Block Party in Free Bloomfield 9/2

I posted this as is, despite some of the obvious kookiness. I’m a little too feverish and delirious to get into talking about the US vs. China proxy war in Darfur, that already has liberal consent for a full on war, just add Democrat President, and the establishment of a US Afrika Korps African Command

Just come to the damn party.

Members and Supporters of the TMC…
Body: Dear Members and Supporters of the TMC,

I am very glad to be the new communications director and am still looking forward to meeting all those I did not get a chance to see at our recent meet and greet events.

In the midst of celebrating 35 years as a peace and justice organization, the Thomas Merton Center faces an unexpected financial crisis. Though most non-profits usually suffer a slow down of contributions during summer months the center is experiencing an emergency situation.

We have been an important community institution for many individuals and groups in the region and it is very important to have a common space for the community to share. As you know, the Center continues to support anti-nuclear groups, workers and the right to fair treatment in the workplace, anti-war efforts, and the quest to increase the peace and stop the violence in our communities.

The Thomas Merton Center has been able to provide support and resources for projects such as the Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy Now, Save Our Transit, and Book ‘Em books-to-prisoners campaign. The TMC continues to help people on the local level to think globally though the efforts of the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, the Africa Project and the Haiti Solidarity Committee.

Our long-time colleagues from American Friends Service Committee recently sponsored a vigil with Demilitarize Pittsburgh, a project of the Thomas Merton Center, to recognize the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and make connections to war profiteers and the arms race today.

Recently featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was TMC member and urban farmer Claire Schoyer and several other members of the Center’s Sustainable Living Project. Pittsburgh is one of the few large cities with a lot of green space in an urban environment. The members of this project are working on communal, organic gardens to eventually provide a free source of healthy food. They aim to facilitate self-sustaining and less destructive human environments by studying and mimicking relationships found in nature.

As you see, the Thomas Merton Center is as committed to peace and justice issues today as we were in 1972. Over the years, our work has continued to transcend race, gender and socio-economic factors.

The demolition and replacement of an old fire escape has put a large hole in the Merton Center budget. Nearly $20,000 has been spent so far in that process alone with another $11,000 due to pay off the bill for the new structure. The demolition has caused damage to the community institution housed in the heart of the Penn Avenue Arts district in Garfield. The structure had to undergo masonry repairs and still needs roofing, gutter and downspout work which means additional funds are needed. Clearly the escalating costs were not anticipated by the former financial management team.

Other physical plant issues the Center is facing come from further inspection by the current staff and board members. This includes the need to renovate space available for community use, replace an antiquated phone system and to improve our computer networking capabilities. Various individuals and groups have stepped forward over the past weeks to offer donations, volunteers and consultation. We also need your assistance.

The 2006 cost to run the center was just under $192,000, which pays for three full-time and one half-time staff, office supplies and physical up keep. That total 2006 budget does not include monies received by the 25 individual projects that are fiscally sponsored by the Center which are used by the projects. The current situation also has staff members facing possible layoffs to save the center.

While supplemental funds are constantly being sought by our development, building, financial committee members and staff, that does not downplay or rule out the urgent need for new and renewing memberships.

We are also currently in the process of contacting major donors and planning for our next major fundraising event on November 15. The 2007 Thomas Merton Award Dinner will be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Station Square. This year’s Merton recipient will be Cindy Sheehan, the fiery “peace mom” of our growing anti-war movement.

How can you help? We are asking you to make a donation, renew your membership, support our annual dinner, encourage others to become members, volunteer your time, goods or services to keep this community institution growing. All of your contributions are tax deductible.

Donate online at:
http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org

Contact the staff about volunteering your time, goods or services at:
412-361-3022

Send a donation to:
Thomas Merton Center
5125 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

The Center is confident that we will get through this current situation and continue to serve the public by making everyone aware of this crisis but we cannot do this without your help.

Thanks for your time
Peace and justice for all,

Kevin Amos / Communications Director

Attorney General Resigns

I’m not sure what difference that makes, although, Boss media seems to think there’s a story there?

Jaywalking: A Capital Offense in PA?

I guess the SWAT team was busy with other “social work”?

The Pittsburgh Police have killed again. This time, it was a 27 year-old man who was walking on the Parkway West. Boss media is implying that it was OK, since the

“car contained suspected drug paraphernalia”

Who am I kidding? If Stevie Junior would grant me the same blanket immunity from prosecution, that is enjoyed by the paid, uniformed terrorists police in Allegheny County, I might behave the same way?

In another unrelated incident last night, a teen chose to defend themselves from “unlawful combatants”, to use the language of the State, since they weren’t in uniform. Send all the undercover and unmarked piggies to Gitmo.

A Block Party to Benefit the Thomas Merton Center

 

A Block Party to Benefit the Thomas Merton Center
Sponsored by Food Not Bombs
Sunday September 2nd
4pm-10pm
Corday Way between Taylor and Ella Sts.,
Parking Lot behind Ace Hardware on Liberty Ave.
Bloomfield, Pa.

Suggested Donation $5-$15
Beverages and Vegetarian Food will be provided by Food Not Bombs
Raffle and Music
Free Literature

Bands 4:30-7
Two Sexy Beasts
Kill the Unicorn
Saber Teeth
+ 1 More TBA

DJs 7:30-10
DJ Spaed
DJ Zack Traxxx
DJ Sean MC
DJ Idris Intifada
DJ Thermos

For more info:
Pittsburgh_FNB@yahoo.com
http://fnb-pgh.2ya.com/

Predator Access to Children Restricted by School Board

Any effort to counter military recruiting, reformist or otherwise is fine with me, since I favor reinstating the military draft. Although their (public) numbers are shrinking, since 9/11/2001, there are still far too many flag-sucking sheep, who beat the drums of war, but refuse to to take up arms themselves. A draft would give many of them a chance to put their money where their mouth and magnetic ribbons are. It would be interesting to see some casualties from the suburbs, instead of the current. mostly rural and urban child sacrifice.
Otherwise sane people who feel that there is nothing they can do about the imperial designs of the US, would probably realize that there were at least a few things they could try, if their number was called. Violent authority could lose some of its newfound popularity, too. I have a feeling that the self-described, ‘War on the Lack of Consumer Capitalist Markets in Resource Laden, Largely Muslim Regions Terror’ wouldn’t survive too long if it required anything more than economic conscripts. A “volunteer” military is one of those rackets like voting, that is used by State capitalist regimes self-described ‘democracies’, to fabricate the illusion of consent, and the US could stand a little disillusionment (and barricades).

Whether it is underreported, or actually rare, there is very little of the kind of resistance that led to the US withdrawal from Indochina. Sorry old hippies, and new SDSers, I’m talking about mutiny and desertion, not sit-ins and good vibes.

The 21st century US military recruiter is a despicable creature; half pimp, using deception, coercion, and sometimes outright sexual assault, to put healthy young bodies to work for their own financial gain, as well as half snitch, because like a informant, they must get other people to forfeit their freedom, to escape the consequences of their actions, although instead of jail, the recruiter are trying to avoid combat in Iraq. If they don’t offer up enough fresh meat for the grinder, they are headed back to the front lines, and like other snitches, the State is willing to overlook almost any misdeed, if it produces the desired outcome.

Although compulsory education seems to be about 95% compulsory and 5% education, it’s good to hear that the Pittsburgh City School Board passed a resolution that restricts the kind of dirty tricks that the captive audience known as “our children” can be subjected to. Some of the provisions of the resolution include:

• Require recruiters to register with the principal or an administrator upon arrival.
• Require a district employee to escort recruiters around a school unless they can show proof of having state and federal clearances or a statement from their employer that they have such clearances.
• Prohibit them from sponsoring contests, drawings, lotteries or from exchanging gifts unless they are of scholarships or are of minimal value.
• Ban them from using exhibits that violate the district’s weapons policy or using video games that depict weapons or violence.
• Limit them to meeting students in areas designated by the principal

Curiously enough, Mark Brentley Sr., who was hailed as a supporter of the resolution, by any account, voted against it. None of the media reports name a reason.

Kudos to the School Board. I never thought I’d live long enough to say that. Nice work Conscience and Quakers, and while you’re at it, check with the folks from the Pittsburgh Organizing Group, to see if there’s anything you can do to support their upcoming action.

In theory, this will also curtail the activities of other confidence tricksters, such as those who push five-figure a semester, 2 year culinary and art schools, and credit cards for teens and other exploitative practices.

Domestic Terror Groups Running Low on Ammunition

One of the good things about the 21st Century crusades, is that occasionally, glassy-eyed, flag-sucking morons engage in combat with their lunatic Muslim counterparts, and both sides take casualties. I do fell genuine sympathy for ordinary Iraqis and Afghanis caught in the crossfire, and to a lesser degree, the Crusader mercenaries noble volunteers who are only seeking to elevate their own economic conditions and get a formal education, but it is ridiculous, after a certain point in time, to pretend that they did not know what they were getting into when they enlisted. At the risk of being branded “insensitive” the fewer “care so much about the flag or holy book that I’ll kill you” or whatever types that I have to share a planet with, the better. An imperial army, composed of slaves and/or mercenaries, is a formula that dates back to the days of Roman conquest, and like Rome and other imperial powers, the US empire is in decline, due in large part to it’s attempt to control large territories far from the Belly of its Beast.

I wince when liberals bleat about “supporting the troops”. What in the hell does that mean? I used to “support the troops” when I was paying federal taxes, but other than that, and magnetic ribbons (which support the troops in Red China), they’ve lost me. Are they guarding rear supply lines? Mending torn uniforms? Reloading ammunition? Knitting desert camouflaged I-pod covers?

Same with the “bring the troops home now”; I say leave them there. We have enough deranged cops running around as it is. The last thing us lower class folks in the US need is a bunch of shell-shocked 20 something cops, who can’t tell the difference between Sadr City and Kansas City. At least after Vietnam, they used their civil service points to work for the post office, and most of their combat took place in jungles, not urban environs. I’d take the random individual “going postal” over thousands of PTSD cases resuming their domestic role as the occupying army of Capital, as members of an increasingly militarized police force.

We have more than enough uniformed, licensed, specialists in suppression of the poor, that we should be in no hurry to subject ourselves to new ones. On a positive note, the Crusades are limiting the capacity for State terrorists to train and wage violence against US civilians.

Infighting Erupts Amongst Regional Terror Groups

Two (temporarily demoted) City detectives reacted violently, to counter the assertion that they were not “above the law” when confronted by country cops at a Toby Keith concert, of all places. They even tried to grab the uniformed terrorist’s weapon. If you or I tried that, it’s no mystery how that would have ended.

Amazingly, the City is pretending to discipline them, even stripping them of their titles, but no reduction in wages. Compare the reaction with that to the handful of murders of black civilians, committed annually.

Pittsburgh Call to Organize Against the IMF/World Bank

This call was issued several days ago, but due to an awful infection in my writing hand, yinz have been spared my awful prose. My failing health will prevent me from participating in these actions, but that’s no reason for you not to. It’s a shame, as it seems like a genuine attempt to step away from the formal, defensive organizing, that passes for genuine resistance. I’m sure that the young re-enactvists who use the SDS brand name will make this as tedious as possible and take all credit for any success, so maybe it’s just as good that my health is bad?

Pittsburgh meeting of affinity groups and their delegates to organize against the World Bank/IMF: Wednesday September 5th at the Dinosaur in Oakland. (Forbes Ave, between Bigelow and Bellefield)

Attention all Pittsburgh area anarchists and radicals! Today the October Coalition, a collection of DC groups organizing against the IMF and World Bank, put out their calls for the actions happening against the meetings on the weekend of Oct 19-21. Autumn Insurrection, a Pittsburgh group of anarchists, is calling for all Pittsburgh area radicals to start forming affinity groups with their close friends and comrades. We seek to bring different affinity groups in the area together for meetings on how we can work to effectively challenge the state in October in Washington DC. We are also planning on organizing trainings and working to hook people up with transportation and housing for the weekend.

October Rebellion has put a call out for the following actions:

Friday October 19th-

12pm-2pm March and Rally at Immigration and Customs Enforcement
425 I Street

9:00pm-??? Disrupt Georgetown!
An unpermitted night march through the Georgetown neighborhood of DC, the home of some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country and their shopping district.

Saturday October 20th-
1Pm March on the IMF/World Bank!

We are calling for a Pittsburgh meeting of affinity groups to coordinate our plans on Wednesday September 5th at the Dinosaur in Oakland. (Same place Critical Mass meets, On Forbes Ave. between Bigelow and Bellefield, off of Schenley Drive.) 8PM.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at AutumnInsurrection@Gmail.com

or check out the October Rebellion Coalition website at
http://www.OctoberRebellion.org

In love and rage
Autumn Insurrection

Who is Autumn Insurrection?

Autumn Insurrection is a collection of Pittsburgh Anarchists involved with numerous other projects who are organizing Pittsburghers to go to the fall meetings of the IMF and World Bank. We hope to bring as many Pittsburgh radicals to the meetings as possible in the hope that we can all work together to effectively resist the state and global capitalism in October.

SOS-Thomas Merton Center is BROKE!!

Sorry to come back after a health/legal related hiatus, and beg for money, but the Thomas Merton Center is one of the key defensive (as are all formal organizations) structures  for participants the social war, as it is carried out here in Southwestern PA.

The TMC is one of those rare places in North America, where wild-eyed anti-authoritarians and  social democrats and their ilk can find common ground from time to time. Ask any anarchist in the 412 area code and 8 out of 10 will sing their praises. Anything that can get 80% anarchist agreement is fucking amazing.

The Yinsurrectionary Times will be selling refrigerator magnets (we got a deal on the printable magnetic sheets) to benefit the TMC, but if you think the writing here is awful, the graphic design sense is much worse, so and suggestions or advice on designs would be greatly appreciated.

send suggestions to  yinsurrectionarytimes at hotmail dot com

Some other fundraising ideas are in the works, and we’ll keep you posted.

What follows is a forwarded message:

Hi dear friends who love the Thomas Merton Center,

This is a plea for money! The activist resource center that

you know and love in Pittsburgh is having severe financial crisis!

A lot of this has to do with the fact that the TMC had to replace the

fire escape that was deteriorating. This in itself was a pretty penny and

in the process it left holes in the back brick wall which lets the water in.

Yes all the water thats been falling falling falling is falling through the center.

So water has been pouring in creating damage!! If you have been at the center

lately you have seen the huge hole in the kitcen ceiling and its getting worse!

Besides that there are numerous other building repairs that need done.

Is a group your involved in a project of the Merton Center and you are not a member?

Have you ever had an event or meeting at the center? Do you read the NewPeople on your lunch brake? Do you support the work of the 30 projects that use the resources of the merton center? The Africa Project- addressing child soldiers in Uganda, Book ‘EM – supplying quality education material to prisoners, New Voices Pittsburgh- women of color for reproductive justice, many Anti-War groups and Demilitarization efforts, Haiti Solidarity Committee, Save Our Transit,….the list goes on and on!

The TMC is currently working on a few grants but if approved that money wont

come for a great while. In addition to seaking individaul donations, we are imploring people to become members.  It costs 25 dollars for one year! That is so cheap!

You can make your check out to Thomas Merton Center and mail your check to the TMC 5125 Penn Ave Pittsburgh PA 15224 or donate online http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org

And seriously, if you got more money then you need right now, please consider making

a big donation. You would be supporting many different activist groups all over the city and

in doing out supporting all of thier causes.

Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate:A Conversation and Book Signing with Mike Yates

Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate
A Conversation and Book Signing with Mike Yates
Author of "Why Unions Matter"
At the Pump House
Sunday August, 12, 2007
1:30 pm

In Michael Yates' book we get the invisible made visible: the stark 
and powerful truth of the haves and have-nots. Cheap Motels and a Hot 
Plate is what we are all about." -Studs Terkel

Yates' travelogue/critique ranges from the political economy of 
California's agricultural valleys, where migrant workers pick our 
food, to an account of the job market in Portland. This is a great 
book-a road story for radicals. It makes you itch to hit the 
road."-David Bacon, photographer and author of Communities Without 
Borders

"Here's the travel book the chamber of commerce doesn't want you to 
have. It shows you the way to places of great beauty, but it also 
invites you into the parts of real America that other books 
avoid-gated communities in small towns, homeless kids in our cites, 
poor people of color toiling at arduous and poorly-paid labor, 
burgeoning economic inequality, and environmental destruction in our 
national parks. Read this book. It might change the way you see our 
country the next time you travel."-Jim Hightower, national radio 
commentator and author of Thieves In High Places

The road trip is a staple of modern American literature. But nowhere 
in American literature, until now, has an economist hit the road, 
observing and interpreting the extraordinary range and spectacle of 
U.S. life, bringing out its conflicts and contradictions with humor 
and insight.
Disillusioned with academic life after thirty-two years teaching 
economics, Michael Yates took early retirement in 2001, with a pension 
account that had doubled during the dot.com frenzy of the late 1990s. 
He and his wife Karen have traveled around the country since then, 
often spending months at a time on the road. Michael and Karen spent 
the summer of 2001 in Yellowstone National Park, where Michael worked 
as a hotel front-desk clerk. They moved to Manhattan for a year, where 
he worked for Monthly Review. From there they went to Portland, 
Oregon, to explore the Pacific Northwest. After five months of travel 
in Summer and Fall 2004, they settled in Miami Beach. Ahead of the 
2005 hurricane season, they went back on the road, settling this time 
in Colorado.
Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate is both an account of their adventures 
and a penetrating examination of work and inequality, race and class, 
alienation and environmental degradation in the small towns and big 
cities of the contemporary United States.