Ohio Green Beat-Ohio Green Party Newsletter

[irishbobcat]

February 17, 2009

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In this issue:



v     OPINION

§         ANOTHER GREEN WORLD - Anita Rios

§         THE HOLLOW VICTORY OF 2008 - Nick Teti



v     CAMPAIGN NEWS

§         BALLOT ACCESS - Dennis Spisak



v     ISSUES

§        GLOBAL WARMING - Last Chance to Divert Disaster by Dr. James Hansen

§        THE ECONOMY

·        The Next Big Bail Outs: State, Local, and Private Pensions - Dr. Michael Hudson

·        Naomi Klein on the Bailout Profiteers  - Interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now

·        Don't Fix Wall Street, Replace It - David Korten of YES!  Magazine



v     EVENTS

§         ACLU WORKSHOP on IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

§         NATIONWIDE ANTI-WAR RALLY



v     FEEDBACK - Send your comments to NEWSLETTER



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OPINION



Another Green World - A belief in Hope, but a commitment to Vigilance

by Anita Rios, co-convener of the Green Party of Ohio

As a person of color who has been called a "nigger", and not in that post eighties misguided way that seeks to emulate"gangsta" culture and implies that "we are tough" but in that vicious way that is indescribably and deliberately hurtful, I can not look at Barack Obama and not feel uplifted. I really did not think that America was capable of putting race aside and electing a black man president. Now having Barack Obama serving in that position I want desperately for him to succeed and for the hopes of those who elected him to that position to be realized. I know that many people who have never had any faith in the political process registered and voted because of Barack Obama and I think that is a very good first step. But it is only a first step and without knowledgeable follow up it is a relatively empty gesture. Without innovative policy changes from the Obama administration the hope and change that he championed will be nothing more than good campaign slogans. Hope is no substitute for vigilance and it is imperative that as citizens we remain involved beyond election day and become knowledgeable advocates for the changes we know must come.

I will be elated if by the Obama election we realize an American society where health care is a right, where no child is denied a quality education because of income, where workers are not forced to compete in a race to the bottom, and where we once and for all reject war as a tool for resolving disputes. My investment in politics is an investment in making our communities, our countries, and our world a better place and I will support any leader who moves us closer to that better world. I did not support Obama during the presidential campaign because he did not support the changes that I feel are both necessary and doable, he did not support universal health care, his education reform policies were vague and inadequate, and his pledge to pull our troops from Iraq was balanced by his pledge to focus America's military might in Afghanistan. As a candidate Obama stated he would be willing to bomb Pakistan and now as President he has done just that. His positions on many issues only sounded good when contrasted with the appalling policies of the Bush administration or those of his republican opponent John McCain.

In my estimation Obama's campaign spoke of change but offered very little substantive change. Obama may very well end some of the most egregious constitutional abuses of the Bush administration and he may close the Guantanamo Bay detention center but it is doubtful that he will have the objectivity or the political will to clean house on Wall Street, take on the health insurance companies, or to reign in the military and prison industrial complexes.

Sadly, on some of the rare occasions that I heard progressive pundits address the shortcomings of the Obama campaign rhetoric they took the position that he had to take those positions in order to get elected but would do better once he was in office. Some of those so called progressives also took the position that it was necessary to compromise, in particular on health insurance issues, in order to get any movement at all. With so many progressive pundits hoping that Obama was playing politics as usual and not truthfully stating his positions in the campaign, or that he shouldn't even put issues such as universal health care on the table, I can not believe that those so called progressives will be very effective advocates for change. Some of the most strident and vigilant critics of the Bush administration are far too enamored of Obama to challenge him.

The early actions of the Obama administration, from a progressive point of view, are not very hopeful. He has filled his cabinet with some of the very people who had a hand in crafting our current economic and foreign policies. But this is pretty much consistent with the Obama campaign rhetoric. I am certainly not surprised and despite being genuinely glad that an African American man has been elected president, and genuinely respectful of the hopes of the millions of Obama supporters, I will continue to scrutinize the actions of the Obama administration with the same vigilance that is always necessary of any citizen seeking to play a meaningful role in self governance.

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The Hollow Victory of 2008 - Electing Our First Black President

by Nick Teti



We are living on hope. The sane majority of Americans desperately want President Obama to succeed.  The sad truth is he has already failed.  He has failed because even if his policies are enacted his priorities are inadequate or completely out of sync with what we need now and what we need to survive in the future. By condoning and abetting the commitment of twelve trillion dollars, (latest tab), to resurrect the scavenged remains of a failed economic system with its flawed ideology he has literally mortgaged our future. This watershed moment will define the next century allowing further concentration of capital and power into the hands of the obscenely wealthy elite.

 

There is also the problem of global warming which if not solved decisively will dwarf all our social and economic problems.  If his environmental policy becomes as compromised as his current economic policy we are in deep trouble. You can't cut a deal with a warming ocean. You don't negotiate with a melting ice cap.  You don't haggle with a receding glacier.  You reduce CO2 emissions to 350 parts per million or you cross the tipping point and let Manhattan go under water, watch the Ganges and the Yangtze run dry, allow the frozen deep-sea methane to thaw, and reduce the ocean population to jellyfish and sea worms.

I do not blame Obama. He has used his intellect, his talent, and his charisma to triumph in the arena we have built. He is a product of the system that we have allowed to develop which now permits minorities to claim a vicarious entry into the upper echelons of the parasite class. The black community has moved forward but without the dream. The dream died because Stokely Carmichael's challenge to white society has gone largely unanswered. Stokely laid it out for us in 1966 when he ran white progressives out of SNCC. He told America then that blacks were perfectly capable of producing their own leaders to run their affairs and exercise power to advance their own agenda. He exhorted whites to work in their own community to make changes in the society they controlled. The changes didn't happen.  We see today the fruition of decades of apathy, indifference, and complacency; of a white middle class bought off with an illusory prosperity based on hot checks and Ponzi schemes. Middle America has come to accept as the norm a brutal, genocidal foreign policy; exploitation of the planet's resources with scant regard for environmental consequences; and committing our treasury to militarism and aggression while ignoring the most fundamental human needs of our citizens. 



But as more Americans see their jobs, pensions, healthcare, and educational opportunities vanish into the Wall Street sinkhole they are awakening to the idea that they aren't getting much back for their effort and that our government's priorities need to be reset. Obama has proven during his campaign that he has the ability to organize people to defeat the establishment power structure. The progressive populist rhetoric remains but mobilizing grassroots support to defeat the entrenched interests of the entitled class- that is fading.  It is incumbent on those of us who want to see real reform that we do not join the Obama apologists. We need change not a cult figure who talks about change. 

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CAMPAIGN NEWS



Ballot Access

by Dennis Spisak

Dennis Spisak, From the Mahoning County Green Party, has been in contact with SOS officials regarding party and ballot status for 2009 and 2010. Here is the information he has shared with us:



Dear Mr. Spisak,

The signature requirements are as follows:

Major Part Candidates – 1,000 signatures

Intermediate or minor party candidates – 500 signatures

Independent candidates – 5,000 signatures

I have also attached to this email a copy of the 2006 Candidate Guide. This will provide you with some more information. Please note that this should be used only for general information, as some requirements of forms may change by operation of the General Assembly. The 2010 Candidate Guide will probably be available in late 2009.

As a general rule, forms are available forms your local board of elections office. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Timothy M. Quinn
Ohio Secretary of State
Constituent Liaison



Mr. Spisak,

One point of clarification: the secretary of state's election counsel advise that this office is aware of court orders being issued in 2008 regarding minor political parties' challenges of Ohio's ballot access provisions (e.g., Libertarian Party of Ohio v. Brunner, S.D. Ohio Case No. 2:08-CV-555; Constitution Party of Ohio v. Brunner, S.D. Ohio Case No. 2:08-cv-666; and Moore v. Brunner, S.D. Ohio Case No. 2:08-cv-224 (re: Socialist Party USA ), but the Green Party was not a party in any of those cases.



However, Secretary Brunner made the decision to apply the ballot access criteria set forth in those court orders to similarly situated political organizations, one of which was the Green Party, in connection with the 2008 general election.



Elections counsel further advise that, because the General Assembly has yet to enact legislation establishing ballot access requirement s consistent with the courts' orders, Secretary Brunner is extending access to the 2009 ballot to political organizations that meet the criteria established by those court orders. Therefore, with respect to elections conducted in 2009, an otherwise valid and sufficient declaration of candidacy circulated on behalf of a person seeking the nomination of an eligible political party is required to contain valid signatures equal to half the minimum number required for major party candidates under R.C. 3513.05.

This office cannot state with any certainty what the signature/ballot access requirements will be for persons seeking the Green Party nomination for the office of U.S. Senator in 2010. However, the Secretary of State's office hopes that the General Assembly will act soon to create appropriate procedures for ballot access.

Sincerely,

Timothy M. Quinn
Ohio Secretary of State
Constituent Liaison



Mahoning Valley Greens News Update

Presently we are looking for qualified candidates to run for Youngstown Mayor and President of Council in November 2009.

We are in the beginning stages of promoting a "Buy Local" campaign using the model found at www.Buylocalday.org

We are also looking to work with the www.allaboardohio.org to help get local civic groups and communities to support legislation for light mass rail transit service in the Youngstown, Ohio area.



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ISSUES



GLOBAL WARMING

Last Chance to Avoid Disaster - Testimony of Dr. James E. Hansen

Multinational Monitor



Dr. James E. Hansen, a physicist by training, directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. His June testimony before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming is presented below.

For 20 years, Hansen has been ringing alarm bells about the dangers of climate change, and his June testimony marked two decades after his first, landmark Congressional testimony calling attention to global warming. During that time, the Bush administration has tried to prevent him from speaking out, requiring at times that his public statements be pre-reviewed by non-scientific staff.



In his June testimony, Hansen said that fossil fuel company CEOs should be tried for crimes against humanity. He also warned that now-accepted targets for reducing carbon emissions are far too high.



Testimony of Dr. James E. Hansen

My presentation today is exactly 20 years after my 23 June 1988 testimony to Congress, which alerted the public that global warming was underway. There are striking similarities between then and now, but one big difference.



Again, a wide gap has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public. Now, as then, frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent.



The difference is that now we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb. The next President and Congress must define a course next year in which the United States exerts leadership commensurate with our responsibility for the present dangerous situation.

Otherwise, it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity's control.



Changes needed to preserve creation, the planet on which civilization developed, are clear. But the changes have been blocked by special interests, focused on short-term profits, who hold sway in Washington and other capitals.



I argue that a path yielding energy independence and a healthier environment is, barely, still possible. It requires a transformative change of direction in Washington in the next year.

On 23 June 1988 I testified to a hearing, chaired by Senator Tim Wirth of Colorado, that the Earth had entered a long-term warming trend and that human-made greenhouse gases almost surely were responsible. I noted that global warming enhanced both extremes of the water cycle, meaning stronger droughts and forest fires, on the one hand, but also heavier rains and floods.



My testimony two decades ago was greeted with skepticism. But while skepticism is the lifeblood of science, it can confuse the public. As scientists examine a topic from all perspectives, it may appear that nothing is known with confidence. But from such broad open-minded study of all data, valid conclusions can be drawn.

My conclusions in 1988 were built on a wide range of inputs from basic physics, planetary studies, observations of on-going changes and climate models. The evidence was strong enough that I could say it was time to "stop waffling." I was sure that time would bring the scientific community to a similar consensus, as it has.

While international recognition of global warming was swift, actions have faltered. The U.S. refused to place limits on its emissions, and developing countries such as China and India rapidly increased their emissions.

What is at stake? Warming so far, about two degrees Fahrenheit over land areas, seems almost innocuous, being less than day-to-day weather fluctuations. But more warming is already "in-the-pipeline," delayed only by the great inertia of the world ocean. And climate is nearing dangerous tipping points. Elements of a "perfect storm," a global cataclysm, are assembled.



Climate can reach points such that amplifying feedbacks spur large rapid changes. Arctic sea ice is a current example. Global warming initiated sea ice melt, exposing darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight, melting more ice. As a result, without any additional greenhouse gases, the Arctic soon will be ice-free in the summer.

More ominous tipping points loom. West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are vulnerable to even small additional warming. These two-mile-thick behemoths respond slowly at first, but if disintegration gets well underway it will become unstoppable. Debate among scientists is only about how much sea level would rise by a given date. In my opinion, if emissions follow a business-as-usual scenario, sea level rise of at least two meters is likely this century. Hundreds of millions of people would become refugees. No stable shoreline would be reestablished in any time frame that humanity can conceive.



Animal and plant species are already stressed by climate change. Polar and alpine species will be pushed off the planet, if warming continues. Other species attempt to migrate, but as some are extinguished their interdependencies can cause ecosystem collapse. Mass extinctions, of more than half the species on the planet, have occurred several times when the Earth warmed as much as expected if greenhouse gases continue to increase. Biodiversity recovered, but it required hundreds of thousands of years.

The disturbing conclusion, documented in a paper I have written with several of the world's leading climate experts, is that the safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is no more than 350 ppm (parts per million) and it may be less. Carbon dioxide amount is already 385 ppm and rising about 2 ppm per year. Stunning corollary: the oft-stated goal to keep global warming less than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) is a recipe for global disaster, not salvation.



Press control - click to read the rest of this article


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THE ECONOMY



The Next Big Bail Outs:

State, Local and Private Pensions

by Dr. Michael Hudson, ISLET ©

A Counterpunch article

       

Early on the morning of July 30, President Bush signed the act that the Senate had passed at a special session the previous Saturday. The new "housing act" (a more honest title would have been the "Financial Bailout Act of 2008") authorizes the Treasury and Federal Reserve Board to provide unlimited credit to the mortgage packagers and insurers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and infuse $300 billion of new lending power to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and localities to support the "real estate market." This is a euphemism for saving mortgage lenders from the traditional response to falling property prices – defaults and walk-aways.



The act's press release claims that its purpose is "to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling U.S. homeowners and to stabilize financial markets." But its real aim is to help banks and institutional investors get rid of the bad mortgage loans on their books. And mortgages are the major asset base of most banks and other financial institutions today. To support the price at which existing mortgages are traded and can be sold off by their present holders – banks and other financial institutions – the increased funding for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA is part of a $1.4 trillion emergency supply of government credit intended to keep housing prices from falling back to more affordable levels, the Federal Reserve and Treasury will act in tandem to inflate asset prices to flood the economy with more and more free credit – that is, expensive debt to borrowers. This funding could have been to save individual debtors from foreclosure and re-set their mortgages at more realistic levels. But homeowners are not the constituency of the Treasury and Federal Reserve. Wall Street is, and its interests simply do not reflect those of the rest of the economy. Rather than rolling debts back to more affordable levels, the aim is to restore housing prices to high levels requiring new buyers to run even deeper into debt to obtain housing.



What ultimately supports the price of packaged mortgages is the market value of the real estate pledged as collateral. Via Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA, the government will use its own credit to guarantee payment on whatever portion of the unpayable exponential growth in debt cannot be carried by the economy at large. Public sector loans and guarantees are to replace the bad loans that existing mortgage holders are stuck with. Property prices are threatening to sink by another 25 percent, on top of the 15 percent decline already registered. A price plunge of this magnitude would wipe out much of the collateral backing the loans packaged and sold to U.S. pension funds, other institutional investors and foreign banks. Free markets now mean markets where the government takes responsibility for the financial sector's losses.



Why isn't this more widely recognized? The explanation is an economic ideology that lives in the short run. Our society has lost its view of the future – the long-term view on which classical political economists and Progressive Era reformers focused. Most people do not see the financial war going on, and imagine that finance, industry and labor are fighting for the same kind of economic growth and wealth. The reality is a conflict between financial and industrial objectives.



Usually each side votes and acts in its economic interest. At least this is the basic axiom of democratic political theory and the economic theory of efficient markets. But it is best not to crow too loudly over victory. The recent financial bailout of irresponsible mortgage lenders is depicted as a housing bill to promote home ownership (at the price of debt peonage, to be sure), not as a giveaway to financial interests. It is best not to acknowledge that the financial system's dominance over government debt and real estate policy threatens to push the economy further down the road to insolvency, or how it will squeeze state and local finances, and pension funding public and private. Deception has become a decisive rhetorical tactic. And the most prevalent mode of deception is to narrow the scope of how the public views rising real estate prices and the parallel growth in indebtedness.



http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson07312008.html

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Naomi Klein on the Bailout Profiteers and the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Crime Scene

Interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now



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"The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal," says Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine.

AMY GOODMAN: World leaders from nearly two dozen countries met in Washington over the weekend to discuss plans to increase regulation of international financial activity. They acknowledged that a failure of market oversight in countries like the United States had precipitated the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, here at home, it's been a month into the Bush administration's more than $700 billion bank bailout. Last week, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlined a new bailout strategy intended to boost consumer borrowing and promote financing for companies that give out loans. President-elect Obama's transition team is reportedly working on improving the management of the bailout come January 20th.

But that's two months away and according to the Washington Post, with $290 billion already committed, the Bush administration has taken no action to fill congressionally-mandated independent positions to oversee how the bailout is used.

According to Naomi Klein's latest article in The Nation, "The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal." The article is called "In Praise of a Rocky Transition."

Naomi Klein, investigative journalist, author of The Shock Doctrine, joins us now from Toronto, Canada.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Naomi.



NAOMI KLEIN: Thanks so much, Amy.



AMY GOODMAN: "Criminal"? Explain.

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, there's a few elements now that are being described as illegal that we're finding out. First of all, the equity deals that were negotiated with the largest banks and also some smaller banks, representing $250 billion worth of the bailout money, this is the deal to inject equity into the banks in—to inject capital into the banks in exchange for equity. The idea was to address the so-called credit crunch to get banks lending again. The legislation that enabled this was quite explicit that it had to encourage lending. Barney Frank, who was one of the architects of that legislation, has said that it violates the act if the money is not going to that purpose and is instead going to bonuses, is instead going to dividends, going to salaries, going to mergers. He said that violates the acts, i.e. it's illegal. But what we know is that it's going precisely to those purposes. It is going to bonuses. It is going to shareholders. And it is not going to lending. The banks have been quite explicit about this. Citibank has talked about using the money to buy other banks.

Then there's other aspects of this that are borderline illegal. We found out that in the midst of the crisis, the Bush—the Treasury Department pushed through a tax windfall for the banks, a piece of legislation that allows the banks to save a huge amount of money when they merge with each other. And the estimate is that this represents a loss of $140 billion worth of tax revenue for the US government. Many tax attorneys who were interviewed by the Washington Post said that they felt that the way in which the Treasury Department went about this by unilaterally changing the tax code was illegal, that this had to be—this had to include Congress. Congress only found out about it after the fact.

There's another piece of this puzzle that is also borderline illegal, which is that in addition to the $700 billion that we are discussing, the $700 billion bailout, there's another $2 trillion that's been handed out by the Federal Reserve in emergency loans to financial institutions, to banks, that actually we don't really know who they're handing the money out to, because, apparently, it's a secret. They could be handing it out to a range of other corporations—I think they are—but they're saying that they won't disclose who has received these taxpayer loans, because it could cause a run on the banks, it could cause the market to lose confidence in the institutions that have taken these loans. Once again, that represents an additional $2 trillion.

The other thing that the Fed won't disclose is what they have accepted as collateral in exchange for these loans. This is a really key point, because, of course, at the heart of the financial crisis is—are these so- called distressed assets. The value of these assets is enormously controversial. They may be worth very little. So if the Fed has accepted distressed assets as collateral in exchange for these loans, there's a very good chance the taxpayers aren't going to be getting this money back. So Bloomberg News has launched a lawsuit in federal court to find out who has received the loans and what has been accepted as collateral, because they believe that this lack of transparency is illegal. So that's why we're calling this the "trillion-dollar crime scene" or the "multi-trillion-dollar crime scene." And they're really challenging lawmakers to call them out, the Treasury is.

And I think, you know, Amy, the last time I was on Democracy Now!, we were talking about Henry Paulson's original three-page proposal, the $700 trillion stickup, where he basically said, "Give me $700 trillion. Don't ask any questions. I can never be challenged by any arm of government or any court of law." Now, that aspect of the bailout was supposedly dealt with, and we were all reassured that there was going to be transparency, accountability, legality. But now we're finding out that, in fact, Henry Paulson has achieved his original goal by stealth, because there is no accountability, and lawmakers are very hesitant to challenge this, because they're afraid of causing a run on the banks, of causing more market instability. So, essentially, what the Bush administration has done is said, you know, "We dare you to challenge us and be responsible for the great depression." And the Democrats, not known for their firm spines, have so far failed to challenge them in anything other than rhetoric.

Control-Click to read the rest of the article.

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Don't Fix Wall Street, Replace It
by David Korten

YES! Magazine


Why not an economy of real wealth?

The current economic debate centers on how best to revive our existing economic system through some combination of a Wall Street bailout and a job-creating economic stimulus package. That amounts to trying to revive an economic system that has failed in every dimension: financial, social, and environmental. Rather than prop up a failed system, we should use the current financial crisis as the opportunity to create a system that works. Trying to solve the crisis with the same tools that caused it is the definition of insanity.

Control-Click to read the rest of this article.

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EVENTS



ACLU WORKSHOP on IMMIGRANT RIGHTS



When: Saturday, February 28, 2009
Time: 10am – 3pm
Where: King Avenue United Methodist Church
              299 King Avenue; Columbus, Ohio 43201



On Saturday, February 28, 2009, a one-day workshop geared toward emerging immigrants' rights advocates will be hosted by the ACLU of Ohio, Community Refugee and Immigration Services (Columbus), Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (Cincinnati), the American Friends Service Committee ( Dayton) and Hispanas Organizadas en Lake Y Ashtabula ( Ashtabula ).

We hope that you will help us spread the word about this workshop by sharing the flyer below with staff at your organization who may benefit from learning the basics of lobbying, advocacy, and media communications.

Thank you so much for the important work that you do, and for your help in ensuring the success of our training.

Warmly,
Shakyra Diaz
Education Director
ACLU of Ohio

Immigration Advocacy Workshop

Saturday, February 28 • 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. • Columbus
Have you read negative articles about immigrants and refugees in your local paper and you're not sure how to respond? Are you interested in changing policies and laws that affect immigrants and refugees, but don't know where to begin? Do you want to network with like-minded people?
Join the ACLU of Ohio , Community Refugee and Immigration Services (Columbus), Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center ( Cincinnati ), the American Friends Service Committee ( Dayton ) and Hispanas Organizadas en Lake Y Ashtabula ( Ashtabula ) for a one-day workshop to improve your ability to advocate for immigrants and refugees in Ohio . Emerging leaders from around the state will gather to learn the basics of advocacy, messaging, and talking to elected officials.



When: Saturday, February 28, 2009
Time: 10am – 3pm
Where: King Avenue United Methodist Church
299 King Avenue ; Columbus , Ohio 43201

Morning pastries and lunch will be provided to all participants, and free on-site parking is available.
For additional information or to RSVP, call (216)472-2220 or email contact@acluohio. org. Space is limited, so please RSVP at your earliest convenience and no later than February 18th. Please include the following information:



Name
Organization
E-mail
Address
Phone
Special dietary or other needs organizers should be aware of

Amanda Ruiviejo
Latina Outreach Project Coordinator
Domestic Violence Center
216.688.7283
fax 216.651.8575
www.domesticviolencecenter.org
24-hour Hotline 216.391.4357



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NATIONWIDE ANTI-WAR RALLY - MARCH 21



Greetings:

The March on the Pentagon and the demonstrations in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities scheduled for Saturday, March 21 – marking the beginning of the 7th year of war and occupation of Iraq – are now only weeks away. This is a time for peace activists across the country to go all-out in helping to publicize and build these actions. You can start by endorsing March 21, if you and your organization have not done so already.

A mass movement in the streets is needed now more than ever if we are to succeed in getting U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, ending U.S. support for Israel's occupation of Palestine, preventing further attacks on Pakistan, and stopping a war against Iran. The occupation of Iraq continues with every indication that the new administration intends to stay there indefinitely. Meanwhile, 30,000 additional U.S. troops are to be sent to Afghanistan. The whole world watched with horror as Israel massacred thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, using weapons of mass destruction provided by Washington. And only days after the inauguration, orders were given to bomb Pakistan, resulting in 21 deaths, most of them women and children.

March 21 provides concerned people throughout the country an opportunity to let the world know that opposition to these U.S. policies of war, occupation, intervention and expansionism exists and is determined to be heard. It lets the beleaguered people in those countries where the U.S. is an oppressor know that there is an American antiwar movement that does not forget their needs for peace and national sovereignty. That is a message we must also send to the new administration. The size of the turnout on the 21st will be critical if we are to help make a difference. So we count on you to do whatever you can to build highly visible mass actions and to ensure that they are as large, vocal and spirited as possible.

There are March 21 committees and coalitions already formed or being formed in many areas working to publicize the event and send people to one of the demonstration sites. We encourage you to join or organize such a grouping in your locale. The National Assembly, as one of many initiators of March 21, is going all out to make the actions as large as possible. Please send endorsements to our website at www.natassembly.org, where an endorsement form is provided, or by writing natassembly@aol.com. While we would like to have these endorsements for our records so that we can keep everyone updated regarding National Assembly activities, we will also forward them to the March 21 National Coalition website at www.PentagonMarch.org, where the latest list of endorsers can be viewed.

In solidarity,

Jerry Gordon
Secretary, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations

P.S. Check out the National Assembly website to see our statement on Gaza, get information on March 21st organizing, learn about our July 10-12 national antiwar conference in Pittsburgh, make a donation, and participate in our discussion blog.



Ohio Buses to the Pentagon

Dear Fellow Peace Activists,
I believe it's very important for the peace movement to increase its presence here in Ohio and across the country. I propose we organize buses to go to DC on March 21, a bus from Dayton and one from Cincinnati, to meet in Columbus to pick up people there. We need people to help with this effort, so please get back to me asap. We already have some students who are interested in going. Peace actions are being planned for DC on 3/21 and in NYC on April 4.
For Jobs & Peace,
Logan Martinez

Green Party of Ohio

Contact Logan Martinez

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