Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan leaves a bad taste across Europe

Obama has to be stopped and it will take a mighty powerful movement to stop him and his wars.

Rita




SPIEGEL ONLINE

12/02/2009 12:58 PM

Opinion

Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic
By Gabor Steingart

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.

One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received.

Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool.

One didn't have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama's speech. It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly.

An additional 30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan -- and then they will march right back out again. America is going to war -- and from there it will continue ahead to peace. It was the speech of a Nobel War Prize laureate.

Just in Time for the Campaign

For each troop movement, Obama had a number to match. US strength in Afghanistan will be tripled relative to the Bush years, a fact that is sure to impress hawks in America. But just 18 months later, just in time for Obama's re-election campaign, the horror of war is to end and the draw down will begin. The doves of peace will be let free.

The speech continued in that vein. It was as though Obama had taken one of his old campaign speeches and merged it with a text from the library of ex-President George W. Bush. Extremists kill in the name of Islam, he said, before adding that it is one of the "world's great religions." He promised that responsibility for the country's security would soon be transferred to the government of President Hamid Karzai -- a government which he said was "corrupt." The Taliban is dangerous and growing stronger. But "America will have to show our strength in the way that we end wars," he added.

It was a dizzying combination of surge and withdrawal, of marching to and fro. The fast pace was reminiscent of plays about the French revolution: Troops enter from the right to loud cannon fire and then they exit to the left. And at the end, the dead are left on stage.

Obama's Magic No Longer Works

But in this case, the public was more disturbed than entertained. Indeed, one could see the phenomenon in a number of places in recent weeks: Obama's magic no longer works. The allure of his words has grown weaker.

It is not he himself who has changed, but rather the benchmark used to evaluate him. For a president, the unit of measurement is real life. A leader is seen by citizens through the prism of their lives -- their job, their household budget, where they live and suffer. And, in the case of the war on terror, where they sometimes die.

Political dreams and yearnings for the future belong elsewhere. That was where the political charmer Obama was able to successfully capture the imaginations of millions of voters. It is a place where campaigners -- particularly those with a talent for oration -- are fond of taking refuge. It is also where Obama set up his campaign headquarters, in an enormous tent called "Hope."

In his speech on America's new Afghanistan strategy, Obama tried to speak to both places. It was two speeches in one. That is why it felt so false. Both dreamers and realists were left feeling distraught.

The American president doesn't need any opponents at the moment. He's already got himself.



URL:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,664753,00.html

Petition for Nuclear Disarmament

I encourage everyone to sign this important petition and circulate it among family, neighbors and people you work with.



TO: Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations

We wish to add our voices to the global campaign for an end to nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. We believe that the world needs to take urgent action to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to make the world free of nuclear weapons, as part of the overall drive for worldwide peace and the transfer of military spending to socially-useful ends. The international treaties concerning nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear weapons test-ban and fissile material cut-off are essential to achieving this goal.

In May 2010 the United Nations will meet to review the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Trade unionists from around the world are urging that meeting to make a clear path towards abolition of nuclear weapons in the shortest possible time. We ask that:

those countries which have not joined the NPT do so, and for all countries to comply with it in full;

the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty enter into force as soon as possible;
there be an immediate start to and rapid progress on the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty; and

we ask for international agreements to support nuclear-weapon-free zones.

We support the actions of the “Mayors for Peace”, headed by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in calling for abolition of all nuclear weapons by 2020.

Production and maintenance of nuclear weapons, and military expenditure overall, cost more than one trillion dollars each year. We call for major reductions in military expenditure, to allow this money to be spent on social and economic development and fighting poverty. We further ask that this transformation from military to peaceful expenditure be done in a way which protects the livelihoods of those who would be affected by it.

We support the actions of the “Mayors for Peace”, headed by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in calling for abolition of all nuclear weapons by 2020.

Production and maintenance of nuclear weapons, and military expenditure overall, cost more than one trillion dollars each year. We call for major reductions in military expenditure, to allow this money to be spent on social and economic development and fighting poverty. We further ask that this transformation from military to peaceful expenditure be done in a way which protects the livelihoods of those who would be affected by it.


Go here to sign the petition---

http://www.breakingthroughforpeace.org/

Or do like I have done. Print off the Petition and circulate it yourself among people you meet during the course of the day. In the few days I have been circulating this Petition lots of people asked me for a copy to circulate so I just went to the library and photocopied 50 copies; I included my name and contact info on the Petition then I check off who signed the Petition I gave a copy to so I can gather them all up.

Just copy and paste this Petition and print it.

Take a few minutes a day to work for peace.

Rita

CALL TO ACTION!!

Money for jobs; not for war... unemployed workers shouldn't have to pay any taxes.

Make the minimum wage a real living wage based upon all the cost-of-living factors as scientifically calculated by the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics and then legislatively tie the minimum wage to cost-of-living increases.


A National Conference to Create Living-Wage Jobs,
Meet Human Needs and Sustain the Environment

November 13-14, 2009

New York, NY

The Problem: Even before the onset of our current, deep recession, we faced chronic unemployment, low and stagnant wages, myriad unmet needs and unprecedented environmental degradation.

Today’s rapidly escalating unemployment has put job creation back on the public agenda for the first time in recent history. Nearly 15 million workers were officially unemployed in June 2009, and hidden unemployment brings total joblessness up to almost 30 million with nearly 12 seekers for every available job. If it is possible to ignore the chronic unemployment that besets millions of people in normal times, it is much harder to ignore this current, mass unemployment and its staggering social and economic costs.

 What should progressive activists concerned about economic justice, labor, the religious community and other concerned people do about mass unemployment?
 What long-term goals should we have for the economy?
 How can we build a strong, effective unified movement to achieve full employment and living wage jobs for all?

A strong economic stimulus is imperative to meet the current emergency. Yet, even if the current stimulus package that achieves its intended goal of creating 4 million jobs, it would only reduce official unemployment by a third!

Nor is it good enough to return to official unemployment of 5 million women and men and millions more working poor even in the “best” of recent times, or to be satisfied with the host of unmet needs with which this recession began. In the words of FDR, “We cannot be content, no matter how high the general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people … is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.”

The Challenge: Crises present opportunities for progressive change. This is the time for Progressives people of good will to mobilize and to develop goals and strategies for an economy that provides living wage jobs for all, sustains the environment, and repairs our social and physical infrastructure and begins the transition to a more stable, productive economy that provides for shared prosperity.

Conference Goals and Intended Outcomes:

1. Expand public debate and action on the future of the U.S. economy
2. Increase public awareness of chronic unemployment and underemployment and its human and economic toll, even in better times
3. Build on Increase public awareness of current mass unemployment, its dire consequences for human beings and its waste of potential economic output;
4. Raise public awareness of our current economic dead-end—high personal and foreign debt, inequality, wage lag, environmental degradation, military overreach….
5. Steer public debate and action toward:
• Government promotion and creation of living-wage jobs, strengthening of the safety net and supportive fiscal, monetary and trade policies;
• Government promotion and creation of jobs that improve the physical and social infrastructure (repair of bridges, upgrading public transportation, building affordable housing, improving and expanding public education and child, health and elder care).
• Government promotion and creation of jobs that further the goal of a sustainable economy and begin to restructure it.
6. Develop plans to pay for this program of reconstruction through more progressive taxes and confinement of military spending to genuine defense needs

7. Initiate a movement for living-wage jobs for all and develop strategies for achieving this permanent economic reform-- including similar conferences in cities across the country and a mass mobilization in Washington on behalf of economic reconstruction.

You Are Invited to Be a Conference Convenor/Co-Sponsor: We seek broad participation and sponsorship for this National Conference, especially organizations with a primary focus on the quality and quantity of jobs, economic justice, social security, the safety net and poverty prevention. Other critical participants will be organizations not primarily concerned with employment, but whose goals for union rights, health care, education, child care, elder care, disability rights, housing, economic restructuring, public transportation, environmental sustainability, and the arts would be furthered by job creation in their areas of interest. The hope is to gain their ongoing commitment to conquering unemployment and low wages-- even after the crisis subsides. This would build on a plans of the National Jobs for All Coalition and the Chicago Political Economy Group to simultaneously create living wage jobs for all and, through a renewed public sector, to repair our deeply deficient social and physical infrastructure.

Middle class would pay thousands for health care

Middle class would pay thousands for health care
(AP) –

WASHINGTON — Government experts say some middle-class families would still face a big budget hit for health care, even with the new help that Democrats want to provide.

A family of four making $66,000 could face a total health care bill of $10,000 — counting premiums, copayments and deductible — under the House Democratic health care bill, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday. And that's after counting $10,500 in government assistance.

The estimates apply to people purchasing their own coverage, not those in employer plans.

Remember Medicare for All in the healthcare reform debate

I would encourage we post this call to action widely.

We are getting nothing from this jerk Obama and these Democrats. I am so glad I voted for Cynthia McKinney.

Rita



http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/66053-remember-medicare-for-all-in-the-healthcare-reform-debate




Remember Medicare for All in the healthcare reform debate

By Kay Tillow, Coordinator, All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676, Nurses Professional Organization - 11/03/09


We are in danger of losing the opportunity to bring Improved Medicare for All, a single payer plan, before the Congress. Last July Congressman Anthony Weiner and six of his colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee attempted to substitute the real public option—HR 676, a single payer plan—for the healthcare reform in the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured them that if they withdrew the amendment in committee they would have an opportunity to bring it to the House floor for a debate and vote. Now Pelosi is threatening to keep the Weiner Single Payer Amendment from seeing the light of day.

If we were able to get this plan really on the table and before the nation in a meaningful way, we could win this hands down. Even Blue Dog Mike Ross, in an unguarded moment, asked why not just have Medicare for All. HR 676, the national single payer legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers, would cover everyone for all medically necessary care through an Expanded and Improved Medicare for All. The bill and its advocates have been blocked, excluded, and beaten back in the current national healthcare reform debate.

Yet Medicare for All continues to raise its head. When single payer advocates were excluded from the White House kick off meeting for health care reform, doctors’ opened the door to two single payer advocates with a plan to protest at the White House gate. When Senate Finance Chair Baucus ruled single payer off the table, thirteen doctors, nurses, and others rose to protest. Baucus had them arrested. Those gutsy advocates pried open another door and won a round of publicity for single payer. But still not a place at the table.

Yet support for single payer continues to grow. Its simplicity, humanity, and economic efficiency win more supporters each day. The Kentucky House of Representatives, four other state legislative bodies, scores of cities and counties, a half dozen giant religious denominations, NOW, the NAACP, and the National Conference of Mayors have called for passage of HR 676. For unions, it’s the plan of choice. At each contract deadline the double digit rise in health care costs gobbles up the lion’s share of bargaining power. For that reason, 578 unions including 39 state AFL-CIO’s and 134 central labor councils have endorsed HR 676. In September the national AFL-CIO Convention declared unanimous support for single payer as the social insurance plan necessary to achieve social justice.

When Physicians for a National Health Program founder Quentin Young, testified before a House committee last June, Representative Weiner listened and was impressed. Weiner turned HR 676 into an amendment that would transform the House bill into a single payer plan. He popularized it as Medicare for All and catapulted the discussion into the national media with his feisty good humor and popular style.

Now Pelosi wants to renege on her promise to Weiner. We have sent an action alert to over 19,000 unionists asking them to contact Pelosi, and Waxman (who relayed Pelosi’s commitment publicly) and Slaughter (who heads the rules committee) to assure that they allow the Weiner amendment to come to the floor.

The “public option” that remains in both the Senate and the House bills is pitiful and powerless--totally incapable of providing cost control. Those bills, with their forced mandates and fines, their massive transfer of public funds to the insurance industry, and their ban on bulk buying power to rein in the pharmaceutical companies, will fail woefully to cover our people and to make that care affordable.

Pelosi should stick to her promise. We’ll keep up the effort to make her do so. Either now or later Medicare for All will have to come to the table. We’ll keep building the movement to make that happen.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/66053-remember-medicare-for-all-in-the-healthcare-reform-debate
The contents of this site are © 2009 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsisiary of News Communications, Inc.

An Attack on Democracy; one more small victory by the people for democracy

Yesterday, Blogger.com and its attorneys, Brownstein/Hyatt/Farber/Schreck tried to shut down hundreds of progressive bloggers across the United States and Canada.

{My blog was one of those attacked.}

We quickly notified a group of activist attorneys who served notice on Blogger.com and its attorneys, Brownstein/Hyatt/Farber/Schreck, that if our blogs were not immediately restored we intended to not only sue them. That we would take to the Internet as one and establish blogs aimed at exposing their dirty deeds.

Barack Obama and the Wall Street whores talk about "net neutrality."

When it comes to democracy Barack Obama has no more respect for democracy than for the little kids being slaughtered in his wars.

We believe the Israeli Zionists were largely behind this attack on our blogs.

We note that Norman Brownstein has been one of the leaders of AIPAC for years and the one thing all of our blogs had in common is that we have relentlessly attacked the Israeli fascist butchers.

For those of us in the peace, labor, environmental, anti-racist movements we have viewed blogging as no different from Benjamin Franklin and his printing presses.

We have the right to express our views and people have the right to read our views.

More importantly people have the democratic right to act in order to bring a halt to wars and injustices with imperialist wars being the worst of all injustices.

Each and everyone of us expressing our views encouraging people to act are one link in the growing chain that has become part of the network of people before profits.

We emphatically note that Brownstein/Hyatt/Farber/Schreck has been among Barack Obama's largest supporters.

What was done to our blogs yesterday is very good reason to believe that Barack Obama is a clone of Richard Nixon. The tricks just don't get much dirtier than the wide scale shut down of hundreds of progressive blogs at one time across North America.

We have every reason to believe the closing down of our blogs was just one more step aimed at destroying democracy.

That we were able to bring together 246 progressive bloggers in short order serves as an example of how effective the people united can be when they choose to act for some clear purpose with an objective in mind.

246 Activist Bloggers Using Democracy.

From the bitch from Duluth

My post today is going to be kind of a "bitch" column.

Sam Webb has called me "that bitch from Duluth" so I might as well live up to this name.

You have probably noticed I haven't been doing my blog for awhile.

I have both reasons and excuses. Some legitimate some probably not.

The reason I haven't been blogging is I just haven't had time. Between work, taking care of the kids, the activities of our Duluth-Superior Club of the CPUSA and trying to have a little personal time just to enjoy life a little I just haven't had time to blog and do a lot of other things I would like to get done.

On top of a hectic life just like the rest of you have as the District Organizer for the Minnesota/Dakotas District of the CPUSA sometimes I feel like just sitting in a rocking chair and crying because I want to do more and I can't.

Problems people are living through are nothing short of nightmares. It is hard to believe any system can be so mean and cruel to people.

We are getting a lot of calls and e-mails from people looking for help with this problem or that problem.

I am sorry, we just aren't in a position to offer help to people for individual problems. I wish we had the members and resources to help everyone that comes to us asking for our help or to get involved with their causes all of which are truly very legitimate and things that need to be done.

What Democrats and Obama have done to make life a living hell for working people by cutting people off of unemployment compensation, refusing to provide welfare and other forms of assistance, to stop evictions, to help working class families survive this "down" period or whatever you want to call this recession, depression, economic slump. It is just terrible that the Democrats and the labor unions refuse to shoulder their burden of the problems in assisting people. It is like Obama and these Democrats think our main role in life is to help them no matter how much helping them hurts us.

Let me tell you. The Democrats and the unions have far greater resources than our little Communist Party can ever dream of having.

Some people seem to think because we have a title for a position involving our activities in the Communist Party we must get paid for our work. We don't. None of us in the Minnesota/Dakotas District of the Communist Party USA get paid for anything. When we go to meetings we pay for our own gas. When we send letters we pay for our own stamps. Some people think we have a lot of money because they see news reports of the Communist Party USA spending over a million bucks to fix up the national office. I can't say where this money came from even though I think this money came from some kind of payoff to take us out of the fights. We here in the Minnesota/Dakotas District get no funding from the national office. They don't even answer the phone when we call them. This is a problem for us. It is a problem for all of you. We need your help to help us solve our problems so we can all work more effectively together to solve all our problems.

If these people in New York are sitting on a nest egg they received as a bribe to undermine the struggles of working people we don't want any of that money even if it was offered to us. It isn't offered to us because we refuse to betray working people and cheerlead for Barack Obama and the Democrats when they are hammering us.

The problems we are having in the Communist Party USA are not secret problems. Anyone can read about the problems all over the internet including a few postings I have made in the past.

We aren't keeping our problems a secret because we aren't a secret little cult. We are a working class organization. What we think is public. What we do is public. Our finances are public. Our problems are public.

We are all working people with the same problems just like the rest of you. Some of our members are losing their homes. Others have lost their homes. We have struggled with some people to help them save their homes. We have helped people fight for their unemployment benefits when millionaire lawyers like those who treat politics as a game refuse to help. Many of us have lost our jobs. Many of us have huge health care bills. Most of us like most of you have problems just trying to hold our families together under a roof with regular meals and clothes and pay the bills from pay check to pay check.

There are hundreds of union offices all across Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan filled with high paid staff who could be doing much more than they are. But they do nothing except talk a good talk and go back to hide in their back offices sitting in their easy chairs all paid for with our dues. We don't like this any better than you do.

On top of all of this as if this were not enough we are fighting in our own Communist Party against a bunch of good for nothings who are no better than the leaders of the AFL-CIO or the Democratic Party or any of these organizations that spend their time soliciting volunteers to stuff envelopes asking people for money under the false pretenses claiming they are doing things when they do nothing.

What we can do right now is help people organize Communist Party clubs where they live, work and go to school.

These clubs then do what they can to work on solving problems.

I feel bad to see people being thrown out of their jobs on the Iron Range and across Minnesota and the Dakotas. We are getting calls and e-mails from people in Wisconsin and Michigan besides in our own District that includes Minnesota, North and South Dakota. We even have been getting requests for help from people in Chicago and Iowa and just this morning I opened my e-mail and I received a long letter from a young worker in Arkansas asking for help. His family is in the most tragic circumstances through no fault of their own. Unemployed after working for the Caterpillar Company for many years.

Our District Committee is set up for work doing two main things. Help coordinate the activities of our clubs and to help build new clubs in our district. We can't do any more. The resources are not available for us to do more.

All of our members and our clubs are immersed in struggles of one kind or another. Most all work in two primary areas as agreed. Peace and for health care reform. Clubs have their own local issues they work on together in addition to these.

Some of our members work inside the Democratic Party and some outside of it when it comes to political activities. We are very up front about this. We do not hold to some of the ridiculous views of most of the phony left Trotskyite and anarchist groupings. To us we work with and among working people where ever we can where they are active and this means working in the Democratic Party to push forward our solutions to problems and raising issues and concerns. We take this approach to our work in unions and all other organizations. We always have worked in this way and we always will no matter what kind of ruckus these other outfits make from the sidelines of the class struggle.

It is the clubs and the members of these clubs who then work according to the tasks they set for themselves to determine how they can best work with people and other organizations. Our District Committee helps clubs with their educational work and we try to make sure our clubs have or are able to attain the resources they need to fulfill the tasks they establish.

Our clubs are mostly very small groups of people from 3 to 6 members. We have a few with more members but still not like 20 or 30 people. We wish we had 150 clubs of just ten people each spread out across our District but the simple fact is that we do not.

This is why quite some time ago our District Committee took the position of advising our clubs to begin closing memberships in their clubs except to the people they have been working with over a long period of time who want to join and we told the clubs to encourage other people to work with our District Committee in helping to build new clubs of the Communist Party USA.

I think most people understand that for us to accomplish the kind of growth we need to have the influence we need in order to build up the kind of movements to take on the corporations and their political parties like the Democrats and Republicans and to toss out these worthless union leaders who take our dues and do nothing in return or even those in our own party who spend lavishly remodeling their offices but find the urgent and pressing problems of working people some how beyond and outside of their world and realm of thinking that it is going to take a heck of a lot of our own efforts to overcome all of this.

I think we are getting all these requests for help from people because they understand we are working people just like them facing and experiencing the same problems of everyday life they are having difficulties with.

I can only say to people that I will pass on your requests for help and assistance to the people in our local clubs; where we don't have clubs then our District leadership including myself and several others are willing to help you build such clubs.

The Communist Party is intended to be a network of clubs made up of working people and others who share our thinking that are think tanks and centers of working class activity who go out and educate others as to the reasons problems exist and to help draw people together around their common problems in quest of working together seeking solutions to those problems.

Our main problem as we see it is that capitalism needs to be eliminated with the solution being socialism.

On this road to socialism we all experience problems that need to be resolved. In tough economic times like these working people have more problems and bigger problems. Our view is that working people need to come together in large and powerful mass organizations not just around these individual problems. We then need to band these organizations together with larger organizations seeking solutions to problems that affect many more people.

There are people who don't share our thinking our methods and our goals. This is there problem not ours.

For years we have been taunted from the sidelines by every little Trotskyite group and anarchist sect and the high paid union leaders who hide out in their offices only to appear to make a speech about how much they are going to do and we are going to fight to the very bitter end. All a bunch of hot air. They and their methods have gotten working people no place. On one end are the Obama supporters. On the other end are those who think running down a street breaking bank windows is the solution.

We are convinced that our methods and the way we work get results.

Because our methods and the way we are organized get results we have no reason to change how we do things. People who do not agree with our methods and our approach towards how we organize are free to proceed on their own.

All of our members are very involved to the extent circumstances allow them to participate in the activities of their clubs and each of these clubs carries out its functions in a way that we have agreed to work together as a district.

As I have stated previously our organization is hampered because of the problems at the national level so our district committee has the extra and additional burden of doing many of those things that should be done by our national organization and this national organization at this time does not respond to the needs of the clubs or the district in plugging us into things regionally or nationally and internationally because of the sorry state of affairs among the national leadership our party is out of the loop which creates additional problems in areas of our work like in the peace movement.

Am I bitching? You bet.

These leaders in New York like Sam Webb have even taken our newspaper away from us. We are working with others to get out a leaflet about this healthcare fiasco very quickly. Perhaps today yet or by Friday for sure. Just getting out 25,000 leaflets takes some doing and costs some money. We make do as we can. We ask others to pitch in and help and in this way we get things done. I'll be posting the leaflet on my blog here and I am sure our other bloggers will be doing the same. Feel free to copy and send it around. Better yet print it off on your printer and photocopy what you can pass out to your friends. This is the way we need to work together. If you don't like something about the leaflet then write your own or edit ours to your liking.

We do move forward no matter what the problems we just ask people to understand that we are not in a position to drop those things we are doing to start working on another problem.

What we will do is help you organize a club of the Communist Party so you can become part of our growing network of resistance while working on your problem in response to whoever is creating problems for you and other working people be it the banks, the mine owners, the auto companies, insurance companies, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the local welfare office, hospital or nursing home administrators, people elected to public office or those they appoint, or in many cases your own union leaders.

We must be honest. Most of the problems we are experiencing as working people have no quick fix. The struggles will be long and drawn out.

Sometimes a problem can be solved by making a phone call. Writing a letter. Just knowing the proper form to fill out. Knowing the right person in the proper government agency to talk to.

Most problems will not be solved to easy.

Most problems will not be solved by submitting a petition with lots of names.

Most problems will not be solved with one picket line or even a vigil that goes on week after week.

Most problems will not be solved with one big demonstration.

Most problems will be solved to one extent or another when we learn how to properly combine all of these kinds of activities into well organized and coordinated campaigns that keep joining together getting bigger and bigger.

People in power rely on people giving up. This is one thing about us Communists. We will never give up.

Working people create every bit of the wealth and we are entitled to the right to justice and everything that word stands for.

We will attain that justice we are entitled to if we learn to work together.

If you think the Communist Party is the kind of organization you would be interested in joining and helping us to build with other working people we want to work with you.

I don't want to bitch about things. I do want to be up front about the way things are. When all is said and done we have only ourselves to rely on to build the kind of movements we need to stand up and fight for our rights.

Let's see what can be done to build a Communist Party club in your neighborhood or where you work or go to school. Our District Committee will help you do this.

Rita

Socialized health care now

The Barack Obama Administration is trying to deny working people health care.

We, the people, must speak out for socialized health care, the only solution.

Rita

A brief history of climate change and conflict

This is a very important and timely article from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

I would encourage people to read and study this article carefully.

Rita


A brief history of climate change and conflict

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/brief-history-of-climate-change-and-conflict

By James R. Lee | 14 August 2009 Article Highlights

■The interaction between climate change and conflict started as early as 35,000 years ago.
■The Neanderthals, Vikings, and Mayans all benefited and suffered from a changing climate that affected resources such as water, game, and agriculture.
■By analyzing historical case studies of climate and societal collapse, we can identify a set of discernible lessons for today.
In recent years, many foreign affairs experts have attempted to demonstrate the linkages between climate change and the social tensions that can lead to conflict. While critics may believe this is simply a fad in international affairs, history suggests otherwise. Over the last few millennia, climate change has been a factor in conflict and social collapse around the world. The changing climate has influenced how and where people migrate, affected group power relations, and provided new resources to societies while taking away others. Such circumstances cause large-scale alterations in lifestyles and illustrate pathways from climate change to conflict.

Because climate change can be a contentious subject, it's worth taking a moment to answer some basic questions and put forth a series of assumptions. First, what is climate change? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most authoritative source on the subject, assesses climate change by measuring changing temperatures and precipitation. Since trends in temperature often (but don't always) drive trends in precipitation, scientists consider temperature a more robust and stable measure of climate change. But in simplest terms, climate change is the long-term change in the patterns of these two meteorological characteristics. Second, does climate change affect the world the same everywhere? In fact, climate change is a heterogeneous phenomenon and produces different outcomes in different places. The subsequent case studies demonstrate that a changing climate can have acute regional effects such as near the equator or North Pole, the "hot" and "cold" zones, respectively. In both cases, "hot" and "cold" conflicts demonstrate how rising and falling temperatures have had different impacts on human survival and prosperity.

Finally, a fact: The relationship between climate and conflict isn't as simple as cause and effect. Instead, climate change events--such as temperature shifts of a few degrees or a precipitation change of a few inches--contribute to conflict gradually over the long term. Because the climate has been changing for millennia, it's possible to look at the past for examples. Do we see cases of climate-conflict interaction when rates of climate change have diverged? In fact, it's possible to assess historical events and records in order to construct pictures of how climate affects conflict. Historical case studies, therefore, allow us to identify three paths from climate change to conflict: sustained trends, intervening variables, and the need for conflict triggers.

Consider each of the paths. The first is that conflict has the potential to emerge after a sustained period of divergent climate patterns. While people can survive aberrant, short-term climate change by exploiting existing or stored resources, this strategy has temporal limits. On this particular path the issue isn't one of surviving an especially fierce rain or harsh winter, but the cumulative effects of many fierce rains and many harsh winters. Next, climate change alone won't cause conflict but, along with other factors, will contribute to and shape it. It's one variable among many others, such as cultural, economic, or demographic factors. Last, unless a society learns to adapt to sustained climate change, its wealth will decline and its social fabric will weaken with each passing year. But even if a society faces these environmental challenges, a trigger--such as an assassination, extreme natural event, or random act of group violence--is usually required to ignite violent conflict.

We can, nevertheless, draw lessons from natural (climate) and human (conflict) interaction that may be transferable to today's global climate challenge by considering three periods in human history: the Holocene warming period, the medieval climate optimum, and the "little ice age."

About 35,000 years ago the Holocene warming period, during which the North American and Eurasian glaciers shrunk, was responsible for ending the last ice age that coincided with the flowering of human culture. This period and its aftermath shaped the climate we live in today. The glaciers receded, and humans migrated north to Eurasia in search of hunting grounds. Probably around today's Middle East region, the humans found plentiful game and encountered the Neanderthals. Over time, humans pushed into Europe and forced the Neanderthals further north into the less hospitable parts of the continent, where game wasn't as abundant and temperatures were much colder. Although the Neanderthals had survived several ice ages over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, they couldn't survive both an ice age and the humans, who enjoyed advanced weaponry and social organization. Of course, theories about the end of the Neanderthals are controversial and unresolved. However, there is no question that climate change provoked the interaction of human societies and the Neanderthals and subsequently led to conflict.

The medieval climate optimum lasted from 500 to 1000. It brought about a period of sustained progress in Europe as warmer conditions allowed for longer growing seasons in the largely agricultural societies. However, conditions elsewhere were quite different. Between 700 and 900, rainfall in China was scarce due to weak summer monsoons that failed to develop over the Pacific Ocean. Gerald Haug and other researchers have concluded PDF that famines caused by the failed monsoons resulted in peasant revolts and fueled the intrastate conflict that drastically weakened, and then led to the complete collapse of, the Tang Dynasty.

Across the globe in North America, the Mayans had settled in the lowlands around 8000 BC and began practicing large-scale farming as early as 2000 BC. By the beginning of the medieval climate optimum in AD 500, the population was nearly 14 million, making it one of the largest centers of civilization anywhere. But the thriving Mayan cities began to experience diminished long-term rainfall patterns. Dry conditions began in 760 and, after a 50-year wet period, drought again set in about 860. Another drought followed in 910. The boom-and-bust cycles of rainy and dry periods contributed to eras of both growth and decline. Technology, population sizes, and agricultural intensity overwhelmed the land. Yields declined with the dry conditions and these structural incongruities led to ongoing wars between Mayan city-states that eventually contributed to their collapse.

The warming in Central America that was disastrous for the Mayans was, on the other hand, fortunate for the Vikings. Warmer temperatures in the north meant their land was more hospitable to live on. Complex push-and-pull factors allowed the Vikings to expand their settlements from Scandinavia to Iceland, Greenland, and later Newfoundland. It was in Newfoundland that they encountered Native Americans. The Native Americans, too, perceived the warmer climate as a new opportunity and fought to control the increasingly abundant land. The Vikings and Native Americans would alternately trade and fight with each other throughout the Vikings' time in Newfoundland.

Enter the "little ice age"--a period marked by abnormally cooler temperatures. Scholars differ on the exact duration of this period; some researchers believe it started as early as 1000 in certain northern regions, whereas other historians, such as noted scholar Brian Fagan, believe it lasted from 1300 to 1850. Regardless, when the climate turned cold, the Viking colonies that had flourished in the warmth of the medieval climate optimum collapsed in Newfoundland (which they had abandoned because of ongoing conflict with the Native Americans). The western Greenland colony was the next to collapse, and around 1350, coinciding with the time of the Black Death, the eastern colony also began to decline. It survived only into the early 1500s.

During the same period, the Anasazi, a hunter-gatherer people who over centuries settled into a sedentary lifestyle, lived along the rivers of what is today the Southwest United States. With gradual improvements in technology and a beneficial climate, their population grew. But the little ice age brought a period of long-term drought, and Anasazi population growth exceeded its resource base. Timber, game, and other resources had to be imported from neighboring areas. The Anasazi had survived a long-term drought and many smaller ones in their long history. So why were they unable to cope with the little ice age drought? Like the Mayans, Anasazi city-states came into conflict as resources dwindled.

Because of its recency, scholars are able to theorize more completely about the little ice age. There were sharp extremes in temperature during the period. In fact, it had two temperature low points, one during the late 1400s and early 1500s, and another during the late 1700s and early 1800s. During the latter extreme cold period, a catastrophic geologic event occurred. In April 1815, Mount Tambora, on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, threw a massive amount of volcanic dust into the atmosphere in one of the largest volcanic explosions in modern times. The volcanic dust travelled worldwide and blocked the sun's rays, lowering temperatures, especially in the northern hemisphere. The period of extreme cold, coupled with this sudden volcanic eruption, produced the "year without summer."

The year without summer illustrates two different stories--one in Europe and another in North America. In Europe, the cold forced people to migrate. But land across the continent was relatively densely settled, so conflict often came with population movement. On top of this structural problem, the Napoleonic wars culminated shortly before, sapping the vitality and stability of the economy. People were already suffering through instability, but the cold compounded social strife. There were no "pressure valves," such as open land, for populations under temperature-induced duress. The result was social upheaval, riots, and disease.

The cold was just as bad in eastern North America and Canada, where most summer crops were lost. But unlike Europe, there was ample land for climate migrants west of the United States. The building of the Erie Canal in 1817 gradually opened up a westward route for easy migration. Thus, where in Europe people lacked the pressure valve necessary to cope with difficult times, in North America the valve not only existed but its exploitation was encouraged.

These are just a few accounts that allow us to synthesize history into a set of discernible, often regionally specific, lessons on conflict manifestations for today. The impact of climate change is obviously differential in the "hot" and "cold" wars, where trends may reward one part of the world while punishing another--for example, in terms of economic subsistence. In particular, four lessons of conflict emerge from the aforementioned cases that may have application for today's challenges:

■The decline or growth in general resources, such as arable land and fresh water, can cause significant societal impacts. During extremely warm periods in the equatorial zone, marginal lands gradually lose resource assets. This is evident in the drift of the Sahara Desert southward into sub-Saharan Africa, which has occurred over many millennia and continues today. At the same time, in the polar zone, lands and their resources can become more abundant. It was because of this that the Vikings were able to survive for 500 years in Greenland before the little ice age.
■Conflict can exist between societies or within them. By nature, the "hot" and "cold" war zones show divergent paths. In the polar areas, "cold" conflict emerges between states seeking to exploit the new resources that warming makes available. In the equatorial area, which includes many deserts, conflict erupts over declining resources, especially in warmer periods. Such livelihood conflicts often transcend borders and lead to migration. This is particularly evident for historic peoples such as the Mayans and the Anasazi, but also in today's conflicts in the North African Sahel and Sudan's Darfur region.
■There is a full menu of climatic causes of conflict, depending on where the conflict is ("hot" and "cold" war areas), the type of climate change (temperature or precipitation), and the trends in the patterns (increasing or decreasing). In the polar zone, the change in temperature indirectly drives conflict behavior and the impact on inhabitable land is most important. In the equatorial zone, change in precipitation patterns is clearly a major driver, but temperature changes also can influence evaporation rates. Here, water is most important.
■The resiliency of conflict is different in the "hot" and "cold" zones. In the polar zone, conflict is episodic; wars come and go with changes in temperature. In the equatorial zone, conflict is more gradual and continuous. "Hot" wars often stretch on as human population growth and changes in habitat tend to exacerbate changing climate conditions. Simply put, they are "cold" wars of opportunity versus "hot" wars of desperation.
Today, we see the manifestations of climate change slowly emerging in melting glaciers and drying fields. We need to imagine how changes in climate will create possibilities for conflict, using these historical lessons as guides. It's important to note that reacting to the challenges of "hot" and "cold" wars will require different strategies. The past is a good guide, but new types and modes of conflict emerging from climate change are to be expected. In that respect, finding historical examples is easier than contemplating how climate change and conflict will create new models of interaction and present new challenges in the future. After all, the idea that climate change causes conflict is not revolutionary, but evolutionary.

Poem: Undeclaration

My friend Alan Maki sent me this poem written by a friend of his.

I like this poem a lot so I thought I would share it with everyone.

It looks to me like a lot of thought went into writing this poem. It takes a lot of thought to read. I like the poem because it makes me think about the history of our country and why things are as they are today.

Rita




Undeclaration

It was a good idea once
inalienable rights and the abolition
of tyranny but
we've mucked it up, this great
American Experiment
our own inbred aristocracy madder
that noon-baked Englishmen with
crimes and usurpations running amok,
torn bodies and new hatreds in every
casbah tentacles
in every pocket and a
knife at every throat
and we wage slave
descendants of the free
sinking in the refuse of yesterday's bargains
punch clocked and jackbooting our way
to the fossil record at the speed of credit
with no payments 'till January --
a toxic spoor of ruined
places, broken lives and gulags.

We had a bad run but it's time
to come clean,
to admit our failure to
examine the bloody Manifest
of our imagined Destiny.

Time to Repent
for mass graves and wars of false premise,
for all those dictators, our murky turkeys lurking
in every hot satrapy with trained goons keeping
bloody order and a quota of disappeared.

Time to admit
it was all a mistake
made in the bravado of our youth and
rejoin the Commonwealth
Stop seeing stars and turn in our
bloody stripes
be British again
take tea and healthcare claim
our place lordless
in the house of commons where
Empire is only a memory
best forgotten.

-- Al Markowitz

Politics in Minnesota just heated up a couple notches

It seems racism in Minnesota has surfaced once more.

I guess we shouldn't find it surprising that Alan Maki has jumped into the fray.

I think we need to call for Brian Melendez to resign his position as Chair of the Minnesota DFL. Melendez is part of the institutionalized racism that is beginning to permeate and saturate politics at every level. From the nominating process to the problems legislators do and more importantly don't address which has caused the present problems.

Minnesotans understand there is a serious problem that no Native Americans are in the State Legislature.

No one has offered a real solution until now with this letter from Gregory Paquin to Brian Melendez.

Melendez didn't even have the courtesy to respond directly to Gregory Paquin. He had his cronies respond for him. The problem is these cronies are a bunch of racist bigots. Melendez had to have known this.

Anyways here is what is being said.

Gregory Paquin has responded very graciously considering what he is being subjected to just because he wants to see people have better lives.

All Minnesotans should hang our heads in shame that Minnesota politics has come down to this level. We all knew that the problem of racism in the Minnesota DFL was extreme but latent. I don't think any of us knew that it was this serious.

I join Gregory Paquin in thanking the woman who had the courage to bring this issue into public view.

I wonder how much longer the news media will try to conceal this?

It was only in the last election where we saw Rhoda Gilman of the Green Party make the most shocking racist attack on an African-American DFL'er. Now we find the racist attacks reaching a new level in Minnesota politics. This time directed by the Chair of the Minnesota DFL.

Rita


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan L. Maki [mailto:amaki000@centurytel.net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 6:38 PM
To: hotpasstheketchup@yahoo.com; Chuckrepke@aol.com
Cc: mn-politics@forums.e-democracy.org
Subject: Re: [Minnesota] Fwd: Steven Nelson sent you a message on Facebook...

Mr. Repke;

I am glad to see this response--- in writing--- from you; because,
along with the e-mail and other communications here, especially the one
from Mr. Nelson, we see a pattern developing that here-to-for has been
kept hidden from public view in Minnesota.

Very few candidates, including those presently sitting in the Minnesota
State Legislature "understand the process" as well as you do.

I have had more than a few politicians and sitting public officials
tell me the process is so complicated they leave everything concerning
their filings with the government up to their attorneys and what needs
to be done as far as "nominating conventions" up to party hacks.

You castigate Greg Paquin for what you claim is his lack of
understanding of election laws and the nominating process as if such
understanding is a requirement for holding public office--- if this is
the case, you might consider asking Al Franken to relinquish his seat
in the U.S. Senate because he sure had the attorneys up the wazoo; but,
how many attorneys and how much was spent by the Minnesota DFL because
so many people do not know how to properly fill out an absentee
ballot... not to mention how many county clerks and their staff's don't
know how to count them?

I wonder if you hold all politicians up to the same criteria you have
established for Greg Paquin?

When was the last time you questioned any politician concerning how
well they understand election laws and the nominating process before
you supported them or cast your vote for them? Or, did you ask who
organized the turnout for the nominating process.

I would note, that like Mr. Nelson's thinking about Greg Paquin, there
were a whole lot of people who thought Barack Obama did not have a
chance of getting the Democratic Party endorsement. And, if we listen
to the reason people thought that, according to Richard Trumka, it is
actually very sad; the soon-to-be President of the National AFL-CIO...
stated in no uncertain terms the reason for this thinking was because
of the racism in the ranks of the Democratic Party and among labor
leaders.

How often have you heard people say something like: "All these
Democrats talk a lot, but none of them say anything; it makes me not
want to vote because I don't know where they stand on the issues."

Well, according to Mr. Nelson, Greg Paquin is a good speaker but the
problem is, he doesn't like what Greg Paquin has to say and he
apparently thinks all white people think as he does... because then he
goes even further to suggest that Greg Paquin will only find a receptive
audience for his message among Indians.

And then Mr. Nelson goes on to say that Greg Paquin is opposed to
gaming. Well, how does Mr. Nelson arrive at this conclusion when what
Greg Paquin is saying is that he wants Native Americans to benefit from
the gaming industry instead of politicians... read what Greg Paquin has
written... he says he knows a lot of Indian people who need a meal
before more money is handed out electing politicians who don't even
care about the problems of Native Americans.

As far as "labor leaders;" well let me tel you a little something about
the quality of labor leaders the DFL is associated with and how these
"labor leaders" are participating in the political process you hold so
dear.

Perhaps you do not know this, but Collin Peterson was nominated to run
for the United States Congress from Congressional District 7 at one of
your much ballyhooed "nominating conventions" by one of the most
important and prominent leaders of the AFL-CIO--- Mr. Mark Froemke---
who, I might note, has never stepped forward to question why there are
no Native Americans sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature or in
our Congressional delegation--- were there no qualified Native
Americans that Mark Froemke could have nominated instead of Collin
Peterson?

The problem is, Mr. Froemke was registered to vote in Grand Forks,
North Dakota at the time he crossed the border into Minnesota to
participate in a nominating convention that you say requires being a
registered voter to participate!

How well do you understand Minnesota Election Laws, Mr. Repke? Does
being registered to vote in North Dakota qualify one to participate in
a nominating convention in Minnesota?

Furthermore, you belittle Greg Paquin for not understanding Minnesota
Election Laws as if understanding election laws and the political
process is a qualification to run for public office; but, if you were
concerned that more people should become involved in the political
process, I would think that you would offer to help teach what you know
about the political process to others before suggesting that what they
don't know about election laws disqualifies them from seeking public
office.

Between your post here and Steve Nelson's e-mail, I think most of us
have a pretty good idea why there are no Native Americans sitting in
the Minnesota State Legislature. Who the heck wants to be subjected to
this.

I can't believe what I am reading... this sounds more like the "good
ol' boys club" down in Mississippi trying to keep African-Americans out
of public office before the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Let me tell you a little something about your theory about who wins and
who loses.

Up hear in Roseau County, the County Chair Ley Soltis, announced--- at
the precinct caucus--- the date, time and place where the Roseau County
Democratic Farmer-Labor Party Convention was going to be held.
Apparently the head honchos of the DFL thought my organizing abilities
were a little too much for them to overcome as I was seeking to be
re-elected to the State Central Committee over the wishes of some
people. So, Mr. Soltis and his little clique of highly skilled
organizers decided to be real cute and change the time and place of the
Roseau County Convention, telling only their friends--- leaving the
rest of us sitting outside of the Rural Electric Co-op for two hours
after which he pulled up and said, "Oh, I am so sorry; I forgot to put
a notice up here that we changed the time and place of the County
Convention... oh, well, nothing we can do about this now."

The one and only reason the MN DFL can get any candidates elected is
because so many people detest the Republicans... and, to my way of
thinking that is nothing you want to write home about.

Once these letters and communications see the light of day... the
present DFL Senate and House legislators for Senate District 4 and 4-A
might want to bend over... put their heads between their legs and kiss
their offices good-bye.

I will tell you this as one who would never vote Republican unless Abe
Lincoln was to rise from the grave... if I was a voter in Senate
District 4 or House District 4-A, I would vote Republican before I ever
voted for either of the two DFL candidates now holding these positions
knowing what kind of friends they turned out to support them.


Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell Phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my Blog:
http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/




Quoting Chuckrepke@aol.com:
> After reading the entire thread of the emails, it sounds like Mr. Nelson
> didn't think you had much of a chance of getting the party endorsement at the
> next DFL convention in SD 4 because he didn't think you understood the
> process nor did you have anyone on board your campaign that had
> experience in
> the endorsement process. So, he appears to dismissed you as a candidate
> for endorsement because of that.
>
> The tone of your emails would tend to agree with Nelson's opinion. You
> seem to think that the chair of the state party or even the current officers
> of the local party have the ability to hand you the endorsement. The tone
> of you note to the DFL state chair would suggest that he has some ability to
> act independently to assist in your quest for election. You suggest that
> if there isn't the outpouring of support within seven days you will run as
> an independent. Well, threats like that tend to get people to not
> seriously consider a candidate for endorsement.
>
> That isn't the way the process works.
>
> The endorsement belongs to whoever gets more of their neighbors to show up
> at the DFL precinct caucuses and agree to be delegates to the senate
> district 4 convention. Anyone that can vote can show up at the caucuses and
> run
> for delegate. You just need to out organize them. If you do that you
> win. If you don't you lose. I have been to rural Minnesota DFL
> conventions... if you have 150 people elected delegate the
> endorsement is yours. The
> task is doing that, not hoping that the party chair or the local party
> officers will anoint you.
>
> JMONTOMEPPOF
>
> Chuck Repke
>
>
> In a message dated 7/21/2009 4:00:31 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> hotpasstheketchup@yahoo.com writes:
>
> It is with a Sad Heart i write this letter to you, i feel like i been run
> over by a truck filled with the sickness of Racism.
>
> I am thankful to Antonia Vargas who alerted me to these representations of
> the inner workings ( Mechanization's) of institutional racism.
>
> I am devastated that in my letter to you on July 10th 2009 ,i had asked
> you to respond to being handed over to those who after years of
> participation
> in this political process have done exactly to the letter what i had asked
> you to prevent.
>
> With your active directives i feel you have violated my civil right to be
> able to enter a political race for public office that i was very afraid
> would face any Native Anishinabe Candidate like myself . And these
> correspondences are testament to that.
>
> I would ask you step down from your position that you are supposed to
> protect these rights of alienation of anyone especially a Anishinabe
> American.
>
> Secondly any political office holder in these capacities also make the
> same statement and put an end to those that benefit from or enhance this
> institutional Racist practice.
>
> Gregory W. Paquin
>
>
>
> Candidate for Minnesota Senate
>
> District: 4
>
>
>
> 1511 Roosevelt Road SE.
>
> Bemidji, Minnesota , 56601
>
> 218-209-3157 h
>
> 651-503-9493 c
>
> check out my blog:http://nativeamericanindianlaborunion12.blogspot.com/
>
> --- On Tue, 7/21/09, azvargas tds.net wrote:
>
> From: azvargas tds.net
> Subject: Fwd: Steven Nelson sent you a message on Facebook...
> To: Hotpasstheketchup@yahoo.com
> Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 10:15 AM
>
> Hello Mr. Paquin,
> I am forwarding this information to you in a spirit of understanding,
> and welcoming your input too. I would like you to know that there are
> members of the board in Cass County ( Senate 5?) that would support
> you if you are willing to run. Please contact Eli Hunt;
> eohunt@arvig.net; 218-760-2116 and ask to be put on our next meeting's
> guest list to speak to our group about your intentions to run. Thanks,
> and I hope to hear back from you if you so choose to email back.
> ---Antonia 218-251-3954
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "azvargas tds.net"
> Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:28:50 -0700
> Subject: Fwd: Steven Nelson sent you a message on Facebook...
> To: Eli Hunt , Bob Whipple
> <, >, Molly MacGregor ,
> Roger Grussing , Mary Olson ,
> Martha Johnson , Kathryn Wagner
> , Shirley Frederick , Cheryl
> Jones , Darrell Johnson
> , David & Alison Edgerton ,
> Allen Larson , Carrie Musselman
> , Eva Wilson , Hope Bank
> , Jerry Chizek , Joan Quam
> , Kent Reeve , Mark Schmidtke
> , Robert Fields
>
> HELLO ALL:
> THIS IS BEING FORWARDED TO YOU FROM ANTONIA; I RECEIVED THIS FROM
> DAVID BUTCHER; I WANT TO INCLUDE EVERYONE BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE
> EVERYONES INPUT REGARDING THIS SITUATION. As the Affirmative Action
> officer for Congressional District 8, I feel the responsibility and
> duty to make known the following perceptions regarding Mr. Paquin's
> letter and Steven Nelson's response to David Butcher in Facebook :
>
> I am pleased to know that Mr. Paquin "...did show up at our meeting."
> I am pleased that Steven gave him "...a few minutes to address the
> group." I am not surprised that " he was polite and spoke well." What
> I am concerned about and perceive, as an Affirmative Action Officer
> regardless of which DC I represented, is the pretentiousness of what
> Steven Nelson then goes on to say. Please review and reflect on the
> rest of the message and especially this part: "he does not fully
> understand the endorsement process, or campaign finance rules. I don't
> think he is a real threat to Senator Mary." I am not necessarily
> concerned about Mr. Paquin being "...a real threat..." what I am
> greatly disturbed about is the REAL THREAT of not being INCLUSIVE and
> INVITING to those who would dare to challenge our SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE.
> I am asking you Steven Nelson ( and I hope to personally meet you some
> day); What can you do to guide this CONSTITUENT to the KNOWLEDGE he is
> intitled to? We should not shy away from uncomfortable sititutions,
> as Obama has said on many occasions, we should reflect on them and
> help to make them into a positive change. This then for me would be
> INCLUSIVENESS AND WELCOMING DIVERSITY and thereby EFFECTIVENESS.
> I welcome everyone's input and reflection regarding my perceptions.
> THANKS---ANTONIA HERE.
>
> - ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "davidb uslink.net"
> Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:56:47 -0500
> Subject: Fwd: Steven Nelson sent you a message on Facebook...
> To: azvargas@tds.net
>
> Hi Antonia,
>
> Below is a response I received from Steve Nelson re the Paquin letter
> as well as the thread among DFL'ers re the situation. Of particular
> interest is Paquin's letter to Brian Melendez. I think he has a
> legitimate concern re the issue of casino profits, but I believe that
> is better taken up with the tribe (which I believe has control over
> the operations). DB
>
> - ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Facebook
> Date: Jul 20, 2009 1:43 PM
> Subject: Steven Nelson sent you a message on Facebook...
> To: Dave Butcher
>
>
> Steven sent you a message.
>
> - --------------------
> Re: Question
>
> Here is the entire exchange about Mr. Paquin. He did show up at our
> meeting. I did give him a few minutes to address the group, he was
> polite and spoke very well. I don't think he has any support with
> main stream DFLer's. But he could stir up some interest among Indians
> who oppose the gaming industry. He is a union member and thinks he
> will be getting support from labor, but I don't think he has any
> support from labor leadership. He does not fully understand the
> endorsement process, or campaign finance rules. I don't think he is a
> real threat to Senator Mary. I must confess I was out of town this
> weekend and missed the letter.
> I think its best to just be polite to him.
>
> That's my $.02
> Steve
>
>
>
>
>
> Steve, he will probably come to Monday’s meeting, I don’t know if he
> asked to be on the agenda, but good luck controlling him to 5 minutes
> or less
>
> From: Brian Melendez [mailto:brian.melendez@usa.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 11:40 AM
> To: 'Pamela McCrory'
> Cc: 'Paul Wright'; 'Roger Grusssing'; dcassut@dfl.org; srego@dfl.org
> Subject: RE: Minnesota Senate District 4 (seat)
>
> Great. Thanks, Pam.
>
> BRM
>
>
> From: Pamela McCrory [mailto:skeeters@paulbunyan.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 11:30 AM
> To: 'Brian Melendez'
> Cc: 'Paul Wright'; 'Roger Grusssing'; dcassut@dfl.org; srego@dfl.org
> Subject: RE: Minnesota Senate District 4 (seat)
>
> Thanks Brian. I was just going through email and saw his letter to
> you that he posted on a local open forum site. I’ll send him a reply
> right now, and try give him a phone call. I’ll cc you on the email.
>
> Pam McCrory
> SD4 Chair
> From: Brian Melendez [mailto:brian.melendez@usa.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 10:27 AM
> To: skeeters@paulbunyan.net
> Cc: chair@dfl.org; dcassutt@dfl.org; srego@dfl.org; rcgruss@q.com;
> Paul Wright; Allison Myhre
> Subject: RE: Minnesota Senate District 4 (seat)
>
> Pam, I enclose a message from a candidate for the Minnesota
> Senate. Would you prefer that I direct him to you, or would you rather
> just respond to him directly?
>
> BRM
>
>
> From: greg paquin [mailto:hotpasstheketchup@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 7:16 PM
> To: brian.melendez@usa.net
> Cc: chair@dfl.org; dcassutt@dfl.org; srego@dfl.org
> Subject: Minnesota Senate District 4 (seat)
>
> Wednesday, July 8, 2009
>
> Brian Melendez, Chair, Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party
>
> Dear Mr. Melendez,
>
> I am writing to inform you that I will be running for the Minnesota
> State Senate for the District 4 seat.
>
> I would like to run with the endorsement of the Minnesota Democratic
> Farmer-Labor Party in the Primary Election.
>
> As you are aware, there isn’t one single Native(Anishinabe) American
> sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature; not in the Senate, not in
> the House.
>
> This needs to change.
>
> And the change needs to take place now.
>
> Barack Obama promised change. I intend to fight on behalf of
> Indian(Anishinabe) people to see to it that we get the change that we
> assumed was coming. Real jobs at real living wages. Our children going
> to school, not tossed behind bars and forgotten. We lack adequate
> health care. Native(Anishinabe) American women suffer sexual abuse at
> rates far higher than the general population.
>
> Our land and our resources, the wealth of our Nations, were stolen out
> from under us in the most brutal manner and nothing has been done to
> make things right.
>
> Native (Anishinabe)Americans are the largest single minority
> population in the State of Minnesota and we have no representation in
> the State Legislature; anyone can see that this is unfair.
>
> I intend to try to change this with or without the support of the
> Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party; I would like to do this with
> support from the DFL if at all possible, if not, I will use other
> means.
>
> As a long-time union member of the United Association of Journeymen
> and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the
> United States and Canada (UA), I have always been a loyal supporter of
> the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party.
>
> Should I not hear from you in seven days, I will decide after
> consulting with my campaign committee and my many friends--- Native
> and non-Native--- whether to seek the DFL endorsement during the
> Primary process and Election or run as an independent candidate in the
> General Election.
>
> Minnesota Native(Anishinabe) Americans, including myself, have
> repeatedly sought assistance from the local DFL elected public
> officials who we helped in every way to elect. WE now need their help
> on a variety of issues of importance to us from jobs to education,
> housing and health care and environmental concerns, we find ourselves
> shut out of the political and decision-making process by these same
> politicians who could not have been elected without the votes of
> Anishinabe people who are now ignoring our problems and concerns when
> it comes to doing things by way of finding solutions. Solutions which
> are often as simple as doing what is right to make sure Anishinabe
> people get jobs. Often we don’t even hear about jobs until the work is
> completed. How do others hear about jobs, even in our own communities,
> before we do? This is not right.
>
> I organized the “We Shall Remain” conference in Bemidji.
>
> Many Native Anishinabe and non-tribal people, from all walks of life
> showed up at this conference fully expecting to be able to explain and
> tell elected officials what our problems and concerns are. The only
> public official who showed up was the Beltrami County Sheriff who
> informed us that he didn’t know how many Native Americans worked on
> his staff but he knew the population in the Beltrami County Jail was
> more than 50% Native American. This was a figure not lost on those in
> attendance since the current unemployment on most Minnesota
> Reservations is 50% or more. There is something terribly wrong with
> this picture and the present DFL State Senator from District 4, Mary
> Olson, refuses to talk about resolving the injustices creating these
> problems.
>
> I want to most vigorously point out to you that the MN DFL claims to
> have a policy that decries discrimination; yet, for all these years
> the MN DFL has done not one thing to assure Native( Anishinabe)
> Americans are elected to state and federal offices. There is something
> wrong with this picture here; you want our money and our votes but you
> don’t want us sitting as equals with all other Minnesotans in the
> State Legislature or the halls of Congress.
>
> Certain measures have to be taken in order to ensure that Minnesota
> Indigenous,Anishinabe people get the seats they are entitled to in the
> Minnesota State Legislature; those measures have not even been
> considered, let alone taken.
>
> We are entitled to at least two seats per tribe. I am quite sure most
> Minnesotans will find this very reasonable. Democracy requires this.
> Anishinabe Native Americans are entitled to District 4, 4a, 4b, 2,
> 2a, 2b seats in the Minnesota State Legislature as a beginning to
> right this wrong of no representation.
>
> I intend to do everything I can do to make sure that Senate seat 4 is
> held by an Native Tribal Member citizen, because this is what justice
> requires.
>
> It is my hope that other Native(Anishinabe) Americans will join my
> efforts to secure the other five seats.
>
> Most Anishinabe, Native Americans are working people, yet you treat us
> as if only the cash you get from the casino managements counts for
> anything. This, too, will change once I am elected to the Senate
> District 4 seat because the people of Minnesota will be hearing the
> truth about gaming revenues. If these revenues can be used to elect
> non-Tribal Natives to political office who then turn around and ignore
> our problems we can find a way to make sure these gaming revenues
> remain in our communities being used for meeting the needs of our own
> people now living in dire straights as the economy declines. I know
> many families who need food more than politicians need campaign
> contributions.
>
> It is my hope you will also broach my concerns, distributing this
> letter, with the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s State
> Central Committee.
>
> I await your response,
>
> Gregory, W. Paquin
> Hotpasstheketchup@yahoo.com
> 651-503-9493 cell 218-209-3157 home
> 1511 Roosevelt Rd Se Bemidji, MN 56601
>
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> gregory paquin
> minnesota, bemidji
> Info about gregory paquin:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/4m33bClcAW00DGZhBYPvMF
>
> View all messages on this topic at:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/Iu8d4vxOyt17Ig4oJHilk
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Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell Phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my Blog:
http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/



Alan Maki
Warroad
Info about Alan Maki: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/alanmaki

View all messages on this topic at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/5IvUuUposhE0MsoKrL1BSx
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Building and re-building CPUSA Party Clubs through the struggle to defeat Obama's "public option" with a proposal for socialized health care

As the District Organizer of the Minnesota/Dakotas District of the Communist Party USA, I would like to point out that in our recent meeting based upon deep discussion with our Club chairs, we decided to make plans to do just what Alan Maki is suggesting here because the Clubs that are engaged in doing this already are growing in influence among working people.

We view these kinds of initiatives in building a stronger movement for real health care reforms as perfect opportunity for the growth of the CPUSA.

There are no obstacles we have found in bringing forward socialized health care as the solution.

We welcome anyone interested in joining the CPUSA and building new Party Clubs to contact us.

Rita Polewski


From an e-mail distributed by Alan Maki and shared with his permission.

The time has come to rebuild the CPUSA around support for a socialized health care plan.

As Barack Obama’s popularity continues to go down, now is the time for Communists to act by giving Obama and his faltering Wall Street schemes some good kicks aimed at killing this “public option” just like Obama and the Democrats killed single-payer universal health care.

Communist Party Clubs of the Marxist-Leninist type can be built around the popular support that exists among working people for socialized health care.

Now is the time to get into the action full throttle around an issue--- socialized health care--- that is made to order for Communists. We should stop being so timid when it is easier to advocate expanding the two socialized health care programs that work just fine when properly funded: VA and Indian Health Service instead of advocating something new to the American people like single-payer was.

Obama’s own words: The American people want something they are familiar with that has a proven track record.

This is welcome news that the American people, unlike Sam Webb and his revisionist colleagues, are not buying into Obama’s Wall Street schemes once the facts come out.

It is pathetic that just as the American people get the opportunity to discuss real health care reform, Obama and his revisionist friends at the helm in the CPUSA want to end dialog, discussion and debate about such a fundamental issue because a continuation of this discussion could mess up the plans of the Democrats for 2010 and Obama’s chances for re-election in 2012… the truth is finally coming out--- Democrats opportunistically place winning their political game above the health care--- and many other--- needs of working people, and the revisionists think this is just fine as they play right into the hands of Wall Street profiteers while lecturing us about what “marginalizes the left.”

We all know Barack Obama’s popularity is going to continue to slip simply because his Wall Street agenda keeps coming into conflict with the requirements of working people seeking a better life… who in their right minds would continue to cling to an opportunist, bourgeois politician like Barack Obama going down?

Sam Webb thinks the left should use the “public option” to come out of its marginalized state… I agree; but, we should do so by bringing forward socialized health care… after all, we are for socialism, right?

Alan L. Maki

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090720/pl_nm/us_usa_healthcare_poll

Support for Obama on healthcare slips: poll

From Reuters News Service

Mon Jul 20, 6:46 am ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Public support for President Barack Obama's handling of healthcare reform, the pillar of his legislative agenda, has fallen below 50 percent for the first time, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Monday said.

Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress have run into stiff opposition this month as they try to pass legislation to restructure the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry through the creation of a government-run health insurance program.

Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats argue the plan, with an estimated cost of more than $1 trillion, could hurt small businesses, add to budget deficits and reduce the quality of medical care for many Americans.

Those concerns may be having an impact on the public, according to the poll, which showed 49 percent of respondents approving of Obama's stand on the issue compared to 57 percent in April.

Those saying they disapproved rose to 44 percent from 29 percent during the same period.

Obama and the White House have gone on the offensive to drum up support for the plan, which would compete with private insurers, provide cover to many of the 46 million uninsured and try to stem runaway medical costs.

With time running out to pass a bill in Congress this year, the battle is shaping up as a major test of Obama's presidency.

Delaying legislation until 2010, a congressional election year, could give Republicans and critics in the healthcare sector more time to galvanize opposition to the plan.

But Obama remains more trusted than Republicans in Congress to do a better job on healthcare reform, the poll showed, with 54 percent of respondents putting their faith in the U.S. leader versus 34 percent in favor of Republican lawmakers.

His overall approval rating also remains high at 59 percent despite some slippage in approval ratings for his handling of the economy, the federal budget deficit and other leading domestic issues, according to the poll.

It surveyed 1,001 adults randomly by telephone between July 15-18, 2009. The results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus/minus three percentage points.

(Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Louise Ireland)





Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net



Check out my blog:



Thoughts From Podunk



http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Communist Party growth

The Minnesota/Dakotas District of the Communist Party USA just concluded a meeting involving all Club Chairs and the District leadership.

We made a decision that new members would be helped in building new clubs instead of bringing these new members into existing clubs.

Small clubs of three to fifteen people are serving us well and we concluded that our mass influence would be better served by building more clubs rather than bringing new members into existing clubs.

We have found that clubs of three to five people can easily be built around new member's friends in the communities where they live.

It was pointed out that we need to begin organizing clubs in places where people work and towards these ends we are focusing on two mines on the Iron Range, the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, Mystic Lake Casino and several smaller manufacturing plants in St. Cloud and Sappi in Cloquet. We now have two members employed at American Crystal Sugar in North Dakota. We now have a club in the Boise plant in International Falls which is the first Communist Party industrial club in many years in our District.

We look forward to working with anyone interested in joining the Communist Party U.S.A. and helping in our rebuilding efforts.

Please contact us if you would like to help us rebuild the Communist Party USA into a fighting working class revolutionary organization struggling for reforms as we fight to get rid of capitalism replacing it with socialism.

Rita Polewski, District Organizer, Minnesota/Dakotas CPUSA

Why are no Native Americans in the Minnesota State Legislature?

This letter to Brian Melendez tells the truth about how limited democracy is in Minnesota and we finally hear the truth about racism in the Minnesota DFL. It's about time.

I got this letter on its 6th forwarding. I hope it keeps making the rounds.

Rita


--- On Wed, 7/8/09, greg paquin wrote:

From: greg paquin
Subject: Minnesota Senate District 4 (seat)
To: brian.melendez@usa.net
Cc: chair@dfl.org, dcassutt@dfl.org, srego@dfl.org
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 7:15 PM

Wednesday, July 8,
2009

 

Brian Melendez, Chair, Minnesota Democratic
Farmer-Labor Party

 

Dear Mr. Melendez,

 

I am writing to inform you that I will be running for the Minnesota State Senate for the District 4 seat.

 

I would like to run with the endorsement of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party in the Primary Election.

 

As you are aware, there isn’t one single Native(Anishinabe) American sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature; not in the Senate, not in the House.

 

This needs to change.

 

And the change needs to take place now.

 

Barack Obama promised change. I intend to fight on behalf of
Indian(Anishinabe) people to see to it that we get the change that we assumed was coming. Real jobs at real living wages. Our children going to school, not tossed behind bars and forgotten. We lack adequate health care. Native(Anishinabe) American women suffer sexual abuse at rates far higher than the general population.

 

Our land and our resources, the wealth of our Nations, were stolen out from under us in the most brutal manner and nothing has been done to make things right.

 

Native (Anishinabe)Americans are the largest single minority population in the State of Minnesota and we have no representation in the State Legislature; anyone can see that this is unfair.

 

I intend to try to change this with or without the support
of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party; I would like to do this with support from the DFL if at all possible, if not, I will use other means.

 

As a long-time union member of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United
States and Canada (UA), I have always been a loyal supporter of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party.

 

Should I not hear from you in seven days, I will decide after consulting with my campaign committee and my many friends--- Native and
non-Native--- whether to seek the DFL endorsement during the Primary process and Election or run as an independent candidate in the General Election.

 

Minnesota Native(Anishinabe) Americans, including myself, have repeatedly sought assistance from the local DFL elected public officials who we helped in every way to elect. WE now need their help on a variety of issues of importance to us from jobs to education, housing and health care and environmental concerns, we find ourselves shut out of the political and decision-making process by these same politicians who could not have been elected without the votes of Anishinabe people who are now ignoring our problems and concerns when it comes to doing things by way of finding solutions. Solutions which are often as simple as doing what is right to make sure Anishinabe people get jobs. Often we don’t even hear about jobs until the work is completed. How do others hear about jobs, even in our own communities, before we do? This is not right.

 

I organized the “We Shall Remain” conference in Bemidji.

 

Many Native Anishinabe and non-tribal people, from all walks of life showed up at this conference fully expecting to be able to explain and tell elected officials what our problems and concerns are. The only public official who showed up was the Beltrami County Sheriff who informed us that he didn’t know how many Native Americans worked on his staff but he knew the population in the Beltrami County Jail was more than 50% Native American. This was a figure not lost on those in attendance since the current unemployment on most Minnesota Reservations is 50% or more. There is something terribly wrong with this picture and the present DFL State Senator from District 4, Mary Olson, refuses to talk about resolving the injustices creating these problems.

 

I want to most vigorously point out to you that the MN DFL claims to have a policy that decries discrimination; yet, for all these years the MN DFL has done not one thing to assure Native( Anishinabe) Americans are elected to state and federal offices. There is something wrong with this picture here; you want our money and our votes but you don’t want us sitting as equals with all other Minnesotans in the State Legislature or the halls of Congress.

 

Certain measures have to be taken in order to ensure that Minnesota Indigenous,Anishinabe people get the seats they are entitled to in the Minnesota State Legislature; those measures have not even been considered, let alone taken.

 

We are entitled to at least two seats per tribe. I am quite sure most Minnesotans will find this very reasonable. Democracy requires this.

 Anishinabe Native Americans are entitled to District 4, 4a, 4b, 2, 2a, 2b seats in the Minnesota State Legislature as a beginning to right this wrong of no representation.

 

I intend to do everything I can do to make sure that Senate seat 4 is held by an Native Tribal Member citizen, because this is what justice requires.

 

It is my hope that other Native(Anishinabe) Americans will join my efforts to secure the other five seats.

 

Most Anishinabe, Native Americans are working people, yet you treat us as if only the cash you get from the casino managements counts for anything. This, too, will change once I am elected to the Senate District 4 seat because the people of Minnesota will be hearing the truth about gaming revenues. If these revenues can be used to elect non-Tribal Natives to political office who then turn around and ignore our problems we can find a way to make sure these gaming revenues remain in our communities being used for meeting the needs of our own people now living in dire straights as the economy declines. I know many families who need food more than politicians need campaign contributions.

 

It is my hope you will also broach my concerns, distributing this letter, with the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s State Central Committee.

 

I await your response,

 

Gregory, W. Paquin Hotpasstheketchup@yahoo.com651-503-9493 cell  218-209-3157 home1511 Roosevelt Rd Se Bemidji, MN 56601


gregory paquin
minnesota, bemidji
Info about gregory paquin: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/4m33bClcAW00DGZhBYPvMF

View all messages on this topic at: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/4cbwIH6tYA0K4pe21T1mBK