KC Iraq Task Force Update-4-23-08
Ira Harritt
Join us at the next meeting of the
KC Iraq Task Force on
Monday, April 28 at 6:30pm, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO
to discuss and plan strategies to stop the Iraq war Supplemental funding.
Dear KC Iraq Task Force Supporters,
Thanks to the 25+ volunteers who came out for the April 15th Defund / Refund Tax Day Demonstration. We distributed dozens (maybe hundreds) of flyers to taxpayers filing tax returns and displayed most of the Million Dollar bills representing one day of the Iraq war funding. Here and below is a link to some pictures of the demonstration.
Sadly it seems that the Democratic leadership is moving ahead with an Iraq Supplemental Appropriations bill. For political reasons and against the will of the majority of U.S. citizens they plan to continue funding the Iraq occupation.
Below, please see a call to action from United for Peace and Justice to contact Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi at 202-225-0100 and Chair of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee John Murtha at 202-225-2847 and tell them not to give the administration another blank check to fund the war!
We invite you to join us at the next meeting of the KC Iraq Task Force on Monday, April 28 at 6:30pm, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO to discuss and plan strategies we can pursue here to impact the war funding. One idea which arose in a recent conference call was to tell Congress- “Don’t Sell us - Iraqis, U.S. troops, the U.S. economy and the World- Down the River!” We could create a “Don’t Sell us all down the river” flotilla peace event down the Missouri River or Brush Creek. What are some of your ideas? What would motivate you and your friends and family to help end the war and change policies to promote real peace, justice and security?
Hope you can join us on April 28th.
Thanks for all of your efforts for justice and peace.
Peace,
Ira Harritt
KC AFSC
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Photo from the April 15th Defund / Refund Tax Day Demonstration
Each day the U.S. spends 720 Million Dollars on the Iraq Occupation
Click Here to see some of the Defund / Refund Tax Day Demonstration Photos
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Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities
Click on link or scroll down for more information about the peace and justice activity
Peace and Justice Teach-ins will be on a break. For up to date information go to: http://peaceandjusticecoffeehouse.blogspot.com/
April 28th, Monday, 6:30pm, KC Iraq Task Force Planning Meeting This will be the regular fourth Monday monthly meeting. We will work on strategies to defeat the upcoming Iraq Supplemental legislation and other activities to promote peace and end the Iraq war. Come to the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO for information call 816 931-5256.
April 28, Monday, 7:00 PM Annual Meeting Friends Of Community Media, in the rear meeting room of Planet Sub at 4936 Main, Kansas City, Missouri
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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
Every Wednesday, 5:00pm, Iraq Anti-War Protest, College and Quivira, Overland Park, KS (NW corner). Send a message to Sen. Pat Robert that it’s time to end the war!
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Join the
Chalk Project
Marking the 4,000 death of American Troops in Iraq
with Respect and Messages of Peace
Click Here to see some of the Chalk Project outlines
Send your photos of chalk outlines to dmell...@afsc.org
Help rouse the
public’s conscience over
the growing deaths in the Iraq
occupation and call for a change from war making to making peace in the world
–through diplomacy, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, supporting
human rights…
Join with others in creating an organic memorial to those who have died in the Iraq occupation by creating body chalk outlines on streets, sidewalks or other locations (it works best working with a partner) and then to chalk the message “Too Many Have Died In Iraq” – and add your own message of peace—for example: Education Not War; Healthcare Not Bombing; Butter Not Bullets; Renewable Energy Not Oil warring, Diplomacy Not Ultimatums, etc.(We ask that you keep it positive. Not curse words or name calling.)
Our goal is for area activists to make 4,000 body outlines spread throughout the city.
We offer this caution-it is possible that creating these outlines may be considered breaking anti-graffiti laws in some places. To help you avoid this make sure you use only chalk and be willing to wash the chalk away if a business or homeowner complains.
We would also like to document the outlines created, messages left, locations and times seen. When you see a Chalk Project body outline we ask that you e-mail your “sighting” to dmell...@afsc.org.
Please include in your email the location e.g. “SW corner of 48th Street and Oak, KCMO), the messages in the outline, and times you saw it. Please also attach a digital photos in jpeg or pict format if you are able to take one. Sightings will be posted on a website to be determined. For info call 816 931-5256.
Click Here to see some of the Chalk Project outlines
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Annual Meeting Friends Of Community Media
Monday, April 28th at 7:00 PM
in the rear meeting room of Planet Sub at 4936 Main, Kansas City, MO
Many of us are tired of the shallow media coverage that serious issues are given by the corporate media. As a response and to help improve this situation, a new group was formed almost a year ago called Friends of Community Media.
FCM will hold its second annual meeting this year on Monday, April 28th in the rear meeting room of Planet Sub at 4936 Main, Kansas City, Missouri at 7:00 PM. At this meeting, the 2008-2009 board and officers will be elected. FCM Members and those interested in media reform are invited to attend. For more information call (816) 561-6288. Those who have participated with FCM in the last year and wish to continue their voting membership should contact Sharon Lockhart and be prepared to pay $10 annual dues at the annual meeting.
Friends of Community Media (FCM) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation serving the Kansas City area and is devoted to citizen participation in the media. FCM encourages media to be responsive to the community and supports diverse racial, ethnic, gender, and minority participation all media. FCM also promotes programming and media coverage which is often under-covered or ignored, encouraging democratization and diversity in media.
Last year FCM presented a program recognizing progressive media people and groups locally and nationally. Our featured speaker was David Barsamian, host and producer of Alternative Radio out of Boulder, Colorado and featured every Wednesday at 9:00 AM on KKFI 90.1 FM. Information on this event may be found at ourfcm.org.
This year, FCM wishes to again honor those who have been progressive voices in the media. We encourage you to help us select those who have helped the community and the world by emailing us your nominations. FCM will also present an award to individuals who have done us all a disservice through their media coverage and is looking for nominations for the "golden plunger."
FCM was inspired by the National Conference for Media Reform which is being held this year in June in Minneapolis and by Friends of Community Radio which helped to preserve Kansas City's only independent community radio station. Information on this year's event may be found at http://freepress.net/
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Connecting: A Film and Discussion Series
Join Citizens for Peace and Justice in the Holy Land for a series of films that will introduce us to the people and the trials of those living in Israel and Palestine. Guided discussion and refreshments will be served!
May 3: The Iron Wall will take us to the Occupied Territories and teach us about the Security Fence that Israel has constructed and how that wall impacts the lives of the Palestinians.
This film and discussion series will be held at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on the first Saturdays of March, April and May from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Holy Spirit is located at 1800 SW 150 Hwy in south Lee’s Summit. There is no charge. For information contact Ann Hayles, 816-537-6990. RSVPs are requested.
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Are you a Mother?
Have you ever had a Mother?
This Mothers Day, be a part of the celebration as it was originally intended, a voice for peace and against war.
On May 11, 2008, we will honor the work of mothers to teach, in the words of Mothers Day founder Julia Ward Howe, patience, charity and mercy.
Stand for Peace
Mothers Day 2008
May 11, 2008, 3:00
Julia's Voice is dedicated to reclaiming Mothers Day as it was intended by originator Julia Ward Howe, a day to promote peace and speak out against war.
Join us as we peacefully assemble along the public sidewalk on 95th Street between Nieman and Quivera, in Overland Park, rain or shine. Standing shoulder to shoulder, we will line the sidewalk joined by Julia Ward Howe re-enactors, musicians and other special guests.
Mother's Day was first organized 138 years ago by abolitionist, suffragette and poet Julia Ward Howe. In 1870 she organized a Mothers Day for Peace to promote peace and speak out against war.
Julia's Voice is a group of "mothers and others" joined together to return Mothers Day to its original intent. Sponsors include the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church, True Blue Women of Kansas, Iraq Veterans Against the War, the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church and American Friends Service Committee of Kansas City.
For more information go to http://www.juliasvoice.org/home.html
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News and Action Alerts
Alert on Iraq War Supplemental
From United for Peace and Justice
While the House leadership was sharply critical of recent reports by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, it now appears ready to give President Bush an additional $172 billion in war funding.
Here's what we know about what they plan to bring up for a vote:
1) On top of the $102 billion requested by the Bush administration, the Democratic Party leadership is proposing to offer an unsolicited, additional $70 billion to cover the first quarter war funding for FY2009. In other words, this will be a whopping $172 billion!
2) This funding will cover the rest of this fiscal year, which runs to Sept. 30th, and go well into the next fiscal and calendar years. This means this would be the last supplemental appropriation voted on before the November elections. If passed, this funding will also carry over into the next presidency and the new Congress.
3) There is speculation that the House version of the funding bill will be "clean" and not have any other items attached to it. If this happens there would be a straight up-or-down vote before it moves to the Senate where additional spending is likely to be added.
4) According to the Democratic leadership, this unconscionable allocation of $172 billion is an attempt to avoid a presidential veto. However, President Bush has promised to veto any war funding bill that exceeds $108 billion dollars.
It appears that the decision to vote on such a massive allocation of new funds now is based on the desire to remove the funding issue from the electoral calendar, allowing Congress to shirk accountability for continuing to fund the occupation and failing to end it. As the country heads into the elections, we believe that every senator and representative should stand up and be counted on the question of this war and how they intend to stop it.
What the House leadership is doing is outrageous! Their proposed funding will ensure the Bush administration's ability to continue to execute the war and occupation in Iraq without any congressional challenge, not even a debate.
Before it's too late, we urge you to place two critical phone calls:
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at 202-225-0100
- Chair of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee John Murtha at 202-225-2847
Tell them:
- Another blank check of $172 billion for this war is totally unacceptable. The Congress needs to act now to bring the troops home! The people of this country -- the voters of this country -- want the war to end!
- While you support efforts to protect those hit hard by the recession, the most direct way to do this would be to stop sinking billions more of our tax dollars into war and redirecting it toward providing for real safety and security -- jobs, healthcare, education, civil infrastructure, etc.
Thank you for your critical efforts in keeping the pressure on.
Yours, for peace and justice,
John Bruhns, Legislative Action Coordinator, UFPJ
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Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.
The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.
To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.
More > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?scp=1&sq=military+media&st=nyt
