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Because People MaterProgressive News and Views May / June 2008

Inside this issue:Editorial. 2Budget.Cuts.Threaten.CSUS. 2Health.Care.in.Honduras. 3Immigration.Detention.Centers. 4Yolo.Countys.CAlifas.Newspaper 5Book.Review:.Jim.Hightower. 5Eminent.Domain.Ballot.Measures. 6Sacramentos.Master.Plan. 6Winter.Soldier.Hearings. 7Iraq.War.and.Healthcare. 7

War Profteers. 8Costs.of.War.8-9Book.Review:.$3.Trillion.War. 9Marcha.Migrante.III. 10Big.Pharmaceuticals.Want.You. 11Book.Review:.Ethnic.Cleansing. 12Mothers.Day.Proclamation. 13Beekeeping.in.Our.Own.Backyards. 13Obamas.Blood.and.Hidden.Truths. 14Abraham.Lincoln.Brigade.Honored. 14Calendar. 15Progressive.Media. 16

60 Years of Dispossession: al NakbaThe catastrophe remembered

Compiled by Maggie Coulter and Patricia DaughertyMay 2008 marks the 60th anniversary oalNakba, Arabic or the catastrophe, when theoverwhelming majority o Palestinians wereorcibly evicted rom their ancestral homelandto create the state o Israel. More than 5 millionPalestinian reugees remain in reugee camps,while many o their homes, arms, and propertiesare inhabited by Jewish immigrants rom aroundthe globe. Palestinians are the largest ongoingreugee population in the world. Not only hasIsrael reused to allow them their right to returnhome, it has continued its policy o ethnic cleans-ing that has squeezed Palestinians o the WestBank into ghettos surrounded by 27-oot walls,

sniper towers and military guards. It has createdthe open-air prison o Gaza with an impoverishedand overcrowded population o 1.4 million.

Adapted rom Free Gaza www.reegaza.org

Tee is no sch hing as a Palesinian people.I is no as if we came and hew hem o andook hei cony. Tey don exis.

Golda Mei, fome Isaeli Pime Miniseand al Nakba denie

I remember my home in Akka. I was nine in1948. Tere were riends, neighbors, toys, likeany other home, and then in one night it allended. Our parents told us we were going away

or the summer. But the summer went by and wewere still waiting to return home. Tat is whenthe hardship or me began. It was really an emo-tional roller coaster; ashes o optimism ollowedby a pessimism and depression. We orget thecost paid by the individuals and on [Palestinian]society. And really, the society as we knew it hadcollapsed. As reugees we always talked aboutPalestine, our homes and going back. Tere wasnever a time when we would get together that wedidnt talk about Palestine.

Osama Doumani, Palestinian reugee, US citi-zen living in Davis

see Al Nakba, page 12

Palestinians eeing in 1948.UN Photo

Palestinian amilies orced to leave the village o Faluja in 1948. Thevillage was ethnically cleansed by Jewish orces. On its looted lands,Israeli settlers ounded Qiryat Gat in 1954.UN Photo

Te Nakba o 1948 destroyed a whole genera-tion, dividing Palestinians rom our land, rom ourresources, and rom each other. As a Palestinianborn and raised in Dheisheh reugee camp, I know

the Nakbas impact is still elt by each new genera-tion born as reugees. In 1948, my amily was orc-ibly separated rom the land and community thatsustained us. In 1967 we suered separation again,this time rom each other, when the Israeli armyoccupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip and mysister and brother were exiled to Syria and Lebanon.Israel orbids me rom meeting, or even contacting,them.

oday, Palestinians are more isolated than ever.Families in Gaza cannot see their relatives in theWest Bank or in Israel. Walls, checkpoints and jailscontinue to separate us and rom basic resources.Encroaching Israeli settlements surround us withtheir large swimming pools, leaving us withoutenough water to survive.

Te division we experience now is a continuation othe same deadly policy that drove us rom our vil-lages in 1948. Each moment, we reugees think andbreathe the Right o Return because this is the onlyway to eel ree.

Ziad Abbas, co-director o Dheisheh CulturalCenter, Bethlehem,

Palestine. Abbas spoke in Sacramento in April 2008.My parents were born in Lia where they spenttheir childhood in its hills and valleys On 28December 1947, Zionist terrorist groups [MenachemBegins Irgun and Yitzhak Shamirs Stern Gang]attacked the village coee shop, killed ve civiliansand threatened the rest, orcing them to leave the

village. Te people le with the hope that they would

return aer a ew days. Te Zionist orces bombed

Lias houses to insure that the indigenous inhabit-ants would not return

I have no words to describe my eelings when Isee my house and land in ront o me inhabitedby strangers who prevent me by their laws romreturning to it.

Anan Odeh, human rights lawyer,currently studying in Davis.

Adapted rom Electronic Intiada electronicin-tiad.net/v2article9237.shtml.

Jewish villages wee bil in he place of AabvillagesTee is no a single place bil inhis cony ha did no have a fome Aabpoplaion.

Moshe Dayan, Isaeli miliay leade,Haaez, Apil 4, 1969

The catastrophecontinues

Every day in Gaza is difcult. Tere are short-ages o ood, electricity, clean water, medicine.Tere are bombs going o, shooting; people arebeing killed all the time. It is documented on mywebsite, www.raahtoday.org.

Here, what I wrote on March 7, 2008: Anambulance races through Jabalyia reugee campto pick up the critically injured, and the bodyparts strewn across the streetFamilies crouchin makeshi shelters around handheld radios, lis-tening or some word that their agony will end.no sign yet or an end to the hot winter thatIsrael has determined or Gaza... I have troublesleeping. I am a journalist and they always shootat journalists.Mohammed Omer, 23 year-old journalist rom

Raah, [Gaza]. Omer spoke in Sacramento inDecember, 2006.

Being a Palestinian, I envy other teenagersall over the world or living normally, enjoyingtheir countrys services, enjoying school, enter-

tainment acilities, listening to music. Being scaredand shattered, have become the daily eatures o ourlives. Will my brother be able to go through a zillion

Israeli check points to reach his work, or not? Willmy grandpa be able to get a military permission topray in Jerusalem or go to the hospital, or not? Willmy dad be able to come back home rom work in theevening, or not?

Ranim, 15 year-old girlrom Bethlehem [West Bank]

[Armed Jewish] settlers had taken over the top-oor home [in Jerusalem].... to make these [Palestin-ian] amilies lives so unbearable that they wouldchoose to leave.....Tese Jewish extremists were ...using the passageway as a toilet, so that the Palestin-ian amilies would nd their homes pervaded by therevolting smell and would be rightened that theirchildren might pick up a disease.... I turned awayrom this demonstration o naked Jewish power eel-ing a mix o anger and revulsion. For me, it encap-sulated everything that the modern state o Israelhas come to represent: a compulsive, racist andcolonial hunger or land and the control o resourcesin the ace o opposition rom a largely powerlessbut implacable Palestinian population. Although themethods vary in amra, Jerusalem and Hebron, thegoal is always the same: the accumulation o landby whatever means possible or the exclusive use oJews.

Excerpt rom Susan Nathans Te Other Side oIsrael: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide.

Nathan spoke in Davis in 2006.

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Because People Matter Ma / June 008 www.bpmnews.org

People MaerVlume 17, Numbe 3Published Bi-Monthly by theSacramento Community forPeace & JusticeP.O. Box 162998, Sacramento,CA 95816(Use addresses below forcorrespondence)

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By Kevin Wehr

Fiy years ago the people o Caliorniamade a promise. We promised to provide

low-cost post-secondary schooling to thestudents o our state with the Master Plan orHigher Education. Tis education, provided bythe Caliornia State University and the Universityo Caliornia systems in conjunction with thecommunity colleges, pledged many benets: aneducated electorate, trained workers or localbusinesses, competent proessionals to work inour hospitals, schools, and to build our inra-structure and our economy. oday that promiseis threatened by the draconian budget cuts pro-posed by Governor Schwarzenegger. However, anhistoric coalition has ormed to ght these cutsand allow the CSU to keep the promise made ageneration ago.

Te CSU structure is the largest higher edu-

cation system in the world. We have 450,000students taught by 23,000 aculty members,supported by dedicated sta and administra-tors. ogether the CSU campuses orm a pillaro the Caliornia economy, with a $13.6 billioneconomic statewide impact each year, accord-ing to the CSU chancellors ofce. Studentsspend $7.5 billion in their communities, thecampuses provide $760 million in taxes to localand state governments, and more than 200,000jobs contribute to the welare and livelihood oacross our state. Overall the CSU generates $4.41in spending or every $1 invested. Add to this

the higher earnings by CSU graduates, and thereturn to Caliornia increases to $17 or everydollar invested in the CSU. Tats some return on

investmentthe CSU is part o the solution or atroubled economy!

What will happen i the proposed cuts moveorward? It will be harder or students to get intoand continue in the CSU system. Some 10,000eligible students will be turned away. Te con-sequence o this is that Caliornias middle classwill shrink i amilies cant send kids to the CSU.Tese troubles will all hardest on Latino, Ari-can American, Native American and rst-gen-eration students who, without the CSU, are lesslikely to get a college education. Furthermore,the governor called or increased college oppor-tunity or returning veterans; they, too, will haveto compete or ewer spaces in the CSU.

Te governor says we need to build inrastruc-

ture by $500 billion over the next 20 years. TeCSU educates Caliornians who can do exactlythat. Te graduates o the CSU system are neces-sary or continued economic vitality and growth.Tey are the backbone o the states workorceengineers, teachers, nurses. O all higher educa-tion degrees granted in Caliornia, CSU gives 51percent in engineering, 52 percent in agricultureand 65 percent in business.

Cutting the budget to the CSU is like eatingyour seed corn; it negates any plan or the uture.A coalition has ormed to ght these cuts andrestore scal sense to the budget. Te Alliance

or the CSU is made up o students, sta, acultyand administration o the CSU, with allies romthe business community, labor groups, com-munity organizations and concerned individuals.ogether we can convince the governor and leg-islators the CSU is the solution! Join us at www.allianceorthecsu.org.

Kevin Wehr is a professor of sociology and vice-president of California Faculty Alliance, CSUS.

Budget Cuts Threaten CSU Students, Faculty and StafAlliance or the CSU seeks to mitigate cuts.

Aer ve years o war and occupation the publichas been lulled to inaction with media atten-tion declining since the rst months o conict.

According to the Project or Excellence in Journalism,

coverage o the Iraq war supplied about a ourth o thenews in January 2007, but a year later was only ourpercent o media attention. A reproachable media hasalso had no difculty molliying those pesky attendantnightmares: a battered Constitution, unprecendentedprivacy invasions, crumbling inrastructure and unath-omable debt. Viewers and listeners were told it was OKbecause torture, loss o habeus corpus, and more kil lingonly serve to protect the homeland. Besides, Americanscould still shop and ll up their gas tanks.

Now, however, pocketbook troubles are hitting thenational an and Americans may be orced to considerthe undeniable waste o war. With the US economydeteriorating and millions o tax dollars spent each dayto und an increasingly bloody conict, shopping mayno longer be possible as the patriotic pastime.

Every American household now spends $138 permonth on the operating costs o the Iraq and Aghani-

stan wars, with a little more than $100 per month onthe Iraq occupation alone, according to Joseph Stiglitzand Linda Bilmes in Te Tree rillion Dollar War. TeNational Priorities Project estimated every median

income amily paid $3,736 tax dollars in 2006 to und awar that continues to roil the world.

Nearly 4,100 Americans have died in Iraq andAghanistan and more than 31,000 wounded. Studies othe number o lost Iraqis lives produce estimates rang-ing rom 400,000 to more than a million. Combined,these are the most acute problems conronting the US.Despite renzied White House spin and a complicitmedia, distracted citizens may not be as easily led. Arecent Associated Press poll indicated nearly 50 percento the public believes a pullout rom Iraq will solve USeconomic problems, ollowed by spending more ondomestic concerns with tax cuts at the bottom o solu-tions to the nancial crisis. It is all the more apparentthis war steals lives and ravages public treasuries onlyto erode security at home and across the globe. Te

May/June BPM issue highlights the price so many arepaying.

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www.bpmnews.orgMa / June 008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

By Dan Bacher

he Caliornia Honduran Institute or Medical and EducationalSupport held a dinner and program in Sacramento in Februrarybeneting health care in the Gariuna communities o Hon-

duras. Te event eatured presentations by Dr. Luther Harry Castillo,

leader o the rural health care movement in Honduras, and Lt. Gover-nor John Garamendi.

In a short 18 months, a new clinic in Ciriboya, Honduras has servedmore than 68,340 patients or ree. In addition, amily practice doctorscare or thousands o people in 12 ar-ung rural communities.

Executive secretary o the Sacramento Central Labor Council andCHIMES Director Bill Camp, his brother, om, and a dedicated crew ovolunteers built the hospital to provide the long-needed care.

Mo Mohanna, a Sacramento philanthropist, donated his receptionhall and catering or the event. All money raised, more than $10,000,goes to support health care in Honduras. Volunteers organized byBirthing Project, ounded by Kathyrn Hall, have also been invaluable toCHIMES and its eorts.

We are planning to build three more wings, said Castillo as heshowed plans or the hospital aer his presentation. Tey wi ll include asurgery room, pharmacy, library, laboratory, pediatric care, dental care,natural medicine, physical therapy and an obstetrics section, includingpre-delivery and post-delivery rooms. A dormitory or the doctors isalso planned.

Castillo, trained at the Latin American School o Medicine inHavana, Cuba, embarked on this venture aer he was unable to attendmedical school in Honduras due to lack o unds. Cuba accepted himand he graduated in 2005 as the rst Gariuna graduate.

Beore he went to Cuba, he was apprehensive. I had the idea thatthere was a tank on every corner, he quipped. However, what I actu-ally saw aer I arrived there were a lot o riendly people who loved todance and enjoy themselves. Te Cubans are a people with a spirit osolidarity.

Castillos Project Luagu Hatuadi Waduhenu (For the health o ourcommunities) arose in 1999 as an initiative o Gariuna students inCuba seeking a way to contribute to the betterment o their communi-ties. We decided to donate 15 days o our month o vacation workingin the Honduran Gariuna communities, shoulder-to-shoulder with theCuban doctors, explained Castillo.

Te Gariuna are a unique cultural and ethnic group ound alongthe Carribean coast o Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and inthe Carribean islands. Tey rst appeared in this region over 300 yearsago, when escaped and shipwrecked West Arican slaves mixed with thenative Caribs who provided them reuge. According to Ruben Reyes

o Los Angeles, who gave a brie history o the Gariuna people, their

language derives rom theArawak and Carib lan-guages. Te Gariuna havekept their Arican musical

and religious traditionsover the centuries.

In the program Cas-tillo established, medicalstudents return romHavana to work in theircommunities to nishtheir education. Tere areeight resident Gariunadoctors, while the programis training 86 midwives,along with nurses andvolunteers.

Tey are developing ahealth care inrastructurein a region where the

government has installednone. We have developeda volunteer structure bybuilding alliances betweenkey sectors o the community, including aith groups, womens groups,students and workers. Te participation o Gariuna women is essential tothe program, Castillo said. We believe in training doctors who work sideby side with the community people and who live inside the community.We want doctors who know that patients are not just muscle and bones, heemphasized.

Te success o the clinic has been evidenced by health statistics romthe rst year o operation. Inant mortality was 30.8 per 1,000 births inHonduras in 2006, said Castillo. In one year the inant mortality rate inour region plummeted to 10.1 per 1,000 births. In addition, the maternalmortality was 48.1 per 10,000, and it dropped to 22.4.

My dream is that no child in our country will die o a preventable dis-ease, said Castillo. Cuba is an alternative model or health care delivery in

the Tird World.Lt. Governor Garamendi and his wie Patti attended the grand

opening o the clinic in December 2007 and are strong supporters oCHIMES. What i the US did outreach by training doctors in the com-munity and sent them to help other countries like Cuba does? Garamendiasked. In this situation, Cuba has a much better oreign policy than ourcountry.

Camp added, Praise should go to the people o Sacramento who crossborders, concluded Camp. Tis clinic is helping a community o 86,000people, people living on just a ew dollars a day, and that has happenedbecause people in this community have stepped outside their comort zoneand made donations.

Camp noted that CHIMES is negotiating with University o Calior-nia, Davis Medical School in Sacramento, Kaiser Hospital and PittsburgMedical School to develop programs that will send medical students toHonduras or three months to provide exposure to medical practice in

a rural setting in Latin America. For more inormation, call CHIMES at916-612-9999.

Dan Bacher is a journalist, activist and satirical songwriter living inSacramento.

Cuba and Sacramento bring better health care to HondurasCHIMES sppos al clinics

Dr. Luther Harry Castillo sings a Gariuna song beore making hispresentation.Photo by Dan Bacher.

Lt. Governor John Garamendi and Bill Durston, CongressionalCandidate, at the CHIMES undraiser.Photo by Dan Bacher.

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Because People Matter Ma / June 008 www.bpmnews.org

Sacramento

ProgressiveEvents

Calendar on

the Web

Labor, Peace,

Environment, Human

Rights, Solidarity

Send calendar items

to Gail Ryall,gryall

@cwnet.com.

www.sacleft.org

BESt BurGErthe bges and fies ae descibed as legendayBiting into this east, therst thing you notice is thatyou can taste the bee. TeFrench Ground Steak Burgerw/cheese is the thing to order.Tat is a mouthul to say,and its denitely more thana mouthul to eat. Featuring

Harris Ranch Steak reshlyground and ormed into a1/3 lb. patty. Stop by soon.Naionwide Feeze Meas1930 H Street, Sacramento(H and 20th Streets) 444-3286.Just remember H20 stands orH and 20th Street

By Felicia Martinez

On any given day 30,000people are held in deten-tion by the Immigration

and Customs EnorcementAgency throughout thecountry in a system thatincarcerates over 230,000people per year. In a March5, 2008 United Nationsreport, the UN SpecialRapporteur on the humanrights o migrants expressedserious concerns aboutthe situation o migrants in[the US], especially in thecontext o specic aspects o deportation anddetention policies Considering circumstancesunder which ICE, a division o the Departmento Homeland Security, arrests and detains people,

it is not difcult to understand why.Tere are numerous reasons why ICE mightdetain a person. Some are detained because theyare undocumented. Some are held while theyawait the outcome o an asylum petition. Someare Legal Permanent Residentsgreen card hold-ersdetained because they were convicted instate or ederal court o a crime that may be con-sidered grounds or deportation. Tese peoplehave already served their sentences and beentranserred to ICE custody where they wait, innew cells, while the court determines i they aredeportable under l aw.

O ICEs 30,000 inmates, only hal are housedin DHS operated acilities. Te other 15,000 liveoutside the system in privately operated acilities,sometimes with state prisoners, or in county jails.

In Sacramento the main jail reports having 2030ICE detainees at any time. Tese inmates haveno pending charges other than those relating toimmigration law, charges dened as civil, notcriminal. County jails, however, are not designedor long-tem housing. Due to dierences in acil-ity regulations, an ICE detainee in a county jailoen lives in starkly worse conditions than some-one detained at a nearby DHS acility.

Some ICE detainees, however, are not housedin government acilities at all but handed overto private corporations, such as the CorrectionsCorporation o America, which operates dozenso prisons nationwide. As with state and ederalprisons, corporations like CCA oen requireinmates to work or menial pay, sometimes $1 a

day, in jobs like serving caeteria meals or mop-ping oorssaving the corporation rom hiringout or such jobs. Since the corporation receivesa at payment rom the ederal government oreach inmate housed, using unpaid inmate laborincreases the corporate prot margin.

One o the most alarming aspects o theICE detention system is the lack o legal rights

aorded toprisoners. ICEdetainees, eventhose with green

cards, are notentitled to publicdeenders, a policythat came underspecic criticismin the UN report.ICE detaineesmust pay or alawyer, nd a probono attorneyor represent themselves in immigration court.But immigration law is incredibly complex andcontains dozens o classications and visa types.In immigration court it is not a mere question owhether a detained person has papers, but whatkind o papers, when and under what laws thesepapers were issued, i the person has criminal

convictions and specic legalities o those charg-es, along with a plethora o other actors thatdetermine which l aws might apply. In addition,the court is not allowed to consider mitigatingactors such as a persons contributions to com-munity, good moral character, stable work his-tory or amily ties. Under these conditions, ICEdetainees are expected to represent themselves incourt.

Te situation o undocumented people in thissystem is o course the most precarious. Oncean undocumented person is in ICE custody,she has very little chance o ghting an order oremoval. Depending on circumstances underwhich a detainee l e her native country, shemay petition or political asylum, but ICE judges

regularly turn down more petitions than theyapprove. Te detained person could try to proveher removal would cause her dependants, whatthe court denes as, exceptional and extremelyunusual hardship. For example, i the detaineehas a child needing a kidney transplant and thechild can only receive a kidney rom the detainee,maybe she could win her case. But i the detainee

is merely a breadwinner, she will no doubt bedeported. Having nancial and emotional depen-dents is not enough.

Te absence o time limits on how long ICEcan detain a person is another area o erodedlegal rights. It is not unusual or a person to waitmonths beore even having the opportunity to

bring her case beore a judge. Tere is precedentto suggest that when detention exceeds our tosix months, which it requently does, or whenits clear the detainee will not be deported inthe near uture, the person should be releasedrom detention. However, there is no standardlegal mechanism to guarantee this happens. Tisinterminable waiting induces some detainees tochoose not to ght their case and accept a remov-al order just so they can secure a quicker release.

Removal, however, doesnt always meanreturning to a amiliar land. ICE regularlydeports peopleboth documented and nottocountries o which they have no recollection, andin some cases have never been. Even US citizensget caught up. It is possible or a person to have

been born outside the US and possess derivedor acquired citizenship via the citizenship statuso her parents. Te problem is, these people maynot realize they are citizens, and even i they do,they bear the burden o proving their citizenshipto the court. Tis poses a signicant problemor detainees who are not in possession o thedocuments necessary to prove their citizenship,

documents that may include thecitizenship and birth records opeople other than themselves.

Te US government incarcer-ates a higher percentage o itspopulation than any other coun-try on the planet, which suggestsimmigrants are more likely to beincarcerated here than in their

home countries, even thoughnumerous studies have shownimmigrants commit ewer crimesin this country than do theirnative-born counterparts. In thiscontext, it is apparent ICE deten-tion and deportation policiesand practices are one part o anintentional and ongoing processto use the law to keep people,immigrant and not, living quietlyand in ear.

Felicia Martinez is a poet andattends Mills College. She hasworked with immigrants and

immigrant rights organizations.

ICE DetentionOne of our Immigration Systems best kept secrets

ICE detainees,

even those withgreen cards, are notentitled to public

deenders, a policythat came under

specic criticism inthe UN report.

O course, we cant get a photo o the inside o a Homeland Security detentioncenter. Above is a poster rom the 1954 flm, Salt of the Earth, based on a strikeagainst the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico.

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www.bpmnews.orgMa / June 008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER

CAAC Goesto the MoviesALMoSt EVEryMoNthte Cenal AmeicaAcin Cmmieesws ineesingand infmaivevides n scialjusice, labsuggles, and smuc me! Call see was plaingis mnWE ALSO HAVE A

VIDEO LIBRARY YOU

CAN CHECK OUT.

1640 9 Ave (eas

ff Land Pak D)INFo: 446-3304

By Jacqueline Diaz

Andy Porras has been realizing his vision oa bilingual publication or over hal a decade.Te vision started when he worked or a Yolo

county newspaper producing special Spanisheditions on a regular basis. While these were wellreceived and servedthe Spanish-speakingcommunity through-out the county, theeditions were shortlived because thepaper decided againstmaintaining Spanishproductions o thepaper. Undeterred,and spurred on byloyal readers, Porras decided to create his ownpaper and continue to serve the news needs o hisLatino community.

Te Porras approach to starting CAlias hasbeen to get things done amily-style. CAliasssta is sprinkled with members o his amily and,rather than a paper narrowed in vision, the resultis a paper that really gets the message o commu-nity across. Readers are welcomed as extendedmembers o the Porras amily. I elt a total senseo community while rst reading CAlias andthen speaking to Porras.

When I called to ask about Calias, Porras wasopen and riendly. In the background, Andrea

Yaya Porras, who serves as photographerand is co-ounder oMovimiento Moncajete,asks who is on the phone. Maybe she knew

me, but not yet. Im a poet originally romthe Bay Area, not rom LA. Little did I know

that a month laterId be asking mysel,who is this Latinajudging the PoetryOut Loud statecompetition, andwhy havent I mether? It was Yaya,and I was theresupporting Sac-ramento Countys

student winner participating in the competition.Sacramento is not always as sprawling as it seems.

Te pages oCAlias are impressive because

they take on a big taskmeeting the news needso a bil ingual, bicultural Latino community.What matters to this diverse demographic?What issues are important to know more aboutand understand? It seems CAlias answers thesequestions through a careul commitment toprogressive local and national news, a celebrationand study o historical and contemporary issuesrelevant to Latinos, and stories central to thelocal community.

CAlias is succeeding in serving the Latino

community while oering non-Latino readersthe opportunity to hear about our values andvoices. It is also uniquely northern Caliornianso that when I read through the pages I can nd

news about events Id heard about and peopleId met. Tere was a picture o my Danza Aztecateacher, a story about Joe Serna and news on thewar in Iraq. It elt like my kind o paper. Porrascalls CAlias proudly amily-owned and ercelyindependent. As a Latina reader in northernCaliornia, I agree.

Jacqueline Diaz is a co-editor ofBecause

People Matter.

Reviewed by Judith Poxon

Writer, public speaker, radio commen-tator and general curmudgeon JimHightower is already a amiliar voice

among American progressives, and his newestbook is likely to add to his popularity. In it High-tower continues his battle against the PowersTat Be on behal o what he cal ls the PowersTat Ought o Be: workers, environmentalists,

small business owners and ordinary people whomake up the vast majority o the populationo the US. Tey are people who, by and large,nd themselves alienated rom partisan politicsand corporate consumerism, but are oen tooovercome by cynicism and hopelessness to doanything about it. While this new book resumesHightowers biting critique o Bushs America,whats dierent is its ocus on ways all o us can

work together to build a dierent kind o country

and, ultimately, a dierent kind o world.Swim Against the Current, which is dedicated

to the late political humorist Molly Ivins, takesits tone rom the words o rock poet Patti Smith,words that serve as the epigraph or the work asa whole: Te people have the power/ Te powerto dream/ o rule/ o wrestle the world romools. Divided into three major sections, titledBusiness, Politics, and Lie, the book worksas an inspirational instruction manual or anyone

whos ed up with the system and wants to changethe way things are done. With Mark wain-likewit and olksy style, Hightower oers numerousexamples o those whove said, in one way oranother, Im mad as hell and Im not going totake it any more!and have gone about creat-ing alternative ways o doing business, engagingin political action, and ghting to preserve theearth.

He writes o agricultural co-operatives thattake on Wal-Mart, community-based banks thathelp nance the rebuilding o blighted urbanneighborhoods, worker-owned taxi companiesand strip clubs that oer decent working condi-tions. Tere are inventive crusaders on behalo public nancing o elections and against theoccupation o Iraq, and an unlikely alliance

between scientists and evangelical Christiansdedicated to reversing global warming and end-ing the ecocide represented by mountaintopremoval mining in the Appalachians. At theend o each section, Hightower provides a list oconnections: names and addresses o groupsworking on the issues hes reported. He shows, bymeans o this diversity o examples, that peopledo have the power, i theyi wewill only ownit.

Once youve nished Swim Against the Current,youll no doubt want to read other Hightowerbooks, including: Tieves In High Places: TeyveStolen Our Country And Its ime o ake It Back(Plume, 2004) ; Lets Stop Beating Around theBush: More Political Subversion rom Jim Hight-

ower(Penguin, 2004); and Eat Your Heart Out:

The pages o CAliasare impressive because

they take on a big taskmeeting the news needs

o a bilingual, biculturalLatino community.

Que Padrisimo!A Review o Yolo Countys CAlias newspaper

Book Review

Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flowby Jim Hightower, with Susan DeMarco. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., March 2008,224 pages.

Food Profteering in America (Crown,1975). Hightower also publishes amonthly newsletter, Te HightowerLowdown, which has received boththe Alternative Press Award and theIndependent Press Association Awardor best national newsletter. His web-site is www.jimhightower.com.

Judith Poxon is an adjunct humani-

ties instructor at Sacramento CityCollege and member of SacramentoMedia Group.

Joe Porras, art director, and his ather Andy .photo courtesy AP Communications

Populist author and activist Jim Hightower waswelcomed to Sacramento by Jeanie Keltner, BPMco-editor, during an April undraising event orCaliornia Common Cause.photo: Dick Wood.

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Because People Matter Ma / June 008 www.bpmnews.org

Because Peoples Healthcare MattersWe do what we do...

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treating acute and chronic illnessIscador (Mistletoe) for CancerTherapies: spirit and art for healing

Raphael HouseMultidisciplinary Complementary Medicine7953 California AvenueFair Oaks, CA 95628(916) 967 8250 raphaelassociation@earthlink.net

Some of the

Places You Can

Find BPM

Sacramento Area

Coffee WorksCrest TheaterDimple Records,

Arden WyDose Coffee ShopFlowers RestaurantGalleria (29th & K)

GrindersHart Senior CenterLido CafeLight Rail:65/Folsom

4th Ave/FreeportLos JarritosLunas Cafe & Juice BarMercy Hospital, 40th/J

Pancake Circus, 21st/Broadway

Planned Parenthood:

Franklin Blvd, WattAve., 29th St.

Queen of TartsQuick MarketSacramento Bagel,47th/H

Sacramento NaturalFoods Coop

Sacramento PublicLibrary (Main & manybranches)

Sargent Coffee House(Alhambra & M)

Starbucks (B'wy & 35th)The Beat

Time Tested BooksTower Theater (inside)Tupelo (Elvas & 57th)Underground Books

(35th St. near B'way)Weatherstone Coffee

Chico Area

DavisBogeys BooksEspresso Cafe Roma

Davis Natural Food CoopNewsbeatUniversity Mall

Greenhaven areaBuckthorns Coffee,7465 Rush River Dr

Nevada CityUS Post Ofce

For a complete list, visitour web site:

www.bpmnews.org.Where would you like tosee BPM?Let Paulette Cuilla know,916-422-1787.

By JoAnn Fuller

Caliornians will vote in June on twoballot measures that would restrict thegovernments use o eminent domain,

the power state and local governments have totake possession o private property or the public

good. Every year hundreds o millions o dollarso property are bought by state and local govern-ments in Caliornia. Usually this means privatelandowners are given market value or theirproperty then used to expand a highway or builda public building. Most o the time, governmentsbuy property rom willing sellers. Sometimes,property owners oppose seling their property ordo not agree on a sales price.

In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled in Kelo v.City o New London that governments could alsouse eminent domain to buy private property roman owner and sell the land to another private

party. In the Kelo case, a amily was orced out otheir home to make way or a privately sponsoreddevelopment plan. In response to these events,voters will be asked to consider Proposition 98and Proposition 99 on the statewide ballot in

June.According to the No on Proposition 98

website, this proposition has a hidden agenda.Proposition 98 would abolish rent control,stop water inrastructure projects, and destroyland-use planning as well as provide protectionrom eminent domain abuses. Te opponents toProposition 98 say its true purpose is to eliminaterent control and other renter protection laws.Environmental protections would also be threat-ened including regulations to reduce greenhousegases, water quality, growth control, and wetland,coastal and armland protections, according to

the environmental law rm o Shute, Mihaly &Weinberger. Supporters o Proposition 98 includethe Howard Jarvis axpayers Association.

Proposition 99, according to the voter guide onthe Caliornia Secretary o State website, would

bar state and local governments rom usingeminent domain to acquire an owner-occupiedresidence and convey it to a private person orbusiness. It creates exceptions or public works orimprovements, public health and saety protec-tion and crime prevention. Supporters o Propo-sition 99 include the League o Caliornia Citiesand Caliornia League o Conservation Voters.For more inormation: www.EminentDomainRe-orm.com

JoAnn Fuller is a member of the BecausePeople Matter editorial group.

By Rick BettisCan Sacramento become a truly sustainable

city? In December 2007 the city o Sacramentoadopted its rst Sustainability Master Plan, and inFebruary the city adopted a 2008 ImplementationPlan. Tese plans provide a roadmap to creat-ing a sustainable city. Te Master Plan set orthlong-term targets that will guide the city towardsreducing greenhouse gas emissions and a greenerpath o doing business and living.

Te concept o reducing our use is not newor unique. Most o the world has a substantiallysmaller global ootprint than does our materi-alistic culture. In developing nations the use oresources is a raction o what is in the US. Forexample, in Sacramento the per capita averageuse is approximately 290 gallons o water per dayas compared to a more typical average o 20 gal-lons, and sometimes as little as ve gallons perday in Arica. On average, only one percent oour trips use public transit compared to 50 per-

cent in New York and many European cities.Motivated by shortages during World War IIthe US substantially reduced our resource usewith actions like scrap and paper drives andrationing. During the 1970s there was an interna-tional movement, led in Caliornia by GovernorJerry Brown, towards an era o limits wheresmall is beautiul and appropriate technologywas 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 o global warmingis providing the motivation to be sustainable. Tenon-prot think tankSsain Line has ranked

the sustainability o the 50 largest cities in theUS based on 15 actors including transportation,air quality, water quality, solid waste diversion,housing aordability, land use, disaster risk, localood and agriculture, energy, green building andeconomy. Sacramento was ranked 13th whilethe top three were Portland, San Francisco andSeattle.

Te Sacramento Sustainability Master Plan

includes ambitious targets in the areas o energyindependence, climate protection, air quality,material resource use, public health and nutri-tion, land use, urban design, green building andtransportation, parks, open space and habitatconservation, water resources conservation, oodcontrol and public involvement and personnelresponsibility.

Eminent Domain Measures on Ballot

Creating a Sustainable CitySacamenos Mase Plan

Sustainability is a state

or a process that can bemaintained indenitely.

Te city should take the lead by makingwise land use decisions that will result inmore compact development with commercialand residential use mixed such that travel isminimized and use o transit is enabled andencouraged. We should support and motivateSacramento and other agencies, such as theSacramento Municipal Utility District andSacramento Regional ransit to implement the

plan. Details about Sacramentos plan are avail-able at: www.cityosacramento.org/generalser-vices/sustain. Your personnel world or carbonootprint can be calculated using www.SMUD.org/community-environment/carbon.

Rick Bettis is a community activist and experton land use and other local issues.

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By Deborah Burger, RNSan Francisco Bay Guardian, Feb. 21, 2007

With President George W. Bush proposing topush the price tag or the Iraq War up to nearly$600 billionmore than was spent on the Viet-nam Warwhile seeking new cuts in our healthcare saety net, it would appear the debate overguns and butter is over. Te guns have won.

Polls beore the last election ound that the twoissues oremost in voters minds were the war andour ever-worsening health care crisis. More thanever, the two issues seem linked. With recordbudget decits, substantially inated by spendingon the war, resources or health care and othercritical domestic needs are increasingly starved.

On the same day the president was proposinganother $245 billion to prosecute the war thisyear and next, which would bring the ve-yeartotal since the war began to a staggering sum o$589 billion, he also called or slashing $78.6 bil-lion rom Medicare and Medicaid over the nextve years.

In addition, Bush wants Medicare recipients to

pay higher premiums or prescription drugs anddoctors services and is proposing to eliminateannual indexing o income thresholds, eectivelyanother $10 billion in cuts.

Expanding childrens and preventive healthprograms and addressing personal responsibil-ity by tackling childhood and adult obesity aresupposedly atop everyones short list o healthcare priorities. But these now appear to be col-

lateral damage. Bush is seeking a $223 millionreduction in spending or the Childrens HealthInsurance Program and the elimination o apreventive health services block-grant program,$99 million a year to the states, used or obesityprevention and programs or chronic healthconditions.

Hes also seeking millions in reductions or theNational Cancer Institute at the very momentsome progress has been made in ghting cancer,and the Centers or Disease Control and Preven-tion or disease surveillance monitoring o birdu and other approaching epidemics. Tats justthe cuts.

Teres no mention o additional unding toaddress the national blight o47 million uninsured Ameri-

cans, another 17 millionunderinsured, the increasedclosure o public hospitalsand clinics, including in halo the nations poor countiesthat no longer have a healthcenter, and all the otherdismal statistics that havedropped our country to 37thin the world in health careindicators.

Imagine or a momenthow else we could havespent $589 billion. Withthose same dollars you couldbuy health insurance or

all the nations uninsured

people or the next three years. Or you couldund the current ederal program o spendingon HIV/AIDS antiret-roviral drugs or thenext 60 years. Or youcould cover the cost oeducating an additional39.2 million registerednurses.

And while theresplenty o money to sendmore troops into harmsway, veterans are eel-ing the pain o cuts inour nations health spending. According to theDepartment o Veterans Aairs, 263,257 veteranswere denied enrollment or Veterans BenetsAdministration health coverage in 2005. o cutcosts, enrollment has been suspended or thosedeemed not to have service-related injuries orillnesses.

A nation that continues year aer year tospend more money on military deense than onprograms o social upli is approaching spiritualdoom, Dr. Martin Luther King said. And, hemight well have added, endangering the health

security o its citizens at home.Deborah Burger is president of the California

Nurses Association.

By Cres Vellucci

When I was a military inormationspecialistread: government pro-pagandistaer being draed and

sent to Vietnam in 1969, I wrote story aer storyabout all the good things the US was doing there,and how we needed to stay just a little longer tohelp the people.

But, it wasnt the whole truth. Not even close.Despite my top secret crypto clearance, I didntknow the whole truth until the Winter Sol-dier hearings in Detroit in 1971, organized byVietnam Veterans Against the War, where vets

revealed the real truth about atrocities and inhu-manities that rained down on the people we weretold we were sent to help.

Now its another generations turn.During March 1316 o this year, Winter

Soldier: Iraq and Aghanistan was held in Wash-ington, DC. It was the largest gathering o USveterans who served in Iraq and Aghanistan,and also included Iraqi and Aghan survivors.All bore witness to what was described by thoseobserving as bone-chilling and nightmarish,images o atrocity aer atrocity in these wars ooccupation.

Tese stories were ree o the spin o myreports rom Vietnam as ordered by militarycommanders and political leaders. Tese stories

are the truth. Among the revelations were thoseby ormer Marine Jon urner, who did two toursin Iraq. He ripped the medals rom his chest andconessed, Im sorry or the hate and destruc-tion I and others have inicted upon innocentpeople; until people hear what is going on, thisis going to continue. I am no longer the monsterI once was.

Gut-wrenching testimony like this continuedor our daysmuch o it difcult to watch orhear and some o it impossible to watch or hearbecause it was so intense. Te rst-hand accountso the abuse and racist attacks on everyday citi-

zens o Iraq, women, the young and the elderly,was evidence that US ghting men and womenhad been transormed into dehumanized kill-ersas they were in Vietnam.

Vets called or the rapid withdrawal o alltroops rom Iraq and criticized Republican,and especially Democratic Party lawmakers orpoliticizing the wars or their own purposes, andprolonging the wars by continually voting toprotect the troops by unding wars.

However, like the Winter Soldier hearingso 1971, this very real news event was largelyignored by the corporate media. Much o the tes-timony took place on a weekend. Unless its thepresident giving a speech, or some Hollywoodstarlet being arrested or drunk driving, corpo-

rate media are not going to cover it.Unlike a generation ago, this event was, in

act, covered by the new independent technol-ogy media. Tere were video news eeds romwww.therealnews.comand Free Speech V, and20 public access channels rom coast-to-coastbroadcast the hearings. Pacica Radio stationsnationwide also carried extensive reports. InSacramento, numerous peace and social justicegroups sponsored showings o the hearings.

As a Vietnam veteran who was part o a mis-inormation campaign in another war long ago,and who spent decades as a mainstream news

reporter trying not to duplicate those mistakes,its gratiying to see Winter Soldier II receivethe coverage it did, even i not rom my ormermainstream news comrades.

Im proud these veterans o Iraq and Aghani-stan have stood up as Winter Soldiers. Te termderives rom the opening line oTe Crisis, byounding ather Tomas Paine, who said, Teseare the times that try mens souls: the summersoldier and the sunshine patriot will, in thiscrisis, shrink rom the service o their country;but he that stands it now, deserves the love andthanks o man and woman. A good l esson or usall.

Cres Vellucci is a member of Veterans forPeace.

The Guns Have WonTe oll of Bshs Iaq wa on healhcae

With thosesame dollars you

could buy healthinsurance or all the

nations uninsuredpeople or the next

three years.

Winter Soldier: Iraq and AfghanistanTo these vets, Support our troops means rapid withdrawal

No more money or health careArlington Catholic Herald

www.ivaw.org

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8 Because People Matter Ma / June 008 www.bpmnews.org

War ProfteersOur own players in the war

profteer game

By Cres Vellucci

Iraq or Sale director Robert Greenwald has told

Congress that the billions and billions o dollars pock-eted by deense contractors and other war proteersduring the wars o occupation in Iraq and Aghanistan isa madhouse run amok.

Well, welcome to the madhouse, Sacramentans. Wehave our own players in the war proteer game.

However, war proteers are hidden in Sacramento,as hidden as the true cost o these wars and occupa-tioncost not seen on the nightly news or talked aboutall that mucheven by those protesting the war whichhas led to more than 4,000 US troops dead and hundredso thousands o Iraqis killed.

Names o the top 10 proteers, according to www.iraqorsale.org and www.corpwatch.org, include: Hal-liburton/KBR, CACI and itan, involved in the tortureand abuse o detainees; Bechtel, construction; Aegis

Deense Services, security and military contractors;Custer Battles, convicted o raud when 34 o 36 truckssent to Iraq didnt work; General Dynamics, bullets totank shells; Nour USA, pipeline security; and Chevronand Exxon/Mobil.

In Sacramento, we have war proteers doing businessdaily among us. Te most obvious is a Halliburton acil-ity just north o Sacramento, a mile or so beore Wood-land on busy Interstate 5. Several demonstrations were

held in late 2007 by veterans o Iraq and other wars, andother anti-war activists. All were met by locked gates,high ences and menacing security teams. News report-ers who covered the story were given no comment, and

later told by the local Halliburton representatives thatHalliburton had nothing to do with the war.Corporate war proteers line their

pockets rom the manuacture, saleand support o killing machines. Ourtroops and Iraqi citizens die and Hal-liburton continues to rake in hugeprots. We dont need corrupt warproteers in our cities or our state, saidDebra Reiger, a spokesperson or theSacramento Coalition to End the War.

But Halliburton isnt the only guiltyparty in the area. Even more despicablethan the Dick Cheney corporation maybe two local businesses that play verykey roles in recruiting and sendingtroops to Iraq rom Caliornia.

Te Radisson Hotel, o Highway 160in Sacramento near Arden Way, rents rooms nightly todozens o new volunteers or the war on a contract withthe US military. Te hotelthe target o several protestsby Veterans or Peace and otherseven has a 24-hourconerence room/game room complete with video gamesand big screen Vs to suck in recruits.

Te military is so entrenched at the Radisson that theMilitary Entrance Processing Station, which is one oour stations in the state that tests and ships o recruitsto the war, has its own sign in the parking lots. Althoughits been researched, the inormation is hidden so deeplyin the congressional budget that no one really knowsexactly how much the Radisson makes in blood moneyrom the contract. But its close to seven gures, at least.

Cost o Iraq War to Caliorniaaxpayers in Sacramento have paid $620.5 million or the Iraq War thus ar.

axpayers in Sacramento will pay $99.5 million or additional proposed Iraq War

spending FY 2008.axpayers in Sacramento will pay $165.5 million or projected Iraq War spending orFY 2009.

Bushs proposed 2009 budget would cut over 100 ederal programs that address com-munity needs. Heres the impact o just our in Caliornia:

$118.6 million cut rom Community Development Block Grants, beneting 368 com-munities; $14.5 million cut rom Low-income Home Energy Assistance; $64.9 millionin cuts or Social Services Block Grants; and $71.5 million cut rom Section 8 HousingChoice Vouchers.

otal o these cuts, $269.5 million, equals what Caliornia taxpayers will spend on theIraq war in 17 hours.

(2008 National Priorities Project, www.nationalpriorities.org.)

With a president,

Congress and bothruling political

parties unwillingto end the

carnage, its timeto pressure the

war proteersright here in own

backyard.

One o the protests last year at the Halliburton acility, along the I-5 on-ramp in Woodland.Photo: Cres Vellucci.

In eect, the Radisson serves as a trap to keep thepotential recruits in an overnight cage, o sorts, beorethe actual swearing in the next day at MEPS. Teyrealone, away rom amily and riends who might inu-

ence them not to join the military. Aer their stay at theRadisson, the recruits are shipped early the next morn-ing to the MEPS acil ity o NorthgateBlvd. Te military uses this kind opsychological operation, PsyOps,to disorient recruits so they are lessresistant to the contract-signing salespitches.

A partner in this conspiracy torecruit odder or the wars o occupa-tion is Amador StageLines at 13th& C Streets. Tese buses make earlymorning runs at 5am rom the Radis-son to the MEPS, playing a key rolein the scheme and pocketing untoldprots on a military contracttherebyas guilty as Halliburton and any other

war proteer.Not until real economic pressure is put on local

war proteers like the Radisson and Amador StageLinescalls or boycotts and pickets, or instancewillthey stop turning the bloody Iraq War into their owncorporate windall.

With a president, Congress and both ruling politicalparties unwilling to end the carnage, its time to pressurethe war proteersright here in own backyard.

For more inormation about local anti-war activities,contact Sacramento Coalition to End the War at www.sacendwar.org.

Cres Vellucci is a Vietnam veteran, member of Veter-ans for Peace and former daily newspaper reporter andeditor.

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Reviewed by Richard Nadeau

Tose who say it is the economy and not the

war orget the war has had a negative impact on theeconomy. When the US went to war in Iraq in March2003, the American people were told it was going to cost$50 billion. Recently, the Bush administration asked ora deense budget o $515.4 billion, a 7.5 percent increase,while calling or $200 billion in cuts rom Medicare andMedicaid. Tis is in addition to a request or a supple-mental $70 billion or the wars in Aghanistan and Iraq.Te next American president will inherit a decit o $400billion.

While President Bush says the war has not hurt the USeconomy, and he has never lied to us beore, a new bookputs a conservative estimate o the wars cost at $3 tril-lion. It could easily be as high as $5 trillion.

Nobel laureate and ormer chie World Bank econo-mist Joseph Stiglitz and co-author Linda Bilmes o

Harvard University, argue in Te Tree rillion DollarWarthat the Bush administration misled the Americanpeople by repeatedly underestimating the long term costso the war. Currently, its costing $25 billion a month.wo more years o staying in Iraq will cost another $600billion. Tree more years and its close to a trillion dollarsmore.

Stiglitz and Bilmes argue the Iraq War has become thesecond-most expensive war in US history, aer World

War II. Tey maintain the costs o the war outlined inthe ederal budget are not inclusive because there areother costs hidden in the deense budget.

Te White House has responded negatively to thebook. White House spokesperson ony Fratto stated,People like Joe Stiglitz lack the courage to consider thecost o doing nothing and the cost o ailure. One canteven begin to put a price tag on the cost to this nation othe attacks o 9/11. Tis is a strange comment knowingIraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

According to the authors, the most important budget-ary sums are the long-term costs o taking care o vet-eranstheir disability and veterans healthcare benets.Tis will total hundreds o billions o dollars over thenext ew decades.

O the 1.6 million who have ought, an estimated 39percent will wind up with some orm o disability. Telonger the war lasts, the greater the number o injuriesand the greater costs in the uture. Te Department o

Deense website gives a number wounded at around30,000, but that includes only those wounded in com-bat. Tere are also non-combat injuries that double theDOD gure. Te number o American atalities reached4,000 by Easter Sunday 2008. Teir amilies must alsobe compensated. It is impossible to imagine what JohnMcCains hundred year war would cost!

Te war has also been associated with an increasingprice o oil. Te US is spending money on oil exportsrom Saudi Arabia and other countries. Since the warbegan, the price o oil has skyrocketed rom about $25a barrel to $100. Tis has had a ramiying eect on theeconomy.

Te authors note that the Iraq war has been the mostexpensive war since World War II. Te US has spentthree times more per Iraqi than that spent per Europeanunder the Marshall Plan. Te very high casualty rate in

Iraq has boosted the costs exponentially. In World WarII, Vietnam and Korea, the number o wounded troopsper atality was about 2:1 or 3:1. oday the number owounded troops per atality is 7:1 in combat. Whenincluding those wounded outside o combat and thosesick who were medivaced home, its 15:1. Higher casual-ties mean the US has a long-term cost o taking care othousands o disabled veterans or the rest o their lives.

Te authors also note the cost o the private contrac-tors, such as Blackwater, are more expensive compared towhat the government pays or American soldiers. Securi-

ty contractors cost as much as $400,000 a year, comparedto soldiers at $40,000. Te privatization o so much o thewar and occupation also contributes to explosive costs.

Te authors claim that this is the rst time the US wentinto war by cutting rather than raising taxes. Te war hasbeen nanced by decit spending. Te Bush administra-tion has ooled people into thinking they could wage waror ree. Since 40 percent o the nancing has come romabroad, it means Americans will be paying interest on the

borrowed money or years and years to come.Te Bush administration transerred hundreds o

billions o dollars rom American consumers and busi-nesses to the oil exporters. Te money spent on the waris money thats not being spent at home on Americaninrastructure and or the benet o the Americanpeople. Te two big winners in this war are oil companiesand deense contractors. Te losers are the American andIraqi people.

Richard Nadeau has been a peace and environmentalactivist since the 1960s. He lives in Sacramento.

Costs o WarMore than a million Iraqis have died due to the

violence. More than a quarter o Iraqi adults

have had a amily member murdered in the last

three years (Opinion Research Business, Sept.

2007 www.opinion.co.uk).

Estimated 655,000 war related deaths (about

2.5% o Iraqs population) since March 2003.

(10/11/06 www.lancet.com).

2.5 million Iraqi men, women and children

displaced by war and US occupation by end

o 2007. Most moved to neighboring states il l-

equipped or the inux. US oered only 800

amnesty visas through end o 2006. And 2.5 mil-

lion Iraqis internally displacedby end o 2007

(UN High Commissioner or Reugees).

(www.asc.org/iraq.)

Costs o WarU.S. military kil led in Iraq: more than 4,000

Number o U.S. troops wounded in combat since

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

Private Contractors criminally prosecuted by US

or violence or abuse in Iraq: 1

Iraqi unemployment level: 2540%

70% without access to clean water.

80% without sanitation.90% Iraq 180 hospitals lack basic medical and

surgical supplies.

(Institute or Policy Studies, www.sips.dc.org,

March 2008.)

79% of Iaqis oppose he pesence

of Coaliion Foces.

64% of Ameicans oppose he wain Iaq.

Te esimaed long-em bill:$3 illion.

Costs o WaruS Spends $720 Million Pe Day on he IrAQ

Wa

For what we spend in ONE DAY, we could und:95,364 Head Start places or children, or

12,478 Elementary School teachers, or

163,525 people with health care, or

34,904 Four Year College Scholarships, or

6,482 amilies with aordable housing units, or

84 brand new elementary schools, or

1,153,846 kids would have ree school lunches

or a year, or

423,529 kids would have health insurance.

(www.asc.org/iraq)

Every American household is spending

$138 per month on the operating costs o

the Iraq and Aghanistan wars, with a littlemore than $100 per month on the Iraq

occupation alone.**

**Based on work o 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 .

Book ReviewThe Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost o the IraqConfictBy Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, WW Norton &Co., Inc., March 2008, 192 pages.

Costs o WarNearly 300,000 soldiers returning orm Aghani-

stan and Iraq have post-traumatic stress disorder

or major depression. Only slightly more than

hal have sought treatment.

320,000 service members may have experienced

a traumatic brain injury during deployment,

rom mild concussions to severe penetrating

head wounds. Only 43 percent reported being

evaluated by a physician or that injury. In two

years aer deployment, these injuries will cost

as much as $6.2 billion. Unless they receive care,

those who have served ace health crises and

long term consequences or the nation.

(Rand Corporation, April 2008)

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10 Because People Matter Ma / June 008 www.bpmnews.org

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Progressive Talk ShowAccess Sacramento,Channel 17 with

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Monday, 8pm, Tuesdaynoon, Wednesday, 4am.

Now in Davis, Channel15, Tuesday, 7pm.

By Dan Bacher

he Border Angels nished their historic4,500 mile Marcha Migrante III romSan Diego to Canada in February. Te

group was ounded by Enrique Morones as ahuman rights organization in 1986 to stop theunnecessary death o people traveling across theUS/Mexico border areas o San Diego Countyand the Imperial Valley. Te Marcha MigranteIII caravan traveled through 40 cities with themessage, Su Voto Es Su Voz, (your vote is yourvoice) to remember the 4,500 immigrants whodied in the border region.

Immigration o economic and politicalreugees rom Mexico and Central America hasincreased dramatically in recent years, resultingrom decades o US-engineered civil war andgenocide in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nica-ragua, combined with economic devastation toindigenous communities in Mexico and Centralby the North American Free rade Agreementand the Central American Free rade Agreement.

Te people o this country will elect a newpresident this November, said Morones at a pressconerence with supporters at the state capitol inSacramento in February. We are not supportingany particular presidential candidate. We want toget the candidates to support immigration reormas a pathway or legalization. Tere are 12 million

undocumented workers in this country.Te rst Marcha Migrante in 2006 traveledrom San Diego to Washington, D.C. Te themeo the march was No to HR 4437, an odiouspiece o anti-immigrant legisl ation. Aer 3.5million people took to the streets in April and

more protested in May, the bill was deeated inCongress, said Morones.

Te second Marcha Migrante traveled romSan Diego to Brownsville, exas to collect thestories o migrants to bring to Washington, D.C.in 2007.

Eric Guerra, sta person or state Senator GilCedillo, emphasized immigrants are essential to

the economy and culture o Caliornia, with 30percent o the states people rom other countries.

Other speakers at the news conerence includ-ed Cinthya Munoz rom Sacramento City CollegeBrown Issues and MECHA, Jose Sandoval o Vol-untarios de La Communidad, Armando Gutier-rez rom Cal iornia State University, SacramentoMECHA, and Daniel Morales, treasurer o the GIForum.

Munoz, who helped organized pro-immigrantrallies in Sacramento in 2006, said it was goodthat Marcha Migrante was again bringing to thepublic eye issues o immigrant rights. People aredying on the border, she said. Te issue hasntgone away, even though millions arent turningout in the streets like they were in 2006.

Aer departing Sacramento, Morones and hissupporters drove to Medord, Eugene, Wood-burn and Portland, Oregon. Tey traveled on toSeattle, Washington and the US/Canada border.An action with immigrant rights activist ElviraArellano was planned on the Canadian side o

Marcha Migrante IIIOn the trail with the Border Angels

the border, but the Canadian government reusedto issue her a visa.

Te group went on to Yakima, Washington,Boise, Idaho and Salt Lake City, Utah urging citi-zens in Latino communities to get out and vote.Tey nished their journey with an evening vigilin North Las Vegas, ollowed by their return toSan Diego and a one-mile walk to the border.

During the spring and summer months,Border Angels install and maintain 340 waterstations in the Imperial Valley Desert and sur-rounding areas. With temperatures reaching as

high as 127 degrees, water is critical or survival.During the all and winter, the group establish-

es critical li e-saving stations throughout the SanDiego Mountain areas. Winter clothing, ood andwater are placed in winter storage bins to helpthose exposed to reezing temperature changesthat occur that time o year.

Te organization also inorms citizens andgovernment ofcials about weather related deathsand racial crime deaths. It has opposed the racistscapegoating o immigrants by the Minutemenand other anti-immigrant organizations. Whenthe Minutemen descended on San Diego in 2005,Morones and other activists responded by orm-ing the Gente Unida (united people) coalitionand employed creative ways to disrupt the Min-

utemen activities.More recently, the Border Angels were success-ul in pressuring Calrans to remove Adopt-A-Highway signs emblazoned with the Minutemenname on a two-mile northbound stretch oInterstate 5, north o San Diego, near where Bor-der Patrol agents stop motorists and search orundocumented workers.

Enrique Morones and the Border Angels aretrue modern day heroes whose goal is to savethe lives o people, orced by US economic andoreign policy in Latin America and oppressionby the reactionary regime o Mexican PresidentFelipe Calderon, to migrate across the US borderin dangerous conditions seeking work. For moreinormation, call Enrique Morones at (619)977-9467.

Dan Bacher is journalist, activist and satiricalsongwriter living in Sacramento.

The Border Angels fnished their 4500 mile Marcha Migrante III in San Diego on Sunday, February17. The human rights group held a press conerence and rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento onFebruary 6.

photo: Dan Bacher

Sign with 4500 Mile RoutePhoto: Dan Bacher

Cynthia Munoz, Sacramento City Collegeactivist, urges people to support immigrant

rights.Photo: Dan Bacher

Enrique Morones said the Marcha Migrante IIIwill travel 4500 miles to remember the 4500migrants that have died in the border region.Photo: Dan Bacher

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www.bpmnews.orgMa / June 008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER 11

Registered Representative for securities and

Investment Advisory Representative, Protected

Investors of America.

By Paolo Bassi

he US currently has about 2.2 million oits people in prison, mostly poor work-

ing class whites, Arican Americans andLatinos. A signicant number are serving timeor minor drug oenses, while a group o verypowerul, respectable people sell hundreds o di-erent drugs legally on V and in print media tomake billions. Tey are the US pharmaceuticalsindustry, the biggest drug sellers on the globe.

Te industry is able to exercise its phenomenalpower through legally protected First Amend-ment rightsrights which were greatly expandeda decade ago. In 1997 the Food and Drug Admin-istration allowed drugcompanies to advertisedirectly to consumers,DC advertising. Noother industrialized

country allows drugmakers to advertisedirectly on V.

Te money spent bypharmaceuticals com-panies on promotingtheir drugs is almost twice that spent on researchand development. According to a 2008 studydone by York University and issued by the PublicLibrary o Science, the industry spent almost $60billion on pharmaceutical advertising in 2004,mostly in the US. It is not just the public who aretargeted. Te same study ound that in 2004 theindustry spent $61,000 per doctor to push newdrugs on patients. Studies such as this challengethe industrys view o itsel as public-mindedand research driven. Te rightening thing is

that drug advertising works. In 2003 a HarvardPublic Health study ound that or every $1 spenton direct advertising, sales increased by over $4.Little wonder that the US is the worlds largestspender on pharmaceutical drugs.

Having the power and money to advertisedirectly does not guarantee sales. Just like anysuccessul street dealer, the pharmaceuticalsindustry needs to create demand. Given theinherent risks with prescription drugs and therisk o bad press, sophisticated techniques arerequired.

raditional advertising usually relies on creat-ing dissatisaction and oering new liestyles orcreating products to satisy subconscious desires.Some drug ads lend themselves to such blatant

manipulation o desire. Male enhancementdrugs, or example, have resulted in a media-driven national celebration o the male right toperpetual sex.

However, drug advertising really aims tomanipulate emotions by sowing ear and doubt inthe minds o both the healthy and the unhealthywhile oering hope that the latest drug oeringwill help regain control over their lives. Te keyis to nudge the user towards the drug by cleverdisease-mongering while overstating benets andminimizing or ignoring risks.

Along with disease-mongering, the other main

tactic is repetition. Whether selling chocolate,wars or drugs, it works. A 2005 study in theColumbia Journalism Review ound that, on aver-age, network viewers saw 16 ads or prescription

drugs and 18 or over-the-counter drugs everynight.

While traditional medicine has oered drugsto patients, the pharmaceuticals industry oersdrugs to the public as consumers, encouraginghasty choices with potentially lethal eects. akethe anti-ungal drug Lamisil. No one has diedrom yellowing toenails, yet the FDA reported11 deaths rom liver ailure caused by Lamisil.Far worse was Mercks Vioxx, withdrawn in 2004aer it was shown to be linked to heart disease.

Te pharmaceuticalsindustry is encouragingAmericans to run totheir doctors to demandthe latest drug on V

or the latest disorder.Tis is not surprising,considering it preys onan increasingly alien-ated population alreadyindoctrinated to believe

that happiness can be achieved with the rightpossessions and appearance, so why not with theright drugs?

With ve percent o the worlds population,the US accounts or about 42 percent o allspending on pharmaceuticals, according to a2006 CBS report. However, the American peopleare no healthier than those o other industrial-ized countries. In act, by some measures theyare less so. Compared to these countries, the UShas the highest inant mortality rate and the low-

est lie expectancy or those over 60, accordingto a 2006 report byTe Commonwealth FundCommission.

Tere is a undamental contradiction betweena corporations legal duty to maximize protsand its purported aim to sell drugs that are saeand necessary. Who then protects the publicagainst misleading pharmaceutical advertising?Te FDA seems toothless, too prone to politicalchange and denitely too deerential to drugmanuacturers. It was the FDA that alloweddirect advertising in the rst place.

As healthcare costs and Vioxx-style incidentsincrease, state legislatures may be orced toregulate the content o DC drug ads. However,state lawmakers are just as susceptible to taking

money rom drug companies as are those inWashington.Since DC advertising is proving very prot-

able, the only protection or the American publicis sel-education through alternative sourceso drug inormation. Better still would be toconsider the causes o illness and take preventivemeasures whenever possible. Te way to deeatthe corporate drug pushers is to treat them as alast resort only.

Paolo Bassi is an attorney and free-lancewriter based in Sacramento.

In Sickness or in Health, the BigPharmaceuticals Want You

The pharmaceuticalsindustry is encouraging

Americans to run to their

doctors and demand thelatest drug on TV or thelatest disorder.

One at a Time

For Risa Roberta Goldberg

(Revised from original, 2001 version)

After I sigh, The world is on the verge of col-lapse,

my friend says we all need to breathe.

As the earth stretches taut as high wireshe brings me a fresh carrotlongand slim, like a plane or missile,but much better.

I like to watch people wanderingthrough black and white lms. I like allkinds of people. Sometimesthey drive me crazy. Likethe little kids in Alpine, California:holding lighted candlesand screaming for revenge while waving a ag

seen so oftenno one is likely to forget it.

The carrot was sweet and good in soup.I would like to pour sweet, steaming liquidinto everyones bowlbut they might not understand.It took me a fewbreaths to seethat my friendspeaks for something calledpeace,spreading enlightenmentone carrot at a time.

Mary Leary is a poet, musician and occasion-al special education assistant currently residing

in San Diego.

The Crows of Sacramento

a living history

Between 16th street and the rivera thousand bindlestiffs and a junkie in a suit.There goes a woman without clothes.The sky is alive at sunset with a thousand

crows.

There goes a woman without foodwatching the train rattle downthrough rain under the wild clankof geese in mist and tarnished crows.

The work of the state moves downhilllike water that pours through pilesnaked and striated, covered with duck-down.

There goes a woman with more moneyconcentrating on the roadin twilight with her low-beamscapturing and passing.

A thousand crows alternate light / darkover a power-line rigged for liberationthat strangles in the overstory,mingled and amused on the way through.

Between 16th street and the riverA thousand wandering footstepsand hissing cars, the rain stallsat an intersection with a black bird.

By Crawdad Nelson

Peace Action

on the WebKeep up to date

on peace activism

in Sacramento.

Check out

www.sacpeace.org.

Noon HourWitness against the

Death Penalty.Tird Mondays

12noon to 1pm.11th and L StreetsState Capitol

INFO: 455-1796

Cofee romNicaragua

Support Sacramentossister city, San Juande Oriente, Nicaragua,by purchasing organic

whole-bean coffeegrown in the richvolcanic soil on theisland of Omotepe,Nicaragua.

Thanks to the efforts ofthe Bainbridge-OmotepeSister Island Association

in Washington, we areable to bring you thiswonderful medium roastcoffee.

Your purchase helps thefarmers on the island

and helps supportSacramentos longrelationship with SanJuan de Oriente.All prots go directly

back to the Nicaraguancommunities.$9.00 a pound.Available in Sacramento

at: The Book Collector,1008 24th St.

8/14/2019 2008 May June

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1 Because People Matter Ma / June 008 www.bpmnews.org

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 Action909 12th St, Suite 118Sacramento, CA 95814

Book Review

Reviewed by Brigitte Jaensch

I

n Te Ethnic Cleansing o Palestine, Israeli historianIlan Papp uses British, Israeli and Arab sources to

tell how Zionist immigrants, who carved Israel outo 78 percent o Palestine in 1948, planned an d brutallyimplemented the ethnic cleansing o the Palestinianpopulation whose ancestral roots went down thousandso years. oday, Te world looks on as [Israel] thestrongest military power in the [Middle East] region,with its Apache helicopters, tanks and bulldozers, attacksan unarmed and deenseless population o [Palestinian]civilians and impoverished reugees, among whom smallgroups o poorly equipped militias try to make a bravebut ineective stand.

Papp uses the modern term ethnic cleansing, butthe Zionists used Hebrew terms such as biur, rootout/eliminate; tihur, puriy/cleanse; and hasiyur ha-alim,commit violent reconnaissance. oday there is talk otranser, or ethnically cl eansing Palestinians not oustedin 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 Palestinecoupled with de-Arabizing Palestine. Its slogan a landwithout a people or a people without a land denied theexistence o Christian and Muslim Palestinians, 9095percent o the population who owned, armed and hadurbanized most o the useable land in Palestine.

By 1920, the Zionist immigrants had organized amilitia, the Haganah. By the late 1930s [they hadles]about each [Palestinian] village, its access roads,quality o land, water springs, socio-political composi-tion, religious afliation, its muhktars [leaders], ages oits men (1650) and more.

Between November 1947 and May 1948, the Haganahand Zionist terrorists expelled 250,000 Palestinians. Tey

burned, exploded or bulldozed whole villages, oen at

night. Families were crushed. Men were oen shot onthe spot. Girls and women were raped then their jewelrywas stripped rom their ngers and arms. Wells were

contaminated with typhoid. Looting and pillaging wererampant.In May 1948, small contingents o soldiers rom ve

Arab countries came into Palestine. Jordans King Abdul-lah had made a land-sharing deal with the Zionists andhis brother, Iraqs King Faisel respected that deal. TeZionists, calling themselves Israelis, ousted another500,000 Palestinians. About 75 percent o the Palestinianpopulation, more than 750,000 persons were either killedor orced to ee or their lives.

Israel conscated Palestinian homes, businesses, bankaccounts, orchards and other possessions. It was one othe biggest organized thes in history. Although Israelhas received massive oreign aid rom the US, othercountries and international organizations, it has not paidone dime in reparations to Palestinians and prevents Pal-estinians rom returning to reclaim their property.

Sheer abrication is Papps term or the Zionist/Israeli version o events that demonizes the [Palestin-ian] people who have been colonized, expelled andoccupied, and glories [the Israelis,] the very people whocolonized, expelled and occupied them.

Since 1948, Israel has destroyed, built over, renamedand denied the history o everything Palestinian. O 531Palestinian villages, only 123 are recognized. Papp callswhat Israel is doing memoricide, erasing Palestiniannames, geography and history. About 150,000 Palestin-ians managed to stay in what became Israel in 1948.Tey, their children and grandchildren now number1.3 million. Tey call themselves Palestinian citizens oIsrael. Israel calls them Israeli Arabs and would like totranser this demographic problem out o Israel.

O todays 11 million Palestinians, hal are diaspora

Palestinian living outside historic Palestine. More than

our million live under Israeli military occupation inEast Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. About1.3 million are Palestinian citizens o Israel. In 1948,they numbered about 1.2 million and more than 750,000were orced rom their homes and lands. Over the last60 years, Palestinian reugees and their amilies haveincreased to now number 5.5 million people. Palestin-ians are the largest reugee group in the world and theyhave been denied the right o return longer than anyother reugee population.

Because Papp wrote about cr imes against humanitycommitted by his country Israel, he and his amily havereceived death threats.

Brigitte Jaensch is a human rights advocate.

Al Nakba from page 1

Palestinian teachers hold classes in the road outside an Israelicheckpoint in the West Bank city o Hebron, protesting intrusivesearches o the school children.AP photo

The Ethnic Cleansing o Palestineby Ilan Papp,One World Press, 2007, 300 pages.

Sunday, May 11

Poes he Sale o Isael, 12:30pm. 10h & Capiol, Sac.INFO: yassad@homail.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.

.

Right o ReturnWe ms do eveyhing o ense hey [he Pales-inian efgees] neve do en.

David Ben-Gion, Fis IsaeliPime Minise, diay eny Jly 18, 1948.

Israels Law o Return permits any Jew the legal rightto assisted immigration and settlement in Israel andautomatic Israeli citizenship. Passed on July 5,1950,the law was amended in 1970 to grant the samerights to non-Jews whose parents, grandparents orspouse, are Jewish.

Te Right o Returnreers to Resolution 194,passed by the UNGeneral Assembly in 1948. Itresolves that [Palestinian] reugees wishing toreturn to their homes and live at peace with theirneighbors should be permitted to do so at the earli-est practicable date, and that compensation shouldbe paid or the property o those choosing not toreturn.

Te Zionist objectiveis the creation and mainte-

nance o a Jewish-only state. It does not recognizethe right o the indigenous Palestinian population,expelled during the creation o Israel, to return totheir homes. It does not grant equal status and rightsto the Palestinian population not expelled. It is acolonial enterprise that reuses to dene its borders.It is a project o ethnic cleansing through which Isra-el continues to illegally acquire land; take or destroyPalestinian homes; destroy the means o Palestinianlivelihoods, imprison, threaten and harass so thatthey will die or leave.

Tee is no Zionism, colonializaion,o Jewish Sae wiho he evicionof he Aabs and he expopiaion ofhei lands.

Aiel Shaon, Pime Minise of Isael(20012006), Nov. 15, 1998.

Ending theCatastrophe:Palestinians Return to a SecularDemocratic State or all o HistoricPalestine

Te lesson o 1948 is that o thewhole history o Zionism rom 1895to the present: that the Israeli state isboth the instrument and product o arelentless program o ethnic cleansingo the indigenous people rom the lando Palestine. Tis will not stop unless Israel itsel istransormed, rom an ethnocentric Jewish State tothe democratic state o all its citizens. Te people othe world need to come together to bring about this

goal nonviolently. Nothing less will bring peace andjustice to the Middle East.

Joel Kovel, author oOvercoming Zionism: Creat-ing a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine.

Kovel spoke in Sacramento in February 2008.

Palestinians are oppressed not just by the occu-pation, but by an entire system in Israel and all theterritories it controls built on the belie that the priv-ileges o one group can be maintained at the expenseo the undamental rights and dignity o another

Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace i theylive together reconciled in democracy in which thedignity, culture and rights o each person is protect-ed.... Palestinians will not agree to live in the cages

Israel is building or them. As a Palestinian, I say toIsraelis, you must give up your power and yield todemocracy. And walk with us to a uture where youwill be sae and where you will have place no greaterthan ours, but no less.

Ali Abunimah, rom a 2005 Nakba Day speech.Abunimah spoke at University o

Caliornia, Davis in October 2006.

Maggie Coulter and Patricia Daugherty are members ofSacramento Area Peace Action.

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By Georgianna Pfost

With all the recent news about dwin-dling bee populations, its encourag-ing to hear how we can successully

sustain bees right in our own backyards, andhelpul to see how others have done just that.Hobbyist beekeeper Janet Brisson o Grass Val-ley described her unanticipated but successul

venture into bees in a How I Do It seminar atthe National Beekeeping Conerence this pastJanuary in Sacramento.

For Janet the path to beekeeping began in the1970s, when she and her husband, Mike, movedinto a suburban Los Angeles home and proceed-ed to plant the requisite lawn. But when the grassdied aer a triple dousing o Weed and Feed,and chemical gopher bombs aected Janetmore than the rodents, Janet and Mike dec