The Greening of Cuba: profiles the women and men pioneering the organic
8:00 p.m. agriculture movement in Cuba. First GreenTalk of fall 1996. The Women's
Building, 18th St., near Valencia. Info 905-4212
A reminder: The Greenspan Commission created
the hoax that Social Security was careening toward
bankruptcy. The Pentagon (or Congress on its behalf)
owes the trust funds some $30 BILLION!
Library update . . .
Deetje and Miriam B., along with other Gray
Panthers, have been keeping a close eye on
the library situation. They are particularly
concerned about the card catalog and the
book "giveaway."
Because of community efforts, the card catalogs
will be rescued from the old Main and stored in
Brooks Hall basement. Then there will be further ef-
forts to move them to the new Main and make them
available.
The book giveaways will probably continue as is-
nobody knowing what is being given away, what's left,
who is getting what. What will happen to the rest of the
"unwanted" books is still up in the air.
Overall, our library watchdogs want to make sure
that our libraries are still for books before computers.
Update on Issues of Social Justice
Many issues, few volunteers? No problem. This is in-
formation from an activist's perspective. This update
goes on the assumption you have read previous news-
letters and attended general meetings. If you want
more information call 567-5348.
Electro-magnetic Fields
The controversy centers on over 1,000 transmission sites
in San Francisco to accommodate the new digital
cellular phones. The recent telecommunication bill
mandates that no permit be denied on health grounds
if the installation meets FCC guidelines.
The latest wrinkle is that all buildings getting
funds from the federal government will automatically
be approved for these EMF emitting sites.
Cutting Old Growth Trees.
A recent salvage logging rider to a budget
bill allows cutting in forests previously off
limits because of endangered species.
Headwaters Forest is due to be cut
September 15, and large numbers of
persons are readying themselves to prevent
the logging by protesting.
Charles Hurwitz, who bought Pacific
Lumber with junk bonds and a hostile takeover, is
willing to sell a portion of the old growth for a land
swap or large amounts of money, but justice seems to
demand he exchange it for the $1.6 billion he owes
the government-a huge Savings and Loan debt.
Medical Marijuana Club Bust
The State Attorney General's Office raided the club
because of allegations it was selling to persons not
medically ill, and that children were allowed on the
premises and inhaled the smoke.
S.F. mayor, district attorney and sheriff said the
state had no right to interfere in the affairs of the city.
San Bruno Mountain
A attempt will be made to buy the Ohlone Indian shell
mound site from the hotel in order to preserve it. The
hotel plans to cement it over for a parking lot.
Gray Panthers of S.F. Statement on the
Medical Use of Marijuana
The Gray Panthers is a national advocacy organization
that works to make the world a better place to grow
old in. In that vein, we have long argued for reform of
our health care system to make it comprehensive in
treatment and accessible to all. Since the system does
not include the medical use of marijuana in its phar-
macopeia, the Gray Panthers of S.F. supports the
Medical Marijuana Initiative in order to make this
means of relief of pain and suffering available to those
who choose it.
Furthermore, we deplore the recent wantonly vio-
lent and destructive raid by the state on a facility at-
tempting to fill this unmet need for health care in our
city. The estimated half-million dollars spent on this
drug-war attack on our citizens could have been much
better spent providing food or shelter or health care to
those going wanting during this period of ongoing
economic crisis.
We urge the authorities of this city to do whatever
needs to be done to continue to permit the medical use
of marijuana until the Medical Marijuana Initiative is
passed.
Military-Industrial Complex
According to a revealing new study on the taxpayer
costs of the U.S. arms trade, by William Hartung, a
senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, taxpayer
subsidies for American arms merchants hit $7.6 billion
in 1995. That made the arms export industry the sec-
ond largest government subsidy program in the na-
tion, behind agricultural price supports.
But We Have Competition in Developing Nations
A new report by the Congressional Research Service
calculated that Russian arms sales to developing na-
tions rebounded from a slump that set in after the
breakup of the Soviet Union, growing by 62 percent
last year-to $6 billion in 1995, up from $3.7 billion
in 1994-and that its most important buyer was
China.
July Meeting
David Schooley, a champion of the San
Bruno Mountain, has been striving to save a
few precious acres on the mountain from
developers. The area shelters endangered
species of plants and butterflies that are not
found any place else as well as Ohlone
Indian shell mounds.
The Gray Panthers were fortunate to have David
present a slide show of the area that revealed to us the
fragile beauty of the mountain and how important it is
to preserve the area from commercial encroachment.
In September: Task Force on Electoral Reform
The S.F. Alliance will present a teach-in on
public financing of elections and
proportional representation in coalition with
the Gray Panthers and the S.F. Greens.
The discussion will be based on model
legislation drafted by the Working Group on Electoral
Democracy that would eliminate all private financial
contributions.
The teach-in will also explain proportional repre-
sentation voting, an electoral method used by most of
the world's major democracies.
The teach-in will be held Saturday, September 21,
2:00-5:00 p.m., New College Cultural Center, 766
Valencia St., San Francisco.
Celebration of a Life
You read it in the newspapers, saw it on TV, but being
at the memorial celebrating the wonderful life of Jes-
sica (Decca) Mitford was an experience full of laugh-
ter, music, and heartfelt tributes. "She would have
loved it," said her son, Benjamin Treuhaft (Pianos to
Havana). Those of us who have lived in her time re-
spect and admire her as the outstanding woman she
was.
In Memorial
Our heartfelt sympathy to the family of Frank Joseph
Salet who died August 15. He was an active Gray
Panther and supporter and activist in San Francisco
politics and senior causes. He shall be missed.
Age and Youth in Action
What are you doing to further this goal? On our Web
site- http://www.igc.org/graypantherssf -we are
promoting cooperation in bringing the generations
together. Let's hear your ideas, your actions with peo-
ple of other ages aimed at making this a better climate
for all of us.
If The U.S. Can't or Won't Do It,
Maybe S.F. Can!
We worked and continue to work hard for
national universal health care, but until that
can be achieved, the City and County of
San Francisco has convened a "health
summit" which committed itself to designate a task
force to draft just such an all-encompassing plan.
Our own Clarissa Ward addressed the summit
describing what a single-payer plan would mean for
all of us.
Who would operate the public nonprofit plan is
still unclear, although Mayor Brown and Dr. Sandra
Hernandez, director of the San Francisco Health
Department, favor a publicly appointed governing
board. Brown's former budget chief, Margaret
Kisliuk, would be the mayor's liaison to the panel.
The plan would be paid for by a large single trust
fund, supported by money pooled from Medicaid and
MediCal, participating employers, city funds and
patients' pockets.
A patient would buy into the system, with price of
the premium based on the choice of benefit package.
Among the options could be Kaiser, Blue Cross-Blue
Shield and a cheaper and more modest public clinic
package.
Patients would receive a single card, lke a Social
Security card, which they would take to participating
doctors' offices, hospitals or health maintenance
organizations.
Doctors would be reimbursed by The City's
insurance plan.
The plan attempts to solve the problem of the
growing number of uninsured, whose needs haven't
been met in the new lean-and-mean, market-driven
health care system. About 15 percent of San
Franciscans are without insurance and fail to get
preventive care, and so end up in public hospitals at
huge expense.
The plan aims to compete with existing insurers to
attract young, healthy and employed San Francisco
residents.
By offering a strong package of guaranteed basic
benefits-such as catastrophic, primary and specially
care, mental health services and long-term nursing-
The City could force other insurers to adopt similar
standards.
In many respects, the plan is a home-grown
version of Clinton's health care plan, with one
exception: Employers would not be required to
contribute. Also, insurers are a less formidable special
interest here than in Washington, D.C. And San
Franciscans have always been receptive to health care
innovation.
Brown did not specify a time line for either
drafting or implementing the plan, but Hernandez said
she would like to get a long-term care strategy
sketched out by year's end.
Shakespearean Picnic in the Park
Usher in Fall and say "Good-bye" to Summer on
Sunday, September 29 at Golden Gate Park. That's
the last day of this year's S.F. Shakespeare Festival
performance of Loves Labour's Lost. The show starts
at 1:30 p.m., but we could stake out a great viewing
place by having a potluck picnic before the perform-
ance and making a real party of it. Call Lurilla at 648-
1868 if the idea appeals and you'd like to join in.
September 1996 Newsletter