A Special Walter Reed Vigil this Friday, Sept. 11, 2009

Sisters and brothers,

The Walter Reed Vigil is now more than four and a half years old. We have been there every Friday evening despite rain or shine, ice, sleet, and harassing pro-war elements.

Our message is more important than ever. The wounded continue to pour into the hospital. The government wants to balance its budget on the backs of veterans, and troops are being shuffled back and forth between Iraq and Afghanistan, and we soon may be inside Pakistan.

But the Vigil is under attack from the commander of Walter Reed and this Friday may see the haters of peace out in large numbers. (Interesting that the haters of peace are also the haters of health care for all.)

Please join activists at the Silver Spring Library on Wednesday, September 16th at 7:00 pm for a discussion on military recruitment in Maryland's public high schools.

Participants will be invited to work on three ongoing campaigns:

(1) The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, (ASVAB) is used as a recruiting tool in 182 high schools throughout Maryland and in 11,900 schools across the country. A student's personal contact information is automatically shared with military recruiters.

Legislation introduced by Sen. Paul Pinsky this year would have prohibited the automatic release of this information. This bill passed the Senate, but died in a House committee. The Peace Action campaign will organize public support to lobby state lawmakers.

Georgetown Law School, Washington D.C.

• Who decides about war and peace? Congress? The President? The Courts? The People?
• What kind of national defense should the U.S. have? What type of military?

We the People"Who Decides About War" will confront essential questions raised by the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. These questions are timely, as the process that brought the United States into those wars is widely recognized today as having been flawed at best, dishonest at worst.

NATIONAL SOLIDARITY MARCH AGAINST THE COUP D’ETAT IN HONDURAS!
FRI., AUG. 28 4-7pm
Rally assembles at: Times Square
(42nd St. & 7th Avenue) - New York, NY
March to & ending rally at: 48th St & 1st Avenue (Honduran Embassy)

We demand:
- Stop the killings & repression of the Honduran people
- No to human rights violations in Honduras
- Support the non-violent resistance of the Honduran People and the National Front for Resistance Against the Coup d’état
- Immediate return of Constitutional law and restore Constitutional President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales
- No to an electoral process as product of the de facto regime
- No to the militarization of Honduras, or U.S. military bases in Honduras

Events in the following cities:
Boston MA, Chicago IL, Cleveland OH, Detroit MI, Houston TX, Hudson
County NJ, Los Angeles CA, Raleigh NC, Atlanta GA

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.

Save the Dates! Check back for details as available.

November 20-22, 2009 - Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia
Mass Mobilization to Shut Down the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC)!

The military coup by SOA graduates in Honduras has once again exposed the destabilizing and deadly effects that the School of the Americas has on Latin America. The actions of the school's graduates are unmasking the Pentagon rhetoric and reveal the anti-democratic results of U.S. policies. It is time for a change towards justice.

From November 20-22, 2209, thousands will vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, to stand up for justice, to shut down the School of the Americas and to end the oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the school represents.

Save the Dates! Check back for details as available.

November 20-22, 2009 - Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia
Mass Mobilization to Shut Down the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC)!

The military coup by SOA graduates in Honduras has once again exposed the destabilizing and deadly effects that the School of the Americas has on Latin America. The actions of the school's graduates are unmasking the Pentagon rhetoric and reveal the anti-democratic results of U.S. policies. It is time for a change towards justice.

From November 20-22, 2209, thousands will vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, to stand up for justice, to shut down the School of the Americas and to end the oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the school represents.

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.

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.

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