APRIL 11, 2004

OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY
Corner of Maple and Storer in Fayetteville in Presbyterian and Disciples Student Center
OMNI contact Dick Bennett jbennet@uark.edu 442-4600)(website: www.omnicenter.org) Changing Society for a Culture of Peace. Peace is not the absence of war; peace is the active presence of justice and compassion. A Culture of Peace is created by countering the Violence/War System in all of its manifestations. U. S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Please tell me if you wish to be removed from this mailing. Dick

Reminder: APRIL 12, MONDAY, 12:30, KIMPEL HALL 310: JOAN MANDELL
Visiting Filmmaker Joan Mandell screens two of her works and will also share her reflections on experiences as a filmmaker in the Middle East and North America. Contact Ted Swedenburg. tsweden@uark.edu

APRIL 12, MONDAY, 6:30p.m. MULTICULTURAL CENTER, STUDENT UNION
Final meeting of Palestine-Israel Committee for the APRIL 14 CONVERSATION. All welcome. Contact Gladys Tiffany. gladystiffany@yahoo.com

APRIL 14, WEDNESDAY, ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONVERSATION
MULTICULTURAL CENTER, UA STUDENT UNION, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Contact Gladys Tiffany.

APRIL 15, THURSDAY, OMNI STEERING COMMITTEE
5:30 POTLUCK, 6:00 BUSINESS MEETING. All are welcome. Contact Dick Bennett.

APRIL 16, FRIDAY, 5:30, FINAL EARTH DAY COMMITTEE MEETING
We can use your help. Contact Rachel Townsend-Moore: rachelandgregmoore@yahoo.com

PHOTOGRAPHS OF OUR SONGBOOK/CD PARTY AND OF THE MARCH 20 MARCH.
We are fortunate that Carolyn Swaney took photos of our CD/SONGBOOK celebration, and Jody Miskell of the March 20 march and rally. Our archives (started and maintained by Anne Prichard) have grown significantly! Please thank them.

CAT EARLY MORNING WORTH GETTING UP FOR
From 3 to 6a.m. (sometimes even later) CAT Channel 8 gives us Free Speech TV, NNN, and other alternative video information. Sunday 4-11 at 5 were videos on war profiteering in Iraq and elsewhere (Bechtel etc.), civilian deaths in Iraq, TV mass media as extension of gov’t., White House lies and media support, repression in U.S., history of air war, etc.

APRIL PEACE COFFEEHOUSE
The April Open Mic was excellent, hosted by Carol Florida and Wendy Finn, and featuring Kelly and Donna (MouthPeace), Duane Carr, Bill Justice, Emily Kaitz, David Schoen, and Talat Halman. Thank them next time you see them, and Joanie our coordinator (for over 2 years). We also remembered Martin Luther King, Jr., on that anniversary of his assassination.

CORPORATE TAXES
On a back page of the MN (4-7-04, 2D) we learn that a majority of U. S. corporations didn’t pay income taxes since 1989. OMNI needs a CORPORATE WATCH for corporations in NWA. Volunteer? What have Senators Lincoln and Pryor and Congressman Boozman done to correct this corruption?

VOTE ON DR. RICE’S TESTIMONY: Dear Vote.com Voter,
Log on to http://www.vote.com and vote on how National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice performed in her testimony before the 9/11 Commission. We'll send your vote to President Bush. Please forward this vote to any friends or family who may be interested in this issue to make their vote count too! (If the link is not active, please copy and paste it into the "Address" field of your web browser) Sincerely, Your friends at Vote.com http://www.vote.com (NOTE: If your e-mail software does not make the above link active, please copy & paste it into your web browser and press the Enter key.)

BUSH WATCH: The Bushiad and the Idyossey: http://www.thebushiad.com/

HUMAN RIGHTS
OMNI recently endorsed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and The Earth Charter as part of our foundation. Also recently the U.S. Supreme Court began to consider global human rights principles in U.S. domestic cases (Lawrence struck down sodomy laws as unconstitutional, citing Gay rights in Europe; Grutter upheld U of Mich.’s affirmative action program, also citing international conventions on gender and race discrimination). More than 60 years ago the U.S. led efforts to pass the UDHR in direct response to the horrors of WWII. But then the U. S. spent decades exempting itself from the growing body of human rights conventions. For example, Somalia and the US are the only governments that haven’t ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Ref.: Ann Beeson, "Human Rights: Thinking Globally," The National Law Journal [www.nlj.com] 11-2-03.) Here’s where we might be able to have an effect. We have a BushBoozman Watch to encourage letter and essay writing. We can repeat and repeat to BB the discrepancies between US ideals of equality, the inherent dignity and worth of every human person, and inalienable rights, and we can urge them to support the extension of international human rights law to U.S. courts. I saw the devastating film on PBS (4-1-04) about the Rwanda genocide and U.S. refusal to help despite some 800,000 murdered. The film showed the fatal absence of human rights commitment in our government. We can show that film. We can all call Boozman. We can all visit Boozman every time he is in town. We can all educate the public also. Human (and species) rights is a way to connect all of OMNI’s activities for a Culture of Peace. Call Dick if you wish to assist in foregrounding rights in the BushBoozman Watch or in general.

PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AND WARS
The pacifist Quakers have always focused on PREVENTING SUFFERING, VIOLENCE, WARS. The civil and humanitarian disasters in Bosnia, Rwanda, Burundi, Kosovo, Congo, East Timor, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and now Haiti could have been prevented by the U.S., as leader of the international community, but it "acted too late." (FCNL Washington Newsletter, April 2004, p. 3). Why is the U. S. so ready and so efficient at invading other countries but so inept at preventing wars and keeping the peace? Will someone volunteer to be OMNI’s PREVENTION WATCH, to help us identify the catastrophes coming, so we might contribute to stopping them? A good subject for our BUSHBOOZMAN WATCH (and LINCOLN AND PRYOR).

NUCLEAR WAR (OMNI needs a NUCLEAR WATCH)
The Friends Committee for National Legislation has a new Perspective Paper on "U. S. Nuclear Weapons Policies: The Choice Before Us": current threats, Bush Admin. responses, alternatives (prevention of nuclear war). To receive a copy contact FCNL at publications@fcnl.org or read as a PDF file on the FCNL web site at www.fcnl.org

OIL
The FCNL Washington Newsletter, April 2004 contains a brief, excellent summary of "U. S. Oil Dependence: Driving U. S. Military Strategy." Start an OMNI OIL WATCH?

TRUTHMAKING: TRUTH COMMISSION REPORTS AND RELATED MATTERS
www.truthcommission.org (design of Truth Commissions); www.neveragain.net (memory, truthtelling, pursuit of justice); www.nuncamas.org/index.htm (Argentina); www.derechoschile.com/derechos/sitios_eng.html (Chile); http://hrdata.aaas.org/ceh (Guatemala); www.easttimor-reconciliation.org (East Timor); www.truth.org.za (South Africa)(from The Broken Rifle newsletter of War Resisters International)

GET OFF THE BUS? Do you feel like you are on the Highway of Life but just in a Sightseeing Bus? Join OMNI and work for peace, justice, and the environment. (with thanks to "Frank & Ernest"). Contact Steven Skattebo to become a member. sskattebo@ArkansasUSA.com Only a few people support OMNI's programs now. Become a helping member