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Arlene Ackerman: Chalk Up a Loss for Big Business |
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By Eileen Left
Yup, big business lost this round, but it’s going to cost us—at least those of us vested in the school district—dearly. Ackerman lasted five years as San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Superintendent before resigning—just long enough to get vested in a generous pension plan, and just in time to cash in on a $375,000 “incompatibility” severance payment. The $375,000? That was for not being able to do her job.
Ackerman was the face attached to reforms in the SFUSD, but she was representing more and more some of the big money players in San Francisco. Her departure reflects not so much a personality struggle as it does a battle between business interests and public education. And her lack of support betrayed the antipathy for the policies pushed by her and prescribed by her powerful allies.
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Opportunity Knocking ... (But You Can’t Come In) |
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By Gina Alvarez
Theoretically, the San Francisco Green Party should be in a great position. San Francisco has been pretty much a one-party town, run by the Democratic Party. When it comes to supporting major commercial landlords or downtown interests over public interests, pushing redevelopment in Bayview Hunters Point over the welfare of the people who live there, or protecting PG&E’s (gas and electric public utility) interests, it’s been the tops of the Democratic Party that have ensured big business’ interests were taken care of. No one can blame that on the Republican Party–they haven’t had control of San Francisco in decades.
So, for voters looking for a progressive alternative, the Green Party would seem the place to turn. With one supervisor, two members of the Board of Education, a former president of the Board of Supervisors–and nearly a mayor–the Green Party should be able to make great strides.
Unfortunately, the local Green Party is being held back by a small group who would rather stay in charge of a small party than have to deal with democracy in a larger party. This also means foregoing the original intent of forming a Green Party–building an independent alternative to the two corporate-led parties.
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The Privatization of Golden Gate Park |
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By Stephen Willis
The story surrounding the deYoung Museum’s new underground parking garage is about a lot more than just a garage. It’s about corporate personhood and ‘PR Spin.’ And it’s about the willingness of some of our most prominent civic leaders, representing some of the City’s most powerful corporations, to undermine critical public debate so they can escape oversight by controlling the coverage of their ongoing opportunism and fill the media with endless lies to distract from their real goal: privatization.
Since 1998, Alliance for Golden Gate Park members attended public meetings, testifying and organizing community opposition to an illegal garage proposal, which seemed to violate the original Golden Gate Park Draft Master Plan released in 1995. The original Draft Master Plan was shaped from eight years of community input by a park advisory task force and $800,000 in public funding.
It prioritized park safety for the disabled and pedestrians, then bicyclists, and then cars. Park advocates determined that the new deYoung Museum garage proposal violated the intent of the original draft master plan.
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Debunking Ackerman’s Numbers |
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By Matt Gonzalez
A few days before her September 6, 2005 public announcement that she intended to leave the school district, San Francisco Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman released state testing data suggesting San Francisco schools had made great strides in bridging the achievement gap under her leadership. The School District’s $210,000-per-year press office and Ackerman’s allies wasted no time embarking on a public campaign to spin her accomplishments, and portray her opponents as dilettantes who sought to promote their political interests at the expense of students’ interests. It was the vindication Ackerman had been waiting for.
But most observers of this ongoing battle failed to catch a story that was published with less fanfare. It repudiated the state figures Ackerman was basing her success on. Yet, curiously, the story didn’t mention Ackerman. Why not?
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Global Masters of Disaster |
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A thousand dead and many still to be counted; thousands threatened with disease; one million evacuees; hundreds of thousands unemployed; a devastated economy; and a government that chose not to take necessary safeguards, when it knew beforehand the expected results.
This scenario could be a description of occupied Iraq or Southeast Asia after the Tsunami. Instead, we are talking about the situation in the heart of the Southeast United States – in one of the most important oil, sea and land transport, and agricultural zones for the global economy.
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The End of the AFL-CIO -as we know it- |
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By Gene Pepi
In the last week of July this year, the large union confederation in the United States, the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) held a delegate meeting in Chicago. The then 13 million-member trade union confederation, the largest in the world, was meeting nationally for the 10th time in its 50-year existence. Its delegates were meeting to select its new leadership for the next five years, make decisions about its executive structure, and form policies for the future of the AFL-CIO.
It was a foregone conclusion that John Sweeney, leader of the AFL-CIO for the last ten years, would be swept back into office with his program of strong union support for the Democratic Party. What was also certain was that after more than a year of debate and conflict, two of the largest unions affiliated to the AFL-CIO would be leaving to start a new union confederation, and that at least two other large unions were boycotting the convention and were contemplating joining the still unformed new union confederation.
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Joint Struggles at UC Berkeley |
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Students and Labor Seeing Common Struggle
By Chris Finn
The original California Master Plan for Higher Education, formulated in the early 1950s, called for higher public education to be free to California residents. However, the opposite has become reality, as California residents attending the University of California (UC) have seen the cost of their public university education climb thousands of dollars in the last few years alone. The cost is now over $7,400 in tuition and fees a year.
Graduate students pay even more. In addition to tuition increases, some graduate programs have tacked on and raised Professional Degree Fees, adding thousands of dollars to the increases. With state budget cuts, students are also seeing the various fees around UC campuses climb.
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MUNI Riders and Workers at the Ultimate Paypoint |
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By Idelfonso Rodriguez
In the previous issue of Frontlines (and on our website) we published an article “MUNI in Trouble: Newsom and Burns Want Riders and Workers to Pay” which explained in great detail the financial and political wrangling going on due to MUNI managements’ proposal to deal with their analysis that they had a projected $57 million dollar budget deficit for the coming year.
To make up this deficit they proposed drastic cuts in MUNI service and bus routes which would result in the layoff of up to 150 MUNI drivers. All the part-time driver shifts on MUNI have been eliminated and lower seniority workers may be pushed out.
A few of the details have changed since then, but as of September San Francisco public transit users and drivers are getting decreased MUNI service, higher parking fees and transit workers may yet experience layoffs.
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The 65th Anniversary of Stalin’s Assassination of Leon Trotsky |
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This summer saw the 65th Anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky. Trotsky, with Lenin, was one of main leaders of the Bolshevik Party, which led the Russian Revolution in 1917. After the death of Lenin and the coup organized by Joseph Stalin to take over the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, Trotsky became Stalin’s main critic and opponent. Today, when most people talk about the problems of Communism, the Soviet Union or Communist countries, they’re usually referring to the effects of Stalinism. As a strong defender of the traditions and ideals of Marxism, Trotsky became the most hated enemy of the Stalinists.
In the late afternoon of August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky was killed by the blow of a mountaineer’s ice-climbing pick axe at his home in Coyoacan, Mexico, where he had been living in exile.
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Katrina: Another Major Crime by the US Government |
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While President Bush was vacationing, hurricane Katrina devastated four southern states, killing more than a thousand people – and still counting – wounded scores more and destroyed over 1 million houses. It is estimated that over a million people are now refugees in their own country.
On top of the human casualties, more than 100 billion dollars in property has been lost, one third to one half of all national oil refineries are not functioning, maritime transport has been stopped at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and other industrial centers were destroyed or put out of service. The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina will be felt long after this winter.
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Whither Iraq? |
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The Bush administration declared another “mission accomplished,” as slightly more than 50% of registered Iraqi voters and less than 40% of possible Iraqi voters went to the polls. Nevermind that the elections were held under the aim of US guns, with US money and power working overtime to determine the outcome and that 25% of the population—mostly Sunni Arabs—were excluded from the process.
A little over 50% of those voting did so with the illusion that casting their vote for one of the dozen parties that are part of the larger Shia political coalition under the auspices of al-Sistani would be a political means to get rid of the US/British occupation of their country and establish a democracy.
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MUNI in Trouble |
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Newsom and Burns Want Riders and Workers to Pay
By Idelfonso Rodriguez
SAN FRANCISCO - MUNI is in trouble. The City’s rulers let it go down in flames without securing the necessary money to enable it to function. The City’s budget crisis, now $200 million and counting, has Newsom ordering cuts in services, routes and an increase in parking fees, parking tickets and MUNI fares. All this is included in the proposed budget approved 4-2 by the Metropolitan Transit Agency the first week in March.
There is even a proposal to get rid of transfers, which would force riders to buy individual tickets for each route and deprive them of the free return ticket. Seniors and disabled riders will see their fares increase 40%. MUNI workers will be affected because, according to the current proposal, at least 80 union members will lose their jobs.
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Cable Car Conductors: Blaze Trail for Future Union Actions? |
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Transport Workers Union Local 250A Walkout
By Gene Pepi
“Hello everyone. This is your driver. I would like to request that all passengers exit the cable car at this moment as the union has initiated a labor action to complain about unfair labor practices by management. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.” said the conductor of the cable car on Market Street.
The 2 ½ hour walk out on Wednesday, March 2 took MUNI management, Mayor Newsom and riders by surprise and forced an almost instant negotiation.
The passengers, mostly tourists, descended and found other ways to go to Pier 39 or Embarcadero. This scene was repeated throughout the city on every cable car as 52 MUNI employees staged a 2 and a half hour “action” to protest the dismissal of two of their co-workers.
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The Crisis in the Green Party |
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The Magic Number 39 and My Meetings with Cobb, Kucinich and the Steering Committee
By PETER CAMEJO
Many Green members want to know when the infighting is going to end. When will people recognize there is nothing wrong when Greens have differences? Why can't we respect each other and figure out how to work together? This sentiment is wide spread in the Green Party, especially since many members do not have a hard opinion about some of the differences within the party. They are still listening to both points of view. They want peace, understanding, tolerance and unity in action where there is agreement.
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Pope John Paul II, a reactionary in shepherd's clothing. |
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Barry Healy
From Green Left Weekly, April 6, 2005
Karol Jozef Wojtya, known as John Paul II since assuming the office of pope in October 1978, will be remembered as one of the most significant, though certainly not the most progressive, figures in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope John XXIII, who preceded Wojtya as head of the Church by two papacies, is still revered by many Catholics for radically reorienting the church by convening the Vatican II Council, which directly fed the growth of what is known as “liberation theology”. From Vatican II the democratic notion emerged that the whole church — laity and clergy — were united as the “People of God”.
John Paul II's pontificate was organised as a conscious counter-revolution against Vatican II — a winding back of the clock towards an archaic Catholicism politically aligned with violent terror against liberationists around the world.
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Frontlines is Looking for you... Time to join and contribute! |
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We are looking for artists, writers, reporters, community organizers, and correspondents to work for Frontlines, the only radical mass alternative to the dull mainstream San Francisco newspapers. The idea is to build the newspaper, the organization, the movement from the bottom up.
Whether you are a community organizer, a youth activist, a student on campus or a labor activist, you have a place in our ranks.
Interested? Keep reading ...
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MUNI in trouble: Newsom and Burns want riders and workers to pay |
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By Idelfonso Rodriguez
 SAN FRANCISCO - MUNI is in trouble. The City’s rulers let it go down in flames without securing the necessary money to enable it to function. The City’s budget crisis, now $300 million and counting, is forcing Newsom to order cuts in services, routes and an increase in parking fees, parking tickets and MUNI fares. All this is included in the proposed budget approved 4-2 by the Metropolitan Transit Agency last week.
There is even a proposal to get rid of transfers, which would force riders to buy individual tickets for each route and deprive them of the free return ticket. Seniors and disabled riders will see their fare increase 40%. MUNI workers will be affected because according to the current proposal at least 80 union members will lose their jobs.
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Basra intellectuals united by fear of rise in religious intolerance |
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Jonathan Steele in Basra
The Guardian
They sit in a shabby living-room, a Sunni, a Christian and two Shias, united by two things: fear that Iraq's religious parties will have done well in Sunday's elections, and anger with British occupation officials for having given the Islamists what they feel is excessive power.
While many urban professionals in Baghdad worry about insurgent violence, their counterparts in Basra are terrified by the Shia parties that already rule Iraq's second city.
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Iraq: Who voted and who didn't and why |
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By Frontlines staff, with material from agencies
 BAGHDAD, Iraq – Polling places in some neighborhoods in Baghdad, Mosul, Tikrit and other towns and cities around the country were empty. Participation in the elections in those places was very light.
In other areas of Baghdad, particularly the heavily fortified Green Zone and some residential areas, throughout the Northern Iraqi Kurdistan and heavily Shia areas under control of Ayatollah al-Sistani’s political forces, the polls were bulging with votes and sizable lines of voters could be observed.
The real numbers of this election are difficult to obtain as international monitors were not allowed to observe the proceedings for "security reasons." Even if we use the highly unreliable figures distributed by the Iraqi government and sources close to the US embassy in Baghdad, the results seemed to indicate a mixed bag, no matter what the different parties are trying to spin:
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Polifactics Discussion Board |
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San Francisco Metroscope |
· Arlene Ackerman: Chalk Up a Loss for Big Business
(Oct 21, 2005)
· Opportunity Knocking ... (But You Can’t Come In)
(Oct 21, 2005)
· The Privatization of Golden Gate Park
(Oct 21, 2005)
· Debunking Ackerman’s Numbers
(Oct 15, 2005)
· MUNI Riders and Workers at the Ultimate Paypoint
(Oct 14, 2005)
· MUNI Riders and Workers at the Ultimate Paypoint
(Aug 27, 2005)
· MUNI in trouble: Newsom and Burns want riders and workers to pay
(Mar 04, 2005)
· San Francisco Pendulum Politics Swings Center, Right ... for now
(Jan 29, 2005)
· San Francisco: Cops super-funding fueled by irrational fear
(Nov 19, 2004)
· SF Elections: Losers, Winners, Factions and Trends (notes for a balance-sheet)
(Nov 08, 2004)
· San Francisco, Nov. 2 Election: Last Minute Intelligence
(Oct 29, 2004)
· SF School Board race: Who framed Mark Sanchez?
(Oct 29, 2004)
· Immigrant Pride Day: rally for "Papers for all" and in support of Local 2 strikers and Proposition F
(Oct 24, 2004)
· School Board race: On the Use of School Children as Pawns by Downtown's SFSOS and Big Businesses
(Oct 20, 2004)
· Board of Education: Jim Ferrigno, a Green candidate, Speaks up
(Oct 20, 2004)
· New Progressive Left Movement Endorsement Forum
(Oct 20, 2004)
· To Ammianoite Nancy Chárraga: Lucrecia's proposals are viable, Incumbent Ammiano is not
(Oct 20, 2004)
· District 9 Supervisorial race: The Left on Gangs, Schools and Small Businesses, Interview with Lucrecia Bermudez
(Oct 19, 2004)
· Why and How Tom Ammiano Lost his Thunder... Again, and Again (*)
(Oct 19, 2004)
· District 9 Supervisorial race: Renee Saucedo, Opportun-ist Knocks
(Oct 19, 2004)
· District 5 Supervisorial Race: Beneath the Rhetoric it's Machine vs. Greens. Why Vote for Ross Mirkarimi in District 5?
(Oct 18, 2004)
· District 5 Supervisorial Race: Why Robert Haaland is a Prisoner and a Tool of the Machine
(Oct 18, 2004)
· Matt Gonzalez interviews Jane Kim, candidate for the SF School Board
(Sep 18, 2004)
· Vigilantes in the Mission: What was Ammiano thinking?
(Sep 15, 2004)
· District 5 Supervisorial race: Brett Wheeler's Political Confessions
(Sep 14, 2004)
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US News & Reports |
· Joint Struggles at UC Berkeley
(Oct 14, 2005)
· US lost track of some nine billion dollars meant for Iraq's reconstruction on Paul Bremer's watch
(Jan 31, 2005)
· Bush's Pillars
(Jan 26, 2005)
· US Elections: Right wing shift confirmed. Blame the Democratic Party
(Nov 15, 2004)
· Fundamentalist Christian Right: Breeding ground for fascist tendencies
(Nov 15, 2004)
· Don't Say We Didn't Warn You
(Nov 07, 2004)
· Democrats: Who to blame this time?
(Nov 03, 2004)
· November 2, complete US Presidential, California and San Francisco electoral results
(Nov 03, 2004)
· The Case for Leonard Peltier for President: Justice and Freedom
(Oct 28, 2004)
· The Ultimate Protest Candidate: Leonard Peltier for President
(Oct 24, 2004)
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International Special Reports |
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International Newswire |
· Basra intellectuals united by fear of rise in religious intolerance
(Jan 31, 2005)
· Iraqis show mixed response to polls
(Jan 30, 2005)
· When oil peaks ...
(Jan 28, 2005)
· In Armored Vehicles, U.S. Troops Tell Iraqis to Vote
(Jan 28, 2005)
· 37 US Troops Killed in Deadliest Day in Iraq
(Jan 26, 2005)
· Iraq: Vote or no vote, we will kill you
(Jan 26, 2005)
· Iraqi Insurgency Proves Tough to Crack
(Jan 26, 2005)
· Gonzalez: Torture treaty doesn't bar `cruel, inhuman' tactics
(Jan 26, 2005)
· "Guantanamo has become the Bermuda Triangle of human rights" - Human Rights Watch
(Jan 13, 2005)
· Bush's Iraqi Election collapsing: half of the parties and cnadidates withdraw
(Dec 08, 2004)
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What's Left |
· The 65th Anniversary of Stalin’s Assassination of Leon Trotsky
(Oct 14, 2005)
· The Crisis in the Green Party
(Apr 09, 2005)
· Eric Hobsbawn: Delusions About Democracy
(Jan 27, 2005)
· Peter Camejo: Cut and Run, the Green Party Convention
(Aug 17, 2004)
· Green Party remains divided by rigged Milwaukee Convention
(Aug 05, 2004)
· Crisis in the San Francisco Green Party
(Jul 30, 2004)
· The Green Left
(Jul 30, 2004)
· New Progressive Left Movement Organizing in Communities of Color and among Immigrants
(Jul 30, 2004)
· 1,000 Greens, Socialists and Indies Launch Nader-Camejo campaign in San Francisco
(Jul 17, 2004)
· Ralph Nader letter to the Green Party Convention
(Jun 27, 2004)
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Book on Latin America: |
Cauldron of Revolution and Counter-Revolution
By Carlos Petroni
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