Unnecessary deaths: Here's the scoop

Checkout the footage exposed through Wikileaks
http://writingresources.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
Shooting of unarmed civilians is too common
http://writingresources.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E928EBA3F74B2E11!248.entry

Rally, Sat. 3/20 PSU South Park Blocks 1am

What:    Rally & March
                to End the
               Occupations
When:   Saturday, March 20th
               11:00 am at PSU,
               Noon Terry Schrunk Plaza
Where: Portland State University
               South Park Blocks
Who:     PSU March 4th Coalition
Why:     March 20th marks the 7
               year anniversary of the
               Invasion, Occupation, and
               War on Iraq.

     Organized By: Associated Students of Portland State University,
International Socialist Organization, Pan American Solidarity
Organization, Students for Unity, Students United For Palestinian
Equal Rights, MEChA, Portland Peace and Justice Works, &
Endorsed and promoted by http://www.peaceresource.org/
     For more information on-line, please visit http://www.pjw.info/
More info on Activism  http://sites.google.com/site/pdxactivismnews/
And more:  www.Writingresource.info/activismnewsletter.html
add events to The Wordsmith Collection Interactive Calendar
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Peace in The Middle East

Ta'Anit Tzedek-Jewish Fast for Gaza
Fast Days: Reminder about our upcoming fast day this
Thursday, March 18th, and fast days through June.

New Program: Resisting the Siege:
Conversations with Gazans

A series of monthly phone conference calls
with people from Gaza and/or experts on Gaza.
The first phone conference will be this coming
Thursday, March 18 at 1: 00pm EST with
Cindy and Craig Corrie and Sami Abdel Shafi
(details below).

To participate in the call:

Dial-in Number: 1-517-417-5200 (Midwest)
Participant Access Code: 860453

New Resources and Suggestions for the Fast Day,
including articles by Sara Roy, Sami Abdel Shafi
and an interview with the Corrie family.

Fast Days
The dates of fast days between now and June are as follows:
Thursday March 18th
Thursday April 15th
Thursday May 20th
Thursday June 17th

New Program: Resisting the Seige:
Conversations with Gazans
The siege on Gaza serverely restricts the
number of people allowed to enter and leave Gaza
(just this week the head of the European Union finally
got permission from the Israeli government to visit Gaza!)
and there is very little direct human communication
between the residents of Gaza and the outside world.

As a way of resisting these effects of the siege,
Ta'Anit Tzedek will hold monthly phone conferences on
each of our upcoming fast days with a resident of Gaza
and/or an expert on Gaza. These calls will be open to fast
participants and anyone else who wants to participate.
The calls will also give those participating in the fast an
opportunity to join together on the fast day.

Our first call, this coming Thursday, March 18, will feature
Sami Addel Shafi, an independent political analyst in Gaza,
and Cindy and Craig Corrie. The Corrie's daughter, Rachel,
was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2005 as she tried to
protect a Palestinian home from demolition. They will join us
from Haifa where they are participating in the hearing of
their civil suit against the Government of Israel.

To participate in the call:
Dial-in Number: 1-517-417-5200 (Midwest)
Participant Access Code: 860453

Questions for Conference Call: If you would like to suggest
a question for Mr. Abdel Shafi or for Cindy or Craig Corrie,
please email your question to rabbibrianwalt@gmail.com
 no later than Wednesday night.

Information about Cindy and Criag Corrie:
Amy Goodman conducted a very interesting interview
with the Corries the day before their trial opened
in Haifa last week.

Information about Sami Abdel Shafi:
Sami Abdel-Shafi is an independent political analyst
and co-founder and senior partner at Emerge
Consulting Group, LLC, a management consultancy
in Gaza City.

Since 2005, he was engaged in several projects
implemented by the World Bank and the United
Nations Development Program for the benefit of
the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and the West
Bank. Most recently, Sami has been engaged in
providing analysis and recommendations on the
great challenges facing the Gaza Strip's private
sector and was one of the speakers representing it
in the Palestine Investment Conference held in May,
2008. He is on the Board of Directors of several
Palestinian non-governmental organizations, writes
and publishes economic and political analysis, and
provides commentary on Palestinian affairs in the
international media.



We have posted two of Sami Abdel Shafi's articles
on our website:

Rabbis Brian Walt and Brant Rosen

Co-Founders Ta'Anit Tzedek-Jewish Fast for Gaza

Resourceresource.org

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

President Obama embraces the Bush Doctrine:

President Obama embraces the Bush Doctrine:

Misusing US forces to provide support
for corporate adventurism abroad.
Neo-colonialism is bad news for America;
this will cost lives, resources, and destroy
what good will Obama may have accomplished.
This is a turning point...   A wrong turn.

Sad.
Shalom aleichem, Tim

WASHINGTON — President Obama has issued his order
to send more troops to Afghanistan, communicating his
decision to military leaders late Sunday afternoon during
a meeting in the Oval Office, and will spend Monday
speaking with foreign leaders to share with them the
broad outlines of his new strategy...

Shalom, Tim

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Peace is...

"Peace is a daily,
a weekly, a monthly process,
gradually changing opinions,
slowly eroding old barriers,

quietly building new structures."

-- John F. Kennedy

War & Peace: Can we hope for change?

Since that fated day of September 11th,
this nation has been set on a perilous
course. Before that date we endured,
survived, and prevailed over threats
more visceral and immediate than
those we face today. But we had not
resorted to overt, unprincipled,
"preemptive aggression." We rejected
such action as immoral, unconscienable,
illegal, and beyond the pale. And then
came the "Bush Doctrine."

The Bush Doctrine is a proposal that America
has some inherent "right" to attack, invade, occupy,
or destroy any nation. This abomination betrays our
most fundamental values and beliefs. Such tyranny
flies in the face of our laws, traditions, and values.

The sad transgressions of the Bush/Cheney administration
should have been roundly rejected by the Obama administration.
Unfortunatley, this has not been the case. Barack Obama has
embraced these unconstitutional claims and seems willing to
violate extant US treaties and international law if it fits the
purposes of Robert Gates and other hangers-on.

It is time for the American people to move beyond hope to
demand real change in America. The misuse of our forces to
attack soverign nations who have not attacked us is illegal,
immoral, and does not serve this nation well. Since January,
our nation has participated in unprovoked attacks on a number
of nations. These attacks have precipitated civilian casualties,
made untenable situations worse, and sullied our reputation
and credibility.

"The New York Times reports that "The outrage over civilian
deaths swelled again over the weekend. Hundreds of angry
villagers demonstrated... after an American raid on a village
in the province on Friday night. The raid killed at least 16
villagers, including 2 women and 3 children, according to a
statement from President Hamid Karzai." ...Our attack
wasn't in self-defense; the Taliban isn't massed on our border.
They'd not been indiscriminately lobbing missiles, on a daily
basis, into Los Angeles or Chicago or Dallas. President Obama
approved the unleashing of the drones, recognizing that there
was a high probability civilians would be killed, including
women and children."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-hanft/the-first-civilian-deaths_b_161258.html

If Mr. Obama continues this extralegal behavior, our nation
will be seen as a rogue state and our current decline will
continue unabated. "Karzai warned the killing of innocent
Afghans during US military operations was "strengthening
the terrorists." If we hope to find peace in our time, we must
establish a cabinet level department of peace, reject the
corporate enforcement tactics of the previous administration,

and demand that our leaders in congress and the White house

honor the letter and intent of constitutional and civil
law. We must rejoin our brothers and sisters as part

of a community of civlized nations who reject violence
and aggression as first resorts.

Mr. Gates has got to go. His history of abuse during eight
presidencies, has established that he is willing to lie to
congress, presidents, or the American people to advance
his personal agenda. We cannot afford such irresponsible
acts. These are tantamount to treason against the state.
The interests of the American people must trump the
interests and ambitions of corporate transnationals
who may often have little if any loyalty to this nation
or our people.

We need not suffer war. We can restore the peace.
But these goals require that we embrace the rule of
law and reject the Bush doctrine of unprincipled

aggression, in favor of a more hopeful movements
towards international peace, transnational
reconciliation, reconstruction, rebuilding, and in time...
we may find redemption for the atrocities perpetrated
in our name in recent times.

Tim Flanagan, Portland writer, teacher,
and facilitator at PeaceResource.org

Box 22, Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034