Iran: The New Iraq, p.7 • NYC Romance on a Budget, p.15 & More THE INDYPENDENT Issue #82, February 9–23, 2006 a FREE paper for free people

Brian Lightbody

2nd Annual Sex Issue starting p.8 Sex Ed on the Outs • Grannies Get Down • Meet the Hard Right • When Porn Was Sweet

Coal Industry Sludge Is Killing The Zapatistas Break WestVirginia Out of Chiapas, p.6 More Medicare p.5 Online at: Madness, p.4 nyc.indymedia.org 2 FEBRUARY 9-23, 2006 THE INDY PENDENT W Steven Wishnia, JenniferWhitney, Amy MatthewWasserman,Liz Tillotson, John Tarleton, XavierTayo, Erin Reynoso, Ann Nicholas Powers,Derq Nogueira, Donald Neri,Ana Lydia Edgar Mata,NikMoore, DianeMason, Martin, Gary Martin, William Lindley, F. DeanLoren, Timothy Irina Ivanova,HansonJones,Ruth Christopher Ghoshal, Dunsmuir, Gar Alfredo Susan Chenelle,EllenDavidson,Ryan Mike Burke,AntrimCaskey, Rahul Balagun, Arnerich, ChrisAnderson,Steven Kat Aaron, VOLUNTEER STAFF: editorial process. intheentire welcome yourparticipation forlength,contentandclarity. We articles of participation. we unteer support, Asanor office. orjusthelp take photos site, tape eventsandrallies, ple, away from thedriveofprofit. ple, awayfrom backinthehandsofpeo- creativity place themeansofcommunicationand nicate. We espouseopendialogueand and spacetothoseseekingcommu- mediatools and ecosystemsbyproviding individuals,communities issues affecting We seektoanalyze self-representation. media tofacilitatepoliticalandcultural using a community-basedorganization and accuratecoverageofissues.We are in-depth progressive, ethic byproviding tional networkofvolunteermediaactivists. Independent MediaCenterisaninterna- theworld, 120 citiesthroughout than With autonomouschaptersinmore WHAT ISINDYMEDIA? and distribute The IMChasanopendoor. You canwrite WHAT CANIDOTOGETINVOLVED? similar missions. andindividualswith organizations from subscriptions, donations,grantsandads NEW YORKCITY olf &ChristinaZawerucha The print team reserves therighttoedit The printteamreserves The Indypendent Indypendent The anewmedia The IMCseekstocreate [email protected] MEDIA CENTER INDEPENDENT NYC: nyc.indymedia.org GLOBAL: indymedia.org U.S.: us.indymedia.org self-publish articles totheweb, self-publish articles Bennett J.Baumer, JedBrandt, indypendent.org P NY, NY10276 .O. Box1417 Jay Bachhuber, Kazembe Lauren Giambrone, Lauren E-mail for Gunderson, A.K.Gupta, Schneider, Stern, Andrew Web Mail ganization relying onvol- ganization relying Paneth, JamesPowell, The Indypendent The is fundedbybenefits, encourage allforms update theweb- Quiqqle, Frank zon, Neela us run the us run Thompson, Chadha, Kelton, , video- Midtown Ban Pedicabs Face A with charges runningaboutonedollarper from allovertheworld,plusitpaysrent exercise andopportunitiestomeetpeople Y own bikes.TheindustryarrivedinNew or monthlyfee.Aboutfivepercentowntheir one ofseveralcompaniesforadaily, weekly legalities animmediatequestion. Only recentlyhasacitycrackdownmadethe and requirementsfordriverstogetalicense. regarding ruleswemustfollowontheroad comed theideaofreasonableregulation, regulation bythecity. We havealwayswel- regulation ofourbusiness,orratherlack they’ve managedtoavoidcityregulation. only about400pedicabsinoperation, B ask anyonewhorideswithCriticalMass. in acitywhereridingbikesisalmostillegal–just to thepoor. Ipedalabikeforliving,pedicab I paradingwithoutapermit.amnotgivingfood merchandise. Iamnotastreetperformer, noram Y My jobisconsideredillegalbytheCityofNew First Person h o.9issueof The Nov. MY SEXFANTASY WAS NOT ACRIME Or jointhediscussionon NYC10276;[email protected]; Box1417, PO Send commentsto: TO THEINDY LETTERS in the missionary position when they masturbate? positionwhen theymasturbate? in themissionary wedded spouse their eyesanddream oftheirlawfully peopledoyouthinkclose many How transgressive. asexualfantasyand fantasyisbynature itate Ihadonmycomputer wereusedtofacil- The images thedoortotrick-or-treaters.not toanswer andinstructed Halloween subject toa6:00curfewevery Iamalso beyondtheboundariesofNew travel York City. andamnotallo acomputer, toown not allowed am officer, to surprisehomevisitsfrommyprobation forthenextsevenyearsIamsubject which meansthat sentence, in thethirdyearofmyten-yearprobation Iamnow So, Ipossessed theperformanceitself. ance, ofasexualperform- them Ididnotpossessanimage Accordingto inherent dishonestyofthelawmakers. revealsthe name ofthelaw thevery worth notingthat It’s “Possessing aSexualPerformance ofaChild.” arrested undersection263.16ofthecriminalcode, Iwas onmycomputer. I hadchildpornography our cultureinrecentdecades. pervaded sexhave towards deeply certainattitudes Coming from a publication asprogressive Coming fromapublication Itookexceptiontothewords. ofNew State York, level)bythe a levelonesexoffender(thelowest Assomeone whohasbeendesignated of theworst.” describedsexoffendersas headline that “the worst Indypendent ork eightyearsago.It’s agreatjob,with Y ork. Iamnotsellingdrugsorpeddlingstolen W Our legaltroubleshavetodealwiththe I don’t consider myself in any waysexuallyatypical. I don’tconsidermyselfinany In 2003anex-girlfriendofmineinformedpolicethat M orkers generallyleasetheirbikefrom ICHAEL used asataxiandtogivetours.With seat fortwoorthreeadultsandis pedicab isalarge tricyclewitharear , they struck me as an indication ofhow they struckmeasanindication B IELAWSKI The Indypendent Indypendent The n yc.indymedia.org featured a featured wed to The some pedicabs,says,“Ifeelmycivilrights despite eightyearswithoutthem. judge ruledavendinglicenseisnownecessary the impoundedvehiclesmadeittocourt, were alsotakenascollateraldamage.When impounded thePartybikes,andsomepedicabs ple. Thecopswentcrazy. Undercovers breed withroomtopedalforupsevenpeo- we wantedit. ing license,whichdoesn’t applytousevenif we areaservice,anddonotrequirevend- required tosellthingsinthecity. We argue because wedonotcarrythevendinglicense companies haveinsistedpedicabsareillegal friendly competition,thehorsecarriage and that’s whenthetroublecame.Insteadof petition withthetraditionalhorsecarriages Square atnight. such asCentralParkinthedayandTimes block. Theycanbefoundnearlandmarks h itm,icuigteda odes ofthiswar. including thedeadsoldiers, the victims, oppose America’s andindeedmourn misuseofpower including me–who dreds ofthousandsothers, Sheehanisspeaking forherself–andhun- Cindy she theeaseofspeaking forthevoid.” “can enjoy Sheehanbecause Hethensneersat would experience. lovingparentinsuchasituation any emotions that oftheconflicting unaware to dismissher–apparently asameans Casey” “sometimeI'mmadat statement, Sheehan's Powers usesMs. she’s goingthrough. efforts tokeepotherfamiliesfromenduringthegrief forher and Iamindeepadmiration war ofaggression, orKarl Rove'susingtheword “clown.” a “sob sister” Sheehan par withChristopherHitchens’callingMrs. justabouton Sheehan, a trulyvilesmeeronCindy 8)is (Dec. Nicholas Power's article “Antigone Now” SHEEHAN ARTICLE A “VILE SMEAR” specter ofsextostripusourbasiccivilliberties. with sexcrimesandpoliticians'abilitytousethe for boththetabloidmedia'shystericalobsession accounts repugnant theyalsofindsexuallyarousing, theyfindmorally what even tothemselvesthat Don Domite,ownerofthePartybikesand Then thePartybikesshowedup,anew The CentralParkridesareindirectcom- s hea a othrcidi ieal,unjust Sheehanhaslostherchildinamiserable, Ms. The fact that mostpeopleareunwillingtoadmit The factthat e ok NY York, New e ok NY York, New Eleanor Bell Eleanor Anonymous New YorkCity. PEDDLE TOTHEPAVEMENT natcei h a.12 An article intheJan. CORRECTION: and youarenomoderate. Ionlytrustmoderates ultraleftwingJews. has many defending Fidel Castro?Isuspectyourorganization tohide…Perhaps books anything Do youhave So whothefuckareyoukidding?Certainlynotme. Klux KlangroupsandextremerightwingChristians. Ku Therealityisspyingalsodoneagainst while. wasworth- That helped sendNaziofficerstoprison. necessary. fucking realizethat? is whysomeespionage That”s Doyou New terrorists triedtodestroy York in2001. Muslim Muslim terroristsdonotvaluedemocracy. Y America. which makesmefeelyouareuntrustworthytoward somesortofideologicalbackground, think youhave P 12)by The (Jan. I readthearticle “The BossIsBack” THE PEOPLESLAWYER ISACOMMIE PLOT did withanIsraeli soldier. that Sharon aquotefrom a1982interview Amos Oz to Sharon”s LifeofCrime”)incorrectly attributed be gainingareputationaspolicestate. romance, sanspollution,toacitythatseems what chancedowehaveofsurvival? If pedicabsareforcedoutofthetouristzone, accounting forabout90percentofallrides. cabs frommidtown.That’s theprimeturf, whole industrybyproposingtobanallpedi- regulatory limbo,butanotherthreatensthe reasonable billwouldbasicallyclearupthe City Councilisgettinginontheact.One cabs forvendingwithoutalicense. that theDCAclaimstheywillnotfinepedi- pedal themforbusiness.Zukowskiadded pedicabs withoutavendinglicensebutnotto ified: theDCAmeantitwasfinetoown license. PedicabownerGreggZukowskiclar- said thatpedicabbersdonotneedavending the DepartmentofConsumerAffairs(DCA) harassment theycould.” were violated.Theyusedeveryformof r iyit oiesae Ivalueopendemocracy. ork Cityintoapolicestate. ol” ayr n cnie.Id o rs o.I Idonottrustyou. AnnSchneider. eople”s Lawyer, PHOTO: ANTRIM CASKEY ANTRIM PHOTO: P spyfrom1945to1947who wasaU.S. My father IdonotwanttheNYPDtoturnNew Of course, We As ifthat’s notallconfusingenough,the According topedicabownerAndyArango, .S. I will report you to State Senator Balboni. Senator IwillreportyoutoState .S.

are inthebusinessofaddingcultureand About 400 pedicabs operate in About 400pedicabsoperate Indypendent unsd,Queens Sunnyside, T. Stevens (“Ariel enforce its good-repair clauses. City briefs In 1977, Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act to curtail discriminatory banking practices – known as “redlining,” after the practice of drawing red lines around low- PREDATORY LENDER SIGNS income neighborhoods on a map and denying SETTLEMENT loans on buildings inside that line. Ameriquest Mortgage Company, accused of The act requires borrowers to maintain predatory lending practices affecting many New their collateral by keeping up the buildings’ Yorkers, signed a $325 million settlement last infrastructure. As part of enforcing the act and month with the California attorney general’s the good-repair clause in mortgages, tenants office. The attorney general cited Ameriquest for want NYCB to conduct more inspections and regularly failing to disclose prepayment penal- oblige landlords to remedy violations. ties, inflating appraisals and distorting buyers’ “Over the past five years, we have financed credit ratings. New York State Attorney General well over $10 billion of loans to local real Elliot Spitzer estimates that 22,000 New Yorkers estate markets, primarily for the renovation are eligible for payments of up to $1,000. A and upgrade of properties,” NYCB responded week after signing the settlement, Ameriquest in an unsigned statement. “We have been rec- parent company, ACC Capital Holdings, laid off ognized for our service to New York with an 16 percent of 4,000 employees in one subsidiary ‘Outstanding’ Community Reinvestment Act because of “a more challenging economic envi- ronment,” according to MortgageChronicle.com. Gary Martin designation, the highest level of ranking.” Others feel the layoffs are to cover the settle- ment, the second-largest involving predatory GOING AFTER THE LANDLORDS lending. Tenants often must go to extreme measures WISE GUY’S FRIENDS CHIP IN to force landlords to make even the simplest Alleged Gambino crime family “button man” repairs. When calling the city’s 311 hotline to Michael “Mickey Y” Yannotti got a boost from a request an HPD inspection or applying for a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser to pay his attorney rent reduction from the state is unsuccessful, fees. A judge recently acquitted Yannotti and co- tenants have resorted to more direct tactics. defendant John Gotti Jr. of the 1992 attempted This past September, a couple busloads of murder of Guardian Angel and radio host, Curtis Tenant Groups Pressure mostly Black and Latino tenants from Bronx Sliwa. According to reporter Jerry Capeci, 200- buildings owned by Moshe “Morris” Piller 300 of Yannotti’s friends and associates took a trip to the landlord’s plush home in the attended the affair in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, which Banks to Enforce Repairs Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn. raised over $250,000. Nonetheless Yannotti Piller has been on HPD’s Major Problem could not attend. He’s in jail awaiting sentencing Owner list, and some of his buildings average in an unrelated racketeering case. BY BENNETT BAUMER “I have repairs that have not been made. I more than 10 violations per apartment. Piller got a window that is coming out of its is also an NYCB borrower. NY PRESS STAFF HEADS FOR THE DOOR o hot water? Having trouble getting frame,” said tenant Yvonne White of 2239 “When we first got there, we started attract- Citing the paper’s refusal to reprint the cartoons your landlord to make repairs? Creston Ave. in the Bronx. “The bank that is ing attention,” said Jackie Del Valle of CASA, that have offended Muslims across the globe, the NHousing groups from around the city holding the mortgage on my building needs a project of New Settlement, a Bronx-based editorial staff of the New York Press walked off are addressing these questions by pressuring to do something.” Victor Fein, the landlord, organization that participates in Fix It Now, a the job. Three of the paper’s top editors and the the New York Community Bank (NYCB) to has a mortgage with NYCB, and the build- campaign to draw attention to slum condi- city beat reporter also resigned. do a better job of monitoring the conditions in ing has 324 outstanding violations, an aver- tions. “We marched to his [Piller’s] house and No stranger to staff upheavals and firings, the the buildings where it holds mortgages. age of 12 violations per apartment. a lot of people in the neighborhood gathered New York Press canned columnist Matt Tiabbi in Housing advocates are taking it to the bank According to “Banking on Despair,” a report around across the street.” 2005 for writing the hilarious article “52 Funniest at the right time. NYCB needs government by the Housing Here and Now coalition, an As tenants ended their action in front of Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope.” approval to acquire Atlantic Bank of New York, umbrella group that includes Met Council on the landlord’s house and headed back to the In an email written on behalf of the editorial in a deal that would increase NYCB”s share of Housing [where the author is employed], “At least buses, some of the spectators began throwing staff, editor-in-chief Harry Siegel said, “We have the “multi-family building” market from $9.8 231 buildings mortgaged by NYCB counted 3.0 eggs at them. no illusions about the power of the Press (NY billion to $12.25 billion. Housing groups hope or more Department of Housing and Preservation Met Council executive director Jenny Press, we mean), but even on the far margins of that NYCB will intervene with the worst land- Development (HPD) violations per unit. At least Laurie recalls tangling with Piller while the world-historical stage, we are not willing to lords so that the buildings do not lose value. 12 landlords named on HPD’s 2003 Major working with tenants in some of his build- side with the enemies of the values we hold dear, NYCB is a major player in offering loans to Problem Owner list were NYCB borrowers.” ings in Brooklyn. “Instead of agreeing to a free press not least among them.” landlords with rent-regulated buildings and Housing Here and Now recommends that make repairs in court, they stonewalled the there are clauses in the mortgages that require government regulators deny NYCB’s bid to tenants for six months, making life as diffi- the properties be kept in good repair. buy Atlantic Bank of New York if it cannot cult as possible,” she says.

Jason Reed/Reuters

From left: Bush’s brain; February 4 rally in front ‘World Can’t Wait’ Takes It Right to Bush of the White House; Antiwar activist Cindy

Sheehan is led away from the Capitol gallery just FEBRUARY 9 - 23, 2006 BY JED BRANDT “We need to create an environment where Congressional Caucus, including Major before Bush took the podium; Crowds in Times Bush is forced to step down, and where Owens (D-NY), Cynthia McKinney (D- Square call Bush’s State of the Union a “State of icking up their campaign to “drive Cheney’s cardiologist tells him he better not GA), Bobby Rush (D-IL). Twenty members Emergency.” out the Bush regime,” World Can’t take the job,” said Aimara Lin, organizer for of Congress are now calling for impeach- PHOTOS: Stanley Rogouski (unless noted) PWait has been on a tear. Simultaneous the antiwar Not In Our Name project. ment hearings. rallies were held in 68 cities to “drown out” “We’ve taken a beating over the last few Thousands gathering in Washington Travis Morales challenged a former director Bush’s state of the union speech, with over years. The left, needs to come to terms with D.C. the following Saturday despite a of the National Security Agency to a public THE INDYPENDENT 1,000 rallying in Times Square. Speakers just how far Bush will take this. It’s not just torrential downpour. debate over the wire-tapping scandal that included religious leaders, returned Iraq about one person stepping down, we’re build- Beyond the rallies, activists disrupted may provide the first solid, impeachable Veterans Against the War; Carl Dix of the ing an overall resistance throughout society.” several events by ranking Republicans. offense for the president. Revolutionary Communist Party and The call to drive Bush received addi- Donald Rumsfeld was told to resign by one Rhadames Rivera of SEIU 1199 Union. tional signatories from the Black activst during a Pentagon briefing, and For more information: worldcantwait.net 3 Nation briefs STEW ALBERT 1939-2006 UAW MEMBERS “SCARE” TOYOTA Dissidents in the United Auto Workers are causing a stir in their union and in the automotive industry. According to The New Standard,Toyota is thinking twice about building a new engine plant in Michigan because of the militancy of the dissident faction, Soldiers of Solidarity. The group “absolutely scares the liver out of Toyota,” said David Cole, director of Yippie! the pro-industry Center for Auto Research. The dis- sidents oppose proposed concessions with GM and the impending bankruptcy of Delphi.

ALMOST 10 PERCENT OF HOUSE DEMS BACK CENSURE OF BUSH & CHENEY forLife Twenty house Democrats are backing various reso- lutions that call for a probe, censure and impeach- organize the March on the Pentagon to California, where he’d earlier done months ment of President George Bush. U.S. Rep. John exorcise it of evil and try to levitate it. of jail time. He traveled to Chile with Conyers (D-MI) spearheads the movement within the Again, the media lapped it up. Soon folksinger Phil Ochs before the 1973 CIA- party and two bills call for censuring Bush and Vice BY MICHAEL SIMMONS dubbed the Yippies – the Youth backed coup against the elected socialist President Dick Cheney for misleading the nation in ead the simple blog entry by Stew International Party – by Krassner, the gang government there. Stew helped create going to war in Iraq. Albert on Jan. 28. Two days later, he began planning a Festival of Life to protest People’s Park in Berkeley in 1969. Then- Rdied of cancer at his home in Portland, the Democratic Convention in August Governor Ronald Reagan responded to the OBITUARIES Ore., surrounded by his wife, Judy Gumbo 1968. Stew contributed Pigasus, an actual DIY green space by bringing in the Many progressive notables, from hammy “Grandpa” Albert, and their daughter, Jessica. He was 66. pig that he and Jerry announced was the National Guard and turning the streets Al Lewis to intellectual Betty Friedan, died in the last Stew was an original member of the Yippie candidate for president. The into a war zone. After Stew and Judy dis- couple weeks. Actor, activist and radio personality Al Yippies, who merged left-wing activism counter-convention devolved when thou- covered a tracking device under their car, Lewis died at age 82. Best known for his role as and freak culture in the late 1960s. Along sands of demonstrators, including Stew, they sued the FBI for illegal surveillance – Grandpa on the 60’s TV show, “The Munsters,” with Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Paul were savagely beaten in what was dubbed and won (proving why the feds should have Lewis (born Alexander Meister) also had a radio pro- Krassner and others, he was a soldier for “a police riot” by a federal commission. The to get judicial warrants). gram for years at WBAI. justice as well as a subversive prankster; a government prosecuted several of the Stew was played by actor Donal Logue in Feminist theorist Betty Friedan died on Feb. 4 at practitioner of performance politics that organizers for conspiracy to riot, in the leg- the Abbie Hoffman biopic Steal This Movie the age of 85. Friedan wrote “The Feminine blew the minds of young people by estab- endary “Chicago Seven” trial. Stew was in 2000. Through the years, he mentored Mystique,” and co-founded liberal groups National lishing a new tactic – capture their imagina- named an unindicted co-conspirator. young activists from all over the world who Organization for Women and National Abortion tions and their hearts will follow. Stew later flew to Algeria to help fugi- corresponded with him, asking about Rights Action League. Civil rights activist Coretta Stew, Jerry and Abbie first made news in tive Timothy Leary, who sought refuge Yippies and seeking advice on contempo- Scott King died on Jan. 31. Among other accom- August 1967 when they showered 500 one- there, along with another exile, Black rary shit-stirring. He published The Sixties plishments she led the fight to make her martyred dollar bills from the visitors’ gallery of the Panther Eldridge Cleaver. (Of all the Papers with Judy and his autobiography, husband’s birthday a national holiday. Playwright New York Stock Exchange onto the floor Yippies, Stew was the closest to the Who The Hell Is Stew Albert? Wendy Wasserstein died on Jan. 30 at age 55. below. For the first time in Wall Street’s Panthers.) He enlisted John Lennon and As he wrote in the latter, he had “an Wasserstein, whose works had feminist underpin- history, trading stopped while the greed- Yoko Ono in a “Beatle/Yippie pact” that uncontainable need to test my bravery,” nings, won the Pulitzer Prize with her play “The heads went grabby ga-ga for the green. resulted in Lennon’s near-deportation. He something he did until the end. Heidi Chronicles.” In October of that year, Stew helped ran for sheriff of Alameda County, Seniors Slam Medicare Coverage

BY RUTH KELTON those trying to enroll, advocacy groups have begun “an immediate, if piecemeal, effort to hey lost me!” wailed Sherawn. In early remedy the problems facing seniors,” says January she was seated in a small clinic Deane Beebe, communications director of the Ton the Lower East Side. “When I went Medicare Rights Center in New York City. to get my meds at the store, the pharmacist Barbara Cebuha, a spokesperson for the couldn’t find me on the computer.” Centers for Medicare Services (CMS), the gov- Sherawn, a Medicare/Medicaid “dual-eligi- ernment’s Medicare coordination arm, esti- ble” patient, was one of thousands of seniors mates about 10,000 people may have been who, since Jan. 1, have had trouble getting adversely affected. CMS has increased its staff of prescriptions filled using their new Part D caseworkers to 4,500 to handle the increased Medicare Prescription Drug coverage. Other volume of queries, and according to Cebuha, seniors have had similar problems. “millions of prescriptions have been filled.” Victor, sitting in the crowded anteroom of a Her outlook may be a little too sunny. Manhattan diagnostic lab, groused, “I couldn’t get Many advocacy groups estimate that the my medications. They said the insurance company number of seniors snarled in Part D problems Medicaid assigned me to didn’t cover them.” runs to the tens of thousands. And Gillian, a Medicare patient at the For immediate help at the cash register, Lower East Side clinic, said she hadn’t even about half of the states have stepped in with signed up for Part D yet and so had no drug state funds to cover seniors’ costs. coverage. “Too confusing! The rules are too A group of Democratic senators has intro- complicated and there are just too many duced a bill mandating federal reimburse- insurance plans.” ment to the states for their fielding of federal Seniors calling the Medicare helpline are responsibilities. And CMS has outlined a pro- likely to have a long wait for an answer. (A recent gram for state reimbursement.

FEBRUARY 9 -23, 2006 caller was faced first with a nearly impenetrable • A recent AP-Ipsos poll found that two- The source of all these problems lies, of course, menu of choices, followed by nearly half an hour thirds of the seniors surveyed thought the in the present administration’s privatization of on hold before reaching an operator.) plan was hard to understand. public services. The Medicare Prescription Drug Pharmacists complain that reaching the • In New York State alone, a partial list of Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, private insurers handling Part D is impossi- insurers from which Medicare and the foundation of Part D, was essentially a direct ble: “They just don’t answer,” says one profes- dual-eligibles must choose to get Part D handout to private industry. sional trying to help a customer. includes 150 insurer-administered Health John Steinberg, a spokesman for Sen. THE INDYPENDENT Part D, ostensibly set up to make both Management Organizations (HMOs) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), one of the act’s generic and patented prescription drugs private Prescription Drug Plans. strongest opponents, says: “The bill was cheaply and easily available to the old and the • Each of the thousands of such plans avail- designed by and for the special interests. The poor, seems to have morphed into a monster able across the country offers a different list of drug industry and HMO lobbyists helped designed to frustrate and confuse many of the drugs it will cover. write it to protect their interests, while sen- people it was supposed to help: To help beleaguered Part D participants and iors’ interests were not protected.” 4 Coal Industry Sludge Poisons West Virginians Mountain People Suffering

BY ANTRIM CASKEY can afford to buy all their drinking and cooking water, but most cannot. I felt like I was in a developing country brush- MINGO COUNTY, WV—Southern West Virginia is dying. ing my teeth with bottled water. Its mountains are collapsing into themselves. They’ve been Have you ever turned on your tap and had the water come mined underground, empty caverns are filled with coal out black? I witnessed this several times in the last two sludge, and had their tops blown off and swept into the val- weeks. Water from every tap in Kenneth Stroud’s home in leys below to extract the upper seams of coal. Mingo County came out rust colored, laced with a gritty oily Below, the mountain people are being forced from their substance some alleged to be diesel fuel. homes. Their drinking water smells like sulfur and is laden When the coal company has been pumping toxic sludge with toxic chemicals; bathing, cooking and drinking with into your mountains for 30 years, this is what can happen. this well water is to be avoided whenever possible. Their land The coal industry, which employs more than 40,000 West and homes are being washed away in floods due to irrespon- Virginians, is embedded within the state’s governing bodies sible mining. Schools are closing. Cancers and kidney, liver and regulatory agencies. Government from county to state is and respiratory problems have ravaged the communities that mired in corruption and graft, I was told again and again dur- sit below the mountains being mined. ing my latest two-week visit to the mountain state. Residents Statewide, sixteen mine workers have been killed so far this say the West Virginia Department of Environmental year. Gov. Joe Manchin III spoke to the press after three min- Protection and the federal EPA are a joke. ing accidents in the state on Feb. 1 resulted in two deaths and They complain that public hearings for mining permits are one injury. He called for a statewide “safety stand down.” for show. The permit hearing is a routine where “a button on Production was to be halted and safety inspections would a recording device is pressed and a ‘thank you very much, start immediately, Manchin promised. “We’re not going to we’ll take your words [of protest] back with us’ is the panel’s produce another lump of coal – we are going to correct the standard response. safety conditions,” he said. To many, the “safety stand down” Citizens from Boone, Raleigh and Mingo Counties told me rings hollow; promises have been made before. how they go to these hearings and pour their hearts out, ask- KENNETH STROUD runs the water in his Mingo County, WV home. West Virginia produces 150 million tons of coal a year, sec- ing for help, for the law to be enforced. They tell state offi- PHOTO BY ANTRIM CASKEY ond only to Wyoming, according to the West Virginia Coal cials how the air they breathe, the water they drink and the endure more? I felt a visceral tension in the air, conflict is Association (WVCA). Seventy percent comes from under- land they live on is making them sick and killing many, but palpable. The mountain people, the ones whose families have ground mining, while the rest comes from surface mining, to no avail. State police are often present at the more contro- lived here for seven, eight, even nine generations, are suffer- which includes strip-mining, long-wall mining and moun- versial hearings, like those for expansion of the mine behind ing badly. They are being sacrificed for the coal industry and taintop removal. One-third of West Virginia’s coal is shipped Marsh Fork Elementary in Sundial, Raleigh County. our nation’s seemingly insatiable appetite for power. to 28 different countries around the world, according to Bill In his State of the Union Address, President Bush called for I spent two weeks talking to people in the towns of Sylvester, Raney, president of the WVCA, a powerful industry lobby. Americans to end their dependence on oil, pointing to coal to Bob White, Rawl and Rock Creek. I heard so many stories, of The human costs of coal production are profound. The pick up some of the slack. The BBC reported that in order to sickness and death, and wholesale destruction of communities. waste from coal mining and processing has poisoned the air do this, West Virginia will have to increase its current coal I left West Virginia with tears of sadness and rage for the crimes and the ground water. I saw many people who had sores on production by 50 percent. being committed against the mountain people. their bodies from bathing in the poisoned water; those who What will this do to southern West Virginia? How can she

War at Home The Anti-Sheehan: Who is Dan Clay? BY KAT AARON Lord and Savior – so we know where he is. In titled, “Are there any evangelical Christians his final letter (one left with me for the family out there?” They were reposted at n his State of the Union address on Jan. – to be read in case of his death) he says ‘if you marinecorpsmom.com by “Deb,” one of the 31, President Bush made the case for con- are reading this, it means my race is over.’ He’s editors at the site, who appears to be Deb Itinuing the war in Iraq. He argued that home now – his and our real home. I am writ- Conrad of Lebanon, Ore., mother of Lance “we must keep our word, defeat our enemies ing to you – to tell you how proud and thank- Cpl. Shane Conrad. In her post on the Clay and stand behind the American military in ful we (his parents and family) are of you and letters, Deb wrote “I would love to see this its vital mission.” what you are trying to do to protect us all.” father, who understands the true meaning of President Bush then invoked the name of Dan Clay’s last letter is the one Bush honor and who continues to support his son, Dan Clay. quoted. Dan starts off by writing, “This let- given the same media attention given to “Marine Staff Sgt. Dan Clay was killed last ter being read means that I have been deemed Cindy Sheehan.” month fighting the enemy in Falluja,” Bush worthy of being with Christ… This is not a Her wish has been granted. But what does said. “He left behind a letter to his family, but bad thing. It is what we hope for. The secret it mean that the one soldier Bush chooses to his words could just as well be addressed to is out. He lives and His promises are real! It highlight – one of the 2,254 U.S. soldiers every American. Here is what Dan wrote: ‘I is not faith that supports this... but fact and I killed in the war in Iraq – apparently had know what honor is. It has been an honor to now am a part of the promise. Here is notice! strong ties to the evangelical community, and protect and serve all of you. I faced death with Wake up! All that we hope for is Real. Not a was fighting for his god at least as much as the secure knowledge that you would not have hope. But Real.” his country? In promoting Dan Clay and his to... Never falter! Don’t hesitate to honor and The letters from Dan and Bud Clay are a family to the nation and the world, Bush has support those of us who have the honor of pro- far cry from Cindy Sheehan’s now-famous reinforced the dangerous perception that the tecting that which is worth protecting.’” open letter to Bush, which includes these war on Iraq is a war between Christianity and FEBRUARY 10, 2006 – 23, A shot of Dan Clay’s family sitting in the lines: “We are going to do everything in our Islam. audience then flashed across the screen. Next, power to have you impeached for misleading The idea that Bush is sending covert mes- Dan’s picture came up alongside a profile of the American people into a disastrous war sages to his fundamentalist base is nothing Bush, smiling in uniform. and for mis-using and abusing your power as new – historian Bruce Lincoln argues that Dan Clay and his family present a stark Commander-in-Chief. We are going to there have been coded Christian references in contrast to Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey scream until our last breath to bring the rest Bush’s speeches for years, including subtle Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in April 2004. of our babies home from this quagmire of a references to a holy war. And some not-so- Sheehan famously sought a meeting with war that you have gotten our country into.” subtle references – on September 16, 2001, President Bush, camping outside his ranch in As it happens, Sheehan also attended the Bush said America was embarking upon a Crawford, Texas, and protesting at the White State of the Union, as a guest of Rep. Lynn “crusade” against terrorism. House. Bud Clay is Dan Clay’s father, and his Woolsey (D-Calif.). Only Sheehan was Dan Clay was chosen carefully for mention THE INDYPENDENT response to the death of his son was quite dif- arrested before the start of the address for in the State of the Union, and his religious ferent from Sheehan’s. After his son was wearing a T-shirt that read “2245 Dead. How ties and beliefs are no secret. Bush has sent a killed, Bud Clay wrote a letter to President many more?” message not just to Christians in America but Bush, which reads in part: The Clays’ letters are on a website to Muslims as well – the soldiers he cele- “Dan was a Christian – he knew Jesus as (forums.techguy.org) under a discussion brates are the holy warriors. 5 The Zapatistas “Other Campaign”

The Politics of Listening

BY JOHN GIBLER venes this space by listening for hours to any and all who sign-up, raise their hands, or CAMPECHE, Mexico – Under the slow-turn- stand up and shout from the crowd. ing ceiling fans of a converted carport behind a Some, like Centurron, unfold stories of a life- pastry shop, 66-year old Emiliano Centurron time of work eviscerated by corruption. Some picked up a microphone for the first time. He decry the general direction of Mexican politics: stood between a crowd of 200 people packed privatization, concentration of landownership, under the shade, fanning themselves with pam- foreign intervention, impunity, kleptocracy. SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS, now Delegate Zero, phlets and newspapers, and Subcomandante Some want to express their appreciation for the is taking the Zapatista message outside Chiapas. Marcos, who sat facing the crowd, hunched visit, or their support for the Other Campaign. PHOTO: chiapas.indymedia.org over a notebook crammed with writing. Some just want to get up close to Marcos and Dozens of photographers clumped at the edges don’t really say much at all. And, of course, of the crowd and down the center aisle. some only want to hear their own voices Centurron held the microphone a few inches through the powerful, though inevitably day pace, the heat, and the inevitable droning month, the campaign has succeeded in unit- from his face and, in steady language colored faulty, sound system. of attention seekers. But mostly, the intensity ing various cities and rural villages where with well-placed expletives, told the story of Attendance at Other Campaign meetings of so many of the interventions requires a inhabitants refuse to pay their exorbitant how the beekeepers’ cooperative he co-founded is broad and diverse. The university educated, fierce level of concentration. Truly listening, electricity bills and bringing together Mayan was seized by the state government. non-profit professionals so common in left as the Other Campaign proposes, is a mental communities threatened with displacement “I have always preferred to live by my own political meetings in the United States make marathon unlike anything I have ever known. for the construction of resorts and airports in work, not on the backs of others” Centurron up a tiny fraction of the audience and partic- The majority of those who come to the Quintana Roo, Yucatan, and Campeche. said. “Those who live in the governor’s man- ipants here. Most are working class men and meetings stick it out and, from what I can In this respect, the hardest work of the sion live on the earnings of the people. For women, old and young, indigenous and mes- tell by watching, truly listen. Other Campaign begins when the Delegate me those sons-of-bitches are not governmen- tizo. One reason for this is that the Other But what good will all this listening do? Zero, the caravan, and the press all depart. tal authorities, if they were authorities of any Campaign spends most of its time going to For the immediate problems facing those Then, without the energy jolt of a masked kind they wouldn’t insist on giving me $300, the small rural villages and the abandoned who attend the several hour stops of the rebel and the swarms of television cameras they would pay me back my investments.” neighborhoods on the periphery of large Other Campaign, the meetings themselves that follow him, the disenfranchised indige- This is the Other Campaign, a place where cities where the working class lives. do not offer solutions, as Marcos constantly nous, working poor, students and profes- Mexicans who have never held a microphone For hours in the stifling heat, people take reiterates during his closing speeches. The sional, non-profit class have to put aside old in their hands can voice their complaints and up the microphone to speak. No one polices listening is only the beginning, a first step turf battles and surmount the hostility of concerns, their stories of resistance, their for content or time. The meetings go for as towards national organizing. local officials to build up the new alliances thoughts and feelings about their communi- long as people keep lining up to talk. And In the short term, though, the EZLN hopes and put them to work. ties and their country. Seven days a week the listening is strenuous, at times exhaust- that the Other Campaign meetings will cat- John Gibler is a human rights fellow in Mexico Subcomandante Marcos, the EZLN’s ing: the length of the meetings, the relentless alyze the creation of broader networks of for Global Exchange. A longer version of this arti- Delegate Zero for the Other Campaign, con- seven-days a week, two-to-three-meetings a resistance at the local level. Just in the past cle appeared on Zmag.org. “The disease wasn’t a reality for me then ... how things have changed.” emory books are collections of stories from HIV-positive parents who want to pass time to time crying accusing God of what on their memory and experiences to the friends and children. The stories are usu- has happened to me. You know from the To everyone who is -ve, Mally cautionary tales, mostly by women, to teach those who are left behind not to readings I got courage, I told myself that at make the same mistakes as those afflicted with the virus. However, the stories that make least for the remaining years I could work please stay that way. If up memory books are often very touching and seek to leave behind something other than hard for my children. an obituary. The first memory book project was produced in 1991 by dying immigrant On my own I think I am tough, I can handle African parents in London for their children. Since the onset of the AIDS epidemic, life the situation. But what eats me every day of my Africa is to be re-awakened, expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa has lowered dramatically and more than 15 million life is looking at my little girl who is also suf- Africans have died from the virus. In 2005 alone, an estimated 2.4 million died from AIDS fering. She will be four in July this year. I always then hope needs to be in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the previous year, an estimated 25.4 million of the blame myself for breast feeding. I thought I 39.4 million HIV-positive people in the world lived in sub-Saharan Africa. Below is a selec- loved her, look at what has happened, she is also tion of stories compiled from avert.org, a British AIDS prevention organization that has HIV-positive. I wish I could confess to her but restored. Here’s to a multiple projects throughout Africa. she is too young to understand. The reason I regret breastfeeding my re-awakening of hope. letter from RITA nervous although he pretended to be fine. daughter is that in February the same year, One day when I got home I was got a I had to be operated and I tested negative. I have read stories from other HIV-posi- message from the Doctor that we should The other thing I suspect is that my hus- the people I grew up with are becoming sick tive people and I think I should share mine both of us I myself and my husband) see band did this purposely, maybe he was told and dying. In South Africa, funerals used to with you too. him. It was Friday afternoon. What came when he was in hospital, that is why when be held on Saturdays only. These days, it’s a I am a married woman aged 39 years with right to my mind was that I was going to he got home we did not have any sex. But Monday to Monday affair. four children. I am a South African living in get the bad news. I only started to think when next he came home we continued with What really hits hard is the number of South Africa. back, my husband got sick and my daugh- unprotected sex. young people who seem to have the attitude I discovered that I am HIV-positive in ter too. The people who know about my status are that “it won’t happen to me.” Girls as young November 2000 when I wanted to insure As usual my husband ignored the impor- my two sisters who are supportive indeed. as 14 are falling pregnant – which obviously my house. In April that year, my husband tance of meeting the doctor and went back I wish all the best for everyone. means that they are exposing themselves to was hospitalized and discharged without my to his workplace. On Monday I called the monumental risk. And its even sadder is knowledge as he was working away from doctor and confirmed an appointment. I had that so much time and money is being spent home. I came to know when I phoned him. to go there alone and I was told that I was letter from MAMELLO on education and prevention, and its hard to When he was discharged he came home for HIV positive. I can’t explain the situation I see the positive effects. two to three weeks. For the rest of his stay went through, you know I nearly collapsed, I’m 20 years old and from South Africa. I Africa is dying slowly. at home we did not have sex, which was I went straight home to sleep. I only told remember when I was 14 and I wrote a To all those who are positive, please stay strange, and he looked worried. my children that I was not feeling well. I poem called “silent killer,” which was about strong. Joshua 1:9 says “be strong and of THE INDYPENDENT Towards the end of June the same year my did not have courage to tell them my status AIDS. The disease wasn’t a reality for me good courage, for the Lord your God is with one-year-old daughter who I was breastfeed- because I am only their last hope in life. then ... how things have changed. you wherever you go.” Even if all else fails, ing was admitted in hospital and it was I took three days crying, without eating, I took my first test today. The results came He will never, ever stop loving you. pneumonia which I did not think much until I felt that I was weak and could not do back negative, and although I’m happy and To everyone who is negative, please stay about its connection with her father’s illness. anything. That was when I remembered all, it really made me think. I find myself in that way. If Africa is to be re-awakened, In October when we had to undergo the that I had someone special to talk to which a country where it’s not a matter of default then hope needs to be restored. Here’s to a

FEBRUARY 9 - 23, 2006 HIV test I was confident but my husband was was GOD. I prayed, I read the Bible from that someone my age is negative. So many of re-awakening of hope. 6 The Endless War World briefs MUSLIM RIOTS SPREAD IN RESPONSE TO DANISH ANTI-ISLAMIC CARTOONS Protest and riots responding to a provocative series of cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohamed as a terrorist spread throughout the world. Commissioned last September by the edi- tor of the right-wing Danish newspaper Iran Gets Jyllands-Posten, the cartoon were specifically composed to affront observant Muslims. Islamic tradition does not depict Mohamed as part of their aversion to idolatry. Some images depicted Mohamed with a bomb for a turban, others equated Islam with animals. Denmark’s current The Iraq Treatment government is particularly anti-immigrant, and Danish troops are part of the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. A wide-spread boycott of Danish goods has BY A.K. GUPTA vote by the IAEA board on Feb. 4 to send the swept the Islamic world. Iran and Libya have cut case to the U.N. Security Council. diplomatic ties with Denmark, and sectarian vio- t’s no coincidence that the dispute over It will defer the issue until March 6 when lence erupted in Beirut with rampaging mobs of Iran’s nuclear program sounds familiar. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei religious fundamentalists damaging a Christian IThe Bush administration is once again submits a report. Following the IAEA deci- church.. Beirut has a large Christian population using deceit to threaten military action sion, Iran announced that it would proceed and is bitterly divided along sectarian lines. against a country allegedly trying to acquire with uranium enrichment, while adding, “all IRANIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repre- nuclear weapons. And playing along once the country’s peaceful activities will remain sents the clerical faction that wants to pursue a WORLD SOCIAL FORUM HELD IN again is the New York Times, which is pub- within the framework of the harder line with Western countries. Islamicists are CARACAS lishing flimsy evidence as fact. Nonproliferation Treaty.” reaping a broad discontent with European and WSF Meets in Venezuela The U.S. claims—include a stolen laptop, So if Iran suspended only “voluntary” American insistence on their right to set global terms. More than 70,000 people attended the sixth a nefarious-sounding “Green Salt” project agreements and is adhering to the NPT, then annual World Social Forum (WSF) Jan. 24-29. and traces of highly enriched uranium—have what’s the crisis? Even the IAEA admits that offer “to put the entire program under IAEA Held this year in Caracas, Venezuela, the WSF is proven baseless so far. its agreements with Iran, which included monitoring.” Not wanting Iran to retain any the largest annual international gathering of As in the spurious link between al Qaeda snap inspections, are “non legally binding.” bomb-making capacity, Europe and the activists from the left and civil society. and Iraq, perception matters more than facts. Recently, I spoke to an Iranian-American United States rejected the proposal. According to the Anti-Imperialist Bloc, a par- And the perception is that Iran is hiding a physician who just returned from Tehran. He The IAEA for its part is now invoking the ticipating group, the key issue debated by atten- weapons program, which is being used to says that the real issue is the fuel cycle, not a “prove a negative” burden placed on Iraq. It dees was the relationship of social movements justify a military strike. According to a bomb. Namely, Western countries (not just states, “after nearly three years of intensive to the wave of center-left government that has recent Zogby poll, 47 percent of Americans the U.S.) want to control the uranium- verification activity, the Agency is not yet in a swept recent South American elections. A much back a unilateral strike against Iran. enrichment process. With oil prices rising position... to conclude that there are no unde- smaller alternative gathering held in conjunction The Bush administration is stoking the and the globe warming, nuclear power is clared nuclear materials or activities in Iran.” with the WSF was sponsored by anti-authoritar- war mood by declaring, “all options are on poised to become an increasingly sought- As for the traces of highly enriched ura- ian organizations hostile to Venezuela’s leftist the table.” But its military options are few. after energy source. Thus, he argues, the nium, the Post reported that a team of scien- government. The WSF is timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering Iran has two trump cards--its ability to dis- West wants to control as many energy tists from the big five Security Council of the world's economic, political and cultural rupt oil supplies in the Persian Gulf and sources as possible. nations “definitively matched” the uranium elites held in Davos, Switzerland. stoke attacks against U.S. forces bogged The New York Times admits as much. to contaminated centrifuge equipment pur- down in Iraq. Iran reached an agreement with England, chased from Pakistan. One Bush administra- HAITIAN ELECTIONS MARRED BY At the center of the crisis is the Nuclear France and Germany to voluntarily shut tion official admitted “the biggest smoking CHAOS, STACKED BALLOT Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Western down a uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz gun... is now eliminated.” powers, according to a Feb. 3 Times report, in November 2004. It hoped to gain Still, “all options are on the table.” Haiti's first elections since a 2004 U.S.-sponsored are pressuring “Iran to give up two rights improved economic and political ties in Director of National Intelligence John D. military coup overthrew the democratically elected guaranteed under the [NPT]: its right to return. “Tired of waiting for the rewards,” Negroponte told the U.S. Senate on Feb. 2 government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide were enrich uranium to produce electric power, the Times reported on Feb. 3, Iran reopened that is because the danger is Iran “will marred by chaos as throngs of voters from poor and its right to withdraw from the treaty if the Natanz plant in January. acquire a nuclear weapon... and integrate it districts jammed polling stations Feb. 7. Voting its security is threatened.” The Iranians were convinced that the with ballistic missiles.” sites were not set up in Cit’e Soleil, the massive The Times report concludes, “the interna- Europeans “were determined to permanently Yet the most recent U.S. intelligence slum in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and a tional community is essentially reinterpret- deprive Iran of its right to develop a fuel review estimated that Iran is “about a decade center of popular resistance to the coup. ing the treaty by holding Iran to a higher cycle for peaceful purposes.” away from manufacturing the key ingredient Haiti is occupied by U.N. forces engaged in a standard.” The double standard includes the Processing uranium for electricity genera- for a nuclear weapon,” according to the low-intensity war with Aristide loyalists. nuclear powers’ refusal to disarm, as required tion (which requires enriching the uranium Washington Post. According to a U.N. spokesperson, foreign troops under the NPT. 235 isotope from its natural state of .7 percent That hasn’t stopped the Bush administra- will remain in Haiti “for the long haul.” Aristide is The crisis intensified on Jan. 7 when Iran to 3 to 5 percent) is one step towards weapons- tion from promoting, or the Times from currently exiled in South Africa and barred from announced that it was suspending “all the grade uranium (around 90 percent U235). reporting, what appear to be outright fabri- the ballot. voluntary measures and extra cooperation The Washington Post reported last Aug. cations. Rene Preval, who served as prime minister with” the International Atomic Energy 23, however, “No Proof Found of Iran Arms The day after Bush issued a thinly veiled under Aristide before a prior 1991 military coup Agency (IAEA). This culminated in a 27-3 Program.” It noted that Iran went so far as to call for regime change in Iran in the State of forced both men into exile, is favored to win, the Union, the Times reported on “a secretive according to international press reports. Preval's Iranian entity called the Green Salt Project, leading opponent is Charles Henri Baker, the RECYCLED PROPAGANDA which worked on uranium processing, high candidate of Haiti's light-skinned business elite. explosives and a missile warhead design.” It’s no coincidence that the campaign against Iran bears a striking resemblance Some of this was cited in the IAEA report. to the march to war against Iraq. Here a just a few of the similarities. The Times writes, “American officials say the Only 20 percent of than half of prisoners [IAEA] allegations are based in part on mate- Nepalis voted in the have not been accus- THEN NOW rial from a laptop computer seized in Iran.” first elections since ed of committing hos- This is the infamous laptop that Times King Gyanendra ass- tile acts against the The New Hitler Saddam Hussein Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reporter David Sanger hyped as proof of a umed absolute power U.S. or its allies. weapons program. The laptop supposedly two years ago. The Colorful Evidence Yellowcake Green Salt came from one unnamed source that received population largely heed- Acting Israeli Prime it from another unnamed source, now dead. ed a boycott called by Minister Ehud Olmert

Key Human Intel “Curveball” Mujahedin-e Khalq The warhead design documents have since every electoral party, plans to annex the FEBRUARY 9 - 23, 2006 an Iranian dissident group been shown to be for a missile re-entry vehi- and threats by Maoist Jordan Valley and major deemed a terrorist organization cle, which is fundamentally different. rebels. Royal armed Jewish settlements by the State Dept. An all-too-familiar pattern is emerging. forces opened fire on and unilaterally re- Dodgy evidence provided by the Bush democracy protesters draw Israel’s borders ‘Hard Evidence’ Forged documents A laptop administration is being reported on as fact by in the Southwest, and in violation of interna- provided by an Italian that came from an unnamed the same paper that hyped the Iraq threat. hundreds were arrest- tional law. Intelligence Agency, but which source who got it from another Picked up by a U.N. body subject to U.S. ed in Katmandu dur- THE INDYPENDENT may have originated in the U.S. unnamed source who is now dead pressure, the charges are provoking an inter- ing a week-long strike The WTO overturned national crisis. Coming full circle, the Bush called by the Maoists. European restrictions Times Reporter Judith Miller David Sanger administration, through the Security on imports of U.S.-pro- who published dodgy Council, will now judge evidence it may well Lawyers representing duced genetically mod- evidence as fact have fabricated. Guantanamo Bay det- ified food in a hotly ainees report that more contested dispute. 5 @-string The Hard Parental Advisory: Explicit History Right BY STEVEN WISHNIA reworked twice before white radio stations would play Banana” – the last about an old woman who “told me it – rewritten as “Dance With Me Henry” and that she love a young boy banana, especially if he got nipples on my titties big as the end of my rerecorded by a white woman. (Ballard’s followup was smoke marijuana.” Admiral Bailey begged for BY JOHN TARLETON he power of sex is harnessed to pleasure, bind, inspire, The influence of conservative Christianity along with the thumb,” Lucille Bogan sang on “Shave ‘Em Dry” called “Annie Had a Baby.”) Little Richard’s first hit, “Punanny.” MCs like Lady Saw (“Life Without Dick”) “Iin 1935. “I got something between my legs to “Tutti Frutti,” was originally a ditty about “good carry on the tradition. ith the Republicans and their Christian Right and bear fruit and multiply. Alternately, that same power rise of raunch culture is creating 15-year-old fathers who make a dead man come.” The Rolling Stones stole the booty” with lyrics like “if it don’t fit, don’t force By the mid-’80s, American musicians could put allies dominating the media, all three is used to shame, punish and kill when marginalized as never had a sex-ed class. Energized and organized queer “make a dead man come” line for “Start Me Up” – and it/you can grease it, make it easy.” pretty much anything on a record – as long as it had Wbranches of government and much of the T interior of the country, it seems as if they can’t stop it was either skipped over or bleeped out when they a “parental advisory” label, the result of a censorship perverse, or used as a weapon. Evolutionary forces shaped culture has made a welcome dent in the sexual binary, yet played the song at the Super Bowl. Punk Mockery and Dancehall Slackness campaign by the Christian right and several politi- preaching about how much they cherish “family val- Bogan’s barrelhouse-piano blues was one of the By the ’70s, anything but blatant explicitness (like cians’ wives (most notoriously erstwhile Deadhead ues” and “moral clarity.” Sometimes, however, their our sexuality, our rituals and our culture, yet the sexual land- their struggles for civil rights are demonized by the right to actions speak louder than their words. scape we face today is an uncharted one. Technologies have maintain its monopoly on power. Whatever the issue, talking most explicit tunes of an era of music filled with bla- Lou Reed’s reference to “giving head”) was permissi- Tipper Gore). Top pop artists like Prince (“Darling tant sexual metaphors. “I want some sugar in my ble on the radio, and white rockers’ adaptations of Nikki”) and Cyndi Lauper (“She Bop”) recorded ob- Forgotten Vows combined with the decay of social space to foster digi-dating about it is better than keeping it in. We are pleased to pres- bowl/I want a hot dog on my roll,” beseeched the leg- blues machismo, with 1.1-entendre lyrics like “I’m vious odes to female masturbation, and obscenity Tennessee State Senator Jeff Miller, sponsor of a and sex through hot-and-bothered text messaging. ent our second annual Sex Issue. endary Bessie Smith. Not all this was heterosexual gonna give you every inch of my love,” constituted a prosecutions of leftist punk-rocker Jello Biafra and constitutional amendment aimed at “solemnizing the either: Ma Rainey recorded the sapphic “Prove It on style yclept “cock-rock.” As punk rejected the pom- porn-rappers 2 Live Crew failed. The gangsta rappers relationship of one man and one woman,” was Me Blues” in 1928. posities of corporate rock, it made it cool to be sexu- of the ‘90s pushed things into territory as humorless accused of cheating on his wife of 15 years when she Country singer Jimmie Davis, who wrote “You Are ally dysfunctional, in tunes like Elvis Costello’s as hardcore porn, with a cold-blooded “bitches on my filed for divorce on Feb. 25, 2005. Please send any comments to [email protected] or comment at nyc.indymedia.org My Sunshine,” started out by waxing the likes of “Mystery Dance” and Alternative TV’s “Love Lies dick, 24-7” machismo, and sold millions of CDs with “High Behind Blues” and “Red Nightgown Blues.” Limp.” Transgender punk-rocker Wayne County no radio play. Female MCs like L’il Kim and Khia Oklahoma Minister Caught “Pastoring” Despite his professed lust for dark-skinned women, (now Jayne County) challenged straight men with the countered with demands for their cunnilingual rights. Rev. Lonnie Latham was arrested Jan. 3, 2006 in Davis later became a segregationist governor of Max’s Kansas City jukebox hit “If You Don’t Want to “My neck, my back, lick my pussy and my crack…” Oklahoma City for asking a plainclothes policeman to Louisiana. Thomas Dorsey, Ma Rainey’s pianist, Fuck Me, Baby, Fuck Off” – one of my favorite song All this is as American as apple pie. A popular tune accompany him to his hotel room to receive oral sex. penned the double-entendre hit “It’s Tight Like titles of all time. And a British band called the Anti- in the early days of the republic was a British upper- Latham told a local television station that he was in Getting on the Good Foot That” with Tampa Red in 1928 – before he got reli- Nowhere League got the best of both worlds in “So class drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven.” the area “pastoring” to police. Latham has spoken out gion and wrote the gospel classics “Peace in the What,” with the lead singer blustering a succession of Named for an ancient Greek erotic poet, its chorus against same-sex marriage and in support of a Valley” and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” over-the-top macho boasts (“Well, I fucked a climaxed with instructions to “entwine the myrtle of Southern Baptist Convention directive urging its 42,000 churches to befriend gays and lesbians to BY SARAH PATTERSON point they can gain social acceptance. This music existed mainly in the rural South, urban sheep/And I fucked a goat/I stuffed my cock right Venus with Bacchus’s vine.” Maybe I have a dirty convince them they can become heterosexuals. PHOTOS BY ERIN SIEGAL When a client admits to me that he wants a ghettoes, and red-light districts, but like a cultural down its throat”) while the band chorused back “So mind, but that sounds like a mythological allusion to foot job (and often, it does come out as an admis- hard-on pushing against the cloth of puritanism and what? So what?” pubic hair and wine. Spokane Mayor friend of mine told me about foot fetish sion), it is unsurprising. The secrecy seems an segregation, double-entendre R&B oozed into the Meanwhile in Jamaica, dancehall audiences bored Very few Americans know that song now, but you Recalled parties where men paid her to let them attempt to pretend that foot worship is somehow mainstream with the rise of rock‘n’roll in the early with Rastafarian preaching were reviving the venera- all know the melody. In 1814, Francis Scott Key Spokane Mayor Aworship at her feet. After trolling “Adult disconnected from getting off. The existence of ‘50s, with songs like Billy Ward and the Dominoes’ ble Caribbean tradition of “slackness,” turning to MCs rewrote it – and changed “myrtle of Venus” to “land Jim West was swept Gigs” on Craig’s List for a while, I found a dun- foot jobs dispels the myth that, somehow, going “Sixty Minute Man.” In 1954, Hank Ballard and the like Yellowman and General Echo. Echo’s songs of the free.” out of office in a geon in New York that was hosting a foot party to a foot party is different than calling an escort. Midnighters’ “Work With Me Annie” (“Annie please included “It’s My Desire to Set Your Crotches on Fire,” Dec. 6 recall elec- and impulsively went to my first one about six The “real money” is made by those workers don’t cheat/Give me all of my meat”) had to be “Bathroom Sex,” and “Lorna She Love Young Boy tion following reve- months ago. who will go beyond foot work. In contrast to free- lations in a local The mistress of the dungeon told me to dress lance fetish workers, our financial category is newspaper that West had offered jobs and perks to sexy. I thought that meant sexy date outfit. She rigid: always $20 for ten minutes, no matter young men he had met in a gay internet chat room. actually meant underwear. Despite the fact you what. West had previously served as a Boy Scout leader, a are only selling your feet, maximum exposure of Some girls aren’t even in it for the money. At deputy sheriff and a member of the Washington state skin is the standard for a foot party. Youthful one recent party, three girlfriends from a college legislature before being elected mayor in 2003. (teenage, even) appearance is almost always the in Pennsylvania showed up wearing matching During his 23-year political career, West attempted to look of choice – the clients pay for full access to boy briefs with phrases like “Cheeky” etched on ban gay men and lesbians from schools and daycare Red-Light Districts of the Mind centers, to fire gay state employees, to deny City Hall something akin to a girl’s locker room or slumber the back. For these girls, foot parties are the benefits to domestic partners and to stifle AIDS-pre- party. moral equivalent of “Girls Gone Wild”: a bit vention education. Men at foot parties can be divided into six over- scandalous, but in the end, morally excusable. BY NICHOLAS POWERS lapping categories: massagers, toe suckers, ticklers, Sometimes the atmosphere of house or hotel Protecting Women’s Health tramplees, foot job guys and sissy boys/voyeurists. room parties is so casual that the girls forget they he new question in politics is not what do voters In a scathing expose, the former Fetishes invariably take on a different coloring are working. One foot model I work with usually want but how they want it. Every election wife of Dr. W. David Hager, a senior when they are transformed into paid services. spends most of her night chatting with the same TRepublicans and Democrats poll and call to dis- federal adviser on women’s health Everything looks a bit more bizarre under the guys, does only a few sessions and leaves with cover the unsatisfied values that elevates a specific issue issues, alleged that her husband bordello-red lighting of a dungeon, even a fetish as under a hundred bucks. to a universal cause. Do you believe people should be had repeatedly sodomized her “tame” as foot worship. Some foot guys feel more The author prepares for a foot party held in a in a New The foot party environment seems to be based free of undo burdens? Tax cuts become tax relief. Do you without her consent between 1995 comfortable paying to worship foot models than Jersey suburb. on the foot guys not wanting to be lumped in believe in deciding for yourself? Pro-abortion becomes and their divorce in 2002. they do asking their significant other to fulfill with other fetishists, though they inevitably are. pro-choice. The term for this is “framing.” “I probably wouldn’t have objected so much, or felt it their desires to, say, suck toes. This fact became To them, slave boys, panty sniffers and wusses The point of framing is to mobilize undecided voters was so abusive if he had just wanted normal [vaginal] most apparent to me when a client once told me eagerly offer you a backrub at a bar if you looked begging for a spanking are the perverts, but by linking the choice to a deeper desire for innocence. sex all the time,” Linda Davis told The Nation (5/30/05). not to trample on his chest too hard in my heels stiff. Many of these men are themselves the ones foot guys are “normal” men with “normal” sex- One can vote with a clear conscience because as a “But it was the painful, invasive, totally non-consensual because “his wife would see it.” This made me feel who believe their fetish is wrong or weird; they ual urges who, happen to fantasize about metaphor the issue is described by comparing it with nature of the [anal] sex that was so horrible.” like I was in a bad Lifetime movie, invariably play- need these parties to accept their fetish as natural. women’s feet. another. An example is taxes are not about social services Hager, a darling of the Religious Right and an out- ing the role of the hooker. They straddle the fence between acceptance and but government theft of your wages. Since taxes are sup- spoken opponent of emergency contraceptives, abor- tion and premarital sex, was appointed by President The massagers are the kind of guys who would scorn, and they are willing to believe that at some posed to redistribute wealth from rich to poor, to say Bush in 2002 to the Advisory Committee for government steals wages is to say the poor who vote use Reproductive Health Drugs in the Food and Drug the state to mug honest workers. Administration. He stepped down from his position in In Freudian theory this is how the unconscious works. June 2005. Repressed desires are disguised and slip into reality. If world we inherited. If we want to preserve it we must be profit. Sensual hedonism is fine but wasting material is “framing” manufactures the metaphors of innocence faithful to his tradition and keep his legacy safe from a crime. So a fetish scene would be using the knots in That Mule Sure Was Purdy needed to bypass political censorship what is the desire foreigners. His law is erotized and gives his descendants trees as glory-holes. Leading anti-abortion webmaster Neal Horsley it distorts? Beneath their frames is the unseen uncon- the pleasure of moral certainty as they clean society. A The Libertarian figure of fantasy is the Blind Father. runs a website that offers detailed information on scious of each party. A few clues can be found in over- fetish scene would be washing the workers mouths out No authority is watching over us and in that sightless- doctors who provide abortions. In a May 5 interview heard humor, such as when President Bush said on with soap if they ask for a raise but it would be soap ness we perform our own freedom. A fetish scene would on Fox News radio, Horsley boasted of having sex with CNN, “If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of made out of the bodies of workers who kept asking. be telling a cop to close his eyes and hold up a long mir- animals as a young man. “When you grow up on a a lot easier - just so long I’m the dictator.” Democrats revolve around the figure of the Victim who is ror so the libertarian can watch himself masturbate. farm in Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule…You A closer inspection reveals repeated themes, unde- punished by a bankrupt law and they seek to free the sufferer The figure for Communism is the Tyrant Father who experiment with anything that moves when you are clared goals and more importantly the basic structure of from it. A fetish scene would be a liberal who found his lover inspires Oedipal Rage. He forces us to work for him growing up sexually... If it’s warm and it’s damp and it how political parties see the world. The following is a tied with ropes and chains and unable to have sex. They untie and steals the wealth we create. Communists share vibrates you might in fact have sex with it.” In a sub- list of what history tells us are the fetish scenes that exist the knots but can’t loosen one without tightening another. with liberals a fetish for victims but instead of the sol- sequent appearance on Fox, Horsley explained that his mule-man relations had been “consensual.” in their collective unconscious. It is a tour of red-light The feeling of guilt at failing to free their lover leads the lib- idarity of suffering want victims to wage a war. A district of the mind. eral to tie them both together in an act of solidarity. fetish scene would for the white and formerly middle- The fundamental fantasy for Republicans is the figure The Greens have the figure of the Raped Mother, of class commies to wear black-face and lead the poor into Online: NYC.INDYMEDIA.ORG of the Fallen Father who risked his life to create the the earth as a maternal source of life that is exploited for protest pens. 10 FEBRUARY 9 - 23, 2006 THE INDY

PEND K The Regents don’ttestforHIV The Regents of themandated HIV/AIDStrainingoverthe pastyear. that onefourth ofallstudentssaidtheyhadnot receivedany public highschools inBrooklynandManhattan. Theyfound education, completedasurvey of 486studentsattendingfive cacy groupfocusedonreproductive healthandHIV/AIDS mandated sixlessonsperyearof HIV/AIDStraining. report statingthat63percent ofpublicschoolsviolatedthe old, arebeingfollowed. system ofaccountabilitytoensurethatanymandates,newor NO ACCOUNTABILITY where theyare…AIDSismorethanjustascienceproject.” use condoms.AnyHIV/AIDSeducation“hastomeetstudents that thecurriculumshouldfocusonteachingstudentshowto NYCSchools,”aFeb.1NewSchoolforum,Pressleyheld for emphasis isonabstinence. strations intheclassroomarestillbannedandoverall fying theimplementationofprogram.Condomdemon- community asvectorsofdisease,andlacksamethodforveri- training andimplementation,onlyrepresentstheLGBT sion onmethodsofcontraception,providestoolittleteacher adequate inputfromadvocatesforHIV/AIDSawareness. (NYAC), claimsthatthematerialwasdevelopedwithout Pressley, ExecutiveDirectoroftheNewYork AIDSCoalition to educatingstudentsaboutthedangersofHIV/AIDS. sents a“tremendousstatementofcommitment”bytheDOE tion andfamilylivingfortheDOE,thiscurriculum,repre- year. curriculum. Plansaretointroduceitbytheendofschool prehensive andage-appropriateoverhaulofthe20-year-old the updatedHIV/AIDScurriculum.Itsmeanttobeacom- Bloomberg andtheDepartmentofEducation(DOE)released THE NEWCURRICULUM Sex have takenit,”Kennethtold pregnant withhischild. shortly afterhehadlearnedthathis8th-gradegirlfriendwas tnadzto Regime Standardization ENT students –whatisallowed,dismissed,overlooked.” arts atKenneth’s school.“It’s outrageouswhat’s happeningto let aloneacondom,”saidSangPark,whoteacheslanguage tions, safesex,orbasichealthandhygiene. been givensex-ed,orinformationaboutreproductivefunc- ilies areatorbelow130percentofthepovertylevelqualify. dents qualifyforfreelunches.Childrenwhosefam- recent immigrants,andover90percentstu- overwhelmingly Hispanic,withmany Schools UnderRegistrationReview. Itis resource rooms. ited accesstocondomsinhealth schools aremandatedtoprovidelim- dle schoolandhighschool.High cation, includingsex-ed,inbothmid- students getonesemesterofhealthedu- HIV/AIDS education.Italsorequiresthat yearly curriculumofsixlessonspertainingto second semester. his middleschool,andit’s onlythebeginningof has beentested.Atleastthreegirlsarepregnantin old. HeknowsthatHIV/AIDScan“killpeople”and B Y In early2005,Youth Organizers United,ayouth-runadvo- In January2004,theNewYork AIDS Coalitionreleaseda Whatever thenewstandardsare,DOEseemstolacka Speaking at“OverhaulingSex-Ed:TheNewCurriculum According toPressley, thecurriculumneedsmorediscus- While commendingthatsomeactionhasbeentaken,Joe According toBettyRothbart,thedirectorofhealtheduca- On Dec.1,2005,World AIDSDay, MayorMichael “[There were]nohealthclasses.Iftherewasaclass,Iwould “In ourschool,it’s hardtofindanaspirinyoucandispense, Kenneth’s schoolisonthelistof Since 1987NewYork CityhasmandatedaK-12 Kenneth startedhavingsexwhenhewas12years Here, studentsgraduate8thgradewithouteverhaving E RIN from hisschoolnurse,whogavehimapamphlet Sunset Park,BrooklynreceivedinformationonSTDs enneth, a15-year-old 8thgraderatapublicschoolin T HOMPSON

Ed The Indypendent

Suffers Under . willing toteachhealth.” ing healthandenjoydoingso, not justthoseteacherswhoare Behrman. “Studentsdeserveteachers whowanttobeteach- are notgettingit.” strange thatthekidswhoneedhealtheducationmost, urbs thaninNewYork City,” Behrmansaid.“To me,itseems substituted forhealthteachersatseveralpublicschools. time jobteachinghealthinNewYork City. Insteadshehas Spanish. Despiteallthis,shehasn’t been abletogetafull- over fiveyearsexperienceofhealtheducation,andisfluentin State teachingcertificationsinhealthandsocialstudieswith from ColumbiaUniversity’s Teachers College,hasNewYork on “hygiene.” principal, itdoesn’t offersex-edclasses,somuchasaprogram school. Thereisnocondomprogram,andaccordingtothe lunches. Hispanic with95percentofstudentsqualifyingforfree averages ontests.Theschoolis99percentBlackand 80 to90percentofstudentsscoringfarbelowthenational “As farasIknow, itdoesn’t exist,”shesaid. school boardonsex-edorthenewHIV/AIDScurriculum. school, saidthatteachershaveheard“notaword”fromthe tion lastyear, butitwashisowninitiative. gave his7thgradestudentsabout90minutesofhealtheduca- know, it’s notpartofherjob descriptionorrole,”saidRader. He some reasonthetopicofHIV/AIDSisbroached.“AsfarasI Occasionally theteacherwill“popinforafewminutes,”if qualifying forfreelunches. percent BlackandHispanic,with99ofstudents graders atanEastHarlemK-8publicschool.Theschoolis99 Seth Raderofthenewcurriculum.teaches7thand8th dents hadreceived allsixHIV/AIDSlessons. At openenroll- ent schools.At FDRandBrooklynTech, 52percent ofstu- tion andHIV/AIDS informationattendmore selective,afflu- AN UNEQUALSYSTEM “New York Cityneedstohirehealthteachers,”said “It’s actuallyeasiertogetajobteachinghealthinthesub- Laurie Behrmanreceivedamastersinhealtheducation There arenosex-edorHIV/AIDSlessonstaughtatthe Sarrie’s schoolisclassifiedunderregistrationreview, with Michele Sarrie,whoteachesartinaSouthBronxmiddle “Our literacycoachwasa[former]HIVeducator,” saidRader. “Nobody evenknowsaboutit,”saidmiddleschoolteacher Students withthebestchance ofreceivinganysexeduca- about thetests.” to taketheEnglishandmathteststogether... everythingis the same.“They’retoobusytellingushowtoteachkids scores. There’s abigpushforthat,”saidRader. sure toperformwellontests. list fouryearsago,butRadersaysthatthereisconstantpres- merly underregistrationreview. Theschoolwastakenoffthe competition withtesting,”saidRader, whoseschoolwasfor- pany, or betakenoverbythestate. principal, contracttheschoolmanagementwithaprivatecom- school, replaceallormostoftheschoolstaff,including made byyearfive,schoolsmusteitherreopenasacharter five-year restructuringplan.Ifadequateimprovementisnot English andmath.Oncedesignated,schoolsareputthrougha ing improvementbynothavingmetthestaterequirementsin “Schools inNeedofImprovement.” yearly progressfortwoconsecutiveyearsareconsidered with federalstandardsby2014.Schoolsthatdon’t meet to thepurposeofallschoolsbeing100percentcompliant must alsoaccrueprogressbyacertainpercentageperyear– level ofproficiencyeachyear, buttheentirestudentbody language arts,mathematicsandscience. Progress” ismeasuredbystandardizedtestinginEnglish, Left BehindAct.Undertheact,aschool’s “AdequateYearly lum oftestinginordertocomplywiththefederalNoChild here,” thephysicaleducationteachersaid. assigned tolunchduty. Theydon’t haveenoughteachers of classeswewouldprefertoteach,butinsteadare Kenneth replied,“Allwelearnaboutisanimals.” there either. Whenaskedwhathelearnedinscienceclass, in scienceclass,insteadofphys-ed.Butit’s notbeingtaught sign offonit,”theteachersaid. receiving healthinstruction.“We [theteachers]wouldn’t inquired, theprincipalputonpaperthatstudentswere have anHIVunit,butdidn’t. Incasetheschooldistrict school inSunsetPark,studentsPhys-Edweresupposedto slides ofSTDs,whattheylookedlike.” said Tobar. “Therewerenodemonstrations.Theyshowed in his9thgrade,andtooka10thgradehealthclass. the verbalandmathSAT. Tobar attendedHIV/AIDS assemblies and Asian,withastudentbodythataveragesabove600onboth School, aselectiveadmissionsschoolthatisover80percentwhite tives, gaypeople,analsex.Nothinglikethat,”Tobar said. touched uponsex.Theydidn’t talktousaboutcontracep- percent ofstudentsqualifyingforfreelunches. 194, aschoolthatis70percentwhiteandAsian,with16 instruction athismiddleschool,William H.CarrJ.H.S. 10th gradedealingspecificallywithhealthandsex-ed. in the7thand9thgrade,aswellasemester8th reported havingattendedassembliesdiscussingHIV/AIDS school. Theschoolemploystwohealthteachers.Hallie Hunter CollegeHighSchool,aselectadmissionshigh particular,” saidHallieofher10thgradehealthclassat relationship unit,alongsectiononSTDs,andHIV/AIDSin ing afive-pagepaperonHIV/AIDS,andwedidlittlemini- received anylessons. had receivedfourormorelessonsand58percenthadn’t ment FortHamiltonHighSchool,onlysixpercentsaidthey Y matter iscondoning thesocio-economicdiscrimination. Park. “Forthepeopleincharge tonotseriouslylookatthis and putitbythewaysidefor academic pursuits,”saidSang of themmusthavebeeninfected intheirteens. 20 and24.Ofthose,85percent wereBlackorHispanic.Most reported inthestatewereyoung peoplebetweentheagesof Department ofHealth,77percent 2001-2002 reportonAIDSbytheNewYork State also hadtheleastHIV/AIDSeducation.Accordingtoa schools withthelargest number ofsexuallyactivestudents CONDONING DISCRIMINATION ou’re sayingit’s okaybecause it’s thisgroupofpeople.” At MicheleSarrie’s SouthBronxschool,thestoryismuch “All themeasurementofimprovementisbasedontest “I thinkprobablythebiggestobstacletosex-ed...is are Schools UnderRegistrationReview Individual studentsmustnotonlymeetthestate-defined Schools UnderRegistrationReviewhaveastrictcurricu- “Every year, weputteachinghealtheducationonthelist This year, teachersweresupposedtoaddresshealthissues According toaphysicaleducationteacheratKenneth’s “We didgetintocondoms,andhowtoputcondomson,” T “We learnedaboutanatomy, allthatstuff.Ithinkthey Kevin Tobar remembershaving7thand8thgradehealth “We hadawholesemesterofsex-ed.We startedbywrit- “It’s deplorablethatweoverlook[HIV/AIDS education] In the2004surveydonebyYouth Organizers United, obar isnowa12thgraderatH.S.525Townsend HarrisHigh of the796 designated asneed- new AIDScases The G-String

The Scarier the Sex, The Sweeter the Chastity

BY AMY WOLF sophical monopoly in public school peers and the resulting influence on sex-education programs. With the their child’s attitude toward sin, Abstinence he Christian right has public implementation of Title V of the homosexuality, the occult, sex and school teens in a purse string Personal Responsibility and Work drugs in the public schools.” Tstranglehold. They, along with Opportunity Reconciliation Act of Loves their Republican allies have been able 1996, these groups saw an end to American Family Association to channel much needed health edu- their monopoly. Title V allocated “Parents, we cannot afford to mis- cation money into pro-abstinence $250 million ($50 million per year judge sin’s potential. Training should organizations. for five years) for states to teach absti- begin early. Boys must be taught to Ignorance Catholic Charities alone received nence until marriage. SIECUS and care for their eyes and mind. Girls must $2.5 million of the $9.3 million friends have not been happy about understand how easily they can become BY BENNETT BAUMER given to New York state in 2004 for Title V.” the object of pursuit—and that by low- sexual education funding. As the ering their standards and raising their laying to its right wing Christian base, the Bush underfunded No Child Left Behind Family Research Council skirts, they only fuel the imagination administration is emphasizing abstinence-only until Act forces schools to cut health pro- “The Family Research Council and drive of the opposite sex.” Pmarriage programs in sex education and encourages grams in favor of testing-based curric- (FRC) champions marriage and family young people to take “virginity pledges.” The federal gov- ula, students are often left with just as the foundation of civilization, the The Alpha Center ernment gives over $140 million each year to abstinence- abstinence only education. seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring The Alpha Center provides absti- only programs even though their effectiveness is suspect. Judith Levine of Sexuality of society. FRC shapes public debate nence programs (including Lady in Furthermore, sociologists Peter Bearman and Hanah Information and Education Council and formulates public policy that val- Waiting and The Bride Wore White) to Brückner, found that young people who took a pledge were for the United States (SIECUS) ues human life and upholds the insti- churches and schools, pregnancy test- one-third less likely to use contraception after becoming argues that there is a natural tendency tutions of marriage and the family. ing, post-abortion counseling, parent- sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. of abstinence educators to escalate “Teens are greatly influenced by the ing classes, a speakers bureau, medical Below are some quotes from federally funded textbooks and their messages: “Like advertising, messages they receive about sex in agency referrals, relationship counsel- workbooks. which must continually jack up its school. Unfortunately, the majority of ing, a resource library, and sponsors seduction just to stay visible as other schools teach ‘safe sex’—’comprehen- events such as God, Mom & Me Teas, From Me, My World, My Future advertising proliferates, abstinence sive’ or so-called ‘abstinence plus’ and the Memorial for the Unborn. “The first player spins the cylinder, points the gun to education had to make sex scarier and programs—believing that it’s best for his/her head, and pulls the trigger. He/she has only one in scarier and, at the same time, chastity kids to have all the information they Abstinence Clearing House six chances of being killed. But if one continues to perform sweeter.” need about sexuality and to make “The Clearinghouse houses the this act, the chamber with the bullet will ultimately fall Here is a sampling of the organiza- their own decisions about sex. only Sex, Love and Relationship Store into position under the hammer, and the game ends as one tions and the rhetoric that shapes our Abstinence is downplayed while sex- in the country, where posters, books, of the players dies. Relying on condoms is like playing national education policy. ual activity and condom use are jewelry, pencils and numerous other Russian roulette.” encouraged in these curriculums, items are available for purchase.” Concerned Women for America because it’s assumed that children are “At the least, the chances of getting pregnant with a con- “It’s time for the message of sexual eventually going to have sex.” Medical Institute (for Sexual Health) dom are 1 out of 6.” purity to be sounded in the United “True abstinence includes avoiding States once again. Concerned Women Citizens for Excellence in Education genital contact until marriage. Some (When used consistently and correctly condoms are 98 per- for America is calling upon all legis- “Public school teens and even pre- have proposed mutual masturbation and cent effective in preventing pregnancy and up to 99 percent lators, parents, and educators to pro- teens face tremendous peer pressure to ‘outer course’ as healthy and safe alterna- effective in preventing the transmission of HIV and other mote abstinence throughout this become sexually active. The schools tives for single people. These activities STDs.) nation.” teach, ‘just be sure to use condoms are not consistent with the abstinent and be on the pill.’ Result: Christian lifestyle. Sexual activity, such as these, Sex Respect (student workbook) Focus on the Family children face a double standard, with can not only result in both pregnancy One of the best ways to avoid AIDS is to “avoid homo- “For most of the past several heavy peer pressure, many succumb, and sexually transmitted disease, but can sexual behavior.” decades, liberal sex-education organi- with tragic pregnancies, babies, lives also lead to sexual intercourse.” zations such as Planned Parenthood and careers ruined. Enormous family “Is it fair to make the baby die because of a bad decision and Sexuality Information and pain results, often causing divorce. All quotations are taken from materials from his or her parents made?” Education Council for the United “Parents find they have far less con- their own organizational materials. Research States (SIECUS) have had a philo- trol over their child’s friends and courtesy of www.siecus.org. “THERE IS NO WAY TO HAVE PREMARITAL SEX WITHOUT HURTING SOMEONE.”

“A specific blood test for Chlamydia can detect the pres- ence of the disease.”

(Chlamydia is a bacterial infection of the cervix or penis. AIDSGroups ProtestData Collection It cannot be detected through a blood test.)

“Watch what you wear, if you don’t aim to please, don’t THE INDYPENDENT BY CHRIS ANDERSON prevention programs work,” argues Julie Davids, Executive Director aim to tease.” of Community HIV/AIDs Mobilization Project (CHAMPS). ational AIDS and HIV groups are expressing a grow- In December 2005, 34 organizations from 15 states sent a FACTS (middle school teacher’s guide) ing concern about plans by the Center for Disease letter to Rob Janssen, the Director of the CDC’s Division of “There is no such thing as ‘safe’ or ‘safer’ premarital sex.” NControl (CDC) to establish a new set of data collec- HIV/AIDS Prevention, requesting a meeting to discuss the tion requirements for federally funded HIV prevention PEMS program. According to organizational representatives, Choosing the Best (student guide) efforts. the program interferes with the actual prevention education “For condoms to be used properly, over 10 specific steps FEBRUARY 9-23, 2006 The data collection program, called the Program Evaluation by diverting attention to answering a time-consuming list of must be followed every time. This tends to minimize the and Monitoring System (PEMS), will mandate the reporting invasive questions, strains already overburdened entities, and romance and spontaneity of the sex act.” of highly personal information about every person who partic- may put people with HIV at risk for criminal prosecution by ipates in federally funded HIV prevention programs. collecting information about HIV status and sexual or drug WAIT Training (workshop manual) “Collecting data for PEMS will mean less time for HIV behavior over a period of time. “What if a girl came to school in a crop top, just barely cov- prevention counseling, could put people with HIV at risk for Representatives from CHAMPS are currently waiting to ering her bra, and shorts starting three inches below her 11 criminal prosecution, and won’t actually tell us whether HIV hear back from the CDC on this matter. naval? What ‘game’ would she be playing?”

Source: www.siecus.org 12 FEBRUARY 9 – 23, 2006 THE INDYPENDENT I you whatIliketogetandgive. “older woman,”I’lltrytotell with it,sexualrelations.Asan ent. Ienjoysexandwhatgoes and Iamfinanciallyindepend- write asawomannotman– perienced norstupid–andI term elderly. Iamneitherinex- I amwhatmostpeoplewould B Memoirs ofanAss-Kicker you haveotherthingsthatenjoytogether with awomananddecideditwasnotforme. endowment. Ihaveexperimentedwithsex handsome ornot,bigsmallinstature I don’t careifthepartnerisyoungorold, B American women forwardbecauseit’s con- the dehumanization ofAsianandAsian- No wondertheyarealwaysso grateful. speak. Nowondertheycaterto everydesire. always sexmachines.Nowonder theynever poverty togetoff. where Western mentakeadvantageofglobal Philippines, SriLanka,Chinaandbeyond among oursistasinThailand,the of “AsianFetishSyndrome”canbefound drive usnutshere,thetrulyinsidiousnature tinue todominate. tries whereU.S.dollarsanddecisionscon- perception stemmingfromourhomecoun- internalized racism,that“whiteisright,”a tion ofAsian-Americanwomenandourown a feedbackloopbetweenWestern fetishiza- else they’reattractedto.”ButIthinkthereis dark hairandeyes”or“can’t findanyone we presentlyare. of therace,ourhistoriesleadusbacktowho American womendatingormarryingoutside the percentageofAsianPacificIslander Lucy Liu’s bondage-lacedback-walkingto manifest todayflowsfromthepast.From save usortowriteourstories. or Americanauthors. liberators, whethertheybeG.I.’s, “samurais” servient Asianwomenwaitingforwhitemale I’m sooverthisrecycledwetdreamofsub- Y Y So –sexafter70,oreven80.Bestif This lazymasturbatory thinkingpushes I don’t know. Itmustbean Asianthing. No wonderthewomenin moviesare As muchas Sure, somepeoplemay“justreallylike Every riverhasitssource,andwhatwesee Believe me,fools,wedon’t needyouto ger tips,nipples–justplainskintoskin. ting, kissing,stroking,lickingears,fin- want lotsoftouching–old-fashionedpet- K A MANDA ELLY One day, youwillbe…geisha. Z EN D -Y A Kama Sutra VIS IE T SAI references may time experiencing real movie. Idon’t planto.Iwould ratherspendmy story forthem.” have thought,“mightaswell writetheir Golden ( experience andfeel.“Well, hell,”Arthur Asian-American womenwhat theythink, venient thanaskingAsianand the havenots.It’s morecon- nizing howthehavesexploit more convenientthanrecog- tory impactsustoday. It’s than owninguptohowhis- venient. It’s moreconvenient 50 oryounger. Hemightnotbeasugly, or Y afraid tolookathimandletyou. ways todoit. car tobefun.Butmakeitfun–thereare and youcan’t expectsexinthebackseatofa you growolderthejointsdon’t workaswell find thethingsthatbindyou.Comfort–as you canlaughatyourself).Time togetherto – wordgames,sharedlaughter(especiallyif ou mightnotbewhatyouwereat70,60, I haven’t readthebook. Ihaven’t seenthe Appreciate allofthesenses.Sight:Don’t be Memoirs ofaGeisha Sex after80 Asian-American author) must women Living longerisgettingsweeter Chicago. www.yellowgurl.com American spokenword artist basedinBrooklynand Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (inset)isaChinese Taiwanese about that? grants in Lahiri whotoldthetruthabout lifeofimmi- with givingandreceivinglove.WhenIwas lover. At81,Iamstillinlovewithsexand rhythms andsoundsforfun. ing lovetoaBeethovensonata,usingthe poetry togetherorlistentomusic.Try mak- Sound: Maybeyoudon’t sing(Ido),butread him andencouragetodothesame. and old.Taste: Useyourtongueonallpartsof all sendoffsexuallyattractivesmells–young you asunattractive,think.Smell:We Y Many thingsstillmakemewanttotakea es, mysistas,whatdoweallhave tosay The InterpreterofMaladies. Colored Girls…,”andJhumpa Ntozake Shange’s original“For Hagedorn, whowasoneof X inherarmsashedied,Jessica Kochiyama whocradledMalcolm for laborrightsinDetroit,Yuri like GraceLeeBoggs,whofought be aliveforaslong assheisalive–doit!!!! over 70butfor awomanwhowouldliketo shape (betterthanhe)andwelike eachother! than I(16years)butI’min good physical distance between.Heisquite abityounger long, aloveaffairthatrecognizes the(physical) have afriendship(withsex)that isnotallyear masturbation andothermeans,Iamwillingto ner andtryingtosatisfymysexuallongingsby 14 monthsofmourningformybelovedpart- the millenniumorevencentury, butafter music collectionhelearnsfrom. will bethingsinmybooksandmovies read sooner. Ihopewhenhevisitsmethere the houseandfoundthingsIshouldhave one another’s past.Ireadthebookshehadin to bed,holdingoneanother, talking,learning holding handswatchinganoldmovie,going very goodsexbutawonderfulpartofitwas I hadonlyspokentoonthephone.We had him andhadaquietrelationshipwithman opposite endsofthecountry. Iwenttomeet purely byaccident–wrongnumberfrom than justorgasms. good overaspanoftime,theremustbemore “love” butitwillbefleeting.Forto dices ofwhatwomenshouldfeelanddo. children) andmymindovercamethepreju- (thanks toanoperationafterbearingfive didn’t havetobeafraidofbecomingpregnant changed becauseIfounditpleasurableand than emptyingyourbladderoragoodshit. ing butitwon’t beanythingmoresatisfactory Granted, youcanhavesexwithoutloveorcar- uisite forarelationshipthatincludessex. his) andtoknowthatloveisthefirstprereq- my achesandpains(andIexpecttounderstand bally. I wouldlikethispersontounderstand caring, notjustphysically, butalittlebitver- has tocometogetherwithanabilityexpress and understandsmyneedinghim.Allofthis eral (thisisimportantforme),whoneedsme some), wholovesmusic,ispoliticallylib- is sensualinallways(ifonlyjustalittlebit (at himselfandhelpmelaughatmyself),who enjoyed thepowermysexualitygaveme. but Iwaswanted(maybeevenwanton)and how touseit.Ididn’t reallyhavealotofsex about 17.Later, Ilearnedthatwassexyand first boyfriendandsexualexperienceat too smartandunabletoconcealit).Ihadmy young, Iwasnotabletoattractmales(I I cannotsayanythingaboutsex foraman I don’t thinkthiswillbetheloveaffair of I justspenttendayswithapersonmet I thinkonecanfindgoodsexwithout Over theyears,myfeelingsaboutsexhave What Iseeknowissomeonewhocanlaugh Banji Boys and Girlfriends on the Down Low

BY LEO PARDÉ However, my roommate is another story. He gives good head, so I hear. The walls are on’t laugh but my roommate is prob- kind of thin. And he also switch hits. This is ably giving your banji boyfriend how the sinks got broken. I don’t remember Dhead as we speak. Me, I’m listening the mirror. I find it best not to remember to your girlfriend’s message asking me if I’m names. I do know when to split until the coast available to take her places you can’t. Both is clear. It has become second nature, and it enjoy a little known place called intimacy makes my roommate’s life easier. Down Lows without submission and ownership. So how is spook like horses; very skittish, and need a it, in the age of mass globalization, where fas- tight rein. It took me a while to get used to cism masquerades as capitalism, my room- their shyness. Now most of them when size mate and I offer a free service that most cou- me up when they see me, wondering which American Family ples can’t provide to their partners? It’s easy. way I go, which is not their business. The We both sell intimacy without commitment. beauty of the apartment arrangement between Drop-in whenever you want, but make sure my roommate and myself is that neither your or ‘Anti-Fag’ you call first – remedy for a millennium. Sex banji boy nor your girlfriends will ever get is still the high card over consumerism. close enough to take a picture. No cameras Sure there’s a downside to our style of living. allowed in this courtroom. Both sinks leak from sex parties where couples Some people might think that the lack of a Association have not only banged the kitchen sink out of long relationship might be cause for some alignment but have christened the kitchen floor sort of psychological underpinning. The Conservative Right’s a love pit. Our bathroom medicine cabinet However, that’s the kind of analysis you’d get Schoolyard Bully Meets hangs loose from the wall – one person’s pas- from someone who’s either not getting sionate attempt at gaining more leverage. enough, hasn’t experienced good sex, or has The Progressive Market’s Having sex on sinks is kinky, don’t ask me why. been reading too much Freud. New York All I know is that I’m the designated plumber. City is really twisted. If you’re looking for a Purchasing Muscle As for your girlfriend, I don’t mind having job; my place is to please – it’s my manly relationship (as in marriage) we suggest you BY DAVID JASPER a good time switch hitting. I find women get duty. P.S. The Golden Rule: Nothing leaves go to Jersey or Long Island. If, however, you excited when you give them the keys to your the bedroom. Absolutely nothing. That’s have decided to ride the roller coaster known t the end of January NBC canceled its new car and let them drive. Especially when the where most people screw up. Also, I never do as the City, we suggest the “buddy system.” trip is all about them. Drama is your partner’s married women. In God’s love we deliver. series, The Book of Daniel,after only four Aepisodes. The program featured two openly gay characters. Many stations throughout the nation had initially refused to carry the show. The Christian right’s American Family Association (AFA) threat- ened to boycott advertisers who promoted products during the show’s airtime. They claimed to have got- ten more than 600,000 emails sent to NBC to protest the contents of this program. Although NBC stated that “The Book of Daniel” was cancelled due Let Gays Marry – For All of Us to poor ratings, the AFA claimed the cancellation as a campaign victory. BY JOYCE MARCEL “It assumes men are heads of households and their own style: backward to the patriarchal, The AFA has also been in discussions with Ford to women are property the husband owns, lack- staying with the provider/homemaker sever ties with gay community markets. Since May ere’s a rock-solid truth that our cul- ing any rights to earn an income, own property model, or entering into a working partner- 2005, AFA has been threatening a boycott if talks ture tries to deny: We don’t choose or even have custody of children,” she said. ship. If religious conservatives win their failed to produce results. In early December, the AFA Hthe people we love. Love chooses us. Then comes industrialization, taking such fight to define marriage as between a man claimed that it forced Ford to cancel ads that it had As Bob Dylan recognized, “It falls on things as food, clothing, medicine and soap and a woman, Ferree warns, they might not planned to run with LGBT media. Indeed Ford had strangers, travels free.” production out of the home and putting them stop there. notified gay media outlets, through its ad agency, Same-sex couples know this truth. How many in offices and factories. Along with this comes We find ourselves now in a strange period that it was withdrawing ads for its Jaguar and Land are born masochistic enough to “choose” homo- the struggle for women’s emancipation. of what might be called attempted Christian Rover brands around the same time that the AFA sexuality – to be preached against, humiliated, Social conservatives of the time argued that Fascism. Our president believes God has ostracized, beaten up, occasionally murdered and, if women had the right to vote, inherit prop- called him to the White House (it certainly had pressured Ford. on the up side, get a job making straight people erty, earn money and have opinions different wasn’t the popular vote). Empowered by In mid-December Ford reversed this decision after attractive – these are life goals? Sometimes men from their husbands, they would leave their Bush, evangelical Christians are pushing for a meeting with more than 19 LGBT civil rights groups fall in love with men. Sometimes, after that, they husbands and it would be the end of marriage. rollback of Darwin, the end of scientific in Washington, including the Human Rights Campaign fall in love with women. Sometimes women fall Marriage didn’t end, however. It changed. experimentation, and the coming of and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. A Ford in love with women. Sometimes women fall in In general, men took up the role of Armageddon. The hallowed American sepa- spokesperson claimed that the termination of adver- love with women but eventually marry – and “provider,” leaving home every day to earn a ration of church and state has never been tising relationships with gay-oriented media was love – men. It’s all one great big love stew. paycheck. Women became “homemakers,” – more under attack. The goal is the creation of simply a “business decision” and that conservative Given this basic truth, why are so many “specialists in raising children and providing a Christian nation – and later a Christian Christian groups played no role in cutting these ads. people outraged by gay marriage? How could domestic comforts.” world – under biblical law. However, after meeting with gay and lesbian rights it “change marriage as we know it?” What This was better, but not the best. Wives So after a constitutional amendment, the advocates, Ford stated that it would advertise not are these fools thinking? legally owed domestic support to their hus- next logical step would be defining the roles only Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo with LGBT media Myra Marx Ferree, a professor of sociology bands and could not be paid for their work at of men and women in heterosexual marriages outlets, as it had previously done, but all Ford brands. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has home. Husbands owed their wives financial according to biblical standards. Can you hear In early January, the AFA threatened Ford with ERAY9– 22, 2006 FEBRUARY 9 a chilling answer. Ferree argues that right- support; they had to pay alimony if the mar- the patriarchy calling? another boycott if the decision is not reversed. wing Christian opposition to gay marriage is riage broke up. The husband had the right to We don’t choose who we love, and that’s During 2004, the American Family Association an attack on all marriages, and that a consti- his wife’s sex, so there could be no such thing the truth. But most of us do love, and we can and Focus on the Family boycotted Proctor and tutional amendment to define marriage as a as marital rape. The woman had the right of choose how we love. Gamble because of its support to repeal a law in union strictly between a man and a woman custody of the children, so there could be no If we don’t want to see women forced to walk Cincinnati that prevented the city from enacting leg- could have the power to destroy heterosexual joint custody. two steps behind their husbands, if we don’t islation banning discrimination based on sexual ori-

marriages as we know them today. In the modern world, marriages are part- want to see them lose the right to vote, to THE INDYPENDENT entation. The AFA alleged that it was able to gain The amendment, she points out, is based nerships. Women and men both work - and work, to have credit and to own property, if we on a simple and false premise: that marriage are paid equally (under law, if not always in don’t want to live in an anti-democratic and 300,000 people not to purchase P&G products has always been the same – biblical, if you the real world). They both vote, have bank insanely fundamentalist country, then we must because of the company’s stance. P&G said that it will. But marriage has taken many forms over accounts and credit, and share in child-rais- all fight for the right of homosexuals to marry. would not advocate discrimination regardless of the the centuries, and Ferree describes three ing and child custody. boycott. Similar boycott threats have occurred to

American models. Contemporary marriage, like a Cantonese A longer version of this article originally appeared both Kraft Foods, for its sponsorship of the 2006 Gay 13 The first is pre-Industrial Age patriarchy. restaurant menu, allows couples to chose on commondreams.org Games, and Disney over Gay Days at Disney World. When Porn You’ve gone the wrong way, baby

Was (kinda) Female Chauvinist Pigs: The other chapters cover milder but Women & the Rise of Raunch Culture pervasive sexual trends entrenched so Free Press, 2005 deeply in our culture that they have Sweet By Ariel Levy become a normalized part of the main- stream: 12-year old girls in thongs and VOXPOPNET.NET Score ry as they might, women will t-shirts that declare “Feeling lucky?”; 718.940.2084 dir. Radley Metzger never be “one of the guys,” wielding casual sex as a power tool All shows no cover with 2 drink minimum. Verso, 2005 Targues Ariel Levy, and women instead of a means of affection and should not pretend that appropriating pleasure; and the expansion of the oday’s pornography indus- sexist behavior will give them a leg up. Playboy empire. FREE MUSIC try, while never regaining In Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the In her chapter, “From Womyn to Tthe playful spirit of its Rise of Raunch Culture, Levy prods the Bois” Levy delves beyond the main- 1970’s heyday, has proven itself definition of feminism, asking if women stream into boi culture in lesbian cir- COLD BEER continually successful. Blame the who align themselves with male chau- cles – adopting the look of a teenaged decimating impact of AIDS, the vinism are really empowered, or if women who bare boy and an aggressive, noncommittal sexual ethos. FREE READINGS conversion from film to video, all for Girls Gone Wild, watch The Man Show, and Female Chauvinist Pigs will make readers question widespread plastic surgery, or 30+ go to strip clubs, are doing themselves a disservice the norms of our society, and how we arrived at a GOOD WINE years of cultural change – whatever and reversing years of feminist progress. paradoxical point where Jenna Jameson writes a the cause, most porn today feels For those well schooled in feminist thinking, the bestseller but teenagers are taught abstinence-only INSTA•PRESS hungover and listless, as if nothing book will be a reread in certain areas, such as the sex ed. Levy points a lot of fingers without pointing could be less fun than sexual activity. chapter on the history of the women’s movement toward solutions, and men are left out of the picture Not that porn from the past is and the splintering off of “sex-positive feminists.” – a man who does not agree with chauvinist think- SNACKS always enjoyable, but few porn film- Levy herself is against porn, a bias that comes ing is never mentioned. Largely, though, this is a fast makers (beyond the brilliant if prob- across clearly in an otherwise fairly even-handed and thought-provoking slice of feminist lite. FREE WIRELESS lematic Russ Meyer) ever bothered chronicle of events. —ERICA PATINO to push their films toward artistry. In his best films (Score, The Lickerish FAIR TRADE Quartet, The Opening of Misty The same-sex couples split off for a of framing his characters to illumi- exquisite photos are an empty sub- Beethoven), Radley Metzger achieves a long seduction sequence, brilliantly nate private meanings and desires stitute for the sublime joy of holding FREE PEOPLE kind of playful art-porn grandeur. In cross-cut by Metzger, to where the while never passing judgment on a beautiful hippie girl you love in Metzger’s world, sex becomes the men get Warholian fetishized images them, save those too square to let your arms. common denominator, and he glosses projected on their bodies, the women loose and ... the whole room. It’s — ARTHUR JONES GOOD BOOKS over any distinctions of class, race or lose themselves in a mirrored tent hard not to admire a film where one sexual orientation: All that matters is bed and everyone takes amyl nitrate character says of her husband: “I 1022 CORTELYOU RD each character’s ability. (how quaint!). Inhibitions drop away like everyone here except him 2.5 BLOCKS OFF THE Q TRAIN (CORTELYOU RD. STOP) Score (1973) captures a now-incon- as fantasy, memory and identity blur because he won’t take his pants off.” BROOKLYN ceivable swinging 70s utopia: Elvira in a whirlwind of rhythmic making Never less than wholly charming, (Claire Wilbur) and Jack (Gerald out (as Metzger prefers, the hardcore Score is pure adulterated joy. Grant) are a happy couple competing shots are cut from the DVD) before —CHARLIE BASS to see who can first seduce the sexu- Betsy and Eddie depart, now trained

1-6 ally naïve Betsy (Lynn Mowry) and seducers themselves. Eddie (Casey Donovan). Not too Adapted from an off-Broadway 859-1 1 unusual a setup, but the trick here is parody of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Crunchy

1-93 that Jack wants Eddie and Elvira Wolff?, Score’s consistently witty wants Betsy, leading to a film that script, Hefner-ski-lodge décor, and SBN I truly offers (as the ads claimed) perfect cast are a treat. Cult legend Granola “something for everyone.” After Mowry (who’s worked with $12 Elvira has Betty photograph her Cronenberg and Romero) might be screwing local handyman Mike (Carl porn’s ideal naïf, and the hilariously Porn Parker), the couples share a joint and brazen Claire Wilbur is empower- play dress-up: Jack the sailor, Eddie ment incarnate. Like a dirty cross hippiegoddes.com the cowboy, Elvira the nun and inno- between James Whale and Josef Women and Socialism cent Betsy, the dominatrix. Von Sternberg, Metzger is a master ired of generic porn sites and locates the source of their increasingly brutal aes- women’s oppression in thetic? Maybe it’s time for a class society, arguing that T The Mash of only a movement integrat- mellow walk through the woods ing the fight for women’s with the scantily clad young women at hippiegoddess.com, which boasts of Civilizations liberation with a struggle against a system that puts offering “the internet’s ONLY profit above human needs exclusively erotic alternative un- The Sultan of Palermo can end women’s oppres- shaven hippie girl nudes.” By Tariq Ali sion—along with all other osing on the beach in Santa Verso, 2005 forms of inequality. Cruz and in their natural or anyone who thinks Arab cul- SHARON SM ITH Phabitat in the woods outside ture is, was and always will be of Portland, Oregon, these dread- Freactionary and intensely Women and locked beauties don’t bother to misogynistic, Tariq Ali’s latest novel THE BIG SCORE: Trying to make art when the market demands stroke has shave their armpits much less their (“A Sultan in Palermo”) is a refresh- Socialism been fiddled with for decades. Radley Metzger’s films still have the power pubes. Nor do they splay their ing read. Set in 12th century Sicily, Essays on Women’s to amuse, and the polysexuality is something San Fernando’s Porn Vally still snatches, wag their booties, do pen- the novel follows the life and loves of Liberation can’t handle. etration shots or affect the fuck-me the great medieval cartographer look so common to internet porn. Muhammad al-Idrisi at a time when “SharonSmith’ s work,spanning threedecades of events affecting More often than not, they seem the island is ruled by a Norman king women, providesa valuable and lost in thought as they meditate, but dominated by a sensual, pleas- uncommon perspectiveon the A War Done Well curl up in a tree branch, stare off ure-loving Arab culture. Stoked by oppressionand liberationof into their leafy surroundings or put- ambitious Christian clerics, the women...theaccessible writing ter around at water’s edge. You can “clash of civilizations” that builds up and incisiveassessment of the The White Countess dance performances. The effects are almost smell the sage and the speed in this book will also be dis- movement’s gainsand lossesare Directed by James Ivory 2005 of a high esthetic, beautiful, provid- patchouli. turbingly familiar to anyone who indispensablefor activists fighting THE INDYPENDENT ing a respite from conflict. Then, Gazing at these young wood follows today’s headlines. forwomen’ s liberationtoday .” The White Countess, set in 1936 1937. The Japanese attack Shanghai. nymphs, a sense of appreciation for —JOHN TARLETON Dana Cloud,University ofT exas Shanghai, relates the story of a diplo- The diplomat and one of the bar their natural beauty eventually gives mat and League of Nations func- women and her young daughter are way to a desire for communion that Orderfrom tionary who is blinded in a violent among the thousands who flee the cannot be fulfilled. This is still a incident and whose wife and young city. The refugee scenes are very con- porn site and these goddesses a com- In the meantime, daughter are killed. With the assis- vincing and pertinent to wars past modity--if you want to look at more FEBRUARY 9 - 23, 2006 .org tance of a Japanese acquaintance, the and present. Ralph Fiennes, Natasha than a handful of the 10,000 plus the world is in a bereft diplomat opens a bar offering Richardson, and Lynn Redgrave star. images you have to pay $24.95 per

14 women hostesses, jazz and song and –DONALD PANETH month. In the end, even the most very scary place. 5 Easy Steps bluestockings radical bookstore | activist center fair trade cafe 172 ALLEN ST. • to Romance on a Dime 212.777.6028 bluestockings.com

FEBRUARY 15 @ 7PM - free Urban Exploration: Lessons from f you can’t buy true love, how do a Rubber Raft you romance someone on a real-life budget in this big-spending city? Multimedia presentation by Liz Clayton of I Access All Areas:a user's guide to the art of Readers of the Indypendent rose to the urban exploration; and Julia Solis of New York challenge. Below are the best of the Underground: The Anatomy of a City. open submissions. FEBRUARY 17 @ 7PM - free No. 1: First Date Bait Free gallery openings, literary readings and Art, Avan Garde, panel discussions are perfect opportunities to explore your interests together, while boozin’ Apocalypse: Art & and snackin’ for free! Try the galleries and Social Change During spaces nearest your favorite neighborhoods to the Zero Years hang out in. A few faves of ours include The Jonathan LeVine Gallery at 529 West 20th Wtih Gee vaucher, Douglas Lain, Street and Deitch Projects at 76 Grand and Nick Mamatas. Street. Bloom Publications is a good place for literary readings, with the stock of wine FEBRUARY 19 @ 7PM - $5-10 sug. and cheese a’plenty. Nothing beats an open bar, so check out MyOpenBar.com and find 30 Years of Sisterhood: out whose schlocking the free booze. Don’t The 1970s Women’s forget to look for the letter F (for “free”) when Lib. Movement in Japan browsing local papers for events! Special screening followed by panel No. 2: The Explorer Special including filmmakers from Japan. In early spring take the Staten Island Ferry No. 3: Adult Swim of flower petals. Photograph your sweetie for for, that’s right, free! The ferry is enclosed and Head out to Coney Island with your couch posterity or just lie there with your special cruises right past Lady Liberty. If the weather cushion change and win your shnuckems a someone, watching the clouds drift by. Or do is favorable, venture to Schnacks in Red stuffed animal! Bring a blanket for catching the same under the cherry trees at the Central Hook where you can treat your crush for rays and cards or other games to spend quality Park Reservoir with its convenient access to WHERE DO I GET MY COPY under five dollars with its dollar PBRs and time under the sun. All you need is train fare, the Rambles behind Belvedere Castle on the tasty tofu rueben sandwiches! After, take a or a bicycle and the stamina to ride it down Great Lawn. During the summer, you can also OF THE INDYPENDENT? stroll to the Red Hook piers and not only Ocean Parkway. head to Summer Stage and enjoy free music A FREE PAPER FOR FREE PEOPLE peep the water under an open sky, but take in outdoors. Don’t forget your water bottle street art from the likes of Swoon and others. No. 4: The Great Romance because unfortunately, that ain’t free (or cheap!). TH Metropolitan Laundromat BELOW 14 ST. 561 Metropolitan Ave. Bluestockings Another great place to enjoy open space is on Take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at Freddy’s Bar and Books & Café the corner of North 3rd and the East River in sunset, stopping midway for the view and a per- No. 5: The Ultimate Heart Winner Backroom 172 Allen St. Williamsburg. Climb over piles of rubble and fect chance to plant a kiss. Proceed to the Make your crush a mixtape and play it for Dean St. & 6th Ave. Times Up! be greeted by the Manhattan skyline. Enjoy Promenade and plant a few more! In mid-late him/her. No matter where you could have 49 E. Houston St. Community Book Store 7th Ave. & Carroll Sts. quiet conversation while dangling your feet April, go to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park when taken your sweetie, free booze or not, nothing NY Copy Center 3rd Ave. & 11 St. Tea Lounge over the edge of a concrete wall above the the magnolia trees are losing all their flowers. says “I’m into you” more than a hand picked Union St. @ 7th Ave. May Day Books water – just don’t jump in! Bring a camera and build a soft and fluffy bed selection of songs. Mmm hmm. 9th St. @ 7th Ave. Theater for the New City 155 First Ave. Atlantis Super Laundry (Btw. 9th & 10th Sts.) Center Housing Works 472 Atlantic Ave. 126 Crosby St. Photoplay Video special LGBT Center 933 Manhattan Ave. 213 W. 13th St. Verb Cafe Shakespeare & Co. Books Bedford Ave. & N. 5th 1 Whitehall St. Food for Thought Cafe INTRODUCTORY 456 Nostrand Ave. Brecht Forum 451 West St. Veggie Castle TH TH 2242 Church Ave. 14 TO 96 ST. Make the Road OFFER Revolution Books by Walking 9 W. 19th St. 301 Grove St. $10 FOR 10 ISSUES Chelsea Sq. Diner Spoken Word Cafe 23rd St. & 9th Ave. 4th Ave. & Union St. Domus >>> a free paper for free people <<< 413 W. 44th St. QUEENS Second Wave Cafe Bar Laundrocenter 36th St. & 34th Ave. 55th St. & 9th Ave. Sunnyside Library THE INDYPENDENT Bill me Check enclosed TH 43-06 Greenpoint Ave. ABOVE 96 ST. Broadway Library Labyrinth Books 4020 Broadway 536 W. 112th St. Name Kim’s Video BRONX 113th St. & Broadway Bronx Museum Address Karrot 165th St. & Grand FEBRUARY 9 - 23, 2006 181st St. & Cabrini Concourse City State Zip The Point BROOKLYN 940 Garrison Ave. Vox Pop Baychester Library E-Mail Phone 1022 Cortelyou Rd. 2049 Asch Loop Tillie’s of Brooklyn Regular subscription rate: $25/year (23 issues). Make checks payable to the NYC IMC Print Team 248 DeKalb Ave. JERSEY CITY and send to: PO Box 1417, New York, NY 10276. Or for even faster service email your address Montrose Ave. Cafe Five Corners Library

to [email protected] and we will begin your subscription right away! 173 Montrose Ave. 678 Newark Ave. 15 events february THE INDYPENDENT [email protected] NYC Indymedia Photo Team [email protected] NYC Indymedia Video Team [email protected] NYC Indymedia Audio Team [email protected] Indy Kids Newspaper [email protected]

Now thru Feb. 18 Sunday, Feb. 12 bombard us, representing and shaping Wednesday, Feb. 15 Faces of Change: Grassroots activists find a STORIES FROM HOME: 1:30pm • free women’s lives. 7pm • $3 voice. From five different countries, the LA CIUDAD OCULTA FILM: INVISIBLE BALLOTS: Pioneer Theater, 155 E 3rd St. BLACK WOMEN OF THE HARLEM videos capture the hopes and dreams that echo each other across the five countries. Exhibit by young photographers of the PH15 A TEMPTATION FOR ELECTRONIC RENAISSANCE Winner: ADFF 2005 Public Award for the Foundation from Buenos Aires, Argentina. VOTER FRAUD Monday, Feb. 13 Discussion w/ Dr. Susan Williams speaking 6:30pm-8:30pm • FREE Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color. Art for Change, 1701 Lexington Ave (btw 106th & This film exposes the world of all-electronic on trailblazers like Zora Neale Hurston, MEETING: WOMEN’S LIBERATION Q&A with filmmaker to follow. 107th Sts) computerized voting & the potential for Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, Agelina BIRTH CONTROL PROJECT BAM, 30 Lafayette Ave. btw Ashland Place & St. www.artforchange.org fraud with Teresa Hommel of NYers for Weld Grimke. Felix • silverdocs.com/2005/films/faces.aspx Verified Voting. Have you faced obstacles in getting the Freedom Hall, 113 W 128th St. (btw Malcolm X & Now thru Feb. 28 Community Church, Assembly Hall, 40 E 35th St morning-after pill or birth control? Have you Adam Clayton Powell Blvds, 2/3, 4/5/6, A/B/C/D to 8pm • $12 general/$9 members (n/o turned away) AMADOU DIALLO: (btw Park & Madison) had trouble getting guys to wear condoms? 125th St. Info/childcare: 212-222-0633, MUSIC: PEOPLES’ VOICE CAFÊ WITH HIS LIFE AND DEATH IN ART [email protected] We will compare experiences to figure out www.radicalwomen.org how the personal is political and how to LEGACY (ZENOBIA, JAQUE DUPREE & Commemorating the seventh anniversary of www.nyc.notinourname.net best fight back. BEN SILVER); DONAL LEACE Diallo’s death on Feb. 4, 1999, ten paintings 9pm • FREE Office of Raff & Becker, 470 Park Ave (btw 31st & The Workmen’s Circle, 45 East 33rd St. (btw about his life, death, and contributions by 2pm-7pm • $10 EVENT: TRIBECA/SOHO/CHINATOWN SWAP-O-RAMA-RAMA 32nd), 3rd floor Madison & Park) artists including Eric Alugas, Shawn Walker TRASH TRAILBLAZE [email protected] www.peoplesvoicecafe.org and Katrina Jeffries, plus 20 photographs by A seasonal clothing swap and series of do- Join us as we return to the old neighbor- it-yourself workshops in which a commu- www.birthcontrolproject.org Jim Carroll of Diallo’s funeral procession. hood for the first time in years to learn 10am-5pm, each session $125 nity explores creative reuse through the Casa Frela Gallery, 47 W 119th St. (btw Lenox & Tuesday, Feb. 14 what Lower Manhattan is throwing away. PAPER TIGER TV OFFERS A TWO-DAY Madison) recycling of used clothing. Bring a bag of Unlike our trash tours, which guarantee an INTENSIVE TO LEARN FINAL CUT PRO! your unwanted clothes; all workshop and 7pm • FREE www.casafrela.com/gallery abundant haul of wasted, useable goods, Session 1. basics of digital video editing – DIY materials are provided. READING: TRISTAN TAORMINO Trash Trailblazing is a treasure-hunting “VALENTINE’S DAY EROS” transfer footage from your camera to the Saturday, Feb. 11 Galapagos Art Space, 70 N 6th btw Wythe & Kent, adventure where we never know what we Selections from Best Lesbian & Gay Erotica computer, edit your video, and output it 10am-6pm • $20 adults, $5 21 and under, $30 Bklyn might (or might not) find. This event is not 2006. Round out your Valentine’s Day with back to tape. Session 2. integrate tool bar at the door www.swaporamarama.org. open to the media. some literary smut from all corners of the functions, basic audio editing, advanced NYC GRASSROOTS MEDIA Meet at Hudson Square Cafe (Canal/Hudson) titling, import titles from Photoshop, use CONFERENCE 6:30 pm • $9/$6.50 (s/s) gender dance-floor, w/Eric(a) Maroney, COMING UP SHORT: WOMEN AND Skian McGuire, Zaedryn Meade, Kyle simple effects and import music from a A projected 1,000 students, activists, Thursday, Feb. 16 SEXUALITY FILM SERIES Walker, Sam J Miller, Thorn Kief Hillsbery & CD. All classes are first come, first served mediamakers, community workers and 5:30pm-7:30pm • Sliding Scale: $55-$75 Hot and Bothered: Feminist Pornography Round out your Valentines’s Day with some and require payment to reserve space. artists will convene for more than 40 work- INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE AND (Becky Goldberg) Women making pornogra- literary smut with Eric(a) Maroney, Skian Classes limited to 6 students per session. shops, do-it-yourself trainings, discussions, MOBILIZATION IN LATIN AMERICA phy with feminist values, who go up McGuire, Zaedryn Mead, Kyle Walker, Sam 339 Lafayette St • [email protected] panels, art exhibitions and films. 5-session class w/ Gerardo Renique will against an entire industry. J. Miller, Thorn Kief Hillsbery and Tim The New School, 65 5th Ave @ 13th explore the trajectory of indigenous strug- Tuesday, Feb. 21 www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org Silence: In Search of Black Female Doody. Bring a date or come solo & meet gle and resistance from independence to Sexuality in America (Mya B.) Street inter- other similarly sex-obsessed singles. 7pm • $9/6.50 the present, examining modes of indige- FILM: MARDI GRAS, MADE IN CHINA 8pm • $12 gen./$9 members (n/o turned away) views juxtaposed with academics and reli- Bluestockings, 172 Allen St @ Stanton nous resistance to colonialism, capitalist First-time director David Redmon illumi- MUSIC: PEOPLES’ VOICE CAFE WITH gious leaders talking about black sexuality, www.bluestockings.com expansion and the formation of the liberal nates the clash of cultures by juxtaposing HARMONIC INSURGENCE historically shrouded in silence. state; struggle for land in Mexico and the American excess and consumer ignorance Songs for an unsettled world. In Her Image: Producing Womanhood in SUBMIT YOUR EVENT Andean countries, and neo-liberalism and with the harsh life of the Chinese factory The Workmen’s Circle, 45 East 33rd St. (btw America (Julia Barry) The roots and mean- TO THE INDYPENDENT free trade. worker. A dialogue results when bead- Madison & Park) www.peoplesvoicecafe.org ings of the images and messages that IT’S FREE The Brecht Forum, 451 West St. wearing partiers are shown images of the www.brechtforum.org teen Chinese workers, while the factory 7pm • FREE girls view pictures of Americans decadently FILM/DISCUSSION: 30 YEARS OF celebrating. SISTERHOOD: WOMEN IN THE 1970S Pioneer Theater, 155 E 3rd St WOMEN’S LIBERATION IN JAPAN W/ Chieko Yamagami & Noriko Seyama Wednesday, Feb. 22-26 (filmmakers), Yoko Akiyama (Surugadai U), FILM: GRANITO DE ARENA Yumi Doi (writer), Soko Miki (Kyoto Seika The story of hundreds of thousands of pub- U), Keith Vincent (NYU). In Eng & Japanese. lic schoolteachers who have endured brutal LGBT Community Center, 208 W 13th St (btw 7th repression in their 25-year struggle for & 9th Aves.) social & economic justice in Mexico’s public www.gaycenter.org & schools. W/ filmmaker Jill Freidberg (This Is sisterhoodjapan.blogspot.com What Democracy Looks Like, 2000) at all events. 7pm • FREE 22nd at 6pm: Teachers College, Columbia U, 525 AMERICA'S MILITARY TODAY: THE W 120th St, Milbank Chapel. 24th at 6:30pm: CHALLENGE OF MILITARISM Center for Worker Education, 99 Hudson St, 6th fl; Forum with Tod Ensign (Exec Dir of Citizen $2 suggested. 26th at 7pm: Union Pool, 484 Soldier), Jim Murphy (Veterans for Peace), Union Ave, Bkln, $5-$10 sliding scale (age 21 & Job Mashariki (Black Veterans for Social over only). www.corrugate.org Justice). CUNY Grad Center, 34th St & 5th Ave, Rm. 5414. Thursday, Feb. 23 Info: 718-624-5921, [email protected] & Friday, Feb. 24 9pm • Free Friday, Feb 17 PERFORMANCE: THE SOUND OF 4:30pm • FREE MAGIC Deitch Projects is pleased to present the ACTION/VGIL FOR A JUST PEACE IN SRI LANKA Legendary Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black with their new show. Filled with clas- Street theater, masked performance, art & sic rock, punk energy, and the group’s sig- song, concluding w/ a candlelight vigil to nature and memorable visual language, The honor the lives of people who have been Sound of Magic will be performed in tan- affected by the violence in Sri Lanka. Vigils dem with the release of the new limited also in London, Toronto & other cities. edition vinyl picture LP by the same name 1st Ave btw 42d & 43d Sts (opposite U.N. and promises to be one of the groups most Secretariat Building) ambitious works to date. ON THE STREET Saturday, Feb. 18 and 21 Deitch Projects,18 Wooster St. Sat. at 2pm & Tues. 21 at 6:50pm by Erin Siegal BEST OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA FILM FESTIVAL