High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
Because People Mater
Progressive News and Views January / February 2009
Inside this issue:
Editorial ....................................................2Rick Nadeau Dies ......................................3Soapbox Needs Your Help .........................3SB840: We Will Be Back ..........................4What Will Happen to Big Media? ............4Conscientious Objectors ...........................5Dorothea Lange Exhibit ............................5Foreclosures ...............................................6KKK in Sacramento ..................................7West Coast Eco-Socialism .........................7The American Worker ...............................7Proposition 8 Resistance ........................8-9Proposition 11 .........................................10Nuclear Threats ......................................10 August Peace Event ................................10Declaration of Human Rights.................11Who Owns Black History Month ...........11Reporting Live from the West Bank ...12-13Book Review: Much Too Promised Land 14Calendar ..................................................15Progressive Media ...................................16
By Amanda Wilcox
It is said that a child in the US is ar more likely tocatch a bullet than to catch the measles. Every year inour country, about 30,000 people die rom gun violenceand over 70,000 people are injuredby gunre. Drive-by shootings andrearm homicides are becomingcommon occurrences in the Sacra-mento area. Have you had enough?Join the Campaign to keep illegalguns o our streets and help curbgun violence in Sacramento. Ask Sheri McGinness and the Sacra-mento County Board o Supervisorsto adopt an ammunition ordinancethat will save lives.My amily has been personally touched by gun vio-lence. In 2001, my only daughter, Laura, was murderedwhile home on winter break rom college. Laura waslling in as a receptionist at a Behavioral Health clinic inNevada County, when without warning, a patient suer-ing rom severe paranoid schizophrenia opened re witha semiautomatic handgun and shot Laura our times atpoint blank range. Laura was killed instantly. When theshooting rampage at the clinic and at a nearby restaurantended, three people lay dead, three were severely injured,a community was shaken, and the world was diminishedby the loss o an incredible young woman.Te circumstances surrounding Laura’s death dramati-cally highlight the tragic intersection o untreated severemental illness and inappropriate access to rearms.Certainly, improved mental health care and better accessto treatment are morally right and necessary or true violence prevention. Te enorcement o laws that keeprearms out o inappropriate hands is also essential.Laura’s killer had a houseul o illegal weapons. TeBrady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence believes thatdangerous weapons should be keptout o dangerous hands. Tere areclasses o people, who, based onpast behaviors, are deemed to be athigh risk o committing violent actswith rearms. We have laws thatprohibit these persons—such as thedangerously mentally ill, gang mem-bers, violent elons, or wie batter-ers—rom purchasing or possessingrearms or ammunition. We havelaws, such as the Brady Background Check, that regulatethe transer o weapons and provide the means or keep-ing guns out o dangerous hands. Te City o Sacramentoand the State o Caliornia are leaders in adopting suchlaws, which need to be expanded to other jurisdictionsor states.Last year, Sacramento City Council Member KevinMcCarty introduced a city ordinance that tracks ammu-nition sales in order to deter and detect ammunitionpurchases by criminals, gang members, and other unlaw-ul purchasers. Te ordinance requires gun dealers tomaintain a log o ammunitions sales, including identiy-ing inormation about the purchaser. Te SacramentoPolice Department cross-checks these logs with theexisting state database o prohibited persons and candetermine who is illegally buying ammo and may beillegally armed. Furthermore, the Police Departmentregularly uses the ammunition log inormation in theinvestigation o gun crime.Aer eight months o data (Jan 2008—Sept 2008), theresults are astounding. Te Sacramento Police Depart-ment reports that 117 prohibited people purchasedammunition. O these prohibited people, 80% had elony convictions and 6 were gang members. 67% o the illegalammunition purchased was primarily ammunition usedin handguns. It is important to note that handguns arethe weapons o choice or criminals.As a result o the inormation rom the ammunitionlogs, the Sacramento Police Department was able toexecute 28 search warrants and recover 56 illegal re-arms, 800+ rounds o illegal ammunition, and 3 stolenrearms. Arrests, elony charges and convictions havetaken place. Te Sacramento Police Department reportsthat “the ordinance and the enorcement program which
By Bill Durston
he National Bureau o Economic Researchdeclared in December, 2008 that the US economy is ocially in the throes o a recession, with thenation’s gross domestic product having declined or thepast two quarters. Te recession has economic expertsand political leaders, including President Obama and hisnewly assembled economic team, scratching their headsand trying to gure out how we got into this mess—andhow we can get out o it.A number o actors have been cited as contributingto the economic downturn, including the sub-primemortgage debacle, the burst o the housing bubble, thederegulation o the nancial industry, increasing energy costs, and tight credit markets. Te solution to the eco-nomic crisis, we have been told, is to spend trillions o dollars to bail out Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac,AIG, the auto industry, and other corporate interestsortunate enough to be considered by those controllingthe government purse strings as essential to an economicrecovery.But during press conerences and Congressional hear-ings concerning the country’s economic woes, there isan elephant in the roomwhich ew people seem tonotice or talk about. War isthe gigantic pachyderm thatmost pundits overlook inthe middle o our country’s economic mess. And almostno one in a position o power is suggesting, as a solutionto the current economic crisis, that we stop wasting vasthuman and nancial resources on war and preparationor war, and that we instead redirect these resourcestoward more constructive uses.We’ve spent over $800 billion already on the military invasions and occupations o Aghanistan and Iraq.Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimatesthat long-term costs will approach $3 trillion. But evenbeore the invasions o Aghanistan and Iraq, the US wasspending as much on its military as the next ten milita-rized countries o the world combined.When President Dwight Eisenhower stepped downaer his second term as President in 1960, he warned:“…we must guard against the acquisition o unwar-ranted infuence…by the military-industrial complex.Te potential or the disastrous rise o misplaced powerexists and will persist.”Few would disagree that America needs a strongdeense, but conventionalmilitary orce is noteective in combatingterrorism. And when wespend as much on ourown military as the nextten militarized countrieso the world combined,we cannot construe thisas “deense spending.”Te vast sums o money being wasted on war andpreparation or war rep-resent war proteering,enabled by “the disas-trous rise o misplacedpower” by the military-industrial complex thatPresident Eisenhowerwarned us about.No country in the history o the world, rom AncientGreece to the ormer SovietUnion, has been able toconsistently devote massivehuman and nancial resources toward war and prepara-tion or war without collapsing rom within. It wouldbe oolhardy to believe that the United States can be any exception to this rule. As the 1987 United Nations con-erence on Disarmament and Development concluded:
see Ammunition, page 6 see Economy, page 14
Last year, SacramentoCity Councilmember Kevin McCarty introduced a city ordinance that tracksammunition sales.
Follow the Bullets, Find the Guns
How Sacramento City’s ammunition ordinance helps
The Elephant in the Room
War and the economy
Even beore the invasions o Aghanistan and Iraq, the US was spending as much on its military as the next ten militarized countries o the world combined.
Laura Ligon Wilcox 1981-2001 Age 19 at the time of her death.
photo courtesy Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Your tax dollars at work: a view of the American Embassy inIraq, originally estimated at $1 billion, just one of many sink-holes into which our money is disappearing.
photo: MSNBC
2 Because People Matter January / February 2009
www.bpmnews.org
People Mater
Volume 18, Number 1
Published Bi-Monthly by theSacramento Community forPeace & JusticeP.O. Box 162998, Sacramento,CA 95816(Use addresses below forcorrespondence)
Editorial Group:
JacquelineDiaz, JoAnn Fuller, JeanieKeltner
Coordinating Editor forthis Issue:
Jacqueline Diaz
Design and Layout:
Ellen Schwartz
Calendar Editor:
Chris Bond
Advertising and BusinessManager:
Edwina White
Distribution Manager:
Paulette Cuilla
Subscription Manager:
Gordon Kennedy
HOW TO REACH US:
Subscriptions, letters,punditry:
403 21st StreetSacramento, CA 95814444-3203
Ads or other business:
446-2844
All e-mailcorrespondence:
bpmnews@nicetechnology.com
HAVE A CALENDARITEM?
Send an e-mail with “calendaritem” in the subject line. Makeit short, and in this order,please: Day, Date. Name of event. Description (1–2 lines).Time. Location. INFO: phone#;e-mail.
HAVE A STORY?
We start planning the nextissue of
BPM
the day thecurrent issue hits the streets.Let us know by e-mail as soonas you have an idea for a storyso we can consider it early in the process.
HAVE SOME TIME?
(HA HA HA!) Well, you mighthave, and
BPM
always needshelp with big and small tasks.Call 444-3203.
COPY DEADLINES:
For the Mar. / Apr. 2009 Issue:
Articles:
Tell us about yourarticle by Jan. 15; article mustbe received by Feb. 1, 2008.
Calendar Items:
Jan. 10,2008Cultural events welcome!For details, see our website,
www.bpmnews.org
BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER
is an all-volunteer endeavor to presentalternative, progressive newsand views in Sacramento. Weinvite and welcome your re-sponses. To discuss a proposedarticle, or help distribute thepaper, inquire about ad rates,or help out in some other way,call or write using the phonenumber and address listed un-der ”How to Reach Us” above.Please reproduce from any of the written contents, but docredit the author and BPM.Printed at Herald Printing byGraphics Communication UnionDC2 pressmen.
because
Editorial Page
On the cover
The Depression photographsof Dorothea Lange have amessage for us today. Theywill be on display at Sacra-mento State through March 7.See story on page 5.
Jacqueline Diaz Coordinating Editor for this issue
We appreciate your support! Please fll out this orm and mail to:
BPM, 403 21st Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
This is a great paper! I’ll gladly subscribe or a mere $20
.
WOW! You sound desperate! I’m enclosing $ extra tohelp out!
This is my opportunity to break into journalism and help get thetruth out! I’ll help: Writing, Editing, Distributing,Prooreading, Anything!
Name .......................................................................................................................Address ...................................................................................................................City .............................. Zip ....................... Phone .................................................Email .......................................................................................................................
Help keep BPM on the streets: Subscribe today! Already a subscriber? Buy a subscription to BPM or a riend or amily member! Place an ad or your business or non- prot group: continuing business card size ads are only $30 per issue.Volunteer! We need distributors to helpget the word(s) out!
Learn the true news and thenTeach Peace
Check out
www.teachpeace.com
thewebsite o the same-named organiza-tion in Davis. I you’re a teacher, you’llbe especially interested in their materi-als or teaching peace to people o allages. But here we want to point out thesite’s other extensive resources. Alongwith important articles rom the worldpress on crucial topics in the news (likeRussia, Georgia and Ossetia), there isalso an extensive library o all the latestpolitical documentaries to watch with aclick o your mouse.
by Jeanie Keltner
Cut him some slack, Jeanie, my proessorriend says, chiding my criticism o Obama. My riend had been part o that joyul victory crowdat the Raddison election night and his heart wasstill high. But that was over a month ago—andit’s hard or me to eel too optimistic about a manwho chooses a cabinet that is “almost perect”—according to Joe Lieberman! Or “reassuring”—toKarl Rove! (“Empire classic or empire lite?”
www.therealnews.com
)All the conservative pundits yelling at Obamato “govern rom the center,” to abandon his“socialistic” ideas (raising the capital gains tax?)must be overjoyed. (Why is it only when Demswin that we hear this insistent call to bipartisan-ship and the “center.”)“I don’t want to just end the war,” Obama hadsaid during the campaign. “I want to end themindset that got us into war.” But you couldn’tprove it by his cabinet choices, so many o whomhelped create our tragic situation.Already Obama’s cabinet choices—because o their connections to previous administrations—have made certain needed directions ar lesslikely. And one o those directions is BACK.Oh, how we want to believe in the changeObama promised—to believe that this country
can
and
will
change to something closer to itsideals. We long or change, and we want, many o us, to put the outrages o the Bush/Cheney regime behind us. We don’t even want to think about them any more, so tired we are o theanger/cynicism/disgust/sadness/despair suchcontemplation can arouse.And so I hear people saying, “We’ve got a newadministration. We need to turn the page, getover it, look to present tasks and the uture. Letbygones be bygones.” We want to believe that“our long national nightmare is over.” But it’s not.Somehow this country allowed the presidentand his people to break laws and violate theconstitution, to wiretap and spy on us all withoutwarrants, to arrest and hold without charges, totorture, to construct phony pretexts or real wars,to destroy countries, kill hundreds o thousandso innocent people and drive millions more intoexile, all the while pulling millions into their ownbank accounts.And now we’re going to let them just walk away? Let them go back to their ranches andlodges, suites and compounds—only just richerthan when they le? Let them come back laterinto positions o power (as the Iran-Contraculprits did) because they were not held account-able, their crimes were not exposed, evidence wasnot made public, and they did not have to answeror their illegal actions.Are those people above the law?I agree with David Swanson, co-ounder o
www.AfterDowningStreet.org
about “thenecessity o ending the Culture o Impunity. Tedemands o the people that the Bush Adminis-tration obey the Constitution, the Laws o theUnited States, and International Law have beenignored or ridiculed. I we are to have Justice,they must be called to account or their crimes.I we are to have Peace,all uture administrationsmust know that they toowill be called to accountin their turn. …[F]utureactions alone can never beenough to heal this nationand restore its place in thecivilized world unless thereis a reckoning with the past.South Arica needed itsCommissions o ruth andReconciliation beore it could move orward. Wetoo must have Accountability. Tose who havecommitted crimes must be brought to Justice. …”Swanson continues, “…A vocal social move-ment pursuing accountability or the crimes o the Bush Administration will serve
as a deterrentagainst the newly elected (or any uture) admin-istration ollowing the same path.” (Press releaserom David Swanson)Obama’s plans to leave residual troops in Iraq,to intensiy the war in Aghanistan (which is asalsely “motivated” and illegal as the war in Iraq),to conront Iran and Pakistan, and to rebuild theUS military to global supremacy suggest that asPepe Escobar said in “Empire classic or empirelite?”on TeRealNews.com, Obama is still a“conceptual prisoner o the war on terror rame-work.” What does that mean?At a recent symposium on “Te Rule o Lawand the Global War on errorism,”three inter-national law specialists, urged correction o thisconceptual misdirection:“Te phrase ‘Global War on errorism’ shouldno longer be used in the sense o an on-going‘war’ or ‘armed confict’ being waged against ‘ter-rorism.’ Nor should it serve as either the legal orsecurity policy basis or the range o counter- andanti-terrorism measures taken by the Adminis-tration in addressing the very real and presentchallenges aced by the United States and othernations in addressing terror-ism.” (“Washburn Consensuson Post-9/11 Principles,”http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/orumy/2008/11/way-orward-post-911-principles.php).A public investigation intothe Bush/Cheney Adminis-tration’s actions would go along way toward showing theexcesses and illegalities suchmisdenitions lead to. We’ve got to look back tomove orward.Well, it’s a wild understatement to say thatObama aces enormous challenges. He’s steppinginto a mineeld o tightly structured, incredibly powerul, pre-existing special interests, and i a leader does really want to change direction, itmay be sound strategy to bring in close—even tothe cabinet—people connected to past decisionsor them to eel part o the change.So I will give Obama the benet o the doubt.But o course, ultimately it’s the people thatcount. And Obama’s words roused so many people. One o the best parts o working on BillDurston’s campaign or congress was callingthe list o newly registered Dems. Judging romtheir answering machines (Wassup?!) many wereyoung—and energized and appreciative o Dur-ston’s peace and justice stance.Tey’re the ones who must make the change weneed. Can we reach them, work with them, getthem ino beyond corporate media views, keepthem energized? Against all the powers at the toparrayed against progressive change, we need tokeep pushing Obama in OUR direction.Tat means we must visit
www.change.gov/ page/s/ofthepeople
oen and share our ideasor the uture. At least now we have someonewho says he wants to hear.For progressives the struggle goes on.
Jeanie Keltner is an editor with
Because PeopleMatter
.
Looking Back to Move Forward
Painul but necessary
Oh, how we want tobelieve in the changeObama promised—to believe that thiscountry
can
and
will
change to somethingcloser to its ideals.
Thanks!
Our sincere thanks tothose of you who madecontributions to BPMthrough our holidayfundraising letter or inmemory of Rick Nadeau. You know who you are; we know who you areand we thank you!
www.bpmnews.org
January / February 2009 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 3
by Diana Tumminia
Activist, Sociologist/Philosopher, LaborAdvocate, Feminist, Environmentalist, PublicIntellectual, Blogger, Political Essayist, Jokester.Rick Nadeau died in his wie’s arms and in thecompany o a close riend on November 20,2008. A well attended public memorial servicewas held on December 13th at Sacramento StateUniversity.Rick’s spirit is loved by many or his gener-ous riendships and erocious representation o underdogs.Born in New England during WWII, Rick grew up in a Catholic working-class amily withtwo brothers and two sisters. As a young boy, heexperienced an early love or nature playing withbaby ducks and growing a garden at his riversidehome. He remembered standing up to local bul-lies who shot birds, taking away their bb gunsand chasing them home. Despite disabilities, par-ticularly severe asthma, back pain, and problemswalking, he developed such a large public pres-ence and powerul articulation or social justicethat many considered him the strongest personthey ever knew.Rick majored in sociology and philosophy,mastering a wide range o intellectual paradigmsrom Hegel to the beat poets and rom Marxistwritings to postmodernism. In college, he senthis papers to noted critical theorist, Herbert Mar-cuse, who invited him to attend graduate schoolat UC San Diego where he obtained a graduatedegree in the 1970s.His college years oered him a rst career, soto speak, as an activist, political essayist, andprotest organizer. He helped organize the rstprotests against the Vietnam War on his collegecampus and the November 1969 anti-war pro-test, aptly named the largest anti-war protest, inWashington, DC. He worked as one o the origi-nal Earth Day organizers in 1970. During 1970sand 1980s, Rick wrote or various undergroundnewspapers, OB Rag (now online), Te WholeDamn Pie Shop, Te New Indicator, ritonimes, and Daily Onion. He also worked with theAmerican anti-apartheid movement to promotereedom or Blacks in South Arica.Known or his prodigious oratory, Rick lent hishighly inormed voice to the major social justicecauses o the time, lecturing or ree in localcommunities, colleges, and political rallies. In hisspare time, he taught sociology at junior colleges.Troughout 1988-1990, he worked as eldmanager and later director o Greenpeace SanDiego. At that time, he could be seen wearinga magenta t-shirt with a whale saying “Save theHumans.” Known aectionately by locals as Mr.Greenpeace and by news crews as Mr. SoundBite, Rick made local and national news whenhe attended a press conerence, arguing againstthe Exxon Valdez being towed to San Diego. Heand others in small boats tried to stop the ExxonValdez rom docking. Rick resigned rom Green-peace when the national oce objected to hissuccessul local community organizing aroundmalathion spraying. Tey wanted him to ocuson international issues and ocial Greenpeaceissues. Beore leaving San Diego to work or aaculty union, he and others led a protest marchagainst the rst Iraqi War, an act that shockedand awed other politicos rozen by inertia.In 1990s, Rick began labor organizing anddeending aculty rights as an arbitration special-ist or the Caliornia Faculty Association (CFA).Aer many years o stellar service, he won theF. Ben Mansell Academic Rights Award orExcellence in representation in 2005. He waswell-known on all the Caliornia State campusesor his intense and dauntless advocacy o aculty rights. “Numerous CSU aculty owe their careersto his representation eorts,” said his riend, BeauGrosscup o CSU, Chico.For many years, he wrote strident letters to theeditor o the Sacramento Bee, which sparked vig-orous discussions at local coee shops and politi-cal circles. In the early morning, Rick oereddaily political analysis to a circle o riends at thelocal coee shop where he will be sadly missed.Aer retirement rom CFA, Rick joined
BecausePeople Matter
as editor and writer, adding hisloving and ery energy and insight to his articleson: immigration, Bush wars, Palestinian-Israeliconfict, the prevalence o denial in Americanpolitics—despite the eects o chemotherapy orliver cancer. In addition, he blogged or OB Rag,Media Le, and was published by Z magazine.Weeks beore he died, Rick donated his exten-sive jazz collection to CSUS music students.Wherever Rick was, he added his lie-armingcontribution. His tender-heartedness ueledhis passion or the underdog. He will be sorely missed by a large circle o amily, riends, people,animals, plants and trees.Memorial donations in his name can be madeto BPM, rees or Lie International, or rees orLie Zatoun.
By Jeanie Keltner
Do you watch Soapbox? (Ch 17-Mondays at8pm)?Have you appreciated our interest in the thingsyou’re passionate about—NEVER covered by thecorporate media?Have you enjoyed our conversations with localactivists and analysts about—among other top-ics—media consolidation, war resistance, thedeath penalty, keeping the Internet ree, peak oil,bikes, buses and light rail, the Black Panthers, vitamin D, and current politics rom a truly lepoint o view?(Even more, have you
been
on Soapbox talkingabout your issue?)Ten would you consider making a contri-bution to keep it on the screen? We have ewexpenses because everyone (almost) works only or Pieces’ heavenly pizza and undying glory.But we want to cover Access membershipees—or the show itsel and or the wonderulcrew—as well as other small expenses.imes are very hard to be sure but please, i you can, consider sending check, cash or money order to 403 21st St Sacramento 95814, madeout to me, Jeanie Keltner, since the show has nobank account (I promise to not fy to Rio with themoney).We believe Soapbox serves the progressivecommunity—and reaches the many people whodon’t pick up
BPM
or tune in to
DemocracyNow
—but who DO channel sur—and end up onSoapbox getting progressive ino almost in spiteo themselves!Any gi o $40 or more will receive a set o tenpostcard reproductions o original Keltner Pariswatercolors.PLEASE HELP US!
Richard Paul Nadeau(1944-2008)
Rick Nadeau was a dedicated member o our editorial board. During his tenure with BPM hecontributed numerous articles, worked tirelesslyon the issues he produced as coordinating editor,distributed papers and developed a great rapport with all o us because o his openness and enthusi-asm. At meetings Rick was a charmer with a sweet tooth, who could as easily serve up an analysiso world events as a home cooked meal. We arethankul or the time he chose to share with us and to his wie, Diana umminia, or welcoming usinto their home and hearts.
—BPM Editorial Board
BPM Editorial Board MemberRick NadeauDies
Soapbox
needs your help!
photo: Diana Tumminia
Add a Comment