The Michigan Socialist -- Vol. 1, No. 4

[MSchreader]

The current (November-December 2003) issue of the Michigan Socialist is now available on the web. This issue contains articles on the occupation of Iraq, the attempted coup in Venezuela, the conflict between the city of Detroit and the suburbs over water, and much more.

http://www.michigansocialist.net/news/

As always, we welcome letters to the editor. They can be sent to [e-mail].

Martin

[MrSoundAndVision]

1. Martin...

hope you're not affiliated with the WSWS, they sure pissed me off recently.

Southern Socialist, MRSAV

[MSchreader]

2. Nope

They are the Socialist Equality Party. I am in the Socialist Party -- the party of Eugene Debs, Helen Keller, A. Phillip Randolph, etc.

What did the Northites do to piss you off?

Martin

[Aidoneus]

4. what'd they do/say?

.

[MSchreader]

3. Kick

:kick:

[MSchreader]

5. Kick again

MRSAV, what did the WSWS folks do to piss you off?

Martin

[MSchreader]

6. Article sample -- No more excuses!

No more excuses!

By BEN BURGIS
The Michigan Socialist

ONE-BY-ONE, the lies that justified the invasion and occupation of Iraq have come crumbling down.

No "weapons of mass destruction." No Iraq/al-Qaeda link. No throngs of grateful Iraqis throwing flowers at the conquering American troops. No freedom and no democracy.

Nothing, zip, nada.

In his State of the Union address, Bush claimed that Iraq had tried to buy uranium "from Africa." (Does he really believe that the earth's second largest continent is a single nation?)

Now, it is a matter of public record that the official investigation into that particular rumor had already been done and come back with a resounding negative before the State of the Union speech.

The best that the regime's hard-core apologists could come up with was to claim that it wasn't a very important lie because it was such a small part of the speech, "just 16 words."

Throughout the lead-up to the war, we were assured that Iraq was a clear threat to the safety of Americans because it possessed "weapons of mass destruction." Since that point, the facts on the ground have left Bush and his loyal hacks with an interesting problem.

Why on earth did the Iraqis build WMDs, continue to produce them after the first Gulf War, go to the absurd efforts that Bush and Powell claim that they went to in order to hide them from the UN inspectors for 12 years, and then not actually use them when the U.S. invaded?

Please explain in 16 words or less.

(more)

[MSchreader]

7. Article sample -- Water wars

Water wars

Showdown between City, suburbs only latest act

By MARTIN SCHREADER
Editor, The Michigan Socialist

WHAT IS DETROIT? For the 1 million or so residents of the City (which includes those the Census did not count), Detroit is their home. It is where they want to live, or it is where they have to live.

However, if you ask some people who live outside of the City, you get a very different answer. It is where "those people" live. It is "dangerous" and "wild;" the residents of the City are "animals."

Certainly, if this is how you see Detroit, then it only makes sense to impose control from the outside ... "for the good of the people," of course.

This has to be how the Republican-controlled Michigan State Legislature in Lansing sees Detroit, because they have spent the last decade doing everything possible to make sure municipal functions are under state control.

They began by ramming through the dissolution of the Detroit Recorder's Court, replacing it with the Wayne County Circuit Court -- thus establishing a dynamic where City residents are not tried by their peers.

That was the appetizer. The meal itself was larger, with broader implications: the Detroit Public Schools.

The State Legislature, with the aid of then-Governor John Engler and then-mayor Dennis Archer, stripped the citizens of Detroit of their right to vote for School Board, and turned over the school system to a consortium of area bosses.

(more)