HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: Today's Quote...
Date: 5 Nov 92 09:35:16 GMT
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Organization: ?
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu


"War is a racket. Our stake in that racket has never been greater in
all out peace-time history. It may seem odd for me, a military man, to
adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to.  I spent 33 years
and 4 months in active service as a member of our country's most agile
military force--the Marine Corps....

"I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil
interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the
National City Bank boys to collect revenues in . I helped in the
raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of
Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify
Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in
1909-12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar
interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras 'right' for American fruit
companies in 1903...

"Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints.
The best *he* could do was to operate his racket in three city
districts. We Marines operated on three *continents*"

--Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler. Twice wounded in
action and twenty times decorated, Smedley Butler was also one of the
few Americans to be twice awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

                        ----------------------

Butler commanded a marine detachment sent to Nicaragua in
1910...here's his description of how he managed that intervention:

"Dr. Madris [the president of Nicaragua] grew cold toward the
Nicaraguan investments of Brown Bros. and Seligman & Co. Another
revolution immediately 'occurred' and our State Department sent a
representative to see that the revolution was successful. Near
Bluefields was the property of a large American gold mine, whose stock
was owned mainly by Pittsburgh financiers and partly by the then
Secretary of State, Philander CD. Knox. President Madris refused to
recognize the validity of the gold mining concession and 225 Marines
immediately were dispatched to Bluefields to 'protect American lives
and property.' I commanded those Marines and in order to be sure that
there was an American life to protect in Bluefields I made certain
that local American consul was on the job. There wasn't another
American in miles..."

["America's Armed Forces", in _Common Sense_, October 1935 to Feb.
1936 (an article in five parts) [see part I, p.6; part II, p.8; part
III, pp. 13-14]]
"The failure of US policy makers to press for a negotiated end to the
war in El Salvador has placed our country in league with a clique of
assassins masquerading as an army...


##################################################################
Mail contributions to hbar@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
(Contributions only; correspondence to my usual (Cornell) address)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: POPULAR PARTICIPATION: Was Nicaragua More Democratic than the U.S.?
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 10:59:49 GMT

POPULAR PARTICIPATION: Was Nicaragua More Democratic than the U.S.?

[From:
       ========================================================
       I s   N i c a r a g u a   M o r e   D e m o c r a t i c
       ========================================================
            T h a n   t h e   U n i t e d   S t a t e s ?
       ========================================================
                        By Michael Parenti (*)

[From: Covert Action Information Bulletin, Number 26, Summer 1986]]


=====================
Popular Participation
=====================

One crucial measure of an open political system is the degree of
popular participation. Most voting studies in the United
States and elsewhere find that nonvoters show a high degree of
alienation from the political process; they believe voting is not a
means of effecting changes, and they often fail to see a meaningful
choice in the candidates presented to them. (This is the view also of
a surprisingly large number of persons who vote in the United States.)
Therefore a comparison of the respective rates of turnouts in the
Nicaraguan and U.S. election might be worth pondering for a moment.

The turnout in the United States in the 1984 election was little less
than 53 percent of the eligible voters, one of the lowest of any

	[A decades-record high of some 55% in this 1992 election --HB]

western nation. Yet the press took little note of this and instead
treated Reagan's reelection as a landslide victory and democratic
mandate. In contrast, voter turnout was nearly 82 percent in Managua
and 75.4 percent in Nicaragua as a whole.  Yet this turnout was
described in the U.S. press as "disappointing" because the Sandinistas
had hoped for an 80 percent national turnout. (Left unmentioned was
the fact that in Nicaragua the voting was voluntary, unlike most Latin
American countries. [including the U.S. backed terror-state
"democracies" where the government which runs the "death squads" makes
it known, loud and clear, that *not* voting makes one highly suspect of
"subversive"/"terrorist" activities -- which have extremely well-known
consequences in these countries --HB]

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Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: NICARAGUA SERIES
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 22:02:26 GMT

NICARAGUA SERIES


...Comes full circle back to domestic issues in the final segment
(about 10 parts) concluding the series, taken from Michael Parenti's
1986 article "Is Nicaragua More Democratic than the U.S.?" exploring
not only still more reality-versus-Washington-Party-Line gaps but also
questions, particularly relevant in this shortly after the election,
about "democracy" in the United States.

Harel Barzilai
Co-founder, Co-moderator, misc.activism.progressive (MAP)

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[Inquiries by email, please, to harelb@math.cornell.edu, for more
information about PeaceNet/EcoNet or about misc.activism.progressive]
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Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: INFORMATION REQUESTED ON ESTABLISHING CITIZEN INITIATIVES 
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 05:34:16 GMT

[Via misc.activism.progressive from PeaceNet's elections.usa]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Topic 349       Citizen Initiative Info Needed 
support2        elections.usa    7:45 pm  Nov  6, 1992 
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 20:30:10 PST 
From: Dale McMillen <dmcmillen> 

-------------------------------------------------------------------- 
INFORMATION REQUESTED ON ESTABLISHING CITIZEN INITIATIVES 
  
Citizens in many states have a procedure to exercise direct 
democracy through initiatives.  Unfortunately, not every 
state allows citizens this opportunity.  I am currently 
researching the background and issues involved in providing 
for initiatives in Virginia.  I am specifically looking for 
information about: 
  
  1. How and when other states decided to allow the citizen 
     initiatives.  Was it part of a state's original constitution, 
     or was it a citizen's movement that demanded it.  If so, what 
     were the reasons and how did the political factions line up 
     behind or against the issue? 
  
  2. What are strengths and weaknesses of the procedures of various 
     laws providing for initiatives?  Some states have "binding" 
     initiatives while others are "advisory", but, in practice, do 
     these different types really matter.  What is a reasonable 
     number of signatures for getting a citizen initiative on the 
     ballot?  Do any states have methods for citizens getting 
     initiates on the ballot rather than collecting signatures? 
  
  3. Are there any legitimate concerns against having citizen 
     initiates?  I know this may also open up the system for 
     right-wing facists, but I am willing to trust the common 
     person.  Does anyone have any really bad experiences? 
  
  4. Does anyone have an opinion about whether citizen initiatives 
     actually promote direct democracy?  Or, is the initiative 
     process fraught with the same corruption of money and power 
     that we currently experience in representative legislatures? 
  
Thanks, in advance, for your opinions, experience and knowledge, 
Dale McMillen 
Northern Virginia Greens 


Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: miballar%leland.stanford.edu@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu
Subject: Wobbly Calendar of Events--San Francisco
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 21:37:51 GMT


CALENDAR OF EVENTS

November 12, Thursday, 7:30pm, Organizing Meeting at Muddy Waters Cafe
(in the back), Valencia between 16th and 17th Streets, San Francisco.
Come and get involved in important organizing work.


November 20, Friday, 10:00pm, UPEND THE END UP II.  If union busting,
discrimination against people with AIDS (PWAs), and attacks on free speech
aren't enough to get you out there to picket the End-Up, how about a group
of wacky nuns chanting dirty labor slogans?

November 22, Sunday, 1:00pm, BRANCH MEETING at 3000 Harper St. Berkeley.
(415) 863-9627, one block west of Martin Luther King Jr. Way, near the
Ashby Bart Station.

December 3, Thursday, 7:30pm Organizing Meeting at Muddy Waters Cafe.

December 5, Saturday, 8:00pm CRIMINAL SYNDICALIST COFFEEHOUSE, ILWU Hall,
225 9th St, near Folsom, San Francisco.  Tentative program includes: music,
Paper Tiger Television's documentary on the End-Up, an open mic featuring
personal stories, songs, and poems of distress and sabotage on the job,
"What is Criminal Syndicalism?" and of course food and drink.
Y'all welcome to come.
This is a benefit for the new Queer Labor Focus-Group of Queer Nation.

December 8, Tuesday, NLRB hearing and demonstration.

Call for more details and information.  (415) 863-9627

Don't just complain, organize!
Join the IWW today.
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: Nigel Allen <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Subject: Int'l Union of Electronic Workers on Clinton Victory
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: NDA
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 06:53:29 GMT

Here is a press release from the International Union
of Electronic Workers.

 Union Leader Calls For 100-Day Action Plan to Help Working Families;
Will Urge AFL-CIO to Submit Proposal
 To: National Desk, Labor Writers
 Contact: Scott Treibitz or Steve Hahn of the International Union
          of Electronic Workers, 202-296-1208

   WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 -- William Bywater, president of the 
International Union of Electronic Workers (IUE), will urge the
AFL-CIO Executive Council tomorrow to submit to President-elect Bill
Clinton a 100-day legislative program that will support working
people and their families.
   The AFL-CIO has called a special Executive Council meeting for
Thursday to discuss the election outcome and outline a labor action
plan.
   Bywater, who also serves as vice president of the AFL-CIO, said
Clinton needs to act quickly and decisively to create jobs and get
the economy moving.  Bywater added that the 100-day legislative
agenda should include:
   -- A jobs program that will put people back to work rebuilding our
      public infrastructure and redeveloping our manufacturing base.
   -- Passage of the Workplace Fairness bill that would ban the
      permanent replacement of strikers.
   -- Renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement to
      include stronger labor, environmental and consumer protection
      standards.
   -- Implementation of a nationwide health care system that would
      cover all Americans and keep costs under control.
   -- Labor law reform that restores the balance of power between
      unions and business.
   -- An increased priority to occupational health and safety
      inspections and standards.
   -- Passage of the Family Medical Leave legislation.
 -30-
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,misc.headlines
From: nichols@spss.com (David Nichols)
Subject: Re: NEWS:DC Votes NO on Death Penalty/ww
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: SPSS Inc.
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 23:50:40 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.205050.16882@mont.cs.missouri.edu> nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News) writes:
>Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
>D.C. TURNS THUMBS DOWN ON DEATH PENALTY
>[...]
>African Americans also show a higher chance of being sentenced to
>death if implicated in the death of a white person. By contrast,
>in the history of the death penalty in the U.S., not one white
>person has ever been sentenced to death for killing a person of
>color.

This last sentence is absolutely inaccurate. While there is an obvious
bias in death penalty sentencing (based primarily on the racial status
of the victim, as opposed to the offender), there have indeed been 
whites sentenced to death in the U.S. for killing blacks. While I don't
have the formal references at hand, I know that such events have 
occurred in at least Texas and Georgia.

--
 David Nichols        Senior Statistical Support Specialist         SPSS, Inc.
 Phone: (312) 329-3684     Internet:  nichols@spss.com     Fax: (312) 329-3657
*******************************************************************************
 Any correlation between my views and those of SPSS is strictly due to chance.

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,alt.politics.elections
From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Today's Quote...
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 09:35:16 GMT


   "The  events  of those years  underlined  what  prisoners 
already sensed--that whatever crimes they had committed, the 
greatest crimes were being committed by the authorities  who 
maintained  the  prisons, by the government  of  the  United 
States.   The law was being broken daily by  the  President, 
sending  bombers to kill, sending men to be killed,  outside 
the  Constitution,  outside the "highest law of  the  land."  
State and local officials were violating the civil rights of 
black people, which was against the law, and were not  being 
prosecuted for it.

[p.508,   Howard  Zinn,  in  reference  to  the  US   prison 
rebellions of the late sixties and early seventies]


			       ** ** **

    My  viewpoint,  in  telling the history  of  the  United 
States, is different: that we must not accept the memory  of 
states  as our own.  Nations are not communities  and  never 
have  been.   The history of any country, presented  as  the 
history  of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of  interest 
(sometimes   exploding,   most  often   repressed)   between 
conquerors  and conquered, masters and  slaves,  capitalists 
and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex.   And 
in  such  a  world  of conflict,  a  world  of  victims  and 
executioners,  it is the job of thinking people,  as  Albert 
Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.

[pp.9-10,  Howard  Zinn, in response  to  Henry  Kissinger's 
statement, "History is the memory of states," in his book _A 
World Restored_]

[Submitted by Jamie Pehling [january@eskimo.celestial.com]]
From: Zinn, Howard. _A People's History of the United States_. New
  York: Harper and Row, 1980.


##################################################################
Mail contributions to hbar@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
(Contributions only; correspondence to my usual (Cornell) address)
From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Radio Doc: MASSACRE: THE STORY OF EAST TIMOR
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 00:48:57 GMT

/** reg.easttimor: 296.1 **/
** Written  7:58 pm  Nov  8, 1992 by cscheiner in cdp:reg.easttimor **
                 MASSACRE: THE STORY OF EAST TIMOR

is the first US radio documentary on the little-known Pacific island nation. 
The half-hour program is produced by WBAI News Editor Amy Goodman and Allan 
Nairn -- the two US journalists who survived last November's massacre there, 
in which at least 140 people were killed. One third of the East Timorese 
population has been wiped out during Indonesia's 17 year US-backed 
occupation. Includes the only public comments by George Bush and Bill 
Clinton on the US role in East Timor.

In New York: Thursday, Nov. 12, 8:00 am and 6:30 pm on WBAI, 99.5 FM.
In Berkeley: Thursday, Nov. 12, 5:00 pm on KPFA-FM.
In Los Angeles: Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 9:00 am.
And fifty other community radio stations nationwide.

Contact your local public radio station and ask them to air the program, 
which will be on the NPR satellite on Nov. 9 and 11. If they can't get it 
off the satellite, call Pacifica Archives at 1-800-735-0230 for a tape.

** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Cuba: Join 24th Venceremos Brigade
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 01:05:29 GMT

/** reg.cuba: 237.0 **/
** Topic: Join 24th Venceremos Brigade **
** Written  9:13 pm  Nov  5, 1992 by venceremos in cdp:reg.cuba **
Attention Cuba supporters!

Join the 24th contingent of the Venceremos Brigade for two weeks
in Cuba April 22 thru May 6, 1993.  Be a witness to Cuba firsthand
and a participant in this historic expression of solidarity
between the U.S. and Cuban peoples.

For the 24th consecutive year, the Venceremos Brigade will visit
schools, hospitals, cooperatives, biotechnology institutes, and
other sites.  We'll hear speakers on racism the vital youth
movement, and health care (including AIDS).  In close and informal
dialogues we will meet with members of a Committee to Defend the
Revolution (block organizations), the ecumenical community,
cultural groups, and veterans of Cuba's internationalist
missions.

We'll walk around Havana and the countryside, and have the
opportunity to get the Cuban perspective by working side by side
with the Cubans.  Finally, the highlight of the 24th Contingent
will be the Venceremos Brigade joining one million Cubans in the
world's largest May Day parade.

Cost:  $950-$1200, sliding scale by income--includes all
transportation, meals and accommodations.

Application deadline:  December 31, 1992

National Venceremos Brigade:
     P.O. Box 673  NY, NY  10035 (212) 246-3811 ext. 0503 Chicago:
     P.O. Box 10607, Chicago, IL  60610 (312) 243-2777 Detroit:
     P.O. Box 39188, Redford, MI 48239 (313) 836-8752 Los Angeles:
     8124 W. 3rd St.  #213, Los Angeles, CA  90048 New York:
     2673 Broadway, #178, NY, NY 10025 (212) 246-3811 ext.0503
San Francisco Bay Area:
     P.O. Box 7071, Oakland, CA  94601 (415) 267-0606 fax
     415-206-0717
Washington D.C.:
** End of text from cdp:reg.cuba **

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,misc.headlines
From: Andrew Lang <lang@igc.apc.org>
Subject: U.S. Aid Hold-up to Nicaragua
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 00:58:55 GMT

/* Written  4:05 pm  Nov  6, 1992 by peacenet@igc.apc.org in igc:pn.alerts */
/* ---------- "U.S. Aid Hold-up to Nicaragua" ---------- */
From: <peacenet>
Subject: U.S. Aid Hold-up to Nicaragua

From nicanet Fri Nov  6 11:23:41 1992
From: Nicaragua Network <nicanet>

                       NICARAGUA AID ALERT

Now that Bush has lost the election, the prospect of securing the 
release of US aid to Nicaragua may be good.  $104 million in FY92 
aid to Nicaragua continues to be held up at the request of Sen. 
Jesse Helms.  FY92 ended October 31, 1992.  Helms has routinely 
blackmailed Republican administrations with threats of holding up 
ambassadorial nominations.  He no longer has that leverage 
because Bush will be making no more nominations. 

The Nicaragua Network recommends that activists call the State 
Department at (202) 647-4000 and the White House Comment Line at 
(202) 456-1111 with the message that the aid should be released.  
Explain that continuing to hold up the aid only further weakens 
Violeta Chamorro's already shaky government.  Note also that 
Chamorro has been forced to increase the value added tax (a form 
of sales tax) from 10% to 15% and to apply it to many areas of 
the economy to which it did not previously apply.  It is to go 
into effect January 1, 1993.  Unless negotiations with the 
government are successful, the tax will also apply to 
humanitarian aid from non-governmental organizations (NGO's), 
Sister Cities, etc.  This will result in less aid reaching the 
intended recipients and probably make it more difficult for 
organizations to raise humanitarian aid gifts from their 
supporters.  The tax would apply not just to money gifts, but to 
medicine, clothing, and other material aid making it necessary 
for groups to also raise money to pay the taxes on their material 
donations.  If the US aid is released, it is unlikely that 
Chamorro will find it necessary to tax these gifts, so include 
that argument in your message.

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
From: "robert j hinde" <rjh1@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: PROG-PUBS Mailing List (autopost)
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 09:30:04 GMT

PROG-PUBS is a mailing list for people interested in
progressive and/or alternative publications and other media.
This is a canned message describing the list.

PROG-PUBS was originally created to facilitate and encourage
communication among people interested in and active with the
"alternative student press" movement.  However, the list's
scope is now broader than this; we welcome and encourage
participation from people involved in all kinds of small-scale,
independent, progressive and/or alternative media, including
newspapers, newsletters, and radio and video shows, whether
campus-based or not.  Our hope is that PROG-PUBS will help
further the exchange of ideas, hints, and even articles among
the participants and the growing network of alternative media
outlets.

The service addresses for PROG-PUBS, to which questions about
the mailing list itself and requests to be added to or deleted
from it should be directed, are:

  Internet: Prog-Pubs-Request@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU
            Prog-Pubs-Request%fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
  BITNET:   PPub-Req@VIRGINIA
  UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!prog-pubs-request

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive