Saturday, February 09, 2019

Dear MoveOn member, It hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw this week that Susan Collins received $1.8 million in donations after voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court—by far the most she's ever raised in a quarter.1 The fact that there's a financial incentive for a senator to confirm a justice to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court is an insult to democracy.

Robert Reich<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To  Dear MoveOn member,
It hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw this week that Susan Collins received $1.8 million in donations after voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court—by far the most she's ever raised in a quarter.1 The fact that there's a financial incentive for a senator to confirm a justice to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court is an insult to democracy.
But there's reason to keep our heads up! H.R.1, the Democrats' sweeping anti-corruption and pro-democracy bill to rein in the influence of money in politics and expand voting rights, is wildly popular with voters—across the political spectrum.2
And Republicans are terrified.
Republicans in the House rightly said this week that the impacts of the bill would be "chilling," and Mitch McConnell believes it's a "power grab."3,4
You betcha! A power grab for the people.
But here's the thing: Just as the bill is starting to gain momentum, the GOP is launching a smear campaign, calling it a threat to free speech.5
We have to fight back, Alfred, and no group is more savvy and capable than MoveOn at countering this right-wing narrative and building grassroots support for this critical piece of legislation.
So what exactly does H.R.1 do that Republicans find so horrifying?
  • It creates a national system for automatic voter registration and expands early voting and same-day registration.
  • It makes Election Day a holiday for federal employees and encourages private businesses to also take the day off to encourage voting.
  • It requires "dark money" groups to make their donor lists public and mandates that Facebook and Twitter disclose the source of funding for political ads that appear on their platforms.
  • It institutes public financing for political campaigns.
  • And it beefs up ethics rules to fight corruption in government.6
Well sure, that would certainly terrify me if I were a Republican in the pocket of monied interests and terrified of actually facing a fair election.
And now, Republicans have developed a new line of attack against H.R.1: They are calling the proposal "Russian government policy."7 Excuse me? I can think of nothing more American than protecting the right to vote, getting Big Money out of politics, and reforming our broken system.
We must meet these vicious attacks blow for blow and make sure that the American people know the truth about H.R.1—namely, that it will give everyday people power in our political system again.
It disgusts me that any political party in the United States would so abandon the principles of our democracy to keep their coffers filled and their ultra-rich backers happy. The Republicans rallying against this legislation have turned their backs on democracy, showing their true colors as shills for special interests and billionaires.
H.R.1 is not a controversial proposal, and if Republicans actually believed that their policies were best for the American people, they would support it wholeheartedly. But they know that the only people that Republican policies help are the ultra-rich, the corrupt, and corporate powers dedicated to keeping their workers down.
We have lived under this system for too long, and it is about time something was done to end it.
Together, we need to build a groundswell of grassroots support for H.R.1, relentlessly shine a spotlight on the problems of Big Money and corruption—as well as the promise of real solutions that would improve our democracy—and bring millions of people together to demand action.
Thanks for all you do.
–Robert Reich
Sources:
1. "Collins brings in most money of her career after Kavanaugh vote," Bangor Daily News, February 1, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/63048?t=5&akid=226688%2E38417624%2EOpXAN5
2. "New polling shows voters—including independents—want Congress to pass an anti-corruption bill," Vox, January 3, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/63049?t=7&akid=226688%2E38417624%2EOpXAN5
3. "House Republicans Warn That Bill Combating Big Money in Politics 'Resembles Russian Government Policy,'" The Intercept, February 7, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/63050?t=9&akid=226688%2E38417624%2EOpXAN5
4. "Mitch McConnell calls House Democrats’ anti-corruption bill a 'power grab,'" Vox, January 18, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/63051?t=11&akid=226688%2E38417624%2EOpXAN5
5. "Lobbyists are already mounting an opposition strategy to Democrats’ anti-corruption bill," Vox, January, 29, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/63052?t=13&akid=226688%2E38417624%2EOpXAN5
6. "House Democrats officially unveil their first bill in the majority: a sweeping anti-corruption proposal," Vox, January 4, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/63053?t=15&akid=226688%2E38417624%2EOpXAN5
7. "House Republicans Warn That Bill Combating Big Money in Politics 'Resembles Russian Government Policy,'" The Intercept, February 7, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/63050?t=17&akid=226688%2E38417624%2EOpXAN5
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WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME The Green New Deal Takes Its First Congressional Step The first hand of the Green New Deal has been dealt. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., on Thursday unveiled a five-page, nonbinding resolution that frames a 10-year “national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization” to confront the climate crisis

WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

The Green New Deal Takes Its First Congressional Step
The first hand of the Green New Deal has been dealt. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., on Thursday unveiled a five-page, nonbinding resolution that frames a 10-year “national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization” to confront the climate crisis.The plan envisions the creation of millions of “good, high-wage jobs” and will serve to “counteract systemic injustices.”  The resolution sets a framework for legislation to be hashed out over the next two years, and gives Ocasio-Cortez, Markey, and climate groups something to organize around. Their goal is to meet 100 percent of the demand for power in the U.S. with “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources,” in line with the scientific consensus on climate change, as well as to provide “all people of the United States” with clean air and water, “healthy and affordable food,” high-quality health care, “affordable, safe, and adequate housing,” and economic security.   More

ABOLISH BILLIONAIRES!
At some level of extreme wealth, money inevitably corrupts. On the left and the right, it buys political power, it silences dissent, it serves primarily to perpetuate ever-greater wealth, often unrelated to any reciprocal social good…  Billionaire abolishment could take many forms. It could mean preventing people from keeping more than a billion in booty, but more likely it would mean higher marginal taxes on income, wealth and estates for billionaires and people on the way to becoming billionaires. These policy ideas turn out to poll very well, even if they’re probably not actually redistributive enough to turn most billionaires into sub-billionaires…  But if we tolerate the supposedly “good” billionaires in politics, we inevitably leave open the door for the bad ones. And the bad ones will overrun us. When American capitalism sends us its billionaires, it’s not sending its best. It’s sending us people who have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with them. They’re bringing inequality. They’re bringing injustice. They’re buying politicians.    More

Voters Aren’t Moving Left on Taxes. Democrats Are Moving Toward Voters.
Last week, Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultzargued that the Democratic Party’s radical tax ideas had opened up space for a centrist presidential candidate to unite Republicans and Democrats around common-sense, bipartisan solutions; days later, polls revealed that Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to annually expropriate 2 percent of Schultz’s wealth was a common-sense, bipartisan solution.
But the fact that pundits deemed these findings surprising tells us less about American opinion than it does about American pundits. The U.S. public has (just about) always been eager to soak the rich. In April 2018, Gallup found 62 percent of Americans saying that upper-income people pay too little in taxes…  Similarly, the Democratic Party didn’t triangulate on economic policy in the 1990s in response to mass popular support for financial deregulation or capital gains tax cuts. Rather, they did so because organized labor was in decline, while the financial industry was ascendant — and thus, so too was the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party.   More

A CRUEL WAR ON IMMIGRANTS
"Make America Cruel Again." That's how journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Shipler has reformulated Donald Trump's trademark slogan. Shipler's version is particularly apt when you think about the president's record over the last two years on refugee resettlement and other humanitarian-related immigration issues.  President Trump's border-wall obsession and the political uproar over it have dominated the news, while the alleged dangers of illegal immigrants -- whose numbers he wildly exaggerates -- have dominated his rhetoric. But the way he’s altered immigration policy affects many more people than just the migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border who are at the center of the wall debate. Many of those currently or potentially harmed by his actions are not outside the law, but are in the United States legally, some with permanent residence status and others on a temporary or provisional basis.  More

Trump Admin Says It’s Too Hard To Reunite Thousands Of Separated Families
Last month, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services released a report stating that “thousands” more immigrant families had been separated than the government had previously disclosed. In the declaration submitted Friday, HHS officials said they don’t know the exact number of children who were taken from their parents before “zero tolerance” and that finding them would be too much of a “burden” since there was no formal tracking system in place. “The Trump administration’s response is a shocking concession that it can’t easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents and doesn’t even think it’s worth the time to locate each of them,” said Lee Gelernt, the lead lawyer in the ACLU’s ongoing lawsuit against ICE, in a statement. “The administration also doesn’t dispute that separations are ongoing in significant numbers.”   More

Whatever You Paid to Watch Netflix Last Month Was More Than It Paid in Income Taxes
Whether you paid $8.99 for basic, $12.99 for standard, or splurged for the $15.99 premium package so you would have the privilege of watching endless streaming shows and movies on Netflix last month, a new analysis shows you still paid much, much more than the company paid in federal and local income taxes for the entire year. "When hugely profitable corporations avoid tax, that means smaller businesses and working families must make up the difference." —Matthew Gardner, ITEP senior fellowAccording to Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), "The popular video streaming service Netflix posted its largest-ever U.S. profit in 2018­­—$845 million—on which it didn't pay a dime in federal or state income taxes." Not a dime. Not one penny.   More


*   *   *   *
NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong


“Friends of the Pentagon” push for even higher Military Spending. . .
Intel Chiefs Use "Global Threat" Report to Uphold US War Machine
The corporate media’s reporting on the testimonies of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and the directors of CIA, NSA and FBI on their annual assessment of “worldwide threats” emphasized the fact that theycontradicted President Donald Trump’s views on Iran, North Korea and Russia…  The 2019 “Worldwide Threats Assessment,” like its annual predecessors, approaches central policy issues in ways that protect the interests of the powerful institutions served by intelligence agencies. The result is that the line between intelligence assessment and propaganda is often impossible to discern…  The elevation of Russia and China to the leading position among global threats reflects the primordial interests of the Pentagon, which announced a major shift in January 2018 from fighting terrorism to competing with Russia and China as the primary basis for planning — and justifying more spending.   More 

(Russia has exactly two overseas bases: one on the coast of Syria and one on the coast of Vietnam)

DON’T LET DEMOCRATS BECOME THE PARTY OF WAR
This month, the president of the United States will meet for a second time with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Either the path toward peace for 75 million Koreans will advance, or it will reverse into recriminations and nuclear threats. In the coming months, too, the president may act on his desire to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from ill-conceived, open-ended missions in Syria and Afghanistan—or he will continue to keep them in harm’s way, with no strategy for victory in sight.  If the president taking these actions were not Trump, many of his domestic detractors would likely welcome progress toward diplomacy and peace. Yet over the past six months, politicians and experts have repeatedly done the opposite.  They have urged this most impulsive and unprincipled of presidents to undertake more international conflict, not less…  The gambit to out-hawk Trump is a dangerous one. More

On Venezuela and NATO, the Democratic Party is the “Assistance” Not the “Resistance” The so-called Democratic Party “resistance” to Trump has largely been silent on the issue of Venezuela…  Just days before Washington set the attempted coup into motion, the Democratic-controlled House voted for the NATO Support Act. The Act declares that the U.S. President cannot use federal funds to withdraw from NATO. It also ensures that the U.S. will remain a “member in good standing” until further notice. Only twenty-two members of the House voted “no” and all of them were Republicans . Presidential hopeful and anti-regime change representative Tulsi Gabbard abstained from the vote while Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and the rest of the “progressive” Democrats voted “yes” to NATO.  As of this writing, only Tulsi Gabbard, Bernie Sanders, and Ilhan Omar have voiced any kind of opposition to the Trump Administration’s coup against Venezuela from the Democratic wing of the ruling class. None of them have mounted a challenge to the power of NATO over U.S. imperial policy.   More

VENEZUELA:
The U.S.’s 68th Regime Change Disaster
While Venezuelans face poverty, preventable diseases, malnutrition and open threats of war by U.S. officials, those same U.S. officials and their corporate sponsors are looking at an almost irresistible gold mine if they can bring Venezuela to its knees: a fire sale of its oil industry to foreign oil companies and the privatization of many other sectors of its economy, from hydroelectric power plants to iron, aluminum and, yes, actual gold mines.  This is not speculation. It is what the U.S.’s new puppet, Juan Guaido, has reportedly promised his American backers if they can overthrow Venezuela’s elected government and install him in the presidential palace…  The U.S. government claims to be acting in the best interests of the Venezuelan people, but over 80 percent of Venezuelans, including many who don’t support Maduro, are opposed to the crippling economic sanctions, while 86% oppose U.S. or international military intervention.   More

US Media Ignore—and Applaud—Economic War on Venezuela
The US media chorus supporting a US overthrow of the Venezuelan government has for years pointed to the country’s economic crisis as a justification for regime change, while whitewashing the ways in which the US has strangled the Venezuelan economy…  Sanctions have kept the Venezuelan government from accessing financing and dealing with its debt while hamstringing its most important industry. Given that US media are writing for a principally US audience, the damage done by Washington and its partners’ sanctions should be front and center in their coverage. Exactly the opposite is the case…  Weaponizing hunger in Venezuela in this manner is dishonest and misleading…  Thus, the US government acknowledges that it is knowingly, consciously driving the Venezuelan economy into the ground, but US media make no such acknowledgment, which sends the message that the problems in Venezuela are entirely the fault of the government, and that the US is a neutral arbiter that wants to help Venezuelans.  Call this elision what it is: war propaganda.   More

For Trump’s Regime Changers, Venezuela Is Just the First Step
The crisis in Venezuela has provided the “low-hanging fruit,” in the words of journalist Jon Lee Anderson, for the resurrection of a bygone era of gunboat diplomacy, when Washington could dictate the fate of regional governments…  But from the start of his presidency, Trump has had regime change in Venezuela on his policy agenda—as a step toward fulfilling his campaign promise to “end the deal” that President Obama made with Raúl Castro for a historic peaceful coexistence with Cuba. On only his second day in the White House, Trump “asked for a Venezuela briefing,” one former administration official recently told The Wall Street Journal, “to explore how to reverse Obama-era policies toward Cuba.” Options for getting rid of Maduro and ending Venezuela’s alliance with Cuba included cutting off the billions of dollars that the United States pays for Venezuelan oil imports—a major sanction that the administration has now imposed.  More

IRAN: THE DRIFT TOWARD WAR
Late last year, National Security Advisor John Bolton pressed the Pentagon to produce options for attacking Iran, and he has long advocated for military strikes and regime change in Teheran. And now, because of a recent internal policy review on the effect of US sanctions, Washington may be is drifting closer to war.  According to “On Thin Ice,” a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), the Trump administration has concluded that its “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions has largely failed to meet any of the White House’s “goals” of forcing Iran to re-negotiate the 2015 nuclear agreement or alter its policies in the Middle East.  While the sanctions have damaged Iran’s economy, the Iranians have proved to be far more nimble in dodging them than Washington allowed for. And because the sanctions were unilaterally imposed, there are countries willing to look for ways to avoid them…  But the failure of the White House’s sanctions creates its own dangers because this is not an American administration that easily accepts defeat. On top of that, there is a window of opportunity for striking Iran that will close in a year, making an attack more complicated.  More

US arms sold to Saudi Arabia and UAE end up in wrong hands
Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners have transferred American-made weapons to al Qaeda-linked fighters, hardline Salafi militias, and other factions waging war in Yemen, in violation of their agreements with the United States, a CNN investigation has found…  Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, its main partner in the war, have used the US-manufactured weapons as a form of currency to buy the loyalties of militias or tribes, bolster chosen armed actors, and influence the complex political landscape, according to local commanders on the ground and analysts who spoke to CNN…  The revelations raise fresh questions about whether the US has lost control over a key ally presiding over one of the most horrific wars of the past decade, and whether Saudi Arabia is responsible enough to be allowed to continue buying the sophisticated arms and fighting hardware.   More

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Nothing short of Medicare for All in 2020 Our Revolution Heather Gautney

Our Revolution Heather Gautney<info@ourrevolution.com>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  

Our Revolution

Friends,
If Democrats are serious about defeating Donald Trump in 2020, they cannot continue to play footsie with drug and insurance companies and allow them to exploit our sick and our elderly.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, if he runs, would be the only presidential candidate who has taken on corporate health care profiteers on behalf of the working class and organized to pass Medicare for All through social movement pressure.
In the lead up to 2020, Democrats have put several health care plans on the table, all of them claiming to improve access to care. But making health insurance more affordable is not the same as guaranteeing healthcare for everyone. Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s plans are the only ones that will make health care truly universal.
The time for half-measures and empty promises is over. We need a leader with the political courage to demand health care for every single person in this country.
This won’t come as a shock to many of you, but presidential candidates who signed on to Sanders’ 2017 Medicare for All legislation are already starting to backpedal on whether healthcare should be a public good.
Not only is it unethical to allow corporations to profit off our healthcare system, but the only way to cut costs is by taking it out of the hands of private insurers and allowing the government to negotiate prices. Sen. Sanders’ Medicare for All treats people equally, regardless of income or employment status -- and not as a commodity to be exploited by private companies.
In solidarity,
Heather Gautney
Executive Director
Our Revolution
PAID FOR BY OUR REVOLUTION
PO Box 66208
WASHINGTON, DC, 20035

Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. Our Revolution is a 501(c)(4) organization. Donations to Our Revolution are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes. All donations are made to support Our Revolution’s general mission and are not designated for any specific activity.
PO Box 66208, Washington, DC 20035
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Once Again On Frederick Douglas-Happy 200th Birthday Brother We Have Not Forgotten You Or Brother John Brown Either- A New Biography-For Frederick Douglass On His 200th Birthday- *Free And Equal Blues-The Work Of Josh White

Once Again On Frederick Douglas-Happy 200th Birthday Brother We Have Not Forgotten You Or Brother John Brown Either

In this 200th birthday year of Frederick Douglas the revolutionary abolitionist and women’s rights advocate we have been graced with radio programs dedicated to his outstanding career. A new biography by Douglas Blight with many insights into this brilliant orator, lecturer, advocate and activist against grim slavery for himself and his people has been highlighted on several talk shows. Here’s a link to one recent one on NPR’s On Point:

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/16/657512770/frederick-douglass-is-an-extended-meditation-on-the-legends-self-invention

And another  


https://www.npr.org/2018/10/16/657512770/frederick-douglass-is-an-extended-meditation-on-the-legends-self-invention

 This is what you need to know about Frederick Douglass and the anti-slavery, the revolutionary abolitionist fight. He was the man, the shining q star black man who led the fight for black men to join the Union Army and not just either be treated as freaking contraband or worse, as projected in early in the war by the Lincoln administration the return of fugitive slaves to “loyal” slave-owners. Led the fight to not only seek an emancipation proclamation as part of the struggle but a remorseless and probably long struggle to crush slavery and slaver-owners and their hanger-on militarily. Had been ticketed at a desperate moment in 1864 to recreate a John Brown scenario if they logjam between North and South in Virginia had not been broken. Yes, a bright shining northern star black man.    





Josh White: Free and Equal Blues, Josh White, Smithsonian Folkway, 1998

Most of the points that I made in a previous review, the first two paragraphs of which are reposted below, of a Josh White DVD film documentary apply here as well.

 "I have spent no little ink over the past year or so reviving memories of various folk and blues artists whose music helped me pass away my youth, a youth that otherwise would have been cluttered solely with little things like the fight for a more just society, attempts to understand history and, maybe as importantly, the individuals role in it-mine. As a part of that past I had spent more than a few Sunday evenings listening to a folk program on a local radio station. As a result I became very familiar with the name Josh White as an exemplar of soulful folk and blues tunes. And the first song that I recall hearing from this iconic figure?- "You, Can't Get No Bread With One Meatball". Go figure, right?

 That oddly funny selection (not played here, although it would have been nice to hear it again), fortunately, does not reflect the very serious nature of Josh White's work, his personality and his struggle as a fighter for black liberation. We are treated to all aspects of that work in this one hour film of rare clips; mostly it appears to be material from early television performances. We are favored with the smooth voice, the strong guitar work (when required to give urgency to songs like the anti-Jim Crow ones presented here early on) and the sense of showmanship and professionalism that I remember the folk historian Dave Van Ronk mentioning concerning Josh's approach to performing. But what stand out here are the songs- from the intense "Strange Fruit" (an anti-Jim Crow song also covered in a different way by Billie Holiday) to a crowd-pleasing "Danny Boy". If this is your first exposure to this legendary figure in the folk and blues world then I would only state you have found a good place to start."

 That said, it is only necessary to make a few extra comments here about the range of material that White was capable of delivering depending on audience and other circumstances but first this political comment. Smithsonian Folkway, almost by definition, provides great liner notes accompanying its productions. According to those provided here, written by folk historian Elijah Wald who has more recently written a biography of folk singer Dave Van Ronk, Brother White ran afoul of the House Un-American Activities Committee during the heart of the McCarthyite "red scare" campaign of the 1950's. While it is unclear whether White named names he did not, as was necessary, refuse to co-operate. This tarnished his reputation in the New York left-wing community. And it should have.

 One can nevertheless understand why the various anti-red committees and others would have an interest in Brother White. I mentioned, for one, his version of the anti-lynching "Strange Fruit" above. How about Langston Hughes' "Freedom Road" for another. Or "Jim Crow". Or "Landlord". But, you get the drift. Then there is the less political stuff that still would have to be a little suspect once you realized this was someone trying to be a black liberation fighter, before it was fashionable (or safe). Here Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets" is fine. As is "Careless Love" and Victoria Spivey's "T B Blues". And, of course, that above-mentioned "One Meatball". I wish Brother White had held up better politically but he has no problem standing up musically.


Freedom Road

 written by: Langston Hughes, sung by:Josh White

 Hand me my gun, let the bugle blow loud
I’m on my way with my head up proud
One objective I’ve got in view
Is to keep ahold of freedom for me and you

 That’s why I’m marching, yes, I’m marching
Marching down Freedom’s Road
Ain’t nobody gonna stop me, nobody gonna keep me
From marching down Freedom’s Road

 It ought to be plain as the nose on your face
There’s room in this land for every race
Some folks think that freedom just ain’t right
Those are the very people I want to fight . . .

 United we stand, divided we fall
Let’s make this land safe for one and all
I’ve got a message and you know it’s right
Black and white together, unite and fight!
The Free and Equal Blues

 variation written by: Josh White (a slightly different version was written originally by Yip Harburg)

 I went down to that St. James Infirmary, and I saw some plasma there,
I ups and asks the doctor man, "Say was the donor dark or fair?"
The doctor laughed a great big laugh, and he puffed it right in my face,
He said, "A molecule is a molecule, son, and the damn thing has no race."

 And that was news, yes that was news,
That was very, very, very special news.
'Cause ever since that day we’ve had those free and equal blues.

 "You mean you heard that doc declare
That the plasma in that test tube there could be
White man, black man, yellow man, red?"
"That’s just what that doctor said."
The doc put down his doctor book and gave me a very scientific look
And he spoke out plain and clear and rational,
He said, "Metabolism is international."

 Chorus

 Then the doc rigged up his microscope with some Berlin blue blood,
And, by gosh, it was the same as Chun King, Quebechef, Chattanooga, Timbuktoo blood
Why, those men who think they’re noble
Don’t even know that the corpuscle is global
Trying to disunite us with their racial supremacy,
And flying in the face of old man chemistry,
Taking all the facts and trying to twist ëem,
But you can’t overthrow the circulatory system.

 Chorus

 So I stayed at that St. James Infirmary.
(I couldn’t leave that place, it was too interesting)
But I said to the doctor, "Give me some more of that scientific talk talk," and he did:
He said, "Melt yourself down into a crucible
Pour yourself out into a test tube and what have you got?
Thirty-five hundred cubic feet of gas,
The same for the upper and lower class."
Well, I let that pass . . .
"Carbon, 22 pounds, 10 ounces"
"You mean that goes for princes, dukeses and countses?"
"Whatever you are, that’s what the amounts is:
Carbon, 22 pounds, 10 ounces; iron, 57 grains."
Not enough to keep a man in chains.
"50 ounces of phosophorus, that’s whether you’re poor or prosperous."
"Say buddy, can you spare a match?"
"Sugar, 60 ordinary lumps, free and equal rations for all nations.
Then you take 20 teaspoons of sodium chloride (that’s salt), and you add 38
quarts of H2O (that’s water), mix two ounces of lime, a pinch of chloride of
potash, a drop of magnesium, a bit of sulfur, and a soupÁon of hydrochloric
acid, and you stir it all up, and what are you?"
"You’re a walking drugstore."
"It’s an international, metabolistic cartel."

 And that was news, yes that was news,
So listen, you African and Indian and Mexican, Mongolian, Tyrolean and Tartar,
The doctor’s right behind the Atlantic Charter.
The doc’s behind the new brotherhood of man,
As prescribed at San Francisco and Yalta, Dumbarton Oaks, and at Potsdam:
Every man, everywhere is the same, when he’s got his skin off.
And that’s news, yes that’s news,
That’s the free and equal blues!

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Dear VFP Members and Friends, The U.S.-orchestrated coup in Venezuela presents a great threat to the people of Venezuela and to all of Latin America, which apparently is still considered to be "our backyard" by the dinosaurs of U.S. imperialism. The possibility of direct military intervention leading to a long and bloody war is "on the table."

Veterans For Peace<vfp@veteransforpeace.org>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  

Dear VFP Members and Friends,

The U.S.-orchestrated coup in Venezuela presents a great threat to the people of Venezuela and to all of Latin America, which apparently is still considered to be "our backyard" by the dinosaurs of U.S. imperialism. The possibility of direct military intervention leading to a long and bloody war is "on the table."

Even as President Trump makes halting efforts to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Syria, his administration is doubling down on U.S. intervention in this hemisphere. National Security Adviser John Bolton is also promising to step up U.S. attacks against the progressive governments and people of Cuba and Nicaragua.

The Veterans For Peace statement calling for resistance to U.S. intervention in Venezuela, unanimously agreed upon by the VFP Board of Directors at our recent meeting in Tijuana, Mexico, continues to be welcomed and widely circulated (over 1.5 K "shares" on Facebook).

Veterans For Peace has also endorsed several upcoming mobilizations against the unfolding coup in Venezuela. Most important, because they are coming up soon, are internationally coordinated local actions on February 23.

Check out the website for the No War on Venezuela actions. Veterans For Peace is already an endorser, but VFP Chapters may also sign on, as can individuals.

In less than a week the call for No War on Venezuela actions on Februrary 23 has garnered remarkable support, coming from virtually the entire peace movement in the U.S. and internationally (the Call has been translated into eight languages!).
I encourage all VFP chapters and members to participate in local actions that are already being organized for Saturday, Febuary 23, or to initiate and anchor protests and/or educational events in your communities. Call on your friends and allied organizations to join you. Unity, creativity and flexibility should be our watch words. It could be any type of event, such as a visit to your Congressperson's office on Friday, February 22, a vigil downtown on Saturday, February 23, or an educational forum on Sunday, February 24.

You can find helpful resources on the website, including a ready made half-page flyer, where you can add your local information. Of course, feel free to produce your own flyer with your own message. The voice of veterans must be heard.

The U.S. regime change operation in Venezuela also presents an opportunity for the U.S. peace movement to step up our game. This includes Veterans For Peace, of course. The VFP Board of Directors is already discussing the possibility of having regular coordinated actions, monthly or quarterly, where all VFP chapters can act together. On February 23 we can begin to exercise our collective muscle while making a real contribution to the peace movement.

How many other organizations have chapters in so many cities? And internationally too. I believe the answer is none. When Veterans For Peace chapters step up together, we will make a real difference.

All out for February 23!

Hands Off Venezuela!

Gerry Condon
1404 N. Broadway Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63102
Veterans For Peace welcomes your tax deductible donations.
We also encourage you to join our ranks.



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