What is Song Circle?

By KEN SCHROEDER

What is song circle?

A group of people who gather monthly to share our love of singing and community.

Who attends?

People of all ages, including children who sing and/or play, from Modesto, Oakdale, Waterford, Stockton, the West Side of Stanislaus County and beyond.

Where do we meet?

We meet in individual homes. Call 526-2303 for current location or to get on the email notice list.

When do we meet?

The second Friday of each month from September to June beginning between 6:30 and 7 p.m.

What happens during the evening?

The evening includes a pot-luck dinner and talk, announcements, and singing until approximately 9:30 p.m. or later. Participants take turns choosing songs.

What kind of pot-luck is it?

Every person or family brings a dish to share with both vegetarian and meat dishes available. The host provides beverages.

Do I need to be an experienced singer?

If you like to sing, you'll fit right in. Charles Seeger, father of Pete Seeger said, "To MAKE music is the essential thing. To listen is an accessory." We believe in singing together and having fun doing it. All singing levels and experience are welcome and reading music or knowing the words to songs is not necessary.

What kinds of songs do you sing?

We use songs from the book, Rise Up Singing, which includes peace songs, freedom songs, children's songs, lullabies, Beatles songs, Woody Guthrie songs, show tunes, love songs, songs in English, songs in Spanish, labor songs, songs of hard times and struggle, old time songs, funny songs and songs of hope. We usually have a guitarist or 2 (more are welcome). Songbooks are available for the evening or to buy.

What else do you do?

We produce the annual Modesto Peace/Life Center benefit concert with folk musician John McCutcheon, and some of us occasionally sing publicly.

ACTION: One of our songs goes, "Wherever you're from, we're glad that you've come. We've been waiting for you to come to this place." You are welcome to join us. For information call 526-2303.

What would $87 billion buy

By MICHAEL MOORE

Congress approved $87 for military uses in Afghanistan and Iraq. — Editors

If you can't get through this list without wanting to throw up, I'll understand. But pass it around anyway. This is the nail in the Iraq War's coffin for any sane, thinking individual, regardless of their political stripe. (Thanks to Tom Paine.com and the Center for American Progress.)

To get some perspective, here are some real-life comparisons about what $87 billion means:

$87 Billion is more than the combined total of all State budget deficits in the United States. The Bush administration proposed absolutely zero funds to help states deal with these deficits, despite the fact that their tax cuts drove down state revenues. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities].

$87 Billion is enough to pay the 3.3 million people who have lost jobs under George W. Bush $26,363.00 each! The unemployment benefits extension passed by Congress at the beginning of this year provides zero benefits to workers who exhausted their regular, state unemployment benefits and cannot find work. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities].

$87 Billion is 87 times the amount the Federal Government spends on After School Programs. George W. Bush proposed a budget that reduces the $1 billion for after-school programs to $600 million cutting off about 475,000 children from the program. [Source: The Republican-dominated House Appropriations Committee].

$87 Billion is more that 10 times what the Government spends on all environmental protection. The Bush administration requested just $7.6 billion for the entire Environmental Protection Agency. This included a 32 percent cut to water quality grants, a 6 percent reduction in enforcement staff, and a 50 percent cut to land acquisition and conservation. [Source: Natural Resources Defense Council].

Stripped of rights in Guantanamo

BY JORG BRASE and ANDREAS WUNN

Excerpted from ZDF German Television Investigative news show "Frontal 21”"

America's Political Prisoners

Sayed Abbassin went through hell. For almost a year the taxi driver from Kabul sat in the feared U.S. military prison in Guantanamo-innocent, as he claims. His undoing came at the hands of a passenger at a checkpoint near Kabul in April of 2002. He says he didn't even know the man.

Because Sayed Abbassin liked to listen to music, he was imprisoned under the Taliban rule. As a result, the taxi driver from Kabul was looking forward to the American liberators. But the latter put him back in jail, this time as an alleged Taliban supporter.

No Apology:

For almost a year Sayed was a prisoner in the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Of the more than 600 prisoners, the Americans have released about 60. The U.S. military declared them not to be a threat. There was not apology, no compensation.

Sayed's sad story began on April 10, 2002. On that day he was driving his taxi in the province of Khost, south of Kabul. He found himself at a checkpoint of the Afghan army. a passenger who happened to be with him caused his ruin. Sayed recounts: "As I came to the checkpoint, I had three passengers in my car. The soldiers said that I had the cousin of a well-known warlord in my car. I told them I didn't even know the man. They wouldn't listen to me and threw me in a prison, together with the passenger."

He declares his innocence:

They brought him to Bagram, to the headquarters of the Americans. Then to Kandahar in the south. Sayed declared his innocence. There was no proof; nevertheless, the Americans transferred him to Guantanamo.

"The flight to Cuba was the worst part," reports Sayed. "We were bound by our hands and feet for over 20 hours in the airplane. Our mouths were gagged and our eyes were tightly covered with masks. It continued like that in Cuba at first. After three days they finally removed the mask and I found myself in a cage.

Tightest Security Measures:

Sayed had prisoner number 671. He is 21 years old. Sayed showed us his prison documents. For months he was interrogated. Always the same questions. The Americans believed him to be a Taliban. Under the tightest security, Sayed is allowed neither an attorney nor visitors.

Sayed remembers: "It was horrible. They let me out of my cell only once or twice a week. Beforehand, they would tie my hands and feet, and then they'd let me out for 30 minutes. I was allowed to shower for five minutes-once a week. Then I was tied up again and taken back to my cell. It was inhumane."

Unlawful combatants:

The US has created a zone without rights (a "right-free zone") on Cuba. The detainees are not considered prisoners of war. They are called unlawful combatants (or enemy combatants). This designation is not recognized by international law. The detainees are threatened with a possible death sentence at the hand of planned military tribunals.

Dr. Gerd Seidel is a professor of international law at Berlin's Humboldt University. He is convinced that "this is a flagrant violation of international law. Human rights are being violated there in a way that has seldom been seen. And this from a country that believes itself to be in a position to teach other nations and peoples about human rights. The US administration is putting internal law above international law. That is a very strange practice which in the past was conducted only by dictatorships, as it continues to be today."

Bush needs no proof:

The US wants to fight the war against terrorism with all means possible. President Bush needs no proof; his judgment is firm. The US president said on July 17, 2003: "The only thing I know for sure is: those guys there are bad people."

Bad people apparently don't deserve constitutional proceedings. Neither is the British government bothered by the fact that their American friends are trampling on the law. Prime Minister Blair has only made a stand for British prisoners, asking that they be spared the death penalty.

No money for lawyers:

Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, asks: "What kind of judicial system is it if the president can decide at the outset who gets the death penalty and who doesn't? Normally the death penalty only applies to specific crimes. It's not possible to spare only those who happen to be acquainted with the British ambassador."

Sayed doesn't know any ambassadors and doesn't have money for lawyers. Nobody is fighting for his rights or for compensation. For the time being he is living with a cousin in Kabul. Family and friends loaned him money for a new taxi.

Fear of Revenge

Every day Sayed thinks back on Guantanamo. Due to the harsh light in his cell, he now suffers from eye problems. His knees hurt from having knelt for so long. He has lost his belief in justice: "I'm not saying that Americans are bad people. They have laws, a good justice system, and they're friendly. But in my case, none of that applied. I wonder why they kept me locked up without reason for a year. "

Sayed was glad when the Americans drove out the Taliban. But the same people that wanted to free his country took him prisoner, dragged him off and tortured him. Now he's afraid to talk about the details of his imprisonment in front of our camera. He fears that the Americans could take revenge. Upon his release, the guards ridiculed him and said: " Don't think of asking for damages. Just be grateful to your Allah that you can go home now."

Andreas Wunn (Andi) from Trier (Konz), Germany was an AFS Exchange student  in Modesto1991-1992, attended Downey High School, and lived with Ed and Nancy Howard.  Andi works in Frankfurt, Germany for ZDF German television.

SOA Watch Spring Mobilization and Lobby Day

Come to Washington, DC March 30, 2004 and tell Congress to "Shut Down the SOA! No More Murder in Our Name and with Our Tax Money!"

The School of the Americas (SOA), now known as the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" (WHISC), has been pumping out assassins, dictators and death squad leaders for the dirty work in Latin America since 1946.

The school continues to aide and influence Latin American militaries as a way for the Pentagon to control the economic and political systems of Latin America. Human rights abuses and attacks carried out by SOA graduates continue today, especially as opposition to neo-liberal economic policies by Latin America's marginalized people grows.

The Pentagon lobbies hard to keep money flowing for the SOA/WHISC. In reacting to the growing public outcry, the Army operates (at taxpayers' expense) a huge PR campaign directed at Congress. People throughout the country are countering their attempts with grassroots power. The SOA Watch movement is preparing for a large-scale Lobby Day in DC on March 30th.

A vote on the School of the Americas/ Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation is coming up in the U.S. Congress in 2004! It is our job to make sure that enough Representatives will be on board to vote against the school. Hold your Representative accountable.

 SERVE THE HOMELESS

Dates remain open between now and the March 31 to prepare and serve food for homeless at the shelter, 9th and D Streets, Modesto.

"Prisoners of Conscience" write letters at the Center

BY STAN CUNNINGHAM

We would like to invite you to join us as we write letters of support for prisoners of conscience as well as for other issues and causes listed on the websites of Amnesty International and other human rights . We call ourselves "Prisoners of Conscience" and we meet the first and third Mondays of the month at the Modesto Peace/Life Center from 3:30 to about 5:00 PM.