Worst Person In The World

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[SDCPJ] Association for Indian Development event

[SDCPJ] [Fwd: OB Rag confronts the right-wng at Town Hall meeting]

[SDCPJ] March for California's Future Sept. 20

 

Alicia Lepe

Alicia Lepe

California partnership/Center for Community Change

2533 W. 3rd Street, Suite 101

Los Angeles, CA 90057

 

(626) 224-8189 Cell

(866) 337-7909 Fax

 

E_Mail: alepe@communitychange.org

Web page: california-partnership.org

 "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."

 

[SDCPJ] Sat. Aug. 29, 7pm ~ "Militainment Inc." - Activist San Diego Film Series

Activist San Diego Film Series Presents
Militainment Inc.
Saturday August 29th, 7:00pm
 Joyce Beers Community Center
located at 1220 Cleveland Ave. in Hillcrest.

Militainment, Inc. offers a fascinating, disturbing, and timely glimpse into the militarization of American popular culture, examining how U.S. news coverage has come to resemble Hollywood film, video games, and "reality television" in its glamorization of war.

Mobilizing an astonishing range of media examples from news anchors' idolatry of military machinery to the impact of government propaganda on war reporting the film asks: How has war taken its place in the culture as an entertainment spectacle? And how does presenting war as entertainment affect the ability of citizens to evaluate the necessity and real human costs of military action?

http://www.activistsandiego.org/wwwboard/viewtopic.php?t=19256&sid=fafe3de64e431623926199f39e7b3eb9

Fro info contact: (714) 5956912
1activistsandiego@gmail.com

[SDCPJ] Protest Blackwater's presence at Southwestern College

09 Sep 2009 - Southwestern College Board Meeting, 2009-09-09 -- Please join us at this meeting to fight the Blackwater agreement! Southwestern Community College at 900 Otay Lakes Road, Rm 214 (6:30p Protest; 7p Meeting) sponsored by CitizensOversight Info: 619-447-3246 or visit http://www.citizensoversight.org Details

[SDCPJ] Urgent: Check San Diego Unified student enrollment forms

To students and relatives of students in the San Diego Unified School District:

 

Please check the enrollment confirmation forms that are being distributed for students this year. Specifically, look at question #28 and please tell us if "yes" was already checked when the form was given to you.

 

Question #28 asks:

 

"Is it okay to release your child's information to military recruiters?" Next to it are places to check "yes" or "no."

 

We are aware that some--maybe most--secondary students are being given these forms with "yes" preselected, giving the parent and student the impression that they have no choice in the matter.

 

It is true that federal law requires schools to release a list of students' names, addresses and phone numbers to military recruiters if it's requested, but the law also states that parents and students MUST be told that they have the right to opt out of any such releases. San Diego Unified is apparently ignoring this law and making the decision for its students!

 

You can help us put a stop to this violation of privacy by helping us document the existence of these pre-printed forms (a sample blank form is attached). (We've heard of at least one past case where one was issued with "yes" preselected for an elementary student, even though it only applies to secondary students.)

 

We need students and relatives of students in San Diego to check their enrollment forms. If "yes" has been preselected for question #28, please let us know and MAKE A COPY of the form before altering that section and before turning it into the school. If you wish to block release of the student's information after you make a copy of the form, you should check "no" at question #28, circle your check, and add a parent's signature below it with an arrow pointing to the check mark. To add insurance, a student or parent should fill out a separate opt-out form and turn it into the student's school. You can download such a form at:
http://www.projectyano.org/pdf/opt_out_form_bilingual_national.pdf

 

This is a very brazen violation of privacy rights, probably of the No Child Left Behind Act as well. If nothing is done about it, undesired releases of student contact information could occur as early as October. The Education Not Arms Coalition is hoping to get the district's attention and convince it to postpone the release until something is done to correct the mistake made this year and a better procedure is adopted for the future.

 

Rick Jahnkow
For the Education Not Arms Coalition

www.projectyano.org/educationnotarms
760-634-3604

---

Growing Poverty and Despair in America

By Stephen Lendman
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14910
Global Research, August 26, 2009

In 1962, Michael Harrington's "The Other America" exposed the nation's dark underside enough for John Kennedy to ask his Council of Economic Advisor chairman, Walter Heller, to look into the problem and for Lyndon Johnson to say (on January 8, 1964) that his administration "today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America."

In fact, it was little more than a skirmish that fell way short of addressing the real problem in the world's richest nation. Today it's even greater and increasing exponentially under a president who, unlike Johnson, declared war on the poor and disadvantaged to favor privilege over growing needs and essential social change.

In his book, Harrington wrote:

"In morality and in justice every citizen should be committed to abolishing the other America, for it is intolerable that the richest nation in human history should allow such needless suffering. But more than that, if we solve the problem of the other America we will have learned how to solve the problems of all of America." Sadly, we didn't then nor have we now.

Perhaps more than anything, increasing homelessness and hunger highlight the growing problem as, in the face of deteriorating economic conditions and growing human needs, administration policies are indifferent, counterproductive, uncaring and hostile.

In December 2008, Reuters reported that "Homelessness and demand for emergency food are rising in the United States as the economy founders," according to a December 2008 US Conference of Mayor's Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness survey of 25 American cities. Chief causes cited were growing poverty, unemployment, and unaffordable housing costs with greater than ever expected challenges in 2009. At the time, it was reported that "Cities continue to develop aggressive strategies to prevent homelessness" and provide other essential services, but that was then and this is now.

An Epidemic of State Budget Shortfalls

As economic conditions deteriorate, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)'s July 29 report highlighted the growing problem. Titled "New Fiscal Year Brings No Relief from Unprecedented State Budget Problems," it cited the following issues:

-- at least 48 states "addressed or still face shortfalls in (their FY 2010) budgets," the result of "the worst decline in tax receipts in decades;"

-- at issue is a $163 billion deficit or 24% of their budgets, and these numbers keep rising as conditions worsen;

-- at least 33 states "already anticipate" 2011 deficits that may exceed 2010 ones; and

-- for FYs 2010 and 2011, shortfalls of at least $350 billion are expected, and FY 2012 may bring little or no relief.

In response, deep social service cuts are being implemented, putting the burden on vulnerable Americans to cope and survive. The situation is grave and worsening with at least 21 states cutting "low-income children's or families' eligibility for health insurance or reduce their access to health care services."

Elderly and disabled persons programs are also being reduced or eliminated. So are services for home and child care, rehabilitation, and other essential needs for the poor and low-income households. The most vulnerable of all are affected, yet more cuts are expected as new budget pressures arise.

Pre-school, K-12, and higher education cuts are being made as well. Public payrolls and hours worked are being slashed, exacerbating the growing unemployment problem, worse still by cutting pay for the still-employed. Tax increases may also be considered at the worst possible time.

"Expenditure cuts and tax increases are problematic policies during an economic downturn because they reduce overall demand and can make the downturn deeper. When states cut spending, they lay off employees, cancel contracts with vendors, eliminate or lower payments to businesses and nonprofit organizations that provide direct services, and cut benefit payments to individuals."

Demand is then reduced because households have less to spend. As a result, the economic crisis deepens. CBPP said federal assistance is crucial, yet the Obama administration declined while providing trillions to Wall Street and other corporate favorites. That's the state of governance in America today under Republican and Democrat administrations, each no different from the other.

Hunger in America

On its web site, Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest) said in "the land of plenty," one in eight Americans (meaning millions) face growing hunger problems, and not just the poor and unemployed. They're "often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet" and have to forego meals at times, even for days.

Hunger and Poverty Facts

-- in (pre-crisis) 2007, 37.5 million people were impoverished; they comprised:

-- 12.5% of the population and 9.8% of families;

-- 20.3 million or 10.9% of people aged 18 - 64;

-- 13.3 million or 18% of children under age 18; and

-- 3.7 million or 9.7% of seniors aged 65 or older who benefit from Social Security and Medicare.

In addition:

-- 36.2 million Americans are food insecure, including 12.4 million children;

-- they comprise 13 million or 11.1% of households;

-- 4.7 million households experience "very low food security" meaning hunger is a persistent problem;

-- households with children have double the food insecurity as ones with none;

-- single women-headed households are worst off with 30.2% of them insecure; and

-- 53.9% of food-insecure households rely on one or more of the following federal programs - food stamps, the National School Lunch Program, and the Special Supplement Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); in addition, Feeding America (in 2007) provided emergency food aid to about 25 million low-income people, 8% more than in 2001.

On August 6, the US Department of Agriculture reported a record 34.4 million Americans (one in nine) receiving food stamps in May as unemployment keeps surging. It was the sixth consecutive monthly record, and every state showed an increase as economic conditions worsen.

On September 10, the Commerce Department will release 2008 census data expected to show around another 1.5 million people added to the poverty rolls over 2007 figures - a total of nearly 39 million representing 12.7% of Americans. According to Rebecca Blank, Economic Affairs Undersecretary, final numbers aren't yet in and may be worse than expected because of how bad things are for growing numbers in the country. She believes if (U-3) unemployment hits 10% (up from 9.4% now), poverty could reach 14.8% this year and rising because of jobs and homes lost, savings exhausted, and the sharpest ever decline in personal wealth between mid-2007 and December 2008.

Worst of all, conditions for most people are deteriorating as businesses, states, and local governments shed workers and cut budgets at the worst possible time. It promises harder times ahead and potentially millions more impoverished.


Homelessness Facts

Annually, two - three million Americans, including 1.3 million children, experience homelessness and many more are at risk. Most vulnerable are those losing jobs, homes, and the millions of low-income workers paying 50% or more of their income in rent so that a missed paycheck, health emergency, or unexpected financial burden makes them vulnerable to homelessness at a time government aid is being cut.

Criminalizing the Homeless

In the face of a growing burden on society's most needy, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty reported that "many cities use the criminal justice system to punish people living on the street for doing" what they must to survive. Local ordinances prohibit sleeping, camping, eating, sharing food, sitting, loitering, and/or begging in public places with criminal penalties imposed on offenders. Some cities even punish organizations and individuals for helping, and the idea always is to keep the unwanted out of sight, mind, and preferably out of cities, at least in or near more affluent areas or business districts.

As economic conditions deteriorate, the problem will grow and so will the plight of the homeless as cities crack down harder in violation of constitutional and international human rights laws.

The OECD's 2008 Report, "Growing Unequal?: Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries

It states that America "is the country with the highest inequality level and poverty rate" among the 30 OECD countries, ranking only ahead of Mexico and Turkey. In addition, since 2000, inequality grew rapidly, "continuing a long-term trend (going) back to the 1970s" when inflation-adjusted household incomes began falling. Other data cited includes:

-- the gap between rich and middle and poorer income groups widened;

-- government redistribution of income "plays a relatively minor role in the United States," partly because social service spending is low and falling; in 2008 America, it was 9% of household incomes compared to 22% on average in OECD countries;

-- social mobility in America is low, and children of poor families are less likely to become rich; and

-- "wealth is distributed much more unequally than income: the top 1% controls some 25 - 33% of total net worth and the top 10% holds 71%;" other estimates place these disparities much higher and widening as social inequalities increase, high-paying jobs disappear, the middle class keeps shrinking, poverty grows, and federal and state governments cut essential services in the face of increasing need among greater numbers of people.

The Working Poor Keep Getting Poorer

The Working Poor Families Project October 2008 study highlighted similar problems from 2002 through 2006. Titled "Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short: New Findings on the Challenges Confronting America's Working Families," it reported:

-- jobs paying poverty-level wages rose by 4.7 million;

-- low-income working families (earning less than double the Census definition of poverty) increased by 350,000;

-- below poverty-level jobs rose to 29.4 million and comprise 22% of all jobs compared to 19% in 2002;

-- most disturbing is that this happened during a period of economic growth, but at the same time wages haven't kept pace with the cost of living;

-- low income family numbers rose to nearly 9.6 million or 28% of the population;

-- children in them number 21 million;

-- 72% of low-income families with working adults in them performed the equivalent of one and one-quarter jobs - a far greater burden than in other OECD countries; and

-- income inequality is highest in New York; California is fourth, but all states are in a race to the bottom as conditions deteriorate everywhere, so all rankings are disturbing compared to the late 1990s.

The US Labor Department's latest productivity report highlights the plight of workers even more. It rose 6.4% in Q 2, the largest gain since 2003, while workers' compensation fell sharply, 2.2% on an annualized basis. According to Mark Vitner of Wells Fargo Bank, the productivity increase "is almost entirely the result of cost-cutting, not improved ways of producing goods and providing services." It also shows how powerless workers are at a time of massive job cuts, so staying employed takes precedence over wages paid and benefits. The result is profits up, pay down, benefits disappearing, and American workers transitioning to serfs.

More confirmation comes from the latest Internal Revenue Service statistics for 2007 showing that the income disparity between the top 10% and bottom 90% reached "a higher level than any other year since 1917 and even surpasses 1928, the peak of the stock market bubble in the 'roaring' 1920s," according to data from University of California economist Emmanuel Saez. He noted that "2007 was an incredibly good year for the super rich" and added:

"Based on the US historical record, falls in income concentration due to recessions are temporary unless drastic policy changes such as financial regulation or significantly more progressive taxation are implemented and prevent income concentration from coming back."

But these are no ordinary times as the US sinks slowly into depression. The super-rich are exploiting it to their advantage, while millions of working Americans are losing jobs, homes, benefits, savings, futures, and safety net protections. The 2007 data reflected the peak of the current cycle. What's ahead will be far more grim, disturbing, and reflective of an America that is no more.

The Economic Policy Institute's (EPI) State of Working America - 2008/2009

As the economy contracted in 2008, job losses and unemployment accelerated, but EPI's report missed the worst of it from early 2009 to the present. It cited:

-- wages losing ground to inflation;

-- high energy costs;

-- the burst housing bubble;

-- millions of defaults on home loans followed by foreclosures;

-- declining financial markets and frozen credit;

-- less health care coverage and fewer higher-paying jobs with good benefits; and

-- "for the first time since the mid-1940s, the real incomes of middle-class families are lower at the end of this business cycle than they were when it started;" as a result, "prosperity is eluding working families" as they fall further behind, now more than ever as depression takes hold.

EPI calls family income "the core building block of American living standards." Yet during the last business cycle, significant productivity growth was accompanied by stagnant or falling real incomes. "That has never happened before." The latest economic recovery bypassed the middle class and created greater income inequality. The Bush administration's tax cuts exacerbated the problem by helping the top 1% mostly, the middle class marginally, and low-income families not at all.

Clear racial disparities show whites consistently better off than blacks and Hispanics, men doing better than women, huge class distinctions, and mobility up the income ladder bypasses most at lower levels. One study showed that about 60% of families starting out in the bottom fifth stratum were still there a decade later. At the same time, over half the top income ones kept their position.

EPI concludes that "where you start out in the income scale has a strong influence (over) where you end up (so) the rate of economic mobility is low" in the richest country in the world where the select few alone benefit. All others lose out as their incomes don't keep pace with inflation and their living standards erode.

Another study implies that a poor family of four with two children needs nine to 10 generations to reach middle-income status. It means where you're born is where you'll stay. So-called rags-to-riches tales are just folklore, and stagnant or downward mobility today is more serious than ever.

Wages and salaries comprise three-fourths of family income, and for the middle class, it's even higher. Yet since 2002, they didn't grow at all despite historically high productivity, meaning business benefitted, not workers who fell further behind. Women and minorities fare worst plus everyone in lower income categories. During the 2002 - 07 recovery, no progress was made "in reducing the share of workers with low earnings (in) all race/ethnic groups and for both genders....The very highest earners have done considerably better than other workers for at least (the past) 30 years, but they (did) extraordinarily well over the last 10 years."

In addition, eroding "employer-provided benefits, most notably pensions and health insurance, is an important aspect of the deterioration in job quality (and economic security) for many workers." Most harmed are young workers facing bleak prospects, older ones losing jobs and not wanted, and the erosion of unionization since the 1950s, especially since the late 1970s.

Overall, 2002 - 07 growth was a jobless recovery followed by the subsequent wiping out of five years of modest gains. From 2000 - 2007, average annual job growth was an anemic 0.6%, well below the 1990s 1.8% figure. In addition, the unemployment rate rose 0.7% from March 2001 (the last business cycle's peak) to December 2007 even though average workers age increased and the labor force participation rate shrank - "both of which should have put downward pressure on the" unemployment rate. The great American job creation machine faltered badly in the new millennium and now has collapsed.

Net family wealth also determines household well-being, particularly from income and financial assets, including real estate. Yet in America, the top 1% controls more than the bottom 90% combined and the disparity is growing. In 1962, the bottom 80%'s share was 19.1%. In 2004, it was 15.3%, the difference shifting to the top 5%.

In addition, until the current downturn, average household debt grew much faster than income, fueled by increases in mortgages, home equity loans, and high credit card balances. Since the housing bubble burst and home prices collapsed, the damage done has been enormous with still more to come.

The result is growing poverty levels as discussed above with numbers increasing as economic conditions weaken. "The backsliding against poverty in the 2000s is most notable among the least advantaged," especially blacks, Hispanics, mother-only families, and the poor unable to keep pace.

It shows up in inequality in health security in the form of inadequate or no insurance, lower life expectancies for poor and lower income households, and an eroding safety net for the most needy. Rising health care costs, lost or no benefits, and an economic crisis have increased the plight of millions of the country's least advantaged.

EPI's report highlights a nation of growing inequality, lower wages, fewer benefits, diminished worker bargaining power, and disempowered unions v. market fundamentalists, complicit government officials, and their "You're-on-Your-Own" (YOYO) ideology against which they're powerless.

They believe markets know best so let them, arguing that alternatives "will create the wrong incentives." Recent decades reveal the folly of this approach on American workers' living standards. Exposing the "ownership society" myth, all household security measures, including net worth, have fallen despite a few years of late 1990s progress.

Today, "The macro-economy is in serious disrepair, beset by the spillovers from the bursting....housing bubble, high energy prices, and unsustainable levels of household indebtedness" causing economic collapse and the possibility of a deep, protracted depression. So far, remedial measures have been patchwork and counterproductive as growing millions face greater uncertainties with no imminent signs of relief and federal and state governments not caring or helping.

In 2009, the State of Working America is dire and worsening enough for millions of households to face greater than ever challenges on their own with government indifferent to their plight.

Concluding an early 1980s edition of his book, Michael Harrington sensed what "Other Americans" were up against in writing:

"I end this review, then, on an ambivalent note. There was progress; there could have been more progress; the poor need not always be with us. But it will take political movements much more imaginative and militant than those in existence in 1980 to bring that progress about. Until that happens, the poor will be with us." And today, in exponentially growing far greater numbers because nothing is being done to reverse them.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

[SDCPJ] support high school outreach

Dear Peace and Justice supporter:

The school year is about to begin and San Diego's youth need your help.  They need to hear a message of peace and hope.  Your donation can give them that message and help build a generation of antiwar activists who will challenge the militarism that permeates their schools.

For the last 7 years, the High School Leafleting Project, a committee of the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice, has passed out almost 120,000 flyers at 25 different high schools.  To continue this effort, we need contributions to print the flyers that will get more youth involved in peace activism.

Our outreach played a key role in the formation of the Education not Arms Coalition.  This coalition is comprised of students, teachers, parents and community activists.  Education not Arms continues its work following a successful campaign to end weapons training by JROTC chapters in all of the schools in San Diego Unified. They also supported a successful campaign by the Education Consortium to get a policy adopted by the school board that will improve student access to courses needed for college acceptance; thereby reducing the number of low-income students and youth of color who are being tracked by their schools into the military.  Here's a link to some of the exciting work born out of this coalition.  http://www.projectyano.org/educationnotarms/ 

As a Coalition for Peace and Justice supporter, your donations will also pay for the printing of the very important opt-out form that we distribute at the beginning of each school year.  Under "No Child Left Behind," all public schools must turn over personal information on students to military recruiters.  By passing out the opt-out form we are informing students that this is happening and of their right to keep their information private from these recruiters.  This project is all done by volunteers. The only thing we need money for is the printing of the flyers.  Your donation goes directly to educating San Diego's youth!

Tax-deductible donations can be made payable to the Peace Resource Center, attn.: High School Leafleting Project, and mailed to: Peace Resource Center of San Diego 3850 Westgate Place San Diego, California 92105. Or you can go to the following link: http://www.prcsd.org/ and click on donate then follow the donation form to contribute to the high school leafleting project.  Please consider a generous donation to help us support the cause of peace by educating a new generation of activists!

Thank you,

Stephanie Jennings

For the high school leafleting project

San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice

[SDCPJ] [Fwd: Please distribute to one and all! And, join the FUN!] Women's Equality events

***********Join Us for Beyond Treason at Movie Night***********

Join the San Diego County Community Coalition at Movie Night for the feature film Beyond Treason .........................what our government is doing to our troops......... is treason. Queen Bee Cultural Center 3925 Ohio Street San Diego 7PM Tuesday 25 August 2009 help center | e-mail options | report spam SDCommunityCoalition has shared a video with you on YouTube: MovieNightLarge © 2009 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

Movie Night Beyond Treason

Worse Person In the World

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Tom Ridge Pressured to Raise Terrorist Level By Bush Administration Before Election

Tom Ridge admits in his new book how he was pressured to raise the terrorist level just before 2004 election to scare Americans. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/20/2041283.aspx

Blackwater used by CIA for Assassination

Blackwater used to assassinate by CIA http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/20/reports_private_military_firm_blackwater_was [Message sent by sdcommunitycoalition@gmail.com via AddThis.com.]

Tom Ridge Pressured by Bush Administration to Raise Terrorist Level

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/20/2041283.aspx

[SDCPJ] Come Sign Through at the Border This Sat! - ¡Vamos a "gestuarar" comunicación en la frontera este Sábado!

Sign language saves the day!!  ¡La lengua de señas "gestaura" communicación!

 

Info below and attached in English and Spanish.  Información en seguida y anexo en inglés y en español

Signing Through III

Making friends across the Border through the Power of Sign Language

Saturday Aug 22nd at 2pm– At Playas de Tijuana and Border Field State Park

 

"A place where sign language shines through to breach the literal gap and bridge the societal/cultural divides in getting to know someone new!

• If you are Deaf if you are not deaf, whether you can sign or not, ALL ARE WELCOME!
• Learn how to spell your name in Sign language and maybe even make a friend that will give you your new Signing name!!
• You can sign yourself or pair up with a signer!!
• Mingle and Make friends across the border through interpreters!!
• Have fun and socialize on the beach!

 

Go to  www.bordermeetup.org or call Dan Watman at 619.954.9710 email bordermeetup@gmail.com for more details
 

 RGestaurando comunicación III

Haciendo amigos através de la frontera

Sábado 22 de agostoo a las 14:00– En Playas de Tijuana y la playa del lado de Estados Unidos 

• ¡Comunicar através de la frontera con el poder de la lengua de señas!

 

• Gente sordo-muda, gente no sordo-muda, gente que sabe la lengua de señas y gente que no -  ¡¡Todos son bienvenidos!!

 

• ¡Hacer un amigo nuevo y posiblement aprender tu nuevo nombre en señas o eseñarle a alguien su nuevo nombre!!

 

• ¡Tendremos intérpretes!

 

 

Vayan al  www.bordermeetup.org, o llamen a Daniel Watman at 619.954.9710 o manden correo email at borderencuentro@gmail.com para más informes. 

 

--
Signing Through III!  Next Border Meetup/ecuentro Sat Aug 22nd 2p
Details bordermeetup.org

CIA HIRED BLACKWATER TO ASSASSINATE

The Best Government Money Can Buy

How to follow the money going to politicians.

http://www.opensecrets.org/action/ftm/

[SDCPJ] [Fwd: Save the Date: Mon Aug 17, 7pm -"The truth about single payer health reform and the lies that are killing it."]

*******THIS IS WALTER WITH A VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT OUR MEETING THIS SUNDAY******

Even if you are on the right track, you will be run over if you just stand there.

MEETING AGENDA Monthly Community Coalition Meeting 16 August 2009 Your support is needed and requested @the Cultural Center 3925 Ohio Street San Diego, CA 92104 Scheduled Time Activities Note 2:00 P.M. - 2:30 P.M. Introductions Each group will get an opportunity to introduce themselves, state their mission and make important announcements. Bring membership forms and distribute your schedules. Activist San Diego Veterans for Peace A New PATH Drug Policy Alliance All of US or None Center for Policy Initiatives Women's Caucus for Art San Diego San Diegans for 911 Truth 2:30 P.M. - 2:45 P.M. The Coalition Summary of accomplishments, mission of the coalition and discussion of future objectives. The Environment Human Rights Peace 911 Investigations Poverty Unity Citizen Empowerment Prison and Drug Policy Veterans Gender Neutrality Blackwater Political Corruption Health Care 2:45 P.M. - 3:00 P.M. Television Shows Why each organizations needs their own show on Public Access and how they can do it. Community Issues Progress in San Diego Community Artist Connection Truth to Power Citizens' Internet TV Network Producer Training 2-3 October Reservations must be made on 22 September 2009 by calling 619-596-3292 3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. Discussion on Effective Actions How do you send public service announcements Boycott procedures Who should be targeted for boycotts How do we select targets Information sources Common adversaries and how we can coordinate 4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M. Final Thoughts Summary of meeting and important points. Final inputs. Development of next immediate actions. Conclusion of meeting. 197 Woodland Parkway Ste. 104-115 San Marcos, CA 92069 Phone: 760-917-1251 Fax:

[SDCPJ] Anti-militarist Web site recently updated

This is to let you know that NEW articles and updated content have recently been posted at http://www.comdsd.org/, the Web site of the San Diego-based Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD).

 

Included in the current update are two articles from the latest issue of COMD's printed newsletter, Draft NOtices:

- "Resistance to ROTC Succeeds at CSU San Marcos," by Linda Pershing, gives details on the successful effort to stop the introduction of ROTC at the Cal State San Marcos campus. Making this victory more significant is the fact that it occurred at a relatively conservative university campus and at a time when ROTC organizing is at a low point nationally.

- "Inadequate High School Courses Pushes Students into the Military," written by recent high school graduate David Morales, explains how limitations in academic choice play a role in tracking students into the military, especially when they come from working-class families and communities of color.

 

To order the complete printed version of Draft NOtices, visit the Web site's Draft NOtices page. In addition to the above three articles, the current printed version includes:

- legislative news that suggests Jr. ROTC could soon be on its way out of California high schools;

- archival photos and article excerpts commemorating the 30th year of Draft NOtices' publication; and

 

- Opt-out forms, in English and Spanish, for high school students to block the release of their contact information to military recruiters this fall.

---

[SDCPJ] meeting Monday, August 10, 7 p.m.

The San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice will meet on Monday,
August 10, 7 p.m. at the First Church of the Brethren, 3850 Westgate
Place, San Diego 92105. All are welcome.

Agenda items will include an update on Blackwater and anti-Blackwater
activities; plans for the October AIPAC Summit at La Costa; update on
Marriage Equality activities, upcoming Winter Soldier hearings and more.
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[SDCPJ] New! Chalmers Johnson: Three Good Reasons to Liquidate Our Empire

Read this new article by Chalmers Johnson on the Peace Resource Center's website www.prcsd.org

Three Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire and Ten Steps to take to Do So
By Chalmers Johnson

"We are like the British at the end of World War II: desperately trying to shore up an empire that we never needed and can no longer afford, using methods that often resemble those of failed empires of the past..."  Click here: www.prcsd.org 

Crib In A Cell

See the New York Times article about family detention centers. It was the picture of the crib in a cell that got to me. Walter http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/us/politics/06detain.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all

[SDCPJ] Blackwater Founder implicated in Murder

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder By Jeremy Scahill

August 4, 2009

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."

Read full article here on the Peace Resource Center's website:
http://www.prcsd.org/Princemurder1.html

[SDCPJ] Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder - stunning revaluations are important to the San Diego

These stunning revaluations are important to the San Diego campaign to oust Blackwater! and the articles on DynCorp highlight the impunity with which the war profiteers like General Atomics operate and soil our political landscape.
Martin - Activist San Diego

In suit, ex-workers accuse Blackwater founder of murder
By Bill Sizemore Aug 04 2009

Two men who worked for Blackwater allege in a federal lawsuit that Blackwater founder Erik Prince or his agents murdered one or more people who were planning to provide information to federal authorities about criminal conduct by the company and its operatives in Iraq. The two are identified in court papers only as "John Doe #1" and "John Doe #2" because, they say, they fear violent retaliation themselves for making the allegations. http://hamptonroads.com/2009/08/suit-exworkers-accuse-blackwater-founder-murder

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
By Jeremy Scahill Aug 04 2009

 A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."   http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill

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DynCorp posts profit, raises year outlook Aug 04 2009

04 Aug 2009 DynCorp International Inc reported a higher quarterly profit on Tuesday and boosted its full-year earnings and revenue outlook, buoyed by defense contract wins to provide support for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company said net income came to $20.6 million, or 36 cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter, ended July 3, up 15 percent from nearly $18 million, or 31 cents a share, a year earlier. Aug 04 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0417488420090804

 DynCorp Disgrace By Kelly Patricia O'Meara 14 Jan 2002 Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing business in Bosnia.]  http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11119

[SDCPJ] Next Sunday! Southern California's 3rd Annual PALESTINE PICNIC DAY!

JOIN THE ARAB COMMUNITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA   For The Third Annual   PALESTINE PICNIC DAY! SUNDAY AUGUST 9, 2009, 11:00 am Food: 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm   William Mason Regional Park - Shelter #6 18712 University Drive, Irvine, CA 92612   ALL WELCOME! Picnic Menu hot off-the-grill beef and chicken kebab, hummus, falafel, salad, beverages, coffee, fruit and more!   Games for Adults and Children Volleyball, Soccer, Backgammon, Raffle, plus Prizes, Fun and free Face painting for the Kids, and more!!!   Suggested donation: $10 Adults, $5 Children (12 and under)   Come spend a nice summer afternoon and evening with your family, the Arab community and friends!   Organizations may table their literature and other non-food and non-beverage items. Please contact info@al-awdacal.org in advance. Directions: From the San Diego Freeway (405) take the Culver Avenue exit. Head south on Culver to University Drive, then turn West (right) to the park entrance (on left)   Hosted by various community organizations including: The Southern California Chapters of Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition; The Palestinian American Women's Association; The Arab Community Center of the Inland Empire; and others.   Please download, print and distribute this Palestine Picnic Day Flyer: http://al-awdacal.org/pdf/picnic3.pdf For further information contact: Ahlam 760-917-2572, Mazen 714-231-8403, Ghattas 951-965-6911 or Sana 951-961-0797   Photos form the 2nd Annual Palestine Picnic Day: http://www.al-awdacal.org/photos-picnic2.html     --------------------------------- Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause! Become an Al-Awda Sustainer: Monthly: http://al-awda.org/sustainers.html Annually: http://al-awda.org/sustainers2.html

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition | PO Box 131352 | Carlsbad | CA | 92013

Left Hook - Socialized Medicine - August 2009

Left Hook
By Walter Davis
Socialized Medicine Drum Beaters: Ignorant, Hypocritical, Greedy

According to RightMarch.com, FOX News, and Conservative Patients Rights (CPR), the medical plans that congress, the military, police and fire departments enjoy are not good enough for the American people.

Scare tactics are employed using “Socialized Medicine” slogans…..backed and funded by the powerful insurance industry to steer American citizens away from universal healthcare.

“Illegal aliens are going to get free medical care…” - Newsflash – Illegal immigrants are already getting free medical care. I challenge you to go to any emergency room and look at the people there. By not getting preventative care, the poor are forced to go to the emergency room when their situation becomes acute enough. The hospitals get the bill and pass that on to us the tax payers and our insurance policies cost more money as unpaid health care costs skyrocket. Government programs like healthy families and low income programs help some of these families and….our children are more likely to be exposed to communicable diseases in overcrowded classrooms when poor families cannot get preventative medical treatment.

“A government bureaucrat will stand between you and treatment….” – Is an insurance company bureaucrat better? Insurance companies are in the business to make money. Payouts are regarded as LOSSES. Doctors are paid BONUSES if they turn down MORE people who need referrals to specialists. An insurance company executive can OVERRIDE YOUR DOCTOR’S TREATMENT REGIMIN. Who is CPR fooling? Perhaps the same people who thought voting for George Bush was a good idea.

“You will lose your current plan and costs will go up…..” – With 35% of every insurance premium dollar being spent on advertising, salaries, bonuses and other administrative costs, American consumers would realize an immediate savings of $773 BILLION (1) with a universal healthcare plan. Universal health care will reduce our costs, uplift our nation and improve our overall health (2).

Republicans along with insurance companies opposed Medicare. Imagine this country without Medicare and the suffering we would have among our elderly (3), (4).

Government run heath care works efficiently for the active U.S. military and congress. It is well funded. It does not work for the Veterans Administration because this nation does not value its vets and does not properly fund the VA hospital system. Take a look at all the vets begging on freeway exits in their military fatigues who have PTSD and other service connected disabilities.

Imagine how chaotic it would be if police and fire departments had to be paid directly by victims before they rendered services as doctors are currently compensated. Medical services must be available to all, just as fire and police protection are.

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”……Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sources cited 2 August 2009
1http://sdmegacoalition.blogspot.com/2009/08/single-payer-argument.html
2 http://www.healthcare-now.org/
3 http://www.larrydewitt.net/Essays/Reagan.htm
4http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=1230

Are Liberal Netroots Groups Helping Obama Fail?

Anita is Right...... This is what I have been saying since moveon came out for public option: if you start with your compromise position and not your full ask, you end up with nothing and that's whre we are. When Dr. Dean was here in July I asked him why they did that and his answer was: "that was Obama's mistake and there's no going back."  Bulls**t      I don't get it, but Jeff Cohen is so right that it's sickening. not sure what the answer is except that at least in CA we will begin work on SB810 this fall, otherwise, don't know what else we can do when all the so-called "liberal" groups opted to begin with the public option...who's brilliant idea was that?  what i've been doing when asked to send a letter on line supporting public option, i change the words to single payer.  any other suggestions?   anita On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 2:04 PM, Tanja <twinter@san.rr.com> wrote: Are Liberal Netroots Groups Helping Obama Fail?  By Jeff Cohen, Journalist and Media Critic; Founder, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, July 30, 2009          I've started deleting them as spam.     I'm not talking about the enlarge-your-penis emails or "You've Won the Lottery" notices.     I'm talking about the increasingly-urgent emails coming for weeks from liberal Netroots groups calling for a "public option" for health care -- a government insurance plan citizens could choose to pay for instead of private insurance.        Never has so much passion been so misdirected. If what these liberal groups ultimately wanted out of President Obama and corporate-funded Democrats in Congress was a topnotch public plan to compete with the first-rate private plans, the wrong way to get it was to make that the demand.     Especially of a president whose instinct is toward conciliation and splitting the difference with big business and the right wing.        Sure, Obama was a community organizer once. That was decades ago when Russia was still our mortal enemy, Nelson Mandela was still an official State Department terrorist threat and the White House was still funding Islamist fanatics in Afghanistan.     For the last dozen years Obama has been a politician -- and a consummate compromiser at that. Have we failed to notice?        Activists must recognize the surest way to get a strong public option that could compete with the Cadillac of health plans. We needed to mobilize millions of Netroots people, almost every union and 150 members of Congress to endorse a maximum demand: National health insurance . . . enhanced Medicare for All. In other words, a cost-effective single-payer system of publicly-financed, privately-delivered healthcare that ends private health insurance (and its waste, bureaucracy, ads, sales commissions, lavish executive salaries, profiteering).        Had liberal groups sent out millions of emails building a movement that posed an existential threat to the health insurance industry, Sen. Baucus and Blue Dog Democrats and their corporate healthcare patrons might well be on their knees begging for a comprehensive public option -- to avert the threat of full-blown Medicare for All.        As things stand now, as writers like Bob Kuttner and Norman Solomon have warned, a weak public option would institutionalize a two-tiered system with healthier, wealthier citizens getting the best (private) plans, and sicker, harder-to-treat people getting an inferior (public) plan. Newt Gingrich couldn't dream up a better scenario to discredit an enhanced government role in health care.        To win serous reforms, we need activist leaders who are tough-minded progressives making maximum demands for reforms that truly address our nation's problems. Leave the inside-the-Beltway deal-making to the politicians, properly frightened and moved by the roar of mass movements.        We need activist leaders who have a clearer idea of who Obama is. He's not one of us. He's one of them -- a politician bent on placating corporate interests. We knew all we needed to know about his current worldview from all the corporatists he put in top jobs.        And from the fact that he felt the need -- six weeks into his administration, after the middle-class bailed out Wall Street -- to call up the New York Times and assure the world that his policies were not socialist but were "entirely consistent with free market principles." At a time the corporate greedsters and free-market ideologues had been exposed as having threatened the economic well-being of the world, they weren't the ones on the defensive. They weren't doing the apologizing. Obama was on the defensive; he was apologizing to them!        When Democratic leaders start borrowing right wing rhetoric, we know our activism has not been strong or progressive enough. At the AARP townhall Tuesday, Obama described a public option as "controversial, I understand people are worried about that." He went on to assure his audience that "nobody is talking about . . . government-run health care" or "a Canadian-style plan." At one point, he further assured seniors that no "bureaucratic law in Washington" would interfere in their healthcare decisions -- seeming to adopt the faux-populism of anti-government rightists. Yet he seems incapable of anti-corporate populism, even with despised industries like Wall Street and health insurance.        I have huge respect for the smart young activists who built up the Netroots, unleashing all sorts of progressive possibilities for our country. But I'm bothered by their often ineffectual, Beltway-originated, halfway demands.     I became active during the Vietnam War. We might still have troops in Vietnam if - instead of militantly demanding "All Troops Home Now" -- we'd organized behind polite Beltway initiatives like: "Let's begin negotiations" or "Let's set a timeline for phased withdrawal."        I fear that Netroots leaders are doing the same dance with Obama today that they did with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in 2007-08. Instead of demanding that Democrats in Congress bring our troops home from Iraq by using the power of the purse to defund the war, Netroots leaders rallied behind weak, non-binding timelines and other halfway measures cooked up with Congressional leaders.        Without a loud, clear demand for "troops home" from the large online antiwar forces, Democratic leaders started retreating and succumbing to Republican rhetoric. Reid proclaimed: "We will never abandon our troops in a time of war." Pelosi declared: "We will have legislation to fund the troops!"     And the corpses kept piling up.        Great social reforms have occurred in our country not when social movements took their lead from what the White House deemed possible, but when the White House was pushed by powerful movements demanding reforms bolder than what the president was comfortable with. Leading abolitionists pushed Lincoln toward ending slavery by demanding immediate abolition. Socialist and workers movements in the '30s sufficiently scared elites so that FDR could pass New Deal reforms far short of socialism. Martin Luther King and civil rights activists continuously pushed and prodded JFK and later LBJ.        And these movements didn't have the Internet.     In 1993, a National Health Insurance bill gained 100 co-sponsors in the Democrat-led House, plus endorsements from many unions, even Consumers Union. There was unfortunately no Internet then when the Clinton White House undermined this growing movement by pushing an incredibly complex plan that left big insurers dominating the system. Clinton's plan inspired few and confused many. After it went down in flames, talk radio host Jim Hightower asked President Clinton why he didn't back an easily-explained Medicare for All approach that had so much support in Congress. Clinton said he'd thought it was politically too difficult but now wondered about that judgment.        Here we are 16 years later. Neglected by Netroots groups, John Conyers today has 85 House co-sponsors for HR 676, the Expanded Medicare for All Act, as well as the endorsement of many unions and Obama's longtime personal physician. If all those emails I've received lately had been about building the HR 676 movement and a public system instead of a "public option," the bill would have many more co-sponsors and could be pressuring Democrats to stand tough today.        For Obama to feel secure about reform and standing up to the right, he needs to feel that he's in the center pushed by noisy forces to his left. He's admitted as much. The way to help him succeed is to mobilize seriously to his left.     The way to help Obama fail is for Netroots and liberal groups to collapse toward him from the get-go.     And if Obama does fail, we can quit laughing at a Republican Party in disarray due to Bush, religious extremism, hypocrisy and anti-intellectualism.        Because in this period of crisis and fear, unless a progressively-prodded White House delivers reforms that actually improve lives soon, right wing reaction could rebound more dangerous than ever in 2010 and/or 2012.     * *     Jeff Cohen is an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College, founder of the media watch group FAIR, and former board member of Progressive Democrats of America .  -- anita simons "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."……Martin Luther King, Jr. Get Involved for Single Payer Health Care: www.medicareforall.org http://focusonchange.ning.com Single Payer Now www.singlepayernow.net National Nurses Organizing Committee www.calnurses.org/nnoc Healthcare-NOW! www.healthcare-now.org Physicians for a National Health Program www.pnhp.org CA Nurses Association www.guaranteedhealthcare.org Progressive Democrats of America www.pdamerica.org