Legal Issues Surrounding the Military Commissions System

Wednesday 07/08/2009 - 10:00 A.M.

2141 Rayburn House Office Building

Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties

Rally at the SF Canadian Consulate July 8th for Kimberly Rivera, Mother of 3, Wife, and Soldier of Conscience | Courage to Resist

Join Courage to Resist at a rally outside of the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco. Kimberly Rivera, mother of three, wife, and soldier of conscience is now living in Canada, but that could all change on July 8th.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 from noon to 1:30pm, SF Canadian Consulate, 580 California Street, San Francisco

We will bring signed petitions to the Consulate General, urging the Canadian politicians to respect the will of the Canadian people, the Canadian parliament--whom have twice voted recommendations to allow war resisters to stay--and the basic moral imperative that does not separate children from their loving mother.

The screening of A SENSELESS DEATH at the San Diego Public Library

A Discussion with Local Activist Fernando Suarez Del Solar Follows the Film

SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Public Library will host a screening of A Senseless Death. This new film by Raymonde Provencher tells the little known story of "green card soldiers"-young, non-citizen soldiers and Marines struggling to achieve, the so-called, "American Dream"-who were among the first casualties of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The screening will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8 in the 3rd floor auditorium of the Central Library, located at 820 E Street in downtown San Diego. This free event is open to the public.

You are invited to participate in two upcoming conference calls!

July 9, 10:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time): Guantanamo attorney and War
Criminals Watch Advisor Candace Gorman on national conference call. Hear
from one of the very brave and self-sacrificing attorneys who are devoting
their lives to defending Guantanamo detainees. The interview wil be
followed by a Q&A session. Check her profile.

Be part of the conversation! For further information, contact debrasweet@worldcantwait.net.

On Friday July 17th the local Santa Cruz chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Free Radio Santa Cruz will be teaming up in order to spread awareness of the current occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The night will start at 7 PM with the showing of the film "Sir No Sir", a documentary about the GI movement to end the Vietnam war. This documentary discusses the troop's motivation, organization, and tactics that led to the end of the Vietnam war, and can be applied to the anti-war movement of today.

The Santa Cruz chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War would then like to introduce their two newest members.

Music starts at 9pm and will kick off with Pariah Faction whose lead vocalist was crowned the best vocalist in the city of Santa Cruz, and will be followed by the local retrodellic politically charged rock trio "The Reliques".

The Walter Reed Vigil continues every Friday evening from 7-9 PM.

Our Vigil calls for Peace, Care for the wounded, and Full Benefits for all veterans.

Sisters and brothers,

The Walter Reed Vigil is now in its fifth year of continuous Friday evenings. We have withstood weather, fascists, warmongers, and motorcycle clubs—we are still here. Now we face another attempt to silence our messages of Peace, Care, and Full Benefits for veterans.

FRIDAY JULY 10, 2009

Come out for FREE SPEECH, for an END TO WAR and OCCUPATION, for an END TO SPREADING WAR—to call for ALL OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS HOME RIGHT NOW!

JOIN OUR WINOGRAD FOR CONGRESS CONTINGENT - Speak out for Single-Payer Healthcare – Call on Congressman Waxman to order a financial analysis of single-payer. Demand Congress put single-payer on the table!

SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2009 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM

MEET AT NW CORNER OF 3RD & FLORES (8339 W. 3RD ST. L.A.)
$2. parking at the Beverly Connection then walk E. on 3rd several blocks to Flores.

RSVP to stefletcher@earthlink.net to say YES, I'll be there to hold Winograd for Congress yard signs & participate in the march.

Join Us July 13-18 on Vashon Island

Cost: $200-500 sliding scale
Open to ages 18 and up
Pre-registration and deposit required

Please join Backbone Campaign, Ruckus Society and the Mosquito Fleet on beautiful Vashon Island, WA. for 5 exciting days of creative tactics trainings, group camping, and connecting with seasoned and aspiring activists from around the nation.

All participants will be provided with the opportunity to experience and train in a wide range of creative tactics. These include nonviolence trainings, arts for social change workshops, land and water based techniques, campaign design and strategy, and more.

Have a great time, eat great food, meet great people..and then take these skills back to your community to strengthen and energize your organizing.

Feel free to call the Backbone Campaign office at 206-408-8058 to ask questions. A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot.

Register online now!

Join Us July 13-18 on Vashon Island

Cost: $200-500 sliding scale
Open to ages 18 and up
Pre-registration and deposit required

Please join Backbone Campaign, Ruckus Society and the Mosquito Fleet on beautiful Vashon Island, WA. for 5 exciting days of creative tactics trainings, group camping, and connecting with seasoned and aspiring activists from around the nation.

All participants will be provided with the opportunity to experience and train in a wide range of creative tactics. These include nonviolence trainings, arts for social change workshops, land and water based techniques, campaign design and strategy, and more.

Have a great time, eat great food, meet great people..and then take these skills back to your community to strengthen and energize your organizing.

Feel free to call the Backbone Campaign office at 206-408-8058 to ask questions. A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot.

Register online now!

Anti-War Groups Challenge NAACP on Why They Have Military Recruiters at Their National Convention, New York City July 14-16

Rally & Press Conference: Tuesday July 14 11:30 am
Sidewalk Protest: Thursday July 16 9:30 am-12:00 noon while President Obama Speaks

Outside The New York Hilton 1335 6th Avenue NYC

As part of its 100th anniversary convention opening Saturday in New York City, the NAACP jobs fair will include Army recruiters. The Army Strong tour lists the NAACP convention on its itinerary. The NAACP jobs fair opens at noon on Tuesday, July 14.

"THE ASCENDENCY of OBAMA..." and the Continued Need for Resistance and Liberation"

A D I A L O G U E b e t w e e n CORNEL WEST & CARL DIX and the Continued Need for Resistance and Liberation"

JULY 14, TUESDAY, 7:00 pm

Harlem Stage at Aaron Davis Hall
150 Convent Ave at W. 135th Street

CORNEL WEST is one of America's most provocative public intellectuals and has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his "ferocious moral vision." Dr. West currently teaches at Princeton University.

Join Us July 13-18 on Vashon Island

Cost: $200-500 sliding scale
Open to ages 18 and up
Pre-registration and deposit required

Please join Backbone Campaign, Ruckus Society and the Mosquito Fleet on beautiful Vashon Island, WA. for 5 exciting days of creative tactics trainings, group camping, and connecting with seasoned and aspiring activists from around the nation.

All participants will be provided with the opportunity to experience and train in a wide range of creative tactics. These include nonviolence trainings, arts for social change workshops, land and water based techniques, campaign design and strategy, and more.

Have a great time, eat great food, meet great people..and then take these skills back to your community to strengthen and energize your organizing.

Feel free to call the Backbone Campaign office at 206-408-8058 to ask questions. A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot.

Register online now!

Daniel Ellsberg and Norman Solomon
A gathering for alternatives to more war in Afghanistan
Host: Norman Solomon

An event in support of an upcoming civic delegation to Afghanistan... Reception at 6 p.m., program at 7 p.m.... Daniel Ellsberg and Norman Solomon will talk about reasons for this delegation and hopes for alternatives to more war. (No charge; donation will be requested.)

Email

Join Us July 13-18 on Vashon Island

Cost: $200-500 sliding scale
Open to ages 18 and up
Pre-registration and deposit required

Please join Backbone Campaign, Ruckus Society and the Mosquito Fleet on beautiful Vashon Island, WA. for 5 exciting days of creative tactics trainings, group camping, and connecting with seasoned and aspiring activists from around the nation.

All participants will be provided with the opportunity to experience and train in a wide range of creative tactics. These include nonviolence trainings, arts for social change workshops, land and water based techniques, campaign design and strategy, and more.

Have a great time, eat great food, meet great people..and then take these skills back to your community to strengthen and energize your organizing.

Feel free to call the Backbone Campaign office at 206-408-8058 to ask questions. A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot.

Register online now!

Anti-War Groups Challenge NAACP on Why They Have Military Recruiters at Their National Convention, New York City July 14-16

Rally & Press Conference: Tuesday July 14 11:30 am
Sidewalk Protest: Thursday July 16 9:30 am-12:00 noon while President Obama Speaks

Outside The New York Hilton 1335 6th Avenue NYC

As part of its 100th anniversary convention opening Saturday in New York City, the NAACP jobs fair will include Army recruiters. The Army Strong tour lists the NAACP convention on its itinerary. The NAACP jobs fair opens at noon on Tuesday, July 14.

"Congress vs. the President: The Scope and Limits of Congressional Oversight Powers"

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Noon - 1:30 p.m. (Lunch provided)
Taking place in the National Press Club's Murrow Room
529 14th St, NW Washington DC

[The proper role of the legislature is] to watch and control the government; to throw the light of publicity on its acts; to compel a full exposition and justification of all of them which any one considers questionable; to censure them if found condemnable. - John Stuart Mill
We will discuss the relative powers of Congress and the executive branch in congressional oversight and why such authority is vital to our system of government.

Panelists include:
Mickey Edwards; former Member of Congress (R-OK), 1977-1993
Morton Rosenberg; author/contributor to the handbooks; former Specialist in American Law at the Congressional Research Service staffer, and Constitution Project Fellow
Chris Shays; former Member of Congress (R-CT), 1987-2009

Join Us July 13-18 on Vashon Island

Cost: $200-500 sliding scale
Open to ages 18 and up
Pre-registration and deposit required

Please join Backbone Campaign, Ruckus Society and the Mosquito Fleet on beautiful Vashon Island, WA. for 5 exciting days of creative tactics trainings, group camping, and connecting with seasoned and aspiring activists from around the nation.

All participants will be provided with the opportunity to experience and train in a wide range of creative tactics. These include nonviolence trainings, arts for social change workshops, land and water based techniques, campaign design and strategy, and more.

Have a great time, eat great food, meet great people..and then take these skills back to your community to strengthen and energize your organizing.

Feel free to call the Backbone Campaign office at 206-408-8058 to ask questions. A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot.

Register online now!

DemocracyFest is a political festival for liberal/progressive activists which features trainings, speakers and entertainment; teaching people how to make a difference and have fun doing it! Prior DemocracyFests have been held in Massachusetts, Texas, California, New Hampshire and Virginia. Over 4,000 activists have been trained to help on campaigns and make a difference in their communities.

The 6th Annual DemocracyFest will be held this summer, July 17-19, 2009 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT!

 More information about the event can be found at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Topanga Peace Alliance

PRESENT

A FORUM ON AFGHANISTAN

WHY WE ARE THERE? WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND? HOW DO WE GET OUT?

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

TOM HAYDEN - LILA GARRETT- SONALI KOLHATKAR

Lila Garrett (PDA Board Member) on the permanent war economy - why we are there.

Sonali Kolhatkar (NPR Host and Journalist) presents a slide show and discusses conditions in Afghanistan and the character of the people.

Tom Hayden (PDA Board Member) explains it all to us - the politics, the strategy, the way out.

Q & A after the presentation.

Don't miss this incredibly informative forum. Meet your favorite KPFK broadcasters and hear Tom Hayden's analysis. Tom's research and intelligence always add needed information and understanding of the subject at hand.

Join Us July 13-18 on Vashon Island

Cost: $200-500 sliding scale
Open to ages 18 and up
Pre-registration and deposit required

Please join Backbone Campaign, Ruckus Society and the Mosquito Fleet on beautiful Vashon Island, WA. for 5 exciting days of creative tactics trainings, group camping, and connecting with seasoned and aspiring activists from around the nation.

All participants will be provided with the opportunity to experience and train in a wide range of creative tactics. These include nonviolence trainings, arts for social change workshops, land and water based techniques, campaign design and strategy, and more.

Have a great time, eat great food, meet great people..and then take these skills back to your community to strengthen and energize your organizing.

Feel free to call the Backbone Campaign office at 206-408-8058 to ask questions. A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot.

Register online now!

DemocracyFest is a political festival for liberal/progressive activists which features trainings, speakers and entertainment; teaching people how to make a difference and have fun doing it! Prior DemocracyFests have been held in Massachusetts, Texas, California, New Hampshire and Virginia. Over 4,000 activists have been trained to help on campaigns and make a difference in their communities.

The 6th Annual DemocracyFest will be held this summer, July 17-19, 2009 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT!

 More information about the event can be found at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Cookout With Cindy Sheehan
Charlottesville, VA
Saturday, July 18, 2009

Cindy Sheehan is deservedly the best known peace activist in the United States. Having lost her own son in Iraq, she has worked for the past five years to save others -- and she's not about to let up in her efforts to end our foreign wars and create justice around the world and here at home. More about Cindy here.

Please join Cindy for lunch at noon on Saturday, July, 18, 2009, rain or shine, at 707 Gillespie Ave, Charlottesville, VA, 22902. Cindy will talk about her new book, "Myth America."

DemocracyFest is a political festival for liberal/progressive activists which features trainings, speakers and entertainment; teaching people how to make a difference and have fun doing it! Prior DemocracyFests have been held in Massachusetts, Texas, California, New Hampshire and Virginia. Over 4,000 activists have been trained to help on campaigns and make a difference in their communities.

The 6th Annual DemocracyFest will be held this summer, July 17-19, 2009 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT!

 More information about the event can be found at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Local Residents Hold Rally, Support Senator Gillibrand In Fight to Fix Energy Bil
*** Rally Begins at 780 3rd Ave at 12 pm, July 23rd, 2009***

MoveOn Members and Children from Turn 2 Us Program
Urge Congress to Save Clean Air Act

On Sunday, July 26 Florida peace activist and writer, Jeff Nall will discuss “Humanists and Christians Unite: The Defense of Religion and the Religion of Defense” at the UU Fellowship of Gainesville.

In “Humanists and Christians Unite,” third-generation atheist and newly certified humanist minister Jeff Nall takes on narrow-minded atheists and their intellectually faulty analysis of the religious. Drawing on his 2008 book, Perpetual Revolt: Essays on Peace & Justice and The Shared Values of Secular, Spiritual, and Religious Progressives (Howling Dog Press), Nall argues that the humanist movement is too narrowly focused on church-state separation. Progressive and peace-minded humanists and believers must join forces in order to combat imperialism and war.

The event takes place at 10:30am. The UU Fellowship of Gainesville is located at 4225 NW 34th St, Gainesville, FL 32605

From the desk of Representative John Lewis (GA-CD5):

On July 16, my colleagues and I on the House Ways & Means Committee marked up and passed major health care legislation that will help millions of Americans receive better, more affordable health care. In the coming weeks other committees both in the House and Senate will debate and hopefully pass similar legislation to develop a uniquely American health care system.

Dr. Margaret Flowers, a leading single-payer, universal health-care-for-all proponent, wrote AfterDowningStreet.org:

We are holding a press conference in Washington this Tuesday. It is sponsored by the Gesundheit! Institute and Amnesty International and will kick off Artists for Guaranteed Health Care's first project: Faces of the Uninsured and Underinsured - a poster project which will put a human face on health care reform. This event will be filmed by a crew from New York who are wrapping up a movie on the underinsured.

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a founder of Physicians for a National Health Program and co-author of the first nationwide study on medical causes of bankruptcy, will testify next week before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, convened by Rep. John Conyers, on the alarming rise in medically related bankruptcies.

Join unions, doctors, nurses, seniors, faith groups, and Americans of every stripe on July 30th in Washington, DC to Celebrate Medicares 44th Birthday and show Congress and President Obama that we support a national, single-payer healthcare system and demand the passage of HR 676.

As President Obama says, "We must build on what works and leave out what doesnt."

Medicare has successfully provided care to seniors and people with disabilities for almost half a century. Medicare is a truly American-made system that other health care systems around the world have since been modeled after. With little over 3% administrative overhead, we must look to this American solution to our health care crisis.

The best way to save this system is to expand it, improve it, and make it a truly single-payer system by removing the for-profit interests.

Money for jobs and benefits, not for more war

In this time of global capitalist crisis, when millions are unemployed and millions more facing evictions and foreclosures, we must demand that the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on current U.S. wars and the trillions that would criminally wasted in a new war be spent for jobs, health care and housing for poor and working people in the U.S. and around the world.

We urge your endorsement and support of these simple demands.

1. We oppose military aggression by the U.S., Britain, or Israel against Iran.
2. We oppose economic, diplomatic or other sanctions against Iran whatever their excuse.
3. We demand an end to subversion, de-stabilization, covert actions instigated by the U.S. and its military or spy agencies directed at Iran.

I endorse these 3 demands

PALESTINE / ISRAEL
GAZA, JERUSALEM, WEST BANK EYE WITNESS REPORT

• Norman Finkelstein, Member of Code Pink delegation to Gaza in June
• Jane Adas, Member of NY delegation to Gaza in May
• Helen Schiff, Member of Code Pink delegation to Gaza & Israel in March & June
• Manijeh Saba, Member of Code Pink's June delegation to Gaza via Israel
• Video and slide Show

Cosponsors: CODEPINK; Somerset voices for Peace and Justice; Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless war.

Holding Architects of Illegal Wars and War Crimes Accountable

At the Veterans for Peace National Convention

Friday, August 7th, 8:30 - 10 a.m.
In the Student Union, University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland

SPEAKERS:

• David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union by Seven Stories Press.
• Ron Fisher, Captain US Navy (retired), Acting Chair VFP Prosecute War Criminals Working Group and nuclear submariner and part time prosecutor for court-martials while in the Navy.
• Barbara Olshansky, Visiting Associate Professor of Human Rights, Stanford Law School.
• Marjorie Cohn, President, National Lawyers Guild and author of Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent
• Andrew Kreig, Attorney, author and journalist;
• Isidoro Rodriguez, Attorney and Marine Veteran Saigon Class of '65.

CULTURE PROJECT'S "BLUEPRINT FOR ACCOUNTABILITY" SERIES SCREENS DIRECTOR'S CUT OF "THE RECKONING" on TUESDAY, AUGUST 4 AT JUDSON CHURCH AT 7PM

SCREENING WILL BE FOLLOWED BY SPECIAL TALKBACK WITH FILMMAKER PAMELA YATES, FORMER ICC LEAD PROSECUTOR CHRISTINE CHUNG AND PAUL VAN ZYL, CO-FOUNDER OF THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE

New York, NY, July 22, 2009 -- Culture Project has announced a special screening of The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court as part of its Blueprint for Accountability series. The film will be screened at Judson Church, 55 Washington Square South (corner of Thompson) at 7pm, followed by a talkback exploring the struggle and necessity of holding perpetrators of crimes against humanity- however powerful or concealed they may be - accountable. Tickets are $15.