http://104.192.218.19/December-2006-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ <p>Spend on troops, not war<br /><br /> I am worried about the new Congress backing off of getting our troops out of Iraq — as mandated by the voters. The vote to cut off war expenditures is spun by the right wing as being against the troops. But those committed to ending the war should take the offensive. <br /><br /> Instead of sending the money for more death and destruction the money should be used to increase funding for the Veterans Administration to take care of the soldiers and their families. Soldiers are coming home terribly wounded and we are not doing an adequate job taking care of them. Putting money into the VA is really supporting the troops. Antiwar voices have to be proactive and say we are not sending money to this war but we are spending it on the troops when they come home. <br /><br /> Judy Botwin Cleveland Heights OH <br /><br /><br /><br />U.S. — land of prisons<br /><br /> Reuters news service tells us something few of us knew. It is that due to our tough laws the U.S., with about 300 million people, has more prisoners per capita than any other nation in the world. On Nov. 30, a U.S. Justice Dept. report showed that a record 7 million people, or 1 in every 32 American adults, were behind bars, on probation, or on parole at the end of last year. Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison. <br /><br /> To put this in perspective, the Center for Prison Studies in London reported that China with 1.3 billion people ranked second to the U.S. with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by Russia with 870,000. Our rate of incarceration is the highest at 737 per 100,000 people, followed by Russia with 611. Communist China had 115! <br /><br /> Here we are with 5 percent of the people in the world and 25 percent of the prisoners in the world. <br /><br /> Ninety-seven percent of the 125,000 federal inmates have been convicted of nonviolent crime and 16 percent of the nation’s 2.2 million prisoners suffer from mental illness. All in all, China and Russia have much to learn from us, the shining example to the world, of how capitalism, freedom and democracy are supposed to work. <br /><br /> Bud Deraps St. Louis MO <br /><br /><br /><br />Give up war job?<br /><br /> How can I ask the workers at the Raytheon war plant for the nearly ultimate sacrifice — their jobs? I figure it’s better to give up a job in the cause for peace than to build weapons for war profiteers and give up our freedom for the warmongering elite. The unemployed in this case would be true heroes. <br /><br /> Gretchen Nielsen Tucson AZ <br /><br /><br /><br />Alleg interview<br /><br /> Thank you for reviewing Henri Alleg’s classic “The Question” (PWW 12/16-22). <br /><br /> Your readers may be interested in a Dec. 4 radio interview of Alleg on WBAI’s Law and Disorder Show hosted by Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. It can be heard at . <br /><br /> Walter Tillow Louisville KY <br /><br /><br /><br />Happy holidays<br /><br /> Hope all is well. I just want to say hello and thank you guys and PWW for all your support in getting the word out on issues that affect the homeless, low income people and people with disabilities. Without your help (and editing) we could not make the progress we have made in giving our argument as to what the problems are and what we believe are solutions to the issues. <br /><br /> Thanks so much. Peace, <br /><br /> Maurice Martin Santa Fe NM Maurice Martin is resource center manager at St. Elizabeth Shelter.<br /><br /><br /><br />News not fit for NYT<br /><br /> When I was in Venezuela with a delegation of nine Hispanic elected public officials to monitor the election, there was a lot of interest in who we were. I did radio and newspaper interviews in Venezuela. In Massachusetts, I have done three radio shows so far since my return. Here the Spanish-language newspapers are interested in covering what we did. Some English-language papers are interested too. But one important paper ignored us: The New York Times. <br /><br /> In Venezuela, the person from the Venezuelan Information Office introduced me to the reporter from The New York Times. She introduced me as an elected public official. The reporter said he only wanted to interview “official” and not “extra-official” Hispanic elected people from the United States. <br /><br /> Later, when I saw the paper, they only interviewed a lawyer who was with us. I think that for The New York Times a Latina public official from United States who said the Venezuela election was fair is not news and not fit to print. <br /><br /> Martina Cruz Lawrence, MA Matrina Cruz is an elected member of the Lawrence School Committee.<br /><br /><br /><br />Thank you volunteers!<br /><br /> The editorial board and staff of the People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo would like to thank all the volunteer writers, photographers, artists, distributors and fundraisers for all the tremendous work that you do. We’d like to thank all the subscribers and donors for your support and trust. Together you are the heartbeat of this newspaper. <br /><br /> Let’s pledge to build on the victories of 2006 to help bring more victories for the working class and people in 2007. Together we can do it. Sí se puede. We shall overcome. <br /><br /> Terrie Albano Chicago IL</p> Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:33:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/new-york-hospital-closings-a-sick-proposal/ <p>New York State’s “Commission on Health Care in the 21st Century” has called for closing at least nine hospitals, which, with further forced mergers and downsizing, would reduce hospital beds by 4,200 statewide. Another 3,000 nursing home beds would be lost. The wholesale reorganization and consolidations would have additional far-reaching consequences. <br /><br /> The commission started with an assumption that there are 20,000 excess hospital beds statewide, but its cuts and closings would translate into greater difficulty getting to inferior care. There would be longer ambulance rides and emergency room waits, earlier deaths, more suffering, and more ill people in the state. <br /><br /> Many elected officials, community and union leaders, and health care professionals have expressed concern about the impact of decreased availability of health care services, particularly in already under-served African American, Latino, immigrant, working-class and other poor communities. <br /><br /> Health care is an important industry in New York; the job losses will have serious, negative economic and social effects in many towns and cities. <br /><br /> In addition, some of the proposed mergers would combine public with private hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, thereby heightening the pace of privatization and possibly adding restrictions on women’s health choices. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Serious job loss<br /><br /> Although hospital cuts and closings will mean jobs lost and worse conditions of employment for thousands of members, Service Employees Local 1199 has not spoken out in opposition. The union represents 275,000 health care workers in the state. Some 1199 members and staff indicated that the union’s leadership does oppose these cutbacks but feels that impending budget cuts are an even greater threat. They say that budget cuts could mean up to 25,000 jobs lost, and the union’s limited resources should go into that struggle. <br /><br /> Both Republican Gov. George Pataki and Democrat Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer support the report’s proposals. Pataki’s endorsement of his commission’s report was necessary for the cuts to move ahead. He issued his endorsement from Kuwait, on a stopover after three days in Iraq. Apparently his lackluster presidential campaign needs to claim more cuts in people’s needs to increase support from right-wing Republicans. <br /><br /> Gov.-elect Spitzer does not take office until the Jan. 1 and has no direct involvement in the proceedings. However, he campaigned for cutting Medicaid costs, and says he wants the all-or-nothing cuts to become law, adding that even more cuts may be needed. <br /><br /> The way the commission’s report is being implemented raises substantial legal issues. The cuts automatically go into effect at the end of this year unless both the New York State Senate and Assembly have rejected it. But rejection would result in loss of $1.5 billion in federal health care funds. At this point, Pataki’s appointed 18-member commission wields more power than the New York Legislature. The elected representatives of the people can neither amend the report nor modify its implementation. It seems likely that at least one judge will find a violation of the U.S. or New York State constitutions. <br /><br /> The commission’s methodology exposes a bias toward cuts in health care. The main premise of the report — that the state has an excess of 20,000 hospital beds — is unsupported. <br /><br /> Any real plan to stabilize and strengthen New York’s health care system would begin with an in-depth evaluation of the health care needs of the state’s people, both met and unmet. Then it would proceed to propose ways to improve and expand services to better meet those needs. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What about national health care?<br /><br /> National health care programs exist in practically every industrialized country in the world. But by omission of any mention of this alternative in its press releases or the report’s executive summary, the commission bases its proposals on the unspoken assumption that a national health care program should not or will not be enacted in this country. Given the growing support for the Conyers bill, which will be introduced in the new Congress, this is shortsighted at best. <br /><br /> Pataki’s Commission on Health Care in the 21st Century is better known as the “Berger Commission,” after its chair, investment banker Stephen Berger. Berger was Gov. Hugh Carey’s director of the emergency Financial Control Board during the city’s mid-70s budget crisis. He led the efforts to put the burden of New York City’s fiscal crisis on public workers and city residents. Choosing such a fiscal tough guy to do a hatchet job on the state’s health care is not much of a stretch. <br /><br />bdavis @ cpusa.org</p> Fri, 22 Dec 2006 07:27:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/new-york-hospital-closings-a-sick-proposal/ http://peoplesworld.org/dear-santa/ <p>About 200 demonstrators participated in a holiday-themed picket line and rally at the Woodfin Suites Hotel in Emeryville, Calif., Dec. 18. They were protesting the firings of 21 immigrant workers who had been involved in a campaign to get the hotel to observe the city’s living wage ordinance. Community and immigrant rights organizations are calling for a boycott of the hotel. </p> Fri, 22 Dec 2006 07:18:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/dear-santa/ http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/ <p>ATLANTA: Protests force FBI investigation into police killing<br /><br /> Neighborhoods roiled in anger and residents marched through the streets in the wake of the Nov. 20 fatal police shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in her home during a supposed drug raid. Over 300 jammed the Lindsay Street Baptist Church, located in Johnston’s neighborhood, on Nov. 28. <br /><br /> Atlanta Police Chief Richard J. Pennington, who is African American, pleaded for calm and later told a reporter that he understood the community’s frustration. He announced that the investigation of the shooting had been turned over to the FBI. <br /><br /> Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said, “The community deserves the truth, and I am confident that this will be accomplished.” <br /><br /> Edward O. DuBose, president of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, called the slaying “police brutality and lawlessness against African Americans.” <br /><br /> Pennington placed the eight policemen involved in the incident on paid leave. He said that the department is reviewing the use of “no knock” warrants and the use of snitches. <br /><br /> Residents have been testifying and contacting public officials about the rise in police killings throughout Greater Atlanta. In suburban DeKalb County, 12 residents, mostly African American, have died from police gunfire this year. <br /><br /><br /><br />WASHINGTON: Cheeks Kilpatrick to lead Black Caucus<br /><br /> Newly elected Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) says that her role will be to “galvanize the clout of CBC constituents” through new communication systems. <br /><br /> “We represent 40 million Americans in 26 states. So, that’s an awesome database. We’ve got a great opportunity. And the technology is available.” Rep. Kilpatrick plans a special campaign to mobilize voters between the ages of 18-40. <br /><br /> Celebrating its 35th year, the influence of the CBC grew dramatically following the midterm elections. Three of its members now chair House committees, including Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who will chair Judiciary, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who will chair Ways and Means and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who will chair Homeland Security. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) is the House Majority Whip. <br /><br /><br /><br />AUGUSTA, Maine: Venezuelan heating oil keeps Mainers warm<br /><br /> Brian O’Connor, vice president of the Citizens Energy Corporation, a nonprofit organization founded by former Massachusetts Rep. Joseph Kennedy, drove an oil delivery truck to the home of Elece Leonard on Dec. 12. It is the first of a convoy rolling up at the homes of low income residents bringing home heating oil at a 40 percent discount courtesy of Citgo, a part of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA. <br /><br /> “In Venezuela we view our petroleum reserves not simply as a commodity but as a treasure to use to help others,” said Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez. “Our assistance to the poor of the United States is part of a broad strategy to help those in need not only in Venezuela but throughout the hemisphere in a spirit of solidarity.” <br /><br /> This winter season, Citgo will make 8 million gallons of heating oil available for the cut rate to 40,000 households throughout Maine. Citgo has earmarked another 500,000 gallons for homeless shelters in the state. <br /><br /> In a separate deal, the Penobscot nation negotiated a discounted heating oil program with Citgo on behalf of four Maine Indian nations. Citgo provides discounted oil for 163 Indian nations across the U.S. <br /><br /><br /><br />SEATTLE: Publicly owned utility shines after storms<br /><br /> “This is the biggest one since the 1993 Inauguration Day storm,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Johnny Burg last week. Winds gusted up to 69 mph at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Near the coastal city of Westport, winds were reported at 90 mph and in the mountainous Chinook Pass, winds were clocked at 113 mph on Dec. 14. <br /><br /> At least eight people have died as a result of the winds and rains that battered the Northwest, and 1.5 million residents were without electricity the next day. King County, the largest in the state and home to Seattle, was declared a disaster area, with thousands of downed power lines and flooding. <br /><br /> But Seattle has owned and operated its own electrical generation and delivery system, Seattle City Light, since 1905. When the skies finally cleared on Dec. 15, 175,000 city residents, half of the city’s population, were cold and in the dark, many battling flooding in their homes. But by the end of the day, Seattle City Light had restored power to nearly 100,000 customers. <br /><br /> In contrast, the private corporation, Puget Sound Energy, which serves 700,000 residents, said it was going to take “several days” to get the majority of its customers back online. Some people could be without power for three days, a spokeswoman for the corporation told reporters. <br /><br /> In addition to getting the power back on, Seattle city workers faced six landslides, a sinkhole and tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage pouring into Puget Sound as rainfall overwhelmed the treatment facilities. <br /><br />National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696 @ aol.com). W.T. Whitney contributed to this week’s clips. </p> Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:35:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/war-at-christmas-time/ <p>The forked desert road leads to nowhere. Each crossroad, each corner of a dusty street Evokes not the sleepy town of Bethlehem, But the chaos found in Fullujah or In the gutted houses of Tikrit, Along dangerous streets leading to the Green Zone In the ruins of Baghdad. Here, hope is born again on Christmas Eve, Here one may lose one’s life By the cleverness of a roadside bomb, While the Magi travel on, As they always have in the great myth, Seeking peace, or the truce in one’s aching heart.</p> Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:59:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/war-at-christmas-time/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ <p>Pinochet<br /><br /> I think that it is a shame that the courts allowed Augusto Pinochet to escape punishment because of alleged, and real, medical problems. Former dictators should not be immune from prosecution for torture, murder, war crimes and other human rights abuses. <br /><br /> Chuck Mann Greensboro NC <br /><br /><br /><br />Saddam Hussein<br /><br /> I would like to thank the PWW for publishing the article by Salam Ali of the Iraqi Communist Party (PWW 12/2-8). It would be good to see key documents of many different communist, socialist and workers parties published as a regular feature. <br /><br /> However, I have a serious concern about the position taken in this document vis a vis the trial and death sentence for Saddam Hussein. <br /><br /> I oppose the death penalty, not for sentimental, pacifist or religious reasons, but because it is used in so many places as a tool of class, sectarian, gender, race or ethnic domination. To fight to abolish the death penalty worldwide helps with the struggle to abolish it in individual countries. <br /><br /> Even though I am aware of the outrageous suffering caused by Saddam Hussein to the people of Iraq and its neighbors, it would have set a precedent for the rest of the region and world to stop short of the ultimate penalty. It would make a nice contrast with the practices in neighboring Iran and Saudi Arabia, and indeed Texas, when George Bush was governor and signed off on the execution of 150 convicts. But that is up to the Iraqi people. <br /><br /> There have also been serious questions about the procedure. The way the judge was replaced certainly raised eyebrows. The trouble with a flawed process is not just that the innocent sometimes get condemned, but that in politically charged cases like this one, the guilty get turned into martyrs. And surely one doesn’t want Saddam to be a perpetual martyr for Baathist intransigents. <br /><br /> A third concern is that apparently, Saddam was tried for only a fraction of the crimes of which he is credibly accused, and to which Salam Ali refers. For example, evidently there was a cutoff date, which assured that he was not accused of the murder of Iraqi communists and other leftists before he became president and in the earlier years of his presidency. I do not know the motive for the narrowness of the indictment, but I do know that it prevented a thorough airing of the complicity of U.S. imperialism in Saddam’s criminal career. To leave this out of the procedures creates the impression that Saddam was always the enemy of imperialism and that, in fact, the only relationship of imperialism to Saddam was to “rescue” the Iraqi people from his despotism. In fact, U.S. imperialism helped to put him and his Baathist colleagues in power at the time Colonel Qasem was overthrown, and connived with him in some of his most brutal acts. <br /><br /> Imperialism should have been in the dock with Saddam. Perhaps that was not possible under the conditions of occupation, but it should be clearly understood and pointed out anyway. <br /><br /> Emile Schepers Northern Virginia <br /><br /><br /><br />Landless in Montana<br /><br /> What an outrage that the state of Montana tickets a hunter who mistakenly shoots a game animal on Ted Turner’s private estate. This is taking private property rights too far. The people of Montana, the homeless and landless poor should occupy this private estate and divide this property between them so they won’t be landless anymore. We need land reform for our landless poor in Montana. Abolish all large private property estates and landless poor of our state and nation. <br /><br /> Say, Ted Turner, give up your large private estate to the landless poor of our state and nation or we the people will take this land from your thieving capitalist hands. Power to the landless people. <br /><br /> Daniel Gawain Waters Troy MT <br /><br /><br /><br />Indigenous peoples<br /><br /> I was listening to WBAI broadcast a meeting of indigenous people and their representatives from around the world. One of the speakers was a man from Bolivia who said the indigenous people of Bolivia had, for years, tried to work with groups on the left to achieve independence. Finally, a socialist group (I believe a Marxist group) allowed the indigenous people to join them and promised not to betray their dreams of independence. The indigenous people and the socialist grouping achieved power and the indigenous peoples of Bolivia were saved from having international capital ravage their lands and natural resources. <br /><br /> It is my sincerest wish that the international communist movement recognize the struggles of the indigenous peoples throughout the world and aid them from being ravaged by global capital. I hope that we can open our eyes, minds, and hearts to their struggles, not only for sake of self-determination of indigenous peoples throughout the world, but for sake of all mankind. <br /><br /> G. De Santis Via e-mail</p> Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:49:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/ <p>SACRAMENTO, Calif.: Two labor victories<br /><br /> By an overwhelming majority, Sheraton Grand Hotel employees ratified a union contract on Dec. 5 that contains higher wages, a lower workload, a doubling of employer-paid health benefits over the life of the contract, and a guarantee that the contract will continue even if the hotel is sold. <br /><br /> Most of the hotel workers gladly signed up to support employees at other hotels in their negotiations for better contracts. There are four other unionized hotels in Sacramento where contracts have expired. <br /><br /> “This is the first good solid contract in any Sacramento hotel,” said Marco Hernandez, a six-year employee of the Sheraton Grand. “It’s setting the standards for the other hotels.” <br /><br /> Support from the workers at other hotels and casinos and from the community was crucial, he said. Besides coming out to large rallies outside the hotel and sending delegations to the Sheraton management, Sacramento unions and community organizations sent the hotel letters committing to support a boycott if it was launched. <br /><br /> “That would have cost them millions of dollars, so they came back to the table and made their last final offer better,” Hernandez said. <br /><br /> On the same day, the Sacramento City Council passed a non-binding resolution calling on the Blue Diamond Almond Growers Cooperative to recognize their employees’ union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, on the basis of a union card check. <br /><br /> Although some of the councilmembers said that the resolution was not pertinent to city affairs, the majority agreed with councilman Steve Cohn, who reminded them that in 1996 “the Council adopted historic measures to ensure that Blue Diamond stayed in the community.” Besides giving the company public funds, the city closed off part of the public streets to form part of the Blue Diamond campus, Cohn said. <br /><br /> Since then, Blue Diamond, which produces around 70 percent of the world’s almond supply, has flourished, with last year’s revenue increased by 42 percent, Cohn said. <br /><br /><br /><br />Chicago: The right to be warm<br /><br /> With heat shut off to 100,000 people in the middle of winter, affordable energy proponents are pressing Gov. Rod Blagojevich to get families reconnected. <br /><br /> “It’s scary,” said Maria Majic, co-chair of the Affordable Power to the People campaign. “The Fire Department is reporting that 10 percent of people dying in fires lose their lives because the alternatives for keeping warm are dangerous.” <br /><br /> Majic said that at a recent protest at the governor’s residence, “We heard a warning from Mr. Dirk, who is 80 and whose gas is shut off, and then we learned that another 80-year-old, Ray Strow, died in a fire just one block from our center” in the Bridgeport neighborhood. <br /><br /><br /><br />CLEVELAND: Kucinich to run for president<br /><br /> There are 98 weeks until voters go to the polls to elect a new U.S. president and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich plans use all 98 to turn up the heat to end the Iraq war and occupation in his bid for president. He announced his candidacy for president on Dec. 12. <br /><br /> In his 2004 bid for the Democratic nomination for president, Kucinich not only pounded the streets for peace, including by his advocacy of a national Peace Department, but also promoted a single-payer health care system. <br /><br /><br /><br />WASHINGTON: Green light for police brutality<br /><br /> Diop Kamau, director of the national Police Complaint Center and a former Hawthorne, Calif., police detective, has found that reports of police misconduct nationwide from December 2005 through December 2006 skyrocketed by 40 percent, from 239 incidents to 336. <br /><br /> Kamau believes that a combination of factors, including government attacks on constitutional rights, the sanction of torture, government spying and the criminalization of young African American men, constitutes a recipe for increased police violence. <br /><br /> “I think that the president’s choice with regards to torture, the attack on habeas corpus, the kind of things that we’re doing overseas, I think, are actually impacting domestic police policies,” he said. “I think the green light with regards to spying and everything else, what it has done is elevated the role and the public’s regard for law enforcement to the attitude that says, ‘Those are our protectors. We need to take the gloves off and give them the room to do what they need to do.’ <br /><br /> “Well, they’re not always fighting terrorists,” Kamau said, “and they’re not always arresting bad guys. More often than not they’re dealing with regular people for small and minor incidents. I think that as African Americans continue to be viewed and anticipated by police as violent and uncooperative, with all of this negative stereotype associated with Black youth, those are going to be the principal victims.” <br /><br /> Kamau calls for stronger laws regulating local police from the federal level. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has said he will use his clout to demand more police accountability. <br /><br /><br /><br />NORTH POLE: Votes pour in for Claus ‘naughty’ list<br /><br /> There is still time to cast your ballot for “Grinch of the Year” courtesy of Jobs with Justice, the national coalition of labor, community, faith-based and student groups. JwJ has installed electronic voting machines with a paper trail and full verification; you can vote at www.jwj.org. <br /><br /> This is the sixth year for the national “naughty” election, with no restrictions on citizenship, registration or residency. Frontrunners so far include Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and Smithfield Meats Tar Heel CEO Joseph Luter III. <br /><br /> “I take this election to heart,” Santa Claus told a press conference. “The naughty list, with Grinch at the top, is as important as the ‘nice’ list. I check both twice. The elves, members of Toy Makers Local 12, are voting early and often. Internal polling showed that Goodyear was edging out Smithfield, but then they read the People’s Weekly World — I bought them subscriptions last year. Now the race is very close.” <br /><br /> For the last two years, Wal-Mart claimed the Grinch title. “Deservedly so,” said Claus. <br /><br />National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696 @ aol.com). Gail Ryall contributed to this week’s clips.</p> Fri, 15 Dec 2006 07:23:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ <p>Smile<br /><br /> Here is a photo I found on a blog. It is part of the “I’ve been fired and this is my last day on the job” strategies. <br /><br /> Mary Lyons Naperville IL <br /><br /><br /><br />Getting out of disaster<br /><br /> Listening to the confirmation hearing for Robert Gates to succeed Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense is a little like a visit by a snake charmer to a petting zoo. We’re talking about war crimes here, not changing the drapes in the living room. <br /><br /> The American people spoke loud and clear on Nov. 7 about the war in Iraq. The American people grasp the enormity of the catastrophe in Iraq and want leadership that will bring the troops home with a minimum of casualties on all sides. <br /><br /> Our country desperately needs leaders who will examine the wreckage of our present course and past actions in Iraq and salvage whatever is possible from one of the greatest foreign policy disasters in our country’s history. <br /><br /> We, as a country, apparently did not learn the important lessons of the Vietnam War, but there is still a possibility that we will learn from the mistakes of Iraq. <br /><br /> A Ranger Hibbing MN <br /><br /><br /><br />Timetable or doom<br /><br /> And now it’s been revealed that, weeks prior to the president suddenly dismissing him after last month’s portentous elections, even Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was developing doubts about Bush’s truculent stay-the-course-in-Iraq strategy. <br /><br /> In a memo, the then-defense chief belatedly acknowledged that things weren’t going very well in Iraq and that changes in policy had to be considered, something that the Decider, nearly alone now, has yet to concede. <br /><br /> With the doomed Iraqi “government” of Prime Minister al-Maliki widely considered a mere figure of speech, reports now indicate that the influential Shiite bloc led by Muqtada al-Sadr is reaching for areas of accord with major Sunni and even Christian political groupings. <br /><br /> Looking beyond the transitional figure of al-Maliki, such an extra-parliamentary coalition would put aside their sectarian differences to unite around the priority of removing U.S. troops, whose presence is the fundamental roadblock to Iraqi unity and sovereignty, as well as providing the main attraction for foreign jihadists. <br /><br /> Of course, this emergent unity bloc would likely interfere with Bush’s dream of conjuring up a pliable, pro-American regime out of an infernal Iraqi chaos created by his misbegotten invasion and cavalier occupation. Setting a sharp timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops now is the only graceful way for Bush to avoid an utter strategic debacle in which they are violently driven out. <br /><br /> Cord MacGuire Boulder CO <br /><br /><br /><br />EPA: who needs science?<br /><br /> Without authorization from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has slashed operating funds for its nationwide network of scientific libraries, forcing libraries to close and effectively preventing EPA scientists and the public from accessing vast amounts of data and information on issues from toxicology to pollution. <br /><br /> The critical scientific information contained in the EPA libraries is essential to the agency’s ability to make fully informed decisions that carry out its mission of protecting human health and the environment. <br /><br /> Please call EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, (202) 564-4700 and urge him to immediately halt the dismantling of the library system. It will only take a couple of minutes, and your phone call could make the difference. <br /><br /> Union of Concerned Scientists Online Action Network <br /><br /><br /><br />Free Mumia<br /><br /> Last month my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and I sent letters to officials in Paris in response to a fraudulent political attempt to have his honorary citizenship there revoked. I am pleased to report that the effort, based upon misrepresentations and lies, has failed. <br /><br /> Mumia, a great and courageous journalist, continues to be an honorary citizen of Paris. Further, the street named after him in Saint Denis remains “Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal.” <br /><br /> Linn Washington, a prominent Philadelphia journalist and university professor, recently wrote an enlightening article in CounterPunch on the entire affair: “The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case after 25 Years: Still More Keystone Kops Antics,” Dec. 1, 2006. It should be read and circulated, and can be found at www.counterpunch.org. <br /><br /> Robert Bryan San Francisco CA Robert Bryan is lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal.<br /><br /><br /><br />Cartoons a plus<br /><br /> You need more cartoons in your newspaper, so I drew you one. <br /><br /> Winona Bachtell Chicago IL </p> Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:57:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/u-s-policies-sharpen-lebanon-conflicts/ <p>Demonstrations have taken over Beirut. Pundits say Lebanon may be on the brink of a new civil war. Regional issues and power struggles are being played out in this war-torn and war-weary Middle East country, experts insist. <br /><br /> With Lebanon’s politics being a complicated mix of religion, family loyalties, class and outside intervention, current U.S. policies in the region have only heightened tensions. <br /><br /> In the wake of the assassination of government minister Pierre Gemyal, hundreds of thousands took to the streets during his funeral. Many of the protesters were government supporters. <br /><br /> Then days after, hundreds of thousands, mainly Shiites from the poorer south of Lebanon, took to the streets to demand the government headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora step down. One young protester was shot and killed during these demonstrations. Representatives of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as well as the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, are in Lebanon trying to broker a deal between parties as well as representatives of Iran and Syria. <br /><br /> Lebanon, an ethnically Arab country, but religiously very diverse, has complex political rules, which include a “confessional” system. The government and its senior officials are divided among religious based parties. The president is required to be a Maronite Christian; the prime minister, a Sunni Muslim; and the speaker of the Parliament, a Shia Muslim. The Druze, an Islamic-based religion which incorporates some Christian and Judaic teachings, are not guaranteed an office. Besides Christian Maronites, Sunni, Shia and Druze, there are some 14 other religious sects in Lebanon. <br /><br /> The Lebanese Communist Party says this sect-based system is an underlying reason for the current crisis and is campaigning to replace it with a secular, democratic-based one to unify the country and confront U.S. imperialism’s designs on the region. <br /><br /> The Shiite political and military group Hezbollah, along with other parties formerly in the government, including the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, a right-wing political party led by Gen. Michel Aoun, make up the opposition coalition. Six ministers from these groups resigned from the cabinet last month. The government is now composed of Christian, Sunni Muslim and Druze parties. <br /><br /> The six resignations came at the same time the 24-member cabinet was deliberating on a United Nations plan to set up a tribunal on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Government supporters say the ministers resigned to block the tribunal. The opposition says that it supports the tribunal but wants more Shia representation in government. To which government supporters say Hezbollah wants veto power and to ease political pressure on it to disarm. <br /><br /> The Beirut newspaper The Daily Star editorialized on Dec. 2 that the missing element in the current standoff is a political agenda for the leaders on all sides. <br /><br /> In mid-November, labor and business leaders called on all politicians to end the “bickering” in order to rebuild the nation and people’s lives. In their jointly issued statement, Ghassan Ghosn, head of the 200,000-member General Confederation of Workers of Lebanon, and Adnane Kassar, president of the Economic Associations, said, “We are responsible for the fate of thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of workers. It is thanks to us the coffers of the state have been replenished. You have no other choice than to establish a climate of confidence so that the country ... can heal its wounds.” <br /><br /> The statement urged the formation of a national unity government and for all politicians to put aside their narrow aims for the good of the country. “You have no right to drag the country into the abyss to satisfy your political aims,” the statement said. <br /><br /> However, U.S. policy in the region is fueling many tensions in Lebanon. Many in Lebanon see events through the prism of the U.S. and its allies versus Syria, Iran and its allies, including Hezbollah. <br /><br /> Many Lebanese, especially Shia and others from south Lebanon, are still angry with the Siniora government for its lack of action during the U.S.-backed Israeli military aggression last summer that killed some 1,000 Lebanese civilians and destroyed infrastructure to the tune of $3.5 billion. <br /><br /> The University of Maryland and Zogby International conducted a Lebanese public opinion poll, Nov. 11-16. Not surprisingly, all Lebanese held negative attitudes toward the U.S. and its policies. However, the poll also showed a divide between Lebanese Shia and other groups — Sunni, Druze and Christians — in their attitude toward who won the Israel-Lebanon war, and toward Hezbollah and Iran. <br /><br /> Interestingly, if the U.S. would broker a Mideast peace with “Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” all Lebanese agreed that would improve their opinion towards the U.S. <br /><br /> Lebanese poll participants selected the Mideast peace plan over five others, including withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, providing more economic assistance to the region or stopping economic and military aid to Israel. <br /><br />talbano @ pww.org</p> Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:15:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/u-s-policies-sharpen-lebanon-conflicts/ http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/ <p>PORTLAND, Ore.: City Council says ‘Bring the troops home’<br /><br /> Most Nov. 7 congressional races were decided by voters’ demands to halt the Iraq occupation, but voters are not naïve — just changing faces does not necessarily result in change. <br /><br /> On Nov. 30, after over 50 residents provided moving, often searing testimony, the Portland City Council unanimously enacted a resolution calling on the U.S. government to “immediately commence an orderly and rapid withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq” and to support efforts to rebuild Iraq and to fund human needs in Portland. <br /><br /> “Three years ago, when the case was made for war, many people, myself included, were compelled to give those in charge the benefit of the doubt,” said Commissioner Randy Leonard, who introduced the resolution. “It is clear now that we were grossly misled, and our service men and women are standing in harm’s way. Adding our voice to the chorus of cities around calling for their prompt return is the least we can do.” <br /><br /> Since 2003, when the Iraq war began, 272 cities have passed similar resolutions. In the past election, 162 ballot questions calling for withdrawal from Iraq passed in Illinois, Wisconsin and Massachusetts. <br /><br /> The National Priorities Project calculates that Portland taxpayers have spent $419 million on the war and occupation. The resolution calls for money used for the Iraq war to be diverted to rebuilding Iraq, giving full benefits to returning veterans and providing health care and education for Portland residents. <br /><br /><br /><br />ORLANDO, Fla.: Groups provide Thanksgiving dinners, despite city law<br /><br /> As in Las Vegas, the authorities in Orlando decided to bar any provision of food to homeless families in the city’s parks. But a coalition of organizations, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, found a technicality in the ordinance and delivered Thanksgiving dinners to homeless families in Eola Park. <br /><br /> Code Pink, a peace group, brought 150 cupcakes; Food Not Bombs delivered mashed potatoes, squash, asparagus, green beans and rice; the ACLU donated pizza and the Young Communist League cleaned up after the feast. <br /><br /> No arrests were made, although police did take the names of representatives of each of the groups in the coalition. “I understand that this is more of a political statement than anything else,” OPD Officer Shawn Dunlap told organizers. <br /><br /><br /><br />ST. LOUIS: Winter storm kills 23 in Midwest<br /><br /> St. Louis, where 203,000 residents were still without electricity in below-freezing temperatures Dec. 4, took the brunt of a deadly ice and snowstorm that blew through the Midwest last week. In all, 510,000 residents in Missouri and Illinois shivered as ice and heavy, wet snow downed power lines and trees. <br /><br /> The weather was credited with causing 23 deaths. At least eight people died in St. Louis alone. <br /><br /> AmerenUE, the power company responsible for service to area residents, predicted said it would be days before electricity was restored. <br /><br /> About 5,500 workers from 14 states joined 1,500 AmerenUE workers putting in 16 days to get furnaces and lights back on. The Illinois National Guard pitched in by going door-to-door in East St. Louis, checking on residents. <br /><br /><br /><br />WASHINGTON: U.S. fails on AIDS fight, again<br /><br /> Dec. 1 was International AIDS Day and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) issued its annual report card on U.S. performance in answering the health crisis. It got failing grades. <br /><br /> U.S. policymakers received an F in the “prevention” category with the Bush administration’s insistence that only abstinence-only programs receive funding. Sex education, condoms and other proven measures were not funded. In 2006, Congress added anti-gay restrictions to an already failed program. <br /><br /> In the category of “care and treatment,” the government got a D. HRC said inadequate funding levels for the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act has resulted in pitting low-income residents of one state against neighboring states. <br /><br /> Inadequate funding for the National Institute of Health and AIDS research (the latter cut by $15 million last year) earned an F. <br /><br /> Congress’ linking of “abstinence only” to a third of U.S. funding for international AIDS education earned that action a C. <br /><br /> Few will be surprised that the Bush administration got an F on combating AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. <br /><br /> “We are hopeful that with a new congressional leadership the failed policies of the past will not continue to be repeated,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese. “The American people sent a message in these midterm elections that they want to see real actions on issues affecting people’s lives and we are optimistic that their voices will be heard in relation to the efforts to combat this disease.” <br /><br />National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696 @ aol.com). Michael Munk and Joshua Leclair contributed to this week’s clips.</p> Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:29:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/colombian-political-prisoner-holds-bush-prosecutors-at-bay/ <p>An extraordinary trial, remarkable among other things for a novel legal doctrine unveiled by the Bush administration during the course of it, ended as a mistrial Nov. 21 in Washington. The jury could not reach a verdict in the case of Colombian political prisoner Ricardo Palmera, also known as Simon Trinidad. <br /><br /> Unofficially, the Marxist-oriented Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, to which Trinidad belongs, was in the dock too. For 42 years, the FARC, which author James Petras has called “the most important and oldest peasant guerrilla group in the world,” has sought to undermine one right-wing, U.S.-supported government after another. Its 20,000 combatants now control 40 percent of Colombia’s territory. <br /><br /> The FARC’s military operations are highly disciplined and typically conform to international conventions governing the rules of warfare. In effect, Colombia has been in a state of civil war for four decades. <br /><br /> Trinidad, 56, is an extraordinary personality. He grew up in a traditional landowning family. His father was a law professor. Trinidad’s early occupations included working as a university professor and as a banker. <br /><br /> In 1987 he joined the FARC, and he subsequently served the group as a teacher, researcher and diplomat. Beginning in 1999, he represented the FARC in a Colombian government-initiated peace process involving several European nations. <br /><br /> In late 2003, Trinidad was in Ecuador preparing for discussions with UN official James LeMoyne aimed at exchanging 60 prisoners held by the FARC for 600 guerrillas held by the Colombian government. With CIA help, Ecuadorian and Colombian police arrested him in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, on Jan. 2, 2004. <br /><br /> Imprisoned first in Colombia, Trinidad was extradited to the United States on Dec. 31, 2004. During the time he has been confined to a U.S. prison cell, he has been denied visitors, access to a lawyer of his choice and access to important documents needed for his defense. <br /><br /> He is also being tried in absentia in Colombia. <br /><br /> Central to the U.S. prosecutor’s case in Trinidad’s trial, which began Oct. 16, was the FARC’s capture on Feb. 13, 2003, of three U.S. “contract soldiers,” or mercenaries, who survived the downing of their reconnaissance airplane in Colombian territory. <br /><br /> The principal charge leveled against Trinidad was “conspiracy to take hostages,” although he was charged also with supporting “terrorism.” President Clinton designated the FARC as a terrorist organization in 1997. <br /><br /> Trinidad was never alleged to have had prior knowledge of, participated in or directed the capture of the mercenaries. <br /><br /> In attempt to publicize the case, which was blacked out by the U.S. media, the FARC wrote an open letter Nov. 9 to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, progressive academicians and film personalities, asking them to facilitate a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and the FARC that would include Trinidad’s release. <br /><br /> Prosecutors described the FARC as a “criminal hostage-taking conspiracy,” initially identifying 20,000 FARC members as co-conspirators with Trinidad. Colombian newspapers printed summons for them to appear in court in Washington. In a tacit admission that such a request was somewhat far-fetched, prosecutors later came up with a list that included the names of 50 FARC leaders. <br /><br /> The government’s case broke new ground in that proclaimed Trinidad’s guilt by association. Notions of criminal conspiracy were expanded to hold all members of a “terrorist group” responsible for the alleged crimes of a few. Apparently this was done with an eye to bringing other captured foreign insurgents to trial on U.S. soil. <br /><br /> In effect, Washington was experimenting with a tool for de-legitimizing any and all political movements not to its liking, thereby undermining international and domestic legal protections. The Bush administration also appeared to be seeking validation for a category other than “enemy combatant” for use in its so-called war on terrorism. <br /><br /> However, the U.S. government’s lawyers did not prevail. The jury was deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial. <br /><br /> Much of the credit goes to Trinidad himself, according to lawyer and daily courtroom observer Paul Wolf. Disqualified from summoning witnesses and testifying on his own behalf, Trinidad told jurors why he joined the FARC. Having shown signs of lack of interest in prosecution arguments and Colombian politics, they began to listen as Trinidad told them of the “very special conditions” in his home country. <br /><br /> He described the demise of the liberal politics he and his friends pursued in the early 1980s. He told about his own torture in 1982, and about comrades who were murdered whose only offense was to have won an election. He said they and he wanted “to fight for social, political and economic changes in my country and to reach peace.” <br /><br /> Shedding tears as he recounted the 1987 killing of presidential candidate Jaime Pardo Leal, Trinidad aroused an up-till-then unengaged jury. <br /><br /> The Bogota weekly La Voz designated him as “Simon Dignidad” because he challenged “gringo justice — arrogant and classist — [and he] defended the right of rebellion.” Not least, he advocated for the FARC, the shadow defendant in the case. <br /><br /> U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan announced hearings on Dec. 14 for fixing a new trial date. Meanwhile Simon Trinidad and 50 co-defendants in Colombia go to trial in May 2007 on charges of “drug trafficking.” <br /><br /> On Nov. 21, Colombian police captured a “Marxist rebel” and 17 others suspected of kidnapping the three mercenaries. <br /><br /> The story of Simon Trinidad sheds light on the U.S. attitude toward peace in Colombia. Significantly, Trinidad’s punishment resulted from preparations for peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government. <br /><br /> Parallel developments unfolded this year in Bogota. Bowing to demands from wealthy Colombians weary of war taxes and desirous of freedom for relatives held by the FARC, the government of President Alvaro Uribe seemed to be planning for talks on prisoner exchanges. <br /><br /> On Oct. 19, a bomb went off at a Bogota military academy, injuring 20 bystanders. The next day, Uribe charged the FARC with responsibility for the crime, declared the peace talks to be off and vowed to free the prisoners in FARC’s custody with Colombian troops. <br /><br /> Nicholas Burns, second in command at the U.S. State Department, quickly seconded the plan, promising that the Bush administration would continue its $700 million annual U.S. contribution to Colombia’s military. And yet Colombian Attorney General Miguel Iguaran said there was no evidence that the FARC was behind the bomb blast. <br /><br /> The Clinton and Bush administrations each had had reservations earlier about then-President Pastrana’s three-year peace campaign for his country. “Plan Colombia,” with money, mercenaries and U.S. troops at the ready, came into its own only when that effort collapsed in 2001. <br /><br /> Simon Trinidad told the jury, “The only way to find peace in Colombia is through humanitarian accords.” For top dogs in Washington and dependent military chieftains in Colombia, sentiments like that are clearly subversive. <br /><br />atwhit @ megalink.net</p> Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:57:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/colombian-political-prisoner-holds-bush-prosecutors-at-bay/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ <p>Thank you to voters<br /><br /> This Election Day for me was one of the most important in my 50 years. I have been a consistent voter since I turned 18. In those 32 years I have never felt so personally affected by any election as I did this one. <br /><br /> The night before I had felt somewhat nervous, as I tried not to think of the horrible possibility of another Republican-dominated House and Senate. As I woke up in the morning I got ready and left for my polling place, which is my habit: vote in the morning and wear my “I Voted” sticker all day to help remind others to vote. I felt scared, as I felt that so much in my life was at stake. “Oh my God this is the day,” I thought to myself, “the day that could either keep my son in danger in Iraq or bring him home sooner.” <br /><br /> As I walked in the auditorium there were lots of people, the polling booths were full and so were my eyes. The tears began to flow uncontrollably; I tried to hide them as I approached the table for my ballot. The pollster handed me my ballot, looking oddly at me. The person assigned to instruct voters on how to slip the ballot in the machine saw me, and hesitantly asked if I knew how to insert the ballot. I just nodded yes. With each mark of my ballot I could hardly control my tears. I placed my ballot in the box, got my sticker and quickly walked to my car. <br /><br /> Once in the car I let out all that I was feeling. I cried as I thought of all the parents whose children are serving in Iraq. I empathized with the families of all those soldiers who had lost their lives in this immoral war. I cried and prayed that the voters of this country could feel all the military families’ pain and vote out the warmongers. To my relief, the American people spoke loud and clear: End the War Now! I thank all of you who voted for peace. You have given us hope and renewed strength to continue the fight to bring our children home. <br /><br /> Rossana Cambron Los Angeles CA <br /><br /><br /><br />‘Isms’ not incompatible<br /><br /> Religion and communism are not incapable of existing together in harmony because the highest interest of both is man’s good, and peace and justice on earth. Both are idealistic and invincible. <br /><br /> Many people can with “open mind” attend church sincerely and then when home read a communist publication, enjoying both experiences. <br /><br /> Both are for a better world of sweetness and light and are not incompatible. <br /><br /> George T. Gaylord Jr. Anaheim CA <br /><br /><br /><br />Right side of history<br /><br /> I believe that we in the Communist Party should take a moment to give ourselves one big congratulations for a fine job leading up to the elections. Our efforts proved we are on the right side of history. We said that Bush’s Iraq policies are failing, and the voters overwhelmingly agreed. We said that we want to protect the most disadvantaged in society and the most vulnerable, and the voters agreed with us here as well. Of course it wasn’t a perfect victory. Nor is it going to be easy in the days and months ahead. But, our party helped contribute to a new direction for the United States, and for that, we should be very proud. <br /><br /> David Guard Lansing MI <br /><br /><br /><br />Environmentalism<br /><br /> Unity was the byword in the 2006 election. I saw environmentalists, trade unionists, communists, democrats, Wal-Mart workers, immigrants, Working Families Party, retirees and peace activists converge to do labor walks and door knocking to kick Republicans out of government. The understanding was that maybe alone we could win small victories, but not the big ones that impact all the people’s movements and issues. <br /><br /> The emergence of Mujeres de la Tierra is a welcomed development for Mexican Americans, the environmental movement and our nation. Unfortunately, the PWW (Associated Press) Nov. 4-10 article reporting a recent victory of this group was laced with anti-environmentalism. <br /><br /> “We’re not the tree huggers” not only picks up on a right-wing slur, it displays a lack of understanding of the ecosystem approach that’s needed to help enhance the air and water mentioned in the article. Protecting endangered species, decried in the article, protects habitat that maintains watersheds for drinking water and cleanses the air. <br /><br /> Advocating distancing itself from mainstream environmental groups will erect a brake in Mujeres de la Tierra’s potential to win more and bigger victories. Anti-working-class ideas, including racism, exist in the environmental movement as they do in the trade union and peace movements. Striving for unity around issues of common interest will help us root out divisive ideologies and win those bigger victories. Si se puede! <br /><br /> Len Yannielli Waterbury CT <br /><br /><br /><br />Fed up over job loss<br /><br /> I just got thru reading your article on the election and I think it is very clear that the people in general are fed up with the Republican Party as whole and there is a lot of anger out there amongst us Americans. I mean look at the facts. It only took Bush and his band of idiots in the White House six months to destroy our economy, putting millions of hard-working Americans out of work by sending over 3 million jobs overseas in one year. I can’t recall a president losing that many jobs in just a little under two years, then he goes and tells the news media that these were jobs “Americans did not want.” I think Mr. Bush and his band or Asylum of Helpless and Incompetent Jackasses should have said these were jobs his administration did not want us Americans to have, simply because he wants to lay the groundwork to break up organized labor unions and drive the small business out of business. <br /><br /> David Schneider Via e-mail <br /><br /><br /><br />Web site suggestion<br /><br /> I just thought that I should let you know. I am currently using your news services and I think that it’s pretty helpful. One thing that I was wondering — could the articles have a link to show what the article looks like in the newspaper, showing the texts and the pictures as if it was the newspaper. It’s just a suggestion. <br /><br /> Vue Cha Via e-mail</p> Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:18:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-25583/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorial-middle-east-questions/ <p>More than 200 killed in a Baghdad neighborhood. Is Iraq in a civil war? Another Lebanese politician is assassinated. Will Lebanon restart its civil war? <br /><br /> Violence, questions, violence, questions swirl around the Middle East in a seemingly neverending cycle. <br /><br /> One thing is unquestionable — the Bush administration’s “neoconservative” foreign policy is an utter failure and has made the region a more dangerous place. <br /><br /> Like a spider’s web — intricate and complex, connected and tangled — these Middle East problems are inter-related, and many threads lead back to the White House. <br /><br /> The Bush administration’s policies of unilateral war and militarism to control the region, including its oil and labor resources, have created much of the turmoil. Its drive for constant war and a (little talked about) Middle East Free Trade Zone will lead to more chaos. <br /><br /> Like the problems, the solutions are inter-related, to enable the peoples of the Middle East to achieve peace, security, true national sovereignty, real democracy, and a better life. <br /><br /> So where to begin? One positive step is the cease-fire between the Palestinians and Israelis in the Gaza territory. While shaky, it has been holding — no rockets fired from Gaza to southern Israel, in exchange for Israeli troop withdrawal. It suggests possible steps forward for peace and a Palestinian state, although many issues, like the apartheid security wall, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, exchange of prisoners, and more, need to be talked through and resolved. Congress should support peace efforts, and perhaps read former President Jimmy Carter’s new book “Peace, Not Apartheid.” <br /><br /> An open-ended occupation of Iraq by the U.S. will continue to tear that country apart. The Bush administration is blaming the Iraqi government for the disastrous crisis of bloodshed, brutality and death. But the U.S. is “in charge” of security, not the Iraqi government. It is the U.S. that has created this disaster, playing one group against another. The U.S. has to change course, begin a rapid, orderly withdrawal and allow the Iraqis themselves to take charge. <br /><br /> The voters demanded a new direction in foreign policy, away from militarism and unilateralism and toward diplomacy and international cooperation. That’s what’s necessary for a better landscape across the Middle East.</p> Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:15:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorial-middle-east-questions/ http://peoplesworld.org/leftist-correa-claims-victory-in-ecuador/ <p>At press time, with official tallies showing he had won 57 percent of the vote, Rafael Correa of the left-leaning Alianza País party claimed victory over right-wing millionaire Alvaro Noboa in the Nov. 26 run-off election for the presidency of Ecuador. <br /><br /> “We accept this victory with dignity and humility,” Correa said. “We are just instruments of the power of the people. With my ascension to power comes the people’s ascension into power.” <br /><br /> Big crowds turned out in Quito and elsewhere to celebrate. <br /><br /> Kintto Lucas, writing in Tintají magazine, said, “It is time to form a great social and political front in support of Rafael Correa and the changes Ecuador so urgently needs.” <br /><br /> Correa, 43, is an economist who once served as economics minister under the current president, Alfredo Palacio. Many feel Correa was forced to resign his previous post under pressure from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF, they say, disliked his strong defense of meeting human needs and the preservation of the public sector, and his rejection of a “free trade” agreement with the United States. <br /><br /> Meanwhile, Noboa, a millionaire banana tycoon and Ecuador’s richest man, has charged election fraud and plans to request a recount. However, the Organization of American States, which monitored the election, said balloting took place normally and in an exemplary way. <br /><br /> Ecuador’s next president will have to contend with a powerful grassroots social movement. This anti-capitalist, continent-wide, workers’ and indigenous peoples’ movement is comprised of groups such as the indigenous movement Pachakutik, which has allowed only three presidents to serve out full terms since 1979. <br /><br /> In April 2005 Alfredo Palacio took over power from Lucio Gutierrez, one of three consecutive presidents who have recently had to resign because of popular protests against neoliberal policies. Ecuador has had eight presidents in 10 years. <br /><br /> Class antagonisms, mass emigration, recession, press censorship, high inflation, oil workers’ strikes, racial strife and the replacement of the national currency with the U.S. dollar have made Ecuador the scene of political turmoil. <br /><br /> With over 80 percent of Ecuadorians living in poverty and much of Ecuador’s resources in foreign hands, attempts at wide-scale privatization of public social services and the planned free trade agreement with the U.S. have met resolute opposition. Successive governments supporting these positions have been forced on many occasions to back down or cede ground. <br /><br /> Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a supporter of Correa, said, “After many years of divisive social and economic policy, policy that has provoked the tragedy of despair, of wide-scale emigration — hope could not be robbed from us, for [today] we have overcome.” <br /><br /> Correa ran on a platform of Ecuadorian sovereignty and regional integration. His Alianza País party, which has signed an alliance pact with the Ecuadorian Socialist Party, has called Ecuador’s highly unpopular Congress a “cloaca,” or sewer, and has called for the writing of a new constitution “more in tune with the times.” <br /><br /> He has vowed to shut down the U.S. military base in Manta and has been quoted saying, “We can negotiate with the U.S. about a base in Manta, and if they let us put a military base in Miami, if there is no problem, we’ll accept.” <br /><br /> Another of his campaign themes is a call for a revision of Ecuador’s foreign-dominated oil industry, saying, “Many of the oil contracts are a true entrapment for the country. Of every five barrels of oil that the multinationals produce, they leave only one for the state and take four. … That is absolutely unacceptable. We’re going to revise and renegotiate the contracts.” <br /><br /> Correa has invited the Ecuadorian citizenry to “unite with this change ... to work to overcome 20 years of the long, sad neoliberalist night that has damaged us so.” <br /><br /> Indeed it is Correa who must unite with and represent the powerful Ecuadorian social movements and the people’s will if he is to avoid a dark fate similar to his predecessors. For as Bolivia’s Evo Morales has said of Latin America, “The time of dignity for the people has come.”</p> Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:45:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/leftist-correa-claims-victory-in-ecuador/ http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/ <p>NEW YORK: Police kill groom in hail of bullets<br /><br /> The families of Sean Bell and Nicole Paultre had been looking forward to dancing at their wedding, Nov. 25. Instead they stood with hundreds of their neighbors in grief and anger protesting the police killing of Bell, 23, that very morning. <br /><br /> Bell left his bachelor party at a cabaret with four friends at 4 a.m. Trini Wright, a dancer at the club, was going to a diner with the men, putting her make-up bag in the trunk of the car, when “the [unmarked police] minivan came around the corner and smashed into their car,” she told the New York Daily News. “And they [plainclothes police] jumped out shooting. No ‘stop.’ No ‘freeze.’ No nothing.” <br /><br /> Police fired over 50 bullets at the unarmed group, fatally hitting Bell twice, wounding Joseph Guzman 11 times and hitting Trent Benefield with three bullets — all three African Americans. One officer fired his gun 31 times. Guzman remains in critical condition and Benefield is in stable condition. Both men were shackled to their hospital beds. Their car had 21 bullet holes. Police bullets shattered windows in a nearby train station and residents’ homes. Two transit police were injured by flying glass. <br /><br /> “We cannot allow this to continue to happen,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, spokesman for the Bell family. “We’ve got to understand that all of us were in that car.” <br /><br /> Five police officers were placed on paid administrative leave and stripped of their guns. An investigation is under way. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly met with community leaders on Nov. 27. <br /><br /><br /><br />AROUND THE NATION: NOW leaders elected to office<br /><br /> As the smoke continues to clear following the firestorm that hit the GOP Nov. 7, big changes are under way at the state level, especially regarding reproductive rights. <br /><br /> Susan Chew, Idaho National Organization for Women president, became the first Chinese-American ever elected to the state Legislature. <br /><br /> Freeport, Maine, voters sent NOW national board member Beth Edmonds back to the state Senate for her fourth term. She currently serves as the Senate’s president. <br /><br /> NARAL-Pro Choice’s public policy director and former NOW state president, Sue Errington, will represent Muncie, Ind., in the state Senate. <br /><br /> Anne Gannon, former NOW Florida state president, won her first countywide election in Palm Beach County and will take her seat as tax collector in January. <br /><br /> Terry Schooley, former NOW Delaware state president, is taking women’s and children’s issues to the state House representing Newark residents. <br /><br /> Birmingham, Ala., voters elected former NOW national staffer Patricia Todd the first openly LGBT member of the state House. <br /><br /> In Maryland, NOW Mid-Atlantic Region Director Duchy Trachtenberg won election to the Montgomery County Council as a representative at-large. <br /><br /> Cathy Webb, who served as NOW’s national secretary and president of Arkansas Stonewall Democrats, was elected to the Arkansas Legislature, becoming the first openly LGBT person to sit in that chamber. <br /><br /> The U.S. ranks 22nd among 115 countries in electing women to office, according to a recent World Economic Forum report. <br /><br /><br /><br />MAMARONECK, N.Y.: Court rules town discriminated against Latinos<br /><br /> Although she did not hand down a remedy, Federal Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that the village of Mamaroneck, about 25 miles north of New York City, routinely violated the civil rights of Latin American workers. Workers and Mamaroneck officials have until Dec. 6 to present the court with solutions to end the discrimination. <br /><br /> “Since August 2004, and continuing into this past summer, the defendants [Mamaroneck officials] have engaged in a campaign designed to drive out the Latino day laborers who gather on the streets of Mamaroneck to seek work,” Judge McMahon wrote. “The fact that the day laborers were Latinos, and not whites, was, at least in part, a motivating factor in the defendants’ actions.” <br /><br /> The village closed a hiring site and increased police patrols and checkpoints “only against persons who appeared to be interested in hiring day laborers,” the judge said. <br /><br /> “We’re very pleased,” said Cesar Perales, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which represented the workers. “The court found that indeed Mamaroneck had engaged in intentional discrimination and was motivated by racism.” <br /><br />National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696 @ aol.com).</p> Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:43:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/national-clips-25583/