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

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

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THIS JUST IN! MORE OF THE SAME!
THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, OCT 5 PERMITS BEING STALLED!

OPEN LETTER TO CITY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

By Bonnie Weinstein

Gavin Newsom gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
San Francisco Board of Supervisors board.of.supervisors@sfgov.org
Sandy Lee sandy.lee@parks.sfgov.org
Cindy Shamban cindy.shamban@sfmta.com;sfgov.org/dpt
Crystal Stewart crystal.stewart@sfgov.org
Heather Fong heather.fong@sfgov.org

Dear City Government Officials and Interested Parties:

The World Can't Wait group, sf@worldcantwait.org, has
applied for permits to rally at Justin Herman Plaza at noon,
OCT 5 to march on Market Street to a main rally with prominent
speakers at 4PM in Union Square, and then to march back to
Justin Herman Plaza for the all-night vigil to to demonstrate
as part of the national day of mass resistance against the war
called with actions across the country.

The San Francisco Police Department has denied the march
permit. The SF Recreation and Parks Department is responsible
for permits at the sites and has not yet granted them.

Again, the San Francisco City Government has denied the right
to free speech and assembly to voices of resistance and
opposition to the policies of this government.

The bloodbath in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Haiti--
in nations around the world is continuing thanks to this hideous
and corrupt government, the government of the United States,
responsible for terror around the world. I do not support this
government. It is corrupt, vicious and out to defend the wealthy
at the expense of the planet itself--anything for the almighty
dollar and the power it buys.

I do not agree with everything that The World Can't Wait group
has to say --we have friendly debates frequently--but I insist
that they have the right to say it!

The right to free speech and assembly is meaningless if the
government at any level--city, state or federal--has the right
to deny permits for no reason or dictate when and where we
are allowed to demonstrate.

Our group, People United for General and Unconditional Amnesty
for All, was also denied our right to free speech and assembly--
based upon false statements made by the Police Department.
I got an apology about one of the false statements but still, we
were denied our permits and were subject to police intimidation.
A large number of police were present at the time and location
of our planned event last Saturday, Sept. 16th prepared to stop
us if we attempted to use amplified sound or take to the street.

With our permit denied we knew we would endanger many
people if we tried to go ahead with our plans so we altered
them to comply with the law. Which is why we tried to get
permits in the first place. So that we could advertise
a peaceful and legal rally.

We arrive the day of our planned rally with a bullhorn to
inform the community that the rally permits were denied and
why. We handed out explanatory flyers to those who would
take them and went ahead with our modest list of speakers.
We then peacefully marched on the sidewalk to the Mission
Police Station--the location of the source of the false statements
--where we formed an orderly picket line for about an hour.

We are very proud that we did this. And, we will not let this
issue go. WE THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST THE
GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE THE
RIGHT TO SILENCE US!

NOT ALLOWING PERMITS AND DENYING US THE RIGHT TO
AMPLIFIED SOUND IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
TO EXACT HUGE FEES FROM PEOPLE IN ORDER JUST TO APPLY
FOR PERMITS (We had to come up with over $700.00 just for
the permits. We found we couldn't afford to rent a flatbed
truck or any speakers so decided to just use our own speaker
and speak from a milk-carton-type platform. The City couldn't
even allow this!)

FREE SPEECH IS FOR EVERYONE RICH OR POOR! WAVE THE FEES
FOR POOR GROUPS WHO HAVE NO MEANS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
EVERY PERMIT APPLIED FOR MUST BE GRANTED UNLESS THERE
IS A DAMNED GOOD REASON.

The news of this and the city's insistence that A.N.S.W.E.R. pay
tens of thousands of dollars in fines for posting information
up in the community--a centuries-long practice of free speech
and mass communication among the poor--among those without
the billions of advertising dollars to spend--is already spreading
shockwaves throughout the community.

News of these permit denials and the harassment of A.N.S.W.E.R.
Will serve to expose the real nature of the city government.

What do we call a state that allows the Police to determine when,
where, how and if an opposition demonstration can take place?
We call that a Police State! What do we call those who do not
stand up against this injustice? I can think of a few choice words.

Why is it that the Zionists are afforded a location directly in front
of antiwar protests? Why do the Right to Lifers get a police escort
in a solidly pro-choice city? Why are mainstream politicians
or even corporations catered to routinely with street closures,
giant stages, sound systems, etc. when a small group of immigrants
who wanted to use a small sound system and a very short street
closure from Mission to Bartlett Streets on 24th Street for a total
of two hours on one day was met with a show of force at both the
ISCOTT hearing and at the location the demonstration was to take
place--to see to it that it would not take place. How much money
in Police overtime did we, the taxpayers, have to pay in order
to squelch this small expression of free speech and assembly?
How much to harass A.N.S.W.E.R.?

The whole community witnessed what happened to the People
United for General and Unconditional Amnesty for All on
September 16th at 24th and Mission Street. The whole
community notice the police show of force! The community
also noticed a small but brave group of people who carried
on as best we could with our rally. Standing on the lamp post
on the corner and having our rally anyway with an ineffective
bullhorn. The flyers, signs, posters and banners we carried
and handed out said it all! The whole community also watched
as this same small, gutsy group of about 50 people march
to the Mission Police Station at 17th and Valencia and picketed
them in protest of their denial of our permits.

WE DEMAND YOU SEE TO IT THAT "THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT"
PERMITS ARE GRANTED IMMEDIATELY! AND IMMEDIATELY DISMISS
ALL OF A.N.S.W.E.R.'S FINES AND MAKE REPARATIONS TO THEM
FOR THE HARASSMENT THEY HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH! WE, AGAIN,
ALSO DEMAND THAT OUR PERMIT FEES BE RETURNED TO US SINCE
OUR PERMIT WAS DENIED UNDER FALSE PRETENCIS.

You can't pick and choose who can demonstrate. That is not your
prerogative if we are to claim to have freedom of speech and assembly.

WE DEMAND OUR RIGHTS!

Bonnie Weinstein

People United For a General and Unconditional Amnesty
Barrio Unido Por una Amnistia General e Incondicional
474 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Contact Persons:
Cristina Gutierrez: 415-431-9925
Bonnie Weinstein: 415-824-8730
www.bauaw.org

Text of flyer handed out Sept. 15th to the community:


POLICE DENY PERMITS TO THE IMMIGRANTS OF THE PEOPLE
UNITED PREVENTING US FROM ORGANIZING IN OUR OWN
NEIGHBORHOOD IN ORDER TO DEMAND UNCONDITIONAL
AND GENERAL AMNESTY

The People United has been engaged in the application
process since May 10th in order to celebrate our national
holidays and find a real solution to our problems as immigrants
and specifically for undocumented immigrants. The police
have completely blocked all of the attempts we have made
in having an assembly in our own neighborhood. There has
been no possible negotiation, and furthermore the police
had lied at the public hearing in order to deny us our permits.

WHY?

Because The People United is the only organization in San
Francisco led by immigrants! Not by the sons of immigrants.
Not by any democratic nor republican parties. Not by any so
called left organizations or parties who claim they want to
save us but won't listen to our demands. Not by organizations
that receive governmental monies or who receive salaries
in order to supposedly help us immigrants get papers.
Not by democratic or republican parties who see us as
their future votes.

NO!

We are a group of immigrants who demand a general
and unconditional amnesty for all, we are not talking
about using our people to go vote and elect people who
never fulfill their promises.

We denounce our governments of Mexico, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, etc., for not providing jobs
in our countries and forcing us to leave them.
We denounce the government of the United States for
being an accomplice with the government of our countries.
They work together to bring us here as a cheap source
of labor and many times we are forced to become scabs.

We denounce the government of the United States for planning
disenfranchisement and dehumanization keeping us as an
army of unemployed with no rights to health, education,
or dignity.

We denounce all the political parties and organizations that
look at us as objects in order to achieve their political and
economic needs and they deny us the right to organize
ourselves and represent our own struggle.

We denounce the police for the constant abuse of our people
of which the negation of this permit of this assembly
is just one more.

Immigrant brothers and sisters, unite in the struggle for
our rights and the general and unconditional amnesty for all!!!!

MEETING

Date: Thursday, September 21st

Place: 474 Valencia St.

Time: 7pM

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

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

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

Harvest Time
By Bonnie Weinstein

Congress is postponing decisions about immigrant rights legislation
until after the elections. They say they don't want to antagonize
the Latino community before elections. But there is another reason.
It's harvest time! They need thousands of immigrant workers
to harvest the nations crops. They are not worried about antagonizing
Latino's-it's America's agribusiness they don't want to upset. Clearly
they don't want to deport all immigrants, they just want to be able
to terrorize them into submission.

What many American-born workers don't realize is that this threat
will be extended to them as well-not deportation, of course-but
the threat of being out of a job if they stand up for their rights.

What are the common dangers that we face? At the stroke of
a bosses pen we can be fired and find ourselves without a livelihood.
Throughout America factories are being closed down and re-built
in countries that force workers to live as slaves while a bonanza
of U.S, tax-free, corporate profits flows freely across all borders
and into the bosses' pockets.

An even more sinister danger is the lure of U.S. Military service.
All of our children and especially the children of undocumented
workers are in danger of being used as cannon fodder to maintain
the power and wealth of America's corporations. The Military
is entrenched in our public schools. They don't go to the schools
of the wealthy. To the children of immigrants they promise
citizenship and to the children of poor, American workers they
promise college and a career. But it does no good to become
a citizen after you are dead and it's hard to have a career with
half of your brain or body missing in action!

On Tuesday, November 14th at 7:00 P.M., the San Francisco Board
of Education will vote on whether to phase out the Junior Reserve
Officers Training Corps-a military recruitment program for the
High Schools. We must be there in force to see that they do
so immediately, and that they rid the schools of all military
recruiters! It is up to us so please come! That's Tuesday,
November 14, 7:00 P.M., at 555 Franklin Street, First Floor.
You can call the day before and the day of the meeting
to get on the speakers list: 415-241-6427.

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

WE EXTEND OUR SOLIDARITY TO A.N.S.W.E.R. IN THEIR STRUGGLE
AGAINST THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO WHO, ACTING
AS A BODY, ARE INCREASINGLY LIMITING OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH
(INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO POST PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS--A CENTURIES
OLD TRADITION OF MASS COMMUNICATION FOR THE POOR)
AND THE RIGHT TO FREE ASSEMBLY!

Paid advertising in the mass media is prohibitive. Only those with millions
of dollars to spend for advertising are allowed a public voice.
Right here in San Francisco the fees for permits have skyrocketed
and the permit process is long and complicated. The permit
application for DPT is 17 pages long and full of rules and regulations
that must be followed. And both the City and County and the ACLU
have agreed that while we have the right to free speech, the City and
County does, indeed, have the right to say when and where we may
or may not exercise it.

WE SAY NO!

THE CITYS' OBLIGATION IS TO MAKE SURE OUR
RIGHT TO ORGANIZE, PUBLICIZE AND PROTEST IS PROTECTED!
AND THAT OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND THE RIGHT TO
HAVE DIRECT CONTACT WITH OUR OWN CONSTITUENCY
IS GUARANTEED! We must be able to post public events,
and hold public events where the people are. The San Francisco
Police Department routinely protects the rights of the Zionists
when they want to hold counter-demonstrations to our
Antiwar actions. They also protect the "Right to Lifers" when
they want to march down San Francisco's Embarcadero--HERE
IN SAN FRANCISCO--A PRO-CHOICE CITY!
The San Francisco Police Department goes all out to
accommodate them! WHY NOT US!

RESCHEDULED: ANSWER Postering Case Hearing
We are appealing for your support as our free speech lawsuit
against the San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW)
reaches a critical stage. As you may be aware from articles that
have recently appeared in the Bay Guardian, the SF Weekly and
elsewhere, the DPW is attempting to impose fines that now total
more than $45,000 against the local ANSWER Coalition for
postering violations.

We just received word that the hearing for the ANSWER postering
case has been put off for 2 weeks. The new date of the hearing is
Thurs. Sept. 28, 9:30am at Superior Court, 400 McAllister St. (corner
Polk St., SF), 3rd Floor, Dept. 302. If you can, please join us at the
hearing two weeks from today to show your support.

If you would like to read a copy of attorney Ben Rosenfeld’s reply
to the city's response to our lawsuit, which summarizes the main
points of our position, please contact us at 415-821-6545 or
answer@actionsf.org.

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

STOP THE WAR! BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
MARCH AND RALLY
SATURDAY, 10/28
(TIME AND LOCATION TBA)

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

THIS JUST IN:

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

The Democratic Party's redevelopment plan is stopped by Petition
campaign until 2000! House Speaker Pelosi's, the Board of Supervisor's,
and the Mayor's plans to help the housing profiteers is stopped.

"The Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area, passed on by the
Board of Supervisors 7-4 , and signed into law by the Mayor on
June 1, 2006, is now officially suspended pending an election at
which the voters will be given the opportunity to decide.  The election
will most likely take place during a normally scheduled general
election in 2007."

SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Just before 5 pm today, Tuesday, September 12, 2006, John Arntz,
Director of Elections for the City and County of San Francisco officially
certified that the  REFERENDUM PETITION opposing the creation
of a Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area as successful.

The Department of Elections found that more than the minimum
number of 21,615 valid signatures were submitted by Petition
sponsors.  Sponsors had submitted in excess of  33,000 signatures 
on August 30th, 2006 after a 90 day signature gathering drive. 
San Francisco has not seen a successful referendum petition drive
in decades.  A referendum allows San Francisco  voters to decide
on the merits of legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

The Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area, passed on by the
Board of Supervisors 7-4 , and signed into law by the Mayor on
June 1, 2006, is now officially suspended pending an election
at which the voters will be given the opportunity to decide. 
The election will most likely take place during a normally
scheduled general election in 2007.

SUPPORTES HAIL VICTORY:

Petition supporters hailed the results as a victory for democracy
and echoed their campaign slogan "Let the Voters Decide!  
Petition supporter , Willie Ratcliff,publisher of the Bayview Newspaper
said "This special interest legislation was never about the benefiting
the community. Now ,finally,  the will of the voters can be expressed
democratically, at the ballot."

CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFO:   
Brian Murphy O'Flynn     415-867-4370

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

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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Free the Cuban Five!
September 23, 2006
Washington, DC
Breaking News...
On Aug. 9, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its en banc
decision denying a new trial to the Cuban Five. On August 10,
the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, together with
the National Lawyers Guild, sponsored an emergency press
conference in Washington in response to the decision.
A partial transcript to that press conference, in English
and Spanish, is here.
A March on the White House will be held on September 23
to continue to press forward with efforts to free the Five.
We urge all supporters to make every effort to join us on
that march. A public demonstration of support for the Five,
and outrage at their continued imprisonment, has never
been more vital. Details of the march are found at the
website below.
Join us in Washington on Sept. 23! Free the Cuban Five!
http://www.freethefive.org/

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IRAN WAR PERIL — EX-CIA MAN’S SF TALK SEPT. 24

The "threat" from Iran: Are mushroom clouds ahead?
Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst for 27 years, addresses
that issue at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, September 24, in the
First Unitarian Universalist Church (Starr King Room),
Franklin and Geary Streets, San Francisco.

McGovern will touch on Iraq too: "How we got in and
how we get out." Last May in Atlanta, national TV
networks showed him accusing Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld of prewar lying about supposed Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction.

McGovern founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity. He served the Central Intelligence Agency
from the Kennedy Administration to that of George H.
W. Bush. Awarded an Intelligence Commendation Medal,
he returned it following the revelations of torture.

There will be a question period until about 2 p.m.
Optional lunch (bring it or buy it) precedes the
program at 12:15. Cosponsors are the church’s World
Community Advocates and the War and Law League (WALL).

Following the program, WALL conducts its biennial
meeting. It is a nonpartisan, all-volunteer, San
Francisco-based group that opposes presidential wars
and aims at the rule of law in U.S. foreign affairs.

Public transit to the Unitarian Church includes
Muni's 47 and 49 bus lines on Van Ness Avenue, one
block east of Franklin, and the 38-Geary bus(which
connects with BART at the Montgomery Street Station).

For further information: (415) 738-8298 or (415)
564-2083; warandlaw@yahoo.com; http://warandlaw.org.

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

THE DECLARATION OF PEACE

“WITNESS TO PEACE: PROTEST AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO
SAVE THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN”
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!
Meet at Military Recruiting Office
Monday, September 25, 2006, 4:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M.
Stonestown Ocean Recruiting Station
561 Buckingham Way
(Across the street from the mall.)

Eyes Wide Open Boots and Shoes Exhibit: The Numbers Increase
The Declaration of Peace

The Declaration of Peace (www.declarationofpeace.org) is
a nationwide campaign to establish a concrete and rapid
plan for peace in Iraq. In August and September Congressional
visits have urged our Members of Congress to sign on to end
this militaristic adventure in Iraq.

IF CONSCIENCE LEADS YOU, TRAIN AND JOIN WITH ACTIVISTS
OF FAITH IN A NON VIOLENT ACTION TO END MILITARISM
AND THE WAR IN IRAQ
PREPARATION AND TRAININGS

September 23, Saturday 1-5 p.m. Non-Violence Training,
San Francisco First Unitarian Universalist Society,
1187 Franklin Street at Geary
Get information as it develops.
Contact Sandra Schwartz at (415) 565-0201 x 24
or email sschwartz@afsc.org

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Mass March & Rally

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006

the 40th anniversary of the

1966 Hunters Point Uprising

On Sept. 27, 1966, Matthew Johnson, 16, was fatally shot in the back
by SFPD, and the people rose up in rage only to be put down by National
Guard troops and tanks called in by City Hall.

On Sept. 27, 1966, we demand that City Hall reinstate our referendum
petition signed by over 33,000 San Franciscans to stop the Redevelopment
land grab and "re-peopling" of Bayview Hunters Point.

For 40 years, we've demanded

no more police brutality
living wage jobs, especially on City construction
the right to develop our own community
Don't let City Hall shoot us in the back again!

Gather 3:30 Third St. & Williams

March to Rally at Third & Palou

Tell City Hall

Hands off Hunters Point!

We shall not be moved!

Sponsored by Defend Bayview Hunters Point Coalition:
San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper,
POWER, ACORN, Environmental Justice Advocacy & many more.

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

"No Thanks Bechtel!"
...for the Iraq war
...for undermining democracy
...for sick Iraqi children
...for destruction of the environment
...for nuclear weapons

Join us! Wednesday, Sept 27, 4:00 PM
Bechtel Corporate Headquaters, 50 Beale St, San Francisco
Half a block east from Embarcadero BART

DECLARE Peace - an end to war and war profiteering!
For more info on this event, please contact Lacy MacAuley at
Butterfly@Lacy.com.

For more info on Declaration of Peace, including a full calendar of events,
please visit:
http://www.declarationofpeace.org

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

WHY DOES PROP 85 ENDANGER
TEEN SAFETY

Dear Health Care Activist,

Parents care most about keeping their teenagers safe.
That means always safe, even if they feel they can’t talk
to their parents about an unplanned pregnancy.

Parental notification laws cause young women to delay
seeking medical care.

When desperate teenagers turn to back-alley abortions
many will suffer serious injuries and some will die.

You are invited to our Saturday, September 30 health care meeting
on "Why Proposition 85 is bad for our health." The 3pm meeting
will be 4760 Mission in San Francisco, between Ocean and Geneva
at Russia. It is 5 blocks from the Balboa BART station.
Proposition is 85 is a re-run of the 2004 ballot initiative,
Proposition 73.

Groups in opposition to prop 85 include:
The California Federation of Labor, The California Medical
Association, The California Academy of Family Physicians,
The California Nurses Association, American Academy
of Pediatrics-California District, The Adolescent Health
Collaborative, Health Care of All, The League of Women
Voters, and Planned Parenthood. The State AFL-CIO at its
July convention voted to oppose this attack on reproductive rights.
Don Bechler
Chair - California Universal Health Care Organizing Project
Chair - Health Care for All - San Francisco chapter
415-695-7891

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Brian Ashley will report
on the new stage
of the struggle
for liberation in South Africa

October 1, 2006
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Refreshments @ 2:00 PM
Brian to speak @ 3:00 PM
Q & A to follow

Hosted By Alice & Frank Fried
742 Palmera Court
Alameda, CA 94501
510.769.0599

About Brian Ashley:

Brian Ashley has been an activist in the South African liberation
struggle having gone into exile in Zimbabwe in 1984. He is the
founder and director of the Alternative Information and
Development Centre, AIDC, a radical advocacy NGO mobilising
against neoliberal globalisation and its impact in South Africa
and Southern Africa. He helped form the Jubilee 2000 anti-
debt movement in South Africa and the global Jubilee South
movement that fights against debt domination by the International
Financial Institutions and the G8 countries. He is active in the
World Social Forum representing AIDC on the WSF International
Council and the African Social Forum Council. He is also a leading
member of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee. Apart from being
active in a number of social movements in SA he is a board member
of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU led Working
Partnerships Research and Education Agency.

A collection will be taken to support South African Solidarity Work

Frank Fried

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Urgent call from October 22 Coalition against Police Brutality, SF
October 22 Coalition against Police Brutality, Repression
and Criinalization of a generation
National Day of Protest, March and Rally in SF, Planning
NO MORE STOLEN LIVES ! NO MAS VIDAS ROBADAS !
Contact:
mesha Monge-Irizarry
Idriss Stelley Foundation
(415) 595-8251 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis line
iolmisha@cs. com
How: Already involved are : October 22 Bay Area, Idriss
Stelley Foundation, SF CEDP (Campaign to End the Death
Penalty, ISO (International Socialist Organization, Bay Area),
Bay Area Families of Victims and Survivors of Police brutality,
Code Pink
http://www.october22.org/
GET INVOLVED: To join our mailing list, please write to:
sf1022-talk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

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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

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

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

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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!

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

San Francisco Board of Education Meeting
Tuesday, November 14th, 7PM
555 Franklin Street, 1st Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
415/241-6427
The Board will vote on a resolution to phase out JROTC.

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

Close the SOA and Change Oppressive U.S. Foreign Policy
Nov. 17-19, 2006 - Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia

People's Movements across the Americas are becoming increasingly more
powerful. Military "solutions" to social problems as supported by
institutions like the School of the Americas were unable to squash their
voices, and the call for justice and accountability is getting louder each
day.

Add your voice to the chorus, demand justice for all the people of the
Americas and engage in nonviolent direct action to close the SOA and
change oppressive U.S. foreign policy.

With former SOA graduates being unmasked in Chile, Argentina, Colombia,
Paraguay, Honduras, and Peru for their crimes against humanity, and with
the blatant similarities between the interrogation methods and torture
methods used at Abu Ghraib and those described in human rights abuse cases
in Latin America, the SOA/WHINSEC must be held accountable!

Visit http://www.soaw.org to learn more about the November Vigil, hotel
and travel information, the November Organizing Packet, and more.

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

Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!

Interested in furthering your knowledge about Palestine
and its people?

Want to help make the Palestinian Right to Return a reality?

Looking for ways to show your support for Palestine and
Palestinian refugees?

Why not shop for a donation at Al-Awda
http://al-awda.org/shop.html
and help support a great organization and cause!!

Al-Awda offers a variety of educational materials including interesting
and unique books on everything from oral histories, photo books
on Palestinian refugees, to autobiographies, narratives, political
analysis, and culture. We also have historical maps of Palestine
(in Arabic and English), educational films, flags of various sizes,
and colorful greeting cards created by Palestinian children.

You can also show your support for a Free Palestine, and wear with
pride, great looking T-shirts, pendants, and a variety of Palestine pins.

Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!

Visit http://al-awda.org/shop.html for these great items, and more!

The Educational Supplies Division
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC), is a broad-
based, non-partisan, democratic, and charitable organization of
grassroots activists and students committed to comprehensive public
education about the rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their
homes and lands of origin, and to full restitution for all their confiscated
and destroyed property in accordance with the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, International law and the numerous United Nations
Resolutions upholding such rights (see FactSheet). Al-Awda, PRRC
is a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3)
organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the
United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations
to Al-Awda, PRRC are tax-deductible.

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

IN VOGUE:
Unspeakably grotesque, This spread was so galling I felt a primal
scream rising inside me. And it was not because I am a woman.
The link is
http://www.voguevan ity.it/cont/ 060hvg/default. asp
The wounds of "western civilization" inflict themselves over
and over...unapologetic , shameless...ditto BW
http://www.voguevanity.it/cont/060hvg/default.asp

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

A CALL TO SUPPORT THE CASE OF ELVIRA ARELLANO
Stand in solidarity with all immigrants, documented and undocumented

The IAC urges you to support the case of Elvira Arellano. Elvira is
an undocumented worker who is taking a heroic stand against
deportations and fighting for her rights. She is a native of Michoacán,
Mexico who came to the U.S. like many of the other 12 million
undocumented in this country, in search of work and a better life.

In 2002, Elvira was detained by Homeland Security agents in an
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweep at O’Hare Airport
in Chicago under the guise of allegedly looking for “terrorists”. She
was detained by the Department of Homeland Security for using
a false social security number on her job at O’Hare.

On August 18, 2006 Elvira Arellano and her seven year old son,
Saul who is a US citizen, took sanctuary in Adalberto United Methodist
Church in Chicago instead of reporting for deportation, primarily
because Saul has health problems. She has pledged to live indefinitely
in the church until granted a reprieve.

Elvira is a well known activist, representing many families in
Congressional hearings and speaking on behalf of immigrant rights.
She worked to organize in July 2005 a march of 50,000 for immigrant
rights in Chicago, and went on a hunger strike to support workers who
were picked up by ICE prior to the historic May 1st boycott in 2006.
Arellano was a founder of both La Familia Latina Unida and the
Coalition of African Arab Asian European and Latino Immigrants
of Illinois (CAAAELII).

The case of Elvira Arellano is a just case

Elvira Arellano has become the symbol of resistance to the heartless
and callous deportations that are sweeping the country. Despite
a legislative standstill in Congress, not only are deportations
escalating, local officials around the nation are implementing
de facto immigration policy that amount to a witch-hunt against
immigrants. A case in point is the anti-immigrant ordinance that
passed in July in Hazelton, PA.

Due to her heroic stand, a group of Black ministers spoke last
week at Adalberto Methodist of the comparisons of Arellano
to Rosa Parks. Reverend Albert Tyson said he hopes “their
support would increase the bonds between Latinos and African-
Americans.” At the meeting Arellano said, “I don’t only speak
for me and my son, but for millions of families like mine.”
Supporters from the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood
chanted, “Luchando mano y mano, Boriqua y Mexicano!”
(“Fighting hand in hand, Puerto Rican and Mexican!”)

Elvira Arellano is the perfect example that the anti-immigrant
hysteria sweeping the country is an inhumane situation that
has become intolerable. The human rights of immigrants are
being cruelly violated under the guise of fighting terrorism
or stopping “illegal” immigration. In fact, no human being
is illegal and whether in the U.S. documented or undocumented,
immigrants have a right to live in peace, without fear of evictions
from their homes or the country.

How you can help Elvira:

1. Write letters to Illinois Senators Richard Durbin and Barack
Obama as well as your own legislator urging them to prevent
her deportation.

For Senator Durbin visit: http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm#contact
For Senator Obama: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/index.php

2. Send Letters to the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune
asking them to stop demonizing Elvira as well as all immigrants.
Their emails are letters@suntimes.com and ctc-tribletter@tribune.com.

3. Send letters of support directly to Elvira at the organization she works
with and who has been spearheading her support, Sin Fronteras
at Centro Sin Fronteras 2300 S. Blue Island Ave., Chicago IL 60608
or visit the website: www.legalizationyes.com .
For Spanish speakers visit:
www.legalizacionsi.com

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

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

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

http://againstthecrimeofsilence.de/english/copy_of_mumia/legalarchive/

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

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

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

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

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

and:

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

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

In solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein

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

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

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

THIS JUST IN: THE KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL HAS TURNED DOWN
THE SHOW!
SUPPORT "TAKING AIM" produced by Ralph Schoenman and
Mya Shone.

LET KPFA KNOW WE ARE DISAPPOINTED!

To contact KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL email:
programcouncil@lists.kpfa.org

KPFA's Tracy Rosenberg voted to air "Taking Aim" and we
commend her for it.

You can thank her by writing her at:
tracyrose@gmail.com

In solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein

Here's my letter to the KPFA Program Council::

To: KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL
programcouncil@lists.kpfa.org
KPFA RADIO

Re: "Taking Aim"

Dear Council Members,

We are very disappointed that KPFA decided not to air the extremely
important show, "Taking Aim" produced by Ralph Schoenman and
Mya Shone.

Of course, we are also disappointed by your reluctance
to air a PSA for a rally to defend death row inmate, renowned
commentator, leader and writer, Mumia Abu-Jamal, because the
group that sponsored the rally was not a 501c3, non-profit,
semi-corporation.

I am happy to say that I did hear it announced in the Community
Calendar during Denis Bernstein's "Flashpoints," Thursday evening,
9/14, the day before the rally. But I'm sorry to say that I did not
hear the PSA.

God only knows, the downtrodden need a public voice more
than ever.

Organizers are not even allowed to post up posters and
announcements anymore in San Francisco. A.N.S.W.E.R. is currently
in a battle over the right to practice this centuries-old custom of
"posting up" for meetings, marches and rallies--historically one
of the only venues of mass communication freely available to the poor.

"Taking Aim" is a program that express that public voice.

KPFA is also supposed to express that public voice.

Now is not the time to silence it!

Please reconsider your decision not to air "Taking Aim." And end
the prohibition against airing the PSAs of non-501c3 groups and
organizations--after all, aren't they the grass roots of the matter?

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
415-824-8730

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

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/

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

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

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

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF ZIONISM
BY RALPH SCHOENMAN
Essential reading for understanding the development of Zionism
and Israel in the service of British and USA imperialism.
The full text of the book can be found for free at:
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."

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

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) Hezbollah Chief Leads Huge Rally
By JOHN O’NEIL
September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/middleeast/23lebanoncnd.html?hp&ex=1158984000&en=fea12c38b110044b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

2) Insurance Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
September 22, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?hp

3) Hugo Chavez Speech at United Nations
NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006
PRESIDENT CHAVEZ DELIVERS REMARKS AT THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006
SPEAKER: HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA
http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/20/123752.shtml

4) Mariela Castro: "I am proud of my father "
Fernán González
BBC Mundo, Havana
A CUBANEWS TRANSLATION BY ANA PORTELA
Edited by Walter Lippmann
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs955.html

5) PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
DRAFT SPEECH BY ESTEBAN LAZO, HEAD OF THE CUBAN DELEGATION
TO THE 61st SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK
United Nations website
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/61/pdfs/cuba-e.pdf
Text covnersion by NY Transfer News
315 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7215 * Fax: 212-689-9073
email: publicrelations@cubanmission.com

6) AP Propaganda About Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 22 September 2006
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

7) Pickers Are Few, and Growers Blame Congress
By JULIA PRESTON
September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/washington/22growers.html?ex=1159156800&en=07122ee1139ef2b6&ei=5087%0A

8) Billionaires Only Occupy Forbes 400 List
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:30 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Forbes-400.html

9) America's 400 Richest
Edited by Matthew Miller and Tatiana Serafin
09.21.06, 6:00 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/21/americas-400-richest-biz_cx_mm_06rich400_0921richintro.html

10) Off the Charts
What’s a Couple of Hundred Trillion When You’re Talking Derivatives?
By FLOYD NORRIS
September 23, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/business/23charts.html?adxnnl=6&adxnnlx=1159027325-6IAu68axWRTicEnv+8kGMQ

11) Solidarity in New York with
Cuban delegation
Havana. September 22, 2006
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/septiembre/vier22/40solidar-i.html

12) Line drawn on immigration legislation
Newsom, Yee slam federal attempts as discriminatory
Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer
[NOTE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively at
work in San Francisco deporting hundreds of undocumented
workers--perhaps not with the help of city employees but,
right under their noses. I send this out as a reminder of what
was promised noting that the city government only promised
not to aid ICE in it's assault against the basic human rights
of undocumented workers, not to stop it. Currently, the City
Government is standing by and not saying a word about it.
We have received many personal reports of such deportations,
firings, evictions, etc., happening in San Francisco. There
have been incidents of workers, upon going to collect
their pay, instead get ICE brought down upon them.
What is the City Government going to do about this?....bw]
Saturday, April 8, 2006
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/08/BAGGII5THL1.DTL

13) Turning Back the Clock on Rape
New York Times Editorial
September 23, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat1.html?hp

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

1) Hezbollah Chief Leads Huge Rally
By JOHN O’NEIL
September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/middleeast/23lebanoncnd.html?hp&ex=1158984000&en=fea12c38b110044b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Photo with the article shows what looks like over a million people
waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah in the midst of ruined Lebanon...bw]
The leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, told the crowd
at a giant open-air rally in Beirut today that the militant group had
more than 20,000 rockets, and made clear that it would not disarm,
despite the requirements of a United Nations cease-fire accord.

Mr. Nasrallah declared that the group “has recovered all its
organizational and military capabilities,” and “is stronger than
it was before July 12,” the day the war with Israel began, according
to Reuters.

The rally was the first time Mr. Nasrallah has appeared in public
since before the war.

He also called for replacing Lebanon’s current pro-Western
government with a new government of national unity,
as Hezbollah seeks to capitalize on what he described
today as “a divine, historic and strategic victory over Israel
and the United States.”

Mr. Nasrallah told the crowd, which filled a vast space cleared
from the rubble left by Israel’s bombing raids, that he had
decided to appear in person only half an hour before the
start of the rally. “Standing here before you,” he said,
“incurs dangers on you and me.”

Israeli officials have made clear that they consider Mr. Nasrallah
a legitimate target. Some 4,000 rockets fired over the border
into Israel by Hezbollah during the 34-day war killed
43 civilians and wounded more than 2,000.

Asked on Thursday by Israel’s Channel 10 television if
Mr. Nasrallah would be a target if he appeared at the rally,
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert replied: “And you think,
that if he was, I would tell you — and tell him?”

But Mr. Nasrallah directed as much or more of his wrath
today at the United States as at Israel, and declared that
“your resistance and steadfastness” has “opened the
eyes of the world.”

The United Nations ceasefire that halted the fighting
on Aug. 14th called for, among other things, the
disarmament of Hezbollah to give the fragile Lebanese
government a monopoly on armed force within the country.
Secretary General Kofi Annan has made it clear since then
that he expects the disarmament to come only as part of
a political settlement within Lebanon, saying that disarming
Hezbollah would not be part of the mandate of the
international force being deployed along the border
with Israel.

Israeli officials said after the fighting ended that Hezbollah’s
stockpile of long-range weapons had been diminished,
and that the danger posed by its remaining short-range
Katyusha rockets was limited by the clearing of a zone
south of the Litani River, about 15 miles from the border.
Since the ceasefire, the Israelis have focused on trying
to make sure that Hezbollah does not receive new
shipments of smuggled arms from Iran and Syria,
considered by Israel and the United States to be the
militant group’s prime sponsors.

But Mr. Nasrallah’s declaration of the group’s renewed
strength seemed to leave little prospect of any voluntary
disarmament.

In contrast to the understated tone he took in his
appearances on Hezbollah television during the war,
his speech today, portions of which were broadcast by
CNN, was an angry declaration of victory. It met with
prolonged cheers from the crowd, with many people
waving the militant group’s yellow flag.

Since the fighting ended on Aug. 14th, Hezbollah has tried
to build on the increase in popular support that was
a side-effect of Israel’s widespread bombing campaign,
which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians.

Its leaders recently called for a government of national
unity to replace the mainly pro-Western, anti-Syrian
March 14 coalition now in power. The coalition, which
gave Hezbollah a share in government, won a slim
majority in elections last spring.

Some Lebanese have criticized Hezbollah for its role
in the start of the war, which was touched off by
a cross-border raid in which militants seized two
Israeli soldiers. Shortly after the war’s end, Mr. Nasrallah
said in a televised address that the raid a miscalculation,
and that he would not have ordered the raid if he had
known how fierce the response from Israel would be.

But today he said that part of the Israeli and American
plan had been to set the rest of Lebanon against
Hezbollah by inflicting widespread punishment.

“They thought that we would be divided,” he said.
“It’s not a victory for a party or a group, it’s a victory
for the people of Lebanon.”

Mr. Nasrallah called the conflict “an American war,” saying
that the United States had made Israel’s attacks possible
by providing arms, planning and diplomatic support.

He said the war came to and end not because of the
suffering of the Lebanese or any weakness on the part
of Hezbollah, but because “the Zionists realized that
if it continued it would be a catastrophe.”

“The Americans agreed to stop the war, not for the women,
not for the children of the Lebanese — they stopped the war
for Israel,” he said.

He said the Bush administration had allowed the war to go
forward as part of the plan to create “a new Middle East.”

“This Middle East was illegitimate,” he said, and its defeat
has become an inspiration “for people who fight for their
freedom and dignity” around the world.

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

2) Insurance Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
September 22, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?hp

“When Steve and Leslie Shaeffer’s daughter, Selah, was diagnosed
at age 4 with a potentially fatal tumor in her jaw, they figured their
health insurance would cover the bulk of her treatment costs.” But
“shortly after Selah’s medical bills hit $20,000, Blue Cross stopped
covering them and eventually canceled her coverage retroactively.”

So begins a recent report in The Los Angeles Times titled “Sick
but Insured? Think Again,” which offers a series of similar horror
stories, and suggests that these stories represent a growing trend:
more and more health insurers are finding ways to yank your
insurance when you get sick.

This trend helps explain something that has been puzzling me:
why is the health insurance industry growing rapidly, even as
it covers fewer Americans?

Between 2000 and 2005, the number of Americans with private
health insurance coverage fell by 1 percent. But over the same
period, employment at health insurance companies rose
a remarkable 32 percent. What are all those extra employees
doing?

Now we know at least part of the answer: they’re working
harder than ever at identifying people who really need medical
care, and ensuring that they don’t get it. In the past, they
mainly concentrated on screening out applicants likely to
get sick. Now, it seems, they’re also devoting a lot of effort
to finding pretexts for revoking insurance after they’ve already
granted it. They typically do this by claiming that they weren’t
notified about some pre-existing condition, even if the insured
wasn’t aware of that condition when he or she bought the policy.

Welcome to the ugly world of American health care economics.

Health care is poised to become America’s largest industry.
Employment in manufacturing, which once dominated the
economy, has fallen 18 percent since 2000, to 14.2 million.
Meanwhile, employment in the private health services industry
has risen 16 percent, to 12.6 million. Another 1.3 million
people are employed at government hospitals. So we’re
quickly approaching the point at which more Americans
will be employed delivering health care than are employed
producing manufactured goods.

Yet even as health care becomes the core of the American
economy, our system of paying for health care remains
sick, and is getting sicker.

Because everyone faces some risk of incurring huge medical
costs, only the superrich can afford to be without health
insurance. Yet private insurers try to refuse coverage
to those most likely to need it, and deny payment whenever
they can get away with it.

The point isn’t that they’re evil or greedy (although you
do wonder how the people who cut off the Schaeffers can
look themselves in the mirror). The fact is that cruelty
and injustice are the inevitable result of the current rules
of the game. Blue Shield of California is a nonprofit insurance
provider, yet as a spokesman put it, if his organization doesn’t
follow the for-profit practice of selectively covering only the
healthiest people, “we will end up with all the high-risk people.”

Now, before you panic about the state of your own coverage,
you should know that the horror stories in The Los Angeles
Times article all involve individual insurance; if your coverage
comes via your employer, you’re reasonably secure against
sudden cancellation.

But employment-based insurance is in rapid decline,
as employers balk at the cost and more and more companies
adopt Wal-Mart-style minimal-benefit policies. That’s why
many people are turning to individual insurance — only to find
out, in some cases, that they didn’t get what they thought
they paid for.

And here’s the thing: it’s all unnecessary.

Every other wealthy nation manages to provide almost all its
citizens with guaranteed health insurance, while spending
less on health care than we do. And there’s no mystery why:
we’re paying the price for pointless, destructive reliance on
private insurers. Medicare, which is a universal health insurance
program for older Americans, spends less than 2 cents of every
dollar on administrative costs, leaving 98 cents to pay for medical
care. By contrast, private insurance companies spend only around
80 cents of each dollar in premiums on medical care; much
of the remaining 20 cents is spent denying insurance to those
who need it.

If we had a universal system — Medicare for everyone — there
would be no more horror stories like those reported by The Los
Angeles Times. And we’d almost certainly spend less on health
care than we do now.

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

3) Hugo Chavez Speech at United Nations
NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006
PRESIDENT CHAVEZ DELIVERS REMARKS AT THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006
SPEAKER: HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA
http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/20/123752.shtml

"Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning
to all of you. First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully,
to those who have not read this book, to read it.

Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world
intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent
books, 'Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United
States.'" [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.]
"It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been
happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's
happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet.

The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing
at risk the very survival of the human species. We continue to warn
you about this danger and we appeal to the people of the United
States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword
hanging over our heads. I had considered reading from this book,
but, for the sake of time," [flips through the pages, which are
numerous] "I will just leave it as a recommendation.

It reads easily, it is a very good book, I'm sure Madame [President]
you are familiar with it. It appears in English, in Russian, in Arabic,
in German. I think that the first people who should read this book
are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their
threat is right in their own house.

The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right
in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here.
Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today."

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president
of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil,
came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner
of the world.

I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's
statement made by the president of the United States. As the
spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums,
to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation
and pillage of the peoples of the world.

An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario.
I would even propose a title: "The Devil's Recipe."

As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, the American
empire is doing all it can to consolidate its system of domination.
And we cannot allow them to do that. We cannot allow world
dictatorship to be consolidated.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The world parent's statement
-- cynical, hypocritical, full of this imperial hypocrisy from the
need they have to control everything.

They say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's
their democratic model. It's the false democracy of elites, and,
I would say, a very original democracy that's imposed by weapons
and bombs and firing weapons.

What a strange democracy. Aristotle might not recognize
it or others who are at the root of democracy.

What type of democracy do you impose with marines
and bombs?

The president of the United States, yesterday, said to us,
right here, in this room, and I'm quoting, "Anywhere you
look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from
poverty and recover your dignity through violence,
terror and martyrdom."

Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother
-- he looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist.
Evo Morales, the worthy president of Bolivia, looks like
an extremist to him.

The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we
are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking
up all over. And people are standing up.

I have the feeling, dear world dictator, that you are going
to live the rest of your days as a nightmare because the rest
of us are standing up, all those who are rising up against
American imperialism, who are shouting for equality,
for respect, for the sovereignty of nations.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, you can call
us extremists, but we are rising up against the empire,
against the model of domination.

The president then -- and this he said himself, he said:
"I have come to speak directly to the populations in the
Middle East, to tell them that my country wants peace."

That's true. If we walk in the streets of the Bronx, if we
walk around New York, Washington, San Diego, in any city,
San Antonio, San Francisco, and we ask individuals, the citizens
of the United States, what does this country want?
Does it want peace? They'll say yes.

But the government doesn't want peace. The government
of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit
its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war.

It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened
in Lebanon? In Palestine? What's happening? What's happened
over the last 100 years in Latin America and in the world?
And now threatening Venezuela -- new threats against
Venezuela, against Iran?

He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said,
have seen how your homes and communities were caught
in the crossfire. How cynical can you get? What a capacity
to lie shamefacedly. The bombs in Beirut with millimetric
precision?

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is crossfire? He's
thinking of a western, when people would shoot from
the hip and somebody would be caught in the crossfire.

This is imperialist, fascist, assassin, genocidal, the empire
and Israel firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon.
That is what happened. And now we hear, "We're suffering
because we see homes destroyed.'

The president of the United States came to talk to the peoples
-- to the peoples of the world. He came to say -- I brought
some documents with me, because this morning I was reading
some statements, and I see that he talked to the people
of Afghanistan, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran.
And he addressed all these peoples directly.

And you can wonder, just as the president of the United States
addresses those peoples of the world, what would those peoples
of the world tell him if they were given the floor? What would
they have to say?

And I think I have some inkling of what the peoples of the
south, the oppressed people think. They would say, "Yankee
imperialist, go home." I think that is what those people would
say if they were given the microphone and if they could speak
with one voice to the American imperialists.

And that is why, Madam President, my colleagues, my friends,
last year we came here to this same hall as we have been doing
for the past eight years, and we said something that has now
been confirmed -- fully, fully confirmed.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I don't think anybody in this
room could defend the system. Let's accept -- let's be honest.
The U.N. system, born after the Second World War, collapsed.
It's worthless.

Oh, yes, it's good to bring us together once a year, see each
other, make statements and prepare all kinds of long documents,
and listen to good speeches, like Abel's (ph) yesterday,
or President Mullah's (ph). Yes, it's good for that.

And there are a lot of speeches, and we've heard lots from
the president of Sri Lanka, for instance, and the president of Chile.

But we, the assembly, have been turned into a merely deliberative
organ. We have no power, no power to make any impact on the
terrible situation in the world. And that is why Venezuela once
again proposes, here, today, 20 September, that we re-establish
the United Nations.

Last year, Madam, we made four modest proposals that we felt
to be crucially important. We have to assume the responsibility
our heads of state, our ambassadors, our representatives,
and we have to discuss it.

The first is expansion, and Mullah (ph) talked about this yesterday
right here. The Security Council, both as it has permanent
and non-permanent categories, (inaudible) developing countries
and LDCs must be given access as new permanent members.
That's step one.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Second, effective methods
to address and resolve world conflicts, transparent decisions.

Point three, the immediate suppression -- and that is something
everyone's calling for -- of the anti-democratic mechanism known
as the veto, the veto on decisions of the Security Council.

Let me give you a recent example. The immoral veto of the United
States allowed the Israelis, with impunity, to destroy Lebanon.
Right in front of all of us as we stood there watching, a resolution
in the council was prevented.

Fourthly, we have to strengthen, as we've always said, the role
and the powers of the secretary general of the United Nations.

Yesterday, the secretary general practically gave us his speech
of farewell. And he recognized that over the last 10 years, things
have just gotten more complicated; hunger, poverty, violence,
human rights violations have just worsened. That is the tremendous
consequence of the collapse of the United Nations system
and American hegemonistic pretensions.

Madam, Venezuela a few years ago decided to wage this battle
within the United Nations by recognizing the United Nations,
as members of it that we are, and lending it our voice, our thinking.

Our voice is an independent voice to represent the dignity and the
search for peace and the reformulation of the international system;
to denounce persecution and aggression of hegemonistic
forces on the planet.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is how Venezuela has
presented itself. Bolivar's home has sought a nonpermanent
seat on the Security Council.

Let's see. Well, there's been an open attack by the U.S. government,
an immoral attack, to try and prevent Venezuela from being freely
elected to a post in the Security Council.

The imperium is afraid of truth, is afraid of independent voices.
It calls us extremists, but they are the extremists.

And I would like to thank all the countries that have kindly
announced their support for Venezuela, even though the ballot
is a secret one and there's no need to announce things.

But since the imperium has attacked, openly, they strengthened
the convictions of many countries. And their support strengthens us.

Mercosur, as a bloc, has expressed its support, our brothers
in Mercosur. Venezuela, with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay,
is a full member of Mercosur.

And many other Latin American countries, CARICOM, Bolivia
have expressed their support for Venezuela. The Arab League,
the full Arab League has voiced its support. And I am immensely
grateful to the Arab world, to our Arab brothers, our Caribbean
brothers, the African Union. Almost all of Africa has expressed
its support for Venezuela and countries such as Russia
or China and many others.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I thank you all warmly
on behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of our people, and on behalf
of the truth, because Venezuela, with a seat on the Security Council,
will be expressing not only Venezuela's thoughts, but it will also
be the voice of all the peoples of the world, and we will defend
dignity and truth.

Over and above all of this, Madam President, I think there
are reasons to be optimistic. A poet would have said "helplessly
optimistic," because over and above the wars and the bombs
and the aggressive and the preventive war and the destruction
of entire peoples, one can see that a new era is dawning.

As Sylvia Rodriguez (ph) says, the era is giving birth to a heart.
There are alternative ways of thinking. There are young people
who think differently. And this has already been seen within
the space of a mere decade. It was shown that the end of history
was a totally false assumption, and the same was shown about
Pax Americana and the establishment of the capitalist neo-liberal
world. It has been shown, this system, to generate mere poverty.
Who believes in it now?

What we now have to do is define the future of the world. Dawn
is breaking out all over. You can see it in Africa and Europe and
Latin America and Oceanea. I want to emphasize that optimistic
vision.

We have to strengthen ourselves, our will to do battle,
our awareness. We have to build a new and better world.

Venezuela joins that struggle, and that's why we are
threatened. The U.S. has already planned, financed and
set in motion a coup in Venezuela, and it continues
to support coup attempts in Venezuela and elsewhere.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): President Michelle
Bachelet reminded us just a moment ago of the horrendous
assassination of the former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier.

And I would just add one thing: Those who perpetrated
this crime are free. And that other event where an American
citizen also died were American themselves. They were CIA
killers, terrorists.

And we must recall in this room that in just a few days there
will be another anniversary. Thirty years will have passed
from this other horrendous terrorist attack on the Cuban
plane, where 73 innocents died, a Cubana de Aviacion airliner.

And where is the biggest terrorist of this continent who took
the responsibility for blowing up the plane? He spent a few
years in jail in Venezuela. Thanks to CIA and then government
officials, he was allowed to escape, and he lives here in this
country, protected by the government.

And he was convicted. He has confessed to his crime. But the
U.S. government has double standards. It protects terrorism
when it wants to.

And this is to say that Venezuela is fully committed to combating
terrorism and violence. And we are one of the people
who are fighting for peace.

Luis Posada Carriles is the name of that terrorist who is protected
here. And other tremendously corrupt people who escaped from
Venezuela are also living here under protection: a group that
bombed various embassies, that assassinated people during
the coup. They kidnapped me and they were going to kill me,
but I think God reached down and our people came out into
the streets and the army was too, and so I'm here today.

But these people who led that coup are here today in this
country protected by the American government. And I accuse
the American government of protecting terrorists and of having
a completely cynical discourse.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We mentioned Cuba.
Yes, we were just there a few days ago. We just came from
there happily.

And there you see another era born. The Summit of the 15,
the Summit of the Nonaligned, adopted a historic resolution.
This is the outcome document. Don't worry, I'm not going to read it.

But you have a whole set of resolutions here that were adopted
after open debate in a transparent matter -- more than 50 heads
of state. Havana was the capital of the south for a few weeks,
and we have now launched, once again, the group of the
nonaligned with new momentum.

And if there is anything I could ask all of you here, my companions,
my brothers and sisters, it is to please lend your good will to lend
momentum to the Nonaligned Movement for the birth of the new
era, to prevent hegemony and prevent further advances of imperialism.

And as you know, Fidel Castro is the president of the nonaligned
for the next three years, and we can trust him to lead the charge
very efficiently.

Unfortunately they thought, "Oh, Fidel was going to die." But
they're going to be disappointed because he didn't. And he's
not only alive, he's back in his green fatigues, and he's now
presiding the nonaligned.

So, my dear colleagues, Madam President, a new, strong movement
has been born, a movement of the south.
We are men and women of the south.

With this document, with these ideas, with these criticisms,
I'm now closing my file. I'm taking the book with me. And,
don't forget, I'm recommending it very warmly and very humbly
to all of you.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We want ideas to save our
planet, to save the planet from the imperialist threat. And hopefully
in this very century, in not too long a time, we will see this, we will
see this new era, and for our children and our grandchildren a world
of peace based on the fundamental principles of the United Nations,
but a renewed United Nations.

And maybe we have to change location. Maybe we have to put
the United Nations somewhere else; maybe a city of the south.
We've proposed Venezuela.

You know that my personal doctor had to stay in the plane.
The chief of security had to be left in a locked plane. Neither
of these gentlemen was allowed to arrive and attend
the U.N. meeting. This is another abuse and another abuse
of power on the part of the Devil. It smells of sulfur here,
but God is with us and I embrace you all.

May God bless us all. Good day to you.

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

4) Mariela Castro: "I am proud of my father "
Fernán González
BBC Mundo, Havana
A CUBANEWS TRANSLATION BY ANA PORTELA
Edited by Walter Lippmann
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs955.html

Mariela Castro is the daughter of the interim Cuban president, Raul
Castro and director of the National Center for Sexual Education in
this country. For the past few years she has been noted for defending
the rights of sexual minorities.

In an interview with BBC Mundo, in her office of Havana, in an old
house in the Vedado neighborhood, she talks of her relationship with
her father, of her family life and work she does, which is not always
easy.

What is your father like?

My Dad, not Raúl Castro, is marvelous (she smiles), he is very
active, very caring, always interested in us.

I remember, when I was little, that I managed to be taken to school
holding his hand, like other parents, walking the six blocks and
waiting for the morning formation (with all the teachers and students
before classes that almost always had an ideological teaching).

He is a father that always has surprises. One thing that I liked very
much is that my father is a very loving, very romantic and passionate
person with my Mom (Vilma Espín, president of the Cuban Women‚s
Federation).

They have transmitted a great stability. They taught us to love, to
be romantic, to believe in people, even if they may disappoint us.
They taught us many important values.

Often we said that we didn‚t want him to continue with his public
responsibilities because we wanted him closer. We wanted to be with
him. We understood the responsibility he had to assume because, once
you take a revolutionary course, you can‚t say "well, I'm going home.
So long. That's your problem."

That is also a great responsibility. Like Garibaldi. He forged
Italian unity and then said, "chao, it yours now" and left. That was
a great lack of historical responsibility. They were not like that.
That must be admired but it means that we will not be with him as
often that we want.

But we are also proud of how he is, as a human being, of how he as
assumed his public responsibility and how he has had the honesty to
assume his errors when he identifies them, which is the majority of
times.

He has a great experience in collective work, in boosting collective
creation in leading because he does not feel omnipotent, because he
is not self-satisfied. The Cuban people have confidence in him, not
because he has a magic wand, something no one has.

It is a great effort, a great exercise in creativity, of a
collective will to create a more just and fairer society in such a
poor country such as Cuba with so few material resources, under the
hostility of the most powerful empire in all of history.

History fascinates him. He is very well versed in universal and Cuban
history. It helps him to understand Cuban reality and tries to push
forward. He will follow the strategy of the Revolution which will,
collectively, continue to strengthen and actions will be identified
for Cuban society to advance, like a sovereign state.

What do you remember most about your father?

His joy, his congeniality, his jokes and his affection. He has been
very affectionate with all of us. He is very reserved in his public
life but, privately, he is fascinating.

Let‚s talk about your work as director of the Cuban Center of Sexual
Education. What made you decide to work for the rights of
transvestites, the transsexuals, and homosexuals in Cuba?

I was working here as the director of the center. I think it was
about 2004 when a group of transvestites, transsexuals came. Some
were patients, others collaborators here in the center, in
educational work.

Some were not, but many were prostitutes and wanted support of our
institution because they had problems with the police here in Havana,
not in other parts of the country.

There was an event here in Havana, around La Rampa, the Malecon
(seaside walk) where many people with different sexual preferences
met and engaged in prostitution. But they disturbed the neighbors. If
they had exercised prostitution without disturbing the neighbors...That
implied harassment of tourists who complained.

There was a meeting of the Young Communist League in Havana who
complained to the government. They said that measures had to be taken
because the families felt infringed upon and tourists also.

Instead of taking a more logical measure, the decision of the
police was to arrest anyone who looked like a transvestite,
transsexual or anything that looked strange, arbitrary, absurd.

Of course, they came to demand their rights because I don't know if
you have noticed, we Cubans have a strong sense of justice and fight
when we have to and we accept when we feel that we must accept.

That's why I say, Why is Fidel here? Why do people want him here...
because the day that the people don't want him here he won't be. That
happened with this subject. They spoke of everything bothering them.
I asked if I could tape what they had said to prepare a report. And
that's what I did, a short report so they could read it over rapidly
and then a longer one with many annexes.

That is how a national strategy came about for attention to
transsexuals with an integral vision since 1979 which was created by
my mother, Vilma Espín, president of the Cuban Women's Federation.
What we did was to broaden this work, to enrich it. Since the
transvestites and transsexuals asked my help I got seriously involved
in this. I have studied these subjects to have background then, in
the end, I am doing my PhD on the subject.

How long will it be in Cuba to achieve total respect for the rights
of homosexuals?

I don't know, I don't know how long and I would like to know. At
first I was very passionate about it and understood that I was
killing myself and that everything had a process, that it took time;
it has to be moved, to boost it. It is, precisely, what I am doing to
prevent this process from taking too long but to make it shorter.

Do you think these problems are institutional or about machismo in
society or a combination of both?

A combination of both. They are socio-cultural and historical and, of
course; they are visible because human beings with the same
conditioning make institutions. That is why it has an educational,
massive and very important component.

We are even carrying out a very important study on representations of
transexuality; to carry out educational campaigns to teach society to
respect these people and respect their rights.

Of course, everyone is going to compare what happens now with what
happened in the sixties when homosexuals were sent to work camps or
the UMAP. Why do you think this happened?

It was like what happened in other places only that Cuba is more
visible because it was during the Cold War and war had to be waged
against Cuba, on anything where Cuba made a mistake. This was
happening everywhere in different ways and continues to happen, even
in developed countries. What happens is that it doesn't transcend.

I know about it because that is my work and I know groups in Europe
who denounce the violation of the rights of these people.

I know of parents of transsexuals in England who call for the respect
of the rights of transsexuals because their sons have been physically
beaten. There are hate crimes that are sexually orientated.

This doesn't exist in Cuba. The Cuban population is much more
respectful of differences than in other places, I don't know why. I
don't know if it's the "conga" (always willing to have a party),
that's the way we are. When I'm afraid I will find a very strong
resistance, I find a high degree of sensibility in the Cuban
population.

Do you think that perception about homosexuals in Cuban society has
changed, lately?

I think so; it has changed very much. Also, because there is no
longer a hostile policy, because we also talk of those subjects in
social communication media.

This makes people think, to reflect upon and that homosexuals and
lesbians express their sexual orientation like everyone else in the
world, without fears although this does not mean that there may be
persons who are afraid because it very difficult to feel different.

I think that it is the same thing that happens with Blacks in a
racist society or to women in a society that discriminates against
her.

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

5) PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
DRAFT SPEECH BY ESTEBAN LAZO, HEAD OF THE CUBAN DELEGATION
TO THE 61st SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK
United Nations website
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/61/pdfs/cuba-e.pdf
Text covnersion by NY Transfer News
315 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7215 * Fax: 212-689-9073
email: publicrelations@cubanmission.com

Madame President, Mr. Secretary General, Your Excellencies:

A mere four days ago, the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement held in
Cuba was concluded. Today, I speak on behalf of the Movement's Chairman,
President Fidel Castro, fulfilling our obligation to inform this Assembly of
the main decisions agreed on at the Summit Conference held in Havana.

As First Vice-President of the Councils of State and Ministers of the
Republic of Cuba, Razl Castro said in his opening speech:

"The current international situation, characterised by the one superpower's
irrational attempts to control the world, aided by its allies, shows that we
need to be increasingly united In defence of the principles and purposes
upon which the Non-Aligned Movement was established, which are those
enshrined In the international law and the Charter of the United Nations."

While the founding of the Movement was necessary more than four decades ago,
its continued relevance in today's world is beyond doubt.

The NAM Summit held in Cuba was an indisputable success, in spite of the
threats and pressures of those who oppose the unity and common efforts of
the countries of the South.

The Summit saw high levels of participation, both in terms of the number of
countries which attended the conference and that of Heads of State or
Government.

Profound and fruitful debates were held, in an atmosphere of true
understanding, unity and cohesion, which allowed for the adoption of
documents of crucial importance to the future of the Non-Aligned Movement.
As the new Chairman, Cuba was given clear mandates and an action program
which shall govern its activities as head of the Movement.

As a result of the Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement has been strengthened
and, consequently, so has the political unity of the countries of the South.
The diverse and heterogeneous nature of the Movement's membership, far from
weakening it, constitutes its essential strength. These features have
allowed for the creation of solid consensuses that are a positive
contribution to our efforts to overcome the many and serious challenges
humanity faces today.

The commendable work of Malaysia as the Movement's Chairman over the last
three years was acknowledged at the Summit.

There was no cause of or demand by a South country which was not duly
considered by or which did not meet with the support of the Movement.

The urgent need to make progress in the defense of multilateralism, to
demand respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States
and ensure the full realization of our peoples' right to development and
peace were ratified at the Summit as the Movement's principles.

The Heads of State or Government decided to work to suppress acts of
aggression and other actions contrary to the preservation of peace and to
encourage the peaceful settlement of international conflicts.

The Summit called on all nations to abstain from the use of force or from
threatening to use force against the territorial integrity or independence
of any State. Participating nations promoted the development of relations of
friendship based on respect towards the principle of equal rights and the
will of all peoples to struggle against foreign occupation.

They urged nations to extend international cooperation with a view to
overcoming the serious economic, social, cultural and humanitarian
challenges that face the world and to promote respect towards the human
rights and fundamental liberties of all and for the benefit of all.

The fundamental and inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination
was reaffirmed in Havana.

Non-Aligned countries agreed that world peace and security are today more
imperiled than ever as a result, among other factors, of the growing trend
of the most powerful States to resort to unilateral measures and to the
threat of preemptive wars.

The Movement's commitment to general and complete disarmament and nuclear
disarmament in particular, under strict and efficient international
monitoring, was underscored. The Summit also reaffirmed the basic and
inalienable right of all States to research, development, production and the
use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and to be free from any kind of
discrimination in this connection, in conformity with their respective
international obligations.

In addition to this, the Summit clearly and firmly pronounced itself against
terrorism, double standards in international relations, coercive unilateral
measures against any nation, "regime change" policies and the failure of
developed countries to fulfill their commitments in economic and social
areas.

The Heads of State or Government of the Movement reaffirmed their hope to
live in a peaceful world in which all nations have the right to a better
future and a fair and equitable world order based on the sustainable
development of all nations.

They affirmed that, in its current form, globalization perpetuates and even
exacerbates the marginalization of the countries of the South, and demanded
that it be radically transformed into a positive force for change, for the
benefit of all peoples.

Participants reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to have their
own State and condemned the government of Israel for the new wave of crimes
and massacres in Gaza and other occupied territories. They also vigorously
condemned Israel's merciless acts of aggression against Lebanon and the
serious violations of this nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The people and government of Bolivia, facing attempts aimed at destabilizing
the country instigated by external forces, met with a gesture of support and
solidarity from the Summit. The process which is underway in that sister
nation, aimed at guaranteeing the real rights of all Bolivians and at
securing full national control over the country's natural resources, was
offered solid support.

The Movement considered, with great concern, the aggressive policies and the
intensification of actions aimed at undermining the stability of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and expressed support for the inalienable
right of the Venezuelan people to determine its form of government and
choose its economic, political and social system, free from foreign
intervention, subversion, coercion or restrictions of any kind.

Non-Aligned countries undertook to promote and participate in a true process
of democratization and reform of the United Nations to put behind the
anti-democratic impositions and practices of the Security Council and to
give the General Assembly its due decisive role, in conformity with the
roles and powers described in the UN Charter.

I have mentioned only a few examples of the positions adopted at the Summit
held in Havana, with respect to the most diverse issues on the international
agenda. The documents adopted shall be offcially distributed to all UN
member States. A number of the decisions adopted at the Summit shall soon be
put into practice in this Session of the General Assembly.

Madame President:

Cuba is aware of the immense responsibility inherent in presiding over the
Non-Aligned Movement in one of the most difficult times In human history,
when we face more inequality and injustice than ever before.

We shall not rest in our efforts to have the Movement occupy the place it
can and must occupy in the international arena, in keeping not only with its
broad membership of 118 countries, nearly two-thirds of the UN membership,
but also of its history on behalf of the loftiest causes.

On inaugurating the 6th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement 27 years ago,
President Fidel Castro expressed:

"The struggle for peace and for a just economic order, and a workable
solution to the pressing problems that weigh on our peoples is, in our
opinion, increasingly becoming the main question posed to Movement of
Non-Aligned Countries.

"Peace, and the immense risks that threaten it, are not something that
should be left exclusively in the hands of the big military Powers. Peace is
possible, but world peace can only be assured to the extent that all
countries are consciously determined to fight for it -- peace, not just for
a part of the world, but for all peoples."

Days later, in this same hall, on reporting on that Summit, President Fidel
Castro expressed:

"The sounds of weapons, of threatening language, and of prepotent behavior
in the international arena must cease.

"Enough of the illusion that the problems of the world can be solved by
nuclear weapons. Bombs may kill the hungry, the sick, and the ignorant, but
they cannot kill hunger, disease, and ignorance. Nor can they kill the
righteous rebellion of the peoples."

The countries of the South shall work, united, for justice, peace and the
development of our nations and the entire World, convinced that a better
world is possible if we all struggle for it.

Madame President:

I would now like to say a few words on behalf of the people and government
of Cuba.

Our people's exercise of its right to self-determination faces new threats.
The Bush administration has stepped up its brutally hostile measures against
Cuba with new economic sanctions which further intensify the longest
blockade human history has known. More severe reprisals are also being taken
against those who have business dealings with Cuba from other nations, and
financial transactions with our country are viciously persecuted. The very
government of the United States recognizes that it is spending more, today,
in persecuting and punishing those who have business dealings with Cuba than
in monitoring the finances of those who attacked the Twin Towers.

This past June, the Bush administration approved the second version of its
most recent plan of aggression and domination against our country, aimed not
only at overthrowing the Revolution but also at destroying the Cuban nation.

In violation of international norms and laws, an unprecedented build-up in
the financial and material support to subversive actions aimed at
overthrowing the constitutional order freely chosen by the Cuban people is
being promoted.

The abovementioned anti-Cuban plan contains a chapter, which is being held
in secret. The antecedents of these decisions are the covert actions
undertaken against the Cuban revolution, which include mercenary invasions,
terrorists actions, the introduction of plagues and epidemics into the
country and over 600 plots to assassinate Fidel. Thousands of Cubans have
lost their lives or have been maimed for life as a result of this criminal
policy.

At the height of hypocrisy and irresponsibility, the government of the
United States tolerates the presence of and protects the terrorists who plan
new actions against our people on US soil. While maneuvering to free the
murderers responsible for monstrous crimes, such as the notorious
international terrorist and CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles, whom they refuse
to extradite to Venezuela, it illegally and unjustly keeps five courageous
anti-terrorist Cuban activists in prison.

But, in spite of these acts of aggression and the criminal blockade, the
Cuban people shall never be defeated. Cuba's internationalist efforts
continue unhindered. More than 30,000 Cuban doctors and other health
professionals are saving lives in 68 different countries today; we are
participating in the struggle against illiteracy in several continents; we
are developing a plan to train 100,000 doctors for the Third World and we
are helping hundreds of thousands of people in many countries regain their
sight through Operation Miracle. With these efforts, we are but fulfilling
our fundamental duty to aid all of the peoples of the world.

Your Excellencies:

Cuba is making progress and shall continue to face the future with optimism
and unity. Its educated and hard-working people, to whom the homeland is
humanity, shall struggle hand in hand with the peoples you represent for the
right to live in peace, justice and dignity for all.

Thank you, very much.

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

6) AP Propaganda About Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 22 September 2006
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."
-George Orwell

On Monday, September 18, Associated Press (AP) ran a story titled,
"Iraqi tribes fight Insurgency"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_tribes

At first glance, the average reader cannot be blamed for thinking that this
is a story about how tribes in Iraq have decided to take up arms against
the "insurgency."

The reader certainly cannot be blamed for thinking this, because the
first paragraph in the AP story reads, "Tribes in one of Iraq's most
volatile provinces have joined together to fight the insurgency there,
and they have called on the government and the US-led military coalition
for weapons, a prominent tribal leader said Monday."

Allow me to pause here and address the use of the word "insurgent."
According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, an insurgent
is "a person who rises in revolt against civil authority or an
established government: [a] rebel." This of course begs the existence of
a legitimately elected government that the "insurgent" rises in revolt
against, which in Iraq we do not have. How is it possible to have a
legitimate government in a country that was first illegally invaded and
today is illegally occupied?

Yet, AP uses the word unquestioningly.

The story continues: "Tribal leaders and clerics in Ramadi, the capital
of violent Anbar province, met last week and have set up a force of
about 20,000 men 'ready to purge the city of these infidels,' Sheik
Fassal al-Guood, a prominent tribal leader from Ramadi, told the
Associated Press, referring to the insurgents. 'People are fed up with
the acts of those criminals who take Islam as a cover for their crimes,'
he said. 'The situation in the province is unbearable, the city is
abandoned, most of the families have fled the city and all services are
poor.' Al-Guood said 15 of the 18 tribes in Ramadi 'have sworn to fight
those who are killing Sunnis and Shiites and they established an armed
force of about 20,000 young men ready to purge the city from those
infidels.'"

At this point, either the author of this AP story, or the editor, or
both, rightly assume that the reader is not aware that Sheik Fassal
al-Guood tried to lead the local resistance against the occupation in
Ramadi, but turned against the same resistance group when its members
rejected him as a leader because they considered him a corrupt thief.
Nor is the reader aware that today, Sheikh Fassal al-Guood lives in the
"Green Zone" and happily talks to reporters from behind the concrete
blast walls, and that his power in Al-Anbar now equals exactly nothing.

I contacted author and media critic Norman Solomon and asked him what he
thought of this AP story. "The holes in this story beg for questions
that it does not raise, much less answer," he wrote. "For instance: What
are the past, present and hoped-for financial relationships between the
quoted 'tribal leader' on the one hand and the US and Iraqi governments
on the other? Are there any indications that money has changed hands? Is
a mercenary arrangement being set up? Is this part of the Bush
administration's strategy to get more Iraqis to kill each other rather
than have Iraqis killing American troops - aka 'As the Iraqis stand up,
we'll stand down?' Isn't there a good chance that such arrangements will
actually fuel civil war in Iraq rather than douse its already horrific
flames?"

He continued, "So, this AP story agreeably paraphrases an official from
the US-backed Iraqi government's Defense Ministry as saying that 'Iraqi
security forces had met with tribal leaders and had agreed to cooperate
in combating violence.' But how will they be 'combating violence?' With
massive violence, of course, although the article doesn't say so. Many
sources are available to make such a point, but in this story AP availed
itself of none of them."

Solomon, a nationally-syndicated columnist on media and politics who is
also the founder and executive director of the Institute for Public
Accuracy, a national consortium of policy researchers and analysts, had
this to say about why AP might get away with this type of "reportage" as
consistently as it does: "AP is providing the kind of coverage that it
and other mainstream US media outlets have provided in the past. The
coverage does not seem conspicuously shoddy to most readers because it
fits in with previous shoddy reportage. From all appearances, this AP
article is based on statements from four sources - and each of them is
in line with US government policies. There's one tribal leader from
Ramadi who is seeking large quantities of material aid from the US and
the Iraqi government; there are two spokespeople for that Iraqi
government; and there's a general from the US military. That all four
would present a similar picture of events is not surprising. But for an
article to rely on only those sources is stenography for one side of the
conflict - which should not be confused with journalism."

It is also important for the reader to note that, according to an August
US Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, of 1,666 bombs exploded in
Iraq in July, 90% were aimed at US-led forces. Along with this fact,
attacks against US forces have increased dramatically in recent months,
and the US military itself has admitted that less than 6% of the attacks
against them are from foreign fighters (i.e., "terrorists"). Thus, at
least 94% of all attacks against US forces in Iraq are from the Iraqi
Resistance, as opposed to "terrorists."

It is time, too, that readers of mainstream news knew that any "tribal
meeting" that discusses fighting "the insurgents" is currently being
held secretly inside American military bases or inside the "green zone."
Iraqi people who are trying to lead that operation are well known to
Al-Anbar citizens. These leaders did succeed in some cases in recruiting
certain groups to fight resistance fighters by paying considerable sums
of money, but it was only temporary success.

A case in point would be Al-Qa'im last spring. A tribal fight occurred
between local resistance fighters. Sheik Osama al-Jadaan was involved in
engineering it by paying members of his tribe to take up arms against
local resistance groups. Yet this conflict was settled, and when it was,
al-Jadaan had to flee to the "green zone." He lived there for a short
time before his work as a collaborator with occupation forces caught up
with him, and he was killed in Baghdad.

Yet the AP story has this to say about al-Jadaan: "In late May, a
prominent Sunni Arab tribal leader, Sheik Osama al-Jadaan, who provided
fighters to help battle al-Qaeda in Anbar, was assassinated in Baghdad."

There are the usual token scraps of truth in the AP story, lending it a
hue of credibility. The story quotes a US military spokesperson who goes
out on a limb to say that tribal leaders in Anbar "very much want to see
security brought back to that area."

Another scrap of truth came earlier in the story where Al-Guood is
quoted as saying that most of the tribes of Ramadi "have sworn to fight
those who are killing Sunnis and Shiites and they established an armed
force of about 20,000 young men ready to purge the city from those
infidels."

This is true throughout Iraq, where even the US military has documented
several cases of resistance groups fighting foreign terror groups that
have infiltrated Iraq's porous borders in order to carry out attacks
against Iraqi civilians.

The most disconcerting portion of this AP story, however, is the melding
of the word "insurgent" with the word "terrorist." Clearly there is a
flippancy, and I believe a malicious intent in this misuse. I have
witnessed this melding repeated in AP stories from Iraq in which
"insurgent" replaces "terrorist."

We can see the melding in a recent AP story
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564808338794480636
which states: "Attacks against US troops have increased following a call
earlier this month from al-Qaeda in Iraq's leader to target American
forces, the top US military spokesman said Wednesday."

Another example of this melding is in an AP story from September 17th
about Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen of Fallujah who has been held by
the US military without charges for five months. Part of the story
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060917/ap_on_re_mi_ea/photographer_detained
reads, "The military said Hussein was captured with two insurgents,
including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq."

Regarding the reference to al-Qaeda (read "terrorism"), Solomon had this
to say: "The word 'terrorism' is clearly a pejorative. And it's an
unwritten rule of US media coverage that the 'terrorism' label can only
be used, or quoted with credence being given to the sources, if
'terrorism' applies to murderous violence opposed by the US government -
in contrast to murderous violence inflicted or otherwise supported by
the US government, in which case that violence is routinely presumed to
be positive."

It is a melding that has the power to change minds.

A melding that may have prompted Orwell to say, "... language can also
corrupt thought."

It is important to note that the board of directors of AP is composed of
22 newspaper and media executives that include the CEOs and presidents
of ABC, McClatchy, Hearst, Tribune and the Washington Post. Two of the
directors are members of very conservative policy councils that include
the Hoover Institute. The Hoover Institute is a Republican policy
research center that has been referred to as "Bush's brain trust." Its
fellows include Condoleezza Rice and Newt Gingrich, a Distinguished
Visiting Fellow, along with George Shultz.

Douglas McCorkindale, also on the board of directors at AP, is on the
board of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense contract company.
One does not require crystals to see that the board of AP displays a
clear tilt toward right-wing conservative views, and comprises
representatives of a huge corporate media network of the largest
publishers in the US.

It is not difficult to demolish the myth of the liberal media and its
prominent arms like AP.

*Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and
murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
*- George Orwell

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail.

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

7) Pickers Are Few, and Growers Blame Congress
By JULIA PRESTON
September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/washington/22growers.html?ex=1159156800&en=07122ee1139ef2b6&ei=5087%0A

LAKEPORT, Calif. — The pear growers here in Lake County waited
decades for a crop of shapely fruit like the one that adorned their
orchards last month.

“I felt like I went to heaven,” said Nick Ivicevich, recalling the
perfection of his most abundant crop in 45 years of tending trees.

Now harvest time has passed and tons of pears have ripened
to mush on their branches, while the ground of Mr. Ivicevich’s
orchard reeks with rotting fruit. He and other growers in Lake
County, about 90 miles north of San Francisco, could not find
enough pickers.

Stepped-up border enforcement kept many illegal Mexican
migrant workers out of California this year, farmers and labor
contractors said, putting new strains on the state’s shrinking
seasonal farm labor force.

Labor shortages have also been reported by apple growers
in Washington and upstate New York. Growers have gone
from frustrated to furious with Congress, which has all but
given up on passing legislation this year to create an
agricultural guest-worker program.

Last week, 300 growers representing every major agricultural
state rallied on the front lawn of the Capitol carrying baskets
of fruit to express their ire.

This year’s shortages are compounding a flight from the
fields by Mexican workers already in the United States. As
it has become harder to get into this country, many illegal
immigrants have been reluctant to return to Mexico in the
off-season. Remaining here year-round, they have gravitated
toward more stable jobs.

“When you’re having to pay housing costs, it’s very difficult
to survive and wait for the next agricultural season to come
around,” said Jack King, head of national affairs for the
California Farm Bureau Federation.

California farms employ at least 450,000 people at the peak
of the harvest, with farm workers progressing from one crop
to the next, stringing together as much as seven months of work.
Growers estimate the state fell short this harvest season
by 70,000 workers. Joe Bautista, a labor contractor from
Stockton who brings crews to Lake County, said about one-third
of his regular workers stayed home in Mexico this year, while
others were caught by the Border Patrol trying to enter
the United States.

With fewer workers, Mr. Bautista fell behind in harvests near
Sacramento and arrived weeks late in Lake County. “There was
a lot of pressure on the contractors,” he said. “But there is only
so much we can do. There wasn’t enough labor.”

For years, economists say, California farmers have been losing
their pickers to less strenuous, more stable and sometimes
higher-paying jobs in construction, landscaping and tourism.

“If you want another low-wage job, you can work in a hotel
and not die in the heat,” said Marc Grossman, the spokesman
for the United Farm Workers of America. The union calculates
that up to 15 percent of California’s farm labor force leaves
agriculture each year.

As they sum up this season’s losses, estimated to be at least
$10 million for California pear farmers alone, growers in the
state mainly blame Republican lawmakers in Washington for
stalling immigration legislation that would have addressed
the shortage by authorizing a guest-worker program for
agriculture. Many growers, a dependably Republican group,
said they felt betrayed.

“After a while, you get done being sad and start being really
angry,” said Toni Scully, a lifelong Republican whose family
owns a pear-packing operation in Lake County. “The Republicans
have given us a lot of lip service, and our crops are hanging
on the trees rotting.”

Tons more pears that were harvested were rejected by
Mrs. Scully’s packing plant because they were picked too
late. The rejects were dumped in a farm lot, mounds
of pungent fruit swarming with bees, left to be eaten
by deer. “The anthem about the fruited plain,” Mrs. Scully
said sadly, “I don’t think this is what they had in mind.”

Some economists and advocates for farm workers say the
labor shortages would ease if farmers would pay more.
Lake County growers said that pickers’ pay was not low —
up to $150 a day — and that they had been ready to pay
even more to save their crops. “I would have raised my wages,”
said Steve Winant, a pear grower whose 14-acre orchard
is still laden with overripe fruit. “But there weren’t any
people to pay.”

The tightening of the border with Mexico, begun more than
a decade ago but reinforced since May with the deployment
of 6,000 National Guard troops, has forced California growers
to acknowledge that most of their workers are illegal Mexican
migrants. The U.F.W. estimates that more than 90 percent
of the state’s farm workers are illegal.

Most California growers gave up years ago on recruiting workers
through the seasonal guest-worker program currently in place.
Known as H-2A, the program requires employers to prove they
tried to find American workers and to apply well in advance
for relatively small contingents of foreign workers for fixed
time periods.

“Our experience with the current H-2A program has been
a nightmare,” said Luawanna Hallstrom, general manager
of Harry Singh & Sons, a vine-ripe tomato grower based
in Oceanside, near San Diego.

Ms. Hallstrom said her company tried to use the program
in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, when security checks
forced it to fire illegal migrant employees who were working
in tomato fields on a military base. Her company lost
$2.5 million on that 2001 crop, she said.

Over the years, occasional programs to draw American
workers to the harvests have failed. “Americans do not raise
their children to be farm workers,” Ms. Hallstrom said.

The failure of Congress to approve a new guest-worker
program surprised California growers because a proposal
that the Senate passed stemmed from a rare agreement
between growers’ organizations, the U.F.W. and other
advocates for farm workers, and legislators ranging
from conservative Republicans to liberal Democrats.

Known as AgJobs, the proposal would create a new
temporary-resident status for seasonal farm workers
and give them the chance to become permanent residents
if they work intensively in agriculture for at least three years.
It was included in a bill that passed the Senate in May.
The House has passed several bills focused on border security,
and has avoided negotiations with the Senate on a broader
immigration overhaul. [Three of the House bills were
passed Thursday.]

Mr. Ivicevich, a 69-year-old family farmer, is not given
to displays of emotion. But he paused for a moment,
overwhelmed, as he stood among trees sagging with pears
that oozed when he squeezed them. His nighttime sleep,
in his cottage among his 122 acres of orchards, is disrupted
by the thud of dropping fruit and the cracking of branches.

For decades, Mr. Ivicevich said, migrant pickers would knock
on his door asking for work climbing his picking ladders.
Then about five years ago they stopped knocking, and he
turned to a labor contractor to muster harvest crews.
This year, elated, he called the contractor in early August.
Pears must be picked green and quickly packed and chilled,
or they go soft in shipping.

“Then I called and I called and I called,” Mr. Ivicevich said.

The picking crew, which he needed on Aug. 12, arrived two
weeks late and 15 workers short. He lost about 1.8 million
pounds of pears.

His neighbor, Mr. Winant, standing in his drooping orchard
with his hands sunk in his jeans pockets, said he would rather
bulldoze the pear trees than start preparing them for a new season.

“It’s like a death, like a son died,” said Mr. Winant, 45, who cares
for the small orchard himself during the winter. “You work all year
and then see your work go to ground. I want to pull them
out because of the agony. It’s just too hard to take.”

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8) Billionaires Only Occupy Forbes 400 List
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:30 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Forbes-400.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the first time, Forbes magazine's list of the
400 richest Americans consists exclusively of people worth
$1 billion or more. As a group, the people who made the rankings
released Thursday are worth a record $1.25 trillion, compared
with $1.13 trillion last year.

In the billionaire-athon, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson pole-
vaulted to No. 3 from 15 in last year's ranking, finishing behind
the mainstays at Nos. 1 and 2: Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates
and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Adelson is now estimated to have $20.5 billion, Buffett $46 billion
and Gates $53 billion. Gates has held the No. 1 spot for the last
13 years while Buffett has been No. 2 every year since 1994
except 2000, when Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. held that spot.

Adelson's expanding net worth is related in no small part to his
decision to open a casino two years ago on the island of Macau,
an emerging gambling haven off the southeastern coast of China.
Profits are growing rapidly thanks to the Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s
Macau casino. Adelson personally and through family trusts
controls 70 percent of the company, Las Vegas Sands spokesman
Ron Reese said.

Forbes estimates Adelson earned about $1 million an hour over
the past two years. In the second quarter alone, the Sands Macau
property saw net revenue jump to $310.4 million, up from $205.1
million a year ago. To tap the demand from gamblers in Asia going
forward, the Sands Corp. plans a second property on Macau and
a casino in Singapore.

The two Google Inc. founders were also big earners. Sergey Brin
and Larry Page gained about $13 million a day over the last two
years, according to Forbes. That puts them in 12th and 13th place,
up from a tie at 16th place last year.

Page and Brin also share the distinction of being, at 33 years old,
the two youngest people on the list and two of only eight who
are younger than 40.

The list was led off by technologists, such as Gates, Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen, Dell Inc.'s Michael Dell and Ellison, and
rounded out by five members of the Walton clan who have fortunes
amassed from sales by the world's largest retailer.

Ellison, with $19.5 billion, moved to fourth place from fifth,
while Allen, last year's No. 3, was fifth this year with $16 billion.
Dell fell to a tie at ninth place from fourth in last year's list;
he is worth $15.5 billion

Adelson's ascension knocks Helen Walton, the wife of Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, into 11th place with a net worth
of $15.3 billion. Her children, Jim, S. Robson and Alice, and Christy
Walton, the widow of her son John, ranked in the bottom half
of the top 10 this year. Each was worth between $15.5 billion
and $15.7 billion, Forbes reported.

Martha Stewart, founder of the eponymous Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia Inc., fell off the list completely, as she lost
$395 million over the past year.

The biggest number of people on the list live in California, which
houses 90 of the 400, and another 44 live in New York City.

On the Net:

Forbes.com list of 400 richest Americans:

www.forbes.com/400richest

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9) America's 400 Richest
Edited by Matthew Miller and Tatiana Serafin
09.21.06, 6:00 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/21/americas-400-richest-biz_cx_mm_06rich400_0921richintro.html

A nine-figure fortune won’t get you much mention these days,
at least not on these pages. This year, for the first time, everyone
in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion. The collective net worth
of the nation’s wealthiest climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion.

Surging real estate, oil and other asset prices paved the way for
28 new members. Developer John P. Manning used political savvy
to build a $1.1 billion fortune in part by brokering low-income
housing projects. Chesapeake Energy founders Aubrey McClendon
and Tom L. Ward are two of the oil fortunes added to the list.

Pouring 40 million caffeinated drinks a week landed Starbucks
honcho Howard Schultz on our list of America’s 400 richest.
Manny Mashouf placed his skimpy women’s wear on TV shows
like Party of Five and Ally McBeal; today he has a $1.5 billion
fortune in Bebe clothing stores.

Also gracing our list for the first time are Lehman Brothers Chief
Richard Fuld ($1 billion), hedge fund manager David E. Shaw
($1 billion), mutual fund guru Jonathan Lovelace Jr. ($1.1 billion),
Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander ($1.2 billion), leveraged
buyout tycoon Leon Black ($2 billion), Google veteran Omid
Kordestani ($1.9 billion), Colony Capital’s Thomas Barrack
($1 billion), New York City real estate moguls Stephen Ross
($2.5 billion) and Tamir Sapir ($2 billion), and the husband-and-
wife computer chip team of Weili Dai ($1 billion) and
Sehat Sutardja ($1 billion).

Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, who
rebuilt his fortune with investments in real estate and restaurants,
is among the 14 returnees to this year’s list. Netscape pioneer
James Clark is another retread; he reinvested his tech proceeds
into Miami condos and construction outfit Hyperion Development
Group following the burst of the tech bubble six years ago.
Also returning is Little Caesar’s founder Michael Ilitch ($1.5 billion),
car dealership owner Robert Friedkin ($1.2 billion),
investors J. Christopher Flowers ($1.2 billion) and Alfred P. West
($1.2 billion), and banking and real estate maven
Paul M. Milstein ($3.5 billion).

Once again the biggest gainer is casino mogul Sheldon Adelson,
with a net worth up $9 billion. Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands stock
is up 125% since its public offering in December 2004. He has
made almost $1 million an hour since the 2004 Forbes
400 list was published.

Another big gainer is Warren Buffett, who added $6 billion.
That wealth, and the rest of what he has accumulated as
a value investor, will be given away, mostly to the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.

Eight members of last year’s list died, including investor
Preston Tisch, Grey Goose vodka creator Sidney Frank, and
James and Margaret Cargill, two cousins who inherited
a stake in the world’s largest commodities company
from William W. Cargill.

Thirty-four people couldn’t keep up or gave their money
away. They include leveraged buyout tycoon Theodore
Forstmann, poultryman Donald Tyson, real estate investors
John Arrillaga and Richard Peery, and fashionista Richard
Hayne. Husband-and-wife banking team Herbert and Marion
Sandler dropped from our rankings after giving away more
than $1 billion combined to charity.

Reported by: Emily Douglas, Elyse Graham and Duncan
Greenberg with Christopher Helman and Adam Kemezis.
Additional reporting by: David Armstrong, Victoria Murphy
Barret, William P. Barrett, _Erika Brown, Monte Burke, Kerry A.
Dolan, Tim Doyle, Jonathan Fahey, Allison Fass, Stephane Fitch,
Elizabeth Gregory, Miriam Gottfried, Emily Lambert, Michael
Maiello, Peter Newcomb, Deborah Orr, Matthew Rand, Amanda
Schupak, Matthew Swibel, Mark Tatge and David Whelan, Art
direction: Charles A. Brucaliere_Photo Editor: Gail Toivanen,
Database: Mitchel Rand

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10) Off the Charts
What’s a Couple of Hundred Trillion When You’re Talking Derivatives?
By FLOYD NORRIS
September 23, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/business/23charts.html?adxnnl=6&adxnnlx=1159027325-6IAu68axWRTicEnv+8kGMQ

Everett McKinley Dirksen, the Senate Republican leader in the
1950’s, is supposed to have said, “A billion here and a billion
there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” What would
he have thought of derivatives today?

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a trade
group, reported this week that the outstanding nominal value
of swaps and derivatives at the end of June was $283.2 trillion.

Compare that with the combined gross domestic product of the
United States, the European Union, Canada, Japan and China,
which is about $34 trillion. The total value of all homes in the
United States is about the same amount.

To be sure, notional value is an exaggerated term as it greatly
overstates the amount at risk in many contracts. But the growth
rate is real, and in the fastest-growing area of swaps — credit
default swaps — notional value is closer to the amount at risk,
because such swaps promise to make up the losses if a borrower
defaults on the notional amount.

The value of outstanding credit default swaps doubles every year
— a trend that must eventually stop — and now equals $26 trillion.
That is about the same as the total amount of bond debt in the
United States, and corporate debt, on which most credit swaps
are traded, comes to just $5.2 trillion.

The credit derivatives cover the risks of default by individual
companies, and offer insurance against default for bond indexes
and specified bond portfolios.

The growth of the market has forced the swaps and derivatives
association to change the way its credit swaps work. It used to
be that if a company defaulted, the writer of a credit swap would
have to pay par value for the bond he had guaranteed, and could
then sell the bond to reduce his losses.

But in some cases defaults led to bond rallies, as those who had
purchased credit swaps scrambled to get bonds to deliver. Now
traders can choose cash settlements, with the amounts to be
paid determined through auctions.

Until 1997, the association provided separate numbers on currency
and interest rate contracts, but innovations blurred the distinction
between those categories, and now it publishes a combined total.
At the end of June, the figure was $250.8 trillion, up 25 percent
over the previous 12 months.

Growth in that market slowed markedly early in this decade,
as worldwide markets cooled, and there was even one annual
decline, from mid-2000 to mid-2001. But growth picked up in
2002 as economies began to recover.

The volume outstanding of equity derivatives is rising by about
30 percent a year, and now totals $5.6 trillion. It could go farther,
with world stock market capitalization now about $41 trillion,
according to Standard & Poor’s.

Robert Pickel, the chief executive of the association, said that the
growth in derivatives enables “more and more firms to benefit
from these risk management tools.” On the other hand, the
situation allows more and more traders to load up on risk
if they choose, and hedge funds have become major derivatives
traders.

The combination of large unregulated hedge funds trading ever
larger amounts of unregulated derivatives in nontransparent
markets makes some people nervous. But so far, anyway, little
is being done to change the situation, and nothing devastating
has happened to markets.

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11) Solidarity in New York with
Cuban delegation
Havana. September 22, 2006
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/septiembre/vier22/40solidar-i.html

NEW YORK, September 21—The Cuban delegation participating
in the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly, led by Vice President
of the Council of State Esteban Lazo Hernández, was warmly received
with messages of solidarity in an enthusiastic public welcome
in the historically Black community of Harlem.

“We know that this neighborhood is the cradle of solidarity with
the Cuban revolution,” said Lazo, who is also a member of the
Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, referring to the
welcome that the people of Harlem gave President Fidel Castro
in September 1960 in response to the hostility surrounding
his first visit to the United Nations.

During the solidarity event at the Church of the Intercession that
attracted an overflow crowd, Reverend Lucius Walker, executive
director of the Pastors for Peace organization, said that Cuba
deserves gratitude.

“We thank Cuba for the doctors and specialists that it was willing
to send to the aid of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, an offer that
the Bush government did not accept,” he said.

Walker also expressed his thanks for the 110 young medical
students from the United States studying in Cuba without charge.

In her turn, Heidi Bogosian, executive director of the National Lawyers
Guild, highlighted the case of the Cuban Five, unjustly incarcerated
in U.S. prisons because of their activities to prevent acts of terrorism.

The crowd of supporters burst into cheers when Cuban Foreign
Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said that President Fidel Castro was
in full recovery.

In his turn, Vice President Esteban Lazo qualified as immoral the
prison terms handed down to the five Cuban patriots and noted that
it is further evidence of the U.S. imperialist government’s hatred
of the Cuban Revolution.

During the solidarity event, Lazo was approached by a group
of young people who wanted to send greetings to Fidel for
his 80th birthday.

The occasion was an opportunity for the member of the Political
Bureau to recount the political trajectory of President Fidel Castro.
“The first to be in the trenches is Fidel,” Lazo said to applause,
PL reported.

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12) Line drawn on immigration legislation
Newsom, Yee slam federal attempts as discriminatory
Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer
[NOTE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively at
work in San Francisco deporting hundreds of undocumented
workers--perhaps not with the help of city employees but,
right under their noses. I send this out as a reminder of what
was promised noting that the city government only promised
not to aid ICE in it's assault against the basic human rights
of undocumented workers, not to stop it. Currently, the City
Government is standing by and not saying a word about it.
We have received many personal reports of such deportations,
firings, evictions, etc., happening in San Francisco. There
have been incidents of workers, upon going to collect
their pay, instead get ICE brought down upon them.
What is the City Government going to do about this?....bw]
Saturday, April 8, 2006
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/08/BAGGII5THL1.DTL

A cross-section of elected officials, religious leaders and immigrant
-rights advocates in San Francisco is vowing not to comply with
proposed legislation that would criminalize living in the United
States illegally and make helping undocumented immigrants
a felony.

Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city will not cooperate with any
federal attempt to criminalize illegal immigration. "This is a city
of refuge," Newsom said at a press conference Thursday. "San
Francisco stands in strong opposition of the rhetoric coming
out of Washington, D.C."

San Francisco's 17-year-old status as a "city of refuge" remains
in effect, the mayor said, meaning that city employees cannot
work with federal authorities to enforce U.S. immigration law.
The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution this month that
expands the city's position, barring any assistance in enforcing
proposed criminal provisions in federal immigration law.

Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, on Friday announced
a new multifaith delegation of Bay Area religious leaders to protest
the proposed legislation, which, he said, "not only unfairly
discriminates against many people in our community, but
it criminalizes churches, mosques and temples for the good
work they are doing."

Yee said he has drafted a state resolution to declare California's
opposition to "such anti-immigrant, anti-worker federal legislation."

The bill drawing fire, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives
in December, criminalizes "illegal presence" in the United States
and the provision of any kind of aid to illegal immigrants. It also
proposes building new fences along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico
border, requiring businesses to verify the status of workers,
restricting court review of immigration decisions to a single
jurisdiction and deputizing local sheriffs along the border
to arrest illegal immigrants.

A big concern is the section that would make it criminal to aid
undocumented immigrants, which some immigrant rights groups
say could be translated into handing out groceries at a food bank,
providing medical care or babysitting.

Immigration reform has been the subject of intense debate over
the past two weeks as the U.S. Senate considers its own proposal.
The Senate's bill, which didn't pass before a recess Friday, is much
less punitive and provides a path to legal residency for many
illegal immigrants.

While the two drastically different approaches are debated, fear
remains in immigrant communities that undocumented residents
could be considered felons, as well as the people who help them.

"The way the House bill is written, doctors providing medical care
could be put in jail," said Philip Hwang, an attorney with San
Francisco's Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. "This is of tremendous
concern to our office, to the community and throughout California."

Cities throughout the state -- including San Francisco, Los Angeles
and San Diego -- instituted sanctuary laws in the 1980s that prevent
city employees from asking immigration status or cooperating
with federal officials attempting to enforce federal laws.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris recently signed
a newspaper ad denouncing "anti-immigrant proposals."

"The D.A. opposes any measure that would criminalize assisting
immigrants," said Bilen Mesfin, a spokeswoman for the district a
ttorney's office. "We are a sanctuary city, a city of refuge,
and we always will be."

Eileen Hurst, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Sheriff's
Department, said her office is currently bound by the sanctuary
ordinance, but that could change with new legislation.

"It is highly speculative at this point," Hurst said. "If it passed,
we would seek the advice of the city attorney in implementing it."

Some church leaders who provide services to immigrants have
been vocal in their opposition as well.

The Rev. Kay Jorgensen of the First Unitarian Universalist Society
of San Francisco said, "Immigrants are contributing to the health
and well-being of our communities, while living under the pressures
of immigration laws that threaten their own well-being.

"People of faith must break down the barriers that cause poverty
and suffering, not to help build them through harsh legislation."
Staff writer Rachel Gordon contributed to this story. E-mail Leslie
Fulbright at lfulbright@sfchronicle.com.

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

13) Turning Back the Clock on Rape
New York Times Editorial
September 23, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat1.html?hp

In recent decades, women’s advocates and human rights
activists have made huge progress on the issues of rape and
sexual assault — in the United States and globally. Both crimes
are now more powerfully defined in state and federal laws.
In international law, where rape and sexual assault have long
been classified as torture and war crimes, the world has begun
to accept the importance of enforcement. In 1998, a tribunal
convicted a paramilitary chief for watching one of his men
rape a woman in Serbia. A year ago, the world rose up
in outrage when United Nations peacekeepers raped
women in Congo.

You’d think this was a settled issue. But it’s been opened
up again in the bill on jailing, interrogating and trying terror
suspects that President Bush is trying to ram through Congress
in a pre-election rush. Both the White House and Senate versions
contain provisions on rape and sexual assault that turn back
the clock alarmingly. They are among the many flaws that must
be fixed before Congress can responsibly pass this legislation.

Rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse are mentioned twice
in the bill — once as crimes that could be prosecuted before
military tribunals if committed by an “illegal enemy combatant,”
and once as “grave breaches” of the Geneva Conventions that
could be prosecuted as war crimes if committed by an American
against a detainee. But in each case, the wording creates
new and disturbing loopholes.

In the bill, rape is narrowly defined as forced or coerced genital
or anal penetration. It utterly leaves out other acts, as well as the
notion that sex without consent is also rape, as defined
by numerous state laws and federal law. That is the more
likely case in a prison, where a helpless inmate would be
unlikely to resist the sexual overtures of a guard or interrogator.

The section on sexual abuse requires that the act include
physical contact. Thus it might not include ordering a terrified
female prisoner to strip and dance, which happened in Rwanda,
or compelling a male prisoner to strip and wear women’s
underwear on his head, or photographing naked prisoners
piled together, both of which happened at Abu Ghraib.

Rhonda Copelon, a professor of law at the City University
of New York who was an author of the international law on rape
as a war crime, says the bill also could make it impossible
to prosecute rape or sexual assault as torture, because the
definition of torture in the legislation requires proof of specific
intent to commit the crime. Motive is very hard to prove in cases
of rape or sexual assault.

Experts on sexual violence fear that the intent is to absolve
American soldiers and their commanders from prosecution
for deeds that have occurred since Sept. 11. Ms. Copelon also
points out that the United States has been trying for years
to write a specific intent requirement into international law
on torture. The co-authors of the bill, Senators John McCain
and Lindsey Graham, did not respond to questions about
the section.

But it does not really matter. This language simply needs
to be changed, and Senators McCain and Graham should
do it. If not, Democrats should insist on this among many
other changes they should be demanding before agreeing
to a vote on the prison measure.

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LINKS ONLY
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Detainee Deal Comes With Contradictions
By ADAM LIPTAK
September 23, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/us/23legal.html?hp&ex=1159070400&en=48fa1d71c13d8435&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Decline in Gas Prices Isn’t Buoying Detroit
By NICK BUNKLEY
September 23, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/business/23gas.html?ref=business

Capital Punishment: DNA Tests Prove Justice Has Failed
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-08.htm

Toxic Shock: How Western Rubbish is Destroying Africa
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-09.htm

Restraining Order against Bush Denied
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-01.htm

60 Years to Restore the Ozone Layer Over Antarctica
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-02.htm

UN Finds Baghdad Toll Far Higher Than Cited
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-03.htm

Arctic Thaw Opens Passage to Pole
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-04.htm

Army on Pace to Meet Year's Recruiting Goal
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2006; Page A09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801534.html?nav=rss_nation

FOCUS | US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan Back to Stone Age
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206Z.shtml

FOCUS | US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan Back to Stone Age
Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said the US threatened to bomb his
country back to the Stone Age if he did not assist the administration's
war on terrorism. The threat was delivered after the attacks of
September 11, 2001, by Richard L. Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, to
Musharraf's intelligence director, the Pakistani leader told CBS's "60
Minutes" for Sunday's broadcast.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206Z.shtml

The 'King Coal' 'Robber Barons' are Decapitating Mountains!
http://www.ilovemountains.org/cost_of_coal/87

British Science Group Says Exxon Misrepresents Climate Issues
By HEATHER TIMMONS
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/business/21green.html

House Panel Approves Wiretapping Bill
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The House Intelligence Committee approved by voice vote
a bill that would put into law the Bush administration’s
program of wiretapping without warrants. The sponsor,
Representative Heather A. Wilson, Repubican of New Mexico,
had rewritten the measure to make it more to Mr. Bush’s
liking. The Judiciary Committee later endorsed a similar
version, by 20 to 16. But Ms. Wilson’s revision, likely
to draw Mr. Bush’s support, is the bill that probably
will make it to the full House. Under her bill, the president
may conduct the secret surveillance only under specific
conditions. For example, the president must notify Congress
within five days of authorizing the surveillance, name
the entity that poses the threat and state the reason
for believing the attack is imminent.
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/washington/21brfs-007.html

More Small Women’s Colleges Opening Doors to Men
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO
(On a lamp post next to Ginger Worden, interim president of Randolph-
Macon Woman's College (now including men,) was a hand-made sign
that read, "Well behaved women rarely make history." The sign was
a remnant from a student protest of the college's decision to let men
attend.)
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/education/21women.html?ref=us

Over the Roar of Protesters, Hungary’s Leader Tries to Talk Politics
By JUDY DEMPSEY
International Herald Tribune
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/world/europe/21hungary.html

Measures Seek to Restrict Detainees’ Access to Courts
By NEIL A. LEWIS and KATE ZERNIKE
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/washington/21habeas.html?hp&ex=1158897600&en=00bf4cedca2834dd&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/business/21royalty.html?hp&ex=1158897600&en=6a768e6c6f4a155a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Only 25% in Poll Approve of the Congress
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JANET ELDER
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/us/politics/21poll.html?hp&ex=1158897600&en=ef00c357f1e7980c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

When Is Thin Too Thin?
By ERIC WILSON
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/fashion/21MODELS.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

At U.N., Chavez Calls Bush 'The Devil'
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:45 p.m. ET
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-UN-Venezuela.html?hp&ex=1158811200&en=525846319c57aae6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

FOCUS | Senate Bill on Torture and Detention Faces GOP Filibuster
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092006Z.shtml

Pension Fund Tallies Losses and Rethinks Its Strategy
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/business/20pension.html

Gaza: The children killed in a war the world doesn't want to know about
By Donald Macintyre In Rafah
Published: 19 September 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1619227.ece

G.M. Talked With Ford About Merger, Report Says
By NICK BUNKLEY
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/business/19auto.html

States Await Ruling on Use of Lethal Injection
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/us/19death.html?ref=us

Sarah Olson | Lieutenant Watada Faces New Charges
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091806A.shtml

Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case
By IAN AUSTEN
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/americas/19canada.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

On India’s Farms, a Plague of Suicide
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/asia/19india.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=ce312104d42deb70&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Deadly harvest: The Lebanese fields sown with cluster bombs
Lebanese villagers must risk death in fields 'flooded' with more than
a million Israeli cluster bombs - or leave crops to rot
By Patrick Cockburn in Nabatiyeh
Published: 18 September 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1616665.ece

U.S.-Mexico border fencing passes House - again
Republican Congress votes to build wall of shame
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday (9/14) voted in
favor of building a fence along portions of the border with Mexico,
the Secure Fence Act (H.R. 6061), this is no doubt a racist anti-
immigrant bill, the vote had more to do with election year politics
than solving immigration issues.
September 15, 2006
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/

Iraq to Seal Off Baghdad Next Month
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 15 — The Iraqi government plans to seal
off Baghdad next month by ringing it with a series of trenches
and setting up dozens of traffic checkpoints to control movement
in and out of the city of seven million people, an Interior Ministry
spokesman said today.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/world/middleeast/16iraqcnd.html?hp&ex=1158379200&en=e07a513eed965c9f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Ford Takes New Steps to Cut Costs
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 15 — The Ford Motor Company said
today that it would cut 10,000 more salaried jobs, close two
more factories and eliminate its stock dividend, as the latest
steps in a broad overhaul of its business that it calls the Way
Forward.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/business/16fordcnd.html?hp&ex=1158379200&en=e3f03a9c648efed4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Ford to Offer Buyouts
By REUTERS
Filed at 1:25 a.m. ET
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. will offer buyout packages
of up to $140,000 to all of the more than 75,000 workers at its
U.S. plants, the United Auto Workers union said on Thursday,
a day before the automaker details a revised turnaround plan
in response to slumping sales.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-autos-ford-buyout.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Daimler Seeks Partners in China to Build Cars
By KEITH BRADSHER
BEIJING, Sept. 15 — DaimlerChrysler is in talks with companies
in China and elsewhere for the export of subcompact cars to
North America, the company chairman, Dieter Zetsche,
said here today.
The company has concluded that it cannot build its own
subcompact cars in North America cheaply enough
to make money on them, and must import them instead,
Mr. Zetsche said.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/business/16chinacnd.html

posted 10:31 AM  0 comments

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Hugo Chavez is interviewed tonight, Friday, 9/22, by Tavis Smiley
on his show on PBS (at midnight I believe) and again on his
PRI radio show this weekend:
http: //www.tavistalks.com/TTcom/TSradio/index.html
www.marxmail.org

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

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THIS JUST IN! MORE OF THE SAME!
THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, OCT 5 PERMITS BEING STALLED!

OPEN LETTER TO CITY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

By Bonnie Weinstein

Gavin Newsom gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
San Francisco Board of Supervisors board.of.supervisors@sfgov.org
Sandy Lee sandy.lee@parks.sfgov.org
Cindy Shamban cindy.shamban@sfmta.com;sfgov.org/dpt
Crystal Stewart crystal.stewart@sfgov.org
Heather Fong heather.fong@sfgov.org

Dear City Government Officials and Interested Parties:

The World Can't Wait group, sf@worldcantwait.org, has
applied for permits to rally at Justin Herman Plaza at noon,
OCT 5 to march on Market Street to a main rally with prominent
speakers at 4PM in Union Square, and then to march back to
Justin Herman Plaza for the all-night vigil to to demonstrate
as part of the national day of mass resistance against the war
called with actions across the country.

The San Francisco Police Department has denied the march
permit. The SF Recreation and Parks Department is responsible
for permits at the sites and has not yet granted them.

Again, the San Francisco City Government has denied the right
to free speech and assembly to voices of resistance and
opposition to the policies of this government.

The bloodbath in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Haiti--
in nations around the world is continuing thanks to this hideous
and corrupt government, the government of the United States,
responsible for terror around the world. I do not support this
government. It is corrupt, vicious and out to defend the wealthy
at the expense of the planet itself--anything for the almighty
dollar and the power it buys.

I do not agree with everything that The World Can't Wait group
has to say --we have friendly debates frequently--but I insist
that they have the right to say it!

The right to free speech and assembly is meaningless if the
government at any level--city, state or federal--has the right
to deny permits for no reason or dictate when and where we
are allowed to demonstrate.

Our group, People United for General and Unconditional Amnesty
for All, was also denied our right to free speech and assembly--
based upon false statements made by the Police Department.
I got an apology about one of the false statements but still, we
were denied our permits and were subject to police intimidation.
A large number of police were present at the time and location
of our planned event last Saturday, Sept. 16th prepared to stop
us if we attempted to use amplified sound or take to the street.

With our permit denied we knew we would endanger many
people if we tried to go ahead with our plans so we altered
them to comply with the law. Which is why we tried to get
permits in the first place. So that we could advertise
a peaceful and legal rally.

We arrive the day of our planned rally with a bullhorn to
inform the community that the rally permits were denied and
why. We handed out explanatory flyers to those who would
take them and went ahead with our modest list of speakers.
We then peacefully marched on the sidewalk to the Mission
Police Station--the location of the source of the false statements
--where we formed an orderly picket line for about an hour.

We are very proud that we did this. And, we will not let this
issue go. WE THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST THE
GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE THE
RIGHT TO SILENCE US!

NOT ALLOWING PERMITS AND DENYING US THE RIGHT TO
AMPLIFIED SOUND IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
TO EXACT HUGE FEES FROM PEOPLE IN ORDER JUST TO APPLY
FOR PERMITS (We had to come up with over $700.00 just for
the permits. We found we couldn't afford to rent a flatbed
truck or any speakers so decided to just use our own speaker
and speak from a milk-carton-type platform. The City couldn't
even allow this!)

FREE SPEECH IS FOR EVERYONE RICH OR POOR! WAVE THE FEES
FOR POOR GROUPS WHO HAVE NO MEANS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
EVERY PERMIT APPLIED FOR MUST BE GRANTED UNLESS THERE
IS A DAMNED GOOD REASON.

The news of this and the city's insistence that A.N.S.W.E.R. pay
tens of thousands of dollars in fines for posting information
up in the community--a centuries-long practice of free speech
and mass communication among the poor--among those without
the billions of advertising dollars to spend--is already spreading
shockwaves throughout the community.

News of these permit denials and the harassment of A.N.S.W.E.R.
Will serve to expose the real nature of the city government.

What do we call a state that allows the Police to determine when,
where, how and if an opposition demonstration can take place?
We call that a Police State! What do we call those who do not
stand up against this injustice? I can think of a few choice words.

Why is it that the Zionists are afforded a location directly in front
of antiwar protests? Why do the Right to Lifers get a police escort
in a solidly pro-choice city? Why are mainstream politicians
or even corporations catered to routinely with street closures,
giant stages, sound systems, etc. when a small group of immigrants
who wanted to use a small sound system and a very short street
closure from Mission to Bartlett Streets on 24th Street for a total
of two hours on one day was met with a show of force at both the
ISCOTT hearing and at the location the demonstration was to take
place--to see to it that it would not take place. How much money
in Police overtime did we, the taxpayers, have to pay in order
to squelch this small expression of free speech and assembly?
How much to harass A.N.S.W.E.R.?

The whole community witnessed what happened to the People
United for General and Unconditional Amnesty for All on
September 16th at 24th and Mission Street. The whole
community notice the police show of force! The community
also noticed a small but brave group of people who carried
on as best we could with our rally. Standing on the lamp post
on the corner and having our rally anyway with an ineffective
bullhorn. The flyers, signs, posters and banners we carried
and handed out said it all! The whole community also watched
as this same small, gutsy group of about 50 people march
to the Mission Police Station at 17th and Valencia and picketed
them in protest of their denial of our permits.

WE DEMAND YOU SEE TO IT THAT "THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT"
PERMITS ARE GRANTED IMMEDIATELY! AND IMMEDIATELY DISMISS
ALL OF A.N.S.W.E.R.'S FINES AND MAKE REPARATIONS TO THEM
FOR THE HARASSMENT THEY HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH! WE, AGAIN,
ALSO DEMAND THAT OUR PERMIT FEES BE RETURNED TO US SINCE
OUR PERMIT WAS DENIED UNDER FALSE PRETENCIS.

You can't pick and choose who can demonstrate. That is not your
prerogative if we are to claim to have freedom of speech and assembly.

WE DEMAND OUR RIGHTS!

Bonnie Weinstein

People United For a General and Unconditional Amnesty
Barrio Unido Por una Amnistia General e Incondicional
474 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Contact Persons:
Cristina Gutierrez: 415-431-9925
Bonnie Weinstein: 415-824-8730
www.bauaw.org

Text of flyer handed out Sept. 15th to the community:


POLICE DENY PERMITS TO THE IMMIGRANTS OF THE PEOPLE
UNITED PREVENTING US FROM ORGANIZING IN OUR OWN
NEIGHBORHOOD IN ORDER TO DEMAND UNCONDITIONAL
AND GENERAL AMNESTY

The People United has been engaged in the application
process since May 10th in order to celebrate our national
holidays and find a real solution to our problems as immigrants
and specifically for undocumented immigrants. The police
have completely blocked all of the attempts we have made
in having an assembly in our own neighborhood. There has
been no possible negotiation, and furthermore the police
had lied at the public hearing in order to deny us our permits.

WHY?

Because The People United is the only organization in San
Francisco led by immigrants! Not by the sons of immigrants.
Not by any democratic nor republican parties. Not by any so
called left organizations or parties who claim they want to
save us but won't listen to our demands. Not by organizations
that receive governmental monies or who receive salaries
in order to supposedly help us immigrants get papers.
Not by democratic or republican parties who see us as
their future votes.

NO!

We are a group of immigrants who demand a general
and unconditional amnesty for all, we are not talking
about using our people to go vote and elect people who
never fulfill their promises.

We denounce our governments of Mexico, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, etc., for not providing jobs
in our countries and forcing us to leave them.
We denounce the government of the United States for
being an accomplice with the government of our countries.
They work together to bring us here as a cheap source
of labor and many times we are forced to become scabs.

We denounce the government of the United States for planning
disenfranchisement and dehumanization keeping us as an
army of unemployed with no rights to health, education,
or dignity.

We denounce all the political parties and organizations that
look at us as objects in order to achieve their political and
economic needs and they deny us the right to organize
ourselves and represent our own struggle.

We denounce the police for the constant abuse of our people
of which the negation of this permit of this assembly
is just one more.

Immigrant brothers and sisters, unite in the struggle for
our rights and the general and unconditional amnesty for all!!!!

MEETING

Date: Thursday, September 21st

Place: 474 Valencia St.

Time: 7pM

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

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

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

Harvest Time
By Bonnie Weinstein

Congress is postponing decisions about immigrant rights legislation
until after the elections. They say they don't want to antagonize
the Latino community before elections. But there is another reason.
It's harvest time! They need thousands of immigrant workers
to harvest the nations crops. They are not worried about antagonizing
Latino's-it's America's agribusiness they don't want to upset. Clearly
they don't want to deport all immigrants, they just want to be able
to terrorize them into submission.

What many American-born workers don't realize is that this threat
will be extended to them as well-not deportation, of course-but
the threat of being out of a job if they stand up for their rights.

What are the common dangers that we face? At the stroke of
a bosses pen we can be fired and find ourselves without a livelihood.
Throughout America factories are being closed down and re-built
in countries that force workers to live as slaves while a bonanza
of U.S, tax-free, corporate profits flows freely across all borders
and into the bosses' pockets.

An even more sinister danger is the lure of U.S. Military service.
All of our children and especially the children of undocumented
workers are in danger of being used as cannon fodder to maintain
the power and wealth of America's corporations. The Military
is entrenched in our public schools. They don't go to the schools
of the wealthy. To the children of immigrants they promise
citizenship and to the children of poor, American workers they
promise college and a career. But it does no good to become
a citizen after you are dead and it's hard to have a career with
half of your brain or body missing in action!

On Tuesday, November 14th at 7:00 P.M., the San Francisco Board
of Education will vote on whether to phase out the Junior Reserve
Officers Training Corps-a military recruitment program for the
High Schools. We must be there in force to see that they do
so immediately, and that they rid the schools of all military
recruiters! It is up to us so please come! That's Tuesday,
November 14, 7:00 P.M., at 555 Franklin Street, First Floor.
You can call the day before and the day of the meeting
to get on the speakers list: 415-241-6427.

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

WE EXTEND OUR SOLIDARITY TO A.N.S.W.E.R. IN THEIR STRUGGLE
AGAINST THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO WHO, ACTING
AS A BODY, ARE INCREASINGLY LIMITING OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH
(INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO POST PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS--A CENTURIES
OLD TRADITION OF MASS COMMUNICATION FOR THE POOR)
AND THE RIGHT TO FREE ASSEMBLY!

Paid advertising in the mass media is prohibitive. Only those with millions
of dollars to spend for advertising are allowed a public voice.
Right here in San Francisco the fees for permits have skyrocketed
and the permit process is long and complicated. The permit
application for DPT is 17 pages long and full of rules and regulations
that must be followed. And both the City and County and the ACLU
have agreed that while we have the right to free speech, the City and
County does, indeed, have the right to say when and where we may
or may not exercise it.

WE SAY NO!

THE CITYS' OBLIGATION IS TO MAKE SURE OUR
RIGHT TO ORGANIZE, PUBLICIZE AND PROTEST IS PROTECTED!
AND THAT OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND THE RIGHT TO
HAVE DIRECT CONTACT WITH OUR OWN CONSTITUENCY
IS GUARANTEED! We must be able to post public events,
and hold public events where the people are. The San Francisco
Police Department routinely protects the rights of the Zionists
when they want to hold counter-demonstrations to our
Antiwar actions. They also protect the "Right to Lifers" when
they want to march down San Francisco's Embarcadero--HERE
IN SAN FRANCISCO--A PRO-CHOICE CITY!
The San Francisco Police Department goes all out to
accommodate them! WHY NOT US!

RESCHEDULED: ANSWER Postering Case Hearing
We are appealing for your support as our free speech lawsuit
against the San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW)
reaches a critical stage. As you may be aware from articles that
have recently appeared in the Bay Guardian, the SF Weekly and
elsewhere, the DPW is attempting to impose fines that now total
more than $45,000 against the local ANSWER Coalition for
postering violations.

We just received word that the hearing for the ANSWER postering
case has been put off for 2 weeks. The new date of the hearing is
Thurs. Sept. 28, 9:30am at Superior Court, 400 McAllister St. (corner
Polk St., SF), 3rd Floor, Dept. 302. If you can, please join us at the
hearing two weeks from today to show your support.

If you would like to read a copy of attorney Ben Rosenfeld’s reply
to the city's response to our lawsuit, which summarizes the main
points of our position, please contact us at 415-821-6545 or
answer@actionsf.org.

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

STOP THE WAR! BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
MARCH AND RALLY
SATURDAY, 10/28
(TIME AND LOCATION TBA)

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

THIS JUST IN:

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

The Democratic Party's redevelopment plan is stopped by Petition
campaign until 2000! House Speaker Pelosi's, the Board of Supervisor's,
and the Mayor's plans to help the housing profiteers is stopped.

"The Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area, passed on by the
Board of Supervisors 7-4 , and signed into law by the Mayor on
June 1, 2006, is now officially suspended pending an election at
which the voters will be given the opportunity to decide.  The election
will most likely take place during a normally scheduled general
election in 2007."

SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Just before 5 pm today, Tuesday, September 12, 2006, John Arntz,
Director of Elections for the City and County of San Francisco officially
certified that the  REFERENDUM PETITION opposing the creation
of a Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area as successful.

The Department of Elections found that more than the minimum
number of 21,615 valid signatures were submitted by Petition
sponsors.  Sponsors had submitted in excess of  33,000 signatures 
on August 30th, 2006 after a 90 day signature gathering drive. 
San Francisco has not seen a successful referendum petition drive
in decades.  A referendum allows San Francisco  voters to decide
on the merits of legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

The Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area, passed on by the
Board of Supervisors 7-4 , and signed into law by the Mayor on
June 1, 2006, is now officially suspended pending an election
at which the voters will be given the opportunity to decide. 
The election will most likely take place during a normally
scheduled general election in 2007.

SUPPORTES HAIL VICTORY:

Petition supporters hailed the results as a victory for democracy
and echoed their campaign slogan "Let the Voters Decide!  
Petition supporter , Willie Ratcliff,publisher of the Bayview Newspaper
said "This special interest legislation was never about the benefiting
the community. Now ,finally,  the will of the voters can be expressed
democratically, at the ballot."

CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFO:   
Brian Murphy O'Flynn     415-867-4370

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

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

Free the Cuban Five!
September 23, 2006
Washington, DC
Breaking News...
On Aug. 9, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its en banc
decision denying a new trial to the Cuban Five. On August 10,
the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, together with
the National Lawyers Guild, sponsored an emergency press
conference in Washington in response to the decision.
A partial transcript to that press conference, in English
and Spanish, is here.
A March on the White House will be held on September 23
to continue to press forward with efforts to free the Five.
We urge all supporters to make every effort to join us on
that march. A public demonstration of support for the Five,
and outrage at their continued imprisonment, has never
been more vital. Details of the march are found at the
website below.
Join us in Washington on Sept. 23! Free the Cuban Five!
http://www.freethefive.org/

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IRAN WAR PERIL — EX-CIA MAN’S SF TALK SEPT. 24

The "threat" from Iran: Are mushroom clouds ahead?
Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst for 27 years, addresses
that issue at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, September 24, in the
First Unitarian Universalist Church (Starr King Room),
Franklin and Geary Streets, San Francisco.

McGovern will touch on Iraq too: "How we got in and
how we get out." Last May in Atlanta, national TV
networks showed him accusing Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld of prewar lying about supposed Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction.

McGovern founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity. He served the Central Intelligence Agency
from the Kennedy Administration to that of George H.
W. Bush. Awarded an Intelligence Commendation Medal,
he returned it following the revelations of torture.

There will be a question period until about 2 p.m.
Optional lunch (bring it or buy it) precedes the
program at 12:15. Cosponsors are the church’s World
Community Advocates and the War and Law League (WALL).

Following the program, WALL conducts its biennial
meeting. It is a nonpartisan, all-volunteer, San
Francisco-based group that opposes presidential wars
and aims at the rule of law in U.S. foreign affairs.

Public transit to the Unitarian Church includes
Muni's 47 and 49 bus lines on Van Ness Avenue, one
block east of Franklin, and the 38-Geary bus(which
connects with BART at the Montgomery Street Station).

For further information: (415) 738-8298 or (415)
564-2083; warandlaw@yahoo.com; http://warandlaw.org.

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THE DECLARATION OF PEACE

“WITNESS TO PEACE: PROTEST AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO
SAVE THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN”
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!
Meet at Military Recruiting Office
Monday, September 25, 2006, 4:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M.
Stonestown Ocean Recruiting Station
561 Buckingham Way
(Across the street from the mall.)

Eyes Wide Open Boots and Shoes Exhibit: The Numbers Increase
The Declaration of Peace

The Declaration of Peace (www.declarationofpeace.org) is
a nationwide campaign to establish a concrete and rapid
plan for peace in Iraq. In August and September Congressional
visits have urged our Members of Congress to sign on to end
this militaristic adventure in Iraq.

IF CONSCIENCE LEADS YOU, TRAIN AND JOIN WITH ACTIVISTS
OF FAITH IN A NON VIOLENT ACTION TO END MILITARISM
AND THE WAR IN IRAQ
PREPARATION AND TRAININGS

September 23, Saturday 1-5 p.m. Non-Violence Training,
San Francisco First Unitarian Universalist Society,
1187 Franklin Street at Geary
Get information as it develops.
Contact Sandra Schwartz at (415) 565-0201 x 24
or email sschwartz@afsc.org

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

"No Thanks Bechtel!"
...for the Iraq war
...for undermining democracy
...for sick Iraqi children
...for destruction of the environment
...for nuclear weapons

Join us! Wednesday, Sept 27, 4:00 PM
Bechtel Corporate Headquaters, 50 Beale St, San Francisco
Half a block east from Embarcadero BART

DECLARE Peace - an end to war and war profiteering!
For more info on this event, please contact Lacy MacAuley at
Butterfly@Lacy.com.

For more info on Declaration of Peace, including a full calendar of events,
please visit:
http://www.declarationofpeace.org

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

WHY DOES PROP 85 ENDANGER
TEEN SAFETY

Dear Health Care Activist,

Parents care most about keeping their teenagers safe.
That means always safe, even if they feel they can’t talk
to their parents about an unplanned pregnancy.

Parental notification laws cause young women to delay
seeking medical care.

When desperate teenagers turn to back-alley abortions
many will suffer serious injuries and some will die.

You are invited to our Saturday, September 30 health care meeting
on "Why Proposition 85 is bad for our health." The 3pm meeting
will be 4760 Mission in San Francisco, between Ocean and Geneva
at Russia. It is 5 blocks from the Balboa BART station.
Proposition is 85 is a re-run of the 2004 ballot initiative,
Proposition 73.

Groups in opposition to prop 85 include:
The California Federation of Labor, The California Medical
Association, The California Academy of Family Physicians,
The California Nurses Association, American Academy
of Pediatrics-California District, The Adolescent Health
Collaborative, Health Care of All, The League of Women
Voters, and Planned Parenthood. The State AFL-CIO at its
July convention voted to oppose this attack on reproductive rights.
Don Bechler
Chair - California Universal Health Care Organizing Project
Chair - Health Care for All - San Francisco chapter
415-695-7891

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Brian Ashley will report
on the new stage
of the struggle
for liberation in South Africa

October 1, 2006
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Refreshments @ 2:00 PM
Brian to speak @ 3:00 PM
Q & A to follow

Hosted By Alice & Frank Fried
742 Palmera Court
Alameda, CA 94501
510.769.0599

About Brian Ashley:

Brian Ashley has been an activist in the South African liberation
struggle having gone into exile in Zimbabwe in 1984. He is the
founder and director of the Alternative Information and
Development Centre, AIDC, a radical advocacy NGO mobilising
against neoliberal globalisation and its impact in South Africa
and Southern Africa. He helped form the Jubilee 2000 anti-
debt movement in South Africa and the global Jubilee South
movement that fights against debt domination by the International
Financial Institutions and the G8 countries. He is active in the
World Social Forum representing AIDC on the WSF International
Council and the African Social Forum Council. He is also a leading
member of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee. Apart from being
active in a number of social movements in SA he is a board member
of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU led Working
Partnerships Research and Education Agency.

A collection will be taken to support South African Solidarity Work

Frank Fried

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Urgent call from October 22 Coalition against Police Brutality, SF
October 22 Coalition against Police Brutality, Repression
and Criinalization of a generation
National Day of Protest, March and Rally in SF, Planning
NO MORE STOLEN LIVES ! NO MAS VIDAS ROBADAS !
Contact:
mesha Monge-Irizarry
Idriss Stelley Foundation
(415) 595-8251 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis line
iolmisha@cs. com
How: Already involved are : October 22 Bay Area, Idriss
Stelley Foundation, SF CEDP (Campaign to End the Death
Penalty, ISO (International Socialist Organization, Bay Area),
Bay Area Families of Victims and Survivors of Police brutality,
Code Pink
http://www.october22.org/
GET INVOLVED: To join our mailing list, please write to:
sf1022-talk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

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

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

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

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

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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!

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

San Francisco Board of Education Meeting
Tuesday, November 14th, 7PM
555 Franklin Street, 1st Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
415/241-6427
The Board will vote on a resolution to phase out JROTC.

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

Close the SOA and Change Oppressive U.S. Foreign Policy
Nov. 17-19, 2006 - Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia

People's Movements across the Americas are becoming increasingly more
powerful. Military "solutions" to social problems as supported by
institutions like the School of the Americas were unable to squash their
voices, and the call for justice and accountability is getting louder each
day.

Add your voice to the chorus, demand justice for all the people of the
Americas and engage in nonviolent direct action to close the SOA and
change oppressive U.S. foreign policy.

With former SOA graduates being unmasked in Chile, Argentina, Colombia,
Paraguay, Honduras, and Peru for their crimes against humanity, and with
the blatant similarities between the interrogation methods and torture
methods used at Abu Ghraib and those described in human rights abuse cases
in Latin America, the SOA/WHINSEC must be held accountable!

Visit http://www.soaw.org to learn more about the November Vigil, hotel
and travel information, the November Organizing Packet, and more.

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

Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!

Interested in furthering your knowledge about Palestine
and its people?

Want to help make the Palestinian Right to Return a reality?

Looking for ways to show your support for Palestine and
Palestinian refugees?

Why not shop for a donation at Al-Awda
http://al-awda.org/shop.html
and help support a great organization and cause!!

Al-Awda offers a variety of educational materials including interesting
and unique books on everything from oral histories, photo books
on Palestinian refugees, to autobiographies, narratives, political
analysis, and culture. We also have historical maps of Palestine
(in Arabic and English), educational films, flags of various sizes,
and colorful greeting cards created by Palestinian children.

You can also show your support for a Free Palestine, and wear with
pride, great looking T-shirts, pendants, and a variety of Palestine pins.

Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!

Visit http://al-awda.org/shop.html for these great items, and more!

The Educational Supplies Division
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC), is a broad-
based, non-partisan, democratic, and charitable organization of
grassroots activists and students committed to comprehensive public
education about the rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their
homes and lands of origin, and to full restitution for all their confiscated
and destroyed property in accordance with the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, International law and the numerous United Nations
Resolutions upholding such rights (see FactSheet). Al-Awda, PRRC
is a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3)
organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the
United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations
to Al-Awda, PRRC are tax-deductible.

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

IN VOGUE:
Unspeakably grotesque, This spread was so galling I felt a primal
scream rising inside me. And it was not because I am a woman.
The link is
http://www.voguevan ity.it/cont/ 060hvg/default. asp
The wounds of "western civilization" inflict themselves over
and over...unapologetic , shameless...ditto BW
http://www.voguevanity.it/cont/060hvg/default.asp

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

A CALL TO SUPPORT THE CASE OF ELVIRA ARELLANO
Stand in solidarity with all immigrants, documented and undocumented

The IAC urges you to support the case of Elvira Arellano. Elvira is
an undocumented worker who is taking a heroic stand against
deportations and fighting for her rights. She is a native of Michoacán,
Mexico who came to the U.S. like many of the other 12 million
undocumented in this country, in search of work and a better life.

In 2002, Elvira was detained by Homeland Security agents in an
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweep at O’Hare Airport
in Chicago under the guise of allegedly looking for “terrorists”. She
was detained by the Department of Homeland Security for using
a false social security number on her job at O’Hare.

On August 18, 2006 Elvira Arellano and her seven year old son,
Saul who is a US citizen, took sanctuary in Adalberto United Methodist
Church in Chicago instead of reporting for deportation, primarily
because Saul has health problems. She has pledged to live indefinitely
in the church until granted a reprieve.

Elvira is a well known activist, representing many families in
Congressional hearings and speaking on behalf of immigrant rights.
She worked to organize in July 2005 a march of 50,000 for immigrant
rights in Chicago, and went on a hunger strike to support workers who
were picked up by ICE prior to the historic May 1st boycott in 2006.
Arellano was a founder of both La Familia Latina Unida and the
Coalition of African Arab Asian European and Latino Immigrants
of Illinois (CAAAELII).

The case of Elvira Arellano is a just case

Elvira Arellano has become the symbol of resistance to the heartless
and callous deportations that are sweeping the country. Despite
a legislative standstill in Congress, not only are deportations
escalating, local officials around the nation are implementing
de facto immigration policy that amount to a witch-hunt against
immigrants. A case in point is the anti-immigrant ordinance that
passed in July in Hazelton, PA.

Due to her heroic stand, a group of Black ministers spoke last
week at Adalberto Methodist of the comparisons of Arellano
to Rosa Parks. Reverend Albert Tyson said he hopes “their
support would increase the bonds between Latinos and African-
Americans.” At the meeting Arellano said, “I don’t only speak
for me and my son, but for millions of families like mine.”
Supporters from the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood
chanted, “Luchando mano y mano, Boriqua y Mexicano!”
(“Fighting hand in hand, Puerto Rican and Mexican!”)

Elvira Arellano is the perfect example that the anti-immigrant
hysteria sweeping the country is an inhumane situation that
has become intolerable. The human rights of immigrants are
being cruelly violated under the guise of fighting terrorism
or stopping “illegal” immigration. In fact, no human being
is illegal and whether in the U.S. documented or undocumented,
immigrants have a right to live in peace, without fear of evictions
from their homes or the country.

How you can help Elvira:

1. Write letters to Illinois Senators Richard Durbin and Barack
Obama as well as your own legislator urging them to prevent
her deportation.

For Senator Durbin visit: http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm#contact
For Senator Obama: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/index.php

2. Send Letters to the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune
asking them to stop demonizing Elvira as well as all immigrants.
Their emails are letters@suntimes.com and ctc-tribletter@tribune.com.

3. Send letters of support directly to Elvira at the organization she works
with and who has been spearheading her support, Sin Fronteras
at Centro Sin Fronteras 2300 S. Blue Island Ave., Chicago IL 60608
or visit the website: www.legalizationyes.com .
For Spanish speakers visit:
www.legalizacionsi.com

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

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

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

http://againstthecrimeofsilence.de/english/copy_of_mumia/legalarchive/

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

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

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

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

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

and:

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

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

In solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein

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

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

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

THIS JUST IN: THE KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL HAS TURNED DOWN
THE SHOW!
SUPPORT "TAKING AIM" produced by Ralph Schoenman and
Mya Shone.

LET KPFA KNOW WE ARE DISAPPOINTED!

To contact KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL email:
programcouncil@lists.kpfa.org

KPFA's Tracy Rosenberg voted to air "Taking Aim" and we
commend her for it.

You can thank her by writing her at:
tracyrose@gmail.com

In solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein

Here's my letter to the KPFA Program Council::

To: KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL
programcouncil@lists.kpfa.org
KPFA RADIO

Re: "Taking Aim"

Dear Council Members,

We are very disappointed that KPFA decided not to air the extremely
important show, "Taking Aim" produced by Ralph Schoenman and
Mya Shone.

Of course, we are also disappointed by your reluctance
to air a PSA for a rally to defend death row inmate, renowned
commentator, leader and writer, Mumia Abu-Jamal, because the
group that sponsored the rally was not a 501c3, non-profit,
semi-corporation.

I am happy to say that I did hear it announced in the Community
Calendar during Denis Bernstein's "Flashpoints," Thursday evening,
9/14, the day before the rally. But I'm sorry to say that I did not
hear the PSA.

God only knows, the downtrodden need a public voice more
than ever.

Organizers are not even allowed to post up posters and
announcements anymore in San Francisco. A.N.S.W.E.R. is currently
in a battle over the right to practice this centuries-old custom of
"posting up" for meetings, marches and rallies--historically one
of the only venues of mass communication freely available to the poor.

"Taking Aim" is a program that express that public voice.

KPFA is also supposed to express that public voice.

Now is not the time to silence it!

Please reconsider your decision not to air "Taking Aim." And end
the prohibition against airing the PSAs of non-501c3 groups and
organizations--after all, aren't they the grass roots of the matter?

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
415-824-8730

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

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/

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

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

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

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF ZIONISM
BY RALPH SCHOENMAN
Essential reading for understanding the development of Zionism
and Israel in the service of British and USA imperialism.
The full text of the book can be found for free at:
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."

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

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) Hezbollah Chief Leads Huge Rally
By JOHN O’NEIL
September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/middleeast/23lebanoncnd.html?hp&ex=1158984000&en=fea12c38b110044b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

2) Insurance Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
September 22, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?hp

3) Hugo Chavez Speech at United Nations
NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006
PRESIDENT CHAVEZ DELIVERS REMARKS AT THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006
SPEAKER: HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA
http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/20/123752.shtml

4) Mariela Castro: "I am proud of my father "
Fernán González
BBC Mundo, Havana
A CUBANEWS TRANSLATION BY ANA PORTELA
Edited by Walter Lippmann
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs955.html

5) PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
DRAFT SPEECH BY ESTEBAN LAZO, HEAD OF THE CUBAN DELEGATION
TO THE 61st SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK
United Nations website
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/61/pdfs/cuba-e.pdf
Text covnersion by NY Transfer News
315 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7215 * Fax: 212-689-9073
email: publicrelations@cubanmission.com

6) AP Propaganda About Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 22 September 2006
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

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

1) Hezbollah Chief Leads Huge Rally
By JOHN O’NEIL
September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/middleeast/23lebanoncnd.html?hp&ex=1158984000&en=fea12c38b110044b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Photo with the article shows what looks like over a million people
waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah in the midst of ruined Lebanon...bw]
The leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, told the crowd
at a giant open-air rally in Beirut today that the militant group had
more than 20,000 rockets, and made clear that it would not disarm,
despite the requirements of a United Nations cease-fire accord.

Mr. Nasrallah declared that the group “has recovered all its
organizational and military capabilities,” and “is stronger than
it was before July 12,” the day the war with Israel began, according
to Reuters.

The rally was the first time Mr. Nasrallah has appeared in public
since before the war.

He also called for replacing Lebanon’s current pro-Western
government with a new government of national unity,
as Hezbollah seeks to capitalize on what he described
today as “a divine, historic and strategic victory over Israel
and the United States.”

Mr. Nasrallah told the crowd, which filled a vast space cleared
from the rubble left by Israel’s bombing raids, that he had
decided to appear in person only half an hour before the
start of the rally. “Standing here before you,” he said,
“incurs dangers on you and me.”

Israeli officials have made clear that they consider Mr. Nasrallah
a legitimate target. Some 4,000 rockets fired over the border
into Israel by Hezbollah during the 34-day war killed
43 civilians and wounded more than 2,000.

Asked on Thursday by Israel’s Channel 10 television if
Mr. Nasrallah would be a target if he appeared at the rally,
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert replied: “And you think,
that if he was, I would tell you — and tell him?”

But Mr. Nasrallah directed as much or more of his wrath
today at the United States as at Israel, and declared that
“your resistance and steadfastness” has “opened the
eyes of the world.”

The United Nations ceasefire that halted the fighting
on Aug. 14th called for, among other things, the
disarmament of Hezbollah to give the fragile Lebanese
government a monopoly on armed force within the country.
Secretary General Kofi Annan has made it clear since then
that he expects the disarmament to come only as part of
a political settlement within Lebanon, saying that disarming
Hezbollah would not be part of the mandate of the
international force being deployed along the border
with Israel.

Israeli officials said after the fighting ended that Hezbollah’s
stockpile of long-range weapons had been diminished,
and that the danger posed by its remaining short-range
Katyusha rockets was limited by the clearing of a zone
south of the Litani River, about 15 miles from the border.
Since the ceasefire, the Israelis have focused on trying
to make sure that Hezbollah does not receive new
shipments of smuggled arms from Iran and Syria,
considered by Israel and the United States to be the
militant group’s prime sponsors.

But Mr. Nasrallah’s declaration of the group’s renewed
strength seemed to leave little prospect of any voluntary
disarmament.

In contrast to the understated tone he took in his
appearances on Hezbollah television during the war,
his speech today, portions of which were broadcast by
CNN, was an angry declaration of victory. It met with
prolonged cheers from the crowd, with many people
waving the militant group’s yellow flag.

Since the fighting ended on Aug. 14th, Hezbollah has tried
to build on the increase in popular support that was
a side-effect of Israel’s widespread bombing campaign,
which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians.

Its leaders recently called for a government of national
unity to replace the mainly pro-Western, anti-Syrian
March 14 coalition now in power. The coalition, which
gave Hezbollah a share in government, won a slim
majority in elections last spring.

Some Lebanese have criticized Hezbollah for its role
in the start of the war, which was touched off by
a cross-border raid in which militants seized two
Israeli soldiers. Shortly after the war’s end, Mr. Nasrallah
said in a televised address that the raid a miscalculation,
and that he would not have ordered the raid if he had
known how fierce the response from Israel would be.

But today he said that part of the Israeli and American
plan had been to set the rest of Lebanon against
Hezbollah by inflicting widespread punishment.

“They thought that we would be divided,” he said.
“It’s not a victory for a party or a group, it’s a victory
for the people of Lebanon.”

Mr. Nasrallah called the conflict “an American war,” saying
that the United States had made Israel’s attacks possible
by providing arms, planning and diplomatic support.

He said the war came to and end not because of the
suffering of the Lebanese or any weakness on the part
of Hezbollah, but because “the Zionists realized that
if it continued it would be a catastrophe.”

“The Americans agreed to stop the war, not for the women,
not for the children of the Lebanese — they stopped the war
for Israel,” he said.

He said the Bush administration had allowed the war to go
forward as part of the plan to create “a new Middle East.”

“This Middle East was illegitimate,” he said, and its defeat
has become an inspiration “for people who fight for their
freedom and dignity” around the world.

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

2) Insurance Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
September 22, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?hp

“When Steve and Leslie Shaeffer’s daughter, Selah, was diagnosed
at age 4 with a potentially fatal tumor in her jaw, they figured their
health insurance would cover the bulk of her treatment costs.” But
“shortly after Selah’s medical bills hit $20,000, Blue Cross stopped
covering them and eventually canceled her coverage retroactively.”

So begins a recent report in The Los Angeles Times titled “Sick
but Insured? Think Again,” which offers a series of similar horror
stories, and suggests that these stories represent a growing trend:
more and more health insurers are finding ways to yank your
insurance when you get sick.

This trend helps explain something that has been puzzling me:
why is the health insurance industry growing rapidly, even as
it covers fewer Americans?

Between 2000 and 2005, the number of Americans with private
health insurance coverage fell by 1 percent. But over the same
period, employment at health insurance companies rose
a remarkable 32 percent. What are all those extra employees
doing?

Now we know at least part of the answer: they’re working
harder than ever at identifying people who really need medical
care, and ensuring that they don’t get it. In the past, they
mainly concentrated on screening out applicants likely to
get sick. Now, it seems, they’re also devoting a lot of effort
to finding pretexts for revoking insurance after they’ve already
granted it. They typically do this by claiming that they weren’t
notified about some pre-existing condition, even if the insured
wasn’t aware of that condition when he or she bought the policy.

Welcome to the ugly world of American health care economics.

Health care is poised to become America’s largest industry.
Employment in manufacturing, which once dominated the
economy, has fallen 18 percent since 2000, to 14.2 million.
Meanwhile, employment in the private health services industry
has risen 16 percent, to 12.6 million. Another 1.3 million
people are employed at government hospitals. So we’re
quickly approaching the point at which more Americans
will be employed delivering health care than are employed
producing manufactured goods.

Yet even as health care becomes the core of the American
economy, our system of paying for health care remains
sick, and is getting sicker.

Because everyone faces some risk of incurring huge medical
costs, only the superrich can afford to be without health
insurance. Yet private insurers try to refuse coverage
to those most likely to need it, and deny payment whenever
they can get away with it.

The point isn’t that they’re evil or greedy (although you
do wonder how the people who cut off the Schaeffers can
look themselves in the mirror). The fact is that cruelty
and injustice are the inevitable result of the current rules
of the game. Blue Shield of California is a nonprofit insurance
provider, yet as a spokesman put it, if his organization doesn’t
follow the for-profit practice of selectively covering only the
healthiest people, “we will end up with all the high-risk people.”

Now, before you panic about the state of your own coverage,
you should know that the horror stories in The Los Angeles
Times article all involve individual insurance; if your coverage
comes via your employer, you’re reasonably secure against
sudden cancellation.

But employment-based insurance is in rapid decline,
as employers balk at the cost and more and more companies
adopt Wal-Mart-style minimal-benefit policies. That’s why
many people are turning to individual insurance — only to find
out, in some cases, that they didn’t get what they thought
they paid for.

And here’s the thing: it’s all unnecessary.

Every other wealthy nation manages to provide almost all its
citizens with guaranteed health insurance, while spending
less on health care than we do. And there’s no mystery why:
we’re paying the price for pointless, destructive reliance on
private insurers. Medicare, which is a universal health insurance
program for older Americans, spends less than 2 cents of every
dollar on administrative costs, leaving 98 cents to pay for medical
care. By contrast, private insurance companies spend only around
80 cents of each dollar in premiums on medical care; much
of the remaining 20 cents is spent denying insurance to those
who need it.

If we had a universal system — Medicare for everyone — there
would be no more horror stories like those reported by The Los
Angeles Times. And we’d almost certainly spend less on health
care than we do now.

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

3) Hugo Chavez Speech at United Nations
NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006
PRESIDENT CHAVEZ DELIVERS REMARKS AT THE U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SEPTEMBER 20, 2006
SPEAKER: HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA
http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/20/123752.shtml

"Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning
to all of you. First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully,
to those who have not read this book, to read it.

Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world
intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent
books, 'Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United
States.'" [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.]
"It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been
happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's
happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet.

The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing
at risk the very survival of the human species. We continue to warn
you about this danger and we appeal to the people of the United
States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword
hanging over our heads. I had considered reading from this book,
but, for the sake of time," [flips through the pages, which are
numerous] "I will just leave it as a recommendation.

It reads easily, it is a very good book, I'm sure Madame [President]
you are familiar with it. It appears in English, in Russian, in Arabic,
in German. I think that the first people who should read this book
are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their
threat is right in their own house.

The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right
in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here.
Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today."

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president
of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil,
came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner
of the world.

I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's
statement made by the president of the United States. As the
spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums,
to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation
and pillage of the peoples of the world.

An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario.
I would even propose a title: "The Devil's Recipe."

As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, the American
empire is doing all it can to consolidate its system of domination.
And we cannot allow them to do that. We cannot allow world
dictatorship to be consolidated.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The world parent's statement
-- cynical, hypocritical, full of this imperial hypocrisy from the
need they have to control everything.

They say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's
their democratic model. It's the false democracy of elites, and,
I would say, a very original democracy that's imposed by weapons
and bombs and firing weapons.

What a strange democracy. Aristotle might not recognize
it or others who are at the root of democracy.

What type of democracy do you impose with marines
and bombs?

The president of the United States, yesterday, said to us,
right here, in this room, and I'm quoting, "Anywhere you
look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from
poverty and recover your dignity through violence,
terror and martyrdom."

Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother
-- he looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist.
Evo Morales, the worthy president of Bolivia, looks like
an extremist to him.

The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we
are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking
up all over. And people are standing up.

I have the feeling, dear world dictator, that you are going
to live the rest of your days as a nightmare because the rest
of us are standing up, all those who are rising up against
American imperialism, who are shouting for equality,
for respect, for the sovereignty of nations.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, you can call
us extremists, but we are rising up against the empire,
against the model of domination.

The president then -- and this he said himself, he said:
"I have come to speak directly to the populations in the
Middle East, to tell them that my country wants peace."

That's true. If we walk in the streets of the Bronx, if we
walk around New York, Washington, San Diego, in any city,
San Antonio, San Francisco, and we ask individuals, the citizens
of the United States, what does this country want?
Does it want peace? They'll say yes.

But the government doesn't want peace. The government
of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit
its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war.

It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened
in Lebanon? In Palestine? What's happening? What's happened
over the last 100 years in Latin America and in the world?
And now threatening Venezuela -- new threats against
Venezuela, against Iran?

He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said,
have seen how your homes and communities were caught
in the crossfire. How cynical can you get? What a capacity
to lie shamefacedly. The bombs in Beirut with millimetric
precision?

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is crossfire? He's
thinking of a western, when people would shoot from
the hip and somebody would be caught in the crossfire.

This is imperialist, fascist, assassin, genocidal, the empire
and Israel firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon.
That is what happened. And now we hear, "We're suffering
because we see homes destroyed.'

The president of the United States came to talk to the peoples
-- to the peoples of the world. He came to say -- I brought
some documents with me, because this morning I was reading
some statements, and I see that he talked to the people
of Afghanistan, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran.
And he addressed all these peoples directly.

And you can wonder, just as the president of the United States
addresses those peoples of the world, what would those peoples
of the world tell him if they were given the floor? What would
they have to say?

And I think I have some inkling of what the peoples of the
south, the oppressed people think. They would say, "Yankee
imperialist, go home." I think that is what those people would
say if they were given the microphone and if they could speak
with one voice to the American imperialists.

And that is why, Madam President, my colleagues, my friends,
last year we came here to this same hall as we have been doing
for the past eight years, and we said something that has now
been confirmed -- fully, fully confirmed.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I don't think anybody in this
room could defend the system. Let's accept -- let's be honest.
The U.N. system, born after the Second World War, collapsed.
It's worthless.

Oh, yes, it's good to bring us together once a year, see each
other, make statements and prepare all kinds of long documents,
and listen to good speeches, like Abel's (ph) yesterday,
or President Mullah's (ph). Yes, it's good for that.

And there are a lot of speeches, and we've heard lots from
the president of Sri Lanka, for instance, and the president of Chile.

But we, the assembly, have been turned into a merely deliberative
organ. We have no power, no power to make any impact on the
terrible situation in the world. And that is why Venezuela once
again proposes, here, today, 20 September, that we re-establish
the United Nations.

Last year, Madam, we made four modest proposals that we felt
to be crucially important. We have to assume the responsibility
our heads of state, our ambassadors, our representatives,
and we have to discuss it.

The first is expansion, and Mullah (ph) talked about this yesterday
right here. The Security Council, both as it has permanent
and non-permanent categories, (inaudible) developing countries
and LDCs must be given access as new permanent members.
That's step one.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Second, effective methods
to address and resolve world conflicts, transparent decisions.

Point three, the immediate suppression -- and that is something
everyone's calling for -- of the anti-democratic mechanism known
as the veto, the veto on decisions of the Security Council.

Let me give you a recent example. The immoral veto of the United
States allowed the Israelis, with impunity, to destroy Lebanon.
Right in front of all of us as we stood there watching, a resolution
in the council was prevented.

Fourthly, we have to strengthen, as we've always said, the role
and the powers of the secretary general of the United Nations.

Yesterday, the secretary general practically gave us his speech
of farewell. And he recognized that over the last 10 years, things
have just gotten more complicated; hunger, poverty, violence,
human rights violations have just worsened. That is the tremendous
consequence of the collapse of the United Nations system
and American hegemonistic pretensions.

Madam, Venezuela a few years ago decided to wage this battle
within the United Nations by recognizing the United Nations,
as members of it that we are, and lending it our voice, our thinking.

Our voice is an independent voice to represent the dignity and the
search for peace and the reformulation of the international system;
to denounce persecution and aggression of hegemonistic
forces on the planet.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is how Venezuela has
presented itself. Bolivar's home has sought a nonpermanent
seat on the Security Council.

Let's see. Well, there's been an open attack by the U.S. government,
an immoral attack, to try and prevent Venezuela from being freely
elected to a post in the Security Council.

The imperium is afraid of truth, is afraid of independent voices.
It calls us extremists, but they are the extremists.

And I would like to thank all the countries that have kindly
announced their support for Venezuela, even though the ballot
is a secret one and there's no need to announce things.

But since the imperium has attacked, openly, they strengthened
the convictions of many countries. And their support strengthens us.

Mercosur, as a bloc, has expressed its support, our brothers
in Mercosur. Venezuela, with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay,
is a full member of Mercosur.

And many other Latin American countries, CARICOM, Bolivia
have expressed their support for Venezuela. The Arab League,
the full Arab League has voiced its support. And I am immensely
grateful to the Arab world, to our Arab brothers, our Caribbean
brothers, the African Union. Almost all of Africa has expressed
its support for Venezuela and countries such as Russia
or China and many others.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I thank you all warmly
on behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of our people, and on behalf
of the truth, because Venezuela, with a seat on the Security Council,
will be expressing not only Venezuela's thoughts, but it will also
be the voice of all the peoples of the world, and we will defend
dignity and truth.

Over and above all of this, Madam President, I think there
are reasons to be optimistic. A poet would have said "helplessly
optimistic," because over and above the wars and the bombs
and the aggressive and the preventive war and the destruction
of entire peoples, one can see that a new era is dawning.

As Sylvia Rodriguez (ph) says, the era is giving birth to a heart.
There are alternative ways of thinking. There are young people
who think differently. And this has already been seen within
the space of a mere decade. It was shown that the end of history
was a totally false assumption, and the same was shown about
Pax Americana and the establishment of the capitalist neo-liberal
world. It has been shown, this system, to generate mere poverty.
Who believes in it now?

What we now have to do is define the future of the world. Dawn
is breaking out all over. You can see it in Africa and Europe and
Latin America and Oceanea. I want to emphasize that optimistic
vision.

We have to strengthen ourselves, our will to do battle,
our awareness. We have to build a new and better world.

Venezuela joins that struggle, and that's why we are
threatened. The U.S. has already planned, financed and
set in motion a coup in Venezuela, and it continues
to support coup attempts in Venezuela and elsewhere.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): President Michelle
Bachelet reminded us just a moment ago of the horrendous
assassination of the former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier.

And I would just add one thing: Those who perpetrated
this crime are free. And that other event where an American
citizen also died were American themselves. They were CIA
killers, terrorists.

And we must recall in this room that in just a few days there
will be another anniversary. Thirty years will have passed
from this other horrendous terrorist attack on the Cuban
plane, where 73 innocents died, a Cubana de Aviacion airliner.

And where is the biggest terrorist of this continent who took
the responsibility for blowing up the plane? He spent a few
years in jail in Venezuela. Thanks to CIA and then government
officials, he was allowed to escape, and he lives here in this
country, protected by the government.

And he was convicted. He has confessed to his crime. But the
U.S. government has double standards. It protects terrorism
when it wants to.

And this is to say that Venezuela is fully committed to combating
terrorism and violence. And we are one of the people
who are fighting for peace.

Luis Posada Carriles is the name of that terrorist who is protected
here. And other tremendously corrupt people who escaped from
Venezuela are also living here under protection: a group that
bombed various embassies, that assassinated people during
the coup. They kidnapped me and they were going to kill me,
but I think God reached down and our people came out into
the streets and the army was too, and so I'm here today.

But these people who led that coup are here today in this
country protected by the American government. And I accuse
the American government of protecting terrorists and of having
a completely cynical discourse.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We mentioned Cuba.
Yes, we were just there a few days ago. We just came from
there happily.

And there you see another era born. The Summit of the 15,
the Summit of the Nonaligned, adopted a historic resolution.
This is the outcome document. Don't worry, I'm not going to read it.

But you have a whole set of resolutions here that were adopted
after open debate in a transparent matter -- more than 50 heads
of state. Havana was the capital of the south for a few weeks,
and we have now launched, once again, the group of the
nonaligned with new momentum.

And if there is anything I could ask all of you here, my companions,
my brothers and sisters, it is to please lend your good will to lend
momentum to the Nonaligned Movement for the birth of the new
era, to prevent hegemony and prevent further advances of imperialism.

And as you know, Fidel Castro is the president of the nonaligned
for the next three years, and we can trust him to lead the charge
very efficiently.

Unfortunately they thought, "Oh, Fidel was going to die." But
they're going to be disappointed because he didn't. And he's
not only alive, he's back in his green fatigues, and he's now
presiding the nonaligned.

So, my dear colleagues, Madam President, a new, strong movement
has been born, a movement of the south.
We are men and women of the south.

With this document, with these ideas, with these criticisms,
I'm now closing my file. I'm taking the book with me. And,
don't forget, I'm recommending it very warmly and very humbly
to all of you.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We want ideas to save our
planet, to save the planet from the imperialist threat. And hopefully
in this very century, in not too long a time, we will see this, we will
see this new era, and for our children and our grandchildren a world
of peace based on the fundamental principles of the United Nations,
but a renewed United Nations.

And maybe we have to change location. Maybe we have to put
the United Nations somewhere else; maybe a city of the south.
We've proposed Venezuela.

You know that my personal doctor had to stay in the plane.
The chief of security had to be left in a locked plane. Neither
of these gentlemen was allowed to arrive and attend
the U.N. meeting. This is another abuse and another abuse
of power on the part of the Devil. It smells of sulfur here,
but God is with us and I embrace you all.

May God bless us all. Good day to you.

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

4) Mariela Castro: "I am proud of my father "
Fernán González
BBC Mundo, Havana
A CUBANEWS TRANSLATION BY ANA PORTELA
Edited by Walter Lippmann
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs955.html

Mariela Castro is the daughter of the interim Cuban president, Raul
Castro and director of the National Center for Sexual Education in
this country. For the past few years she has been noted for defending
the rights of sexual minorities.

In an interview with BBC Mundo, in her office of Havana, in an old
house in the Vedado neighborhood, she talks of her relationship with
her father, of her family life and work she does, which is not always
easy.

What is your father like?

My Dad, not Raúl Castro, is marvelous (she smiles), he is very
active, very caring, always interested in us.

I remember, when I was little, that I managed to be taken to school
holding his hand, like other parents, walking the six blocks and
waiting for the morning formation (with all the teachers and students
before classes that almost always had an ideological teaching).

He is a father that always has surprises. One thing that I liked very
much is that my father is a very loving, very romantic and passionate
person with my Mom (Vilma Espín, president of the Cuban Women‚s
Federation).

They have transmitted a great stability. They taught us to love, to
be romantic, to believe in people, even if they may disappoint us.
They taught us many important values.

Often we said that we didn‚t want him to continue with his public
responsibilities because we wanted him closer. We wanted to be with
him. We understood the responsibility he had to assume because, once
you take a revolutionary course, you can‚t say "well, I'm going home.
So long. That's your problem."

That is also a great responsibility. Like Garibaldi. He forged
Italian unity and then said, "chao, it yours now" and left. That was
a great lack of historical responsibility. They were not like that.
That must be admired but it means that we will not be with him as
often that we want.

But we are also proud of how he is, as a human being, of how he as
assumed his public responsibility and how he has had the honesty to
assume his errors when he identifies them, which is the majority of
times.

He has a great experience in collective work, in boosting collective
creation in leading because he does not feel omnipotent, because he
is not self-satisfied. The Cuban people have confidence in him, not
because he has a magic wand, something no one has.

It is a great effort, a great exercise in creativity, of a
collective will to create a more just and fairer society in such a
poor country such as Cuba with so few material resources, under the
hostility of the most powerful empire in all of history.

History fascinates him. He is very well versed in universal and Cuban
history. It helps him to understand Cuban reality and tries to push
forward. He will follow the strategy of the Revolution which will,
collectively, continue to strengthen and actions will be identified
for Cuban society to advance, like a sovereign state.

What do you remember most about your father?

His joy, his congeniality, his jokes and his affection. He has been
very affectionate with all of us. He is very reserved in his public
life but, privately, he is fascinating.

Let‚s talk about your work as director of the Cuban Center of Sexual
Education. What made you decide to work for the rights of
transvestites, the transsexuals, and homosexuals in Cuba?

I was working here as the director of the center. I think it was
about 2004 when a group of transvestites, transsexuals came. Some
were patients, others collaborators here in the center, in
educational work.

Some were not, but many were prostitutes and wanted support of our
institution because they had problems with the police here in Havana,
not in other parts of the country.

There was an event here in Havana, around La Rampa, the Malecon
(seaside walk) where many people with different sexual preferences
met and engaged in prostitution. But they disturbed the neighbors. If
they had exercised prostitution without disturbing the neighbors...That
implied harassment of tourists who complained.

There was a meeting of the Young Communist League in Havana who
complained to the government. They said that measures had to be taken
because the families felt infringed upon and tourists also.

Instead of taking a more logical measure, the decision of the
police was to arrest anyone who looked like a transvestite,
transsexual or anything that looked strange, arbitrary, absurd.

Of course, they came to demand their rights because I don't know if
you have noticed, we Cubans have a strong sense of justice and fight
when we have to and we accept when we feel that we must accept.

That's why I say, Why is Fidel here? Why do people want him here...
because the day that the people don't want him here he won't be. That
happened with this subject. They spoke of everything bothering them.
I asked if I could tape what they had said to prepare a report. And
that's what I did, a short report so they could read it over rapidly
and then a longer one with many annexes.

That is how a national strategy came about for attention to
transsexuals with an integral vision since 1979 which was created by
my mother, Vilma Espín, president of the Cuban Women's Federation.
What we did was to broaden this work, to enrich it. Since the
transvestites and transsexuals asked my help I got seriously involved
in this. I have studied these subjects to have background then, in
the end, I am doing my PhD on the subject.

How long will it be in Cuba to achieve total respect for the rights
of homosexuals?

I don't know, I don't know how long and I would like to know. At
first I was very passionate about it and understood that I was
killing myself and that everything had a process, that it took time;
it has to be moved, to boost it. It is, precisely, what I am doing to
prevent this process from taking too long but to make it shorter.

Do you think these problems are institutional or about machismo in
society or a combination of both?

A combination of both. They are socio-cultural and historical and, of
course; they are visible because human beings with the same
conditioning make institutions. That is why it has an educational,
massive and very important component.

We are even carrying out a very important study on representations of
transexuality; to carry out educational campaigns to teach society to
respect these people and respect their rights.

Of course, everyone is going to compare what happens now with what
happened in the sixties when homosexuals were sent to work camps or
the UMAP. Why do you think this happened?

It was like what happened in other places only that Cuba is more
visible because it was during the Cold War and war had to be waged
against Cuba, on anything where Cuba made a mistake. This was
happening everywhere in different ways and continues to happen, even
in developed countries. What happens is that it doesn't transcend.

I know about it because that is my work and I know groups in Europe
who denounce the violation of the rights of these people.

I know of parents of transsexuals in England who call for the respect
of the rights of transsexuals because their sons have been physically
beaten. There are hate crimes that are sexually orientated.

This doesn't exist in Cuba. The Cuban population is much more
respectful of differences than in other places, I don't know why. I
don't know if it's the "conga" (always willing to have a party),
that's the way we are. When I'm afraid I will find a very strong
resistance, I find a high degree of sensibility in the Cuban
population.

Do you think that perception about homosexuals in Cuban society has
changed, lately?

I think so; it has changed very much. Also, because there is no
longer a hostile policy, because we also talk of those subjects in
social communication media.

This makes people think, to reflect upon and that homosexuals and
lesbians express their sexual orientation like everyone else in the
world, without fears although this does not mean that there may be
persons who are afraid because it very difficult to feel different.

I think that it is the same thing that happens with Blacks in a
racist society or to women in a society that discriminates against
her.

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

5) PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
DRAFT SPEECH BY ESTEBAN LAZO, HEAD OF THE CUBAN DELEGATION
TO THE 61st SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NEW YORK
United Nations website
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/61/pdfs/cuba-e.pdf
Text covnersion by NY Transfer News
315 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7215 * Fax: 212-689-9073
email: publicrelations@cubanmission.com

Madame President, Mr. Secretary General, Your Excellencies:

A mere four days ago, the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement held in
Cuba was concluded. Today, I speak on behalf of the Movement's Chairman,
President Fidel Castro, fulfilling our obligation to inform this Assembly of
the main decisions agreed on at the Summit Conference held in Havana.

As First Vice-President of the Councils of State and Ministers of the
Republic of Cuba, Razl Castro said in his opening speech:

"The current international situation, characterised by the one superpower's
irrational attempts to control the world, aided by its allies, shows that we
need to be increasingly united In defence of the principles and purposes
upon which the Non-Aligned Movement was established, which are those
enshrined In the international law and the Charter of the United Nations."

While the founding of the Movement was necessary more than four decades ago,
its continued relevance in today's world is beyond doubt.

The NAM Summit held in Cuba was an indisputable success, in spite of the
threats and pressures of those who oppose the unity and common efforts of
the countries of the South.

The Summit saw high levels of participation, both in terms of the number of
countries which attended the conference and that of Heads of State or
Government.

Profound and fruitful debates were held, in an atmosphere of true
understanding, unity and cohesion, which allowed for the adoption of
documents of crucial importance to the future of the Non-Aligned Movement.
As the new Chairman, Cuba was given clear mandates and an action program
which shall govern its activities as head of the Movement.

As a result of the Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement has been strengthened
and, consequently, so has the political unity of the countries of the South.
The diverse and heterogeneous nature of the Movement's membership, far from
weakening it, constitutes its essential strength. These features have
allowed for the creation of solid consensuses that are a positive
contribution to our efforts to overcome the many and serious challenges
humanity faces today.

The commendable work of Malaysia as the Movement's Chairman over the last
three years was acknowledged at the Summit.

There was no cause of or demand by a South country which was not duly
considered by or which did not meet with the support of the Movement.

The urgent need to make progress in the defense of multilateralism, to
demand respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States
and ensure the full realization of our peoples' right to development and
peace were ratified at the Summit as the Movement's principles.

The Heads of State or Government decided to work to suppress acts of
aggression and other actions contrary to the preservation of peace and to
encourage the peaceful settlement of international conflicts.

The Summit called on all nations to abstain from the use of force or from
threatening to use force against the territorial integrity or independence
of any State. Participating nations promoted the development of relations of
friendship based on respect towards the principle of equal rights and the
will of all peoples to struggle against foreign occupation.

They urged nations to extend international cooperation with a view to
overcoming the serious economic, social, cultural and humanitarian
challenges that face the world and to promote respect towards the human
rights and fundamental liberties of all and for the benefit of all.

The fundamental and inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination
was reaffirmed in Havana.

Non-Aligned countries agreed that world peace and security are today more
imperiled than ever as a result, among other factors, of the growing trend
of the most powerful States to resort to unilateral measures and to the
threat of preemptive wars.

The Movement's commitment to general and complete disarmament and nuclear
disarmament in particular, under strict and efficient international
monitoring, was underscored. The Summit also reaffirmed the basic and
inalienable right of all States to research, development, production and the
use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and to be free from any kind of
discrimination in this connection, in conformity with their respective
international obligations.

In addition to this, the Summit clearly and firmly pronounced itself against
terrorism, double standards in international relations, coercive unilateral
measures against any nation, "regime change" policies and the failure of
developed countries to fulfill their commitments in economic and social
areas.

The Heads of State or Government of the Movement reaffirmed their hope to
live in a peaceful world in which all nations have the right to a better
future and a fair and equitable world order based on the sustainable
development of all nations.

They affirmed that, in its current form, globalization perpetuates and even
exacerbates the marginalization of the countries of the South, and demanded
that it be radically transformed into a positive force for change, for the
benefit of all peoples.

Participants reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to have their
own State and condemned the government of Israel for the new wave of crimes
and massacres in Gaza and other occupied territories. They also vigorously
condemned Israel's merciless acts of aggression against Lebanon and the
serious violations of this nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The people and government of Bolivia, facing attempts aimed at destabilizing
the country instigated by external forces, met with a gesture of support and
solidarity from the Summit. The process which is underway in that sister
nation, aimed at guaranteeing the real rights of all Bolivians and at
securing full national control over the country's natural resources, was
offered solid support.

The Movement considered, with great concern, the aggressive policies and the
intensification of actions aimed at undermining the stability of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and expressed support for the inalienable
right of the Venezuelan people to determine its form of government and
choose its economic, political and social system, free from foreign
intervention, subversion, coercion or restrictions of any kind.

Non-Aligned countries undertook to promote and participate in a true process
of democratization and reform of the United Nations to put behind the
anti-democratic impositions and practices of the Security Council and to
give the General Assembly its due decisive role, in conformity with the
roles and powers described in the UN Charter.

I have mentioned only a few examples of the positions adopted at the Summit
held in Havana, with respect to the most diverse issues on the international
agenda. The documents adopted shall be offcially distributed to all UN
member States. A number of the decisions adopted at the Summit shall soon be
put into practice in this Session of the General Assembly.

Madame President:

Cuba is aware of the immense responsibility inherent in presiding over the
Non-Aligned Movement in one of the most difficult times In human history,
when we face more inequality and injustice than ever before.

We shall not rest in our efforts to have the Movement occupy the place it
can and must occupy in the international arena, in keeping not only with its
broad membership of 118 countries, nearly two-thirds of the UN membership,
but also of its history on behalf of the loftiest causes.

On inaugurating the 6th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement 27 years ago,
President Fidel Castro expressed:

"The struggle for peace and for a just economic order, and a workable
solution to the pressing problems that weigh on our peoples is, in our
opinion, increasingly becoming the main question posed to Movement of
Non-Aligned Countries.

"Peace, and the immense risks that threaten it, are not something that
should be left exclusively in the hands of the big military Powers. Peace is
possible, but world peace can only be assured to the extent that all
countries are consciously determined to fight for it -- peace, not just for
a part of the world, but for all peoples."

Days later, in this same hall, on reporting on that Summit, President Fidel
Castro expressed:

"The sounds of weapons, of threatening language, and of prepotent behavior
in the international arena must cease.

"Enough of the illusion that the problems of the world can be solved by
nuclear weapons. Bombs may kill the hungry, the sick, and the ignorant, but
they cannot kill hunger, disease, and ignorance. Nor can they kill the
righteous rebellion of the peoples."

The countries of the South shall work, united, for justice, peace and the
development of our nations and the entire World, convinced that a better
world is possible if we all struggle for it.

Madame President:

I would now like to say a few words on behalf of the people and government
of Cuba.

Our people's exercise of its right to self-determination faces new threats.
The Bush administration has stepped up its brutally hostile measures against
Cuba with new economic sanctions which further intensify the longest
blockade human history has known. More severe reprisals are also being taken
against those who have business dealings with Cuba from other nations, and
financial transactions with our country are viciously persecuted. The very
government of the United States recognizes that it is spending more, today,
in persecuting and punishing those who have business dealings with Cuba than
in monitoring the finances of those who attacked the Twin Towers.

This past June, the Bush administration approved the second version of its
most recent plan of aggression and domination against our country, aimed not
only at overthrowing the Revolution but also at destroying the Cuban nation.

In violation of international norms and laws, an unprecedented build-up in
the financial and material support to subversive actions aimed at
overthrowing the constitutional order freely chosen by the Cuban people is
being promoted.

The abovementioned anti-Cuban plan contains a chapter, which is being held
in secret. The antecedents of these decisions are the covert actions
undertaken against the Cuban revolution, which include mercenary invasions,
terrorists actions, the introduction of plagues and epidemics into the
country and over 600 plots to assassinate Fidel. Thousands of Cubans have
lost their lives or have been maimed for life as a result of this criminal
policy.

At the height of hypocrisy and irresponsibility, the government of the
United States tolerates the presence of and protects the terrorists who plan
new actions against our people on US soil. While maneuvering to free the
murderers responsible for monstrous crimes, such as the notorious
international terrorist and CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles, whom they refuse
to extradite to Venezuela, it illegally and unjustly keeps five courageous
anti-terrorist Cuban activists in prison.

But, in spite of these acts of aggression and the criminal blockade, the
Cuban people shall never be defeated. Cuba's internationalist efforts
continue unhindered. More than 30,000 Cuban doctors and other health
professionals are saving lives in 68 different countries today; we are
participating in the struggle against illiteracy in several continents; we
are developing a plan to train 100,000 doctors for the Third World and we
are helping hundreds of thousands of people in many countries regain their
sight through Operation Miracle. With these efforts, we are but fulfilling
our fundamental duty to aid all of the peoples of the world.

Your Excellencies:

Cuba is making progress and shall continue to face the future with optimism
and unity. Its educated and hard-working people, to whom the homeland is
humanity, shall struggle hand in hand with the peoples you represent for the
right to live in peace, justice and dignity for all.

Thank you, very much.

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

6) AP Propaganda About Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 22 September 2006
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."
-George Orwell

On Monday, September 18, Associated Press (AP) ran a story titled,
"Iraqi tribes fight Insurgency"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_tribes

At first glance, the average reader cannot be blamed for thinking that this
is a story about how tribes in Iraq have decided to take up arms against
the "insurgency."

The reader certainly cannot be blamed for thinking this, because the
first paragraph in the AP story reads, "Tribes in one of Iraq's most
volatile provinces have joined together to fight the insurgency there,
and they have called on the government and the US-led military coalition
for weapons, a prominent tribal leader said Monday."

Allow me to pause here and address the use of the word "insurgent."
According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, an insurgent
is "a person who rises in revolt against civil authority or an
established government: [a] rebel." This of course begs the existence of
a legitimately elected government that the "insurgent" rises in revolt
against, which in Iraq we do not have. How is it possible to have a
legitimate government in a country that was first illegally invaded and
today is illegally occupied?

Yet, AP uses the word unquestioningly.

The story continues: "Tribal leaders and clerics in Ramadi, the capital
of violent Anbar province, met last week and have set up a force of
about 20,000 men 'ready to purge the city of these infidels,' Sheik
Fassal al-Guood, a prominent tribal leader from Ramadi, told the
Associated Press, referring to the insurgents. 'People are fed up with
the acts of those criminals who take Islam as a cover for their crimes,'
he said. 'The situation in the province is unbearable, the city is
abandoned, most of the families have fled the city and all services are
poor.' Al-Guood said 15 of the 18 tribes in Ramadi 'have sworn to fight
those who are killing Sunnis and Shiites and they established an armed
force of about 20,000 young men ready to purge the city from those
infidels.'"

At this point, either the author of this AP story, or the editor, or
both, rightly assume that the reader is not aware that Sheik Fassal
al-Guood tried to lead the local resistance against the occupation in
Ramadi, but turned against the same resistance group when its members
rejected him as a leader because they considered him a corrupt thief.
Nor is the reader aware that today, Sheikh Fassal al-Guood lives in the
"Green Zone" and happily talks to reporters from behind the concrete
blast walls, and that his power in Al-Anbar now equals exactly nothing.

I contacted author and media critic Norman Solomon and asked him what he
thought of this AP story. "The holes in this story beg for questions
that it does not raise, much less answer," he wrote. "For instance: What
are the past, present and hoped-for financial relationships between the
quoted 'tribal leader' on the one hand and the US and Iraqi governments
on the other? Are there any indications that money has changed hands? Is
a mercenary arrangement being set up? Is this part of the Bush
administration's strategy to get more Iraqis to kill each other rather
than have Iraqis killing American troops - aka 'As the Iraqis stand up,
we'll stand down?' Isn't there a good chance that such arrangements will
actually fuel civil war in Iraq rather than douse its already horrific
flames?"

He continued, "So, this AP story agreeably paraphrases an official from
the US-backed Iraqi government's Defense Ministry as saying that 'Iraqi
security forces had met with tribal leaders and had agreed to cooperate
in combating violence.' But how will they be 'combating violence?' With
massive violence, of course, although the article doesn't say so. Many
sources are available to make such a point, but in this story AP availed
itself of none of them."

Solomon, a nationally-syndicated columnist on media and politics who is
also the founder and executive director of the Institute for Public
Accuracy, a national consortium of policy researchers and analysts, had
this to say about why AP might get away with this type of "reportage" as
consistently as it does: "AP is providing the kind of coverage that it
and other mainstream US media outlets have provided in the past. The
coverage does not seem conspicuously shoddy to most readers because it
fits in with previous shoddy reportage. From all appearances, this AP
article is based on statements from four sources - and each of them is
in line with US government policies. There's one tribal leader from
Ramadi who is seeking large quantities of material aid from the US and
the Iraqi government; there are two spokespeople for that Iraqi
government; and there's a general from the US military. That all four
would present a similar picture of events is not surprising. But for an
article to rely on only those sources is stenography for one side of the
conflict - which should not be confused with journalism."

It is also important for the reader to note that, according to an August
US Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, of 1,666 bombs exploded in
Iraq in July, 90% were aimed at US-led forces. Along with this fact,
attacks against US forces have increased dramatically in recent months,
and the US military itself has admitted that less than 6% of the attacks
against them are from foreign fighters (i.e., "terrorists"). Thus, at
least 94% of all attacks against US forces in Iraq are from the Iraqi
Resistance, as opposed to "terrorists."

It is time, too, that readers of mainstream news knew that any "tribal
meeting" that discusses fighting "the insurgents" is currently being
held secretly inside American military bases or inside the "green zone."
Iraqi people who are trying to lead that operation are well known to
Al-Anbar citizens. These leaders did succeed in some cases in recruiting
certain groups to fight resistance fighters by paying considerable sums
of money, but it was only temporary success.

A case in point would be Al-Qa'im last spring. A tribal fight occurred
between local resistance fighters. Sheik Osama al-Jadaan was involved in
engineering it by paying members of his tribe to take up arms against
local resistance groups. Yet this conflict was settled, and when it was,
al-Jadaan had to flee to the "green zone." He lived there for a short
time before his work as a collaborator with occupation forces caught up
with him, and he was killed in Baghdad.

Yet the AP story has this to say about al-Jadaan: "In late May, a
prominent Sunni Arab tribal leader, Sheik Osama al-Jadaan, who provided
fighters to help battle al-Qaeda in Anbar, was assassinated in Baghdad."

There are the usual token scraps of truth in the AP story, lending it a
hue of credibility. The story quotes a US military spokesperson who goes
out on a limb to say that tribal leaders in Anbar "very much want to see
security brought back to that area."

Another scrap of truth came earlier in the story where Al-Guood is
quoted as saying that most of the tribes of Ramadi "have sworn to fight
those who are killing Sunnis and Shiites and they established an armed
force of about 20,000 young men ready to purge the city from those
infidels."

This is true throughout Iraq, where even the US military has documented
several cases of resistance groups fighting foreign terror groups that
have infiltrated Iraq's porous borders in order to carry out attacks
against Iraqi civilians.

The most disconcerting portion of this AP story, however, is the melding
of the word "insurgent" with the word "terrorist." Clearly there is a
flippancy, and I believe a malicious intent in this misuse. I have
witnessed this melding repeated in AP stories from Iraq in which
"insurgent" replaces "terrorist."

We can see the melding in a recent AP story
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564808338794480636
which states: "Attacks against US troops have increased following a call
earlier this month from al-Qaeda in Iraq's leader to target American
forces, the top US military spokesman said Wednesday."

Another example of this melding is in an AP story from September 17th
about Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen of Fallujah who has been held by
the US military without charges for five months. Part of the story

reads, "The military said Hussein was captured with two insurgents,
including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq."

Regarding the reference to al-Qaeda (read "terrorism"), Solomon had this
to say: "The word 'terrorism' is clearly a pejorative. And it's an
unwritten rule of US media coverage that the 'terrorism' label can only
be used, or quoted with credence being given to the sources, if
'terrorism' applies to murderous violence opposed by the US government -
in contrast to murderous violence inflicted or otherwise supported by
the US government, in which case that violence is routinely presumed to
be positive."

It is a melding that has the power to change minds.

A melding that may have prompted Orwell to say, "... language can also
corrupt thought."

It is important to note that the board of directors of AP is composed of
22 newspaper and media executives that include the CEOs and presidents
of ABC, McClatchy, Hearst, Tribune and the Washington Post. Two of the
directors are members of very conservative policy councils that include
the Hoover Institute. The Hoover Institute is a Republican policy
research center that has been referred to as "Bush's brain trust." Its
fellows include Condoleezza Rice and Newt Gingrich, a Distinguished
Visiting Fellow, along with George Shultz.

Douglas McCorkindale, also on the board of directors at AP, is on the
board of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense contract company.
One does not require crystals to see that the board of AP displays a
clear tilt toward right-wing conservative views, and comprises
representatives of a huge corporate media network of the largest
publishers in the US.

It is not difficult to demolish the myth of the liberal media and its
prominent arms like AP.

*Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and
murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
*- George Orwell

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
LINKS ONLY
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Capital Punishment: DNA Tests Prove Justice Has Failed
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-08.htm

Toxic Shock: How Western Rubbish is Destroying Africa
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-09.htm

Restraining Order against Bush Denied
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-01.htm

60 Years to Restore the Ozone Layer Over Antarctica
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-02.htm

UN Finds Baghdad Toll Far Higher Than Cited
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-03.htm

Arctic Thaw Opens Passage to Pole
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0921-04.htm

Army on Pace to Meet Year's Recruiting Goal
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2006; Page A09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801534.html?nav=rss_nation

FOCUS | US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan Back to Stone Age
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206Z.shtml

FOCUS | US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan Back to Stone Age
Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said the US threatened to bomb his
country back to the Stone Age if he did not assist the administration's
war on terrorism. The threat was delivered after the attacks of
September 11, 2001, by Richard L. Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, to
Musharraf's intelligence director, the Pakistani leader told CBS's "60
Minutes" for Sunday's broadcast.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092206Z.shtml

The 'King Coal' 'Robber Barons' are Decapitating Mountains!
http://www.ilovemountains.org/cost_of_coal/87

British Science Group Says Exxon Misrepresents Climate Issues
By HEATHER TIMMONS
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/business/21green.html

House Panel Approves Wiretapping Bill
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The House Intelligence Committee approved by voice vote
a bill that would put into law the Bush administration’s
program of wiretapping without warrants. The sponsor,
Representative Heather A. Wilson, Repubican of New Mexico,
had rewritten the measure to make it more to Mr. Bush’s
liking. The Judiciary Committee later endorsed a similar
version, by 20 to 16. But Ms. Wilson’s revision, likely
to draw Mr. Bush’s support, is the bill that probably
will make it to the full House. Under her bill, the president
may conduct the secret surveillance only under specific
conditions. For example, the president must notify Congress
within five days of authorizing the surveillance, name
the entity that poses the threat and state the reason
for believing the attack is imminent.
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/washington/21brfs-007.html

More Small Women’s Colleges Opening Doors to Men
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO
(On a lamp post next to Ginger Worden, interim president of Randolph-
Macon Woman's College (now including men,) was a hand-made sign
that read, "Well behaved women rarely make history." The sign was
a remnant from a student protest of the college's decision to let men
attend.)
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/education/21women.html?ref=us

Over the Roar of Protesters, Hungary’s Leader Tries to Talk Politics
By JUDY DEMPSEY
International Herald Tribune
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/world/europe/21hungary.html

Measures Seek to Restrict Detainees’ Access to Courts
By NEIL A. LEWIS and KATE ZERNIKE
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/washington/21habeas.html?hp&ex=1158897600&en=00bf4cedca2834dd&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/business/21royalty.html?hp&ex=1158897600&en=6a768e6c6f4a155a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Only 25% in Poll Approve of the Congress
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JANET ELDER
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/us/politics/21poll.html?hp&ex=1158897600&en=ef00c357f1e7980c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

When Is Thin Too Thin?
By ERIC WILSON
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/fashion/21MODELS.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

At U.N., Chavez Calls Bush 'The Devil'
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:45 p.m. ET
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-UN-Venezuela.html?hp&ex=1158811200&en=525846319c57aae6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

FOCUS | Senate Bill on Torture and Detention Faces GOP Filibuster
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092006Z.shtml

Pension Fund Tallies Losses and Rethinks Its Strategy
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/business/20pension.html

Gaza: The children killed in a war the world doesn't want to know about
By Donald Macintyre In Rafah
Published: 19 September 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1619227.ece

G.M. Talked With Ford About Merger, Report Says
By NICK BUNKLEY
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/business/19auto.html

States Await Ruling on Use of Lethal Injection
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/us/19death.html?ref=us

Sarah Olson | Lieutenant Watada Faces New Charges
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091806A.shtml

Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case
By IAN AUSTEN
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/americas/19canada.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

On India’s Farms, a Plague of Suicide
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/asia/19india.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=ce312104d42deb70&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Deadly harvest: The Lebanese fields sown with cluster bombs
Lebanese villagers must risk death in fields 'flooded' with more than
a million Israeli cluster bombs - or leave crops to rot
By Patrick Cockburn in Nabatiyeh
Published: 18 September 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1616665.ece

U.S.-Mexico border fencing passes House - again
Republican Congress votes to build wall of shame
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday (9/14) voted in
favor of building a fence along portions of the border with Mexico,
the Secure Fence Act (H.R. 6061), this is no doubt a racist anti-
immigrant bill, the vote had more to do with election year politics
than solving immigration issues.
September 15, 2006
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/

Iraq to Seal Off Baghdad Next Month
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 15 — The Iraqi government plans to seal
off Baghdad next month by ringing it with a series of trenches
and setting up dozens of traffic checkpoints to control movement
in and out of the city of seven million people, an Interior Ministry
spokesman said today.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/world/middleeast/16iraqcnd.html?hp&ex=1158379200&en=e07a513eed965c9f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Ford Takes New Steps to Cut Costs
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 15 — The Ford Motor Company said
today that it would cut 10,000 more salaried jobs, close two
more factories and eliminate its stock dividend, as the latest
steps in a broad overhaul of its business that it calls the Way
Forward.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/business/16fordcnd.html?hp&ex=1158379200&en=e3f03a9c648efed4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Ford to Offer Buyouts
By REUTERS
Filed at 1:25 a.m. ET
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. will offer buyout packages
of up to $140,000 to all of the more than 75,000 workers at its
U.S. plants, the United Auto Workers union said on Thursday,
a day before the automaker details a revised turnaround plan
in response to slumping sales.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-autos-ford-buyout.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Daimler Seeks Partners in China to Build Cars
By KEITH BRADSHER
BEIJING, Sept. 15 — DaimlerChrysler is in talks with companies
in China and elsewhere for the export of subcompact cars to
North America, the company chairman, Dieter Zetsche,
said here today.
The company has concluded that it cannot build its own
subcompact cars in North America cheaply enough
to make money on them, and must import them instead,
Mr. Zetsche said.
September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/business/16chinacnd.html

posted 3:35 PM  0 comments

THIS JUST IN! MORE OF THE SAME!
THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, OCT 5 PERMITS BEING STALLED!

OPEN LETTER TO CITY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

By Bonnie Weinstein

Gavin Newsom gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
San Francisco Board of Supervisors board.of.supervisors@sfgov.org
Sandy Lee sandy.lee@parks.sfgov.org
Cindy Shamban cindy.shamban@sfmta.com;sfgov.org/dpt
Crystal Stewart crystal.stewart@sfgov.org
Heather Fong heather.fong@sfgov.org

Dear City Government Officials and Interested Parties:

The World Can't Wait group, sf@worldcantwait.org, has
applied for permits to rally at Justin Herman Plaza at noon,
OCT 5 to march on Market Street to a main rally with prominent
speakers at 4PM in Union Square, and then to march back to
Justin Herman Plaza for the all-night vigil to to demonstrate
as part of the national day of mass resistance against the war
called with actions across the country.

The San Francisco Police Department has denied the march
permit. The SF Recreation and Parks Department is responsible
for permits at the sites and has not yet granted them.

Again, the San Francisco City Government has denied the right
to free speech and assembly to voices of resistance and
opposition to the policies of this government.

The bloodbath in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Haiti--
in nations around the world is continuing thanks to this hideous
and corrupt government, the government of the United States,
responsible for terror around the world. I do not support this
government. It is corrupt, vicious and out to defend the wealthy
at the expense of the planet itself--anything for the almighty
dollar and the power it buys.

I do not agree with everything that The World Can't Wait group
has to say --we have friendly debates frequently--but I insist
that they have the right to say it!

The right to free speech and assembly is meaningless if the
government at any level--city, state or federal--has the right
to deny permits for no reason or dictate when and where we
are allowed to demonstrate.

Our group, People United for General and Unconditional Amnesty
for All, was also denied our right to free speech and assembly--
based upon false statements made by the Police Department.
I got an apology about one of the false statements but still, we
were denied our permits and were subject to police intimidation.
A large number of police were present at the time and location
of our planned event last Saturday, Sept. 16th prepared to stop
us if we attempted to use amplified sound or take to the street.

With our permit denied we knew we would endanger many
people if we tried to go ahead with our plans so we altered
them to comply with the law. Which is why we tried to get
permits in the first place. So that we could advertise
a peaceful and legal rally.

We arrive the day of our planned rally with a bullhorn to
inform the community that the rally permits were denied and
why. We handed out explanatory flyers to those who would
take them and went ahead with our modest list of speakers.
We then peacefully marched on the sidewalk to the Mission
Police Station--the location of the source of the false statements
--where we formed an orderly picket line for about an hour.

We are very proud that we did this. And, we will not let this
issue go. WE THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST THE
GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE THE
RIGHT TO SILENCE US!

NOT ALLOWING PERMITS AND DENYING US THE RIGHT TO
AMPLIFIED SOUND IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
TO EXACT HUGE FEES FROM PEOPLE IN ORDER JUST TO APPLY
FOR PERMITS (We had to come up with over $700.00 just for
the permits. We found we couldn't afford to rent a flatbed
truck or any speakers so decided to just use our own speaker
and speak from a milk-carton-type platform. The City couldn't
even allow this!)

FREE SPEECH IS FOR EVERYONE RICH OR POOR! WAVE THE FEES
FOR POOR GROUPS WHO HAVE NO MEANS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
EVERY PERMIT APPLIED FOR MUST BE GRANTED UNLESS THERE
IS A DAMNED GOOD REASON.

The news of this and the city's insistence that A.N.S.W.E.R. pay
tens of thousands of dollars in fines for posting information
up in the community--a centuries-long practice of free speech
and mass communication among the poor--among those without
the billions of advertising dollars to spend--is already spreading
shockwaves throughout the community.

News of these permit denials and the harassment of A.N.S.W.E.R.
Will serve to expose the real nature of the city government.

What do we call a state that allows the Police to determine when,
where, how and if an opposition demonstration can take place?
We call that a Police State! What do we call those who do not
stand up against this injustice? I can think of a few choice words.

Why is it that the Zionists are afforded a location directly in front
of antiwar protests? Why do the Right to Lifers get a police escort
in a solidly pro-choice city? Why are mainstream politicians
or even corporations catered to routinely with street closures,
giant stages, sound systems, etc. when a small group of immigrants
who wanted to use a small sound system and a very short street
closure from Mission to Bartlett Streets on 24th Street for a total
of two hours on one day was met with a show of force at both the
ISCOTT hearing and at the location the demonstration was to take
place--to see to it that it would not take place. How much money
in Police overtime did we, the taxpayers, have to pay in order
to squelch this small expression of free speech and assembly?
How much to harass A.N.S.W.E.R.?

The whole community witnessed what happened to the People
United for General and Unconditional Amnesty for All on
September 16th at 24th and Mission Street. The whole
community notice the police show of force! The community
also noticed a small but brave group of people who carried
on as best we could with our rally. Standing on the lamp post
on the corner and having our rally anyway with an ineffective
bullhorn. The flyers, signs, posters and banners we carried
and handed out said it all! The whole community also watched
as this same small, gutsy group of about 50 people march
to the Mission Police Station at 17th and Valencia and picketed
them in protest of their denial of our permits.

WE DEMAND YOU SEE TO IT THAT "THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT"
PERMITS ARE GRANTED IMMEDIATELY! AND IMMEDIATELY DISMISS
ALL OF A.N.S.W.E.R.'S FINES AND MAKE REPARATIONS TO THEM
FOR THE HARASSMENT THEY HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH! WE, AGAIN,
ALSO DEMAND THAT OUR PERMIT FEES BE RETURNED TO US SINCE
OUR PERMIT WAS DENIED UNDER FALSE PRETENCIS.

You can't pick and choose who can demonstrate. That is not your
prerogative if we are to claim to have freedom of speech and assembly.

WE DEMAND OUR RIGHTS!

Bonnie Weinstein

People United For a General and Unconditional Amnesty
Barrio Unido Por una Amnistia General e Incondicional
474 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Contact Persons:
Cristina Gutierrez: 415-431-9925
Bonnie Weinstein: 415-824-8730
www.bauaw.org

Text of flyer handed out Sept. 15th to the community:


POLICE DENY PERMITS TO THE IMMIGRANTS OF THE PEOPLE
UNITED PREVENTING US FROM ORGANIZING IN OUR OWN
NEIGHBORHOOD IN ORDER TO DEMAND UNCONDITIONAL
AND GENERAL AMNESTY

The People United has been engaged in the application
process since May 10th in order to celebrate our national
holidays and find a real solution to our problems as immigrants
and specifically for undocumented immigrants. The police
have completely blocked all of the attempts we have made
in having an assembly in our own neighborhood. There has
been no possible negotiation, and furthermore the police
had lied at the public hearing in order to deny us our permits.

WHY?

Because The People United is the only organization in San
Francisco led by immigrants! Not by the sons of immigrants.
Not by any democratic nor republican parties. Not by any so
called left organizations or parties who claim they want to
save us but won't listen to our demands. Not by organizations
that receive governmental monies or who receive salaries
in order to supposedly help us immigrants get papers.
Not by democratic or republican parties who see us as
their future votes.

NO!

We are a group of immigrants who demand a general
and unconditional amnesty for all, we are not talking
about using our people to go vote and elect people who
never fulfill their promises.

We denounce our governments of Mexico, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, etc., for not providing jobs
in our countries and forcing us to leave them.
We denounce the government of the United States for
being an accomplice with the government of our countries.
They work together to bring us here as a cheap source
of labor and many times we are forced to become scabs.

We denounce the government of the United States for planning
disenfranchisement and dehumanization keeping us as an
army of unemployed with no rights to health, education,
or dignity.

We denounce all the political parties and organizations that
look at us as objects in order to achieve their political and
economic needs and they deny us the right to organize
ourselves and represent our own struggle.

We denounce the police for the constant abuse of our people
of which the negation of this permit of this assembly
is just one more.

Immigrant brothers and sisters, unite in the struggle for
our rights and the general and unconditional amnesty for all!!!!

MEETING

Date: Thursday, September 21st

Place: 474 Valencia St.

Time: 7pM

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

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

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

Harvest Time
By Bonnie Weinstein

Congress is postponing decisions about immigrant rights legislation
until after the elections. They say they don't want to antagonize
the Latino community before elections. But there is another reason.
It's harvest time! They need thousands of immigrant workers
to harvest the nations crops. They are not worried about antagonizing
Latino's-it's America's agribusiness they don't want to upset. Clearly
they don't want to deport all immigrants, they just want to be able
to terrorize them into submission.

What many American-born workers don't realize is that this threat
will be extended to them as well-not deportation, of course-but
the threat of being out of a job if they stand up for their rights.

What are the common dangers that we face? At the stroke of
a bosses pen we can be fired and find ourselves without a livelihood.
Throughout America factories are being closed down and re-built
in countries that force workers to live as slaves while a bonanza
of U.S, tax-free, corporate profits flows freely across all borders
and into the bosses' pockets.

An even more sinister danger is the lure of U.S. Military service.
All of our children and especially the children of undocumented
workers are in danger of being used as cannon fodder to maintain
the power and wealth of America's corporations. The Military
is entrenched in our public schools. They don't go to the schools
of the wealthy. To the children of immigrants they promise
citizenship and to the children of poor, American workers they
promise college and a career. But it does no good to become
a citizen after you are dead and it's hard to have a career with
half of your brain or body missing in action!

On Tuesday, November 14th at 7:00 P.M., the San Francisco Board
of Education will vote on whether to phase out the Junior Reserve
Officers Training Corps-a military recruitment program for the
High Schools. We must be there in force to see that they do
so immediately, and that they rid the schools of all military
recruiters! It is up to us so please come! That's Tuesday,
November 14, 7:00 P.M., at 555 Franklin Street, First Floor.
You can call the day before and the day of the meeting
to get on the speakers list: 415-241-6427.

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

WE EXTEND OUR SOLIDARITY TO A.N.S.W.E.R. IN THEIR STRUGGLE
AGAINST THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO WHO, ACTING
AS A BODY, ARE INCREASINGLY LIMITING OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH
(INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO POST PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS--A CENTURIES
OLD TRADITION OF MASS COMMUNICATION FOR THE POOR)
AND THE RIGHT TO FREE ASSEMBLY!

Paid advertising in the mass media is prohibitive. Only those with millions
of dollars to spend for advertising are allowed a public voice.
Right here in San Francisco the fees for permits have skyrocketed
and the permit process is long and complicated. The permit
application for DPT is 17 pages long and full of rules and regulations
that must be followed. And both the City and County and the ACLU
have agreed that while we have the right to free speech, the City and
County does, indeed, have the right to say when and where we may
or may not exercise it.

WE SAY NO!

THE CITYS' OBLIGATION IS TO MAKE SURE OUR
RIGHT TO ORGANIZE, PUBLICIZE AND PROTEST IS PROTECTED!
AND THAT OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND THE RIGHT TO
HAVE DIRECT CONTACT WITH OUR OWN CONSTITUENCY
IS GUARANTEED! We must be able to post public events,
and hold public events where the people are. The San Francisco
Police Department routinely protects the rights of the Zionists
when they want to hold counter-demonstrations to our
Antiwar actions. They also protect the "Right to Lifers" when
they want to march down San Francisco's Embarcadero--HERE
IN SAN FRANCISCO--A PRO-CHOICE CITY!
The San Francisco Police Department goes all out to
accommodate them! WHY NOT US!

RESCHEDULED: ANSWER Postering Case Hearing
We are appealing for your support as our free speech lawsuit
against the San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW)
reaches a critical stage. As you may be aware from articles that
have recently appeared in the Bay Guardian, the SF Weekly and
elsewhere, the DPW is attempting to impose fines that now total
more than $45,000 against the local ANSWER Coalition for
postering violations.

We just received word that the hearing for the ANSWER postering
case has been put off for 2 weeks. The new date of the hearing is
Thurs. Sept. 28, 9:30am at Superior Court, 400 McAllister St. (corner
Polk St., SF), 3rd Floor, Dept. 302. If you can, please join us at the
hearing two weeks from today to show your support.

If you would like to read a copy of attorney Ben Rosenfeld’s reply
to the city's response to our lawsuit, which summarizes the main
points of our position, please contact us at 415-821-6545 or
answer@actionsf.org.

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

STOP THE WAR! BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
MARCH AND RALLY
SATURDAY, 10/28
(TIME AND LOCATION TBA)

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

THIS JUST IN:

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

The Democratic Party's redevelopment plan is stopped by Petition
campaign until 2000! House Speaker Pelosi's, the Board of Supervisor's,
and the Mayor's plans to help the housing profiteers is stopped.

"The Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area, passed on by the
Board of Supervisors 7-4 , and signed into law by the Mayor on
June 1, 2006, is now officially suspended pending an election at
which the voters will be given the opportunity to decide.  The election
will most likely take place during a normally scheduled general
election in 2007."

SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Just before 5 pm today, Tuesday, September 12, 2006, John Arntz,
Director of Elections for the City and County of San Francisco officially
certified that the  REFERENDUM PETITION opposing the creation
of a Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area as successful.

The Department of Elections found that more than the minimum
number of 21,615 valid signatures were submitted by Petition
sponsors.  Sponsors had submitted in excess of  33,000 signatures 
on August 30th, 2006 after a 90 day signature gathering drive. 
San Francisco has not seen a successful referendum petition drive
in decades.  A referendum allows San Francisco  voters to decide
on the merits of legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

The Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Area, passed on by the
Board of Supervisors 7-4 , and signed into law by the Mayor on
June 1, 2006, is now officially suspended pending an election
at which the voters will be given the opportunity to decide. 
The election will most likely take place during a normally
scheduled general election in 2007.

SUPPORTES HAIL VICTORY:

Petition supporters hailed the results as a victory for democracy
and echoed their campaign slogan "Let the Voters Decide!  
Petition supporter , Willie Ratcliff,publisher of the Bayview Newspaper
said "This special interest legislation was never about the benefiting
the community. Now ,finally,  the will of the voters can be expressed
democratically, at the ballot."

CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFO:   
Brian Murphy O'Flynn     415-867-4370

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

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


TWO EVENTS TO PROTEST POLITICAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES
THURS. SEPT. 21 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
4pm, Powell & Market, San Francisco
Commemoration of 34th Anniversary of the Declaration
of Martial Law & Candle-light March for 750 Killed & Over 100
Disappeared Under US-Arroyo Regime
4:00 pm meet at Powell and Market (North side
of Market near Cable Car stop)
4:30 pm March to Philippine Consulate (447 Sutter St. @ Powell)
5:00 pm Speak out and commemorate victims of political
killings at Consulate
5:30 pm March to Civic Center to join the Interfaith Candle Light
Vigil A Declaration of Peace activity on the occasion
of International Peace Day

7:00 PM, Ecumenical Service
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 959-12th St. Oakland, California
“Commemorative Night for the victims of political killings
and martial law.”

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

Celebrate International Peace Day
Sep 21 2006 - 7:30am
Organization: CodePINK: Women For Peace
Contact Name: Sam Joi
Contact Email: mzsam@bayareacodepink.org
Contact Phone: 510-524-2776

We will celebrate International Peace Day by beginning with a march
across the Golden Gate Bridge during early morning rush hour.

We will have banners "DECLARE PEACE" and "RISE, WOMEN, RISE" as
we march. Wear hot pink, bring noise makers, signs, dress warm!

We will meet in both parking lots at the north & south end of the
bridge around 7:30a.m. and begin to march at 8:00a.m.

We would like this to be a women-led march with our allies joining us.

Location
North & South Vista Points Parking Lots, Golden Gate Bridge
Highway 101 South Parkig lot last SF exit San Francisco
& Marin, CA, 94112

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

Free the Cuban Five!
September 23, 2006
Washington, DC
Breaking News...
On Aug. 9, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its en banc
decision denying a new trial to the Cuban Five. On August 10,
the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, together with
the National Lawyers Guild, sponsored an emergency press
conference in Washington in response to the decision.
A partial transcript to that press conference, in English
and Spanish, is here.
A March on the White House will be held on September 23
to continue to press forward with efforts to free the Five.
We urge all supporters to make every effort to join us on
that march. A public demonstration of support for the Five,
and outrage at their continued imprisonment, has never
been more vital. Details of the march are found at the
website below.
Join us in Washington on Sept. 23! Free the Cuban Five!
http://www.freethefive.org/

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

IRAN WAR PERIL — EX-CIA MAN’S SF TALK SEPT. 24

The "threat" from Iran: Are mushroom clouds ahead?
Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst for 27 years, addresses
that issue at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, September 24, in the
First Unitarian Universalist Church (Starr King Room),
Franklin and Geary Streets, San Francisco.

McGovern will touch on Iraq too: "How we got in and
how we get out." Last May in Atlanta, national TV
networks showed him accusing Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld of prewar lying about supposed Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction.

McGovern founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals
for Sanity. He served the Central Intelligence Agency
from the Kennedy Administration to that of George H.
W. Bush. Awarded an Intelligence Commendation Medal,
he returned it following the revelations of torture.

There will be a question period until about 2 p.m.
Optional lunch (bring it or buy it) precedes the
program at 12:15. Cosponsors are the church’s World
Community Advocates and the War and Law League (WALL).

Following the program, WALL conducts its biennial
meeting. It is a nonpartisan, all-volunteer, San
Francisco-based group that opposes presidential wars
and aims at the rule of law in U.S. foreign affairs.

Public transit to the Unitarian Church includes
Muni's 47 and 49 bus lines on Van Ness Avenue, one
block east of Franklin, and the 38-Geary bus(which
connects with BART at the Montgomery Street Station).

For further information: (415) 738-8298 or (415)
564-2083; warandlaw@yahoo.com; http://warandlaw.org.

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

THE DECLARATION OF PEACE

“WITNESS TO PEACE: PROTEST AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO
SAVE THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN”
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!
Meet at Military Recruiting Office
Monday, September 25, 2006, 4:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M.
Stonestown Ocean Recruiting Station
561 Buckingham Way
(Across the street from the mall.)

Eyes Wide Open Boots and Shoes Exhibit: The Numbers Increase
The Declaration of Peace

The Declaration of Peace (www.declarationofpeace.org) is
a nationwide campaign to establish a concrete and rapid
plan for peace in Iraq. In August and September Congressional
visits have urged our Members of Congress to sign on to end
this militaristic adventure in Iraq.

IF CONSCIENCE LEADS YOU, TRAIN AND JOIN WITH ACTIVISTS
OF FAITH IN A NON VIOLENT ACTION TO END MILITARISM
AND THE WAR IN IRAQ
PREPARATION AND TRAININGS

September 23, Saturday 1-5 p.m. Non-Violence Training,
San Francisco First Unitarian Universalist Society,
1187 Franklin Street at Geary
Get information as it develops.
Contact Sandra Schwartz at (415) 565-0201 x 24
or email sschwartz@afsc.org

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

"No Thanks Bechtel!"
...for the Iraq war
...for undermining democracy
...for sick Iraqi children
...for destruction of the environment
...for nuclear weapons

Join us! Wednesday, Sept 27, 4:00 PM
Bechtel Corporate Headquaters, 50 Beale St, San Francisco
Half a block east from Embarcadero BART

DECLARE Peace - an end to war and war profiteering!
For more info on this event, please contact Lacy MacAuley at
Butterfly@Lacy.com.

For more info on Declaration of Peace, including a full calendar of events,
please visit:
http://www.declarationofpeace.org

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

WHY DOES PROP 85 ENDANGER
TEEN SAFETY

Dear Health Care Activist,

Parents care most about keeping their teenagers safe.
That means always safe, even if they feel they can’t talk
to their parents about an unplanned pregnancy.

Parental notification laws cause young women to delay
seeking medical care.

When desperate teenagers turn to back-alley abortions
many will suffer serious injuries and some will die.

You are invited to our Saturday, September 30 health care meeting
on "Why Proposition 85 is bad for our health." The 3pm meeting
will be 4760 Mission in San Francisco, between Ocean and Geneva
at Russia. It is 5 blocks from the Balboa BART station.
Proposition is 85 is a re-run of the 2004 ballot initiative,
Proposition 73.

Groups in opposition to prop 85 include:
The California Federation of Labor, The California Medical
Association, The California Academy of Family Physicians,
The California Nurses Association, American Academy
of Pediatrics-California District, The Adolescent Health
Collaborative, Health Care of All, The League of Women
Voters, and Planned Parenthood. The State AFL-CIO at its
July convention voted to oppose this attack on reproductive rights.
Don Bechler
Chair - California Universal Health Care Organizing Project
Chair - Health Care for All - San Francisco chapter
415-695-7891

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

Brian Ashley will report
on the new stage
of the struggle
for liberation in South Africa

October 1, 2006
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Refreshments @ 2:00 PM
Brian to speak @ 3:00 PM
Q & A to follow

Hosted By Alice & Frank Fried
742 Palmera Court
Alameda, CA 94501
510.769.0599

About Brian Ashley:

Brian Ashley has been an activist in the South African liberation
struggle having gone into exile in Zimbabwe in 1984. He is the
founder and director of the Alternative Information and
Development Centre, AIDC, a radical advocacy NGO mobilising
against neoliberal globalisation and its impact in South Africa
and Southern Africa. He helped form the Jubilee 2000 anti-
debt movement in South Africa and the global Jubilee South
movement that fights against debt domination by the International
Financial Institutions and the G8 countries. He is active in the
World Social Forum representing AIDC on the WSF International
Council and the African Social Forum Council. He is also a leading
member of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee. Apart from being
active in a number of social movements in SA he is a board member
of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU led Working
Partnerships Research and Education Agency.

A collection will be taken to support South African Solidarity Work

Frank Fried

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

Urgent call from October 22 Coalition against Police Brutality, SF
October 22 Coalition against Police Brutality, Repression
and Criinalization of a generation
National Day of Protest, March and Rally in SF, Planning
NO MORE STOLEN LIVES ! NO MAS VIDAS ROBADAS !
Contact:
mesha Monge-Irizarry
Idriss Stelley Foundation
(415) 595-8251 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis line
iolmisha@cs. com
How: Already involved are : October 22 Bay Area, Idriss
Stelley Foundation, SF CEDP (Campaign to End the Death
Penalty, ISO (International Socialist Organization, Bay Area),
Bay Area Families of Victims and Survivors of Police brutality,
Code Pink
http://www.october22.org/
GET INVOLVED: To join our mailing list, please write to:
sf1022-talk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

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

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

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

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!

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

San Francisco Board of Education Meeting
Tuesday, November 14th, 7PM
555 Franklin Street, 1st Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
415/241-6427
The Board will vote on a resolution to phase out JROTC.

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

Close the SOA and Change Oppressive U.S. Foreign Policy
Nov. 17-19, 2006 - Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia

People's Movements across the Americas are becoming increasingly more
powerful. Military "solutions" to social problems as supported by
institutions like the School of the Americas were unable to squash their
voices, and the call for justice and accountability is getting louder each
day.

Add your voice to the chorus, demand justice for all the people of the
Americas and engage in nonviolent direct action to close the SOA and
change oppressive U.S. foreign policy.

With former SOA graduates being unmasked in Chile, Argentina, Colombia,
Paraguay, Honduras, and Peru for their crimes against humanity, and with
the blatant similarities between the interrogation methods and torture
methods used at Abu Ghraib and those described in human rights abuse cases
in Latin America, the SOA/WHINSEC must be held accountable!

Visit http://www.soaw.org to learn more about the November Vigil, hotel
and travel information, the November Organizing Packet, and more.

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

Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!

Interested in furthering your knowledge about Palestine
and its people?

Want to help make the Palestinian Right to Return a reality?

Looking for ways to show your support for Palestine and
Palestinian refugees?

Why not shop for a donation at Al-Awda
http://al-awda.org/shop.html
and help support a great organization and cause!!

Al-Awda offers a variety of educational materials including interesting
and unique books on everything from oral histories, photo books
on Palestinian refugees, to autobiographies, narratives, political
analysis, and culture. We also have historical maps of Palestine
(in Arabic and English), educational films, flags of various sizes,
and colorful greeting cards created by Palestinian children.

You can also show your support for a Free Palestine, and wear with
pride, great looking T-shirts, pendants, and a variety of Palestine pins.

Shop for a Donation at Al-Awda!

Visit http://al-awda.org/shop.html for these great items, and more!

The Educational Supplies Division
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://al-awda.org

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC), is a broad-
based, non-partisan, democratic, and charitable organization of
grassroots activists and students committed to comprehensive public
education about the rights of all Palestinian refugees to return to their
homes and lands of origin, and to full restitution for all their confiscated
and destroyed property in accordance with the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, International law and the numerous United Nations
Resolutions upholding such rights (see FactSheet). Al-Awda, PRRC
is a not for profit tax-exempt educational and charitable 501(c)(3)
organization as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the
United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations
to Al-Awda, PRRC are tax-deductible.

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

IN VOGUE:
Unspeakably grotesque, This spread was so galling I felt a primal
scream rising inside me. And it was not because I am a woman.
The link is
http://www.voguevan ity.it/cont/ 060hvg/default. asp
The wounds of "western civilization" inflict themselves over
and over...unapologetic , shameless...ditto BW
http://www.voguevanity.it/cont/060hvg/default.asp

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

A CALL TO SUPPORT THE CASE OF ELVIRA ARELLANO
Stand in solidarity with all immigrants, documented and undocumented

The IAC urges you to support the case of Elvira Arellano. Elvira is
an undocumented worker who is taking a heroic stand against
deportations and fighting for her rights. She is a native of Michoacán,
Mexico who came to the U.S. like many of the other 12 million
undocumented in this country, in search of work and a better life.

In 2002, Elvira was detained by Homeland Security agents in an
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweep at O’Hare Airport
in Chicago under the guise of allegedly looking for “terrorists”. She
was detained by the Department of Homeland Security for using
a false social security number on her job at O’Hare.

On August 18, 2006 Elvira Arellano and her seven year old son,
Saul who is a US citizen, took sanctuary in Adalberto United Methodist
Church in Chicago instead of reporting for deportation, primarily
because Saul has health problems. She has pledged to live indefinitely
in the church until granted a reprieve.

Elvira is a well known activist, representing many families in
Congressional hearings and speaking on behalf of immigrant rights.
She worked to organize in July 2005 a march of 50,000 for immigrant
rights in Chicago, and went on a hunger strike to support workers who
were picked up by ICE prior to the historic May 1st boycott in 2006.
Arellano was a founder of both La Familia Latina Unida and the
Coalition of African Arab Asian European and Latino Immigrants
of Illinois (CAAAELII).

The case of Elvira Arellano is a just case

Elvira Arellano has become the symbol of resistance to the heartless
and callous deportations that are sweeping the country. Despite
a legislative standstill in Congress, not only are deportations
escalating, local officials around the nation are implementing
de facto immigration policy that amount to a witch-hunt against
immigrants. A case in point is the anti-immigrant ordinance that
passed in July in Hazelton, PA.

Due to her heroic stand, a group of Black ministers spoke last
week at Adalberto Methodist of the comparisons of Arellano
to Rosa Parks. Reverend Albert Tyson said he hopes “their
support would increase the bonds between Latinos and African-
Americans.” At the meeting Arellano said, “I don’t only speak
for me and my son, but for millions of families like mine.”
Supporters from the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood
chanted, “Luchando mano y mano, Boriqua y Mexicano!”
(“Fighting hand in hand, Puerto Rican and Mexican!”)

Elvira Arellano is the perfect example that the anti-immigrant
hysteria sweeping the country is an inhumane situation that
has become intolerable. The human rights of immigrants are
being cruelly violated under the guise of fighting terrorism
or stopping “illegal” immigration. In fact, no human being
is illegal and whether in the U.S. documented or undocumented,
immigrants have a right to live in peace, without fear of evictions
from their homes or the country.

How you can help Elvira:

1. Write letters to Illinois Senators Richard Durbin and Barack
Obama as well as your own legislator urging them to prevent
her deportation.

For Senator Durbin visit: http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm#contact
For Senator Obama: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/index.php

2. Send Letters to the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune
asking them to stop demonizing Elvira as well as all immigrants.
Their emails are letters@suntimes.com and ctc-tribletter@tribune.com.

3. Send letters of support directly to Elvira at the organization she works
with and who has been spearheading her support, Sin Fronteras
at Centro Sin Fronteras 2300 S. Blue Island Ave., Chicago IL 60608
or visit the website: www.legalizationyes.com .
For Spanish speakers visit:
www.legalizacionsi.com

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

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

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

http://againstthecrimeofsilence.de/english/copy_of_mumia/legalarchive/

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

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

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

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

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

and:

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

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

In solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein

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

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

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

THIS JUST IN: THE KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL HAS TURNED DOWN
THE SHOW!
SUPPORT "TAKING AIM" produced by Ralph Schoenman and
Mya Shone.

LET KPFA KNOW WE ARE DISAPPOINTED!

To contact KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL email:
programcouncil@lists.kpfa.org

KPFA's Tracy Rosenberg voted to air "Taking Aim" and we
commend her for it.

You can thank her by writing her at:
tracyrose@gmail.com

In solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein

Here's my letter to the KPFA Program Council::

To: KPFA PROGRAM COUNCIL
programcouncil@lists.kpfa.org
KPFA RADIO

Re: "Taking Aim"

Dear Council Members,

We are very disappointed that KPFA decided not to air the extremely
important show, "Taking Aim" produced by Ralph Schoenman and
Mya Shone.

Of course, we are also disappointed by your reluctance
to air a PSA for a rally to defend death row inmate, renowned
commentator, leader and writer, Mumia Abu-Jamal, because the
group that sponsored the rally was not a 501c3, non-profit,
semi-corporation.

I am happy to say that I did hear it announced in the Community
Calendar during Denis Bernstein's "Flashpoints," Thursday evening,
9/14, the day before the rally. But I'm sorry to say that I did not
hear the PSA.

God only knows, the downtrodden need a public voice more
than ever.

Organizers are not even allowed to post up posters and
announcements anymore in San Francisco. A.N.S.W.E.R. is currently
in a battle over the right to practice this centuries-old custom of
"posting up" for meetings, marches and rallies--historically one
of the only venues of mass communication freely available to the poor.

"Taking Aim" is a program that express that public voice.

KPFA is also supposed to express that public voice.

Now is not the time to silence it!

Please reconsider your decision not to air "Taking Aim." And end
the prohibition against airing the PSAs of non-501c3 groups and
organizations--after all, aren't they the grass roots of the matter?

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, www.bauaw.org
415-824-8730

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

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/

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

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

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

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF ZIONISM
BY RALPH SCHOENMAN
Essential reading for understanding the development of Zionism
and Israel in the service of British and USA imperialism.
The full text of the book can be found for free at:
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."

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

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) Raúl Castro Speaks Out Against U.S. at Summit Talks
By MARC LACEY
September 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/world/americas/16cuba.html

2) Immigration raid cripples Ga. town
By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 15, 2:13 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060915/ap_on_re_us/immigration_aftermath_1

3) Mexico: 1 million strong Convention elects “legitimate government”
By Jorge Martin   
Monday, 18 September 2006
http://www.marxist.com

4) U.S. to Maintain Iraq Force Levels
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:37 p.m. ET
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=52aa0f7e7bbbd51a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

5) Thai Prime Minister Declares State of Emergency
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:43 p.m. ET
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Thailand.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=7088b6ed163114a6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

6) Seeing Huge Losses, Chrysler Slashes Production
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/business/20autocnd.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=0774124b74af9322&ei=5094&partner=homepage

7) U.S. Resorting to 'Collective Punishment'
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

8) Rules for the Real World
New York Times Editorial
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/opinion/20wed1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

9) Canadian Man Tortured in Syria Wants Explanation From U.S.
By IAN AUSTEN
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/world/americas/20canada.html

10) Border Fence Must Skirt Objections From Arizona Tribe
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/washington/20fence.html?ref=us

11) Update on Suzanne Swift
September 19th, 2006. 101 days since her arrest.
formydaughtersuzanne@yahoo.com
http://suzanneswift.org/

12) City Hall declares war on the people of Bayview Hunters Point
by Willie Ratcliff
sfbayview@lists.riseup.net

13) President Chavez's Speech to the United Nations
By: President Hugo Chavez
Friday, Sep 16, 2005
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/print.php?artno=1555

14) Home Raids Provoke Increased Unrest
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

15) G.O.P. in Senate Narrows Immigration Focus to 700-Mile Fence
By CARL HULSE
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/washington/21immig.html?ref=us

16) Many Theories on Income Inequality,
but One Answer Lies in Just a Few Places
HAL R. VARIAN
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/business/21scene.html

17) IOF Kill 5 Civilians in the Gaza Strip, including 3 Children,
& Injures 7 others; Two of the Victims Bled to Death when
IOF Prevented Ambulances from Rescuing them
September 21, 2006
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2006/111-2006.htm

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

1) Raúl Castro Speaks Out Against U.S. at Summit Talks
By MARC LACEY
September 16, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/16/world/americas/16cuba.html

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 15 — Raúl Castro, who is standing in as Cuba’s
leader while his brother, Fidel, recuperates from surgery, railed at
the United States during a summit meeting in Havana of nonaligned
nations on Friday, urging them to unite against “unacceptable acts
of aggression essentially motivated by insatiable appetite for strategic
resources.”

Mr. Castro’s first public speech since taking power in July was just as
stridently anti-Washington as those offered by his elder brother.
He spoke of the Bush administration’s “irrational pretensions for
world dominance” and called “absurd” its aggressive military spending
now that the cold war is over.

“With regard to international relations, we are not the decisive force
that we could be,” Mr. Castro, 75, told members of the 118-member
group of developing nations. “The Non-Aligned Movement now has
to wage courageous battles against unilateralism, double standards
and the impunity granted to those in power, for a fairer and more
equal international order.”

The United States declined observer status at the summit meeting.
In Miami, however, the Bush administration’s top Cuban-American
official, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, delivered his own
rebuke to Cuba’s government.

Condemning repression on the island and calling Raúl Castro “simply
another military dictator,” Mr. Gutierrez called on Cuba to hold
a referendum on its future leadership, a proposal that the
Communist government would surely dismiss.

“Why not ask the people?” Mr. Gutierrez said at conference on Latin
America’s economic future, which attracted leaders from throughout
the region. “Let the Cuban people speak. Let the Cuban people
determine their own destiny.”

Noticeably absent from the fray in Havana was Fidel Castro, 80,
who continued his recuperation. Cuban newspaper photographs
showed him clad in pajamas while meeting with Secretary General
Kofi Annan of the United Nations, and President Hugo Chávez
of Venezuela.

“Despite the rigor and will with which he pursues his treatment and
physical therapy, the doctors have insisted that he continue to rest,”
Felipe Pérez Roque, Cuba’s foreign minister, told reporters on Friday.

The Non-Aligned Movement began during the cold war, when many
nations were firmly allied with either the United States or the Soviet
Union. The group has lived on, and now has 118 members that see
themselves as the voice for the developing world.

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

2) Immigration raid cripples Ga. town
By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 15, 2:13 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060915/ap_on_re_us/immigration_aftermath_1

Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to
replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at
stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer
and cigarettes just weeks ago.

This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little
more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began
rounding up illegal immigrants.

The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just
how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.

More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses
bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds
more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the
woods, camping out for days. They worry some are still hiding
without food.

At least one child, born a U.S. citizen, was left behind by his
Mexican parents: 2-year-old Victor Perez-Lopez. The toddler's
mother, Rosa Lopez, left her son with Julie Rodas when the raids
began and fled the state. The boy's father was deported to Mexico.

"When his momma brought this baby here and left him, tears
rolled down her face and mine too," Rodas said. "She said, `Julie,
will you please take care of my son because I have no money,
no way of paying rent?'"

For five years, Rodas has made a living watching the children
of workers at the Crider Inc. poultry plant, where the vast majority
of employees were Mexican immigrants. She learned Spanish,
and considered many immigrants among her closest friends.
She threw parties for their children's birthdays and baptisms.

The only child in Rodas' care now, besides her own son, is Victor.
Her customers have disappeared.

Federal agents also swarmed into a trailer park operated by
David Robinson. Illegal immigrants were handcuffed and taken
away. Almost none have returned. Robinson bought an American
flag and posted it by the pond out front — upside down, in protest.

"These people might not have American rights, but they've damn
sure got human rights," Robinson said. "There ain't no reason
to treat them like animals."

The raids came during a fall election season in which immigration
is a top issue.

Last month, the federal government reported that Georgia had
the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population in the country.
The number more than doubled from an estimated 220,000 in
2000 to 470,000 last year. This year, state lawmakers passed
some of the nation's toughest measures targeting illegal immigrants,
and Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue last week vowed a statewide
crackdown on document fraud.

Other than the Crider plant, there isn't much in Stillmore. Four
small stores, a coin laundry and a Baptist church share downtown
with City Hall, the fire department and a post office. "We're poor
but proud," Mayor Marilyn Slater said, as if that is the town motto.

The 2000 Census put Stillmore's population at 730, but Slater
said uncounted immigrants probably made it more than 1,000.
Not anymore, with so many homes abandoned and the streets
practically empty.

"This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo
coming in and yanking people up," Slater said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Marc Raimondi
would not discuss details of the raids. "We can't lose sight
of the fact that these people were here illegally," Raimondi said.

At Sucursal Salina No. 2, a store stocked with Mexican fruit sodas
and snacks, cashier Alberto Gonzalez said Wednesday that the
owner may shutter the place. By midday, Gonzalez has had only
six customers. Normally, he would see 100.

The B&S convenience store, owned by Keith and Regan Slater,
the mayor's son and grandson, has lost about 80 percent
of its business.

"These people come over here to make a better way of life,
not to blow us up," complained Keith Slater, who keeps a portrait
of Ronald Reagan on the wall. "I'm a die-hard Republican,
but I think we missed the boat with this one."

Since the mid-1990s, Stillmore has grown dependent on the
paychecks of Mexican workers who originally came for seasonal
farm labor, picking the area's famous Vidalia onions. Many then
took year-round jobs at the Crider plant, with a workforce
of about 900.

Crider President David Purtle said the agents began inspecting
the company's employment records in May. They found 700
suspected illegal immigrants, and supervisors handed out letters
over the summer ordering them to prove they came to the U.S.
legally or be fired. Only about 100 kept their jobs.

The arrests started at the plant Sept. 1. Over the Labor Day
weekend, agents with guns and bulletproof vests converged
on workers' homes after getting the addresses from Crider's files.

Antonio Lopez, who came here two years ago from Chiapas,
Mexico, and worked at the Crider plant, said agents kicked
in his front door. Lopez, 32, and his 15-year-old son were
handcuffed and taken by bus to Atlanta with 30 others. Because
of the boy, Lopez said, both were allowed to return. In his back
pocket, he carries an order to return to Atlanta for a court
hearing Feb. 2.

But now, "there's no people here and I don't have any work,"
he said.

The poultry plant has limped along with half its normal workforce.
Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit
new workers.

Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago.
She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour
job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro. Still, Bell said she
felt bad about the raids.

"If they knew eventually that they were going to have to do that, they
should have never let them come over here," she said.

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

3) Mexico: 1 million strong Convention elects “legitimate government”
By Jorge Martin   
Monday, 18 September 2006
http://www.marxist.com

A massive National Democratic Convention (CND) met in the centre
of Mexico City on Saturday, September 16 and decided to elect "a
legitimate government" with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (the
candidate of the left-wing PRD in the July 2nd elections) as its
president. This was the culmination of a struggle of more than
2 months against electoral fraud which has put into question all
the institutions of Mexico's bourgeois democracy. For 48 days,
in the run up to the CND, tens of thousands of AMLO supporters
had organised a tent city in the centre of Mexico City, paralysing
its main thoroughfares, and millions had participated in massive
rallies and daily assemblies (the largest on July 31 with 3 million).

The CND was attended by 1,025,724 delegates from all over the
country and by tens of thousands of others who had not been
officially registered. It is difficult to estimate the size of this massive
rally, but it contained anything between 1.5 and 2 million people.

In the week prior to the assembly, the Mexican government had
tried to prevent it from taking place. September 15 is the traditional
day of the "Grito de Dolores" (the shout from Dolores), when the first
call for the struggle for independence of Mexico was made by Hidalgo
in 1810. Traditionally this is celebrated by the president giving an
address from the National Palace in Zocalo Square at midnight on
September 15. This is then followed by a military parade on Mexico's
Independence day on the 16. The government was threatening to
use the army to remove the protesters.

Finally, the movement decided to withdraw from the square to allow
the military parade to go through, but only after they had taken over
the Grito de Dolores. The movement decided to reassemble on the
afternoon of the16 for the CND. Showing the weakness of the
government, president Fox had to abandon (for the first time in nearly
100 years) any idea of delivering the Grito de Dolores from the Zocalo
and fleed to Guanajuato. The official excuse that was given was that
intelligences services had information that "groups of PRD radicals
were going to kill people". Now even high-ranking officials in the
intelligence service are refuting the official government version. The
truth is that in Mexico we have quite an unprecedented situation in
which the legitimate government of Fox cannot impose its will on the
mass movement. Hundreds of thousands rightly saw it as a victory
when left-wing Senator Dolores Ibarra and other representatives
of the movement celebrated the Grito de Dolores from the Zocalo.

The CND started about an hour late, delayed by torrential rain. But
more than 1 million delegates who filled the Zocalo and the nearby
streets of Pino Suárez, 20 de Noviembre, 16 de Septiembre, Madero
and 5 de Mayo, did not move and stood there waiting. They had come
to the Zocalo for a reason and they would not be moved by the rain.

When the meeting started the first speaker was left-wing writer Elena
Poniatowska. She started by mentioning a letter she had received
from Cuahtémoc Cárdenas, a former leader of the PRD, in which he
advises the movement "not to break the framework of the institutions"
by electing Obrador as a "legitimate president". This was received by
a roar of disapproval, with the multitude shouting "Traitor! Traitor!".
Cárdenas, and many others in the PRD leadership, have openly
disassociated themselves from the resistance movement against
electoral fraud. As a result, they have gone from being respected
leaders (Cárdenas furthermore is related to president Cárdenas
who in 1938 nationalised oil), to being widely despised and rightly
considered as traitors.

Another organisation which has been put to the test by this massive
movement is the "Otra Campaña" (the Other Campaign) set up by
Subcomandante Marcos and the leaders of the EZLN. By openly
advocating abstention from the election campaign which the masses
saw as an opportunity to change their lives, they have squandered the
support and respect they had amongst the workers and peasants
throughout Mexico. The leader of the EZLN is now commonly
referred to as Subcomediante Marcos ("subcomedian" instead
of "subcommander"). Revolutionary events put all organisations
and tendencies to the test, and mistakes are paid dearly
by those who fail it.

The CND passed a number of resolutions, declaring PAN presidential
candidate (who has been declared elected president by the electoral
tribunal) as a "usurper" and refusing "to recognise him as a legitimate
president of the Republic. A "plan of resistance" was also passed
with massive support. This includes a national day of action against
the privatisation of energy sources (electricity and oil), a national week
of action in defence of free state education in October, and so on.
This shows clearly that the character of the movement has gone
beyond the question of electoral fraud and the defence of democracy.
In fact, this is clearly linked to a rejection of the policies of the right-
wing PAN which include the privatisation of Mexico's oil company
PEMEX, of the electricity company, the creation of a two-tier higher
education system, the destruction of the social security system and
the elimination of basic workers' rights enshrined in the Constitution
of 1917 during the Mexican Revolution.

But the culmination of the CND was when the issue of recognising
AMLO as legitimate president was put to the massive meeting. There
was a proposal to declare him as "head of the resistance" instead,
thus making a concession to the established institutions, but this
was rejected out of hand, with a massive majority declaring him
"president of the Republic". Crushed against the barriers that created
a space for the media in the Zocalo, 84 year old Rafael Pérez Vázqued
shouted as loud as he could: "President, he is the president! We have
been fighting since the fraud! He was elected and should be president!"

It was then decided that AMLO would form a legitimate government
and that this would be installed in Mexico City on November 20,
Mexico's Revolution Day. After, it was agreed that the highest point
of the movement will be a massive mobilisation on December the 1,
to "prevent the installation of Calderón as president".

Lopez Obrador, in his speech accepting the presidential position,
made clear the challenge to the institutions of the ruling class which
he described as an "elite block openly composed of the leaders
of the PAN and the PRI, the political arm of a small rapacious
minority which has caused so much damage to our country".
He added that he was proud to be at the head of a "government
of the people."

Another issue which has fuelled the anger of the masses is the
media blockade imposed by the mass media in Mexico (and we
should add, also internationally) on the resistance movement.
A commission of "journalists in resistance" was set up which
immediately demanded the "expropriation of the TV channels",
in order to restore "truthful information, free from the interests
of the oligarchy".

Leaving the meeting of the CND, the masses were jubilant and
the mood was one of victory. Thousands left in columns with
raised clenched fists shouting "se siente, se siente, tenemos
presidente" (you can hear, you can hear, we have a president").
Undoubtedly this movement has strengthened the confidence
of the masses in their own strength, particularly after a period
in which a series of mass movements against the Fox government
had ended up in either victories or at least in a draw. The idea
has conquered the imagination of the masses that with direct
action in the streets they can fundamentally alter the course
of events. Even more than that, the way AMLO has conducted
the "information assemblies", has given the mass movement the
idea that they are the ones who decide and democratically vote
on the proposals for action. However imperfect the democracy
of a meeting of 1 million delegates might be (and in effect it
became a mass rally rather than a proper convention with
delegates and resolutions), the movement feels that they have
the power to decide. They will be closely watching what their
leaders do, and if they do not do what they expect from them,
they will be branded traitors, and the masses will try to replace
them with others that reflect more closely their aspirations.

A clear challenge to the ruling class and its institutions has been
made, and they are clearly afraid of it. Even if they were able
to diffuse the movement (and this is not ruled out), the ruling
class in Mexico (and its mentors in Washington) are in a very
difficult situation. The right-wing government of Fox, which
was elected with a sizeable majority, was unable to carry out
any of the counter-reforms that the ruling class and US imperialism
were asking for. Every single time it was stopped in its tracks
by a mass movement of the workers and peasants. The last one
was when it attempted to prevent AMLO from standing in the
elections. Two million came out onto the streets and Fox had
to publicly withdraw the measure.

If the Fox government was weak in the face of the mass movement,
just imagine how much weaker would be an eventual Calderón
government, assuming it can be installed.

The ruling class has already started a carefully organised campaign
to re-establish the legitimacy of its institutions and to brand AMLO
and the movement as dangerous outlaws and radicals. The first ones
to come out, and it could not be otherwise, were the Cardinals
Sandoval and Rivera, who at Sunday mass appealed for Lopez
Obrador to recognise Calderón and appealed to him to "accept the
rules of the democratic game". They know very well that the
movement that has been unleashed as a result of the electoral fraud
against AMLO, regardless of his intentions, is challenging not only
Calderon but the institutions of "democracy" (capitalist democracy
that is) as a whole.

Former left-wing intellectuals, international governments, the business
organisations, the media (in Mexico and abroad), have all joined the
chorus, in defence of democracy and the institutions of government.
While Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has expressed himself
in the strongest possible terms and said he "will not recognise the
elected government", Evo Morales in Bolivia took the opposite approach
saying that "even if there have been tricks, within the framework
of the norms, the winner must be recognised". On Thursday September
14, Bolivia's Foreign Affairs Minister Choquehuanca sent an official letter
of recognition to Calderón, in direct contradiction to Bolivia's ambassador
to Mexico who had declared that Bolivia would wait until December
1 to take a decision.

Meanwhile in Oaxaca, where the Popular Assembly of the People of
Oaxaca has declared itself to be the legitimate government of the
state and started to take over government functions (public order,
transport, etc), the movement continues to challenge the governor.
Last week there was an attempt by some leaders of the APPO, from
the teachers' union (section 22 of the SNTE), to put an end to the
teachers' strike which has been the backbone of the movement so
far. The deal that was proposed included a sizeable wage increase
for the teachers (the demand that sparked the movement), but when
leading members of the APPO and of SNTE 22 tried to explain the
agreement to the rank and file and advocated the end of the strike,
this was rejected and the leaders expelled from the assemblies,
showing the mood that exists in Oaxaca as well as that the struggle
goes beyond the mere struggle for economic demands.

Peoples' Assemblies, or similar bodies of dual power under other
names have been spreading throughout Oaxaca. The Popular Mixtec
Assembly and the APPO announced that these bodies had now spread
to Santa Catarina Ticua, Yuxia, San Andrés Chicahuaxtla, Yolomécatl,
La Laguna Guadalupe, Río Las Peñas, Siniyuvi, and were in the process
to be established in San Juan Mixtepec, Santo Domingo del Estado,
Teposcolula and San Agustín Tlacotepec. The APPO also reported
that Peoples' Assemblies were also being set up in other states
outside of Oaxaca, like in Guerrero, Michoacán and even in the
northern state of Baja California.

It is clear that the strategy of the state is to combine repression
with concessions that might force the teachers to abandon the
movement, thus weakening it significantly. The nationwide
Secretaria de Gobernacion (Ministry of the Interior) has revealed
that they are considering sending federal police and even the army
to Oaxaca, to re-establish legality. It is not ruled out that they could
even find an "institutional" way to remove the hated governor of
Oaxaca in order to put an end to the insurrectionary movement.

There is the danger that the declaration of AMLO as a president
will remain just words. For this new "government" to become
a real government it must, at a certain point, clash head on and
replace the Calderon government. A situation of dual power (the
elements of which exist today in Mexico) cannot last for a long
period of time without one replacing the other.

The main task now for the revolutionary movement in Mexico
is for this government elected at the CND to become a real
government. This should be done by creating local committees
of struggle, in every neighbourhood, factory, school and military
barrack, and for these to be linked up by elected representatives
at the local, regional, state and national level. These committees
should start by struggling for the immediate demands of the masses
(for clean water, food, housing, trade union democracy, decent wages,
against privatisation, etc), so that the struggle for genuine democracy
(workers' democracy) becomes inseparable from the struggle for
the improvement of the living conditions of the masses. Then these
committees, like in Oaxaca, could start taking over power at the
local level, running their own police force accountable to the
assemblies, transportation, provision of food, etc. The calling of
a general strike, which has been advocated by the Marxist Tendency
Militante since the beginning of the movement, would galvanise
the movement and put forward clearly the question of who rules.
A general strike demonstrates clearly that it is actually the workers
who make the country work and it brings to the fore not only the
power they have to paralyse society, but also that they have the
power to run it.

What will happen in the next weeks and months in Oaxaca and in
Mexico as a whole is difficult to predict. This is a struggle of living
forces and there are many factors involved: the quality and the
actions of the leadership of the movement, the tiredness of the
masses, the manoeuvres of the ruling class and its more or less
skilful management of the situation etc., and to this we have to
add accidental elements which might propel the movement even
further.

But one thing is clear: this is not just a "normal" movement against
electoral fraud. It has much deeper roots going back over the last
15 years of attacks on the living conditions of the masses, on their
acquired rights, the implementation of the NAFTA agreement which
destroyed Mexican agriculture and forced millions of Mexicans
to emigrate to the US, the widespread feeling that the institutions
of bourgeois democracy (the government, the judges, the governors,
the media) do not serve the people but only a small minority of the
rich and powerful, etc. Because of this, the movement will not go
away. It will develop in ebbs and flows, and through these the masses
will learn valuable lessons. The best and most advanced activists
amongst the workers, the peasants, the indigenous peoples, the
youth, must gather around a genuine revolutionary tendency
which can put forward a programme that can take the movement
forward.

The revolutionary events in Mexico, part of a continent wide
movement, are an inspiration for all of us.

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

4) U.S. to Maintain Iraq Force Levels
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:37 p.m. ET
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=52aa0f7e7bbbd51a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. military will likely maintain or possibly
even increase the current force levels of more than 140,000 troops
in Iraq through next spring, the top US. commander in the Middle
East said Tuesday in one of the gloomiest assessments yet of how
quickly American forces can be brought home.

Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said military
leaders would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments
of other units if needed.

''If it's necessary to do that because the military situation on the ground
requires that, we'll do it,'' he said. ''If we have to call in more forces
because it's our military judgment that we need more forces, we'll do it.''

Abizaid said that right now the current number of troops ''are prudent
force levels'' that are achieving the needed military effect.

His comments came as U.S. political leaders continue to face declining
public support for the war in Iraq, as they head into the coming
congressional elections. Abizaid, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace are expected
to meet with members of Congress later this week.

Late last year, military leaders had said they hoped to reduce troop
levels to about 100,000 by the end of this year. But Abizaid said Tuesday
that the rising sectarian violence and slow progress of the Iraqi
government made that impossible.

''I think that this level probably will have to be sustained through the
spring,'' he told military reporters. ''I think that we'll do whatever we
have to do to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan and use the military
power of the U.S. to do that.''

Abizaid cautioned that the solution to much of Iraq's violence --
both sectarian and insurgents -- is not necessarily ''throwing more
American units at the problem.''

Instead, he said it is vital that the Iraqi government improve the political
and economic conditions in the embattled country, as part of an effort
to get the ''angry young men'' off the streets. And he said there will
be more emphasis on the U.S. military teams that are training the
Iraqi army and police forces.

There are currently 147,000 U.S. forces in Iraq -- up more than
20,000 from the troop levels in late June. Rumsfeld extended the
one-year deployment of an Alaska-based brigade in July, as part
of the effort to stem the escalating violence in Baghdad.

Abizaid said Tuesday that there are no plans to further extend
the deployment of the Alaska Stryker brigade.

On the Net:

Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil

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5) Thai Prime Minister Declares State of Emergency
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:43 p.m. ET
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Thailand.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=7088b6ed163114a6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- The Thai military launched a coup against
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday night, circling his offices
with tanks, seizing control of TV stations and declaring a provisional
authority pledging loyalty to the king.

An announcement on Thai television declared that a ''Council of
Administrative Reform'' with King Bhumibol Adulyadej as head of state
had seized power in Bangkok and nearby provinces without any resistance.

At least 14 tanks surrounded Government House, Thaksin's office. Thaksin
was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly and declared a state of
emergency via a government-owned TV station.

A convoy of four tanks rigged with loudspeakers and sirens rolled through
a busy commercial district warning people to get off the street for their
own safety.

A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because
of the sensitivity of the situation, said army Commander-in-Chief Gen.
Sondhi Boonyaratkalin had used the military to take over power from
the prime minister.

Thaksin has faced calls to step down amid allegations of corruption
and abuse of power.

Massive rallies earlier this year forced Thaksin to dissolve Parliament
and call an election in April, three years ahead of schedule. The poll
was boycotted by opposition parties and later annulled by Thailand's
top courts, leaving the country without a working legislature.

Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party twice won landslide election victories, in
2001 and 2005 and had been expected to win the next vote on Oct. 15,
bolstered by its widespread support in the country's rural areas.

Thaksin, who had been scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly
on Wednesday night, switched his speech to Tuesday at 7 p.m. EDT.

On Monday, Thaksin had said he may step down as leader of Thailand
after the upcoming elections but would remain at the helm of his party,
despite calls for him to give up the post.

In Bangkok, several hundred soldiers were deployed at government
installations and major intersections, according to an Associated
Press reporter.

Army-owned TV channel 5 interrupted regular broadcasts with patriotic
music and showed pictures of the king. At least some radio and television
stations monitored in Bangkok suspended programming.

The cable television station of the Nation newspaper reported that tanks
were parked at the Rachadamnoen Road and royal plaza close to the
royal palace and government offices.

''The prime minister with the approval of the cabinet declares serious
emergency law in Bangkok from now on'' Thaksin said by television
from New York. He said he was ordering the transfer of the nation's
army chief to work in the prime minister's office, effectively suspending
him from his military duties.

Thaksin's critics want to jettison his policies promoting privatization, free
trade agreements and CEO-style administration.

Opposition to Thaksin gained momentum in January when his family
announced it had sold its controlling stake in telecommunications
company Shin Corp. to Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings
for a tax-free $1.9 billion. Critics allege the sale involved insider
trading and complain a key national asset is now in foreign hands.

Thaksin also has been accused of stifling the media and mishandling
a Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand that flared under his rule.

In Thailand's mostly Muslim south, separatist insurgents have waged
a bloody campaign that has left at least 1,700 dead, mostly civilians,
since 2004. Citizens there have complained of rights abuses by
soldiers and discrimination by the country's Buddhist majority.

Bhumibol, a 78-year-old constitutional monarch with limited powers,
has used his high prestige to pressure opposing parties to compromise
during political crises. He is credited with helping keep Thailand more
stable than many of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

He is the world's longest-serving monarch, celebrated his 60th year
on the throne with lavish festivities in mid-June that were attended
by royalty from around the world.

Many Thais are counting on him to pull the country through its current
political crisis, which has left it with no functioning legislature and
only a caretaker government after a divisive, inconclusive election.

Bhumibol was born in Cambridge, Mass. He became the ninth king
of Thailand's Chakri dynasty on June 9, 1946, succeeding his older
brother, Ananda, killed by an unexplained shooting.

Since then, the beloved king has reigned through a score of governments,
democratic and dictatorial. He has taken an especially active role
in rural development.

In 1992, demonstrators against a military strongman were gunned
down before the king stepped in to end the fighting and usher
in a period of stability.

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6) Seeing Huge Losses, Chrysler Slashes Production
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/business/20autocnd.html?hp&ex=1158724800&en=0774124b74af9322&ei=5094&partner=homepage

DETROIT, Sept. 19 — Dogged by slumping sales of sport utility
vehicles, the Chrysler Group said today that it would cut production
by 16 percent the rest of this year, and it confirmed that it expected
to lose $1.26 billion on operations in 2006.

DaimlerChrysler’s chief executive, Dieter Zetsche, also said the company
would continue to press the United Automobile Workers union to agree
to concessions on health care benefits, even though the union said
earlier this month that it would not reach a deal with the automaker.

At a briefing with industry analysts, Chrysler said it would cut third-
quarter production by 90,000 vehicles, double its original plan to cut
45,000 vehicles out of its production schedules. Chrysler said it would
cut another 35,000 vehicles from its production plans during the
fourth quarter.

Over all, Chrysler said it planned to build 705,000 cars and trucks
during the second half of the year, down 16 percent from its original
second-half projection.

Mr. Zetsche, who ran Chrysler from 2000 until last year, declined
to estimate how big a charge against earnings the company might take.
No decision has yet been made on whether the company will cut jobs
or take other steps.

But Mr. Zetsche said Chrysler was examining its structural costs from
its factories to its purchasing operations. He said the company would
act on those costs if necessary, but he was not specific.

“We have to clearly dig deeper into the top of Chrysler to make sure
we further can accelerate the process of increased competitiveness,”
Mr. Zetsche said.

In the presentation to analysts, Chrysler forecast that its share of the
American car market would be 10.6 percent during the third quarter,
down from its original plan to hold 11.2 percent. That puts
it in fourth place, behind General Motors, the Ford Motor Company
and Toyota, and just slightly ahead of Honda.

But in July, Honda outsold Chrysler, bumping it down to fifth place
in the American market. Honda recently announced plans to build
a new factory in Indiana, raising the likelihood that it could overtake
Chrysler permanently at some point.

Chrysler depends more heavily on sales of minivans, sport utility
vehicles and pickup trucks than any of its Detroit competitors.

But sales of S.U.V.’s and pickups have declined this year in the wake
of gasoline prices that reached $3 a gallon this summer. Consumers
have shifted away from larger vehicles to cars and crossover vehicles.

As a result, Chrysler has been dogged all year by big inventories
of unsold Jeeps and pickups, some of which are parked on lots
across the Detroit area and in Toledo, Ohio, home to much
of its Jeep production.

Nonetheless, the company had doggedly insisted that it had no plans
for deeper cuts in production like those at G.M. and Ford, and that
its business would pick up in the second half of 2006.

Indeed, Chrysler plans to introduce a number of new vehicles,
including more S.U.V.s, crossover vehicles and the Sebring sedan
during the rest of the year, a reason why its fourth-quarter
production cuts were more modest than those in the third quarter.

But DaimlerChrysler stunned analysts last week when it said Chrysler
would lose $1.5 billion during the third quarter, more than double
its previous forecast that it would lose $600 million during the quarter.

That disclosure, coupled with Chrysler’s announcement today,
drew criticism from analysts, who asked Mr. Zetsche why the
company had stayed so long with its forecast that it would break
even, only to suddenly acknowledge that it expected a significant loss.

“There is no way around saying we were optimistic,” Mr. Zetsche
said. “We saw things developing not in the way we planned for them.”

Rather than change the company’s forecast, Mr. Zetsche said,
managers insisted that “next month, we will make it” until the
time came to “face the music.”

“Obviously, our communication was miserable in this regard,”
he said.

He declined to blame either American or German managers for
the company’s problems, saying that the responsibility lay with
management in general. “You can blame anybody of us — that
is fair, absolutely,” Mr. Zetsche said.

Mr. Zetsche laid some blame, in fact, on the U.A.W. for resisting
a health care deal. Last year, U.A.W. members at G.M. and Ford,
who had previously received fully paid health care benefits, agreed
to pay for part of their medical coverage.

Earlier this month, however, the U.A.W.’s president, Ron Gettelfinger,
said there would not be a similar deal at Chrysler because a union
analysis showed that the company was not in as dire financial
shape as G.M. and Ford.

Mr. Zetsche said he was “extremely dissatisfied” at the union’s
stand. “It is a very strange position that we should have to lose
$10 billion before we can have the same as at G.M. and Ford,”
he said, referring to G.M.’s $10.6 billion loss last year.

The U.A.W. had no immediate comment today.

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

7) U.S. Resorting to 'Collective Punishment'
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

RAMADI, Sep 18 (IPS) - U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment
of civilians in several cities across the al-Anabar province west of
Baghdad, residents and officials say.*

"Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar province, is still living with the
daily terror of its people getting killed by snipers and its
infrastructure being destroyed," Ahmad, a local doctor who withheld his
last name for security purposes told IPS. "This city has been facing the
worst of the American terror and destruction for more than two years
now, and the world is silent."

Destroying infrastructure and cutting water and electricity "for days
and even weeks is routine reaction to the resistance," he said. "Guys of
the resistance do not need water and electricity, it's the families that
are being harmed, and their lives which are at stake."

Students and professors at the University of al-Anbar told IPS that
their campus is under frequent attack.

"Nearly every week we face raids by the Americans or their Iraqi
colleagues," a professor speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS.
Students said that U.S. troops occupied their school last week..

"We've been under great pressure from the Americans since the very first
days of their occupation of Iraq," a student told IPS.

Such raids are being reported all over Ramadi. "The infrastructure
destruction is huge around the governorate building in downtown Ramadi,"
said a 24-year-old student who gave his name as Ali al-Ani. "And they
are destroying the market too."

IPS reported Sep. 5 that the U.S. military was bulldozing entire blocks
of buildings near the governorate to dampen resistance attacks on
government offices.

Such U.S. action seems most severe in al-Anabar province, where
resistance is strongest, and which has seen the highest U.S. casualties.

The city of Hit 80km west of Ramadi was surrounded by U.S. troops for
several days earlier this week. Several civilians were killed and at
least five were detained by U.S. forces. Checkpoints are in place at
each entrance to the city after the U.S. military lifted the cordon
around it. This has stifled movement and damaged local businesses.

"There was an attack on a U.S. convoy, and three vehicles were
destroyed," a local tribal chief who gave his name as Nawaf told IPS.
"It wasn't the civilians who did it, but they are the ones punished.
These Americans have the bad habit of cutting all of the essential
services after every attack. They said they came to liberate us, but
look at the slow death they are giving us every day."

In Haditha, a city of 75,000 on the banks of the Euphrates River in
western al-Anbar, collective punishment is ongoing, residents say. This
was the site of the massacre of 24 civilians by U.S. marines in November
2005.

"The Americans continue to raid our houses and threaten us with more
violence," a local tribal leader who gave his name as Abu Juma'a told
IPS. "But if they think they will make us kneel by these criminal acts,
they are wrong. If they increase the pressure, the resistance will
increase the reaction. We see this pattern repeated so often now."

Abu Juma'a added: "I pray that the Americans return to their senses
before they lose everything in the Iraqi fire."

In Fallujah, local police say residents have turned against them due to
the collective punishment tactics used by U.S. forces.

"The Americans started pushing us to fight the resistance despite our
contracts that clearly assigned us the duties of civil protection
against normal crimes such as theft and tribal quarrels," a police
lieutenant told IPS. "Now 90 percent of the force has decided to quit
rather than kill our brothers or get killed by them for the wishes of
the Americans."

At least one U.S. vehicle is reported destroyed every day on average in
the face of mounting U.S. raids and a daily curfew. The scene is one of
destruction of the city, not rebuilding.

"Infrastructure rebuilding is just a joke that nobody laughs at," Fayiq
al-Dilaimy, an engineer in Fallujah told IPS. He was on the rebuilding
committee set up after the November 2004 U.S.-led operation which
destroyed approximately 75 percent of the city..

"People of this city could rebuild their city in six months if given a
real chance. Now look at it and how sorrowful it looks under the boots
of the 'liberators'."

Many of the smaller towns have been badly hit. "Khaldiyah (near
Fallujah) and the area around it have faced the worst collective
punishments for over two years now," said a government official in
Ramadi. "But of course most cities in al-Anbar are being constantly
punished by the Americans."

Samarra and Dhululiyah towns, both north of Baghdad, have also been
facing collective punishment from the U.S. military, according to residents.

"Curfews and concrete walls are permanent in both cities, which makes
life impossible," Ali al-Bazi, a lawyer who lives in Dhululiyah and
works in Samarra told IPS. "There are so many killings by American
snipers. So many families have lost loved ones trying to visit relatives
or even just stepping outside of their house."

While Baghdad is not in al-Anbar province, occupation forces have used
similar tactics there. In January 2005 IPS reported that the military
used bulldozers to level palm groves, cut electricity, destroy a fuel
station and block access roads in response to attacks from resistance
fighters.

A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad did not comment on specific cases,
but told IPS that the U.S. military "does its best to protect civilians
from the terrorists."

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail.

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8) Rules for the Real World
New York Times Editorial
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/opinion/20wed1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The White House has been acting lately as though the struggle over
the proper way to handle prisoners is a debate about how tough
to get with Osama bin Laden if he’s ever actually caught. This week,
we’ve had two powerful reminders of the real issue: when
a government puts itself above the law, innocent people
are put at risk.

On Monday, Canada issued a scathing report about the story
of a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, who was abducted by American
agents in late 2002 and turned over to Syrian authorities, who
obligingly tortured him for 10 months until he signed a transparently
false confession. The report said Mr. Arar never had any connection
to terrorism. But the United States stonewalled Canada’s investigation,
which concluded that the Americans misled Canada about their plans
for Mr. Arar. Sending him to Syria, where he would certainly be tortured,
was not just immoral and un-American, it was a violation
of international law.

In Iraq, American authorities have been holding an Iraqi-born
photographer for The Associated Press for five months without
charging him with any crime. Military officials say they have evidence
that Bilal Hussein has “strong ties” to insurgents, but refuse to show
it to Mr. Hussein, his lawyers, The A.P. or even to the Iraqi courts.
We don’t know the truth. But we know how to get at it: If the
Americans have evidence against Mr. Hussein, they should present
it. If he committed a crime, he should be charged. If not, he should
be set free.

These two cases illustrate vividly why Congress needs to pass an
effective law on the handling of prisoners that not only provides
for legal military tribunals to try dangerous men like Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed, who is believed to have organized the 9/11 attacks,
but also deals with the other men, perhaps hundreds, wrongly
imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, and sets rules for the future.

The bills now before Congress don’t meet the test. The White
House’s measure endorses the practice of picking up any foreign
citizens the United States wants, abusing and even torturing them,
and then trying them on the basis of secret evidence. It effectively
repudiates the Geneva Conventions, putting American soldiers at risk.

The other bill, written by the only three Republican senators who
were willing to defy the White House, preserves the conventions
and creates a respectable trial process. But it defines “illegal enemy
combatant” so broadly that the administration could apply it to almost
any foreigner it chose, including legal United States residents. Both
bills choke off judicial review and allow even those acquitted by
a military tribunal to be held indefinitely.

Either bill might be acceptable if the United States government were
infallible. As it is, they would legalize the sorts of abuses of power
that the United States fought against in other countries for most
of the 20th century.

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

9) Canadian Man Tortured in Syria Wants Explanation From U.S.
By IAN AUSTEN
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/world/americas/20canada.html

OTTAWA, Sept. 19 — A software engineer who was exonerated
of any involvement in terrorism by a Canadian government inquiry
said Tuesday that he wanted the United States to explain why
he was sent to Syria, where he was jailed and tortured.

And in addition to compensation and an apology from the
Canadian authorities, whose inaccurate information contributed
to his deportation to Syria, Maher Arar, 37, said he also wanted
Prime Minister Stephen Harper to contact President Bush to
demand that his name, as well as those of his family members,
be formally cleared in the United States.

“It is my hope that the U.S. government provides the people with
a valid explanation of what happened,” Mr. Arar said in an interview.
“What does this do for the credibility of the U.S. government when
it talks about protecting human rights?”

In its report, released Monday, the commission of inquiry said the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police had supplied American authorities
with false information, including the claim that the Syrian-born
Mr. Arar and his wife were “suspected of being linked to the
Al Qaeda movement.”

That, it said, led to the American decision to detain him in October 2002,
while he was changing planes in New York. Mr. Arar was then flown
to Jordan in an American government plane to Jordan and taken overland
to Syria. There, the report said, Mr. Arar was repeatedly beaten and forced
to make a false confession. He was freed in 2003.

Mr. Arar said he had been shocked to learn that not only he but
his wife and his two children had been on terrorist watch lists used
by border officials in the United States and Canada. “Thank God
I didn’t know about this when I was in Syria,” he said. “Knowing
that would have made my situation worse.”

Prime Minister Harper told the House of Commons on Tuesday that
Mr. Arar had “been done a tremendous injustice,” adding, “We all
know this took place during the period of the previous government.”

However, Mr. Harper, who has been in office since January, previously
led a party known as the Canadian Alliance, which had called
Mr. Arar a dangerous terrorist and attacked efforts by the earlier
Liberal government to secure his release. Mr. Arar filed a suit against
the American officials he said were responsible for sending him to
Syria, but a federal judge in New York dismissed the case after deciding
he did not have jurisdiction. That decision is now on appeal.

In Washington, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he had not
read the report, but said, “We were not responsible for his removal
to Syria,” adding, “I’m not aware that he was tortured.”

Mr. Arar acknowledged that years might pass before he received any
action in the United States. Still, he said, “The fact that I have yet to
get answers from the American government doesn’t mean that the
American people aren’t interested.”

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10) Border Fence Must Skirt Objections From Arizona Tribe
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/washington/20fence.html?ref=us

TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION, Ariz., Sept. 14 — The Senate is expected
to vote Wednesday on legislation to build a double-layered 700-mile-
long fence on the Mexican border, a proposal already approved
by the House.

If the fence is built, however, it could have a long gap — about 75 miles
— at one of the border’s most vulnerable points because of opposition
from the Indian tribe here.

More illegal immigrants are caught — and die trying to cross into the
United States — in and around the Tohono O’odham Indian territory,
which straddles the Arizona border, than any other spot in the state.

Tribal leaders have cooperated with Border Patrol enforcement, but
they promised to fight the building of a fence out of environmental
and cultural concerns.

For the Tohono O’odham, which means “desert people,” the reason
is fairly simple. For generations, their people and the wildlife they
revere have freely crossed the border. For years, an existing four-
foot-high cattle fence has had several openings — essentially cattle
gates — that tribal members use to visit relatives and friends, take
children to school and perform rites on the other side.

“I am O’odham first, and American or Mexican second or third,” said
Ramon Valenzuela, as he walked his two children to school through
one gate two miles from his O’odham village in Mexico.

But the pushed-up bottom strands of the cattle fence and the
surrounding desert littered with clothing, water jugs and discarded
backpacks testify to the growth in illegal immigrant traffic, which
surged here after a Border Patrol enforcement squeeze in California
and Texas in the mid-1990’s.

Crossers take advantage of a remote network of washes and trails —
and sometimes Indian guides — to reach nearby highways bound
for cities across the country.

Tribal members, who once gave water and food to the occasional
passing migrant, say they have become fed up with groups of illegal
immigrants breaking into homes and stealing food, water and clothing,
and even using indoor and outdoor electrical outlets to charge cellphones.

With tribal police, health and other services overwhelmed by illegal
immigration, the Indians welcomed National Guard members this summer
to assist the Border Patrol here. The tribe, after negotiations with the
Department of Homeland Security, also agreed to a plan for concrete
vehicle barriers at the fence and the grading of the dirt road parallel
to it for speedier Border Patrol and tribal police access. The Indians
also donated a parcel this year for a small Border Patrol substation
and holding pen.

Tribal members, however, fearing the symbolism of a solid wall and
concern about the free range of deer, wild horses, coyotes, jackrabbits
and other animals they regard as kin, said they would fight the kind
of steel-plated fencing that Congress had in mind and that has
slackened the crossing flow in previous hot spots like San Diego.

“Animals and our people need to cross freely,” said Verlon Jose,
a member of the tribal council representing border villages. “In our
tradition we are taught to be concerned about every living thing as
if they were people. We don’t want that wall.”

The federal government, the trustee of all Indian lands, could
build the fence here without tribal permission, but that option
is not being pressed because officials said it might jeopardize
the tribe’s cooperation on smuggling and other border crimes.

“We rely on them for cooperation and intelligence and phone calls
about illegal activity as much as they depend on us to respond to
calls,” said Chuy Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in
Tucson, who described overall relations as “getting better and better.”

The Tohono number more than 30,000, including 14,000 on the
Arizona tribal territory and 1,400 in Mexico. Building a fence would
impose many challenges, apart from the political difficulties.

When steel fencing and other resources went up in California and
Texas, migrant traffic shifted to the rugged terrain here, and critics
say more fencing will simply force crossers to other areas without
the fence. Or under it, as evidenced by the growth in the number
of tunnels discovered near San Diego.

The shift in traffic to more remote, treacherous terrain has also led
to hundreds of deaths of crossers, including scores on tribal land here.

The effort to curtail illegal immigration has proved especially difficult
on the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose 2.8 million acres, about the size
of Connecticut, make it the second largest in area.

Faced with poverty and unemployment, an increasing number of tribal
members are turning to the smuggling of migrants and drugs,
tribal officials say.

Just this year, the tribal council adopted a law barring the harboring
of illegal immigrants in homes, a gesture to show it is taking a “zero
tolerance” stand, said the tribal chairwoman, Vivian Juan-Saunders.

Two members of Ms. Juan-Saunders’s family have been convicted
of drug smuggling in the past several years, and she said virtually
every family had been touched by drug abuse, smuggling or both.

Sgt. Ed Perez of the tribal police said members had been offered
$400 per person to transport illegal immigrants from the tribal territory
to Tucson, a 90-minute drive, and much more to carry drugs.

The Border Patrol and tribal authorities say the increase in manpower
and technology is yielding results. Deaths are down slightly, 55 this year
compared with 62 last year, and arrests of illegal immigrants in the
Border Patrol sectors covering the tribal land are up about 10 percent.

But the influx of agents, many of whom are unfamiliar with the territory
or Tohono ways, has brought complaints that the agents have interfered
with tribal ceremonies, entered property uninvited and tried to block
members crossing back and forth.

Ms. Juan-Saunders said helicopters swooped low and agents descended
on a recent ceremony, apparently suspicious of a large gathering near
the border, and she has complained to supervisors about agents speeding
and damaging plants used for medicine and food.

Some traditional and activist tribal members later this month are organizing
a conference among eight Indian nations on or near the border to address
concerns here and elsewhere.

“We are in a police state,” said Michael Flores, a tribal member helping
to organize the conference. “It is not a tranquil place anymore.”

Mr. Rodriguez acknowledged the concerns but said agents operated in
a murky world where a rush of pickups from a border village just might
be tribal members attending an all-night wake, or something else.

“Agents make stops based on what they see,” he said. “Sometimes an
agent sees something different from what tribal members or others see.”

Agents, he added, are receiving more cultural training, including a new
cultural awareness video just shot with the help of tribal members.

“Our relations have come a long way” in the past decade, he said.

Mr. Valenzuela said several agents knew him and waved as he traveled
across the border, but others have stopped him, demanding identification.
Once, he said, he left at home a card that identifies him as a tribal member
and an agent demanded that he go back into Mexico and cross at the
official port of entry in Sasabe, 20 miles away.

“I told him this is my land, not his,” said Mr. Valenzuela, who was finally
allowed to proceed after the agent radioed supervisors.

Mr. Valenzuela said he would not be surprised if a big fence eventually
went up, but Ms. Juan-Saunders said she would affirm the tribe’s concerns
to Congress and the Homeland Security department. She said she would
await final word on the fence and its design before taking action.

Members of Congress she has met, she said, “recognize we pose some
unique issues to them, and that was really what we are attempting to do,
to educate them to our unique situation.”

The House last week approved a Republican-backed bill 238 to 138
calling for double-layer fencing along a third of the 2,000-mile-long
border, roughly from Calexico, Calif., to Douglas, Ariz.

There is considerable support for the idea in the Senate, although
President Bush’s position on the proposal remains uncertain. The
Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, has expressed doubts
about sealing the border with fences.

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

11) Update on Suzanne Swift
September 19th, 2006. 101 days since her arrest.
formydaughtersuzanne@yahoo.com
http://suzanneswift.org/

I do not even know where to start. So much has happened so fast
that our heads are spinning. First about Suzanne. Her mental health
is declining. She has had two write-ups (counseling/official reprimands)
in the past few weeks for being late in the mornings for formation.
She is having a hard time waking up because her anxiety and depression
are getting so bad. She is having trouble sleeping and bad dreams when
she does sleep, so waking up early is just brutal for her. She is still
doing office work filing police reports in an office. She is being allowed
to come to Eugene every other week to meet with Dr. Schwartz, her
psychologist. She has seen him only 6 times in the past 101 days.
It is really hard for her to go back to Ft. Lewis and it breaks my heart
every time she leaves, because I know she is beyond miserable up
here and being re-traumatized by them daily. With the increasing
media attention, Suzanne has been getting more and more silent,
yet solid, support form other active women in the military. This gives
us great hope that we are helping effect change for them as well as
for validating women veteran's experiences and working to create
new hope for the future safety for young women who hope to serve
their country without fear of harassment and abuse someday.

Suzanne has given 7 interviews now and they have really taken their
toll on her. She has spoken to : The San Francisco Chronicle, New York
Times Magazine, Washington Post, Democracy Now, The Register Guard,
ABC Nightline, and Fox news. These were very hard on her and her
attorney, Keith Scherer, and I decided along with Suzanne that there
would be no more interviews until she is either charged or freed.
If she is charged her mental state will most likely deteriorate so that
is very much up in the air. We appreciate the thoughtful way that the
press has been working with us and we appreciate your professionalism.

The Iraq Veterans Against the War and Vets for Peace took matters
into their own hands and staged a sit-in on the 97th day in Congressman
Peter DeFazio's Washington DC office. They would not leave until
Congressman DeFazio agreed to take some serious action on behalf
of Suzanne. The Congressman's office called me and we agreed that
a congressional investigation into Suzanne's case would be beneficial
and, within 24 hours, on Wednesday the 13th of September, Suzanne
was signing a release of information for the Congressional investigation
to proceed. On Friday, September 15th, Suzanne was on the cover
of the San Francisco Chronicle and it has been major media ever since.
I am flying to Washington DC this week to meet with Congressman
DeFazio and talk to him about military sexual violence and the
treatment Suzanne has received from the military to date and the
future unknown plans for her.

Our attorney came out to Eugene to meet with us. Keith Scherer,
http://gslattorneys.com/keith-scherer.aspx, is a wonderful man and
a very aggressive, intelligent attorney. We are so impressed with him
and feel complete trust in his legal wisdom and ability. We are financially
and emotionally preparing for a court martial so, please, if you have
not done so already either make a financial contribution to Suzanne's
legal defense fund or get some type of fundraising activity planned
in your community. I am going to be doing some traveling around the
country to talk about Suzanne's case, raise awareness and fundraise.
Also, please set Suzanne's website as your home page,
http://suzanneswift.org/, until she is free. It is a very interactive and
alive site full of new things almost daily. HUGE thanks to Stacy Hafely,
MFSO Missouri, for being the web goddess supreme. Suzanne's
petition has reached 6,000 signatures, which is AMAZING!

Please continue to make calls and write letters on Suzanne's behalf.
There are easy forms and all the numbers and addresses on the website.
It is very easy to use. Also, please feel free to post or forward this email
to other sites/lists. I want to spread the word so we can increase the
numbers of supporters for Suzanne. Thank you!!!

Most of all please visualize Suzanne's case being resolved with integrity
and justice . . . Suzanne deserves a timely resolution to this nightmare
that they have created for her and many other women in the military.
Once again, do something everyday, no matter how big or small......
Peace,

Sara Rich, M.S.W

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12) City Hall declares war on the people of Bayview Hunters Point
by Willie Ratcliff
sfbayview@lists.riseup.net

“This is a last-ditch effort to deny the people the right to take part
in their government.” That’s what I’m telling the press who are
calling in response to news received just this morning that the San
Francisco City Attorney has issued a 13-page opinion claiming
to invalidate the referendum petition on the Bayview Hunters Point
Redevelopment Plan. According to City Attorney Dennis Herrera,
the opinion was requested by Mayor Gavin Newsom, Board of
Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, District 10 Supervisor Sophie
Maxwell (BVHP is in District 10) and the San Francisco Redevelopment
Agency. The City Attorney’s press release (at the bottom of this
message) and the full opinion are posted front and center on his
website, www.sfgov.org/cityattorney/

With the 40th anniversary of the Hunters Point Uprising of Sept. 27,
1966, only days away, this sounds like a declaration of war against
the same people who protested then and are protesting still against
police brutality and for jobs, economic equity and the right to develop
our own community and control our own destiny. In 1966, when
Hunters Point youngsters, furious when police shot 16-year-old
Matthew Johnson and killed him, blocked the cops from entering
their neighborhood east of Third Street, the mayor called in police
sharpshooters to line up on Third Street execution style and fire
into the Bayview Opera House, where terrified children had sought
refuge, and called in the National Guard, which sent tanks – yes,
tanks! – lumbering up and down Third Street.

In 1966, the mayor was trying to drive Blacks out of San Francisco.
In 2006, the mayor is still trying to drive Blacks out of San Francisco.
Our answer 40 years ago or 40 years in the future is clear: “We shall
not be moved!”
 
Our referendum petition was signed, according to the San Francisco
Department of Elections’ official certification letter issued Sept. 12,
by 33,056 San Francisco voters. People all over the city understood
that the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan, which proposed
to add 1,361 acres to the 800-plus acres of our neighborhood that
the Redevelopment Agency already controls, is nothing but a land
grab. People all over the city knew that in California, redevelopment
is officially described as “repeopling” and that by signing the petition,
they were saying, in effect, “Not in my name!”
 
Our petition was drafted with the advice of several attorneys who
specialize in the law governing referendums and redevelopment.
And it was thoroughly examined prior to circulation by the Clerk
of the Board of Supervisors, who in turn consulted with the City
Attorney, and by the Director of Elections. On the petition form
that people in our neighborhood and all over the city eagerly
signed is printed the entire text of the Redevelopment Plan
Ordinance passed 7-4 by the Board of Supervisors.
That’s what the law requires.
 
But in his “Opinion No. 2006-01,” apparently the first formal
opinion he has issued this year, the City Attorney takes 13 pages
to answer the question whether our petition should also have
reprinted “documents incorporated by reference in the Ordinance,
including the Redevelopment Plan.” He lists 10 documents –
motions and resolutions and the CEQA findings as well as the
62-page Redevelopment Plan – that he says should have been
reprinted as a part of each petition form and lugged around
by the hundreds of people who gathered those 33,056 signatures.
 
If that’s what the law governing referendums really requires,
the people have as a practical matter no right to petition their
government. It was hard enough for us – poor people in San
Francisco’s poorest neighborhood – to pay the printing bill for
tens of thousands of four-page, legal size petitions. If each
form had been the size of a large book as the City Attorney’s
opinion would require, not only their cost but their weight and
bulk would have made circulating them economically and
physically impossible.
 
I also want to correct a misleading statement in Section A
of the City Attorney’s opinion. He writes, “[W]e understand that
here the circulators did not at any time on or before filing the
Petition on August 30, 2006 ask the Clerk of the Board or the
Director of Elections to review the sample Petition or to provide
advice regarding the required form of the referendum petition
against the Ordinance.” Well, not only did we most definitely
consult with both the Clerk of the Board – who was very helpful
– and the Director of Elections, but I still have an email from
the Clerk containing some of her advice.
 
This sudden reversal by City Hall is a pure power play – an
attempt by the powerful to crush the powerless. But even the
so-called founding fathers admitted that governments derive
“their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,” and
we do not give our consent.
 
Is City Hall the only powerful player trying to roll over us?
No, I think it’s the big developers who are drooling to take
a big bite out of Bayview Hunters Point, the neighborhood
with the most sunshine and the most spectacular views in
San Francisco. Those developers donated over $40,000 to
the re-election campaign of our so-called representative,
District 10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, according to her
latest campaign finance report. She is the prime sponsor
and champion of the land-grabbing Redevelopment Plan.
 
If the big developers and their puppets, the mayor and his
minions, win this war, they’ll have made what may be the
largest urban renewal land grab in the nation’s history:
some 2,200 acres of San Francisco, the city with the
highest priced land on earth.
 
But this is our home. Our roots run deep. Many who live
here today – and their parents and grandparents – were
driven out of the Fillmore, world famous as “Harlem of
the West,” decades ago by Redevelopment Agency bulldozers
that destroyed the homes of over 5,000 Black families
and more than 200 Black-owned businesses. This time,
we shall not be moved.
 
How you can help
 
The City and County of San Francisco has declared war on
us, and we will need a war chest to fight back. I’m looking
to hear from attorneys who want to help – call me at the
Bay View, (415) 671-0789 – and contributions to pay for
this new battle and the remaining bills and loans from the
petition drive. Please make checks payable to Defend
Bayview Hunters Point and mail them to P.O. Box 470156,
San Francisco CA 94147.
 
We believe the power of the people will ultimately prevail,
and we are counting on your help to confirm the truth
of last week’s editorial headline, “People power stops
Redevelopment land grab.”
 
Many of you have not seen the editorial in last week’s printed
Bay View because our website, www.sfbayview.com , which
used to get 2 million hits a month, is not yet back online.
It was badly hacked the week of July 7, and our webmaster,
Terone Ward, with the collaboration of a team of experts from
South America, has been working feverishly to rebuild it.
Meanwhile, here is the editorial from the Bay View
of Sept. 13, 2006:
 
People power stops Redevelopment land grab
 
Editorial by Willie Ratcliff
 
Just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, San Francisco Director
of Elections John Arntz officially certified that the referendum
petition opposing the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment
Plan is successful! According to the certification letter, Elections
counted 33,056 signatures after we turned them in on Aug. 30.
After sampling them according to law, Elections found that many
more than the required 21,615 are valid.
 
While shouts of joy greeted the news here at the Bay View and
throughout our neighborhood and beyond, the major media were
shocked into total silence – a paragraph by our friends at Beyond
Chron the only coverage so far. Give the big media a minute
to huddle with the mayor and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, sponsor
of the Redevelopment Plan, and they’ll come out telling us how
stupid we are to want to control our own land and determine our
own destiny. Yeah, just like Black New Orleanians are stupid
to want to reclaim their homes and control their reconstruction.
 
The powers that be are paying attention. They call all the time.
Often they ask, “How can you fix up your neighborhood without
the help of the Redevelopment Agency?” Well, first of all, Redevelopment
has never helped Black people – except out of our homes and
out of town. Consider their catastrophic ethnic cleansing of the
Fillmore, our “Harlem of the West.”
 
And also consider what Redevelopment, the mayor and Sophie
Maxwell are doing to us today – approving $85 million in City
bond funds for AIMCO, self-described as “the nation’s largest
owner/ operator of apartment homes,” so as to deny cooperative
ownership to the 604 families of Shoreview, Bayview, LaSalle and
All Hallows, apartment complexes in the existing Hunters
Point Redevelopment Area.
 
But the best answer is, “We have all the talent and expertise,
the mind and muscle, to develop our own community. All we
need is the money, which means no more redlining, i.e., racism
in lending.” Redlining is illegal – and unconstitutional – and the
City can help us break down that barrier.
 
Last week, in an interview by Art Bruzzone, former chair of the
local Republican Party, on his show, San Francisco Unscripted,
shown repeatedly on Channel 11, I told Art a little about my
own development experience. That’s a 20-unit apartment
building in the picture at the top of this column that my family
and I built; it’s by far the largest residential building in Valdez,
Alaska – see the mountain rising behind it? – and the largest
building ever built and owned by Blacks in Alaska. I was able
to get the loan for it when Alaska was awash in oil money
in the late ‘70s.
 
Imagine a Third Street where buildings that we have lovingly
restored to their original glory are interspersed with handsome
new buildings that we build with our own hands – our own
contractors hiring and training our own people who are hungry
for work. All who were denied the right to build the light rail
when the City was in charge will prize the right to rebuild
Third Street when we are in charge.
 
We can get started right away if the Board of Supervisors votes
to reject the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan. That’s
the next step in the referendum process: the Supervisors’
reconsideration of their earlier approval of the Plan. If they
check the addresses on the petitions and see that voters
in their districts – in every district – eagerly signed, they’ll
vote unanimously to reject the plan.
 
All we need, though, are two more votes to win and the four
we had to stay the course – they are Chris Daly, Ross Mirkarimi,
Tom Ammiano and Gerardo Sandoval. Please thank those four and
call all the Supervisors. Their numbers are in the phone book and
on the web at www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs
We’ve proven we’re a powerful people now; I think they’ll
be ready to listen.
 
If the Supervisors make the mistake of voting again to approve
the Redevelopment Plan, we’re still all right. Then the Plan goes
to the next available ballot – probably in November 2007 – for
all San Francisco voters to decide. We’ll win. Every time a plan
like this has appeared on ballots around the country, voters
defeat it by 85-98 percent. And meanwhile, the City is prohibited
by law from implementing the Plan.
 
So celebrate and congratulate yourself! This is our victory, yours
and mine. If you donated a dollar – and we still have some big
bills and loans to pay – or circulated a petition or signed one
or even thought about it, you are a winner today!
 
Now our job is to replace Supervisor Sophie Maxwell this
November. An activist who checked her latest campaign
contributions report was amazed to see she’s amassed over
$40,000 from developers – donors with names like Build Inc.,
Martin Union Property Capitalist, Nibbi Bros. Construction, Robin
Chiang Architect, Steven Kaufman Realtor, Sandra Steinmetz
Property Manager and Zanello Properties.
 
Sophie and her staff were on their job Tuesday defending those
developers with a press release attacking the referendum, specifically
naming Brian Murphy O’Flynn, whose support was invaluable to us.
I’m told Sophie was overheard the other day telling someone who
asked that the reason she has no Black aides in her office is that
she doesn’t know of anyone who’s qualified.
 
Six years of suffering under Sophie is enough. If you, like me, know
and like more than one of the candidates running against her,
that’s ok. You have three votes and will be ranking your choices 1, 2, 3.
 
My first choice this year – as it was in 2000 when she first ran – is Marie
Harrison. She lives right around the corner from me now on Quesada,
with that beautiful garden just outside her front door, in a big, lovingly
restored house with a spectacular view of nearly the whole district.
 
She led the fight to shut down PG&E’s killer power plant, and she can
lead us to victory after victory. Imagine what we’d have accomplished
if she’d been our Supervisor for the last six years!
 
Three cheers for our team. Let’s keep on winning.
 
Contact Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff at publisher@sfbayview.com
or (415) 671-0789. Contribute to the referendum campaign by sending
your check or money order to Defend Bayview Hunters Point,
P.O. Box 470156, San Francisco Ca 94147.

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13) President Chavez's Speech to the United Nations
By: President Hugo Chavez
Friday, Sep 16, 2005
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/print.php?artno=1555

Your Excellencies, friends, good afternoon:

The original purpose of this meeting has been completely distorted.
The imposed center of debate has been a so-called reform process
that overshadows the most urgent issues, what the peoples of the
world claim with urgency: the adoption of measures that deal with
the real problems that block and sabotage the efforts made by our
countries for real development and life.

Five years after the Millennium Summit, the harsh reality is that the
great majority of estimated goals- which were very modest indeed-
will not be met.

We pretended reducing by half the 842 million hungry people by the
year 2015. At the current rate that goal will be achieved by the year
2215. Who in this audience will be there to celebrate it? That is only
if the human race is able to survive the destruction that threats our
natural environment.

We had claimed the aspiration of achieving universal primary education
by the year 2015. At the current rate that goal will be reached after
the year 2100. Let us prepare, then, to celebrate it.

Friends of the world, this takes us to a sad conclusion: The United
Nations has exhausted its model, and it is not all about reform.
The XXI century claims deep changes that will only be possible if
a new organization is founded. This UN does not work. We have
to say it. It is the truth. These transformations – the ones Venezuela
is referring to- have, according to us, two phases: The immediate
phase and the aspiration phase, a utopia. The first is framed by the
agreements that were signed in the old system. We do not run away
from them. We even bring concrete proposals in that model for the
short term. But the dream of an ever-lasting world peace, the dream
of a world not ashamed by hunger, disease, illiteracy, extreme necessity,
needs-apart from roots- to spread its wings to fly. We need to spread
our wings and fly. We are aware of a frightening neoliberal globalization,
but there is also the reality of an interconnected world that we have
to face not as a problem but as a challenge. We could, on the basis
of national realities, exchange knowledge, integrate markets, interconnect,
but at the same time we must understand that there are problems that
do not have a national solution: radioactive clouds, world oil prices,
diseases, warming of the planet or the hole in the ozone layer. These
are not domestic problems. As we stride toward a new United Nations
model that includes all of us when they talk about the people, we are
bringing four indispensable and urgent reform proposals to this
Assembly: the first; the expansion of the Security Council in its
permanent categories as well as the non permanent categories, thus
allowing new developed and developing countries as new permanent
and non permanent categories. The second; we need to assure the
necessary improvement of the work methodology in order to increase
transparency, not to diminish it. The third; we need to immediately
suppress- we have said this repeatedly in Venezuela for the past
six years- the veto in the decisions taken by the Security Council,
that elitist trace is incompatible with democracy, incompatible with
the principles of equality and democracy.

And the fourth; we need to strengthen the role of the Secretary
General; his/her political functions regarding preventive diplomacy,
that role must be consolidated. The seriousness of all problems calls
for deep transformations. Mere reforms are not enough to recover
that “we” all the peoples of the world are waiting for. More than just
reforms we in Venezuela call for the foundation of a new United
Nations, or as the teacher of Simón Bolívar, Simón Rodríguez said:
“Either we invent or we err.”

At the Porto Alegre World Social Forum last January different
personalities asked for the United Nations to move outside the
United States if the repeated violations to international rule of law
continue. Today we know that there were never any weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq. The people of the United States have always been
very rigorous in demanding the truth to their leaders; the people of
the world demand the same thing. There were never any weapons
of mass destruction; however, Iraq was bombed, occupied and it is
still occupied. All this happened over the United Nations. That is why
we propose this Assembly that the United Nations should leave
a country that does not respect the resolutions taken by this same
Assembly. Some proposals have pointed out to Jerusalem as an
international city as an alternative. The proposal is generous enough
to propose an answer to the current conflict affecting Palestine.
Nonetheless, it may have some characteristics that could make
it very difficult to become a reality. That is why we are bringing
a proposal made by Simón Bolívar, the great Liberator of the South,
in 1815. Bolívar proposed then the creation of an international city
that would host the idea of unity.

We believe it is time to think about the creation of an international
city with its own sovereignty, with its own strength and morality to
represent all nations of the world. Such international city has to balance
five centuries of unbalance. The headquarters of the United Nations
must be in the South.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are facing an unprecedented energy crisis
in which an unstoppable increase of energy is perilously reaching
record highs, as well as the incapacity of increase oil supply and the
perspective of a decline in the proven reserves of fuel worldwide.
Oil is starting to become exhausted.

For the year 2020 the daily demand for oil will be 120 million barrels.
Such demand, even without counting future increments- would
consume in 20 years what humanity has used up to now. This
means that more carbon dioxide will inevitably be increased,
thus warming our planet even more.

Hurricane Katrina has been a painful example of the cost
of ignoring such realities. The warming of the oceans is the
fundamental factor behind the demolishing increase in the strength
of the hurricanes we have witnessed in the last years. Let this
occasion be an outlet to send our deepest condolences to the
people of the United States. Their people are brothers and sisters
of all of us in the Americas and the rest of the world.

It is unpractical and unethical to sacrifice the human race by appealing
in an insane manner the validity of a socioeconomic model that has
a galloping destructive capacity. It would be suicidal to spread
it and impose it as an infallible remedy for the evils which are
caused precisely by them.

Not too long ago the President of the United States went to an
Organization of American States’ meeting to propose Latin America
and the Caribbean to increase market-oriented policies, open market
policies-that is neoliberalism- when it is precisely the fundamental
cause of the great evils and the great tragedies currently suffered
by our people. : The neoliberal capitalism, the Washington Consensus.
All this has generated is a high degree of misery, inequality and
infinite tragedy for all the peoples on his continent.

What we need now more than ever Mr. President is a new international
order. Let us recall the United Nations General assembly in its sixth
extraordinary session period in 1974, 31 years ago, where a new
International Economic Order action plan was adopted, as well as the
States Economic Rights and Duties Charter by an overwhelming majority,
120 votes for the motion, 6 against and 10 abstentions. This was the
period when voting was possible at the United Nations. Now it is
impossible to vote. Now they approve documents such as this one
which I denounce on behalf of Venezuela as null, void and illegitimate.
This document was approved violating the current laws of the United
Nations. This document is invalid! This document should be discussed;
the Venezuelan government will make it public. We cannot accept an open
and shameless dictatorship in the United Nations. These matters should
be discussed and that is why I petition my colleagues, heads of states
and heads of governments, to discuss it.

I just came from a meeting with President Néstor Kirchner and well,
I was pulling this document out; this document was handed out five
minutes before- and only in English- to our delegation. This document
was approved by a dictatorial hammer which I am here denouncing
as illegal, null, void and illegitimate.

Hear this, Mr. President: if we accept this, we are indeed lost. Let us
turn off the lights, close all doors and windows! That would be
unbelievable: us accepting a dictatorship here in this hall.

Now more than ever- we were saying- we need to retake ideas that
were left on the road such as the proposal approved at this Assembly
in 1974 regarding a New Economic International Order. Article 2 of that
text confirms the right of states to nationalizing the property and natural
resources that belonged to foreign investors. It also proposed to create
cartels of raw material producers. In the Resolution 3021, May, 1974,
the Assembly expressed its will to work with utmost urgency in the
creation of a New Economic International Order based on- listen
carefully, please- “the equity, sovereign equality, interdependence,
common interest and cooperation among all states regardless of their
economic and social systems, correcting the inequalities and repairing
the injustices among developed and developing countries, thus assuring
present and future generations, peace, justice and a social and economic
development that grows at a sustainable rate.”

The main goal of the New Economic International Order was
to modify the old economic order conceived at Breton Woods.

We the people now claim- this is the case of Venezuela- a new
international economic order. But it is also urgent a new international
political order. Let us not permit that a few countries try to reinterpret
the principles of International Law in order to impose new doctrines such
as “pre-emptive warfare.” Oh do they threaten us with that pre-emptive
war! And what about the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine? We need
to ask ourselves. Who is going to protect us? How are they going
to protect us?

I believe one of the countries that require protection is precisely the
United States. That was shown painfully with the tragedy caused
by Hurricane Katrina; they do not have a government that protects
them from the announced nature disasters, if we are going to talk
about protecting each other; these are very dangerous concepts that
shape imperialism, interventionism as they try to legalize the violation
of the national sovereignty. The full respect towards the principles
of International Law and the United Nations Charter must be,
Mr. President, the keystone for international relations in today’s
world and the base for the new order we are currently proposing.

It is urgent to fight, in an efficient manner, international terrorism.
Nonetheless, we must not use it as an excuse to launch unjustified
military aggressions which violate international law. Such has been
the doctrine following September 11. Only a true and close
cooperation and the end of the double discourse that some
countries of the North apply regarding terrorism, could end
this terrible calamity.

In just seven years of Bolivarian Revolution, the people of Venezuela
can claim important social and economic advances.

One million four hundred and six thousand Venezuelans learned
to read and write. We are 25 million total. And the country will-in
a few days- be declared illiteracy-free territory. And three million
Venezuelans, who had always been excluded because of poverty,
are now part of primary, secondary and higher studies.

Seventeen million Venezuelans-almost 70% of the population- are
receiving, and for the first time, universal healthcare, including the
medicine, and in a few years, all Venezuelans will have free access
to an excellent healthcare service. More thatn a million seven hundred
tons of food are channeled to over 12 million people at subsidized
prices, almost half the population. One million gets them completely
free, as they are in a transition period. More than 700 thousand new
jobs have been created, thus reducing unemployment by 9 points.
All of this amid internal and external aggressions, including a coup
d’etat and an oil industry shutdown organized by Washington.
Regardless of the conspiracies, the lies spread by powerful media
outlets, and the permanent threat of the empire and its allies, they
even call for the assassination of a president. The only country where
a person is able to call for the assassination of a head of state is the
United States. Such was the case of a Reverend called Pat Robertson,
very close to the White House: He called for my assassination and
he is a free person. That is international terrorism!

We will fight for Venezuela, for Latin American integration and the
world. We reaffirm our infinite faith in humankind. We are thirsty
for peace and justice in order to survive as species. Simón Bolívar,
founding father of our country and guide of our revolution swore
to never allow his hands to be idle or his soul to rest until he had
broken the shackles which bound us to the empire. Now is the time
to not allow our hands to be idle or our souls to rest until
we save humanity.

Translated by Néstor Sánchez

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14) Home Raids Provoke Increased Unrest
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
http://dahrjamailiraq.com

BAGHDAD, Sep 20 (IPS) - Renewed raids at Iraqi homes by joint
U.S.-Iraqi security forces are angering Iraqis -- while failing to
improve the worsening security situation.*

"Operation Forward Together should be called 'To Hell Together',"
53-year-old Hamid Fassal, an estate broker from the Dora region of
Baghdad told IPS, referring to the major U.S.-Iraqi joint security
campaign launched in June. "They should be ashamed of what's going on
after four years of plans and such huge expenditure. The result is only
more deaths and more agony for all Iraqis."

U.S. troops accompanied by Iraqi soldiers have conducted raids across
much of the Sunni region of Iraq in search of death squads. Several
Iraqis say they are surprised about the areas searched because they say
U.S. forces know that the majority of death squads are located in the
Shia areas.

"I do not understand what they are really looking for and whether they
are doing it right," Salim al-Juboori of the Sherq Journal in Baghdad
told IPS. "They searched Amiriya, Adhamiyah, Dora and other places in
Baghdad where citizens are the victims of gangs who come from other
places under government flags, and during curfew hours."

Residents of the Amiriya neighbourhood of Baghdad recently faced a
week-long blockade after U..S. troops raided more than 6,000 houses.
Residents had to face checkpoints and body searches.

"They detained many innocent people and robbed lightweight valuable
materials from the houses they raided," a member of the Amiriya local
council told IPS. "It seems they were searching for gold, cash and
expensive mobile devices. They know very well where to search for
criminals, so why destroy Amiriya?"

Similar complaints have come from Dora, Adhamiya and other Sunni areas
of Baghdad, and other cities throughout the primarily Sunni province of
al-Anbar west of Baghdad.

"Hasn't Fallujah had enough," said Mansoor al-Kubaissi of the Fallujah
Youth Centre. "Those Americans are raiding our houses, looting our
savings and business capital and detaining our sons again and again, as
if there were a feud between us. Look at the result of their doings:
they are being attacked several times a day and their soldiers are
falling dead every day."

Kubaissi was referring to joint U.S.-Iraqi security force raids in
central Fallujah over this past weekend.

On Sunday Sep. 17, five car bombs and another tied to a bicycle exploded
in Fallujah. The bomb attacks targeted U.S. and Iraqi troops during
their routine patrols and home raids.

U.S. forces have detained many people, including Reuters/BBC/al-Jazeera
correspondent Fadhil al-Bedrani. Bedrani is well known to people in
Fallujah for his professional reporting during more than three years of
U.S. occupation.

Associated Press (AP) photographer Bilal Hussein, who is also from
Fallujah, has been detained for five months by the U.S. military.
Hussein was accused by U.S. forces of being a "security threat", but
they have never filed charges or permitted a public hearing.

Executives from AP say they did not find any sign of inappropriate
contact with resistance fighters. Bedrani and Hussein are only two among
an estimated 14,000 people detained by the U.S. military across the
world.. At least 13,000 of these are in Iraq.

Most have been held without charge, and have been given no date for a
court appearance or tribunal hearing where they might argue for their
freedom.

The home raids and neighbourhood searches that are leading to more such
detentions meanwhile continue to anger Iraqis. Many say the raids are
only worsening the already chaotic and violent situation.

"Their searches always end up with terrible failures," Col. Kathum Jawad
of the previous Saddam security directorate told IPS in Baghdad. "Two
days after their search in Adhamiya, 14 roadside bombs exploded within a
quarter an hour, killing soldiers. This failure only means the Iraqi
problem is not coming to an end as long as those people are in power."

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail.

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15) G.O.P. in Senate Narrows Immigration Focus to 700-Mile Fence
By CARL HULSE
September 21, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/washington/21immig.html?ref=us

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — Senate Republicans formally put aside
a broad immigration overhaul sought by President Bush on Wednesday
and decided instead to press ahead with narrower bills to require
building 700 miles of fence on the southwestern border.

Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said the fate
of millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States had
become a “fundamental sticking point” in trying to reach agreement
with the House on a broad bill.

Mr. Frist said the fence proposal, which the House has passed,
was the best alternative if lawmakers wanted to salvage some
immigration changes before the Nov. 7 elections.

“Let’s focus on a problem the American people understand,’’ the
senator said, “and that is, we have hundreds of thousands of people
coming across our border every year into our country.”

He added that the broad measure could be considered when
Congress returned in mid-November or next year.

The Senate voted, 94 to 0, to debate the measure on fencing
and other border barriers at the cost of billions of dollars. But the
fate of even that measure is unclear, because members of both
parties have reservations, and Mr. Frist may need to block any
amendments if he wants to deliver it to Mr. Bush before Congress
adjourns next week.

The fence represents one element of the broad bipartisan measure
that the Senate approved in May after Mr. Bush had delivered
a prime-time address calling for sweeping changes in immigration
law, including allowing some illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.
House Republicans, fearing a backlash from the right, refused
to consider any bill that could be called amnesty for illegal
immigrants.

The two chambers never formally opened negotiations to reconcile
the Senate bill with a strict border enforcement measure that
the House approved in December.

Republican backers of the broad Senate approach suggested
that the party could be penalized at the polls for not pursuing
a comprehensive solution.

“It is one of the greatest problems facing the country today,”
Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who
is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said. “For
the Republicans not to produce is not good. Perhaps we
will find a little better mood in the lame-duck session.”

Other Republicans said constituents were demanding that
the government do a much better job of sealing borders
before considering other aspects of an immigration overhaul
like a temporary-worker program, new penalties for businesses
that employ illegal immigrants and possible citizenship.

“This is putting the horse before the cart,” Senator Rick
Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, said about moving