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Quote of the Week “If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost. “ -- Aristotle Perhaps more Ramble than Rant. After a sleepy August, there’s some catching up to do. Let’s see what the news brings us the past couple of weeks……….Big Pharma teams up with the Feds to test drugs on prison inmates? Again? http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/08/13/panel_suggests_using_inmates_in_drug_trials/ Oh, the drug industry swears it’s not involved in pushing this. Yeah, right. Where will it end? And do you notice that PETA, who will jump at the chance to defend a hamster from drug testing utters not a peep about the moral failings of using the American underclass as lab rats. Ah, the economic underclass seems destined to be chattel for those able to exploit them. Immigrants, both legal and undocumented, are stuck in low wage jobs until they are used up and tossed aside. Muslims are guilty until proven innocent and everyone who LOOKS like they might be from the Middle East is a terrorist. Hell, merely being Brazilian can get you killed in the UK. Oh, then THIS http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/08/20/EDG0SJ799L1.DTL and THIS http://us.altermedia.info/news-of-interest-to-white-people/andrew-young-pulls-a-mel-gibson_1664.html . Yup, the racial yin & yang. Both Allen and Young demonstrate that there’s ground to be gained by appealing to the racial biases of the community. That’s not news. The point that needs to be made is that NEITHER Allen nor Young are the sort of people we need leading ANY organization in the country. This OP-ED piece (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/25/AR2006082501235.html ) ties many of the cold realities of the last 50 years’ worth of civil rights. He correctly acknowledges the debt that every new immigrant owes to the battles fought in the 1960s. It’s sad to be reminded that, while there are economic and educational class structures in this country, the first order determinant of class position remains the color of ones’ skin. To have George Allen and Andrew Young use and reinforce that prejudice is behavior that earns both them a special place in hell. Yes, I said it - HELL On Hiatus as everyone is wrapped up in beating George Allen!! Coming Soon to a Prison Near You? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/us/13inmates.html?hp&ex=1155528000&en=bb628469b5261e73&ei=5094&partner=homepage Republicans Preside Over Downward Mobility http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/opinion/30wed1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Electronic Election Theft http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/40755/ George Allen sings 'Hurrah! For Southern rights, hurrah!' http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/40671/ The WSJ on Why 'Macaca' Matters. http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bminiter/?id=110008828 Beyond Macaca: The Photograph That Haunts George Allen http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060911/george_allen The land of the free - but free speech is a rare commodity http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1843543,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12 01.20.09 -- http://www.bushslastday.com/ Fair Wages for Farm Workers. http://go.sojo.net/campaign/Fair_Wages The RNC should withdraw support for Sen. Allen http://pol.moveon.org/withdrawallen/?id=8462-3253888-EwtcW3w0cfllEP8TmUqM4A&t=3 Declaration of Peace http://declarationofpeace.org/ Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/business/28wages.html?hp&ex=1156824000&en=eae4ab9ab2ce13d5&ei=5094&partner=homepage Virginia Fair Wage Alliance http://www.vafairwage.org/ Guest worker programs should include strong wage protections for U.S. workers http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/ib226 Bush’s Department of Labor -- "Conservative Commentator" Unmasked, Anonymously http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2006/08/conservative_commentator_unmasked_anonymously.html FCC probes 'fake news' at U.S. TV stations http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/08/16/fake-news-probe.html U.S. Democracy and the Role of the Media http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=5300 Outreach Events around the Region Events are posted to this section on a space-available basis. Submit announcements in the format above to info@vagrassroots.org and keep ‘em short. Always include links for more info and questions. Standing Events Metro DC Progressive Network’s calendar - http://www.metnet.blogspot.com/ Got Night School -- http://www.dfalink.com/group.php?id=1118 - - - - - Wednesday, Aug. 30th, 11:30am, Richmond Labor Rally. United Food & Commercial Workers Union will hold a national rally and march while top officials and stockholders from the Smithfield Foods corporation meet here for their annual meeting. Smithfield owns the largest pig processing plant in the country, in Tar Heel, N.C. The workers, most of whom are Black or Latino, work under very brutal conditions and for years have been trying to organize a union. Even the federal National Labor Relations Board has had to admit that the company has employed viciously repressive means to stop the union drive. The union's plans so far are to rally at 11:30 a.m. at the Cedar Street Baptist Church at 23rd and Cedar streets in Church Hill. Then they'll go to the Jefferson Hotel at 101 W. Franklin St. where the Smithfield meeting will take place. They plan to march around the hotel. http://www.smithfieldjustice.com/Anual_Meeting.php Contact - philwilayto@earthlink.net Tuesday, September 5th – 21st, Camp Democracy Hits DC. See the schedule at http://campdemocracy.org/schedule Friday, October 27, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m The Virginia Organizing Project’s 3rd Annual Social Justice Bowl at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 190 Rugby Road, in Charlottesville. Please join us for a soup and bread supper, a participatory social justice quiz bowl and singing. Then take your bowl, donated by a local potter, home. More information about ticket sales later, but each ticket will cost $25. Please call Sally for more information at 434-984-4655 x229. |
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