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BAUAW NEWSLETTER Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Thursday, August 03, 2006
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2006
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- VIVA FIDEL! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- LAST ANSWER ACTIVIST MEETING BEFORE AUGUST 12 EMERGENCY MARCH - WORK SESSION TUES. AUG. 8, 7PM 2489 Mission St. Room 30, (at 21st St.) San Francisco near 24th St. BART, #14, #49 MUNI Join us for a political update on the U.S.-Israeli war in the Middle East. We will also have a Volunteer Orientation and go over the sceanrio of the day for August 12 and then break into work sessions for sign making, phonebanking, postering and more. Your help is needed! No prior experience necessary. Call 415-821-6545 for more info. WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR AUGUST 12? The plan: Assemble 11am at Civic Center in San Francisco, at Polk and Grove Sts. (at Civic Center BART station). Rally, and then march through downtown San Francisco returning to Civic Center for a closing rally with speakers, entertainment and cultural performances. Volunteers are needed for the August 12 Emergency March to Defend the People of Lebanon and Palestine! Stop the U.S.-Israeli War! VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE FOR THE AUGUST 12 MARCH Civic Center Plaza (Rally Site): 7:30am to 9:00 Truck unloading and set up 9:00am Volunteer sign in (including Legal Observers & Security) for check-in please go to the table under the Volunteer banner 9:00am Check-in for informational table set up and directions 11:00am Gathering rally at Civic Center Approximately 12:30 march stepping off 2:00 p.m. March arrives back at Civic Center 2:00 to 4:00 End rally 4:00 to 5:00 Take down, truck loading, and clean up 5:30 Unloading trucks at A.N.S.W.E.R. office (please come by and help after the rally) 2489 Mission St. Rm. 24. ** Volunteers will be needed to help ALL DAY LONG to make this action successful. When you have finished a volunteer task at either site, please go back to the Volunteer Tables and check-in again to see where you can help. There are many ways you can help out regardless of when you are arriving - and volunteering doesn't mean you have to miss the rally or the march! Please see below for a list of various areas in which help is needed. You will be contacted with more information about the area for which you signed up prior to the march. When you arrive at the rally, look for the signs that say "Volunteer" (unless asked to report elsewhere). Work sessions are taking place daily and outreach materials are available to be picked up at all times to continue to spread the word. Call the 415-821-6545 to begin getting involved. WORK SESSIONS: There will be worksessions at the A.N.S.W.E.R. office on Tuesday 8/8 at 7 pm and Wednesday 8/9 at 7pm and you can also help out during the day (just give us a call for details). On Friday, August 11 we will be loading the truck with all the materials for the march at our office at 5pm. On Saturday, help is needed from 7:30am am until 5:30 pm. There are many different areas that need help - including sign and literature distribution, Legal observers, First Aid, march monitoring & more! Please see the descriptions and sign up sheet below. Sign distribution: We will be handing out hundreds of signs so that those who see our march on the streets of SF and in images in the media know exactly what we're there for! We have beautiful signs with many different slogans to give out. This job will begin about 10 am and continue until more people have arrived at about 12 noon. When you arrive at Civic Center look for the banner that says "Volunteer" - people at that table will direct you to the sign distribution points. Literature distribution and outreach: There will be flyers and other materials to let people know what's coming up next, and to provide organizers and activists from around the area with resources that can contribute to local organizing. We will have tables to staff, and go into the crowd to hand out materials. We will also be circulating the "Guantanamo - Shut It Down!" petition and asking people to sign the mailing list. These jobs can be done regardless of when you are arriving or how much time you have. When you arrive at Civic Center, look for the banners that say "Volunteer". Legal Observers: We need legal observers for the march and rally. If you have any legal background, please email us if you can help in this area and our coordinator from the NLG will contact you. March Monitoring: We need volunteers to help keep the march going to and direct people at corners where the march is turning. Volunteers will be working in conjunction with our security team. First Aid: We are looking for people who have training in first aid (EMT, RN, LPN, M.D., first aid instructor). If you are volunteering for this area, please describe your first aid training in the comments section. You should report to the First Aid tent by the stage as soon as you arrive at the demonstration. The First Aid coordinator will get in touch with you in advance to schedule you for a shift during the rally and/or march. You can also check in at the First Aid Tent by the stage at Civic Center. Help is also needed for set up at 7:30am Saturday morning and take down at 4pm after the rally. If you are unsure about what you want to do or when you're available, you can come to the Volunteer Tent at anytime on Saturday to sign up to help. To fill out the Volunteer form click below and reply to this email. Name - Home/ Cell Phone - Work Phone - Address - What hours can you volunteer on August 12 - (from when to when) What task you would like to do on August 12 (set-up, sign distribution, leaflet distribution, march monitoring, petitioning, first aid, legal observers, take down, or other) I can help at the Tuesday 8/8 Worksession - (Y/N) I can help at the Wednesday 8/9 Worksession - (Y/N) I can help at the Friday, 8/11 Truck Loading - (Y/N) HOW DO I GET TO THE SAN FRANCISCO PROTEST? BUSES, VANS AND CAR CARAVANS GOING TO SAN FRANCISCO: If you are traveling to San Francisco from another city or town, we have transportation being organized from the following areas. For transportation contact: Merced - wizmo16@hotmail.com Sacramento - sypeaceact@jps.net San Jose - 408-829-9506 Santa Cruz - peaceinjustice@yahoo.com Reno, NV - stewartreno@yahoo.com If you're organizing people from your area and you're not listed, fill out the online form at http://www.answercoalition.org/ or email us at answer@actionsf.org so that we can help get the word out. DRIVING DIRECTIONS To map these directions visit http://www.mapquest.com/directions/ enter your starting point and Polk and Grove St. San Francisco, CA as your destination. Bay Bridge: Take 80 West to Mission St. exit. Take the exit toward NINTH STREET / CIVIC CENTER. Take the ramp toward 9TH ST / CIVIC CTR / FELL ST / GOLDEN GATE BR. Turn LEFT onto HARRISON ST. Turn RIGHT onto 9TH ST. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto LARKIN ST. to Grove. BART: If you are taking BART, exit at the Civic Center station, walk SW on Market to Hyde, turn right on Hyde and an immediate left onto Grove, walk one block to Civic Center. Peninsula: Take U.S. 101 North to I-80 toward Bay Bridge/Oakland/Seventh St. 101 North. Take the US-101 N / MISSION ST exit toward VAN NESS AVE / G G BRIDGE. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto MISSION ST / US-101 N. Continue to follow US-101 N. Turn RIGHT onto GROVE ST. to Polk. Golden Gate Bridge: Follow U.S. 101 south as it merges onto Lombard St. Turn right at Van Ness. Turn left on Grove St. to Polk. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN SAN FRANCISCO The closest BART station is Civic Center station. The closest MUNI Metro stop to Civic Center is 7th and Market St. For a San Francisco MUNI map, click below: http://www.sfmuni.com/absite/sitemapa.htm#maps (choose the type of map you desire) For a BART map, click below: http://www.bart.gov/stations/map/systemMap.asp For directions from your starting location, click below to use the trip planner feature. Just enter your starting location and Civic Center Plaza (Grove & Larkin) as your ending location, and you will receive detailed public transit directions. http://transit.511.org/ BUS/VAN/CAR DROP-OFF, PICK-UP & PARKING: BUS/VAN/CAR DROP-OFF The rally gathering site is Civic Center. Buses and vans can drop passengers off at this location. BUS PICKUP Bus pick up will be at Civic Center Plaza where the closing rally will also take place. BUS PARKING Buses should park along the north side of McAllister between Polk and Larkin or either side of Grove St. between Polk and Larkin. VAN/CAR PARKING INFORMATION Please note that public transportation is the preferred method to the rally, as parking is limited in the area. There is a municipal garage below Civic Center Plaza on McAllister St. between Dr. Carlton P Goodlett Pl. (Polk St.) and Larkin St. This garage may fill up early. The garage has 843 spaces for $1.50/hr. The garage will be open 8 am to midnight. There are several private parking garages and lots in the Civic Center area. That can be easily returned to via BART after the march. Click the link below for municipal parking garage information. http://www.sfgov.org/site/dpt_index.asp?id=13451#garages HOUSING/HOTELS IN SAN FRANCISCO Below are listed some accommodations in the San Francisco Civic Center area. There are many accommodations throughout the city, and more info can be found at sfvisitor.org. MEDICAL: Healthcare workers will be on hand to assist with basic medical needs. Please remember to bring water, snacks, weather protection and comfortable walking shoes, as you will be on your feet and outside for many hours. If you are a healthcare worker or have first aid experience and would like to volunteer to help on June 5th, call us at 415-821-6545 or email answer@actionsf.org LEGAL: If you are a law student or other person interested in helping with legal observing on the day of the march, please email for more info on how you can plug in or sign in to volunteer at 9:00 a.m. at Civic Center. To contact the legal group, email answer@actionsf.org. MEDIA: The media coordinator for San Francisco is Mazda Majidi. He can be reached at (415) 821-6545. To contact the media logistics group, email answer@actionsf.org WEATHER: San Francisco weather is typically cool mornings with warm afternoons, then gusty cool or cold winds late in the evening. (see also, http://www.weather.com/ for temperature readings, etc. Please remember that weather predictions are not always accurate.) WHAT YOU SHOULD BRING Bring snacks and water, and wear comfortable shoes since you'll be standing and walking for several hours. Changeable weather is possible, so bring appropriate gear to protect either from the sun, wind, cold, or other elements. If you've been to an A.N.S.W.E.R. protest before and have an "Act Now to Stop War & End Racism," T-shirt or sign, wear it or bring it to the protest! FOOD There are a number of small cafes, restaurants and stores in the area of Civic Center. There will also be food vendors at Civic Center. BATHROOMS Portable toilets will be readily available. Some of them will be wheelchair accessible. TABLING POLICY There is a designated area for groups to set up tables at the Civic Center, and there will be a $50 fee for nonprofits to help offset the enormous organizing costs and $250 for commercial sales. Table space at the Civic Center in the designated area is available for 6-foot tables on a first come, first served basis. The fee must be paid at the time when you set up your table and you must bring your own table. Ask for the Tabling Coordinators after 9:00 am at Civic Center for set-up area details. There will be volunteers on hand to explain to collect the fee. Please bring cash, check or money order (made to "A.N.S.W.E.R.") with you when you set up. All groups must bring their own tables. AUGUST 12 FLYERS Download flyers at http://www.actionsf.org/. 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: https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=1443&JServSessionIdr005=qp460iiqd2.app8a To donate by check contact: answer@actionsf.org NATIONAL EMERGENCY MARCH ON WASHINGTON DEFEND THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE AND LEBANON! STOP THE US-ISRAELI WAR! From Iraq to Lebanon to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime! SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2006, 11:00 A.M. CIVIC CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO Stop U.S. Aid to Israel! Support the Palestinian People's Right to Return! Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Occupation! Initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, the National Council of Arab Americans (NCA), and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. Volunteers are needed for August 12 -- call 415-821-6545 http://www.actionsf.org/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone discuss: Apocalypse Now - The U.S. and Israeli Master Plan for the Middle East. Also, to be shown for the first time in the Bay Area: "The War in Lebanon: An Inside View" including harrowing photos of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila Massacre. Thursday, August 17 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita Berkeley, CA,. $10 suggested donation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information call 707.552.9992 or write takingaim@pacbell.net Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone, producers of the national radio show "Taking Aim," present a dramatic exposé of the current wave of U.S. coordinated and Israeli mass slaughter in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. They discuss in compelling and heart-rending detail the U.S. and Israeli murderous agenda, its timetable and the collusion of client Arab regimes in targeting the peoples of the region. From Rafah to, Ramallah and Nablus, from Bint Jbail, Tyre, Sidon and Beirut to Tripoli, from 1947, 1967 to 1982 and now, an ongoing genocide has been unleashed _ part of a plan to visit the identical agony on the people of Syria, Iran, Iraq and the region. This murderous agenda proceeds under the cover of the false category of terror for which 9/11 was planned, implemented and orchestrated by the U.S. ruling class and its Israeli cohorts. Heralded authors of “The Hidden History of Zionism”, “Prisoners of Israel” and “Homage to Palestine”, Schoenman and Shone, reveal through first hand testimony and shocking visuals the wholesale massacre and mass expulsion that emptied Palestine of its population in 1948 and was repeated in an identical operation in Lebanon in 1982. In 1982-83, Schoenman and Shone lived in the Palestinian refugee camps as these were reduced to rubble. They documented the round-up by the Israeli invaders of males from ages 7 to 70 across Lebanon and took 6,000 affidavits from the victims_ families. They witnessed and made a photo record of the mass murder and the mass graves from Ain El Helweh, Rashidieh, Bourj al Burajneh to Sabra and Shatila in Beirut. Schoenman and Shone draw from their experiences in Palestine and Lebanon, their testimony presented to the United Nations, Foreign Ministers and to the Nordic Commission in Oslo, Norway as well as their years of advocacy on behalf of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Ralph Schoenman was Secretary General of the International Tribunal on U.S. War Crimes in Indochina. He worked with Malcolm X with respect to the battle for the Congo and has negotiated the release of political prisoners in many countries. He was the Executive Director of the Committee in Defense of the Palestinian and Lebanese Peoples and the Committee for a Democratic and Secular Palestine. He is the author of “The Hidden History of Zionism,” “Iraq and Kuwait: A History Suppressed,” and co-authored with Mya Shone “Prisoners of Israel (report for the United Nations)” and “Homage to Palestine.” Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone co-produce “Taking Aim with Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone” heard weekly on Pacifica’s WBAI-NY and nationally on the Progressive Radio Network. Mya Shone is an economist and has a long history as an activist involved in political, community and labor issues. She worked closely with Casa Nicaragua and Casa El Salvador during the struggles taking place in Central America, was the coordinator of the Tri-County (Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo) Labor Party chapter and co-coordinator of the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights. She was the coordinator of the Committee in Defense of the Palestinian and Lebanese Peoples and the Committee for a Democratic and Secular Palestine. Mya Shone was also an award-winning documentary filmmaker as well as a newscaster at KPFK in Los Angeles. --- The first two parts of Taking Aim's series on the Middle East, "Apocalypse Now: The U.S. and Israeli Master Plan for the Middle East" are available on our website archive http://www.takingaim.info Part 1: Death and Devastation in Lebanon Part 2: The Meaning of Qana --- Ben Gurion and the Final Aim: (an excerpt from "The Hidden History of Zionism" by Ralph Schoenman, available from Veritas Press --see http://www.takingaim.info and Amazon.com) In 1938, David Ben Gurion, who became the first Prime Minister of the Israeli state, wrote in a letter to his son: "A partial Jewish State is not the end, but only the beginning. I am certain that we can not be prevented from settling in the other parts of the country and the region." In 1937, he declaimed: "The boundaries of Zionist aspirations are the concern of the Jewish people and no external factor will be able to limit them." In 1938, he was more explicit: "The boundaries of Zionist aspirations," he told the World Council of Poale Zion in Tel Aviv, "include southern Lebanon, southern Syria, today's Jordan, all of Cis-Jordan [the West Bank] and the Sinai." ### ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- San Francisco Board of Education Meeting Tuesday, August 22, 7:00 P.M. Irving G. Breyer Board Meeting Room 555 Franklin Street, 1st Floor San Francisco, CA 94102 415/241-6427 San Francisco School board members are likely to vote Tuesday, August 22 on a resolution to phase out JROTC. If the proposal is approved, a blue-ribbon panel will be formed to find and implement a non-military program to replace JROTC. At present, the resolution has the support of the majority of school board members. [SEE ARTICLE REPRINTED BELOW: 7) Why queers should oppose JROTC Guest Opinion Published 07/27/2006 Bay Area Reporter by Tom Ammiano, Mark Sanchez, and Tommi Avicolli Mecca] http://www.ebar.com/openforum/opforum.php?sec=guest_op ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- U.S. Out of Iraq Now! We Are the Majority! End Colonial Occupation from Iraq, to Palestine, Haiti, and Everywhere! October 28 National Day of Action Locally Coordinated Anti-War Protests from Coast to Coast Vote With Your Feet … and Your Voices, and Banners, and Signs! Let Every Politician Feel the Power of the People! http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=7836 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- SCROLL DOWN TO READ: EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ARTICLES IN FULL LINKS ONLY ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- This convention is for all peace partners. Please circulate widely. Reserve you seat today by sending us an email at samina_faheem@yahoo.com. Hope to see all of you on August 20th 2006. Thanks, Samina American Muslim Voice Foundation creating a culture of peace, acceptance, mutual respect and harmony Phone: 650-387-1994 Email: amvoice@amuslimvoice.org Website: www.amuslimvoice.org 3rd Annual Convention Ordinary People, Extraordinary Heroes AMV needs your support urgently Limited seating. Please purchase your ticket today. When: Sunday – August 20th, 2006 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM Where: Chandni 5748 Mowry School Road Newark, CA 94560 Ticket price $25.00 (Includes Luncheon) Special request: Could you please enrich this event by dressing in your traditional clothing? We are very grateful for your support and friendship. Looking forward to see you.The AMV Team For more information visit www.amuslimvoice.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- SAVE THE DATE AND JOIN US!!!!! THIS IS A RESIDENT-LED EFFORT BY SURVIVORS WHO HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE MOST IMPACTED BY THE KATRINA DISASTER AND WHO HAVE RECEIVED THE LEAST ASSISTANCE AND RESOURCES FROM FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ANDTHEIR AGENCIES. THEY WANT TO KNOW IF YOUR ADVOCACY, ACTIVIST, OR PROGRESSIVE ORGANIZATION WANTS TO SUPPORTTHIS AND HAVE ONE OF YOUR MEMBERS PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE ON BEHALF OF YOUR ORGANIZATION TO PULL THIS OFF THEY WANT OUR HELP AND SUPPORT!!! Come Back Home Campaign Washington, D.C. August 24, 25, and 26, 2006 Baton Rouge, August 27-28, 2006 New Orleans, August 29, 2006 On August 24-26, 2006, Survivors who are still displaced and scattered all across the U.S. will be traveling to D.C., pitching tents, and camping out on the federal government to demand their right to returnhome On August 27-28, 2006, these Survivors will be traveling to Baton Rouge, pitching their tents in front of the state capitol, and putting pressure on the state government of Louisiana for their right to return home On August 29, 2006, the anniversary of the Katrina Disaster, Survivors will make their demands to return home heard by the city council of New Orleans and camp out on city hall We are planning to have at least of 5,000 Katrina survivors bused into D.C., Baton Rouge, and New Orleans from all across the U.S. We are focusing our efforts on bringing residents in from seven states in the Southern Region: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida. We are specifically reaching out to those who are public housing residents, renters, and home owners that the city, state and federal government are trying to keep from returning home We need help with food, housing, medical providers, logistics, showers/toilets, entertainment, & advertising For more info, contact the following organization representatives: Makani, Praxis Project (202) 234-5921, info@praxisproject.org Ishmael, Advancement Project and People's Organizing Committee (504) 872-9591, poc_information@yahoo.com Please visit our website: www.peoplesorganizing.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- NATIONAL EMERGENCY MARCH ON WASHINGTON DEFEND THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE AND LEBANON! STOP THE US-ISRAELI WAR! National Emergency March on Washington Defend the People of Palestine and Lebanon! Stop the U.S.-Israeli War! From Iraq to Lebanon to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime! SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2006, 11:00 A.M. CIVIC CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO Stop U.S. Aid to Israel! Support the Palestinian People's Right to Return! Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Occupation! Initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, the National Council of Arab Americans (NCA), and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. October 28 National Day of Action Locally Coordinated Anti-War Protests from Coast to Coast Vote With Your Feet … and Your Voices, and Banners, and Signs! Let Every Politician Feel the Power of the People! http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=7836 http://www.actionsf.org/ http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=7869 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- End Canada's Occupation of Afghanistan! Call for action on October 28, 2006 This call for a pan-Canadian day of action, co-signed by the Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Islamic Congress, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Montreal coalition Echec a la Guerre, is being distributed and discussed at the World Peace Forum now taking place in Vancouver. -SV The Collectif Échec à la guerre, Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the Canadian Islamic Congress are jointly calling for a pan- Canadian day of protest this October 28th, 2006, to bring Canadian troops home from Afghanistan. On that day, people all across the country will unite to tell Stephen Harper that we are opposed to his wholehearted support for Canadian and U.S. militarism. This October marks the fifth anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and the people of that country are still suffering from the ravages of war. Reconstruction in the country is at a standstill and the needs of the Afghan people are not being met. The rule of the new Afghan State, made up largely of drug running warlords, will not realize the democratic aspirations of the people there. In fact, according to Human Rights Watch reports, the human rights record of those warlords in recent years has not been better than the Taliban. We are told that the purpose of this war is to root out terrorism and protect our societies, yet the heavy-handed approach of a military occupation trying to impose a US-friendly government on the Afghan people will force more Afghans to become part of the resistance movement. It will also make our societies more -- not less -- likely to see terrorist attacks. No discussion on military tactics in the House of Commons will change that reality. Indeed, violence is increasing with more attacks on both coalition troops and on Afghan civilians. While individual Canadian soldiers may have gone to Afghanistan with the best of intentions, they are operating under the auspices of a US-led state building project that cares little or the needs of the Afghan people. US and Canadian interests rest with the massive $3.2 billion Trans Afghan Pipeline (TAP) project, which will bring oil from the Caspian region through southern Afghanistan (where Canada is stationed) and onto the ports of Pakistan. It has been no secret that the TAP has dominated US foreign policy towards Afghanistan for the last decade. Now Canadian oil and gas corporations have their own interests in the TAP. Over the last decade, the role of the Canadian Armed Forces abroad has changed, and Canadian foreign policy has become a replica of the US empire-building rhetoric. The end result of this process is now plain to see with the role of our troops in Southern Afghanistan, with the enormous budget increases for war expenditures and "security," with the Bush-style speeches of Stephen Harper, and with the fear campaigns around "homegrown terrorism" to foster support for those nefarious changes. It is this very course that will get young Canadian soldiers killed, that will endanger our society and consume more and more of its resources for destruction and death in Afghanistan. We demand a freeze in defense and security budgets until an in-depth public discussion is held on those issues across Canada. The mission in Afghanistan has already cost Canadians more than $4 billion. That money could have been used to fund human needs in Canada or abroad. Instead it is being used to kill civilians in Afghanistan and advance the interests of corporations. On October 28th, stand up and be counted. Canadian Troops Out of Afghanistan Now! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL! Stop funding Israel's war against Palestine Complete the form at the website listed below with your information. Personalize the message text on the right with your own words, if you wish. Click the Next Step button to send your letter to these decision makers: President George W. Bush Vice President Richard 'Dick' B. Cheney Your Senators Your Representative Go here to register your outrage: https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy? JServSessionIdr003=cga2p2o6x1.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=177 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Idriss Stelley Foundation is in critical financial crisis, please help ! ISF is in critical financial crisis, and might be forced to close its doors in a couple of months due to lack of funds to cover DSL, SBC and utilities, which is a disaster for our numerous clients, since the are the only CBO providing direct services to Victims (as well as extended failies) of police misconduct for the whole city of SF. Any donation, big or small will help us stay alive until we obtain our 501-c3 nonprofit Federal Status! Checks can me made out to ISF, ( 4921 3rd St , SF CA 94124 ). Please consider to volunteer or apply for internship to help covering our 24HR Crisis line, provide one on one couseling and co facilitate our support groups, M.C a show on SF Village Voice, insure a 2hr block of time at ISF, moderate one of our 26 websites for ISF clients ! http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isf23/ Report Police Brutality 24HR Bilingual hotline (415) 595-8251 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Asa/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Sign the petition to save Bayview Hunters Point: No more Fillmore! Editorial by Willie Ratcliff, http://www.sfbayview.com/060706/signthepetition060706.shtml As urban Black displacement grows, Bayview kicks off referendum drive to stop Redevelopment by Randy Shaw, http://www.sfbayview.com/060706/displacement060706.shtml Hands off Bayview Hunters Point! An open letter to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors http://www.sfbayview.com/050306/handsoff050306.shtml Shattering the myth that our community is divided, people – especially Black people – are lining up to sign, but we need lots more signature gatherers. Can you commit to a few hours with a clipboard or to passing petitions among your co-workers, friends and family? Give us a call at (415) 671-0789 or an email at editor@sfbayview.com. Now for what we’re up against: The Bay View newspaper has been too broke to help finance the petition campaign, very few contributions have come in and bills are overdue. So the petition drive needs financial help … and so does the Bay View newspaper, desperately. The Bay View has faced many crises in the over 14 years we’ve published it – eviction, death threats, never enough money – yet readers have always come through, enabling us to bounce back, tackle bigger issues and fight harder than ever. We hate to beg, but WE NEED YOU NOW. WITHOUT AN IMMEDIATE AND SUBSTANTIAL LOAN, THE BAY VIEW CANNOT CONTINUE. To discuss a loan, which we can amply collateralize, please call us at (415) 671-0789; we’re here 24/7. Tax-deductible contributions to our nonprofit arm, the Hurricane Relief Information Network, are also a big help to save the hopes and the lives of survivors who depend on the Bay View for news and resources. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Appeal for funds: Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches Visit the Dahr Jamail Iraq website http://dahrjamailiraq.com Request for Support Dahr Jamail will soon return to the Middle East to continue his independent reporting. As usual, reporting independently is a costly enterprise; for example, an average hotel room is $50, a fixer runs $50 per day, and phone/food average $25 per day. Dahr will report from the Middle East for one month, and thus needs to raise $5,750 in order to cover his plane ticket and daily operating expenses. A rare opportunity has arisen for Dahr to cover several stories regarding the occupation of Iraq, as well as U.S. policy in the region, which have been entirely absent from mainstream media. With the need for independent, unfiltered information greater than ever, your financial support is deeply appreciated. Without donations from readers, ongoing independent reports from Dahr are simply not possible. All donations go directly towards covering Dahr's on the ground operating expenses. (c)2006 Dahr Jamail. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- New Flash Film From Young Ava Over At 'Peace Takes Courage' http://www.peacetakescourage.com/page-blog.htm http://letter.cf.huffingtonpost.com/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Save the Lebanese Civilians Petition http://epetitions.net/julywar/index.php http://donations.tayyar.org/ To The Concerned Citizen of The World: http://epetitions.net/julywar/index.php ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Legal update on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case Excerpts from a letter written by Robert R. Bryan, the lead attorney for death row political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal. ...On July 20, 2006, we filed the Brief of Appellee and Cross Appellant, Mumia Abu-Jamal, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. http://www.workers.org/2006/us/mumia-0810/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Today in Palestine! For up to date information on Israeli's brutal attack on human rights and freedom in Palestine and Lebanon go to: http://www.theheadlines.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- For a great car magnet--a black ribbon with the words, "Bring the troops home now!" written in red, and it also comes in a lapel pin!--go to: (Put out by A.N.S.W.E.R.) https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1621 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- FOR YOUR INFORMATION: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF ZIONISM BY RALPH SCHOENMAN Essential reading for understanding the development of Zionism and Israel in the service of British and USA imperialism. The full text of the book can be found at: http://www.marxists.de/middleast/schoenman/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- JOIN THE LYNNE STEWAR DEFENSE For those of you who don't know who Lynne Stewart is, go to www.lynnestewart.org and get acquainted with Lynne and her cause. Lynne is a criminal defense attorney who is being persecuted for representing people charged with heinous crimes. It is a bedrock of our legal system that every criminal defendant has a right to a lawyer. Persecuting Lynne is an attempt to terrorize and intimidate all criminal defense attorneys in this country so they will stop representing unpopular people. If this happens, the fascist takeover of this nation will be complete. We urge you all to go the website, familiarize yourselves with Lynne and her battle for justice www.lynnestewart.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO FREE THE CUBAN FIVE Comité Nacional por la Libertad de los Cinco Cubanos Who are the Cuban Five? The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001. They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges. But the Five pointed out vigorously in their defense that they were involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent terrorist attacks on their country of Cuba. The Five’s actions were never directed at the U.S. government. They never harmed anyone nor ever possessed nor used any weapons while in the United States. The Cuban Five’s mission was to stop terrorism For more than 40 years, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba, and against anyone who advocates a normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. More than 3,000 Cubans have died as a result of these terrorists’ attacks. Gerardo Hernández 2 Life Sentences Antonio Guerrero Life Sentence Ramon Labañino Life Sentence Fernando González 19 Years René González 15 Years Free The Cuban Five Held Unjustly In The U.S.! http://www.freethefive.org/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Eyewitness Account from Oaxaca A website is now being circulated that has up-to-date info and video that can be downloaded of the police action and developments in Oaxaca. For those who have not seen it elsewhere, the website is: www.mexico.indymedia.org/oaxaca http://www.mexico.indymedia.org/oaxaca ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- REMINDER TO ALL GROUPS: BE SURE AND POST ALL ACTIONS AND EVENTS TO WWW.INDYBAY.ORG TO REACH THE MOST PEOPLE AGAINST THE WAR IN THE BAY AREA! http://www.indybay.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Iraq Body Count For current totals, see our database page. http://www.iraqbodycount.net/press/pr13.php ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- The Cost of War [Over three-hundred-billion so far...bw] http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- "The Democrats always promise to help workers, and the don't! The Republicans always promise to help business, and the do!" - Mort Sahl ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- "It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Emilano Zapata ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Join the Campaign to Shut Down the Guantanamo Torture Center Go to: http://www.shutitdown.org/ to send a letter to Congress and the White House: Shut Down Guantanamo and all torture centers and prisons. A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Act Now to Stop War & End Racism http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org sf@internationalanswer.org 2489 Mission St. Rm. 24 San Francisco: 415-821-6545 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Great Counter-Recruitment Website http://notyoursoldier.org/article.php?list=type&type=14 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- DEFEND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS! Last summer the U.S. Border Patrol arrested Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, both 23-year-old volunteers assisting immigrants on the border, for medically evacuating 3 people in critical condition from the Arizona desert. Criminalization for aiding undocumented immigrants already exists on the books in the state of Arizona. Daniel and Shanti are targeted to be its first victims. Their arrest and subsequent prosecution for providing humanitarian aid could result in a 15-year prison sentence. Any Congressional compromise with the Sensenbrenner bill (HR 4437) may include these harmful criminalization provisions. Fight back NOW! Help stop the criminalization of undocumented immigrants and those who support them! For more information call 415-821- 9683. For information on the Daniel and Shanti Defense Campaign, visit www.nomoredeaths.org. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- FYI According to "Minimum Wage History" at http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth484/minwage.html " "Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $9.12. "The 8 dollar per hour Whole Foods employees are being paid $1.12 less than the 1968 minimum wage. "A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The graph shows both nominal (red) and real (blue) minimum wage values. Nominal values range from 25 cents per hour in 1938 to the current $5.15/hr. The greatest percentage jump in the minimum wage was in 1950, when it nearly doubled. The graph adjusts these wages to 2005 dollars (blue line) to show the real value of the minimum wage. Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $9.12. Note how the real dollar minimum wage rises and falls. This is because it gets periodically adjusted by Congress. The period 1997-2006, is the longest period during which the minimum wage has not been adjusted. States have departed from the federal minimum wage. Washington has the highest minimum wage in the country at $7.63 as of January 1, 2006. Oregon is next at $7.50. Cities, too, have set minimum wages. Santa Fe, New Mexico has a minimum wage of $9.50, which is more than double the state minimum wage at $4.35." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- PRESERVE INTERNET NETWORK NEUTRALITY Hi, I can't imagine that you haven't seen this, but if you haven't, please sign the petition to keep our access. Everything we do online will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law next week that gives giant corporations more control over what we do and see on the Internet. Internet providers like AT&T are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality--the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Right now, Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. BarnesandNoble.com doesn't have to outbid Amazon for the right to work properly on your computer. If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites--including Google, eBay, and iTunes--must either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk having their websites process slowly. That why these high-tech pioneers, plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to Gun Owners of America, are opposing Congress' effort to gut Internet freedom. So please! sign this petition telling your member of Congress to preserve Internet freedom? Click here: http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706% 7C1152463-5QFocRE05wmGUuh8yAMSzg ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- NO BORDERS! NO WALLS! NO FENCES! GENERAL AMNESTY FOR ALL! OUR HOMELAND IS WHERE WE LIVE! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- REPEAL THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN 2007! Check out: 10 EXCELLENT REASONS NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARY http://www.10reasonsbook.com/ Public Law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [1.8 MB] http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html Also, the law is up before Congress again in 2007. See this article from USA Today: Bipartisan panel to study No Child Left Behind By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY February 13, 2006 http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-02-13-education-panel_x.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/decind.html http://www.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) 'No Hezbollah Rockets Fired from Qana' by Dahr Jamail Published on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 by Inter Press Service http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0801-02.htm 2) Tax Cheats Called Out of Control by David Cay Johnston Published on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 by the New York Times http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0801-04.htm 3) Support the Resistance in Palestine: A Call to Action necdp@onepalestine.org 4) The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil By Michel Chossudovsky July 26, 2006 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060726&articleId=2824 5) Enhance force levels? Look to immigrants. The US should grant preference for visas to those willing to serve in the military. By Kevin Ryan CAMBRIDGE, MASS. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0726/p09s02-coop.htm 6) Israel trying the same trap on Lebanon By Shadi Fadda www.theheadlines.org 7) Why queers should oppose JROTC Guest Opinion Published 07/27/2006 Bay Area Reporter by Tom Ammiano, Mark Sanchez, and Tommi Avicolli Mecca http://www.ebar.com/openforum/opforum.php?sec=guest_op 8) Free Josh Wolf Thursday, August 3, 2006 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/08/03/EDG0RK9T7T1.DTL 9) Massacre at Qana may be a turning point Commentary By Karim Makdisi Posted on Fri, Aug. 04, 2006 http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/15193480.htm 10) An open letter to the American president By Salim El Hoss By Salim El Hoss, former prime minister of Lebanon The Daily Star, August 3, 2006 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=1&article_ID=74444&categ_id=5 11) A City Lives On With Its Ill-Fated Charm Inter Press Service Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches http://dahrjamailiraq.com 12) Black Beaches in Lebanon July 29, 2006 Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches http://dahrjamailiraq.com 13) Images from Lebanon http://dahrjamailiraq.com 14) ‘Dead Zone’ Reappears Off the Oregon Coast By CORNELIA DEAN August 6, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/us/06coast.html 15) Economic View The Rich Spend Just Like You and Me By ANNA BERNASEK August 6, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/business/yourmoney/06view.html?ref=business 16) Cuba's military money machine Under the leadership of defense minister Raul Castro, the country's military is a powerful political and economic force. BY FRANCES ROBLES frobles@MiamiHerald.com MIAMI HERALD Posted on Sun, Aug. 06, 2006 http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/5min/15209490.htm 17) Intimations of Recession By PAUL KRUGMAN August 7, 2006 http://select.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/opinion/07krugman.html?hp 18) Iraq Incident Was Fueled by Whiskey, G.I. Says By KIRK SEMPLE and JOHN O’NEIL August 7, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1155009600&en=22f60a29d080db21&ei=5094&partner=homepage 19) 15 States Expand Right to Shoot in Self-Defense By ADAM LIPTAK “In effect,” Professor Sebok said, “the law allows citizens to kill other citizens in defense of property.” August 7, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/us/07shoot.html?hp&ex=1155009600&en=3466fb01a2227803&ei=5094&partner=homepage 20) Tasks Are Workaday for Guard Troops on Border By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD August 7, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/us/07guard.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 21) The Rise of the Super-Rich By TERESA TRITCH July 19, 2006 http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/opinion/19talkingpoints.html 22) Hezbollah Rides a New Popularity Inter Press Service Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches http://dahrjamailiraq.com 23) Rodeo in Salem gets unexpected song rendition A man purportedly from Kazakhstan launched into a diatribe instead of "The Star-Spangled Banner." By Laurence Hammack http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/xp-16655 24) Hezbollah, a Discussion on "Marxmail", a Marxist discussion list: marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu 25) Peaceful succession underway in Cuba: official By Anthony Boadle August 7, 2006 http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=1NZBQTPC5PWPECRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=13105991 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 1) 'No Hezbollah Rockets Fired from Qana' by Dahr Jamail Published on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 by Inter Press Service http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0801-02.htm QANA - Red Cross workers and residents of Qana, where Israeli bombing killed at least 60 civilians, have told IPS that no Hezbollah rockets were launched from the city before the Israeli air strike. The Israeli military has said it bombed the building in which several people had taken shelter, more than half of them children, because the Army had faced rocket fire from Qana. The Israeli military has said that Hezbollah was therefore responsible for the deaths. "There were no Hezbollah rockets fired from here," 32-year-old Ali Abdel told IPS. "Anyone in this village will tell you this, because it is the truth." Abdel had taken shelter in a nearby house when the shelter was bombed at 1 am. When the bombings finally let up in the morning, he went back to the bombed shelter to search for relatives. He found his 70-year-old father and 64-year-old mother both dead inside. "They bombed it, and afterwards I heard the screams of women, children, and a few men -- they were crying for help. But then one minute after the first bomb, another bomb struck, and after this there was nothing but silence, and the sound of more bombs around the village." Masen Hashen, a 30-year-old construction worker from Qana who lost several family members in the air strike on the shelter, said there were no Hezbollah rockets fired from his village. "Because if they had done that now, or in the past, all of us would have left. Because we know we would be bombed." Qana had been a shelter because no rockets were being fired from there, survivors said. "When Hezbollah fires their rockets, everyone runs away because they know an Israeli bombardment will come soon," Abdel said. "That is why everyone stayed in the shelter and nearby homes, because we all thought we'd be all right since there were no Hezbollah fighters in Qana." Lebanese Red Cross workers in the nearby coastal city of Tyre told IPS that there was no basis for Israeli claims that Hezbollah had launched rockets from Qana. "We found no evidence of Hezbollah fighters in Qana," Kassem Shaulan, a 28-year-old medic and training manager for the Red Cross in Tyre told IPS at their headquarters. "When we rescue people or recover bodies from villages, we usually see rocket launchers or Hezbollah fighters if they are there, but in Qana I can say that the village was 100 percent clear of either of those." Another Red Cross worker, 32-year-old Mohammad Zatar, told IPS that "we can tell when Hezbollah has been firing rockets from certain areas, because all of the people run away, on foot if they have to." While IPS was interviewing people in Qana at the site of the shelter Monday, Israeli warplanes roared overhead. Vibrations from nearby bombing rattled many buildings. At least three villages in southern Lebanon were attacked in Israeli air strikes Monday. Following the international outcry over the air strike, Israel declared a 48-hour cessation of air strikes in order to carry out a military probe into the Qana killings. Despite the false Israeli statement that it was halting its air strikes, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio that the stoppage "does not signify in any way the end to the war." Israel has rejected mounting international pressure to end the 20-day-old war against Hezbollah. The United Nations has indefinitely postponed a meeting on a new peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon. While defending the Israeli air strike on the civilians in Qana, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman told the UN Security Council that Qana was "a hub for Hezbollah", and said that Israel had urged villagers to leave. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said in reply to questions in New York Monday that the bombing was "totally, totally its (Hezbollah's) fault. Copyright © 2006 IPS-Inter Press Service ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 2) Tax Cheats Called Out of Control by David Cay Johnston Published on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 by the New York Times http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0801-04.htm So many superrich Americans evade taxes using offshore accounts that law enforcement cannot control the growing misconduct, according to a Senate report that provides the most detailed look ever at high-level tax schemes. Among the billionaires cited in the report are the owner of the New York Jets football team, Robert Wood Johnson IV; the producer of the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” children’s show, Haim Saban; and two Texas businessmen, Charles and Sam Wyly, who the Center for Public Integrity found in 2000 were the ninth-largest contributors to President Bush. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Saban, who are portrayed as victims in the report, are scheduled to testify today before the Senate Permanent Investigations subcommittee. They are expected to say that professional advisers assured them their deals to avoid taxes were more likely lawful than not. The Wyly brothers told the committee that they would invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and thus were not called to testify. The report characterizes them as active participants in tax schemes. Cheating now equals about 7 cents out of each dollar paid by honest taxpayers, as much as $70 billion a year, the report estimated. “The universe of offshore tax cheating has become so large that no one, not even the United States government, could go after all of it,” said Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat whose staff ran the investigation. Senator Norm Coleman, the Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the subcommittee, adopted the minority report on Sunday as the product of the full committee. The report details how the Quellos Group, a tax shelter boutique based in Seattle, “concocted a tax shelter” using $9.6 billion “worth of fake securities transactions that were used to generate billions of dollars of fake capital losses.” Senator Levin said that when investigators asked for trading records they were first told the trades were private, over-the- counter transactions. He said investigators asked for trading tickets or other evidence of who owned the $9.6 billion worth of stock and were told the stocks were never owned by the parties involved. “They just wrote down numbers on paper and claimed losses,” he said. “It was just like fantasy baseball, except the taxes not paid were for real.” Quellos, in a statement, said, “we fundamentally disagree with the report, which presents a one-sided view.” It said the transactions, which the Senate committee describes as fabrications, were real and involved “a significant possibility of economic gain and loss.” The investigation, which took 18 months, involved 74 subpoenas, 80 interviews and the collection of more than two million documents, and yet Senator Levin said “the six cases we present are just examples, just a pinhole look.” The 400-page report recommends eight changes, some of them aimed at going after the law and accounting firms, banks and investment advisers that the report says enable tax schemes that rely on complexity, secrecy and compartmentalizing information so that advisers can claim they had no idea that the overall transaction was a fraud. “We need to significantly strengthen the aiding and abetting statutes to get at the lawyers and accountants and other advisers who enable this cheating,” Senator Levin said, adding that “we need major changes in law to stop the use of tax havens” by tax cheats. It also recommends new rules that strip away the underlying legal presumptions that make offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands, Nevis, the Isle of Man and Panama attractive places for Americans to hide assets and income from the Internal Revenue Service. Senator Levin said the law “should assume that any transaction in a tax haven is a sham.” He said that during the investigation he grew angry as he learned how common cheating had become and how existing government rules aided tax cheats. He said that complex schemes were broken into discrete pieces, allowing professional advisers working on each piece to assert that they had no idea that, taken as a whole, a scheme was improper. “I get incensed by people who use tax havens to not pay their taxes while the average guy has to pay his taxes because they are taken out of his pay before he gets it,” he said. Both Mr. Johnson, the football team owner and scion of the Johnson & Johnson health care fortune, and Mr. Saban, the television mogul, are portrayed in the report as victims. The two men, through representatives, said yesterday that they relied on professional advisers who told them the transactions were lawful, and that they were now settling with the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Johnson, known as Woody, told Senate investigators two weeks ago that to buy the Jets in 1999 he had to sell assets, incurring the 20 percent tax on long-term capital gains in effect at the time. He said that a way to defer the tax was proposed by Larry B. Scheinfeld, who had been his accountant at KPMG until he joined Quellos, where he worked closely with Chuck Wilk, a tax lawyer. The technique involved a complex set of circular transactions using what the Senate report characterized as sham corporations in the Isle of Man with shell corporations given names like Jackstones. Their ownership was kept secret. “Ain’t capitalism great!” Mr. Wilk wrote to Mr. Scheinfeld in an e-mail message extolling the tax benefits of the Johnson deal. Three weeks later, when the deal was set, Mr. Scheinfeld wrote back: “I just hope Woody doesn’t get cold feet or have the I.R.S. select his return for an audit!” The report details a scheme created for Mr. Saban to avoid more than $300 million in taxes from sale of his half interest in the Family Channel and related properties. Mr. Saban told Senate investigators that he never understood the transactions but undertook them after asking two questions of Mr. Wilk and his personal tax lawyer, Matthew Krane. Mr. Saban said he asked whether the deals were legal and whether a major law firm would certify them as proper. The two lawyers, Mr. Saban said, answered “yes to both,” so he went ahead. Later, when Mr. Saban learned that he had paid $54 million in fees to Quellos; Cravath Swaine & Moore, a New York law firm; and others for what turned out to be what the report described as fake transactions, he said he felt “misled, lied to and cheated.” Lewis R. Steinberg, who as a Cravath Swaine partner helped design the deal and wrote an opinion letter attesting that it was more likely than not to work as a tax shelter, told Senate investigators last week that he relied on assurances from Quellos and Mr. Johnson that real transactions took place, not fake trades. Mr. Steinberg, who is now at UBS Securities, another firm named in the report, is a prominent tax lawyer and in 2004 was chairman of the tax section of the American Bar Association. The report also dissects deals by the Wyly brothers of Texas, showing how they made at least $190 million through stock option exercises offshore but had yet to pay taxes on most of the money. They then borrowed against their offshore accounts to buy jewelry, pay for portraits of family members, buy homes and operate properties named Rosemary’s Circle R Ranch, LL Ranch, Stargate Horse Farm, Cottonwood Galleries and 36 Malibu Colony. Senator Levin said he might propose limiting or barring the transferring of executive stock options to others, as well as more disclosure when they are exercised. The report says that Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers and Bank of America “all knew that the offshore entities” for which they made trades were associated with the Wylys, but ignored rules requiring disclosure of these transactions and helped them hide the true ownership of the assets. Only when Robert M. Morgenthau, the New York District attorney, issued subpoenas in 2004 did Bank of America close the Wyly accounts. William Brewer, a Dallas lawyer for the Wylys, said that while the Senate report “intends to present a balanced view, the committee report is reflective of a number of misunderstandings.” “The Wylys believe they have paid all taxes due,” he added. “ And in any event, as the report makes clear, the Wylys were counseled by an armada of lawyers, brokers, financial professionals and offshore service providers to ensure that they were at all times fully meeting their obligations.” Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 3) Support the Resistance in Palestine: A Call to Action [Sorry for the symbols--I did not have time to edit them out...bw] necdp@onepalestine.org The events of the past few weeks have clarified the nature of the struggle in Palestine. Although ╲Israel╡ has an arsenal of military weapons unmatched by any power in the region, each new wave of aggression against the people of Palestine and Lebanon has resulted in a response of immense courage and resistance. As the military struggle expands beyond Gaza and the West Bank, the underlying reality of Israelâ•˙s doomed colonial project becomes clear: short of bombing the entire region into annihilation, the Zionists cannot continue to exist in a region in which Arab people aspire to self-determination on Arab land. There can be no more gray zone: the post-Oslo sham of normalization and the process of land theft through peace treaties and open or hidden alliances between ╲ Israel╡, the "US", and Arab client states╉all that is swiftly disappearing. It could not have come at a more critical time: a moment when ╲the worldâ•˙s only superpower╡ has suffered defeat at the hands of Iraqâ•˙s brave guerillas; a moment when a new block of anti-imperial power is forming from Venezuela and Bolivia to the Arab world. The question of taking sides can no longer be avoided by people in the international community. This is now true not only in Lebanon, but in Jordan and Egypt. It is the only question worth asking now in the US and Europe. The time is passed╉if it ever existed╉in which activists can pretend to be in solidarity with Palestinians while refusing to take sides with Palestinian resistance to Zionist colonization of Arab land. It is not possible any more to claim to be on the side of the people of Palestine and to condone the theft of 78% of their land, or pretend that there can be a meaningful peace between the colonists and the colonized. It is time to choose sides: either you are on the side of colonialism or you are on the side of liberation. The Palestinian peopleâ•˙s choice Although recent elections took place under military occupation, the Palestinian people voted overwhelmingly for resistance. However one interprets the meaning of ╲elections╡ in the post-Oslo context, and whatever questionable motives the US and Europe may have had in pressing for elections╉e.g. to co-opt Hamas, to create conditions for civil war etc.╉the message of the elections was utterly clear: the people of Palestine want their land, their sovereignty and have chosen resistance as the only way forward. The choice itself was a popular recognition that any gains must come through a fight against the occupier, not agreements dictated by the occupier. The international community was nearly unanimous in its response: it sought immediately to undermine the will expressed by the popular vote, disagreeing only in strategy. The United States and ╲Israel╡ imposed a total economic blockade on Palestine in the hope of starving the Palestinian people into submission; the World Bank and some European governments sought ways of funneling money directly into NGOs and ╲humanitarian╡ agencies╉ believing that economic hardship would only increase the peopleâ•˙s will to resist. Either way, the international community has tried to use money to pressure Palestinians to give up their fundamental human and political rights. Palestinians on the street responded to the economic blockade with remarkable courage. They went on strike in the West Bank to instruct their elected leaders that their human rights were not for sale. On a popular level the message was clear. Across Palestine the people declared "We can accept hunger, but not concessions." Under near starvation conditions in Gaza, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) captured an enemy soldier and attempted to negotiate the release of women and children Palestinian political prisoners, who constitute only a portion of the over 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners and prisoners of war now detained in Israeli prisons. As ╲Israel╡ began its military invasion of Gaza, thousands of Palestinians responded by directing the PRC not to release the captured soldier until Palestinian political prisoners were released. In the face of aerial bombardment of their electrical plants, cutting off of their water supply, destruction of bridges, and a massive military assault that has resulted in over 175 murdered and over 450 injured (the majority of whom are in Gaza) ╉ the Palestinian people chose resistance again. On June 29th, the Israelis kidnapped over 64 elected Palestinian leaders. Before, during, and after the elections, every part of the Palestinian resistance (including but not limited to elected leaders) has been attacked through assassination, aerial bombardment of Palestinian communities, and mass kidnapping and illegal detention. At the same time, Palestinians have continued their long struggle against settlement of their homeland-- the primary method of genocide used by Zionists that continues to be ignored by the international community. The Palestinian people have resisted this genocide through operations against Israeli settlers and settlements in both 1948 occupied Palestine and 1967 occupied Palestine. To date, apart from Iraq, the only meaningful international solidarity with Palestine has come from the resistance in Lebanon. Hezbollah fulfilled its promise to capture Israeli soldiers in order to press for the release of its own prisoners at a moment timed to force the Israelis to fight on two fronts. Hezbollah, who have strong popular support in Lebanon, and the Lebanese people have paid a high price for this act of solidarity╉nearly 1000 people have been murdered -- over one third of them are estimated to be children╉ and over 800, 000 displaced. At the same time, Hezbollah has also managed to exact a significant cost on Israel, destroying its image of invulnerability. The Palestinians and the Lebanese people have remained steadfast in their support for resistance. The election of Hamas, the collective refusal by Palestinians to sell their fundamental rights through 'negotiations', the popular support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the steadfastness of the people to resist in the absence of the most fundamental needs, such as bread and medicine, all point to the consistency with which the overwhelming majority of people in both countries have chosen to fight for their liberation. An international solidarity community that is committed to self determination must support this choice. A Call to Action This is a critical moment in the history of the Palestinian struggle and the larger struggle for sovereignty over Arab land. Palestinian and other Arab resistance movements in Lebanon and Iraq are currently the only force standing between the Palestinian people and the completion of the genocidal project started by Zionists over sixty years ago. Up until now, most efforts at solidarity╉ letters to the editor, protests at embassies, silent vigils, and ╲humanitarian aid╡ tied to the condition of renouncing resistance╉ have resulted in no meaningful support to the Palestinian people. As American and other Western European governments continue to criminalize resistance and dissent, public statements have been crafted to occupy a middle ground where the oppressorsâ•˙ aggression and the self-defense of the oppressed are treated equally. In some cases, calls have actually made Palestinians responsible for Israel's "retaliation" or blamed those who are bravely risking their lives to fight this oppression. Most importantly, these efforts have in no way disrupted the process of Zionist colonization. We in the international community should not allow the threat of government repression to determine the limits and direction of our movement. It is our responsibility to expose the racist and genocidal aims of the Zionist movement, to support the full range of Palestinian people's resistance to those aims, and to disrupt the infrastructure of genocide where we live. To be clear, there is no gray area for activists on the side of social justice to inhabit. This moment demands that we in the international community act now and that we act with clarity of purpose and strategy. As a first step, we call on the international solidarity community to organize and take the following actions to support the Palestinian resistance immediately and unconditionally: 1) Break the starvation and economic blockade being instituted against the Palestinian people. As an immediate way to counterbalance the blockade against resistance, organize financial support for the families of political prisoners and those martyred in the struggle; 2) Support Palestinian freedom fighters who are paying a tremendous price for their courageous resistance. Mobilize an international pressure campaign to demand the release of all Palestinian political prisoners and prisoners of war through financial support for legal defense, coordinated letter writing and phone campaigns organized through existing political prisoner groups in Palestine, and letter writing to prisoners; 3) Exact an economic cost from the Zionist colonization project. Identify key pressure points where force can be exerted to stop the flow of arms and money to the Israeli settler and military infrastructure through direct action at ports and corporate headquarters. There are many Arab solidarity groups as well as immigrant rights groups, anti-globalization, and environmental groups that stand to gain from mass mobilization against corporations supporting the occupation of Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as the ╲ Secure Border Initiative╡; 4) Recognize and support pan-Arab resistance to imperialism throughout the region. In existing solidarity campaigns, solidarity groups have sent mixed messages to those fighting against American imperialism and Zionist aggression. We must be clear in our political message as well as our political action that we are on the side of liberation and support those fighting for it. The recognition that the Palestinian struggle is part of a larger regional indigenous struggle should be reflected in our solidarity campaigns. We can begin by coordinating internationally between Palestinian, Lebanese, and Iraqi solidarity groups. This call is broad; we must make the tasks specific and focused. We will be sending out updates and action steps to coordinate with political prisoner groups in Palestine and solidarity groups internationally. If you want to be involved in supporting this campaign or have ideas regarding the points above, please contact us at necdp@onepalestine.org. Our first local fundraising event in Boston will be scheduled in the coming weeks. Watch for updates regarding time and location. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 4) The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil By Michel Chossudovsky July 26, 2006 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060726&articleId=2824 Is there a relationship between the bombing of Lebanon and the inauguration of the World's largest strategic pipeline, which will channel more than a million barrels of oil a day to Western markets? Virtually unnoticed, the inauguration of the Ceyhan-Tblisi-Baku (BTC) oil pipeline, which links the Caspian sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, took place on the 13th of July, at the very outset of the Israeli sponsored bombings of Lebanon. One day before the Israeli air strikes, the main partners and shareholders of the BTC pipeline project, including several heads of State and oil company executives were in attendance at the port of Ceyhan. They were then rushed off for an inauguration reception in Istanbul, hosted by Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the plush surroundings of the Çýraðan Palace. Also in attendance was British Petroleum's (BP) CEO, Lord Browne together with senior government officials from Britain, the US and Israel. BP leads the BTC pipeline consortium. Other major Western shareholders include Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, France's Total and Italy's ENI. (see Annex) Israel's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was present at the venue together with a delegation of top Israeli oil officials. The BTC pipeline totally bypasses the territory of the Russian Federation. It transits through the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have become US "protectorates", firmly integrated into a military alliance with the US and NATO. Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Georgia have longstanding military cooperation agreements with Israel. Israel has a stake in the Azeri oil fields, from which it imports some twenty percent of its oil. The opening of the pipeline will substantially enhance Israeli oil imports from the Caspian sea basin. But there is another dimension which directly relates to the war on Lebanon. Whereas Russia has been weakened, Israel is slated to play a major strategic role in "protecting" the Eastern Mediterranean transport and pipeline corridors out of Ceyhan. Militarization of the Eastern Mediterranean The bombing of Lebanon is part of a carefully planned and coordinated military road map. The extension of the war into Syria and Iran has already been contemplated by US and Israeli military planners. This broader military agenda is intimately related to strategic oil and oil pipelines. It is supported by the Western oil giants which control the pipeline corridors. In the context of the war on Lebanon, it seeks Israeli territorial control over the East Mediterranean coastline. In this context, the BTC pipeline dominated by British Petroleum, has dramatically changed the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean, which is now linked , through an energy corridor, to the Caspian sea basin: "[The BTC pipeline] considerably changes the status of the region's countries and cements a new pro-West alliance. Having taken the pipeline to the Mediterranean, Washington has practically set up a new bloc with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Israel, " (Komerzant, Moscow, 14 July 2006) Israel is now part of the Anglo-American military axis, which serves the interests of the Western oil giants in the Middle East and Central Asia. While the official reports state that the BTC pipeline will "channel oil to Western markets", what is rarely acknowledged is that part of the oil from the Caspian sea would be directly channeled towards Israel. In this regard, an underwater Israeli-Turkish pipeline project has been envisaged which would link Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon and from there through Israel's main pipeline system, to the Red Sea. The objective of Israel is not only to acquire Caspian sea oil for its own consumption needs but also to play a key role in re-exporting Caspian sea oil back to the Asian markets through the Red Sea port of Eilat. The strategic implications of this re-routing of Caspian sea oil are farreaching. What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline, from Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Ashkelon. In April 2006, Israel and Turkey announced plans for four underwater pipelines, which would bypass Syrian and Lebanese territory. "Turkey and Israel are negotiating the construction of a multi- million-dollar energy and water project that will transport water, electricity, natural gas and oil by pipelines to Israel, with the oil to be sent onward from Israel to the Far East, The new Turkish-Israeli proposal under discussion would see the transfer of water, electricity, natural gas and oil to Israel via four underwater pipelines. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961328841&pagename=JPost% 2FJPArticle%2FShowFull “Baku oil can be transported to Ashkelon via this new pipeline and to India and the Far East.[via the Red sea]" "Ceyhan and the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon are situated only 400 km apart. Oil can be transported to the city in tankers or via specially constructed under-water pipeline. From Ashkelon the oil can be pumped through already existing pipeline to the port of Eilat at the Red Sea; and from there it can be transported to India and other Asian countries in tankers. (REGNUM ) Water for Israel Also involved in this project is a pipeline to bring water to Israel, pumping water from upstream resources of the Tigris and Euphrates river system in Anatolia. This has been a long-run strategic objective of Israel to the detriment of Syria and Iraq. Israel's agenda with regard to water is supported by the military cooperation agreement between Tel Aviv and Ankara. The Strategic Re-routing of Central Asian Oil Diverting Central Asian oil and gas to the Eastern Mediterranean (under Israeli military protection), for re-export back to Asia, serves to undermine the inter-Asian energy market, which is based on the development of direct pipeline corridors linking Central Asia and Russia to South Asia, China and the Far East. Ultimately, this design is intended to weaken Russia's role in Central Asia and cut off China from Central Asian oil resources. It is also intended to isolate Iran. Meanwhile, Israel has emerged as a new powerful player in the global energy market. Russia's Military Presence in the Middle East Meanwhile, Moscow has responded to the US-Israeli-Turkish design to militarize the East Mediterranean coastline with plans to establish a Russian naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus: "Defense Ministry sources point out that a naval base in Tartus will enable Russia to solidify its positions in the Middle East and ensure security of Syria. Moscow intends to deploy an air defense system around the base - to provide air cover for the base itself and a substantial part of Syrian territory. (S-300PMU-2 Favorit systems will not be turned over to the Syrians. They will be manned and serviced by Russian personnel.) Kommerzant, 2 June 2006, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? context=viewArticle&code=IVA20060728&articleId=2847 Tartus is strategically located within 30 km. of the Lebanese border. Moreover, Moscow and Damascus have reached an agreement on the modernization of Syria's air defenses as well as a program in support to its ground forces, the modernization of its MIG-29 fighters as well as its submarines. (Kommerzant, 2 June 2006). In the context of an escalating conflict, these developments have farreaching implications. War and Oil Pipelines Prior to the bombing of Lebanon, Israel and Turkey had announced the underwater pipeline routes, which bypassed Syria and Lebanon. These underwater pipeline routes do not overtly encroach on the territorial sovereignty of Lebanon and Syria. On the other hand, the development of alternative land based corridors (for oil and water) through Lebanon and Syria would require Israeli-Turkish territorial control over the Eastern Mediterranean coastline through Lebanon and Syria. The implementation of a land-based corridor, as opposed to the underwater pipeline project, would require the militarisation of the East Mediterranean coastline, extending from the port of Ceyhan across Syria and Lebanon to the Lebanese-Israeli border. Is this not one of the hidden objectives of the war on Lebanon? Open up a space which enables Israel to control a vast territory extending from the Lebanese border through Syria to Turkey. "The Long War" Israeli Prime minister Ehud Olmert has stated that the Israeli offensive against Lebanon would "last a very long time". Meanwhile, the US has speeded up weapons shipments to Israel. There are strategic objectives underlying the "Long War" which are tied to oil and oil pipelines. The air campaign against Lebanon is inextricably related to US-Israeli strategic objectives in the broader Middle East including Syria and Iran. In recent developments, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice stated that the main purpose of her mission to the Middle East was not to push for a ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather to isolate Syria and Iran. (Daily Telegraph, 22 July 2006) At this particular juncture, the replenishing of Israeli stockpiles of US produced WMDs points to an escalation of the war both within and beyond the borders of Lebanon. Michel Chossudovsky is the author of the international best seller "The Globalization of Poverty " published in eleven languages. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on Globalization, at www.globalresearch.ca . He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His most recent book is entitled: America’s "War on Terrorism", Global Research, 2005. To order Chossudovsky's book America's "War on Terrorism", click here. Revised, 28 July 2006. For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com © Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2006 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 5) Israel trying the same trap on Lebanon By Shadi Fadda www.theheadlines.org Israel trying the same trap on Lebanon By Shadi Fadda, www.theheadlines.org Israeli policy of committing massacres on the civilians is not a simple crime, as just to commit a crime out of their will to kill. It is not an individual committing a crime, not a group of criminals; it is “The State”. State of Israel, has in its experience found that the best way to fight Arab-popular-resistance is to start by playing with their nerves. They have learnt from al-Aqsa uprising that committing big crimes against humanity is the way to achieve the favored response, which comes from people’s heart rather than their mind. In the Al-Aqsa Intifada Israeli Occupation Forces have in the first week of the Uprising spent more than one million bullets[1], at the same time they killed tens and injured thousands of Palestinians, there was no attack on Israeli civilians. The goal was achieved, as Palestinian response was through Martyr Attacks. The armed resistance, with no strategic plan, was the favored achievement of the most advanced military in the Middle East. In the first two months of the Palestinian Second Uprising, as relating to the PRCS[2] the number of casualties exceeds the following seven months as relating to death, and exceeds the following year ! and a ha lf in number of injured. Sadly, the Palestinian side has fallen into Zionist trap, and made the second uprising be related to as ‘armed uprising’. As opposed to the first uprising, Israeli side had achieved their goals. Despite their loosing some 900 Israelis out of Palestinian attacks (more than half of them being of IOF “Israeli Occupation Forces”), as opposed to 11 in the first uprising, Israel has achieved i mprisoning the Palestinians behind the Apartheid Wall. Today, after spending 18 days attacking Lebanon, using their US-Made Air forces, killing more than 600 civilians, and four members of UN forces, IOF is trying to apply the same policy on the Lebanese Resistance. Today 30-Jul-2006 Israeli, “Jewish State?,” Forces have attacked the building where the civilians of town of Qana were sleeping, and succeeded in killing more than 50 civilians, at 1 am while sleeping; among the murdered were at least 27 children all below age of 10. The response of the Lebanese streets is very similar to that of the Palestinian streets in October 2000. Israeli goal is clearly to achieve the similar response of Hezbollah, as that of the Palestinians in 2000. Until now, Hezbollah had proved itself to always respond from the mind, I hope for it to remain. [1] Haaretz, “More than a million bullets” by Reuven Pedatzur, June 29, 2004 [2] Palestine Red Crescent Society http://www.palestinercs.org/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 6) Enhance force levels? Look to immigrants. The US should grant preference for visas to those willing to serve in the military. By Kevin Ryan CAMBRIDGE, MASS. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0726/p09s02-coop.htm While in Moscow as US Defense attaché from 2001 to 2003, I received several calls from Russians with a remarkable and unexpected request. They wanted to join the United States Army. I often think of those phone calls now as I consider the efforts our nation makes to find and recruit quality men and women into the service. Is there an opportunity out there beyond our borders that we ought to explore while recruiting the best and brightest to our nation's defense? I would like to make the case that there is, and it could benefit our nation in a number of ways. As our country debates a multitude of immigration issues, otherwise opposing sides seem to agree on at least one thing: There is value in recruiting immigrants into our military forces. The president and Congress have been working with the Department of Defense since 2002 to encourage legal immigrants to join the military by promising to speed up the process for citizenship for any member of the service who completes one year of duty. In the four years since the program began, more than 25,000 immigrants in uniform have become American citizens. That's the equivalent of one of the active Army's 10 divisions being manned entirely by immigrants. The average American may not know it, but non-US citizens have for years been accepted into our military as volunteers. The only prerequisite has been a green card demonstrating permission to reside in the US. Most of these immigrants became American citizens, having served in our nation's defense even before they received all of its benefits and rights. Instead of thinking outside the box when recruiting, let's make the box bigger and seek out these great soldiers in the numbers we need. The US Army, which in 2005 fell 7,000 soldiers short of its recruiting goal, already has recruiters in American territories such as Guam and Puerto Rico. Why can't we expand our presence overseas to recruit foreign citizens who also possess higher educations and speak English? The idea is not as far-fetched as one might think. In an analogous effort, the Army Materiel Command stations teams around the globe to obtain new technologies to fulfill our materiel needs. The same principle can apply to satisfying our personnel requirements. We only accept the highest-grade technologies, and we would only recruit the highest-caliber people. According to its annual Visa Office Report, the State Department issued over 5 million temporary (nonimmigrant) visas in 2005 to foreigners to come to America as businessmen, students, tourists, etc. Another 2 million requests, however, were refused. Of those 2 million, 1.5 million applicants were refused entry not because of any crimes, illness, or undesirable behavior, but solely because they could not establish that they intended to return to their country of origin. In other words, they met our standards for being in America but couldn't prove they would only stay temporarily. Do you think we could have convinced half of 1 percent (7,000) among that 1.5 million people to come to our country and serve in our armed forces in exchange for the privilege to stay longer than temporarily? I wager we could have. If the US Army placed one recruiting station in the capital of India, an English-speaking democracy of more than a billion people, we would have available a pool of enlistment-age adults equivalent to the entire population of the United States - more than 300 million men and women. Or, if we don't want to pay for a recruiting station in New Delhi, we could mail recruiting brochures to some of the 1 million foreign students who actually make it to America's colleges and institutes on temporary visas each year. Perhaps they would like to have their school debts paid along with guaranteed work. Our nation historically grants preference for visas to people who bring valuable skills and talents to America. Skills that are in short supply. We should add a new category to the 27-plus preferences on the books - military recruit. The DOD could set the standards (educational, physical, linguistic, etc.) for the recruits, and Congress could authorize State and Defense officials to offer enlistment in our armed forces to up to 10,000 qualified visa applicants each year. The Army could seek out soldiers with valuable cultural and language capabilities. America could put recruiting shortages in its past, and the country would gain educated, legal, patriotic, new immigrants who, like immigrants before them, would do the work that many Americans won't - serve their country in its defense. • Retired Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan is a senior fellow with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He served in Air Defense and Eurasian Foreign Area assignments for over 29 years. His most recent assignment was deputy director for Army Strategy, Plans, and Policy. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 7) Why queers should oppose JROTC Guest Opinion Published 07/27/2006 Bay Area Reporter by Tom Ammiano, Mark Sanchez, and Tommi Avicolli Mecca http://www.ebar.com/openforum/opforum.php?sec=guest_op Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (or JROTC) is an official program of the U.S. Department of Defense that is offered to 1,625 kids in high schools in San Francisco as an alternative to physical education. In a city that is overwhelmingly antiwar and pro-queer, the presence of the antigay military in our schools is indeed puzzling. Especially given the fact that the San Francisco Unified School District stopped allowing Boy Scouts of America school facility usage when that organization refused to change its discriminatory policy toward gay men. School board members are likely to vote Tuesday, August 22 on a resolution to phase out JROTC. If the proposal is approved, a blue-ribbon panel will be formed to find and implement a non-military program to replace JROTC. At present, the resolution has the support of the majority of school board members. The LGBT community should stand with those community leaders who want to tell the military: Not in our schools. The reason is quite simple: The military has always been a hotbed of homophobia. It used to outright ban all LGBT folks. In 1993, then-President Bill Clinton proposed lifting that ban. Facing strong opposition from the Pentagon, he compromised, giving us "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Under this policy, the military can't ask a recruit his/her sexual orientation and the inductee can't volunteer it, either, or s/he gets booted. The result: hundreds of LGBT folks are ousted from the military each year. Between 1994 (when DADT was first implemented) and 2005, about 11,182 service members have gotten the ax for being queer. The Government Accounting Office says that the cost to taxpayers was $200 million. According to Human Rights Campaign: "In 2002, 83 percent of those discharged from the Air Force under Don't Ask, Don't Tell were 18 to 25 years old, although they accounted for only 35 percent of the force." If that's not bad enough, there are reports of soldiers being harassed, gay- and lesbian-baited, and even beaten and killed for being, or for suspicion of being, queer. Proponents of JROTC say that the program here in San Francisco is not like that. In fact, our local JROTC doesn't discriminate against anyone, they claim. LGBT students have even testified at school board hearings about their positive experiences with the local chapter. They also say that JROTC has at least one out gay instructor. But what they don't say or perhaps don't know is that while it may be safe to be an out queer in the local JROTC, it's a different story if an LGBT person goes on to join the military itself. Talk about being at a disadvantage. According to Sandra Schwartz of the American Friends Service Committee: LGBT JROTC members are ineligible for enlisting at a higher rank in the U.S. military. They cannot receive ROTC scholarships. They are nixed from military academy nominations. Out queer instructors in the local JROTC program are an anomaly and definitely not the rule in the military world. Says Schwartz, "If there is a gay JROTC instructor in S.F., it is only because he came out in such a way as to avoid a forced discharge from the military, in the same way that other people can avoid the consequences of discrimination by finding a way to 'pass.'" LGBT JROTC students who join the military (as 50 percent of JROTCers do, though that percent is fortunately much lower here in San Francisco) will face discrimination for the rest of their military careers, even discharge if they are found out or come out. Our local school district, which has a stated nondiscrimination policy based on sexual orientation, has an obligation to take a stand against such discrimination, as it did with the Boy Scouts. If not, it is participating in this discrimination by knowingly allowing out LGBT kids to be discriminated against or even excluded altogether. It's time for the school board to do the right thing and reject an institution that promotes homophobia and discrimination and that prepares young working-class teens to be fodder for America's oil wars overseas. Our schools should be helping young people to "be all that they can be." They don't need the military to teach them leadership or other life skills. Join us in supporting the resolution to phase out JROTC in favor of a non-military program in our schools. Tom Ammiano is the openly queer District 9 supervisor and a former school board president. Mark Sanchez, the only queer member of the current San Francisco Board of Education, authored the current anti-JROTC resolution. Tommi Avicolli Mecca is a longtime queer antiwar activist who was recently honored by the American Friends Service Committee. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 8) Free Josh Wolf Thursday, August 3, 2006 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/08/03/EDG0RK9T7T1.DTL JOSH WOLF is an imperfect martyr for freedom of the press. The 24-year-old freelance journalist from San Francisco makes no pretense of being fair and balanced. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist. Advocacy, not objectivity, appears to be his driving motivation. "The revolution will be televised," his Web site promises. But the First Amendment was not crafted just to protect the mainstream media. One of its clear aims was to allow journalists to do their jobs without government regulation or interference. It's hard to think of a more basic measure of a free country than the ability of people to demonstrate against government policies -- and the freedom of journalists to edit and disseminate their accounts of such events. Wolf was recording a demonstration by a group of anarchists on July 8, 2005. The demonstration turned unruly, with some of the protesters vandalizing buildings and scuffling with police. Wolf posted some of the videos on his Web site. Federal prosecutors are demanding that Wolf turn over the outtakes -- claiming to be specifically interested in the attempted burning of a police car. Wolf's refusal to turn over his unpublished material would seem to be covered by the state's shield law. However, federal prosecutors are arguing that the sliding of a burning mattress under a police cruiser constitutes a federal crime because the San Francisco Police Department receives money from the U.S. government. Yes, the argument is a stretch. But the really ominous element of the government's argument is the notion that a journalist can be compelled to turn over raw material -- be it notes or video outtakes -- at the government's whim. If that standard can apply to Josh Wolf, it can be used against CNN, NBC, Fox News or any independent journalist who is conducting an investigation or trying to record a chaotic event. Journalists are not agents of the government. This case comes at a particularly precarious time for the First Amendment. The Bush administration has become increasingly aggressive about pursuing and prosecuting leaks -- including The Chronicle's publication of grand jury testimony about an investigation into performance-enhancing drugs at the highest level of sports. On Tuesday, a federal court cleared the way for prosecutors to inspect the telephone records of two New York Times reporters in an effort to identify their confidential sources. Today, Wolf sits in a federal prison cell, facing the possibility of staying there until the grand jury's term expires in July 2007. He may not have the clout or journalism credentials of some of the other government targets, but Josh Wolf is no less entitled to First Amendment protection. Each day he remains incarcerated represents another small dent in this nation's basic freedoms. Page B - 6 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 9) Massacre at Qana may be a turning point Commentary By Karim Makdisi Posted on Fri, Aug. 04, 2006 http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/15193480.htm Earlier this week, we woke to the news that there had been yet another massacre in South Lebanon. Reports say that anywhere from 28 to 60 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed when Israeli missiles took down a building in which refugees had gathered for safety in the biblical town of Qana, where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine. As mutilated children were pulled from the debris, my wife and I instinctively held on tightly to our own two young daughters. No one here believes Israeli claims that this attack was "unintentional." For Lebanese and Arabs everywhere, memories of a previous slaughter in Qana flooded back. In 1996, Israeli planes chased fleeing residents into the well-marked United Nations camp there. About 100 civilians - again mostly women and children - were killed. Now, Lebanon is facing its 24th day of relentless assault by Israeli air, sea and ground forces amid a humanitarian disaster. Hundreds of Lebanese have been killed and thousands more injured. Nearly a million have become refugees. Israel's war on Lebanon, however, seems not to be going according to plan. Hezbollah - which most Arabs refer to as the Resistance - has so far repelled the superior might of the Israeli army, and gained unprecedented popular support within Lebanon and the wider Arab and Muslim world. Israel's military strategy is unraveling into a desperate and indiscriminate lashing out against Lebanon's infrastructure and its beleaguered civilian population. When Israel began its attacks, Lebanon was deeply divided politically. Leaders of the pro-American March 14 coalition, including many cabinet ministers and members of parliament, publicly accused Hezbollah of acting like a "state within a state" to advance Syrian or Iranian interests at the expense of Lebanon's sovereignty. This unprecedented criticism was angrily denounced by an alliance led by Hezbollah and populist Christian leader Gen. Michel Aoun, as well as Arab nationalists, leftists, and many citizens across Lebanon's sectarian divide. The pro-American Arab regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan joined the United States and Europe in openly blaming Hezbollah for its "adventurism" in capturing two Israeli soldiers. There seemed to be tacit approval by many Arab regimes to destroy, or at least clip the wings off Hezbollah to alter the balance of power within Lebanon in favor of the March 14 camp, and to stem what was seen as an increasingly powerful Shia crescent that links Hezbollah with Syria and Iran. The projected swift defeat of Hezbollah was to have been a major victory for America in its "war on terror" and its plans to kick-start yet another "new Middle East" after similar plans failed so disastrously in Iraq and Palestine, not to mention Afghanistan. This latest massacre in Qana, however, may be a turning point against U.S. plans for Lebanon and the region: It has wiped away any ambivalence about who started this war, and has unified Lebanon and the Arab world behind the Resistance. The March 14 leaders and Arab regimes have now followed their outraged citizens in demanding an end to Israel's assault and American complicity, as well as accountability for all the massacres of this brutal war. Hezbollah and Syria look likely to emerge stronger than before, while Israel's military faces a humiliating defeat that would resonate across the Arab world. Qana has also buttressed the suspicions of many Lebanese and Arabs: This war is part of an Israeli-American plan to assert U.S. and Israeli hegemony over servile, autocratic and unpopular Arab regimes. America's role in blocking U.N. calls for an immediate cease-fire, and its apparent willingness to grant Israel more time for its assault - with all the suffering that this en | |