An extended interview by Juan Gonzalez with consumer advocate, Ralph Nader and Pentagon Papers whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, from the Friday, March 18, 2011 Daily News Program from Democracy Now.

Ralph Nader and Daniel Ellsberg: We Need to See Courage and Mobilization Here as Well as the Middle East

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have virtually disappeared from mainstream media coverage, Democracy Now!’s Juan Gonzalez has a wide-ranging conversation with Pentagon whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader about the ongoing U.S. military occupation of these countries, the treatment of WikiLeaks accused whistleblower Bradley Manning, and how this connects to the attack on worker rights in Wisconsin and beyond.

"More than a $120 billion a year [is] being wasted, hurting the welfare, really, of the people of Afghanistan and of Iraq," Ellsberg says. "It’s outrageous that this is continuing and that these events are not linked, that people don’t realize that it’s simply outrageous to be talking about removing fuel from elderly during the winter here, fuel aid and health aid and education aid, while we’re spending this money on the wars, these totally wrongful and unnecessary wars."

Protests against the occupations and the treatment of Manning are planned for this weekend.

The World Socialist Web Site urges all of its readers and supporters in Wisconsin to download, distribute, and post this article as widely as possible, and to develop a campaign in the working class. A pdf version for printing is available here. The article can be shared on Facebook and Twitter.
3 March 2011

The budget presented by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Tuesday has caused profound shock and outrage among workers throughout the state. It has now become clear to hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin workers and their families that they are confronted with a ruthless attempt to drastically lower their living standards, eviscerate crucial social services and benefits, and strip away their democratic rights.

Walker is demanding cuts of at least $1.5 billion from the state's budget to close a deficit that has been created, to a great extent, by his recent massive reduction of tax rates for large corporations.

These cuts include:

$1.25 billion in cuts to school aid and local government, including a reduction of more than $900 million in education funding statewide, which translates into a cut of approximately $500 per pupil.

$500 million in cuts from Medicaid, which finances critical state health programs for more than one million Wisconsin resid ents. The impact on low-income and uninsured adults and families with children will be devastating.

$250 million will be cut from funding for the University of Wisconsin. Moreover, as part of a scheme that will serve the interests of top corporations, the Madison branch of the University of Wisconsin will be carved off from the state system. This will gut the wages and workplace rights of 17,000 UW workers and lead to a sharp increase in college tuition costs over the next two years.

The Walker budget document is a declaration of war. His inclusion of further demands for the elimination of collective bargaining follows logically from his budget proposals. The cuts that he is calling for make a mockery of "bargaining," because his budget proposals require, by their very nature, the complete surrender by workers to his unilateral demands.

The oft-repeated position of union officials--that they are prepared to accept Walker's budget cuts if only he steps back from his demand for an end to collective bargaining--is not only cowardly, it represents a dangerous evasion of the political reality that exists in Wisconsin.

The term "collective bargaining" means nothing at all if unions are prepared to accept the dictates of state governments, which are acting in the interests of the capitalist bosses of the banks and industry. Collective bargaining did not emerge in the form of a permission slip granted by generous corporations to the workers. It w as wrested from the capitalist class in the course of decades of bitter conflict for social and democratic rights, in which countless thousands of workers' lives were lost. In the final analysis, collective bargaining existed only to the extent that workers were prepared to exercise the weapon of the strike to overcome the intransigence of the capitalist class and its political hirelings in local, state and federal government.

Walker's budget signifies in practice, if not yet in law, the collapse of collective bargaining. His administration is ramming a brutal and socially destructive budget down the throats of Wisconsin working people and their families.

How should the working class in Wisconsin respond to this political reality?

In recent days, there has been a growing realization among working people throughout Wisconsin that protests in the state capital are insufficient and that they must escalate their struggle.

Sentiment is building for a ge neral strike by the working class. Wisconsin workers, in ever greater numbers, are coming to realize that nothing short of a massive mobilization of their collective strength will be sufficient to beat back the attack of the Walker administration.

This sentiment is justified and corresponds to the political reality that exists in Wisconsin and, increasingly, throughout the United States. The collapse of collective bargaining--that is, the attempt of the state to impose, with the implicit threat of force, intolerable and unacceptable demands upon workers--has a profound objective significance. The ruling class is telling working people: "We do not negotiate. We demand. You must accept our terms."

This signifies, in effect, the end of compromise between the classes. The growing recognition of this political reality among workers lies behind the rising sentiment for a general strike.

It is necessary for workers who have come to this conclusion to build the momentum for a general strike. Talk about a general strike must turn toward its actual preparation.

In every work place, meetings should be called to discuss, debate and vote on a resolution for a general strike. Wherever substantial support exists for a general strike, rank-and-file committees, independent of union officials, should be formed to prepare for this action.

This movement should base the call for a general strike on the following demands:

* Total rejection of all economic concessions by the Wisconsin workers. Instead, social spending should be increased to meet the pressing problems created by three years of recession caused by the criminal speculative activities of the banks.

* Unequivocal rejection of any and all restrictions on the legal right of workers to negotiate and, when they so decide, strike to defend and improve their standard of living.

* For a substantial increase in taxes on corporate profits and the very rich to cover the budget deficit and the costs of new and essential social spending.

* For the immediate resignation of Governor Walker and his reactionary administration. Walker has deliberately made himself the political spearhead of the corporate attack on the working class and the use of dictatorial methods. The demand for his removal from office arises from the recognition that the struggle of Wisconsin workers against this budget is, in essence, a political struggle.

The call for Walker's removal does not imply a vote of confidence in the Democratic Party. Beyond the borders of Wisconsin there are Democratic Party governors and mayors who are calling for budget cuts no less draconian than those sought by Walker. The Obama administration is collaborating with the state governors and the Congress in Washington in the implementation of budget cuts that will wreak havoc on the lives of workers throughout the country.

However, inspired by the example set by Wi sconsin workers, the fight against the attacks on workers' rights will expand from state to state and across the country as a whole, in opposition to all the political representatives of the capitalist class.

Thus, the demand for Walker's removal raises the most important issue of all--the necessity for workers to create their own, independent, socialist alternative to the corporate-controlled Republican and Democratic parties.

The Socialist Equality Party supports and encourages the movement for a general strike against the Walker administration and its reactionary budget. The growing sentiment among workers that such action is necessary testifies to the intensity of social conflict in the United States. However, we urge workers to recognize that they are fighting not just one governor, but the capitalist class as a whole and the profit system upon which its rule is based.

David North

For more information on joining the Socialist Equality Party, click here. Attend the SEP/WSWS/ISSE regional conferences, The Fight for Socialism Today: www.fightforsocialism.org.

Since the early 1990's companies like Monsanto, DOW and DuPont have been quietly taking over the global food supply. Particularly Monsanto, and particularly in North America. A little research will show anyone that this problem is nearly out-of-hand, and like climate change and peak oil has a "tipping point" where there is no return from the damage done.

The thing that should stand out and alarm people the most is that these are not food, farming or agricultural businesses. They are chemical companies...

Send a strong message to our president and tell him to say NO to the destruction of our natural food system.

From CREDO action:

For months, we've been asking the USDA and the Obama Administration to deny Monsanto's application to market its genetically modified Roundup Ready alfalfa. Unfortunately, on January 27, President Obama's Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued unrestricted approval for GMO alfalfa, brushing aside very real concerns about its disastrous effects on the organic industry, the environment, and our health.1

It also appears that the decision came all the way from the top of the president's political team. According to Maureen Dowd's New York Times column on January 29, David Axelrod -- one of President Obama's chief advisers -- urged the administration to "plow forward' with the approval of GMO alfalfa in a White House staff meeting.2

Along with our allies, CREDO members have submitted hundreds of thousands of public comments opposing GMO alfalfa on the grounds that it will contaminate non-GMO strains and cause irreparable damage to the organic dairy and beef industry, which relies on GMO-free alfalfa for feed.

It is deeply disappointing that President Obama and his administration have chosen to support Monsanto's profits and consolidation of the agricultural sector over the livelihoods of farmers and health of consumers. But we can't give up now. We need to hold the administration accountable for their decision and dig in for the long-term fight against GMOs and Big Ag.

If GMO alfalfa wasn't enough, just a week later the USDA issued approval for another of Monsanto's GMO products -- sugar beets -- prior to the completion of a court-ordered environmental review.3

The problems with GMO crops are multifold. When grown in open fields, their genes are extremely difficult to contain. This is particularly true for alfalfa which is a perennial and a profuse pollinator, making it extremely likely that modified genes from its pollen will end up in conventional and organic crops.

Because organic certification prohibits the inclusion of GMOs, any contamination renders a food ineligible for the organic label. So otherwise organic cows that are fed contaminated alfalfa are no longer able to produce organic dairy or beef, decimating organic farmers' profit margins.

These decisions make it clear that the Obama administration is more comfortable standing up for Monsanto and Big Ag than for the farmers who produce and the consumers who eat our food.

The battle is far from over. The recent GMO approvals are already being appealed in the courts. We will continue to follow this issue and alert you to action opportunities.

In the meantime, we need to let President Obama know we're watching and that these potentially disastrous decisions are being made by his administration, on his watch.

Click here to sign the petition to President Obama telling him how infuriating this decision is, and pledge to hold him responsible for its effects.

Link: http://www.commoncause.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=6498987&auid=7645972

FROM COMMON CAUSE CALLING FOR A JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESIGATION

Did these two men, Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, have a shocking and undisclosed conflict of interest when they ruled on the Citizens United case -- which opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate political spending?

Sign our petition calling for a Justice Department investigation of whether Scalia and Thomas should have recused themselves from the Citizens United case because of their participation in secret political strategy meetings with Koch Industries!

    Read more here.

Link: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/bradleymanning?source=em20110120

Julian Assange and Wikileaks have been getting all kinds of publicity in the mainstream media. That's all well and good, and would be even better if the media would focus on the content of the "leaks" rather than the persecution of the "wiki".

Clearly though there is another important side to this story that is not getting enough or the right kind of coverage. That Bradley Manning, the "suspected" whistle-blower for these leaks, is being held, without charge, and in 23 hours a day solitary confinement by our military government. And has been for the last six months.

Read the article below from firedoglake and see how hypocritical his confinement really is. Then please sign onto the letter there written on his behalf.

Oliver North’s Pre-Trial Conditions For UCMJ Violations Dramatically Different Than Bradley Manning’s

By: Jane Hamsher Thursday January 20, 2011 8:47 am

I will drive down to Quantico this weekend with Bradley Manning’s friend David House when David delivers petition signatures to the Commander of the Quantico brig. The petition urges an end to the inhumane treatment of Manning during his pre-trial confinement.

Sign the petition

Today David C. MacMichael, former Commander of Headquarters Company at Quantico, writes to the Commandant of the Marine Corps protesting Manning’s conditions.

MacMichael was involved in the Iran-contra affair and notes the dramatic difference in the treatment of Oliver North and Bradley Manning. North was also accused of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

"At that time, I wondered why Lt.Col. Oliver North, who very clearly violated the UCMJ—and, in my opinion, disgraced our service—was not court-martialed.

When I asked the Navy’s Judge-Advocate General’s office why neither North nor Admiral Poindexter were charged under the UCMJ, the JAG informed me that when officers were assigned to duties in the White House, NSC, or similar offices they were somehow not legally in the armed forces. To my question why, if that were the case, they continued to draw their military pay and benefits, increase their seniority, be promoted while so serving, and, spectacularly in North’s case, appear in uniform while testifying regarding violations of US law before Congress, I could get no answer beyond, “That’s our policy.”

This is not to equate North’s case with Manning. It is only to suggest that equal treatment under the law is one of those American principles that the Marine Corps exists to protect. This is something you might consider."

When many people hear about Bradley Manning’s confinement, they believe that his conditions simply reflect the way in which the military deals with those who violate the UCMJ. But Oliver North was ultimately convicted of three felonies, which were only vacated due to an immunity agreement granted for his pre-trial testimony before Congress — with the help of the ACLU.

David House is the only person aside from Bradley’s lawyer who visits him regularly. He recently wrote about Bradley’s conditions here at FDL, which include severe restrictions on his ability to exercise, communicate or even sleep. Manning has not been convicted of any crime, nor is there a date for any court hearing. The New York Times recently reported that these techniques are being used to induce Manning to flip on Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

I don’t recall Oliver North being subjected to anything like that while he was awaiting trial.

Over 30,000 people have signed the petition. We’d like to get it up to 50,000 by the time David delivers them. I promise to be a faithful videographer and bring back video of David’s experience with the petitions, to the extent that it is allowed on the base.

Can you sign the petition and forward it to your friends?

I watched the "Iran-Contra Affair" hearings on C-SPAN, and "I don't recall" that he was subjected to anything remotely like Manning either. In fact the whole thing was treated like a circus show with the American citizen as the collective clown. It was a mockery that did nothing to bring justice to crimes that were just as much Ronald Reagan's as they were the US Military, Pentagon and CIA.

Watching those hearings you'd have thought that Congress was on trial for having called their actions into question in the first place. And of course you can tune into FOX and see him (North) there making tons of money with his own show. Do you think Manning will be able to look forward to such celebrity?

Link: http://century-club.com/blog3.php/2009/08/24/the-cove

Most people are aware of the Japanese whaling controversy. After all, it has been going on for thirty years. Some of you may know that there is a growing controversy over their dolphin fishing too. Some of you may also be aware of environmental studies being done around the Pacific on the affects of ocean pollution on the marine life, particularly dolphins, seals, whales and other higher marine lifeforms. But how many of you have thought about what the short and long term ramifications of these dangerous trends might be? Or are already?

Excerpt from The COVE's TakePart.com Action Page.

Winner of audience awards across the world, including Sundance, SilverDocs and Hot Docs, The Cove follows a team of activists and filmmakers as they infiltrate a heavily-guarded cove in Taiji, Japan. In this remote village they witness and document activities deliberately being hidden from the public: More than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered each year and their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan, often times labeled as whale meat.

The majority of the world is not aware this is happening. The Taiji cove is blocked off from the public. Cameras are not allowed inside and the media does not cover the story. It's critical that we get the word out in Japan. It's critical that we get the word out—everywhere. We believe that once the Japanese people know, they will demand change.

Link: http://century-club.com/blog3.php/2009/05/14/heating-up-the-battle-seiu

Click here to sign on in support of worker rights!

If you listen closely and pay particular attention to the rhetoric coming out of the corporate-led media and Congress, you'll notice that a blind defiance is building as the debates continue on the economic future of our nation. The "blindness" comes mostly from the extreme right of the Republican party and the hardliner Reaganites who still cling to the failed "trickle-down" freemarket theories of the 1980s. But the Republicans are not the only ones in the pockets of Big Corp. Many of our Democratic leaders are also blinded by the color of money, as many believe can be clearly seen in the recent healthcare roundtables held by Senators Max Baucus(D-MT) and Chuck Grassley(R-IA), where Senator Baucus claims to have the "people's" ear while medical professionals are arrested at the proceedings for protesting the lack of single-payer healthcare advocates. I have yet to hear of a poll taken that does not show a majority of Americans in favor of a public single-payer system. Additionally, polls show most doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals also favor single-payer. Including the conservative members of the American Medical Association. So how can Senators Baucus and Grassley, among too many others, believe the contradictions they follow? In their minds, trickle-down economics was not at all a failure. Never was. They believe in a kind of social Darwinism that says workers have no rights that are not given by the corporation, that we workers are devoid of the intellectual faculties that are otherwise necessary for the kind of wealth they enjoy, and the government needs to stay out of the way. It's Feudalism. It's corporate Fascism. And what they gain from the polarization they create is exactly what they want. To keep the population at odds with their own best interests, while they meanwhile rob us of more of our own future wealth and opportunity. And most importantly, our dignity.

A major aspect of the healthcare debate centers on the insurance industry's economic stake, and the current business-based delivery system. One of the fears that the opposition uses to delude us is to make us believe that our insurance is somehow inextricably tied to our jobs, and in order to keep us adequately covered, we must sacrifice in other areas of our employment. With 50 years of steady globalization and the growth of the multinational corporations has come an ever growing income disparity in America and around the world. A disparity larger than any since just before the Great Depression. Labor organizing fought an uphill battle for the next 30 years to bring us Minimum Wage, Overtime, holiday pay, Unemployment Insurance and work safety standards, among other rights and benefits. Then in the mid sixties, the corporations began to mount an ever-increasing public campaign of deception, jobs off-shoring, strategic bankruptcies, mergers, splits and whatever they could do to reverse those gains and break up the unions for good. They have come very close to succeeding.

Along with the healthcare debate, the Employee Free Choice Act is also quietly being readied for public debate and congressional consideration. It will be as hard, if not harder of a fight.

SEIU has made another clever and humorous video below to help us fight back against the Big Brother Corporation for our worker rights. Take a look at it and please sign the petition HERE.

Excerpt from the SEIU Action:

For decades, America’s CEOs ran the show, leaving the American people to fend for themselves.

The damage done to the American economy was a direct result of this era of CEO excess. To get back on track, we need to change the way that we do business.

The Employee Free Choice Act is a common sense economic recovery for working families that will pump billions into our nation’s economy. By empowering workers to form unions, we can better negotiate safer working conditions, honest wages, and better healthcare.

Click here to sign on!

Some good reading on the subject from Amazon.com

Link: http://century-club.com/blog3.php/2009/05/07/the-philadelphia-miracle-acorn-action-al

ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is and has been getting a bad rap from right-wing corporate sponsored elected officials and their "master" lobbyists. The truth is that ACORN is doing more than your elected officials, or the financial institutions to help keep families in their homes. There is nothing in it for them except the satisfaction that comes from compassion and selfless generosity.

While helping families in Pennsylvania they discovered a simple and effective method for achieving their goal.

Please take a moment to sign their Action Alert so that your members of Congress can learn this secret too!

Here is an excerpt from their Action Alert:

We've found a solution to the foreclosure crisis that will keep families in their homes. It's so simple and so powerful, we're calling it the Philadelphia Miracle.

The Philadelphia Foreclosure Diversion Program required lenders seeking foreclosures to sit down with homeowners and mediate a resolution. They succeeded in keeping 78% of families in their homes.

Take Action Here

Link: http://century-club.com/blog3.php/2009/05/04/healthcare-not-warfare

PDA, The Progressive Democrats of America, continues the Fight for HR 676 and Single-payer Healthcare with their national slogan "Healthcare Not Warfare" and the political movement behind it.

Healthcare, regardless of which side of the debate you are on, is a common need among us all. It is literally a matter of life and death, the difference between having affordable, quality and available healthcare. Or not. I think the real question is only whether we as a society, a culture, a civilization; a nation are ready to embrace our future with an eye towards a more sophisticated and compassionate view of our Humanity. A future where our "inalienable" rights extend beyond the words, "Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness", to a deeper understanding of what those words mean in the larger context of a world that is now united by our technologies and the human resources we could muster in solving the problems that confront everyone. The will must surely be there, individually, but the way is often overshadowed by the sheer immensity of the challenge. And that is exactly why there are groups such as PDA, who can take those individual political desires and join them together as one larger voice. It takes very little time to sign a petition. Less than any individual option a citizen has to redress his or her elected officials. A petition also has more powerful effect on those who receive them, from the physical volume of signatures alone. If the campaign has succeeded in it's goal.

HR676 is the bill that supports Single-Payer Healthcare for everyone. I believe there are some things that should be a birthright in the 21st Century, and healthcare is one of them. But even if you do not support a single-payer option that could work as effectively as Medicare and Medicaid have when they are allowed to function properly, you should still think about whether you believe healthcare should be a totally privately run for-profit activity administered by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. In fact before you decide one way or the other, please take a moment to read the post below which asks a very simple question about healthcare.

http://century-club.com/blog1.php/2009/03/25/a-simple-question