[Peace-discuss] Memo to Prairie Greens: local Democrat legislators

[Eric Sizemore]

Carl--

We agree on more than we disagree on, as you know. I'm questioning the
impact and effectiveness of this particular message. There comes a tipping
point when repetition stops amplifying and starts diluting.

Strictly my opinion. Take it however you like.

Keep up the good work,

-Eric

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 8:44 PM, C. G. Estabrook <carl at newsfromneptune.com>
wrote:

> Eric—
>
> As much as I enjoy your jaundiced take on politics, I thought you’d moved
> on a while ago.
>
> A one-issue voter? Moi? What issue is that? War? Imperialism? Racism?
> Apartheid? Abortion? Climate catastrophe?
>
> “These are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others….”
> (Groucho Marx).
>
> You surely haven’t bought the US position that it’s OK to help the
> Israelis oppress the Palestinians, because we probably need their help to
> control Mideast energy resources?
>
> As I suggest below, the Democrats - state and national - continue to
> manifest politics so disingenuous that Obama learnt all he needed to know
> on the basketball court: “Fake left, drive right…”
>
> Or didn’t we agree on this a dozen years ago?  —CGE
>
>
> > On Jul 15, 2015, at 6:27 PM, Eric Sizemore <ericsizemore at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Carl,
> >
> > You make valid points, but I feel you are becoming a one-issue voter.
> > I've seen too many one-issue types on all political sides, and after a
> > while, I stop taking them seriously. From outside, it appears you've
> > picked your battle.
> >
> > I, like all of us here, hate apartheid, and I'm sure, see various
> > Israeli actions as highly offensive.
> >
> > But, speaking for myself, I cannot judge a person based on a single
> > issue. I see you r point, but I'm moving on.
> >
> > -Eric
> >
> > On 7/15/15, C. G. Estabrook <carl at newsfromneptune.com> wrote:
> >> Elizabeth—
> >>
> >> Do you realize that Rep. Ammons, a Democrat, refused to vote against a
> bill
> >> - promoted by the Israeli government - that uses Illinois funds to
> support
> >> Israeli apartheid?
> >>
> >> That’s hardly a position that the Green party can support.
> >>
> >> —CGE
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Jul 14, 2015, at 11:21 AM, elizabeth kirby <ekirby28 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I know that I am a newer member of the group, but I wanted to say that
> I
> >>> thought that Representative Ammons handled herself beautifully last
> night.
> >>> I very much appreciated her coming to the meeting and I also
> appreciated
> >>> her explanation of the political process and the rationale that went
> into
> >>> to her decision to abstain from voting.
> >>>
> >>> I also was very impressed when she made it clear that, if she had it to
> >>> do over again, what she would really like to have done is have access
> to a
> >>> fair and impartial fact sheet with information about the situation in
> >>> Israel and concerns that she could have persuasively shared with
> others in
> >>> order to form a coalition to defeat the bill.
> >>>
> >>> I am very new to politics and political process, but it does seem to me
> >>> that the behaviors we should be looking at and criticizing are not
> those
> >>> of the two people who abstained, but the behavior of the many who voted
> >>> for the bill.  I also think that we should be looking more closely at
> the
> >>> process by which the bill seems to have been railroaded though and
> what we
> >>> can do as citizens and a party to develop strategies to insure that
> these
> >>> sorts of political maneuvers are not allowed to take place within our
> >>> governmental bodies.
> >>>
> >>> The group seems very focused on running candidates for office in
> upcoming
> >>> elections.  It is my understanding that a big part of effective
> government
> >>> is coalition building.  If and when we do get candidates elected to
> >>> office, if our attitudes and treatment of those who disagree with us or
> >>> belong to a different political party, is similar to how we treated
> >>> Representative Ammons, it seems to me highly likely that we will be
> >>> effective.
> >>>
> >>> I was impressed with Representative Ammons and what she had to say.  I
> >>> will vote for her in upcoming elections and also others of other
> parties
> >>> who strike me as candidates of integrity.  I think that a big part of
> >>> reforming government and the two-party system is judging people not by
> >>> their political affiliation, but by what they say and what they do.
> There
> >>> are two ways to look at the question that was asked, what impressed me
> is
> >>> that Representative Ammons refused to vote "Yes".
> >>>
> >>> I want to make it clear that I speak here only for myself.
> >>>
> >>> Elizabeth
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 10:26 AM, C. G. Estabrook <cge at shout.net
> >>> <mailto:cge at shout.net>> wrote:
> >>> State rep. Ammons’ presentation on SB1761 (see below) to the July 13
> >>> meeting of the Prairie Greens was evasive and self-serving, a fabric of
> >>> fustian and fantasy.
> >>>
> >>> She began by asserting that not many opponents of the bill had
> contacted
> >>> her before the vote. It later emerged that she had been lobbied by a
> >>> representative of the Israeli consulate in Chicago and consulted with
> >>> retired UI professor Belden Fields, who apparently advised her not to
> vote
> >>> against the bill.
> >>>
> >>> She refused to answer directly the question, “If you had it to do over
> >>> again, would you vote against SB1761?” She said she would have to
> consult
> >>> with staff and see how others were voting.
> >>>
> >>> She refused to answer directly the question, “If the bill had defended
> >>> South African apartheid rather than Israeli apartheid, would you have
> >>> voted against it?” She asserted with some heat that she was not a
> racist.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> —CGE
> >>>
> >>>> On Jul 13, 2015, at 1:31 PM, C. G. Estabrook <cge at shout.net
> >>>> <mailto:cge at shout.net>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> MEMO TO PRAIRIEGREENS: LOCAL DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS, 1 - RACISM
> >>>>
> >>>> [1.1] Carol Ammons, state representative for this district, has asked
> to
> >>>> speak to a meeting of the Prairie Greens. Carol refused to vote
> against
> >>>> SB1761, a shameful measure supporting apartheid by US client Israel.
> She
> >>>> would not have voted in favor of South African apartheid.
> >>>>
> >>>> [1.2] The Salaita affair at UIUC shows that Israeli apartheid has a
> more
> >>>> effective lobby in Illinois than South African apartheid did a
> generation
> >>>> ago, although both racist regimes were supported by the US government
> for
> >>>> its own foreign policy purposes.
> >>>>
> >>>> [1.3] Both our local legislators, Democrat state senator Scott Bennett
> >>>> and Democratic state representative Carol Ammons, refused to vote
> against
> >>>> Senate Bill 1761. Both were recorded as “NV” - not voting on the
> measure.
> >>>> It should be clear that they refused to vote against racism.
> >>>>
> >>>> [1.4] The bill, actively promoted by the government of Israel,
> directed
> >>>> that state monies (like university pension funds) be removed from
> >>>> companies that observed the boycott of business conducted in the
> >>>> territories illegally occupied by Israel.
> >>>>
> >>>> [1.5] SB1761 is part of the attack by the government of Israel,
> repeated
> >>>> across the US, on the BDS (boycott/divestment/sanctions) movement.
> While
> >>>> the BDS movement is not above criticism, it should lead to a
> discussion
> >>>> of Israeli apartheid - and its support by our government - and that is
> >>>> what the government of Israel wants to avoid, by the circuitous route
> of
> >>>> passing laws like SB1761 through US state legislatures. (Compare the
> >>>> resolution - HR35 - passed by the California state legislature, which
> >>>> condemns racism and anti-Semitism at schools in the State of
> California:
> >>>> it conflates anti-Semitism and protected speech critical of Israel;
> the
> >>>> University of Illinois is hardly unfamiliar with that stratagem
> >>>> <
> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/08/california-state-assembly-passes-resolution-equating-criticism-of-israel-with-hate-speech
> >>>> <
> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/08/california-state-assembly-passes-resolution-equating-criticism-of-israel-with-hate-speech
> >>.)
> >>>>
> >>>> [1.6] “Within Israel, discrimination against non-Jews is severe; the
> land
> >>>> laws are just the most extreme example. But it is not South
> African–style
> >>>> apartheid. In the occupied territories, the situation is far worse
> than
> >>>> it was in South Africa, where the white nationalists needed the black
> >>>> population: it was the country’s workforce, and as grotesque as the
> >>>> bantustans were, the nationalist government devoted resources to
> >>>> sustaining and seeking international recognition for them. In sharp
> >>>> contrast, Israel wants to rid itself of the Palestinian burden. The
> road
> >>>> ahead is not toward South Africa, as commonly alleged, but toward
> >>>> something much worse.”
> >>>> [Noam Chomsky]
> >>>>
> >>>> [1.7] “The Israeli state has never been more violent, the blood toll
> of
> >>>> Palestinian civilians never so high. In 2014, the Israeli military and
> >>>> security forces killed more than 2,300 Palestinians and wounded
> another
> >>>> 17,000. That’s the worst carnage since 1967, when the occupation of
> the
> >>>> West Bank and Gaza intensified in the wake of the Six Day War. During
> the
> >>>> height of the last Israeli rampage in Gaza last summer, more than
> 500,000
> >>>> Palestinians were displaced from their homes. And, according to a
> recent
> >>>> UN Report titled Fractured Lives, more than 100,000 of them remain
> >>>> homeless. Detentions of Palestinians inside Israeli prisons are also
> on
> >>>> the rise. As of the end of February of this year, more than 6,600
> >>>> Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons and IDF detention
> >>>> centers, the most in five years. So the gears of the killing machine
> >>>> grind on with impunity, each slaughter only serving to embolden more
> >>>> killing.” [J. St. Clair]
> >>>>
> >>>> MEMO TO PRAIRIEGREENS: LOCAL DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS, 2 - TAXES
> >>>>
> >>>> [2.1] After 40 years of  accelerating increase in inequality in the
> US -
> >>>> and the craven surrender of the Democratic party (see Walter Benn
> >>>> Michaels, “The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity
> >>>> and Ignore Inequality,” 2007) - the solution is nevertheless clear
> >>>> enough: tax the possessors of  wealth - “high net worth individuals”
> >>>> (HINWIS). In Illinois, the Democrats tried to do that in the last
> >>>> session, with their (limited) "millionaires tax," but there's some
> >>>> question how serious they were. But it is the right approach: we
> should
> >>>> simply distinguish for tax purposes the income people need to live and
> >>>> the income used to play the stock market - “investable assets.”
> >>>>
> >>>> [2.2] We should resist any proposal to expand property taxes or the
> sales
> >>>> tax - or to start taxing retirement income. That confuses the two
> types
> >>>> of income. Illinois is fifth in the list of states with number of
> people
> >>>> with a net worth of $30 million or more - UHINWIs, "ultra-high net
> worth
> >>>> individuals" (after CA, NY, TX, and FL). These are the Illinoisans who
> >>>> should be taxed, not those with investable assets less than $1
> million.
> >>>>
> >>>> [2.3] Democratic state senator Scott Bennett and Democratic state
> >>>> representative Carol Ammons held a 'Joint Town Hall' rally last
> Thursday
> >>>> (7/9). They blamed the wretched Governor Rauner for the state's budget
> >>>> impasse. In fact, it's entirely in the Democrats' hands. As Paul Mueth
> >>>> pointed out at the meeting, the Democrats have veto-proof majorities
> in
> >>>> both houses. They could pass a budget and the taxes - primarily a
> >>>> financial-transactions tax (HB 106) - necessary to fund it. Ammons
> >>>> replied that not all those Democrat votes can be counted on. Thus the
> >>>> Democrats can have it both ways - they can say that they're in favor
> of
> >>>> the spending and the taxes, but then allow enough no votes so that
> they
> >>>> won't pass. The same thing happened with Speaker Madigan's
> 'millionaires'
> >>>> tax.' In both cases the Democrats can tell the public they're
> interested
> >>>> in solving the problem - and then quietly show their 1% donors that
> they
> >>>> won't do it.
> >>>>
> >>>> [2.4] “It is absolutely bizarre to live in Illinois and watch the hand
> >>>> wringing and the pitiful cries of the workers and the endless
> articles on
> >>>> the budget crisis and to NEVER hear a word about HB 106, the solution
> to
> >>>> the problem. A one dollar tax on each trade on the Chicago Board of
> >>>> Trade, which works out to about one thousandth of one percent tax.
> >>>> Meanwhile, average Illinoisans are paying 8.75% sales tax! But our
> >>>> legislators, our pundits, our union leaders, our media just can't
> imagine
> >>>> bringing up HB 106, because rich people are immune to taxes. Screw
> you,
> >>>> teachers! Screw you, nurses! Screw you, social workers! The rich must
> be
> >>>> coddled. The Tax That Must Not Be Named - HB 106: Revenue - Financial
> >>>> Transactions” [Paula Densnow].
> >>>>
> >>>> [2.5]  “The Illinois Green Party has long proposed far better answers
> to
> >>>> our state’s fiscal problems ... [They include a financial transactions
> >>>> tax], a sales tax on speculative trading at the Chicago Mercantile
> >>>> Exchange, Board Options Exchange and other trading houses – a measure
> >>>> that could dramatically raise billions of dollars in new revenue,
> simply
> >>>> by taxing the sale of options, futures and derivatives at an
> >>>> infinitesimally small rate. Proposals for creation of a public bank,
> and
> >>>> for implementation of a sales tax on speculation have been introduced
> by
> >>>> State Representative Mary Flowers, in H.B. 107 and H.B. 106,
> >>>> respectively. The Illinois Green Party urges support for these bills.”
> >>>>
> >>>> MEMO TO PRAIRIEGREENS: LOCAL DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS, 3 - ELECTIONS
> >>>>
> >>>> [3.1] As the Obama administration drags on to its murderous
> conclusion,
> >>>> it’s clear that it’s even more neocon (secret war around the world)
> and
> >>>> more neolib (secret TPP, TTIP, etc.) than its predecessor was. (To be
> >>>> clear, neoliberalism means using the government to secure the profits
> of
> >>>> the 1%; neoconservatism means using the military to secure the
> profits of
> >>>> the 1%. Both major parties are of course neoliberal and
> neoconservative.)
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> [3.2] The state Democratic party is a continuation of the national
> party
> >>>> by local means: it is
> >>>> ~ pro-war (not opposing SB 1761 - support for Israeli apartheid = the
> >>>> way the Obama admin. supports its stationary aircraft carrier), and
> >>>> ~ pro-Wall St. (not approving HB 106 - the financial transaction tax =
> >>>> the way to end the state’s fiscal problems).
> >>>> It’s time to reject pro-war/pro-Wall St. parties and their candidates.
> >>>> We’ve killed a lot of people at home and abroad by not doing so.
> >>>>
> >>>> [3.3] SB1761 - like a similar measure in Congress - is a law with some
> >>>> teeth. The legislation requires pension funds to stop investing money
> in
> >>>> foreign companies that have boycotted Israel or businesses that
> operate
> >>>> in ‘territories under the control of Israel’ [i.e., the territories
> >>>> illegally occupied by Israel]. Illinois should not be shielding Israel
> >>>> from boycotts protesting human rights abuses and settlements that are
> >>>> illegal under international law. (See more at: “Congress and state
> >>>> legislatures are on the warpath against BDS”
> >>>> <http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/congress-legislatures-against
> >>>> <http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/congress-legislatures-against>>.)
> >>>>
> >>>> [3.4] A boycott is a tactic (not a principle) and so must be
> >>>> efficaciously in the interest of the victims, in this case the
> victims of
> >>>> Israeli apartheid. But the effectiveness of this particular tactic is
> >>>> indicated by the lengths to which the Israeli government (and its US
> >>>> sympathizers) are willing to go to stop it. Even the South African
> >>>> government a generation ago didn’t go so far as to pressure US state
> >>>> legislators to stop boycotts of South African apartheid. Scott
> Bennett,
> >>>> Carol Ammons, and other Illinois legislators have timidly given in to
> >>>> bullying, aided Israeli oppression, and should be ashamed.
> >>>>
> >>>> [3.5] Some of our colleagues and comrades in the PrairieGreens think
> the
> >>>> party should not run candidates in the local legislative elections in
> >>>> 2016, because Bennett [52nd district] and Ammons [103rd district] are
> >>>> liberals. SB 1761 - and the behavior of the Democrats in the
> legislature
> >>>> in regard to the budget and taxes - argue that not to do so would be a
> >>>> mistake. The Illinois state democrats are Syriza - the latter as
> tragedy,
> >>>> the former as farce...
> >>>>
> >>>> [3.6] “The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a green
> political
> >>>> party in the United States founded in 1984 as a federation of state
> green
> >>>> parties. With its founding, the Green Party of the United States
> became
> >>>> the primary national Green organization in that country, eclipsing the
> >>>> Greens/Green Party USA, which emphasized non-electoral movement
> building
> >>>> ... The party promotes environmentalism and social justice with policy
> >>>> principles in nonviolence, grassroots democracy and participatory
> >>>> democracy, etc…”
> >>>>
> >>>> {C. G. Estabrook ~ 13 July 2015}
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
>
>
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