2007 July Aug

Because People Matter Progressive News and Views

July / August 2007

Depleted Uranium, Death and Destruction Then why is Leuren Moret smiling? By Tom King

I

t was puzzling. How could Leuren Moret, uncoverer of secrets as dark and breathstopping as the collective body counts in all the killing fields, make her entrance at the 19th convocation of Sacramento’s Peace Pyramid beaming so beatifically? She had returned only a few hours previously from a four-month tour of Asia, concluded in Hawaii, where “this wonderful thing had happened.” What happened—well, we’ll come to that. But meanwhile her introductory sum-up will give you a hint. “I love empowering citizens. I light the match and I walk away and it turns into a bonfire!” In 1968, the first woman graduating in geology from UC Davis, Moret took an MA at Berkeley in Near Eastern studies, and commenced a career as geoscientist. Eventually this took her to California’s Livermore National Lab, where disgusted by what she learned about the unconscionable agendas of the microscope brigade around her, she became a whistleblower and eventually “flew the coop.” Her resignation kicked off a decade of intense research, untiring public edification (16 to 18 hour workdays), and continual harassment by her enemies—non-stop trashing her home, wrecking her computers, stealing her documents, and worst of all, assisted by her ex-husband, the five-year kidnapping of her daughter. (In the covert world this is called “mobbing,” which aims to push the object to suicide.) Her message is without a doubt as frighteningly sinister as hell in its deepest, darkest circles. Toward the end of WWII an element of nuclear fallout was determined to be so noxious that it was banned internationally in 1945. After a moratorium of 46 years, however, the poison was put to prodigious use in the first Gulf War because it makes munitions that cut through heavy armor and is a cheaper way to dispose of toxic trash. This is DU—falsely called “depleted” uranium. DU is nuclear trash from nuclear weapons and power projects. It contaminates air, water, food, soil. Inhaled it behaves like gas in the lungs, dispersing throughout the body and, according to Moret’s research, producing such malaises as mental derangement, autism,

diabetes, and cancer. Although the Bush administration systematically denies the medical claims of returning Iraq veterans, research tells a literally killing story. For instance, while medical disability among soldiers after WWII was 5%, and 10% after the Vietnam War (with its Agent Orange), it reaches a paralyzing 55% after Gulf War I. Our soldiers are coming home with brain tumors the size of golf balls. Military physicians now regularly counsel, “Don’t have children!” Those who do—alas!—often pay an unthinkable price. “In a Veterans Administration study of 251 Gulf War I veterans, severe birth defects and diseases in 67% of the children born after the war were found… born without eyes, brains, organs, legs, arms, hands or feet…” (Flanders, “Gulf War Syndrome: Mal de Guerre,” The Nation 03-07-94.) We are used to calculating the cost of war solely in terms of those who come home in body bags, but in Leuren Moret’s grim summary, for anyone who enters radioactive zones such as Leuren Moret on the left with Dar King, co-founder of the Peace Pyramid Iraq, life is over. Photo by Tom King “I discovered something else that was too horrible to imagine,” testifies her own testimony, she is like those Holocaust survivors, Leuren. “I found proof of the real and deeper purpose for stripped of everything, no longer afraid because nothing the US using DU weapons beginning in 1991: to deliberelse can be taken from her. Though she has lost certain ately and strategically contaminate entire regions where persons from her life, she has come to find wherever the world’s oil supplies are located…[guaranteeing] the she goes generous, grateful hearts and a multitude of annihilation of populations in those regions… . I began hugs. Herself a passionate people-lover, she finds love to cry the day that bombing started in Afghanistan in everywhere. Perhaps most significantly, she has found 2001. I cried for the mothers, the fathers, the children, the sacred work for which she was intended, and so the babies, the grandparents and the future generations doing, found herself. Her risks are the risks of a warrior; who will not be born because of this radioactive poisonbut fear has long since been slain, and courage outfacing ing of their genetic future.” whole battalions of official tormentors has become as If you think DU is merely a mideast problem, natural as breathing. however, think again. Uranium has a half-life of bilHear and see her: www.youtube. lions of years. Once released, the lethal particulates com/v/L94IUSw54pQ. never leave the soil or the air. The winds carry them Check out these websites: continents away—bringing them, dear reader, a gift to www.news-journalonline.com/special/uranium/index. us all. “People do not understand or realize the global htm impact of DU and other radioactive weapons… .There is www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042007B.shtml nowhere on Earth that will escape some form or level of www.globalresearch.ca/index. contamination.” php?context=va&aid=5864 Well, then—carrying such a woeful weight of the world—how to explain Leuren’s entrance at the Peace Tom King is the leader of the Peace Pyramid, a Pyramid, all but whistling like one of the Seven Dwarfs suburban grassroots group promoting a cabinet-level heading off to work? Department of Peace. Answer: it’s a warrior’s story of a great battle won. When she arrived in Hawaii she found hardly anyone had even heard of DU, and despite numerous interviews subsequently, neither DU nor her own name appeared in newsprint. But she was undeterred, and proceeded with scientific investigation, finding with monitored readings that 850 Hawaiian sites were contaminated. Around Kona, which was plagued with widespread illnesses and highest cancer rates, came the worst readings, producing 93 as opposed to a normal of 5-20. With her characteristic eloquence she planted the seeds in the minds of the Hawaiian citizenry—and filed a complaint against the Pentagon’s scurrilous cover-up. When she returned to Hawaii at the end of her Asian tour this spring she found the seeds she had planted had blossomed in awareness— and wrath. Hawaii had become a volcano of anger. If Leuren is right, it’s about to erupt with dire consequences for the Pentagon. I don’t want to close without telling you more that helps explain buoyant spirits despite unimaginable enormities and Leuren’s own personal persecution. By

“I love empowering citizens. I light the match and I walk away and it turns into a bonfire!”

Inside this issue:

Editorial.............................................. 2 Change and conflict in Venezuela....... 3 Collective action at CSUS.................. 4 Local folks go PINK in DC................. 5 Single Payer Health Care.................... 6 Police State.......................................... 6 What you need to know about 9/11.... 7 A Vet’s moral opposition to War......... 8 A Vet walks to end the War................. 8 Vet’s speech at the end of the walk...... 9 Book Review: . If Olaya Street Could Talk...... 10 Disillusion unto death...................... 10 Media Clipped................................... 11 Book Review: Broken Promises, Broken Dreams........................ 11 Peace Action...................................... 12 Internet Radio in danger................... 13 Africa Channel project...................... 13 Book Review: Armed Madhouse....... 14 Calendar............................................ 15 Progressive Media............................. 16

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 Because People Matter July / August 2007 www.bpmnews.org because

People Matter

Volume 16, Number 4 Published Bi-Monthly by the Sacramento Community for Peace & Justice P.O. Box 162998, Sacramento, CA 95816 (Use addresses below for correspondence) Editorial Group: Jacqueline Diaz, JoAnn Fuller, Seth Sandronsky Coordinating Editor for this Issue: Jeanie Keltner Editor-at-Large: Jeanie Keltner Design and Layout: Ellen Schwartz Calendar Editor: Chris Bond Advertising and Business Manager: Edwina White Distribution Manager: Paulette Cuilla Subscription Manager: Kate Kennedy

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Copy Deadlines: For the Sept/Oct, 2007 Issue: Articles: August 1, 2007 Calendar Items: Aug. 10, 2007 Cultural events welcome! For details, see our new website, www.bpmnews.org 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.

Editorial

Thank you thank you thank you!

Jeanie Keltner, Coordinating Editor for This Issue

and keep those subs and donations coming!

It reminded me of the first days of the new version of BPM 15 years ago, when we desperately needed subscriptions to replace the organizations that had sponsored the paper. Then, each day’s mail brought handfuls of new subs, and the small group of people who had decided to keep the paper going felt we had done the right thing. It was a kind of if you build it moment. The same thing is happening since our last issue—and especially after Christine Craft was so good as to let us make a plea on her show on 1240am(2-6pm). Wonderfully many of you longtime BPM supporters are adding $10 to $200 extra to your sub renewals. With your generous, much appreciated support, we‘ve now covered the cost of the next two issues—a not insubstantial sum. And we have 55 new subscriptions. This is great! What a thrill to see the bunch of envelopes in the mailbox. Especially those with different handwritten addresses (instead of our labeled renewal envelopes)—new subscribers! Many including notes like “Oh good—a more news newspaper!” And of course, it’s not just the money. It’s the tangible proof that what we’re doing in BPM has enough value to you to warrant your financial support—even in what may be hard times for many (we have so few Wall Street readers). It’s tangible proof as well that our readership has grown beyond the activist community— which has always been one of our main goals. If you didn’t subscribe last issue, I hope you will consider adding your $20 (or more) to the bunch in the mailbox. I don’t need to remind you, I’m sure, that $20 is now a movie and a large popcorn, since that erosion is a depressing part of our daily consciousness. But I can tell you that your subscription will mean a great deal—financially and psychologically—to the 50 or so writers, photographers, editors, bookkeepers, distributors, stand fixers, and mailers who work for free so that info we think important will get out. We’re still aiming for—and truly on our way to—300 new subs! And we’re more than 1/6 of the way there! Please show your support and subscribe today. Look around in the papers and popular mags. You won’t find this issue’s stories anywhere in the commercial media: “depleted” uranium, the burgeoning resistance at all levels of the military to the Iraq occupation, Venezuela’s shift of

national resources to benefit the majority, the stolen elections of 2000 and 2004, the growing numbers of experts challenging the official 9-11 story. These are not trivial stories and their non-appearance in the corporate media suggests the magnitude of the deception by our famed “free” press. The job of the corporate commercial media has long been, as Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman proved numerically to “manufacture consent” among the populace to government policies. Our job, as the independent press, is to inform and confirm dissent—and to inspire action.

Sicko brings the cure One topic from this issue has made The Bee (finally)—Sheila Kuehl’s SB 840, Health Care for All Californians Act. Backed up by the fiery California Nurses Association, Michael Moore spoke at the Capitol June 12, presenting his brilliant movie, Sicko. Before Moore’s appearance, SB 840 only rated a tiny mention at the end of long columns about the other—unworkable—health care plans circulating in the legislature (unworkable because they don’t eliminate the chief source of the horrendous health care emergency: the for-profit health care/insurance industry). Even after Moore’s appearance, The Bee covered Kuehl’s plan only to debunk it. It will take a huge outcry from the people to balance out the financial power of the for-profit health/insurance/care/pharmaceutical corporations, the power to control not only outcomes—but with their influence over the media, the debate itself! Sicko is going to generate that outcry and will make a crucial difference in the struggle to get the universal single payer health care all other industrialized nations have. Sicko has the emotional power to move people to change and to make change. In his sideways comic way, Moore ignites our moral outrage at the callous insertion of the profit motive into moments of sickness and distress.At the same time this anger ignites our moral imagination, our compassion for this human being struggling painfully against a large uncaring and often evil system. No moment was more touching in testimony which often brought tears as well as laughter than Moore’s lamentation of the loss of the sense of we in our high pressure cutthroat I’ll get mine economy. Moore asks an obviously well set up

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Canadian if he minded that some of his tax payments went to care for poorer people: “Well that’s what we do,” the man says, “we take care of each other.” What can we do to cultivate that desperately needed sentiment in our own society? So that people don’t die on emergency room floors with janitors mopping around them?

Goodbye, Ken

Finally, what for me is a sad announcement, though for the person himself, it’s a door into another segment of an already rich life. One of the best of political compañeros and my cohost and coproducer for several years on Soapbox is on his way to the cooler climes of Oregon. And Sacramento’s public life will be much poorer for it. Ken Adams is a true citizen—and takes civic participation as a way of life. Whether it was a City Council hearing on a local environmental or human rights issue, a Green Party meeting, on the set of Soapbox, or—what for me would be the highest civic sacrifice of all—a school board meeting, Ken’s insight and easy humor has so often smoothed out the rough spots of group dynamics and kept all eyes on the prize. Many folks in many groups around town will find they have more work to do without Ken on the committee. Ken takes things seriously, but he’s the first to see the funny side, and his wisdom and receptivity have been so important to our Soapbox conversations. And our Soapbox outros have been immeasurably enriched by Ken’s large collection of music; whatever the evening’s topic, Ken’s eclectic collection was certain to have an apt and enjoyable tune to round the discussion out with. It was a true pleasure teaming up with Ken for our years of Soapbox and other endeavors. I—and his community—will miss him more than he can know!

We appreciate your support! Please fill out the form and mail to: On the cover With nurses from Palo Alto’s Stanford Hospital. in the foreground, members of the California Nurses Association rally at the state capitol on June 12 to promote SB 840. See page 2 and page 6 for more information. Photo: Dick Wood

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www.bpmnews.org July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 

El Pueblo y Los Escuálidos

Change and conflict in Venezuela By Susan Scott

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ecause People really do Matter, and because Hugo Chavez has been so successful at mobilizing the excluded masses of Venezuela, and because oil is at a premium (and Venezuela is among the top five oil regions), Venezuelans are finally able to use their 8 year old Bolivarian Revolution to make some big changes in the use of their country’s resources. After years of neoliberal policies that subsidized corporations, privatized national resources, and eliminated social services, now the oil industry, the steel industry, and the main telecommunications company are being de-privatized, and at least SOME of the underused foreign-owned giant land holdings and at least some of the privately controlled public airwaves are finally being committed to public use. Co-ops, community councils, and community radio are sprouting up all over the country. There is not a barrio or village in the country that isn’t seeing the results of the redirection of resources and that isn’t involved in making decisions on how to do it. Venezuela’s Socialism of the 21st Century is a far cry from the socialism of the 20th century. Capital is still king in Venezuela, after decades of corporate globalization have further enriched an entrenched ruling elite. Most of the national TV stations and all but one of the national newspapers are controlled by that oligarchy, and their involvement in the 2002 coup causes many to refer to it as the “media coup.” But Chavez’ landslide victory in December over the well-funded candidate of a united opposition is speeding up the pace of change. Unfortunately, Sacramento missed out on the recent Bay Area visits of Charlie Hardy and Eva Golinger who didn’t have time to make the trip up I-80. Charlie, an ex-priest from Wyoming whose wonderful new book Cowboy in Caracas was just published by the New Press, has spent the last 22 years in Caracas. His first 8 years in the country were spent living in a casa de carton (cardboard) serving as priest to a barrio on the fringes of Caracas. Defrocked when he married a Venezuelan woman, he turned his ministry to journalism, and is well known by North Americans who visit Venezuela. If you want to know how life has changed for the better for the poor in Venezuela, read Charlie’s book. Eva is a Venezuelan-American lawyer who grew up in New York City and practiced law there until Hugo Chavez’ election inspired her to return to her Andean roots. After the 2002 coup attempt against Chavez, Eva put her legal skills to work using the Freedom of information Act to dig up documents regarding the US government’s role in the coup. Her powerful book, The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela, was recently published in English by The Olive Press. It’s chock full of actual documentation of communications between CIA and State Department officials showing their knowledge of and

complicity with the local coupmeisters. Lately, she’s been struggling to overcome the Bush administration’s hyper-secrecy and challenging their refusal to turn over documents relating to more recent US financial support of Venezuela’s anti-democratic oligarchy through the National Endowment for Democracy and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). On my last trip to Venezuela, two months before Chavez’ landslide victory in the December presidential election, I observed the opposition marches and watched the relentless TV coverage of the main opposition candidate, Manual Rosales, and wondered if there was any way Chavez could win, despite his popularity in the polls and what I expected to be an incredibly clean election process. Then I attended the pro-Chavez march and rally and got real. There was no way the media could defeat this guy. After the march I had dinner with Eva and Charlie and 5-6 others at a restaurant that Eva said was a place everyone went—pro or contra Chavez. I was talking with an Argentine Law Professor at the University in Caracas who joined us to talk about his planned visit to the US. A woman from a table nearby apparently recognized him from his TV appearance at a Latin American Labor Law conference in Cuba. She came over, obviously quite drunk, and started yelling at him, calling him first a Cuban, then an Argentine, and finally an assassin. Then she saw Eva and started screaming even louder. Her table of 10-12 people joined in. Charlie and a guy from a neighboring table gently tried to calm them down and one of the people from her table kicked the neighbor guy in the shins. The waiters and owner were standing by, seemingly paralyzed. I wondered if we would get out alive. At one point, Eva turned to me and said, “We call them escuálidos [squalid: foul, repulsive, wretched, sordid]. This is what we have to deal with. I’m ashamed for our people.” Ultimately the waiters literally dragged the woman out of the restaurant and her friends followed, screaming invective all the way. We learned she was a lawyer from the Attorney General’s office, a civil servant who had the right to stay in her job even though she despised her boss, a Chavista appointed not by Chavez, but by the National Assembly. The next day she reported to the police that she had been assaulted by Eva Golinger’s bodyguards! The waiters had to go to court the day after we left. The charges were dropped, but the woman apparently kept her job. I had to wonder if Alberto Gonzales would allow such a virulent opponent to stay on his staff. (Check out http://upsidedownworld. org/main/content/view/742/1/)

“There is not a barrio or village in the country that isn’t seeing the results of the redirection of resources and that isn’t involved in making decisions on how to do it.”

Susan Scott led a tour to Venezuela for the National Lawyers Guild.

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Charlie Hardy, The Cowboy in Caracas, holds the cardboard the poorest people used to use to make their houses. Now most are constructed of cement blocks. Photo: Roger Lippman

Venezuelan-American lawyer Eva Golinger documented communications between CIA and State Department officials showing their knowledge of and complicity in the antiChavez coup of 2002. Photo: www.vheadline.com

 Because People Matter July / August 2007 www.bpmnews.org

It didn’t come to this in the end, but the threat of a strike helped faculty win their demands.

Collective Action Gets the Goods! Professors win contract by Kevin Wehr Sacramento Progressive Events Calendar on the Web

www.sacleft.org Labor, Peace, Environment, Human Rights, Solidarity… Send calendar items to Gail Ryall,gryall @cwnet.com.

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he faculty union of the California State University system has won a huge battle in the war against corporatization of public education. The California Faculty Association (CFA) this month ratified a new contract that preserves all protections from past contracts, offers major gains in compensation and some new benefits, and increases protections for our most vulnerable members. The CSU system is the largest public education system in the world, with 23,000 faculty on 23 campuses, serving nearly half a million students, so this historic precedent may have far-reaching implications.

How the battle was won After two years of bargaining, contract negotiations stalled and the faculty voted to authorize a strike—the first ever in California public higher education. Frenzied strike preparation followed as negotiations moved to non-binding neutral third-party arbitration. The resulting “fact-finding” report overwhelmingly supported the faculty union’s position. Legislative lobbying produced political pressure on Chancellor Reed, who then acceded to most of the union’s demands. As ever, the lesson is that collective action with a credible strike threat gets the goods! What we won The faculty have had only one raise in 4 years, and the average faculty member is paid 19% less than their public education peers nationwide—this in a state with higher than average cost of living, and some of the highest housing prices in the nation. The new contract brings CSU faculty closer to (but not past) the nationwide average. As Chris Witko, Professor of Government said, “It is a well earned but modest raise. It is sad that we had to fight so hard for it.” The contract also addresses the ‘experi-

ence penalty’ for assistant and associate faculty. Importantly, arbitrary ‘merit’ pay was rejected. The contract also expands the rights of lecturers, preserves the faculty early retirement program and also agreements on librarian and counselor workloads. Speaking about the very real effects of the contract, Professor of Sociology Manuel Barajas said “it will certainly make a difference in helping with the cost of living (I’ve been living on credit since I started working here), but more important it has affected my family’s sense of empowerment seeing that people working together for a fair contract can get justice.”

soft drink makers and athletic apparel companies, by endowed professorships from oil companies and pharmaceutical giants. Advertisers have offered to install billboards, wall-sized murals, and flat-screen TVs all over campus. All of this must stop: Public education cannot run on a business model. Students are not clients; they have minds to be opened. Professors are not assembly-line workers monotonously churning out young men and women with diplomas; we are researchers, mentors, and teachers. As Prof. Barajas said, “Simply put, we cannot have quality education under a corporate model that narrowly reduces teaching/learning into canned instruction for mass consumption with harmful consequences—inferior education, low graduation rates, and an unhealthy learning/teaching environment.” Privatization of the “People’s University” will corrode the spirit of free inquiry that is at the heart of higher education. The CSU system must never accede to these attacks, and the CFA should stand along with students and staff to maintain an affordable, accessible, diverse and high quality public higher education in California.

“…we cannot have quality education under a corporate model that narrowly reduces teaching/learning into canned instruction for mass consumption….”

The future The CFA’s next steps must be directed against the corporatization of the public university. The last decade stands as a monument to the damage that misplaced priorities can do, and in the coming years of potential shrinking budgets we must make every effort to protect the core of the CSU: instruction and accessibility. The attacks on public higher education come from many sides and have undermined the promise made by and for Californians with the establishment of the CSU system 50 years ago of an accessible high quality public education. This promise is undone by continual student fee increases, which have nearly doubled in the last four years. The faculty must unite with students to oppose these new taxes on students. This promise is threatened by exclusive contracts with

Kevin Wehr is assistant professor of sociology, CSUS

Best   Burger The burgers and fries are  described  as   legendary

Biting into this feast, the first thing you notice is that you can taste the beef. The French Ground Steak Burger w/cheese is the thing to order. That is a mouthful to say, and it’s definitely more than a mouthful to eat. Featuring

Harris Ranch Steak freshly ground and formed into a 1/3 lb. patty. Stop by soon. Nationwide Freezer Meats 1930 H Street, Sacramento (H and 20th Streets) 444-3286. Just remember H20 stands for H and 20th Street ««««

www.bpmnews.org July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 

Local Folks Go Pink in DC Antiwar protest in a different key by Maggie Coulter

After marching on the Pentagon in March this year, Sacramento activists Candy and Paul Anderson tried to visit their Congress members. Unable to get an appointment, they connected with CODEPINK. “This group of dedicated women (and men) are always on the move in DC,” says Candy Anderson. “And they are the funnest people to hang out with. I highly recommend a lobbying excursion with them when you travel to Washington.” “One of the highlights was lobbying the self-labeled Blue Dog Democrats, who purport to be concerned about the federal deficit (though not necessarily about the cost of the Iraq war). CODEPINK tied pink ribbons around dog biscuits and offered them to delighted Blue Doggers & staff while singing a special song to tune of “This Old Man”: These blue dogs they’re upset,  They don’t want a bigger debt So CODEPINK is here to give this dog a bone... Stop funding war, bring our troops home!

of his boss, GW). Sporting a Gonzales mask, my picture was all over the internet. The cover of the Washington Post highlighted: “The Senate Judiciary Committee goes CODEPINK on Gonzales. Still in my orange jumpsuit, I made my way to Nancy Pelosi’s office, where I joined military mom Tina Richards as she and others read poignant letters from military families imploring Pelosi to stop funding more war and to bring the troops home now. A few weeks earlier, Pelosi had Richards arrested for reading the names of the dead in her office, but had become more tolerant since then. Richards is one of many anti-war citizen activists who have relocated to Washington DC until the war is ended. That same day, John McCain joked (?) about bombing Iran. That evening CODEPINKers came up with the now-popular “Don’t Bomb Iran” song (check YouTube). The next day we sang it at Congressional office buildings until a newbie Capitol police officer threatened to arrest us. This was rare, as CODEPINK is actually on very good terms with the Capitol police. Not surprising since the CODEPINKers are quite entertaining and even sing “We love you Capitol police” to them. Back on the street, my next gig was to play George Bush in front of a White House-hosted dinner for the media. (Hearing about this casting decision, my partner said that by playing Bush, I had hit rock bottom and should consider coming come.) Leaving the “suits” at the demonstration, I rode the Metro back to my CodePink home and I chatted with other riders, mostly young people. When I explained that I was in DC for the week to lobby with CODEPINK, they exclaimed: “Far out, we love CODEPINK.” One day, dressed in my CODEPINK shirt, I was having lunch with a then-depressed friend at the World Bank (a recent resignation has cheered her up considerably until she saw the replacement). A woman came rushing across the cafeteria floor and said to me: “Are you with CODEPINK?? They are so wonderful.” The Pinkers had been at the bank recently with luggage bearing the sign: “Wolf, pack your bags.” CODEPINK goes non-stop, writing lyrics, coming up with skits, and planning creative actions. On the day that the conference committee announced their weakened version of the (already weak) supplemental to continue funding the war on Iraq, we dressed as doctors and rushed into the Conferees offices, announcing: “We have

“My first morning with CODEPINK was spent playing Alberto Gonzales, handcuffed by the Pink Police….”

After working on the 11-week sit-in at Doris Matsui’s Sacramento office to try to get her to stop funding the war on Iraq and hearing about Paul and Candy’s Blue-Dog serenade, I decided to check out the national scene by spending a week at the CODEPINK House in DC. Conveniently located walking distance from Union Station and the Capitol (and thanks to a friend’s frequent flyer ticket), it was easy to get there. My first morning with CODEPINK was spent playing Alberto Gonzales, handcuffed by the Pink Police (who sang to the tune of “I’ve been working on the railroad”: We defend the constitution, We’re the pink police, We defend the constitution, And we defend free speech! Can’t you hear the people shouting It’s become a roar! Can’t you hear the people shouting It’s time to end this war Time to end the war Time to end the war right n - o - w ) We sat and watched Gonzales evade the Senate committee’s questions (to the apparent delight

This may look like Attorney General Gonzalez, fittingly attired in a Guantanamo orange jump suit, but it’s really Maggie Coulter acting up with Code Pink in the Senate Chambers in Washington DC. Photo Reuters

received an emergency call that hearts are missing from Congress!” We offered a prescription for saving lives: stand up to Bush, fund only the safe, orderly and complete withdrawal of US troops by Dec 31, 2007; no permanent US bases in Iraq At least three more local activists will be packing everything pink they own and heading to the CODEPINK house in June. Many skits, songs, shenanigans, and serious work to end the war lies ahead for Heather Woodford, with Sacramento-CODEPINK, Tina Wong with Military Families Speak Out, and Davis Peace Coalition member, Mikos Fabersunne. My thanks to Davis CODEPINKer Natalie Wormeli who sent me the original information about the CODEPINK house, which you can find at www.codepinkalert.org, www.dontbuybushswar.org. And be sure to check out CODEPINK on YouTube! To find out about getting involved with CODEPINK locally: 530-756-1900 or email [email protected]. Maggie Coulter is president of Sacramento Area Peace Action

Bugged by high gas prices? No problem! BPM has a volunteer job you can do from home. You don’t need a car, a computer or even much time: we need someone to update the local group meetings and radio programs listed in our paper. Call Ellen at 369-5510 for details.

Place an ad for your business or nonprofit group: Business card size ads only $40 (or $30 if run in multiple issues). Call 446-2844 for more info.

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 July / August 2007 www.bpmnews.org

Single-Payer Health Care

Coverage for everyone, for everything, forever, for less By Monica Krauth

A

sea of red and blue flooded the State Capitol grounds May 8th, and no—it was not to show patriotism. A couple thousand people spanning many generations and occupations gathered in support of The Health Care for All Californians Act (SB840). You wouldn’t be off your rocker if you thought you were having a moment of déjà vu. In 2006, the California legislature passed SB 840, a single payer health care system, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill. State Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) has recently reintroduced it. As many as 7 million people are uninsured in the state, and rising costs have put pressure on business and consumers. Schwarzenegger has an alternative plan for fixing the state’s health care problems, requiring most Californians to buy medical insurance with state subsidies for the poorest. Calling Schwarzenegger’s plan “mandatory substandard insurance,” because of its high co-pays and huge deductibles, Kuehl says SB 840, on the other hand, fits all Californians very well. “Universal health care doesn’t mean some, it doesn’t mean most, it certainly doesn’t mean some of the time, it does not mean you gotta buy it whether you can afford it or not. That is not universal health care.” According to Kuehl, health care costs are hurting middle class working families the most. The cost of health insurance, says Kuehl, has increased four times as fast as wages over the last six years and is “bankrupting the state, is bankrupting businesses, and sure as hell is bankrupting us.” Kuehl says that plenty of money is being spent on healthcare—one out of six dollars spent in the US—but just not to cover everyone. Meanwhile costs are getting shifted to patients. So how does this legislation work? SB 840 is the only proposal that establishes universal, affordable, comprehensive health insurance for all Californians and that guarantees the right of patients to choose their doctors. Hospitals and doctors would remain private entities. SB 840

“Calling Schwarzenegger’s plan ‘mandatory substandard insurance,’ Kuehl says SB 840, on the other hand, fits all Californians very well.”

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simply replaces insurance companies—which have a financial interest in denying as much medical care as possible—with a state-wide trust fund that collects premiums paid by employers and individuals, sharing the responsibility for funding. It would be under the control of a health insurance commissioner appointed by the governor. But to Schwarzenegger, this plan would create a “vast new bureaucracy and would be too expensive. Clearly he hasn’t read the bill. Because according to the carefully worked out financing aspect of the bill itself, the plan involves “no new spending on health care.” Rath-

Michael Moore (above) and State Senator Sheila Kuehl (below left) joined members of the California Nurses Association at the state capitol on June 12 to promote SB 840. Photo: Dick Wood

Police State! Police State? We don’t need no stinking Police State By Michael Monasky

er, the system will be paid for by federal, state and county money already being spent on health care and by affordable insurance premiums that replace all premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket payments and co-pays now paid by employers and consumers. According to a poll conducted in January by NBC News/Wall Street Journal that surveyed 1,007 adults nationwide with a margin of error of plus or minus 3%, 53% agreed that single-payer health care is a good idea for the entire country, 40% disagreed and 7% were unsure. To those who say single-payer will never happen, Kuehl says, “they’re just flat out wrong.” It will become a reality because the people have to have it, want it, and they will keep bringing it up until they get what they want and need. Monica Krauth is an unemployed welfare mama who interns at the Yolo County Public Defender’s investigator’s unit.

“The health care industry has a death grip on our society because the insurance companies put profits before patients, which is why we as a country spend considerably more on health care than other developed countries and get back far less. In recognizing that for profit insurance is incompatible with a caring, a moral and a high quality health care system that provides coverage for all, Senator Kuehl is leading the fight to break the industry’s death grip.” Michael Moore June 6, 2007

I recently received an e-mail solicitation from Jan Scully, Sacramento County District Attorney, to participate in a Citizens’ Academy. It had two goals: to inform the community about the role of law enforcement, and to elicit input from the community about racial profiling, the Patriot Act, three-strikes and 10-20-life sentencing laws. After 5 of the 10 Academy sessions, the supervising District Attorney expelled me for asking questions, pointing out contradictions, and challenging law enforcement dogma. I asked how sentencing laws are fair when most prisoners are people of color. I pointed out that a recent Federal Department of Justice study revealed,

“Checks and balances against abuse by law enforcement are weak.” once stopped by police, people of color were 2 to 3 times more likely to be searched, arrested, and/or beaten. In response, the police and DA maintained that I disrupted the class with rude and irrelevant interruptions. Checks and balances against abuse by law enforcement are weak. Police Internal Affairs, the Office of Public Accountability, the Sheriff ’s Inspector-general, and this Citizens’ Academy all require background security clearance, and are immersed in police culture. The scope of the City of Sacramento Community Racial Profiling Commission is limited to surveying traffic stops, not search, arrest, and use of force by police. DA and Public Defender staff are underpaid and overworked with gargantuan caseloads, prompting plea bargains, not justice. According to the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, in 2005 there were 475 Child Protective Services Social Workers. Sacramento Police Department Chief Albert Najera admitted that he cannot arrest and imprison social ills. Yet there are about 3,000 sworn peace officers in Sacramento County, including Sheriffs, Highway Patrol, State Police, and municipal police departments. Economically, the Pentagon dominates our Federal spending. With six times as many cops as social workers, Sacramento County’s priorities are clear. Michael Monasky works in the city of Sacramento, and lives in Sacramento County.

www.bpmnews.org July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 

What You Need to Know About the 9/11 Truth Movement (For the uninitiated, the unsure, and even the disgusted) By Johnny Orlowskawitz Before you go throwing around the words, wackos, wingbats, nutjobs and conspiracy theorists, learn a little about the people who call themselves the 9/11 Truth and Justice Movement: 1. The 9/11 truth movement is diverse, democratic, and non-partisan, not a far rightwing or far left-wing movement. There are Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hispanics, Whites, African Americans, rich, poor, PhD professors, college students, truck drivers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, architects, Reverends, atheists, democrats, republicans, and independents. There is no “type” of truther, because the truth knows neither religious, ethnic, social nor ideological boundaries. 2. The 9/11 Truth movement is not a conspiracy movement. The majority of people criticizing the government’s official story (the ‘official conspiracy theory’ one could call it) admit they do not know what really happened on 9/11. However, they demand that we all should and moreover must know the truth about what did happen. Most agree that whatever the government’s story, it does not hold up to charges of at the very least, omission and distortion if not outright lying. The majority of people in the 9/11 Truth movement have far more questions than theories, and almost everyone will acknowledge that no conclusions are possible until a thorough, transparent, citizen-led investigation occurs without the obstructionist tactics and top-secret classifications our government has become all too good at deploying. 3. The people in this movement are not beyond critical thinking; they are deeply indebted to it. The forums on 9/11 truth have been filled with discussion and debate, much evidence, and many questions. In the past years and months many bad ideas and false leads have been weeded through. We are also clearer about what questions remain and what evidence best supports the notion that the government’s story is incomplete, self-contradictory, and often simply false. This process of reaching consensus has been dynamic, and is ongoing. It has been aided rather than hindered by the attempts of many scientists and even self-appointed ‘debunkers’ who have often presented compelling information which was acknowledged, digested, and incorporated into an ever-growing and changing body of knowledge. 4. The people in this movement believe that knowing the truth about 9/11 is essential to the health and future of our country not tangential to it. Most agree that the bloodshed of the 21st century has been inaugurated on the back of 9/11 and for that reason it is in no way beyond our sincere, patriotic doubt and dissent. 5. The people in this movement hold that it is possible for both a) George W. Bush to be close-minded, parochial, and incompetent and b) for people within the government, besides, or in addition to Bush to have sufficient resources and technological know-how to conduct a major covert operation. While some believe our government was either inadvertently or directly involved the 9/11 attacks, most believe that the massive cover-up surrounding these events was

The 9/11 truth movement, having largely transcended the artificial and obsolete left-right divide, will continue to work for the convergence of leftists, progressives, conservatives, greens, libertarians, and all persons of good will on the basis of a program of rejection war and dictatorship, and promoting economic recovery. This is a vital contribution to the ongoing party realignment and crisis of the political system. from Boston Tea Party for 9/11 Truth: www. boston911truth.org/teaparty/memo.html

far from successful, as evidenced by the hundreds of thousands of people questioning that very story. 6. The people in this movement promote the understanding that Statesponsored or condoned acts of terrorism, even against a country’s own citizens, are not only plausible but have likely happened repeatedly throughout history. The Reichstag Fire in Weimar Germany, the sinking of the Maine and the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident were all conspicuous national tragedies which became platforms for launching major military campaigns. Staged, allowed, or merely taken advantage of—there is no doubt that 20th century history was marked by many moments in which national catastrophes turned into national battlecries. It is more than fair, in an attempt to prevent the 21st century from befalling the same fate, to ask if these have been merely coincidences followed by patriotic fervor or something far more sinister. 7. The people in this movement acknowledge that much of the evidence gathered through their 9/11 truth research is circumstantial and speculative, but that this is reason to continue searching rather than to stop asking questions. The War Games on 9/11, put Active duty Marine Johnny Wave dares to stand in uniform for 911 truth at an LA demonstration. options placed on United and American Airlines, Larry Silverstein’s asbestos Photographer unknown problem, ISI funding, extremely close interactions between FBI officials and named to find that truth. And they proclaim that it is the hijackers, the apparent confusion of identities duty of every citizen to support—not the officials surrounding hijackers who are still alive, Bin of their government or even their own country’s Laden’s dual denial and confession, the loss army—but the values that both their institutions (destruction) of thousands of files relating to SEC and their military were created to protect. They investigations in WTC7’s destruction, the rapid acknowledge that the lives lost on 9/11, the lives destruction of evidence from the WTC crime lost defending freedom and real democracy scene, the baffling inepitude of our national throughout history, and the lives that will no air defenses, the pools of molten metal found doubt be lost while following the orders of a beneath the rubble, and the general improbability corrupt administration in the future, all deserve of the WTC collapses—all of these and many nothing less than that truth. more are grounds for serious concern. People 9. Lastly, they believe that truth — in due in this movement wonder if the offense taken time — cannot be suppressed and that justice—in by others when reacting to suggestions that the due course—cannot be contained. Government’s story simply cannot account for these anomalies is a sign that they are suffering Johnny Orlowskawitz is a 911 blogger. from willful ignorance, denial, or worse. This article was edited from www.911blogger. 8. The people in this movement acknowledge com/node/8655 that while the burden of proof is on those asking questions, the burden of truth is on every citizen, American, and human not only in this country but on this planet. They acknowledge that neither the government nor the media can be relied on

Architects, Engineers Question 9/11 The newly formed group AE 9/11 Truth is a non-partisan association of architects, engineers, and affiliates dedicated to exposing falsehoods and revealing truths about the “collapses” of the WTC North and South towers and WTC Building 7 on 9/11. Blueprints of the towers for research purposes are available at the web site: http://www. ae911truth.org/ This is the third professional group of 9/11 Truth professionals to form. Pilots for 9/11 Truth is an organization of aviation professionals and pilots. http://pilotsfor911truth.org/ Scholars for 9/11 Truth (S9/11T) is an association of faculty, students, and scholars. http://911scholars.org/ From the Sacramento for 9-11 Truth newsletter

Place an ad for your business or nonprofit group: Business card size ads only $40 (or $30 if run in multiple issues). Call 446-2844 for more info.

 Because People Matter July / August 2007 www.bpmnews.org

Walking  to End the War

Iraq War Veteran’s march around Capitol draws hundreds of supporters

By Dan Bacher

Agustin Aguayo (rear center) welcomed in Stockton, California 5/11/07. Photo Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist

A Vet’s Moral Opposition to War Agustin Aguayo pays a price By Dan Bacher

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gustin Aguayo, an Iraq combat veteran who refused to load his weapon in Iraq because of his moral opposition to the war, chose Sacramento for his first public appearance following his release from military prison in Germany. Aguayo addressed fellow veterans and other war opponents on Thursday, May 10 at the Newman Center. On the following day, he held a press conference in front of the federal building in Sacramento where the historic 52-day Peace-in was held in Representative Doris Matsui’s office earlier this year. Aguayo first applied for CO status in February 2004, but while his application was being processed he was sent to Iraq as a medic. “When I first entered the military, I was ready to do anything,” said Aguayo. “I felt that I had never given to the country before and that military service was a positive thing to do.” After basic training, he went to a 16-week medic training. “However, early in my training I began to question the violence and felt uncomfortable with some of the marching chants the military used.” Soldiers were forced to chant, “I’m a beast, not a human, I’m going to stab between the second and third ribs and twist.” After deployment to Iraq, he realized that war “brings out the worst in everyone. I saw comrades, otherwise wonderful people, go through a great change.” One of the things that most disturbed him was his captain telling medics one day, “You need to tell the infantry that when you use your weapons, you have to finish the job. Otherwise it’s more work for you.” “That’s the mentality that changes in people during war,” Aguayo stated. “That captain was a devout religious man and it shows how war brings the worst out in people. I believe that we, as human beings, can do much better than that.” “I saw harassment of civilians,” he noted, “but no specific war crimes. However, war itself is a violation and crime.” Aguayo based his CO claim on a moral personal belief opposing war based on his life experience. “I was listening to my inner voice, but the army denied me CO status based on the fact that I had no religious foundation,” he said. “I feel the military is saying that if you’re not a Mennonite or a Jehovah’s Witness or other religion known for being opposed to war that you can’t have these feelings,” he said. His 8 months in prison were initially very painful. “I was reduced from a soldier to a criminal for practicing my moral beliefs,’ he said. “I missed my family a great deal, although my wife, Helga, came to see me often.” Aguayo had a lot of time to read and reflect on his life. “I learned about myself while in isolation,” he stated. “Somehow I always found inspiration in books. I also received hundreds of letters from supporters in the antiwar movement.” During the battle for his CO claim, Helga helped mobilize support. The Army denied his 2004 CO claim, and when his unit was to be sent back to Iraq in 2006, Aguayo missed the deployment and turned himself in, “One day after he turned himself in, the military

brought him back to the house and said, ‘Grab your gear, you’re leaving for Iraq,’” said Helga. “He pretended to cooperate and then was gone for 26 days before turning himself in again.” He was taken to Germany to the Mannheim Military Prison. “When he went AWOL, the military thought Agustin and I were in cahoots, so they wouldn’t let me leave the country. They stopped his paycheck. We had no money.” The military police searched their house on base without a warrant and interrogated Helga in front of her two 12-year-old daughters. “It’s been hell, and I wish it could be over,” she explained. “My husband is now a convicted felon, he can’t vote in some states, and he’s been stripped of his veteran status. We are continuing to pursue the case with a team of lawyers so he can be recognized as a Conscientious Objector.” The case sets a threatening precedent for other soldiers experiencing moral crises about killing. The heavy punishment shows the desperation of a military faced with resistance that increases daily among the troops in this illegal war based on lies. For more information, www.aguayodefense.org/ or www.couragetoresist. org/x/content/blogcategory/24/36/

“After deployment to Iraq, he realized that war ‘brings out the worst in everyone. I saw comrades, otherwise wonderful people, go through a great change.’”

Dan Bacher is a journalist, activist and satirical songwriter living in Sacramento.

An Iraq War veteran dressed in desert fatigues drew hundreds to the State Capitol starting on Memorial Day to support his march to remember US troops killed in Iraq and the futility of the war itself. The Navy veteran, who prefers to remain anonymous to concentrate people’s attention upon the over 3,500 US soldiers killed in the Iraq War, and his supporters made 3500 laps around the capitol. He did laps for California’s 362 fallen in three 24-hour days without a night in bed. The veteran carried a yellow ribbon and read the name and brief personal info in memory of each fallen soldier on every lap around the capitol. Marchers accompanying him, in addition, carried white strips of paper with the names of Iraqi civilians killed to remember the more than 685,000 Iraqis that have perished since G.W. Bush invaded the country in March 2003. Maggie Coulter of Sacramento Area Peace Action said, “For each of those 3500 names of Iraqi men, women and children, there are another 200 people killed in this war that we don’t have names for.” “I decided to do this march to mobilize the community to become more active against the war and to send a strong signal to the Bush administration that we won’t put up any longer with this war,” said the veteran, a member of Iraq Veterans for Peace and Veterans for Peace. “We want to show the public how many soldiers have died so far and the need for the war to end now before more people die.” “The march has been great in the sense that we have received a lot of community involvement. I have spoken with strangers who haven’t been active in any other, way but decided to march with me,” he said. The veteran, a full-time college student who works and has a family, became opposed to the war when he was stationed as a medic in Iraq in March 2003, after having been in Kuwait and Afghanistan. One incident stands out in his mind. He and two other soldiers were dispatched to retrieve the body of a fallen solider. However, when they arrived, the Iraqis had already buried the solider to prevent the dogs from feeding on it. “We didn’t bring any shovels with us and we tried to dig up the body with our hands—and we found one of his finger bones,” he said. “Our officer ordered us to abandon the body. This was a really significant moment in my military career. We had a chance to get the body back home and yet we were told to abandon our fellow soldier’s body.” The civilian casualties also increased his questions

A small part of the display of ribbons carried during the Walk to End the War. Photo: Barbara Brown

see Walk to End the War, page 9

www.bpmnews.org July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 

Walk to End the War,

from page 8

about the war. “I saw Iraqi kids and teenagers badly hurt by US weapons,” he stated. When he arrived home, he was angered when he heard reports of fellow soldiers let go from the military for their war injuries who received only partial disability benefits. He also was dismayed by the many soldiers that were not getting proper treatment for post traumatic stress syndrome from the Veterans Administration. “I met one veteran who kept having seizures after being forced out of the military without full compensation,” he reflected. “Yet he couldn’t hold down a normal job because of his disability.” The veteran’s march began Memorial Day with a press conference attended by representatives of Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Sacramento Area Peace Action, and Sacramento for Democracy, Courage to Resist and Gold Star Families for Peace. Since then, hundreds have walked laps—some just passersby who were moved by the vet’s actions—and have staffed a literature table and provided refreshments for the walkers. Tina Wong from Military Families Speak out emphasized that the veteran’s action helped put a human face on the costs of war. “Each soldier was a son or daughter, a father or mother, a wife or husband,” she stated. “Each life was precious and each fallen soldier was loved by someone. We continue to proclaim that the best way to support the troops is by withdrawing funds for this war and funding the care needed for them when they come home.” Zohreh Whittaker, whose son is currently deployed in Iraq, added, “The US has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure. It is time to pull our troops out of Iraq and to pay the cost of rebuilding Iraq.” Three marchers from a Nationwide March for Peace, Ashley Casales, Michael Israel and Susan Liu, also walked laps around the capitol on Memorial Day in support of the veteran. They had began their march to Washington DC in San Francisco the week before. Members of Sacramento’s Iraq American community also demonstrated their solidarity with the veteran’s desire to make the war real to the American people and politicians. “I hope that he will get the attention of the public as well as the media,” said Ayad Al-Qazzaz, sociology professor at Sacramento State. “Hopefully, Democrats who voted to fund George Bush’s war will soon get the point, since a lot of them aren’t getting the point now. US forces created the problem and encouraged the sectarian tendencies now flaring up. By removing US occupying forces, you remove the most important cause of Iraq’s current problem.” Pat Sheehan, the father of Casey Sheehan and former husband of peace mom Cindy Sheehan, spent many hours walking with the veteran. “Today is Casey’s birthday,” said Sheehan, on May 29. “He is 28 years old today—his spirit lives on. I walked with the veteran for my son and all of the other soldiers that have died in this war.” He added, “the veteran made a difference before he started walking when he made a conscious decision to not disclose his own identity. By doing this, he is shining the light on the fallen in Iraq.”

From the vet’s speech on the last day of the Walk to End the War “Sometimes it may feel like there is no end in sight, that this war is an out-of-control fire that continues to rage on and ferociously consume lives no matter how hard we try to extinguish it. It is so easy to be discouraged when our voices are continually ignored by the leaders we elected to represent us. It is so easy to be discouraged when an unnecessary war carries on into its fifth year and our leaders talk not about ending it but about invading other countries. But there is hope when a community can pull together for a common cause and voluntarily complete a difficult yet memorable task.

Above: This basket held the names of Iraqi civilians killed in the war. Photo: Dan Bacher.

“I urge you that when you leave here today, you reflect on those whose lives have been lost in this war. Think about all the pain and suffering each individual went through as their life was taken from them and the emotional anguish that his or her parents or children went through when they received the news of their loved one’s passing. And then say to yourself, “Not one more.” You have the ability to save the lives of many people with the decisions you make today. Never give up the fight for peace and never stop demanding an end to this war.” Websites for military resistance: www.couragetoresist.org www.vfp87.com www.mfsocap.org www.sacendwar.com Above: The anonymous Iraq Veteran, shown here before walking his first lap, finished his historic march around the State Capitol on Thursday, June 7. Photo: Dan Bacher

Above: Local members of Veterans for Peace, including George Main (on right) walk with the veteran on his first series of laps around the capitol. Photo: Dan Bacher

Right: A group gathers around the State Seal to read names of American soldiers and Iraqis who have been killed. Photo: Barbara Brown

“There is hope when our soldiers refuse to fight despite the consequences and generals threaten to revolt if these troop surges persist. There is hope when children willingly join the peace movement and even more hope when they comprehend the mistakes our generation’s leaders are making. There is hope every time our rights are violated and every time they attempt to obstruct our demonstrations, for we know they are getting nervous about our growing numbers and it is just a matter of time before we become so large that change is inevitable. There is hope, because we hold the majority of Americans on our side: it is only a matter of mobilizing them into active members of the peace movement.

10 Because People Matter July / August 2007 www.bpmnews.org

Book Review Some of the Places You Can Find BPM Sacramento Area Coffee Works Crest Theater Dimple Records, Arden Wy Dose Coffee Shop Flowers Restaurant Galleria (29th & K) Grinders Hart Senior Center Lido Cafe Light Rail: 65/Folsom 2nd Ave/Freeport Los Jarritos Luna’s Cafe & Juice Bar Mercy Hospital, 40th/J 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) Sargent Coffee House (Alhambra & M) Starbucks (B'wy & 35th) 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 Greenhaven area Buckthorn’s Coffee, 7465 Rush River Dr Nevada City US Post Office Where would you like to see BPM? Let Paulette Cuilla know, 422-1787.

If Olaya Street Could Talk: Saudi Arabia: The Heartland of Oil & Islam, by John Paul Jones. (New Mexico: Taza Press, 2007) by Jenn Walker

Images of exploding cars, suicide bombers detonating themselves in marketplaces and on street corners, and death tolls hover on TVs and front pages of newspapers, and the Western world in turn lumps yet another region, the Middle East, with other socially agitated places around the world as just another bloody mayhem. It’s one more exotic place to cross off of the vacation list. However, this picture is very foreign to American writer John Paul Jones, who wrote If Olaya Street Could Talk: Saudi Arabia: The Heartland of Oil & Islam, a firsthand account of his positive experiences living as a Saudi Arabian resident over a span of 25 years. His title originated from James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk; Jones’ book is instead named after Olaya Street, the street he lived on when he first arrived in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, as a young man in 1978. Little did he know that he would spend a quarter of a century as a Western expatriate in a country he initially intended to stay in only for a two-year contract working in health care administration. Yet, early in the book, Jones’ enchantment with his new surroundings and friends grows obvious, and shortly thereafter he finds himself married and happily raising a family in Saudi Arabia. Jones’ vivid storytelling unveils it as a

beautiful, vast country untouched by tourism. “Saudi Arabia is one of the very few places on earth where you can really run free and clear— paradoxically in a country that one does not immediately associate with the word freedom.” Jones repeatedly analyzes Western stereotypes of Saudis and the Middle East, often disproving them with his own personal experiences. Over the time he was employed there, Jones saw the hospital’s administration replaced on many occasions. Contrary to stereotype, Jones articulates that when the Saudi Ministry of Interior took charge of the hospital, they did not impose their religious expectations or lifestyles upon the non-Muslim Western majority employed there. Nor did the officials conduct searches for alcohol, Bibles, and uncensored Time magazines in the housing units, as some of the Western hospital workers inaccurately predicted. “It was the Saudis who were respectful of one’s private dwelling, treated the hospital employees with a fundamental respect, and made allowances for one’s lifestyle if one exhibited discretion in public and reciprocated the respect,” Jones writes. Shortly after the televised broadcasts of airplanes colliding into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, US news sources reported thousands of revelers in the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon publicly

“Jones’ book shows that there is much more to Saudi Arabia than what the NY Times offers.” rejoicing in the streets with gunshots and cheers. Less than a year later, Jones stumbles upon NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman at a party at the US Embassy-Riyadh. They engage in a discussion regarding September 11 and its aftermath, including how numerous Saudis had offered their condolences and how the Saudi hospital administration took action to dispel any celebration of the attacks within the hospital. Jones later found that Friedman sourced Jones as a US hospital worker who was “appalled to see Saudi doctors and nurses around him celebrating on 9/11.” Suddenly, Jones found himself involuntarily manipulated to contribute to yet another media exploitation of the Middle East. Jones’ book shows that there is much more to Saudi Arabia than what the NY Times offers. If Olaya Street Could Talk is a recommended read for those interested in gaining a realistic perception of the country, its people, and its history. This is a book that can help to make Americans more insightful instead of ignorant, and more aware instead of afraid.

Disillusion unto death

T

wo years ago in June, Col. Ted Westhusing put a bullet in his brain in his trailer at an Army camp in Baghdad, the highestranking US officer to die in the Iraq war at the time. Asked what killed the West Point ethicist, his widow replied “Iraq.” Westhusing, 44, had been deeply troubled by abuses carried out by US contractors in Iraq, including allegations that they had witnessed or even participated in the murder of Iraqis. In a suicide note addressed to and harshly critical of his commanders, Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil and Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, Westhusing wrote: “I cannot support a mission that leads to corruption, human right abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more.” The letter ends: “I didn’t volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. I trust no Iraqi. I cannot live this way. All my love to my family, my wife and my precious children. I love you and trust you only. Death before being dishonored any more. “Trust is essential—I don’t know who trust anymore. Why serve when you cannot accomplish the mission, when you no longer

 



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believe in the cause, when your every effort and breath to succeed meets with lies, lack of support, and selfishness? No more. Reevaluate yourselves,commanders. You are not what you think you are and I know it.” From an item at www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display. jsp?vnu_content_id=1003594048.

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www.bpmnews.org July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 11

Media Clipped

Seth Sandronsky

Don Imus and Jason Whitlock Radio talk show host Don Imus’ verbal misogyny and bigotry against the women basketball players of Rutgers University, calling them “nappy-headed hos” this April 4, distracts some black adults in the US from the gangster culture of African American youth. So writes Jason Whitlock. He is a columnist with the Kansas City Star. Whitlock scolds readers away from Imus’ hate speech. Thus, Whitlock blasts black leaders such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for focusing on Imus’ trash talk and avoiding the real menace to society. “We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture,” Whitlock writes. Note the use of the passive voice. There is no active agent that imprisons black people. Apparently, the process of being locked down requires no further explanation than this. Let us take a step back from the Imus affair to look at some simple facts. Between 1980 and 2005, the number of US prisoners quadrupled from 502,000 to just over 2 million. Consider incarceration data from the International Centre for Prison Studies at Kings College, London for 2003-4. The US rate of incarceration per 100,000 people is 726 prisoners. Compare that rate of incarceration per 100,000 people with other nations: New Zealand, 166; United Kingdom, 145, Spain, 142; Portugal, 124;

Netherlands, 123; Australia, 121; Canada, 116; Austria, 106; Italy, 97; Germany, 96; France, 91; Belgium, 88; Ireland, 85; Greece, 82; Sweden, 81; Denmark, 70; Finland, 66, Norway, 65; and Japan, 60. No other nation in the world imprisons as many people as the US. The American government, federal, state and local, is simply off the charts when it comes to incarcerating its populace. Why? Asking the question is an important step to understanding the role that the prison system plays in the US of locking up people who are the last hired and the first fired. Take blacks, who are 12 percent of the US population and half of the nation’s prisoners. What is it in American life since 1980 that accounts for this feature of mass incarceration? The political silence on this question reveals its importance. Meanwhile, Whitlock faults the cultural shortcomings of some black youth who like hip-hop. Presumably, too many black adults choose flight instead of fight against this harmful culture. Speaking of choice, working for wages is a central part of daily life in a modern society.

Without enough income from employment one goes hungry, and lives on the sidewalk or at the river. This is the “free market” in action. One is free to find employment, or not. Recently, I read this data about the US. “The unemployment rate for African Americans is on average approximately twice as high as the overall unemployment rate, and the unemployment rate for African American teens averages approximately six times the overall unemployment rate for workers with a college degree,” writes economist Dean Baker in The United States Since 1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Are these trends of imprisonment and unemployment signs of a personal failure? Or are there other reasons? Whitlock does not ask such questions. To do so would shine some light on the policy priorities of the US government, federal, state and local. Readers might wait a while for Whitlock to go there. In the meantime, the federal jobless rate does not count those behind bars, only people who have been looking for work and are in the labor force now. So the rate of imprisonment could go up and the unemployment rate could go down. Seth Sandronsky is a BPM co-editor.

“Whitlock scolds readers away from Imus’ hate speech.”

Book Review Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience by Alice Rothchild (Pluto Press, 2007) by Ellen Broms The conflict is given a human dimension by the stories of health care providers and others in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor is described as “a believer in health care as a bridge in times of conflict and the doctor as a messenger for peace.” She includes reports of the lack of medical access due to check points. Limits on movement results in precious hours wasted in transit to medical facilities by both doctors and patients. A Palestinian colleague tells Rothchild of a “pregnant woman in labor in the West Bank denied passage at a checkpoint who delivered premature twins. They died shortly thereafter.” Rothchild also shares the voices of Israelis, including Dr. Ruchama Marton, a psychiatrist, and Gila Svirsky, an activist who went from a life as an Orthodox Jew to working for social justice and peace in Israel. Marton has written on the psychological impact of the second intifada (Palestinian uprising) on Israeli society: “We see ourselves as victims, even though we are for a very long time, not victims anymore. It’s very useful, I’m afraid, because being a victim gives you a lot of license to do awful things and still you are right, at least in your own eyes.” Gila Svirsky is active in the Coalition of Women for Peace and is now buying B’Tselem where she “focused Political posters, handbills & pamphlets on documenting human rights Books on history, labor, & politcs violations in the Occupied Records of blues, jazz, rock, punk, world, R&B, & spoken word. Territories while working in And, of course, we are selling books & records, too! an organization dedicated to We are located at 1114 21st Street, Sacramento. Our hours are 11 – 5:30 M-Sat. (but please call for appt. if selling). changing Israeli governmental 916-447-5696. policy.” The last chapter of the book www.timetestedbooks.com is aptly titled “The Implications

Alice Rothchild, a practicing OB-GYN, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, and president of the Alliance Board to Defend Health Care, has since 1997 written and lectured on women’s health care and the Israel/Palestine conflict. Broken Promises, Broken Dreams is a riveting personal account from the terrain of that conflict. Especially helpful for novices on Middle East issues is the glossary, timeline, map, and notes. Rothchild’s interest in understanding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and its relationship to US foreign policy and American Jewry evolved over the past ten years. She co-founded and cochairs Visions for Peace with Justice in Israel/Palestine, now called Jewish Voice for Peace, Boston. This book grew out of a journal Rothchild kept during four health and human rights delegations to Israel and the Occupied Territories in 2004 and 2005. The Jewish Voice for Peace Health and Human Rights Project will be leading another delegation in the fall.

“We see ourselves as victims, even though we are for a very long time, not victims anymore….”

Time Tested Books

of Knowing: Complicity and Dissent,” Rothchild feels that “[i]t is important to look at the environment in which we as Jews and US citizens attempt to have this troubled conversation. Despite all the emotional anguish, it is imperative to explore the marketing of ‘pro-Israel’ messages, the challenges of having a critical dialogue in this environment, and the social and political consequences and possibilities as we look towards the future.” The Sacramento Chapter of JVP and Physicians for Social Responsibility will sponsor a talk by Alice Rothchild in the Sacramento region in early December. Ellen Broms is a peace activist and JVP member.

NEW! Alkali Flat Urban Farm Stand A neighborhood inspired and based project in Alkali Flat. The residents wanted access to fresh fruits & veggies, so we are debuting the Urban Farm Stand at J. Neely Johnson Park, 11th & F. The farm stand will operate EVERY TUESDAY EVENING from 4–7pm from July 10 through October. We hope you will come join the fun. There will be produce, arts & crafts, and community building. A project of the nonprofit Alchemist Community Development Corporation. Want to volunteer or learn more? email [email protected].

12 Because People Matter July / August 2007 www.bpmnews.org

Sacramento Area Peace Action

Congress: What part of ‘End the War Now’ don’t you Understand?

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

On May 24, Congress handed President Bush another blank check to continue the war on Iraq, in direct contradiction to the expressed desire of the American people, who want the US war on Iraq ended. Although representatives Doris Matsui (Sacramento) and Mike Thompson (Davis / Woodland), voted against the May 24 blank check, they had previously voted for two earlier war supplemental funding versions that would have continued the war until at least fall 2008 and would have left an unspecified number of troops in Iraq indefinitely. Matsui and Thompson also joined most of their fellow representatives May 17 in failing to challenge the war by passing HR 1585, the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Authorization Act. This Act provides the legal authorization and recommended funding levels for the continuation of baseline programs of the Defense Department, including the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.  HR 1585 includes Bush’s request for another $142

billion for these wars. It also contains munitions and equipment which would not be delivered to Iraq until at least 2009, a harbinger of an unending war and occupation. As of this writing, the Senate has not taken action on HR 1585. Senator Carl Levin has said that he will introduce an amendment to require that withdrawal of troops begin within 120 days of the passage of the authorization bill. At this juncture, it is critical that both Matsui and Thompson commit to voting against ANY more funding, other than to bring ALL the troops home. If they are in fact serious about ending the war, and not just engaging in political game playing, then they must say NOW that they will vote against the FY 2008 war appropriations bill. The vote on this funding may come up in July, before Congress recesses for the month of August, or it may be in September, before 2008 Fiscal Year starts on October 1. The Bush administration is clear about wanting a semi-colonial Iraq, as recently evidenced by the open discussion of a South Korea-style occupation of Iraq and continued US attempts to force

“Not one of the convoluted supplemental versions, promoted by the Democratic leadership and supported by Matsui and Thompson, would have ended the occupation or brought the troops home.”

Somalia: Africa’s Iraq? Worse than Darfur By Brigitte Jaensch

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.

The international community stands by silently as Somalia is under attack. Attacked by cruise missiles launched from US warships patrolling the east African coast. So far civilians and not “militants” or “terrorists” have been hit. Attacked by Ethiopian soldiers who invaded Somalia in December 2006, encouraged and blessed by the US. Attacked by African Union ”peacekeepers” who too often menace the Somali people, tear down their makeshift businesses and destroy their homes. Hundred of thousands fled Mogadishu even though there was no refuge for them outside the city. Thus many of these men, women and children have had to return to the capital city even though the situation there gets ever worse. For almost two decades, Somalis have been subjected to violence as competing warlord clans fought for supremacy. In 2004, a “transitional” government consisting of some of these warlords was cobbled together at a meeting in Kenya. After two years of trying to establish itself, Mogadishu still remained off limits to the government, which was sidelined in a town called Baidoa. In 2006, business interests urged the Islamic Courts Union, a loose confederation of Islamic entities, to try to bring some stability to the country. And they succeeded without resorting to force and Somalis hoped normalcy was finally returning to Somalia. The US government, phobic about anything “Islamic,” pro-“transitional” government, and dismissive about the on-going territorial dispute between predominately Christian Ethiopia and Muslim Somalia, encouraged Ethiopia to invade Somalia to buttress the “transitional” government. This neighboring-country-intercession is in direct violation of a UN resolution. Sending weapons to Somalia violates a UN arms embargo. Ethiopia’s march into Somalia was not only patently illegal, it was frightening, and infuriated the Somali people. And it has essentially torpedoed any chance for the “transition” govern-

ment—this puppet of Ethiopia and the US—to ever gain the confidence of the people. The stability brought by the Islamic Courts Union was quickly undone and the resultant chaos and humanitarian crisis has been described as “worse than Darfur” by newly-appointed UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes. The US has long supplied weapons to opposing warlords in Somalia, playing them off against one another. More recently, the US has also sent in small groups of Special Operations soldiers (called A-teams) and mercenaries, politely termed private security contractors (e.g, Virginia-based Select Armor and Florida-based ATS Worldwide). What is happening in Somalia—a newly

Iraq to pass an oil law that would give US corporations control and huge profits (disguised as one of the benchmarks). Unfortunately, too many in Congress have this same agenda. Not one of the convoluted supplemental versions, promoted by the Democratic leadership and supported by Matsui and Thompson, would have ended the occupation or brought the troops home. Why didn’t Congress just use its Constitutional powers to refuse to fund more war? Perhaps because too many in Congress are the servants of weapons sellers, oil companies, and the pro-war Israeli lobby. But even if Congress members seek to serve corporate masters, we the people still have a LOT of power, and we need to use it. Paraphrasing Cindy Sheehan when asked about singing to the choir, if all the choir were singing, we would not be in this war. Every week, call and confront Congress (202-224-3121): ask what they are doing to really end this war and occupation by bringing ALL of our troops home now and restoring Iraq to its people. Tell them you want US veterans to get all the benefits they need and you want the US to pay for the damage it has done to Iraq. Get your friends and family to call. Go to demonstrations. Talk to everyone you meet about the war on Iraq. Educate yourself about the history of US foreign policy, about who profits from war. Think of new ways to put pressure on Congress: we can and we must make them end this war.

oil-rich country—is a foretaste of what will be repeated elsewhere in Africa, a continent rich not only in oil and natural gas, but all variety of other resources—e.g., gold, diamonds, cobalt, uranium and tantalum (known as coltan) which among other uses maintains the electrical charge in computer chips. With more than 730 military bases worldwide and a military presence in more than 140 countries (out of +/- 200 countries worldwide), the US is adding AFRICOM to its existing commands—CENTCOM, EUCOM, PACOM. Likely to be based in Djibouti, AFRICOM will not only enable US military control of Africa, but also the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, Saudi Arabia, Egypt.

“The US government, phobic about anything “Islamic…encouraged Ethiopia to invade Somalia….”

Brigitte Jaensch is a human rights and civil rights advocate.

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:___________________________ E-mail:___________________________ ____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, e-mail: [email protected], web: www.sacpeace.org

www.bpmnews.org July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 13

Internet Radio in Danger!

The ongoing threats to independent media By Judith Poxon

O

ne of the latest threats to locally produced independent media is the move by the Copyright Review Board (CRB) to increase royalties paid by operators of Internet radio stations to prohibitive levels. Acting in March, the CRB decided to scrap the existing fee structure, based on a reasonable annual fee plus a percentage of profits, in favor of a flat fee for each song on a per-user basis, with a minimum fee of $500 per station per year. Even more troubling are the facts that the proposed new rate is scheduled to double over the next five years, and the new fees would be charged retroactively to the beginning of 2006, resulting in large one-time assessments. Clearly, while the old, profit-based fee structure made it possible for small independent webcasters to survive on essentially no revenue, the new structure will charge the same rate to all webcasters, whether or not they operate at a profit, meaning that many small webcasters will be put out of business. In making this change, which is scheduled to take effect on July 15th, the CRB responded to

lobbying by a royalty-collecting agency known as SoundExchange, which is linked to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). According to Washington Post writer Mike Musgrove, SoundExchange Executive Director John Simson sees the increased royalties as necessary in today’s steadily shrinking compact disc market, and doubts that the new fees will limit the diversity of music available on Internet radio. This view is challenged by the International Webcasting Association (IWA), which represents a broad spectrum of independent Internet radio stations, and which opposes the new fee structure. According to members of the IWA, Internet radio reaches large audiences who live out of range of traditional radio broadcasts, and provides a way for consumers of relatively unprofitable musical genres to stay current. There is some reason for hope, however. On May 30, the Digital Media Association, in conjunction with National Public Radio and the Small Commercial Webcasters, filed an appeal with the District of Columbia Circuit Court, seeking to delay the implementation of the CRB’s

“Internet radio reaches large audiences who live out of range of traditional radio broadcasts….”

new rate structure. This delay, if granted, would allow more time for the passage of legislation that has been introduced in both houses of Congress. The bipartisan Internet Radio Equality Act, co-sponsored in the Senate (S. 1353) by Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sam Brownback (R-KA), and in the House (H.R. 2060) by Jay Inslee (D-WA), Don Manzullo (RIL), and some 100 others, would overturn the new CRB decision and lock in a profit-based royalty structure through 2010. But passage of this legislation is unlikely before the July 15th deadline for the royalty fee changes, unless it receives widespread public support. Representatives Matsui and Doolittle have already signed on to co-sponsor the act, but as of this writing, Representative Lungren has not, and neither Senator Boxer nor Senator Feinstein has indicated support for the Senate bill. One organization that is working to coordinate citizen lobbying efforts in support of the legislation is SaveNetRadio, a coalition of webcasters, recording artists, Internet radio listeners, and record labels. Find them on the Internet at www.savenetradio.org, and help save Internet radio! Judith Poxon is a instructor of humanities and religious studies at CSUS and ARC, and a member of Sacramento Media Group.

www.sacpeace.org.

Capitol Outreach for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty.

We bring petitions, literature and banners. You bring yourselves. Cafe nearby for coffee after the vigil.

Community action needed On April 12 the Sacramento Africa Channel Project sponsored two well attended, exciting community presentations at Sacramento City College and later at Sacramento State by representatives of The Africa Channel Network (www.theafricachannel. com). The Africa Channel, already available to viewers in New York, Atlanta, and Baton Rouge, is an independent network focused on programs about Africa’s people, “their incredible stories, their daily lives, their successes, celebrations and challenges”—all of which are almost totally missing from ordinary TV sources. The channel has long-term agreements with major African networks, and recently established an agreement with Comcast, the largest US cable provider, to carry the channel. However, although the Africa Channel has a national agreement with Comcast, communities must establish agreements with their local Comcast carrier. Locally, in January, Dr. Boatamo Mosupyoe sent-out a call for action and the Sacramento Africa Channel Project was formed to bring the network to the Sacramento area. The planning committee included members from the Sacramento Area Black Caucus, the Black United Fund of Sacramento, The Black Group, the Congress of African Peoples, the Vanguard Public Foundation, the Cultural Awareness Center at Sacramento City College and Pan African Studies and Ethnic Studies at CSUS.

Keep up to date on peace activism in Sacramento. Check out

Third Mondays, 11:30am to 1:30pm. L Street at 11th.

Sacramento Africa Channel Project

By Dr. Boatamo Mosupyoe and Faye Kennedy

Peace Action on the Web

INFO: 447-7754

The Sacramento project invited Comcast-Central Valley’s VP of Communications and also the Sacramento office VP and General Manager to attend the community presentations. But neither did. However, the planning committee is still eager to collaborate with Comcast on this exciting new venture. Community members and local Comcast subscribers can assist by requesting Sacramento Comcast to subscribe to The Africa Channel Network.

“… even though the Africa Channel has a national agreement with Comcast, communities must establish their own agreements with their local Comcast carrier.”

Send letters and e-mails to: Joni Claerbout, VP and General Manager, Comcast Sacramento 2710 Gateway Oaks Dr., South Building Ste. 100, Sacramento CA, 95833 [email protected] and Andrew Johnson, Regional VP of Communications, Comcast-Central Valley 2500 Bates, Concord, CA 94520 [email protected] For more info and how to become involved: Boatamo Mosupyoe, Director of Pan African Studies, Professor, Ethnic Studies CSUS 278-4376, [email protected] or Faye Kennedy, Black United Fund of Sacramento Valley & Sacramento Area Black Caucus 484-5025, [email protected]

Children’s Hope Is going to Haiti in August! Cash donations needed to buy Medical and School Supplies Make checks payable to: Children’s Hope c/o Leisa Faulkner, 3025A Cambridge Road Cameron Park, CA 95682

• Donate old cell phones and laptops • www.sacramentopa.org/ChildrensHope.html 916.801.4184

14 Because People Matter July / August 2007 www.bpmnews.org

Book Review

Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans – Sordid Secrets & Strange Tales of a White House GONE WILD by Greg Palast. London: Plume, 2007. by Justin Smith In BBC reporter Greg Palast’s latest, Armed Madhouse, he meticulously investigates the nefarious underbelly of the Bush administration. He has two main topics: an egregious administration and its plans for war and election theft. Claims have been made that Bush had a plan before going into Iraq. Palast asserts there were two. Plan A, the neo-con plan, was to privatize and sell off the oil fields. Privatization required revamping the oil facilities, maximizing efficiency and output. The plot was to destroy quotas and output limits, effectively eating away OPEC like a cancer and forcing Saudi Arabia to its knees. Plan B was drawn up by oil companies and supported by the Bush family, ExxonMobil being the second largest contributor to Bush behind

Enron. This plan consisted of keeping OPEC in place and keeping oil prices high. This would keep Saudi Arabia in charge of the price of oil and in good graces with the Bush family. The occupation of Iraq was necessary to shut off oil spigots and keep prices high. Oil profits of the five big oil companies in 2002 were $34 billion and blasted off to a feral $81 billion in 2004. Palast’s view: “It’s not about getting the oil, it’s about controlling oil’s price.” In 2002, the US caught wind that Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi had planned an oil embargo. Hussein had been fluctuating oil prices up and down on a weekly basis, cutting off shipments to support the Palestinian intifada (uprising) then opening spigots for the Oil-for-Food Program. The oil companies didn’t like this. During the 1973 Arab oil embargo Venezuela had come to the aid of the US, but this wasn’t likely to happen with Hugo Chavez in power. Thus, in 2002 the US backed a coup against Chavez—though it failed. In a market this sensitive, Hussein and Chavez clearly had too much leverage. So finally our benevolent administration decided to “democratize” Iraq in 2003. Things only get increasingly dreadful when Palast lays out the administration’s plots for stolen elections in 2000 and 2004 and the to-bestolen election of 2008. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris targeted 94,000 voters as felons, rendering them unable to vote; 91,000 were completely innocent. Strangely enough, 325 people were listed with conviction dates in the future. Ohio exit polls showed that both male and female voters had voted for John Kerry, defeating Bush. Palast asks, what third sex gave Bush the victory in Ohio? Exit polls are never wrong and are employed to detect and prevent election theft. The means Republicans used to disenfranchise voters are multifarious. Provisional ballots were thrown out based on feeble evidence. Spoiled ballots meant the marks on the ballot

“The occupation of Iraq was necessary to shut off oil spigots and keep prices high.”

California Stage Presents

Marx In Soho A Play by Howard Zinn

With Jerry Levy as Karl Marx Directed by Michael Fox Kennedy

If you missed it last year, don’t miss it again! In “Marx in Soho”, Howard Zinn (A People’s History of the United States) portrays the return of Karl Marx. Embedded in a secular afterlife for intellectuals, artists, and radicals, Marx is given permission by the administrative committee to return to Soho, London to defend his philosophy, twisted by individuals and governments in the years after his death. But through a bureaucratic mix– up, he winds up in SOHO in New York. From there the audience is given a rare glimpse of Marx, the man. The Play offers an entertaining and thorough introduction to a person who knows little about Marx’s life, while also offering valuable insight to students of his ideas.

Three nights only:

Thursday, July 26–Saturday, July 28, 8:00pm California Stage, 1723 25th St. (at R), Sacramento Tickets: $19, general; $15, students, seniors and SARTA; $12, groups of six or more. Reservations: 916.451.5822 A benefit for the Marxist School of Sacramento and Because People Matter.

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weren’t dark enough or the chad was pregnant. Absentee ballots (which skyrocketed in requests) were shredded en masse, and voters weren’t notified that their vote didn’t count. The favored method in Ohio was to scratch polling places in democratic areas, which forced long lines and long drives. I suppose that Secretary of State for Ohio, Ken Blackwell, also the Co-Chairman of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, might have helped. All is not lost, however. Palast provides a supplementary chapter on how to steal your vote back: voting early, registering more people to vote, and NOT voting by mail. In 2008 a provisional ballot onslaught has been predicted with the recent testimony of Alberto Gonzalez and Monica Goodling proving intent to ”cage” (disqualify) voters. Palast exudes a perpetual wit throughout the book derived much from the endless myriad of problematic policies, a fun but not funny read. Justin Smith is a freelance writer based in Sacramento.

Sacramento for Democracy is proud to host a film screening of Norman Solomon’s

“War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” Tuesday, July 17, 7 PM The Crest Theatre 1013 K Street Tickets $10 Please RSVP: www.dfalink.com/event. php?id=21049 Following the film, we will have a Q&A discussion with author Norman Solomon and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (original author of AJR 36, the bill to bring our CA National Guard home from Iraq). The evening’s program will be emceed by Christine Craft (1240 Talk City)!! “War Made Easy” reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of one administration after another. See a preview of “War Made Easy” here: http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=H5CF5pfVzLI

www.bpmnews.org July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 15

July / August Calendar ONGOING EVENTS MONDAYS: Sacramento Poetry Center hosts poetry readings. 7:30pm. 1719 25th Street. www. sacramentopoetrycenter.org 1st MONDAYS: Organic Sacramento: Counter ongoing threats to our food. 6:30pm. INFO: www.organicsacramento.org 1st. MondayS Sacramento Media Group. 6-8pm. Coloma Community Center, 4623 T Street. INFO: 443-1792, [email protected]. 3rd MONDAYS Capitol Outreach for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty. 12 noon–1pm, 11th & L Street. INFO: 455-1796. 3rd MONDAYS SAPA Peace and Sustainability Committee. 6-8pm. INFO: Peace Action, 448-7157. 3rd MONDAYS: Sacto 9/11 Truth:Questioning the “War on Terror.” 6–8pm. Denny’s 3rd & J St. Info: [email protected] 372-8433. TUESDAYS: Call for Peace Vigil 4-6pm 16th and J St. INFO 448-7157. 2nd TUESDAYS: Gray Panthers. 1–3pm. Hart Senior Ctr., 27th & J St. INFO: Joan, 332- 5980. 4th TUESDAYS: Peace and Justice Films. 7pm. Peace Action 909 12th Street. INFO:448-7157. 4th TUESDAYS: (Odd numbered months) Amnesty Int’l. 7pm. Sacramento Friends Meeting House, 890-57th St. INFO: 489-2419. 1st WEDNESDAYS: Peace & Freedom Party. 7pm. INFO: 456-4595. 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: terry @ fathersandfamilies.com. 568-3237x 205. 1st FRIDAYS: Community Contra Dance. 8-11pm; 7:30pm beginners lessons. Clunie Auditorium, McKinley Pk, Alhambra & F. INFO: 530-2749551 2nd FRIDAYS: Dances of Universal Peace. 7:30–9:30pm. Sacramento Friends Meeting House 890 57th St. $5–$10 donation requested. INFO: Joyce 832-4630. www.sacramentodancesofuniversalpeace.org 4th FRIDAYS: Dances at Christ Unity Church, 9249 Folsom Blvd. All Welcome $5-$10 donation requested. INFO: Christine 457-5855, www. sacramentodancesofuniversalpeace.org

For online calendars of progressive events, go to www.sacleft.org and www.sacpeace.org.

Friday, July 13 Film. “Rock That Uke”.Examines the near mystical allure of the ukelele and the recent surge of alternative, post-punk musicians who have taken it up. 7 pm. Fools Foundation, 1025 19th St. Off of K St between 19th & 20th next to the back end of Old Spaghetti Factory. $5.00. INFO: www.shiny-object.com/screenings/. Sunday, July 15 Meeting. SARG, Secular Alcohol Recovery Group. Alcohol recovery without religion. 5-6 pm, 15th and P park. INFO: 606-4303. Sunday, July 15 “Israelis and Palestinians—Visions of Coexistence After 40 Years of Occupation.” McGeorge School of Law, 5th Avenue in Oak Park. INFO: [email protected]. See box this page. Tuesday, July 17 “War Made Easy,” film screening followed by discussion with Norman Solomon, Loni Hancock, Christine Craft. 7pm, Crest theater, 1013 K St. $10. RSVP. See box page 14. Wednesday, July 18 CAAC Goes to the Movies. “Salud,“about Cuban healthcare worldwide. 1 hr. 7:15pm. 1640 9th Ave (east off Land Park Dr). INFO: 446-3304. Thursday,July 19 Film. “The Great Conspiracy of the 9/11 News Special You Never Saw ”. Film series sponsored by Teach Peace. 7pm. Yolo County Library’s Blanchard Room, 315 E. 14th St, Davis. Free. INFO: (530)758-2362 or (530)758-8431 or visit www.TeachPeace.com. Friday, July 20 Film. “Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker”. A documentary examining the struggles of black rock musicians and the industry’s ambivalence towards them. 7pm. Fools Foundation, 1025 19th St. Off of K St between 19th & 20th next to the back end of Old Spaghetti Factory. $5.00. INFO: http://www.shiny-object. com/screenings/ Sunday, July 22 Lynne Cook & Janet LaDue present their new book, The First Ladies of California. Time Tested Books. 3:30 pm. 1114 - 21st Street. INFO: Peter Keat or Scott Soriano, 447-5696

1st SATURDAYS: Sacramento Area Peace Action Vigil. 11:30am– 1:30pm. Arden and Heritage (entrance to Arden Mall). INFO: 448-7157 2nd & 4th SATURDAYS: Community Contra Dance. 8-11pm; 7:30 lessons. Coloma Center 4623 T Street. INFO: 395-3483.

Sunday, August 5 August Peace Event. 3–6pm. CSUS Alumni Center, 6000 J St. Free, donations accepted. INFO: 393-7690. See box this page.

3rd SATURDAYS: Sacramento Area Peace Action Vigil. 11:30am–1:30pm. Marconi & Fulton. INFO: 448-7157 1st SUNDAYS: Zapatista Solidarity Coalition. 10am–noon. 909 12th St. Info: 443-3424. 1st SUNDAYS: PoemSpirits. 6pm. Refreshments and open mic. Free. UUSS, 2425 Sierra Blvd. INFO: 481-3312; 451-1372. Will resume in Oct. 2007. 2nd SUNDAYS: Atheists & Other Freethinkers. 2:30pm. Sierra 2 Center, Room 10, 2791 24th St. INFO: 447- 3589. SUNDAYS: Sacto Food Not Bombs. 1:30pm. Come help distribute food at 9th and J Streets.

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Friday, July 27 Film. “Why Lie, I Need A Drink”. A very special advance rough-cut screening of local comedian and filmmaker Keith Lowell Jensen’s new feature length doc on panhandling, panhandlers and attitudes towards them. Mr Jensen will attend. 7 pm. Fools Foundation, 1025 19th St. Off of K St between 19th & 20th next to the back end of Old Spaghetti Factory. $5.00. INFO: www. shiny-object.com/screenings/.

1st SATURDAYS: Health Care for All. 10am. Hart Senior Ctr, 27th & J. For universal access to health care. INFO: 424-5316.

Send calendar items for the Sept. / Oct. 2007 issue to [email protected] by June 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#; e-mail.

Thursday August 14 Film. “Oil, Smoke & Mirrors”. Peak oil, 9/11 & the war on terror. Film series sponsored by Teach Peace. 7pm. Yolo County Library’s Blanchard Room, 315 E. 14th St, Davis. Free. INFO: (530)758-2362 or (530)758-8431 or visit www. TeachPeace.com. Wednesday, August 15 CAAC Goes to the Movies. “The Baghdad DVD’s”—documenting civil life in Baghdad, including poets, artists and writers. 1 hr. 7:15pm. 1640 9th Ave (east off Land Park Dr). INFO: 446-3304. Thursday August 23 Film. “9/11 Press for Truth”. Five of the most prominent members of the Family Steering Committee tell their story for the first time on film, providing the most powerful argument yet why 9/11 still needs investigation. Film series sponsored by Teach Peace. 7pm. Yolo County Library’s Blanchard Room, 315 E. 14th St, Davis. Free. INFO: (530)758-2362 or (530)758-8431 or visit www.TeachPeace.com. Saturday, August 25 Convocation of the Peace Pyramid. Serious focus on militarization of space after musical entertainment, potluck. 5pm. 2041 Campton Circle, Gold River. 916-728-2391. INFO: [email protected].

Saturday, August 25 Second Annual Women’s Suffrage Parade, from Southside Park to the Capitol. Saturday, Sept. 8 “Making a Killing”, SF Mime Troupe’s new show on private military contractors (which now outnumber US troops in Iraq). It’s “packed with more song and dance than a Bush Administration press conference.” Music starts at 3:30 pm. Southside Park, 6th and U Streets. Free.

Annual Summer Potluck and Celebration Thursday, July 12 12:30–3pm Hart Sr. Center, 28th and J Sts. Join us for a potluck, main dish provided by the Steering Committee. You are invited to bring salads and desserts. This is a social time, but you will be invited to tell us about your favorite “activist” issue of the hour! We will be honoring long-time activist and member LEON LEFSON with our Fourth Annual Advocate of the Year Award. Friends of Leon’s from the Community are invited. INFO: Joan B. Lee, Gray Panthers Sacramento, 916-332-5980

Israelis and Palestinians—Visions of Coexistence After 40 Years of Occupation.” Panel Speakers Omar Dajani, Professor, McGeorge School of Law Ze’ev Maoz, Professor, UC Davis Mitchell Plitnick, Jewish Voice for Peace (Others to be announced)

Sunday July 15 1:00-4:30PM Mc George School of Law 3200 5th Avenue, Oak Park

Moderators Jeanie Keltner Larry George

Donations requested, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Presentation and Discussion Topics: Looking back at history to envision a better future for Palestinians and Israelis; How US policy maintains the occupation-what drives it and how can we change it?

Sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace and American Middle East Seniors

Light refreshments will be provided

For more information, email [email protected]

Our country is at a historic crossroads-

-will the US produce more nuclear bombs, making them

more likely to be used, or will we use the opportunity before us to eliminate nuclear weapons. On the one hand our country is spending more money on nuclear programs than we did during the Cold War. And as more nuclear technology becomes available, we could see a future with 20 or 30 countries armed with nuclear weapons. On the other hand, there is now a historic opening to work to actually eliminate nuclear weapons. Grassroots power has forced Congress to start to question the nuclear status quo. Congress members are asking for a real debate over the future of nuclear weapons. Will we use this moment of grave danger to fulfill this great promise? To find out more about US plans to build new nuclear weapons and to be inspired to act, come to the:

August Peace Event Sunday August 5 Doors open for networking-3pm

Visit sponsoring organizations’ tables

Program from 4-6pm

This family event is suitable for all ages Light refreshments will be served Donations Accepted

CSUS Alumni Center 6000 J Street Sacramento, CA 95819-6024 For more information, contact Janice Nakashima 393-7690 The Alumni Center located on the southern edge of campus has free adjacent parking. State University Dr. South is a continuation of College Town Dr.

MORE INSIDE: Depleted Uranium • Conflict and Change in Venezuela • Collective Action at CSUS • Code PINK in DC • What you need to know about the 9/11 Truth Movement • Veterans Oppose the War • Book Reviews • Internet Radio in Danger

See pages 2 and 6 for information on Michael Moore’s scathing new film, SiCKO, and Single Payer Health Care for California.

Coverage for everyone, for everything, forever, for less

Single-Payer Health Care

July / August 2007 Progressive News and Views

Because People Matter

Progressive Media Your community paper needs community support. Things you can do: Subscribe to BPM!

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Places to watch or hear Democracy Now! Access Sacramento TV, Cable Channels 17 and 18, Weekdays 6pm, 12midnight, 5am. Dish Network Satellite TV, Channel 9415, Free Speech TV, Monday–Friday: 8am, 12pm, 7pm ET. Link TV, Channel 9410, Monday–Friday, 11am. KVMR 89.5 FM Mon-Thu 7pm KDVS 90.3 FM Mon-Fri noon KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley, M-F 9am Places to watch Media Edge: Access Sacramento TV, Cable Channels 17 and 18 Sundays 8–10pm Davis, Channel 15, Sundays, 8–10pm. Nevada County, Channel 11, Mondays, 10:30pm –12:30am. West Sacramento, Channel 21, Mondays, 9–11pm. Other Progressive Radio Stations ▼ KVMR 89.5 FM ▼ KCBL Cable 88.7 FM ▼ KYDS 91.5 FM ▼ KDVS 90.3 FM ▼ KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley ▼ KSAC 1240 AM (TalkCity Radio Sacramento). Progressive talk radio all day long with Christine Craft, Randi Rhodes and others. ▼ KZFR 90.1 FM Chico People Powered Radio! managed and operated by volunteers, provides mostly locally produced and community oriented programs.

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www.GoLeft.tv

Progressive Online Television Five corporations control all parts of mainstream media. In this new media monopoly, news has been replaced with a new invention called “infotainment.” GoLeft.tv is a progressive political T.V. news source that fills that gap between the media’s dumbed down infotainment and real news reporting. We are incredibly excited to announce the launch of GoLeft.tv”, said GoLeft.tv founding partner and GoLeft.tv Consumer Advocate Michael Lynch, an attorney with the premier national litigation law firm Levin, Papantonio. “Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Medved and the rest of right-wing, conservative media, beware!”

We always need writers, proofreaders, and new people for the editorial group. Call Jeanie at 444-3203. Bugged by high gas prices? No car? No computer? No problem! We need someone to update the meetings and radio programs listed in BPM. Do it from home! Call Ellen at 369-5510.

Video: Before He Invades Check out Before He Invades, a sassy 3-minute musical indictment of the Bush administration by Michael Stavros of Media Edge. The music is based on “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood and is performed by Craig Lehman and Stavros’ two daughters, Angelina & Lacey. Stavros wrote the words to support the growing movement to impeach and invites people to add it to their websites, myspace or blogs. http://video.google.com/ videoplay?docid=3417718049150673427

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

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