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Bring ALL the Troops Home Now!

Troops Out Now Coalition


March on the Pentagon - March 21
March on Wall Street - April 3 & 4


Bring ALL the Troops Home Now!
End War and Occupation - Iraq, Afghanistan & Palestine!
Money for Human Needs - NOT War!


The Troops Out Now Coalition condemns the announcement today that Washington plans to keep an occupying force of 50,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely.

In November, the people voted overwhelmingly for an end to war and occupation. The majority of the people of the U.S. - and the world are demanding an end to the war and occupation in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine.

The war against the people of Iraq was launched based on lies about weapons of mass destruction, as a pretext to seize control of the vast oil reserves of the region for the benefit of Wall Street. The Cost of War website estimates that the Iraq war has cost $341.4 million every day - $4,681 per household. On Thursday, the White House announced that it will ask Congress for an additional $75.5 billion this year to pay for war and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq. This would raise the budget for war for 2009 to $141 billion and increase the Pentagon's 2009 spending to $513.3 billion. This is in addition to the billions of dollars given to Israel every year to continue a brutal war against the Palestinian people.

Right now, more than ever the people need the billions of dollars that are being spent on the illegal occupation of Iraq to be spent on meeting human needs, like jobs, affordable housing, education, and health care. Each day brings news of tens of thousands of layoffs, foreclosures, and evictions. Working people are facing a crisis of historic proportions - we must organize to demand a real bail out for people, not bloated Pentagon budgets and trillion dollar handouts to corrupt CEO's.

Join the Troops Out Now Coalition and many other groups at the March on the Pentagon, Saturday March 21 and then...

National March on Wall Street!
Friday, April 3 - when Wall Street is open for business; continuing to Saturday, April 4 - at the Intersection of Wall & Broad Streets (The Stock Exchange).

Join us in the streets to
demand:
  • Bring ALL the Troops Home Now!
  • No new troops to Afghanistan!
  • Money for Human Needs Not War!
  • End Occupation - Iraq, Afghanistan & Palestine

For more information or to get involved, go to www.TroopsOutNow.org

In the Charlotte, NC area contact Action Center For Justice at charlotteaction [at] gmail.com or see www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com

Library looks at range of possible cuts

Reduced acquisitions, six-day weeks, reducing or eliminating Novello – all are under consideration.
By April Bethea, charlotte.com, Feb. 27, 2009

No libraries open on Sunday. Layoffs. Less money for books, CDs and movies. A smaller Novello reading festival this fall, or none at all.

Those are some of the scenarios officials with the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County are considering as part of a plan to cut money in the next fiscal year.

The proposals follow a request from the county that its departments submit budgets with cuts up to 20 percent of current funding. The goal: to close an estimated $70 million gap in the budget year that starts July 1.

The library system receives more than $35.76 million, or 85 percent, of its budget from the county.

A 20 percent cut would mean about $7 million less, Director Charles Brown told trustees on Thursday.

To help reach that target, Brown said officials are considering cutting 150 jobs, including all 97 of the library's part-time employees and 20 to 25 full-time employees. Library employees also could have to take four days of unpaid leave.

Library trustees asked staff to consider ways to avoid or reduce the number of layoffs, including salary cuts or additional furloughs.

Among other possible cuts: $2 million from collections, which could cut in half the number of books, movies, music and other materials purchased by the library next year.

The library also may cut back, or put on hold, its annual Novello reading festival this year. The event isn't paid for using county funds. But trustee Joan Martin said putting the festival on hold this year could show the library system is being “fiscally responsible.”

Brown told trustees the $7 million in cuts in county funding is a “worst case scenario.” County administrators have said departments may not be asked to cut the full 20 percent next year.

County commissioners will approve the county budget, which includes funding for the library, in June.

County Manager Harry Jones recently asked the library and parks systems to study reducing hours at or closing some facilities for one day during the week. Brown said officials have discussed closing all facilities on Sundays, and keeping community branches open only five days a week.

The library also is cutting $750,000 out of the current budget as part of efforts to close a $69 million shortfall in the county budget this year.

Endorse Nat'l March on Wall Street & Help Organize

Bail Out the People Movement
March on Wall Street
April 3 & 4


* Endorse the Call for April 3 & 4: click here
* Become a local organizer: click here
* Donate to help with NC/SC area organizing expenses: click here
* Download the BOPM Working Paper: click here

Bail Out People not Banks!
Help Build the First National March on Wall Street April 3-4!


February 13, 2009

Dear activists,

Events have called upon us to make history. Future generations will look back on this moment to see whether we were able to understand what is at stake, and rise to the occasion.

We call upon you to join with the Bail Out the People Movement and the many community leaders, activists and organizations that are part of it, to help organize the first National March on Wall Street on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4.

Yes! This is a two-day event. The first phase of the march will begin on Friday, April 3; thousands traveling to New York City from all over the country will join us on Saturday, April 4.

The Wall Street march will take place during the same week that the G20 countries are holding their second emergency global economic crisis summit meeting in London on April 2 and 3, which will be followed immediately by a 60th Anniversary of NATO summit meeting in Strasbourg, France on April 4. Both meetings will be the focus of strong protests against war and for economic justice.

For all of us who have made a serious commitment to fighting for social and economic justice, the worsening global economic depression (Yes, it is a depression. It's time to call it what it is!) is the life-changing event that's going to define the challenges and test the seriousness of our movement.

This crisis, which is firing 20,000 workers, and evicting 15,000 from their homes every single day in the U.S. alone, is not going away. It's only going to get worse.

The crisis is overwhelming, frightening, and almost surreal. Many of us are fighting the layoffs, evictions and budget cuts at the local level. Doing so is both necessary and critical.

However, we must begin the process of coalescing around national mass actions. The big banks and their friends in Washington are way ahead of us in this regard.

Coalescing local and national activists and organizations--and most importantly, the millions of people whose living standards and survival are at stake, is the most important goal of the April 3 and 4 National March on Wall Street.

The mass anger over the continuing bank bailout has the aristocracy of Wall Street and the politicians in Washington scared. But anger that is not organized into mass movement is wasted and ultimately ignored by the powers that be.

As extraordinary as the outcome was of the November elections, clearly the elections alone have not been enough. As activists, we can no longer afford to wait for others to come forth and organize mass resistance.

The so-called "stimulus" legislation may eventually help a few people but it will not even put a dent in the layoffs, evictions, and budget-cutting contagion. The big banks are asking for another $2-3 trillion in bailout money. The money in the stimulus bill allotted to help people facing foreclosure is less than 2% of that sum.

The march on Wall Street has been planned to coincide with the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There are many reasons one could think of to do this.

Just as Dr. King knew that the Civil Rights Movement would not be viable unless it was also part of the antiwar movement, he knew that freedom would never be possible until everyone had the right to a job with a living wage, or an income. This was the message that Dr. King spent the last year of his life trying to convey.

And it's a message that could hardly be more relevant today. Another important message from Dr. King reminds us of what is so fundamental to his legacy, "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

People have been waiting for the call for a National March on Wall Street that demands a Bail Out of the People, not the Banks. That call has been issued; support for it is growing every day with hundreds of endorsements. (See www.bailoutpeople.org for the endorsers' list).

However, it is the commitment that you make to organize for the Wall Street march that is going to be decisive.

Let us come together and be decisive.

In solidarity,

Bail Out the People Movement

* Endorse the Call for April 3 & 4: http://www.bailoutpeople.org/wallstendorse.shtml
* Become a local organizer: http://www.bailoutpeople.org/wallstvolorgcent.shtml
* Donate to help with NC/SC area organizing expenses: http://charlotteaction.blogspot.com/2005/07/donate-to-action-center-for-justice.html
* Download the BOPM Working Paper: http://bailoutpeople.org/Workingpaper.pdf


We invite you to a planning meeting for the national march, on Wednesday, February 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave., New York City. (between 34th & 35th St. - you'll need ID to get into the building. Trains: N, R, W, B, F to 34th St.; PATH to 33rd St.)


Bail Out The People Movement

http://www.bailoutpeople.org

********************

To get involved in the Bail Out The People Movement in the NC/SC area contact:

Action Center For Justice
www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com
charlotteaction@gmail.com
704-492-5226

U.S. Intel Chief's Shocking Warning: Wall Street's Disaster Has Spawned Our Greatest Terrorist Threat

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Alternet, Feb. 17, 2009

We have a remarkable ability to create our own monsters. A few decades of meddling in the Middle East with our Israeli doppelganger and we get Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaida, the Iraqi resistance movement and a resurgent Taliban. Now we trash the world economy and destroy the ecosystem and sit back to watch our handiwork. Hints of our brave new world seeped out Thursday when Washington's new director of national intelligence, retired Adm. Dennis Blair, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He warned that the deepening economic crisis posed perhaps our gravest threat to stability and national security. It could trigger, he said, a return to the "violent extremism" of the 1920s and 1930s.

It turns out that Wall Street, rather than Islamic jihad, has produced our most dangerous terrorists. We will see accelerated plant and retail closures, inflation, an epidemic of bankruptcies, new rounds of foreclosures, bread lines, unemployment surpassing the levels of the Great Depression and, as Blair fears, social upheaval.

The United Nations' International Labor Organization estimates that some 50 million workers will lose their jobs worldwide this year. The collapse has already seen 3.6 million lost jobs in the United States. The International Monetary Fund's prediction for global economic growth in 2009 is 0.5 percent--the worst since World War II. There are 2.3 million properties in the United States that received a default notice or were repossessed last year. And this number is set to rise in 2009, especially as vacant commercial real estate begins to be foreclosed. About 20,000 major global banks collapsed, were sold or were nationalized in 2008. There are an estimated 62,000 U.S. companies expected to shut down this year. Unemployment, when you add people no longer looking for jobs and part-time workers who cannot find full-time employment, is close to 14 percent.

And we have few tools left to dig our way out. The manufacturing sector in the United States has been destroyed by globalization. Consumers, thanks to credit card companies and easy lines of credit, are $14 trillion in debt. The government has pledged trillions toward the crisis, most of it borrowed or printed in the form of new money. It is borrowing trillions more to fund our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And no one states the obvious: We will never be able to pay these loans back. We are supposed to somehow spend our way out of the crisis and maintain our imperial project on credit. Let our kids worry about it. There is no coherent and realistic plan, one built around our severe limitations, to stanch the bleeding or ameliorate the mounting deprivations we will suffer as citizens. Contrast this with the national security state's strategies to crush potential civil unrest and you get a glimpse of the future. It doesn't look good.

"The primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications," Blair told the Senate. "The crisis has been ongoing for over a year, and economists are divided over whether and when we could hit bottom. Some even fear that the recession could further deepen and reach the level of the Great Depression. Of course, all of us recall the dramatic political consequences wrought by the economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, the instability, and high levels of violent extremism."

The specter of social unrest was raised at the U.S. Army War College in November in a monograph [click on Policypointers' pdf link to see the report] titled "Known Unknowns: Unconventional 'Strategic Shocks' in Defense Strategy Development." The military must be prepared, the document warned, for a "violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States," which could be provoked by "unforeseen economic collapse," "purposeful domestic resistance," "pervasive public health emergencies" or "loss of functioning political and legal order." The "widespread civil violence," the document said, "would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security."

"An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home," it went on.

"Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States. Further, DoD [the Department of Defense] would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance," the document read.

In plain English, something bureaucrats and the military seem incapable of employing, this translates into the imposition of martial law and a de facto government being run out of the Department of Defense. They are considering it. So should you.

Adm. Blair warned the Senate that "roughly a quarter of the countries in the world have already experienced low-level instability such as government changes because of the current slowdown." He noted that the "bulk of anti-state demonstrations" internationally have been seen in Europe and the former Soviet Union, but this did not mean they could not spread to the United States. He told the senators that the collapse of the global financial system is "likely to produce a wave of economic crises in emerging market nations over the next year." He added that "much of Latin America, former Soviet Union states and sub-Saharan Africa lack sufficient cash reserves, access to international aid or credit, or other coping mechanism."

"When those growth rates go down, my gut tells me that there are going to be problems coming out of that, and we're looking for that," he said. He referred to "statistical modeling" showing that "economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one to two year period."

Blair articulated the newest narrative of fear. As the economic unraveling accelerates we will be told it is not the bearded Islamic extremists, although those in power will drag them out of the Halloween closet when they need to give us an exotic shock, but instead the domestic riffraff, environmentalists, anarchists, unions and enraged members of our dispossessed working class who threaten us. Crime, as it always does in times of turmoil, will grow. Those who oppose the iron fist of the state security apparatus will be lumped together in slick, corporate news reports with the growing criminal underclass.

The committee's Republican vice chairman, Sen. Christopher Bond of Missouri, not quite knowing what to make of Blair's testimony, said he was concerned that Blair was making the "conditions in the country" and the global economic crisis "the primary focus of the intelligence community."

The economic collapse has exposed the stupidity of our collective faith in a free market and the absurdity of an economy based on the goals of endless growth, consumption, borrowing and expansion. The ideology of unlimited growth failed to take into account the massive depletion of the world's resources, from fossil fuels to clean water to fish stocks to erosion, as well as overpopulation, global warming and climate change. The huge international flows of unregulated capital have wrecked the global financial system. An overvalued dollar (which will soon deflate), wild tech, stock and housing financial bubbles, unchecked greed, the decimation of our manufacturing sector, the empowerment of an oligarchic class, the corruption of our political elite, the impoverishment of workers, a bloated military and defense budget and unrestrained credit binges have conspired to bring us down. The financial crisis will soon become a currency crisis. This second shock will threaten our financial viability. We let the market rule. Now we are paying for it.

The corporate thieves, those who insisted they be paid tens of millions of dollars because they were the best and the brightest, have been exposed as con artists. Our elected officials, along with the press, have been exposed as corrupt and spineless corporate lackeys. Our business schools and intellectual elite have been exposed as frauds. The age of the West has ended. Look to China. Laissez-faire capitalism has destroyed itself. It is time to dust off your copies of Marx.

Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, is a Senior Fellow at the Nation Institute. His latest book is Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians.

13th Annual Conference on Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity

Same-Sex Marriage and Beyond: Charting A Progressive Course

University of North Carolina School of Law
February 21, 2009

On February 21st, 2009, The University of North Carolina School of Law's Conference on Race, Class, Gender and Ethnicity is hosting its thirteenth annual conference entitled, Same-Sex Marriage and Beyond: Charting a Progressive Course. This year's conference is co-sponsored by the UNC Lambda Law Students Association. The Conference will bring legal practitioners and scholars together with activists, community members, and other academics to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the LGBTQ movement created by the struggle for same-sex marriage, and to chart a path forward for the movement and its allies. Our program will consist of four panels and two keynote speakers. The panels will examine: Marriage and Partner Recognition, Children and Parenting, Violence and the State, and Intersections.

Speakers Include:
Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal, New York, NY
Shannon Price Minter, National Center for Lesbian Rights, San Francisco, CA
Imani Henry, International Action Center, New York, NY
Maxine Eichner, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill, NC
Gael Guevara, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, New York, NY
Ian Palmquist, Equality NC, Raleigh, NC
Catherine Smith, Sturm College of Law, Denver, CO
Barbara Fedders, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill, NC
Robert Rosenwald, ACLU of Florida, Miami, FL
Aaron Morris, Immigration Equality, New York, NY
Justin Smith, Project STYLE, Chapel Hill, NC

Conference registration is $75 for CLE Credit**, $20 otherwise, and free for students, unemployed, and fixed income registrants. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For directions to the law school, schedule, and more information or to register on-line go to:
http://www.unc.edu/crcge
and join us on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=47917463548

This event is co-sponsored by the UNC Graduate and Professional Student Association. The Conference also wishes to thank the UNC School of Law and the UNC Student Bar Association for their support.

** The North Carolina State Bar has not yet approved the CLE credits for this year's conference; however, based on previous years conferences we expect the conference to be worth five hours.

Local, nat’l groups to challenge ‘ex-gay’ Charlotte conference

Author, activist Wayne Besen to visit Charlotte
by Matt Comer, Q-Notes, Feb. 12th, 2009

CHARLOTTE — Local and national groups will soon converge on Charlotte, all of them holding events involving the LGBT community or set against it.

On Feb. 21, the anti-gay Focus on the Family and Exodus International will hold their so-called “ex-gay” conference Love Won Out at Central Church of God. Their event coincides with the Human Rights Campaign’s Carolinas Gala and a joint conference of the Metropolitan Community Church and Unity Fellowship, two primarily LGBT Christian denominations.

The Charlotte LGBT community has responded by organizing a grassroots effort to counter the harmful myths, lies and false hope of “ex-gay” ministries promoted by Focus on the Family and Exodus. The Charlotte Rainbow Action Network for Equality (CRANE) will hold a series of events Feb. 14 through Feb. 21 to raise public awareness and challenge the “ex-gay” presence.

[Ed. Note -- This writer is an organizer with CRANE.]

On Feb. 14, CRANE will hold an Uptown Charlotte public awareness event, “Light a Candle for Love,” and speak to passers-by and Uptown dinner and party-goers about LGBT equality. Organizers will pass out glow sticks (instead of candles in the very windy downtown area) symbolic of the light and love that lives within each person. They’ll discuss equality issues with community members.

A few days later on Thursday, Feb. 19, the grassroots group will host Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” and a syndicated columnist whose work appears in Q-Notes. In his presentation, “Pray Away the Gay,” Besen will discuss the myths and lies of “ex-gay” organizations like Exodus International. The event will be held at 7 p.m. at Charlotte’s Lesbian & Gay Community Center.

A press conference will follow the next day. Media has been invited to the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Charlotte where Besen will unveil a new Truth Wins Out/Lambda Legal booklet “Ex-Gay & the Law.” The new publication offers resources for those who might have been victimized by unscrupulous “ex-gay” ministries and therapies.

On Saturday, Feb. 21, the grassroots group’s efforts will culminate in a non-violent, silent protest of the Love Won Out conference. Members and supporters will be present outside Central Church of God on Sardis Road from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

More information on each event, including times, locations, directions and parking information for the Saturday protest is available at www.rainbowaction.org/events/.

“These programs sell false hope and take advantage of desperate and vulnerable people who just want acceptance from loved ones,” Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, said of “ex-gay” ministries and therapies. “Love Won Out’s dangerous sexual engineering campaign is ineffective, psychologically damaging and confuses stereotypes with science. We hope to educate the community and provide people with accurate and reliable information.”

At the same time as the Love Won Out conference, LGBT and affirming religious leaders will meet for a conference of their own.

“It is ironic,” said The Rev. Nancy Wilson, presiding bishop of Metropolitan Community Churches and an open lesbian, “that the theme of the Focus on the Family conference is ‘Love Wins Out’, because that is exactly what happened to me and so many of my colleagues who will be joining me in Charlotte.”

Bishop Tonyia Rawls, of Charlotte’s Unity Fellowship Church, agreed that the “ex-gay” conference’s impact will be harmful. “My faith tells me that love is stronger than the death created by homophobia and intolerance,” she said. “I cling to the message from the Scriptures that in all things God works for good. Even in the midst of negative and destructive messages, God is present working to dispel the negativity and restore both those who are alienated and harmed as well as those who inflict such harm.”

Organizations helping CRANE to organize the counter to Focus on the Family and Exodus international include national groups Truth Wins Out, Lambda Legal, the Human Rights Campaign and Faith in America, and local and state groups like One Voice Chorus, Gay Men’s Chorus of Charlotte, Q-Notes newspaper, Charlotte Coalition for Social Justice, UNCC Pride and EqualityNC.

info: www.rainbowaction.org

AP: U.S. Sold Phosphorus Shells Used in Gaza to Israel

AP, Editor & Publisher, Feb. 02, 2009

LITTLE ROCK The United States sold phosphorus artillery shells made at the Pine Bluff Arsenal to Israel — the same kind of rounds allegedly used against civilians during the recent fighting in Gaza.

A State Department official told The Associated Press that the rounds — typically used to light up darkened battlefields or provide smoke cover for combat troops — were most recently shipped to Israel in 2007. International human rights groups accuse the Israeli military of firing the chemical rounds into civilian homes, causing severe burns to those inside and killing at least one woman.

International law allows for the use of the phosphorus shells, but not in areas where civilians could be harmed by the burning rounds.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal, a 13,000-acre base near Little Rock that once housed some of the Army's deadliest chemical and biological weapons, advertises itself as the only plant in North America capable of manufacturing the white phosphorus rounds. A photograph published by the British newspaper The Times taken during the recent fighting showed rounds waiting to be fired with Pine Bluff Arsenal serial numbers.

The arsenal referred calls about the phosphorus rounds to the Pentagon. Lt. Col. Almarah Belk, a military spokeswoman, did not immediately return a request for comment Friday. Previously, the military has said it supports "Israel's right to defend itself" and declined to comment about specific arms sales.

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity over the sensitivity of the issue, stressed that the white phosphorus rounds should only be used to "obscure, and thereby protect, troops and their movements." The official said the United States would take any unauthorized use of the rounds seriously and "would take appropriate, corrective action."

White phosphorus, a caustic chemical, ignites when it comes in contact with oxygen. During the Vietnam War, white phosphorus served as the ignitor in napalm bombs. Though the U.S. later eliminated its napalm stockpiles, white phosphorus illumination and smoke rounds remain a mainstay in the military's arsenal.

The 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons prohibits use of the substance as an incendiary weapon against civilian populations and in air attacks against military forces in civilian areas. However, neither Israel nor the U.S. signed onto that part of the international agreement.

In 2004, U.S. troops in Iraq used white phosphorous as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah, Pentagon officials have said. The Pentagon denied troops used the rounds against civilians.

Amnesty International has issued a report about a shelling in a residential area of Gaza City, concluding that Israel used white phosphorus rounds improperly. Amnesty also said Israel used white phosphorus shells in an attack on U.N. warehouses in Gaza City on Jan. 15, an incident that infuriated U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Amnesty has accused Israel of committing a war crime by firing the munitions into densely populated areas.

Initially, Israel categorically denied that its use of phosphorous weapons was illegal. Later, the Israeli military said it will investigate the accusations made by the U.N. and human rights groups.

United for Peace and Jelly? Junipers? Jerkarounds?

David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org, Feb. 13, 2009

Some months back, United for Peace and Justice held a big conference in
Chicago for three days, and hundreds of us from all over the country
spent most of those three days voting on the language to go in the
documents that would determine what UFPJ would work on in the coming
year and a half, especially the program document. In past years, I
hadn't bothered to push for inclusion of accountability, but this year I
did. I went to the conference, and we voted overwhelmingly to make
accountability and prosecution for war crimes an item on the agenda, and
we explicitly voted to make it just as important as the other items. We
then formed a working group. But our agenda is ignored by UFPJ, is not
part of plans for a big event on April 4th and other events on the 6th
anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and is left out of a list of things
to talk to Congress about in the coming week. In fact, the list of
things to talk to Congress about in the coming week looks a lot like a
program document that someone has taken and rewritten in private, which
means that they could have spared us all those tedious hours in Chicago.
Let's compare the two documents.

Here are the section headings in the document we all voted for:

UFPJ PROGRAM FOR ACTION
As amended and adopted at the 4th UFPJ National Assembly – 12/13/08

1) We remain committed to the urgent goal of immediately ending the U.S.
wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan and bringing all the troops
home.
• 6th Anniversary of the War in Iraq:
• Pressure on Congress to End the War in Iraq:
• Voices of Iraqis, Humanitarian Crisis and Rebuilding Iraq:
• Afghanistan
• Support for Military Resisters, Veterans and Military Families:
• Truth In Recruiting:
• Campaign to Bring Home the National Guard:
2) Our work for peace and justice will include an action response to the
economic, social and environmental crisis at home and worldwide.
• Economic Crisis and a Green Job Economy:
• End to Global Warming, Climate Justice Now:
3) We will work to prevent new wars in Pakistan, Iran and elsewhere.
• Iran – Stop Threatening, Start Talking:
• Nuclear Disarmament:
• Pakistan, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere:
4) It is time to challenge the Global War on Terror and the Empire
Building Agenda of the U.S.
• No Foreign Bases Campaign:
• End the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories:
• Offering New Approaches for U.S. Foreign Policy:
5) Defending, protecting and expanding civil liberties, civil rights and
democracy are necessary
steps to ensure our ability to achieve our other strategic goals.
• Restore Civil Liberties, End Torture:
• Accountability and prosecution of high officials guilty of war crimes,
including the supreme crime of aggressive war.
• Immigrant Rights:

***

Here, in contrast, are the section headings from the new version:

BEYOND WAR - A New Economy is Possible
Send America to Work, Not to War
1. Militarism
Out of Iraq and Afghanistan
16 MONTH PLAN FOR IRAQ
AFGHANISTAN
THERE IS NO “GOOD WAR”
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
FOREIGN BASES
MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
THE PENTAGON IS NOT A JOBS ENGINE
HUMANITARIAN AID

2. Poverty
CUT THE MILITARY BUDGET AND FUND HUMAN NEEDS
POVETY [sic] IN THE UNITED STATES
HOME FORECLOSURES
HEALTHCARE
EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
GET RID OF INEFFECTIVE “TRICKLE DOWN” ECONOMICS
THE GRAVITY OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS
WE SHOULD INVEST IN GREEN

3. Racism
BLACK PRISON POPULATION
BLACK POVERTY
EDUCATION

***

What do you notice?

First of all, section 5 of the document we carefully wrote by committee,
voting on almost every line, a section we explicitly voted to make equal
with the others so that it would not be ignored, has been deleted.

Second, new items have been added, including making racism one of three
main headings. Now, I for one would have voted to include fighting
racism in our work if someone had raised it. But did they? Not that I
recall. If they did, it lost.

My question is what the point of the endless tedious edit-the-documents
conference was, why the pretense of laborious democracy? Why the
elaborate efforts to claim to be the coalition of coalitions, if there's
just a little clique rewriting everything?

One dead, two injured in Israeli airstrike on southern Gaza

Ma'an News Agency, Feb. 13, 2009

Gaza – Ma’an – A Palestinian was killed and two others were injured on Friday afternoon as Israeli warplanes targeted a motorcycle in the southern Gaza Strip.

The strikes occurred in the town of Abasan Al-Kabira, which is east of Khan Younis.

According to the de facto government Health Ministry’s director of Ambulance and Emergency Services, Muawiyah Hussanein, three Palestinians were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

One was pronounced dead on arrival while two others were injured, one seriously and another moderately.

The military group affiliated with the National Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, announced that the first Israeli airstrike on Abasan targeted a group of militants affiliated to the group, injuring two of them seriously.

Later on, Israeli warplanes carried out several raids targeting the border area between Egypt and southern Gaza in Rafah, injuring several others.

Earlier, a homemade projectile fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the attack, according to Israeli news reports.

About one hour later, two other projectiles hit Sderot in the western Negev, again without causing injuries or damage, according to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Hizbullah Brigades in Palestine claimed responsibility for attacking Sderot and the western Negev with two projectiles at dawn on Friday, according to a statement.

The two projectiles were launched toward Sderot and the western Negev at around 5:30am on Friday, the group said, insisting that more attacks on Israeli forces were still to come.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, said Egypt will announce a truce between Palestinians and Israelis within the next two days, according to a statement.

After making several contacts with other Palestinian factions and the Israeli side, Abu Marzouk confirmed to the Middle East News Agency on Thursday evening a deal is in the works.

"We have accepted the truce with the Israeli side for a year and a half, in which the six crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel will be opened, while Israel has to stop any military aggression," he said.

He added that there remain a number of obstacles to overcome, particularly a detainee swap, explaining that the truce has been isolated from the case of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Crossing the Line: US role in the war on Gaza

Podcast, Crossing the Line, Feb. 13, 2009

This week on Crossing The Line: As US President Barack Obama stood before a crowd of two million and gave his inaugural address, he pledged to work with those in the Arab and Muslim world towards peace. But absent in the address was any condemnation of Israeli atrocities committed against the Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Host Naji Ali speaks with The Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah about the Obama administration, the recent massacre in Gaza and the prospects of peace in the region.

Also this week, Ali speaks with Gaza-based journalist Rami Almeghari about the current situation on the ground in Gaza in the aftermath of the 22 days of Israeli attacks.

And as always, Crossing the Line begins with "This week in Palestine," a service provided by The International Middle East Media Center.

* Listen Now [MP3 - 22 MB]



Crossing the Line is a weekly podcast dedicated to giving voice to the voiceless in occupied Palestine. Through investigative news, arts, eyewitness accounts, and music, Crossing the Line does its best to present the lives of people on the ground.

Crossing the Line's host, Naji Ali, is an independent journalist currently living in San Francisco. Ali's South African roots and desire for social change are the reason for his strong solidarity with the Palestinian people. In 1990 Ali was arrested in South Africa where he was detained and tortured for nearly two years by the South African secret police. Ali also lived and worked in the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Hamas official: Egypt to declare Israeli-Palestinian truce within two days

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies, Feb. 13, 2009

Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouq, vice-president of the political bureau of Hamas, stated on Thursday at night that in the coming two days Egypt would declare truce between the Palestinian and the Israeli sides, the Maan News Agency reported.

Abu Marzouq added that Hamas agreed to an 18-month truce which will lead to opening the six terminals between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and halting all forms of military activities.

He said that this anticipated deal was formulated after talks with all Palestinian factions and Egyptian-mediated talks with Israel.

In an interview with the Middle East news agency, Abu Marzouq said that Hamas accepted an 18-month truce with Israel after most of the obstacles were resolved.

The Hamas official added that one of the obstacles was the prisoner-swap deal, and explained that the issue of Gilad Shalit is not part of the truce deal.

“We want the release of detainees in exchange for releasing Shalit”, Abu Marzouq said, “We gave Egypt a list of names of detainees we want freed, if Israel accepts it, we can finalize the deal”.

On Wednesday, Hamas delegates met with the head of the Egyptian Intelligence, Lieutenant General Omar Suleiman, and held talks over a number of issues, mainly truce and rebuilding Gaza, a positive development was reportedly achieved.

Furthermore, Abu Marzouq said that talks between Hamas delegates and all Palestinian factions would continue until arriving to a national and clear agreement.

Hamas said that some of the essential issues are halting the Israeli aggression, opening the crossings and allowing the needed goods and materials into Gaza.

Commenting on internal Palestinian affairs, Hamas delegates in Egypt said that the file political arrests should be closed, and all smear campaigns should come to an end in order to prepare for a constructive internal dialogue.

Hampshire College first in US to divest from Israel

Press release, Students for Justice in Palestine (Hampshire College), Feb. 12, 2009

Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, has become the first of any college or university in the US to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College's Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. More than 800 students, professors and alumni have signed SJP's "institutional statement" calling for the divestment.

The proposal put forth by SJP was approved on Saturday, 7 February 2009 by the Board. By divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel.

Meeting minutes from a committee of Hampshire's Board of Trustees confirm that "President Hexter acknowledged that it was the good work of SJP that brought this issue to the attention of the committee." This groundbreaking decision follows in Hampshire's history of being the first college in the country to divest from apartheid South Africa 32 years ago, a decision based on similar human rights concerns. This divestment was also a direct result of student pressure.

The divestment has so far been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rashid Khalidi, Vice President of the EU Parliament Luisa Morganitini, Cynthia McKinney, former member of the African National Congress Ronnie Kasrils, Mustafa Barghouti, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, John Berger, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, among others.

The six corporations, all of which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are: Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex. Furthermore, our policy prevents the reinvestment in any company involved in the illegal occupation.

SJP is responding to a call from Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a way of bringing nonviolent pressure to bear on the state of Israel to end its violations of international law. SJP is following in the footsteps of many noted groups and institutions such as the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in the UK, the Israeli group Gush Shalom, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the American Friends Service Committee.

As well as voicing our opposition to the illegal occupation and the consistent human rights violations of the Palestinian people, we as members of an institute of higher education see it as our moral responsibility to express our solidarity with Palestinian students whose access to education is severely inhibited by the Israeli occupation.

SJP has proven that student groups can organize, rally and pressure their schools to divest from the illegal occupation. The group hopes that this decision will pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the US to take similar stands.


This was published on Electronic Intifada - Related Links

* BY TOPIC: Boycott, divestment and sanctions

To get involved in the NC & SC area contact Carolinas Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign at 704-492-5226 or see http://charlotte4palestine.ning.com

National and Religious Institution in Jerusalem to hold a protest Saturday

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News, Feb. 11, 2009

National and Religious Institutions issued a press release stating that they are planning to hold a protest against the ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza, and to demand a boycott against Israel for its ongoing violations, in addition to demanding the release of 11.000 political detainees imprisoned by Israel.

The protest would be conducted at noon Saturday, February 14, at the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem.

The protest is entitled “Lift the Blockade on Gaza Now”, “Boycott Israel Now”.

There are hundreds of Palestinian detained who were kidnapped and imprisoned by Israeli before the first Oslo agreement was sign between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993. The agreement was entitled Gaza-Jericho First.

More than 200 prisoners died in Israeli prisons due to torture and medical negligence. Hundreds of women and children and also detained by Israel.

Type the rest of your post here.

THE TUNNELS OF GAZA

An underground economy and resistance symbol
THE TUNNELS OF GAZA

By Sara Flounders Workers World, Feb. 8, 2009

Resistance takes as many forms as life itself dictates.

Life in Gaza could not be more impossible. Its tunnels are a symbol of resistance.

Eighteen months ago, outraged when the Palestinians voted for the militant leadership of Hamas in democratic elections, Israel imposed a total lockdown on the entire population of Gaza.

But the entire people were determined to continue to resist. They found a way to circumvent total starvation.

The Israeli blockade led to a new economic structure, an underground economy. The besieged Palestinians have dug more than 1,000 tunnels under the totally sealed border.

Many thousands of Palestinians are now employed in digging, smuggling or transporting, and reselling essential goods. Smuggling constitutes approximately 90 percent of economic activity in Gaza, Gazan economist Omar Shaban told The Guardian. (Oct. 22, 2008)

The tunnels demonstrate the great ingenuity and enormous determination of the entire population and its leadership.

Because millions of Palestinians have been forced into refugee status outside of historic Palestine, large extended families on both sides of the border help arrange the buying and shipping of goods or send funds so family members locked in Gaza can buy essential supplies.

The tunnels connect the Egyptian town of Rafah with the Palestinian refugee camp of the same name inside Gaza. They have become a fantastic, life-sustaining network of corridors dug through sandy soil. Tunnels are typically three-tenths of a mile long, approximately 45 to 50 feet deep. They cost from $50,000 to $90,000 and require several months of intense labor to dig.

They pass under the Philadelphi buffer zone—a border strip of land put under Israeli military control by the 1993 Oslo accords.

The Israeli siege of Gaza, followed by 23 days of systematic bombing and invasion, has created massive destruction and scarcity. Food processing plants, chicken farms, grain warehouses, U.N. food stocks, almost all the remaining infrastructure, and 230 small factories were destroyed. Now hundreds of trucks packed with essential supplies from international and humanitarian agencies sit outside the strip, refused entry to Gaza by Israeli guards. As soon as the Israeli bombing ended, work on the tunnels resumed.

Lara Marlowe reported from Rafah: “From a distance, you’d think it was a horticultural project. Banks of red earth criss-cross the Palestinian side of the no-man’s land between Gaza and Egypt. Every 20 or 30 meters, young Palestinian men work under what appear to be greenhouse canopies.

“The tunnels of Rafah–more than one thousand of them–are a major stake in the war between Hamas and Israel. Israel wants the tunnels shut; the Palestinians say they would starve without them, because of Israel’s 19-month siege of the Gaza Strip. Despite three weeks of heavy bombing, the majority of the tunnels are open.

“The area has as many holes as a Swiss cheese. ‘Sometimes the tunnels intersect,’ says a worker. ‘We try to avoid it. We go under or over other tunnels. It’s like directing train traffic.’

“The smugglers work in jeans, T-shirts and bare feet. ‘We shore up the collapsed parts with wood,’ Hamdan [a tunnel worker] explains. ‘If the Israelis bomb again, we’ll use metal next time, and concrete the time after that. As long as there’s a siege, the tunnels will keep working.’” (Irish Times, Jan. 26)

Food is towed through on plastic sleighs. Livestock are herded through larger tunnels. Flour, milk, cheese, cigarettes, cooking oil, toothpaste, small generators, computers and kerosene heaters come through the tunnels. Every day, about 300 to 400 gas canisters for cooking come through the lines. On the Egyptian side the trade sustains the ruptured economy while corrupt or sympathetic guards and officers look the other way.

Electricity and fans provide ventilation. Essential supplies of diesel fuel are pumped through the tunnels in hoses and pipes.

Rami Almeghari, editor-in-chief of the Gaza-based Palestinian Information Service and contributor to The Electronic Intifada, has described the organization that goes into digging and maintaining the tunnels. The Hamas-led government in Gaza imposed regulations and restrictions on the tunnel trade to avoid accidents and prevent smuggling of drugs and prohibited substances. “However, the besieged Hamas government cannot guarantee an end to the tunnel trade, unless the Israeli blockade comes to a halt.”

Almeghari interviewed one tunnel worker as he loaded cooking oil canisters: “Let Israel besiege us the way it wants, and we bring in what we want. At the end of the day, we will not let anyone repress us.”

Xinhua News headlined a Jan. 22 article: “In spite of Israeli offensive, Gaza tunnels are back to work.”

“We dug tunnels because we have no other alternative. Israel was imposing a very tough blockade on Gaza Strip and the tunnels were the smartest way to defeat this blockade,” Hashem Abu Jazzar, a 23-year-old worker, told Xinhua News.

“As long as Israel is still imposing the siege on Gaza Strip, I don’t think that we will stop working in the tunnels, but if all crossings are fully and permanently opened, I believe that working in tunnels will automatically stop,” said Abu Jabal, a 45-year-old owner of a tunnel.

Commercial tunnels are used only for food, fuel, medicines and basic necessities. Other totally separate tunnels are operated by resistance groups to bring in small weapons and munitions.

Israel claims it drops 100-ton bombs on the tunnels from F-16 jets to stop Palestinian rockets. But closing off supplies to an entire population or bombing life-sustaining tunnels will not prevent the firing of small rockets.

A population with skills, education, massive unemployment, lots of time and no future will be able to build rockets, mortars, pipe bombs and mines out of the tons of scrap metal and twisted ruins that Israel left behind.

The continued blockade is strictly punitive.

The Israeli military and their Pentagon backers are deeply frustrated. The bombing failed to demoralize the Palestinian people or break their will. It is also clear that the massive bombardment of the Rafah border and the targeting of hundreds of tunnels have failed to close these lifelines of basic supplies.

On Feb. 1, Israel again bombed the border, targeting the tunnels.

What is needed is a broad international campaign to demand an end to U.S.-supported Israeli collective punishment and an end to the intended starvation of an entire population.

The only possibility for peace in the region is through the recognition of the full rights of the Palestinian people to return to all their land. Their sovereignty and economic development must be guaranteed.

The immediate starvation siege must be lifted. The international movement that emerged in solidarity with Gaza must focus world attention on this international war crime.

Fri., Feb. 13 Mumia: A Case For Reasonable Doubt? film screening

EVENT CANCELED

Journalist & former Black Panther Party member Mumia Abu-Jamal was framed for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. The film documents witnesses that were intimidated by police into lying & others who had charges dropped and got out of jail in exchange for lying about Mumia as well as numerous other injustices.

Read the latest legal update on Mumia at http://charlotteaction.blogspot.com/2009/02/legal-update-on-mumia-abu-jamal.html

Listen to & read Mumia's weekly columns from Death Row at http://www.prisonradio.org/mumia.htm

Spnsored by Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) - UNCC

Info: Scott at 252-943-9037 or scotty28223@gmail.com

Tell Congress: Stop Racist Anti-Palestinian House Concurrent Resolution 29

Latest Major Action: 1/28/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

COSPONSORS (11):
Rep Berkley, Shelley [NV-1] - 1/28/2009
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] - 1/28/2009
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/28/2009
Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] - 1/28/2009
Rep Kirk, Mark Steven [IL-10] - 1/28/2009
Rep Klein, Ron [FL-22] - 2/3/2009
Rep McHenry, Patrick T. [NC-10] - 2/4/2009
Rep McHugh, John M. [NY-23] - 2/4/2009
Rep Myrick, Sue Wilkins [NC-9] - 1/28/2009
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] - 2/3/2009
Rep Tauscher, Ellen O. [CA-10] - 1/28/2009

Text Of H.Con.Res.29:

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United Nations should take immediate steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for... (Introduced in House)

HCON 29 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 29

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United Nations should take immediate steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near East to ensure that it is not providing funding, employment, or other support to terrorists.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 28, 2009

Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. KIRK, Mrs. MYRICK, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. ENGEL, and Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United Nations should take immediate steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near East to ensure that it is not providing funding, employment, or other support to terrorists.

Whereas the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established in 1949 as a temporary agency to provide relief services to Palestinian refugees and is the only United Nations agency dedicated to one specific group of refugees;

Whereas UNRWA's definition of refugees includes not only the Palestinian refugees themselves, but also their descendants, resulting in a more than 400 percent increase in the number of beneficiaries from 900,000 in 1950 to 4,500,000 today;

Whereas since 1950, the United States has contributed more than $3,400,000,000 to UNRWA and is the largest single donor to this United Nations organization;

Whereas as of September 2008, the United States has already contributed $148,000,000 to UNRWA for fiscal year 2008;

Whereas UNRWA employs approximately 24,000 staff to care for a population of 4,500,000 registered refugees in camps located in Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Palestinian Territories;

Whereas, in contrast, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the agency tasked with resolving refugee problems worldwide, employs approximately 6,300 staff to care for a population of 11,400,000 refugees worldwide;

Whereas despite the Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) military disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and the 1993 creation of a Palestinian Authority that has jurisdiction over the Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank, UNRWA remains the primary professional, medical, educational, and social service provider for Palestinians living in `refugee' camps in the Palestinian territories;

Whereas according to UNRWA Report of the Board of Auditors for the biennium ended December 31, 2005, UNRWA does not track recording, deleting, renaming, or manipulation of financial information by staff members or volunteers, and therefore has no means of detecting the alteration of financial data or other types of redirection of UNRWA funding, leaving UNRWA unable to technically comply with section 301(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which ensures that no United States tax dollars support terrorism;

Whereas UNRWA has employed staffers affiliated with terrorism, including Said Sayyam, the Hamas Minister of Interior and Civil Affairs, who was a teacher in UNRWA schools in Gaza from 1980 to 2003; Awad al-Qiq, the headmaster of an UNRWA school in the Gaza Strip who also led Islamic Jihad's engineering unit that built bombs and Qassam rockets; Nahed Rashid Ahmed Atallah, a prior senior UNRWA employee from 1990 to 1993 who was responsible for the dissemination of assistance to refugees while he was also an operative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and Nidal Abd al-Fattah Abdallah Nazzal, a Hamas activist employed as an ambulance driver by UNRWA, who confessed in 2002 to transporting weapons and explosives to terrorists in an UNRWA ambulance;

Whereas schools administered by UNRWA have reported to have produced several graduates that have gone on to careers affiliated with terrorism, including Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and Abd al-Azis Rantisi, the former Hamas chief;

Whereas schools administered by UNRWA have used classroom materials that glorify or honor terrorists or terrorism in the past, and continue to use textbooks that include biased and negative references to Jews and the State of Israel, or omit any reference of Israel's location on a map entirely;

Whereas in 2004, Peter Hansen, then-Commissioner General of UNRWA told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation TV Network, `I am sure that there are Hamas members on UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime.';

Whereas in 2006, at a Congressional briefing UNRWA Commissioner General Karen Koning AbuZayd admitted to not checking the names of those who receive financial aid from UNRWA against any terrorist watch lists, noting that it would be too difficult because `Arab last names sound so familiar';

Whereas, on March 16, 2007, the New York Times exposed a new al-Qaeda cell, Fatah al-Islam, that was organizing, training, and plotting attacks against the United States from an UNRWA-administered and run camp in Lebanon; and

Whereas United States taxpayer dollars should never be used for purposes of supporting terrorist cells or activities that support terror or promote a culture of hatred at any of its locations: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) strongly urges the Secretary of State to take all necessary measures to certify that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) operates in full compliance with section 301(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act and therefore, no American taxpayer dollars are being directed to terrorists or to further terrorist propaganda;

(2) calls on UNRWA to improve their transparency by publishing online copies of all educational materials used in UNRWA-administered schools; and

(3) urges UNRWA to improve their accountability by implementing terrorist name recognition software and other screening procedures that would help to ensure that UNRWA staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries are neither terrorists themselves, nor affiliated with known terrorist organizations.

Call your Representative at (202) 224-3121 or (866) 338-1015. To find out who your Representative is go to http://www.house.gov

Call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 or (866) 338-1015. To find out who your Senators are go to http://www.senate.gov

Contact President Obama:

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President, United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/opl/

Tell the Obama Administration: Drop the Bush political frame-up of Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner and other progressive elected leaders nationwide

Tell the Obama Administration and Congress:
End the Bush Administration's Frame Ups Designed to Politically Assassinate Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner and Other Progressive Elected Leaders!


Sign online petition at http://www.iacboston.org/chuckturnerpetition.html
For more info and to donate to Chuck's defense, go to http://www.supportchuckturner.com


Ramsey Clark with Chuck Turner in front of JFK Federal Building, Boston

U.N. Human Rights Award winner Ramsey Clark with Chuck Turner in front of JFK Federal Building in Boston Dec 17, 2008. Clark hailed Turner's over 4 decades of dedicated commitment and action for civil and human rights, demanded charges against him and other elected officials and leaders from oppressed communities around the country be dropped, and called for investigation of those who brought the politically motivated prosecutions. / Hundreds rally to support Chuck Turner in front of Boston City Hall Monday, Nov 24, 2008.
View youtube video of Ramsey Clark press conference defending Chuck Turner at: http://www.youtube.com/user/IACBoston

End the Bush Administration's Politically Motivated Frame Ups of
Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner and Other Progressive Elected Leaders

We urge you to demand that President Obama and Attorney General Holder (with copies to the Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, the New York Times, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional leaders, the Massachusetts congressional delegation, Gov. Deval Patrick, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, NAACP, and ACLU):

1. Immediately drop the fraudulent charges against Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, launch investigations of all pending indictments in order to dismiss those that are politically and/or racially motivated, and review all convictions of elected officials during the Bush administration in order to determine whether new trials need to be initiated.
2. Immediately initiate legal actions against all US Attorneys who have set up politically as well as racially motivated, bogus prosecutions, beginning with US Attorney Michael Sullivan who engineered Councilor Turner's frame up.
3. Immediately initiate legislation to end the collusion between prosecutors and media that destroys any opportunity for a fair trial by distributing governmental allegations as evidence before any arraignments, indictments, or trials have taken place.

Please tell President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Congressional leaders, U.N. Secretary General Ban and the media that immediate action is needed to end not only the Bush administration abuses of justice but also the historical pattern of the Justice Department being used to perpetrate racially and politically motivated indictments of political officials, particularly African-Americans.

YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW!
Sign online petition at http://www.iacboston.org/chuckturnerpetition.html

Letter from Chuck Turner to progressive activists everywhere
Chuck Turner is a progressive Black Activist (45 year history) and Boston City Councilor (9 years) who has been a consistent tireless fighter against war and racism and every form of injustice for over four decades. The letter below is addressed by Chuck Turner to those who love justice everywhere:

At 6:30 a.m. on November 21 as I worked at my office at Boston City Hall, I was arrested by a squad of 10 FBI agents and Boston Police and dirven handcuffed to Worcester Mass, 45 miles away, for my court hearing.

I was advised by my lawyers that the best legal strategy would be to keep quiet and let them construct the legal strategy that they were convinced would find me innocent. They emphasized that the one charge of extorting $1000 in return for helping to get a liquor license and one charge of conspiracy because of my willingness to hold a hearing on the issue of the lack of liquor licenses for Black restaurants were so weak that when the trial took place in a year or so, I would be found not guilty.

However, keeping quiet is not my style, particularly when the Boston City Council President began action the day I was arrested to remove me from the Council and the media began to try to destroy my reputation by sending around the world pictures of my alleged guilt given to them by U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. My campaign in what I call the Court of Public Opinion has been so successful that the U.S. on January 5th asked the Judge to issue a gag order on me.

I am asking for you to help my struggle for justice as well as the struggle of all the other elected officials unfairly targeted by the Bush administration as it continued the historical practice of indicting Black and progressive elected officials who were only guilty of Speaking Truth to Power. I believe that as the Obama administration comes into power, it is essential for people in this country and around the world to demand justice by the Justice Department in all these cases. Please help me continue my forty-five year pursuit of Justice for All by signing the online petition at http://www.iacboston.org/chuckturnerpetition.html. Please also consider contributing to my defense. You can do so at http://www.supportchuckturner.com.

For more information about me, my campaign for justice, and my work as a Boston City Councilor please go to:
http://www.supportchuckturner.com.

Sincerely,
Chuck Turner

International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
55 West 17th St #5C
New York, NY 10011
617-522-6626
www.iacboston.org
www.iacenter.org
iacboston@iacboton.org

March 5 - 12: Join Humanitarian Delegation to Gaza for International Women's Day

Pay Tribute to the Women of Gaza

Itinerary:
Meet up in Cairo, Egypt on March 5
Travel to Gaza on March 6
Meetings/program in Gaza March 7-10

Return to Cairo March 11
International delegates return home March 12

Cost: $600 from Cairo, includes transportation, lodging, translation, program, some meals and contribution to local groups. Scholarships available.

Program: Meetings with UN and government officials, local women (including victims of Israeli violence), humanitarian/development agencies, journalists, health workers and political analysts. Visit areas devastated by Israeli attacks.

Purpose of the trip: Provide humanitarian and emotional support to women and women's organizations in Gaza; Exert pressure on US, Egyptian and Israeli governments to lift the blockade and promote peace/human rights in the region.

Organizers: The trip is organized by CODEPINK: Women for Peace and will be led by CODEPINK cofounders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans. Sponsoring groups include National Congress of Black Women, Global Exchange, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, American Muslim Voice and Women's Intercultural Network.

For more information: contact gaza.codepink[at]gmail.com or call Nancy Mancias at 415-342-6409. http://codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=4675

Background: Palestinian women in Gaza have been devastated. We have seen the agonizing pictures of wailing women digging through the rubble of their destroyed homes to look for their buried children. We heard the stories of the dead mothers whose emaciated children were found hanging onto their bodies for days until reached by aid workers.

The Israeli attack that began on December 27 left over 1,000 dead, including 412 children and 110 women, and over 5,000 injured (1855 children and 795 women), according to the United Nations Children's Fund. But that but that attack came after 18 months of a crippling blockade that had left the Palestinian population hungry, sick, weak, and already suffering from what UN officials called a catastrophic situation.

Women now have to care for the physical and emotional wounds in their families and communities, while dealing with their own broken hearts. They have to attend to the physical needs of their families in the face of shortages of water, electricity, food, medicine, heat, fuel, and shelter. Some neighborhoods have been almost totally destroyed, with over 100,000 people displaced from their homes.

According to the United Nations, "Children are hungry, cold, without electricity and running water, and above all, they're terrified. Women are at greater risk of maternal death and or injury as maternity wards are being used as surgical facilities to treat the wounded."

There are huge medical needs. Twenty-one medical facilities were damaged during the fighting, and there are severe shortages of emergency supplies, including sterilization equipment, needles, anesthetics, catheters, oxygen and essential medications.

The UN says that hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid are needed to help Gaza's 1.4 million people and billions of dollars will be required to rebuild its shattered buildings and infrastructure.

Groups in Gaza that we will be supporting include:
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) is a grassroots, community-based Palestinian health organization. PMRS was founded in 1979 by a group of Palestinian doctors and health professionals seeking to supplement the decayed and inadequate health infrastructure caused by years of Israeli military occupation. It is non-profit, voluntary, and one of the largest health NGOs in Palestine. PMRS is national health programs emphasize prevention, education, community participation, and the empowerment of people. In 2008, an Israeli airstrike destroyed its head office in Gaza, including its main pharmacy, an ambulance and a loan center for handicapped people. http://www.pmrs.ps/last/index.php

The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) is a Palestinian non-governmental, non-profit organization established in 1990 to provide comprehensive community mental health services - therapy, training and research - to the population of the Gaza Strip. Since that time, the Gaza Strip - one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with two thirds of the population being refugees and 50% being younger than 16 years - has witnessed extreme forms of violence and suffering, due to Israeli occupation and military operations. This made the extent of mental health problems in the Gaza reach unprecedented levels. http://www.gcmhp.net/

The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) was founded in 1983 by a group of Palestinian agronomists responding voluntarily to the deterioration in agricultural extension programs in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank as a result of the Israeli occupation by offering expert advice to marginalized, poor farmers in the area. This voluntary effort gained momentum and recognition over a short period of time, and, transformed into a non governmental organization dedicated to promoting sustainable development in rural areas in Palestine. Unfortunately, when the Israeli Defense Forces began bombing Gaza on December 27, 2009, PARC's offices were severely damaged, along with the rooftop and backyard gardens at the core of their urban farm program. http://www.parc.ps/about/about.html

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights The Centre is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in Gaza City. The Centre was established in 1995 by a group of Palestinian lawyers and human rights activists. It documents rights violations by the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Its lawyers defend victims of human rights abuses, from cases of illegal detention to torture. http://www.pchrgaza.org/

New Bill In Congress To Lift Travel Restrictions between U.S. & Cuba: Call Your Rep!

A new session of Congress is underway ­ and this is the first in a new series of legislative updates from IFCO/Pastors for Peace.

We are very glad to let you know about a new bill that has just been introduced in the House of Representatives: "HR874, to allow travel between the United States and Cuba."

HR874 would remove all restrictions on travel between the US and Cuba ­ not only for Cuban-Americans (which is what the new White House and Secretary of State have talked about so far), but for all "US citizens or legal residents." IFCO/Pastors for Peace strongly supports this initiative, as one of many steps that need to be taken to undo the unjust, immoral, and senseless US blockade.

The bill was introduced by Reps Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and has seven more original co-sponsors. Our goal is to make that list of co-sponsors so long that the bill is guaranteed to win.

PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE and ask him/her to give support and co-sponsorship to HR874.

Call the Capitol switchboard: 202/225-3121, and ask for your Congressional representative by name. Ask to speak with the staff person who deals with foreign affairs and/or US/Cuba relations. Tell them you're a constituent and you are asking your representative to co-sponsor and support "HR874, the Delahunt/Flake bill to allow travel between the US and Cuba." (It's ok to leave a voicemail message if you don't get through.) Please let us know what you learn from the conversation, if you get any feedback.

A parallel bill is expected to be introduced soon in the Senate; we will let you know when it's time to reach out to your senators for their support ­ and also about other new initiatives as we hear about them.

This is going to be a very interesting year in Congress. With the US in economic crisis, US/Cuba relations may not be a high priority on Capitol Hill. But we know you agree with us ­ and with the majority of the people of the US ­ that it's long past time to lift US government sanctions against Cuba. Certainly it's TIME FOR CHANGE ­ and we're the ones who will make it happen!

IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE
418 West 145th Street, New York NY 10031
tel: 212.926.5757 - fax 212.926.5842 - e-mail ifco@igc.org
http://www.ifconews.org

Legal Update on Mumia Abu-Jamal

Date: February 8, 2009
From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel
Subject: Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row - U.S. Supreme Court

New case filing in Supreme Court On February 4, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court docketed and accepted for filing the Petition for Writ of Certiorari, with supporting Appendix, that I had submitted December 19, 2008 on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal. (AbuJamal v. Beard, U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 08-8483.) [Go to www.millions4mumia.org to read the pdf of the petition.] The central issue in this case is racism in jury selection. The prosecution systematically removed people from sitting on the trial jury purely because of the color of their skin, that is, being black. The bigotry that killed Martin Luther King, Jr., so many years ago, has been rampant in the case of my client and is a central part of the state's quest to murder him in the name of the law.

Prosecution's separate Supreme Court petition In an entirely separate case (Beard v. Abu-Jamal, Sup. Ct. No. 08-652), the prosecution is seeking to overturn the victory we achieved last year in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. ( Abu-Jamal v. Horn, 520 F.3d 272 (3rd Cir. 2008).) In that ruling the court ordered a new jury trial on the question of the death penalty. Our Brief In Opposition will be filed in the Supreme Court on February 13, 2009.

Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense The legal defense for Mumia needs help. The costs for our litigation in two case before the Supreme Court are substantial. To help, please make your checks payable to the “National Lawyers Guild Foundation” (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left). The donations are tax deductible, and should be mailed to:

Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
your
New York, NY 10159-2012

Conclusion Mumia remains on Pennsylvania's death row. We are in an epic struggle in which his life hangs in the balance. What occurs now in the Supreme Court will determine whether Mumia will have a new jury trial, or die at the hands of the executioner.

As I have previously pointed out, Mumia is in greater danger than at any time since his 1981 arrest. Your support and activism is needed. This great journalist and author does not belong on death row or in prison. We must not rest until he is free.

Yours very truly,

Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
[E-mail: RobertRBryan@aol.com]

March 19: End The Occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, & Palestine

On the 6th 'Anniversary' of the War on Iraq:

End The Occupations Of Iraq, Afghanistan, & Palestine!
Support Palestinian Right To Return!
Stop Spreading Lies & Misinformation in the Media!

Thurs., March 19, 2009
at 6:30pm
Queens University
1900 Selwyn Ave, Charlotte, NC

New York Times columnist & author Thomas Friedman will be speaking at Queens University in the Dana Auditorium. We will be there to tell the truth and stand up for peace & justice. This well published apologist for war crimes has the audacity to justify the crimes recently (& still being) committed against Palestinian Gaza and Israel's killing of civilian in Lebanon in 2006. He was also a cheerleader for the criminal invasion & occupation of Iraq.

See his latest NYT OP-ED "Israel’s Goals in Gaza?" at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/opinion/14friedman.html?_r=2&ref=opinion.

Info: Action Center For Justice
704.492.5226 or charlotteaction@gmail.com

Sponsored by Action Center For Justice & Students For A Democratic Society - UNCC.

Proposed N.C. cuts: From road repair to libraries

charlotteobserver.com, Feb. 3, 2009

N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue ordered state agencies to propose budget cuts in anticipation of a budget shortfall that could reach $2 billion – or nearly 10percent of the state's $21.5 billion operating budget. Here are some examples of programs, services and line items that agencies suggest cutting. The dollar figures represent the amount agencies believe they can trim. Perdue was unhappy with the proposals and has ordered deeper cuts.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources


Reduce beaver management funds: $134,000

End aid to counties and cities for erosion control: $100,000

End aid to counties for mosquito control: $37,000

Fewer meetings of Marine Fisheries Commission: $5,500

No replacement of zoo trams: $208,000

Crime Control and Public Safety

Cuts to Guest Worker Program (designed to educate non-English-speaking population of North Carolina about their obligation to pay state taxes): $450,000

Close two regional offices of N.C. Council for Women & Domestic Violence Commission: $74,600

Reduce grants to rape crisis shelters: $211,000

Department of Correction


Reduce drug testing frequency among inmates: $130,000

Close McCain Correctional Hospital in Raeford: $15.5million

Eliminate program to train inmates in forestry work: $263,470

Close Gates Correctional Center near Gatesville, the Haywood Correctional Center in Waynesville and the Union Correctional Center in Monroe: $3.4 million

Close the Umstead Correctional Center in Butner and the Cleveland Correctional Center in Shelby: $4.6 million

Eliminate the Wilmington Female Residential facility: $514,854

Eliminate three chaplain positions: $155,264

Department of Transportation

Reduce funding for road repair and maintenance by 8percent: $54 million

Cut back on ferry operations: $2.2 million

Reduce funds for airports and railroads: $2.7 million

Department of Commerce


Cut funds for in-state travel, lodging, meals: $131,000

Reduce funds for out-of-state and international travel, lodging and meals: $137,000

Reduce gasoline purchases (for travel): $141,000

Cut advertising budget: $218,500

Department of Health and Human Services

Cut total of 50 beds from Broughton and Cherry psychiatric hospitals: $6 million

Close Wright and Whitaker schools for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents: $5.8 million

Reduce aid and public assistance for high risk maternity clinics: $250,000

Reduce Smart Start funding: $14.7 million

Eliminate senior center outreach and development program: $100,000

Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention


End state sponsorship for after-school programs: $5.9million

End grant to Wake County Boys and Girls Club: $400,000

Department of Cultural Resources

Reduce funding to local libraries: $16.5 million

Cut local arts funding: $6.5million

March 21: March On The Pentagon - Occupation Is A Crime!

Why We're Marching on the Pentagon
Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine... Occupation is A Crime


We are organizing a Mass March on the Pentagon on Saturday, March 21, and it is important that you and your family, friends, co-workers and fellow students put on your marching shoes that day. People are coming from all over the country. Simultaneous demonstrations are taking place in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Why are we still marching even after the war criminal George W. Bush has left office? Because the people must speak out for what is right. More than 1 million Iraqis have died and tens of thousands of U.S. troops have been wounded or killed.

The Iraq and Afghanistan war will drag on for years unless we act now. The cost in lives and resources is criminal regardless of whether the Democrats or Republicans are in charge of the government.

We must also act to end U.S. support for Israel’s ongoing war against the Palestinian people. The Bush Administration gave the green light and provided the weapons and the money for Israel’s recent war against the Palestinian people in Gaza. More than 5,000 Palestinians were killed or wounded; the majority of casualties were civilians, including hundreds of children, in this high-tech massacre. “We the People” pay the bill as the U.S. provides $2.5 billion a year for Israel’s massive military machine.

Why We Say: Bring All the Troops Home Now Not Later!

If Bush’s war and occupation of Iraq was an illegal action of aggression—and it was—how can the new government say that it can only gradually end the war over a number of years? The Iraqis don’t want foreign military forces running their country. No one would!

The Pentagon has employed 200,000 foreign contractors (mercenaries) and 150,000 U.S. troops to maintain the occupation of Iraq. They have no right to be there. A few thousand are being brought out of Iraq only to be redeployed to occupy Afghanistan, and the fools in the media proclaim “the war is winding down.” That is not true.

President Obama decided to keep the Pentagon just as it was under Bush. He even selected Bush appointee Robert Gates to keep his position as chief of the Pentagon. Gates announced that the new administration would double the number of troops sent to Afghanistan. That is certainly not the “change” most people thought was coming following the end of Bush’s tenure.

These are wars for domination in the Middle East and Central Asia.

The people of the United States want change. We are sick and tired of wars of aggression waged abroad under false slogans of “national security.” These are wars that reap massive profits for corporate weapons-makers with the promise of winning control over the vast oil and natural gas reserves in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Working people may have another definition for “national security.” What really makes the people “insecure?” Ask the 2.3 million families who are losing their homes because they are being foreclosed when they can’t pay their steep debts to the banks. Ironically, when these same parasitic bankers couldn’t pay their debts, the federal government rushed in with a $2.5 trillion bailout using our tax dollars.

Or ask working-class students who are being laid off from their jobs just as tuition costs soar out of reach. What defines “security” for millions of young people whose future is at stake? Do they want tax dollars spent to kill poor people abroad or to finance education?

We will march on Saturday, March 21, the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq invasion, to demand that taxpayer dollars be used to meet people’s needs—here and everywhere. This year’s real Pentagon war budget will top $1 trillion.

This amount could create 10 million jobs, provide healthcare and education for all, rebuild New Orleans, and repair much of the damage done in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. We need money for jobs, housing, health care and education, not for wars of aggression.

The occupation of Iraq alone costs $12 billion each month. This amounts to $400 million each day, $16.7 million per hour and $278,000 per minute.

The Pentagon war machine does not act in our interests. Its wars benefit the biggest corporations and banks that seek to control the markets and riches of the Middle East. The people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine are not our enemies. They want to live free from colonial-type domination. Only a people’s movement demanding an end to U.S. wars and militarism can win justice for people here and abroad.

Go to PentagonMarch.org for details about transportation, meetings and to get involved. Buses will be traveling to Washington, D.C. from across the country.

For info on transportation & to help organize in North & South Carolina contact Action Center For Justice at 704-492-5226, charlotteaction [at] gmail.com, or see www.charlotteaction.blogspot.com.

Humanitarian aid trickles into Gaza - 26 Jan 09