{news} John Halle tomorrow at Mory's at 4:30

Fri Jan 28 14:32:55 EST 2011

 Greens, and Friends on the Left,

As most of you know, former New Haven Alderman and first Green to be elected
to that board, will be in town this weekend. We have scheduled a get
together for:

   - Date:      tomorrow, Saturday, January 29,
   - Time:      4:30 to 7:00 pm
   - Place:     Mory's, 306 York Street, between Broadway & Grove

There is a parking lot available on Broadway. Food is available at
reasonable prices at Mory's.  Mory's is, as I understand it, a private club.
We are able to meet there as guests of Wendy Hamilton who is a member.

This event is an opportunity for John to reconnect with old friends, meet
some new folks, and to discuss the Open Letter  to the Left Establishment
which follows.

Please let me know if you are planning to attend.

Best, Allan

-----------------------------------------------------------

>  An Open Letter to the Left Establishment
>
> Friday 10 December 2010
>
> by: By Chris Hedges, Cornell West, Noam Chomsky, et. al., t r u t h o u t |
> Op-Ed
>
> [image: An Open Letter to the Left Establishment]
> (Photo: Matthew Ginger / Flickr<http://www.flickr.com/photos/gingerbydesign/3004370499/in/photostream/>
> )
>
> *Editor's Note: We have received this text from its original authors; many
> of us have signed on as individuals; we share it now with you, our readers.
> *
>
> www.ProtestObama.org <http://www.protestobama.org/>
>
> A Call for Active Support of Protest to Michael Moore<http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/my-votes-for-obama-if-i-could-vote-by-michael-moore>,
> Norman Solomon<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-solomon/obama-and-the-progressive_b_111949.html>,
> Katrina van den Heuvel <http://www.thenation.com/article/obama-one-year>, Michael
> Eric Dyson<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-nation/michael-eric-dyson-for-ba_b_71781.html>,
> Barbara Ehrenreich <http://www.thenation.com/article/progressives-obama>, Thomas
> Frank <http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01232009/transcript2.html>, Tom
> Hayden<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-hayden/progressives-for-obama_b_93399.html>,
> Bill Fletcher Jr. <http://www.thenation.com/article/progressives-obama>, Jesse
> Jackson Jr.<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/29/politics/main2627147.shtml>,
> and other high profile progressive supporters of the Obama electoral
> campaign.
>
> With the Obama administration beginning its third year, it is by now
> painfully obvious that the predictions of even the most sober Obama
> supporters were overly optimistic. Rather than an ally, the administration
> has shown itself to be an implacable enemy of reform.
>
> It has advanced repeated assaults on<http://www.counterpunch.org/nasser09152010.html>the New Deal safety net (including the previously sacrosanct Social Security
> trust fund), jettisoned any hope for substantive health care reform<http://socialistworker.org/2010/11/05/waiving-away-health-care-reform>,
> attacked civil rights<http://www.truth-out.org/obamas-record-civil-liberties-garners-mixed-results56264>and environmental
> protections <http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair05212009.html>, and
> expanded a massive bailout<http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/12697/64868>further enriching an already bloated financial services and insurance
> industry. It has continued the occupation of Iraq<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/04/us-iraq-rebranding-occupation>and and expanded the
> war in Afghanistan<http://www.thenation.com/blog/obamas-expanding-covert-wars>as well as our government's covert
> and overt wars<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304965_pf.html>in South Asia and across the globe.
>
> Along the way, the Obama administration, which referred to us on the left
> as “f***ing retarded<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904575025030384695158.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines#printMode>”
> individuals who required “drug testing<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/aug/10/robert-gibbs-crazy-liberal-critics-obama>,”
> stepped up the prosecution of federal war crime whistleblowers<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/11/obama-whistleblowers_n_609787.html>,
> and unleashed the FBI<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/us/politics/25search.html?_r=2>on those protesting the escalation of an
> insane war<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_%282001%E2%80%93present%29>
> .
>
> Obama’s recent announcement of a federal worker pay freeze is cynical,
> mean-spirited “deficit-reduction theater<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2013590411_krugman04.html>”.
> Slashing Bush’s plutocratic tax cuts would have made a much more significant
> contribution to deficit reduction but all signs are that the “progressive”
> president will cave to Republican demands<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/08/AR2010120807051.html>for the preservation of George W. Bush’s tax breaks for the wealthy Few.
> Instead Obama’s tax cut plan<http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tax-cut-deficit-20101209,0,937037.story>would raise
> taxes for the poorest people<http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20025087-503544.html>in our country.
>
> The election of Obama has not galvanized protest movements. To the
> contrary, it has depressed and undermined them<http://www.amconmag.com/blog/peace-out/>,
> with the White House playing an active role in the discouragement and suppression
> of dissent<http://news.antiwar.com/2010/12/07/amid-censorship-efforts-us-announces-plans-to-host-world-press-freedom-day/>– with disastrous consequences. The almost complete absence of protest from
> the left has emboldened the most right-wing elements inside and outside of
> the Obama administration to pursue and act on an ever more extreme agenda.
>
> We are writing to you because, as well-known writers, bloggers and
> filmmakers with access to a range of old and new media, you have in your
> power the capacity to help reignite the movement which brought millions
> onto the streets in February of 2003<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15,_2003_anti-war_protest>but which has withered ever since. There are many thousands of progressives
> who follow your work closely and are waiting for a cue from you and others
> to act. We are asking you to commit yourself to actively supporting the
> protests of Obama administration policies which are now beginning to
> materialize.
>
> In this connection we would like to mention a specific protest: the civil
> disobedience action being planned by Veterans for Peace<http://www.veteransforpeace.org/>involving Chris
> Hedges <http://www.truthdig.com/chris_hedges>, Daniel Ellsberg<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg>,
> Joel Kovel <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Kovel>, Medea Benjamin<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea_Benjamin>,
> Ray McGovern <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_McGovern>, several armed
> service veterans and others to take place in front of the White House on
> Dec. 16th.
>
> Should you commit yourselves to backing this action<http://www.veteransforpeace.org/>and others sure to materialize in weeks and months ahead, what would
> otherwise be regarded as an emotional outburst of the “fringe left” will
> have a better chance of being seen as expressing the will of a substantial
> majority not only of the left, but of the American public at large. We
> believe that your support will help create the climate for larger and
> increasingly disruptive expressions of dissent – a development that is
> sorely needed and long overdue.
>
> We hope that we can count on you to exercise the leadership that is
> required of all of us in these desperate times.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Sen. James Abourezk <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abourezk>
> Michael Albert <http://zcommunications.org/zspace/malbert>
> Rocky Anderson
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Anderson>Jared Ball<http://www.freepress.net/node/39113>
> Russell Banks <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Banks>
> Thomas Bias
> Noam Chomsky <http://www.chomsky.info/>
> Bruce Dixon <http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/about-us>
> Frank Dorrel <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Dorrel>
> Gidon Eshel
> <http://www.bard.edu/academics/faculty/faculty.php?action=details&id=2436>
> Jamilla El-Shafei <http://www.mahalo.com/jamilla-el-shafei>
> Okla Elliott <http://asitoughttobe.wordpress.com/>
> Norman Finkelstein <http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/>
> Glen Ford <http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/about-us>
> Joshua Frank <http://www.greenmuckraker.com/>
> Margaret Flowers M.D. <http://www.pnhp.org/states/maryland>
> John Gerassi <http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/2010103107412190>
> Henry Giroux <http://www.henryagiroux.com/>
> Matt Gonzalez <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gonzalez>
> Kevin Alexander Gray <http://thenewliberator.wordpress.com/about/>
> Judd Greenstein <http://www.juddgreenstein.com/>
> DeeDee Halleck <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeeDee_Halleck>
> John Halle <http://www.johnhalle.com/>
> Chris Hedges <http://www.truthdig.com/chris_hedges>
> Doug Henwood <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/>
> Edward S. Herman <http://zcommunications.org/zspace/edwardherman>
> Dahr Jamail <http://dahrjamailiraq.com/>
> Louis Kampf <http://www.thenation.com/authors/louis-kampf>
> Allison Kilkenny <http://allisonkilkenny.com/>
> Jamie Kilstein <http://jamiekilstein.com/>
> Joel Kovel <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Kovel>
> Mark Kurlansky <http://www.markkurlansky.com/>
> Peter Linebaugh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Linebaugh>
> Scott McLarty <http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=36>
> Cynthia McKinney <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_McKinney>
> Dede Miller <http://www.opednews.com/author/author56650.html>
> Russell Mokhiber<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Russell_Mokhiber>
> Bobby Muller <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Muller>
> Christian Parenti <http://www.christianparenti.com/>
> Michael Perelman <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Perelman>
> Peter Phillips <http://dailycensored.com/writers/peter-phillips/>
> Louis Proyect <http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/>
> Ted Rall <http://www.rall.com/>
> Michael Ratner <http://www.michaelratner.com/blog/>
> Cindy Sheehan <http://cindysheehanssoapbox.com/>
> Chris Spannos <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/chrisspannos>
> Paul Street <http://www.paulstreet.org/>
> Sunil Sharma <http://dissidentvoice.org/about/>
> Jeffrey St. Clair <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_St._Clair>
> Len Weinglass <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Weinglass>
> Cornel West <http://www.cornelwest.com/>
> Sherry Wolf
> <http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/>Michael Yates<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Yates_%28economist%29>
> Mickey Z <http://www.mickeyz.net/>
> Kevin Zeese <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Zeese>
>
> Please sign<http://www.thepetitionsite.com/12/an-open-letter-to-the-left-establishment/>the Open Letter to the Left Establishment.
>
> *All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by
> permission or license.*
>
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