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OMNI NEWSLETTER: EVENTS, ACTIONS, COMMENT
DECEMBER 30, 2005 BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE
“But I did have faith then, and I still have faith now, that our work was of value because it sowed seeds of tolerance and love in people’s hearts.” Tuan in Thich Nhat Hanh’s play, “The Path of Return Continues the Journey”
May we find peace, may we radiate peace, may we give our resources for peace.
UPCOMING EVENTS
DECEMBER 31, NEW YEAR’S EVE, ONE VOICE PEACE COVENANT CELEBRATION School of Metaphysics and OMNI at United Campus Ministry, 8:00 PM to 1:00AM. 527-6804
JANUARY 3, OMNI EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 2PM, OMNI
Every Tuesday same time and place.
JANUARY 7, Saturday, 11:30 a.m., RAPID RESPONSE WRITERS
Every first Saturday. Ozark Natural Foods, 11:30. Contact Larry Woodall.
JANUARY 7, PROTEST THE WAR
First Saturdays of each month, Joyce and Mall at McDonald’s. Contact Chris Delacruz chrisdelacruz2000@yahoo.com
JANUARY 8, SUNDAY, 7PM, VIDEO UNDERGROUND
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara : Documentary about Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, who subsequently became president of the World Bank. The documentary will combine an interview with Mr. McNamara discussing some of the tragedies and glories of the 20th Century, archival footage, documents, and an original score by Philip Glass. Show Time: 107 Minutes.
It will be shown at the OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY located at 902 W. Maple in Fayetteville, on the first floor of the Presbyterian and Disciples Student Center. This event will begin at 7:00 pm. Admission ! is free, donations are welcomed. View the Video Underground's entire video schedule at: http://omni-vu-films.blogspot.com.
JANUARY 8, PROTEST THE WAR
Every Sunday College and Dickson, 11a.m. to 1:30p.m.
JANUARY 9, NOVEL ABOUT WWI AT FPL
A Very Long Engagement is the next selection for Books, Etc. Trans. From French, Sebastien Japrisot’s romance takes place with the of trench warfare during WWI in the background. Sign-up requested: 571-2222, ext. 4311.
JANUARY 14, SATURDAY, 1PM, MARCH INVASION REMEMBRANCE PLANNING.
You are needed and welcome. At OMNI.
JANUARY 15, 11:00AM TO 1:30 PM, PROTEST THE WAR
College and Dickson in Fayetteville. Chris Delacruz.
JANUARY 15, 1PM, UNITY of Fayetteville PEACE CONCERT
Begins Unity's Season for Non-Violence. The Art Of Peace Sing-Along Concert & Prayer Service with Richard Mekdeci. Contribute to the overall peace of the planet by singing, listening and dancing to songs that are affirmations of peace. Unity of Fayetteville, 4880 W. Wedington Dr., 479-442-0680 www.unityfay.org
JANUARY 15, Herwords Outloud starts Sunday, 6:15
Join us for the first Herwords Outloud, a women’s open-mic hosted by poet Mendy Knott. Herwords Outloud (affectionately shortened to HoWL) will happen the third Sunday of every month at 6:30pm. Women are invited to read their own work or that of another woman author. Men and women are invited to attend and listen to this celebration of women’s words. HoWL is hosted by the OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY located at 902 W. Maple in Fayetteville, in the basement of the Presbyterian and Disciples Student Center on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006. Doors will open at 6pm and we welcome volunteers to help set up, make coffee, bring light sweets/snacks to share. Sign up starts at 6:15pm and readings start at 6:30pm. Bring your friends and let’s build a community of women writers in NWA -- join us at the first official HoWL! If you can’t attend HoWL but want to be on our email list for future readings, contact G. Leigh Wilkerson leigh@herwords.org
JANUARY 18, WEDNESDAY, 11:30, League of Women Voters and OMNI
WATER PROGRAM at Fayetteville Public Library. Marion Orton marionorton@yahoo.com
MARCH 13, UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE meeting in NYC. OMNI would like to be representated and offers some financial support to OMNI members. The US is one of the nations under scrutiny. For info. on attending see: www.mcli.org (Ann Fagan Ginger). See more on US and human rights below.
APRIL 28 –30, 2006, Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International. Portland, OR. www.amnestyusa.org OMNI representative?
FAYETTEVILLE, NWA, ARKANSAS
OMNI’S POSITIVE EMPHASIS
OMNI promotes many affirming events and ideas; for example here are some of our annual activities CELEBRATING Martin Luther King, Jr., Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Earth Day, Mother’s Day, Conscientious Objector’s Day, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance/Peace Heroes, Culture of Peace Week, International Day of Peace, UN Day, Human Rights Day, Bill of Rights Day.
OMNI’S BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Dick has compiled 23 bibliographies on peace, justice, and ecology, all of them sent to OMNI’s members and recipients of the Newsletter. They are also available in OMNI’s web site. Beginning with the 23rd bibliography, they will be available only through the web site (www.omnicenter.org). These resources give us foundations in knowledge and thought for peace, justice, and ecology work. Feel free to copy all or parts to send to friends and politicians. A gathering of items on particular subjects from the 23 biblios. would be useful (books on poverty, the war, Bush, and other subjects, to Boozman, Lincoln, Pryor).
OMNI’S PEACE POLES
Begun by Donna Stjerna and Kelly Mulhollan, the (mini) Peace Pole project has spread over 2000 red, white, and blue hand-painted poles around NWA (and USA: we shipped 4 to Omaha, NB). One of OMNI’s visual contributions to a Culture of Peace. Kelly and Donna are turning the project over to others now. Leonard Schulte has volunteered to handle the distribution of the painted poles. Look for them for sale at Ozark Natural Foods and other venues. Buy them for your own yard and for friends and as gifts for birthdays and other occasions. Ever since the project began, Jeff Seidensticker has provided the stakes. Also needed: someone to handle the painting of the poles. Contact Kelly, Donna, or Leonard.
ARKANSAS PRIORITIES
---NWA’s Regional Airport’s proposed 2006 budget is $26.17 million, including $9.1 million in construction. Given our human needs, is this expenditure warranted?
--The highways and schools bonds were defeated.
---“Growth Often Tough: State Services Falling Behind” by Brenda Blagg TMN 12-30. This week TMN provided an important public service through a series of articles on how state services haven’t kept up with the population boom in NWA.
LOW INCOME
“State Ranked 49th in Median Income” (ADG 12-12-05): $33, 445 in 2003, compared to US media income of $43,318.
UNINSURED
“4 of 5 Part-Timers lack Employer Insurance” (ADG 12-2-05). “about 34.3 million…or 25 percent of the nation’s workforce” lack insurance. Percentage probably greater in Ark. because of the lower income.
HEALTH
“State Health Rank Low: Arkansas Near End of List” by Caryn Rousseau (TMN 12-13-05). Arkansas dropped to 47th for high rates of smoking, obesity, infant mortality, and low public health spending,” according to “America’s Health Rankings” by the United Health Foundation. The study praised Ark. for lowering the number of children in poverty and for lowering the incidence of infectious diseases. “Arkansas ranked just above Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi as the unhealthiest states.”
---Nursing Faculty Needed” (TMN 12-17): “About 1500 qualified students were turned away from the 54 nursing school in Arkansas the past year because of a shortage of qualitied instructors.”
---“Demand Outpaces Nurses” (TMN 12-27). The Dept. of Health and Human Services is short of nurses: “The result is long lines, waits, and overworked state employees.”
---Health inspectors needed. Sewage inspectors gave 311 permits in 1980 and 1,600 through this year, yet staff has grown only from 4 to 6. And the health inspectors are also responsible for inspecting restaurants. (Discussed in 12-27 report.)
---“Official Foresees Welfare Woes” (TMN 12-30): the GOP-controlled House of Rep. is considering cuts in Medicaid, which will affect Ark. in many ways, including reducing Ark. funding for foster children by $3 million.
POVERTY
---“Area Growth Doesn’t Mean All Prosper” (TMN editorial12-23). “Families are going off the welfare rolls, but not getting out of poverty” (=working poor). “The number of residents seeking help to keep food on the table is increasing in Northwest Arkansas.” “The gap between wages and living expenses is widening in Northwest Arkansas faster than nonprofit organizations can keep pace….”
UTILITY BILL ASSISTANCE
More than a half-million Arkansans qualiy for help paying their utility bills, but “assistance from Arkansas agencies and private utilities ranks next-to-last nationally.” (TMN 12-19).
EDUCATION
Education ruled by the Arkansas Supreme Court to be inadequate .
PRISONS
---‘Parole Officers Pressured,” TMN 12-30: Prisons are full; the governor opposes building more; so home monitoring has increased.
DUMPING INSPECTORS
---“A Recipe for Illegal Dumping,” TMN 12-28: more waste, fewer inspectors.
CHILD ABUSE INVESTIGATORS
---Investigators of child abuse inadequate.
WHERE DOES OUR MONEY GO?
Highways. Pork: legislators’ pet projects.
GRASSROOTS MILITARISM
---WAR AND PEACE STORIES
TMN is soliciting war stories from veterans. Let us gather peace stories from nonviolent peacemakers. Contact Dick. (TMN 12-25: “Artists Remember the Fallen: Casualties of War Immortalized in Paint, Ink.” A false headline, as you probably instantly guessed—for no Iraqi is so immortalized, but only US killed. One artist has painted a portrait (from photos) of more than 500 US soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. If you are an artist, paint a portrait of a killed Iraqi, or if you have a friend who is an artist, invite her/him to paint an Iraqi. Let grassroots peacemaking, amity, reconciliation be present in NWA to counter the militarism.)
---MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS NWA
4th AR Civil War Infantry Unit, American Ligion Auxillary, American Legion Post No. 100, American legion Post No. 341, Daughters of the American Revolution, Disabled American Veterans Chapter No. 53, Fleet Reserve Assoc., etc. Does this subject interest you? OMNI needs someone to focus grassroots militarism NWA.
---Russellville’s a little outside of NWA, but but expresses the same pro-military/war values in monuments. The town has a new memorial to those killed in our latest illegal war--Iraq
2—, with names of all local soldiers sent to Iraq, at the Russellville National Guard Armory.
BOOZMAN WATCH
---Everything in this newsletter relates to our representative and senators. Use the Newsletter for letters and calls to them.
---Specifically, in TMN (12-28) we are told that “Boozman Anticipates Troop Withdrawals,” because of “better training of Iraqi forces.” Why might Bush withdraw troops when the generals are asking for more? What parallels do you see with the Vietnam War? We will visit Boozman as soon as an appointment can be arranged.
---Cong. Boozman’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly sends him to Europe several times a year. What is the NATO Parliament? What are its goals and principles? What has Boozman contributed to it? If votes, what is his record on the issues? (See TMN 12-25).
DIVERSITY AT UA
The UA is reviving its Black Studies Program, Charles F. Robinson, II. History professor, director. The program is a minor in black studies. Eleven students were enrolled fall 2005.
PAINEITES
Make every January 29th “Thomas Paine Day”. - Nine States have already done this. Make Arkansas the 10th. - Why? - To inspire our youth and elders by recognizing how one man caused monumental advancements in humanitarian freedom and justice. - Here is why we are beneficiaries and thus owe long overdue gratitude to Thomas Paine. - “Without the pen of Paine the Sword of Washington would have been wielded in vein!” …John Adams. And “With his name left out … the history of Liberty cannot be written.” …Robert G. Ingersoll. To acknowledge our gratitude, that is long overdue, and perpetuate Paine’s legacy contact your Arkansas State Rep. and Senator asking for a Proclamation to be enacted recognizing January 29th of every year as “Thomas Paine Day“. A proposed Proclamation and further information can be obtained from Jack Makens, 444-8149 or b4ethics@yahoo.com This effort is backed by Thomas Paine Friends, Inc. www.thomaspainefriends.org From Jack Makens
SOCIAL/ECONOMIC JUSTICE: MINIMUM WAGE
A coalition of community and nonprofit orgs.—Give Arkansas a Rai$e Now-- propose a constitutional amendment to raise the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15, and the rate would rise with inflation. Supporters must collect at least 80,570 signatures of registered voters by July 2. Here’s a worthy OMNI project.
NEW THEATRESQUARED and OMNI
For over a decade Ozark StageWorks offered social issues plays seldom presented by ACO or the UA Theater. It closed around 2000. Now, according to a report in TMN (12-16) TheatreSquared is being organized as a professional company with paid actors and technicians. The theater organizers hope someday to have their own theater, but for now they will rent the Studio Theater at WAC. All of this is most welcome to all of us who enjoy live theater, as do I. But what kind of plays will they present? Quoting Kassie Misiewicz: “We can tell the stories that reflect our own community.” That’s a dismaying statement, since our own community remains silent about a dozen urgent world problems, beginning with the illegal, atrocious war;, our own community is doing business as usual. And reflecting our own community seems duplicative of what you can see at ACO, the Rogers Little Theater, and to some extent the UA theater: plays for children, musicals, soap opera plots (a divorcee dates again, a mouse learns valuable lessons, a young couple’s romance, the well-known Cyrano love story; plays that remain safely within narrow social and political boundaries (but there will be Dickens Christmas Carol rewritten for children, and a new play by Bob Ford about a soldier in the Normandy invasion). The report in TMN makes no mention of world peace, peacemaking, human rights, social or economic justice, earth preservation, or protection of animals, the goals of OMNI. Our response? I intend to purchase a season ticket and advocate a truly new, socially engaged theater.
ECOLOGY
Arkansas Sierra Club Unveils 2005 Legislative Report Card (see below for US Ecology issues)
The Arkansas Chapter identified 17 bills touching on environmental issues during the 2005 legislative session, Smith said. Fifteen were acted upon by both houses, and two passed only one house, resulting in 16! Roll call votes for each chamber. “Overall, 10 of the 11 bills we supported became law, and we were able to contribute to the defeat two of the six bills we opposed,” he said.
Heroes for Arkansas’ Future
While we are advocates for environmental issues, the real heroes are those Arkansas legislators who are concerned about protecting our air, water, and other natural resources and who have demonstrated the courage to vote to protect the health, safety, and economic vitality of this and future generations.
Heroes
In the Arkansas Senate, Senator John Paul Capps had the highest score, voting for the Sierra Club’s environmental positions 75% of the time. Five others—Senators Irma Hunter Brown, Jim Luker, Sue Madison, Percy Malone, and Mary Anne Salmon—supported environmental positions on 69% of recorded votes.
Among House of Representative members, three legislators supported the Sierra Club’s environment positions on at least 80% of roll calls in 2005—Representatives Lindsley Smith (100%), Buddy Blair (88%), and David Johnson (81%)--while Representatives Jay Bradford, Sam Ledbetter, Greg Reep, and Rick Saunders had environmental records of 75%.
“We applaud these lawmakers who recognize that there is probably not another state whose quality of life and economic future is so linked to the quality of our air, lakes, streams, and other natural resourses,” Smith said.
Putting Arkansas’ Environment at Risk
At the lower end of the chart, Senators Jim Holt, Gene Jeffress, and Bob Johnson voted for pro-Arkansas environmental positions less than half the time in 2005.
In the House of Representatives, 38 members had voting records of less than 50% on pro-environmental legislation. House members with less than 33% support for environmental positions included Representatives Johnnie Bolin, Ken Cowling, Monty Davenport, Nathan George, Wayne Nichols, and Preston Scroggin.
Complete listings of the legislative bills, the full House and Senate Report Cards, and a statement from Legislative Committee are available on the Sierra Club’s Arkansas Chapter website: http://arkansas.sierraclub.org/
To see the environmental voting record of your local legislators, please visit the full House and Senate Report Cards available on the Sierra Club’s Arkansas Chapter website:
http://arkansas.sierraclub.org/political/SENATE05SIERRA.htm
http://arkansas.sierraclub.org/political/Sierra-House.htm
---NEIGHBORHOOD COMMONS/GARDENS
“A Lot in Common,” doc. of creation of a community garden in Berkeley, CA, instigated and led mainly by Karl Linn. Has Peace Pole. www.communitygarden.org Refs.:” Ray Suarez, The Old Neighborhood; Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of American Cities. From FSTV, Alternative Voices, Bullfrog Films.
---OMNI HOME PEACE PLACES
Contact Dick to add your yard or garden to our network. Or just give it a name with Peace in it,year established, address, describe it in a few sentences, and send to Dick.
---CITY PLANNING
Fayetteville is preparing its City Plan 2025 to guide the development of the city’s 31,000 acres. Residents Can offer planning suggestions now by visiting the project’s Web site: http://cityplan2025.accessfayetteville.org
FREE SPEECH TV on CAT (funded by OMNI)
Examples of FSTV’s alternative news documentaries and other programs:
---“The Ghosts of Attica”: Documentary of largest prison insurrection in US history, with 28 prisoners and 9 guards killed.
---SourceCode program (www.sourcecode.freespeech.org) on opposition to immigrants and the new US xenophobia (e.g. reduction of asylum), by Michael Jones and Stephanie Bernstein, www.nomoredeaths.com; growth of federal power to secretly surveil citizens without warrant; retributive vs. restorative justice (repairing harm to victim, rehabilitating offenders), www.coloradorestorativejustice.org
---Three films about disabled performers, two of them: a documentary on blind/vision impaired artists; “Crutch,” a disabled skater/break dancer.
---Liberty News offers a variety of short programs (www.libertynewstv.com); e.g.: Bush repudiation of ICC, Fitzgerald’s investigation of White House Plame scandal, Flash Video (e.g. “Plum Creek” on out- of- state developers in Maine), Rumsfeld’s war crimes and corruption, Gen. Karpinsky on torture orders from Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld a stockholder in co. that makes Tamiflu, Quinn Report: “Flat World” on Bush Admin., rel. fundamentalism, and superstition versus science.
---Alternate Focus: Film on hardships experienced by people of Nablus, Palestine.
---“LPFM: The People’s Choice”
--Film on U. S. Culture of waste, consumption, unsustainability, and wars. Sorry I missed the title.
---“The Gift Economy: Inside and Outside Patriarchal Capitalism,” critique of exchange economics.
---“One People, One Planet” (I think), on decency (loving, caring) and indecency (war, air and water pollution, etc.): women showing their breasts in a parade for “nipples not napalm,” “breasts not bombs.” www.planetearthproductions.org
---Lecture by Gelbspan, author of Boiling Point, about Exxon Mobil’s $millions for disinformation for 25 years to delay U.S. response to global warming.
---“The Loss of Liberty” by Tito Howard, about the attack on the USS Liberty by Israeli planes and torpedo boats during the 1967 War and Johnson Admin. and mainstream media coverup.
BOOKS IN OMNI’S LIBRARY
Here are two of our books on war:
Robert Mason, Chickenhawk: Back in the World, Life After Vietnam. Destructive pshychological and moral impact of the war on Mason.
Loren Baritz, Backfire: A History of How American Culture Led Us Into Vietnam and Made Us Fight the Way We Did.
Two of our books on peacemaking:
Saadi, Touval and Pamela Aall, eds. Teaching About Conflict and Peacemaking.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change. (Contains a play. Call Dick if you want to have a group reading. I have also a new, unpublished play about former presidents’ wives kidnapping Laura Bush to stop the war.)
CHARITY
A group of Fayetteville High School students along with some members of the City Council slept outside to raise money for homeless children in the Fayetteville School District. Money earned from this project will be used to buy things to enable children to stay in school. This is admirable, and for all religions supporting the poor and defenseless is a moral imperative. But OMNI also seeks to prevent problems. Why are the children homeless? Do all countries have homeless children? Ask your charitable organizations if they are also seeking to understand and prevent the symptoms they are treating.
FAMILY VIOLENCE
“Number of calls for help increasing at one area domestic violence center” Trish Hollenbeck, NAT, December 19, 2005 URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/35601/ The number of women seeking help from Peace at Home Family Shelter in Fayetteville continues to increase and, while the holiday season tends to be a slow time, the postholiday period usually means more clients using the services, according to a local shelter official. "We have doubled the number of hotline calls that have been coming into our shelter," said Judith Selle, chief executive officer of the shelter. From Lindsley S
USA AND WORLD
GRASSROOTS INFLUENCING PUBLIC POLICY
1. Help get the right people elected.
2. Develop an identity with your Senators and Representative
3. Develop a relationship with the DC staffer and state office staffer who handles your issues.
4. Assemble citizen groups to meet with your Senators or Representative regarding your issues.
5. Raise your isses at the town hall meetings of your Senators and Representative.
6. Join together with others who support your cause, and convince existing groups of its importance.
7. Write letters or emails to your Senators and Rep.
8. Call your Members’ DC or state offices to express your opinion.
PEACEMAKING
From UUA: “The 2006 Peace by Piece Quilt project: Peace has evolved into a strong theme for SWUUW (SW Unitarians) and we'd like to create a new quilt to raffle off at the 2006 General Assembly. The design can be simple or elaborate; anyone who wants to join in the creation is welcome (2006@swuuw.com).” OMNI’s Newsletter is open to all churches for announcements regarding their peace, justice, and ecology actitivites.
UNITED NATIONS
The UN has established a new U.N. Peacebuilding Commission to help countries emerging from conflict manage the transition, so that a fragile peace might not collapse into renewed conflict.
US WARFARE STATE
NUCLEAR TARGETING CHINA
China makes patriotic jackets and paraphernalia for Veterans Administraion stores, while the US has nuclear weapons pointed at Chinese cities.
VIETNAM WAR WMD
FSTV, “Remnants of War”: the U.S. sprayed 70,000,000 litres of herbicides, mainly “Agent Orange” (dioxin) onto Vietnam. AO is a Weapon of Mass Destruction, a war crimes weapon. AO/dioxin has lasting effects on several generation—children blind, maimed, lame, deranged. The U.S. government recognized the harm of dioxin to its own soldiers and compensates the veterans, but not the Vietnamese. We need a Truth Commission to bring leaders of the U.S. and the pilots of the herbicide planes to justice, in order to diminish the hatred for our government felt around the world, and thereby to reduce terrorism against us. One ref.: Agent Oran ge Victims Fund of the Vietnamese Red Cross.
NUCLEAR DANGERS
“Last Best Chance” docudrama produced by The Nuclear Threat Initiative about the potential for nuclear terrorism around the world, the vulnerable nuclear weapons and materials. www.nti.org
US ARMS BAZAAR
“The United States remains the world’s largest exporter of arms to developing nations and led all countries in both arms transfer agreements and arms deliveries in 2004.” The Defense Monitor (Sept.-Oct. 2005, see entire article).
NATION’S NEEDS (MORE ARGUMENT AGAINST THE WAR) (see: Ark. Priorities above)
Trends in homelessness, health, hunger, and dropout data suggest a “Society at Risk.”
(December 19, 2005) - We in the United States consider ourselves to be a generous people, and in many ways we are. Yet hunger, homelessness and inadequate health care continue to increase in our nation, while a worrisome school dropout rate has shown little improvement in recent years.
Emergency food requests increased 14.4 percent from 2003 to 2004, with 38.2 million people (or 13.2% of the population) living in households experiencing "food insecurity."
In 2004, 81 percent of major cities turned people away from shelters because they were filled to capacity, while families with children comprised 35-40 percent of the U.S. homeless population, depending on which survey's results are used.
In that same year, 45.8 million people were without health insurance.
The improvement in dropout rate is jeopardized by the Administration’s FY 2006 request for the “No Child Left Behind” Act. The amount is twelve billion dollars below what is needed to fully fund the project, including cutting funds for programs to reduce the number of high school dropouts.
Neil Wollman; Ph. D.; Senior Fellow, Peace Studies Institute; Professor of Psychology; Manchester College, North Manchester, IN 46962; HYPERLINK "mailto:njwollman@manchester.edu" njwollman@manchester.edu; 260-982-5346; fax 260-982-5043
WAL-MART
---“Wal-Mart: What’s a Bargain Worth?” by Bill McKibben http://vtcommons.org/node/170
---“Wal-Mart Fined in Suit” (TMN 12-23): A Calif. Jury awarded $172 million to thousands of W-M Calif. employees who claimed they were illegally denied lunch breaks. “The class-action lawsuit…is one of about 40 nationwide alleging workplace violations by Wal-Mart….”
JUDICIARY: ALITO
NOW and many other organizations oppose the Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Our local newspapers are giving us bits and pieces of info. E.g., TMN 12-24 reported that Alito defended the right of government officials to order domestic wiretaps for “national security.”
A coalition of organizations is gathering one million signatures to be delivered to Senator Specter, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, by January 6. Sign the Petition
ECOLOGY
On FSTV: “Inviro Close-Up,” interview by Karl Grossman of Richard Heinberg, author of The Party’s Over and Power Down. www.envirovideo.com The US has no Plan B for declining fossil fuels, except for wars. China in same situation; hence increasing competition for oil, with needs increasing in both countries. What is needed throughout the developed and developing world is radical conservation and use of alternative fuels. The US did it during WWII and can now, but we must change our life styles and find leadership or planet will be ravaged by resource wars Cuba became self-sufficient through urban organic gardens and other practices after losing Soviet oil, despite the U.S. embargo. The US can also.
SAVING THE CARIBOU
“Being Caribou,” a man and woman follow the caribou migration in the Arctic Refuge and fear for their future. (from FSTV)
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
“Kilowatt Plus” (from FSTV), focusing on SE US the destructiveness of coal and nuclear power. Coal-generated electricity: destroying the Appalachian mountains, major source of CO2 and climate change, pollutes water and air, ground-level ozone causing asthma. Nuclear energy creates ever-lasting plutonium. Remedies: energy efficiency and alternative fuels (air power, solar, geothermal). www.kilowattours.org
SOLAR POWER IN CA
California has embarked on a significant program to expand solar power, “proposing to offer more than $3 billion in consumer rebates over the next decade.” (TMN 12-14). And what is Arkansas doing?
FACTORY FARMS
“Meatrix” and “As We Sow” were shown back to back on FSTV—on steady reduction of small farms in US in competition with industrial farming supported by government. Prod. And dir. by Jan Feber.
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
FSTV: “Velocity” about “natural capitalism,” sustainable energy, esp. wind power, in contrast to the present unsustainable system permitted by hidden economic “externalities” (costs—e.g to earth and species by coal and nuclear).
SENATE SAYS NO TO DRILLING IN ARCTIC REFUGE
The Senate rejected an outrageous attempt by the Republican leadership to attach Arctic Refuge drilling to a "must-pass" defense spending bill. The pro-drilling forces needed 60 votes to break a filibuster of the bill, but they could only muster 56. Both of our Senators voted no. Write or call thanks. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (202) 224-4843; Sen. Mark Pryor (202) 224-2353.
SPRAWL ENDANGERING SPECIES
Bulldozers press, stress, harass, and eliminate species. “Since 1982, an area the size of New York state has been developed. The 20 fastest-growing urban counties are endangering 438 species” (Mother Jones Jan.-Feb. 2006, for more stats see p. 16).
MEDIA WATCH
Nov. Dec. no. of Extra! includes articles on pundits’ attack on investigator Fitzgerald, Katrina survivors portrayed as looters and snipers, media double standards in ads, Wal-Mart ads, op-ed attacks on Hugo Chavez, C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.”
CIVIL RIGHTS: EQUITY FOR WOMEN
Mother Jones (Jan.-Feb. 2006) has 2 pages of stats about women. “Women make 80 centson the male dollar,” etc.
VICTORY FOR SCIENCE
“I skimmed the judge's decision, and it is an unambiguous, overwhleming vistory for science, and a disaster for the Discovery Institute. In no uncertain terms he declares that ID is religious, has no scientific basis, and cannot be considered science in any way. He declares clearly that ID is a deliberately concocted tool using obfuscating language to insert creationism into public schools, and that the arguments for ID are well-established religious arguments dating back to Acquinus. He points to illogical and contradictory statements by Behe, and especially to Behe's statment that a belief in God is a necessary prerequisite for one to hold a belief in ID. As for the board, he points to the contradiction that people with strongly held religious moral views should stoop to repeatedly lying to push ID into the schools. It's over 120 pages, but worth a read if you get the time. Cheers, Mike Plavcan”
FUTURE
Many magazines and books and internet essays try to project a better future. One magazine, Ode, is especially future-oriented. The Oct. 25 no., for example, has articles on a new kind of college; the new book by author of the 1980 Aquarius Conspiracy; a program to reduce cars; the advantages of female leaders; a musical form of meditation; and much more.
CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
--Senator Blanche Lincoln: Web Site: www.lincoln.senate.gov
Washington Office:355 Dirksen Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510-0404
Phone: (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371. Fayetteville office: 251-1380;.
--Senator Mark Pryor: Web Site: pryor.senate.gov
Washington Office:217 Russell Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510-0403
Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908
Main District Office:700 W. Capitol, Rm. 2527 Little Rock, AR 72201
Phone: (501) 324-6336 Fax: (501) 324-5320
--Congressman John Boozman, District 3, 12 counties from Benton to Washington
Lowell office: 479-725-0400. 213 W. Monroe, Suite K, 72745. Steve Gray, coodinator of office. Heath Hasenbeck, intern (one of them). Boozman's new office in Lowell is located at 213 West Monroe in Lowell between I 540 and Business 71. To reach that office take Exit 78 off I - 540 and go east. You will be on Hwy 264 which is also West Monroe. The office is in the Puppy Creek Plaza, past the McDonald's on the right. His suite is in the back of the complex to the left.
Ft. Smith office: 479-782-7787; 30 South 6th St. Rm 240, Ft. Smith 72901.
Harrison office: 870-741-6900; 402 N. Walnut, Suite 210, Harrison 72601.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301. Leslie Parker, appointments secretary: 202-225-4301.
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. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH.
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