Films To Class Struggle By-"Incident At Ogala: The Leonard Peltier Story"- Leonard Peltier Must Not Die In Jail

Films To Class Struggle By-"Incident At Ogala: The Leonard Peltier Story"- Leonard Peltier Must Not Die In Jail

Recently I have begun to post entries under the headline- “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”-that will include progressive and labor-oriented songs that might be of general interest to the radical public. I have decided to do the same for some films that may perk that same interest under the title in this entry’s headline. In the future I expect to do the same for books under a similar heading.-Markin

DVD Review

Incident At Ogala: The Leonard Peltier Story, Leonard Peltier, various leaders of the American Indian Movement (AIM), defense attorneys, prosecuting attorneys, witnesses and by-standers, directed by Michael Apted, 1991

Let’s start this review of this documentary of the incidents surrounding the case of Leonard Peltier at the end. Or at least the end of this documentary, 1991. Leonard Peltier, a well-known leader of the Native American movement, convicted of the 1975 murder, execution-style, of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota after he had been extradited from Canada in the wake of the acquittal of two other Pine Ridge residents. In an interview from federal prison in that period the then still relatively young Peltier related that after receiving his life sentences and being told by prison officials that that meant his release date would be in 2035 he stated that he hoped not, for he would then be an old, old man. Here is what should make everyone interested in the case, and everyone interested in the least sense of justice, even just bourgeois justice, blood boil, he is now an old sick man and he is still in jail for a crime that he did not commit, and certainly one that was not proven beyond that cherished “reasonable doubt”

This documentary, narrated by Robert Redford in his younger days as well, goes step by step through the case from the pre-murder period when Native Americans, catching the political consciousness crest begun in the 1960s by the black civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam war movement, started organizing, mainly through the American Indian Movement (AIM), on the Indian reservations of the West, some of the most impoverished areas in all the Americas. The focal point of this militant organizing effort came in the war zone-showdown, the siege at Wounded Knee in 1973. The tension that hovered in the air in the aftermath of that war between the American government and its Indian agent supporters on one side, and the AIM-led “warrior nation” on the other is the setting for this incident at Ogala.

Through reenactment of the crime scene; eye witnesses, interested and disinterested, voluntary or coerced; defense strategies at both trials from self-defense to lack of physical evidence, and on appeal; the prosecution's case, its insufficient evidence, and it various maneuvers to inflame white juries against unpopular or misunderstood Native Americans in order to get someone convicted for the murders of one of their own; the devastating, but expected effect of the trials on the political organizing by AIM; and the stalwart and defiant demeanor of one Leonard Peltier all come though in this presentation. As a long time supporter of organizations that defend class-war prisoners, like Leonard Peltier, this film only makes that commitment even firmer. With that in mind- Free Leonard Peltier-He Must Not Die In Jail!

From The Veterans For Peace- The Twelve Days Of......The Struggle Against The Endless American Wars

From The Veterans For Peace- The Twelve Days Of......The Struggle Against The Endless American Wars  

From The Veterans For Peace- The Twelve Days Of......The Struggle Against The Endless American Wars-Some Books Of Interest

From The Veterans For Peace- The Twelve Days Of......The Struggle Against The Endless American Wars-Some Books Of Interest 

One Last Time On The 50th Anniversary Of The Beatle's "Sgt. Pepper" Album (2017)-The Class of 1964-Stones or Beatles?

One Last Time On The 50th Anniversary Of The Beatle's "Sgt. Pepper" Album (2017)-The Class of 1964-Stones or Beatles?      

By Phil Larkin

[As of December 1, 2017 under the new regime of Greg Green, formerly of the on-line American Film Gazette website, brought in to shake things up a bit after a vote of no confidence in the previous site administrator Peter Markin was taken among all the writers at the request of some of the younger writers abetted by one key older writer, Sam Lowell, the habit of assigning writers solely to specific topics like film, books, political commentary, and culture is over. Also over is the designation of writers in this space, young or old, by job title like senior or associate. After a short-lived experiment by Green designating everybody as “writer” seemingly in emulation of the French Revolution’s “citizen” or the Bolshevik Revolution’s “comrade” all posts will be “signed” with given names only. The Editorial Board]

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Today I choose not to go on and on about the recent internal disputes on this site which has led to the canny and “exile” of the former site administrator, Allan Jackman who used the moniker Peter Paul Markin when posting, etc., because I have bigger fish to fry as they used to say in the old days in my Irish Catholic growing up Acre section of North Adamsville south of Boston. (Allan in a retro piece written well before all the controversies has given his take on this dispute in a posting dated December 15, 2014.) Those “fish” meaning in this 50^th anniversary year of the Beatle’s world record bestselling album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band  the world-historic dispute of that Acre growing up time about whether the Beatles or the Stones (Rolling Stones) were the band that fit our moods.  “Spoke” to us although we would have torn each other’s hearts out, or did a huge amount of “fag” baiting (yeah, we were way behind the curve then on sexual identity issues even though one of our hang-around guys, the biggest “fag-baiter” ultimately to our collective shock “came out” a couple of years after the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City and for a while “shunned” him until we wised up a bit mainly through our own chances in politics and ways of looking at the world) if anybody had dared to use such an expression in the year of our Lord 1960 something.      

I have gone round and round on this one and by overwhelming general consensus, excepting our leader Frankie Riley, who tough and smart as he was, couldn’t get us to buy into his view that the “boys for Liverpool,” meaning po’ boy working class guys like us were superior to the Stones. And here is the funny part some fifty plus years later those of us who are still around from that time and still speaking to each other, including that gay brother (a couple of guys are not for very long ago reasons but in the baby-boomer male psyche “forgive and forget” was, is, a tough dollar) having recently gathered together to listen to a ton of Beatles and Stones material still believe that our youthful opinions hold true. That truth despite most of us, having survived the “from hunger” neighborhood, wound up having decent and honorable careers. Even Frankie belatedly to be sure feels that the “angry young men” Stones still represent best our own anger at our situations in a world we did not make than the more wistful Beatles. Personal preferences, time, and whatever youthful angst and alienation obviously mixing up the pot when comparison time comes around but there you have my take on that still simmering controversy.

So the Stones “win” that battle but today I want give a “shout out” especially to those on the Beatles side about a program on NPR’s Terry Gross- hosted Fresh Air. One day she had, in an encore edition originally aired on June 1^st, the son of George Martin, the guy who produced Sgt. Pepper who for the 50^th anniversary remixed his father’s original album work. For an hour he spoke about many interesting things that occurred during the original production and the things that he had done to give the thing a 50^th anniversary retooling.

Here’s the link but listen to Stones stuff before final judgment-okay:   

https://www.npr.org/2017/06/01/531040084/50-years-later-producer-remixes-sgt-pepper-to-bring-it-into-the-modern-world

On The 50th Anniversary Of Beatle's "Sgt Pepper" Album (2017) The Class of 1964-Stones or Beatles?

On The 50th Anniversary Of Beatle's "Sgt Pepper" Album (2017)    The Class of 1964-Stones or Beatles?

Allan Jackson (using the moniker Peter Paul Markin on this site) commentary

Working Class Hero

Street Fighting Man

The following is a response to a canned Q&A section from a committee of my high school Class of 1964 (a few edits here to delete personal information). I share it with the aging lefties and rock and roll aficionados in the audience.

Okay, so Markin has come in from the cold and reunited with the Class of 1964 after over forty years of ignoring that fact. Big deal, right? For those interested in my profile you can read my comments in the My Story section. But today, since I have joined this work and it is my dime, I feel I might as well use it for the purpose that I joined, to network with some of the old crowd.

I propose to use my bulletin board space to pose certain questions to my fellow classmates to which I am interested in getting answers. Thus I will be periodically throwing a question out and would appreciate an answer. No, I do not want to ask personal family questions. After forty years this space is hardly the place to air our dirty little secrets. No, I do not want to talk religion. That is everyone private affair. No, I do not want to talk politics, although those who might remember me know that I am a ‘political junkie’ from way back. In fact I mean to get myself into some 12 step rehab program as soon as this current campaign is over, if ever. What I want to do is ask questions like that posed below. Join me…..

“Manchurian Candidate” McCain vs. The Huckster”? Boring. Ms. Hillary vs. Obama ‘The Charma”? Ho, hum. Three dollar gas at the pump? Oh, well. No, what has my blood boiling is a question that I am, after forty years, desperate to know about my classmates from 1964. In your callow youth, back in the mist of time, did you prefer the Rolling Stones or the Beatles? The question was posed in the canned Q&A section above but I feel the issue warrants a full airing out. I make no bones about my preference for the Rolling Stones and will motivate that below but here let me just set the parameters. I am talking about when we were in high school. I do not mean the later material like the Beatles "Sergeant Pepper" or the Stones' "Gimme Shelter". And no, I do not want to hear about how you really swooned over Bobby Darin or Bobby Dee. Answer the question asked, please.

I am not sure exactly when I first hear a Stones song although it was probably “Satisfaction”. However, what really hooked me on them was when I hear them cover the old Willie Dixon blues classic “The Red Rooster”. If you will recall that song was banned, at first, from the radio stations of Boston. Later, I think, and someone can maybe help me out on this, WMEX broke the ban and played it. And no, the song was not about the doings of our barnyard friends. But, beyond that it was the fact that it was banned that made me, and perhaps you, want to hear it at any cost. That says as much about my personality then, and now, as any long-winded statement I could make.

That event began my long love affair with the blues. And that is probably why, although American blues also influenced the Beatles, it is the Stones that I favor. Their cover still holds up, by the way. Not as good, as I found out later, as the legendary Howlin' Wolf’s version but good. I have also thought about The Stones influence recently as I have thought about the long ago past of my youth. Compare some works like John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” and The Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” (yes, I know these are later works) and I believe that you will find that something in the way The Stones’ presented that angry, defiant sound appealed to my working class alienation. But enough. I will close with this. I have put my money where my mouth is with my preference. When the Stones’ toured Boston at Fenway Park in the summer of 2005 I spend many (too many) dollars to get down near the stage and watch old Mick and friends rock. Beat that.

From The Veterans For Peace- The Twelve Days Of......The Struggle Against The Endless American Wars

From The Veterans For Peace- The Twelve Days Of......The Struggle Against The Endless American Wars

In Boston-Join The Struggle Against Homelessness

In Boston-Join The Struggle Against Homelessness

Of Real Golfers and Fakahs- A Cautionary Tale

Of Real Golfers and Fakahs- A Cautionary Tale

By Si Lannon

[As of December 1, 2017 under the new regime of Greg Green, formerly of the on-line American Film Gazette website, brought in to shake things up a bit after a vote of no confidence in the now deposed and self-exiled previous site administrator Allan Jackson (who used the moniker Peter Paul  Markin on this site) was taken among all the writers at the request of some of the younger writers abetted by one key older writer, Sam Lowell, the habit of assigning writers solely to specific topics like film, books, political commentary, and culture is over. Also over is the designation of writers in this space, young or old, by job title like senior or associate. After a short-lived experiment by Green designating everybody as “writer” seemingly in emulation of the French Revolution’s “citizen” or the Bolshevik Revolution’s “comrade” all posts will be “signed” with given names only. The Editorial Board]

[As the above notice has indicated the former site administrator, Allan Jackson, an old friend of mine from high school days and a man whom I supported during the recent intense bitter internal struggle at this site which centered on future direction and purpose, has been deposed and banished to exile (self-banished according to him but seen differently by the survivors). Because the fight was along generational lines, self-styled “Young Turks” and branded “old-timers” as much as anything else new administrator Greg Green, with the endorsement of the newly-revived Editorial Board, has decided to let each combatant give their take on the issues at dispute, if they so desire. The reasoning as far as a I know is to clear the air and to let the reading public know what goes on behind the scenes of every publishing operation, old-fashioned hard copy and new-fangled social media driven before any material sees the light of day.

I have no serious gripe about Allan’s tenure except that I did notice he got more set in his ways as he got older. Was less inclined to “go off the reservation” with any new idea presented to him to expand the subject matter which forms the living experience of the American scene.  What I am about to speak of though, hopefully without setting off an avalanche of gripes about the old regime, is related to the subject of today’s post, sports, specifically golf, my favorite sport. Sports, including golf, something which Allan was adamantly against posting material on reasoning that there were an infinite number of sports outlets putting an infinite amount of information about every possible sport or game and we did not need to, could not, compete against that reality. Furthermore although this site is about important nodal social, political and cultural happenings in America which includes an overweening love of sport by significant segments of the population he would pass on assigning or accepting any sport-related posting.

As a general proposition for the direction of this site I would, and did, agree with him on that. Except my sports perspective was not the television, radio, on-line professional and top amateur stuff but down in the average American trenches. How an average Joe goes about the business of doing some sport, again specifically golf, which I enjoy and having been a member of a golf club long enough have plenty of “slice of life” material. No go, no go until recently that is which I will mention in a minute.             

What busted me up, almost at one point busted up our friendship which has been pretty solid since high school many, many years ago was that several years ago, Allan was all over the idea of having a significant sports angle posted on this site. And not some “literary” (his term stolen from the real Peter Paul Markin, a big friend in our youth) touch like Ring Lardner did with his baseball series around the title You Know Me, Al  in the early 20^th century or Damon Runyon with betting horses (or betting on anything) in a million shrewd short stories centered on old Broadway a little later.

Allan’s idea, reflecting his personal interest in college football, was to write, or have somebody write weekly commentaries during the college football season every fall. And for a couple of years, this before I started writing regularly for this site, I guess he thought he had cornered the wisdom on the “sports” market. Thought that doing so would make American Left History more relevant to some anonymous “average Joe” who would then pick up on the various historical and political points which are the hallmark of the site. The hook? Project the winners of each week’s games. Not just the winner’s but as always in sports, certainly in football, provide a numbered point spread for the readers to use when making their bets elsewhere.

There were two problems with that approach. First Allan, unlike the real Markin always known as Scribe, didn’t know the first thing about football, at least what college teams to focus on for betting purposes. Here is how bad I heard it was (he would never talk about it to me when I came on board or when we went out for a few drinks with the other surviving high school guys). Alan actually would run a line on the Harvard-Yale game like anybody outside those two schools gave a fuck about the point spread. Was clueless about such teams as Miami (which he thought was Miami of Ohio and wondered why nobody wanted to bet when they played Kent State) and had no idea outside a certain devotion to Notre Dame about serious big-time college football (our “subway” fan Irish neighborhood “go to” team from way back even when they sucked during our high school days team). Worse, that second problem, was that readers were complaining about a guy whose percentages against the point spread had been about ten percent even doing such an operation. One reader told him to use a Ouija board, a couple have his wife make the picks and numbers out a grab bag, stuff like that. 

After a pile of those complains Allan suddenly stopped, stopped cold before the bowls season started the second season. Never to let another live sports piece muddy this site. Until recently when after something like a civil war between us he granted me a reprieve. Let me do a “slice of life” piece about an amateur, very amateur, golf tournament that some friends at my golf club were participating in. I didn’t ask but I assume since the war clouds were looming on the internal disputes after one of the younger writers flat-out refused to write a CD review on Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Volume l2 declaring it nothing but mishmash and a distraction that he was trying to shore up support from the older writers as the “Young Turks” were throwing down the gauntlet. When I asked Greg Green about doing a short follow up piece after the smoke settled, the one below, he said such, said maybe I should do a whole series of “slice of life” vignettes if I could jumble the thing up with other sports as well as golf.  Si Lannon]           

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This screed, let’s call it a screed since I am up in arms about what I consider a dastardly deed provoking screed time in me,  is being written on Saturday morning December 9, 2017 from “not the golf course, that expression to be explained posthaste since “weenie,” there is no other way to put it, Frog Pond PGA Golf Professional Robert Kiley  declared yesterday December 8^th the end of the golf season as we know it due to what he called, seemingly in panic, a snow emergency demanding all entrances and exits to the property under penalty of death be shuttered for the year since some foul-mouthed weatherman, oops, weatherperson had predicted the first snow of the season. A first snow that however was not projected to start until mid-morning on the 9^th.   

Well maybe not under penalty of death on the question of entering the property since we are all paid up members who actually “own” the course through our initiation fees and bond and are entitled to enter all year and play golf weather permitting all year as well using temporary green in the winter, but remember this is a screed. He nevertheless has certainly placed himself as a self-serving “weenie” since when the course “closes” for the year he hightails it down to Naples, Florida and golfs his brains out while we all suffer the “hot stove” winter golf roundtable blues until blissful come hither March. And certainly “panic” is an appropriate expression under the circumstances trusting in some holy goof weatherman, person whatever whose error rate is higher than any golfer’s score. (We by the way for those looking for harsher, rougher words use “weenie” rather than some other derogatory term since golf, unlike rough-hewn sports like bowling and badminton, is a gentlemanly and gentlewomanly pursuit and rather civilized except the vast “open secret” of the not too pleasant fates awaiting the golf balls used to further the sport’s aims.

In any case it is approximately 9:30 AM and I stepped outside for a minute and actually had a flake, one flake, hit my nose. I don’t like to cast aspersions on a man’s manhood especially when he holds the ticket to a person’s season-long entertainment but couldn’t certain rugged individual golfers of my acquaintance, my infamous 6:06 club, named as such for the usual tee time which we start playing at most of the season, that is 6:06 AM by the way so you know these rugged individuals are also old rugged individuals, have faced that one, possibly two snowflakes, and played a robust round at “the Frog” before the heavens erupted.   

Enough of moaning and groaning about short golf seasons though after all in New England unlike Florida or Arizona the serious season has to come to an end at some point. What I am up in arms about is the line in the sand that was drawn yesterday between real golfers and fakahs (what in the rest of the English- speaking world outside of Boston are called fakers). For the uninitiated modern day notice is by ever quick-mail even in ancient golf world and one and all were informed of the closing by e-mail early Friday morning. Certain real golfers, 6:06 Club golfers, knowing the end was near, showed their metal by dropping everything they were doing once the clarion call panicky weenie e-mail came over cyberspace from Golf Central to announce a cease-fire in place. One guy, Sand-bagger Jackson, the moniker tells all, came running from the netherworld of the City of Presidents where he was working diligently on yet another report. Another, Kevin Zonk, moniker also tells a lot, put down pen abruptly and called a halt to yet another so-called earth-shattering conference about some bogus crisis in the health care system to heed the call to arms and yet another, Redoubtable Steve, came speeding from out of nowhere some fifty miles away ready to let the environment in this wicked old world go asunder to get one final fix, to have one final stab at the brass ring. 

On the other side, and by now one and all know what side that is, there are certain guys, okay a certain guy, Kaz, who apparently knows only three letters, who in the interest of making mere filthy lucre debased themselves, no, himself, in order to do mundane things like cover mortgage payments, pay the armed bandits for upcoming educational expenses with daughter college loaming and the like. Now like I said I am not one to cast aspersions on a man’s manhood but what else can one think could be the reason for such an obvious no show. Especially when in the crucial final Frog Pond betting scheme, five dollar a man quota, a certain guy from the City of Presidents found fifteen dollars on the ground, or so it seemed like it.

Later Si Lannon  

    

Why Is the VA Hiding a PR Goldmine? VA Secretary David Shulkin is suppressing his own book that highlights the agency’s success.

  Why Is the VA Hiding a PR Goldmine?

VA Secretary David Shulkin is suppressing his own book that highlights the agency’s success.

by Suzanne Gordon

December 8, 2017

Health Care

Milwaukee VA Health Center

In January of this year, President Trump surprisingly named Dr. David Shulkin, a rare Obama administration holdover, to be secretary of Veterans Affairs. He ordered Shulkin to improve medical treatment for veterans, which Trump called “horrible, horrible, and unfair” during the Obama years.

On May 31, Shulkin trooped over to the White House to deliver his first “State of VA”address since his promotion to head the agency. Shulkin likened his agency “to a patient in bad, but improving, health…We are still in critical condition and require intensive care.” He pledged to tackle some of the agency’s pressing issues, such as the backlog of 90,000 disability claims, and the persistent problem of veteran suicides, which is estimated at 20 per day. Secretary Shulkin rated the performance of 14 out of 168 veterans hospitals as less than acceptable, and noted that Veteran Health Administration (VHA) infrastructure was “increasingly falling into disrepair.”

Yet, what went unmentioned at Shulkin’s White House briefing—or anywhere else apparently—was the findings of a book, published a month later, by the VA itself. TitledBest Care Everywhere, and co-edited by Shulkin, this 440-page compilation of clinical case studies hails the VHA’s little-publicized role as an incubator for “real change” in treatment methods.

Shulkin dedicates this well-documented book to America’s “men and women in uniform,” and thanks Washington Monthly senior editor Phillip Longman, author of Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care Would Work Better for Everyone—from whose 2012 book he borrowed his title—for showing “us that the VA provides some of the best health care anywhere and who inspired us to disseminate our best practices and pursue the audacious goal of delivering the best care everywhere to our Veterans.”

In his introduction, Shulkin describes the way the VA is “changing veterans’ lives” and notes that “it takes an average of 17 years for new medical evidence to reach patients in clinic or at the bedside”—a problem that all health care systems are grappling with. Yet, according to Shulkin, “VA is leading American health care in fixing it.”

“It’s difficult to exaggerate VA employees’ excitement and burst of energy when they see their great ideas translated into better access and outcomes for the veterans they proudly serve,” writes Shereef Elnahal, Shulkin’s Deputy Under Secretary for Health. “No operational system, to our knowledge, has achieved the diffusion or consistency of best practices on a scale comparable to what we’re seeing at the VA.”

For an agency often suffering from bad publicity and congressional criticism inspired by would-be privatizers of the VHA, Best Care Everywhere is a PR goldmine. If widely distributed, this book might boost institutional morale. It would also help attract more professional staff, even though VHA salaries are not competitive with private industry, and make the case for better congressional funding so more than 40,000 current vacancies could be filled. All the VHA Public Affairs staff would need to do is ship copies from the Government Printing Office (GPO) to every journalist covering the VA, members and staff of the Senate and House Committees on Veterans Affairs, and national veterans’ organizations, while making copies available to interested members of the public via the GPO website.

But that’s not what’s happening. Seven months after its publication, Best Care Everywhere—which defends rather than disses publicly-delivered veteran health care—remains one of the VA’s best-kept secrets. PR staff has not sent the book out to journalists like myself who are covering the VHA. (A VHA doctor shared his copy with me.) When I informed Phil Longman of the book’s existence, he told me, “I’ve always wanted a book to be dedicated to me…too bad no one ever told me about it, or sent me a copy.”

When I called VHA public affairs officer Michele Hammonds, she did not seem to have heard of the book. “What was that again,” she asked.  “Did you say Best Care Ever?”  I informed Hammonds that Shulkin’s book was listed as “backordered” (for almost three months) at the GPO . I ordered a copy there, provided a credit card number and have not received one yet. Hammonds asked me to hold the line while she called someone else for the information. She then asked me to request a review copy by email and promised a quick response. I have not heard from her since.

Leaders and staff of the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, AmVets, and Vietnam Veterans of America are always up to date on the latest books, articles, and official reports dealing with veterans’ affairs. But I drew a complete blank among many there too. (“Did Shulkin write a book?” one quizzical Legion staffer asked via email.)

Ditto for any number of relevant committee or congressional staffers on Capitol Hill. Several asked me to fax them the table of contents and Shulkin’s introduction to the book, since that was apparently the only way they could see it.

Within the VA, the book’s distribution pattern was similarly spotty—perhaps reflecting the ambivalence of a Trump Cabinet member proud of his own editorial role, fully aware of the truth of the book’s content, but now finding it a bit awkward to depart so dramatically—and in print—from his own boss’s uninformed take on the VA.

One VA leader confirmed that Secretary Shulkin had distributed Best Care Everywhere at a senior leadership meeting, but very selectively. As a leader of the agency’s mental health programs said, “Shulkin began this book under Obama and wanted to take credit for VA innovations. Now he’s working for Trump and he’s in a bind, because this is not the message the administration wants to deliver.”

A VHA mental health professional speculates that the book didn’t get pulped because too many health care professionals, highly regarded inside and outside government, had contributed chapters to it. Plus, Shulkin himself wouldn’t want to completely bury a volume that prominently displayed his name on the cover.

One wonders, however, about how the other contributing authors feel about VHA programs they describe being threatened today by Shulkin-assisted budget cuts and outsourcing of care to the private sector? Patients may no longer get the Best Care Everywhere if services for the homeless are cut—as Shulkin recently tried and failed to do—and programs for women’s veterans, or those suffering from hard-to-treat conditions mental health conditions are starved of resources. It’s not even clear how many of Shulkin’s colleagues, whose clinical or research work is showcased in Best Care Everywhere, will still have VHA jobs if Congress diverts billions of dollars to private sector providers.

But at least those who did get a copy of Best Care Everywhere will have one on their bookshelf to remind them and us what the VHA has been and still can be—if those directly affected rally to save it.

Suzanne Gordon

Suzanne Gordon is an award-winning journalist, lecturer and author/editor of 18 books. She has written for New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic, among other publications. Much of per professional focus is on patient safety and on helping to teach and encourage better communication and teamwork in healthcare settings.

From Veterans For Peace- Join Us by Challenging Islamophobia!

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For the past two years, the Veterans For Peace Veterans Challenge Islamophobia campaign has been organizing against prejudice, racism, and hostility expressed towards Islam and the Muslim Community.  We have been getting involved in local Muslim communities, spreading the message to other veteran groups, holding educational events in mosques, and we have even been kicked out of Trump rallies. Right now our work against Islamophobia is more important than ever! Use your veteran voice to speak out. Stand against hate, sign our statement, and show your support for targeted communities. Here is how you can take action today: Sign the Veterans Challenge Islamophobia Statement Share your reasons for signing the statement on social media, tag VCI, and use the hashtag #VetsSpeakOut Stay updated by following us on Facebook and Twitter Explore our new website for multitude of useful resources including bystander intervention guides, talking points, and other educational information Donate here to ensure that VCI can continue to work against hate Let your voice be heard. Stand up for the values of tolerance, respect, and love for all people and all faiths. Our values, as a nation, cannot abide and will not long endure amidst the divisiveness of hate speech and Islamophobia. Keep an eye out for VCI t-shirts and buttons coming soon! Design ideas? Email us atchallenge@veteransforpeace.org.

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Party for press freedom & Reality Winner ~ Sun. Dec. 17, San Francisco 

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Sunday, December 12 | 6pm meetup, 8pm-midnight music

https://www.facebook.com/events/724556941073677/

 

 

This Sunday (12/17), Peter Ecklesurname and Rainey Reitman are hosting an event in San Francisco to support two vital organizations working to advance press freedom: Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Reality Winner defense fund (hosted by Courage to Resist).

 

This year has seen unprecedented attacks against press freedom, and both of these organization are doing unique, powerful work to fight back. FPF is helping to defend press freedom by promoting and maintaining SecureDrop and hosting digital security trainings specifically for journalists. The Reality Winner defense fund, hosted by Courage to Resist, is advocating for imprisoned whistleblower Reality Leigh Winner, the first whistleblower prosecuted under the Espionage Act under the Trump administration. Her legal case is taking on the constitutionality of the Espionage Act as used against whistleblowers, and may become one of the most important press freedom cases in our lifetime.

 

Peter and the crew at the Spaceship House are opening their home to us this Sunday. Please come at 6 PM if you'd like to write a card to Reality or Snowden and enjoy a quiet cocktail, or come after 8 PM for music. Shahid and Tim Jones will be DJing till midnight.

 

When: Sunday, December 12 | 6pm meetup, 8pm-midnight music

Address: 23 Prospect Ave San Francisco CA 94109

Please RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/724556941073677/

 

Rainey is buying the alcohol so that 100% of the funds collected can go to the two worthy nonprofits. So please come, hang out with friends, drink some mulled wine by a fire, and help us support these two very worthy causes. We're asking for a sliding scale donation of $25-$100, and all money will be split between the two nonprofits.

 

 

 

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Open Letter to the Salvadoran people: We are with you-Save TPS

Open Letter to the Salvadoran people: We are with you Organizations:Sign on herebefore December 15 All: Make a contribution hereto publish our letter in El  Salvador Dear Friends, In less than a month, the Department of Homeland Security will decide whether or not to renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over 200,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the U.S. for decades.  As you can imagine, people are terrified. Recent decisions to cancel TPS altogether for Nicaragua and Haiti do not bode well and the news in El Salvador is abuzz with speculation.  Worse, right-wingers in El Salvador are attempting to exploit people's fears for their own political gain, telling voters that Trump cancelling DACA and TPS being uncertain are the leftist FMLN government's fault. As the holidays approach, we're sending a different message to the people of El Salvador: You are not alone. We are with you and we will keep fighting. Next Monday, December 18, is the United Nations' International Day of the Migrant. CISPES is inviting local, national and international organizations to join us in sending a solidarity message to the families of Salvadoran immigrants living in the U.S. If you are part of an organization that wants to sign on, check out the text here and add your organization here. The deadline is Friday, December 15.  Any individual can support this effort by making a contribution to publish our letter as a full-page ad in El Salvador's largest newspaper on Monday, the International Day of the Migrant. To raise the $2,000 we need by Friday, we just need 20 people to give $100 - or 100 people to give $20. Will you help us share our message of solidarity far and wide by making a donation today? Many, many thanks! Alexis Stoumbelis, Executive Director P.S. Together, we can let the Salvadoran people know that no matter how much hateful rhetoric may come from the White House, our solidarity is greater. Make a gift today! Email Us CISPES National Office 1525 Newton St. NW Washington DC, 20010 (202) 521-2510 Fax: (202) 332-3339(Click here to unsubscribe)

Massachusetts Peace Action's Holiday Party with Music by Hassan El-Tayyab Saturday, December 23, 7pm

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Massachusetts Peace Action's Holiday Partywith Music by Hassan El-Tayyab
Saturday, December 23, 7pmPrivate Home near Roslindale Square
$15 donation - Reserve here

Dear Dan,

Help Massachusetts Peace Action celebrate the holidays -- with a house party concert presented by Hassan El-Tayyab.  Let's raise a few bucks to support our work for peace and justice, and enjoy some great music while we're doing it! 

Hassan El-Tayyab is a native of Plymouth, Mass. and is the Policy and Organizing Director with our sister organization, Chicago Area Peace Action. Read about Hassan and listen to his tunes at the American Nomad website and read an interview with him about both peace and music in The Chicago Tribune.

Max of 50 people can be accommodated in this private home.  Contact the Mass. Peace Action office (617-354-2169) or pre-reserve for event address.   Wine, beer and snacks will be served – potluck dishes are also welcomed.

Hassan El-Tayyab is front man of the band American Nomad and an award winning singer- songwriter. Rooted in Americana and folk/swing traditions, his carefully crafted original music maintains a modern relevance. Smart songwriting, catchy lyrics, tight rhythms, rich harmonies, and strong musicianship have already earned Hassan a reputation as a musician that can intrigue listeners from a wide variety of musical tastes and backgrounds. Keeping in line with the ancient troubadour tradition, his music draws from the spirit of travel and authentic life experience.

Hassan El-Tayyab and American Nomad have performed at some of the country’s finest acoustic venues and festivals including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, the Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival, the Independent, The Chapel, Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, Slim’s and Ashkenaz. In addition, American Nomad has appeared on the radio several times including interviews with Dave Iverson from KQED Forum, KPFA’s America’s Back 40 with Mary Tilson, and KPFA’s Music of the World with Joanna Manqueros. The have also been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, American Songwriter Magazine, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and were featured on NPR’s Folk Alley. Last but not least, American Nomad’s critically acclaimed album Country Mile was produced by Grammy nominated producer and IBMA winner Laurie Lewis.

I look forward to seeing you on the 23d! Cole Harrison Executive Director P.S. Don't forget to reserve.  This event will fill up quickly and space is limited!

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Visit our website to learn more about joining the organization or donating to Massachusetts Peace Action!

We are 60 years old in 2017!  Support our 60th anniversary fund drive.

We thank you for the financial support that makes this work possible. 

Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
617-354-2169  • info@masspeaceaction.org

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