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Easter celebrates the resurrection of the Christian Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. There are two primary stories of Jesus, one of the man and one of the divine. Jesus, the man, was a social radical, persecuted and executed for his actions. Time and time again those who were active in radical movements of the 1960's and 70's say that the movement for radical change has died; crucified by the state. We will explore whether or not that is true and what it would mean to resurrect radicalism in the United States today.
Jason Lydon is the Congregational Director at the Community Church of Boston. He is also a Divinity student at Andover Newton Theological School focusing his studies on Abolition theology, Anti-racist theology, and queer liberation.
Dear Friends of Justice:
Our community needs lawyers and law students to help in New Orleans first EXPUNGEMENT DAY sponsored by Critical Resistance New Orleans, Safe Streets Strong Communities and the New Orleans Office of the Public Defender.
EXPUNGEMENT Day will be held on March 29, 2008 at the Treme Community Center, 1400 St. Phillip Street, New Orleans. No experience in criminal law is necessary to help out, training will be provided.
Lawyers are needed on March 29, 2008 from 10 to 4 to interview people as well as fill out and notarize expungement papers for those eligible.
There will be a CLE on March 29, 2008 from 10-12 on "The Nuts and Bolts of Expungement in Louisiana." The CLE will be taught by Professor Majeeda Snead of Loyola College of Law, a longtime criminal defense lawyer.
Law students are also needed. From March 17 to March 29, law students are needed to interview and research the eligibility of people interested in expungement and to assist in helping process the paperwork. The greatest need for law students will be during the week of March 24 to 29.
If you are able to help, please contact Robert Horton of Critical Resistance at 504.813.4714 or email him.
What is the Impact of the Security & Prosperity Partnership (SPP)?
An illustrated talk with Canadian activist Janet Eaton about the trade/military agreement nobody knows.
CALL TO JOIN CARPOOLS LEAVING FROM... CONCORD 978-369-1181 LINCOLN 781-894-8104 WAYLAND 508-358-2282 (Cars will lead to MBTA ride to BPL.)
The Security and Prosperity Partnership is a trade agreement between the US, Mexico, and Canada that seeks to harmonize existing regulations and facilitate transportation of goods and resources between the three countries. But the scope of SPP, the influence of corporations on negotiations and management, and the "behind closed doors" nature of the partnership has raised suspicions on the right of an emerging "North American Union," while labor and environmental groups fear that "harmonizing" regulations will mean fewer protections for workers and nature.
Join Dr. Janet Eaton, the Sierra Club of Canada's international liaison to the Sierra Club's corporate accountability committee, for a slide show and discussion of the potential impacts of SPP on New England and Atlantic Canada. Are there sustainable, equitable alternatives to SPP? Sponsored by the Boston/Cambridge Alliance for Democracy. Co-sponsored by the North Bridge Alliance for Democracy chapter.
WATCH FOR JANET EATON & 3 LOCAL SPEAKERS ON SPP IMPACTS AT STATE HOUSE, WED 3/26, 11-12 noon
Progressive Resources on SPP. Find out more!...
The Alliance for Democracy
Scroll down to the SPP link for fact sheets on the
role corporations have played in negotiating this
deal, and for information on the Partnership's planned
transportation corridors.
Global Exchange
Great summary of SPP with links to media reports and
the names of key corporate players. Links to SPP
organizational documents obtained by Judicial Watch
under Freedom of Information Act.
Council of Canadians' SPP Watch
Website for the Council of Canadians' SPP Watch site,
focusing on workers' issues, water and energy, civil
liberties and security, and safety issues.
Dollars and Sense
Read the article "From NAFTA to the SPP" by Katherine
Sciacchitano.
New England Alliance
For updates and information on H.374, a bill to
establish a state-level commission to analyze the
impact of trade deals on the Commonwealth, as well as
other local actions on SPP.
Presented by the National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter and Suffolk Law School Chapter. Rep. Capuano and Prof. Avery will discuss how Congress and the public can restore the balance of power between the branches of government, looking at the legacy of warrantless surveillance, politicization of the Department of Justice and other excesses of executive power created by the Bush Administration.
For more information, please call the NLG, 617-227-7335.
Colombia Free Trade Agreement -- Bad for Colombian and U.S. workers! Globalize Workers Solidarity!
Featuring:
Colombian Trade Union leader Edgar Paez on union struggles in Colombia and how to unite the struggle for workers rights globally.
Maria Ortiz - Committee for Justice for Hector Rivas
Say NO! to corporate financed assassinations of trade unionists in Colombia! Join us for an in-depth discussion on conditions for workers and union organizing in Colombia and how the Colombia Free Trade Agreement would hurt workers, families and human rights both in Colombia and the US.
Edgar Paez, International representative of SINALTRAINAL (Food Industry Workers Union) of Colombia will visit Boston on Tuesday March 25, 2008, as part of a national tour of the U.S.
Edgar Paez has dedicated his entire life to organizing workers and has worked actively connecting social struggles in Colombia and the world over. More than 4000 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in the last 20 years --- more than in the rest of the world combined. Nine have been killed so far this year.
SINALTRAINAL represents Colombian workers of several well-know multi-national corporations in the food and beverage industries. Many SINALTRAINAL activists have been killed. SINALTRAINAL is conducting mass campaigns and legal battles to defend trade unionists against these attacks.
Sponsored by: USW District 4; USW Local 8751 Boston School Bus Union; Greater Boston Labor Council AFL- CIO; Central Mass AFL-CIO; Boston City Councilors Chuck Turner and Sam Yoon; Felix Arroyo; Bishop Filipe Teixeira OFSJC; MLK Bolivarian Circle; International Action Center Boston; Women's Fightback Network; Committee for Justice for Hector Rivas; New England Human Rights Organization for Haiti; Dorothea Manuela, Co-Chair Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee
For more information: USW Local 8751 617-524-7073
Please join us on March 25 for an Initiative for Constitutional Democracy Lecture at Boston College by Jack Goldsmith at 7:30 in McGuinn Auditorium. His talk is entitled The Constitution and the War on Terror. He is currently a professor at Harvard Law School and previously served as the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. In that role he was at the center of the debate about the extent and limits of executive power regarding incarceration of terrorists, electronic eavesdropping and coercive interrogation. His book, The Terror Presidency, is the most incisive and balanced discussion of these controversial and critical questions.
In October 2003 Jack Goldsmith, a legal scholar with sterling conservative credentials, was hired to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the president and the attorney general about the legality of presidential actions. As he was briefed on counterterrorism measures the Bush administration had adopted in the wake of 9/11, Mr. Goldsmith says he was alarmed to discover that many of those policies "rested on severely damaged legal foundations," that the legal opinions that supported these counterterrorism operations were, in his view, "sloppily reasoned, overbroad, and incautious in asserting extraordinary constitutional authorities on behalf of the president."
Marc Landy and Dennis Hale
Co-directors
617-552-4144
In the summer of 2004, Canadian health researchers made a startling discovery in the Chippewa birth records for the city of Sarnia, an hour north of Detroit-for the past decade, female babies had been outnumbering male babies at a rate of 2:1. Further investigation revealed large numbers of miscarriages, a cluster of reproductive cancers in young women, and widespread neurological problems among the band's children.
"The Beloved Community" looks at a Great Lakes oil town facing a toxic legacy head-on. The nerve center of Canada's petrochemical industry, Sarnia once enjoyed the highest standard of living in the country- but now the bill has come due, in a compromised environment and a devastating community health crisis. The city has already lost a generation of men to workplace-related cancers. Now their widows and daughters are discovering a reproductive time-bomb; because of their own exposure to a cluster of hormone- mimicking chemicals called "endocrine disruptors," the next generation may be at risk. How do you stay in the home you love when the price you pay may be not only your own life, but the safety of your children?
Please Join Us for This Important Discussion about Immigration In US History and Today.
Featuring:
ACLU "Freedom Files" film, "Freedom to Dream: Rights of Immigrants."
Speakers: Dan Kanstroom, Boston College Law Professor and Author of Deportation Nation, Gabriel Camacho, President of Centro Presente and Regional Organizer for the American Friends Service Committee's Project Voice, Moderated by Anjali Waikar, Equal Justice Works Fellow of the ACLU of Massachusetts.
Audience Discussion.
This is the second event in the ACLU of
Massachusetts/Old South Meeting House series,
Revolutionary Ideals, Modern Debate.
For more information, contact Nancy
Murray.
Quiet has returned to Lhasa, Tibet's capital, after last week's violent protests and their violent suppression. How did the initially peaceful demonstrations of Buddhist monks turn into a public uprising? What does the Chinese government's military crackdown to suppress the demonstrations mean for the future? What is the role of the Dalai Lama in the current unrest? Why is this violence erupting now?
Dr. Lobsang Sangay brings up-to-the-minute analysis of the Tibetan situation in the larger context of international law and human rights at Cambridge Forum on Wednesday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Michael Grodin, co-director of the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, moderates the public discussion.
Lobsang Sangay is the first Tibetan to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard Law School.
Select forums can be viewed in their entirety on demand by visiting our website and clicking on the WGBH Forum Network.
Ripe tomato salad. Creamy chicken soup. Grilled westcoast salmon.
Dinner is served.
But what's in our food and how is it grown?
Renowned chef John Bishop leads viewers on an eye-opening and engaging journey into the billion-dollar battle to control global food production. Starting with a gourmet meal in his five-star restaurant, Bishop travels the world -- from farmer's fields to biotech laboratories to supermarket aisles -- on a personal quest to find out what our food choices are.
With a hearty appetite for food and information, chef Bishop explores the politics and ethics of food. He discovers that 70% of processed foods on supermarket shelves in North America contain genetically modified ingredients. The handful of biotech companies who control genetically modified seeds claim this is the only way to feed the world's growing population. But are these foods safe? Are there other, less risky ways to feed ourselves? Our chef finds answers to these compelling questions and more.
From North America to Great Britain to India and back, John Bishop shares fascinating conversations and mouth-watering feasts with farmers, such as Michael Ableman, scientists and activists, such as Vandana Shiva. We see the actual transfer of DNA from bacteria into canola plants, and meet Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser who is battling the giant Monsanto Corporation. We learn startling information about the milk we drink in North America and meet Indian farmers and activists fighting to keep traditional farming practices alive.
THE FARES CENTER FOR EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES
at Tufts University,
Conference begins Thursday, March 27 at 3:00 pm and continues all day
on Friday, March 28, 2008.
Registration is free!
For more information 617-627-3568
Purpose: "to identify issues that will be of concern to Americans in 2008, specifically how the U.S.-Iraqi relationship will change and what the impact of domestic and foreign policy situations in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, and Egypt will be on the relationship between the United States and the Middle East."
Participants:
The Honorable [sic] Lee H. Hamilton, Vice Chair of the
9/11 Commission, Director of the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, and former member
of the U.S. House of Representatives, and
General Anthony M. Zinni, former Commander-in-Chief of
the U.S. Central Command and U.S. special envoy to
Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Followed by an open discussion and book signing. Admission is free and open to all. Wheelchair accessible and conveniently located near the State St. and Downtown Crossing stops on the MBTA.
Daniel Pipes [darling of the neocon right] says the
only path to Middle East peace will come through a
total Israeli military victory. Unsurprisingly, GWBush
nominated him to the board of the government's leading
peace think-tank in 2003. See
Amy Dockser Marcus's book "Jerusalem 1913: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" ($24.95, 2007) is currently available for $5.99.
For more information, call the Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007.
This speaking tour explores Israeli and Palestinian experiences of 1948, the creation of the Palestinian refugee crisis and the role of the right of return in any just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mohammad Jaradat is a Palestinian activist and co- founder of Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, established in 1988. Badil takes a right-based approach to the Palestinian refugee issue through research, advocacy and promoting the participation of refugees themselves.
Eitan Bronstein is a Jewish Israeli educator, activist, and Director of the Israeli organization, Zochrot. Zochrot, founded in 2002, seeks to educate Jewish Israelis about al-Nabka, the Arabic word for "catastrophe", which refers to the 1948 displacement and dispossession of Palestinians. Bronstein was jailed three times as a reserve soldier after refusing to serve in Lebanon and the West Bank during the first Intifada.
Sponsored by: Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, Cambridge-Bethlehem People-to-People Project, Cambridge UJP, Friends of Sabeel-New England, Jewish Voice for Peace-Boston, Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, Living Stones, Somerville-Medford UJP, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, UJP Israel/Palestine Task Force, Watertown Citizens for Environmental Safety/Justice with Peace Task Force.
BCPR's phone: 617-491-2313.
The last day for registration is Sunday March 23rd -
so register today!
Friday, March 28, 2008 starting 7:30am
Holiday Inn Boxborough
242 Adams Place
Boxborough, MA 01719
Why Attend?
The HCFA Policy & Organizing conference offers
unparalleled opportunity to reach lawmakers, business
leaders, and organizers who are working to make
affordable, quality health care for all a reality in
Massachusetts.
* Registration begins at 7:30 AM
* Breakfast and lunch provided
Keynote Speakers [100% ESTABLISHMENT PLAYERS]
Leslie A. Kirwan, Secretary, Executive Office of
Administration and Finance
Nancy Turnbull, Member, Connector Authority
John E. McDonough, Executive Director, Health Care For
All
Registration Pricing
Students: $35.00
Members: $85.00
Non-Members: $135.00
New Member*: $120.00
*Includes membership fee $35 + $85 registration
Additional information...
(617)275-2934
Gallery 55 in Natick
55 South Main Street (Route 27) downtown Natick
HOST COMMITTEE
Isabella Jancourtz
Carmine Gentile
Tariq Malik
John Mottern
Sandy Coy
Rochelle Sivan
Parwez Wahid
The O'Reilly Delegates
This will be an open-house style event at the art studio called Gallery 55, on South Main Street in Natick. Please stop by between 6pm to 9pm, view the displays and support Ed O'Reilly's campaign for United States Senate. (Contributions will be sought.)
For more info: 508-561-1975
Email
Rally To Support Idearc Workers and Retirees at 10:00 am in the Boston Teachers? Union, 180 Mount Vernon Street, Boston (refreshments will be on hand).
Idearc publishes the Verizon Yellow Pages.
Idearc sales, artists, customer service, and clerical employees have worked union for decades before Verizon spun off the company. Now, Idearc is trying to:
Bust the union in New England, take away health care from retirees, commit Unfair Labor Practices, intimidate workers, and interfere with union business. Idearc won't come to the table to settle these problems until we make them. Let's show Idearc we won't let these tactics stand!
For more info, visit or call (617) 524-8778.
You can make smart choices about energy, save money, and lower your carbon footprint. Come to the Global Warming Café to reflect deeply on what global warming means to each of us, individually and as a community. By exchanging views, feelings and ideas, we will chip away at hopelessness and take the first steps toward reducing our own contribution to the problem and becoming part of the "political will" that's needed to stop global warming.
"King Corn"
Two recent college graduates embark on a mission to see where America's food comes from by growing it. In the rural town of Greene, Iowa, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis plant a single acre of the nation's most powerful crop and then set out to follow it to America's tables. But when they learn what their harvest is destined to become, Ian and Curt realize their experiment has gotten out of hand.
Post-film discussion with filmmaker Ian Cheney.
ITVS Community Cinema Film Series
Each month, Community Cinema screenings offer special sneak previews of films scheduled for upcoming broadcast on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Community Cinema screenings also feature panel discussions with leading community-based organizations and special guest speakers, as well as information and resources designed to help people learn about and get involved in today's key social issues.
By subway Green Line to Copley Station. Orange Line to Back Bay/South End Station. Walk down Dartmouth Street to Copley Square.
Sponsor... Hostelling International and Boston Cares 617-718-7990 x 17
10th annual Ben Gill fundraiser for Mass-Care and the Universal Health CareEducation Fund this year! We will be meeting on Saturday, March 29 from 2 to 5PM at the Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, 41 Hampshire St. Tickets are a suggested $45 per person, or $30 for seniors and students. But nobody will be turned away! Mail your checks to Mass-Care or UHCEF at 33 Harrison Ave - 5th floor, Boston, MA 02111 and we will hold your tickets. Or just show up and purchase tickets at the door!
New Orleans has proven that Soul is Waterproof. It is slowly emerging from the floodwaters to become vital again, with soul intact. But much help is still needed.
To support continued rebuilding work, come to a great event at ASC on March 29th at 4:00 p.m. Members of ASC will travel again to New Orleans this April.
For $15, enjoy great food and music with these
performers and others: Donal Fox, Ashanti Munif Band,
Actual Proof, Emily Greene, Zili Misik, Harris. For
tickets or to give a donation please go to
For any other inquiries or to volunteer please send an email.
Chef Didi Emmons has cheffed at some of Boston's finest restaurants, is author of the award-winning cookbooks "Veggie Planet" and "Entertaining for a Veggie Planet," and studied at La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. She will share with our class not only her original recipes, but techniques that will be the foundation for your adventures in plant-based cooking.
This class will be demonstration style and last 2 - 2.5 hours, including Q & A and tasting of the dishes taught.
Spring rolls were designed as a tasty and convenient form of street eating in Asia hundreds of years ago. When they are made well with fresh vibrant ingredients, they elevate any get-together or special dinner. We will discuss how spring rolls vary from Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Cambodia. Chef Didi will draw from her ingenuity as well as her experience as the start-up chef of the successful Pho Republique. Didi took a month-long trip to Malaysia and Singapore to research/write an article on streetfood for a popular magazine. Copies will be distributed.
COST: $27 non-refundable pre-payment required.
Free parking lot on site; Silver Line T stop nearby.
Since this class may sell out, preference will be
given to BVS members. You can join now and it will
count.
LOCATION:
Haley House Bakery Cafe
2139 Washington St.
Dudley Square, Boston
The Cafe is set back in a parking lot, opposite the Hamill Gallery. It is 1.5 blocks from the intersection of Washington St. and Melnea Cass Blvd. Free parking on site. Silver Line stops 1.5 blocks away at Melnea Cass Blvd.
Dinner 6:30 pm • Program 7:30 p.m.
Translation to Spanish available
Suggested Donation: Program $5, Dinner $5
Traducción inglés-español / español-inglés
By train, take the blue line to Maverick Station and
walk down Meridian about 5 blocks to Bennington, by
Liberty Plaza.
Vance Gilbert, Arlington-based folk-singer-songwriter appears in a Benefit Concert at Arlington Center for the Arts, 41 Foster Street, on Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 PM. General admission tickets are $20.00.
Arlington folk musician and physician Dr. Chris Nauman opens for Vance Gilbert.
Advance Tickets are available at Wood and Strings, 493 Mass. Ave., Arlington, 781-641-2131. Tickets will also be available at the door.
This event is a benefit for the humanitarian aid group No More Victims (www.nomorevictims.org) which is working to provide medical sponsorships for war- injured Iraqi children. No More Victims founder Cole Miller will speak briefly at the event.
Organized by Arlington/Lexington United for Justice
with Peace, a local peace organization working to end
the war on Iraq.
Co-sponsored by Cambridge United for Justice with
Peace.
Wheelchair accessible. Parking lot at Arlington Center for the Arts off of Tufts Street.
Giving a donation to Jewish Voice for Peace, JVP, right now is a way to take action to support an end to the siege of Gaza.
In late January, a convoy of Israeli peace and human rights organizations, in partnership with Palestinian civil society groups, drove to the entrance of the Gaza Strip to deliver badly needed food and medical supplies. Thousands of you wrote letters to your legislators to ask them to help end the siege. JVP supporters across the country stood on street corners, spoke to the media, and raised funds to support the convoy. On February 18, over 6 tons of supplies from the convoy were finally let through.
But the blockade goes on and JVP is not stopping its work on the Call to End the Siege of Gaza.
A gift of $35, $80 or $100 will bring thousands of people to support our work. The larger we are, the more powerful we are!
Join JVP's Call for an End to the Siege of Gaza. Donating is easy and will raise our voices to end the injustices in Gaza and the needless deaths of Palestinians and Israelis..
Bush's FY2009 budget request for $2.55 billion in military aid for Israel, a proposed increase of 9% over actual spending in 2007, now rests with the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
This proposed increase in military aid to Israel is the first installment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the United States and Israel in August 2007 to increase military aid to Israel by 25%, totaling $30 billion over the next decade.
Can you think of a better way to spend $30 billion instead of funding Israel's human rights abuses and illegal military occupation in violation of U.S. laws?
TAKE ACTION
Send a Personal Letter to Members of Congress on the
Appropriations Sub-Committee Challenging Military Aid
to Israel.
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Mass. House Bill #4477, if passed, would finally make it illegal for drivers of motor vehicles in Massachusetts to use hand-held phones while driving (as in NY and elsewhere). This bill recently passed the House and now is languishing in the Senate and may not come to the floor for a vote unless you phone or send a message to your friends in various towns and cities to have them urge their state senators (617-722- 5551) to vote for this bill.
According to Senate Assistant Majority Leader Marian Walsh, what needs to happen is for senators to get many phone calls from their constituents in favor of this bill. Passing House #4477 is a matter of public safety. Please call your senator and what would make a significant difference is for you to contact your friends throughout Massachusetts so House Bill #4477 becomes law.
Ed O'Reilly (PDA-endorsed candidate who advocates for single-payer health care, impeachment, stopping our current wars, and marriage equality) seeks the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now occupied by John Kerry.
In addition to making sure that Ed's name appears on the ballot, this is a great opportunity to identify new supporters and expand our network. So we really hope you can participate by gathering signatures from your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors.
To get on September's primary ballot Ed needs 10,000 signatures from registered Democrats and unenrolled (independent) voters. We need to file the signatures with city and town clerks no later than 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, on May 6, 2008.
Call the campaign (866-716-2008) and we will mail nomination signature forms for you to use.
U.S. war provocation against Iran: Another Tonkin
Gulf? Take Action NOW to Stop War on Iran!
The Bush Administration has initiated an extremely dangerous war provocation just off Iran's coast, in the Strait of Hormuz. With Bush on his way to the Middle East to mobilize a collection of oil-rich U.S. client states against Iran, the U.S. government is working overtime to create a phony public-relations incident to heighten tensions in the region and threaten a new war.
An aide to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) says the Lieberman/Warner climate change bill (S. 2191) “would be the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States.” (E&E Daily, February 8, 2008)...
S. 2191 is expected to be debated on the Senate floor this Spring. Your help is needed.
For more information visit the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Congressman Robert Wexler's campaign office says that (unlike most of our Democratic Reps) he is pushing hard to force a committee hearing on Rep. Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment, recently introduced into the House of Representatives and referred to the Judiciary Committee.
This fight is not over. We must continue the pressure on our representatives or else Congress and its fellow lackey media will take no notice. That would be a historic mistake – one we must prevent Congress from making.
We stand at a critical juncture in our efforts. Forget all of those arguments that it is too late or that we have run out of time. You can’t run the clock out on our Constitution. Those of us dedicated to this fight – Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the online community, and millions of patriotic Americans – must keep the pressure on. Please continue to spread the word and help deliver accountability to the corrupt Bush-Cheney administration.Congressman Conyers needs a huge kick in the tail.
Please sign on to Congressman Robert Wexler's petition to help push the issue.
TOLL-FREE PHONE NUMBERS FOR THE U.S. CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD
US House of Representatives Web Sites
Another Day, Another FISA Veto Threat By The Bully In The White House
Yesterday, Bush again put the self interest of himself and his giant telecom criminal co-conspirators above our national security, by threatening to veto the FISA update bill unless we gave them all get out of jail free cards. And if Congress were to bend over yet again, he would still probably veto it to demand even more changes and/or defy other major provisions with a signing statement, as he so outrageously did with the recent defense bill.
We must be just as relentless as the criminals who are working overtime to gut our constitution. We have had two successful filibusters so far, and it looks like we're going to need a third. And we need strong opposition in the House too, for that is our last bulwark.
Tell your Congressional Representative to vote against this awful legislation, which has passed the Senate and returned to the House. The House has stood up to pressure to provide telecom immunity to date, so don't let them buckle to pressure from the White House and Senate.
S 1959 "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" must be stopped at all costs. (It's already been approved by the House of Representatives by a HUGE majority.)
Pick up your phone and contact our US Senators' offices to instruct them to vote "NO" on S.1959, titled "To establish the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism, and for other purposes".
If this bill is passed, and becomes law, your words and actions could be considered terrorism. S 1959 EVISCERATES FREE SPEECH, and empowers the govt. to declare ANYTHING they deem an "extremist belief system", instantly make you a terrorist, resulting in stripping of US citizenship, torture, and/or execution, with no habeas corpus rights, no ability to challenge even in the US Supreme Court.
What part of exercising power doesn't Harry Reid get? The Washington Post reports him "pleading" with the White House. And yet, it is his decision which version of the FISA bill to have the Senate consider, and by choosing to bring forward the bad one, he is knowingly forcing opponents of yet another "get out of jail free card" for Cheney cronies to get 60 votes to strip it out of the bill. Or filibuster yet again.
And what greater hero do we have than Dennis Kucinich, still standing strong as ever on every issue that matters. Here is his own leadership statement opposing telecom immunity.
And yet, even now, powerful corporations are pouring money into Dennis's district, to try to buy his seat out from under him by threatening him in his own primary. They are running malicious attack ads in heavy rotation. Please consider making a donation to Dennis now, to help him fight back.
At the end of January, thousands of people all over the world will march, speak, celebrate, and dialogue in villages, rural zones, and urban centers, in the context of hundreds of decentralized self-organized actions. They will mobilize over a one-week period in January, culminating in a Global Day of Mobilisation and Action on the 26th to show that another world is possible.
At the same period, the "old" world will meet in Davos for the World Economic Forum, bringing together its economists, experts, ideologies and techniques that produce violence, exploitation, exclusion, poverty, hunger and ecological disaster, depriving people of human rights and our Earth of its resources.
The World Social Forum is an open space where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organisations come together to raise issues, debate ideas, formulate proposals, share experiences, and build networks for effective action. These movements are opposed to a world ruled by capitalism and all forms of imperialism and domination.
Since the first worldwide encounter in 2001, the World Social Forum has become a permanent global process seeking and building alternatives to neo-liberal policies.
World Social Forums have taken place at the end of January at different sites throughout the world every year for the past seven years, and this spirit of diversity will continue to be reflected in the activities planned for the Global Day of Mobilisation and Action in 2008.
Our website is the main connection tool for all participants in the decentralized WSF 2008. Invite your friends to join and contribute through action spaces, present your action, upload your videos, publish news and connect your actions with those of others.
Comcast has given us a glimpse of a world without Net
Neutrality, and it's a chilling sight.
An investigation by the Associated Press caught the
cable giant secretly inspecting online communications
and crippling users' ability to share information with
one another.
On 11-1-07, Free Press filed a legal complaint
demanding that the FCC take action to protect the free
flow of information on the Internet. By joining our
complaint, you can help stop Comcast and other
gatekeepers.
The MBTA on October 10th started broadcasting
continuous [corporate] radio ads and "music" at South
Station, North Station and Airport Station with a plan
to expand the continuous radio broadcast system-wide
after Thanksgiving. This will adversely monopolize
this historic First Amendment public space:
1. Curtail and Interfere with Conversations of all
MBTA patrons
2. Curtail and Interfere with Reading of all MBTA
patrons
3. Target ads to all School Children who use the MBTA
4. Eliminate Subway Musician Performances
We, the undersigned, support the diversity of
expression of patrons and artists in the subway. We
petition Governor Deval Patrick and Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority Board of Directors to stop
the T-Radio broadcast.
Congress will be debating war appropriations again, and the Senate - as the Republicans have routinely demonstrated - has the power to filibuster any appropriations it doesn't like. A filibuster in the Senate would effectively force an end to the war. So if each of us does our part in exposing the filibuster option, then we can apply tremendous pressure on our senators, the likes of which they haven't felt in decades!
Doris Tennant and Ellen Lubell (of Newton) are representing a Guantanamo prisoner pro bono, so they are providing their time at no charge. However, their costs, including their own travel and that of a translator, translator fees, and Freedom of Information Act requests, are running at least $20,000 for this year, and will likely continue at that same pace or more. Most of the other attorneys who are representing Guantanamo detainees are members of large law firms that can cover these types of expenses, but in their case the two of them are the firm.
If you would like to make a contribution to help them defray costs, it would be much appreciated. Please make your check payable to "Tennant Lubell Detainee Fund." Your contribution will NOT be tax-deductible, but they promise to put it to good use to help provide fundamental legal rights to a man who remains in indefinite detention.
Doris Tennant, Esq.
Tennant Lubell, LLC
288 Walnut Street, Suite 500
Newton, MA 02460
617-969-9610, X 101
Fax: 617-969-9611
Action Alert: The Alliance for Democracy warns us to oppose Holt bill (HR 811). We call for a ban on the use of Direct Recording Electronic voting equipment (DREs) and to require the use of paper ballots.
AFD urgently calls upon all citizens to call their Representatives to demand amendments to rectify the defects in HR 811, specifically to ban the use of DRE voting machines and require the use of paper ballots in all elections in the United States.
1. DRE systems must be banned.
2. All voting must be by voter marks on a paper ballot.
3. All recounts must be by hand counting of paper ballots.
4. All elections must have a statistically significant verification.
5. All recounts at every level of government must be by hand counting.
6. All software must be subject to public disclosure.
7. No connections to the Internet should be allowed.
8. All election records should be available to the public.
Go to for on-line information and a link to a printable flier.
A call for all people of conscience
to donate to its Lebanon Palestine Emergency Relief Fund.
All donations will be used to help Palestinian and
Lebanese victims of the latest Israeli aggression.
Tel: 760-685-3243
Fax: 360-933-3568
E-mail link
We are happy to report that a new shipment of olive oil has arrived. The most recent harvest was excellent and per case prices are less than they were last year.
As with our previous shipments, this oil comes directly from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, PARC, a non-profit, non- governmental organization in the West Bank. PARC works with 15 different small cooperatives. This shipment comes from the Mazare' Al Nubani/ Ramallah and the Kufr Thulth, Jayous and Azzoun cooperatives. The labels are printed in the West Bank and the oil is bottled at the PARC bottling facility in Aram. PARC is a member of the International Fair Trade Association, and is the only Palestinian organization that has received the Palestine Standards Institution certification for its olive oil.
OLIVE BRANCH OLIVE OIL DONATIONS
As with past shipments, a percentage of the proceeds of olive oil sales is donated back to organizations working directly with Palestinians. Past recipients include:
Palestinian Medical Relief Society Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Birthright Unplugged American Friends Service Committee-Middle East Crisis Fund American Near East Refugee Aid Olive Harvest Coalition Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees Ibdaa Cultural Center International Solidarity Movement US OMEN Ta’ayush
THE IMPORTANCE OF OLIVE OIL TO THE PALESTINIAN ECONOMY
Olive oil is the backbone of the Palestinian agricultural economy. Eighty percent of cultivated land in Palestine is planted with olive trees, and the olive harvest provides between 25 to 50 percent of a farming family’s annual income. Olive trees, many of which are hundreds of years old, hold a deep significance in the culture and economy of the Holy Land. As the political and economic situation in Palestine continues to deteriorate, with increased restrictions on the mobility of people, goods and services, olive oil has become a matter of basic survival for many Palestinian families. Buying this oil is a constructive and tangible way to help alleviate poverty and build peace.
PARC assists at every stage of the olive oil production process, from helping farmers to reclaim rocky land, conserve water and implement sensible environmental practices (like re-cropping, dry-land farming and recycling of waste materials) to setting up regional labs for farmers to test their olive oil. PARC strictly monitors the quality of the oil, testing and re-testing it at its main laboratory to ensure that it meets all specifications. Extra-virgin olive oil comes from the first pressing of the olives, contains no more than 0.8% acidity, and is judged to have a superior taste. There can be no refined oil in extra-virgin olive oil.
Palestinian farmers traditionally care for their trees without the use of pesticides or sprays. PARC is currently working with international agricultural organizations to obtain organic certification for its olive oil, which should be finalized in the next few months. Because both light and heat are known enemies of olive oil, Olive Branch Olive Oil comes in a dark green glass bottle that is optimal for storage.
Available in 750ml bottles, by the case (12 bottles, $145), or more.
For ordering and other info, please email us at palestinebostonoliveoil@yahoo.com or call Susie at 781-648-6307.
Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee will be holding a vigil for Gaza from 11:45 am to 12:15 pm on the steps of Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. All who care for Palestine are invited to attend. Please wear black and spread the word widely.
These are the meetings where we decide on events and discuss strategies to end the war. Anyone is welcome -- from seasoned activists to beginners and we look forward to building a dialogue with anyone opposed to the war. Our main tenent is that we are independent of both the Democratic and the Republican Party, such that we can build an anti-war movement that survives elections and continues to oppose the war, regardless of which candidate is in office.
Meet briefly at the statue to exchange thoughts,
then walk silently around the Yard and nearby streets,
returning to the statue by 12:30pm.
Southeast corner of Rt 27 and 30 (nearest to Brooks Pharmacy).
Come for all or part. Bring a candle, lantern, or flashlight.
Organizer: Sandy Coy.
Join the Boston Tea Party Conference call,
Participant call in: 402-756-9100; Access code: 680903#
Socialist Alternative Radio, 91.5 FM Boston
listen anytime on the Web at WMFO.org. A democratic socialist, working-class view of politics and culture, including solidarity announcements, interviews, music, and more.
Write to us at BostonSAradio@aol.com.
Join a Friday fast and/or protest in solidarity with illegal detentions. The fast began in 2005 when Nobel Peace Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Adolpho Esquivel, (Argentina), along with others around the world, chose this method to seek the release of our unjustly detained and tortured brothers and sisters.
In Boston, local activists Susan McLucas and Phoebe Knopf have joined the Friday fast and will protest every Friday in front of the JFK Building from noon to one. The action, which is rooted in nonviolence, includes speakers, music, hand-outs and petitions to create public pressure to stop all illegal detentions and to try those responsible for the illegal treatment of thousands of detainees, most of whom are Arab and Muslim men. Susan and Phoebe will be wearing orange jumpsuits.