Letter from a Gold Star Mom: Hide Your Children....

• Unless you want them to kill innocent people and maybe die for lies, betrayals, mistakes, misadventures....frankly: in vain, needlessly, violently and stupidly. Or should I say: callously, brutally, for nothing.
• Resist the draft. Resist it with everything that is in you.
  Do not let the maniacal, irresponsible Neo-cons who rule our country get ahold of your kids.
  Or anyone's kids.
  Dry up the human cannon fodder that the war machine needs to feed on to keep it going and that keeps the greedy-war mongers in Limousines, fabulous homes, incredible vacations and their kids (who will never have to go to bogus wars) in private schools..and out of the Army.
  Do not, and I say again, do not give them one of your kids to fatten the chicken hawk's pocket books.
• Read this article on the upcoming draft:
  http://tinyurl.com/aqmkz
• If there is anyone reading this who has any doubts that the war machine will chew up and spit out as many of our young people as it can, read: War is a Racket, by Maj. Gen Smedley Butler. It is long, but if it convinces you not to let the Military Industrial Complex recklessly murder your child, then, hey, it is worth a few minutes.
  http://tinyurl.com/22dlm
• If you're still not convinced, then read my speech: Pulling no Punches
  http://tinyurl.com/a4qf9
• For alternatives to joining the military/being drafted, go to the Conscientious Objector's site:
  http://tinyurl.com/bfzpr
• Please send this to anyone you know with children. The sleeping, hungry giant wakes up about every 12 years...and it wakes up even more insatiably ravenous each time. If WE THE PEOPLE continue allowing it to eat our children, it will keep eating them.
  How I wish I had this information before George and his evil crew slaughtered Casey...not to mention the tens of thousands of other innocent people in Iraq. I hope this helps someone.
• Love and Peace
  Cindy Sheehan/Iraq 'Gold Star Mom'
• ************
• "It is certainly dangerous for a state when its citizens have a conscience; what it needs is men/women without conscience, or, better still, men/women whose conscience is quite in conformity with reasons of state, men/women in whom the feeling of personal responsibility has been replaced by the automatic impulse to act in the interests of the state." (Rocker, Culture and Nationalism, Michael E. Coughlan, 1978, p.197)
  ************

'Incident' in Iraq Points to War's Futility - Must Read

• 'Incident' in Iraq points to war's futility
• Philip Chard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Posted 2005-04-22 08:19:00.0
• http://tinyurl.com/bstsx
  
• Imagine you're a child, maybe 8 years young, riding in the back of the family car, your parents up front, your siblings pressed around you. It is dusk and you are making for home.
  Suddenly you hear the all-too-familiar pop of gunfire. Your father slows down but keeps driving, afraid to stop.
  Perhaps you turn to a sibling and ask what is wrong. But before anyone can answer, the war invades the thin cocoon of the automobile.
  Bullets pierce the windows and doors. Instinctively, you duck as splinters of glass and metal shower the interior.
  And with it comes the blood, splattering everywhere - on your clothes, your hands, your face - everywhere.
  For a brief, stunned moment, the carnage ceases and there is only silence. Then screaming fills your ears.
  Light streams in as you and the other children, sobbing, tumble out of the vehicle, now resting against the curb. Inside, your parents lay dead, riddled with bullets, your father's face unrecognizable.
  The soldiers gather, piecing together the tragedy they have unwittingly perpetrated. One holds and consoles you, perhaps thinking of his own children.
  He talks, but even if he spoke your language, there would be nothing he could say that would make any sense.
  All victimsIt is Jan. 18 in the Iraqi town of Tal Afar. The soldiers are an infantry platoon from the Army's 25th Division and they have just created what the Pentagon will later call an "unfortunate incident."
  Call it what you will, there are only victims on this dusty street. Not just the corpses in the car and the bloodied, terrified children, but the soldiers as well.
  All the talk about the war's purpose and righteousness has no power to change this carnage. The political sound bites and slogans are gone, leaving only the senseless terror carved permanently into their souls.
  The "incident at Tal Afar" became ammunition for the political cannonades between hawks and doves, between pro- and anti-Bush pundits. It blipped across the news media, capturing its brief moment of infamy, providing spittle for political blabbermouths.
  But the talking heads, spewing their bellicose nattering, didn't have the slightest inkling what those kids and soldiers went through that sad, crazy evening.
  Permanent scarsThey fail to grasp that something precious and vital in the souls of these victims, children and soldiers alike, has been disfigured forever. In their callous arrogance, they believe their neat little word packages and rationalizations can make sense out of madness and mayhem.
  But if every decent, caring person in this crazy world could have stood there that night holding one of those little ones, then maybe we would all realize what Jesus Christ, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Dr. King and countless others have tried to tell us.
  War is not any kind of answer for what ails us.
• Philip Chard is a psychotherapist, author and trainer. Names used in this column are changed to honor client confidentiality. Call (262) 547-3986, e-mail pschard@earthlink.net, or visit www.healingnature.com.
  

EARTHDAY: The Green Dream Is Alive

• EARTHDAY: The Green Dream Is Alive Printer Friendly Email ArticleKelpie Wilson, t r u t h o u t Perspective Posted 2005-04-22 12:18:00.0
  
• http://tinyurl.com/7kfwm
• Maybe it's just the springtime, but I'm here to tell you that this Earth Day the Green Dream is alive. How can you not feel that way after you've just spent the day setting thrifty little lettuce and broccoli starts out in a well-manured field? We've got to keep reminding ourselves of the Green Dream because, let's face it: these are hard times for green-leaning folks as we see so many of our worst Cassandra-like predictions coming true. Even those of us who have shouted about global warming for years are surprised to see how quickly the climate is changing right now. The just-released Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which brought together nearly 1,400 experts from 95 countries, told us that we have degraded nearly 60% of the planet's capacity to support life with clean air, water and food. Then there is Peak Oil. Like most environmentalists, I knew it was coming - it's basic physics - yeah, we're going to run out of oil. But I believed those bastards when they said it wouldn't happen for another 20 years. Let the grandkids worry about it. The entire energy industry needs to be prosecuted for concealing the true state of their oil and gas reserves. The SEC has already fined Shell Oil $120 million for inflating their oil holdings in order to keep their stock price high. This is just the beginning of the unveiling of an accounting rip-off that will make Enron and WorldCom look like peanuts, if it ever gets going. Someone also needs to take the US Energy Information Agency to court for broadcasting falsely that the world-wide peak of oil production would not hit us until sometime between 2020 and 2030. Right now we don't know if the real peak is happening today or if it will happen two or three years from now, but it's clearly breathing down our necks. How on God's green earth has such incompetence been tolerated? Well, here we are. The House Republicans want us to give another 10 billion or so in tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry to somehow motivate them to get off their duffs and find more oil. What if they gave that $10 billion back to us as rebates so we could all invest in a little personal energy independence? Wouldn't it be great to have $10,000 to put some solar panels on your roof? Ten billion dollars could put those solar panels on 100,000 roofs. If we'd been doing that for the last ten years, we'd have a million solar roofs by now. It's a time to plant, to invest, to give back to the Earth. With gas prices up, President Bush now wants to talk to us about energy conservation and energy independence. Will he do it? Will he actually tell us to put on a sweater when we're cold instead of turning up the thermostat? What about car mileage standards? What will he do about the big lots full of SUVs and monster trucks that Detroit all of a sudden can't sell? How did we get here? How can we find our way back to some sanity? The fertilizer the Green Dream needs is exactly what it is getting right now: the simple truth of our situation. The American Dream as articulated since the 1950s - the suburban, two cars in every garage, ultra-convenient, mall world dream - is history. Once there was another version of the American Dream. Thomas Jefferson's yeoman farmers would live free and independent, producing according to their own needs and living a simple, virtuous life that would make them model citizens. This kind of self-sufficient farmer is an endangered species today. But perhaps it is a dream worth reviving. Once we find something to do with all the SUVs, we will be tearing up the suburban asphalt and planting gardens. Do you remember the rabbit lady in Michael Moore's film "Roger and Me?" Go get that film if you haven't seen it. The rabbit lady, struggling to survive in the trashed economy of Flint, Michigan, raised and sold rabbits, her sign on the road advertising Rabbits - Pets or Meat. To me the rabbit lady is a beautiful example of American resourcefulness. We all have that kind of strength and pride, if only we would be called upon to use it. So many of us are yearning to pitch in now, to do something, to plant a seed. Here are the usual "what you can do to save the planet" Earth Day suggestions, but instead of thinking of them as chores to add to an already endless list, think of them as investments in a better future. Get your body in shape. We'll all be walking and biking a lot more in the future, so we might as well start now. And it's so good for you. Getting in shape does not mean getting skinny. Fat is good for you too. Just keep it moving. Eat good food. Try to eat whole, unprocessed food like rice and vegetables, organically grown and locally grown if possible. Food processing and transport use a lot of energy. At the same time, over-processed food zaps your personal energy. Buy some power strips. Check every single appliance you have plugged into a wall outlet and see if it draws current even when the switch is turned off. If it is warm to the touch it's drawing current. Lots of devices suck these "vampire loads" so we won't have to wait for them to warm up when we turn them on. Plug them into the power strip and turn them all the way off. Turn them back on when you need them - and wait. Buy a bunch of super-efficient light bulbs (either compact fluorescents or the new high efficiency LED lights) and replace every incandescent bulb in your house with one. Plant a garden. Even if it's just a window box with some lettuces or a tomato plant in a pot on the deck. Join with friends and plant a community garden and make it fun! Raise rabbits. Invest in solar electricity, solar heating and energy efficient appliances. The payback time in power bill savings may be a little long right now, but when energy prices shoot through the roof, you'll be glad you did.

Veterans For Peace offers Condolences to the families and colleagues of Marla Ruzicka and Faiz Ali Salim

• Veterans For Peace offers Condolences Veterans For Peace would like to express our deep sympathy to the families and colleagues of Marla Ruzicka and Faiz Ali Salim.
• Both Marla and Faiz exemplified the character and bravery of peace keepers dedicating theirlives to create profound change. On April 16, both Marla, 28 and Faiz, 43,died as the result of a suicide bomb explosion in Baghdad. Marla founded theCampaign for Innocent Victims In Conflict (CIVIC), and Faiz was CIVIC's Country Director in Iraq. At a time when the violence in Iraq has spun out of control and many relief workers have left, Marla and Faiz decided this was the time they were most needed.The deaths of Marla and Faiz bring home the ugly truth of war, death and destruction. The violence of war does not discriminate. It will take the life of combatants, women, children, and relief workers alike. Marla and Faiz endeavored to help victims of war and in the process became victims.However, their legacies will live on in all of us as we continue to stand for peace and justice and carry the fire of Marla and Faiz in our hearts.Marla Ruzicka and Faiz Ali Salim, thank you for your service to humanity. We shall continue the struggle in your name and in the name of all victims of war.
• David Cline Veterans For Peace President
• Michael T. McPhearson Veterans For Peace Executive Director
• Please distribute widely
• http://www.veteransforpeace.org

Earth Day - Is Every Day

EARTH DAY - MEANING

• Earth Day is, for me, a time to reflect on the shared values underlying UCS’s work to improve the health of our planet. This year, in particular, there has been a lot of talk about the role that "moral values" play in our democracy. Implicit in this discussion is the idea that moral values are held by only one segment of our society. This is nonsense, of course. Many Americans may not be openly vocal about their values, but they are no less guided by a strong sense of morality.
  In particular, UCS is motivated by deeply held beliefs: that all people have a right clean to air, water, and land; that we should leave our children a world that can sustain them and their children; that decisions affecting our future should be guided by an honest assessment of the best available science.
  Our opponents claim that we must choose between two of the things we value most--a healthy environment and a strong economy. We reject that premise. Time and again, UCS’s rigorous scientific analysis has led to creative solutions. For example, we can shift to clean energy sources like wind and solar power that reduce pollution while saving consumers money, creating jobs, and boosting our economy.
  Thanks to the values and commitment of concerned citizens like you, we have made significant progress since the first Earth Day in 1970. But with the threat of global warming becoming increasingly urgent, and the rollback of environmental safeguards in every sector, we need to work even harder to implement clean energy policies and other smart solutions that are available today.
  This Earth Day, please reach out to your friends, family, and colleagues and urge them to get involved. Ask them to take our Earth Day action supporting clean energy < http://tinyurl.com/7f3of >, one of the best ways to make a positive impact. Together, we can make great strides toward improving humanity’s stewardship of the earth. Thank you for your continued commitment.
  
• Happy Earth Day,
• Kevin KnoblochPresident

How Will New Pope Handle Ties With Muslims? [At This Moment, This Is The Most Important Question, Side With Neo-Cons & Christian Fundamentalists-OR??]

• Published on Thursday, April 21, 2005 by the Toronto Star
• Mirror URL: http://tinyurl.com/72r7l
• How Will New Pope Handle Ties With Muslims? by Haroon Siddiqui
• Joseph Ratzinger is entitled to his Catholic conservatism, his theological rigidity and his opposition to religious relativism. It is up to Catholics to internally debate his traditionalist views on a series of social issues. They already are, even before the applause has died down over his election as Pope. It is not up to us to dictate what Catholics should believe and who they pick as leader. Otherwise, the secular idea of freedom of religion ceases to have meaning.
  Rather, the relevant issue for the world is: How will Pope Benedict XVI be different from his predecessor in dealing with other faiths and nations?
  It is only half correct to say he will follow John Paul II's traditions. He clearly would on conservative theology. But would he continue the papal outreach to others around the globe that we have been blessed with in the last quarter of a century?
  John Paul spoke up for the poor, affected by globalization and unbridled capitalism.
  He stood by the oppressed, including the Palestinians, whom he addressed in Bethlehem: "No one can ignore how much you have had to suffer in recent decades. Your torment is before the eyes of the world, and it has gone on too long ... Only with a just and lasting peace — not imposed but secured through negotiations — will legitimate Palestinian aspirations be fulfilled."
  He believed in the United Nations and multilateralism, which is why he was emphatic in opposing the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
  Much of the commentary of the last 48 hours has been about Cardinal Ratzinger's belief in the superiority of Catholicism.
  It strikes other faiths as "chauvinistic and triumphalist," in the phrase of Rabbi Michael Lerner, of the American magazine Tikkun. It offends Anglicans and other Protestants.
  But don't most believers, regardless of religion or denomination, believe, to a degree, that they alone possess the truth?
  More instructive is Ratzinger's approach to one of the bigger issues of the age: relations with Muslims and Islam. John Paul — the first pope to pray in a synagogue, visit the Wailing Wall and call anti-Semitism "a sin against God" — was also the first pontiff to enter a mosque, open a dialogue with Muslims, condemn Islamophobia and urge Catholics to join Muslims in fasting on the last Friday of Ramadan.
  Ratzinger, however, has reservations not only about outreach to Muslims but Islam.
  "The rebirth of Islam is due in part to the new material richness acquired by Muslim countries, but mainly to the knowledge that it is able to offer a valid spiritual foundation for the life of its people, a foundation that seems to have escaped from the hands of old Europe," he wrote last year.
  One can read that as a statement of admiration. But, juxtaposed with his concern regarding his flock in Europe, it may not be.
  It fits the pattern of thinking of some conservatives who speak of the increasing presence of Muslims in Europe in the same breath as the decline of Christianity on the continent. That implies the two are related, which they are not.
  The "culprit" is secularism, and, in the case of Catholics, the Vatican's social conservatism, which the faithful ignore.
  Blaming Muslims is cheap politics.
  Ratzinger has long wanted Europe to rediscover its Christianity. That's understandable. But he crossed the line last year in opposing the entry of Turkey into the European Union.
  "Turkey has always represented a different continent, always in contrast with Europe," he told the Paris newspaper Le Figaro.
  That is disturbingly close to the racist notion that Muslim Turkey cannot be a part of Christian Europe. The ignorance of that sentiment is stupefying, for several reasons: The continent is no longer Christian alone; Christian majority nations do not constitute Christian states, and opposing Turkey on religious grounds makes a mockery of Europe's self-admired secularism, even if that is of little or no concern to the Vatican.
  We will have to wait and see whether Pope Benedict XVI will distance himself from Cardinal Ratzinger. One of the legacies of John Paul II was that he helped end the Cold War. Will the new Pope fan the war being waged by neo-conservatives and fundamentalist Protestants against Muslims and Islam, or will he help diffuse it?
  Haroon Siddiqui is The Star's editorial page editor emeritus.
  © 2005 Toronto Star
  ###

Niger-Doctors Without Borders Report

Doctors Without Borders-Niger
http://tinyurl.com/ceqtf

• News Update: April 7, 2005Niger: Alarming Increase in Malnutrition
  In Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) program in Maradi in southern Niger, the number of children arriving with severe malnutrition continues to climb. In 2004, MSF treated nearly 10,000 severely malnourished children, and since the beginning of this year the situation has deteriorated further. In the villages MSF has recently visited, 1 out of every 5 children is at risk of malnutrition.
  Millet reserves empty and land for saleLast year's harvests were either scorched by the sun or ravaged by locusts. In the most affected areas of Tahoua and Maradi, more than 90 percent of the harvest was destroyed. The millet stores are therefore empty and the sorghum reserves are non-existent.As a result, farmers are having to purchase their own food and prices have skyrocketed. Those who do not have the means to buy in the markets are resorting to substitute products, such as anza, a small wild plant that bears a very bitter fruit which is only used during food shortages.
  For animal breeders the situation is also extremely critical: the only pastures left are tiny islands of yellowing straw surrounded by sand. The distances between these pastures are so vast that many animals do not have the energy to cross them. There is a significant lack of fodder, milk production has drastically dropped, and breeders have been forced to start selling their animals (young females included) in order to buy food. They are having to dip into their capital in order to survive even though livestock prices are currently very low in comparison to the cost of grain. Some farmers have had to start selling their land, a sign of extreme vulnerability.
  In the MSF therapeutic feeding center in Maradi, a Nigerian doctor listens to the heart of a child. This is difficult if the child is too thin. Photo ©MSFOne out of five children is at risk of malnutrition"In the villages we've visited, one out of five children is at risk of malnutrition," reports Arnaud, an MSF logistician and food security specialist, upon returning from an evaluation mission. "There won't be any rain before May, and the pastures won't start producing until June. The first harvests won't be ready until September."
  Without immediate intervention, children at risk are going to continue losing weight and risk entering the "red zone": severe malnutrition.* MSF is already seeing an increase in the number of cases of severe malnutrition: since mid-February the number of weekly child admissions has gone from 170 to nearly 250. Three months before the usual critical period our therapeutic feeding center in Maradi has already reached its maximum capacity, even though outpatient treatment has significantly reduced the number of patients that need hospitalization.
  This very happy child is about to leave the program, cured. He is holding his blue ID bracelet in his hand. Photo ©MSFAction is needed, and quicklyOur exploratory missions have confirmed that the situation is indeed very alarming. The early warning system in Niger, which monitors food status on the national level, has already published very worrisome data. Time is of the essence. An additional MSF team will be departing within days to open two new severe malnutrition treatment centers. However, in order to ensure that the lack of harvest does not end up costing the lives of thousands of children, other aid organizations must get involved immediately.
  *A person is considered to suffer from moderate malnutrition when their weight/height ratio falls between 70% and 80% of the median. Severe malnutrition is indicated by a weight/height ratio below 70%. Global malnutrition encompasses moderate and severe cases.

http://tinyurl.com/ceqtf

Oklahoma City National Memorial

J. J. Jackson, who helped to notify relatives of those who died in the Oklahoma City bombing, pauses Tuesday 4-19-05 Ten Years After Bombing, at one of the memorial chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

http://tinyurl.com/bssn6

Marla Ruzicka

Marla Ruzicka

• Remembering a Friend
  By Medea Benjamin and Kevin Danaher, AlterNetPosted on April 18, 2005, Printed on April 18, 2005

http://www.alternet.org/story/21778/

• One Of a Kind
  By Don Hazen, AlterNetPosted on April 18, 2005, Printed on April 18, 2005

http://www.alternet.org/story/21777/

• Counting On Marla
  By Tai Moses, AlterNetPosted on April 18, 2005, Printed on April 18, 2005

http://www.alternet.org/story/21779/

• Mourning Marla
  By Jill Carroll, Christian Science MonitorPosted on April 18, 2005, Printed on April 18, 2005

http://www.alternet.org/story/21780/

• Marla's NGO Group 'Civic Worldwide'

http://www.civicworldwide.org/

• Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy,On The Death Of Marla Ruzicka April 18, 2005

http://tinyurl.com/9wg43

• Published on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 by the Independent/UK
  Aid Worker Uncovered America's Secret Tally of Iraqi Civilian Deaths
  by Andrew Buncombe in Washington
  
  A week before she was killed by a suicide bomber, humanitarian worker Marla Ruzicka forced military commanders to admit they did keep records of Iraqi civilians killed by US forces.

SNIP Rest Of Article At: http://tinyurl.com/8b67w

• Published on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
  Marla Razicka, Rachel Corrie, and Revolution of Heart
  by Elisa Salasin
  
  I knew little about Marla Ruzicka and her important work before yesterday, but her death -- much like that of Rachel Corrie in 2003 -- touched me deeply. I must note that my sadness does not only get called out by the deaths of young, white, female activists, but there is a certain sense of identification that I feel with these women. And, in their faces, I also see my three-year old daughter, Rosie. Or, perhaps more accurately, I see the kind of spirit, determination, courage, empathy, and love that I hope Rosie carries with her out into the world. I hope this for both my children, for all our children.

SNIP Rest Of Article At: http://tinyurl.com/cdb7l

• Civilian War Victims Advocate Marla Ruzicka Mourned
  (New York, April 18, 2005) -- Human Rights Watch mourns the death of Marla Ruzicka, a tireless human rights activist working to provide compensation for civilian victims of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 28-year-old Ruzicka, founder of the non-governmental Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), was killed by a suicide bomber while traveling on the Baghdad Airport road on Saturday.

SNIP Rest Of Article At: http://tinyurl.com/947mm

• Published on Thursday, April 21, 2005 by the Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
  Mirror URL: http://tinyurl.com/8j23x
  Marla Ruzicka Lived, Died for Her Cause
  by John Nichols
  
  The global justice movement, at least in its current incarnation, is a young cause. Rooted in the anti-sweatshop campaigns of the 1990s and thrust onto the world stage by the Seattle anti-WTO protests of 1999, the movement remains overwhelmingly youthful in composition, leadership and spirit.
  As such, it has experienced few deaths of comrades - particularly among the legions of activists in the United States. Until now.
  Marla Ruzicka, the 28-year-old head of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, which worked to aid civilian victims of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, was killed Saturday on the road from Baghdad to that city's airport when her car was apparently caught between a suicide car bomber and a U.S. military convoy.

SNIP Rest Of Article At: http://tinyurl.com/8j23x

• May she Rest in 'Peace' with Rachel Corrie and the Tens Of Thousands of Beautiful Lives Lost in Mankinds Wars/Conflicts!!

• Apollo Alliance
• www.apolloalliance.org/
  
  
• Americans have always pulled together during tough times to accomplish great missions. We can do it again.
• This time to create three million good jobs, free ourselves from imported oil, and clean up the environment.
• A New Apollo Project will tap our ingenuity, our collective spirit, and our competitive drive.

PeaceRoots Alliance

http://www.peaceroots.org/ -

http://www.plenty.org/

• PeaceRoots Nonviolence Statement

We believe that this movement can contribute to world peace if we work to become peaceful ourselves. We support only those activities and groups that practice nonviolence in their tactics as well as their goals. We ally ourselves with groups that have a long history of fostering peace through nonviolent means, including:

• AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE

(AFSC), an organization founded by Quakers, works on issues of economic justice, peace building, social justice, and youth in the US, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. AFSC works in prisons, on environmental justice, on building healing relationships between races, on issues confronting sexual minorities, youth, Native Americans, and impoverished peoples. AFSC was founded in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian victims during World War I.1501 Cherry StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19102215/241-7000www.afsc.org

• WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE

New York organization professes a Ghandiesque policy of nonviolence. Find action alerts, project details, and a collection of publications. www.nonviolence.org

• WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM

Furnishes action alerts,and provides a calendar of events and campaign updates. Includes membership information. http://www.wilpf.org

• Veterans For Peace

www.veteransforpeace.org

• To find out More about the 'PeaceRoots Alliance' and their many Projects visit: http://www.peaceroots.org/

• 'More Than Warmth' Building Hope Caring Compassion
• The More Than Warmth quilt project provides a simple but direct way to help children understand and respond to the world around them.
  
  
  
• http://morethanwarmth.org/
  
  
• Mission:
  
• More Than Warmth is an educational project for students of all ages to learn about world cultures. It fosters understanding, knowledge, and compassion between cultures through nonviolent, nonpolitical, and nonreligious means.
  We create a forum allowing American students a place to process international events. While helping to create a growing awareness of world cultures, students also learn about regions of strife and conflict in the world. More Than Warmth offers students a chance to effect positive change in their world.
  New photos have been added to the Afghanistan and African pages.
  The first children’s quilts and letters were given to a friendship center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 8, 2002. Letters written by students were translated and shared with hundreds of children touring the center. Quilts have also been given to schools for girls, orphanages, daycare centers, schools for the deaf, street children, and trauma centers.
  In June, 2002, a cultural center in Bethlehem displayed a quilt created by American children with a poem expressing hope for peace in the Middle East. Students are also able to discuss how violence in the world affects them. For example, this summer, African American students of all ages in East Nashville sewed quilts to send to areas of Africa. While learning about the civil wars in Africa, the students acknowledged the violence and need for change in their own neighborhoods. Students at Cook Elementary in Atlanta, Georgia chose to make quilts for children in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• For more information Please Visit the 'More Than Warmth' site at: http://morethanwarmth.org/

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/

• Now in our third year, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows continues to serve as a voice for those affected by terrorism, violence and war. We remain committed to advocating for more choices, and better choices, than the ones our nation has made since the events of September 11th. More than ever, we ask for your support as we continue our essential work.
  As you read this, members of Peaceful Tomorrows are gathering in Oklahoma City to mark the 10th anniversary of the Murrah Federal Building bombing (April 19, 1995). We are holding public discussions with Bud Welch and Frank Silovsky, who lost loved ones as a result of the bombing, and Susan Urbach, a survivor; Michael Berg, whose son, Nick, was murdered in Iraq in 2004; Wess Young, a survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race riot; and Father Michael Lapsley, a South African priest who in 1990 lost his hands and an eye to a letter bomb as a result of his anti-apartheid efforts. All of us are asserting ways of moving beyond retribution and towards a world where terrorism, violence and war become obsolete.
  The Oklahoma City events will include the U.S. premiere of "The Forgiveness Project," a British exhibit presenting real-life examples of those who have resisted revenge in response to terrorism, political violence, war and other injustices. The exhibit includes Mariane Pearl, widow of Daniel Pearl, the journalist beheaded in Pakistan; Oklahoma City resident Andrew Rice, who lost his brother David in the World Trade Center; and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who headed South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
  We believe that events like these play a vital role in acknowledging our common experience with all people affected by violence throughout the world, and creating a safer and more peaceful world for everyone. Our other activities this year include:
  • Connecting with victims of the March 11th train bombings in Madrid, and survivors of the 1936 bombing of Guernica, Spain, as we released the Spanish-language edition of our Peaceful Tomorrows book.
  
  
  • Amplifying the civilian casualties component of the AFSC’s “Eyes Wide Open,” an exhibit of American combat boots representing military deaths in Iraq. Peaceful Tomorrows increased the total number of civilian shoes represented from 1,200 to more than 4,200.
  • Joining with atomic bomb survivors, or Hibakusha, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki at The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in New York (April 26-May 4) to reassert our goal of honoring the treaty and eliminating nuclear weapons.
  • Lobbying Congress against HR418, the “REAL ID” bill. which would add anti-immigrant provisions to unrelated legislation while doing nothing to increase our ability to identify or apprehend terrorists.
  • Initiating an “International Conference of Victims of Terrorism and War” at Princeton University in 2006. It will bring to the United States, from around the world, those affected by terrorism, violence and war who have committed themselves to working for peace.
  • Organizing “Stonewalk Japan,” a 340-mile walk between Nagasaki and Hiroshima in which we pull a monument to “the unknown civilians killed in war,” at the time of the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of those cities in 1945.
  • Traveling throughout Colombia, Guatemala, and Spanish-speaking communities in the United States this summer to promote the Spanish language release of the Peaceful Tomorrows book.
  • Bringing the voices and views of our 170 September 11th family members, and their counterparts around the world, to print, radio and television outlets throughout the United States.
  As we grow farther away from the tragedy that claimed our loved ones’ lives, the members of Peaceful Tomorrows remain committed to taking our message of “turning our grief into action for peace” to ever wider audiences as we continue working to insure that no family ever again experiences the losses we experienced on 9/11.
  Peaceful Tomorrows has been nominated for the 2003 and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. We ask for your financial help so that we can continue our work! Please make a fully tax-deductible donation today. Checks should be made payable to “Peaceful Tomorrows/Tides Center” and sent to:
  Peaceful TomorrowsP.O. Box 1818Peter Stuyvesant StationNew York, NY 10009
• You may also donate online by visiting:www.peacefultomorrows.org
  We are grateful for your continuing support of our essential work
• September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
  P.O. Box 1818Peter Stuyvesant StationNew York, New York 10009United States
• "Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows"–Martin Luther King, Jr.