Back in the World (the US) there was a growing body of politically radicalized veterans. Viet Nam Veterans against the War had over 50,000 members and the GI coffee house movement was widespread. The Winter Soldier hearings put a face on the atrocities and massacres and showcased the pain and rage that was twisting the spirit of the armed forces. We in the armed forces at the time regarded ourselves as citizen soldiers. I was an enlistee, RA all the Way, regular Army and volunteered for Viet Nam. I enlisted out of a sense of duty as a calling. It was not nor ever should be regarded as a JOB. The current professional volunteer armed forces has become a contracted killing machine, a constitutional abomination. I have begun to question who it is loyal too. I swore an oath, …”to protect and defend the US constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic.” I have never released myself from that oath.

Here is what has become of us. Blackwater(Xe), DyneCorp, Triple Canopy and Hallibuton KBR have become the mercenary assistants of the US Armed Forces. Iraq Veterans against the War in concert with Veterans for Peace and VVAW have exposed the corrupt relationship between the Pentagon and the military industrial complex. Former veterans of the US armed forces have contracted out as body guards and hired killers to the CIA and State Dept expecting to be cared for and protected by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. They do not deserve nor have earned it. They and their corporate employers are subject to the Geneva conventions and International Law under the Nuremberg rulings.

Here is what we can do. We can support and advocate GI resistance. We can constantly put the cost of the war to our economy in the public eye at every and all city council or legislative hearings. Go to icasualties.org and read the names of the American dead in public. We in the Underground can bring the truth above ground.

Dave Ionno
Veteran for Peace

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

2:00pm – 3:00pm

HomeGoods Distribution Center

1415 Blue Hills Avenue

Bloomfield, CT

Basic Facts on the TJX/HomeGoods Distribution Center Workers’ Struggle

·        TJX, our parent company, is one of the most profitable retail chains in the country.

On Feb 24 the Wall Street Journal reported that …

o       For the quarter ended Jan. 30, TJX posted a profit of $395 million, or 94 cents a share, up from $250.7 million, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier.$

o       Gross profit margin jumped to 26.6% from 22.5%.

·        The recession has been very good to TJX.  More people than ever are shopping at their low cost, AJ Wright, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores.  The recession has not been good to working people and our families.

·        It’s great that the company is selling a lot of product, but they shouldn’t be making this level of profit twice on the backs of low wage working people:

o       They’re profiting from the hardships faced by low wage working families that is sending them to their stores;

o       They’re profiting by the low wages and poor health insurance they’ve paying to HomeGoods workers.

·        600 workers at the TJX/HomeGoods distribution center are asking for support from the community during our negotiations for:

o       a health insurance plan that allows us to afford to see a doctor and bring our kids to the doctor

o       wages that allow us to provide for our families. We currently make between $8.40 and 11.75/hour

·        Help stop the RACE TO THE BOTTOM.  TJX shouldn’t join the ranks of the exploiters of the poor like the HYATT and WALMART.

For more information or to get involved contact

Deya Garcia at  (401) 374-6636

Click here to download the MP3

Victor Gerena is Hartford’s anti-hero.
In September, 1983, he allegedly robbed Wells Fargo of $7.2 million. It was a daring, non-violent daylight theft that brought down the full weight of the United States government on him, his family, his friends, and the entire movement for Puerto Rican independence both here and on the Island.

The Feds want Victor: he’s on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.   A million dollar reward from the FBI for information leading to his capture is still in effect.  And bounty hunter wannabes will give you $1,000 for information leading to his arrest (now that’s a crime). Victor is a wanted man, but more than twenty-six years after the robbery, he still hasn’t been caught.

What a difference a century makes. Colorful figures like Jesse James and Pretty Boy Floyd were considered thieves and killers back in their own day.  The Wells Fargo corporation profits off its “wild west history” by promoting the legendary characters who used to rob their stage coaches, calling them “varmints” on the corporate website.

While Victor Gerena doesn’t rate any space in Wells Fargo mythology, Black Bart does. Bart, whose real name was Charles E. Bolton, robbed 27 stages over a period of four years in the late 1800’s.  Even Wells Fargo will tell you that he was known for his polite manner when he relieved the company of its gold.  And he wouldn’t rob passengers on the stage–only the company strongbox.

It was Black Bart’s poetry, though, that really made him famous. With wordplay that is worthy of a 21st century city kid who tags subway cars, Bart signed himself “The Po8″. Here’s some of his work:  I’ve labored long and hard for bread/ For honor and for riches/ But on my corns too long you’ve tread/ You fine-haired sons of bitches.

The story goes that Bart was caught when a detective found a laundry marking on a handkerchief he left behind.  Bart did some prison time; when he got out it was rumored that Wells Fargo paid him money just so he wouldn’t rob any more of their stagecoaches.

American culture has a long history of celebrating the outlaws who rob the rich and protect the poor.  Woody Guthrie sang about Pretty Boy Floyd and made him even more famous. A traditional song about Jesse James goes: Jesse was a man, a friend to the poor/He never would see a man suffer pain/ And with his brother Frank he robbed the Chicago bank/And stopped the Glendale train.

Black Bart’s last Wells Fargo robbery was 1883.  Victor Gerena’s first was 1983. How long will it be before songs are sung about Victor?

Click here to download the MP3

The new campaign slogan for the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women certainly gets right to the point. And if anyone is unconvinced of their assertion, then I wish you could have attended Women’s Day at the Capital on Tuesday.  Invited speakers and the public submitted testimony on Tuesday and called attention to many issues like health care, domestic violence and protection, education, employment, women in politics, and childcare.  Two high school students from the Young Women’s Leadership Program essay contest also read their winning essays which focused on breaking the cycle of domestic violence and the need for more women in leadership positions.

Women’s Day was really more just like the morning which was noted by two young women sitting behind me who discussed why there wasn’t a day full of activities.  Ironically, these two left a bit before noon but I internally hoped that was because they were heading over to Trinity College for their program on reproductive health “I had an illegal abortion: telling my story” at 12:15pm.  These women also noted the lack of diversity in the room.  True, most of the women there were white, well dressed and in 40+ age category.  There were several men in attendance.  The attorney general, a male photographer, the father of one essay contest winner, and two men who sat at the center table.  They didn’t have the appropriate name cards so I couldn’t find out who they were.  The morning must have been a bit boring for them because one left about an hour into the testimony and the other looked like he was sleeping.  After studying him for a few moments I noticed that it wasn’t because he was sleeping that he was so still, it was because he was typing on his phone…possibly updating his twitter page as a call for action on these women’s issues?

When one woman noted that the medical field has historically been dominated by females as midwives and mothers and it wasn’t until you could get paid $300k a year that men started taking over, the room erupted with laughter.  It wasn’t all jokes though, and Executive Director Teresa Younger took that very seriously.  I internally applauded Younger when she shushed two female political leaders talking during the testimony of Dr. Stefanie Chambers, which focused on the effect the recession had on women.

Younger has every right to be tense about this day.  For the second year, Governor Rell is calling for the elimination of the (Permanent) Commission on the Status of Women (which has been around for 37 years) in the state’s proposed budget.  Younger fought back last year and managed to save the commission but with a 65% cut in budget which eliminated half of the staff.  Community organizers presenting testimony also talked about the need to have the commission.  Several years ago a women’s clinic in New London faced closure due to funding. The PCSW stepped in to provide support and saved the clinic.

Enjoy this sprinkling of statistics from the morning!

- White women make .77 cents on the dollar compared to male counterparts while African American women make .70 cents and Latina women make .62 cents.

- 56% of medical bankruptcy filers are women.

- 1 in 7 women put off their annual obgyn appointment because of cost.

- Our current state childcare licenses can only care for 40% of children under the age of 5.

- Less than 4% of women serving on state commissions and boards are women of color.

- 80% of philanthropy is given by women, but only 10% of that reaches girls.

- 1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, which is the 2^nd leading cause of death for women behind lung cancer.  The risk of getting the cancer is lower in African American women but are 35% more likely to die from the disease then white women because of financial barriers.

- Women spend 68% more on health care then men because of reproductive health.