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Because People Mater
Progressive News and Views July / August 2007
Inside this issue:
Editorial.2
Change and conict in Venezuela
.3Collective.action.at.CSUS4Local.folks.go.PINK.in.DC.5Single.Payer.Health.Care.6Police.State.6
What you need to know about 9/11
.7
A Vet’s moral opposition to War
.8
A Vet walks to end the War
.8
Vet’s speech at the end of the walk
.
9Book Review:
........
If Olaya Street Could Talk
.
10Disillusion unto death
.
10 Media Clipped
.
11Book Review:
Broken Promises,Broken Dreams
.
11
Peace.Action.
12
Internet.Radio.in.danger.
13 Africa Channel project
.
13Book Review: Armed Madhouse
.
14
Calendar.
15
Progressive.Media.
16
By Tom King
I
t was puzzling. How could Leuren Moret, uncoverero secrets as dark and breathstopping as the collec-tive body counts in all the killing elds, make herentrance at the 19th convocation o Sacramento’s PeacePyramid beaming so beatically? She had returned only a ew hours previously rom a our-month tour o Asia,concluded in Hawaii, where “this wonderul thing hadhappened.” What happened—well, we’ll come to that.But meanwhile her introductory sum-up will give you ahint. “I love empowering citizens. I light the match andI walk away and it turns into abonre!”In 1968, the rst womangraduating in geology rom UCDavis, Moret took an MA atBerkeley in Near Eastern studies,and commenced a career as geo-scientist. Eventually this took herto Caliornia’s Livermore Nation-al Lab, where disgusted by whatshe learned about the unconscio-nable agendas o the microscope brigade around her, shebecame a whistleblower and eventually “ew the coop.”Her resignation kicked o a decade o intense research,untiring public edication (16 to 18 hour workdays),and continual harassment by her enemies—non-stoptrashing her home, wrecking her computers, stealing herdocuments, and worst o all, assisted by her ex-husband,the ve-year kidnapping o her daughter. (In the covertworld this is called “mobbing,” which aims to push theobject to suicide.)Her message is without a doubt as righteningly sinister as hell in its deepest, darkest circles. oward theend o WWII an element o nuclear allout was deter-mined to be so noxious that it was banned internation-ally in 1945. Aer a moratorium o 46 years, however,the poison was put to prodigious use in the rst Gul War because it makes munitions that cut through heavy armor and is a cheaper way to dispose o toxic trash. Tisis DU—alsely called “depleted” uranium.DU is nuclear trash rom nuclear weapons andpower projects. It contaminates air, water, ood, soil.Inhaled it behaves like gas in the lungs, dispersingthroughout the body and, according to Moret’s research,producing such malaises as mental derangement, autism,diabetes, and cancer.Although the Bush administra-tion systematically denies the medicalclaims o returning Iraq veterans,research tells a literally killing story.For instance, while medical disability among soldiers aer WWII was5%, and 10% aer the Vietnam War(with its Agent Orange), it reachesa paralyzing 55% aer Gul War I.Our soldiers are com-ing home with braintumors the size o gol balls. Military physi-cians now regularly counsel, “Don’t havechildren!” Tose whodo—alas!—oenpay an unthinkableprice. “In a VeteransAdministration study o 251 Gul War I veterans, severebirth deects and diseases in 67% o the children born aer the war wereound… born without eyes, brains,organs, legs, arms, hands or eet…”(Flanders, “Gul War Syndrome: Malde Guerre,”
Te Nation
03-07-94.) Weare used to calculating the cost o warsolely in terms o those who comehome in body bags, but in LeurenMoret’s grim summary, or anyonewho enters radioactive zones such asIraq, lie is over.“I discovered something else thatwas too horrible to imagine,” testiesLeuren. “I ound proo o the real and deeper purpose orthe US using DU weapons beginning in 1991: to deliber-ately and strategically contaminate entire regions wherethe world’s oil supplies are located…[guaranteeing] theannihilation o populations in those regions… . I beganto cry the day that bombing started in Aghanistan in2001. I cried or the mothers, the athers, the children,the babies, the grandparents and the uture generationswho will not be born because o this radioactive poison-ing o their genetic uture.”I you think DU is merely a mideast problem,however, think again. Uranium has a hal-lie o bil-lions o years. Once released, the lethal particulatesnever leave the soil or the air. Te winds carry themcontinents away—bringing them, dear reader, a gi tous all. “People do not understand or realize the globalimpact o DU and other radioactive weapons… .Tere isnowhere on Earth that will escape some orm or level o contamination.”Well, then—carrying such a woeul weight o theworld—how to explain Leuren’s entrance at the PeacePyramid, all but whistling like one o the Seven Dwarsheading o to work?Answer: it’s a warrior’s story o a great battle won.When she arrived in Hawaii she ound hardly anyonehad even heard o DU, and despite numerous interviewssubsequently, neither DU nor her own name appeared innewsprint. But she was undeterred, and proceeded withscientic investigation, nding with monitored readingsthat 850 Hawaiian sites were contaminated. AroundKona, which was plagued with widespread illnesses andhighest cancer rates, came the worst readings, producing93 as opposed to a normal o 5-20. With her character-istic eloquence she planted the seeds in the minds o theHawaiian citizenry—and led a complaint against thePentagon’s scurrilous cover-up. When she returned toHawaii at the end o her Asian tour this spring she oundthe seeds she had planted had blossomed in awareness—and wrath. Hawaii had become a volcano o anger. I Leuren is right, it’s about to erupt with dire consequencesor the Pentagon.I don’t want to close without telling you more thathelps explain buoyant spirits despite unimaginableenormities and Leuren’s own personal persecution. By her own testimony, she is like those Holocaust survivors,stripped o everything, no longer araid because nothingelse can be taken rom her. Tough she has lost certainpersons rom her lie, she has come to nd wherevershe goes generous, grateul hearts and a multitude o hugs. Hersel a passionate people-lover, she nds loveeverywhere. Perhaps most signicantly, she has oundthe sacred work or which she was intended, and sodoing, ound hersel. Her risks are the risks o a warrior;but ear has long since been slain, and courage outacingwhole battalions o ocial tormentors has become asnatural as breathing.Hear and see her:
www.youtube.com/v/L94IUSw54pQ.
Check out these websites:
www.news-journalonline.com/special/uranium/index.htmwww.truthout.org/docs_2006/042007B.shtmlwww.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=5864
om King is the leader of the Peace Pyramid, asuburban grassroots group promoting a cabinet-level Department of Peace.
“I love empoweringcitizens. I light thematch and I walk away and it turnsinto a bonre!”
Leuren Moret on the let with Dar King, co-ounder o the Peace Pyramid
Photo by Tom King
Depleted Uranium, Death and Destruction
Tn why i Ln M milin?
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2 Because People Matter July / August 2007
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People Maer
Vlume 16, Numbe 4
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because
Editorial
On the cover
With nurses from Palo Alto’s Stanford Hospital.in the foreground, mem-bers of the CaliforniaNurses Association rallyat the state capitol onJune 12 to promote SB840. See page 2 andpage 6 for more infor-mation.Photo: Dick Wood
Jeanie Keltner, Coordinating Editor for This Issue
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Thank youthank youthank you!
and kp h b and dna-in cmin!
It reminded me o the rst days o the new version o BPM 15 years ago, when we desper-ately needed subscriptions to replace the organi-zations that had sponsored the paper. Ten, eachday’s mail brought handuls o new subs, and thesmall group o people who had decided to keepthe paper going elt we had done the right thing.It was a kind o
i you build it
moment.Te same thing is happening since our lastissue—and especially aer Christine Cra wasso good as to let us make a plea on her show on1240am(2-6pm).Wonderully many o you longtime BPMsupporters are adding $10 to $200 extra to yoursub renewals. With your generous, much appreci-ated support, we‘ve now covered the cost o thenext two issues—a not insubstantial sum.And we have
55 nw bcipin
. Tis isgreat! What a thrill to see the bunch o envelopesin the mailbox. Especially those with dierenthandwritten addresses (instead o our labeledrenewal envelopes)—
nw
subscribers! Many including notes like “Oh good—a more newsnewspaper!”And o course, it’s not just the money. It’s thetangible proo that what we’re doing in BPM hasenough value to you to warrant your nancialsupport—even in what may be hard times ormany (we have so ew Wall Street readers).It’s tangible proo as well that our readershiphas grown beyond the activist community—which has always been one o our main goals.I you didn’t subscribe last issue, I hope youwill consider adding your $20 (or more) to thebunch in the mailbox. I don’t need to remindyou, I’m sure, that $20 is now a movie and alarge popcorn, since that erosion is a depress-ing part o our daily consciousness. But I cantell you that your subscription will mean a greatdeal—nancially and psychologically—to the 50or so writers, photographers, editors, bookkeep-ers, distributors, stand xers, and mailers whowork or ree so that ino we think important willget out.
W’ ill aimin f—and ly n way —300 nw b!
And we’re more than 1/6o the way there! Please show your support andsubscribe today.Look around in the papers and popularmags. You won’t nd this issue’s stories anywherein the commercial media: “depleted” uranium,the burgeoning resistance at all levels o the mili-tary to the Iraq occupation, Venezuela’s shi o national resources to benet the majority,the stolen elections o 2000 and 2004, thegrowing numbers o experts challengingthe ocial 9-11 story. Tese are not trivialstories and their non-appearance in thecorporate media suggests the magnitude o the deception by our amed “ree” press.Te job o the corporate commercialmedia has long been, as Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman proved numerically to“manuacture consent” among the popu-lace to government policies.Our job, as the independent press, isto inorm and conrm dissent—and toinspire action.
Sicko
bringsthe cure
One topic rom this issue
has
made
Te Bee
(nally)—Sheila Kuehl’s SB 840,
Health Care or All Caliornians Act
. Backed up by the ery Caliornia Nurses Association, MichaelMoore spoke at the Capitol June 12, presentinghis brilliant movie,
Sicko
. Beore Moore’s appear-ance, SB 840 only rated a tiny mention at theend o long columns about the other—unwork-able—health care plans circulating in the legis-lature (unworkable because they don’t eliminatethe chie source o the horrendous health careemergency: the or-prot health care/insuranceindustry). Even aer Moore’s appearance,
Te Bee
covered Kuehl’s plan only to debunk it.It will take a huge outcry romthe people to balance out the nancialpower o the or-prot health/insur-ance/care/pharmaceutical corporations,the power to control not only out-comes—but with their inuence overthe media, the debate itsel!
Sicko
is going to generate thatoutcry and will make a crucial dierencein the struggle to get the universal single payerhealth care all other industrialized nations have.
Sicko
has the emotional power to movepeople to change and to
make
change. In his side-ways comic way, Moore ignites our moral outrageat the callous insertion o the prot motive intomoments o sickness and distress.At the sametime this anger ignites our moral imagination,our compassion or this human being strugglingpainully against a large uncaring and oen evilsystem.No moment was more touching in testimony which oen brought tears as well as laughter thanMoore’s lamentation o the loss o the sense o
we
in our high pressure cutthroat
I’ll get mine
economy. Moore asks an obviously well set upCanadian i he minded that some o his tax pay-ments went to care or poorer people: “Well that’swhat we do,” the man says, “we take care o eachother.”What can we do to cultivate that desperately needed sentiment in our own society? So thatpeople don’t die on emergency room oors with janitors mopping around them?
Goodbye, Ken
Finally, what or me is a sadannouncement, though or theperson himsel, it’s a door intoanother segment o an already rich lie. One o the best o politi-cal
compañeros
and my cohostand coproducer or several yearson
Soapbox
is on his way to thecooler climes o Oregon. And Sac-ramento’s public lie will be much poorer or it.Ken Adams is a true citizen—and takes civicparticipation as a way o lie. Whether it was aCity Council hearing on a local environmentalor human rights issue, a Green Party meeting,on the set o
Soapbox
, or—what or me would bethe highest civic sacrice o all—a school boardmeeting, Ken’s insight and easy humor has sooen smoothed out the rough spots o groupdynamics and kept all eyes on the prize. Many olks in many groups around town will ndthey have more work to do without Ken on thecommittee.Ken takes things seriously, but he’s the rst tosee the unny side, and his wisdom and receptiv-ity have been so important to our
Soapbox
con- versations. And our
Soapbox
outros have beenimmeasurably enriched by Ken’s large collectiono music; whatever the evening’s topic, Ken’seclectic collection was certain to have an apt andenjoyable tune to round the discussion out with.It was a true pleasure teaming up with Kenor our years o
Soapbox
and other endeavors.I—and his community—will miss him more thanhe can know!
Tey took a stand!
Actually many stands. They cleaned themup and painted them, and put beautifulnew plastic in the windows. Big thanksto Brian Lambert and Dan Harrimanfor their hard work. They’ve improvedBPM’s image—and circulation at thosestands—by at least 100%.
www.bpmnews.org
July / August 2007 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER
By Susan Scott
B
ecause People really do Matter, andbecause Hugo Chavez has been so suc-cessul at mobilizing the excluded masseso Venezuela, and because oil is at a premium(and Venezuela is among the top ve oil regions),Venezuelans are nally able to use their 8 year oldBolivarian Revolu-tion to make somebig changes in theuse o their country’sresources. Aer yearso neoliberal policiesthat subsidized cor-porations, privatizednational resources,and eliminated socialservices, now the oilindustry, the steelindustry, and themain telecommunica-tions company are being de-privatized, and atleast SOME o the underused oreign-ownedgiant land holdings and at least SOME o the pri- vately controlled public airwaves are nally beingcommitted to public use.Co-ops, community councils, and commu-nity radio are sprouting up all over the country.Tere is not a barrio or village in the country that isn’t seeing the results o the redirection o resources and that isn’t involved in making deci-sions on how to do it.Venezuela’s
Socialism o the 21st Century
isa ar cry rom the socialism o the 20th century.Capital is still king in Venezuela, aer decadeso corporate globalization have urther enrichedan entrenched ruling elite. Most o the nationalV stations and all but one o the national news-papers are controlled by that oligarchy, and theirinvolvement in the 2002 coup causes many toreer to it as the “media coup.”But Chavez’ landslide victory in Decemberover the well-unded candidate o a united oppo-sition is speeding up the pace o change. Unortu-nately, Sacramento missed out on the recent Bay Area visits o Charlie Hardy and Eva Golingerwho didn’t have time to make the trip up I-80.Charlie, an ex-priest rom Wyoming whosewonderul new book
Cowboy in Caracas
was justpublished by the New Press, has spent the last 22years in Caracas. His rst 8 years in the country were spent living in a
casa de carton
(cardboard)serving as priest to a barrio on the ringes o Caracas. Derocked when he married a Venezu-elan woman, he turned his ministry to journal-ism, and is well known by North Americans who visit Venezuela. I you want to know how lie haschanged or the better or the poor in Venezuela,read Charlie’s book.Eva is a Venezuelan-American lawyer whogrew up in New York City and practiced lawthere until Hugo Chavez’ election inspired her toreturn to her Andean roots. Aer the 2002 coupattempt against Chavez, Eva put her legal skillsto work using the Freedom o inormation Act todig up documents regarding the US government’srole in the coup. Her powerul book,
Te Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela
,was recently published in English by Te OlivePress. It’s chock ull o actual documentation o communications between CIA and State Depart-ment ocials showing their knowledge o andcomplicity with the local coupmeisters.Lately, she’s been struggling to overcomethe Bush administration’s hyper-secrecy andchallenging their reusal to turn over docu-ments relating to more recent US nancial sup-port o Venezuela’s anti-democratic oligarchy through the NationalEndowment orDemocracy and theUS Agency or Inter-national Development(USAID).On my lasttrip to Venezuela,two months beoreChavez’ landslide vic-tory in the Decemberpresidential elec-tion, I observed theopposition marchesand watched the relentless V coverage o themain opposition candidate, Manual Rosales, andwondered i there was any way Chavez couldwin, despite his popularity in the polls and whatI expected to be an incredibly clean election pro-cess. Ten I attended the pro-Chavez march andrally and got real. Tere was no way the mediacould deeat this guy.Aer the march I had dinner with Eva andCharlie and 5-6 others at a restaurant that Evasaid was a place everyone went—pro or contraChavez. I was talking with an Argentine LawProessor at the University in Caracas who joinedus to talk about his planned visit to the US. Awoman rom a table nearby apparently recog-nized him rom his V appearance at a LatinAmerican Labor Law conerence in Cuba. Shecame over, obviously quite drunk, and startedyelling at him, calling him rst a
Cuban
, thenan
Argentine
, and nally an
assassin
. Ten shesaw Eva and started screaming even louder. Hertable o 10-12 people joined in. Charlie and a guy rom a neighboring table gently tried to calmthem down and one o the people rom her tablekicked the neighbor guy in the shins. Te waitersand owner were standing by, seemingly para-lyzed. I wondered i we would get out alive.At one point, Eva turned to me and said,“We call them
escuálidos
[
squalid
: oul, repulsive,wretched, sordid]. Tis is what we have to dealwith. I’m ashamed or our people.” Ultimately thewaiters literally dragged the woman out o therestaurant and her riends ollowed, screaminginvective all the way. We learned she was a lawyerrom the Attorney General’s oce, a civil servantwho had the right to stay in her job even thoughshe despised her boss, a
Chavista
appointed notby Chavez, but by the National Assembly.Te next day she reported to the police thatshe had been assaulted by Eva Golinger’s body-guards! Te waiters had to go to court the day aer we le. Te charges were dropped, but thewoman apparently kept her job.I had to wonder i Alberto Gonzales wouldallow such a virulent opponent to stay on hissta.(Check out
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/742/1/
)
Susan Scott led a tour to Venezuela for the National Lawyers Guild.
El Pueblo y Los Escu
á
lidos
Change and conict in Venezuela
“There is not a barrio or village in the country that isn’t seeing theresults o the redirectiono resources and that isn’t involved in makingdecisions on how to do it.”
Venezuelan-American lawyer Eva Golingerdocumented communications between CIAand State Department ocials showing theirknowledge o and complicity in the antiChavezcoup o 2002.
Photo: www.vheadline.com
Charlie Hardy,
The Cowboy in Caracas
, holds the cardboard the poorestpeople used to use to make their houses. Now most are constructed o cement blocks.
Photo: Roger Lippman
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