2006 Nov Dec

Because People Matter Progressive News and Views

November / December 2006

Sacramento Backs Sheraton Grand Hotel Workers Seeking higher wages and lower workloads By Gail Ryall

Over 200 union hotel workers and their supporters from many Sacramento unions, community organizations and churches, participated in a spirited picket line outside the Sheraton Grand Hotel in downtown Sacramento recently, chanting and singing to the accompaniment of drums and noisemakers. The UNITE HERE Local 49 “Hotel Workers Rising” campaign, to gain better union contracts for hotel employees in Sacramento, has been escalating this fall. In support, a coalition of local clergy, community leaders, elected officials and even some small businessmen have been sending delegations to meet with the management of the Sheraton Grand Hotel to urge better health care and working conditions for their employees. The Stonewall Democratic Club sponsored a community support event, featuring Cleve Jones, national founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Jones is spearheading a national campaign called “Sleep With the Right People” www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org. The Sheraton Grand is the largest and newest of the five union hotels in Sacramento. Negotiations have been underway for several months. Workers have been doing informational leafleting outside the hotel. At a Sacramento community meeting in August, hotel workers described the physical drudgery and speed-up that they endure. Christine Troughton, a cook at the Sheraton Grand, told of lifting heavy pots and 50-pound sacks of onions or potatoes. She needs surgery and therapy for her shoulders, but can’t afford it, so she takes Tylenol or Motrin to keep going. “I have to get my paycheck to pay my bills, so I keep working through the pain,” Troughton said. Eva Tuaga, who has a sick husband, has worked for 16 years as a hotel maid, earning $8.50 an hour. She pays $156 every two weeks for health insurance. In an 8-hour shift she is required to clean 16 messy rooms, including making two luxury beds with heavy mattresses, thick cov-

Freedom From War

David Dionisi’s work for a peaceful world by Tom King

“They also serve who only stand and wait.” This famous sentence from the pen of John Milton, himself a passionately politicized writer, might just be the maximum encouragement to us who stand with our signs at intersections promoting the dream of peace. Sometimes we grow discouraged out there when it seems the weeks pass without evidence of sufficient change. That’s why, when something remarkable does happen, right in Sacramento’s backyard, it’s so inspiring.

“A peace movement sweeping up all the little “pieces of peace” into a strong, unified force field.” Sacramento’s backyard? No offense, Davis, but that means you! What has come forth in Davis is a worldbeating organization with a world-beater at its helm! This is Freedom From War, created by David Dionisi, who in less than a year after its founding has already made it an international organization active in four countries. This man Dionisi is many admirable things. In 1985, while an army intelligence officer in Korea, he first began to question this country’s foreign policies. A book he’s written to reawaken our sleep-walking world to the alltoo-real nightmare of nuclear weapons, American Hiroshima, is translated and available even in Korea, and the source for a motion picture being made in England. His fund of information on world affairs, much of it gathered

“Many people clock out at the end of the day and then go back to finish their rooms on their own time.” Eva Tuaga, hotel maid at the Sheraton Grand. ers and several pillows in each room. “Many people clock out at the end of the day and then go back to finish their rooms on their own time,” Tuaga told the audience. UNITE HERE labor contracts, expiring across the US this year, provide a key opportunity to raise workers’ living standards. In San Francisco, UNITE HERE Local 2 has just won a contract struggle with 13 of the city’s largest hotel corporations. In addition to gains in health care, wages, pensions and workload protections, the five-year contract gives workers the right to remain union when a hotel changes hands. In Chicago, hotel workers have ratified a new contract with the Hilton Hotels, raising wages nearly 21 percent and cutting workloads. In both cities, the unions will now call on other major hotels to sign similar agreements. Half of the recent increase in US service jobs is in hotel maintenance, in hotels owned by large national and international companies. Most hotel workers are women and people of color, and many are immigrants. The hotel workers’ struggle requires them to confront international companies on a national level. Vivian Rothstein, deputy director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, spoke at the Sacramento community meeting in August. “All of us need an economic and social justice movement,” Rothstein said. Through the process of confronting poverty, clergy and communities can strengthen their own organizations, while helping to rebuild the labor movement, she added. “The “Hotel Workers Rising” campaign is fundamentally about raising the working poor out of poverty,” said Sherry Chiesa, UNITE HERE international vice president. “What the auto workers union did in the private sector in

as an intelligence community insider, is prodigious. Dionisi will address the public wherever they’re willing to listen, and as a speaker he’s not just good, he’s formidable. More than just a highly talented tongue, however, he’s a humanitarian who organizes and serves orphanages in third world countries. In fact he’s taken all his inordinate capabilities and trained them upon one objective: to rescue the world from the terminal disaster that appears about to swallow it. Now I come to one final talent of this man: his genius for organization, with its fruition in the rapidly swelling membership of Freedom From War. So what distinguishes FFW? The paramount distinction must be Dionisi’s vision of a peace movement sweeping up all the little “pieces of peace” into a strong, unified force field. “Our open source peace model and sharing of best practices,” he writes, “has the potential to change the insular and often ineffective efforts of many peace organizations.” In terms of community service, its umbrella covers world-beating undertakings, some of them truly heart lifting. Umbrella is the operative word here: Dionisi is the systemic unifier, administrator and servant to other folks’ independent projects. One of the most impressive of the projects being advanced is the effort by FFW member Nadia McCaffrey to create homes to care for soldiers shattered to the point of dysfunction. Now in the process of becoming a separate organization, the homes for veterans program, while so far only a concept, illustrates how FFW, disapproving of war, reaches out to the victims of war.

Above and left: drums and bullhorns, and cans filled with peas accentuated a sea of signs, as over 300 workers and community supporters wearing Hotel Workers Rising tshirts marched in front of the Sheraton Grand Oct. 19. photos: Ellen Schwartz

the last century is what we have to do for the service sector now,” she said. For more information about the “Hotel Workers Rising” campaign in Sacramento, contact UNITE HERE Local 49 at (916) 564-4949 or Josh Eidelson at jeidelson@ unitehere.org Gail Ryall is a long-time labor activist, and a delegate to the Sacramento Central Labor Council from the California Capital Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women.

The final good news bulletin: FFW will soon have a Sacramento chapter! To learn more about Freedom From War, visit www.freedomfromwar.org. You can reach David Dionisi at [email protected]. Those interested in purchasing his book can visit www. americanhiroshima. Tom King is a retired college professor who lives and writes in Sacramento.

Inside this issue:

Editorial.............................................. 2 Demonizing Arabs & Muslims.......... 2 Teen and Youth Violence..................... 3 Rethinking Jesus................................. 4 Poem: Destiny Calls........................... 4 Black Panther Party reunion.............. 5 Bottling Public Water......................... 6 Project Censored 2007........................ 7 The Case for Impeachment:. The White House &. Hurricane Katrina........................ 8 Book Reviews.................................... 10 Media Clipped................................... 11 Peace Action...................................... 12 Hugo Chavez: Hero........................... 13 Poem: This Time Oaxaca.................. 14 Calendar............................................ 15 Progressive Media............................. 16

 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER November / December 2006

People Matter

Editorial

Published Bi-Monthly by the Sacramento Community for Peace & Justice P.O. Box 162998, Sacramento, CA 95816 (Use addresses below for correspondence)

Perils and Promises

because

Volume 15, Number 6

Editorial Group: Jacqueline Diaz, JoAnn Fuller, Seth Sandronsky Coordinating Editor for this Issue: Seth Sandronsky Editor-at-Large: Jeanie Keltner Design and Layout: Ellen Schwartz and Dale Crandall-Bear Calendar Editor: Chris Bond Advertising and Business Manager: Edwina White Distribution Manager: Paulette Cuilla Subscription Manager: Kate Kennedy

How to Reach Us: Subscriptions, letters, punditry: 403 21st Street Sacramento, CA 95814 444-3203 Ads or other business: 446-2844 All email correspondence:

HAVE A CALENDAR ITEM? Send an email with “calendar item” in the subject line. Make it short, and in this order, please: Day, Date. Name of event. Description (1-2 lines). Time. Location. INFO: phone#; email.

HAVE A storY? We start planning the next issue of BPM the day the current issue hits the streets. Let us know by email as soon as you have an idea for a story so we can consider it early in the process.

HAVE SOME time? (HA HA HA!) Well, you might have, and BPM always needs help with big and small tasks. Call 444-3203.

Copy Deadlines: For the Jan./Feb, 2007 Issue: Articles: December 1, 2006 Calendar Items: Dec. 10, 2006 Cultural events welcome! Because People Matter is an allvolunteer endeavor to present alternative, progressive news and views in Sacramento. We invite and welcome your responses. To discuss a proposed article, or help distribute the paper, inquire about ad rates, or help out in some other way, call or write using the phone number and address listed under ”How to Reach Us” above. Please reproduce from any of the written contents, but do credit the author and BPM. BPM is printed by Herburger Publications, Inc. 585-5533.

On the cover On October 19, outside the Sheraton Grand hotel in downtown Sacramento, as over 300 union hotel workers and their supporters marched in a spirited picket line, four clergymen, representing Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths, attempted to deliver a statement to the hotel management called “On Hospitality and Human Dignity”, signed by 47 local Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim clerics. They were told none of the managers were available. Before the demonstration broke up, the participants outside the hotel chanted to the management that wasn’t there, “We’ll be back, we’ll be back,” promising to return in even larger numbers on November 2. See story on Page 1. photo: Ellen Schwartz

Seth Sandronsky, Coordinating Editor for this issue

D

o you like shorter days and longer nights? Whatever your answer, fall is here. And winter is fast upon us. It is a fine time to look back and catch your breath. What a year 2006 has been, full of perils and promises. This mix can and does spur regular people to use their creative energies to try to solve some of our pressing issues and problems. BPM is a progressive voice in these struggles. In this edition of the paper, our writers offer analysis, artwork, events, news, poetry, and more to help you better understand our world, and to get a glimpse of what ordinary folks are doing to try and make it better. Your participation in these efforts is most welcome. In fact, it is necessary to create the progressive change we so dearly need now! Mazda Majidi decodes the schemes of the Bush White House over Iran’s presumed military threat to the US. Once again, he notes, the administration is trying to make the American people fear a foreign government. Sound familiar? The same president and his (wo)men made the case for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (still missing!) as an excuse to invade that nation in March 2003. Tom King and Jeanie Keltner (BPM editor at-large) join Majidi in critical thought about war, focusing on local people laboring for peace and understanding. Bob Richards discusses a very

famous social activist, Jesus, in relation to the violent empires of Rome and US. Violence in war cultures is both global and local. Rhonda Erwin details who is mobilizing to address Sacramento’s awful crisis of teen and youth violence, and why. A.J. Crisostomo reports on a new student group struggling to improve the Multi-Cultural/ Women’s Resource Center at CSU Sacramento. Enjoy the poetry of Felicia Martinez and Shayana

“Please join us to help strengthen BPM, to keep it going as a voice in struggle.” Mendes about Mexico and the US. Dan Bacher lauds Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, who recently criticized President Bush’s concern for the freedom of foreign peoples. How can the White House with Democrats’ backing export freedom while crushing human rights here in the name of security? On that note, Kevin Wehr has a major piece in our centerfold (pages 8 and 9). He argues that impeachment of the president and vice president for what they did not do to help innocent Americans during the Hurricane Katrina disaster and flood is a punishment that fits their crimes. Water is where all life began and what life

itself requires. Nancy Price explains the corporate privatization of that natural resource, and what people can do to stop it. I consider some press coverage of the US health care system. The rising price of health care has propelled the recent walkout of thousands of Sacramento County workers. Gail Ryall reports on some hotel workers in the city struggling for better health care and pay from their employers. Mary Bisharat and Leon Lefson review books penned by journalists of diverse eras. Charlene Jones reviews a volume of news analysis by Project Censored, based at Sonoma State University. Elbert “Big Man” Howard of the Black Panther Party brings us a bit of hidden history from the 1960s. Then, Panthers were on the move, bringing various peoples together for the common good. Then and now, as 2007 approaches, overcoming our divisions of class, gender and race is a big key to creating a better society. BPM is part of this freedom movement, which has its unique strengths and weaknesses. Please join us to help strengthen BPM, to keep it going as a voice in struggle. Does that interest you? On behalf of the many volunteers who produce and distribute this paper, we look forward to working with you. Seth Sandronsky is a co-editor with Because People Matter.

Demonizing Arabs and Muslims Strategic Islamophobia and the US imperial project By Jeanie Keltner

Khaled Umbashi was worried. After 9-11, his wife had been harshly insulted at a gas station, and at school his 10-year-old son Mohamed had been accused of being a terrorist because of his name. And now here was a textbook from the boy’s school—World Geography by McDougal Littell—that seemed to Khaled to portray Muslins and Arabs as terrorists. This could only make things worse for Muslims. Umbashi is an activist—we’ve worked together on several issues over the years—so he went to The Bee and the Sacramento News & Review, both of which published thoughtful articles about his concerns. And the text’s publishers, Houghton Mifflin, agreed to take Umbashi’s objections into account when they put out a new edition. But that is hardly the end of the story. Khaled is right to worry. A recent report by the nation’s largest Muslim organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), says complaints of discrimination, harassment, and violence against Muslims in the US jumped over 30% from 2004 to 2005. One fourth of respondents to a CAIR survey believed stereotypes such as “Muslims value life less than other people” and “The Muslim religion teaches violence and hatred.” Over four in 10 said they associated fanaticism with Muslims (www. antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=9716). Recent polls by Gallup and the Washington Post/NBC show 46% holding a negative view of Islam. Obviously all these stereotypes make it easier to victimize Muslims. Yet nearly 60% of US citizens say they have never met a Muslim—so these opinions are created by political discourse and by the media—from Mohamed’s textbook to the networks to the news to the rightwing shock jocks who specialize in riling up anger. Interesting and alarming proof that media images and info work on the mind below the level of consciousness and rationality is the University of Michigan study reporting that although most non-Muslims feel the media depicts Arabs unfairly, they still hold negative opinions (Wash-

ington Post 3-9-06)! and gives rise to wickedness and sin,” associated Anti-Arab/Muslim feeling is not new. with Satan (Random House Dictionary). Michael Parenti showed in Make-Believe Media: We see this magnification clearly in the The Politics of Entertextbook: “The traditainment (Wadsworth tional motives, such as “Stereotypes make it easier Publishing, 1991) that gaining independence, to victimize Muslims.” Hollywood felt free to expelling foreigners, slur Arabs as a group or changing society, when other subgroups became protected by polit- still drive various terrorist groups around the ical correctness. Now, however, Islamophobia is world…. But other kinds of terrorists, driven by an essential strategy in the Bush/Cheney regime’s radical religious motives, began to emerge in the move to control the mineral/oil/gas wealth of the late 20th century. The goal of these terrorists is Middle East and Central Asia. As we are seeing the destruction of what they consider the forces (with war on Iran looming on the horizon), this of evil. This evil might be located in their own entails war on many Muslim nations. And to countries or in other parts of the world. These make the massive killing and brutalizing acceptterrorists often threaten to use weapons of mass able to the US public, the targets must first be destruction, such as chemical, biological, or demonized. See Umbashi, page 14 Thus Islamophobia is cultivated constantly—from Bush’s initially entitling the attack on Iraq a crusade and his current reiteration of Islamofascism as the enemy to the Pope’s recent attack on Islam as violent and irrational (when Try a free six-month subscription to BPM. There in fact Islamic societies historically have actuis no obligation to buy anything. ally been more tolerant of other religions than We think you will like the alternative news Christianity). and views you find in this all-volunteer local Anti-Arab/Muslim sentiment is being bimonthly. encouraged since this regime needs every distraction it can muster to deflect a populace that Of course, if you’re already convinced, then seems to be rousing itself to opposition. Hatred enclose $15 with the coupon and help support of the Other is such a convenient and blinding Sacramento’s alternative to the corporatedistraction that racism is a necessary part of all controlled media. fascist regimes—a way to focus anger created by one’s oppression away from the tyrant above Name____________________________________ toward the Other below. Address__________________________________ This has happened, perhaps, to a greater City ______________________ Zip ___________ extent and intensity with Muslims than with previous US enemies—maybe because the Bush/ Email address ____________________________ neocon imperial project is so grandiose, requir❏  Yes, send me BPM for 6 months, FREE! ing not only harsh aggression abroad but also ❏  Enclosed is $15 for a one year subscription. harsh repression at home, that the enemy must (Heck, here’s more money, a donation of $________) be big to justify it. Immediately after 9-11 Bush introduced the concept of evil into the discus❏  I want to volunteer. Call me at _______________ sion: the evil-doers, the axis of evil. This moves Mail to: BPM, 403 21st Street, Sacramento, the discussion from the political to the metaCA 95814 physical. Evil: “The force of nature that governs

Free Trial Offer!

November / December 2006 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER



Responding to Teen and Youth Violence Community versus government solutions By Rhonda Erwin

our suffering was not very newsworthy. Meanwhile, our teens and youth are killing ur community is responding to teen and one other. One shooting is copying the other. youth violence. Why do we need to recOne funeral copies a funeral the day before. The ognize these community members? government has been slow to respond to families’ The first reason is to destroy the myth that cries and pleas for teens and youth of color dying we don’t care. We are not motionless in addressthese violent and senseless deaths. ing the violence within our communities. In early fall, media reported high-school Recently, I saw the Nation of Islam men doing shooting stories, acknowledging the emotions foot patrol in heavy violent crime areas of both of the teens and youth involved. In contrast, Meadowview and Valley Hi. As members of the news coverage for the violent deaths of our teens community, the deeds and labor of the NOI are and youth is sensationalized. Our children are not going unnoticed, and they are appreciated. dehumanized. These men come in peace, Current news coverage stand for peace and leave of our suffering from vio“We are mobilizing to save in peace. lent crime comes packaged our daughters and sons.” Secondly, we need with what the Sacramento to help teens, youth and County Sheriff ’s Departfamilies involved and affected by violent crime, ment, Department of Justice and Sacramento City to transcend their collective suffering. Recently, I Police Department are doing to round up crime spoke by phone with Reynaldo Placencia (the 22- suspects. I question these law enforcement prioriyear-old brother of Robert Placencia, a 17-yearties. Why is all the emphasis on apprehending old killed this summer in south Sacramento). suspects? Where is the money and time for proReynaldo participated in a revival for teens from viding solutions to preventing more crime that, in Sacramento, Modesto and Stockton who were turn, creates, more suffering? coming together to address youth violence. ReyWhere are the crime prevention policies based naldo is using his brother’s tragic death to reach on research into the violent deaths of our teens and out to teens involved in or affected by violence. youth? Why is the solution to our community’s Finally, we need to prevent teens and youth pain the building of more jails and prisons? Why is from aping gang culture/membership as a masa blanket pulled over our suffering? Why is it conquerade for youth leadership. The Zeta Beta tinuously assumed that we human beings of color Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, feel no pain for the violent deaths of our children in partnership with Consumes River College and and the separation of our families? the Greater Sacramento March of Dimes, is coorWe’re on our own, saving our own. Just as dinating the Alpha Academy workshop, held one with Hurricane Katrina, the government that colSaturday a month. The workshop brings adult lects our taxes, who calls us all Americans, claims professionals together with middle school and we are all equal, will force some to save ourselves, high school teens (12 to 18 years old), with the but reach out to lift others from feeling pain. Why focus being to improve academic performance, does our government think the color of your prevent teen pregnancy and enhance career goals. skin makes you immune from the pain of violent In early fall, several school children were crime? maimed and murdered in school shootings The sad thing is that our government won’t across the US. I cried for the school teens as I see our suffering and continues to build more jails have cried a river of tears for teen and youth and prisons. This is not a policy to prevent future murder victims in Sacramento. teen and youth violence. We know that. That is President Bush spoke out about ways to prewhy we are mobilizing to save our daughters and vent future youth murders. I watched news media sons from the violence which disproportionately reports on the teens who witnessed the school affects underprivileged communities of color. killings. Teens and families affected by the school This movement has been stalled. Why? The shootings were given support and helped to move answer in part is the news media. It fosters false on. Our children, on the other hand, have died images of people affected by teen and youth viosenseless deaths for decades, and until recently lence. Thus this media bias makes it hard to rally

O

support when many people, consciously and unconsciously, feel that we deserve our pain and sorrow. In spite of this negativity, the community is creating crime Rhonda Erwin photo mrzine.monthlyreview.org prevention solutions. There are many events being planned to address teen and youth violence. While our government shows its lack of concern towards our suffering, many citizens are rising to the call to show support towards the families whose hearts have been broken and who drown in sorrow and tears. We are mobilizing to save our daughters and sons. Rhonda Erwin is a violence prevention activist and mother who lives in Sacramento, and welcomes those who can help .

Sacramento Progressive Events Calendar on the Web

<www. sa

cleft.or

g>

Labor, Peace, Environment, Human Rights, Solidarity… Send calendar items to Gail Ryall,.

— Legal Notice — JUVENILE CLASS ACTION STRIP SEARCH SETTLEMENT IF YOU WERE BOOKED, ASSIGNED TO A UNIT, AND STRIP SEARCHED AT THE SACRAMENTO COUNTY JUVENILE HALL BETWEEN JANUARY 1, 1998, AND OCTOBER 1, 2004, YOU WILL BE ENTITLED TO MONEY UNDER A STRIP SEARCH CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT There is a proposed Settlement of a Class Action lawsuit, Robinson, et al. v. Sacramento County, et al. and Kozlowski, et al. v. Sacramento County, et al., pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. The lawsuit concerns the strip search policy and practices of the Sacramento County Juvenile Hall. What is the Litigation About? Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants violated various federal and state laws by strip searching juveniles booked at the Sacramento County Juvenile Hall between January 1, 1998, and October 1, 2004. Who is Involved? You are a member of the Settlement Class if you were booked, assigned to a unit and strip searched at the Sacramento County Juvenile Hall between January 1, 1998, and October 1, 2004. To see if you qualify for a payment you should check the website or call the toll free number below. What are the Terms? If you were a juvenile booked and assigned to a unit at the Sacramento County Juvenile Hall and strip searched during the class period (January 1, 1998, through October 1, 2004), you will be entitled to compensation depending on the number of times you were booked and assigned a unit, the charges on which you were booked, and your probation status at the time of booking. Up to $4.0 Million will be available to satisfy claims under this settlement. Class Counsel will apply to the Court for an agreed fee of $1.5 Million for reimbursement for attorneys’ fees and reimbursement of costs and expenses. Representative plaintiffs will collectively share $280,000 (Two Hundred Eighty Thousand Dollars), and $500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) will be reserved for Claim Administrator expenses, for a possible total of $6,280,000 (Six Million, Two Hundred Eighty Thousand Dollars). For more information or to receive a claim form, consult the website or call the toll free number below. How Much Will I Get? If 25% of those entitled to share in the settlement submit Claim Forms, the average payout will be $2,000 per person. You may be entitled to more or less than this amount. What are My Legal Rights? If you wish to share in the Settlement Fund you must file a claim as discussed below. If the Court approves the Proposed Settlement, you will receive a payment if you qualify. You will also be bound by all of the Court’s orders. This means you will drop any claims you may have against the Defendants covered by this Settlement. If you wish to file a claim you must complete a Claim Form. You can get a Claim Form by contacting the Claims Administrators, in writing, at the address given below, or by calling the toll free number. Claim Forms must be signed and post-marked no later than January 8, 2007. If you do not wish to be a member of the Settlement Class, you must sign a Request for Exclusion letter as outlined in the Stipulation of Settlement and Notice which you can download from the website or get from the Claims Administrator. Your Request for Exclusion must be filed with the Court no later than February 16, 2007.

Peace Arts Xchange 2007 calendar now available Peace Arts Xchange (PAX) presents Children’s Art about Peace, its 2007 calendar. The colorful wall calendar is now available at The Avid Reader, East West Books, Sacramento Area Peace Action, and the UNICEF Store, all in Sacramento. The artwork above is a detail from June 2007, by Kindergartner Ariana Mirmobiny. To see images from the works of Sacramento area students, or for a full list of outlets, go to www.sacpeace.net. More Info: 736-1678 or 393-7676. This project is funded in part by the ArtScapes Grant Program of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission with support from the City and County of Sacramento.

When Will the Settlement be Approved? The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California will hold a Fairness Hearing to decide if the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate at 10:00 a.m. on March 2, 2007, at the United States District Court, 501 I Street, Courtroom 2, Sacramento, California 95814. At the hearing the Court will also consider whether Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs are fair, reasonable, and adequate. If you remain a member of the Settlement Class you or your counsel have the right to appear before the Court and to object to the Settlement. However, in order to object, you must file a written objection, as outlined in the Stipulation of Settlement and long form notice. Objections must be filed with the Court by January 8, 2007. FOR INFORMATION ON THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT, YOUR RIGHTS, AND A COPY OF THE NOTICE: VISIT: www.robinsonvsacco.com or Call: 1-800-401-0541 or Write: Sacramento County Juvenile Strip Search Class Action, c/o Claims Administrator, P.O. Box 1110 Corte Madera, CA 94976-1110 PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE COURT

 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER November / December 2006

Jesus: Social Activist Justice on earth By Bob Richards

J

esus lived at the height of the most dominant, hierarchical, militaristic empire in ancient history. Romans completely lorded over the Mediterranean world and parts of the MidEast with their military, engineering, and economic empire. Jesus grew up four miles from the Roman-Greek center of Galilee, where the Herod

“Jesus’ true followers have struggled against empire and worked to build a humane global community.” dynasty exploited the region. Unlike his cousin, John the Baptist, who focused on “goodness” and future salvation, Jesus focused on present day life, healing and building community among the poor. He walked the back roads with the homeless, with dispossessed farmers and frustrated fishermen. Jesus ate with people and taught about what he surely deliberately called, “The Kingdom of God”—meaning a different kind of political organization. His teachings—based on Torah, prophetic, and wisdom writings—were thoroughly the opposite of imperialism: “The land belongs to God” and we share it fairly, and take care of relationships with our workers and animals, and the earth. All people deserve Sabbath (rest, peace, healing). “Love your neighbor” comes from Leviticus. Injustice and violence of any kind toward anyone were heavily decried. Jesus and his followers met the Samaritans (a hated enemy among Jews). He related to

Roman soldiers and curious Pharisees. But Jesus denounced puritanical, self-righteous, hypocritical legalistic busy-bodies—and also the Zealots, who continually planned for and awaited the time of armed resistance—and who eventually brought on the complete Roman destruction of Jewish organization in Palestine. When Jesus and his large group went to Jerusalem just before his death, in stark contrast to the Roman military contingent out in full force, they entered Jerusalem with symbols of peace, humility, and poverty. The next day he called the temple, where the poor and “unacceptable” were not allowed, a “Den of Robbers.” Threatened by Jesus’ messages, the priests sought to get rid of Jesus but couldn’t because of the crowd’s support. Jesus’ teaching and example remain at the heart of so much of what our struggle is about. Jesus’ followers, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and myriads of justice workers, named and unnamed, have given their lives in non-violent protest, working to end child labor and unjust working conditions. Theocracy periodically has raised its ugly exclusivity within Christianity, but Jesus was entirely inclusive, without any barriers for gender or differing groups, especially for the outcast, the poor, and the marginalized. Now the empire is again in full swing. The past trend in the US toward more and more social/political justice is being pushed back by consumerism and social control. Our government vilifies enemies and emphasizes power, competition, wealth, global control. We see more and more breakdown in justice, in good teaching and in equity-producing social, economic, and political organization. And so many of us seem ignorant or unconcerned about this drift. The history of Christianity as an institu-

tionalized religion is a long history with many and frequent divergences into its own terrible injustices, domination, and hierarchy. But for centuries, Jesus’ true followers have struggled against empire and worked to build a humane global community. And, importantly, those who practice non-violence, community building, and just and loving relationships—even when seemingly unsuccessful in the short term—always find a basic meaning in life! Bob Richards is a retired junior high school teacher, a bible and theology student, and social justice activist. For further reading: How Jesus’ Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom by John Dominic Crossan, 2004.

Destiny Calls By Shayana Mendes When Cheney’s inside, When Cheney’s in town. Surely, there will be Ruckus- all around. Because we will drive Bush out. We will unravel Confusion and doubt. We are the people. We hold the power. In we go into the Majestic tower. The tower of light, Love, and peace. Time to make the war cease. Oh look, at the Vivid, magenta hue. I pause as I stare At you. What a breathtakingView! As I gaze into You’re eyes, I’m Once again, Feeling mesmerized. The tsunami- blue Wave. Indicates those Of us who are Brave. Out here to speak our voice, we will

be Heard. Oh look at the fluttery, Wings of the dove. From its wings, emerge Golden, effulgentRays. People can stare, And be hypnotized for Days. On September 11th, I will fast! I’ll show them that We won’t let this War last. No, I won’t rest. I won’t give them the Time of day. I refuse to sit Silent as the powerHungry men have Their way. I won’t do it! No way! I won’t give them The time of day! Why should I? When many innocent People have died? It enrages and saddens me that Bush lied. How dare he take Advantage of the Innocent youth’s vul-

nerability. Being out here is My responsibility. So, I treat it As such. The pain hurts Too much. Oh, the aching Daggers cut A hole in my chest. I feel the pain, Deep within my Breast. I am sensitive, So sometimes I Can feel other People’s pain. They’re only feeling this because All Bush wants to Do is gain, Gain, gain. He doesn’t Care that others are in pain. He is such an Ignorant man. Ughh, people like This, I just Can’t stand. It makes me Want to go on A storming Rampage. It makes me Want to Rip this page. The melancholy, Gloomy day. The morose, riveting, glowing moon.

I am drowning in the Monsoon. That’s what’s happening, To people fighting this War. They don’t know The real reason of What they’re fighting for. For the rabid, tumultuous Storm. The waves of sorrow. Makes me wish it Were tommorow. The poison that is entering in, Controlling them from outside, As well as from Within. That’s what poison is. It is a venom to The mind. It’s this same venom, That has those Soldiers chained, it Has them bind. They are chained down. They are thrown to The ground. As the ropes tighten, It pulls deep within the skin. It controls outside and

Within. When will people Learn that war scars One for life? It doesn’t make Them strive? You think it’s a Joke? What? Do you find Me annoying? Well, too bad For you. Because I’m not toying. I wish I Were. Man, everything Swings by in A blur. Everything is blurry. Time to tell you all A story. A story of peace, Love, and hope. At one time, I too was guillable. I too was naïve. I didn’t know what to expect, Nor what to perceive. So, certain people started brainwashing. They started toying with me. They thought that I’d never open Up my eyes, to the Truth.

But, I have, you See. So truly, I tell You. Don’t let them brainwash you. Or, you’ll become a victim too. I’m being dragged down, By the rabid- tide. I’m being told to Come along for the Ride. It’s as Martin Luther King Jr. once Said. That which you Don’t fight to Change, you’ll Be forced To accept or Believe. Now, do you see why my anger doth seethe? It is our destiny. It is our fate. Lets spread love and Peace, Before it Gets too Late! Shayana Mendes is a community college student in Sacramento.

November / December 2006 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER



Remembering the Black Panther Party A catalyst for solidarity and unity By Elbert “Big Man” Howard Unity in the Community! Black Power to Black People! White Power to White People! Brown Power to Brown People! Yellow Power to Yellow People! Red Power to Red People! These cries emanated from black communities throughout this nation in 1968, initiated by the Black Panther Party. Many organizations were formed after hearing those calls. Who were these groups and how did they come into existence? The Patriots were a group of poor young white working-class people, many from street-turf gangs, originally formed in Chicago. Their chapters and Ten Point Program were modeled after the Black Panther Party’s. The Patriots supported and closely followed the BPP’s example and dedicated themselves to serving the basic needs of their communities, such as free breakfast programs, free health clinics and other services. The Patriot Party, like the Panthers, published a newspaper. The Young Lords also followed, in purpose and actions, many of the examples set by the BPP. These young Puerto Ricans formed chapters in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico. Their female leadership strongly pursued the fight for women’s rights and formed prison solidarity groups for incarcerated Puerto Ricans. By 1976, the Young Lords had been all but destroyed by the FBI. However, other groups formed and continued to pursue their goals. San Francisco’s Red Guard was patterned closely after the BPP. In 1969, the federal government wanted to shut down a tuberculosis testing center in San Francisco’s Chinese community. At the time, Chinatown had the highest TB rate in the country. The young Asians in the Red Guard organized the community and staged successful demonstrations to keep that TB testing center open. Through these protests and the programs that the Red Guard initiated, Chinatown’s citizens were enlightened and became open to more progressive politics. In 1970, members of the Red Guard were part of a delegation invited to join the Panther’s Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver, in a visit to China, North Korea, and North Vietnam. After about two and a half years, due to political and police repression, such as office raids, arrests without warrants, false arrests, and armed stand-offs with police, the organization collapsed. Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers brought attention to the plight of Hispanic and Filipino farm workers in this country. Because of his influence, and that of the Black Panther Party, young Chicanos from the barrios came to realize that struggle against oppressive conditions was necessary for change, and the Brown Berets organization was formed in 1967, with a 13-Point Party Platform similar to that of the BPP. In the

We’re the perfect bookstore if your idea of “book collecting” is by the stack… The Book Collector

“Books for readers and collectors.” 1008 24th Street (Between J & K Streets) Mon-Sat 10-6 916/442-9295

summer of 1968, the Brown Berets marched with the Rainbow Coalition in the Poor People’s

“In the 1960s and 1970s diverse groups formed strong bonds with the Black Panther Party.” Campaign in Washington, DC. Among their many contributions, they organized Vietnam War protests, exposed police brutality, and started the Chicano movement for self-determination. Unfortunately, this organization met with a similar fate to that of the BPP—police infiltration and oppression. The American Indian Movement (AIM) was organized in the summer of 1968 when approximately 200 members of the Native American community met to discuss various critical issues in their communities—police brutality, slum housing, 80% unemployment, and racist and discriminatory government policies. Today, despite many legal battles and repressive actions on the government’s part, including the imprisonment of leaders such as Leonard Peltier, AIM has grown and still continues to serve its community from a base of Native American culture. In Minnesota, AIM’s birthplace, organizations have developed to institute schools, housing and employment services. In November of 1969, the world took notice when young Bay Area Native American students and urban Indians occupied Alcatraz Island for 19 months, claiming it in the name of Native Nations. In the 1960s and 1970s these diverse groups formed strong bonds with the Black Panther Party. We came to understand that we had common problems; our communities were suffering from similar social and economic conditions. We were being oppressed and exploited by the same perpetrators. These groups met with the BPP and discussed and set forth plans to resolve some of these issues. The Panthers’ 10-Point Platform and Program was a basic plan of action spelling out clearly what we wanted and what we believed. This program and platform was so powerful and so on-target that many of those solidarity groups drew up similar programs tailored to their communities. Because of strong solidarity with these many different groups, the BPP was able to amass great numbers of people to participate in demonstrations such as Free Huey Newton (BPP co-found-

Angela Davis and Elbert “Big Man” Howard meet before the BPP Reunion. Photo: Billy X. Jennings 2006

er), stop the military draft, and end the Vietnam War rallies, which occurred all over the country. Included among these supportive organizations were many splinter groups such as the Gay Liberation Front, the Peace and Freedom Party, the woman’s liberation movement, the Yippies, the Gray Panthers and groups that formed for the rights of disabled people. These solidarity groups did not go unnoticed by the FBI and were also subjected to the FBI’s dirty tricks and Cointelpro program. For example, the groups’ offices and residences were bugged; they were infiltrated by government spies, and set-up for frame-ups and false arrests. Although the other groups were harassed and brutalized, only the Black Panther Party was singled out for complete extermination. Many members of the Black Panther Party were tortured, murdered, and/or locked away in dungeons, where many still remain. However, they did not get us all. We, the survivors, have a duty and a responsibility to continue to fight for those same 10 Points, for what we want and what we believe <www.itsabouttimebpp.com/home/ bpp_program_platform.html >. Elbert” Big Man” Howard went to Merritt College in Oakland with Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Howard joined the Panthers at the very beginning. He was the first editor of the Panther newspaper. Later, Howard became the Panthers’ deputy minister of information and spokesperson.

CAAC Goes to the Movies

Almost Every Month The Central America Action Committee shows interesting and informative videos on social justice, labor struggles, and so much more! Call to see what’s playing this month… WE ALSO HAVE A VIDEO LIBRARY YOU CAN CHECK OUT. 1640 9th Ave (east off Land Park Dr) INFO: 446-3304

 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER November / December 2006

Capitol Outreach for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty. Third Mondays, 11:30am to 1:30pm. L Street at 11th. We bring petitions, literature and banners. You bring yourselves. Cafe nearby for coffee after the vigil. INFO: 447-7754

Bottling Public Water Selling nature for profit By Nancy Price Bottled water is a private diversion of our public water commons. An intense 15-year public relations campaign has turned bottled water into a multi-billion dollar-a-year business. Bottled water sales outpace all other beverages except soda pop. At the same time, beer, coffee and milk sales are flat. Consumers now want bottled water at any time and place. What’s more insidious, we have been convinced that our tap water is not safe, and that buying bottled water up to 1,000 times the cost of water from a municipal system–that we have already paid for with our tax dollars–makes sense.

“We are being conditioned to look for and accept individual, private, and costly solutions to local water problems.”

Peace Action on the Web

Keep up to date on peace activism in Sacramento. Check out <www.sacpeace.org>.

We are being conditioned to look for and accept individual, private, and costly solutions to local water problems. Instead, we should work with public officials and others on communal strategies. The strategies are: testing water, identifying and stopping pollution, and adequately funding our public water works.

Three bottled water giants:

Coca Cola with its Dasani brand and PepsiCo with Aquafina both contract with local governments and pay pennies to just turn on the tap to “make” plain bottled water, with some added filtration. Nestlé Waters North America, an affiliate of Nestlé, SA, the number one Swiss food and beverage multinational, taps directly into our fresh springs and aquifers and dominates the spring water market hiding behind regional brand names, such as Arrowhead and Calistoga in California.

Northern California a target

In 2003, Nestlé signed a 50-year contract, renewable for 50 years, with the McCloud Community

Services District to build a 1million square-foot bottling/ distribution center in this rural community. The center is just south of Mt. Shasta on Route 89 off I-5, and is similar to centers in Michigan and Maine. Nestlé will use 1,800,000 gallons of spring water per day, with access to unlimited ground water and 8,500 acre-feet annually of water from the McCloud River upon purchase of the old Cal-Cedar Mill property. Nestlé In 2003, Nestlé signed a 50-year contract, renewable for 50 will pay only .000087 cents per years, with the McCloud Community Services District to build a gallon for the water it takes from 1-million square-foot bottling/distribution center just south of McCloud’s springs, or only 8.7 Mt. Shasta. cents for 100,000 gallons. A 16ounce bottle of the same water sells for around $1.29, or $10.32 per gallon. At Less often mentioned is the contamination a shelf price of $10.32 per gallon, 1600 acre-feet of our bodies by even trace amounts of polluwould gross $5,380,451,712 dollars. If Nestlé nets tion. This has serious health consequences for all 1/5 of what that water sells for it would make ages. See “Water for Life Not Corporate Profit” over $1 billion a year. in the Alliance for Democracy’s newsletter Already, Crystal Geyser bottles water in Justice Rising: www.thealliancefordemocracy. Weed, northwest of Mt. Shasta, and Coca-Cola org/html/eng/2363-AA.shtml. has just purchased a Mt. Shasta plant that uses To get involved, support the McCloud Water500 gallons of water per minute in a 150,000shed Council effort to stop the Nestlé/McCloud square-foot building. Nestlé and Coca-Cola are project. Learn more about this campaign at www. also bottled water partners in Indonesia. mccloudwatershedcouncil.org/nestle. Statewide and national mobilization has generated over What is our public water commons worth? 2,000 expert legal, scientific and citizen comGroundwater is pumped 24 hours, 7 daysments, which were received by the Siskiyou per-week from surrounding wells and habitats. County Planning Department on the Draft This process creates a staggering depletion of Environmental Impact Report. Finally, join the water supply that scientists have documented. Yet Women’s International League for Peace and industry disputes it, repeatedly. Freedom’s “Save the Water Campaign” at www. Just as important, petroleum and natural wilpf.org/campaigns/water. To order Tap Into It gas are used to make the multi-billions of plastic bumper stickers (see top of page) call 530-758bottles that contain water. Plastic water bottles 0726 or [email protected]. (and their later disposal) leave a world-wide toxic trail of land, air and water pollution. This Nancy Price is co-chair, Alliance for Democpetroleum-fueled trail from plastic bottles begins racy and Western Coordinator of the Defending at manufacturing centers and travels to wholesale Water for Life Campaign; member, leadership and retail outlets. This transit mode contributes team of Save the Water Campaign of the Women’s to global warming, and air and water pollution. International League for Peace and Freedom.

Quick Facts

on Bottled Water versus cleaning up the drinking water supply • Members of the United Nations estimate that if the world took half of what it currently spends on bottled water ($100 billion annually) and invested it in water infrastructure and treatment, everyone in the world could have access to clean drinking water. • But bottled water is cleaner, right? Actually, the U.S. EPA sets more stringent quality standards for tap water than the FDA does for bottled beverages, and roughly 40% of bottled water is actually just tap water. • 1.5 billion barrels of oil are consumed each year to produce the plastic for water bottles, enough to fuel 100,000 cars. • According to the Container Recycling Institute, only 14 percent of plastic water bottles are recycled. • A water bottle in a landfill or lying around as litter will take over 1,000 years to biodegrade. Source: www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/Bottled020606.cfm

November / December 2006 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

Project Censored, 30 years and counting Covering what big media covers up By Charlene Jones

P

roject Censored celebrates 30 years of In the AP chapter corporate media malfeadigging up what was buried by corporate sance is illustrated by a broadcast blackout of an newsmakers with the September release American Civil Liberties Union press release, of Censored 2007. Each year the media analysis containing American military sources, which project, headquartered at Sonoma State Uniannounced dozens of deaths from US torture. versity, publishes research and exposes stories The ACLU posted to their website 44 autopsy overlooked or under-covered by mainstream reports of civilians who had died while in US news. This year’s anniversary edition features a military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan from bounty in addition to 2002-2004, indicating its annual top 25-cenwidespread torture by “No. 1 stories from past and sored picks. US forces. present have addressed the Emblematic of The AP wire serinvestigative theme of news the project’s mission, vice made the story the No. 1 censored available to US media and efforts by corporate story for the 30th nationwide. However, interests to curb and contain it.” research showed 95 year focuses on information means percent of the daily and media, titled Future of Internet Debate papers in the United States did not carry the Ignored by Media. It alerts readers to the largely story nor did AP conduct follow-up coverage. underground debate regarding the future of the Censored 2007 also gives readers a glimpse Internet as Congress sets its sights on re-writing at 29 years of No. 1 censored stories with an the nation’s sweeping telecommunications laws. update on each and a retrospective by project Referred to as “network neutrality,” ensuring the founder, Carl Jensen, Ph.D. Teaching at Sonoma Internet remains open to all voices and ideas State in 1976, Jensen produced a cablevision probecame a fierce contest among telecommunicagram titled “CENSORED: The Great American tion companies, public interest groups and Inter- Media Mystery.” It revealed mainstream media net service providers. Meanwhile corporations gave little coverage to important consequential pour millions into public relations and political news and Project Censored was launched. coffers, insisting web access and its worldwide From 1977’s No. 1 Jimmy Carter and the Tricontent must come only at a price, their price. lateral Commission to last year’s Bush AdminisThe next 24 censored stories are an assorttration Moves to Eliminate Open Government, ment of disturbing disclosures including: Oceans Project Censored has provided original research, of the World in Extreme Danger, US Operatives vital information and commentary from a Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and broad selection of non-conformist reporters and Iraq, Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in scholars. US Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of InformaNo. 1 stories from past and present have tion Act and Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary addressed the investigative theme of news and Research Partner. In addition to regular yearbook efforts by corporate interests to curb and contain features such as Junk Food News and News it. Three decades of Project Censored publicaAbuse, the expanded volume adds chapters on tions find corporate media has not been the corporate media cross-ownership, media activist First Amendment’s friend—2003, FCC Moves to groups and bias by the Associated Press. Privatize Airwaves; 1996, Telecommunications

Deregulation: Closing Up America’s “Marketplace of Ideas; 1993, The Great Media Sell-Out to Reaganism; 1992, CBS and NBC Spiked Footage of Iraq Bombing Carnage; 1991, The Gulf War: Truth was the First Casualty; 1990, Global Media Lords Threaten Open Marketplace of Ideas; and 1988, The Information Monopoly. For 30 years students and faculty, community experts, research interns, guest writers and national evaluators have assisted Project Censored, which remains critical to the public dialogue that underpins US democracy. Pick up the book or a few of them for those who read and those who desperately need to do so. Contact www.projectcensored.org or (707) 664-2500. Charlene Jones is a member of the Sacramento Media Group and writing team for Project Censored.

Useful Web Sites Institute for Middle East Understanding http://imeu.net/ Union for Radical Political Economics “Political Economy of the Iran Crisis” http://urpe.org/Iran_Crisis.htm



 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER November / December 2006

A Case for Impeachment The White House and Hurricane Katrina By Kevin Wehr, Ph.D.

T

he US Constitution provides for the removal of an authority from a position of power—impeachment—based on “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including treason, perjury, and abuse of power. In the case of the Bush administration, mishandling of one of the most crucial issues of our time—global climate change—constitutes a clear and dangerous case of the abuse of power. Further, the administration’s stunning incompetence and criminal recklessness in the face of Hurricane “The president’s Katrina and decades of foreknowledge of the response to Katrina was dangers of storms to New criminally delayed.” Orleans also constitutes a sufficient justification for the removal of Bush and Cheney from any position of authority. A human-made disaster: predictable tragedy There are really few totally “natural” disasters. It was a social decision to build a city in the way of a natural, predictable (if very powerful) storm. Social disasters don’t just come about from the ignorance of where a city grew up, but also from the actions of the state (poor planning, cronyism, and ideologically-motivated politics) and the needs of capital (on whose behalf action is often undertaken by the state). What caused Hurricane Katrina’s devastation? First, the natural waterways of the delta were reconstructed, canals were cut and dredged, the river was re-routed, and levees were built, all of which denied the delta the natural changes it needs, allowing the city to sink. Then the wetlands were drained to make room for subdivisions. This, too, is not separate from the racialized and class-based character of the tragedy: capitalism requires a continual and stable use of natural resources, but it also requires laboring bodies, and the most easily dominated groups are those that are most marginalized. White flight to the suburbs on those drained wetlands left the city under-funded in terms of taxation, and with concentrated communities of color and poverty. The rural outlying areas are also subject to this urban and classist framing of the disaster. While New Orleans gets the lion’s share of money and media attention in the post-disaster scene,

whole (poor, rural) towns in Mississippi were literally wiped off the map and got almost no media coverage.

employing careful thought and analysis.

Decision-based fact-making Blind emphasis on pro-business and antienvironmental policies, such as the refusal to negotiate or ratify the Kyoto accord (on climate change), the promulgation of ineffectual voluntary pollution control measures, broad development policies based on market needs, and privatized solutions to public problems all add together to constitute an abuse of power in

Fiddling while New Orleans floods The president’s response to Katrina was criminally delayed, indifferent, and inept. As Kanye West’s public comment exhibits, many observers concluded that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Just after the disaster in New Orleans Bush spoke of “taking aggressive action against deep and persistent poverty with roots in a history of racial discrimination.” In the span of about two weeks, however, the Republicans were busy blaming the victims themselves, saying that

the face of scientific consensus on global climate change. Virtually all credible scientific studies now agree that the earth is warming due at least in part to anthropogenic (human-induced) causes. An important outcome of global warming is an increase in the power of hurricanes. MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel, in several papers published in Nature between 1987 and 2005, has demonstrated that “in most cases, the evolution of hurricane intensity depends mainly on three factors: the storm’s initial intensity, the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere through which it moves, and the heat exchange with the upper layer of the ocean under the core of the hurricane.” The warmth of the ocean is directly affected by global climate change: the warmer the globe, the warmer the ocean, the stronger the hurricane. The Bush administration must be held accountable for denying global climate change and for not taking appropriate actions. This abuse of power connects to the fury of Hurricane Katrina as it destroyed New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. Katrina could not have been stopped—if we put cities in the way of nature, we have to expect to be slapped. But the power of Katrina was fueled by global warming, and action should have been taken years ago to reduce the probability of such supercharged storms. These conditioning factors are ideologically-driven, and reflect a gross incompetence by those in power. And yet even the solutions to Katrina’s devastation are similarly ideological: large private firms have benefited from no-bid contracts (just as in Iraq), pollution controls were “temporarily” put on hold, a gulf opportunity zone is established similar to export zones in developing nations (not subject to normal state controls), and money has been thrown at a problem rather than

the poverty of the evacuees was clear evidence that the last three decades of governmental poverty alleviation programs had clearly not worked. Such comments denigrated the people of New Orleans, suggesting that entitlement programs were at fault for creating dependency amongst the destitute. And yet the most damaging form of entitlement is the gift of a political office based on political connections rather than ability, and this cronyism contributed directly to the devastation. In the year before Hurricane Katrina hit, the Bush administration continued to cut budgets and deny grants to the Gulf Coast. In June of 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers levee budget for New Orleans was cut. It was cut again in June of 2005, this time by $71.2 million or 44% of their budget. Adding insult to injury, in 2004 FEMA denied a Louisiana disaster mitigation (reduction) grant request. Bush, in other words, did worse than nothing. The administration slashed budgets for levee restoration, downgraded FEMA from a cabinet position, and considered privatizing the entire agency. Since Watergate, the classic question has become “What did they know, and when did they know it?” The answer, in this situation, is they knew it all, and they knew at least 24 hours in advance. The White House was given multiple warnings that Hurricane Katrina had a high likelihood of causing serious damage to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. At 10 am on Sunday 28, August 2005, the day before the storm hit, the National Weather Service published an alert under the title “DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED.” The Homeland Security Department also briefed the White House on the scenario, warning of levee breaches and severe flooding. According to the New York Times, “a Homeland Security Department report submitted to the

November / December 2006 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

White House at 1:47 am on Aug. 29, hours before the storm hit, said, ‘Any storm rated Category 4 or greater will likely lead to severe flooding and/ or levee breaching.’” This document, made public by a Senate investigation, clearly contradicts the statements made by both President Bush and Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, immediately after the storm, that such devastation could not have been predicted. On September 1, 2005, President Bush said “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” But the devastation was predicted, and both Bush and Chertoff were informed. And then they lied about it. So the weather service told them it was coming. So did the only FEMA agent on the ground. So did members of the DHS itself. What was it that administration officials did while New Orleans flooded? Bush, Cheney, and other members of the cabinet were not inconvenienced by the Gulf Coast disaster. The President gave an unrelated speech at a Naval air station in San Diego, comparing himself favorably to FDR, with a media photo-op of him strumming a guitar (not fiddling, as Nero did). The vice president remained fly-fishing on vacation in Wyoming. What did people do in response to this government bungling, this death, and destruction? They organized themselves so as to overcome. What is most brilliant in this disaster is the ability of the people themselves to solve the problems that the authorities cannot solve or will not face. The people of New Orleans did not all act with integrity—that much is clear—but most of them did, most of the time. While race and class clearly constructed the chances of individuals to get out, these same folks responded to such indignities by developing the types of systems that actually solve problems, rather than denying disaster and then merely giving lip-service, as those of the Bush administration did. A New Orleans hurricane survivor, Denise Moore, was evacuated to the Ernest Morial Convention Center. There she and family members found a nightmare. They were there for two days without food or water. Shelter was not conducive to human existence; she thought she was in hell, and that the authorities had left her and her family (including a 63-year-old and a 2-year-old) there to die. When authorities did come, they came only to drop off more and more people,

people who had been rescued from rooftops. They arrived delirious from dehydration and sunstroke. The authorities said that the busses would come, but they did not, not for days. Denise reported that the “police drove by, windows rolled up, thumbs up signs. National Guard trucks rolled by, completely empty, soldiers with guns cocked and aimed at them.” But those in the Convention Center were not entirely dispirited. Denise reported that there were young men with guns there, but they were the ones who organized the crowd: They went to Canal Street and “looted,” and brought back food and water for the old people and the babies, because nobody had eaten in days. When the police rolled down windows and yelled out “the buses are coming,” the young men with guns organized the crowd in order: old

people in front, women and children next, men in the back. Just so that when the buses came, there would be priorities of who got out first. She also saw some men shoot at the police, because after some time “all the people thought the cops were coming to hurt them, to kill them all.” They all believed they were sent there to die. “If it wasn’t for them,” she said “we wouldn’t have had the little water and food they had found. I will never look at thugs and gangsters the same way again.” Kevin Wehr is an assistant professor of sociology at California State University Sacramento. Wehr’s article is adapted from his essay in a collection of essays titled Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney edited by Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips, (Seven Stories Press, 2006).

This year, the hurricanes took a break. But what will happen in the future? “The strongest hurricanes in the present climate may be upstaged by even more intense hurricanes over the next century as the earth’s climate is warmed

by increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Although we cannot say at present whether more or fewer hurricanes will occur in the future with global warming, the hurricanes that do occur near the end of the 21st century are expected to be stronger and have significantly more intense rainfall than under present day climate conditions. This expectation (Figure below) is based on an anticipated enhancement of energy available to the storms due to higher tropical sea surface temperatures.” From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. www.gfdl.noaa.gov/~tk/glob_warm_hurr.html

This image shows two curves. One curve (white dots) is a histogram of hurricane intensities for current climate conditions. The second curve (black dots) is a histogram of intensities for warm climate (high CO2) conditions. The warm climate curve (intensities) is shifted toward lower central pressures (higher intensities) compared to the present climate curve. The caption above provides details on the experiments that produced the data.



10 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER November / December 2006

Book Reviews

A Red in the House: The Unauthorized Memoir of S.E. Fleischman by Stephen Fleischman

Paperback: iUniverse, February 25, 2004. 382 pages.

Reviewed by Leon Lefson

Some of the Places You Can Find BPM Sacramento Area Coffee Works Crest Theater Dimple Records, Arden Wy Flowers Restaurant Galleria (29th & K) Grinders Hart Senior Center Light Rail: 65/Folsom 2nd Ave/Freeport Los Jarritos Luna’s Cafe & Juice Bar Mercy Hospital, 40th/J Mother India Restaurant National University Pancake Circus, 21st/ Broadway Planned Parenthood: Franklin Blvd, Watt Ave., 29th St. Queen of Tarts Quick Market Sacramento Bagel, 47th/H Sacramento Natural Foods Coop Sacramento Public Library (Main & many branches) Starbucks (B'wy & 35th) Taco Loco The Beat Time Tested Books Tower Theater (inside) Tupelo (Elvas & 57th) Underground Books (35th St. near B'way) Weatherstone Coffee Chico Area Davis Bogey’s Books Espresso Cafe Roma Davis Natural Food Coop Newsbeat University Mall Nevada City US Post Office Where would you like to see BPM? Let Paulette Cuilla know, 4221787.

This “unauthorized memoir” is the biting, yet delightful, story of the author’s 30 years in the early network news era of TV. It was a time in the 50s, 60s and 70s when the three great conglomerates—NBC, CBS, and ABC—were organized and ruled the roost. It was a heady period of business expansion in the communications field, as well

“Unknown to his bosses, he was from his early years a Marxist who understood the inner workings and dynamics of the capitalist system.” as in the cultural realm, whose full potential was yet to be tested. Much of what occurred during those years had promising intervals of cultural enhancement that provided opportunities for talented, creative people to work in the new booming communications industry. And it was a period as well of vast changes and advances in technology that made possible today’s CNNs, HBOs, C-SPANS, and Clear Channels. During those years, the evolving techniques and methodology for deeply influencing the thinking of Americans about all aspects of our daily lives took a quantum jump. Brainwashing through advertising and public relations became perhaps America’s biggest industry. Everything

with the potential for commodification—for being turned into a saleable product—was (and is) grist for the market economy. Today it’s called privatization. Stephen Fleischman is one of the great talents and unsung heroes as a writer, director, producer, and much else in the field of media. Unknown to his bosses, he was from his early years a Marxist who understood the inner workings and dynamics of the capitalist system. That knowledge pulled him through many a difficult phase in his working career. Miraculously, he managed to escape the ravages of the McCarthy period (of anti-communist witchunts), or so it would appear from his book. In the course of three decades in network news, Fleischman encountered and worked with some of the bright stars in network news: Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly, Dan Rather, Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, Peter Jennings and others. On a personal note, in my very early years, I worked for a period of time in the US post office in New York City and delivered mail to some of these notables. For people of Fleischman’s generation, these names will live longer in history than the Limbaughs, Hannitys and the George Wills of our time. From the moment I started reading this

book I couldn’t put it down. For this reviewer, much of it is déjà vu, reliving a segment of history that, with all of its negatives, stands as a lodestar compared with the dolorous times in which we live today. I highly recommend A Red in the House as an informative and stimulating read. Leon Lefson is a veteran political activist and retired state worker who lives and writes in Sacramento.

The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan

Hardback: Bloomsbury Publishing (May 2, 2006). 304 pages.

Reviewed by Mary Bisharat Sandy Tolan, international journalist, documentary producer, and current I.F. Stone Fellow at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism, has woven together thousands of elements of the complex historical realities of Palestine and Israel, based on reporting, research, interviews, and archival documents, both published and unpublished. Some eight years in process, The Lemon Tree displays with great richness of understanding and skill the human complexities in the story of “An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East”—a story of one house and 2 families.

“The narrative describes the experiences of Dalia, an Israeli Jewish woman, and Bashir, a disposessed Palestinian, over a 40-year period.” The Khairis are a large and prosperous Palestinian Arab family from the ancient city of Al Ramla. Since CE 714, Al Ramle had been an exclusively Arab town, but when Israel was being created in 1948, all its citizens were expelled by the order of young Yitzhak Rabin (the late Israeli Prime Minister). They fled to Ramallah, a 20mile walk under the hot sun with their children, among whom was six-year-old Bashir. Many Palestinians died in such marches. The other family, the Eshkenazis, are descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Christian Spain in 1492, but welcomed into the Muslim Ottoman empire—Bulgaria. Frightened by the horrific events in Europe and the roundup of Jews in Bulgaria, the Eshkenezis started a new life in Palestine in 1948, when Israel was declared a state for Jews. They brought with them their tiny daughter Dalia.

The narrative describes the experiences of Dalia, an Israeli Jewish woman, and Bashir, a disposessed Palestinian, over a 40-year period. In 1967, Bashir goes to Israel to search for his lost home in Ramle. Dalia opens the door and invites him in. They tour the house, Bashir finds out his old room has become Dalia’s room, and also finds the lemon tree his parents had planted long ago. Tolan switches back and forth between the histories of the two families, giving a context for what happened to Dalia’s family—“the essence of secular Zionists.” When Dalia wondered who had lived in the house, she was told the Arabs “preferred to leave.” But why, she wondered, would anyone leave so willingly? Dalia learned to live a life of discernment, to see the whole and not judge solely by surfaces. And on the intuitive level, she must have been aware of that history, for she remembered it when she opened the door, she thought “Wow! It’s them! It’s as if I’d always been waiting for them.” When they left, she felt welling up inside her a sense of akhrayet—an ability to respond to the other. Meanwhile, Bashir matured and specialized in labor matters. He became an Arab nationalist. He reasoned, “force expelled us, and only force would get the land back.” It is impossible to read this book without developing strong ties to these two individuals caught in a moral dilemma. When Dalia visited Bashir’s family in Ramallah, he showed her a cabinet containing a lemon, now shriveled, which she had given him from the tree. He says, “This lemon is more than fruit. It is land and history.” She replies “We can see ourselves in you, Bashir. We can remember our own history of exile over thousands of years.”

They were residing within a contradiction: they were enemies and they were friends. The ensuing chapters are gripping. Bashir was imprisoned for 15 years and brutally tortured. Dalia felt her “spirit was being crushed by an historic wheel of inevitability.” Dalia’s parents passed away and she approached Bashir about what she should do with her house. She offered Bashir reparations, which he quickly rejected, suggesting instead that Dalia and her husband Yehezkel Landau make the house into a pre-school for the town’s Arab children. The original lemon tree had died—but a new one was planted and is growing. Mary Bisharat is a human rights activist and retired social worker in Sacramento.

November / December 2006 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

Media Clipped

US Health Care in Crisis

Seth Sandronsky

T

he cost of US health care has climbed 43 with health care provision for its populace. care bill would have done away with a main force percent over the past nine years, accordLeonhardt does not consider universal health driving up the costs of medical care—private ing to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This care for Americans. Thus his column echoed con- health insurance. These same insurers such as price jump is close to ventional thinking on Blue Cross/Blue Shield are also a source of ad double the over-all our system. Consider revenue for media such as The Bee and campaign “How is it that Canada spends rate of inflation (price this: The day after cash for the political system. less per person for health increases) of 26 percent Sacramento County in the same nine years. workers walked out, Seth Sandronsky is a co-editor with Because care than the US, while David Leonhardt, in the in no small part due People Matter. Canadians have longer life New York Times of Sept. to management push27, wrote that the spiral- expectancies than Americans?” ing them to pay more ing prices for the US for health care, Calihealth care system “are fornia Gov. Arnold slowly creating a crisis.” Schwarzenegger vetoed state Sen. Sheila Kuehl’s However, he continued, we fool ourselves (D-Santa Monica) Senate Bill 840 to provide all if we think that American health care is overCalifornians with high-quality, comprehensive priced. In fact the nation’s health care is priced health care. right for what the American people get. We are “SB 840 relies on the failed old paradigm of living longer and as a result are paying more for using one source—this time the government—to health care that includes “defibrillators, chemosolve the complex problem of providing medical therapy, cholesterol drugs, neonatal care and care for our people,” the governor said in a press other treatments that are both expensive and statement. effective.” Without a mention of this vetoed universal 05/08/2006—California Nurses march on I have a question for Leonhardt. If US health health-care bill, an unsigned Sacramento Bee edi- Sacramento, demanding clean money, fair care is such a great deal for what it provides the torial of Sept. 7 urged county workers to get used elections, and healthcare for all. Shown here with people of the world’s best democracy—please to health-care costs, rising for “everyone.” It is state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, author of SB840. photo: California Nurses Association explain how is it that Canada spends less per per- worth noting that Sen. Kuehl’s universal healthson for health care than the US, while Canadians have longer life expectancies than Americans? Total health expenditure per person for 2004 was $6,102 in the US versus $3,165 in Canada, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. As of two years ago, Americans were paying 45 percent more than what Canadians pay for health care. Spending on health care per person in the US was $1,776 versus $1,264 in Canada in 1985. Health care spending was $2,752 for the US and $1,737 for Canada in 1990. By 1995, US health care spending per person was $3,670 compared with $2,055 in Canada. US health care spending per person reached $4,588 as Canadian spending was $2,503 per person in 2000. Canada’s per person health care costs went from 71 percent of US spending levels in 1985 to 55 percent in 2004. Meanwhile, Canadians can expect to live longer than Americans. Life expectancy was 79.3 years for Canadians versus 76.8 years for Americans in 2000, according to the OECD. Canadians could expect to live 75.3 years compared with Americans’ 73.7 years in 1980. Canadians’ life expectancies were 77.6 years versus life expectancy of 75.3 years in the US in 1990. As US per person health care spending rose relative to Canada’s expenditures, Canadians’ life expectancies increased faster than Americans’. How can that be? The OECD does not provide Peace in the Precincts volunteers working to elect Dr. Bill Durston to Congress and Jim Cook to the State Assembly. Durston and Cook teamed up to support each other’s campaigns. They that answer. What we do know is that Canada have many enthusiastic supporters. For more information about Peace in the Precincts and to provides its citizens with universal health care. In volunteer, go to www.ippcampaign.blogspot.com, or call 225-5670. other words, health care is the right of all CanaPhotographer: Harold Fong dians. The US has gone in a different direction

Students, Faculty Rally for Change at CSUS Multi-Cultural Center By Anthony “A.J.” Crisostomo Eight students in C-COLORS (Coalition for Cultural Opportunities in Leadership and Overall Retention of Students) rallied with six faculty members at California State University, Sacramento in mid-October to voice concerns about the direction of the Multi-Cultural/ Women’s Resource Center. Students first introduced themselves at a press conference. Later, they submitted over a dozen completed job applications for a new clerical position in the Center. C-COLORS wants more employment diversity in the Center. There are many students who have the drive and qualifications to work with various ethnic groups on the CSUS

campus. C-COLORS’ goals include effectively boosting the retention rates of CSUS students. The group suggested mentoring and tutoring outreach as two methods for the Center to use to improve student retention. Also, C-COLORS wants the Center to bring in more cultural organizations on campus, and to actively affirm diversity. This is only the first step for C-COLORS. For more information, contact (916) 215-0894. Anthony “A.J.” Crisostomo is a second year student at CSU, Sacramento, and actively involved with the local Pilipino community.

11

12 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER November / December 2006

The US Threat To Attack Iran Bush White House Pounds Its War Drum Again By Mazda Majidi

M

ohammed el-Baradei, International Atomic Energy Agency director, issued a report to the IAEA Board of Governors and the UN Security Council on August 31, 2006. The report contained the obvious truth that Iran had not halted activities related to uranium enrichment. But another part of the report received far less coverage in the corporate media. Inspections “have not uncovered any concrete proof that Iran’s nuclear program is of a military nature,” the report stated. In other words, as the IAEA has consistently reported, there is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 1696 on July 31. The stated objective of the resolution is to halt the development of Iran’s progress in uranium enrichment, an important phase in nuclear technology.

IAEA Director Mohammed el-Baradei. In late May, a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement—which includes over 100 states—defended Iran’s right to develop its peaceful nuclear program. The NAM views the pressures on Iran as another example of the major capitalist powers stifling independent technological progress. Iran’s ambassador to the UN, MohammadJavad Zarif, agreed with the NAM’s view. “To demonstrate the peaceful nature of its program, Iran submitted its nuclear facilities to an unprecedented inspection by the IAEA in the preceding years,” Zarif said, “which enabled the agency to organize the most robust inspection it has ever carried out. It included more than 2,000 inspector-days of scrutiny in the past three years.” John Bolton is the US ambassador to the UN. He indicated that the US will pursue an “independent” coalition for penalizing and sanctioning Iran,” reported the Aug. 26 LA Times. “You don’t need Security Council authority to impose sanctions.” To the extent that the US can use the cover of the UN Security Council to advance its objective of “regime change” in Iran, a diplomatic, multilateral approach is, of course, desirable. If and when that ceases to serve the US purpose, or becomes irrelevant, then the US will act unilaterally. UN Security Council Resolution 1696 is unfair and baseless from the standpoint of international law. Iran is a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The other nuclear-armed countries in the region—Israel, Pakistan and India—have refused to sign that treaty, with no threats or consequences. Originally signed in 1968, the NPT entitles its signatories to the peaceful development of nuclear energy. Further, the NPT obligates nuclear-armed nations to dismantle their nuclear weapons and provide technical assistance to non-

nuclear nations. The US, Britain and France have no intention of dismantling their huge arsenals of nuclear weapons. US threats of direct military intervention and the possibility of sanctions against Iran have no more to do with nuclear arms in Iran than the invasion of Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction. Washington’s strategy in the Middle East has long consisted of bringing down independent states and breaking down mass resistance. Recent events in Palestine and Lebanon are two examples.

gram would not put an end to the relentless drive for regime change. At best, it would only force the White House to find a different pretext. In the buildup for the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration used a multitude of pretexts, from Iraq’s supposed development of weapons of mass destruction to its alleged connections to the Sept. 11 attacks to Saddam Hussein’s repression of Iraqi Kurds. Similarly, the Bush White House has opened various propaganda fronts against Iran. Besides the nuclear question, there is Iran’s support for “terrorism”—meaning the liberation forces in the Middle East. Unable to squash Iraqi resistance “There is no evidence of a and unwilling to admit its widespread support nuclear weapons program within the Iraqi population, the Bush administration has pulled out the bogey man of the “foreign in Iran.” International agitator.” Atomic Energy Agency. “Iran is responsible for training, funding and Sanctions and wars, in addition to diplomatic equipping some of these Shia extremist groups” maneuvers, are all at the service of this stratin Iraq, said US Brig. Gen. Michael Barbero. The egy. When 12 years of Washington’s genocidal irony is, of course, is that the foreign agitator sanctions against Iraq failed to bring about the interfering in Iraq is the US military! desired regime change, invasion became the best Yet another pretext that the US government imperialist option. Recall the imperialist dream routinely uses is the defense of ethnic and relithat Condoleezza Rice recently termed the “new gious minorities. This was the main justification Middle East”—a region where no independent used for the US attack on Yugoslavia in 1999. state or popular resistance movement exists. The population of Iran—which is majority PerMeanwhile, transnational corporations control all sian—also has Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis, Arabs the key resources. and others. Alongside the majority Shia Muslim With the majority of Arab governments population, there are Sunni Muslims, Christians, beholden to Washington or in shambles, the two Zoroastrians and Jews. states that now stand in the way of a “new Middle Any outbreak of ethnic conflicts in Iran East” are Syria and Iran. This is the essence of could provide a suitable pretext for US interventhe current conflict. The Iranian nuclear issue tion in defense of these minorities. Of course, only serves as a convenient pretext for the US these ethnic and religious conflicts could also be government. orchestrated if necessary. Recently, Iranian offiGiven the array of forces lined up against cials accused British and US officials and agent Iran and the possibility of a devastating US mili- provocateurs of backing the riots and bombtary attack, it would be understandable for Iran ings in the oil-rich, majority Arab province of to bow to such pressure and abandon its pursuit Khuzestan. of nuclear technology for the sake of self-preservation. According to this view, whatever gains Mazda Majidi is an Iranian-American activist that could be made from nuclear technology are and member of the Northern CA chapter steermore than offset by the devastation that would ing committee of the ANSWER Coalition. He is a result from sanctions and war. regular contributor on Iran and the Middle East The Iranian leadership is keenly aware, how- for Socialism and Liberation magazine and the ever, that the abandonment of their nuclear pro- web site www.pslweb.org.

Sacramento Area Peace Action is an all-volunteer organization that works to educate and mobilize the public to promote a non-interventionist and non-nuclear US foreign policy and to promote peace through international and domestic economic, social, and political justice. Join us!

JOIN SACRAMENTO AREA PEACE ACTION Annual dues are $30/individual; $52/family; $15/low income. Name:________________________________________________________ Address:_______________________________________________________ City________________________________________ Zip________________ Phone:___________________________ Email:___________________________ ____Here is my additional contribution of $_______. ____Please send me the newsletter only, $10/yr.

Send your check to: Sacramento Area Peace Action (SAPA) 909 12th Street, #118, Sacramento, CA 95814. Or call us! 448-7157, email: [email protected], web: www.sacpeace.org

November / December 2006 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

13

Why Hugo Chavez is My Number One Hero The Venezuela president who roared By Dan Bacher Hugo Chavez, the feisty leftist president of Venezuela, delivered one of the most electrifying speeches ever given to the United Nations, when he called US President G.W. Bush “the devil,” before the General Assembly on September 20. The great speech, combined with Chavez’s previous history of making fun of Bush and Condoleezza Rice in his speeches and his commitment to serving the Hugo Chavez takes on Bush at the UN and the next day at a Harlem church poor of Venezuela and the world, makes Chavez my number one hero in the world during a time when heroes are firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon,” he in the United States, also chastised Chavez for his hard to find. stated. comments about Bush. “Yesterday the devil came here,” said Chavez. Chavez outlined his four-point plan for mak“It should be clear to all heads of government “Right here,” crossing himself. “And it smells of ing the United Nations more democratic and that criticism of Bush Administration policies, sulphur still today.” effective: either domestic or foreign, does not entitle them Chavez accused Bush of “talking as if he • Expansion of the Security Council. to attack the president personally,” said Rangel. owned the world,” and said, “we could call a psy• Development of “effective methods to “George Bush is the President of the United chiatrist to analyze yesterday’s statement made address and resolve world conflicts, transparent States and represents the entire country. Any by the president of the United States,” referring to decisions.” demeaning public attack against him is viewed by Bush’s speech before the UN the day before. • Immediate suppression of the “anti-demoRepublicans and Democrats, and all Americans, In contrast with his ridiculing of Bush, cratic mechanism” known as the veto of the as an attack on all of us.” Chavez openly praised Noam Chomsky, whom Security Council. I absolutely disagree with Pelosi and Rangel he described as “one of the most prestigious • Strengthening the role and the power of the and consider Chavez’s address to be one of the secretary general of the United Nations. most humorous, riveting and refreshing speeches The members of the Assembly applauded by a political leader that I’ve ever heard or read. “I applaud Hugo Chavez wildly throughout the speech, particularly when Chavez is describing Bush as how most of the for exposing Bush and Chavez described Bush as “el diablo.” world sees him – and Pelosi and Rangel somehow As he wrapped up his speech, Chavez believe that criticism of Bush should be an excluhis henchmen for the evil exhorted the Assembly, “We want ideas to save sive right of US residents and political leaders. folks that they are!” our planet from the imperialist threat. And hopeThis is incongruous when you consider how fully in this very century, in not too long a time, the Bush administration and the Republicans American and world intellectuals.” He urged we will see this new era, and for our children and have continuously attacked Chavez for being a everybody to read Chomsky’s latest book Hegeour grandchildren a world of peace based on the “dictator” and “despot” when, unlike Bush, he mony or Survival: the Imperialist Strategy of the fundamental principles of the United Nations, a was elected democratically by a majority of the United States, as he held a copy of the book and renewed United Nations.” Venezuelan people in open and fair elections, in waved it in front of the General Assembly. He quipped, “And maybe we have to change contrast to the stolen US elections of 2000 and “As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, location. Maybe we have to put the United 2004 in the US. the American empire is doing all it can to conNations somewhere else; maybe a city of the Not only has the Bush regime constantly solidate its system of domination. And we cannot south.” We’ve proposed Venezuela. personally attacked Chavez, but Bush and the allow them to do that. We cannot allow world On the following day during a visit to a Har- Republicans also engineered a coup attempt in dictatorship to be consolidated.” lem church accompanied by actor Danny Glover, Venezuela in 2002 to oust the democratically As a result of Chavez’s recommendation, the Chavez further made fun of Bush, calling him an elected Chavez. However, because of massive outbook rocketed on the bestseller lists nationwide, “alcoholic” and a “sick man.” In previous speechpouring of support for Chavez in the streets, the becoming the number one paperback on amazon. es, Chavez has called Bush “the king of vacations” coup failed. Since that time, the US government com! and “mister danger.” has funded the opposition in Venezuela in an In Chavez’s fiery address, he cited not only Unfortunately, while the Bush administration attempt to bring the Chavez government down. Chomsky on US imperialism, but Aristotle on declined to comment on Chavez’s speech, two After what the Bush regime has done to the nature of democracy. Chavez blasted the US House Democrats, incredibly, castigated Chavez Chavez and the people of Venezuela, Chavez for harboring a terrorist, Luis Posada Carrilles, for comparing Bush to “the devil” and defended is entitled to call Bush “the devil,” “a sick man,” responsible for the bombing of a Cubana Airlines Bush. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called “mister danger,” or whatever insulting term he plane in 1976. Chavez an “everyday thug.” Congressman Charlie feels like. Unlike Rangel and Pelosi, I don’t see He also castigated the US and Israel for their Rangel, a persistent critic of the Bush administra- Chavez’s ridiculing of Bush, the worst president aggression in the Middle East. “This is imperialtion, while praising the government of Venezuela in US history and a war criminal, as an attack on ist, fascist and genocidal, the empire and Israel for providing heating oil to low-income people “all Americans.” Bush is not my president – and I applaud Hugo Chavez for exposing Bush and his henchmen for the evil folks that they are! Dan Bacher is an outdoor writer, alternative journalist and satirical songwriter in Sacramento.

 



#" %
-&*'
"%+()$%)( ,")!
-&*'
+#*(  "*+)
()*&++"-
."+!
)'++
&-*+')*
'
%)"
%)


&-*+%&+ -"*')0
()*&++"-
'
")*+
")%+"-
"&&"$
+.')#

")*+
")%+"-
"*
&
"&(&&+  "*+)
&-*+%&+
-"*')
) "*+)
."+!
+!
,)"+"*
&
/!& 
'%%"**"'&
*
"$    


")*+
")%+"-
"*
&'+

*,*"")0
')
"$"+
'
)'++
&-*+')*
'
%)"


    
        
  
 
 
  


    



 

)
 ")&,%
'$%)&     

    

Time Tested Books is now buying

Political posters, handbills & pamphlets Books on history, labor, & politcs Records of blues, jazz, rock, punk, world, R&B, & spoken word. And, of course, we are selling books & records, too! We are located at 1114 21st Street, Sacramento. Our hours are 11 – 5:30 M-Sat. (but please call for appt. if selling). 916-447-5696.

www.timetestedbooks.com

Sacramento Soapbox Progressive Talk Show Access Sacramento, Channel 17 with Jeanie Keltner & Ken Adams. Monday, 8pm, Tuesday noon, Wednesday, 4am. Now in Davis, Channel 15, Tuesday, 7pm.

Coffee from Nicaragua Support Sacramento’s sister city, San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua, by purchasing organic whole bean coffee grown in the rich volcanic soil on the island of Omotepe, Nicaragua. Thanks to the efforts of the Bainbridge-Omotepe Sister Island Association in Washington, we are able to bring you this wonderful medium roast coffee. Your purchase helps the farmers on the island and helps support Sacramento’s long relationship with San Juan de Oriente. All profits go directly back to the Nicaraguan communities. $9.00 a pound. Available in Sacramento at: The Book Collector, 1008 24th St.

14 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER November / December 2006

Umbashi,

nuclear weapons, to kill their enemies.” Such rhetoric transforms the enemy from beaten down survivors of colonial exploitation and greedy autocratic rulers to malignant associates of the power of the Evil One. Muslims, in this view, are not struggling against injustice; they are innately bad, irrationally, irremediably violent. And here we come to the problem at the core of Islamophobia, the problem at the core of US policy in the Middle East. One sees it in this superficial, misleading, disingenuous explanation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the World Geography text: Some terrorist groups want territory, like Palestinian extremists who use violence trying to gain a homeland in Southwest Asia.” Before the Iraq war, most US people got their mental pictures of Arab/Muslims from the heavily biased mainstream media accounts of Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel. Obviously, if you can’t speak the true facts about Israel’s historic and on-going seizure of Palestinian land and daily violence against Palestinians and other Arabs—and in the US corporate media you can’t—Muslim anger seems unmotivated, irrational, and fanatical. In the years since the first Gulf War the US has transformed Iraq, a relatively advanced, functioning nation, to smoking rubble and just since March 2003 has brought violent death to

between 400,000 and 600,000 Iraqis. And the arrests without warrants, the imprisonments without charges, the indefinite detainments, the beatings, the sodomizings and other sexual humiliations and tortures, the attacks with dogs, the rockets and the giant bombs, the little bodies laid out in bits of blankets and tablecoths. If all those bodies* had had blond hair and white skin, would there have been the same public (non)reaction? What the Bush regime has done in Iraq, what it’s doing in the US, would not have been possible without this consciously cultivated Islamophobia. In that sense, Khaled and his family, like hundreds of thousands of other Muslim families, are tragic collateral damage of the Bush/neocon imperial project. *And of course if you’re not tuned into the independent news—like Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now (see BPM’s progressive media listings )—you’re not seeing any Muslim bodies at all!

Jeanie Keltner is BPM editor at-large.

This Time Oaxaca By Felicia Martinez It is an old story classrooms without chairs teachers without housing children without breakfast make your demands The governor will respond no money no funds he’ll release helicopters k-9 units clear the streets of protest for the elders tear gas for students pepper spray a knight stick will fall a woman and the little rebel in her womb take narcotics to Radio Plantón guerillas can be poisoned from the inside unleash on the plaza 5,000 police But the people barricade with what they have trucks portable toilets themselves face to face with helmets terrible blue people push back back tonight the plaza stays ours March march on 1 million people is one hundred thousand ten times in the streets Oaxaca has no governor we can trust the people will rule with the people stay alert the assassin government returns tonight in t-shirts and jeans remember to quell the reckless ones no one can name

Interested in joining a writing group?

from page 2

remember protest songs when they cuff you remember women enraged will take anything airwaves stations the state TV Now caravan to the capitol carry our demands to the president’s door he must halt the navy that circles our plaza at dawn Now we bury teachers who will not return to class now we bury fear now we caravan to the capitol on foot 6,000 thick fly our banner in town after town cry with the people sing with the people make ourselves strong march on Oaxaca 70,000 teachers five months no classes no salary no way to eat port towns report ships fill the water let the word travel faster than the tanks all revolutions begin like this Oaxaca Make your demands Felicia Martinez has been involved in local immigrant rights organizing and is pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing at Mills College.

Many people begin new activities in the autumn, and this is not just a new season, but a new location for the Writers of the New Sun / Escritores del Nuevo Sol. The group, founded in 1993, will keep its affiliation with La Raza Galeria Posada (LRGP), newly located at 1024 22nd Street, in midtown Sacramento. The philosophy of the writing group is similar to the philosophy of LRGP, which serves to foster , preserve and present the best of Chicano/Latino and Native American culture. Membership is open to all who sincerely wish to develop more quality to their writing, whether poetry, fiction, or nonfiction.Some members write only in Spanish, some only in English, some write bilingually. The group is considering adding a second, Spanish-only, group of writers. Typical meetings are the first Saturday of each month, 11 AM, and include work on a writing exercise, sharing of members’ writings for critical feedback, and a potluck. The final 2006 meetings are November 4, and December 2. The group also sponsors a series of special readings during the year, usually scheduled at LRGP. The next one will be in early November, the annual reading that celebrates Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos, honoring those who have passed but are not forgotten. For more information on activities and membership, call 456-5323 or check the web site: www. escritoresdelnuevosol.com.

On Line Petition Therapists for Social Responsibility has created a petition on line calling on our public leaders “To Support Policies, Legislation And Programs That Reflect The Core Principles And Values of The Mental Health Profession And to Oppose Those That Do Not.” If you are in the Mental Health or Social Services fields or an Affiliate please go to www.petitiononline.com/8values/petition. html and sign the petition now and forward this information to colleagues and professional organizations throughout the country, with your personal note, as well as to your general e-mail lists. We anticipate that by collecting thousands of signatures, a resounding statement can be made by the mental health community that is heard by our public leaders, the press and the general public. More information can be found on our web site www.therapistsforsocialresponsibility.org

The Marxist School of Sacramento P.O.Box 160564 Sacramento, CA 95816 September–October 2006 Activities

Point of View Speaker Series

Lectures are held in Sierra 2 Ctr, Green Room, 2791 24th St., 7–9pm

Thursday, Nov. 16: Doug Orr, PhD., Prof. of Econ., Eastern Washington U. “The Attack on Retirement Income: class war in slow motion.” Tuesday, Dec. 12: David Bacon, photo presentation on NAFTA and Immigration. Bacon is a photojournalist and writer based in San Francisco, who documents labor, migration and globalization issues.

Book Discussions/Classes Book discussions are held in Sierra 2 Ctr, Rm. 11, 2791 24th St., 7–9pm. Tuesday, November 7: “Electoral Politics” Discussion led by Jackie Carrigan. Tuesday, December 5: “Perspectives on Anarchism” Discussion led by Kevin Wehr. Tuesday, December 19: Reform or Revolution, by Rosa Luxemburg. Discussion led by Ellen Schwartz.

“Capital” Reading Group Still on chapter 1! Extended book discussion, Vol. 1 of Capital, by Karl

Marx. will meet 7-9pm, 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, starting September 6 through December 20, at SMUD, 6301 S St. (the new building!), Timberline Rm. 3, 3rd Floor. Any edition of Capital will do; we will read together and discuss at each class. It’s not too late to join!

INFO: <www.marxistschool.org>; ; 799-1354. All activities are free and open to the public.

November / December 2006 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

ONGOING EVENTS Mondays Sacramento Poetry Center hosts poetry readings. 7:30pm. 1631 K St. INFO: 4 4 1 - 7 3 9 5 ; < w w w. s a c r a m e n t o poetrycenter.org>. 1st Mondays Organic Sacto: Counter ongoing threats to our food. 6:30pm. INFO: <www.OrganicSacramento.org>. 2nd & 4th MONDAYS UUSS/SAPA Peace and Sustainability Committee. 6-8pm. INFO: Peace Action, 4487157. 3rd MONDAYS Capitol Outreach for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty. 11am –1pm, L Street @ 11th. INFO: 447-7754. TUESDAYS Sacramento Area Peace Action Vigil. 46pm. 16th & J Sts. INFO: 448-7157. 1st TUESDAYS Amnesty Int’l, Davis Chapter Meeting. International House (10 College Park). 7pm. Free Pizza. Invited speakers. INFO: <www.humanrights. ucdavis.edu/>. 2nd Tuesdays Gray Panthers. 2–4pm. Hart Senior Ctr., 27th & J St. Info: Joan, 332-5980. 4th TUESDAYS Amnesty Int’l. 7pm. Sacto. Friends Meeting House, 890-57th St. INFO: 489-2419. 4th Tuesdays Peace and Justice Films. 7pm. Peace Action office at 909 12th Street. INFO:448-7157. WEDNESDAYS Christ Unity Church: Speakers and Music. 7pm. Cost: Donation. 9249 Folsom Blvd. INFO: 368-3950. 1st WEDNESDAYS Peace & Freedom Party. 7pm. INFO: 4564595. 2nd WEDNESDAYS Sacto 9/11 Truth: Questioning the “War on Terror.” 6–8pm. Juliana’s Kitchen, 1401 G Street, at 14th. INFO: <sac911truth@gmail. com>. 372-8433. 3rd Wednesdays CAAC Goes to the Movies. 7:15pm. Info: 446-3304. Thursdays Daddy’s Here (Father Enhancement Program). Men’s support group; info on custody, divorce, raising children. 7-8:30pm. Free! Ctr for Families, 2251 Florin Rd, Ste 102. INFO: . 424-3237x 205. Thursdays House of Spoken Words. 7–10pm. Colonial Café, Stockton Blvd. & Broadway. $5. INFO: 308-2766. 3rd Thursdays National Organization for Women (NOW). 7pm. INFO : 4433470.

FRIDAYS Shiny Object Digital Video/Fools Foundation Film Series. Weekly independent/foreign films, documentaries. 7pm. 1025 19th St. $5. INFO: 484-0747or <www.shiny-object. com/screenings/>. 1st Fridays Beginner/intermediate tango class. 8-9pm. Social tango dancing. 9pm–12am.YWCA, 17th & L, Sacto. $10 for lesson and social dancing. INFO: or <www.tangorenaissance.com>. 1st FRIDAYS Community Contra Dance. 8-11pm; 7:30pm beginners lessons. Clunie Auditorium, McKinley Pk, Alhambra & F. INFO: 641-7781. 2nd Fridays Dances of Universal Peace. 7:30–9:30pm. Sierra 2 Ctr, 2791- 24th St., Rm. 10. $5–$10. INFO: 361-3153. 3rd FRIDAYS Progressive Free Thought Exchange. Discuss topics of interest to atheists, agnostics, humanists. INFO: . Saturdays Workshops at La Raza Galleria Posada. 1– 3pm. 1421 R St. Under 18, $1; Students over 18, $5; Adults, $10. Info: 446-5133. 1st Saturdays Health Care for All. 10am. Hart Senior Ctr, 27th & J. For universal access to health care. Info: 424-5316. 1st SATURDAYS Sacramento Area Peace Action Vigil. 11:30am–1:30pm. Arden and Heritage (entrance to Arden Mall). INFO: 448-7157 2nd & 4th Sats Community Contra Dance. 8-11pm; 7:30 lessons. YWCA Auditorium, 17th & L Street. INFO: 641-7781 3rd SATURDAYS Sacramento Area Peace Action Vigil. 11:30am-1:30pm. Fulton and Marconi. INFO: 448-7157 Sundays Sacto Food Not Bombs. 1:30pm. Come help distribute food at 9th and J Streets. 1st SUNDAYS PoemSpirits. 6pm. Refreshments and open mic. Free. UUSS, Rm. 7/8, 2425 Sierra Blvd. INFO: 481-3312; 4511372. 1st Sundays Zapatista Solidarity Coalition. 10am–noon. 909 12th St. Info: 443-3424. 2nd SUNDAYS Atheists & Other Freethinkers. 2:30pm. Sierra 2 Center, Room 10, 2791 24th St. INFO: 447-3589.

15

November / December Calendar Sunday, November 5 PoemSpirits Series. Fatherhood and maleness themes recur in the latest poetry reading by Sac State Professor Joshua McKinney. Tom Goff will also present an overview of the work of Marie Ponsot. 6 pm. Unitarian Universalist Society of Sac., 2425 Sierra Blvd. Free. Open mic. INFO: 481-3312, or 451-1372. Tuesday, November 7 Marxist School of Sacramento, Book Discussion. “Electoral Politics” discussion led by Jackie Carrigan. 7-9 pm. Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St, Room 11. Free. INFO: 799-1354, or info@ marxistschool.org. Saturday, November 11 El Dorado Peace and Justice hosts “Empty Bowls”, fundraiser to raise funds to feed hungry people, raise awareness about the issues of hunger and inequality, and remind us that through art, we can create positive social change. Local potters donate handmade bowls. Guests donation $15$50 for their meal of soup, bread and beverage and keep the bowl as a reminder that hunger exists all year long. Proceeds go to The Upper Room, an El Dorado County food kitchen, and Mercy Corps Hunger Relief Fund for relief to Lebanon. 5-8pm. Placerville Shakespeare Club, 2940 Bedford Ave., Placerville. INFO: 530-6226900, 530-622-9569, or 530-642-1120. Monday, Nov 13 Depleted Uranium and U.S. Weapons of Mass Destruction. Presentation by international expert on radiation and public health issues, Leuren Moret. 7pm. Newman Center, 5900 Newman Ct. Monday, Nov 13 Elk Grove Peace and Justice Forum: “Needed: Living Wages & Benefits”, Katy Rose-Hodess and Josh Eidelson, union organizers with Blue Diamond workers and hotel workers who are in the midst of contract negotiations. 7pm. Elk Grove United Methodist Church, 8986 Elk Grove Blvd, Elk Grove, Info: 689-6943, or 685-3612. Tuesday, November 14 Video Presentation. David Ray Griffin’s “9/11 The Myth and the Reality”, enhanced with graphics and video clips, will be shown by Ken Jenkins, activist and videographer; powerpoint presentation to follow film. 7 pm. 909 12th St. Free. INFO: 916-372-8433, [email protected].

Send calendar items for the Jan.–Feb. 2007 issue to by Dec. 10, with “calendar item” in the subject line. Make it short, and in this order, please: Day, Date. Name of event. Description (1-2 lines). Time. Location. Price. INFO: phone#; <email>. For online calendars of progressive events, go to www.sacleft.org and www.sacpeace.org. Saturday, November 18, 2006 Sierra College Veterans Club Road March to honor our fallen service members by raising scholarships for children who have lost a parent in war. All are invited to join! March starts 10am from Johnson/Springview Park to Memorial Park in Rocklin. INFO: Catherine Morris, Sierra College Veterans Counselor, (916) 789-2879; cmorris@ sierracollege.edu. Saturday November 18, Peace Pyramid convocation, highlighting World Service Corps and the Dept. of Peace. Includes Open Forum. 5 pm. Home of Zohreh Whitaker, 2041 Campton Circle, Gold River. INFO: Tom and Dar King, 916-728-2391, [email protected]. Tuesday, Nov21 Shadow Company—documentary invesigating the mercenaries in Iraq. 7pm. Crest Theater, 1013 K St, $10 benefit for Soapbox and Media Edge. (see Announcement page 16) Friday, Dec 1 Sir! No Sir! The Suppressed Story of the GI Movement to End the War in Vietnam. 6:30pm. Hinde Audit., Univ Union, CSU Sac, 6000 J St, INFO: 391-0737 Friday, December 1 Concert. Brian McNight. Opening acts are LaToya London and Sacramento’s own poet Terry Moore. 7pm. Memorial Auditorium 1401 J St, Sacramento. INFO: www.iSoundTracks.net or 1-800-225-2277 to purchase tickets. Sunday, December 3 PoemSpirits Series, poetry reading. Albert Garcia, Dean of the English Dept., Sacramento City College. 6 pm.,Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Blvd. Free. Open mic. INFO: 481-3312, or 451-1372.

Wednesday, Nov 15 CAAC Goes to the Movies: Fidel, the Untold Story. 7:15pm 1640 9th Ave. INFO: 446-3304.

Sunday, December 3 Book Award Ceremony. A.D. Winans has been awarded the PEN Josephine Miles Literary Achievement Award for his book, This Land Is Not My Land. Book award ceremonies will be held at 3pm at the Oakland Main Library. INFO: [email protected]

Thursday, November 16 Marxist School of Sacramento. Doug Orr, PhD., Prof. of Econ., Eastern Wash. U.. The Attack on Retirement Income: class war in slow motion. 7-9 pm. Sierra 2 Ctr., 2791 24th St, Green Rm. Free. INFO: 799-1354, or [email protected].

Tuesday, December 5 Marxist School of Sacramento, Book Discussion. “Perspectives on Anarchism” discussion led by Kevin Wehr. 7-9 pm. Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St, Room 11. Free. INFO: 799-1354, or info@ marxistschool.org.

Thursday, November 16 Lecture. “Labor in the 21st Century”, by Allan Benjamin, Editor, Newspaper and Labor Party Organizer. Presented by the Sac. Community Forum & Not in Our Name. 7pm. Coloma Community Center, 4623 T St. Free, donations accepted. INFO: 455-1396.

Tuesday, Dec. 5 Annual Candlelight Vigil for Peace & Justice. 4-6pm. 16th & J Streets. After the vigil, gather at Juliana’s Kitchen, 1401 G Street (vegetarian Middle Eastern food available). Bring signs and a flashlight or windproof candle. Only severe weather cancels. INFO: 448-7157; sypeaceact@ jps.net.

Protest Torture

(The Military Commissions Act)

Saturday, Nov. 11 2–4 pm North side of Capitol Park (“L” Street side)

The Military Commissions Act denies all non-US citizens detained in the USA the right of habeas corpus, meaning that they may be detained indefinitely without the right to challenge their imprisonment.

The Military Commissions Act intentionally makes the definition of “enemy combatant” extremely vague.

The Military Commissions Act modifies the war crimes Act so that if any

US officials have recently violated international human rights laws (e.g., the Geneva Convention), they can no longer be accused in court of having committed a war crime. It also allows our current president to decide what interrogation methods should be allowed, thus potentially legalizing the abuse of prisoners taking place at Guantánamo Bay detainment facility and permitting it within the USA.

“Enemy combatants” may be tried in special courts set up by President Bush,

courts which would allow the prosecution to use evidence that would not hold up in other courts, as well as not requiring the defendants to be told what evidence was being used against them. INFO: [email protected]; get flyers at: www.fearchar.net/cal-mca-fliers/

Tuesday, December 12 Marxist School of Sacramento, photo presentation on NAFTA and Immigration, by David Bacon, San Francisco-based photojournalist. 7-9 pm. Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St, Green Room. Free. INFO: 799-1354, or [email protected]. Tuesday, December 19 Marxist School of Sacramento, Book Discussion. “Reform or Revolution” by Rosa Luxemburg, discussion led by Ellen Schwartz.7-9 pm. Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St, Room 11. Free. INFO: 799-1354, or [email protected]. Saturday, December 23 Intergenerational, Interfaith Winter Solstice PEACElebration. 3pm-5pm: Labyrinth walk; 5-6pm: pot luck dinner (main dish provided); 6-8pm: ritual with pagan carols and Dances of Universal Peace. Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Blvd (1 block N of Fair Oaks Blvd between Howe and Fulton) . Free - donations. INFO: Laurie Jones, 743-0459, or [email protected]. Wednesday, December 27 Sac. Area Black Caucus, the Black United Fund of Sac. Valley and the All African Peoples’ Revolutionary Party co-sponsor the Annual Kwanzaa Celebration. This year’s principle is Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves & speak for ourselves. Please bring a dish to share. 6-8pm. Jamieson Washington Collins Multipurpose Ctr, 2821 29th Ave. Free. INFO 453-0190, [email protected], 484-5025, or fayek@ springmail.com.

The Freedom Equity Group presents: “THE SHOW”

Poetry Series with live band LSB. Sacramento’s biggest poetry event featuring poets from around the world! Last Saturday of every month. 7-9 PM, Wo’se Community Center, 2863 35th Street (just south of Broadway). ONLY $5.00! Saturday, November 25 Divine from Phoenix, Arizona Talaam Acey from Baltimore, Maryland (International Slam Champion) Saturday, December 30 Red Fox poet Brigit Truex Luke Breit LSB (live band jam session)

The “UNDERGROUND POETRY SERIES” Every third Saturday. Come on out! 7-9 p.m. Underground Books, 2814 35th Street (at Broadway). $3.00. 737-3333 Saturday, November 18 Crawdad Nelson Brett Freeman Saturday, December 16 Jamie Kilstein from NYC Born 2B Poets Bloom Beloved INFO: T.Mo at 208-POET, ALL AGES ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND!

Peace Action Vigils TUESDAYS: 4-6pm. 16th and J Streets. Be Visible For Peace. 1st SATURDAYS : 11:30am1:30pm. Arden & Heritage (entrance to Arden Mall). 3rd SATURDAYS: 11:30am-1:30pm. Fulton and Marconi. INFO: 448-7157

Progressive News and Views

INSIDE: Hotel Workers Rising....................................... 1 Demonizing Arabs........................................... 2 Taking our water and selling it back to us...... 6 Global climate change: no help from D.C....... 8

November / December 2006

Because People Matter

Progressive Media Access Sacramento TV Cable Channels 17 and 18 Sacramento Soapbox: Progressive Talk Show w/ Jeanie Keltner & Ken Adams. Mon 8pm, Wed 4am. (In Davis: Channel 15, Tues, 7pm.) Being Gay Today: Thurs 6am, 10pm, Sat 6am. Democracy Now!: Weekdays 6pm, 12midnight, 5am. Media Edge: progressive documentaries, including local productions.Sundays 8–10pm Other sources for Media Edge Davis, Channel 15, Sundays, 8–10pm. Nevada County, Channel 11, Mondays, 10:30pm –12:30am. West Sacramento, Channel 21, Mondays, 9–11pm. Dish Network Satellite TV ▼ Channel 9415, Free Speech TV. Democracy Now!: News and Analysis. Monday–Friday: 8am, 12pm, 7pm ET. ▼ Channel 9410, Link TV Democracy Now!: Monday–Friday, 11am. Mosaic—World News from the Middle East: Tues–Saturday, 4:30am and 10:30am; 4:30pm and 10:30pm. Radio ▼ KVMR 89.5 FM BBC News, M-F 6, 7, 8am; News & Attitude with Travus T. Hipp, M-F 7:30am; KVMR Morning News, M-F 8:05am; Stories & Songs with U. Utah Phillips, Sun 11am; Soundings (Science), Tues noon; Rabble Rousing, Wed noon; Full Logic Reverse, Thu noon; Who Cares? (Health), Fri noon; KVMR Evening News, 6pm daily; Democracy Now!, Mon-Thu 7pm; Women’s Show, Mon 8pm. ▼ KCBL Cable 88.7 FM ▼ KYDS 91.5 FM Saturdays, approx. 3–4 pm., followed by Counter Spin from the media watch group FAIR:

▼ KDVS 90.3 FM Democracy Now!: Mon–Fri noon. Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) Mon–Fri 4:30pm. Printed Matter on the Air (interviews with local writers) alternating with Panic Attack (attorneys and guests discuss what makes people panic): Mon 5pm. Making Contact (int’l radio seeks to create connections): Tue 8am. Proletarian Revolution (focusing on political, social, and economic issues) alternating with The Simple Show (talk show on human rights): Wed 8am. Speaking in Tongues (labor, environmental, social, and political topics. Callers welcome, interviews frequent): Fri 5pm. Memo Durgin and Eddie Salas (Public affairs and music of the Chicano/Mexicano people): Sat 6–8pm. ▼ KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley Democracy Now!: Reports on US and world news. M–F 9am. Living Room: Chris Welch. M–F Noon. Seven Generations: M–F 1pm. New Directions: including visionary astrologer. Thur 2pm. Flashpoints: News and analysis. M–F 5pm. ▼ KSQR 1240 AM (TalkCity Radio Sacramento) Progressive talk radio all day long with Christine Craft, Thom Hartman and others. ▼ KCTC 1320 AM (AirAmerica Radio) Progressive talk radio all day long with Randi Rhodes, Al Franken, and others. ▼ KZFR 90.1 FM Chico People Powered Radio! managed and operated by volunteers, provides mostly locally produced and community oriented programs.

Community TV needs Community Support! Chew On This!

“Chew on This!”, a monthly progressive TV show, can be seen on these cable channels: Access Sacramento Channel 17 (Comcast, SureWest) and Davis Community Television Channel 15 (Comcast) the first Sunday of the month at 8pm. West Sacramento Community Access Channel 21 (Charter) the first Monday of the month at 9pm Nevada County Television Channel 11 (Comcast) first Mondays at 10:30pm. Check out our Web site <www.pcwp. org> and click on “ChewOnThis!” We need volunteer help in many ways. If you have video production skills, organizational skills, writing or research ability, or if you just have ideas to share, please email us at

Soapbox and Media Edge, Sacramento’s own progressive TV shows, invite you to see the hard-hitting documentary, Shadow Company. This film investigates the mercenaries who are doing so much of the fighting in Iraq today—with interviews with former mercenaries, private military contractor owners, staff, lobbyists, academics, and journalists. The film explores the moral and ethical issues private military solutions create for Western governments and addresses the risks of allowing profit-motivated corporations into the on-the-ground business of war. Tuesday November 21, 7pm Crest Theater 1013 K $10 to benefit Soapbox and Media Edge

Sacramento and Central Valley Indymedia: <www.sacindymedia.org>.

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 2668 SACRAMENTO, CA