Pakistan/Palestine

Dear Friends,

Some of you already know that I have been accepted by the International Women for Peace Services to serve as witness in Palestine during the olive harvest.

It is the same organization that Anna Baltzer works for. I will know more about it when I am there, my preliminary understanding of the function of a volunteer is to document human rights violations by the Israeli government and/or act as a support person for the mission and publicize as much as possible

In case you were wondering I have to finance my trip myself. I expect to be in Palestine for about 3 months from September to December.

Before going to Palestine I have decided to go to Pakistan. I'll be leaving on May 23rd and expect to be back in the US next March. This is the first time I'll be in Pakistan for that long since I came to this country 30 some years ago.

In addition to helping my sister in educating women about their rights in Islam, I hope to start some education program in villages where there are no schools or street kids. i have been thinking along these lines for quite some time and at the moment these are just ideas, what come to fruition and what form it takes remains to be seen.

I'll try to keep you updated as much as possible.

Thank you for listening

Kathy Kelly, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, in Peoria

Kathy Kelly is a cofounder and co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She was actively involved in a campaign to end the US/UN sanctions in Iraq; has made 24 trips to Iraq since 1996; was in Baghdad in March of 2003 for a peaceful protest during our "Shock and Awe" campaign; has been arrested 60+ times for nonviolent protest, most recently for a March 20th, 2008 action calling for an end to funding war in Iraq.
In 1988 she was sentenced to one year in prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites.
Kelly served nine months of the sentence in Lexington KY maximum security prison.
Kelly, an author and a storyteller par-excellence, has been nominated as a candidate for the Noble Peace Prize.

Kathy Kelly at Bradley - Olin 168
Mon. April 7th; 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Eyewitness Stories of the ravages of war

Sponsored by: Muslim Student Association
Contact:
Rabia 339-2906; rzahid@mail.bradley.edu or Razia 868-4218; raziaha@gmail.com

occupation SODaPOP

Des Moines Catholic Worker community asks U.S. Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" at his Des Moines campaingn office days before the Iowa caucus. Huckabee did not respond.


In a day-before-the-caucus effort to obtain from Senator Barack Obama a pledge of withdrawal from Iraq, nonviolent actors representing "Voices for Creative Nonviolence" and the Des Moines Catholic Worker community witness a spurned media and turned backs at the Senator's Des Moines campaign office.

www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/3 169/81/



In a day-before-the-caucus effort to obtain from Governor Mitt Romney a pledge to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by April 2009 if he is elected President, nonviolent actors representing Voices for Creative Nonviolence and the Des Moines Catholic Worker community converse with campaign staff, display photos of Iraqis, and chant the names of Iraqis and Americans who have died in the Iraq War. Four are arrested.

For more information on this action, visit:
http://vcnv.org/category/sodapop
http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org (less)

Stephen Kinzer

When: Saturday February 16 at 4 pm
Where: Gateway Building, 200 NE Water Street, Peoria, IL

An award-winning veteran New York Times correspondent who has reported from more than fifty countries on five continents and author of several books including All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror and Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq Stephen Kinzer is joined by retired US generals, Iranian dissidents and university professors in a national tour to promote diplomacy with and oppose pre-emptive attack on Iran. The tour is designed to appeal to the American people and elected officials through events and news media in support of serious and effective diplomacy to resolve all issues between the U.S. and Iran without military conflict or threats of military conflict.

For more information contact Lisa Offutt, 579-3715 or l.offutt@insightbb.com.

Tour website: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iran/index.php

Illinois Tour Endorsers:
Bradley Chapter Amnesty International Peoria Area Peace Network
Bradley University Muslim Students Association Peoria Chapter of NOW
Network of Spiritual Progressives Peoria Chapter Peoria Code Pink
Peoria Area Green Party Veterans for Peace

National Tour Endorsers:
Americans for Informed Democracy Colombe Foundation
Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation Just Foreign Policy
Fellowship of Reconciliation National Iranian American Council
Peace Majority Report Physicians for Social Responsibility
United for Peace and Justice Iran Working Group The Pluralism Fund
Women’s Action for New Directions Cultures of Resistance Network
Cathleen D. Stone & James M. Stone Fndtn. American Friends Service Committee
Peace Action

Young Men and Women

How the Markets Really Work

Yes, it really is this bad
Another example of humor that is deadly accurate.

I worked on Wall Street for a few years, elbow to elbow with "top" investment bankers.

It was one big casino with the saps in pensions funds and savings and loans (and us) being used to finance the game and cover the losses.

Brasscheck TV
2380 California St.
San Francisco, CA 94115

Seasons of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project

Earlier this year I spent an incredible week with amazing peace activists/war protesters in Des Moines, Iowa, Chicago and Springfield, Illinois. It all started with Kathy Kelly’s coming to Peoria on Friday December 21, 2007, to see the Iraqi refugee family.
I had heard about Kathy Kelly from Tonya but had never met her before or knew too much about her. Sometimes I feel I am going through life in a fog, I seem to hear things but not really hear, if you know what I mean. Any way during her brief visit Kathy mentioned about going to Iowa to protest the war to various presidential candidate who were gathering in Iowa for the caucuses. I had been feeling restless to do some thing, that I jumped at the opportunity to join Kathy in the SODAPOP – Seasons Of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project.
before Kathy came to Peoria my car was partially repaired and was waiting for a part to complete the repair. The part was expected to arrive after Christmas with plenty of time to finish repair before the sodapop operation in Iowa.
But i feel more comfortable with a newer car that also gives better mileage. In the shop, I had to after deliberating and back and forth vacillation I se
Anyway I decided to take a chance and headed to Des Moines on Sunday December 30, 2007. I cruised all the way just about 20 miles from des-Moines when suddenly the car slowed down considerably. According to my calculations I should have easily reached iowa on the gas tank I had filled couple of days before leaving for Iowa. In a panic I took the first exit hoping to find a gas station. I have to drive all over Altoona before finding a gas station that carried diesel by then the guage was showing empty tank. Normally on a full tank I can go 330 – 400 miles. The odometer reading had barely reached 300 miles. It was getting late and was bitterly cold, nervously I got on the highway again and made it to Dingman – catholic worker house safely.
I had no idea that there will be so many people, apparently waiting for dinner. I got some curious glances as, timidly, I made my way to the back of the house. In the kitchen I was told the dinner would be served at 6 pm. Apparently any one can drop in for meals. Kathy and bob had not arrived yet from Chicago, I introduced myself and was promptly taken to the attic where most of the activists from all over would sleep for the next few days.
By the dinnertime Kathy and Bob had arrived from Chicago.
At the meeting next morning I learned the nuts and bolts of sodapop. It was decided in advance who is willing to risk arrest and how to avoid it you do not want to go to jail. Before the 1 hr meeting ended Lee from Louisville, KY had looked up on the internet and found that Mike Huckabee was going to be in his des Moines office at 12:30 pm.
what followed was just amazing, the whole team went into action. Since Huckabee was a priest in his past life it was suggested that the banner/poster should say some thing with Jesus in it. It is all a blur, at least to me, who did or suggest what. some people went shopping for markers and other needs others drew words with pencil on white sheet.
Here are Kathy, Bob and Mona holding the result at mike Huckabee’s office before being hauled to the city jail.
other pictures and videos of the protests can be seen here and here
All three were released shortly afterwards.
The protests and meetings continued for next three days as more people joined in. at every protest people were arrested except on Thursday at Clinton’s office no one got arrested despite the best efforts of some people. If you look closely you’ll see people blocking the Clinton’s office door from inside by the staff and by protesters from the outside.
Kathy Kelly, the young Jesuit priest, whose name regrettably I cannot recall, and I left for Chicago at about 3:30 pm, I hear the stand off ended when the office was closed at 5 pm.