After a Year, Bargaining Set for Casino Workers at Foxwoods

Discussion:

The United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO have completely evaded the issue of the "Compacts" creating the Indian Gaming Industry.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/11/03/after-a-year-bargaining-set-for-casino-workers-at-foxwoods/

In Michigan, UAW Lead Lobbyist, Nadine Nosal, was ordered by UAW President Ron Gettelfinger not to vigorously oppose the Gun Lake Casino "Compact" which is embroiled in corruption and controversy. Nosal would only put a check on the "Hearing Card" indicating the UAW opposition to the "Compact."

The Gun Lake Casino "Compact" like the Petoskey Nurses' Strike, seems destined to become one of the longest in the Nation's history to win approval after being mired in corruption and the Jack Abramoff scandal while rumors abound that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, now appointed by Barack Obama to his Transition Economic Advisory Board may have taken huge cash bribes from Station Casinos like the corruption in Missouri.

Governor Jennifer Granholm has been closely connected to the UAW and it is widely believed that Granholm and the UAW used their connections with the Democratic Party in order to work out a "sweetheart contract" with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation because the UAW became embarrassed that it had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an organizing drive which was yielding no results.

Speculation is, that in order to save face, the UAW leadership has already determined that they will settle for a contract containing little more than workers have now and the contract will be unenforceable since tribal courts have no jurisdiction and the United States Supreme Court has been heavily biased in favor of the casino industry on all questions.

Gettelfinger is afraid to fight and struggle for justice.

Until the "Compacts" are opened up and have the rights of workers inserted in them casino workers will get no justice... where there is no justice, there can be no peace.

I had requested from United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger that the UAW join the Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council in vigorously opposing the Gun Lake Casino "Compact" unless workers' rights under state and federal law are fully included as part of the "Compact."

Unions should not "respect" the "right" of any Nation to be immune from the enforcement of labor laws.

In fact, what this article doesn't discuss in addition to these "Compacts" is that the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation doesn't have any laws protecting the rights of workers nor laws guiding workers' rights to organize unions and collective bargaining.

In addition, the United Auto Workers refuses to negotiate for smoke-free casinos--- this is one of the "pre-negotiation" sweetheart agreements the UAW made with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation which utilizes a mobster dominated and controlled management firm.

Interesting is the fact that this AFL-CIO "Press Release" does not state who the management firm is that the UAW will be bargaining with nor who their attorneys are.

More than two-million casino workers are employed in smoke-filled casinos in the Indian Gaming Industry at more than 450 casinos/resorts/hotels/restaurants/theme parks; all receiving poverty wages.

These "Compacts" have created right-to-work for less, without-any-right colonies, and these "Compacts" have gone unchallenged, and unmentioned, by the UAW and other AFL-CIO unions.

Former Red Lake Nation Chairman Roger Jourdain declared, in response to these draconian "Compacts:" "Indian Law and sovereignty should not be used to deprive Indian people or any other workers of their human rights."

Too bad the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO do not understand what Roger Jourdain understood very well.

The United Auto Workers Union is refusing to make public the "agreement" they worked out with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and its management firm... even the Foxwoods casino workers have not been allowed to see and study the "agreement."

I challenge UAW President Ron Gettelfinger to post the "agreement" with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and its management firm on the UAW website... ditto for President John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO... where is the beef!

Yes, where is the beef!

Interestingly enough, the beef, along with all other meats sold in these casinos, does not have to pass any state or federal inspections. Casinos across the country bought up almost the entire shipment of contaminated hamburger unfit for the school lunch programs and they are still serving this beef to casino patrons.

Stanley Crooks of the Mystic Lake Casino empire boasts that he always provides casino patrons with the best deals... the head chef said: What customers don't know isn't going to hurt them... while Melanie Benjamin of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwa is trying to figure out how to get out of her own mess--- now accused of stealing millions of dollars from the huge Grand Casino empire. Plenty of money for these corrupt casino managements, but no money to provide real living wages for casino workers.

There is only one Indian Band in the United States that has labor laws... that is a Band near Saginaw, Michigan, and the "labor law" states that union membership is prohibited.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, in pushing for the Employee Free Choice Act refused to state if "card check" legislation would apply to casino workers.

Sweeney has also evaded the issue of "at-will hiring, at-will firing" legislation in effect in twenty-eight states, including Minnesota and Michigan; legislation which will nullify "card check."

While this AFL-CIO and UAW press release states that the UAW represents casino workers in other states; the UAW has yet to negotiate any contracts in the Indian Gaming Industry. The UAW has adamantly refused to consider the rights and special problems of casino workers. The UAW refuses to negotiate a healthy and safe workplace for casino workers by negotiating smoke-free casinos in spite of supporting "Freedom to Breathe" legislation for all other workers in states like Minnesota and Michigan, which has led many casino workers to conclude the only thing the UAW cares about is the dues money to make up for the losses being suffered in the auto industry. One Foxwoods' dealer has said that the UAW has sold out workers before negotiations have even begun... autoworkers would likely agree.

Native American casino workers have branded the UAW a racist union for refusing to include affirmative action clauses in their proposed contracts.

Women of child-bearing age have called the UAW sexist.

Maggie Bird, a Native American and the President of the Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council, has noted that there has never been a Native American on the Executive Board of the UAW, and stated: "The UAW leadership has worked with casino managements and the Democratic Party trying to thwart our organizing efforts; the UAW leadership is racist and sexist with complete disregard for health and safety in the workplace. The American Cancer Society and the Heart and Lung Foundation both unequivocally state that young women of child-bearing age are most at risk when exposed to second-hand smoke. Many casino employees are retired elderly workers forced back into the workforce because they cannot make ends meet trying to live on meager Social Security checks and second-hand smoke is a death sentence for these elderly casino workers. Let Ron Gettelfinger try working in a smoke-filled casino."

In connection with the deplorable working conditions in casinos; this e-mail was received:

Dear Mr. Maki:



Thank you for your response to our press release. This sounds like a very serious concern for working women’s health. We would be interested in doing what we could to inform the public about the situation through our research or outreach. I’d like to learn more about the policy levers that you are pursuing to combat this disgusting situation. I was recently in Las Vegas for a conference and was just horrified by the smoke filled casinos among many other things.



In terms of our press release, we were speaking to how Obama’s messages may have resonated with women voters in general – it wasn’t intended to provide opinion on his policy stances, the practices of his campaign funders, or to comment on how all women feel about Obama. .



Barbara Gault, Ph.D.

Acting President

Institute for Women's Policy Research

1707 L St. NW, Washington, DC 20036

202-785-5100, ext. 23

gault@iwpr.org;www.iwpr.org

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

After a Year, Bargaining Set for Casino Workers at Foxwoods

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/11/03/after-a-year-bargaining-set-for-casino-workers-at-foxwoods/

by Mike Hall, Nov 3, 2008

More than a year after some 2,600 casino workers voted for a voice with the UAW, contract talks are at last set to begin between the American Indian tribe that owns the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut and the union.

UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn says the agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation also recognizes the UAW as the workers’ collective bargaining agent. She called the agreement a

first step toward achieving a contract for workers at Foxwoods. It came about because both parties were willing to listen and address each other’s concerns. The Mashantucket Pequots have set an extraordinary example by respecting the rights of workers, and we look forward to building a strong relationship in the future.

The casino is located on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation and the agreement will be negotiated under tribal law, without either party waving their rights to federal labor law.

Jackson King, general counsel of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, says:

The concepts of tribal sovereignty and self-government are very important to all Native American tribes. We are very pleased to have come to an understanding that both acknowledges employees’ rights to join unions and respects the rights of Native American governments.

Following the November 2007 election, the Mashantucket Pequots challenged the election on the grounds that the National Labor Relations Act does not apply to a casino on tribal land. But in July, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upheld the election and certified the UAW as the workers’ bargaining agent.

Both sides agreed to stay legal actions pending before the NLRB and the U.S. Court of Appeals. According to a UAW press release, if the parties are unable to reach an agreement within five months, either of the parties has the right to have unresolved issues submitted to binding arbitration under the tribal system, which provides for a final decision by a neutral party agreed to by the employer and the union.

Bonnie Forman, a dealer at the casino for more than seven years, says:

Everyone at work is very excited. This is exactly what we have been working for—an opportunity to sit down with management so we can improve our workplace and make Foxwoods the best possible choice for our customers.

The casino is the largest in the United States and ranks second globally. Foxwoods is Connecticut’s largest employer. The UAW represents more than 8,800 casino workers in Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Ask Kennedy To Make It Single Payer... nothing less than HR 676

Some people say: “Let's give Obama the chance he deserves.”



I can’t believe anyone would suggest giving this bunch a “chance.”



Obama had a “chance” to stand up in defense of people being foreclosed on and losing their homes at the time the banks were bailed out… he, and the Democrats, chose to do nothing; nothing for working people anyways. They could have bought up the foreclosed mortgage and the banks would have gotten their same bailout money since they own the mortgages.



And now, the rumors circulating from what I have been told directly by a United States Senator, is that this bunch of Wall Street people are talking about bailing out a bunch of real estate speculators with huge investments in rental housing, office leases and shopping malls who are apparently facing foreclosure because so many of their tenants have been evicted!



A “chance” to do what?



Look at Obama’s Transition Economic Advisory Board… there is not one single person on there that is going to do anything in favor of working people.



After everything that organized labor put into his campaign, there isn’t one single union “leader,” as rotten as most of them are, sitting on this Board. The closest one gets is David Bonior and in all of his time as minority whip in the House he never once put up a fight on one single issue of substance… he cried that he had been betrayed by John Edwards while he sits on a Board with sleaze like Antonio Villaraigosa and the rest are all Wall Street people.



Wall Street needed a con-man to try to get them through this mess and they found their man in Obama, and people just got sucked in like they would from a slick salesperson selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door.



And, now, after so many people have contributed money to his campaign, they figure they have an investment in the guy and they are too embarrassed to admit they have been had.



I must admit, listening to all the hype I was thinking maybe I was even going to vote for Obama, too. I purposely went and voted early for Cynthia McKinney just so I wouldn’t get caught up in all the last minute BS; afraid I might be tempted.



This was all just one big show; a Barnum and Bailey production. Here in Minnesota the state government is referred to as “the circus in the Cities.” (St. Paul-Minneapolis)



Weeks before the election they had everything planned out; where Obama was going to make his acceptance speech and where John McCain was going to accept defeat.



Common sense should cause anyone to look at what they did at Grant Park… and all over the country. Can you imagine what would have happened had this been another stolen election like 2000 and 2004… Chicago would still be burning along with half the cities in the United States. You don’t bring this many people together to celebrate a defeat. Here in Minnesota they can hardly keep public order after the ref makes a bad call during a hockey game.



Face it; we were all played for suckers, and shame on us if we give Obama anymore chances in any other ways.



Even Rahm Emanuel, the racist, anti-Palestinian bigot--- Obama knew he was going to be his Chief of Staff but he also knew that if he let this out to people most of his support wouldn’t have shown up at the polls.



Already these people who tried to pump everyone up on Obama are talking that business will have its way with Obama in the first term but they are going to fight for control of the Democratic Party so they control Obama in the second term. Gees, this is unbelievable. But, this is what has been posted to the Progressives for Obama blog written by none other than Mark Rudd and being hailed as a masterpiece in progressive thinking.



The other thing to keep in mind is that in spite of all the euphoria surrounding Obama’s election, George Bush is still in power; and to give Obama a “chance” is also giving Bush a whole lot of room to maneuver. This is a guy who should have been impeached, or, long ago, driven from office in disgrace like Richard Nixon.



Much has been made of Barack Obama having been a “community organizer;” do you know any community organizer who would pull back at the very time there is maximum momentum for change without getting what people wanted?



Very likely the capitalist economy is going to go into the worst depression in human history and it might be a dozen years or more before there will be any improvement.



The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has wasted no time letting Obama know what its agenda is… why have progressives held off so long with their “wish list?”



If nothing else we should be moving forward very militantly and asserting our rights to single-payer universal health care… we don’t even have any national organization in place to coordinate such a massive movement… the “Progressives for Obama” and “progressives for Obama” are undermining what organization and struggle we have.



At least if we come together as grassroots and rank-and-file activists in support of real single-payer universal health care, we all develop a working relationship and learn to struggle together and if we are successful we have built the foundation to broaden our struggles to bring forward a much more advanced progressive agenda and begin challenging these people for real power… that is what this is really all about.



We are very close to suffering a major set-back in the area of health care reform right now.



In fact, another good reason not to give Obama a “chance” is because he is already undermining the single-payer universal health care movement knowing that if he can divide us on this issue it will be very hard for us to recover to come back united on any other issues, including the struggle for peace.



I received a letter from the All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care-HR676, just today… I attached my own letter and sent it out to many people… I would encourage all of you to do the same… we need to get up some momentum here and not give the Obama Administration a minute of peace--- no justice, no peace--- this is the way we should be looking to do business with this Obama Administration… here is the letter I received and my letter as I sent it out:



-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Maki [mailto:amaki000@centurytel.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 2:10 PM



Subject: Ask Kennedy To Make It Single Payer... nothing less than HR 676



I would encourage people to post this letter--- see below--- on blogs, websites and list-serves along with bulletin boards, refrigerators, take it with you to meetings and to work and ask everyone you know to sign it. You should also send it as I am doing now to politicians and all your friends and even those not so friendly.



There are many websites, blogs and list serves where heated discussions on health care are taking place especially with organizations like the Campaign for America's Future trying to derail the single-payer universal health care movement.



It is on this issue of single-payer universal health care that all liberals and progressives should remain united... other than the American Medical Association and the insurance companies there is not much other opposition to H.R 676... the American people are entitled to get something for throwing this bunch of crooked and corrupt Republicans out of office... it is time to insist on something in return for our votes.



Keith Ellison is the only Minnesota member of Congress on record supporting HR 676 and Al Franken has refused to endorse it... I say, let him sink.



Congressman James Oberstar has been a no-show on HR 676. Why?



The time has come to let politicians know there is going to be a penalty paid for not supporting HR 676... We have to ask our state legislators why they have balked at taking a similar initiative as that of their colleagues in following the lead of Kentucky, New York and New Hampshire in endorsing HR 676.



For a fraction of what these dirty wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing we could have a world class health care system.



The Roseau County Convention of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party unanimously passed a resolution calling for no-fee/no-premium, comprehensive, all-inclusive, single-payer universal health care; publicly funded like Social Security and publicly administered.



The Minnesota 2006 DFL State Convention, by a 72% margin, passed a resolution in support of HR 676.



Don't forget to write Letters to the Editor of newspapers supporting HR 676.



Also, don't forget the call-in radio programs.



It has become very important that you make clear you are supporting HR 676 specifically because there are numerous other proposals being floated as unscrupulous politicians try to wiggle out from this issue as high-powered lobbyists representing the American Medical Association and the insurance industry are making the rounds with their bribes.



Let's get HR 676 support committees established in every community in Minnesota... and demand from politicians we will settle for nothing less.



Again, please circulate this widely.



Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council



58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net



Check out my blog:



Thoughts From Podunk



http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/





Thirty-thousand casino workers go to jobs in smoke-filled casinos... someone should figure out how much this adds to health care costs.









-----Original Message-----

From: Unions for Single Payer HR676

Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 12:14 PM

To: Single Payer News

Subject: Ask Kennedy To Make It Single Payer



News articles report that Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has instructed the

staff of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee to

begin working on a comprehensive healthcare bill to be presented in the

next Congress that convenes in early January.



The following letter was sent to Senator Ted Kennedy on behalf of the All

Unions Committee for Single Payer Healthcare—HR 676.



We encourage all who receive this email to contact Senator Kennedy’s

office urging him to offer single payer legislation modeled on House bill

HR 676.



We urge you to do this as an individual and to ask your union to do so as

well.





November 7, 2008



Senator Ted Kennedy

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510



Dear Senator Kennedy,



We understand that you are currently working energetically on a

comprehensive health care reform bill to be introduced in the new session.



There are certain junctures in history when the obstacles of the past melt

in the heat of a rising popular demand for change. This is one of those

times.



You once proudly described yourself as “an old single payer advocate.” We

urge you to return to that vision now when your tremendous influence could

make this truly just and practical plan a reality.



Please consider the simplicity, cost effectiveness and humanity of a

single payer plan which could be implemented comparatively easily as was

traditional Medicare. Any plan that keeps the profit-making insurance

companies in the mix will add layers of bureaucracy, will not be able to

control costs, and will fail in the noble effort to bring good care to

all.



We ask that you introduce, in the Senate, legislation modeled on HR 676,

which has now gained the support of 94 representatives in the US House,

480 union bodies, 39 state AFL-CIO’s, 117 Central Labor Councils, 20

international unions, the US Conference of Mayors, the Houses of

Representatives in Kentucky, New Hampshire and New York, and hundreds more

cities, counties, faith groups and organizations that express the great

hope and dire need of our people.



We urge you to be our Tommy Douglas, to lead the charge for nonprofit

single payer universal coverage. The people will be with you. Surely we

deserve the health benefits offered to the people of every other country

in the industrialized world—all medically necessary care and freedom from

the fear of economic ruin due to illness. It is only by moving to single

payer that we can cut the waste while expanding the care.



We must not squander the opportunity of this momentous time. With your

experience and stature in Congress and the nation, you are uniquely able

to ensure that generations to come will enjoy the legacy of health care as

a human right. Please say “yes” to single payer.



Sincerely yours,



Kay Tillow, Coordinator

All Unions Committee for

Single Payer healthcare—HR676

c/o Nurses Professional Organization

1169 Eastern Parkway #2218

Louisville, KY 40217

(502) 636-1551

nursenpo@aol.com

Is Obama Screwing His Base with Rahm Emanuel Selection?

My progressive friends and my friends on the left,

This little essay, below, by Steven Zunes is making the rounds; I have received it now from over one-hundred people.

Other than using the "left" to create an image for himself... there is no evidence that Obama "listens," or did listen, to anyone on the left; nor is there any evidence that Obama ever thought as any kind of liberal.

I have researched his speeches in the Illinois Senate and in the U.S. Senate; I have also researched what I could find of his "community organizer" activities--- and the only thing I can find is his pictures with his name standing or sitting with "prominent" people. And then, at every instance when he has been attacked by anyone for being associated with someone or some organization, he denounces them and distances himself from them as he chooses to associate himself with those who can help him advance his own career.

This guy never was liberal, he never was left; he never was anything other than an opportunist and a flim-flam man.

Personally, I think he must have studied Elmer Gantry very closely.

Don't believe me, try communicating with Barack Obama and see what kind of answers you get; I will publish your letters to him and his responses back to you on this blog... each and every one... prove me wrong... here is his e-mail address:

http://change.gov/page/s/contact

I cannot believe anyone on the left, let alone the leadership of our Communist Party, has fallen for any of this.

That Obama has chosen to associate himself with a shitbag like Antonio Villaraigosa (Mayor, City of Los Angeles) is all telling... you do some research and you will find out what a dirtbag this guy is.

Even Paul Volcker, no friend of the left, but a very consistent ruling class economist--- pulled out his hankie and blew his nose during Obama's first national press conference--- I think Volcker was sending a not so subtle message that he was already knee deep in bullshit.

I cannot believe Zunes' conclusion:

However, this does not necessarily mean that Obama as president will pursue
nothing better than a Clintonesque center-right agenda. Someone with Obama's
intelligence, knowledge and leadership qualities need not be unduly
restricted by the influence of his chief of staff as less able presidents
have. At the same time, this shocking appointment of Emanuel is illustrative
of the need for the progressive base that brought him to power to not
celebrate too long and to refocus our energies into pushing hard to ensure
that the change Obama promised is something we really can believe in.

Where is there any evidence that a "progressive base" brought Obama to power; some "progressive intellectuals" might think they contributed to bringing Obama to power because it gives them something to write about in books they will peddle... after all, if Obama has been brought to power by design, by a ruling class with a very reactionary, ultra-right, neoliberal agenda, do you now expect those like Zunes to be saying they were mere suckers who took the bait and got caught in the net carefully crafted just to hold them?

Zunes suggests that Obama can be reasoned with and that we maybe shouldn’t judge the man by the company he keeps.

Now, it is true that Franklin Roosevelt had more than his share of shitheads, shitbags and dirtbags in his administration--- General Hershey was one--- who were his “liaisons” with big-business; Elmer Benson told me he had such people working for him while governor of Minnesota for the same reason because of the reality that big-business owned and controlled the mines, mills and factories; for the same reason that workers sit at a table and negotiate with their bosses; HOWEVER, Roosevelt also had Henry Wallace, Harry Hopkins, Admiral Leahy, Frances Perkins--- and perhaps, most important, he had Eleanor Roosevelt out among the people who was his eyes and his ears and a very kind, caring, considerate, compassionate and passionate partisan of justice and democracy even though somewhat limited by her blindness to “class,” but ALWAYS willing to meet with local, state and national leaders and members of the Communist Party USA and those getting hurt and she wasn’t shy about doing this; and, quite literally, scores of others on Roosevelt's staff--- less well known--- who had open and complete access to him with complete two-way communication--- people who were true progressives, some more left than others; but at least they were honest liberals and quite intelligent conservatives with common sense.

For anyone who takes the time to read the autobiographies and biographies of any of Franklin Roosevelt’s cabinet, there is no escaping the fact that the CPUSA was, in all reality, Roosevelt’s most loyal and trusted ally no matter how much he personally may have lamented and loathed this unusual “alliance.” This was the case from day one; even when Foster, Ford and Browder were his most severe and unrelenting critics as Roosevelt campaigned for the presidency, sometimes using humor, but always in the most honest way taking into consideration their very different points of view--- often chiding and admonishing them by name. In fact, Roosevelt openly debated their criticisms--- if not by name, then by referencing their ideas in a way that everyone knew who he was talking about; but always in a respectful way and vice-versa--- something those dishonest people on the left want to try to turn into some kind of CPUSA sellout and collaboration with capital.

Today, there are any number of honest liberals, progressives and leftists that Obama could have chosen to associate himself with that the American people would have found perfectly acceptable--- But, EVEN JIMMY CARTER was jettisoned and sandbagged by Obama!!!

It is one thing to want to end Republican control so bad one holds to the “lesser evil” point of view; but, it is quite another thing to delude oneself into having to justify this “lesser evil” position by then turning around and creating an image of Obama which is not true and in complete contradiction of the truth just to assuage oneself--- but, then, to go out among the working class and the people and peddle these erroneous and wrong-headed convictions and assessments in a way that disarms the working class and progressives just is not right; and this is what has been done by Zune and so many others who called themselves “progressives for Obama.”

Now, we all know that those like Tom Hayden, Carl Davidson, Bill Fletcher and Barbara Ehrenreich used some downright dirty methods and tactics to twist arms, and behind the scenes they were aided and abetted by some of the most disgusting anti-Communists and red-baiters whose dishonesty and traitorous dirty tactics is well-known.

In fact, Tom Hayden and Carl Davidson are already calling Obama’s election the “beginning of the new New Left.” In other words, we are going to be introduced to another round of very vicious anti-Communist Party USA slanders. Only this time, the Communist Party USA is led by complete revisionists and opportunists who will not fight back and engage in struggle with these leftist impostors and phonies who are fronts for a bunch of Dumb Donkeys.

Even the Communist Part USA "leadership," as confused and in disarray as it is, added confusion rather than facts... one day Jarvis Tyner was saying that Obama is a "progressive;" the next day Sam Webb said Obama was not progressive but never said what he was... one day Sam Webb is encouraging people to go all out to work for Obama and even to contribute money to his campaign, the next day Sam Webb is saying the Communist Party endorses no one. Does anyone call this leadership?" And then the Party publications were nothing but advertisements for Obama offering no analysis or criticism of any kind... just: rah, rah, rah... go Obama... onward to victory. Some Communists even compared the Obama campaign to the Cuban neighborhood committees in defense of the revolution! One has to ask, wouldn't it have been enough for these Communist Party leaders to simply have said, "The hell with it, we don't want McCain and Obama is no prize, just vote for him as we work to bring the working class into united opposition to whatever he tosses our way?" But to lavish praise and uncritical support upon such a self-serving opportunist ruling class politician... this is something unheard of from the leadership of the CPUSA... never before; hopefully, never again.

Just as the old “New Left” did not influence the working class except to retard its political development, we are going to be introduced to more of the same.

Check it out, here are their names… the “blogroll” of “Progressives for Obama.” Have you seen anything coming from any of these people other than to confuse the peoples’ movements with anti-Communism in one form or another as they pick and chose their relationship to organized labor, not on the basis of fighting for what is right and just, but on the basis of who will bankroll them in sustaining their “think-tanks” and publishing… and I am sure Tom Hayden, Carl Davidson, Bill Fletcher and Barbara Ehrenreich will do very well selling their books and newspaper columns; as will those associated with the likes of this shitbag Antonio Villaraigosa.

To be sure, many of these people have simply been sucked in; but, many others are known for their opportunism and outright betrayal of the struggles of the working class and peoples' movements. Not one of these people has ever raised their voice nor put their pen to paper in protest against the racist, anti-labor "Compacts" which have created the Indian Gaming Industry in this country in spite of the fact that more than two-million workers--- many women and people of color and elderly workers--- go to work in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws completely at the mercy of a bunch of mobsters which causes me to doubt their sincerity when they say they are going to mount any kind of opposition to Obama and his thoroughly reactionary and neoliberal policies designed, not to help people who are the victims of capitalism and imperialism, nor to oppose the power of state-monopoly capitalism in building the anti-monopoly coalition which will put us on the road to socialism; but, policies designed to strengthen the hand of the Wall Street bankers and coupon clippers so that they can profit from the problems of the people:

Barbara Ehrenreich

BIll Fletcher, Jr.

Danny Glover

Tom Hayden

Sean Ahern

United Federation of Teachers

Jean Alonso

Dorchester-Roxbury Labor Committee

Fran Ansley

University of Tennessee

David E. Apter

Yale University

Barbara Aguirre

AFL-CIO

Rosalyn Baxandall

American Studies SUNY Old Westbury

Daniel Bourke

National Lawyer Guild

E. Richard Brown

Public Health, UCLA

Paul Buhle

Writer and Historian

Anna Burger

Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU

Paul Burke

Sacramento Progressive Alliance

Malcolm Burnstein

Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party

Duane Campbell

Sacramento Progressive Alliance

Jim Campbell

CC-DS, Nat'l Co-chair

Jeff Chang

Author, 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop'

Frank Christopher

Crosskeys Media

Steve Cobble

Progressive Democrats of America

Barry Cohen

NJ Institute of Technology

Carl Davidson

SolidarityEconomy.Net

Laurie Davidson

SEIU, NYC

John Delloro

Dolores Huerta Labor Institute

Ariel Dorfman

Chilean Playwright

Peter Dreier

Occidental College

Thorne Dreyer

MDS Austin, Texas

Terry DuBose

VetSpeak.org

Andrea Dupree

Lighthouse Writers Workshop

Carolyn Eisenberg

Hofstra University

Eddie Eitches

President, AFGE Local 476

Daniel Ellsberg

Writer, Military Analyst

Jane English

Human Rights Activist

Diane Fager

Public School Administrator

Margaret 'Julie' Finch

Progressive Democrats of America

Mickey Flacks

Housing Advocate

Richard Flacks

Santa Barbara County Action Network

Jane Fonda

Writer, Actor

Rev. John C. Forney

Progressive Christians Uniting

Aviva Futorian

Long Term Prisoner Policy Project

Christine George

Researcher and Unversity Teacher

António Geraldo Dias

INDEG/ISCTE

The Rev. John-Mark Gilhousen

Progressive Democrats of Oregon

Todd Gitlin

Columbia University

Danny Goldberg

Gold Village Entertainment

Jorge Gonzalez

Cuba Journal

Thomas Good

Next Left Notes, Editor

Van Gosse

Franklin & Marshall College

Ellen Gurzinsky

Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues

Paul Haggis

Producer

Nancy Hall

City Life/ Vida Urban

David Hamilton

MDS, Austin Texas

Lionel Heredia

Freedom Media

Jim Hightower

Radio Commentator

Adam Hochschild

Author, 'Breaking the Chains'

Sharron Howard

Lafayette Area Peace Coalition

George Hunsinger

Princeton Theological Seminary

David Jacobs

Americans for Democratic Action

Steven Jacobs

Rabbi, Progressive Faith Foundation

Harold Jacobs

SUNY New Paltz

Michael James

Heartland Cafe, 49th Ward Democrats

Zenobia Johnson-Black

Nat'l Org of African-Americans in Housing

Earl Katz

Public Interest Pictures

Marilyn Katz

Founder, Chicagoans Against War on Iraq

Stephen R. Keister M.D.

Physicians for National Health Care

Georgia Kelly

Praxis Peace Institute

Robin D.G. Kelly

Historian

Anne Lowry Klonsky

Education Writer, Chicago

Fred Klonsky

President, Park Ridge Education Association, IEA, NEA

Susan Klonsky

Education Writer

Michael Larkin

South Kingstown Peace and Justice Action Group

William Mandel

Journalist and Activist

Amy Manuel

Denton for Barack

Eric Mar

SF Board of Education

Jay Mazur

Working Families Party

John McAuliff

Fund for Reconciliation and Development

Joe Moore

49th Ward Alderman, Chicago

Ruth Needleman

Labor Studies, University of Indiana

Max Palevsky

Philanthropist

Robert Pardun

Writer & Producer

Patricia Paredes

Texas Campus Compact

Frances Fox Piven

Author, 'Poor Peoples Movements,' CUNY

Matilda Phillips

Progressive Democrats North Carolina

Brian Redondo

Asia-American Activist

Christine R Riddiough

Americans for Democratic Action

Constancia Dinky Romilly, RN

Civil Rights Activist

Mark Rudd

Writer, Organizer

Jay Schaffner

Local 802 American Federation of Musicians

Stanley & Betty Sheinbaum

Publisher

Jennifer Amdur Spitz

Amdur Spitz & Associates

Don St.Clair

GreenDemocraticAlliance.org

Andy Stern

President, SEIU

William Strickland

UMass, Amherst

Dan Swinney

Center for Labor and Community Research

Harry Targ

CC-DS, Purdue University

Jonathan Tasini

National Writers Union

John Trinkl

San Francsico for Democracy

Flo A Weber

Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles

Immanuel Wallerstein

Yale University

Paula Weinstein

Producer

Cornel West

Author, 'Race Matters'

Mildred Williamson

CC-DS

Betty Willhoite

Living Wage Advocate

John K Wilson

Obamapolitics.com

Tim Wise

Author, Anti-Racism Educator

Add Professor Zune to this list.



Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/





-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008

To: amaki000@centurytel.net

Subject:

Is Obama Screwing His Base with Rahm Emanuel Selection?

By Stephen Zunes, AlterNet.


November 7, 2008.


http://www.alternet.org/election08/106189/is_obama_screwing_his_base_with_ra
hm_emanuel_selection/?page=entire



Conservative Clinton vet Rahm Emanuel is Obama's chief of staff -- it's not
a good sign for progressives.

I had really wanted to celebrate Barack Obama's remarkable victory for a day
or so before becoming cynical again. I really did.

And yet, less than 24 hours after the first polls closed, the
president-elect chose as his chief of staff -- perhaps the most powerful
single position in any administration -- Rahm Emanuel, one of the most
conservative Democratic members of Congress.

The chief of staff essentially acts as the president's gatekeeper,
determining with whom he has access for advice and analysis. Obama is known
as a good listener who has been open to hearing from and considering the
perspectives of those on the Left as well as those with a more centrist to
conservative perspective. How much access he will actually have as president
to more progressive voices, however, is now seriously in question.

Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel is a member of the so-called New Democrat
Coalition (NDC), of group of center-right pro-business Congressional
Democrats affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Conference, which is
dedicated to moving the Democratic Party away from its more liberal and
progressive base. Numbering only 58 members out of 236 Democrats in the
current House of Representatives, the NDC has worked closely with its
Republican colleagues in pushing through and passing such legislation as
those providing President Bush with "fast-track" trade authority in order to
bypass efforts by labor, environmentalists and other public interest groups
to promote fairer trade policy.

Emanuel began his political career as a senior adviser and chief fundraiser
for the successful 1989 Chicago mayoral campaign of Richard M. Daley to
seize back City Hall from reformists who had challenged the corrupt
political machine of this father, Richard J. Daley. Emanuel later became a
senior adviser to Bill Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998, serving
as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor
to the President for Policy and Strategy, and was credited with playing a
major role in shifting the Clinton administration's foreign and domestic
policy agenda to the right. Emanuel was the single most important official
involved in pushing through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
the bill ending Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and
Clinton's draconian crime bill, among other legislation.

Leaving the administration in 1998, Emanuel worked as an investment banker
in Chicago, where he amassed an $18 million fortune in less than three years
prior to being elected to Congress.

As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 2004,
Emanuel has promoted pro-war and pro-business center-right candidates
against anti-war and pro-labor candidates in the primaries, pouring millions
of dollars of donations from Democrats across the country into the campaigns
of his favored conservative minions to defeat more progressive challengers.

Emanuel was a major supporter of the Iraq War resolution that authorized the
invasion of Iraq. Indeed, he was the only one of nine Democratic members of
Congress from Illinois who backed granting Bush this unprecedented authority
to invade a country on the far side of the world that was no threat to the
United States at the time. Even more disturbingly, when asked by Tim Russert
on "Meet the Press" whether he would have voted to authorize the invasion
"knowing that there are no weapons of mass destruction," Emanuel answered
that he indeed would have done so, effectively acknowledging that his
support for the war was not about national security, but about oil and
empire. Not surprisingly, he has also voted with the Republicans in support
of unconditional funding to continue the Iraq War and has consistently
opposed efforts by other Democrats to set a timetable for the withdrawal of
U.S. occupation forces from that country and related Congressional efforts
to end the war.

At a time of record budget deficits, Emanuel has been a passionate supporter
of increased spending for the Pentagon and has resisted efforts by fellow
Democrats to trim excesses in the Bush administration's bloated military
budget. For example, he has repeatedly voted against amendments to cut
funding for Bush's dangerously destabilizing missile defense and even voted
against an amendment to identify unnecessary Pentagon spending by examining
the need, relevance and cost of Cold War weapons systems designed to fight
the former Soviet Union.

A major hawk regarding Iran, Emanuel has also voted against Democratic
efforts to prevent the Bush administration from launching military action
against that country and has joined the administration in exaggerated claims
about Iran's alleged nuclear threat. He is not opposed to nuclear
proliferation if it involves U.S. allies, however. Emanuel has consistently
voted against a series of Democratic amendments that would have strengthened
safeguards in the Bush administration's nuclear cooperation agreement with
India to prevent U.S. assistance from supporting India's nuclear weapons
program.

Emanuel is also a prominent hawk regarding Israel, attacking the Bush
administration from the right for criticizing Israel's assassination
policies and other human rights abuses. He was also a prominent supporter of
Israel's 2006 attacks on Lebanon, even challenging the credibility of
Amnesty International and other human rights groups that reported Israeli
violations of international humanitarian law. Emanuel's father had emigrated
from Israel in the 1950s, where he had been a member of the terrorist group
Irgun, which had been responsible for a series of terrorist attacks against
Palestinian and British civilians in mandatory Palestine during the 1940s.
Emanuel himself served in a civilian capacity as a volunteer for the Israeli
army in the early 1990s.

It is unclear how serious of a blow Obama's selection of Emanuel is to those
who hoped that Obama might actually steer the country in a more progressive
direction. It's easy to see it as nothing less than a slap in the face of
the progressive anti-war elements of the party to whom Obama owes his
election, particularly following his selection of Sen. Joe Biden as vice
president. (See my articles "Biden's Foreign Policy 'Experience'" and
"Biden, Iraq, and Obama's Betrayal.")

However, this does not necessarily mean that Obama as president will pursue
nothing better than a Clintonesque center-right agenda. Someone with Obama's
intelligence, knowledge and leadership qualities need not be unduly
restricted by the influence of his chief of staff as less able presidents
have. At the same time, this shocking appointment of Emanuel is illustrative
of the need for the progressive base that brought him to power to not
celebrate too long and to refocus our energies into pushing hard to ensure
that the change Obama promised is something we really can believe in.

Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies
at the University of San Francisco and serves as a senior policy analyst for
Foreign Policy in Focus.

The Flim-Flam Man and his Economic Advisory Board

Does this look like progressives and working people have a voice at the table?

David Bonior is being touted as a progressive voice for labor. Bonior is a gutless, worthless liberal who will suck up to anyone for a little prestige and a job. He sits on this Advisory Council with Hollywood wan-na-be turned politician and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has sat on her butt watching the Big Three destroy jobs and demolish perfectly good plants as they moved their operations overseas investing the wealth created by American workers in building huge, new, state-of-the-art auto plants in Brazil, China, South Korea and Thailand. In Michigan unemployment soars as people are being foreclosed on and evicted from their homes.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm lost no time in signing on to another casino "Compact" that will force another two-thousand workers to take jobs in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws.

With the recent announcement by General Motors that the huge GM Stamping Plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan will be closing, tossing over one-thousand auto workers out into the streets, David Bonior has suggested that Governor Granholm should use tax-dollars training these auto workers for jobs in the new Gun Lake Casino which will be managed by the Fertitta boys and skimmed by the Kansas City Mob.

By the time these "economic advisers" are done with their work, the United States should be well on its way to joining the ranks of the most impoverished nations on earth. The Wall Street coupon clippers will rake in the profits; the working class will get poverty and the problems.

With shit-bag Antonio Villaraigosa on this Transition Economic Advisory Board we might at least be getting a look at another future President of the United States. If I recall properly, Antonio Villaraigosa was involved in some payments on behalf of another dirt bag who was in prison but got off after some money traded hands which ended up with Hillary Clinton's brother before Bill Clinton pardoned him instead of framed-up Native American leader Leonard Peltier. A drug pusher goes free; a freedom fighter rots in prison. What Antonio Villaraigosa brings to this Transition Economic Advisory Board is a very keen ability to separate "juice" from "dead meat." Antonio Villaraigosa has been a big booster of Indian Gaming so he and Jennifer Granholm should have a lot in common as the great advocate for labor, David Bonior squirms wondering if anyone is going to wonder if anyone is going to ask him about the effects of second-hand smoke on more than two-million casino workers in this country employed at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws.

Actually, I'm surprised David Bonior doesn't have the same disdain for Antonio Villaraigosa as he does for John Edwards... must be with John Edwards, Bonior couldn't get close enough to cow-tow to a President, which has been his life-long ambition.

The Transition Economic Advisory Board will help guide the work of the
Obama-Biden transition team in developing a strong set of policies to
respond to the economic crisis. The Board includes:


· David Bonior (Member House of Representatives 1977-2003)


· Warren Buffett (Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)-will
participate via speakerphone


· Roel Campos (former SEC Commissioner)


· William Daley (Chairman of the Midwest, JP Morgan Chase; Former
Secretary, U.S. Dept of Commerce, 1997-2000)


· William Donaldson (Former Chairman of the SEC 2003-2005)


· Roger Ferguson (President and CEO, TIAA-CREF and former Vice
Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve)


· Jennifer Granholm (Governor, State of Michigan)


· Anne Mulcahy (Chairman and CEO, Xerox)


· Richard Parsons (Chairman of the Board, Time Warner)


· Penny Pritzker (CEO, Classic Residence by Hyatt)


· Robert Reich (University of California, Berkeley; Former Secretary,
U.S. Dept of Labor, 1993-1997)


· Robert Rubin (Chairman and Director of the Executive Committee,
Citigroup; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1995-1999)


· Eric Schmidt (Chairman and CEO, Google)


· Lawrence Summers (Harvard University; Managing Director, D.E. Shaw;
Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1999-2001)


· Laura Tyson (Haas School of Business, University of California,
Berkeley; Former Chairman, National Economic Council, 1995-1996; Former
Chairman, President's Council of Economic Advisors, 1993-1995)


· Antonio Villaraigosa (Mayor, City of Los Angeles)


· Paul Volcker (Former Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve 1979-1987)

Flim-Flam Man Elected President

Barack Obama, the greatest Flim-Flam man in the history of the world--- a creation and creature of Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Hollywood, corporate lobbyists, the American Medical Association & the insurance industry together with the power generating industry and the lucrative gaming industry--- has been elected to the Presidency of the United States in a "contest" where his "opponent" was a ringer thrown into the race to make Obama look good.

Barack Obama was the hand-picked and chosen candidate of military-financial-industrial complex.

When Barack Obama speaks of people having to make a "common sacrifice," these are code-words for squeezing and squishing the working class.

Wall Street, the bankers and the oil companies profit and the working class gets stuck with the problems.

The working class is going to pay a terrible price for Barack Obama's victory.

The Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council participated in the 2008 Election by trying to warn the working class what to expect from an Obama Administration while campaigning against two candidates: Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken and State Representative Shelley Madore--- two opponents of the rights of casino workers, two opponents of single-payer universal health care, two candidates who refused to support the repeal of "at-will hiring, at-will firing."


The Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council has found that if we seek out close races where the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party is investing a lot of time and money, that with some talking to people and armed with leaflets in conjunction with effectively using the Internet, e-mail and blogs we can cost the Democrats important elections in retaliation for our problems not being resolved.

We firmly believe working people must pursue through politics what can not be won at the bargaining table and through other means and the Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council will continue its creative approach in struggling for the rights of casino workers while advancing an agenda promoting the unity of the working class around solving our common problems.

We consider our tactics to have been successful--- the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and its candidates United States Senate candidate Al Franken and incumbent State Representative Shelley Madore (37-A) might want to keep in mind that Minnesota has thirty-thousand casino workers who are not happy about having to go to work in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws as the leaders of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party chooses to befriend the crooked and corrupt owners and managers of the Indian Gaming Industry like Melanie Benjamin who we have seen to it that she has received her just rewards just like Al Franken and Shelley Madore.


The Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council will continue the struggle for the rights of casino workers while advancing an agenda speaking to the needs of the working class for:

* the rights of casino workers to be employed in safe, healthy, smoke-free workplaces with the full rights of all other workers under state and federal labor laws at real living wages--- including the full rights to organize because a union contract is better than any government welfare program;

* an end to these dirty imperialist wars for oil, the dope trade and regional domination--- we want all troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan now, no wars in Iran, Syria or Pakistan;

* single-payer universal health care as the first step towards socialized health care:

* the repeal of "at-will hiring, at-will firing" while supporting legislation and for "card check," the Employee Free Choice Act;

* a minimum wage that is a real living wage legislatively tied to, and based upon, real cost of living factors as calculated and determined by the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics;

* a moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions--- we support the organization of unemployed councils and committees in defense of homeowners to militantly fight foreclosures and evictions;

* bailing out the working class instead of Wall Street Bankers;

* a free quality public education through college and university for all;

* full implementation of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

* a speedy implementation of the Millennium Statement for the Elimination of Poverty in our world and with-in the time frame agreed to by the leaders of the world.

The time has come for real change; this change will require united working class action.

We are firmly convinced that the Democratic Party is a dead-end street and a trap for working people; a new working class political party along the lines of Canada's New Democratic Party is called for here in the United States if working people are to advance.

In the mean time... working people must come together in militant, united struggle to push the Obama Administration and the United States Congress along with state and local governments for the real changes required. To these ends, the Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council is willing and prepared to work with all people sharing these common goals and objectives.

Once again, the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party has paid a huge price by ignoring the plight of casino workers. Millions of dollars spent; tens of thousands of volunteer hours wasted simply because the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party continues its anti-labor agenda and its attacks on casino workers.

This Election has been a rejection of George Bush and the Republican Party... we do not yet have a rejection of the neo-liberal Wall Street agenda with an anti-monopoly progressive agenda... we have a huge struggle and much work before us.

We hope Al Franken and his uncaring middle-class backers are full of smiles and jokes this morning.

Education. Organization. Unity. Action.

Yours in the struggle,

Maggie Bird
President,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

Ted Nugent... right-wing, racist rocker supports John McCain

Traveling through the Midwest, listening to the radio, I have been hearing Ted Nugent, the fascist, right-wing, racist hate-monger and "rocker" spouting his profanities against people of color and poor people as he campaigns for Republican candidates--- he just loves Sarah Palin.

I thought it was just me who found his comments so offensive; but, apparently, Ted Nugent isn't very welcome in Canada either.

It seems one concert goer in Winnipeg some years back actually complained to police that Nugent's spewing of hate constituted a "hate crime."

Here is what he wrote:

HATE SPEECH OK, BUT NO DANCING?


By James Hogaboam, Winnipeg


(This article is from the August 1-31/2000 issue of People's Voice)


IT HASN'T BEEN too hot a summer in Winnipeg this year, but you'd think someone's brain was melted following police reactions to two separate concerts on the July 15 weekend.

On Saturday, a group of young people staged a guerilla concert at the outdoor Royal Bank stage at the Forks. Between 150 and 250 people attended the free concert that began around 2 pm. Surprisingly, police allowed the concert to continue until 9 pm after speaking with organizers. City police asked the concert to end at that time due to noise concerns of local residents. The organizers complied.

However, a number of people continued to dance and mingle on the ground around the stage, which is on national park land. Police arrested eight people for trespassing. These arrests weren't so strange. However, what occurred the next night constitutes a threat to public safety.

At the Winnipeg arena on Sunday was the "farewell concert" of the rock group KISS. The second opening act for KISS was right-wing southern rocker Ted Nugent. His '70s/'80s heavy metal music is traditional "sex, drugs and rock-n-roll" in its content.

Nugent likes to express his right-wing views during rants between his songs. Of course he ranted about gun laws, animal rights people, taxes and government, even encouraging his fans to join the Canadian Alliance. However, he decided to express his racist views as well, telling the crowd of 15-20,000 that "if you don't know how to speak f...ing English, you don't believe in Canada."

I spoke to several police officers inside the arena, asking them to press charges against Nugent on grounds of hate propaganda and racism. However, even though a few officers agreed that Nugent's comments were racist, they were not going to press charges.

Unfortunately, the officers were indeed following the law by doing nothing. On Tuesday, I was able to speak to Norm Tchir of the Winnipeg Police hate crimes division. Tchir explained that even though Nugent's comments may offend someone, they do not meet the requirements of a hate crime, because he did not mention a specific group, nor did he encourage the audience to do anything to non-English speaking people.

Is it just me or is someone spending too much time in the sun? It's against the law to dance and mingle on public park land, but it's OK to make racist comments in front of 20,000 people, some of them children of aging KISS fans?

We must toughen up the Criminal Code in relation to hate crimes. I suggest that we contact our MPs and local politicians, and labour organizations, and make sure that Nugent or any other performer who makes racist comments in public find themselves holding their after-performance party behind bars.

Oscar Lathlin... human rights leader dies in Manitoba

Oscar Lathlin (died this morning--- November 2, 2008). Oscar was a great humanist and humanitarian and member of the New Democratic Party's majority government in Manitoba, serving as the Minister of Northern Affairs at the time of his death.

Oscar did not just talk about "hope;" his life was all about making the hopes of people for a better life become reality.

Oscar did not just talk about "change;" every day of his life was spent trying to create change that made the lives of people better, sometimes in small ways, but ways important to the person or family or community experiencing a problem; other times, the change was of monumental importance for Aboriginal people and the entire working class... Oscar Lathlin was a driving force and powerhouse in bringing the New Democratic Party to power in Manitoba, establishing a government friendly and attentive to the needs of the racially oppressed and the exploited working class... no small feat and accomplishment given the thoroughly corrupt and rotten governments most people in North America are forced to contend with in the name of "democracy."

Oscar Lathlin understood, fully, that without unity of all peoples, no people would get the kind of change they want and need.

Oscar Lathlin was a former Cree Chief and strong, tireless advocate for the Cree people.

It is ironic that when missing some days in the workings of Manitoba government--- due to illness--- the conservatives chose to viciously attack Oscar Lathlin for not being present, even though one day spent by Oscar Lathlin attending to the people's business amounted to more than these conservatives have ever done; in fact, often Oscar's very long days working were usually spent undoing some aspect of harm that these conservatives did to Aboriginal people and all working people while these conservative hypocrites were in power.

Oscar Lathlin helped bring quality health care to remote Northern Communities in Manitoba which had previously been "overlooked" by racist federal governments; he was a staunch supporter of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Board which has helped to create decent livelihoods for many Aboriginal people for whom fishing is a major part of their lives and source of their livelihoods while defending the rights of Aboriginal trappers, hunters and gatherers.

Oscar helped our family considerably when we were facing deportation from Canada; an unselfish act of humanism and friendship we will never forget.

No matter how busy Oscar was he would make time to help anyone coming to him with a problem; often he would assist people when they never even asked if he thought he could help them... this was the kind and caring person he was.

Oscar Lathlin was a problem solver at a time when many politicians do nothing but create problems and misery for people of color and working people.

The one thing Oscar Lathlin was intolerant of was: injustice.

Oscar Lathlin would provide support to any struggle intended to make life better for Aboriginal people and all working people. Whether it be the struggle to end racism and for full equality, for good housing & quality health care & quality education, safe drinking water supplies, creating jobs with good living wages while protecting the right of workers to be employed in safe and healthy work environments, and defending the environment... Oscar Lathlin was always there and ready to help and assist people in any way he could... and, Oscar pushed government hard to respond to providing what people required to live decent and meaningful lives. Oscar Lathlin believed that government existed for the primary purpose of making life better for people.

Oscar's entire life was one of dedication to making life better for all people by making the world a kinder, more respectful and decent place for everyone to live.

A truly great human being and caring politician has died; all people struggling to make the world a better place to live will miss Oscar Lathlin.

The world is a better place for all of us to live in because Oscar Lathlin struggled with us to make the world a better place to live.

Oscar Lathlin, a common man with uncommon concern for humankind, and the courage to struggle to make the world a better place to live.

We will never forget Oscar Lathlin's caring, concern and friendship when others, with a perverted sense of what they thought government was for--- repressing ideas--- were trying to inflict harm on our family.

For anyone looking for the true meaning of what it means to be "progressive," look at the life lived by Oscar Lathlin.

We join with people struggling for justice and human dignity, indigenous people's rights, worker's rights and human rights all over the world in joining with Manitobans in mourning the passing of Oscar Lathlin.

The world has lost a great humanist and humanitarian.

Oscar Lathlin will live through us and our struggles for honest government which grows out of the peoples' struggles for a better life.


Alan L. Maki

Jeremy A. Maki

Carrie L. (Maki) Johnston



Manitoba cabinet minister, Oscar Lathlin, dies

Updated Sun. Nov. 2 2008 3:52 PM ET

The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG -- Manitoba aboriginal affairs minister Oscar Lathlin has died, provincial officials have confirmed.

Premier Gary Doer's press secretary says Lathlin, who was 61, died Sunday morning.

Details and the cause of death were not immediately known.

Lathlin was a long-serving member of Doer's government who was first elected to the Manitoba legislature as an New Democrat in 1990.

A veteran with years of experience running aboriginal band councils, Lathlin represented the riding of The Pas, the town where he was born on the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in 1947.

He has also served on various committees of the Assembly of First Nations and as a consultant to the federal government.

The cabinet table was a long way from Lathlin's humble beginnings. He served as the man of the house at age 12 when his father died, Chomiak said. He worked trap lines near The Pas, pursued a university degree and landed a job with the federal government.

Later, he became chief of The Pas, working to improve the local school and create new jobs.

Manitoba cabinet minister, Oscar Lathlin, dies

Updated Sun. Nov. 2 2008 7:09 PM ET

The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG -- For a politician, Oscar Lathlin was unusually quiet.

The cabinet minister and longtime member of the Manitoba legislature, who died suddenly Sunday morning at the age of 61, cared little for glad-handing, speeches or scrums, preferring instead to work quietly to improve the lives of people in the north.

"Anything that had to do with First Nation education or northern education, Oscar was a champion of," Attorney General Dave Chomiak said Sunday.

"It was his belief that education and economic development were absolutely pivotal to the north, and that's something he never gave up on."

Federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, in a written statement, called Lathlin "a true visionary" and a valued partner.

The cause of death was not immediately available. Lathlin had a history of respiratory trouble, although he never complained and was loathe to talk about himself.

"In cabinet, he didn't talk that often, but when he did talk, everyone listened," Chomiak said.

"He was the last person to talk about what he was doing ... he said he would do it and it got done."

The cabinet table was a long way from Lathlin's humble beginnings. He served as the man of the house at age 12 when his father died, Chomiak said. He worked trap lines near The Pas, pursued a university degree and landed a job with the federal government.

Later, he became chief of The Pas, working to improve the local school and create new jobs.

Lathlin was elected to the legislature in 1990 as a member of the NDP opposition. When the NDP took power nine years later, he was named minister of conservation, switching in 2002 to minister responsible for aboriginal affairs.

The portfolio would give Lathlin more power to develop opportunities in the north.

Among his proudest achievements was the University College of The North, which brought post-secondary learning to 12 far-flung communities.

He also established the First Peoples Economic Growth Fund along with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs -- a $20-million dollar pool of money aimed at helping aboriginal businesses start up or expand.

Throughout his career, and despite his health problems, Lathlin would return as often as possible to The Pas, driving seven hours on many weekends from Winnipeg over bumpy rural roads.

"He put more mileage on more vehicles than almost anyone I know," Chomiak said.

"He achieved a lot without having to talk about it."

Don't vote out of fear...

Talk by Alan Maki in Duluth, Minnesota; September 18, 2008 as part of a forum:



“Which way for labor in the 2008 Elections.”



Which way for labor in the 2008 Elections… this is our topic. I have heard comments here that Obama and the Democrats are going to fix this and fix that. I say this in a friendly manner, not to mock or make fun of any one; but, please, spare me--- spare us; capitalism is on the skids to oblivion and Barack Obama is not going to do a damn thing for the working class. My concern is not if Obama will throw a bone here or there to whoever gives him the biggest campaign contributions… and with unions spending over 70 million dollars--- not even counting all the woman/man hours being volunteered on his campaign; what we need to be looking at is solutions to problems which will address the concerns of the entire working class. What are such issues?



At the top of my list is peace; we cannot have guns and bombs and health care and child care; single-payer universal health care or socialized health care--- in my opinion we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about socialized health care… we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about socialism for that matter; another working class issue is card check or the Employee Free Choice Act--- however, this Act will mean absolutely nothing for workers in 28 states where the reactionary “at-will hiring, at-will firing” legislation is in place--- including here in Minnesota and even the big industrial state of Michigan… it has been Democrats who refuse to rescind this most repressive , anti-worker legislation--- David Bonior, the great defender of the rights of working people along with John Edwards and Obama have not uttered a peep in opposition to this legislation even as they tout the Employee Free Choice Act… complete hypocrites; we need to be talking about this mortgage question and student debts… these are very important working class issues and in my opinion the solution is the government stepping in and forgiving these debts or at least making student debts payable at 50 cents on the dollar with a token interest of 2 to 3 percent which would be seed money for a federal bank similar to the State Bank of North Dakota. Perhaps the most important issue, working class issue, along with peace and socialized health care is raising the minimum wage to a real living wage--- the time has come to stop pulling figures from a hat at election time… there is only one way to once and for all resolve this issue in a way that begins to pry wealth from the corporations and business, and this is to legislatively tie the minimum wage to the cost of living factors as calculated by the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics… anything short of this is unfair to the working class and leads to the continued impoverishment of the working class… our goal is to advance in improving the standard of living for all working people--- organized labor cannot afford this “club” of impoverished workers to be held over its head by business and the bosses… it is shameful and disgraceful the way organized labor’s “leaders” have continued with this nickel and dime and quarters here and there crap… in fact, what right does a Methodist preacher like John Sweeney have to be speaking on this minimum wage issue at all when many of the present union contracts are little better than poverty wages and he has the gall to take the money from worker’s paychecks for union dues… he does not do an adequate job representing those workers he is being paid to represent, much less represent workers who he has never even consulted with. Yes, he consults with the poverty pimps of all these organizations whose directors and staffs make their living as a result of the disgraceful poverty in this country… but, Sweeney has never consulted with the workers being paid this miserly poverty minimum wage which the employers use to drag down the living standards of the entire working class. Once and for all we need to be clear on this issue… if a job needs to be done, that job should pay the worker doing the job a real living wage… if the employer does not want to pay real living wages then let that employer do the job himself.



My intent in coming here tonight is not to talk about demands that we need to make on Obama so much… suffice it to say that we will get no more from an Obama Administration than what we have received from George Bush… shit. Maybe even less if I read right where this rotten capitalist system is headed… as many of you know, for months now I have been saying that capitalism is on the skids to oblivion, but this is a matter for discussion for another time.



What I have not heard from Obama or anyone on his “team” is how any of the fixes will be made for the problems he has articulated so eloquently. It is very dishonest to lead people to believe that their problems are likely to be solved because their problems are now being mentioned after eight years of Democrats acquiescing and giving Bush everything he wanted… especially if the only reason for talking about the problems is to get you to give up your valuable vote with no intent to solve your problems. Usually they call this fraud. Previously we were led to believe that Obama is a “progressive.” We now know nothing could be further from the truth.



Your vote is very important… or so they say--- even if there is the tendency not to want to count votes in this country. However, this is neither here nor there, it is a sad commentary that in a country where politicians and the capitalist sooth-sayers boast to the world that this is the world’s greatest democracy we now have to have people watching closely to make sure our votes get counted.



But, beyond making sure your vote gets counted there is an even more fundamental issue involved which no one seems to want to talk about… and this is accountability… or, more precisely, getting something of substance from these politicians in return for your vote. Why should we march off to the polls like a bunch of cows being called in from the pasture every election day without getting a single thing in return for our votes?



As working people, we haven’t received a goddamn thing for our votes for well over sixty years in this country. The politicians--- of both political parties--- all owned by our bosses have quite literally been shitting all over us. Rita has a beautiful graphic of this on her blog, it is titled “Minnesota Outhouse” I believe… it is a two story out house--- politicians use the upper story, the people use the ground floor… I think you get my point.



If I am distorting this in any way… please set me straight right now before I make a fool of myself and go any further.



Anyone can run down a list of our problems… from unemployment to the robbery at the pumps to a war for oil in Iraq to home foreclosures and food prices soaring out of control… to poverty wages... to college tuitions soaring skyward as fast as the price of gas at the pumps. And I will give you this, it is better to have a bunch of charlatans at least mentioning our problems rather than a bunch of arrogant crooks pretending these problems don’t exist as capitalism is on the skids to oblivion.



Obama says he is for ending poverty. I would say the same thing and so would you if you were running for president... it sounds good; but, like me, I would be willing to venture a guess that each and everyone of you would feel obligated to tell people you expect votes from how you intended to help them solve their problems and what actions you intend to take to eliminate this scourge of poverty. Do you know anyone running for public office, especially the charlatans passing themselves off as politicians for the presidency, who would actually say, “I don’t care about poverty?” The question is not whether one acknowledges the existence of poverty; the question is what do you do to eliminate poverty? How do you end poverty when tens of millions of working people are being paid poverty wages? Correct me if I am wrong, but you either provide social programs to overcome the problems associated with this poverty; or, you pay people real living wages... common sense dictates we will have to do both. I have heard no suggestions from Barack Obama he intends to do either.



What organized labor has not been able to accomplish at the bargaining table, we have a right, and an obligation, to fight for in the state house and in the halls of congress.



We need legislation to solve the problem of poverty… poverty is a class issue in our country… poverty is a working class issue and we should be concerned with rising the entire working class out of poverty because any worker living in poverty drags the standard of living for the rest of us down--- if you don’t believe me you go home and think about this. This idea that there will be opposition to resolving this problem other than in some “incremental” way is foolish. Do you know any banker who will take “incremental” payments on a mortgage if you can’t afford the agreed payment? Go to the SuperValu grocery store down the street here… when you get done checking out, you tell the cashier, “I’ll be paying this in ‘increments’; see you next week.”



We need a working class solution to ending poverty in this country… this means legislatively establishing a federal minimum wage that is a real living wage based upon real cost of living factors as calculated by the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics. To the extent that social programs are used to create single-payer universal health care, rolling back college tuitions or making education, including all higher education free as it should be, the minimum wage can be reduced. Get the government to bring the energy industries under public ownership and reduce the cost of home heating fuels and the minimum wage can be reduced, further. I hope you see what I am trying to do here; I am trying desperately to find ways to help these poor business people from having to pay a higher minimum wage. There is no reason why any worker should be doing any job which needs to be done and not be paid a real living wage for doing that job. If an employer disagrees with this, let that employer do the job himself or pay our heating bills and educational expenses, the rent, health care costs, etc.



We need to look at the health care issue in the same way. These politicians who talk about how we need to “be patient and let the political process work” will never take care of this health care mess. Look, we all know what we really need is socialized health care. We indicated we would settle for a reform--- single-payer universal health care; the politicians smelled blood, they saw weakness… they moved quickly to try to derail our single-payer movement. Our response should be to insist that we will settle for nothing less than socialized health care. People before profits. Health care, not warfare.



How will these problems be resolved… this is the real question. We have yet to hear the solutions to these very specific problems from Barack Obama or any other Democrat running for public office. If any of you know of one single politician putting forward solutions to any problems, I challenge you to prove me wrong right now.



Does anyone really expect the workers I represent--- casino workers--- to make the trip to the polls and vote for Obama? What will they get for their vote if they do vote for Obama? I can appreciate anyone who votes for candidates that have delivered for them, or candidates who might deliver for them in some way, even a very small way, which is always welcome. However, this “I got mine, FU” attitude has to end. An injury to one is an injury to all has to be the mantra of all working people. People should vote for candidates who help them… but, in the same manner, no one should expect casino workers to vote for politicians who do not help them… in fact, we are talking about politicians who have hurt us, Barack Obama is one… and knowingly continue to hurt us… this is an issue of basic human rights, it is an issue of social and economic justice involving the intentional denial of the most basic and fundamental rights to working people.



Here is the situation of thirty thousand Minnesotans and two-million casino workers employed in the Indian gaming industry across the country find themselves in…



Casino workers are employed in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages and have no rights--- none, zilch--- no rights under state or federal labor laws. Casino workers go to their jobs every day in these smoke-filled casinos, completely at the mercy of a bunch of violent and vicious mobsters who operate and manage these casinos including the casino right here in Duluth. If you think I exaggerate who casino workers are employed by… you go home and google up Frank Fertitta and Station Casinos. These casino managements are the worst kind of sleazeballs and scumballs imaginable. You go home and google up the name Frank Fertitta… and I guarantee you, if you knew this man walked by your child’s school-yard everyday you would live in fear. The Democrats take Fertitta’s money. Over five-thousand casino workers are employed by Mystic Lake Casino… check out what kind of sleaze-ball Stanley Crooks is. His name fits him well.



I really don’t want to see McCain elected… but, I hope you understand why casino workers are not thrilled about being asked to vote for Obama, who has only made two promises to any of you which we can depend on him to keep: Increasing military spending, getting us into at least one more war in Pakistan and expanding a very vicious and deadly war in Afghanistan where the losers are beheaded and the victors display the heads of the losers on flag poles--- this should be a sight for the American people to behold; and continuing this dirty war for oil and regional domination in Iraq… the other promise Obama has made is to re-introduce American youth to a new wave of militarization where, “if we” are at war, everyone will serve--- which means American youth will again become acquainted with the draft… this should be an interesting experience for America, too... my prediction is that we will soon see the thousands of the youth now packing football stadiums and arenas to cheer Obama on… these same youth will be rioting in the streets and burning Obama in effigy as soon as the first draft cards are mailed out.



Where does that leave us on the issues you have spoken about, upon which the Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council and our organizing committees have been very vocal on… more vocal, I would remind you than any of the “leaders” of your unions--- the reason I was probably invited here to speak tonight instead of Ray Waldron the President of the Minnesota AFL-CIO is because we have been a clear outspoken voice for single-payer universal health care; “card check” which includes putting an end the biggest obstacle we all have to union organizing--- at-will hiring, at will firing, an issue I have raised at every single state convention of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party as a delegate and as a member of the DFL State Central Committee, and in resolutions which have unanimously passed at the precinct caucus level in Roseau County; we have vigorously championed the struggle against racism and for full equality--- in the contracts we are mobilizing around, affirmative action for Native Americans is a model for the entire labor movement to emulate if there is a real desire to end racism which Richard Trumka, Jimmy Hoffa and Leo Gerard now find themselves very belatedly lamenting, as you will recall, I was the author of the resolution on single-payer universal health care, which was seconded at the DFL State Convention by our friend here from the USW and passed by 72%.--- and I hope you don’t take offense at me saying this, but this past spring you introduced a resolution at your precinct caucus calling for “affordable universal health insurance” which is not the same as single-payer universal health care; in a way, it is kind of funny, because I am probably being attacked by Democrats and Republicans across this state and in Michigan more than anyone else and I am not even running for anything… if the Democrats in Minnesota and Michigan spent as much time campaigning against John McCain as they do attacking me, there would be no question that John McCain would lose these two important states.



I don’t have time to talk about what is going on as far as trying to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant… let me just say we are hearing nothing from the politicians on this issue either… suffice it to say, jobs on the Iron Range will be lost if this plant is allowed to close… what tax-payers have financed and subsidized, tax-payers should own. I am on my way to a forum in St. Paul on this topic Monday evening… public ownership of the Ford Plant and hydro dam is being proposed as the fix.



Neither do I have time to talk about water issues and saving the Big Bog from peat mining.



I have just about used up my allotted time… you agreed to pay my gas for coming here this evening, I am wondering if I could buy a little extra time to say what is on my mind… if I were to contribute the gas money to you would I be able to continue…



Thank you. I will try to be brief in concluding. Ok, how about I just agree to conclude when I am done?



As a “red” Finn whose family hails from the Iron Range where it used to be understood that workers are workers and bosses are bosses, two classes who have absolutely nothing in common with the exception that one works for the other who gets rich off of their labor--- from the Iron Range today we hear the disgraceful perversions of the words “progressive” and “left” which insult the struggles of our grandparents and parents… some of you, your great-grand parents.



Many of you have heard about the ruckus at the old “Finn Hall,” Petrell Hall, not far from Two Harbors a couple weeks ago where I was told to take my opinions and “go back to Russia” because I supported the class struggle viewpoint of Gus Hall a viewpoint that used to be the hallmark of the Communist Party USA. I hope that video gets shown all over Duluth and Superior and the Iron Range because I have the right to speak my views. I stand on that right based upon the blood and sweat and struggles of my grandparents--- proud “red” Finns--- and my own struggles… including standing up in opposition to that dirty war in Vietnam while John McCain was delivering payloads of napalm and cluster bombs on the innocent people of Vietnam, to standing up for the rights of casino workers… no one is going to tell me to “go back to Russia” because I voice opinions counter to their own. I have never suggested that anyone should leave their country because of their political views… although I agree with Dennis Kucinich that Bush and Cheney should be behind bars… just like any other crooks… but, this has nothing to do with the right of Bush and Cheney to express their views it is about criminal wrong-doing.



Sisters and brothers, comrades and friends, I submit to you, unless working people stand up and say , “Enough,” the pathetic situation in politics we face today will continue to worsen right along side our standard of living which is being driven, down, down, down… I can only say to those of you in this room who think there is some kind of “salvation” to be found in Barack Obama… I ask you to explain what you base your assessment on… as all of you know, I am very open-minded, though class biased; it is up to you to convince me why I, or any casino worker, should vote for Barack Obama. I haven’t heard anything here tonight which would lead me to vote for Obama. As all of you know, I have been a very ardent supporter of Democrats who have a clear track record in defense of standing up for the rights of working people, even when this support has been based upon very minimal accomplishments and less than adequate promises… which most politicians have refused to try to make good on once elected.



I would not vote Republican unless Lincoln were to rise from the grave… and after eight long years of George Bush, I likely would be hesitant voting for Abe Lincoln if he were to present himself in this election as a Republican. On Labor Day I marched with America in opposition to the Republican Party in St. Paul. Yes, America marched against the Republican Party… it was a great demonstration.



I don’t share some of your fears of John McCain, even though I detest him and everything he stands for--- the guy, and this Neanderthal moron, his running mate--- are both a disgrace to the human race--- McCain is a warmonger and a war criminal who deserved everything the Vietnamese dished out to him for dropping napalm and cluster bombs on innocent working people and peasants tending to their rice paddies trying to survive--- just as we, as working people, are struggling against great odds trying to survive. McCain and his backers should be thanking the Vietnamese people for keeping him alive to run for president with Palin, an uncaring mother who encourages and sends own her son into a senseless oilman’s war because she supposedly communicates with God in strange tongues and God tells her that this war is for Him and not Cheney’s friends at Halliburton and Exxon/Mobil. First a small town in Texas lost its village idiot... now Alaska may lose one, too.



But, do you conduct your struggles through your unions out of “fear” of your bosses? No. Our struggles are waged on the basis of what is right and just… to improve our standard of living.



And our electoral struggles should be based upon the same struggles for peace and social and economic justice, with the same courage--- without fear.



If “fear” was to be our guide to action, the “red” Finns of the Iron Range would never have stood up to the mining bosses.



I can assure you, and I think you know, the “red” Finns of the Iron Range had more to fear from their bosses than we have to fear from John McCain and Sarah Palin.



Our struggles for a better life as trade unionists have never been based upon fear… ok, for some sixty years the bogey man of anti-communism struck fear into organized labor… but, take a look around you, look at your communities, look at the massive unemployment, look at this dirty war, look at how every stream, river and lake in this “land of ten-thousand lakes” has been contaminated to the point where pregnant women and nursing mothers are warned that consuming the fish from these waters which appear to be so beautiful and harmless, are nothing but reservoirs of death and sickness and deadly cancers as that arrogant plant manager at MinnTac tells a group of trout anglers about their concerns over United States Steel polluting the Dark River… “This is the land of Ten-Thousand Lakes… can’t you find someplace else to fish?”



We have paid a terrible price because gutless “leaders”--- who now counsel that we should consider our choice for president (and most other political offices) should be based upon fear. If I were to allow “fear” to dictate my course in life, I would never enter a casino managed by the likes of a vicious, violent mobster like Frank Fertitta talking union to casino workers.



I sure as hell won’t enter a voting booth, fearful of John McCain, while getting nothing in return for my vote--- the “vote,” which we are constantly reminded, every day, is the most precious aspect of democracy. But, what does your vote mean if you cast it out of fear and you get nothing for your vote as the corporations deliver their “votes” via lobbyists deployed with brown paper shopping bags filled with cash and get everything, and more, than what they ask for… at your expense.



Because we, as working people, still fear taking the leap to organizing a working class political party, we are paying through the nose at the gas pumps as millions go without health care because politicians like Barack Obama have no shame in standing before America saying he will increase the military budget when each and every worker in this room--- along with just about every one else in America understands the basic little truth brought forward over one-hundred and fifty years ago by Karl Marx, that every expenditure on military adventures and armaments is tantamount to taking your pay-check out of your wallet and tossing it into the ocean--- would anyone in this room walk out to the end of Canal Street and toss the contents of your billfold out into Lake Superior? What do you suppose would happen to you? The police would probably take you to the psych ward. Yet, this is what these politicians do with your hard earned money… Barack Obama has no shame in saying--- as people are homeless and hungry, without health care and can’t afford the cost of college--- that he intends to piss your money away by increasing the military budget and expanding these oil wars… no shame. Obama gets no sympathy or support from me.



The capitalist class feared Karl Marx, in fact, they still fear a man over one-hundred years dead… imagine, the John McCains of this world who we are told we should fear, are themselves afraid of a man who has been so long dead that his remains are most likely mere grains of sand like you have out on the beaches along Lake Superior here. Marx’ ideas so feared, that the mainstream media will not stop their attack. There is a lesson here for us. We need to make the McCains--- and Obamas--- of this world shake and tremble in fear of the working class, not the other way around.



I can assure you that Frank Fertitta will fear no one walking into one of his casino operations who fears John McCain. I can assure you, Cleveland Cliffs will have no fear of any man nor woman coming to work in a taconite plant who fears John McCain. I can assure you, United States Steel will laugh in the face of any union leader sitting at the bargaining table who displayed a fear of John McCain. On the other hand, working people will sit as equals at the bargaining table with these greedy, corporate monsters and pigs if working people were to say to Barack Obama, “You aren’t getting our votes unless you provide something in return.” If this were done, you might actually end up getting something other than poverty for your labor. At the negotiating table you threaten to with-hold your labor. At the polls, this is the way to bargain with the politicians, too, by with-holding your vote unless you get something in return that will improve your life.



Even though you may disagree with me as far as voting for Obama goes, maybe on some other things I have said here tonight we agree… I want you to know, I didn’t hire this guy in the green cap to start clapping for me all night; I hope we can continue to discuss these things as we continue to work together on issues concerning finding solutions to the problems of working people… issues which, I remind you, Barack Obama is not on our side, or, if he is, he certainly hasn’t said--- increasing military spending and re-introducing the military draft are not the kinds of things I think of when considering voting for any candidate for public office--- even when John McCain and Sarah Palin are waiting in the wings.



Let me just close with this:



Some have charged, like Bob Walls of the International Association of Machinists up in International Falls, that I am using the problems of casino workers to advance some kind of far out left ideas and my intent is to destroy the Democratic Party--- to Bob Walls and those with such backwards thinking, I say to them, “Solve the problems of casino workers, than I will not have this wide open forum for my ideas that I now do.” But, remember, it was within the last two years that Minnesota Democrats in the state legislature, initiated, and passed legislation, requiring all places of employment to be smoke-free--- except for this state’s casinos. The mutterings and musings of this muddle-headed racist bigot up in International Falls passing himself off as a “labor leader” who is as afraid of John McCain as he is of Boise Cascade management… goes right in one ear and out the other ear… just as his mutterings do with most Boise workers who are getting pretty damn fed up with his being afraid of management, and they are getting ready to rumble. If anyone doubts that Bob Walls is the racist bigot I maintain he is, I suggest that you contact Jody Beaulieu, the Red Lake Nation Archivist and Secretary of the Red Lake Nation Tribal Council, to whom I turned over the letter I received from Bob Walls, which makes the leaders of organized labor who “fear John McCain,” two faced hypocrites in saying they are opposed to racism--- they have turned in indifference to this racist letter; why is Bob Walls still the International Rep for the IAM some four years after writing such a racist, bigoted and biased letter to anyone? Can such a bigot represent all IAM members? It is almost enough for me to know that Bob Walls is supporting Barack Obama, for me to say I will not walk across the street to vote for Obama, but such bigots will never determine what I say or do when it comes to the struggles of working people for better lives.



As working people we need our own political Party along the lines of the old Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party which elected two socialist governors--- Floyd Olson and Elmer Benson, and John Bernard, that courageous member of the Communist Party from the small mining community, Eveleth, on the Iron Range; miners elected John Bernard to Congress because they knew they could rely on a Communist to fight like hell for them.



I expect that Barack Obama will not be receiving many votes from casino workers here in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan or Iowa… and, I can assure you, McCain will be lucky to receive ten votes from Minnesota’s thirty-thousand casino workers… we are voting in our way, according to our interests, by voting for neither.



With that said, Election Day is still a ways off… we could be convinced to change our minds if offered something of substance. I would be a fool to sit here and join the chorus of support for Barack Obama sweeping the country as more than two-million casino workers continue going to their jobs in smoke-filled casinos for which they receive poverty wages without one single right in the workplace under state or federal labor laws as Brian Melendez, the Chair of the Minnesota DFL stood before thousands of delegates and guests right here in Duluth and declared: “We stand in solidarity with our friends operating their casino businesses” while never uttering one single peep of concern for the thousands of Minnesotans employed in these hell holes, and Barack Obama takes campaign funds from the likes of Frank Fertitta… and the Minnesota DFL is receiving campaign contributions from these same casino managements.



By all rights, given the plethora of problems in our country today, Barack Obama and the Democrats should win in a landslide over the Republicans… if they don’t; it is of their own making. If the race is as tight as they say in Minnesota and Michigan, Obama and the Democrats might want to keep an open mind to the injustices of casino workers… if you ask me, they are kind of stupid if they don’t offer us something for our vote… I have extended our hand… and it has yet to be grasped. A lot worse things have been said in politics then I have said here tonight with the fences ending up being mended in time for an election.



Thank you for providing me the opportunity to speak my views here tonight. I have never had the opportunity to speak to so many rank and file working class activists in one room here in Duluth, maybe after what I said here tonight I never will again. I am thinking, judging from the enthusiastic response to the things I have said here tonight, that we are mostly of like minds even though we may disagree to one extent or another on Obama. There is a lot that one-hundred and twenty workers can do. When I agreed to speak here tonight, I was thinking there would be maybe fifteen to twenty people. I think the turnout and your enthusiastic response signifies a real turning point for politics in Minnesota. Again, thank you for the very warm reception, I apologize for talking longer than my allotted time; and I would ask of you, that if you are considering going to the local casino here to pass some time--- and spend your money, that you instead take a walk out in the woods, go fishing, play checkers or cribbage with a friend rather then patronize a business that so ruthlessly exploits working people as the politicians and political hacks turn their backs on us.



I would especially like to thank Rita and Benny and the members of the Duluth-Superior Club of the Communist Party for all of their hard work and efforts in bringing us together here this evening to discuss the working class and the 2008 elections. I appreciate the opportunity for dialogue with the other four members of the panel here.



Maybe, also, I should just mention, that around two-hundred people turned out at FinnFest 2008, held right here in Duluth, to hear the prominent and respected Finnish journalist, Tuomas Savonen, talk about the life of Gus Hall; and about sixty people turned out to hear Toumas talk about the life of Gus Hall at the old “Petrell Hall.”



I find all of this very encouraging, considering the circus being passed off as politics in our state.



I have some cards here with my blog address… I invite you to check out my blog… feel free to call me or e-mail me… let’s stay in touch.



Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council



Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net



Check out my blog:



Thoughts From Podunk



http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/