Seachange Bulletin #137November 1, 2004Seachange Bulletin ArchivesEmail the editorSeachange Bulletin #137: Protect Humanity - Defeat Bush to_block_new_overtime_rules> Washington - A House vote to overturn new Bush administration rules on which workers qualify for overtime pay was hailed by Democrats trying to convince undecided voters they are the party that better protects worker rights. In a sharp rebuke to President Bush, the House voted 223-193 Thursday to stop the Labor Department from carrying out the new rules. ... How can you send our kids to Iraq and our jobs to Mexico on the same day? IUE/CWA Local 201 Takes Anti-Outsourcing Backlash to New Hampshire Jeff Crosby, IUE Local 201, Lynn Massachusetts, September 13, 2004 <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=6561> The backlash by the American people against globalization and outsourcing has become a topic in corporate boardrooms. ... Last week Local 201 and the New Hampshire AFL-CIO brought the backlash to New Hampshire. The message to Senator Judd Gregg at his Manchester office was powerful and clear: "Why should we pay for the destruction of our own livelihood? How does shipping the most advanced defense technology overseas make the world a safer place? How can you send our kids to Iraq and our jobs to Mexico on the same day?" Gregg voted on June 22 to increase the number of countries who can receive US defense jobs with no restrictions. ... Harry And Louise, Ten Years On John Schumann, Hartford Courant, October 1, 2004 <http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-health1001.artoct01,0,7823190.stor y> ... National health care expenditures reached $1.5 trillion in 2002, up from $890 billion in 1993, the year President Clinton took office. Per-capita health care spending has more than doubled since 1990. Health care inflation, which slowed some during the mid-1990s with the advent of managed care, reached double digits for the fourth year in a row. This year, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose at nearly five times the rate of inflation. Employer-sponsored health benefits are being scaled back; more costs are borne by employees, through higher deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses. A Medicare prescription drug plan signed by President Bush is set to take effect in 2006. Critics of the plan worry about its gargantuan cost; according to poll data, seniors who will be eligible are overwhelmed by its complexities. Nearly 45 million Americans are now uninsured. ... The economy and the election: The dismal science bites back George Bush comes out worst in our poll of academic economists The Economist, October 7, 2004 <http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3262965> Washington - Would John Kerry or George Bush do a better job stewarding America's economy? Judging by the polls, voters are not sure. ... Ask economics professors, however, and you get a clearer answer. In an informal poll of 100 academics, conducted by The Economist, Mr Bush's policies win low marks. More than 70% of the 56 professors who responded to our survey rate Mr Bush's first-term economic policies as bad or very bad. Fewer than 20% give positive marks to Mr Bush's second-term economic agenda, and almost six out of ten disapproved. Mr Kerry hardly got rave reviews either, but his economic plan still fared better than the president's did. ... What economic recovery? The latest job figures show that Bush has bungled the economy as badly as he has Iraq. James K. Galbraith, salon.com, October 8, 2004 <http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/10/08/jobs_numbers/index_np.html> Only 96,000 payroll jobs were created in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday morning - a chilling number released hours before the second presidential debate. Of these jobs, only 59,000 were in the private sector. Manufacturing employment declined by 18,000 jobs. Only 103,000 payroll jobs have been created on average in the past three months. ... We remain almost a million payroll jobs below where we stood on the day George Bush took office. ... This isn't a "jobless recovery." It's jobless, yes. But is it a recovery? ... Report: 1.7 million veterans without health coverage Associated Press, October 19, 2004 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-19-vets_x.htm> Washington - Nearly 1.7 million military veterans have no health insurance or access to government hospitals and clinics for veterans, according to a report Tuesday from a doctors' group that favors federally financed health care. The number of uninsured veterans jumped by 235,000 since 2000, meaning they are losing health insurance at a faster rate than the general population, said Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates a universal national health insurance program. ... "We're sending men and women off to war and yet the people who fought previous wars can't get the basic things they need to go on with their lives afterward," said Dr. David Himmelstein, a Harvard Medical School professor and an author of the study. ... Crude futures close above $55 for first time ever in NY Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch News, October 22, 2004 <http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/newsfinder/pulseone.asp?guid={55E66F5F-D19D-4 73D-BB94-E9F416B32046}&siteid=mktw&dist=RegSignIn&archive=pulsetrue> San Francisco - Crude prices closed above $55 a barrel for the first time ever on the New York futures exchange as winter heating fuel supplies remained a key concern. December crude closed at $55.17 a barrel, up 70 cents for the session, and up $1.20 for the week after an intraday high of $55.50. November heating oil climbed 1.49 cents to close at $1.5944, also a record high for futures. Bush signs $136B corporate tax cut bill Terence Hunt, Associated Press, October 22, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/business/taxes/articles/2004/10/22/bush_signs_136b_corp orate_tax_cut_bill> Washington - With no fanfare, President Bush on Friday signed the most sweeping rewrite of corporate tax law in nearly two decades, showering $136 billion in new tax breaks on businesses, farmers and other groups. ... [O]pponents charged that the tax package had grown into a massive giveaway that will add to the complexity of the tax system and end up rewarding multinational companies that move jobs overseas. ... The Bush Administration's attack on workers and the eight hour day Stewart Acuff, National AFL-CIO Organizing Director, Portside, October 22, 2004 <http://www.portside.org/showpost.php?postid=972> With the message "Give back our hard-earned money! Take back your overtime pay cut!," several thousand workers on Wednesday, October 5, delivered hundreds of thousands of postcards to the Bush/Cheney office headquarters in 17 battleground cities against the Bush overtime pay cut, even taking over their offices in several cities. ... With this new rule, President Bush has given his corporate friends the green light to stop paying overtime to hardworking Americans. It's a corporate welfare handout at workers' expense, and it's just plain wrong. ... Counting the Hidden Costs of War Anna Bernasek, The New York Times, October 24, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/business/yourmoney/24view.html?oref=login&t h> It's often said that truth is the first casualty of war. During a presidential campaign, that may be more apt than ever. Consider a seemingly simple question: What is the cost of the Iraq war to the United States? President Bush and Senator John Kerry have given different answers, but both candidates have ignored what may be the biggest cost item: the war's impact on the overall economy. ... [T]here are likely to be major economic costs as long as the war continues. ... Bush is idle in flu-shot fiasco Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe, October 27, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/10/27/b ush_is_idle_in_flu_shot_fiasco> This winter, about five times more people will die for lack of flu vaccine as died on 9/11. Flu kills tens of thousands of people each year. Without vaccine, some 15,000 elderly Americans will needlessly die. The 9/11 disaster caused President Bush to turn our foreign policy and our Bill of Rights upside down. The flu disaster has barely gotten his attention. Both are the result of failed presidential leadership. ... There could be a much bigger flu crisis next year as the next menace, avian flu, spreads. Unlike the typical winter flu, which is not fatal in most people, avian flu (which begins in birds) is easily transmitted from person to person and is usually fatal. So far, it hasn't hit the United States, but it could be the public health nightmare experts have long feared. ... Homeless voters forgotten in race Economy, jobs among top issues Lane Lambert, The Patriot Ledger, October 30, 2004 <http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2004/10/30/news/news02.txt> Quincy - In an election in which candidates are pursuing first-time voters, the undecided and ‘‘security moms'' more aggressively than ever, Linda is in a group that was written off from the start. She's homeless. The former Rockland resident, who is in her 50s and declined to give her last name, has been staying at Father Bill's Place since she was evicted from her apartment this summer. ... Now she's working full time, doing data entry on a temp job at a medical office. She hasn't been able to see much election news on the TV that everyone at the shelter shares, but she's seen enough to cast a ballot. ... Issue: Security Real options for ‘security moms’ Ann Malone, RN, Jamaica Plain, October 11, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2004/10/1 1/real_options_for_security_moms> In response to "The myth of security moms" and "How 9/11 transformed women voters" (op ed, Oct. 7), which come to very different conclusions about security concerns, my experience represents a third conclusion that the presidential candidates would be wise to take note of. Yes, we moms are very concerned about security for our children, our families, and our communities, but our priority concerns are ones that lie much closer to home, not what is happening in Iraq and Russia, horrible as those things are. All the moms and dads in my middle-class neighborhood are more concerned about the lack of universal coverage for affordable and comprehensive health insurance. Why can't we have what citizens in every other industrialized nation have for far less money than we spend here? Community-based long-term care for aging parents, jobs that pay living wages, affordable, high-quality child care, and public education top our security lists, too. Healthcare, community needs, jobs, public education - these are the top security concerns that voters want strength, clarity, and action on. This mom will be voting for the Kerry-Edwards ticket in order to bring security to my family and community. 9/11 Mom: An Open Letter to George W. Bush Donna Marsh O’Connor, Liverpool, NY Mother of Vanessa Lang Langer, WTC Tower II, 93rd floor October 22, 2004 <http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/printer_14579.shtml> ... On Halloween my daughter would be thirty-three years old. Her child would be almost three. Seven weeks before her twenty-ninth birthday, Vanessa, four months pregnant, ran from the falling towers of the World Trade Center. She did not make it. Her body, and in it the small body of her unborn child, was pulled from the rubble of the fallen towers on September 24th, just ten feet from an alley between towers IV and V. It is important for me to tell you that she was on the phone to her uptown office five minutes after the first plane hit tower I, explaining how she and others in tower II were "safe." Here is what you did regarding specifically the events of that morning: You vacationed before, during and after August 6th, the day you were handed the presidential daily briefing that said very clearly Vanessa Lang Langer and many other Americans were not safe. After the first plane hit tower I, the fact of the PDB did not click in your mind, did not cause you to act, to turn on a television, to contact the Pentagon. You sat so that you did not frighten a group of children. ... Issue: Peace End The Occupation Of Iraq Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, September 9, 2004 <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=6502> Whereas, the Bush Administration carried out an invasion of Iraq under the pretense that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the capability to deploy them, and therefore posed an immediate threat to the security of the United states and the rest of the world ... therefore be it Resolved, the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO calls for an end to the US occupation of Iraq, the immediate implementation of a plan to turn over sovereignty to the people of Iraq, and the return of US troops to their homes and families. MPs can end the Iraq folly Tony Benn, The Guardian, September 22, 2004 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1309706,00.html> At the moment when the prime minister has announced his decision to intensify the war in Iraq and when more British troops may well be sent there, the time has come for new policies to be adopted since we know, in great detail, all the key facts from very authoritative sources. We know from Paul O'Neill, George Bush's first treasury secretary, that the new president took the decision to invade Iraq when he entered the White House - almost a year before the attack on the twin towers - and that no one in Washington or London really ever believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the atrocity. The real reason for the invasion was to topple Saddam, seize the oil and establish permanent US bases to dominate the region. ... Dance of the Marionettes Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, September 26, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/opinion/26dowd.html?th> It's heartwarming, really. President Bush has his own Mini-Me now, someone to echo his every word and mimic his every action. ... All last week in New York and Washington, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of Iraq parroted Mr. Bush's absurd claims that the fighting in Iraq was an essential part of the US battle against terrorists that started on 9/11, that the neocons' utopian dream of turning Iraq into a modern democracy was going swimmingly, and that the worse things got over there, the better they really were. ... VT AFL-CIO affiliates to USLAW Hal Leyshon Vermont AFL-CIO, Portside, September 29, 2004 <http://lists.portside.org/mailman/htdig/portside/Week-of-Mon-20040927/006576. html> On September 25th the Vermont State Labor Council's annual convention voted, nearly unanimously, to support bringing our troops home and to affiliate to US Labor Against the War. The discussion and vote had been prepared by months of discussions with union leaders and activists and holding public forums together with Military Families Speak Out. ... Are the War and Globalization Really Connected? Mark Engler, Foreign Policy In Focus, October 2004 <http://www.fpif.org/papers/0410warglob.html> ... [I]t has been a central task, in the post 9-11 era, for activists to demonstrate how the war against terror and the drive for corporate globalization are one and the same - how peace and global justice movements share vital common ground. ... Many of the arguments wedding the war in Iraq with a strategy for neoliberal expansion are not readily convincing. ... And, in their drive to connect, they overlook important disjunctures between the Bush administration’s foreign policy and the policy preferred by many business elites. Activists have good reason to look again at the neoconservative hawks now in power and to consider whether they have outdone the corporate globalists of earlier years or whether they have betrayed them. ... An Open Letter to the American People Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy, October 2004 <http://www.sensibleforeignpolicy.net/letter.html> We, a nonpartisan group of foreign affairs specialists, have joined together to call urgently for a change of course in American foreign and national security policy. We judge that the current American policy centered around the war in Iraq is the most misguided one since the Vietnam period, one which harms the cause of the struggle against extreme Islamist terrorists. ... Media Blackout of Labor Opposition to Iraq War Continues David Swanson, ILCA Media Coordinator, Portside, October 10, 2004 <http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20041004/006638.h tml> You wouldn't know it from reading, watching, or listening to the "mainstream" media, but many of the largest labor organizations in the United States have passed resolutions demanding that US troops be brought home from Iraq and the war be ended. ... In a reversal of the support that labor has traditionally given to wars, some of the largest unions, the SEIU and AFSCME, and the California Federation of Labor, had recently passed resolutions against the Iraq War, joining early leaders of opposition, including the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, the United Farm Workers, UNITE, the IWW, and the ILWU Hawaii Local 142 and ILWU San Francisco longshore local 10, later joined by the ILWU International. ... US voters hold key to ending Iraq war, curbing global warming: Nobel winner Agence France Presse, October 11, 2004 <http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041011/sc_afp/nobel_un_climate _us_iraq_041011193734> Nairobi - American voters hold the key to ending the war in Iraq and can help revive a UN treaty on global warming which was rejected by President George W. Bush, Kenyan ecologist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, told reporters. "There are very many Americans who are not for the war (in Iraq) and who are wishing that this war could come to an end," Maathai said at the United Nations offices in Nairobi. "In a country like America, there are lots of people who would prefer that their government ratify the (Kyoto) protocol, who would gladly change their consumptive lifestyle, especially the rate at which they consume fossil fuel, so that they are not polluters of the environment," Maathai, who is Kenya's deputy environment minister, said. ... How to Stop the War Francis Fox Piven Says It Takes More Than Elections Ricky Baldwin, CommonDreams.org, October 15, 2004 <http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1015-29.htm> Millions of Americans and others demonstrated against the invasion of Iraq in the last months before it occurred, 10 million around the world on one particular day, in what dissident intellectual Noam Chomsky described as the most significant showing of opposition to war at such an early stage in living memory. Yet all that failed to stop the war or even produce a bona fide antiwar candidate for president, at least not a major party nominee. This has discouraged many protesters, particularly among the impressive proportions of first-timers. ... But award-winning sociologist and activist Francis Fox Piven says the antiwar movement may have expected too much for too little. "War-making is never determined by anything like a democratic process," she says. ... The making of the terror myth Andy Beckett, The Guardian, October 15, 2004 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1327786,00.html> Since the attacks on the United States in September 2001, there have been more than a thousand references in British national newspapers, working out at almost one every single day, to the phrase "dirty bomb". ... Starting next Wednesday, BBC2 is to broadcast a three-part documentary series that will add further to what could be called the dirty bomb genre. But, as its title suggests, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear takes a different view of the weapon's potential. ... Platoon defies orders in Iraq Miss. soldier calls home, cites safety concerns Jeremy Hudson, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, October 15, 2004 <http://www.marinetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-453911.php> A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson, Miss., and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops’ relatives said Thursday. The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq - north of Baghdad - because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook. Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County, Miss., Detention Center, and the 16 other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, SC, were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents, Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call about 5 am Thursday. ... Tens of Thousands Throng London To Protest Iraq War Agence France Presse, October 17, 2004 <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1017-04.htm> London - Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of central London to protest against the Iraq war as Prime Minister Tony Blair struggled to shake-off fierce criticism of the invasion back home. Organisers said that between 65,000 and 75,000 protesters had taken to the streets for the peaceful march, which began at Russell Square, close to the British museum. ... Protesters from around the world clutched banners and blew whistles as they marched towards Trafalgar Square, where a mass rally was taking place. ... US Has Contingency Plans for a Draft of Medical Workers Robert Pear, The New York Times, October 19, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/politics/19draft.html> Washington - The Selective Service has been updating its contingency plans for a draft of doctors, nurses and other health care workers in case of a national emergency that overwhelms the military's medical corps. In a confidential report this summer, a contractor hired by the agency described how such a draft might work, how to secure compliance and how to mold public opinion and communicate with health care professionals, whose lives could be disrupted. On the one hand, the report said, the Selective Service System should establish contacts in advance with medical societies, hospitals, schools of medicine and nursing, managed care organizations, rural health care providers and the editors of medical journals and trade publications. On the other hand, it said, such contacts must be limited, low key and discreet because "overtures from Selective Service to the medical community will be seen as precursors to a draft," and that could alarm the public. ... Wives speaking for soldiers who said no to convoy Jeremy Hudson, The (Jackson, Mississippi) Clarion Ledger, October 20, 2004 <http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041020/NEWS01/41020 0369/1002> Patricia McCook and Jackie Butler have accepted a mission created when their husbands refused a fuel convoy order in Iraq last week. "He can't speak because he has to live that life in the military right now," Patricia McCook said of her husband. "I'm his voice on the outside, and there is nothing the military can do about it." "It's our job now," Jackie Butler said. "It's our duty." Their husbands - Sgts. Larry McCook and Michael Butler, both of Jackson - and 16 other members of the Rock Hill, SC-based 343rd Army Reserve Quartermaster Company refused an order to deliver fuel citing "deadlined" vehicles that were not armored, poor leadership and contaminated fuel, their relatives said. ... Rumsfeld at Sea Carl Bloice, Portside, October 21, 2004 <http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20041018/006686.h tml> At one point, Donald Rumsfeld is said to have become a little testy. It was October 10 and the US Secretary of Defense had just landed on the deck of the USS John F. Kennedy aboard a C-2 Greyhound twin-engine propeller-driven cargo plane accompanied by 18 defense ministers from 18 'coalition partners' in the Iraq war. When someone from the accompanying media asked about the possibility of an increase in the number of US troops fighting the insurgency there, he reportedly shot back, "There's a fixation on that subject! It's fascinating how everyone is locked on that." ... Older Voters Worry About Iraq as Well as Drug Costs Joanne Kenen, Reuters, October 21, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2004/10/21/older_voters_ worry_about_iraq_as_well_as_drug_costs_1098377986> Ardmore, Pa. - Give elderly voters in this up-for-grabs Philadelphia suburb an opportunity to air their fears about health care, and they will. But chances are the topic will quickly turn to Iraq instead. Interviews at a senior center here show the elderly are worried and confused about drug costs but also share many of the concerns of younger voters about the war in Iraq. "Bring the boys home," said Lita Ildefonso, who remembers World War II from her childhood in the Philippines and who also was a nurse in Vietnam. "It's just so sad that all those 19-year-olds are dying," she said as she jumped into a discussion at her sewing circle to change the topic from health to the war. ... Youth stance: No war Talk of draft mobilizes high schoolers Bonnie Eslinger, The San Francisco Examiner, October 21, 2004 <http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/102104n_youthvote> Despite recent presidential promises that a draft is not on the horizon, several hundred San Francisco students gathered at Lowell High School in the Sunset District Wednesday after school to protest the war in Iraq and the possibility that they might be called to arms. In recent speeches, US Sen. John Kerry has warned that the foreign policy plans of President Bush will eventually lead to a draft, which he opposes. ... No scenario seen for draft of health care workers Robert Burns, Associated Press, October 21, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/21/no_scenario_seen_for_dr aft_of_health_care_workers> Washington - No war or other national emergency would overwhelm the military's medical care system and require a draft of civilian health care workers, a senior Pentagon official said yesterday. Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, told reporters that the Pentagon's medical system and the private health care networks with which it is associated are sufficient under any scenario. ''It would perform very effectively in the event of a national catastrophic event, even a large one," he said. ... The Vietnam parallel Vijay Prashad, Frontline (India), Volume 21 - Issue 22, Oct. 23 - Nov. 05, 2004 <http://www.flonnet.com/fl2122/stories/20041105001206200.htm> In both Vietnam and Iraq, the US practice has not matched its claims about the spread of democracy. And to exit Iraq without victory would be a severe blow to its attempt at global primacy and to the illusory self-respect of its people. On April 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford announced at Tulane University ... that nothing would be gained by any discussion of a war "that is finished as far as America is concerned". Move on, he said, so that the US can "restore its health and its optimistic self-confidence". ... Empire of Insanity Kerry's Iraq Numbers Greg Bates, Counterpunch, October 26, 2004 <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=6896> ... Taking a leaf from his record on sustainable energy, John Kerry now wants to make the war in Iraq sustainable. Just for today, let’s put aside all our objections to the carnage and look at it from Kerry’s point of view. Some progressives cling to the hope that a vote for Kerry is a vote for peace. Such wishful thinking could lead many to breathe a mistaken sigh of relief in the event of a Kerry victory. We need an accurate picture of what Kerry’s game plan means so that protests continue to grow. On October 13, 2004 The Wall Street Journal provided a sobering antidote to progressive hopes, by pegging Kerry right. It stated on the front page that, "On Iraq and the war on terror, George Bush and John Kerry differ mainly on tactics, assessments, and tone, while sharing the same broad goals." But even within Kerry’s own framework, the numbers don’t add up. Kerry’s plan for reducing what we might call the empire man’s burden is to build an international coalition so that we don’t continue to "bear 90% of the costs and 90% of the casualties." Of course, we’ll leave aside the fact that while our dead number 1,100 or so, Iraqi dead number over 30,000, making our burden of the dead 3 percent, not 90%. ... The Soldiers Who Said No A pair of Mississippi women challenge the army brass on behalf of their soldier-husbands in Iraq Tom Robbins, The Village Voice, October 26, 2004 <http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0443/robbins.php> No matter how the military ultimately decides to deal with Staff Sergeant Michael Butler for disobeying orders, once the war in Iraq is through with him, he'll be welcomed home by an adoring family and the big yellow ribbon that is pinned to the tall long-leaf pine tree outside his one-story brick house in Jackson, Mississippi. "I am very, very proud of him. He is a definite leader, someone who is capable of doing many things," said Butler's wife, Jackie, as she sat in her living room facing a wall of awards earned by her husband during his 24 years of duty in both the regular army and the reserves. There are a half-dozen Army Achievement Medals and a plaque for "1997 NCO of the Year." Four short words of high military praise are inscribed on it: "Can do. Damn good." ... Adventure Capitalism The Hidden 2001 Plan to Carve-up Iraq Greg Palast, TomPaine.com, October 27, 2004 <http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20041025/006728.h tml> In February 2003, a month before the US invasion of Iraq, a 101-page document came my way from somewhere within the US State Department. Titled pleasantly, "Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Growth," it was part of a larger under-wraps program called "The Iraq Strategy." The Economy Plan goes boldly where no invasion plan has gone before: the complete rewrite, it says, of a conquered state's "policies, laws and regulations." Here's what you'll find in the Plan: A highly detailed program, begun years before the tanks rolled, for imposing a new regime of low taxes on big business, and quick sales of Iraq's banks and bridges - in fact, "all state enterprises" - to foreign operators. ... This is likely history's first military assault plan appended to a program for toughening the target nation's copyright laws. ... If the Economy Plan reads like a Christmas wish list drafted by US corporate lobbyists, that's because it was. ... Eyewitness to a failure in Iraq Peter W. Galbraith, Boston Globe, October 27, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/10/27/e yewitness_to_a_failure_in_iraq> In 2003 I went to tell Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz what I had seen in Baghdad in the days following Saddam Hussein's overthrow. For nearly an hour, I described the catastrophic aftermath of the invasion - the unchecked looting of every public institution in Baghdad, the devastation of Iraq's cultural heritage, the anger of ordinary Iraqis who couldn't understand why the world's only superpower was letting this happen. I also described two particularly disturbing incidents - one I had witnessed and the other I had heard about. On April 16, 2003, a mob attacked and looted the Iraqi equivalent of the Centers for Disease Control, taking live HIV and black fever virus among other potentially lethal materials. US troops were stationed across the street but did not intervene because they didn't know the building was important. ... About the same time, looters entered the warehouses at Iraq's sprawling nuclear facilities at Tuwaitha on Baghdad's outskirts. They took barrels of yellowcake (raw uranium), apparently dumping the uranium and using the barrels to hold water. US troops were at Tuwaitha but did not interfere. ... Revealed: War has cost 100,000 Iraqi lives Jeremy Laurance & Colin Brown, independent.co.uk, October 29, 2004 <http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=577151> The first scientific study of the human cost of the Iraq war suggests that at least 100,000 Iraqis have lost their lives since their country was invaded in March 2003. More than half of those who died were women and children killed in air strikes, researchers say. Previous estimates have put the Iraqi death toll at around 10,000 - ten times the 1,000 members of the British, American and multinational forces who have died so far. But the study, published in The Lancet, suggested that Iraqi casualties could be as much as 100 times the coalition losses. ... Osama's Election Editorial William Rivers Pitt, Truth Out, October 29, 2004 <http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/103004A.shtml> So the bastard is still alive. He isn't dead of kidney failure or rotting in a cave somewhere in the Hindu Kush. He wasn't smoked out of his hole, and he in no way appeared to be on the run. The images broadcast on every American television station in the last few hours showed a man apparently in good health, clothed in traditional white and wrapped in a golden robe. His hands were steady and his voice was clear. From all appearances, Osama bin Laden is tanned, rested and ready. ... Perhaps the only absolute conclusion to draw from all this is the one that almost certainly occurred to every American who tuned into the broadcast. The bastard is still alive. Our War on Terrorism Howard Zinn, The Progressive, November 2004 <http://www.progressive.org/nov04/zinn1104.html> I am calling it "our" war on terrorism because I want to distinguish it from Bush's war on terrorism, and from Sharon's, and from Putin's. What their wars have in common is that they are based on an enormous deception: persuading the people of their countries that you can deal with terrorism by war. These rulers say you can end our fear of terrorism - of sudden, deadly, vicious attacks, a fear new to Americans - by drawing an enormous circle around an area of the world where terrorists come from (Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya) or can be claimed to be connected with (Iraq), and by sending in tanks and planes to bomb and terrorize whoever lives within that circle. Since war is itself the most extreme form of terrorism, a war on terrorism is profoundly self-contradictory. ... Issue: Rights under Attack * Is This the Future of Democracy in America? New animated video spot on Florida elections and their impact: <http://www.viciouspit.com> Independent Election Observer Team Arrives in US Jim Lobe, OneWorld, September 17, 2004 <http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/94284/1> Washington - A team of 20 independent democracy experts from 15 countries and five continents has arrived in the United States in order to observe this year's presidential election campaign. The election monitors, who have been brought here by the San Francisco activist group "Global Exchange," will be fanning out in the coming days initially to research how the election preparations are being conducted in five states. ... To Catch a Thief Barbara Ehrenreich, The Progressive, October 2004 <http://www.progressive.org/oct04/ehren1004.html> We were six toasts into the wedding dinner when the conversation turned, as conversations usually do, to the possibility of a Republican theft of the election in November. "That's when we hit the streets!" declared the Cuban American community organizer from Pennsylvania. "Yeah!" bellowed the retired union president from Long Island, and we all pounded the table and raised our glasses yet again: "Everybody hit the streets!" The streets must be feeling pretty threatened by this time ... Lucas County Democratic headquarters burglarized Toledo Blade, October 12, 2004 <http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041012/NEWS03/4101201 6> The Lucas County Democratic Headquarters was burglarized overnight, and three computers, including the party’s main system, were stolen. The computers contained highly sensitive information, including the party’s financial information, names and personal phone numbers of hundreds of party members, candidates, and volunteers. The computers also stored e-mails from candidates that included discussion about campaign strategy. A second computer, belonging to an attorney-volunteer working to ensure voters’ rights, also was taken, officials said. ... Political Prisoners Minorities struggle to break free of felon voting bans Chisun Lee, Village Voice, October 12, 2004 <http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0441/lee.php> Nearly 5 million citizens - a hugely disproportionate share of them racial minorities - will not be allowed to vote in next month's presidential election. Laws in 48 states automatically stripped them of that right when they were convicted of a felony. Now, in a number of high-stakes lawsuits across the country, minorities are struggling to end the state felon disenfranchisement laws they say are slicing down the black and Latino vote. But first the courts will have to agree that this is a civil rights crisis worthy of federal attention, not just a jailhouse gripe. ... The Ripple Effect Confusion over felon voting bans keeps even the eligible from the polls Jennifer Gonnerman, Village Voice, October 12, 2004 <http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0441/gonnerman.php> Jeffrey Blackman stood on a West Harlem street corner with a clipboard holding a thick stack of voter registration cards. ... Soon Blackman noticed George Echevarria, a wiry 27-year-old with a cigarette between his lips, slouching against the subway entrance. "Are you registered to vote?" Blackman asked. "No, I can't vote," Echevarria said. "I've got a felony." ... Blackman quizzed Echevarria and learned that he had come home from prison in 2003, then spent the next eight months reporting regularly to a parole officer. "I finished parole already," Echevarria explained. "Then you can vote," Blackman said. He slapped his clipboard atop the subway railing and handed Echevarria a pen. ... Block the Vote Paul Krugman, The New York Times, October 15, 2004 <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/15/opinion/15krugman.html?ex=1098676800&en=fe5 55cd175d5a8d2&ei=5070&oref=login> Earlier this week former employees of Sproul & Associates (operating under the name Voters Outreach of America), a firm hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters, told a Nevada TV station that their supervisors systematically tore up Democratic registrations. The accusations are backed by physical evidence and appear credible. Officials have begun a criminal investigation into reports of similar actions by Sproul in Oregon. Republicans claim, of course, that they did nothing wrong - and that besides, Democrats do it, too. ... [I]n 2002 the Republican Party in New Hampshire hired an Idaho company to paralyze Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts by jamming the party's phone banks. ... The art of stealing elections Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe, October 20, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/10/20/t he_art_of_stealing_elections> The Republicans are out to steal the 2004 election - before, during, and after Election Day. Before Election Day, they are employing such dirty tricks as improper purges of voter rolls, use of dummy registration groups that tear up Democratic registrations, and the suppression of Democratic efforts to sign up voters, especially blacks and students. On Election Day, Republicans will attempt to intimidate minority voters by having poll watchers threaten criminal prosecution if something is technically amiss with their ID, and they will again use technical mishaps to partisan advantage. But the most serious assault on democracy itself is likely to come after Election Day. Here is a flat prediction: If neither candidate wins decisively, the Bush campaign will contrive enough court challenges in enough states so that we won't know the winner election night. The right stumbled on a gambit in 2000, which could become standard operating procedure in close elections: If the election ends up in the courts, all courts eventually lead to the Supreme Court, which, as we learned, can overrule state courts - and pick the president. ... Democracy is hanging by a thread Deborah C. Winslow, Lenox, Boston Globe, October 21, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2004/10/2 1/democracy_is_hanging_by_a_thread> At a Bush rally in suburban New Jersey while Laura Bush was speaking, Sue Niederer, whose son was killed in Iraq in February, spoke out against the killings and the war. She wore a T-shirt with the words "President Bush You Killed My Son." She was handcuffed, arrested, and hauled off by police ("In NJ, Laura Bush stumps for spouse on Democratic turf," Sept. 17, Page 17). This incident truly frightens me. As upset as I've been with Bush administration policies, this was a jolting wake-up call. ... Nurse’s lawsuit blames politics for penalty Boston Globe, October 21, 2004 Portland, ME - A hospital nurse who was suspended for a day after being quoted in a newspaper criticizing President Bush has filed a lawsuit claiming the disciplinary action was politically motivated. Elaine Connolly, wife of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Connolly, said in her lawsuit that a secret investigation was launched by Goodall Hospital, and she was unlawfully suspended without a hearing. Her lawsuit contends the Sanford hospital is stifling free speech. The trouble started when she was quoted by a newspaper reporter during a panel discussion outside the Republican National Convention, in which she criticized Bush and said she thinks that health care should be a right, not a privilege. She attended the convention as a representative of the Democratic National Committee. Upon her return to work, the six-year employee was warned of possible repercussions for her statements. TROUBLE VOTING - CALL 1-866-OUR-VOTE Aniruddha Das, Portside, October 22, 2004 <http://www.portside.org/showpost.php?postid=968> 1-866-OUR-VOTE is the hotline to report any incidents in which voter's rights may be compromised from now on through election day. The Election Protection Coalition has put together a highly visual web-based voter based monitoring system called the Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS). The system tracks reports of voter incidents on a color-coded map that rapidly identifies locations where multiple complaints have occurred and connects to a rapid response system where observers, technical, and legal help can rapidly be sent out to observe and record. The brightly colored maps are drawn from information collected by volunteers staffing hotlines. ... More Info: <https://voteprotect.org> <https://vevo.verifiedvoting.org/eirs> <http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65215,00.html?tw=wn_2polihead> Portrait of a country on the verge of a nervous breakdown Andrew Gumbel, Independent/UK, October 24, 2004 <http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=575453> With only nine days to go and the polls showing Bush and Kerry still neck and neck, the result is once again likely to turn on the minutiae of the voting system. But this time the whole country seems poised to descend into post-election chaos. Andrew Gumbel reports on the traumatising effects of this bitter campaign and how, as the world's most powerful democracy talks of exporting freedom to Iraq, it is at risk of becoming an object of international ridicule. ... Suppression, Fraud and Breakdown Voting Problems Emerge in States Across the Country Democracy Now!, October 25, 2004 <http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/25/1416245> Voters in states across the country have already begun to vote as millions more prepare to head to the polls next week in what many are calling one of the most important presidential elections in US history. ... But while this election looks likely to be extremely close, the voting system is far from flawless. Voting machines have already begun to break down, accusations of systematic voter suppression and fraud are rampant, and lawyers have flocked to half a dozen states to cry foul. ... Stolen Election? This Time Around, Let’s Be Prepared Medea Benjamin, CommonDreams.org, October 25, 2004 <http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1025-34.htm> After months of traveling from swing state to swing state, I have been astounded by the number of people who are furious with the "war president" George Bush, and have dedicated enormous energy to registering, educating, cajoling, and exhorting people to vote. Californians have invaded Nevada, New Yorkers have flooded into Pennsylvania, folks from Massachusetts have adopted New Hampshire, and here in Florida, there is a deluge of activists from all over the country. These anti-Bush organizers, many of whom have no formal connection with the Democratic Party, will be out in full force on November 2, knocking on doors, chauffeuring voters to the polls and guarding polling places. ... Unfortunately, too many signs are pointing towards a replay of 2000. But this time, there’s a big difference: We’ll be ready! ... November 2, 3 and Beyond Ted Glick, Future Hope, October 25, 2004 <http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20041025/006714.h tml> I first heard of plans being made for actions the day after Election Day in mid-August, at a NYC conference just prior to the Republican Convention. Activists from the direct action wing of the global justice movement talked about and distributed literature urging people to make plans to protest likely election fraud and to make a loud and visible statement that the popular democracy movement we are building is about much more than voting. ... One week before November 2, according to information found at the websites of these three initiatives (www.beyondvoting.org, www.ttww.org and www.nov3.us), there are about 35 localities where something is being planned for the period between November 3 and 6. All three groups are linking their post-election plans to the multiple, organized efforts to defend people's right to vote on November 2 itself. ... Some Fear Ohio Will Be Florida of 2004 Paul Farhi & Jo Becker, Washington Post, October 26, 2004 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62645-2004Oct25.html?sub=AR> Columbus - Democrats and Republicans here traded accusations of voter fraud, obstruction and intimidation Monday as officials grappled with what is becoming a confused - and potentially chaotic - presidential election in this critical battleground state. As Democrats marched through the downtown streets of the state capital with banners reading "Not This Time!" and chanting "Count every vote," Republicans continued to challenge the eligibility of thousands of newly registered voters. This presented state election officials with the prospect of holding thousands of hearings over the next week to determine who can cast a ballot on Nov. 2. ... New Florida vote scandal feared Greg Palast, BBC's Newsnight, October 26, 2004 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/3956129.stm> A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals. Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list". It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida. An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day." ... NAACP says IRS review spurred by politics Speech by Bond preceded look at tax-exempt status Genero C. Armas, Associated Press, October 29, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/10/29/naacp_says_ irs_review_spurred_by_politics> Washington - The NAACP's chairman says the group's tax-exempt status is under review by the government in an investigation he contends stems from a speech he gave that criticized President Bush. ... Documents provided to The Associated Press yesterday by the office of Julian Bond, chairman of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said IRS agents were investigating his keynote address July 11 at the NAACP's annual convention in Philadelphia. In that speech, Bond said of the Bush administration: ''They preach racial neutrality and practice racial division. They've tried to patch the leaky economy and every other domestic problem with duct tape and plastic sheets. They write a new constitution of Iraq and they ignore the Constitution here at home." ... NO STOLEN ELECTIONS PLEDGE OF ACTION: "I remember the stolen presidential election of 2000 and I am willing to take action in 2004 if the election is stolen again. I support efforts to protect the right to vote leading up to and on Election Day, November 2nd. If that right is systematically violated, I pledge to join nationwide protests starting on November 3rd, either in my community, in the states where the fraud occurred, or in Washington DC." Please sign the pledge now at <http://www.Nov3.us>. Issue: Campaign World Writes to Undecided Voters Matt Wells, Guardian/UK, October 16, 2004 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1328714,00.html> The Guardian's campaign to target undecided voters in a key swing state in the US presidential elections has attracted more than 10,000 responses, as well earning the ire of the conservative media. By 6pm yesterday, 11,658 people had contacted the newspaper from around the world, after it encouraged readers in Britain to write with their thoughts on the election to voters in Clark county, Ohio. In the 2000 election, George Bush lost the county by 1% - equivalent to 324 votes. The Guardian promised to give emailers the names and addresses of unaffiliated voters, from a list purchased from electoral officials. In its launch article on Thursday, it urged: "Remember that it's unusual to receive a lobbying letter from someone in another country." The paper will match voters with only one reader. No voter should get more than one letter. ... "Vote from the Heart" Bob Goodman, Portside, October 18, 2004 <http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20041018/006678.h tml> Americans for Peace thru Justice, a political action committee, is placing the attached ad in newspapers in swing states. I contributed to this effort because I think this ad presents an important viewpoint which is often overlooked in the current political climate. To contribute or for more into about APJ, see <http://www.Americansforpeacethroughjustice.org>. Please forward to all who might resonate with this effort. <http://www.americansforpeacethroughjustice.org/resources/Ad1-9-29.pdf> Divide seen in voter knowledge Alan Wirzbicki, Boston Globe, October 22, 2004 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/22/divide_seen_in_voter_kn owledge> Washington - Supporters of President Bush are less knowledgeable about the president's foreign policy positions and are more likely to be mistaken about factual issues in world affairs than voters who back John F. Kerry, a survey released yesterday indicated. A large majority of self-identified Bush voters polled believe Saddam Hussein provided "substantial support" to Al Qaeda, and 47 percent believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the US invasion. Among the president's supporters, 57 percent queried think international public opinion favors Bush's reelection, and 51 percent believe that most Islamic countries support "US-led efforts to fight terrorism." No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, the Sept. 11 Commission found no evidence of substantial Iraqi support for Al Qaeda, and international public opinion polls have shown widespread opposition to Bush's reelection. ... Three of Four Bush Supporters Still Believe in Iraqi WMD, al Qaeda Ties Jim Lobe, OneWorld.net, October 22, 2004 <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1022-01.htm> Washington – Three out of four self-described supporters of President George W. Bush still believe that pre-war Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or active programs to produce them and that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein provided "substantial support" to al Qaeda, according to a new survey released here Thursday. Moreover, as many or more Bush supporters hold those beliefs today than they did several months ago, before the publication of a series of well-publicized official government reports that debunked both notions. ... Why I believe in our president Thomas F. Schaller, New Progressive Institute, October 26, 2004 <http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=249> I believe in President George W. Bush. I've always believed him. I believe the president invaded Iraq to secure liberty and democracy for the Iraqi people. I believe he had compelling evidence that Iraq was a significant threat to America and the world, and presented that evidence in a complete and balanced manner. Like 42 percent of Americans – and 62 percent of Republicans – I believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 attacks. I believe we have enough troops on the ground in Iraq to ensure stability. I believe the rising American fatality rates, the rising casualty rates, and the rising American share of those coalition fatalities and casualties testify to the undeniable progress we're making there. I believe it is inappropriate and traitorous, however, for the media to broadcast pictures of American flag-draped caskets returning from Iraq. ... Why Arab-Americans should vote for John Kerry James J. Zogby, The Daily Star, October 27, 2004 <http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=9 623#> ... This November, I will vote for John Kerry for President of the United States. I will do so, confident that it is the right thing to do for my country and my community. Now this doesn't mean that I agree with all of John Kerry's positions. I'm a Democrat, but I've always challenged my party and its leadership when it was important to do so. Over the past two decades I've helped to lead the fight within the Democratic Party for Palestinian rights, against "secret evidence" and ethnic profiling, and against acquiescence to this disastrous war in Iraq. And during this campaign I have raised strong objections to a number of statements about the Middle East made by Kerry and his vice presidential running mate. ... I believe, along with Senator Kerry, that at stake in this year's election is the very definition of our nation - the values we seek to protect at home and project to the world. ... What keeps us awake at night? Voters worried about Iraq, the economy, terrorism Lane Lambert, The Patriot Ledger, October 30, 2004 <http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2004/10/30/news/news01.txt> Paul Tedeschi was buying trash bags at Cohasset Hardware the other day, but the 37-year-old sports-marketing firm owner had more on his mind than his home and lawn - most of all, the grim, ceaseless fighting and terrorist attacks in Iraq. ‘‘I don't see an end to it,'' he said, as he chatted with store owner Jim Watson and other customers. Tedeschi voted for George W. Bush four years ago, but he's not sure if he will Tuesday. Much as he likes Bush's tax policies, Iraq may be enough to tip his support to John Kerry. As this year's long and bitter presidential race nears its climax, Tedeschi's doubts and torn loyalty is shared by millions of voters here and across the nation. ... After November 2nd After the Debate: A Message to the Left and to All Working to Defeat Bush National Coordinating Committee Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism October 3, 2004 <http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20041004/006606.h tml> The first presidential debate on United States foreign policy should encourage the left to work harder to defeat George Bush in 2004 and at the same time further clarify that John Kerry, like every (major party - SE) presidential candidate and most office holders, will continue to defend the United States empire in an increasingly resistant world. Kerry's opposition to Bush on Iraq has been difficult to discern because he is also a supporter of a US empire with a duty to maintain a strategic presence in the Middle East and to police the world. He represents class forces that uphold the interests of corporate wealth abroad and at home. ... Giving Kerry a Free Ride Stanley Aronowitz, Portside, October 15, 2004 <http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20041011/006660.h tml> There is an old saw of political forecasting: "it’s the economy, stupid". Bill Clinton popularized it in his campaign to unseat George HW Bush and it seemed to work, despite Bush’s swift and apparently painless victory in the Gulf War (in retrospect it was not nearly as smooth as was initially reported). According to most assessments, the senior Bush was defeated by his failure to address the 1991-93 recession with bold interventions that appeared to recognize the issue, let alone make a real difference. A decade later the incumbent national administration led by senior Bush’s son, George, is presiding over a stubbornly flagging economy. More particularly, if many Americans are experiencing declining living standards - whether they have a full-time job or not - , according to conventional wisdom the prospects for returning the president to a second term are said to be grim. ... US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation 'Washington Wednesday', November 3, 2004 Tell President-Elect to Support Freedom & Democracy End Support for Israel's Occupation Join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, United for Peace and Justice, Global Exchange and other organizations for the November "Washington Wednesday" action alert demanding that the President-Elect support freedom and democracy for the Palestinian people and end support for Israel's military occupation. The US Campaign is collecting individual and organizational endorsements on a petition to the President-Elect in preparation for the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people on November 29. ... Please sign and forward the petition today by visiting <http://www.endtheoccupation.org/petition.php?pid=6>. USLAW Convenes Leadership Meeting in Chicago December 4th All affiliates and organizations considering affiliation are urged to send representatives US Labor Against the War, October 5, 2004 <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=6648> The headlines in most of our country’s newspapers bring our nation’s and the world’s crises to our daily breakfast table: a stagnating economy, increased poverty, death and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, a deepening health care crisis, attacks on civil liberties, terrorist alerts and more. The war and occupation of Iraq has come center stage in the national debate. At the same time many in the labor movement are working day and night to defeat one of our most despised Presidents, George W. Bush. But most of us are under no illusion that the election will solve the fundamental issues of war and peace - Iraq in particular - and the diversion of expenditures from human needs to the military and its corporate backers. This and many other struggles will continue. For these and other related reasons, we ask you to hold these dates - December 4th & 5th - for a national leadership assembly of US Labor Against the War in Chicago, IL. The meeting in Chicago will allow us to assess the outcome of the election, develop our strategy and set priorities for 2005, and plan for the continued building of USLAW. This will be a working meeting with broad participation and discussion and minimal speeches. We are recommending that each affiliate send 1 or 2 representatives. ... Web Directory: AARN <http://www.aarn.org> Australian Nursing Federation <http://www.anf.org.au> California Nurses Association <http://www.calnurse.org> Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions <http://www.nursesunions.ca> CCDS <http://www.cc-ds.org> Committee for Health Care for Massachusetts <http://www.healthcareformass.org> Irish Nurses Organisation <http://www.ino.ie> Labor Party <http://www.thelaborparty.org> LabourStart <http://www.labourstart.org> Maine State Nurses Association <http://www.mainenurse.org> Massachusetts Ad Hoc Committee <http://www.MassDefendHealthCare.org> Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party <http://www.green-rainbow.org> Massachusetts Nurses Association <http://www.massnurses.org> MASS-CARE <http://www.masscare.org> New York Professional Nurses Union <http://www.nypnu.org> New Zealand Nurses Organisation <http://www.nzno.org.nz> Nurses United (DC) <http://www.nursesunited.org> PASNAP <http://www.pennanurses.org> PNHP <http://www.pnhp.org> Portside <http://www.portside.org> Québec Nurses’ Federation <http://www.fiiq.qc.ca> Revolution Magazine <http://www.revolutionmag.com> Saint Louis Area Nurses Coalition <http://www.slanc.org> Seachange Bulletin <http://www.seachangebulletin.org> Southern Arizona Nurses Coalition <http://SAZNC.homestead.com> UNAP (RI) <http://www.unap.org> Union Web Services <http://www.unionwebservices.com> US Labor Against War (USLAW) <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/> Women’s Universal Health Initiative <http://www.WUHI.org> FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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