People Before Profit blog

WE CAN STOP ALITO THIS WEEKEND

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 11:40:00 +0000

The last two days have been amazing.

Early Thursday afternoon, we broke the news that Senator John Kerry would lead a filibuster against Judge Sam Alito if he could get 41 Senators to sustain the filibuster. Three hours later, CNN confirmed our story.

Naturally, the White House freaked out and told Senator Bill Frist to schedule a cloture vote as quickly as possible - Monday at 4:30 p.m. - to prevent Democrats from uniting behind Kerry.

Then the White House called its media whores at the NY Times (David Kirkpatrick), AP (Jesse Holland), Pentagon Post (Charles Babington), CNN (Miles O'Brien), and MSNBC (Chris Matthews) and told them to trash John Kerry for daring to challenge the will of Emperor Bush, and to repeat over and over that Democrats did not have enough votes to stop Alito.

But even as Karl Rove was doing his dirty work, progressive activists like you were calling your Senators urging them to support John Kerry's filibuster.

And one by one, Democratic Senators began to turn around.

At the start of the day, only Dick Durbin and Debbie Stabenow supported Kerry and Kennedy. Just before noon, Hillary Clinton's office called to say she supported us. Then Harry Reid came on board, along with Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold, Ron Wyden, Chris Dodd, and (I think) Chuck Schumer.

Most importantly, we even picked up Dianne Feinstein, who just yesterday said she opposed a filibuster.

That's 12 votes for a filibuster - and exactly 12 more votes than we had two days ago! I believe we really can stop Alito by Monday at 4:30 p.m. - but here's what we must do. 1. Ignore the media whores. Karl Rove is feeding them lies as he always does, and they are swallowing those lies as they always do. The only media that matters is the media we are creating right here by calling each Senator and getting a YES or NO statement from them.

2. Keep calling the Senators who are undecided or opposed to a filibuster. You can call their DC office all weekend and leave polite but firm voicemails urging the Senators to support Kerry's filibuster. When offices open on Monday 9 a.m. ET, make another round of calls. Let's shut down the Capitol switchboard on Monday!

3. Call the DNC (202-863-8000) and the DSCC (202-224-2447) and tell them your 2006 contributions will depend on the success of the Alito filibuster. Tell them they need to get every Democratic Senator on board.

4. Wake up the sleeping bloggers. Where are the biggest blogs, including DailyKos.com, TalkingPointsMemo.com, CrooksandLiars.com, and AmericaBlog.com? (Complaining about how Democrats played last week won't cut it -we're in the Super Bowl and we can win this damn game if we get Democrats to play their best game on Monday - and hopefully the rest of this coming week.) Thanks to Agonist, BobGeiger, BradBlog, BuzzFlash, CultureKitchen, The Democratic Daily, DemocraticUnderground, Eschaton, Firedoglake, Mahablog, MakeThemAccountable, Mark Crispin Miller, NewsDissector, PoliticalWire, RudePundit, Vichy Democrats and everyone else who's plugging this.

5. Lend a hand to real-world groups like NOW, People for the American Way, Feminist Majority, Backbone Campaign, Moveon, Planned Parenthood, Progressive Democrats of America, and Working Assets Long Distance, which have worked tirelessly for two months to Stop Alito.

6. Call talk shows like Air America, C-SPAN, etc. and talk about what we're doing on this blog and how we're killing ourselves to stop Alito - and how we can win if everyone who cares about the future of our Democracy joins us . 7. Keep hope alive - because American Democracy is worth it!!!

http://democrats.com/alito-48

Memorial honors labor organizer, professor Clinton Jencks

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:38:00 +0000

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A memorial tribute here Jan. 8 celebrated the life of legendary labor organizer Clinton Jencks, who died in San Diego Dec. 15 at the age of 87.

Jencks, an international representative of the Amalgamated Bayard District Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers in New Mexico, helped lead the largely Latino union in a 15-month strike against Empire Zinc Co. that began in 1950. The strike became the subject of the classic film, “Salt of the Earth.”

During the McCarthy era Jencks was convicted of falsely swearing a non-Communist affidavit required of union officials at the time under the Taft-Hartley Act. In a landmark 1957 case, the Supreme Court reversed his five-year prison sentence, ordering the government to give defense attorneys statements by the prosecution. When the FBI refused to comply, prosecutors had to dismiss the case. The Department of Justice later cited this ruling as a reason to abandon anti-Communist prosecutions under the Smith Act.

Among speakers at the memorial tribute was San Diego Congressman Bob Filner, who said Jencks was a colleague and friend, and a steadfast defender of workers’ rights when they were both San Diego State University professors. Jencks, who taught there from 1964 until he retired, represented the union on the San Diego and Imperial County Central Labor Council for many years.

Jencks’ widow, Muriel Sobelman-Jencks, recalled her husband’s remark that he “taught economics as if people mattered.” She added that they both “believed that the so-called war on terrorism has become a war on the whole world, eroding our hard-won freedoms,” and viewed it as “more damaging and far-reaching than the hysterical climate of the McCarthy period.” Both felt that “nonviolent solutions and a better world are possible,” she said.

“It is with great sadness that we learned about the death of Clinton Jencks,” said a letter from an auto workers’ local in Canada, read at the tribute. “Clinton Jencks, along with Joe Hill, are unabashed heroes in unionism. Mine Mill Local 598 out of Sudbury, Ontario, is the last remaining Mine Mill and Smelter Workers local in North America and we proudly carry on the legacy of Joe Hill and Clinton Jencks.”

Calling Jencks a true egalitarian, National Lawyers Guild President-elect Marjorie Cohn quoted his observation, “We can have individual dignity only when we all have dignity.”

San Diego teacher Ramon Espinal, a leader in the teachers union and in the city’s Cuba solidarity movement, spoke of Jencks as a believer in the right of all nations to choose their own leaders and system of government.

As the tribute ended, all present joined together in singing “The Internationale,” the world-famous song of workers’ solidarity.

In a ZNet obituary, Marjorie Cohn quoted Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, as saying Jencks’ “life was one of extraordinary bravery. He was a pioneer, such a leader in an organization of mostly Spanish-speaking people. He earned everyone’s respect.”

Cohn wrote, “Jencks said his work ‘concentrated at an intersection of several important struggles’ — the proliferation of union organization after the Great Depression and World War II, and the new struggles of Mexican American workers and of women.”

She quoted Lorenzo and Anita Torrez, who walked the picket line with Jencks during the strike at Empire Zinc: “Clinton’s contribution has not been matched since then. The coalition work which resulted from his leadership was a phenomenal improvement from the past and still is present.” In a recent letter, Lorenzo Torrez stressed Jencks’ personal courage and tenacity in the fight to defend workers’ and constitutional rights.

“Salt of the Earth,” produced by blacklisted filmmakers on a shoestring budget with few professional actors, featured strikers, including Jencks, portraying themselves. At the time, pressure from the witch-hunt House Un-American Activities Committee and others kept theaters across the country from showing the film. Now Salt of the Earth is one of 100 films selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry, and is one of the most widely viewed films around the world.

Armando Ramirez contributed to this story.

Letters

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:09:00 +0000

Excellent review Carolyn Rummel’s review of “Brokeback Mountain” (PWW 1/14-20) was excellent. You really got a feel for the flow and meaning of the film. I would add that this was made possible by a great director, Ang Lee, and based on the amazing screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, both also producers of the film. They really brought Annie Proulx’s short story to life. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto captured the many feelings and stresses of the film. Many musicians were associated with the movie, led by Gustavo Santaollala, the music producer and lead guitarist. The music of Steve Earle, Emmy Lou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, the Allman Brothers, Merle Haggard, Rufus Wainwright, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson were integrated into the film. “Brokeback Mountain” is gem in a sea of gems that make up an incredible number of progressive movies in 2005.

Eric Green New York NY

Sharing vs. destruction Though the times seem quite similar to 1965 with its quagmire of Vietnam being repeated in the quagmire of Iraq, they are different. Politics is not a pendulum swinging back and forth from left to right but rather a spiral where events return to the same place on the helix but at a higher level because humanists learn from previous experience. The root solution lies in systems of thought. There are two opposing philosophies: the philosophy of sharing the planet versus that of conquering it. In the United States, this dichotomy is most vividly expressed in religious terms. Dr. Martin Luther King, who followed Jesus, shared, while a succession of self-proclaimed Christian imperialist presidents have tried to conquer the world. When sharing the earth becomes the worldwide philosophy there will be peace, prosperity, good and long life everywhere.

William Bunge Montreal, Canada

Help with Robeson exhibit The exhibit, “Paul Robeson: The Tallest Tree in Our Forest,” will take place April 8 through July 1 at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland. As the curator of this exhibit, the Bay Area Paul Robeson Centennial Committee appeals to PWW readers for assistance in acquiring more memorabilia than we currently have. We believe that many people have things stored away in their attics, basements or garages, and we’re trying to ferret them out. Robeson memorabilia can include: publicity leaflets and printed programs from his appearances; photographs, posters, artwork; original newspapers or periodicals with articles by him, pamphlets, correspondence; audio recordings and film footage of him (other than those produced commercially); costumes and stage props used by him; an autographed copy of “Here I Stand.” Do you have any such items that you would consider donating to our collection? Please contact us: research@bayarearobeson.org. Donors will be credited for items displayed. Any material you can provide will be an important contribution to our mission of helping to restore Paul Robeson to his rightful place in history and making his life and legacy more accessible to the public, especially the youth.

Bonnie Weiss Via e-mail

Bonnie Weiss is director of research and archives for the Bay Area Paul Robeson Centennial Committee.

Vietnam’s growth not about capitalism I read with interest Bob Wing’s article on Vietnam (PWW 1/21-27). For the most part I liked it. The reason that Vietnam is doing so well now has not so much to do with ideology and everything to do with the fact that it is not fighting a war. This 30-year stretch is the longest stretch in over 1,000 years when Vietnam has been left to its own devices. The new-found success cannot be attributed to capitalism alone. Vietnam is doing well simply because nobody is fighting Vietnam — capitalism and “doi moi” is a sideshow in all of this. Vietnam was further damaged after the war when sanctions were directed at it because it invaded Cambodia — despite the fact that it was the Vietnamese that saw off the murderous Khmer Rouge.

Steve Jackson Hanoi, Vietnam Steve Jackson works for a non-governmental organization in Vietnam and writes a blog: ourmaninhanoi.blogspot.com.

Health care is a right The Brian King opinion piece “‘Health care is a right’ — strong and simple” (PWW 1/21-27) is indeed a breath of fresh air. When he said, as a retired union steward, that he “believed the main element lacking in the health care reform movement was the participation of everyday people,” he hit the nail directly on the head. A 69 percent vote in Seattle makes it very clear what everyday people want. In Philadelphia, the people voted overwhelmingly for the Philadelphia Plan, which also makes health care a right. Soon, the people of Massachusetts will be voting on a constitutional amendment for the same cause. The recent statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney moves in the same direction. We need to spread the widest net possible to send the sharpest message to all candidates running for Congress in 2006: “Health care is a right.” Period.

Phil E. Benjamin Brooklyn NY

Rights of airport workers Airline employees and their contractors have a law that protects them when they speak out on aviation safety/security issues. However local government airport maintenance employees who work at America’s 450 FAA towered airports do not have this protection. If they are caught speaking out on such issues they can be retaliated against for doing so. What can be done so that these workers can have the same protection as airline employees? Should airport maintenance employees report unsecured doors, gates and areas? Without this protection local government airport maintenance employees will be afraid to report any unsecured entrances/exits or other potential safety/security violations if they think a heavy handed management will retaliate against them for speaking out. If one has a union or the courts to go to that can take years to fight for one’s job back while being out of work. So an employee can just turn the other way, pretend not to see anything. But where does that leave the airline transportation industry?

John Suter Via e-mail

Miami spy case seen as political ploy

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:01:00 +0000

On Jan. 6, federal authorities arrested husband and wife Carlos Alvarez and Elsa Prieto, professors at Miami’s Florida International University (FIU). Proponents of dialogue between Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits, the couple frequently take student groups to Cuba. Alvarez, 61, is an associate professor of educational leadership. Prieto, 55, is a coordinator for the university’s counseling program.

Prosecutors accuse the two of providing the Cuban government with information on anti-Cuban organizations in Miami. They are charged with failing to register as agents of a foreign government, and face 10-year jail terms plus fines.

The FBI questioned them in June 2005, but authorities made no moves against them for six months. Now U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrea Simonton has ordered them held without bail because of a presumed risk of flight to Cuba.

The pair has reportedly been kept in solitary confinement at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. No bail hearing or trial date has been set.

Alvarez and Prieto have five children, and Prieto is responsible for care of her 80-year-old parents.

Miami news media are feeding an atmosphere of prejudice against the two, terming them “spies” although no evidence has been presented that they communicated military or other government data to Cuba.

Prosecutors say Alvarez confessed to “contacts with the Cuban government.” In a widely publicized comment, prosecutor Alexander Acosta asserted, “Whenever spies transmit any type of information to the Cuban Government, there is danger for the United States.”

According to a local television station, Acosta said Alvarez “further abused our trust and betrayed our community by coordinating and leading a student exchange program to Cuba, where the opportunity to further manipulate and indoctrinate students was possible.”

Reacting to the charges, FIU Professor Lisandro Perez told the Miami Herald, ‘‘It sort of revives the argument that the talking, the dialogue, the academic exchanges with Cuba, which the so-called left has promoted, should not be supported. … It gives greater ammunition to that argument.”

Alvarez’ lawyer Steven Chaykin noted that the information the couple was dealing with “was at public disposal to anyone in the South Florida community. We have yet to see if one can be labeled an ‘agent’ if their only crime is the exchange of public information, and if so, this becomes a case against the right to freedom of speech.”

Andres Gomez, a Cuba solidarity activist in Miami, believes the arrests are aimed at intimidating moderate Cuban Americans. Also in the mix, he says, are the prosecutor’s political ambitions and a power play at the university by right-wing Cubans.

Gomez says U.S. officials may have made the arrests to placate right-wing Cubans enraged by the jailing of millionaire Santiago Alvarez, a protector of Cuban exile terrorist Luis Posada Carilles, on charges of illegally harboring terrorist weapons.

Miami attorney Amaury Cruz says the U.S. government may be seeking to influence judges presently hearing the appeals of the Cuban Five, suggesting to the judges that “Cuban agents” are ubiquitous in Miami.

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:29:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif.: Dellums seeks ‘model city’

Participants from many East Bay community and labor organizations gathered for the Socially Responsible Network’s 2006 kick-off Jan. 21 and heard former Congressman Ronald V. Dellums deliver a ringing vision of Oakland’s future as a model city.

“Oakland — it’s the city of the future of America,” Dellums, who is now running for mayor, told the audience at the city’s First Presbyterian Church. “It’s probably the most diverse city in the nation,” he said. “Black, white, Latino, Asian, African, Middle Eastern — we’re all here. Let’s embrace the brilliance of our diversity.”

Citing good jobs, universal health care, quality education and affordable housing as elements in the struggle against poverty, Dellums told the crowd, “If we come together, begin to think these things out, we can begin to bring pressure, not just at the city level, but to the state and others.”

Emphasizing that governing involves taking daily responsibility for practical issues, Dellums said the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita “blew into everyone’s living room that poverty exists in America.” He challenged the audience, “Join in helping us try to eradicate poverty!”

The program also featured a discussion on the network’s next steps, by panelists including Alameda County Central Labor Council head Sharon Cornu, James Rucker of ColorOfChange, and youth activist President Davis.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: Bring the troops home

For two weeks, 22 reporters from the Birmingham News, the state’s largest newspaper, fanned out and interviewed 192 people in every county in the state to see what was on their minds. Although not a scientific poll, the results indicated that almost 66 percent said the Iraq war was their biggest worry, had gone on long enough and it was time to bring U.S. troops home.

Other issues Alabamans were concerned about included the cost of gasoline and heating, health care, underemployment, education and the dimming prospects for retirement. Immigration ranked high on their list as well.

TRENTON, N.J.: State declares moratorium on executions

New Jersey became the first state in the country to suspend executions by legislative action. On Jan. 9 the General Assembly, the lower house, voted 55-21 to halt all executions until an independent bipartisan commission submits a report focusing on racism and flaws in the death penalty system. Earlier, the state Senate voted 30-6 for the same thing. Gov. Richard J. Codey signed bill into law Jan. 12.

“By any measure, the death penalty has failed the people of New Jersey,” said Celeste Fitzgerald, director of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the coalition that spearheaded the grassroots campaign for the law’s passage. “[They] have come to know that it risks executing the innocent, is unfairly applied, fails victims’ families and law enforcement.”

The new law creates a 13-member commission to examine racial and geographic bias, cost, risk of wrongful execution and alternatives to the death penalty. Their report is due by Nov. 15.

The New Jersey Policy Institute estimates that the state has spent $253 million to enforce the death penalty since 1982. “That’s more than $10 million every year we’re not investing to hire police officers, help families, help victims or anything else,” Fitzgerald said.

TAMPA, Fla.: DNA frees man after 24 years in prison

Alan Crotzer, 45, was sentenced to 130 years for the crimes of rape and robbery, but after DNA evidence was presented to the court, he walked out a free man, having served 24 years in prison. Crotzer was convicted on eyewitness testimony in 1981. DNA has cleared 172 people since 1989, including some sentenced to the death penalty, according the Innocence Project.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: Bring the troops home

For two weeks, 22 reporters from the Birmingham News, the largest newspaper in the state, fanned out and interviewed 192 people in every county to see what was on their minds. Although not a scientific poll, the results indicated that almost 66 percent said the Iraq war was their biggest worry, had gone on long enough and it was time to bring U.S. troops home.

Among other issues Alabamans are concerned about is the cost of gasoline and heating, health care, underemployment, education and the dimming prospects for retirement. Immigration ranked high on their list as well.

RIVERSIDE, Calif.: Fighting for clean air

Going to Riverside-San Bernardino area? Don’t breathe the air. This metropolitan area has the highest concentration of toxic particles from diesel soot and other sources in the country. Scientists have linked the particles to heart disease, cancer, stunted lung growth in children and premature death.

According to a study by Environment California Research and Policy Center (ECRPC), six of the 10 areas in the country with the worst air are in California, starting with Riverside-San Bernardino and including Los Angeles, Bakersfield and several agricultural communities in the Central Valley.

In December, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed looser air standards. The ECRPC is leading the fight to not only halt Bush administration proposals, but for stricter air quality standards. The EPA is gathering public comment and a decision is expected in September. “They are clearly protecting the polluters at the expense of public health,” said Moira Chapin, an associate with the environmental center.

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696@aol.com). Terrie Albano and Marilyn Bechtel contributed to this week’s clips.

PTSD: Every Soldiers Personal WAR!

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:59:00 +0000

In the last month I have been working with Jay Shaft, the editor of Coalition For Free Thought in media, regarding my experiences in Iraq and since coming home from the war. We have only touched on some of the struggles of being a soldier, however we have not dug deeply into the personal war that Operation Iraqi Freedom has caused for returning soldiers. Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush do not want to reveal to the American people that this war is a personal war. They want to run the war like a business, and thus they refuse to show the personal sacrifices the soldiers and their families have made for this country.

My thought today is to help you the reader understand what happens to a soldier when they come home and the sacrifice we continue to make. This may be lengthy, it may be short; but no matter how long it is, just close your eyes and imagine a flag draped coffin.

Inside that coffin is the body of a man or woman who will never get to live their life to the fullest, yet they bore the total cost so that we could live free. Their soul is somewhere else and all we have is their memory which over time will be forgotten by other events of greater importance. The families of these soldiers have a hole in their hearts that will never be replaced, even though they have pictures and happy memories.

Some families will refuse to believe they are gone, but still their sons and daughters are the hero’s of a country that sent them to war. This war on terror has become a personal war for so many, yet the Bush Administration does not want journalists or families to photograph the only thing that is left of our soldiers who have died. They do not want the people to remember that image of a flag draped coffin as the last memory this country will ever have of our fallen men and woman.

They say that America will raise their voices and demand a stop to the war, but my question is why should we not show the results of war? For us as a country, we send these soldiers to war and we see their faces while they are alive. I say let their memories live on in every photo, even when they do come home in a flag draped coffin. Let their sacrifice be forever etched in the memory of America. We owe their families this at the very least.

All is not okay or right for those of us who return home alive and supposedly well. What looks like normalcy and readjustment is only an illusion to be revealed by time and torment. Some soldiers come home missing limbs and other parts of their bodies. Still others will live with permanent scars from horrific events that no one other than those who served will ever understand.

We come home from war trying to put our lives back together but some cannot stand the memories and decide that death is better. They kill themselves because they are so haunted by seeing children killed and whole families wiped out.

They ask themselves how you put a price tag on someone else’s life? The question goes unanswered as they become another casualty of the war. Hero’s become another statistic to America and they are another little article relegated to the back of a newspaper.

Still others come home to nothing, families have abandoned them: husbands and wives have left these soldiers, and so have parents as well. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has become the norm amongst these soldiers because they don’t know how to cope with returning to a society that will never understand what they have had to endure to liberate another country.

PTSD comes in many forms not understood by many: but yet if a soldier has it, America thinks the soldiers are crazy. PTSD comes in the form of depression, anger, regret, being confrontational, anxiety, chronic pain, compulsion, delusions, grief, guilt, dependence, loneliness, sleep disorders, suspiciousness/paranoia, low self-esteem and so many other things.

We are easily startled with a loud bang or noise and can be found ducking for cover when we get panicked. This is a result of artillery rounds going off in a combat zone, or an IED blowing up.

I myself have trouble coping with an everyday routine that deals with other people that often causes me to have a short fuse. A lot of soldiers lose multiple jobs just because they are trained to be killers and they have lived in an environment that is conducive to that. We are always on guard for our safety and that of our comrades. When you go to bed at night you wonder will you be sent home in a flag draped coffin because a mortar round went off on your sleeping area.

Soldiers live in deplorable conditions where burning your own feces is the order of the day. Where going days on end with no shower and the uniform you wear gets so crusty it sometimes sticks to your body becomes a common occurrence. We also deal with rationing water or even food for that matter. So when a soldier comes home to what they left they are unsure of what to do being in a civilized world again.

This is what PTSD comes in the shape of—soldiers cannot often handle coming back to the same world they left behind. It is something that drives soldiers over the edge and causes them to withdraw from society. As Americans we turn our nose down at them wondering why they act the way they do. Who cares about them, why should we help them?

Talk show hosts like Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and so many others act like they know all about war; then they refuse to give any credence to soldiers like me who have been to war and seen the brutality of war. These guys are nothing but WEAK SPINELESS COWARDS hiding behind microphones while soldiers come home and are losing everything they have.

There needs to be a National awareness for every Veteran who has ever served in any war. Send e-mails to the Big Mouths on TV and ask them to have soldiers like me on their programs. I am asking you as Americans to BOYCOTT every TV show or host/journalist that refuses to tell the real truth.

THIS IS A PERSONAL CHALLENGE TO BILL, SEAN AND RUSH TO HAVE ME ON YOUR PROGRAM TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. Otherwise you are nothing but dirt under every soldier’s boots!

Letters

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:39:00 +0000

Got it right

My wife and I were sad, after reading and listening to the corporate media, that the New York transit workers had lost their strike. It took the People’s Weekly World to get it right and inform us of the gains made in their contract. Thank you for being an honest source of working-class information.

Karl Dennis Tucson AZ

The word ‘war’

They continue to abuse, violate and murder, all under the justification they like to call “war.” Since 9/11 every question as to what right they have, the answer is always “because we are at war.” It has always been a convenient scam used by the rich and powerful.

The Minneapolis Police Department could not blow up a car full of citizens that did not stop at a stop sign. But in Iraq where we have the power of defining everything — it’s war — for some reason we get to make the call, and in war it is acceptable to blow up a car full of civilians if it does not stop.

“In war there will be suffering,” said Bush when asked about a pickup truck filled with women and children, all killed by the U.S. military when their vehicle did not stop at a checkpoint. How convenient for Bush to have the word “war” at his disposal. Bush says it, most Americans know it is just a word game, yet most are willing to play along. War is the free pass to pull this madness into normalcy. This is normal human activity, this is what we do, it’s war.

Only a lazy mind and hardened heart will accept this. At what point did it become acceptable to murder thousands of people simply because it is defined as war?

Frank Erikson Minneapolis MN

Grandmother’s legacy

I would like to relay this to Bill Jones, who asked if Hattie Lumpkin (PWW 7/10-16/04) was active in her church and did the Communist Party give her a problem about it.

Hattie, or Muh as we used to call her, was my grandmother and I remember years of sitting on her lap and eating ice cream on Watson Street in Buffalo. As far as the church, I’m not sure, and I’m not sure what influence the church may or may not have had on any of her 10 children. I can tell you this: My father, who is number 8 of her 10 children, just celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary with my mother. We had a great celebration in Cleveland in December, and when the announcement comes out in the paper, I’d like to send you a copy.

I said all that to say this: Whatever religious influence my grandmother had on her children, she and my grandfather Elmo taught them how to make a marriage last!

Wanda Lewis Via e-mail

Einstein’s politics

The recent welcome article on Marxism and science by John Pappademos (PWW 1/7-13) discussed in passing the progressive political views of Einstein. In the summer of 2005, a large exhibition in Berlin marking the centenary of Einstein’s famous scientific papers on relativity also emphasized this aspect of his life. Particularly impressive was an entire room bathed in pink light, featuring excerpts from his FBI file, and including copies of letters from “patriotic” Americans who spied on him voluntarily.

Fred Whitehead Kansas City KS

Unscientific?

It is important for Marxists seeking to show that “the ideas of dialectics permeate all of physics” to get their physics right. Unfortunately this is not the case with the recent article by John Pappademos.

Pappademos gives as an example “the motion of planets, comets and asteroids” around the sun. He states that these bodies travel in circles as a result of a balance between the sun’s gravity and “the centrifugal force.” But these bodies do not travel in circles and there is no such thing as a “centrifugal force.”

Johannes Kepler discovered in 1601 that the path of bodies around the sun is in the shape of an ellipse, contrary to the Ptolemaic science of the time which insisted that circles were the only proper path for “heavenly” bodies. In 1689 Isaac Newton showed that the elliptical orbits could be explained on the basis of a single force, gravity. According to Newton’s theory the normal path of a body due to its inertia is a straight line tangential to the orbit, but the sun’s gravity causes the body to “fall” into orbit. His theory showed that this “falling” was governed by exactly the same equations that described the falling of bodies, such as apples, to the earth.

Newton’s theory of gravity stood unchallenged until 1915 when Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity and demonstrated that the Newtonian theory was slightly inaccurate in normal situations and would break down in situations involving large masses or speeds close to the speed of light.

According to General Relativity, “gravity” is the distortion of space (actually spacetime) by mass and energy. Bodies in motion travel in the shortest possible paths along the contours of this distortion. The ellipse described by the orbit of Mercury is itself rotating around the sun in accordance with Einstein’s equations. This rotation of Mercury’s orbit had previously been known but could not be fully explained with Newtonian gravity.

Just as Engels’ “Dialectics of Nature” was based on the great scientific breakthroughs of the late 19th century, the powerful theory of dialectical materialism must be continually tested against ongoing scientific discoveries.

Rick Nagin Cleveland OH

John Pappademos responds:

I did not say that the planets, asteroids and other satellites of the sun travel in circles. I was trying to give an example of how the qualitative change from a body moving with arbitrary velocity to capture into a simple circular orbit results from the cancellation of two opposing tendencies.

As far as “there is no such thing” as a centrifugal force, it depends on which frame of reference you have in mind. In the frame of reference in which the body is rotating, it is true there is “no such thing” as a centrifugal force. But in the frame of reference of the rotating body itself, the centrifugal force is entirely real, as anyone who has been a passenger in a car turning a corner at high speed can attest to.

I agree that perhaps it was a bad example, coming so soon after talking about the planets; they move in elliptical orbits, as Kepler first proved.

I would urge that readers address the whole of the article, instead of concentrating on one poor example.

A political travelogue of Vietnam

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:21:00 +0000

“Vietnam is a country, not a war.”

I now understand that better than ever. But I must admit I was excited to visit Vietnam this November, mostly because the war, and its opposition, had re-shaped forever my young life in the 1960s.

I was moved, often to tears, by My Lai, the War Remnants Museum, the Cu Chi Tunnels and other war sites. I had the privilege of meeting former Vice President Madame Nguyen Thi Binh and other leaders of the campaign for justice for the Agent Orange victims of what the Vietnamese call the American phase of their 100-year war for independence.

But when I left the country 17 days later, I found myself most struck by the many forms of beauty of Vietnam and by the bustling energy, optimism and sense of purpose of its people as they struggle to improve their lives in one of the world’s poorest countries.

And I am still wondering where they hide the uniformed armed men that menace the populace of most countries. Although I moved in and out of at least a dozen high governmental and party buildings and visited Vietnam’s most precious tombs and temples, the armed presence was almost non-existent.

Tunneling to victory

I made an emotional visit to My Lai, site of the most famous U.S. massacre of the war. Pham Thanh Cong, director of the My Lai Museum, told me he was one of only 10 people who survived the senseless U.S. slaughter of more than 500 unarmed villagers on March 16, 1968.

He recounted how U.S. troops corralled his family in a cave and then cold-bloodedly executed his parents, grandparents and siblings. To this day he wonders whether he was spared only because his traumatized 10-year-old figure was hidden by the shadows.

A visit to the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels jolts the conscience of even the most jaded tourist, especially if guided by Mr. Binh of Delta Tours. During the war, Mr. Binh fought for the U.S. as a member of our Coast Guard in and around Saigon. Thirty years later, he curses his (and the U.S.’s) “stupidity” and now passionately, and in detail, debunks U.S. war propaganda and the Lonely Planet guidebook’s distortions to all who will listen.

The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City documents in horrific detail the effects of the barbaric U.S. war strategy on the Vietnamese people. At the museum I had a chance encounter with Ms. Huynh Thi Kieu Thu, who as a teenage fighter was savagely tortured and jailed in the infamous prison on Con Dao Island for 10 years. And in private conversations I learned that almost half of the officials I had meetings with had also been jailed or tortured.

By contrast, the Cu Chi tunnels are a testament to the creativity, mass support and extraordinary determination of the Vietnamese revolutionaries. The hand-dug, 250-kilometer tunnel system provided infiltration and escape routes, and enabled the National Liberation Front to coordinate its work throughout the Saigon area.

The Vietnamese began surreptitiously digging the tunnels during the fight against the French in the late 1940s. By the 1960s their painstaking labor had created a vast three-tiered mosaic of tunnels that zigzagged from the outskirts of Saigon to the Cambodian border, even plunging into and under the Saigon River.

They contained hundreds of hidden entryways, dozens of kitchens and barracks, clothing and weapons workshops, and even emergency clinics.

The tunnels were so intricately engineered that kitchen smoke was vented far away to disguise the tunnels. Deadly booby traps, sudden drops and numerous dead ends prevented enemy troops from discovering the extent and purpose of the tunnels for decades.

The tunnels were undoubtedly the product of the labor of thousands of people. Many thousands more poured through them to launch the stunning 1968 Tet Offensive in which the NLF temporarily occupied the U.S. embassy in Saigon.

Yet even after Tet the tunnels remained a tightly held secret; amazingly it was not until the early 1970s that the U.S. discovered their existence. After many unsuccessful attempts to destroy the tunnels, the U.S. vengefully turned Cu Chi into what experts have called “the most bombed, shelled, gassed, defoliated and generally devastated area in the history of warfare.”

But by then it was too late: the defeated U.S. troops were already quitting the country.

Rapid growth

The U.S. war on Vietnam lives on in the continued horrors caused by the massive use of chemicals like Agent Orange (dioxin). Madame Binh told me that 3 million Vietnamese still suffer its effects. Scientists say its ghastly harm will be inherited for at least two or three more generations.

Vietnamese victims recently filed a U.S. suit against the chemical companies that produced Agent Orange. See www.vn-agentorange.org.

But the main effect of the war is found in the determined effort of Vietnamese to improve their lives. Indeed 100 years of continuous war from 1880 to 1980 left this once prosperous country in dire straits. Its per capita income of $550 is less than the poverty benchmark of $2 per day and ranks Vietnam 164th out of 208 countries.

The good news is that Vietnam has made great strides over the last 10 years, achieving one of the highest growth rates in the world. The brisk economic energy of daily life is unmistakable throughout the country, with the exception of some mountain communities.

While the Asian financial crisis of 1997 sent the rest of Southeast Asia spiraling into negative growth, Vietnam has expanded at a 7-8 percent clip. Communist Party representatives suggested this should give second thoughts to those who simplistically believe that Vietnam’s adoption of a market strategy means that it is now capitalist.

And this is no barracks style of development. Vietnam brims with beautiful French colonial buildings and houses, stylish modern structures and traditional Vietnamese architecture. The vivid, multi-colored facades of the French-influenced buildings are positively entrancing, from the majestic Hotel de Ville (now the People’s Committee) in Ho Chi Minh City and the stunning Opera House in Hanoi, to the thousands of gorgeous homes sprouting throughout the country.

Vietnam is also replete with ancient temples and tombs. Hue is the traditional capital of Vietnam and its royal sites are magnificent. The beautiful Old Town of Hoi An is so precious that the United Nations has designated it a UNESCO World Heritage site. The country also boasts world-class beaches and breathtaking trekking areas.

Thousands of art galleries displaying (and purveying) exquisite contemporary Vietnamese painting, and the delectable Vietnamese cuisine, add to the sensory delight.

No socialist model

To the tourist, Vietnam feels like a purely capitalist country swarming with hawking merchants, restaurants, hotels, drivers and tour agencies. I found it infinitely easier to use a credit card in Vietnam than in Italy.

But in fact, the development of the tourist industry is a state-planned priority. It is no accident that the standard of hotels and restaurants is extraordinary (even compared with the U.S.) and that every dinky hotel can arrange more transportation and tours than a five-star hotel in the West — and even charge it to your hotel bill.

A central committee representative told me that individual enterprises now account for about 40 percent of the economy and that both the Vietnamese and foreign capitalist sectors are growing, but that the state owns or controls the main industries and arteries.

Faced with bankruptcy and even starvation, the Vietnamese government scrapped the Soviet-style centrally planned system in 1986 and commenced “Doi Moi” (renewal). Some officials privately told me that they no longer believe there is a “socialist model” let alone a “socialist system,” only “socialist objectives.”

And even these objectives, they say, can only be achieved based on the level of development attained by Vietnam in a world dominated by capitalism. For example, in the 1990s Vietnam imposed modest entry fees starting with middle school, and limited free health care to the very poor and those who work for the state or state-owned companies.

Interestingly, I was told that one of the reasons for these fees was to raise the pay of doctors and teachers to stem their exodus into private business. Still, a cyclo driver in the tourist-infested old quarter of Hanoi logs about the same pay as a government official with a master’s degree, about $50-$75 per month.

I met numerous people, especially young women, who earned $20 per month to toil in restaurants and hotels for 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week. And income is much lower in the countryside, which is still home to the great majority of Vietnamese.

Yet Doi Moi has produced outstanding results over the past decade or more, and there is a palpable feeling of energy and optimism among the people of this beautiful country. Vietnam has greatly reduced poverty and recently won recognition for that achievement from the United Nations.

After 75 years of fighting the French, 20 years of battling the U.S., and five years of war with Pol Pot and then China, peace and development are the order of the day.

Vietnam is a (beautiful and developing) country, not (just) a war.

Bob Wing is an Oakland/Bay Area-based writer and activist who traveled the length of Vietnam in November 2005.

Cruz heads to Caracas World Social Forum

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:09:00 +0000

Since 2001 the World Social Forum has provided “an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neoliberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action” with thousands of participants from throughout the world.

This year the 6th World Social Forum will take place in three locations instead of one. We are sending Nuestro Mundo editor José A. Cruz to cover the Americas WSF in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 24-29. The two other WSF venues will be Bamako, Mali, and Karachi, Pakistan.

With an estimated 80,000 participants, the Caracas WSF will open with a “March Against Imperialism and War.” The forum will include more than 2,000 workshops, panel discussions and activities against the different aspects of corporate globalization, its impact on the peoples of the world, and pro-corporate neoliberal government policies.

The experience of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution and the participation of working-class and poor people through the neighborhood-based Bolivarian Circles in the running of Venezuelan society are expected to be much discussed during the WSF.

Cruz will be traveling with a U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange tour. After the WSF, the group will spend a few days in Colombia, where they are scheduled to meet with Colombian trade unionists.

While Cruz is away, we will publish two pages of Nuestro Mundo instead of three.

Letters

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 04:21:00 +0000

Free the Cuban 5

Next month’s court hearing on the case of the Cuban Five should draw attention from all organizations that support workers’ civil, human, legal and political rights. One principle of international law — the right to reasonable security free from external danger — applies regardless of political or ideological differences. No country in the world is safe from terrorism unless the same standards apply to all.

Allowing Luis Posada Carriles illegal entry into the United States is a cynical maneuver that maintains a double standard and sets a dual policy with respect to international relations. As a fugitive from justice, this international terrorist must be extradited to Venezuela to stand trial for his crimes. His presence establishes, in fact, the administration’s desire to destroy the Cuban Revolution.

Will homeland security mean witness protection for another killer by the U.S. government? Has the war against terrorism indeed become a war against democracy and civil and human rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution? The question everyone should ask is this: How long can five, innocent, patriotic heroes be unjustly incarcerated without due process?

Richard Grassl

Via e-mail

LabourStart contest

I was happy to see the banner linking your web site to the LabourStart “best web site” contest. I actually just voted for the PWW last time I was at Labourstart (www.labourstart.org), just before you put the banner up. So it was smart to let everyone else know to go do the same. Keep up the good ideas like this. And I really love the RSS feeds on both the headlines and especially the stories in the Online Extra section.

Good luck on the voting!

Brandon Slattery

Philadelphia PA

Workers for political office

Only workers can represent workers. I nominate the business agent of the New York transit workers union to be candidate for mayor of New York. Can I get a second on this motion?

I want 20 union workers in each state running for Congress in 2006. Every local union needs to nominate two rank-and-file members to run for the House or Senate. We can remove every businessman, lawyer, banker, etc., and replace them with union bus drivers, ironworkers, painters, electricians, carpenters, etc. — our kind of people, people that know us. People that are us.

Workers must step forward and take responsibility for ourselves. Do you think a rich banker is going to go out on a limb for union ironworkers? He will fight union and nonunion workers with every breath he takes.

It is time for workers to take office and rule.

Ray Beckworth

Ellaville GA

Postcards for impeachment

Now is the time to generate tremendous pressure on the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Bush. According to the Constitution, the House brings the impeachment action, and the Senate conducts the trial, so our main focus right now should be members of the House.

We should flood Congress with postcards calling for Bush’s impeachment. We should point out that he repeatedly lied to the people and to Congress about the justifications for going to war in Iraq; that, like Nixon three decades ago, he carried out an illegal wiretapping program against the people of this country; that he continues to support torture and other violations of international law; and that he has no remorse for any of these and intends to continue all of them.

These are serious offenses that constitute “high crimes and misdemeanors,” which — according to the Constitution — are grounds for impeachment. I urge you to support impeachment immediately. Our republic is at stake. I am counting on you!

Glen Anderson

Via e-mail

Easier way to pass the word?

It is hard to improve what is arguably the best newspaper in the country, but I will try: How about making it easier to electronically forward the web site pww.org. I tried to forward a recent issue, and did not see any convenient way to do it.

John Pappademos

Ferguson MO

Outrageous claim

I e-mailed the following message to the MSNBC Tucker Carlson show, “The Situation,” after an outrageous report by their very own MSNBC analyst that people with AIDS are being recruited to be suicide bombers. It aired Jan. 9. I encourage others to respond.

“I work at a health center that is an outpatient clinic for people with AIDS and HIV. I couldn’t believe the misinformation reported by the MSNBC analyst on your show saying that the terrorist group Al Qaeda is trying to recruit people with AIDS to be suicide bombers. This misinformation creates irrational fear and further divides people.

“Persons with AIDS are now living much longer and quite often die of medical conditions associated with old age like heart disease and not from AIDS. They have everything to live for. I have never met a population of people who appreciate and love life more than people with AIDS and HIV. I have worked with this population for over five years. These outrageous reports create fear and hysteria and contribute nothing to the struggle against terrorism.”

Eva Strobeck

Chicago IL

Unnecessary deaths

On Jan. 7 The New York Times published a front-page story discussing a secret Pentagon study which concluded that up to 80 percent of the 340 GIs who died in Iraq from wounds of the upper torso could have survived had they been wearing state-of-the-art armored vests. According to the Times, the Marine Corps didn’t order any of the upgraded vests until September 2005, when it finally ordered 28,800 sets for some of its troops. The Times also reported that, as of December 2005, the Marines had distributed only 2,200 sets of these improved vests in Iraq.

The Times quotes the secret study as follows: “As many as 42 percent of the Marines casualties who died from isolated torso injuries could have been prevented with improved protection in the areas surrounding the plated areas of the vest.” (A total of 526 Marines have been killed as of 1/7/06 in Iraq.)

It is tragic if young Marines are dying because their commanders didn’t commit the funds to provide them with the best protective gear money can buy. The money the Marines are spending to hunt down and prosecute 40-year AWOLs from the Vietnam War, like Cpl. Jerry Texiero, should instead be committed to providing better protection for our troops.

Tod Ensign

Director, Citizen Soldier

Via e-mail

Sharons stroke raises big question marks

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 04:12:00 +0000

Commentary

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a cerebral hemorrhage Jan. 4, resulting in a severe stroke. Paramedics rushed Sharon from his ranch in the Negev Desert to a Jerusalem hospital for life-saving surgery. Three operations later, things are not looking good for the gruff old general whom the West and Israel naively labeled “a man of peace.” At press time, Sharon’s condition remained stable but serious.

Pundits and analysts are already grabbing pen and pad to jot down their assessment. Many believe Sharon’s political career is over. Haaretz correspondent Aluf Benn stated, “Even if he does recover, he will have a very hard time convincing the public of his ability to serve four more years, after undergoing two strokes in two and a half weeks.”

YNet contributor Attila Somfalvi was more forthright: “Following the prime minister’s stroke, nothing will bring him back into the political game: Not the surging popularity, not the concern and aching heart of the public, and not even the waves of sympathy.”

Prior to the stroke, and despite fresh corruption charges against him, Sharon’s political career was strong as ever. He was running a one-man show going into the March 28 elections with his new Kadima (Forward) party. Major polls showed he was a shoo-in. Now the question becomes: Where is Israel headed?

On the right you have the hard-line Benjamin Netanyahu. The Likud strongman dished out harsh criticism of Sharon and his “timid” policies concerning the Occupied Territories. Netanyahu fervently objected (and resigned from his post under the Sharon administration) to the “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip. He holds tight the Likud principles: keep the illegal settlers in the Occupied Territories, expand settlements at full pace, continue the “Judaization” of Jerusalem and build the separation wall deep into Palestinian land.

On the left you have Amir Peretz, the underdog who beat out Shimon Peres to head the Labor Party. Peretz, a Moroccan Jew, has promised to focus on social justice, the eradication of poverty and the needs of the average Israeli. He also claims to be determined on a two-state solution as a resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and is seen, in Palestinian circles, as much more dovish than his colleagues in the Labor Party.

We mustn’t forget the possibility of another resurrection of Peres himself, the man in the middle, who has envied the premiership and has yet to win it legitimately. It is thought that the longtime politician, now a member of Sharon’s party, would be able to get a leg up through a strong Kadima victory, but one wonders if the movement will die before it ever gets off the ground.

Nevertheless, this is just the left, right and middle, with many others looking to fill the shoes of a man who dominated Israeli politics for many years. Time will tell what the Israeli public’s reaction will be and who they think should be the next leader of their state.

Many Palestinians remember Sharon for his role in the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civillians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, Lebanon, in 1982. They strongly associate him with current Israeli government policies of extrajudicial assassination, mass home demolitions and illegal annexation.

Everyone will be watching closely to see in what direction the Holy Land is headed.

Remi Kanazi (remroum@gmail.com) is a Palestinian American who writes for www.PoeticInjustice.net.

Letters

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 04:12:00 +0000

‘For the union makes us strong’

In the glow of the transit strike here, this is a quote I came across:

“Whatever the problem, your efforts will be crowned with success only if your union is sound and united. It takes planning, patience, vigilance and determination to win any struggle, regardless of the arena. Above all else, the membership must wholeheartedly believe in its organization and the role it can play in building a better world. We have learned that a labor union is not a gambling table; it is not a bingo game where you hit the jackpot once in a lifetime. Membership in a union is a way of life. Dues payment is not enough. You must attend meetings, prepare yourself for leadership. You must invest part of yourself.”

That was Mike Quill, founding president TWU (NYC).

And one from ILWU leader Harry Bridges:

“Ultimately the power of any union that serves as an instrumentality of the workers rests on the courage and conviction in its ranks. That is one fundamental truth that has not altered since 1934. Nor will it alter in times to come.”

Betty Smith

Astoria NY

Betty Smith is president of International Publishers (www.intpubnyc.com).

Straphanger stands in solidarity

The first day of the transit strike I did get to work, but it involved standing an hour in the cold waiting for the hospital shuttle van. I couldn’t feel my toes an hour later, even though I wore my warm fleece-lined boots.

Despite it all, I still stood with the workers. The sticking point was making the retirement age and benefits later for new workers. I’ve heard the reason this is such an issue is because transit workers do not have long life expectancies after retirement. All the years of working in dirty, moldy underground conditions take their toll, but apparently have not been documented enough to improve worker long-term safety. There are times that riding a bus or subway for a short time seems toxic, so to be in that environment all the time seems likely that it’s not healthy, even dangerous.

Also the Metropolitan Transit Authority refused to open their books. You cannot help but feel every time there’s an increase in the fare and they refuse to open their books to public scrutiny that money is being either stupidly wasted or greedily misused.

Carolyn Plummer

New York City NY

Bush has surprise guests

President Bush had surprise visitors at his carefully staged “photo-op” at Brooks Army Medical Center here on New Year’s Day. Police blocked off the entire hospital and military base to make sure that Bush’s love affair with his carefully selected audience was uninterrupted. But 20 protesters climbed through the weeds to make sure their signs were read and their chants were heard.

“End the war in Iraq” and “Bring our sons home” were popular themes. Passers-by in automobiles responded merrily to the “Honk if you are with us” sign. Texans for Peace apparently asked folks to come. Some of the protesters were veterans and/or had children currently in the military. TV and print media included the protests in their coverage.

Vivian Weinstein

San Antonio TX

Immigrants and the law

There was a study done some time ago by the University of California San Diego about undocumented immigrants around San Diego. The study found that the undocumented were the least likely to cause problems because of a fear of being deported. They simply, as a group, do not commit crimes. The undocumented avoid trouble with the law.

The second part of the study found that the undocumented were most often victims of crime for the same reason: fear. Crimes against undocumented persons go unreported because of the same fear of deportation.

Little mention is made of U.S. immigration policies that prevent people from certain countries, namely Mexico, the Central America region and Haiti, from immigrating legally. It is our laws that are preventing legal immigration. Capitalists want illegal immigration to continue so that maximum profits can be realized. That’s why HR 4437 doesn’t have any guest-worker provisions.

Wouldn’t it be interesting for the Mexican government to close its boarder and build a wall to stop U.S. citizens from going to Mexico to get drunk in Tijuana cantinas?

Wouldn’t it be something for Mexico to close its border to Americans going across to purchase cheap medicines? You can bet the White House and Congress would scream bloody murder.

Joseph Hancock

Los Angeles CA

Help needed to start union

I want to start a union for at-home medical transcriptionists. I believe we are being grossly exploited and abused as a labor force. I have no idea how to start, but am planning to set up a web site with as much information as I can find. There does not seem to be a union already in existence that fits with what we do, but we desperately need one. Can you possibly point me in a direction to gather information or resources for this endeavor?

C.F.

Via e-mail

Editor’s note: Please e-mailwith your reply; we will happily forward it to the author.

Calif. workers comp law

I have had five major back surgeries. Workers compensation is a joke and it seems from your online news articles (PWW 4/22/04, 1/13/05) that you might as well work hurt than report it.

If workers comp wishes to save money they would move faster approving the procedures. In the meantime, they are paying me and paying someone to follow me around to make sure that I am not faking those five surgeries that I had and that I am not wanting to have a life! This is just one case that workers comp has flopped on. Since I attend my monthly doctors appointments I hear all the other horror stories from other injured workers.

Where did it say that when I went to work that day I was injured that I would not have a life until workers comp decided that I can? I have not worked since December 1998. I have been waiting for another procedure that a workers comp doctor said I needed. I bet they’re hoping that from all the medication I take I won’t be around when they finally get to me.

What a way to live at 39! Isn’t this everyone’s dream to sit and wait and wait?

Thanks for asking our thoughts I might not have answered the way you asked but I needed to say this.

Diana Bourdon

Via e-mail

Editorial: A corrupt autocracy

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 04:11:00 +0000

George W. Bush promised to restore “honor and integrity” to our nation’s capital. But Jack Abramoff’s guilty plea on bribery charges has sent dozens of politicians in Washington scurrying like rats for holes to hide in. His testimony in a sweeping criminal probe of government corruption could make the Teapot Dome scandal look like a Sunday school picnic.

The White House announced that cash Abramoff delivered to the Bush-Cheney campaign will be given to the American Cancer Society. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) announced that he has given $69,000 in Abramoff cash to charity. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), one of Abramoff’s closest cronies, denied he did anything wrong in accepting all-expenses-paid golf trips and free gourmet meals from Abramoff’s restaurant.

The plea agreement already singles out Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney.

Abramoff enlisted ultra-right strategist Grover Norquist and former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed in his racketeering. David Safavian was head of the White House procurement office until he was arrested last fall for his corrupt ties to Abramoff. Abramoff’s personal assistant once worked for Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political strategist.

Swindling Native American Indian casinos of $43 million was the heart of Abramoff’s criminal enterprise. Abramoff money may also have helped bankroll DeLay’s racist redistricting scheme in Texas, aimed at picking up five House seats for the GOP at the expense of Black and Latino voters. DeLay is on trial for “money laundering” in that scheme.

It is not the only criminal trial under way. Enron CEO Ken Lay is on trial for defrauding millions of people, plunging his corporation into bankruptcy. Bush used to call him “Kenny Boy.” Lewis “Scooter” Libby has been indicted over the scheming to sell the Iraq war, and his boss Cheney could be indicted too.

This pervasive “bought and paid for” corruption flows from Republican one-party rule with no checks and balances and no accountability. The question is: Will voters rise up in this election year and end this arrogant autocracy? The stench of corporate corruption that engulfs our Republican-controlled capital cries out for a big broom that sweeps clean next November!

Editorial: Viva Cuba!

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 04:11:00 +0000

Jan. 1 marked the 47th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. It was on this date, in 1959, that Fidel Castro and his July 26th Movement overthrew the Batista dictatorship, making possible the beginning of Cuba’s transition to socialism.

In the years that followed, the Cuban people, under the leadership of their Communist Party, struggled to take ownership of their country for themselves, away from U.S.-based mobsters and corporations.

According to UNICEF, socialist Cuba’s infant mortality rate in 2004 was lower than that of the United States. Cuba is 100 percent literate, again surpassing the U.S. Cuba has eliminated homelessness, and not a single person goes without health care. In the “wealthy” U.S., nearly one in six Americans has no health insurance and we see homeless people on the streets of American cities.

Cubans’ per capita income is around $1,170, compared to the U.S. average of $41,400. But, in contrast to the vast private wealth owned by a tiny percentage in the capitalist U.S., in socialist Cuba the wealth is shared by all the people in the form of economic, social and cultural benefits that are an inspiration for all. Socialist Cuba has devoted great resources to eliminating racism and developing Cuba’s rich multiethnic culture.

Cuba has accomplished all this despite a cruel economic blockade, illegal under international law, imposed on it for decades by the U.S.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba faced great economic hardship. But its people demonstrated their commitment to the socialist ideal through those dark times, and showed their system’s vitality. While capitalist ideologues were crowing that socialism was dead, Cuba was busy proving them wrong.

Cuba’s foreign policy has always been one of peace, justice and international solidarity. It has consistently opposed terrorism and has been an outspoken defender of international law.

Today, Cuba has been vindicated. The ideals of socialism are sweeping through Latin America. Solidarity with the Cuban people means redoubling our efforts to end the illegal, U.S. blockade and to free the five Cuban anti-terrorists. Normal relations with our neighbor is in both the U.S.’s and Cuba’s interests.

Cuba demonstrates that a better world is really possible.

End the U.S. blockade!

Venezuelas 21st-century socialism

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 04:03:00 +0000

On a recent trip to Latin America, President George W. Bush said people must choose between “two competing visions.” One, he said, “pursues representative government, integration into the world community and freedom’s transformative power for individuals.” The other, “seeks to roll back the democratic progress of the past two decades by playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and blaming others for their own failures to provide for the people.” Bush’s “two competing visions” refer to U.S. capitalism and Venezuela’s “21st-century socialism.”

A little history

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the “end of history” was declared. Capitalism had won the battle for the hearts and minds of the people of the world, we were told. Socialism was pronounced done, dead, forever gone. Wall Street cheered.

International corporate conglomerates swallowed up more of the world’s wealth and concentrated it into fewer hands. Imperialist globalization became the dominant paradigm. After Sept. 11, 2001, unilateral, go it alone militarization and Bush’s pre-emptive strike ideology introduced the world to a new, more dangerous type of right-wing domination. The main enemy was “terrorism” and we were engaged in an “endless” war against it. Afghanistan and Iraq were attacked, while Bush and his “allies” basked in their self-satisfied version of reality.

Then President Hugo Chávez announced that Venezuela — the fifth largest oil producer in the world — and its 25 million citizens were embarking on the path of “21st-century socialism.” Not since President Ronald Reagan and his neo-fascist paramilitary forces, which engaged in wholesale bloodletting in El Salvador and elsewhere, had anyone really taken seriously the idea that the region might again seek an alternative economic, socialist path.

Newspapers began to call Chávez a “dictator.” Pat Robertson called for his assassination. And a steady stream of intellectuals labeled Chávez a “regional nuisance,” urging the Bush administration to “contain” him as an “unpleasant fever that will eventually pass.”

Chávez, who had friendly relationships with the Clinton administration, became Venezuela’s president in 1998, and since then has been using Venezuela’s billions in petrodollars — $13 billion last year alone, almost half of the national budget — to provide much needed social and medical programs, build local workers’ cooperatives, institutionalize land reforms, better regional and international relationships, initiate Telesur (a “Bolivarian alternative” to news organizations like CNN), and prepare for possible imperialist intervention. Below we will briefly analyze some of the internal aspects of Venezuela’s 21st-century socialism.

Food, health and education

In 1999, the “missions,” —local grassroots education and medical cooperatives— were founded. They are staffed by community volunteers who provide literacy tutoring, health care and dental services. The volunteers also assist with land usage issues, economic revitalization and job training.

According to Chávez, 1.4 million people have learned to read and write within the past year and a half and 3 million Venezuelans, previously excluded from education because of poverty, are seeking higher education free of charge.

Seventy-five percent of the Venezuelan population receives free health care; many from Mission Barrio Adentro or “Mission into the Neighborhoods,” where 20,000 Cuban doctors staff 3,000 distinctive two-story medical clinics — consultorios or doctors’ offices.

Venezuela recently started a new social program which sends poor Venezuelans to Cuba for free eye surgery. And thousands of Venezuelan students are training in Cuba to become doctors and will provide free health care upon return.

Fifty-eight percent of Venezuelans live off of less than $200 a month. Before Chávez was elected many had to choose between food and other expenses. Now, 45 percent of the population receives subsidized food from over 4,000 missions, special food programs and government distribution centers. The Venezuelan government provides kitchen equipment, including refrigerators, ovens and other tools for the missions. While the cooks are not professional chefs, they do attend hygiene and food preparation classes. Many kitchens are in close proximity to the neighborhood medical clinics, where the clinics can help ensure that meals are well planned to meet dietary needs.

Workers’ cooperatives and land reform

Local grassroots workers’ cooperatives and land reforms are major features of Venezuela’s 21st-century socialism. In fact, there has been a rapid growth of cooperatives and the establishment of hundreds of “endogenous nuclei,” communities where several co-ops work together, making products or offering services that complement and co-operate with each other.

There are now over 70,000 cooperatives in Venezuela. Profit is divided among workers, members elect their own supervisors and environmental concerns are monitored by community/worker representatives. Cooperatives also collectively organize as benefit and mutual aid associations.

The Venezuelan government provides start-up capital for the purchase of equipment or office supplies and coordinates technical training, enabling community residents to repair, rebuild and perform other skilled tasks. “If you want to get rid of poverty, we need to empower the poor, not treat them like beggars,” said Chávez.

Chávez has also nationalized failed or bankrupt companies, allowing workers to manage and work the industries on their own behalf. Carlos Lanz, president of Venezuela’s Alcasa aluminum plant in Puerto Ordaz, told reporters, “Democratic planning is such a powerful lever that even with rather outdated technology we have managed to increase production by 11 percent.” He added, “This is about workers controlling the factory and that is why it is a step towards socialism of the 21st century.” Of more than 700 companies in Venezuela with idled production, over 136 are being examined for nationalization.

Over 65 percent of the urban population does not formally “own” land titles, but that’s changing. Recently established Comites de Tierra, local committees comprised of 150-200 heads of households who conduct land surveys and secure land titles, are redistributing land back to community residents and poor families, the people who work the land. There are currently about 5,000 comites in Venezuela.

Mission Vuelta al Campo or “Return to the Countryside,” encourages unemployed or poor Venezuelans to return to rural areas where they are given land to farm or raise livestock.

Recently Chávez said the Venezuelan government expected to reclaim nearly 1.2 million acres of farm land in 2005 and redistribute it. He added, “We can not allow good land to lie uncultivated, [and] we can not allow perfectly productive factories to stay closed.”

A new way

Since Chávez’s election, Venezuela has worked to eradicate illiteracy, improve health care, provide food, empower workers and redistribute land. Venezuela has also moved more and more on to the world’s stage, providing international aid, solidarity and “a new way,” as Tran Dac Loi, a Vietnamese delegate to the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students, characterized it when he spoke with the World in Caracas.

While socialist Cuba remains Venezuela’s closest international ally, Chávez is making a lot of friends in the region and trying to expand trade partnerships with nations through out the world. In fact, internationalism may be one of Chávez’s greatest achievements yet. Not only has Venezuela’s 21st-century socialism created new, mutually beneficial trade deals throughout the world, but it is also providing cheap heating oil to poor communities here in the U.S., especially communities of color. Most recently Citgo Petroleum Corp., which is owned by the Venezuelan government, announced that it would supply heating oil to low-income communities in New York and Boston at about 40 percent below market price, and would offer steeply discounted diesel fuel to Chicago’s transit system to allow for reduced fares for low-income riders.

The Bush administration may be stuck in a Cold War mentality, foaming at the mouth about Chávez’s “other system,” but the rest of the world isn’t. And despite a U.S.-supported coup in 2002 and a recall referendum last year, Chávez seems more popular than ever.

Though Venezuela’s future is unclear, one thing is certain: Chávez’s 21st-century socialism has wide support among Venezuelans. Out of Bush’s “two competing visions,” they’ve chosen socialism, overwhelmingly!