People Before Profit blog

GRASSROOTS POWER

Sat, 25 Sep 2004 03:30:00 +0000

Polls wrong, keep up the fight

Just got off the phone with friends. We have all — to a person — agreed that the polls have absolutely no logic. I travel the whole state regularly and have not seen one place where evidence would should me that Bush is leading.

I was in the Wooly Bear Festival (a huge one in Vermilion, Ohio), walking with the Sheet Metal Workers behind a big banner for Kerry. Vermilion has been cited by the corporate media polls as leaning Republican. The response was wonderful! Ten to one: Kerry over Bush. I had two rolls of the small Kerry/Edwards shirt/cap stickers. People kept asking for them and they were gone before one-third of the parade was over. We were cheered on every block. There were about seven or eight times that Bush supporters gave us a thumbs down or yelled at us, but every time that happened people all around them started applauding for us.

One friend just e-mailed us with her experience at the Apple Fest in Elyria, Ohio. Same thing. She manned the Kerry booth and was swamped with folks wanting signs, asking to volunteer. She said that the Bush booth was next to theirs and that it was like they were selling “boiled brussels sprout ice cream.”

We must get this information out. It is extremely important that anti-Bush folks keep their eyes on the prize, and not be distracted by the corporate media’s misdirection. Keep up the fight. We will win!

— Bruce Bostick from Ohio

Letters

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 08:13:00 +0000

Socialism betrayed

I have to agree with Mark Almberg (PWW 8/14-20) that “Socialism Betrayed” is indeed the most comprehensive Marxist analysis, so far, of the catastrophic collapse of the Soviet Union. However, I have to disagree with him about his characterization of Stalin’s “errors and crimes.”

It is an undisputed historical fact that under the leadership of Stalin the Soviet Union achieved miracles of progress that were unprecedented in the entire history of the human race. These fantastic feats were achieved under the most difficult circumstances with the Soviet Union literally under siege by external and internal enemies and confronting a life or death situation.

I want to add that there is still a widespread belief among some that Gorbachev’s nefarious “reforms” were a “noble experiment.” Absolute hogwash! Gorbachev and his cohorts, by their own admission, were agents of the bourgeoisie who skillfully wormed their way up with the sole aim of destroying the USSR.

Hazzim YousifDetroit MI

Socialism did not collapse

In his review of “Socialism Betrayed,” Mark Almberg puts too much credence in the authors’ statistical reasoning in explaining the “collapse of the Soviet Union.”

Socialism did not collapse; it was undermined and defeated by western capitalism. The Marshall Plan was the key factor. (Capitalists are willing to wait for decades because they are still eating regularly.)

The main thrust of the Plan was to create dissatisfaction among Russian workers by building up the consumer economy of West Germany. Germany, Poland and Russia were devastated in 1945.

The United States rebuilt West Germany, shipping in new industrial equipment to recharge its economy and produce consumer driven prosperity. The comparison between the struggles against poverty in the East and the imported prosperity of the West created widespread jealousy, and the desire to have the consumer goods which were available on the other side of the Wall.

Another major factor was the build-up of armaments. Based on exaggerated CIA reports of Soviet military might, the U.S. spent billions to develop and increase its ability to attack. For the capitalist countries this meant greater profits. The Soviets followed suit, producing planes and ships and tanks, rather than consumer products.

Socialism did not collapse. It was blind-sided.

Robert E. RossNew York NY

W stands for wrong

When do you cross over from the abyss of denial to finally recognize that every action taken only leads to wrong results? When you, as a hard-working single mom of three, lost your full-time job, did you recognize that the economy was spiraling in the wrong direction? When struggling and only finding part-time work without health care, did you know that this was all wrong for you and your family? When you learned of Bush’s record of crimes against nature, did you realize that this was not the future you wanted your children to inherit? Or did it all come apart for you when we crossed the milestone of more than 1,000 dead sons and daughters in a war — wrong in every way — with no end to tragedy and loss of life, that you made up your mind?

There cannot be four more wrong years with more wrong actions taken by this wrong president.

Teresita ValadezSacramento CA

‘Catastrophic success’

George W. Bush recently referred to his invasion of Iraq as a “catastrophic success.” The man does have a penchant for turning the memorable phrase. Or was he simply trying to be funny?

Yet, more than a thousand dead GIs aren’t funny at all. Every fallen soldier is a catastrophe for their grieving families, many of whom are beginning to publicly express their resentment. And some 7,000 wounded, blind and crippled veterans will remain a living testament to this president’s feckless leadership.

A catastrophic success? The increasing casualties, a growing insurgency, burning oil pipelines and prison torture, those non-existing WMDs, a dearth of civil reconstruction — indeed this whole forlorn exercise in imperial impudence proves to me that our failed president is the real catastrophe.

He’s actually losing the war in Iraq. I can’t wait to lose him in November.

Cord MacGuire Boulder CO

Bush failed on security

“Even though the Bush administration has identified failed states for acting as breeding grounds for terrorists, it is doing very little to improve those countries and reduce the risk they pose to national security,” according to a report produced by the Commission on Weak States and U.S. National Security. The report warns that if the United States fails to come up with a new development strategy, it will undermine its national security. The commission included 30 Republicans and Democrats who are experts in development and national security.

Forty years ago this December, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, stressed the urgency of eradicating global poverty.

The U.S. commits 0.14 percent of its Gross National Income to development assistance, the lowest of all the industrialized nations. U.S. military spending amounts to 3.8 percent of our GNI and accounts for 47.5 percent of all military spending in the world. If military strength were the sole answer to security, we should be the safest country in the world.

But we’re not. It’s time to heed the advice of King and the commission and put together a strategy that makes America safe. The Bush administration has failed to do this. It’s time for a change.

Carol BraggVia e-mail

Editorials

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 08:04:00 +0000

Electoral College belongs on history’s ash heap

As the Nov. 2 election nears, the possibility looms once again that the popular vote winner will not become president because he lacks an Electoral College majority. Democrat Al Gore’s margin over George W. Bush in 2000 was more than half a million votes. But the U.S. Supreme Court halted the vote count in Florida, awarding all 25 of the state’s Electoral College votes to Bush. Bush was “selected” by a 5 to 4 Supreme Court majority, a decision

rubber-stamped by the Electoral College.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the state legislatures appoint electors equal to the total number of senators and representatives following a presidential election. In this “winner-take-all” system, the candidate with the largest popular vote gets all the state’s electoral votes no matter how close the popular vote.

Furthermore, every state has two U.S. senators and at least one representative. This means that sparsely populated states have more clout than heavily populated states. In 2000, 13 small states with a combined 18 million population had Electoral College votes equal to California with its 34 million people. Twelve times in U.S. history, including 2000, the Electoral College has chosen a president who did not win the popular vote.

The New York Times calls the Electoral College a “ridiculous setup which thwarts the will of the majority, distorts presidential campaigns and has the potential to produce a true constitutional crisis. There should be a bipartisan movement for direct election of the president.”

We would argue that the “constitutional crisis” is already upon us. There is a direct tie between Bush’s seizure of power in 2000 (a very American coup) and the Bush doctrine of preemptive war, and his wars on democratic rights and the people’s living standards. Let us start the process of depositing the Electoral College on the ash heap of history where it belongs.

* * * * * *

It’s about the movements

In December 2001, LTV steelworkers pitched tents in Washington and spent days lobbying to save their health care and retirement benefits. For the first time in the modern labor movement’s history, doors were slammed in their face. Bush was not home.

That’s the ultra-right.

In March 2003, an illegal war based on lies was launched against a nation that posed no threat to the United States.

That’s the ultra-right.

On Martin Luther King’s birthday in 2003, the White House filed a legal brief opposing affirmative action. On King’s birthday this year, Bush appointed a federal judge who is hostile to civil rights.

That’s the ultra-right

These are just three examples of the countless despicable, thuggish actions of the ultra-right group that controls Washington. This behavior has galvanized a united opposition movement that this country hasn’t seen in decades.

The grassroots groups that are springing to life span a broad range of issues, ages, racial and ethnic groups, and class outlooks. They include “movement groups” and more “mainstream” individuals and organizations. They share one patriotic mission: defeat Bush because he is a danger to our democracy, to our livelihoods, to the world. It’s the American people’s responsibility to put an end to this lawless regime. And they are rising to the challenge.

There are some who would rather focus on an individual candidate’s shortcomings or dislike for a political party.

But this struggle we’re engaged in is not about any individual candidate. It’s about the growing movements for peace, economic justice, democratic rights and security, that will change the political landscape.

One labor leader hit the nail on the head when he said, “There may be a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties, but the working class lives on that dime.”

We need that dime to move forward. We need to break the back of the ultra-right. That’s a reason to vote. That’s a reason to fight. That’s a reason to say, “It makes a difference who gets elected this November.”

Peltiers lawyers seek hidden FBI files

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 04:25:00 +0000

BUFFALO, N.Y. — An attorney for imprisoned Native American Indian activist Leonard Peltier accused the government Sept. 13 of withholding documents in the case to cover up its own misconduct 30 years ago.

Michael Kuzma asked a federal judge to order the release of all documents from the FBI’s Buffalo field office as part of the larger effort to free Peltier, 60, who is serving consecutive life sentences for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Earlier this year, the FBI released 797 of the 812 pages compiled by Buffalo investigators but withheld 15 pages, citing national security and foreign relations concerns. The Buffalo files were sought by Peltier’s lawyers in the wake of their discovery, through a related Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, of a heavily excised 1975 Teletype message from the Buffalo office to then-FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley. The message pointed to a government informant’s efforts to infiltrate Peltier’s defense team.

The Buffalo material is among tens of thousands of pages generated by FBI field offices nationwide and being sought by Peltier supporters seeking to have his conviction overturned.

At the time of the 1977 trial, the government turned over roughly 3,500 pages of material to defense attorneys, claiming that this was the full extent of their files. Subsequent FOIA requests by Peltier’s attorneys to the FBI over the past two decades, however, have revealed that over 142,000 pages of material were improperly concealed from Peltier and his lawyers. The Minneapolis field office alone has 90,000 pages on the case that Peltier’s lawyers have never seen.

The withheld pages from the FBI’s Buffalo office, Kuzma said, may be “the kind of things that would help in an attempt to secure a new trial.” They might also result in the outright overturning of the conviction and Peltier’s release.

Department of Justice attorney Preeya Noronha told U.S. District Judge William Skretny that the FOIA provides for withholding the 15 pages in question for national security reasons.

Kuzma said the government’s explanation for the exemptions to the FOIA was too vague.

Saying the government mishandled the investigation early on, Kuzma charged the true purpose of fighting the documents’ release was “to shield further misconduct from the public spotlight.”

“The FBI is hellbent on blocking the disclosure of this information and keeping Leonard Peltier in jail for the rest of his natural life,” Kuzma said.

Peltier was convicted in 1977 of shooting deaths of FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler during the reservation standoff and was sentenced to consecutive life sentences at Leavenworth, Kan. There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, and ballistics tests, which were deliberately concealed from the court by the FBI at the time, showed the bullets could not have been fired from the alleged murder weapon.

Peltier denies he was responsible. Supporters claim Peltier was framed for the shootings because of his political activism, in particular because of his membership in the American Indian Movement (AIM), an organization that vigorously defended indigenous people’s rights. In the early and mid-’70s, AIM members were targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program for harassment. COINTELPRO tactics included disseminating misinformation, levying false charges against individuals, manufacturing evidence, and occasionally assassinating key leaders of targeted groups.

In another court action last November, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver took the government to task over the case while denying Peltier a parole hearing. “Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and in its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned,” the ruling said. “The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.”

Judge Skretny, noting “what appears to be the clearly established government misconduct,” said he may opt to privately review the withheld documents in deciding whether to order their release.

“I can’t just rubber stamp the claim that the exemption applies here,” Skretny said. He did not immediately rule on the request.

Despite his 28-year-long incarceration, Peltier’s spirit remains unbroken and he closely follows current events.

In connection with the Abu Ghraib revelations, for example, he recently told the World: “None of this is surprising to me or any of my fellow U.S. prisoners. This stuff goes on all the time in U.S. prisons. As for what happened at Abu Ghraib, they were and are war crimes.”

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Amnesty International, the National Congress of American Indians, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, among many others, have called Peltier a political prisoner who should be immediately released.

To find out more about his case, visit www.leonardpeltier.org or www.freepeltier.org.

In Ohio, job losses loom large

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 03:42:00 +0000

CLEVELAND — Industrial plants continue to close down, and the official unemployment rate goes up. This is the real situation faced by Ohio’s working families as they go into the home stretch of the 2004 election campaign.

Ohio’s official unemployment rate climbed to 6.3 percent in August, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services announced, a 16,000 increase in the number of unemployed in one month. That number does not include thousands of destitute, long-term unemployed workers who are no longer listed on the state’s unemployment rolls.

Hundreds of homeless people without jobs nor income of any kind are overtaxing this city’s welfare agencies, churches, and shelters, which desperately try to provide them with a minimum means of existence. Starvation is a growing reality for families. Cleveland has just been listed as the most poverty-stricken city in the nation.

Steelworkers employed at Elkem Industries are joining their brothers and sisters in two other industrial plants in Ashtabula, Ohio, who have been told their plants are shutting down. The steelworkers union is going nonstop to try to save whatever is possible for their members in pensions, health care, plant closing payments, and provisions provided for in the contracts. Bankruptcy courts provide little relief for workers, despite the tenacious fight put up by the union on their behalf.

“How can any Ohio worker vote for George Bush for president?” asked John Edwards at a recent rally in Springfield, located in southern Ohio. Citing 230,000 job losses in the Buckeye State since 2001, he emphasized that Bush is the first president in U.S. history to preside over a net loss of jobs — at least 1.1 million nationwide — during a four-year term of office.

Added to the loss of jobs, of course, is the loss of health care by 5 million Americans since Bush became president. This is especially devastating to seniors, who expected that a genuine prescription drug benefit would be added under the “Medicare reform” law that was passed by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress.

The Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans, along with the national ARA, has denounced this new Medicare law as a multi-billion dollar giveaway to the insurance companies and drug manufacturers. Instead of providing for a true prescription drug benefit, the law actually prohibits measures that should be taken to control and bring down prices. Seniors’ costs for health care will escalate under this law.

The Cleveland AFL-CIO, in cooperation with the Ohio ARA, has mailed an exposé of the Medicare law along with absentee ballot applications to 19,000 retired union members in northeastern Ohio. This week will mark the beginning of a massive get-out-the-vote (GOTV) drive directed at union retirees.

All aspects of Ohio’s “Take Back Ohio” 2004 election campaign are moving forward in high gear. Nearly 250,000 new registrations have been turned into the state’s election boards, resulting in a huge backlog of registrations that have to be processed and loaded into the voting systems. Pressure is being brought to bear by voter coalitions to force the boards to hire enough people to complete processing before registration deadlines.

The AFL-CIO’s “labor walks” are moving forward with large numbers of union staffers and volunteers coming into Ohio to assist with the door-to-door contact with union members. The work also includes mailings and phone calls to tens of thousands of union members on the issues and GOTV activities.

Large rallies for Edwards and Kerry are taking place in all corners of the state. The so-called polls showing Kerry to be 10 percent behind Bush in Ohio are depicted by union activists as being out of touch with reality, given the expected large turnout of new voters.

The author can be reached at wallyk@ncweb.com.click here for Spanish text

GRASSROOTS POWER

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 08:35:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: Hundreds of thousands of volunteers are knocking on doors across the country to defeat Bush. Many are young people and first-time activists.

In the next six issues, the PWW will publish voices from this rewarding grassroots experience with the hopes of moving more readers into volunteering. Please send your experiences toor fax (312) 588-0750.

Joe goes to Ohio

CINCINNATI — My most profound experience was canvassing neighborhoods for the AFL-CIO. I spoke with an elderly man, a retired shop worker, who had never voted in his life. The last worthy president he could remember was FDR. Events in the world and in his life, however, had convinced him that it was time to speak out. His body was feeble and his hand cramped with arthritis, so I had to fill out the registration form for him. But there was a fierce determination in his eyes. He was so glad that we had come around, and he was sad when we had to leave.

I met an African American woman, a nurse. She had no health insurance. She was diagnosed with cancer and had to live in a homeless shelter for nearly a year while on chemotherapy. She asked me why we were spending hundreds of billions on wars in distant lands when kids across her street were dying of starvation.

For me, listening to these people and empowering them to vote is part of building a culture of peace in this country. It’s not glamorous, it’s not earth shattering, it’s not headline news — it’s just something that has to be done — one person at a time.

— Joe from Connecticut

Letters

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 06:54:00 +0000

Arnold got it wrong

The following is an open letter sent to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

On behalf of “girlie men” everywhere I’m perplexed. Last night while you were speaking at the Republican National Convention, you said, “To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: ‘Don’t be girlie men.’” I’ve never known girlie men to be pessimistic about much of anything. Think of our leading girlie men icons — Liberace, Paul Lynde, Charles Nelson-Reilly, Freddy Mercury, Nathan Lane, and Harvey Fierstein — all hopeless optimists, smiling and fighting on in the face of adversity. Oops. Now I get it. You simply misread the teleprompter. You obviously meant to say, “To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: “BE girlie men.” I look forward to someone in your office setting the record straight, so to speak.

Matt ForemanExecutive Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Cuba, NYC and autism

As a school psychologist working in NYC’s Department of Education, I was amazed by “58 students, 57 teachers: Cuba Tackles Autism” (PWW 7/3-9). I would like to give you the New York version of how Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein deal with autistic children in their “school reform.”

When we go to preschools to evaluate the “turning 5” children we are told “not to test,” but to just place them blindly in kindergarten classes no matter what their disability may be or not. In other words, look away, “and do the paperwork.”

If preschoolers are not evaluated properly, we can over look disabilities like autism, visual motor perception delays, reading disorders, social emotional delays that may interfere with reading and math readiness skills.

Preschoolers have made incredible strides with interventions such as play therapy, counseling, physical and speech therapy. Why do Bloomberg and Klein refuse to see the tremendous progress these interventions make? Is it because they don’t want to fund these therapies?

I wish that Cuban President Fidel Castro could come and visit NYC. I think we have many lessons to learn from Cuba on how to address children’s needs.

Maria OrtizNew York City NY

Where is Radio Havana?

There are two sources of news that have been unflinching for me for the last 30 years: The People’s Weekly World and Radio Havana.

Radio Havana had been off the air (to Central California) for at least the last three weeks. Usually you can blame a short offage to ionospheric problems or hamming, but this is extreme. All frequencies 9.820 MHZ, 6.000 MHZ, 9.550 MHZ, 11.760 MHZ, 11.730 MHZ SSB are off the air.

Shortwave radio is a long-standing way to circumvent state run media (as we now have in the U.S.). It is also a bargain compared to the Internet, as the BBC realized a couple of years ago when they tried to cancel world service shortwave in deference to their Internet broadcasts.

As you know the “Crawford cowpie” (George Bush) has sent a special plane to beam down Radio Marti on the Cubans. There are also new hi-tech ways to erase a radio signal. Please print as much of this inquiry as necessary to get feedback from your other reader-listeners. Where is Radio Havana?

Ned LongSanta Barbara CA

Women’s voices

I am glad that women’s voices were heard at the Democratic National Convention. A number of us, in Washington for a Tikkun teach-in, took a few hours to participate in the March for Women’s Lives last April.

At the Mall, the march of over a million people was in progress. It was a great thrill to be a part of it as I remembered the bitter days of illegal abortions. The crowd was vibrant, mostly young, with great signs like, “Keep Your Rosaries Out of Our Ovaries,” and “Keep Your Laws Off Our Bodies.” The speakers were wonderful.

There were actors, legislators and musicians. Many brought their daughters who were so self assured, beautiful to behold. Many speakers reminded the audience that Roe v. Wade hangs by one vote in the Supreme Court and that the next president will be choosing the new judges.

So vote, vote, vote, they said. What a glorious day!

Phyllis SolomonVia e-mail

Thanks for Aliant story

I would like to start off by thanking you for Tim Wheeler’s article “Canada Phone Strike Solid After 4 Months” (PWW 8/21-27) that I received from Google.

I am an Aliant striker and have worked for its predecessor company, MT&T in Halifax, for 14 years. Yes, we have been on strike now for just under four months and our resolve is solid to acquire a “fair and reasonable” collective agreement.

Wheeler wrote a very informed article and represented us well.

I hope he had a great time while visiting our Province as this is where we are fighting to keep our jobs.

Penny FawcettNova Scotia, Canada

Election scare tactics

It looks as if the Bush administration is mobilizing its forces — the press, TV media, corporations, etc., with campaign scare tactics.

I was watching MSNBC and they were running a series, “12 ways to protect yourself against terrorist attack.” NBC news will feature a similar story about the Homeland Security campaign. This campaign is encouraging people to buy a “red bag kit” that includes dried soup and duct tape to protect yourself and your family against a possible terrorist attack. Can PWW expose this campaign tactic?

Sijisfredo AvilesChicago IL

Editorials

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 06:45:00 +0000

1-866-OUR-VOTE

The Election Protection Coalition initiated by the NAACP and People for the American Way is enlisting 25,000 volunteers and 5,000 lawyers across the nation to guarantee that Black voters are not denied their right to cast ballots and have their votes counted in the Nov. 2 election.

They have set up a toll-free number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, that voters can call on Election Day if they believe their right to vote is being stolen.

This initiative could not be more timely. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s scrubbing of 90,000 names, mostly African American voters, from Florida voting rolls was key to the stealing of the 2000 election. Earlier this year, he sent out a new scrub list. There was such an outcry that he withdrew it. But the list is out there and reactionary election officials can act on their own.

Armed police officers visited elderly Black voters in Orlando last spring, responding to rage within the Republican machine that a Democrat of Puerto Rican background had been elected mayor. The cover was reports that precinct workers had helped elderly voters fill out absentee ballots. But the real purpose was to spread fear and intimidation among voters.

Another trick by the Florida officials is to turn away voters who lack a photo ID, not informing them that Florida law permits voters to sign a form confirming their identity if they lack a photo ID.

John Pappageorge, a GOP legislator in Michigan, told his colleagues, “If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we’re going to have a tough time in this election.” Detroit is 80 percent African American. The Bush-Cheney gang hardly even bothers to conceal their racist plans to shred the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Our task is to overcome the climate of fear, to insure the biggest popular vote ever to remove George W. Bush and the Republican right from office. That number, again, is 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

* * * * * *

Dump the flim-flam man

Behind all the Republican talk of Kerry’s so-called “flip-flopping” is the question of democracy.

It is normal for the will of the people to change politicians’ minds. Bush should know this. He’s had to change his positions numerous times.

But instead of responding to the will of the people, Bush lies, maneuvers, and strong-arms in single-minded pursuit of his extreme anti-people agenda.

Bush not only flip-flops, he flim-flams. He’s a snake oil salesman whose words are sugar-coated with religion and patriotism. The poison pills of war, bigotry and class oppression are what he’s really selling.

Right-wing extremists have taken over the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court. They have to rule by lying and demagogy because if they told the truth, they would be run out of office in disgrace.

It’s time for a change. Millions have lost their jobs. Our public schools are in crisis. More than 45 million people have no health coverage. There are 40 million living in poverty. Where is the relief?

The Bush tax cuts are bankrupting our government and rewarding the rich and corporate fat cats. Where is the compassion?

The slaughter and chaos in Iraq continues. Over 1,000 U.S. soldiers and 15,000 Iraqis have perished. If Bush wins there will be no end to the bloodshed. This administration is colonizing Iraq for oil and empire, not democracy.

There was more then a whiff of fascism at the Republican Convention. In a lame duck Bush administration, Roe v. Wade, voting rights, clean air and water, Social Security and our right to dissent will all be on the chopping block. Unilateral, illegal and preemptive war will be the New World Order.

It’s time to uphold democracy and take our government out of their hands. It’s time to change our country’s direction: toward peace, international cooperation, and economic, racial and social justice. A Bush defeat will signal a new beginning to the entire world.

It will be down to the wire. All hands are needed now to stop Bush on Nov. 2.

Capitalism, politics & natural disasters

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 05:22:00 +0000

As I write this here in Florida, recovery from Hurricane Charley is still under way. Frances has barely gotten through the South. And now Hurricane Ivan is moving through the Gulf of Mexico.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wears a button proclaiming, “I survived damn near everything,” and tells reporters that Florida is “an incredibly resilient state.”

So what is the situation down here? The fact is that natural disasters are only partly “gifts” from Mother Nature. They are also largely man-made. Right now in Florida we are inundated with advice to “prepare.” What, concretely, does that mean?

One of the most critical things to do is to lay in a stock of drinking water and non-perishable foods. This is difficult right now, given that many grocery store shelves are bare.

Publix, a major grocery chain in Florida with a near monopoly in Miami-Dade County, is running full-page ads in the Miami Herald apologizing for shortages and promising to fill shelves as quickly as possible. Granted, Frances hit a Publix warehouse and the chain’s delivery trucks suffer the same fuel shortages as others. Nonetheless, one can’t help but ask what responsibility Publix has for those of us from whom it has been taking profits over the years. Surely this and other grocery corporations can do better.

And what about those fuel shortages? A full tank is also on the list of necessities before a storm strikes. It’s rather hard to evacuate before, or cope after, a storm without gas. Over a week after Frances, many people are still struggling to return from their evacuation, much less get their lives back together, and a number of Florida gas stations remain closed.

Even granting the need to keep tankers out of two Florida ports, for safety reasons, how can anyone not connect the fuel shortage to the sight of gas-guzzling SUVs and Hummers on South Florida roads — SUVs and Hummers whose purchase got their owners tax breaks, thanks to the Bush administration.

It’s beyond ironic that the same morning paper that urged South Florida residents to prepare for Ivan and reported the continuing saga of gasoline shortages, also reported that the tri-county area now ranks number six in the nation for traffic delays. The implications for a third major evacuation are both obvious and dismal.

The issue of housing development predates, and goes beyond, the vested interests and policies of the Bush brothers and their cronies. The ongoing sellout of our communities and environment to developers for high-rises on the beaches (flood zones) and adjacent to major arteries (actually few in number, because of geography), and “upscale” housing developments inland, increases population density dramatically, at the cost of affordable housing. (I’m not sure who, exactly, is expected to buy those new homes behind the big signs proclaiming, “From the low $800,000s!” but I suspect it isn’t the clerks working at the K-mart up the road.)

We’re told not to live in mobile homes or stay in homes without shutters, and only to use public shelters as a last resort. Where, exactly, are workers, never mind the poor, supposed to weather the storm? And what happens afterward, if we’re hit? We’ve already been warned by the media that insurance rates will surely go up as a result of Charley and Frances, that affordable housing insurance might well be a thing of the past. Again, what moral responsibility do the developers and insurance corporations have for those whose money they’ve been taking?

Well, Jeb Bush might have survived “damn near everything,” but how does he suggest the rest of us do so? Hurricanes are a force of nature. Capitalist control of housing, food delivery, gasoline production and distribution, and insurance for our homes and health is not. In combination with the policies and practices of the Bush administrations and local governments, this is a recipe for disaster.

Jeb and George W. are busy touring Florida, using our hardship for their political gain. We’re waiting for news of Ivan, worrying about how we, our loved ones, and our neighbors will make it through yet another hurricane, and reminding each other of the upcoming elections.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.

Letters

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 05:18:00 +0000

Watch your language

I refer to your article in the Labor Update section of July 24-30, “Extremists vs. freedom to organize.” What makes me cringe is the term “group of radical right Republicans.” The New York Times started the ball rolling over 50 years ago using the term radical right or radical left to totally confuse the reader, as if there is no difference between the two. There is no such thing as radical right. Either one is progressive and on the left, or on the right, i.e. the reactionary right. Let us not fall into this terminology trap created by the right.

Martin KaplinBrentwood CA

Stick with your conscience

A recent letter by a right-wing critic, which appeared in the PWW, was very insightful and instructive — but not the way its author intended. It further bears out my observation that if most reactionaries are given enough verbal rope, they will usually hang their own arguments.

The writer drew an image of modern Communists as ranting on red soapboxes, with the Communist Manifesto on one had and a Big Mac in the other. The gist of his “argument”: “Turn from your non-conforming ways! Get with the (official) program or you’re liable to lose your freedom!”

I’ve always been under the silly impression that freedom in practice means not having to march in step with a government’s policy or ideology, especially when an informed conscience tells you that a policy, practice, law or military involvement is motivated by private, predatory interests, not the interests of public welfare and environmental concerns.

It is not only your constitutional right, but also your responsibility to turn aside from a marching band, and utilize your freedom of speech to warn its members that it is being led over a cliff.

When reactionaries warn you that you must either “get in line” or risk losing your freedom, the latter half of their admonition is a euphemism. What they really mean to say is, “Either get in line or WE will take your democratic rights and freedoms away!”

Eric RayTampa FL

Is this the best we can do?

I am appalled at what our country’s leaders had to say at the Republican convention this week. Their irresponsible fiscal policies have created the largest deficits in history, but that was not addressed. Neither was the huge loss of jobs during the current administration’s tenure, or the fact that Osama bin Laden is still at large.

What was said? The service record of a decorated veteran was mocked by the chickenhawks who have plunged us into an expensive and unproductive quagmire that is still killing our soldiers and weakening our military. New Yorkers’ suffering during 9/11 was used as an excuse for jingoism that New Yorkers themselves overwhelmingly oppose. Surely we can do better than this.

Alice UnderwoodNew York NY

Aliant article helpful

Just read your article on Aliant strike (by Tim Wheeler, PWW, 8/21-27), thought it was great. I started working for them in 1976 when it was Maritime Tel & Tel. Just another case of corporate greed. Your article was posted on a forum which Aliant employees access to vent and inform themselves. This kind of coverage is appreciated. Thank you.

Dave ThompsonYarmouth, Nova Scotia

Reading the truth

Thank you for the article in People’s Weekly World. It’s good to read the truth, we don’t see much good these days. I am a 30-year [Aliant] employee and I for one appreciate your view.

The BecksVia e-mail

Liked article on Black farmers

I really enjoyed reading your article on Georgia’s Black farmers (PWW, 6/26-7/2).

Leslie AndrewsVia e-mail

Web site update

Hi, all: The Canadians for Peace and Socialism web site has been updated as of today. If you decide to visit www.focusonsocialism.com, enjoy your visit.

John BeechingVia e-mail

Liked Sam Webb article

I was glad to read Sam Webb’s article, “The role of the left in these elections,” in the Aug. 28 edition of the PWW. It was great to see that the CPUSA is concentrating on the very real dangers that a second Bush administration poses for our country. The tendency among many on the left to refuse to actively work for the election of centrist or even liberal Democrats because they do not fully represent the changes we would like to see, is counterproductive. It confuses allies and complicates efforts to empower the working and oppressed peoples that the left and progressive movements champion. The differences in this election are real and substantial. The outcome in November has the potential to decide the fate of our country for decades to come. Any hope of advance for the vast majority of our people and democracy itself is at stake. Again, thank you to Sam Webb for taking the bold step of making it clear what our work should focus on this election year.

Curtis AtkinsFayetteville AR

Don’t minimize the South

Don’t count out the South, and particularly North Carolina, this election. People who were die-hard Republicans are fed up with the Shrub. I am amazed at the anti-Bush sentiments I hear being voiced. This state has lost more manufacturing jobs then any other state in the union since Bush and his gang seized control of the White House. Now is the time to build a broad based coalition of workers, small business people and former Republicans. Don’t write anybody off!

Harvey SmithVia e-mail

Editorials

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 05:06:00 +0000

End terrorism

The horrific scenes of children being carried out of the Russian school in Beslan and the mangled buses in Beersheba, Israel, have sickened and outraged, once again, all peace- and justice-loving people the world over. Deep sympathies from this newspaper and our readers are sent to the victims’ families. We unequivocally condemn these attacks.

These acts come as the U.S. commemorates the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on our country. Since that day, the Bush administration has tried to use terrorism and those awful attacks as a pretext to shove onto the world its own reactionary, narrow interests. They use it to justify unilateral, preemptive war, putting themselves above international law.

You are either with us or the terrorists, Bush tells the world. Thereby anyone who opposes his militaristic, pro-corporate, ultra-right agenda is a terrorist. Dick Cheney went so far as to suggest a terrorist attack may take place if people vote for John Kerry: a fear-mongering threat that should be roundly condemned by all, including Republicans.

Throughout the U.S., millions are coming together in opposition to the Bush agenda. Bush may be terrified of his opposition. But political dissent is not terrorism, as Bush officials suggest. It is our democratic American birthright.

This editorial page has consistently condemned individual terrorist attacks and terrorism as a tactic, by individuals and by states. We condemn bombings of civilians whether in Spain, Israel, Iraq, occupied Palestine, India, Ireland, Kenya, Afghanistan, or Indonesia; CIA-organized terrorism against Cuba, Chile or the Sandinista government in Nicaragua; the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, women’s health clinics and the Atlanta Olympic Games; and the hijackings of airplanes and using them as weapons on Sept. 11, 2001. Unfortunately the list of such attacks is long. And these attacks have increased as a result of Bush’s “war on terror.”

But in so doing, we seek to expose who really benefits from terrorism and therefore has an interest in supporting it — financially, organizationally and politically.

We have pointed to the roots and support of terrorism in ultra-right ideology and imperialism. Osama bin Laden was trained by the CIA in U.S. imperialism’s Cold War attacks on the revolutionary, democratic government of Afghanistan. Terrorist networks thrive because imperialism stamps out democratic movements. Nature abhors a vacuum so reaction steps into the void.

The Republicans “war on terror” uses false arguments designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator: fear and hatred. It has nothing to do with really ending terrorism. It plays on and promotes anti-Arab, anti-Islamic racism. The administration has rounded up Muslims and Arab immigrants in this country. It has justified invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. But it has not made any of us more secure. Billions of taxpayers’ money has gone to this effort. The grim milestone of 1,000 U.S. soldiers dead in Iraq has been reached. Corporations like Halliburton are profiting from Bush’s “war on terror,” but communities are crumbling. Police and firefighters, “first responders,” are being laid off. Public schools and hospitals are being forced to close. Racial profiling and racist violence continues unabated. Working families are facing the economic terrorism of joblessness, low wages and insecurity.

Violence, terrorism and national security are not just issues for the ultra-right to campaign on. The democratic, working-class and progressive movements have a stake in preventing and ending terrorism and violence and building a safer country and world. These issues should be part of the working-class, left and people’s agenda. The struggles for peace, economic and social justice, and international solidarity demand it.

There are solutions to preventing terrorism: Working within the framework of international law and cooperation, the International Criminal Court and the United Nations, instead of unilateral, illegal action, is one solution. Pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq is another step. Anti-imperialist, pro-people methods have to take the place of “endless war,” brutal and cyclical violence.

After the Sept. 11 attacks the world sent its condolences, support and solidarity to the American people. The world’s people are not “against” us — as Bush would have the country believe — but against Bush’s agenda. And to defeat that in November would put us on the road to preventing more terrorism.

Panama releases 4 anti-Cuba terrorists

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 03:21:00 +0000

On Aug. 26, Mireya Moscoso, not quite done with her term as president of Panama, pardoned four jailed terrorists. To the cheers and warm embraces of hundreds of like-minded Floridians, three well-known criminals returned home to U.S. soil, the very home, of course, of war against terrorism. Apparently the other released prisoner, Luis Posada Carriles, not a U.S. citizen, was dropped off in Honduras.

The quartet was arrested in Panama City in late 2000 and charged with preparing to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro while he was attending an Ibero-American Summit. Panamanian police found 33 pounds of explosives in their possession and lots of guns. Convicted in April 2004 for “endangering public safety and falsifying documents” in a plot that could have killed Castro and hundreds of students at the University of Panama in a big explosion, they were each sentenced to seven to eight years in jail.

Under Panamanian law, pardons may not be granted until any remaining judicial proceedings have been completed. An appeals process had still been in the works when the prisoners were set free. There is speculation that Colin Powell’s recent visit to Panama may have had something to do with the pardons.

Cuba broke off diplomatic relations with Panama Aug. 26 and Venezuela has withdrawn its ambassador. President-elect Martin Torrijos has announced that he will try to repair relations with Cuba. Panamanian students and labor activists have been protesting the release.

The freed prisoners have a long history of terrorist activity. Posada Carriles was CIA-trained, involved with the bombing of a Cuban jetliner in 1976 that killed 73 people, and associated with Oliver North in supplying the Nicaraguan Contras. He told the New York Times that he was responsible for a 1997 series of bombings in Havana.

Gaspar Jiménez served six years in a Mexican prison for the attempted kidnapping of a Cuban diplomat and the death of his bodyguard. He escaped to safety in Florida. He was also charged in a 1976 bombing attack on Miami radio announcer Emilio Milián, who lost his legs.

Pedro Remón went to jail in 1986 for trying to kill a Cuban UN diplomat and for helping out with the murder of Félix García Rodríguez, another Cuban UN official.

Guillermo Novo was tried for his part in the 1976 murder in Washington of the former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier. He won an appeal of his murder conviction, but, convicted of perjury, he spent four years in jail.

Julia E. Sweig, a Cuba expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, comments, “These are bad guys. … It is the most preposterous violation of what this administration stands for.”

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.

New York City labor slams Bush agenda

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 03:05:00 +0000

NEW YORK — This city’s labor movement flexed its muscle outside the Republican National Convention Sept. 1 as some 50,000 protesters came out to oppose the Bush agenda — including the war in Iraq and the “war on working families here at home” — in a rally that stretched from 23rd Street all the way to Madison Square Garden.

Speakers from virtually all of the major unions in New York City addressed a crowd carrying signs and banners denouncing the Bush administration.

“George W. Bush has come to New York to claim the mantle of 9/11,” said Roger Toussaint, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents 38,000 New York transit workers. But it was union men and women on the line, he said, adding, “union men and women cooperate together in solidarity — and that’s the very opposite of the Bush agenda.”

Toussaint added that money that could have helped working Americans was instead used to fight a war for oil. “I’m speaking here as a parent of a son in the military, and I’m furious he may have to shed blood for oil.” He then led the crowd in a chant of “Bush must go!”

Brian McLaughlin, head of the NYC Central Labor Council, said, “This is about the war right here at home,” adding that labor was fighting for “the right to organize, the right to fair pay, the right to decent health care and benefits, the right to secure jobs, the right to grow older. … We’re here to take back America.”

Four workers from across the United States took the stage to address the crowd. There was the worker from Iowa who worked as a machinist for 12 years until his job was shipped overseas. He now works in a grocery store for half his former wage and no benefits. A woman from Little Rock, Ark., who went to college via the Marines to get a bachelor’s degree in accounting, was laid off when the non-profit organization she worked for was defunded, and she still can’t find work.

Arlene, a garment worker who worked at the same plant for 36 years until her job was shipped overseas, told the crowd that since her unemployment benefits ended this past January, she was forced to ask herself questions like, “Do we eat, or do we keep warm?” Finally, there was Myra Braunstein from Washington state. She lost her information technology job, which was outsourced to India. She and her co-workers were forced to train their replacements if they wanted to receive their severance pay. She told the crowd about a degrading staff meeting where her manager said, “I’d like to introduce my old staff to my new staff.”

Every so often during these stories and throughout the rally, the crowd erupted into chants of “Push Bush out! Push Bush out!”

John Sweeney, head of the AFL-CIO, said, “When he campaigned last time, President Bush promised to create 5 million new jobs. So far, he’s 6 million short.”

Jennifer Clark, a health care worker who helped to lead the 1199 SEIU home care attendant strike that gave thousands of workers a raise from $7 to $10 per hour, said, “Under the Bush administration, the health care system is barely clinging to life. And if we continue with President Bush, the health care system is going to need a respirator.”

The author can be reached at dmargolis@cpusa.orgclick here for Spanish text

Labor Day rally jams W.Va. country roads

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 02:34:00 +0000

RACINE, W.Va. — It was a traffic jam the likes of which residents of rural southern West Virginia had never seen. Over 5,000 workers wound their way up a narrow road here to hear Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry slam George W. Bush’s record on jobs, health care and foreign policy at a Labor Day celebration hosted by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).

“It all comes down to one letter: W. George W. Bush,” Kerry roared, pumping the air with his fist. “What do you think ‘W’ stands for? That ‘W’ stands for wrong. Wrong choices, wrong direction for America.”

Kerry charged Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney with catering to the energy corporations and the Saudis, who own and control coal, oil and natural gas resources.

President Bush has stumped in West Virginia on energy independence for the U.S., which would put workers in the Mountaineer State back to work. Kerry directly challenged Bush energy policy by noting that the president had the energy corporations, alone and in secret, write the energy blueprint for tens of thousands of workers and millions of consumers.

UMWA President Cecil Roberts presented Kerry with a shotgun made by UMWA members and called on West Virginia voters to look beyond Bush photo-ops. The Republicans “are pretty good at raising the Bible, pointing the Bible at us,” said Roberts. “But you know what we do in the Democratic Party? We open it up and see what it says.”

Retired miner Stan Kenny spoke for the cheering crowd. “They talk about Kerry being a ‘flip-flop,’” he said. “That’s what Bush is. He put the steel tariffs in for workers like myself and then threw them out for his friends in big business.”

Boos greeted Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, who is running for re-election. She left early. Eric Wells, the Democratic candidate for that seat, was not present, but issued a press release saying that the crowd’s reaction indicates that Capito is “just not a friend of working families and they know it.”

Workers, 50,000 strong, jammed Charleston’s riverfront on Labor Day for a seven-hour rally and music celebration. United Steelworkers of America President Leo Gerard blasted the Bush job record.

“How the hell can this guy ask to be re-elected?” thundered the former nickel miner, citing the 1.5 million jobs lost, 5.2 million more Americans without health care and 3 million in poverty since Bush took office.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, flanked by actor Danny Glover and numerous labor and religious leaders, tackled California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s flip quip to the Republican National Convention, where he described those critical of the Bush economy as “economic girlie men.”

“Thirty-four steel mills have closed. Are these girlie men?” demanded Jackson. The crowd roared in response, “No!”

Letters

Fri, 03 Sep 2004 09:32:00 +0000

On the Bush propaganda push

The Big Lie was a tactic most closely associated with Nazi propaganda. It was really simple: You say something outrageous over and over again and people start to talk about it and believe it. The “Swift Boat” ads that the Bush administration has orchestrated are yet another example of the Big Lie tactic. The greatest courage human beings can show is moral courage and John Kerry’s opposition to the Vietnam War, a war of aggression against the Vietnamese people that produced, over its history, 3 million dead, was far braver than his military service and the wounds he suffered in combat. But he did serve with real distinction while George W. Bush found his way, with a little help from family connections, into the Texas Air National Guard to avoid the draft in a war he verbally supported, then spent much of his time away from his minimal National Guard service. This isn’t exactly comparable to Nazis making a pudgy Austrian-born WWI German Army corporal, whose family name was originally Schickelgruber, into the super leader of a Master Race but it uses lies to appeal to similar prejudices.

Norman MarkowitzNew Brunswick NJ

More on the differences

I really appreciate the coverage of the anti-Bush movement this newspaper has given. I, too, have gone door-to-door for voter registration and education, like Sam Webb talked about in his article “The role of the left in these elections” (PWW 8/28-9/3). I agree about emphasizing the differences between Kerry and Bush. People don’t always know the important differences that exist. The lies and attacks coming from the Republicans put people off and they begin to believe them.

It would be helpful if your newspaper ran something about the specific differences between the two presidential candidates, especially if it was in a form that could be cut out and hung on bulletin boards, etc.

This country’s future and soul are dependent upon a Kerry victory and your newspaper can help us in the field by providing such information.

Mary Louise SayerSt. Paul MN

Article link wrong

The link in your article “Abu Ghraib abuse part of larger pattern” (which was excellent by the way) should be www.soaw.org, not .com as referenced. Thanks for all of your good work.

Terry IngramVia e-mail

We want our PWW

For some reason, our subscription stopped coming at the end of June. We called the circulation department, and were told that the problem would be fixed and our sub re-started next week. That’s great, but — would you please send us the issues we missed (all of July) — we feel like there’s been a news blackout!

JanineBronx NY

Bookmarked

Re “Canada phone strike solid after 4 months” (PWW 8/21-27): Thank you for a well-written article. I bookmarked your web link (www.pww.org).

Stephen CooperVia e-mail

Failing to cover the convention

This paper noted with concern how little coverage the TV networks are giving to this year’s political conventions. Fortunately, all the cable news channels offer more complete coverage, right? Actually, a new study from watch group Media Matters for America finds Fox News covered the Democratic convention far less than CNN or MSNBC. We’ll have to see whether Fox treats the Republican convention similarly. Either way, those of us seeking complete and unbiased coverage of the election will have to change the channel on Fox.

Stephanie MaslanskyNew York NY

Supporting choice

I believe in a woman’s right to choose. She should be able to have an abortion, free of charge, on demand. Oral abortion medicine should be made available upon request and also free of charge. Reproductive human rights do require education, the essence of the struggle. This means that we must have sex education.

Irving C. JonesPhiladelphia PA

Communists and religion

In the 7/31-8/6 edition of the PWW there was a letter to the editor “Communists and religion” by Bill Jones. There is a book Mr. Jones would like to read, I think. It’s by a Mexican theologian-intellectual named Jose Miranda titled “Communism in the Bible.” The book is out of print but I’d be willing to photocopy its 86 pages and send it to him. It’s a fantastic book that I feel sure he would value.

Tony TopolskiVia e-mail

Shadows, lies and ‘The Passion’

The film “The Passion” was introduced as having some factual content. Yet, in promotional film clips, there was one overpowering factual contradiction. There was little or no attempt to present the people of the region as people of color. To present biblical characters as otherwise is an attempt to resurrect a discredited, chauvinistic myth. Thus, to open your tale with a lie in the beginning it will end as a lie and nothing in between can justify it. But the creators of this film knew this. We must be careful, this film is presented in shadows and the shadows are there to hide the truth. The same mentality that crucified this revolutionary, today bombs churches, synagogues, and temples of Islam. We must on the other hand struggle to affirm the people’s right to search for their spiritual fulfillment to make the world a better place.

Bob WilliamsSt. Louis MO

Editorials

Fri, 03 Sep 2004 09:15:00 +0000

The smug, well-fed GOP

More than 500,000 anti-Bush protesters marched past the Republican Party’s convention site Aug. 29, chanting, “Four more months!” It was hardly an auspicious start for the GOP’s highly scripted coronation of George W. Bush. Even events within their control did not go according to cue. Take Bush himself. On the way to the convention he told a crowd the war in Iraq is a “catastrophic success.” Later, an NBC News interviewer asked him if the war on terrorism is winnable. “I don’t think you can win it,” Bush replied blandly, sending his handlers into frantic damage control.

A parade of GOP bigwigs trumpeted Bush as a war president in the mold of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, claims so ludicrous that they are material for Comedy Central.

The Republicans had to whip up fear and war jingoism. They had to lie about Democrat John Kerry’s Vietnam War record. Why? To silence the growing chorus of criticism of Bush’s failed presidency.

Preemptive war on Iraq has left the U.S. virtually isolated and far less safe. It has exposed Bush as a liar and a war criminal. The occupation has cost 1,000 dead and 10,000 wounded American soldiers as well as nearly $200 billion in tax dollars. Iraqi casualties are in the many tens of thousands. A high level report charges that top officials were responsible for the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.

On the eve of the GOP convention, the Census Bureau reported that 1 million more people fell into poverty and the number without health insurance soared above 45 million during Bush’s first three years in office. Millions of workers in our heartland have lost jobs, pensions, and health benefits.

The smug, well-fed Republicans keep singing, “Happy Days Are Here Again,” but the cruel truth breaks through. The Republicans trotted out so-called moderate California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “To those who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say, ‘don’t be economic girly men,’” he cracked. The smug, well-fed crowd gave The Groper a standing ovation.

* * * * * *

Social Security threat

George W. Bush has recklessly drained the public treasury with his tax cuts for the rich, the bloody, senseless Iraq war, and plush Pentagon contracts for well-connected corporations. Now Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has the nerve to call for cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits for the 77 million baby boomers who are nearing retirement age.

Greenspan also suggested further increasing the retirement age for full Social Security benefits. (An increase from 65 to 67 is already phasing in.) And he proposed trimming the annual cost-of-living adjustment.

Greenspan says the government has “promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver.” But the Bush administration has delivered, and then some, to corporate America.

Take Vice President Dick Cheney and his Halliburton Corp. Last year Halliburton got a no-bid contract of $7 billion for Iraq reconstruction — which hasn’t happened. The same year, Cheney received $178,437 in deferred compensation from Halliburton. Meanwhile Halliburton is under investigation for overcharging the government to the tune of $186 million.

And what about our economy’s ability to deliver? The AFL-CIO reports that the average corporate CEO’s pay package is now 301 times bigger than the average worker’s paycheck. The latest economic reports show rising inequality, with the rich getting richer while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet. Clearly, there’s plenty of money available. The question is, what are our nation’s priorities?

The Greenspan proposals aren’t new. In 2000, candidate Bush proposed privatization schemes that would drain the Social Security fund. The gap would be made up through cutting benefits and raising the retirement age. A Century Foundation study estimated that Bush’s plan would require benefit cuts of 25-46 percent.

John Kerry says, “I will never privatize Social Security. I will not cut Social Security benefits. And I will not raise the retirement age.”

The stakes are high and the choice is clear for working families.

Cuba rebounds from Hurricane Charley

Fri, 03 Sep 2004 07:10:00 +0000

Cuba specializes in hurricanes, but Charley was different. During two hours in the early morning of Aug. 13, Havana Province experienced its worst storm since 1915. Charley was only the fourth August hurricane of the past 200 years, according to Cuban meteorologists.

The hurricane caused terrible destruction and severe shortages of water and food affected Havana, Havana Province and Pinar del Rio, in the west. Electricity was out for up to four days in Havana. In Pinar del Rio, power was out for well over a week.

Cuba handles hurricanes differently, too. The nation’s civil defense forces are highly organized. Major preventative efforts go into effect prior to every storm and an intense recovery campaign begins after each hurricane. The population is fully mobilized.

Susan Hurlich, a journalist living in Cuba and close observer of the nation’s response to hurricanes, has generously provided most of the information used in this report.

In Havana Province, Charley destroyed 3,674 houses, damaged 37,650 more, over 200 schools, 39 daycare centers, thousands of electrical transformers and 36 high-tension towers. There were 200 km (124 miles) of fallen cable and 2,500 telephone poles. Plantain and banana crops, citrus and tobacco were devastated, as were 400 poultry facilities. An estimated 66,000 tons of fruit were on the ground.

Destruction was almost total — only 13 houses left standing — in two fishing communities on Cuba’s southern coast, El Cajio and Guanimar.

Electrical power for Pinar del Rio comes from a large generating plant in Mariel, 40 miles west of Havana. Hurricane Charley knocked down 10 of that facility’s high voltage towers. An absence of electricity resulted in 730,000 people without their usual sources of water.

In Havana itself, Charley destroyed 478 houses, severely damaged 2,976 more and downed 7,000 trees. Damage occurred to 21 hospitals, 51 polyclinics, 48 family doctor clinic-houses, 25 pharmacies, 105 daycare centers and 338 schools. Four people died and five were injured.

How does human life and limb get off so easily in such a storm? In fact, civil defense services had evacuated 215,532 people from Cuba’s southwestern coast — along with 159,000 animals.

Recovery efforts went into full swing immediately. Specialized electrical repair groups came in from all over the island, as well as 180 trucks to distribute water. Zinc sheets were brought into Havana Province for roof repairs.

For families who lost their homes, 200 pre-fabricated houses will be made available each month over the next 18-20 months. Farm help has come from Matanzas Province to prepare the soil and plant short-cycle crops and also speed up the planting of winter crops.

Over 27,600 people from all over Cuba, according to Hurlich, have been engaged in full-time recovery work in and around Havana, including over 5,000 who have been working 15- to 20-hour days with chainsaws, loaders, bulldozers, and hundreds of trucks.

In Pinar del Rio, electrical generators at sugar mills provided temporary power for pumps to provide water for several communities. Mobile generators kept hospitals going. In Havana over 1,500 men put electrical lines back up and resurrected 1,000 fallen lampposts. Repairs to health centers and schools have taken priority.

Hurlich reports that the Ministry of Work and Social Security has reassured people who lost work when they were evacuated that they will be paid for the days they were away. Thousands of Cubans mobilized for preventative and recovery work are receiving their regular salaries, as are workers staying home to repair or rebuild a house and those whose workplaces were destroyed. Mothers forced to stay home with their children because of damage to daycare centers will receive 60 percent of their usual salary.

The force behind Cuba’s hurricane response was not unlike that of a whirlwind, one with the power of Charley itself. The reams of data available on Charley and the recovery campaign, all readily available, testify to high levels of organization, planning and commitment.

Cuba’s friends in the world care too, as indicated by a deluge of offers of aid. Even the U.S. government got into the act. Its State Department on Aug. 13 expressed sympathy with the Cuban people and indicated that a donation of $50,000 was on the way, with strings attached, of course. The money had to go to people directly and not to agencies of the Cuban government. The Ministry of Foreign Relations characterized the U.S. proposal as cynical and insulting. Spokespersons contrasted that paltry sum with the $50 million that the U.S government will be forwarding to its agents inside Cuba for projects directed against the government there.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.