Financial Rescue Nears GDP as Pledges Top $12.8 Trillion (Update 1)

By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry, Bloomberg.com, March 31, 2009

The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or committed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s.

New pledges from the Fed, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. include $1 trillion for the Public-Private Investment Program, designed to help investors buy distressed loans and other assets from U.S. banks. The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008.

President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with the chief executives of the nation’s 12 biggest banks on March 27 at the White House to enlist their support to thaw a 20-month freeze in bank lending.

“The president and Treasury Secretary Geithner have said they will do what it takes,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said after the meeting. “If it is enough, that will be great. If it is not enough, they will have to do more.”

Commitments include a $500 billion line of credit to the FDIC from the government’s coffers that will enable the agency to guarantee as much as $2 trillion worth of debt for participants in the Term Asset-Backed Lending Facility and the Public-Private Investment Program. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair warned that the insurance fund to protect customer deposits at U.S. banks could dry up because of bank failures.

‘Within an Eyelash’

The combined commitment has increased by 73 percent since November, when Bloomberg first estimated the funding, loans and guarantees at $7.4 trillion.

“The comparison to GDP serves the useful purpose of underscoring how extraordinary the efforts have been to stabilize the credit markets,” said Dana Johnson, chief economist for Comerica Bank in Dallas.

“Everything the Fed, the FDIC and the Treasury do doesn’t always work out right but back in October we came within an eyelash of having a truly horrible collapse of our financial system, said Johnson, a former Fed senior economist. “They used their creativity to help the worst-case scenario from unfolding and I’m awfully glad they did it.”

Federal Reserve officials project the economy will keep shrinking until at least mid-year, which would mark the longest U.S. recession since the Great Depression.

The following table details how the Fed and the government have committed the money on behalf of American taxpayers over the past 20 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

===========================================================
--- Amounts (Billions)---
Limit Current
===========================================================
Total $12,798.14 $4,169.71
-----------------------------------------------------------
Federal Reserve Total $7,765.64 $1,678.71
Primary Credit Discount $110.74 $61.31
Secondary Credit $0.19 $1.00
Primary dealer and others $147.00 $20.18
ABCP Liquidity $152.11 $6.85
AIG Credit $60.00 $43.19
Net Portfolio CP Funding $1,800.00 $241.31
Maiden Lane (Bear Stearns) $29.50 $28.82
Maiden Lane II (AIG) $22.50 $18.54
Maiden Lane III (AIG) $30.00 $24.04
Term Securities Lending $250.00 $88.55
Term Auction Facility $900.00 $468.59
Securities lending overnight $10.00 $4.41
Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility $900.00 $4.71
Currency Swaps/Other Assets $606.00 $377.87
MMIFF $540.00 $0.00
GSE Debt Purchases $600.00 $50.39
GSE Mortgage-Backed Securities $1,000.00 $236.16
Citigroup Bailout Fed Portion $220.40 $0.00
Bank of America Bailout $87.20 $0.00
Commitment to Buy Treasuries $300.00 $7.50
-----------------------------------------------------------
FDIC Total $2,038.50 $357.50
Public-Private Investment* $500.00 0.00
FDIC Liquidity Guarantees $1,400.00 $316.50
GE $126.00 $41.00
Citigroup Bailout FDIC $10.00 $0.00
Bank of America Bailout FDIC $2.50 $0.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
Treasury Total $2,694.00 $1,833.50
TARP $700.00 $599.50
Tax Break for Banks $29.00 $29.00
Stimulus Package (Bush) $168.00 $168.00
Stimulus II (Obama) $787.00 $787.00
Treasury Exchange Stabilization $50.00 $50.00
Student Loan Purchases $60.00 $0.00
Support for Fannie/Freddie $400.00 $200.00
Line of Credit for FDIC* $500.00 $0.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
HUD Total $300.00 $300.00
Hope for Homeowners FHA $300.00 $300.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
he FDIC’s commitment to guarantee lending under the
Legacy Loan Program and the Legacy Asset Program includes a $500
billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury.


To contact the reporters on this story:
Mark Pittman in New York at
mpittman@bloomberg.net;
Bob Ivry in New York at
bivry@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 31, 2009 14:20 EDT

Officer in fatal crash driving 90 mph

Answers sought amid indications blue lights, siren weren't in use
By Steve Harrison and Fred Clasen-Kelly, Charlotte.com, March 31, 2009

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer involved in a wreck that killed a 20-year-old woman was driving his patrol car more than 90mph with the siren off, police Chief Rodney Monroe said Monday.

Multiple witnesses told investigators that the vehicle driven by Officer Martray Proctor also did not have its emergency blue lights on when it collided with a 1991 Ford Escort at a north Charlotte intersection Sunday night, Monroe said.

N.C. law and department rules dictate that officers obey posted speed limits unless their vehicle's blue lights and siren are activated. The speed limit along Old Statesville Road, where the crash occurred, is 45 mph.

Shatona Evette Robinson of Davidson died in the wreck, and her three passengers suffered serious injuries. Police said all the passengers had been released from the hospital by Monday afternoon.

Proctor, 24, remained hospitalized with a broken leg among other injuries, police said.

Robinson's cousin said grieving family members were angry and wanted answers.

Monroe called the death “an unfortunate and tragic incident.” He promised a thorough investigation. “It's not something we take lightly or will investigate lightly.”

Proctor was driving to assist another officer on a routine traffic stop at about 10:15 p.m. when his patrol car collided with the car Robinson was driving. The wreck occurred less than a quarter-mile from the traffic stop, Monroe said.

Asked whether he believed Proctor should have been driving more than 90 mph, Monroe said: “I can find no reason for that.”

“There were no signs of imminent trouble in that (traffic) stop,” he said.

Department policy states that officers responding to emergencies should drive at speeds that are “reasonable and prudent.” Rules require officers to take into account the “seriousness of the call” and their proximity to the emergency.

Monroe said police would continue to investigate the crash and turn over the results to the prosecutor's office, which will decide whether to pursue criminal charges. Officers, he said, will also conduct an internal probe to determine whether any department policies were violated.

Investigators have received conflicting statements about whether the patrol car driven by Proctor had its emergency blue lights on.

But an in-car camera that automatically records when blue lights come on never activated, police said. That means the emergency lights were off or the camera malfunctioned, police said.

The episode is reminiscent of two officer-involved wrecks in 2000.

City officials paid a $785,000 settlement to the family of 23-year-old Sara Gaffney, who died when a patrol car collided with the vehicle she was riding in. Former Charlotte Mecklenburg police Officer Scott Darby, who was speeding without using his emergency lights, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor death by vehicle and resigned.

Craig Gaffney said he heard about the most recent incident Monday and thought about how similar the circumstances were to the crash that killed his daughter.

“It seems CMPD has ignored, or most likely never learned, the lesson,” Gaffney said.

In December 2000, 33-year-old Geoffrey Darwin died after a police cruiser crashed with his van. Former Officer David Nifong, who was driving 30 miles over the speed limit and was not using his vehicle's flashing lights, resigned.

Since then, police say they have improved road safety. Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers were involved in 6.7 wrecks per million miles driven last year, compared with 11 crashes per million miles in 2001, said Sgt. David Thaw, supervisor of driver training.

Proctor, who makes $42,257 a year, joined the force in March 2007. Monroe said the department has not taken disciplinary action against him.

On Monday, Robinson's family members gathered to mourn at her home.

Her two cousins, who were riding in the car with her, recounted the crash. They were leaving the home of Shatona Robinson's mother, who lives on Henderson Circle in northern Charlotte, and heading back to Davidson.

They made a left turn onto Old Statesville – a divided four-lane thoroughfare – when the collision occurred.

The passengers said they did not hear a siren or see flashing lights.

“The car just had its headlights on,” said Wyatt Morrison, 18, who had a swollen lip, a bandage on his head and a cast on his arm. “I didn't know it was a police car.”

A trail of debris along the road suggests the crash pushed Shatona Robinson's Ford Escort about 50 yards to the south. Police said the Escort was taken to a CMPD evidence lot.

Morrison was sitting in the back seat, behind Shatona Robinson. His other cousin, Akeem Robinson, 19, was sitting in the back seat on the passenger side.

Akeem Robinson said the first thing he remembers is that Topaz White, a friend of Shatona Robinson, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, was under him.

“I was sitting on top of Topaz,” Akeem Robinson said. “She was under my leg.”

Robinson said he was holding Wyatt's bleeding head, and that he tried to see whether Shatona Robinson was OK.

“I was calling out her name,” Akeem Robinson said. “She wasn't saying nothing.”

Shatona Robinson worked at The Pines, a nearby nursing home, and was planning to take classes at an online technical college, her cousin Crystal Robinson said. She graduated from North Mecklenburg High.

“We were praying for each other,” Crystal Robinson said. “She was just getting started. Everyone (in this family) is so close. We can't believe she's gone and is not coming back.”

sharrison@charlotteobserver.com frkelly@charlotteobserver.com
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/141/story/633189.html

***************

Editorial: Don't let such a tragedy happen again
Police must be held accountable when they violate the law.
Charlotte.com, March 31, 2009

The investigation into the death of Shatona Robinson is not complete, but Police Chief Rodney Monroe on Monday made this much clear:

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Martray Proctor was driving his cruiser in excess of 90 mph on Old Statesville Road Sunday night when he struck Robinson's car.

Proctor apparently did not have his blue lights or siren on.

He was not responding to an emergency. He was going to assist another officer in a routine traffic stop. Monroe said he has found no reason for Proctor to be driving 45 mph or more over the speed limit.

CMPD needs to conduct a thorough and unbiased investigation. It vows to do so. And District Attorney Peter Gilchrist needs to assess that investigation and charge Proctor with the appropriate crime if the investigation merits.

An even better approach would be for an outside, independent agency to conduct the investigation. As with police shootings, that would give the public more confidence that all facts are being considered and that there's no special treatment.

State law says an officer must have his blue lights and siren on if he is exceeding the speed limit. And CMPD policy says an officer can speed only in an emergency, such as when there is threat of serious injury to an officer or a citizen. Even then, he must drive “with due regard to the safety of others” and his speed must be “reasonable and prudent.”

Those are clear and adequate guidelines. CMPD provides its recruits 56 hours of driving training in academy. A few years ago, it added “scenario-based driving” to its training, better simulating real-life situations. It appears to have paid off: the force had 6.7 crashes per million miles driven in 2008, a drop of about 40 percent compared with 2001. CMPD says that number is lower than many comparable departments.

CMPD should use this tragedy to assess its training further and, perhaps most importantly, vocally and repeatedly remind officers of the need to drive cautiously. Officers are given a gun, the power to arrest and the right to break traffic laws when the circumstances warrant. They must be held to a higher standard when they use those privileges. And there must be clear consequences when they misuse them.

We applaud Monroe and CMPD for being forthright about the facts of this case and for recognizing the responsibility police have to society in using their authority properly. We also applaud his commitment to get the facts and act accordingly.

It shouldn't take a tragedy for CMPD leaders to make sure officers obey law and policy at all times. Monroe needs to send that message to his officers, loud and clear.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/story/632595.html

French workers detain 4 Caterpillar executives

Reuters, March 31, 2009 11:12am EDT

LYON, France, March 31 (Reuters) - Dozens of workers facing the sack at a factory run by U.S. company Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) detained four managers on Tuesday and demanded further talks on the announced layoffs, a union official said. The world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment plans to slash jobs in various countries and the union official said 733 workers were set to go at the site in south eastern France out of a total of 2,700 staff.

The plant's director, the head of human resources and two other managers had been locked in an office since Tuesday morning "in a good-natured atmosphere", said Alain Massy, a representative of the moderate CFDT trade union.

Locking up managers is becoming a common practice in France when mass lay offs are announced, with police apparently reluctant to intervene to avoid violence.

Managers at plants run by Sony (6758.T) and 3M (MMM.N) have been effectively been held hostage this month in disputes over planned redundancies. On both occasions, unions said they managed to wring concessions from the executives.

A senior police officer on Tuesday negotiated a resumption of talks between unions and management at Caterpillar, but it was not immediately clear if the bosses were free to leave.

One union representative told Reuters they could come and go as they wished, but a witness at the plant said that when one of the group tried to walk away he was harangued and forced to return to the building.

Staff at the factory in the city of Grenoble took action after management representatives failed to show up for a meeting with unions on redundancy terms that had been scheduled for Monday afternoon, Massy said.

Riot police were sent to the plant to keep order, but as in previous disputes they held back from direct intervention.

Workers at the Caterpillar site have been on strike since Monday to try to force more talks, Massy said.

"Yesterday, the whole day, the factory went on strike, including the white-collar workers, which is unusual," he said. (Reporting by Catherine Lagrange)

Honor Dr. King: Stand Up For Your Rights!

Join these events:

Wed., April 1 CODEPINK Weekly Peace Vigil
Fri., April 3 Bail Out Students Not Banks Rally in Raleigh
Fri.-Sat., April 3 - 4 National March On Wall St & AIG
Sat., April 4 Book-Signing with Monica Moorehead and Fred Goldstein!
Sat., April 4 The 26th Annual MLK Support For Labor Banquet in Raleigh
Sun., April 5 Pilgrimage For Justice & Peace in Charlotte
Mon., April 6 Rock Out For Ur Rights Free Live Show at UNCC
Fri., May 1 Mayday Rally at BOA HQ for Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, Workers, & Immigrant Rights

*******************
Wed., April 1 CODEPINK Weekly Peace Vigil 5pm to 6pm at Hawthorne Ln & 7th St. Cease Fire in Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan. We call on our Government to create peace by using our tax dollars to address basic human needs around the world. Funds for Food, Housing, Health Care, Jobs, Education, Clear Air and Water, and Renewable Energy. Info: Elaine elaine-cahn@hotmail.com

*******************
Friday, April 3 Bail Out Students Not Banks Rally in Raleigh 4:00 pm at Bank Of America, 421 Fayetteville St, Raleigh NC.

YOUTH AND STUDENTS DEMAND:
Freeze Tuition Now!
Cancel All Student Debt!
Jobs Program with a Living Wage, Not Jails and Prisons!
Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Sector Workers!
Fund Human Needs, Not War!
Divest From Israel!
No Hikes in Health Care Premiums!

Endorsers include: Black Workers for Justice youth; Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST); UNC-CH Student Action with Workers; Student Worker Alliance at NCSU; Charlotte Action Center for Justice; United Students Against Sweatshops; India Thomas, Black Campus Progressives*, Hampton University; Angaza Mayo-Laughinghouse, African-American Studies Club, UNC-Greensboro; Haley Koch, Uniting with the Northside Community NOW (UNC NOW)*; Muslims of America Joined as One, Raleigh high schools; UNC-CH Feminist Students United!; Raleigh Anarchist Solidarity Collective; Students for Social Progress at NC State University, and more...

Info: Dante, Raleigh-Durham FIST
919-539-2051
http://raleighfist.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/bail-out-students-not-banks-rally-in-raleigh-april-3rd/

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March on Wall Street & AIG on APRIL 3: Bail Out People, Not Banks!

WE NEED JOBS NOW!
MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES!

For march details, assembly points, etc., see: http://bailoutpeople.org/logistics.shtml

Why We Need a Bail Out the People Movement

The workers and poor are in the biggest economic crisis since the Depression of the 1930s.

Corporations are laying off while demanding deep concessions from those still employed. State and local governments are cutting jobs and slashing services. Health, schools, libraries, parks, mass transit—all are on the chopping block. Tuition and transit fares are being raised.

More than half a million jobs are being lost every month. Unemployment is the worst in more than 25 years. As bad as that is, joblessness for African Americans, especially the youth, is twice as high.

Millions of families have already lost their homes because of predatory lending and high unemployment. Millions more face foreclosure or eviction. Depression-style tent cities are growing.

On every front, working people are facing an unprecedented attack.

Since March 2008, one year ago, the federal government has committed almost $10 TRILLION of the people’s money to bailouts for Wall Street and the banks, hoping to restore their profits and start them lending money again. It hasn’t worked.

Bailing out the rich doesn’t help the people. Putting profits before the needs of the workers, employed and unemployed, is just deepening the suffering and the economic crisis. It is capitalist greed that brought this crisis on in the first place.

We demand that the government, instead of bailing out the banks, put up the money to guarantee everyone a job or income and that it stop the foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs that are devastating the people.

DO THE MATH: Just $1 trillion out of the $10 trillion Washington has committed to the banks could pay for 20 million jobs with salaries of $50,000 a year! That would wipe out unemployment and underemployment in this country.

It’s time to organize and fight back

The Bail Out the People Movement has launched a national campaign to organize and fight for jobs or an income--and for a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.

In January, many groups and individuals from different cities came together at conferences in New York and Los Angeles to launch this fightback. We said then that our objective must be to make the struggle proportional in size, scope, organization and militancy to the threat this crisis poses to the social conditions of the working class. That requires a perspective and plan for the mass organization of working and poor people on a scale unprecedented since the defining labor battles of the 1930s.

The fightback movement must be prepared to utilize a wide range of tactics in the struggle, including mass mobilizations, demonstrations, direct actions, sit-ins, occupations, strikes, boycotts, encampments and most importantly, organizing.

An essential part of our work must be to forge solidarity in the large, complex, multi-national working class in the U.S. This means grappling with and overcoming divisions caused by oppression based on race and nationality, immigration status, gender and sexual orientation.

Racism must be pushed back. Unionists and communities must come to the defense of immigrant workers who are being dragged out of their workplaces in chains and locked up in jails—often with their families.

This crisis is worldwide. Corporations are running to wherever they can pay the least and profit the most. Solidarity needs to transcend all geographical boundaries, local and international. That is key to the success of the fightback.

Who We Are

The Bail Out the People Movement is a growing national coalition of community organizers, youth and student activists, labor unionists and grassroots activists united around the demand: “Bail Out the People–Not the Banks!”

Since last October, coalition affiliates have been organizing demonstrations, press conferences and speak-outs, packing City Council meetings, and helping stop evictions and foreclosures in Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Lansing, Los Angeles and New York.

* In New York, the Bail Out the People Movement lists hundreds of endorsers and 35 groups as organizing centers for the April 3 Wall Street demonstration. BOPM started last October with a rally on the steps of Wall Street’s Federal Hall where Black leaders, youth organizers, labor militants, Katrina survivors and immigrant rights activists pledged a united struggle against the capitalist banks oppressing the people. It organized a regional fightback conference on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Since then, the coalition made national news with a protest against a foreclosure auction at the Javits Center and was a major force at the International Women’s Day mobilization.

* The Michigan-based Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has held countless demonstrations in Detroit and at the State Capitol in Lansing to demand a moratorium. It has also helped stop evictions by mobilizing supporters in solidarity with people about to lose their homes and providing them legal help.

* In Los Angeles, the Labor-Community Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has mobilized unions and grassroots organizations to demand a moratorium on foreclosures.
In Baltimore, the Network to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has been leading a mass campaign to get the City Council to pass Bill 09-0289, which would require a 365-day notice before any foreclosure eviction could occur in that city.

* In Boston, the Women’s Fightback Network and the Heat and Light Campaign have gone to the streets to demand the governor declare an economic state of emergency and implement a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs.

* In Buffalo, N.Y., the struggle began last October with a “Bail Out the People, Not the Banks” rally in the financial district. The coalition has gone on to march against fare increases and, on the campuses, to protest tuition hikes and cuts in financial aid.

While the politicians, bankers and corporate media keep the masses out of the decision-making process, the coalition’s priority is to plan activities and strategies for a people-first fightback.

Here’s what we are working on:

May Day Mobilizations across the Country

Establishing as broad a coalition as possible for mass mobilizations on International Workers’ Day, May 1. The program for May 1 is centered on the struggle for immigrant workers’ rights; it was immigrant workers who in 2006 revived the spirit of workers’ struggle on May Day with massive demonstrations and walkouts across the country. This year the Bail Out the People Movement is participating in the mobilizing for May Day and immigrant rights. We will also include the demand for jobs or income and other demands that reflect the needs of the workers and the poor, including opposition to the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

March on Washington for Jobs/Convening a People’s Assembly

With worsening social conditions, the summer is not likely to be quiet. The combination of the economic crisis and police repression--which is epidemic and deadly all year round but tends to peak during the summer--could spark rebellions of workers, unemployed and oppressed people. The late spring and summer could be a time of intensive organizing. It’s time to start planning for a mass march on Washington, D.C., for jobs and other demands.

There is ongoing discussion among the groups in the BOPM coalition and others about the convening of a National People’s Assembly in Washington in the fall. Such a gathering could help consolidate the base and work of the fightback and set the direction and course of action for the next phase of this gigantic struggle.

Join us!

This period presents us with both crises and opportunities of historic magnitudes.

The fightback must recruit an army of volunteer organizers--both veteran activists with experience and skills as well as people new to the movement but with the time and willingness to help.

Most importantly, the fightback needs volunteers who are able to work collectively, who are respectful of others and who are committed to interacting with working and poor people of all nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities and ages in a manner that is patient, dignified and devoid of negative presumptions.

Please contact the coalition at 212-633-6646 or www.BailOutPeople.org to find out how you can become part of this army of organizers.

Most importantly, join us in the streets - Friday, April 3, at 1 pm while Wall Street is open for business - continuing on to April 4 - and beyond!

Bail Out the People Movement
Solidarity Center
55 W. 17th St. #5C
New York, NY 10011
212.633.6646
www.BailOutPeople.org
bailoutpeople.org/cmnt.shtml

*******************
Sat., April 4 Book-Signing with Monica Moorehead and Fred Goldstein! 12:30pm - 2:00pm at Internationalist Books, 405 W Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC. Come meet two amazing longtime activists and authors!

Monica Moorehead is editor of "Marxism, Reparations, and the Black Freedom Struggle", a rich collection of articles from the pages of Workers World newspaper featuring Black Resistance, Katrina, History of Struggle and Anthology.

Fred Goldstein is the author of "Low-Wage Capitalism". Critically acclaimed by both Howard Zinn and Michael Parenti, Low Wage Capitalism provides a sorely-needed and easy-to-read analysis of the roots of the current global economic crisis, its implications for workers and oppressed peoples, and the strategy needed for future struggle.

Goldstein explains how the dramatic impact of new technology and the restructuring of global capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction.

Info: Raleigh Fist raleighfist@gmail.com

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Sat., April 4 The 26th Annual MLK Support For Labor Banquet 6:00 PM-9:00 PM at North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) Buidling 700 S. Salisbury Street Raleigh, NC.

Keynote Speaker: Jaribu Hill, Executive Director, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights
Awards, Cultural Presentations, Solidarity Statements

Contact: Rukiya Dillahunt
rukiyad@mindspring.com
http://blackworkersforjustice.org

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Sun., April 5 Pilgrimage For Justice & Peace 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm at 832 E. 4th St., Charlotte, NC. March against Fear:
Moratorium on 287 (g), Investigations into the practices and transparency/reporting on part of Mecklenburg County Sheriff's office, stop funds towards 287 (g) program. Sponsored by ACORN 704-545-1919

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Mon. April 6 Rock Out For Ur Rights Free Live Show 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm at UNC-Charlotte in The Cone Center 9201 University City Blvd Charlotte NC. The concept of this concert is to put a focus on the different issues that affect people in the world today such as the LGBT community, war, minorities, violence, discrimination, and so many more!!

It will be a night where everyone can come out and have a great time and rock out to live music!!!!! Sponsored by Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) - UNCC. Info at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=57545820884

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May Day Rally for Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, Workers, & Immigrants Rights at Bank Of America National Headquarters

YES to: Jobs, Housing, Pro-Worker Immigration Reform & Money for the People!

NO to: Raids, Deportations, 287(g), Imprisonment, Forced migration, Labor export, Racism, Foreclosures, & Bank Bail Outs!

Friday, May 1, 2009
Noon
Bank Of America HQ
Trade St & Tryon St
Charlotte, NC

March to Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center & Mecklenburg Co Jail - Central around 6:00pm

On May 1st, join us and help build a movement to fight for the rights of working people. Join billions around the world who also demonstrate on May Day to build a powerful global movement that fights against the dire economic and social crisis people face here and around the world.

To endorse, volunteer, or for more info email may1charlotte@gmail.com or call (704) 492-5226.

Immigrant & Workers Rights Project
http://immigrantworkers.blogspot.com

Action Center For Justice
http://charlotteaction.blogspot.com

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DONATE - Support our work by sending donations to Action Center For Justice, 7100 Mapleridge Dr, Charlotte, NC 28210

Union Bill's Declining Chances Give Rise to Alternatives

By Alec MacGillis, Washington Post, March 29, 2009; Page A05

With the prospects for a landmark pro-union proposal looking increasingly shaky in Congress, senators in both parties are seeking other ways to reform labor laws, potentially reshaping what many expected to be a defining showdown of Barack Obama's presidency.

The Employee Free Choice Act, also called "card check," was dealt two blows last week. Whole Foods, Costco and Starbucks proposed a "third way" to reform labor laws that threatened to draw away conservative Democrats from card check. More damaging was the announcement by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) that he would reverse his support for the bill.

This has left its supporters struggling to line up 60 senators to avoid a filibuster. Meanwhile, an increasing number of members of Congress are broaching a new question: Is there another way to help out organized labor?

"This is not the time or the place" for card check, said Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), who backed the bill in 2007. "To continue to attempt to bring up something that has already worked its way into being so divisive and distracting is unproductive."

The stakes go beyond the entrenched camps of business and organized labor. In a time of rising anti-corporate sentiment and awareness of income inequality, how Obama and congressional leaders decide to craft pro-union legislation will help determine the outlines of the post-recession economy and the shape of the Democratic Party.

More than a third of private-sector workers belonged to unions in the early 1950s; today, less than 8 percent do. As unions declined in the past three decades, wages have lagged behind rising productivity.

Unions still win more than half of the elections held at workplaces, but fewer organizing efforts are even attempted. Nearly half of new unions do not secure a first contract -- the law requires only that employers bargain in "good faith."

The card-check bill would let workers form a union by getting a majority in a workplace to sign pro-union cards, instead of having to hold a secret-ballot election, as most employers insist on; toughening penalties for employer violations; and requiring binding arbitration, similar to that used with public-sector unions, when employers and unions cannot agree on a first contract within 120 days.

Unions say the bill would let workers express their preference free of employer threats and prevent employer stalling during bargaining. Employers say it would expose workers to union intimidation and force them to give up control over how they run their business.

Few expect a true compromise, given how polarized the sides are. But Obama himself has signaled that he is open to alternatives that could gain broader backing, even as he continues to promote support for the bill.

Even many on the business side concede that the laws need updating. The last major reform was the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, and complaints about the slow-moving National Labor Relations Board are legion.

"Labor law reform is long overdue," said Mike Asensio, a Columbus, Ohio, lawyer with Baker Hostetler who represents corporations. Joel Rogers, a pro-labor law professor at the University of Wisconsin, called the rules "ossified."

Alternative ideas run the gamut. The retailers' plan leaves out card check and mandatory arbitration but strengthens penalties, proposes fixed election dates to give employers less time to exert pressure and improves unions' access to workers. Unions called it inadequate; business reaction was mixed.

Specter, who faces a primary challenge next year, listed a series of reforms he could support, among them a requirement that elections be held within three weeks after organizers request one, tougher penalties for employers that illegally fire workers and steps to promote bargaining.

Rogers supports card check but said there may be other ways to limit intimidation by employers, such as exceedingly high penalties. "The problem is not secret ballot versus card check, it's the fear that workers have," he said.

But Robert Bruno, a labor relations professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, doubts reforms short of card check can work. It is unrealistic, he said, to create neutral, civic-style elections in workplaces dominated by employers.

Employers "would have to agree to an environment where they give up a lot of control, a lot of prerogative," he said.

An equivalent debate is underway on the business side. Although some warn against any compromise, others say that if Congress does not take up limited reforms, card check could get a second wind. Specter himself warned of this, saying in an interview that if he loses in his primary to his conservative rival, the Democrats will definitely win his seat and gain a 60th vote.

"The business community has to look at the potential for my not being there after 2010," he said. He also amended part of last week's statement, in which he had said he might support card check in the future if lesser reforms do not work. He said in the interview that was intended only to encourage serious labor reform and that he would never vote for card check.

David Radelet, a Chicago lawyer who represents corporations, said Specter's 2010 warnings should be heeded. "It does create pressure for the business community to get something done now," he said.

Keith Smith, director of employment policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, said his group is asking its members which reforms they might accept. "We're going to see something again soon. It's all a matter of what it will look like and how it will move," he said.

Union leaders say they can still get 60 senators by amending the bill in committee but without undermining its fundamentals.

Business groups warn against this and say the debate will not advance until union supporters scrap the bill and start over. "If they make it all or nothing, they enhance their chances of getting nothing," Asensio said.

AZ State Senator Says Sheriff Arpaio Gives Law Enforcement a Bad Name

The following email was sent to me by AZ State Senator Paula Aboud in response to the letter I sent that is part of the campaign to remove sheriff Arpaio. -David Dixon, Action Center For Justice

Thank you for your email and for your concern about the role the Maricopa County Sheriff is taking here in Arizona and in his leadership role for law enforcement officials.

For myself, I think the sheriff gives law enforcement officials a bad name and he gives Arizona another "black eye". While I know that Director Napolitano will do what is best for the country and for Arizona, I'm not sure that she will engage in a "battle" w/ Arpaio. We'll see what she chooses.

Nevertheless, thanks for your outcry against Arpaio's strategies and for voicing your opinion to me.

Regards,


Paula Aboud
State Senator
District 28, Tucson
1-800-352-8404 X 6-5262

Appropriations Committee, Ranking Democrat
Health Committee
Education Committee

Senate Democrats are on the Web: http://www.azsenatedemocrats.com/

Ex-Panther says racism put him on death row

By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer, cnn.com, March 23, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Mumia Abu-Jamal sits on Pennsylvania's death row, perhaps the most recognized of the 228 condemned inmates at the Greene Correctional Facility, an hour south of Pittsburgh.

Abu-Jamal, inmate AM8335, awaits three milestones. His new book, "Jailhouse Lawyers," will be released next month. He's also awaiting a pair of Supreme Court decisions, which could come in the next two weeks.

The former Black Panther was sentenced to die for gunning down a Philadelphia police officer 28 years ago. The high court will decide whether he deserves a new hearing to determine whether his execution should go forward.

The state is appealing a federal appeals court ruling on the sentencing question that went in Abu-Jamal's favor last year.

The case has attracted international attention.

Abu-Jamal's lawyers filed a separate appeal claiming that racism led to his 1982 conviction. That petition is scheduled for consideration by the Supreme Court on April 3. If either case is accepted by the justices for review, oral arguments would be held in the fall.

The former radio reporter and cab driver has been divisive figure, with many prominent supporters arguing that racism pervaded his trial.

Others counter that Abu-Jamal is using his skin color to escape responsibility for his actions. They say he has divided the community for years with his provocative writing and activism.

He was convicted for the December 9, 1981, murder of officer Daniel Faulkner, 25, in Philadelphia.

Faulkner had pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in a late-night traffic stop. Witnesses said Abu-Jamal, who was nearby, ran over and shot the police officer in the back and in the head.

Abu-Jamal, once known as Wesley Cook, was also wounded in the confrontation and later admitted to the killing, according to other witnesses' testimony.

Abu-Jamal is black, and the police officer was white.

Incarcerated for nearly three decades, Abu-Jamal has been an active critic of the criminal justice system.

On a Web site created by friends to promote his release, the prisoner-turned-author writes about his fight. "This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion dollar endowed universities but in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the hidden, dank dungeons of America."

His chief defense attorney, Robert Bryan, has filed appeals asking for a new criminal trial.

"The central issue in this case is racism in jury selection," he wrote to supporters last month.

"We are in an epic struggle in which his life hangs in the balance. What occurs now in the Supreme Court will determine whether Mumia will have a new jury trial or die at the hands of the executioner," Bryan said. Ten whites and two blacks made up the original jury panel that sentenced him to death.

A three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals kept the murder conviction in place a year ago but ordered a new capital sentencing hearing.

"The jury instructions and the verdict form created a reasonable likelihood that the jury believed it was precluded from finding a mitigating circumstance that had not been unanimously agreed upon," Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica wrote in the 77-page opinion.

The federal appeals court ultimately concluded that the jury was improperly instructed on how to weigh "mitigating factors" offered by the defense that might have kept Abu-Jamal off death row. Pennsylvania law at the time said jurors did not have to unanimously agree on a mitigating circumstance, such as the fact that Abu-Jamal had no prior criminal record.

Months before that ruling, oral arguments on the issue were contentious. Faulkner's widow and Abu-Jamal's brother attended, and demonstrations on both sides were held outside the courtroom in downtown Philadelphia.

If the Supreme Court refuses now to intervene on the sentencing issue, the city's prosecutor would have to decide within six months whether to conduct a new death penalty sentencing hearing or allow Abu-Jamal to spend the rest of his life in state prison.

Many prominent groups and individuals, including singer Harry Belafonte, the NAACP and the European Parliament, are cited on his Web site as supporters.

Prosecutors have insisted that Abu-Jamal pay the price for his crimes and have aggressively resisted efforts to take him off death row for Faulkner's murder.

"This assassination has been made a circus by those people in the world and this city who believe falsely that Mumia Abu-Jamal is some kind of a folk hero," Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said last year, when the federal appeals court upheld the conviction. "He is nothing short of an assassin."

The city has honored the fallen police officer with a street designation and a commemorative plaque placed at the spot where he was shot and killed.

The officer's widow, Maureen Faulkner, wrote a book two years ago about her husband and the case: "Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice." She writes that she was trying to "definitively lay out the case against Mumia Abu-Jamal and those who've elevated him to the status of political prisoner."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/23/mumia.supreme.court/

Also see:

http://www.millions4mumia.org
http://www.freemumia.com

AP Video: Demonstrators Call for End to Iraq War

Thousands Attend Anti-War Rally in Hollywood

KTLA News, March 22, 2009

HOLLYWOOD -- About 4,000 people took to the streets of Hollywood Saturday to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The march was part of a nationwide "Day of Action" on the 6th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Similar rallies were being held in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The demonstration was sponsored by the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and Los Angeles Iraq Veterans against the war. It began with a rally around noon at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

Among the protesters were "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in action, former Marine Ron Kovic, and Academy award-winning director and screenwriter Paul Haggis.

Kovic has spent 41 years in a wheelchair after a bullet pierced his spinal cord during the Vietnam War. He is also the author of the book "Born on the Fourth of July," which was made into a movie by Oliver Stone.

People in the crowd held placards with peace signs and anti-war slogans such as "Out of Iraq" and "End the War." Activists spoke from a flatbed truck, which served as a stage.

During his speech, Kovic asked President Obama to stop funding the Pentagon budget, and direct funds instead to programs for veterans and the unemployed. He also called for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

After the rally at Hollywood and Vine, protesters marched for about 1.5 miles down Hollywood Boulevard chanting anti-war slogans and carrying 40 mock coffins draped in the flags of America, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The event finished with a symbolic "die in" led by Kovic at Hollywood and Highland in front of the Kodak Theater. All the demonstrators laid down in the street there briefly.

There were no arrests stemming from the protest, and no property was damaged.

The demonstration in San Francisco turned ugly when a large group of protesters started throwing sticks and water bottles at police. Several people who were pushing and shoving police officers were detained.

Barriers were then erected to separate police and the protesters, and the activists quickly dispersed.

Activists in both Los Angeles and San Francisco said they were encouraged by Obama's plan to withdraw 100,000 troops from Iraq, but many were disappointed by the increased troop deployment to Afghanistan.

http://www.ktla.com/landing_news/?Thousands-Attend-Anti-War-Rally-in-Holly=1&blockID=245798&feedID=171

Latino community speaks out against 287-G

By News 14 Carolina Staff, news14.com, March 21, 2009

click here for video

CHARLOTTE – Several members of the Latino community held a press conference in Charlotte Friday against the immigration program 287-G, which they believe forces immigrants into jails.

They said an immigrant from Mexico, Robert Medina Martinez, was processed by 287-G after getting a speeding ticket. He died in jail, and some members of the immigrant community think his death was due to improper treatment.

“So something needs to be done today, now. We need to do something,” Maudia Melendez of the Jesus Ministry said. “We don’t want to see any more children crying. We don’t want to see any more families separated.”

In response to the press conference, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced they will now publicly post the deaths of any detainees in their custody in an effort to increase transparency.

Region's worst jobless rate strains Chester Co.

In hard-hit S.C. county, the only thing scarcer than jobs is hope
By Clay Barbour, charlotte.com, March 21, 2009

click here for photo slideshow

Waters, 40, is one of thousands of Chester County residents out of work. The county's unemployment rate has climbed to 19.6 percent.

That figure represents those receiving benefits. Experts say the true number is closer to 40 percent.

Last week, Mark Sanford became the first governor to turn down part of his state's share of federal economic stimulus money. For South Carolina, that meant losing about $700 million.

That money would have extended unemployment pay by another 13 weeks and, for the first time, given jobless benefits to part-time employees.

CHESTER, S.C. Every month Tammy Waters sits down at her kitchen table and writes out a list of bills on a piece of notebook paper.

Delinquent utilities: $1,050

Truck payment: $400

Groceries for two: $300

Gas: $160

Furniture payment: $190

Medical: $1,000

Waters then writes down what she has to cover them, $1,000 – the total of her monthly unemployment benefits.

“No matter how you add it up, there just isn't enough,” she says. “But I guess I'm lucky. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my unemployment.”

Waters, 40, is one of thousands of Chester County residents out of work. The county's unemployment rate has climbed to 19.6 percent.

That figure represents those receiving benefits. Experts say the true number is closer to 40 percent.

Last week, Mark Sanford became the first governor to turn down part of his state's share of federal economic stimulus money. For South Carolina, that meant losing about $700 million.

That money would have extended unemployment pay by another 13 weeks and, for the first time, given jobless benefits to part-time employees.

State legislators have said they plan to override the governor, but it is still unclear if they have the authority.

Sanford made national news. But behind the headlines, 66 miles from the Statehouse, sits Chester County. Here, half the residents receive food stamps and the only thing scarcer than jobs is hope.

“There is just a general sense of helplessness,” says Willy Sherrod, a consultant with the county's Department of Social Services. “They can't find jobs and they can't afford to move. They feel trapped and scared, and they don't see things changing anytime soon.”

Benefits gone; need remains

It's 10 a.m. and the Chester County Employment Security Commission office is packed.

On one side, people wait to speak with counselors or use the agency's computers.

On the other, a crowd sits patiently to interview for jobs at a new Bojangles'.

The franchise owner has 50 spots to fill. By the end of the day he will meet more than 150 applicants.

S.C. residents are eligible for a maximum of 46 weeks of unemployment benefits, topping out at $351 a week.

Zachary Booker, Chester's assistant ESC director, said many people here have already exhausted their eligibility. Still, they come for help.

“That's probably the toughest thing we deal with,” he says. “How do you tell people that there is just no money left to give?”

The job market has gotten so bad that the county's three temporary employment agencies have closed.

DSS plans to fill that void by creating its own version of a temp agency.

“The hope is, word will get around and people who need yard work done or something built can call us and we can go to the list,” Sherrod says. “It's not much, but in this economy you do what you can.”

DSS is a common stop for the unemployed. The county has some 32,000 residents. About 16,000 receive food stamps.

“They are knocking our doors down, looking for help with food, medicine, baby diapers. We try to do as much as we can, but …” Sherrod says, leaving the sentence hanging in the air.

‘It's a ghost town now'

It wasn't always this way.

For years the county about 50 miles south of Charlotte enjoyed relative prosperity.

A person could work in one of the textile mills, like Springs, Pillowtex or J.P. Stevens, and make a decent living.

Today teachers at Chester High School are forced to advise their students to not only get a good education, but to leave town.

“We have to be realistic,” says guidance counselor Phyllis Williams. “There has to be something to come back to, and there just isn't.”

Census data show that in 2000 the county had 11,798 jobs and 34,000 people, with a median age of 36.

In 2008, the latest available numbers, the jobs had dropped to 9,703 and the population to 32,000. The median age rose to almost 40.

Ed Scates, 59, worked in the mills ever since he came back to Chester from Vietnam. He was a material manager at Springs for 21 years, until the company phased out his job. Then he went to work for Roush Industries, another plant in town.

That plant closed four years ago. Ever since Scates has been scratching out a living minding the Cox Auction Co., an auction house and antique store in downtown Chester.

“I'm just barely getting by” Scates says, in between bites of fried chicken and mashed potatoes at Gene's restaurant, a local landmark. “But what are you gonna do? Things ain't ever going to be like they were.”

Drive through one of Chester's neighborhoods and you'll pass several stately Southern homes; many are boarded up or in disrepair.

Downtown, the buildings are as clean and colorful as a box of crayons. But there is little activity.

Scates points to Gadsden Street, the city's main thoroughfare.

It's almost 1 p.m. and the street is nearly empty. The occasional car passes by. Every so often a person crosses the street, never looking up to see if it's safe.

“It's a ghost town now,” says Cathy Devett, a waitress standing nearby.

Without jobs or prospects

Even Gov. Sanford's most ardent supporters in Chester were stung by his rejection of the stimulus money.

“I guess he has his reasons,” says Johnny Fleming. “But we sure as hell could have used that money around here.”

Fleming, 42, worked for Springs for 12 years. He was laid off two years ago and ever since has been “scheming and scamming and doing what I can just to make a living.”

He used up his unemployment more than a year back. Since then Fleming and his wife, Brenda, have run a consignment store in downtown Chester, along with three other former mill workers.

The couple lives in a trailer left to him by his parents. Otherwise, Fleming says, they could be homeless.

“My last year at Springs, with overtime, I made $64,000,” he says. “These days I am robbing Peter to pay Paul. I am hustling, but that is all I can do.”

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says he has heard such stories many times. He said the governor is right to worry about the long-term effects of changing the state's rules regarding unemployment, but Graham said he is also worried about the people without jobs or prospects.

“It is tough all across the state,” he says. “You have a lot of people getting up early and staying up late, and they can't find work.”

Officials in Chester have tried to attract new development. In October the Institute for Business and Home Safety announced it would open a facility here, hiring about 18 people. The company breaks ground next month and is expected to be up and running in a year.

Southeastern Petroleum is scheduled to open a processing plant in six months that should employ 10.

For now, the economy has cost the county anything bigger. The new JRS Custom Fabrication plant was supposed to mean 170 jobs. So far the company has hired five and, according to Karlisa Parker, the county economic development director, the project is on hold.

Even worse, Poly-America, a plastics company, had announced plans for a center that could mean 400 new jobs, but that project is also on hold, Parker says.

“We are starting to have people feeling us out again,” she says. “But even at that, they tell us it will take some time.”

Stress takes its toll

Tammy Waters has always taken pride in being independent. She's held a job since she was 15, managed to put two kids through college and attended night school to get her accounting degree.

Being out of work and broke has been hard

For seven years she worked as a customer-service representative in Charlotte, with a company that handled photos for Wal-Mart.

During that time she watched her oldest daughter graduate from USC Spartanburg, her youngest daughter start college there and her son, J.T., grow into a young man.

In November 2007, her company went bankrupt. Sears bought it out, and she lost her job.

Since then, Waters has watched her savings dry up and fallen behind on her bills.

Because she worked in Charlotte, she receives unemployment from North Carolina. The state recently accepted its stimulus money, which has extended maximum unemployment benefits to 72 weeks. But Waters knows it's only a matter of time before that runs out.

“I have applied for hundreds of jobs, online and in person,” she says. “Something has to change soon. It just has to.”

Waters now lives on a tight budget. No Internet. No cable. No home phone. She receives food stamps and clips coupons. If her 15-year-old son wants to see a movie, she has to save up for it.

The stress from the past year has taken its toll.

Last month Waters had to go to the doctor for what seemed like heart problems. The bill from the visit topped $800.

“I am barely holding on and trying to keep a positive face,” Waters says. “I don't want J.T. to see what I am going through. But Lord, I don't know how much more of this I can take.”

cbarbour@charlotteobserver.com

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/612647.html

David Swanson & Others Speaking at Our Spring Break Protest in Washington, DC

Click here to see more.

Moved On from the Struggle

Plus at this link an ex-Moveon staffer falsely claims to have tried to end the war, to now be running the country, and that the war must go on for years. -David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org

Published on Friday, March 20, 2009 by Z Net and Common Dreams
by Anthony Arnove

On March 2nd, the liberal organization MoveOn.org--known for mobilizing opposition to the Bush administration through the Internet--sent an e-mail to its membership that declared the U.S. war on Iraq effectively over:

Dear MoveOn member,

I'm sure you've heard about President Obama's plan to finally bring an end to the disastrous war in Iraq. It will bring most of our troops home by August of next year--and by the end of 2011 there won't be any more troops left in Iraq. This is a major turning point in the fight to end the war.

We wanted to take a moment to reflect on the work that you've done over the last six, dark years...to thank you, sincerely, for all you have done...

This war is coming to an end in part because of the work you did.

While the letter acknowledges that "our troops aren't home yet. Hundreds of thousands of them are still in harm's way, and will continue to be for longer than any of us would like," it says the bottom line is that "now there's a date certain for them to come home."

Reading this, I was reminded of the final line of Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises: "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

But MoveOn is not alone. Much of the antiwar movement has folded its tents. The Iraq war has more or less dropped out of popular consciousness altogether. And the media report less and less about the ongoing problems there.

So it's no surprise that the fine print of President Barack Obama's plan in Iraq has gone largely unexamined.

Rather than pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq within 16 months, as most Obama voters understood his campaign pledge, the redeployment of forces from Iraq will proceed over a 19-month period and will be back-loaded to take place after December 2009. As the New York Times reported:

The plan would maintain relatively high troop levels through Iraq's parliamentary elections, to be held in December, before beginning in earnest to meet the August 2010 target for removing combat forces, the officials said. Even after August 2010, as many as 50,000 of the 142,000 troops now in Iraq would remain, including some combat units reassigned as "Advisory Training Brigades" or "Advisory Assistance Brigades," the administration and Pentagon officials said.

Obama's plan says nothing about the private contractors and mercenaries that are an essential part of the occupation of Iraq, and whose numbers may even be increased to cover functions previously provided by active-duty troops. And it will leave in place the world's largest foreign embassy, as well as the largest CIA foreign station, in Baghdad.

Obama calls the troops who will stay in Iraq through the end of 2011 "residual forces" and non-combat troops, but this is just doublespeak. Combat troops are simply being renamed non-combat troops through a verbal sleight of hand, but will certainly be able to use lethal force and will find themselves in combat situations.

And in accepting the logic of the Bush administration for not withdrawing the troops immediately--that they are needed to fight al-Qaeda, engage in "counter-insurgency operations," and continue the "war on terror"--Obama has opened the door to keeping them in Iraq beyond 2011.

Indeed, in his speech about the Iraq "withdrawal" plan at the end of February, Obama retroactively endorsed the Bush administration's stated reasons for invading Iraq in the first place, as the Wall Street Journal gleefully noted.


We know that Iraq will remain under occupation until at least the end of 2011, but there is very good reason to believe that between now and then, the Iraqi government, which owes its survival to Washington, will cut a deal to allow U.S. forces to remain longer. Such an agreement would also likely give the U.S. long-term access to military bases and access to Iraqi air space.

The fact remains that Iraq is a fulcrum of geopolitics and a vital front for U.S. military strategy in the Middle East. Washington's goals for Iraq and the region may be less ambitious than when the Bush administration launched its 2003 invasion, but no one is reversing the fundamental policies driving U.S. policy: the goal of controlling the region's vast energy resources and being the hegemonic foreign power there.

MoveOn should be letting its members know this--and urging far more than to "keep watching Washington" to be sure they do bring the troops home. But to do this, the group would have to take on the Obama administration more forcefully on Iraq--and on the occupation of Afghanistan, which is intimately related.

Obama has said all along that he sees Afghanistan as the "central front" in the "war on terror," and that he would commit more troops to the war there. But Justin Ruben, MoveOn's new executive director, told Nation correspondent Ari Melber that the organization did not intend to oppose Obama's plan to send more troops to Afghanistan.

The message being sent to the antiwar movement is: It's over. We can "move on." Leave it to the generals to wind it down. But if we do that, we will find ourselves without the forces we need to challenge Obama and Congress.

The year 2011 is already too late to end the occupation of Iraq, which should never have started in the first place. And shifting troops from Iraq to Afghanistan is not ending the war.

Without an antiwar movement that is loud, active, in the streets and raising its own independent demands beyond the limits set by the Democratic Party, U.S. troops will not be coming home.

The empire has not folded up its tent, and neither should we.

© 2009 Anthony Arnove

Anthony Arnove is the author of Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, an essential book for all antiwar activists, The Essential Chomsky, and the co-author, with Howard Zinn, of Voices of a People’s History of the United States, a companion volume to Zinn's classic book. He is also on the board of Haymarket Books.

Which way forward for anti-war forces?

By Fred Goldstein, Workers World, March 19, 2009

With Washington carrying out war, occupation and intervention on expanding fronts, the anti-war movement is more necessary than ever. It is needed by the workers and oppressed people abroad who are the direct targets of the Pentagon and also by the masses of people in the U.S. who will pay for these military operations and have to carry them out.

The anti-war struggle is developing in the midst of the most severe economic crisis in generations. This creates a new situation for the movement and raises two burning questions: what should be the character of the movement and what should be the relationship of the struggle against the war to the struggle against the economic crisis?

While millions of workers are losing their jobs and their homes and undocumented workers are being scapegoated and rounded up in raids, Washington is promoting aggression in one form or another in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

The workers in the U.S. are under attack because U.S. capitalism has been seized by an inevitable crisis of overproduction, which is built into the system.

The oppressed people abroad are under attack because the Pentagon is trying to secure the interests of the giant oil companies and the transnational corporations and banks with global empires, from Halliburton, Exxon and GM to Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and AIG—the biggest insurance company in the world with operations in over 100 countries. These same capitalist corporations are behind the crisis at home.

These two developments are inseparable: the collapse of profits at home and the search for super-profits abroad.

Just a brief resume of recent events shows the need for an anti-imperialist movement with a global outlook.

Some 17,000 U.S. troops are scheduled to leave for the front in Afghanistan within weeks to continue a war that was launched in October 2001 and shows no sign of ending. The war has recently been expanded to northwest Pakistan, with Predator drones violating Pakistani air space at will and U.S. Special Forces going over the border.

The administration is withdrawing troops from Iraq at a snail’s pace and is committed to keeping an occupation force of 50,000 in the country to secure its puppet regime, its military position and the interests of the oil companies, both in Iraq and in the region.

Diplomacy notwithstanding, threats to Iran continue. It was just revealed that U.S. forces shot down an Iranian pilotless plane over Iraqi air space in February, showing both a provocation to Iran and the absolute sovereignty of the U.S. military over the Iraqi puppets.

The U.S. continues the flow of funds and military supplies to Israel to carry out its brutal occupation of Palestine. This includes the continued expulsion of Palestinians to make way for settlements and Israeli aggression against Gaza.

Under the guise of the so-called “war on terror,” the U.S. has sent 6,000 U.S. troops to lead 2,500 Filipino troops in operations in the Bicol region south of Manila.

In south Korea, 26,000 U.S. troops are leading 50,000 south Korean troops in military exercises—dubbed operations Key Resolve and Foal Eagle—all over south Korea from March 9 to March 20. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and seven U.S. Aegis missile-carrying destroyers are taking part.

On March 9, the Pentagon sent a naval spy ship equipped with anti-submarine sonar into China’s territorial waters in the South China Sea in a calculated provocation.

The Pentagon continues to aid the death squad government in Colombia; Washington is trying to destabilize the revolutionary government of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela; is fomenting a separatist movement against the first Indigenous president in Latin America, Evo Morales of Bolivia; and continues the embargo against socialist Cuba.

In Africa, the Pentagon is moving ahead with plans to establish an African Command. For the present it is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, with Army and Navy operations set up in Italy. This bolsters the U.S. effort to strangle the nationalist government of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe through sanctions and undermine the regime in Sudan.

The Pentagon has killed up to 1 million people in Iraq. It has killed untold numbers in Afghanistan, including civilians. The U.S. military has a long record of wars of conquest, starting with the decimation of the Native peoples, then the seizure of much of Mexico and, in 1898, the invasion of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Dozens more followed.

The U.S. is the only government ever to use nuclear weapons. The Pentagon is the overseas arm of the same racist, repressive state that has 2.4 million people in jail, disproportionately Black and Latina/o, and uses the racist death penalty.

More than a century of wars and interventions does not flow just from bad policies. The policies flow from the needs of the giant imperialist monopolies that have spread their corporate empires across the globe in their insatiable desire for cheap labor, raw materials and profits.

Working-class movement must be goal

Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the largest anti-war protests in U.S. history were organized. The same goes for Britain, Spain and other European countries. But these mammoth protests failed to stop the war, even though such protests are an indispensable stage in the opposition to imperialist war and a necessary show of solidarity.

Protests can be a deterrent to capitalist governments at times and they are necessary to create the organization and energy needed to move to the stage of outright resistance.

There are many forms of resistance to imperialist war. But the class character of capitalist society dictates the ultimate forms of effective resistance.

A profound and protracted economic crisis, such as the entire capitalist world is going through now, is bound to eventually produce an upsurge of resistance among the working class. Once the rebellion against capitalist exploitation takes hold among the workers, once consciousness of the antagonism between “them and us” becomes widespread, it sets the stage for their rebellion against being used to enable a war for the exploiters—either as workers or soldiers.

The U.S. war on Vietnam took place at the height of imperialist prosperity, when the workers as a class were relatively shielded from the disasters of a protracted capitalist crisis.

The period was nevertheless characterized by rebellions against war and the draft among the youth, resistance among the soldiers, and uprisings against racism, police repression and poverty in the African-American, Latina/o and Native communities. But the workers as a class, at the point of production, remained at a distance from the struggle.

Even during that war, however, the crucial character of the workers as soldiers emerged. It was the workers in uniform who finally obstructed the war in a material way by rebelling against the military, by refusing to go into battle, by going AWOL en masse and by resorting to violence against their officers. They even organized an anti-war union, the American Servicemen’s Union.

Today, matters are quite different. Not only is there a growing crisis for the soldiers who are being called upon to kill or be killed abroad, but the working class as a whole is in a growing crisis. More than 20 million workers are unemployed or underemployed. There are no signs that the layoffs are going to stop. Millions of people have lost their homes or are going to lose them.

The vicious cycle behind a capitalist downturn—where layoffs lead to poverty which leads to more layoffs—is transparent now, unlike in the 1960s. The sight of rich bankers being bailed out while the workers get a few stimulus crumbs is there for all to see. The contradiction of having to close down factories, shut down whole chains of retail stores, keep food off the market, and drive people out of millions of homes while tent cities of the homeless spring up around the country–in short, the contradiction of poverty amidst plenty–can open the way in the long run to organize the working class to struggle against the system and its wars.

Right now $534 billion has been budgeted for the military, but this does not include many military related expenses such as nuclear weapons research, veterans’ costs, interest on debt from past wars, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Factor these in, and the war budget for this year rises to at least $1 trillion! The struggle for resources to create jobs is inextricably bound up with the struggle against the military.

But beyond military spending alone, the struggle to bring the working class into the anti-war movement is the only way to go from protest to resistance to actually stopping the wars and interventions. It is the workers who create and transport everything that supports the war. They as a class have the social power to interfere with the war. In one reminder of this fact, it is worth recalling that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union shut down the entire port system on the West Coast on May Day, 2008, to protest the Iraq war. This was a political strike. While a one-day strike alone could not stop the war, this example is of the greatest significance for the anti-war movement.

The approach the anti-war movement takes to reach the workers not only needs to include working-class demands in its program, like the right to a job, but it needs to seek out ways of showing concrete solidarity in the struggle. In order to insure the broadest solidarity, it is essential to include demands for the rights of undocumented workers as well as demands against racism, national oppression, sexual and gender oppression, and all other forms of oppression.

To be sure, the anti-war struggle must be carried on independently. But it must have a working-class perspective. Anti-imperialist resistance must fuse with international working-class solidarity. It must be recognized that the workers and oppressed of the world are under attack by the same bosses and bankers that carry out exploitation and layoffs at home.

Ultimately, the struggle against the war must become a struggle against capitalism itself, which engenders war and intervention in its search for profit, just as it produces crises and suffering at home.

Strengthening the working-class struggle against capitalism is the surest way to help get U.S. imperialism off the backs of the people of the world.


Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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The 26th Annual MLK Support for Labor Banquet

26th Annual MLK Support for Labor Banquet
Saturday, April 4th 2009 6PM-9PM
Raleigh, NC

Keynote Speaker:
Jaribu Hill
Executive Director, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights

Awards, Cultural Presentations, Solidarity Statements

Location:
North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) Buidling
700 S. Salisbury Street
Raleigh, NC

Contact:

Rukiya Dillahunt
rukiyad@mindspring.com
http://blackworkersforjustice.org

Take Action to demand racist, anti-immigrant Maricopa County AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio be REMOVED IMMEDIATELY!

Fill in the Online Petition at http://www.may1.info/arpaiopetition.shtml to send a message to the Homeland Security Department, President Obama, Arizona Governor Brewer, Congressional leaders, the Arizona Congressional Delegation, the Arizona Legislature and members of the media telling them you want ARPAIO REMOVED IMMEDIATELY and the Homeland Security 287(g) contract with his office cancelled at once!

And on May 1 join thousands and thousands to demonstrate for worker and immigrant rights in cities throughout the country! For more information, go to www.may1.info

Text of the online petition message follows:

To: Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Homeland Security; Esther Olavarria, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy; ICE Director Torres; Arizona Governor Brewer
cc: President Obama, Attorney General Holder, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Arizona Congressional Delegation, Congressional leaders, Arizona legislature and members of the media

Dear Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Homeland Security and Esther Olavarria, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Homeland Security, ICE Director Torres, Arizona Governor Brewer, Arizona legislators and Congressional leaders:

Remove Anti-Immigrant Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio from office NOW!

Cancel the Homeland Security Department's 287(g) contract with Seriff Arpaio's office IMMEDIATELY!

The entire country is appalled and outraged at the racist, anti-immigrant actions of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Phoenix, Arizona.

Arpaio's racist history and abuse are well documented.

• At his "Tent City" jail, temperatures can reach a deadly 150 degrees in the summer.
• His practice of feeding prisoners just twice a day with spoiled food, his reinstatement of the chain gang and his cruel treatment of inmates--including those awaiting trial who have not been convicted of any crime--have already cost Maricopa County more than $46 million in lawsuit settlements.
• His latest stunt of parading the victims of his racial profiling shackled and dressed in striped prison clothes, through the streets of Phoenix from the County Courthouse to his Tent City jail -- a public humiliation -- is reminiscent of slaves being paraded to the auction block, and is the latest and last outrage that the people of Arizona should have to endure.

The actions of Sheriff Arpaio in Phoenix, Arizona extend the militarization of the border to the entirety of Maricopa County. The actions of Sheriff Arpaio and his posse have declared open season on all people of color, including documented and undocumented immigrants, as well as people born in the U.S.

The 287(g) Agreement now in place between the Sheriff of Maricopa County and the federal government has been implemented in violation of the constitutional right of Equal Protection and with blatant discriminatory enforcement tactics by Sheriff Arpaio.

I call upon the people of Maricopa County, the local and federal government, and all politicians to stop these perpetrators of hate and fear.

I call for the removal of Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio and for the end to the systematic practice of racial profiling and other discriminatory policies that have fostered a racist and hostile environment against immigrant and indigenous people.

Sincerely,
(your signature appended here).

Fill in the Online Petition at http://www.may1.info/arpaiopetition.shtml

May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights 55 West 17 Street, #5C, New York, NY 10011 or c/o Teamsters Local 808, 22-43 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, NY 11101

Tel: (212) 561.1744 may1@leftshift.org www.may1.info

Immigrant Workers Rights Project
www.immigrantworkers.blogspot.com
may1charlotte@gmail.com

May Day Rally for Jobs, Housing, Workers, & Immigrants Rights

YES to: Jobs, Housing, Pro-Worker Immigration Reform & Money for the People!
NO to: Raids, Deportations, 287(g), Imprisonment, Forced migration, Labor export, racism, Foreclosures, Bank Bail Outs!

Friday, May 1, 2009
Noon
Bank Of America HQ
Trade St & Tryon St
Charlotte, NC

March to Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center & Mecklenburg Co Jail - Central around 6:00pm

On May 1st, join us and help build a movement to fight for the rights of working people. Join billions around the world who also demonstrate on May Day to build a powerful global movement that fights against the dire economic and social crisis people face here and around the world.

For more info email may1charlotte@gmail.com or call (704) 492-5226.

Immigrant Workers Rights Project
http://immigrantworkers.blogspot.com

Action Center For Justice
http://charlotteaction.blogspot.com

April 3 & 4: Bail Out People Not Banks - March on Wall St

Statement from the Family of Rachel Corrie, March 16, 2009

We thank all who continue to remember Rachel and who, on this sixth anniversary of her stand in Gaza, renew their own commitments to human rights, justice and peace in the Middle East. The tributes and actions in her memory are a source of inspiration to us and to others.

Friday, March 13th, we learned of the tragic injury to American activist Tristan Anderson. Tristan was shot in the head with a tear-gas canister in Ni’lin Village in the West Bank when Israeli forces attacked a demonstration opposing the construction of the annexation wall through the village's land. On the same day, a Ni’lin resident was, also, shot in the leg with live ammunition. Four residents of Ni’lin have been killed in the past eight months as villagers and their supporters have courageously demonstrated against the Apartheid Wall deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice—a wall that will ultimately absorb one-quarter of the village's remaining land. Those who have died are a ten-year-old child Ahmed Mousa, shot in the forehead with live ammunition on July 29, 2008; Yousef Amira (17) shot with rubber-coated steel bullets on July 30, 2008; Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) and Mohammed Khawaje (20), both shot and killed with live ammunition on December 8, 2008. On this anniversary, Rachel would want us all to hold Tristan Anderson and his family and these Palestinians and their families in our thoughts and prayers, and we ask everyone to do so.

We are writing this message from Cairo where we returned after a visit to Gaza with the Code Pink Delegation from the United States. Fifty-eight women and men successfully passed through Rafah Crossing on Saturday, March 7th to challenge the border closures and siege and to celebrate International Women's Day with the strong and courageous women of Gaza. Rachel would be very happy that our spirited delegation made this journey. North to south throughout the Strip, we witnessed the sweeping destruction of neighborhoods, municipal buildings, police stations, mosques, and schools –casualties of the Israeli military assaults in December and January. When we asked about the personal impact of the attacks on those we met, we heard repeatedly of the loss of mothers, fathers, children, cousins, and friends. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports 1434 Palestinian dead and over 5000 injured, among them 288 children and 121 women.

We walked through the farming village of Khoza in the South where fifty homes were destroyed during the land invasion. A young boy scrambled through a hole in the rubble to show us the basement he and his family crouched in as a bulldozer crushed their house upon them. We heard of Rafiya who lead the frightened women and children of this neighborhood away from threatening Israeli military bulldozers, only to be struck down and killed by an Israeli soldier's sniper fire as she walked in the street carrying her white flag.

Repeatedly, we were told by Palestinians, and by the internationals on the ground supporting them, that there is no ceasefire. Indeed, bomb blasts from the border area punctuated our conversations as we arrived and departed Gaza. On our last night, we sat by a fire in the moonlight in the remains of a friend's farmyard and listened to him tell of how the Israeli military destroyed his home in 2004, and of how this second home was shattered on February 6th. This time, it was Israeli rockets from Apache helicopters that struck the house, A stand of wheat remained and rustled soothingly in the breeze as we talked, but our attention shifted quickly when F-16s streaked high across the night sky. and our friend explained that if the planes tipped to the side, they would strike. Everywhere, the psychological costs of the recent and ongoing attacks for all Gazans, but especially for the children, were sadly apparent. It is not only those who suffer the greatest losses that carry the scars of all that has happened. It is those, too, who witnessed from their school bodies flying in the air when police cadets were bombed across the street and those who felt and heard the terrifying blasts of missiles falling near their own homes. It is the children who each day must walk past the unexplainable and inhumane destruction that has occurred.

In Rachel's case, though a thorough, credible and transparent investigation was promised by the Israeli Government, after six years, the position of the U.S. Government remains that such an investigation has not taken place. In March 2008, Michele Bernier-Toff, Managing Director of the Office of Overseas Citizen Services at the Department of State wrote, “We have consistently requested that the Government of Israel conduct a full and transparent investigation into Rachel's death. Our requests have gone unanswered or ignored.” Now, the attacks on all the people of Gaza and the recent one on Tristan Anderson in Ni'lin cry out for investigation and accountability. We call on President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, and members of Congress to act with fortitude and courage to ensure that the atrocities that have occurred are addressed by the Israeli Government and through relevant international and U.S. law. We ask them to act immediately and persistently to stop the impunity enjoyed by the Israeli military, not to encourage it.

Despite the pain, we have once again felt privileged to enter briefly into the lives of Rachel's Palestinian friends in Gaza. We are moved by their resilience and heartened by their song, dance, and laughter amidst the tears. Rachel wrote in 2003, “I am nevertheless amazed at their strength in being able to defend such a large degree of their humanity--laughter, generosity, family time—against the incredible horror occurring in their lives.....I am also discovering a degree of strength and of the basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances...I think the word is dignity.” On this sixth anniversary of Rachel's killing, we echo her sentiments.



Sincerely,

Cindy and Craig Corrie

On behalf of our family


Telephone: 33-643363046

Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
www.rachelcorriefoundation.org
(360) 754-3998
info@rachelcorriefoundation.org

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Action Center For Justice
www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com
Type your summary here.

Honor Rachel Corrie: Call Congress & join 6 year protests against war

Occupation Is A Crime! Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine....

Honor Rachel Corrie - Tell President Obama & Congress: Stop Funding Israeli Apartheid

On March 16, 2003, (just days before the official launch of the war on Iraq) American peace activist Rachel Corrie was murdered by an Israeli Occupation Forces bulldozer driver. Rachel was in Palestine volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement. She was trying to prevent the destruction of a Palestinian family's home when she was purposely crushed by the bulldozer. Congress has refused to even do an independent investigation (Israel says it was an accident of course). We should all honor Rachel by following her courageous example & take action everyday to Free Palestine & stop U.S. aid and stop U.S. & ALL other weapons flowing into Israel.

Watch this video of Rachel Corrie interview in Palestine two days before her murder at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3JI-axaRF4

(Peace activist and Indymedia reporter Tristan Anderson was critically injured by Israeli forces on Friday at a non-violent protest in Nil'in, in the central West Bank - see http://www.imemc.org/article/59347)

March 18 Anti-War Rally at UNCC 12:15pm at Belk Tower
March 18 CODEPINK Weekly Peace Vigil 5pm at Hawthorne Ln & 7th St
March 19 Anti-War Protest - Oppose Thomas Friedman's Lies 6:30pm at Queens University
March 21 National March On The Pentagon
April 3 & 4 National March On Wall St

Tell President Obama & Congress:

Hold Israel accountable for murdering American citizen Rachel Corrie;
Israel must observe the ceasefire;
Open all the Gaza border crossings & allow unimpeded access for humanitarian & construction aid;
Israel must pay reparations to Gaza Palestine for the people killed & wounded and the destruction;
Stop U.S. aid to Israel & impose sanctions as set forth in the Arms Export Control Act;
Hold Israel accountable for war crimes & crimes against humanity;
Use the U.S.'s diplomatic pressure to end the illegal military occupation of Palestine.

Also oppose H. Con. Res. 29.

Call your Representative at (202) 224-3121 or (866) 338-1015. To find out who your Representative is go to http://www.house.gov

Call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 or (866) 338-1015. To find out who your Senators are go to http://www.senate.gov

Contact President Obama:

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President, United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/opl/

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Protest On The 6 Year "Anniversary" of The Iraq War
Fund Jobs & Education Not War

Wed., March 18 Anti-War Rally 12:15pm - 3pm at UNCC at Belk Tower. Sponsored by Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) -UNCC. Info: Scott at scotty28223@gmail.com or 252-943-9037

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Wed., March 18 CODEPINK Weekly Peace Vigil 5pm to 6pm at Hawthorne Ln & 7th St.

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Thurs., March 19 Demonstrate to Free Palestine - Oppose Lies Of Journalist Thomas Friedman
6:30 pm
Queens University
1900 Selwyn Ave Charlotte NC

On the 6th 'Anniversary' of the War on Iraq:

End The Occupations Of Palestine, Iraq, & Afghanistan!
Support Palestinian Right To Return!
Stop Spreading Lies & Misinformation in the Media!

New York Times columnist & author Thomas Friedman will be speaking at Queens University in the Dana Auditorium. We will be there to tell the truth and stand up for peace & justice. This well published apologist for war crimes has the audacity to justify the crimes being committed against Palestinian Gaza right now and Israel's killing of civilian in Lebanon in 2006. He was also a cheerleader for the criminal invasion & occupation of Iraq.

See his latest NYT OP-ED "Israel's Goals in Gaza?" at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/opinion/14friedman.html?_r=2&ref=opinion.

Info: Action Center For Justice
704.492.5226 or charlotteaction@gmail.com
http://charlotteaction.blogspot.com

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Sat., March 21 National March On The Pentagon

Bring ALL the Troops Home Now!
End War and Occupation - Iraq, Afghanistan & Palestine!
Money for Human Needs - NOT War!

Transportation from Charlotte contact Action Center For Justice at 704.492.5226 or charlotteaction@gmail.com.

(2/27/09) The Troops Out Now Coalition condemns the announcement today that Washington plans to keep an occupying force of 50,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely.

In November, the people voted overwhelmingly for an end to war and occupation. The majority of the people of the U.S. - and the world are demanding an end to the war and occupation in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine.

The war against the people of Iraq was launched based on lies about weapons of mass destruction, as a pretext to seize control of the vast oil reserves of the region for the benefit of Wall Street. The Cost of War website estimates that the Iraq war has cost $341.4 million every day - $4,681 per household. On Thursday, the White House announced that it will ask Congress for an additional $75.5 billion this year to pay for war and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq. This would raise the budget for war for 2009 to $141 billion and increase the Pentagon's 2009 spending to $513.3 billion. This is in addition to the billions of dollars given to Israel every year to continue a brutal war against the Palestinian people.

Right now, more than ever the people need the billions of dollars that are being spent on the illegal occupation of Iraq to be spent on meeting human needs, like jobs, affordable housing, education, and health care. Each day brings news of tens of thousands of layoffs, foreclosures, and evictions. Working people are facing a crisis of historic proportions - we must organize to demand a real bail out for people, not bloated Pentagon budgets and trillion dollar handouts to corrupt CEO's.

Join the Troops Out Now Coalition and many other groups at the March on the Pentagon, Saturday March 21 and then...

National March on Wall Street!
Friday, April 3 - when Wall Street is open for business; continuing to Saturday, April 4 - at the Intersection of Wall & Broad Streets (The Stock Exchange).

Join us in the streets to demand:

* Bring ALL the Troops Home Now!
* No new troops to Afghanistan!
* Money for Human Needs Not War!
* End Occupation - Iraq, Afghanistan & Palestine

For more info about the April 3 & 4 March on Wall St see http://www.bailoutpeople.org

Van(s) from Charlotte to April 3 & 4 March On Wall St contact Action Center For Justice at 704.492.5226 or charlotteaction@gmail.com.

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DONATE - Support our work by sending donations to Action Center For Justice, 7100 Mapleridge Dr, Charlotte, NC 28210

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Action Center For Justice
www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com