OMNI NEWSLETTER: EVENTS, ACTIONS, COMMENT
BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE
MARCH 26, 2005


MAKE EVERY MEETING AN ACTION

WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES…do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America.

CRITICAL THINKING

MARCH 26, SATURDAY, FREETHINKERS, BLAIR LIBRARY, 2:30

“We'll be bringing our selections for our new Mythbuster Board. We're going to have a large board displayed at our April Springfest booth with a selection of urban legends, myths, and some surprisingly true information. We hope to teach some good critical thinking skills as we teach people about these common myths.” And much more. Contact Doug Krueger or Darrell Henschell.



MARCH 26, Friday, 5pm, “Dirty Bomb” film by AETN’s NOVA


MARCH 27, SUNDAY, 7PM, UNDERGROUND VIDEO, at OMNI on Maple St.

ROMERO is based on the life of Father Oscar Romero, a Salvadoran priest who passionately opposed human rights violations in his country and became a hero to the Salvadoran people. In a powerful performance, Raul Julia portrays the revolutionary priest as he struggles for peace against the violent oppression of his people. For more info. on the film see OMNI’s March 17 Newsletter. Drinks and snacks. Contact Pippin Lowe or Greg Moore.



MARCH 28, MONDAY, 12 NOON, ACTION ON DARFUR, SUDAN

If you have not seen the forceful film HOTEL RWANDA, hurry because it won’t be he here much longer. And if you haven’t read Prof. Sam Totten’s essay on Darfur, “And the Killing Continues,” you can read it in NAT (3-11-05) (a newspaper at its internationally informative best). The U. S. government did the right thing initially: it sent an investigative committee, which led Secretary Powell to declare that genocide was occurring in Darfur. But then it did nothing. The nations of the world are allowing another Rwandan slaughter. But though they might refuse to act, we can. Please join Dick this Monday noon at OMNI for provided lunch to discuss Darfur and 1) start a petition, 2) write letters to our congressional representatives, 3) later phone calls. WE THE PEOPLE.



MARCH 28, MONDAY, 6pm, OMNI/VEGETARIAN/RAW FOOD POTLUCK DINNER

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Talks by T. Fuller on local hunger and by John Ray on global hunger. OMNI members and friends have much to learn from vegetarians and raw foods advocates, and they from OMNI. Effective peacemaking depends upon coalition-building and learning from other peace and justice and environment groups. Contact Karen Kimrey to help with setup and cleanup.


MARCH 29, MARSHALL ISLANDERS PROTEST

Marshall Islands Victims Day. Jones Center in Springdale. Film at 4:00, followed by speakers from Marshall Islands, and potluck dinner. OMNI has been a co-sponsor since its inception 3 years ago.

MARCH 29, DEATH PENALTY SPEAKER

Betsey Wright will be the guest speaker at the dinner meeting of Washington County Democratic Women on Tuesday, March 29th, at 5:30 at Western Sizzlin in Springdale.



Thursday, March 31st, at 6:30pm PUBLIC HEARING
A public hearing concerning the proposed construction and demolition waste landfill to be located in the old McClinton/Anchor quarry near West Fork will be held in the West Fork Community Center. For more information visit our web site at www.westforkisnodump.com or call Henry Griffith at 479-839-3553.


APRIL 3, SUNDAY, 7PM, OPEN MIC PEACE COFFEEHOUSE

Donna Stjerna and Kelly Mulhollan hosts. Theme: Environment.


APRIL 4, MONDAY, OMNI SPRINGFEST COMMITTEE, OMNI, 2PM

We need more members, please come.



APRIL 4, MONDAY, UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY BOARD, 5:30



APRIL 5, TUESDAY, OMNI’S MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., AWARDS COMMITTEE

Potluck at Dick’s 6pm. We’ll compose the brochure. The awards each year will focus on the full vision of King—opponent of war and the Vietnam War, of discrimination, and of an economic system that produces poverty and a wide gap between rich and poor.



APRIL 5 USFS "Open House" Tuesday 6-8pm, Springdale, Holiday Inn NWA (corner of 412 exit & 71

bypass) 1500 S 48th St, SPDL. We can alter this agressive burning schedule so come and be heard. There is a need also for written comments. Sierra Club's Mike Faupler can be reached at 571-3005.


APRIL 5, Tuesday---Legislative Lunch and Lobby Day
Please join other members of the Arkansas Citizens' First Congress at a Legislative Lunch and Lobby Day at the State Capitol, to focus on closing the achievement gap in education in Arkansas' schools and funding quality preschool for all low income children. If there is enough participation from NW AR, we'll rent a van and carpool to Little Rock. For more information, contact Karen Faupel at 442-3038 or karenfaupel@yahoo.com



APRIL 6, WEDNESDAY, “UNCONSTITUTIONAL” FILM AND ACLU’S BARRY HARGROVE Fayetteville Public Library, 6:00, following showing of film. The film offers such a compendium of Bush Admin. depredations on our Constitution that it will be a great help to have Barry there to comment.



APRIL 7, THURSDAY, ACLU BANQUET, CLARION HOTEL

6PM social hour, 7PM dinner. Speaker: Barry Hargrove, ACLU national office.



MAY 9

The Association for Beaver Lake Environment is having a Town Meeting on Monday, May 9th at 7:00 p.m. in the Shewmaker Center. The meeting is about the US Army Corps of Engineers' Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project, a $319 million project designed to provide irrigation water to eastern Arkansas' Grand Prairie region, where rice farming is threatening to deplete two aquifers.



JEFFERSON TODAY

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt….At home we must have patience till luck turns, and when we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, Philadelphia, June 4, 1798. (from Darrell Henschell)

MEMORY, MEMORIALS, MONUMENTS, VICTIMS

FSTV showed a brilliant analysis of US monumental commemoration of victims. A superb monument to the OK City Fed. Bldng. Bombing that killed 168, but no comparable monument for the 6000 Cherokees disposed and forced across the US in wintertime, a third of them dying, and especially the children. Fayetteville has a small memorial to the Cherokees of the Trail of Tears (on 6th St.), but what is needed is one naming at least those who passed through Fayetteville. [On a local level, the newBella Vista Memorial to All Veterans of All U. S. Wars names everyone who bought a brick! and accepts all U. S. wars, almost all of which have been aggressions against sovereign nations. This monument is totally devoid of truthful historical context, and does a great disservice to the present and future generations by denying the exitence of the victims.] For all of these reasons, OMNI’s ceremonies that NAME THE VICTIMS are very important, and we should add this action to additional events.



CIVILIAN VICTIMS IN IRAQ: A MAINSTREAM NEWSPAPER SERVING THE CITIZENS

Saturday the 19th OMNI read the names of U. S. soldiers killed in Iraq and of Iraqi children killed by U. S. soldiers. OMNI has been reading the names of Iraqi civilian victims ever since before the war. Gradually the extent of those killings is being revealed, and the names of the victims. The latest The IRE Journal (March/April 2005) includes an article on the 4,611 claims by Iraqi civilians under the U. S. Foreign Claims Act for “abuse and misconduct,” over a thousand of them for deaths and injuries caused by U. S. soldiers. The data base contains date, location, military unit, description of allegation, but in most of the cases the Army had removed the name of the claimant. The article tells how reporters from the Dayton Daily News supported by the Cox Washington Bureau and Cox’s correspondent in Baghdad tracked down the claimants. (Also 23 journalists were killed in Iraq in 2004, along with 16 media workers. Many more were threatened, assaulted, and kinapped.) (OMNI’s growing UA Mullins Library Victims Collection is ensuring that this library pays attention to the VICTIMS of wars and violence.)



MEDIA WATCH: EXTRA!

For all of you who believe that our mainstream media have been captured by the corporate state (I assume that’s all of us!), you will want to read the magazine Extra! www.fair.org, sub. inquiries 800-847-3993. Dick has a several-years collection for loan. Recent books (already noted in OMNI’s bibliography): Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You by Norman Solomon and Reese Erlish; Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber; Media Wars: News at a Time of Terror by Danny Schechter; all 3 can be order online at fair.org

MEDIA WATCH: AMY GOODMAN’S DEMOCRACY NOW

Every day at 7am and 5pm Democracy Now brings you truths seldom seen on mainstream corporate state television. This week for example: the U. S. attack on the Palestine Hotel, April 8, 2003, that killed two journalists. The Hotel was where world journalists lived. See: “Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness” and www.democracynow.org With the software RealPlayer it is possible to watch Goodman’s show on your computer.

MEDIA WATCH: PACIFICA RADIO

It is possible to hear all of the Pacifica stations through RealPlayer software. The Pacifica stations (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, NYC) provide alternative news and views all day every day.





MILITARISM MEDIA WATCH
PENTAGON SUED FOR RECORDS ON PROPAGANDA, PSY-OPS AND “PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT” TARGETTING U.S. CIVILIANS

Pentagon Media Consultants Develop “Empower Peace” Internet Site Aimed at School Children

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking records under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. ' 552, from the Department of Defense concerning Pentagon funded programs engaged in “strategic influence, perception management, strategic information warfare and/or strategic psychological operations” through media consultants, “think tanks,” foreign expatriate political organizations and Internet sites. Judicial Watch is seeking, among other matters; information on a “peace movement” Internet site that reportedly was funded and established by the Pentagon called “Empower Peace.” The site was developed by The Rendon Group, a media consultancy firm the Pentagon has paid more than $40 million dollars to since 2001, and targets participation of American school age children, teachers and schools in what appears to be a “grassroots” peace movement. There is no indication on the site that it is a project of the U.S. Defense Department.

The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. ' 1461), forbids the domestic dissemination of U.S. government authored or developed propaganda or “official news” deliberately designed to influence public opinion or policy. The Pentagon has made aggressive use of various information warfare techniques, developing new programs and hiring outside media consultants in executing their various missions in the Global War on Terror.

To view a copy of the complaint, click here. JudicalWatch 1-888-593-8442





FAIR TAXATION

TMN editorizalized well (3-4-05) in support of removing the sales tax from groceries. Let your state representatives know where you stand. “The tax on groceries takes a bigger chunk of the budget from those who can least afford it.”



EQUITY: LINDSLEY AGAINST DISCRIMINATION

Rep. Lindsley Smith proposed legislation to add sexual orientation to the Arkansas 1993 Civil Rights Act. Let her know your support. Opponents have derailed it for the moment—the state Chamber of Commerce, Rep. Evan Breedlove of FS, Rep. Timothy Hutchinson of Lowell, Rep. Bob Adams of Sheridan. Give them a letter or call too.



FSTV on CAT 3 to 9 am (provided by OMNI)

Programs include: “Odysseus in America,” about insanity in combat soldiers; “Military Myths” on recruiting; Scott Ritter on the Peace Movement. Pippin Lowe made Dick a copy of the latter 2 programs, if you wish to borrow, also available at OMNI. “Military Myths” is a powerful expose of the lies of the Pentagon’s recruiting program = MEDIA WATCH. Ritter appeals for a national nonviolent peace movement with Bush and his policies as the specific enemy; he urges the movement to eschew the feeble occasional feel-good demo. and instead to use strong actions such as the economic warfare of boycotts.



ANDREW RICE for OK SENATE

Andrew, a leader with the 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, is running for the OK State Senate. Andrew has spoken here twice under OMNI sponsorship. Andrew@rrdp.org if you wish to offer your support.



WILLIAM MYERS, ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL EXTREMIST

If you wish to take action to stop his appointment by Pres. Bush to be a senior federal judge, go to http://www.care2.com/go/z/22403



DEPARTMENT OF PEACE

The following is from Peace Alliance asking us to contact our cong. Reps. and to write letters.

Among other things, the Department of Peace will include a best-practices template for the amelioration of violence among America's youth population. Please visit http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org/main.htm for a more detailed description of the plans for the Department of Peace.

I hope you will support the bill to establish the Department, when it is re-introduced in legislative session on September 12, 2005 in the House of Representatives.

Be sure to include your name and address. You can find email and fax information for your Member of the House of Representatives and your two Senators at http://www.congress.org. You can also call your Representative’s D.C. office to voice your opinion by calling the U.S. capital switchboard at (877) 762-8762. They will connect you directly to the office.

Please also send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. We suggest you reference an article written on these tragic shootings.

Dear …,

After the tragic school shooting in Minnesota recently, we are reminded once again of the urgent need to establish a United States Department of Peace. We need to much more seriously address the underlying causes of the problems of violence that we face today.

Among other things, the Department of Peace will include a best-practices template for the amelioration of violence among America's youth population. The Department would implement measurably effective intervention for issues such as, school and gang violence, domestic violence, reduced prison incarceration rates, and international conflicts to name a few issues.
You can visit www.ThePeaceAlliance.org for a more detailed description of the plans for the Department of Peace.
The bill will be re-introduced in legislative session on September 12, 2005 in the House of Representatives.
Sincerely,
For additional tips on writing a letter to the editor, check out our Citizen Action Guide at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/action_guide.htm

To join our email list for Department of Peace updates (if you are not currently on it), send a blank email to: subscribe-3536@en.groundspring.org or visit http://www.thepeacealliance.org/signup.htm


OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON’S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP. Thanks to FCNL and AFSC.