Because People Matter
Progressive News and Views May / June 2008
60 Years of Dispossession: al Nakba
The catastrophe remembered
Compiled by Maggie Coulter and Patricia Daugherty
May 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of al
Nakba, Arabic for “the catastrophe,” when the
overwhelming majority of Palestinians were
forcibly evicted from their ancestral homeland
to create the state of Israel. More than 5 million
Palestinian refugees remain in refugee camps,
while many of their homes, farms, and properties
are inhabited by Jewish immigrants from around
the globe. Palestinians are the largest ongoing
refugee population in the world. Not only has
Israel refused to allow them their right to return
home, it has continued its policy of ethnic cleans-
ing that has squeezed Palestinians of the West
Bank into ghettos surrounded by 27-foot walls,
sniper towers and military guards. It has created
the open-air prison of Gaza with an impoverished
and overcrowded population of 1.4 million.
—Adapted from Free Gaza www.freegaza.org
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people.
It is not as if we came and threw them out and
took their country. They don’t exist.”
—Golda Meir, former Israeli Prime Minister
and al Nakba denier
“I remember my home in Akka. I was nine in
1948. There were friends, neighbors, toys, like
any other home, and then in one night it all
ended. Our parents told us we were going away
for the summer. But the summer went by and we
were still waiting to return home. That is when
the hardship for me began. It was really an emo-
tional roller coaster; flashes of optimism followed
by a pessimism and depression. We forget the
cost paid by the individuals and on [Palestinian]
society. And really, the society as we knew it had
collapsed. As refugees we always talked about
Palestine, our homes and going back. There was
never a time when we would get together that we Israeli settlers founded Qiryat Gat in 1954.
didn’t talk about Palestine.” UN Photo
—Osama Doumani, Palestinian refugee, US citi-
zen living in Davis
Inside this issue:
Editorial.............................................. 2
Budget Cuts Threaten CSUS.............. 2
Health Care in Honduras.................... 3
Immigration Detention Centers......... 4
Yolo County’s CAlifas Newspaper..... 5
Book Review: Jim Hightower.............. 5
Eminent Domain Ballot Measures..... 6
Sacramento’s Master Plan.................. 6
Winter Soldier Hearings..................... 7
Iraq War and Healthcare..................... 7
War Profiteers..................................... 8
Costs of War..................................... 8-9
Book Review: $3 Trillion War............. 9
Marcha Migrante III......................... 10
Big Pharmaceuticals Want You........ 11
Book Review: Ethnic Cleansing........ 12
Mother’s Day Proclamation............. 13
Beekeeping in Our Own Backyards.. 13
Obama’s Blood and Hidden Truths.. 14
Abraham Lincoln Brigade Honored.. 14
Calendar............................................ 15
Progressive Media............................. 16
Palestinians fleeing in 1948.
UN Photo
Palestinian families forced to leave the village of Faluja in 1948. The
village was ethnically cleansed by Jewish forces. On its looted lands,
“The Nakba of 1948 destroyed a whole genera-
tion, dividing Palestinians from our land, from our
resources, and from each other. As a Palestinian
born and raised in Dheisheh refugee camp, I know
the Nakba’s impact is still felt by each new genera-
tion born as refugees. In 1948, my family was forc-
ibly separated from the land and community that
sustained us. In 1967 we suffered separation again,
this time from each other, when the Israeli army
occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip and my
sister and brother were exiled to Syria and Lebanon.
Israel forbids me from meeting, or even contacting,
them.
Today, Palestinians are more isolated than ever.
Families in Gaza cannot see their relatives in the
West Bank or in Israel. Walls, checkpoints and jails
continue to separate us and from basic resources.
Encroaching Israeli settlements surround us with
their large swimming pools, leaving us without
enough water to survive.  children might pick up a disease.... I turned away
The division we experience now is a continuation of
the same deadly policy that drove us from our vil-
lages in 1948. Each moment, we refugees think
breathe the Right of Return because this is the only
way to feel free.”
—Ziad Abbas, co-director of Dheisheh Cultural
Center, Bethlehem,
Palestine. Abbas spoke in Sacramento in April 2008.
“My parents were born in Lifta where they spent
their childhood in its hills and valleys… On 28
December 1947, Zionist terrorist groups [Menachem
Begin’s Irgun and Yitzhak Shamir’s Stern Gang]
attacked the village coffee shop, killed five civilians
and threatened the rest, forcing them to leave the
village. The people left with the hope that they would
return after a few days. The Zionist forces bombed
Lifta’s houses to insure that the indigenous inhabit-
ants would not return…
I have no words to describe my feelings when I
see my house and land in front of me inhabited
by strangers who prevent me by their laws from
returning to it.”
—Anan Odeh, human rights lawyer,
currently studying in Davis.
Adapted from “Electronic Intifada” electronicin-
tifad.net/v2article9237.shtml.
“Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab
villages…There is not a single place built in
this country that did not have a former Arab
population.”
—Moshe Dayan, Israeli military leader,
Ha’aretz, April 4, 1969
The catastrophe
continues
“Every day in Gaza is difficult. There are short-
ages of food, electricity, clean water, medicine.
There are bombs going off, shooting; people are
being killed all the time. It is documented on my
website, www.rafahtoday.org.
Here, what I wrote on March 7, 2008: ‘An
ambulance races through Jabalyia refugee camp
to pick up the critically injured, and the body
parts strewn across the street…Families crouch
in makeshift shelters around handheld radios, lis-
tening for some word that their agony will end….
no sign yet for an end to the ‘hot winter’ that
Israel has determined for Gaza... I have trouble
sleeping. I am a journalist and they always shoot
at journalists.’”
—Mohammed Omer, 23 year-old journalist from
Rafah, [Gaza]. Omer spoke in Sacramento in
December, 2006.
“Being a Palestinian, I envy other teenagers
all over the world for living normally, enjoying
their country’s services, enjoying school, enter-
tainment facilities, listening to music. Being scared
and shattered, have become the daily features of our
lives. Will my brother be able to go through a zillion
Israeli check points to reach his work, or not? Will
my grandpa be able to get a military permission to
pray in Jerusalem or go to the hospital, or not? Will
my dad be able to come back home from work in the
evening, or not?”
—Ranim, 15 year-old girl
from Bethlehem [West Bank]
“[Armed Jewish] settlers had taken over the top-
floor home [in Jerusalem].... to make these [Palestin-
ian] families’ lives so unbearable that they would
choose to leave.....These Jewish extremists were ...
using the passageway as a toilet, so that the Palestin-
ian families would find their homes pervaded by the
revolting smell and would be frightened that their
from this demonstration of naked Jewish power feel-
ing a mix of anger and revulsion. For me, it encap-
and sulated everything that the modern state of Israel
has come to represent: a compulsive, racist and
colonial hunger for land and the control of resources
in the face of opposition from a largely powerless
but implacable Palestinian population. Although the
methods vary in Tamra, Jerusalem and Hebron, the
goal is always the same: the accumulation of land
by whatever means possible for the exclusive use of
Jews.”
—Excerpt from Susan Nathan’s The Other Side of
Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide.
Nathan spoke in Davis in 2006.
see Al Nakba, page 12
 Because People Matter May / June 2008 www.bpmnews.org

because
People Matter Editorial
Volume 17, Number 3
Published Bi-Monthly by the Charlene Jones and JoAnn Fuller,
Co-coordinating Editors for This Issue
Sacramento Community for
Peace & Justice
P.O. Box 162998, Sacramento,
CA 95816

A
(Use addresses below for
correspondence) fter five years of war and occupation the public stan wars, with a little more than $100 per month on
Editorial Group: Jacqueline has been lulled to inaction with media atten- the Iraq occupation alone, according to Joseph Stiglitz
Diaz, JoAnn Fuller, Charlene
Jones, Jeanie Keltner, Rick
tion declining since the first months of conflict. and Linda Bilmes in The Three Trillion Dollar War. The
Nadeau According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, National Priorities Project estimated every median
Coordinating Editors for coverage of the Iraq war supplied about a fourth of the income family paid $3,736 tax dollars in 2006 to fund a
this Issue: Charlene Jones news in January 2007, but a year later was only four war that continues to roil the world.
and JoAnn Fuller
percent of media attention. A reproachable media has Nearly 4,100 Americans have died in Iraq and
Design and Layout:
Ellen Schwartz also had no difficulty mollifying those pesky attendant Afghanistan and more than 31,000 wounded. Studies of
Calendar Editor: nightmares: a battered Constitution, unprecendented the number of lost Iraqis lives produce estimates rang-
Chris Bond privacy invasions, crumbling infrastructure and unfath- ing from 400,000 to more than a million. Combined,
Advertising and Business omable debt. Viewers and listeners were told it was OK these are the most acute problems confronting the US.
Manager: Edwina White
because torture, loss of habeus corpus, and more killing Despite frenzied White House spin and a complicit
Distribution Manager:
Paulette Cuilla only serve to protect the homeland. Besides, Americans media, distracted citizens may not be as easily led. A
Subscription Manager: could still shop and fill up their gas tanks. recent Associated Press poll indicated nearly 50 percent
Kate Kennedy Now, however, pocketbook troubles are hitting the of the public believes a pullout from Iraq will solve US
national fan and Americans may be forced to consider economic problems, followed by spending more on
How to Reach Us: the undeniable waste of war. With the US economy domestic concerns with tax cuts at the bottom of solu-
Subscriptions, letters, deteriorating and millions of tax dollars spent each day tions to the financial crisis. It is all the more apparent
punditry: to fund an increasingly bloody conflict, shopping may this war steals lives and ravages public treasuries only
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Budget Cuts Threaten CSU Students, Faculty and Staff
please: Day, Date. Name of
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Alliance for the CSU seeks to mitigate cuts.
By Kevin Wehr
Time. Location. INFO: phone#;
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F
ifty years ago the people of California
made a promise. We promised to provide
low-cost post-secondary schooling to the
students of our state with the “Master Plan for
Higher Education.” This education, provided by
the California State University and the University
of California systems in conjunction with the
community colleges, pledged many benefits: an
educated electorate, trained workers for local
businesses, competent professionals to work in
our hospitals, schools, and to build our infra-
structure and our economy. Today that promise
is threatened by the draconian budget cuts pro-
posed by Governor Schwarzenegger. However, an
historic coalition has formed to fight these cuts
and allow the CSU to keep the promise made a
generation ago.
The CSU structure is the largest higher edu-
cation system in the world. We have 450,000
students taught by 23,000 faculty members,
supported by dedicated staff and administra-
tors. Together the CSU campuses form a pillar
of the California economy, with a $13.6 billion
economic statewide impact each year, accord-
ing to the CSU chancellor’s office. Students
spend $7.5 billion in their communities, the
campuses provide $760 million in taxes to local
and state governments, and more than 200,000
jobs contribute to the welfare and livelihood of
across our state. Overall the CSU generates $4.41
in spending for every $1 invested. Add to this
the higher earnings by CSU graduates, and the
return to California increases to $17 for every
dollar invested in the CSU. That’s some return on
investment—the CSU is part of the solution for a
troubled economy!
What will happen if the proposed cuts move
forward? It will be harder for students to get into
and continue in the CSU system. Some 10,000
eligible students will be turned away. The con-
sequence of this is that California’s middle class
will shrink if families can’t send kids to the CSU.
These troubles will fall hardest on Latino, Afri-
can American, Native American and first-gen-
eration students who, without the CSU, are less
likely to get a college education. Furthermore,
the governor called for increased college oppor-
tunity for returning veterans; they, too, will have
to compete for fewer spaces in the CSU.
The governor says we need to build infrastruc-
ture by $500 billion over the next 20 years. The
CSU educates Californians who can do exactly
that. The graduates of the CSU system are neces-
sary for continued economic vitality and growth. for the CSU is made up of students, staff, faculty
They are the backbone of the state’s workforce— and administration of the CSU, with allies from
engineers, teachers, nurses. Of all higher educa- the business community, labor groups, com-
tion degrees granted in California, CSU gives 51 munity organizations and concerned individuals.
percent in engineering, 52 percent in agriculture Together we can convince the governor and leg-
and 65 percent in business. islators the CSU is the solution! Join us at www.
Cutting the budget to the CSU is like eating allianceforthecsu.org.
your seed corn; it negates any plan for the future.
A coalition has formed to fight these cuts and Kevin Wehr is a professor of sociology and vice-
restore fiscal sense to the budget. The Alliance president of California Faculty Alliance, CSUS.

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Cuba and Sacramento bring better health care to Honduras
CHIMES supports rural clinics
By Dan Bacher
T
he California Honduran Institute for Medical and Educational
Support held a dinner and program in Sacramento in Februrary
benefiting health care in the Garifuna communities of Hon-
duras. The event featured presentations by Dr. Luther Harry Castillo,
leader of the rural health care movement in Honduras, and Lt. Gover-
nor John Garamendi.  over the centuries.
In a short 18 months, a new clinic in Ciriboya, Honduras has served
more than 68,340 patients for free. In addition, family practice doctors
care for thousands of people in 12 far-flung rural communities.  students return from
Executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council and
CHIMES Director Bill Camp, his brother, Tom, and a dedicated crew of
volunteers built the hospital to provide the long-needed care.
Mo Mohanna, a Sacramento philanthropist, donated his reception
hall and catering for the event. All money raised, more than $10,000,
goes to support health care in Honduras. Volunteers organized by
Birthing Project, founded by Kathyrn Hall, have also been invaluable to
CHIMES and its efforts.  volunteers.
Dr. Luther Harry Castillo sings a Garifuna song before making his
presentation.
Photo by Dan Bacher.
“We are planning to build three more wings,” said Castillo as he
showed plans for the hospital after his presentation. They will include a
surgery room, pharmacy, library, laboratory, pediatric care, dental care,
natural medicine, physical therapy and an obstetrics section, including
pre-delivery and post-delivery rooms. A dormitory for the doctors is
also planned. 
Castillo, trained at the Latin American School of Medicine in
Havana, Cuba, embarked on this venture after he was unable to attend
medical school in Honduras due to lack of funds. Cuba accepted him
and he graduated in 2005 as the first Garifuna graduate. 
Before he went to Cuba, he was apprehensive. “I had the idea that
there was a tank on every corner,” he quipped. “However, what I actu-
ally saw after I arrived there were a lot of friendly people who loved to
dance and enjoy themselves. The Cubans are a people with a spirit of
solidarity.” 
Castillo’s Project Luagu Hatuadi Waduhenu (“For the health of our
communities”) arose in 1999 as an initiative of Garifuna students in
Cuba seeking a way to contribute to the betterment of their communi-
ties. “We decided to donate 15 days of our month of vacation working
in the Honduran Garifuna communities, shoulder-to-shoulder with the
Cuban doctors,” explained Castillo. 
The Garifuna are a unique cultural and ethnic group found along
the Carribean coast of Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and in
the Carribean islands. They first appeared in this region over 300 years
ago, when escaped and shipwrecked West African slaves mixed with the
native Caribs who provided them refuge. According to Ruben Reyes
of Los Angeles, who gave a brief history of the Garifuna people, their
www.bpmnews.org May / June 2008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 
language derives from the
Arawak and Carib lan-
guages. The Garifuna have
kept their African musical
and religious traditions
 
In the program Cas-
tillo established, medical
Havana to work in their
communities to finish
their education. There are
eight resident Garifuna
doctors, while the program
is training 86 midwives,
along with nurses and
 
They are developing a
health care infrastructure
in a region where the
government has installed Lt. Governor John Garamendi and Bill Durston, Congressional
none. “We have developed Candidate, at the CHIMES fundraiser.
a volunteer structure by Photo by Dan Bacher.
building alliances between
key sectors of the community, including faith groups, women’s groups,
students and workers. The participation of Garifuna women is essential to
the program,” Castillo said. “We believe in training doctors who work side
by side with the community people and who live inside the community.
We want doctors who know that patients are not just muscle and bones,” he
emphasized. 
The success of the clinic has been evidenced by health statistics from
the first year of operation. “Infant mortality was 30.8 per 1,000 births in
Honduras in 2006,” said Castillo. “In one year the infant mortality rate in
our region plummeted to 10.1 per 1,000 births.”  In addition, the maternal
mortality was 48.1 per 10,000, and it dropped to 22.4.
“My dream is that no child in our country will die of a preventable dis-
ease,” said Castillo. “Cuba is an alternative model for health care delivery in
the Third World.” 
Lt. Governor Garamendi and his wife Patti attended the grand
opening of the clinic in December 2007 and are strong supporters of
CHIMES. “What if the US did outreach by training doctors in the com-
munity and sent them to help other countries like Cuba does?” Garamendi
asked. “In this situation, Cuba has a much better foreign policy than our
country.” 
Camp added, “Praise should go to the people of Sacramento who cross
borders,” concluded Camp. “This clinic is helping a community of 86,000
people, people living on just a few dollars a day, and that has happened
because people in this community have stepped outside their comfort zone
and made donations.” 
Camp noted that CHIMES is negotiating with University of Califor-
nia, Davis Medical School in Sacramento, Kaiser Hospital and Pittsburg
Medical School to develop programs that will send medical students to
Honduras for three months to provide exposure to medical practice in
a rural setting in Latin America. For more information, call CHIMES at
916-612-9999.
Dan Bacher is a journalist, activist and satirical songwriter living in
Sacramento.
 Because People Matter May / June 2008 www.bpmnews.org

ICE Detention
One of our Immigration System’s best kept secrets
By Felicia Martinez
On any given day 30,000
people are held in deten-
tion by the Immigration
“ICE detainees,
and Customs Enforcement even those with
Agency throughout the
country in a system that
green cards, are not
incarcerates over 230,000 entitled to public
people per year. In a March
5, 2008 United Nations
defenders, a policy
report, the UN Special that came under
Rapporteur on the human
rights of migrants expressed
specific criticism in
“serious concerns about the UN report.”
the situation of migrants in
[the US], especially in the
context of specific aspects of deportation and afforded to
detention policies…” Considering circumstances prisoners. ICE
under which ICE, a division of the Department detainees, even
Sacramento of Homeland Security, arrests and detains people, those with green
Progressive it is not difficult to understand why. cards, are not
Events There are numerous reasons why ICE might entitled to public
Calendar on detain a person. Some are detained because they defenders, a policy
the Web are undocumented. Some are held while they that came under
await the outcome of an asylum petition. Some specific criticism
are Legal Permanent Residents—green card hold- in the UN report.
www.sacleft.org ers—detained because they were convicted in ICE detainees
Of course, we can’t get a photo of the inside of a Homeland Security detention
center. Above is a poster from the 1954 film, Salt of the Earth, based on a strike
Labor, Peace, state or federal court of a crime that may be con- must pay for a against the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico.
Environment, Human sidered grounds for deportation. These people lawyer, find a pro
Rights, Solidarity…
have already served their sentences and been bono attorney
Send calendar items
to Gail Ryall,gryall transferred to ICE custody where they wait, in or represent themselves in immigration court. is merely a breadwinner, she will no doubt be
@cwnet.com. new cells, while the court determines if they are But immigration law is incredibly complex and deported. Having financial and emotional depen-
deportable under law. contains dozens of classifications and visa types. dents is not enough.
Of ICE’s 30,000 inmates, only half are housed In immigration court it is not a mere question of The absence of time limits on how long ICE
in DHS operated facilities. The other 15,000 live whether a detained person has papers, but what can detain a person is another area of eroded
outside the system in privately operated facilities, kind of papers, when and under what laws these legal rights. It is not unusual for a person to wait
sometimes with state prisoners, or in county jails. papers were issued, if the person has criminal months before even having the opportunity to
In Sacramento the main jail reports having 20–30 convictions and specific legalities of those charg- bring her case before a judge. There is precedent
ICE detainees at any time. These inmates have es, along with a plethora of other factors that to suggest that when detention exceeds four to
no pending charges other than those relating to determine which laws might apply. In addition, six months, which it frequently does, or when
immigration law, charges defined as civil, not the court is not allowed to consider mitigating it’s clear the detainee will not be deported in
criminal. County jails, however, are not designed factors such as a person’s contributions to com- the near future, the person should be released
for long-tem housing. Due to differences in facil- munity, good moral character, stable work his- from detention. However, there is no standard
ity regulations, an ICE detainee in a county jail tory or family ties. Under these conditions, ICE legal mechanism to guarantee this happens. This
often lives in starkly worse conditions than some- detainees are expected to represent themselves in interminable waiting induces some detainees to
one detained at a nearby DHS facility. court. choose not to fight their case and accept a remov-
Some ICE detainees, however, are not housed The situation of undocumented people in this al order just so they can secure a quicker release.
in government facilities at all but handed over system is of course the most precarious. Once “Removal,” however, doesn’t always mean
to private corporations, such as the Corrections an undocumented person is in ICE custody, returning to a familiar land. ICE regularly
Corporation of America, which operates dozens she has very little chance of fighting an order of deports people—both documented and not—to
of prisons nationwide. As with state and federal removal. Depending on circumstances under countries of which they have no recollection, and
prisons, corporations like CCA often require which a detainee left her native country, she in some cases have never been. Even US citizens
inmates to work for menial pay, sometimes $1 a may petition for political asylum, but ICE judges get caught up. It is possible for a person to have
day, in jobs like serving cafeteria meals or mop- regularly turn down more petitions than they been born outside the US and possess “derived”
ping floors—saving the corporation from hiring approve. The detained person could try to prove or “acquired” citizenship via the citizenship status
out for such jobs. Since the corporation receives her removal would cause her dependants, what of her parents. The problem is, these people may
a flat payment from the federal government for the court defines as, “exceptional and extremely not realize they are citizens, and even if they do,
each inmate housed, using unpaid inmate labor unusual hardship.” For example, if the detainee they bear the burden of proving their citizenship
increases the corporate profit margin. has a child needing a kidney transplant and the to the court. This poses a significant problem
One of the most alarming aspects of the child can only receive a kidney from the detainee, for detainees who are not in possession of the
ICE detention system is the lack of legal rights maybe she could win her case. But if the detainee documents necessary to prove their citizenship,
documents that may include the

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and it’s definitely more than Just remember H20 stands for Felicia Martinez is a poet and
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worked with immigrants and
immigrant rights organizations.
 www.bpmnews.org May / June 2008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 

¡Que Padrisimo!
A Review of Yolo County’s CAlifas newspaper
By Jacqueline Diaz
Andy Porras has been realizing his vision of “Yaya” Porras, who serves as photographer
a bilingual publication for over half a decade. and is co-founder of Movimiento Moncajete,
The vision started when he worked for a Yolo asks who is on the phone. Maybe she knew
county newspaper producing special Spanish me, but not yet. I’m a poet originally from
editions on a regular basis. While these were well the Bay Area, not from LA. Little did I know
CAAC Goes
to the Movies
received and served that a month later Almost Every
the Spanish-speaking “The pages of CAlifas I’d be asking myself, Month
community through- who is this Latina The Central America
out the county, the are impressive because judging the “Poetry Action Committee
editions were short they take on a big task— Out Loud” state shows interesting
and informative
lived because the competition, and
paper decided against meeting the news needs why haven’t I met
videos on social
justice, labor
maintaining Spanish of a bilingual, bicultural her? It was Yaya, Joe Porras, art director, and his father Andy . struggles, and so
productions of the and I was there photo courtesy AP Communications much more! Call to
paper. Undeterred, Latino community.” supporting Sac- see what’s playing
and spurred on by ramento County’s community while offering non-Latino readers this month…
loyal readers, Porras decided to create his own student winner participating in the competition. the opportunity to hear about our values and WE ALSO HAVE A
VIDEO LIBRARY YOU
paper and continue to serve the news needs of his Sacramento is not always as sprawling as it seems. voices. It is also uniquely northern Californian
CAN CHECK OUT.
Latino community. The pages of CAlifas are impressive because so that when I read through the pages I can find 1640 9th Ave (east
The Porras approach to starting CAlifas has they take on a big task—meeting the news needs news about events I’d heard about and people off Land Park Dr)
been to get things done family-style. CAlifas’s of a bilingual, bicultural Latino community. I’d met. There was a picture of my Danza Azteca INFO: 446-3304
staff is sprinkled with members of his family and, What matters to this diverse demographic? teacher, a story about Joe Serna and news on the
rather than a paper narrowed in vision, the result What issues are important to know more about war in Iraq. It felt like my kind of paper. Porras
is a paper that really gets the message of commu- and understand? It seems CAlifas answers these calls CAlifas “proudly family-owned and fiercely
nity across. Readers are welcomed as extended questions through a careful commitment to independent.” As a Latina reader in northern
members of the Porras family. I felt a total sense progressive local and national news, a celebration California, I agree.
of community while first reading CAlifas and and study of historical and contemporary issues
then speaking to Porras. relevant to Latinos, and stories central to the Jacqueline Diaz is a co-editor of Because
When I called to ask about Califas, Porras was local community. People Matter.
open and friendly. In the background, Andrea CAlifas is succeeding in serving the Latino

Book Review
Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow
by Jim Hightower, with Susan DeMarco. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., March 2008,
224 pages.
Reviewed by Judith Poxon

W
riter, public speaker, radio commen-
tator and general curmudgeon Jim
Hightower is already a familiar voice
among American progressives, and his newest
book is likely to add to his popularity. In it High-
tower continues his battle against “the Powers
That Be” on behalf of what he calls “the Powers
That Ought To Be”: workers, environmentalists,
Populist author and activist Jim Hightower was
welcomed to Sacramento by Jeanie Keltner, BPM
co-editor, during an April fundraising event for
California Common Cause.
photo: Dick Wood.
small business owners and ordinary people who
make up the vast majority of the population
of the US. They are people who, by and large,
find themselves alienated from partisan politics
and corporate consumerism, but are often too
overcome by cynicism and hopelessness to do
anything about it. While this new book resumes
Hightower’s biting critique of Bush’s America,
what’s different is its focus on ways all of us can
work together to build a different kind of country
and, ultimately, a different kind of world. Food Profiteering in America (Crown,
Swim Against the Current, which is dedicated 1975). Hightower also publishes a
to the late political humorist Molly Ivins, takes monthly newsletter, “The Hightower
its tone from the words of rock poet Patti Smith, Lowdown,” which has received both
words that serve as the epigraph for the work as the Alternative Press Award and the
a whole: “The people have the power/ The power Independent Press Association Award
to dream/ To rule/ To wrestle the world from for best national newsletter. His web-
fools.” Divided into three major sections, titled site is www.jimhightower.com.
“Business,” “Politics,” and “Life,” the book works
as an inspirational instruction manual for anyone Judith Poxon is an adjunct humani-
who’s fed up with the system and wants to change ties instructor at Sacramento City
the way things are done. With Mark Twain-like College and member of Sacramento
wit and folksy style, Hightower offers numerous Media Group.
examples of those who’ve said, in one way or
another, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to
take it any more!”—and have gone about creat-
ing alternative ways of doing business, engaging
in political action, and fighting to preserve the
earth.
He writes of agricultural co-operatives that
take on Wal-Mart, community-based banks that
help finance the rebuilding of blighted urban
neighborhoods, worker-owned taxi companies
and strip clubs that offer decent working condi-
tions. There are inventive crusaders on behalf
of public financing of elections and against the
occupation of Iraq, and an unlikely alliance
between scientists and evangelical Christians
dedicated to reversing global warming and end-
ing the ecocide represented by mountaintop
removal mining in the Appalachians. At the
end of each section, Hightower provides a list of
“connections”: names and addresses of groups
working on the issues he’s reported. He shows, by
means of this diversity of examples, that people
do have the power, if they—if we—will only own
it.
Once you’ve finished Swim Against the Current,
you’ll no doubt want to read other Hightower
books, including: Thieves In High Places: They’ve
Stolen Our Country And It’s Time To Take It Back
(Plume, 2004) ; Let’s Stop Beating Around the
Bush: More Political Subversion from Jim Hight-
ower (Penguin, 2004); and Eat Your Heart Out:
 Because People Matter May / June 2008 www.bpmnews.org

Eminent Domain Measures on Ballot

By JoAnn Fuller

C
Some of the alifornians will vote in June on two party. In the Kelo case, a family was forced out of the environmental law firm of Shute, Mihaly &
Places You Can ballot measures that would restrict the their home to make way for a privately sponsored Weinberger. Supporters of Proposition 98 include
Find BPM government’s use of eminent domain, development plan. In response to these events, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
the power state and local governments have to voters will be asked to consider Proposition 98 Proposition 99, according to the voter guide on
Sacramento Area take possession of private property for the public and Proposition 99 on the statewide ballot in the California Secretary of State website, would
Coffee Works good. Every year hundreds of millions of dollars June. bar state and local governments from using
Crest Theater of property are bought by state and local govern- According to the No on Proposition 98 eminent domain to acquire an owner-occupied
Dimple Records, ments in California. Usually this means private website, this proposition has a hidden agenda. residence and convey it to a private person or
Arden Wy
Dose Coffee Shop
landowners are given market value for their Proposition 98 would abolish rent control, business. It creates exceptions for public works or
Flowers Restaurant property then used to expand a highway or build stop water infrastructure projects, and destroy improvements, public health and safety protec-
Galleria (29th & K) a public building. Most of the time, governments land-use planning as well as provide protection tion and crime prevention. Supporters of Propo-
Grinders buy property from willing sellers. Sometimes, from eminent domain abuses. The opponents to sition 99 include the League of California Cities
Hart Senior Center property owners oppose seling their property or Proposition 98 say its true purpose is to eliminate and California League of Conservation Voters.
Lido Cafe do not agree on a sales price. rent control and other renter protection laws. For more information: www.EminentDomainRe-
Light Rail:
In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled in Kelo v. Environmental protections would also be threat- form.com
65/Folsom
4th Ave/Freeport City of New London that governments could also ened including regulations to reduce greenhouse
Los Jarritos use eminent domain to buy private property from gases, water quality, growth control, and wetland, JoAnn Fuller is a member of the Because
Luna’s Cafe & Juice Bar an owner and sell the land to another private coastal and farmland protections, according to People Matter editorial group.
Mercy Hospital, 40th/J
Pancake Circus, 21st/
Broadway

Creating a Sustainable City

Planned Parenthood:
Franklin Blvd, Watt
Ave., 29th St.
Queen of Tarts
Quick Market Sacramento’s Master Plan
Sacramento Bagel,
47th/H
Sacramento Natural
By Rick Bettis
Can Sacramento become a truly sustainable
Foods Coop
Sacramento Public city? In December 2007 the city of Sacramento
Library (Main & many adopted its first Sustainability Master Plan, and in
branches) February the city adopted a 2008 Implementation
Sargent Coffee House Plan. These plans provide a roadmap to creat-
(Alhambra & M) ing a sustainable city. The Master Plan set forth
Starbucks (B'wy & 35th) long-term targets that will guide the city towards
The Beat
Time Tested Books
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a greener
Tower Theater (inside) path of doing business and living.
Tupelo (Elvas & 57th)
Underground Books “Sustainability is a state
(35th St. near B'way)
Weatherstone Coffee or a process that can be
Chico Area maintained indefinitely.”
Davis
Bogey’s Books
The concept of reducing our use is not new
Espresso Cafe Roma
Davis Natural Food Coop or unique. Most of the world has a substantially
Newsbeat smaller “global footprint” than does our materi- the sustainability of the 50 largest cities in the The city should take the lead by making
University Mall alistic culture. In developing nations the use of US based on 15 factors including transportation, wise land use decisions that will result in
resources is a fraction of what is in the US. For air quality, water quality, solid waste diversion, more compact development with commercial
Greenhaven area example, in Sacramento the per capita average housing affordability, land use, disaster risk, local and residential use mixed such that travel is
Buckthorn’s Coffee, use is approximately 290 gallons of water per day food and agriculture, energy, green building and minimized and use of transit is enabled and
7465 Rush River Dr
as compared to a more typical average of 20 gal- economy. Sacramento was ranked 13th while encouraged. We should support and motivate
Nevada City lons, and sometimes as little as five gallons per the top three were Portland, San Francisco and Sacramento and other agencies, such as the
US Post Office day in Africa. On average, only one percent of Seattle. Sacramento Municipal Utility District and
our trips use public transit compared to 50 per- The Sacramento Sustainability Master Plan Sacramento Regional Transit to implement the
For a complete list, visit cent in New York and many European cities. includes ambitious targets in the areas of energy plan. Details about Sacramento’s plan are avail-
our web site: Motivated by shortages during World War II independence, climate protection, air quality, able at: www.cityofsacramento.org/generalser-
www.bpmnews.org.
the US substantially reduced our resource use material resource use, public health and nutri- vices/sustain. Your personnel “world or carbon
Where would you like to
see BPM? with actions like “scrap and paper drives” and tion, land use, urban design, green building and footprint’ can be calculated using www.SMUD.
Let Paulette Cuilla know, rationing. During the 1970s there was an interna- transportation, parks, open space and habitat org/community-environment/carbon.
916-422-1787. tional movement, led in California by Governor conservation, water resources conservation, flood
Jerry Brown, towards an “era of limits” where control and public involvement and personnel Rick Bettis is a community activist and expert
“small is beautiful” and “appropriate technology” responsibility. on land use and other local issues. 
was the solution.
Since the 80s “sustainable agriculture,” empha-
sizing low energy and minimal chemical uses,
has gained growing market and cultural niches.
Now the “inconvenient truth” of global warming
is providing the motivation to be sustainable. The
Because People’s Healthcare Matters
non-profit think tank Sustain Line has ranked We do what we do...
Primary Care by providers who look at the whole
person
Non-drug treatment for ADD and ADHD
MDs and FNP, trained and experienced
Natural options (homeopathy, herbs, vitamins) in
treating acute and chronic illness
Iscador (Mistletoe) for Cancer
Therapies: spirit and art for healing

Raphael House
Multidisciplinary Complementary Medicine
7953 California Avenue
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
(916) 967 8250 raphaelassociation@earthlink.net

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan
To these vets, “Support our troops” means rapid withdrawal
By Cres Vellucci
W
hen I was a military information
specialist—read: government pro-
pagandist—after being drafted and
sent to Vietnam in 1969, I wrote story after story
about all the good things the US was doing there,
and how we needed to stay “just a little longer” to
help the people.
But, it wasn’t the whole truth. Not even close.
Despite my top secret “crypto” clearance, I didn’t
know the whole truth until the “Winter Sol-
dier” hearings in Detroit in 1971, organized by
Vietnam Veterans Against the War, where vets
revealed the real truth about atrocities and inhu-
manities that rained down on the people we were
told we were sent to help.
Now it’s another generation’s turn.
During March 13–16 of this year, “Winter
Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan” was held in Wash-
ington, DC. It was the largest gathering of US
veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and also included Iraqi and Afghan survivors.
All bore witness to what was described by those
observing as “bone-chilling” and “nightmarish,”
images of atrocity after atrocity in these wars of
occupation.
These stories were free of the spin of my
reports from Vietnam as ordered by military
commanders and political leaders. These stories
The Guns Have Won
The toll of Bush’s Iraq war on healthcare
By Deborah Burger, RN
San Francisco Bay Guardian, Feb. 21, 2007
With President George W. Bush proposing to
push the price tag for the Iraq War up to nearly
$600 billion—more than was spent on the Viet-
nam War—while seeking new cuts in our health
care safety net, it would appear the debate over
guns and butter is over. The guns have won.
Polls before the last election found that the two
issues foremost in voters’ minds were the war and
our ever-worsening health care crisis. More than
ever, the two issues seem linked. With record
budget deficits, substantially inflated by spending
on the war, resources for health care and other
critical domestic needs are increasingly starved.
On the same day the president was proposing
another $245 billion to prosecute the war this
year and next, which would bring the five-year
total since the war began to a staggering sum of
$589 billion, he also called for slashing $78.6 bil-
lion from Medicare and Medicaid over the next
five years.
In addition, Bush wants Medicare recipients to
No more money for health care
Arlington Catholic Herald
are the truth. Among the revelations were those
by former Marine Jon Turner, who did two tours
in Iraq. He ripped the medals from his chest and
confessed, “I’m sorry for the hate and destruc-
tion I and others have inflicted upon innocent
people…; until people hear what is going on, this
is going to continue. I am no longer the monster
I once was.”
Gut-wrenching testimony like this continued
for four days—much of it difficult to watch or
hear and some of it impossible to watch or hear
because it was so intense. The first-hand accounts
of the abuse and racist attacks on everyday citi-
zens of Iraq, women, the young and the elderly,
was evidence that US fighting men and women
had been transformed into dehumanized kill-
ers—as they were in Vietnam.
Vets called for the rapid withdrawal of all
troops from Iraq and criticized Republican,
and especially Democratic Party lawmakers for
politicizing the wars for their own purposes, and
prolonging the wars by continually voting to
“protect” the troops by funding wars.
However, like the “Winter Soldier” hearings
of 1971, this very real news event was largely
ignored by the corporate media. Much of the tes-
timony took place on a weekend. Unless it’s the
president giving a speech, or some Hollywood
starlet being arrested for drunk driving, corpo-
pay higher premiums for prescription drugs and
doctors’ services and is proposing to eliminate
annual indexing of income thresholds, effectively
another $10 billion in cuts.
Expanding children’s and preventive health
programs and addressing “personal responsibil-
ity” by tackling childhood and adult obesity are
supposedly atop everyone’s short list of health
care priorities. But these now appear to be col-
lateral damage. Bush is seeking a $223 million
reduction in spending for the Children’s Health
Insurance Program and the elimination of a
preventive health services block-grant program,
$99 million a year to the states, used for obesity
prevention and programs for chronic health
conditions.
He’s also seeking millions in reductions for the
National Cancer Institute at the very moment
some progress has been made in fighting cancer,
and the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion for disease surveillance monitoring of bird
flu and other approaching epidemics. That’s just
the cuts.
There’s no mention of additional funding to
address the national blight of
47 million uninsured Ameri-
cans, another 17 million
underinsured, the increased
closure of public hospitals
and clinics, including in half
of the nation’s poor counties
that no longer have a health
center, and all the other
dismal statistics that have
dropped our country to 37th
in the world in health care
indicators.
Imagine for a moment
how else we could have
spent $589 billion. With
those same dollars you could
buy health insurance for
all the nation’s uninsured
www.bpmnews.org May / June 2008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 
www.ivaw.org
rate media are not going to cover it.
Unlike a generation ago, this event was, in
fact, covered by the new independent technol-
ogy media. There were video news feeds from
www.therealnews.com and Free Speech TV, and
20 public access channels from coast-to-coast
broadcast the hearings. Pacifica Radio stations
nationwide also carried extensive reports. In
Sacramento, numerous peace and social justice
groups sponsored showings of the hearings.
As a Vietnam veteran who was part of a mis-
information campaign in another war long ago,
and who spent decades as a mainstream news
reporter trying not to duplicate those mistakes,
it’s gratifying to see “Winter Soldier II” receive
the coverage it did, even if not from my former
mainstream news comrades.
I’m proud these veterans of Iraq and Afghani-
stan have stood up as “Winter Soldiers.” The term
derives from the opening line of The Crisis, by
founding father Thomas Paine, who said, “These
are the times that try men’s souls: the summer
soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this
crisis, shrink from the service of their country;
but he that stands it now, deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman.” A good lesson for us
all.
Cres Vellucci is a member of Veterans for
Peace.
people for the next three years. Or you could
fund the current federal program of spending
on HIV/AIDS antiret-
roviral drugs for the “With those
next 60 years. Or you same dollars you
could cover the cost of
educating an additional could buy health
39.2 million registered insurance for all the
nurses.
And while there’s nation’s uninsured
plenty of money to send people for the next
more troops into harm’s
way, veterans are feel- three years.”
ing the pain of cuts in
our nation’s health spending. According to the
Department of Veterans Affairs, 263,257 veterans
were denied enrollment for Veterans Benefits
Administration health coverage in 2005. To cut
costs, enrollment has been suspended for those
deemed not to have service-related injuries or
illnesses.
“A nation that continues year after year to
spend more money on military defense than on
programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual
doom,” Dr. Martin Luther King said. And, he
might well have added, endangering the health
security of its citizens at home.
Deborah Burger is president of the California
Nurses Association.
 Because People Matter May / June 2008 www.bpmnews.org
War Profiteers
Our own players in the war
profiteer game
By Cres Vellucci
“Iraq for Sale” director Robert Greenwald has told
Congress that the billions and billions of dollars pock-
eted by defense contractors and other war profiteers
during the wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan is
a “madhouse run amok.”
Well, welcome to the madhouse, Sacramentans. We
have our own players in the war profiteer game.
However, war profiteers are hidden in Sacramento,
as hidden as the true cost of these wars and occupa-
tion—cost not seen on the nightly news or talked about
all that much—even by those protesting the war which
has led to more than 4,000 US troops dead and hundreds
of thousands of Iraqis killed.
Names of the top 10 profiteers, according to www.
iraqforsale.org and www.corpwatch.org, include: Hal-
liburton/KBR, CACI and Titan, involved in the torture
and abuse of detainees; Bechtel, construction; Aegis
Defense Services, security and military contractors;
Custer Battles, convicted of fraud when 34 of 36 trucks
sent to Iraq didn’t work; General Dynamics, bullets to
tank shells; Nour USA, pipeline security; and Chevron
and Exxon/Mobil.
In Sacramento, we have war profiteers doing business
daily among us. The most obvious is a Halliburton facil-
ity just north of Sacramento, a mile or so before Wood-
land on busy Interstate 5. Several demonstrations were
One of the protests last year at the Halliburton facility, along the I-5 on-ramp in Woodland.
Photo: Cres Vellucci.
held in late 2007 by veterans of Iraq and other wars, and In effect, the Radisson serves as a trap to keep the
other anti-war activists. All were met by locked gates, potential recruits in an overnight cage, of sorts, before
high fences and menacing security teams. News report- the actual swearing in the next day at MEPS. They’re
ers who covered the story were given “no comment,” and alone, away from family and friends who might influ-
later told by the local Halliburton representatives that ence them not to join the military. After their stay at the
Halliburton had nothing to do with the war. Radisson, the recruits are shipped early the next morn-
“Corporate war profiteers line their ing to the MEPS facility off Northgate
pockets from the manufacture, sale “With a president, Blvd. The military uses this kind of
and support of killing machines. Our
troops and Iraqi citizens die and Hal-
Congress and both psychological operation, PsyOps,
to disorient recruits so they are less
liburton continues to rake in huge ruling political resistant to the contract-signing sales
profits. We don’t need corrupt war
profiteers in our cities or our state,” said
parties unwilling pitches.
A partner in this conspiracy to
Debra Reiger, a spokesperson for the to end the recruit fodder for the wars of occupa-
Sacramento Coalition to End the War.
But Halliburton isn’t the only guilty
carnage, it’s time tion is Amador Stage Lines at 13th
& C Streets. These buses make early
party in the area. Even more despicable to pressure the morning runs at 5am from the Radis-
than the Dick Cheney corporation may
be two local businesses that play very
war profiteers— son to the MEPS, playing a key role
in the scheme and pocketing untold
key roles in recruiting and sending right here in own profits on a military contract—thereby
troops to Iraq from California.
The Radisson Hotel, off Highway 160
backyard.” as guilty as Halliburton and any other
war profiteer.
in Sacramento near Arden Way, rents rooms nightly to Not until real economic pressure is put on local
dozens of new volunteers for the war on a contract with war profiteers like the Radisson and Amador Stage
the US military. The hotel—the target of several protests Lines—calls for boycotts and pickets, for instance—will
by Veterans for Peace and others—even has a 24-hour they stop turning the bloody Iraq War into their own
conference room/game room complete with video games corporate windfall.
and big screen TVs to suck in recruits. With a president, Congress and both ruling political
The military is so entrenched at the Radisson that the parties unwilling to end the carnage, it’s time to pressure
Military Entrance Processing Station, which is one of the war profiteers—right here in own backyard.
four stations in the state that tests and ships off recruits For more information about local anti-war activities,
to the war, has its own sign in the parking lots. Although contact Sacramento Coalition to End the War at www.
it’s been researched, the information is hidden so deeply sacendwar.org.
in the congressional budget that no one really knows Cres Vellucci is a Vietnam veteran, member of Veter-
exactly how much the Radisson makes in “blood money” ans for Peace and former daily newspaper reporter and
from the contract. But it’s close to seven figures, at least. editor.
Cost of Iraq War to California
Taxpayers in Sacramento have paid $620.5 million for the Iraq War thus far.
Taxpayers in Sacramento will pay $99.5 million for additional proposed Iraq War
spending FY 2008.
Taxpayers in Sacramento will pay $165.5 million for projected Iraq War spending for
FY 2009.
Bush’s proposed 2009 budget would cut over 100 federal programs that address com-
munity needs. Here’s the impact of just four in California:
$118.6 million cut from Community Development Block Grants, benefiting 368 com-
munities; $14.5 million cut from Low-income Home Energy Assistance; $64.9 million
in cuts for Social Services Block Grants; and $71.5 million cut from Section 8 Housing
Choice Vouchers.
Total of these cuts, $269.5 million, equals what California taxpayers will spend on the
Iraq war in 17 hours.
(2008 National Priorities Project, www.nationalpriorities.org.)

Book Review
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq
Conflict By Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, WW Norton &
Co., Inc., March 2008, 192 pages.
Reviewed by Richard Nadeau
Those who say “it is the economy” and “not the
war” forget the war has had a negative impact on the
economy. When the US went to war in Iraq in March
2003, the American people were told it was going to cost
$50 billion. Recently, the Bush administration asked for
a defense budget of $515.4 billion, a 7.5 percent increase,
while calling for $200 billion in cuts from Medicare and
Medicaid. This is in addition to a request for a supple-
mental $70 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The next American president will inherit a deficit of $400
billion.
While President Bush says the war has not hurt the US
economy, and he has never lied to us before, a new book
puts a “conservative estimate” of the war’s cost at $3 tril-
lion. It could easily be as high as $5 trillion.
Nobel laureate and former chief World Bank econo-
mist Joseph Stiglitz and co-author Linda Bilmes of
Harvard University, argue in The Three Trillion Dollar
War that the Bush administration misled the American
people by repeatedly underestimating the long term costs
of the war. Currently, it’s costing $25 billion a month.
Two more years of staying in Iraq will cost another $600
billion. Three more years and it’s close to a trillion dollars
more.
Stiglitz and Bilmes argue the Iraq War has become the
second-most expensive war in US history, after World
Costs of War
US Spends $720 Million Per Day on the IRAQ
War
For what we spend in ONE DAY, we could fund:
95,364 Head Start places for children, or
12,478 Elementary School teachers, or
163,525 people with health care, or
34,904 Four Year College Scholarships, or
6,482 families with affordable housing units, or
84 brand new elementary schools, or
1,153,846 kids would have free school lunches
for a year, or
423,529 kids would have health insurance.
(www.afsc.org/iraq)
Every American household is spending
$138 per month on the operating costs of
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, with a little
more than $100 per month on the Iraq
occupation alone.**
**Based on work of Nobel Prize winning econo-
mist Joseph Stiglitz and colleague Linda Bilmes.
Per unit costs are based upon research done by
the National Priorities Project, www.npp.org.
Costs of War
Nearly 300,000 soldiers returning form Afghani-
stan and Iraq have post-traumatic stress disorder
or major depression. Only slightly more than
half have sought treatment.
320,000 service members may have experienced
a traumatic brain injury during deployment,
from mild concussions to severe penetrating
head wounds. Only 43 percent reported being
evaluated by a physician for that injury. In two
years after deployment, these injuries will cost
as much as $6.2 billion. Unless they receive care,
those who have served face health crises and
long term consequences for the nation.
(Rand Corporation, April 2008)
www.bpmnews.org May / June 2008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 
War II. They maintain the costs of the war outlined in
the federal budget are not inclusive because there are
other costs hidden in the defense budget.
The White House has responded negatively to the
book. White House spokesperson Tony Fratto stated,
“People like Joe Stiglitz lack the courage to consider the
cost of doing nothing and the cost of failure. One can’t
even begin to put a price tag on the cost to this nation of
the attacks of 9/11.” This is a strange comment knowing
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.
According to the authors, the most important budget-
ary sums are the long-term costs of taking care of vet-
erans—their disability and veterans’ healthcare benefits.
This will total hundreds of billions of dollars over the
next few decades.
Of the 1.6 million who have fought, an estimated 39
percent will wind up with some form of disability. The
longer the war lasts, the greater the number of injuries
and the greater costs in the future. The Department of
Defense website gives a number wounded at around
30,000, but that includes only those wounded in com-
bat. There are also non-combat injuries that double the
DOD figure. The number of American fatalities reached
4,000 by Easter Sunday 2008. Their families must also
be compensated. It is impossible to imagine what John
McCain’s “hundred year war” would cost!
The war has also been associated with an increasing
price of oil. The US is spending money on oil exports ty contractors cost as much as $400,000 a year, compared
from Saudi Arabia and other countries. Since the war to soldiers at $40,000. The privatization of so much of the
began, the price of oil has skyrocketed from about $25 war and occupation also contributes to explosive costs.
a barrel to $100. This has had a ramifying effect on the The authors claim that this is the first time the US went
economy. into war by cutting rather than raising taxes. The war has
The authors note that the Iraq war has been the most been financed by deficit spending. The Bush administra-
expensive war since World War II. The US has spent tion has fooled people into thinking they could wage war
three times more per Iraqi than that spent per European for free. Since 40 percent of the financing has come from
under the Marshall Plan. The very high casualty rate in abroad, it means Americans will be paying interest on the
Iraq has boosted the costs exponentially. In World War borrowed money for years and years to come.
II, Vietnam and Korea, the number of wounded troops The Bush administration transferred hundreds of
per fatality was about 2:1 or 3:1. Today the number of billions of dollars from American consumers and busi-
wounded troops per fatality is 7:1 in combat. When nesses to the oil exporters. The money spent on the war
including those wounded outside of combat and those is money that’s not being spent at home on American
sick who were medivaced home, it’s 15:1. Higher casual- infrastructure and for the benefit of the American
ties mean the US has a long-term cost of taking care of people. The two big winners in this war are oil companies
thousands of disabled veterans for the rest of their lives. and defense contractors. The losers are the American and
The authors also note the cost of the private contrac- Iraqi people.
tors, such as Blackwater, are more expensive compared to Richard Nadeau has been a peace and environmental
what the government pays for American soldiers. Securi- activist since the 1960s. He lives in Sacramento.
79% of Iraqis oppose the presence
of Coalition Forces. Costs of War
U.S. military killed in Iraq: more than 4,000
64% of Americans oppose the war Number of U.S. troops wounded in combat since
in Iraq. the war began: more than 29,200
Iraqi Security Force deaths: nearly 8,000
US Soldiers in Iraq: 155,000
Private Military Contractors in Iraq: 180,000
Contract workers killed: 917
Costs of War Private Contractors criminally prosecuted by US
More than a million Iraqis have died due to the for violence or abuse in Iraq: 1
violence. More than a quarter of Iraqi adults Iraqi unemployment level: 25–40%
have had a family member murdered in the last 70% without access to clean water.
three years (Opinion Research Business, Sept.
2007 www.opinion.co.uk). 80% without sanitation.
Estimated 655,000 war related deaths (about 90% Iraq 180 hospitals lack basic medical and
2.5% of Iraq’s population) since March 2003. surgical supplies.
(10/11/06 www.lancet.com). (Institute for Policy Studies, www.sips.dc.org,
March 2008.)
2.5 million Iraqi men, women and children
displaced by war and US occupation— by end
of 2007. Most moved to neighboring states ill-
equipped for the influx. US offered only 800
amnesty visas through end of 2006. And 2.5 mil-
lion Iraqis internally displaced—by end of 2007
(UN High Commissioner for Refugees).
The estimated long-term bill:
(www.afsc.org/iraq.) $3 trillion.
10 Because People Matter May / June 2008 www.bpmnews.org
Marcha Migrante III
On the trail with the Border Angels
By Dan Bacher
T
he Border Angels finished their historic
4,500 mile “Marcha Migrante III” from
San Diego to Canada in February. The
group was founded by Enrique Morones as a
human rights organization in 1986 to stop the
unnecessary death of people traveling across the
US/Mexico border areas of San Diego County
and the Imperial Valley. The “Marcha Migrante
III” caravan traveled through 40 cities with the
message, “Su Voto Es Su Voz,” (your vote is your
voice) to remember the 4,500 immigrants who
died in the border region.
Sign with 4500 Mile Route
Photo: Dan Bacher
Immigration of economic and political
refugees from Mexico and Central America has
increased dramatically in recent years, resulting
from decades of US-engineered civil war and
genocide in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nica-
ragua, combined with economic devastation to
indigenous communities in Mexico and Central
by the North American Free Trade Agreement
and the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
“The people of this country will elect a new
president this November,” said Morones at a press
conference with supporters at the state capitol in
Sacramento in February. “We are not supporting
any particular presidential candidate. We want to
Sacramento get the candidates to support immigration reform
Soapbox as a pathway for legalization. There are 12 million
Progressive Talk Show undocumented workers in this country.”
Access Sacramento, The first “Marcha Migrante” in 2006 traveled
Channel 17 with from San Diego to Washington, D.C. The theme
Jeanie Keltner. of the march was “No to HR 4437,” an odious
Monday, 8pm, Tuesday piece of anti-immigrant legislation. “After 3.5
noon, Wednesday, 4am. million people took to the streets in April and
Now in Davis, Channel
15, Tuesday, 7pm.
The Border Angels finished their 4500 mile “Marcha Migrante III” in San Diego on Sunday, February
17. The human rights group held a press conference and rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento on
February 6.
photo: Dan Bacher
Cynthia Munoz, Sacramento City College
activist, urges people to support immigrant
rights.
Photo: Dan Bacher
Enrique Morones said the Marcha Migrante III
will travel 4500 miles to remember the 4500 the border, but the Canadian government refused
migrants that have died in the border region. to issue her a visa.
Photo: Dan Bacher The group went on to Yakima, Washington,
Boise, Idaho and Salt Lake City, Utah urging citi-
more protested in May, the bill was defeated in zens in Latino communities to get out and vote.
Congress,” said Morones. They finished their journey with an evening vigil
The second “Marcha Migrante” traveled from in North Las Vegas, followed by their return to
San Diego to Brownsville, Texas to collect the San Diego and a one-mile walk to the border.
stories of migrants to bring to Washington, D.C. During the spring and summer months,
in 2007. Border Angels install and maintain 340 water
Eric Guerra, staff person for state Senator Gil stations in the Imperial Valley Desert and sur-
Cedillo, emphasized immigrants are essential to rounding areas. With temperatures reaching as
the economy and culture of California, with 30 high as 127 degrees, water is critical for survival.
percent of the state’s people from other countries. During the fall and winter, the group establish-
Other speakers at the news conference includ- es critical life-saving stations throughout the San
ed Cinthya Munoz from Sacramento City College Diego Mountain areas. Winter clothing, food and
Brown Issues and MECHA, Jose Sandoval of Vol- water are placed in winter storage bins to help
untarios de La Communidad, Armando Gutier- those exposed to freezing temperature changes
rez from California State University, Sacramento that occur that time of year.
MECHA, and Daniel Morales, treasurer of the GI The organization also informs citizens and
Forum. government officials about weather related deaths
Munoz, who helped organized pro-immigrant and racial crime deaths. It has opposed the racist
rallies in Sacramento in 2006, said it was good scapegoating of immigrants by the Minutemen
that “Marcha Migrante” was again bringing to the and other anti-immigrant organizations. When
public eye issues of immigrant rights. “People are the Minutemen descended on San Diego in 2005,
dying on the border,” she said. “The issue hasn’t Morones and other activists responded by form-
gone away, even though millions aren’t turning ing the Gente Unida (united people) coalition
out in the streets like they were in 2006.” and employed creative ways to disrupt the Min-
After departing Sacramento, Morones and his utemen activities.
supporters drove to Medford, Eugene, Wood- More recently, the Border Angels were success-
burn and Portland, Oregon. They traveled on to ful in pressuring CalTrans to remove “Adopt-A-
Seattle, Washington and the US/Canada border. Highway” signs emblazoned with the Minutemen
An action with immigrant rights activist Elvira name on a two-mile northbound stretch of
Arellano was planned on the Canadian side of Interstate 5, north of San Diego, near where Bor-
der Patrol agents stop motorists and search for
undocumented workers.
Enrique Morones and the Border Angels are
true modern day heroes whose goal is to save
the lives of people, forced by US economic and
foreign policy in Latin America and oppression
by the reactionary regime of Mexican President
Felipe Calderon, to migrate across the US border
in dangerous conditions seeking work. For more
information, call Enrique Morones at (619)
977-9467.
Dan Bacher is journalist, activist and satirical
songwriter living in Sacramento.
A community paper
needs community
support: Subscribe!
See coupon on page 2.
 www.bpmnews.org May / June 2008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 11

In Sickness or in Health, the Big

Pharmaceuticals Want You
By Paolo Bassi tactic is repetition. Whether selling chocolate,

T
wars or drugs, it works. A 2005 study in the
he US currently has about 2.2 million of Columbia Journalism Review found that, on aver-
its people in prison, mostly poor work- age, network viewers saw 16 ads for prescription
ing class whites, African Americans and drugs and 18 for over-the-counter drugs every
Latinos. A significant number are serving time night.
for minor drug offenses, while a group of very While traditional medicine has offered drugs
powerful, respectable people sell hundreds of dif- to patients, the pharmaceuticals industry offers
ferent drugs legally on TV and in print media to drugs to the public as consumers, encouraging
make billions. They are the US pharmaceuticals hasty choices with potentially lethal effects. Take
industry, the biggest drug sellers on the globe. the anti-fungal drug Lamisil. No one has died
The industry is able to exercise its phenomenal from yellowing toenails, yet the FDA reported
power through legally protected First Amend- 11 deaths from liver failure caused by Lamisil.
ment rights—rights which were greatly expanded Far worse was Merck’s Vioxx, withdrawn in 2004
a decade ago. In 1997 the Food and Drug Admin- after it was shown to be linked to heart disease.
istration allowed drug The pharmaceuticals
companies to advertise “The pharmaceuticals industry is encouraging
The Crows of Sacramento Noon Hour
directly to consumers,
DTC advertising. No
industry is encouraging Americans to run to
their doctors to demand a living history
Witness against the
Death Penalty.
other industrialized Americans to run to their the latest drug on TV Third Mondays
Between 16th street and the river
country allows drug
makers to advertise
doctors and demand the for the latest disorder.
This is not surprising, a thousand bindlestiffs and a junkie in a suit.
12noon to 1pm.
11th and L Streets
directly on TV. latest drug on TV for the considering it preys on There goes a woman without clothes. State Capitol
The sky is alive at sunset with a thousand
The money spent by
pharmaceuticals com-
latest disorder. an increasingly alien-
ated population already
crows.
INFO: 455-1796
panies on promoting indoctrinated to believe There goes a woman without food
their drugs is almost twice that spent on research that happiness can be achieved with the right watching the train rattle down
and development. According to a 2008 study possessions and appearance, so why not with the through rain under the wild clank
done by York University and issued by the Public right drugs? of geese in mist and tarnished crows.
Library of Science, the industry spent almost $60 With five percent of the world’s population,
billion on pharmaceutical advertising in 2004, the US accounts for about 42 percent of all The work of the state moves downhill
mostly in the US. It is not just the public who are spending on pharmaceuticals, according to a like water that pours through piles
targeted. The same study found that in 2004 the 2006 CBS report. However, the American people naked and striated, covered with duck-down.
industry spent $61,000 per doctor to push new are no healthier than those of other industrial-
drugs on patients. Studies such as this challenge ized countries. In fact, by some measures they There goes a woman with more money
concentrating on the road
the industry’s view of itself as public-minded are less so. Compared to these countries, the US
in twilight with her low-beams
and research driven. The frightening thing is has the highest infant mortality rate and the low- capturing and passing.
that drug advertising works. In 2003 a Harvard est life expectancy for those over 60, according
Public Health study found that for every $1 spent to a 2006 report by The Commonwealth Fund A thousand crows alternate light / dark
on direct advertising, sales increased by over $4. Commission. over a power-line rigged for liberation
Little wonder that the US is the world’s largest There is a fundamental contradiction between that strangles in the overstory,
mingled and amused on the way through. Coffee from
spender on pharmaceutical drugs. a corporation’s legal duty to maximize profits
Nicaragua
Having the power and money to advertise and its purported aim to sell drugs that are safe
directly does not guarantee sales. Just like any and necessary. Who then protects the public Between 16th street and the river Support Sacramento’s
successful street dealer, the pharmaceuticals against misleading pharmaceutical advertising? A thousand wandering footsteps sister city, San Juan
industry needs to create demand. Given the The FDA seems toothless, too prone to political and hissing cars, the rain stalls de Oriente, Nicaragua,
at an intersection with a black bird. by purchasing organic
inherent risks with prescription drugs and the change and definitely too deferential to drug whole-bean coffee
risk of bad press, sophisticated techniques are manufacturers. It was the FDA that allowed By Crawdad Nelson grown in the rich
required. direct advertising in the first place. volcanic soil on the
Traditional advertising usually relies on creat- As healthcare costs and Vioxx-style incidents island of Omotepe,
Nicaragua.
ing dissatisfaction and offering new lifestyles or increase, state legislatures may be forced to
creating products to satisfy subconscious desires. regulate the content of DTC drug ads. However,
One at a Time Thanks to the efforts of
the Bainbridge-Omotepe
Some drug ads lend themselves to such blatant state lawmakers are just as susceptible to taking For Risa Roberta Goldberg Sister Island Association
manipulation of desire. Male enhancement money from drug companies as are those in (Revised from original, 2001 version) in Washington, we are
drugs, for example, have resulted in a media- Washington. able to bring you this
driven national celebration of the male right to Since DTC advertising is proving very profit- After I sigh, “The world is on the verge of col- wonderful medium roast
perpetual sex. able, the only protection for the American public lapse,” coffee.
However, drug advertising really aims to is self-education through alternative sources my friend says we all need to breathe. Your purchase helps the
farmers on the island
manipulate emotions by sowing fear and doubt in of drug information. Better still would be to
As the earth stretches taut as high wire and helps support
the minds of both the healthy and the unhealthy consider the causes of illness and take preventive Sacramento’s long
she brings me a fresh carrot—long
while offering hope that the latest drug offering measures whenever possible. The way to defeat relationship with San
and slim, like a plane or missile,
will help regain control over their lives. The key the corporate drug pushers is to treat them as a but much better. Juan de Oriente.
is to nudge the user towards the drug by clever last resort only. All profits go directly
disease-mongering while overstating benefits and back to the Nicaraguan
I like to watch people wandering communities.
minimizing or ignoring risks. Paolo Bassi is an attorney and free-lance through black and white films. I like all $9.00 a pound.
Along with disease-mongering, the other main writer based in Sacramento. kinds of people. Sometimes Available in Sacramento
they drive me crazy. Like at: The Book Collector,
the little kids in Alpine, California: 1008 24th St.
holding lighted candles
and screaming for revenge while waving a flag
seen so often
no one is likely to forget it.

The carrot was sweet and good in soup.

I would like to pour sweet, steaming liquid
into everyone’s bowl
  

  but they might not understand.




   It took me a few
  


 breaths to see




  that my friend Peace Action




  
 speaks for something called
#" %
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 peace, on the Web

Keep up to date
spreading enlightenment
,")!
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 one carrot at a time. on peace activism
in Sacramento.
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Registered Representative for securities and
Investment Advisory Representative, Protected
"*+)
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&-*+%&+ Mary Leary is a poet, musician and occasion- www.sacpeace.org.
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in San Diego.
12 Because People Matter May / June 2008 www.bpmnews.org
Al Nakba from page 1
. “There is no Zionism, colonialization,
Right of Return
“We must do everything to ensure they [the Pales-
tinian refugees] never do return.”
—David Ben-Gurion, First Israeli
Prime Minister, diary entry July 18, 1948.
Israel’s Law of Return permits any Jew the legal right
to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel and
automatic Israeli citizenship. Passed on July 5,1950,
the law was amended in 1970 to grant the same
rights to non-Jews whose parents, grandparents or
spouse, are Jewish.
The Right of Return refers to Resolution 194,
passed by the UN General Assembly in 1948. It
“resolves that [Palestinian] refugees wishing to
return to their homes and live at peace with their
neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earli-
est practicable date, and that compensation should
be paid for the property of those choosing not to
return.”
The Zionist objective is the creation and mainte-
nance of a Jewish-only state. It does not recognize
the right of the indigenous Palestinian population,
expelled during the creation of Israel, to return to
their homes. It does not grant equal status and rights
to the Palestinian population not expelled. It is a
colonial enterprise that refuses to define its borders.  Abunimah spoke at University of
It is a project of ethnic cleansing through which Isra-
el continues to illegally acquire land; take or destroy
Palestinian homes; destroy the means of Palestinian
livelihoods, imprison, threaten and harass so that
they will die or leave.
Sunday, May 11
Protest the “Salute to Israel,” 12:30pm. 10th & Capitol, Sac.
INFO: yassard@hotmail.com.
Note: The emcee is state Senator Darryl Steinberg. Contact him and tell him to not attend
the event and withdraw his support of the apartheid state and human rights violator. 916-
651-4006; Fax: 916-323-2263.
Book Review
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé, One World Press, 2007, 300 pages.
Reviewed by Brigitte Jaensch
I
n The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Israeli historian
Ilan Pappé uses British, Israeli and Arab sources to
tell how Zionist immigrants, who carved Israel out
of 78 percent of Palestine in 1948, planned an d brutally
implemented the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian
population whose ancestral roots went down thousands
of years. Today, “The world looks on as [Israel] the
strongest military power in the [Middle East] region,
with its Apache helicopters, tanks and bulldozers, attacks
an unarmed and defenseless population of [Palestinian]
civilians and impoverished refugees, among whom small
groups of poorly equipped militias try to make a brave
but ineffective stand.”
Pappé uses the modern term “ethnic cleansing,” but
the Zionists used Hebrew terms such as bi’ur, root
out/eliminate; tihur, purify/cleanse; and hasiyur ha-alim,
commit violent reconnaissance. Today there is talk of
“transfer,” or ethnically cleansing Palestinians not ousted
in 1948 as illegal Israeli settlements ooze into East Jeru-
salem and the West Bank.
Zionism, the movement to create a Jewish-only home-
land in Palestine, was intensive immigration to Palestine
coupled with de-Arabizing Palestine. Its slogan “a land
without a people for a people without a land” denied the
existence of Christian and Muslim Palestinians, 90–95
percent of the population who owned, farmed and had
urbanized most of the useable land in Palestine.
By 1920, the Zionist immigrants had organized a
militia, the Haganah. “By the late 1930s [they had
files]…about each [Palestinian] village, its access roads,
quality of land, water springs, socio-political composi-
tion, religious affiliation, its muhktars [leaders], ages of
its men (16–50) and … more.”
Between November 1947 and May 1948, the Haganah
and Zionist terrorists expelled 250,000 Palestinians. They
burned, exploded or bulldozed whole villages, often at
or Jewish State without the eviction
of the Arabs and the expropriation of
their lands.”
Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel
(2001–2006), Nov. 15, 1998.
Ending the
Catastrophe:
Palestinians Return to a Secular
Democratic State for all of Historic
Palestine
“The lesson of 1948 is that of the
whole history of Zionism from 1895 Palestinian teachers hold classes in the road outside an Israeli
to the present: that the Israeli state is checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron, protesting intrusive
both the instrument and product of a searches of the school children.
AP photo
relentless program of ethnic cleansing
of the indigenous people from the land Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace if they
of Palestine. This will not stop unless Israel itself is live together reconciled in democracy in which the
transformed, from an ethnocentric Jewish State to dignity, culture and rights of each person is protect-
the democratic state of all its citizens. The people of ed.... Palestinians will not agree to live in the cages
the world need to come together to bring about this Israel is building for them. As a Palestinian, I say to
goal nonviolently. Nothing less will bring peace and Israelis, you must give up your power and yield to
justice to the Middle East.” democracy. And walk with us to a future where you
—Joel Kovel, author of Overcoming Zionism: Creat- will be safe and where you will have place no greater
ing a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine. than ours, but no less.”
Kovel spoke in Sacramento in February 2008. —Ali Abunimah, from a 2005 Nakba Day speech.
“Palestinians are oppressed not just by the occu- California, Davis in October 2006.
pation, but by an entire system in Israel and all the
territories it controls built on the belief that the priv-
ileges of one group can be maintained at the expense Maggie Coulter and Patricia Daugherty are members of
of the fundamental rights and dignity of another… Sacramento Area Peace Action.
Join Sacramento Area Peace Action!
Send your: Name, Address, Email and Phone, With your
check to SAPA for: $30/individual; $52/family;
$15 low-income to:
Sacramento Area Peace Action
909 12th St, Suite 118
Sacramento, CA 95814
night. Families were crushed. “Men were often shot on
the spot.” Girls and women were raped then their jewelry
was stripped from their fingers and arms. Wells were
contaminated with typhoid. Looting and pillaging were
rampant.
In May 1948, small contingents of soldiers from five
Arab countries came into Palestine. Jordan’s King Abdul-
lah had made a land-sharing deal with the Zionists and
his brother, Iraq’s King Faisel respected that deal. The
Zionists, calling themselves Israelis, ousted another
500,000 Palestinians. About 75 percent of the Palestinian
population, more than 750,000 persons were either killed
or forced to flee for their lives.
Israel confiscated Palestinian homes, businesses, bank
accounts, orchards and other possessions. It was one of
the biggest organized thefts in history. Although Israel
has received massive foreign aid from the US, other
countries and international organizations, it has not paid
one dime in reparations to Palestinians and prevents Pal-
estinians from returning to reclaim their property.
“Sheer fabrication” is Pappé’s term for the Zionist/
Israeli version of events “that demonizes the [Palestin-
ian] people who have been colonized, expelled and four million live under Israeli military occupation in
occupied, and glorifies [the Israelis,] the very people who East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. About
colonized, expelled and occupied them.” 1.3 million are Palestinian citizens of Israel. In 1948,
Since 1948, Israel has destroyed, built over, renamed they numbered about 1.2 million and more than 750,000
and denied the history of everything Palestinian. Of 531 were forced from their homes and lands. Over the last
Palestinian villages, only 123 are recognized. Pappé calls 60 years, Palestinian refugees and their families have
what Israel is doing “memoricide,” erasing Palestinian increased to now number 5.5 million people. Palestin-
names, geography and history. About 150,000 Palestin- ians are the largest refugee group in the world and they
ians managed to stay in what became Israel in 1948. have been denied the right of return longer than any
They, their children and grandchildren now number other refugee population.
1.3 million. They call themselves “Palestinian citizens of Because Pappé wrote about crimes against humanity
Israel.” Israel calls them Israeli Arabs and would like to committed by his country Israel, he and his family have
“transfer” this “demographic problem” out of Israel. received death threats.
Of today’s 11 million Palestinians, half are diaspora
Palestinian living outside historic Palestine. More than Brigitte Jaensch is a human rights advocate.

Put down that credit card and pick up an anti-war sign
Honor your mother in original Mother’s Day spirit (you can still take her out to
brunch)
by Jeanie Keltner
Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day declaration:
“Arise then, women of this day! Arise, all women who
have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of
tears!
Say firmly: We will not have questions answered by irrel-
evant agencies. Our husbands will not come to us, reek-
ing with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons
shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have
been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of
those of another country to allow our sons to be trained
to injure theirs.
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up
with our own. It says: Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood
does not wipe our dishonor, nor violence indicate pos-
session. As men have often forsaken the plow and the
anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all
that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of
counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and
commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel
with each other as to the means whereby the great human
family can live in peace each bearing after his own time
the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly
ask that a general congress of women without limit of
nationality, may be appointed and held at some place
deemed most convenient and at the earliest period con-
sistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the
different nationalities,the amicable settlement of inter-
national questions, the great and general interests of
peace.”
Beekeeping in Our Own Backyards
Area beekeeper shows how
By Georgianna Pfost
W
ith all the recent news about dwin-
dling bee populations, it’s encourag-
ing to hear how we can successfully
sustain bees right in our own backyards, and
helpful to see how others have done just that.
Hobbyist beekeeper Janet Brisson of Grass Val-
ley described her unanticipated but successful
venture into bees in a “How I Do It” seminar at
the National Beekeeping Conference this past
January in Sacramento.
For Janet the path to beekeeping began in the
1970s, when she and her husband, Mike, moved
into a suburban Los Angeles home and proceed-
ed to plant the requisite lawn. But when the grass
died after a triple dousing of “Weed and Feed,”
and chemical gopher “bombs” affected Janet
more than the rodents, Janet and Mike decided to
try gardening without chemicals and found quick
success with a plot of melons. When the Brissons
moved to the San Bernardino Mountains, they
changed to cool-weather crops and began raising
chickens for eggs and earthworms for compost.
After they moved north to Grass Valley in 1989—
to find a small community with larger schools
for their sons—they added warm-weather crops,
fruit trees, berries and grapes. Their organic
Time Tested Books
now buying
Political posters, handbills & pamphlets
Books on history, labor, & politics
Records of blues, jazz, rock, punk, world, R&B, & spoken word.
And, of course, we are selling books & records, too!
We are located at 1114 21st Street, Sacramento.
Our new hours are M–Sat: 11am–7pm, Sunday: 11am–3pm
(Please call for appt. if selling.)
916-447-5696.
www.timetestedbooks.net
www.bpmnews.org May / June 2008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 13
I
only learned about ten years ago that Mothers’ Day
had been founded as a call for peace, but recently
I was introduced to the person behind the original
declaration, Julia Ward Howe, the well-educated daugh-
ter of a New York banker. Most of us know her as the
writer of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” but there’s
much more to this remarkable woman.
Though she loved parties, art, poetry and music, she
also knew in her own life the deep sadness of marriage
to a man who depreciated and resented her creative and
political efforts, preferring a private help-meet to a pub-
lic crusader. She knew likewise the searing tragedy of the
death of a child, her sixth and last.
Perhaps because of these experiences, peace and
equality became her life’s high commitments. Many early
feminists worked for the abolition of slavery, feeling
sympathy for other beings also considered innately infe-
rior by the powers that be.
Julia Ward Howe, (May 27, 1819-October 17, 1910)
Howe worked with dedication to end slavery and was
an early mover in both the women’s and in the interna-
tional peace movement—all at a time, she noted, “when a Unitarian preacher:
to do so was a thankless office, involving public ridicule “I think nothing is religion which puts one individual
and private avoidance.” absolutely above others, and surely nothing is religion
Horrified by the bloody Civil War and later the Fran- which puts one sex above another…. And any religion
co-Prussian conflict, she wrote, “The question forced which will sacrifice a certain set of human beings for the
itself on me, ‘Why do not the mothers of mankind inter- enjoyment or aggrandizement or advantage of another
fere in these matters to prevent the waste of human life, [or] sacrifices women to the brutality of men is no
which they alone bear and know the cost? I had never religion.”
thought of this before. The august dignity of motherhood If we are lucky enough to make The Great Turning
and its terrible responsibility now appeared to me in a (described by Edward Korten in his book of that name)
new aspect.” from the dominator model to a more cooperative rela-
We live in a time of violence exacerbated by patri- tion to others, we must certainly have a brunch in honor
archal fundamentalists of the major religions—Islam, of Julia Ward Howe.
Judaism, and Christianity. Along with the emphasis on Sources: www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/index.html;
force, there’s also great emphasis on the control and sub- www.womenshistory.about.com.
ordination of women. But Howe wrote in her capacity as Jeanie Keltner is an editor of Because People Matter.
garden bloomed and boomed until the spring of
1995 when they noticed a sudden dearth of fruits
and honeybees.
They’d never before lacked bees and their free
pollination. That year, Janet learned, many of
the bees across the continent were dying due to
Varroa mites, an inadvertently introduced pest
that damages bee brood. The Brissons’ garden
revived thanks to a neighbor placing some of his
hives on their property. When he moved the bees
again the following year, Janet decided a perma-
nent solution was needed and signed up for a
class offered by the local beekeeping association.
Within weeks she was tentatively holding bees
on her hand while the instructor explained the
biology of swarms. As soon as the class ended Bees on comb.
and she’d rounded up some equipment, Janet set Photo: Mike Brisson
up hives of her own. Her pollination problem
was solved, but she had serious misgivings about
using chemicals, then considered necessary to further mite-control techniques such as drone
keep her bees, in her otherwise organic garden. comb management, and working with Mike to
For a couple of years, Janet applied the com- refine and build the screened boards for other
monly used Apistan strips, which can be placed beekeepers striving to return to natural chemical-
in the hive during the non-honey-flow times, free beekeeping.
to control mites. However, she noticed, as did In ten short years Janet Brisson has gone from
others, that mites were becoming resistant to beginner to mentor on how to keep bees without
the treatment. Not willing to adopt stronger pesticides, and provides a good model of what
chemicals, Janet actively sought each of us can do to help address the bee—and
out other options by surfing the other environmental—crises. Her willingness to
Internet, talking with other bee- seek and test new ideas to find more sustainable
keepers, and testing new ideas in solutions, and share her learning, is helping both
her own few hives. She found that bees and the planet, one hive at a time.
replacing the hives’ solid bottom
boards with screened boards, For more information:
combined with periodic dusting www.countryrubes.com
of the brood combs with pow- www.sacbeekeepers.org
dered sugar to knock the mites www.californiastatebeekeepers.com
down and out of the hive, kept
these pests to a tolerable level. Georgianna Pfost is a backyard beekeeper
Her hives survived. Soon Janet in Sacramento and editor of “The Bee Line,” a
was excitedly sharing her find- newsletter of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers’
ings, searching for and applying Association.
14 Because People Matter May / June 2008 www.bpmnews.org

Obama’s Blood and The Hidden Truths

True statements about history treated anti-American by media
By Richard Nadeau

A
were not his words. But he refused to renounce What is going on here? Why are arguably true
fter Rush Limbaugh said he wanted to his relationship with his pastor who performed statements about history treated as anti-Ameri-
see Barack Obama “bloodied up politi- his wedding ceremony and was the inspiration can by media commentators and politicians? Are
cally,” a tidal wave of anti-Obama news for his book The Audacity of Hope. After the these forbidden truths? Is it wrong to go back and
stories flooded the mainstream media. It was controversy broke, he removed the retiring pastor say the US massacred Native Americans when it
bad enough that he was from his African Ameri- colonized the American continent, that it exploit-
being hit by Clinton “The bloodhounds were can Religious Leader- ed slave labor to run the plantation economy of
claims that he was barking and snipping at ship Committee. the South? Are these controversial statements?
inexperienced, or that Obama noted his pas- Is it politically incorrect to tell the truth about
he was not ready to be Obama’s heels demanding tor had been politicized the violence in Iraq and Afghanistan as the
Commander-in-Chief. I a renunciation of the in the 1960s during the “Winter Soldiers” did this March? This charge of
scoffed at the scare ads civil rights movement anti-Americanism is a trick, a false patriotism,
about who you want pastor.” and Vietnam War. The the kind you hear daily on “FOX News.” It is
answering the phones pastor’s confrontational based on denial and a denial of the denial. The
in the middle of the night. In 2002 it was Obama style ran counter to his own approach of avoiding assumption that you hate America if you want to
who courageously stood up against the war fever polarization and trying to create bridges between change government policies is false. What if these
and spoke out against the invasion of Iraq when people. Most importantly, the pastor brought him policies: the occupation, the practice of torture,
everyone else was screaming for innocent Iraqi to Jesus and talked about ”faith and values, and the CIA “rendition” program, and use of military
blood. Now Iraq lies in chaos and ruins. serving the poor.” violence, are harmful to America’s future? Are we
Geraldine Ferraro engaged in what social psy- Wright’s fiery speech implying the US brought to keep quiet?
chologists call the “ultimate attribution error.” She the horrifying 9/11 attacks on itself is a thesis There are certain gains created by our
argued that Obama was where he was because he defended by scholars like Chalmers Johnson democratic capitalist culture that have benefited
was black, implying that he had no real presiden- in his book Blowback. Prior to 9/11, the book humanity, but do we have to park our brain
tial qualities that could explain his success as a predicted US policies and use of force around forever, wrap it in the flag, and stop thinking
candidate. This made me wonder. Maybe Obama the world were generating anger that could lead critically? Was Admiral William Fallon lacking in
is under attack because he really does represent to violence against the US. He got the concept of patriotism for disagreeing with Bush’s proposed
change, even if only incremental. Some fear his cry “blowback” from the CIA. An example? The US US military attack on Iran? Could it be that say-
for change is not just empty rhetoric. supported Islamic militants in Afghanistan dur- ing “no” to the unjust war in Iraq is patriotic?
The latest media furor was over remarks from ing the 1980s, giving them training, weapons and When aggressive war is made sacrosanct, patrio-
Obama’s former minister, the Reverend Jeremiah money to fight the Soviet Union. Many of these tism is indeed “the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Wright Jr. The bloodhounds were barking and same militants, like Osama Bin Laden, are now On 9/11 a friend called and told me to turn
snipping at Obama’s heels demanding a renun- declared enemies of the US blowback. on my television set. I was angry when I saw the
ciation of the pastor. The preacher stated that It is a fact the US killed more than 100,000 twin towers crumble. I speculated this would
US policies and violence around the world were civilians in two atomic flashes in densely popu- push the country to the right. I knew the Bush/
“damned” by God, and had brought on 9/11. He lated Japanese cities. American General Dwight Cheney crime family would manipulate fear in a
stated that the US was the “number one killer” in D. Eisenhower said, “dropping the bomb was regressive way. I feared that the “war on terror”
the world, that in a day it had wasted more than completely unnecessary.” Japan was already in would endanger our constitutional civil liberties.
70,000 civilian lives by dropping an atom bomb ruins and wanted to surrender. Gar Alperovitz, in My worst fears came true. Wanting an end to this
on Hiroshima. Days later another bomb took The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, questioned immoral war is not anti-American
70,000 lives in Nagasaki. the use of atomic bombs as a military necessity to
In interviews on CNN and MSNBC, Obama save American lives and end the war. The notion Richard Nadeau has been a peace and envi-
condemned the reverend’s statements. He was that the bomb was necessary is itself an American ronmental activist since the 1960s. He lives in
not present when the comments were made. They myth. Sacramento.

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Honored

Finally, a national monument

By William J. Hughes Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and for that matter,

After 70 years in the making, on March
30, 2008, a national monument to the Abra-
ham Lincoln Brigade was established in San
Francisco to honor the American volunteers,
approximately 3,000, who served the Spanish
Republic. The Brigade fought against Generali-
simo Francisco Franco and his fascists, aided by
Mussolini and Hitler during the Spanish Civil
War, 1936–39.
A beautiful sunny Sunday in San Francisco
saw representatives from the Abraham Lin-
coln Brigade Archives, San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom, the Spanish Ambassador, the
monument’s designers and hundreds of sup-
porters honor veterans of the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade.
The director of ALBA reminded us, “the
monument is an antidote to amnesia.” The
the Spanish Civil War, is one of the greatest sto-
ries never told. The Brigade was a contingent of
Americans who gave their blood for “La Causa,”
as part of the International Brigades that fought
to defend the Spanish Republic. About 800
were left behind in the Spanish earth. March 30
was a significant day of remembrance for all of
us who stand for justice and equality. As one of
the honored vets said, “the bastards are always
doing evil and we have to continue to stand in
their way. ¡No pasaran!
The design of the memorial is left for you to
experience first-hand. It is located across from
the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero in San
Francisco. Donations to ALBA may be sent to
700 Broadway #341 New York, NY 10003.
William J. Hughes lives in Sacramento. Detail of the memorial.
Photo: William Hughes

Pizza by the slice

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 www.bpmnews.org May / June 2008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 15

May / June Calendar Send calendar items for the July / August 2008 issue to bpmnews@nicetechnology.com by
June 10, with “calendar item” in the subject line. Make it short, and in this order, please: Day,
Date. Name of event. Description (1–2 lines). Time. Location. Price. INFO: phone#; e-mail.

ONGOING EVENTS
11th OF EVERY MONTH:
Sacramento 9/11 Truth
Demonstration. 11th and
L Streets, facing Capitol
nor th entrance. INFO:
www.truthaction.org, 916-
372-8433.
MONDAYS: Sacramento
Poetry Center hosts poetry
readings. 7:30pm. 1719
25th Street. www.sacra-
mentopoetrycenter.org.
1st MONDAYS: Organ-
ic Sacramento: Coun-
ter ongoing threats to
our food. 6:30pm. INFO:
www.organicsacramento.
org.
1st. M onday S :
Sacramento Media
Group. 6–8pm. Coloma
Community Center, 4623
T Street. INFO: 443-1792,
smg@commoncause.org.
3rd MONDAYS: Capitol
Outreach for a Moratorium
on the Death Penalty.
12 noon–1pm, 11th & L
Street. INFO: 455-1796.
3r d MONDAYS: SAPA
Peace and Sustainability
Committee. 6–8pm. INFO:
Peace Action, 448-7157.
3rd MONDAYS: Sacto
9/11 Truth:Questioning
the “War on Terror.” 6–
8pm. Denny’s 3rd & J St.
Info: sac911truth@gmail.
com 372-8433.
3rd MONDAYS: Lesbian
Cancer Support Group.
6:30 Bring partners or sup-
port people with you. Open
discussions with everyone.
INFO: Roxanne Harden-
berg; ROXANNE1040@
aol.com.
TUESDAYS: Call for Peace
Vigil. 4–6pm. 16th and J
St. INFO 448-7157.
TUESDAYS: Improv work-
shop. Solve the world’s
problems through improv
games! 7–9:30pm. Geery
Theatre, 2130 L street,
Sac. $5.00, first time free.
INFO: Damion, 916-821-
4533, dsharpeproduc-
tions@hotmail.com.
2nd TUESDAYS: Gray Pan-
thers. 1–3pm. Hart Senior
Ctr., 27th & J St. INFO:
Joan, 332-5980.
2nd TUESDAYS: Peace
Network (speakers and
discussion), 6:30pm.
Luna’s Cafe, 1414 16th
Street. INFO: Sac Area
Peace Action 448-7157.
4th TUESDAYS: Peace and
Justice Films. 7pm. Peace
Action, 909 12th Street.
INFO:448-7157.
4th TUESDAYS: (Odd num-
bered months) Amnesty
Int’l. 7pm. Sacramento
Friends Meeting, 890-
57th St. INFO: 489-2419.
1st WEDNESDAYS: Peace
& Freedom Party. 7pm.
INFO: 456-4595.
3r d WEDNESDAYS:
CAAC Goes to the Mov-
ies. 7:15pm. INFO: 446-
3304.
THURSDAYS:Daddy’sHere.
Men’s support group; info
on custody, divorce, raising
children. 7–8:30pm. Free!
Ctr for Families, 2251 Flo-
rin Rd, Ste 102. INFO: terry
@fathersandfamilies.com.
568-3237x 205.
1st and 2nd Thursdays:
Storytelling at the Hart
Senior Center, 27th & J
sts. 7pm. Free. INFO: 916-
362-9013, or PaulIdaho@
comcast.net.
Fridays: Movies on a
Big Screen. Independent,
quirky movies and videos.
7pm. 600 4th St, West Sac.
INFO: www.shiny-object.
com/screenings/.
1st FRIDAYS: Community
Contra Dance. 8–11pm;
7:30pm beginners les-
sons. Clunie Auditorium,
McKinley Pk, Alhambra &
F. INFO: 530-274-9551.
2nd FRIDAYS: Dances of
Universal Peace. 7:30–
9:30pm. Sacr amento
Friends Meeting House
890 57th St. $5–$10
donation requested. INFO:
Joyce, www.sacramento-
Sunday, May 4, 2008 @ 5 pm
Scholarship Essay Contest
dancesofuniversalpeace.
org, 916-832-4630.
4th FRIDAYS: Dances at
Christ Unity Church, 9249
Folsom Blvd. All Welcome
$5–$10 donation request-
ed. INFO: Christine 457-
5855, www.sacramento-
dancesofuniversalpeace.
org.
1st SATURDAYS: Health
Care for All. 10am–noon.
Hart Senior Ctr, 27th & J.
For single-payer universal
health care. INFO: 916-
424-5316; cnegrete@
comcast.net.
1st SATURDAYS: Sacra-
mento Area Peace Action
Vigil. 11:30am–1:30pm.
Arden and Heritage (en-
trance to Arden Mall).
INFO: 448-7157.
2nd & 4th SATURDAYS:
Community Contra Dance.
8–11pm; 7:30 lessons.
Coloma Center 4623 T
Street. INFO: 395-3483.
3rd SATURDAYS: Sacra-
mento Area Peace Action
Vigil. 11:30am–1:30pm.
Marconi & Fulton. INFO:
448-7157.
3rd Saturdays: Under-
ground Poetr y Series,
open mic plus featured po-
ets. 7–9pm Underground
Books, 2814 35th Street
(at Broadway), Sacramen-
to. $3. INFO: 737-3333.
SUNDAYS: Sacto Food Not
Bombs. 1:30pm. Come
help distribute food at 9th
and J Streets.
1st SUNDAYS: Zapatis-
ta Solidarity Coalition.
10am–noon. 909 12th St.
Info: 443-3424.
1st SUNDAYS: PoemSpir-
its. 6pm. Refreshments
and open mic. Free. UUSS,
2425 Sierra Blvd. INFO:
481-3312; 451-1372. Will
resume in Oct. 2007.
2nd SUNDAYS: Atheists
& Other Freethinkers.
2:30pm. Sierra 2 Center,
Room 10, 2791 24th St.
INFO: 447-3589.
Dinner and Finals
For the most current listing of Sacramento peace & justice events, go to www.sacpeace.org.
To receive weekly updates of area events, email
sacpeace@dcn.org and put SacPeaceUpdates in the subject.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Thursday, May 1
Wake Up, LET Go!—Free Screening of“Zeitgeist”.
7–10 pm. “Movies on a Big Screen”, 600 4th St.,
West Sacramento. INFO: www.wakeupLETgo.
com.
Friday, May 2
A War on Error? The hysterical presidential
campaign of nationally syndicated political
cartoonist and comic, Khalil Bendib, aka Prez
in the Fez. 7:30pm. 909 12th St, Sac. INFO: 916-
448-7157; sacpeace@dcn.org.
Saturday, May 3
1st Saturday Vigil to End the War and Occupa-
tion. 11:30am–1:30pm. Arden & Heritage, Sac.
INFO:sacpeace@dcn.org.
Tuesday, May 13
Gray Panthers Sacramento General Meeting:
Rick Nadeau, former director, Greenpeace San
Diego (and BPM editor) and Linda Banta, ret.
Profressor, Sierra College, will present opposing
views on“Environmental Concerns Cause a New
Look at Nuclear Energy.” 1–3pm. Hart Senior
Center, 27th and J Sts. light refreshments. INFO:
916-332-5980.
Sunday, May 11
The Arab Theatre Project Sacramento Presents:
Hikayat Al Nakba. A play illustrating the life and
legacy of Naji Al-Ali, reflecting the exile, dispos-
session and resilience of the Palestinian Arab
people. 3–5pm. Theater A-6, Sac City College,
3855 Freeport Blvd, Sac. INFO: Hikayatalnakba@
gmail.com; 916-459-7867.
Tuesday, May 13
Peace Connection: Activist Gathering and Dis-
cussion. 6:30pm. Luna’s Cafe, 1414 16th Street,
Sac. INFO: 916-448-7157.
Wednesday, May 14
Frank Dixon Graham hosts reading by local
anti-war poets. Free, open to the public. 7pm.
909 12th St., Sac. INFO: 916-606-4303; www.
sacramentopoetrycenter.org.
Saturday, May 17
3rd Saturday Vigil to End the War and Occupa-
tion. 11:30am–1:30pm. Fulton & Marconi, Sac.
INFO:sacpeace@dcn.org.
Monday, May 19
Jim Whitaker, an American who has spent most
of his life in the Mideast, discusses Iranian think-
ing and motivations. 7pm. Sac UN Assoc, SMUD,
6201 S St., Sac. INFO 916-482-1354.
Wednesday, May 21
Film: “Devils Don’t Dream,” Jacobo Arbenz and
his overthrow by the CIA in Guatemala in l954
Volunteers
Needed for
Iraq Body
Count Exhibit!
The Sacramento Coalition to End the War has arranged to
host an exhibit of 120,000 flags (each representing five
Americans or Iraqis killed in the war) to be placed on Capital
Mall the last week of May.
ending “ten years of spring” with the creation
of a military dictatorship. 7:15pm 1640 9th Ave,
Sac. INFO: 916-446-3304.
Thursday, May 29
Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary Bake Sale. Happy Tails
rescues abused and abandoned animals and
adopts them out to loving homes. 7:30am to
3pm. State Capitol Building grounds, North side
of Capitol Building, near 11th and L Streets. Do-
nations for baked cookies. INFO: 916-375-4718
or 916-422-0101, barbara.price@dgs.ca.gov.
Saturday, May 31
Saturday Vigil to End the Occupation. 11:30am–
1:30pm. Arden & Heritage, Sac. INFO: sacpeace@
dcn.org.
Saturday, June 7
1st Saturday Vigil to End the War and Occupa-
tion. 11:30am–1:30pm. Arden & Heritage, Sac.
INFO:sacpeace@dcn.org.
Sat./Sun. June 14–15
4th annual Celtic Midsummer Faerie Festival.
10am–9pm Saturday; 10am–6pm Sunday. See
box announcement this page.
Tuesday, June 10
Peace Connection: Activist Gathering and Dis-
cussion. 6:30pm. Luna’s Cafe, 1414 16th Street,
Sac. INFO: 916-448-7157.
Wednesday, June 18
The Baghdad DVDs: 5 films made between 2007
and 2007 by students at the Independent Film
and TV College in Baghdad about Iraqi lives
under the U.S. occupation. 7:15pm. 1640 9th
Ave, Sac INFO: 916-446-3304.
Saturday, June 21
The Fête de la Musique, also known as World
Music Day, a world wide music festival. On this
day in Sacramento, sidewalks, parks, community
gardens, stores and more become impromptu
musical stages for both amateur and profes-
sional musicians to showcase their talents. All
concerts and performances are free and open to
the public. INFO: http://sacwiki.org/fete.
Saturday, June 21
Sacramento PRIDE Fesitval
Proceeds benefit programs and services of the
Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center. 10am–7pm.
Southside Park, 8 and V Streets. INFO: 916-442-
0185 ext. 139.
Saturday, June 21
3rd Saturday Vigil to End the War and Occupa-
tion. 11:30am–1:30pm. Fulton & Marconi, Sac.
INFO:sacpeace@dcn.org.

We will probably set up 5/23 or 24, and probably take down

5/30 or 31. We need LOTS of volunteers to help with the
setup and removal!

See www.Iraqbodycountexhibit.org for images of the display

and methodology used for calculating casualties.
TO VOLUNTEER: debra.reiger@earthlink.net, 916-
698-8131.

Presented by
Saturday and Sunday, June 14–15, 2008
The Sacramento Chapter of The 4th Annual Celtic Midsummer Faerie
Physicians for Social Responsibility Festival
Fun, Family-oriented, Celtic culture and history; Celtic, Folk
Location:
and Rock music and dance, and a diverse marketplace.
California State University, Sacramento Alumni Center
$25 for Adults $10 for Students 10am–9pm Saturday (marketplace closes at 7pm),
Please email info@sacpsr.org or 10am–6pm Sunday, Fair Oaks VFW Hall, 8990 Kruithof
Call 916 955-6333 for Reservations Way, Fair Oaks, California 95628 (near Phoenix Park off
Hazel Avenue).
Students submitted an original essay of 500 words or less
describing their thoughts on the following statement
Free Admission and Parking
by Marine Corps Medal of Honor Winner, Major General Smedley Butler: INFO: www.groveoftheoak.org; 916-339-7157; festival@
“War is a racket…in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” groveoftheoak.org
 May / June 2008
Because People Matter
Al-Nakba, the Catastrophe Remembered
INSIDE: 3 Trillion $$$$ War—We’re All Paying

Obama’s Blood and the Hidden Truths

Mother’s Day Surprise
Progressive News and Views

Progressive Media
Editors’ Picks! Progressive Radio Stations
▼ KVMR 89.5 FM
Online News Sources:
www.Truthout.org: written essays on current
▼ Soapbox!—Jeanie Keltner talks with ▼ The Voice, 88.7 Cable FM; and streaming Don’t bitch at the media— events, some videos, like Keith Olbermann’s
activists and analysts from Sacramento and audio on www.Accesssacramento.org; SAP become the media! MSNBC Countdown shows.
beyond about the issues of the day. Comcast Channels 17 & 18 Have you taken the TV production www.CommonDreams.org News Center:
Where to watch: ▼ KYDS 91.5 FM Breaking News & Views for the Progressive
▼ KDVS 90.3 FM
training at Access Sacramento? Would Community.
Access Sacramento cable channel 17. you like to put your technical talents
Every Monday at 8pm. Call in comments ▼ KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley www.Brasscheck.org: Progressive videos
▼ KSAC 1240 AM (TalkCity Radio Sacramento). to use? Soapbox! urgently needs crew- on many subjects, from Steven Colbert’s
on 2nd and 4th Mondays. Repeats Tues- —has been silenced. 1240 AM has switched members to help set up, run cameras, speech at the White House Correspondent’s
day at noon, Wednesday at 4am. to a gospel format. No more Randi Rhodes, and take viewers’ phone calls on the 2nd dinner and speeches by leftwing MP George
In Davis, on channel 15, Tuesdays at 7pm. Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann or the and 4th Monday of each month. Galloway, to extensive information on 9/11
▼ Media Edge—Sacramento’s own others who brought us an alternative
Or consider taking the training. Man-
and the attacks on our civil liberties.
magazine format show, covering local viewpoint. www.TheRealNews.com: a nonprofit progres-
▼ KZFR 90.1 FM Chico datory orientations are given at Access sive website offering daily news videos
progressive events and speakers, as well as Sacramento at 46th and T streets on
People Powered Radio! managed and including interviews and debates. They plan
internationally known commentators, with operated by volunteers, provides mostly the 2nd Wednesday and 4th Tuesday of soon to expand to television.
clips from some of the best independent locally produced and community oriented each month from 6–7pm. To register www.GoLeft.tv: Progressive Online Television.
political video being made now. programs. call 456 8600 x O. Leave your name In the world of media monopoly, news has
Where to watch: been replaced with a new invention called
(Other) Progressive Newspapers and number if no one’s in at the time. “infotainment.” GoLeft.tv is a progressive
Access Sacramento channels 17 and 18 The basic workshops run from 3 to 24
▼ The Flatlander: a free community newspa- political T.V. news source that fills that gap
and Davis Channel 15. Sundays 8–10pm hours and cost from $10 to $50. Some $
per of fun, opinion and politics in the Davis between the media’s dumbed down info-
Nevada County channel 11 Mondays Area. yolocats@yahoo.com. Publication help is available. Call 444 3203 if you’re tainment and real news reporting.
10:30pm–12:30am, every 2 months, next issue is April/May interested in joining us at Soapbox! for www.innworldreport.net: Daily professional
West Sacramento channel 21 Mondays The Flatlander fun—and the best pizza in town. viewer/listener supported journalism
9-11pm. P.O. Box 72793 available in over 20 million homes across
See scheduled segments at Davis, CA 95617 America.
▼ You may see the Rock Creek Free Press
www.wethemedia.org.
in the back of some BPM stands and in
▼ Democracy Now—Amy Goodman’s other places you find BPM. It’s a great
award-winning magazine format show. new paper from Washington DC with em-
Where to watch: phasis on the undernews. Check it out.
Access Sacramento TV, Cable Channels 17 ▼ Likewise, we are greatly impressed with
and 18, Weekdays 6pm, 12midnight, 5am. the lively goodlooking Midtown Monthly.
Dish Network Satellite TV, Channel 9415, It’s not political, but it has the kind of use- Sacramento and Central Valley Indymedia: www.sacindymedia.org.
Free Speech TV, M–F: 9am, 4pm, 9pm, ful and delightful info about life, art, food
5am, Pacific time. Link TV, Channel 9410, and music in Sacramento and beyond
Monday–Friday, 8am, 3pm. KVMR 89.5 FM that creates the sense of community
Mon–Thu 7pm. KDVS 90.3 FM Mon–Fri noon. needed for an uncertain future. NON-PROFIT
KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley, M–F 9am ORGANIZATION
If you don’t have cable TV, you can watch Access US POSTAGE PAID
Sacramento programs as they are being aired PERMIT NO. 2668
by going to www.accesssacramento.org and SACRAMENTO, CA
clicking on the “Watch Channel 17” button at
the top of the first page.