Tidbits and Announcements- June 19, 2012

 * CORRECTION -June 18 post - Some Lessons of 1989's East
   European Revolutions by a U.S. Peace Activist - Had some
   mistakes in presentation
 * Re: Tidbits & Reader Response - Fracking in Pennsylvania 
  (Maren Stange)
 * Re: Tidbits & Reader Response - Lesson for the Left: How 
   the Tea Party Organized Wisconsin (Carl Davidson)
 * Re: Vagina, Vagina, Vagina - Lisa Brown's censure (Jay 
  Jurie)
 * Southern Worker now online (Dick J. Reavis)
 * Teach-In on Iran - June 28 - New York City
 * Karl Marx bank cards prove hit in eastern Germany (Reuters)

 ==========

 * CORRECTION -June 18 post - Some Lessons of 1989's East
 European Revolutions by a U.S. Peace Activist - Had some
 mistakes in presentation

 The author Joanne Landy.

 The first two paragraphs were repeated.

 This article will appear in the forthcoming summer 2012
 print issue of New Politics. IT is now available online at:
http://www.newpol.org/node/632

 We apologize to our readers and to the author.

 ==========

 * Re: Tidbits & Reader Response - Fracking in Pennsylvania

 Could Steven Spielman please say where in PA he is writing
 about? Thx!

 Maren Stange

 ===

 * Re: Tidbits & Reader Response - Lesson for the Left: How
 the Tea Party Organized Wisconsin

 I'm responsible for adding the kicker headline, 'Lessons for
 the Left' to the story about the Tea Party's organizing
 strength in Wisconsin. I agree that the left has nothing
 comparable by way of an independent effort in the electoral
 arena. We have a few groups like Progressive Democrats of
 America, but they have yet to be taken as seriously by the
 wider left as the right takes the Tea Party. Perhaps I was
 too subtle, but that was precisely the pointed 'lesson' I
 thought was to be learned from this excellent piece of
 analysis.  --

 Carl Davidson

 ==========

 * Re: Vagina, Vagina, Vagina - Lisa Brown's censure

 Michigan State Rep. Lisa Brown's censure by the Michigan
 Legislature for using the word "vagina" is not the first
 time a state legislator has been censured by Republicans for
 referring to female body parts.

 In a similar controversy about abortion on the floor of the
 Florida House several months ago, Rep. Scott Randolph (D-
 Orlando) was censured by Republicans for daring to use the
 word "uterus."  Rep. Randolph then turned what happened into
 political capital, making the Republican censors look as
 foolish as they are.

 Jay D. Jurie

 ==========

 * Southern Worker now online

 Every issue of the Southern Worker, a newspaper
 clandestinely published by the Communist Party in Birmingham
 and Chattanooga from 1930-37, is now online at:

http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/southernworker/index.htm

 The accompanying materials include an index, in both Word
 and Excel, an Introduction, providing background about the
 CP's Southern campaign, and a Reader which reproduces a few
 SW stories and letters from readers. The indexes include
 every proper noun which appeared in the SW. Even small towns
 were mentioned in its coverage.

 The SW did groundbreaking and courageous work on racial
 issues. The whole package that's now on the web is
 supportive of the theory of the Long Civil Rights Movement.

 Producing the work that the Marxist Internet Archive has now
 put online took me about three years. I hope that several of
 you will conclude that the effort was worthwhile.

 Dick J. Reavis

 ==========

 * Teach-In on Iran - June 28 - New York City

 Thurs 6/28, 7-9 pm

 Featuring: 
 
 * Phyllis Bennis: fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies
 and Middle East expert, author of numerous books, including
 Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer and Ending the US
 War in Afghanistan: A Primer. Books will be available for
 signing.

 * Nima Shirazi, political analyst and blogger on Wide Asleep
 in America, which provides well researched and incisive
 commentary on current events in Iran, Israel and Palestine.

 Q & A following the presentations.

 Unitarian Church of All Souls, (Reidy Friendship Hall), 
1157 Lexington Ave @80th St, Manhattan 
Train: 4/5/6 to 86th St; 6 to 77th Street

 Admission Free!

 Light refreshments available at 6:30 pm

 Sponsors: Peace & Justice Task Force of the Church of All
 Souls, and Granny Peace Brigade

 Endorsed by: Brooklyn For Peace, United for Peace & Justice,
 Code Pink, WILPF-NYC Metro, Veterans for Peace, Peace Action
 Staten Island, Jewish Voice for Peace, American Iranian
 Friendship Committee, Black Radical Congress, War Resisters
 League-NYC, Peace Action Manhattan

 ==========

 * Karl Marx bank cards prove hit in eastern Germany

 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/15/us-germany-marx-idUSBRE85E0VQ20120615

 (Reuters) - Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall,
 some eastern Germans are once again carrying round images of
 Karl Marx - if only in their pockets.

 The disappearance of communist former East Germany has not
 deterred them from using credit cards emblazoned with the
 image of the man who foretold the end of capitalism and the
 triumph of communism.

 More than a third of customers at Sparkasse bank in Chemnitz
 opted for the picture of a bronze bust of the bearded 19th
 century German-born philosopher, bank spokesman Roger Wirtz
 said.

 Marx's stern face is depicted gazing towards the logo of
 Mastercard.

 Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, citizens of Chemnitz -
 then known as Karl-Marx-Stadt - and the rest of East Germany
 would have seen Marx's face on their 100-Mark banknotes.

 Flattened during World War Two, Chemnitz was rebuilt as a
 model socialist city and still boasts a seven meter-tall
 bust of Marx in its center. The city has been economically
 depressed since the end of communism and its population has
 shrunk by 20 percent.

 The east has witnessed a wave of nostalgia in recent years
 for aspects of the old East Germany, or DDR, where citizens
 had few freedoms but were guaranteed jobs and social
 welfare. The trend is not limited to the region.

 "We've even received inquiries from clients in western
 German states asking whether they could open a local account
 with us to get a card bearing Marx's features," Sparkasse's
 Wirtz told Reuters.

 A 2008 survey found 52 percent of eastern Germans believed
 the free market economy was "unsuitable" and 43 percent said
 they wanted socialism back.

 (Reporting by Sophie Duvernoy; Editing by Gareth Jones and
 Andrew Roche)

 The next question is: where do I sign up for mine?

 [thanks to Dan Ptak for sending this to Portside]

 ==========

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