[LAAMN] Help place Bradley Manning ads in the DC Metro, On the gender issue, Vets for Peace statement
Help place Bradley Manning ads in the DC Metro, On the gender issue, Vets for Peace statement. Is this email not displaying correctly? http://t.ymlp290.net/emybacaeyyqaraywadaeehb/click.php View it in your browser. http://t.ymlp290.net/emyhataeyyqagaywacaeehb/click.php Bradley Manning Support Network Help us place Bradley Manning Ads in the DC Metro! Earlier this year, the Bradley Manning Support Network unveiled a billboard calling for the release of Bradley Manning in Washington D.C. so as to display broad public support and to catch the eye of military decision-makers passing by. Now that Manning’s trial is officially moving to court martial after the accused whistleblower and Nobel Peace Prize nominee approaches 650 days in prison, we’re launching a new ad campaign in the DC Metro (subway). Supporters can use their dollars to vote on which design will be used http://t.ymlp290.net/emywaoaeyyqaraywaiaeehb/click.php . Here is the current ad design with the most votes: http://t.ymlp290.net/emywaoaeyyqaraywaiaeehb/click.php Our goal is to fund 21 DC Metro ads in May, ahead of Bradley's upcoming court martial at nearby Ft. Meade, Maryland. Government employees use the DC Metro every day -- these ads will grab their attention, letting them know that the public demands Pfc. Manning's freedom. In order to achieve this level of publicity, our goal is to raise $14,800 by April 21st. Learn more about the ad campaign here, and pledge your support http://t.ymlp290.net/emywaoaeyyqaraywaiaeehb/click.php ! _ Feminist, trans advocates should support Bradley Manning By Rainey Reitman, Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee. March 1, 2012. (Originally published in the Washington Blade http://t.ymlp290.net/emyqagaeyyqaaaywacaeehb/click.php ) Some thoughtful feminist scholars have recently called on the Bradley Manning Support Network to begin referring to the accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower with a female pronoun. Emily Manuel’s essay in Global Comment highlighted why many of us who strongly support transgender rights are sensitive to the pronouns we use when we refer to Manning. http://t.ymlp290.net/emyyakaeyyqalaywavaeehb/click.php As an ardent supporter of Bradley Manning and a feminist, I have given this issue a great deal of thought. Given the unusual and perhaps unprecedented circumstances of the situation, I wanted to explain why I’m still calling him Bradley. In so doing, I also hope to demonstrate why folks who care passionately about queer and transgender rights should come out in support. First, we should bear in mind the basis upon which some have made suppositions about Manning’s preferred gender identity. By and large, we are dealing with evidence that has not been established as fact. We can look at some Google searches found in forensic evidence, a smattering of late-night private chat logs, and potential testimony from those in whom Manning may have privately confided. If these materials are to be believed, then it appears that Manning was questioning his gender identity. Manning’s lawyers have noted that he had sought counseling, but we don’t know if any final decision was ever made. We don’t know whether Manning wanted “Breanna” to be a primary identity, or if this was an alter ego that was never meant to be indicative of primary gender identification. We do know — from our own private conversations with friends and family members — that prior to his incarceration, Manning had not asked people to refer to him with a female pronoun. Read the complete article. http://t.ymlp290.net/emyyakaeyyqalaywavaeehb/click.php _ Veterans For Peace demand Bradley Manning’s freedom By Veterans For Peace. March 1, 2012. http://t.ymlp290.net/ejssafaeyyqacaywafaeehb/click.php A national organization representing thousands of military veterans is calling on the US Army to abandon court martial proceedings against Private Bradley Manning, the accused Wikileaks whistleblower. The young soldier, who has been imprisoned for 21 months, will be formally arraigned today (Thursday, Feb. 23) at Fort Meade, Maryland. Army prosecutors say they will file 22 charges against PFC Manning, including “aiding the enemy,” a crime that can be punished by the death penalty or life in prison. “Where is the justice?” asks Gerry Condon, a Board member of Veterans For Peace. “The Army is shirking its duty to punish soldiers who have committed rape and murder. Yet they are trying to destroy the life of Bradley Manning, who has not harmed a hair on a person's head.” In May 2010, the Army arrested PFC Manning, then 22, in Iraq, where he was working as a low level intelligence analyst. He is accused of leaking classified information, including an Army video that shows US soldiers in Baghdad shooting down unarmed civilians, including two Reuters employees, from an Apache helicopter. The video, dubbed “Collateral
[LAAMN] Naomi Klein: 'If You Take Climate Change Seriously, ...
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/29-4 Naomi Klein: 'If You Take Climate Change Seriously, You Have to Throw Out the Free-Market Playbook' Naomi Klein on ideological impediments to addressing climate change and how to move forward - Common Dreams staff http://www.commondreams.org/ Common Dreams: February 29, 2012 In an interview with http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/1053 Solutions http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/1053 , author and activist Naomi Klein discusses how market-based solutions are not going to meet the needs required to address climate change and how ideologies have hampered both the left and right in climate action. She also states that the Occupy movement has been a game-changer. There is a way forward, Klein says, and it involves changing the mix in a mixed economy. https://www.commondreams.org/sites/commondreams.org/files/imagecache/headli ne_image/article_images/naomiklein_solutionsinterview.jpg * * * Throwing Out the Free Market Playbook: An Interview with Naomi Klein from Solutions http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/1053 Perhaps one of the most well-known voices for the Left, Canadian Naomi Klein is an activist and author of several nonfiction works critical of consumerism and corporate activity, including the best sellers No Logo (2000) and Shock Doctrine (2007). In your cover story for the Nation last year, you say that modern environmentalism successfully advances many of the causes dear to the political Left, including redistribution of wealth, higher and more progressive taxes, and greater government intervention and regulation. Please explain. The piece came out of my interest and my shock at the fact that belief in climate change in the United States has plummeted. If you really drill into the polling data, what you see is that the drop in belief in climate change is really concentrated on the right of the political spectrum. It's been an extraordinary and unusual shift in belief in a short time. In 2007, 71 percent of Americans believed in climate change and in 2009 only 51 percent believed-and now we're at 41 percent. So I started researching the denial movement and going to conferences and reading the books, and what's clear is that, on the right, climate change is seen as a threat to the Right's worldview, and to the neoliberal economic worldview. It's seen as a Marxist plot. They accuse climate scientists of being watermelons-green on the outside and red on the inside. It seems exaggerated, but your piece was about how the Right is in fact correct. I don't think climate change necessitates a social revolution. This idea is coming from the right-wing think tanks and not scientific organizations. They're ideological organizations. Their core reason for being is to defend what they call free-market ideology. They feel that any government intervention leads us to serfdom and brings about a socialist world, so that's what they have to fight off: a socialist world. Increase the power of the private sector and decrease the public sphere is their ideology. You can set up carbon markets, consumer markets, and just pretend, but if you want to get serious about climate change, really serious, in line with the science, and you want to meet targets like 80 percent emissions cuts by midcentury in the developed world, then you need to be intervening strongly in the economy, and you can't do it all with carbon markets and offsetting. You have to really seriously regulate corporations and invest in the public sector. And we need to build public transport systems and light rail and affordable housing along transit lines to lower emissions. The market is not going to step up to this challenge. We must do more: rebuild levees and bridges and the public sphere, because we saw in Katrina what happens when weak infrastructure clashes with heavy weather-it's catastrophe. These climate deniers aren't crazy-their worldview is under threat. If you take climate change seriously, you do have to throw out the free-market playbook. What is the political philosophy that underscores those who accept climate change versus those who deny it? The Yale cultural cognition project has looked at cultural worldview and climate change, and what's clear is that ideology is the main factor in whether we believe in climate change. If you have an egalitarian and communitarian worldview, and you tend toward a belief system of pooling resources and helping the less advantaged, then you believe in climate change. And the stronger your belief system tends toward a hierarchical or individual worldview, the greater the chances are that you deny climate change and the stronger your denial will be. The reason is clear: it's because people protect their worldviews. We all do this. We develop intellectual antibodies. Climate change confirms what people on the left already believe. But the Left must take this confirmation responsibly. It means that if you are on the left
[LAAMN] America: The Best Country in the World at Being Last -- How Can We Change That?
America: The Best Country in the World at Being Last -- How Can We Change That? The data is piling up to confirm that were Number One, but in exactly the way we dont want to beat the bottom. Where did we go wrong and what can we do about it? March 1, 2012 | Orion Magazine / By James Gustave Speth Like you and other Americans, I love my country, its wonderful people, its boundless energy, its creativity in so many fields, its natural beauty, its many gifts to the world, and the freedom it has given us to express ourselves. So we should all be angry, profoundly angry, when we consider what has happened to our country and what that neglect could mean for our children and grandchildren. How can we gauge what has happened to America in the past few decades and where we stand today? One way is to look at how America now compares with other countries in key areas. The group of twenty advanced democraciesthe major countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, the Nordic countries, Canada, and otherscan be thought of as our peer nations. Heres what we see when we look at these countries. To our great shame, America now has the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children; the greatest inequality of incomes; the lowest social mobility; the lowest score on the UNs index of material well-being of children; the worst score on the UNs Gender Inequality Index; the highest expenditure on health care as a percentage of GDP, yet all this money accompanied by the highest infant mortality rate, the highest prevalence of mental health problems, the highest obesity rate, the highest percentage of people going without health care due to cost, the highest consumption of antidepressants per capita, and the shortest life expectancy at birth; the next-to-lowest score for student performance in math and middling performance in science and reading; the highest homicide rate; the largest prison population in absolute terms and per capita; the highest carbon dioxide emissions and the highest water consumption per capita; the lowest score on Yales Environmental Performance Index (except for Belgium) and the largest ecological footprint per capita (except for Denmark); the lowest spending on international development and humanitarian assistance as a percentage of national income (except for Japan and Italy); the highest military spending both in total and as a percentage of GDP; and the largest international arms sales. Our politicians are constantly invoking Americas superiority and exceptionalism. True, the data is piling up to confirm that were Number One, but in exactly the way we dont want to beat the bottom. These deplorable consequences are not just the result of economic and technological forces over which we have no control. They are the results of conscious political decisions made over several decades by both Democrats and Republicans who have had priorities other than strengthening the well-being of American society and our environment. Many countries, obviously, took a different pathone that was open to us as well. I wish that were all the bad news. Unfortunately, international comparisons only give us a glimpse of what we now face. They miss many of the most important challenges, including in the critical areas of social conditions, national security, and politics. I will spare you the litany of environmental bad news; most of you have already heard it. When it comes to social conditions, its important to recognize that nearly 50 million Americans now live in povertyone in six. If youre in poverty in America, youre living on less than $400 per week for a family of four. Poverty is the bleeding edge of a more pervasive American shortcomingmassive economic insecurity. About half of American families now live paycheck to paycheck, are financially fragile, and earn less than needed to cover basic living expenses, let alone save for the future. Back in 1928, right before the Great Depression, the richest 1 percent of Americans received 24 percent of the countrys total income. Starting with the New Deal, public policy favored greater equality and a strong middle class, so that by 1976, the share of the richest 1 percent of households had dropped to 9 percent. But then the great re-redistribution began in the 1980s, so that by 2007, right before the Great Recession, the richest 1 percent had regained its 1928 positionwith 24 percent of income. As for national security, the U.S. now spends almost as much on the military as the rest of the world combined. If one totals military and other U.S.
[LAAMN] Chomsky: What Are Iran's Intentions?, Obama to AIPAC: 'Too Much Loose Talk of War'
(This morning's NY Times has extensive coverage of Obama at AIPAC: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/world/middleeast/in-aipac-speech-obama-war ns-against-loose-talk-of-war.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/world/middleeast/in-aipac-speech-obama-wa rns-against-loose-talk-of-war.html?_r=1nl=todaysheadlinesemc=tha2 nl=todaysheadlinesemc=tha2) Obama to AIPAC: 'Too Much Loose Talk of War' By Michael Hirsch, National Journal 04 March 12 blocked::http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-P.jpg President Obama told the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC that while containment of a nuclear Iran was not an option, there was already too much loose talk of war. Speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee which began its annual convention Sunday, Obama told the audience to look at the last three years of his tenure as President, and his administration's support of Israel. Our military and intelligence cooperation has never been closer. Our joint exercises and training have never been more robust. Despite a tough budget environment, our security assistance has increased every year, Obama said. We are investing in new capabilities. We're providing Israel with more advanced technology - the type of products and systems that only go to our closest friends and allies. And make no mistake: we will do what it takes to preserve Israel's Qualitative Military Edge - because Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat. President Obama said he preferred to resolve the nuclear crisis with Iran through diplomatic and economic means. I would ask that we all remember the weightiness of these issues; the stakes involved for Israel, for America, and for the world. Already there is too much loose talk of war. Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday where Iran will be the focus of discussions. * * * http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/03-1 What Are Iran's Intentions? One of Israel's leading strategic analysts, Zeev Maoz, in Defending the Holy Land, his comprehensive analysis of Israeli security and foreign policy, concludes that the balance sheet of Israel's nuclear policy is decidedly negative - harmful to the state's security. He urges instead that Israel should seek a regional agreement to ban weapons of mass destruction: a WMD-free zone, called for by a 1974 U.N. General Assembly resolution. By Noam Chomsky, The New York Times Syndicate: 04 March 12 http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-T.jpg he January/February issue of Foreign Affairs featured the article Time to Attack Iran: Why a Strike Is the Least Bad Option http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136917/matthew-kroenig/time-to-attac k-iran , by Matthew Kroenig, along with commentary about other ways to contain the Iranian threat. The media resound with warnings about a likely Israeli attack on Iran while the U.S. hesitates, keeping open the option of aggression - thus again routinely violating the U.N. Charter, the foundation of international law. As tensions escalate, eerie echoes of the run-up to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are in the air. Feverish U.S. primary campaign rhetoric adds to the drumbeat. Concerns about the imminent threat of Iran are often attributed to the international community - code language for U.S. allies. The people of the world, however, tend to see matters rather differently. The nonaligned countries, a movement with 120 member nations, has vigorously supported Iran's right to enrich uranium - an opinion shared by the majority of Americans (as surveyed by WorldPublicOpinion.org) before the massive propaganda onslaught of the past two years. China and Russia oppose U.S. policy on Iran, as does India, which announced that it would disregard U.S. sanctions and increase trade with Iran. Turkey has followed a similar course. Europeans regard Israel as the greatest threat to world peace. In the Arab world, Iran is disliked but seen as a threat only by a very small minority. Rather, Israel and the U.S. are regarded as the pre-eminent threat. A majority think that the region would be more secure if Iran had nuclear weapons: In Egypt on the eve of the Arab Spring, 90 percent held this opinion, according to Brookings Institution/Zogby International polls. Western commentary has made much of how the Arab dictators allegedly support the U.S. position on Iran, while ignoring the fact that the vast majority of the population opposes it - a stance too revealing to require comment. Concerns about Israel's nuclear arsenal have long been expressed by some observers in the United States as well. Gen. Lee Butler, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command, described Israel's nuclear weapons as dangerous in the extreme. In a U.S. Army journal, Lt. Col. Warner Farr wrote that one purpose of Israeli nuclear weapons, not often stated, but obvious, is their `use' on the United States - presumably to ensure
[LAAMN] International Women's Day ~ Women OccupyLA - For the Caring of People The Planet ~ Saturday, March 10th, Gather at 11:00 AM at West Steps of Los Angeles City Hall ~ Speakout Rally at 1:0
International Women's Day Women OccupyLA For the Caring of People The Planet End Poverty, War, Separation of Families. Welfare is our Right. A Living Wage for All Our Work Everywhere. Saturday, March 10th Gather at 11:00 AM at West Steps of Los Angeles City Hall Speakout Rally at 1:00 PM To mark International Women's Day The 99% Will Circle City Hall Followed by Speakout and Rally on the West Steps of City Hall/Solidarity Park We refuse to be exploited in any way by the 1% and their thieving friends! Every grievance against this system deserves a collective response! Called by: DCFS-Give Us Back Our Children; Global Women's Strike (GWS); KidVillage@OccupyLA; Women's Circle@OccupyLA; Women of Color@GWS. Planning group: Alexandria House; Every Mother is a Working Mother Network; CHIRLA-Household Workers Committee; No2housingcrime.org; Military Families Speak Out; OccupytheHood LA; Veterans For Peace Chpts 110 067. Co-sponsors thus far: California Partnership; CALIF (Communities Actively Living Independent Free); International Action Center; Long Beach Area Peace Network; 9to5 Los Angeles, Addicted To War; National Association of Working Women; Orange County Peace Coalition; Veterans For Peace-LA. Endorsed by the General Assembly of OccupyLA. KPFK Pacifica Radio 90.7FM is the Media Sponsor For Info and to Help Plan, Contact: 323-276-9833 - l...@allwomencount.net [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] More on the myth of high corporate tax rates
Corporate Tax Rate and Reality Citizens for Tax Justicehttp://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersPR.pdf http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/04/corporate-tax-rate-and-reality/#more-46226 March 4, 2012 http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/04/corporate-tax-rate-and-reality/#comments * * * Lawrence Rafferty * While we have discussed the fairness of the taxes paid and not paid by large corporations in the past, the alleged high corporate tax rate is once again in the news. It seems that after contraception the Rightâs most consistent accusation is that the corporate tax rate is way too high for corporations to compete in the world market. The facts seem to differ from those claims however. âCorporations are lobbying for lower corporate rates and an exemption for profits they shift offshore. McIntyre, however, says âOur study provides proof that too many corporations are already being coddled by our tax system.â Findings in the report include: ï· The average effective tax rate for all 280 companies in the study over the three year period was 18.5 percent; for the period 2009-2010 it was 17.3 percent, less than half the statutory rate of 35 percent. ï· 78 of the companies enjoyed at least one year in which their federal income tax was zero or less. ï· 30 companies enjoyed a negative income tax rate over the entire three year period on their combined pre-tax profits of $160 billion. ï· Total tax subsidies given to all 280 profitable corporations amounted to $222.7 billion from 2008-2010. ï· Wells Fargo tops the list of 280 U.S. corporations receiving the most in tax subsidies, getting nearly $18 billion in tax breaks from the U.S. treasury in the last three years. ï· Pepco Holdings had the lowest effective tax rate of all the companies in the study, at negative 57.6 percent over the three year period.â Citizens for Tax Justice http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersPR.pdf If I understand those numbers correctly, large corporations are paying about half of the rate that they claim is too high. Another example of how little these corporations are paying was recently discussed in a Crooks and Liars article on General Electric. âGeneral Electric is a prime example of this trend. Despite being highly profitable and subject to a theoretical tax rate of 35 percent, GE paid only a 11.3 percent tax ratehttp://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Corporate-Greed/Report-Brings-GE-s-2.3-Tax-Bite-to-Lightin 2011. And that number was the most they paid in more than a decade. In 2010, they actually paid no taxes and got a net tax benefit of $3 billion. For the 10 year period prior to that, their effective average tax rate was 2.3 percent.â Cooks and Liarshttp://crooksandliars.com/kenneth-quinnell/general-electrics-23-percent-tax- Recently, President Obama proposed a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 28 percent for many corporations while claiming to reduce or eliminate many tax loopholes. âPresident Obama will ask Congress to scrub the corporate tax code of dozens of loopholes and subsidies to reduce the top rate to 28 percent, down from 35 percent, while giving preferences to manufacturers that would set their maximum effective rate at 25 percent, a senior administration official said on Tuesday. Mr. Obama also would establish a minimum tax on multinational corporationsâ foreign earnings, the official said, to discourage âaccounting games to shift profits abroadâ or actual relocation of production overseas.â New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/business/economy/obama-offers-to-cut-corporate-tax-rate-to-28.html?pagewanted=all In light of the low actual rates paid already by these corporations, I donât understand why the rate even needs to be reduced. When General Electric pays an average of only 2.3% over ten years, what will they pay under Obamaâs proposal? I think the proposal to set a minimum tax is good in theory, but the devil is in the details. I will believe it when I see it. When politicians are screaming that corporations are people and should be allowed to deny their employees any insurance coverage for services that they have religious objections to, shouldnât we make sure that they pay tax rates that Real people pay? How many workers were laid off or terminated while these profitable companies paid very little, if any, taxes? What are your thoughts? (Disclosure: The author owns a small amount of shares in General Electric stock.) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com
[LAAMN] PAUL CONRAD: DRAWING FIRE DOCUMENTARY FILM TO BE SCREENED AT VIDIOTS IN SANTA MONICA TO SUPPORT CAMPAIGN TO SAVE CHAIN REACTION PUBLIC ART MUSHROOM CLOUD SCULPTURE
ACTIVIST AND MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jerry Rubin 310-399-1000 jerrypeaceactivistru...@earthlink.net PAUL CONRAD: DRAWING FIRE DOCUMENTARY FILM TO BE SCREENED APRIL 1 BY GROUP WORKING TO SAVE, REPAIR, AND RESTORE CONRAD'S CHAIN REACTION 26-FOOT TALL NUCLEAR MUSHROOM CLOUD DONATED PUBLIC ART SCULPTURE STANDING IN SANTA MONICA'S CIVIC CENTER SINCE 1991. FREE PUBLIC SCREENING, FOLLOWED BY GUEST SPEAKERS AND DISCUSSION, TO TAKE PLACE AT VIDIOTS IN SANTA MONICA. Date: Sunday, April 1, 2012 Time: 3:00PM Location: Vidiots 302 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, 90405 The one hour PBS Independent Lens documentary film by Barbara Multer- Wellin and Jeffrey Abelson is narrated by Tom Brokaw. The following is from the film's 2006 PBS Home Video DVD liner notes: The film celebrates the career of this legendary 3-time Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist. Over his remarkable 50-year career, Conrad has drawn and quartered eleven American presidents- from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush- and fearlessly tackled every major social and political issue. During his 30-year reign at the Los Angeles Times, Conrad's work was controversial and often shocking, but always thought provoking. An extraordinary artist and journalist, Conrad epitomizes the fiercely independent voice that has been vanishing from American news media in recent years. Whether loved or hated, agreed with or scoffed at, whether subject of glowing awards or winning an honored spot on the White House enemies list, it's broadly agreed that Paul Conrad is, in his field of editorial cartooning, a genius - Shelby Coffey III, former Editor and Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Times For further information: Call Save Our Sculpture' (S.O.S.) at 310-399-1000 (Att. Jerry Rubin) Or E-mail to: jerrypeaceactivistru...@earthlink.net Paul Conrad died on September, 4, 2010 of natural causes, surrounded by his family at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Iran: Khamenei Takes Control, Forbids Nuclear Bomb
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/03/iranian-elections.html Iranian elections http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/03/iranian-elections.html So in the Iranian elections, voters are permitted to choose from a group of clerical fanatics and another group of clerical fanatics. What a choice. Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil http://www.juancole.com/2012/03/khamenei-takes-control-forbids-nuclear-bomb.html *Khamenei Takes Control, Forbids Nuclear Bomb*http://www.juancole.com/2012/03/khamenei-takes-control-forbids-nuclear-bomb.html Posted on 03/04/2012 by Juan Early returns in Irans 9th parliamentary election since the 1979 revolution show that Ahmadinejads lay populists have taken a drubbinghttp://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2012/03/03/ahmadinejad-rivals-rack-up-parliament-wins-in-iran, and that hard line supporters of clerical Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are ascendant. Ahmadinejads sister, Parvin, who stood for election from their own hometown of Garmsar, was defeated, a major blow to the president. Western reporters keep saying that the parliamentary results have no implication for Irans nuclear program. But they only say this because they either dont pay attention to what Iranian leaders actually say, or discount their statements as lies (treating them much less respectfully than they treated notorious fraud Andrew Breitbart in their fluffy obituaries last week). A week and a half ago, Khamenei gave a major foreign policy speechhttp://www.presstv.ir/detail/228014.htmlin which he said, The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons. There is no doubt that the decision makers in the countries opposing us know well that Iran is not after nuclear weapons because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous. Now, you could maintain that Khamenei is lying when he says he holds that possessing nuclear weapons is a grave sin. (You could also maintain that the Popes are lying when they say using birth control is a grave matter, but youd have to explain why they put their papal authority on the line for a lie they werent forced to utter). But even if you think it is a lie, you have at least to *report what he says*. I guarantee you that Khameneis speech opposing nukes was not so much as mentioned on any of the major American news broadcasts. Khamenei has also repeatedly said that Iran has a no first strike policy, that it will not fire the first shot in any conflict. And if you hold that Khamenei, as a leading clerical authority, is being dishonest on this issue, then surely you should offer some proof. Perhaps he has flip-flopped over time? But no. Here is Khameneihttp://www.juancole.com/2010/02/khamenei-again-decries-nukes-as-illegal.htmlin 2010: We have said repeatedly that our religious beliefs and principles prohibit such weapons as they are the symbol of destruction of generations. And for this reason we do not believe in weapons and atomic bombs and do not seek them. Or 2009, when Khamenei saidhttp://www.juancole.com/2009/09/khamenei-we-fundamentally-reject.html , They (Western countries) falsely accuse the Islamic republics establishment of producing nuclear weapons. We fundamentally reject nuclear weapons and prohibit the use and production of nuclear weapons. This is because of our ideology, not because of politics or fear of arrogant powers or an onslaught of international propaganda. We stand firm for our ideology. I could go on providing the same sort of quotes going back years. It seems to me that one implication of pro-Khamenei hard liners dominating parliament is that the Supreme Leaders authority has been enhanced. And he is deploying his authority to forbid the acquisition of a nuclear warhead. Warmongers attempting to drag the United States into yet another ruinous (or, rather, infinitely more ruinous) war in the Middle East have typically focused their propaganda on the person of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The president, now nearing the end of his second and last term, is easy to ridicule and easy to demonize, because of his quirky personality and colorful gaffes. He has been called a Hitler by Rick Santorum, and the Neoconservatives depict him as a madman bent on bringing the world to an end. (Ahmadinejad, unlike most establishment Shiite clerics, thinks that the Muslim promised one or Mahdi will come soon, and this millenarian belief has been taken advantage of by Neocons, who inaccurately allege that the belief could push the president to support apocalyptic policies.) It has been alleged that Ahmadinejad is a mass-murdering hard liner, seeking nuclear weapons with which to destroy Israel. This puzzling emphasis on Ahmadinejad comes despite the presidents relative lack of power in the Iranian system. The commander in chief of the armed forces is Supreme Leader
[LAAMN] how not to get sick in the imperial valley
HOW NOT TO GET SICK IN THE IMPERIAL VALLEY By David Bacon New America Media http://newamericamedia.org/2012/03/imperial-valley-residents-must-fight-for-right-to-breathe-clean-air.php SEELEY, CA (2/20/12) -- Until his knee gave out, Ramon Villa Jr. dreamed he'd be a soccer star. Across Seeley's pitted playing field of dirt and grass, he and his friends would chase the ball through the desert sunset every day after school. Seeley's de facto town center is that field. With a fire station in one corner, it is as much of a downtown as Seeley's ever likely to have. Across the street on all four sides sit the sun-bleached homes of Imperial Valley farm workers. Seeley, an unincorporated community not far from the Mexican border, has only 1700 residents. It's not a big place, not even a formal town. For years the kids would play after school, when the broiling daytime temperature dropped, but they'd have to stop when it got dark. Ramon's mom Carolina would point her pickup at the field and turn on the headlights, just to give them another half hour of play. They'd get thirsty-- in the summer the thermometer can top 110 degrees. Sweating and out of breath, to get a drink the young players would put their heads under the spigot for a garden hose, just a few inches off the ground. So Carolina Villa decided she had to do something. With her sister Liz, she organized town residents to call on the Seeley County Water District, which owns the field. After some discussion, they won a few lights on tall aluminum poles. With the help of the planning department, they also got a real water fountain, so the players wouldn't get burrs from the grass in their ears when they drank. Ramon Villa Jr. shows he can still keep the ball in the air, with the field's new lights behind him. It was not easy for the Villas and other parents to get simple amenities for their kids, like light and water, because Seeley is one of the many unincorporated communities in rural California that lack the most basic services, like sewers, sidewalks and streetlights. According to Policy Link, a foundation promoting economic and social equity, Throughout the United States, millions of people live outside of central cities on pockets of unincorporated land. Predominantly African-American and Latino, and frequently low-income, these communities ... have been excluded from city borders. Imperial County has ten unincorporated towns the size of Seeley and its sister community Heber, and 59 other smaller colonias. Three years ago, Policy Link partnered with California Rural Legal Assistance to create the Community Equity Initiative, to find legal and organizing-based strategies for dealing with the critical situations confronting California's unincorporated communities. CRLA attorneys Phoebe Seaton (who directs the Community Equity Initiative) and Ilene Jacobs point to efforts by larger neighboring cities to avoid responsibility for unincorporated areas and their residents. Both Seeley and Heber are less than ten miles from El Centro, the Imperial County seat. Local governments, desperate to protect their resources, perpetuated the political, social and economic isolation of these communities. The local governments, in turn, fail to provide basic services to these communities that were intentionally excluded from planning and infrastructure investment, the two charged in Advocating for Equity In California's Rural Communities. The graffiti house. Light and water on the field made it more attractive to kids with little to do in this small community. But basic amenities for the town's youth just scratch at the surface of the problems faced by Seeley residents. One alternative pulling at young people is the graffiti house, an abandoned home across the street from the elementary school. There the local mota smokers and mainliners get together and party, leaving beer bottles and even syringes lying on the empty floors. From partying, the craziness just escalates. Huge holes have been punched through walls covered in graffiti. Electrical conduits have been pulled out and ripped open, in search of copper wire to sell for scrap. Being a teenager in Seeley has its dangers. But an even worse one isn't visible at all. It's in the air. Joahn Molena with his dog and his grandmother's chickens. As Joahn Molena sits in his back yard, hugging his pit bull in front of his henhouse, dust coats everything outside his home. Molena's proud of his white Honda Civic, with its mag wheels. It's a few years old, but in primo condition. But of course, he has to wash it almost every day because dust in Seeley is everywhere. It blows in from the fields that surround the unincorporated communities. In Heber, that dust comes from the empty expanses at the edge of town, that used to house
[LAAMN] General Strike Preparation meeting Tuesday 7:30 at 2003 E. 1st St.
The Occupy Los Angeles General Strike Preparation Committee is having a critical meeting Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 PM at Corazon del Pueblo, 2003 E. First Street in Boyle Heights (corner Cummings, just east of the I-5 Freeway) -- a few blocks east of the Plaza Mariachi station on the Metro Gold Line. This is a really important meeting to decide on the Occupy action and messaging on May 1st and how to coordinate with other labor and immigrants' actions taking place on that day. We need to come up with a clear plan of organizing and implementing our efforts to build a community base and nurture alliances so that the May 1 General Strike can have the paradigm-shifting impact of the original Occupations, and put us in a stronger position organizationally and politically to move forward beyond May 1. The points of unity of the May 1 General Strike call from Occupy LA are: No work - no school - no commerce - all out in the streets; For Immigrants' Rights For Economic, Social and Environmental Justice and Labor Rights For Peace with Justice For Civil Liberties - End the Police State For Housing, Education and Health Care as Human Rights For Women's Rights, LGBTQ (gay) Rights and Gender Equity A day without the 99% ... A Day for the 99% For more information, check www.occupymay1st.org --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] FW: Shining a Light on the Homeless, Katha Pollitt: Obama Stands Up to Bishops. Finally.
_ From: Ed Pearl [mailto:epear...@earthlink.net] Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 10:56 AM To: Ed Pearl Subject: Shining a Light on the Homeless, Katha Pollitt: Obama Stands Up to Bishops. Finally. http://www.thenation.com/article/165978/obama-stands-bishops-finally Obama Stands Up to Bishops. Finally. Katha Pollitt The Nation: February 20th, 2012 Edition As if it had finally noticed that women out- number bishops, the Obama administra tion has decided against permitting religious organizations a broad exemption from rules requiring that all methods of contraception be covered, with no co-payment, by health insurance plans. Strictly religious organizations—churches, missions and such—will be exempt, but not universities, hospitals and charities. As a public health matter, this is excellent news: for women whose health plans don’t cover birth control, it can be difficult to obtain and costs hundreds of dollars a year out of pocket. As a political matter it is also good news, a welcome departure from December, when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rejected the recommendation of the FDA’s scientists—an unprecedented move—and decided not to make Plan B, emergency contraception, available over the counter to all girls and women. It’s nice to see someone besides women under the proverbial bus for a change. Still, if I had to choose, I would have expanded Plan B access and let the bishops have their bottle, because normalizing postcoital contraception—yes, indeed, putting it right there in the grocery store next to the aspirin—would help far more girls and women than narrowing the religious exemption. But no, we had those 11-year-old girls to worry about, the ones who would run off to orgies if they could buy EC at CVS. For some reason, women’s health is never just about women’s health, the well-being of the 52 percent of the population that spends around thirty years trying not to get pregnant. Someone else is always more important: in December it was licentious children; now it’s the anti-contraception clergy. “This egregious violation of religious freedom marks the first time in our history that the federal government is forcing religious people and groups to ante up for services that violate their consciences,” writes Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, in the Huffington Post. According to Walsh, religious freedom is reserved for “anybody but Catholics.” Nonsense. Are Quakers, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other pacifists exempt from taxes that pay for war and weapons? Can Scientologists, who abhor psychiatry, deduct the costs of the National Institute of Mental Health? As an atheist, a feminist, a progressive, I ante up for so much stuff that violates my conscience, the government should probably pay me damages. Why should the bishops be exempt from the costs of living in a pluralistic society? Walsh cites the Amish, who are exempt from buying health insurance because they have a conscientious objection to it, but the Amish are a self-isolated band of would-be nineteenth-century farmers; they don’t try to make others read by kerosene lamps or demand the government subsidize their buggies. The Catholic church, by contrast, runs institutions that employ, teach and care for millions of people, for which it gets oceans of public money. A great many of those employed and served aren’t even Catholic: at Jesuit universities, almost half the students aren’t in the church; at Notre Dame, almost half the faculty is non-Catholic, and that is not unusual. The vast majority of Catholics long ago rejected the Vatican’s ban on contraception. Catholic women are as likely to use birth control as other women. What about their consciences? When 98 percent of members of the church reject the official dogma, you have to ask: who does the church belong to? Theologian Daniel Maguire, arguing for the doctrine of probabilism, says the widespread dissent of theologians from “Humanae Vitae,” the 1966 papal bull declaring birth control immoral, frees Catholics to follow their conscience. But, he adds, “the bishops have a terrific amount of scare power for politicians,” and for the media too. The Washington Post has published two editorials against the narrow exemption. Columnist E.J. Dionne agrees: “Speaking as a Catholic, I wish the Church would be more open on the contraception question. But speaking as an American liberal who believes that religious pluralism imposes certain obligations on government, I think the Church’s leaders had a right to ask for broader relief from a contraception mandate that would require it to act against its own teachings.” I wish the Church would be more open on the contraception question? Now there’s a ringing defense of women’s health and rights! There is someone who really gets the situation of the Georgetown student, profiled in the New York Times, who lost an
[LAAMN] RAMONA RIPSTON TO BE FEATURED GUEST SPEAKER AT APRIL 25 ACTIVIST SUPPORT CIRCLE
ACTIVIST AND MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jerry Rubin 310-399-1000 jerrypeaceactivistru...@earthlink.net RAMONA RIPSTON, ACLU EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EMERITUS, TO BE FEATURED GUEST SPEAKER AT APRIL 25 ACTIVIST SUPPORT CIRCLE MONTHLY GATHERING Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Time: 7:00PM (Refreshments: 6:30PM) Location: Friends Meeting Hall 1440 Harvard Street, Santa Monica 90404 Featured Guest Speaker: Ramona Ripston Topic: Activism and Economic Rights Ms. Ripston is executive director emeritus of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California after having served as the group's executive director from 1972 until 2011. She is a lifelong progressive activist and community leader, working over the years for civil liberties, women's rights, economic rights and social justice. She is one of the most respected and outspoken voices on civil rights and civil liberties issues ranging from education and police reform to privacy, freedom of speech, and the rights of immigrants and homeless people. In August, 2006, the Los Angeles Times named Ms. Ripston as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Southern California. The event is free and there is free on-site parking. The Activist Support Circle is an ongoing open monthly support group for progressive activists that started in February, 2005 to help guard against activist burnout. For further infornation: Call: 310-399-1000 (Att. Jerry Rubin) E-mail: activistsupportcir...@earthlink.net Web Site: www.ActivistSupportCircle.org [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
