Volume 1 Issue 10

Action
Alert

On October 31st, 2005 at 10:00 a.m., the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) began changing the locks on management offices within the Cabrini Rowhouse complex. CHA gave the Cabrini Green Rowhouse Tenant Management Council written notice that they will not being renewing the Resident Management Company’s (RMC) contract with the CHA. The Rowhouse RMC has executed their CHA contract in good faith and there are no legitimate grounds for CHA’s choice not to renew the contract.

Cabrini Green residents have a right to manage the Rowhouse property themselves.

Call the CHA’s Chairperson, Sharon Gist Gilliam, and the CEO, Terry Peterson, and tell them you support residents managing the Rowhouse property!

When you call do the following:
1) Give your name
2) State that you support the Resident Management Company for the Cabrini Green Rowhouses.
3) Tell them you want the Resident Management Company’s contract renewed.
4) Tell them why.

Here are some talking points for why the contract should be renewed:

• Residents have the right to manage the Cabrini Rowhouse property.

• The Cabrini Rowhouse Resident Management Company has effectively managed the property and is fully equip to continue managing the property.

• The Cabrini Rowhouse Resident Management Company has managed the property excellently, as evidenced by the numerous fiscal audits they passed and the lack of any criminal indictments.

• The Cabrini Rowhouse Resident Management Company has helped make the Rowhouses a better place to live and should be allowed to continue doing so.
.
CHA can be reached at 312-742-7272 (Executive Offices) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Additionally, please call Duane Bailey, CHA Operations Manager, at 312-741-6000

Thank you for helping us ensure that the Rowhouse Management continues to be responsive to the needs of residents!

Time for a CHOKin'

Forget the fact that a princess represents a hierarchical system designed to oppress the masses, forget that Cinderella is not a particularly feminist fairy tale in the first place, forgive and forget all of that. She is still a revolutionary, a masked (or shoed) infiltrator into the system – or at least, she was:

These days, she rarely wears anything but a sumptuous ball gown, prefers the company of fellow royals, shops at a glass slipper boutique, and encourages her young charges to primp for hours at her top-selling Magical Talking Vanity ($69.99).

Alida Allison, a professor at the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature at San Diego State University, said the rebranded Cinderella inverts the original fairy tale. "The beauty and material possession competition fostered by the consumer Cinderella campaign contradicts the folkloric message that a princess is someone who merits ascendancy, not just someone who can afford it," she said. -NY Times

Cinderelli, Cinderelli – you’ve been CHOKED. Shame on you.

Letter to the Editor

Everyone is someone else’s bastard. Myself included. We all have folks we dislike. We all have people that tear out our nerves and use them to string a ukulele. But you have got to give them the love that is the basic right of every human being. That doesn’t mean you have to like em’. Doesn’t mean you have to adopt some crazy new age philosophy, doesn’t even mean you can’t shoot them if you absolutely have to. But you have got to recognize their humanity. Even the boss who needs a beat down is human being.

On that note, another of the basic human rights is the imperative right to mess with another human being(s). In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is a necessity to cause people some form of discomfort on a daily basis. We are the master’s of each other’s complacency. Don’t be afraid to shake it up, mess it up, cajole it a little. One does not need to be mean or belittling to question. Take, for example my brother, who thinks that health care is not human right. When I question him, I try to be as blunt as possible. Does he think its okay for only those who can afford the avian flu vaccination to survive a pandemic? If he does, then why does he want poor people to die? And finally, how can I tell the poor folks in his neighborhood that he wishes they were dead. This might make him feel uncomfortable – but discomfort is a part of life. And, I still have the basic love for him that is every human beings right.

Volume 1 Issue 9

CHOKE presents some relatively good news

About fucking time:

“St. Paul and Ramsey County officials will announce today a detailed and "do-able" plan to spend $131 million over the next five years to create 920 units of supportive housing that they hope will end chronic homelessness in the area.”

-Star Tribune

Since Minneapolis doesn’t seem to be joining the bandwagon anytime soon, and appears to be more interested in allowing high priced condos to be built everywhere, CHOKE advises all homeless folks to flee to Ramsey County, where they at least have a chance. If they prefer Hennepin County, as is their right, then CHOKE advises them to heed the words of Lucy Parsons: “I want every greasy, grimey, tramp to arm themselves with a knife or a gun, and stationing themselves at the doorways of the rich, shoot or stab them as they come out.” Is that too much for you all – then think of it as a metaphor.

Let’s get to choking. In light of the City of St. Paul and Ramsey Counties actions, and the upcoming election for the city council of Minneapolis. CHOKE is proud to announce the neck wringin’ of the whole city council. The whole group of them needs to be thrown out: gentrification, police corruption, bribes, parking meters etc, etc… Who doesn’t have a legitimate gripe against the city council. They’re running the city into the ground, and to think they make upwards of 60 grand a year doing it.
Paul Ostrow – CHOKED
Paul Zerby – CHOKED
Donald Samuels – CHOKED
Barbara Johnson – CHOKED
Natalie Johnson – CHOKED
Dean Zimmerman – CHOKED
Lisa Goodman – CHOKED
Robert Lilligren – CHOKED
Gary Schiff – I hate to do it to you, but where’s our labor museum? – CHOKED
Dan Niziolek – CHOKED
Scott Benson – CHOKED
Sandy Colvin Roy – CHOKED
Barret Lane – CHOKED

CHOKE recommends not voting for the incumbent.

Letter from the Editor

As editor and chief here at CHOKE I am proud to say that I now have a paying job (yes I was doing this for free). A job that I am beginning in a little under over nine hours, I will be dosing myself on the firm’s free coffee. Anyway, my point is not to illicit congratulations, but to tell all the ignorant ass pants out there to quit giving me career advise. CHOKE and the Surly Workers Party is not about job coaching, life affirming, positive attitude adjusting, or any other new scam to help people cope with our current shitty situation. No folks, “Oh the Places You’ll Go,” is not a career guide. God did not make some people rich and others poor. Rich people, corrupt politicians, greedy revolutionaries, robber barons, bad managers, and religious zealots did that. CHOKE advocates stopping them and through the Surly Workers Party we aim to make it happen. Let me end on a musical note by one of my favorite groups, The Coup:

A million Motherfuckers waiting on the first
anticipating the worst
shut the jobby job down at noon and don’t disperse
they wouldn’t pay your ass as far as they can throw you
they think your flunkin’ but they don’t you…

Volume 1 Issue 8

Letter from the Editor:

I am not usually this callous, but job offers are causing me to confront my own materialism and reflect on the disparity between the rich and the poor. Two billion people in the world make less than a two dollars a day. In one day I will be earning 100 of those peoples salaries, to them I am rich. As I sat in my office watching headlights burn through the mist settling on Franklin Avenue, I could not help but feel an ache in my stomach. In need of humor I checked in at a friends blog and found this:

“If any of my devoted readers are willing to donate to my Couch Fund via paypal (____@yahoo.com), I would be forever grateful. I'll even take a DOLLAR. If every reader donated a dollar, I'd be WELL on my way to getting my couch sooner rather than later.”
It really only amounts to asking friends for help. Which would not, and should not bother me. I was even going to donate, but I could not. Even though the blogger says that she wrecked her last couch moving and has nothing but a chair, I could not (the couch she desires is on lay-away). Perhaps it was the response from her readers, who did as she asked and sent money to her paypal account, that disgusted me.

Aide to people in need seems to be in such short supply, while supply seems so abundant. We throw our dollars away without thought. I am not advocating that we all go without – I am suggesting that we all could have what we need and some of what we want.

Today CHOKE wrings the neck of this blogger. "Greed is a weapon of Mass Destruction."


-CHOKE, The Official Update of the Surly Workers Party.

Volume 1 Issue 7

Chicago: Yet another unhospitable place to be poor

The Chicago Housing Authority’s Year 7 Plan for Transformation will cost several billion dollars from both public and private funding sources. It promises to bring 25,000 units to the city by 2009 and relocate former public housing residents into more prosperous and diverse neighborhoods.

Yet a recent study by Dr. Paul Fisher shows over 90 % of families who left public housing were re-segregated into high-poverty, high-crime neighborhoods. This is a direct contradiction of the stated goals of the CHA’s Plan.

So far 14,320 units have been completed. But this number is misleading as nearly half of are rehabbed and should not count towards the promise of new housing units.

The city has waiting lists of nearly 150,000 people. 20% of Chicagoans live in poverty and the average cost of a 2 bedroom unit requiring 3.5 minimum wage jobs to pay for rent. How can HUD allow buildings to continue to be razed when CHA is clearly falling behind on promises to replace them?

-James Pfluecke, CHOKE Chicago Bureau Chief

Wring His Neck



Here at CHOKE we try to refrain from potty humor as much as possible, but its difficut when you gotta CHOKE a Dick. Dick Cheney, you need your neck wrung. Pure and simply you're a greedy treasonous prick. Some poor sucker is going to take the fall for you, but we know you. We know you Dick, how many kids did Haliburton kill today. There is a special spot in hell for you and the CHOKE staff won't hide the fact that we hope you take it soon.

Letter from the Editor:

Why don’t bad bosses get beat downs? See if you can follow me. Say that a manager supervises 25 people. Out of those 25 people only two are full time with benefits. Fifteen of them are full time without benefits – the manager keeps it this way to save money. The rest of the employees are part time with no benefits and no set schedule – the manager changes it to suit his needs. The manager doesn’t pay overtime. He doesn’t give holidays. He just cut the hours for the full timers without benefits and he purposely treats people like dirt. This manager needs a beat down! There is twenty two employees who would like to do it. They dream about doing it every night. Take that fucker out into the parking lot after the shift and beat his ass. Don’t kill him, don’t maim him, don't cause any kind of permanent injury, but make sure he knows how often this is going to happen if he doesn’t clean his act up.

Work is personal – don’t let people treat you wrong because you think you need the money. They got us all tripped out saying, “ yes I’ll take a pay cut, yes I’ll take less hours, yes you can treat me like a shit milkshake. It’s personal and he knows it –but he doesn’t care because he’s still making his money. Bad bosses need to get beat downs.

Peace,
CHOKE

Volume 1 Issue 6

Letter from the Editor:

I think I have at least a small insight into the feelings of the men who fought against their brothers during civil war. What do you do when your family, or least a member of your family, differs vastly in his/her political beliefs? A close friend deals of mine deals with his hugely Republican brother by simply avoiding all political discussion. This seems to work for him. But what happens when you have a relative who won'’t abide by such a peace keeping agreement? I tend to think that the left, as we have decided to label it here in America, is similar to a non-missionary religion, and the right is one who actively strives to recruit new members. By my very nature I am one who thinks people have the right to believe what they want - this goes against any sort of forced conversion of my brother. He on the other hand loves to try and get me to convert -– he is convinced when I grow up (I am 31 years old), have children, or own a house, my opinions will change. I am only able to tell him that I will take care of his children in event I have to shoot him when the revolution finally arrives.

Perhaps you have a strategy for dealing with your politically ignorant family members? Maybe you buy them a subscription to the Nation, maybe you sneak by at four in the morning to steal their edition of the Wall Street Journal? Stop by the blog and give CHOKE your ideas ( I sense a book deal coming on).

I have a few more things to clear up before I meander on to the news and the latest neck that needs wringing. This issue will have to make up for the weekend edition. I apologize for this as I was stranded at a "men'’s weekend"” that really was the equivalent to indentured servitude. Perhaps, if chores at the parent's place was something I did not do on a regular basis this male bonding experience would have been more worthwhile. Not that the company of the men in my family is bad, but if any of you have enjoyed the complexities of step family dynamics you understand that being the odd man out is often stressful.

It's Neck Wringin' Time:

You knew it would happen. It's almost too easy, and there are far too many reasons to include on at this newspaper. But we have to wring George's neck. Yeah, the George that stole the White House, the George that sent us to war, the George that bought the news, the George that moved money from programs that help people to programs that fuck them over, the George with a little brain ( so little we will forthwith call him george with a little g). george with a little g needs a major choke session. george with a little g is a menace, a child molesting mafia nazi, and a traitor. He has betrayed the American people and has cast us back to the dark ages. CHOKE would like to take this moment to call on everyone to use our constitutional right to overthrow the government, or at least throw george with a little g out of office. If your down, drop by house sometime soon - we'll get something together.

Tomorrow we may still be chokin' george with a little g. But we may not. It all depends. I have a job interview with a reputable company who will probably fire me if they find out I write this blog. Isn't this country great!

Peace and love,
O

Volume 1 Issue 5

What is it that scares us so much about poverty? Is it that when we pass a man on the street with a sign asking for help we realize how fragile our own situation is? Do we see ourselves in him and we need to believe that their is something different about us, a trait that makes us invulnerable to poverty? In order to confront the issue of poverty, how we view those who are poor needs to change. The notion that I am more special than you and am entitled to more is deeply ingrained in all of us. It comes from religion, from family, from the media, from the very foundation of our government. To question these ideas is the first step in ending poverty. As workers, as unemployed, as poor, and as middle class the realization must come that we have more in common with one another than with the owners. We can each continue trying to get our piece of the pie, trying to hold on to what little we have, all the while our wages fall, our hours increase, our health insurance disappears as our environment becomes more and more unhealthy for us to live in. CHOKE is more than finding necks to wring - and there is plenty - it is also about building a community of people who have had it with the collective and current state of things. People who offer there advise about finding work, or moving from the United States, or developing a more positive attitude are no more welcome here than a satan worshiper is at a Catholic mass. I believe that it high time greedy, narcissistic, and ignorant opportunists find someplace to live. This is indeed a beautiful country and it was built by the folks at the bottom of the ladder. Stokely Carmichael once said: "We're gonna walk on this nation, we're gonna walk on this racist power structure, and we're going to say to whole government: stick em up motherfucker, this is a hold up, we've come for what's ours." At CHOKE we couldn't agree more.

Before we jump to "Wringin' Someone's Neck" I want to give a minute to our Chicago correspondent, who having been off in D.C. finally reported in:

I just went to a big United Nations Consultation on the Women's housing rights in DC that we helped make happen and I am writing a manifesto about it.

If you are bored, have some free time, or are an unemployed writer go to a book store and read the introduction (it is about 20 pages long) of the book "Pathologies of Power" by Paul Farmer. It is about Human Rights and health care. He says political and civil rights are meaningless because people without economic and social rights can't exercise them. He bashes people who blame the victims for their poverty. A book review will be forthcoming when I finish the thing. He is my new favorite author and I have only read 40 of 250 pages of his book.

James Pfluecke
when themasses take over, I shall be the Minister of Love (cause it really is what lfe is all about)

Now we'll take a moment to do some chokin.' Well, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and the rest of the Northwest Airlines board of directors, its your turn to struggle for some breath. In the Star and Tribune today the President of the AMFA, Ted Ludwig said," The members of the board need to be held accountable for what has happened. The people in charge have wrecked this company." Choke agrees. Northwest has hurt Minnesota citizens too many times. They have broken promises, kept airfares high and in general scammed the state out of our hard earned tax dollars. Every man, woman, and child in Minnesota should be able to spend a minute Chokin' the shit out of you. By the way Doris is publishing a book on Abe Lincoln - how ironic can life get. Minnesota bookstores should boycott the book, as should you.

Before we say goodnight CHOKE has to take a moment to revisit our first choking victim, Harriet Miers, who was given a "redo" on her first assignment. We all know what a "redo" really means. Let's all take a moment clap for our flunky supreme court nominee.

In the coming issues we'll be introducing you to actual working (and unemployed) folks. Allowing them to tell their own story. And we're excited about an upcoming issue with stories from high school students - they'll be ringing in on their own work experiences and what they hope there working life will bring them.

Remember that we always enjoy your feedback, ideas, and general comments - but please nothing anonymous. If you have a voice use it, don't be afraid to identify yourself - even if it's a handle. And don't forget the blog: http:\\surlyworkers.blogspot.com

Tomorrow...
O

Volume 1 Issue 4

The staff here at CHOKE send a special salute to Barbara Ehrenreich, her new novel "Bait and Switch" explores the world of the white collar worker. A group that the editors here at CHOKE recognize as some of the most Surly workers around. In a radio program I overheard this evening Ms. Ehrenreich pegged the poverty level at about 25% of the United States population. One fourth of us are in poverty. One person in four - If I'm in the room you need not look at the other three folks.

We're gonna cut straight to it and Wring the Neck of GM CEO Rick Wagoner for making the workers bear the brunt of poor management decisions. No worker should ever have to take cuts because a company needs to remain competitive. I believe the excuse for paying the CEO's and managers such high salaries has always been that they make the tough decisions and carry all the responsibility. Well Wagoner, why don't you take a huge pay cut? You expect the workers at GM to take health and benefits cuts and As "PaperCat" points out keep things running at 100% capacity? GM workers need to get Surly and wring your neck.

We have no word on our Chicago correspondent. He's busy trying to save people's housing down there in Shy-town. Seems rich folks decided they liked the real estate Cabrini Green was on and now they want the poor working folks out and condos in. We'll try to have more information for you in the coming episodes. But don't think that this issue isn't festering right here in Minneapolis. Phillips is the last area around downtown that hasn't fallen prey to the developers. Let's keep it that way. Its not enough to dislike what is going on - inaction is a weapon "they" wield against us.

Make sure to vote - November 8th.

In My Neck of the Woods:
I'm fairly certain I did not win this year's Tamarack Award. While an official rejection letter has not arrived in the mail, the lack of any form of correspondence seems a bad omen. On the other hand I'm nearly ready to begin shopping around for an agent for the collection of short stories that has been sitting around my office and I am going to give grad school another go. Unless I move to Butte MT where I live in harmony with Erin and we will raise a little army of radicals.

Hey, remember the blog at http://surlyworkers.blogspot.com We had our first poster today. I feel elated.

Peace,
O

Volume 1 Issue 3

Happenings:

This morning yet another unhappy worker joined the ranks of the Surly Workers Party simply by saying she was sick and tired of working all the time. Despite what you think there are more people out there that despise the forty hour week than are workaholics who live and breathe their jobs. Ladies and gentleman, would it be too much to ask, would it be too much work for you, to organize for the 32 hour work week? Think about a three day weekend, or always making it home in time to see Oprah. Think about sleeping in or having an extra day to play with your kids. I say we could do it, my brother says I'm crazy. I shouldn't have to remind you that 100 years ago people said that about the weekend.

I carved my first pumpkin in years today. What a spectacular feeling it is to cut the stem out and reach into the cool cavity to grasp the slimy innards in your hand and yank them out. If you picture someone you hate while doing this, it can be quite therapeutic.

I have big news. CHOKE may have a Chicago correspondent. And because of the growing demand we have added a more visually stimulating version of CHOKE where you can comment on our content or comment on other people's comments on our content etc etc... The address is http://surlyworkers.blogspot.com/ Take a moment to check out the oh so pretty version of CHOKE.

Before I introduce you to the next feature in CHOKE, I have to remind you that hatred is futile, and sin is a figment of our imagination. We are all human, and come with a fully installed range of emotion and action. Having said that welcome to CHOKE's Wring Their Neck. In every issue we will wrap our hands around the neck of someone(s) who has used their breathe for nefarious purposes, flapped their tongue in the foul stench of extremist theocracy, and in general pissed us off. This week CHOKE is proud to Wring the Neck of Harriet Miers. She doesn't get off the hook because she's a little old lady and a good bowler. She doesn't get to be a Supreme Court Justice because she's a "gracious and funny person." If George Bush wants to give her a gift for being a good friend buy her a fucking fruit basket. Her judge in character is already in question, calling George Bush a "brilliant man" is a bit like mistaking Jessica Simpson for the Dali Lama.


Get out and enjoy the weather later today - it should be in sixties. Remember to wash your hands after petting your chickens and check out http://surlyworkers.blogspot.com

Peace,
O