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OMNI NEWSLETTER: EVENTS, ACTIONS, COMMENT
JANUARY 14, 2006, BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE
The newsletters provide materials for individual communication with our Senators and our Representative. See below for their addresses.
Table of Contents:
Coming Events
Fayetteville, NWA, Arkansas
USA, World
COMING EVENTS
JANUARY 14, SATURDAY, INVASION (MARCH 2003) REMEMBRANCE MARCH PLANNING, OMNI, 1:00
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
Concert at Unity of Fayetteville called The Art of Peace. Suggested donation of $10.00. For information, call Rev. Jane Simmons at 442-0680.
JANUARY 15, Herwords Outloud starts Sunday, 6:15 (and every 3rd Sunday)
At United Campus Ministry. 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. HoWL is supported by OMNI located at 902 W. Maple in Fayetteville, in the basement of the Presbyterian and Disciples Student Center on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006.
JANUARY 15, SUNDAY, 5PM, OMNI’S MEMBERSHIP PLANNING MEETING
JANUARY 16, MONDAY, MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY
JANUARY 16, UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY BOARD AT CAT 5:30
JANUARY 16 AND 17, SHORT TAKES AT CAT
JANUARY 17, TUESDAY, OMNI’S EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETS AT UCM 1:30
Meet with us.
JANUARY 18, WEDNESDAY, League of Women Voters and OMNI present a program on “Why Watersheds,” about WATER QUALITY IN NWA. At Fayetteville Public Library, 11:30. Marion Orton and Joyce Hale. marionorton@yahoo.com Bring a sack lunch if you wish. Drinks can be purchased at Arsaga’s in the Library.
JANUARY 19, THURSDAY, OMNI STEERING COMMITTEE
5:30 potluck, 6:00 business.
JANUARY 22, 7PM – VIDEO UNDERGROUND: The Weather Underground
The Weather Underground is a feature-length documentary that explores the rise and fall of this radical movement, as former members speak candidly about the idealistiM that drove them to "bring the war home" and placed them on the FBI's most wanted list. Show Time: 92 Minutes
JANUARY 22, INTERWEAVE AND VIDEO UNDERGROUND
The LGBTQ group, Interweave, begins its monthly Dinner and a Movie. Every fourth Sunday of each month, they will will meet for dinner at a restaurant at 5pm (ROTC) and attend the 7pm VU. www.northwest-ark.com/vu
JANUARY 24, OMNI EXEC. COMMITTEE, OMNI 1:30
JANUARY 26, THURSDAY, 6:30PM, FPL, Steve Striffler talk and book signing
For Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food (by the industrial food system).
JANUARY 28, SATURDAY, 2:00, PRESIDENT VS. DEMOCRACY?
"A Republic if We Can Keep It: War Presidents and the People" will be the the topic of a public forum to be held on Saturday January 28 at 2:00pm at the Fayetteville Public Library, Walker Aud.
Prof. Steve Sheppard of the UA law school will be the speaker. The public forum hosted by the ACLU, Omni Center, and Patriots for Civil Liberties is free and open to the public.
JANUARY 29, SUNDAY, OMNI ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
JANUARY 29 Make every January 29th “Thomas Paine Day”. (See report in Dec. 30 Newsletter)
JANUARY 29, "A BRIDGE TO FOREVER": A Raw Vegan Cooking School
Pre-registration is required one week prior to the seminar. Contact: Jeff & Nancy Riedesel, Jenari Health Ministries jenari@mc2k.com; www.godswaytohealth.com
FEBRUARY 2, THURSDAY, Training on Worker's Rights
Labor Issues for Immigrants, Worker's Compensation, How to apply for Unemployment Benefits, and Organizing Immigrant Workers. At Fayetteville office: 902 West Maple St., Fayetteville, AR 72701 (in the United Campus Ministry Building). For pre-registration call me at 479-750-8015. Matthew D. Goodwin, Interfaith Workers Justice Center.
FEBRUARY 12-14, 23RD SYMPOSIUM ON SPACE NUCLEAR POWER AND PROPULSION, Albuquerque. The Symposium is coord. by U of NM’s Nuclear Engineering Dept.. Contact Bob Anderson, Albuquerque’s Stop the War Machine, to join the protests: 505-858-0882. Homes will be available for protesters.
MARCH 1, UNA-USA’s Adopt-A-Minefield Annual Night of a Thousand Dinners gathers people from around the world to share a meal and raise funds for mine action. March 1 commemorates the signing of the Ottawa Convention or Mine Ban Treaty. The 2005 Dinner raised $3 million, with Jay Leno, Tony Bennett, Paul and Heather Mills McCartney, and other celebrities present.
APRIL 1, ACLU BILL OF RIGHTS ESSAY CONTEST 2005-06 DEADLINE
Essays by Ark. students grades 9-12, no more than 750 words typed. Good prizes. For full info. go to: www.aclu.org, or call 501-374-2660.
APRIL 4, International Day for Mine Awareness.
MAY 5-15, 3rd Annual International Youth Conference on "THE ECOLOGY OF WAR AND PEACE." St. Petersburg, Russia ( Formal Conference Program: May 6-11 ) Sponsored by Common Bond Institute (USA) & HARMONY Institute (RUSSIA), in cooperation with the International Humanistic Psychology Association .
A Multidisciplinary, Multicultural Conference for future leaders Ages 14-18 www.cbiworld.org
A parallel youth conference, held at the same time and location as the Annual International Conference on Conflict Resolution (ICR), addressing issues of negative stereotypes, prejudice, and scapegoating that lead to demonizing and dehumanizing "The Other." The theme of ecology places all "on the same side," as they delve into personal interactions to empower each other as the future leaders of the world.
FAYETTEVILLE, NWA, ARKANSAS
CAT WORKSHOPS
To enroll call 444-3433. OMNI needs trained media techs.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIDEO
FPL has a Human Rights Video Collection. Use one or more to create a program.
OMNI MEDIA ACCESS
LOCAL: Community Access TV: Current Issues Forums (Dick, Milford, Newmark, Mikkelson); CAT Short Takes (Commentary: Cliff Hughes; Upcoming Events; Dick Bennett, Livia Phillips); Free Speech TV at CAT (6 hours daily of progressive documentaries and advocacy, paid for by OMNI; Dick); Critical Thinking Awards (Nancy Maier); Bill Moyers IRE Travel Fund (UA Journ.; Dick); Victims Colllection at UA’s Mullins Library (Dick); Low-Power FM Radio (in preparation, Jim Hale, Carl Barnwell, Gladys and Richard Tiffany).
NWA: On-line Newsletter (Upcoming Events; Fayetteville, NWA, Ark.; USA, World; Dick); Rapid Response Writers (Larry Woodall); CDs (Kelly Mulhollan).
ARKANSAS: I.F. Stone Investigative Reporting Award, Government; Dick)
REGIONAL: IRE Regional Travel Awards (LA, MS, OK; Dick)
GLOBAL: Web Site (Marc Quigley); Video Underground (2nd and 4th Sunday nights at OMNI/UCM, Pippin Lowe, Greg Moore); PeaceWriting (awards for unpublished books, since 1998, Dick); Bibliographies of books (23 so far, Dick).
PRINT PUBLICATIONS: The Truth of the Trees (2000)(for Mary Lightheart and trees; Dick, Michelle and Pat Snyder). Supported It’s Our World Too by Ramay Jr. High Studio I Art Students, Judith Paz, Instructor (Libby Lizarraga display, chapbook by Nancy Maier and others).
OMNI’S SHORT TAKES: CLIFF HUGHES
Cliff has expressed his opinion for several years on our ST show. “My Short Takes normally deal with current issues in Politics, but often criticize Economic policies that are unjust, unwise, or short sighted. Since our current president has pursued unilateral war, I have focused on the blatant distortions and fabrications leading to our current predicament in the Middle East, and throughout the world.”
RAPID RESPONSE WRITERS
From Larry W: “We did an outstanding job of getting our messages out in 2005. By my count we published 230 letters to editor by Dec 30, 2005. Our mission or goal which began in 2003 was to counter ultra conservative and fundamentalist views in local media . I think we have achieved this. The Op-Ed sections of local papers are now reflecting numerous progressive and liberal views which were largely absent two years ago. Several of you think our efforts have encouraged many others to speak out. I hope so.”
OMNI’S NEW SCULPTURE
Via Silent Auction, OMNI now owns “Seville,” a construction by Sarah Moore about the technological destruction of air war. Contact Dick for interpretation.
PEACE STORIES
TMN is publishing a series of stories about War Heroes. 1-9 has about a full page. Talk up OMNI’s Stories About Peace and Justice Heroes. Peace and the history of peace come from real, ordinary people. NWA peacemakers, their families, and friends are encouraged to share their stories with readers of this newsletter, and perhaps they will be collected into a booklet. Keep stories to approx. 800 words (3 typewritten pages double-spaced with regular margins). The stories may be edited. Include a photo, and your phone no. and e-mail. Send your stories to OMNI (jbennet@uark.edu) with PEACE STORIES as the Subject. If you would like to be the editor of this series for OMNI, contact Dick.
Iraq War Commentary
Ozarks at Large is currently accepting commentary submissions for an hour radio program that will feature a variety of Ozark voices discussing their thoughts, feelings,! opinions and personal stories concerning the Iraq war. ”We are particularly curious about the personal stories, motivations, and daily life events that brought you to these current opinions and feelings. We are not simply looking for pro and anti war commentaries. Commentaries need to be approx. one and half pages double-spaced. Ozarks at Large is a weekly radio show featuring news, arts, events and voices from the Ozarks. Ozarks at Large is a production of KUAF 91.3 FM, Fayetteville and Fort Smith. For more information about the show please visit www.kuaf.comQuestions? send an email to ozarksatlarge@yahoo.com
TO VIETNAM FOR RECONCILIATION
OMNI’s longtime members, Karen Takemoto and Ladeana Mullinix, traveled to Vietnam recently with Don Voth.
OMNI PROTEST SATURDAY JAN. 7
A good turnout: Karen, Susan, and Dylan Idlet, Bill Williams, John Rule, Chris Delacruz, and Dick. And KNWA reporter Brian. Put Sat. FEB. 4 on your calendar now.
NEW YEAR’S EVE
The School of Metaphysics/OMNI New Year’s Greeting included excellent food from several businesses and individuals, art for sale, original guitar music by David Schoen (“Gumbo” etc.), Steve and the Recliners (beginning with Jim Dudley’s “Sweet Land of Eden, What Have We Done?” and continuing with Burnetta’s “Started All Over Again” and “I Shall Be Released,” and ending with “Those Were the Days My Friends”), Phil and Alysson (“Ezra’s Lullabye” about the Orphan Train, and many other songs), poems by Mendy, leading into the Universal Hour of Peace and reading of the Universal Peace Covenant.
CAT’S BOARD MEETINGS
The CAT Board meetings are the First Thursday of Every Month at 6pm in the Council Chambers and may be seen Live on the Government Channel 16 on Cox Cable in Fayetteville.
NWA DIVERSITY AND TOLERATION
In TMN: “Rogers Sees Ethnic Diversity” by Lori Harrison-Stone, the first in a series on a decade of Hispanic population growth in NWA.
INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT EXCHANGE
EF Foundation for Foreign Study is seeking students and sponsors for exchange, for helping youth understand people of other cultures, working toward a more peaceful global society. Contact: Jim and Martha Weeks, Bella Vista (TMN 1-12 letter to the editor).
ARKANSAS PRIORITIES
CHILD PROTECTION
“Lack of Workers Slows Child Abuse Inquiries” (TMN 12-31-05). We need to examine more closely the connection between local development and population growth, Pres. Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Bush Admin.’s cuts in its social budget, and declining local services. “The need for people to investigate child abuse claims is so great in NWA the state has begun recruiting retirees.” Also see ADG (12-25-05), “Incoming Calls Swamp Hot Line on Child Abuse” by Charlotte Tubbs.
MENTAL HEALTH CARE
TMN (1-6), “Suit Seeks Better State Care for Mentally Ill Inmates.” And see Brenda Blagg’s column same day 7A. And ADG (1-4), “Aid to Mentally Ill Called Still Lacking.”
EMERGENCY CARE
“Emergency Physicians Give Arkansas a ‘D’” (TMN 1-11-06). In a report reflecting state support of emergency care (not the quality of emerg. Physicians) Ark. “ranked last.” And “Report: Arkansas Ranks Last” (TMN 1-14).
FREE CLINIC
“The Clinic of Last Resort,” Letter to Editor by Marynm Bassett (NAT 1-4), appeals for support of the NWA Free Health Center.
MEDICATION
“State Health Emergency” (TMN 1-12), Goveror invokes emergency powers because too many Ark. citizens “are at a life-and-death risk over the issue of getting medication they need.” (Just below this report is a typical uncritical advocacy of more highways: “Lawmakeers Told Bypass a Top Priority.” Told? By the Northwest Arkansas Council. Who are they? Business leaders “who try to determine the area’s greatest longterm needs.” That is, highways—not prescription drugs for the elderly and frail, not for the poor, not for emergency, mental, or child care.
ACADEMIC EDUCATION BEFORE ATHLETICS
TMN (1-5, John Brummett, “Governor Nipping Athletics), on Gov. Huckabee appointing a critic of excessive athletic expenditures in the public schools to the state Board of Education, when the state needs the money to meet the court’s ruling for adequate and equal academic education.
MEDIA/BUSINESS COMPLEX FOCUS ON ROADS
None of the reports I have read recently about highways give no context as to other needs, except for the airport. Even Brenda Blagg in her column (TMN 1-13) treats roads and by-passes as the only need, and refers to the Northwest Arkansas Council as a “non-profit” seeking to “get things done for NWA,” when its goal is profits for businesses.
ECOLOGY: POLLUTION
“Toxics Rule Lets Polluters Off the Hook” (Little Rock Free Press, 12-1-05, p. 5): EPA has proposed changes to the Toxics Release Inventory Program “that would significantly decrease the information that the public…have about harmful chemicals released into Arkansas water, air, and land….’The Bush Administration’s proposal puts corporations first and communities last.’”
NWA GRASSROOTS MILITARISM
“Volunteers Planning for Veteran Memorial Expansion” by Christy Attlesey (TMN 1-9). Bella Vista’s Veterans Wall of Honor (2004) will expand its glorification of all veterans and all U. S. wars no matter how illegal or atrocious: “recognizing the contributions made by American men and women who have served in one of the branches of the military at any time.” Building a Culture of Peace includes ending this thoughtless, immoral, nationalist practice.
ARKANSAS STATE LEGISLATURE
Our Leg resumes this month. Contact Lindsley Smith, Sue Madison, and Marilyn Edwards about your peace, justice, and environmental priorities.
USA, WORLD
PROGRESSIVE MEDIA
www.deepdishtv.org; www.adbusters.org
NEW PEACE ORGANIZATION
The film director David Lynch has created the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace to support meditation programs in elementary schools and colleges.
WAR HERO
“Cancer Claims Honored My Lai War Hero Thompson” (TMN 1-7): Hugh Thompson Jr., former Army helicopter pilot, rescued Vietnamese civilians from his fellow Gis during the My Lai massacre. I wish we had the land and money to build him a monument.
BUSH IN OFFICE
Pres. Bush has two years remaining in the White House.
Impeachment is Now Real
Veterans for Peace Chap. 27 (Minneapolis) has an impeachment initiative with coordinator, Daniel Fearn (aldermn@earthlink.net) (their coalition is: www.afterdowningstreet.org )
Martin Garbus, http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20051228/cm_huffpost/012972
From Mike T: (Just Google: Bush impeachment)
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rev__bil_051223_bush_impeachment_pro.htm
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/news_in_brief/msnbc_poll_051226.shtml
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m19145&l=i&size=1&hd=0
Bush Impeachment Not Out of the Question
http://villagevoice.com/news/0552,ridgeway,71265,2.html
Conyers seeks impeachment inquiry over domestic spying
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051221/POLITICS/512210433
A Message to Impeachment Non-Believers
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/6/111242/0630
The Impeach Project
http://www.theimpeachproject.com/wordpress/index.php
Martial Law ?
Marshall Grossman, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-grossman/martial-law_b_12929.html
FILL IN THE BLANKS
By opting for confrontation, President ? may be, in part, pursuing his domestic political agenda, which is based on rekindling a confrontation with the ? in order to put his own power center, the security forces, in the dominant position in ? ‘s power struggles. (Answer at end of Newsletter)
“The Bush Family Fortunes: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy,” documentary film by Greg Palast for BBC and Guardian newspaper.
RISE OF NAZI GERMANY
"What no one seemed to notice was the ever widening gap between the government and the people. And it became always wider.....the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting, it provided an excuse not to think....for people who did not want to think anyway gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about.....and kept us so busy with continuous changes and 'crises' and so fascinated.....by the machinations of the 'national enemies,' without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us.....
"Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, 'regretted,' that unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these 'little measures'.....must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing.....Each act is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next.
"You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow. You don't want to act, or even talk, alone.....you don't want to 'go out of your way to make trouble.' But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes.
"You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things our father.....could never have imagined."
Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free, The Germans, 1938-45 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955)
LANGUAGE CONTROL
--Control of definitions produces control of people. See “Bush’s War Rhetoric Poses a Threat”by Benjamin Kleinerman (TMN 1-6) on Bush’s definition of the home front as “one of the most critical battlefields.” Logic: since battlefields allow actions that would never be permitted elsewhere, civil liberties can be suppressed, even the dismissal of the 4th Amendment by warrantless surveillance, and dissent can be labeled as damaging to national security. Think of other definitional dislocations, such as shifting the wrongdoer: from War Department to Defense Dept., from State Terror (US invasions) to War on Terror (i.e. individual, small group terror). The peace movement has to make its struggle first on the level of language.
--“Spin Machine Working” by John Brummett (TMN 1-9) on highly successful language control by GOP during the past 20 or more years, and now successful spinning on illegal warrantless electronic eavesdropping on U. S. citizens as spying as usual. But true and full reporting of GOP corruption might not be so easy to contain, so wide and deep it is (e.g., Abramoff’s “exponential filth”).
ENDING THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ AND ABOLISHING WARS
Read Howard Zinn’s hopeful essay, “After the War,” in the January Progressive. From Bob B. and Larry W. Compile some questions for Boozman from this essay.
LEAVE IRAQ
From AFSC: 10 Reasons Why the U.S. Must Leave Iraq: Read or download AFSC’s new pamphlet that explores why the U.S. occupation of Iraq is both wrong and counterproductive—and why the troops must be brought home now. Download the pamphlet or read it online Confront our Senators and Representative with these arguments.
IRAQI DEATHS
How Many Iraqis Have Died Since the US Invasion in 2003?
By ANDREW COCKBURN
http://www.counterpunch.org/andrew01092006.html
President Bush's off-hand summation last month of the number of Iraqis who have so far died as a result of our invasion and occupation as "30,000, more or less" was quite certainly an under-estimate. The true number is probably hitting around 180,000 by now, with a possibility, as we shall see, that it has reached as high as half a million.
TORTURE and DEATHS OF DETAINEES
Despite accumulating evidence from Amnesty International and other NGOs of detainee abuse in Afghanistan and Guantanamo and Iraq, there has been no meaningful action by the Bush Admin. Worse, there has been no assessment of the responsibility of officials whose policies created an environment of abuse. No prosecutions have resulted from the investigations into the deaths in U. S. custody. Urge Rep. Boozman to establish an independ commission on detainee abuse of prisoners in U. S. custody—202-224-3121.
THE WORLD TRIBUNAL ON IRAQ (WTI) in Istanbual 2005 www.worldtribunal.org
The speech I heard this morning was by a young female prof. in Istanbul, who spoke on military service as the largest method by states to mold minds of citizens, the “School of the Fatherland,” and its foremost purpose is to train people to kill.
FALLUJA DESTROYED
“Caught in the Crossfire,” doc. of killing and displacing civilians during attack on Falluja in “Operation Phantom Fury,” which US mainstream media little reported. See: www.co9nceptionsmedia.net (org?).
WAR FOR OIL AND OIL CORPORATIONS
This is a good report on Iraq & US coalition plundering of Iraqi oil. You may know it already. –Carl B
“Crude Designs: The Rip-Off of Iraq’s Oil Wealth” by Greg Muttitt
While the Iraqi people struggle to define their future amid political chaos and violence, the fate of their most valuable economic asset, oil, is being decided behind closed doors. This report reveals how an oil policy with origins in the US State Department is on course to be adopted in Iraq, soon after the December elections, with no public debate and at enormous potential cost. The policy allocates the majority (1) of Iraq’s oilfields – accounting for at least 64% of the country’s oil reserves – for development by multinational oil companies. For the full report go to: http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2005/crudedesigns.htm
PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA: www.pva.org
OPPOSITION TO THE INVASION (retrospective by Sourcecode via FSTV, www.sourcecode.org)
--Interview of Camilo Mejio, first CO v. invasion/occupation of Iraq).
--Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity exposing the corruption and manufacturing of intelligence to justify invasion and occupation.
--Gail Murphy of Code Pink, Cindy Sheehan, et al.
--Veterans for Peace National Conference, Michael McPherson, Exec. Dir. and other speakers.
“Dance of Death” film on FSTV in opposition to the war and occupation by people of US and Iraq. Includes Military Families Speak Out, Jeremy Scahill of “Democracy Now” reporting from Iraq, analysis of Pentagon recruiting ($2.4 billion/year including $350 million /year for ads), stress on US troops, etc.
MILITARIZATION OF COLLEGE CAMPUSES
“Making a Killing on Campus” by Brian Bogart (Space Alert Winter 2005-6) described and denounces how “our schools have become military installations” where “we are learning to kill in the name of research.” More broadly it explains how 55 years ago NSC68 set the US on a course “to base our economy on weapons production for a military-first rather than a people-first America.”
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies…a theft from those who hunger and…those who are cold.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953.
$$COST OF THE WAR
Study: Cost of war on Iraq likely to be $1-2 TRILLION
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0110/dailyUpdate.html
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/5/11510/30624
ECONOMY: HOW BAD IS IT?
Read Seymour Hersh’s speech presented at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in NYC. “Europe is not going to tolerate us much longer. The rage there is enormous.” As “the dollar goes bad and everybody stops buying our bonds….” “We’re spending $1 billion a day to float the debt, and one of these days, the Japanese and the Russians, everybody is going to start buying oil in Euros instead of dollars.” (from Space Alert p. 11).
“Heads roll at Veterans Administration:
Mushrooming depleted uranium (DU) scandal blamed”
by Bob Nichols, Project Censored Award Winner
Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the reason Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi stepped down earlier this month was the growing scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.
http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/headsroll012605.shtml (from Larry W)
INVADING IRAN?
From: PeaceUK “German media: U.S. prepares Iran strike” By MARTIN WALKER
UPI Editor
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051230-112208-8968r Indications of a US-led military strike against nuclear installations in Iran early in 2006 are now so clear, and reports of mounting diplomatic activity so frequent, that the lack of a strong civil society anti-attack campaign is becoming
alarming.
CHEMICAL WARFARE: USA
From FSTV (www.alternatevoices.org) “Battle’s Poison Cloud”: Vietnamese people poisoned by US chemical warfare—Agent Orange (dioxin), etc.
BOMBMAKER HERO?
Albert Weimorts died recently. For the Air Force Research Laboratory, Mr. Weimorts made the “Bunker Buster” used in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and the “mother of all bombs” shock and awe bombs for the 2nd Iraq War. He was also the project engineer for a cluster bomb that had a production rate of 8 million bomblets a month during the Vietnam War. And other achievements for killing and maiming. The obituary in TNYT (12-25) quotes a statement from the Laboratory praising Mr. Weimorts: “’Time after time, Weimorts has put weapons in the warfighter’s hands and has made a difference in the national defense of our country.’” But no defensive uses of his bombs were cited—because they were all for aggressions. What are Boozman’s votes for bomb research, production, and proliferation?
SOLDIERS AGAINST ILLEGAL WARS
--The org. Citizen Soldier plays a special role in the antiwar movement by focusing on counseling and legal defense for GIs who question their role in illegal wars like “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” www.citizen-soldier.org
--Vietnam Veterans Against the War helps GIs apply for conscientious objector (CO) status, to avoid being sent back to Irq a second time, and to obtain benefits. Ray Parrish, vvaw@vvaw.org, www.vvaw.org, 773-276-4189.
TOY SOLDIERS BRING THEM HOME
Valerie Mapstone Ackerman became inspired by a story on NPR about a Chicago woman who began her own personal campaign to bring our soldiers home from Iraq. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5021524
Basically, it entails acquiring toy soldiers, attaching a message to them ("Please bring me home"), and then surreptitiously leaving them in public places.
NUCLEAR WAR (see above on “depleted” uranium used in weapons)
FSTV: “Deadly Arrogance: The New Nuclear Nightmare.” Prod. by Randy Atkins. What has Boozman done to reduce or abolish nuclear weapons?
THEOCRACY
The push for theocracy by right-wing Christians is at the heart of understanding Bush’s foreign policy, the invasions of Afghan. and Iraq, the attacks on social services, etc. FSTV showed the speakers at the conference, “Examining the Religious Agenda of the Far Right”—Dominionism, etc. See Theocracy Watch.
HUMAN RIGHTS USA?
“The White house said…that the United States is the world leader on human rights” (ADG 12-3-05). I won’t rehearse the present evidence to the contrary, with which you are familiar, but you might not know much about past US anti-human rights behavior. See my Political Prisoners and Trials: A Worldwide Annotated Bibliography, 1900 through 1993, which contains 48pp. of publications on US human rights violations, many of them major histories. It would be interesting (laughable?) to hear Boozman repeat Bush Admin. false claims of US h.r. virtue.
DEATH PENALTY
With a vote of 55-21 (2 abstentions) in the New Jersey Assembly today, New Jersey has now passed a bill to put a moratorium on executions. The Senate earlier passed the bill, and the Governor has said he will sign it.
POLICE STATE JUSTICE?
---Report Rebuts Bush on Spying By Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 7, 2006; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/06/AR2006010601772.html
---The US Justice Dept. is seeking to find the person who leaked Pres. Bush’s secret, warrantless, spying searches program. Instead of the wrongdoer—the US gov’t.—go after the person who exposes it. TMN (12-31-05). (TNYT disclosed in a page one story the warrantless surveillance conducted by the NSA since 9-11.) Bush justifies the searches as legal during war, but since the US is perpetually at war, the result is this aspect of a police state? And Boozman’s position, votes?
THIS SCOUNDREL TIME INCLUDES SEXUAL REPRESSION TOO
From FSTV a documentary on laws in TX and other states prohibiting sale of sexual pleasure devices. I didn’t catch the title, but it was prod. By Laura Barton, Road Trip Productions.
JUDICIARY: ALITO
---Confirmation hearings began Jan. 9. Look at his record, here. See below for contacting your senators and representative. Yes, there is a little work involved in Being a Citizen in a Democratic Republic, but worth it.
--- Marjorie Cohn | Alito Sounds Death Knell for Individual Rights
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011006I.shtml
Marjorie Cohn writes: "If confirmed, Alito would tip the high court's delicate balance radically to the right. Nearly always favoring the government, corporations and universities, Alito has ruled against individual rights in 84 percent of his dissents."
--- Judge Alito has a record of extreme views on issues like privacy and civil rights and a pattern of deception to hide them from congress and the public. He's the wrong choice for the highest court in the land. You can write a short letter to your Senators and deliver it online just by going here: http://www.political.moveon.org/alitoletters
orhttp://action.aclu.org/alito to join the ACLU in urging your senators to reject Alito. Fr. Stephen C.
---From National Women’s Law Center:
NWLC’s Blog on Judicial Nominations - www.NominationWatch.org
Judge Alito's Legal Views on the Limits of Congressional Power Are Far Outside the Mainstream and Would Severely Undermine Congress's Ability to Protect the Public (January 4, 2006)
Judge Alito Has Taken Positions that Would Undermine Critical Anti-Discrimination Protections for Women (January 3, 2006)
Judge Alito's Confirmation Would Endanger the Right to Choose (January 3, 2006)
Say "No" to Alito Pocket Guide (December 2005)
Factsheet on Judge Samuel Alito and Women's Issues (December 15, 2005)
Executive Summary: The Nomination of Samuel Alito: A Watershed Moment for Women (December 15, 2005)
---Enviro. orgs. against Alito: www.earthjustice.org, www.sierra.org
TAXES
“2006 Tax Cuts Targeted at Upper Class” (TMN 1-4-5): “…there isn’t any doubt about who will be smiling most from the 2006 round of tax cutting: It’s the rich, and they’re about to get richer.” Two provisions (easing restrictions on rich to itemize their deductions, and relaxing limits on exemptions) are “expected to reduce federal income taxes by $27 billion over five years, with 97 percent of the benefits falling to those making at least $200,000 a year.” How does Boozman answer for these abuses of power?
CONGRESS
http://www.usalone.com/ (The People's Email Network)
http://www.moveonpac.org/keepmeposted/ (MoveOn)
http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/ (The Sierra Club)
http://aclu.org/ (American Civil Liberties Union)
http://www.nrdcaction.org/join/subscribe.asp (Natural Resources Defense Council)
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issuesaction/alert/ From Chris D.
WORLD FACTS
Good source for world facts on population, GDP, public debt-revenues, products, pop ages,, imports/exports, fuel reserves, etc. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/docs/profileguide.html
WORLD INFORMATION WEBSITE
We are pleased to announce that on January 11 PIPA will launch a new website/webzine called www.WorldPublicOpinion.org, to provide a source of in-depth information and analysis on public opinion from around the world on international issues. As the world becomes more integrated, most policy challenges--whether related to security, economic development, human rights, the environment or other areas--have become increasingly global, pointing to a greater need for understanding between nations and for finding global norms. www.WorldPublicOpinion.org seeks to increase understanding of public opinion in specific nations around the world as well as to elucidate global patterns of world public opinion.
PEACE STUDY ABROAD
INVITATION TO STUDY PEACE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION at the European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), Stadtschlaining, Austria. Website www.epu.ac.at, Email epu@epu.ac.at, Tel +43-3355-2498-515.
UNITED NATIONS
“United They Fall: Why only Bill Clinton can save the U.N.” is the title of a lengthy essay in the January issue of Harper’s magazine. He proposes that Clinton be chosen as the next secretary-general of the U.N. “Around the world, Clinton is viewed as a peacemaker and someone so great that he has outgrown the United States.…The one attribute he has that few other Americans have is that beyond our borders he is considered fair.” From Larry W.
GLOBALIZATION: CAFTA
FSTV, SourceCode program opposing free trade. United for a Fair Economy (www.faireconomy.org). (SourceCode has many diverse programs: chronology of Bush’s deceits, what we can do to stop the war, etc.)
AFRICA
---CONGO: “Study: 38,000 Die Each Month in Deadliest Humanitarian Crisis” (TMN 1-7-06). “Nearly 4 million people died between 1998-2004 alone—the indirect result of years of ruinous fighting,” causing malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, etc.
---Crisis in Zimbabwe
From AFSC: While it has received little media attention in the United States, the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is rapidly deteriorating. The country is experiencing widespread food shortages, massive numbers of newly homeless people, growing unemployment, and a high rate of HIV/AIDS. Find out how you can help
IMMIGRATION
FSTVdoc.: “A Great Wonder: A Story of Immigration.”
ECOLOGY (see: Nuclear)
--FSTV (funded by OMNI) showed an excellent speech by Paul Hawken on grassroots advocates of social and economic justice and defense of the earth, against the corporate state destroyers. www.bioneers.org Urge Boozman and his staff, who live in a cocoon of ideological illusions reinforced by established power, to see this film.
--FSTV also showed Wangira Matthai speaking for her Nobel Peace Prize mother on “The Green Belt Movement of Kenya.”
--FSTV: “Enviro Close-up”: interview by Karl Grossman of Oren Lyons of the Onendaga, who spoke on global warming, fossil fuels, and related topics. Lyons wrote Exiled in the Land of the Free.
--“The Greening of America’s Campuses,” “Education Life” in NYT (Sunday, Jan. 8). The spreading sustainability movement.
CORPORATE ADVERTISING AND ECOLOGY
In a recent New York Times Magazine ad, BP (British Petroleum) typically employed chicanery to divert us from its responsibility for global warming. The title of the ad, “What on Earth Is a Carbon Footprint,” tries to convince readers that we are all equally responsible for carbon dioxide emissions—you when you wash a load of laundry. And BP? Well, its footprint is not mentioned, but in fact is totally whitewashed by renaming it Beyond Petroleum! Unfortunately this advertising works just as product ad deception works, esp. if repeated attractively.
CORPORATE POISONING
“Poisoned: The Workers of Brush-Wellman,” from FSTV about the harm of beryllium to the workers at a B-W plant and to all of South Tucson.
CORPORATE CONTROL OF AGRI
---FSTV documentary on attempts by a few corporates to control seeds by genetic engineering and patenting. See: www.bullfrogfilms.com.
---“Corporate Agriculture: The Hollow Men” on the many harms caused by industrial farming. Robert Kennedy, Jr., of Waterkeepers Alliance and others speak out against the pollution of groundwater, rivers, and lakes, the overuse of antibiotics, the open cesspools (call lagoons), and the political corruption. He calls factory farming an “outlaw industry.”
SPRAWL VS. AGRICULTURE
“Valley at the Crossroads” (from FSTV) about the steady reduction of agriculture in the central valley of California because of urban sprawl. Developers and realtors perceive agri land as did early Europeans see the US West—as open space, and towns (realtors, bankers, et al.) compete with other towns for growth. www.farmlandtrust.org And NWA?
FILL IN THE BLANKS: Iran’s Pres. Ahmedinajad. You thought it was Bush?
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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