Details emerge on Trans-Pacific Partnership

Few details have emerged as to what might be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, currently in negotiation between the US and eight Pacific countries. Now a leaked draft agreement shows the US moving to contradict 2008 campaign promises on trade. The TPP would allow foreign corporations operating in the U.S. to appeal key regulations to an international tribunal, and that body would have the power to override U.S. law and issue penalties for failure to comply with its ruling. On June 14, Democracy Now! interviewed Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, a fair trade group that posted the leaked documents on its website. Wallach called the agreement "a 'one-percenter' power tool that could rip up our basic needs and rights."

 

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"Hacking Democracy" screens in Peterborough, NH

The documentary "Hacking Democracy" will be shown on Wednesday, September 7 at the Peterborough, NH Town Library, 2 Concord Street. The film starts at 7 p.m. You can reach the library at (603) 924-8040.

The documentary, first broadcast on HBO, exposes the dangers of voting machines widely used in the US. Electronic voting machines count approximately 90% of our votes in county, state and federal elections. The technology is also increasingly being used across the world, including in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America. Filmed over three years, Hacking Democracy follows a team of citizen activists and hackers as they take on the electronic voting industry, targeting the Diebold corporation, and uncovers incendiary evidence from the trash cans of Texas to the ballot boxes of Ohio, exposing secrecy, discarded votes, hackable software and election officials rigging the presidential recount.

Ultimately proving our votes can be stolen without a trace, "Hacking Democracy" culminates in the famous 'Hursti Hack'; a duel between the Diebold voting machines and a computer hacker from Finland - with America's democracy at stake.

Even though this is not a new film, easily-manipulated electronic voting equipment continues to threaten the integrity of our elections. Come see the film and talk with others about what can be done to protect the vote.

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Humboldt Co. CA group honored for work on election transparency

Humboldt County Election Transparency Project pioneers Mitch Trachtenberg and Kevin Collins have been given the Award for Excellent Innovations in the Field of Election Transparency and Integrity from the Grace Institute for Election Integrity. The county registrar of voters, Carolyn Crnich, and two officials from neighboring Yolo County were also honored.

The Transparency Project passes every ballot cast in an election through an optical scanner after it's officially counted. Images of the ballots are then placed online along with open-source software created by Trachtenberg that allows viewers to sort and count the ballots as they see fit. Thanks to the project, election officials noticed a discrepancy in Humboldt County's vote count in the November 2008 election and ultimately discovered that almost 200 ballots disappeared from the county's final vote tally. The discovery ultimately led to California Secretary of State Debra Bowen's withdrawing the state's approval of the Premier Elections Solution system used during the election.

More info here!

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United for Peace with Justice asks for action to prevent escalation of US-Iranian conflict

The violent suppression of election protests by the current Iranian government should not be used as an excuse for cancelling direct talks between the US and Iraq. The official White House position supports these talks, and United for Peace with Justice asks that you call and sign an on-line petition to keep communication on track and to emphasize the protesters' calls for non-interference in Iran's internal affairs.

1] Call the White House at 202-456-1111 and let it know that you want Obama to stick to his promise of direct talks with Iran.

2] Sign-on to Just Foreign Policy's petition to President Obama, which urges him to keep to the principle of non-interference in Iran's internal affairs.

And to show solidarity with the people of Iran and their elementary right to protest their government's actions, UFPJ urges supporters to join up with the non-partisan United For Iran Global Day of Action, for a national rally July 25--check the website to see if there is an action near you. (Blog editor's note: The web address is http://united4iran.com, but we couldn't access the page today.)

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If you haven't invited your representative to Wednesday's briefing...

...here's some background: A new report on Massachusetts's new health insurance program has found that the state's mandated universal coverage has reached as few as half of the targeted 10% of that state's uninsured. Almost half of those directly affected by the state plan say they are no better, or worse off, than before. And high program costs are being met by cutting services at public general hospitals and clinics. Read the report here, and a press release from Physicians for a National Health Plan, authors of the report, at our headlines blog.

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Monday, December 22: National Call-in Day for HR 676, Single Payer Healthcare

Please join Healthcare-NOW! and the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Healthcare – National Single Payer Coalition Steering Committee on the first of two national call-in days to urge Congress to support HR676. The first national call-in day is Monday, December 22, and the coalition asks that you call your members of Congress at their district offices. The second will be on Thursday, January 15, and will be a Washington call-in--mark your calendar!

The coalition is also asking callers to contact Sen. Edward Kennedy's office on the 22nd. According to a letter he sent in response to a request to support HR 676, he stated "In recent weeks I have been working on legislation that will have bipartisan support and guarantee quality, affordable health care for all Americans and their families." We need to let him know that the only way to achieve this is by implementing single-payer national health care for all. Kennedy's in-district office can be contacted at Phone: 617-565-3170 / Fax: 617-565-3183. See the "read more" link below for a phone script.

Please take this opportunity to join with people across the nation and urge your members of congress to support single payer healthcare. In this economic crisis we need to be able to count on equality of care regardless of income or job situation. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. If your Representative is already a sponsor of HR 676, thank him or her. A list of sponsors, the text of the bill, and bill history link here.

Click on "read more" for tips and scripts for participants and make the call on Monday, December 22.

Tips for Single-Payer Activists participating in this effort:
We want to reach ALL members of Congress with our message. Current cosponsors should be thanked for their support and encouraged to get active behind HR 676. Non-cosponsors should be asked to get on board with HR 676 asap. Keeping calls brief and to the point is best and not only makes your members more willing to make calls but also makes logging the issue and sending a clear message to Congressional members much more efficient.

You may also wish to give your members contact information for one of your group’s “experts” on HR676, just in case the Congressional office wants more information. Or you may certainly give them Rep. Conyers’ contact information or Healthcare-NOW!'s information.

Please do keep track of your outreach efforts – especially reactions to the calls that your members may note. All of this information is critical as we track the support in Congress for HR 676. Please report back about the Call-In day to Healthcare-NOW! at info@healthcare-now.org.

Healthcare-NOW! will be sending an email to remind everyone of the call-in day on Monday, December 22nd. This email should be forwarded widely.

How to contact your representative: You can find your representatives contact information at www.votesmart.org. We recommend calling and/or faxing on this day to get your message through. If possible, request to speak to the Chief of Staff or Health Care Aid, rather than leaving the message with whomever answers the phone.

Draft scripts (activists should tweak the call scripts as appropriate for their individual groups):

HR676 Co-sponsor call: Hi, my name is _________. I am calling to thank Representative ______________ for his/her support of HR676, John Conyers’ National Health Insurance Act. Rep. Conyers plans to reintroduce HR676 shortly after the Congress is back in session in January, but I want to reaffirm my support for HR676, single payer healthcare legislation and ask Rep. _______________ to do the same by signing on again as a co-sponsor working for true reform of this terrible healthcare system. I say no to Massachusetts style health care, and yes to single payer health care as proposed in HR 676. Single payer gives more freedom of choice and access to quality care for patients and it is the most economical way to make sure we all can access care when we need it. Now is the time to give the gift of healthcare for all to every American. Happy holidays and thank you. If you have any questions about single payer or about me, please call me at __________________.

Non-co-sponsors call: Hi, my name is _______________. I am calling to urge Representative ___________________ to support of HR676, John Conyers’ National Health Insurance Act. Rep. Conyers plans to reintroduce HR676 shortly after the Congress is back in session in January, and I want to reaffirm my support for HR676, single payer healthcare legislation and ask Rep. ____________________ to do the same by signing on as a co-sponsor and working for true reform of this terrible healthcare system. I say no to Massachusetts style health care, and yes to single payer health care as proposed in HR 676. Single payer gives more freedom of choice and access to quality care for patients and it is the most economical way to make sure we all can access care when we need it. Now is the time to give the gift of healthcare for all to every American. Happy holidays and thank you. If you have any questions about single payer or about me, please call me at __________________.

Message to Senator Kennedy: Hi, my name is ______________. I am calling to urge Senator Kennedy to make his proposed legislation for health care reform single-payer. The current reform in Massachusetts is leaving thousands uninsured and is far too expensive to be sustained because it leaves profit in the middle of our health care system. In the most recent election, local ballot initiatives supporting single payer and opposing individual mandates passed by landslide margins in all ten legislative districts where they appeared. With almost all precincts tallied, roughly 73 percent of 181,000 voters in the ten districts voted YES in support of a single-payer system. Say no to Massachusetts style health care, and yes to single payer health care as proposed in HR 676. Happy holidays and thank you. If you have any questions about single payer or about me, please call me at __________________.

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AfD kicks off Medicare for All campaign

On December 4 the Alliance's National Council voted unanimously to begin a major campaign for Medicare for All (single payer health care), based nationally and by state. We are notifying all chapters, members, and supporters, to ask you to contact our Working Group on Health Care and let us know your level of involvement or interest in helping build this campaign.

Members John Noronha of Rochester and Rick LaMonica of St. Louis both attended Health Care-NOW's meeting in Chicago last week, and hope to be working closely closely with Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP,which has great materials for any of us to use for local education and outreach--power point projections, etc.)

Please take a look at the Winter '08 issue of Justice Rising, "Health for Humans--Not Corporate Profits" and use any parts of it. For speakers, contact PNHP. For any questions or suggestions, notify our Working Group through Peter Mott, AfD Secretary, at interconnect_mott@frontiernet.net or 585-381-5606. (see his recent op-ed on single-payer in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and use any part of it for your own media).

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Op-Ed on Single Payer by Peter Mott

Peter Mott, doctor, author, and AfD secretary, wrote the following op-ed for the Rochester NY Democrat and Chronicle:

Change We Need – And Can Afford

Because of the current financial crisis many observers see no point in discussing an expansion of health care coverage this year – either federal or state. Indeed, it is true that the current crisis is adding greatly to our public debt. And it is true that total health costs in the US are already twice as high per person per year as those of any other nation and rising faster. If we were to start paying to insure our 50 million uninsured – plus an estimated 40 million Americans who are underinsured – costs would escalate hugely. This would be true with any of the recent proposals for insuring the population – except one.

Believe it or not, there is one proposal which could cover all Americans for all needed services and save money. And it is now – with funds getting shorter every day – that we must explore that proposal. In truth, we cannot afford not to. Careful studies have shown that national savings would amount to $350 billion per year.

At the national level this proposal is called Medicare for All, and it is embodied in Congress as Bill HR676. In New York State it is called Single Payer New York and it is one of the options now being studied by the Governor in Albany.

The propagandists call it "socialized medicine." But it is not – because most doctors and hospitals would be private and working in their own facilities.

How could covering more people decrease total expenditures? The difference is in "administrative costs." Private insurance companies have such costs totaling 15 - 30%. Blue Cross 11%. Medicaid 5%, and Medicare 1-2%. "Administrative costs" include advertising and shareholders' profits, as well as the billing and collecting costs of hospitals, doctors' offices, labs and x-ray facilities. These become a nightmare as patients change among a variety of insurers, or when they lose insurance by changing or losing their jobs.

HR676 is an expanded Medicare for All, and it is brief, simple, uncluttered: Everyone in the country is covered. Everyone has one card. Present costs disappear completely. The patient may go to any doctor or hospital. The entire health system is paid for by taxes on corporations and a progressive income tax. It is administered by a public or quasi-public body. Health providers do their jobs and receive a fee for service with the fee scales negotiated annually.

Do private insurance companies suffer? Yes. Their roles would be limited. That part is controversial, and that's where the fight begins. Many feel that it's impossible to beat the insurance industry. But, if this is truly a democracy, who should decide such a basic public policy as this? The people or the corporations?

My own opinion, after 40 years of organizing to change the health care system, is that the private insurers have had decades in control. They have had their chance, and they have left us in a mess: Ranked 37th in the world by the World Health Organization for health care delivery; 1/3 of our population un- or under-insured; costs higher than any other nation; many parts of our population with poor care; higher morbidity and mortality rates than any other developed nation. It’s time to fight!

President-elect Obama’s health proposal is not close to Medicare for All. But he is a good listener who encourages the grassroots to speak up.

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Don't wait until it's too late!

Just go to the website www.stealbackyourvote.org to download, print, and share with fellow voters.

More info? Today's edition of NPR's On Point featured Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talking about vote suppression and which states are likely to be trouble spots.

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Three-peat for a stolen election?

Voters Unite has already logged reports of electronic voting machines flipping votes, in all but two incidents shifting votes from Obama to McCain. Their searchable database also has links to media coverage for many of these incidents.

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Problems voting? Here's some suggestions

If you have problems casting a ballot because of machine malfunctions, here's some suggestions, compiled by the folks at Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections.

Problems can include: machine problems, polling place problems (machines not set up on time), switching or closing of polling place, voters forced to vote on a provisional ballot, long lines/waits, intimidation, unusual ID demands, poll workers asking inappropriate questions, etc.

1) Video Your Vote If possible, plan ahead for any problems by bringing a video camera with you to Video the Vote. Then, spread it around (send it to us and we'll help). Remember, the focus should be on gathering evidence and not telling stories. So, use video, audio, photographs, get names and phone numbers of witnesses, as well as voting machine serial numbers, names of poll workers, and document the time of day.

2) At the First Sign of a Problem, Stop At the first sign of a problem with your machine (or if you have any other problem listed below), stop what you are doing and ask to speak to the supervisor (skip the poll worker) at your polling location. Explain your problem. If they try and wave you off, call your main election commission number and ask to speak to the election commissioner until your problem is satisfactorily addressed. Keep in mind that many poll workers/supervisors will try and blame the voter, otherwise known as "operator error." Do not leave your polling place until your problem is well-documented and addressed to your complete satisfaction and, if the problem is with the machine, that the machine is quarantined. Oh, and don't leave before you get to vote.

3) File a Report. File Several Reports. Your local polling place will have incident reports available to you. If they do not, call the main election commission for your county and ask for someone to bring one to you. Make sure that both you and the supervisor sign it. An example of a report is here (Hat tip: Wake Up and Save Your Country Voters Guide). The U.S. Election Assistance Commission also lists on their website where you can find out how to file a report in your state. Again, the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-Our-Vote can also help with any questions in this area.

4) Call the Election Protection Hotline Report your incident to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-Our-Vote, especially if you feel you are being bullied or your incident is not being taken seriously. The ACLU has a hotline as well at 1-877-523-2792. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Greg Palast offer suggestions as well in their comic StealBackYourVote.org.

5) Pledge to Stand Up to Stolen Elections Go to NoMoreStolenElections.org and pledge to not concede until every vote is counted - and counted as cast.

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During the recess: tell Congress to stop casino economics

TELL CONGRESS:

STOP THE CASINO ECONOMY

INVEST IN THE REAL ECONOMY

Members of Congress have left Washington for the campaign trail.

Now is the time to tell them you want strict regulation of Wall Street. No More Casino Economy! Like the $60 TRILLION in "credit default swaps" that are totally unregulated.

Congress must convene for a Lame Duck session in order to:

Create a Public Reconstruction and Development Bank to create jobs at home for the victims of the speculators by investing in

• energy efficiency, public transportation and decentralized solar/wind to stop the climate melt down
• our municipal water/sewer infrastructure to ensure safe, affordable drinking water for everyone
• high quality public education for all

Finance the bank by

• instituting a tax on all investment transactions including on “new financial products” such as the credit-default swaps
• heavily taxing speculator profits
• establishing progressive income and inheritance taxes
• eliminating the tax preference for capital gains
  

And tell all candidates you want their pledge to:

• Establish single payer health care to stop the hemorrhaging from unaffordable health care while private health insurers pocket the profits. Support HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act
• Fully fund public radio and TV to eliminate all corporate sponsorship and ensure unbiased reporting
• Stop the Casino Economy. There must be strict regulation for all of Wall Street, not just the banks. Congress must not allow risky transactions like the approximately $60 TRILLION in "credit default swaps" to remain unregulated.

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Make sure every vote counts!

A terrific list of to-dos and links, from United for Peace with Justice.

With the election less than a month away, now is the time to make sure that every vote is cast and counted!

In 2000 and 2004, the right-wing machine went national with voter intimidation, misinformation, and other manuevers to steal elections. Possible illegal attempts to remove or block registration are underway right now in six states. Now is the time for the antiwar movement to join election activists in communities to protect the vote. Check with local chapters of NAACP, ADC, AFL-CIO, and the ACLU for efforts already underway (see contact info below).

Resources:

• Vote Early. And encourage others to do so! Thirty states allow early voting; check if yours is one here. Early voting flags registration problems, which can then be addressed before November 4th. In addition, your time can be freed up to help get people to the polls and to be a poll monitor on Election Day.
• Register. In some states, there is still time for people to register to be able to vote in this election. Check the deadline in your state here.
• Poll Monitor. Staffing the polls allows you to be a resource for voters needing assistance and to deal with problems when they occur. Volunteer here or here to be poll monitor in your respective area.
• Join election protection efforts in swing states. Help staff election protection phones: 1-866-OUR-VOTE and, in Spanish, 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA. Or sign up here .
• Legal Assistance on November 4th. Voters have the right to complain on Election Day if they are not allowed to cast their ballot for the candidates of their choice. If they call 1-866-OUR-VOTE or, in Spanish, 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA, they will get legal assistance.
• Write letters to the editors now, giving the numbers listed above to call if voters have problems. State that stolen elections will not be tolerated! Tell your Congressperson and Senator that you take this threat to our vote seriously. Let them know that you expect them to object to the vote count in any state where there are clear examples of election fraud. For background information on what happened in 2004 in Ohio, watch this short video. Click here for an overview of the situation.
• If you have helped register new voters, ask them to confirm their registration before Election Day. Most of this can be done online. Be sure everyone has the number to call if they encounter problems on Election Day. Remind people how important it is to call when problems occur, ideally before leaving the polling station!
• Consider seeking or providing civil disobedience training for election protection volunteers. If there is conflict, it is important to be able to respond in a way that does not fuel the right-wing's desire to discredit our efforts. Thousands of people were involved in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to secure the right to vote for all. Check here for more information on nonviolent civil disobedience training, resources, and networking.
• Participate in local gatherings on November 5th to review and evaluate the process to make improvements for even better election protection during the 2010 election cycle.

For additional information and tips visit:

ACLU

AFL-CIO voter protection campaign

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Election Defense Alliance

Election Protection - massive national effort by civil rights lawyers

Just Vote 2008

NAACP

Native Vote

No More Stolen Elections

Poll workers for Democracy

Steal Back Your Vote - a comic book piece to help inspire voter protection work

Video the Vote

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Martial law?

Okay, so what exactly did Brad Sherman mean by "a few members were even told there would be martial law in America" if Congress voted down the bailout plan? In a follow-up to his comments in the House debate, Rep. Sherman said he was simply repeating an example of "the increasingly unbelievable things that had been said while the House considered the bailout package."

Not everyone's reassured, given that the Army has brought a combat team stateside for active duty here in the US, the first time military forces have been deployed on a non-emergency basis on US soil since the Civil War. After watching our civil liberties being chewed away in at atmosphere of hyperpartisan fearmongering, and following hard on the mass arrests at the Republican National Convention, it's not hard to see the groundwork being laid for even wider suppression of Constitutional rights.

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A few more articles on voting rights

Last week the New York Times found that tens of thousands of new voters have been illegally removed from the voting rolls--not because of any partisan action but because of mistakes in how states are following new regulations on registrations and voter files. Still, because the majority of new registrants are Democrats, the opposition party is going to take the biggest hit in November.

Regardless of whether human error or human malice is behind the Times's findings, there's a lot out there that stinks like a three-day fish. Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman have a net-full at FreePress.org, here. And there's a great defense of ACORN circulating c/o Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections.

Are you registered to vote? Are you sure? Check out this page at Election Defense Alliance to find out how you can confirm your voter status.

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Videos of Ohio Election Protection Conference now available online

New at Freepress.org: videos of the "As Goes Ohio ... Election Protection Conference" held September 26-28 in Columbus, Ohio, can now be viewed online here, including the keynote address by Mark Crispin Miller, author of Loser Take All and Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Elections. Click here for the full agenda for the conference. Here's a video of former Alliance national co-chair Cliff Arnebeck with an update on the the King Lincoln Bronzeville lawsuit.

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Lawsuit seeks $250,000 in damages for police raid

Former AfD national council member Ted Dooley is one of the attorneys representing Michael Whalen, whose home was raided by St. Paul police working with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security during the Republican National Convention. On Friday, Ted and fellow National Lawyers Guild attorney Peter Nickitas held a press conference to announce that they are suing the city of St. Paul on Michael's behalf, seeking $250,000 in damages. Whalen’s duplex was cordoned off, he and his tenants and guests were held at gunpoint for several hours, and no one was allowed to leave or enter the building. The reason for the raid has never been made public, although charges made on the affidavit submitted for a search warrant don't jibe with charges made by police at the site. Michael's guests included independent media journalists, some of whom were raided again elsewhere during the RNC, and some arrested attempting to document police reaction to protest at the convention.

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Rochester AfD takes action on single-payer health care

Rochester chapter organizer and Alliance council secretary Peter Mott writes:
A few years ago the Rochester Chapter formed a county-wide committee on health insurance for New York state. We have since merged with other local groups to become the Interfaith Health Care Coalition. That, in turn, became part of a state-wide campaign called Single Payer New York. Our goal is covering all New Yorkers with health insurance and from many good national and state studies it is clear that only a single payer system could actually save money over current total health costs. (Compromised plans--leaving insurance corporations alive--would greatly increase costs.

Single payer health care has been an AfD priority since our founding at Mo Ranch in Texas in 1996. At the 2007 AfD convention in Tucson we tried out a simple True/False exercise about single payer, and now have a slick version of it, "Health Care: Truths and Myths" in red, black and white, available by e-mail from afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org.

Of course the single payer system is a lethal threat to the insurance corporations, and they have more weight than we do --so far--in the State Senate and even with our Democratic Governor. We're next to Canada and visitors there see the truth about Canadian "Medicare": efficient, effective and with full experience and data since 1964. However, that doesn't prevent the corporate propagandists from bad-mouthing it. So we are now going door-to-door (with a pause for our election) to build support for a better plan for New York state.

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Quick action: urge major party candidates to end Afghani invasion

Tuesday's second major-party presidential debate also marked the seventh anniversary of the beginning of US military operations in Afghanistan. This is an anniversary often overlooked by the peace movement, which has focused mostly on the invasion of Iraq. For McCain and Obama, Afghanistan has become our "good war," although the goals of the invasion there have not been met: al-Qaeda is still active, Osama bin Ladin is still at large, and the lives of the Afghan people are not measurably better today than they were in 2001.

United for Peace and Justice, of which the Alliance is a member group, is urging activists to contact the major party presidential candidates and demand a "surge in diplomacy" to set goals and bring troops home. You can reach the Obama campaign at 866-675-2008, or at
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2; and the McCain campaign at 703-418-2008, or http://www.johnmccain.com/Contact/. UFPJ's resources and talking points are here.

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Another member LOE on the economic crisis: "Stock market is not the economy"

This letter comes from Alliance supporter Mary Lynn Cramer in Massachusetts, and was published by the Arlington (MA) Advocate; a slightly shorter version was published by the Boston Globe. Mary wrote a related article for Counterpunch; you can read it here.

In the midst of bursting financial bubbles, it is important to acknowledge the underlying economic crisis we have been experiencing for quite sometime. The stock market is not the economy! With regard to the economy, the real income and wages of working people have been declining since the early 1970s. The same could be said of the profit rate of leading U.S. industries, which decreased over the same period of time, prior to the invasion of Iraq. Due to inflation, direct wage cuts, lay-offs, and longer workdays, the real value of workers incomes has continued to shrink.

Cuts in production in major industries, plant closings, and lay-offs beginning in the 1970s continue to date. This real economic crisis preceded the current crises in speculative investments, inflated financial instruments and fraudulent loan practices. These bogus operations attracted money that would otherwise have been invested in real economic production, had equally profitable opportunities existed for investment in real economic expansion. From the “.com’s” to the “AIGs,” their inflated value existed only on paper and represented no increase in real material wealth or economic production.

It may relieve our anxiety to point fingers at the “bad guys” on Wall Street, and the supporters of “deregulation” (beginning with Clinton); but what is needed is an understanding of the ongoing economic crisis underlying the bursting of empty financial bubbles. We need to face the reality that in times of deep, prolonged economic crisis, historically war, inflation, financial speculation and government intervention have been the tools used to redistribute economic resources away from “consumers” and into the hands of corporations in an attempt to make economic production profitable again. Bursting bubbles are the sexy foam that distracts us from the underlying material economic reality.

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