Call for National Action for Peace in Afghanistan

Today, President Barack Obama announced his plans to send another 21,000 troops to Afghanistan: he is girding the nation for a long and costly military occupation there. While he also made some good statements on increasing diplomacy and economic aid to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the emphasis is clearly on military operations. Predictably, the Pakistan and Afghan factions of the Taliban are already uniting to oppose our escalation of troops. As the spring fighting season approaches, only one thing is certain -- more death, destruction, and misery in a desperately poor country that has had little respite from war for decades.

Here in the U.S., Obama's escalation in Afghanistan and the continuing occupation of Iraq threaten our nation's urgent economic and domestic agenda. Now is the time for more diplomacy, not more war!

United For Peace and Justice calls for immediate action for peace in Afghanistan. Here are three things you can do:

1) Call the White House today ? 202-456-1414

Make sure President Obama knows that you disagree with his plans to send more troops to Afghanistan. Call the White House comment line at 202-456-1414 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM ET.

2) March with UFPJ on April 4!
www.unitedforpeace.org/april4
Building on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are marching on the anniversary of his historic speech against the war in Vietnam and the anniversary of his assassination. On Saturday, April 4, we are taking our message to Wall Street in NYC: addressing this country's economic crisis must include drastic cuts in military spending and that means ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last thing our country needs is a new quagmire in Afghanistan ? it is time to bring the troops home, not send more...

More than 10,000 march on Pentagon

Scenes from the "March on the Pentagon" Rally

More videos on the flip...

Peace Grannies Arrested in Times Square Wednesday, March 18th by Joan Wile

Relax, everyone! The New York City police are really on the job these days. With rapists, murderers, bank robbers and dope peddlers, not to mention corporate thieves, rampant throughout the City, they made a significant dent in the crime statistics yesterday, March 18, when they arrested seven grandmothers aged 67 to 90 in Times Square.

The grannies, all members of the Granny Peace Brigade, were sent to jail while protesting at the Times Square recruiting station. Their arrest occurred during what is believed to be the first antiwar protest of the Obama Administration, in an attempt to urge the President to reconsider his decision to retain 50,000 troops in Iraq after the official withdrawal scheduled to be completed in the next 18 months and his order for 17,000 more troops sent to Afghanistan. The women feel strongly that these measures will only result in increased death and destruction for Americans, Iraqis and Afghanis and further solidify anti-American feeling throughout the world.

Said 94-year-old Brigadier Marie Runyon, "Peace can only be achieved through diplomacy and humanitarian aid." The Granny Peace Brigade women are mostly strong supporters of Barack Obama but were responding to his request that his constituency pressure him to do the right thing when they feel he is on the wrong path...

Lake Ella War Commemoration March 19th

A group of Tallahassee citizens advocating an end to U.S. involvement in Iraq, are inviting the community to come to Lake Ella at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, 2009, to commemorate the start of the nation’s 7th year in Iraq.

[This is not to mourn the start of our nation’s 7th year of laying waste to Iraq and its people. Tom]

We ask that each person come to the lake with a candle or flashlight. At 8:00 p.m. the candles and flashlights will be illuminated; fifteen minutes later “Taps” will be played.

Meredith McMackin, who lost her son, Marine Cpl. Julian M. Woodall in Iraq in May 2007, hopes that the community will participate in these events in recognition of the on-going war and its effects.

FMI
Meredith McMackin at mlmcmackin(at)aim.com or 544-0506.

Operation Iraq Liberation 6th Anniversary Candle Light Vigil - March 20, 2009
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

American Friends Service Committee, Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, National Organization for Women, Military Families Speak Out, Pax Christi, Tallahassee Network for Justice and Peace, Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War members and friends will join again to mourn the tortured, the hundreds of thousands of war dead, the destruction of Iraq society and humankind's historical legacy.
Candles will be provided.
Donations accepted.

East of the Florida's Old Capitol's steps.
Apalachee Parkway and South Monroe
Tallahassee, FL
Park behind the flag off Calhoun. :
850-322-1509

“Cut and Glue Party” for 2nd annual ”Peace in the Park" March 22nd

“Cut and Glue Party” to make flags to honor those US soldiers, sailors, marines and airman who have died or were wounded in the Iraq War. We will be displaying them at Railroad Square for the “Peace in the Park” event which is April 19th.in Railroad Square Art Park. We are going to install 4,300 purple flags-each flag representing one American life lost in Iraq or Afghanistan as well as 10 wounded Americans [Each flag could also represent 50 murdered Iraqis and 100 Iraqi children that suffer from ACUTE MALNUTRITION over and above the rate under Saddam because of our destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure since 2003], but they don’t] .

“Cut and Glue” Party will be at Anne Allen’s home
Sunday, March 22nd, 2:00 PM
FMI
Jeannie Lancaster at lancaster996(at)gmail.com

170 Organizations Request Special Prosecutor for Bush-Cheney

A movement is building around a simple statement at http://prosecutebushcheney.org

Organizations and individuals are signing on, and 170 organizations have already taken the lead.

Next week United for Peace and Justice will ask its 1,400 member groups to consider signing on.

Most of the 170 national and local groups signed onto this movement before the release of seven Justice Department memos from 2001-2002 in which top officials claimed the right to disregard the Fourth Amendment, Habeas Corpus, and Posse Comitatus:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/40420

Most of these groups signed on before learning that the CIA had destroyed 92, not 2, "interrogation" tapes:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/40360

Most of these groups signed on before the release of Emails in which we discover that British intelligence thought the Iraq weapons claims were laughably dishonest: http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/40684

Most signed on prior to the United Nations declaring rendition illegal:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/40627

Would you or your organization like to be cutting edge?
You can sign on at http://prosecutebushcheney.org

JOIN FARMWORKERS AS THEY ASK GOV. CHARLIE CRIST TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST SLAVERY

Immokalee Workers to Stage Theater Re-enacting Slavery Case on Steps of Old Capitol, Deliver Petitions to Governor Crist

WHO: Farmworker members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers; religious, student, human rights, and community leaders from across the country.

WHAT: Members of the CIW will travel to Tallahassee this March 9th to stage a creative protest designed to bring the reality of 
human rights violations in Florida's fields to the governor's doorstep. 
The CIW and allies will re-enact the facts of a recently prosecuted brutal slavery operation in "popular theater"
 presentation "so Governor Crist can no longer turn his back on the crimes against human rights in this state's fields." The farmworker delegation will also deliver petition signatures gathered from the community of Immokalee and across the country to the governor's office calling on Governor Crist to take a stand against slavery and to meet with the CIW.

WHEN: Monday, March 9 at Noon

WHERE: Steps of the Old Capitol, 400 S. Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL.

For more information: www.ciw-online.org

You can make a difference in building the March 21st March on the Pentagon without leaving your computer!::::::::

Help Spread the Word Online about the March 21st March on the Pentagon

You can make a difference in building the March 21st March on the Pentagon without leaving your computer!

We are asking everyone to spread the word about the new website http://www.PentagonMarch.org by posting a simple message about the demonstration with a link to the website all over the internet.

You can post the message and link on your own website or blog, or on your Facebook or Myspace page. You can also post the message on any blog where you think people would be interested, in online chat rooms and discussion groups, on message boards and listserves, and on the Facebook and Myspace profiles of your friends.

Basically, anywhere you can post a message and link on the internet, you should post about the March 21st March on the Pentagon and the new website http://www.PentagonMarch.org...

ProsecuteBushCheney.org
WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Federal:
Add your organization or individual name to joint statement requesting a Special Prosecutor. Ask organizations you're in touch with to sign on. The demand for prosecution has been supported by many members of Congress.


Sign a petition asking Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in war crimes. Sign now.


Collect signatures in the real world by printing out this PDF. Please enter the data you collect on the petition online and/or mail the completed (or partially completed) forms to JDS, 4407 Garrison Street NW, Washington DC 20016.


Phone and Email and fax the Office of the Attorney General at 202-514-2001 AskDOJ@usdoj.gov fax:202-307-6777 to request a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in war crimes.


In June 2008, 56 Democratic Congress members, led by Congressman John Conyers, wrote to Attorney General Mukasey asking for a Special Prosecutor. Conyers and Congressman Jerrold Nadler wrote to Mukasey again in December 2008. Please ask them to re-send these letters to the new Attorney General, Eric Holder. Conyers 202-225-5126, Nadler 202-225-5635. Nadler says he's drafting a new letter.


Congressman John Conyers has proposed extending statutes of limitations on Bush-Cheney crimes. Help make this happen.


Contact the State Department's Office of War Crimes Issues and urge them to ask Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in war crimes.


Here are tips and info. on contacting Congress.


State and Local:
Bush and others can be indicted at the state or district level for murder. Please take these steps. They have also violated state laws against warrantless spying and various other crimes. Persuade or elect a decent prosecutor!

h/t to CLG for the following compilation of the Russia/Georgian war -

Cheney issues warning to Russia 11 Aug 2008 U.S. Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney said Russia faces serious consequences with the United States and its allies if it continues attacks against Georgia. A Cheney spokeswoman said the vice president told Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that Russia's actions "must not go unanswered," CNN reported Monday.

'Oil, Israel and Iran' Among Factors that Led to Georgia War 10 Aug 2008 Analysis of the war in Georgia points to a fight over a major oil route as the main reason for hostilities, but also to an Israeli connection. Channel 2's expert on the Muslim world, Ehud Ya'ari, told viewers of the central evening newscast that Russia and neighboring countries were vying for control of a strategic oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. Israel is expecting to receive oil and gas through the pipeline. By using the ethnic Russian population in South Ossetia to destabilize Georgia, Russia was making a play for the pipeline, he said. The Georgian move against South Ossetia was motivated by political considerations having to do with Israel and Iran, according to Nfc. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili decided to assert control over the breakaway region in order to force Israel to reconsider its decision to cut back its support for Georgia's military.

Israel Has $1 Billion Invested in Georgia 10 Aug 2008 The Israeli-Georgia connection is estimated to be worth $1 billion, according to a former Georgian ambassador to Israel. The Jewish state and private investors have provided military assistance and advisors to Georgia, where pipelines pump oil destined for Israel. A new pipeline is being built to bypass Russian territory. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Israeli companies in Georgia have begun evacuating their staff and that Israeli tourists are leaving for home.

Russian troops close in on Georgian capital as full-scale war looms 11 Aug 2008 Russia's punitive campaign in the Caucasus threatened to spiral into an all-out war against the independent state of Georgia tonight, with Russian troops seizing control of several strategic towns a couple of hours from the capital, Tbilisi, and aircraft pounding Georgian infrastructure. Vastly outnumbered by the Kremlin's ground forces and airpower, the Georgian government announced it was pulling back its troops to defend the capital Tbilisi against a feared Russian onslaught....

More below the fold....

The clear differences between Barack Obama and Cynthia McKinney!
Posted by: "Anita Stewart"
Date: Tue Aug 5, 2008 10:51 am ((PDT))

Cynthia supports IMPEACHMENT, Obama does not!

Cynthia will end the war and Obama will not!

Cynthia wants to end the War on Drugs, Obama will not.

Cynthia does not pander to the Christian right, Obama does.

Cynthia is not a supporter of faith based initiatives, Obama is.

Cynthia is not aligned with the big lobbies such as AIPAC, Obama is!

Cynthia supports the environment, Obama does not.

Cynthia does not support domestic spying on American citizens, Obama does!

Cynthia is open to foreign policy issues, Obama has employed the same old cronies.

Cynthia supports the rebuilding of New Orleans and bring the original residents back home, Obama has been silent on this issue.

Cynthia will support single payer, not for profit health care and Obama will not.....

Obama, interrupted
Posted: Friday, August 01, 2008 11:21 AM by Mark Murray

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli and NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- About seven minutes into his remarks here, Obama was interrupted by a handful of African-American demonstrators, who stood up in the last row of a section of bleachers behind him and held up a sign that said: "What about the black community, Obama." It had a link to a Web sitewhich calls itself the "Online Voice of the International African Revolution."

As in 4000 too many dead US soldiers during the Iraq invasion and occupation. Local activists and concerned citizens responded to the American Friends Service Committee's call to action by assembling in front of Florida's old Capitol in Tallahassee to commemorate 4000+ dead US soldiers.

More pics on the flip...

"For the past six years, our rights have been on the chopping block. If 2007 was the year we didn’t get our freedom back, 2008 will be the year we demand it. Our holiday wish list is simple: We want our Constitution back. It doesn’t even need a ribbon. This New Year, we resolve to hold our leaders accountable. We hope they will resolve to follow the law."

2007: The Year We Didn’t Get Our Freedoms Back

Top 10 ways our government failed us:

Dennis Kucinich is about half way through the video. Video from www.mobilebroadcastnews.com. There is also video om the website showing some "suits" trying not allow any filming.