Join Cynthia McKinney in the Bike4Peace cross country tour!

Kickoff Critical Mass Meet at the House of Common Sense, 1193 Pine St., Oakland at 7 AM Sat-24-July-2010 for a day long mass bicycle ride to the state capitol in Sacramento. Or join along the way- say, Rodeo, Fairfield, or Davis.

World Car-Free Day

We’re converging upon Washington, DC, riding bicycles from across the continent. Join us for a Continental Critical Mass ride. Plan to arrive by Wed-22-Sept-2010. Meet at 10 AM across the pool from Congress.

From Cynthia McKinney: Bike4Peace Riders and Hosts needed!

For a little way or all of the way!!!! Do something different: join me on a cross country bike ride!!!! Please study this route and let me know ASAP if you’re interested in participating all of the way or just a part of the way. Either way, we’d LOVE to have you along for the ride. Here’s the link for the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8x…

(Just a note of caution: It does take a few seconds for the map to load. Once loaded, you should see blue, red, green, and aqua tabs. Aqua is a starting point, of which there are four; green indicates where we will take a rest day; red is where we will overnight and expect to need whatever facilities anyone can donate. Appropriately situated on the left side of the window is the text description of what you are looking at on the google map. And then below the text is a description of what we will do at each point indicated in a color on the map. The map is interactive and an explanation for each stop is provided. We’d love to fill each area in with who’s going to donate what at each stop along the way—and where it says “rally”, who will be there to give me a word of encouragement—and a massage!!! It reads something like this:

B4P 2010
We are making an unsupported bicycle ride from San Francisco to Washington, DC between July and Sept, 2010, led by Cynthia McKinney, six term Member of Congress and 2008 Green Party nominee for President. The ride will demonstrate the bicycle as a transformational tool to solve the problems of Climate Change, Oil Wars, the Health Crisis, and the Economic Crunch. Along the way, riders will facilitate community discussions around the question “How can we support each other to live true to our best values?”

If you would like to bicycle all or part of the route, plan a convergence ride to meet up in DC on World Car-Free Day 22-Sept, or host riders passing through your community, please e-mail bike4peace@googlegroups.com)

We’re scheduled to start on July 24, 2010 at the House of Common Sense in Oakland and we’ll end up at the White House, that needs some common sense!!!

Please let me know if you’re interested in joining us. You don’t have to be a pro biker—I’m not!!! But I have a lot of enthusiasm and a desire to change the world and to change myself. I’ll be a better person at the end of this ride because I’ll have time for introspection, time for hearing new points of view from fellow riders, time for hearing from people in towns I’ve never visited before. This will truly be for me, an adventure of a lifetime. And in the process, we’ll spread a message of truth, justice, peace, and dignity. At a time of seeming global chaos, join us and find tranquility (and probably some new leg muscles) out on the open roads of America.

Riders will be joining us from Seattle, Vermont, and even from Canada! If you’re willing, we’ll make a way!!!

Now, maybe you can’t ride with us, but you want to be involved. If so, please take a long look at the map again and consider hosting us overnight in your home, organization space, or place of worship. I know I’ll need someone who can ease my aching muscles just a little. Just know that every donation will be greatly appreciated. If you’d like to donate your time, money, or services, please let me know or contact Ron Toppi directly at ronbikes4peace@gmail.com; or better yet, just go to http://www.b4p.bbnow.org/donate.php to make a donation.

And at the end, maybe the White House will gain a bit of our good, old-fashioned common sense! No more war, bike for peace!

Cynthia’s websites:
http://dignity.ning.com/
http://www.enduswars.org
http://www.livestream.com/dignity
http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun
http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney
http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney
http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun

More Info: http://www.b4p.bbnow.org/events.php

Prison time for activist over green jobs banner? We’re not kidding

Dear Friends,

Despite the Gulf disaster, no one from BP has been arrested and sent to jail. Despite safety violations at coal mines, no one from Massey Energy has been handcuffed. But today I write to inform you that one of America’s best global warming activists is probably facing several months of jail. He’s been convicted by a D.C. jury, and now he awaits sentencing on July 6th. Why? Because he peacefully dropped two banners on Capitol Hill that said: “GREEN JOBS NOW” and “GET TO WORK.”

I’m not joking. Ted Glick of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was convicted by a jury May 13th of peacefully dropping the banners inside the U.S. Senate Hart Office Building last September. The DC U.S. Attorney’s office clearly has decided to make an “example” of Ted because of his previous two — count ’em, two — convictions related to peaceful acts of climate civil disobedience. Can you believe it? You can see a three-minute video of Ted’s September “crime” right here. He’s the guy toward the end simply lowering the banners. Period.

Now Ted is facing up to three years in jail. Based on the judge’s comments last week, it really does appear that he will be incarcerated for at least a month or two.

So here’s what you can do:

First, please write a respectful but firm snail-mail letter to Judge Frederick H. Weisberg telling him why you think Ted should not go to jail. The judge’s address is below. Just type something up, print it and mail it off. Explain why only a suspended sentence is fair, especially given all the real injustices out there on global warming. There is reason to believe that that a large number of thoughtful, well-reasoned letters to the judge could bring leniency.

Second, take an action right now that will help create a world where global warming is no longer such a threat and people like Ted won’t have to drop banners and get arrested in the first place! Sign the “Windmills, Not Oil Spills” petition to stop new offshore drilling in America and promote clean energy alternatives instead.

Thanks for your support, your activism, and your prayers as CCAN fights to keep a morally innocent staff member out of jail during this time of great global crisis.

Sincerely,

Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

—
Here’s the judge’s address:

Judge Frederick H. Weisberg
DC Superior Court
500 Indiana Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20001

**Please keep in mind**

The letters should be respectful. Suggested topics include:

• If you personally know Ted and have shared experiences with him, tell the judge;
• Describe the urgency of the climate issue and the need to pressure our government to take action on it;
• Give your views on what would be a justice-based approach by the legal system toward nonviolent actions of the kind Ted took part in.

Please let other people know about this campaign. And it would be helpful if you could send us a copy of your letter to Judge Weisberg, or if you could let us know that you have sent a letter. You can email Ted at ted AT chesapeakeclimate.org, or you could send by regular mail to Ted’s attention at CCAN, P.O. Box 11138, Takoma Park, Md. 20912.

—
Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
MTidwell AT ChesapeakeClimate.org
cell: 240-460-5838
www.ChesapeakeClimate.org

RIP Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn, historian, political activist and author of the People’s History of the United States, has died.  He was traveling in California last week and succumbed to a heart attack at age 87.  Here is an article from the Boston Globe:

Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87

“He’s made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture,” Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. “He’s changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can’t think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Rest in peace Howard Zinn.  Your words and actions and examples will live forever.

Tell Obama “No You Can’t!” : Saturday November 12th

Tell Obama “No You Can’t!”
http://www.enduswars.org/spreadtheword

Help us get the word out for the Dec. 12 rally against President Obama’s troop escalation plans for Afghanistan!

This is an emergency protest rally, to take place on Saturday, December 12, from 11 am to 4 pm in Lafayette Park (across from the White House) in Washington, DC. It’s being organized by the End US Wars coalition (http://www.enduswars.org). The speakers list includes Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, Sen. Mike Gravel, David Swanson, Rev. Graylan Hagler, and many others, and musicians will perform. Along with the rally on December 12, the film “Rethink Afghanistan” will be shown Friday, December 11, from 6 to 8 pm at Busboys & Poets, 14th & V Streets NW.

Because to the short amount of time between President Obama’s Afghanistan speech and the rally, we need lots of help getting the word out far and wide about the Dec. 12 rally. We need to do some ‘guerrilla media’ work to publicize the event and encourage people to attend — or if they can’t attend the rally, to speak out against the deployment of more US troops to Afghanistan.

Here’s what you can do:

• Notify friends, neighbors, family, and anyone else you know who might be outraged at the escalation plans. Send them the announcement appended below by e-mail, make phone calls, paste the announcement on your Facebook page.

• Post the announcement on e-mail discussion lists, community bulletin boards, and blog pages. If you read a news article online about the Afghanistan War, paste the announcement into the ‘comments’ section below the article text.

• Download and print the 2-per-page flyer, cut it in half, and pass it out: http://www.enduswars.org/Dec12Rally-2.pdf

• Make a phone call to a call-in radio talk show and tell listeners about the rally. Be sure to mention the web site: End US Wars dot org

• Write a letter to the editor about your opposition to the Afghanistan War and mention the rally.

There are lots more people who are outraged by the President’s escalation plans — people of every political stripe. Some people support Obama, but oppose his current policies.

Let’s reach them, tell them they aren’t alone, and encourage them to join us on December 12 when we send a message to President Obama to “do the right thing”!

* * * * *

Tell President Obama “No You Can’t!” send more US troops to Afghanistan

Emergency Anti-War Rally at the White House against President Obama’s planned military escalation in Afghanistan
• When: Saturday, December 12, 11 am to 4 pm
• Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, across from the White House, near the Farragut West Metro Station
• Organized by End US Wars http://www.enduswars.org

Speakers for the rally will include Rep. Dennis Kucinich, former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, former Sen. Mike Gravel, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges, author David Swanson, Rev. Graylan Hagler, Capt. Ron Fisher, Gael Murphy (CODEPINK), Debra Sweet (World Can’t Wait), Elaine Brower (Military Families Speak Out), Brian Becker (ANSWER), Mathis Chiroux (Iraq Veterans Against the War), among many other national peace leaders. Musicians Jordan Page, Head-Roc and others will perform. (Go to the website for current list of rally speakers.)

Join us in our demand that President Obama must announce an immediate ceasefire in Iraq and Afghanistan to end the wars and order our troops home. He must stop Predator drone attacks and covert operations in Pakistan, and he must begin immediate reconstruction and recovery in war torn regions.

If the President does not meet these demands, he will face intensified opposition, with anti-war candidates prepared to defeat his war policy politically.

Along with the rally on December 12, the film ‘Rethink Afghanistan’ will be shown Friday December 11, from 8 to 10 pm at Busboys & Poets, 14th and V Streets NW in Washington, DC.

More information: email contact at enduswars. org or visit http://www.enduswars.org
For press inquiries, phone: Laurie Dobson, Director, End US Wars (207)604.8988

100 Cities Protest Surge of Troops to Afghanistan

Actions around the U.S. to say NO! to Escalation

There are over 80 actions going on throughout the country from Bangor all the way to Honolulu…….  Here is a list with links to the actions or announcements:
http://pjep.org/uploads/docs/actionsafghanistan.pdf

Green Party opposes escalation, urges Obama to announce US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in his Dec. 1 speech

During the speech, President Obama will announce his intention to send 30,000 more troops, raising the number of US personnel in Afghanistan to over 100,000.

“Millions of Americans voted for Barack Obama in 2008 under the impression that he was an ‘antiwar’ candidate, even though Mr. Obama supported the war in Afghanistan and favored a limited withdrawal from Iraq. Troop escalation will not ‘finish the job’ in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. Unless he surprises us in his speech on Tuesday, we’ll be further mired in a war that shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” said Rosa Clemente, the Green Party’s nominee for Vice President in 2008 (http://www.rosaclemente.com).

The Green Party of the United States will participate in antiwar protests scheduled for Saturday, December 12 in Washington, DC, and other locations throughout the US.

In Washington, Greens and other Americans who support an end to the Afghanistan war will gather for an Emergency Anti-Escalation Rally in Lafayette Park near the White House. Among the featured speakers for this rally will be Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, and Lynne Williams, 2010 Green candidate for Governor of Maine (http://www.lynnewilliams2010.org). The rally, organized by End US Wars will take place from 11 am to 4 pm (http://www.enduswars.org / contact: Laurie Dobson, 207-604-8988, contact@enduswars.org).

“This is what Obama’s fabled bi-partisanship gets us — more of the same. What we need is partisanship, with a strong Green Party presence in this country, since we are the only party that was against the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan from day one,” said Ms. Williams.

On November 25, Ms. McKinney sent an open letter to President Obama urging a reversal of his warhawk policy on Afghanistan (http://dignity.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cynthia-mckinneys-letter-to).

Nationwide rallies and protests are also planned for December 2, immediately after the President’s speech (http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php).

Green Party leaders have disputed President Obama’s claims that the invasion of Afghanistan was “the right war.” The invasion has resulted in a catastrophe for Afghan civilians, with thousands killed and maimed and the destruction of property and infrastructure. The Taliban has won greater popular support because of its defiance of foreign troops, while President Karzai’s corrupt administration have betrayed any hope for democracy and regional warlords have turned Afghanistan into the world’s leading producer of opium. Human rights for most Afghans, especially women, have not advanced because of the US invasion.

Greens also asserted that the war has not reduced any real or perceived terrorist threat against the US, and its expansion into Pakistan with drone attacks inside Pakistani borders has created greater regional instability and animosity towards the US. Greens called the Democrats as much a party of war as the GOP, with both parties spending enormous amounts of taxpayers’ money to feed a military machine that bullies other nations and ultimately sustains corporate war profiteers.

“The only way to show support for US troops is to demand their safe return. As the Soviet Union’s attempt to subjugate Afghanistan proved, the US’s attempt to occupy the country means mounting US casualties,” said Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

“The Green Party — not the Democrats or Republicans — represents the will of the people, with polls showing a majority of Americans opposed to the war. We challenge all Americans who desire peace to speak out with their voices and votes, demand that President Obama order our troops home now, and call on Congress to cut military spending,” added Ms. Hakeem.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN

Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
Fall 2009 issue now online
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

Emergency Anti-Escalation Rally , December 12, Lafayette Park at the White House

DEC.12TH 11AM-4PM DC

End US Wars, is holding an Emergency Anti-Escalation Rally on December 12 at Lafayette Park at the White House, Washington DC, from 11am to 4pm.

Featured speakers include: Cynthia McKinney, Senator Mike Gravel, Chris Hedges, David Swanson, Kathy Kelly, Betty Hall, Granny D (message), Lynne Williams, Elaine Bowers, Mathis Chiroux, Michael Knox, Ron Fisher and others.

We are very excited about so many illustrious speakers, with more in the offing. Musical performers include Jordan Page.

We expect to do a lot of action in DC around the time of Obama’s announcement. We also are planning events the evening of December 11th–a Green Party event, authors book signings, and Robert Greenwald’s new movie on Afghanistan.
On Rally Day, December 12th: congregate at Lafayette Park, White House. Speakers are from 11am to 4 pm, with musical interludes. From 3pm to 4pm there is an organizational meeting ‘tea’ with peace movement leaders, to meet up at the rally, location TBA.

Prior to the rally, we are planning a camera ready leaflet, down-loadable from the website  www.enduswars.org , to be distributed at the events coming together between now and then, such as at the Dec. 1st peace vigil at 5 pm at the White House,  Amy Goodman’s speaking event in DC on Nov. 30, and other spontaneous activities now being discussed in the peace community. It will be available for local rally organizers to download and distribute during the days prior to the December 12th Anti-Escalation Rally.

We are sounding the peace cry, declaring that the Peace Movement is not going to stand for the President’s abdication of the people he was elected to serve. We need to send him the message: We have had enough!

We ask for your strong support and presence at the rally. Please go to our website:  http://www.enduswars.org .

Organizing Committee, End US Wars

www.enduswars.org contact AT enduswars.org

“When we are morally right, we must not yield.” Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia McKinney Letter to Obama

This morning, I sent this letter to President Obama:

“Mr. President:

I are writing to urge you to announce an immediate cease-fire followed by a withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan in the fastest way consistent with the safety of our forces.

I urge you to end the use of Predator drones that kill civilians.

I call upon you to cease all covert operations in Africa, Asia, and North and South America.

Too many of your military advisors are implicated in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace.  Your Justice Department  operates at the zenith of injustice, defending Bush Administration criminality in U.S. Courtrooms.

I wrote to you earlier suggesting that if you did not investigate the crimes of the Bush Administration, you would be viewed as their accessory.  Sadly, war crimes and torture are now committed with your name on them.

Please bring our troops home now.”

A peace demonstration is being organized for December 12, 2009 in Washington, D.C. The Emergency Anti-Escalation Rally, also known as the End US Wars Rally, is scheduled for 11am at Lafayette Park at the White House.  I wholly endorse this rally and encourage all who can to participate in Washington, DC or to help a local peace organization committed to ending U.S. wars on that date.

For more information about the Washington, D.C. December 12, 2009 demonstration, please visit www.endUSwars.org, currently under construction.

Cynthia McKinney’s letter sent, November 21, 2009

Rethinking Afghanistan: Sign the Petition

Sign the petition online