PORTSIDE List

Event Announcement, NYC

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-07T22:20:20-04:00

Event Announcement, NYC

"Ultimately, America's answer to the intolerant man is
diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious
freedom has inspired."

- Robert F. Kennedy

PLEASE JOIN NEW YORK NEIGHBORS FOR AMERICAN VALUES

CANDLELIGHT VIGIL

Friday, September 10

7:15 pm (sundown)

Meet at the intersection of Church Street and Park Place

On the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, we will join together in
support of the American constitutional values of religious
freedom, diversity, and equality, and the rights of Muslim
Americans to build a community center at 51 Park Place. [...]

France: Behind the Expulsion of the Roma

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-07T22:19:32-04:00

France: behind the expulsion of the Roma

By Olivia Miljanic and Robert Zaretsky
Le Monde diplomatique
September 3, 2010

http://mondediplo.com/blogs/france-behind-the-expulsion-of-the-roma

On both sides of the Atlantic, commentators and activists
have reacted with growing fury to the French government's
expulsion of hundreds of Roma, or Gypsies, to Bulgaria and
Romania. Many critics liken these expulsions - as well as the
threat to strip lawbreakers of their French citizenship - to
the deportations of Jews organised by France's Vichy regime
during the second world war. It's hard to know what is more
outrageous: the policies practiced by President Sarkozy or
the analogies [...]

Two Articles on General Strike in India

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-07T22:18:52-04:00

Two Articles on General Strike in India

General Strike Brings Most of India to a Halt

By Ana Luisa Brown
Prensa Latina
September 7, 2010

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=218438&Itemid=1

New Delhi

About 100 million workers joined the 24 hours general strike
called by eight Trade Unions in India, protesting against the
rise of price and privatizations.

According to the president of the National Congress of Indian
Trade Unions G. Sanjeeva Reddy the strike is being felt in
transportation, mining, electricity, telecommunications,
bank, oil, port and other sectors which are not organized
like construction. [...]

Summer of Our Sporting Discontent

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-07T22:18:20-04:00

Summer of our Sporting Discontent

By Dave Zirin
The Nation
September 7, 2010

http://www.thenation.com/blog/154545/summer-our-sporting-discontent?rel=emailNation

By any measure this country is in an ugly mood. Double- digit
unemployment and a growing sense that the environment,
economy, and empire are heading south, has Americans walking
with a stoop and a scowl. We have seen this national agenda
expectorate into the world of sports. The sporting summer of
2010 was supposed to be a joyous festival of the World Cup,
historic baseball pennant races, and the most dynamic NBA
free agent period in sports history. Instead, the nation's
fever dream has become the [...]

Reader Responses: All-Out for 10/2/10

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-07T22:17:43-04:00

READER RESPONSES:

Why it Must Be All-Out for 10/2/10, by Mark Solomon

= = = = =

CORRECTION

Many of you have pointed out that in the body of the article,
October 10th is erroneously mentioned as the date of the "One
Nation Working Together" rally in Washington DC. As stated in
the article's title, the correct date of the event is
Saturday, October 2, 2010.(moderator) [...]

Readers' Responses for September 6, 2010

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-06T20:55:41-04:00

Readers' Responses
1. Re: Synthetic Biology: Harbinger of an Uncertain Future?
2. Re: Synthetic Biology: Harbinger of an Uncertain Future?
3. Re: Guyana's Post-Colonial Pligh

===
1.
Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010
From: Charles
Re: Synthetic Biology: Harbinger of an Uncertain Future?

Here's a dose of reality I humbly offer for
consideration at this juncture.

Although my background is mostly rooted in materials
science, and more recently, what is now referred to as
nanotechnology, the emergence of synthetic biology has
been ongoing for well over a decade in many locations,
including here at UC Berkeley. [...]

Six Songs for Labor 2010

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-06T20:55:02-04:00

Six Songs for Labor 2010
Date: Mon, 6 Sept 2010
From: James H. Williams

Labor Day 2010

Mayn Rue Platz

By Morris Rosenfeld sung by June Tabor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjpEJ-X2WsU&feature=related

Millworker by James Taylor.

Sung by Bruce Springsteen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lNNMb_7qcE

Solidarity Forever by Ralph Chaplin

Sung by UAW members at Ford Auto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTarc1si2fQ

Part of the Union by the Strawbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NniiRALdKU8

Labour Day song--the Nightwatchmen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH1UYpq-dRc&feature=related

Step by Step-Jackson Browne [...]

Labor Day, the Kaiser Permanente Elections and the Fight for Democracy

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-06T20:53:11-04:00

Labor Day, the Kaiser Permanente Elections and the
Fight for Democracy

Faith Simon, RN, FNP and Cal
Winslow interview Ed Sadlowski

By Cal Winslow

Monday, September 06, 2010

Znet
http://www.zcommunications.org/labor-day-the-kaiser-permanente-elections-and-the-fight-for-democracy-by-cal-winslow

Labor Day Weekend, Oakland, CA:

We spent several hours with Ed Sadlowski, this Labor
Day weekend. Sadlowski is the former steelworker
rebel, the man who at age 38 almost dethroned the
incumbent president of the United Steelworkers Union
(USW), then 1.4 million members strong, an industrial
workers' powerhouse since the thirties. [...]

Reviving Workers' Rights in a New Economy

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-06T20:54:22-04:00

Reviving Workers' Rights in a New Economy

Amy B. Dean

Co-Author, "A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will
Reshape the American Labor Movement"

Posted: September 6, 2010
http://www.amybdean.com/

This Labor Day, we must consider how a new generation
of unions can become relevant in a transformed economy.

Every Labor Day, we hear about the landmark
achievements of working people and their unions.
Advocates of the past successfully worked to prohibit
child labor and to create the 40-hour workweek. They
closed sweatshops and ended systems of industrial
homework, in which factory employees were made to do
labor-intensive tasks for businesses [...]

The Deficit Worth Worrying About

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-06T20:53:49-04:00

The Deficit Worth Worrying About

By Judith Stein

Philadephia Inquirer

Sep. 6, 2010

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100906_The_deficit_worth_worrying_about.html

It won't be a good Labor Day for America's jobless.
August's employment report showed the economy was still
losing jobs (54,000 of them in the month), underscoring
the weakness of the recovery.

Politicians debate the consequences of the budget
deficit, but it's the trade deficit that accounts for
meager American growth and employment. Global
imbalances - especially the U.S. trade deficit and
Chinese surplus - were at the root of the financial
crisis in 2008. [...]

Collapse of Kabul Bank Points to Fatal Corruption of Karzai Government

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-05T23:57:09-04:00

Collapse of Kabul Bank Points to Fatal Corruption of
Karzai Government
by Juan Cole
Informed Comment
September 3, 2010
http://www.juancole.com/

I write in anger. Not blind rage, mind you. A cool,
searing, steady anger. I think it is a righteous anger.
It is not consequential, but it is my reality. I am
angry about the 1,172 US troops dead in the Afghanistan
War, and all the other brave NATO and Afghan soldiers
who gave their lives for a new Afghanistan. Because they
haven't gotten a new Afghanistan. They have paid the
ultimate sacrifice for a ponzi scheme masquerading as a
[...]

Peruvian President Fujimori's Right-Hand Man Was a Gun Runner and Drug Dealer -- and Employed by the U.S.

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-05T23:56:39-04:00

Peruvian President Fujimori's Right-Hand Man Was a
Gun Runner and Drug Dealer -- and Employed by the U.S.
By Coletta Youngers
Foreign Policy In Focus
September 3, 2010
http://www.fpif.org/blog/peru_drug_dealer_gun_runner_CIA_Montesinos_Fujimori

A Supreme Court verdict in Peru this week once again
shows how the U.S. government has engaged in unholy
alliances -- often with those involved in the very drug
trade it claims to be combating -- in order to further
its short-term drug policy objectives and to the
detriment of broader U.S. foreign policy goals. [...]

Guyana's Post-Colonial Plight

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-05T23:55:56-04:00

Guyana's Post-Colonial Plight
Still beset by ethnic divisions 45 years after
independence from Britain, the country's labor
movement is now offering `bold leadership,'
according to scholar Perry Mars
By Bill Fletcher, Jr.
In These Times
August 13, 2010
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6309/guyanas_post-colonial_plight/

Most Americans are unfamiliar with Guyana and its
politics, despite the fact that the United States has
been influencing events in the small South American
nation for decades. Over the past half-century, both the
United States and Britain repeatedly intervened in order
to frustrate independence and anti-imperialist political
movements, including undermining Cheddi Jagan and his
Marxist-oriented People's Progressive Party (PPP). [...]

Synthetic Biology: Harbinger of an Uncertain Future?

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-05T23:55:25-04:00

Synthetic Biology: Harbinger of an Uncertain Future?
By Malcolm Dando
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
16 August 2010
http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/malcolm-dando/synthetic-biology-harbinger-of-uncertain-future

It is hard to imagine that only three years ago, back in
2007, there was such a lack of awareness of dual-use and
related biosecurity issues among practicing life
scientists. Even the Biological and Toxin Weapons
Convention (BTWC) was almost unknown. For me, this brand
of unawareness was confirmed when, that year, Alexander
Kelle attended "Synthethic Biology 3.0", an
international convention on synthetic biology that was
held in Zurich, and interviewed some of the leaders in
the field on dual-use and [...]

Fisk Says It Must Sell O'Keeffe Art Collection to Survive

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-05T23:54:49-04:00

Fisk Says It Must Sell O'Keeffe Art Collection to Survive
By: Jennifer Brooks
The Root
September 1, 2010
http://www.theroot.com/views/fisk-university-owns-nashville-s-greatest-public-art-collection

In October, a judge will decide whether saving one means
sacrificing the other.

Fisk University is on the brink. The endowment of the
tiny, historic school in Nashville, which opened its
doors to newly freed slaves in 1865, is depleted. Every
building on the campus where poet Nikki Giovanni,
historian John Hope Franklin, and educator and activist
W.E.B. Du Bois were educated has been mortgaged. [...]

Middle East Peace Process - Reality or Charade?

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-04T21:20:34-04:00

Left Margin

Middle East Peace Process - Reality or Charade?

By Carl Bloice
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board
Black Commentator
September 1, 2010

http://www.blackcommentator.com/391/391_lm_mideast_reality_charade.php

The way the major mass media tells it, the only
significant dissenting Palestinian voice about the
wisdom of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepting
the invitation to travel to Washington for talks with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S.
President Barack Obama is the militant group Hamas.
Not by a long shot. Eleven groups, including the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, the General Command [...]

Why it Must Be All-Out for 10/2/10

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-04T15:47:12-04:00

Why it Must Be All-Out for 10/2/10

By Mark Solomon

About three years ago Portside posted an article,
"Let's Build The Mother of All Coalitions." The article
stressed the urgent need to end the near-fatal
fragmentation of progressive movements. It called for a
unified, coherent and effective coalition to counteract
the dangerous growth of the right wing and to finally
offer a focused multi-issue vision and program to win a
latent progressive majority to engagement in battle for
a better country and world. [...]

REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-04T15:44:38-04:00

REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
August 29, 2010

'Mr. Obama also needs to inspire Americans who have
been ground down by the economic crisis and
Washington's small-bore sniping. He needs to rally the
nation around a big idea - a project that is worth
sacrificing for, worth paying for, worth working for.
One that lets them know that there is more ahead than
just a return to a status quo of lopsided growth in
which corporate profits surge while jobs and incomes
lag. [...]

Labor Day Heroes

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-04T12:33:24-04:00

Labor Day Heroes

By Dick Meister

Let's pause for a moment this Labor Day to recognize
some of our most important, yet most maligned workers.

They're teachers and librarians, police officers and
firefighters. They're bus drivers, doctors and nurses.
Judges and lawyers, landscape gardeners and arborists.
They're laborers and other maintenance and construction
workers . . .

They are, of course, public employees. There are
millions of them, who every day perform many thousands
of the essential tasks that keep our country going. [...]

Blair Should Take Responsibility for Iraq. But He Won't. He Can't

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-04T12:27:41-04:00

Blair Should Take Responsibility for Iraq. But He
Won't. He Can't

By Robert Fisk
The Independent (UK)
September 3, 201o

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-blair-should-take-responsibility-for-iraq-but-he-wont-he-cant-2069231.html

Has this wretched man learned nothing? On and on, it
went during his BBC interview: "I would
absolutely...","I definitely...", "I believed
absolutely clearly...", "It was very, very clear that
this changed everything" - "this" being 11 September
2001 - "Let me state clearly and unequivocally", "The
Intelligence picture was clear...", "legal
justification was quite clear", "We said completely
accurately... "Because I believed strongly, then and
now...", "My definitive view in the end is..." You
would have thought we won [...]

On Labor Day, Work to Save the Middle Class

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T20:21:50-04:00

On Labor Day, Work to Save the Middle Class

By Leo Gerard
September 3, 2010
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010093503/labor-day-work-save-middle-class

This Labor Day feels gloomy. It’s a celebration of work
when there is not enough of it, a day off when too many
desperately seek a day on.

America has commemorated two Labor Days since this
brutal recession began near the end of George Bush’s
presidency in December of 2007. Now the relentless high
unemployment, the ever-rising foreclosures, the
unremitting wage and benefit take-backs have replaced
American optimism and enthusiasm with fear and anger. [...]

Labor Day: Immigrants Build the U.S. Economy

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T20:21:33-04:00

Labor Day: Immigrants Build the U.S. Economy

Mark Engler - September 3, 2010
http://dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=255

Undocumented immigrants streaming into this country
from south of the border drive down wages and steal
jobs that could otherwise go to out-of-work Americans.
Right?

Wrong. As it turns out, immigrant workers play an
important role in building our economy and bolstering
institutions such as social security. In other words,
they’re raising your wages and paying for your
retirement. So this Labor Day might be a good
opportunity to show a little gratitude. [...]

Why the Belief That Obama Is Muslim?

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T20:21:19-04:00

Why the Belief That Obama Is Muslim?

by Sharon Begley
August 31, 2010
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/31/why-the-belief-that-obama-is-muslim.html

People more apt to buy false claim if they focus
on differences between themselves and the
president, new research shows.

To the many theories about why so many Americans say
they think President Obama is Muslim, add this one: the
growing number of celebrations about being white. To
take just one recent example, Glenn Beck's weekend
rally in Washington, which New York Times op-ed
columnist Ross Douthat described as "a long festival of
affirmation for middle-class white Christians." [...]

The Real Lesson of Labor Day

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T20:21:01-04:00

The Real Lesson of Labor Day

Robert Reich
Friday, September 3, 2010
http://robertreich.org/post/1060844316/the-real-lesson-of-labor-day

Welcome to the worst Labor Day in the memory of most
Americans. Organized labor is down to about 7 percent
of the private work force. Members of non-organized
labor ... most of the rest of us ... are unemployed,
underemployed or underwater. The Labor Department
reported on Friday that just 67,000 new private-sector
jobs were created in August, which, when added to the
loss of public-sector (mostly temporary Census worker
jobs) resulted in a net loss of over 50,000 jobs for
the month. But at least 125,000 [...]

Friday Nite Videos -- September 3, 2010

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T20:20:34-04:00

1 Arizona Gov Jan Brewer Totally Screws Up
2 Silly Things We Believe About Witches, Obama, and More
3 South of the Border: Documentary Movie
4 A Watched Tea Pot Never Boils
5 Racist, Violent and Offensive Tea Party Signs

=====
11111

Right-Wing Arizona Gov Jan Brewer Totally Screws Up 1st
Debate, Flees Reporters

[Blog by Tana Ganeva on Alternet, September 2, 1010.
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/author/tana-ganeva/] [...]

German Linke discussion: Capitalism and the State

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T02:24:00-04:00

German Linke discussion: Capitalism and the State

Capitalism and the State

by Michael Heinrich

MRzine

September 2, 2010

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/heinrich020910.html

DIE LINKE (the Left Party) has initiated a debate on its
draft party program, which it wishes to officially adopt
in Autumn 2011. Neues Deutschland is joining this
debate with a series of articles. In the Neues
Deutschland article published on 9 August 2010, Michael
Heinrich tackles the issue of the relationship between
capital and the state and asks whether the "system
change" proclaimed in the draft program is meant
seriously. -- Ed. [...]

Join The Virtual Labor Day Parade in Detroit

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T02:23:32-04:00

Join The Virtual Labor Day Parade in Detroit

"The Detroit Symphony Musicians along with the union
musicians of the Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local 5
have been asked to lead off the 2010 Detroit Labor Day
Parade. The union musicians are facing huge cuts in wages,
pension, health care and working conditions. The orchestra
musicians have agreed to offer 9 Million dollars in
concessions. DSO Management wants to undo 100 years of hard
fought gains under the cover of the Great Detroit Recession.
Please help us send a loud and clear message to management. [...]

A Would-Be Paul Revere in Germany: "The Muslims Are Coming!"

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T02:23:06-04:00

A Would-Be Paul Revere in Germany: "The Muslims Are Coming!"

Victor Grossman

Berlin Bulletin: No. 11, 2010
September 2 2010

submitted to portside by the author

The "mosque menace" is not confined to Lower Manhattan or
the USA. In many European countries similar alarms are
sounded, usually in tones recalling Paul Revere: "The
Muslims are coming!" Although according to Sarkozy in
France, Berlusconi in Italy and the militarized neo-fascist
Jobbik party in Hungary the danger is more from the Roma
people (also called Gypsies), more often than not it's those
scary Muslims who are seen as the most menacing threat. [...]

A deserted feeling in working-class America

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T02:22:30-04:00

A deserted feeling in working-class America

By Harold Meyerson,
Op-Ed Columnists

Washington Post

September 1, 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/31/AR2010083104880.html

Of all the groups in the Democratic orbit, it is labor that
has assumed the most demanding role in this year's midterm
elections: keeping the white working class from flooding
into the Republican column.

"When our canvassers call on our members on their doorsteps,
they hear Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly in the background,"
says Dan Heck, who heads a massive union-sponsored program
in Ohio devoted to persuading its members to vote this
November for candidates who would mightily displease Beck
and O'Reilly. [...]

Seven Key Facts About Social Security and the Federal Budget

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-03T02:21:40-04:00

Seven Key Facts About Social Security and the Federal Budget

by Dean Baker

Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Issue Brief - September 2010

http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ss-2010-09.pdf

[Note: extensive graphs and tables accompany this report. To
see all data go to:
http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ss-2010-09.pdf ]

Over the summer there has been a hot debate about Social
Security and the federal budget, especially in relation to
the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
It is reasonable to expect that the major players in this
debate will do their homework about the issues under
consideration. In order to help them in this process, here
[...]

Support Aristide's Return to Haiti

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-01T22:41:50-04:00

Support Aristide's Return to Haiti

HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE ALERT.

http://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=444

TO: President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michele Obama:

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former liberation theology
priest, was elected by the people of Haiti as their
president in 1990 and again in 2000 (by 60% and 92% of
the vote respectively). Both times he was overthrown by
military coups - in 2004 directly by the US with
backing from France and Canada. UN troops have occupied
Haiti ever since, and thousands of people have been
persecuted and even killed for demanding his return. [...]

August 28th Remembered

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-01T22:41:23-04:00

August 28th Remembered

by David McReynolds
Socialist Web Zine
August 31, 2010
http://www.socialistwebzine.org/2010/08/august-28th-remembered.html

What a difference money makes. Today, Saturday the 28th
of August, 2010, Glenn Beck rallied on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial with all the majesty of Fox News
behind him. Day after day Fox News had trumpeted the
event, organizing for it, and if Beck doesn't get a
crowd it will be no fault of those who own Fox News and
fund Glenn Beck. (Fox News is one very good reason for
an estate tax which would guarantee that no one could
buy and own networks, [...]

Workers Rebuilding New Orleans Face Rampant Wage Theft

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-01T22:41:10-04:00

Workers Rebuilding New Orleans Face Rampant Wage Theft

Undocumented Workers Vital to Reconstruction Face Discrimination and Abuse

By Elise Foley
The Washington Independent
September 1, 2010
http://washingtonindependent.com/96411

Jacinta Gonzalez, an organizer with the Congress of Day
Laborers in New Orleans, tells a story about the abuse
of workers rebuilding the city after the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina. She once met a man who went to his
employer's house to demand payment for a his labor on a
construction site after the employer stiffed him of his
dues. The man's boss came at him, swinging a hammer.
The worker immediately called [...]

Anti-War Coalition: Complete Withdrawal from Iraq

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-01T22:40:57-04:00

National Anti-War Coalition Calls for Complete Withdrawal from Iraq

For Immediate Release: August 31, 2010
United for Peace and Justice
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

Contact:
Michael McPhearson, UFPJ Co-Convenor, 973-666-4605, michaelvfp@gmail.com
Phyllis Bennis, UFPJ Steering Committee - 202-234-9382 ext 5206, PBennis@ips-dc.org

Any reduction in the number of US troops occupying Iraq
is a good thing. But the occupation is continuing, even
if on a somewhat smaller scale, with 50,000 troops.
Despite a commitment to withdraw "combat brigades,"
these 50,000 are indeed combat troops, "re-missioned"
by the Pentagon and assigned to "training and
assistance." But even Secretary of Defense Gates admits
they will have [...]

Stephen Hawking Says Universe Not Created by God

Portside Moderator — 2010-09-01T22:40:11-04:00

Stephen Hawking Says Universe Not Created by God

Physics, not creator, made Big Bang, new book claims
Professor had previously referred to 'mind of God'

The Guardian
September 2, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/02/stephen-hawking-big-bang-creator

God did not create the universe, the man who is
arguably Britain's most famous living scientist says in
a forthcoming book.

In the new work, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen
Hawking argues that the Big Bang, rather than occurring
following the intervention of a divine being, was
inevitable due to the law of gravity. [...]