Category Archives: Uncategorized

Shoes for Bush action

Posted on December 21, 2008 | Leave a comment

It warms my heart when people take an event in the news and turn it into action:

www.shoebush.org
JOIN US IN WASHINGTON,DC
January,19th
SHOES FOR BUSH action "For the widows, the orphans, and those killed in Iraq."

send me your old shoes to take to DC. ALL SHOES DONATED to the needy in the DC/Baltimore area and distributed by the DC Greens

On January 20th,tens of thousands of people will be gathering to celebrate the Inaugural of President Barrack Obama.It will be a historical marker and a joyous and celebratory occasion. However, the promise of change, does not mean that we can shut the door, on the past eight horrific years of the Bush administration and wipe clean the images of shear terror, torture and suffering on the faces innocent Iraqis who have faced death and total destruction of their country. Also, it will not be easy for our own families, like Melida and Carlos Arredondo who have lost their child to an unjust and immoral war. Americans of conscience are grieving for our children and for those in Iraq. To watch president Bush leave office, unaccountable is like rubbing salt into a wound.

On Monday, January 19th at 11:00 people will be converging at a permitted site near the White House for what may be a cathartic action of hurling a shoe at an image of President Bush. In the spirit of Mutadhar Al-Zaidi and in solidarity with the people of Iraq, we invite you to join us.

If you are will be in town for the Inaugural, bring an extra pair of shoes with you! If you cannot be there with us you can send us your shoes and we will take them to DC in a U-Haul. No Bomb-sniffing dogs at our post office! Unfortunately if you send shoes to the White House they are taken to a remote location and the gesture will be for not.

We are designating a page on this web site to post the names of people who are collecting shoes in your area. These people will deliver the shoes to collection points where those who will be traveling to DC, by car, will pick bring them up.

Please consider writing notes and putting them in your shoes. We will read them at the SHOES FOR BUSH event where documentary film maker Scott Hamann will be recording this historic mass action. Artists are invited to be creative if they choose to create a work of art work with their shoes.

ALL SHOES WILL BE DONATED TO THE NEEDY IN THE WASHINGTON/BALTIMORE AREA. A few will be saved for posterity and perhaps we should donate those to the Bush Library.

My appreciation goes out David Swanson for his literary contribution and support as well as to Andrew Lehman, Marcia Bernstein and Dana Simpson for their contribution of web site creation, The Washington Peace Center, the DC Statehood Green Party and my activist friends and organizations in DC who are supporting this mass action.

Jamilla El-Shafei
organizer@shoebush.org

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Tagged anti-war, bush regime, Green Party, human needs, iraq, peace, u.s. domination

You too can take a swipe!

Posted on December 20, 2008 | Leave a comment

From the rawstory

The aim of "Sock and Awe" (www.sockandawe.com), launched by Britain’s Alex Tew, is to knock Bush out with a shoe, a feat already attained by 1.4 million players, according to the website Tuesday.

Aptly named after the US "Shock and Awe" military campaign to knock out Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the game gives players 30 seconds to aim at a figure of Bush ducking behind a rostrum.

It was in protest against the Bush administration’s Iraqi policy that journalist Durgham Zaidi threw both his shoes at the outgoing president Sunday during his swansong visit to the battleground. The action won Zaidi widespread plaudits in the Arab world where Bush’s policies have drawn broad hostility.

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Tagged anti-war, bush regime, government corruption, iraq, peace, people power

Why Impeachment Should Still be on the Table

Posted on December 20, 2008 | Leave a comment

The Emperor’s New Clothes
(or Bil Kundara* America)
*a threatening remark involving the potential use of a shoe

By Vi Ransel

12/18/08

Our strutting, imperial president
paid his farewell visit to Iraq
where he appeared with puppet, Nouri al-Maliki,
not expecting to find himself under attack.

He stood in front of the world’s TV cameras
and pontificated at a press conference podium
“The work hasn’t been easy, but it’s been necessary” he said,
thus exposing America as the world’s moral colon

with this flippant dismissal of four million refugees
and the destruction of an entire society,
the erasure of the beginnings of Western Civilization
and the taking of more than a million Iraqi lives

by means of his aggressive and illegal war
on a non-threatening, essentially unarmed nation.
And then Bush got as close as he’d ever come
to confronting the reality of one of his failures.

As this genocidal, sociopathic Upper Class Twit
was doing a rhetorical backstroke in Iraqi blood,
he was given a final and fitting tribute
in the universal language of television.

A young, Iraqi journalist introduced him
to one of the Middle East’s most well-known customs
which exposed the indecency of George W. Bush
like Joe Welch did to McCarthy and his Commission.

While world journalists still refuse to ask the questions
which would skewer Bush with his own callous charade,
he stood up and with the courage of his convictions
threw his shoes into George W. Bush’s smug face.

He yelled “Ya kalb!” calling Bush “You Dog!”
treating the occupier to a souvenir of his “victory”,
not a shower of flowers from grateful Iraqis,
but a shower of shoes from Muntather al-Zaidi.

This is the farewell kiss, you dog.
This is a gift from the Iraqis, he went on.
This is from those who were killed in Iraq,
from the injured, the widows and the orphans.

Bush ducked the first shoe and in seconds
Muntather had fired off the other
aimed just above Bush’s head, it hit the American flag,
and brought a whole new meaning to the term “shoe bomber”.

In most Middle Eastern countries, the shoe
is seen as an object of dirt, pollution and disrespect
and can be used to insult or to denigrate someone
and millions the world over share the same contempt

for this miserable, draft-dodging chicken hawk
who’s conducted a War of Terror and stunning atrocities
from the distant safety of his Washington Offal Office
for eight years and made it seem like eternity.

And while protected by billions in military technology,
still he stood exposed, not as emperor, but as fool,
and he proved he was no match for a man without a weapon,
armed with only the truth and two of his shoes.

Overnight Muntather al-Zaidi became
one of the most beloved people on the face of the earth,
and even in America the man who humiliated the president
is more popular than the president himself.

Please go to http://www.uruknet.info and click on either “Sacred Shoe” or “The Hero Who Made Bush’s Head a Playground for His Shoes” to sign a petition for the release of this courageous young man. Thank you. Thanks also to Layla Anwar for the term “bil kundara” and its definiton.

Poet and part-time actor Viola Ransel is a Senior Contributing Editor with CJO.

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Tagged anti-war, bush regime, government corruption, iraq, peace

Green Party member Cliff Thornton on The War on Drugs

Posted on December 20, 2008 | Leave a comment

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Tagged Green Party, war on drugs

Green Party proposes hour of darkness

Posted on December 18, 2008 | Leave a comment

I serve as secretary of the Eco-Action Committee, an official committee of the Green Party of the United States.
See the Eco-Action Committee News Ticker here.

I found this post today about an action item the Eco-Action Committee has put forth for the third Thursday of each month – Dark Earth Hour:

December 18, 2008

Naperville Sun

This holiday season, the Eco-Action Committee of the Green Party of the United States is asking Americans to observe a Dark Earth Hour from 9 to 10 p.m. tonight, the third Thursday of the month.

By turning off all unnecessary lights and appliances for that hour, we can show our understanding of the need to conserve energy as we seek to move away from destructive technologies and to wind and solar power.

The Dark Earth Hour is more than symbolic. Especially during this period of high electricity use, it can represent an actual reduction in power demand. The Eco-Action Committee encourages people to light candles, visit with family and friends, or simply take a quiet hour of down time during this busy season.

No matter what your political persuasion, the Dark Earth Hour is a reminder that we are all in this together, and we can all take this opportunity to power down for the Earth.

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Tagged alternative energy, community, earth, environment, family, Green Party

Omer Goldman and the Israeli Military

Posted on December 18, 2008 | Leave a comment

Ed Asner on Huffington Post

I’ve been around this world for awhile, and it’s pretty hard to leave me speechless. But when I learned about Omer Goldman – well, her story got me.

If you haven’t heard the name Omer Goldman yet, have a seat and grab your Kleenex. Her courage, and the courage of the other "Shministim" in Israel is utterly humbling. And amazing. I don’t use those words lightly.

As you can see from the photo, she’s young and lovely. 19 years old. She’s already served two terms in an Israeli military jail, where she had to wear an American military uniform (a gift to the Israelis) or face solitary confinement. Now, she’s out of jail for medical reasons. But as you read this, many of her young friends are in an Israeli prison for refusing to serve in the military there.

This new generation of young Israeli kids is standing up to the government – they call ’em "Shministim." The Shministim- all about ages 17, 18, 19 and in the 12th grade – are taking a stand. They believe in a better, more peaceful future for themselves and for Israelis and Palestinians, and they are refusing to join the Israeli army. They’re in jail, holding strong against immense pressure from family, friends and the Israeli government. They need our support and they need it today.

In her own words:

Send a letter to the
Israeli Minister of Defense.

I am Omer Goldman.
I am one of the Shministim.
I need your help.

I first went to prison on September 23 and served 35 days. I am lucky, after 2 times in jail, I got a medical discharge, but I’m the only one. By the time you read this, many of my friends will be in prison too: in for three weeks, out for one, and then back in, over and over, until they are 21. The reason? We refuse to do military service for the Israeli army because of the occupation.

I grew up with the army. My father was deputy head of Mossad and I saw my sister, who is eight years older than me, do her military service. As a young girl, I wanted to be a soldier. The military was such a part of my life that I never even questioned it.

Earlier this year, I went to a peace demonstration in Palestine. I had always been told that the Israeli army was there to defend me, but during that demonstration Israeli soldiers opened fire on me and my friends with rubber bullets and tear-gas grenades. I was shocked and scared. I saw the truth. I saw the reality. I saw for the first time that the most dangerous thing in Palestine is the Israeli soldiers, the very people who are supposed to be on my side.

When I came back to Israel, I knew I had changed. And so, I have joined with a number of other young people who are refusing to serve – they call us the Shministim. On December 18th, we are holding a Day of Action in Israel, and we are determined to show Israelis and the world that there is wide support for stopping a culture of war. Will you join us? Please, just sign a letter. That’s all it takes.

So, there you go. Omer Goldman. Now that you’ve met her, I’ll bet you won’t forget her. Better yet, damn it, do something for her, for the Shministim, for peace. Jewish Voice for Peace is the U.S. group heading things up for them. Here’s the link.

One more thing – I know that this can be a tough subject for many of us Jews. But, I find it hard to believe than anyone can look Omer in the eye and tell her that she has to risk her life and her future for Israel whether she wants to or not. It’s just not right. Especially during this time of year, when many of us are getting ready to celebrate a holiday about freedom- well, take a good long look at that photo. You’re celebrating her.

Thanks for reading and send your letter here.

Ed Asner

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Tagged Activism, anti-war, human rights, israel, military, palestine, peace, war

Candle Night December 2008

Posted on December 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

Candle Night Newsletter
Invitation to Candle Night December 2008
December 15, 2008
Candle Night Committee
===============================
Candle Night December 2008

Turn off your lights for two hours from 8 to 10 p.m. on the evening on
December 21, 2008.

Do something special . . .
Read a book with your child by candlelight.
Enjoy a quiet dinner with a special person.
This night can mean many things for many people.
A time to save energy, to think about peace,
to think about people in distant lands
who share our planet.

Pulling the plug opens the window to a new world.
Awakens us to human freedom and diversity.
It is a process of discovery about our potential.
However you spend them, for just two hours, join us.
Turning off the lights, and help us spread
a gentle wave of candlelight around the earth.

On the evening of December 21, from 8 to 10 p.m.
Turn off your lights. Take it slow.

===========
Candle Night started in 2003 by several non-governmental organizations.
This grassroots movement is now spreading to citizens, businesses and
municipal governments. Candle Night suggests spending some time in more
natural light, away from everyday life and artificial lighting. It’s not a
movement intending to force people to turn off their lights or to
raucously protest against anything.

The Candle Night Committee hopes to extend this event from Japan to the
world. We will provide readers with information and activities of Candle
Night, and stories related to candles, lights and fires. We hope you feel
connected with people around the world through Candle Night.

To learn more about our initiative, read "2008 Summer Solstice Marks
Candle Night’s Fifth Anniversary of Sending a Message to the World"
written by Junko Edahiro and Yuko Kishikami at:
http://www.candle-night.org/english/2008summer/2008/06/2008_summer_solstice_marks_can.html

If you are interested in the activities of Candle Night, please go to 2007
Report;
http://www.candle-night.org/data/candlenight-report2007summer-english.pdf

2008 Report will be on the web soon.

For more information, please visit our website.
http://www.candle-night.org/english/
(English)
http://www.candle-night.org/
(Japanese)

****************************************
Report on Candle Night Summer Solstice 2008
****************************************
The lights-down events were held from 8 to 10 p.m. on June 21, the
solstice, and July 7, the first day of the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. This
was done in collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.
According to the ministry, a total of 149,937 facilities all over Japan,
including major landmarks, businesses, municipalities and commercial
facilities joined. During the campaign, over 2,370,000 kilowatts per hour
of electricity was saved, which translated into the equivalent of 925 tons
of CO2. This amount is equal to the daily emission of about 64,000
households.

On June 21, lights-out events were also held in Seoul, Hong Kong, and
various cities in Taiwan and China.

*Candle Night Korea
In Seoul, a countdown event was held from 18:00 to 22:00 at the foot of
the N Seoul Tower. Some streetlights were turned off in the downtown area
for an hour from 20:00 to 21:00. (Korean Women’s Environmental Network)

*Dim It–Hong Kong
Over 142 buildings in the Victoria Harbor area turned out their lights for
one hour from 20:30 to 21:30.
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=hcjKF_tj6ek
(FoE Hong Kong)

***********************************
New Candlescape is Open!
************************************
The "Candlescape," an online, 3-D "globe" message board, displays messages
from participants around the world. In 2008, it is upgraded with a variety
of functions. For example, messages can be displayed in many different
languages as originally posted. Some of the messages will also be
presented in English and Japanese translation.

Please post your message on the Candlescape – we would like to convey it
to as many people as possible. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

http://feel.candle-night.org/scape/

These are some of the messages posted on the Candlescape:

*Slow is beautiful. Certain things can be seen only in darkness. Let’s put
lights in our hearts.

*I want to start from what I can. We don’t have to overdo, but we can
begin whenever we feel like!

*It is a magical feeling to be able to connect with someone, whom we have
never met and who lives far away, through candlelight. I feel warm and
happy.

***************************************************
Messages and Essays by Key Promoters of Candle Night
***************************************************
On our website, you can read messages and essays written by the key
promoters of Candle Night in Japan, who initiated the movement and have
been playing a central role in the promotion of Candle Night.

*What do you mean by "affluence?" In his essay, Shinichi Tsuji, a cultural
anthropologist, introduced a South American legend of a hummingbird. "I am
only doing what I can do," it says, but the idea may lead us to the true
sense of an "affluent society."
http://www.candle-night.org/english/2005/06/essay.html

*Candle Night–when Environment Sets the Trend of the New Era
Many people may not be sure how to change themselves, although they
realize they want to, or they feel they need to, change something.
However, just a little effort can be change everything.

Miyako Maekita is a copywriter and creative director, particularly working
on public relations of non-governmental organizations. You can read her
essay at;
http://www.candle-night.org/english/2006/06/candle_nightwhen_environment_s.html

***************************************
Stories about Candles and Fires Wanted
***************************************
Please send us information on Candle Night and lights out events in your
community. We also invite your local stories, festivals and events related
to candles and fires. Please send emails to: eninfo at candle-night.org

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Tagged energy, environment, light

Cynthia McKinney: Dispatch from an International Conference Being Held in Cuba

Posted on December 12, 2008 | Leave a comment

Source: On the Wilder Side

On the morning of December 10, 2008, Cindy Sheehan, Nelson Valdes, Saul Landau, and I signed a declaration as the U.S. delegates to an international conference assessing sixty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sponsored by the Network of Networks in Defense of Humanity. Here is our declaration:
We celebrate sixty years of failure. Human rights have been converted from a noble goal into an instrument of foreign policy used by rich and powerful nations against the poorest and weakest people of the world.
In 2008, almost three billion people throughout the world suffer the most basic privations.
After sixty years of empty human rights rhetoric, we demand that governments focus their attention on fulfilling the promises of 1948. We write this document on the parchment of environment, which everyone shares, and has warned us all to drastically change the ways in which mass production and consumption take place.
The United States is a member of the commonwealth of nations;
Benefits accrue to those who cooperate with the global community and view other countries as potential partners for the upliftment of humankind;
Unfortunately, the leadership of the United States Government has consistently been a disappointment to those of us who value the tenets and the possibilities for humankind embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the rights of self-determination, the rights of women, the indigenous, and the rights of association, expression, and resistance to protect and preserve these precious rights;
Poverty, severe income inequality on one hand and greed and over-consumption by a few, on the other hand, deny for far too many on the planet universal application of the Universal Declaration;
Climate change, unsustainable agriculture, unbridled militarism, terrorism with impunity, nuclear proliferation represent threats to our planet and threats to humankind;
The current implosion of the engine of U.S. imperialism and global capitalism contains the seeds of a new global order in which the rights of humankind and the Universal Declaration can find universal application;
The incoming Barack Obama Administration has a unique opportunity to make a clean break with the policies of the past, including installation of dictatorships, campaigns of invasion, terror, and slander, torture, and occupation, and can build bridges of peace and justice with dignity and respect to Africa, Latin America, and Europe;
Therefore, we call on the President-elect to put the United States on a clear course of global fraternity by

a) invoking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
b) rejecting torture and terror and demonstrating this by closing and vacating Guantanamo and
ceding to Cuba its rightful patrimony,

c) ending the U.S. embargo,
d) releasing the Cuban Five, and
e) extraditing Luis Posada Cariles;
10. While this list is not exhaustive, it represents a much’needed down payment on hope and change.
11. We will disseminate this document through our respective networks.
Signed: Saul Landau, Cindy Sheehan, Nelson Valdes, Cynthia McKinney

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Tagged cindy sheehan, cynthia mckinney, human rights, u.s. world domination

Greens offer six big steps for economic recovery

Posted on December 10, 2008 | Leave a comment

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Greens support workers occupying a factory in Chicago after layoff: bailout money isn’t being used to help working Americans

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders said today that the incoming Obama Administration and Congress should take six major steps to reverse the financial meltdown and restore financial security for Americans.

The steps include a Green public works program, aid for state and muncipal governments, expansion of mass transit, Single-Payer health care, a peace dividend gained by ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and an end to the wasteful war on drugs.

Green Party candidates running for local, state, and national office in 2008 promoted many of these ideas even before the crisis precipitated. In September, Cynthia McKinney published a ten-point list of solutions and reforms in response to the Wall Street meltdown, titled "Seize the Time" (http://votetruth08.com/index.php/learn/mckinney-messages).

Greens expressed support for United Electrical Workers union members occupying a Republic Windows and Doors plant in Chicago after the plant was shut down and they were laid off with three days’ notice and told they had no assurance of receiving severance and unused vacation pay. The company’s creditor, Bank of America, received $25 billion from the government’s financial bailout package. Greens said that the bank’s actions, including refusal to allow Republic to give workers 60 days notice (as required by law), demonstrates how bailout money isn’t being used to assist working Americans facing financial hardship.

Six Green steps for economic recovery:

(1) Enact a massive Green public works program, creating new living-wage jobs in conservation (including weatherization and energy retro-fitting); clean and safe energy technologies to replace fossil fuel and nuclear sources and create a carbon-free economy; repair and improvement of America’s deteriorating infrastructure (especially water and sewer systems); and improvement of public schools and Green job training programs. Continue reading →

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Tagged bail outs, government corruption, Green Party, u.s. economy, workers rights