check your email

[one]

from united for peace and justice (http://www.unitedforpeace.org/):

"tucked away in Bush's $87 billion dollar spending bill for Iraq is an $8.5 million dollar item for police and security operations against the FTAA protests in Miami!"

[two]

This Thursday, November 13, the Miami City Commission will vote on an ordinance to change current regulations that govern parades, demonstrations, rallies and assemblies with the purpose of stifling the voices of the thousands of people - students, union members, activists, farmers and many other individuals - from around the Americas and the world who will be coming to South Florida to engage in peaceful, permitted protests at the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) ministerial to be held next week in Miami.

An earlier version of the ordinance was thwarted by strong public opposition. While some of the most outrageous provisions have been eliminated since the original ordinance was first introduced, serious restrictions on First Amendment rights remain. The ordinance interferes with people’s constitutionally guaranteed rights of association and expression by providing extremely broad, but vague definitions of "public assembly" and "parade" and then subjecting such gatherings to an array of new prohibitions. The end result: if the ordinance is passed, police will have enormous discretion in their application of the law, which will give them free reign to discriminate against those who are visibly voicing their opposition to the FTAA.

The undemocratic nature of this ordinance is in keeping with the undemocratic nature of the FTAA itself. Under the rules that would be imposed by the FTAA, decision-making power on economic, social and cultural policies, as well as national development plans will be transferred to transnational corporations and investors and away from local communities.

Send a fax:(http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=239&source=31)

What -- Anti-FTAA Rally
Where -- Niagara Square, Downtown Buffalo
When -- Saturday November 22nd Noon

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is the
expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to every country in in Central America, South America and the Caribbean, except Cuba. . NAFTA has devestated communities throughout North America, including Buffalo. If you think NAFTA has been a disaster for working families and the environment in the US, Canada, and Mexico, the FTAA will be far worse.

On November 22nd, labor, environmental, human rights, and peace groups will rally together in solidarity with thousands of people who will be protesting the FTAA in Miami and the School of the Americas (SOA) in Georgia to stop this "Race to the Bottom" and to affirm that Another World Is Possible!

for more on the FTAA see
www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/

for more on the SOA, see www.soawatch.org

McDonald's McAngry with dictionary word "McJob"



CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster has hit a McSore Spot with McDonald's over the inclusion of the word "McJob" in its latest Collegiate Dictionary.

The latest edition of the dictionary defines "McJob" as "a low paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement."

In an open letter sent to the media on Friday, Jim Cantalupo, chairman and chief executive of the world's largest fast-food chain, took issue with the inclusion of the word and definition.

The definition "is not only an inaccurate description of restaurant employment, it's also a slap in the face to the 12 million men and women who work hard every day in America's 900,000 restaurants," Cantalupo said.

More than 1,000 people who own McDonald's restaurants got their training serving customers behind the counter, he said, taking issue with the notion that work in the fast-food outlets is a dead-end job. Cantalupo also pointed to members of McDonald's top management, including President and Chief Operating Officer Charlie Bell, who began their careers working as crew members at McDonald's restaurants.

"In fact, McDonald's trains more young people than America's armed forces," Cantalupo said.

He also said the company has a trademark on the word "McJOBS," which refers to its program for training and placing people with disabilities.

Cantalupo called for Merriam-Webster to eliminate the definition in its next edition and on its Internet site.

In a statement, Merriam-Webster stood by the definition.

"For more than 17 years, 'McJob' has been used as we are defining it in a broad range of publications, including The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Publishers Weekly, Rolling Stone, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, Ms., Harper's, The New Republic, Utne Reader, The Vancouver Sun," the statement said.

It said "words qualify for inclusion in the dictionary because they are widely and commonly used in a broad range of carefully edited sources."

have you ever noticed things looking the same wherever you go? does the homoginization of culture disturb you?

so what about biotechnology? they say it will save the world.

but is this the kind of world we want? corporate control of life itself is going too far... biodiversity is not for sale.

let them know you dream of a different future

resist the commodification of life






made by the beehive collective. you can't really see the image very well here, but go to for a better view.

we re meeting at squeaky wheel (175 elmwood avenue) at 4:30 today to go over a preliminary script for the anti-bush commercial. if youre interested, come along!

we go to miami in a little over a week. yikes! if you can spare 6 days of your life, and want to represent wny for two good causes (stop ftaa! and close the soa!), AND be in warmer weather, lemme know..

in case you didn't know, a bunch of b-lo folks are getting together this evening to plan to do something from buffalo for the moveon.org bush commerical campaign (http://www.bushin30seconds.org)

i don't have lindsay's no. but just show up at squeaky wheel (175 elmwood ave.) at 730 pm tonight (tuesday).

it's confirmed that Amy Goodman is coming to Buffalo on Wed. December 3rd between 4 - 6:30 for a fundraising reception at Hallwalls to bring Democracy Now to Buffalo. There will be other guests appearing, and we will announce them as soon as they are confirmed.

There's a month to organize to do the mailing and organize the event. Would you like to help change the face of Buffalo Radio? Then come to the next meeting of the Buffalo Coalition for Progressive Media on Thursday November 6 at 7 PM. It will be held at WNYCOSH (2495 Main Street, Suite 438 in Buffalo - it's in the Tri Main Building).

What if you can't attend, but still want to help? Well we need a couple of things. We need your voices to tell people about the event, the fundraising drive, and about Democracy Now! And we need names and addresses of People you know who would want to attend a fundraiser or who would contribute to bringing real progressive radio to Buffalo. Despite the reluctance of every public radio station in Western New York to to carry the fastest growing public news program, Democracy Now will be on Buffalo's airwaves come January 2004, but we need your help.

What we need:

-People to attend the meeting of the Buffalo Coalition for Progressive Media. Again it's at 7PM in the WNYCOSH offices (2495 Main Street, Suite 438 in Buffalo - it's in the Tri Main Building). IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND PLEASE LET US KNOW.

We need people to get us the names and addresses of people interested in contributing to Progressive Radio in Buffalo. We need you to talk to them and let them know about this opportunity.

We need people to work on the event and the campaign.

We need people to sell tickets.

(-contact Brian at 833-5416 or email me (emily@elmwoodstrip.com-- it works! use it!) and i can put you in touch w him)

for every girl who is tired of acting weak when she is strong, there is a boy tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable. for every boy who is burdened with the constant expectation of knowing everything, there is a girl tired of people not trusting her intelligence. for every girl who is tired of being called over-senstive, there is a boy who fears to be gentle, to weep. for every boy for whom competition is the only way to prove his masculinity, there is a girl who is called unfeminine when she competes. for every girl who throws out her e-z-bake oven there is a boy who wishes to find one. for every boy struggling not to let advertising dictate his desires, there is a girl facing the ad industry's attacks on her self-esteem. for every girl who takes a step toward her liberation, there is a boy who finds the way to freedom a little easier.

(adapted by a poem by nancy r smith)

everyone is loking at www.ratemypoo.com downstairs. you have to love moments like that. everyones laughing so hard. i had to leave bc the visual images were giving me associations of smells and...

anyways im back from nasco institute, a co-op conference for a group thats in the business of developing co-ops and furthering the co-op movement. the theme of this year's conference was "facing ourselves: examining power and privilege in our co-ops" and dealing with the strange phenomena that most housing co-ops are sometimes homogenous or lacking true diversity. its a very strange thing to say about a co-op because they tend to be the most open of places in terms of being accepting, or trying to be accepting, of people and things.


start with this assumption: i am a racist. i am a sexist. i am a homophobe. but it's time to unlearn all of those things, all inscribed in us by society.

all weekend i was being challenged. my entire sense of being is flipped on its head, which feels fucking great and fucking terrible all at once. the only way that i will get anywhere on this issue is by feeling discomfort-- bc these are uncomfortable topics to approach in this country, for a lot of reasons-- so the only thing to do is to jump in head first.

im thinking that i want to engage in more anti-oppression work. I've always had this desire..but it was never really fulfilled. i was signed up for ruckus society (http://www.ruckus.org) anti-racist organizing/ anti-oppression camp for sept. 14 2001 but well you remember what happened during that time, so camp was cancelled.

i can't wait to talk to you about all my thoughts and the crazyness that's taken place and is taking place.