July 1, 2010

Ask BP Exec Bob Dudley Your Questions for a Live Interview Thursday

On July 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET, senior correspondent Ray Suarez will moderate a live Q&A session between BP's Bob Dudley, the executive now in charge of the company's oil leak response, and you.

 

New York's One-Of-A-Kind July 4th Celebration To Be Held In Strawberry Fields

Public Reading of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and Yoko Ono Statement

There will always be Independence Day parades, picnics, and fireworks, but there is only one Reading of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to be held in Strawberry Fields, Central Park, this coming July 4, starting at noon. For the fourth year in a row, famed civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, and his friends will read portions of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence aloud, interspersed with comments from Siegel and other Constitutional authorities on the status of certain amendments today. THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO ATTEND!!

The conference will be held July 23-25, 2010 in Albany, New York. Among those who will be attending:

€œI will be attending the National Peace Conference because our duty to resist complicity in mass murder doesn't change with the season or the political party of the president. This war is illegal, immoral, economically catastrophic, and hopeless on its own terms. It is endangering and impoverishing us all. In the face of endless revelations that, just as we would, the people of Afghanistan hate being occupied, war proponents have resorted to advertising Afghanistan's mineral wealth. But seizing that wealth would be, like the rest of this operation, illegal and counterproductive. And unless bin Laden is hiding underneath the Lithium, this just takes us further from the equally illegal and counterproductive original casus belli of revenge. A smart and strategic fraction of the majority of Americans who oppose this madness can end it if we take heart, stay organized, and seize opportunities -- of which there are now many. Albany will be remembered as the beginning of the end of a crime against humanity. Who wouldn't want to be able to say they were there?€

David Swanson, WarIsACrime.org

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

"I will be attending the National Peace Conference because the future of humanity requires a strong and determined domestic opposition to U.S. imperial wars. The Obama regime, like its predecessors, intends to take not one step backward in its drive to contain or kill all opposition to American global hegemony. The U.S. maintains close to 800 military bases in nearly 60 foreign countries, and will not withdraw from a single one of them unless forced to by the American people, or by military and political defeat. President Obama has taken up the imperial baton from where George Bush dropped it when the Iraqi resistance halted the U.S. Middle East offensive of 2003. Obama has widened the theaters of war in Asia and increased American military penetration of Africa. African Americans must reclaim our place in the front ranks of peace, especially now that the face of U.S. aggression is Black."

Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report

The second round of hearings will run from 29 June to 30 July 2010

Details announced of Iraq Inquiry meetings in the United States

The Iraq Inquiry has released the names of US officials and military officers it met during talks last week.

Members of the Iraq Inquiry Committee held a series of meetings in Washington DC and Boston from Monday 17 May to Friday 21 May with people from the current and former US administrations. The private discussions took place to allow the Committee to receive a wider international perspective on the UK’s involvement in Iraq over the period being examined by the Inquiry. The Committee also met the current French and Australian Ambassadors in Washington.

The Chilcot Inquiry restarts today, The second round of hearings will run from 29 June to 30 July 2010. Live streamed testimony once again when they do. No one knows if they'll be releasing all or part of the transcripts etc. as to their visit here and talking to some of the previous administrations insiders, all lower level. Apparently they're still talking to the Americans most close to the needs of the British Inquiry into Iraq.

Petraeus gives evidence to UK's Iraq war inquiry

29 June 2010 The head of Britain's inquiry into the Iraq war says his panel has held a private meeting with U.S. General David Petraeus.

by Linda Milazzo

Photo by Venice Paparazzi

There are some things we humans have just one of. We have one heart, one liver, one tongue, one nose... Of course, there are probable anomalies to even these similarities. I'm sure in the annals of medicine there are cases of individuals with multiples of even these, although physiologically, we humans need just one.

by Linda Milazzo

Sometimes you just know when something's not right. You see it, or hear it, and you know instinctively there's something missing. You sense a faint beat where there should be a strong heart. You see a short phrase where there should be a full story. That happened to me just over a year ago in the early afternoon of April 24, 2009, when I saw the Los Angeles screening of THE SOLOIST, helmed by British director Joe Wright. The film just wasn't right.

We're bicycling from San Francisco to Washington, DC between 24-July and 22-Sept, 2010, without motorized support. Cynthia McKinney, six term Member of Congress and 2008 Green Party nominee for President, is riding. The ride will demonstrate the bicycle as a transformational tool to solve the problems of Climate Change, Oil Wars, the Health Crisis, and the Economic Crunch. Along the way, riders will facilitate community discussions around the question "How can we support each other to live true to our best values?"

We're now learning more people plan to converge with us in Washington, DC, for World Car-Free Day. Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground will be riding up with a group from New Orleans and Atlanta. Others will ride from Seattle/Portland, Boston/New York, and Toronto/Detroit/Boston. Lots of folks will ride in from Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware or bring their bike by mass transit to meet at the Capitol 10:00 AM on Wed-22-Sept,2010.

Our route, schedule, and discussion group are open to anybody with a free Google account. Please join us. If you would like to bicycle all or part of the route, plan a convergence ride, or host riders passing through your community, please e-mail bike4peace@googlegroups.com. Please forward this and re-post to others who might be interested.

Shadow play

WHEN Robert Harris's cracking political thriller The Ghost was published in 2007, nobody doubted that the author's former friend, Tony Blair, was the model for Adam Lang: a former British prime minister who embarked on an illegal war in the Middle East and who faces extradition to The Hague, if he leaves the US, for his complicity in the capture and torture of alleged terrorists. The book wasn't a roman-a-clef exactly but pretty damned close to one.

Three tumultuous years later comes a gripping new film of the novel that, Harris says, seems "more like a documentary than a fantasy".

From Michael Heaney

See attached Excel File.

Or chart posted online here.

MAY 29 MARCH AGAINST HATE IN ARIZONA

On Saturday May 29th, people will converge on Phoenix, Ariz., from around the United States, to march against SB1070. Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) is joining with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Puente Arizona in pressuring the Arizona legislature to repeal, and the U.S. President to nullify, this new Arizona law, which mandates racial and ethnic profiling.

Mimi Kennedy, National Chair of Progressive Democrats of America, will be speaking at Saturday's event, along with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Co-founder of United Farm Workers Dolores Huerta, International Executive Vice President of SEIU Eliseo Medina, Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, and Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona.

A rally with live music and speeches will begin at 8 a.m., May 29, at Indian Steele Park (Corner of 3rd Street and Indian School Rd), Phoenix, AZ.

A 5-mile march will depart at 10:30 a.m. and arrive at the state capitol (1700 West Washington, Phoenix, AZ) at 1:30 p.m. for a second rally with live music and speeches.

This week, PDA posted online an interview of Congressman Grijalva by PDA National Director Tim Carpenter in which Grijalva said he supports targeted economic sanctions aimed at conventions in his own state. Included in the same podcast is an interview of Dan O'Neal, PDA Arizona Coordinator, who discusses plans for the May 29th march against what he describes as "apartheid Arizona." While O'Neal supports a boycott of Arizona, he urges everyone who can to come to Arizona on the 29th to join in the protest.

The full audio of this podcast is available online here.

I'll be leading the discussion following the play on June 2nd.  Hope to see you there. --David Swanson

Get tickets!

Sizzlin' Summer Protest - Peace of the Action

START SUMMER OFF WITH A BANG! Rethink Tyranny

4th of July: Peace of the Action will be meeting in Lafayette Park (North Side of White House) at 1pm to pass out Peace Literature to the people who flock to DC for the Nation's Birthday.

THE WARS DRONE ON AND ON: Monday, July 5th to Friday, July 9th. We will meet in Lafayette Park everyday at 9:30am to begin our days' protests.

For this week, Peace of the Action will be targeting the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle display (and educating the public about the horrific toll UAVs take) and drone manufacturers and lobbyists.

Also, on each day, we will be reconvening at Lafayette Park at 3pm to do a little protest in front of the White House - the main focus is to inform tourists, etc, that while the face of the resident of the White House may have changed, the policies have not!

Dave Lindorff

One thing you don’t hear much mention of in all the coverage of the BP oil rig blowout that is now pouring 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, just a few dozen miles off the coast of Louisiana, is the 2010 hurricane season, which officially starts on June 1, but which can start significantly earlier.

This is, after all, an El Nino year, so storms could be more frequent and stronger than usual. In 2007, recall, the first storm of the season was Tropical Storm Andrea, which reached a size strong enough to merit a name on May 7, just a week later than today.

Why does this matter? Because any attempt to use booms or chemicals keep the oil away from the Gulf Coast would be completely impossible in the event of a major storm entering the Gulf. The combination of high winds, storm surges and high waves would push the oil slick way inland up the bayous and onto the shelter islands that protect 40 percent of America’s wetlands.

Vigils in 100 Districts Urge Votes Against War Escalation Funds

WASHINGTON, DC--April was the second month in a row in which "brown bag" lunch vigils against war funding were held at congressional district offices in over 100 districts around the country. Organizations participating included: Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), CODEPINK, AfterDowningStreet, the Backbone Campaign, Democrats.com, the California Nurses Association / National Nurses Organizing Committee, Healthcare Now, American Friends Service Committee and United for Peace and Justice.

Brown Bag Vigils have been held on the third Wednesday of each month since January. The next scheduled date is May 19th.

Brown-baggers are asking members of the House to publicly commit to voting No on any bills that fund wars, and to publicly urge their colleagues and the House leadership to make the same commitment. This position necessarily includes opposition to the proposed $33 billion supplemental expected in the coming weeks to fund an escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Congress members' commitments are tracked at http://defundwar.org.

PDA national director Tim Carpenter said "If congress members want to claim they oppose wars or support job creation, they have to vote against this $33 billion to escalate a war. And they know that we know that any smaller measures, such as aid to Haiti, can be passed separately if the war funding fails, and therefore there can be no excuses for voting yes to fund the escalation."

Complete information on past and upcoming Brown Bag Vigils is available online: http://tinyurl.com/brownbagvigil, including videos: http://youtube.com/pdamerica, and photos: http://flickr.com/photos/pdamerica.

Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and our country. We seek to build a party and government controlled by citizens, not corporate elites--with policies that serve the broad public interest, not just private interests. PDA is a grassroots PAC operating inside the Democratic Party, and outside in movements for peace and justice. Our inside/outside strategy is guided by the belief that a lasting majority will require a revitalized Democratic Party built on firm progressive principles.

For over two decades, the party declined as its leadership listened more to the voices of corporations than those of Americans. PDA strives to rebuild the Democratic Party from the bottom up--from every congressional district to statewide party structures to the corridors of power in Washington, where we work arm in arm with the Congressional Progressive Caucus. In just five years, PDA and its allies have shaken up the political status quo--on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Medicare for all, voter rights, accountability, and economic and environmental justice.

Josh Stieber served in the company shown in the video from Iraq recently released by Wikileaks.  He and Ethan McCord have published an apology to the Iraqi people:
http://bit.ly/dkWP4o
And the widow of an Iraqi killed in the video has accepted the apology:
http://bit.ly/cBVtZc
Steiber will participate in Thursday's Teach-In on Capitol Hill, where he will speak briefly and be available to answer questions.

Teach In on Capitol Hill on War

What Congress Must Do to End U.S. Wars and Help Secure a Peaceful Middle East

This Thurday's public teach-in on the war on Capitol Hill with Dennis Kucinich, Chris Hedges, Jeremy Scahill, David Swanson, and Ann Wright (which everyone should ask their representative to attend by calling them at 202-224-3121) is being sponsored by these organizations that are all working for peace and all need your support and participation:

EndUSWars.org, AfterDowningStreet.org, Code Pink: Women for Peace, Democrats.com, Progressive Democrats of America, the Nation, Gray Panthers of Metro Washington, Washington Peace Center, United for Peace and Justice, Office & Professional Employees International Union Local 2, U.S. Labor Against the War, Civilian Soldier Alliance, Seacoast Peace Response, Veterans for Peace, The Humanist, Voters for Peace, Rethink Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Peace of the Action, Jobs for Afghans, WeThePeopleNow.org, ProsecuteOfficials.org

Event details on website or on FaceBook.

April 27, 2010

TEACH-IN ON CAPITOL HILL: WHAT CONGRESS MUST DO TO END THE U.S. WARS AND HELP SECURE A PEACEFUL MIDDLE EAST

Dear Colleague:

By now you should have received an invitation to attend, "Teach-in on Capitol Hill: What Congress must do to end the U.S. wars and help secure a peaceful Middle East," on Thursday, April 29 at 1:45 pm in the Rayburn Gold Room (2168). The teach-in will focus on U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East and will feature Chris Hedges, a senior fellow at the Nation Institute and author of "War is the Force that Gives us Meaning;" Jeremy Scahill, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at the Nation Institute and author of the best-seller "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army;" David Swanson, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org and the author of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union;" and Ann Wright, a former U.S. Deputy Ambassador in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan, and Mongolia.

For more information, please contact: Herb Hoffman, 207-646-5431 or pala@maine.rr.com

Sincerely,
Dennis J. Kucinich
Member of Congress

UW Campus Antiwar Network: Antiwar panel scheduled for Monday at 7:00 at Memorial Union featuring activist Cindy Sheehan cancelled by union staff due to "security concerns" | Wis Politics | Press Release

Note to Attendees: Event attendees are set to meet at the front steps of the Union at 6:45 PM, and from there, the panel will either be held there, in the Union lobby, or in Lakefront on Langdon in the Union.

To Members of the Press:

An antiwar panel sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Havens Center, Campus Antiwar Network, Middle East Interest Group, and the Wisconsin Union Directorate's Society and Politics Committee and scheduled for Monday, April 26 at 7:00 PM in Memorial Union has been cancelled by the Union Building/Event Management Director, Roger Vogts, due to a last-minute expression of "security concerns" that would accompany antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan's visit. Vogts said that he could not contact security over the weekend because, apparently, phones don't work over the weekend.

On top of that, those organizing the event would have to foot the bill for the security, even though Sheehan never requested security to begin with, and even though no organizations involved with this event had enough money to foot the expensive bill this late in the game, either.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear, in its Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement (505 U.S. 123, 1992) decision, that "Speech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob" (emphasis mine). Since the Union's Central Reservations presides over a viewpoint-neutral limited public forum at the Union and other facilities, the Union is necessarily bound by the same constitutional demands as the local government in Forsyth County. In other words, it is unconstitutional for any viewpoint-neutral limited public forum to deny any organization their free speech rights on the grounds that they are unable to provide for extra security costs related to the exercise of that free speech.

Before our representatives dump another $33 billion into escalating a war in Afghanistan, we think they should know what they're doing.  Therefore, there will be a . . .

DESCRIPTION: Educational briefing on the U. S. agenda in the Middle East, its consequences and development of a strategy/plan to withdraw. Emphasis will be on constructive, interactive dialogue among panelists and attendees.

MODERATOR: Representative Dennis J. Kucinich (D - Ohio)

PANELISTS: Chris Hedges, Jeremy Scahill, David Swanson, Ann Wright

DATE: Thursday, April 29, 2010

TIME: 1:45 PM – 4:00 PM

PLACE: Gold Room (2168), Rayburn House Office Building, Independence Ave and C Street SW, Washington, D.C.

REFRESHMENTS: Beverages

ADMISSION: Free and open to the public, the media, members of Congress, and staff

From fiscalsustainability.org

Teach In on War on Capitol Hill
Don't Use Any More of Our Money
Brown Bag Vigil on April 21st
Marcy Winograd in DC on April 27th
Harvey Wasserman on Climate Bill

Teach In on Capitol Hill on War

What Congress Must Do to End U.S. Wars and Help Secure a Peaceful Middle East

www.narocinema.com

A high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, Ellsberg concluded in 1971 that the war was based on decades of lies, and leaked 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The NY Times—a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, Nixon's resignation, and the end of the Vietnam War. A riveting story of how this one man's profound change of heart created a landmark struggle involving America's newspapers, its president and the Supreme Court. Narrated by Ellsberg. (94  mins)

Speaker: Charlottesville and DC-based author and activist David Swanson has just recently conducted a 50-city nationwide book tour promoting "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union". He will draw parallels between the Ellsberg era and current U.S. foreign policy. A book signing and reception for David Swanson will be held at 6:00 pm at Azar's on Colley Ave prior to the film event.

WHAT: "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS" HAS FREE SCREENING APRIL 30 AT BRUNO WALTER AUDITORIUM, LINCOLN CENTER, 1865 Broadway, New York, NY 10023-7503

Robert Ellsberg, son of Daniel Ellsberg and a key figure in Pentagon Papers affair, will speak.

DETAILS: On April 30 at 2:30 pm, there will be a free screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary, "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and The Pentagon Papers" (2010, :94), a film by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith that was partially funded by The Yip Harburg Foundation. Robert Ellsberg, Daniel's son and a key figure in the Pentagon Papers affair, will appear at the event for a talk-back and questions.

The film was a 2010 Academy Award Nominee and has won seven other prizes to-date. The multiple award-winning film traces how Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concluded that the war was based on decades of lies and leaked 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world. Ellsberg risked life in prison to stop a war he helped plan. This story of one man's profound change of heart is also a piercing look at the world of government secrecy as revealed by the ultimate insider. Marked by a landmark battle between America's greatest newspapers and its president--that went to the Supreme Court--this political thriller unravels the political saga that lead directly to Watergate, Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.

Please join hosts Andy Shallal, Medea Benjamin, Steve Cobble, Steve Shaff and Tim Carpenter to....Meet and Greet PDA Congressional Candidate Marcy Winograd (CA-36/Harman)

Where: Busboys & Poets (5th and K St.)

When: April 27 | 7:00 PM

Click here for more details and to RSVP

A note from Marcy ...

I'm excited to visit DC and to mingle with PDA leaders committed to electing a progressive majority to Congress. Though I have never been a busboy (waitress, yes), I have been a poet--and will share a few lines of political poetry about my challenge to Blue Dog Jane Harman in southern California's 36th District, where Dem Party registration leads GOP registration by 18 percentage points. (Just had to make that clear ...)

My PDA platform calls for transitioning from a war economy to a new Green economy that brings our troops home and invests our national resources in healthcare, not warfare, world-class education, and mass transit.

I co-founded PDA's Los Angeles chapter and mobilized almost 40% of the vote in my 2006 challenge to "Wiretapping We Can Believe In" Harman.

Make the Cost of War Clear

On April 15, it will be Tax Day once again. 28 cents out of every tax dollar goes to war, plus another 23 cents for past wars. Tax Day is a great opportunity for peace groups to reach out to our neighbors and remind them that our economy and public services are being starved to feed the Pentagon and military contractors.

Get a few friends and set up a table outside your Post Office after work on April 15, while people are rushing in to file their tax returns.

• UFPJ member groups have created some great educational materials on where our tax money goes - download these flyers and hand them out.
• Another great idea is the "Penny Poll". Use four jars labeled Housing, Education, Health, and Military, to represent a simplified view of the federal budget. Hand passers-by ten pennies and tell them to pretend they are a member of Congress and to vote to allocate their resources. Then show them how our money is really spent.
• If you can get a wireless connection at your tabling location, bring a laptop and ask passers by to type their federal tax amount into National Priorities Project's interactive tax chart. It will instantly show them how the government is going to spend their money.
• Hand antiwar passersby a cell phone and ask them to call their Congressperson (202-224-3121) then and there.