Here we go again into another war--- this time with Iran.

 U. S. Senate Joint Resolution 41, while its authors, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman (whose worthless political butt Obama saved to do this dirty work when a real voice for peace could have been elected) claim this resolution is "not authorization for war" but it sure as heck is part of the ever-expanding and deafening drum-beat for war with Iran.

 All these phony liberals, progressives and leftists telling us we must get Obama and these Democrats elected then after the election we should act when these warmongers don't stop their dirty deeds make me sick.

 Now is when all who believe in peace should be declaring loud and clear---

No peace, no votes.

 Why would anyone with a conscience cast a vote for any of the 90 U.S. Senators who are engaged in a campaign to drum up a war with Iran?

 This vote, like all past votes in defense of the Israeli killing machine, should cause people to see how useless this so-called "Progressive Caucus" is in Congress.

 Ironically, this resolution, U.S. Senate Joint Resolution 41,
 ( http://legiscan.com/gaits/view/429912 ) was passed along with the bill to approve government spending--- spending for more militarization and wars.

 Here is how they voted--- which was a foregone conclusion because the resolution had 83 co-sponsors:

 Akaka (D-HI), Yea
 Alexander (R-TN), Yea
 Ayotte (R-NH), Yea
 Barrasso (R-WY), Yea
 Baucus (D-MT), Yea
 Begich (D-AK), Yea
 Bennet (D-CO), Yea
 Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
 Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea
 Blunt (R-MO), Yea
 Boozman (R-AR), Not Voting
 Boxer (D-CA), Not Voting
 Brown (D-OH), Yea
 Brown (R-MA), Yea
 Burr (R-NC), Not Voting
 Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
 Cardin (D-MD), Yea
 Carper (D-DE), Yea
 Casey (D-PA), Yea
 Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
 Coats (R-IN), Yea
 Coburn (R-OK), Yea
 Cochran (R-MS), Yea
 Collins (R-ME), Yea
 Conrad (D-ND), Yea
 Coons (D-DE), Yea
 Corker (R-TN), Yea
 Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
 Crapo (R-ID), Yea
 DeMint (R-SC), Yea
 Durbin (D-IL), Yea
 Enzi (R-WY), Yea
 Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
 Franken (D-MN), Yea
 Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea
 Graham (R-SC), Yea
 Grassley (R-IA), Yea
 Hagan (D-NC), Yea
 Harkin (D-IA), Yea
 Hatch (R-UT), Yea
 Heller (R-NV), Not Voting
 Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
 Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
 Inhofe (R-OK), Not Voting
 Inouye (D-HI), Yea
 Isakson (R-GA), Yea
 Johanns (R-NE), Yea
 Johnson (D-SD), Yea
 Johnson (R-WI), Yea
 Kerry (D-MA), Yea
 Kirk (R-IL), Not Voting
 Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
 Kohl (D-WI), Yea
 Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
 Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
 Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
 Leahy (D-VT), Yea
 Lee (R-UT), Yea
 Levin (D-MI), Yea
 Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
 Lugar (R-IN), Yea
 Manchin (D-WV), Yea
 McCain (R-AZ), Yea
 McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
 McConnell (R-KY), Yea
 Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
 Merkley (D-OR), Yea
 Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
 Moran (R-KS), Yea
 Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
 Murray (D-WA), Not Voting
 Nelson (D-FL), Yea
 Nelson (D-NE), Yea
 Paul (R-KY), Nay
 Portman (R-OH), Yea
 Pryor (D-AR), Yea
 Reed (D-RI), Yea
 Reid (D-NV), Yea
 Risch (R-ID), Yea
 Roberts (R-KS), Yea
 Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
 Rubio (R-FL), Not Voting
 Sanders (I-VT), Yea
 Schumer (D-NY), Yea
 Sessions (R-AL), Yea
 Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
 Shelby (R-AL), Yea
 Snowe (R-ME), Yea
 Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
 Tester (D-MT), Yea
 Thune (R-SD), Yea
 Toomey (R-PA), Yea
 Udall (D-CO), Yea
 Udall (D-NM), Yea
 Vitter (R-LA), Not Voting
 Warner (D-VA), Yea
 Webb (D-VA), Yea
 Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
 Wicker (R-MS), Yea
 Wyden (D-OR), Yea


NAYs ---1

 Paul (R-KY)


Not Voting - 9

 Boozman (R-AR)
 Boxer (D-CA)
 Burr (R-NC)
 Heller (R-NV)
 Inhofe (R-OK)
 Kirk (R-IL)
 Murray (D-WA)
 Rubio (R-FL)
 Vitter (R-LA)

 What does this tell us?

That we have a U.S. Senate full of Wall Street bribed warmongers... and we are supposed to be silent "until after the election?"

 Through "Letters to the Editor," demonstrations and picket-lines--- let these warmongers know right now that they are not going to get your vote; and why not.

Here in Minnesota we have the opportunity to vote for Michael Cavlan for United States Senate and Rocky Anderson for President.

 Tell the warmongering Democrats and Republicans working for Wall Street's masters of war to go to hell.

Pearl Jam... "Masters of War:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9HDljNlWYk

How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?

Enough! Tell the Democrats and Republicans to go to hell.

The Obama sock-puppets think we are afraid to tell the truth about why we are voting for alternative progressive tickets. I'm not one bit afraid nor ashamed to be speaking my mind on this.

Every vote the progressive alternatives get does t

wo things:

1. Each vote denies Obama votes--- he should have faced a primary challenge and didn't.

2. Each vote strengthens a united movement for real change; a movement that will be required whether Obama or Romney wins. A movement the Obama sock-puppets promised to build but didn't in order to protect this warmonger Obama.

Plus, here in Minnesota, each vote progressive alternatives receive for president should transfer to a vote for Michael Cavlan since he is the only progressive alternative running for United States Senate against Amy "Republican Lite" Klobuchar. The Republicans aren't even putting up a credible challenge to Klobuchar because they are completely satisfied that Klobuchar is representing the interests of big-business.

It would have been best had all the progressive candidates worked out a joint unity ticket acceptable to all but this did not come to pass. So now we need to take every vote we can away from Barack Obama--- especially in the "swing states."

There is power in being able to punish a candidate like Obama who didn't deserve a free pass during the primary season.

Seeing as how the Democrats have been a major obstacle to fair access to the ballot by alternative parties no one should shy away from admitting we will seek whatever ways possible to defeat Obama.

Besides, it is an outright lie that Mitt Romney is worse than Obama--- nothing could be further from the truth. They are so much alike in reflecting Wall Street's reactionary agenda they could be two peas in the same pod.

Never has there been an election in American history where it is more true that "there isn't a dime's bit of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans."

So, vote for one of the four progressive alternatives to Wall Street's agenda of wars abroad paid for by shoving austerity measures down our throats here at home.

Have you noticed the Democrats don't even dare mention the word "poverty?" Why not? Because the Democrats have increased unemployment and worked hand-in-hand with the large corporations to impose poverty wages on working people.

We see a glaring example of this here on the Iron Range in Minnesota where politics is completely dominated by Democrats who made it possible for Menard's to build one of their largest stores in Virginia, Minnesota--- the center of the Iron Range--- with almost two-hundred workers being paid poverty wages--- from $7.49 and hour to $8.50 an hour with the majority of these workers employed for less than twenty hours a week.

What good does it do to create poverty wage jobs--- all that is being done is more poverty is being created. Any school child understands that when you pay workers a poverty wage they and their families are going to be poor. Of course, there are always a few who profit as a direct result of paying workers poverty wages. John Menard will add to his billions while workers at the Menard's in Virginia, Minnesota are pushed further into poverty.

Of course, the politicians, in this case the Democrats, will be handsomely rewarded for their betrayal of working people.

The Democrats on the Iron Range are upset at my views on this issue. They say, "These jobs are needed; we can organize unions later." Well, when one looks at the Iron Range today what is seen is a carbon-copy of Appalachia.

We heard the same pathetic excuse from the Democrats and their AFL-CIO partners when Wal-mart moved into Hibbing, Minnesota. The unions put on a little "picket" and then retreated into oblivion--- with the opening of Menard's in Virginia, Minnesota there wasn't even the feeble "picketing" of this scab employer.

It was Democrats like Hubert "Skip" Humphrey, Jr. and Walter Mondale who sentenced over 44,000 Minnesotans to work in the loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos of the Indian Gaming Industry without any rights under state or federal labor laws with the approval and consent from the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

If all of this isn't enough to encourage working people to seek justice through alternative political parties I don't know what it is going to take--- perhaps all workers in the same boat as casino workers?

With Labor Day approaching rank-and-file workers and grassroots activists should be insisting that Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, Stewart Alexander, Roseanne Barr and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Cavlan be given time to present their views at Labor Day events around Minnesota... after all, the Operating Engineers union on the Iron Range here in Minnesota endorsed the most despicable, dirty, crooked, corrupt, racist, anti-woman, anti-labor Republican for United States Congress on the Iron Range; and Richard Trumka and Shar Knudson--- the head of the Minnesota Fed--- remain silent.

Of course, how do we begin to struggle for alternative voices on Labor Day if the candidates themselves don't insist on being heard?

And make no mistake: Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, Stewart Alexander and Roseanne Barr and Michael Cavlan have earned the right to speak from the same podiums on Labor Day as Barack Obama or the Republican endorsed by the Operating Engineers on the Iron Range.

Come on, really; if the Operating Engineers are supporting an evil creep like Republican Chip Cravaak for Congress how can any Obama supporter complain about how "evil" Mitt Romney is?

The corruption and the hypocrisy has just gone way too far to the point where democracy is threatened if we don't challenge Wall Street and its two parties for power.

Tell the Democrats and Republicans to go to hell!

Vote for progressive alternatives to war, racism, unemployment and poverty.

Support those candidates who are standing up for your rights and defending your livelihoods.


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


A dialog with Obama supporter Barbara Ehrenreich who is considering an offer to write about the presidential "contest:"

• •
Barbara Ehrenreich

How about I just write a short story about a dystopian future in which a robot competes for the presidency with an android?


•

Alan L. Maki

One named Mitt and one named Barack? You would be writing about two villains. What about those struggling for justice in the "dystopian future?" Don't they exist any longer? Or would everyone just have been chained to their jobs surviving on a diet of flower mixed with pulverized wood chips from the forest floor?

What we need to do...

What we need to do

Just start leafleting where you work and where you live. I guarantee you will find some like minds very quickly if you are producing materials people can relate to. In your community, start with repetitive leafleting in a two or three square block area. A double-sided 8 1/2 by 11 leaflet is pretty cheap to photocopy. People in your area must read some newspaper?

I often get invited into peoples homes to meet and discuss things with their families, friends, neighbors and fellow workers after having a discussion about the "robbery at the gas pumps" while pumping gas or "how much longer are we going to be able to afford to eat" while standing in front of the meat counter in the super-market.

People are going to have to begin putting their thoughts in writing if we want people to take us seriously as we seek real change. Only the written word means anything as far as getting people's attention.

All of my business cards now ask the question:

How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?

This question gets to the heart of anti-imperialist education.

Just two or three people thinking along the same lines can get a neighborhood to act. Same at work or in school at a community center in your union or at church. One little raindrop doesn't amount to much but let it pour.

We need working class "think tanks and action clubs." Get a few people together who share common problems and this is where social change begins.

If you distribute things along these lines modified as required, you should be able to find people with open minds:

This is a very good article: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/03/say-goodbye-to-social-security/

However one important point is missing and there are several glaring weaknesses.

Social Security would be secure and could be vastly expanded with real living benefits paid IF we had a full-employment economy.

Never mind economics--- common sense tells us that we can't have millions of unemployed, under-employed and poverty-wage paid workers not paying into the Social Security Trust Fund or paying so little because of partial employment and poverty wages and still expect the Social Security Trust Fund to remain solvent forever with anything other than very limited programs and meager, miserly payouts.

I would also note that while this writer acknowledges the good work done by economist John Kenneth Galbraith, he fails to observe what Galbraith believed to be primary: ending militarism and wars so society could reap the benefits of "peace dividends" in order to create huge government programs like National Public Health Care and National Public Child Care which would create tens of millions of new jobs providing services that are really needed--- unlike militarism and war which we need like we need holes in our heads.

I think this article is good but needs to be strengthened.

John Kenneth Galbraith was an honest liberal and among the present crop of intellectuals honesty--- liberal or otherwise--- is difficult to come by as most seemed to be influenced in their "thinking" more by the size of their pay-checks than the common good as is readily apparent from all these phony liberals, progressives and leftist intellectuals supporting a warmonger like Obama determined to make the working class pay for Wall Street's imperialist wars through austerity measures such as cutting and slashing needed social programs--- everything from public education to Social Security and even Medicaid and Medicare when the state goal of the Affordable Care Act was supposed to be to strengthen Medicaid and Medicare... more lies.

I would also point out that John Kenneth Galbraith's son, James Kenneth Galbraith, is more on the progressive side than his father was.

Here is an excellent article written by James Kenneth Galbraith (written in 2009):

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0903.galbraith.html

And more recently--- 2012--- aptly titled, "We told you so:"

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/we_told_you_so_20120518//

I would also note that John Kenneth Galbraith never hesitated to bring Marxists into discussions with him on economic matters which provided greater insight to problems and served to strengthen democracy while educating the public.

John Kenneth Galbraith even wrote a book together with a noted Soviet Marxist-Leninist economist.

John Kenneth Galbraith constantly pointed out that it was wrong to think modern societies can have both "guns and butter." This from a man who had experience managing a war-time economy at the beginning of World War II.

Obama has rejected even the most liberal/progressive economic advice in favor of the reactionary advice he receives from those most loyal to Wall Street's greedy, parasitical, money-grubbing interests which always lead to conflict and wars.

Alan L. Maki

Dear friends in the peace movement...

URGENT! PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!

Dear Friends in the Peace Movement,

We can’t afford to let this opportunity slip by. By taking action over the next five days the peace community has a chance to inject a compelling and courageous peace advocate into the 2012 presidential campaign, to have a voice in the national debate over war, militarism, and military spending.

You know what is going to happen if we leave this election up to the two major party candidates. President Obama will defend his troop surges, his excessive Pentagon budgets, his preparations for war with Iran, his escalation of the drone wars, his crackdowns on whistleblowers, his indefinite detention policy, and his new role as manager of the White House assassination list. Mitt Romney will not question these policies, but will promise to pursue them with even more enthusiasm. In debates and interviews, the American people will have the Big Lie drilled into their consciousness: that our nation must accept escalating military engagement and must visit worldwide violence against all who defy the U.S. government.

Jill Stein stands ready to challenge the Big Lie. Jill Stein, a physician from Massachusetts, who has been a national board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, has just won 29 state primaries to secure the presidential nomination of the Green Party. She is putting some badly needed fundamentals for peace on the table: Cut the Pentagon budget by 50%. Halt the drone wars. Pardon the whistleblowers. Restore our civil liberties. Make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. She is driving home the point that the Obama/Romney fascination with war and violence is dangerous for our nation and the world. We need to make sure she is heard.

Jill Stein is closing in on federal matching funds that would double the value of donations to her campaign. Because she doesn’t receive big checks from Pentagon contractors and their lobbyists, public funding is essential to her campaign. She needs to raise about $24,000 by midnight on June 30th so that she can apply for matching funds.

That’s not much money to ask of a national peace movement. We can do it. And the payoff for peace will be tremendous.

So we urge you do two things. First, go to Jill Stein’s website: http://www.jillstein.org/donate, and make a generous donation to her campaign.

Second, please forward this email to your friends and networks. Forwarding this message is critically important.

Thank you for helping us open up a dialogue for peace.

Sincerely,

David Swanson, author of War is a Lie and also of Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial President and Forming a More Perfect Union

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK

Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and senior fellow at the Nation Institute

Leah Bolger, retired naval commander and current president of Veterans for Peace

George Martin, three term national co-chair of United for Peace & Justice

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

Kevin Zeese, executive director of Voters for Peace

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: New Progressive Alliance <tonyn@newprogs.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 7:25 PM
Subject: NC! FL! VA! Just a few dollars more!!
To: alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com

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Six Donors Will Do the Trick! Two days ago we asked for your help, and you responded. Jill Stein's push toward matching funds has made great strides! Donors in each of 17 stateshave now given more than $5,000 - that means just THREE MORE STATESare needed!  NORTH CAROLINA: Just two donors needed at $150 each! FLORIDA: Two $250 donors get it done! VIRGINIA: Four donations of $250 are all that's needed! But WHY STOP THERE?? Forward this to everyone you know in those three states - and the ones listed below - and there's a great chance ALL will clear the $5,000 mark! CONNECTICUT ARIZONA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MISSOURI TENNESSEE MAINE Forward by using the link at the bottom of the page! And don't forget the social sharing buttons at the top! WHY WE ARE ASKING The NPA was founded to foster conditions where alternatives to the sold-out corporate parties could take root. Jill Stein's candidacy will help that happen!  Your vote for candidates who have endorsed the Unified Platform is a straw that will break the duopoly's back. Stein has endorsed it, so we're asking you to help Jill trade her megaphone for a bullhorn!    Donate to the Stein campaign by clicking here.

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-- 

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

 

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell: 651-587-5541

Primary E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

E-mail: alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com

Blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

When will Governor Dayton call the "Red Dog" play against poverty?

May 22, 2012

Submitted for publication to the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a “Commentary.” 697 words; guidelines allow for up to 700 words.

Governor Dayton, state legislators, the business community, organized labor and the foundation-funded outfits went into a “blitz formation” and scored a touchdown and the billionaire owners of the Vikings got their new stadium.

See: Vikings stadium backers go into blitz formation (Star Tribune article by Rachel E. Stassen-Berger, March 4, 2012)

Link: http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/141313353.html

Apparently the “blitz formation” works as well in politics as on the football field so one has to wonder why after having scored this touchdown for the billionaire owners of the Vikings, Governor Dayton together with his friends in the business community, organized labor and the foundation-funded outfits don’t use the same “blitz formation” to tackle the problem of poverty?

I am assuming the crowds would cheer much louder if the governor and his friends in business and labor sacked poverty.

Governor Dayton was the primary cheerleader for a new Vikings Stadium although he is leading no cheers to alleviate, let alone eliminate, poverty.

Governor Dayton, during his tenure as governor of Minnesota, hasn’t even attempted to articulate an explanation as to why poverty still exists in a state where a billion dollars can be found for a new Vikings Stadium let alone bring forward any legislation to alleviate poverty.

Minnesota legislators have some kind of committee they call “Ladder Out of Poverty.” It seems the ladder must be missing quite a few rungs and constructed from rotting timber because no one can use the “ladder” for its stated purpose.

What does cause poverty?

What can be done to alleviate and eliminate poverty in Minnesota?

Governor Dayton claims to be a “progressive.” The four primary goals and objectives of progressives has been to establish open and honest government responsive to the needs of the people, end dirty imperialist wars, put an end to poverty and establish racial equality.

Progressives want to see governor Dayton head up a “blitz formation” to end poverty which hurts people of all races but is concentrated among people of communities of color because of the racist injustices in our society.

An open and honest government would lead the way in questioning why poverty exists and why there are these racist aspects to poverty.

An open and honest government would pull out no stops in using all levers available in a democratic society to eliminate the scourge of poverty.

Obviously, capitalist society can not provide people with a “ladder out of poverty” while sinking billions of dollars into dirty imperialist wars.

Minnesota had two very progressive governors elected on the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party ticket; socialists Floyd Olson and Elmer Benson. Olson and Benson were of like minds. They believed it was their job to bring into play reforms to alleviate the problems of poverty as working people--- rural and urban--- continued to unite until they were powerful enough to eliminate the source of poverty: capitalism.

Governor Elmer Benson decided after he couldn’t get any help from Democrats or Republicans he needed to organize a blitz of sorts to help him push through reforms to help people cope with the problems of poverty. For this purpose Benson organized the powerful “People’s Lobby.”

Today, once again, the people of Minnesota need to form our own team by reviving the “People’s Lobby” to show Governor Dayton what a real “blitz” can accomplish when it is the people using this “blitz formation.”

For Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton to be a cheerleader for a new Vikings Stadium from which billionaires will get even richer as he sits cowardly, quietly and silently on the sidelines when it comes to the struggle against poverty and its most pernicious racist aspects on Indian Reservations and in the inner cities of Minnesota is completely unacceptable to Minnesotans who cherish our progressive culture and traditions.

Any school child understands people without living wage jobs are going to be poor.

The solution to poverty is very simple: Put people to work solving the problems of the people and society instead of squandering the wealth of our nation on militarism and wars.

Build public health care and public child care centers instead of football stadiums.

Bring back the WPA, CCC and C.E.T.A.

Enforce Affirmative Action.

Tax the rich; don’t subsidize Wall Street’s wars and football stadiums for billionaires.

Government budgets and the actions of public officials are all about priorities.

Let’s have a well organized “blitz formation” against poverty: meetings around kitchen tables, in union halls, community centers and church basements; letters to the editors and letters to public officials; personal and mass lobbying; picket-lines and demonstrations; involvement in the electoral process.

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

  

Justice for casino workers now.

Hmmmmmm… what’s on my mind today?
By: Alan Maki Tuesday April 17, 2012 5:52 am	Tweet

First published on FireDogLake:
http://my.firedoglake.com/alanmaki/2012/04/17/hmmmmmm-whats-on-my-mind-today/

What’s on my mind today… hmmmmmmm.

Like you, I am repeatedly invited to campaign fundraisers, debates and public forums, meets and greets, etc.

Like you, I seldom go because the candidates and their backers refuse to address any meaningful issues or concerns with anything other than meaningless rhetoric.

These politicians refuse to address the issues of casino workers so I just send them a “thanks for inviting me but…”

The turnouts for these things keep getting smaller and smaller until now we seldom see anyone except the usual “party hacks” at these events making sure anyone who has the nerve to ask a real question gets mocked, made fun of or if someone persists in demanding an answer these hacks jostle the previously invited guest out.

The small turnouts seldom make it worthwhile to waste the expense of gas to attend so I send them something like this:

“I can’t make your event because our resources have to be used fighting for the rights of casino workers.”

However, I would like to know why these candidates who have received a tremendous amount of funding from the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association have been silent on the plight of over 40,000 casino, hotel/motel, restaurant, convenience stores, bars and theme park workers comprising the Indian Gaming Industry here in Minnesota who are forced to work in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos and places of employment at poverty wages and without any rights have remained silent on this issue--- and the issues of poverty, unemployment and racism on Indian reservations and in urban centers with large concentrations of Native Americans living there?

I put this same question to DFL politician Tarryl Clark at a meeting during the NetRootsNation National Convention of bloggers in Minneapolis and she ducked answering my question by claiming she is working on the problem “quietly” and then she tried to explain that this was an issue of “sovereignty” just as most MNDFL politicians try to evade this criminal injustice.

The problem is the DFL is responsible for drafting these “Compacts” which intentionally excluded the workers from having any rights in the Indian Gaming Industry as a favor to the casino owners, managements and the owners of the slot machines— none of whom are Indians, but rather very wealthy white mobsters.

Whoever heard of a “sovereign nation,” any sovereign nation, being allowed to deprive working people of their most basic and fundamental human rights— the right to organize unions to protect and defend their quality of life and standard of living with a voice at work?

In creating these hideously racist “Compacts” from which everyone except Native Americans benefit, the DFL schemed to make sure it would derive huge campaign contributions for its racist white politicians who then have turned around and excluded Native American Indians from the political process.

How many Native American Indians do we see sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature or among Minnesota’s Congressional Delegation or on city councils or county commissions or township boards or school boards even though the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association has flooded DFL coffers with tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions?

Don’t people find it strange that the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association would pump so much money into the campaigns of racist white politicians who then turn their backs in racist indifference to the massive racist poverty created by massive racist unemployment and the racist poverty caused from poverty wages which are enforced by these racist “Compacts” which intentionally deny casino workers the right to organize in order to attain a decent standard of living which the Treaties are supposed to assure forever?

Why the intentional misinterpretation of the Treaties to exclude the right to a living?

Furthermore, I would like to know the positions of these candidates running for public office on enforcing Affirmative Action in employment in line with Federal Executive Order #11246 since these large pools of unemployed among Native Americans and all people of color are causing severe problems and misery for the victims of racist discrimination while pushing all wages down?

Do any of these candidates support closing the loop-holes permitting Affirmative Action to be evaded here in Minnesota?

Quite frankly, not many Minnesotans bother attending these candidate forums because they know these worthless politicians are just sticking their hands out for campaign contributions and they will evade answering these “tough” questions concerning their lives and living conditions.

Until we are able to free ourselves from this two-party trap set for us by the wealthy, fewer and fewer people will be participating in this corrupt and rotten political process.

Politics in Minnesota has been turned into one big circus as a result of the enormous influence by the monied interests— especially the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association whose Executive Director is a racist, anti-labor, anti-union white man— John McCarthy— who has grown enormously wealthy directly from the massive poverty of the Indian people.

John McCarthy and his group of high-paid lobbyists dish out campaign contributions to all of these racist politicians with one hand as fast as they can to purchase their loyalty to injustices; and, then, John McCarthy— the owner of Tony Doom Supply Company which manufactures all kinds of election paraphernalia from yard signs to business cards and pens and pencils and bumper stickers— with his other hand John McCarthy takes back as personal profit the campaign contributions his high-paid lobbyists hand out. All of this goes on at the expense of Native American people and by the time McCarthy and all these other greedy people get their hands on the revenues from Indian Gaming the only thing left for Indian people is the poverty caused by miserly wages and massive debt as the huge pool of unemployed people on the Indian Reservations assures casino workers and most Native Americans will remain mired in poverty. After all, when casino workers are paid poverty wages, they and their families are going to be poor— any school child can figure this out.

Ever heard of little things like ethics and morality in government?

The fact is, the one and only way Native Americans are ever going to get anything of substance out of the Indian Gaming Industry is when all casino workers are paid real living wages.

Corrupt and incompetent state and federal elected officials created tribal governments in their own image, and now these tribal governments try to pass off the idea that these tribal governments are a part of “sovereign” Indian Nations when in fact these tribal governments are just as thoroughly rotten and corrupt as the Minnesota State Legislature or the Bemidji City Council or the United States Congress which controls these tribal councils.

One can look at any of the tribal governments in Minnesota and all you see is the same kind of creeps and sleaze you see sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature or in the United States Congress.

Check it out, Red Lake has its thoroughly corrupt Floyd Jourdain, Leech Lake has its Archie LaRose, Bois Forte has its Kevin Leecy.

Kevin Leecy is in a league all by himself. He beats the crap out of his wife,  politicians “fix” the charges so he gets off, and then he goes before state legislators telling how money is needed to help counsel for spousal abuse programs and when he gets the money he hires his creepy friends to run the counseling program who he knows will support him .

If this isn’t the definition of a “racket” I don’t know what is.

Kevin Leecy is also the Vice-chair of the National Indian Gaming Association which is nothing but a front for organized crime.

Kevin Leecy is also the Chairman of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council which perverts and distorts— they call it “education”— the meaning of the Treaties and “sovereignty” to make them both jibe with enforcing the corruption and racism of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association:

http://www.minnesotahumanities.org/Uploads//Why%20Treaties%20Matter,%20Chariman%20Kevin%20Leecy.pdf

Conveniently, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council never tackles the questions concerning the major employment injustices of the Indian Gaming Industry and refuses to take a stand insisting that Affirmative Action be enforced while distorting the main intent of the Treaties which was to assure a decent standard of living for Native American Indians through the right to work.

A wife-beating crooked and corrupt Kevin Leecy is protected by law enforcement and a court system and the politicians elected by campaign funds distributed by the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association.

And, oh yes; Kevin Leecy also heads up the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association which has as its Executive Director John McCarthy.

And this entire racist and corrupt process is wrapped and packaged in “Indian traditions” and “Indian culture;” doing this is the epitome of racism.

Just read this article ghost written by John McCarthy passed off as having been written by the wife-beating Kevin Leecy:

http://www.casinoenterprisemanagement.com/articles/april-2012/bucking-trend-strong-year-weak-economy

Does anyone find it strange that not one single newspaper, not one single radio station nor one single television station will do a news story about the wages and working conditions of workers employed in the Indian Gaming Industry forced to work in these loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages and without any rights under state or federal labor laws?

Well, check out how many advertisements for these casino operations you see and hear in the same newspapers, radio and television.

What a racket!

Yes, a racket.

A racket that resulted from a brain fart mobster Meyer Lansky had after he was kicked out of Cuba looking for places to put his slot machines where he wouldn’t have to pay taxes or be scrutinized by politicians, government officials or police agencies other than those he was able to pay-off with bribes.

It is all about “the American way” of free enterprise, eh?

Indian Gaming is among the two fastest growing industries here in the United States. Indian Gaming is right up there in expansion among an otherwise sluggish and suffering economy, right up there with the expanding Goodwill Industries which flourishes as poverty grows.

The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party promises “jobs, jobs, jobs;” but did you ever think your next job was going to be working in a smoke-filled casino without any rights or another poverty wage paying outfit like Goodwill Industries? 

·         Something to think about: Unemployment on the northern Minnesota Indian Reservations ranges from 60% to 85%. On any given day, the Native American Indian population in the Beltrami County Jail is no less than 60% of the inmates. In no business or industry in northern Minnesota, with the exceptions of the casino industry and tribal government agencies, are Native American Indian workers more than 1% of the workforce including in township, city, county, state and federal offices, departments and agencies.

·         Question: Why isn’t T.E.R.O. being fully enforced?

·         Question: Why isn’t Affirmative Action being fully enforced as Federal Executive Order #11246 intended?

·         An observation: Federal Executive Order #11246 was never intended to be limited to federal departments, agencies and projects in eliminating racist barriers to employment; but, rather, was intended to serve as a guide to action on how to put an end to racist employment practices at every level of government and private employment.

·         Comment: The struggle for racial equality is everyone’s business because while racism hurts and harms the victims the worst; racism eventually hurts us all in one way or another.

·         What we need: A massive “blitz” against racist poverty in Minnesota.

Contact info:

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell: 651-587-5541

Primary E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

E-mail: alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com

My Blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

A good union contract is better than any government anti-poverty program.

Justice for casino workers would cost about four rolls of quarters per hour for each employee. Ending smoking in casinos, except for the cost of a few signs, would cost nothing.

People without jobs are going to be poor. People paid poverty wages are going to be poor. Raise the minimum wage to a real living wage. Full employment now.

End racist discrimination in employment in Minnesota.