"Team Earth" can be built through a simple "Hello"!
New schools business chief highlights school challenges
Despite economic boom, number of uninsured drops only 4 percent
Modest price increase necessary for Connections

The Los Alamos Story: Spinning Like Crazy--Norman Solomon (more Norman Solomon)
CORP-FOCUS: IMF/World Bank: Stupid, Cruel, Brutal--By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

Peace Community

Activist shocks audience with tale of Trident submarines
Thankfulness and peace are heart of Thanksgiving Celebration
Alternative Faire helps many
More news of Nicaragua: Merced-Somoto Sister Cities
El Porvenir means "the future"
American Field Service promoting world peace
An alternative view of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
YOUNG BOYS (poem)

Peace and Justice Links

Living Lightly:

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

The first step in bridging the chasm of ignorance that can lead to hate crimes is a simple "hello" to a total stranger. We need to know the "reality of Team Earth."

Terry Roberts, one of the original 1957 Little Rock Nine to lead off school desegregation in the southern United States, challenged Modesto area folks to joyfully take on this bridge building work of forging relationships with others at a recent Not In Our Town march and rally against hate crime.

That simple greeting, he says, can have a ripple effect upon many. It is a non-judgmental entree to learning about each other.

"We already know what racism is," he explains. Now we must take personal responsibility for going beyond - "beyond the fear of our own power...beyond the ordinary." We must act in ways that will move us away from hate crimes and toward making people feel they really count, that they have opportunities and that they have a future.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish," (Proverbs) is a Biblical warning, that Roberts interprets as a need for each person to choose, then own a personal belief system. As a mental health professional, he emphasizes people must feel they have options. He points out that questioning is a necessary task in growing.

He emphasized hate crimes are not necessarily acts of violence, citing what he considers one of the first examples of hate crime in his life, when at his birth all the white parents were listed in the newspaper as Mr. and Mrs., while his own parents were listed below in a separate grouping of just first and last names with no titles of respect.

Roberts considers the United States Supreme Court decision declaring Dred Scott 3/5 of a person a hate crime, as well.

Roberts likened communities to groves of trees, each tree a unique identity whose roots intertwine with those of others within the same soil environment. Our beliefs, our roots are all mutually supported. "Let’s be here together," while understanding that "difference is."

He feels the founding fathers of the United States did have an affirming vision of "equality for all" men. However, he believes this vision was inclusive of white males, excluding African-Americans (as sub-human) and women, among others.

"What men are doing to each other and to women," he says, is currently "at crisis proportions." He cited a term paper he personally wrote in college entitled, "My Mother Taught Me To Be A Male Chauvinist Pig." His explanation is that his mother held him to a different standard than his sisters. "I had the freedom to go wherever and whenever I wanted with no fear of consequences, yet my sisters were guarded and restricted," he explains.

When asked about the role of the family in America and its impact upon social attitudes and behaviors, he says, "The divorce rate is an indicator...the family is a barometer, which if used as a standard of stability, lets us know where are as a society."

He often works with clients who have become entangled within the criminal justice system. From his experiences he warns, "The court system is adversarial and not designed for families." He sees the need for more family and early childhood intervention, and suggests problems are too deep and embedded by the time they reach the courts.

He also sees a need for "pre-pubescent education [which emphasizes] to children that they are sexual beings and that it is imperative that they learn to be responsible."

By MYRTLE OSNER

"Schools in the Modesto area face major challenges," says Debbe Bailey who spoke to the League of Women Voters recently. She has just been appointed Chief of Business Services for Modesto City Schools. Since Debbe has just stepped into that position from her former slot as Facilities Planner, the audience got the benefit of her expertise in both areas.

The most startling pronouncement of the day was that Modesto right now needs two high schools. Backing up this statement, she told us that Davis High School, built for 1,700 students, now holds 2,700. Overhead and site costs for each high school built today forces the district to build for larger student bodies. All our schools are feeling that pressure.

Spurred by growth in northeast Modesto, a site has already been chosen for a high school there, and planning has begun. (19,000 housing units are already approved, and that doesn’t count Salida!) The other high school needs to be in the Salida area which is growing fast and promises even more growth since the Board of Supervisors just approved a General Plan for a city of about 23,000 people (remember, Salida is an unincorporated city governed by the Board of Supervisors, but within the Modesto City School District). Search for a site is beginning, and hopefully the plans developed for northeast Modesto could be used in Salida too. That would save a lot of money.

The impact of smaller class sizes is proceeding, but our entire district is maxed out in classroom space. Our buildings are old and need major repair or rebuilding, and we have nearly reached the maximum in number of portable classrooms. Debbe estimated the cost of modernization and class size reduction alone at about $5 million without building a single new school.

Debbe discussed the impact of developer fees on how we can pay for new schools. Though growth is supposed to pay for itself, the real fact is that new residents pay by increased housing prices, since the developer has to make a profit and there is a high demand for housing here. The money from fees, however, doesn’t come in all at once and is not available until after the children are already here and the schools need to be in place.

The bottom line: to get schools built when we need them, we must finance them with local bond measures. Some money is available from the state, but it’s chancy. Of the state bond money approved in the last election, most is already gone. All the schools have to compete for it and guess who has the greatest clout? Los Angeles. If we had to wait for developer fees to finance schools, it would be TEN YEARS before we would get another school built. Meanwhile, the children are here.

All Leaguers must be aware of the fact that a bond measure takes a two-thirds vote to pass. At the March election we were part of a coalition trying to get that reduced to a simple majority. That failed, so we now have Proposition 39 on the ballot which would reduce the vote to 55% to pass a bond measure.

Debbe also discussed the possible effect of Proposition 38 (vouchers) on the public school system. You will see a lot of money spent on this before the election. The fact is that if all home schools in the state were included in vouchers, it would drain about $64 million from the public school system. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Read your Pros and Cons arguments before voting.

Despite economic boom, number of uninsured drops only 4 percent

From: Physicians for a National Health Program

Despite the longest economic boom in history, the number of Americans without health insurance dipped just 4 percent last year, from 44.3 to 42.6 million, according to data released by the Census Bureau. While minorities make up 48 percent of the uninsured, 90 percent of the drop was in non-Hispanic whites, according to an analysis by Physicians for a National Health Program.

"This discouraging data proves once again that we cannot grow our way out of the health care crisis," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard. "The market is still leaving 42.6 million Americans (nearly one in every six persons) behind, up 5.2 million since 1992."

The 42.6 million uninsured include over 20 million women and 10 million children — the same number of children uninsured when the Children’s Health Insurance Program was enacted.

"The strategies of the last decade to address the problem of the uninsured have failed," said Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program. "Meanwhile, we’re already spending more than twice as much per capita on healthcare as any nation that guarantees universal coverage."

"When I think of the uninsured, I think of my patients who have died because they couldn’t get care," said Dr. Deb Richter, a family practitioner in Montpelier, Vermont and President of Physicians for a National Health Program. "A four percent fall in the number of uninsured is a drop in the bucket — people are still dying and will continue to die until we make health care a right".

In seventeen states, the percentage of uninsured Americans increased in the last year: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont and Washington. In six states, more than one out of every five persons is uninsured: New Mexico (25.8%), Texas (23.3%), Louisiana (22.5%), Arizona (21.2%), Nevada (20.7%), and California (20.3%)(2). The number of states with less than 10% of the population uninsured has dwindled from eleven in 1992 to just six in 1999.

"Hispanic Americans have the highest rates of uninsurance" noted Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo of Columbia University. "Hispanics are working but employers don’t provide coverage — that hasn’t changed."

"Moreover, it’s a myth that the majority of Americans have insurance paid for by private employers," continued Dr. Carrasquillo. "Excluding workers with insurance paid for by the government or by the employers themselves, fewer than half of Americans (43%) have insurance paid by a private employer. Private employers pay for an even smaller share of total health spending, just over one-fifth (21.2%)".

"These may be the best of times for the economy, but they are among the worst of times for health care," noted Dr. David Himmelstein of Harvard. "Double digit premium increases are back, medical bills cause half of all bankruptcies, and nobody expects a substantial reduction in the number of uninsured anytime soon. In fact, between premium increases and/or a cooling of the economy, we’re likely to see more than 50 million uninsured in the next few years. It’s time to reopen debate over comprehensive national health insurance."

To attend the PNHP’s Fall Meeting in Cambridge, MA, November 11, 2000. visit www.pnhp.org

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

"On The Threshold: A Declaration of Tolerance Through the Arts" will commemorate the United Nations Year of Tolerance through dance, words, music and theatre at Modesto Junior College Monday November 13 in the East Campus Main Auditorium.

The MJC commemoration, under the direction of MJC Dance Instructor Lori Bryhni, will be performed at 1 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. It is MJC’s observation of UNESCO’s adoption of a Declaration on Tolerance, including a plan of action for the United Nations Year of Tolerance, and the proclaiming of November as the International Month of Tolerance.

The program will feature the words and reactions of MJC instructors to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles narrated by the MJC Readers’ Theater class. Their readings will be interspersed with dance by the MJC, Johansen High School and Central West Ballet dance ensembles. The solo, "In Our Time," will be performed to original music composed by MJC Music Instructor David Dow. A separate dance selection will be signed by members of Barbara Wells’ communications handicapped training class.

A civil rights video developed by MTafiti Imara, MJC jazz and world music instructor, also will be shown during the commemoration, as well as selections from the Yes Company production of "Once On This Island."

ACTION: The event is free and open to the community. For information call 575-6417.

"Women In Music: Hear Them Roar"

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

"Hear Them Roar: Women In Music," the compositions of female composers from the 1100’s through the twentieth century will be performed in the Modesto Junior College East Campus Recital Hall November 16 through 18 at 7:30 p.m.. and 19 at 2 p.m.

The performance will include four dramatic excerpts from compositions by women "who were very successful in their time period, but who don’t show up in most traditional musical history texts," explains Cherrie Llewellyn, MJC director of opera and musical theater.

Llewellyn is involved in scholarly research into women’s composers with colleagues in Colorado and New York, and says the music of women composers has just become accessible during the last two years.

The performance will include a capella chant from a Medieval morality play by Hildegard von Bingen. The music of Barbara Strotzzi will illustrate the Baroque period of in-home musical entertaining done in 1600’s Venice living rooms and will feature harpsichord and cello. The Romantic Period will be represented by a dream sequence from Amy Beach’s Cabilda, set in Louisiana in 1812, between the ghost Lady Valerie and the Pirate Pierre. The final selection will be from Shakespeare in Harlem by Margaret Bonds from the 1930’s and 40’s Harlem Renaissance period with text by Langston Hughes.

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

Modesto Sister Cities International invites Modesto area residents to "World on a String", it’s third annual dinner on Saturday November 4 in the McHenry Mansion, 15th and I Streets, Modesto.

The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with appetizers and wine followed by an international dinner at 7 p.m. prepared by Chef Stanley Dimond of Mallard’s Restaurants.

The evenings entertainment will include The Minyo (Japanese) Dancers and a cabaret of popular dance music from Modesto’s five sister cities, Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine, Vijayawada, India, Aguascalientes, Mexico, Vernon, Canada and Kurume, Japan.

Modest price increase necessary for Connections

For ten years we’ve been publishing Stanislaus Connections for you. We are the publication that says it’s "for Peace, Justice, and a Sustainable Environment" We hope you’ve found it helpful and want it to continue reading it.

While Connections is a publication of the non-profit Modesto Peace/Life Center, we have tried to make it self-supporting. In fact, most of the Center’s programs try to be more or less self-supporting.

As prices rise in the economy surrounding us, so does the cost of publishing this paper, even though almost nobody is paid for their work. So we must ask you supporters for a few more dollars to do this.

We are raising the subscription price by $5; that makes it $25 a year (which barely covers the mailing cost alone) The remaining cost is to be underwritten by advertising by increasing our ad rate to $25 for each monthly business-size card, or $125 for six months; $25 for the first 3 column inches, $5 per column inch thereafter. We could take a few more ads, although the editors decided long ago that getting the news out was more important than filling our paper with ads. Of course, donations are always welcome.

Many of you pick up your paper at various locations around Modesto. We’ll still give away more than half our papers, but if you like it, subscribe and help support what we are trying to do for our community. We include all of Stanislaus County in "our community," since papers go out to most other county cities besides.