http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/

Sign the petition: http://iacenter.org/africa/libyawarpowersact/

For statements, fact sheets, information on Ms. Cynthia McKinney’s Libya tour and more: http://iacenter.org/

A message from the Emergency Labor Network:

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are in great jeopardy. We call on the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, National Education Association, and other independent unions — together with our community allies — to organize emergency protests in the streets across the country in front of Congressional offices, federal buildings or Social Security facilities to demand “Hands Off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid! No Cuts in Other Social Programs!”

The labor movement cannot be silent at this crucial time. We will not be taken seriously unless and until we mobilize our members and our allies so that we can play a crucial role in deciding the outcome of this historic struggle between Wall Street and the great majority of the American people.

With only days to go before the August 2 deadline for raising the country’s debt ceiling, the Obama administration — under growing pressure from Wall Street and the credit-rating agencies — has been holding emergency talks with Congressional leaders at the White House to break the deadlock in the negotiations. As of this writing, President Barack Obama, House Majority Speaker John Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have all pledged that come what may, there will be a deal by week’s end.

A number of fallback proposals have been discussed in recent days. Some involve a two-stage approach toward debt-reduction — with a short-term agreement on $1 trillion in spending cuts only through 2012, followed by a longer-term agreement with larger cuts and some tax revenue. Other proposals, the ones preferred by Wall Street, involve a more comprehensive agreement incorporating many, if not most, of Obama’s “Grand Deal” of $3 trillion in spending cuts, coupled with $1 trillion in tax revenue.

Aides to both the Democratic and Republican leaders involved in the 11th-hour negotiations have reported that the main proposals under discussion include cutting at least $250 billion in Medicare, raising the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 67 for future beneficiaries, and making any increase in cost-of-living raises in Social Security checks more difficult in the future.

None of the proposals before Congress calls for creating a federal public works program paid for by taxing Wall Street to create jobs for the 27 million unemployed and underemployed people in this country. To the contrary, the main deals in the works are aimed at resolving the deficit issue on the backs of the working class and the poor. But we can still stop this assault if we act quickly and decisively and bring all of labor’s power to bear. There is not a moment to lose in making this happen! 

In solidarity,

Donna Dewitt,

President,South Carolina AFL-CIO, On behalf of the ELN Coordinating Committee

[Please visit our website at www.laborfightback.org or write emergencylabor@aol.com or call 216-736-4715 or write ELN, PO Box 21004, Cleveland, OH 44121 for more information.]

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Neo-neo-colonialism?

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

As the Arab Spring moves into the Arab Summer, the forces of the distant colonial past arise, like vampires from their crypts, seeking something to feed upon.

European and American exploiters, using UN resolutions (but ignoring others) and NATO as fig leaves, rain death and desolation, in the name of ‘protecting civilians’. That these same forces were, just months ago, in bed with the very same dictators that they today denounce, shows us that something else is at work.

One thing for sure, two things for certain, it ain’t the protection of Arab civilians! This may be seen when Palestinian kids lob stones at occupying Israelis armed with automatic weapons and tanks, the West damns the stone throwers – not the bullet shooters.

When the American President dared to even mention the 1967 borders between Palestine and Israel as a negotiating point, the Israeli President, Binyamin Netanyahu essentially told him (in diplomatic language) to go to hell.

At times such as these, one sometimes wonders, which is the world power — and which is the satellite?

At the much heralded Cairo speech (June 2009) U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama charmed the elites of the Muslim world by proclaiming, to applause: “Any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will eventually fail.”

Clearly, he didn’t mean Israel, which is allowed to flout UN resolutions, by bombing Palestine civilians from F14′s, invade other countries (like Lebanon, at least twice), build sky high walls on Palestinian land and generally occupy, steal and settle on their territory, at will, with the U.S. rarely raising its voice.

The late French general and President, Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) once said: “Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.”*

After the Cairo speech, with its flowery promises of a “new relationship” with the Muslim world, hopes rose like kites in the spring winds.

Two years later, after the waste of Iraq and Afghanistan, rough riding through Pakistan and the bombing of babies in Tripoli, and the thrill is gone.

After all is said and done, it’s about what it’s always been about — oil.

–(c) ’11 maj

[*De Gaulle, C., Newsweek magazine, Oct. 1, 1962.]

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http://www.freemumia.com/

http://www.onamove.com/

http://www.prisonradio.org/mumia.htm

http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/

http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/mumia/maj_factsheet/

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http://www.facebook.com/groups/foodisaright

The Food is a Right Campaign of the Solidarity Center Brigade is a community youth group of New York City determined to protect the working class from the backlash of the so-called “deficit”. In this coalition we will be organizing street meetings, community meetings, demonstrations, sit-ins, press conferences, and above all, collecting signatures. We will work together to show our House representatives that cuts to municipal programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women Infants and Children (WIC) are UNACCEPTABLE.

Make it national!

Hands off social security, medicare, medicare, WIC, food stamps and all the people’s entitlements! Make the banks, corporations and the Pentagon pay for the deficit and the economic crisis-they created it!

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http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/

Click here for ways to get involved:

http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/take-action/

http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/

http://www.madisonteachers.org/

http://www.sdsmke.com/

http://www.defendpubliceducation.org/

http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/

http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/

From the WI AFL-CIO:

This Saturday, July 16 at 9:30 am in Green Bay, the Wisconsin Truth Tour will kick off at the Teamsters Hall,1546 Main Street.

The Wisconsin Truth Tour is a statewide bus tour which will give Wisconsinites a chance to speak out on the impact of Scott Walker’s devastating budget and union-busting measures.

Wisconsin Truth Tour Dates:

Saturday, June 16:  Green Bay
Wednesday, July 20:  Rhinelander
Thursday, July 21:  Baraboo
Friday, July 22:  Oshkosh
Monday, July 25:  Kenosha
Tuesday, July 26:  Milwaukee
Monday, August 1:  La Crosse
Tuesday, August 2:  Hudson

For updates on times, locations etc. see the WI AFL-CIO blog:  http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/

No cuts in any services! $$ For JOBS & Social Security! Make the banks pay!

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