the guy by the door …

*** PROTEST MILITARY RECRUITMENT 9/30/05***

* 12 PM: Walk [peacefully, with signs and flyers, for peace and justice] over to the Career Fair at Gordon Track and Field Center *

*or phone Prez Summers and tell him what you think of having military recruitment reinstated on campus: 617 495 1502 or email lawrence_summers@harvard.edu

Sponsors: Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice, Harvard Social Forum,
Harvard Law School Students for Peace, Harvard Socialist Alternative.

…. keep the bad people out. [Well the one’s that don’t have Harvard ID’s, anyway.]

“gil”

They deserve a living wage too. The only known tool to do that, is the right to unionize.
SEIU which represents the custodial workers is also organizing security guards - Nationwide and at Harvard.

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Another one from SLAM. Spread the word!

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[cleanliness with the best regards of S.E.I.U]
and keep you fed.

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[nourishment with the best regards of Unite-HERE!]

I had hoped that Geraldo’s baby would shape up the mainstream media a bit. The 300,000 of you were well documented in the blogosphere, but mainstream media, barely a peep. I’ll compile an anthology.

I have worked a weekend schedule for many years. It was convenient for both me and Harvard. The Pinkertons hired to outsource us, have become increasingly inflexible about scheduling us. When they first came in, they argued that using contract workers would allow scheduling flexibility. But as time has gone on, accomodating “the vendor” has increased in priority. More and more decisions are made without talking to the workers. There was some awkwardness about my vacation. I could not go to Crawford. I apologized to Cindy. They didn’t even ask about this Saturday, but I didn’t really expect that they would.

I’ll be here when you get back …

…waiting by the door.

From HIPJ mailing list:

Our group, the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice, brings together people of many political viewpoints who are opposed to the war in Iraq and to the future wars already being prepared by the Bush administration. We hold political discussions among group members, organize guest speakers, teach-ins, and rallies, and work with other local and national groups to bring the anti-war movement together. Please join us for a discussion over pizza and drinks about how we can tell Americans the truth about the war and work with other students to oppose it.

I owe credit for most of the title to an American refugee in h(er|is) blog called My Katrina.
And now s/he has to leave Houston due to Rita - deja vu all over again.
But s/he is relatively lucky. The 1500 evacuees who were left at the
Reliant Stadium [the new bigger and better stadium next to the
Astrodome] were supposed to be evacuated again. That’s a second stage
of the diaspora.

The Bataan had enough water for the people at Charity, the Superdome and
the Convention Center. None of them had to die of thirst. It was
genocide by inaction. And it was foretold.
I see Captain Nora was relieved of  command. Did they blame her
for waiting for orders? A real man would have waited for orders? What
would the men say about her if she had disobeyed orders? Bleeding
heart? Unmilitary?

My brother lives in Houston. He is evacuating. He planned on leaving at
3:00 AM CDT. He didn’t get on the road  until 3:45 AM. I’m looking
at the Transtar traffic map
and passing the info on via cell phone. The major evacuation routes to
the North and West are jammed. Only  I-10 east going to Louisiana is
clear and even now at 4:33 AM, it is starting to get traffic. Refugee will
have clear sailing to Baton Rouge. But Louisiana is also a disaster zone.
Rita may turn to the east. Cyclone storms often do in the Northern
Temperate Zone.  The authorities may not let him in. Good luck refugee.

Bill decided to stay off the major routes. He confirmed that Westheimer is clear. Transtar said it was.

Bill just called again. He encountered heavy traffic on Westhiemer and
made a turn. He is lost. I have Yahoo maps in another tab. He’s on
Westheimer Parkway in George Bush Park. He is now off the edge of the
Transtar map.  Westheimer Parkway continues west to 99 he will
have to go north or south. North to 1-10 which is probably jammed.
Bill’s friend in Dallas is watching the news on TV I-10 is a
nightmare.  He’s going south to 1093.

Call. 1093 is jammed. I have no traffic information for him anymore
- only geographic data. “If I turn around, how far is it to I-10?
Except I’ll have trouble turning around. Never mind. I guess it’s time
to grin and bear it. I  guess I’m going to San Antonio. Have a
long breakfast, I’m not going anywhere for a while.” The goal is a
friends place in Dallas to the North. Bill’s forced into a detour.
Refugee is going to Baton Rouge because s/he could find no other place
to go.

It took four phone calls to navigate through Eagle Lake and get on 102
to Columbus. Bill says most of the other drivers are on cell phones
there are at least 5 million people on the move. There must be 2
million calls per hour coming from that part of the cellnet.

I remember Amy Sweeney.  She was so afraid. And so brave. The
usual channels were in control of the terrorists. She called
reservations on her cell phone. Amazing common sense in the face of
terrible fear.. She could only believe she was risking her life.
She could not know she was already doomed. Amazingly
uncommon sense. [Betty Ong in another post.]

It was a long night for Bill. I was able to catch naps between
phone
calls. Bill is in Austin to the west of Houston. 9 hours on the road to
go 162 miles.- an average of 18 mph. Normal time is 3.5 hours. Bill’s
friend is in Dallas. Rita has turned
east. Will Dallas be in danger? It looks like a close call. NWS thinks.
they will experience high winds, but only gusts will reach hurricane
speeds. Should Bill stay in Austin and invite his friend to join him?
NWS thinks there is a 5% probability of steady winds reaching hurricane
speeds. Sounds to me like Austin is a little worse than Dallas. Bill
doesn’t understand this based on the the projected track. But the
models undoubtedly include the weakening of the storm as it moves over
land. Dallas is to the north.

But the eastward shift of the track is bad for refugee. Good luck refugee.

I cannot find the NOLA’s from the Reliant/Astrodome. Can you blogbuds help me?

Pete Dolack reports in Indy Media.

The New York City Police Department forcibly broke up this afternoon’s rally for Cindy Sheehan, moving in as Cindy was speaking at about 3 p.m. in Union Square. The rally had been underway for about an hour, and was about to conclude as Cindy spoke following several other speakers, including a few who are traveling with her on her caravan. … Full article.

Thanks to the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice for pointing this out.

HIPJ also forwards this report from the Village Voice.

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Harvard University Graduation Day Spring 2005 - A grand occasion for many. Yet some not so grand activities must also take place. I speak only a few words of Spanish, ” Si! Se puede!”*. That’s about it. My conversation with this gentleman was a bit strained. He is Mr. Aguilar. I remember because I know an Aguilera. His first name is Jaime like in “Stand and Deliver”. I believe her first name is Christina … I’m kidding.

Jaime and Harvard’s other custodial workers are represented by the Service Employees International Union through it’s Local 615 which has had a Justice for Janitors campaign for 20 years. S.E.I.U has also begun organizing security guards and has made some recent progress. Harvard’s security guards are currently not represented by any Union. [HUSMPGU still represents museum and parking guards. The security guards were outsourced two years ago.]

The Harvard’s contract with S.E.I.U. expires on Noverber 15, 2005 - at least according to the copy on the Harvard University website. [The locals have reorganized since the contract started.] This contract was renogtiated to good effect as a result of the Mass Hall sit-in coming out of the Living Wage Campaign
of the Progressive Student Labor Movement. In any case, this word from a soon to be named student worker group on behalf of S.E.I.U.

It begins with hello. And you can continue with hello between structured activities. You don’t need a grand strategy to do that, and it will certainly help with whatever else you decide to do. It is, afterall, at least in part, about the workers.

*Yes! We can!

Yesterday in the Science Center there was advising en masse for the
incoming students. Tables were lined up around the atrium personed by
faculty, students, and staff. Mechanistic perhaps. Bureaucratic perhaps.
I certainly believe in ideas, models, and systems as useful tools. But
I am an empiricist, experimentalist - somewhat of a nominalist. I
believe that ideas, models, and systems must always be questioned. Are
they serving us well?

I had to find the physics table. I found what Harvard is really about.
Not physics, or scholarship - scholarly relationships. An old scholar
was talking to a young one. The old man was brimming over with
excitement. The old man would have won the Nobel if protons were not so
stubborn. But the truly remarkable is the Nobel class attention he gave
to this most newly arrived young scholar.

That’s why I’ve kept the books on the shelves for lo these many years.

 I did my best to get Matt to talk to his advisor, Professor
Andy.  Matt went in another direction. It’s not mine to judge. But
am I allowed to have hopes?

In case you missed it, the U.S. Army occupied the Cambridge Common on June14, 2005. Seven people were arrested - among them:

“>	“>
Matt photo jonny rebellous Boston Indy Media	Joe Gerson photo: gbd

Matt is active in - among other things - Boston Mobilization. Joe is executive director of the Peace and Economic Security Program for the New England Region of the American Friends Service Committee.

At the June 20 City Council meeting, Vice Mayor Marj Decker introduced an order asking the City Manager to investigate the circumstances leading to the arrests. At the Sept. 12 meeting Mr. Healy was noticably reticent about when this report would appear. Marj expressed considerable dismay observing that ‘the packets have already gone out’.

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She was referring to execution of a section of the No Child Left Behind Law which requires the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School to turn student records over to military recruiters. The good news is parents have the right to opt out of having their kids’ records turned over.They must be sent a packet informing them of that right. CRLS did send the packets. The bad news is that the time period for opting out has expired.

The gentleman to Bob Healy’s right is Don Drisdale, the City’s #2 in house lawyer i.e. the ranking one who shows up for work. He is offering an interim progress report on his ressearch into what constitutes a “free speach zone”. Curiously, “The United States of America” is not City Administration’s answer.

The question behind the questions, “Was there a quid pro quo.”

The trial of the Cambridge 7 continues Thursday September 15, 2005 at Middlesex County Courthouse. More details when available. Marj is going and urged the other Councillors to go. If you go, please tell her I have to guard the liberry.

-Ellen; calling in to Jerry Springer on Air America Radio

It is genocide and it was foretold.

Most genocides are the result of deliberate barbarous action. This one
is the result of deliberate barbarous inaction. Ned Sublette was right
across the board. Everybody did know about it for years. the Army Corps
of Engineers, the then Senator, the local paper - The Times-Picayune.   
Last year, CNN ran an public service announcement featuring the
playdough figure Mr. Bill. “Gee kids, todays show will be cancelled
becasue the levees are unsafe.”

Overwhelmed rescue workers do not have time to recover the remains of
the dead. One rescue worker was quoted as saying, “We have to push the
bodies aside. We have to focus on the living.”

The human body can survive about a day without drinking water. Many of
the people who lost all safe drinking water during the storm or shortly
after are dead now. Push their bodies aside.  Some have been
drinking the flood water. Contaminated with petrochemicals, sewage, and
vermin, many of the people who drank it are dying of diseases that will
go untreated. Push their bodies aside. Some people in the Superdome
have been evacuated to the Astrodome. But many remain and they are
dying They are coverd and left where they die.

The mayor of  New Orleans says that there are a large number of
drug starved addicts roaming the streets and they are armed. The
hospitals have been repeatedly looted for drugs. Charity hospital moved
it’s patients to the higher floors to protect them from looters. Now
they are moving them to Tulane Hospital across the street. The rich
patients were evacuated days ago.

“The best we can do is set up a perimeter around an area and hope we are not overrun.”
—-
“Let’s have a moratorium on press conferences until the people are here.
Don’t tell me there are 40,000 people coming. They’re not here.”
-Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleasns. The full interview from Air America Radio.

Dick Chenay’s secretary “does not have handy” the date when he will return from vacation.
Condy Rice went to see Spam Alot on Broadway Wednesday night. Shopping
for shoes yesterday, she had the Secret Service remove a woman who
asked her how she dared.

Anderson Cooper saw a woman in the streets being eaten by rats. Telling
Senator Mary Landieau about this, “Do you see the anger here.”

Even Ted Koppel was outraged last night.

And it continues.