The Future of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and Hydro Dam

The future of the

Ford Twin Cities Hydro Dam

is now in the balance as bids are being considered. The time for

emergency action

on the part of politicians at every level from the local to the state on up to the federal level along with all Minnesotans is now; we can not afford to sit idly by and have this very profitable, environmentally friendly power generating facility stolen out from under us.

According to media reports the dam is worth between thirty and fifty million dollars.

This is an outright insult to the tax-payers who have subsidized this hydro dam for years... if this hydro dam is worth a penny it is worth one thousand times more than these appraisals; apparently these appraisals were pulled from the same hat as the figures used for the miserly minimum wage increase that resulted in the the last legislative session.

Any other business is sold on the basis of potential profits it will generate and the real value based upon the real costs involved.

Ford should not be allowed to use the sale of this hydro dam to subsidize worker "buy outs." This hydro dam is worth much more.

First of all, this hydro dam should not be sold to private industry. This never should have been a consideration or option. The people of Minnesota have a huge investment in this hydro dam that utilizes a publicly owned natural resource to generate electricity.

Second, this hydro dam is not Ford's property to sell. Tax-payers have subsidized this hydro dam so heavily this electric generating facility for all intents and purposes rightfully belongs to the local, state, and federal governments. Ford should willingly turn over the deed to a public utility agency specifically established by all three levels of government for the purpose of operating this hydro dam. Any government that can subsidize the kind of carnage and destruction of infra-structure that is taking place in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Iraq can afford to take over the operation of this one hydro dam. Eminent domain should be sought.

Third, electricity generated by this hydro dam that wasn't used by Ford was stolen by the power generating industries at far below the cost the electricity was sold to other customers... this has been one big rip-off from the very beginning. Obviously the Minnesota legislature should do now what it should have done years ago... passed legislation that encourages environmentally friendly power generation through adequately compensating those producing the power. In addition to this hydro dam we now have people using solar and wind generating equipment and other innovations that save on power and these people should receive just compensation in line with what the utilities are charging their customers for this power.

Minnesota tax-payers and federal tax-payers have been subsidizing the power distribution network and grid for years as the power generating mega monopolies have been raking in the profits and polluting the land, streams, rivers, and lakes creating health problems for millions of people without access to health care.

In the Ford Twin Cities Hydro Dam we have the power needed to continue operating the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant under public ownership producing modern, environmentally friendly, mass transit equipment.

Liberals, progressives, and the left in general has been slow to react and respond to the brazenly cold announced Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant closing... politicians went hat-in-hand begging to Ford to keep the plant open when what is required is real initiative backed by creative thinking and an understanding of what this plant closing will mean to the workers and their families, the surrounding community and to our state. Thinking on the part of politicians on this issue has been as short-sighted as on just about every other issue from single-payer, universal health care to the minimum wage and the war in Iraq.

Henry Ford was the first to tout "creative thinking" as the most important trait he expected from Ford workers. The concrete artwork that adorns the Ford Twin Cities Assembly plant attests to this.

Charles P. Steinmetz the scientist whose inventions made the Ford Dam a reality over eighty years ago insisted that only through full public ownership of the power generating industry would electrification ever serve the interests of society in a way that would be environmentally friendly.

The great scientist and thinker, Albert Einstein, called for public ownership of industry as the solution to the myriad of problems he saw being created by capitalism and the private ownership of the means of production.

Now is the time for progressive DFL'ers like Bill Hilty to step forward on this important issue involving the future of the Ford Hydro Dam and the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.

Now is the time for Iron Range legislators like Tom Rukavina, Tony Sertich, and David Tomassoni to fight to save good jobs, paying real living wages, with all the benefits working people are entitled to as a human right. It has taken the Ford workers many years of struggle to attain the standard of living they now enjoy... and make no mistake, it has been a very long and difficult struggle for Ford workers to attain what they have today... this struggle alone is worth hundreds of time more than the miserly buy-out package that Ford has now "offered" its employees. One would expect that these Iron Range legislators understand and appreciate the value this long and historic struggle of the autoworkers which has contributed to helping to raise the standard of living of all Minnesotans. This "working class struggle" that has been waged by autoworkers across this land has not been considered to date as part of the value of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and all the other Ford plants closing.

I would suggest that Ellison, Rukavina, Sertich, Tomassoni, Hilty, Jaros, Hornstein, and Fitch convene a meeting immediately to bring the issue of the pending closing of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and the Ford/Twin Cities Hydro Dam before the Minnesota legislature on an emergency basis. Congressman Keith Ellison should be brought into this struggle to place the Ford operations under public ownership... certainly coming from Detroit Ellison must understand the importance of the value of the working class struggle for justice and dignity waged over the many years and is well acquainted with the work of those like Phil Raymond and Brother Bill McKie who built the United Automobile Workers into a powerful union who fought off the gangsters and thugs hired by Henry Ford to beat down and shoot his own employees. From Detroit to the Twin Cities to California to Georgia and Windsor, Ontario, Canada... Ford workers have fought and struggled heroically for the gains and advances they have made... just as the miners on the Iron Range have struggled. Today the future of autoworkers and miners hinges on raising the struggles to a new level with new thinking... this new thinking was already being put forward by the Red Finns on the Iron Range and the leaders of autoworkers like Phil Raymond, Brother Bill McKie, Wyndham Mortimer, Bob Travis, and Bud Simons at the time they blazed the trail that led to so many victories that placed autoworkers in the front ranks of working class struggles along with the miners on the Iron Range for social and economic justice.

Part of the value of every vehicle that has been produced at the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant has come from the struggles of working people fighting for their rights, and that struggle has been an important factor in raising the standard of living for all working people in Minnesota.

There is also a political value society has benefited from when it comes to the struggles of Ford workers employed at the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant... from being an anchor in the Twin Cities for the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party to being there when Keith Ellison needed a firm voice in opposition to the dangerous voices of racism, bigotry, and hate.

There are numerous reasons why the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and the Ford Twin Cities Hydro Dam should now be brought under public ownership. The main reasons: it is the morally right, it is politically correct, it is financially sound, and a socially just solution.

State Representative Tom Rukavina once told Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty that he could not turn his head to the right... it is time that he turn his head fully to the left; and it is time that tens of thousands of Minnesotans stand by his side on this important issue--- real jobs, good wages, an environmentally friendly manufacturing facility with the potential of creating thousands of new jobs producing what is required to fight global warming.

The Taconite Tax should be increased to cover any and all costs associated with bringing the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant under public ownership... after all, saving the existing two thousand jobs and the very real possibility of creating another eight to ten thousand new jobs at this Plant will save many jobs on the Iron Range; and, quite possibly, create several hundred new jobs on the Iron Range... If Minnesota becomes the center of heavy industry retrofitted in hi-tech, high quality production for producing solutions to global warming this could have the potential of creating thousands of jobs on the Iron Range.

Something Rukavina, Sertich, and Tomassoni may want to consider... the mining industry needs to come up with some solutions to its role in global warming real quick... the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant has the potential of producing the equipment that will be required, also. The State of Minnesota (MnScu) has a very hi-tech training and research facility on site ready to go to work on just such problems.

The Progressive Caucus of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party has been slow to respond to the closing of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and the future of the Ford Hydro Dam... the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party has not responded at all. Even the Green Party has been slow to add its voice to saving the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and Hydro Dam.

Ford has been claiming health care costs have been killing the company.

Here is a chance for progressive Minnesota legislators to put forward a new "New Deal" for Minnesotans: health care and jobs.

Ford and the power generating industry have had a free lunch and a free ride at the expense on Minnesotans for far too long... now is the time to correct this injustice.

Since Christine Frank and I first published our "Appeal To Minnesotans for Public Ownership for The Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant," much discussion has been generated... support from people has been overwhelming. By-and-large the big business media has refused to broach the issue of public ownership of this Plant and the Hydro Dam... if the kind of far ranging discussion required is going to take place it must start around the kitchen tables in the homes of Minnesotans.

Progressive politicians, union leaders, and the left have an important role to play in stimulating a continuing dialogue and debate. It would be helpful to have legislation on the table.

Controversy should not be feared, but instead welcomed... because that is the only way this important issue will get discussed.

The key to winning in every struggle is: education, organization, unity, and action. All of this begins around the kitchen tables in the homes of working people... it always has and always will.

Wages and the Economy

Today the big economic news was that the American economy is headed for some tough times but corporate profits are doing pretty well.

According to news reports workers received a "hefty" wage increase over the past year. Where the term "hefty" came from I don't know since I don't find that description anyplace among any of the research or findings that these news reports alluded to.

Anyways, the "hefty" wage increases amounted to one-half of one percent.

I don't know if those receiving minimum wages received this "hefty" increase in their wages, whatever. For most workers that did receive this "hefty" pay increase they are lucky if they received an additional $50.00 a year... compare that to the robbery at the pumps... I notice no one is talking about the "hefty" profits of the oil industry.

Then we have been hearing all day about how George Bush is going to be sending in reinforcements to try to get control over the war in Iraq... the project kind of reminds me of the "pacification" program in Vietnam... Bush's "surge of troops" in Iraq will prove to be just as successful. I heard where Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman have similar ideas about the war... neither wants to bring the troops home now or cut funding for this dirty war... Klobuchar and Coleman make us painfully aware of how voters are disenfranchised from the political process. Its no wonder so many people are saying there isn't much difference between the two major parties.

It looks like the "circus in the Cities" is again under way as Minnesota politicians have stated their intent to undermine the November Elections by putting forward mandatory health insurance legislation instead of single-payer, universal health care.

Driving through Grand Rapids today I saw a great sign in someone's yard, it said: End the war in Iraq; Impeach Bush. I agree.

Lame Duck

"Then there is President Bush. He may be a lame duck, but he is still commander in chief. No matter how much Democrats rail against his conduct of the Iraq War or how many oversight hearings they conduct, he will continue to dictate strategy there."

This quote above is pretty much how the new Congress is being described... No back-bone... Pretty scary stuff.

Not only is Bush a lame duck, but he has the pea sized brain of a duck. To be afflicted with a president that suffers from these two maladies at the same time poses very serious challenges to our country, and the world. Bush is mentally, morally, and politically challenged.

One would think under the circumstances that a Democratic controlled House and Senate would have no problem ending this dirty war for oil and occupation in Iraq by cutting off funding and bringing the troops home where they belong while enacting legislation that is adequate for addressing the problems of working people whose standard of living and rights have been under attack for so long.

Bush has his problems but the Democrats have their own problems, one of which is not being able to chew gum and walk at the same time... there is no reason why Democrats should not be able to end the war, enact needed legislation, and impeach Bush all at the same time... that is what congressional committees are for. Multi-tasking wouldn't be such a problem if most Democrats hadn't been the recipients of so many campaign contributions from the same multi-national corporations that now comprise the bulk of the military-financial-industrial establishment that has financed the Republicans... which makes the Democrats just about as politically challenged as George Bush.

Bush has been labelled a lame duck by the media, but he is more like a wounded grizzly bear, and even more dangerous... the time to impeach this war criminal is now... then it should be on to the World Court for a war crimes trial for Mr. Bush.

In the final analysis it will be up to the American people to throw this lame duck warmonger who is intent on carrying forward with a war based upon the lies and deceipt of his own creation out of office; a Democratic Party now as reluctant to impeach as it is to bring forward single-payer, universal health care, a real living minimum wage, and an end to the war in Iraq by cutting the funding and bringing the troops home needs to hear the American people speaking very clearly with one very loud voice--- apparently the message of November 7 wasn't heard.

Enough!

Impeach Bush to stop the war!

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore missed one heck of an

inconvenient truth

in his movie of the same name. Actually Al Gore missed the truth about capitalism; and, he missed the truth about socialism. I don't know if this was an act of convenience or inconvenience.

I often get asked: Why bother talking about socialism?

People often say using the word "socialism" scares people away; or they say there is a "better" alternative to capitalism. Quite frequently we hear people say the socialist alternative is not on the political agenda right now. I don't agree with any of this. Nor do I agree that socialism is dead even though the capitalist rags have written its obituary; the longest ongoing obituary I have ever heard of.

No matter how this question is placed we arrive at the same point... there is "an inconvenient truth" that needs to be discussed.

The intended, and sometimes unintended, purpose of posing the question: Why talk about socialism? is to prevent socialism from being discussed in the first place... in the same way other "inconvenient truths" are not supposed to be discussed.

It is always easier, and more convenient, to win an argument if you don't expect, or don't allow, your opposition to respond... another inconvenient truth. The big-business controlled media has done one heck of a big-brainwash in proclaiming socialism dead while refusing to allow living socialists to respond, all the while sanctimoniously proclaiming to be the voice of democracy... now, that is one heck of a clever trick and deception to pull off indefinitely... kind of like the way global warming was denied for so long.

The only equivalent I would be able to think of is if some day in the near future we were to see George Bush and Dick Cheney walking down Wall Street laughing on the way to the bank with their arms around their old buddy Saddam Hussein.

While I am sure the American media would never participate in this kind of hoax and hoodwinking just because they helped Nazi war criminals live out their lives in obscurity in this country until they were ready to die anyways, I doubt that Saddam Hussein escaped the hangman's noose as so many Nazi war criminals did... but, socialism has escaped its hope for death as we can see by developments in South America... as Mark Twain once remarked, "News of my death has been greatly exaggerated." I have often thought what great fun Mark Twain would have had with all the obituaries that have been written for socialism these past fifteen years.

There are even those on the left who have been bullied into being silenced concerning this "inconvenient truth" and have decided in their wisdom that now is not the time to push the socialist alternative to capitalism.

On the contrary, I don't think we will ever find a better time to bring forward the socialist alternative to capitalism then what we have today... as inconvenient a truth as this may be.

If we wait to talk about socialism until there is no opposition to it we will most likely participate in humanity's demise... another "inconvenient truth."

Obviously that ain't good... not for the present or the future... quite frankly, the powers that be will never agree that it is a good time to talk about replacing capitalism... let alone replacing it with socialism.

As we can see from the media and the educational institutions which conduct an unending campaign against socialism while pronouncing it dead, they do not intend to voluntarily allow anything they say about socialism to be challenged; not in the class-room, not in the media, and not in the mines, mills, and factories by working people.

I have always found it very strange that such a struggle would have to be waged against anything that has previously been pronounced dead... certainly George Bush will not continue to hold Saddam Hussein up as his enemy... he died in the hangman's noose... and was pronounced dead. According to all the same publications that gave us the word that Saddam is dead, these same people pronounced socialism dead... over fifteen years ago... socialism must have one heck of an after-life as its ghost continues to linger over most everything these people write about.

I think we all know that socialism is alive and well, otherwise these people in the mainstream media wouldn't have to go on, and on, and on "proving" that "it doesn't work." After all, no one is going to have to prove that Saddam Hussein is really dead every time someone says they have seen him; yet the big-business media has to continually attempt to prove that socialism is dead... if something is dead, be it a person or an idea... it is dead... and you get over the death and move on... there is nothing to fear from the rotting corpse of an idea or that of a person.

I am sure most of humanity will soon forget the name Saddam Hussein just like all the other two bit dictators the CIA installed in power then became expendable when their planned schemes and intrigues to undermine the peoples' struggles for power went sour.

But, unlike Saddam Hussein, the socialist corpse hasn't turned up yet; in fact, capitalism is more likely to be buried in a way that people will never look back and probably won't even remember it any more than they will remember Saddam Hussein... if people do remember capitalism after its passing it will simply be remembered as a terrible tragedy in the human experience, just like General George Armstrong Custer, Jefferson Davis, Henry Ford, Hitler, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Augusto Pinochet, Ronald Reagan, Saddam Hussein... and George Bush.

I guess it all depends who has made the associations for us, that socialism is somehow bad and evil... I find it very ironic that we kind of allow the same people to do our thinking for us in creating the negative associations for socialism while supporting every other dirty deed... the same people do our thinking for us about the war in Iraq, single-payer, universal health care, social security, plant closings, global warming... and of course when it comes to socialism.

We have seen the progression of history... you can't just pretend there is no past and start all over again from scratch... life doesn't work that way.

No matter what you call "it," whatever replaces capitalism will have all the characteristics and features of socialism... and the people doing our thinking for us will attack it in the same way they attack socialism.

We can wait to find a better alternative to capitalism than socialism; we can put off discussing socialism because now is not the time for such discussion--- but we do so at our own peril; especially if scientific projections about global warming and everything it entails is correct... let us not forget, the same media that ridiculed the scientists who began talking about global warming is the very same media that pronounced socialism dead.

I have always wanted to meet Al Gore to ask him: Do you think the capitalist system has played a role in global warming? If so, what might that role be? Did you want to ask Al Gore these questions as you watched the movie "An Inconvenient Truth?" Are we all supposed to wait for Al Gore to produce Part II of "An Inconvenient Truth" to get the answers? Something to sit around the kitchen table and ponder.

Minimum Wage

The minimum wage should be a real living wage based upon scientific calculations, not some figure politicians pull from a hat trying to look good to get votes... neither Teddy Kennedy nor John Sweeney would work flipping hamburgers at McDonalds for $7.25 an hour; why should anyone else?

If a job needs to be done than the employer should have to pay the employee doing that job a real living wage; it is as simple as this. If the employers don't want to pay real living wages let them do the jobs themselves; left with this option employers and our society will quickly learn the central roll of working people in the economy of our nation.

The proposed increase in the minimum wage is really a cut in the standard of living for the working class.

Democrats are eager to push through their minimum wage increase before any national discussion can take place--- the nation, again, gets hoodwinked; just like with the war in Iraq. What we have is Democrats doing the dirty work for the Republicans--- again, just like with the war in Iraq. Workers suffer--- again, just like with the war in Iraq where workers fight and die as Bechtel, Halliburton, and the oil companies profit.

The Democrats are proposing a miserly increase in the minimum wage. John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO is supporting this so-called "increase" in the minimum wage. We should not find it surprising that John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO would negotiate a decrease in living standards now for the entire unorganized section of the working class since unionized workers in AFL-CIO affiliates have had their standards of livings and jobs negotiated out from under them for more than three decades now... this has been the primary impediment to organizing unions in this country... working people are not stupid they can see that unionized workers are constantly loosing ground to this employer/big-business assault on working people who are in unions. Historically workers look to organize unions when they see that their lot in life will become better by joining a union... as long as union leaders negotiate away everything that has been won through decades of very difficult struggles working people are not going to be looking for these unions to represent them... and this is a terrible situation for our entire working class to be in because it is the struggles of new workers coming into unions that is the real pressure to force all wages up--- including the minimum wage.

Unions aren't needed to negotiate wage cuts; employers can do this very well on their own.

No one even gave John Sweeney the right to negotiate a minimum wage... if he would dare to lead a struggle for better contracts for his own members that included increases in pay and real job security this in itself would have forced the minimum wage up long ago... but Sweeney and the unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO have allowed their own members' standard of livings to decline and deteriorate; this is no incentive for anyone to want to join a labor union... now Sweeney wants to bring a reduction in the standard of living to the entire working class through this phony "minimum wage proposal" of the Democrats... in effect, Sweeney now wants to do for the entire working class what he has already done for the members of those union affiliated with the AFL-CIO... negotiate a reduction in living standards... and the Change To Win leadership is even worse.

Here in Minnesota the Democrats did the same dirty work for the Republican governor that Democrats now want to do for George Bush and Bush is all smiles and eager to go along.

Here in Minnesota as soon as the miserly minimum wage "increase" took effect tens of thousands of working people lost access to everything from health care to food stamps to education benefits because they now made "too much money" to qualify for these government programs... they either lost benefits completely or had them so severely reduced the reductions more than ate away the increase in the minimum wage.

In fact, working people would come out ahead in their overall standard of living if the minimum wage was reduced, rather than "rising" to $7.25 an hour; the calculations are very simple. In food stamps, health care, and educational benefits a family of four wold actually receive over $10,000.00 a year more with a slight reduction in the minimum wage, while even in terms of dollars based on a forty hour work week the minimum wage will only work out to about $4,000.00.

Understanding "standard of living" is key to any discussion of increasing the minimum wage; it is this discussion politicians and big-business fear working people taking part in.

In fact, the minimum wage increase could disqualify many workers from receiving Pell Grants and student loans which these same politicians are talking about increasing; what a sad joke... talking about increasing a benefit that you know will be available to far fewer people because of your previous actions.

I say "so-called" increase in the minimum wage because this miserly "increase" will in fact be a very large decrease in the over-all living standards for the overwhelming majority of workers living in poverty and dire straights right now.

This "increase" in the minimum wage will be just enough to push millions of American workers out of many social programs because they will exceed threshold limits that presently give them access to many social programs; anyone can determine this from looking at what has happened in Minnesota.

Where did Democrats arrive at the figure that the minimum wage should be $7.25 an hour? This is a very valid question no one proposing this minimum wage "increase" wants to answer. This wouldn't even pay Teddy Kennedy's bar tab... let alone provide any worker with a living income.

I read in one business journal where a prominent left-wing figure who is supporting this minimum wage increase complained he had a difficult time affording pajamas for his daughter... well, the present proposal will make it even harder to afford those pajamas when those wear out... I am sure that neither John Sweeney or Teddy Kennedy would even bother to blink an eye before purchasing anyone a pair of pajamas, let alone the latest Martha Stewart fashions from K-mart.

How should the minimum wage be calculated? The minimum wage should be calculated based upon the figures arrived at by the United States Department of Labor for a real living income.

George Bush has appointed, with Democratic Party consent, one of the most reactionary, anti-worker, anti-labor, Secretary of Labor to hold that cabinet position in many years. Why hasn't Bush suggested the minimum wage should be based on the figures used by the United States Department of Labor?

There is only one way to arrive at how much the minimum wage should be raised; from the scientific calculations of what the United States Department of Labor determines a real living wage should be.

After all, would any employer work at the same job for any less? If not, than why should any worker?

The time has come for politicians to stop pulling figures from a hat when it comes to the minimum wage and start using scientific calculations. It really doesn't make much sense to pay thousands of employees working for the United States Department of Labor these big salaries if we are not going to use the information resulting from their research; or if their research is invalid. If George Bush or Teddy Kennedy disputes the research that has been done over many years by these employees of the United States Department of Labor who earn high salaries because they are university educated researchers, statisticians, analysts, and policy makers then maybe the wrong people are working for a minimum wage to start with.

Something to think about: Enacting single-payer, universal health care would amount to a far greater increase in the standards of living for working people than the miserly proposed increase in the minimum wage... something neither the Democrats or Republicans want to talk about; something the AFL-CIO and Change To Win hope workers won't figure out.

Another thing to think about as you are sitting around the kitchen table: How can poverty ever be eliminated if employers are allowed to continue paying their employees poverty wages?

We need to add this term to our working class dictionary: standard of living. Check out this link as a place to begin our search for a definition: < http://shr.aaas.org/thesaurus/detail.php?tid=357 > If you want, just click on the heading which will take you right there.

This is what the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights has to say about "standard of living." The AFL-CIO just got done celebrating the 58th Anniversary of this Declaration and Teddy Kennedy helped in the celebration so I assume he and John Sweeney have both had a chance to discuss this:


Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 25

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.




Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Date adopted: 10 December 1948

Document Number/Symbol: General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III)

Organization: United Nations General Assembly



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Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948

PREAMBLE
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of
human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore, The General Assembly, Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11

1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all
the guarantees necessary for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14

1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16

1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Season's Greetings to friends near and far!

I will not have a posting today, January 1, 2007

Please check out all my other blogs listed under "view my complete profile."

I'll be back tomorrow...

Happy New Year!

Yours in the struggle,

Alan

The debate over health care

Prior to the November 7 election there was tremendous support for doing something about the health care mess in this state, and in our country. There is growing support from all segments of our society who want to see changes in health care now--- during the upcoming state and congressional legislative sessions.

Let's be clear: people want single-payer, universal health care... nothing less, nothing more (for now). The American Medical Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, multi-national corporations, hospital conglomerates, HMO's, politicians, and especially the insurance companies along with their media pundits are now trying to hoodwink and trick us into accepting just about any scheme other than genuine single-payer, universal health care.

They are pitching all kinds of Mickey Mouse "Band-Aid" solutions... I guess Johnson and Johnson would like to protect their profits... ever see what a Band-Aid or disposable diaper costs in a hospital?

All these businesses and groups have their fingers in the cookie jar and they don't want the cookie jar taken away from them.

We must be very clear what we expect in the way of health care reform and let the politicians know we will settle for nothing less than real single-payer, universal health care because settling for single-payer, universal health care is already a compromise since we all know the long-term fix requires socialized health care.

What are the features of a socialized health care system? All industry associated with health care from the pharmaceutical companies to the manufacturers of high-tech equipment would be publicly owned industries. Hospitals and all health care institutions would be publicly owned and operated. Doctors and nurses would be paid wages or salaries. All support workers would receive real living wages, including those who mop the floors. All health care would be on a no fee basis from cradle to grave including eye, dental, and mental... nothing concerning human health would be excluded. All financing would come from the government with a tax on corporate profits and stock and bond transactions. The system would be completely publicly administered. We probably aren't going to have such a health care system like this in place anytime soon... anything from which a quick buck can't be made by a bunch of crooks, vultures and parasites is out of the question in America.

Socialized health care is out of the question because it just won't fly in America right now; it is as simple as that. This entire system is driven by greed and the accumulation of wealth... health care is just one more trough for the corporations to feed at. Health care in a civilized society would be based upon what people need and what society can afford.

In the United States the military budget is so overbearing that it makes the cost of anything that benefits people just about untouchable.

The social compromise that has been reached is single-payer, universal health care which is achievable right now if we all get behind it in a big way in telling the politicians we will settle for nothing less.

What are the main features of single-payer, universal health care that we cannot negotiate away like jobs have been negotiated away in union contracts?

First: the insurance companies have to be taken completely out of the picture... the government has to be the "single-payer." The insurance companies have fed at this trough for far too long already... they have accumulated so much wealth that their chief executive officers are making fools out of all of us with their multi-million dollar salaries and huge bonuses... United Health's McGuire is but one example of dozens of insurance companies that are operating this way. This fiasco simply has to end. The American people have been paying for these big-shots to live lavish life-styles instead of getting the health care they thought they were paying for. Except for the casino industry there probably isn't a more corrupt industry than the health care industry... well that isn't quite true is it? We have the merchants of death and destruction... the military-financial-industrial complex... and nothing gets more corrupt than that except for the oil industry... well, no use going on with this line of thinking or we will let the insurance companies right off the hook... Mr. McGuire actually looks kind of like an angel, eh?

Second: everyone, without exception, must be covered; yes, even the insurance company CEOs. This is what universal means: everyone; it simply would not be right to make them pay their own way after the way they have treated us--- pun intended.

Third: you go in to get whatever health care services are required from a doctor at the office, from a hospital, or therapy and they submit the bill to the government. If you want to pay the bill I am sure no one will stop you. Let's see if Mr. McGuire of United Health volunteers to pay his tab.

Fourth: all health care must be publicly financed in one way or another. The revenue will have to come by taxing corporations something comparable to what they are paying right now in health care premiums, and there will probably have to be some kind of employee payroll tax similar to the Social Security tax; perhaps slightly more than Social Security unless we put everyone back to work at real living wage jobs; common sense tells us the more people paying into the system the less we all have to pay--- this is what is wrong with Social Security right now--- wages have been driven down as corporations have been allowed to move to low wage areas and people without jobs, or those with poverty wage jobs, aren't paying into the system.

It is hard to keep social programs going with a government which only looks out for the wealthy and always manages to find the funds--- or borrows what they don't have--- to fight wars; I have never been able to figure out why these politicians always find money to fight a war but plead poverty when it comes to funding human services like health care, education, and housing.

Hopefully the struggle for single-payer, universal health care will force this issue of making people and their needs a top priority over killing people in Iraq. We simply need to bring priorities in this country more in line with what is good for all of us and not just big-business profits; maybe this is why politicians fear this single-payer, universal health care movement so much. They kind of view it from the bottom of a hill like a snowball getting bigger and bigger and gaining momentum?

Fifth: In any debate over this issue, health care for people has to be placed at the very top of all discussions... not whether doctors will be happy with their fees, not if insurance companies are going to go broke and out of business, not if corporations are going to cry about having to pay through the nose for awhile until the system is up and running. Of course, the right-wing will try to convince those who are employed that they will be paying for welfare moms, etc., etc.; nothing we haven't heard before from the Republicans.

The health care system is a complete mess right now. What is wrong with it is that so much money is being paid "for" health care yet so many people do not have access to health care... a single-payer system would be like medicare for all without people having to think about co-pays and all these other fees. You walk in and get the care required and you never see the bill... there will be those who argue that they see the bill in the form of a new tax... so what? The only way to avoid this is to either fund health care instead of warfare and stop trying to run the world... or just get rid of the whole damn system... after all, the rotten health care mess is only a reflection of a rotten capitalist system that puts the profits of Wall Street coupon clippers before people and their needs. I think working people are still bending over and getting the shaft with the single-payer compromise; the politicians and the wealthy should just be happy everyone doesn't think like me :)

In the final analysis of this issue the issue of single-payer, universal health care is a "family issue" that goes right to the heart of what any society that even has a pretense to human values is all about; what we are talking about is health care being a very basic and fundamental human right. If these politicians have to cater to the insurance companies and big-business before concerning themselves with this very basic and fundamental human right that each and everyone of us is entitled to as a birth-right then maybe we should just get on with replacing this entire corrupt system.


******************

I received a call earlier today... it seems people have seen Dick Cheney in the company of Saddam Hussein in Las Vegas taking turns at the roulette wheel and shooting craps.

The Wealth of the Poor: Managing ecosystems to fight poverty

I would encourage everyone to read this publication which is a "collaborative effort" between four international agencies including the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank.

For those who will be participating in the upcoming "Labor and Sustainability Conference" at the Ford Local 879 UAW Hall across from the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant on January 19th and 20th this publication is a must read.

Several people have suggested that I provide information regarding the "Millennium Goals of the United Nations." This publication provides a lot of this information and is loaded with statistics and commentary about poverty.

Like everything we read we need to be aware of who is involved in creating a report like this, and what their intended purpose is. Few poor people will have the opportunity to read or discuss this report, much less be invited to participate in the real decision making processes affecting their lives, communities, and ecosystems.

One would expect that those who produce a report and a publication like this are sincerely interested in eliminating poverty... this is not the case... they are interested in reducing poverty; and even this stated objective is highly suspect given the role of the World Bank in countries where poverty is becoming more the norm when it comes to real world living conditions and experiences of most working people... make no mistake, the question of poverty is a question that involves each and every person who works for a living.

The World Bank is no more interested in ending poverty than the Ford Motor Company is concerned about their employees or the surrounding communities of St. Paul and Minneapolis as they move to shut down the Twin Cities Assembly Plant--- although both the World Bank and the Ford Motor Company do have a common goal: maximizing corporate profits.

Poverty, together with issues such as global warming, war, racism and oppression go hand in hand with capitalist exploitation; this publication does not consider this fact. Of course, we could not expect any effort upon which there has been collaboration with the World Bank to be interested in exploring capitalism as the main source of poverty and the problems associated with ecosystems; in fact, this publication touts the "globalized economy" as a solution to poverty and the well-being of ecosystems... but, with any publications of this nature, one always finds some very interesting kernels of truth, and there are many such kernels of truth in this document like this:

The percentage of people living on less than $2 per day in Eastern Europe and Central Asia rose from 2 percent in 1981 to 20 percent in 2001, largely as a result of the collapse of communism in those regions (Chen and
Ravallion 2004:19).

One must ask a very simple and basic question that is never broached in this well researched publication that touts globalization as a solution to poverty--- and make no mistake, it is "capitalist globalization" being referred to: How is it that capitalism has brought poverty to such a large section of the world's peoples and anyone can still justify the destruction of socialism in these countries and advocate the capitalist road for the rest of humanity? I was going to write: "the capitalist road to development;" however, that would obviously be an oxymoron if ever there was such a thing.

This region referred to has been on the capitalist road now for at least 17 years. We were told, and more importantly the people affected were told, that free markets would bring them salvation. They now have their Bibles; but no jobs, no access to health care, or public education, which once was the one of the "crown jewel" of socialism, along with free universal health care; all is in a shambles, including life itself. And poverty, which had been virtually eliminated by any standard or measuring stick that has ever been devised in modern human history, now engulfs twenty percent of the population. Just about the same level of poverty we have here in the United States after this rotten capitalist system was introduced to the North American continent over 400 years ago.

Does anyone really believe that capitalism is going to fare any better for the people in these formerly socialist countries than it has here in the United States the last four hundred years; a country touted as the most industrially advanced, wealthiest country in the world?

Given these facts, what do we do with them? Do we place this publication on the shelves in the research departments of labor unions, environmental groups, social justice, and anti-poverty organizations? Do we allow the World Bank and all the big-business think-tanks along with the commercial media to explain to us why we have poverty in this country or any other place in the world? I would suggest that it is time for working people to begin to study publications like this and do some analysis in the same manner and with the same intent that Karl Marx studied publications similar to this; and that we draw our own conclusions, as working people--- while sitting around our kitchen tables in every "Podunk" community discussing this report and what poverty is really all about.

Over one hundred years ago the great labor and revolutionary leader and Marxist thinker, Eugene Victor Debs, made the observation that to the capitalists workers were mere "hands;" factory hands and farm hands. Debs went on to point out that one of the great problems is that the capitalist owns what we produce with our hands and the capitalist uses his head to do our thinking for us; this is a process which continues today; a process that is going to have to change if we are serious about eradicating poverty.

Obviously, the World Bank is only paying lip service in stating that it has any intent to reduce poverty... the World Bank would like to hold up the "hope" to people living in poverty that something is really going to be done to eliminate poverty; when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Capitalism not only breeds poverty but requires masses of impoverished people in order for the system to survive... it is the impoverished peoples of the world who have been held over the heads of working people everywhere as they struggle for a better life... we see full well the examples here in Minnesota of corporations blackmailing working people as companies, large ones like Ford Motor Company closing its Twin Cities Assembly Plant, and small ones like Mattracks expanding from a small operation in Karlstad, Minnesota to a much larger operation in China. This sends a clear signal to working people: work for less or we will move to where there is massive poverty and people starving will do what you do for much less and corporate profits will soar.

Any school child knows what this study has avoided: that poverty cannot be ended so long as corporations pay working people poverty wages.

While this report's intent is to place the need to protect ecosystems into the context of creating an integrated framework for economic globalization to proceed smoothly as the solution to all our economic and social ills, it fails to address the real problem: capitalism. In fact, it intentionally obscures the fact that what is being referred to as "economic globalization" is really "capitalist globalization." When one further studies beyond this report we understand that the World Bank does not intend to allow socialist economies to integrate into, or become a part of, this economic globalization unless they prove that they are well on their way to restoring capitalism... apparently something that has been over-looked in China.

Rather than creating jobs while protecting ecosystems, capitalism destroys the people and ecosystems by using people to rape the land in quest of greater profits... this is the nature of imperialism, the highest and last stage of capitalism... we now have a choice to make, we can stand up and rid the world of capitalism or die along with this decadent, rotting system that has turned parasitic and moribund itself... it is time to bury capitalism out in the Big Bog and let socialism sprout from its decay along with wild orchids of spring.

"The Wealth of the Poor: Managing ecosystems to fight poverty"--- This is an excellent read, but read it with eyes wide open and read between the lines... read this publication in order to grasp the complexities of the problems before us with a view to resolving this mess to the benefit of the working class... with cooperation and socialism.

One of the problems with a publication like this is that it deals with poverty as mere facts and figures... we must remember that behind every fact and figure is a living, breathing human being who is suffering--- often in the process of dying as a result of drought, hunger, malnutrition, or a disease going untreated.

I will have more to say about this publication relating to ecosystems and poverty in the near future concerning the struggles now underway to halt peat mining in the Big Bog and MinnTac's contamination of our living environment. I would encourage everyone to study this publication very thoroughly. Minnesota politicians might want to figure out how the thousands of people trapped on Indian Reservations fit into "managing ecosystems to fight poverty."

Many years ago, Roger Jourdain, the long-time serving Chairman of the Red Lake Nation who used public and cooperative ownership successfully to fight poverty came to many of the same conclusions about the relationship of ecosystems to wealth and poverty--- that is why he fought so hard to stop peat mining in the Big Bog. It is a sad irony that those like Roger Head--- who working with Chairman Floyd Jourdain, have destroyed all the programs Roger Jourdain labored so hard to create aimed at ending poverty in the same manner that the dilipidated old shacks were burned to the ground as new housing replaced the old. Not coincidentally, the same politicians who lambasted Roger Jourdain's achievements as "socialism in the north woods and swamps of Minnesota" now hail the new direction of "casino capitalism." And, like the people of the formerly socialist countries referred to above, poverty is on the rise for the people of the Red Lake Nation when the course had been set that was eliminating it.

Roger Jourdain understood what Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro understands, that it is public ownership of industry and cooperatives through which poverty is combatted not through "free enterprise,""free markets," and "capitalist globalization"... again, it is no coincidence that Roger Head and his reactionary thinking would lead him to reject a helping hand from Hugo Chavez in the form of heating assistance to the impoverished people of Red Lake Nation.

The United Nations and the World Bank spent millions of dollars to create this report and all they would have had to have done is contacted Jody Beaulieu at the offices of the Red Lake Nation archives to obtain Roger Jourdain's call to defend the Big Bog from peat mining in order to learn that it is necessary to protect ecosystems because they are the wealth of the poor.

A basic and fundamental question is: Why is the entire ecosystem of the Big Bog now being destroyed as it is drained by a Canadian multinational corporation and polluted by Minntac... all intentionally, given everything we know?

I hope we are not going to wait for the United Nations and the World Bank to do another study to explain to us why poverty is on the rise in Minnesota as ecosystems are being destroyed.

Mark your calendar...

Today I am only posting the flier being distributed announcing the upcoming "Labor and Sustainability Conference." Over the next few days I will be raising some questions I think are pertinent to this issue

Please distribute this flier as widely as possible and give people links to my blog as we shall have quite a bit to discuss around our kitchen tables leading up to this conference.

Please note: to go to the website... for this conference simply click on the heading above, "Mark your calendar."

Labor & Sustainability Conference
January 19th-20th, 2007
UNITED AUTO WORKERS 879 Union Hall
2191 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, MN

FRIDAY EVENING PROGRAM
“Building A Movement For Sustainability: How Labor Can Respond to the Climate Crisis”
Speakers:
Jack Rasmus, Chairperson of Bay Area National Writers Union 1981 (UAW) & Author of The War At Home: The Corporate Offensive From Reagan To Bush and Fire On Pier 32.
Bill Onasch, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287 Retiree (Kansas City, MO Bus Drivers), Labor Party Interim National Council & U.S. Labor Against the War Steering Committee.

SATURDAY SCHEDULE
Welcoming Address by Lynn Hinkle,
Health & Safety Director, UAW 879
Workshops
Box Lunch
Workshops
Plenary
Dinner Panel Discussion
Dance
WORKSHOP TOPICS
1. The Campaign For Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions From All Sources
2. Saving The Ford Plant Through Green Manufacturing & The Need To Expand Clean Mass Transit
3. The Extraction Industries In The North Country & Eco-Friendly Job Alternatives
4. The Conversion To Wind Power: Building A Worker/Farmer/Indigenous Alliance
5. The Effects Of Climate Change In The Region & Its Economic Impacts
6. The Environmental & Health Impacts Of Transporting & Using Coal
7. Sustainable Collective Bargaining In Union Contracts, Retrofitting Union Facilities For Green Operation & Investing Union Funds In Clean, Renewable Energy
8. Confronting Globalization: Embedding Environmental Regulations & Fair-Labor Practices Into Trade Agreements While Guaranteeing Farmers’ Rights & Food Sovereignty.
9. Overcoming Environmental Racism & Achieving Justice For Indigenous Peoples & Communities of Color
10. Growing Healthy Food Through Sustainable Agriculture

Free & Open To The Public. Endorsed By: AFSCME 3800, Douglas County Supervisor Adam Ritscher, 4th & 5th CDs Green Party, IMPACT, Labor Education Service, Mac CARES, Mayday Books, Mpls. CLUC, MN AFL-CIO, MN-CPUSA, MNs For Peace & Social Justice, Prof. Peter Rachleff, Red Lake Casino, Hotel & Restaurant Employees’ Union Org. Cmte., Save Our Bog, St. Paul Area Trades & Labor Assembly, State Rep. Frank Hornstein, 3CTC, UAW 879, UFCW 789, UTU 650, WAMM, WILPF-MN Metro.
For More Information: www.laborandsustainability.org Email: info@laborandsustainability.org Or Phone: 651-699-4246.
Printed On 100% Recycled Paper.

Israel seeks pipeline for Iraqi oil

Today I think I am just going to let this April 20, 2003 Observer article stand on it's own without comment--- if you would like to view the original article just click on the title:

Israel seeks pipeline for Iraqi oil US discusses plan to pump fuel to its regional ally and solve energy headache at a stroke Ed Vuillamy in Washington Sunday April 20, 2003.

Plans to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to Israel are being discussed between Washington, Tel Aviv and potential future government figures in Baghdad.

The plan envisages the reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq's northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria.

Now, its resurrection would transform economic power in the region, bringing revenue to the new US-dominated Iraq, cutting out Syria and solving Israel's energy crisis at a stroke.

It would also create an end less and easily accessible source of cheap Iraqi oil for the US guaranteed by reliable allies other than Saudi Arabia - a keystone of US foreign policy for decades and especially since 11 September 2001.

Until 1948, the pipeline ran from the Kurdish-controlled city of Mosul to the Israeli port of Haifa, on its northern Mediterranean coast.

The revival of the pipeline was first discussed openly by the Israeli Minister for National Infrastructures, Joseph Paritzky, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz .

The paper quotes Paritzky as saying that the pipeline would cut Israel's energy bill drastically - probably by more than 25 per cent - since the country is currently largely dependent on expensive imports from Russia.

US intelligence sources confirmed to The Observer that the project has been discussed. One former senior CIA official said: 'It has long been a dream of a powerful section of the people now driving this administration [of President George W. Bush] and the war in Iraq to safeguard Israel's energy supply as well as that of the United States.

'The Haifa pipeline was something that existed, was resurrected as a dream and is now a viable project - albeit with a lot of building to do.'

The editor-in-chief of the Middle East Economic Review , Walid Khadduri, says in the current issue of Jane's Foreign Report that 'there's not a metre of it left, at least in Arab territory'.

To resurrect the pipeline would need the backing of whatever government the US is to put in place in Iraq, and has been discussed - according to Western diplomatic sources - with the US-sponsored Iraqi National Congress and its leader Ahmed Chalabi, the former banker favoured by the Pentagon for a powerful role in the war's aftermath.

Sources at the State Department said that concluding a peace treaty with Israel is to be 'top of the agenda' for a new Iraqi government, and Chalabi is known to have discussed Iraq's recognition of the state of Israel.

The pipeline would also require permission from Jordan. Paritzky's Ministry is believed to have approached officials in Amman on 9 April this year. Sources told Ha'aretz that the talks left Israel 'optimistic'.

James Akins, a former US ambassador to the region and one of America's leading Arabists, said: 'There would be a fee for transit rights through Jordan, just as there would be fees for Israel from those using what would be the Haifa terminal.

'After all, this is a new world order now. This is what things look like particularly if we wipe out Syria. It just goes to show that it is all about oil, for the United States and its ally.'

Akins was ambassador to Saudi Arabia before he was fired after a series of conflicts with then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, father of the vision to pipe oil west from Iraq. In 1975, Kissinger signed what forms the basis for the Haifa project: a Memorandum of Understanding whereby the US would guarantee Israel's oil reserves and energy supply in times of crisis.

Kissinger was also master of the American plan in the mid-Eighties - when Saddam Hussein was a key US ally - to run an oil pipeline from Iraq to Aqaba in Jordan, opposite the Israeli port of Eilat.

The plan was promoted by the now Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and the pipeline was to be built by the Bechtel company, which the Bush administration last week awarded a multi-billion dollar contract for the reconstruction of Iraq.

The memorandum has been quietly renewed every five years, with special legislation attached whereby the US stocks a strategic oil reserve for Israel even if it entailed domestic shortages - at a cost of $3 billion (£1.9bn) in 2002 to US taxpayers.

This bill would be slashed by a new pipeline, which would have the added advantage of giving the US reliable access to Gulf oil other than from Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps as your family discusses this article around the kitchen table you will have your own comments as the tally of body bags from Iraq continues to climb.

"Why do you rely on the Democrats?"

I get e-mails, phone calls, and comments from people every day along the lines of this question; some people, in fact most people, come right out and ask me why I even bother working in the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party at all. I find more and more people losing what little bit of confidence they had in the Democrats at the time they voted on November 7; actually no matter what kind of spin Brian Melendez wants to put on the election outcome... the only real assessment one can make is that people voted in opposition to the Bush/Cheney agenda of war in Iraq and the big-business assault on the living standards of working people here at home... in overwhelming numbers voters and non-voters are for single-payer, universal health care as an alternative to the present mess they understand is the creation of money-grubbing insurance companies, profit hungry pharmaceutical companies and greedy doctors who would rather be at the country club playing golf with the CEO's of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies than helping people get well and stay well.

Let us be clear in understanding the outcome of the November 7 elections... the Republicans lost the election; the Democrats didn't win it... in fact, the Democrats, with a few notable exceptions, never put forward a single solution to any problems working people are experiencing--- let alone campaign for single-payer, universal health care. Here in Minnesota the majority of DFL candidates for state and federal office didn't even have the moral or political courage to run on their own party's platform that included massive and overwhelming support for single-payer, universal health care--- only days before the election DFL candidates and long-time state Representatives Huntley and Lieder campaigned in opposition to single-payer, universal health care by putting forward a bunch of Band-Aid "solutions" to this mess. Not once during the election campaign did Brian Melendez, the leader of the Minnesota DFL, encourage DFL candidates to campaign on the single-payer, universal health care solution--- rather he encouraged these candidates to use the meaningless, nice progressive sounding "affordable health care for all." Well, there is no such thing as any health care being affordable to anyone in this country anymore except for the wealthy... we all know that; and there never will be any such thing... there never has been any health care in America that was ever affordable except in the minds of those on the board of the American Medical Association.

It is easy to see why so many Minnesotans lack confidence in the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party to implement change. I understand this lack of confidence completely. What I don't agree with is giving these dumb donkeys free reign to continue down the road of appeasement and "moderation" without opposition because these dumb donkeys will always take the easy road; that is the nature of this beast... capitulating to the warmongers and big-business is the easy road... resistance requires some thought and extra effort... again, I stress, we are dealing here with a bunch of dumb donkeys... dumb donkeys like Walter Mondale who in the midst of a campaign to break the stranglehold of the Republicans where the desire for peace on the part of the American people is overwhelming, that this dumb donkey would come out and advocate a "pre-emptive" military strike against North Korea as if it wasn't bad enough that he and Hubert Humphrey supported the bloodletting of the Korean War and then turned right around and were stupid enough to support the Vietnam War--- after so much death and destruction that resulted from the Korean War... but again, what can one expect from dumb donkeys? They are hard to teach... at least you can teach an old dog new tricks... it is hard to ever teach a dumb donkey anything.

It is not a matter of having any kind of blind faith in the National Democratic Party or the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party. I think we have to keep the pressure on the Democratic Party/MNDFL and not let them off the hook... and make no mistake--- to withdraw from working with or within the Democratic Party would be a big mistake, in my opinion--- after all, if we are going to expect government to heed our demands to end this dirty war in Iraq and for single-payer, universal health care, or to revoke the permit to mine peat in the Big Bog, or stop the criminal actions of United States Steel's Minntac operation in contaminating the streams, rivers, lakes, aquifers, and lands of northern Minnesota we are expecting the Democratic Party/MNDFL to act... certainly the Green Party isn't where we go when we want action from state or federal legislators, and I don't see any of the other left/socialist/communist parties with any legislative clout... not yet.

Often when I talk to people about the need to take concrete action to do the necessary things to bring pressure to bear on local, state, or federal officials and casino managements--- be they elected or appointed--- people will say they will do something and then they don't follow through, be it making a phone call, writing a letter, or sitting down to talk with the appropriate person/s. Then we get together later and go through our check list of what everyone agreed to do and many of the things that we agreed to do haven't been done. This is no way to build movements for social change; nor does it convey the message to Democrats or anyone else in government that we are serious about what we say--- in effect, we let these people off the hook.

Should we have to pressure Democrats to cut off funding for this dirty war in Iraq? Or to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney? Should we have to pressure anyone to revoke the permit to mine peat in the Big Bog? Should we have to pressure anyone to halt the contamination of the waters and lands of northern Minnesota? Should we have to pressure public officials into seeing to it that 20,000 of our fellow Minnesotans who go to work in smoke-filled casinos without any rights under state or federal labor laws at poverty wages, that this denial of human rights be corrected? The answer to all of these questions is rather obvious... "NO!" we should not have to lift a finger in order to expect that something right and just be done by any public official... elected or appointed... the sad reality is such that we have to do a great deal.

The reality is quite different from what any caring, considerate, and thinking person would expect from our fellow human beings in these positions of power and authority that are supposedly derived by the consent from the rest of us. Sometimes I am forced to wonder if some of these people are human beings at all with the emotions one would expect from a human being--- compassion, sympathy, empathy... SHAME. Quite frankly, I do not often find these emotions on the part of Democrats any more than from Republicans. I think this is very sad... but it goes with the domination by big-business over the political process. One only has to look at where the campaign contributions come from for these politicians to understand why there is such a lack of concern by politicians for the problems working people are experiencing... in fact, most of these problems that we have as working people are the direct result of the big-business drive for profits--- think about this: problems on the job usually are the result of management's drive for profits; threats to our environment, again come as a result of a corporate quest for greater profits; the health care mess... there you have it again, big money to be made; casino workers without any rights or a voice at work... big, big, big money there; people losing there homes because they can't meet their mortgage payments... the banks profit.

Often when I ask people, "How do you expect change to happen if we don't get together and educate ourselves and others around us about the nature of our problems and organize into powerful movements in the face of such opposition by such extreme wealth?" I receive the reply, "We have to 'hope' things will change." Or, when I ask how something will get done if we don't act on it, the response is, "All we can do is 'hope' that someone will do that." Movements for social change aren't built on "hope." Movements for social change are built on the concrete activity of individuals who join together for action on issues.

The sad fact is, that under capitalism, hope is only for the hopeless; for those who have given up; for those who expect a dumb donkey to one day smarten up.

I do not "hope" the Democratic Party/MNDFL will do a goddamn thing for working people. I know that the Democratic Party/MNDFL will not take the required action to end this dirty war in Iraq, bring forward legislation for single-payer, universal health care let alone initiate legislation for a minimum wage that is a real living wage, halt the peat mining in the Big Bog or the contamination of our streams, rivers, lakes, aquifers, or land by United States steel, or stop the injustices casino workers are subjected to daily...

I do not "hope" the Democrats/MNDFL will do any of this... it is simply too much to expect from a bunch of dumb donkeys who only move when they smell corporate money.

In response to the question, "Why do you rely on the Democrats?" my response is, and always has been: I don't. We need an alternative to the present political parties... be it the Democrats, the Republicans, or their junior wannabe the Greens whose politicians seem to only jump when offered money to work for Democrats... these Greens will only squawk enough to create a little noise to get the attention of Democrats or Republicans who then purchase their silence with cushy jobs... classic example: Elizabeth Dickinson in St. Paul.

I would suggest that until these politicians of every political stripe begin seeing "Red" things are not going to change much in this country... the "Red" that I speak of is the "Red" of the real Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party and the "Red" Finns of the Iron Range.

I have no illusions what-so-ever that the Democratic Party or the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party is going to do what is morally or politically right for working people... however, I do understand the wisdom of socialist Governor Floyd B. Olson who said, "The only way to make these capitalist politicians of the Democratic and Republican parties listen is when you bring a crowd." And bring a crowd he did!

We don't have an alternative to the Democratic and Republican Parties nor their junior Green Party organized right now, do we? "Hope" is not going to create such a working class political party... if you want to know who is going to undertake this task... go look in the mirror. "Hope" is the refuge sought by those who have been beaten down and given up.

Until this "hoped" for development of a working class political party takes place that provides a real alternative, I and many other liberals, progressives, socialists, and communists will continue to work with one foot in the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and one foot outside of it--- ready, eager, and prepared to come into an alternative political party that will address the needs of working people and our living environment... we will come into that party with both feet. Until that time we are not going to give these politicians free reign to help the corporations squeeze every last drop of blood from working people and rob us of the air to breathe and clean water to drink, nor to exploit us without opposition... if you want to sit and "hope" for something better than the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party to come along before finding a way to participate in the struggles of people for a better life and a healthier environment... just come home from work, sit at home in front of the television and "hope," drink a little beer and smoke some weed. But do not twist my activity into something that it is not... I do not rely on the Democratic Party to do anything... in fact, if there is anything I "hope" for from the Democratic Party it is that they will just sit and do nothing rather than vote to send more troops and piss away more money on this dirty war in Iraq... with my involvement I try to insure the Democratic Party will take action to end this dirty war in Iraq and implement single-payer, universal health care... if everyone sitting at home "hoping" for something better or for someone else to do something would take the initiative to act we just might be able to end this dirty war and get single-payer universal health care.

First step... sit around the kitchen table and talk to your family, friends, and fellow workers about the problems... put your ideas in letters to the editors... send those letters to the editors that you write off to your legislators and the MNDFL... distribute your letters as leaflets in your community and at work or wherever you go... initiate petitions followed up with peace vigils and organize forums and conferences to discuss these issues. And remeber the advice from Governor Floyd B. Olson... always take a crowd with you.

First step... discussion around the kitchen table.

Remember, there will be those like the leaders of the Minnesota DFL who will first tell you they only need your money and your vote; then when you get involved and make an issue so it is no longer out of sight and out of mind they will tell you to get lost... and if you don't get lost they will start to call you names... so what, ignore them... get involved.

If we can initiate kitchen table discussions in every "podunk" community in Minnesota we will be well on our way to building the kind of movement required for the kind of real change that we want to see... and we just might be able to stop this dirty war in Iraq... in the process, if we work together in turning out a big enough crowd, we just might be able to attain single-payer, universal health care.

Think about this: one little snow-flake doesn't amount to a hell of a lot... but when we get a blizzard all those little snow-flakes sure add up... each of us is like one little snow-flake, the politicians can ignore us when we are alone... but together we are like a blizzard.

George Bush is doing the work for the terrorists...

Well, there you have it; this is all over the internet:

The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of six more American soldiers, pushing the U.S. military death toll since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,978 - five more than the number killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

George Bush managed to kill more Americans than Osama Bin Laden; what a great way to avenge the deaths of those who died in the World Trade Center. How many Iraqis have died we will never know... to the Bush/Cheney gang of crooks and liars the human death toll and destruction of Iraq never was important anyways... the only thing that ever mattered was the oil and the intent of U.S. imperialism to dominate the Middle East.

William Z. Foster, writing in the "Twilight of World Capitalism" encouraged American workers to get educated real quick about the real nature of imperialism... that was in 1949 and how many wars, deaths, and how much destruction later?

As we sit around our kitchen tables we need to discuss the nature of the capitalist system and the web that has been spun by the military-financial-industrial complex; unless we begin to understand how capitalism in its final imperialist stage has grown parasitic and canabalistic we are doomed.

The American people voted on November 7 to end this dirty war. George McGovern has come up with a very sensible "Blueprint" to get us out of Iraq... the time has come for the Democratic Party to stand up to Bush by cutting off funding for the war and move quickly to impeach Bush and Cheney... they both have to go... they lied about this war from the start... they stole the elections in 2000 and 2004 to begin with... now it is time to end this war and get these two crooked warmongers out of office.

Enough!

Christmas Day 2006

Fred and I arose about 5:30 A.M. this Christmas morning to a light snowfall. I put the coffee on and we walked for awhile. While walking I got the idea for this blog: "thoughts from podunk." I had been thinking about an e-mail that I received in response to an e-mail that I circulated widely about the need to impeach the Bush/Cheney gang. I received the e-mail from the revisionary managing editor of Political Affairs Magazine [which makes the claim of being a Marxist publication put out by the Communist Party, USA--- which I have belonged to since I was I teenager] in which he arrogantly referred to a former mayor calling for Bush's impeachment as being from a "Podunk town." The use of this kind of language is wrong; as if peoples' thoughts about this dirty war in Iraq and the struggles of working people--- most of whom reside in "Podunks" someplace on our planet, are insignificant; where, like me, they live, work, and recreate. We can't all live in big cities where we make the decisions over what gets published in glossy, slick magazines and what doesn't get published... but all of us "podunkers" sure can blog!

It seems this managing editor who hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan was upset about the manner in which I circulated an article he wrote in the newspaper of the Communist Party, U.S.A.--- the Peoples' Weekly World.

Quite frankly, I don't know why he was so upset... his article held its own, I thought.

I selected his article as one of three [Metro Times, The Nation, Peoples' Weekly World] concerning the need to impeach the corrupt Bush/Cheney gang of warmongers that is trying to drive down the standards of living of working people all over the globe. I thought (maybe thinking was my first mistake... the bosses just hate it when workers think!)--- well, I just thought it was a really good article that Joel Wendland had written... I still do; but his response in referring to Grand Rapid, Michigan and writing off a prominent Republican calling for George Bush's impeachment as coming from a "podunk town," rather than coming from an important United States Senator was wrong. Grand Rapids, Michigan is a working class community that has been devastated by capitalist globalization just like most other working class communities across the Midwest; this characterization just really rubbed me the wrong way... I guess I expect people who publish and write for Marxist, revolutionary, working class publications to have a little more respect towards working people and the communities we live in... and then I started thinking more and more about Grand Rapids, Michigan being a "podunk town;" the more I thought about this statement the more I reached the opinion that his attitude reflects much more than simply a disrespectful arrogance towards working people--- his rotten attitude was directed towards working people in general, and specifically towards working people involved in struggles trying to make the world a better place to live in, too.

For a long time I have noticed among the "movers and shakers" [usually those who observe and write] of the Left this same kind of arrogance, although, not usually so blatantly stated as it was done this time. Why care when someone makes this kind of arrogant statement that the opinions of someone can be disregarded because they come from a "podunk town" like Grand Rapids, Michigan? For starters, most working people live and work in such "podunk towns." If we are serious about real social change in this country we need to have the involvement of the working people from all these "podunk" towns and communities, not just the "great thinkers" from the ivory towers in Ann Arbor and those that are smart enough to write newspaper articles and choose what gets published in these newspapers and magazines, and what doesn't.

Communist Parties all over the world have relied on organizing "communist clubs" in these "Podunk" towns and communities as their chosen methods of organization for several reasons. Communist parties have made it a point of trying to organize these "clubs" where people work and in the communities where working people live because workers are the only class that can successfully stand up to the capitalists. These "communist clubs" are places where working people can get together, socialize, and collectively think problems through as a process of educating each other as they work to mobilize and energize the working class for action. It was such Communist Party clubs that formed the resistance to fascism in Europe, China, and the Philippines during World War II... not to mention which contributed towards mobilizing our own country against the fascist menace of Hitler, Mussolini, and Japanese imperialism. Similar Communist Party clubs were the backbone of Vietnamese people in defeating U.S. imperialism... and it was communist clubs in "podunks" all over the United States that helped to mobilize the American people against that dirty war in Vietnam... we could do with many more "Podunk clubs" in the United States today.

In other words, these communist party clubs provide working people with alternatives to big-business think-tanks and the lies spewed daily by the commercial media about everything from the war in Iraq to health care problems and the misinformation about wages and working condidtions and just about everything else one can think of. Communist Parties have almost always stressed building these clubs everyplace where there are working people... in all the "podunks" one might say as a means of strengthening the working class movement and all progressive movements for peace and social justice.

These "communist clubs" have stressed: education, organization, unity, and united action which have been the key to the successes of these "communist clubs" for the last 150 or so years--- all over the world... on every continent, in every country... our goal has been to establish these "communist clubs" in every "podunk" without any exceptions.

In the past few years there are those arrogant "leaders" like this managing editor of Political Affairs who have decided that these "communist clubs" are no longer needed... or if they are, it is sufficient that a few great thinkers belong to these clubs in the great centers of revolutionary change, and the rest of us "podunkers" are just supposed to listen up and let them expound on their views, from their ivory towers and 7th floor offices in New York.

The present day revisionary "leaders" of the Communist Party, U.S.A. have embarked down a trail that will lead to liquidating the Communist Party, U.S.A. if they are allowed to proceed unchallenged. The way to counter their destructive efforts is to build communist clubs in every community and place of employment possible.

Over the years communist clubs have served working people well when these clubs have been organized along open, non-sectarian lines. It was such communist clubs that sparked the great organizing drives among industrial workers; whenever anyone in this country thinks of communists they think of union organizers; union organizers were educated and trained in these communist clubs. These communist clubs helped shape the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party where Communist Party members like John Bernard spearheaded the Farmer-Labor efforts on the Iron Range and eventually led to his own election to the United States Congress where he had the courage to stand in defiance of big-business; Bernard was from the little "Podunk town" of Eveleth, Minnesota... both of Minnesota's most beloved governors, both socialists--- Floyd B. Olson and Elmer Benson--- hailed from "Podunk towns and communities." Native American leader Roger Jourdain of Red Lake came from another "Podunk community" which became known as "an island of socialism in the backwoods of northern Minnesota" as he labored to bring good housing, jobs, and health care to victims of racist genocidal oppression.

Perhaps if the present "leaders" of the Communist Party, U.S.A. would concentrate their efforts and resources on building communist clubs in all the "Podunk" cities, towns, and communities across the Midwest where capitalists have set up shop we could give the kind of thoughtful direction needed to working class struggles today just as William Z. Foster, Paul Robeson, Claude Lightfoot, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Gus Hall and all those "Podunk" Communists like William and Virginia Glenn, Axel and Edna Nielsen, Nate Sharpe, John Bernard, and those heroic "Podunk" Communists like Phil Raymond, Wyndham Mortimer, Robert Travis, Bud Simons, Nadia Barkan, Art Briggs, Earl Dutton, Frank Melder, and Sid Nadolsky helped to lead working class struggles... by organizing Communist Party clubs in every single "Podunk" city, town, and community they ever lived in or ever drove through. Phil Raymond and Wyndham Mortimer always pointed out that it was because of these Communist Party clubs in Michigan "Podunk" cities like Grand Rapids, Flint, Muskegon, Benton Harbor, Calumet, Marquette, Copper Harbor, Manistique, Baldwin, Idlewild, Cadillac, Battle Creek, Jackson, Hardy Dam, White Cloud, Holland, Kalamazoo... Communist Party Clubs in all these "Podunk" communities is what led to the great union we know as the United Automobile Workers of America. All across Wisconsin and Minnesota the Communist Party had clubs in "Podunk" cities, towns, and communities... there wasn't one single town on the Iron Range without a Communist Party Club... these "podunk" Communist Party Clubs on the Range stretching from Jacobson to Cherry, Eveleth, Gilbert, Virginia, and Ely built the network of Red Finn Co-operative stores, and even creameries, all of which eventually led to organizing the huge open pit iron ore mines and the forestry industries.

It is no accident that a revisionist leader, a very prominent one at that, who has been entrusted with the responsibility for a publication like Political Affairs and writing in the Peoples' Weekly World... which is supposed to be the theoretical journal and newspaper of the Communist Party, U.S.A. respectively, serve the purpose of helping to organize and educate working people in a way that builds and strengthens Communist Party clubs to do battle with the capitalist class would denigrate working class communities in this way... after all, one only has to read Political Affairs to understand that it has become little more that a puff piece attacking socialism. The Communist Party leaders should understand that everytime another Communist Party Club is organized in a "Podunk" someplace this places us closer to bringing an end to this rotten capitalist system and strengthens the movements for peace and social justice, which includes the movement to impeach the Bush/Cheney gang. For working people in the "Podunks" across America it is important to impeach the Bush/Cheney gang as part of the struggle to maintain what little domocratic rights remain and to end this dirty war in Iraq (we need the greatest democracy possible to build the peace movement and impeaching Bush and Cheney contributes to the struggle for democratic rights, which in turn will help us mobilize people to end the war... we already see the Democrats moving backwards on this issue, again, even though the American people are opposed to the war)... We need to step up the pressure for: socialized health care... to establish a minimum wage that is a real living wage, not the miserely poverty wage Democrats are talking about... to save our planet from nuclear annihilation and global warming... the movement to end this dirty war in Iraq must include calls for impeachment... even the former Republican mayor of a "podunk town" like Grand Rapids understands this.

For many working people in all the "Podunks" across America socialism is always on the front burner... it's time to put revisionism--- along with capitalist thinking--- on ice.

The success of our present struggles, like working class struggles of the past for a better life will largely hinge on how many club "podunks" the Communist Party, U.S.A. can build across this country and how quickly. My suggestion to Comrade Wendland would be that he pay a visit to Grand Rapids, Michigan to find out what would have propelled a leading Republican and former mayor--- and the longest serving mayor at that--- of this "Podunk town" to make the need to impeach George Bush and end the war in Iraq the topic of a Sunday morning guest sermon in one of the largest, most respected churches in this "podunk town;" Comrade Wendland just might consider that the very powerful peace movement in this "podunk town" nudged this Republican to call for Bush's impeachment... and among this powerful peace movement that is mainly working class, the Communist Party U.S.A. might just pick up a few new members.

My suggestion to Comrade Wendland: start talking to working people in Grand Rapids, Michigan about starting a "Podunk Club" of the Communist Party, U.S.A.

I can remember when the predecessors to the "Peoples' Weekly World--- "The Worker," "The Daily World"--- would have published the call from a former Mayor and big shot in the National Republican Party from a "podunk town" like Grand Rapids, Michigan to impeach his own Party's sitting president over the lies, that initiated this imperialist war for oil, as front page news. I kind of think this is what most people would expect from a Communist newspaper.

What do you think? Talk about this over coffee as you sit with family, friends, neighbors, fellow workers, and around the kitchen table.