davidswanson's blog

By Texas Explorer, Democratic Underground

Willie Nelson, speaking on the Alex Jones show, has just announced that he would be a driving factor in a new Farm Aid-type event that will focus on supporting Dennis Kucinich's efforts to impeach george bush. It will also be an anti-war event. This plan is literally coming together as I type. Willie has just committed to it.

By Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet

Who says there's no anti-war movement in the United States? In the past two months, the anti-war movement has taken on one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the United States in an important fight. And so far, the anti-war movement is winning.

From Leslie Cagan, www.unitedforpeace.org

Please circulate this memo to your own lists and the members of your group or organization.

This Friday, July 25th, the House Judiciary Committee will convene a hearing called "Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations." While not defined explicitly as a hearing on the articles of impeachment that Rep. Dennis Kucinich has put forth, this is the closest we've seen to a formal discussion on Capitol Hill related to the issue of impeachment. Click here for the AP article explaining what's happening: LINK.

There are several things you and your group can do between now and Friday:

* By clicking here http://www.democrats.com/topelosiandjudiciary you can send a message to members of the House Judiciary Committee. Be sure to tell them how important it is for them to be at the hearing on Friday, and for them to speak up for impeachment.

* Get in touch with your local media outlets before Friday and urge them to fully cover the hearing. And it would be great if you can also get in touch with national media outlets to demand that they cover the hearing. For media contact information click here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

* Sign - and get others to sign - the petition organized by Dennis Kucinich: http://impeachment.kucinich.us/petition/ (We had some trouble logging on to this site, so please be patient and keep trying!)

* If you are in or near Washington, DC try to get to the hearing yourself. Folks need to be there early, by 9 am. The hearing will be in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2141 starting at 10 am. For more information contact ningroup@gmail.com

Below is some more information about the plans for the Friday hearing, as prepared by AfterDowningStreet.org , a member group of UFPJ.

peace,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator, UFPJ

Forum: Alternatives to Attacking Iran, with Helena Cobban and Carah Ong
Monday, July 21st
7 p.m. at the County Office Building

Beginning at 7 p.m. on Monday evening, we'll be presenting a free public forum on alternatives to attacking Iran, featuring remarks by Carah Ong and Helena Cobban.

At 10 a.m. on Friday July 25th, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a preliminary hearing on the topic of impeachment, with a presentation by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This is not yet a true impeachment hearing, but it is our opportunity to push for one, and it represents a tremendous victory after years of effort by millions of Americans who want to keep the Constitution alive. This never would have happened without your hard work. And we can't let up now!

The National Impeachment Network is organizing a rally and asking everyone who can to take a day off for justice and meet at 9 a.m. on Friday July 25th in front of the Rayburn House Office Building on the Independence Avenue side. Bring impeachment shirts and posters! For more information contact ningroup@gmail.com

NOTE: The hearing has not been announced, but two members of Congress closely involved in this have told us it is at 10 a.m. on the 25th, and Chairman Conyers himself has so informed Veterans for Peace.

Between now and Friday the 25th, please take these steps:

Contact your member of Congress in support of impeachment.

Ask the media to cover the hearing.

Sign the petition at Congressman Kucinich's website.

By David Swanson

Six years ago Congressman Virgil Goode helped to frighten and defraud the nation into a disastrous war in Iraq that has gotten worse each year since then, with no light at the end of the tunnel. Now Goode is helping to push similar scary stories about Iran in an effort that appears aimed at dragging us into another war, and nobody has asked him about it.

Goode is a cosponsor of a resolution in Congress called H Con Res 362, the lengthy title of which expresses fear of "Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and regional hegemony." Hmm. This from the world's biggest possessor of nuclear weapons, the only nation ever to have used nuclear weapons, a nation making frequent use of depleted uranium weapons, and -- speaking of hegemony -- the nation occupying the two countries to the east and west of Iran. Apparently irony, if not wisdom, is alive and well in Washington.

Here's a blank petition form you can print and collect signatures on anytime anywhere:
http://charlottesvillepeace.org/files/iranpetition.pdf

A RESOLUTION OPPOSING U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN IRAN

WHEREAS, The President and members of his administration have alleged that Iran poses an imminent threat to the United States, U.S. troops in the Middle East and U.S. allies, and

Listen to our radio ad - we can air it more the more you donate!

Street Theater and Petitioning
Friday, July 18th
From 6 p.m. on at the Freedom of Expression Wall on the Downtown Mall

This Friday evening, visitors to Charlottesville's Downtown Mall during the free Fridays After Five concert will see giant puppets on stilts, posters and banners, hundreds of people wearing free "Don't Attack Iran" stickers, and dozens of people collecting signatures on a petition to urge Charlottesville City Council to take a position against the United States attacking Iran. Please meet us near the Freedom of Expression Wall at any time from 6 p.m. on. Please, if you can, bring signs and posters opposing an attack on Iran.

The Virginia Anti-War Network has a new website. Check it out:

By Jonathan Schwarz

John McCain is having a townhall-by-telephone for Virginians tonight at 7:00 pm ET. Anyone with a Virginia area code—and maybe people with unidentified area codes—should be able to call in and possibly ask him a question. As far as I know questions aren't screened, and everyone has an equal chance of being called on.

Here's how it works:

Dial: 1-877-850-4146
Passcode: 84831

These are a few questions I'd try to ask if I were from Virginia:

Keep an eye on which of them choose to toss out the Fourth Amendment too.

UPDATE: Webb and Warner just both voted to scrap the 4th Amendment and coverup Bush's warrantless spying crimes, as did Goode last month.

Who is representing us exactly?

A committee of CCPJ is planning events for late July aimed at opposing a U.S. attack on Iran, part of a national effort. These events will likely include a presence at the July 18th Fridays After Five at the Downtown Mall, which will include huge puppets on stilts, posters, stickers, and tables with petitions on clipboards. The 18th is a national day of similar events. We may also be promoting a forum with speakers on July 21st. And a separate committee is working to reserve busses so that we can all demonstrate in Washington, D.C., and/or Virginia Beach on August 2nd, a national day of action. We then hope to present a resolution to the Charlottesville City Council on August 4th, and it is in support of that resolution that we will begin collecting signatures on July 18th. A draft of the resolution is pasted below for your comments and suggestions.

By Brian McNeill, Charlottesville Daily Progress

Under a proposed overhaul of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, future American presidents would be required by law to consult with congressional leaders before entering into any major armed conflict.

The proposal by the bipartisan National War Powers Commission — co-chaired by former secretaries of state James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher — aims to add more meaningful cooperation between the executive and judicial branches when it comes to matters of war and peace.

The commission, which was convened by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, released its final report Tuesday after 13 months of study. READ THE REST.

Community Leaders in Virginia Join Together to Push for Quality, Affordable Health Care for Every American

Today, in Richmond and in 52 other cities across the country, including 37 state capitals, a new national campaign is bringing together millions of Americans to demand quality, affordable health care for all. Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is being launched by 95 national and local groups that represent labor, community organizations, doctors, nurses, women, small businesses, faith-based organizations, people of color, netroots activists, and think tanks. Health Care for America Now is organizing to assure that the first order of business of the next President and Congress is to pass legislation in 2009 that guarantees quality, affordable health care for all.

Health Care for America Now is an unprecedented coalition including ACORN, AFSCME, American Academy of Pediatricians, American Nurses Association, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America's Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Education Association, National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, SEIU, United Food and Commercial Workers, and USAction.

By xofferson, DocuDharma

I had promised to report on the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation held June 28-29 in Cleveland, but delayed it to await an official summary of the actions taken there. Unless you were in the room almost all of the time for the debate and votes, it was impossible to know exactly what decisions the 400-plus participants made. And I confess to spending a good chunk of time "networking" and kibitzing in the halls.

Now the organizers have produced their summary and evaluation, which you can read it its entirety here.

By Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK/Global Exchange

Stop a War with Iran! Stop House Res. 362 and Senate Res. 580!

Please join us for a week of activities on Capitol Hill related to Iran.

By Bryan McKenzie, Charlottesville Daily Progress

It was an exciting weekend of patriotic fervor with a presidential appearance, minting of new citizens, protests and other fireworks.

The events and surrounding media hoopla, however, begged questions of what patriotism is and why it’s useful, so we sought answers in many different places. Here’s what we found: READ THE REST AND POST YOUR COMMENT.

By Alix Bryan

Greeting friends, I hope there is joy in your lives. If you get the chance, I would love to hear from you. If you want to be removed from this, let me know. There won't be many more of these updates....

By David Swanson

Charlottesville Daily Progress columnist Bryan McKenzie reported on our recent protest of Bush at Monticello that we had made our point of diminishing a citizen naturalization ceremony? We did? McKenzie had plenty of communication from protesters before and after the event, all of which made perfectly clear that we wanted to NOT do that, that we wanted in fact to counter Bush's diminishment of the day and to communicate to the world that Americans oppose our president's crimes at home and abroad. McKenzie can claim that diminishing someone's day was what we in fact did and that having done so is more significant than all the days for the rest of their lives that Bush has ruined of the relatives of the people he's killed and is going to continue to kill as long as we allow him, but McKenzie can't claim that that's what we intended to do.

What would it take to get one person to post one article on this website? Prizes, money, fame, glory, a sense of peaceful bliss? What would be required?

Admittedly, the site has been changed around so that it's much less obvious, but you CAN and are ENCOURAGED TO post your news on peace and justice on this website. First log in at right. Then click on "Contribute Content" on the left.