unions think the law gives employers too much free
rein to fight unions, that's a separate issue and a separate
debate," he said. "That's not a reason to replace the fairest
process, secret-ballot elections."

Mr. Raynor sees it differently.

"A worker can join a church or synagogue or the Republican
Party by signing a card," Mr. Raynor said. "That's how people
join organizations in the United States. The idea that workers
can't join a union by signing their name is ludicrous."

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

2) A Warning From South Dakota
New York Times Editorial
March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/opinion/12sun1.html?hp

When President Bush's Supreme Court nominees were asked about
abortion and Roe v. Wade, their answers ranged from vague to
opaque. But the state legislature in South Dakota felt it heard the
underlying message loud and clear. Now, South Dakota has thrown
down the gauntlet. It adopted a law last week that makes every
abortion that is not necessary to save the life of the mother a crime.
The law is clearly unconstitutional under existing Supreme Court
rulings. But its backers are hoping that the addition of John Roberts
and Samuel Alito to the court will be enough to change things.

The law should be struck down because it imposes an unacceptable
burden on women. But it should also serve as a warning that the
threat to abortion rights has reached a new level.

South Dakota's abortion law is the most restrictive one adopted
by any state since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. It does not
contain exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or from
incest. Nor does it allow abortions that are necessary to preserve
the health of the mother. The law is unlikely to go into force
anytime soon. If it did, it would simply drive women — as in the
pre-Roe days — to risk their lives to end their pregnancies with
illegal back-alley abortions.

Gov. Mike Rounds, who signed the bill into law, said that the "true
test of a civilization" was how it treated "the most vulnerable and
helpless," including "unborn children." But his state has hardly been
a leader in protecting vulnerable children who have left the womb.
The nation's three worst counties for child poverty at the time of
the last census were all in South Dakota, according to the Children's
Defense Fund. Buffalo County, home to the Crow Creek Indian
Reservation, was dead last.

South Dakota's law defies Supreme Court precedents, which hold
that states cannot put an "undue burden" on abortion rights and
cannot ban abortions necessary to preserve the mother's health.
But anti-abortion forces seem eager to see how firm those
precedents will be with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito
changing the balance.

The test seems premature, since even if both men voted to overturn
Roe there would still only be four votes. Justice Anthony Kennedy,
a moderate conservative, has sided with the court's four liberals
on this point. But abortion opponents may be hoping he can be
pressured to change. They have also begun predicting that Justice
John Paul Stevens, the oldest member, will leave the court,
allowing President Bush to appoint another anti-Roe justice.

Whatever the fate of the South Dakota law, it seems likely to
jump-start a whole new era of abortion battles. More states may
soon follow South Dakota's lead, and if the membership of the
Supreme Court changes, abortion may become illegal in much or
even all of the country. Roe ushered in three decades of complacency
for the majority of Americans who support abortion rights. South
Dakota's harsh new law is a clear sign that the time for
complacency is over.

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

3) U.S. Rethinks Its Cutoff of Military Aid to Latin American Nations
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/politics/12rice.html

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 11 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
indicated Saturday that the United States would look for ways to
resume military assistance to Latin American nations cut off from
aid programs because of their refusal to shield Americans from the
International Criminal Court.

Officials traveling with Ms. Rice said that in meeting with President
Evo Morales of Bolivia, she had emphasized the importance of
cooperating on efforts to combat drugs despite his vow to end coca
plant eradication programs. The newly installed Bolivian leader favors
the legal cultivation of coca, the plant used to manufacture cocaine,
but says he opposes cocaine and has agreed to let American antidrug
officials remain in the country.

In a friendly but pointed gesture, he gave Ms. Rice a small guitar
decorated on the front with real leaves from a coca plant in lacquer.
Ms. Rice, perhaps not realizing that the decoration was from the
plant that the United States has sought to eradicate, then smiled
and strummed the guitar for television cameras. American officials
said Bolivian leader was clearly trying to show how growing the
plant that is made into cocaine is a part of his nation's culture.

Eliminating or reducing military assistance to countries like Chile
and Bolivia that are seeking to combat terrorism or drug trafficking
is "sort of the same as shooting ourselves in the foot," Ms. Rice
told reporters on Friday as she traveled here for the inauguration
of Michelle Bachelet as the new president of Chile.

Ms. Rice said, however, that the Bush administration had limited
flexibility in restoring aid because a law enacted by Congress
required the cutoff of military aid to countries that did not
exempt American citizens from being brought before the court.

At least 30 countries have declined to enact an exemption,
including 12 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the time the law was adopted, the Defense Department
supported it on grounds that American military officials based
overseas might be brought before the court. More recently,
administration officials said Defense Department officials had
become concerned about the loss of military cooperation
with key allies.

Although the law allows President Bush to apply a waiver to
cutting off military assistance, State Department officials said
the administration was concerned that if some waivers were
granted, other countries would demand them as well.

A senior State Department official, briefing reporters under
ground rules requiring anonymity, said Ms. Rice told
Mr. Morales that Washington would to try to help provide
economic opportunities to the "marginalized sectors"
of Bolivia's economy.

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

4) Prisoners Up Above, 'Nifty-Gifties' Down Below
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/nyregion/12jail.html

The Brooklyn House of Detention, bounded by Atlantic Avenue
and the criminal courts building, is apparently headed into
a mixed-use future.

Soon, it will house not only inmates and jail cells, but also, in
a vision endorsed by the mayor, a 24,000-square-foot strip
mall on the street level.

The biggest question may now be which businesses the
Department of Correction, the property's landlord, will
bring to this increasingly residential section of Boerum Hill.

City and borough officials have publicly suggested a high-
end food store, a children's clothing outlet or law offices.
But retailing experts, community groups and New York City
business owners interviewed Friday had their own ideas.

"There's a tremendous amount of potential to sell what I call
the nifty-gifties," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst
for the NPD Group, a market research firm. "You have
a captive audience, even with the visitors," he added.
Forget boutique stores. "Think of it as more of an upscale
airport gift shop."

Jesse Masyr, a Manhattan real estate lawyer, said
"neighborhood-support retail," meaning small convenience
-oriented shops, would have the most success under the jail.
Forget about big box retailers. "You're not going to find
a Target or Home Depot under 100,000 square feet,"
Mr. Masyr said. Even Circuit City or Best Buy stores
typically require 50,000 square feet.

Anthony Malkin, president of W&M Properties, said the
jail should focus on attracting retailers who offer basic
services — "a place to get coffee, a place to get a doughnut."

"Could it be a Starbucks?" Mr. Malkin asked. "Is there
a need for a FedEx? What about a Kinko's?"

"Just because it's a jail," he said, "doesn't mean that
it can't have good retail use."

Whatever the Correction Department decides, mixing the
jail space with retail, or even a restaurant, is a brilliant idea,
said Gary Alterman, executive vice president of Newmark
Knight Frank Retail. "It's a good retail area, it's strong, it's
healthy, it's residential," he said. "The criminals are not
coming out to go shopping, but certainly there's going
to be plenty of visitors there."

Adding retail to the jail, which is currently closed, would
be part of a $240 million redevelopment project that would
also add jail beds, said Martin F. Horn, the Department of
Correction commissioner. He has told community groups
that he favors doubling the jail's capacity, to nearly 1,600 beds.

The shopping area would be limited to the ground floor,
along three sides of the block the jail occupies south of
Downtown Brooklyn.

Many retail chains did not seem enthusiastic. Executives at
Duane Reade, the Gap, Dean & Deluca and Old Navy did not
return calls on Friday asking if they might be interested in
becoming jail tenants.

Representatives from Starbucks, Target, Home Depot and
Trader Joe's did return calls, but only to say they had no
comment or were not interested. "At this time, in our
two-year plan, Brooklyn is not in it," said Alison Mochizuki,
a spokeswoman for Trader Joe's, an upscale food market
with a store opening near Union Square later this month.

A spokesman for Home Depot said the space under the
jail was far too small. "On that alone, we wouldn't consider
it," said the spokesman, Yancey Casey.

Some neighborhood residents said they would welcome
convenience shops under the jail; there are none in the
immediate area now.

But other neighbors are upset at Mr. Horn and Marty Markowitz,
the Brooklyn borough president, for limiting the jail's
redevelopment to ground-level retail.

"This is outrageous, what's going on," said Sandy Balboza,
president of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, which
wants the jail closed permanently.

But others see the potential for retail gold. Mr. Cohen, the retail
industry analyst, said the Department of Correction should
consider opening its own gift shop. "They might even be able
to brand the prison," he said. "The New York correctional facility
logo might really take off."

Simon Dinally, the owner of Reliable Hardware, on 18th Avenue
in Brooklyn, said he would consider selling his wares — saws,
drills, files — and offering locksmith service under the 10-story jail.

He dismissed the suggestion that the city might not rent space
to a business like his: "It's a nonissue, not even something
to think about. Like a liquor store next to a church."

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

5) Cartoons, Caricatures and the Myth of Artistic Freedom
by Mike Alewitz
Please Post and Distribute:
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
AGITPROP NEWS: 3.13.6

Most working people understand the inherent power of the cartoon – it's one
of the ways we can directly respond to injustice and exploitation at the
workplace. Just fill in the balloon coming out of the boss' mouth. Make the
words as stupid as possible – its usually not a stretch. We diminish the
authority of our overseers when we ridicule their arbitrary whims, greed and
ignorance.

Published cartoonists do essentially the same thing, but frequently directed at
the symbols of state power. Given the stumbling misspeaks of George Bush
and the sleazy deceptions of his spokes-zombies, or their overseas
counterparts, these determined artists face a daunting task. Yet they bravely
forge ahead – attempting to reach and influence a large viewing public.

But can cartoonists, either here or abroad, mobilize millions of people or incite
the destruction of foreign embassies? Do they wield such awesome power?

The mainstream media has presented an avalanche of muddled commentary
and deliberate misinformation about the recent cartoon protests. Artists and
activists need to take a critical look at these ongoing events and ask
themselves: Is this really a confrontation between the insensitive-but-free-
_expression-loving artists versus the injured-but-misguided-conservative
Muslims marching in lockstep to religious fundamentalists? Or, is there more
to this than meets the eye?

Something Rotten

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." - William Shakespeare,
(Hamlet - I, iv, 90)

Western commentators were downright indignant at the angry response to the
anti-Islam cartoons published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. For
it's part, the paper invoked the mantle of freedom of the press - other
European publications quickly proffered their solidarity by also printing the
images.

All the sanctimonious talk of democratic rights is somewhat difficult to
swallow. Racism and xenophobia are nothing new to Jyllands-Posten - the
journal was openly supportive of Italian Fascism and ambivalent towards
Nazism. Their ire is now directed at immigrant workers.

Jyllands-Posten enjoys widespread popularity in Denmark. The Danish
ruling elite has fostered deep divisions in its society by promoting vicious anti-
immigrant policies. Recently it became illegal for native-born Danes to marry
"foreigners" until age 24. There is a growing ultra-rightist movement led by the
Danish People's Party.

Artists often perceive European governments as more enlightened than
Washington, but anti-war and pacifist posturing by these countries is just a
mask for their own competing economic interests. Their refined cultures are
based on bloody conquest and exploitation, epitomized by museums bursting
with the plundered art of Asia and Africa.

Despite it's patina of civility, Denmark is no different from other imperialist
countries that reap enormous corporate profits from racism and imperialism.

Behind the Protests

The Boston Tea Party was not about tea, the civil-rights sit-ins were not about
Woolworth's hamburgers and the cartoon protests are not about cartoons.

The underlying causes of this social explosion are foreign occupation of Arab
lands, western support to reactionary Mid-East regimes, lack of education,
social services and healthcare and the degradation of millions of people.
Protests are fueled by the knowledge that the developed nations of the world
possess enormous wealth – vast riches that come, in good part, from the
exploitation of the people and natural resources of Africa and the Middle East.

The mass mobilizations are part of a global struggle for human rights. Some
of the largest demonstrations have occurred in Iran and Syria - countries that
face the imminent threat of economic sanctions or US military action. Syrians
and Iranians need only look across their borders to observe the blessings of
democracy: over a million deaths of their Iraqi neighbors and the destruction
of that once prosperous nation.

At the heart of the public outcry is opposition to the US occupation of Iraq – a
perspective shared by the great majority of the world's population, including
the American people. Anti-war sentiment in the US is greater than at any time
in recent history. Opposition to the war is so great that a Zogby International/
Le Moyne College poll recently found that only 23 per cent of US troops
believed that the occupation should continue. 72 per cent said that the US
should either pull out immediately or withdraw within 12 months.

The arrogant policies of the US government continue to unite the world's
working people as never before – there is a deepening global resistance to
the occupation. The banners may be in different languages, but they all say
the same thing: US Out of Iraq.

Anti-Arab Campaign

In an attempt to bolster the diminishing support for their war, the Bush
administration has consistently promoted anti-Arab sentiment. Not to be
outdone by Republicans, liberal Democrats like Charles Schumer have led
the opposition to granting port operation contracts to Dubai Port World (DPW)
of the United Arab Emirates (UAE,) a thinly veiled, racist scare campaign.

And, just when you think that no one could get any lower, there is always a
Clinton that comes along.

Senator Hillary Clinton has moved to the right of Bush in pandering to
backward anti-Arab sentiments. The UAE had previously donated over a
million dollars of support to Bill Clinton. The Clintons had returned the favor
by providing their stamp of approval for a regime that keeps the vast majority
of its people in virtual servitude - denied any form of citizenship or basic
human rights. In her quest for personal advancement and to prove her loyalty
to the oil corporations, Hillary Clinton has turned on her former UAE friends.
But don't worry – it will all be forgotten later on.

Along with the politicians, key religious leaders in the US have fueled the
international anti-Muslim campaign. Reverend Franklin Graham — heir to the
mantle of Billy Graham and spiritual advisor to President Bush -- publicly
asserted, "The God of Islam is not the same God of the Christian or the Judeo-
Christian faith. It is a different God, and I believe a very evil and a very wicked
religion." Reverend Jerry Vines, former president of the Southern Baptist
Convention, called Prophet Mohammed "a demon-possessed pedophile."

These types of remarks have been echoed throughout Europe. Is it any
wonder that anti-Islamic images are widespread?

The Growth of Religious Fundamentalism

At the heart of the racist campaign is the stereotyping of all Arabs as religious
zealots. In reality, it is the policies of the US and other occupying forces,
particularly Israel, that are the key factor in fostering the growth of Islamic
fundamentalism.

The recent election victory of Hamas has evoked condemnation from
Washington and other western powers. But it was Israel, after the 1967
occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, that initiated and supported Hamas -
promoted as an opposition current to the then secular and militant Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO.) Israel encouraged the growth of the Islamic
right, fostering political and military confrontations between the religious and
secular tendencies.

Similarly, the US promoted the right-wing Mujahideen in opposition to the
1979 Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. That support brought
Osama bin Laden and like-minded figures to prominence, and the US turned
a blind eye to the formation of Al Qaeda and similar groups in the late 1980s.

By engaging in consistent attacks on secular, progressive movements and
trade unions, the US and Israel have created a political framework in which
those who wish to oppose the occupations have no choice but to join with
reactionary religious organizations. Islamic fundamentalism and western
imperialism are united in their opposition to Arab and Palestinian nationalism
and secularism.

While they have occasional squabbles, generally the Bushes, Sharons and
bin Ladens of the world are delighted to do business together and get along
quite well.

Anti-Semitic Caricatures

In the current falling-out, Democratic and Republican politicians have done a
lot of finger pointing about an anti-Semitic component of the protests. While
both Arabs and Jews are Semitic peoples, anti-Semitism is generally used as
a term for anti-Jewish. This ideology should be opposed in all its forms - but
you don't have to travel halfway around the globe to find a much greater
threat to the Jewish people.

The US has a real, if quiescent, history of anti-Semitism. After all, the fortunes
of such leading families as the Bushes and Kennedy's were made in large
part due to their business dealings with the Nazis. Companies like IBM
provided the machinery to implement the extermination of European Jewry.
The slurs by Richard Nixon, recorded in his White House tapes, reveal the
anti-Jewish sentiment that lies just below the surface of polite society. Anti-
Semitism is an ideology that the ruling powers are quite prepared to resurrect
when it suits their purposes – Kissinger or Lieberman not withstanding.

Anti-Jewish and anti-Arab ideologies go hand in hand, and the mainstream
media has facilitated such doctrine by creating an enormous caricature of the
Arab people. Artists and entertainers are put to work creating stereotypes in
the media - images of crazed Arab terrorists being gunned down in their
dozens by steroid soaked creeps like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The stereotyped visual portrayals of Arabs are mirror images of the
caricatures of Jews from an earlier time: hook-nosed, stubble bearded, thick-
lipped, shiftless, ugly, dirty and evil. Anti-Semitism is truly anti-Semitism.

An accurate portrait of Arabs would reveal a people that made some the
greatest contributions to the development of art, agriculture, literature,
philosophy, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and science in human history.
The creation of the Arab empire provided a huge impetus to world
development. The depiction of Islamic culture as barbaric and inferior to
western enlightenment is a cruel slur that flies in the face of history.

Democratic Rights

One of the more remarkable aspects of the current controversy is the counter-
posing of western democracy to a conservative and religious culture.

Even as Bush and Congress are giving lip-service to free expression, they are
implementing far-reaching attacks on democratic rights through massive
illegal domestic spying operations. It seems particularly obscene for US
politicians to lecture the world about democracy while power is increasingly
concentrated in the hands of an erratically-behaving, imperial, graft-ridden,
fundamentalist executive branch of government.

"Liberty" is an empty phrase in the mouths of those who have promoted the
use of torture at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanimo prisons. "Freedom" is a
meaningless term when uttered by supporters of such horrendous regimes as
the Shah of Iran, Ferdinand Marcos, Papa Doc Duvalier, Saddam Hussein
and many other brutal dictatorships.

Liberal faith in constitutional democracy is belied by the enormous struggles
of the civil rights and women's movements, free-speech fights and labor
battles. Unfortunately, blind belief in the law has led some activists to
mistakenly call for restrictions on right-wing speech. European governments
have already used the cartoon incident as an excuse to further erode free
expression by attempting to expand bans on so-called hate speech. In the
long run however, these restrictions will be used, not to curtail the extreme
right, but against progressive forces.

Divine intervention or legislative action does not create democratic rights and
free artistic expression. Free expression, to the extent it exists, is the product
of enormous human struggle. The right to assemble in public or organize
unions was never granted – it was conquered. We can only expand
democratic rights by exercising them – an ongoing process that takes place
each day in every country of the world.

The Myth of Artistic Freedom

Workers and artists in the US have waged historic struggles to overcome
censorship and repression. But a lack of overt censorship is not the same as
free expression. In this country, artists are muzzled by denying them access
to the media or forcing them into self-censorship. Those who have
fundamental criticisms of society are marginalized and vilified.

Visual artists are free to create work that promotes progressive struggle, or
even revolution – as long as it stays safely in the gallery for purchase by
wealthy buyers. Artists who create work that is actually a weapon in the
hands of workers, however, simply cease to exist. Like an invisible force-field,
you may approach and stick your finger into the class struggle – but cross the
line and you disappear – removed from art magazines, galleries and
museums.

The smug, self-proclaimed "radical" radio stations, alternative press and
progressive electronic media are also exclusionary. And the bureaucratic
jackals that pose as labor leaders are the most craven of all – denying union
members access to any art that expresses their aspirations for a democratic,
militant workers movement.

Occasionally, a cartoonist like Tom Tomorrow is allowed – in order to provide
evidence of a free society. But don't be expecting Gary Huck and Mike
Konopaki to be replacing Heathcliff any time soon. For every Michael Moore,
there are thousands of talented artists who are prevented from practicing
their craft.

Far from being free, artists are forced into producing an ever more mind-
numbing mass culture of cop shows, amusement-park theater and formulaic
music. The huge art and entertainment business is structured to prevent
challenging and penetrating work from emerging. Film artists must degrade
themselves by prancing down red carpets like trained monkeys. Visual artists
must hang vacuous art on the walls of galleries and fawn over their wealthy
patrons. Cartoon art is epitomized by Charley Brown.

The majority of artists who are lucky enough to be employed are used to
create advertising that sells drugs, wars, racism and blind obedience to
authority.

There have been, and currently are, serious threats directed against artists.
Federal authorities pose the greatest danger, as the frame-up of Steve Kurz
and the Critical Art Ensemble has indicated. Religious zealots have
threatened other artists, like Salmon Rushdie and Christoffer Zieler, the racist
cartoonist. Such threats, regardless of their source or target, must be
exposed, protested and defeated. Artistic expression and free speech must
be defended absolutely and without qualification - there is nothing to fear from
images or words.

International Solidarity

The demonstrations taking place throughout the Muslim world do not lend
themselves to simplistic analysis. There are conflicting currents to be sure:
repressive Arab regimes attempting to deflect anger away from themselves,
right-wing fundamentalists seeking to expand their influence, and competing
capitalist governments with their own separate economic agendas. But a key
element in these mobilizations is the attempt by millions of Muslims to
capitalize on a small political opening to advance their struggle for social and
economic justice.

In most countries of the Middle East, public demonstrations are rarely
allowed. Officially sanctioned protests against the Danish cartoons allow the
working people of these countries to take advantage of a political opportunity
that rarely exists. Massive street actions open the possibility to expand the
political space and democratic rights of working people – a concrete advance
for free expression.

Most importantly of all – these demonstrations provide an opportunity to build
the international movement in opposition to the occupation of Iraq – the
central political question that faces the working class. Millions of people,
previously disenfranchised, can join in demanding an end to the war. Such
unity could help to save the lives of our brothers and sisters in uniform, as well
as countless Iraqi civilians. An end to the occupation of Iraq will be an
enormous victory for world peace and justice.

There is a daily battle for artists to develop genuine meaning in our work. We
can use our creative talents to expose and educate about the divide–and-
conquer campaigns of the imperial powers and to support the struggle to
extend artistic and working-class freedom of _expression - in whatever form it
may take.

We must not let the attempt to caricature a people go unanswered. We need
to reject the racism (and mediocrity) of Christoffer Zieler and Jyllands-Posten,
even as we defend their, and our, civil liberties.

Cartoonists have frequently played an important role in the struggle for artistic
freedom, since many of them view their mission as being critical of existing
political and social conditions. While this posture is generally frowned upon
by the authorities, it is an example that many other visual artists should
consider following.

Over a billion Muslims in the world are struggling for basic human rights.
These mobilizations provide an opening to organize a secular and
democratic opposition to the imperial powers. Artists and activists have
nothing to fear, and much to gain, by extending solidarity to such initiatives.

Mike Alewitz
Artistic Director
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT

Reply to alewitzm@ccsu.edu

LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
c/o Department of Art
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street
New Britain, Connecticut 06050

Phone: 860.832.2359

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6) Urgent: Israel about to kill Ahmad Saadat
Israeli troops storm Palestinian jail
From: "Eyad Kishawi"
Distribute on all lists
Tuesday 14 March 2006, 18:26 Makka Time, 15:26 GMT

Israeli forces raided the prison on Tuesday morning

Israeli troops have taken control of a prison compound in the
West Bank town of Jericho in an operation to arrest jailed
Palestinian resistance leaders.

A Palestinian security guard was killed and 18 others were
wounded as gunfire rang out and explosions rocked the area
as Israeli forces launched their raid on Tuesday.

Bulldozers pulled down the compound as Israeli troops
called through loudspeakers on Ahmed Saadat, the leader
of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,
and his comrades to surrender.

Speaking over a mobile phone from the prison, Saadat told
Aljazeera: "We will not surrender - we will fight.
Either we die or win."

Saadat and three other PFLP members have been jailed in
Jericho, a prison under US and British supervision, since
August 2002 after his faction claimed the 2001 killing
of far-right Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi.

But al least 150 Palestinian prisoners and guards gave
themselves up, Israeli military sources said.

Gideon Ezra, Israeli public security minister, confirmed that
troops were on a mission to arrest the four PFLP members
almost a week after Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority
president, reiterated that he was ready to free Saadat.

The slain guard was named by a Palestinian security source
as Ibrahim Abu al-Amin. He was shot dead inside the
compound by Israeli gunfire.

Attack sparks anger

Israeli troops ordered Palestinian
guards to lay down their weapons

The operation drew a furious response from Ismail Haniya,
Hamas's prime minister-designate, who criticised the
"dangerous escalation" and warned Israel against any
attempt on the life of Saadat and his comrades.

The Israeli public security minister told public radio:
"This operation was ordered by the prime minister in
the fight against terrorism. We are committed to the
murderers of minister Rehavam Zeevi remaining behind bars."
A spokesman for the Palestinian interior ministry in Gaza
City said the British and the Americans had left the premises
shortly before the operation began.

"We have information that the British and Americans left
the prison this morning," Tawfiq Abu Khussa told AFP.

Palestinian prisoners were ordered
to strip down to their underwear

"The Americans and British left 15 minutes before the
operation started. The Israelis asked the police and security
forces to drop their weapons and not resist. If they refused,
they said they would assault the compound," he said.

"We warn Israel against any incursion in the prison because
it is under American and British control by international
agreement."

Israeli siege

Aljazeera's correspondent in Palestine Walid al-Umari
quoted witnesses as saying that about 20 Israeli military
vehicles on Tuesday surrounded the Palestinian presidential
office and the Jericho prison.

The forces imposed a curfew on the area adjacent to
the prison amid intense shootings.

"We have been informed that gunfire was heard in the
area, but no information whether the raid was targeting
Saadat or surrounding the headquarters where many
Palestinian activists are present," al-Umari said.

Demonstrations

The jail houses top Palestinian
prisoner Ahmed Saadat (file)

Mosques across Jericho called on citizens over loudspeakers
to flock to the muqataa to protect the soldiers and prisoners
inside the compound.

There were also demonstrations across the West Bank
and Gaza Strip.

Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal warned Israel against
harming Saadat, saying it would be responsible for the
consequences of its raid on the prison.

Speaking to Aljaazeera, Meshaal also called on Palestinians
to rally around the Jericho jail being bombarded by Israeli troops.

"We condemn this Israeli crime and hold Israel responsible for
any consequences arising from this crime and warn them against
harming Ahmed Saadat... and all the prisoners in Jericho,"
said Meshaal.

"I call on our people in Jericho to throng around the Jericho
prison," he added.

Meshaal called on the United Nations, Muslim and Arab
countries, and the international community to "take urgent
measures to stop this crime".

In a lecture at a women's gathering in West Bank on 7 March,
Mahmoud Abbas said he would not mind releasing Saadat if
PFLP sent him a written promise saying the movement would
not hold the PA responsible for anything that might happen
to Saadat after his release.

Aljazeera + Agencies

People are being asked to protest this latest Israeli transgression
by calling the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv and the
representatives of the American and British governments.

Israeli Ministry of Defence:
Telephone:
+972 - (0)3 - 697 5540
+972 - (0)3 -697 5423
+972 - (0)3 -697 5349
Fax: +972 - (0)3 -697 6711
E-mail: pniot@mod.gov.il

US representatives:
American Consulate, Jerusalem
Fax: +972 - (0)2 - 627 7230
E-mail: jerusalemacs@state.gov

US Embassy, Tel Aviv
Telephone: +972 - (0)3 - 519 7575

State Department, Bureau of Near East Affairs, Office
of Public Affairs
Telephone: (+1-) 202 - 647 5150

State Department Bureau of Public Affairs Comment
Line: (+1-) 202 - 647-6575
White House Comment Line: (+1-) 202 - 456 1111

UK representatives:
British Embassy, Tel Aviv
Telephone: +972 - (0)3 - 725 1222
Fax: +972 - (03) - 527 8574

Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Human Rights Department
Telephone: (+44) - (0)207 008 3000

http://al-awda.org

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7) U.S. Ends Inquiries, Clear Channel Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/15radio.html?pagewanted=all

SAN ANTONIO, March 14 (AP) — Clear Channel Communications,
the nation's largest radio station owner, said on Tuesday that the
Justice Department had closed two antitrust investigations into its
broadcast and concert business without taking action.

The Justice Department examined whether Clear Channel violated
antitrust laws in one radio market and whether it illegally pressured
artists to use its promotion service to get their songs played on
radio, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Antitrust regulators announced the investigations in 2003, after
rivals complained that Clear Channel had gained too much
influence by linking its radio and concert promotion businesses.

The Justice Department closed both investigations last month,
the company said in a regulatory filing.

Last year, a federal jury in Chicago ordered Clear Channel
to pay a rival promoter $90 million after finding it used
anticompetitive practices to win a deal to promote motorcycle
races. The jurors said Clear Channel did not break antitrust
laws but intentionally interfered with Jam Productions' effort
to promote dirt-track motorcycle racing.

A federal judge in Chicago reversed the award and ordered
a new trial.

In December, Clear Channel spun off the concert business into
a separate company. Analysts speculated the move might have
prompted the Justice Department to close its investigation.

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8) Stop Bush's War
By BOB HERBERT
March 16, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/opinion/16herbert.html?hp

"By some estimates," according to a recent article in Foreign Affairs,
"the number of Iraqis who have died as a result of the [U.S.] invasion
has reached six figures — vastly more than have been killed by all
international terrorists in all of history. Sanctions on Iraq probably
were a necessary cause of death for an even greater number of Iraqis,
most of them children."

Not everyone agrees that Iraqi deaths have reached six figures.
President Bush gave an estimate of 30,000 not too long ago. That's
probably low, but horrendous nevertheless. In any event, there
is broad agreement that the number of Iraqis slaughtered has reached
into the tens of thousands. An ocean of blood has been shed in
Mr. Bush's mindless war, and there is no end to this tragic
flow in sight.

Jeffrey Gettleman of The Times gave us the following chilling
paragraphs in Tuesday's paper:

"In Sadr City, the Shiite section in Baghdad where the [four]
terrorist suspects were executed, government forces have vanished.
The streets are ruled by aggressive teenagers with shiny soccer
jerseys and machine guns.

"They set up roadblocks and poke their heads into cars and detain
whomever they want. Mosques blare warnings on loudspeakers for
American troops to stay out. Increasingly, the Americans have
been doing just that."

Everyone who thought this war was a good idea was wrong and
ought to admit it. Those who still think it's a good idea should
get therapy.

Last Friday and Saturday, a conference titled "Vietnam and the
Presidency" was held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
and Museum in Boston. Discussions about the lessons we failed
to learn from Vietnam, and thus failed to apply to Iraq, were
pervasive.

Some of the lessons seemed embarrassingly basic. Jack Valenti,
who served as a special assistant to Lyndon Johnson, reminded
us how difficult it is to "impress democracy" on other countries.
And he noted something that the public and the politicians seem
to forget each time the glow of a brand-new war is upon us:
that wars are "inhumane, brutal, callous and full of depravity."

Think Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Think suicide bombers
and death squads and roadside bombs. Think of the formerly
healthy men and women who have come back to the United
States from Iraq paralyzed, or without their arms or legs or eyes,
or the full use of their minds. Think of the many thousands dead.

Most of the people who thought this war was a good idea also
thought that the best way to fight it was with other people's
children. That in itself is a form of depravity.

Among those who played a key role in the conference was
David Halberstam, the author of "The Best and the Brightest,"
which is not just the best book about America's involvement
in Vietnam, but a book that grows more essential with each
passing year. If you read it in the 70's or 80's, read it again.
We can all use a refresher course on the link between folly
and madness at the highest levels of government, and the
all-but-unimaginable suffering it can unleash.

In the book's epilogue, Mr. Halberstam wrote that, among other
things, President Johnson "and the men around him wanted
to be defined as being strong and tough; but strength and
toughness and courage were exterior qualities which would
be demonstrated by going to a clean and hopefully antiseptic
war with a small nation, rather than the interior and more lonely
kind of strength and courage of telling the truth to America and
perhaps incurring a good deal of domestic political risk."

That latter kind of toughness is what's needed now. Invading
Iraq was a disastrous move by the Bush administration, and there
is no satisfactory solution forthcoming. The White House should
be working cooperatively with members of both parties in
Congress to figure out the best way to bring the curtain down
on U.S. involvement.

Before that can begin to happen, the administration will have
to rid itself of the delusion that things are somehow going well
in Iraq. The democracy that was supposed to flower in the Iraqi
desert and then spread throughout the Middle East was as much
a mirage as the weapons of mass destruction.

President Bush continues to assert that our goal in Iraq is "victory."
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently told
Tim Russert that things were going "very, very well" in Iraq.

They are still crawling toward the mirage. It's time to give
reality a chance.

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9) TV Stations Fined Over CBS Show Deemed to Be Indecent
By JULIE BOSMAN
[Big Brother is watching TV, too!...bw]
March 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/business/media/16fine.html

The Federal Communications Commission leveled a record $3.6
million fine yesterday against 111 television stations that broadcast
an episode of "Without a Trace" in December 2004, with the agency
saying the CBS show suggested that its teenage characters were
participating in a sexual orgy.

The program was among nine cited yesterday for fines totaling
about $4 million on agency accusations of violating decency
standards between February 2002 and March 2005. The fines
are the first indecency actions by the commission since
Kevin J. Martin, a Republican, became chairman last March.

F.C.C. officials said the fines, which can be appealed, were
intended in part to make clear what type of material is allowed
under F.C.C. standards. The decisions were specific to the
programs cited, and did not provide more general comments.

The orders were notable for the breadth of programming cited,
from Spanish-language music videos to live award shows.
Complaints against 28 programs were dismissed, but 20
shows were found to have violated decency standards.
One show, "N.Y.P.D. Blue," was cited for indecency violations
in eight separate episodes. Eleven programs were found to
be indecent but were not fined.

The orders are in response to more than 300,000 consumer
complaints about programming that viewers found indecent,
profane or obscene.

Many complaints are lodged in large numbers by organized
groups and not by independent viewers.

CBS defended the "Without a Trace" episode, saying the episode
contained "an important and socially relevant storyline warning
parents to exercise greater supervision of their teenage children."

The F.C.C. also upheld a $550,000 fine leveled at CBS for the
Janet Jackson breast-baring incident during the halftime show
at the 2004 Super Bowl.

In a statement last night, CBS said it continued to disagree
that the incident was "legally indecent."

"More than two years ago we apologized to viewers for the
inappropriate and unexpected halftime incident," the statement
said. "We will continue to pursue all remedies necessary to affirm
our legal rights. Today's decision by the F.C.C. is just another
step in the process."

Michael K. Powell, the former chairman of the commission, was
criticized for a hard line on indecency cases, but Mr. Martin
appears to be taking an even tougher stance. He is also promising
to speed the F.C.C.'s response time, vowing to address complaints
within nine months of being lodged, said Tamara Lipper,
a spokeswoman for the F.C.C.

Ms. Lipper said the orders could give broadcasters guidance
in what is appropriate programming. "The commission is
committed to a restrained, effective and consistent approach,"
she said.

Tim Winter, the executive director of the Parents Television
Council, a conservative advocacy group, said the group believed
that the law was applied properly "in every instance."

"We absolutely are elated by the rulings handed down by the
F.C.C.," Mr. Winter said. "Where they could fine a broadcaster
for breaking the law, they did so. We think this sends a very
powerful signal that those who violate the law will be punished."

E. Christopher Murray, a civil rights lawyer at Reisman, Peirez
& Reisman in Garden City, N.Y., said the decisions might have
a chilling effect on broadcasters.

"The F.C.C., in its mind, is getting tougher on these kinds of
programs," Mr. Murray said. "But there's going to be a difficult
job for the TV networks to determine what's acceptable and
what's not."

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10) Scapegoat, R.I.P.
James Bissett
National Post
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=a629cdda-eb4b-44a6-a2bc-0002b0ec2f0e&p=1

Slobodan Milosevic's obituaries are damning. In death, as in the
last years of his life, the former Serbian president is being blamed
for all of the death and destruction that accompanied the breakup
of the Yugoslav Federation in the early 1990s. He has been described
as the "Butcher of the Balkans." He is accused of masterminding
four wars, of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing. These
charges have been repeated so many times that they have become
part of received wisdom. Yet the facts tell a different story.

Two weeks ago I travelled to The Hague to appear as a witness in
defence of Milosevic at his war-crimes trial. We met in his cell for
two days, going over my testimony.

On the first day, he seemed relaxed and in good health. On the
second day, following several hours of discussions, he suddenly
became flushed and appeared to be ill. I asked if he was alright,
and he said he was OK, but then explained that he suffered from
a terrible ringing in his ears. The prison doctors had told him it was
"psychological," but finally agreed to a MRI, which revealed that an
abnormal artery was affecting his hearing. He told me he did not
believe he was getting adequate medical attention in the prison,
and wanted to get specialist treatment in Moscow, but tribunal
officials had refused.

He regarded the presiding body -- the UN's International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia -- as a political court set up
to make him the scapegoat for everything that had gone wrong
in Yugoslavia. He was aware that there was, in effect, a Western
news blackout of anything revealed during the trial that was
favourable to his case. And he was also resigned to the reality
that he would be found guilty.

I have been asked often why I was willing to appear as a witness
for a man branded by the media as another Hitler. The answer
is simple. His prosecution was the most important war-crimes
trial since the Nuremberg Trials of leading Nazis following the
Second World War. It was important that the presumption of
innocence be maintained, and it was equally important that
those with relevant information appear at the court so that
their evidence could be heard. I was in Belgrade as Canada's
ambassador during the critical early stages of the Yugoslav
breakup drama, and I was not prepared to remain silent
about what I observed.

Even in the early days, it was apparent that most of the media
reporting about the cause and course of the Yugoslav fighting
was biased. In effect, the Serbs had been branded as the bad guys,
and any news developments were interpreted on that basis.

But it was not the Serbians and "Slobo" who started the wars
in Yugoslavia. The fighting started because Slovenia, then
a Yugoslav republic, declared unilateral independence and
used force to seize customs posts along the Austrian border.

The federal prime minister of Yugoslavia, Ante Markovic, who
happened to be a Croatian, ordered the army into Slovenia to
restore order. The army was met by armed resistance and retired
to barracks in Croatia to avoid further bloodshed. The Croatian
security and paramilitary forces then surrounded the federal
barracks and fighting broke out in Croatia. At this time, Milosevic,
as president of Serbia, had no control over the federal army.
(Incidentally, the federal minister of defence at the time was
also a Croatian, as was the foreign minister.)

Later, when the army lost all of its non-Serbian soldiers, it did
become a Serb-dominated force. But when the federal government
collapsed, it was none other than Milosevic who ordered all Serbian
soldiers out of Bosnia. (At the time I was asked to call upon him
to congratulate him for this decision.) From the outset of the violence
sweeping across Yugoslavia, Milosevic was a key player in all of the
peace plans that were proposed. Had it not been for him, the 1995
Dayton peace agreement could not have taken place. He was heralded
then by U.S. secretary of state Madeline Albright as a man of peace.

Although the war crimes Tribunal was set up in 1993, it was not
until the bombing of Kosovo five years later that a hurried indictment
was issued against Milosevic on charges of genocide. Yet the forensic
teams that searched for evidence of this genocide in Kosovo have s
o far discovered fewer than 3,000 bodies -- bad enough,
but not genocide.

Milosevic was a communist party boss. He was an apparatchik and
an opportunist interested in holding on to his power, prestige and
privileges. He was not an ardent Serbian nationalist and I believe had
little interest in a "greater Serbia." As the president of Serbia, he was
forced to display sympathy to his fellow Serbians in Bosnia and Croatia,
but he did not have authority over them. He was prepared to help them
battle brutally for land and power, but he was also prepared to sell them
out if it was to his own advantage.

There are many Serbians who despise him for that. It is unfortunate that
he died before being given the chance to set down his side of the story.
Now we only have his opponent's version of events.

© National Post 2006

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11) Students Protest University President David Caputo’s
State of the University Address
Brian Kelly | Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Pace University, New York City Campus
 
On Monday, March 13, a large group of students from the Campus
Antiwar Network (CAN), and the Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS) were joined by university students, professors, original SDS’ers,
and CAN members who faced repression at CCNY. They launched one
of the largest protests Pace University’s campus had seen. The
university, which is not accustomed to being challenged, let alone
having to deal with large protests, was not prepared for the event.
 
The students gave the Real State of the University: infringement
of civil liberties; union-busting of the adjunct professors’, cafeteria
workers’, and transportation workers’ unions; and a university
deficit of $3.2 million. All this is occurring while Pace is
“celebrating” its 100th year anniversary of the university.
 
CAN and SDS gave a press conference on the steps of City Hall
(NYC) in which they addressed campus repression at Pace of
both students and workers. They talked about the battle the
university was waging against them as a result of their protest
at Bill Clinton’s address to Pace’s Pleasantville campus. Three
top members of Pace University’s security office left the
university and followed the students through the streets to
City Hall and watched the press conference. The activists then
marched across the street chanting a call and response of:
“FREE SPEECH!, FREE SPEECH!”
 
As the protest began, one of the NYPD inspectors targeted
the two students who heckled Clinton and pulled them aside.
They were asked whether or not they intended to “burn down
the building” or go inside. The students stated that they were
offended that the inspector was asking them these questions
and they returned to the protest. Surrounded on their south
side by about a dozen police officers on motorcycles, and on
the university side by several Pace Security officers, the
protesters loudly demanded that the university hear their
call to “Drop all Charges and Support Free Speech on Campus.”
 
The students held a speak-out with members from the Campus
Antiwar Network and Students for a Democratic Society, where
they cited their demands, and read out letters of support from
Cindy Sheehan and other leading anti-war and free speech
activists. These activists had written to President Caputo
asking him to drop all charges against Brian Kelly and Lauren
Giaccone. The group mixed in free speech, anti-war, democracy,
and pro-union chants during the speak-out. Between the
protestors and their audiences, over 80 people attended the
protest by joining it, watching from the steps of the University,
or offering statements of support.
 
The protestors then spoke out on a bullhorn for about 15
minutes before they were stopped by the New York Police
Department. Police claimed it was a violation of city code to
speak using amplified sound. The students agreed to put the
bullhorn away in the interests of protecting all the supporters
there, but only after they read the First Amendment of the
United States and the ruling in the Supreme Court case
Saia v. New York. The Court stated in the Saia case that
amplified sound was protected by the first amendment
and is the way by which the people are reached.
 
Democracy Now! interviewed the activists afterwards
about the day’s events. Amy Goodman covered the event
during her daily broadcast on Tuesday (around minute
10 of her broadcast). Reporters from Democracy Now!,
Channel 9, the Pace press and the Indypendent were present.
 
Police and campus security weren’t the only authorities
present. A white Department of Homeland Security car
drove by, pausing and then speeding away back onto the
Brooklyn Bridge as activists attempted to photograph it.
When a Pentagon database was released listing events
the government had spied on, many Campus Antiwar
Network rallies and counter-recruitment protests were on
the list. The government is making it clear: if you are against
the war or step out of what we define as acceptable free
speech, We Are Watching you.
 
As the protest neared its end, several activists decided to enter
the university and question President Caputo during a question
and answer session. Not surprisingly they were met with
resistance from campus security who said they would have
them removed on “disorderly conduct charges” after one activist
put a free speech sign up to the glass of the window where Caputo
was speaking. After finally being let in, Caputo swiftly ended the
question and answer session. As he was leaving he was confronted
by students who inquired about the repression of free speech
on campus and the threatened expulsion of the two CAN and
SDS activists. Caputo agreed to meet with the group after
spring break.
 
The battle is not over. Pace Students plan to continue their fight
until students are allowed to fully express themselves freely,
as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States,
and until Pace University amends its unconstitutional polices
that prohibits free speech and free assembly. They call on
President Caputo to drop all charges against the student
activists threatened with expulsion, and to amend Pace’s
policies that prevent students from organising and workers
from unionising.
 
Brian Kelly is the president of Pace University’s Campus Antiwar
Network and a member of the Students for a Democratic Society
and the Green Party. He is one of the activists currently being
threatened with expulsion for his efforts to organise against
the war and in support of unions on campus. You can reach
him at Kelly@leftist.ws
 
For more information please visit www.campusantiwar.net
,
www.traprockpeace.org/pace_repression
,
or www.newsds.org/pace
 
How you can help:
Sign our online petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/paceuniv/
Contact Pace University and Tell Them What You Think:
Pace University President’s Office:
David A. Caputo, President
212-346-1097
president@pace.edu
and d.caputo@pace.edu  
Pace University Dean for Student’s Office:
Dr. Marijo Russell O’Grady, Dean for Students
212-346-1306 or 212-346-1307
mrussellogrady@pace.edu  
Pace University Hotline:
1-866-PAC-E001 (1-866-722-3001)
 
###

Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org

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LINKS ONLY
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French Students Step Up Protests Against New Job Law
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
March 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/international/europe/15france.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Updated Strategy Backs Iraq Strike and Cites Iran Peril
By DAVID E. SANGER
March 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/politics/16strategy.html?hp&ex=1142571600&en=8d390f0cbda4448e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

US Military Air Strikes Significantly Increased in Iraq
American forces have dramatically increased air strikes in Iraq during
the past five months, a change of tactics that may foreshadow how the
United States plans to battle a still-strong insurgency while reducing
the number of US ground troops serving there.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031506A.shtml

Market Place [The place where figures don't lie but liars sure
can figure...bw]
A Troubling Finance Tool for Companies in Trouble
By FLOYD NORRIS
March 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/15place.html?pagewanted=all

Study Says Chips in ID Tags Are Vulnerable to Viruses
[RFID TAGS]
By JOHN MARKOFF
March 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/technology/15tag.html?pagewanted=all

I Live in a Ghetto
by Michael Engel
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/engel140306.html

Many Utilities Collect for Taxes They Never Pay
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
March 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/15utility.html?pagewanted=all

FOCUS | Paul Krugman: 'McCain Is Not a Moderate'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031406Z.shtml

A Swiftly Crumbling Planet
Doomsayer Mike Davis
offers a new reason to panic:
Earth is turning into a giant slum.
BY MATT STEINGLASS
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/03/14/davis/print.html

Colleges Open Minority Aid to All Comers
By JONATHAN D. GLATER
"Facing threats of litigation and pressure from Washington, colleges
and universities nationwide are opening to white students hundreds
of thousands of dollars in fellowships, scholarships and other
programs previously created for minorities."
March 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/education/14minority.html

2 Asian Automakers Plan Ventures in 2 States Left by U.S. Carmakers
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
and JEREMY W. PETERS
March 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/business/worldbusiness/14auto.html

Congress Challenges Oil Executives on Profits
By JAD MOUAWAD
March 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/business/14cnd-oil.html?hp&ex=1142398800&en=3364b395f8ea13f8&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Federal Judge to Order Google to Release Data to Justice Dept.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Although the Justice Department said it doesn't want any personal
information now, the victory would likely encourage far more invasive
requests in the future, said University of Connecticut law professor
Paul Schiff Berman, who specializes in Internet law.
"The erosion of privacy tends to happen incrementally," Berman
said. "While no one intrusion may seem that big, over the course
of the next decade or two, you might end up in a place as a society
where you never thought you would be."
Google seized on the case to underscore its commitment to privacy
rights and differentiate itself from the Internet's other major search
engines -- Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Time Warner Inc.'s
America Online. All three say they complied with the Justice
Department's request without revealing their users' personal
information."
March 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/technology/14cnd-google.html?hp&ex=1142398800&en=20779cec0a45025f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Palestinians Sought by Israel Surrender Outside Jail
By STEVEN ERLANGER
and GREG MYRE
March 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/international/middleeast/14cnd-jericho.html?hp&ex=1142398800&en=0048f191a16a7dc9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Dahr Jamail | Iraq: Permanent US Colony
Why does the Bush Administration refuse to discuss withdrawing
occupation forces from Iraq? Why is Halliburton, who landed the no-bid
contracts to construct and maintain US military bases in Iraq, posting higher
profits than ever before in its 86-year history? Why do these bases in
Iraq resemble self-contained cities as much as military outposts? Dahr
Jamail explores these questions and more.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031306A.shtml

The War Dividend: Companies Making a Fortune out of Conflict-Riven Iraq
British businesses have profited by at least 1.1 billion pounds since
coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein three years ago, the first
comprehensive investigation into UK corporate investment in Iraq has found.
The company roll-call of post-war profiteers includes some of the best
known names in Britain's boardrooms, as well many who would prefer to
remain anonymous.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031306B.shtml

Immigrants stage massive protest in Chicago
10 Mar 2006 21:05:25 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10308589.htm

A Poverty Line That's Out of Date and Out of Favor
By ANNA BERNASEK
March 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/business/yourmoney/12view.html?pagewanted=all

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