Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Immigration, Birth Control, and Diplomacy

Dear friend,

i hope your Thanksgiving celebration was gratifying...we truly have so much to be thankful for, including our right and responsibility to dissent and create positive change!

right now you're reading the NEW OJAI PEACE COALITION BLOG, which will serve mostly as an online home for these action alerts (although you can comment on them as well). it's an easy way to archive our actions, and it's simple to direct friends and relatives to, or to check on when you're away from your own email! Sweet!

(look to the right for links to organizations that contribute actions to us, places to get peace-themed and progressive gifts for the holydays, and content not available in action emails!)

Peace,
-evan


In This Issue:
Local Happenings
Immigration and War
Save Mississippi Wetlands
Call for a Department of Peace
Restore Affordable Birth Control
Support Diplomacy with Iran

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

· The Environmental Health Committee of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition is meeting
Wednesday November 28 at 1030 Dominion (take left or right at Vons, go down to Fairview past The Deer Lodge and make a Left at Fairview, a Left on Rice and a Left at Dominion). For time and with questions, call 646-4792.

· Support Dennis Kucinich! Meet on Thursday morning at 10 at John Azevedo's place (former site of Ojai Creates!) at 207 N. Ventura. The initial plan is to brainstorm ideas on how we might support Dennis, maybe as individuals, maybe as a group, maybe doing a fundraiser or concert, or maybe all of that and more. Time is of the essence; the primaries are coming up fast. Whatever we can do to support Dennis's voice being heard counts.

· PEACE VIGIL every friday evening from 5-6pm under the Pergola in front of Libbey
Park. Dress warmly!

· Sacred Space Yoga Studio presents a community film screening of YYoga Movie on Saturday December 1 at 8pm. The studio is at 410 Bryant Circle, Suite A. 646-6761
These screenings are supported by your generous donations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DOES ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PAY FOR ILLEGAL WAR?

AN ISSUE TO WATCH:
The following comes to us from OPC-member Connie Lowry, in response to an Editorial Page entry in the Ventura County Star on 11/26/07:


Dear Representative Kucinich,
I support your candidacy for President and loved seeing you and your wife here in Ojai, California.
Today in our local Ventura County Star Newspaper is an article titled "Is illegal immigration at the heart of the Iraq war?" written by Jose De La Isia of Houston.
He wrote The Rise of Hispanic Political Power and writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Services. Today he wrote that after the Treasury collects the money, it allows the SSA to carry the amount as a receivable for bookkeeping purposes. Then Treasury uses the funds to pay other government expenses. The biggest one is the war in Iraq. Right now it is running, coincidentally, at $500 billion, according to the National Priorities Project. If no one claims this Social Security windfall, it's free money to pay for war.
This is shocking to me as a senior citizen and patriot and peace worker.
Please investigate this and bring it to the light of correction.
Kind regards,
Connie Lowry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SAVE MISSISSIPPI WETLANDS

FROM ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE:
Some of the richest natural resources in the nation are in the heart of the Mississippi River flyway. The Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) wants to spend $211 million of your tax dollars on a project that could drain and damage more than 200,000 acres of the wetlands in this area.
In one of the most sparsely populated regions in the state of Mississippi, the Corps would like to build the world's largest hydraulic pumping plant.
In a throwback to another era - and contrary to federal policy - the Yazoo Pumps would be used to drain wetlands so agribusiness can intensify production to reap more farm subsidy payments.

SEND AN EMAIL to the Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and Department of the Interior requesting that they dump the pumps and protect the wetlands.

BE SURE TO ALTER THE PRE-SCRIPTED MESSAGE WITH YOUR OWN WORDS FOR EXTRA IMPACT!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CALL FOR A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE!

FROM THE PEACE ALLIANCE:
From Monday, December 3rd through Friday, December 7th, Americans of all generations
will unite to telephone the offices of our Federal House of Representatives every 30 minutes to "Call for a Department of Peace!"
We must act now. The impact of violence on Americans of all ages is too painful and costly, and the opportunities for peace are too great. We must make it known that all of us, from all generations, Call for a Department of Peace!
By calling every 30 minutes for a week, we make it known that the Department of Peace is of importance to our congressional districts. See below to sign up for one time slot, and how to organize your friends, family, and network to do the same!
Simply visit the website, follow the instructions to sign up for a timeslot, then make your call!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RESTORE AFFORDABLE BIRTH CONTROL

FROM NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA:
Students and low-income women around the country have seen a dramatic increase in the price of their birth-control prescriptions. It's the result of a 2005 bill that wasn't even supposed to do what it did.

Thanks to efforts by students on college campuses across the country Congress has finally introduced a fix. We need this bill to move quickly before more women are impacted by high prescription birth-control prices.

Send an urgent message to your members of Congress about the need to restore affordable birth control immediately.

evan's note:
Radio host Thom Hartmann explained this week on his Air America program that one of the biggest contributors to global warming is sheer unsustainable population. Population, he went on, is directly related to the empowerment of women, as seen in cultures and regions where empowered women keep the population at zero or negative growth. So take this double action: work for gender equality and climate crisis at the same time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SENATE: SUPPORT DIPLOMACY WITH IRAN!

FROM PEACE ACTION WEST:
In the wake of the Senate vote on the Kyl-Lieberman Iran amendment and continuous pressure from the peace movement, many senators have become more proactive in pushing for diplomacy with Iran. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) has offered a new resolution stating that the president needs Congress's approval before conducting offensive military action against Iran.

We cannot afford another mistake like the tragic war in Iraq. Write your Senators and urge them to stand up to the Bush administration and support Durbin's resolution:

BE SURE TO ADD YOUR OWN PERSONAL MESSAGE TO THE PRE-GENERATED SCRIPT, FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mas Paz! (More Peace!),

evan austin
Ojai Peace Coalition

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Interfaith, Impeachment, and Culture-Building!

Good afternoon, friend!

My current operating goal for the Ojai Peace Coalition email alerts is to put one out every other Tuesday (predictable for you and me both!), unless there’s something hot that needs to be known!

Well, now is one of those times:

TONIGHT: OJAI INTERFAITH ALLIANCE MTG:
At Glen Muse, 815 Libbey Ave at 7pm
If you’re connecting your own spirituality with a healthy value of the diversity of other spiritual traditions with Peace and activism, come check it out! Topics for discussion will include:
- Organizational name and status
- Jerusalem Women coming next week.
- Next year's Living Peace
- Other activities and initiatives we might want consider in the future

NOW: IMPEACHMENT!
This past Tuesday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced via personal privilege H.Res.333 charging Vice President Richard Cheney with high crimes and misdemeanors and calling for his impeachment. A motion was made to table (kill) the resolution, for which Dennis required a full electronic vote. It lasted over an hour, and included two key exclamation points:
!: the vast majority of House Democrats voted to kill the resolution, preventing further debate.
!: House Republicans’ strategy was to vote AGAINST tabling, which they did en masse at the end of the voting period.

At the end of that vote, more Republicans had voted in favor of keeping the resolution alive than had Democrats...shocking and dismaying! A motion was then made to refer the resolution to the Judiciary Committee, where it is speculated that the Republicans hope it will die. The Judiciary Committee is lead by Democrat John Conyers and has a majority of Democrats, but they had just shown that they don’t want to talk about impeachment despite support of the American people.

At any rate, the resolution – H.Res.799 – is in the Judiciary Committee. Many actions are being suggested in this Open Thread on the Ojai Post.

I’ll copy some here:
Actions from democrats.com
• Which include emailing the entire Judiciary Committee (make sure to include a personal comment!)
• Find out who’s on the Judiciary Committee
• Hint: Elton Gallegly’s ON the Committee! Email him!
• Call Elton’s office and request that the Committee begin hearings and that he support impeachment: 1-202-225-5811
Email Dennis Kucinich and let him know you support impeachment of Dick Cheney. DK will compile all the messages and deliver them to the Judiciary.

Why impeachment? For me, it’s about justice, accountability, and upholding the Constitution. As Dennis said during a call to C-SPAN during the voting, it’s not about him or his campaign for President, and it’s not even so much about Dick Cheney. It’s about whether anyone’s going to stand up for and with the American people and our Constitution. It matters not to me how much more time they have in office....crimes have been committed, and our founding documents give us the power and responsibility to pursue accountability. There is no timetable for justice.

SUNDAY NOV 11: BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE
The Buddhist association, Soka Gakkai International (Society for the Creation of Value), is a grassroots movement promoting a Cultural, Educational, and Humanistic Network pursuing nonviolence & dialogue. They will be hosting a free community event entitled “Creating a Culture of Peace” this coming Sunday the 11th from 1-3pm at the Ojai Retreat (160 Besant Road, Meiner’s Oaks), and I’LL BE SPEAKING as part of a panel that also includes OPC-member Peggy LaCerra! I’m thrilled to have been invited to share my thoughts on Peace and Culture, and invite you to join us for music, food, entertainment, and discussion!

Peace!
-evan