KC Iraq Task Force Supporters - 5-19-11
Ira Harritt
Join us this Monday, May 23 at 6:30pm for AFSC Anti-War Organizing Committee meeting. Join us to organize actions to mark the 10th Anniversary of 9-11; campaigns to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
plan for the Windows & Mirrors Afghan Mural exhibit (http://afsc.org/project/windows-and-mirrors)…
At 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO. For more information call 816 931-5256 or afs...@afsc.org.
Dear Peacemakers,
Peacemaking is long and patient work. It is a never ending nurturing of our human community to increase empathy, compassion and the skills of living together.
There are as many ways to work for peace in our world and community as there are people.
We invite you to join with us in our efforts to creatively work for a more just and peaceful world. We are excited about our work but we need your involvement.
Please consider joining one of our planning committees to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; to “Move the Money” in our federal budget from military spending to investing in people and jobs for our future; and to deepen our community members’ visions of a just and peaceful world. (Contact us at afs...@afsc.org to get involved.)
We have restructured this work and are forming three committees to better plan and carry out peace campaigns. We are dividing our work among:
· Anti-War Committee – will organize campaigns to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Libya…) including: organizing actions to mark the 10th Anniversary of 9-11 and the Afghan war and planning events for the Windows & Mirrors Afghan Mural exhibit in November and December – Good news – we have confirmed the two location for the exhibit : will have 35 to 40 of the 45 traveling murals displayed at the Central KCMO Public Library, 14 West 10th Street, Kansas City, MO and 5 to 10 of murals from the traveling exhibit plus five to ten murals produced locally at the Johnson County Central Resource Library, 9875 West 87th Street, Overland Park, KS. (http://afsc.org/project/windows-and-mirrors);
· Cutting Military Spending / U.S. Budget Priorities Committee– will organize education and advocacy campaigns on military spending and budget issues including a people’s budget resolution campaigns; (Hear my interview from the May 5th Heartland Labor Forum show on Military spending vs. Human needs starting at 30minutes into the program and see June 20 Green forum below)
· Peace-building Committee – will organize activities to promote a positive vision of peace including holding an annual Visions of Peace at the Crossroads Festival, October 7, 2011 – we just received confirmation that we can hold the event at the same parking lot as we used last year.
Join us this Monday, May 23 at 6:30pm for AFSC Anti-War Organizing Committee meeting. Join us to organize actions to mark the 10th Anniversary of 9-11; campaigns to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plan for the Windows & Mirrors Afghan Mural exhibit… At 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO. For more information call 816 931-5256 or afs...@afsc.org.
You may be just the person who can make these campaigns even more successful than we imagine! Contact us if you can help – 816 931-5256 / afs...@afsc.org
Elizabeth Tembo, our Youth Outreach Intern, is working to involve high school-aged youth in two projects: making murals as part of the KC display of the Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan exhibit (We can use the help of mural artists who would volunteer to work with youth in creating a mural for the exhibit – contact us!) and making short videos for the ”If I Had A Trillion Dollars” Youth Film Festival.
We are getting ready to hire peace interns for the 2011-2012 school year. Applications will be due by June 16, 2011. Students committed to working for peace who will be attending a Kansas City area college or university in the 2011-2012 school year can find out how to apply for our paid Campus Peace Internship by going to: http://afsc.org/document/kc-campus-peace-intern-2011-2012 (Also click the link to read reflections from recent interns). And we are inviting applications for AFSC Peace Fellows – an unpaid Fellowship providing training and resources to conduct peace campaigns on university campuses . http://afsc.org/document/kc-afsc-peace-fellowship-2011-2012
Please weigh in and get involved in the peace and justice campaigns listed in this alert.
Thank you for your support and work for a peaceful and just community and world.
Peace,
Ira Harritt
KC AFSC Program Coordinator
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volunteer Needed To Help Rem Learn To Drive
Do you have a few hours over the next several weeks to help Rem, an Iraqi refugee, learn and practice her driving skills. She lives in NE Johnson County.
Call Roz if you can help at– 913) 722-6583 or 816) 668-9909.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities
Click on link or scroll down for more information about the peace and justice activity
May 20, Friday, 6:00pm ./ 7:00pm, Missouri Immigrant and Advocacy Potluck Dinner / Film and Discussion. Enjoy a potluck dinner and discussion at a special preview screening of Welcome to Shelbyville! Brought to you by MIRA, Advocates for Immigrant Rights & Reconciliation, Cross Border Network, Jewish Vocational Services, and the Westside CAN Center, Welcome to Shelbyville is a documentary about a small Southern town in the heart of America's Bible Belt grappling with rapid demographic change and issues of immigrant integration.. All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 4501 Walnut, KCMO. For more info or to RSVP, email Vanessa at van...@mira-mo.org
May 22, Sunday, 1:00pm, Government Debt and Deficits: A Phony Crisis- Community of Reason Forum. The program will feature Stephanie Kelton, UMKC Asso. Professor of Economics –“Understanding of the ability of the U.S. government to create money reveals the fallacy of the danger of the federal debt and deficit.” UMKC, Haag Hall, Room 301, NW corner of 52nd & Rockhill Rd., KCMO
May 23, Monday, 6:30pm, AFSC Anti-War Organizing . Join us to organize actions to mark the 10th Anniversary of 9-11; campaigns to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plan for the Windows & Mirrors Afghan Mural exhibit… At 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO. For more information call 816 931-5256 or afs...@afsc.org.
May 24, Tuesday, 4:00 – 6:00PM Healthcare Reform: Train the Trainer Session, at Block School of Business, 5110 Cherry, Rm. 4, KCMO. CEU’s for Social Workers, RSVP Alice Kitchen, akitchenl2kc.rr.com, 816 753-4424
June 4, Saturday, 11:30 am. Bradley Manning Rally And Vigil in Leavenworth, KS Bradley Manning is being moved to the Leavenworth Correctional Facility. A Rally and Vigil in his support will be held at 1300 Metropolitan in Leavenworth, Kansas For more info about the rally click this link - Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking information to Wikileaks, is being held by the military subject to unnecessarily severe and inhumane treatment according to Amnesty International. Bradley Manning has not been convicted of any offence, but military authorities appear to be using all available means to punish him while in detention. The conditions under which Bradley Manning is held appear to breach the USA’s human rights obligations. More info at http://www.bradleymanning.org/
June 20, 7:00 to 9:00pm, Greens Forum: The Federal Budget: Making It An Instrument For The Common Good. Form panel will include Ira Harritt, KC AFSC Program Coordinator who will discuss excessive military spending, its impact on Kansas City and our economic health and proposals to cut the military budget and “move the money” to human needs and job creation. At Aquarius Book Store, 3936 Broadway, KC, MO (Park in back and use back stairs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVERY Sunday: Iraq Peace Vigil, 4pm, JC Nichols Fountain, 47th & Main, Streets, Kansas City, MO http://www.kciraqtaskforce.org/
EVERY Tuesday, JOIN THIS Peace Demonstration Every Tuesday between 5PM - 6 PM in the median strip on the south corner of the intersection at 63rd & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo. For more information email '63rd Street Patriots' at schwar...@sbcglobal.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
News and Alerts
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM SEN. JON TESTER
Time to End Outdated Military Spending, Not Medicare
Posted: 05/19/11 04:25 PM ET, Huffington Post
Today, the same politicians in the House of Representatives who claimed that tax cuts for the wealthy would "pay for themselves" are insisting we take them seriously as they try to balance the budget.
Their plan? To end Medicare as we know it, and other gimmicks like cutting basic health care for women.
Montanans and many Americans aren't buying what those politicians are trying to sell. There are better ways to cut government spending and cut the national debt, without stripping seniors and women of their health care.
A good place to start is taking a hard look at the huge amount of money America spends on military operations overseas -- especially on Cold War-era military bases in Europe and Asia.
The U.S. operates more than 1,000 military installations on foreign soil, including 268 in Germany, 124 in Japan and 87 in South Korea. Approximately 370,000 U.S. servicemen and women are currently deployed in more than 150 countries around the world.
Several generations after the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, the world has changed. And so have our armed forces.
The U.S. has the strongest, smartest, most effective military in the world, thanks to our dedicated troops and the cutting edge technology they employ. The days of America needing hundreds of military installations in dozens of countries across the entire world are over.
More> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-jon-tester/time-to-end-outdated-mili_b_864375.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published on Thursday, May 19, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
US Actions, Not Obama's Words Tell Story of US Middle East Policy
We all want to be supportive of our President as he attempts to broaden America's positive role in the Middle East and North Africa. But it is important to critically analyze what the President does, not what he says, when it comes to U.S. policy abroad. When the President says ‘[i]t will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region, and to support transitions to democracy,’ we must look more carefully at how this policy has been implemented as well as the implications of the actions that have already been taken.
President Obama violated the Constitution by pursuing war against Libya without a Constitutionally-required authorization for the use of military force or declaration of war from Congress. His actions, and now his policy recitations, set the stage for more interventions, presumably in Syria and Iran. His recounting of the reasons for U.S. intervention in Libya is at odds with the facts. There was no clear evidence of an impending massacre in Libya. There was menacing rhetoric and a violent government put-down of an armed insurrection which may have been joined by some with legitimate non-violent aspirations. No one can justify the actions of any parties to this conflict. In any case, discretion requires leaders to move with the utmost care in developing military responses to rhetoric and similar care to intervention in a civil war.
The UN mandate to protect civilians was exceeded almost immediately and used as a pretext for regime change. The U.S. and NATO are one in Libya. Our nation, through NATO, has taken sides in a civil war which is spreading more violence throughout Libya and putting more civilians' at risk. The Interim Council of the rebels moved quickly to a $100 million oil marketing agreement with Qatar, unmasking a potential reason for intervention: control over Libya's vast oil fields which can yield over $300 million in oil daily. The military intervention in a civil war against the backdrop of a struggle for oil casts a shadow of doubt upon lofty rhetoric about positive change, peace and stability. That the U.S. has not intervened militarily in Bahrain and Yemen demonstrates that violent intervention carries high risks and political resolution of conflict is desirable. We must be prepared to seek political resolution of conflicts through statecraft not through military force.
More> http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/19-11
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published on Thursday, May 19, 2011 by The Washington Post
Death of the War Powers Act?
by Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway
This week, the War Powers Act confronts its moment of truth. Friday will mark the 60th day since President Obama told Congress of his Libyan campaign. According to the act, that declaration started a 60-day clock: If Obama fails to obtain congressional support for his decision within this time limit, he has only one option — end American involvement within the following 30 days.
Obama has not only failed but he hasn’t even tried — leaving it to Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, to call for a “specific resolution that would give [the president] authority.” Neither the president nor the Democratic congressional leadership has shown any interest. They have been sleep-walking their way to Day 60.
Obama’s politics of silence contrast sharply with clear and consistent legal pronouncements of the executive branch. Richard Nixon vetoed the act in 1973, precisely because it imposed restraints on presidential warmaking. But two-thirds of both houses of Congress overrode his veto, and the presidency soon fell into line. Jimmy Carter’s Justice Department expressly affirmed the constitutionality of the 60-day clock in 1980 — and its verdict has not been challenged by executive-branch lawyers.
Obama has continued this tradition. His March 21 letter to Congress telling of the Libyan campaign stated that it was “consistent with the War Powers Resolution.” And his Justice Department issued an opinion that acknowledged the 60-day rule without questioning its constitutionality.
Why, then, hasn’t the president been pressing Congress to approve the war before the looming deadline? Because it’s easier to paper over the problem with new legal fictions pretending that the time limit doesn’t apply to this instance. By Friday, the administration’s legal team is likely to announce that the clock stopped ticking on April 1 — the date when NATO “took the lead” in the bombing campaign. Since NATO is running the show, the argument will go, the War Powers Act no longer applies, and the president doesn’t have to go back to Congress after all.
More> http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/19-9
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published on Thursday, May 19, 2011 by Cincinnati CIty Beat
Rethinking the Common Good
Neither capitalism nor communism, new concept protects resources
by Steven Novotni
The usual narrative of America’s Dust Bowl years goes something like this: Midwestern farmers, driven by greed, recklessly and ignorantly wrecked the land to such a point that it became worthless. They essentially ate themselves to death.
But Raj Patel, author of The Value of Nothing, says it wasn’t some innate, every-man-for-himself style of greed that raped the land; it was the dominant capitalist construct that was to blame.
Patel and fellow political theorist Michael Hardt recently visited Cincinnati to discuss the value of “the commons,” the idea that the wealth of the planet — land, air, water and human knowledge — are not things that should be bought and sold but are, in fact, the commonwealth of all mankind.
More> http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/19-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Informative Videos
Published on Thursday, May 19, 2011 by RT America
Obama's Hope and Change an Illusion as Wars Rage On
In a speech delivered this morning, President Barak Obama set out some guidelines for the future of the Middle East and North Africa, where unrest and revolt has been all too rampant as of late. While Obama says the present is a "moment of opportunity" to make things better, promises that pegged Obama as a peaceful president at the start of his administration have gone unfulfilled. Instead, America has only extended one war and started another. Nick Turse of TomDispatch.com says he doesn't have a lot of hope of the President's most recent rhetoric.
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/05/19-2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam Hochschild: To End All Wars
World War I was called "the war to end all wars," but nearly 100 years later, war is far from over. Adam Hochschild, co-founder of Mother Jones magazine, has written a new book looking back at that war and specifically, those who objected to and fought against the Great War.
http://grittv.org/2011/05/11/adam-hochschild-to-end-all-wars/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Hedges: The World As it Is
"You can't sustain a democracy in an oligarchic state. The writers on Athenian democracy understood that 2000 years ago," says Chris Hedges, whose new book The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress explores the problems of a crumbling empire, inside and out.
http://blip.tv/grittv/grittv-chris-hedges-the-world-as-it-is-5155794
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FYI –
Targeted and Entrapped:
Manufacturing the “Homegrown Threat” in the United States
Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has targeted Muslims in the United States by sending paid, untrained informants into mosques and Muslim communities. This practice has led to the prosecution of more than 200 individuals in terrorism-related cases….
http://afghanistan101.blogspot.com/2011/05/targeted-and-entrapped.html
Peter Lems
Program Director, Education and Advocacy for Iraq and Afghanistan
American Friends Service Committee
http://afghanistan101.blogspot.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From The Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Last week, the House Judiciary Committee voted 22-13 in favor of a bill extending two expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act for six years—and making another permanent. Now is a crucial time in the legislative process, and we must make sure members of Congress hear grassroots voices opposing the Washington agenda and the surveillance state.
Despite feeling “betrayed” by the FBI’s violations of these powers just last year, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and other members of the House leadership are aggressively promoting PATRIOT Act reauthorization without adding protections for civil liberties. Meanwhile, people from across the political spectrum have raised their voices and called on Congress to reject the proposed reauthorization and restore constitutional rights.
We the People still have a chance to shift the debate.
This week is a prime opportunity for grassroots constitutionalists like you to contact your members of Congress and encourage their support for strong reforms to the PATRIOT Act. For instance, the provisions included in the JUSTICE Act would dramatically limit executive power and restore individual rights and liberties.
Email your members of Congress now to stop permanent reauthorization of PATRIOT powers.
Thank you for your concern for the Constitution—and for raising your voice to defend it.
Sincerely,
Shahid Buttar
Executive Director
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citizens for Tax Justice's Tax Justice Digest
New Report from CTJ: People Who Make $250,000 Should Stop Worrying: Obama's Income Tax Plan Targets those Who Make Over $1 Million
Recent articles in the New York Times and the Fiscal Times entertain the notion that President Obama's income tax plan will result in unaffordable tax increases for families who make $250,000 a year. One theme of these articles is that in some parts of the country, $250,000 is really not very much to raise a family on.
A new report from CTJ explains that this is wrong on several levels. If enacted in 2011, 84 percent of the revenue savings from Obama’s plan to partially end the Bush income tax cuts would come from people whose income exceeds $1 million annually. In fact, most married couples with incomes between $250,000 and $300,000 would see no change in their income taxes...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ira Harritt
KC Program Coordinator
American Friends Service Committee
http://afsc.org/office/kansas-city-mo