- Salon's letter to Washington re. Illegal Wiretaps: join this letter! to sign email steve Sunderland: sundersc@email.uc.edu
- Barbara Boxer: Sign online petition today to object to wiretaps!
- Fanchon Shur on her experience at the mosque last week
- Board of Health to allow dangerous transfer station after all
- Tim Swallow of Progressive Alliance sends greetings, events
- Dee Graham: stop use of inhumane anti-personnel tactics
Articles
12/31 Here is the Salon Letter (draft by Steve Sunderland) on the Illegal Wiretaps. To be a signatory to this letter send your name and zip code to sundersc@email.uc.edu
with SUBJECT LINE "add my name to Salon letter". Steve will mail it next week. So respond asap.
>
>Dear Congresspeople:
>
> The president's decision to seek many warrantless taps of
>American citizens' phones and emails demands investigation by the
>Congress. We, the Lloyd House Salon of Cincinnati, are deeply
>concerned by the invasion of American civil liberties by this
>apparent enlargement of presidential powers without the approval of
>the federal courts, the special secret federal courts or of the
>Congress.
>
> Some of us see a dangerous and steady erosion of the rights
>of Americans and those captured by Americans in the war against
>terrorism. We see a very serious illegal pattern and a reversal of
>what is basic law protecting human rights. Torturing, secret
>prisons, the loss of access to lawyers and, now, secret and
>unapproved wire taps, may add up to a kind of presidential power
>that needs checking, revision and rejection. One of the keys to the
>American Constitution is the commitment to a philosophy of "checks
>and balances." Our fear is that this long standing value has been
>seriously eroded.
>
> Please report to us on your support for Senate investigation
>of these activities.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>The Lloyd House Salon of Cincinnati
>
>Steve Sunderland,Ph.D., Director
>The Peace Village
12/31
Senator Barbara Boxer calls for Investigation of Bush re. Wiretaps
From: Barbara Boxer [mailto:info@pacforachange.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 5:06 PM
Subject: Stop Bush's illegal wiretaps -- act now!
It's now been 5 days since President Bush admitted to authorizing the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without court order -- a system he reauthorized as many as 3 dozen times since 2001. Yet despite the outcry from millions of Americans -- both Democrats and Republicans alike -- President Bush has stubbornly promised to continue this illegal and unconstitutional activity.
How can the President of the United States -- the highest elected official in our land, a leader who swore an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" -- so egregiously and repeatedly violate our most basic civil liberties?
It's time for Congress to act -- to thoroughly investigate the President's actions now.
Urge Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter to hold hearings into the President's conduct, before beginning Supreme Court nomination hearings for Judge Alito -- sign my petition today!
Clearly, protecting Americans from terrorism here at home must be the top priority of any Administration. But we certainly can do that without trampling on the Constitution in the process. Defending America means protecting our homeland as well as preserving our rights and freedoms as citizens.
Through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), enacted by Congress in 1978, the Bush Administration already has the tools it needs to obtain court orders for domestic wiretaps within minutes -- even retroactively, in urgent circumstances.
Why did President Bush consciously choose to violate federal law, and disregard a system that is already in place to deal with the very national security threats that the President is talking about, even though the Act clearly states that FISA "shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance...and the interception of domestic wire and oral communications may be conducted"?
This is just one of the many questions we need answered. That's why Congress must act now. We can't afford to wait when such critical civil liberties hang in the balance.
Urge Senator Arlen Specter to hold hearings now, before dealing with the Alito nomination -- sign my petition today!
This egregious and repeated violation of American civil liberties by President Bush and his Administration requires a thorough investigation.
That's why I urge Chairman Specter to hold hearings before the Senate takes up Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. Sandra Day O'Connor has agreed to stay on the bench as long as necessary, so there's no urgency on that front.
So again, join me in calling on Chairman Specter to schedule thorough public hearings into President Bush's actions as a first order of business for the Senate Judiciary Committee in the New Year -- sign my petition today!
Thank you so much for your support on this critical issue.
In Friendship,
Barbara Boxer
P.S. I'll be presenting our petition demanding thorough hearings to Senator Specter, so please add your name today! And then invite everyone you know to join us.
Sign the Petition Today! http://ga4.org/campaign/wiretaphearings
Paid for by PAC for a Change, www.barbaraboxer.com, Treasurer Sim Farar, FEC#C00342048.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee
12/31
Fanchon Shur writes on her experience at the Mosque last week
Dear Ones,
So, how does a Muslim pray. What is the movement? Do the women pray? How.. I have urgency about knowing exactly how. With Scarf on head (I had none) I went to the Mosque in Clifton. Not a normal visit. Rather a committed support visit to Cincinnati's or Clifton's Mosque two days after it was bombed in two entrances with pipe bombs. Our city and state were enraged and fully supportive of a full investigation, and with rewards offered, hope to find the culprits. So I went to their ³Sabbath² service, a Friday afternoon from 12:50 to 1;30 pm to offer them my support.
Driving down to the Mosque, which looks beautiful and melts into the old homes along Clifton Ave, I wondered where to park, assuming that at this publicized service there will be lots and lots of people beside the Muslim congregation. I am imagining having to walk many blocks. Instead, I drive in the winding entrance and drive back, behind the Mosque, following other cars, to a HUGE parking lot, enough room to hold at least 300 cars. It was built into the woods which have always been behind that rustic/urban/ Clifton Ave.
A Jewish friend who parked near me waited for me and we walked in together, two Jews with no scarves for our heads, paying respect, expecting to stay in the back of wherever, supporting them in their time of trauma and shock.
We approach the front of the mosque which had been boarded up to cover the holes from the explosions and entered another area which was not damaged. I start to walk in assertively into an open foyer and the men in the foyer look at me with an alertness.........and I see a sign ³Men¹s Entrance². I feel my center shaken like a jagged lightening bolt. My friend directs me to another Glass door with the sign ³Ladies Entrance². We walk in. We travel through one hallway, another hallway, opening into a foyer with a sign, ³remove shoes² and a huge coat closet with one long wall lined with shelves to put shoes, and to the other side of the foyer a illumined tiled fauceted area to sit and wash your feet if they need it. We kept our socks on. My feet are absolutely clean.
Many Muslim women, with scarves covering hair on their heads are entering and putting coats and shoes in the giant coat closet room.
Then we begin to climb, up stairs, up about 25 stairs to an expansive balcony, with glass fence overlooking the men's prayer area and the pulpit below, far below. On this floor which is a rust colored rug, wall to wall, covering about 60 feet by 30 feet, are long lines made of some kind of steel colored ribbons embedded in the rug. They are demarcation lines where the women stand and kneel in prayer.
I am welcomed and asked if I would like a chair. I sit in the back with some other white women, Gina Ranshohff who confides that Jewish she is, religious she is not. And my friend to the right, and to the right of her on another chair, another dear friend, who is wearing a scarf although she is not Muslim. She has thoughtfully prepared herself. A discussion begins with
³what is so terrifying about women¹s hair, bodies, that we have to cover ourselves.....in every religion.?
To my right, my jewish friend responds,
²Lets show respect and not talk about that here²
And we awkwardly come to a silence. The hall fills up. Many women greet me, and come up introducing themselves and asking what they can do to make us comfortable.
Friends who I have called start coming in, Yvon Shor, the new Hebrew Union College director of Liturgical Arts, Judith Blackburn, one of my shamans for Purses Pockets and Family Secrets, Ellen Bierhorst of course.
I begin to feel it would be better if I had a scarf, then I could go forward and kneel and pray, to the source, the wellspring, infinite and non controversial. So I put my big flannel over shirt over my head. I wish I had brought a scarf, I did, I did. It looks funny, and how shall I tie the neck so that when I kneel I can still see people to the left of me, Muslim women who really know the moves the forms the stances the manners of prayer.
Finally I tie the sleeves around my neck and the collar over my head. A very funny Tallit. I am at peace.
The Iman speaks, wearing regular slacks and a sweater, no Arabic adornments. He reads portions of the Koran about patience, and about trusting even those who disrespect a Muslim. He tells a story about one of the Muslim teachers in Muhammad's time, one whose neighbor made fun of his faith, and put trash every night in the front of the door of the teacher¹s home. It went on for a long time, each evening the teacher would clear it away. Each day more trash and garbage would arrive. One day, it stopped. ³Why?², the teacher asked.
Neighbors said the neighbor was sick.
The teacher said,
³let us go and visit him.²
³Why, the giver of insults? Why to visit?²
³Why not. Perhaps he needs something from us.²
So he did visit, and the sick man was truly grateful......and became a believer.
He spoke about patience, true patience with the abuses of life, the tragedies of life, patience to deepen and become more compassionate.
Then we began to pray.
The words were in Arabic. The leader tells everyone, downstairs and upstairs, to put their heels on the silver colored lines on the floor, and to stand close without space between each other so we can all pray. We all begin, Upstairs, the women stand with hands on heart, right hand above, left touching heart. Then they slide their hands to their knees, flat back, then bend and with all fours, settle to seated vertical, then lean forward and put forehead on floor, then push back to seated, then again forehead to floor with hands at sides, then push up to squat then to standing......hands again across heart.
This repeated three times.
I was moving with them all the time. All the time. I loved it. I loved it .
(A rabbi had once told me that the Jews originally prayed that way but when the Muslims began to do it, the Jews refused to do it any more. Go figure!)
Then Mr. Dabdoub spoke about how much it will cost to fix the damage, and how people came and offered donations, $5000, $400, and asked us to do so if we wished. The speakers acknowledged the immense support for their ³right to exist in the city from Jews and Christians² , and then blessed everyone for the Christmas season. From our balcony, in a voice loud enough for the entire mosque to hear, a woman with scarf on head called out ³Chanucha!² And Mr. Dabdoub, from below said ³Oh! Yes! Chanucha! ²
I started to sob, to sob with gratitude, with the tears of one drenched in renewed faith in humans, in my own idealism, and then the woman with the scarf who spoke, Karen DabDoub, came to talk to me. Her daughter was in the Theater play I directed for the israeli jewish and Palestinian group which came to Cincinnati two years ago. She is one of the sponsors of the Muslim Mothers Against Violence, one of the groups which hopefully will sponsor a performance of my new work! Then prayers continued standing up, and the women opened their clasped hands, elbows remained at their sides , hands up and open, and i am told it is a prayer honoring someone whose funeral was recent.
I walk out flying.......and on the way out, I behold a beautiful warm faced woman in the shoe changing place, I love her warmth. I introduce myself. ³Fanchon what a beautiful name!²
and i ask hers. ³Shahadah²
³What does it mean?²
³Witness².
³I am creating a dance work about the golden age of Spain where the Muslims and the Jews co-created a thriving culture together, and I will have 18 SACRED WITNESSES, who will be part of the non dance community taking part in the choreography.²
She can¹t wait to be in it. She asks for my card. Finally, I feel my connection to wonderful Muslim women, and now I know the moves of the prayers, and, what more can I enjoy, as I give my contribution to Mr. Dabdoub....in his donation box, and he tells his wife, Karen Dabdoub, (who shouted ³Chanucha² from the balcony) to
²take her card²......and then Karen DabDoub tells me that her daughters have been hosting an israeli Jewish friend from that gathering in which I directed a play. Her family is hosting this Israeli Jew who is now in America studying in a nyc film school. Now I am sobbing like a geyser of joy knowing that we also will connect again.
And the ACLU stand outside, this time it is an Arab woman, distributing ACLU literature about how to refuse to speak to an FBI investigator and how to be silent and how to ask for a lawyer.
On the way home, I am grateful, very very grateful.
Fanchon Shur
Fanchon Shur, Director
Growth in Motion, Inc.
4019 Red Bud Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45229
513.221.3222
www.growthinmotion.org
12/31
Board of Health and the ELDA waste transfer station we have fought against: slippery doings.
...from Karen Arnett's regarding the transfer station at ELDA:
Karen wrote "The Board of Health reversed its decision last night and granted the operating license to Waste Management. They said there was no new information against the company. In a sense too, they were tricked : the fact that the appeals court compelled the Board to issue the 2005 license late in the year, even though it didn't operate, there are more stringent rules for denying a renewal license. Affidavits had been supplied by WM and by Ohio EPA saying that there were no complaints and that the facility was in substantial compliance, even though we know that this is meaningless since the station was not operating.
I was the only community person at the meeting, and reminded the board of the issue of the company's unreliability based upon ELDA landfill; Terry Nestor claimed that John Phillips had already argued this before ERAC and so they couldn't use it again as a justification. What I remember is that John Phillips argued from an EJ perspective and not on the grounds of WM's previous record."
Here's the Enquirer article: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051223/NEWS01/512230390/1056/news01 <http://exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051223/NEWS01/512230390/1056/news01>
12/31
Peak Oil Meet up Groups spring up all over the country. Let's see one here!
Salonistas!!--I fwd this from one of my Peak Oil Workshop friends. Pretty wonderful, eh? Mike Murphy
From: Donna Askins <mailto:donna.askins@gmail.com>
To: UU community <mailto:uuce@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Megan Quinn <mailto:megan@communitysolution.org> ; djmac1010@sbcglobal.net ; ahesselrode1@cogeco.ca ; lynettemarie@boulderrelocalization.org ; michael@boulderrelocalization.org ; lizlogan@bellsouth.net ; luis.bocaletti@gmail.com ; lighthouse9@direcway.com ; donna.askins@gmail.com ; rael@ripco.com ; george.perkins@louisville.edu ; lindaleslie@sbcglobal.net ; kathtowns@msn.com ; phil@peakoilnyc.org ; mmurphy10@fuse.net ; dabdelaziz@neo.rr.com ; johnsona@woh.rr.com ; anniedw@highstream.net ; melshutto@comcast.net ; bsnewhouse@earthlink.net ; drjhfm@yahoo.com ; berney@riva.net ; wbwilson@stelle.net ; faithmorgan <mailto:faithmorgan@smallcommunity.org> ; gpfoote@earthlink.net ; dypold, dirk <mailto:geodd@sbcglobal.net> ; Janaia Donaldson <mailto:janaia2004@yubagals.com>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 5:29 PM
Subject: A beacon in the desert
Dear friends,
As you know, I am prone to standing on my rooftop, hollering my head off like a Kentucky hound, baying, "Peak oil! Peak oil!!" Some would say I am reaching new heights, but in general, this activity just draws funny looks from the neighbors, and I have caught a cold. Plus it has not been a very effective way to reach people.
I am thrilled to share with you that for a certain sum of filthy lucre, I have started an Oil Awareness Meetup Group. (!!!!) Take a Peak:
http://oilawareness.meetup.com/259/
In just twelve days, along with 19 other Oil Awareness Meetup Groups (totaling 920 people like us), we will have our first event. (Actually it's our second, but who's counting). Just who are these 19 other groups? I have listed them below the fold; prepare for your activist heart to skip a beat.
One nifty thing about this website is that you can RSVP online, which helps Henny DuBois know how many cookies to bake. You can also blog on the message board, where we can share ideas about breaking our dependence on petroleum. But mainly, this effort will help us engage in community outreach. Probably you know that lots of folks have found the UUCE through the web. It seems to me that we must have neighbors who want to get together and work on this issue. And here is a way for us to find them, and vice-versa. UU social justice rocks!
Donna.
P.S. Special thanks goes to Janaia Donaldson of APPLE in Nevada County, California. She is generous and bright.
And here they are, our compatriots:
The New Haven Oil Awareness Meetup Group
NYC Peak Oil Meetup Group
Washington DC Peak-A-Boo Oil Awareness Meetup
Montgomery Co. MD Peak-A-Boo Oil Awareness Meetup
The Baltimore Oil Awareness Meetup Group
Northern Virginia Peak-A-Boo Oil Awareness Meetup
NC Powerdown
Peak Oil Mitigation League
The Atlanta Oil Awareness Meetup Group
Paducah Post Carbon
The Minneapolis Oil Awareness Meetup Group
Alliance for a Post Petroleum Local Economy (APPLE) - Elgin
Crude Awakening: Austin Oil Awareness Group
The Santa Monica Oil Awareness Meetup Group
Orange County Post Carbon Group
The Alameda County Oil Awareness Meetup Group
The Santa Rosa Oil Awareness Meetup Group
PortlandOilAwareness Meetup Group
The Grants Pass Oil Awareness Meetup Group
The Toronto Peak Oil Discussion Group
--
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can
change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Anthropologist Margaret Meade
12/31
Tim Swallow of Progressive Alliance sends greetings, events
Season's Greetings, Dear Friends,
As we approach the start of a new year we all have a chance to reflect on what is important in our lives and in our society. After the dark hours we’ve witnessed and shared over the last few years, people everywhere have come to believe there must be a better way for people to live and treat each other.
At the Progressive Alliance, we respect and admire those who have come together and labored, in any capacity and for any cause, to better our community, country and our world. We especially appreciate all who have helped, in any way, with the creation and growth of the Progressive Alliance.
Looking ahead to the challenges and opportunities in 2006, we reaffirm our belief that our small grassroots group, and thousands like it elsewhere, can and will make a difference.
The Progressive Alliance extends Best Wishes for the Holidays to our volunteers, supporters and friends everywhere and we invite you to join us in exploring the art of the possible in the coming New Year.
~~~~
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Things have slowed down at year-end as family and Holiday affairs take precedence for most folks. Here are two items of note:
Thursday, Dec 29: Join us for the movie SYRIANA and a post-film discussion this evening at the AMC Cinema, Newport. The film starts at 7:00 PM. Parking is $1 with AMC discount and we'll meet afterward at the Café Istanbul for discussion, libations, food and friendship. Learn more about this important film -- visit http://www.paohio.org for in-depth film info, directions and a map.
Saturday, Feb 18: Mark your calendar for February 18, 9:00 AM - Noon, at the IBEW Hall in East Walnut Hills. We're planning a panel discussion covering the impact of proposed changes to the way Cincinnati City Council members are elected. Details will be posted at PA website in early January.
*** We need volunteers to help with Feb 18th publicity, logistics, hosting, etc. Respond via reply email if you would like to know more.
~~~~
COMMUNITY FORUM
The Community Forum at www.paohio.org <http://www.paohio.org/> is open 24x7. Here are some recent topics and posts you may have missed.
ETHICS
Moral Gumption vs. Complacent Resignation
The Sad Race to the Ninth Level of Dante’s Inferno
Ethics Training for the Whitehouse Staff?
"We Don't Torture" says Mr. Bush
ECONOMY
Hunger in America increases by 43% as Congress dismantles the nutrition safety net
The End of Pensions
Rents Outpace Wages: Housing Costs Lifting Rentals Out of Reach
POLITICS
Snoopgate
Bush contradicts himself on wiretap legality
Understanding the NSA
Bush Threatens U.N. Over Clinton Climate Speech
How the Bush Administration got Spooked
“We’re not Liars, We’re Just Incompetent”
WAR
The Administration’s National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
CIA learned that Iraqi nuclear claims were bogus a year before Bush speech
“Trophy Video”: Mercenaries shooting up Iraqi Drivers
MEDIA
Saudi Prince Manipulates Fox News Coverage
Orchestrating the Media
ENVIRONMENT
Global Warming: The U.S. assumes the role of spoiler in Montreal.
Pollution Risks Higher for Non-white Americans
RELIGION
The God Racket, from DeMille To DeLay
Tensions mount between American Jews and Evangelicals
PROGRESSIVE VALUES
Thoughts on the Human Condition
CURRENT EVENTS
Post Katrina: Evangelicals & Hippies Join Forces
VOLUNTEER & EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
16 full-time paid positions:
Knowledge Works Cincinnati, five positions available - mgmt, research and admin
Ohio Public Interest Research Group, Environmental Advocate + other openings
SEIU (OH), five positions available - research and organizing
CFA (KY), two positions - Business Development & Field Organizer
__________________________________________
The Progressive Alliance of Southwest Ohio
ProgressiveAlliance@fuse.net
http://www.paohio.org
M. Timothy Swallow
Voice: 859.781.8151
Fax: 859.781.8152
"A great democracy must be progressive or it
will soon cease to be great or a democracy."
~ Theodore Roosevelt
12/31
Dee Graham: U.S. War Crimes deeply disturbing
Dear friends, I am deeply concerned about something I learned about today. It is an Italian documentary (video) which shows American servicemen talking about us (the U.S.) indiscriminately using white phosphorous, a chemical weapon that kills people by burning their skin to the bone but that doesn't affect clothes and that also burns people internally. According to the documentary--and remember the Italians are our friends--we used this chemical weapon in Fallujah in Nov. of 2004. In the video we see the bodies of people who have been victims of this chemical weapon, and its effects on their bodies is extremely upsetting! Also shown are the dead bodies of people whom we have tortured (yet Bush says we do not torture). This is a video that you must see to believe! It's at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110805Z.shtml and you'll need only click on the video. We as a country are totally morally corrupt, particularly if we as citizens do not rise up and quickly and forcefully protest what our government is doing to innocent civilians in Iraq! Imagine how we would respond if another country did this! And if we do this to others, others will do it to us. How would you feel if another country did this to us, because we've just given everyone else in the world an invitation to do just that!?!
Please, please, please, protest our government committing these acts in our names!
Dee
_
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