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Ethan Young | 1 Jul 2003 02:00
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RE: Nader Possible Green Candidate 2004

Nader is taking sides in a longstanding dispute between California Nurses
Association--which endorsed him in 2000, and is active in the Labor Party
(and a big supporter of single payer)--and SEIU. Is SEIU doing the nasty
with health corporations to squeeze out CNA?
Ask Labor Notes.

ethan young

-----Original Message-----
From: John Lacny [mailto:jlacny <at> earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 1:30 PM
To: marxist <at> yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re:[marxist] Nader Possible Green Candidate 2004

Aside from the overall political stupidity of such a move (given the gravity
of the situation we face, and which we ignore at our peril), I am also
unimpressed by Nader's recent anti-union antics:

http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/03/37/news-schou.php

John Lacny

"The Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and
submission. Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder
exhausted the land, they also rifle the seas. If the enemy be rich, they are
rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the
west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal
eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the
lying name of empire; they make a desolation and call it peace."
-- Calgacus of Caledonia, quoted by Tacitus
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Easy | 1 Jul 2003 08:33

Proportional Representation More Democratic in Scotland & Wales

"Full representation" describes voting systems in which groupings of voters elect seats in fair
proportion to their share of the popular vote ... Ten percent or thirty percent of the vote wins
correspondingly ten percent and thirty percent of the seats, ... Full representation produces more
representative legislatures, which in turn produces truly representative policy, as well as the
potential to define and change the direction of that policy.

Full representation has given Scottish and Welsh voters unprecedented freedom to express their
political preferences.

In the United Kingdom, full representation also has been adopted for elections to the European
Parliament, London city council, and the new regional assembly in Northern Ireland. A blue ribbon
commission has recommended full representation for the UK's national parliament.

Full representation already has taken root in U.S. soil. In 2000, for example, Amarillo, Texas became the
largest city to use a full representation system called cumulative voting. The results have been
uplifting. After being all-white for two decades, the seven-member school board now has two Latinas and
one African-American. Women have won more seats, and turnout has surged. 
+++

Progressives can learn from Scotland and Wales 
By Steven Hill
July 01, 2003

ZNet Commentary 

Progressives, people of color, and women advocates, stuck in the doldrums of Bush's America, should look
toward Scotland and Wales for relief. Grounded in new "full representation" voting systems that provide
multi-party democracy, elections this May showed the value of voting system reform.

In contrast to the United States, where the number of women in Congress is stuck at 14 percent and declining
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Hunter Gray | 1 Jul 2003 11:07
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On BLM and Liberty [update on The Wild West Ethic and the Crucible of Paranoia]

On BLM matters [update on The Wild West Ethic and the Crucible of Paranoia]

Note by Hunterbear:

Back at the very beginning of January, I posted a piece which drew much
comment:  "The Wild West Ethic and the Crucible of Paranoia."  It involved
an obviously negative report regarding me given by a suspicious neighbor to
the U.S. Bureau of Land Management which then jumped into the situation --
only to back quickly away when its field staff determined pronto that a very
weird misreading had taken place. My original piece is attached herewith.

I do want to make it very clear that we have always -- for all of my life --
gotten along extremely well with the United States Forest Service [with
which I've worked on many occasions] and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
as well.  Thus this misunderstanding was, however momentarily, quite
unsettling.

We do not in any sense, of course, share any of the anti-USFS and anti-BLM
perceptions of the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, the various crackpot
paramilitary groups, the survivalist types etc. et al.  Locally,  close
friends of ours are a young BLM mining engineer and his wife and children.
Recently, as concerns mounted in this area about rampant vehicular ["four
wheelers," etc] violation of BLM closure periods  to such vehicles -- e.g.,
November 15 to May 15 -- I wrote a very detailed letter, based on literally
160 substantial treks in the BLM and USFS areas during that specific period.
I attested to the fact that there have been multiple violations of the BLM
closure in the regions closest to Pocatello. There hasn't been any
particular problem 'way back in the really far up and very rugged turf into
which I regularly go.  Few trails -- if any -- exist there and in the winter
the snow and ice are profoundly inhibiting to anyone except me and my dog
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John Lacny | 1 Jul 2003 11:46
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Re: Nader Possible Green Candidate 2004

Ethan Young asks:

> Is SEIU doing the nasty with health 
> corporations to squeeze out CNA? 
> Ask Labor Notes.

Silly me, I had assumed that the US left had made up its mind over a century ago about the question of craft vs.
industrial unionism.  Apparently I was wrong. 

John Lacny

"The Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission. Robbers of the
world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they also rifle the seas. If the enemy be
rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able
to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery,
slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a desolation and call it peace."
-- Calgacus of Caledonia, quoted by Tacitus

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--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

Community email addresses:
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ProLibertad Campaign | 1 Jul 2003 16:50
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ProLibertad Freedom Picnic

The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign is calling on all our allies and supporters 
to help us raise money for our Campaign work and for our Commissary Fund for 
the Puerto Rican Political Prsoners!!  Check out the follwoing activities 
and lend your support!!

The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign
ProLibertad <at> Hotmail.com
http://ProLibertadWeb.tripod.com
Manhattan 212-927-9065
Bronx 718-601-4751
New Jersey 201-435-3244
__________________________________________________________________________________

SATURDAY JULY 19TH, 2003 AT 9AM
COME TO THE PROLIBERTAD FREEDOM PICNIC
AT HIGHLAND POOLS IN RINGWOOD, NEW JERSEY

Bring your swimming trunks for the chemical free stream fed ponds!!  We will 
have food, FUN, music, dancing, games, sports and relaxation!! Help us raise 
money for the Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Commissary Fund!!

Meet at the corner of w179th St. and Broadway at 9am to catch one of our 
Freedom Vans to HighLand pools!! $20 for Transportation from NYC for adults 
and $15 for children, Entrance to HighLand Pools and Food.  Contact 
ProLibertad to reserve a seat on our Freedom Vans by calling 718-601-4751 or 
email ProLibertad <at> Hotmail.com
__________________________________________________________________________________

SATURDAY JULY 26TH, 2003 AT 6PM
CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSAY OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
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John Lacny | 1 Jul 2003 19:25
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How the revolution was made in Stamford, CT

This article was written by a very good friend of mine.  If you read only one article on organizing this year,
this should be it.  I'm dead serious.

I'd be remiss if I also didn't include information on how to subscribe to New Labor Forum, the intelligent
and innovative publication that published this.  Please don't just forward this piece around without
including subscription info -- and in fact, it may be better, especially when posting to lists that are
publicly available on the web, to simply provide people with a weblink rather than the full text.  (I
include it here because this list has private archives).  

Here is the info on how to subscribe to New Labor Forum:

Journals Customer Service
Taylor and Francis
325 Chestnut Street Suite 800
Philadelphia
PA 19106

Tel: 215-625-8900 ext. 216
Toll free within the United States: 1-800-354-1420 ext. 216
Fax: 215-625-8914

Web: www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10957960.html
Email: customerservice <at> taylorandfrancis.com

**********
http://www.qc.edu/newlaborforum/html/12_article23.html

New Labor Forum, Spring 2003 

It Takes a Community: Building Unions From the Outside In
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Easy | 1 Jul 2003 22:23

Sabra and Shatila massacre - open letter to survivors

After seeing this, twenty years later, with my naked eye, there was no 
doubt in my mind that the Israeli Defence Forces officials and soldiers, 
using sophisticated binoculars, could clearly see what was happening in 
those camps.

I saw the walls that had bullet holes where mass executions occurred.

Planning and coordination had to occur.

The mass grave, at the end of the main street

It was then that I saw the silent grieving of loved ones. I realized, 
sadly, that yet another generation of Palestinian refugees was growing 
up in those deplorable camps.

You once thrived in villages in mainly northern Palestine. You farmed, 
harvested crops, and raised livestock. You were self-supporting. 
Throughout this incredible ordeal of becoming a refugee you have 
remained strong and proud. You have not lost your dignity. I have only 
the greatest respect for you.

You are such patient people. You wait to return to your homeland, you 
wait for justice. Every once in a while there is a ray of hope, like 
when Belgium passed an anti-atrocity law. You thought that Ariel Sharon, 
Amos Yaron and others responsible for that massacre would be tried as 
war criminals.

This massacre could not happened without Israel's active participation 
under the command of Ariel Sharon, Amos Yaron, and others. Israel 
prevented terrified residents from leaving, they supplied the flares to
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Ethan Young | 2 Jul 2003 00:50
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RE: Nader Possible Green Candidate 2004

Are you saying that SEIU should squeeze out CNA because it's industry-wide
and CNA is a mere guild? This is a new approach to labor politics... or
maybe one that's a century out of time.

Not to bad-guy SEIU, but its politics are to CNA's what Gompers' were to
Debs'. Both are legit unions with members, contracts and everything.
ey

-----Original Message-----
From: John Lacny [mailto:jlacny <at> earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 5:47 AM
To: marxist <at> yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [marxist] Nader Possible Green Candidate 2004

Ethan Young asks:

> Is SEIU doing the nasty with health
> corporations to squeeze out CNA?
> Ask Labor Notes.

Silly me, I had assumed that the US left had made up its mind over a century
ago about the question of craft vs. industrial unionism.  Apparently I was
wrong.

John Lacny

"The Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and
submission. Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder
exhausted the land, they also rifle the seas. If the enemy be rich, they are
rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the
(Continue reading)

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jacdon | 2 Jul 2003 01:47
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Iraq's Day Will Dawn Again

IRAQ'S DAY WILL DAWN AGAIN

By Jack A. Smith, July 1, 2003

It's going to be an exceptionally long, hot summer for the U.S. army of
occupation in Baghdad and the Bush administration in Washington. After
three weeks of high-tech war and 12 weeks of a postwar occupation
characterized by low-tech bungling and bullying, this article will
attempt to connect the various elements presently at play in both
capitals.

In Baghdad, the average high temperature in July and August is 110
degrees, but the most searing heat emanates from • the low-intensity but
politically volatile guerrilla war waged against the occupation forces
by Arab Sunnis and their allies in central Iraq; • sharp disagreements
with U.S. occupation policy and the possibility of a revolt by the
majority Shi'ites in the south; • the contradictions inherent in Kurdish
intentions in the north; and • popular antagonism toward an occupying
force seemingly incapable of restoring the electrical and water supplies
or of observing basic proprieties toward a subject people and their
culture.

In Washington, the muggy heat of summer is irrelevant compared to the
crisis confronting the White House deriving from • the unexpectedly
fierce opposition to the Pentagon's occupation, and the mounting
coalition death toll ( by July 1, some two dozen American and six
British soldiers have been killed by resistance fire since President
Bush proclaimed combat to be over May 1, and scores more have died in
other circumstances); • the collapse of plans for the speedy
establishment of a puppet government responsive to the U.S. colonial
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sam4wp | 2 Jul 2003 02:54

Rnote on Cuba and HIV

A discussion arose on another list in which somebody made claims about Cuba's success in holding off HIV.  I
think it may be of interest here as well.

I sent the following to them:

One should be very cautious in claiming that Cuba's success on AIDS is due to anything about its socialism. 
In part, I say this because I see nothing socialist about Cuba.

Mainly, I say it because I know a fair amount about AIDS.  There are other countries which also have kept
infection rates very low.  

For example, consider Mauritania, in northwest Africa, quoting from www.unaids.org reports that are
available for each country:
There was no evidence of HIV infection among antenatal clinic women in Nouakchott, the major urban area, in
1987-88. In 1993-94, 0.5% of
antenatal clinic women tested in Nouakchott were positive for HIV. In 2001, ANC attendees tested for HIV in
non-specified geographic locations
had an HIV prevalence of 0.52%.
There is no information on HIV prevalence in sex workers. In 1993-94, 0.9% of male STI clinic patients
tested in Nouakchott were positive for
HIV.
In 2001, 11,666 STI syndromes were diagnosed in Mauritania of which 28.6% were vaginal discharges, 22.8%
were urethral discharges, 26.8%
were PIDs and 21.7% were genital ulcerations.

Even the Philippines may be a case in point (though the data are disputed by some folks):
The Philippines remains a low HIV prevalence country. Since the first cases of HIV/AIDS were reported in
1984, 1,515 HIV infections, including
508 AIDS cases and 196 HIV/AIDS-related deaths, had been reported as of June 2001. An estimated 9,400
people were believed to be living
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Gmane