September 8, 2005


And Now...The 14 Symptoms of Fascism

Some Good News

California Senate passes same-sex marriage bill
California’s Senate is now the first state legislative body to vote for full marriage rights for same-sex couples. The governor is not expected to pass this bill, but as a historic first and a demonstrative vote that lined up all but four of the Democrats in the Senate behind gay rights, this vote sets an important precedent. “We now have the Senate of the largest state in the nation endorsing marriage equality,” the bill’s sponsor Geoffrey Kors told the San Diego Union Tribune. The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act needs only three more votes to pass in the state Assembly.

Unfortunately - the Govenator announced he would veto the bill. Ass hole.

Honoring the Living by Exposing the Dead

So here’s the truth about Chief Justice Rehnquist you won’t hear on Fox News or from politicians. Chief Justice William Rehnquist set back liberty, equality, and human rights perhaps more than any American judge of this generation. His rise to power speaks volumes about the current state of American values.


Toxic New Orleans: 'The Worst Case'
The Washington Post points out that New Orleans is now flooded by water spiked with tons of toxic chemicals and contaminants ranging from heavy metals and hydrocarbons to industrial waste, human feces and the decayed remains of humans and animals. Experts say the contamination will continue to poison the Gulf of Mexico region for more than a decade. A senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency told the Post "This is the worst case...There is not enough money in the gross national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."

Governor Gives Troops Shoot-to-Kill Orders
Violence has also increased on the streets of New Orleans. Armed citizens have reportedly taken over some of the relief sites. Shots have been fired at police officers and rescue helicopters. There have been reports of rapes, murders and carjackings. Residents continue to break into stores in search of everything from food and water to guns to luxury items. The White House announced it would have zero tolerance for looters - even for those taking essential items needed to stay alive. Louisiana Governor's Kathleen Blanco warned that troops had orders to shoot to kill. She said "These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle tested and under my orders to restore order in the streets. She went on to say "They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded. "These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will."

From the
Anti-Empire Report
Some things you need to know before the world ends
September 5, 2005
by William Blum

Property before life
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered virtually all the city's 1,500 police officers to leave their search-and-rescue missions last week and return to the streets to stop the looting.{1}
"Three hundred of the Arkansas National Guard have landed in the city of New Orleans," said Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. "These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle-tested and under my orders to restore order in the streets. They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will."{2}
Such tough talk, such uncompromising, principled stands against those who violate the law. Zero tolerance! When do we hear this from our public officials when it comes to the corporations who loot the public treasury and workers' pensions? Who pollute the air that we all breathe every moment of every day, killing far more people than all the rioters in the United States have ever done. Who raise gasoline prices to the point that people's normal lives and desires are grievously trampled upon. Wouldn't we like to see some of those well trained, experienced, battle-tested troops training their M-16s on the likes of CEOs of Enron or World.com or General Electric or ExxonMobil or Halliburton?

Bush Rejects Venezula's Offer for Aid

An offer of aid from the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, which included two mobile hospital units, 120 rescue and first aid experts, 50 tonnes of food, 10 water purification plants, 18 power generation plants and 20 tonnes of bottled water has been rejected by the US-government, according to the civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson.
The offer was made in a letter from the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez, to the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco.

It was one of many from governments and aid organisations across the world, despite allegations by many conservative commentators and bloggers that the US is being ignored by countries it has helped during crises.

Mr Jackson said the rejection of the offer from one of Mr Bush's most outspoken political foes was a sign the federal government was incapable of handling the crisis properly. "This may be Mr Bush's worst hour of leadership," said Mr Jackson.

Other nations have been providing aid: Greece has offered cruise ships to help house evacuees; Sweden is making aircraft available to transfer supplies; El Salvador has offered troops ; Russia and Switzerland are providing generators, tents and meals. Other countries are sending people to assist in search-and-rescue: France and Latvia have sent teams with experience in disaster areas and the Norwegian navy was sending divers. Cuba offered more than 1100 doctors + 20 tons of medicine (- rejected by Bush), Britain and Germany have sent relief experts and food rations


So Sad

“There was an old lady that said the little girl had been raped by two or three guys, and that she had told another unit. But they said they couldn’t do anything about it with all the people there,” Brooks said. “I would have put him in cuffs, stuck him in the freezer and left him there.” Brooks and his unit came to New Orleans not long after serving a year of combat duty in Iraq, taking on gunfire and bombs, while losing comrades with regularity. Still, the scene at the Convention Center, where they conducted an evacuation this week, left him shell-shocked. “I ain’t got the stomach for it, even after what I saw in Iraq,” said Brooks, referring to the freezer where the bulk of the bodies sat decomposing. “In Iraq, it’s one-on-one. It’s war. It’s fair. Here, it’s just crazy. It’s anarchy. When you get down to killing and raping people in the streets for food and water … And this is America. This is just 300 miles south of where I live.”

My question is why is the corporate media refusing to address this? What does it mean for the Bush Administration and FEMA.

This Week: August 25


And Now...The 14 Symptoms of Fascism

Unions Launch International Wal-Mart Organizing Drive

In other labor news, a global coalition of unions is launching an unprecedented campaign to organize workers at Wal-Mart around the world. 900 unions spread across 140 countries are taking part in the campaign to unionize Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer.

After years of concerted but futile attempts to organize workers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., union leaders are joining forces to stop the world's largest employer from exporting its low-wage jobs across the globe. The effort, one of the most extensive union campaigns in modern labor history, is gathering speed. International labor leaders, meeting in Chicago this week to craft an anti-Wal-Mart campaign, say slowing the retailer is crucial to protecting the wages and living conditions of millions of workers.

Wal-Mart, union officials say, represents all that is wrong with the global economy, including sweatshop abuses and the extinction of mom-and-pop businesses.

"Our emphasis is to get Wal-Mart to abide by the rules," said Jan Furstenborg, head of the commercial division of Union Network International, a Swiss-based umbrella organization that represents more than 900 skills and services unions around the world. "We want the company to realize they have to change if they want to be part of the global business community."



Scary Bush Quote of the Week:

President Bush, speech in Idaho, August 24, 2005
"I made a decision -- America will not wait to be attacked again. Our doctrine is clear: We will confront emerging threats before they full materialize. And if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist. We will stay on the offense. We'll complete our work in Afghanistan and Iraq. An immediate withdrawal of our troops in Iraq, or the broader Middle East, as some have called for, would only embolden the terrorists and create a staging ground to launch more attacks against America and free nations. So long as I'm the President, we will stay, we will fight, and we will win the war on terror."

What about Pat Robertson?


God's Terrorist?

Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.

Two Turn Tables and Assault Rifles


Police Taser Anti-War Protesters in Pittsburgh

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania dozens of anti-war demonstrators attempted to shut down a military recruiting center on Saturday. Two protesters were hospitalized after suffering injuries at the hands of the police. Officers shot one woman with a Taser stun gun as she was lying on the street. Pittsburgh Indymedia captured the scene on tape. Another woman -- who was 68 years old -- was bit in the thigh by a police dog. At least five protesters were arrested. The police defended the level of force used. A spokesperson said, "When you're fighting with police officers, we're allowed to use the force necessary to effect an arrest, up to and including Taser."

Earlier this week, the Christian Science Monitor ran a new re-cap story on the movement to make schools recruiter free zones. In this update, the conservative National PTA has come on board to help raise awareness. “Local groups have lobbied school boards to create better forms spelling out families’ choices for release of contact information – allowing them, for instance, to give information to colleges but not the military.” Congress is looking at a No Child Left Behind amendment with 58 cosponsors that would reverse the opt-out system to an opt-in policy, where the default option is to keep students’ contact information away from recruiters. And counter-recruiting community groups are using workshops to educate at-risk kids about “everything from the legal details of military contracts to the options for claiming conscientious-objector status.” The article highlights one key difference between counter-recruitment campaigns today vs. in the Vietnam era – this time, parents are taking a prominent role. Scroll to the bottom of the piece for quick directions on how to opt-out.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2026290

In Utah bush gave a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Estimates of the protesters range from 1,000 to 4,000. Great pics and the Mayor of Salt Lake City was there and gave a speech. what is goin' on?


Coca Cola closure in Kerala
The Plachimada village council in India’s southern state of Kerala had been fighting to evict Coca Cola’s bottling plant from their community for over two years, over groundwater depletion and drinking water pollution problems. This same plant has been caught dumping heavy metal-ladden sludge on the fields of poor farmers as free fertilizer. By refusing to renew its liscence, the village council was able to shut this plant down for almost 16 months, but the Kerala High Court would not allow them to force permanent closure. Now, the pollution control head of Kerala state has stepped in over Coca Cola’s cadmium contaminated waste, and closed the bottling plant again. Hopefully this closure will last.

Nigerian villages close Shell Oil facilities
Cutting into Shell’s production by 10,000 barrels per day, hundreds of angry Nigerian villagers have shut down an oil-pump and mounted surveillance along the connected pipeline to prevent the company from using them. The protesters are demanding adequate compensation for the impacts of a December 2003 oil spill and fire that damaged more than 500 hectares on the Niger Delta. “We were informed by insider sources that the undue delay in plugging the pipe and setting fire on the spill were to enable it [to attract a] huge contract from clean up operations to oil the pockets of some corrupt Shell staff,” the communities told ThisDay. Shell spent $1.7 on environmental clean-up and restoration activities that locals claim were never performed, while awarding the two most heavily impacted communities a total of less than $1,000 for their agricultural, fishery and cultural resource losses. In another part of Nigeria, the Ijaw people are threatening to blockade plants and dismantle pipelines if they are not compensated for a 1998 oil spill. Meanwhile, two cases in U.S. courts are putting Chevron on the spot for attacking Delta villages in retaliation for protests. The Nigerians plaintiffs in these cases are represented by EarthRights International and other lawyers.

And now: The 14 Symptoms of Fascism

In the World of Indymedia...

106.9FM Threatened by FCC, Refuses to Comply
Who: 106.9FM, A San Diego Pirate Radio Station
Contact: 1069fm at resist dot ca, (619) 822-1936
What: FCC threat received, refusal to comply


Around mid-day on August 2nd, the FCC issued a 24-hour demand for the shut-down of 106.9fm with a threat of a $10,000 fine. 106.9fm, one of two pirate radio stations operating in San Diego, has been reclaiming the airwaves for a little over one year. The FCC has visited the undisclosed location three times before, however never with such a serious threat. 106.9fm rebroadcasts the content of a local internet radio station, Radioactive San Diego, which can heard at www.radioactiveradio.org.

This is clearly another example in the government sponsored attack on Freedom of Speech. Only two weeks ago Free Radio San Diego 96.9fm was raided by the FCC, having all of their equipment seized.

We at 106.9fm refuse to comply with the demands of the FCC. We strongly believe in democratic access to our public media outlets. Until the airwaves and other media outlets are accessible to all, we will continue to reclaim what is rightfully ours.

Over the next two weeks, members of the station will be working to build a new transmitter. Hence, you will be unable to hear our regular broadcast until that time. We want to make clear that our absence from the dial is not due to the threat of the FCC. Rather this upgrade is a result of the community demand for a bigger, bolder, stronger signal.

The station will not only resume broadcasting within two weeks, but with the help of community sponsors, we will go back on the air five times stronger. That's right. From 30 watts to 150 watts.

Watch out San Diego, we'll be back.

For more information contact:
106.9FM
1069fm at resist dot ca
www.1069fm.org

and in related FREE SPEECH NEWS
David and Danea are Out of Jail!!!! -

An interview with DJ Lotus and Danea Kelley who was recently granted bail - after being help in civil contempt of court for refusing to testify in front of the Federal Grand Jury two weeks again in San Diego.

Also in San Diego County

Minutemen Are Leaving? Good Riddance!
No Human Is Illegal!
Unite for the Rights of All!

WHAT: March – Protest – Action – Fiesta – In CAMPO against the California Minutemen. Send the Minutemen packing! Stand up against the violence of the border!

ALSO: To help people crossing the desert – DONATE water (gallon or more sealed containers) and food (dry goods, canned goods with pop tops, peanut butter) – DROP OFF AT PRESS CONFERENCE OR CARAVAN DEPARTURE POINT (see events and travel schedules below)

WHEN: This Saturday/Sunday, August 6-7 (see events schedule below)

WHERE: Campo, CA – 60 miles east of San Diego on Route 94, 12 miles off I-8 (see directions below)

Go To:

But in the Studio We have two members of the O.R.G.A.N.I.C. Collective here to talk about the event and what has been going down in CAMPO over the last few weeks.


U.S. Moves Toward Making New Landmines

More Landmines? Wait isn't that AGAINST International Law? No - Silly Americans - George Bush has made you ABOVE International Law!!!!

The Pentagon is moving ahead towards resuming production of antipersonnel landmines for the first time since the signing of the international Mine Ban Treaty in 1997. This according to a report by Human Rights Watch. $1.3 billion dollars has already been earmarked for two new landmine systems. The U.S. last used antipersonnel landmines in the 1991 Gulf War, when it scattered over 100,000 landmines from planes in Iraq. In 1997 145 nations signed the international Mine Ban Treaty that banned the use, production, exporting, and stockpiling of antipersonnel landmines. The U.S. never signed the pact but it stopped production of antipersonnel landmines in 1997. According to Human Rights Watch, landmines continue to kill and maim an estimated 500 people -- mostly civilians -- each week.

Scapegoats?

Hate Crimes in London Soar by 600% Since Bombings
In London, police are reporting that the number of religious hate crimes has soared by almost 600 percent since the July 7th bombings. Since that day, nearly 270 hate crimes have been reported in the city. During the same period last year, 40 were reported.

Nearly 9,000 U.S. troops dead? A NATIONWIDE CALL FOR INFO FROM SURVIVORS.
Author
peaceseeker

This work is in the public domain
Has the Bush administration drastically understated the U.S. military death count by redefining "death"? The following article suggests that it has, and it calls for a nationwide campaign to honor deceased service members by naming and counting them.
According to the article: "...DoD lists currently being very quietly circulated indicate almost 9,000 U.S. military dead"; this far exceeds the "official" death count of 1,831. How can this be? It's largely because "U.S. Military Personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German hospitals have not previously been counted."

In other words, "death" has been redefined.


Letter from Birmingham Jail?

An excerpt of the most recent Dispatch from anarchist and political prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers currently in his 63rd month of imprisonment...

What can I do? My words cannot galvanize the masses. I can't make people
fight back. I am lost. I could write a guerilla manifesto on how to fight
a successful revolution in the US, opening myself up to more consequences,
maybe even more time. But would anyone act? Would anyone organize? Would
any non-militants offer aid; offer to help put society back together?
Would anyone open themselves up to the risk? Would you?

I think that I can answer all those questions: No. Inaction is the price
of privilege. Hypocrisy is the cost of comfort. It is impossible to
inspire by inciting feelings of guilt. I know this, but, it is also
impossible to inspire when I believe it is a lost cause.

Even when I take into consideration the many brave cells out there
fighting, and I know why they fight; in the depths of my spirit I know and
I understand. I still believe we have lost. Those are the three words no
one wants to hear. The words I am loathe to write. But maybe hearing them
will slap you back to reality. This isn't a game. It sure as hell ain't a
fucking fairytale with a guaranteed happy ending.

The resistance is up to you. You can organize - really organize bringing
people together. You can teach - not just your friends, but strangers. You
can propagate the resistance with graffiti, stencils and flyers. You can
create alternatives by squatting, guerilla gardening, creating and using
alternative energies. You can become a militant - a smart one who learns
how to cause the most damage and get away.



Bush Plans for Global Police State Gather Apace

Since September 11, The Bush Administration has taken advantage of terrorism to hand the military and police extraordinary powers that undermine civil liberties. It has also sought to hide its deeds - and misdeeds - behind a cloak of secrecy that may soon impose itself over citizens of other nations.


Will you be my Girlfriend?

http://www.kidblount.com/

July 14, 2005

The 14 SYMPTOMS OF FASCISM: Revisited.

On this show this week we will be discussing the Grand Jury Resistance here in San Diego. Also, we will talk with organizers about violence as a tactic.

But First - Some Symptoms

Leaked Memo: US & UK Plan Major Withdrawal From Iraq
A British newspaper has obtained a secret plan written by the British Defense Secretary that appears to outline plans for the allied forces to withdraw the majority of its troops from Iraq by early next year. The memo states, "Emerging US plans assume fourteen out of eighteen provinces could be handed over to Iraqi control by early 2006, allowing a reduction in [Allied troops] from 176,000 down to 66,000." The Washington Post reports the British memo is apparently the first time such a significant reduction has been outlined under a specific timetable. After the memo was leaked, British Defense Secretary John Reid tried to downplay its significance. He said, "No decisions on the future force posture of UK forces have been taken."

Calls Increase For Karl Rove To Resign
On Capitol Hill, the White House continues to refuse to answer questions about Karl Rove's involvement in the outing of an undercover CIA operative. Several of the top leaders of the Democratic Party - including Senator John Kerry and Hillary Clinton -- called on President Bush to fire Rove who is his top advisor. The Republican National Committee has come to Rove's defense. The party issued talking points to Republican operatives that described the scandal as a "blatant partisan political attack on Rove." The talking points defended Rove's actions by claiming he was "attempting to advise a reporter about potential inaccuracies in a story that he was writing." On Sunday Newsweek revealed that Rove personally spoke with a reporter from Time Magazine about the undercover operative -- Valerie Plame -- although he did not state her name. Plame was outed as an undercover CIA operative just days after Plame's husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly revealed that the Bush administration had lied when it claimed that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger. We'll have more on this in a few minutes.

Poll: 54% Say Iraq War Made U.S. Less Safe
On Monday President Bush vowed to keep waging the so-called war on terror. Meanwhile a new CNN poll has found that a majority of Americans now believe the war in Iraq has made the United States less safe from terrorism. The percentage of respondents who felt this way jumped from 39 to 54 percent following the bombings in London. Just 40 percent of Americans believe the war in Iraq has made this country safer.

Groups Call For Exxon Mobil Boycott
A coalition of 12 environmental and activist groups are calling for a boycott of Exxon Mobil. The groups are aiming to brand the oil giant as an outlaw company for refusing to acknowledge the existence of global warming as well as the company's support for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Groups involved include the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the U.S. Public Interest Group

Islamic Scholar Sentenced to Life in Prison
An Islamic scholar has been sentenced to life in prison in the US for urging Muslims to join the Taliban in Afghanistan and fight US troops after the 9/11 attacks. Ali al-Timimi was convicted by a court in Alexandria, Virginia, in April. The 41-year-old cleric says he is innocent and his lawyers have described the case as an attack on free speech and religious freedom. Defense lawyers argued that al-Timimi only told young Muslims that they might be better off leaving the country because it would be difficult to practice their faith in the US. Before his sentencing yesterday, al-Timimi said "I will not admit guilt nor seek the court's mercy. I do this simply because I am innocent."

Rep. Sensenbrenner Seeks to Make Patriot Act Permanent
In other news from Washington, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee James Sensenbrenner has introduced a bill to make the USA Patriot Act permanent. 16 provisions of the Act are set to expire this year. The Washington Post reports that Sensenbrenner's proposed legislation does not go as far as legislation approved recently by the Senate intelligence committee. In June the committee voted to make it easier for the FBI to open mail and issue subpoenas without a judge's approval in terrorism investigations.

because of these powers - in San Diego

Two San Diego Organizers Jailed for Resisting the Grand Jury

In San Diego, two activists have been jailed for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. The activists -- David Agranoff and Danae Kelley - were jailed on Tuesday. The grand jury is investigating a fire set at an apartment complex two years ago. The government claims individuals connected to the Earth Liberation Front set the blaze. But activists in San Diego have accused the government of using the fire to suppress political activism in the city. A spokesman from the group San Diego Activist Defense Group said, "The fire was an excuse for the FBI to do intelligence work on activist groups."



Communique from Anarchist Action Organizers of the July 8 SF Anti-War,
Anti-Capitalist March Against the G8

On July 8, 2005 approximately 300 people marched in the San Francisco Mission
district in solidarity with demonstrators attempting to shut down the G8 Summit
in Scotland. These 300 people marched and at times engaged in militant direct
action in response to the oppressive global capitalist system and the state of
perpetual imperial war that it has created. The G8 (Group of Eight) is made up
of the ruling class leaders of eight imperialist governments- the United
States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada,Italy, Japan, and Russia. Every year,
they meet secretly to set global economic and social policies, which result in
misery, poverty, alienation, wage slavery, war, structural racism and sexism,
and environmental destruction that affectsthe majority of the world's
population-the working class, the poor, and the colonized. With the continued
US occupation of Iraq, the systematic genocide of the Iraqi people, and with
Iran looming on the horizon as the next target of the American Empire, it is
time for autonomous resistance as well as social and economic sabotage to be
stepped up.These and other forms of direct action are necessary in order to
stop the war and to disrupt the disgusting system that produced it. July 8 was
a move in that direction.

Violence as a tactic? When Where and How? - A Roundtable discussion.

More Info

http://www.wombles.org.uk/g8/10theses.php
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/07/1752284.php

This Week June 30

And Now...The 14 Symptoms of Fascism

Spain Oks Same Sex Marriage
In Spain, the nation's parliament has approved a bill to allow same sex couples to marry and adopt children. The vote came just one day after Canadian legislators approved a similar law. Up until now the Netherlands and Belgium were the world's only nations that had legalized same sex marriage.

Canada Votes to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
The Canadian government is on the verge of becoming only the third nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Legislators voted to approve the new law on Tuesday. One member of Prime Minister Paul Martin's cabinet resigned his post in protest over the vote. The Netherlands and Belgium have already legalized same-sex marriage.

Iowa to Give Felons Right to Vote
In voting news, the state of Iowa is preparing to reverse a law that had permanently disenfranchised convicted felons. The Brennan Center for Justice hailed the decision as a "huge victory for voting rights and for civil rights." The center is part of the nationwide Right to Vote Campaign. Disenfranchisement laws that date back to Reconstruction still prevent nearly five million people from voting. The laws have disproportionately affected African-Americans. Voting rights groups estimate thirteen percent of all African-American men in the country can not vote because of the laws.

Senate Passes Resolution Acknowledging Global Warming
Last week, the U.S. Senate passed an historic resolution that finally recognizes the enormous problem of global warming and declares that our nation must enact mandatory limits on the pollution that causes it. It Read:

SENSE OF THE SENATE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
(a) FINDINGS.— Congress finds that —

(1) greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere are causing average temperatures to rise at a rate outside the range of natural variability and are posing a substantial risk of rising sea-levels, altered patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and increased frequency and severity of floods and droughts;
(2) there is a growing scientific consensus that human activity is a substantial cause of greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere; and
(3) mandatory steps will be required to slow or stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

(b) SENSE OF THE SENATE.—It is the sense of the Senate that Congress should enact a comprehensive and effective national program of mandatory, market-based limits and incentives on emissions of greenhouse gases that slow, stop, and reverse the growth of such emissions at a rate and in a manner that—

(1) will not significantly harm the United States economy; and
(2) will encourage comparable action by other nations that are major trading partners and key contributors to global emissions.


Carpenters Union Joins In Challenge of AFL-CIO
In Labor news, The United Brotherhood of Carpenters has joined a group of other dissident unions in challenging the AFL-CIO. The carpenters union announced Monday that it is joining the new Change to Win Coalition which was formed earlier this month by the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, UNITE HERE, Laborers and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

To see how your Representative voted, go here!


Labor Dept Tried to Hide Studies on CAFTA
The Associated Press is reporting that the Labor Department kept secret for more than a year government-funded studies that could hinder the passage of CAFTA -- the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The studies had concluded that several of the countries involved in the trade negotiations have poor working conditions and have failed to protect workers' rights. The studies' conclusions contrast with the administration's arguments that Central American countries have made enough progress on such issues to warrant a free-trade deal with the United States. The studies were conducted by an outside contractor -- the International Labor Rights Fund. According to the AP, the Labor Department instructed the contractor to remove the reports from its Web site, ordered it to retrieve paper copies before they became public, banned release of new information from the reports, and even told the contractor it couldn't discuss the studies with outsiders. The Labor Department said such moves were taken because the agency had concluded the contractor had "failed to meet the academic rigor expected."

California Nat'l Guard Intel Unit Monitors Anti-War Protest
The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that California's National Guard has quietly set up a special intelligence unit that has already begun monitoring anti-war activists. The paper obtained emails from the National Guard that indicate the unit monitored a small Mother's Day anti-war rally organized by Gold Star Families for Peace, the Raging Grannies and CodePink. A guard spokesman said the military would be "negligent" in not tracking such anti-war rallies in the event that they disintegrate into a riot that could prompt the governor to call out troops. The spokesman went on to say "It's nothing subversive. Because who knows who could infiltrate that type of group and try to stir something up? After all, we live in the age of terrorism, so who knows?"

Bush Orders FBI Changes; ACLU Warns of "Secret Police Force"
President Bush has ordered a number of sweeping changes to the nation's intelligence services prompting civil liberties groups to warn that the country is moving closer to establishing a secret police force. Under the reorganization, the FBI will form a new National Security Service that will include counterintelligence, counterterrorism and intelligence divisions. In addition the country's spy chief John Negroponte will be given greater oversight power of the FBI. Negroponte -- who is the country's first director of national intelligence -- will have the authority to approve the hiring of the FBI's top national security official and will have the power to communicate with FBI agents and analysts in the field on intelligence matters. The changes are also intended to break down old walls between foreign and domestic intelligence activities. Civil liberties groups are warning the changes represent a radical step toward the creation of a secret police force in the United States. Timothy Edgar of the American Civil Liberties Union told the Washington Post, "Spies and cops play different roles and operate under different rules for a reason. The FBI is effectively being taken over by a spymaster who reports directly to the White House." Edgar went on to say, "It's alarming that the same person who oversees foreign spying will now oversee domestic spying." The changes put in place by Bush were based on recommendations made by a special intelligence commission headed by senior appellate judge Laurence Silberman and former senator Charles Robb.

Judge to Hear First Amendment Objections

Tuesay Michael Cardenas, Danae and David Agranoff went into the Grand Jury room and refused to answer questions based on our First Amendment rights to free association and right to privacy.

They were then sent to see Judge Gonzalez at 4:15pm. The prosecution made the request that the hearings be sealed, so only one witness at a time spoke to the judge. In the courtroom were the two prosecutors, the activists' lawyers, Danae, Michael, David, and about 10 FBI agents. All were asked to leave while the judge heard Jeremy Warren's motions.

From Michael Cardenas:

"The judge could've just put us in jail for not testifying today. There were marshalls in the court room with us, but she decided to give us time to file a formal brief and outline what our objections are. There is very little legal precedent for the First Amendment rights of Grand Jury witnesses, so it is expected by some that she will reject our objections to the subpoenas.

Also, our lawyers say that the government may be using illegal wiretaps and the judge said that they have to tell her of all types of surveillance they're using.

Again, I see this as a huge victory for now. Thank you to everyone who has supported us through this. We had a lot of people waiting outside to support us while we were in court and while we were in the Grand Jury room.

The judge said that she read the story in the Union Tribune, which had numerous quotes from David and myself, so it seems that the work of our support committee really paid off. The reporter from the Union Tribune, Onell Soto, was trying hard to get into the hearing. He even sort of snuck in at one point and the hearing had to be stopped because he was there, so the judge, the prosecutors and all the FBI agents involved are aware that their actions are being watched an are under public scrutiny. Keep up the good work!"


Photos:
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/109488.shtml
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/109504.shtml

Audio of Press Conference:
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/109498.shtml

Audio of Interview with Danae:
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/109500.shtml

Today - June 16, 2005:

Something Positive Is Goin' Down

A note from me, Djette:

I'm not sure why i decided to do a blog. Maybe it was to begin creating a record of all the stories, issues, events, struggles and vicotries that come trhough my various inboxes and across my computer screen throughout the week. Not all are covered on the show - but i try. I hope, however, that as i enter the Blogosphere i can contribute the growing democratically spawned media sphere that has grown, i feel, as a result of the despressing irresponsibility of the corporate media.

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And now: The 14 SYMPTOMS OF FASCISM

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House Votes to Limit Patriot Act Rules

WASHINGTON – In a slap at President Bush, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips. The House voted 238-187 despite a veto threat from Bush to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that allows the government to investigate the reading habits of terror suspects.The vote reversed a narrow loss last year by lawmakers concerned about the potential invasion of privacy of innocent library users. They narrowed the proposal this year to permit the government to continue to seek out records of Internet use at libraries.

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16,000 University of California Clerical Workers Go On Strike

In California, some 16,000 clerical workers at the University of California are in the midst of a three-day strike to demand higher pay. The strike is affecting the university's 10 campuses, five medical centers as well as the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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State Democrats in Wisconsin Call For Impeachment of Bush

And in Wisconsin, the state's Democratic party has passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush as well as Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The resolution called on Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against the three officials accusing them of misleading the country in the lead up to the war in Iraq. Last year the Democratic party in Nevada passed a similar resolution. The national Green Party as well as former presidential candidate Ralph Nader have also called for Bush's impeachment.

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Conviction Overturned for Death Row Inmate Thomas Miller-El

The Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a death row inmate in Texas because prosecutors in Dallas County wrongfully kept African-Americans off the jury for his trial. When Thomas Miller-El was convicted of murder in 1986 only one member of the jury was African-American. During jury selection state prosecutors excluded 10 out of 11 eligible African-Americans. Writing for the court Justice David Souter wrote that "when the government's choice of jurors is tainted with racial bias," it jeopardizes "the very integrity of the courts" and "undermines public confidence in adjudication." Up until the 1980s, prosecutors in Dallas County were given a training manual that advised them to remove African-Americans and Jews from death penalty cases on the theory that those groups would be more sympathetic to criminal defendants. As part of its ruling, the Supreme Court court on Monday ordered a new trial for Miller-El.

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Urban Environmental Accords signed

Mayors from around the world signed the first Urban Environmental Accords Sunday to commit to improve public transportation, drastically reduce the volume of trash going into landfills, and expand access to clean drinking water. “Among the most pressing issues was a recommendation to increase the use of renewable energy to meet 10 percent of a city’s peak electric load within seven years,” Justin M. Norton reports. The signing follows the UN-sponsored World Environment Day in San Francisco, a summit that focused on green cities as the key to long-term survival in a highly urbanized human ecosystem.

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Senate Apologizes For Not Enacting Anti-Lynching Legislation

The U.S. Senate last night approved a resolution apologizing for its failure to enact federal anti-lynching legislation decades ago, marking the first time the body has apologized for the nation's treatment of African Americans.

One-hundred and five years after the first anti-lynching bill was proposed by a black congressman, senators approved by a voice vote Resolution 39, which called for the lawmakers to apologize to lynching victims, survivors and their descendants, several of whom watched from the gallery.

"There may be no other injustice in American history for which the Senate so uniquely bears responsibility," Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said before the vote.

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who with Landrieu led the resolution effort, said the vote finally put the Senate "on the record condemning the brutal atrocity that plagued our great nation."

The moment lacked the drama of the fiery Senate filibusters that blocked the legislation three times in the past century. There were few senators on the floor last night and no roll call, no accounting for each vote. But 80 of the Senate's 100 members signed on as co-sponsors, signaling their support.

Missing from that list were senators from the state that reported the most lynching incidents: Mississippi Republicans Trent Lott and Thad Cochran.

starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other
commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most
severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull
the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would slash 25% of the federal funding this year -- $100
million -- and end funding altogether within two years [1]. In
particular, the loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Sesame
Street," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur" and "Postcards from
Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might
not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate
sponsorships.

This shameful vote is only the latest partisan assault on public TV and
radio. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which exists to shield
public TV and radio from political pressure, is now chaired by Kenneth
Tomlinson, a staunch Republican close to the White House. Tomlinson has
already forced one-sided conservative programs on the air, even though
Tomlinson's own surveys show that most people consider NPR "fair and
balanced" and they actually trust public broadcasting more than
commercial network news [2].

Tomlinson also spent taxpayer dollars on a witch hunt to root out
"liberal bias," including a secret investigation of Bill Moyers and PBS'
popular investigative show, "NOW." Even though the public paid for the
investigation, Tomlinson has refused to release the findings [3].

The lawmakers who proposed the cuts aren't just trying to save money in
the budget -- they're trying to decimate any news outlets who question
those in power. This is an ideological attack on our free press.

Talk about bad timing. Every day brings another story about media
consolidation. Radio, TV stations and newspapers are increasingly
controlled by a few massive corporate conglomerates trying to maximize
profits at the expense of quality journalism. Now more than ever, we
need publicly funded media who will ask hard questions and focus on
stories that affect real people, instead of Michael Jackson and the
runaway bride.

The United Farm Workers invites people of goodwill to join our
second boycott of Gallo wine in 32 years. Hundreds of farm
workers and supporters are kicking off the new international
boycott of Gallo wine today on the steps of San Francisco City
Hall.

Together we will convince America's wealthiest wine making
family to do the responsible thing by stopping the exploitation
of their workers.

The Gallos deny the majority of their farm workers benefits and
grievance rights. The Gallos abuse, cheat and deny these workers
benefits, job protections and humane living conditions in the
heart of California's fabled wine country.

The Gallos say they have no responsibility for the miserable
conditions endured by their vineyard employees because they are
"temporary workers"

This Week - June 9, 2005:

Something Positive Is Goin' Down

States fight for low-wage workers

What happens when employers routinely violate or circumvent minimum wage laws and the federal government looks the other way? States take up the fight for families struggling at below-poverty wages, working service jobs such as construction, retail, laundries, nursing homes and grocery stores. “From New York to California, several state attorneys general are targeting violations of state and federal minimum-wage and overtime laws,” The Christian Science Monitor reports. The New York Senate just pushed through a bill toughening penalties for minimum wage law violations, and California’s House sent a minimum wage increase bill to the state Senate.


Not so fast...

Gary Younge celebrates the defeat of the European Constitution as a win for democracy, in The Nation “Neither the president of the European Commission nor any of the commissioners, who wield most power in the EU, are elected. They are selected in rounds of horse trading by national governments on the basis of political patronage. Indeed, the European Parliament, the only directly elected component of the EU, cannot even initiate legislation.” Hopefully the European challenge to U.S. hegemony will find a more democratic path forward in the not-too-distant future.


Brazil’s biggest logging gang nailed

Exposing shocking levels of corruption in Brazil’s environmental protection branch (Ibama), a police sting caught a regional executive director for Ibama providing false transport permits to loggers for timber smuggling. Warrants have been issued for 124 suspects linked to one massive illegal logging operation responsible for a large chunk of all Amazon deforestation in the past 15 years. Nearly half of Brazil’s recent forest losses have come from the region controlled by the corrupt environmental officials caught in this swoop – the rainforest’s future should be far brighter now that they have been stopped.


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Store Wars?
.. .. .. ..The Organic Revolution takes on a cartoon format.. .. .. ..

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Latin America: The Next Theatre for Bush's War on Freedom... I mean Terror

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- President Bush urged the nations of the Western Hemisphere on Monday to work together to prevent governments in the region from backsliding to authoritarian rule.

However

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/06/06/oas/

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- A U.S. proposal to intervene in Western Hemisphere nations to push democracy rankled the leaders of several South American countries debating the issue

Monday at the meeting of the Organization of American States.

"There needs to be a dialogue rather than an intervention," said Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim. "Democracy cannot be imposed. It is born from dialogue."


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Labor Protests Break Out in Maquiladoras

Reynosa, Mexico, Jun 5, 2005. A wildcat strike in one factory and a spreading
protest in another erupted in the Tamaulipas border city of Reynosa. In the first instance, hundreds of workers at a plant belonging to the Japanese-owned corporation Fu Jitsu called a work stoppage on Friday, June 3, to protest company and union policies. Hanging black and red strike banners outside the plant's gates, the workers objected to withholdings from their paychecks which ranged between $35 to $110.00 dollars.

"What's happening is that it appears the company had to pay a fine to the government because they made late payments," said one unidentified worker. "And when we went to pick up our checks we found these reductions to our salaries."

The workers also demanded that their union be replaced in favor of another one,
because the current outfit is allegedly not representing their interests. In a
second outbreak of discontent, workers for the U.S.-owned manufacturing company
Black and Decker announced a mass meeting to decide the next course of action
against the current union leadership at their plant. In Mexico, workers at
foreign-owned assembly plants known as maquiladoras frequently complain about being
left in the dark of the affairs of their union-when one exists. Sometimes called
"charro" unions, they are criticized for being too cozy to management at the expense
of labor.


There was no immediate comment from company or union officials of the affected plants.

Compiled by: fnsnews@nmsu.edu

FNS News service


Sources: Prensa de Reynosa, June 4, 2005. Articles by Aldo Hernandez and Luis
Alberto Tirana F.


Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

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JANITORS ON STRIKE!
The contract covering more than 1,400 janitors in the suburbs of San Diego expired
on Memorial Day. The hardworking men and women who clean the very prestigious
high-rise office buildings and wealthy biotech and pharmaceutical facilities of La
Jolla, Sorrento Valley, and the rest of the suburbs are struggling to win just wages
and family health care. Suburban janitors take home just over $1,000/month and have
no health care.

The last "offer" from janitorial contractors was to:
* Freeze wages indefinitely
* Cuts in benefits
* No Health Care

Suburban janitors unanimously rejected this offer and went out on strike this week
for health care and decent wages. Downtown janitors and union janitors of every
major market in the state have family health and better wages.

Community supporters are asked to come out on Friday, June 10th at noon for a March
for Justice in La Jolla.
Meet @ La Jolla Village Dr. & Towne Centre Dr.

If you would like to join janitors on the line, help with the food drive, or lend
other support to the strikers,
call Justice for Janitors, SEIU 1877 at 619-641-3050. SI SE PUEDE!

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Congress is trying to create a "new" kind of federal health insurance called Association Health Plans. But AHPs are really healthcare that hurts. AHPs mean no protection, no guarantee and no limits on price. They will be exempt from health and consumer protection laws you have in your state. We need to do something about healthcare, but AHPs will make things worse.


They will be able to raise your rates, as much as and as often as they want. You could face frequent rate hikes because you get sick and file a claim.
They will take away your right to appeal. Right now, in most states, you have the right to appeal if health insurers refuse to pay your bill, but you won't with AHPs.
They may not be there to pay your claims. You could get stuck with the bills, because AHPs won't have to keep enough money in the bank to cover your medical expenses.

Only you can stop them. Protect Your Healthcare, a broad alliance that includes the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO, the American Nurses Association and the National Partnership for Women and Families, is committed to fighting AHPs - and they need your voice now.

Go here To Sign a petition against the reforms.

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* Patriot Act Two Passed by Senate Intelligence Committee *

The controversial USA PATRIOT Act was passed in the wake of the
September11, 2001 attacks. Despite the protests of civil libertarians and
immigrant rights groups, the Act may now be made permanent and expanded to allow
for surveillance without judicial approval. We host a debate.

Listen/Watch/Read

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/09/1310231

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Contributed by Working Assets

A recent expose by the New York Times has shed light onto a disturbing effort to tilt PBS and its programming to the far right. The New York Times reported that Kenneth Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and a close friend of Bush right hand man Karl Rove, "is aggressively pressing public television to correct what he and other conservatives consider liberal bias, prompting some public broadcasting leaders - including the chief executive of PBS - to object that his actions pose a threat to editorial independence."

Among the revelations, Tomlinson:

*without notifying the rest of the board, hired a consultant to monitor the political views of guests on Bill Moyers' "NOW"

*hired a team of conservative analysts from the Wall Street Journal editorial board for"balance"

*hired a Bush White House staffer as a senior staff member is pushing for a former Republican National Committee chairwoman to take over as president and chief executive of CPB

*has initiated an investigation of the NPR radio network's award-winning Middle East coverage in search of "bias."

This Week - June 2, 2005:

This Week - May 26, 2005:

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Villaraigosa’s Landslide Victory
Los Angeles has turned a corner with the election of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Latino union leader who was defeated in the 2000 election by James Hahn’s cocaine-focused smear campaign, described by Drug Policy Alliance as “flagrant drug-baiting, and thinly veiled race-baiting.” This time, he was again accused of not hating druggies enough:

“As a member of the City Council, Antonio Villaraigosa was a champion of harm reduction programs, voting for needle exchange and pharmacy sale of syringes. In October 2003, he was the opening speaker at a Drug Policy Alliance event to publicize the danger of hepatitis C and to promote disease prevention strategies for drug users and other at-risk communities.” – drugpolicy.org

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Landless Peasants Bring Demands to Lula
In a mass demonstration of logistical genius and political savvy, 12,000 landless peasants walked across Brazil in a 17-day march that ended this week in the capital, protesting Lula’s failure to fulfill promised land reforms. They brought him a message of deep disappointment and announced that they are considering withdrawing their critical support for Lula in the next election. Along the way, the marchers formed discussion groups to address topics ranging from sustainable farming to economics every afternoon. “Through a mass consultative process, they created a list of 16 demands that ranged from settling the promised 430 thousand families, releasing the frozen funds so that real land reform could be accomplished, doubling the minimum wage, and defending Amazonian biodiversity, to renegotiating the debt, opposing the FTAA, and refusing to expand the WTO.” Deborah James of Global Exchange reports that Brazil’s landless peasants movement has organized over 1.5 million members across the country, and successfully settled tens of thousands of families illegally by taking over unproductive land and founding communities with their own water treatment systems, housing and schools.
For more info see:Landless Workers’ Movement.

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ROCKVILLE, Md. - Maryland's largest school district is scrapping sex education materials that have come under fire for implying that homosexuality is a biological trait and for demonstrating how to put on a condom.
The Montgomery County school board voted Monday to rethink its curriculum, weeks after a federal lawsuit was filed by two groups who said it did not do enough to stress abstinence or give opposing views on homosexuality.

Gone from the curriculum will be materials that imply homosexuality is a biological trait, excluding viewpoints of those who believe same-sex attraction can be overcome.

Also dropped was a seven-minute video that was to be shown to 10th graders, in which a woman puts a condom on a cucumber to demonstrate its use.

The school system had planned to launch the pilot program for 8th and 10th graders on May 9 but suspended it for the rest of the school year after U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams issued a 10-day restraining order.

It was unclear how the board's action will affect attempts to reach a settlement in the lawsuit brought by Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and the Virginia-based Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.

The district's curriculum will be rewritten by professional educators and consultants, and a 27-member citizens advisory committee will help oversee the process. The board will consider the revisions next school year.

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Justice for Janitors

We will have a short conversation with DJCJ about the Justice for Janitors rally held last week in Torrey Pines. To listen to the interview we had last week with the SEIU’s head organizer Mike Wilvoch go here

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Friends For Peace in Africa: Interview with Okot Nyormoi
We spend the last part of the hour discussing the political situation in Northern Uganda with Friends For Peace in Africa Organizer Okot Nyormoi.

SWARM the Minuntemen invites people from all over the world who oppose racist violence to join the Electronic Disturbance Theatre action on May 27th, 28th and 29th, 2005 to engage in a virtual sit-in on the MinuteMen website during their "Unite to Fight" Summit.
//
SWARM the Minutemen Invita gente desde todo el mundo quien estan contra la violencia racista a una el accion de Electronic Disturbance Theatre en el 27, 28 y 29 de Mayo, 2005 para un "virtual sit-in" el el sitio de web de los MinuteMen durante sus conferencia de "Unate para Pelear".



PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

[en, es below]

SWARM the Minuntemen invites people from all over the world who oppose racist violence to join the Electronic Disturbance Theatre action on May 27th, 28th and 29th, 2005 to engage in a virtual sit-in on the MinuteMen website during their "Unite to Fight" Summit.

Read on for the Electronic Disturbance Theatre call to action.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

- “The New Colossus,” by the nineteenth-century American poet Emma
Lazarus inscribed on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Dear sisters and brothers,

Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) in solidarity with Swarm The
MinuteMen action will hold a 3 Day Virtual Sit-In starting on May 27th
to May 29th (2005) on the MinuteMen Project. We call on all you to join us and let the MinuteMen Project know that hard borders are alien in an age of global interdependence and to the ideals of liberty as a “golden door” that is open to all. An ideal that so many have died trying to reach.

To Join The Virtual Sit-In On Starting on May 27th Click:
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html

Why we must swarm the MinuteMen:

For Víctor Nicolás Sánchez, Adolfo Pérez Hernández, Daniel Barrientos,
Santos Orozco Aguilar, Raúl Hernández Soria, Sandra Edna Durán, Jesús
Medina Contreras, Edgar Venegas Brambila, José Gutiérrez, Melquíades
Gómez Baca, Martha Rivera García...

Myth Number 1: Immigrants take jobs away from Americans.
Myth Number 2: Most immigrants are a drain on the U.S. economy or treasury
Myth Number 3: America is being overrun by immigrants.
Myth Number 4: Immigrants aren’t really interested in becoming part of
American society.
Myth Number 5: Immigrants contribute little to American society.

Facts to dispel to these myths from the American Immigration Lawyers
Association: http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=17,142

We call on you sisters and brothers from all over the world who oppose
the MinuteMen Project and in the name of the 3,500 women, men and
children who have died crossing into “The Land of Liberty” since 1994 to
join the Electronic Disturbance Theatre action on May 27th, 28th and
29th, 2005 to engage in a Virtual Sit-In on the MinuteMen website during
their "Unite to Fight" Summit.

Who are the MinuteMen:

The MinuteMen are a non-governmental group of people vowing to patrol
the US/Mexico border with guns in order to stop migrant people from
crossing the border. They represent an intensification of the trend of
violence towards migrant people and people of color that has increased
since 9/11/2001. While they claim that they are not violent, their very
use and display of deadly weapons is a violent act in itself. How can
guns be used to detain people without being violent? Already there have
been numerous reports of people being forced to lie on the ground by the
MinuteMen and being forced to have their pictures taken with MinuteMen
volunteers, recalling Abu Ghraib style dehumanization.

SWARM the MinuteMen Group Statement:

http://swarmtheminutemen.com/

While the MinuteMen publicly claim to be non-violent, we here at SWARM
know a different face of the MinuteMen. We've received numerous death
threats and threats of violence filled with racial slurs. We plan to
publicly release these soon to let everyone know the exact kind of
hatred the MinuteMen are acting as a lightning rod for, attracting it
and focusing it towards migrant people.

Just as important though, the MinuteMen are a clear result of the
violent, us-versus-them mentality promoted by the Bush administration.

We are intervening into and dancing with the communication systems of
the MinuteMen because along with the physical violence they are
creating, they are extremely conscious of the violent power their
messages have and they had any measure of success thanks to the
complicity the corporate media. Their communications are a critical part
of their mission to send a message to legislators that more
militarization of the border is necessary. Their images and words can't
be separated from the violence of their guns, and both must be stopped.

We refuse to support the United States government's attempts to find a
scapegoat to blame this country's problems on while it bankrupts our
social services, wages wars on the world, sends our brothers, sisters,
friends and neighbors to die and profits off of the whole plan. Who
stands to profit from a more militarized border? Will the same
corporations that made billions in government contracts off of the war
in Iraq like Halliburton and CACI be the same ones to profit from the
war on the border?

We must stand together now to say that this country is made up of
millions of people of many different ethnicities and cultures and that
is due to migration. Migrant people have human rights, regardless of the
government's and the racist's attempts to deny that fact. Until the
United States has a sane immigration policy that allows people to move
as freely as capital and goods do, we will continue to struggle.

Why should you join the Virtual Sit-In On May 27th 2005:

For Benito González Cruz, Benito González Serrano, Javier Rojas
Bracamonte, Juan José Romo Zetina, José Luis Garza, Roberto Acegueda
López, Román Robles Rojas, Reynaldo González Corona and the thousands of
other people who have been murdered for simply trying to cross the
border into what is now the United States and which was once Mexico.

Contact:

For any questions on the Electronic Disturbance Theater’s action in
solidarity with SWARM the MinuteMen contact

Ricardo Dominguez (co-founder of the Electronic Disturbance Theater) at
rdom@thing.net

Electronic Disturbance Theater
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html

See our site for more info:
http://swarmtheminutemen.com
or our mirror:
http://www.autistici.org/swarmtheminutemen/

See our mirror sites to read our original content which our domain
registrar forced us to remove:
http://swarm.mahost.org/
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/swarm/index.php



[es]

SWARM the Minutemen Invita gente desde todo el mundo quien estan contra la violencia
racista a una el accion de Electronic Disturbance Theatre en el 27, 28 y
29 de Mayo, 2005 para un "virtual sit-in" el el sitio de web de los
MinuteMen durante sus conferencia de "Unate para Pelear".

Leer la llamada de accion de Electronic Disturbance Theatre:

Dadme vuestros exhaustos, vuestros pobres,

Vuestras muchedumbres que ansían respirar en libertad,

Los miserables deshechos de vuestras rebosantes orillas.

Mandadlos a todos, a los desamparados, encomendádmelos a mí.

Que yo levanto mi antorcha junto a la puerta dorada

"The New Colossus," de Emma Lazarus, poetisa norteamericana del siglo
XIX, inscrito en una placa en la base de la Estatua de la Libertad.

Queridos hermanas y hermanos,

Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT), en solidaridad con la acción
Swarm The MinuteMen, realizará una sentada virtual de 3 días los
próximos 27 al 29 de mayo (2005) contra el sitio de MinuteMen Project.
Convocamos a todos los interesados a unirse a nosotros para hacer saber
al MinuteMen Project que las fronteras infranqueables no pertenecen a la
era de la interdependencia global, ni a los ideales de libertad vista
como "puerta dorada" que está abierta a todos. Un ideal por cuya
consecución muchos han muerto.

Para unirse a la sentada virtual que comienza el 27 de mayo, clicar aquí:

http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html

Por qué debemos bloquear MinuteMen:

Por Víctor Nicolás Sánchez, Adolfo Pérez Hernández, Daniel Barrientos,
Santos Orozco Aguilar, Raúl Hernández Soria, Sandra Edna Durán, Jesús Medina
Contreras, Edgar Venegas Brambila, José Gutiérrez, Melquíades Gómez
Baca, Martha Rivera García...

Mito Nº1: Los inmigrantes quitan los puestos de trabajo a los
estadounidenses
Mito Nº2: Tantos inmigrantes consumen la economía de los Estados Unidos
Mito Nº3: Estados Unidos está saturado de inmigrantes
Mito Nº4: Los inmigrantes no están interesados de verdad en formar parte
de la sociedad estadounidense
Mito Nº5: Los inmigrantes apenas contribuyen a la sociedad estadounidense

-American Immigration Lawyers Association, leé aqui para ver porque
esos Mitos no estan verdad:
http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=17,142


Convocamos a todos los hermanos y hermanas del mundo que se oponen al
Proyecto MinuteMen, y en nombre de los 3500 hombres, mujeres y niños que
han muerto, desde 1994, tratando de alcanzar "La Tierra de la Libertad",
a que os unáis a la acción del Electronic Disturbance Theatre los días
27, 28 y 29 de mayo de 2005, realizando una sentada virtual al web site
del proyecto MinuteMen durante la convocatoria "Unite to Fight"

Quiénes son MinuteMen:

MinuteMen es un grupo no gubernamental cuyos miembros patrullan armados
la frontera México/Estados Unidos impidiendo el paso de inmigrantes.
Representan la intensificación de reacciones violentas contra los
inmigrantes y la gente de color que se ha producido después del 11 de
septiembre de 2001. Aunque proclaman no ser violentos, el mero hecho de
llevar y exhibir armas es un acto violento en sí mismo. Cómo no va a ser
violento detener a la gente a punta de pistola? De hecho se han
reportado numerosos casos de personas obligadas por los miembros de
MinuteMen a tumbarse en el suelo y a ser fotografiadas por los
voluntarios de MinuteMen, en el más puro estilo deshumanizante de Abu
Ghraib.

Informe de SWARM:

http://swarmtheminutemen.com/

Mientras MinuteMen proclama públicamente no ser violentos, nosotros en
SWARM conocemos su otra cara. Hemos recibido numerosas amenazas de
muerte y amenazas de violencia llenas de insultos racistas. Pensamos
publicar en breve estas amenazas para que todo el mundo sepa exactamente
cuánto odio están generando, atrayendo y difundiendo en MinuteMen
contra los inmigrantes.

Aunque sólo sea por eso, MinuteMen son el claro resultado de la
mentalidad violenta, de "nosotros -contra-ellos", que promueve la
administración Bush.

Vamos a intervenir en los sistemas de comunicación de MinuteMen porque
además de la violencia física que realizan, son extremadamente
conscientes del violento poder de sus mensajes, y saben hasta qué punto
tienen éxito gracias a la complicidad de los medios corporativos. Sus
comunicaciones son una parte crítica de su misión, el mensaje que envían
a los legisladores reclamando la necesidad de militarizar las fronteras.
No se pueden separar sus imágenes y sus palabras de la violencia de sus
armas de fuego, y ambas deben detenerse.

Nos negamos a apoyar los intentos del gobierno de los Estados Unidos de
encontrar un chivo expiatorio al que culpar de los problemas de este
país mientras lleva a la bancarrota nuestros servicios sociales,
emprende guerras por el mundo, envía a nuestros hermanos, hermanas,
amigos y vecinos a morir y se beneficia del plan al completo. ¿Quién
obtiene provecho de militarizar las fronteras? ¿Serán las mismas
corporaciones que obtienen billones en contratos con el gobierno gracias
a la guerra en Irak, como Halliburton y CACI.

Ahora debemos permanecer unidos para proclamar que este país se compone
de millones de personas de distintas etnias y culturas y que ello es
gracias a la inmigración. Los inmigrantes tienen derechos humanos, sean
cuales sean los del gobierno y los intentos racistas por negarlo. Hasta
que los Estados Unidos tengan una política de inmigración sana que
permita la movilidad de las personas igual que permite el libre
movimiento de bienes y capital, continuaremos luchando.

Por qué deberías unirte a la sentada virtual del 27 de mayo de 2005?

Por Benito González Cruz, Benito González Serrano, Javier Rojas
Bracamonte, Juan José Romo Zetina, José Luis Garza, Roberto Acegueda López,
Román Robles Rojas, Reynaldo González Coronav y los miles de personas
que han
sido asesinados por intentar cruzar la frontera de lo que ahora son los
Estados Unidos, pero que antes fue México.

Contacto:
Para cualquier pregunta sobre la acción del Electronic Disturbance
Theatre en solidaridad con SWARM the MinuteMen contacta con:
Ricardo Dominguez (cofundador del Electronic Disturbance Theater) a
través del e-amil: rdom@thing.net

Electronic Disturbance Theater

http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html

Ve nos sitio para mas informacíon:
http://swarmtheminutemen.com
o nos espejo:
http://www.autistici.org/swarmtheminutemen/

Ve nos espejos para leer nos palabras originales cual nuestra compania
de DNS forzónos quitar:
http://swarm.mahost.org/
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/swarm/index.php