CONTENTS:
PHILLY
AREA ACTION:
NATIONAL
& INTERNATIONAL ACTION:
COMMENTARY:
===========
PHILLY
AREA ACTION:
Free
tax preparation for Philadelphia residents
http://www.phillyfreetaxes.org/index.html
More info, including locations, is available at
the url
above.
____________________________________________________________________
PINK
Philly: book discussion of Naomi Wolf’s book, The End of
America.
The url below is a little talk from the author
about her
book, which is available at House of Our Own, 3920 Spruce Street and
many other
bookstores around the city. We will be gathering on January 6,
2008 at a
members home in West Philly, 3 PM for our monthly gathering and 4 PM
for a
delicious potluck and discussion of this frightening and important book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc
Its hard to read
something
like this on our own, so we decided to support folks in getting through
it and
processing the information. Maybe even leading to some action in
response.
Please email or call if you want to attend and
we’ll give you the address.
.. Peace, Z for CodePINK Philly, 215-474-4081, phillycodepink@gmail.com
_____________________________
Buy
local and handmade gifts amongst the good company at Tatooed
Mom’s.
Sunday the 16th, 1:00-6:00Pm
http://www.travelingwares.com
Location: 530 South St., Philadelphia
Holiday
Crafts at the Highpoint Café
Thursday the 20th, 5:00-7:00pm:
Support local artists while enjoying the best
coffee and
most delicious baked goods around! Location: 602 Carpenter
Lane,
Philadelphia, 19119 (Mt Airy)
===============================
ONGOING
EVENTS (Daily/Weekly):
Contact members of Congress
a. Capitol Switchboard is 1-800-828-0498 or
1-866-340-9281 to call anyone in Congress.
b. Use the following excellent link:
http://www.capwiz.com/ncec/home _____
Mondays:
5-6 PM - Newtown Peace Vigil at the
corner of the
Newtown By- Pass,route 332, and the
Newtown-
Richboro Road. For more information, call Sister Jean at
215-968-2262.
6:00-9:00 p.m. Weekly ACT UP
Meeting
St. Luke's Church, 330 S. 13th St., Philadelphia, PA.
For info, email actupphilly@critpath.org
5:00-7:00 p.m. Radio Show: "Labor
to
Neighbor" with hosts Janet Ryder, Pat Eiding & Pete
Matthews 900 AM WURD--215-634-8065.
Tuesdays:
6-7 PM - Doylestown Peace Vigil at the
intersection
of State and Main in Doylestown.
All
are welcome to join and we have signs to use if you wish.
7:00-9:00 p.m. Organizing Meeting
,
Toviah Thrift Shop Chestnut
St. (between 42nd & 43rd)
Call (215) 382-7251, box 1 for info
Sponsored by Neighbors Against McPenntrification
Wednesdays:
4:30-5:30 p.m. Peace Vigil Federal
Building, 601
Market St., Philadelphia, PA
Sponsored by House of Grace Catholic Worker
For info, email brandywine@juno.com .
5:00 p.m. Vigil for
Peace Outside
Unitarian Society of Germantown, 6511 Lincoln Dr.,
Philadelphia, PA. For info, see
http://www.northwestpeacecoalition.org.
7:00 p.m. Peace Vigil Germantown
Ave. &
Bethlehem Pike, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA
For info, see http:// www.northwestpeacecoalition.org.
Thursdays:
6-7 PM - Levittown Vigil for Peace and
Remembrance.
Meet/park at 1631 Edgely Road in Levittown and walk to corner of
Rt. 13
and
Edgely. Sponsored by PA Action. Call
Robin at
267-240-9819
Fridays:
NOON: Grandparents (Bubbies & Zaydes) for
Peace in
the Middle East
Plan to join us any Friday on S 15th Street above Locust.
Vigil and witness for justice and peace in Palestine/ Israel.
4:30 p.m. Anti-war leafleting and
picket
Market & 11th Sts., Philadelphia, PA.
For info, email pawf@critpath.org
5:00 p.m. Vigil--Women in Black
Swarthmore
Train Station, Park Ave. & Chester Rd., Swarthmore, PA
For info, email wibswarthmore@hotmail.com.
5-5:30 PM - Phoenixville Peace Vigil at corner
of Bridge
and Main
in downtown
Phoenixville.
5-6 PM - Honk for Peace on Final Friday
(every
month) at Broad and Cherry/in front of the Recruiters Office.
Stand with signs and conviction until the war is finally over-
remembering
the American soldiers have who
have
died in Iraq and scores of Iraqis whose names will never be
known.
Take your stand, lend your support, bring a sign.
Celeste Zappala, Gold Star Families Speak Out
9:30 PM - Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.
Veteran journalist Bill Moyers returns to PBS with a weekly
public
affairs series.
10:30PM - David Brancachio's NOW, on PBS
Saturdays:
10-11 AM - Sellersville Peace Vigil at Main St.
and
Temple Ave.
sponsored by Upper Bucks Coalition for Peace Action.
Call Angela at 215-257-1300 for more
information.
10:00 a.m. to noon - "Talking Union" weekly
call-in radio show, 1340 AM
11AM-Noon - Bryn Mawr Honk to Impeach Rally
will be held
at the
Lancaster Ave and Bryn Mawr Ave. intersection
by Ludington Library. Sponsored by Main Line Citizens for Impeachment.
Call Jane Dugdale at 610-527-4170.
Noon-1:00 p.m. Peace Vigil Rte. 38
&
Cherry Hill Mall Dr., Cherry Hill, NJ
For info, email greatercamdenunitycoalition@yahoo.com
1:00-2:00 p.m. Protest at Ferber
Furs 1708
Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA
For info, email phillyar@yahoogroups.com.
7:30 p.m. Books Through Bars
Packing Cafe The
A Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave., Philadelphia, PA
Help pack books to send to prisoners. Email
info@booksthroughbars.org
M-F:
8 a.m., noon, 7 p.m., midnight, TV program
"Democracy Now"
with Amy Goodman DUTV Ch. 54 on WYBE (Channel 20 or 35 in some areas;
3,48,62,99 in others.
You can also listen daily on the internet at http://www.democracynow.org/
================================
NATIONAL
& INTERNATIONAL ACTION:
Philly
& Cambridge:
The
Refuser Solidarity Network has learned that Breaking the Silence will
bring its
photo exhibition to the U.S. for the first time in early 2008.
* In February, the exhibition will premiere in
Philadelphia, at a venue in West Philadelphia called:the Rotunda (
http://www.therotunda.org/foundation.html).
* In March, the exhibition will travel to
Cambridge, MA,
where it will be shown at Harvard's Center for Government and
International
Studies ( http://cgis.fas.harvard.edu/). The exhibition consists of
over 100
photographs, and several video testimonies. To maximize its impact,
several
members of Breaking the Silence will be present in Philadelphia and
Cambridge,
to explain, challenge, and engage the public on the content and meaning
of the
exhibit.
The power of the exhibition will speak
powerfully to both
the Jewish and non-Jewish public, and about much more than simply the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
________________________________________________
URGENT
PETITION to END THE HEALTH CRISIS IN GAZA
Appeal
- Appeal - Appeal
We have a very series shortage of diesel in the
ministry
of Health
the majority of the 11 hospitals of MOH do
suffer from a
shortage of fuel, the same is for the 52 primary health care clinics
and
vehicles.
I am not speaking now about the consequences
but they are
catastrophic and include the transportation defect which will not
enable the
employees of the Ministry to go to their hospitals.
Please. We urge
you to
help us by applying any sort of pressure that could let the Israelis
change
their mind about this fatal action that would threaten the lives of
thousands
of civilians in the already under siege Gaza.
Dr Medhat Abbas,
General
Director of Crisis Management Unit, Ministry of Health, Gaza.
Contact:
mabbas@gov.ps
The United Nations, The World Health
Organisation and
Physicians for
Human Rights have condemned Israel for this
situation,
but Israeli
government is still continue to its policy and
Palestinian patients
are slowly dying in front of the world.
All the victims
of this
humanitarian crisis are innocent civilians, and
many of them are children.
Please
sign this petition to call the United
Nations and the Israeli
government
to allow the Palestinian patients having treatment outside of Gaza:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-gaza
________________________________________________________
Urge
your representative to sign the DeFazio/Welch letter calling on
President Bush
to seek a 'direct, unconditional, and
comprehensive'
dialogue with Iran.
* Call the Capitol switchboard today, Toll-free
1-888-796-7578
*
_______________________________________________________
Vote
for Dennis Kucinich in the Independent Primary.com
Vote for Dennis Kucinich in the
IndependentPrimary.com
Poll. The results of this poll will be watched by independent voters
around the
country, but particularly by those who will be voting in the nation's
first
primary in New Hampshire on Jan. 8, 2008 ... now voters all across the
nation
can affect the New Hampshire Primary.
Vote now at:
http://www.independentprimary.com
IMPEACH:
In less than 24 hours, 40,000 people have signed
Rep. Robert Wexler, who with Reps. Luis
Gutierrez and
Tammy Baldwin, is calling for immediate hearings on Dennis Kucinich's
long-blocked Cheney Impeachment bill (H Res 799), are trying to get
50,000
signatures on a petition posted yesterday at a new site:
http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com
I'm asking
readers of
ThisCantBeHappening.net to please go to the site and sign on right
away, and
beyond that, to notify everyone on your mailing list to do the same,
and to
send word to their friends.
We can do this.
In fact,
we should be able to put 500,000 names on that list by Monday!
Please do this, and don't put it off.
Thanks! Dave Lindorff
______________________________________________________________
.
UNKNOWN ARMED GROUP IN OAXACA ABDUCTED HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Posted by: "Guy Montag" morknme6@yahoo.com morknme6
An unknown armed group in Oaxaca, Mexico,
abducted
a woman human rights defender. She was brutally interrogated and
threatened
with being abducted again if she does not stop her
activities.
Nancy Mota
Figueroa, a
leader of a women's organisation in Oaxaca and an activist with the
Popular
Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de
Oaxaca,
APPO), was temporarily abducted by unknown armed individuals on 2
December. She
was questioned about other APPO activists, threatened with death and
rape and
was told that she could be abducted again. Amnesty International is
gravely
concerned for her safety.
According to
Nancy Mota,
she was walking in a street in Oaxaca when a white SUV vehicle with
tinted
windows and without number plates stopped next to her. Two men who had
their
faces covered, got out of the vehicle, forced her in and then
blindfolded her.
The blindfold was impregnated with a liquid that irritated her eyes.
According
to her
testimony, while the vehicle was circulating Oaxaca's streets, the two
men
questioned her about what she knew about other APPO activists, some of
whom are
currently in detention.
They forced her
head
between her knees, then pulled her hair and pointed two guns at her
head. She
heard them pull the trigger and say they would shoot her. They told her
to stop
her activism or they may abduct her again and rape her. She was also
hit in the
stomach. She was held for one hour and then freed in an empty lot near
the city
centre with the warning that she could be abducted again. The abductors
also
reportedly downloaded all the telephone numbers saved on her cellular
phone.
Nancy Mota filed
a
complaint with the Oaxaca State Attorney General's office (Procuraduría
General
del Estado de Oaxaca) and has spoken out about her abduction in a press
conference.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Political and social conflict erupted in Oaxaca
in June
2006 following a teachers' strike which developed into a broad social
movement
lead by the APPO which called for the resignation of the governor.
During the
protests municipal, state, and federal authorities were responsible for
serious
human rights violations, such as arbitrary and incommunicado detention,
torture
and other ill- treatment. Some protesters were also responsible for
some
criminal offences. Supporters of the opposition movement have been
repeatedly
detained and harassed, with fabricated criminal charges against them
(See UA
92/07, AMR 41/017/2007, 19 April 2007, and report Oaxaca:
Clamour for justice, AMR 41/031/2007, 31 July
2007).Those
responsible have not been brought to justice, despite numerous
complaints at
state and federal level.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Using your own words,
please create a
personal appeal and send ASAP
- expressing concern at reports that Nancy Mota
Figueroa,
a women's rights, social and political activist, was abducted and
threatened in
Oaxaca on 2 December by unknown armed individuals;
- expressing concern that other social and
political
activists in Oaxaca, especially those active with the APPO, may be at
risk of
similar treatment;
- calling on the authorities to ensure a full,
prompt and
impartial investigation into the abduction, ill-treatment and threats
to Nancy
Mota, with those responsible brought to justice;
- urging the authorities to ensure that she
receives
protection, in accordance with her wishes.
APPEALS
TO:
Minister of Interior:
Francisco Javier Ramirez Acuña
Secretario de Gobernación
Bucareli No. 99, Edificio Cobián
1er piso, Col. Juárez, Del. Cuauhtémoc
Mexico D.F. 06600, MEXICO
Fax: 011 5255 5093 3414
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Secretario/Dear Minister
Gobernador del Estado de Oaxaca
Carretera Oaxaca-Puerto Ángel, Km. 9.5
Santa María Coyotepec
Oaxaca C.P. 71254, Oaxaca, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52951 502 0530 (if a voice answers,
ask "me
da tono de fax, por favor")
E-mail: gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Gobernador / Dear Governor
State Attorney General of Oaxaca:
Lic. Evencio Nicolás Martínez Ramírez
Procurador General de Justicia del Estado de
Oaxaca
Avenida Luis Echeverría s/n, Col. La
Experimental
San Antonio de la Cal, Oaxaca C.P. 71236
Oaxaca, MEXICO
Fax: 011 5295 1511 5519
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor/Estimado Procurador
____________________________________________________________________________________
Critically-Acclaimed
documentary, JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS, an important new film by
Academy
Award-winning director Jonathan Demme
Winner of the The Human Rights Film Network
Award for Best
Feature Film, JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS is now showing at theatres
across
the country. It's a revealing portrait of former President and
Nobel
Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter and his campaign to create public dialogue
on the
Israeli-Palestinian issue. As Carter faces the media furor surrounding
his
book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, it becomes clear how divisive and
emotional the subject is, and how important the need for dialogue has
become.
__________________________________________
CODEPINK
is launching a new campaign: www.dontbuybushswar.org.
It is now up to us to stop the funding of this
war.
To stand together in tax resistance and civil disobedience, two
inspiring
moments of US history.
This is an
invitation to
join a tea party for our times, a refusal to personally fund war and to
share
this call with your communities. There are many ways to
participate
(http://www.codepink4peace.org//article.php?id=3768).
=================================
PIN
NUMBER REVERSAL (GOOD TO KNOW)
If you should ever be forced by a robber to
withdraw
money from
an ATM machine, you can notify the police by
entering
your Pin # in reverse.
For example if
your pin
number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes
that your pin number is backwards from the ATM
card you
placed in the machine.
The
machine will
still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber,
the police will be immediately dispatched to
help you.
This information
was
recently broadcasted on TV and it states that it is seldom used
because people don't know it exists. .. Pass
this along .
==========
COMMENTARY:
Harriet
Harvey writes: REPUBLICAN VALUES:
1. A Senator's tapping foot in a men's room is
an
Abomination, but a Senator buying prostitutes is perfectly acceptable.
2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him
to make
war on Iran, a bad guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him, a good guy
when
Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we
can't
find Bin Laden" diversion.
3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country
is
Communist, but trade with Communist China and Viet Nam is vital to a
spirit of
international harmony.
4. The United States should get out of the
United
Nations, and our highest national priority should be enforcing U.N.
Resolutions
against Iran.
5. Less expensive Canadian drugs are not safe
and must be
kept out of our country, but Chinese toys and foodstuff don't require
any
regulating.
6. The best way to improve military morale is
to praise the
troops in speeches and slash veterans' benefits and combat pay.
7. If condoms are kept out of schools,
adolescents won't
have sex.
8. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle
our
longtime allies and then demand their cooperation and money.
9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound
policy,
but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and
insurance
companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer
are junk
science, but Creationism should be taught in schools.
11. A president lying about an extramarital
affair is an
impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war
in which
many thousands die is solid defense policy.
12. Among Pro-lifers, "Life" is defined as the
time between conception and birth. After that, you are on your own!
13. The public has a right to know about
Hillary's cattle
trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and
a crime,
unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you
need our
prayers for your recovery.
15. The US Government should limit itself to
the
enforcement those powers named in the Constitution, which include (a)
banning
gay marriages, (b) censoring the Internet and (c) passing laws for a
brain-dead
person.
_____________________________________
*
Now and Forever By Bob Herbert, New York Times Op-Ed Contributor
The New York Times - December 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/opinion/04herbert.html
Most of the time
we
pretend it's not there: The staggering financial cost of the war in
Iraq, which
continues to soar, unchecked, like a rocket headed toward the moon and
beyond.Early last year, the Nobel-Prize-winning economist Joseph
Stiglitz
estimated that the "true" cost of the war would ultimately exceed $1
trillion, and maybe even $2 trillion.Incredibly, that estimate may have
been
low.
*
Medea's Blog from Pakistan, Day 2
For all Medea¹s (Benjamin's) writing and
Pakistan
updates, please visit our Pakistan page
at: http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?list=type&type=335
*
Christmas
ornament
If you're ready for a brief break from all the
critical
issues, small and large, that are consuming your attention, please take
a look
at this absurd, ironic, hilarious, and deeply disturbing post sent
around by
New Profile's Diana Dolev. As with so many things these days, it's hard
to know
whether to laugh, cry, or vomit - so take your
choice. all
the best, RK
p.s. Diana's original post emphasized that thsi
is a real
ad, from a real group, not a joke. That doesn't seem to have come
across in
this forward, so I'm repeating it for you ...
From: Diana Dolev [mailto:didolev@netvision.net.il]
Dear friends, You may wish to comment on the
Xmas
decorations in the ad in the link:
http://www.misspoppy.com/catalog/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=16346
*
Israeli UK ambassador: Iran must stop enrichment or face 'military
confrontation'
[Signs continue
to
accumulate that Iran hawks, intent on aggression against the Islamic
Republic,
are refusing to accept the U.S. NIE that declared on Dec. 3 that Iran
is not
developing nuclear weapons and are intent on discrediting it.
--
The *Sunday Telegraph* reported Sunday that "British spy chiefs . . .
believe the CIA has been hoodwinked by Tehran," and doubt that Iran has
stopped work on nuclear weapons.[1] -- "The timing of the CIA
report
has also provoked fury in the British Government, where officials
believe it
has undermined efforts to impose tough new sanctions on Iran and made
an
Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities more likely," Tim Shipman,
Philip
Sherwell, and Carolynne Wheeler wrote. -- An unnamed
"senior
British official" was said to deliver "a withering assessment of U.S.
intelligence-gathering abilities in the Middle East" and said British
intelligence "shared the concerns of Israeli defense chiefs that Iran
was
still pursuing nuclear weapons." -- On Friday, the *Telegraph*
published a piece in which Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to Great
Britain,
formerly senior adviser on Iran to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
issued
what sounded like an ultimatum to Iran regarding its uranium enrichment
program
(to which, the paper neglects to point out, Iran has a right as a
signatory to
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Israel has refused to
sign):
"This is a global threat and it requires a global response. It
should be made clear that if Iran does not co-operate then military
confrontation is inevitable. It is either co-operation or
confrontation." -- The *Jerusalem Post* featured an article on
Prosor's statements on Sunday.
*
Refugees Caught Between Deportation And Death Threats By Ali al-Fadhily
http://www.countercurrents.org/fadhily071207.htm
Hundreds of
thousands of
Iraqis driven out of their country by violence are now faced with
detention
abroad, or a homecoming to death threats.More than two million Iraqis,
in a
population of about 25 million, have taken refuge in many countries.
Only a few
have won official status as refugees. Most refugees in Syria, Jordan,
Lebanon,
Egypt and many other countries stay on as illegal residents, facing
threats of
deportation and imprisonment
*
Put Option On America - Part 1 By Rand Clifford
http://www.countercurrents.org/clifford071207.htm
9-11 embedded
American
rule by fear. The great mass of American people are being cowed,
controlled and
ruined by a tiny minority of hyper-wealthy corporatists that, unless
Americans
brave their way from this blackout of truth, decency, empathy and
courage, will
take America the rest of the way down. Until the truth of 9-11 is
widely
revealed, and the perpetrators are brought to justice, playing
CorpoGov’s
rigged election games and believing CorpoMedia spews anything but
propaganda
and misdirection while omitting everything Americans need to know would
seem to
well fit most definitions of insanity
*
Why US Is The Only 'Superpower' By N. Raghuram
http://www.countercurrents.org/raghuram071207.htm
In a
controversial book,
John Perkins narrates a real life tale. His personal journey from the
member of
international community of highly paid professionals who are employed
to cheat
poor countries around the globe to maintain US monopoly. Eventually he
calls
himself as a former economic hit man and deconstructs international
intrigue
and corruption, the sinister mechanics of imperial manipulations and
control
*
Who Is Feeding The Tigers? The Genesis Of A Suicide Bomber By Rohini
Hensman
http://www.countercurrents.org/hensman071207.htm
The two biggest
parties
need to listen to the former service chiefs, and make a joint effort to
end
human rights violations and implement democratic political reforms that
address
the legitimate grievances of minorities. Once this is done, the LTTE
leadership
will lose its source of willing recruits, and the war can be ended.
Unless
Mahinda Rajapaksa follows their advice, he will face increasing popular
anger
and hatred as the war drags on, the death toll mounts, and living
standards
plummet
===
But we have no
right to do
what we are doing. Just as no one would conceive of killing the
residents of an
entire neighborhood, to harass and incarcerate it because of a few
criminals
living there, there is no justification for abusing an entire people in
the
name of our security. The question of whether ending the occupation
would
threaten or strengthen Israel’s security is irrelevant. There are not,
and cannot be, any preconditions for restoring justice. –
Gideon Levy, Israeli journalist for Haaretz
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/14/5844/